Simpsons fans amazed after man uncovers hidden joke in episode 31 years after it aired

Classic episodes of The Simpsons are an absolute goldmine of comedy and thanks to one talented fan a new seam has been discovered.

The show has been running for over three decades and while some fans have complaints about the way the quality dropped off in later seasons, most viewers reckon their earlier work still stands the test of time.

One of the internet's favourite things is to dig around in old episodes of The Simpsons and realise that they've got a pretty darn good track record of predicting what's going to happen in the future.

While they put their success down to making so many episodes and putting out so many jokes, some of the things they've predicted have been so eerily accurate that they've managed to disturb the writers.

From Trump to technology right through to people suddenly getting outraged about a centuries old statue, the older episodes of The Simpsons are still incredibly funny and very capable of surprising fans with their ability to get predict the future.

Disney

With that in mind video editor Ewzzy Rayburn has managed to dig out a hidden joke from a classic episode which nobody had heard for 31 years.

The gag is from early in the season three episode 'The Otto Show', where the Springfield Elementary bus driver reveals he's got no license and has to actually learn how to drive his bus.

The episode opens with Homer taking Bart and Milhouse to a Spinal Tap concert, but not before a lecture from Marge after she says she hopes the band doesn't play too loud.

Homer reassures her that he went to 'thousands of heavy metal concerts and it never hurt me', with the show then joking that he has terrible tinnitus as he can't hear whatever Marge tells him next.

While Homer might have completely failed to hear what his wife said, that doesn't mean the rest of us have to miss out, as video editor Rayburn was able to filter out the tinnitus tone and keep her voice.

Disney

Some of the more intrepid Simpsons fans will have known there was something to listen to beneath the noise as on the DVD commentary the writers remembered that 'what Marge is saying is actually pretty funny if I recall', and that 'it took us a long time to write and then we mixed it down so nobody could hear it'.

Knowing there was another gag buried beneath Homer's deaf ears, Rayburn explained that he filtered out the tinnitus with Adobe Audition.

It turns out Marge says: "Well alright, but make sure they don't pick up any of the band's attitude towards women, liquor, religion, politics, really anything."

The video editor went on to find that as well as Marge's voice there were bird noises, noting that The Simpsons almost always filters in either bird or cricket noises depending on whether it's day or night.

Marge's speech stayed in the episode in other languages too, and some chipped in to say that in certain translations there is no tinnitus noise from Homer's ears at all, meaning Marge just gets to say her piece.