Placido D'OH-mingo

Placído Domingo ("P. Dingo") as
drawn by Simpsons creator Matt Groening.
Image © Fox/Gracie Films

The great tenor Placído Domingo made an unexpected television appearance Sunday night, as special guest star in "The Homer of Seville", an opera-oriented episode of The Simpsons. Tonight's episode featured Homer's short career as a star tenor. After a catastrophic injury, Homer discovers that he can sing beautifully as long as he is lying on his back.

With Mr. Burns' guidance, the big guy becomes a bona fide opera star, working his way up through Puccini's La Boheme and Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia.. (He did the final scene from La Boheme and the "Lindoro" aria from Barbiere during the episode, along with a Broadway selection and The Star-Spangled Banner Midway through the second act, Señor Domingo appeared as a towel-clad version of himself, giving Homer some useful career advice.

For you Simpsons fans who read this blog (and I know you're out there) this is at least the fourth time that opera has played a heavy part in an episode.

• In Season 17, "The Italian Bob" featured Kelsey Grammar as Sideshow Bob, attempting to murder both Krusty the Klown and Our Favorite Family during a performance of Pagliacci in Rome.
  
  
• In Season 15, "Margical History Tour" featured Bart as the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (author of the opera The Musical Fruit. Lisa is the jealous (and homicidal) Salieri and Homer takes the role of Mozart's overbearing father, Leopold.
  
  
• Sideshow Bob attempted to kill Bart to the score of H.M.S. Pinafore in Season 5.
  
  
• And finally, the very first episode, "Bart the Genius" has Marge taking the family out to see Carmen (in Russian, no less.)