a great job, but he didn't enjoy the process." In part because the writers had so many ideas for what Herb would invent, the original script of "Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?" ended up being too long at fifty-three pages. During the same time as the voices were being recorded, the writers cut some of the material. One of the cut scenes featured Herb running after a train in order to ask which Springfield it was going to; the writers, however, decided to include a similar scene in a later episode, "Burns, Baby Burns" (season eight, 1996). There was originally a joke in the script that predicted the breakup of the Soviet Union; however, as the Soviet Union already broke up between the writing of the script and the air time, the joke was scrapped. Boxer Joe Frazier guest starred in the episode as himself. Show runner Al Jean has stated that Frazier was hard to record, especially him saying the word "excellence" in the title of Mr. Burns' award. George Meyer, who directed Frazier, commented that he got the pronunciation right after almost 20 takes. The original script for "Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?" included a scene in which town drunk Barney Gumble knocked out Frazier, who was a former world heavyweight champion. Frazier's son, however, objected to this scene: "Yes, I suggested that they change that. [Frazier] was a world champion, and a world champion does not get knocked out. My dad has only been knocked down twice, and that was by George Foreman." Originally, the producers wanted Foreman to appear instead of Frazier, but he was unavailable. The award that Homer received was based on the Emmy Award, but with a statue of Burns instead. At some point during the season, Todd Flanders's role as the younger brother was switched; before, he had been the smaller of the two, but since this episode, he has been the elder. The scene in which Homer flips on the switch that turns on the Christmas sign was, in contrast to the rest of the episode, created via Animatics. For several years, The Simpsons used a series of flashbacks to reflect on the scene in which the character is presently talking about. For instance, in this episode, when Marge talks about getting a new washing machine, the camera cuts to the washing machines vibrating wildly. However, when Family Guy