Episode 4F11
Written by Ron Hauge
Directed by Mike B. Anderson
Also starring: Pamela Hayden
Special guest voice: John Waters (as John)

Premise: When Homer realises that Bart's new friend, camp antiques dealer John, is gay, he begins to fear for Bart's sexual orientation and sets out to ensure his son is a 'real' man.

Features: Milhouse van Houten, Lewis, Richard, Ralph, Rod Flanders, Principal Skinner, Smithers, Barney, Moe.

Couch: The sequence is being uploaded from a computer, but fails to load quickly enough and so is cancelled.

Trivia:

• John works at Cockamamie's, a store for the kitsch and camp. Among the badges there which Skinner looks at are campaign ones such as I Fell For Dole, Click With Dick, I Like Ike, I Still Like Ike and Quayle Can't Fail.
• There is a poster for the movie Clank Clank You're Dead, and Homer's record collection includes records by the New Christy Minstrels, Loony Laura, The Wedding of Lynda Bird Johnson and Ballads of the Green Berets by S/Sgt Barry Sadler.

Homage: Homer and John dance to I Love the Nightlife (Disco Round) by Alicia Bridges, a 1978 hit, while the Steel Mill guys bop along to Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now), a 1990 hit for C & C Music Factory featuring Freedom Williams. This track is also played out over the closing titles. Bart meanwhile dons a Cher wig and sings along to her Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss), a number one hit in 1991.

Look out for: Smithers' and John's tête-a-tête in the diner. 'So, this is your sick mother.'

Notes: After many years of almost hitting the mark with gay storylines (OK, so we had Waylon confirmed doing the conga on holiday and Karl a possibility in Simpson & Delilah), here comes the most wonderfully camp one, with Homer's spot-on reactions, some delightful stereotypes at the Steel Mill and Bart's blissful innocence of the whole thing. Only The Simpsons could do this so tongue-in-cheek that nobody could get in a tizzy about it. Very good indeed.