S1E7: The Call of the Simpsons
MARGE: His name isn't Bigfoot. His name is Homer.
I missed something in my review of Bart the General.
I missed lots of things actually. Already tiring of the time-suck a daily episode + review is having on my life, I wasn’t going to add to the workload by reading imdb pages and wikis. Sure, production notes are interesting BUT I wouldn’t be leaning on them until the episodes get especially dry. Looking at you Season Ten.
It’s a slippery slope. You start reading context, and then suddenly you’re reading other reviews. You’re probably almost definitely reading better reviews. They cloud your judgement, but more importantly, hurt your ego.
Plus, it’s not about delivering the best product. It’s about delivering a product.
I’d much rather burn words lamenting that I won’t waste time researching than waste time researching.
Here’s what I missed specifically in the review.
Bart the General was the first episode written by John Swartzwelder.
The Call of the Simpsons is the second one.
Let’s talk about John.
John wrote 59 episodes of The Simpsons (the most anyone has ever written). His skill as a comedy writer is the stuff of legends, a reputation only deepened by his eccentric and reclusive behaviour.
John used to be a copywriter, a trait I greatly admire. As a fellow copywriter, ‘used to be a copywriter’ has always been my dream.
Here’s how funny he is: I have no idea where to start. Which is fine, because we’ll be talking about John more. In at least, 47 more reviews.
So I’m just going to steal a line from this interview he gave with the New Yorker.
Swartzwelder’s specialty on “The Simpsons” was conjuring dark characters from a strange, old America: banjo-playing hobos, cigarette-smoking ventriloquist dummies, nineteenth-century baseball players, rat-tailed carnival children, and pantsless, singing old-timers.
The immediate parallel is with Norm McDonald, whose ‘Shaggy dog stories’ had an air of American folk legend to them. McDonald, Swartzwelder, Mark Twain: strange bedfellows.
In Call of the Simpsons, we have the first of Swartzwelder’s ‘dark characters’ in the smooth-talking, drawling-cadenced Cowboy Bob, an RV salesman voiced by Albert Brooks. (Unless you consider arms dealer Hermann from ‘Bart the General’ classically American, which, as I write this line, I realise he is.)
In a pretty good episode, just the peculiar delivery of Bob’s lines (rather, the brilliant marriage of Swartzwelder’s technical ability and Brook’s talent) is a clear standout.
There’s a wit in John’s writing that goes beyond his jokes. Not that the jokes in Call of the Wild aren’t great.
It’s his holistic storytelling ability, I think, which speaks to his genius. The pace at which the story develops is unexpected yet believable.
Homer envies Ned, so he buys an RV. Because he has an RV, they go into the wild. Because they’re in the wild, they have to fend for themselves. Because they’re fending for themselves Homer steals some honey, he’s attacked by bees, he submerges himself in mud (because of the bees) and because he’s covered in mud and rambling people think he’s Bigfoot. Because people think he’s Bigfoot, Homer is hunted down and captured.
Meanwhile, Maggie is raised by a family of bears! Fun!
Each beat is enjoyably unexpected but compelling in its feasibility. It’s a lot better than just a “Homer envies Ned” episode.
Chalkboard Gag: “I will not draw naked ladies in class”.
Couch Gag: …they all just sit on the couch. Funny stuff.