From "South Park" to "Family Guy," we're diving into the most hilarious and memorable times other shows have poked fun at, paid homage to, or referenced "The Simpsons." Get ready for a wild ride through animated comedy history that proves just how influential Springfield's favorite family has been!
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Oh, come on! Is every adult in this show a moron?
00:04Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at instances where other shows referenced, parodied, and paid homage to The Simpsons.
00:11Oh, this Springfield place seems nice. We should visit here again.
00:14I don't know, Lois, this seems like a one-shot deal.
00:16Number 20, hooray for North Hollywood Part 1, Animaniacs.
00:20If you want to make it in showbiz, having a few famous friends doesn't hurt.
00:24Even if you don't have any well-known contacts, this shouldn't stop you from doing the schmooze.
00:29You gotta do the schmooze, or else you'll wind up being yesterday's news.
00:33You gotta schmooze them while you're talking PR from the phone in your car.
00:37Yakko, Wacko, and Dot name-drop several A-listers in this song, although only one is a fellow tune.
00:43As Dot brags about suggesting that the eldest Simpsons child be named Bart, a familiar hairdo wanders across the screen.
00:49And on the Simpsons you suggested that they call the kid Bart!
00:52Of course, this boy has eight spikes instead of nine, avoiding any copyright lawsuits.
00:57Getting Bart to cameo probably wouldn't have been that hard since Nancy Cartwright also voices Mindy.
01:02In reality, Matt Groening conceived the name Bart as an anagram of brat.
01:06Dot might bend the truth, but that's how you do the schmooze.
01:09Word Bart, if you rearrange the letters, is brat, and that's what Bart is.
01:13Number 19, the making of 101 Dalmatians the series.
01:18The Simpsons delivered one of their funniest Disney send-ups with the episode Two Dozen and One Greyhounds.
01:23Wow, 25 puppies!
01:30An army of dogs!
01:32Whether intentional or not, 101 Dalmatians the series would bring things full circle three years later.
01:39In this quote-unquote behind-the-scenes episode, the Dalmatians list several potential angles they considered for the series.
01:45One included a primetime satire that recreates the Simpsons living room to a T.
01:50Lucky, Cadpig, and Rolly model themselves after Bart, Lisa, and Maggie for a couch gag.
02:05Unfortunately, there isn't enough room on the couch for the other puppies, causing the couch to fall through the floor.
02:11This parody could actually pass as a legitimate Simpsons couch gag.
02:15All that's missing is a song about seeing Mr. Burns' vest.
02:18See my vest, see my vest, made from real gorilla chest.
02:24Feel this sweater, there's no better than authentic Irish setter.
02:28Number 18, retrace your steppalizer, Solar Opposites.
02:32In the season one finale of the sci-fi sitcom, Terry and Corvo reminisce about the wacky shenanigans they've gotten into since arriving on Earth.
02:39We had no idea what we were in for.
02:42No, Terry, we spent so much time on Earth pretending to be a family, I didn't even notice when we actually became one.
02:47While some of these memories call back to past episodes, we hear about a few others for the first time.
02:52Namely, the Solar Opposites and the Simpsons went head-to-head with the Monstars on the basketball court.
02:57What about when we teamed up with the Simpsons for a game against the Monstars from Space Jam?
03:00Homer, Bart, and Marge were all present.
03:03Although, it looks like the Solar Opposites did most of the hard work, with Terry wearing Michael Jordan's number.
03:08Man, why couldn't this have been the plot to Space Jam A New Legacy?
03:11Or at least gotten its own episode?
03:13In a way, though, not knowing how this team-up came to fruition makes the joke funnier.
03:22No cartoon is safe in this animated reality show.
03:25The Simpsons was an obvious target, with the characters occasionally popping up in the background.
03:30The most savage example occurred in season two, with Bart and Lisa's skeletons being found between the ceiling and attic floor.
03:36As if that wasn't gruesome enough, a live-action cow terrorizes Springfield in the same episode.
03:43It's worth noting that Connecticut is canonized as the state Springfield is located in, at least as far as this universe is concerned.
03:56This clever in-joke is easy to miss, as we cut to the mayhem the mad cow has unleashed upon the Simpson household.
04:02Don't have a cow, man.
04:04No, seriously, we want nothing to do with this cow.
04:07Also, did Bart die twice?
04:14And now, he's my best friend.
04:20During the network's infancy, two suburban sitcoms helped shape the Fox network's edgy identity.
04:25The Simpsons and Married with Children.
04:27You should be more like the optometrist who looks at his pants and thinks they're half full.
04:34Get her out of here, Peg, right now.
04:36Both centered on families with smart-aleck children, a beautiful matriarch, and a patriarch who isn't especially bright.
04:42The most apparent difference is that one show was animated while the other was live-action.
04:46That didn't stop Married with Children from treating Al Bundy like a cartoon character.
04:51In season 7, Peggy draws a character named Mr. Empty Pants, who resembles Al.
04:56Peggy tells him to embrace his newfound fame, although Al insists he isn't a cartoon like Homer Simpson.
05:01So come on, honey, be like Homer Simpson and go.
05:07I'm not a cartoon, I'm almost a human being, damn it.
05:10The Simpsons writers took plenty of shots at the Bundys, but we wonder if they had this episode in mind when Bart created Angry Dad.
05:21Is there really a problem with Apu?
05:23Wherever you stand on the debate, Hank Azaria hasn't voiced the Quickie Mart proprietor since 2017.
05:29Almost a decade earlier, Howard Wolowitz gave his two cents.
05:32Raj goes out with Penny on what may or may not be a date.
05:36I'm just gonna sit around here and mope while Penny is out with Dr. Apu from the Quickie Mart?
05:41Howard encourages Leonard to not stand idly by while Penny is out with Dr. Apu, drawing the parallel since Raj is also from India.
05:48When Leonard finds the comment offensive, Howard responds with the argument that white people typically make.
05:53Apu is a cherished Simpsons character. How can the comparison be racist?
05:57It's not a date and that's racist.
06:00It can't be racist, he's a beloved character on The Simpsons.
06:03If The Simpsons ever decides to bring back Apu, maybe actor Kunal Nayyar should be considered as a replacement.
06:09Just don't ask Howard to do his Indian accent.
06:22Harvard University is known for three things.
06:25Law school graduates who are still paying off their student loans,
06:28tech-savvy dropouts who will likely become richer than those with a diploma,
06:31and Simpsons writers.
06:33This in-joke carried over to one of the shows that followed The Simpsons, Arrested Development.
06:42When Michael Bluth finds out that Maggie is supposedly carrying the child of a Harvard graduate,
06:47he assumes the father is some, quote, geek Simpsons writer.
06:50After Michael relays this story to his sister Lindsay, she remarks that not every Simpsons writer is necessarily a geek.
06:56Well, first of all, I'm sure there are writers on The Simpsons who aren't geeks.
07:00She doesn't refute the assumption that most of them are from Harvard, however.
07:03Hey, egghead! Sing Fair Harvard!
07:06Fair Harvard I...
07:12The Simpsons once claimed that Stan Smith plagiarized Peter Griffin, who in turn ripped off Homer.
07:18The American Dad writers naturally did not take this lying down.
07:22As the show approached its 100th episode,
07:24Roger the Alien threw shade at the whole Maggie shot Mr. Burns twist.
07:27Tonight we're gonna find out who shot Mr. Burns.
07:31What? 15 years ago? Who was it?
07:34Really? The baby?
07:36At the same time, there's clearly an appreciation for The Simpsons among the American Dad crew.
07:41This is reflected in another episode where Hayley and Steve go into the fake ID business.
07:45One of their clients is someone named Mike Roche.
07:48You might think that sounds like one of the fake names Bart would use to call Moe's Tavern.
07:52Okay, next ID is ready. Mike Roche? I'm looking for Mike Roche?
07:58That's because Bart is the one behind this, taking time off from pranking Moe to get back at the Smiths.
08:07Despite not being animated, Dinosaurs was often grouped with The Simpsons
08:11as one of the more high-concept family sitcoms to debut around this time.
08:15The comparison was not lost on either crew.
08:18In 1992, The Simpsons watched a show resembling Dinosaurs,
08:21mentioning how it closely resembles their lives.
08:24It's like they saw our lives and put it right up on screen.
08:27The Dinosaurs writers pushed back the following year as Earl Sinclair watches TV,
08:31noticing how virtually every half-hour comedy is about an idiotic father.
08:35This is why TV stinks. One show's a hit, they make 50 more like it with the same characters and the same premise.
08:42Earl argues that they're just making the same show over and over.
08:46Baby Sinclair responds with a catchphrase he most likely got from one of those shows.
08:53It's not as if the sitcom tropes started with The Simpsons or Dinosaurs.
08:57Decades later, they're still showing no signs of going extinct.
09:10We may never know for sure what state The Simpsons live in, but Matt Groening is originally from Oregon.
09:15Groening revisits his roots in this episode of Portlandia, but he isn't back in Oregon for pleasure.
09:25It's business as Groening pursues legal action against Spike for knockoff Bart Simpson t-shirts with a character named Bart Scompson.
09:32We hope we're pronouncing that right.
09:35While Groening is usually lenient about bootleg merchandise,
09:38he takes offense concerning the shoddiness of the shirts and how horrible the pun is.
09:46The case seems open and shut until a surprise witness is called, the real Bart Simpson who inspired Groening and Spike.
09:52This Bart is all grown up now, although he still sounds like Nancy Cartwright.
10:04A parody within another parody, this Robot Chicken sketch sees journalist Pat O'Brien of The Insider
10:09giving his viewers the latest scoop on several shows, including The Simpsons.
10:15Governor Rupert Murdoch fired Simpsons creator Matt Groening and promises same show, brand new attitude this season.
10:32Feeling that the series has become too liberal, Rupert Murdoch gives it a Fox News attitude.
10:37When Apu lashes out at Homer for calling french fries freedom fries, Homeland Security busts in and arrests the resident Quickie Mark clerk.
10:44The Simpsons enjoy a red, white and yellow barbecue while Apu is chained up.
10:55Hopefully someone out there is making a documentary about Apu's problematic incarceration.
10:59And this wouldn't be the last time these two animated universes collided.
11:03The Robot Chicken gang has contributed to multiple Simpsons couch gags,
11:07once going full stop-motion and later mixing different animation styles.
11:14Eww, cheap PVC smell. Oh no, I'm an action figure and I hate action.
11:25With yellow skin, overbites and four fingers on each hand, The Simpsons would admittedly look rather off-putting if they existed in our world.
11:32If anything, they'd seem less like humans and more like paranormal creatures.
11:45Dad!
11:46Sorry, buggy boy, but this is war!
11:49The real Ghostbusters even poked fun at their odd appearances in this episode.
11:52Coming back from vacation, the Ghostbusters are appalled to find that their headquarters has been taken over by a ghostly yellow family
11:58that's clearly modeled after The Simpsons, as well as the Bundys from Married... with Children.
12:03Of course, the grungy family is far more grotesque with misshapen slug-like bodies.
12:09The grungies eventually decide to relocate, although it's uncertain where they'll go next.
12:13It's impossible to get any peace and quiet around here!
12:16Mom, you've got something to say, remember?
12:20Well, you did kind of save my kid. Guess I should... thank you.
12:26Maybe Maude Flanders has a room for rent in the afterlife? Too soon?
12:30But I've been wondering if your decision to take Maude was... well, wrong.
12:35Unless this is part of your divine plan. Could you just give me some kind of sign?
12:43Anything!
12:46And after all that church chocolate I bought...
12:52Well, that's a clip from the new remake of Pride of the Yankees.
12:56The studio changed the ending because test audiences thought this one was nicer.
13:01Well, let me tell you, life is not all happy endings, and you're mature enough to know the tru-
13:07The Critic was an all-too-short-lived animated series created by Al Jean and Mike Reese,
13:13who served as co-showrunners for The Simpsons season 3 and 4.
13:17Jean returned as showrunner in season 13, holding the position ever since.
13:21You might remember Jay Sherman from such crossovers as A Star is Burns,
13:25which saw The Critic drop by Springfield for a film festival.
13:29Goodbye, Mr. Sherman. If I ever play Carnegie Hall, I'll give you a call.
13:33And if you ever want to visit my show...
13:36While The Simpsons never came to visit Jay, The Critic did allude to them multiple times.
13:41In this meta moment, Geraldo Rivera claims that Jay's references always go over his viewers' heads.
13:46Jay responds with an obscure reference, frustrating a family watching at home.
13:50The family changes the channel to Homer stepping on a rake and Bart saying a catchphrase,
13:55which is more their speed.
13:57First of all, it's been said that you talk over the heads of your audience.
14:01Well, Geraldo, to quote the last line of Gargantua and Pantagruel...
14:08They curb violence, but they allow this.
14:21This Garfield segment borrows a page from Duck Amuck,
14:24a classic Warner Bros. short in which the animator toys with Daffy Duck's reality.
14:28Hey, psst! Whoever's in charge here!
14:32The scenery! Where's the scenery?
14:40Stand back, musketeers! They shall sample... my... blade?
14:45Aside from paying homage to the Looney Tunes,
14:47this episode also makes commentary on animation's increasing reliance on computers.
14:51When Garfield is digitized, he goes through a few different simulations,
14:55parodying He-Man, Muppet Babies, and various other cartoons that were popular at the time.
15:00Just when Garfield thinks he couldn't possibly look worse,
15:03he's given spiky hair and bulging eyes a la Bart Simpson.
15:07This is as bad as I could possibly look.
15:11I was wrong. This is worse.
15:16As far as Garfield is concerned, this is a new low.
15:19He probably would have felt more comfortable in scratchy skin.
15:22I brought you more lasagna, cousin.
15:30It took almost a decade and a half for the Simpsons and Futurama
15:33to have a full-blown crossover on the small screen.
15:37Don't drink my loved ones!
15:40Bite my shiny metal ass!
15:42A robot with a catchphrase!
15:44Of course, both Matt Groening shows had already referenced each other several times before.
15:48In the case of Futurama, the funniest instance comes in season one
15:52when the Planet Express crew lands on a massive ball of garbage heading for Earth.
15:56Fry couldn't be more excited upon spotting a pile of discarded Bart Simpson dolls.
16:00With Nancy Cartwright providing the voice,
16:02one of the dolls says Bart's iconic eat my shorts catchphrase,
16:05which Bender takes literally.
16:07Look, a real beanie baby!
16:09Oh, a Mr. Spot collector's plate!
16:12Some Bart Simpson dolls!
16:19This is actually a clever send-up of all the merchandise
16:22spawned from Bartmania during the early 90s.
16:24We guess the unsold Bart products had to go somewhere.
16:28You always have them to remind you of the time
16:30when you were the whole world's special little guy.
16:33Thanks, Mom.
16:34And now you can go back to just being you
16:36instead of a one-dimensional character with a silly catchphrase.
16:41Ay caramba!
16:48While this Tiny Toons episode primarily satirizes SNL,
16:51the guest host is unmistakably a Bart Simpson caricature,
16:55albeit with purple skin instead of yellow.
16:57Thanks, man. I'm Blard Simpleton.
17:00You know, I was nervous about doing this show,
17:02but hey, I've been working in cartoons all my life,
17:05so what's the big deal?
17:07Like Bart, Blard Simpleton is from an animated show
17:10that's fairly grounded in reality.
17:12Blard is in for a rude awakening when he arrives on the Tiny Toons set
17:16where characters are blown up, eaten alive, and maimed on a regular basis.
17:21Unfortunately for Blard, he cannot renege on his hosting duties,
17:24and ultimately winds up falling through the stage with the rest of the cast.
17:28Blard is voiced by Tress McNeil, who also voiced Babs Bunny.
17:32Funnily enough, another episode saw Babs impersonating Marge, Bart, and Maggie.
17:37I know. Let's all have some cupcakes. Yummy and nutritious.
17:43Cupcakes. Cool, man.
17:48Even more fitting, McNeil has also voiced various supporting players on The Simpsons.
17:53I collect pictures of cakes that I clip out of the magazines.
17:57It all started in 1941, when Good Housekeeping featured a photo of a lovely cake.
18:03You wouldn't happen to have any real cakes around here, would you?
18:06Oh my, no. I don't care for cake. Too sweet.
18:14Founded by former husband and wife Arlene Klasky and Gabor Chupo,
18:17Klasky-Chupo provided the animation for the original Simpsons shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show.
18:22Fresh chocolate chip cookies.
18:25Don't touch those yet. They're very, very hot.
18:30Aha. No one's around. The perfect crime.
18:36The company also produced the first three seasons of The Simpsons,
18:39before branching out with shows like Duckman.
18:41The Duckman crew made a couple of allusions to their Simpsons roots,
18:44most notably in this episode.
18:46After cracking a haunting case, Duckman and Cornfed are rewarded with doughnuts.
18:50Doughnuts?
18:51At least there's one thing we can be grateful for. There's no such thing as ghosts.
18:59They're suddenly confronted by what appears to be a real ghost,
19:02which turns out to just be Homer under a bedsheet.
19:04Dan Castellaneta himself cameos as Homer,
19:07and even recycles a line from an old Tracey Ullman short.
19:11The perfect crime.
19:17What the hell are you staring at?
19:19The episode was nominated for a Primetime Emmy,
19:21although it ironically lost to The Simpsons.
19:29On a journey through the airwaves,
19:30Timmy Turner inserts himself into numerous parodies of classic cartoons.
19:39One of the shows Timmy enters is called The Feldmans,
19:42which commences with a faithful recreation of The Simpsons intro.
19:45Following a chalkboard gag,
19:46Timmy darts out of detention with Cosmo serving as a skateboard.
19:55I don't understand. Why would Vicky run in here?
19:58This is the longest running animated show on television!
20:01Timmy encounters a handful of residents inspired by Springfield locals,
20:04such as Krusty the Clown, Ned Flanders and Barney Gumbel.
20:08Vicky, meanwhile, steals from El Barto's book,
20:10vandalizing the nuclear power plant.
20:13An ensuing accident turns the Barney look-alike into a radioactive man.
20:17Even with these newfound powers,
20:19he's still drawn to this universe's equivalent of Moe's.
20:22Also, Alec Baldwin voices future Timmy,
20:25and we assume he's happy to be far away from Homer.
20:39These two shows have made fun of each other so much
20:41that we've actually given the topics their own lists.
20:43But this list would not be complete
20:45without us at least mentioning this crossover episode,
20:48in which the Griffins happen upon Springfield.
20:56At first, The Simpsons and Griffins get along great given their similarities.
21:00They prove too similar, however,
21:02as Homer accuses Peter's favorite beer of being a duff imitator.
21:12Hell, I work for the company. It's my livelihood.
21:14Oh, yeah? Well, your livelihood is based on fraud.
21:17Look at this.
21:18Huh?
21:20While the Family Guy writers take just as many shots at themselves,
21:23they also aren't afraid to bring up the fatigue
21:25Simpsons fans started experiencing during the later seasons.
21:28This culminates with a giant chicken fight,
21:30minus the chicken, between Homer and Peter.
21:32Don't expect the Simpsons to have an extended stay in Quahog anytime soon.
21:42Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel
21:45and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
21:48You have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them.
21:52If you're on your phone, make sure you go into your settings
21:55and switch on notifications.
22:01In his hopeless pursuit of world domination,
22:03Butters is annoyed that his best ideas have already been done on The Simpsons.
22:08No?
22:09Simpsons did it. They did it, episode 204.
22:11Matt Stone and Trey Parker know how Butters feels,
22:14as they've also come up with several great ideas,
22:16only to find that The Simpsons beat them to it.
22:18A notable example came in season 6,
22:20when they planned to have Cartman block out the sun.
22:23Reportedly, even while filming,
22:25the sun was still too bright for the Simpsons to see.
22:28So, they decided to use the sun as a backdrop.
22:31The sun was too bright for the Simpsons to see.
22:33So, they decided to use the sun as a backdrop.
22:36Reportedly, even while writing this episode,
22:38it was brought to their attention that a subplot involving sea people
22:41worshipping Cartman mirrored a Treehouse of Horror storyline.
23:02This coincidence brought everything together in the end, however,
23:04as Butters learns that it's okay if The Simpsons did something first.
23:07Besides, South Park would rather invite comparison to The Simpsons than Family Guy.
23:17What's your favorite Simpsons send-up?
23:19Let us know in the comments.
23:34Don't forget to like and subscribe!