The Simpsons will arguably always be the best TV show possible when it comes to pop culture references and crossovers, from the shared Family Guy episode to Futurama crossing over into Springfield to Bart & Co. getting haunted by Krusty’s Pennywise in the IT Halloween special. And that’s not even counting examples like the Rick and Morty opening and other applicable couch gags. As such, it’s always nice when other shows return the love.
Such as it went over the weekend, where Adult Swim’s fan-fave comedy Smiling Friends delivered a fun in-episode homage to TV’s longest-running scripted series, which was presumably in direct response to The Simpsons’ own winking nod to Zach Hadel and Michael Cusack’s weird ass series. Let's look at the back and forth below.
How The Simpsons First Paid Tribute To Smiling Friends
The Simpsons' Season 36 finale "Estranger Things" — currently available to stream via Disney+ subscription — centers on Bart and Lisa's broken promise to each other to watch Itchy and Scratchy together on a regular basis. As soon as the rift sets in, both kids start engaging with other bonkers TV fare, leading to a scene where Marge finds Bart watching the show "Screaming Friends" on his tablet. Check it out:
Marge is very obviously a surrogate for every parent who has ever questioned their children's taste after seeing the kind of shit they watch on YouTube and other places. Since, to the untrained eye, a show like "Screaming Friends" can appear to just be pure chaos. But Bart puts a perfectly crafted bow on top by qualifying it as such:
Obviously, the jokes are great, but what I love is the storytelling.
Bart
Remember when everyone thought The Simpsons itself was chaos and damnation whenever it spun out of The Tracy Ullman Show? (Maybe not for those who aren't as ancient as I am.) Looking back, those episodes seem downright quaint and tranquil, without the fast-paced joke rhythms that were developed in later years. I can't imagine how the world would have viewed Smiling Friends in 1989...
How Smiling Friends Returned The Favor
With its third season having debuted earlier in the 2025 TV schedule, Smiling Friends will sadly be all wrapped up by the time December gets here. But the show somehow managed a super-quick turnaround in delivering this homage in return with Episode 306, "Squirm Returns."
In the most recent episode of Smiling Friends, they made their own parody of The Simpsons! pic.twitter.com/UKMn6p0qWGNovember 17, 2025
For those unable to watch, the episode kicks off with Pim watching the untitled spoof on TV, with amusingly crude depictions of the family members. The Lisacharacter's head looks like a mutated starfish, and she's holding a "No Facism" sign, so that's at least on point. Quasi-Marge has a wider-at-the-top purple beehive instead of her straight-up blue 'do, and is barefoot. "Blart" is naked save for socks and glasses. And then there's Not-Quite-Homer, whose body parts don't seem to be connected all at the same time.
All in al, it's about what I'd expect The Simpsons to look like if it premiered on Adult Swim in 2025. Although I have to say, the spoof's lone "joke" is so rough that it almost feels like a dig on the Fox comedy's approach to topical humor.
- MARGE: Blart! What the devil are you doing on that confounded computer tablet device?
- BART: Hawk tuah, man!
The fact that "Blart" is watching something on a tablet is proof enough to me that the clip is a direct response to The Simpsons' finale gag. Considering that was only 6 months ago, one would assume that Smiling Friends' animation studio is both fast and dependable to put that together so relatively quickly. Perhaps the crudeness of the animation helped in that regard. (I'm still giggling over Marge's mouth moving constantly despite her lack of dialogue.)
The Simpsons airs Sunday nights on Fox at 8:00 p.m. ET, allowing for NFL-related delays, while Smiling Friends airs late Sunday nights on Adult Swim at 11:30 p.m. ET, and can also be streamed the next day via HBO Max subscription.