Bart finds out that he's not the greatest prankster of Springfield Elementary School and that the former prankster (Andy Hamilton) is a late-teenage slacker. Meanwhile, Marge is chastised by her fellow moms over not serving healthy snacks.
"Pranks and Greens" contains examples of:
- Basement-Dweller: Andy lives with his mother when Bart finds him.
- "Blind Idiot" Translation: When Milhouse's line about wondering what Andy's sidekick is like was translated for Brazilian viewers, it was changed to make it sound like he's wondering how Andy kicks.
- Chalk Outline: There's a picture of one next to a headline that reads "Nerd Stands Up to Bully".
- Coincidental Broadcast: Skinner is watching TV when Bart mentions his Dark and Troubled Past Freudian Excuse.Watch the Krusty Show, they tell me. You'll forget all your troubles, they tell me.
- Convenient Photograph: Following a mysterious two-week gap in school newspaper installments, a photograph appears showing Skinner, previously a Cool Teacher, as the strict guy we know today (seated ramrod-straight by a desk plaque that reads "SIT QUIETLY"). In the background, Willie is visible filling in the school's old swimming pool, tipping Bart and Lisa off to the fact that he might know about the prank that changed Skinner forever.
- Cool Teacher: Skinner used to be this and was completely transformed by a traumatic prank from Andy.
- The Chain of Harm: Andy's worm prank kicked off one, turning Skinner into an Apathetic Teacher who did nothing to help Bart when he was struggling his first days of school leading to Bart becoming The Prankster, who in turn tuned Edna into an Apathetic Teacher. This goes completely over Bart's head who admires the prank.
- Detachable Doorknob: Bart and Milhouse go to the house of a former Springfield Elementary School prankster named Andy. Bart grabs the doorknob only to realize that it was super glued and came off the door.
- Disproportionate Retribution: The other mothers have no tolerance for even slightly unhealthy snacks, and will take their children to hospital for eating them. In the second case, they even flag down an ambulance and kick a patient out because of their overprotectiveness.
- Jerkass Ball: Even after Andy gets a job, Lisa still calls him a loser just because he became a comedy show writer.
- Offscreen Teleportation: In one scene, Principal Skinner is at the parking lot seeing his car's motor being floated away. While Bart is at the school's roof laughing at that prank, Skinner suddenly appears behind him.
- Oh, No... Not Again!: When Bart learns Andy ordered prank-grade worms for the Krusty Show, he's afraid Krusty'll become embittered like it happened to Principal Skinner but it turns out the worms are for a joke where Krusty says he wanted "warm" water instead of "worm" water.
- Runaway Bride: Inverted. Due to one of Andy's pranks, a bride does not show up at her wedding. Not because she got cold feet but because her plane was rerouted to Nairobi, stranding her there!Andy: And, of course, the "fake heart attack on an international flight". They had to land the plane in Nairobi![a photograph of the incident shows an irritated young woman wearing a bridal gown.]
- Skewed Priorities: For the mothers, their children's health after eating food that's only 99% healthy is more important than saving the life of the person they kicked out of an ambulance.
- Victimized Bystander: One of Andy's pranks causes a young woman to miss her own wedding when the plane she was a passenger on is rerouted elsewhere due to Andy faking a heart attack in mid-flight. Andy finds this especially amusing.
- Writers Suck: Lisa calls Andy a loser for the last time when she finds out he became a writer on Krusty's show. This then continues into the credits.
