Entertainment
The Simpsons’ Most Iconic Gag Was Just To Pad Runtime
By Robert Scucci
| Published
Necessity is often cited as the mother of invention, and sometimes those inventions become the stuff of legend. In sitcom lore, the most legendary example of this can be found in the Season 5 Simpsons episode “Cape Feare,” where a number of tactics were employed to pad the show’s runtime because the episode was too short to meet Fox’s minimum length requirements. Even the couch gag involves a prolonged circus kickline to help fill things out, but that’s not what we’re here to talk about.
We’re here to talk about the infamous Sideshow Bob rake-stepping scene that cemented “Cape Feare” as one of the series’ most iconic episodes. In the original cut, Sideshow Bob, having stalked the Simp– er … the Thompsons to their new boathouse in Terror Lake after they relocate through the Witness Protection Program, only stepped on the rake once. In a desperate attempt to make sure the episode was long enough to air, longtime Simpsons producer Al Jean leaned fully into absurdity, giving us the sequence, and groan, that any die-hard fan of the show still utters whenever they’re mildly inconvenienced.
The “Brrrreughhhh…” Heard Around The World
“Cape Feare” is a tight episode that crams in a ton of plot while somewhat faithfully recreating the 1991 remake of Cape Fear, using Sideshow Bob as a stand-in for Robert De Niro’s Max Cady character.
The plot is simple and startlingly efficient: Bart receives a series of menacing, blood-written letters from an imprisoned Sideshow Bob vowing to kill him, and then Bob gets released on parole, hellbent on murdering his 10-year-old nemesis once and for all. The Simpson family joins the Witness Protection Program, though not without difficulty because Homer is too stupid to remember their new last name, Thompson, and the family relocates to Terror Lake to start a new, and hopefully safe, life.
John Vitti’s original script for “Cape Feare” was so efficient that the rest of the writing team had a hard time stretching the premise past the minimum 20 minutes and 20 seconds required for broadcast, which sent everybody back to the drawing board.
The episode opens with a prolonged circus-themed couch gag, along with an extended Itchy & Scratchy segment to pad the runtime without overhauling any major plot points. There are also a few red herrings sprinkled throughout to make viewers question who’s actually trying to kill Bart before it’s revealed to be Sideshow Bob, pricking his finger and writing the threatening letters in his own blood.
The biggest overhaul came when Sideshow Bob crawls out from under the Simpsons’ car after having piping hot coffee poured on him and getting dragged through a cactus patch. Already battered from the trip to Terror Lake, he rises from the ground only to step directly onto a rake. The handle flies upward, smacks him square in the face, and he lets out the groan that sounds a little something like “Brrrreughhhh…”
Run The Joke Into The Ground, And Bring It Back From The Dead
Kelsey Grammer, who has voiced Sideshow Bob since the character’s introduction, recalls only recording the belabored groan once while working on “Cape Feare.” He later admitted that when he finally saw the finished episode, he was baffled as to why the groan had been looped over and over (nine times) as Sideshow Bob continued stepping on rakes for what initially must have felt like an eternity.
Here’s the thing: this is exactly what longtime Simpsons producer Al Jean intended all along. He knew the episode had a runtime problem, and in a Hail Mary attempt to make the episode whole while facing animation deadlines that couldn’t realistically be met, he stumbled into brilliance. The gamble paid off almost immediately when “Cape Feare” premiered in October 1993.
Jean’s philosophy followed three simple steps. First, make the joke funny. Sideshow Bob stepping on a rake is inherently hilarious. Second, stretch the gag past the point of being funny so viewers start wondering how many times this idiot is going to step on a rake and groan. Finally, stretch it even longer until it somehow becomes funny all over again.
Al Jean’s instincts were dead-on, but what nobody could have predicted at the time was that this singular moment in Simpsons lore would take on a life of its own and become one of the series’ defining gags. It’s pure slapstick absurdity born entirely out of necessity, adding roughly 30 seconds to the episode’s final cut, and it’s what I’ve always thought of as “The Groan Heard Around The World.”
Golden Era Simpsons is packed with esoteric, high-brow humor, which makes sense given the Ivy League-heavy writing staff. But sometimes all you really need is “man step on rake funny.” Thanks to Al Jean’s willingness to stretch a simple gag far beyond the point of reason, “Cape Feare” currently ranks among the highest-rated episodes of the entire series on IMDb with a 9.2 rating. More than 30 years later, we’re all still groaning about it, and there’s something magical about a throwaway joke accidentally becoming one of the most iconic moments in television comedy history.
Entertainment
NYT Strands hints, answers for May 29, 2026
Today’s NYT Strands hints are easy if you’re an animal lover.
Strands, the New York Times‘ elevated word-search game, requires the player to perform a twist on the classic word search. Words can be made from linked letters — up, down, left, right, or diagonal, but words can also change direction, resulting in quirky shapes and patterns. Every single letter in the grid will be part of an answer. There’s always a theme linking every solution, along with the “spangram,” a special, word or phrase that sums up that day’s theme, and spans the entire grid horizontally or vertically.
By providing an opaque hint and not providing the word list, Strands creates a brain-teasing game that takes a little longer to play than its other games, like Wordle and Connections.
If you’re feeling stuck or just don’t have 10 or more minutes to figure out today’s puzzle, we’ve got all the NYT Strands hints for today’s puzzle you need to progress at your preferred pace.
NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: E-I-E-I-O
The words are related to animals.
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Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained
These words describe barnyard animals.
NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?
Today’s NYT Strands spangram is horizontal.
NYT Strands spangram answer today
Today’s spangram is Farm Animals.
NYT Strands word list for May 29
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Cows
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Farm Animals
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Goats
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Chickens
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Sheep
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Horses
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Ducks
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Pigs
Looking for other daily online games? Mashable’s Games page has more hints, and if you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now!
Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Strands.
Entertainment
NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for May 29, 2026
The NYT Connections puzzle today is not too difficult if you have a sensitive nose.
Connections is the one of the most popular New York Times word games that’s captured the public’s attention. The game is all about finding the “common threads between words.” And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier—so we’ve served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.
If you just want to be told today’s puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for today’s Connections solution. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
What is Connections?
The NYT‘s latest daily word game has become a social media hit. The Times credits associate puzzle editor Wyna Liu with helping to create the new word game and bringing it to the publications’ Games section. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.
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Each puzzle features 16 words and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise of anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there’s only one correct answer.
If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake—players get up to four mistakes until the game ends.
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Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.
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Here’s a hint for today’s Connections categories
Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:
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Yellow: Seas
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Green: Bad odors
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Blue: Found in an estate
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Purple: Acronym
Here are today’s Connections categories
Need a little extra help? Today’s connections fall into the following categories:
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Yellow: Oceans
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Green: Sources of distinctive smells
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Blue: Kinds of rooms in a mansion
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Purple: What “PA” might refer to
Looking for Wordle today? Here’s the answer to today’s Wordle.
Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today’s puzzle before we reveal the solutions.
Drumroll, please!
The solution to today’s Connections #1083 is…
What is the answer to Connections today
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Oceans: ARCTIC, ATLANTIC, INDIAN, PACIFIC
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Sources of distinctive smells: AMMONIA, BO, DURIAN, WET DOG
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Kinds of rooms in a mansion: BILLIARD, DRAWING, POWDER, READING
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What “PA” might refer to: FATHER, PENNSYLVANIA, PROTACTINIUM, PUBLIC ADDRESS
Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be new Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.
Are you also playing NYT Strands? Get all the Strands hints you need for today’s puzzle.
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Connections.
Entertainment
Jimmy Kimmel gleefully roasts Trump over record low approval rating
The midterms are getting closer, and — according to some polls — Donald Trump’s approval rating is lower than ever before.
“He is now down to 34 percent. He has the same approval rating as Paul Blart: Mall Cop,” says Jimmy Kimmel in the monologue above from Thursday night’s show. “Not only is Trump at his lowest point, he’s also two points behind JD Vance. I don’t have a joke for that, I just want to make sure he knows he’s two points behind JD Vance.”
Kimmel goes on to bring up White House spokesman Davis Ingle’s official response, in which he pointed to Trump’s win in the 2024 election as “the ultimate poll.”
“OK, yeah,” says Kimmel, “but now it’s May of 2026 and everybody hates him.”
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