10 Obscure Simpsons References That Hardly Anyone Understood

From the beginning, The Simpsons has a reputation for being a show filled with pop culture references, but fans can easily miss many of these jokes. The Simpsons often alludes to movies, TV shows, books, and historical events. Sometimes these references are easy to understand, but the series is so fast-paced that the writers can often make some less obvious cultural allusions without detracting from the comedy.

The key to The Simpsons' cultural references is that many of them are hilarious without the audience knowing where they come from. For example, it's funny to watch a feeble Mr. Burns try to beat someone with a baseball bat in "Homer Goes to College" without knowing that it is a play on a famous scene from The Untouchables. Still, many of the show's subtle jokes take on another layer if fans can figure out the context.

10

Homer and the Rashomon effect

Season 10, Episode 23, "30 Minutes Over Tokyo"

The Simpsons There are many excellent travel episodes that take the family abroad. Australia, India and France obtain the Simpsons treatment, and the family goes to Japan in a memorable season 10 episode. The writers take the opportunity to include as many references to Japanese culture as possible.. This starts on the plane, as Lisa reads haikus, Bart plays a Game Boy, and Homer and Marge talk about a famous Japanese film: Rashomon.

Although anyone who has seen Rashomon You'll understand the joke, it's not the type of film that is so well known among American audiences. Homer and Marge disagree about their memories of the film, which reflects what Akira Kurosawa's classic is about. The story concerns conflicting testimonies in a criminal case. Homer's line, “That’s not how I remember it,” could easily go over the head of anyone unfamiliar with Rashomon. The idea of ​​two people remembering an event differently has been dubbed the "Rashomon Effect" in honor of the film.

9

Reference Estes Kefauver from Grandpa

Season 20, Episode 14, 'In the Name of Grandfather'

Grandpa Simpson has a completely different frame of reference than the rest of the family and often talks about historical events from decades ago as if they happened last week. However, he is also prone to some nonsensical ramblings with no basis in reality, like his story about tying an onion to his belt or the time he chased the Kaiser after having the word “twenty” stolen from his vocabulary.

In the season 20 episode, “In the Name of Grandfather,” Grandpa makes another reference that draws blank stares from those around him, but this one makes sense. Estes Kefauver was an American politician famous for taking on organized crime syndicatesSo when Grandpa says he felt “lonelier than Estes Kefauver at a Murder Inc. meeting,” he's imagining the frosty reception Kefauver would receive from one of New York City's most notorious criminal organizations. He even follows this line, insisting that it be verified and encourages people to look for it themselves.

8

Homer lives a Flannery O'Connor story

Season 5, Episode 11, "Homer the Vigilante"

After a series of robberies disturbs the population of Springfield, Homer decides to lead a group of vigilantes. Power quickly goes to their heads, and the group spends more time pressuring people to feel great than they do investigating or preventing any crimes. Homer's newfound brash behavior is on display at the Simpson family dinner table, where he regales his family with a tale of violence and unbridled power. It seems like a funny bit taken out of context, but it's also a subtle reference to a famous tale.

The Story of Flannery O'Connor A good man is hard to find follows a southern family on a road trip to Florida, but their progress is interrupted by a serial killer known as “the Misfit,” who appears after their car crashes into a ditch to offer help. Homer tells an excerpt from a story, saying "Listen, friend, your car was upside down when we got here, and as for your grandmother, she shouldn't have talked like that. In O'Connor's story, the grandmother's talk is what gets the family into trouble, so the dark implication from the show's writers is that Homer is the Misfit. This isn't meant to be taken literally, but it's another layer to the joke for those familiar with O'Connor's work.

7

Marge's "Pimps & CHUDs" Line

Season 9, Episode 1, "New York City vs. Homer Simpson"

"The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson" stands out for being one of the banned episodes of The Simpsons, albeit briefly. The prominence of the Twin Towers was enough for the episode to be pulled from syndicated reruns after the 9/11 attacks, but it was restored in 2006. There are a lot of great jokes about New York City and how it is portrayed in popular culture. but a line could go over people's heads.

When Homer tells the story of his first visit to New York, he ends by saying that the CHUDs came for him. This is a reference to the obscure 1984 horror film CHUD in which New York is invaded by cannibalistic humanoid underground dwellers. Marge reminds Homer that there is more to the city than "pimps and CHUDs", which links New York's crime reputation in the 1970s and 1980s to the way it was portrayed in the media.

6

George HW Bush destroys Homer like a Japanese breakfast

Season 7, Episode 13, 'Two Bad Neighbors'

The Simpsons it occasionally leans into general political satire, but "Two Bad Neighbors" is an unusual episode because it focuses on a specific politician. Former President George HW Bush moves to Springfield, and he and his neighbor start out as friends before quickly becoming enemies. This culminates in a physical fight, and President Bush threatens Homer that he will ruin him "like a Japanese breakfast."

"Two Bad Neighbors" has some political references that international fans or those who are too young to remember the Bush presidency may not understand. THE "Japanese breakfast" refers to a notorious incident in 1992 when Bush vomited on the Japanese prime minister and passed out at a banquet. This incident was the subject of some ridicule in the United States and inspired a new Japanese slang term for vomit, which translates to "do the Bush thing" or "Buchando".

5

Put it in H!

Season 4, Episode 9, "Mr. Plow"

"Mr. Plow" is one of the best episodes of The Simpsons, arriving right in the middle of an excellent fourth season. The main plot follows Homer's attempts to start a business as a snowplow driver, but there are plenty of hilarious diversions along the way. Before choosing the plow truck, Homer tries to buy a car at Crazy Vaclav's Place of Automobiles. Vaclav is a brilliant and unique charactertrying to sell Homer a strange, tiny car from some unidentified country that no longer exists. Your bottom line is "Put it on H!" as he pushes the car to start.

At first glance, Vaclav's final sentence seems as absurd as the rest of his sales pitch, like him boasting that the car can run “300 hectares in a single kerosene tank,” but it's also a subtle joke about Cyrillic writing. The Cyrillic script is used in Russia and several other nearby countries. The letter that looks like "H" to English speakers is actually pronounced like "N", so Vaclav is telling Homer to put the car in neutral so he can push it.

4

Nelson loves Andy Williams

Season 7, Episode 20, 'Bart On the Road'

When Bart gets a driver's license, he goes on a road trip with Milhouse, Martin and Nelson. They make a few detours on their journey, one of which is forced by Nelson upon seeing a marquee advertising an Andy Williams concert. Nelson is generally an unintelligent and emotionally stunted bully, so it's funny to see him showing a more passionate side to his personality. However, Andy Williams reached his peak in the 1960s, so some fans of The Simpsons Maybe you don't even know who he is.

The Simpsons places one obscure reference over another in "Bart On the Road." The marquee advertising the program features a quote from Olhar Magazinestating that Williams has "I still understand." The joke here is that Olhar Magazine left the market in 197125 years before "Bart On the Road" was written. Clearly, Williams didn't receive any criticism worth publicizing in the intervening years.

3

Lee Carvallo's Placement Challenge

Season 7, Episode 11, 'Marge Be Not Proud'

"Marge Be Not Proud" is without a doubt the best Simpsons Christmas episode, and demonstrates how the show can bring lots of laughs and a touching story at the same time. Bart gets in trouble for stealing a new video game and must find a way to redeem himself in Marge's eyes in the days before Christmas. Marge finally forgives him and gives him the game she thinks he wanted. Unfortunately, Bart was hoping for "Bonestorm" instead of "Lee Carvallo's Putting Challenge".

"Lee Carvallo's Putting Challenge" works as a great joke, even without real-world context. It seems like a boring game with a celebrity no one has ever heard of. It's actually a play on the infamous arcade game "Lee Trevino's Fighting Golf," which was considered one of the worst games ever made in 1988. "Lee Carvallo's Putting Challenge" is even more ridiculous. Replacing the word “Fight” with the word “Challenge” sums it up.

2

Bart mentions Claus Von Bülow

Season 5, Episode 20, 'The Boy Who Knew Too Much'

“The Boy Who Knew Too Much” is full of cultural references. The title refers to the book by Alfred Hitchcock The man who knew too much, while the plot reflects the trial of William Kennedy-Smith, who was Ted Kennedy's nephew, just as Freddie Quimby is the nephew of the mayor of Springfield. There are also allusions to Huckleberry Finn, Westworld, The Odd Couple, 12 Angry Men, Dirty Harry and much more.

One reference stands out in "The Boy Who Knew Too Much" as being particularly obscure. Bart tells Lisa "The system works. Just ask Claus von Bülow." It's strange that Bart references the trial of Claus von Bülow, a man who was arrested for the attempted murder of his wife before being acquitted on appeal several years later. In that case, The Simpsons manages to laugh at how obscure the reference is. For those who might not understand, the episode moves forward without lingering for even a second on the joke.

1

Homer laughs at a complex math joke

Season 26, Episode 22, 'Mathlete's Feat'

The Simpsons often tells some intellectual mathematical jokes to flex the writers' intelligence. Many of these jokes are hidden in the background like Easter eggs for mathematicians to learn, but there are some that demand more attention. "Mathlete's Feat" was released many years after the so-called Simpsons Golden Age, but it proves that the show never lost its love for dark jokes and clever humor.

Homer laughs at a joke that requires some knowledge of calculus and statistics. The square root of negative numbers is often expressed as I, to symbolize an imaginary number, two cubed is eight and the Greek letter Sigma represents "sum". That means the joke says "i 8 sum pi," or better "I had a pie and it was delicious." After Homer has had a good laugh, the camera pans to the left and reveals a dog with a box stuck to its head. This is what Homer really finds amusing, but The Simpsons provides an extra joke for math lovers.