Bart Carny
From Simpsons Wiki
"Bart Carny" is the twelfth episode of the ninth season of the The Simpsons. Beginning with its second airing on May 30th, this episode features an end card with the dedication, "In Loving Memory of Phil Hartman." Hartman had died two days prior. The same dedication can be seen at the end of "Bart the Mother".
Contents |
Plot
When Marge unsuccessfully tries to get the kids to clean up the backyard, Homer runs into the house to exclaim to the family that the carnival is in town. After trying all the fun rides (including The Tooth Chipper and The Screamatorium) Bart gets himself into trouble by driving the display of Hitler's limousine and wrecking it into a tree. Trying to repay the loss, Bart and Homer become carnies themselves and work at the carnival.
Here, they meet up with a carny calling himself Cooder and his son, Spud. They quickly befriend the carny and his son but when Cooder asks for a favor and has Homer run his fixed game, Homer fails to bribe Chief Wiggum, and Cooder's game is shut down. Feeling sad, Homer invites Cooder and his son to stay at the Simpson residence, but Marge does not take this lightly.
To express their gratitude, the Cooders give the Simpsons tickets to a glass-bottom boat ride. When the Simpsons return, they find that something's changed. The locks have been changed, the windows are all boarded up and the Simpsons' name is crossed off the mailbox and replaced by "the Cooders". The Cooders have tricked them out of their own house, forcing the family to take up residence in Bart's treehouse. Life does not proceed well for some time.
But leave it up to Homer to outsmart the Cooders. Knocking on the front door, Homer proposes that if he can throw a hula hoop onto the chimney, they'll get their house back, and if he misses, he'll sign the deed over to the carnies and he and his family would concede.
Cooder agrees and steps onto the lawn to watch Homer's attempt. Homer stretches and warms up, as if about to throw, but instead he and the family suddenly rush into the house, leaving Cooder and Spud dumbfounded in the street. Homer has outwitted someone for possibly the first time in his life and has made his son proud (also a first) and the Simpsons have their house back, although they have to hose the place down.
Cultural references
- Art Carney - The episode title is an obvious play on the legendary comic actor's name.
- Jaws - The white shark attack on Homer and Bart's boat is much in the same vein as the shark attacks in the 1975 thriller.
- Natural Born Killers - Bart's remark that he and Homer are "natural born carnies ... if only we weren't tied down to the family" is a reference to the 1994 movie starring Woody Harrelson.
- Bart's shoveling the manure from the world's smallest pony may be a reference to the joke of the two men who found a building full of manure. While one complained about the mess, the optimist exclaimed "With all this manure here there must be a pony nearby!"
- Volkswagen "Fahrvergnügen" advertisements - Colonel Tex's claim that Hitler's limousine was "the first to come with 'Fahrvergnügen'" is a play on the Volkswagen advertising jingle. Incidentally, the car is a Mercedes-Benz. It could also be a reference to the saying "Volkswagen is the car that Hitler built", as one of Hitler's initiatives was to order a government program to mass produce cars cheap enough for every German to afford, and Volkswagen, or "people's car", was the proposed program.
Goofs
- Although the Cooders boarded up the front windows of the Simpson residence, they did not board up the windows facing the backyard, as the family can see what the Cooders are doing when they are living in the treehouse. The Simpsons do not take advantage of this in an effort to recapture their home.