The Simpsons' Duffman Made His First Appearance In A Banned Episode

In the "The Simpsons" episode "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson" (September 21, 1997), Homer (Dan Castellaneta) is drinking at his local dive bar with his buddies. Everyone is having a good time except for Barney (also Castellaneta), an alcoholic who has, for the night, been chosen as his group's designated driver. Barney is already on edge, screaming that he needs beer soon when the dulcet strains of Yello's "Oh Yeah" interrupt his thoughts. Outside, the Duff Beer Partymobile pulls up, and Duff-branded corporate mascots file into Moe's Tavern. The party is about to begin, clearly as a corporate gimmick. In the middle of the fray is Duffman (Hank Azaria), a beer-themed superhero, who enters the room and asks if everyone is ready to "GET DUFFED!" He proceeds to distribute free beers to everyone. He offers Barney a free barrel of Duff Extra Cold. Barney has to refuse. He is in Hell. 

When driving his drunken friends home, Barney finally snaps. He drops everyone off, then goes joyriding in Homer's car. The next morning, Homer gets a call from the New York Police Department, several states over. It seems his car is illegally parked, with a boot ... in the heart of Downtown Manhattan. Homer has to fly to New York to get his car back. Homer finds that his car was deposited right in between the World Trade Center buildings. As one might imagine, his efforts to extricate the vehicle leave him exhausted, filthy, and filled to the brim with crab juice and Khlav Kalash. 

It's certainly not the best episode according to fans on IMDb, but it's likely because many of them haven't seen it. Because a large portion of "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson" is set right in between the World Trade Center towers, the episode was tastefully pulled from syndication after the events of September 11, 2001. This was confirmed by "Simpsons" writer/producer Bill Oakley on the "New York" DVD commentary track.

That means Duffman's debut was made unavailable.

Duffman, it should be noted, became a regular character on "The Simpsons," utilized whenever the writers needed an over-the-top mascot to provide exclamatory punctuation to a scene, or when jokes about corporate shill-hood were required. To date, the character has appeared in 24 episodes. 

On the DVD commentary for "The City of New York," Bill Oakley noted that the episode, while hilarious, had to be pulled from rotation after the 9/11 attacks. Audiences simply weren't ready to see a comedy series wherein the towers were still standing and made the objects of jokes. Indeed, there is a scene in "New York" wherein an office worker in Tower #2 leans out the window and yells at a worker in Tower #1. He says that he wants to "stick it to the jerks in Tower One." This joke was funny in 1997 but became less funny in 2001. Bill Oakley said that the episode began to work its way back into reruns after about five years, returning to some markets as early as 2006. 

For a few years, though, newer "Simpsons" fans perhaps wondered where Duffman came from. Of course, his appearance in "New York" doesn't really explain a lot; his existence as a corporate mascot is pretty clear. 

An additional, and very weird, coincidence. In one moment in the episode, Bart (Nancy Cartwright) points to a brochure that offers $9 cab tours of the city. The "$9" is placed right next to a display of the World Trade Towers, making it look like "9-11." This, however, was just an eerie coincidence. 

This, of course, wasn't the last time "The Simpsons" had concerns about its content aging poorly. In 2011, producer Al Jean was interviewed by EW to talk about the show's prominent location of a nuclear power plant (where Homer works) in a world damaged by the meltdown at Fukushima, Japan. Jean noted that the "Simpsons" writers would be featuring Homer's workplace a little less for a few years.