This is a list of more Simpsons jokes that have come true in the real world. Is this life imitating art? Or is some sort of higher power (be it spiritual or extraterrestrial) that's working through the pop culture juggernaut to give us some kind of grave warning about or future? Maybe. Or maybe those Harvard writers are just really smart and funny and have pretty good foresight as to how the world works.
Below are ten jokes that have happened in the lives of Homer, Bart, Marge, Maggie, and Lisa that have seemed to cross over into today's world. Special guest appearances by Adam Sandler, Adam West, and a deformed three-eyed fish.
Upvote your favorite jokes on the list or ones that you find most interesting. Feel free to add any more jokes that have come true on the show, and check our the first part of our Simpsons Jokes That Actually Came True here: http://www.ranker.com/list/13-simpsons-jokes-that-actually-came-true/robert-wabash
http://www.ranker.com/list/simpsons-jokes-that-actually-came-true-_vol-2_/john-ungaro,
Movies Turned Into Broadway Musicals
The Joke:
In the classic episode “A Fish Called Selma,” washed up actor Troy McLure (the late-great Phil Hartman) finds a new spark in his career when he’s seen on a date with Marge’s sister Selma – helping to squash the rumors of his fish fetish. Troy finds new luck in the entertainment business and his first gig is the lead in “Stop The Planet of the Apes, I want to Get Off!” – a Broadway musical adaptation of Planet of the Apes (the movie, not the planet).
What Actually Happened:
Let’s face it, Theater is dead – well, at least mainstream theater, but that doesn’t mean Broadway does not know how to make a shameless brand cash-in to save time like it’s brother Hollywood. Nowadays there have been plenty of movies that have been turned into pointless stage musicals. Here’s a few: Sister Act, Legally Blonde, Shrek, The Wedding Singer, Catch Me If You Can, Ghost, High Fidelity.
I would actually pay good money to see the Planet of the Apes musical as seen on The Simpsons. To this day I’ll catch myself singing “Dr. Zaus” and “You’ve Finally Made a Monkey Out Of Me.” It’s not that far fetched of an idea given the list above. It could even be a fun underground musical like Evil Dead, Reanimator, and Point Break.
The Internet: Movie Rumors & Hate
The Joke:
The episode “Radioactive Man” found Springfield’s most beloved comic character getting a big budget Hollywood film. The lead role went to Arnold Schwarzenegger stand in Rainier Wolfcastle, and his cast was made public by use the Internet. The scene shows a person sitting under the table of a producer meeting and him sending out the information to hundreds of computer nerds (included guitar wizard, Prince).
What Actually Happened:
It’s kind of amazing how early to mid nineties Simpsons episodes had a pretty good foresight of what the internet was going to be used for – and keep in mind this was all through the dial up age. Today we live in a world where a man tirelessly tracks down ever lead he knows in order to find out who’s going to be playing Ant Man. Seriously, there are people losing sleep and have hard, well-thought out opinions as to who should be playing Ant Man.
But I digress, The Simpsons also gave the internet one its most popular battle cries, “Worst. Episode. Ever.” in the episode “The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show.” The whole scene sums up the relationship between viewers vs. creators in the digital age long before the Internet is what it is now. In it Comic Book Guy feels cheated by the addition of the terrible character Poochie and feels that the show’s creators “owe him.” To which Bart replies, “ 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.” That basically sums up the relationship between the fans vs. the creative team of Lost.
Three-Eyed Fish
The Joke:
Blinky the three-eyed fish made his first appearance on The Simpsons back in 1990 in the season two episode "Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish." In it Bart catches a three-eyed fish in a river that runs down stream from the Nuclear Power Plant. This prompts Mr. Burns to run for governor in order to save the plant. He loses the election by spitting out eating a cooked three-eyed fish. Ever since then Blinky has become the unspoken mascot for the show, appearing in several episodes in cameos, and appearing on a good chunck of Simpsons merchandise him – he’s even appeared on Futurama. Blinky did pretty well for himself for a satirical jab at the horrors of shoddy nuclear safety.
What Actually Happened:
In real life a three-eyed fish isn’t as cute as Blinky. Back in 2011 it was reported that fishermen in Córdoba, Argentina caught themselves a three-eyed wolf fish. The fish was actually caught in a reservoir that was fed by the local nuclear power planet. The fish was taken in for testing to see if it was conclusively caused by Nuclear power. May God have mercy on us all, and if the end is neigh may it be swift.
The Comedic Side of Adam West
The Joke:
In “Mr. Plow” Homer totals both of the Simpsons cars which leads him taking Bart and Lisa to a car show where Homer ends up buying a plow setting up a new business as “Mr. Plow.” While at the car show Homer brings Bart and Lisa over to the original 1960s batmobile to meet the man who drove it, Adam West. At this time Tim Burton’s Batman was huge, so Bart and Lisa don’t Adam West, Robin, Eartha Kitt or the batusi—and Adam West makes all three of them uncomfortable explaining it to them. Homer backs Bart and Lisa away slowly.
What Actually Happen:
Here the Simpsons were the first to understand the comedic possibilities of Adam West, in that Adam West is funny when he’s playing a crazy person. This was a full seven years before Family Guy hit the airwaves and had Adam West playing a crazy version of him as the mayor of Quahog, Rhode Island. “Mr. Plow” was done in season four when a young Conan O’Brien was on the staff. O’Brien has an infamous fascination with West and 1960s Batman series, going as so far as calling it one of the best comedy series. In 1991 O’Brien and Robert Smigel actually made a comedy show around West called “Lookwell” about the misadventures of a washed up actor who bothers the police investigations. Sadly, the show never went to air. The pilot is on youtube and it’s hilarious.
90s Nostalgia
The Joke:
The season nineteen episodes “That 90s Shows” has two missions on it’s mind. The first: to fix the timeline of the Simpsons. Bart’s still ten years old, so to fix this Marge and Homer now have met and had Bart in the 90s -- although by today’s standards Bart is now a post-9/11 child (chew on that). The second: to make jokes about the nineties. Though Simpsons purists (like myself) tend not to like this episode (Homer as a lead in a Nirvana type grunge band, ugh), but upon rewatching has it’s laughs and there’s a great joy in its nostalgia for the nineties. The episode is cholk full of nineties jokes/references that include Sonic the Hedgehog, Melrose Place, Weird Al, Kurt Cobain, recumbent bikes, Friends, Seinfeld, etc.
What Actually Happened:
“That 90s Show” came out in January 27, 2008, when eighties nostalgia was all the craze. Now it’s 2013 and we couldn’t be more crazy about the nineties. Your friends are throwing nineties parties, go to a karaoke bar and all you’ll hear is music from the nineties, and really turn to any corner of the internet and you’ll find some kind of reverence, parody, or deconstruction of the nineties. The Simpsons did it before it was cool.
Civilian Space Travel
The Joke:
The episode “Deep Space Homer” found NASA setting out to put the first average man space in an effort to improve the ratings to their space shuttle launches – they were being beaten by a Connie Chung Christmas. Their mission pitted Homer against Barney with Homer winning by default, sending him into space only to muck it all up, and in the end he saved the day only to be outshined once again by an inanimate carbon rod (“In Rod We Trust”).
What Actually Happened:
Space travel for civilians is an actual prospect for NASA and it’s actually happened to a lucky few. Though to be fair, you need to have a lot of money into order to do it. American Billionaire Charles Simonyi. In space he took photos of earth, talked to students via radio, and took part in scientific experiments with the crew – though I don’t know how much input he had. He’s a twice over space tourist who traveled with the Russian Federal Space Agency though a space travel agency called Space Adventures, LTD. Yeah, this actually exists and they’ve flown out six other (very wealthy) civilians into space. Maybe years down the road Virgin America will make it’s own space travel program so us average joes can be able to afford a trip among the stars.
Simpsons & Adam Sandler Shared the Same Crappy Ending, Guess Who Handled It Better.
The Joke:
In the episode “The Great Money Caper” Homer and Bart become grifters as a means of fixing the damaged family car and to make a little money on that side. Eventually the two get conned by another con man who ends up stealing their car. This causes them to lie to Marge that it was stolen by a stranger, then that lie spirals to the stranger being Grounds Keeper Willie, who’s then found guilty in court who then end up shooting and killing Principal Skinner! But fear not as this all was a massive con on Homer and Bart set up Marge, an actor (voiced by Edward Norton) and the townspeople to teach Bart and Homer lesson about conning.
What Actually Happened:
“The Great Money Caper” premiered on December 10, 2000. Adam Sandler’s Anger Management came out April 11, 2003. In it, Sandler plays a man who’s wrongfully sent into an anger management program lead by the manic Dr. Buddy Rydell (played by Jack Nicolson). Basically the film has the same ending as “The Great Money Caper” where we find out Nicolson puts Adam Sandler through a long con that goes as far as the New York Yankees and Mayor Rudy Giuliani, all who have nothing better to do then to teach Adam Sandler a lesson as to why he needs to be better to his girlfriend.
The key difference between the two is The Simpsons knew this was a terrible ending. When Homer asks why all these people wanted to teach them a lesson Otto the bus driver bursts into the court room saying “Hey, everybody, surf’s up,” and then the episode ends like a 1950s surf movie. Anger Management went on to be the vague inspiration for a Charlie Sheen sitcom.
NSA Wire Taps
The Joke:
In The Simpsons Movie there’s a moment where Lisa fears that the Simpsons are being spied on because they are fugitives from the government. Marge tells her “Oh, Lisa, it’s not like the government is listening to everybody’s conversation.” This prompt a robot train conductor to broadcast The Simpsons whereabouts to the NSA where they are literally listening to everyone’s conversation no matter how innocuous. When they find The Simpsons a government agent stands up and shouts to the NSA, “Hey, everybody I found one, the government actually found someone we’re looking for!” ZING.
What Actually Happened:
This is the kind of joke where you show exactly what a conspiracy theorist thinks in an effort to highlight how ridiculous it is, but looking at this year it’s not so ridiculous. 2013 saw the major controversy of government surveillance by the NSA from former employee Edward Snowden. In short the government was watching our Internet and cell phone activities (and other places) on a massive scale. So remember kids, watch what you type, especially if you’re looking to run for office, orchestrate a terrorist attack on US soil, or some weird combination of both.
The Simpsons Will Never End
The Joke:
The 2002 episode “Gump Fiction” was a clip show that centered around Homer sitting on a bench and telling stories a la Forrest Gump that then lead to Homer being surprised with a roast on the town. The episode concludes with a song called “They’ll Never Stop The Simpsons” in the style of Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start The Fire.” The song recounts some of the show’s best moments (like “Homer’s Phobia”, Poochie, and the monorail), boasts some possible future storylines (like Marge being a robot and Moe getting a cell phone), and then capping off by apologizing for being a clip show in 2002 – though The Office did a clip show in 2010.
What Actually Happened:
Here’s the mind blowing thing: “Gump Fiction” was apart of the show’s thirteen, and the show’s currently on it’s twenty-fifth season. So “They’ll Never Stop The Simpsons” is still corrected. The show’s at a weird point where seasons people consider to be “New Simpsons” are actually far from being new. We’ll have to come up with a new labeling system based on decade the season came out. Which brave soul with more free time and less to do other then me will step up to that challenge?
Fun Fact: "Gump Fiction" was co-written by the voice of Homer Simpson, Dan Castellaneta.
Dangerous T-Shirt Cannons
The Joke:
In “Alone Again, Natura-Diddily” Ned Flander’s wife Maude met an untimely end as she was killed at a speedway track with a t-shirt gun.
What Actually Happened:
T-Shirt guns are a somewhat normal stable of big stadium events – usually as a half time or just down time way of entertaining the crowd. But sometimes that free t-shirt cannon fun can turn ugly. Back in 2009 an Indiana man set out to sue the Chicago White Sox over a back injury cause by t-shirt cannon fire. The White Sox were supposedly liable for over $75,000 in damages. In the very least, the man didn’t loose his life with the last words of if loved one being, “no foot longs” like old Maude Flanders did.
