Futurama Season 11 Hides A Matt Groening Easter Egg Only Hard-Core Fans Will Spot
Contains Spoilers for "Futurama" Season 11, Episode 5 — "Related to Items You've Viewed"
Matt Groening's constellation of television series have always been tightly interwoven. The casts of "Futurama" and "The Simpsons" have crossed over a number of times — a prospect made all the more difficult by the fact that the shows don't take place in the same universe – and "Disenchantment" has featured cameos by "Futurama" and "The Simpsons" characters as well. But the reference to Groening's previous work that pops up in "Related to the Items You've Viewed" is slightly more obscure.
Keep your eye on the conveyor belt as Bender (John DiMaggio) speaks to his new co-worker while learning how things work during his first day at Momazon. If the toys whizzing by them seem at all familiar, that's because they're stuffed versions of Bongo, one of the lead characters from Groening's newspaper comic strip "Life in Hell." Bongo appearances have long been sprinkled throughout episodes of all of Matt Groening's series. The single-eared, dyspeptic character has loomed large over Matt Groening's career; the animation ace even named the comic book company he founded to produce volumes of "Simpsons" and "Futurama" comic book series after Bongo. And this definitely isn't the first time Futurama audiences have laid eyes on the character.
This isn't the first time Bongo's popped up in Futurama
This marks the fourth time Bongo's popped up in "Futurama." You can see a creature which looks an awful lot like Bongo for sale during Season 2's "XMas Story," when Phillip J. Fry (Billy West) goes to Joe's Ark Pet Store looking for a present for Leela (Katey Sagal). The creature also pops up in "Bender's Big Score!", once again in toy form, as a set of dolls being cobbled together by Robot Santa's helpers. The character's third appearance occurs during "Simpsorama," during which Bongo and his fellow "Life in Hell" character Binky appear in the sewers of New New York. This Bongo has mutated thanks to his being comprised of Bart Simpsons' (Nancy Cartwright) DNA and can be seen spray painting the phrase "Crossovers are Hell" on a wall. Bongo's final appearance before popping up in "Related to the Items You've Viewed" is in "Zapp Dingbat." In it, Leela can be seen sporting single-eared bunny slippers which look an awful lot like Bongo.
Aside from showing up multiple times in "The Simpsons" and "Disenchantment," One of Bongo's most prominent appearances among Groening's works is in "The Simpsons: The Arcade Game." Whacking several trees during gameplay will cause the creature to rise from the treetop and kvetch. Hit all four designated trees throughout the game and you'll receive an achievement called "Bongo's Angst." Angsty or not, he's definitely one memorable fellow.