Secrets of a Successful Joke Part I

So we all know that The Simpsons is the funniest show to ever air on TV. But what makes a joke on the show make you laugh so hysterically? Is it a quick sight gag, a long monologue or just a quick reference? For this certain segment I will look at one of my favorite jokes in the series and say why I think it works so well as a gag.

Just the sight of seeing Homer in the tattered rags is enough to get me in stitches. On one hand the drawing of his clothes is just hilarious and just the fact that we know they've only been separated for a day and already Homer has been driven to this desperation. It's great. But other than that the joke uses old Simpsons jokes or cliches if you will and flips them on their head. The scene itself is very self referential because Marge is driving along the road and sees things that remind her of Homer a la Life on the Fast Lane. Most of these places have hilarious names themselves but where the joke really takes off is in the skewering of the "in the head" talk the Simpsons pioneered. Most of the time characters while making a crucial decision go through multiple thoughts/cuts to other peoples thoughts i.e Marge driving to Ogdenville in Marge Simpson vs. the Monorail. But in this scene it is Homer himself talking like the voices in Marge's head trying to convince her to take him back. He even does the drawn out voice "you mean I'm going to be a daddy" to further make it seem like Marge herself is thinking these things. Marge of course realizes that it is not her thinking that and throws Homer out of the car. Homer falling out of the car is a nice piece of slapstick Homer. it is nicely done slapstick because it is really short and shows no real damage to Homer unlike modern episodes which would drag out Homer's pain. As Bart would say "that is funny for so many reasons".

I will probably do a few more of these over the course of this blog. This one was just a test run to see if I could write a stupid enough piece to post it. hahahah