History Recap / TheSimpsonsS3E22TheOttoShow

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The original line was Bart to say "piss off" instead of "slag off".
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The writers never did resolve how Principal Skinner got out of the traffic jam (and how Bart got off the bus to go to the Kwik-E-Mart).

!!This episode contains examples of (YMMV tropes [[http://www.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/YMMV/TheSimpsonsS3E22TheOttoShow here]]):

Bart and Milhouse are dropped off at a [[Film/ThisIsSpinalTap Spinal Tap]] concert by Homer. As happens so often with the famously troubled group, TheShowMustGoWrong: A giant inflatable Satan literally goes flat, the water from the ice rink beneath the makeshift arena stage starts seeping through, and finally the band has to end the set early. Frustrated fans decide to kill the remaining time with a riot, from which Bart is barely rescued (Milhouse is left behind in the rubble).

Bruised but happy, Bart now wants to become a rock star, so his parents get him his first guitar. He has trouble getting the hang of it, and a few mornings later on the school bus Otto notices him practicing. The driver decides to show off by coaxing classic rock hits from TheSeventies from it, to the kids' delight. As he's going into "Freebird", Martin Prince reminds him that they are now ''extremely'' late for school. Otto DrivesLikeCrazy to get the kids to Springfield Elementary -- running Spinal Tap's bus off the road (whereupon it bursts into flames), plowing straight through the town's legendary tire fire, and finally arriving with a crash at the school. While no one is hurt (Otto stands by his record of "Fifteen crashes and not a single fatality!"), Principal Skinner refuses to let this stand -- especially when he realizes that Otto doesn't actually have a driver's licence. Skinner takes over the job and quickly begins to crack under pressure, not being a especially aggressive driver in a town full of traffic.

Soon Bart finds that Otto -- having failed his driving test, which was administered by Patty Bouvier -- is both jobless and homeless and allows him to move into his house until he can get back on his feet. This goes over as well as one would expect with the other Simpsons, with Homer wanting the "sponge" out as soon as possible. In the meantime, Homer discovers Bart has given up on his guitarist ambitions, and consoles him with the explanation that [[SpoofAesop "If something's hard to do then it's not worth doing."]]

Otto learns from Bart what Homer thinks of him and decides to prove he's no sponge by retaking and passing the driver's test. When he tells Patty that he intends to staple his licence to Homer's butt once he gets it, she sees in him a kindred spirit and allows him to pass despite his actually performing ''worse'' the second time around (as he's too busy amusing her with tales of what he's seen of Homer's private life during his stay). Restored to his bus driver position, the happy kids serenade him with a song they learned from Skinner, "Hail to the Bus Driver", as Skinner himself watches with approval: "Yes, hail to the bus driver, the bus driver man!"

* EveryCarIsAPinto: In Spinal Tap's last appearance in the episode, their tour bus is run off the road, whereupon it flips over and bursts into flames. (Knowing this group's checkered history, it probably only killed the drummer.)

!!This episode contains examples of (YMMV tropes [[http://www.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/TheSimpsonsS3E22TheOttoShow here]]:

!!This episode contains examples of (YMMV tropes [[http://www.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/TheSimpsonsS3E here]]:

!!This episode contains examples of:

* HilariousInHindsight: One of the T-shirts sold at the concert is Spinal Tap kicking Mohammar Gidaffi in the butt. Years later, having his ass kicked (by his own people, not a rock band) is how Gidaffi died.

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Bart and Milhouse are dropped off at a [[ThisIsSpinalTap Spinal Tap]] concert by Homer. As happens so often with the famously troubled group, TheShowMustGoWrong: A giant inflatable Satan literally goes flat, the water from the ice rink beneath the makeshift arena stage starts seeping through, and finally the band has to end the set early. Frustrated fans decide to kill the remaining time with a riot, from which Bart is barely rescued (Milhouse is left behind in the rubble).

* HilariousInHindsight: One of the T-shirts sold at the concert is Spinal Tip kicking Mohammar Gidaffi in the butt. Years later, having his ass kicked (by his own people, not a rock band) is how Gidaffi died.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The writers never did resolve how Principal Skinner got out of the traffic jam (and how Bart got off the bus to go to the Kwik-E-Mart).

* SpecialGuest: Spinal Tap. All three actors (one of whom, of course, is ''Simpsons'' regular HarryShearer) reprise their roles, with the concert and its aftermath taking up the episode's entire first act.

* HIlariousInHindsight: One of the T-shirts sold at the concert is Spinal Tip kicking Mohammar Gidaffi in the butt. Years later, having his ass kicked (by his own people, not a rock band) is how Gidaffi died.

* BritishRockstar: Bart fantasizes about becoming one, actually looking forward to the toll that SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll will have on him.
* CheapHeat: Spinal Tap uses this to rev up the Springfieldians, though David St. Hubbins needs the name of the town taped to the back of his guitar to remember it, and when they're forced to end the set he says "Good night, Springton" by mistake.
* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Otto thinks he's supposed to run down the cardboard cutouts of pedestrians on the driving test course.

* SpecialGuest: Spinal Tap! All three actors (one of whom, of course, is ''Simpsons'' regular Harry Shearer) reprise their roles, with the concert and its aftermath taking up the episode's entire first act.

Bart and Milhouse are dropped off at a [[ThisIsSpinalTap Spinal Tap]] concert by Homer. As happens so often with the famously troubled group, TheShowMustGoWrong: A giant inflatable Satan literally goes flat, the water from the ice rink beneath the makeshift arena stage starts seeping through, and finally the band gives up and leaves early. Frustrated fans decide to kill the remaining time with a riot, from which Bart is barely rescued (Milhouse is left behind in the rubble).

* SpecialGuest: Spinal Tap! All three actors (one of whom, of course, is ''Simpsons'' regular Harry Shearer) reprise their roles, with the concert and its aftermath taking up the episode's entire first act.

* CelebrityGuest: Spinal Tap! All three actors (one of whom, of course, is ''Simpsons'' regular Harry Shearer) reprise their roles from the movie, with the concert and its aftermath taking up the episode's entire first act.

* ShoutOut: SpinalTap is of course a reference to the film ThisIsSpinalTap, which all three actors reprising their roles.

* BritishRockstar: Bart fantasizes about becoming one of these, actually looking forward to the toll that SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll will have on him.

* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Otto apparently thinks he's supposed to run down the cardboard cutouts of pedestrians on the driving test course.