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E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)
Encyclopedia
"E-I-E-I-" is the fifth episode of the eleventh season
of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons
. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 7, 1999. In the episode, inspired by a Zorro movie, Homer begins slapping people with a glove and challenging them to duels. However, when a real Southern gentleman accepts Homer's request for a duel, the Simpsons run off to the old farm Homer lived in with his parents and breed a dangerously addictive but successful tobacco/tomato hybrid called "tomacco". Just when they are about to gain a hundred million dollars from the hybrid, dangerously addicted animals ruin their plan.
to see The Poke of Zorro. Afterwards, Homer
, imitating Zorro, frightens Snake away by challenging him to a duel
by slapping him with a glove when he insults Marge
; he then starts to use his dueling glove to get anything he wants from people. First up is Moe
for calling him heavyset, but after a slap, he gives Homer a free beer. When a gun-toting Southern colonel
at the Kwik-E-Mart
actually "accepts" Homer's challenge, Homer finds himself bound to a duel at dawn
the following day. The colonel and his wife set up camp outside the house in his RV
, awaiting the duel.
With Homer fearing for his life, the family sneak out with Homer clinging to an old Christmas tree and search for a temporary home. They find Grampa
's old farmhouse
on Rural Route 9 outside of Springfield
, where they decide to live and, despite the land
's poor reputation for growing crops, Homer becomes a farmer.
Homer calls Lenny and requests that he send plutonium
to make the crops
grow "real big, real fast." They do eventually grow, but since Homer had accidentally mixed the tomato seeds with the tobacco seeds, he decides to call the tomato-cross with tobacco, Tomacco. Homer and Marge
set up a stall, Homer providing tomacco and Marge, fresh-baked mincemeat pie
. While the pies do not sell well, the tomacco is such a success that executives from Laramie Cigarettes offer to buy the rights to Tomacco for $150 million.
Lisa
protests that the Simpsons cannot accept the tobacco executives' money, but Homer misinterprets this statement, and rejects the offer as insulting, demanding $150 billion for tomacco, which they (ostensibly) refuse to pay. Dumped back at the farmhouse, the family sees tomacco-addicted animals from other farms eating their crops. Homer saves the last plant, but when the rest of the animals attack the house, he tosses it into the air, and it lands right in the hands of a Laramie executive. The Laramie executives' helicopter
leaves, but a tomacco-addicted sheep
has sneaked on board and creates mayhem, causing the helicopter to fly out of control and crash, destroying the final tomacco plant and killing the executives. With all the tomacco crops gone, the Simpsons return to Springfield, forgetting that the Colonel is still waiting for them. Now that there is no getting out of the duel, the Colonel shoots Homer in the arm, but Homer says he will only go to the hospital after he tries some of Marge's pie, and he promptly digs into one.
and directed by Bob Anderson
as part of the eleventh season of The Simpsons (1999–2000). The American rock band The B-52's
guest starred in the episode as themselves.
film The Mask of Zorro
(1998). Jonathan Gray wrote in Watching with The Simpsons: Television, Parody, and Intertextuality that The Poke of Zorro "ridicules the outlandishness of Hollywood blockbuster fare," especially its "blatant historical inaccuracies" which sees the film feature Zorro, King Arthur
, the Three Musketeers
, the Scarlet Pimpernel
, "the Man in the Iron Mask
and ninja
s in nineteenth century Mexico
." The film's credits list, actors John Byner
, Shawn Wayans, Rita Rudner
, Cheech Marin
, Gina Gershon
, Curtis Armstrong
, Eric Roberts
, Spalding Gray
, Anthony Hopkins
, James Earl Jones
and Meryl Streep
, singer Victoria Beckham
, wrestler Steve Austin
, soccer player Pelé
and producer Robert Evans as having roles in the film, and, amongst others, thanks publisher Bob Guccione
and hockey team the Philadelphia Flyers
. The Buzz Cola advertisement shown before The Poke of Zorro is a parody of the opening Normandy invasion sequence from the film Saving Private Ryan
(1998). Gray writes that it "scorns the proclivity of ads to use any gimmick to grab attention, regardless of the ethics: as an indignant Lisa asks incredulously, 'Do they really think cheapening the memory of our veterans will sell soda?'" Amongst the other films advertised at the theater is My Dinner with Jar Jar, a reference to the character Jar Jar Binks
from Star Wars
.
The song "Glove Slap" is a parody of the song "Love Shack
". The B-52's
sang both the original and the amended version used in the episode. The music playing during the sequence where the Simpsons begin farming is the theme tune from the television series Green Acres
. The addicted animals attempting to break into the house to obtain the last Tomacco is a reference the film Night of the Living Dead
(1968) and the zombies' attack. A farmer is shown using an elephant to measure his corn plants' height; this is a reference to the song "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'" in the musical Oklahoma!
, which features the line "the corn is as high an elephant's eye". The Southern colonel's accent is similar to the Warner Bros.
character Foghorn Leghorn and he uses Foghorn's phrase "Sir, I say sir!", while the mudflap on his RV
features a picture of him in a similar pose to Warner Bros. character Yosemite Sam
. Additionally, his horn plays the opening few notes of the song "Dixie
".
for the episode. While reviewing the eleventh season of The Simpsons, DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson commented that "E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)" provides "the kind of episode typical of the series’ 'post-classic' years. While it doesn’t become a dud, it lacks the spark and zing typical of the best Simpsons. We get a mix of decent moments but nothing that elevates the episode above the level of mediocrity." In the July 26, 2007 issue of Nature
, the scientific journal's editorial staff listed the episode among "The Top Ten science moments in The Simpsons", writing: "Homer's attempts to be a farmer in 'E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)' involve using plutonium as a fertilizer. DNA from tobacco seeds and tomato seeds blend to produce a fruit that tastes like ashtray, but is nonetheless 'refreshingly addictive'." In 2011, Keith Plocek of LA Weekly
s Squid Ink blog named "E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)" the tenth best episode of the show with a food theme.
article, which stated that nicotine
could be found in the tomato plant after grafting. Due to the academic and industrial importance of this breakthrough process, this article was reprinted in a 1968 Scientific American compilation.
A Simpsons fan, Rob Baur of Lake Oswego, Oregon
, was inspired by the episode. Remembering the article in a textbook, Baur cultivated real tomacco in 2003. The plant produced offspring that looked like a normal tomato, but Baur suspected that it contained a lethal amount of nicotine and thus would be inedible. Testing later proved that the leaves of the plant contained some nicotine. Both plants are members of the same family, Solanaceae
or nightshade. The tomacco plant bore tomaccoes until it died after 18 months, spending one winter indoors. Baur appeared on the episode's DVD commentary, discussing the plant and resulting fame.
The 2004 convention of the American Dialect Society
named tomacco as the new word "least likely to succeed." Tomacco was a wordspy.com "Word of the Day".
The Simpsons (season 11)
The Simpsons 11th season originally aired between September 1999 and May 2000, beginning on Sunday, September 26, 1999, with "Beyond Blunderdome". The show runner for the 11th production season was Mike Scully...
of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 7, 1999. In the episode, inspired by a Zorro movie, Homer begins slapping people with a glove and challenging them to duels. However, when a real Southern gentleman accepts Homer's request for a duel, the Simpsons run off to the old farm Homer lived in with his parents and breed a dangerously addictive but successful tobacco/tomato hybrid called "tomacco". Just when they are about to gain a hundred million dollars from the hybrid, dangerously addicted animals ruin their plan.
Plot
The Simpsons go to the Springfield Googelplex Movie TheatersColonel Homer
"Colonel Homer" is the twentieth episode of The Simpsons third season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 26, 1992. In the episode, Homer embarrasses his wife Marge at a movie theater, leading to a big argument between the two...
to see The Poke of Zorro. Afterwards, Homer
Homer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
, imitating Zorro, frightens Snake away by challenging him to a duel
Duel
A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two individuals, with matched weapons in accordance with agreed-upon rules.Duels in this form were chiefly practised in Early Modern Europe, with precedents in the medieval code of chivalry, and continued into the modern period especially among...
by slapping him with a glove when he insults Marge
Marge Simpson
Marjorie "Marge" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the eponymous family. She is voiced by actress Julie Kavner and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
; he then starts to use his dueling glove to get anything he wants from people. First up is Moe
Moe Szyslak
Momar / Morris "Moe" Szyslak is a fictional character in the American animated television series, The Simpsons. He is voiced by Hank Azaria and first appeared in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire"...
for calling him heavyset, but after a slap, he gives Homer a free beer. When a gun-toting Southern colonel
Colonel (title)
The honorary title of Colonel is conferred by some states in the United States of America and certain units of the Canadian Forces. The origins of the titular colonelcy can be traced back to colonial and antebellum times when men of the landed gentry were given the title for financing the local...
at the Kwik-E-Mart
Kwik-E-Mart
The Kwik-E-Mart is a fictional chain of convenience stores in the animated television series The Simpsons. It is a parody of American convenience store chains, such as 7-Eleven and Circle K, and represents many myths and stereotypes of them. It is notorious for its high prices and the poor quality...
actually "accepts" Homer's challenge, Homer finds himself bound to a duel at dawn
Dawn
Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of the twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the presence of weak sunlight, while the sun itself is still below the horizon...
the following day. The colonel and his wife set up camp outside the house in his RV
Recreational vehicle
Recreational vehicle or RV is, in North America, the usual term for a Motor vehicle or trailer equipped with living space and amenities found in a home.-Features:...
, awaiting the duel.
With Homer fearing for his life, the family sneak out with Homer clinging to an old Christmas tree and search for a temporary home. They find Grampa
Abraham Simpson
Abraham J. "Abe" Simpson, often known simply as Grampa, is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and he is also the patriarch of the Simpson family, the father of Homer Simpson, and the grandfather of Bart, Lisa, and Maggie Simpson...
's old farmhouse
Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy
"Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy" is the tenth television episode of The Simpsons sixth season. It was first broadcast on the Fox network in the United States on December 4, 1994. In the episode, Marge and Homer's sex life is struggling, but Grampa perks things up with a homemade revitalizing tonic...
on Rural Route 9 outside of Springfield
Springfield (The Simpsons)
Springfield is the fictional town in which the American animated sitcom The Simpsons is set. A mid-sized town in an undetermined state of the United States, Springfield acts as a complete universe in which characters can explore the issues faced by modern society. The geography of the town and its...
, where they decide to live and, despite the land
Arable land
In geography and agriculture, arable land is land that can be used for growing crops. It includes all land under temporary crops , temporary meadows for mowing or pasture, land under market and kitchen gardens and land temporarily fallow...
's poor reputation for growing crops, Homer becomes a farmer.
Homer calls Lenny and requests that he send plutonium
Plutonium
Plutonium is a transuranic radioactive chemical element with the chemical symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, forming a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four oxidation...
to make the crops
Crop (agriculture)
A crop is a non-animal species or variety that is grown to be harvested as food, livestock fodder, fuel or for any other economic purpose. Major world crops include maize , wheat, rice, soybeans, hay, potatoes and cotton. While the term "crop" most commonly refers to plants, it can also include...
grow "real big, real fast." They do eventually grow, but since Homer had accidentally mixed the tomato seeds with the tobacco seeds, he decides to call the tomato-cross with tobacco, Tomacco. Homer and Marge
Marge Simpson
Marjorie "Marge" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the eponymous family. She is voiced by actress Julie Kavner and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
set up a stall, Homer providing tomacco and Marge, fresh-baked mincemeat pie
Mincemeat
Mincemeat is a mixture of chopped dried fruit, distilled spirits and spices, and sometimes beef suet, beef, or venison. Originally, mincemeat always contained meat. Many modern recipes contain beef suet, though vegetable shortening is sometimes used in its place...
. While the pies do not sell well, the tomacco is such a success that executives from Laramie Cigarettes offer to buy the rights to Tomacco for $150 million.
Lisa
Lisa Simpson
Lisa Marie Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She is the middle child of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening...
protests that the Simpsons cannot accept the tobacco executives' money, but Homer misinterprets this statement, and rejects the offer as insulting, demanding $150 billion for tomacco, which they (ostensibly) refuse to pay. Dumped back at the farmhouse, the family sees tomacco-addicted animals from other farms eating their crops. Homer saves the last plant, but when the rest of the animals attack the house, he tosses it into the air, and it lands right in the hands of a Laramie executive. The Laramie executives' helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
leaves, but a tomacco-addicted sheep
Domestic sheep
Sheep are quadrupedal, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Like all ruminants, sheep are members of the order Artiodactyla, the even-toed ungulates. Although the name "sheep" applies to many species in the genus Ovis, in everyday usage it almost always refers to Ovis aries...
has sneaked on board and creates mayhem, causing the helicopter to fly out of control and crash, destroying the final tomacco plant and killing the executives. With all the tomacco crops gone, the Simpsons return to Springfield, forgetting that the Colonel is still waiting for them. Now that there is no getting out of the duel, the Colonel shoots Homer in the arm, but Homer says he will only go to the hospital after he tries some of Marge's pie, and he promptly digs into one.
Production
The episode was written by Ian Maxtone-GrahamIan Maxtone-Graham
Ian Maxtone-Graham is an American television writer and producer. He has written for Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons , and has also served as a co-executive producer and consulting producer for The Simpsons...
and directed by Bob Anderson
Bob Anderson (director)
Bob Anderson is an animation director on The Simpsons. He also contributed additional sequence direction on The Simpsons Movie....
as part of the eleventh season of The Simpsons (1999–2000). The American rock band The B-52's
The B-52's
The B-52's are an American rock band, formed in Athens, Georgia in 1976. The original line-up consisted of Fred Schneider , Kate Pierson , Cindy Wilson , Ricky Wilson , and Keith Strickland . Following Ricky Wilson's death in 1985 Strickland switched to guitar...
guest starred in the episode as themselves.
Themes and cultural references
The Simpsons go to a screening of The Poke of Zorro, which is largely a parody of the ZorroZorro
Zorro is a fictional character created in 1919 by New York-based pulp writer Johnston McCulley. The character has been featured in numerous books, films, television series, and other media....
film The Mask of Zorro
The Mask of Zorro
The Mask of Zorro is a 1998 American swashbuckler film based on the Zorro character created by Johnston McCulley. It was directed by Martin Campbell and stars Antonio Banderas, Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Stuart Wilson...
(1998). Jonathan Gray wrote in Watching with The Simpsons: Television, Parody, and Intertextuality that The Poke of Zorro "ridicules the outlandishness of Hollywood blockbuster fare," especially its "blatant historical inaccuracies" which sees the film feature Zorro, King Arthur
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
, the Three Musketeers
The Three Musketeers
The Three Musketeers is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, first serialized in March–July 1844. Set in the 17th century, it recounts the adventures of a young man named d'Artagnan after he leaves home to travel to Paris, to join the Musketeers of the Guard...
, the Scarlet Pimpernel
The Scarlet Pimpernel
The Scarlet Pimpernel is a play and adventure novel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy, set during the Reign of Terror following the start of the French Revolution. The story is a precursor to the "disguised superhero" tales such as Zorro and Batman....
, "the Man in the Iron Mask
Man in the Iron Mask
The Man in the Iron Mask is a name given to a prisoner arrested as Eustache Dauger in 1669 or 1670, and held in a number of jails, including the Bastille and the Fortress of Pignerol . He was held in the custody of the same jailer, Bénigne Dauvergne de Saint-Mars, for a period of 34 years...
and ninja
Ninja
A or was a covert agent or mercenary of feudal Japan specializing in unorthodox arts of war. The functions of the ninja included espionage, sabotage, infiltration, and assassination, as well as open combat in certain situations...
s in nineteenth century Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
." The film's credits list, actors John Byner
John Byner
John Byner is an American actor, comedian, and impressionist who has had a lengthy television and movie career. His voice work includes the cartoon series The Ant and the Aardvark, in which the title characters are voiced by Byner's impressions of Dean Martin and Jackie Mason,...
, Shawn Wayans, Rita Rudner
Rita Rudner
Rita Rudner is an American comedienne, writer and actress.-Early life:Rudner was born in Miami, Florida, the daughter of Frances, a homemaker, and Abe Rudner, a lawyer. Her mother died when she was 13. After graduating from high school at 15, Rudner left Miami and headed to New York City to embark...
, Cheech Marin
Cheech Marin
Richard Anthony "Cheech" Marin is an American comedian, actor and writer who gained recognition as part of the comedy act Cheech & Chong during the 1970s and early 1980s, and as Don Johnson's partner, Insp. Joe Dominguez on Nash Bridges...
, Gina Gershon
Gina Gershon
Gina L. Gershon is an American film, television and stage actress, singer and author, known for her roles in the films Cocktail , Showgirls , Bound , Best of the Best 3: No Turning Back , Face/Off , The Insider , Demonlover , Category 7: The End of the World , P.S...
, Curtis Armstrong
Curtis Armstrong
Curtis Armstrong is an American actor best known for his portrayal as Booger in the Revenge of the Nerds movies, as Herbert Viola on Moonlighting, and as famed record producer Ahmet Ertegün in the film Ray.-Early life:...
, Eric Roberts
Eric Roberts
Eric Anthony Roberts is an American actor. His career began with King of the Gypsies , earning a Golden Globe nomination for best actor debut. He starred as the protagonist in the 1980 dramatisation of Willa Cather's 1905 short story, Paul's Case...
, Spalding Gray
Spalding Gray
Spalding Rockwell Gray was an American actor, playwright, screenwriter, performance artist and monologuist...
, Anthony Hopkins
Anthony Hopkins
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...
, James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones is an American actor. He is well-known for his distinctive bass voice and for his portrayal of characters of substance, gravitas and leadership...
and Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep
Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television and film.Streep made her professional stage debut in 1971's The Playboy of Seville, before her screen debut in the television movie The Deadliest Season in 1977. In that same year, she made her film debut with...
, singer Victoria Beckham
Victoria Beckham
Victoria Caroline Beckham is an English singer-songwriter, dancer, model, actress, fashion designer and businesswoman. In the late 1990s, Beckham rose to fame with the all-female pop group Spice Girls and was dubbed Posh Spice by the July 1996 issue of the British pop music magazine Top of the Pops...
, wrestler Steve Austin
Stone Cold Steve Austin
Steve Austin , better known by his ring name "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, is an American film and television actor and retired professional wrestler...
, soccer player Pelé
Pelé
However, Pelé has always maintained that those are mistakes, that he was actually named Edson and that he was born on 23 October 1940.), best known by his nickname Pelé , is a retired Brazilian footballer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football players of all time...
and producer Robert Evans as having roles in the film, and, amongst others, thanks publisher Bob Guccione
Bob Guccione
Bob Guccione was the founder and publisher of the adult magazine Penthouse. He resigned from his publisher position in November 2003.-Early life:...
and hockey team the Philadelphia Flyers
Philadelphia Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
. The Buzz Cola advertisement shown before The Poke of Zorro is a parody of the opening Normandy invasion sequence from the film Saving Private Ryan
Saving Private Ryan
Saving Private Ryan is a 1998 American war film set during the invasion of Normandy in World War II. It was directed by Steven Spielberg, with a screenplay by Robert Rodat. The film is notable for the intensity of its opening 27 minutes, which depicts the Omaha Beach assault of June 6, 1944....
(1998). Gray writes that it "scorns the proclivity of ads to use any gimmick to grab attention, regardless of the ethics: as an indignant Lisa asks incredulously, 'Do they really think cheapening the memory of our veterans will sell soda?'" Amongst the other films advertised at the theater is My Dinner with Jar Jar, a reference to the character Jar Jar Binks
Jar Jar Binks
Jar Jar Binks is a fictional character from the Star Wars Saga , and the television series Star Wars: The Clone Wars. His primary role was to provide comic relief, but many reacted negatively to his character...
from Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
.
The song "Glove Slap" is a parody of the song "Love Shack
Love Shack
"Love Shack" is a single by rock band The B-52's. Originally released in 1989 from their album Cosmic Thing, the single was the band's biggest hit song and first million-copy seller...
". The B-52's
The B-52's
The B-52's are an American rock band, formed in Athens, Georgia in 1976. The original line-up consisted of Fred Schneider , Kate Pierson , Cindy Wilson , Ricky Wilson , and Keith Strickland . Following Ricky Wilson's death in 1985 Strickland switched to guitar...
sang both the original and the amended version used in the episode. The music playing during the sequence where the Simpsons begin farming is the theme tune from the television series Green Acres
Green Acres
Green Acres is an American television series starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor as a couple who move from New York City to a country farm...
. The addicted animals attempting to break into the house to obtain the last Tomacco is a reference the film Night of the Living Dead
Night of the Living Dead
Night of the Living Dead is a 1968 American independent black-and-white zombie film and cult film directed by George A. Romero, starring Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea and Karl Hardman. It premiered on October 1, 1968, and was completed on a USD$114,000 budget. After decades of cinematic re-releases, it...
(1968) and the zombies' attack. A farmer is shown using an elephant to measure his corn plants' height; this is a reference to the song "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'" in the musical Oklahoma!
Oklahoma!
Oklahoma! is the first musical written by composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, it tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance...
, which features the line "the corn is as high an elephant's eye". The Southern colonel's accent is similar to the Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
character Foghorn Leghorn and he uses Foghorn's phrase "Sir, I say sir!", while the mudflap on his RV
Recreational vehicle
Recreational vehicle or RV is, in North America, the usual term for a Motor vehicle or trailer equipped with living space and amenities found in a home.-Features:...
features a picture of him in a similar pose to Warner Bros. character Yosemite Sam
Yosemite Sam
Yosemite Sam is an American animated cartoon character in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons produced by Warner Bros. Animation. The name is somewhat alliterative and is inspired by Yosemite National Park...
. Additionally, his horn plays the opening few notes of the song "Dixie
Dixie (song)
Countless lyrical variants of "Dixie" exist, but the version attributed to Dan Emmett and its variations are the most popular. Emmett's lyrics as they were originally intended reflect the mood of the United States in the late 1850s toward growing abolitionist sentiment. The song presented the point...
".
Release
The episode originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 7, 1999. On October 7, 2008, the episode was released on DVD as part of the box set The Simpsons – The Complete Eleventh Season. Staff members Mike Scully, Ian Maxtone-Graham, George Meyer, and Matt Selman participated in the DVD audio commentaryAudio commentary
On disc-based video formats, an audio commentary is an additional audio track consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with video...
for the episode. While reviewing the eleventh season of The Simpsons, DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson commented that "E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)" provides "the kind of episode typical of the series’ 'post-classic' years. While it doesn’t become a dud, it lacks the spark and zing typical of the best Simpsons. We get a mix of decent moments but nothing that elevates the episode above the level of mediocrity." In the July 26, 2007 issue of Nature
Nature (journal)
Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...
, the scientific journal's editorial staff listed the episode among "The Top Ten science moments in The Simpsons", writing: "Homer's attempts to be a farmer in 'E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)' involve using plutonium as a fertilizer. DNA from tobacco seeds and tomato seeds blend to produce a fruit that tastes like ashtray, but is nonetheless 'refreshingly addictive'." In 2011, Keith Plocek of LA Weekly
LA Weekly
LA Weekly is a free weekly tabloid-sized "alternative weekly" in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Editor/Publisher Jay Levin and a board of directors that included actor-producer Michael Douglas...
s Squid Ink blog named "E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)" the tenth best episode of the show with a food theme.
Legacy
The process of making tomacco was first revealed in a 1959 Scientific AmericanScientific American
Scientific American is a popular science magazine. It is notable for its long history of presenting science monthly to an educated but not necessarily scientific public, through its careful attention to the clarity of its text as well as the quality of its specially commissioned color graphics...
article, which stated that nicotine
Nicotine
Nicotine is an alkaloid found in the nightshade family of plants that constitutes approximately 0.6–3.0% of the dry weight of tobacco, with biosynthesis taking place in the roots and accumulation occurring in the leaves...
could be found in the tomato plant after grafting. Due to the academic and industrial importance of this breakthrough process, this article was reprinted in a 1968 Scientific American compilation.
A Simpsons fan, Rob Baur of Lake Oswego, Oregon
Lake Oswego, Oregon
Lake Oswego is a city located primarily in Clackamas County in the U.S. state of Oregon. Small portions of the city are also located in neighboring Multnomah and Washington counties. Located south of Portland surrounding the Oswego Lake, the town was founded in 1847 and incorporated as Oswego in...
, was inspired by the episode. Remembering the article in a textbook, Baur cultivated real tomacco in 2003. The plant produced offspring that looked like a normal tomato, but Baur suspected that it contained a lethal amount of nicotine and thus would be inedible. Testing later proved that the leaves of the plant contained some nicotine. Both plants are members of the same family, Solanaceae
Solanaceae
Solanaceae are a family of flowering plants that include a number of important agricultural crops as well as many toxic plants. The name of the family comes from the Latin Solanum "the nightshade plant", but the further etymology of that word is unclear...
or nightshade. The tomacco plant bore tomaccoes until it died after 18 months, spending one winter indoors. Baur appeared on the episode's DVD commentary, discussing the plant and resulting fame.
The 2004 convention of the American Dialect Society
American Dialect Society
The American Dialect Society, founded in 1889, is a learned society "dedicated to the study of the English language in North America, and of other languages, or dialects of other languages, influencing it or influenced by it." The Society publishes the academic journal, American Speech...
named tomacco as the new word "least likely to succeed." Tomacco was a wordspy.com "Word of the Day".
External links
- "E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)" at The Simpsons.com