Moe, with help from Smithers, turns his tavern into a gay bar for the average homosexual man — and face competition from a glitzy, stereotypical camp gay disco across the street. Meanwhile, Principal Skinner forces Bart to spend time with a substitute teacher's daughter while he gets cozy with the substitute.
Tropes:
- Aside Glance: Right before kissing Smithers, Moe says he has nothing to lose and glances at the camera.
- The Bear: One of the bar patrons Grizzly Shawn, as his name suggests, fits this stereotype. There is also Comic Book Gay, who looks like Comic Book Guy with a moustache.
- Call-Back: Moe has pictures of how he changed his bar in Homer the Moe (where Moe turns his bar into a hipster nightclub while Homer turns his garage into a bar for average Joes), Bart Sells His Soul (the subplot of Moe turning his bar into a kitschy family restaurant), and Mommie Beerest (Moe teaming up with Marge to make an English pub).
- Coming Straight Story: Moe pretends to be gay to keep his new patrons happy. Thanks to Smithers, Moe admits to them that he's straight in the end.
- Empathic Environment: Parodied, near the end, as the cultured gay in the crowd make a speech about how even the very heavens themselves should scorn on the events, stormclouds gather and thunders are heard. Julio actually lampshades this and asks him how he does that (apparently, Classical education's the trick).
- Falling-in-Love Montage: Principal Skinner runs after the new music teacher Calliope Juniper who is sitting in the grass with children. He's knocked down, then opens his eyes shown through the Eye Cam and sees Calliope. He has a long Fantasy Sequence with images of them being together, getting closer and falling in love. Set to "Jennifer Juniper" by Donovan. They run in the meadow full of flowers, then fly on a giant paper plane, jump on a horse shaped like Willie and ride into school cafeteria where their food they are served is shaped like hearts. Then Calliope plays the guitar shaped like Skinner's head and he keeps humming.
- Hippy Teacher: Calliope, the substitute music teacher."You can't teach music. You embrace music. Oh, you inhale music. You roll around in a pile of music until...the scent of music is on you, forever."
- Hypocritical Humor: When Moe says that, like all male gays, he loves all male gays. Comic Book Gays decries it as the most treacherous stereotype but, when another gay asks him out for a date, he says he agrees regardless of whoever said that.
- Inopportune Voice Cracking: Calliope invites a nervous Skinner to dance at the pizza place and finally admits she likes him. He asks, "But why?" as his voice cracks, then clears his throat and repeats the question in a deliberately much deeper voice.
- Mistaken for Gay: The gay patrons think Moe is one of them, and he tries to run with it just to keep them from leaving the bar (while also being convinced to run for the elections to represent the gay community). Smithers forces him to admit the truth.
- Noodle Incident: When Moe mentions the times he has changed his bar, the first three are continuity nods (The Nag and Weasel, M, and Uncle Moe's Family Feedbag), but at some point he dreamed that he made a 60's themed bar and painted it.
- One-Steve Limit: Defied. Dewey Largo gets a boyfriend in this episode, also named Dewey.
- Pet Heir: After all the evil organizations, the last beneficiary of Burns' will is his pet turtle, towards whom he has more respect than Smithers.
- Shout-Out: Bart has a Buzz Spaceyear toy and wants it to come to life.
- Something Else Also Rises: When Calliope, the substitute teacher, accepts Principal Skinner's offer for a date the cheese volcano behind him erupts.
- Strange Minds Think Alike: Once Mr. Burns' daily half hour of sanity ends, he starts riding his lawyer while he imagines he's riding a dinosaur. When Homer entered Burns' office, he also believed a dinosaur was there.
- Transparent Closet: As Moe notes, his opponent in the election is so anti-gay he’s actually secretly super gay.Julio: Now we don’t know who to vote for: the liar or the denier?
- Uncanny Family Resemblance: Comic Book Guy's cousin Comic Book Gay looks like Comic Book Guy with a moustache.
- Where Everybody Knows Your Flame: Smithers gets Moe to redesign his bar to cater to Springfield's resident gay population that doesn't fit in with the very trendy, upscale gay bar that opened literally across the street. Moe's (now redubbed Mo's) looks a lot more like a real gay bar would, a little class and a mixed but average clientele, while the competition is the loud, thumping, laser-and-fog-filled night club stocked (very intentionally) with a bevy of hunks that look like they just stepped off the catwalk.
