The Simpsons creator Matt Groening knew the present was one thing particular after this episode

When Matt Groening “The Simpsons” debuted during the 1989 Christmas seasonit was a direct sensation. Some followers could have identified The Simpsons characters from their appearances on “The Tracey Ullman Present,” and readers of native impartial newspapers in all probability knew Groening’s “Life in Hell” caricature, however for many of the public, ” The Simpsons” was a flash of blue. It was an anti-sitcom, a surreal present with surprisingly designed characters (yellow-skinned?) that satirized and deconstructed the bourgeois satiation of Eighties mainstream tv. It was an antidote to the mob ultra-conservative “household values” that was so vocal through the Reagan administration. And the viewers was prepared for it.

“The Simpsons” began out huge and has solely gotten greater. The 12 months 1990 was an vital one for popular culture, as “The Simpsons” — together with exhibits like “Seinfeld” and “Married… with Youngsters” — undid outdated tropes and invented new ones. One may even be so daring as to assert that Groening’s present invented the singular angle that prevailed within the following decade: disaffected, fanciful, educated sarcasm.

Groening knew “The Simpsons” was going to be a cultural juggernaut from the beginning of the collection. He was in all probability comfortable that the present was successful, however he did not actually acknowledge that “The Simpsons” had an enormous industrial presence till he noticed one specific episode. In a 2018 interview with USA TodayGroening mentioned that the second season episode, “Bart the Daredevil” (December 7, 1990), actually unlocked the collection for him. This one, he knew, made the present particular.

In “Bart the Daredevil”, the Simpsons attend a monster truck rally the place they witness a stuntman named Captain Lance Murdock (Dan Castellaneta) lacking a motorbike bounce and getting horribly injured. The present conjures up Bart to begin leaping over objects on his skateboard, ultimately declaring that he too desires to be a daredevil. Marge (Julie Kavner) and Homer (Castellaneta) attempt to dissuade Bart from doing harmful issues, however his resolve solely grows stronger. He lastly declares that he’ll bounce Springfield Gorge on his skateboard.

Homer, to show Bart a lesson, takes the skateboard and does the bounce himself. As anticipated, Homer would not succeed. He plunges to the underside of the gorge, touchdown with damaged bones and blood. The skateboard even lands on his head, inflicting additional harm. When Homer is evacuated by a medical helicopter, they repeatedly hit his head in opposition to the wall of his throat. Homer is loaded into an ambulance, which instantly crashes right into a tree. His stretcher comes out of the again of the ambulance and falls to the underside of the gorge.

Groening was requested in USA In the present day when he knew “The Simpsons” had change into a basic, and he was fast to say “Bart the Daredevil.” Groening notably declared:

“The episode the place Homer skateboards over Springfield Gorge… nearly. It made me understand we actually had one thing. It is just like the basic Warner Bros. film. [cartoons]however we will make our personal variation. Homer goes over the cliff. He cannot do it. He hits the wall all the way in which down. The skateboard lands on his head. He will get up on a stretcher and hits his head all the way in which up. He’s put in an ambulance which hits a tree. The stretcher rolls away and he goes over the cliff once more. It’s that additional drop. It’s ‘The Simpsons at its finest.”

Certainly, Homer’s repeated accidents revealed a timeless comedian high quality. “The Simpsons” formally had the identical endurance as Looney Tunes. It was everlasting now.

Groening, together with the various “Simpsons” followers all over the world, understood that the collection was a wonderful mixture of excessive and low. “The Simpsons” was clearly written by well-educated writers who had been allowed so as to add math jokes, literary references and civic anecdotes as they happy. In the meantime, the present options slapstick violence, belching, and low cost gags about informal home violence. As an outdated good friend mentioned: in case you are not educated, you’ll giggle. If you’re educated, you’ll roar.

Groening all the time liked that about “The Simpsons.” It was in the end a sensible present, nevertheless it actually wasn’t above a darkish, Coyote-like slapstick sequence through which Homer Simpson is repeatedly injured throughout a number of falls. As Groening says:

“The present is a discussion board for comedic concepts. There are very subtle references to nice literature and cinema, in addition to probably the most fundamental gags of slapstick cartoons.”

Homer Simpson is a jerk, however “The Simpsons” additionally had visitor appearances from John Updike, Amy Tan, Stephen Hawking and Thomas Pynchon. And it is simply just a few of hundreds of more celebrity cameos. They know how you can make enjoyable of well-known folks and their place within the pop pantheon. For a few years, “The Simpsons” has been a relentless cultural middle and a primordial comedy soup from which American tradition develops. It might be much less vital in 2024 than it was in 1990, however it’s nonetheless there to remind us the place all of us got here from.