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The Simpsons episode
"Homer's Barbershop Quartet"
Promotional artwork for "Homer's Barbershop Quartet", featuring David Crosby.
Episode no.	82
Prod. code	9F21
Orig. airdate	September 30, 1993
Show runner(s)	Al Jean & Mike Reiss
Written by	Jeff Martin
Directed by	Mark Kirkland
Chalkboard	"I will never win an Emmy"
Couch gag	A trio of couch gags: The family runs in, crashes into each other, and shatters into pieces; Santa's Little Helper wanders in and examines the pieces. A voice says "Couch gag, take two." The family sits on the couch, coalescing into a five-headed, ten-eyed, multicolored blob. A voice says "Couch gag, take three." The family runs in, crashes into each other, and explodes; Maggie's pacifier drops out of the air onto the scorched floor.
Guest star(s)	George Harrison as himself David Crosby as himself The Dapper Dans as the singing voices of "The Be-Sharps".
DVD commentary	Matt Groening Mike Reiss Al Jean Jeff Martin Hank Azaria Jon Lovitz Mark Kirkland
Season 5 September 30, 1993 – May 19, 1994
Homer's Barbershop Quartet Cape Feare Homer Goes to College Rosebud Treehouse of Horror IV Marge on the Lam Bart's Inner Child Boy-Scoutz N the Hood The Last Temptation of Homer $pringfield Homer the Vigilante Bart Gets Famous Homer and Apu Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy Deep Space Homer Homer Loves Flanders Bart Gets an Elephant Burns' Heir Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song The Boy Who Knew Too Much Lady Bouvier's Lover Secrets of a Successful Marriage
List of all The Simpsons episodes
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"Homer's Barbershop Quartet" is the first episode of The Simpsons' fifth season. It features the Be-Sharps, a fictional barbershop quartet founded by Homer, whose story roughly parallels that of The Beatles. The episode was written by Jeff Martin, directed by Mark Kirkland, while George Harrison and David Crosby guest starred as themselves, and The Dapper Dans as the singing voices of "The Be-Sharps".

At the Springfield Swap Meet, Bart and Lisa notice Homer's face on an album cover. Homer explains that he, Principal Skinner, Barney, and Apu recorded a barbershop quartet album in 1985, which catapulted them to national fame.

This development came after an agent, Nigel, offered to be their representative on the condition they expel original member Chief Wiggum, who was "too Village People." After rejecting many auditions for a fourth member, the barbershop trio returned downheartedly to Moe's Tavern, where they recruited Barney after hearing him sing in a beautiful Irish tenor voice. The group considered various names, finally calling themselves "The Be Sharps." They had decided their name should be initially witty, yet become less funny each time you heard it.

Back in modern times, Homer brags that he sold a spare tire at the swap meet; unfortunately, on the way home their tire blows out. While Marge begins her long walk to a gas station, Homer continues the story. He tells Bart and Lisa that after Marge bought a "Baby On Board" sign, Homer wrote a song inspired by the fad. "Baby on Board" appeared on their first album, Meet the Be Sharps, and became a hit. The group performed the song at the Statue of Liberty's centennial in 1986. The Be Sharps also won a Grammy for "Outstanding Soul, Spoken Word, or Barbershop Album of the Year", and Homer met George Harrison. Meanwhile, Wiggum's singing career (now dead) was being mocked by numerous talk show hosts.

At home, Homer explains that the Be Sharps were on merchandise (similar to the Beatlemania craze) - such as lunch boxes, mugs, posters, etc. When Lisa pulls out a bottle of Be Sharps Funny Foam, Homer says that it was pulled off the market when it was discovered to be poisonous. The name of their second album was Bigger than Jesus. While the Be Sharps were becoming popular, Marge was having problems raising the children, and the Be Sharps also had their own issues. Creative disputes arose when Barney began dating a Japanese conceptual artist, and Barney left the group in all but name. The two recorded a song in which his girlfriend repeatedly says "Number 8" over tape loops of Barney's belches (a nod to the Beatles song "Revolution 9"). Ultimately, the group realizes they had lost their popularity and were no longer hot, according to the latest issue of Us Weekly's What's Hot and What's Not, and splits up. Principal Skinner returns to Springfield Elementary School, and Homer returns to the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant.

At the end of the episode, the group reunites to perform a concert on Moe's roof singing their number one hit "Baby on Board". Many passers-by stop to hear them sing their last concert, including George Harrison who remarks, "It's been done."

The following can be seen on the Season 5 DVD set:

• The group announces a new Record Label called "Donut Records"(in a parody of the Beatle's creation of Apple Records) at empty press conference. However, only one person is eating a donut because they were giving them away. (This was cut due to an animation mistake with Barney's hair switching color) Then, Homer mentions a point when yodeling was threatening their popularity.
• After Homer mentions the band breaking up and going their separate ways, it originally cut to Principal Skinner returning to his mother's home. She asks if he was with any women, and he replies no. She then horrifies him by asking him to give her a bath and laughs maniacally. The scene then cuts to the outside of their home, which resembles the Bates Motel from Psycho. This is one of several one-off jokes in early seasons to equate Mrs. Skinner to Norman Bates' mother, before developing her into a full character later on.

• When Marge is trying to sell a man a wishbone necklace there is a portrait of Ringo Starr behind her. The same type of paintings from the Season 2 episode "Brush with Greatness."
• Moe's Tavern has changed to Moe's Cavern, a reference to the famous Cavern Club in Liverpool where The Beatles frequently performed in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
• When Chief Wiggum jumps out of the window stating "This bird's going to fly," this is a reference to a line in "Norwegian Wood" on the Rubber Soul album.
• Chief Wiggum's replacement in the band by Barney is a parallel to Pete Best being replaced as The Beatles' drummer by Ringo Starr.
• The song Baby on Board refers to another song inspired by a sign: Handle with Care by George Harrison and the Traveling Wilburys.
• "Gentlemen, you have just recorded your first number one," is what George Martin reportedly told the Beatles after they finished recording "Please Please Me".
• Homer having to cover up his marriage to Marge is a parody of John Lennon having to conceal the fact he was married to Cynthia Lennon in the early years.
• The first Be Sharps LP, Meet the Be Sharps, is a direct reference to The Beatles' first American album Meet the Beatles!, featuring the quartet's faces in black-and-white contrast on the cover.
• The press conference at the airport is a direct reference to the questions the American press asked the Beatles when they first arrived in New York.
• The Be Sharps' performance at the Statue of Liberty parodies The Beatles' presentation in 1964 on The Ed Sullivan Show.
• The cover of Bigger Than Jesus, the Be Sharps' second album, features the group walking on water. It is a direct parody of the art on The Beatles' album Abbey Road. At the end of the episode the back cover is revealed, on which we see Homer turned away from the camera, as opposed to the rest of the band. This is a parody of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band LP reverse, in which Paul McCartney is in the same position, allegedly as part of the "Paul Is Dead" hype. "Bigger than Jesus" is a reference to a controversial quote made by John Lennon in 1966. Bart references this by asking "What did you do [to lose your popularity]? Screw up like the Beatles and say you were bigger than Jesus?" to which Homer replies "All the time, that was the name of our second album".
• According to Matt Groening in the DVD commentary, the shots of the band in the recording studio where they decide to break up were based on pictures from the Let It Be sessions.
• The scene in the recording studio where the group record a new song includes the lyrics "Goo goo ga joob," which is a lyric from "I Am the Walrus".
• Barney's Japanese conceptual artist girlfriend is a parody of Yoko Ono, and the two record a song which sounds similar to Lennon and Ono's "Revolution 9". Additionally, the scene in which Barney plays the song for Homer pays homage to a picture of Lennon, Ono, and McCartney in the studio.
• The group performing atop Moe's Bar at the end of the episode (including their clothes) is a parody of The Beatles' impromptu concert on the Apple Corps rooftop during their Get Back recording sessions in 1969 — hence George Harrison's line, "It's been done."
• Homer's comment "I'd like to thank you on behalf of the group and I hope we passed the audition," is the last piece of dialogue, said by John Lennon, on the Beatles Let It Be album, taken from the Apple rooftop concert.
• In one of the more obscure references, the chicken which has been 'covering' for Homer at the Nuclear Plant is named 'Queenie;' this was the nickname given to Beatles manager Brian Epstein's mother, due to her name meaning 'Queen' in Hebrew.

• Principal Skinner recognizes an old prison helmet of his from Vietnam with the number '24601'. This is also the prison number and alias of Jean Valjean in Les Misérables. The same number is also Sideshow Bob's prison number in the episode "Black Widower". The huge bomb in the background is a replica of Little Boy, the atomic bomb exploded on Hiroshima.
• The record that Comic Book Guy had at the swap meet, "Melvin and the Squirrels" is an obvious spoof of Alvin and the Chipmunks.
• At the swap meet Homer naively misidentifies the Declaration of Independence, an issue of Action Comics #1 (the debut of Superman), a sheet of 40 Inverted Jenny postage stamps and a violin by the Stradivarius family, all rare and valuable items, as "junk". The improbable value of the Declaration of Independence notwithstanding, the total value of those items would be (presuming all in perfect mint condition) $30,984,000 USD at a cost of $0.15 USD (using the current price of $2.7 million USD for a sheet of 4 Inverted Jennys, $3,544,000 USD for a recently sold record-breaking Stradivarius violin, and $440,000 for an Action Comics #1). This would yield an approximate profit return of $206,560,000 per dollar.
• Homer's attempted song lyrics include references to The Mystery of Al Capone's Vault and Batman actor Burt Ward. Apu also voices his displeasure over songs about C. Everett Koop and Mr. T, the second leading Homer to reply with "I pity the fool", a famous line said by him in Rocky III.
• The 1980s chat show hosts mocking Chief Wiggum are Johnny Carson and Joan Rivers.
• Homer's line about Dexy's Midnight Runners, "We haven't heard the last of them!", is ironic as the band were a one-hit wonder (at least in the USA), only charting with "Come on Eileen".
• Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon LP can be seen in the background next to the Melvin record.
• Their hit song, 'Baby On Board', paraphrases some of 'You're So Square Baby I Don't Care'.
• Barney sings "Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ral" when the group first hears him.
• At the Springfield Swap Meet, Moe sells oysters painted to resemble Lucille Ball.
• When Chief Wiggum jumps out of the window after singing 'Talk to the Animals' is a reference to Maniac Magee running away after singing 'Talk to the Animals'. The song is from the 1967 film Doctor Dolittle.
• During the replacement auditions, Grampa's rendition of "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" is done in the style of a Frank Sinatra version of the song recorded in the early 1960s. Groundskeeper Willie auditions as the replacement Be Sharp with a mangled version of the Petula Clark song Downtown, pronouncing its title as "Doon-toon". Jasper sings Theme from A Summer Place with made up lyrics.

The song does, in fact, have lyrics other than these, but they are not well-known.

• ALF appears on the US Weekly cover declaring that the Be Sharps are "not" as opposed to "hot". Simpsons writers Al Jean and Mike Reiss wrote scripts for this NBC sitcom.

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