Talking Simpsons - Margical History Tour
Added 2025-03-19 04:00:03 +0000 UTC"All my life I was looking for that one woman whose execution could bring me happiness. Now I realize I was just beheading myself for divorcing you." - Homer Simpson (as Henry VIII)
Discover the magic of history and state-funded learning institutions as Marge leads us through three different tales from the past that may or may not be parodies of popular films from the 1980s.
Comments
This episode was the last straw for me. I remember any time I'd see The Simpsons on TV after this, I'd think of this episode and not want to watch. It's so disconnected from the family and Springfield that it's kind of a concentrated shot of what I didn't like about the show, and also its not funny at all! I jumped off exactly here. Homer The Vigilante is one of my favourite episodes, so I'm really surprised these are back to back! It just goes to show, The Simpsons didn't have a linear decline for some easy to point to reason. Great episodes are sitting right next to the very worst here in Season 15.
Tom Brien
2025-03-29 08:32:35 +0000 UTCHistory is awesome. I hope you wear more of your hat in here
nina matsumoto
2025-03-24 22:26:02 +0000 UTCHey guys, love the episode! I wanted to put on my History Knower hat for a second and clear up some common misconceptions about Henry VIII and his weight. While Bob is correct that Henry VIII spent much of his later life swollen with gout and covered in sores, his weight gain was not the result of rapaciousness or gluttony, two traits more closely associated with his grandfather, Edward IV. (Fun fact, it’s Edward IV, not Henry VIII who was the basis for Robert Baratheon in Game of Thrones.) Henry VIII was actually quite athletic as a young man and was noted for his love of sports, including running track and archery. However, his athleticism would be part of his undoing. Henry sustained a leg injury while jousting which later became infected and never fully healed properly. That injury contributed to his severe obesity. Henry’s obesity was also not the result of a social order where kings were expected to be lazy or gluttonous, it was actually the opposite: Henry VIII was only one generation removed from the time period where kings were expected to be capable warriors who personally commanded forces in battle, as his father did at Bosworth Field. The authority of kings was thought to derive in part from power and strength of their physical bodies, and their health reflected the health of their realms. While Henry had many of the vices that were common of rulers of his time period (shitty food, lots of wine, etc) he indulged in those vices *despite* people’s expectations of him, not *because* of them. History nerd hat off! Great ep!
Frank McDevitt
2025-03-24 15:03:26 +0000 UTCThe library I went to often when I was growing up always had the latest issues of Nintendo Power and every Encyclopedia Brown and Choose Your Own Adventure book so I loved the library. I still love libraries today so it saddened me to hear that Trump recently signed an Executive Order to dismantle the only Federal agency dedicated to funding library services, the Institute of Museum and Library Services. I hope that libraries and museums are able to survive the next four years of DOGE because it will be real shame if these valuable resources disappear so billionaires can have more money funneled to them.
Jason Lew
2025-03-24 14:38:37 +0000 UTCThe only time I can recall Lenny or Carl interacting with Lisa before is when Lenny asks her to play Classical gas during the strike in ‘Last exit to Springfield’.
Tyler Rampley
2025-03-22 15:39:22 +0000 UTCLisa calls snakes poisonous, but they're actually venomous. It annoys me so much when people do that. Almost as much as when people call Curious George a monkey. He's an APE dammit! Monkeys have tails!
Andrew O.
2025-03-20 12:22:44 +0000 UTCAre you gonna mention uk wiki simpsons on every episode?
Dan Hughes
2025-03-20 12:13:50 +0000 UTCGo see an opera, both of you! If you take action in the next few months, you both get Puccini. https://www.seattleopera.org/performances-events/tosca-2025/ https://www.vancouveropera.ca/whats-on/Butterfly/
Mike Mariano
2025-03-20 05:28:24 +0000 UTCYes, finally seeing Animal House and learning Homer’s song was real was a revelation.
Mike Mariano
2025-03-20 05:23:20 +0000 UTCDivorce rates fell during Covid (2020-2021) because of economic insecurity, not same sex marriage. in fact, many people became entrapped in shitty relationships because of cost/difficulty moving
notsmohqe
2025-03-19 23:51:59 +0000 UTCAs a baseball nerd I had to comment about that deleted Ron Santo joke. He was considered a really good but unspectacular player in his day, but after his career was he was championed by baseball nerds and early sabermetricians (think Jonah Hill in Moneyball) like Bill James, because he excelled in a lot of areas that were usually overlooked like getting on base a lot via the walk, hitting for power over pure batting average, and being a really good defensive third basemen. So in fact, he had many seasons where he was Chicago's best player, and even rivaled legends like Willie Mays and Hank Aaron for a few seasons. For the last decade of his life he was considered one of the Hall of Fame's biggest snubs, which made it a very bittersweet occasion when he was finally elected in one year after he had already passed away. So while he was deservedly inducted, he did not get to celebrate it, and it is still one of the more contentious moments in Cooperstown's history.
Super Engine
2025-03-19 23:02:34 +0000 UTCR.E.M. - Well, everybody poops sometimes Everybody wipes Everybody poops, sometimes And everybody poops sometimes
mavrick
2025-03-19 21:53:11 +0000 UTCI also shared it in the Discord, but I can't hear Mozart and not immediately have the old Nickelodeon Looney Tunes promo pop into my head. There was also a different variation for the Nick at Night Looney Tunes promo spot, but the daily one is the one I remember most because when am I not sick and tired of doing grownup stuff? It was probably around the time this episode aired, but novelty type shops carried this John Belushi doll that was motion activated and would play a terribly distorted version of the "Animal House" song. If you think that song sounds terrible now, imagine it through a tiny, cheap, speaker that's somehow really loud. I hated that thing as it seemed like every record store carried it and left it on a demo mode that responded to motion activation. I imagine the employees for those stores hated it more than I did.
Joe Hodgson
2025-03-19 20:48:43 +0000 UTCI live in Eugene, Oregon (coincidentally where 'Animal House' was filmed), and can attest to the wet weather. Also, the city is named after white settler, Eugene Skinner. Prior to being officially named Eugene, the settlement was known as "Skinner's Mud Hole", so despite 'The Simpsons' making fun of the city's name, Eugene is an improvement.
Brandon
2025-03-19 20:21:16 +0000 UTCI used the libary all the time to check out films that otherwise I would have to pay to rent through streaming.
Luke Gordnier
2025-03-19 18:16:59 +0000 UTCActually all opera is Italian, named after the region. Otherwise it is sparkling white musicals.
Seth
2025-03-19 16:41:33 +0000 UTCI have never actually seen Animal House, so I had no idea there was actually an "Animal House. House House." song. I had always thought Louie Louie was the only piece of music associated with it. Growing up, I'd assumed Homer was remembering a song that didn't actually exist and making it up on the spot, which I think made it funnier.
Blake R.
2025-03-19 16:29:45 +0000 UTCLois and Clark was first broadcast on BBC1 in the U.K. 😎
Alistair Shand aka Bongo
2025-03-19 16:29:38 +0000 UTC
