A Midsummer's Nice Dream is the 16th episode of the 22th season of The Simpsons.
1970s stoner comedians Tommy Chong and Cheech Marin (who apparently were born in Springfield and worked as weathermen on Channel 6 when they accidentally inhaled that fateful marijuana smoke) decide to break up after Chong grows tired of doing the same routine over and over. Both get new comedy partners — Homer pairs up with Cheech to become "Cheech and Chunk" while Principal Skinner joins Chong to become "Teach and Chong." Meanwhile, Marge stages an intervention for The Crazy Cat Lady over her hoarding problem.
Tropes:
- Autocannibalism: In Homer's Imagine Spot of celebrating with Cheech, he imagines eating himself to the point that only his head remained.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Bart. He blatantly tells the audience that they can watch the show the next day on Hulu.com.
- The Comically Serious: Chong chooses Skinner as Cheech's replacement on the basis of his sheer unfunniness.
- Dada: "Teach and Chong"'s act makes absolutely no sense. Chalmers points out that even the menu (made up of puns between songs and desserts) is funnier.
- Funny Character, Boring Actor: An In-Universe example. While Homer is excited to become Cheech's new partner, he becomes disappointed when he sees that Cheech is more down to earth, cultured and mellow compared to his on-stage persona.
- Improv: Tommy Chong attempts this, growing tired of saying "Dave's not here, man".
- Not Quite Dead:Grampa: Who has disturbed my tomb?Lisa: Grampa, you're not dead.Grampa: Then wake me up when I am.
- Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure: Cheech and Chong break up in the middle of their performance due to Chong feeling the act becoming stale. The two reunite and work together again near the end of the episode.
- Pun-Based Title: To A Midsummer Night's Dream.
- Recovered Addict: Marge's subplot in fixing Eleanor's clutter works initially, only for Marge to suddenly switch roles. And when Eleanor attempts to make Marge come to her senses, the former ends up giving in, making it an Averted Trope.
- Shout-Out:
- Homer explains to Bart that Cheech and Chong are "the ''Beavis And Butthead of his generation." To which Bart replies: "Who are Beavis and Butt-head?"
- Homer looks up his old Cheech and Chong records in the attic. One of the magazines lying next to Bart depicts Frank Zappa.
- Mr. Burns attends the Cheech and Chong show and gets so high from all the marihuana smoke in the room that he mistakes Cheech and Chong for Laurel and Hardy.
- Among the stuff Marge finds in the Crazy Cat Lady's belongings are all copies of J. D. Salinger's catalogue, "except for The Catcher in the Rye".
- Homer imagines himself and Cheech having a great time being stoned in an Imagine Spot set to the song "Basketball Jones". The entire sequence is a shout-out to the cartoon short of the same name and the lead character from the short, Tyrone Shoelaces, can also be seen in Homer's dream sequence. During the same scene Selma's hair is changed into that of a snake, a reference to the Greek mythological character Medusa.
- Homer sings along to "Low Rider" by the band War while on the truck. The song has appeared on famous stoner comedies such as (Cheech and Chong's) Up in Smoke and Dazed and Confused.
- Shout-Out to Shakespeare: The title is a shout-out to A Midsummer Night's Dream. Later in the episode Bart is also dressed up like Puck.
- Special Guest: Cheech & Chong.
- Swapped Roles: Marge and the Crazy Cat Lady switch roles with each other, twice.
