The Simpsons (animation)/Tropes A-L

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


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  • 20% More Awesome: One member of the committee creating Poochie says, "I feel we should rasta-fy him by ... 10 percent or so."

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  • Abnormal Limb Rotation Range: In "When You Dish Upon a Star", Homer twists his neck around 360 degrees while giving the stink eye to the kids in the backseat of the car and then looking out his window without turning his head back to normal.

Marge: Homer, your spine!

Meathook: We all knew it would come to this.
Homer: You and me... chopper to... chopper!

  • Aborted Declaration of Love: Smithers, to Mr. Burns in "Bart's Inner Child": "I... love you. (Burns looks up) I-in those colors!" (after Burns walks away) "Oh, who am I kidding? The boathouse was the time!"
  • Absurdly Ineffective Barricade: On the episode where there was a hurricane coming, Homer removed the back door of the house and then nailed it diagonally over the now-exposed doorway, leaving a big gap at the top & bottom of the doorway.
  • Accidental Art: In "Mom and Pop Art," Homer's failed attempt at making a backyard grill is discovered by an art critic, who thinks it's art.
  • Accidental Athlete: Several examples, most notably Lisa as goalie and Bart as a danseur.
  • Accidental Pervert: When Homer sees a candy stuck to the rear of a college girl's pants, he rips the candy off, drooling while he does it. Naturally, said girl mistakes it for something else and soon you see an angry mob outside Homer's house.
  • Acrofatic: Homer in "Sex, Pies, and Idiot Scrapes," who does complex acrobatics to escape Ned. This is rather odd, since Homer has often been shown out of breath from even the simplest movements (like running only a few feet in "The Springfield Connection" and "New Kids on the Blecch").
    • Then again, one flashback shows him to be a very talented gymnast in high school.
    • He also performed ninja-like feats of acrobatics while practicing killing snakes for Whacking Day.
  • Acronym Confusion: One Running Gag example of the "sharing an initialism" variety.

Krusty: Now it's time for Krusty Komedy Klassics! ...KKK? That's not good!

    • For the record, Krusty was performing at the Apollo Theater, making it that much worse.
    • Another having nothing to do with sharing an initialism:

Chief Wiggum: Uh, Mrs. Simpson, I have some bad news. Your husband was found DOA.
Marge: Oh my God! He's dead?
Chief Wiggum: Oh wait, I mean DWI. I always get those two mixed up.
Mrs. Phillips walks in.
Mrs. Phillips: My name's Mrs. Phillips. You said my husband is DWI?
Chief Wiggum: Uh, why don't you talk to that officer over there? I'm going out to lunch.

    • From "Days of Wine and D'oh'ses":

Barney: My name is Barney, and I'm an alcoholic.
Clerk: I feel for you, pally, but, uh, you want AA; this is Triple A.

  • Acting Unnatural: Skinner and Chalmers do it in "500 Keys" while waiting to snatch the key to the hidden classroom of Lisa.
  • Action Mom: Homer's mother is pretty Badass.
    • Marge was a policewoman.
  • Actor Allusion: Both subverted and played straight at the same time with Rodney Dangerfield as Larry Burns. Instead of the actor's trademark Catchphrase of "no respect," Larry talks about how he don't get "No regard. No esteem either."
    • Done by new kid Alex (voiced by Lisa Kudrow) who says "Woah don't be a Phoebe" to Lisa alluding to her best known character Phoebe Buffay on Friends
  • Alliteration:

Mr. Burns: You clinking, clattering, cacaphony of colligenous cogs and camshifts...

  • Advice Backfire: In "The Love-Matic Grampa" (part of "Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase"), Abe tells Moe to tell his date that her rump is as big as the queen's, and twice as fragrant. Moe reluctantly does so, and in the next cut, he's covered in food dumped on him by his date.
  • Aesop Ju Jitsu: Most episodes which appear to have morality lessons end up devolving into this.

Lisa: Perhaps there is no moral to this story.
Homer: Exactly! It's just a bunch of stuff that happens.

Tommy: You're...hurting...me.

  • Affectionate Pickpocket:
    • In "Curse of the Flying Hellfish", Mr. Burns forces Grampa to give up his key to the Hellfish fortune. Bart throws himself at Burns and wraps his arms around him, saying "Can I go with you to get the treasure? I won't eat much and I don't know the difference between right and wrong." This seems like a very in-character thing for Bart to do; but when Burns leaves (without Bart) Bart shows to Grampa that he picked Burns' pocket, so now he has both keys needed.
    • In "Bart Carny", Bart swipes Marge's pearls while hugging her, a move taught to him by Spud.
  • After-School Cleaning Duty: Bart has been punished in this manner more than a few times.
  • Aggressive Categorism: Played straight with Lampshade as Moe Szyslak explains why he doesn't want Mr. Burns on the bowling team: "Call this an unfair generalization if you must, but old people are no good at everything."
    • From "The Seven Beer Snitch":

Bart: All plays suck, all the time, and always will, and everyone knows it.

  • The Ahnold: Rainier Wolfcastle.
  • Alan Smithee: "The Simpsons 138th Spectacular" was directed by David Silverman under the pseudonym "Pound Foolish".
    • In-show example: At the end of the power plant commercial, Mr. Burns is credited as "Alan Smithee".
  • Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: displayed often by Homer (and sometimes Barney).
  • Alien Autopsy Video: The episode "Worst Episode Ever" sees Bart and Milhouse uncover a secret room in Comic Book Guy's shop which houses a secret stash of bootleg videos and other illegal video clips. Among the video titles mentioned are "Alien Autopsy" and "Illegal Alien Autopsy".
  • Alien Geometries: Homer and Marge's bedroom's orientation changes often. Including in some impossible ways.
  • Aliens Speaking English: Subverted the hell out of with Kang, Kodos, and their entire species: They are actually speaking Rigelian, which just happens to be identical to English.
  • The Alleged Car: Many examples, especially the car Crazy Vaclav tries to sell Homer in "Mr. Plow." It has three wheels, comes from a country that no longer exists, and does "300 hectares on a single tank of kerosene".
    • "Put it in H!"
  • All Girls Like Ponies: Including Lisa.
  • All Girls Want Bad Boys: Lisa having a crush on Nelson Muntz in "Lisa's Date with Density."
    • Also in "Bart's Girlfriend":

Jessica: [walking up] You're bad, Bart Simpson.
Bart: [plaintive] No, I'm not! I'm really --
Jessica: Yes, you are. You're bad...and I like it.
Bart: [suave] I'm bad to the bone, honey.

    • Little would he know that she's even worse than him. And she's Rev. Lovejoy's daughter, mind.
  • All-Natural Gem Polish: The diamonds in the African mine owned by the crazy woman who used ape slave labor.
  • All There in the Manual: Although rare, some information tidbits only come from Word of God, such as how the family escaped The Island after The Computer Wore Menace Shoes. (the army raided the Island, arrested the villains and saved the captives, including the Simpsons)
  • All Work vs. All Play: Marge and Lisa are All Work while Homer and Bart are All Play. This gets lampshaded a couple of times.
  • Alphabet News Network: In the year 2010 in "Lisa's Wedding", Kent Brockman is now a news anchor on CNNBCBS (a division of ABC).
  • Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Agnes embarrasses Skinner more than once.

Agnes: Seymour needs to use the toilet! His bladder's full! Full of urine!

    • Homer and Marge turn into these whenever they find themselves interacting with Bart and Lisa's classmates (or future fiances).
  • Ambiguously Gay: Waylon Smithers in earlier seasons; Lenny and Carl in later ones.
    • Also, Milhouse is Ambiguously Bisexual.
  • Amnesiac Lover: The episode, "Regarding Margie," has the plot based on this trope.
  • Amplified Animal Aptitude
  • Amusing Injuries: Homer suffers many of them. So does Hans Moleman. Hans even made a short film entitled "Man Getting Hit By Football."

Homer: But... the ball! His groin! A-ha! It works on so many levels!

  • Anal Probing: The short "Citizen Kang" from "Treehouse Of Horror VII" saw Homer abducted by Kang and Kodos. Homer's reaction to this is to say, "I suppose you want to probe me. Well, you might as well get it over with" and immediately drop his pants and moon his alien captors. Kang and Kodos respond to this in shock horror, begging, "Stop! We have reached the limits of what rectal probing can teach us!"
    • Another one in which Bart and Lisa are chased around an Air Force base sees an airman open a door before quickly closing it again after seeing a Grey with a glowstick. The airman proclaims, "Oh no, he's got the probe!"
    • When Homer and Flanders marry floozies in Vegas, Homer decides they should tell their wives they were abducted by aliens, who "gang-probed" Ned.

Ned: Do we really have to tell them I was "gang probed"?
Homer: Would you rather tell them the truth?
Ned: [Sigh] What do the aliens look like?
Homer: Well, I only saw them from the back 'cause they were so busy gang probing you!

  • Analogy Backfire: In "How I Spent My Strummer Vacation", Homer tries to deliver an analogy which he believes will prove he doesn't hate his family. It doesn't work.

Homer: Marriage is like a coffin, and each kid is another nail. But as coffins go-
Lisa: Please don't say any more!

  • And I Must Scream: While it's a funny gag and meant purely for laughs, one still can't help but feel bad for Ozzie Smith's fate in "Homer at the Bat." The guy is being catapulted through space and time in an unknown dimension, with no possible way of getting out ever. It's made even worse by the fact that he did nothing wrong to deserve such a fate.
    • Though it's apparently amazing enough to him to whip out his camera and start sight-seeing.
  • And Knowing Is Half the Battle: Parodied, of course, in "Bart Star":

Joe Namath: (as Bart is taken to jail in Wiggum's cop car) Hehe, poor Bart. You know, we had a lot of fun tonight. But, there's nothing funny about... vapor lock. It's the third most common cause of stalling. So please, take care of your car and get it checked. I'm Joe Namath. Good night. (Beat)

    • In "Bart the General":

Bart: Contrary to what you've just seen, war is neither glamorous nor fun. There are no winners, only losers. There are no good wars, with the following exceptions: the American Revolution, World War II, and the Star Wars Trilogy. If you'd like to learn more about war, there's lots of books in your local library, many of them with cool gory pictures.

    • In "New Kids on the Blecch":

Justin:You know, we've had a lot of fun tonight, at the expense of the U. S. Navy.
Lance: But they're out there every day protecting us from Godzilla.
Chris: And don't forget pirates!
J. C.: And jellyfish.
Joey: Those whack invertebrates will sting you, old-school!
Justin: So check out the Navy for a two, or four-year hitch.
Lance: We signed J. C. up yesterday.
J. C.: What? (is dragged away) Nooooooooo!

    • In "Treehouse of Horror XVI":

Moe: Okay, this concludes this year's Halloween show. We hope you had as much fun watching our show as the Koreans did animating it. But there's one group for whom every day is Halloween. I'm talking about adult illiterates. For them, trying to read the morning newspaper is more terrifying than any goblin, ghoul, spook or spirit.
Lenny: So won't you please donate a children's book or something?
Dennis Rodman: Together, we can make reading a slam dunk.
Moe: Dennis Rodman, what are you doing here?
Dennis Rodman: Working off a speeding ticket. Happy Halloween, everybody!

  • And Stay Out!: Invoked in the episode "Santa's Little Helper", when Homer lets the cat out, and slams the door behind it while bellowing, "And stay out!"
  • And the Rest: In one Treehouse of Horror episode, Homer believes he's the last man alive and mourns each member of the "main" family and "all the rest", which includes the pets, Maggie and the TV.
    • In the episode "Eight Misbehavin'," Apu and Manjula's octuplets are made the stars of a show called "Octopia" at the Springfield Zoo. Only four of the babies are explicitly given stage character names and are introduced to the audience. The others are introduced as "And the Rest."
  • And Then I Said: From "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer":

Bart: So then I says to Mabel, I says...

    • From "Maximum Homerdrive":

Homer: So then I said: "You can take your free tetanus shot and shove it!"
Bart: You told her, dad!
Homer: You better... (jaw locks shut; says next line through gritted teeth) believe I did!

    • From "New Kid on the Block":

Homer: (drunk) So I sez, 'Yeah, if you want that money, come and find it, 'cuz I don't know where it is, ya baloney. You make me wanna retch." (immediately falls asleep).

    • From "The Springfield Files":

Homer: (drunk) So I says, "Blue M&M, red M&M, they all wind up the same color in the end."

    • From "Homer Defined":

Barney: So the next time someone tells you carnies are good honest people, you can spit in their face for me!

    • From "Homer the Vigilante":

Homer: So I said to him, "Look, buddy, your car was upside down when we got here. And as for your Grandma, she shouldn't have mouthed off like that!"

    • From "Days of Wine and D'oh'ses"

Lenny: So I says to the cop, "No, you're driving under the influence -- of being a jerk!"

    • Finally: From "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer":

Bart: So anyway, I says to Mabel, I says…

  • And You Were There: Said in "Bart Gets Hit By a Car" (at the end of pointing everyone out, he mentions that he's never seen Lionel Hutz before)
    • In "Raging Abe Simpson and His Grumbling Grandson in 'The Curse of the Flying Hellfish'" Abe wearily recounts how several family members were there when an assassin made an attempt on his life. In actuality, the assassin, Mr. Burns, and Smithers had dressed as the Simpsons to get close to Abe.
  • Animal Athlete Loophole: Parodied; after adopting a horse, Homer spends hours training it as a placekicker, then checks the rulebook to see whether horses can play in the National Football League. (Turns out, there is a rule.)
    • Homer participated in a robot fighting league disguised as a robot. When he's found out, two officiators share:

Officiator 1: And the winner is nature's greatest killing machine... man!
Audience: Boo!
Officiator 1: Show me where in the rulebook it says that a human can't be a robot.
Officiator 2: Right here. Rule one.

  • Animeland: The Simpsons were attacked by Kaiju on the plane back home.
  • Anti-Advice: Homer has a card in his wallet that tells him "Always do the opposite of what Bart says."
  • Antiquated Linguistics: Mr. Burns seems to have a lexicon dating back to roughly 1911.
    • Abe Simpson also tends to lapse into long, meandering stories full of 1940s slang.
  • Apocalypse How: Class-Z, when aliens open up a wormhole that's powerful enough to even suck God into it, leaving nothing but a blank slate. Of course, this was done as a joke.
  • Applied Mathematics: When Homer is an inventor. During a montage, he's shown writing equations on a blackboard. After he's done, the camera moves to shot of the house—where there's a massive explosion. Cut back to Homer: who examines his equation and replaces his less than symbol with a greater than or equal to symbol. This results in another, bigger explosion. He goes back to the board, and removes "TNT" from the equation.
  • Aren't You Going to Ravish Me?: Demonstrated in "Take My Wife, Sleaze" when Marge is surprised that the bikers who kidnapped her don't want to have sex with her.

Marge: Could you at least tell me what you're planning to do with me?
Meathook: Oh, don't worry, you're completely safe. None of us finds you sexually attractive.
Marge: None of you? Really? I could have sworn that Ramrod... (Ramrod shakes his head) Hmm. Well, did you see that picture of me in... (gang nods) And you still don't... (gang shakes their heads)
Meathook: Sorry.
Marge: Well, good, I guess.

  • Are You Sure You Can Drive This Thing?: Subverted Trope where Homer is dangling in a gorge and Marge asks Bart to drive the car, to pull Homer up using a rope attached to the bumper; Bart at first acts nervous about it, but then reveals he has his own set of keys and his own driving gloves.
    • Bart stole Otto's bus. In front of Metallica.
  • Argentina Is Naziland: When Bart Simpson is making a bunch of international prank calls in "Bart vs. Australia", he calls Chile and we see a man who looks suspiciously like Adolf Hitler (although looking good for his age) running to his phone, and just missing the call. A man in lederhosen cycles by and makes the Nazi salute to him.

"Buenas noches, mein Führer!"

  • Armor-Piercing Question: Burns of all characters asks one in Who Shot Mr. Burns, when Springfield's hatred of him was even more intense than usual.

McCallister: Arr, Burns, your scurvy schemes will earn ye a one-way passage to the boneyard!
Ned: I'd like to hear from Sideshow Mel!
Mel: I'll see to it that Burns suffers the infernal machinations of hell's grim tyrant!
Otto: Yeah!
Burns: Oh, you all talk big, but who here has the guts to stop me?

    • From "Scenes From the Class Struggle in Springfield":

Marge: (to Lisa) Why do you always have to question everything I do?!

  • Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: The Trope formerly known as "Bus Full Of Nuns".
    • To elaborate, Snake received the death penalty from the three-strike system by burning down an orphanage, blowing up a bus full of nuns (which he claims was in self-defense), and smoking inside the Kwik-E-Mart.
      • The show's overall style is full of "Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking" moments. Plenty of "lists" in various episodes end off with the least significant example of something. Arguably the clearest example is in "The Crepes of Wrath", when Bart describes to a policeman, (in French, but with the on-screen subtitles translating it) what the winemakers were doing to him. Here is what the subtitles say:

Bart: You gotta help me! These two guys work me night and day! They don't feed me. They make me sleep on the floor. They put anti-freeze in the wine and they gave my red hat to the donkey.[1]

  • Art Evolution: The oldest episodes seem remarkably crude, when compared to the standard of the more recent ones.
    • The original shorts on The Tracy Ullman Show look even more crude.
    • The show shifted to computer-based animation around the 14th season, so recent episodes look somewhat different.
  • Artifact Title: Only the first Treehouse of Horror episode takes place in a treehouse.
  • Artistic License: The writers will do extensive research on the place the family is going, and then ignore many of the facts because they aren't funny, preferring instead to make things up.
  • Art Shift:
    • The couch gag for Bart Stops To Smell The Roosevelts done by John K.
    • Ren and Stimpy's cameo in "Brother From The Same Planet"
    • Bart's "Dark Stanley" story in "Yokel Chords."
    • Lisa's daydream about the politicians in "Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington."
    • The Amendment Song in "The Day the Violence Died" is done in the style of Schoolhouse Rock.
    • The California Raisins parody in "Tis the Fifteenth Season" is done in claymation, as is the Gumby couch gag.
    • The "Cards" parody in "Mommie Beerest" is done in CG, as is Homer in the 3D world in "Homer³" (part of "Treehouse of Horror VI").
    • The Davey and Goliath parody in "HOMЯ".
    • The Tintin cutaway in "Husbands and Knives."
    • The Mad Men title sequence to "How to Get Ahead in Dead-vertising" (part of "Treehouse of Horror XIX").
    • Homer's fire pepper hallucinations in "The Mysterious Voyage of Homer."
    • The puppet/live-action story featuring Katy Perry on "The Fight Before Christmas."
    • In one episode, Homer briefly imagines Bart and Lisa as their real-life equivalents. Of course, they're hideous.
    • There is a definite difference in art quality from Maggie's P.O.V. whenever she feels threatened or terrified, namely, everything from her angle appears to look distorted and monstrous. Even in "Hello Gudder, Hello Fadder", when at a father-child swimming class, when she imagined Homer as a Kappa-like creature, the water around him began to take on a distinct orange color.
    • The opening to "The Love-Matic Grampa" in "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase".
    • The 1930s cartoons couch gag, where the characters are drawn in rubber hose style and the picture is black and white.
    • Some of the Itchy and Scratchy cartoons in "Itchy and Scratchy: The Movie" were a parody of the animation style of the 1920s and 1940s cartoons. In "The Day The Violence Died" parodies of Fritz the Cat, 1920s cartoons and Schoolhouse Rock can be found.
    • In "Angry Dad: The Movie" parodies The Triplets of Belleville, Persepolis, Wallace and Gromit and Pixar.
  • Ascended Meme: "D'oh!" was added to the Oxford English Dictionary.
    • As was "meh" (an adjective describing something boring or mediocre or an interjection expressing boredom or indifference), "cromulent" (an adjective describing something that's valid, adequate, or appropriate for a certain situation), and "embiggen" (a verb meaning "to empower or raise someone's spirits").
    • A critic once wrote a negative article on the subject of The Simpsons, which was titled "Worst Episode Ever!" Since then, the phrase "Worst. X. Ever!" became Comic Book Guy's catchphrase.
  • Ascended to Carnivorism: In "Helter Shelter", the retirement home residents are watching a nature show about elderly animals. An elderly lion runs out of energy, whereupon the zebra turns around and takes a bite out of it.
  • Ashes to Crashes: Homer's mom wants him to spread her ashes at a certain place at a certain time; it turns out it was her last act of uncivil disobedience, as her ashes interfere with the launch of a missile sending nuclear waste from the power plant to the Amazon rain forest.
  • Asian Rudeness: Cookie Kwan. Stay off the west side!
  • Asian Store Owner: Apu (who is from India), Apu's Korean counterpart in "Lemon of Troy," and a man who looks like Apu if he were from the Middle East in "Summer of 4'2".
    • Apu even has a counterpart in India.
  • Aside Comment: In "Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner?", Homer says, "We'll be right back" to the camera.
    • In "Pygmoelian", Carl tells the camera, "See, this is why I don't talk much." when he insults Homer, Barney, and Lenny and they break down crying.
  • Aside Glance: In "Little Big Girl", Mr. Burns gives one to the camera when Smithers, who is on fire, shouts that he's flaming.
  • As the Good Book Says...: Used many times, often for comedic effect. Some examples: "Homer the Heretic" (Matthew 7:26 and 21:17), "Bart's Girlfriend" (Matthew 7:1), "Lisa's Sax" (John 8:7), "The Otto Show" (Matthew 25:40), "Dead Putting Society" (Matthew 19:19).
    • Subverted in "Catch Them If You Can", where Homer says, "As the Bible says... 'Screw that'!"
  • Attack Backfire: From one episode parodying stories from The Bible, when Moses (Milhouse) sends a plague of frogs to vex the Pharoah, (Principal Skinner) he and the other Egyptians just end up eating the frogs' legs. The Pharoah comments that Ra must be rewarding them for punishing their slaves.
  • Attack of the Political Ad: When Sideshow Bob ran for Mayor of Springfield, his campaign took out an ad against Mayor Quimby parodying George H.W. Bush's "Revolving Door Prison" attack ad from the 1988 election. In the ad, prisoners are seen leaving the Springfield State Prison through a revolving door and over the walls on escalators and ski lifts while a narrator lets us know,

"Mayor Quimby supports revolving door prisons. Mayor Quimby even released Sideshow Bob, a man twice convicted of attempted murder. Can you trust a man like Mayor Quimby? Vote Sideshow Bob for Mayor."

  • Audience Murmurs: When the Flanders walk into church after Ned is arrested in "Homer Loves Flanders", the congregation immediately start murmuring disparaging things about Ned, including someone who thinks Ned is the one who wrote "Homer" all over the bathroom.
  • Audience Participation: The Season 22 finale ended with an invitation for viewers to vote online on whether or not they want Ned Flanders and Edna Krabappel to become a couple.
  • Author Avatar: Comic Book Guy is this for Matt Groening. According to Matt, "He's what I think I look like to other people".
  • Awesome McCoolname: Max Power! He's the man whose name you'd love to touch, but you musn't touch!
    • Homer's other choices for his new name included Hercules Rockerfeller, Rembrandt Q. Einstein, and Handsome B. Wonderful.
    • Bart has stated that when he grows up he plans to change his name to Joe Kickass, a name that is so cool Homer doesn't mind that it will be the end of the Simpson family name.

B

  • Back from the Dead: Dr. Monroe and Dr. Nick
  • Badass Family: It's a bit of a Running Gag that Maggie Simpson is the most Badass member of the family.
    • Strangely, Homer shows some elements of this, especially in the movie. In the main series, he's often got involved in car chases that required him to kick someone's ass.
    • He is also handy with a chain and cement block (which he calls "The Defender"), as well as being able to wield a motorcycle. Marge has thrill issues. Bart can hit a target with his slingshot at what is practically sniper range, and was able to perfectly wield a grenade launcher on his first use, even managing to hit Skinner's car at Springfield Elementary from his new military school (Springfield wasn't visible in the background). Really, all the characters have occasional flashes of this. With the possible exception of Lisa.
      • Lisa has her moments, most notably with the episode Lisa on Ice.
      • There's also the time that Lisa one-hit KO'd Bart in a MMA ring.
      • She also connects a gloriously-animated punch on Bart in the movie.
    • Lampshaded by Marge of all people in an early episode, when Homer worries about his parenting.

Marge: The way I see it, if you raise 3 kids that can knock out and hog-tie a perfect stranger, then you must be doing something right!

  • Badass Adorable: Again, Maggie Simpson. She shot Mr. Burns. Oh, and she also shot the mobsters who were threatening to murder Homer. Homer didn't know she did the latter, but when he heard the gunshots and saw those mobsters fall to the ground, he said "I must have a guardian angel with a rifle." This might actually have put her into a borderline Enfante Terrible Anti-Hero category if not for how obvious it was that her targets deserved it. In a later episode when Homer was imprisoned in a basement of a tow truck driver, Maggie saved him by riding on Santa's Little Helper to the place, and attaching the guy's towhook to the cellar window bars.
    • Maggie also led a Great Escape-esque mission through a daycare in order to secure pacifiers for all of the babies there.
  • Badass Grandpa: Abe Simpson is usually shown to be a rambling, partially senile old man. However, in one episode it is revealed he was once part of a crack squad known as the Flying Hellfish during WW2 and is still capable of kicking ass when the need arises.
  • Bad Bad Acting: In the episode "Burns's Heir", Mr. Burns hires actors to portray the rest of the Simpson family in order to persuade Bart that they don't love him. They do this in the most wooden way imaginable.

Fake Homer: *Monotone* I do not miss Bart at all.
Fake Marge: *Also monotone* I am glad he's gone.
Fake Lisa: *Also monotone* As am I.
Fake Homer: *Drops his sandwich* B'oh!
Bart: It's probably my imagination, but something about them just didn't feel right.

    • Another example of bad acting occurs in "D'oh-in' in the Wind": Homer, Lenny, and Carl acting in Mr. Burns's Power Plant commercial.

Homer: Well, there were script problems from day one.
Bart: Didn't seem like anybody even read the script.
Homer: That was the problem.

  • Bad Future: The year 1,000,000 A.D. at the end of "Rosebud": The Earth is a barren place and humans are slaves to apes. Worst of all, Mr. Burns is still alive!
  • Bad Job, Worse Uniform: The teenagers who work at Krusty Burger or Phineas Q. Butterfat's ice cream parlor. Also Homer, on the many episodes where he doesn't work at the nuclear plant, and Barney, when he was hired to pass out flyers in front of a baby furniture store called Lullabuy$, clad only in a diaper and bonnet (it was the dead of winter at the time).

Barney (after his diaper flies away in the breeze and he runs naked down the street): Hi, Ma!

  • Bad Present: In "The Springfield Files", a man wakes up from a 23-year coma and asks if Sonny and Cher still have "that stupid variety show". Kent Brockman answers, "She won an Oscar, and he's a Congressman." The man promptly dies, yelling, "Good night!"
    • Lampshaded in "Bart to the Future":

Homer: What a bleak and horrible future we live in!
Bart: Don't you mean, "present"?
Homer: Right, right, present.

  • Bait and Switch: The absolute master of this form of humor, and arguably one of the first comedies to use it on a regular basis.
  • Banging Pots and Pans: In a Flash Back to when Bart was two and Marge was pregnant with Lisa, we see Bart with a pot on his head, banging another pot.

Bart: I am so great! I am so great! Everybody loves me, I am so great!
Marge: Honey, honey, honey, honey, honey. Could you please be quiet?
Bart: Quiet! Quiet! Quiet! Quiet! Quiet! Quie ---
Marge: Bart, get out!

  • Banned in China: Let's just say that if the series had an episode satirizing or making fun of another country, the chances of the particular episode being banned in said country is quite high. Check the main page for more details.
  • Bathtub Scene: Edna gets one in "Bart the Lover". Selma gets one in "Black Widower". Homer gets one in "A Milhouse Divided". Homer and Marge try to spice up their romantic life by having a bath together in "Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy". Marge gets one in "Homer Alone".
  • Bat Signal: Accidental example when Homer stands in front of a lighthouse, causing his silhouette to be projected onto the clouds.

Bart: Hey look! Is that Dad?
Lisa: Either that or Batman's really let himself go.

Homer: Hey, you know, I once knew a man from Nantucket.
Bart: And?
Homer: Let's just say the stories about him are greatly exaggerated.

    • Another time, Homer referred to the poem in a very Purple Prose manner, still stopping before he got to "the good part".
  • Beach Bury: Ned is buried like this and Homer parks his car on top of him.

Flanders: Homer, is that my muffler?

  • Beat Still My Heart: On "New Kid on the Block," after Bart is crushed to hear that Laura has a boyfriend, he imagines Laura ripping his heart out and kicking it into a garbage can, complete with blood trail. In "Goo Goo Gai Pan," a monk rips Homer's heart out and puts it back in, without Homer feeling any pain. Also, "Homer's Triple Bypass" had an inside look on Homer's heart reacting to Mr. Burns yelling at him.
  • The Beard: Apu pretending to be married to Marge so he won't have to go through with an arranged marriage in "The Two Nahasapeemapetilons".
  • Beard of Sorrow: Homer has grown one before when separated from Marge.
  • Bear Trap Bed: Seen in "Pokey Mom".
  • Bedsheet Ladder: Used by the couch to escape from the Taj Mahal in a Couch Gag.
  • Before I Change My Mind: In "Simpson and Delilah", Mr. Burns almost fires Homer for making a "mockery" of the morning meeting (merely due to being bald), but decides not to because he can empathize with Homer's baldness. He lets him return to his Sector 7G job, but states "Now get outta here before I reconsider."
  • Belly Buttonless: In one episode, Homer's life is invaded by an army of clones of himself. The clones, predictably enough, lack belly buttons.
  • Be Yourself: Tacked on at the end of "Homer to the Max" to explain why Homer changed his name back from Max Power to Homer Simpson.
  • The "B" Grade: Lisa freaks out in "Kamp Krusty" when she's given a "B" in "Conduct". She also stresses when she gets an "A-" in "Bart vs. Lisa vs. The Third Grade", especially since Bart scored a solid "A".
  • Big Bad: Charles Montgomery Burns.
  • Big Damn Movie: The Simpsons Movie is about rescuing Springfield from ecological destruction.
  • Big Eater: Homer, of course.
  • Bigger Than Jesus: In the episode "Homer's Barbershop Quartet," Homer's titular band with a history that very much resembles that of The Beatles is alleged to have frequently boasted to be "bigger than Jesus" and even titled their sophomore album as such with a cover that shows the band Walking On Water in the Abbey Road Crossing pose.
    • A later episode referenced The Beatles controversy when it turns out that Ned Flanders has a huge collection of Beatles memorabilia. Why? Because they were bigger than Jesus!
  • Bilingual Bonus: Done frequently with Bumblebee Man sketches; whilst they're always non-sequiturs, what is gibberish to the layman becomes funny gibberish to the bilingual:

Original "¿Dónde Está Justice?" transcript:
Plaintiff: ¡El Ford Escort que me vendío es un limón!
Defendant: No no no no no. No es un limón. Es un carro fuerte.
Judge: Hmm, limón... fuerte... limón... fuerte... limón... ay-yi-yi-yi-yi, ¡mi estómago!
Translated:
Plaintiff: The Ford Escort he sold me is a lemon!
Defendant: No no no no no. It's not a lemon. It's a strong car.
Judge: Hmm, lemon... strong... lemon... strong... lemon... ay-yi-yi-yi-yi my stomach!

  • Big Little Man: Moe has a date set up with a dwarf girlfriend, but he thinks she's bigger since her online photo was of her looking tall in front of the Empire State Building (actually the one in Lego Land).
  • Big "Never!"
    • Particularly in "Two Bad Neighbors":

Homer: For the last time, Bush, apologize for spanking my boy!
Bush: Never! You make him apologize for destroying my memoirs.
Homer: (to Bart) You didn't tell me you destroyed his memoirs... (to Bush) Never!

  • Big No and Slow No: Many, many instances in several episodes:
    • "Bart's Comet": Skinner shouts this three times: Once, when he hears the other end of a phone conversation that congratulates Bart for discovering a comet; twice, when he accidentaly releases the "Hi! I'm Big-Butt Skinner" balloon and it floats away; and third when a paperboy throws a paper at Skinner's feet with the headline: "Prez Sez: School is for losers."
    • "Duffless": Shouted in slow motion when Lisa's giant tomato is thrown at Skinner's butt.
    • "Homer: Bad Man": Shouted by Godfrey Jones when Homer comes towards him during the interview.
    • "King-Size Homer": Homer shouts this when he's forced to join the calisthenics class.
    • "On a Clear Day I Can't See My Sister": Played with, as Grampa is actually shouting "Gnomes!"
    • "She Used To Be My Girl": Marge shouts this after a daydream.
    • "Bart's Dog Gets an F": Homer shouts this after SLH eats apart his brand new ASSASSINS sneakers. Only it morphs into a howl when Homer says it at the same time.
    • The German dub turns all of Homer's D'ohs into Little Nos (Nein!)
    • "Elementary School Musical": Lisa says this after spending a week in an arts camp, which Lisa explains to Marge via digital camera.
    • "Marge's Son Poisoning": Marge shouts this when she envisions herself and Bart as older singing karaoke together.
    • "Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words":

Lisa: "My name is now Lisa Bouvier"
Nelson: Hi, Mr. S. Lisa B.
Homer: "NOOOOOOOO!!!!!"
Janey: "Want to buy some band candy?"
Homer: "YESSSSSS!!!!!"

    • "I Love Lisa": Said by Lisa in a live audience at the Krusty Anniversary special:

Krusty: And is this your girlfriend, Ralph?
Ralph:Yes, I love Lisa Simpson, and when I grow up, i'm going to marry her.
Lisa: Noooooooooooooo!!! Now you listen to me. I don't like you. I never liked you. And the only reason I gave you that stupid valentine is that nobody else would!

    • "And Maggie Makes Three": Happens the moment Homer finally finds out about Marge's pregnancy:

Maude: By the way, congratulations on your new job, Homer.
Homer: New job? ...Marge is pregnant?! [pulls hair out] Noooooo! [runs up stairs screaming, slams bedroom door]

    • "Hurricane Neddy":

Ned: I just attacked all my friends and neighbors just for trying to help me. I'd like to commit myself.
Nurse: Very well. Shall I show you to your room, or would you prefer to be dragged off kicking and screaming?
Ned: Ooh, kicking and screaming, please.
Nurse: As you wish.
[two men in white grab hold of him and drag him away]
Ned: Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Homer: I can't believe it. I'm being mocked. By my own children. On my birthday!
Bart: It's your birthday?
Homer: Yes! Remember, it's the same day as the dog's.
Lisa: Santa's Little Helper, it's your birthday? Ooh! We've gotta get you a present.

  • Biting the Hand Humor: They mocked Fox (and the many Dueling Shows The Simpsons has had over the years, including Family Guy) countless times.
  • Black Belt in Origami: In one episode, Homer tries to bluff his way into getting a veteran's discount by pretending to have served in Vietnam. He shouts several Asian words (up to and including Margaret Cho) as reference to specific battles he was supposedly involved with.
  • Black Comedy Burst: The examples listed under Darker and Edgier. "Homer's Enemy," in particular, is among the series' darkest episodes.
  • Bland-Name Product: Malibu Stacy, obviously based on Malibu Barbie).
    • One episode featured Red Umbrella Insurance, a takeoff of the Travelers Insurance Company logo.
  • Blatant Lies: Played with on a couple occasions:
    • In "Homer vs. the 18th Amendment", when Homer is questioned by Marge about where he's going (that is, to go to the bowling alley to roll alcohol in bowling balls to Moe's), Homer replies with, "I'm not gonna lie to you, Marge...... so long!"
    • In "Milhouse Doesn't Live Here Anymore", Marge questions where Homer's getting all the extra money. Homer replies that he's not going to lie to her... only to not say another word and continue reading the paper.
  • Blazing Inferno Hellfire Sauce: The Merciless Pepper of Quetzalacatenango, also known as the Guatemalan Insanity Pepper. Homer has to lacquer his mouth and esophagus in order to eat one.
  • Bleep, Dammit!: At a yard sale in "Two Bad Neighbors", the Simpsons sell a T-shirt with "Ayatollah A*saholla" written on it, with one of the S's in the second word always censored by Marge's hand, a fold, etc.
  • Blinding Camera Flash: Used as a weapon against crazed robot Itchys and Scratchys at Itchy And Scratchy Land. Flashing them causes their brains to go haywire.
  • Blipvert: GABBO! GABBO!! GABBO!!!
  • Blunt Yes: Nelson uses this twice in a row during "22 Short Films About Springfield," when confronted by someone he pointed and laughed at.

Very Tall Man: Do you find something comical about my appearance when I'm driving my automobile?
Nelson : ... yeah.
Very Tall Man:: Everyone needs to drive a vehicle, even the very tall. This was the largest auto that I could afford. Am I therefore to be made the subject of fun?
Nelson: ... I guess so.

  • Blond Guys Are Evil: In an episode where the Simpsons play up the Dumb Blonde jokes, Lisa is offended by them and asks why Bart finds them funny, cue lampshade hanging by Bart, "Only blonde girls are dumb, the boys are evil!"
    • Note that Bart and Lisa are themselves blonde.
      • Technically, Bart's hair is naturally red, but he intentionally sun-bleaches it to evade being called "Rusty."
  • Bob Haircut: Lisa Simpson in the "To Surveil With Love" subplot in which she dyed her hair brown to demonstrate the Dumb Blonde stereotype.
    • Luanne Van Houten also has this hairstyle.
  • Bold Inflation: Kang and Kodos
  • Bond One-Liner: McBain has quite a few of these: "Ice to see you." after breaking out of an ice sculpture and shooting up the place; "Meeting adjourned" after shooting up a villain board meeting.
    • Principal Skinner in "Lisa the Beauty Queen": "Copyright expired."
  • Bonnie Scotland: Groundskeeper Willie.
  • Book Dumb: Bart.
    • Really most of Springfield qualifies.
  • Boomerang Bigot: Played for laughs by Willie.

Groundskeeper Willie: "Damn Scots! They ruined Scotland!"

    • Also subverted when Krusty comes to doubt his own credentials as a Jew:

"I thought I was a self-hating Jew, but it turns out I'm just a plain old anti-Semite!"

    • In the episode in which they want to throw out the illegal immigrants, Moe is one of the most vocal about it, but he turns out to be an illegal immigrant himself.
  • Boot Camp Episode: "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson": Bart is sent to Military School for doing mischief; Lisa joins so she can attend the camp's superior school.
  • Borrowed Catchphrase: In "Summer of 4'2", Lisa says "Ay caramba!" and "Don't have a cow, man!"
    • In "Natural Born Kissers", Moe says "Won't somebody please think of the children?!", which is usually said by Helen Lovejoy.
  • Bottomless Magazines: Just about any time gun usage is shown, usually per Rule of Funny.
    • In "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson", Lisa fires an M-16 wildly for almost 10 seconds ("Help! It's stuck on auto-fire!").
    • In "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase" and many other episodes where Chief Wiggum uses his gun, he fires well over six times despite its being a revolver. (He's also a terrible shot.)
  • The Boxing Episode: "The Homer They Fall"
  • A Boy, a Girl, and a Baby Family
  • Boy Band: Bart, Milhouse, Nelson, and Ralph form The Party Posse in "The New Kids On The Blecch," which is being used as a recruitment tool for the US Navy.
  • Braces of Orthodontic Overkill: The Trope formerly known as "Lisa Needs Braces".
  • Brain Drain: One company attempted this, first unsuccessfully on Smithers, then successfully on Homer. It was successful for them for a brief while—Homer's ideas worked for them.
  • Brain Food: The zombies in "Dial Z For Zombie" (part of "Treehouse of Horror III") crave delicious brains. Amusingly, they turn down Homer because apparently, he has no brains.
    • He actually is offended by this and starts yelling at the zombies over it.
  • Brake Angrily: Ned in "Viva Ned Flanders".

Ned: Gosh darn it! Am I that pre-diddly-ictable?

  • Brand Names Are Better: One of the running jokes in the show is how The Simpsons can't afford the brand name products and have to get generic, obscure brands instead.
  • Brandishment Bluff: Happens during "The Seemingly Never-Ending Story", as Moe, Mr. Burns and Rich Texan are facing off:

Rich Texan: (taking the gold from Marge) I'll take that gold...
Mr. Burns: No so fast, Shady Bird Johnson!
(Burns steps out from behind a stalagtite)
Burns: I'll take that gold...
Moe Szyslak: (enters from the shadows, holding a baseball bat) Yeah, you'll take it, and then you'll give it to me if you know what's good for ya.
(Burns and Rich Texan aim their guns at Moe)
Moe: You guys have guns?! Well, so do I! (steps back into shadows, making gun-cocking noises) Heh? Heh?

Mr Burns: I suggest you leave immediately.
Homer: Or what? You'll release the dogs? Or the bees? Or the dogs with bees in their mouths and when they bark they shoot bees at you?

    • From "Itchy & Scrathy The Movie" when Homer and Marge leave for a parent-teacher conference:

Marge: So long, kids. We'll bring back dinner.
Lisa: What are we having?
Homer: Well, that depends on how kids have been. If you've been good: pizza. If you've been bad... Let's see, uh... Poison.
Lisa: What if one of us has been good and one of us has been bad?
Bart: Poisoned pizza.
Homer: Oh, no! I'm not making two stops!

  • Break the Cutie: Subverted in Dog Of Death. When Burns gets a hold of Bart's friendly, gentle pet dog, he does to the dog what was done to Alex in A Clockwork Orange to, as Burns himself put it, turn the dog into "a vicious, soulless killer." However, when Burns sends said dog after Bart, the dog's memories of good times with Bart prompt him to lick Bart's face instead of attacking him. When the other dogs come after Bart, said pet dog growls at the other dogs and scares them off, only to proceed to lick Bart's face AGAIN. Burns' attempt at breaking the dog's spirit yields, if any change in the dog at all, a result of the dog taking a level in badass while no longer being on Burns' side in the long run.
  • Break-Up Bonfire: When Milhouse's parents get divorced, Luann carefully boxes up all of Kurt's possessions and then sets fire to the box.
  • Bribe Backfire

Wiggum: I hope you're not suggesting that I would take that necklace as a bribe. Think again, dirtbag, cause I can swipe it later from the evidence locker.
Wiggum: (As a reaction, when Bart tries to bribe him with precious wedding day dishes) What does it say on my badge? (badge says: Cash Bribes Only)

    • Subverted in "Bart Carny": Wiggum is actually the one who initiates the bribe idea, but Homer is so clueless that he doesn't realize Wiggum is asking for a bribe. Wiggum shuts down Homer's carny game as a result of his failure to bribe Wiggum to keep it open.
  • Brick Joke: During "24 Minutes", Bart makes a phone call that accidentally gets crossed with that of Jack Bauer, so he leaves him a prank call. At the end of the episode, Bauer arrives to arrest Bart for the call.
    • We get a triple-whammy in "Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder". In the opening, Moleman is seen being hassled by a pushy New Yorker, and is seen as defenseless. When he reappears later in the episode, he is revealed to be the king of the Mole People, and about to use an earthquake machine. His CMOA and Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner, "No One Escapes From The Fortress Of The Mole People", is immediately dashed, as the bungie cord both Homer and Otto were on rebounds and sends them back to the surface, to which Moleman dejectedly says "Well, except for that."
    • In "Alone Again, Natura-Diddly", Homer presents a dating video he made for Ned, warning him, "The audio needs some tweaking and there's some footage of Maggie being born that I couldn't get rid of." They watch the tape, and at the end the video abruptly cuts to Marge in labor with Maggie, to Ned's disgust.
  • Brilliant but Lazy: Bart in "Bart Gets an F" (especially where Bart cries over failing his test, cites a failed battle fought by George Washington, and ends up passing), and "Lisa the Simpson" (which revealed that he was smart as a kid, but became dumb due to the Simpson gene—though "Lisa's Sax" revealed that Bart became a bad student because his kindergarten teacher hated him and he had a bad first day of school).
  • British Brevity: Parodied with the Show Within a Show Do Shut Up from the episode "Missionary: Impossible". The PBS hosts describe it as Britain's longest-running series, then say they'll be showing "all seven episodes".
  • British Rock Star
  • British Royal Guards: The episode "The Regina Monologues" sees the family vacation in London, where Homer crashes their car through the front gate at Buckingham Palace and into the Queen's carriage. Royal guards beat Homer senselessly but stop half-way through to observe the Changing of the Guard. Homer's beating continues at the hands of the next group of guards on duty.
    • In "Bart Vs. Australia," Homer mistakes a US Marine posted outside the American Embassy for one of these guards. The Marine punches Homer in the face after he starts making funny faces at him and curtly explains that he is not a British Royal Guard.

Homer: Hey! Are you like one of those English guards who can't laugh or smile or anything? [makes noises and faces at him][gets punched in the face] Ow!
Marine: No, Sir! US Marine Corps, Sir!

    • And yet another episode has Homer mistake Shaolin Monks as the British guards. He's met with similar results.
  • Broken Glass Penalty: With a remote-control plane instead of a ball. Although it was technically Nelson and Milhouse that crashed it, Bart goes to get it and gets caught, setting off the episode's A plot of Bart working in a burlesque house.
  • Broken Record:
    • Young Bart: "Can't sleep. Clown will eat me."
    • Lenny Leonard: "Dental plan."

Marge: "Lisa needs braces."

    • Bart and Lisa: "Can we have a pool, Dad? Can we have a pool, Dad? Can we have a pool, Dad? Can we have a pool, Dad? Can we have a pool, Dad?"
    • Bart and Lisa: "Will you take us to Mt. Splashmore?"
    • Ned Flanders: "We're done-diddly-doodily, done-diddly-doodily, done-diddly-doodily, done-diddly-doodily--" (SLAP!)
    • Bart and Lisa: "Are we there yet?"
    • Homer and Apu: "Are we in India Yet?" "No." "Are we in India Yet?" "No." "Are we in India Yet?" "No." "Are we in India Yet?" "No." "Are we in India Yet?" "No." "Are we in India Yet?" "No... wait... now we are!"
    • "Dental plan." "Lisa needs braces." "Dental plan." "Lisa needs braces." "Dental plan." "Lisa needs braces."...
    • A literal example in "The Great Wife Hope": When all the men of Springfield abandon their usual hangouts to watch an MMA fight at the stadium, we get a shot of an empty Moe's Tavern, where the record player is stuck on a few-second-loop of "Monster Mash".
  • Brother-Sister Incest: Cletus and Brandine are related to each other in all sorts of ways. One of them being as brother and sister.
    • Subverted in "Money BART" in which Nelson makes an incest joke about Bart and Lisa's conversation, but Lisa retaliates that they're brother and sister, nothing more.

Lisa: I need to do a little research.
Bart: A little is not going to be enough, honeypie.
Lisa: Don't call me, honeypie.
Bart: You got it, tootsie pop.
Lisa: [Lisa grunts in frustration]
Nelson: Get a Room, you two.
Lisa: We're brother and sister.
Milhouse: So are my parents. I think.

    • Subverted in the episode, "Little Girl in the Big Ten", where Lisa is pretending to be a college student. When asked if any of the boys in her house are cute, she responds with "Well, Bart is kinda... NO!"
    • Subverted in "Dangerous Curves". In the beginning of the third act of the episode, Bart and Lisa, while driving a pedal car along with Maggie, argue as if they're a 'married couple'.
    • Subverted in "Kill the Alligator and Run" with this quote:

Homer: Yep, this place is great. And some day, when Lisa and Bart get married, it'll all be theirs.
Bart and Lisa: Yuck!
Marge: You mean when they marry other people.
Homer: Okay, but I ain't paying for two weddin's.

  • Brought Home the Wrong Kid: Inverted; Grandpa is meant to babysit Bart and Lisa and goes to the Flanders' house by mistake.
  • Bubble Pipe: Bart blows in one when he falls in love with an older girl and ends up dressing like Hugh Heffner. And again when he visits the actual Hugh Heffner.
  • Buccaneer Broadcaster: In "Wild Barts Can't Be Broken".
  • Bullet Catch: In the pilot episode of "Police Cops", Detective Homer Simpson catches a bullet with his fingers and throws it back at the bad guy who shot at him in the first place.
  • The Bully: Nelson, Jimbo, Kearny and Dolph.
    • There's also Francine Rhenquist in "Bye Bye Nerdie".
  • Bully Hunter: Bart pulls the trope off in "Bart the General" when he and the entire class bombard Nelson and his gang with balloons until they surrender... literally, as in sign a treaty.
  • Bumbling Dad: Homer.
  • Busby Berkeley Number: There are no lyrics, but in "Bart of Darkness", the swimmers perform a choreographed routine, part of which is shot from above and features a visual very similar to what's on the trope page.
  • But This Is Ridiculous: A blue wall-imprisoned Krusty, in "Wiz Kids" (part of "Treehouse of Horror XII"):

Krusty: I've heard of a wailing wall before, but this is ridiculous!
Comic Book Guy: Ugh, I'm so sick of that joke!

Louie: Troy McClure!? You said he was dead!
Fat Tony: No, what I said is that he sleeps with the fishes! You see...
Louie: Uh, Tony, please, no. I just ate a whole plate of dingamagoo.

  • Butt Monkey: Quite a few, actually: Hans Moleman, Milhouse, Milhouse's dad after he got divorced, Grampa Simpson, Sideshow Mel, and Gil.
    • And there's Homer himself...


C

Bart: "B6."
Homer: "You sank my Scrabbleship!"
Lisa: "This game makes no sense."

  • The Cameo: Many over the years, but perhaps the most unusual is the Fourth Doctor.
  • Camp Straight: Sideshow Bob, though mainly in the Latin American dub.
  • Canada, Eh?: The stereotype is of course featured, especially in episodes like "Midnight Rx" and "The Bart Wants What It Wants" where the action travels north.
    • Played with in "You Only Move Twice":

Boy in remedial class: I'm from Canada, and they think I talk slow, eh?

  • Cannot Tell a Joke: Homer fails at humorous limericks. He tries to disprove this by saying "There once was a man from, I think it was Nantucket. And anyway, he had this interesting characteristic..." At this point he can't remember the rest, and Lenny and Carl just snicker at him.
  • Canon Immigrant: Word of God says that Milhouse was actually created for the Simpsons Butterfinger advertisements.
  • Captain Color Beard: "The Color Yellow" contains a reference to Bart-Beard the Pirate.
  • Captain Obvious:
    • In "Homer vs. Dignity", during the infamous "panda rape" scene, Lisa exclaims, "Something's wrong! Terribly wrong!" Ya think?
    • After Lisa's goalkeeping results in a shining victory for her team, Marge praises her performance: "By blocking the net, I really think you helped your team!"
    • One episode had Homer attempting to play "Horse Whisperer". His advice? "When the race starts, run real fast!"
    • And one can't forget, Ralph Wiggum's "My cat's breath smells like cat food."
      • Ralph Wiggum is, naturally, a goldmine of these. This is the man who brought us "Fun toys are fun!"
    • Dr. Marvin Monroe proposed an experiment wherein he would raise a baby to adulthood in a sealed box, providing it only with basic nutrition, along with the occasional icy shower or electric shock. His theory: "The subject will be socially malajusted, and will harbor a deep resentment towards me".
    • "Wait a minute... THAT'S not the wallet inspector..."
    • "Money can be exchanged for goods and services."
    • Marge: "Cannons are designed to hurt."
    • Marge: "Maybe [what's in your hair] is just shampoo. That washes right out."
    • Bart: "What good's a credit card if you can't even use it?" As opposed to what else you'd do with it?
    • Don Vittorio in "Homie the Clown": "To murder a funny man of such genius would be a crime!" Although he may have meant a crime by mafia standards.
    • Also, a slightly subtler example from the episode "Bart's Inner Child", overlapping Exposition:

Homer: Well, here we are at the Brad Goodman lecture.
Lisa: We know, Dad.
Homer: I just thought I'd remind everybody. After all, we did agree to attend this self-help seminar.
Bart: What an odd thing to say...

    • In the episode "Treehouse of Horror IX":

Lisa: Of course, somehow Snake's hair is controlloing dad and making him-
Marge: Oh Lisa, everybody already figured that out a while ago.

    • In "Last Tap Dance in Springfield": Chief Wiggum, caught in a rat trap baited with cheese says "My mistake was grabbing the cheese".
    • In "Jazzy and the Pussycats" Bart exclaims "My arm! It hurts where the tiger's biting it!"
    • Combine with Idiot Hero / Captain Oblivious and Overly Long Gag:

Cult Member: We're having a free get-acquainted session at our resort this weekend.
Homer: How much is this free resort weekend?
Cult Member: It's free.
Homer: And when is this weekend?
Cult Member: It's this weekend.
Homer: Uh-huh. And how much does it cost?
Cult Member: Um, it's free.
Homer: I see. And when is it?
Cult Member: It's... this weekend.
Homer: And what are you charging for this free weekend?

Patty: We have a gentleman caller.
Tech Guy: Hey, this TV ain't broke. It's just been unplugged.
[Patty closes the door.]

  • Captivity Harmonica: In an episode one of the kids play it while on the bus to a particularly dull school day. In another an actual prisoner lampshades this.
  • Card-Carrying Villain: While Mr. Burns only called himself 'completely evil' once, and that was in the context of him wanting to go overboard from saying he's a 'bad boy' after his girlfriend left him for Snake, he does seem pretty damn aware that the various plans he has aren't very nice.

"You are the Devil himself."
"*gasp* WHO TOLD YOU--I mean..."

    • He was introduced in one episode with the Imperial March from Star Wars, more commonly used to announce Darth Vader.
      • This has been done in quite a few episodes, actually.
    • Mr. Black from the episode "Kamp Krusty" made a toast "to evil!"
      • It's even more blatant in the Japanese dub, where he says "Akuma ni kampai," which translates to "A toast to the devil."
  • Carnivore Confusion: A rare human example is lampshaded in A Totally Fun Thing That Bart Will Never Do Again when someone offscreen says "I think I ate people meat!"

Bart: Ew.

  • Cash Lure: Mr Burns does it in one episode to bait children: dangling a large denomination bill on a string out of the window of his limousine and then driving away as Bart tries to pick it up.
  • Cassandra Truth: When Homer designs a car for his brother's company, the professional designers call Herb with concerns. Herb dismisses this as the designers hating the fact that someone else is in control, not even bothering to see what Homer is making until it's unveiled for the public.
  • Catapult Nightmare: Seen in numerous episodes. The trope is so common in this show that the writers called attention to how unrealistic it is in many of the DVD commentaries. Perhaps the funniest example of this trope, though, was in "Moaning Lisa" after Homer's nightmare of losing to Bart in the boxing video game: He jolts up, screams for many seconds, then calmly lays back down to go back to sleep.
  • Catch Phrase: So many over the years.
    • Lampooned in one episode, where Lisa tells Bart to be himself "instead of a one-dimensional character with a silly catch-phrase" (after Bart spent most of the episode repeatedly saying "I didn't do it" for the public), only to have everyone who had a catchprase appear to belt it out. Then the entire group looks to Lisa, who's never had a catchprase.

Lisa: I'll be in my room.
Homer: What kind of catchphrase is that?

    • Mocked in another episode when Lisa uses Bart's early catchphrases "Ay carumba" and "Don't have a cow, man". When he complains to Marge, she points out that he hasn't used it in years.
    • Show-within-a-show example: On "Police Cops", Detective Homer Simpson (in the pilot version) says "And THAT'S the end of that chapter", and (in the regular series version) says "Uh-oh, Spaghetti-os!"
    • The writers frequently have fun with Nelson's "haw haw!" catchphrase, such as in "Team Homer" when he forgets his catchphrase due to the new uniforms, or in "Bart Carny" when only half of his phrase is heard when Bart briefly opens the door to the backyard, followed by the other half when Marge opens it again.
  • Catch the Conscience: The school stages a play to make Mr. Burns donate to them. It doesn't work.
  • Caught on the Jumbotron:
    • One episode has the "Make an Ass of Yourself!" event for the Jumbo, and it focuses on Bart. He refuses, and so Homer tickles him until Bart wets himself.
    • Another has the kiss-cam, only with some rats and two straight guys.
    • In another ep, Homer appears on the Jumbo and starts waving to everyone...then the camera pans down to focus on his open fly.
  • Caustic Critic: Homer becomes one (misguidedly, of course) in "Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner?"
  • Celebrity Paradox: Rainier Wolfcastle (and his major role, McBain). To the point where Bart approached Rainier and told him:

Bart: Hey, McBain, I'm a big fan, but your last movie really sucked.
Rainier: I know; there were script problems from day one.
Chief Wiggum: Yeah, I'll say. "Magic ticket", my ass, McBain.
Rainier: Maria, my mighty heart is breaking. I'll be in the Humvee.

Maude Flanders: We're talking about S-E-X in front of the C-H-I-L-D-R-E-N.
Krusty: The Sex Cauldron? I thought they closed that place down.

  • Chain of People
  • Chair Reveal:
    • Done in "The Italian Bob": Sideshow Bob turns out to be the mayor of Salsiccia, and he's just as surprised at the Simpsons for coming to Italy.
    • Parodied in the "Chief Wiggum P.I." short from "The Simpsons Spinoff Showcase", where Wiggum persues Big Daddy all the way to his mansion, and we see Big Daddy run into his office, sit in his chair, and turn his back to the door moments before Wiggum enters just so he can pull this stunt.
    • Done in "New Kids on the Blecch" when L.T. Smash reveals the other three members of the Party Posse.
  • Character Development: Lots.
  • Charge Into Combat Cut: In a far far future epilogue, two factions of Bart followers wage Holy War.

"Bart" Soldier: "We believe that God's last prophet, Bart Simpson preached a message of tolerance, and love."
"Bartman" Soldier: "We believe the holy Bartman preached a message of understanding and peace, before he was betrayed by his follower, Milhouse! And pulled apart by snow-mobiles, until he died."
"Bart" Soldiers: "Eat my shorts!!!"
"Bartman" Soldiers: "Cowabunga!!!"
fade to black as they charge each other

  • Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys: The Trope Namer, although not an actual example of the trope, is heard in the episode Round Springfield when, due to budget cuts, belligerent Scotsman Groundskeeper Willie is shown to be the French teacher at Springfield Elementary.

Willie: Bonjouuurrrrrr, ya cheese-eating surrender monkeys!

Burns: Smithers, I've designed a new plane. I call it the "Spruce Moose", and it will carry two hundred passengers from New York's Idyllwild Airport to the Belgian Congo in seventeen minutes!
Smithers: That's quite a nice model, sir.
Burns: Model?
(Later, near the end of the episode...)
Burns: Now, to the plant! We'll take the Spruce Moose. Hop in!
Smithers: But, sir --
Burns: (draws gun) I said, hop in.

    • In "Itchy & Scratchy Land", the family, heading to the titular theme park, makes a brief stop at "Five Corners", in which five different states intersect. 15 seasons later, Sideshow Bob takes Bart to the same area in "The Bob Next Door" to exploit extraterritorial jurisdiction, setting the stage for the episode's climax.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Feet in "Krusty Gets Busted".
    • Also, "property of Bart Simpson" stickers in "Radio Bart." They're a Running Gag earlier in the episode, but when Bart throws his radio down a well to prank the town into thinking a kid fell down there, Lisa finds out, and points out that he was probably dumb enough to leave one of those stickers on the radio. Bart then rushes to the well, to retrieve the radio from it, but falls into the well himself.
  • Chew Out Fake Out: In "Lisa Gets An A", Skinner calls Lisa to his office to discuss the results of yesterday's test, on which Lisa cheated:

Skinner: I've just received some rather unusual news regarding your unprecedented A-triple-plus. To be honest, I'm surprised and saddened. Eh, no, not saddened... what's the word? Ah, yes, delighted!

  • Chew Toy: Frank Grimes.
  • Children Are a Waste: There's a group of single people who get tired of dealing with other people's children and lead a campaign for more restrictions on kids ("The children are our future: today belongs to me!). They succeed, and Marge leads a counter-campaign to get everything back to normal.
  • Children in Tow: In one episode, the fire truck rushes to a fire only to be delayed by a mother duck crossing the road with a lot of ducklings.
  • Chirping Crickets: In "Monty Can't Buy Me Love", Mr. Burns waits for the kudos to roll in from his donation to the Springfield Hospital. He waits until evening, when the crickets outside begin chirping. Mr. Burns pushes a button on his desk, which releases cricket poison outside, killing the crickets.
  • The Chosen Zero: When Homer becomes a member of the secret society The Stonecutters, he is found to have a special birthmark that signifies he is The Chosen One. As Homer usually does in these situations, he screws it up. At least one or two characters have their doubts that he's really the one prophesied by the Sacred Parchment.
  • Christian Rock: Flanders is seeing a Christian Rock singer.
    • He also mistakes Chris Rock for a Christian Rock concert. He later says that he's "never heard a preacher use the 'm-f' word so many times".
    • There's a parody of the Christian parody rock band Apologetix in "The Father, The Son, and The Holy Guest Star". Their name is Pious Riot.
  • Christmas Episode: Several of them, including the series premiere:

Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire
Marge Be Not Proud
Miracle on Evergreen Terrace
Grift of the Magi
Skinner's Sense of Snow
She of Little Faith
'Tis the Fifteenth Season
Simpsons Christmas Stories
Kill Gil: Volumes 1 and 2
The Fight Before Christmas

  • Chronic Pet Killer
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Lionel Hutz and Troy McClure, after Phil Hartman, the voice actor who played both of them, was sadly murdered. Also Flander's new girlfriend Rachel Jordan he gets after Maude dies. Appears in two episodes in the eleventh and twelfth seasons then just disappears for no discernable reason even though its implied in the last episode she appears in, ("I'm Goin' to Praiseland") that Flanders and her are still together. As well as this the bitch that Santa's Little Helper impregnates in the Sixth Season episode, ("Two Dozen and One Greyhounds"), appears to be living with the Simpsons family and then never appears again in the series with no explanation this arguably happens in the episode itself with the character just disappearing during the episode after the puppies are born.
  • Circle of Shame: Happens more than once. One example comes when Bart fantasizes about his family's reaction to him "ruining Thanksgiving".
  • Classically-Trained Extra: Both Sideshow Bob and Sideshow Mel. In fact, Bob's original intention for framing Krusty wasn't just revenge for him being robbed of his dignity but also out of a desire to provide children's television that is not only entertaining but is educational and thoughtful as well. It worked so well that even though he was arrested after only a few days he won an Emmy for his work.
  • Class Is in Room X-01: "Remedial Science 1-A" in "The Front".
  • Climb, Slip, Hang, Climb: Homer does it as he climbs to the top of what he hopes to be the worlds tallest human pyramid.
  • Cliff Hanger: "Who Shot Mr. Burns", the only two-parter the show ever did.
    • "Missionary: Impossible", which cuts away from Homer and Lisa Jr. (who are about to fall into the lava) to Betty White and the PBS telethon. We never do find out how Homer and Lisa Jr. got out of that predicament.
    • While not a true two-parter, the season 23 premiere will reveal the results on the Ned/Edna relationship poll which started after the previous season's finale.
  • Cliffhanger Copout: Parodies the cliffhanger part (while hinting at copout to come) shown at the end of a chapter from a "Radioactive Man" film serial from the 1940's being screened at a comic convention. Earth is shown in the middle of an Earthshattering Kaboom, already clearly split in two by an atomic bomb when the action freezes and a narrator asks, "Will Radioactive Man be able to save the Earth in time?"
  • Clip Show: Say what you will about the newer episodes, but clip shows are a lot less common than they used to be.
  • Closer to Earth: To the point where, in the episode "Lisa the Simpson", Lisa discovers that the Simpson bloodline has a hereditary gene that causes severe intelligence loss with age, ultimately dooming the family to unsuccessful, moronic lives... except it only affects the men. All the women are smart and successful. This is presented as a happy ending, despite Bart's rightful concern for his future.
  • Clothing Switch: Marge, in an intense morning rush, accidentally does this do Bart and Lisa in "Bye Bye Nerdie".
  • Coattail-Riding Relative: Used many, many times, to wit:
    • Abe wants to mooch from his long lost bastard son Herb, who is a rich Detroit auto executive - but by the time Abe gets there Homer (who went to meet Herb earlier) has already ruined Herb professionally and financially.
    • When Rodney Dangerfield turns up to Guest Star as Mr. Burns's long-forgotten illegitimate son, Larry, he briefly tries riding Burns's coattails. Ultimately, Larry proves too lazy and unambitious to do even that.
    • When Lisa tutors Cletus's children and turns them into a singing group, Krusty hires the clan to appear on his show. Cletus lives the good life as their "manager."
    • In an episode that shows Lisa becoming President in the future, Bart, now an unemployed slacker and freshly evicted from his apartment, turns up to mooch off of his successful sister and crash at the White House.
  • Cobweb of Disuse: When the family goes to the library to do research for school they find no books and cobwebs on the shelves. So Marge tells them stories of Henry VIII, Sacagawea and Mozart.
  • Cold Open: Most of the "Treehouse of Horror" specials feature this; in the earlier days, it was Marge or Homer warning the audience that the episode in question is violent, while later specials featured a quick Halloween-related skit before the opening sequence.
    • "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular" also features a cold open, with the announcer presenting Troy McClure, who greets the audience and then rolls the opening.
  • Cold Turkeys Are Everywhere: Happens to Homer in "Duffless" when he makes a vow to stop drinking for thirty days.
  • Come Back to Bed, Honey: Homer does this once, and annoying Marge greatly.
  • Comeback Tomorrow: In "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge":

Marge: Why do I always think of the right thing to say when it's too late? "Shut up, Becky!" Ohhhhh, that would've been sweet...

  • Comically Missing the Point: In "Lisa the Skeptic", the town is convinced the world is going to end at sundown. Edna suggests he and Skinner have sex one last time before the end. Skinner agrees, but asks her to give him a bit so he can finish filling out the tardy slips. If the world was ending, who cares about tardy slips?
    • In "Bart the Genius", Bart confesses in writing that he cheated on the IQ test. When J. Loren Pryor reads the note, he remarks: "You know... you misspelled 'confession'."
    • In "Lard of the Dance" when Homer gets paid only 63 cents for all the lard he traded in:

Bart: Dad, all that bacon cost twenty-seven dollars.
Homer: Yeah, but your mom paid for that!
Bart: But doesn't she get her money from you?
Homer: And I get my money from grease! What's the problem?

Bart: Nice jacket!
Milhouse: Thanks, it cost me 50,000 Bazooka Joe comics!

Comic Book Guy: Last night's Itchy and Scratchy was, without a doubt, the worst episode ever. Rest assured that I was on the internet within minutes registering my disgust throughout the world.
Bart: Hey, I know it wasn't great but what right do you have to complain?
Comic Book Guy: As a loyal viewer, I feel they owe me.
Bart: What? They've given you thousands of hours of entertainment for free. What could they possibly owe you? I mean, if anything, you owe them!
Comic Book Guy: Worst. Episode. Ever.

  • Compressed Vice: Homer's homophobia in "Homer's Phobia".
  • Con Crew:
    • Homer Shills for Grampa when selling "Simpson & Son's Revitalising Tonic". It doesn't work, largely because his face is on the bottle.
    • Another episode has one of Snake's con tricks facilitated by a Shill who looks and sounds remarkably like Snake himself, who is almost 100% certainly related to Snake in some fashion ("Way to go, bro!").
  • Concealing Canvas: In Mr. Burns' mansion.
  • Confessional: This is how Chief Wiggum arrests Smithers in "Who Shot Mr. Burns Part 2", by hiding in the confessional booth and hearing Smithers confess to shooting Mr. Burns.
    • Also Homer, to Father Sean, in "The Father, The Son, and the Holy Guest Star", goes into a highly detailed confession of his many sins in rapid fire manner.
  • Confusing Multiple Negatives: From "Boy Scoutz 'n the Hood", when Bart is reading a knife safety book:

Bart: "Don't do what Donny Don't does." (sighs) They could've made this clearer.

  • Cone of Shame: When Mr. Burns' slant oil drill ruins Bart's treehouse (with him & Santa's Little Helper inside), SLH is reduced to wearing one of these while in a doggie-wheelchair.
  • Consolation World Record: In the episode "Sweets and Sour Marge".
  • Continuity Nod: In "Homer at the Bat", guest star Mike Scioscia is unable to play because of radiation poisoning from working at the Springfield Nuclear Plant. Years later, Scioscia makes another cameo in "MoneyBART", where he reveals the radiation poisoning gave him super-managing powers.
  • Contrived Clumsiness: In one early episode, the family is supposed to solve their problems by shocking each other. At the beginning of the exercise, Bart accidentally-on-purpose shocks Lisa, claiming his finger slipped. Lisa shocks him back saying, "So did mine."
  • Convenience Store Gift Shopping: In "New Kid on the Block", Bart visits Grampa to get dating advice:

Grampa: You remembered my birthday!
Bart: Uh... (sees the twinkle in Grampa's eye) Oh, I sure did! Here's a bus schedule!
Grampa: Wow, fits right in my pocket!

  • Conveniently Cellmates: Sideshow Bob has been seen with his family in jail.
  • Corrupt Church: Springfield's church was rebuilt into one in "Lisa the Buddhist".
  • Corrupt Politician: Mayor Quimby, whose motto is Corruptis in Extremis.
  • Cosmic Close Call: The Treehouse of Horror XI segment "G-G-Ghost D-D-Dad" has Homer experience various Cosmic Close Calls before choking on a piece of broccoli and dying.
  • Cosmopolitan Council: The Republican Party in Springfield.
  • Couldn't Find a Lighter: Done in an episode with multiple rockstars making guest appearances. For a benefit concert, they have a motorized Devil-head on wheels, complete with pyrotechnics, which Keith Richards lights his cigarette on by putting it in his mouth and sticking his head into the stream of flame.
  • Courtroom Episode: "Bart Gets Hit by a Car", "The Boy Who Knew Too Much".
    • There are also numerous episodes that feature court scenes, even if they aren't the main focus of the episode, such as "Krusty Gets Busted", "The Monkey Suit", "Marge in Chains", "Sideshow Bob Roberts", "The Great Money Caper", the list goes on.
  • Covered in Mud: In a Treehouse of Horror episode parodying Orson Welles' The War of the World broadcast: Springfield is terrified of being invaded by Martians. Sideshow Mel tells everyone to take off their clothes and wallow in the mud. That way the Martians will leave them alone, not realizing that they're people.
  • Cover Identity Anomaly: Homer pretends to be Mr. Burns. This is made more difficult as he doesn't know Mr. Burns' first name.
  • Cover Version: "Twist and Shout" plays in "Behind the Laughter", and it's sung by someone other than The Beatles (while they didn't create the song, their rendition was arguably the most famous).
  • Cowboy Episode: "Dude, Where's My Ranch?"
  • CPR: Clean, Pretty, Reliable:
    • "Boy Scoutz 'N the Hood": One scout member gives one to Bart after being choked by his necktie caught in the door.

Ned: Now, just breathe into him every three seconds. Make sure you form a tight seal around his mouth!

    • "Dog of Death": SLH is revived by CPR during his stomach operation after SLH dreams of going to heaven.
    • "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Marge": After Homer faints into the Ark Ice Cream Bowl, Becky, noticing he's not breathing, gives Homer CPR to try to revive him only to have Marge think that she's an upsurper the minute she arrived.
    • "Mobile Homer": After he is smashed repeatedly on the neck by the garage door and getting suffocated by the spiders, Lisa gives her father CPR with Bart compressing his chest.
    • "The Haw-Hawed Couple": After Nelson saves Bart, Skinner gives Bart CPR which lead the children to blurt out a 'gay joke' between them.
    • "Stealing First Base": When Bart accidently falls off the roof of the school causing him not to breathe, Nikki rushes to save him with her knowledge of CPR, defying the 'no touch' policy Springfield Elementary has. What follows between is a montage of kissing scenes from classic movies (The Godfather Part II, Lady and the Tramp, From Here to Eternity, Gone With The Wind, Alien 3, etc.), just when Nikki proceeds to breathe air into Bart's lungs, reviving him, saving his life.
    • "24 Minutes": After Bart and Willie are saved from drowning, Mrs. Krabappel gives Willie CPR, who would rather die than clean the mess in the gym.
    • Subverted in "Pranks and Greens": Andy shows Bart a slideshow of his body of pranks, one of which showing a flight attendant giving him CPR after he faked a heart attack on an international flight.
    • "Rome-Old and Juli-Eh": During a montage of Selma and Abe dating, Selma is shown giving him CPR.
    • "Midnight RX": Mr. Burns gives Smithers CPR after applying his thyroid medication.
  • Crap Saccharine World: For all Springfield's colourfulness and supposed civic pride, it does seem to be a pretty messed up town. See Crapsack World mention below for details.
    • It's also not the only one portrayed in Springfield. When the Simpsons go to Brazil, Lisa angrily states the reason the Rio slums are so fun and colorful is because the government hopes it'll make tourists forget that they're slums. Works just fine on Marge.
  • Crapsack World: Springfield's mayor is corrupt, (his only apparent rivals during the show being even worse) the police are ridiculously incompetent, (when Marge claims she feels the need to take the law into her own hands, Wiggum says "a lot of people are doing that these days" as if there was nothing alarming about that) and Homer Simpson himself is supposed to be safety inspector at a nuclear power plant, yet is clearly lazy and implied to be unqualified. His boss, Mr. Burns, is incredibly evil, and has attempted a project to block sunlight from reaching Springfield, so as to deprive the residents one more alternative source of heat and light only for this project to be destroyed while Burns was in the hospital after being shot by a baby, but apparently, he gets to continue running the power plant after he recovers.
    • Then there's the ridiculously underfunded education system they have. Among other things, cafeteria food is made from circus animals, newspaper and gym mats, the school is filled with asbestos, the teachers are completely apathetic and uncaring about their jobs and shockingly they don't even have enough money to teach maths.
      • Oh, and apparently they're paid in chickens.
  • Crazy Memory: Almost all flashbacks involving Grampa.
  • Creative Closing Credits: Numerous instances:
    • "The Squirt and the Whale" uses cutesy images of a hypothetical Interspecies Romance Homer describes in the episode between a whale and an octopus.
    • "The Homer they Fall" has images of Moe travelling around the world in a flying machine and aiding various people were used.
    • "Treehouse of Horror V" has the Simpson family (who has been turned inside out by toxic gas) singing a Broadway-style song.
    • In fact, nearly all of the Treehouse of Horror episodes have credit gags in the form of Halloween-ized staff names.
    • "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday" has more footage of Homer in the waiting room of the dealership while "Spanish Flea" plays.
  • Creator Backlash Comic book guy, in-universe.
  • Credit Card Plot: The first act of "The Canine Mutiny".
  • Credits Gag: Numerous instances:
    • In "All Singing, All Dancing", Snake causes the music to repeatedly be cut off by shooting his shotgun.
    • In "G.I. (Annoyed Grunt)", the colonel assigns most everyone in the credits to frontline infantry, except for his voice actor who's gets coast guard.
    • In "Bart Star", Homer cuts most everyone in the credits from the football team.
    • In "Marge Simpson in "Screaming Yellow Honkers"", Homer is forced to apologize for saying NBC is a great channel, and is supposedly shot for quickly remarking that CBS is great.
    • "Lady Bouvier's Lover" has Grampa's ramblings shushed by the Gracie Films logo.
    • "Don't Fear the Roofer" has Homer constantly getting the timeslot and channel of Everybody Loves Raymond wrong.
  • Credits Pushback: Parodied in "Das Bus" when God revealing the key to salvation to Noah is interrupted by Kent Brockman giving a news teaser.
    • Also parodied in "Bart Gets Famous" when Bart pauses the videotape to show his friends his name in the credits. But since the credits portion of the screen is so squashed, Bart's name is hard to read and they don't believe him.
  • The Crime Job: "The Book Job", an Ocean's Eleven parody.
  • Crooked Contractor: The repairman from "Homer the Great" says he won't get the parts he needs for the job for two three weeks, and that's if he orders them today. Which he won't.
    • Also a main plot point in "Don't Fear the Roofer".
  • Cross-Dressing Voices: Probably the most famous example in American animation: Nancy Cartwright as Bart Simpson (and pretty much all of his male classmates as well.)
  • Crossing the Burnt Bridge: In a flashback episode, Homer, upon quitting his nuclear plant job, plays Burns' head like a bongo in front of all the other employees, and then throws Burns at a barrel of toxic waste. He LITERALLY burns a bridge he drives over on his way out. He eventually has to take the job back after impregnating Marge with Maggie.

Burns: Oh, I should be resisting this, but I'm paralyzed with rage...and island rhythms!

  • Crossover:
    • The Critic's Jay Sherman (Jon Lovitz) appears in "A Star Is Burns", and makes a cameo in "Hurricane Neddy" and "The Ziff Who Came to Dinner."
    • King of the Hill 's core cast make a surprise appearence in "Bart Star"...a surprise ruined on the episode's premire by Fox's advance promotions.

Hank Hill: We came all the way from Arlen for THIS?

  • Cross-Popping Veins: "Look at the vein on that guy's forehead, he's gonna blow!"
  • Cross Referenced Titles: A few recurring ones, like "*Simpson* vs. *something*",[2] "*Simpson*" Gets a *grade*",[3] and "*Simpson* the *title*".[4]
  • Crowd Chant: "Where's My Burrito?! Where's My Burrito?!" Not to mention a certain pachyderm.
  • Crowded Cast Shot: Used in two Couch Gags in the fourth season.
  • Cruella to Animals: Mr. Burns of course.
  • Crush Parade:
    • The episode "Lisa's Sax" sees Lisa's prized saxophone sail out her bedroom window and into the street where it's run over by a car, a truck, stamped on by Nelson (who then points at it and mocks, "Ha ha"), and concludes with a man on a tricycle who falls over to the side when his front tire hits what remains of the flattened saxophone, accompanied by the scene transition music from Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In.
    • Another episode sees Milhouse crushed by an actual parade, featuring an endless number of marching bands, parade floats, elephants, etc.
  • Crying Indian: At the end of "Trash of the Titans," Chief catches an empty potato chip bag and sheds a single tear. His friend advises him not to look behind him, as behind him is the ruins of Springfield covered in garbage.

Chief: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
Indian: I told you not to turn around.

  • Crying Wolf: The subplot of "Marge Gets a Job"; Bart hasn't read the end of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" and thus doesn't realize the lesson of not repeatedly faking sick to get out of a test.
  • Cryptid Episode: In an attempt to become the world's most lovable billionaire Mr. Burns goes to Loch Ness to capture Nessie.
  • Cue the Flying Pigs: From "Lisa the Vegetarian", Burns says he'll donate a million dollars to the local orphanage... when pigs fly. Just as he and Smithers share a laugh, the pig from a scene earlier goes flying by their window.

Smithers: Will you be donating that million dollars now, sir?
Burns: Mmm, no, I'd still prefer not.

  • Cue the Rain:
    • Subverted in an episode where the Simpsons lose their house. Tossed out unto the street, Homer says, "Well, it could be worse. At least it's not raining." (Beat) "See? Told you it could be worse."
    • In another episode, Mr. Burns is telling the story of how he went to jail. As Smithers leaves, Burns notes that this the point in a story where it would start raining, and decides that, since he's telling the story, it did rain. Then he decides that rain wasn't depressing enough, so he has it snow instead, capping it off with Smithers losing his nose to frostbite.
  • Culture Chop Suey: Lampshaded in "Lisa Gets an A" where Lisa is playing a video game based on the Theme Park version of Australia (and a very blatant parody of Crash Bandicoot). She is killed by a group of koalas dressed as ninjas, leading her to remark, "Nunchucks? Those aren't even Australian!"
  • Cut a Slice, Take the Rest: Played with in "Simpsons Bible Stories":

Homer: (as King Solomon) The pie shall be cut in two. (takes a knife and cuts a pie in half, then holds up each slice as if offering them) Now each man will recieve... (withdraws the slices) death! I'll eat the pie. (scarfs both slices down)

D

Bart: Was that your ad?
Homer: ...I don't know.

  • Dance Line: Mr. Smithers is sent on vacation, and goes to a gay resort. He calls Mr. Burns to check up on him...and a conga line forms behind him at the payphone, which he proceeds to lead.

Mr. Smithers: Well, I've gotta go. There's a line forming behind me.

Ralph Wiggum: That is so 1991.

    • Grampa claims that back in 1906, everyone was doing a dance called "The Funky Grampa". Of course, knowing Grampa, this is definitely senility talking.
  • The Danza: Doris Grau did the voice of Lunchlady Doris.

Doris: It's rich in bunly goodness.

  • Darker and Edgier: This scene, once you get to the sweatshop part, in comparison to other Simpsons scenes in general, let alone Simpsons intros.
    • Homer's Enemy.
  • Dead Baby Comedy: Progressively more so as the show loses the warm heart it once had.
  • Dead Guy Puppet: After digging up Jebediah Springfield to disprove Lisa's vocal claims, Chief Wiggum tries his hand at ventriloquism with the city-founder's skull.
  • Deadly Hug: Sideshow Bob brainwashes Bart into killing Krusty by hugging him, which will complete a circuit and make them both blow up.
  • Dead Man Writing: "Homer's Odyssey"; parodied in "Half-Decent Proposal".
  • Deadpan Snarker: Various characters have their moments, but Comic Book Guy is the most apparent, such as when Bart sees a sign saying "Bonestorm - 99 cents" outside the store.

Bart: I'd like to buy a copy of "Bonestorm." Here's 99 cents.
Comic Book Guy: Allow me to summarize the proposed transaction. You wish to purchase "Bonestorm" for 99 cents. Net profit to me: negative 59 dollars.
Comic Book Guy opens the cash register.
Comic Book Guy: Please take my 59 dollars, I don't want it.
Bart reaches forward to take the cash.
Comic Book Guy: Uh uh - Seeing as you are unfamiliar with sarcasm, I shall close the cash register at this point, and state that 99 cents is the rental price.

Lisa: I'm keeping you! You're Snowball V, but to save money on a new dish, we'll just call you Snowball II and pretend this whole thing never happened.
Principal Skinner: That's really a cheat, isn't it?
Lisa: I guess you're right, Principal Tamzarian.
Principal Skinner: I'll just be moving along, Lisa. Snowball II.

  • Decided by One Vote: In "Wild Barts Can't Be Broken", the curfew law which made it illegal for anyone under senior citizen age to be out after sundown was passed by a single vote. This was announced after Homer foolishly declared that one vote never made a difference.
  • Delivery Stork: Flanders asserts that storks are fictitious:

Ned: God put us here and that's that.
Todd: But you said a stork brought me.
Ned: Umm... that was God disguised as a stork.
Rod: Who brings baby storks?
Ned: There's no such thing as storks! It's all God!

  • Defeat Means Friendship: In Bart The General Nelson Muntz was introduced as a bully and enemy of Bart, in subsequent episodes he became a friend of Bart and no longer a bully per se but just liked to laugh at the misfortune of others.
  • Denser and Wackier: The show's genre trappings from season to season have undergone this gradually from the first season onwards.
  • Department of Redundancy Department: From "Last of the Red Hat Mamas":

Announcer: Welcome back to Fox Sports West II Classic Fox Sports FOX!

    • From "Lisa on Ice":

Skinner: Attention, students: This is Principal Skinner, your principal, with a message from the principal's office.

    • From "$pringfield":

Announcer: The News On Parade Corporation presents: News On Parade! Corporation... News!

    • From "Marge in Chains", a sign reads "Springfield Women's Prison: A prison for women."
    • In "Homer's Enemy", when Lenny introduces himself to Frank Grimes, he says:

Lenny: I'm Lenny. This is Carl and Homer. I'm Lenny.

    • From "The Dad Who Knew Too Little":

Protest leader: What do we want?
Group: The gradual phase-out of animal testing over the next three years!
Protest leader: When do we want it?
Group: Over the next three years!

    • From "Homer: Bad Man":

Announcer: Tonight, on "Rock Bottom": We go undercover at a sex farm for sex hookers!

    • From "The Itchy & Scratchy Movie":

Homer: I can't let that happen, I won't let that happen, and I can't let that happen!

  • Depraved Kids' Show Host: Krusty the Klown.
  • Deprogramming: After the family was rescued from the Movementarian cult in "The Joy of Sect".
    • Also attempted by the family when Bart was living with Mr. Burns. The deprogrammers got Hans Moleman instead.
  • Depth Deception: Leading to Kent Brockman welcoming his alien overlords.
  • Derailed for Details: In an episode that takes place before Lisa was born, Marge is telling Bart a typical prince-and-princess story before he goes to bed.

Bart: And then what happened?
Marge: They had 30 sons and 30 daughters.
Bart: What were their names?

Mrs. Bouvier: I swear, Monty, you're the Devil himself.
Mr. Burns: WHA?!! WHO TOLD Y... oh, er, heh heh...

    • Not to mention the Halloween episode where it's revealed the Devil is Ned Flanders. "Always who you least suspect", indeed.

Devil Flanders: Hey, Bart.
Bart (nonchalant): Hey.

  • Devil's Advocate: Parodied. Homer states that he's about to "play devil's advocate" in regards to helping Apu...it then cuts to him playing a pinball game called "Devil's Advocate".
  • Did Not Do the Research: Juan Peron was democratically elected despite what "E Pluribus Wiggum" states.
    • The show featured a game console called the "Funtendo Zii" a few times, and was even B-Plot centric in one episode. But the words "Nintendo" and "Wii" do not go together as per the Nintendo Style Guide. The full name is to make clearer what it's parodying.
    • Apu states in "Simpson Tide" that his religion forbids military service. Actually, Hindus are permitted to serve in the military and India has quite a large army.
    • As revealed in the DVD commentaries, several episodes subvert this trope, especially the ones where The Simpsons visit foreign countries. See Artistic License for more.
  • Didn't We Use This Joke Already?:

Marge: Hmmm. Should the Simpsons get a horse?
Comic Book Guy: Excuse me, I believe this family already had a horse, and the expense forced Homer to work at the Kwik-E-Mart, with hilarious consequences.

Grampa: Son, don't go up that mountain! You'll die up there like I did!
Homer: You? Did?
Grampa: Sure.

  • Diet Episode: Homer went on one in "Brush With Greatness" after he got stuck in a water slide at a water park.
    • Lisa went on a diet in "Sleeping With the Enemy" after her friends said she had a big butt.
  • Digging Yourself Deeper: Principal Skinner in "Girls Just Want to Have Sums" keeps accidentally insulting women, and with each attempt to rectify the situation, he just keeps making it worse. Eventually, he just breaks down and pleads to the women: "Just tell me what to say!"
  • Dinner Theatre: Springfield Dinner Theater has featured Mark Hamill in Guys and Dolls and Krusty the Klown in King Lear.
  • Dinky Drivers: In one episode, Bart was steering while Lisa and Milhouse were operating the gas and brake pedals. They failed spectacularly due to their total lack of coordination, though Milhouse took the opportunity to ask Lisa out.
  • Dinner Order Flub: Selma takes Hans Moleman out to dinner in order to seduce him (she wants a baby, and by this time doesn't much care with who). He tries to read the menu but the waiter tells him it's the wine list. "Very good."
  • Disaster Dominoes: Frequently.
  • Discretion Shot: Near the end of the second act of the episode "Bye Bye Nerdie", Lisa gets beaten up by Francine. This happens the same time we see the shot of one of the security camera monitors in which Wille replaces a toilet paper and giving a thumbs up to the camera.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: In "Two Bad Neighbors", former President George H.W. Bush spanks Bart for destroying his memoirs. When Bart tells Homer about the spanking, Homer decides it's the last straw and starts a conflict with Bush. Homer didn't even know about the memoirs until the final confrontation, and even then he still attacks Bush.
  • Disney Acid Sequence: Several.
    • Homer's Slumberland dream when he sleeps on the car's steering wheel in "Lisa's Pony".
    • Lisa's Purple Submersible dream when she gets gassed in "Last Exit to Springfield".
      • Also happens when Bart dares her to drink the water in the "Little Land of Duff" boat ride in "Selma's Choice".
    • The remainder of the episode "D'oh-in in the Wind".
    • Basically... there's lots of them.
    • Also: "Springfield, Springfield! It's a hell of a town"...
  • Disney Creatures of the Farce: In "Homer the Heretic", after he creates his own religion, a group of woodland animals gather around him and Homer happily accepts their presence—until he asks them to leave while he's showering.
    • Another scene happens in the movie, where the creatures unwittingly help Marge and Homer get ready for sex.
  • Disneyesque: A Lady and the Tramp parody has the backgrounds drawn in Disney style.
  • Dodgeball Is Hell: ...of a sort.
  • Does Not Like Men: Patty & Selma, especially if said "men" are anything like Homer, though that doesn't stop them from trying to find men that are worse than Homer for Marge to marry (i.e. Artie Ziff, Andre on "Homer's Triple Bypass," the man from "Regarding Margie" [the episode where Marge has amnesia and loses her memory of being married to Homer]).
  • Does Not Like Shoes: In Tree House of Horror X, after being affected by radiation Lisa becomes the super hero Clobber Girl. During which she remains barefoot the entire time.
  • Does Not Understand Sarcasm: Homer, on many an occasion.
    • Bart, in "Marge Be Not Proud", doesn't understand Comic Book Guy's sarcasm when he tries to buy a new video game for only 99 cents.
  • Do I Really Sound Like That?: When Bart and Lisa were encouraging Homer to audition for the role of Poochie, they record his voice so he could hear it.

Homer: Oh... I don't like having such a hilarious voice.

  • The Don: Fat Tony oozes this trope. Never has mob menace been so second-language articulate.
  • Doomed New Clothes: When Homer had to quit his dream job at the bowling alley in "And Maggie Makes Three", he gets a "Sorry you had to 'split'" jacket as a going away present. When he returns to the SNPP, acid rain sprang up and dissolved the jacket.
  • Dork Horse Candidate: Seen in a couple episodes; "Lisa's Substitute" featured Bart running for class president against Martin, and "Trash of the Titans" featured a disgruntled Homer running against Ray Patterson for sanitation commissioner.
  • Double Edged Answer: In "Hurricane Neddy", when Ned Flanders asks Reverend Lovejoy if God is testing him, Lovejoy answers, "Short answer, yes with an if; long answer, no with a but."
  • Dramatic Curtain Toss: Several, but mostly notably the unveiling of Marge's portrait of Mr. Burns.
  • Dramatic Shattering: In "Last Exit to Springfield", Lisa angrily shatters the mirror when she sees how her braces look.
  • Dramatic Spotlight: Parodied in the episode where Krusty reveals to the world he's Jewish. He asks for a spotlight, and the spotlight operator thinks he's doing a bit.

Boys and girls, I'd like to be serious for a moment if I may. Spotlight, please. I just wanted (spotlight moves away from Krusty) I just wan- (spotlight moves away again) Come on guys, I'm not doing the spotlight bit!

  • Dressing as the Enemy: Parodied, of course:
    • In "Viva Ned Flanders", Homer and Ned are running away from their new wives. They take two janitors into a broom closet to beat them up and take their uniforms, only for Homer and Ned to be beaten up instead.
    • In "Burns, Baby Burns", Homer and Larry Burns are running away from the police, and duck into a costume store. Moments later, two people emerge wearing outfits who we assume are Homer and Larry in disguise. However, it's revealed that those are two random people, and that Homer and Larry are hiding in the shop's bathroom.

Shop owner: Either buy a costume or get out, fellas.

Bart: Lisa in trouble? The ironing is delicious.
Lisa: The word is irony!
Bart: Huh?

Kent Brockman: Hehe. That's great, Arnie.

  • Dynamic Entry:
    • "Lisa's Substitute": Mr. Bergstrom shows up in cowboy attire and fires off fake gunshots into the air.
    • "The Springfield Connection": Marge saves Homer's ass from a hostage situation by using Bart's secret treehouse entrance.


E

  • Early Installment Weirdness: First were the Tracey Ullman shorts, the earlier ones with very skewed character models compared to what we know. Then come the first season or so, most of which is very different in tone and humor style to everything that came after it. In particular, there's the Simpsons episode "There's No Disgrace Like Home" (in which Homer is actually ashamed of his family being dysfunctional, something that would be more in character for Marge or Lisa in later episodes). The writers' commentary cheerfully admits that pretty much everything in the episode is "wrong" compared to later seasons, though that still doesn't stop it from having a scene that continues to be extremely popular, where the Simpsons all give each other shock therapy. Finally, there's the Art Evolution bump (though minor) when production switched to HD in season 20.
    • Also notable is the completely different, more gruff voice Dan Castellaneta uses for Homer during the shorts and first part of the first season. The original voice of Homer was based rather closely on Walter Matthau. As well, after the first three or four seasons (after the initial craze died down) the writers realized that Homer was a much better character for generating plots, as long as they kept him fairly unpredictable and dumb. This was lampshaded with a "viewer's letter" saying that "I think Homer gets stupider every year." Dan Castellaneta actually says on several commentaries that he never really made a decision to change the voice; he just kept trying his best to match the voice he used in the previous episode, and it slowly changed to one that fit the writing better.
    • Noteworthy are the early appearances of black Smithers with blue hair(though that was only due to an inking error, he was never actually intended to be black) and Lou the cop (who switched from being black to being yellow).
    • In the first few episodes of season 1 such as Bart the Genius, Homer's Odyssey and Some Enchanted Evening, many of the background drawings are gradient. Here's a few examples: From "Bart the Genius", From "Homer's Odyssey", and this one from "Some Enchanted Evening". The gradients are probably mistakes caused by inconsistent thickness in the cell paint.
    • Season 2 made heavy use of overlapping dialog. This was more or less abandoned starting in season 3.
  • Earpiece Conversation: There's a gag where Kent Brockman gets fed lines this way even when he's socialising
  • Earth All Along: Parodied in Troy McClure's musical Stop the Planet of the Apes I Want to Get Off!.
  • Easy Road to Hell: Parodied and subverted as Bart is on his way to Heaven on an escalator after being hit by a car, but gets sent to Hell for not holding onto the handrail and for spitting over the side, then gets let back to Earth as the devil realizes it's not his time yet.
  • Eating Lunch Alone: Lisa, in "Father Knows Worst"; nobody will let her sit with them. Which is odd, because Lisa's clearly had friends before.
    • In "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson" she has to eat alone in the mess hall because she's ostracized for being the only girl at military school. (P.s.: The cadets are planning to throw their meatballs at her.)
  • Eccentric Townsfolk: Pretty much all of Springfield.
  • Embarrassing Slide: A non-sexual one occurs in "Bart vs. Australia," where Evan Conover (a representative from the U.S. Department of State) shows the Simpsons a slideshow of America's love affair with Australian culture in the 1980s. The last slide shows Fidel Castro seen through the crosshairs of a sniper rifle with the words "Plan B." Conover calmly snatches the slide, says, "Oops, let's pretend we didn't see that!", and swallows it.
  • Enemy Mine: Itchy and Scratchy once teamed up to fight Adolf Hitler. Itchy killed Scratchy immediately afterwards.
  • End-of-Episode Silliness: Done a fair bit, e.g. "Monty Can't Buy Me Love", where Mr. Burns captures the Loch Ness Monster. The episode ends with the monster working at a casino, and it and Homer talk about the low quality of the casino's cocktails.
    • Mr. Burns and Smithers bathing a manatee at the end of "Bonfire of the Manatees".
    • Homer having to perform in the zoo act at the end of "Eight Misbehavin'".
    • Grandpa's retinas detaching while playing peek-a-boo with Maggie in "Lisa's Sax".
  • Enthralling Siren: in "Tales of the Public Domain", Homer plays Odysseus. The sirens are Patty and Selma.
  • Erotic Eating: Parodied in "Old Money", as Grampa and Beatrice flirt by consuming pills in a suggestive manner.
    • Also on the episode where Selma tries to find a man as per her Aunt Gladys' last request, during a date video taping, Selma chews on a (lit) cigarette and sticks out her tongue where the cigarette is now tied in knots (the only reason she can do that without feeling pain is revealed on season three's "Black Widower" where she told Sideshow Bob that a childhood accident where a bottle rocket went up her nose permanently destroyed her sense of taste and sense of smell. Then again, so does smoking for a long time, which Selma also did when she was a kid.)
    • And inverted into Fan Disservice when Patty and Selma find out that they can suck the many-days-dead conches and hermit crabs out of their shells to clean their seashell collection.
    • After eating dinner, Marge and Ned Flanders both eat strawberries dipped in whipped cream more erotically in "The Devil Wears Nada". Even the promotional artwork for the episode shows this.
    • "The Sweetest Apu", At the Kwik E Mart, Apu tries to break up with the Squishee lady until she eats a liquorice and spells out "Do Me" when taking it seductively out of her mouth causing Apu to lose control of himself.
  • Escape Convenient Boat: Parodied at least twice.
  • Reindeer Aren't Real:
    • Homer does it in "Treehouse of Horror IV":

Homer: Lisa, vampires are make-believe, just like elves, gremlins, and Eskimos.

    • In another episode, Bart refers to Michael Jackson on a list of fictional things adults make up to scare children. Interestingly, in an earlier episode Bart was a big Michael Jackson fan.
    • In an episode where they find the skeleton of what looks like an angel, Lisa postulates via Imagine Spot that it may be a Neanderthal who had been attacked by two big fish biting each of his arms simultaneously.

Wiggum: Everybody's heard of an angel, who ever heard of a "neanderthal?"

  • Evasive Fight Thread Episode: At the end of "The Great Wife Hope", Bart challenges Lisa to a fight to settle the bad blood between them. They jump at each other and the scene freezes and breaks to the start of the credits, only to subvert the trope and unfreeze a few seconds later as Lisa lays Bart out with a single punch.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Though not so much "evil" as a doormat to an evil character, Smithers rarely objects to the business practices of Mr. Burns except for when they're exceptionally evil. During the "Who Shot Mr. Burns" two-parter, Burns plans to block sunlight from reaching Springfield so that the residents of the town would have one less alternative source of heat and light.

Burns: Since the beginning of time, man has yearned to destroy the sun. I will do the next best thing -- block it out!
Smithers: Good God!
Burns: Imagine it, Smithers. Electric lights and heaters running all day long.
Smithers: But sir! Every plant and tree will die! Owls will deafen us with incessant hooting! The town's sundial will be useless! I don't want any part of this project, it's unconscionably fiendish.
Burns: I will not tolerate this insubordination! There has been a shocking decline in the quantity and quality of your toadying, Waylon, and you will fall into line, now!
Smithers: No Monty, I won't. Not until you step back from the brink of insanity.
Burns: I will do no such thing. You're fired.

    • Smithers does something similar in Sideshow Bob Roberts, where he goes behind Mr. Burns' back and gives a clue about how Bob was actually elected (hint: Ghost Voter) because he felt Bob's policies were against his "choice of lifestyle" (note: remember the hints from Smithers throughout the series).
    • In "The Bob Next Door", the prisoners who try to grope Marge through the bars of their cells instantly quiet down and stop the moment she tells them all she's married.
    • Inverted in Fear of Flying: During Moe's prank day, Barney and Lenny arrange for a cobra to bite Moe and set his apron on fire, respectively, and they all get a laugh. However, when Homer pulls a harmless prank by slightly unscrewing the sugar container to result in it spilling over the Tavern, everyone in the tavern ended up disgusted with Homer and had him banned permanently from the bar (at least according to the episode).
  • "Everybody Laughs" Ending: Lampshaded, of course. In "So It's Come To This: A Simpsons Clip Show", Homer awakens from a coma thinking it's still April Fool's Day. It's actually been a couple of months since then, and he's lost 10% of his brain. After the fade out while everybody laughs at the last lame joke ("Me lose brain? Uh-oh!"), the last thing you hear is Homer saying "Why I laugh?"
    • Parodied at the end of the episode where Sideshow Bob attempts to romance (and kill) Selma by opening a gas line: Bart closes by saying "Now let's get out of this gas-filled hallway before we all suffocate." Everyone laughs, presumably from the effects of the gas leak.
    • Parodied in "Last Exit to Springfield", where the main characters are gathered in a dentist's office and laugh very loudly at a mildly amusing joke, then it is revealed that the doctor left the laughing gas on.
    • Parodied in one of the Halloween episodes, where, after destroying an evil wig, Chief Wiggum quips "Now THAT'S what I call a bad hair day!" Everyone cracks up except for Marge, who points out that Apu and Moe are dead...but drops her protest when she gets the joke, and joins in the laughter.
    • Used also in the Wiggum P.I. segment of the episode "The Simpsons Spinoff Showcase", ending in a 70's freeze frame of Wiggum, Skinner, and Ralph laughing at Skinner's One-Liner, capped with a wacky brass coda.
    • In "Homer's Enemy", everyone laughs at Grimes' funeral.
  • Everything Makes a Mushroom: The camera pans out to show that it's only a few inches tall.
  • Everything's Better with Sparkles: Mr. Sparkle.
    • Bart's earring in "Simpson Tide". Sparkle sparkle!
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: A major theme with Mr. Burns. The most obvious case of this, though, is in "The Old Man And Lisa" when Burns is so tired of his usual advisors, who are such doormats that they don't even let Burns know when he's making a mistake, that he decides to hire Lisa instead, probably realizing that Lisa isn't really one to hold back. Repeatedly in the episode, Burns mistakes some of Lisa's moral advice for practical advice, but for the most part the moral option happens to be the more practical option anyway. This pattern, however, is broken when Lisa mentions to Burns that sometimes sea life gets caught in trash like 6-pack holders; obviously, Lisa considers this a bad thing, but Burns doesn't even seem to realize that Lisa does. (Or alternatively, perhaps he realizes he does and PRETENDS not to realize it so as to piss off Lisa.) So, instead of gathering the 6-pack holders to dispose of them, he gathers them up to make giant improvised fishing nets out of them and gather large quantities of sea life. It Gets Worse when Burns shows Lisa the factory where said sea life is mashed into a slurry that Burns refers to as "Lil' Lisa Slurry." Lisa calls him out on this.

Lisa: You're not just evil, you're worse than evil. Even when you think you're being good you end up being even more evil.

  • Evil Gloating: Mr. Burns is known for doing this, (Springfield's organized crime community is relatively less prone to it) but an especially sickening example is in Who Shot Mr. Burns part 1. At the town hall meeting about Burns' plan to block out the sun, Bart is telling the people at the meeting about how his dog was crippled by Burns' oil drilling operation; Bart shows the town the dog's cast and everything, and Burns walks in at this exact moment and says "oh, those wheels are squeaking a bit; perhaps I could sell him a little oil!"
  • Evil Laugh:
    • Bart Simpson's laugh is pretty evil, even when he's laughing about something innocent.
    • Mr. Burns has a pretty good one too.
      • Actually, it's probably more along the lines of "a pretty good variety of them." He has several styles of evil laughter.
    • Sideshow Bob has one hell of a evil laugh.
    • Kang and Kodos also have their own, as well.
    • Lisa Simpson herself has her own share of evil laughter in a few episodes. In "Girly Edition", after elaborating a scheme against Bart, Lisa has an evil laugh which was comically followed by their monkey helper's own evil laugh, creeping out Lisa. Also, in "Last Exit to Springfield", after she has braces installed leading to a spoof of the Joker's laugh from the 1980's Tim Burton Batman film.
    • Marge Simpson has a more raspy one herself in "All's Fair in Oven War" in which she sabotages her opponents food with Baby Ear Medicine. Also, she gives one in the third segment of TOH IV in which she reveals that she's the head vampire.
    • Even Homer himself has one in a few episodes such as "Flaming Moe's", "When Flanders Failed", and "The Fat and the Furriest" when he makes a big cotton candy ball with caramel on it.
    • "Bart Sells his Soul": Milhouse has one himself in this episode when begged by Bart to give him his soul back, but with a price: Fifty bucks.
    • "Whacking Day": Skinner has one himself after tricking Bart, Jimbo, Nelson, and Dolph in receiving mountain bikes only for him to forget to turn off the microphone causing everyone to hear.
    • Groundskeeper Willie has one himself in the second segment of TOH VI "Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace".
    • Hank Scorpio himself definitely gives one in "You only Move Twice".
  • Evilly Affable: Mr. Burns is clearly the most evil character in the show; even other Simpsons supervillains like Sideshow Bob eventually get redeemed; (see "Day Of The Jackanapes") Burns, on the other hand, is described within the show as irredeemable, (see "The Old Man And Lisa") and has some pretty extreme Kick the Dog moments. However, his villainy is dealt with lightly most of the time.
    • Hank Scorpio is the poster supervillian for this trope.

Scorpio: Hey, Homer, which country do you like less; France or Italy?
Homer: Uh, France, I guess.
Scorpio: Heh heh. Nobody ever says Italy.

      • Scorpio's unique in that he's a completely Nice Guy to anyone who isn't his target.

"Homer, on your way out, if you could kill someone it would help me a lot."

  • Evil Old Folks: While most of the senior citizens are just cranky and incompetent, Mr. Burns is evil enough for all of them.
  • Evil Sounds Deep: Sideshow Bob. Also Mr. Burns, though moreso in his earlier appearances (especially "Homer's Odyssey").
  • Evil Twin: In a non-canon "Treehouse of Horror" episode, Bart has a twin named Hugo. Turns out Bart's the actual evil twin.

Bart: Oh, don't look so shocked.

  • Exactly What I Aimed At: Bart is in a military school where they teach him to handle a grenade launcher. He hits the first four targets, but the fifth shot goes spiralling over the horizon. When the instructor tells him he missed, Bart smiles and says, "Did I?" Cut to Principal Skinner back in Springfield standing by the smoking crater that used to be his car.
  • Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Many episodes feature titles which directly describe what will occur in the episode: "Bart Gets Hit By a Car", "Krusty Gets Busted", "Bart Gets an F", "Bart's Friend Falls in Love", "Krusty Gets Kancelled", "Homer Loves Flanders", "Bart Gets an Elephant", "Bart Sells His Soul", and "All Singing, All Dancing". As the show leaned more towards parody titles, this trend has decreased significantly.
    • In-universe example: "It Ate Everybody".
  • Executive Meddling : Parodied and given quite a Take That in Everyman. The reason Everyman was so popular was that he was otherwise a loser with an unathletic body. Homer is casted for the movie precisely because of he being overweight. But meddlers decide that Homer needs to go through a physical conditioning. It works, but then - it being Homer - it fails. The final result : a 200 million dollar superhero movie in which the main actor swaps between very muscular and very fat every two frames. It's so terrible that it forces Comic Book Guy to give it Creator Backlash.
  • Exergaming: Lisa buys such a game for a retirement home.
  • Exposition: Lampshaded in "Bart's Inner Child" when the family arrives at the Brad Goodman seminar:

Homer: Well, here we are at the Brad Goodman lecture.
Lisa: We know, dad.
Homer: I just thought I'd remind everybody. After all, we did agree to attend this self-help seminar.
Bart: What an odd thing to say...

  • Express Lane Limit: In one episode, Edna throws away some items from her cart so she can join Marge and Agnes in a line to gossip.
  • Expy: Julio is essentially Agador Spartacus, Hank Azaria's character from The Birdcage.
  • Extra! Extra! Read All About It!: "Bee Sharps sing on rooftop!"
  • Extreme Doormat: Bart becomes one (at Lisa's suggestion, no less) in "Bart's Inner Child", when the rest of Springfield start acting as impulsive as him.

Bart: Sounds good, sis. Just tell me what to do.

  • Eye Cam: Homer subverted this by arguing with the effect when it let him pass out at the wrong time.
  • Eye Scream: At least once Homer nearly gets his eye sucked out of its socket.
    • Or in another episode where Homer gets a bucket stuck on his head, and has Bart drill holes in it to see. "Whoops."
    • "The Scorpion's Tale": After taking the manufactured drugs that were made from a flower that Lisa discovered, it's side effects causes both of Abe's eyes to literally pop out shocking the Simpson family. Same goes for those who also took the drug.
    • A Running Gag with Lenny.
  • Eye Shock: In "The Terror of Tiny Toon" (part of Treehouse of Horror IX) where Bart and Lisa are caught inside Itchy & Scratchy's show.
    • Also seen at the beginning of "Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace" (part of Treehouse of Horror VI) when Bart first sees Willie in his dream.
    • Several times in "Homer to the Max".


F

  • Failed Attempt At Drama: Mr. Burns' attempted Smoke Out goes wrong and ends with him angrily throwing the money he was attempting to steal.
  • Faking and Entering: After Bart accidentally sets fire to the Christmas tree and destroys all of the family's presents, he claims that a burglar broke in and stole everything.
  • Faking the Dead: Done by Homer and Krusty in different episodes.
  • "Falling in Love" Montage: Utilized in "A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love", "Rome-Old and Juli-Eh", and "Dumbbell Indemnity". All feature a different licensed song played over the montage.
  • Family Relationship Switcheroo: In "Little Big Girl", when Darcy's mother finds out about Darcy's pregnancy, she suggests a solution is to lie to the neighbors and say that one of the babies is her's and that the babies are twins.
  • Fan Disservice: Homer in a G-string in "Blame it on Lisa".
  • Fan Dumb: Amusingly used in-universe with the Comic Book Guy.
  • Fantasy Twist: The show seems to almost specialise in these. For instance, Homer's fantasy about a theme park in his backyard named "Homerland USA" consists of a shabby old thing made largely out of mattresses. And his fantasy about having two wives—which is mostly about getting twice as much housework done—turns sour when out of nowhere he gets stung by a bee. And his fantasy about having a private plane ends with him finding that the cockpit is empty. Meanwhile Bart's dream of rock stardom includes becoming a drunken, drug-addled shambles who has alienated all his friends (but he still thinks it's awesome). The list goes on and on.
  • Fat and Skinny: Fat Tony and Fit Tony.
  • Fatal Method Acting: A Show Within a Show example: the family watches a late-era The Three Stooges short on TV, which ends with "Curly IV" lying unmoving on the ground.
  • Fat Camp: When Bart went to Kamp Krusty, Martin and others went to "Image Enhancement Camp."

Krusty: For you fat kids, my exclusive program of diet and ridicule will really get results!

    • Another example appears during Marge's episode-long flashback in "The Way We Weren't", where young Homer is mistaken for an escapee. Played for Laughs, as the only way out of the camp is up a gentle slope.
    • A third example features in the episode "The Heartbroke Kid". This time, it's Played for Drama: the cost of sending Bart there forces the other Simpsons to convert the house into a hostel for German backpackers.
  • Fate Drives Us Together
  • Faux Horrific
  • Fauxtivational Poster: Marge puts up a "Hang in There, Baby!" poster in "The Twisted World of Marge Simpson" to motivate herself. But after a bad day of selling pretzels...

Marge: Copyright: 1968. Determined or not, that cat must be long dead. That's kind of a downer...

  • Fell Off The Back Of A Truck-Truck-Truck: It really did!
  • Fetish: Marge seems to have a thing for Homer's bomber jacket he wore as "Mr. Plow."
    • She also seems to be turned on by reading about a celebrity's personal accomplishments and activities.
    • She also likes watching him practice killing snakes for Whacking Day.
    • The elbow thing.
    • And apparently when Homer nibbles on her earlobe.
    • For a more extreme example: Troy McClure and his "love" of fish.

Mobster: "I thought you said he was dead, boss!"
Fat Tony: "No, I said he sleeps with the fishes."

  • Fiction 500: Mr. Burns.
  • Fifteen Minutes of Fame: A common plot device. See the trope page for details.
  • Filing Their Nails: Mrs. Krabappel files her nails and hums while a visibly ill Bart begs to go to the nurse's office in the episode "Round Springfield".
  • Finger in the Mail: In the episode "Pranksta Rap", Bart pretends to be kidnapped and makes a call to the rest of the family while posing as the kidnapper. Homer immediately demands that the kidnapper send body parts to prove that he really has Bart. Marge objects.
    • In another episode, when the Simpsons find Mr. Burns's beloved teddy bear from his childhood, Bart suggests they send Burns one of its eyes.

Bart: He'll pay more money if he thinks the bear's in danger.

Number One: All Stonecutters must take the Leap of Faith. If you survive this five-story plunge, your character will be proven.
Homer whimpers
Moe: Happy landings! pushes him
Homer falls two feet onto the floor; everyone laughs
the floor collapses and Homer falls through with a yell and a crash -- five times consecutively
Homer: from the bottom I think I have to do it again. My blindfold came off.

    • Another Simpsons episode has Homer & Marge talking about the terrible shape their house is in, and just then Bart falls halfway into the kitchen from the 2nd floor. "Little help?" Marge pushes him back up the newly created hole with a broom handle.
    • And in the episode "Lisa's Wedding", Lisa's fiance Hugh falls through the floor of the addition Homer built onto the house. Thankfully, the compost heap cushioned his fall.
  • Flowery Elizabethan English: When they're at a Renaissance Faire.

Doris: Yon meat, 'tis sweet as summer's wafting breeze.
Homer: Can I have some?
Doris: Mine ears are only open to the pleas of those who speak ye olde English.
Homer: Sweet maiden of the spit, grant now my boon, that I might sup on suckling pig this noon.
Doris: Whatever.

    • Also spoken by the Mensa group (in character as Renaissance people) in "They Saved Lisa's Brain":

Comic Book Guy: Verily, I declare that the earth revolves around the sun, and not t'other way 'round.
Lindsay: Stop looking down my blouse, Copernicus.
Comic Book Guy: Forsooth, mine eyes doth rove of their own accord.

  • Foiler Footage: Several different resolutions to the "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" plot were shot, including a full alternate summation where Smithers goes through his whole Motive Rant, and it's explained how all the clues could have added up to Smithers being the culprit.
  • Follow in My Footsteps: In "Like Father, Like Clown", it's revealed that Krusty and his dad, Hyman, hadn't talked for 25 years because Krusty became an entertainer instead of following in Hyman's footsteps as a man of the faith.

Homer: Boy, you don't have to follow in my footsteps.
Bart: Don't worry; I don't even like using the bathroom after you.
Homer: Why you little-!

  • Follow the Chaos: Subverted when Homer tries to find Bart and his pet elephant via a train of destruction... only to discover that the trail of damaged houses he'd been following was caused by a twister.
  • Food Pills: The future episode "Holidays of Future Passed" parodies this, where Future Marge adds water to a pill... which turns into a recipe card for a cake. She then takes the ingredients out of the cupboard.
  • Foot Popping: In "The Springfield Connection", Homer is concerned that by Marge being the cop, he'll become the woman of the house. Marge reassures him that Homer's still the man of the house and kisses him... only for Homer to lift one of his legs while doing so.
  • Foreign Exchange Student: Bart becomes a foreign exchange student in France while the Simpsons family get Adil, who turns out to be a spy.
  • Forging Scene: Parodied when a big burly blacksmith is shown hauling molten metal and clanging away with large tools, in order to build... a tiny key that unlocks Bart's chains.
    • Also, the commercial for the Krustyburger Ribwich. (Here starting at 1:48. Sorry, it's dubbed in Russian.)
  • Forgotten Anniversary: Homer is guilty of this. Very, very guilty of this.
  • Forgotten Birthday: Bart forgot Lisa's birthday in "Stark Raving Dad".
    • The family forgot Homer's birthday in "The Springfield Files". Turns out it's the same day as the dog's, whom the family immediately lavish attention on.

Homer: Lousy lovable dog.

Homer: Marge honey, I've got five words to say to you! (holds up his right hand and lifts one finger per word) Greasy Joe's Bottomless Barbecue... (realizes he needs his left hand) Pit.

  • The Freelance Shame Squad: Humorously exaggerated in an older episode. Bart already didn't want to go clothes shopping with his mom, but then Marge has to go and throw open his changing room door and leave it open on him, stripped to his tighty-whities. Predictably, everyone in the store points at Bart and guffaws at his embarrassment, one guy even yelling, "Look at that stupid kid!"
  • Free Prize At the Bottom: At least two episodes revolve around prizes found at the bottom of breakfast cereals. Of note is the jagged metal "O" that Bart ate with his bowl of Krusty-O's.
  • Free-Range Children: Bart and Lisa are only ten and eight respectively, yet get in all sorts of adventures more suited for teenagers or adults.
  • Free Wheel: Parodied. After Abe crashes Homer's car and consequently has to walk along the neighborhood, a hub cap manages to roll alongside him, even though the crash happened the previous day. Abe just tells it to "go home", and it seems to oblige.
  • French Jerk: The winemakers with whom Bart stays in "The Crepes of Wrath"; also, the waiter from "The Boy Who Knew Too Much".

Freddie Quimby: Say "chowdah!" Say it, Frenchie!

  • Freudian Couch: In "Fear of Flying", Marge sees a therapist and lays on the couch.
  • Freudian Slippery Slope: This instance is seen during "The Last Temptation of Homer", as Homer and Mindy are in the elevator:

Mindy: I guess we'll be going down together, I mean getting off together, I mean...
Homer: That's OK. I'll just push the button for the stimulator, I mean, elevator.

  • Fully-Automatic Clip Show: Several examples in the clip show episodes.
  • Funny Foreigner: Many, but Apu, Üter, Groundskeeper Willie are some of the most prominent examples.
  • Fun with Flushing:
    • A Flash Back episode had baby Bart flush Homer's wallet, then his keys down the toilet - but he knew exactly what he was doing.
    • An early episode had Bart flushing a cherry bomb down a toilet, which blows Principal Skinner's mother off of her seat while using it.
    • "Deep Space Homer" featured a literal toilet joke and a jab at Married... with Children rolled into one.
  • Fun with Palindromes: The members of Mensa have new palindrome discoveries on their meeting agenda. Comic Book Guy's mention of "Rise to vote, sir" is misinterpreted as an actual request for a democratic procedure.
  • Fur Bikini: During the opening of a show called "Eye On Springfield".

G

  • Gag Boobs: The "Large Marge" episode, where Marge is accidentally given breast implants.
    • Then there's Titania during the Duff bartender contest.
  • Gaia's Lament: Played for laughs in the episodes "Lisa's Wedding" and "Future-Drama." In the former, trees are extinct, and the the latter, Alaska is a tropical paradise.
    • Also "The Burns and the Bees": During a daydream, Homer envisions a future world without honey, which is decaying and horrible.
    • The ending to "Rosebud" depicts Earth as a barren desert in the year 1,000,000 A.D. It's also ruled by damn dirty apes.
  • Gainax Ending: The ending of "Boy Meets Curl".
    • "The Great Money Caper" also may count.
  • The Gambling Addict: Marge develops an addiction to slot machines when gambling is legalised in Springfield. Notably, she never gets over it either, which is lampshaded at the end.
  • Gang of Bullies: Dolph, Jimbo, and Kearney. Nelson joins them sometimes.
  • Garden Hose Squirt Surprise: At the end of one episode, Bart does this to Homer several times, getting him in the eye, the ear, the other eye, etc.
  • GASP: Parodied in "Bart the Mother". Marge reads a letter stating that Bart and Lisa are included in Who's Who of American Students. Homer gasps... except it's simply a gear-up for a belch and has nothing to do with surprise.
  • The Generalissimo: "All hail Krull and his glorious new regime!"
  • Genre Savvy: Various characters have been known to demonstrate this on the rare occasions they fumble the Idiot Ball.
  • Gentleman Thief: Malloy in "Homer the Vigilante".
  • Geographic Flexibility: Springfieldhas it in spades.
  • George Washington Slept Here: Several examples with Jebediah Springfield.
  • Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!
  • Get a Room: After an episode in which Bart Simpson goes from embarassed by his grandfather to having just rescued Nazi treasure from the depths and from Mr Burns, Bart gives his grandfather an unembarassed hug. Then a pampered German aristocrat drives by and shouts "Hey, fun boys, get a room!"
    • The trope also appears in Money BART as an incest joke by Nelson about Bart and Lisa.
    • Subverted at the end of "Waverly Hills 9-0-2-1 D'oh!" in which Bart yells this at Homer and Marge making out in his treehouse:

Bart: Get a room!
Homer: C'mon boy, be cool.
Bart: But...
Homer: Be cool, or you're grounded!

  • Get It Off Me!: Barney Gumble reacts to unfiltered sunlight in this way.
  • Getting Crap Past the Radar: One episode has a feed store called "Sneed's Feed and Seed - Formerly Chucks". Replace Sneed's with Chuck and the 'eed' with 'uck' and you'll get it.
  • Gigantic Gulp: One episode features a giant beer mug at an Oktoberfest celebration. Marge decides to nurse the drink but ends up drunk.
    • In the episode "A Star is Burns," Barney wins a film contest and swears that he is giving up alcohol. The curtain behind him is then pulled away to reveal is prize: a lifetime supply of Duff beer (in a semi-trailer truck).

Barney: (tearing away his sleeve) JUST HOOK IT TO MY VEINS!!

    • Parodied in "Bart vs. Australia".

Homer: Hey! Give me one of those famous giant beers I've heard so much about.
(Bartender places a can of beer the size of a keg on the counter, Homer is visibly upset)
Bartender: Something wrong, Yank?
Homer: No. It's pretty big...I guess.

  • Girls' Night Out Episode: The episode "Marge on the Lam", in which Marge and Ruth Powers go on a girls' night out which ends up becoming a parody of Thelma and Louise.
  • Giving Up on Logic: Frank Grimes memorably did this after his frustration with Homer made him lose his mind.
  • The Glomp: Happens in the beginning of the episode 'Flaming Moe's' in one scene in which Bart gets glomped and kissed by Susan, one of Lisa's friends, in a 'Truth or Dare' game.
    • "Marge in Chains": In one of the conjugal visit trailers, Marge aggressively glomps Homer for sex, which then turns over the trailer.

Homer: Honey, I don't know what you're feeling, right now. So I don't want to push anything. We can just hold hands or sit and talk...
[Marge, overwhelmed with feelings of lust, immediately glomps Homer aggressively]
Homer: Whoa!

  • Glove Slap: In season 11, the episode "E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)". Homer does this while challenging various people to duels around Springfield after viewing a Zorro movie in the theater.
    • Complete with a parody song of the same name, derived from "Love Shack."
  • God Guise:
    • When Apu's getting married, Homer tried to put a stop to the wedding by dressing as Ganesha. No one is fooled (indeed, anyone with a passing familiarity with Hindu mythology would know he got the characterisation all wrong).

Indian Wedding Guest: You are not Ganesh! Ganesh is graceful!

    • In another episode, Bart plays with his Mr. Microphone by telling Rod and Todd next door (who were listening to the radio) that he's God, and tells Rod to walk through a wall which he will make vanish. So Rod walks into the wall.
    • Happens to Lisa in one Treehouse of Horror episode. An accident with her science fair project creates a race of miniature people, who think she is God for stopping Bart from destroying them.
  • God Help Us All: Chief Wiggum says this in "Dumbbell Indemnity" when Homer (who drove Moe's car into the ocean) hasn't surfaced from the water yet:

Chief Wiggum: That car thief can't hold his breath forever.
Lou: And if he can, Chief?
Chief Wiggum: Then God help us all!

  • Godly Sidestep: God is about to tell Homer the meaning of life when the episode ends.
  • Godiva Hair: Homer's fantasy of Mindy in "The Last Temptation of Homer" results in this. Of course, this is a parody of Botticelli's famous painting, "The Birth of Venus".
  • Goggles Do Something Unusual: The Beer Goggles from "Selma's Choice".
  • Going Cold Turkey: Homer goes for 30 days without drinking beer in "Duffless".
    • Bart plans to stop seeing Jessica in "Bart's Girlfriend", though he doesn't even make it through a day because he has to see her when he goes to church.
  • Go Look At the Distraction: Reverend Lovejoy getting Ned to leave by telling him about a saint-shaped oil stain.
    • "Hello this is the Repo Depot, I'm just calling to distract you while we repossess your plow."
    • Or this classic bit, where Bart distracts Moe via this brilliant diversion:

Bart: Hey, Moe, look over there.
Moe: [turns and looks at the wall] What...what am I looking at? [several seconds pass, Moe continues staring] I'm going to stop looking soon! [several more seconds pass, Moe is still staring] what...is that it?
Homer: Hey, Moe, can I look too?
Moe: Sure, but it'll cost you.
Homer: My wallet's in the car! [runs outside]
Moe: He's so stupid...and now back to the wall. [stares at it indefinitely]

  • Go to Your Room: Used frequently (Bart Vs. Thanksgiving, Bart the Daredevil, Bart Gets an Elephant, Homer Vs. the Eighteenth Amendment, etc.) with an interesting inversion in "Lisa the Vegetarian":

Lisa: If you'll excuse me, I'm going to my room.
Homer: That's it, go to your room!

    • The Simpsons also had a time when Homer said Bart shouldn't go to his room since all of his toys are in there. He instead tells him to go into the garage. A few moments later Bart passes by the window on a lawnmower with several police cars chasing him.
    • Kirk Van Houten says this to his son Milhouse after trying to translate a writing on the wall that he wrote on (Trab Pu Kcip) in "Brother from the Same Planet":

Kirk: What did we tell you about writing on the walls. Go to your room!

  • Good Angel, Bad Angel: I am evil Homer! I am evil Homer!
  • Good Is Not Dumb: Ned Flanders, at least in the earlier episodes.
  • Good Is Not Nice: Lisa's rightful condescension towards some characters can seem uncalled for if you're not familiar enough with the context.
  • Good Ol' Boy: The Rich Texan.
  • Gorn: "A Tale of Two Springfields", for example, has Homer's stomach ripped open, displaying his intestines and all, after being attacked by a badger.
    • The annual "Treehouse of Horror" series also has this in a many installments, as well.
  • Gosh Dang It to Heck: Flanders, until a Rant-Inducing Slight "broke" him; the earlier season had a pseudo-version because most of that language was considered horrible for TV then.
  • Gossip Evolution: In "The PTA Disbands", Bart wants to rile up the teachers, so he tells one of the teachers that Skinner says the teachers will crack any minute. That teacher tells another teacher, who tells another teacher, so that by the time it got to Edna (who was leading the group's strike), it had become "Skinner says the teachers will crack any minute, purple monkey dishwasher."
  • Gossipy Hens: Mainly Helen Lovejoy.
  • Goth: Lisa in "Smart and Smarter".

Milhouse: What are you now Lisa? An Oakland Raiders fan?
Lisa: It's called "Goth", eternally clueless one. My new name is "Ravencrow Neversmiles."
Milhouse: Cool. We could be Goth together. We'll go to the cemetery and summon the Dark Lord by kissing and junk.
Lisa: Okay... but first you must apprentice, by kissing the Goddess Ironica. Who lives in this rock.
(Lisa picks up a rock and hands it to Milhouse.)
Lisa: (sneaking away) Do it for an hour, hour and a half.
Milhouse: Yes, my mistress.

  • Grammar Nazi: Linguo, Lisa's science project in "Trilogy of Error".
    • "Simpson Tide": In a subversion of the trope, Homer tries to be one towards the drill sergeant by correcting his correct usage of "nuclear" with the wrong "newk-uhy-lur".
  • Grapes of Luxury: Smithers feeds peeled Spanish peanuts to Mr. Burns while the latter was recovering from injuries. It's an homage to Alex's grape-eating fantasy in A Clockwork Orange.
  • G-Rated Drug: Lots.
    • Perhaps the most notable example is the Tomacco plant Homer accidentally created in "E-i-e-i-(Annoyed Grunt)," resulting in a reverse case of Real Life Writes the Plot when an actual farmer managed to breed the plant in real life after the episode aired.
  • Green Aesop: Lisa is very pro-recycling in "The Old Man and the Lisa". Of course, given this show, the aesop is parodied and subverted many times, including how Mr. Burns took Lisa's recycling advice at face value and ended up butchering oceans of animals just to make his slurry (Mr. Burns: "Not a single animal was wasted.").
  • Green Around the Gills: This happened to Bart in "Homer's Night Out", after being disgusted by some vile-looking seafood.
  • Green-Eyed Epiphany: A variant with Lisa towards Millhouse in "Homer Scissorhands".
  • Grilling Pyrotechnics: It's often the result of stupidity and disregard for safety, so of course Homer has done it at least once.
    • Played with in "Lisa the Vegetarian." Homer empties a bottle and a half of lighter fluid on the grill, but it lights normally.
  • Groin Attack:
    • "Bart Star": Bart, wearing a cup, goads Milhouse into kicking his crotch in. Milhouse repeatedly does so, to which Bart merely yawns. Eventually:

Marge: Milhouse, stop that!

      • Then Nelson comes by and kicks Bart there so hard he breaks his cup.
    • The infamous "Man Getting Hit by Football" short film shown in the film festival episode "A Star is Burns". Homer, upon seeing it, says "The contest is over, give that man the $10,000!", even though it was pointed out that this wasn't America's Funniest Home Videos. Homer replies, laughing the whole time, "but... the ball... his groin... it works on so many levels!"
      • At the end of the episode, Homer's comedic taste is vindicated when a remake of the film starring George C. Scott wins the Best Actor Oscar.
      • Jay Sherman also got hit by a football in the same episode.
    • Homer Simpson himself is at the end of a variety of attacks to the groin, in the episodes 'Mr. Spritz Goes to Washington', 'Bart the Mother', 'Little Big Mom ', 'Tennis The Menace', 'Mom and Pop Art', 'Ice Cream of Margie (with the Light Blue Hair)', 'Goo Goo Gai Pan', 'You Gotta Know When to Golem', 'Million Dollar Abie ', 'Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes', 'Reaper Madness' and 'Weekend at Burnsie's', as well as in The Simpsons Movie, where he gets kicked in the crotch by a tree.
    • In 'The Computer Wore Menace Shoes', an episode spoofing The Prisoner, Homer returns home only to be attacked by his own German body double. As the evil Homer tries to strangle him, Homer counters with this attack, reasoning that "If I know me, he won't like being kicked in the crotch!"
    • In 'Homer to the Max', The "fat and stupid" version of the 'fictional' Homer Simpson (From the show 'Police Cops'), falls from a great height and lands on a cactus.
    • In "Lisa the Iconoclast", a flashback shows George Washington using his wooden false teeth to bite infamous pirate Hans Sprungfeld, a.k.a. Jebediah Springfield, on the family jewels.
    • Sideshow Bob and Bart fall from the "new" Springfield Dam, and Bob lands straddling a large, protruding pipe. It's implied to be very painful, as Bob doesn't even scream, he just stares forward blankly, as still as a statue.
    • In an unusual female example, Marge knees a female child therapist in the crotch. Appropriately, the woman crumples over in pain.
    • In a Treehouse of Horror segment Professor Frink kills his father this way as the only organs he didn't have were testicles.
    • In another Treehouse of Horror, when attempting to stake the Vampire-Burns, Homers nailed him in the crotch first, before Lisa corrected him.
    • Comic Book Guy gets kicked in the crotch by Nelson in the episode 'Lisa the Drama Queen', and Krusty gets bombarded by snowballs to the nuts in the episode 'Simpsons Christmas Stories'.
    • Although it's offscreen, in "Lisa's First Word" a toddler Bart jumps off the TV trying to land on a sleeping Homer's stomach. When Bart makes the jump it implies he jumped a little too low and it cuts to Homer screaming in pain.
    • Subverted in Beyond Blunderdome, as during shooting of Rainier Wolfcastle's Saving Irene Ryan (Which Homer, Mel Gibson, and studio executives interrupted due to a chase between the executives and Homer/Gibson in regards to an edited film), Rainier's character is carrying Irene Ryan through a battlefield while she's kicking and screaming, and it is implied that she's kicking him in the crotch, yet his only reaction is "...and stop kicking me there!"
    • In "Million Dollar Abie", Bart is helping Grandpa train to be a bullfighter by pretending to be the bull, using a pair of horns strapped to his bicycle's handlebars. He misses Abe, but heads right for Homer, who's bent over doing something else. Bart manages to brake in time, but then Homer turns around and walks groin-first into the horn, complete with a cartoonish "doink" sound effect, and falls over clutching at himself.
    • "The Greatest Story ever Doh'ed": Bart gets groined by Dorit, the daughter of Jakob the tourist, and from Lisa herself; both in the art of Krav Maga.
    • The Wandering Juvie had a female prisoner, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar no less. When Bart goes over to where the female juvies are held he makes the mistake of trying to hit on them, which leads to him being tied up, a big girl pulling a switchblade from her hair to cut Bart's pants off, and these words.

I'm Gina. Touch my fence again and puberty's gonna be very boring.

  • Gross Up Close-Up: In "$pringfield", the camera zooms in on Smithers's face, where we see a bunch of germs that say in unison: "Freemasons run the country!"
    • Mr. Burns's face in "Monty Can't Buy Me Love".
  • Groupie Brigade: Of elderly female opera fans in "Homer of Seville".
  • Gypsy Curse: The premise of "Hex and the City" (part of "Treehouse of Horror XII").

H

Ranier: Bart, your little tie makes me smile.
Bart: Excuse me, but you don't sound as tough as you do in the movies.
Ranier: [threatening] If you don't shut your big yap, I will rip off your face and use it as a napkin.
[pause, and then everyone laughs]
Ranier: [serious again] Laughing time is over.

    • Also from "Lisa on Ice":

Homer: OK son, just remember to have fun out there today. And if you lose, I'll kill you!
[everyone laughs]
Bart: [good-humored] Oh, Dad.
 Homer: [looks menacingly at Bart]
Bart: [cringes]

  • Hair-Raising Hare: Homer draws bunny faces on electrical sockets to scare Maggie away from touching them. When Marge points out that Maggie's not scared of rabbits, Homer replies "She will be."
  • Halfway Plot Switch: Constantly. Even lampshaded a few times.

Homer (on a rickety boat about to go over a waterfall): So, do you think they settled that bag boy strike yet?

  • Halloween Episode: The annual "Treehouse of Horror" episodes, every year since 1990. The creators have mentioned that they actually wish they could stop doing these, or at least wish they could change the anthology format, but that it became such an iconic part of the show that they felt they had no choice but to continue.
  • Ham-to-Ham Combat: Homer (Dan Castellaneta)vs. Meathook (John Goodman) in "Take My Wife, Sleaze)
  • Hands Go Down
  • Hanging Judge: Judge Constance Harm, a Judge Judy parody.
  • Happily-Failed Suicide: A man jumps off the ledge of a building just as a massive ball of humanity comes rolling by. The tone of his voice implies that he is pleased with the result.

Goodbye Cruel World! (falls into the ball) Hello ironic twist!

  • Happily Married: Homer and Marge sorta, Ned and Maude until she dies.
  • Harpo Does Something Funny: All scripts read (Annoyed Grunt) whenever Homer says "D'OH!"
    • There's also "(frustrated murmur)" for Marge's "Hmmm..." and "(Frink noises)" for Professor Frink's mumbling.
  • Have a Gay Old Time: Common with Mr. Burns, due to his age. An example from "Monty Can't Buy Me Love":

Rude: When was your first gay experience?
Burns: Oh, well, when I was six, my father took me on a picnic. That was a gay old time! Oh-ho, I ate my share of wieners that day.

    • Homer also gets one in "The Telltale Head":

Homer: You know, Bart, when I was your age, I pulled a few boners.

    • Ned Flanders does it in "Bart the Lover", though it's not clear whether it's this or Hypocritical Humour, as he was lecturing Homer on swearing in front of his children at the time.

Ned: Now, some of us pull a few boners now and then, go off half-cocked, make asses of ourselves...

  • Headless Horseman: The opening segment of "Treehouse of Horror VI" shows Krusty the Klown in the persona of the Headless Horseman.
  • The Hedonist: "Bart's Inner Child" had a self-help guru convince everyone in the town to be like this. It ends badly.
  • Heel Realization: Lisa in "Make Room For Lisa". Though it's debatable that she was certainly justified for being angry at Homer for snoring loudly during an opera.
    • Bart in "Bart vs. Thanksgiving" when he realizes he hurt his sister's feelings by knocking her centerpiece into the fireplace.
  • Helicopter Flyswatter: In "Thirty Minutes over Tokyo" the plane that the Simpsons are on going home gets attacked by Godzilla.

Pilot: Uh, folks, we're experiencing some moderate Godzilla-related turbulence at this time, so I'm going to go ahead and ask you to put your seat belts back on. When we get to 35 thousand feet, he usually does let go, so from there on out, all we have to worry about is Mothra, and, uh, we do have reports he's tied up with Gamera and Rodan at the present time. Thank you very much.

  • Here We Go Again: Said by the family at the end of "Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming" when Grampa approaches on a motorcycle and said he's gonna haul ass to Lollapalooza. The same thing was said by Vanessa Redgrave in a sitcom earlier in the episode.
  • Heroic BSOD: After Mr. Burns revokes giving 3 free donuts to each worker per day:

Homer: *sobbing passionately* you... can't... do... that.

  • Heroic Dolphins: Subverted when Bart, Homer, Flanders and his kids stranded at sea and being approached by dolphins; Flanders is relieved, stating that dolphins always help people lost at sea; but the dolphins merely chitter that they are all going to die, giggle a bit, and then leave.
  • Hero Worshipper: Bart idolizes Krusty, and as he himself put it, has based his whole life on his teachings.
  • He's Back: In "Blood Feud", Mr. Burns is dying from hypohemia, and Bart donates his blood to save him. He dictates his epitaph in an increasingly hammier way as he recovers, culminating with him getting up and exclaiming, "Smithers, I'm back!"
    • Burns again in "The Fool Monty." Burns becomes childlike and an amnesiac after a failed suicide attempt. Visiting his old mansion jogs back his memory. He then sits menacingly on a chair made of skulls and says in a sinister voice, "Daddy's home."
  • Heterosexual Life Partners: Lenny and Carl, anyone?

Lenny: Even Bart was splashing the cash. He once paid $100 to me and Carl to kiss each other.
Carl: Hey did we ever get that money?
Both: [concerned look]

    • Mr. Burns and Smithers would also count, at least from Mr. Burns' point of view.
  • Hey, Let's Put on a Show: In "Grift of the Magi", Skinner decides to produce a school play in order to convince Mr. Burns to donate enough money for the school to re-open.
  • Hidden Depths: Almost everyone has shown these at one time or another. Bound to happen, what with over 20 years of shows.
  • Hide and No Seek: Bart uses this as a pause button for his reluctant playdate with Ralph Wiggum, giving himself a chance to clean the syrup stains off of all his toys.

Ralph: I've been in [the hallway closet] for two hours, and Bart still hasn't finded me!

  • Hint Dropping: Marge, to Homer laying in a hammock in "Mom and Pop Art":

Marge: You know, Homie, a lot of men use their Saturdays to do things around the house; hint, hint!
Homer: But Marge, I'm not like other men. That's why you buy my pants at that special store!

Bart: Dad! You killed the zombie Flanders!
Homer: He was a zombie?

  • House Fire: In at least two episodes:
    • "Homer the Heretic": Homer falls asleep while smoking a cigar, and a hot ash ignites one of his girlie magazines, causing a fire that heavily damages the house.
    • "Miracle on Evergreen Terrace": Bart's new fire truck sprays water on an overloaded outlet, causing a fire that destroys the Christmas tree and the presents underneath.
    • Also the episode where homer passes out trying to blow out his birthday candles. After the fire department shows up they suggest buying a fireproof safe.

Homer: Or we COULD just try to be more careful with fire.
Firefighter Sir, this is the 4th time we've been called out this month.
Homer: Um, yeah. But one of those times, I accidentally called 9-1-1 and I was too embarrassed to admit it, so I set the house on fire.

  • How the Character Stole Christmas: Homer in "Tis the Fifteenth Season" has the misguided idea that people would be a lot happier if they were free of material possessions, so he steals the Christmas presents of everybody in town. It doesn't go over well.
    • Homer also steals all the Funzos under the tree of every house in town in "Grift of the Magi", with Bart and Lisa's help.
  • Huddle Shot: Seen in "Bart Star" and "Children of a Lesser Clod".
  • Hug and Comment: Krusty and Sideshow Mel embrace after their Show Within a Show is back on the air. Then Mel murmurs "I love you Krusty", prompting him to recoil.
  • Human Ladder
  • Human Mail: In "Bart on the Road", Bart and his friends travel home in a shipment crate.
  • Humans Are Morons: Everyone in Springfield is a complete idiot or social reject for one reason or another. No exceptions. (Except, maybe, Maggie). In almost every annual Treehouse of Horror episode, however, the townsfolk are visited by Kang and Kodos who, despite being more advanced and pretty crafty on occasion, are probably the only aliens in the universe stupid enough to even want to travel the galaxy for what there is in Springfield.
  • Hummer Dinger:
    • The episode "The Last Temptation of Krust" features the Canyonero. The truck's commercial jingle makes up the page quote. Homer complains that it's a women's car when he finds that his "F-series" model has lipstick holders built in instead of lighters, and proceeds to give it to Marge.
    • In another episode, Rainer Wolfcastle talks about his enormous Hummer with Homer.

Homer: What kind of gas milage do you get?
Wolfcastle: One highway, zero city.

  • The Hunter Becomes the Hunted: Mr. Burns says this while playing Ms. Pac-Man.
  • Hulk Speak: A horse in "E-i-e-i-(Annoyed Grunt)" that has become addicted to Tomacco falls into this, with terrifying results.
    • -->(low roar) TOMACCOOOOO!
  • The Hyena: Dr. Hibbert.
  • Hyperventilation Bag: Lisa did this once when she met a girl she thought was smarter than her.
  • Hypno Fool: Used a few times. In the episode "The Blunder Years", Homer is regressed to 12 years old through hypnosis, which triggers a repressed memory that makes him scream incessantly until the next day. In the episode "Day of the Jackanapes", Bart is hypnotised by Sideshow Bob to blow up both himself and Krusty.
  • Hypocrisy Nod: Sideshow Bob makes one of these in his televised rant against television.
  • Hypocritical Humor: Far too many usages to count.
    • Any "outsourcing" jokes, considering the animation of the show is done in South Korea.


I

  • I Am One of Those, Too: In "Lard of the Dance", Homer runs into Groundskeeper Willie while stealing his grease and pretends that he's from Scotland. The following exchange occurs:

Homer: We're new foreign exchange students from... uh, um... Scotland!
Willie: Saints be praised; I'm from Scotland! Where do ya hail from?
Homer: Uh... North... Kilttown.
Willie: No foolin'! I'm from North Kilttown! Do you know Angus McCleod?
Homer: Wait a minute! There's no Angus McCleod in North Kilttown! Why, you're not from Scotland at all!

  • I Ate What?: Subverted in "Missionary Impossible" when Homer is drinking out of what appears to be a coconut, but is really an ox testicle. Homer doesn't mind, though.
    • Played with in the "Connie Appleseed" segment of "Simpsons Tall Tales." Homer happily eats what he thinks are buffalo testicles, and is disgusted when he learns they're apples.
    • Parodied in "Simpsonscalifragilisticexpialad'ohcious":

Homer: Ooh, I can't get enough of this blood pudding.
Bart: The secret ingredient is blood.
Homer: Blood? Ugh! I'll just stick to the brain and kidney pie, thank you.

  • I Can Change My Beloved: Lisa's goal to her crush, Nelson, in "Lisa's Date With Density". Marge thinks she has changed Homer. Lisa is skeptical.
  • I, Noun: The episode "I, D'oh-Bot". Or is it "I, (annoyed grunt)-Bot"?
  • Idiot Hero: Homer.
  • Idiot Houdini: Again, Homer.
  • Idiosyncratic Wipes: In "Alone Again, Natura-Diddly", Lisa and Homer argue over using star wipes on Ned's dating tape. The episode then goes to the next scene with a star wipe.
  • If I Wanted X, I Would Y: In "Marge Be Not Proud", Detective Don Brodka uses this on Bart while interrogating him.

Brodka: If I wanted smoke blown up my ass, I would be at home with a pack of cigarettes and a short length of hose.

Burns: Don't kill me!
Abe: I ain't gonna kill ya. That'd be cowardly. Monty Burns cowardly. I just wanna watch you squirm.

  • Ignored Epiphany: Burns has had a few of these about treating people better.
  • Ignoring by Singing: In "Simpson Tide", Homer is about to answer a crossed out question on his Naval Reserve application (specifically, if he's a homosexual). The recruiter pleads that he not answer that or he could go to jail. Homer starts to talk again, and the recruiter puts his hands over his ears, shouts "Lalala, I'm not listening!" and leaves. Homer muses to himself, "Nice guy. I wonder if he's gay?"
  • I Have a Family: Played with in "Treehouse of Horror VII", when Homer first meets Kang and Kodos:

Homer: Don't hurt me! I have a wife and kids; eat them!

    • In "Lost Our Lisa", when Homer is woken up by Bart, Homer assumes it's Mr. Burns before turning around:

Homer: I'm awake! I'm awake! I'm a productive member of the team! (defiantly) You can't fire me, I quit! (meekly) Please, I have a family!

Betty: Why, you conniving, devious, monstrous, despicable, (changes tone) sweet little angel!
Moe: But Betty, if you'd just give me a chance to- WHAAAAAAAAT?

Rabbi Krustofski: I have no son! (slams door)
Bart: Oh, great. We came all this way and it's the wrong guy.
Rabbi Krustofski: (reopens door) I didn't mean that literally!

    • Also said by Grampa about Homer in "Old Money".
    • And from Principal and the Pauper

Agnes Skinner: I have no son!
Homer: Look, lady, I think it's clear you have at least one son.
Agnes: No, I have one stranger and one fraud!

  • I Lied: From "The Bart Wants what it Wants":

Ranier Wolfcastle (to a pie): "Remember when I said I'd eat you last? I lied!"

    • Also this in the Tracy Ullman shorts:

Bart: Family therapy? What the hell is this?
Lisa: You said we were going out for frosty chocolate milkshakes!
Homer: Well, I lied.

Homer: Hmm. Cable's out. Think I'll have a beer. Hmm. Not a drop in the house. What do you know.
Marge: Homer, I'm impressed! You're taking this quite well.
Homer: I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU!!!

Quimby's Lawyer: Are you a violent man?
Quimby's Nephew: [rehearsed lines] Of course not. I love each and every creature on God's green Earth.
Quimby's Lawyer: Then surely you would never lose your temper over something as trivial as the pronunciation of the word "chowder"?
Quimby's Nephew: THAT'S CHOW-DAH!! CHOW-DAH!! I'LL KILL YOU!! I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU!! ESPECIALLY THOSE OF YOU IN THE JURY!!

  • I'll Tell You When I've Had Enough!: In "'Round Springfield", Bleeding Gums Murphy says this when buying Fabergé eggs in a flashback.
    • "Fear of Flying": While he doesn't quite say the line, Norm from Cheers is denied another beer by Woody, with the excuse that Woody was told by his chiropractor that he can't carry Norm home anymore. To which Norm replies:

Norm: Just gimme another beer, you brain-dead hick! I'll kill you! I'll kill all of you!

Ned: Can you believe it? It almost seems like those folks were ... were making fun of ol' steady Neddy!
Maude: Well, you may be a bit cautious. What's wrong with that? Some people like chunky peanut butter, some like smooth!
Ned: Mmm-hmm, and some people just steer clear of that whole hornet's nest! I'll stick with just plain white bread, thank you very much, maybe with a ...
Maude, Rod & Todd: "... glass of water on the side for dippin'!"
Ned: Gosh darn it! Am I that pre-diddly-ictable? sigh I've wasted my whole dang-diddly life.

Smithers: (draws a name) Lenny and... (draws another name) Carl.
Carl: Aw, nuts. (Lenny is standing right next to him, and has a hurt look on his face) I mean... aw, nuts.

  • Irrational Hatred: Homer for Ned.
  • Ironic Echo: Several examples.
    • In "Bart the Murderer", Skinner tells Bart to make a game out of how fast he can lick envelopes, then try to break that record. Later in the episode, while Skinner is explaining his whereabouts in the last couple of weeks, he says that he kept up his stamina by dribbling a basketball... by doing as many reps as he could, then trying to break that record. Bart rolls his eyes.
  • The Immodest Orgasm: The episode "A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love", has one scene in which Homer injects himself with Mr. Burns' aphrodisiac. Then it cuts to Homer rushing up the stairs carrying Marge in a lustful manner. Then cuts to a post-sex scene:

Marge: Oh, Homie, that was amazing. Oh, I hope the kids didn't hear us.
[Bart and Lisa in their bedrooms looking shocked with their eyes open]
Ned: [also shocked with his eyes open] Wow.

    • Happens again in "Homer the Father". Only now Ned, Rod and Todd are affected.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Mel Gibson's guest appearance.
  • Impossible Shadow Puppets: This happens a few times. In one episode, Lisa subconsciously makes a hand shadow of a California Condor.
  • Incessant Music Madness: In the early seasons, one of Homer's catch phrases is "Will you cut out that infernal racket?!" directed at Lisa rehearsing her sax. In the episode where he thinks he's dying from having poisonous sushi, he goes to her room as she's playing. "Hi, Dad. Want me to cut out this infernal racket?"
  • Incompatible Orientation: Smithers to Mr Burns.
  • Incredibly Lame Fun: Homer does this a lot. "Bed goes up, bed goes down! Bed goes up, bed goes down!"
  • Incredibly Lame Pun: "Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace" -- Word of God said so.

Willie: [to a Latin-speaking Martin] You may have mastered a dead tongue, but can you handle a live one?! [strangles Martin with his tongue, Freddy Kruger-style]

  • Indestructible Edible: "Silly customer! You cannot hurt a Twinkie!"
  • Inept Aptitude Test: The premise of "Separate Vocations": Bart suddenly has purpose in his life when he is told he will be a cop, while Lisa gets depressed and rebellious when she realizes she'll be a homemaker.
  • I Never Got Any Letters: Why Homer never got any of his mother's care packages.
  • I Never Told You My Name: Played for laughs in the episode "Lisa's Wedding".
  • Inflationary Dialogue: In "The Squirt and The Whale", Comic Book Guy buys a new girdle and wears it under a Captain Kirk shirt.

Behold, I am Captain Kirk from Star Trek One! [girdle gives way] Two. [girdle gives way] Five [girdle gives way] Generations [girdle gives way completely] Boston Legal.

  • Inflation Negation: Bart has to do some chores for some old lady, ends up battered and bleeding from all the chores, and only receives a quarter from her.
    • Mr. Burns on The Simpsons is a veritable dumping ground for these kinds of tropes.

Mr. Burns: "Don't poo-poo a nickel, Lisa! A nickel can buy you a steak and kidney pie, a cup of coffee, a slice of cheesecake, and a newsreel with enough change left over to ride the trolley from Battery Park to the Polo Grounds!"
Lisa: "...There's a can."

Mob: All right! We know this part!

  • Inner Monologue Conversation: An interesting example where both Principal Skinner and Homer think at Bart; it's not clear that Bart can hear them but it is implied that Homer can hear Skinner.

Skinner: (I know you can read my thoughts, Bart. Just a little reminder: if I found out you cut class, your ass is mine. Yes, you heard me. I think words I would never say.)
Homer: (I know you can read my thoughts, boy. sings the "Meow Mix" song in his head)

  • Innocent Swearing: One of the Flanders children swears twice at the dinner table ("Hell, no!" and "I don't want any damn vegetables.") The humor turns heartbreaking after he is scolded and runs from the room crying, not understanding what he has done wrong.
  • Instant Emergency Response: Parodied in "Cape Feare". The Simpsons Thompsons' house boat crashes near a brothel in Springfield, and within seconds the police appear and arrest Sideshow Bob in their bathrobes.
  • Instant Marksman, Just Squeeze Trigger: Marge is shown how to shoot by former neighbor Ruth Powers in "Marge on the Lam". Ruth tells Marge to squeeze the trigger, although she does not mention the part about not pulling the trigger. Marge does show immediate skill as a marksman.

My cans! My precious antique cans! Aw, look what ya done to 'em...

Ned: Homer, you are the worst human being I have ever met.
Homer: Hey, I got off pretty easy.

  • Internal Homage: In "The Food Wife", "Big Super Happy Fun Fun Game" and a "Grand Theft Scratchy" game are seen at E4.
  • Internal Retcon: A highly extreme version of this trope is used in the episode Principal and the Pauper where the entire town, including Skinner's mother, declares that the fake Seymour Skinner is actually the real one and run the actual Skinner out of town on a rail. They further state that anyone who brings up the fact that he isn't will be subject to the penalty of "extreme torture".
  • The Internet Is for Porn: Referenced in "Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo". When Lisa brings up the internet, Bart says he knows a site where monkeys do it.

Lisa: Bart, the internet is more than a global pornography network. It's-
Homer: (already in the car with Bart ready to drive to an internet cafe) Come on, Lisa, monkeys!

  • Interspecies Romance: Bart had been trying to get a lizard and a hamster to mate before he caught his teacher and principal making out. Later in the episode, Homer is forced by Mr. Burns to disguise himself as a panda... and gets himself raped by a real one.
    • Used again in the season twenty-one episode, The Squirt and the Whale, where Homer describes a happy ending for the whale family in the story by pairing the whale father with a sexy octopus.
  • I Resemble That Remark: From "A Tale of Two Springfields":

Kent Brockman: ...While we speak in a well-educated manner, they [New Springfieldians] tend to use lowbrow expressions like, "Oh, yeah?" and "Come here a minute."
Homer: Oh yeah? They think they're better than us, huh? Bart, come here a minute!
Bart: You come here a minute.
Homer: (threateningly) Oh yeah...?

  • Iron Butt Monkey: Homer falls headlong into this trope. Several jokes have been brief Hand Waves as to why he can survive such things from having accrued a thick beer-based cushioning fluid around his brain from years of drinking to painkillers, lots and lots of painkillers. Interestingly, Homer is actually hurt a great deal after suffering cartoon levels of violence, it's just that he survives that is amazing and this makes it funnier than a pure cartoon like response since you know Homer is really being hurt. As the writer of Planet Simpson said

He falls like a cartoon but he lands like a real person.

    • Sideshow Bob has moments of this too, like in the "Cape Feare" episode.
  • Ironic Episode Title: Parodied in-universe when the Simpsons went to a film festival. Marge went to movies called "Regularsville" and "Candyland", but was despondent when the titles were non-indicative of their content. By this reverse logic, Marge thought she'd love "Chernobyl Graveyard". But she immediately left the theater depressed, realizing she was duped yet again.
  • Isolation Despondency: In one episode, Milhouse is forbidden from playing with Bart by his mother. In the end, Marge steps in and points out that keeping Milhouse from his best friend leaves him far worse off than any of Bart's antics.
  • I Take Offense to That Last One: From "Hurricane Neddy":

Ned: You ugly, hate-filled man!
Moe: Hey, I may be ugly and hate filled, but, uh... what was the third thing you said?

  • I Think You Broke Him: Bart breaks Skinner by handing out candy hearts with offensive messages on them, which triggers a Vietnam flashback of seeing his buddy get shot in Da Nang on Valentine's Day in 1969.

"JOHNNYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Homer: Lisa! Knock off that racket!
Lisa: But Dad, I'm supposed to practice an hour a day!
Homer: I'll practice you!
Lisa: You'll practice me...what does that mean? Is it supposed to be some sort of a threat?

    • And in another episode:

Judi Dench: Who are you talking to?
Londoner Squeaky-Voiced Teen: No-one, mum, I swear!
Judi Dench: I'll Mum you! {starts beating Londoner Squeaky-Voiced Teen}

    • Another Simpsons example, when Homer's mom reappears, Bart asks for retroactive birthday, Christmas, Hannukah and Kwanzaa gifts. Homer responds with "I'll Kwanzaa you!"
    • This is a fairly popular one with The Simpsons. For example, when Homer was yet again passed up for the "Worker of the Week" award for...an inanimate carbon rod. "Inanimate huh? I'll show him inanimate!" He just stands there.
    • "The earring could plug the hole." "I'll plug YOUR hole!"
  • Iwo Jima Pose: There's a send-up of the pose in the episode "New Kids On The Blecch" in which Bart, Milhouse, Nelson, and Ralph form a Boy Band that's being used as a recruitment tool by the US Navy.
    • In "Selma's Choice", among Aunt Gladys' collection of potato chips resembling famous people is one that looks like the flag planting at Iwo Jima. Homer eats them as quickly as they're shown on screen.
    • Also seen in "Large Marge"; Bart and Milhouse accidentally knock over the school flag, and a group of WWII veterans strike this pose when putting the flag back up.


J

  • Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: in the 24 parody episode (aptly enough), Bart does this to Nelson (of all people) by putting a trash can on his head and banging his fists on it. It - as well as the episode itself - is exactly as awesome as it sounds.
  • Jackie Robinson Story: Parodied in "Bart Star". Lisa wants to join the football team for the simple fact that she assumes it will be all males. However, she's caught off guard when Ned tells Lisa that there already are girls on the team. Lisa tries another tactic, of saying she wouldn't play a game where the balls are made out of pig skins. But she's corrected again, since the footballs are made from synthetic materials, and that for every ball bought, a dollar goes to Amnesty International. Lisa gets tears in her eyes, frustrated that she has nothing to protest about, and runs off.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Homer and Bart are the most prominent, but characters ranging from Moe to Willie to Nelson have all demonstrated this trait at one point or another.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Mr. Burns' evil has been deconstructed many times. In a season 22 episode, he gets amnesia and everyone in town borrows him for 15 minutes at a time. At the end, he gets his memories back, and the town reasons that helping everyone made him well. He does more good deeds, which makes him suffer health defects, until he does bad deeds again and starts feeling better again, putting forth the more accurate reasoning that "helping" everyone refuelled his hate for the town, giving him a reason to live again.
  • The Jinx: In "Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner", Marge states that her woman's intuition is acting up, and that something bad will happen to Homer if he sets foot into the food fair. Homer states that something bad happens whenever he goes anywhere. Sure enough, he steps in a mud puddle, is hit by a Frisbee, and bitten by a bat in short order.

Homer: A bat. That's a new one.

    • In "Mother Simpson," Homer is reunited with his mother (who he thought was dead).

Mona: This is such a beautiful moment.
Homer: There's something you should know about me, mom. I somehow always manage to ruin the moment. *A pelican flies out of nowhere and drops a fish from its mouth into Homer's pants.* I'm sorry.

  • "Join the Army," They Said: Parodied in "G-I-(Annoyed Grunt)".
  • Juggling Loaded Guns: Homer buys a gun and uses it for such things as opening a can of beer, and turning on his TV (complete with a Mook from a Western falling off a roof at that exact moment). This actually gets him kicked out of the local gun club. In the same episode, Marge gets annoyed when Homer plays with the gun at the breakfast table. Homer puts the safety on, but only manages to accidentally fire the gun, hitting a picture of Marge. He nervously comments that he accidentally turned the safety off, and turns it on... and the gun again discharges, hitting the picture of Marge. Freaked out by now, Homer puts the gun on the table—and after a second, without being touched it fires again, this time hitting a knife which is sent flying into the picture of Marge, right between the eyes.

Lisa: ... No offense, mom, but that was pretty cool.

    • When Wiggum was young, film of him at a firing range has him looking down the barrel after his gun stops and getting yelled at by his instructor ("What did I say about pointsy-twardsies?"). He then gives the instructor a back massage with the gun and it goes off and shoots the cameraman. He's later shown to have gotten the position of Chief by giving the Mayor a back massage with his gun. Another episode showed Wiggum cleaning his ears with the barrel of his gun, and yet another showed him firing at his TV after forgetting where he left the remote. It was in his gun holster. In a recent episode where he used two gun barrels as earplugs.

Marge: I don't think the guns are a good idea.
Homer: Marge! We're responsible adults. And —
Moe: [shoots] Whoops.
Homer: And if a group of responsible adults can't handle firearms in a responsible way —
Sea Captain: [shoots] Sorry.
Skinner: [shoots] Uh oh.
Moe: [shoots] Me again.
Bart: [shoots] Sorry.

  • Jumping Out of a Cake: Mr Smithers has a fantasy of Mr Burns doing this for his birthday.
    • Subverted in "Lady Bouvier's Lover": Some of the senior citizens present Abe with a special cake with a dancer inside. But when nobody pops out from the cake, they look inside, finding the dancer in critical condition.

Jasper: Uh oh. Better call the nurse.

Marge: What on earth possessed you to get an earring?
Bart: Milhouse has one.
Marge: If Milhouse jumped off a cliff...
Bart: Milhouse jumped off a cliff? I'm there.

    • From "Scenes From the Class Struggle in Springfield":

Marge: Homer, I don't think you should wear a short-sleeve shirt with a tie.
Homer: Ohhh, but Sipowicz does it.
Marge: If Detective Sipowicz jumped off a cliff, would you do that too?
Homer: Ohhh, I wish I was Sipowicz.

  • Jump the Shark :
    • As a sight gag parodying the concept within the show.
    • Seasons 11-13 had several meta-jokes about the show ending soon, running out of ideas, etc. These fell by the wayside as the seasons just kept piling on with no end in sight.
  • Jury of the Damned: Halloween episode "The Devil and Homer Simpson."
  • Just Friends: Torwards the end of "Lisa's Date with Density", Lisa and Nelson eventually broke up and simply became friends. The friendship is sustained later in the end of "Loan-a-Lisa" in which Lisa and Nelson skate with each other.
  • Just Ignore It: Halloween episode "Attack of the 50-Foot Eyesores."


K

  • Kangaroo Pouch Ride: During their trip to Australia. Bart and Homer try to ride a kangaroo but the pouch is full of slime.
  • Keep Circulating the Tapes: Fox has overall treated this show very well on DVD so this isn't necessary for the most part, but there's one episode which somehow squeaked through edited: "The Tell-Tale Head". It's missing a brief bit towards the end where Bart says that taking the origins of Springfield for granted was a crime too. In a bizarre subversion, this scene is seen in syndication.
  • "Kick Me" Prank:
    • One episode has Bart and Principal Skinner embrace before returning to their old rivalry. Bart attaches a "Kick Me" sign to Skinner, however Skinner also managed to attach a "Teach Me" sign to Bart.
    • In a different episode of The Simpsons Principal Skinner found a Kick Me sign on his back.

Skinner: Hmm. I thought I was being kicked more often that usual today.

    • In yet another Simpsons, this one parodying The Departed, Bart's prank "Kick Me" signs are subverted into signs encouraging people to study more.
  • Kick the Dog: Burns has a LOT of these moments. He comes awfully close to literal in "Dog Of Death" when he has Bart's innocent, gentle pet dog strapped to a chair, and Forced to Watch several clips of animal abuse to turn him into an Angry Guard Dog.
    • Later in the same episode, when Smithers says to Burns "a sweet little boy is here to see you" Burns says "release the hounds." Said little boy is actually Bart.
    • When Homer tried to quit his job at the power plant, but had to retake it after impregnating Marge with Maggie, Burns made a narrow tunnel to his office that Homer had to walk through, and put a sign on Homer's desk that said "don't forget, you're here forever." Almost literally adding insult to injury.
    • Burns also sends a vicious Angry Guard Dog after Bart (who was hungry after running away from home) for trying to steal a pie which was left on the window sill. A pie that Burns would have otherwise disposed of ANYWAY.
    • There was also the time he tried to make clothing out of the fur of a bunch of small puppies. He is implied to own lots of clothing made from the hide of various animals as well.
    • There is also "22 Short Films About Springfield," where Burns' most loyal assistant, Smithers, who has a life-threatening allergy to bee venom, gets stung by a bee, and Burns just yells at him to keep paddling and dishes out a barrage of vicious insults. (They are on a bicycle and Smithers was already doing all the work.)
      • It's strongly hinted that this was the only way Burns could think of to actually help Smithers, seeing as he in no way had the physical strength to operate the bike himself.
    • "Homer vs. Dignity" is a full EPISODE of Burns doing metaphorical dog-kicking. Desperate for money, Homer asks Burns for a raise, and Burns instead decides that it's only under the condition that Homer be Burns' personal "prank monkey." These pranks involve a series of increasingly humiliating circumstances Homer is put in, and culminates in Burns dressing Homer in a panda suit and having another panda rape him. Eventually Homer gets fed up with this and quits, using the money he already had to set up a parade to distribute toys to needy kids; Burns shows up to try to bribe Homer into throwing fish guts instead of presents; Homer is shown contemplating to it, and then it cuts to fish guts being thrown at the kids; but it is revealed that Burns is the one throwing it after all.
    • "Curse of the Flying Hellfish" reveals him and Abe to be the last surviving members of their WW 2 unit, and that a deal was made such that the last surviving member would get to keep a case of art stolen from civilians; not content to leave which of them that is up to chance, Burns hires an assassin to kill Abe, but said assassin is not successful at it. Bart convinces Abe to go get the case anyway, and when Abe and Bart retrieve it, Burns shows up and takes the art at gunpoint. Bart calls Burns a coward, then Burns points the gun at Bart's face; Abe says Burns can take the art as long as he does not hurt the boy. Burns remarks that he would rather do both, then kicks Bart into the empty case and kicks the case into the water. Note that he could have taken the art without drowning the child, he just tried to drown the child anyway for no apparent reason other than that said child insulted him.
    • He once developed a project to block sunlight from reaching Springfield, to deprive them of one more alternative source of heat and light. His usually-unquestioning assistant Smithers objected to this, and was fired as a result. A town hall meeting was held about this, and Burns showed up JUST when the whole town was being shown what Burns' oil drilling operation did to Bart's pet dog, who was seen using wheels just to walk down the hallway.

Burns: Oh, those wheels are squeaking a bit. Perhaps I could sell him a little oil.

      • Earlier in the episode Burns commented his oil scheme would be like taking candy from a baby. He then spots a baby with a lollipop in his binoculars and considers trying it.
  • Kids Are Cruel: Gave the page its quote.
  • Kids Prefer Boxes: One time, Homer attempts to persuade Maggie to give up Mr Burns' beloved teddy bear by giving her a box to play with instead. However, Homer becomes enthralled with the box and keeps it for himself despite Maggie's enthusiasm for it.
  • Kids Shouldn't Watch Horror Films:
    • Homer takes Bart and Lisa to see a horror film about a possessed doll. All three end up terrified that there's a monster in their attic which leads into the episode's real plot about Artie Ziff living in their attic.
    • Another episode has the neighborhood kids sneak out after curfew to a drive-in to watch The Bloodening.
  • Killed Off for Real: Bleedin' Gums Murphy, Frank Grimes, Maude Flanders, Mona, Poochie.
    • Subverted with Dr. Nick Riviera, killed in the movie, got better in the 20th season.
    • Marvin Monroe was killed off because of a visual gag about a memorial hospital and has a tombstone in the episode Maude dies in. Many years later he resurfaced at a book signing and vanished promptly.
    • In Donnie Fatso Fat Tony dies of a heart attack. Then his cousin, Fit Tony (who is identical to Fat Tony in every way except waist size), shows up and takes over the Springfield Mob. He then eats a lot and becomes known as Fat Tony (as in nothing actually changed).
    • Even though Poochie was killed off in the episode he appeared in, he would be seen yet again in an "Itchy and Scratchy" short that parodied the issues surrounding cloning, as one of the attendees of Itchy's funeral.
  • Kill the Poor: In the Treehouse Of Horror XVII short "Married To The Blob," Mayor Quimby and the town of Springfield reach a compromise with Homer, who has gained an insatiable appetite after becoming The Blob: They keep Homer inside a new "homeless shelter," and any vagrants who enter are immediately fed to him. In a very twisted way, this is effectively supposed to kill two birds with one stone.
  • Kingpin in His Gym: Spoofed when Mr. Burns makes Smithers work out on his behalf.
  • Kiss of Death: Fat Tony is given one of these by a rival mob leader in "Bart the Murderer" after Louie makes a substandard Manhattan drink.
  • Kissing in a Tree: Bart Simpson does a sinister version in the episode "Bart's Friend Falls in Love":

Bart: Samantha and Milhouse sitting in a tree, about to lose their privacy. He-he-he!

    • Bart and Homer attempts it in "Lisa the Treehugger", but Homer trails off after "then comes", muttering to himself "Dammit, I know this!"

Homer: Bor-ing! [changes the channel] Ah, the Luftwaffe -- the Washington Generals of the History Channel.
Lisa: Dad, change it back!
Marge: Yeah, that was the boy Lisa likes.
Lisa: No I don't.
Bart: [sings:] Lisa and Jesse sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G.
Lisa: Shut up!
Homer: First comes love, then comes ... um ... dammit, I know this!

  • Kitschy Local Commercial: Homer's first "Mr. Plow" ad, which aired at 2 AM and starred Grandpa as "Old Man Winter."
    • There's also the one Homer made to (unsuccessfully) combat the anti-child proposition.
  • Knife-Throwing Act: Krusty does one of these acts with axes. He doesn't miss.
  • Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Homer calls Lisa this in "Lisa the Vegetarian".
  • Know Your Vines: In a three story episode about history, Lisa as Sacagawea is giving Lewis and Clark's expedition party quick advice, and tells one soldier that he's holding poison oak.
  • Knuckle Tattoos: In "Cape Feare", Sideshow Bob has "LUV" and "HAT" tattooed on his fingers.


L

  • Laborious Laziness: Bart and Lisa have been tasked to clean the back yard but they're too lazy to do so.

Bart: Man, look at all this stuff... pull weeds, mow lawn, scoop and bag dog business. There's gotta be a way out of this. Lisa! Chop off my hands!
Lisa: No! Then who'd chop off my hands?
Bart: All right, you chop my hands halfway off, and then, I'll still have enough strength to chop-
Marge: Get to work!

Grandpa Simpson: "I was lonelier than Estes Kefauver at a meeting of Murder Incorporated! <Beat> That actually makes sense. Look it up!"

    • "They Saved Lisa's Brain:"

Lisa: [reading Comic Book Guy's shirt] "C:/DOS C:/DOS/RUN RUN/DOS/RUN". [laughs] Oh, only one person in a million would find that funny.
Frink: Yes, we call that the, "Dennis Miller Ratio."

  • Last Day to Live: When Homer was believed to have eaten a poisoned fish at a Japanese restaurant.
    • Parodied in "C. E. D'oh". A seminar on success inspires Homer to, among other things, live each day like it's his last... which entails sitting on the curb and crying his eyes out.
  • The Last Horse Crosses the Finish Line: Homer was frequently subject to this trope from seasons 1-11. A most notable example is from the episode "Bart Gets An Elephant", when, knee-deep in money troubles because of Stampy, a group of kids offer Homer money to ride and/or see the elephant. Homer, being the usual Idiot Hero he is, turns the children away, and on the second and third try, he hammers down a sign that says Please go away. Still content that his plan will work, Homer is too elated to hear the full details of Bart's plan, when Bart arrives carrying a new sign offering prices to see and ride Stampy.
  • Laxative Prank:
    • Dr. Nick Rivera has an Infomercial about a suntan lotion that's also a laxative.
    • One episode had Homer sabotaging a youth group's candy sales by adding laxative to the candy. The youth group still managed to the sell the most candy, by selling it to the constipated residents of the old folks home.
  • Leaving Audience: Springfield just built a new performing arts center. The place is packed. The Springfield Philharmonic Orchestra starts into Beethoven's 5th Symphony...and after eight notes are played, everyone simultaneously stands up and makes for the door. Aside from Marge horrified to learn that the town is uncultured, Lenny declares they already have the song as a ring tone. Exaggerated when even the orchestra leaves after Marge announces that the next piece is by Phillip Glass.
  • Left It In: In "Radio Bar", Kent Brockman attempts to interview Homer on the air...

Homer: Uh, you can edit out that part, right?
Kent: Homer, we're live from coast to coast.

  • Leitmotif: Sideshow Bob has his own Cape Fear inspired theme music most anytime he appears on-screen, and the show also features two commonly-used musical motifs for town riots. (for reference, the first "riot theme" is heard during the soccer riot in "The Cartridge Family", while the other is heard in "Brake My Wife, Please" when Bart's and Milhouse's Peruvian fighting frogs battle each other)
    • Whenever villain Charles Montgomery Burns is in his mansion or is planning another evil scheme, you can bet you will hear that sinister music reminiscent of Citizen Kane's opening sequence. Release the sounds!
  • Let Me Tell You a Story: Parodied in "The Heartbroke Kid", when Bart is sent to a fat camp and Tab Spangler, the camp owner, catches him pigging out:

Tab: Son, I'm gonna tell you a story about a young man who came here and failed. Well, that is the story. I shouldn't call a sentence a story. Anyway, it's you!

  • Let's Have Another Baby: When Lisa shows her parents a video of a Brazilian orphan she sponsors, Marge finds him so cute that she says she wants another kid. Homer refuses because he hasn't lost all the weight he gained with Maggie's birth.
  • Let Us Never Speak of This Again: Marge says this about the vacation in "Itchy & Scratchy Land", despite that she agreed it was the best vacation ever.
    • Mentioning Tamzarian is a torturable offense.
  • Level Ate: Homer's Land of Chocolate.

Homer: Wow! Chocolate! Half price!

Lisa: Why do you have to be such a pain all the time? Don't you realize you're getting a bad reputation?
Nelson: Don't you realize your butt sticks out?
Lisa: It does not!
[Nelson kicks Lisa in the butt]
Lisa: Hey!
Nelson: Ha ha!

  • Literal-Minded: From "Fear of Flying", after Bart and Lisa get selected for first class seats:

Lisa: Come on, Bart, they're gonna pamper us!
Bart: Eew...
Lisa: Not literally, of course.

Cletus: Hey, kids! We're eatin' dinner tonight! Come on out, Tiffany, Heather, Cody, Dylan, Dermot, Jordan, Taylor, Brittany, Wesley, Rumor, Scout, Cassidy, Zoe, Chloe, Max, Hunter, Kendall, Caitlin, Noah, Sascha, Morgan, Kyra, Ian, Lauren, Q-bert, Phil!

  • "London, England" Syndrome: Parodied Trope. In "The Falcon and the D'ohman", the subtitles misspell the name if Kiev, Ukraine twice in a row before reading something along the lines of, "Come on, how many Kievs do you know about anyway?".
  • Long List: In "Papa's Got a Brand New Badge", Homer lists all of his former one-episode jobs in rapid succession.
    • In "Girls Just Want to Have Sums", Homer lists all the inventions men made to prove why he considers men superior to women. These include paper, cars, rocket ships, suspension bridges, constitutional government, snow shoes, brass knuckles, pinball machines, and The Renaissance.
  • Long-Lost Uncle Aesop: Cecil Terwilliger appears as Sideshow Bob's brother, (Voiced by David Hyde Pierce, the actor who plays Dr. Frasier Crane's brother) ultimately to illustrate himself as the more evil of the pair, allowing Bob an opportunity for redemption. He saves Bart and Lisa Simpson's lives, then the entire city of Springfield from being flooded.
  • Long Runners: Has even passed Gunsmoke as of 2010. It has now went on for at least 22 years.
    • Has such an enormous back catalog that Fox considered devoting an entire channel to the show.
  • Long Runner Tech Marches On: Evident when you compare the 90s episodes with the modern day ones.
  • Long Speech Tea Time: Marge just gets ready for bed while Homer rambles off all the jobs he had before his bodyguard gig, including "hippie," "Smithers," and "homophobe."
    • It should be noted that Marge getting ready for bed involves putting rollers in her two and a half feet of hair.

I’ve had a lot of jobs in my life: boxer, mascot, astronaut, baby proofer, imitation Krusty, truck driver, hippie, plow driver, food critic, conceptual artist, grease salesman, carny, mayor, grifter, body guard for the mayor, country western manager, garbage commissioner, mountain climber, farmer, inventor, Smithers, Poochie, celebrity assistant, power plant worker, fortune cookie writer, beer baron, Kwik-E-Mart clerk, homophobe, and missionary, but protecting people, that gives me the best feeling of all.

  • Lopsided Dichotomy: See Bat Signal.
  • Losing Your Head: Homer in "Treehouse of Horror XVI"
  • Loud of War: In one episode, Skinner, Krabappel and Bart have sealed themselves inside the school. Chief Wiggum tries playing romantic music to try and get them to snap and leave, but Skinner and Krabappel merely begin enjoying a romantic dance. This causes Bart to snap and scream "Turn it off!", which only convinces Wiggum to turn it up louder.
  • Love At First Sight: In "Principla Charming", Homer attempts to introduce Skinner to Selma, but accidentally introduces him to Patty instead.

Skinner: (dreamily) Patty...
Homer: D'oh!! Wrong one!

    • Homer pretty much falls in love with Marge the first moment he sees her.
  • Love Triangle: "Bart's Friend Falls in Love" involves Milhouse falling for a girl and Bart getting jealous that he's spending all his time with her instead of him. Similarly, "The Good, The Sad, and the Drugly" has Bart falling for a girl, and Milhouse striving to break them up because Bart never came to visit him while he was suspended (since he was spending all his time with the new girlfriend).
  • Lowered Recruiting Standards: NASA decides to let an average person be an astronaut to better its image, which is how Homer ends up on the space shuttle.
  • Low Speed Chase:
    • Sideshow Bob trying to make an escape in the Wright Brothers' plane, while police cars drive slowly behind him trying to catch him with nets.
    • Chief Wiggum chasing the duck who took his badge.
    • Grandpa Simpson chasing a tortoise that has his false teeth.
  • Lying on a Hillside: Seen in "The Telltale Head" when Bart, Jimbo, Kearney, and Dolph look at the clouds.
  1. ↑ On the subject on that last one, there may be a bit of hidden Fridge Brilliance. In the earlier seasons, Bart's hat, when it appeared was considered to be his "lucky red hat," and to him, that fact may have been the worst offense.
  2. ↑ "Marge vs. the Monorail", "Homer vs. Dignity"
  3. ↑ "Bart's Dog Gets an F", "Lisa Gets an A"
  4. ↑ "Bart the Genius", "Homer the Smithers"
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