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Today's Big Story

The Political Simpsons

Eleven great satirical clips.

Richard Warnica 27 Jul 2007TheTyee.ca

Richard Warnica is a senior editor at The Tyee.
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The Simpsons Movie opens today. (Read Steve Burgess’s review here). And while political satire hasn’t been ever-present in the show’s 20-year run, it has been the source of some the best all-time bits.

Below, in no particular order, are 11 of The Tyee’s favourite moments in Simpsons and politics.

#1 Kang and Kodos with a better critique of the two-party system than Ralph Nader ever produced. (Plus a hilarious cameo from Ross Perot.)

#2 Whether or not the claim of censorship is true, either version is pretty scathing.

#3 More from Kang and Kodos: “All they want to hear are bland pleasantries embellished by an occasional saxophone solo or infant kiss.”

#4 Simpsons writers have long made a game of taking shots at their host Fox Network. But according to popular mythology, this is the only Fox-baiting bit ever to earn the ire of the network bigwigs. Pay attention to the scrolling news feed.

#5 Some of the best Simpsons’ side characters were voiced by the late, great Phil Hartman. In this sketch, ubiquitous B-actor Troy MacLure takes us on a tour of “Bovine University.”

#6 Of all the Al-Gore-is-boring jokes over the years, this one is my favourite.

#7 One of several journeys into the inner sanctum of Springfield’s Republican Party. The animatronic Strom Thurmond looks more alive than the late Senator ever did.

#8 You know, Vancouver’s garbage strike might actually end sooner if we traded Sam Sullivan for Mr. Burns.

#9 More on Fox News.

#10 Homer on the American health care system: “You can thank your lucky stars we don’t live in Paraguay!”

#11 From the classic episode where George Bush Senior moves to Evergreen Terrace.

[Tyee]

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