Behind the Laughter

"Behind the Laughter" is the twenty-second and final episode of the

The episode was directed by Mark Kirkland and written by Tim Long, George Meyer, Mike Scully and Matt Selman. The idea was pitched by Long, and the writers wrote the episode quickly without a draft. VH1 and the producers of Behind the Music allowed the crew to use the show's visual graphics package, and Behind the Music narrator Jim Forbes recorded narrations. In addition, country musician Willie Nelson guest stars as himself.

The episode received critical acclaim, with many reviewers noting it as a highlight of the season and the series itself, and won an

In May 2004, the BBC chose it as the last episode to be aired, having lost the terrestrial broadcasting rights in February 2002, to Channel 4, who later aired the series in November 2004.^[1]

Plot

The episode is a parody of the

Problems begin to arise as the Simpsons' fame grows: they become reckless

Fox puts the show on hiatus since none of the Simpsons will talk to each other. The members pursue independent endeavors: Homer becomes a character actor in stage productions such as Rent II: Condo Fever; Bart replaces Lorenzo Lamas as the star of the syndicated action show Renegade; Marge creates a nightclub act performing Bob Marley's song "I Shot the Sheriff"; and Lisa writes Where Are My Residuals?, a tell-all book about her negative experiences from working on the show, such as Homer's spiking of her cereal with anti-growth hormones. Bringing the family back together seems impossible, until Dr. Hibbert tasks his old fraternity brother, country singer Willie Nelson, with reuniting them. Nelson puts on a phony awards show in order to reconcile the family, who hug and forgive each other for their past wrongs. They look with hope to the many years of episodes of The Simpsons to come... or not.

The episode ends with an epilogue, in which Forbes states, "...the future looks brighter than ever for this northern Kentucky family".^[a] Following the epilogue, the Simpson family is shown in a video editing room, viewing a scene from an upcoming episode from the next season, which shows the family talking about winning a trip to Delaware.^[b] Seemingly in response to the stilted and unfunny quality of the proceedings, Homer quietly assures the editor that the next season will be the last. The final scene shows a mock teaser for an "upcoming episode" of Behind the Laughter about Huckleberry Hound, in which he reveals that he is gay.

Production

Gay Rosenthal, a friend of executive producer

The writers had particular fun writing over-the-top, melodramatic "tortured metaphors," many of which were penned by producer

Cultural references

The episode contains many references and allusions to Behind the Music, and one line the staff thought was humorous was pulled straight from the actual series.[2]

• During Comic Book Guy's interview, a statue of the Giant from The Iron Giant can be seen, as a nod to former Simpsons director and creative consultant Brad Bird, who left to direct the film.^[4]
• The teenage fans of Bart Simpson screaming to the song "Twist and Shout" is a Beatlemania reference.^[6]
• Bart and his
  M.C. Hammer, which was inspired by the Behind the Music episode based on his life that the staff watched during production.^[4]
• Bart, while getting pampered by assistants, agrees to take a role in Teen Wolf 3, a reference that Scully later considered to be dated.^[2]
• Richie Rich replaces Bart's role on the show while Bart is undergoing rehab; the animators colored his suit green to avoid copyright infringement.^[2]
• When The Simpsons is put on hiatus, the fictional Fox replaces it with Peepin' It Real!, which consists of
  Ann Taylor women's dressing rooms; Scully noted that the retailer was "not happy" about this joke.^[2]
• The episode is also knowingly self-referential. A series of T-shirts are shown sporting a number of Bart Simpson "catchphrases", such as "You bet your sweet bippy, man" and "Life begins at conception, man."[9] These are parodies of both officially licensed and bootleg Simpsons-themed T-shirts in the early days of the series, usually revolving around Bart.^[9]
• The famous scene of Homer plummeting into Springfield Gorge on Bart's skateboard from the season two episode "Bart the Daredevil" is shown; the sequence in which Homer falls from the jagged cliffs was reanimated. "Behind the Laughter" then shows the "unfunny aftermath" of Homer going through physical rehabilitation and becoming addicted to painkillers.^[4][9]
• The episode states the series turned to "gimmicky premises and nonsensical plots" as ratings dipped, and uses a clip from the episode "The Principal and the Pauper" to get that point across, as it was a highly controversial episode that many fans and critics panned.^[9]

Reception

The episode was ranked as the fourth best

askmen.com.^[10] In 2012, Johnny Dee of The Guardian listed the episode as one of his five favorite episodes in the history of The Simpsons, noting The Simpsons is "good at self-parody".^[11] The Simpsons writing staff voted this in their list of Top 15 Simpsons episode becoming the newest episode in the list.^[12] Screen Rant called it the best episode of the 11th season.^[13]

Notes

1. ^ In keeping with the long-running joke of Springfield's unknown and unidentifiable location, the writers did not want to "pin [the location] down for the fans," and with knowledge that the episode would rerun twice, had Forbes record several alternate locations aside from the original version's "northern Kentucky" (such as "southern Illinois"), which were seen on Fox reruns.^[2] Each of the alternate locations, including "southern Missouri" and the unused "small island of Lanai," can be found as an easter egg on the eleventh season DVD set.
2. next season, "Simpsons Tall Tales
   ".

References

1. ^ "The Simpsons". offthetelly.co.uk. May 7, 2004. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Scully, Mike (2008). Commentary for "Behind the Laughter", in The Simpsons: The Eleventh Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
3. ^ Long, Tim (2008). Commentary for "Behind the Laughter", in The Simpsons: The Eleventh Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
4. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Kirkland, Mark (2008). Commentary for "Behind the Laughter", in The Simpsons: The Eleventh Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
5. ^ ^{a b c d e} Meyer, George (2008). Commentary for "Behind the Laughter", in The Simpsons: The Eleventh Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
6. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Selman, Matt (2008). Commentary for "Behind the Laughter", in The Simpsons: The Eleventh Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
7. ^ Maxtone-Graham, Ian (2008). Commentary for "Behind the Laughter", in The Simpsons: The Eleventh Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
8. ^ Snierson, Dan (October 8, 2011). "'Simpsons' exec producer Al Jean on renewal: 'This isn't an end but a beginning' -- Exclusive". EW. Retrieved January 24, 2022.
9. ^ ^{a b c d} Canning, Robert (August 18, 2008). "The Simpsons Flashback: "Behind the Laughter" Review". IGN. Retrieved January 24, 2022.
10. ^ Weir, Rich. "Simpsons quotes". Retrieved November 30, 2017.
11. ^ Dee, Johnny (January 13, 2012). "The Simpsons at 500: what are your favourite episodes?". The Guardian. Retrieved January 14, 2012.
12. ^ "15 Writer Favorites". USA Today. February 6, 2003.
13. ^ Sim, Bernardo (September 22, 2019). "The Simpsons: The Best Episode In Every Season, Ranked". Screen Rant. Retrieved September 22, 2019.

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to "Behind the Laughter".

• "Behind the Laughter episode capsule". The Simpsons Archive.
• "Behind the Laughter" at
  IMDb