 In the episode , Bart and Tom watch The Ren & Stimpy Show . The producers contacted Nickelodeon to get authorization to use the two characters for that sequence . Nickelodeon was strict about what The Simpsons was allowed to do , and the producers were not allowed to have the savageness that they wanted . The Ren & Stimpy Show 's animators offered to do the layouts of Ren and Stimpy for the episode . 
