# Don't get a joke from The Simpsons, Futurama, or Family Guy?  Post here!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-a-joke-from-the-simpsons-futurama-or-family-guy-post-here/314352>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [July 27, 2005, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-a-joke-from-the-simpsons-futurama-or-family-guy-post-here/314352 "2005-07-27T03:08:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2005, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-a-joke-from-the-simpsons-futurama-or-family-guy-post-here/314352/21 "2005-07-27T14:26:30Z")

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> [@smiling bandit](#):
>
> ☹
> 
> Me. I don’t get it…

Rather than beat around the bush, I’m jsut gonna come right out and say it:

Chuck’s Fuck and Suck.

There.  
(And not that you’re an idiot for not knowing it (I didn’t at first, either) I just wonder _how_ one misses every thread it’s been discussed in. It shows up in almost every Simpsons thread, it seems.)

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**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2005, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-a-joke-from-the-simpsons-futurama-or-family-guy-post-here/314352/22 "2005-07-27T15:18:33Z")

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In one of _The Simpsons_ episodes Homer makes some reference to the effect, “We’re the first non-Brazillians to go back in time.” or somethingl ike that…What’s it mean, or am I just rmembering it wrong?

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**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2005, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-a-joke-from-the-simpsons-futurama-or-family-guy-post-here/314352/23 "2005-07-27T16:05:47Z")

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> [@Gangster Octopus](#):
>
> In one of _The Simpsons_ episodes Homer makes some reference to the effect, “We’re the first non-Brazillians to go back in time.” or somethingl ike that…What’s it mean, or am I just rmembering it wrong?

Homer said “I’m the first non-Brazilian person to travel backwards through time!” and it’s a rather obscure reference to the psychedelic writings of Carlos Casteneda.

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**Author:** ![MadderMitch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e7dd6/32.png) [@MadderMitch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadderMitch)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2005, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-a-joke-from-the-simpsons-futurama-or-family-guy-post-here/314352/24 "2005-07-27T16:22:24Z")

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Homer:

“I think it’s clear why he portions it\* out in those tiny little packages, and why he lives on a plantation in Hawaii”

- sugar (from the episode where Homer steals all the sugar from a tipped over silo – or something to that effect)  
So, what’s the ref.- to?

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**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2005, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-a-joke-from-the-simpsons-futurama-or-family-guy-post-here/314352/25 "2005-07-27T16:27:00Z")

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> [@MadderMitch](#):
>
> Homer:
> 
> “I think it’s clear why he portions it\* out in those tiny little packages, and why he lives on a plantation in Hawaii”
> 
> So, what’s the ref.- to?

I didn’t think that was a cultural reference… just Homer being his usual nutty self. Once he gets the notion that it’s God who gives sugar to people in packets, the hawaii part just kinda follows naturally (or so it seems to be.)

of course, I could be wrong. Just found it pretty funny at face value.

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**Author:** ![Alma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Alma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alma)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2005, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-a-joke-from-the-simpsons-futurama-or-family-guy-post-here/314352/26 "2005-07-27T16:30:40Z")

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In the epsiode where Bart takes Focusin, he gives Homer a copy of “Chicken Soup for the Loser” or something like that. He said it’s the book that gave “Bill Buckner the courage to open a chain of laundromats.”

Okay, so I know who Bill Buckner is (Red Sox, the ball passing between his legs), but what’s with the laundromat? Does he own laundromats? Is that supposed to be part of the joke or is it just a Bill Buckner joke?

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**Author:** ![MadderMitch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e7dd6/32.png) [@MadderMitch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadderMitch)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2005, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-a-joke-from-the-simpsons-futurama-or-family-guy-post-here/314352/27 "2005-07-27T16:30:42Z")

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> [@chrisk](#):
>
> I didn’t think that was a cultural reference… just Homer being his usual nutty self. Once he gets the notion that it’s God who gives sugar to people in packets, the hawaii part just kinda follows naturally (or so it seems to be.)
> 
> of course, I could be wrong. Just found it pretty funny at face value.

Yeah that’s what I found funny about it too.  
But for some reason it left me with the distinct impression there was more behind the comment than I had taken in.

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**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2005, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-a-joke-from-the-simpsons-futurama-or-family-guy-post-here/314352/28 "2005-07-27T16:34:19Z")

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> [@Ruckinge](#):
>
> It was, but IIRC they kept canceling it and bringing it back.

Just like Family Guy!

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**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2005, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-a-joke-from-the-simpsons-futurama-or-family-guy-post-here/314352/29 "2005-07-27T16:34:37Z")

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> [@Bryan Ekers](#):
>
> Homer said “I’m the first non-Brazilian person to travel backwards through time!” and it’s a rather obscure reference to the psychedelic writings of Carlos Casteneda.

Actually, I remember the writers claiming in an interview that there was no motivation for that phrase and they just stuck it in there randomly. I could be wrong though.

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**Author:** ![Ruckinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@Ruckinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruckinge)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2005, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-a-joke-from-the-simpsons-futurama-or-family-guy-post-here/314352/30 "2005-07-27T17:10:11Z")

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> [@lno](#):
>
> “Sneed’s Feed & Seed” has three words rhyming. Replace Sneed with Chuck, and think of what words begin with F and S that rhyme with Chuck.

Wow. I’ve always laughed at that sign but I have never thought of that before. I thought it was the incongruity in words that made it funny.

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**Author:** ![Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Side_of_the_Floyd)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2005, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-a-joke-from-the-simpsons-futurama-or-family-guy-post-here/314352/31 "2005-07-27T17:16:06Z")

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The episode where Homer is driving Bart, Lisa, Nelson, and Milhouse to the newspaper place (“Here we are kids… the zoo.”).

During the car ride, Nelson hits Milhouse in the head, and Homer says “God bless you, Nelson Muntz.” Nelson replies, “I’m no hero. I just like to hit people on the head”.

I’m sure that this is a reference to a movie. Is it?

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**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2005, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-a-joke-from-the-simpsons-futurama-or-family-guy-post-here/314352/32 "2005-07-27T18:20:11Z")

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> [@DarkSideoftheFloyd](#):
>
> The episode where Homer is driving Bart, Lisa, Nelson, and Milhouse to the newspaper place (“Here we are kids… the zoo.”).
> 
> During the car ride, Nelson hits Milhouse in the head, and Homer says “God bless you, Nelson Muntz.” Nelson replies, “I’m no hero. I just like to hit people on the head”.
> 
> I’m sure that this is a reference to a movie. Is it?

I don’t think it’s a reference to a specific movie, just the standard scene where the hero saves a lot of people and says something like “I’m no hero, ma’am, jest a man doin’ his job…”

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**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2005, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-a-joke-from-the-simpsons-futurama-or-family-guy-post-here/314352/33 "2005-07-27T20:07:07Z")

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> [@Shalmanese](#):
>
> Actually, I remember the writers claiming in an interview that there was no motivation for that phrase and they just stuck it in there randomly. I could be wrong though.

IIRC, the line was originally written as “I’m the first cartoon character to travel backwards through time!” but the non-sequitur “non-Brazilian person” was deemed funnier. Seeing as Homer is corrected by Mr. Peabody immediately afterwards, the line works both ways.

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**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2005, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-a-joke-from-the-simpsons-futurama-or-family-guy-post-here/314352/34 "2005-07-27T20:47:10Z")

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> [@MadderMitch](#):
>
> Homer:
> 
> “I think it’s clear why he portions it\* out in those tiny little packages, and why he lives on a plantation in Hawaii”
> 
> - sugar (from the episode where Homer steals all the sugar from a tipped over silo – or something to that effect)  
> So, what’s the ref.- to?

I always took it to mean Homer thinks the guy’s a cocaine dealer.  
Here’s one I always thought was a movie reference but never got. It’s the Simpsons where Bart loses his soul. At one point he apporaches Ralph as he’s in his dad’s police car. He offers Ralph a proposal for his soul, then Raplh gets scared, and Wiggum shines his flashlight in Bart’s face. Bart looks at him with devilish-looking slits in his eyes, hisses, then runs off into a could of smoke from the sewer with his shadow sinisterly diminishing. I always suspected this was from some noir horror movie.

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**Author:** ![MadderMitch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e7dd6/32.png) [@MadderMitch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadderMitch)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-a-joke-from-the-simpsons-futurama-or-family-guy-post-here/314352/35 "2005-07-28T00:04:44Z")

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> [@Dooku](#):
>
> I always took it to mean Homer thinks the guy’s a cocaine dealer.  
> Here’s one I always thought was a movie reference but never got. It’s the Simpsons where Bart loses his soul. At one point he apporaches Ralph as he’s in his dad’s police car. He offers Ralph a proposal for his soul, then Raplh gets scared, and Wiggum shines his flashlight in Bart’s face. Bart looks at him with devilish-looking slits in his eyes, hisses, then runs off into a could of smoke from the sewer with his shadow sinisterly diminishing. I always suspected this was from some noir horror movie.

It could be a sort of wink at noir horror movies in general. Yeah, this too had me going – I thought it was brilliantly done though.

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**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-a-joke-from-the-simpsons-futurama-or-family-guy-post-here/314352/36 "2005-07-28T01:48:51Z")

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What about the scene from a recent Family Guy where Stewie is imagining himself in a rocking chair on the porch of a Southern plantation-style manor, and he says “It’s good to have land.” I’m sure it’s from a movie (Gone With the Wind, perhaps?), but which one?

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**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-a-joke-from-the-simpsons-futurama-or-family-guy-post-here/314352/37 "2005-07-28T02:16:09Z")

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> [@Bryan Ekers](#):
>
> Homer said “I’m the first non-Brazilian person to travel backwards through time!” and it’s a rather obscure reference to the psychedelic writings of Carlos Cast[a]neda.

If this is indeed the case, the _Simpsons_ writers were perhaps unaware that Castaneda, who claimed to be a native of Brazil, was actually [born in Peru.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Castaneda)

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**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-a-joke-from-the-simpsons-futurama-or-family-guy-post-here/314352/38 "2005-07-28T02:20:15Z")

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> [@Dooku](#):
>
> I always took it to mean Homer thinks the guy’s a cocaine dealer.  
> Here’s one I always thought was a movie reference but never got. It’s the Simpsons where Bart loses his soul. At one point he apporaches Ralph as he’s in his dad’s police car. He offers Ralph a proposal for his soul, then Raplh gets scared, and Wiggum shines his flashlight in Bart’s face. Bart looks at him with devilish-looking slits in his eyes, hisses, then runs off into a could of smoke from the sewer with his shadow sinisterly diminishing. I always suspected this was from some noir horror movie.

I think that’s just a nod to a fairly standard horror movie cliche. Although, of course, I can’t think of a movie that actually used it off the top of my head. Probably in a lot of vampire flicks.

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**Author:** ![Hugh\_Jass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4da419/32.png) [@Hugh\_Jass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hugh_Jass)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-a-joke-from-the-simpsons-futurama-or-family-guy-post-here/314352/39 "2005-07-28T04:15:40Z")

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> [@Miller](#):
>
> I think that’s just a nod to a fairly standard horror movie cliche. Although, of course, I can’t think of a movie that actually used it off the top of my head. Probably in a lot of vampire flicks.

Perhaps it’s a cliche cliche.

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**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2005, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-a-joke-from-the-simpsons-futurama-or-family-guy-post-here/314352/40 "2005-07-28T04:27:33Z")

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That time on Family Guy where someone makes a really obscure reference and it cuts to a guy at a desk, he looks up and says “You don’t know who I am.” Well, who was it? (I suppose I get the joke, but why start a whole new thread?)

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