Let’s face it, watching Homer Simpson suffer is a lot of fun, whether his kids are fighting over who loves him more (You do!  No, You do!), his wife’s getting promoted ahead of him, or he’s getting hit in the head with softballs, circular saws or nightsticks.  Or, at least, it used to be a lot of fun.  Somewhere along the way Zombie Simpsons forgot that Homer’s supposed to be a regular guy.  Instead, they turned him into one of those cheap, inflatable punching bags that always bounces back up.  The trouble is, it’s just a lot less fun to watch when the guy taking the hits is invincible.  

For a montage of genuinely inventive ways to hurt Homer, we turn to Season 3’s “Bart the Lover”.  After agreeing to pay money to the Swear Jar whenever he curses, we see Homer:

1) Accidentally put a $20 in the church collection plate

2) Narrowly miss one pin at the bowling alley

3) Find out that Flanders is making money as a commercial actor after Homer got him to shave his moustache

4) Have his eight year old daughter point out that the dog house he’s been working on has no door

5) Have a hive of bees fall on him while he’s napping in the hammock

That’s a healthy range of suffering, from monetary losses to the emotional frustration of seeing his neighbor pull ever farther ahead of him in the game of life.  Only one of them involves him getting physically hurt, and we don’t even need to see it.  The hive falls down, Homer prepares to swear and it cuts immediately to his bee sting covered hand dropping change into the jar.  He doesn’t run around getting chased by a swarm of cartoon bees, or say anything “clever” while he’s getting stung.  It just happens, it’s really funny, and it’s over.

Mmmmm, Simpsons.