‘Simpsons’ Great Mike Reiss Reveals the Bit That Became An Inside Joke for Pilots
Shary Bobbins cracks up those fly boys better than any other completely original character from the Simpsons canon, even more than Rickey Rouse and Monald Muck.
One of the most beautiful qualities of The Simpsons’ cultural domination is how the show’s humor is absolutely universal, and every subsection of our species can relate to the show on some level in some episode. That’s probably why The Simpsons is such an international phenomenon. Today, people from around the world can watch The Simpsons dubbed in over 20 different languages and dialects with dozens more in subtitles.
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Given that the Simpsons franchise is such a world traveler, it makes sense that the most well-traveled comedy fans in the world would also be Simpsons viewers, and as legendary Simpsons writer, producer and showrunner Mike Reiss recently discovered, The Simpsons coined one of the commercial airline pilot community’s favorite flippant phrases to use during some deadly turbulence:
The episode in which the fly boys’ favorite joke first appeared and quickly perished is some of Reiss’ best work, and it certainly has a spot along the Mount Rushmore of Simpsons musical storylines. Shary Bobbins enters (then exits) the mortal world of The Simpsons in the Season Eight masterpiece “Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious,” which Reiss co-wrote with his creative partner Al Jean. Notably, this was the last Simpsons episode for which Reiss ever received a writing credit.
In “Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious,” the stress of running the Simpson household causes Marge’s famously voluminous hair to start coming out in comically hefty chunks, and, on Doctor Hibbert's orders, she resolves to hire a nanny who can help her with her domestic duties. Enter Shary Bobbins, a parody of a certain singing English nanny who probably wasn’t engaged to a lunatic Scottish groundskeeper in her own canon, who attempts to reform the Simpsons family’s dysfunctional ways through song.
Naturally, the Simpsons prove impossible to rehabilitate no matter the melody, and after nearly breaking poor Shary Bobbins’ psyche, the family sends the theatrical nanny on her way with the understanding that they’ll never be able to change their ways. But on her flight back to England, Bobbins experiences a bit of an air traffic control problem while causing a commercial airline some annoying turbulence.
Given the full plate that the FAA has had these past few weeks, either there have been way too many Shary Bobbins in shared airspace or the industry as a whole has been taking her advice to do the job half-assed.
