History Recap / TheSimpsonsS4E22KrustyGetsKancelled

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The guest voices definitely date the episode to TheNineties; many of them are still around and working in TheNewTens, but don't have the pull they once did.

* WorstNewsJudgmentEver: The local papers give banner headlines to speculation over who/what Gabbo is in the runup to his debut. Later, Mayor Quimby's re-election gets higher priority than the resurfacing of corpses of political enemies of his in Springfield Harbor. He had ''freely admitted to looting the treasury to arrange these murders'', but got away with it by quoting Gabbo's catchphrase to everyone's amusement.

** The concept of a comeback special and the light-up KRUSTY letters that open the show reference ''Elvis'', a famous ElvisPresley TV concert from 1968 (when his musical career was bottoming out) that came to be dubbed "the '68 comeback special".

** Bette Midler performing "Wind Beneath My Wings" for Krusty is a deliberate homage to her singing for Johnny Carson on his second-to-last episode of ''TheTonightShow'', to the point that it's performed on a Tonight Show-esque set.

* IsntItIronic: Krusty performs "Send in the Clowns", a song about a failed romance, to open his special. Granted, the lyrics are mostly new.

Bart and Lisa learn that Krusty has many celebrity friends and suggest that he could mount a comeback special. Inspired by their suggestion (and perhaps the fact that the pants-dropping guy now has his own show), he embarks on a misguided milkshake diet and (after that) a more successful training regimen to prepare for his comeback and convinces Sideshow Mel to give up his fast food job to return to showbusiness. Meanwhile the kids enlist Johnny Carson, Bette Midler, Hugh Hefner, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and even Krusty's half-brother [[Main/BeverlyHills90210 Luke Perry]] to appear on the show. (ElizabethTaylor's agent turns down their invite without consulting her, not that she minds.)

* BurgerFool: Sideshow Mel takes a job here. He actually sees it as a better gig and has to be talked into giving it up to return to show business.

* {{Homage}}: The finale of Gabbo's introductory song has puppets and choreography pulled straight out of ''Disney/{{Pinocchio}}'''s "I've Got No Strings" number.

* ComicallyMissingThePoint: During the runup to Gabbo's debut, Reverend Lovejoy complains in a sermon that everyone's focusing on "Gabbo this and Gabbo that" but not "Worship this and Jericho that!" Jasper raises his hand and asks "What's this about Gabbo?"

'''GABBO GABBO GABBO!''' Springfield is blitzed with ads promising an exciting new personality's imminent arrival, who is revealed to the world via the small screen. Gabbo is a wisecracking ventriloquist dummy, operated by one Arthur Crandall, whose kiddie variety show will be in direct competition with ''The Krusty the Klown Show'', much to Bart's alarm. Krusty himself claims not to be concerned, having blown many competitors out of the ratings water over the years ("sea captains, Joey Bishop", the Special Olympics, etc.), but he is smoking more cigarettes than usual...

* CompletelyMissingThePoint: During the runup to Gabbo's debut, Reverend Lovejoy complains in a sermon that everyone's focusing on "Gabbo this and Gabbo that" but not "Worship this and Jericho that!" Jasper raises his hand and asks "What's this about Gabbo?"

Bart and Lisa learn that Krusty has many celebrity friends and suggest that he could mount a comeback special. Inspired by their suggestion (and perhaps the fact that the pants-dropping guy now has his own show), he embarks on a misguided milkshake diet and (after that) a more successful training regimen to prepare for his comeback and convinces Sideshow Mel to give up his fast food job to return to showbusiness. Meanwhile the kids enlist Johnny Carson, Bette Midler, Hugh Hefner, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and even Krusty's half-brother [[Main/BeverlyHills90210 Luke Perry]] to appear on the show. (Only ElizabethTaylor turns an invite down.)

* BurgerFool: Sideshow Mel takes a job here after Krusty's show ends. He actually sees it as a better gig and has to be talked into giving it up to return to show business.

* ChannelHop: In-universe. Gabbo is so popular that ''The Itchy & Scratchy Show'' starts appearing on it rather than ''The Krusty the Klown Show''.

* BalloonBelly: Krusty ends up with one thanks to not realizing that a milkshake diet only works with ''diet'' milkshakes. Fortunately a TrainingMontage undoes its ill effects.

Bart and Lisa learn that Krusty has many celebrity friends and suggest that he could mount a comeback special. Inspired by their suggestion (and perhaps the fact that the pants-dropping guy now has his own show), he embarks on a misguided milkshake diet to prepare for his comeback and convinces Sideshow Mel to give up his fast food job to return to showbusiness. Meanwhile the kids enlist Johnny Carson, Bette Midler, Hugh Hefner, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and even Krusty's half-brother [[Main/BeverlyHills90210 Luke Perry]] to appear on the show. (Only ElizabethTaylor turns an invite down.)

* WorstNewsJudgmentEver: Mayor Quimby's re-election gets higher priority than the surfacing of more ''corpses of political enemies he paid to have murdered'' in Springfield Harbor. He had ''freely admitted'' to looting the treasury to do this, but got away with it by quoting Gabbo's catchphrase to everyone's amusement.

* StuntCasting: This episode had the most celebrity voiceover appearances in the series up to that point; aside from those mentioned above, Barry White turns up in the opening scene as a guest on ''Springfield Squares''. ElizabethTaylor gets only two lines, but that's still more than she got back in "Lisa's First Word".

* FollowTheLeader: Krusty tries his hand at ventriloquism in the wake of Gabbo's success. Unfortunately, he only manages to horrify his audience when the puppet breaks apart on him.

Gabbo's show proves to be a blockbuster, to the point that even ''The Itchy & Scratchy Show'' starts airing on it and his catchphrase "I'm a bad wittle boy" goes memetic. Krusty tries to stem hemmoraging ratings by trying his hand at ventriloquism, importing an Eastern European I&S variant (''Worker and Parasite''), etc. to no success and is finally cancelled outright. Bart tries to expose Gabbo as someone who looks down on his audience, but that backfires when Kent Brockman's report on the story reveals the newsman isn't any better. Finally he and Lisa find Krusty by the side of the road, offering to drop his pants for food, but having no success because a crazy old man nearby is doing it for free.

Bart and Lisa learn that Krusty has many celebrity friends and suggest that he could mount a comeback special. Inspired by their suggestion (and perhaps the fact that the pants-dropping guy now has his own show), he embarks on a misguided milkshake diet to prepare for his comeback and convinces Sideshow Mel to give up his fast food job to return to showbusiness. Meanwhile the kids enlist Johnny Carson, Bette Midler, Hugh Hefner, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and even Krusty's half-brother [[Main/BeverlyHills902010 Luke Perry]] to appear on the show. (Only ElizabethTaylor turns an invite down.)

The show proves a massive success: Carson lifts and twirls a Buick above his head while singing opera, the Red Hot Chili Peppers agree to perform a Bowdlerised version of "Give It Away", Hefner makes music with water-filled glasses, Midler sings, and Perry's human cannonball stunt goes awry (hey, it makes Krusty happy). Gabbo will soon be out of business, and Krusty and company have an afterparty at Moe's Tavern where Bart hails the clown as the greatest entertainer in the world...or at least second-greatest behind Carson, who is playing the accordion ''and'' balancing a bench (upon which a confused Grampa and Jasper are seated) on his head.