Talking Simpsons - Monty Can't Buy Me Love With Rifftrax's Conor Lastowka

To my mind, and probably the minds of many others, the Nessie episode, the Kid Rock episode, and the jockey elves episode represent the nadir of the series that sent everyone running away screaming. I recognize that there are still plenty of gems in these seasons, but sometimes a misfire is too deadly to forgive for a gem. So that trilogy will truly be Mike Scully's lasting legacy. I'll confess, though, that I LOVE the Stern knockoff sequence, simply because it captures the sophomoric joy of prime shock jock raunch, and it has one of the funniest Burns drawings ever as he says "stop the farting!"

Thad Komorowski

If you think Virgin’s safety video was bad, the Air New Zealand ones in my country are even WORSE. We’ve tried so many awful ideas for them, even getting RICHARD SIMMONS for one.

Harry Thornton

Perhaps North Kilttown is a town on the banks of the loch?

Robert Flaxman

The way Mr Burns suddenly teams up with Homer reminds me of the Family Guy episode "Brian Goes to College" which on the commentary they joke should've been called "Brian Goes to College and Stewie Goes With Him for Obvious Comedic Reasons" For all the problems with this episode, I'll give Swartzwelder credit for writing some decent Marge jokes in the beginning.

PurpleComet

The big difference to me is that the Rapture is treated as a quick joke and not the basis for an entire act. This is similar to how Leonard Nimoy teleports away on Marge vs the Monorail or they show a super-intelligent monkey in Deep Space Homer. They're just quick laughs. The Loch Ness monster is the entire third act. Worse, it's based off an actual myth/urban legend but there's no attempt to heighten it. The Loch Ness monster just exists in the world of the Simpsons.

PurpleComet

*Adjusts his glasses.* This episode claims Willie hails from Loch Ness but in s10e01 "Lard of the Dance" he said he was from North Kilttown.

Andrew O.

Great to hear Conor on the podcast...as another Burlingtonian (Burlingtonite? Not sure what we call ourselves) I'm glad that Champ got a shout-out. And I agree with his comments on our tiny (though technically still International thanks to a couple flights to Toronto a day,) airport. You often don't get a choice of airline because your destination chooses it for you, since there might be only 1 airline going to that city.

Andrew Bouvier

I'm not down on the episode as much as you guys cause I still had fun rewatching it, but I will 100% agree it is a veeeeeeeeeeeery sloppy, loose, and ridiculous episode. Each act could belong in its own episode and it would probably fit a lot better, but there's still a lot of moments I love in it even if the connective tissue is pretty trashy. I will also say that the whole Nessie thing is probably THE MOST ridiculous thing they've done on the show up to this point and borders a little bit on universe breaking.

Dylan (batmanboy11) Freitag

It seems implied that said episode was non-canonical.

Bennett Billard

As an "angry northern european" (a.k.a. Scotsman), I can say that our nation loves The Simpsons, especially Groundskeeper Willie. Apparently, Willie's voice, as performed by Dan, got the strongest audience reaction at a live reading show in Edinburgh (pronounced "ed-in-buh-ruh", btw). ^_^ As for the Loch Ness Monster, I was obsessed with dinosaurs as a kid and went on multiple family holidays to Inverness in search of the legendary beast. As breathtaking as the surroundings were, I just couldn't take my eyes off the water. There's a real magic about this simple myth which captured my imagination, even to this day. I mean, I know it's not real, but to a kid, it's just so captivating. Incidentally, I remember having one of those "choose your own adventure" books about a photographer going in search of Nessie. It was actually a lot of fun, using a limited number of remaining shots while avoiding some nefarious rivals who often showed up in disguise. If it was a Telltale style game, I'd play it. I don't ever remember anything like a "homecoming" at any school in Scotland but the fake Nessie could have been the one they have in a pond outside the gift shop. ^_^ Anyway, sorry for all the rambling. I don't mind this episode as much as some others surrounding it since it wears its craziness on its sleeve but it's certainly not great. Keep up the awesome work. :)

To Boldy Joe... Moore

Everything being said, Burns' final joke, "I was a little worried when he swallowed me, but, well, you know the rest" just makes me laugh so much that I forgive all the sins of this episode. It still makes me giggle. However, what's with all "The Postman" hate?! Perhaps it's because I'm a huge David Brin fanboy (he wrote the novel the movie is based on, and his body of work merits a close look by any true fan of modern science fiction) but I truly loved the film adaptation. Watch Will Patton's performance and tell me you hate that movie.

Bryan Field

Matt Gourley did a 5-part podcast series on this very video, self described as "Officially the most useless podcast mini-series ever produced." You can still find it in the Pistol Shrimps Radio feed if for some reason anyone wants to do that.

It's interesting how apparently a big purple Loch Ness monster working at a casino is more out there/crazy than the fact just three episodes ago the Rapture came to Springfield and I guess the town just got better. BUT EH GOOD PODCAST.

Devin Hoffarth

I recall first watching this episode in black and white, so I missed that the Loch Ness was colored purple. When the series has a precedent for purple trees, it’s hard to complain about a purple Loch Ness

Alex Irish

I found that Virgin Airlines safety video Bob mentioned. I suffered through this travesty, so now you should too: https://youtu.be/z1A5BtqsaPM

PurpleComet

I know this episode just kind of peters out and, even for the Simpsons, is pretty cartoony. But damned if I don’t still love it. And how often do you get to pair Frink, Burns and Willie?

Kevin Bunch