A snobby British filmmaker named Declan Desmond begins making a documentary about student life at Springfield Elementary School. When introduced to Lisa, he tells her that she has too many goals and suggests that she pick one career. Lisa focuses on astronomy, but cannot watch the stars because of light pollution. She convinces Mayor Quimby to decrease the light's intensity during the night, which only results in an increase in the crime rate. Quimby bows to public pressure and switches the lights back on permanently. Lisa overloads the generators at the Power Plant, causing a power outage, and is able to watch a meteor shower undisturbed by light.
WAR
73.1
Wins Above Replacement
“Scuse Me While I Miss The Sky” ranks #71 of 552 The Simpsons episodes on the Humor Index, scoring 84.1 — Elite. The episode packs 70 scored jokes at 3.4 per minute, averaging 7.2 on craft and 6.9 on impact, with Homer landing the most laughs. Every joke is ranked below with its individual craft and impact scores.
Get weekly comedy rankings
Join comedy fans getting new analyses, score drops, and the funniest moments each week. Free, no spam.
Top Jokes
Fat Tony · Jimmy the Snitch: I wish Jimmy the Snitch could see this. [muffled voice] Well, just open the trunk!
Homer Simpson: I wish God were alive to see this.
Comic Book Guy: I can't read porno by candlelight! Who am I- Abe Lincoln!
Homer: And what's that? - I'm gonna die alone!
Homer Setup/Punchline Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Bart: I wish God were alive to see this.
Bart Dark/Subversive Wordplay/Pun ★ Rewatch All Jokes — 70 analyzed
Show all ↓ Hide ↑ Bart: He didn't say anything about SkinnerInAShredder.com. Let's make this the best year ever.
Bart Misdirection Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Declan Desmond: Well, they're not good enough to wipe my lens.
Homer: No. Because they pass the savings on to me, the consumer.
Homer Character Comedy Absurdist Krusty: Look, I give people a meatlike burger and some kind of cola
Krusty Wordplay/Pun Character Comedy Krusty: Good as new. [stapling burgers together]
Krusty Visual Gag Cringe/Discomfort Milhouse: What about us cool kids? Should we just chill out?
Declan Desmond: You're doing great. Stay with the dink.
Bart: I chuck 'em at nerds, girls I like- whatever.
Bart Character Comedy Observational Declan Desmond: And in a flash, Bart's glory has gone the way of England's masculinity.
Ralph: My sash says 'Ultraman.'
Ralph Character Comedy Absurdist Principal Skinner: I haven't seen such a natural pair since 'half-sandwich and soup of the day.'
Principal Skinner: Remember, as far as he knows, we still teach math.
Lisa: Well, I am young, gifted and yellow.
Lisa Wordplay/Pun Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Declan Desmond: picking and nibbling until, one day, you're 38 and managing a Barnes & Noble.
Declan Desmond: Pick a path and follow it, or you'll just grow up, slog your way through Mount Holyoke and squeeze out babies.
Milhouse: Even that kid that wears diapers is more popular. And he ain't popular.
Bart: Like after the time I accidentally called the teacher Mom.
Bart Callback Cringe/Discomfort Milhouse: Even I beat you up that day, after you passed out.
Nelson: Eh, I snapped it off some jerk's car. I could go to prison for life, but whatever.
Nelson Character Comedy Escalation Bart: All that's left for me is to become the biggest drunk this town's ever seen.
Bart Escalation Character Comedy Homer: Talkin' won't get you there. [gulping sounds]
Homer Character Comedy Reaction Beat Homer: And what's that? - I'm gonna die alone!
Homer Setup/Punchline Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Museum Worker: I spent 30 years brushing the teeth of dead monsters.
Narrator: home of a familiar blue planet we call... Rigel 7- not too far from Earth.
Exhibit: Will it be you? Or you? Or... you? [pointing at everyone]
Homer Physical/Slapstick Character Comedy Homer · Lisa: Oh, my God! Space monsters are invading us! - Dad, that's a moth.
Homer · Lisa: Dad, that's a kaleidoscope. You may be a smart kid, Lisa, but you don't know much about not hurting people's feelings.
Lisa: Thanks a lot, surviving Beach Boys.
Lisa Observational Dark/Subversive Moe · Barney: For three seconds there, you were legally the mayor. - Yeah! And you was a girl, Joe!
Lisa: No one ever wrote a poem about sickly orange barf glow.
Lisa Observational Wordplay/Pun Professor Frink: For astronomers like me- [mumbling] umb-hiven- this is a bigger problem, even than, oh, I don't know, say, getting a date, which is difficult for the geeky people.
Professor Frink: They're like hermit crabs. They really are crabs- Oh, there's one now. I see you!
Kid: That's not a hood ornament. It's a pacifier you spray-painted silver.
Kid Setup/Punchline Cringe/Discomfort Nelson: Oh, look. It's jill-of-all-trades. So, what's the ambition du jour?
Nelson Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Nelson: How'd you come up with that- tilt your head up?
Nelson Observational Character Comedy Lisa · Nelson: Does it make you feel superior to tear down people's dreams? - Yes. Does it make you feel smart to question people's motives? - Yes. - Well, all right then.
Lisa Nelson Setup/Punchline Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Sea Captain: Yarr! I'd be happy to scrimshaw your petition.
Mayor Quimby: or a faded Southern belle who needs the forgiving cloak of night to seduce naive young delivery boys with more pizza than common sense
Kent Brockman: Look out, Matthew Modine and Charlene Tilton. There are new stars in town- sky stars!
Kent Brockman: cave-in to the astronomer lobby
Abe Simpson: Naturally, we blamed it on the Irish. We hanged more than a few.
Professor Frink: Named after its discoverer- Professor Artemis Deadly- who was, ironically, killed in the shower of 1853.
Carl: This is great! It's darker than a French chick's armpit!
Carl Observational Character Comedy Kent Brockman: unmatched since the Detroit Tigers last made the play-offs over two centuries ago
Kent Brockman: The government has issued an orange alert, which, once again, means nothing.
Luigi/Bart: Try-a the cheese-a pizza. It's greasy like-a you.
Luigi · Bart/Luigi: You're gonna depreciate a Mafia don's car? Hey, we're all gonna be murdered someday.
Luigi: But at the risk of enraging you by making you look-a stupid, we have no valet parking.
Luigi Cringe/Discomfort Character Comedy Fat Tony: You mean that 10-year-old with a mustache was a phony?
Lou · Chief Wiggum: Let's fire blindly into the dark. - No. You might hit a made man.
Moe · Barney: Hey. You're not John Ritter. - And you ain't that gorilla from the zoo. - Meh. Eh.
Moe: No one's ever won Moe's 'drink a gallon of gin' challenge. And no one ever will.
Moe Dark/Subversive Character Comedy Groundskeeper Willie: You know what this reminds me of- my Icelandic boyhood.
Homer: What am I- superdad?
Homer Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Marge: I'll bet somewhere there's a horse drinking coffee.
Marge Absurdist Observational Homer: Don't you think you're overreacting, talking gum-ball machine?
Homer Visual Gag Character Comedy Homer Simpson: Don't you think you're overreacting, talking gum-ball machine?
Lisa: you can't see anything in the sky except the Fox satellite
Lisa Meta/Self-Referential Observational ★ Rewatch Bart: You can say it. I add nothing.
Homer: Aw, my baby's first words.
Homer Character Comedy Absurdist Bart: Gandhi also said, 'Less talk, more rock!'
Bart Absurdist Misdirection Lou: But, Chief, we are the entire force.
Lou Observational Character Comedy Groundskeeper Willie: I'll catch 'em on my tongue for luck. Ow! Ow! Ow!
Comic Book Guy: I can't read porno by candlelight! Who am I- Abe Lincoln!
Fat Tony · Jimmy the Snitch: I wish Jimmy the Snitch could see this. [muffled voice] Well, just open the trunk!
Bart: I wish God were alive to see this.
Bart Dark/Subversive Wordplay/Pun ★ Rewatch Homer Simpson: I wish God were alive to see this.
Ralph: I'm gonna live with Underground Grandma.
Ralph Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch Kid · Kid 2: Soccer mom! - I'll be batting .352 in the majors!
Top Episodes — The Simpsons