Kill The Alligator and Run - Production

Production

"Kill the Alligator and Run" was written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Jen Kamerman as part of the eleventh season of The Simpsons (1999–2000). When the animation department finished its work on the episode, it had ended up being about four minutes too long and the staff of the show was forced to make some difficult cuts. One scene that was cut saw Captain Jack lying in state at the capitol in Florida, with Kid Rock being one of the people present to pay their respects to the alligator. The Simpsons showrunner Mike Scully has expressed regret for cutting this scene out because it "hurts the logic" later in the episode when Captain Jack crawls out of the capitol and reveals himself to everyone, without any explanation to how he got there.

Actor Diedrich Bader guest starred in the episode as the sheriff. The Simpsons producer Ian Maxtone-Graham directed Bader during his recording session, telling the guest star to do a Southern accent. The episode also features guest appearances from talk show host Charlie Rose and film producer Robert Evans as themselves. Evans and Rose appear in a scene at the beginning of the episode, when Homer stays up late and watches television because of his fear that he might die in his sleep. Rose is seen interviewing Evans on the television, and as they are talking about Evan's film Love Story, Rose says: "And the critics loved it, too. I remember Vincent Canby said, 'I'm going to kill you, Homer. You are so dead.'" The last part is imagined by Homer, who has become incredibly sleepy. Later in the interview, when talking about his unsuccessful film The Two Jakes, Evans says: "I said to myself, 'Evans, you forgot Hollywood Rule No. 1: Kill Homer Simpson.'"

Musicians Kid Rock and Joe C. guest starred in the episode as themselves, performing at the annual spring break concert that Homer sneaks out to attend. When Joe C. makes his first appearance on stage in the episode, Homer mistakes him for a child that has lost his parents. After performing his song "Bawitdaba", Kid Rock tells the audience that he is going to pour out forty gallons of malt liquor on the curb as a way of showing respect to his homies that could not make it to the concert. When Homer hears this he starts to drink the malt liquor. Just as Kid Rock and Joe C. are about to stop him by hurling Joe C. (now wearing a spiked helmet) at him with a slingshot, the sheriff arrives and settles the situation. Scully said in an interview with the Detroit Free Press that the staff of the show chose Kid Rock and Joe C. for the episode because the two "have a lot of stage presence" and visually are "a funny combination," and because the staff thought "they would be funny playing off Homer." According to Scully, the two musicians "had a great sense of humor about themselves," with Kid Rock asking if "he could add a couple of his own lines. He wanted to introduce himself as 'the pimp of the nation.' We kept that in the show. It's quite a title." Kid Rock recorded some of his dialog over the phone, but also paid a 45-minute visit to the Simpsons studio in Los Angeles to record lines. Scully thought it looked like the singer enjoyed the experience and was surprised to see that he arrived on time. "My first reaction to that was, 'What kind of rock star is this?'," Scully jokingly told the Detroit Free Press. All of Joe C.'s lines were recorded over the phone.