Stark Raving Dad

Lisa wakes Bart up and reminds him that her birthday is coming up and that he neglects or forgets her birthday every year. Bart promises to get her the best present ever. Meanwhile, Bart washes his red hat in with a white load, and Homer has no choice but to wear a pink shirt to work. As a result, Mr. Burns has Homer detained for being a "free thinking anarchist". He is examined by Dr. Marvin Monroe who administers a 20 question quiz that Homer has Bart fill out. The results cause Homer to be sent to a mental institution, where he shares a cell with a large white man who thinks he is Michael Jackson. Not knowing who Michael Jackson is, Homer believes him.

Marge comes to visit Homer and convinces his doctors that Bart is the primary cause of Homer's problems. Homer gets the official certificate that says he is not insane. Homer calls and tells Bart that he is bringing Michael Jackson to stay for a few days (he says it softly, in a non-threatening tone, to avoid having to stay in the hospital). Bart lets the word out and all of Springfield turns out to see Michael Jackson. All the town's excitement is deflated when the faux Michael is revealed by Homer.

Lisa is upset when she realizes that Bart has yet again failed to acknowledge her birthday, due to the fact the Bart found out that "Michael" was coming. After hearing Lisa writing an angry letter to Bart, "Michael" convinces Bart to let him help. They take a while, but eventually write a song specifically for Lisa's birthday. Lisa is thrilled and hugs her brother, saying that he has given her the best present ever. Suddenly, "Michael" reveals that he is Leon Kompowsky, a brick-layer from Paterson, New Jersey. He explains that he does his Michael voice due to the fact he felt angry for the majority of his life and that he earned people's respect when he did the vocal impersonation. With his confidence renewed after composing a good song, he soon bids farewell to the Simpsons, singing Lisa's Birthday song to himself as he strolls off down the road.

A pop version of the song is played during the credits, sung by Leon and Bart and featuring Lisa on her saxaphone.

[edit] Production

[edit] Casting

The real Michael Jackson performed the speaking voice (not singing) of the white man under the pseudonym Jon Jay Smith. The producers of the show were also legally prevented from confirming this at the time, and would only say "read between the lines". On the Season 3 DVD commentary for the episode, the show's producers confirmed it was Michael Jackson who did the voice. While Michael Jackson performed the voice work for the character, all his singing was sung by Kipp Lennon.

Jackson also composed the song Happy Birthday Lisa (a.k.a. Lisa It's Your Birthday). Although the Lennon's version was featured in the televised episode, Jackson has also recorded a remixed version featuring him singing with Bart (Nancy Cartwright) that was intended to be officially released on a special edition of his Dangerous album.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Alternate opening

On January 27, 1992 then-current President George H. W. Bush made a speech during his re-election campaign that reignited the feud between the Simpsons and the Bushes. At that point family values were the cornerstone of Bush's campaign platform. So he gave the following speech at the National Religious Broadcaster's convention in Washington. "The next value I speak of must be forever cast in stone. I speak of decency, the moral courage to say what is right and condemn what's wrong, and we need a nation closer to the Waltons than the Simpsons. An America that rejects the incivility, the tide of incivility and the tide of intolerance".^[1]

The next broadcast of the Simpsons was a rerun of "Stark Raving Dad" on January 30. The broadcast included a new opening, which was a response to Bush's speech. The scene begins in the Simpsons living room. Homer, Patty, and Selma sit on couch. Maggie is in her high chair next to the couch. Bart and Lisa are sprawled on the carpet. They all stare at the TV, watching Bush's speech. When Bush says "We need a nation closer to the Waltons than the Simpsons", Bart replies "Hey, we're just like the Waltons. We're praying for an end to the Depression, too".^[1] This opening can be found on the Season 4 DVD boxset. The animation for this scene was recycled from the Season 2 episode Simpson and Delilah.

[edit] Unproduced sequel

A year after the episode aired, the writers decided to make a sequel where Leon Kompowsky returns and thinks he is the musician Prince.^[2] It was slated to air during the fifth season.^[3] According to Mike Reiss, it was written by some freelance writers and polished by Conan O'Brien,^[2] however, Bill Oakley says it was written by O'Brien.^[3] According to Reiss, the plot of the episode saw Kompowsky/Prince manage to get everyone in the town to "loosen up, become more flamboyent and become more sexually open."^[2]

The script was sent to Prince who agreed and sent back a page of notes about what he would be wearing in various scenes. The writers were confused when the notes didn't correspond to the script and it was soon found out that Prince was referring to a completely different script. Accounts of who wrote the script vary, according to Reiss it was just sent to him by someone,^[2] Oakley says a friend of Prince's wrote it^[3] and in an interview Matt Groening said Prince's chauffeur wrote it.^[4] Prince hated the writer's script and demanded the other one be made, but the writers didn't like it.^[2] The episode eventually fell through and never made it past written form. It became one of the few completed scripts to never be produced.^[2]

[edit] Cultural references

The episode title is a play on the popular saying "Stark Raving Mad", suitably appropriate for the episode.
Homer watches America's Funniest Home Videos where the three nominated clips are all extremely over the top violent.
In the hospital Homer has to do the Rorschach Test.
Many of the scenes in the hospital (including the character "Chief") are directly out of the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, based on Ken Kesey's novel of the same name.
One of the mental patients is Hannibal Lecter.
Homer has no idea who Michael Jackson is. Even when Michael sums up several things which made him famous, such as Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever (where Jackson first performed his famous moonwalk), MTV, Beat it, Thriller and Billie Jean (Michael even sings and performs his moonwalk, complete with high screams and grabbing his crotch) he still does not have a clue.
Michael demonstrates how to do the moonwalk, but it causes Homer to go forward instead of backwards.
Michael says people thought he was crazy for the way he dressed and references his famous white glove.
When Homer reaches the hospital phone to call Marge the names of various talk show hosts can be read on the pre-programmed buttons. These include Larry King, Oprah Winfrey, Phil Donahue, Geraldo Rivera and Ski Report.
When Bart tells Marge Homer is in the hospital he hums the tune of Beat it and performs the moonwalk himself.
When Marge phones the hospital she is told to wait a few moments. The muzak she hears is the song "Crazy" by Patsy Cline, which causes her to cry.
The song Michael sings to make Homer get thru the night is Ben. This was Michael's first solo hit, while he was still a boy. When Homer starts mumbling in his sleep, Michael tells his stuffed animal: "Bubbles, it's going to be a long night." Bubbles was the name of Michael Jackson's chimpanzee.
Bart tells Michael he cannot write a song for Lisa, because he's only 10 years old. Michael tells him: "When I was your age I had six golden records," a reference to the fact that Michael Jackson's career started around that age, while he was a member of the Jackson Five.
Bart shows Michael his Thriller album. It was and still is the biggest selling music album of all time, so it can be found in many houses all over the world.

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b Turner p. 225-226
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Reiss, Mike. (2003). The Simpsons season 3 DVD Easter Egg commentary for the episode "Stark Raving Dad" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
^ ^a ^b ^c Oakley, Bill. "Ask Bill and Josh Q&A Thread - Post #24", NoHomers.net, 2005-10-25. Retrieved on 2008-03-04.
^ George Rush and Joanna Rush Molloy. "In the Fox family, they live in fear of a Bart attack", New York Daily News, 2007-05-04. Retrieved on 2008-03-04.