Original artwork, not a still
Donuts ... is there anything they can't do?
— The Simpsons • 1989
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
It is Homer's whole worldview in a sentence: a runaway train full of his neighbours has just been saved by a giant doughnut, and what fills his mind is awe at the pastry. The joke lands because the praise is accidentally fair. Fans quote it, with the pause before the question, whenever a snack, or anything else, turns out to solve a problem it had no business solving.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for The SimpsonsShow the scene
In "Marge vs. the Monorail" (The Simpsons, season 4, January 1993), con man Lyle Lanley sells Springfield a shoddy monorail, and Homer, picked at random as its conductor after three weeks of training, loses control of the train. To stop it, he rips the giant M off the side of the carriage, ties it to a rope and throws it out of the window. It hooks onto the huge doughnut held by the Lard Lad statue and brings the monorail to a halt. Homer mutters the line to himself. Conan O'Brien wrote the episode.
Sources (2)
- Simpsons Wiki: Marge vs. the MonorailInfobox and synopsis (conductor, anchor, Lard Lad doughnut)Reference checked
- Simpsons Wiki: Marge vs. the Monorail/QuotesQuote list, anchor sceneReference checked
Context reviewed
