Homer's Barbershop Quartet

After Bart and Lisa notice Homer on the cover of an LP album for sale at Springfield's annual swap meet, Homer tells the story of how he, Principal Skinner, Barney, and Apu recorded a nationally famous barbershop quartet album.

In 1985, Homer, Skinner, Apu and Chief Wiggum entertain nightly at various Springfield community gigs, including Moe's Tavern. An agent named Nigel offers to represent the group, but only on the condition that they replace Wiggum; Homer then strands Wiggum in a forest. The band holds auditions for a fourth member (one auditioner is Wiggum, disguised as "Doctor Dolittle"), but have no luck until they hear Barney singing in an Irish tenor voice in the men's room. After their first show as a foursome, they decided to name themselves "The Be Sharps".

Homer has little luck as a songwriter until Marge buys a "baby on board" bumper sticker, inspiring him to write a song around the phrase. The song "Baby on Board" is the lead single from the group's debut album, Meet the Be Sharps, and becomes a hit. The Be Sharps perform at the Statue of Liberty's centennial in 1986 and win a Grammy Award for Outstanding Soul, Spoken Word, or Barbershop Album of the Year. At the after party, Homer meets former Beatle George Harrison. That night, Homer calls home to talk to Lisa and Marge and becomes disillusioned upon realizing how much they miss him. Creative disputes arise within the group when Barney begins dating a Japanese conceptual artist who monopolizes his time and drives them away from their barbershop roots. Eventually, an issue of Us magazine's "What's Hot and What's Not" notes that the band is "not", prompting the Be Sharps to split up and return to their old jobs.

In the present, after putting his children to bed, Homer calls Skinner, Apu and Barney to arrange a reunion. The next day, the reunited group perform "Baby on Board" on the roof of Moe's. The impromptu concert is cheered on by several people in Springfield, except Harrison, who dismissively remarks "It's been done", and Wiggum, who prepares to release tear gas on his former bandmates.

Jeff Martin, a fan of the Beatles, wrote the episode.

One of the writers for The Simpsons suggested that they should create an episode that focuses on Homer in a barbershop quartet and "a big parody of the Beatles." The episode was written by Jeff Martin, who was an "obsessive" Beatles fan, making him "a natural to write [the episode]."[3] Mark Kirkland, a "huge" Beatles fan, directed the episode, and ensured that the Beatles references were accurate. Kirkland enjoyed directing the episode because unlike other episodes he directed, he did not experience any trouble animating "Homer's Barbershop Quartet". The animators liked creating the Beatles gags and enjoyed the barbershop music. After the animators synchronized the audio track, music, and animation, they "just fell in love" with it. They also enjoyed working on the choreography of the Be Sharps and trying to match the characters' movements with the music. They were inspired by the 1970 Beatles film Let It Be, including the shots of the band in the recording studio where they decide to break up. Kirkland did not think there was anything "spectacular" in the episode's animation, but he and his animation team "just loved" working on it.[4]

The Dapper Dans, a barbershop quartet, partly provided the singing voices of the Be Sharps in the episode.

In a scene in the episode, Lisa sees a man selling an original Malibu Stacy doll from 1958 that has big, pointed breasts. The man, nicknamed "Wiseguy" by the show's staff, tells Lisa that "they took [the doll] off the market after some kid put both his eyes out." The joke received a censor note from the Fox network's censors because they did not want such jokes on the show, but the producers ignored the note and the joke appeared in the episode when it aired.[5]

The Be Sharps' singing voices were partly provided by the four members of The Dapper Dans, a barbershop quartet that performs at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Before working on the episode, Martin had seen one of the quartet's performances and enjoyed it. When the episode's production began, he contacted the quartet, and they agreed to make a guest appearance in the episode. The Dapper Dans' singing was intermixed with the normal voice actors' voices, often with a regular voice actor singing the melody and The Dapper Dans providing backup.[3]

George Harrison guest stars in the episode as himself. He was the second Beatles member after Ringo Starr (in "Brush with Greatness") to appear on The Simpsons. When Harrison arrived at the recording studio in West Los Angeles to record his lines, the casting director told the episode's show runners, Al Jean and Mike Reiss, that Harrison was coming and that they were not allowed to tell anybody about it because it was intended to be a secret to the staff. Jean, Reiss, and the show's creator Matt Groening went to see Harrison in the studio, and when they returned to the writer's room, Groening, unaware that it was supposed to be a secret, said, "Guess who I just met! George Harrison!"[6] Harrison arrived at the studio by himself, without any entourage or bodyguards. Groening recalls that Harrison was "pretty glum," and he was unenthusiastic when the staff asked him questions about the Beatles. However, when Groening asked Harrison about the Wonderwall Music album, he suddenly "perked up" because it was one of his solo albums that he was rarely questioned on. Harrison's guest appearance was one of Groening's favorites because he was "super nice" and "very sweet" to the staff.[5] Jean said it was a "huge thrill" to have him appear.[6] David Crosby also makes a guest appearance in the episode as himself, and appears in the scene in which he presents a Grammy Award to the Be Sharps.[7]

"Homer's Barbershop Quartet" was a hold-over episode from the season four production line. It was chosen to air as the fifth season's premiere episode because it guest starred Harrison. The Fox network executives wanted to premiere with Conan O'Brien's episode "Homer Goes to College" because of its parody of the 1978 comedy film National Lampoon's Animal House, but the writers felt "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" would be a better choice because of Harrison's involvement.[6] The episode originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on September 30, 1993.[8] It was included in a 2002 video collection of selected musical-themed episodes titled The Simpsons: Backstage Pass.[9] The episode was also included in The Simpsons season five DVD set, which was released on December 21, 2004.[10]

The episode makes numerous references to the Beatles. Their first album, Meet the Be Sharps, is a parody of the Meet the Beatles! album. Moe's Tavern changes its name to Moe's Cavern, a reference to the Cavern Club in Liverpool where the Beatles frequently performed in the early 1960s.[2] Chief Wiggum, thrown out of the band because he was "too Village People,"[1] mirrors Pete Best, an early member of the Beatles who was replaced by Ringo Starr.[6] Like Ringo Starr, Apu is given a stage name: Apu de Beaumarchais.

The cover of Bigger Than Jesus, the Be Sharps' second album, features the group walking on water, and is a visual parody of the art on the Beatles' album Abbey Road. The name is a reference to a controversial quote made by John Lennon in 1966. Bart references this by asking, "What did you do [to lose your popularity]? Screw up like the Beatles and say you were bigger than Jesus?" Homer replies, "All the time. That was the title of our second album."[1] At the end of the episode, the album's back cover is revealed, on which Homer is seen turned away from the camera, as opposed to the rest of the band. This is a parody of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band LP reverse, in which Paul McCartney is in the same position.[6] Barney's Japanese conceptual artist girlfriend is a parody of Yoko Ono.[2] Their song repeats the phrase "Number 8" and a burp by Barney, a reference to the Beatles' "Revolution 9". While Barney plays this song to the group, the members are seen standing in such a way to resemble a photograph of The Beatles in their studio with Yoko Ono. The group performing atop Moe's Tavern at the end of the episode is a parody of the Beatles' impromptu concert on the Apple Corps rooftop during their Get Back recording sessions in 1969, hence George Harrison's line, "It's been done."[2] In addition, the Be Sharps are wearing the same outfits as the Beatles during the rooftop concert scene: Barney in a brown fur coat (John), Homer in a bright red coat (Ringo), Skinner in a black suit (Paul), and Apu in a black Mongolian lamb coat with green trousers (George).[4] After the performance, Homer says, "I'd like to thank you on behalf of the group and I hope we passed the audition," paraphrasing a quote by John Lennon at the end of the Beatles rooftop performance.[2]

At the swap meet, Mayor Quimby says "Ich bin ein Springfield Swap Meet Patron," a parody of John F. Kennedy's famous Cold War quote. Homer browses through a box with items that cost five cents each. These include the United States Declaration of Independence, a copy of Action Comics #1, a complete block of Inverted Jenny misprint postal stamps, and a Stradivarius violin.[1] Principal Skinner tries on his former Vietnam prison mask with the number 24601, notable as Jean Valjean's prison number in Les Misérables.[3] Homer buys Grampa a pink Cadillac, just as Elvis Presley did for his mother.[2] One of the late night television shows Chief Wiggum watches is Johnny Carson doing his Carnac the Magnificent routine, wearing a fez instead of the Classic turban.[7] Homer mentions that 1985 was the year that Joe Piscopo left the NBC sketch show Saturday Night Live.[1] Moe sells oyster shells at the swap meet that resemble Lucille Ball.[3] The name of the recording studio Homer and his group records at is called Desilu Studios, which is a reference to the real Desilu Studios run by Lucille Ball and her husband Desi Arnaz. Homer begins telling the story of the Be Sharps by saying, "Rock and roll had become stagnant. 'Achy Breaky Heart' was seven years away; something had to fill the void. That something was barbershop."[1] Homer references Al Capone's Vault by Geraldo Rivera while writing a new song for the group. The Be Sharps beat the Dexys Midnight Runners at the Grammys and remarks, "you haven't heard the last of them." At the Grammy ceremony, Spinal Tap, Aerosmith, Michael Jackson (Leon Kompowsky) and George Harrison are all at the post awards reception and MC Hammer in the audience.[2] While Bart and Lisa browse through LP albums at the swap meet, they find a recording of "Yankee Doodle" by Melvin and the Squirrels, a band that spoofs Alvin and the Chipmunks.[2] When the Be Sharps perform "Goodbye, My Coney Island Baby" next to the Statue of Liberty President Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy Reagan attend the ceremony.[11]

Wikiquote has quotations related to "Homer's Barbershop Quartet".

• "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" at IMDb
• "Homer's Barbershop Quartet episode capsule". The Simpsons Archive.