Like Father, Like Clown
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"Like Father, Like Clown" is the sixth episode of The Simpsons' third season. The episode aired on October 24, 1991. Bart and Lisa try to reunite Krusty the Clown with his long-estranged father, a rabbi who disapproved of his son's choice of career in comedy. This episode's title is a play on the phrase "Like father, like son".
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[edit] Plot
Krusty the Clown has agreed to have dinner with Bart and his family (implied as part of his repayment for Bart's help in exonerating him in "Krusty Gets Busted" in flashbacks), but keeps putting it off, much to Bart's disappointment. An upset Bart writes a letter to Krusty renouncing his fanhood, and Krusty's secretary is so moved that she tells Krusty she will quit her job if he does not keep his promise to Bart. With that in mind, Krusty finally comes to dinner at the Simpson house. When asked to say grace, he recites the Hebrew blessing over bread, HaMotzi. Realizing that Krusty is Jewish, Lisa reminds him of his heritage, making Krusty cry. He tells the family his real name, Herschel Krustofski, and of his upbringing in the Russian District of the Lower East Side of Springfield.
His father, Hyman Krustofski, was a rabbi dispensing Talmudic wisdom and car-buying tips to the neighborhood and strongly opposed to young Herschel's wish of becoming a clown and making people laugh, wanting the boy to go to yeshiva instead. Krusty did attend the yeshiva school, where he said he made the other students laugh by acting as his father. As a result, Krusty performed slapstick comedy behind his father's back. He was performing at a rabbi's convention when one joking rabbi squirted seltzer on him, washing off his clown makeup. When Rabbi Krustofski found out, he separated himself from his son, and it has been 2.5 decades since they have seen or spoken to each other.
In the weeks following this admission, Krusty's TV show begins to suffer, as he thinks more and more about his father, including a breakdown on live television. Bart and Lisa resolve to help reunite father and son, but the rabbi still refuses to accept Krusty's career choice. An attempt by the kids to reunite the Krustofskis at a deli fails when the rabbi leaves early after seeing a very non-kosher sandwich bearing his son's name on the menu. Bart calls into a religious talk-radio show that Rabbi Krustofski appears on ("Gabbin' About God"), asking if a father should forgive his son for defying his wishes if the son is making millions of children happy, but the rabbi angrily answers in the negative.
Lisa does research to find Judaic teachings that urge forgiveness, but Rabbi Krustofski has responses for each of them. Finally, Bart is able to convince the rabbi to reconcile with a quote from Sammy Davis, Jr., a Jewish entertainer like Krusty, which finally convinces Rabbi Krustofski of his foolishness. A deeply depressed Krusty is glumly doing a live taping of his show, but when Rabbi Krustofski appears, they joyously hug and make up before the audience of children.
[edit] Cultural references
- The episode title is a parody on the popular saying, "Like Father, Like Son".
- The episode is an homage to the film The Jazz Singer, about a son with a strict religious upbringing who defies his father to become an entertainer. Krusty's father references this when he tells his son "If you were a musician or a jazz singer, this I could forgive." His quote "I have no son" is also reminiscent.
- The Itchy and Scratchy episode entitled "Field of Screams" is a reference to "Field of Dreams".
- The scenes in which Krusty calls his father without saying anything is reminiscent of Robert De Niro in Raging Bull.
- In the deli, Rabbi Krustofski apparently dislikes the movies of Bruce Willis; seeing a sandwich named after him, he remarks "I don't even like his work!".
- Likewise, Rabbi Krustofski declines a sandwich named after Jackie Mason, his own voice actor.
- Krusty's secretary, Miss Pennycandy, is a reference to the secretary for M in James Bond Miss Moneypenny.
- Bart and Lisa try to trick Rabbi Krustofski into meeting with Krusty by arranging a lunch date between him and Saul Bellow, the "Nobel Prize-winning Jewish novelist." In the original script, this was intended to be Isaac Bashevis Singer, who died on July 24, 1991, before the episode was completed.
- The disc jockey who hosts Gabbin' About God is seen wearing a t-shirt featuring the band Foghat.
- The Concert for Bangladesh was satirized in this episode, when Krusty plays it while a visitor at the Simpsons household. It would later be satirized again when Apu owned an album called "The Concert Against Bangladesh".
[edit] Casting
Rabbi Hyman Krustofski is voiced by comedian Jackie Mason, who won an Emmy for his performance. Humorously, when Rabbi Krustofsky is at the restaurant, he does not like the Jackie Mason sandwich. In real life, Mason is a rabbi himself. His father, his grandfather, his great-grandfather and his great-great grandfather were rabbis [1], and just like Krusty, Jackie defied his father's wishes to become a comedian.
[edit] External links
- Episode Capsule on "Simpsons Archive"
- "Simpsons Talmud", a parody site analyzing the episode from a Talmudic point of view
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