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"Gump Roast"

Episode Information Showrunner: [[{{{showrunner}}}]]

“Gump Roast” is the seventeenth episode of The Simpsons’ thirteenth season, and the second of four episodes written by Simpsons voice actor Dan Castellaneta and his wife Deb Lacusta. The episode aired on April 21, 2002.

Plot

Homer is on a park bench a la Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump, telling a story that Chief Wiggum isn’t interested in, but he builds interest when Homer uses flashbacks (clips from previous episodes) to help him tell the story (but not before Chief Wiggum tells Homer that it's illegal in Springfield to impersonate a famous movie character, leading to the arrest of Moe dressed as Austin Powers and Dr. Hibbert dressed as Darth Vader. The family then arrives to take him to the Friars’ Club, where Homer is roasted by Krusty the Clown and other prominent citizens of Springfield. Among those roasting him are Bart and Lisa, Grampa and Agnes Skinner, and, Reverend Lovejoy and Ned Flanders in a Smothers Brothers-like act, and even Mr. Burns. The roasters utilize more clips from previous episodes. Soon, Kang and Kodos arrive at the roast and declare that humans are stupid, as demonstrated by more clips. However, when they probe Maggie's mind (via more clips), they find something on Earth that makes it worth sparing: celebrities. The episode ends with a song, “They’ll Never Stop the Simpsons,” sung by Dan Castellaneta. The song recounts additional past plots, possible future (and ridiculous) plots, and an apology for airing this episode as a clip show.

In Later Episodes

One of the crazy future plots for The Simpsons shows Patty and Selma getting married to Grampa Simpson. Patty would (almost) get married (albeit to a man impersonating a woman) in the season 16 episode, "There's Something About Marrying" while Selma would almost marry Grampa Simpson in the season 18 episode, "Rome-old and Juli-eh".

Cultural references

The opening act spoofs Forrest Gump including the falling feather. The episode's title is also a reference to the movie.

Homer Simpson jumping over a shark During the opening act, Moe impersonates Austin Powers and Dr. Hibbert impersonates Darth Vader. Both are arrested because of an ordinance that banned impersonations of movie characters, although Homer is not arrested for his impersonation of Forrest Gump. When Mr. Burns steps toward the podium, The Imperial March (Darth Vader's song) is heard. In this episode Kang asserts that the Earth was created 5,000 years ago by God, and Kang and Kodos then make the sign of the Cross. This is an apparently satirical reference to Young Earth Creationism. At the beginning of the clip show song, there is a picture of Homer jumping the shark, which is a term that describes when a television show has reached its peak and is now declining in quality or has done something to cause a sudden decline in quality. The term is a reference to an episode of Happy Days in which Fonzie literally jumped a shark. Agnes Skinner wears the same dress that Jennifer Lopez wore to the Grammy Awards in 2000. The song sung at the end is a take-off on Billy Joel's song "We Didn't Start The Fire." Krusty mentions Mark Spitz couldn't be there and has sent a telegram. Lisa asks "Who's Mark Spitz?" and Bart then asks "What's a telegram?"