Highlights
- The Simpsons includes mature jokes and hidden references that went over the heads of young viewers.
- Characters like Mr. Burns and Mayor Quimby make jokes that reference historical events and political figures.
- The show subtly addresses sensitive topics like sexuality through characters like Waylon Smithers.
The Simpsons is a TV show celebrated for being the first of its kind. It is a prime-time animated show that can be enjoyed by both kids and adults. The sharp writing meant that the show had many layers. Children can watch Bart and the other kids in Springfield and enjoy their various pranks, while adults identify with Homer, Marge, and the other grown-up problems displayed in the series.
However, the writers also have to be careful when writing some of the more mature jokes. Some of them may be a bit too much for the ears of young children, so most of these are hidden in discrete references or blink-and-you’ll-miss-it humor. As such, viewers of The Simpsons are now discovering various jokes that went over their heads when they were kids.
6 How Mr. Burns Answers The Phone
The Joke Is Secretly Referencing How Old He Is
In The Simpsons, Mr. Burns is Homer’s boss and is depicted as being much older than the other characters in Springfield. His true age is always fluctuating depending on the writer at the time, but a few jokes and flashbacks in Burn’s life indicate that he is over one hundred years old. This joke is furthered by the fact that he always answers the phone by saying “Ahoy-Hoy.” To kids, this greeting is just some funny words, but most adults will know the real meaning.
When the telephone was invented in 1876, its creator, Alexander Graham Bell, initially wanted people to answer the phone and say Ahoy instead of hello. Therefore, this running joke just shows that Mr. Burns is so old that he remembers a time before the invention of the telephone.
5 Japanese Banquet
George Bush Senior Jokes Get Political
During its early years, The Simpsons largely stayed away from overt political satire. However, that all changed in season seven’s “Two Bad Neighbors,” as former President George Bush and his wife moved into the house opposite the Simpson family. George Bush Senior was the President at the time The Simpsons first aired in 1989, and he wasn’t shy about sharing his distaste for the show during his presidential run. As such, this episode was seen as a great excuse to have Homer and Bush come to blows.
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The episode mostly plays out as normal with a few silly jokes about the pair’s feud, but one joke in the episode is likely to go over the heads of many young children. In an argument with Homer, George Bush loudly proclaims that he is going to “ruin him like he ruins a Japanese banquet.” Anyone familiar with politics will know that this line is in direct reference to the time the President was ill on a visit to Japan in 1992, and so had to be sick at one of their banquets. It is doubtful that any child watching the show in 1996 would have been aware of this faux pas.
4 Pulp Fiction
Things Get Dark In This Movie Reference
The season 7 episode of The Simpsons, “22 Short Films About Springfield,” is supposed to be a mix of short films that show the lives of various members of Springfield. This episode was a rousing success, with skits showing Skinner hosting lunch for Superintendent Chalmers, and Lisa getting gum stuck in her hair. However, one of the longer-running jokes in the episode follows Chief Wiggum as he tries to apprehend Snake. The pair end up in Herman’s Antiques, and this is where one of the darker film parodies in the show takes place.
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Herman kidnaps the two of them by tying them up and putting gags in their mouths. The finished image is very similar to a scene in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, only the older fans of the show know it didn’t work out so well for the characters in that movie. Fortunately, most kids will not understand the bleakness of this reference, and Milhouse does show up to lessen the tension of the scene.
3 Mayor Quimby’s Translation
The Mayor Welcomes The Germans In The Wrong Way
Every fan of The Simpsons knows that Mayor Quimby is a direct parody of former president JFK. His speech patterns and mannerisms make him the perfect allegory for the man. However, there was one time when the writers used the mayor to parody the former President further.
In the season three episode, “Burns Verkaufen der Kraftwerk,” the nuclear power plant is bought by some German investors. In an effort to welcome the new owners, Mayor Quimby says “Ich bin ein Springfielder.” To this, Homer says “Mmm Jelly Donut,” in reference to the time Kennedy wanted to say he loved Berlin when he visited the city, but accidentally said that he loves donuts.
2 Otto’s Habits
The Storefront Lable Is Misleading
Otto Mann is the Springfield Elementary School bus driver. While The Simpsons normally stays away from overt drug references, this character’s burnout personality often lets the writers experiment with this kind of humor.
One of the most obvious examples of this is when the Simpson family visits a shop in the season eight episode, “A Milhouse Divided,” called Stoner’s Pot Palace. Since the family is there to buy pottery for a dinner party, most children won’t think anything strange about the store’s name. However, a disappointed Otto leaving the shop and complaining that the sign was “flagrant false advertising” is enough to suggest to adults that the character thought that the shop sold something else.
1 Smithers Jokes and Innuendos
This Character’s Sexuality Was Not A Mystery To Grown Ups Back In The Day
The early 1990s were a very different time. It wasn’t so commonplace to see openly gay men on TV, so The Simpsons writers had to be subversive about the sexuality of Mr. Burns’ assistant, Waylon Smithers. Every so often, there would be a joke about the character’s sexuality, whether that be having a naked Mr. Burns as his screensaver, dreaming about his boss flying in his room at night, or loudly proclaiming that “women and seamen don’t mix” in a Halloween segment set on a boat.
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These jokes and references prevented young children from laughing at someone for being gay, but adults could enjoy the subtle innuendos. While Smithers being a gay character started out as a joke, the show has moved on to embrace this part of the character. In the new seasons, Waylon Smithers has had several openly gay relationships with men and is even married at this point.
