Online Poker (Subdirectly) in Pop Culture
by Dan Michalski, Mar 29, 2009 | 8:12 pm
Funny … have The Simpsons on in the background, and they just opened the show with a bit where Rev. Lovejoy had to explain to his religious superior why the church’s credit card was declined … he came up with a dismissive explanation of a security hold put on it by the bank after his wife joined an offshore poker club.
(The subtextual punchline being that they were talking about fireplace pokers.)
That Sam Simon … so nice of him to embed a joke just for us.
Ha-ha-ish.
BJ Nemeth says:
March 30th, 2009 at 6:06am
FYI, Sam Simon hasn’t been involved with “The Simpsons” for more than 15 years (though he still receives co-creator residuals).
Also, the fourth and final Futurama DVD movie (cousin to “The Simpsons”) prominently features the 3009 Universal Poker Tournament, which is a clear parody of the WSOP Main Event. It has a $50,000 buy in, though there only appear to be 9 or 10 players. The format is winner-take-all and first place is worth $1 million — perhaps in the future, the casino puts up half the prizepool?
It’s a great scene, also featuring Penn Jillette as the announcer, and it lasts about five minutes. My favorite part is that this fictional tournament actually SHOWS THE HAND NUMBERS! Even though they only show half a dozen hands or so, a graphic tells the home audience that they’ve skipped from Hand #6 to Hand #72 — so at least they’ve improve on that in the next 1,000 years.
The DVD is called “Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder,” and I highly recommend it. (As I recommend all Futurama DVDs — it’s a great show.)
DanM says:
March 30th, 2009 at 9:51am
Who do you think you are, BJ, correcting me like that — Mathers?
Jason B says:
March 30th, 2009 at 10:30pm
I saw the simpson’s episode and it was pretty slick how they made a quip at off shore poker accounts. But, the futurama scene was classic. Only I dont know how Bender’s beer coaster can win over 4 aces. I do like Fry’s plan, I wish I had that capability!!!