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Lists about Matt Groening's animated sitcom about an average family from Springfield, airing since 1989.

Adult Jokes

Long before there were mainstream adult cartoons on network TV, The Simpsons was one of the first cartoon shows that parents opposed because of racy jokes and raunchy humor. Kids couldn&#39;t understand why any Simpsons jokes weren&#39;t appropriate for them. After all it was a cartoon, so it had to be for children, right?

Well, now that&#39;s it&#39;s been on for decades, all the kids that were forbidden to watch it are now grown up enough to look back and think, &quot;Hey wait, maybe that wasn&#39;t as PG as I thought.&quot; South Park, Family Guy, and more have all made old school Simpsons seem a bit tame, but writers and animators managed to slide in a whole of innuendo, raunch, and surprisingly dark material into a show that has always attracted pint-sized viewers.

This list takes a look back at the cartoon that started it all, the show that sneaks in some of the best adult humor on primetime TV, be it dirty minded, sacrilegious, or just too adult-oriented for kids to grasp. These are the best jokes from The Simpsons that didn&#39;t quite make sense as a kid, the ones that slyly snuck in generally grown up content.&nbsp; Vote for the most surprisingly adult jokes below!

Animated

It is and isn&#39;t hard to believe the first episode of The Simpsons&nbsp;aired on December 17, 1989. While it&#39;s flabbergasting to think the show has been on the air for more than a quarter of a century, The Simpsons is such an American institution that it feels timeless.&nbsp;In returning to old&nbsp;episodes, you might find some jokes that make you grimace - there are plenty of offensive jokes on The Simpsons the show couldn&#39;t get away with in 2020.&nbsp;

Old episodes feature plenty of jokes you couldn&#39;t get away with today, and what many would consider outdated Simpsons jokes. There are also blatant sexual references, political jabs, and a blurring of the lines between adult and children&#39;s content that wouldn&#39;t fly in an increasingly divided programming system.&nbsp;Read on to see the Simpsons jokes that wouldn&#39;t work today.&nbsp;

Good Stuff

Over the course of 30 years and still going strong, The Simpsons has brought us a lot of things including these touching moments that we didn&#39;t expect to hit us so hard. With all 30+ seasons <a href="https://disneyplus.bn5x.net/c/1217251/707629/9358?subid1=2855264&amp;subid2=Disney%2B&amp;subid3=comlink&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.disneyplus.com%2F" target="_blank">available&nbsp;on Disney+</a>, take a look back at some of the most heartfelt scenes.

Animated TV Series

One of the most iconic television shows of all time, as well as one of the most quoted properties in <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/the-20-greatest-sharks-in-pop-culture-history/robert-wabash?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">pop culture history</a>, The Simpsons&nbsp;has made hundreds of jokes fans and others know, remember, and reference on a daily basis. Often, these jokes revolve around extremely absurd concepts that could only happen in a cartoon or a satire -&nbsp;at least according to the writers. But in reality, a lot of the jokes that seemed ridiculous at the time were actually giving us a glimpse into the future. In fact, <a href="https://disneyplus.bn5x.net/c/1217251/707629/9358?subid1=490278&amp;subid2=Disney%2B&amp;subid3=comlink&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.disneyplus.com%2F" target="_blank">Disney+</a> has an entire collection dedicated to all the <a href="https://disneyplus.bn5x.net/c/1217251/707629/9358?subid1=490278&amp;subid2=Simpsons%20Predict&amp;subid3=comlink&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.disneyplus.com%2Ffranchise%2Fthe-simpsons-predict" target="_blank">episodes that predicted the future</a> (there probably more than you think).&nbsp;Sometimes, these jokes underestimate just how low humanity (and often, America) can go. The Simpsons predictions on this list actually&nbsp;all came true.

Here&#39;s a collection of hilarious Simpsons jokes that really ended up as true, happened, or were repeated elsewhere. The Simpsons predicted some&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/things-celebrities-have-done-drunk/celebrity-lists?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword" target="_blank">crazy things</a>.

Bart Star

The genius of The Simpsons is how they cleverly send-up popular culture and modern society in a way that makes viewers laugh, even if the things they’re laughing at are serious matters: pollution, nuclear waste, sexism, ageism, alcoholism, physical abuse, poor education. Despite the show’s regular cameo appearances by famous actors and popular guest stars, there haven’t been that many crossover episodes of The Simpsons. Here is every single&nbsp;The Simpsons crossover episode for your ranking pleasure - television crossovers only.One of the most popular items on this list, “The Simpsons Guy,” was actually an episode on fellow Fox animated series&nbsp;Family Guy. Of course, there are similarities between Homer Simpson and Peter Griffin, who are both eerily similar to Fred Flintstone, but seeing an episode finally admit that fact made for excellent television. This list features multiple episodes of The Simpsons with other TV characters and fun cameos. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson appear as their characters from&nbsp;The X-Files,&nbsp;Agent Mulder and Agent Scully, after Homer believes he's spotted an alien in Springfield. Kiefer Sutherland and Mary Lynn Raiskub also voice their TV characters Jack Bauer and Chloe O’Brian in a classic crossover parody of 24.Make your voice heard. Vote up the best crossover episodes of The Simpsons&nbsp;below!

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Homer the Heretic

Springfield is home to countless characters and chief among them are the the residents of 742 Evergreen Terrace on The Simpsons. Some great The Simpsons episodes are about Homer&#39;s job at the nuclear power plant while other good episodes focus on Bart and Lisa at school. A few good episodes of The Simpsons showcase the lives of Moe, Apu, or The Comic Book Guy.

What are the best episodes of The Simpsons? &ldquo;Cape Feare&rdquo; from season five is a fan favorite. This episode finds Bart being kidnaped by a vengeful Sideshow Bob. &ldquo;Last Exit to Springfield&rdquo; is also a compelling episode of the Fox series, The Simpsons.

&ldquo;Treehouse of Horror V&rdquo; is another good episode from The Simpsons as is &ldquo;Mr. Plow&rdquo; which finds Homer and Barney competing for business.

Do you have a favorite episode of The Simpsons? Give the best episodes a vote up and vote down any episodes you may not have liked.

You might also like this list of <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-grandpa-simpson-quotes/movie-and-tv-quotes" target="_blank">The Best Grampa Simpson Quotes</a>.

History

The Simpsons is well-known for its countless <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/simpsons-movie-parodies/math-erao" target="_blank">spot-on movie references</a> throughout its many years. But the show&#39;s love of subtly (or overtly) recreating visual images doesn&#39;t end with pop culture -- the show has snuck in dozens of <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/obscure-historical-references-in-tv-shows/sivert-glarum" target="_blank">historical references</a> as well, with the inhabitants of Springfield recreating everything from famous tragedies, to German propaganda films, to presidential races, to Woodstock.

Maybe you caught some of these references over the years, maybe not. Either way, which one of the historical photos recreated by&nbsp;The Simpsons&nbsp;strikes you as the most impressive? (All Simpsons screenshots via <a href="https://frinkiac.com/" target="_blank">Frinkiac</a>)

<a href="https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Dmovies-tv&amp;field-keywords=The+Simpsons&amp;rh=n%3A2625373011%2Ck%3AThe+Simpsons&amp;tag=rankercom2758005-20" target="_blank">The Simpsons</a>&nbsp;manages to be both timeless and a throwback - it&#39;s been on television for&nbsp;30 years. Some critics might claim&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/why-the-simpsons-isn-t-good-anymore/alex-welch" target="_blank">The Simpsons isn&#39;t good anymore,</a>&nbsp;but it&#39;s evolved with the times and influenced countless modern&nbsp;animators.

Starting as short animated sketches, the family first appeared on&nbsp;The Tracey Ullman Show&nbsp;in the late &#39;80s. The characters&#39; colorful complexions and minimalist features&nbsp;were something of a&nbsp;mistake, though. When creator Matt Groening originally drew&nbsp;the designs, he assumed animators would improve upon them. The animators kept&nbsp;Groening&#39;s&nbsp;<a href="https://simpsonswiki.com/wiki/The_Tracey_Ullman_Show" target="_blank">preliminary sketches</a>, however, giving the world the Simpsons they now know and love.

While recent&nbsp;Simpsons seasons may pale in comparison to the show in its heyday, the characters certainly look a whole lot better than they did in the 1980s.

Jokes

The Simpsons has been on television since 1989, but somehow, the writers manage to keep the humor sharp and the social commentary biting. Part of the charm of The Simpsons is that it never pulls any punches when it comes to jokes - the brutal honesty of some moments imprint themselves onto your memory for life. Whether it's the dysfunctional marriage of <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-cartoon-couples/ranker-tv?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">Homer and Marge</a>, the kids who act out, bumbling town police chief Wiggum, or Krusty the hilariously corrupt children's clown, every character and relationship serves to demonstrate some aspect of humanity that is truly screwed up. Relive some of your favorite The Simpsons dark jokes and moments with this list of times the writing staff for The Simpsons&nbsp;refused to lighten up.

The Simpsons has a rich history of background gags, and some of the best are the names of the stores in Springfield and its environs. Sometimes they blow by so fast you have to rewind to fully appreciate the rich and hilarious history of business names in this universe, but it's always worth it. These are some of my fave names, but if you see anything missing, add it!Thanks to the Simpsons Wiki for doing so much of the legwork on these names, that site is a holy gem on the internet.What are some of <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/funny-game-day-signs/ashley-reign?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">the funniest</a> fake business names in the Simpsons universe? There are some pretty hilarious ones and this list aims to name all of those comedic names. Like did you know Duff's beer was named after Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagen? There are nuggets like that sprinkled throughout this list.&nbsp;

With nearly <a href="http://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/the-greatest-simpsons-episodes-ever">three decades worth of episodes</a> under its belt, The Simpsons has come a long way from its humble beginnings as an interstitial animated short&nbsp;for The Tracey Ullman&nbsp;Show. All of that time naturally engendered&nbsp;large shifts in the show&#39;s direction, but when The Simpsons was <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-simpsons-future-episodes/joe-gallois" target="_blank">at its peak</a>, it was unrivaled in terms of handling emotional issues on prime time.

Sad Simpsons episodes are a crucial part of the show. They&nbsp;really managed to&nbsp;make you laugh just as hard as they&nbsp;made&nbsp;you cry. Let&#39;s&nbsp;remember&nbsp;these impactful&nbsp;Simpsons moments, and recall why we first fell in love with Springfield&#39;s most dysfunctional family.

Krusty the Clown

The Simpsons is not only one of the longest running TV shows of all time, it also has one of the largest casts of characters. The city of Springfield has been populated by a countless number of hilarious residents. With such a great cast of characters, it&#39;s tough to say who the greatest character on The Simpsons&nbsp;really is without everybody weighing in on the discussion.

This list ranges from major characters like Homer Simpson and Mr. Burns to obscure and minor characters including Dr. Nick and Disco Stu. Some of these characters, like Bart, have been featured on every episode of The Simpsons. Other characters on this list, like the unforgettable Frank Grimes, only appeared once. Vote for your favorite <a href="http://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/simpsons-characters-deserving-of-a-spinoff?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword" target="_blank">Simpsons characters</a> and help make this list the ultimate source for who the <a href="http://www.ranker.com/tags/best-characters?ref=internalCrossLinking_tag">best characters</a> of the show are.&nbsp;

All&nbsp;Simpsons characters may be cartoons, but the voice actors truly bring them to life. Are you a fan of Phil Hartman&rsquo;s character work as Troy McClure and Lionel Hutz? Do you love over-the-top villains like <a href="http://www.ranker.com/list/albert-brooks-movies-and-films-and-filmography/reference?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">Albert Brooks</a>&rsquo; Hank Scorpio and Kelsey Grammer&rsquo;s Sideshow Bob?&nbsp;

Of&nbsp;the many&nbsp;Simpsons characters, who&nbsp;is the fan favorite of the bunch? Vote up your favorite residents of Springfield and vote down the characters in the Simpsons&nbsp;you think should get erased.&nbsp;

You might also like this list of <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-grandpa-simpson-quotes/movie-and-tv-quotes" target="_blank">The Best Grampa Simpson Quotes</a>.

TV Trivia

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The Simpsons is arguably not only the most iconic show of modern television, but also the most culturally impactful. Everything has been referenced by, and in turn references, The Simpsons,&nbsp;and with all 30+ seasons <a href="https://disneyplus.bn5x.net/c/1217251/707629/9358?subid1=1976124&amp;subid2=Disney%2B&amp;subid3=comlink&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.disneyplus.com%2F" target="_blank">available on Disney+</a>, you can actually go back and revisit every pivotal moment. The Fox animated sitcom pretty much defines two entire generations and over the decades has become a cultural institution. There&#39;s so much material you can&#39;t know everything about the show, though this list of Simpsons trivia, behind-the-scenes facts, and Simpsons <a href="/list/all-easter-eggs-from-marvel-movies/ranker-comics?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword" target="_blank">Easter eggs</a> will certainly help you get there!

Without The Simpsons there would be no South Park or Family Guy, and certainly no Futurama. The Simpsons made the <a href="/list/best-adult-cartoons/ranker-tv?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword" target="_blank">adult cartoon</a> the staple of entertainment it is today. With over 550 episodes, more than 600 guest stars, and countless recurring characters, there are plenty of <a href="/list/sons-of-anarchy-facts/joanna-varikos?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword" target="_blank">facts you may not know</a> about the series to dig up.

Who was supposed to be Krusty the Clown? Which character forms his own separate movie when cut together? Which Simpsons guest stars have played both themselves and other characters? How long does one episode take to animate? Learn about all this and more, and be sure to vote up the most interesting Simpsons trivia you were surprised to learn!

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Funny

To work on&nbsp;The Simpsons, you&#39;ve got to be pretty darn intelligent. Many of the writers graduated from top tier colleges with degrees in mathematics and science&nbsp;and it shows (late-night host&nbsp;Conan O&#39;Brien was actually one of the series&#39; first writers, penning classic episodes like &quot;Marge vs. the Monorail&quot;, which you can stream right now on <a href="https://disneyplus.bn5x.net/c/1217251/707629/9358?subid1=2482324&amp;subid2=The%20Simpsons&amp;subid3=comlink&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.disneyplus.com%2Fseries%2Fthe-simpsons%2F3ZoBZ52QHb4x" target="_blank">Disney+</a>.)

Sure, a&nbsp;lot of the gags on the show are beyond what children can understand, but some are so smart they can be baffling to adults as well. You might be familiar with The Simpsons&#39; most adult gags&nbsp;or&nbsp;its best gags that targeted religion, but&nbsp;these smart Simpsons jokes went over your head decades ago and probably stayed there.

Fan Theories

Which one of these is the <a class="edS-cl" href="https://www.ranker.com/list/best-bart-simpson-quotes/stephen-tompkins?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">best Bart Simpson</a> fan theory? You get to help decide with your votes. Bart Simpson (aka Bartman, aka El Barto) has been making prank calls to Moe&#39;s, saving/destroying Springfield, and repeatedly getting strangled by his father for over thirty seasons to date. In the early days of Springfield he was a catchphrase machine, appearing on anything you could buy in a pre-meme era with the line, &quot;Don&#39;t have a cow, man!&quot; As time has gone by, he&#39;s become so much more, including a source for some unbelievable&nbsp;fan theories.

If you&#39;ve ever wondered if Bart is a Stonecutter, or what the deal is with that hair, or even if the eldest Simpson kid might actually be the smartest, then look no further. In this list, we rank the most incredible Bart Simpson fan theories out there. Vote up your favorites and check back in as it gets updated!

TV Quotes

If you love The Simpsons,&nbsp;we want you to vote on the best Homer Simpson fan theories the internet has to offer. For over 30 years now, Homer Simpson has been in our living rooms, hopping on the couch beside us after scrambling through the garage to avoid being run over by a station wagon. Over that time, he has repeatedly put the power plant he works at in jeopardy. He has been to outer space. His barbershop quartet has won an award statue (&quot;Aww, it&#39;s a Grammy&quot;) and he&#39;s spoken to God himself. But beyond all the surface level absurdity and hilarity-- the &quot;D&#39;ohs&quot; and son-strangles and donuts-- there is a hidden layer to Homer Simpson that tests our understanding of the the whole Simpsons&#39; universe.

By taking a deep dive into some of the most prophetic, unusual, and sometimes hard-to-even-entertain fan theories about Homer Jay Simpson, we can speculate on the deeper meaning of what makes Springfield tick. Whether it&#39;s the idea that he&nbsp;has been in a decades-long coma, the notion that he might be&nbsp;much&nbsp;smarter than we think he is, or that his boss has more devious plans for his nuclear safety technician than meets the eye, these Homer Simpson fan theories are as original as they are <a href="https://media1.tenor.com/images/d382abdc291252a0975d7b93a895339e/tenor.gif?itemid=4173008" target="_blank">jaw-dropping</a>.

It&#39;s easy to take The Simpsons for granted these days -- it&#39;s been on the air for 30+ years and inspired so many other shows in its wake, it can be tough to remember how truly earth-shatteringly different&nbsp; this show felt during its 90s heyday. But it only takes a quick rewatch on FXX, Disney+ or the DVDs to immediately remember how funny and surprisingly ahead of its time so many of the show&#39;s jokes were, and how well they hold up even decades later. Here are some of the lines that really stand the test of time. (All screenshots via <a href="https://frinkiac.com/" target="_blank">Frinkiac.com</a>)

Homer Meets Michael Jackson

There are as many great Simpsons gags as there are cats for the Crazy Cat Lady to throw at you. And so I turn to the internet (I think she&#39;s talking to you) for your <a href="http://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/best-athletes-of-all-time?ref=internalCrossLinking_keyword">greatest of all time</a>. I am starting the list with these... and, really, I almost can&#39;t rank them... it&#39;s&nbsp;like picking which of your children you love more.

Vote! (BTW, Simpsons clips are taken down from YouTube all the time by Fox.)

The Simpsons has it all... funny jokes, funny characters, funny plot-lines... but it also has the props to back it all up. Sometimes, finding the product names, or reading the newspaper headlines is funnier than the episode itself. Vote for your favorites, and be sure to add what I missed... because there is NO WAY I got them all!

The Simpsons

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Fun and very interesting lists about slang, vocabulary, language, spelling, and even punctuation.

Words, Words, Words

If you aren't using Embiggen in your everyday jibber-jabber, your life must be sad and small. The Simpsons have been around for a couple decades now, and have given us so many fabulous words and made-up Simpsons sayings and Bart slang... SO many that, really, should be in the dictionary despite their dubious meanings. I mean, if you can't figure out what Tramampoline means... come ON. There's a more complete list out there somewhere, I'm sure, but these are the best of the fakes... the best words that the Simpsons have given us.

Celebrating Almost Three Decades Of Perfectly Cromulent Words

Fake Homer Simpson Words: List of Made-Up Words from The Simpsons

The Best Fake Words From The Simpsons

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D'oh

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 The Simpsons gave us so many fabulous words ... so many that, really, should be in the dictionary despite their dubious meanings.
 
