I have always been a huge fan of The Simpsons, one of my all time favorite cartoons.  It was never as crass and crude as Family Guy or American Dad, and still retains its wit and clever humor as it enters its 20th Season this year.  I watched every episode from Season’s 1 through 10 religiously as I was growing up in my early pre-teen and teen years.  Remember, after 20 years, I grew up watching The Simpsons and started when I was almost 11 years old two decades ago.  This show has been on longer than any other Television show that isn’t a Soap Opera.

So during the last eight seasons and especially the last four I have missed a whole bunch of episodes here and there and there are Swiss cheese holes in my episode guide of The Simpsons.  As a result I was trying to catch up on some recently missed episodes, and found the perfect web site called “Watch the Simpsons Online“.  This Site is styled like a YouTube site but categorizes all 19 seasons of the Simpsons and includes many shorts and extras.  You can do a search of any subject and find episodes that match, or you can click “Random” and it will randomly select an episode from the more than 300 episodes for you to watch.  The best part is the show is commercial free and no commercial introduction either.

The quality is marginally better than a YouTube video, but without commercials each episode is barely 21 minutes long.  Since The Simpsons is a cartoon, the low resolution video isn’t too bad to watch, and since you listen to the show more than watch it in many cases, it is easily enjoyable even with lower resolution.  I love just having it rolling in the background on my PC while I do other things.  Just hearing the famous words of Homer Simpson like:

Homer’s Letter: “I Owe you one Emergency Doughnut – Homer”
Homer: “Bastard, He’s always one Step Ahead”

or

“First you get the Sugar, then you get the power, then you get the Women”

or

“No TV and No Beer make Homer go Something Something”

Seriously, I can spew Homer quotes by the hundreds, one of the most iconic characters in Television history.
So everyone out there who is a fan of The Simpsons, go to Watch The Simpsons Online, and catch up on some missed episodes or Click random and roll down memory lane.

-Dragon Blogger

So, I am going to turn this post into a Socialspark opp, tell me either your favorite Simpsons episode, or tell me your favorite Homer Simpson’s quote.

• Fellow Blogger Responses

Nadezna from Life According to Me, shares that her favorite episode of the Simpsons is #149 titled “22 Short Films About Springfield”.  She writes a very thorough review and lovely explanation on why it is her favorite episode.

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This is an tribute to all Mel Brooks fans out there.  I have been a longtime fan of just about every movie that Mel Brooks produces and directs and some of the classics are still some of the most fun movies in memory.  Blazing Saddles, Spaceballs, History of the World, Young Frankenstein are just some of the memorable classics.  Some of the more modern ones weren’t as drop dead funny but I enjoyed the ironic satire in Life Stinks and Robin Hood:  Men in Tights as well.

So in an effort to promote some fun and jog some memories here are some of my favorite quotes from Mel Brooks comedy movies:

“They said you was hung” “And they was right”

“Nurse, this man has been over medicated…. How does a thing like this happen?”

“Oh no, don’t do that. If you shoot him, you’ll just make him mad.”

“I’m a mog: half man, half dog. I’m my own best friend!”

“Barf… Puke… Whatever!”

“It’s Good to be King”

“Lord, mighty god, I give you these 15…..10 commandments.”

“We are now armed with mighty joint.”

“Put a little ice on it. You’ll be fine.”

“I am Asneeze, father of Ahchoo”  ”Bless You”

“Abby someone” “Abby Normal”

 

So does any of my fellow bloggers out there have favorite Mel Brooks films or linecomes?

I would love to hear your stories and favorite parts of Mel Brooks movies.

-Dragon Blogger

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I kid you not when I tell you that I am a real life Ben Stiller character.  Just like in almost all of Ben Stiller’s movies where he plays the “Down on his luck” guy who has bad things happen to him, bad luck or is always in the wrong place at the wrong time, my life works the same way.  If something can go wrong, something usually does.  Some of this is caused by my own clumsiness and I am accident prone sometimes.  So I decided to write a post about one of my Ben Stiller Moment’s as I like to call them.  Some people will find this funny at my expense, sure laugh about it now, I wasn’t laughing and was terribly embarrassed when it happened.

This event happened almost two years ago, I had taken my significant other out for a date at an Italian restaurant in Mesa.  The name of the place was Brunello’s which is an excellent Italian restaurant.  My favorite dish there is the Linguini with Clam Sauce.  We arrived at the restaurant dressed up and formal and we sat at the dinner table promptly.  The waiter had brought out our bread, and there were candles lit on our table with the lighting dimmed which created a very romantic atmosphere.

After spending a few minutes talking and ordering some wine and drinks, I had sliced some of the bread and buttered some for my spouse and then myself.  We still talked, smiled, drank and enjoyed each other’s company for several more minutes.  It was as if time stood still as it always does when you are savoring every moment.

This state would have went on forever had I not noticed the smell of something burning, I quickly surveyed the entire table and saw smoke rising from just behind the bread basket.  I realized to my horror, when I had flipped the cloth napkin covering the bread over, I had flipped it right on top of the candle.  I quickly pulled it back to see flames on the napkin, a charred and burned hole right through the center.  I dipped it quickly in my water dish and was able to put it out.

The smoke was a small amount but noticeable and I was terrified the sprinkler system above the table would trigger and douse the entire restaurant in water.  In this area I was very lucky, I was able to put the napkin out and hide the napkin with the black charred hole in the center so that the waiter wouldn’t see it.  I breathed a sigh of relief but my spouse was there and saw the whole incident and needless to say, romance turned into embarrassment and I could only imagine my spouse thinking “This is the man I married, a bumbling klutz”

This was actually an incident I was able to get over quickly, but it made a good story.  It was also a date that kind of went awry as the moment was ruined by my fumbling accident.

So reader’s, how many of you have had “Ben Stiller Moments”?

Let me know what embarrassing situations you have been in, dates gone awry, or any type of event where you can laugh about it now but were beet red in the face when it happened.

I will post my reader’s comments as updates below when they start to come in.

Jane posts one of her most embarrassing moments on her Purposes blog.  Which is probably not an uncommon embarrassment for people who live in such cold climates during the winter I would imagine.  Thank you for sharing one of your “Ben Stiller Moments” Jane.

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I have been a huge fan of USA Networks Psych since the very first episode.  James Roday plays the hyper perceptive detective Shawn Spencer who opens a fake psychic detective agency and is hired for cases for the Santa Barbara Policy Department.  His best friend Burton Guster (Gus) also assists him with cases in addition to working a full time job at a pharmaceutical company.  This show is extremely clever, the dynamics between James Roday (Shawn) and Dule Hill (Gus) are contagious.  You can’t help but laugh with their characters and imagine that the two actors must have the most fun in the world basically acting in a show where nearly everything is some sort of prank, word play, or spoof on anything in music, movies or television.  Every episode has Shawn referring to Gus as some exotic assistant name one such example is  “Lemongrass Gogolo”.  Comparing Gus to every black actor in Hollywood is one of the many spoof’s and fun poking at the token “black guy” in Hollywood.  “You look just like Denzel Washington in Glory” exclaims Shawn to Gus while they are investigating the death at a Civil War re-enactment.

Most shows have some lame episodes and some mediocre episodes, but with Psych 95% of all thee seasons are high quality content.  The most recent two episodes “Disco Didn’t Die.  It was Murdered” and “There Might Be Blood” are among the funniest out of all 3 seasons so far.  The intro to each show shows a childhood Shawn and Gus fooling around and getting some sort of lesson from Shawn’s dad about how to behave, act or think a certain way.  His hyper observant skills were drilled into him by his father who exhibits the same skills even more finely honed, this is quite evident in the episode “Disco Didn’t Die.  It was Murdered” when Shawn’s Dad Henry Spencer (played by Corbin Bernson who does a fine job) out “psychics” him at a court house.

The strained relationship between Shawn and his often too strict father Henry is softened as each episode progresses and Henry gains more and more respect for what Shawn does with his gift.  We see quite the bitter distaste for each other in the first 2 seasons and mutual respect start to grow between them in Season 3.  The progression of the characters makes the show even more enjoyable as the actor’s mesh very very well together.  The only thing that drag’s is that Shawn has a thing for the Junior Detective Juliet O’Hara (played by Maggie Lawson).  This seemed to grow quite obvious in the first two seasons, but seems to be omitted or greatly put on the back burner in Season 3 so far.

One of my other favorite shows is Monk, also on USA Network.  Though this show is labeled as a comedy, each episode leaves you feeling more and more sorry for the title character Adrian Monk.  There are some episodes, where you are just struck feeling so sorry for the character, that it kind of waffles between comedy and drama.  Tony Shalhoub is a superb actor and plays the character so well, it is no wonder why people come up to him in the street and hand him wipes.

Here is a YouTube video of a Psych Blooper, which they post at the end of every show and online so you can see an example of the humor of the show:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXfNPdAaHTs

Some of my other favorite comedies include:

Till Death – Brad Garrett is funnier on this show than he even was on Everybody Loves Raymond.  This is the ultimate comedy spoofing marriage, and I find it more amusing and realistic in your ability to relate than Married With Children ever was.  The dynamic between Brad and Joely Fisher are great, the funny thing is the show was very originally focused on comparing the “newly weds” next door with the long time married couple, and the show kind of sidelined the newly weds and solely focuses on Joy and Eddie which is what made the show much better in the later seasons than the original season in my opinion.

The Simpsons – A long running classic, I was watching this show when it first aired in the late 80′s and watched the first 12 seasons never missing an episode, in the last 5 or 6 years I have gotten so busy that I only catch an occasional episode here and there, but every time I do, I never regret it. The Simpsons is classic quality, and doesn’t have the shock or vulgarity of Family Guy or American Dad.  It still sticks to its roots in just pure clever parody and comedy of American culture.

I could go on about other shows, but I want to know what are your favorite comedy shows?  You can mention older shows that are only in syndication now like “Seinfeld” or new stuff that just started its first or second season.

Robin & Emz – writes about their favorite comedy shows (Friends and The Nanny) both were good shows, I remember watching The Nanny quite frequently.  Thanks for letting us know your favorite comedy shows Robin & Emz.

Idogcow – writes about Sports Night which was his favorite comedy, be sure to check out his comments on it.

Susan writes about her favorite TV Show “Everybody Loves Raymond” and gives a very detailed and thorough write up on her opinion and why.  This is another good show, there are other great ones like King of Queens with Kevin James.

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