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"Homer's Barbershop Quartet"

Episode Information

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"Homer's Barbershop Quartet" is the first episode of The Simpsons' fifth season. It features the Be Sharps, a fictional barbershop quartet.

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Synopsis

During the Springfield Swap Meet, Bart and Lisa notice an album cover showing Homer. They ask Homer when he recorded an album. Homer answers that he recorded an album in 1985. He mentions that every afternoon at Moe's, Chief Wiggum, Principal Skinner, Apu, and he would get together and sing.

The crowd liked the singing. Homer says that his group was a barbershop quartet, which was popular everywhere, even at church. The group initially started in Springfield, but quickly found national fame after their new agent, Nigel, approached them and said everyone in the group could sing except Chief Wiggum, who was too "Village People." The group held auditions for a replacement, with Grampa (who did a swing version of Old MacDonald had a Farm), Groundskeeper Willie (who sang Petula Clark's Downtown, but says "Doontoon" instead) , Jasper (who sang Theme To a Summer Place with made up lyrics), and Chief Wiggum (disguised as Doctor Dolittle, who sang If I Can Walk With the Animals) all making unsuccessful attempts. When the barbershop trio returned to Moe's, they heard Barney singing in a beautiful Irish voice, and were amazed. After Barney is chosen as the new member, people still liked Chief Wiggum. After hearing him sing, however, the audience warmed up to Barney (it is obvious that this event is a parallel to Pete Best being replaced as the drummer for the Beatles by Ringo Starr). In fact, the audience warmed to Barney so fast that Moe thought Nigel paid them to support Barney.

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The group considered various names to call themselves, deciding their name should be witty initially, but should become less funny each time you heard it. They finally agreed on calling themselves "The Be Sharps."

Back in modern times, leaving the swap meet, Homer says he sold a spare tire, but unfortunately, a tire on the car blows out and Marge has to take a long walk to a gas station. Homer tells the rest of the story: he tried writing a new song with little luck, until Marge got a "Baby on Board" sign. This inspired Homer to write his Baby on Board song inspired by the fad. The group sang it in studio and put it on their first album, With the Be Sharps, a parody of The Beatles album "With the Beatles". The song became a number one hit. The group arrived in New York in 1986 to perform at the centennial of the Statue of Liberty (parodying the Beatles´ presentation in 1964 at the Ed Sullivan Show). The Be Sharps also won a Grammy for "Outstanding Soul, Spoken Word, or Barbershop Album of the Year", and Homer got to meet George Harrison. Meanwhile, Wiggum's singing career (now dead) was being mocked by numerous talk show hosts.

Homer explains that the Be Sharps were on merchandise items - such as lunch boxes, mugs, posters, etc. When Lisa pulls out a bottle of Be Sharps Funny Foam, Homer says that it was pulled off the market when it was discovered to be poisonous. He goes on to voice his disapproval of that by remarking that, "...if you ask me, if you're dumb enough to eat it you deserve to die." He turns and finds Bart spraying the bottle into his mouth.

The name of their second album was Bigger than Jesus, (the album cover parodied The Beatles' Abbey Road and the title parodied John Lennon saying the Beatles were bigger than Jesus). Unfortunately, while the Be Sharps were becoming popular, Marge had problems raising the children, and the Be Sharps had problems of their own. They had creative disputes, brought on by Barney's new girlfriend (a parody of Yoko Ono), and Barney left the group. The two recorded a "Revolution 9"-like piece, with Barney's girlfriend reciting "Number 8" over and over atop tape loops of Barney's belches. The group lost its popularity and split up, with Principal Skinner returning to Springfield Elementary School, Apu returning to the Kwik-E-Mart to continue gouging customers, Barney returning to Moe's with his girlfriend, and Homer returning to his job at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant after a chicken named Queenie took his place. Despite numerous unanswered questions, like where the money Homer made went and why he never hung up his gold records, Homer simply sends the kids to bed and tells them he'll answer their questions another day.

After Homer takes another look at the album, the group reunites to perform a rooftop concert at Moe's. During the concert, George Harrison pulls up in his limousine, sees them and says, "It's been done," referring to the impromptu concert on the Abbey Road Studios rooftop performed by The Beatles during their Get Back recording sessions. Before the episode ends, it is implied that Chief Wiggum plans to have to group arrested (or at least tear gassed).

Trivia and Cultural References

Principal Skinner recognizes an old prison helmet of his from Vietnam with the number '24601'; this is the number tattoed on Jean Valjean in Les Miserables, and his only identification. The same number is also Sideshow Bob's prison number in Black Widower.
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.
The record that Comic Book Guy had at the swap meet, "Melvin and the Squirrels" is a spoof of Alvin and the Chipmunks.
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 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.
The song "Baby on Board" was first heard in Ishtar, the flop 1987 motion picture comedy starring Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty.
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.
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.
In The Simpsons: Hit and Run, one of Apu's 3 costumes is his quartet outfit from this episode.

Quotes

Mayor Quimby: Welcome, swappers, to the Springfield Swap Meet. Ich bin ein Springfield Swap Meet patron!
George Harrison: (responding to the Be Sharps' rooftop concert) It's been done.
(Comic Book Guy puts the "Melvin and the Squirrel" record on.) "Stuck a feather in his ca] and called it Rice-a-Roni." "MEL-VIN!"
Apu: Apu Nahasapeemapetilon.
Nigel: Hmm. Never fit on a marquee, love. From now on, your name is Apu de Beaumarche.
Apu: That is a great dishonor to my ancestors and God...but okay.
(Homer addresses the crowd after finishing the B-Sharps New York performance)
Homer:I'd like to introduce you all to a very special woman. She's 200 years old, 500 feet tall, and weighs 400...(winks) Tons.
Man in Crowd: This gigantic woman will devour us all! YAAAAGH! (Jumps into River)
Homer:I meant the statue.
(Chief Wiggum is shooting the TV)
Sarah Wiggum: Clancy, use the remote.
Abe:"That's my son up there!"
Jasper "What, the balding fatass?"
Abe: "Uh, no, the Hindu guy."
Homer: (after singing Baby On Board for the final time) I'd like to thank you on behalf of the group, and I hope we passed the auditions." (this is what John Lennon said after the Beatles' rooftop performance)
Crowd, including the B-Sharps: they all laugh loudly.
Barney:"Ha-ha-ha-ha. Ha-ha... I don't get it."

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 even decided on the name.
M.C. Hammer appeared at the 1985 Grammys but he didn't get famous until the 1990's.
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 in 1984, before the show underwent a cast overhaul for season 10 (and again in seasons 11 and 12).
When the record "With the Be Sharps" is found at a Swap Meet, Chief Wiggum is on the cover, but in the story Barney has already replaced Chief Wiggum.
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.
In the final shot of the episode, Wiggum is drawn off-model, and Lou (the black cop with the Popeye arms) disappears.
Homer and Marge's bedroom had photos of Bart and Lisa when they were 10 and 8 years old. However, the story takes place when Bart and Lisa were only three years old and one year old respectively.
At the swap meet, Lisa finds a Malibu Stacy doll from 1958 that was pulled from the market because her pointed breasts caused eye damage, but in "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy", the original Malibu Stacy doll was a normal one made of dried onion meal before being changed to a plastic fashion doll (because the kids didn't like the dried onion meal taste, but they liked the doll), unless the big-breasted 1958 Stacy was a forgotten prototype.

Appearances

Characters

Vehicles

Pink Sedan

Locations

← Season 4 Season 5 Episodes 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