(The Age) With The Simpsons into its 20th season, Bridget McManus and Nicole Brady ask local comedians, writers and animators what the residents of Springfield mean to them…

Rove McManus:

The Simpsons have influenced a lot of my comedy friends. There’s an episode, a Cape Fear parody, where Sideshow Bob gets hit in the face with about 20 rakes and it takes a good minute and a half for him to go through them all, which, in television terms, is a very long time for a joke, and it’s a perfect comedy moment. It’s now a yardstick for comedians when we talk about how you can keep going with a joke in that same way. We call it The Sideshow Bob Rake Idea. And when, if a joke falls flat, rather than just stop and move on, you keep going and reference the fact that the joke didn’t work and all you’re doing is making it worse for yourself, we use the phrase, “How will I get out of this hole? I’ll dig my way out”. That’s a Simpsons line.

- Read the rest at RoveOnline