History Recap / TheSimpsonsS4E1KampKrusty

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Rod is seen on the bus back from Kamp Krusty when it goes to Tijuana. Four seasons later, in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E8HurricaneNeddy Hurricane Neddy]]", he says that he doesn't like Krusty.

*** Maybe Krusty saved Her Majesty from choking.

* FormerChildStar: Bart demands that Krusty proves that he's the real Krusty by saying the name of the child actress who played his daughter on the short-lived sitcom ''President Clown''. Apparently things didn't go so well for her.

* CrossoverPunchline: The Simpsons meet ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' in this week's couch gag.

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Rod is seen on the bus back from Kamp Krusty when it goes to Tijuana. Four seasons later, in "Hurricane Neddy", he says that he doesn't like Krusty.

* FormerChildStar: Discussed when the children are interrogating Krusty over his true identity:

** Kearney playing the drums while the children are working on their wallets is a reference to Roman slavery ships, where one of the guards beat a drum to add tempo to the rowers' movements (and specifically to ''Literature/BenHur'').

-->'''Mrs. Krabappel''': [[{{Pun}} Have a]] ''[[{{Pun}} D]]''[[{{Pun}} -lightful summer!]]

* KarmaHoudini: Aside from the camp being overthrown, Mr. Black, Jimbo, Dolph, and Kearney appear to face no real repercussions for their actions (although aside from a few appearances in the comics, Mr. Black never appears again in the series).

One of the series' most iconic episodes, notable for being one of three episodes considered for the plot of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie'', as well as being the last episode animated by Klasky-Csupo (in production order).

But when the kids arrive, Krusty is nowhere to be found. It turns out, the ''real'' owner of the camp is a man named Mr. Black (voiced by Creator/HarryShearer), who merely bought the rights to use Krusty's name and image for the camp to attract kids and the clown has no actual association with the camp. But this is not all, as the marketing turned out to be false advertising. Instead of a fun and big budgeted summer camp, titular Kamp Krusty is a low-budget, unsafe dystopia-like one, whose only purpose (save for making wallets in arts and crafts to sell) is to torture kids. Making matters worse, their counselors are none other than the bullies Jimbo, Dolph, and Kearney! The cabins are vermin-infested, cold and locked tight from the outside at night, the lakes too dangerous to swim in, the kids roast pinecones instead of marshmallows, they're forced into sweatshop labor, ex. making fake wallets for export to Hong Kong, their nature hikes end in disaster, the infirmary staff members are more interested in smoking than tending to injured campers, they're fed nothing but gruel which sometimes has living animals inside of it, they do not get to write any letters to their parents for obvious reasons, their presents from home are taken, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking they are forced to sing a song praising the camp]]. Mr. Black and the bullies on the other hand enjoy a life of luxury while the kids suffer miserably.

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] somewhat as the incident was already a few years old by this point, but Krusty punching out a reporter is likely a reference to when Creator/SeanPenn assaulted a photographer on a film set in mid-1987.

But when the kids arrive, Krusty is nowhere to be found. It turns out, the ''real'' owner of the camp is a man named Mr. Black (voiced by Creator/HarryShearer), who merely bought the rights to use Krusty's name and image for the camp to attract kids and the clown has no actual association with the camp. But this is not all, as the marketing turned out to be false advertising. Instead of a fun and big budgeted summer camp, titular Kamp Krusty is low-budget, unsafe dystopia-like one, whose only purpose save for making wallets in arts and crafts to sell, is just to torture kids. Making matters worse, their counselors are none other than the bullies Jimbo, Dolph, and Kearney! The cabins are vermin-infested, cold and locked tight from the outside at night, the lakes too dangerous to swim in, the kids roast pinecones instead-a twisted shadow of marshmallows, they're forced into sweatshop labor, ex. making fake wallets for export to Hong Kong, their nature hikes end in disaster, the infirmary staff members are more interested in smoking than tending to injured campers, they're fed nothing but gruel which sometimes has living animals inside of it, they do not get to write any letters to their parents for obvious reasons, their presents from home are taken, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking they are forced to sing a song praising the camp]]. Mr. Black and the bullies on the other hand enjoy a life of luxury while the kids suffer miserably.

* PinchMe: When Bart wakes up from his wonderful dream of the school being destroyed, Homer informs him that it's the last day of school:
-->'''Bart''': How do I know this isn't some beautiful dream, too?
-->[''Homer smacks him in the head with a rolled-up newspaper'']
-->'''Bart''': Ow! Y'know, a pinch is more traditional!

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The camp counselors go missing after the kids take over the camp. The bullies presumably made their way back to Springfield, but Mr. Black is never seen again.

* VillainousBreakdown: When Bart and the other campers finally rebel against him, Mr. Black finally begins to lose his composure and shows some rather vicioius anger to his so-called 'camp counselors'.

* VillainousBreakdown: When Bart and the other campers finally rebel against him, Mr. Black finally begins to lose his composure and show some rather vicioius anger to his so-called 'camp counselors'.

-->'''Mr. Black''': ''YOU BROKE NOTHING!'''

* TheBGrade: Lisa has [[SanitySlippage trouble]] accepting her report card had ''one'' B+ (in Conduct class) instead of only As. She goes into a panic attack and grabs Mrs. Hoover's arm hard enough while muttering that she needs to rectify this that Hoover says ''Lisa is going to break her arm''.

* PinchMe: Subverted. When Bart wakes up from his wonderful dream of the school being destroyed, Homer informs him that it's the last day of school:

But when the kids arrive, Krusty is nowhere to be found. It turns out, the ''real'' owner of the camp is a man named Mr. Black (voiced by Creator/HarryShearer), who merely bought the rights to use Krusty's name and image for the camp to attract kids and the clown has no actual association with the camp. But this is not all, as the marketing turned out to be false advertising. Instead of a fun and big budgeted summer camp, titular Kamp Krusty is low-budget, unsafe dystopia-like one, whose only purpose save for making wallets in arts and crafts to sell, is just to torture kids. Making matters worse, their counselors are none other than Jimbo, Dolph, and Kearney! The cabins are vermin-infested, cold and locked tight from the outside at night, the lakes too dangerous to swim in, the kids roast pinecones instead -- a twisted shadow of marshmallows, their nature hikes end in disaster, the infirmary staff members are more interested in smoking than tending to injured campers, they're fed nothing but gruel which sometimes has living animals inside of it, they do not get to write any letters to their parents for obvious reasons, their presents from home are taken, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking they are forced to sing a song praising the camp]]. Mr. Black and the bullies on the other hand enjoy a life of luxury while the kids suffer miserably.

* DoWrongRight: When Bart alters his all-D-minus report card to show A-''pluses'', Lisa just laughs and asks why he didn't go for something plausible. When Bart shows his report card to Homer, [[DumbassHasAPoint Homer tells him, in a disappointed tone, that Ds can be made to look like Bs easily. "You just got greedy."]]

* HypocriticalHumor: Homer tells Bart that if you want something out of life, you have to work for it ... and then tells him to be quiet so he can hear the latest lottery numbers.

* FlirtatiousSmackOnTheAss: Bart does this to Mrs. Krabappel in the DreamOpening.

* AdultsAreUseless: Lisa tries to warn Marge and Homer about Kamp Krusty (even pointing out that all communications have been cut off by the evil counselors so she's afraid the letter won't reach them and finishing the letter with her literal pleading for help), but they just brush it off as homesickness.