Behind the Laughter

Behind the Laughter is the last episode of season 11. It is also, according to many fans, the best season 11 episode. It features a take at how The Simpsons became popular, and then less popular. The name is a take on the show "Behind the Music".

Plot
Done in the style of "Behind the Music," the popular VH1 biography show, this non-canon episode begins with the Simpson family history and how they got into show business. The first part of the fake documentary follows the family from their weak beginnings to their exceptional prosperity. A television show, a recording contract, a lot of awards, and countless wealth follow Homer's inadequate video "pilot."

However, problems begin to arise as the Simpsons' fame continues. After a funny stunt causes him injury (the cliff plummet from "Bart the Daredevil," after a montage of Homer injury clips), Homer becomes addicted to prescription painkillers, Marge makes some senseless business investments, and Bart goes to rehab. The IRS examines soon after and takes away their house (called "Homertime", since it belonged to rapper MC Hammer before he went bankrupt and was called "Hammertime"). Then, the family gets into a big dispute and splits up at the Iowa State Fair.

Fox is forced put the show on hiatus, since none of the Simpsons will talk to each other. The members go their independent ways: Homer follows a career in the proper theater; Bart replaces Lorenzo Lamas as the star of the syndicated action show Renegade; Marge makes a nightclub act; and Lisa writes a tell-all book about her experiences. Bringing the family back together seems hopeless until country singer Willie Nelson puts on a phony awards show in order to reconcile the family. They hug and forget past wrongs in a sensitive reunion. Again, they look with hope to the many years of episodes of the Simpsons to come...or not.

Last images show Homer Simpson giving orders to the editing of "the last season" of the Simpsons series. The sentences we can hear on the editing screen were used for season 12's last episode, Simpsons Tall Tales.

The narrator stated that the Simpsons were a "Northern Kentucky" family; however, this doesnt fit with the storyline because in one of the episodes, Homer stated that he's "never been to Kentucky" and in another episode, he said he lived in the same state most of his life, meaning they live somewhere in the south.