# Bee's are on the what now? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 5, 2004, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bees-are-on-the-what-now/278275 "2004-12-05T22:47:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bubastis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d07c76/32.png) [@bubastis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bubastis)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2004, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bees-are-on-the-what-now/278275/1 "2004-12-05T22:47:29Z")
ok, something that I never really understood: that “Wheres the beef” joke in The Simpsons? Whats all that aboot? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2004, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bees-are-on-the-what-now/278275/2 "2004-12-05T23:28:35Z")
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.) ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2004, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bees-are-on-the-what-now/278275/3 "2004-12-05T23:46:57Z")
Oh, god, I feel old now. ---
**Author:** ![bubastis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d07c76/32.png) [@bubastis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bubastis)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2004, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bees-are-on-the-what-now/278275/4 "2004-12-05T23:50:22Z")
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… ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bees-are-on-the-what-now/278275/5 "2004-12-06T00:44:41Z")
It says here that cats are on the upgrade upgrade? ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bees-are-on-the-what-now/278275/6 "2004-12-06T01:26:09Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bees-are-on-the-what-now/278275/7 "2004-12-06T01:54:21Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > …a little old lady… Clara Peller. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bees-are-on-the-what-now/278275/8 "2004-12-06T02:05:59Z")
… 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. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bees-are-on-the-what-now/278275/9 "2004-12-06T02:15:24Z")
Yep, spaghetti sauce. [Prego Plus](http://www.tvacres.com/admascots_clarapeller.htm). > [@](#): > > Wendy’s fired her saying “Clara can find the beef only in one place, and that is Wendy’s” Then she died. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bees-are-on-the-what-now/278275/10 "2004-12-06T02:46:52Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#): > > Yep, spaghetti sauce. [Prego Plus](http://www.tvacres.com/admascots_clarapeller.htm). > > Then she died. Beware the wrath of Dave Thomas! ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2004, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bees-are-on-the-what-now/278275/11 "2004-12-06T02:57:56Z")
> [@SolGrundy](#): > > 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? 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: > [@](#): > > **Beekeeper 1** : Well, very clever, Simpson, luring our bees to your sugar pile and selling them back to us at an inflated price. > **Homer** : Bees are on the what now?