| "Gump Roast"
|
| Episode Information
|
“Gump Roast” is the seventeenth episode of Season 13, which aired on April 21, 2002. The episode was written by Deb Lacusta and Dan Castellaneta and directed by Mark Kirkland.
The Springfield Friars Club roasts Homer, with help from clips from past episodes..."but don't call it a clip show".
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.
