thing I learned a long time ago is, you gotta be careful how you change [the characters'] basic model pack[s]", Jean said in the episode's DVD commentary. He also said that he was happy that many viewers identify with the characters and don't want to see them get hurt or injured in any way. "They don't mind if [Homer] falls down a cliff but [...] he should recover." While working on the episode, the series' staff debated what size to make Homer's pupils when he is under the influence of marijuana. Because a common effect of smoking marijuana is dilated pupils, the animators initially suggested widening Homer's, but settled for just dilating them slightly. "Weekend at Burnsie's" features the members of the American rock band Phish – Trey Anastasio, Page McConnell, Mike Gordon and Jon Fishman – as themselves. At the time of the episode's recording, Phish was in the middle of a two-year hiatus from touring and recording, but the members agreed to record dialogue together for the show. The idea to include the band in the episode was pitched during the episode's production. "Phish plays at the rally. We thought they'd be the perfect group to use for the plot.", Jean said. Meyer, who pitched the episode's premise, was a fan of the band, but Jean did not know much of them before they appeared in the episode; "I've never seen one of their concerts, so I'm not the most familiar", he said. He first became aware of the band after reading an article about them in Entertainment Weekly. As they worked on the episode however, Jean became more acquainted with the band members. "They were nice", he said. "Jon Fishman said to me that the band had talked from time to time about if they were to ever be on The Simpsons, what it would be like. I said, 'Well, how close was it?' He said, 'Pretty close to what we expected.' (laughs) That was gratifying." The band performs their song "Run Like an Antelope" during their appearance in the episode. During their scene, Anastasio is shown playing a few bars of The Simpsons theme song on his guitar, which he often did during the band's concerts in the mid 1990s as part of a series of "secret language" signals they had taught their fans. According to Peter Shapiro of Relix, some fans of Phish debated whether