ok, something that I never really understood: that “Wheres the beef” joke in The Simpsons? Whats all that aboot?
You’ll probably have to be more specific- I’m sure that “Where’s the beef” has come up several times in The Simpsons’ sixteen year run.
I’ll work on the assumption you mean the one with Homer being impressed by Walter Mondale.
In the early eighties, Wendy’s had a really annoying ad campaign where a little old lady complained about the size of fast food hamburger patties by shrilly (and loudly) demanding “Where’s the beef?”
For some totally inexplicable reason, this became a very popular catch-phrase.
Walter Mondale famously attempted to descend to the LCD (or ‘tap into the zeitgeist,’ depending on how you look at it,) by busting out “Where’s the beef?” to criticize Gary Hart during the Democratic primaries back in '84.
Since Homer is the lowest common denominator, it makes sense that he would find that clever.
(He referred in another episode to having a “Where’s the Beef?” bumper sticker. He would.)
Oh, god, I feel old now.
Thats it. In one episode, lisa was looking through a pile of old papers, one with the headline “Mondale to Hart: Wheres the Beef?” She reacts (like me) in puzzlement “Wheres the Beef? What does that mean?” , while Homer chuckles in nostalgia. Ok… I guess it is kinda funny… Well, as funny as a joke that I had to have explained to me six years later can be…
It says here that cats are on the upgrade upgrade?
Okay, so now can somebody explain “Bees are on the what now?” It sounds annoyingly familiar because I can’t place it. Is it an old expression or a reference to something?
Clara Peller.
… who was summarily fired from the Wendy’s “Where’s The Beef?” campaign when she defected to do a commercial for (IIRC) a spaghetti sauce brand, one that had a a meat sauce, and her new slogan “I found it!” didn’t sit too well with the Wendy’s folks. She was fired immediately after the sauce commercial aired and the spaghetti brand didn’t keep her around long, either.
Beware the wrath of Dave Thomas!
That’s also from The Simpsons. Homer acquires a huge pile of sugar that he keeps in his backyard, which attracts all the bees from a nearby honey farm. The beekeepers track the bees to Homer’s house to buy them back: