Derren Brown
- This article is about the character. For the guest star, see Derren Brown.
Derren Brown
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Character Information
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Derren Brown is an English mentalist, illusionist, and writer.
History[edit]
Derren Brown went to Springfield to film A Derren Brown Christmas. He chose Springfield because there was no feeling of Christmas spirit in the town. So that he wouldn't reveal what he was really doing to the townspeople, he told Mayor Quimby and the people of Springfield that the town had won an award for being the "Christmasiest" Town in America, and he and Hark Media were there to film a documentary about it. After getting permission to film, Derren Brown focused on his first target, Gil Gunderson. Derren set up a stunt involving a baby carriage rolling down a hill toward Gil, who stopped it and supposedly saved the baby inside. However, the baby was placed in the carriage after it was stopped. Upon being told that he had saved the baby, Gil phoned his estranged wife Bonnie and was told he could spend Christmas with the family.
Derren Brown then targeted Homer, as Homer believed he was terrible at buying gifts for people. After hypnotizing Marge into giving permission to work on Homer, Derren Brown set his plan in motion. When Homer went to work the next day, he went to the vending machine where his favorite cupcakes had a festive makeover, with a picture of Santa Claus on the packet. Homer tried to buy them but was sucked into the vending machine and into a hidden room where Derren Brown hypnotized him. However, Homer proved difficult to hypnotize, as he was still focused on the cupcakes. Derren Brown placed the cupcake packet on his forehead to get Homer to pay attention and attempted to hypnotize Homer into believing he was good at buying gifts. However, seeing the picture of Santa Claus, Homer was hypnotized into thinking he was Santa. He then managed to get one of the cupcakes without Derren noticing.
Homer, believing himself to be Santa, started to influence the whole town, and everyone began to believe that Homer was Santa. Christmas spirit in the town rose to an all-time high. However, this led to a cult-like uprising, with Homer's image plastered everywhere and the townspeople almost worshiping him. It reached a point where Derren realized he needed to stop it. At the town's Christmas Jubilee, Derren managed to break Homer out of the hypnosis, and he returned to believing he was just Homer. However, during this, Ned Flanders began experiencing a crisis of faith.
Due to the crisis Ned was going through, he started acting very differently. Worried about him, Marge went to Derren Brown and asked him to hypnotize Ned into believing in God again. Derren refused, saying he wouldn't use those tricks on Ned. He then made Marge fall asleep and gave her a copy of his book, Happy. However, Derren decided to put together an elaborate scenario to get Ned to believe in God again. He created a small submarine set, with Professor Frink offering to take Ned underwater. He also involved many of his crew, who were mostly scuba-diving puppeteers, and included Patti LaBelle performing to set the mood. The stunt, which involved the "submarine" breaking apart and Ned being saved, convinced Ned to believe in God again.
After revealing all of this to the Simpsons, Homer gave Derren a Christmas present. When Derren opened it, he found it was a blue bow. Derren then told Homer about his ventriloquist dummy, Chaucer, which used to have a blue bow that had gone missing. Derren thanked Homer, thinking he might really be Santa Claus. After Derren left, Marge told Homer that she thought the bow was for Maggie, and Homer revealed that he had accidentally mixed up the presents, so Maggie ended up with an Applebee's gift card. At home, Derren put the blue bow on Chaucer and set out a plate of Homer's favorite cookies and a Duff Beer for him.
Appearances[edit]
