That Timmy O’Toole Is a Real Hero!

There might have been some people who didn’t think of the Simpsons "Radio Bart" episode after yesterday’s Balloon Incident (or "Ballooncident"), but I certainly don’t know who those people might be.

I would like to add that I think of "Radio Bart" as the perfect Simpsons episode. I don’t know whether it’s my choice for the very best episode, though at various times it’s been my favourite. But I do know that it’s got everything the show had in its prime period: observational, realistic humour (Bart’s crappy birthday party and gifts), satirical humour (obviously), surreal stuff ("The Lincoln squirrel has been assassinated!"), movie takeoffs (the whole episode came about because Matt Groening wanted to do a homage/ripoff for Billy Wilder’s Ace in the Hole) family interaction, sentiment, celebrity-bashing, and the "happy God!" scene. Like most of the best episodes, it’s not just packed with jokes, it’s packed with every different kind of humour and storytelling you can do on television.