Homer's Barbershop Quartet/References

Episode	References	Gags	Appearances	Gallery	Quotes	Credits

◄ Krusty Gets Kancelled

Homer's Barbershop Quartet

Cape Feare ►

Trivia

• Principal Skinner recognizes an old prison helmet of his from Vietnam with the number '24601'; this is the number tattooed on Jean Valjean in Les Misérables, and his only identification. The same number is also Sideshow Bob's prison number in Black Widower.
• Three of Marge's paintings from season 2's episode Brush with Greatness can be seen at the swap meet. (One of Ringo Starr, one of Homer asleep in his underwear, and one of Mr. Burns with a dog.)
• This was David Crosby's second appearance on the show, and the second appearance of a Beatle on the show.
• The famous Disneyland barbershop quartet, the Dapper Dans, provided the singing voices for the Be Sharps.
• Apu's new name (de Beaumarchais) is French for 'of the good market', an obscure reference to the Kwik-E-Mart.
• The Take One couch gag shows The Simpsons running into each other and shattering into pieces; this gag was reused in $pringfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling) and Lady Bouvier's Lover. The Take Two couch gag shows The Simpsons running into each other again and melding into a blob; this gag was reused in Bart Gets Famous. The Take Three couch gag shows The Simpsons once again colliding; this time they explode. The Take Three gag was reused in Homer the Vigilante and Secrets of a Successful Marriage. In syndication, only the Take One gag is used.
• A deleted scene of this episode showed Skinner going back to his mother. She asks him if he was with a woman, he says no, then she asks for a bath, followed by mad laughing and a close-up of their Psycho-parody house. This is the first time Skinner would be involved in a knock-off joke based on the movie Psycho.
• This is the first episode to be dedicated in memory of someone.
• This is the second episode to feature three-year-old Bart and baby Lisa in a flashback.
• Homer later won another award in Angry Dad: The Movie.
• In The Simpsons: Hit and Run, one of Apu's three costumes is his quartet outfit from this episode.
• The second album of the Be Sharps is called "Bigger Than Jesus".
• When the Be Sharps sing on the roof, other people were on another roof.
• People at Moe's Tavern can change banners very quickly.

Citations

• The record that Comic Book Guy had at the swap meet, "Melvin and the Squirrels" is a spoof of Alvin and the Chipmunks.
• The song "Baby on Board" was first heard in Ishtar, the flop 1987 motion picture comedy starring Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty.
• After winning the Grammy, Homer tells Lisa after beating Dexy's Midnight Runners, "Well, you haven't heard the last of them." The English group never had another US hit after "Come On, Eileen" and broke up in 1986.
• The chalkboard gag is a reference to the first year The Simpsons was not nominated.

Goofs

• After the "replacement Homer" malfunctions, the next scene shows Santa's Little Helper burying him in the yard. Santa's Little Helper did not become the Simpsons' pet until the Christmas special (and first episode), "Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire."
• The sign outside the Church in 1985 credits the group as "The Be Sharps" before they had decided on the name.
• M.C. Hammer appeared at the 1985 Grammys but he didn't get famous until the 1990s.
• When the group (with Barney) performs at the Statue of Liberty, Chief Wiggum's voice can clearly be heard.
• Homer refers to Joe Piscopo leaving Saturday Night Live in 1985 when setting the scene for the story, but Piscopo left the show at the end of its ninth season in 1984.
• When Homer sends the kids to bed, from one angle, his phone has no numbers.
• While Homer says he had five and a half weeks at the top at the end of the episode, only one scene said it was 1985—and the John F. Kennedy airport scene said it was 1986.
• Wiggum is supposed to be the Be Sharps tenor singer (as he is replaced by Barney, who is an Irish tenor), but when they're singing, you can hear the Dapper Dans tenor and Wiggum in the same song.
• The swap meet is in Springfield. But when the family sedan gets a flat tire, the family is in a desert even though their house is in Springfield.
• Baby Lisa says that Homer and the Be Sharps, at the Grammys, "beat Dexy's Midnight Runners." The episode is set in 1985. DMR's only U.S. hit was "Come On Eileen," which topped the charts in 1983, so the latest they most likely would have been considered for any sort of music award would be 1984. 

Beatles references

• The Be Sharps various performances is reference to the Beatles performances in Hamburg and Liverpool.
• One of the back cover of their album is reference to the back cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
• The performances on Moe's Tavern is reference to The Beatles performances in the Cavern.
• Moe's Cavern is similar to the Cavern.
• The final scene where the Be Sharps sing on top of Moe's Tavern is a parody of an impromptu concert that the Beatles had on top of Apple Corps.
• Right when the episode blacks out and the credits appear, Homer says, "I'd like to thank you on behalf of the group and I hope we passed the audition." This was an actual quote by John Lennon spoken right after they played "Get Back" on the rooftop.
• The cover of "Bigger Than Jesus", The Be-Sharps second album, features the group walking on water. It is a direct parody of the art on The Beatles album Abbey Road. Unlike the Beatles however, no visible fallout is shown from the "bigger than Jesus" comment, which put the Beatles in rough waters.
• Meet The Be Sharps album name is similar to the Beatles first U.S album Meet The Beatles.
• There is an album cover which is similar to the Beatles second England album With The Beatles.
• Barney's girlfriend is similar to Yoko Ono. Many Beatles fan blame Yoko for breaking up the Beatles.
• Barney's looks before they break up is similar to how John Lennon looked before the Beatles broke-up.
• Right after the Be Sharps record "Baby On Board", their manager says, "You've just recorded your first number one." This was spoken by Beatles producer George Martin right after the group had recorded "Please Please Me".
• Wiggum's replacement is a reference to George Martin replacing Pete Best with Ringo Starr.
• After Wiggum was replaced by Barney, an angry mob was shouting "Wiggum forever, Barney never." The same thing happen to the Beatles when they replaced Pete Best with Ringo Starr, the fans said "Pete forever, Ringo never."
• Nigel telling Homer to keep his marriage a secret is similar to Brian Epstein advising John Lennon to do the same with his marriage to Cynthia Powell.
• Principal Skinner's reputation as the "funny one" is an ironic reference to George Harrison's reputation as the "Quiet Beatle."
• When Barney plays his song when he says he's taking the quartet to a whole new direction, it starts of with his with wife saying "number eight" followed by Barney's burp repetitively. This is similar to the start of Revolution 9, where you hear an unknown announcer say "number nine" repetitively.

◄ Season 4	Season 5 References/Trivia	Season 6 ►
Homer's Barbershop Quartet • Cape Feare • Homer Goes to College • Rosebud • Treehouse of Horror IV • Marge on the Lam • Bart's Inner Child • Boy-Scoutz 'n the Hood • The Last Temptation of Homer • $pringfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling) • Homer the Vigilante • Bart Gets Famous • Homer and Apu • Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy • Deep Space Homer • Homer Loves Flanders • Bart Gets an Elephant • Burns' Heir • Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song • The Boy Who Knew Too Much • Lady Bouvier's Lover • Secrets of a Successful Marriage