Recap / The Simpsons S 15 E 6 Today I Am A Clown

Original air date: 12/7/2003

Production code: FABF-01

Krusty discovers that he never had a bar mitzvah as a child. He quits his show to have it as an adult, with the help of his father, Rabbi Krustofski. Meanwhile, Homer hosts a late-night talk show as a replacement for Krusty's show.

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Tropes:

• All Germans Are Nazis: Downplayed since Reiner Wolfcastle is Austrian, he fondly tells Krusty they have "so much to discuss" when he overhears Krusty saying he might just be a "plain old anti-Semite" instead of a "self-hating Jew".
• Artistic License – Religion: Krusty is told he is not a Jewish man because he never had a Bar Mitzvah. At the age of 13, a Jewish male is expected to have been educated enough to be personally responsible for following the commandments. A Bar Mitzvah is a celebration of this event, not a ceremony where they bestow manhood or Judaism on you, like how Christians and Catholics have baptism, Communion, and confirmation. In fact, Jews who never had a Bar Mitzvah is not even a rare occurrence; many less religious Jews forgo them. Also, many Jews throughout the 20th century went without them because of both World Wars and the Holocaust. Even having a Bar Mitzvah as an adult is not a rare or unusual occurrence. Many Jews who couldn't have them during wartime had them years or even decades later. A man in Israel could not have his Bar Mitzvah because his family was fighting in WWI, so he had it as an adult...100 years later, at the age of 113.
• Biting-the-Hand Humor: At Fox again. Their office is a trailer and Krusty is disgusted at the idea of working with them.
  Krusty: Please, you people are known for taking chances on crap.
• Calculator Spelling: One of the topics Homer and his friends discuss on his talk show is "dirty words you can spell on your calculator". Moe shows an upside-down calculator that says "BOOBS".
• Call-Back: Once again, Homer finds himself in a respectable position that Lisa ruins by convincing him to use his newfound fame to tackle social issues.
• Construction Catcalls: Parodied: a pair of workers are watching Homer's talk show while sitting on a beam and liking it, and when a woman walks by, they ask her if she wants to have a good time, following it up with telling her to go home and watch Homer's show, causing her to thank them for their suggestion.
• Continuity Nod: Dr. Hibbert reveals Santa's Little Helper had impregnated his dog, Rosa Barks. After he leaves, Lisa reminds everyone that Santa's Little Helper was supposedly neutered the last time he had puppies. As she says this, she was reading the first Simpsons episode guide, The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family.
• Deadly Dodging: In "A Bris Before Dying", a good deal of damage Scratchy suffers is a result of Itchy dodging while Scratchy tries to circumcise him.
• Flashback: Homer explains what happened when he took Santa's Little Helper to get neutered, saying he took him for one last night out on the town, then couldn't bring himself to go through with the neutering, making Santa's Little Helper promise not to have sexual intercourse with any more dogs from then on.
• Foreshadowing: Lisa knows a lot about Judaism since she used to have a Jewish Imaginary Friend named Rachel Cohen. Rachel shows up as a murderous spirit in the "Treehouse of Horror XXVII" story "BFF R.I.P.".
• Hilariously Abusive Childhood: The standard strangulation gag comes with a Black Comedy Burst when Dr. Hibbert sees it occur on TV.
  Dr. Hibbert: So that's why Bart has all those broken tracheal bones. Tight bow tie, my ass!
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Homer decides to listen to Lisa's suggestions on how to improve his talk show over Bart's. It ends incredibly poorly when her ideas for topics alienate his viewer base, with choking out Bart over this being the last straw and canceling it completely.
• Imagine Spot: Homer has one where he saves Abraham Lincoln's life and is rewarded by appearing next to him in the five-dollar-bill. He later has one where he and Lincoln save John Kennedy.
  Homer: You hit him high, I'll hit him low! [Homer and Lincoln deliver a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to Lee Harvey Oswald]
• I Will Show You X!: A funny moment where Homer misses the obvious word to do this with:
  Bart: Dad, you blew it. You listened to Lisa and then you lost your stranglehold on the audience.
  Homer: I'll audience you!
• Never Recycle Your Schemes: Maggie locked herself inside the bathroom. Homer attempts to use a coat hanger to unlock the door, only to fail due to his incompetence. Bart then tries using Homer as a battering ram, until Lisa used the coat hanger again and got Maggie out.
  Lisa: I don't understand why we try ideas only once.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: After Homer becomes a success by talking about things that appeal to the average man, Lisa gets him to use his newfound fame to talk about the 'important issues'. It's doing this that invokedcauses his fanbase to turn from Homer and his star plummets.
• Pet's Homage Name: Dr. Hibbert's dog Rosa Barks is a Punny Name after Civil Rights activist Rosa Parks.
• Platonic Prostitution: Before having Santa's Little Helper neutered, Homer opted to show the dog a good time with his loins. This included having him do the horizontal mambo with a dog owned by a prostitute. To kill time, Homer had to pay an extra $350 to the prostitute for a game of air hockey at the Noiseland Arcade.
• Skewed Priorities: One joke features a heavily pregnant woman at a ultrasound being performed by Dr. Hibbert, being more preoccupied by Homer's TV broadcast than the prenatal exam.
  Pregnant Woman: (seeing the ultrasound results on the screen) Yeah, yeah, twins. I get it. Now let's watch something I'm really interested in.
  She uses a television remote to change the screen from the ultrasound to Homer's show.
  Hibbert: (examines her belly) I think your water just broke.
  Pregnant Woman: (seemingly unaware of this) Would you be quiet?!
• Soapbox Sadie: Lisa manages to unwillingly destroys Homer's career in TV by convincing him to use his talk show to talk about socially important stuff.
• Springtime for Hitler: Krusty selected Homer to replace his show during the Sabbath, believing that Homer would be the worst possible guest host with no chance of replacing him. "The Homer Simpson Show" turns out to be a smash hit, and "The Krusty the Clown Show" ends up being cancelled.
• Tempting Fate: Bart chides Homer for losing his "stranglehold" on the audience.
• This Explains So Much: When the Hibbert family sees Homer strangle Bart on TV, Dr. Hibbert comments, "So, that's why Bart has all those broken tracheal bones. Tight bow tie, my ass!"
• Truth in Television: Rabbi Krustofski tells Krusty that he has to eat Chinese food at Christmas. This is an actual occurrence in American Jewish communities. Chinese restaurants were the only restaurants that were guaranteed to be open on Christmas Day.