Simon & Garfunkel - Legacy

Legacy

From the very beginning of their fame, through the present time years after their break-up, Simon and Garfunkel have had an impact on the popular culture as evidenced by the many references to them made in television, film, music and other aspects of pop culture.

Among the earliest pop culture references or homages came in the late 1960s, when the comedy television show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In had a running skit featuring members of the "Farkle" Family, including Fred & Fanny Farkle "and the twins, Simon and Garr Farkle". In the early '70s sitcom The Partridge Family, the two youngest Partridge children name their pet goldfish "Simon and Garfunkel".

In an episode of '90s sitcom Friends, the character Ross Geller was convincing character Phoebe Buffay to tell him why she was mad at him by asking her a series of questions requiring a rapid response; to the question "Who would you rather be, Simon or Garfunkel?", Phoebe replies "Garfunkel". In the episode "Our Dear Leaders" of Scrubs, Lucy Bennett refers to herself as "Garfunkel" being the second-in-command of her study group and mistakenly asks Drew Suffin to be her Micky Dolenz. In an episode of Monk, the title character Adrian Monk is upstaged by his now-famous assistant Natalie. This leads to him being referred to as the Garfunkel of the pair, a pop culture reference the character doesn't understand.

The lyrics of Simon and Garfunkel songs continue to be referenced many times on television, long after their initial popularity. On an episode of How I Met Your Mother, Marshall commissions a Venn diagram in which one section represents the "people who are breaking his heart" while the other represents "people who are shaking his confidence daily". The section where the two overlap is labelled "Cecilia". The end of the "Lady Bouvier's Lover" episode of The Simpsons contains one of the series' many homages to The Graduate, and features a parody of "The Sound of Silence" over the closing credits. ("Hello grandpa my old friend/your busy day is at an end/your words are always sad and boring/they tell a tale that's worth ignoring".) In another episode, Mr. Burns spins around a lamp post singing, "Hello lamp post. What ya knowin'? I've come to watch your power flowin'", a reference to the lyrics of "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)".

The episode "Bendin' in the Wind" of Futurama, in a double send-up of Simon and Garfunkel and Battlestar Galactica, features the singing duo "Cylon and Garfunkel" performing a rendition of "Scarborough Fair" in which the robot Cylon's singing is entirely monotone, and Garfunkel – who explains during the performance that he is the descendant of Art – states that he will give Bender the check "over my dead career!".

In an episode of Saturday Night Live's "Celebrity Jeopardy" parody, there was a category entitled "Members of Simon and Garfunkel". The clue read, "Of Simon and Garfunkel, the one who is not Garfunkel." Once the Sean Connery character rang in, he asked for the question to be repeated and said in response, "I Garfunkeled your mother!" This was one of the running gags of the parody. In another SNL skit, Will Forte and Jason Sudeikis pose as Bon Jovi opposite band, Jon Bovi, but when accused of sounding exactly like Bon Jovi, they say, "Well, if you didn't like that, you're going to love our new opposite folk rock band, Gimon & Sarfunkel." They then sing the opposite "Bridge over Troubled Water", "Tunnel Under Peaceful Fire".

In an episode of Flight of the Conchords, the lead characters form a Simon and Garfunkel tribute band performing "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme". Garfunkel himself later appears in the episode. In the episode "Unnatural Love", the song "Carol Brown" is an homage to the Paul Simon song "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover".

The Nickelodeon sitcom How To Rock uses the artists' family names as those of the main characters.