The Puzzler with A.J. JacobsHello, Puzzlers! Puzzling with us today: former showrunner and writer for The Simpsons, Mike Reiss!
Join host A.J. Jacobs and his guests as they puzzle–and laugh–their way through new spins on old favorites, like anagrams and palindromes, as well as quirky originals such as “Ask Chat GPT” and audio rebuses.
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"The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs" is distributed by iHeartPodcasts and is a co-production with Neuhaus Ideas.
Our executive producers are Neely Lohmann and Adam Neuhaus of Neuhaus Ideas, and Lindsay Hoffman of iHeart Podcasts.
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Hello puzzlers, Welcome to the Puzzler Podcast, the one Green Leaf for your very hungry puzzle caterpillar. I am your host, AJ Jacobs, and here's a little puzzle to start a little trivia question. In the classic nineteen thirty nine novel Day of the Locust by Nathaniel West, what is the name of the main character who is an accountant from Iowa. Now here's a hint. This character was portrayed by Donald Sutherland in the movie adaptation. Here's another hint that might be even more helpful. If you don't guess this character's name, you might find yourself saying the answer after the break. Welcome back to the Puzzler Podcast. Before the break, we asked the question in the classic novel Day of the Locus, what was the name of the main character who is an accountant from Iowa? And the answer is, drum roll, Homer Simpson. That's right, Homer Simpson, the exact same name as the doughnut loving main character on the beloved Simpsons TV show. I bring this up because our guest today for his final sadly his final episode with us this season, is Mike Reese, an author, a lecturer, a writer, on The Simpsons for thirty six years until he just a couple of months ago hung up his keyboard. There welcome Mike.
Oh, it's great to be back. I love the show.
Oh fantastic. And Mike, by the way, I can't figure out the answer on the internet. What is the deal with the Homer Simpson and Day of the Locusts? Is that just a weird coincidence? At Matt Gronig love the Day of the locust Do you know?
Yes, I know the entire story. And it underscores something which is almost any character name you see somewhere is named after two things. It's always so, you know, you'll always see English professors going this is a reference to that, and it's like, well, that's half right. Nobody realizes you need two things to make you attracted to a name. And in this case, Matt Groening named Homer Simpson. He named the whole family the Simpsons, after his own family. His father is name Homer, his mother is Marge. When he has sisters Lisa and Maggie. But he also read Day of the Locusts and said, when he saw Homer Simpson, he goes, that's a good name for the character. He when he read it as a teenager, he said, I want to use that name someday. That's a really good one.
Wow. So he had been saving it up for years, Yes he.
Had, And I just can't think, you know, such a classic novel, and I feel like we've just wrecked it forever.
No, well, that is so true. When you hear Homer Simpson, you don't think Day of the Locusts, even though, as you say, novel, Yeah, someone has to create a cartoon with Ema Bovary or something to overshadow the original. Well, in honor of your glorious run at the Simpsons, we'd have one final Simpsons themed puzzle. But listeners, don't worry. You don't need to be a Simpsons expert to solve it. All of the clues are have enough info without Simpson's knowledge to solve. The game is called spring or Field spring or Field because all of the answers will contain either the word spring or field. And this, of course is because the Simpsons famously live in the city of Springfield. And incidentally, I'm pretty sure that you never revealed which state there Springfield is in, right or did you? Eventually I forget.
We you know, long after this idea had been beaten to death, we did an episode I think in season ten where it was a documentary about the Simpsons, and in the closing credits we just said, and that concludes our story of this family from a small town in Kentucky. So I was suddenly going they live in Kentucky. But then when the show reran, we changed it to Illinois, and then I think on the DVD we changed it to this family that lives on a small island in the Pacific.
Oh, brilliant. Okay, So it remains a mystery.
Mystery, and it was to everything's the story. But we didn't intend this. This was something the fans sort of ginned up. Where is Springfield? And we just called it Springfield because when we were kids, there was a show called Father Knows Best that we were sort of parodying, and they lived in Springfield, and nobody ever cared where that Springfield was. So it was our mistake to pick a city name that there are forty eight of in America.
And you wrote about in your book that there was sort of a contest to try to get and Ted Kennedy made a little video and pleading for Massachusetts. Springfield to be the Springfield, which was big of him because you said he did not like the Kennedy jokes on The Simpsons.
Right, He really hated the character of Diamond Joe Quimby, who talked the mayor of the town who talks like a Kennedy. But he swallowed his pride just to just to try and win this contest. And they didn't win either. It went to Vermont Springfield, Vermont, and I have friends from Springfield, Vermont who said we are nothing like Springfield on the Simpsons.
Yeah, I don't see a nuclear power plant in Springfield, Vont. I could be wrong, all right, Well, onto the puzzle. I'm going to give you a clue, and as I said, the answer will be a short phrase that either contains the word spring or field. So, for instance, if the clue is Grandpa Simpson, who was born before World War One, is the opposite of this phrase. For someone who is young, the answer would be spring chicken, spring chicken, because that contains spring but not field. Are you ready?
I don't know, but let's do it, all right.
The players on the Springfield Isotopes do their pitching and batting on one of.
These, oh a baseball field.
You do know, you do know, that's correct.
Base. I thought it was going to be spring training.
But okay, well, funny you mentioned that that was one of the other ones. So now we don't have to do that. You took care of.
It, folks. I saved you some time.
Across from most tavern, there's a Chinese called the Pan Fried Dragon. So at this restaurant you might find these fried appetizers pan fry.
That's a pretty lousy joke. Okay, Well, they eat spring rolls.
They do. They eat spring rolls.
Some of these sign jokes. You know, we think, oh, they're only going to be on for a second, and who cares, and let's just get that done, and then they come back to haunt you like this one.
Well, we didn't mean to haunt anyone. Uh all right, how about this one?
Uh?
Bart used a horseshoe shaped piece of metal to create this type of force. So he used a horseshoe shaped piece of metal to create a force that happened to control the metal shoes of principal Skinner.
Oh okay, I think he created a magnetic field. That's okay.
I like that. It gave you a little bit of challenge that is good. How about this one. On the day before Christmas, Bart drank gallons of water to make sure that his bladder was full, and he woke up early enough to catch Santa giving the gifts, and he drank I think he drank tap water, but perhaps he drank this type of water, this bottled.
Okay, I guess you're going for poland spring.
I am going for poland Spring.
That's something that actually happened in the show.
Yeah, weirdly, I think about that a lot because, for some rate, whenever I have to go to the bathroom at night, that scene pops in my mind, no kidding. So yeah, so it has had a big impact on me. Students at Springfield Elementary School have visited the Nuclear Power Plant and the Springfield Box Factory on these official school sponsored excursions. On these official school sponsored excursions.
Yes, those are field trips.
Those are field trips.
I wonder if they still use that term. You have kids, Do they still call them field trips?
They do, they do. They don't go to fields, but they don't they do usually. Yeah, and Andrea points out they also started to go to the United Nations but never made it and ended up stranded on a Desert Island, which I did not say. Do you remember that one?
Yes, I think that's our Lord of the Flies episode if I remember right, And that's what the one. Oh the guests are We've never been able to get on The Simpsons and to try and lure him. The narrator of the episode you're talking about was Clarence Clemons, the saxophone player, and we thought, oh, Clarence will do the show and then tell his boss, Hey, I had fun, you should do the show. But it didn't work.
And his boss, of course, is Bruce Springsteen, which I did not have, nor did I have Jerry Springer, who also was a guest star on The Simpsons. Do you remember that one at all?
No, I have no recollection.
There were one thousand and nine. As we have said, all right, what about this one. This is the position that Homer played for the Nuclear power Plant softball team before he was replaced by Darryl Strawberry.
Okay, well, I know nothing about sports, and famously I was completely in the dark when we were doing the Homer baseball episode. We had all these nine baseball players on the show, and I didn't know who any of them were, and so I got to direct all of them because everyone else was too intimidated. None of this answers your question, which is it's got to be I don't know, left field, right field, center field, it with some field.
Right, you said, you said it, it is right? Well, Andrea says, this position is known, perhaps unfairly as being a place for unathletic players, so it is the right field, right. So yes, all right, here's a short one. Bart, Lisa and Maggie are this to Homer in March? Bart, Lisa and Maggie to Homer in March.
They are offspring?
That is correct, all right. A couple of more. How about in one of the episodes, the Simpsons break into mister Burns's summer mansion and Homer imprisons, not Flanders. He imprisons Smithers in a grandfather clock. So all that is to get us to this clue, which is in March. Smithers might say this phrase when adjusting that grandfather clock. Oh wow, yeah, it was a long one. That was a long way to go on Trips episode. I never needed to hear about it again. But that was spring forward and fall back. That is correct. And by the way, Andrea cannot be blamed for that. I just came up with that on my own, like a minute ago and decided to try it.
Why not?
Why not?
All right?
Two more? Bart and Lisa visit an amusement park the I'm sorry, let me try it again. Bart and Lisa visit the amusement park Itchy and Scratchy Land. When there, they run through an attraction called Itchy's Blank This is an attraction where you have to avoid unseen explosives.
Oh, okay, well, I'm gonna guess that's Itchy's minefield. That is correct, correct, it was thirty years ago.
I love Itchy and Scratchy. That is because when I watched Tom and Jerry with my kids, I'm like, I can't believe how violent Itchy and Scratchy is. Barely more violent than the sorts material Tom and Jerry.
Right, And in fact, Matt Groening says, I may he may be a little disingenuous. He says, Itchy and Scratchy is actually a parody of Herman and Catnip, which I don't I don't know. I grew up watching these, which was it was a much more violent, low rent version of Tom and Jerry.
I never seen that.
Yeah, you can see him on the internet. They're terrible, terrible, but that's it, he says Herman and Catnip was really the the inspiration fascinating Scratchy.
Well, you go ahead for the puzzle fans.
It was Sam Simon who kind of created Itchy and Scratchy couldn't tell them part. He never even always go which one's the cat? And I would always tell Scratchy has the word cat in it.
Remember that is a good one. Yeah, those early cartoons were I mean you look even at Steamboat Willie, the first version of Mickey Mouse, and Mickey Mouse was like a gangster. He was like eating these poor animals up to make his music. All right, let's end. We're gonna go highbrow for this last weight. This is a poem. And I don't think I would have gotten this. I recognize it, but I couldn't have pulled it out.
But here you go. This is my chance to see, folks, if I'm smarter than ajgent.
Oh you are, we got that, all right. This this poem, written by John McCrae, was written in response to a fellow soldier's death during World War One. But and this part you can figure it out without that, but it could also be about roaming through the backyard of Homer's neighbor.
Yes, I had it. It's in flanders Field. Is that the name of the poem is?
I think it might be plural in flanders Fields. But yes, we give you full credit. Nicely done, miank you.
And now there's a Simpsons episode where Flanders opens the Leftorium and it goes under and that episode is called when Flanders Failed.
Ah, very good. Wait the lapatorium.
I don't remember the lectorium for left handed people right right.
Which I have been to a left handed store in San Francisco.
Right right on Peer thirty nine or something. They have a picture ned Flanders up there.
Oh that's hilarious. H And by the way, I considered a puzzle about characters whose names are geographical places, because Flanders is pase. There were so many ways to go with the Simpsons' source material, but we were thrilled to have you back. We can't wait to have you back next season. In the meantime, bon Voyage have a great time on the open seas.
Thank you, thank you. This is really the most fun I had doing the show, which is really kind of sad when you think about it.
Well, listen, we'll come on the cruise with you and we'll do a double bill. Well, we have an extra credit for the folks at home. In season fourteen, Bart found a stash of VHS tapes of his forgotten career as a baby actor. It happened when the family was doing this annual tidying up event. So that's the part to focus on. What is the name of an annual tidying up event that has either spring or field. And while you're thinking about that, please check out the puzzler Instagram feed at Hello Puzzlers, where we post fun puzzles and other good nuggets. And of course we will meet you here tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzlingly.
Hey Puzzlers, it's Greg Pliska, your chief puzzle Officer, up from the puzzle app once again with the answer from our previous episode. Mike Reese joined us to do a little travel related puzzle where every answer is a two word phrase. First word is a location and the second word is a word that appears at the beginning of the name of the location. So here extra credit was this is where you find a bargain in Massachusetts, and of course that is a Salem sale, Salem being a famous city in Massachusetts. Thanks for playing with us and we'll see you here tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzlingly
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