Subtle Humor in the Simpsons

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I've always enjoyed that the Simpsons works at the gross level of humor, but that they also slip in some subtle humor that many viewers will miss -- or that just makes fun of things we seldom question. I guess someone else does too, because they assembled a website that collects some of the more obscure humor from the Simpsons.

Here are a few gems.

Apu: I have come to make amends, sir. At first, I blamed you for squealing, but then I realized, it was I who wronged you. So I have come to work off my debt. I am at your service.
Homer: You're...selling what, now?
Apu: I am selling only the concept of karmic realignment.
Homer: You can't sell that! Karma can only be portioned out by the cosmos. [slams the door]
Apu: He's got me there.

Episode: Apu loses the Quik-E-Mart

Lisa: Oedipus is the one who killed his father and married his mother
Homer: Argh! who paid for that wedding?

Episode: Simpsons play tennis with the pros

Lisa: Mom, romance is dead. It was acquired in a hostile takeover by Hallmark and Disney, homogenized, then sold off piece by piece.

Episode: Another Simpsons Clip Show

Homer to Billy Corgan (of the Smashing Pumpkins): "Thanks to your gloomy, depressing music, my children no longer hope for the future I can not afford to give them."
Corgan: "Yeah, we try to make a difference."

Episode: 3F21 Homerpalooza

Homer: The code of the schoolyard, Marge! The rules that teach a boy to be a man. Let's see. [enumerates them on his fingers] Don't tattle. Always make fun of those different from you. Never say anything, unless you're sure everyone feels exactly the same way you do. What else...
Episode: 7G05 Bart the General

Homer, to Lisa when she builds a perpetual motion machine during a teacher's strike: In this house, we obey the laws of thermodynamics!

Episode: 2F19, The PTA Disbands

Lisa: Dad, why is the world such a cesspool of corruption?
Homer: [sotto voce] Oh, great... [speaking up] All right, what makes you say that?
Lisa: Well, in Sunday School, we learned that stealing is a sin.
Homer: Well, DUH.
Lisa: But everybody does it. I mean, we're stealing cable as we speak.
Homer: Oh. Look at this way, when you had breakfast this morning, did you pay for it?
Lisa: No.
Homer: And did you pay for those clothes you're wearing?
Lisa: No, I didn't.
Homer: Well, run for the hills, Ma Barker! Before I call the Feds!
Lisa: Dad, I think that's pretty spurious.
Homer: Well, thank you, honey.

Episode: 7F13, Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment (when Homer gets free cable TV)

Read the rest.

Tags: The Simpsons, subtle humor, social commentary, gross humor