Just a few episodes into its 36th season, The Simpsons has dropped a short on Disney+ celebrating the advent of spooky season. Dubbed “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year”, the short is a parody of the beloved Christmas classic rewritten with a comedic horror twist. Starring Kelsey Grammer as recurring Simpsons Villain Sideshow Bob, the short also features villains from Disney- and Disney-owned franchises. If you’ve ever wanted to hear Darth Vader or Thanos sing, this is the short for you.
“The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” was co-written and produced by longtime franchise owner Al Jean. Gene is the longest-serving showrunner on The Simpsons and has been involved with the show in one capacity or another since the series debuted in 1989. Jean also co-wrote The Simpsons Movie And recently shared an optimistic update about a potential The Simpsons Movie 2.
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Screen Rant Interviewed Jean about “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” and The Simpsons Moments past and present. Jean discusses writing Mary Poppins song parodies, the potential end of the long-running sideshow Bob Rake gag, and the special spot The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror has in the hearts of viewers. Jean also shared the message behind the latest fake-out of the last series.
El Jean details the creation of “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year”
Sideshow Bob was an early addition to the short
Screen Rant: I loved this short because it combines two trademarks of The Simpsons, which, to me, are Halloween-themed episodes and song parodies. How did the idea come together? Did you write the song first and then build around it?
Al Jean: We didn’t want to do Christmas because there’s a double episode on Disney+ at Christmas. I wanted to do Halloween, and then I thought, “We could get Kelsey to do the short, that would be fantastic.” We wanted a song, and I thought, ‘[It’s the Most] Wonderful Time of the Year’ would be a fantastic Halloween song.” And that was it. Once we had the three pieces, we went through it really quickly. And David Silverman, the director, is just so great. Once you say, ” Hey, let’s put all the Disney villains.” He does such a fantastic job.
There is so much juggling to do because there are villains from all over Disney, you have Darth Vader and Thanos singing, and the Brothers Grimm line is classic Simpsons. How hard is it to make sure you fit everything in in such a short amount of time?
Al Jean: The Brothers Grimm one was one where we were trying to think of an ending. We pitched 20 lines, and this was one that I thought would be good. Jim Brooks liked it, so I was like, “Okay, now we’re going to make the short.” That was the key to getting it finished. And the goal is to pack as many as possible. We knew that Agatha was coming out all along, so we wanted to get Agatha in, who she is. And then the big ones – Loki, Thanos, Darth Vader – are all in it.
Jean had no idea Lisa Simpson had an end credit cameo in Agatha all along
“I was so surprised”
To this – because Lisa is in the end credits of Agatha all along–
Al Jin: I was so surprised. I looked at the award – I didn’t know it was in, someone approved it, I’m sure, but that made me so happy. I like the show anyway, so I was watching it on my own, and then, “Hey, we’re in it! Okay.”
Because Disney owns so much now, is there anything else you’d like to sneak The Simpsons If you have the opportunity?
Al Jin: All corners of the world. The biggest crazy thing for us [that] What we did was put Mickey in or have Goofy drink a beer with Homer. They didn’t used to do that kind of stuff, but they’re more open to it now, and we’re just happy to roam around the world. People at Star Wars, Pixar and Marvel have been fantastic at letting us use their characters, do stuff and cross over.
The new short could be the end of Sideshow Bob Rick Jokes
“Even I go, ‘Okay, maybe enough’.”
You mentioned Kelsey Grammer. I love Sideshow Bob, and Kelsey Grammer still eats the role. It looks like he’s having so much fun.
Al Jean: He’s been doing it for 35 years and, to my ears, sounds exactly the same as he did in the beginning – fantastic. [He’s] Always a pleasure to work with, as he was on this one. He couldn’t be better.
This is a special case, but so deep in the show, how hard is it to find ways to use the characters that are still fun and new while they are still. [true to] What people know and love?
Al Jean: With Kelsey and Sideshow Bob, I know people really love that character. We’ve gone through maybe 20 episodes that he’s been in, but we’re pretty sparing. This is one every other season. I really don’t want to use him or do anything unless I really think it’s something cool and [that] We didn’t do it before. And maybe this is the last time we’ll make a rake joke. We have done so many. Even I go, “Okay, maybe enough.”
Jean reflects on parody of Mary Poppins in The Simpsons season 8
The original writer “Probably Could Have Sued Us”
I used to buy CDs of songs from The Simpsons. Those songs are some of my favorite things from the show, and I know you wrote your fair share of them. Which, for you, is the thing that makes a Simpsons song work?
Al Jean: One of the episodes Mike Rees and I wrote was the Mary Poppins one, and when we had Barney – Dan Castellaneta – sing the “Feed the Birds” song, that blew me away during the reading. I heard that Richard Sherman (co-writer of the Mary Poppins Song) thought it was a great episode, which is good because he probably could have sued us. But he loves it, and that really got me because I love Mary Poppins songs so much.
Do you have a favorite musical number from the show?
Al Jean: I haven’t worked on it at all, but the best one is probably the Planet of the Apes one. I mean, the line about Chimpan-A to Chimpan-Z is just fantastic.
Jean embraces the Simpsons’ status as a Halloween institution
“It’s like Charlie Brown”
This short really celebrates The Simpsons‘ special place in the Halloween season, which I feel like it always has been thanks to “Treehouse of Horror”. As someone who was there from the beginning, are you surprised that The Simpsons Works so well with the time of year?
Al Jean: What I remember is when my daughter was young, another parent was like, “We have to get home to watch the new Simpsons Treehouse of Horror.” I thought, “Oh, there’s a thing. It’s like Charlie Brown was when I was a kid,” and that made me very happy.
The Simpsons Season 36 premiere was meant to prove that the show would go on
“We wanted to shut down further discussion about it”
I would like to ask about the season 36 premiere. The Simpsons It’s been so long, and this episode felt to me like a response to the people going, “Is it ever going to end? Should it end? If it ends, what’s next? Is there any kind of message that you’re all writing?” To you when you put it together?
Al Jin: That’s exactly it. It was written by Jessica Conrad and produced by Matt Selman. The idea is that we have been asked this question so many times [that] We wanted to close further discussion about it. It doesn’t come to the end, as far as I know, and that’s why it was the premiere – so that people wouldn’t think it was the last episode. And I thought we were able to make a lot of statements. A lot of statements were made in the show, which were very good, about the last episodes.
So the message is, “Stop asking. We’re good.”
Al Jin: I also think people expect the last episode of a show to answer all of life’s mysteries. [With] The Sopranos, which I thought had a brilliant last episode, people were like, “Wait, what does that mean?” I go, “Well, it’s a show and I think he’s dead, but it’s not going to answer all your questions about life.” The fact that you’re not sure – this is what life is like.
The secret to killing Simpsons characters is…
Get rid of someone who “hasn’t been on the show for 27 years”
The episode also brought back, for a second, Bleeding Gums Murphy and some characters that were gone. Are there any Simpsons Characters now around that maybe would be killed off at some point?
Al Jean: We, last week after the premiere, killed Nick the realtor from season nine in the “The Yellow Lotus” White Lotus parody. It’s kind of convenient because you have this thing like The White Lotus where you know someone is going to die, but it’s not going to be Dr. Hibbert and it won’t be Sideshow Bob. So, there’s a character — the guy Nick — but it’s also somebody who’s okay to lose because he hasn’t been on the show for 27 years.
About the Simpsons
The Simpsons is a long-running animated television series created by Matt Groening that satirically follows a working-class family in the misfit town of Springfield. Homer, a bit of a schmuck who works at a nuclear power plant, is the provider for his family, while his wife, Marge, tries to keep sanity and sanity in the house to the best of her ability. Bart is a born troublemaker, and Lisa is his super-intelligent sister who finds herself surrounded by people who can’t understand her. Finally, Maggie is the mysterious baby who acts as a deus ex machina when the series calls for it. The series first premiered in 1989 and has been a staple of Fox’s programming schedule ever since!
The Simpsons”The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” is now streaming on Disney+.