Gump Roast

"Gump Roast"
The Simpsons episode
File:Simpsons1317.jpg
Episode no.	Season 13
Directed by	Mark Kirkland
Written by	Deb Lacusta and Dan Castellaneta
Original air dates	April 21, 2002
Episode features
Couch gag	The family, except Maggie, appears on a slot machine’s wheels. It hits a jackpot.

“Gump Roast” is the seventeenth episode of The Simpsons’ thirteenth season. The episode aired on April 21, 2002.

Plot

Homer is on a park bench, telling a story that Chief Wiggum isn’t interested in, but he builds interest when Homer uses flashbacks (actually clips from previous episodes) to help him tell the story. The family takes him to the Friar’s Club, where he will be roasted by Krusty the Clown and other prominent citizens of Springfield. Among the people roasting him are Bart and Lisa, Grampa and Agnes Skinner (in Jennifer Lopez’s infamous Grammy dress), and, in a Smothers Brothers-like manner, Reverend Lovejoy and Ned Flanders, and even Mr. Burns.

It isn’t long, however, before Kang and Kodos arrive at the roast and prove humans are stupid, as part of their plans for world domination. When they probe Maggie, they find something on Earth that makes them spare it: celebrities.

The episode ends with a flashback song, “They’ll Never Stop the Simpsons,” a parody of Billy Joel’s hit, “We Didn’t Start the Fire.” The song apologizes for the clip-show, and insists that despite the long run of The Simpsons the writers have still “got stories for years!” The future story ideas mentioned are Marge becoming a robot, Moe getting a cell phone, Bart owning a pet bear, and “a crazy wedding, where something happens, and do do do do do.” The “crazy wedding” shot shows Grampa simultaneously marrying both Patty and Selma, which partially came true in the 2007 episode “Rome-old and Juli-eh.”

The episode is debatable as to whether it’s canon or not.

Trivia

• When Homer starts to reminisce about the family car, the clip with the green car and the flower on the hood is actually Moe's car, as shown in the episode Dumbbell Indemnity.
• This is the last clip show of The Simpsons to this date.
• This is the second episode outside the Halloween episodes that Kang and Kodos appear together in. The other is “Behind the Laughter.” However, one of them also appeared in an alien lineup in “The Springfield Files.”
• This episode contains a scene which particularly shows Harry Shearer’s vocal range. Note the difference between the singing voices of Ned and Reverend Lovejoy (which are both voiced by Shearer) when they sing “Camp Town Races.”
• This is one of the few episodes that directly referenced a Treehouse of Horror episode. Another noteworthy episode is “Weekend at Burnsie’s,” where one of Comic Book Guy’s quips near the beginning references a Treehouse of Horror.
• At the beginning of the clip show song, there is a picture of Homer jumping the shark, which is a slang term that describes when a television show (or channel) has reached its peak and is now declining in quality or has done something to cause a sudden decline in quality (some examples include: killing off a character, bringing in new cast members, adding a baby character, adding Ted McGinley as a cast member or special guest, changing a character’s personality, etc.)
• It is debatable if this episode can be considered as events that “actually happened” (within the context of the series), or just a fantasy, as with the “Treehouse of Horror” episodes. The main point of debate regarding this, is the inclusion of Kang and Kodos, who usually only appear in the “Treehouse of Horror” episodes (i.e. aren’t “real”).
• In this episode Kang asserts that the Earth was created 5,000 years ago by God, and Kang and Kodos then make the sign of the Cross. This is an apparently satirical reference to Young Earth Creationism.
• The “crazy wedding” shown in the slide show is between Selma Bouvier and Abe Simpson. This actually happens in the episode “Rome-old and Juli-eh.”
• The slide show states that Marge becomes a robot. The couch gag in the future episode “The Monkey Suit” is compiled of future family photographs, the latter of which includes a robotic Marge. Also, in the season 16 episode The Heartbroke Kid, Homer imagines Marge being replaced with a robot, though in this case, the robot Marge ends up killing Homer.

Cultural references

• The opening act spoofs Forrest Gump including the feather that nails both of Homer’s eyes in a comical fashion.
• During the opening act Moe impersonates Austin Powers and Dr. Hibbert impersonates Darth Vader. Both are arrested because of an ordinance that banned impersonations of movie characters.
• When Mr. Burns steps toward the podium, The Imperial March is heard.
• As a roaster, Agnes Skinner wears Jennifer Lopez's Versace dress from the 2000 Grammies