Mr. Burns Explains the “Fiscal Cliff”

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We rarely – make that never – run promo clips from current series, but this one created for The Simpsons was produced in record time – and is pretty hilarious. It also promotes The Simpsons recent Annie nominations at the end. Cool.

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  • John

    Funny, but why’s the vocal track so lethargic?

    • Polecat

      I thought Burns’ voice sounded a bit “off”.

      • Sah Wan Sun

        kinda sounded like stewie griffin with a head cold.

    • joe

      I have to wonder if Harry Shearer was sick or something. That was a really weak delivery.

  • Stéphane Dumas

    A bit off-topic, it’s too bad we have to wait for next Spring for new episodes of South Park. It could had been interesting to know how Matt Stone & Trey Parker would had explained the fiscal cliff and it might less frightning then the bankruptcy cliff.

    On the other hand, if Phil Hartman was still with us, it should had been Troy McClure who should explain the fiscal cliff in some documentairy beginning with his cathphrase: “Hi I’m Troy McClure, you may remember me from (names some random documentairies)…”. ;-)

    • Julian

      I imagine South Park will be more along the lines of pointing at American and western society in general and it’s seeming acceptance to take more than it can pay for rather than pointing exclusively at certain politicians or stereotypes of people.

      • Jason

        South Park also has a bad habit of ‘truth being in the middle’ syndrome.
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_to_moderation

      • James

        I’ve noticed this as well. The last half-season didn’t deal with any sort of current event at all and certainly had no mention of the election, which falls in line with my perception that the series has become more non-partisan and veering away from party politics.

        I think the only one vaguely current was that one about TLC’s “Honey Boo-Boo”

  • Bill

    …well…it IS Monty Burns…after all…

  • Michel Van

    nasty funny analyzation of Republican & Rich,
    after Romney lost the election…

  • Pedro Nakama

    At least the animation industry is trying to explain it. All the news outlets aren’t.

  • Jeff

    There was another one of these before the election where Mr. Burns was talking about Mitt Romney strapping his dog to the roof of his car.
    http://youtu.be/ltCIEbLMaQg

  • Karl Hungus

    Class warfare claptrap. Its easier to ferment people’s bitterness about those who have the most wealth than to implement policies that create opportunity to invigorate the economy for everyone.
    The Simpsons has reached a grim milestone when its releasing political shorts on hot button issues to try to stay relavent rather than working to achieve the quality their show once had. They’ve given up.

    • Jason

      Given up on what? Simpsons does everything and anything especially if it’s a Treehouse of Horror episode.

      You just seem mad that a cartoon and the rest of the country disagrees with you in a funny and relevant way.

      • Stéphane Dumas

        I still wait for a Treehouse of Horror episode where Homer got his revenge on the panda who hurted him in “Homer vs Dignity”. ;-)

      • Mark

        Perhaps Jason it’s more about an industry populated by people whose intolerance for others with differing views is so draconian as to force people to hide in the shadows if they want to have or keep a career. Forget about getting a project made with a differing view.

        Regarding the Simpson’s specifically, considering the length of their run his criticism is valid. Most shows, animated or otherwise resort to gimmicks to stay relevent.

        As for the rest of the country disagreeing, the current admin didn’t win by a landslide and the same country that kept him also kept the opposing party in control of the House and governorships of the majority of states to the opposing party.

        Perhaps we just need to people who control the industry to practice the tolerance that they profess.

        • http://aceandson.com/blog Richard O’Connor

          You should go back and look at the numbers -they don’t lie.

          Barack Obama is the first man to win more than 50% of the vote twice since Ike. His party netted a few million more votes nationwide in the House.

          As the father of an animator once said: We’re all entitled to our own opinions, but not our own facts.

          • Mark

            Didn’t say he didn’t win, said it wasn’t a landslide, plus they didn’t take the House. Those are the facts….or do your facts say the Repulicans don’t control the House?

          • Jason

            The reason why Republicans got the House was due to gerrymandering. Pretending otherwise is dishonest.

        • Jason

          Oh god the persecution of cartoonbrew message board. WHEN WILL IT END?!

          • http://aceandson.com/blog Richard O’Connor

            Ugh. No, “Mark”, it was pretty much a landslide.

            Count the votes, look at the historical record. If you stand by your argument that the 2012 election wasn’t the one of the 3 strongest endorsements of a President in over a century, we’ll agree that you’re operating under a different set of facts.

            If this wasn’t a “landslide” nothing short of 1984 would give a President any authority. (1984 in which, coincidently, saw the President’s party pick up a few Congressional seats while still being in the minority).

  • http://www.moviecappa.blogspot.com Mike Caracappa

    Back in 19-a-dick-ity 3…we were supposed to say dick-ty then…. The Simpsons used to be a show that was actually about something. Of course back then, we also had to wear an onion on our belt. Which of course was the style at the time.

  • http://www.dudegurlz.com Kris Kail

    The funny thing about the Simpsons is that everything they do is great except the actual show itself, where as twenty years ago all the merchendise and promotional material was lackluster where as the show itself was amazing.

    • Ivan

      I’m so tired of reading posts like this every time Cartoon Brew posts a new Simpsons article. It doesn’t add anything new to the discussion.

      I picked up watching the Simpsons again some 3 years ago. I can honestly say that the current crop of writers are producing a couple of the funniest episodes in the last 10 years. True, not all episodes are great. But there are some real gems in the mix. A personal favorite is last year’s episode, “Holidays of Future Passed.”

      • Funkybat

        Agreed on the last 3-4 seasons of the Simpsons. I will admit that for most of the 2000s, the show ranged from mediocre to out-and-out BAD, and that between 2006 and 2008 or so I more or less stopped going out of my way to watch it. (And this is coming from someone who religiously videotaped EVERY episode upon first airing from 1990-2003.)

        I noticed things seemed to be changing shortly before they made the shift to HD aspect ratio, and although I feel the current show still suffers from too much stuff “on model” animation and some rather weak episode wrap-ups, the show has gotten a lot better when it comes to clever gags, meaningful emotional moments, and interesting story premises. MUCH less of the gimmicky, guest-star-as-him/herself kind of crap that was actually making me choose Family Guy over the Simpsons if I had to pick one to spend 22 minutes of my life watching. I’d say those roles have reversed, though I wouldn’t cry or gnash my teeth if either show started to move toward some kind of conclusion, at least as ongoing TV series.

        Nothing will ever top the first 7 years of the Simpsons, but at least the show is better than average television again.

  • James

    Also, the Simpsons had a fairly on-topic election short in which Homer Simpson votes for (sort of a sequel of to the “President McCain bit last election season) during this years THOH as an opening bit.

  • Scott

    I’m sorry, but the Simpson’s has been terrible since Brad Bird left the show and has never recovered. It’s a very pale imitation of what it once was. All the Fox animated shows feel like I’m having to sit through an endless Henny Youngman routine. It’s scary… really.

  • http://www.ghiblicon.blogspot.com Daniel Thomas MacInnes

    Well, let’s be fair. It’s nearly impossible for a TV show to remain relevant after 20+ seasons. Every possible story idea has been played out a dozen times over, and what was once cutting-edge satire is now commonplace. Besides, I’ve been hearing how The Simpsons jumped the shark every year since 1995.

    I thought this was a funny clip. People left of the dial don’t get many chances to rip on the Republicans, especially those of us who suffered through the George W. Bush years (uhh, shiver). Ah, well, don’t blame me, I voted for Kodos!