Punch & Judy was hugely popular in Europe and the US in the late 18th century - not in the booth we know today, but as a larger, staged presentation. Expensive to stage and not easy to move from place to place, which is why the booth originated.

As for the Simpsons, it is one of the wittiest shows on American TV - and you have to be up-to-date with, and have a wide knowledge of, cultural references to get the constant stream of jokes, allusions and parodies in the show. Example - just look at the names of shops in a street scene, or the names on gravestones in a graveyard. Blink and you'll miss them.

Far more than just primitive characters insulting each other. The characters are also far from primitive.