Recap / The Simpsons S3 E22 "The Otto Show"

Original air date: 4/23/1992

Production code: 8F21

After going to a Spinal Tap concert, Bart is fired up to be a rock star. Meanwhile, Otto the bus driver loses his license, his job, and his apartment and crashes with The Simpsons.

This episode contains examples of:

• 555: The School bus bumper has a sticker with the "How's my driving?" question and the phone number 555-8221.
• Actually Quite Catchy: While driving the bus, Principal Skinner sings along to the kids' "Hail to the Bus Driver" song even though it's meant to be insulting to the driver. ("He drinks and he cusses, He stinks up the busses.")
• A Day in the Limelight: For Otto Mann.
• …And That Little Girl Was Me: When Otto tells Lisa his version of the 'Maniac in the backseat' Urban Legend, he says he knows it because "I...was that maniac", resulting in a Skyward Scream from Lisa, and Homer making the decision to kick Otto out of the house.
  Otto: Hey, I was just kidding!
• Anyone Remember Pogs?: Homer finds a can of Billy Beer in his old concert jacket.
• Bait-and-Switch: After Homer tells Bart that he'll be okay waiting in the car because he spent some of his best moments in his teens in a car, we get a flashback of a make-out point where everyone there is in a car and having sex. We see Homer's rocking especially hard and hear Homer moaning. When we cut inside, it turns out that he's just eating a big stash of junk food.
  • When Bill and Marty interview Spinal Tap before their show, they ask them about how the band suddenly got a huge spike in popularity. You expect them to give some kind of vague platitude about determination or their artistic skill. Instead, they give a very detailed explanation of how the Fall of the Berlin Wall opened up a brand new market to sell their music, giving them a huge boost where there aren’t a lot of competition from existing groups.
• Baldness Mockery: When Homer, while sporting a fringe jacket he had from the '70s, leaves to drive Bart and Milhouse to the Spinal Tap concert, Patty mocks both his coat and his baldness, snarking, "There goes Davy Crockett and his baldskin cap!"
• Berserk Button: After Otto learns that Homer called him a sponge, he angrily punches a wall at the DMV and went inside to get his bus license.
• Big "SHUT UP!": While driving the school bus, Skinner is stuck outside of a very busy T-junction that won't let him in and, after the students already sung it once at the start of the hold-up, Ralph starts singing "Hail To The Bus Driver". This turns out to be the straw that breaks the camels back for Skinner.
  Ralph: (singing) He steps on the clutch and the toilet goes flush, hail to the—
  Skinner: SHUT UP!
• Bowdlerize: In British broadcasts, Bart's rock star fantasy is edited to remove him yelling, "Slag off!" when he's found drugged out in his dressing room.
• Brand Name Takeover: Referenced. Bart is appalled to see that Otto is reduced to living in a dumpster but Otto wishes he was classy enough for a real Dumpster and is instead stuck with a Trash-Co waste disposal unit.
• British Rockstar: Bart fantasizes about becoming one, actually looking forward to being a drugged-out mess who alienates his other bandmates and cares more about the excesses of Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll rather than making music.
  Milhouse: You changed, man! It used to be about the music!
  Bart: I said, slag off!
• Call-Back: When Bart quits guitar, Homer mentions that the guitar will go in the closet next to his shortwave radio, karate uniform, and unicycle. The radio is referring to his Mr. Microphone from "Radio Bart" and the karate outfit is from him briefly taking karate class in "When Flanders Failed". The unicycle however did not have an episode.
• City Shout Outs: Spinal Tap uses this to rev up the Springfieldians, though David St. Hubbins needs the name of the town taped to the back of his guitar to remember it, and when they're forced to end the set he says "Good night, Springton" by mistake.
• Comically Missing the Point:
  • Otto thinks he's supposed to run down the traffic cones on the driving test course.
  • When Otto was kicked out of his apartment:
  Otto: Can I at least get my stuff?
  Landlord: All I found in there was a jar of mustard and a couple of old 'Cycle' magazines.
  Otto: Whoa! ...I had mustard?!
  • In their interview, Spinal Tap says they can't think of anyone who benefitted more from the fall of the Iron Curtain than them... until they think about all those countries behind the Curtain.
  • This exchange:
  Homer: Alright, he can stay. But I get to treat him like garbage!
  Otto: Wow! What's the catch?
  • When the school bus crashes, the rear bumper, which carries a "How's my Driving?" sticker with phone number, falls off the bus and bounces in front of a group of witnesses to the crash. All of the witnesses run to the phones to call the number to report the bad driving, instead of running to the school bus to help the crash victims.
• Cool Teacher: Patty when Otto expresses hatred for Homer. She gives him every answer to the written word test, spends the practical test laughing at stories of Homer's stupidity, and offers to take Otto out for drinks after. He ends up getting his license, but it's on a probationary basis.
• Couch Gag: Santa’s Little Helper is asleep on the couch. When the family comes in, he wakes up and growls ferociously, causing the family to back away slowly.
• Dad the Veteran: When Marge asks Otto why he can't stay with his parents, Otto explains that he and "the admiral" don't get along.
• Department of Major Vexation: Surprisingly averted.
  • The first time Otto applies for a driver's license, he gets a written exam from Patty almost immediately. He doesn't seem to wait long for the driving test either. Patty also does her job responsibly, noting that Otto failed every part of the driving test and misspelled "bus" on his application form.
  • The second time he applies for a license, not only does he get immediate service from Patty, she helps him cheat on the written exam and flat-out ignores all his failures on the driving exam. She does this after learning that Otto shares her loathing of Homer and he tells her a bunch of embarrassing stories about Homer.
• Dreadful Musician: Zigzagged. Bart struggles to learn the guitar, and thinks it's broken. When Otto tests the guitar for Bart, he rocks it with a skill to match any famous musician.
• Drives Like Crazy: Otto, of course. He drives like a maniac trying to get the kids to school after he makes them late, utterly fails to pass his driving test the first time (and would have failed the second time if Patty didn't help him cheat) and has apparently had fifteen crashes.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Otto attends the Spinal Tap concert, although he doesn't interact with Bart or Milhouse there.
• Empty Fridge, Empty Life: The misery of Otto's life is hammered home by his landlord listing his meager few possessions in his refrigerator (a jar of mustard and a couple of old Psycho magazines, with Otto surprised that he had mustard).
• Enemy Mine: Patty helps Otto pass his driving test because they both dislike Homer.
• Epic Fail: The first time around on his driver's test, Otto failed every segment and misspelled "bus" on his application.
  • Homer's exploits include getting his nose caught in the Simpsons' toaster (which Patty and Selma have on tape), and having a chicken wing stuck to his face for three days.
• Every Car Is a Pinto: In Spinal Tap's last appearance in the episode, their tour bus is run off the road, whereupon it flips over and bursts into flames. (Knowing this group's checkered history, this probably only kills the drummer.)
• Eye Scream: Nigel Tufnel is hit in the eye with one of the stage show lasers.
• Facepalm: Skinner does this upon learning that Otto doesn't have a driver's license.
• Fake Guest Star: Harry Shearer plays his Simpsons characters (specifically Otto the bus driver, since this episode is about him) and Spinal Tap bassist Derek Smalls.
• Fleeting Passionate Hobbies: Lampshaded by Homer after Bart gives up on playing guitar.
  Homer: (to Bart) Hey how come you don't play your guitar anymore?
  Bart: I'll tell you the truth, Dad; I wasn't good at it right away so I quit. I hope you're not mad.
  Homer: Son, come here. Of course I'm not mad. If something's hard to do then it's not worth doing. You just stick that guitar in the closet next to your shortwave radio, your karate uniform, and your unicycle and we'll go inside and watch TV.
• Funny Background Event: Homer waits in the car for Bart and Milhouse while they're at the concert. We see him munching on pork rinds and singing along to the radio, blissfully unaware of the riot police storming the arena outside his car window.
• Genius Ditz: Otto's generally pretty clueless, but give him an electric guitar and he is spectacular.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Discussed in-universe by Spinal Tap during a pre-show interview. As a result of the fall of communism in Europe, the band saw a rise in popularity in former Eastern Bloc countries.
• Grievous Bottley Harm: Sort of. When Milhouse appears in Bart's fantasy of being a British Rockstar and chastises him for how much he's changed, Bart angrily tells him to "slag off" and throws a bottle at him.
• Halfway Plot Switch: The first half of the story is about Bart seeing a heavy metal concert and wanting to become a rockstar. The second half is about Otto trying to get a driver's license and get his job back, which has almost nothing to do with the first half. In later seasons, the show would do that more often.
• I Have No Son!: Marge asks Otto if he's able to go back to his family for help. Otto replies that "The Admiral and I don't get along," meaning that he's estranged from his father.
• Incompetence, Inc.: The management of the venue where Spinal Tap performs. The place is usually a hockey rink, but the melted water hasn't been cleaned off the stage; the giant Devil balloon deflates during the show; the stage fans are set to full blast instead of the medium setting the band requested; The stage lights aren't turned on at the band's cue, and one of the band members gets hit with the stage lasers. It's hard to blame the band for not wanting to put up with it anymore.
• Ink-Suit Actor: Spinal Tap appears, just as other bands have, except Spinal Tap are played by actors including Harry Shearer whose cartoon face gets so dominated by the facial hair and wig that he ends up looking nothing like himself.
• Instant Expert: Bart assumed he would be like this upon playing a guitar. He soon finds out he is wrong, so he eventually stopped.
• I Take Offense to That Last One: Otto doesn't object to being called a bum, or being called out for clogging the bathroom sink, eating the last cookie, and getting collect calls. But don't you dare call him a sponge.
• Karma Houdini: Principal Skinner and the police are extremely lenient with Otto for crashing the bus. Skinner would have been more than justified in firing Otto on the spot, but he just suspends Otto without pay until Otto gets his driver's license. The police would have also been justified in arresting Otto for reckless endangerment and dangerous driving, not to mention driving without a license. He doesn't even try and improve his driving skills to get a license. He only gets a driver's license because Patty helps him cheat.
• Logo Joke: The Gracie Films jingle is done in the style of Otto's guitar.
• Man on Fire: The pyrotechnics guy at the concert venue is missing an arm and an eye. When he gingerly lights a firework, there is a bright flash and he is rendered unconscious and on fire.
• Noodle Incident: Comic Book Guy is at the Spinal Tap concert hawking bootleg T-shirts of the band kicking Muammar Gaddafi in the ass. We don't learn exactly how or when Spinal Tap crossed him.
• Not Helping Your Case: Otto tries to defend his driving record by saying there's never been a single fatality in any of his previous 15 crashes.
• Obnoxious In-Laws: Patty decides to allow Otto to pass the driving test because he wants to rub his license at Homer's face.
• Papa Wolf: Homer kicks Otto out after the latter tells Lisa a horror story that makes her scream.
• Pun: The episode title is a play on "auto show".
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Spinal Tap abandons the concert 20 minutes in after getting fed up with the various screwups of the stage crew - the scene hasn't been properly prepared and is full of water from its usual job as an ice rink, their inflatable giant devil prop isn't inflated, the lights don't come on as they're supposed to, and one of the members gets hit in the eye with a stage laser.
• Shout-Out:
  • Homer says of Otto "This is not Happy Days and he is not the Fonz." Otto then comes in and says "Hey, Mr. S!" like Fonzie would call Richie's father "Mr. C."
  • Before the second attempt at the driver's license exam, Bart reminds Otto that Homer called him "a sponge". Enraged, Otto pounds on a brick wall hard enough to crumble some of it and yells "Does this look like something a sponge would do?" This parodies a dramatic confrontation in The Fly (1986) — when the slowly transforming scientist, unaware of what's truly happening to him yet, is told by his anxious lover that he must be sick he demonstrates his Super-Strength by punching a wooden support beam and splintering it. "Does this look like a sick man to you?"
  • When staying with the Simpsons, Otto asks Marge if they have anything 'written from the vampire's point of view', likely referring to Anne Rice's vampire novels.
• Something We Forgot: Homer doesn't realize he left Milhouse at the concert venue until Marge brings it up. Milhouse is then shown at the arena buried under a pile of chairs.
• Special Guest: Spinal Tap. All three actors (one of whom, of course, is Simpsons regular Harry Shearer) reprise their roles, with the concert and its aftermath taking up the episode's entire first act.
• Spoof Aesop: Homer's speech to Bart about giving up on any hobby that proves more difficult than he expected.
• Take That, Audience!: An in-universe example appears when Bart daydreams about being a jaded, bitter rock star. During a concert, he informs the audience that he's going to play a new song entitled "Me Fans Are Stupid Pigs". Cue an outburst of squealing and fawning from said fans.
• Tempting Fate: When speaking on whether to evict Otto from their house, Marge tells Homer that he is good with their kids. Then, they hear Lisa screaming from Otto's story, and Homer declares that the last straw.
• The Thing That Would Not Leave: Otto settles in at the Simpsons' house and doesn't even try to get a job, since according to him the only thing he was "good" at was driving the bus. They finally get rid of him when Patty passes his license exam after finding out he's only trying for the license to spite Homer.
• Triumphant Reprise: After Otto is temporarily fired from his job as school bus driver, and Seymour Skinner tries to fill in for him. When the students sing "Hail to the Bus Driver" on the bus trip, at first Skinner sings along with it and laughs, but as he gets delayed longer and longer in traffic (because of his inexperience), he starts getting very irritated at the song, eventually shouting "shut up" at the only student still singing it. Toward the end of the episode, Otto gets re-hired. When the students sing "Hail to the Bus Driver" again, Skinner, who's overhearing the singing from a window, looks at the bus and says "yes, hail to the bus driver" in a more serious but happy manner, with a few electric guitar notes playing in the background.
• This Is Reality: Homer's objection over Otto staying with them as listed in Shout-Out.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Bart practices his electric guitar at the bus stop and thinks it's broken. Otto offers to test it for him, and his impromptu concert he plays for the kids makes them late. He then tries to get the kids to school by going driving like crazy, which leads him to crash in the town square.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: The writers never did resolve how Principal Skinner got out of the traffic jam (and how Bart got off the bus to go to the Kwik-E-Mart).
• Whispered Threat: Otto tells Lisa a story about a crazed maniac killer, ending the story by whispering to her that he was that maniac. Cue a blood-curdling scream from Lisa and him trying to allay her fears via a "Just Joking" Justification.

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