Much the way the annual “Treehouse of Horror” episode inevitably runs on the Sunday after Halloween, last night’s Ireland-themed episode of The Simpsons might have played a wee bit better had it run last weekend, when the fever pitch for St. Patrick’s Day was at full force. Still, that’s a problem for the programming folks to suss out, as the creatives delivered one of the best episodes that we’ve seen over the last few seasons. The plot, which encompassed tangents as typically and wildly varied as home & garden shows and the Simpson family putting a hot tub in their backyard, was mainly driven by the revelation that Abe “Grandpa” Simpson had written a bucket list and included an item on it about returning to Ireland to drink a pint of beer at his favorite bar. In addition to giving the writers a shot to write a slew of new Irish jokes, it allowed them an opportunity to work in a nerdgasmic cameo from Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova of Once fame. Although the two recently broke up in real life, thanks to the sheer awesomeness of the clip you’ll find after the jump, we have rescinded our official demand that they give their Oscar back.
