E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)

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The Simpsons episode
"E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)"

Episode no.	231
Prod. code	AABF19
Orig. Airdate	November 7, 1999
Show Runner(s)	Mike Scully
Written by	Ian Maxtone-Graham
Directed by	Bob Anderson
Couch gag	The couch is roped off, and there is a disco ball above the couch. All of the family members, except Homer, are allowed to sit on the couch.
Guest star	The B-52's as themselves
Season 11 September 26, 1999 – May 21, 2000
Beyond Blunderdome Brother's Little Helper Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner? Treehouse of Horror X E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt) Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder Eight Misbehavin' Take My Wife, Sleaze Grift of the Magi Little Big Mom Faith Off The Mansion Family Saddlesore Galactica Alone Again, Natura-Diddily Missionary: Impossible Pygmoelian Bart to the Future Days of Wine and D'oh'ses Kill the Alligator and Run Last Tap Dance in Springfield It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge Behind the Laughter
List of all Simpsons episodes...

"E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)" is the fifth episode of the eleventh season of The Simpsons. It originally aired in the U.S. on November 7, 1999.

1 Synopsis
2 Trivia
3 Cultural references
4 Songs
- 4.1 Glove Slap
- 4.2 The Zorro Rap
5 Cast of Zorro
6 External links

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The Simpsons go to a movie theater to see The Poke of Zorro. After Homer, imitating Zorro, frightens Snake away by challenging him to a duel with his glove, he 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 a Homer a free beer. Thus begins a montage to the tune of "Gloveslap" -- parody of the B-52's Love Shack. But when a gun-toting, Southern colonel actually accepts Homer's challenge, Homer finds himself bound to a duel at dawn the following day. The colonel sets up camp outside the house in his RV, awaiting the duel.

With Homer fearing for his life, the family sneak out and search for a new - or at least temporary - home. Along the way they spy Jimmy Carter's Homes for the Homeless; he calls Carter a bum, who responds by pulling off his glove to slap him, as Homer has been doing. 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 who suggests that Homer use plutonium to make the crops grow "real big, real fast". They do eventually grow, but since Homer scattered seeds indiscriminately, his main crop is tomacco, a mix of tomato and tobacco, which tastes bitter but is very addictive. It is such a success that executives from Laramie Cigarettes offer to buy the rights to Tomacco for $150 million.

Homer rejects the offer as insulting, demanding $150 billion for tomacco, which they 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 away, right into 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 (somehow, the sheep survives). With all the tomacco crops gone, the Simpsons return to Springfield, forgetting that the Colonel is still there. The Colonel shoots Homer in the arm, but Homer says he'll only go to the hospital "after pie".

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Trivia

"(Annoyed Grunt)" is the script notation rendered by Dan Castellanetta as D'oh!.
Inspired by the episode, Rob Baur of Lake Oswego, Oregon actually created Tomacco; both plants are members of the Nightshade family and are therefore are similar enough to create a hybrid.
One piece of music in the episode was the theme music of Green Acres.

[edit] Cultural references

The Buzz Cola advertisement shown before the movie is a parody of Saving Private Ryan, directed by Steven Spielberg.
The movie the Simpsons see is a parody of The Mark of Zorro, The Three Musketeers, The Man in the Iron Mask, and The Scarlet Pimpernel.
The farmer using an elephant to measure the height of his stalks of corn is in reference to a song in the musical Oklahoma!, wherein the corn "is as high an elephant's eye".
The Tomacco-craving animals trying to break into the barricaded farmhouse recall the zombies from George Romero's Night of the Living Dead.
The Simpsons farming montage music is the theme song from Green Acres.
When the Southern colonel shows up at the Simpsons' house to duel, he calls "Sir, I say sir!" much like cartoon character Foghorn Leghorn. He also has a similar accent.
the Southern colonel's RV has mudflaps of him drawn like Yosemite Sam.
The scene with Homer worrying about the duel the next morning whilst looking at a tombstone with his own name on it spoofs the 1990 film Back to the Future Part III.
The death of the Laramie team in the helicopter, at the hands of a Tomacco-crazed sheep, is a nod to a scene in the James Cameron film Aliens, where the crew of the marines' drop-ship meet the same fate, when an alien sneaks aboard their ship.

[edit] Songs

[edit] Glove Slap

by The B-52's (to the tune of "Love Shack")
A glove slap in a little old face will get you satisfaction.
(Homer slaps a toll booth attendant, who lets him pass)
Glove slap ba-a-beee.... (Glove slap, baby)
(Homer slaps Kirk Van Houten at the golf course, and he lets Homer play)
Glove slap, baby, glove slap!
(threatens Dr. Hibbert as he prepares to give an injection. Hibbert injects himself and gives Homer a lollipop before falling over)
Glove slap, I don't take crap!
Glove slap, shut your big yap...

[edit] The Zorro Rap

From the Z to the O
To the double R-O
He's a dude in a mask in the barrio.
With his horse and his mask
And his big ol' sword.
He'll cut your butt from a '52 Ford.