Flaming Moe's - Production

Production

We were elated because it's a you-know-you've-made-it-when moment. You're this lowlife rock-and-roll band, a rock band that's throwing parties for twenty thousand people a night, and then you see yourself on television on the biggest cartoon of its time. It was the height of the insanity of the cartoon era, for me the equivalent of when we did "Walk This Way" with Run-DMC during the beginning of that era of rap. We always tried to get in on the ground floor of these things, and we were blown away that we were asked to do it.

The main plot of the episode, in which Moe's Tavern becomes famous because of a drink, is loosely based on the Los Angeles establishment Coconut Teaszer. According to IGN, "Flaming Moe's" was "one of the first to really give Moe the spotlight." There was originally a joke in the episode in which a gay couple walked into "Flaming Moe's", assuming that it was a gay bar because of the name. Matt Groening feels that it was a good thing the joke was cut because he did not feel the writers should bring attention to the name.

Catherine O'Hara originally agreed to provide the voice of Collette the waitress, and went into the studio and recorded her part for the character. According to Mike Reiss, "Something about her did not animate correctly. The voice did not work for our purposes." Jo Ann Harris, a regular voice actor in the show, had recorded a temporary track using an impression of Shelley Long's character Diane Chambers from Cheers. The producers thought it fit the role better and used it instead of O'Hara. Sam Simon had previously written for Cheers, and contributed much of Collette's dialogue, as he was familiar with writing dialogue for Diane. Originally, there was more to the subplot featuring Moe and Colette, but it was cut because the writers felt it did not work. The third act opens with a parody of "Where Everybody Knows Your Name", the theme song from Cheers. The parody was written by Jeff Martin, and the sequence was designed by future Simpsons director Nancy Kruse.

American rock band Aerosmith were the first band to make a guest appearance on the show. The writers had heard that the band had wanted to appear in an episode, so they wrote the guest spot for them. According to Al Jean, they later found out that part of the reason why Aerosmith agreed to appear was the drink being called the "Flaming Moe". The band was recorded in Boston, and Hank Azaria, the voice of Moe, flew over to record his part with them and help them with their lines. In the original script, Moe tempted the band to play by offering them free beer, but the band members asked that the joke be changed. The writers changed the line to "free pickled eggs." The band is shown sitting at a table with a bearded man, who is modeled after their A&R man John Kalodner. One of the stipulations from the band was to include him in the episode. Kalodner also received a "special thanks to" credit at the end of the episode. Aerosmith's song "Young Lust" from the album Pump plays over the end credits. According to Al Jean, the band recorded a special shortened version of the song just for the episode.

The episode was directed by Rich Moore and Alan Smart. Moore's daughter was born during the production of the episode, and he missed several weeks of layout, which Smart oversaw.