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There's so many jokes in vintage Simpsons episodes that I can't understand how they were even written. They can't have made sense on paper. The writing was amaz
by tootie 6y ago
There's so many jokes in vintage Simpsons episodes that I can't understand how they were even written. They can't have made sense on paper. The writing was amazing but so was the cast and the writers had to have so much faith that putting a stage direction Homer shrugs and grunts would be devastating at the right moment. It can't be understated how big an impact they had. Every show, even non-comedy, has borrowed inflections and phrases from 90s Simpsons.
- helipad 6y agoIf anything the jokes of the vintage years have got better with age. Not only because I understood the cultural references or occasional 'adult' jokes more, but also because of the layers to a joke. Like many Pixar movies, the same gag can make you laugh in different ways as a kid, as a know-it-all young adult, and as a middle aged person.
- Taylor_OD 6y agoThey were written and then endlessly workshopped to increase the number of jokes per minute. I believe the goal was 6 per minute during early seasons of the Simpsons. Obviously that is really hard to do and its fallen out of style.
- germinalphrase 6y agoIt is still fairly common advice in stand-up to keep the jokes coming every 7-10 seconds.
- swader999 6y agoBecause animation takes so long to produce there's a lot of time to polish and dial the jokes.
- fartcannon 6y agoVery few cartoons are broadcast live. It's a terrible strain on the animators' wrists.
- swader999 6y agoThey just need to use both arms.
- dec0dedab0de 6y agoIn high school my friends and I would discuss during the commercials to see what jokes each of us were laughing at, because we knew it would be different.
- anamexis 6y agoI learned from this interview that The Simpsons are what popularized the word "meh." I had no idea that it was not a common word before this.
- tootie 6y agoThis is probably the quintessential example of what I'm talking about. I was actually surprised to learn they didn't coin it themselves. It's not even a word, but it has so much meaning. It's an entire mood and everyone knows what it means. Lisa says it to Homer in an offhand exchange. It's not even a joke but I will never not laugh at it.
- comprambler 6y agoThe hullabalooza episode in reference to the younger generation being apathetic to the world. (Neither Highs nor Lows)
- rekwah 6y agoIt's a perfectly cromulent word.
- vlunkr 6y agoAlso the word "yoink" I think.
- legitster 6y agoMy favorite is Mr. Burns answering the phone "ahoy-hoy". It's funny on so many levels, and it requires an amazingly esoteric bit of knowledge in a time before it was easy to find that kind of stuff on the internet.
- davidw 6y ago"Alexander Graham Bell originally suggested 'ahoy' be adopted as the standard greeting when answering a telephone, before 'hello' (suggested by Thomas Edison) became common." - from the Wikipedia page on 'Ahoy'.
- mbreese 6y agoWhen the joke was first made (Mr. Burns using the phrase), it wasn't "common" knowledge, but it was a known thing. Like one of the "fun facts" you'd find on a cereal box, or in between segments of a TV show, or as a Jeopardy question. I remember seeing the episode and understanding the joke... it was just meant to make Mr. Burns appear *really* old. Maybe I just had a ton of useless/esoteric knowledge as a kid -- that's likely too.
- djitz 6y agoI answered the phone by saying ahoy-hoy for years as a kid. I loved Mr. Burns’ random antiquated phrases