History Recap / TheSimpsonsS4E22KrustyGetsKancelled

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

* PortmanteauCoupleName: A platonic example between Krusty and Bette Midler, who once jointly owned a racehorse with the somewhat regrettable name of "Krudler."

* [[AsHimself As Themmselves]]: This episode had the most non-sports celebrity guest appearances up to that point in the show's run: Creator/JohnnyCarson, [[Magazine/{{Playboy}} Hugh Hefner]], Creator/BetteMidler, Creator/LukePerry, Music/RedHotChiliPeppers, Creator/ElizabethTaylor and Music/BarryWhite.

* 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 ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' cartoons and EasternEuropeanAnimation in general, which is known to be very surreal in nature. Naturally, Krusty's reaction is "What the hell was that?!"

** The ''Worker and Parasite'' cartoon is a parody of the early 1960s-era ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' cartoons, made in Czechoslovakia.

Krusty's comeback special features an emotional reunion with Mel after singing "[[Theatre/ALittleNightMusic Send in the Clowns]]" and RHCP perform "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 "[[Film/{{Beaches}} Wind Beneath My Wings]]". The special is a success (to the point Liz Taylor decides to fire her manager for rejecting the gig) and Krusty's career is revived. After the show, everybody celebrates at Moe's, and Bart and Lisa earn part of the profits. Krusty is toasted as the best showman in the world--- after Carson, who tap dances and plays an accordion while balancing Grampa and Jasper on his head.

* NegativeContinuity: Either that or Krusty considers the show where he had a cardiac arrest on the air (mentioned via {{flashback}} in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS1E12KrustyGetsBusted 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.

* OldShame: An InUniverse example. When his show is cancelled, Krusty is proud of having never done a bad show...except for the week that Ray Jay Johnson was his co-host.

** Moe told the Red Hot Chili Peppers that his tavern holds 30,000 people, and tells them to their face that it had that number there the previous night.

* HistoryWithCelebrity: Krusty's half-brother is Luke Perry, and he once co-owned a race horse with Creator/BetteMidler.

* AbsenteeActor: While Marge appears onscreen, she remains silent because Creator/JulieKavner didn't like the fact that there were so many guest stars.

While watching an episode of ''The Springfield Squares'' (a show hosted by Kent Brockman and featuring Rainier Wolfcastle, Lurleen Lumpkin, 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''.

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 for food in exchange for pulling his pants down (unfortunately, there's another guy --later on known as the Old Jewish Man-- who pulls his pants down for free... and ends up on TV) 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).

But there's another problem: Krusty has gained a lot of weight after having a milkshake diet instead of having 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 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 "[[Theatre/ALittleNightMusic Send in the Clowns]]" and RHCP perform "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 "[[Film/{{Beaches}} 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 Carson, who is tap dancing and playing an accordion while balancing Grampa and Jasper on his head.

* AbsenteeActor: While Marge appears on screen, she remains silent 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, [[Magazine/{{Playboy}} Hugh Hefner]], Creator/BetteMidler, Creator/LukePerry, Music/RedHotChiliPeppers, Creator/ElizabethTaylor and Music/BarryWhite.

* BeggarWithASignboard: After his show is cancelled, Bart and Lisa find Krusty holding a cardboard sign which reads, "Will Drop Pants for Food." What's worse, there's an old man doing it for free a few feet down the sidewalk (and somehow became a TV star with his own dance troupe a few scenes later).
* BenevolentBoss: Mr. Johansson, Sideshow Mel's boss at the fast food place, treats him with more dignity than Krusty ever did, and even offers to intervene if Krusty is bothering Mel.

** 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 whaling on Krusty.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Bette Midler's devoted to cleaning up America's highways and does it by hand in her spare time. Litter in front of her and she'll make you regret the day you were born.

-->'''Krusty''': ...what the hell was ''that?!''

** UK airings of this episode in Channel 4 cut out the scene of a tidal wave coming into the Springfield Squares set, because the episode first aired on the channel shortly after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami and it was felt to be insensitive. The scene where Gabbo calls his audience "S.O.B.s" is also heavily censored.

** Krusty mentions the week of episodes Ray J. Johnson co-hosted as the only bad episodes he did. Later, Gabbo discovers the only guest he has is Johnson.
* BurgerFool: Sideshow Mel takes a job at a fast-food restaurant during the short time he's unemployed.
* 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 impression, which he has used numerous times on the series and on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive''.

* ChangedMyMindKid: Sideshow Mel at first refuses to return to Krusty's show, claiming he likes working at the fast food place better; he changes his mind when the curtain goes up.

* ChekhovsGag: Krusty notes that the only bad shows in his run were those from the week when [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_J._Johnson Ray J. Johnson]] was his co-host (this was presumably back in TheSeventies). As it turns out, he's the only guest star lined up for Gabbo's show the day the ''Krusty Komeback Special'' is airing against it.

Krusty's comeback special features an emotional reunion with Sideshow Mel after singing "[[Theatre/ALittleNightMusic Send in the Clowns]]" and RHCP perform "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 "[[Film/{{Beaches}} 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 Carson, who is playing an accordion while balancing Grampa and Jasper on his head.

* OhCrap: After littering on Midler's stretch of highway, Snake quickly realises his mistake when he sees her in his rearview mirror.

* AesopAmnesia: When Krusty loses his show, he's destitute because he never saved for this kind of situation. After getting his show back, he buys a ruby-studded clown nose.

* WereLiveRealization: After Kent Brockman covers Gabbo's hot mic incident where he refers to kids as "SOBs", he signs off. Unaware the camera is still on, he chuckles to himself and says "That outta hold those SOBs". A convenient "Brockman in trouble" graphic pops up prompting Kent to do a double-take. Later, a SpinningNewspaper reveals that Brockman's gaffe made everyone forget about Gabbo's, who was no longer in trouble.

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 for food in exchange for pulling his pants down (unfortunately, there's another guy --later on known as the Old Jewish Guy-- who pulls his pants down for free... and ends up on TV) 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).

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 for food in exchange for pulling his pants down (unfortunately, there's another guy who pulls his pants down for free... and ends up on TV) 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).

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 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.

** The scene of Krusty and The Red Hot Chili Peppers (see {{Bowdlerise}} above) is a parody of an couple of incidents involving [[Series/TheEdSullivanShow Ed Sullivan]] asking musicians to change the lyrics of their songs before they could perform on his show:

* HostilityOnTheSet: InUniverse examples with both rival shows -- it's made pretty obvious that Arthur Crandall and Gabbo don't get along when the cameras are off even though Gabbo is Crandall's ''puppet'' and it's made perfectly clear that Krusty is a complete asshole to his co-workers (Sideshow Mel recalls a time when Krusty poured ''liquid nitrogen'' down his pants and damaged one of his flash-frozen buttocks with a hammer on the air as a reason he doesn't wants to come back to the show and when he decides to go to the comeback special after all, Krusty is only amiable for about two seconds and then starts verbally abusing him again).

** 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.]]

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

* LeavingAudience: After Krusty shows a ''Worker and Parasite'' cartoon, he looks around and sees all the kids in the audience have left.

** Krusty mentions having beat Joey Bishop and Arsenio Hall in the ratings. Both of them attempted to compete with Carson.