There are more than 500 episodes of The Simpsons, so you’re going to have to forgive Director Mark Kirkland for not knowing all of them, but is it possible that the man who’s been with the show since season two doesn’t know when he’s being trolled by an ardent fan in the most meta way possible? Maybe so! Because someone over on Kirkland’s Reddit AMA about his work on the show just seems to have Comic Book Guyed the hell out of guy who’s helped bring Bart, Lisa, Marge, Maggie, and Homer to your screen for decades.
Referencing the episode in which Homer gets a role as Poochie on Itchy & Scratchy, a fan saw his chance to make a cool inside joke and asked Kirkland the following question:
In episode 2F09 when Itchy plays Scratchy’s skeleton like a xylophone, he strikes the same rib twice in succession, yet he produces two clearly different tones. I mean, what are we to believe, that this is some sort of a magic xylophone or something?
Boy, I really hope somebody got fired for that blunder.
It was taken verbatim from the show. Check out this video:
It’s an iconic moment, and one that the fan surely thought might get a laugh from Kirkland and his fellow fans. But the response was, well…unsatisfactory:
Itchy and Scratchy are crudely produced cartoons by a fictitious cartoon company within the Simpsons world. Glad you caught the error, you are very observant! Lisa and Bart didn’t seem to notice.
Wait, what? Was Kirkland joking back or did he really not get it? According to some opinions — including that of our own Keith Phipps — Kirkland totally got the joke and was lobbing the ball back. Fans on Reddit, however, weren’t so sure.
Some fans put the question of whether he got the reference directly to Kirkland:
I…I honestly don’t know if you just completely trolled him, or if you didn’t get the reference.
Have I been wooshed?
One fan explained why Kirkland might not have gotten it:
There was a little sketch / talk show in the 90s called ‘Fist of Fun’, ran for 2 seasons, 12 episodes.
When it finally got a release there’s a commentary, and the two comedians are watching a scene where oiled bodybuilders come out and carry a little old lady off.The comedians are watching this as we are, the show which started their double act they’re still remembered for fondly today, and they have no fucking idea what’s happening. They can see themselves, they can see themselves touching the bodybuilders, but they have absolutely no recollection of writing this scene.
I think people forget that creators are more concerned with creating new things, if they spent all their time watching like the fans do they’d never get anything made.
And one commenter made a really interesting point that’s not only an explanation, but a pretty huge burn (and should be hired to write somewhere immediately):
I honestly don’t think he got the reference. If I’m right, I think it explains a lot about the quality of the Simpsons these days. If I’m wrong and that answer was supposed to be witty, I think that it explains a lot about the quality of the Simpsons these days.
A question about getting out of the dungeon on the Itchy & Scratchy CD-ROM (without using the wizard key) went unanswered.
If Kirkland really didn’t get the reference, this is a more embarrassing moment than the time Lisa completely missed the point of The Joy Luck Club.
