Why all the Arby’s jokes in the Simpsons.
I felt like I had stumbled upon the Ark of the Covenant in the big government warehouse when I found this. Josh Weinstein, one of the writers for the Simpsons, explaining what’s the deal with Arby’s and the Simpsons, from a forum post in 2006. Nothing surprising, but I love these moments when the veil is lifted and creators talk about what was going on in their minds at the time. Deliberateness in comedy is underappreciated.
Hi, everybody!
The issue of Arby’s is one I wanted to talk about on the commentary for “A Milhouse Divided” but we were all talking so much on that one I didn’t get a chance to.
Anyway, as I was there at the birth of the whole Arby’s thing, let me try to explain it. And it’s actually a combination of factors:
One thing that Bill and I love (as do a number of our fellow writers from that era) is the humor of getting something just right — where there’s not really a joke, but just some detail that seems to capture something so perfectly that it’s funny. That was combined with the idea that every detail in Kirk’s new life was supposed to be, well, sort of sad (his furniture in the apartment - modelled in part after furniture I had in my first apartment, the fact that he’s neighbors with Jerry from the sewing store, Starla the temp from KZUG, etc.). So it just seemed perfect that his apartment would be in the type of place that would be right next to an Arby’s.
Another example of this type of humor is in “Sweet Seymour Skinner’s Badaasssss Song” where Skinner offers Bart a “Diet Caffeine-Free Dr. Pepper”. No joke there, just the fact that it seems to be exactly the type of drink Principal Skinner would have at his house.
Of course, part of the appeal of the Arby’s joke to me is also the fact that Arby’s is so rarely made fun of. Those of you who noted that a joke about McDonald’s or a similar place wouldn’t be funny are totally correct.
I don’t remember who originally pitched the Arby’s line, but I’ve always loved it, as do I all the aspects of Kirk’s life.
On a side note, Bill and I went to an Arby’s about a year ago and it was actually quite good. I like to think someone at Arby’s watched our episode and kicked the company into shape, but I know that’s probably not true. And no, we were never contacted by anybody from Arby’s, before or after. Which is too bad. We would’ve loved to get free sandwiches.
From here, about halfway down.
