Seasons: 1-5 • 6-10 • 11-15 • 16-20 • 21-25 • 26-30 |
The following is a list of couch gags seen in the opening sequence of The Simpsons for Seasons 11 through 15.
Season 11[]
# | Airdate | Screenshot | Gag Name | Episode | Code |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
227 | September 26, 1999 | The Simpson family (as they are currently drawn) run in and find their crudely drawn counterparts from The Tracey Ullman Show. Both families look at each other and run screaming out the room. | "Beyond Blunderdome" | AABF23 | |
228 | October 3, 1999 | The family comes in, colorless and marked with numbers. A group of Korean painters come in to color the family, but forget to outline the eyes on Homer and Marge. | "Brother's Little Helper" | AABF22 | |
229 | October 24, 1999 | The family comes in. Marge notices Matt Groening's signature at the bottom of the screen and wipes it off. A caricature of Matt Groening (complete with graying beard, glasses, and a tacky orange and yellow Hawaiian shirt) comes in and resigns the scene. | "Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner?" | AABF21 | |
230 | October 31, 1999 | The family members (mostly) appear as they have in previous Halloween episodes: Homer is a jack-in-the-box (from II), Bart is a mutant fly (from VIII), Marge is a witch (also from VIII), and Maggie is an alien (from IX); Lisa, an ax murder victim (the only one not based on a previous episode), comments on the lackluster Halloween special hosted by Kang and Kodos ("What do aliens have to do with Halloween?"). Maggie yells, "Silence!" and blasts Lisa with her ray-gun.. | "Treehouse of Horror X" | BABF01 | |
231 | November 7, 1999 | The living room is set up like a trendy nightclub (complete with a disco ball, a velvet rope, three 20-something club hoppers, and a bouncer). The bouncer lets Marge, Lisa, Bart, and Maggie in, but sends Homer away. | "E-I-E-I-D'oh" | AABF19 | |
232 | November 14, 1999 | A cement truck pours out concrete statues of the Simpson family. The top half of Homer’s statue quickly breaks off and falls to the floor. | "Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder" | BABF02 | |
233 | November 21, 1999 | The Simpsons sit on the couch and the wall spins around as seen in "Homer the Heretic." Instead of an empty couch, however, a Vincent Price-esque mad scientist and a shackled and scared Ned Flanders are on the other side of the wall. | "Eight Misbehavin'" | BABF03 | |
234 | November 28, 1999 | repeat of AABF20's gag | "Take My Wife, Sleaze" | BABF05 | |
235 | December 19, 1999 | Marge, Lisa, Bart, and Maggie slide down a fire pole that's next to the couch. Homer, however, gets stuck in the hole and flails about helplessly. He says "Get me down!" | "Grift of the Magi" | BABF07 | |
236 | January 9, 2000 | A crash test dummy version of the family sits. The couch slides forward and slams into the TV (simluating a car crash test), then pulls back into place. Crash test dummy Homer's head falls off from the trauma. | "Little Big Mom" | BABF04 | |
237 | January 16, 2000 | A Sigmund Freud caricature is sitting in a chair next to the couch. Homer hops on the couch and yells, "Oh, doctor, I'm crazy!", then sobs everyone else stares sadly at each other. | "Faith Off" | BABF06 | |
238 | January 23, 2000 | repeat of AABF13's gag | "The Mansion Family" | BABF08 | |
239 | February 6, 2000 | The family leaps into the room, all dressed in white karate uniforms and black belts. They chop the couch to pieces while Homer does a spinning kick and clicks on the TV with the remote. | "Saddlesore Galactica" | BABF09 | |
240 | February 13, 2000 | Everyone (save Maggie, who's with Marge) comes in on bumper cars and slams Homer into the wall repeatedly. | "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily" | BABF10 | |
241 | February 20, 2000 | The couch is sitting in the Evergreen Terrace Subway Station. The family (seated on a bench) get on the next train that arrives on the track and leave. | "Missionary: Impossible" | BABF11 | |
242 | February 27, 2000 | repeat of AABF21's gag | "Pygmoelian" | BABF12 | |
243 | March 19, 2000 | repeat of AABF19's gag | "Bart to the Future" | BABF13 | |
244 | April 9, 2000 | repeat of AABF23's gag | "Days of Wine and D'oh'ses" | BABF14 | |
245 | April 30, 2000 | The Simpsons (save Maggie, who is in Marge's arms) are barefoot and briskly walking across a bed of hot coals. When the family sits on the couch, they prop their feet up, revealing their black and smoldering soles. | "Kill the Alligator and Run" | BABF16 | |
246 | May 7, 2000 | Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie (dressed in jungle loincloths) swing into the room on a vine gracefully like Tarzan. Homer, however, swings by, fails to release the vine in time, and crashes offscreen like George of the Jungle. | "Last Tap Dance in Springfield" | BABF15 | |
247 | May 14, 2000 | repeat of AABF22's gag | "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge" | BABF18 | |
248 | May 21, 2000 | The family sits down. Bart puts a coin in the "Magic Fingers" slot on his side of the couch. The couch vibrates away, taking the family with it. | "Behind the Laughter" | BABF19 |
Season 12[]
# | Airdate | Screenshot | Gag Name | Episode | Code |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
249 | November 1, 2000 | no gag (Halloween episode) | "Treehouse of Horror XI" | BABF21 | |
250 | November 5, 2000 | Bart puts a whoopee cushion under Homer's spot. When the family sits down, Homer sits on it and triggers its farting sound. Homer grins sheepishly at Marge, Lisa, and Maggie (who are frowning) while Bart laughs. | "A Tale of Two Springfields" | BABF20 | |
251 | November 12, 2000 | The shot opens on the TV rather than the couch. The family runs in and freezes in mid-air. The camera pans around them in Matrix-style bullet-time. When the camera is angled on the couch, time resumes normally and they sit down without further incident. | "Insane Clown Poppy" | BABF17 | |
252 | November 19, 2000 | Maggie is on the couch. The rest of the Simpsons waddle in dressed as The Teletubbies and Maggie applauds with delight. | "Lisa the Tree Hugger" | CABF01 | |
253 | November 26, 2000 | A skating ramp is set up next to the couch. Marge (with Maggie in hand), Bart, and Lisa successfully do skateboard tricks off the ramp and onto the couch. Homer, however, falls off the ramp and, adding injury to insult, gets hit on the head with his own skateboard. | "Homer vs. Dignity" | CABF04 | |
254 | December 3, 2000 | Santa’s Little Helper dances on his hind legs like Snoopy on The Charlie Brown Christmas Special while the popular "Peanuts" theme plays. When the family comes in, Santa’s Little Helper slowly stops dancing, sits on his hind legs, and barks. | "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" | CABF02 | |
255 | December 10, 2000 | The Simpsons swim to the couch in deep-sea diving gear. The camera zooms out to reveal that the living room is in a fish bowl. | "The Great Money Caper" | CABF03 | |
256 | December 17, 2000 | A football is thrown in the center of the living room. The Simpsons, dressed as football players, tackle each other for the ball. Maggie squirms out with ball in hand, spikes it, and does a victory dance. | "Skinner's Sense of Snow" | CABF06 | |
257 | January 7, 2001 | The Simpsons are placed on the couch by the transport tubes used on Futurama. A yellow-skinned Philip J. Fry is in on the couch for a split second before he’s sucked up and replaced by Bart. | "HOMЯ" | BABF22 | |
258 | January 14, 2001 | repeat of BABF03's gag | "Pokey Mom" | CABF05 | |
259 | February 4, 2001 | The couch is replaced by a valet parking spot. The Squeaky-Voiced Teen pushes a couch in place for the Simpsons to sit down. He then holds his hand out for a tip and leaves angrily when he doesn’t get it. | "Worst Episode Ever" | CABF08 | |
260 | February 11, 2001 | The living room floor is frozen over. The Simpsons ice skate to the couch. When Homer sits down, his side of the couch falls through. | "Tennis the Menace" | CABF07 | |
261 | February 18, 2001 | repeat of BABF06's gag | "Day of the Jackanapes" | CABF10 | |
262 | February 25, 2001 | The couch is outside a prison wall. A siren wails and a searchlight moves as The Simpsons (dressed in striped prison jumpsuits) tunnel their way to the couch. | "New Kids on the Blecch" | CABF12 | |
263 | March 4, 2001 | repeat of BABF09's gag | "Hungry, Hungry Homer" | CABF09 | |
264 | March 11, 2001 | repeat of BABF10's gag | "Bye Bye Nerdie" | CABF11 | |
265 | April 1, 2001 | repeat of 9F08's gag | "Simpson Safari" | CABF13 | |
266 | April 29, 2001 | repeat of CABF04's gag | "Trilogy of Error" | CABF14 | |
267 | May 6, 2001 | repeat of BABF02's gag | "I'm Goin' to Praiseland" | CABF15 | |
268 | May 13, 2001 | repeat of BABF04's gag | "Children of a Lesser Clod" | CABF16 | |
269 | May 20, 2001 | repeat of BABF11's gag | "Simpsons Tall Tales" | CABF17 |
Season 13[]
# | Airdate | Screenshot | Gag Name | Episode | Code |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
270 | November 6, 2001 | no gag (Halloween special) | "Treehouse of Horror XII" | CABF19 | |
271 | November 11, 2001 | The Simpsons are in the simplistically drawn sailboat painting located behind the couch. They jump out of the painting by going in the "water". The living room is wet from the splash and Homer uses his finger to clean his ear out while clicking on the TV with the remote. | "The Parent Rap" | CABF22 | |
272 | November 18, 2001 | repeat of CABF06's gag | "Homer the Moe" | CABF20 | |
273 | December 2, 2001 | repeat of CABF12's gag | "A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love" | CABF18 | |
274 | December 9, 2001 | repeat of BABF17's gag | "The Blunder Years" | CABF21 | |
275 | December 16, 2001 | The couch is a slot machine that shows Homer, Marge, Bart, and Lisa in the tumbler windows. Maggie, however, is replaced by lucky number "7" as a pile of gold coins spill out. | "She of Little Faith" | DABF02 | |
276 | January 6, 2002 | The couch is replaced by a hedge. A gardener comes in and creates a topiary of The Simpsons. | "Brawl in the Family" | DABF01 | |
277 | January 20, 2002 | The Simpsons sit on the couch as normal. A crane game clamp comes down and picks up Homer. Homer screams, “Ow! My brain!” as he's being pulled out of frame. (Some later airings have Homer screaming in pain) | "Sweets and Sour Marge" | DABF03 | |
278 | January 27, 2002 | Homer, dressed as Charlie Chaplin's "The Tramp" character, waddles in, twitches his nose, and sits down. The other family members, dressed as archetypical silent film characters, join Homer. | "Jaws Wired Shut" | DABF05 | |
279 | February 10, 2002 | The family arrives to find two repo men carrying the couch away. As Homer cries over this, a confused Marge sits on the floor with the kids to watch TV. | "Half-Decent Proposal" | DABF04 | |
280 | February 17, 2002 | repeat of 9F08's gag | "The Bart Wants What It Wants" | DABF06 | |
281 | February 24, 2002 | The family catch The Squeaky Voice Teen making out with a teenage girl on the couch. | "The Lastest Gun in the West" | DABF07 | |
282 | March 10, 2002 | The family runs in to find the Blue Man Group performing on drums in front of the couch. Homer murmurs "What the-?!" (in reruns and repeats of this couch gag in other episodes, The Blue Man Group plays more aggressively and Homer's "What the--?!" is muted out) | "The Old Man and the Key" | DABF09 | |
283 | March 17, 2002 | Drawn in pencil, the family sits in a flipbook flipped by live-action hands. | "Tales from the Public Domain" | DABF08 | |
284 | March 31, 2002 | The family are marionettes who get caught in each other's strings. The camera pans up to reveal Matt Groening as the puppet master, who throws the puppets down and sighs in frustration. | "Blame It on Lisa" | DABF10 | |
285 | April 7, 2002 | repeat of DABF01's gag | "Weekend at Burnsie's" | DABF11 | |
286 | April 21, 2002 | repeat of DABF02's gag | "Gump Roast" | DABF12 | |
287 | April 28, 2002 | repeat of DABF03's gag | "I Am Furious (Yellow)" | DABF13 | |
288 | May 5, 2002 | repeat of DABF04's gag | "The Sweetest Apu" | DABF14 | |
289 | May 12, 2002 | repeat of DABF07's gag | "Little Girl in the Big Ten" | DABF15 | |
290 | May 19, 2002 | repeat of DABF05's gag | "The Frying Game" | DABF16 | |
291 | May 22, 2002 | repeat of DABF09's gag (but with different audio: the group plays more loudly/aggressively and Homer stays silent.) | "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge" | DABF17 |
Season 14[]
# | Airdate | Screenshot | Gag Name | Episode | Code |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
292 | November 3, 2002 | no gag (Halloween episode) | "Treehouse of Horror XIII" | DABF19 | |
293 | November 10, 2002 | Homer is on water skis, with the others on him, as he ski-jumps over sharks; everybody lands on the couch, but Homer is without his legs, which are in the sharks' mouths Homer doesn't notice (a reference to the term "jumped the shark", describing a TV show that has reached its peak and is now declining in quality or has done something to cause it to decline prematurely). | "How I Spent My Strummer Vacation" | DABF22 | |
294 | November 17, 2002 | Spoofing the Get Smart opening, Homer walks through a series of futuristic doors, falls through the bottom of a phone booth, and lands on the couch (where the others are already sitting). | "Bart vs. Lisa vs. the Third Grade" | DABF20 | |
295 | November 24, 2002 | The couch is drawn on a "Etch A Sketch" (called a "Sketch-A-Etch" in the couch gag) and Homer yells, "Whoo-hoo!" when the Screenshot is completed. | "Large Marge" | DABF18 | |
296 | December 1, 2002 | In a parody of the Macintosh paint program, Kid Pix, a mouse cursor drags Homer from the left side of the couch to the right, changes the wall color to green, and replaces the boat painting with the Mona Lisa. (Final couch gag to be traditionally animated) | "Helter Shelter" | DABF21 | |
297 | December 15, 2002 |
The family sits on the couch. Homer clicks on the remote control and sends the family to the Stone Age, clicks it again to send them to the Roman Empire where they watch a gladiator match, and clicks it a final time to return them to the present. |
"The Great Louse Detective" | EABF01 | |
298 | January 5, 2003 | Everybody is deep-fried in a fast-food fryer, then emptied onto the couch and salted. | "Special Edna" | EABF02 | |
299 | January 12, 2003 | In black and white, everyone is wearing early-20th-century clothing and is watching the TV from a girder at a construction site. (Done in the style of Charles C. Ebbets' photograph "Lunch Atop a Skyscraper.") | "The Dad Who Knew Too Little" | EABF03 | |
300 | February 2, 2003 | Everybody sticks their head through a cutout of the couch and have their Screenshots taken. | "The Strong Arms of the Ma" | EABF04 | |
301 | February 9, 2003 | A giant baby picks up doll versions of the Simpson family and plays with them. | "Pray Anything" | EABF06 | |
302 | February 16, 2003 | Everybody and everything is made of gingerbread; Homer takes a bite out of Bart's head. | "Barting Over" | EABF05 | |
303 | February 16, 2003 | repeat of DABF18's gag | "I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can" | EABF07 | |
304 | March 2, 2003 | repeat of DABF10's gag | "A Star Is Born-Again" | EABF08 | |
305 | March 9, 2003 | repeat of EABF01's gag | "Mr. Spritz Goes to Washington" | EABF09 | |
306 | March 16, 2003 | repeat of DABF08's gag | "C.E. D'oh" | EABF10 | |
307 | March 30, 2003 | repeat of DABF22's gag | "'Scuse Me While I Miss the Sky" | EABF11 | |
308 | April 13, 2003 | repeat of EABF02's gag | "Three Gays of the Condo" | EABF12 | |
309 | April 27, 2003 | Everybody is a mime, walking against the wind and then sitting on a non-existent couch. | "Dude, Where's My Ranch?" | EABF13 | |
310 | May 4, 2003 | repeat of EABF03's gag | "Old Yeller-Belly" | EABF14 | |
311 | May 11, 2003 | repeat of EABF04's gag | "Brake My Wife, Please" | EABF15 | |
312 | May 18, 2003 | repeat of EABF06's gag | "The Bart of War" | EABF16 | |
313 | May 18, 2003 | repeat of EABF05's gag | "Moe Baby Blues" | EABF17 |
Season 15[]
# | Airdate | Screenshot | Gag Name | Episode | Code |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
314 | November 2, 2003 | no gag (Halloween episode) | "Treehouse of Horror XIV" | EABF21 | |
315 | November 9, 2003 | The family runs to the couch as normal, only to decay and turn to piles of dust. | "My Mother the Carjacker" | EABF18 | |
316 | November 16, 2003 | A Polaroid photo ejects onto the couch; it develops into a photo of the family. | "The President Wore Pearls" | EABF20 | |
317 | November 23, 2003 | There is a Play-Doh press on the back wall; it presses Play-Doh versions of everybody out onto the couch. | "The Regina Monologues" | EABF22 | |
318 | November 30, 2003 | repeat of DABF20's gag | "The Fat and the Furriest" | EABF19 | |
319 | December 7, 2003 | Everybody slides down separate poles and end up on the couch, in Batman-style costumes, in the Batcave. | "Today, I Am a Clown" | FABF01 | |
320 | December 14, 2003 | The couch is a street bench in Japan, and everyone is a famous anime character: Homer is Ultraman, Marge is Jun from Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, Lisa is Usagi Tsukino, the protagonist from Sailor Moon, Bart is Astro Boy and Maggie is Pikachu from Pokémon. | "'Tis the Fifteenth Season" | FABF02 | |
321 | January 4, 2004 | Somebody offscreen throws knives at the wall while everyone is seated on the couch, but when Homer reaches for a bowl of chips, a knife nearly hits him. | "Marge vs. Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples and Teens and Gays" | FABF03 | |
322 | January 11, 2004 | Everybody is squeezed like frosting out of a pastry bag onto the top of a cake. | "I, (Annoyed Grunt)-Bot" | FABF04 | |
323 | January 25, 2004 | Everybody's head pops out of a giant piece of apple pie. Homer takes a bite from the pie. | "Diatribe of a Mad Housewife" | FABF05 | |
324 | February 8, 2004 | A tray is placed into a microwave, and the family rises as the tray is cooked. (The is the third food-based couch gag in a row) | "Margical History Tour" | FABF06 | |
325 | February 15, 2004 | A woman throws some seeds into a plot of dirt where the couch usually is, and waters them; everybody sprouts up like plants. | "Milhouse Doesn't Live Here Anymore" | FABF07 | |
326 | February 22, 2004 | Everybody is a bag on a moving dry-cleaning rack, which stops over the couch. | "Smart and Smarter" | FABF09 | |
327 | March 14, 2004 | In a parody of Powers of Ten, the couch scene pans out until it reaches outer space, where the galaxies are replaced with atoms, which pan out until they reach Homer's head and then the couch scene again. Homer: Wooowwww. (reairings and repeats of the couch gag in other episodes redub "Wooowww" with "Cool!" or "Weird" and have Kang and Kodos laughing instead of staying silent) | "The Ziff Who Came to Dinner" | FABF08 | |
328 | March 21, 2004 | repeat of EABF18's gag | "Co-Dependent's Day" | FABF10 | |
329 | March 28, 2004 | repeat of EABF20's gag | "The Wandering Juvie" | FABF11 | |
330 | April 18, 2004 | repeat of EABF22's gag | "My Big Fat Geek Wedding" | FABF12 | |
331 | April 25, 2004 | repeat of FABF04's gag | "Catch 'Em if You Can" | FABF14 | |
332 | May 2, 2004 | repeat of FABF08's gag | "Simple Simpson" | FABF15 | |
333 | May 9, 2004 | repeat of FABF03's gag | "The Way We Weren't" | FABF13 | |
334 | May 16, 2004 | repeat of FABF08's gag | "Bart-Mangled Banner" | FABF17 | |
335 | May 23, 2004 | repeat of FABF02's gag | "Fraudcast News" | FABF18 |