5. Johnny Cash
Played: Space Coyote Episode: El Viaje Mysterioso De Nuestro Jomer Marge attempts to cover up the approach of Springfield's annual chili cook-off to prevent Homer getting drunk and embarrassing her - again. She cuts out the ad in the newspaper, cuts the phone line when Lenny is about to tell Homer about it, and even takes up smoking to cover up the smell of chili wafting through the town. Homer realises the cook-off has arrived though, and immediately dons his legendary chili boots and marches off, promising Marge not to get drunk. After eating a number of Guatemalan insanity peppers prepared by Chief Wiggum (after coating his mouth in candle wax), Homer passes out and his consciousness goes on a mystical journey. There he meets with a spirit guide in the form of a coyote, who tells him he must find his soul mate. Homer dismisses this out of hand, saying that his soul mate is Marge. The coyote questions this, which shocks Homer. He eventually regains consciousness and makes his way home to a seething Marge, who assumes he got drunk. Homer then wanders off in search of his true soul mate, eventually arriving at a lighthouse manned by E.A.R.L. When he discovers this to be an Electronic Automatic Robotic Lighthouse, he plans to smash the light and cause a shipwreck, bringing a boatload of new potential soul mates to him. However, Marge arrives just in time, having tracked him down using things only she, as his true soul mate, would know. Johnny Cash plays the coyote guide brilliantly, with his sarcastic and troublesome tone mirroring his real-life personality. The show was the highest-rated of the week on US television when it first aired, and his appearance was described by Matt Groening as "one of the greatest coups the show has ever had ".