Sideshow Bob Roberts

Sideshow Bob calls local right-wing talk show host Birch Barlow and complains about being unfairly imprisoned for attempted murder.[N 1] Barlow incites Springfield's residents to pressure Mayor Quimby into releasing Sideshow Bob. After his release, Bob becomes the Republican candidate for the Springfield mayoral election. Bart and Lisa attempt to prevent Bob's election by aiding Quimby's campaign. However, after Quimby falls ill after a meet-and-greet with senior citizens and takes 'extra drowsy' cold and flu medicine, he loses a mayoral debate and Bob wins in a landslide.

Abusing his office, Bob proceeds to make the Simpsons' lives miserable, demoting Bart to kindergarten and threatening to demolish their house to build a new expressway. Bart and Lisa suspect the election was rigged but are unable to find any proof. Waylon Smithers, who worked for Sideshow Bob's campaign but fears Bob's ultraconservative views conflict with Smithers' "choice of lifestyle", tells them to find a voter named Edgar Neubauer. Having not found it in the library or the telephone directory, Bart finds the name on a tombstone at the cemetery. When he and Lisa check other names on voting rolls, they notice that most voters for Bob are long dead, including celebrities such as The Big Bopper and pet animals such as Lisa's beloved cat Snowball.

Sideshow Bob is put on trial for electoral fraud. He is tricked into confessing and providing incriminating evidence when Bart and Lisa insinuate that Barlow committed the crime as Bob lacks the intelligence to plan it. Bob is found guilty, stripped of his position and sent to a minimum-security prison. With all of his mayoral decisions nullified and reversed, the Simpsons' house is saved, the expressway is put on hold, Bart returns to his proper grade, and Quimby reclaims his job as Springfield's rightful mayor.

The episode was the fourth appearance of Kelsey Grammer as Sideshow Bob.

Although the episode primarily mocks the Republican Party, the writers included several jokes at the expense of the Democratic Party, liberal and conservative politics, to try to be as neutral as possible.[2] Writers Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein were very interested in the Watergate scandal and based a lot of the second act on that.[3] Mark Kirkland directed the episode.[1]

The episode sees Kelsey Grammer return as Sideshow Bob for his fourth appearance. Clips from previous episodes featuring Bob were used to remind viewers who he was and what he had done.[2] Bob's Cape Fear musical cue from the episode "Cape Feare" is also reused.[3] Showrunner David Mirkin found directing Grammer "a joy". Dr. Demento also guest-starred, as did Larry King for the second time,[2] while Henry Corden voices Fred Flintstone on the Flintstones toy phone.[4] One of the prisoners in Bob's campaign advert is a caricature of producer Richard Sakai.[2] The "Les Wynan" joke was pitched by Mike Reiss.[3] The episode does not feature a chalkboard or couch gag, cutting straight from the clouds to the TV. The 1994 original airing and some syndication edits have included a couch gag.[4]

The episode contains the first use of the word "meh" in the show.[5] Writer John Swartzwelder claims credit for introducing the word to the writers. "I originally heard the word from Howie Krakow, my creative director at Hurvis, Binzer & Churchill, in 1970 or 1971," Swartzwelder told The New Yorker in 2021. "He said it was the funniest word in the world. I don’t know when it was invented, or by who, but I got the impression it was already very old when Howie told it to me."[6] The word, which was later included in the Collins English Dictionary, is credited as being popularized by the show, principally following its usage in the season twelve episode "Hungry, Hungry Homer".[7][8][9] In "Sideshow Bob Roberts", the word is used by the librarian who provides Lisa with the town's voting records, in response to her questioning their unclassified nature.[5]

Much of the episode is based on the Watergate scandal, as well as other real-life political events.[3] The two Republicans who follow Bob around were based on H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, two of Richard Nixon's closest advisors during Watergate.[3] Sideshow Bob's campaign advert was based on the famous Willie Horton and "Revolving Door" political advertisements used by George H. W. Bush during the 1988 United States presidential election.[3][10] Birch Barlow's question to Mayor Quimby about whether his stance on crime would differ if it was his family being attacked is a reference to Bernard Shaw's similar question to Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis during the 1988 presidential debates.[3] Quimby's appearance during the debate parodies Richard Nixon's appearance during his first televised debate with John F. Kennedy during the 1960 presidential election. Nixon sweated considerably throughout, which was detrimental to the impression he made in the debate.[3]

Quimby's appearance in his debate was based on Richard Nixon's (right) debate with John F. Kennedy (left) before the 1960 presidential election.

The episode features several references to the film All the President's Men, which chronicled Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's investigation of the Watergate scandal. These include the pull-out of Lisa looking over the voting records, the music, and the clandestine meeting with Smithers in a parking garage.[3] The end court scene, as well as Sideshow Bob's speech, echo the 1992 film A Few Good Men, including Jack Nicholson's speech with the line "You can't handle the truth!".[2][4] Bob's sudden confession that he did rig the election was a vague reference to "every episode of Perry Mason".[11] Sideshow Bob gives his acceptance speech underneath a giant poster with a picture of himself on it; this is a reference to the campaign speech scene in Citizen Kane.[4] The title of the episode and several plot elements, including Bob entering Burns' meeting draped in an American flag, are references to the 1992 film Bob Roberts.[3][4]

The character Birch Barlow is a take-off of American talk show host and political commentator Rush Limbaugh.[4] Barlow mentions Colonel Oliver North, Officer Stacey Koon and advertising mascot Joe Camel as being "intelligent conservative[s], railroaded by our liberal justice system".[1] Also, the language spoken at Republican Party headquarters is inspired by Enochian, a language associated with occult and Satanic ceremonies.[3]

The Springwood Minimum Security Prison is a parody of Allenwood Minimum Security Prison.[10] When Lisa drives, she is listening to "St. Elmo's Fire" by John Parr,[4] a choice David Mirkin found "very sad".[2] Archie Comics characters Archie Andrews, Reggie Mantle, Moose Mason and Jughead Jones are shown throwing Homer on the Simpsons' lawn and warning him to "stay out of Riverdale!"[1][2] Some of the deceased voters are Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper, who all died in a plane crash on February 3, 1959.[12] The epitaph on The Big Bopper's gravestone is "Gooooodbye, Baby!" a reference to the opening line of his song "Chantilly Lace" – "Hellooo Baby!".[2] Finally, the Simpsons' home being demolished to make way for the "Matlock Expressway" is a very slight reference to the opening of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.[2]

David L.G. Arnold comments in the book Leaving Springfield that the episode is a satire on "society's lazy, uninformed attitude about the electoral process", as well as "a comment on the role in society of a cadre of elites (the Republican party) who see themselves as naturally suited to lead". The episode also portrays Republicans as willing to break the law in order to achieve this; in this case, Bob commits electoral fraud. This is most displayed in Bob's line: "Your guilty conscience may force you to vote Democratic, but deep down inside you secretly long for a cold-hearted Republican to lower taxes, brutalize criminals, and rule you like a king. That's why I did this: to protect you from yourselves."[13]

Matthew Henry writes in the same book that the episode "well illustrates the battle of [political] ideologies [...] and its engagement with the politics of sexuality". He refers to the scene where Smithers intimates that Bob rigged the election; his motivation for whistleblowing is Bob's conservative policies, which disagree with his "choice of lifestyle", namely his homosexuality. Henry concludes the scene shows that conservative politics and homosexuality "cannot coexist" and that the scene marks the point where Smithers' sexuality became "public and overtly political".[14]

Wikiquote has quotations related to "Sideshow Bob Roberts".

• "Sideshow Bob Roberts episode capsule". The Simpsons Archive.
• "Sideshow Bob Roberts" at IMDb