Sketchbook Club International

It’s hard to remember what American culture was like before the Simpsons, but there was a time when subversive humor was relegated to the cultural fringes (National Lampoon, Firesign Theater, Bill Hicks and that ilk), so a-feared of these words of truthful anger were the matrons of polite society, the governmental entities charged with suppressing vice, and our overfed corporate overlords.

But in the 16+ years since its debut, this show has flung so many mind bombs into our culture, that it has helped to desensitize our tartar-clogged brains. After a few palsied attempts at resisting the counter culture (Simpsons vs. Waltons anyone?), the Man remembered that he always gets an even bigger slice of the communal pie by packaging and selling the latest rebellion. (Che Guevara baby tees in pink and blue, on sale now at Forever 21!) Nowadays, after hundreds of episodes of the Simpsons (and Beavis and Butthead, Ren and Stimpy, South Park, etc., etc., etc.), even their sharpest barbs go down as smoothly as Jay Leno’s vanilla-logues — I mean monologues.

And yet despite my hipster blasé, every once in a while a gag will pop up on the show that sticks with me. A gag that summarizes a thousand little arguments and complaints into one bitter punch line — mmm, catharsis! With that in mind, I share with you a classic Simpsons moment that encapsulates all of America’s problems in one image. Viva la revolution — Now to veg out on the sofa with Twinkies and cartoons!

From the episode Blame it On Lisa (DABF10 / SI-1310).