Beginning today, FXX will air every episode of The Simpsons' 25 seasons (and the 2007 movie) in succession over 12 days and nights. The show has had no dearth of memorable moments and celebrity cameos throughout the years, which means there's a lot worth revisiting. Showrunner Al Jean, who has worked on The Simpsons on and off since it first aired, suggests that you try out some episodes you haven't seen before and "definitely get some sleep." We asked Jean to go over some cherished points in the series's history and what and whom we have to thank for their existence, including Ringo Starr, Banksy, Mel Gibson, Thomas Pynchon, Katy Perry's heels, and the guy who sang for Michael Jackson.
1
How Treehouse of Horror Started
Episode 203, "Treehouse of Horror"
The first ever Halloween episode was inspired by '50s-era EC Comics. "They were comics that were sold to kids but banned for being too violent," Jean says. "The thought was to do them with our animation. There had also been a Twilight Zone movie that came out that Nancy Cartwright, who plays Bart, was in as an actress." The episode was presented as a trilogy of stories, with one as a reimagining of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven." "That was [executive producer] Sam Simon's idea," Jean says. "He wanted to have the full, actual poem — not just part of it — read by James Earl Jones and then interspersed with Homer and Bart doing some of the lines."
2
The Song That Was Almost Censored
Episode 211, "One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish"
In this episode, Homer eats a poisonous fish at a sushi restaurant. Meanwhile, Bart and Lisa karaoke the theme song to Shaft. "In the lyrics, it goes, 'He's a bad mother/Shut your mouth,' and they wouldn't let us air it," Jean says. "Until we showed them that Isaac Hayes had sung it on the Oscars. They said, 'All right, well, if it's on the Oscars I guess you can do it.'"
3
The Show Made Ringo Starr Much More Popular
Episode 218, "Brush with Greatness"
Ringo Starr was the first of three Beatles to appear on The Simpsons. "It was funny because we didn't realize he'd say yes," Jean says. "So we expanded the part and put in that thing about him replying to every fan letter. He came in and met with all of us and talked about how we'd expanded the part. He said, 'You turned it into a bloody novel!' Years later he told somebody that he can't reply to every piece of fan mail because of this Simpsons episode, saying, 'They think I write a personal reply to everybody.'"
4
Michael Jackson Refused to Do His Own Singing
Episode 301, "Stark Raving Dad"
The King of Pop's appearance on the show as a character named Leon Kompowsky became infamous because Michael Jackson ended up not using his own singing voice in the episode. "He sang at the table read, but for the recording, the songs were sung by Kipp Lennon, who Michael picked to sing for him," Jean explains. "He was a great singer who could impersonate Michael. The reason supposedly was that Michael was playing a joke on his brothers. I don't know what that means. I wondered if there'd been a double switch and the singing was actually Michael, but the music editor confirmed that it's Kipp singing in the show and Michael speaking."
5
Fat Tony* Sort of Invented The Sopranos
Episode 304, "Bart The Murderer"
Jean says the show has rarely gotten any pushback for instances of violence, but in this episode, "we got an insane amount of broadcast standards notes." "Bart hung out with a gang with a character called Fat Tony, who has been on the show many times. He preceded Tony Soprano and he looked a little like him, but he was actually based on Paul Sorvino's character in Goodfellas. They said, 'You can't have Bart joining a gang.' We were like, 'He's not joining the Crips! He's joining an old mafia gang.' It was so insane they didn't understand that this was a different sort of gang and not something every kid's going to go out and join."
6
'Monorail' Was Conan O'Brien's Idea
Episode 412, "Marge vs. the Monorail"
Perhaps the show's best-known episode was penned by none other than Conan O'Brien. "He thought it would be funny if somebody was going around like the Music Man selling monorails from town to town," Jean says. "He pitched the monorail idea and [producer James L.] Brooks said, 'That's terrific, let's definitely do that one.'" Leonard Nimoy appears as himself in the episode, but wasn't initially meant to be its central guest star. "We never dreamed we'd get Leonard Nimoy so we asked George Takei, who had done the show," Jean adds. "He said no because he was on the boards of directors of a couple monorails and he didn't want to be in a monorail-disparaging episode."
7
The Origin of 'Press Any Key'
Episode 707, "King-Size Homer"
"The idea was that Homer gets fat enough to go on disability," Jean says of this fan favorite. "It's a really funny episode. I remember being in the pitch meeting and thinking it was really funny. I can tell you the joke that goes over the best is when they tell him to 'Press any key' and Homer goes, 'Where's the any key?' That joke was [writer] Greg Daniels's."
8
Mel Gibson Became Buddies with the Staff
Episode 1101, "Beyond Blunderdome"
Before his controversial antics, Mel Gibson made a cameo appearance on The Simpsons. "When Mel came to the read it was funny because it was a packed read and everybody dressed as nice as I'd ever seen them dress for a table read," Jean says. "It was like a prom. Mike Scully wrote the episode and subsequently did more work with Mel. When there was a fire in Malibu, Mel was actually one of the guys who called Mike and asked if he was okay and needed some help and whether Mike's house was in danger. He was good to us."
9
Thomas Pynchon Is Real and 'Very Nice'
Episode 1510, "Diatribe of a Mad Housewife"
Fifteen seasons in, the writers realized they could score almost any guest star (save for an American president). Their dream cameo: novelist Thomas Pynchon, who famously doesn't appear in public. "We had to contact the publisher — we never had an address or a phone number for Mr. Pynchon," Jean says. "We went through the publisher and they passed it along. He brought his son, who was a fan of the show, and I met both. He was a very, very nice guy. Before I went, I looked up the known photos of him and he looks like that man. So I can confirm he exists and also that he's very pleasant."
10
Banksy Hijacked the Show Over E-mail
Episode 2203, "MoneyBART"
Another weird cameo? Street artist Banksy, whom Jean never met and only communicated with via e-mail. "I thought it would be fun to make it look like he had come and graffitied our couch gag without us knowing it," Jean says. "He sent us these storyboards, which were pretty much what aired. Grim, but really funny. I only cut one thing, which was a picture of Rupert Murdoch in there I thought wouldn't be smart to use. We animated it and did it pretty much the way he did it and didn't tell anybody. The hope was it was a complete shock to people watching the show."
11
Katy Perry Almost Fell on Her Face
Episode 2208, "The Fight Before Christmas"
"We wanted to do a Muppets-type thing with The Simpsons, which of course would be live," Jean says about this holiday episode that uses actual puppets to play the normally animated characters. "We first approached Lady Gaga, who ended up doing the show later. We were really not sure who we could get because it wasn't the typical thing where we could just bring somebody in and record them. The person had to come in, do it live, and wear a costume." They ended up landing Katy Perry, shortly after her controversial appearance on Sesame Street. "She seemed like a very polite, down-to-earth person," Jean says. "It was a lot of pressure — she was wearing huge heels, which you can't necessarily see. But with those puppets you have to watch and make sure you're not breaking your nose falling. It's much harder than it looks."
12
The Lego Episode Was Not a Marketing Gimmick
Episode 2520, "Brick Like Me"
Last season's Lego episode may have seemed timed as a promotional nod to The Lego Movie, but in fact "it was neither connected to The Lego Movie nor to the Lego merchandising," Jean says. "It actually was recorded a long time ago and because of the complication of the animation and because Lego didn't want it to come out before the movie, we didn't release it until the 550th episode. We had that in the works for a couple years."
*Correction: The character Fat Tony was initially miswritten Sad Tony. We deeply regret the error.
