There's nothing "The Simpsons" won't hilariously tackle! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the notable times Matt Groening’s classic cartoon family took aim at politics.
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00:00Ah, excellent! Eh, this is exactly the kind of trickery I'm paying you for.
00:04Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the notable times
00:09Matt Groening's classic cartoon family, The Simpsons, took aim at politics.
00:13This is for the Commonwealth of Australia!
00:21First appearing in the episode, Sideshow Bob Roberts,
00:24this rotund conservative pundit was a parody of the late controversial radio host Rush Limbaugh.
00:29Barlow was the host of a local radio station in Springfield who worked
00:32tirelessly to make sure that Sideshow Bob became mayor of the town.
00:44Like with Limbaugh, Barlow's politics turn off a lot of people,
00:47but they manage to appeal to regular Joes like Homer for some mysterious reason.
00:59In portraying the character,
01:05Harry Shearer gets down Limbaugh's mannerisms and cadence and his over-the-top bombast.
01:22Occasionally, The Simpsons makes fun of politics in countries other than the United States,
01:26with Australia being a notable example.
01:29In Bart vs. Australia, the government of Australia was shown in a less than flattering light.
01:40A member of parliament was a pig farmer with a coarse blue-collar accent,
01:44and the prime minister was a hick drinking beer while floating in the middle of a pond.
01:47This insulting depiction was no doubt one of the many reasons why the people of Australia
01:58took issue with the episode when it first aired.
02:05If there's one person who shouldn't be in public service, it's Sideshow Bob.
02:10That's mainly because of his attempts to murder Bart Simpson, among others.
02:15This does not stop Springfield from voting Bob as mayor,
02:18and unsurprisingly, he abuses his power.
02:24Later, it's revealed that Bob rigged the election by having dead people vote for him,
02:28which prompts the maniacal mayor to go on a tirade
02:31about how people clamor to be ruled by right-wing tyrants.
02:39Kelsey Grammer, who voices Bob, is a real-life conservative,
02:42and it's fun to watch the actor satirize his own political views.
02:53When Springfield votes on a proposition that would get rid of illegal immigrants,
02:57Apu finds himself in trouble as he's been living in the U.S. without documentation.
03:01The whole episode focuses on Apu's plight as an undocumented immigrant,
03:05and the struggles and prejudice that immigrants face.
03:12Fortunately, Apu is able to pass the citizenship test
03:25and be naturalized before the proposition passes.
03:34Much has been said about how The Simpsons uses Apu as the butt of jokes,
03:38but this episode makes Apu a fuller character, giving him more depth.
03:43In the Treehouse of Horror segment Citizen Kang,
03:52Kang and Kodos kidnap Bill Clinton and Bob Dole,
03:55impersonating the two presidential candidates.
04:04Trying to pass off as human, the pair nevertheless exhibit odd behavior.
04:08But the highlight has to be Clinton's speech at the debate
04:11where the soaring rhetoric gets absurd.
04:19The speech manages to be as generic as a traditional politician stump speech,
04:23but also goofy because of its inhumanity.
04:26Bill Clinton is a great target for political satire,
04:29which The Simpsons frequently made fun of.
04:41After a video of Homer ranting goes viral,
04:49he becomes a talking head on a cable news network,
04:52and eventually gets his own show called Gut Check.
05:02Unsurprisingly, Homer's show focuses more on over-the-top delivery
05:06than it does substantive content.
05:08However, Homer's everyman schtick resonates enough with audiences
05:12that the Republican Party lets him pick their presidential candidate that year.
05:24His choice is none other than right-wing eccentric Ted Nugent
05:27in a hilarious guest spot.
05:29Gut Check is a spot-on parody of over-the-top political rhetoric
05:33that was popular at the time with political hosts like Glenn Beck.
05:39A casino manager gives Bart a peek into the future where Lisa becomes president,
05:51but her presidency is full of hardships.
05:54The country is heavily in debt,
05:56with creditor nations demanding their money,
05:59and Bart makes things harder when he moves into the White House.
06:09The episode has lots of jabs at US politics,
06:12but perhaps the most noteworthy gag was the unwittingly accurate prediction
06:17that Donald Trump would one day become president himself.
06:28Given the trillions of dollars of debt the US is in,
06:32this could be the country's future.
06:38This episode explores the Second Amendment and gun culture in America,
06:47making fun of how easy it was for someone like Homer to get a gun
06:50and his irresponsible gun ownership.
07:02Homer and Marge end up having a large disagreement
07:04over whether a gun makes you safer or exposes your family to more danger.
07:09The episode wasn't entirely anti-gun,
07:12but was able to poke fun at the subject.
07:23One of the funniest parts of the episode was Homer frantically waiting
07:26for his background check to clear
07:28while Tom Petty's The Waiting is overheard in the background.
07:35In this classic episode from Season 2,
07:38the billionaire power plant mogul makes his gubernatorial bid
07:41after the state government issues hefty fines for regulatory violations.
07:52C. Montgomery Burns does not have a natural personality for politics,
07:56so his campaign staff has to be creative to make him presentable.
08:04The whole episode points out how fake the performative arts of politics are,
08:17as Mr. Burns uses every opportunity to pivot to his campaign rhetoric.
08:22The ending where Marge ruins Mr. Burns' prospects
08:25was a nice heaping helping of karma.
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08:58This moment stems from a previous dispute between George H.W. Bush and the Simpsons.
09:03President Bush called out the animated family in a political speech,
09:06and the show decided to return the favor by dedicating an episode to Poppy.
09:19In the episode, the Bushes move next door to the Simpsons,
09:22but unfortunately for Mr. Bush, Bart antagonizes him endlessly,
09:26starting a feud between the families.
09:33The episode makes fun of Bush's reputation for being reserved and uptight,
09:41essentially turning him into Mr. Wilson from Dennis the Menace.
09:44The fight between Bush and Homer at the end of the episode is nothing short of epic.
09:57What's your favorite political moment from The Simpsons? Let us know in the comments.
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