Sideshow Bob Roberts

] Sideshow Bob gives his acceptance speech underneath a giant poster with a picture of himself on it; this is a reference to the campaign speech scene in "Citizen Kane". The title and several plot elements, including Bob entering Burns' meeting draped in an American flag, are references to the 1992 film "Bob Roberts".

The character Birch Barlow is a take-off of American talk show host and political commentator Rush Limbaugh. Barlow mentions Colonel Oliver North, Officer Stacey Koon and advertising mascot Joe Camel as being "intelligent conservative [s] , railroaded by our liberal justice system". Also, the language spoken at Republican Party headquarters is inspired by Enochian, a language associated with occult and Satanic ceremonies.

Other references are also included. The Springwood Minimum Security Prison is a parody of Allenwood Minimum Security Prison. When Lisa is driving, she is listening to "St. Elmo's Fire" by John Parr,]

Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, the authors of the book "I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide" noted the episode was: "A stunningly outspoken political satire that drew considerable disapproval from the Republican Party when it was aired." Eric Reinagel, Brian Moritz and John Hill of the "Press & Sun-Bulletin" named "Sideshow Bob Roberts" as the seventh best episode of the show. [cite news|title=Woo-Hoo! A look at the 10 best 'Simpsons' episodes ever - just in time for the new movie|date=2007-07-27|accessdate=2008-09-05|page=8E|author=Eric Reinagel, Brian Moritz, John Hill|work=Press & Sun-Bulletin] Thomas Rozwadowski placed the episode amongst his list of the ten best episodes of the show which have lessons: "Corrupt politicians always get their comeuppance. Or not." He also highlighted Bob's campaign advert and Kent Brockman's line "And the results are in. For Sideshow Bob, 100 percent. For Joe Quimby, 1 percent. And we remind you, there is a 1 percent margin of error." [cite news|title=Wanna be S-M-R-T? Take lessons from 'The Simpsons'|work=Green Bay Press-Gazette|date=2007-07-29|accessdate=2008-09-05|author=Thomas Rozwadowski|page=01D]

The episode has been used in courses at Columbia College Chicago. The course entitled "The Simpsons as Satirical Authors" featured "Sideshow Bob Roberts" as one of the episodes used screened for the ""What's (Not) Wrong with America? Critiquing the U.S. Government" topic. [cite news|title=The Simpsons go to college - Columbia offering a course that even noted school-phobe Bart would like|date=2005-12-07|accessdate=2008-09-05|work=Chicago Tribune|author=Jason George|page=3]

References

External links

* [http://www.thesimpsons.com/episode_guide/0605.htm "Sideshow Bob Roberts"] at The Simpsons.com
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* [http://www.tv.com/the-simpsons/sideshow-bob-roberts/episode/1393/summary.html "Sideshow Bob Roberts"] at TV.com
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0701207/ "Sideshow Bob Roberts"] at the Internet Movie Database