The Telltale Head

Rating: 3.4 (247 votes)

Memorable quotes

Teacher: The ventriloquist goes to heaven, but the dummy doesn't!
Bart: Oh! Oh! What about a robot with a human brain?
Teacher: I don't know! All these questions... is a little blind faith too much to ask?

Homer: I can understand why they wouldn't let in those wild jungle apes, but what about those really smart ones who live among us, who roller skate and smoke cigars?

Bart: (after crashing into a lamp post) Didn't hurt!
Kearney: Oh yeah? Well, do it again.
Bart: Nah, might land on my face and end up looking like you.

Bart: How important is it to be popular?
Homer: I'm glad you asked, son. Being popular is the most important thing in the world.

Homer: Now run along. A boy without mischief is like a bowling ball without a liquid center.

Chief Wiggum: We have no witnesses, no suspects, no leads. If anyone has any information, dial 0 and ask for the police. That number again: 0.

Homer: Just a statue? Is the Statue of Liberty just a statue? Is the Leaning Tower of Pizza just a statue?

Moe: Come on, everybody, we've got to get on with our lives! Let's try and put this tragedy behind us.
Barney: You're right, Moe. A beer please, and make sure there's a head on it.
Moe: Aah! (starts crying)

Mr. Burns: I love you, Smithers.
Smithers: The feeling is more than mutual, sir.

Notes

• Bart's blackboard gag for this episode is "I Did Not See Elvis", however, one of the lines reads: "I Did See Elvis".
• Marge pulls a comic book from inside Bart's jacket.
• A sign inside the church advertises Bingo, Monte Carlo Nights and a Reno Retreat. Reverend Lovejoy's sermon was on the evils of gambling.
• The ad for the Space Mutants movie reads: Space Mutants IV: The Trilogy Continues.
• The football commentator mentions a player named 'Wolodarsky'. Wallace Wolodarsky is a writer on The Simpsons.
• Jimbo, Dolph and Kearney stand on the grass, next to a sign saying "Keep Off The Grass".
• Sideshow Bob appeared on the TV set with his hair in an afro, instead of his normal style.

References

• The head of the statue talks to Bart, referencing Edgar Allen Poe's literary tale, "The Telltale Heart". The episode title also takes its name from this.
• The scene where Bart wakes up with the head next to him in bed is a parody of the movie "The Godfather".