The Simpsons/The Otto Show

The Otto Show
Season 3, Episode 22
Airdate	April 23, 1992
Production Number	8F21
Written by	Jeff Martin
Directed by	Wes Archer
← 3x21 Black Widower	3x23 → Bart's Friend Falls in Love
The Simpsons — Season Three

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The Otto Show is the twenty-second episode of the third season of The Simpsons, and the fifty-seventh episode overall.

The episode is a character sketch of Otto Mann, a school bus driver for the Springfield School District. When he loses his job after a reckless driving incident and the revelation that he was unlicensed, he goes broke and is kicked out of his apartment. Left with nowhere to go, he moves in with the Simpsons, and the plot follows what happens after he moves in.

Guest Stars:

Plot Overview

Bart and Millhouse are allowed to go to a rock concert where Spinal Tap is the main act. When the concert is a major flop, the concert-goers angrily riot as the band's members make their hasty retreat. However, Bart is still inspired to become a rock guitarist, and his parents buy him an electric guitar with amplifier.

The day after buying the guitar, Bart brings the guitar with him on the school bus, wanting to show it off, but yet to know how to play the instrument, he believes that it is broken and he complains to Otto, the school bus driver. Otto, forgetting that his responsibilities as a bus driver come first and that he is still stopped in traffic, takes the guitar and plays an impromptu concert. When motorists are unable to get around the stopped bus – at this point, nobody would have ticketed any of them for passing a stopped bus with its red lights flashing and stop arm extended, due to driver error – and are honking like crazy, Otto still doesn't move; it takes Martin (off all kids) to remind Otto they were supposed to be at school ten minutes ago. Otto does an "oh crap" and drives recklessly, running Spinal Tap's tour bus off the road into a deep ravine (and the bus catches fire, presumably killing all on board), driving through a park where Chief Wiggum and his officers are picnicking and crashing into the town square statue of Jebediah Springfield. Several motorists notice the "How's my driving" notice on the back bumper of the bus, which has overturned, and call Principal Skinner.

At school, an angry Principal Skinner demands an explanation. When Otto cannot give a suitable one, and then has to admit to police officers Eddie and Lou – who a few minutes earlier were unable to identify Otto as the reckless driver – that he is unlicensed, Skinner is forced to suspend Otto without pay.

While Skinner takes over the bus driving duties, Otto is not only unable to pass his driver's exam or behind-the-wheel test, he misspells "bus" on his application. Otto's life continues its downward spiral when he comes home to find he is locked out of his apartment due to owning months of back rent. Forced to living in a trash bin, Bart suggests Otto move in with his family until he can get back on his feet.

Otto is at first thankful for the kind gesture of Homer and Marge, but it isn't long before he makes a nuisance of himself. He quickly loses his ambition and is content to playing the electric guitar, watching TV and generally moping that he has nothing in life except driving the school bus. Homer eventually has enough and demands that he leave, and while Marge stands by her husband, she and Bart encourage Otto to at least try to re-take the driver's test and get re-licensed, even helping him study.

On the day of the test, Otto expresses a lack of confidence and is resigned to Homer's admonition that he is a bum. After Bart reminds him that Homer called him a "sponge," something snaps in Otto's head and, with renewed sense of confidence, walks to the counter, where Patty, one of the DMV examiners, wants to turn him away ... until he – unknowing Patty also hates Homer – tells her that he wants to show Homer a thing or two, and in the end "staple my license to (Homer's) big, bald head!" Patty suddenly decides to "help" Otto regain his license every way possible, helping him cheat on the written test and allowing every possible driver error to be disregarded ... all as Otto regales Patty with stories about Homer.

In the end, Otto proudly shows off his probationary license and is able to get his job back. Skinner is happy for Otto and hails him as a good, faithful servant to the school.

Notes

Title Sequence

• Blackboard: "I will not spin the turtle."
• Couch Gag: Santa's Little Helper snarls at the family as they approach the couch, forcing them to step away slowly.

Arc Advancement

Characters

• Otto Mann: Otto is a typical slacker who's lone job (and source of income) is as a school bus driver for the Springfield School District, assigned to drive students to and from the elementary school. At episode's beginning in "The Otto Show," Otto is unlicensed, which is revealed only after he gets into an accident and his reckless driving is reported by other motorists. When he temporarily is laid off from his job, he is revealed to have little to no other ambition in life, something that drives his temporary landlords Homer and Marge crazy. At first his relationship with Homer is good, but thanks to their personalities both soon dislike each other. Otto's dislike of Homer and admitting it to DMV instructor Patty Bouvier will play a key role in helping Otto get licensed and regain his job. Later episodes reveal Otto to use drugs, a desire to become a rock musician and that he has a strained relationship with his father, a Navy admiral who was hard on his son and irritated that playing a guitar was his only interest. He would also squat in the Simpsons' home when they temporarily moved to Cypress Creek in the episode "You Only Move Twice."

Trivia

Allusions and References

• Bazooka Joe chewing gum: Millhouse buying a jacket with 50,000 Bazooka Joe comic wrappers was similar to premium offers by candy companies and comic book publishers, wherein customers and readers could, by collecting and saving coupons and so forth found printed therein, they could buy items out of a catalog ... similar to the then-current trading stamps (which could be used to buy merchandise from a catalog) and today's rewards programs.
• The Fly: A dramatic scene in the 1986 science-fiction horror film, where the main character punches a large support beam and turns it into splinters after being told by his lover he is sick, is parodied in the scene where, before Otto retakes his driver's exam, Bart reminds him that Homer called him a sponge, enraging Otto to the point where he punches a brick wall hard enough to make it crumble and determined to show Homer a thing or two.
• Happy Days: Otto addresses Homer and Marge as Mr. S and Mrs. S. This would be a recurring gag throughout the series' run when various boarders moved in (temporarily) with the Simpsons.
• This Is Spinal Tap: The rock mockumentary about a rock band is a major focus of the first act, where the fictional group – David St. Hubbins, Nigel Tufnel and Derek Smalls perform at a rock concert in Sprindfield. Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer, who starred in the original film, reprise their roles.

Soundtrack

• "Free Bird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, which Otto plays during his impromptu concert on the bus.
• "Hail To the Bus Driver," the children's folk song paying tribute to bus drivers. Principal Skinner encourages the kids to sing the song, but – at one point, after having waited (seemingly) hours to try to enter a busy highway – Ralph keeps singing and inventing verses, finally making Skinner snap.
• "Spanish Flea" by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, which Homer sings along to while waiting in the car outside the concert arena.

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