The Simpsons: This Week’s Episode Has An Amazing Tie To Season 5

On Sunday night, The Simpsons writer Samantha Martin took to social media to tell the story of how that night’s episode, “Yokel Hero,” had come together. Martin isn’t just a second-generation The Simpsons writer — her father Jeff Martin worked on the show from seasons two through five — but actually brought her dad back into the fold to write the episode with her. Even more impressive? Martin says that she was the basis for “Baby on Board,” one of the original songs her father wrote for a season five episode of the long-running animated series (performed by Homer’s barbershop quartet the Be Sharps).

“Yokel Hero” is the younger Martin’s first writing credit on an episode of The Simpsons. She is best known for her work on Hot in Cleveland and Henry Danger.

You can read her story, as told through a series of tweets, below.

“Tonight’s episode of The Simpsons is written by my dad and me. Thank you Al Jean for the incredible opportunity. And now, here’s my personal history with The Simpsons. In 1989, when I was one, my dad told my mom that we were going to move from NYC to LA so he could write for this ‘new cartoon.’ The gamble paid off. My dad wrote for The Simpsons from seasons 2 through 5. During that time, he wrote many iconic episodes, most notably the script and all the songs for ‘A Streetcar Named Marge.’ My dad wrote at least one Streetcar song with me on his lap. The Be-Sharps song ‘Baby on Board’ was inspired by baby me.

“[Former showrunner] Sam Simon was as nice as they say. In 1996, my dad went to Sam’s to play him the demo for ‘The Ballad of Jebediah Springfield.’ He brought me along. I was really into skateboards, and Sam Simon was as nice as they say. In 1996, my dad went to Sam’s to play him the demo for ‘The Ballad of Jebediah Springfield.’ He brought me along. I was really into skateboards, and Sam let me skate around on a Bart skateboard while they worked. At the end of the session, he told me I could keep it.

“Fast way forward, I ended up becoming a TV writer and songwriter just like my dad. We wrote our episode with my two-week-old baby (on board!), Cleo, sleeping next to us. I recorded three song demos for the episode with her close by. Can’t wait to write an episode with Cleo in 30 years.”

The Simpsons airs on Sunday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on FOX.