A Tribute To Michael Jackson
July 9th, 2009
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In the 1991 Simpsons episode “Stark Raving Dad,” Homer wears a pink shirt to work, is mistaken for a “free thinking anarchist,” and gets sent to a mental institution. When it’s time to decide on his roommate, one of the asylum workers says “put him in with the big white guy who thinks he’s the little black guy.”
It turns out to be someone who thinks he’s Michael Jackson (and who was actually voiced by Michael Jackson, though credited as John Jay Smith and not revealed until later).
This guy may be delusional, but he sure is nice and helpful. When Bart doesn’t get his sister Lisa a birthday present, she gets very upset. “Michael” tells Bart that when he was a kid he didn’t have much money, so for his sisters’ birthdays he wrote them a song to show that he cared. And so he helps Bart find the words he can’t say in the song Happy Birthday Lisa (written by the real Michael Jackson though sung by Kipp Lennon). Lisa calls it the best present she ever got.
After “Michael” says his work is done and starts walking away, Bart asks why his voice suddenly changed. His answer is:
“This is my real voice. My name is Leon Kompowsky and I’m a brick layer from Patterson, New Jersey. All my life I was very angry until one day I just [switching to Michael Jackson voice] talked like this. All of a sudden everybody was smiling at me and I was only doing good on this Earth. So I kept doing it. To make a tired point, which one of us is truly crazy?”
This is just one of the many gifts Michael Jackson gave the world. Maybe not his biggest one, but just another thing he did to make people smile.
July 10th, 2009 at 2:10 am
RIP-MJ
Long Lives The King……….and I am not talking about Elvis!
July 10th, 2009 at 11:09 am
You know, if I ever have to teach English to the Japanese (or any other non-American people), I’d use The Simpsons as the material. “This is how Americans really live, kids.” And it’s so clever while at the same time funny.
I missed this episode. Sounds like it was a great one. I’ll see if I can get it by DVD.
July 11th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
@ Ron, I think the King of Pop or King of anything is still King!
@ Akemi, I wonder how many people watch The Simpsons thinking it’s an accurate view of America!