Homer is honored at a Friars' Club Roast and Kang and Kodos crash the ceremony to find out if humanity is worth saving.
Full Story[]
A feather floats down from the sky and lands in Springfield town square next to Homer’s feet. Much like Forrest Gump, Homer is dressed in a white suit, sitting rigidly on a bench with a box of chocolates in his lap. Chief Wiggum tells Homer about a new law that states citizens are forbidden to impersonate movie characters. Homer then begins to tell Wiggum his life story. In flashback, Homer chases a young boy with leg braces, but Homer quickly runs out of breath and stops. Back in the present day, Homer recounts some of his other memories, including those involving Marge, and later, the family car. Afterward, Marge and the kids pick up Homer, blindfold him, and drive to an undisclosed location. When the blindfold is removed, Homer finds himself in a banquet hall filled with people from throughout Springfield, most clad in tuxedos. Krusty the Clown then announces that Homer is at the Springfield Friars Club...and Homer is about to be roasted.
As the roast gets underway, Bart and Lisa recount how they’ve had fun over the years, leading to a variety of clips from episodes past. Mr. Burns then takes the stage, leading to clips involving Homer’s incompetence at the nuclear power plant. Next, Grampa and Mrs. Skinner take the podium, leading to more clips from other episodes. An inebriated Homer then stands up and addresses the crowd. Soon after, he passes out, and his pants fall down, revealing his backside.
Reverend Lovejoy, holding an acoustic guitar, and Ned Flanders, holding an upright bass, step up to the podium. In a routine similar to the comedy of The Smothers Brothers, the pair begin strumming and plucking… until Flanders objects to the altered lyrics Lovejoy uses for the song Camptown Ladies. Moments later, aliens Kang and Kodos appear, dressed in tuxedos and armed with ray guns. They announce that all of humanity is about to be judged… and the fate of the world rests on Homer Simpson. The aliens probe Homer’s mind, leading to more clips from past episodes. Afterward, Kang and Kodos describe the human race as brutish and primitive. But before Earth can be destroyed, Lisa tells them about Maggie, certain the innocent soul of a child will redeem human behavior. With that, the aliens probe Maggie’s mind…and are reduced to tears of joy from the emotional impact. But the aliens then angrily attempt to hide it, claiming that the liquid leaking from their eyes is vomit, produced by Maggie’s treacle. But as the baby continues to reminisce, images of many celebrities appear. Kang and Kodos are even more impressed. The aliens agree to spare Earth—under one condition. Later, they happily appear at the People’s Choice Awards, where they hobnob with celebrities in evening attire.
The episode ends with a spoof of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire", highlighting the show's past memorable moments and giving a preview of some possible future storylines before apologizing for airing the episode as a clip show in the first place.
Broadcast History[]
United States[]
Broadcast date(s)
Channel aired
April 21, 2002
August 6, 2002
November 17, 2002
December 28, 2020
Reception[]
This episode received negative reviews from critics. Because of this, the crew has never made another Simpsons clip show episode (though rapid-fire clips shown within episodes, such as Homer going through his mind in "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind", Homer remembering the times he got injured in "How the Test Was Won", and the couch gag on "At Long Last Leave" showing all the couch gags from the first 499 episodes, are still shown), opting instead to create non-canon anthology episodes, such as "Tales from the Public Domain", "Margical History Tour", "The Wettest Stories Ever Told", and "Revenge is a Dish Best Served Three Times", among others.