Homer's odyssey to the oul' sod

'THE SIMPSONS' IN IRELAND:THE SHOW has already visited Cuba, Australia, England and Japan and last night, The Simpsons finally came to Ireland.

The episode was the first Simpsons to premiere outside of the US – even if a British station, Sky1, had the honour.

The show’s executive producer James L Brooks had described it as “a love letter to Ireland”, although in typical fashion there was a drop of poison in the ink. When the family visited Dublin and saw that it was Bloomsday, they groaned and decided this meant they had run out of fun things to do.

It was perhaps the episode’s smartest gag.

From an Irish perspective, it was a chance to see ourselves through the eyes of the greatest comedy series ever written. In its attempt to create some kind of record for the most Irish references in 22 minutes, there were jokes about leprechauns, potatoes, alcohol, the Giant’s Causeway and U2.

Even as it revelled in stereotypes, it used them to continue the running joke about how Ireland does not conform to Americans’ views of it. So, there were “yuprechauns” on the streets while gay leprechauns were allowed to display their affections in a tolerant society.

Thankfully, one vital tradition of US television’s relationship with Ireland remained strong: some of the accents were enjoyably terrible.