Pulpit Friction/References

Episode	References	Gags	Appearances	Gallery	Quotes	Credits

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Pulpit Friction

The Fabulous Faker Boy ►

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Cultural references

• The episode title is a reference to Quentin Tarantino's 1994 film Pulp Fiction.
• Donation Army is a parody of The Salvation Army.
• Elijah Hooper makes many cultural references:
  • He compares Leviticus to Meet the Parents. He called it a hilarious film that showed a whole new side of Robert De Niro.
  • He tells everyone not to waste their Sunday listening to him and to go home and watch a Die Hard movie on TV, stating that they're always on and are always good.
  • He says that what Jesus Christ was saying really could be explained by an episode of Californication.
  • He mentions The Blind Side, with Sandra Bullock.
  • When the crowd of angry people approaches him, he mentions Twitter, How to Train Your Dragon and Fight Club, a movie in which Edward Norton starred.
• The Parson says that "they're there every Sunday, just like Snoopy in color", a reference to Peanuts.
• Homer mentions that the Bible does not have a blurb on the back, not even one by David Sedaris, who will flack anything.
• The way the bed bugs spreads over Springfield is a parody to the mid credits scene from Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which illustrate the spread of the ALZ-113 Virus until it became an global pandemic.
  • An ape can also be seen riding on horseback over a bridge.
• The Springfield Playhouse hosted the first unsuccessful version of Mamma Mia!
• Oogle and Oogle Street View are obvious parodies of Google and Google Street View respectively.
• The First Church of Springfield marquee mentions Jesus Christ being on Twitter.
• The Sorcerer's Apprentice plays in the scene where the frogs are led through Springfield.
• The frogs going across the road and river is a parody of 80's arcade videogame Frogger, by Konami.
• The sanatorium princess kissing the frogs is a parody of The Princess and the Frog.
• Kermit The Frog is seen playing the banjo when he is knocked off his rock, revealing Jim Henson and Frank Oz behind it.
• When Moe Szyslak wheels his cart through the street crying out "Bring out your bed!", it is a parody of what street collectors of bodies used to cry out during the Black Death, "Bring out your dead".
• The Parson is a parody of Bing Crosby. When he drives his golf cart (with golf clubs in back) into the church and says "Pray through?", it is a parody of golf course etiquette "Play through".
• Sideshow Mel's use of "in cardigan" referring to The Parson's sweater is a play on the word "incarnate".
• Inside the Oogle van, one of the operatives says "We collected all of the personal information from Flanders-Common-Ned", in a reference to the 2010 Google scandal, when Google downloaded private Wi-Fi data.

Trivia

• This is the first time that a couch gag continues directly into an episode.
• In Latin America, this episode was released as the 19th episode of the season for unknown reasons.
• In the Latin American Spanish dub, Bart is humming the series' theme song as he dives in underwater in a jacuzzi store.
• The two plagues of the episode (bugs followed by frogs) are based on a real-life fact: in 1859, merchant Thomas Austin imported 24 Oryctolagus cuniculus European rabbits who were brought into Australia. In a few years, they procreated into millions and became a plague threatening to wipe off all Australian crops, then the government ordered to bring foxes in order to eat and diminish rabbit offspring, but soon the foxes also overpopulated and became another, even worse epidemic.
• The couch gag for this episode was the winner of The Simpsons Couch Gag Contest.

Continuity

• Marge takes Homer's Pie Man costume out of a box of dry cleaning ("Simple Simpson").
• Homer refers to his previous jobs as Mr. Plow ("Mr. Plow") and astronaut ("Deep Space Homer").

Goofs

• At the beginning of the episode, at church, Jessica Lovejoy can be seen with Allison Taylor's colors.
• Before Elijah enters Moe's Tavern, Homer is not seen in the tavern and there is an empty spot. When Elijah enters, Homer is sitting down in the space that was previously empty.
• Why did Santa’s Little Helper drink a can of beer while Homer was itching?
• In one scene, two Carl Carlsons and two Agnes Skinners are seen next to each other.