The Simpsons: 10 Hidden Jokes Everybody Missed

7. The Writer Who Uncovered The Truth About Whacking Day Also Uncovered The Truth About Watergate (Whacking Day)

The Simpsons Whacking Day
Fox

Whacking Day is probably one of the weirder Simpsons episodes during its supposed 'golden era'. Taking influence from real-life festivals in which townsfolk actually round up snakes and beat them with a stick, the writers decided to convey some sort of animal-conscious message by parodying these weird festivals for 'Whacking Day'. As the writers developed the rich history of Springfield's whacking day, they couldn't resist slipping in a few digs at former President Nixon.

First there was the 'file footage' of Nixon utterly failing at whacking a snake and the crowd booing at his pitiful effort. Most people would've thought that was it for Nixon jokes, but eagle-eyed fans noticed that there was one final inside dig at Nixon.

The episode's sub-plot involves Bart getting home-schooled and getting really into history books. In the episode, Bart is seen reading a book titled 'The Truth About Whacking Day', which was written by Bob Woodward. For those who don't know, Bob Woodward was one of the journalists who uncovered the Watergate scandal and wrote an entire book about it.

Of course, this joke probably flew over the heads of most fans, who probably found the sequence of Homer channelling his inner ninja and practicing his snake killing moves much more memorable.

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Contributor

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