Yeah, his friend totally stole that from The Simpsons.
BTW, I am VERY encouraged that the initial wave of reviews are mostly positive. I had a gut feeling from the start that Ep. III was going to be a good one and get some of the naysayers of the past few years off Lucas' back.
Admittedly, Ep. I was pretty bad but I was among the few who thought Ep. II got a bad rap. The last 45 minutes of Ep. II (basically from the point where Anakin and Padme are carted out into the Gladiator-type stadium right up to the end) makes up for the rest of the movie IMO.