A buried joke put into The Simpsons over three decades ago has finally been revealed. Back in the show's third season, a period of time that many fans say are a part of the "Golden Era" of The Simpsons, there was an episode where Homer Simpson takes Bart and Milhouse to a Spinal Tap concert, and this is where the joke was hidden. Called "The Otto Show," it's the one where Otto moves in with the Simpson family after losing his job as a bus driver.Near the start of the episode, Homer is preparing to leave the home with the children when he's warned by Marge about the dangers of hearing loss from attending rock concerts. Showing the moment from Homer's point of view, Marge's voice is completely drowned out, and viewers could mostly only hear just the ringing in his ears. 31 years later, audio editor Ewzzy Rayburn took to Twitter to share a video revealing what Marge actually says during that scene after tinkering with the audio and removing the ringing. You can watch the video below.
For the first time ever, it's been revealed that Marge is actually saying, "Well alright, but make sure they don't pick up any of the band's attitudes toward liquor... religion... politics... really anything."
The clip also includes an audio snippet from the DVD commentary for that episode. It notes how Marge's dialogue "was actually pretty funny" with producer Al Jean lamenting how it was unfortunate that they had to cut such an amusing line, though it was necessary for the joke to work. They notably didn't reveal in that commentary track what the joke actually was.
"It took us a long time to write it, and then we mixed it down so nobody could hear it," he said.
The Simpsons Aren't Going Anywhere
The series is now in its 34th season, and it's still going strong with no end in sight for the long-running, record-setting show. Earlier this year, the show was given another two-season renewal, guaranteeing that The Simpsons will be on the air for at least 36 total seasons. That will also be pushing the series past 800 total episodes.
"Whatever the standards are now, we seem to be doing well," voice actor Hank Azaria recently said of how long the show will go on. "People still enjoy making it. They seem to want the show. So I imagine we keep going. The voices don't really age. So we can keep doing it. And the animation doesn't age. The animation does get better — and quicker."
The Simpsons debuts new episodes on Sunday nights on Fox.