The Simpsons were probably a part of everyone’s childhood, in some way or another. With over 600 episodes to date, it’s the longest running American TV show and animated series and it’s currently scheduled to keep going until at least the end of 2019. With this much success, it doesn’t look like it will ever leave our screens, and it will continue to see generations of people grow up into adults who grew up with it. Here are some quick facts about the show:
- The Simpsons family has their own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
- It’s won 31 Primetime Emmys and 30 Annie Awards
- In 1998, D’Oh!, Homer’s catchphrase, was officially added to the Oxford English Dictionary
Even as a kid, you probably enjoyed every bit of the show: you laughed along with the jokes, cringed with the more unsavory parts and generally understood the humor and the lesson at the end of every episode. But even though the show is an animated series aimed at a family audience, the writers couldn’t help themselves and embedded a lot of adult jokes into the fabric of the show.
Here’s a list of the best inappropriate Simpsons jokes and hidden gags that definitely went over your head as a kid:
If this sign is being literal, that’s definitely not a bank that you want to use.
This hilarious Springfield Hospital sign. At least they’re not lying!
Homer’s face, the long black bat, and the use of “slow or fast” after the word whack. This probably made every parent either laugh or gasp at the suggestion. Is there a third option?
Animation is a subtle art, especially the simple type used in The Simpsons. So the writers had to use a combination of suggestive expressions, imagery and Homer’s goofiness to really knock the air out of your lungs. It’s a wonder that calling hot dogs a “beef injection” didn’t catch on.
In total, there have been over 90 episodes of “The Itchy and Scratchy Show” within The Simpsons universe. Unsurprisingly, this title card is probably the most tame and harmless thing that kids witnessed while they watched this bloody version of Tom and Jerry. The writers of the show have said that one of the hardest parts of writing each episode of The Simpsons is when they have to come up with a title for an Itchy and Scratchy segment (which are often filled with puns like Bleeder of the Pack and Butter Off Dead).
If The Simpsons had a soul, it would be Homer’s carelessness. Here’s a fun fact about our favorite animated dad: the University of Glasgow offers a philosophy course that examines whether Homer Simpson is a virtuous character or not. The professor of the course, Dr. John Donaldson, argues that Homer is more than the beer-chugging, unintelligent middle class American dad that we see, and that he’s in fact very complex and “hard not to like.”
No matter what you do, don’t Google what that means. Just do it for your own sake and that of the people who might be watching. Unless you’re into that, your day will be completely ruined and you’ll feel like you can never use the bathroom again.
The Sleep-Eazy Motel. This is a very fitting name for this motel. If you remember, when Marge and the kids had to stay there, a body was seen floating in the pool, all the items in the room are coin-operated (including the television and the Bible), and when Bart went to bed he spotted a camera watching him from the ceiling.
This happened during “Weekend at Burnsie’s”, the episode where Homer is prescribed medicinal cannabis. So thanks to Lisa’s comment, we know that Edna Krabappel wasn’t chain-smoking cigarettes exclusively.
Lisa talking to her mom about her wedding jitters. This raises a lot of questions: do people really follow the white dress rule that strictly? And why doesn’t Milhouse count? Lisa needs to cut the poor bespectacled nerd some slack.
The fun thing about this joke is that you have to figure it out yourself. Take a few seconds to read it over and see where the joke is hidden. If you still can’t see it, look at each initial and put together an acronym for the school. Is this a hidden commentary on the state of post-secondary education in North America? It’s probably not that serious, and the writers just wanted to have some fun.
This romantic moment between Homer and Marge. This was a lovely moment between Homer and Marge, until he revealed the how long he would spend in the back seat of the car. Why does Marge look so smug and the opposite of annoyed or disappointed? This is the best proof we’ll ever get that she truly loves her clueless husband.
geargods.netThe writers of the show loved making us question the nature of Smithers’ romantic attraction. But it doesn’t get more blunt than this observation that “women and sea-men don’t mix.”
