To celebrate the 500th episode of The Simpsons, director Matt Groening sits down to dish the dirt on the show / NewsCore

HAS Homer Simpson actually been in a coma for the last 22 years?

That’s what Reddit user Hardtopickaname thinks, and before you dismiss this as just another crazy fan theory, have a listen to the compelling argument.

In a 1992 episode called Homer The Heretic, Homer is shown asking God what the meaning of life is.

He says he doesn’t want to have to wait until he dies to discover the answer, to which God replies, “You can’t wait six months?”

Now let’s fast forward to an episode called So It’s Come To This: A Simpsons Clip Show, which aired six months later.

In that episode, Homer ends up in a coma in hospital after one of Bart’s pranks went spectacularly wrong.

“I propose that Homer didn’t actually wake up from his coma,” claims Hardtopickaname.

“He is still in a vegetative state and every single Simpsons episode afterwards is in Homer’s imagination.”

To back up his theory, the Redditor claims this is why the characters don’t age as the show goes on, because that’s the way Homer remembers them.

Hardtopickaname also argues that the storylines in the show get way more bizarre after the So It’s Come To This: A Simpsons Clip Show episode.

Whereas before the accident the storylines were quite normal (Bart cheats on an IQ test, Lisa has a crush on her teacher), afterwards they get more outrageous (Homer goes into outer space, Mr. Burns captures the Loch Ness monster).

“This is clearly Homer’s imagination running wild,” the Reddit user says.

“With no real world restrictions, Homer’s mind is able to dream up scenarios of him and his family in fantasies involving him winning a Grammy, his father fighting his boss for buried WW2 treasure, his wife getting breast implants, his infant daughter saving him from drowning, etc.”

Are you a Simpsons fan? What do you think of this theory? Let us know in the comments below.