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Stan Kelly Simpsons Couch Gag (Treehouse of Horror 36 Opening)

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D. D. Degg Published: October 23, 2025 Updated: March 11, 2026 1 minute 2 comments

From rubbercat (“the world’s #1 Simpsons fansite”) In The News:

[A]t San Diego Comic-Con, Simpsons producers announced the opening segment of this Halloween’s annual “Treehouse of Horror” episode will be guest animated by The Onion‘s legendary editorial cartoonist Stan Kelly.

A recent South Park episode making fun of President Trump caused a quite a stir, so it’s no surprise to see The Simpsons jumping on the bandwagon and “getting political.” And there’s nobody better to tackle the subject than Kelly, whose name is synonymous with political cartoons. A fixture in the pages of America’s finest news source, Kelly has been using his scathing wit to lambast anti-American elitists, scheming foreigners, selfish hussies, today’s no-good teens, and beeping gizmos since 1966. In recent years, “Sickos Guy,” a character originally from this cartoon, has “gone viral” as a “meme,”* perhaps due to his personification of today’s sick, modern times.

*Latest fad.

The opening couch gag to The Simpsons‘ Treehouse of Horror XXXVI is now out in the wild.

Here are scenes from the Groening gold mine:

Despite the opening the official title of the short, as seen in the credits, is “America the Boo-tiful.”