Recap / The Simpsons S 3 E 6 Like Father Like Clown

Original air date: 10/24/1991

Production code: 8F05

In the second (and last) episode directed by Brad Bird, Krusty the Clown has dinner with the Simpsons as a "thank you" for Bart clearing Krusty's name (as seen in the season one episode "Krusty Gets Busted"), but the laughs turn to tears when Krusty's Hebrew blessing brings back memories of growing up with a rabbi father who disowned him after finding out his son wanted to be in showbiz. And when Krusty's personal life begins affecting his career, it's up to Bart and Lisa to track down Krusty's father and make amends.

This episode contains examples of:

• Aborted Arc: Krusty's assistant Miss Pennycandy is revealed early on to be holding a torch for him, which to date has never been revisited, with her being relegated to a silent background character.
• Broken Pedestal: After learning Krusty cancelled his thank you dinner to him, Bart writes a letter saying he's no longer a fan. It turns into a Rebuilt Pedestal when Krusty's secretary forces him to go.
• Call-Back: Krusty's promised thank-you dinner for Bart is due to Bart clearing his name in Season 1's "Krusty Gets Busted". Unfortunately, Krusty didn't commit this good deed or his promise to memory, and it takes some prodding from Ms. Pennycandy to get him to visit the Simpsons.
  Ms. Pennycandy: [reading from a list of appointments Krusty made] Thank-you dinner with Bart Simpson?
  Krusty: I don't know any Bart Simpson!
  Ms. Pennycandy: Krusty, he's the boy who saved you from jail!
• Celebrity Paradox: Rabbi Krustofski (voiced by Jackie Mason) sees a "Jackie Mason" sandwich on the menu chart, but dismisses it because the coleslaw it comes with makes him gassy.
• Comically Missing the Point: Bart takes Rabbi Krustofski's impassioned declaration that he has no son a bit too literally.
  Bart: Oh great. We came all this way and it's the wrong guy.
  Krustofski: [opens door] I didn't mean that literally! [slams door again]
• Couch Gag: The family (sans Bart) sits on the couch. Bart comes in moments later and lies stretched out on everyone’s laps.
• Creator Breakdown: In-Universe example. The day after Bart's dinner, Krusty breaks down during his show after an episode of The Itchy & Scratchy Show that depicts the duo playing with their children.
  Krusty: (as his eyes slowly get redder and redder) Didn't Itchy Jr. look happy playing with his father? And didn't Scratchy Jr. look happy playing with his dad until they got run over by a thresher? Wasn't that a beautiful cartoon? [breaks down sobbing] Ah, for the love of God, cut to a commercial!
• Cultural Translation: In one scene, Lisa names several Jewish entertainers and concludes with Mel Brooks, whom Homer ironically never suspected to be Jewish. In the Brazilian version, Lisa names Woody Allen, rather than Brooks.
• A Day in the Limelight: The first one for Krusty, establishing his backstory.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: A flashback has Krusty's dad knocking on the bathroom door, concerned about what is son is doing in there, then opening the door and catching him in a compromising position.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Krusty keeps cancelling his dinner appointments with Bart, despite the boy helping him out several times in the past. Bart feels disillusioned about being rejected again and again and sends back his "Krusty Buddy" badge in disgust. This motivates Krusty's secretary to force Krusty into going anyway.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: It's stated at the end of the episode that Krusty and his father haven't spoken in twenty-five years, which based on his apparent age in the flashback would put Krusty in his early 40s in the present day. Later episodes would establish him to have been in the entertainment industry for considerably longer.
• Eskimos Aren't Real: Rabbi Krustofski didn't know about Jewish comedians until Bart told him about them, which inspires him to reconcile with Krusty. A bit justified, since he initially didn't believe that comedy was a worthwhile career choice.
• Fake-Out Opening: In its first few minutes the episode looks like it's going to be about Krusty becoming a Broken Pedestal to Bart after he cancels his thank you dinner to him. It ends up getting resolved quickly when Krusty is finally forced to go by his secretary, and the real plot showing his depression over his father disowning him and Bart and Lisa trying to reunite the two takes over.
• Fantasy-Forbidding Father: Hyman Krustofski is strongly opposed to his son's desire to be a clown. Also crosses over with Abusive Parents, as he strangles Krusty in flashback at one point, much like Homer does to Bart.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Implied In-Universe when Bart and Lisa trick Krusty into going to the meeting they arranged between him and his father by saying that the French government wants to induct him into the French Legion of Honor.
• Hypocrite: If Hyman doesn't want his son to be a clown because "life is not fun, life is serious", then why does he attend said son's performance that later leads to his unmasking?
• I Have No Son!: Krusty's father disowned him after Krusty became a clown against his father's wishes. When Bart and Lisa track him down and mention his son, Krusty's father says this trope word for word.
• Inelegant Blubbering: After showing a father-son-themed Itchy & Scratchy short, Krusty breaks down sobbing live on TV and begs the channel to cut to a commercial. Bart and Lisa see this and try to do all they can to reunite Krusty with his father.
• Inherently Funny Words: Homer's reaction to Krusty's bracha.
  Krusty: Baruch atah adonai / eloheinu, melech ha'olam / hamotzi lechem min ha'aretz.
  Homer: (giggles) He's talking funny talk!
• Jews Love to Argue: Bart and Lisa engage Rabbi Krustofski in Talmudic debate as a means of convincing him to reconcile with his son. Hyman repeatedly tried to get them to leave but entertains them realizing how much research they have done.
  Lisa: We've been going about this all wrong. What's the one thing rabbis prize above everything else?
  Bart: Those stupid hats?
  Lisa: No, Bart; knowledge. We're gonna hit him where it hurts: right in the Judaica.
  • Hyman can be seen having debates with other rabbis and can't decide what he wants for lunch because he has to point out some kind of flaw. He even refused a Bruce Willis sandwich on the basis that he's not a fan of his movies.
• Literal-Minded: When Rabbi Krustofski outright states that he has no son, Bart assumes that he and Lisa went to the wrong person. Rabbi immediately opens the door to correct him and explain that he didn't mean that literally.
• Man Hug: Krusty and Rabbi Krustofski have one when they finally reunite at the end of the episode. Especially heartwarming since it's the first time in twenty-five years they've seen or spoken to each other.
• Missed Him by That Much: Rabbi Krustofski leaves the restaurant moments before Krusty arrives, thinking he's meeting the President of France.
• Missing Mom: Krusty's mother is not seen or mentioned at all and flashbacks only depict Krusty with his father.
• My God, What Have I Done?: After Bart and Lisa finally convince Rabbi Krustofski to reconcile with Krusty, he has one of these, lamenting all the times of joy that he has lost because of his stubbornness. It's so bad he's practically crying, causing Lisa to console him and tell him that it's not too late to reconcile with Krusty.
• Pie in the Face: Rabbi Krustofski gives Krusty one in the end.
• Playing Catch with the Old Man: Krusty shows an Itchy & Scratchy cartoon in which Scratchy and his son have a game of catch before Itchy and his son kill them and play catch themselves, using Scratchy's head as the ball. This episode drives Krusty, who hasn't spoken to his own father in years, to near-tears.
• Quote-to-Quote Combat: Between Bart (with Lisa's assistance) and Krusty's father.
• Recognition Failure: Homer finds the idea of a "Jewish entertainer" ludicrous. Lisa then names several entertainers who are Jewish: Lauren Bacall, Dinah Shore, William Shatner and Mel Brooks. Out of all these names it's ironically the last one that surprises Homer: "Mel Brooks is Jewish!?!" (in the Brazilian dub, "Mel Brooks" was replaced with "Woody Allen").
• Refuge in Audacity: A Jewish deli has a non-kosher sandwich on their menu.
• Repeating So the Audience Can Hear: "What? Saul Bellow? The Nobel prize-winning Jewish novelist? He wants to have lunch with me?"/"The French government wants to give me the Legion of Honor?"
• The Reveal: This was the first episode in which Krusty is identified as being Jewish (and also revealed Krusty's real name, Herschel Krustofski).
• Sad Clown: Krusty, a very literal example. He's reduced to tears twice over the course of the episode due to thinking about his estranged father, the second time on live TV, and towards the end of the episode, he is so depressed he can barely get through his act.
• Sand In My Eyes: Moe when he sees Krusty and Rabbi Krustofski sing "O Mein Papa" on TV post-reconciliation.
• Shave and a Haircut: Krusty knocks on the Simpsons' door this way. The "two bits" are honks of a clown horn.
  Homer: You think it's him?
• Shout-Out:
  • Photos of Krusty with The Beatles and Alfred Hitchcock can be seen.
  • The Springfield-X porno movie marquee shows films like "For Your Thighs Only" (reference to For Your Eyes Only), "Crocodile Done Me" ("Crocodile" Dundee) and "Doctor Strangepants" (Dr. Strangelove).
  • Krusty plays The Concert for Bangladesh while he's at the Simpsons' home.
  • When Krusty arrives at the restaurant, thinking he'll be given the Legion of Honor, he says: "Fifty million Frenchmen can't be wrong", which is a reference to a 1927 song of that title, written by Willie Raskin, Billy Rose and Fred Fisher.
  • At the end of the first Krusty show, Krusty tugs on his ear similar to the way Carol Burnett did at the end of her shows to say "Hi" to her grandmother who raised her.
  • An Itchy and Scratchy short entitled "Field of Screams" depicts Scratchy playing catch with his son.
  • Krusty and his father sing "O Mein Papa".
• Shown Their Work: The portion of the episode where characters quote the Bible in support or opposition of clowning were carefully researched. Cited passages from the Bible include Exodus 20:12 and Joshua 1:8. The quotations from the Talmud were also researched, and two rabbis, Lavi Meier and Harold M. Schulweis, were credited as "special technical consultants". Schulweis was asked to take a look at a draft of the script. While not a fan of the show, he felt "it was profound" and added some corrections. He later commented, "I thought it had a Jewish resonance to it. I was impressed by the underlying moral seriousness."
• Smoking Is Not Cool: Rabbi Krustofski disapproves of Krusty smoking because he calls it a filthy habit. Krusty's reaction causes the two to recognize each other.
• Special Guest: Jackie Mason as Rabbi Krustofski.
• Split-Screen Phone Call: Near the beginning, Krusty dials a sex party hotline, but when the screen splits, the sections are all filled with men.
  Apu: This is not as hot a party as I anticipated.
• Time Marches On: Rabbi Krustofski goes to a restaurant thinking he'll meet Saul Bellow and Krusty because of President François Mitterand. Both celebrities are now deceased.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: The "one rowdy rabbi" who sprays young Krusty with the seltzer water and removes his clown disguise...right in front of his father. Krusty even lampshades this with his voiceover narration that, if it wasn't for that rabbi, his father wouldn't have suspected anything about his clown act.
• Whole-Plot Reference: To The Jazz Singer. Krustofski even says Krusty being a jazz singer wouldn't have been too bad.
• Your Television Hates You: A weird example where it happens to Krusty in his own show. The Itchy and Scratchy Cartoon has Scratchy happily playing catch with his son, when they get run over by a thresher driven by Itchy and his own son.