History Recap / TheSimpsonsS4E22KrustyGetsKancelled

-->'''Crazy Old Man''': ''The old gray mare / She ain't what she used to be / Ain't what she used to be / Ain't what she used to be...''
-->'''Announcer''': And now, the Crazy Old Man Singers!
-->'''Everyone''': ''The old gray mare / She ain't what she used to be / Ain't what she used to be / Ain't what she used to be...''

* CastAsAMask: Of a sort; Arthur Crandall/Gabbo is voiced by Creator/HankAzaria, but when he demonstrates his Vin Scully imitation, Creator/HarryShearer provides his famous Vin Scully voice, which he has used numerous times on the series and on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive''.

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

* CoolOldGuy: Most of the other celebrity guests on Krusty's special do what you might expect. Creator/JohnnyCarson, on the other hand, ''sings opera while juggling a 1987 Buick Skylark over his head''. The episode ends with Bart toasting Krusty as the greatest entertainer in the world...except for [[TheAce Carson]] who ''is tap dancing, playing "Good Night, Ladies" on the accordion and balancing a plank on his head that has Jasper and Grampa playing checkers on it all at once''.

* DepravedKidsShowHost: Arthur Crandall/Gabbo thinks his viewers are "little S.O.B.s." Bart manages to get this offstage chatter on tape, but Springfield forgets about it after Kent Brockman makes a similar comment about ''his'' audience while reporting the story and got fired for it.
* DerangedAnimation: When Itchy & Scratchy are bought out by Gabbo, Krusty tries showing an incomprehensible Russian cat-and-mouse cartoon called [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyxYdj9dGcI Worker & Parasite]], a parody of the Gene Deitch ''Tom and Jerry'' cartoons and EasternEuropeanAnimation in general, which is known to be very surreal in nature. Naturally, Krusty's reaction is "What the hell was that?!"

-->'''Bette Midler''': We're Americans. We deserve clean highways.

-->'''Driver''': I'll get you for this, Midler!

* GameShowAppearance: ''[[Series/TheHollywoodSquares The Springfield Squares]]'' is a parody; it is a hybrid of the original 1966 version -- celebrities Wally Cox (lower left) and Charlie Weaver (lower right), who had long since died -- and the 1986 syndicated version, which frequently went "on location" (this episode was taped in Springfield Harbor); also appearing as "celebrities" are Rainier Wolfcastle, Lurleen Lumpkin, the Capitol City Goofball, Princess Kashmir, Troy [=McClure=], Barry White and an unknown celebrity. The tidal wave that interrupts the game (and in this case, washes a stubborn Charlie Weaver away) is a reference to an actual incident during the original NBC daytime show, where in 1971 a mild earthquake stopped taping briefly, and everyone but Paul Lynde fled the set.

** Gabbo's "That oughta hold those little [=SOBs=]" rant caught on camera is a reference to the famous [[https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/that-oughta-hold-the-little-bastards/ "little bastards" urban legend]] involving the famed children's radio presenter ("Uncle") Don Carney, who allegedly said something along those lines unaware that his mike was still on (funny enough, Carney spent about half of his career clarifying that the legend was false).

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

** A deleted scene has Krusty promoting a parody of Music/{{Madonna}}'s "Sex" book, "featuring me in a variety of sexually explicit positions" (though he used a "stunt butt"). [[RealityEnsues Since his audience consists of children, he's quickly arrested for it]].

** The incident that led to Brockman's moralizing, hypocritical editorial was an unknown-to-its-perpetrator instance. Gabbo and his puppeteer, Mr. Crandall, were aware that the station had gone to commercial and the live camera was off, during which time they make disparaging remarks about children and that they had to lower themselves to this sort of entertainment. Bart, however, sneaks into the studio and without anyone's knowledge, turns the camera back on, capturing Gabbo's rant live on the air and prompting an outrage.

* LeavingAudience: After Krusty the Clown shows a "Worker and Parasite" cartoon, he looks around and sees all the kids in the audience have left.
* LimitedAnimation: "Worker and Parasite", the Eastern European ''Itchy & Scratchy'' knock-off.

-->'''Sideshow Mel''': On our last show, you poured liquid nitrogen down my pants and cracked my buttocks with a hammer.

* NegativeContinuity: Either that or Krusty considers the show where he had a cardiac arrest on the air (mentioned via {{flashback}} in "Krusty Gets Busted") better than the one with Ray-Jay Johnson. Probably the latter, since the cardiac arrest episode is widely beloved by Krusty fans.

* NonStandardCharacterDesign: While the other celebrities look like ''Simpsons''-versions of themselves, Creator/BetteMidler looks more like a boardwalk caricature.
* NoodleIncident: Two instances with Krusty: the first where he discusses a disliked episode where his guest host for the show was Ray Jay Johnson and the second was where he poured ''liquid nitrogen'' down Sideshow Mel's pants and '''cracked his buttocks with a hammer.'''
* OffscreenKarma: While this episode ends with Gabbo and Krandall still having their show (but with the obvious implication that it won't be for long), the audience don't get to see them actually having their show cancelled, but subsequent appearances of the duo in other episodes show that after it happened they fell in very dire financial straits to the point that they have to do shows in tourist traps to make ends meet and Gabbo is falling to pieces.
* OhCrap: After littering on Bette Midler's stretch of highway, Snake quickly realises his mistake when he sees her in his rearview mirror.

* PlagiarismInFiction: Bart points out that the "patented Gabbo crank call" is a bit stolen from Krusty. Lisa tops him by pointing out that "Krusty stole it from Steve Allen", and this is confirmed when Krusty realizes the call was a trick -- "If this is anyone but Steve Allen, you're stealing my bit!" Grampa Simpson even pointed out that everything is stolen nowadays, like the fax machine (which, to him, is a waffle iron with a phone attached).

* ThemeTuneCameo: Creator/JohnnyCarson plays this on the accordion for the final shot.

* TrainingMontage: Thanks to his milkshake diet, Krusty has to get back into shape for the special, which he accomplishes over the course of a ''Rocky''-style montage.

'''Sideshow Mel:''' ''(tearfully)'' Krusty, I--\\

"Krusty Gets Kancelled" is the twenty-second and final episode (production code 9F19) from the fourth season of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', first aired on May 13, 1993. In this star-studded episode, the popularity of Krusty the Klown is eclipsed by a new kids' show starring a wise-cracking dummy. Bart and Lisa then try to save their idol's show by lining up his celebrity friends for a comeback special.

While watching an episode of ''The Springfield Squares'' (a show hosted by Kent Brockman and featuring Rainier Wolfcastle, Barry White and Cliff Arquette, the latter of whom is swept by a tidal wave), Homer and Bart watch a teaser just consisting of the word "GABBO" flashing on-screen. Soon, the mystery gets the whole town hyped. Gabbo is then revealed to be a dummy handled by a strait-laced ventriloquist, whose show will aire directly against ''The Krusty the Klown Show''.

At first, the lavish production and the dummy's smart-aleck personality (reflected in his catchphrase, "I'm a bad wittle boy") are ignored by the Krust, who has already beaten bigger celebrities. However, he is soon forced to fight back with a similar act, but his dummy scares the kids. After ''Itchy & Scratchy'' switch to Gabbo's show (meanwhile, Mayor Quimby manages to get re-elected in spite of openly admitting the murder of some political enemies... just by appropriating the dummy's catchphrase), Krusty resorts to air a Dadaist Eastern European cartoon called 'Worker & Parasite'', but this attempt fails and the show is cancelled.

But there's another problem: Krusty has gained a lot of weight after undergoing a milkshake diet instead of a ''diet milkshake'', so the Simpsons offer to take him as a guest until he gets back in shape. At rehearsals, he gets jealous of Luke Perry's talent, and asks the Peppers to soften their songs. Meanwhile, Sideshow Mel, now working at a fast food restaurant, refuses to do the show after being subjected to constant physical abuse for years.

Krusty's comeback special features an emotional reunion with Sideshow Mel after singing "Send In the Clowns" and RHCP plays "Give It Away" in their underwear, something that the clown (dressed in an ill-fitting "Buster Brown" costume) finds denigrating. Krusty's old friend Johnny Carson drops in and lifts an '87 Buick while Hefner plays the glass harp, and Midler sings "The Wind Beneath My Wings" to him. The special is a success (to the point Liz Taylor decides to fire her manager for rejecting the kids) and Krusty's career is revived. After the show, everybody celebrates at Moe's and Bart and Lisa get to earn part of the profits. Krusty is then toasted as the best showman in the world--- after Johnny Carson, who is playing an accordion while balancing Grampa and Jasper on his head.

* AbsenteeActor: While Marge appears on screen, she doesn't gets any lines because Creator/JulieKavner didn't like the fact that there were so many guest stars.

* [[AsHimself As Herself/Himself]]: This episode had the most non-sports celebrity guest appearances up to that point in the show's run: Creator/JohnnyCarson, Hugh Hefner, Creator/BetteMidler, Creator/LukePerry, Music/RedHotChiliPeppers, Creator/ElizabethTaylor, and Music/BarryWhite.
* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: "Worker and Parasite" looks like an old propaganda cartoon from an Eastern Bloc country. The dialogue is Slavic-sounding gibberish, and the title card and end credits feature fake Cyrillic text ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyxYdj9dGcI "ENDUT! HOCH HECH!"]]) that does not translate into anything.

* CoolOldGuy[=/=]TheAce: Most of the other celebrity guests on Krusty's special do what you might expect. Creator/JohnnyCarson, on the other hand, ''sings opera while juggling a 1987 Buick Skylark over his head''. The episode ends with Bart toasting Krusty as the greatest entertainer in the world...except for Carson who ''is tap dancing, playing "Good Night, Ladies" on the accordion and balancing a plank on his head that has Jasper and Grampa playing checkers on it all at once''.

** For unknown reasons, the UK airings of this episode cut out the scene of a tidal wave coming into the Springfield Squares set. The scene where Gabbo calls his audience "S.O.B.s" is also heavily censored.

* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: "Worker and Parasite" looks like an old propaganda cartoon from an Eastern Bloc country. The title card and end credits feature fake Cyrillic text ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyxYdj9dGcI "ENDUT! HOCH HECH!"]]) that does not translate into anything.

** Gabbo gets the exclusive broadcasting rights for ''Itchy and Scratchy'', and a desperate Krusty shows a short from its Eastern European counterpart, ''Worker and Parasite.'' It consists entirely of a stiff, sketchily-drawn cat and mouse bouncing around a scribbled background speaking vaguely Slavic gibberish, followed by a title card reading [[ForeignSoundingGibberish ENDUT! HOCH HECH!]] Krusty's (and our) reaction: "What the hell was that?!"

** During the training montage, an unmotivated Krusty boxes against Homer. Maggie hits the TV remote, which brings up Gabbo's show, getting Krusty so fired up that he starts beating the stuffing out of Homer. Worried, Maggie changes the channel and ends up on a news report that says the price of pork is going up, which makes an enraged Homer start wailing on Krusty.

** During the training montage to get Krusty back in shape, he and Homer practice boxing. Krusty punches Homer to vent his anger over Gabbo's show and later Homer punches Krusty to vent anger over the increase of pork meat's price.

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

* StylisticSuck: Gabbo gets the exclusive broadcasting rights for ''Itchy and Scratchy'', and a desperate Krusty shows a short from its Eastern European counterpart, ''Worker and Parasite.'' It consists entirely of a stiff, sketchily-drawn cat and mouse bouncing around a scribbled background speaking vaguely Slavic gibberish, followed by a title card reading [[ForeignSoundingGibberish ENDUT! HOCH HECH!]] Krusty's (and our) reaction: "What the hell was that?!"

Krusty's comeback special features an emotional reunion with Sideshow Mel after singing "Send In the Clowns" and RHCP plays "Give It Away" in their underwear, something that the clown (dressed in an ill-fitting "Buster Brown" costume) finds denigrating. Krusty's old friend Creator/JohnnyCarson drops in and lifts an '87 Buick while Hefner plays the glass harp, and Midler sings "The Wind Beneath My Wings" to him. The special is a success (to the point Liz Taylor decides to fire her manager for rejecting the kids) and Krusty's career is revived. After the show, everybody celebrates at Moe's and Bart and Lisa get to earn part of the profits. Krusty is then toasted as the best showman in the world--- after Johnny Carson, who is playing an accordion while balancing Grampa and Jasper on his head.

Krusty's comeback special features an emotional reunion with Sideshow Mel after singing "Send In the Clowns" and RHCP plays "Give It Away" in their underwear, something that the clown (dressed in an ill-fitting "Buster Brown" costume) finds denigrating. Krusty's old friend Johnny Carson drops in and lifts an '87 Buick while Hefner plays the glass harp, and Midler sings "The Wind Beneath My Wings" to him. The special is a success (to the point Liz Taylor decides to fire her manager for rejecting the kids) and Krusty's career is revived. After the show, everybody celebrates at Moe's and Bart and Lisa get to earn part of the profits. Krusty is then toasted as the best showman in the world--- after Johnny Carson, who is playing an accordion while balancing Grampa and Jasper on his head.

* CoolOldGuy[=/=]TheAce: Most of the other celebrity guests on Krusty's special do what you might expect. Johnny Carson, on the other hand, ''sings opera while juggling a 1987 Buick Skylark over his head''. The episode ends with Bart toasting Krusty as the greatest entertainer in the world...except for Carson who ''is tap dancing, playing "Good Night, Ladies" on the accordion and balancing a plank on his head that has Jasper and Grampa playing checkers on it all at once''.

** 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 ''Series/TheTonightShow'', to the point that it's performed on a ''Tonight Show''-esque set.

* ThemeTuneCameo: Johnny Carson plays this on the accordion for the final shot.

At first, the lavish production and the dummy's smart-aleck personality (reflected in his catchphrase, "I'm a bad wittle boy") are ignored by the Krust, who has already beaten bigger celebrities. However, he is soon forced to fight back with a similar act, but his dummy scares the kids. After ''Itchy & Scratchy'' switch to Gabbo's show (meanwhile, Mayor Quimby manages to get re-elected in spite of openly admitting the murder of his political enemies... just by appropriating the dummy's catchphrase), Krusty resorts to air a Dadaist Eastern European cartoon called 'Worker & Parasite'', but this attempt fails and the show is cancelled.

As a result of his spendthrift ways, Krusty soon gets broke and becomes the victim of a prank call by Gabbo. Bart and Lisa, not convinced by the character's crass practical jokes, decide to take him down: In hopes of damaging his reputation, Bart sneaks in the studio and Gabbo's dissing of the children of Springfield appears on the air, but this backfires. The Simpson siblings find the downtrodden clown begging on the street for food in exchange for pulling his pants down (unfortunately, there's another who pulls his pants down for free) and bemoaning that everybody else has forgotten him. After seeing photos of Krusty alongside Elizabeth Taylor, Hugh Hefner, Bette Midler, as well with his estranged half-brother Luke Perry, they convince the Krust to do a special show if they get such big names. Their attempt is a success, with Taylor's place (they were rejected by her manager before they could even see her) being taken by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers (who arrived in Springfield after being somehow lured to play at Moe's Tavern).

** Personality-wise, Gabbo is basically Charlie [=McCarthy=], with his jerk level taken UpToEleven. Crandall stabnds in for Edgar Bergen.

* StylisticSuck: Gabbo gets the exclusive broadcasting rights for ''Itchy and Scratchy'', and a desperate Krusty shows a short from its Eastern European counterpart, ''Worker and Parasite.'' It consists entirely of a stiff, sketchily-drawn cat and mouse bouncing around a scribbled background speaking vaguely Slavic gibberish, followed by a title card reading [[ForeignSoundingGibberish ENDUT! HOCH HECH!]] Krusty's (and our) reaction: "[[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments What the hell was that?!]]"

Episode - 9F19\\
First Aired - 5/13/1993

A new kids' show hosted by a strait-laced ventriloquist and his smart-aleck dummy threatens to cancel Krusty the Clown's show, so Bart and Lisa round up Krusty's celebrity friends for a comeback special.

* DerangedAnimation: Having lost ''The Itchy And Scratchy Show'' to Gabbo, Krusty tries to find a substitute in the baffling Eastern European cartoon ''Worker And Parasite.''
-->'''Krusty:''' What the Hell was that?!

* JustForFun/IReadThatAs: Mr. Burns sees a "GABBO IS COMING" billboard and cries "Look Smithers! [[Creator/GretaGarbo Garbo]] is coming!" "Um, yes sir!" (Creator/GretaGarbo died in 1990; this episode was made in '93.)

** Gabbo is named after the ventriloquist dummy that provided the title of the 1929 film ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Gabbo The Great Gabbo]]''. He also resembles Howdy Doody, a cowboy dummy that became one of the first TV stars, with the oldest crewmembers having seen the show in the 1950s.

** Gabbo's "That oughta hold those little [=SOBs=]" rant caught on camera is a reference to a famous urban legend involving the 1940s show ''Uncle Don's'' cancellation, which was long rumoured to be due to presenter Don Carney making a similar insult unknowingly when the show was still on air.

* BerserkButton: During the training montage to get Krusty back in shape, he and Homer practice boxing. Krusty punches Homer to vent his anger over Gabbo's show and later Homer punches Krusty to vent anger over the increase of pork meat's price.

* BlatantLies: Right after Krusty claims to have learned his lesson about squandering, his assistant shows up with the ruby-studded clown nose he ordered.

* {{Bowdlerise}}: For unknown reasons, the UK airings of this episode cut out the scene of a tidal wave coming into the Springfield Squares set. The scene where Gabbo calls his audience "S.O.B.s" is also heavily censored.

-->"Everyone can enjoy that!"

* GoneHorriblyWrong: When Luke Perry begs Krusty to include him on the comeback special, Krusty fantasizes about shooting Luke out of a cannon into a brick wall and maiming his face. When Krusty actually shoots Luke out of the cannon, he crashes through a window, flies through the Springfield Museum of Sandpaper, crashes through the Kwik-E-Mart and Apu's display case full of acid, and then lands in a pillow factory...which is immediately blown up. Despite fantasizing about maiming Luke, Krusty feels guilty about it when it actually happens.

** Gabbo's "That oughta hold those little SOBs" rant caught on camera is a reference to a famous urban legend involving the 1940s show ''Uncle Don's'' cancellation, which was long rumoured to be due to presenter Don Carney making a similar insult unknowingly when the show was still on air.

** A deleted scene has Krusty promoting a parody of Music/{{Madonna}}'s "Sex" book, "featuring me in a variety of sexually explicit positions" (though he used a "stunt butt").

* [[AsHimself As Herself/Himself]]: This episode had the most non-sports celebrity guest appearances up to that point in the show's run: Creator/JohnnyCarson, Hugh Hefner, Creator/BetteMidler, [[Series/BeverlyHills90210 Luke Perry]], Music/RedHotChiliPeppers, Creator/ElizabethTaylor, and Music/BarryWhite.

* BrickJoke: The Crazy Old Man who drops his pants and sings "Old Gray Mare" on the street later gets his own TV show and dance troupe.

** Krusty claims the only bad episodes in his series was the week Ray J. Johnson co-hosted the show.

* AnimationBump: Gabbo's introduction is much better animated than the rest of the episode.

* {{Bowdlerise}}: For unknown reasons, the UK airings of this episode cut out the scene of a tidal wave coming into the Springfield Squares set.