These bring back so many memories! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down the most memorably hilarious and creative couch gags to kick off the iconic animated sitcom, “The Simpsons”.
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00:00 [Music]
00:08 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down the most memorably hilarious and creative couch gags to kick off the iconic animated sitcom, The Simpsons.
00:16 [Music]
00:22 [Music]
00:23 Number 20, Maggie Has the Remote.
00:26 Bill Plimpton's surreal animation style has produced several unique couch gags over the years on The Simpsons.
00:31 Most notably, his third contribution hit the sweet spot between his own style and the show's.
00:35 [Music]
00:42 With The Simpsons on the couch, Maggie takes control of the TV remote, transporting the family to new locations each time she changes the channel.
00:48 As the visuals and music intensify, they finally return home, and Maggie throws the remote at the TV.
00:54 [Music]
00:57 The sequence is reminiscent of a season 14 couch gag, in which Homer channels serves through history.
01:02 But Plimpton's artistic twist enhances the iconic intro, keeping viewers firmly locked in.
01:07 Number 19, Robot Chicken.
01:10 Various guest artists have pushed the boundaries of traditional animation for The Simpsons intro.
01:14 All bets were off when the team behind Robot Chicken took over.
01:17 After Homer is knocked through the house by Marge's car, he awakens in the sketch show's stop motion format.
01:23 [Music]
01:26 Making the most of becoming an action figure, Homer goes on a rampage,
01:29 blowing up Flanders, squashing Mr. Burns, and beating Otto in a drag race.
01:33 [Music]
01:34 It's the perfect use of the town's characters in Robot Chicken's chaotic dark comedy style.
01:38 It's wrapped up with the actual Robot Chicken strapping The Simpsons to their couch for the start of the episode.
01:43 [Music]
01:45 Number 18, Three Takes.
01:47 Couch gags continue to become more elaborate as the years pass.
01:50 However, it would appear that early sequences were still as complicated enough for some wild bloopers.
01:55 [Music]
01:58 In a season 5 classic, The Simpsons collide in three filming outtakes.
02:01 They shatter to pieces in the first, morph together in the second, and explode in the third,
02:06 never actually making it to the couch.
02:08 [Music]
02:10 Though the animation was experimental, the sequence was strikingly fast-paced.
02:14 It was a fairly shocking and bizarre gag for that era of the show.
02:17 After all these years, it's still one of the funniest.
02:20 Number 17, 500 Episodes.
02:23 Between recycled sequences and abridged intros, The Simpsons didn't reach 500 couch gags within 500 episodes.
02:29 [Music]
02:31 However, a celebration was still in order.
02:34 At Long Last Leave opens with the first couch gag ever,
02:37 followed by an epic montage of clips and frames from all the ones that followed.
02:41 [Music]
02:46 The Simpsons then gather one last time before the image pans out to reveal a collage of couch pranks,
02:50 arranged to form the number 500.
02:53 This work was worthy of the milestone in 2012.
02:55 Even though the collage shatters to reveal Homer strangling Bart,
02:58 the retrospective moment still says a lot about how essential the couch gag is,
03:02 and has always been to the show's long-running brand.
03:05 [Music]
03:10 Number 16, TikTok.
03:12 [Music]
03:16 Kesha's TikTok was one of the biggest party anthems of 2009,
03:19 and even The Simpsons got down to the club banger.
03:21 [Music]
03:26 An entire intro was dedicated to the town of Springfield lip-syncing the song.
03:30 The elaborate sequence was part of Fox Rocks,
03:32 a 2010 event where the network's shows featured varying musical numbers.
03:36 The choreographed opening really captured the spirit of Kesha's jam and Springfield's colorful cast members,
03:41 while also sticking to the show's pop culture savviness.
03:44 [Music]
03:48 It was also a more wholesome dance party than the one Homer secretly hosted into Surveil with Love.
03:53 [Music]
03:57 Number 15, future family portraits.
04:00 Even if The Simpsons doesn't always nail the future,
04:02 the predictions make for interesting visuals.
04:04 In a 2006 couch gag, a photographer snaps a lovely portrait of The Simpsons family.
04:09 [Music]
04:10 Then, a slideshow of photos over the next seven years suggest a bleak and bizarre future.
04:15 Homer is dead by 2008, and Marge remarries Lenny.
04:18 But in 2010, Lenny and Carl apparently get custody of the kids,
04:21 and then Marge and Jimbo get together.
04:23 In 2012, Homer returns to the family as a robot,
04:26 which is fine because everyone is robotized the following year.
04:30 Thankfully, in real life, 2013 came and went without everyone becoming robots.
04:34 But few couch gags have gotten fans thinking like these eerie snapshots.
04:38 Number 14, The Simpsons of Belleville.
04:41 The renowned work of Sylvain Shomet is a very different style of adult animation
04:45 compared to The Simpsons.
04:46 [Music]
04:48 The French illustrator captivated Matt Groening so much
04:52 that he was invited to draw a couch gag.
04:54 In the surreal style of The Triplets of Belleville,
04:56 Shomet portrays Homer eating snails,
04:58 while Marge looks for Maggie and Bart attempts to make foie gras.
05:02 The hard way.
05:03 [Music]
05:06 When Homer grabs an extra escargot off the TV,
05:09 it's revealed where Maggie was all along.
05:11 Shomet's incorporation of French stereotypes is hilariously absurd and over the top.
05:16 The bizarrely beautiful animation creates an opening scene
05:18 that's as striking as it is haunting.
05:20 Number 13, Eric Goldberg.
05:23 Eric Goldberg has been a lead or supervising animator
05:26 for some of the most iconic Disney characters since the 90s.
05:29 "10,000 years will give you such a crick in the neck!"
05:34 There was no mistaking his whimsical style when he created a couch gag
05:37 that paid tribute to Disney classics such as Steamboat Willie,
05:40 Cinderella, The Jungle Book, and even Fantasia.
05:43 [Music]
05:50 The sequence was as magical and funny
05:51 as fans of both Disney and The Simpsons would have hoped.
05:54 It may have also been another Simpsons premonition.
05:57 Three years after the gag's premiere in 2016,
05:59 Disney announced their purchase of the majority of 20th century Fox assets,
06:03 including The Simpsons.
06:04 "Now, family, put on the mouse ears!"
06:07 "You only get one chance to make a first impression."
06:10 But Goldberg proved it to be a perfect fit first.
06:12 Number 12, Couch A Love Story.
06:16 Bill Plimpton's tenor as a Simpsons animator
06:18 started with a love letter to the couch gag's namesake.
06:21 In a surreal alternative origin story,
06:23 Homer literally falls in love with his anthropomorphized couch.
06:26 [Music]
06:31 After Marge comes along and steals Homer's affection,
06:33 his heartbroken ex falls into a downward spiral.
06:36 Don't worry, it all ends happily,
06:38 with a remorseful Homer giving the couch,
06:40 and their chair baby, a home.
06:42 [Music]
06:48 The short film is every bit as strange as it sounds.
06:51 Plimpton stays true to the show's irreverence,
06:53 but his beautiful animation and poetic storytelling are remarkably moving.
06:57 His work has all the makings of a classic couch gag
06:59 and is an artful tribute to furniture we all take for granted.
07:02 Number 11, Banksy.
07:05 The Simpsons has never been afraid to criticize corporate practices,
07:08 even those of their own network.
07:09 [Music]
07:13 And the anonymous British artist known as Banksy
07:16 tends to be very direct with his iconoclastic illustrations.
07:19 Put them together and you get one dark but very memorable couch gag.
07:23 An intro teasing Banksy's graffiti tags transgresses
07:26 into a peak inside a 20th century Fox studio,
07:28 where workers mass-produce couch gags in a dangerous sweatshop.
07:31 [Music]
07:37 Animals are slaughtered to create merchandise.
07:39 Some viewers felt the spoof was too dark,
07:41 but apparently the storyboards were even sadder.
07:44 Overall, it was a bold statement from a subversive artist.
07:46 [Music]
07:55 Number 10, Rick and Morty.
07:57 An appropriately science-themed episode of The Simpsons
08:00 opened with a surprise for adult cartoon fans.
08:02 As soon as The Simpsons sit on their couch,
08:04 Rick and Morty Sanchez's spaceship crashes into their living room,
08:08 splattering them everywhere.
08:09 You killed the entire Simpsons, Morty!
08:10 They're a beloved family, Morty!
08:13 A panicked Morty is sent to clone The Simpsons
08:15 while Rick wanders the house,
08:16 eventually discovering that the family's DNA was contaminated with his own.
08:20 Huh, wow.
08:21 Hey Morty, little tip.
08:22 Don't clean DNA vials with your spit!
08:25 It's a lengthy gag,
08:26 but the Rick and Morty animation team
08:28 perfectly showcases their pop culture awareness
08:30 and hilarious shock sci-fi style.
08:32 The couch gag became a favorite amongst viewers of both shows,
08:35 and we have to agree when the Bart-Rick crossover blurts out,
08:38 No more guest animators, man!
08:41 This hybrid is tough to top.
08:43 Number 9, The Couch Gag, Part 1 of 6.
08:47 Matt Groening is a known fan of the fantasy genre.
08:50 So when The Hobbit trilogy was released,
08:52 a couch gag paid a remarkably faithful tribute
08:54 to Tolkien's story and Peter Jackson's creation.
08:57 The Simpsons family embarks on a sweeping quest
09:05 from Springfield to find the Comfy Couch.
09:07 Along the way, they encounter their friends as Middle-Earth characters.
09:11 The crossover is perfect,
09:12 as are a few hilarious jabs at the ultimate fantasy franchise.
09:16 Despite all the endless walking,
09:17 this spoof is distinguished by its level of detail in the animation designs.
09:21 It's a genuinely epic minute and a half.
09:23 It's also one of the few timely couch gags to be this timelessly entertaining.
09:27 What about us, man?
09:31 Get your own couch.
09:32 Number 8, Musicville, A Silly Simpsony.
09:35 Disney enthusiasts will be familiar with the visually
09:37 and musically rich Silly Symphony shorts of the 30s.
09:40 The Silly Symphony gag pays homage to 1935's Musicland in particular.
09:44 [Music]
09:51 In fact, Lisa liberating Springfield from Mr. Burns' classical music tyranny
09:55 is an almost exact adaptation of the original short's premise.
09:59 But Musicville is a swinging improvisation,
10:01 playing to the absurd humor and personalities of beloved Simpsons characters.
10:04 They really seem to harmonize with the instruments they're adorably animated as.
10:13 Musically and artistically, it's an infectious composition for music,
10:17 Simpsons, and Disney fans alike.
10:19 Number 7, The Day of the Couch.
10:26 What about all the other couches on The Simpsons?
10:28 The opening to Marge's son Poisoning
10:30 finally brings Springfield's furniture to the forefront,
10:33 though not in a way anyone expected.
10:34 Before the Simpsons can sit on their sofa,
10:41 it bears monstrous teeth and begins chasing them.
10:43 It's then revealed that couches across Springfield
10:46 have attained sentience for a gruesome uprising.
10:48 It's a boldly surreal horror show, and it's kind of awesome.
10:51 Moe also gets a notable time to shine
10:54 when he stands his ground against his own tavern booths and bar stools.
10:57 The spectacle of carnivorous couches is thankfully far out,
11:00 but it is one way to promote appreciation.
11:03 Or is that fear for your furniture?
11:05 Number 6, Circus Line.
11:12 The 1992 episode "Lisa's First Word"
11:14 was an event even from its opening sequence.
11:16 There have been some pretty elaborate couch gags by then,
11:23 but The Simpsons family put on a real show
11:25 when they formed a kick line in front of the couch,
11:27 and the walls lifted up to reveal an enormous circus set piece.
11:30 It was a big breakthrough in animation for the show,
11:32 and immediately became an iconic sequence.
11:34 With its showmanship and concise length,
11:36 it went on to be the most reused couch gag The Simpsons ever produced.
11:40 There have been much loftier ventures since this technical achievement,
11:43 but the Circus Line's ambition and charm really drew a crowd.
11:46 Number 5, Lazy Rider.
11:52 Illustrator Steve Cutts' affinity for comic book style
11:54 and classic cartoons made for a unique and original couch gag.
11:57 After throwing on a pair of sunglasses,
12:06 Homer rides his couch into a slick opening credit sequence
12:09 styled after an 80s action show.
12:11 As the muscled-up Joe "Kaz" Kaczynski,
12:13 Homer and his couch sidekick blow up some baddies
12:16 to Paul Engman's Scarface "Push It to the Limit".
12:18 It's Miami Vice meets Knight Rider,
12:22 with a few other 80s Easter eggs thrown in.
12:24 There are a lot of hilarious and undeniably cool visuals
12:27 throughout the fast-paced minute and a half.
12:29 Despite its length, online views and audience response suggests
12:32 that there's no pushing Lazy Rider to any limit.
12:35 Damn rerun!
12:36 Number 4, Powers of Ten.
12:42 The Eames Brothers reduced the universe to a single atom
12:45 in less than 10 minutes in Powers of Ten.
12:47 This mind-blowing science documentary was replicated
12:50 in one of The Simpsons' most out-there couch gags.
12:52 The shot pans out of The Simpsons' house into infinity,
13:01 while Strauss' cosmic anthem,
13:03 also Straxarastustra, plays on.
13:05 The zoom-out finally reveals that the entire universe
13:08 is contained within one of Homer's molecules,
13:10 proving him as the star of their world after all.
13:13 His response to this incredible revelation?
13:15 Simply, "Wow!"
13:17 Although when the gag was recycled,
13:19 he says, "Cool or weird?"
13:21 Either way, it is a mesmerizing homage to the Powers of Ten
13:24 and says a lot about the unpredictable genius of The Simpsons.
13:27 Number 3, Guillermo del Toro.
13:30 A master of horror and fairy-tale retellings,
13:33 Guillermo del Toro was a natural choice for the opening
13:35 of 2013's Treehouse of Horror 24.
13:38 It follows the same basic structure
13:42 as the average Simpsons intro,
13:43 but with a horror twist.
13:45 In a short time frame,
13:46 del Toro manages to cram in references
13:48 to classic and modern horror and sci-fi,
13:50 including all of his own films.
13:52 When Lisa falls through a hole in the couch,
13:54 del Toro acknowledges how similar
13:55 Pan's Labyrinth is to Alice in Wonderland.
13:58 [Groans]
13:59 These Easter eggs make for a highly rewatchable display
14:07 of this filmmaker's self-awareness
14:08 and encyclopedic pop culture enthusiasm.
14:11 More than that,
14:11 it's one of the most entertaining couch gags to date.
14:14 Number 2, The Sampsons.
14:22 As one of the most acclaimed animators of his generation,
14:24 Don Hertzfeld has a notorious disdain for commercial appeal,
14:28 and there's certainly no accusing him of selling out
14:30 with his mad but brilliant couch gag.
14:31 A time travel remote sends Homer to the year 10,535,
14:39 where the Simpsons family have become distraught mutants
14:41 in a crude cartoon purgatory.
14:43 It's an audacious satire of the Simpsons' longevity,
14:47 steeped in futuristic horror.
14:49 Are sitcoms doomed to be reduced
14:51 to an amorphous cycle of catchphrases and advertising?
14:54 "SIMPSONS HAVE KILLED MEN!"
14:56 Hertzfeld's disconcerting vision clearly isn't for everyone,
14:59 but it is as artistically daring and thought-provoking
15:02 as any couch gag produced on the show.
15:03 Before we unveil our top pick,
15:07 here are a few honorable mentions.
15:08 The Flintstones on the Couch.
15:10 Two iconic animated sitcoms meet
15:12 when the Flintstones beat the Simpsons to the couch.
15:14 Get Smart.
15:20 Homer pays tribute to the classic spy show's intro.
15:22 [MUSIC]
15:29 M.C. Escher.
15:30 The Simpsons converge in a living room
15:32 redesigned after Escher's Relativity.
15:34 Monty Python Foot.
15:39 The Simpsons get cozy on the couch
15:41 until the giant foot from Monty Python appears.
15:43 Anime Simpsons.
15:47 The Simpsons take the form of anime icons
15:49 in an action-packed intro.
15:51 [MUSIC]
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16:09 Number 1.
16:12 The Homer Evolution.
16:13 As long as The Simpsons has been around,
16:15 it's satirized nearly every facet of the human condition.
16:18 That includes human evolution.
16:20 A simply perfect couch gag traces Homer's entire ancestry
16:24 back to a single-celled organism.
16:26 The literal trek through time is a phenomenally animated
16:28 and visually hilarious epic.
16:30 There's also evidence that Moe is a de-evolution in humanity.
16:38 In the end, the Homer sapien is welcomed home with
16:40 "What took you so long?"
16:42 The alternate line,
16:44 "Did you bring the milk?"
16:46 perfectly sums up mankind's struggles after eons of survival.
16:49 Sure, a crash course in evolution is one of the longest couch gags ever,
16:52 but with educational spectacle and brilliant existential jokes,
16:55 it's arguably the best ever too.
16:57 What's your favorite couch gag?
16:59 Did we miss a great one?
17:00 Let us know in the comments.
17:03 Did you enjoy this video?
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