| Krusty the Clown | |
|---|---|
| The Simpsons character | |
 | |
| First appearance | |
| Created by | Matt Groening |
| Designed by | Matt Groening |
| Voiced by | Dan Castellaneta |
| In-universe information | |
| Full name | Herschel Shmoikel Pinchas Yerucham Krustofsky |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Television clown, entertainer,Congressman |
| Family |
|
| Spouse |
|
| Significantothers | Princess Penelope Owsley (ex-fiancée) |
| Children | Sophie Krustofsky (daughter) |
| Religion | Judaism |
Herschel Shmoikel Pinchas Yerucham Krustofsky (Yiddish:הערשעל שמױקל פּינחס ירוחם קרוסטאָפֿסקי;Hebrew:הירשל שמויקל פנחס ירוחם קרוסטופסקי),[2][3] better known by his stage nameKrusty the Clown (sometimes spelled asKrusty the Klown), is a recurring character on theanimated television seriesThe Simpsons. He is voiced byDan Castellaneta. He is the long-timeclown host ofBart andLisa Simpson's favorite TV show, avariety show consisting of various kid-friendlysketches and often highly violent cartoons, most notablyThe Itchy & Scratchy Show. Despite his cheery onscreen persona, Krusty is actually a cynical, burnt-out, addiction-riddled smoker who is made miserable by show business but continues on anyway. He has become one of the most frequently occurring characters outside the mainSimpson family and has been the focus of many episodes, some of which also featureSideshow Bob.
Krusty was created by cartoonistMatt Groening and partially inspired byRusty Nails, a television clown from Groening's hometown ofPortland,Oregon. He was designed to look likeHomer Simpson (also voiced by Castellaneta) with clown makeup, based on the scrapped original concept of Krusty where Bart worships a television clown who is ironically his own father that he looks down upon; the idea of Homer playing the role of Krusty would eventually be explored in the Season 6 episode, "Homie the Clown". Krusty's voice is based onBob Bell, who portrayedWGN-TV'sBozo the Clown. Krusty made his television debut on January 15, 1989, in theTracey Ullman Showshort "The Krusty the Clown Show".
Herschel Shmoikel Pinchas Yerucham Krustofsky was born in theLower East Side of Springfield and is the son ofRabbiHyman Krustofsky. Very little is known about Herschel's mother, aside from her name being Rachel and that she died when Krusty was around thirteen years old. Hyman strongly opposed Krusty's wish to become aclown and make people laugh, believing that it would distract Herschel from his religion, wanting the boy to go toyeshiva instead. However, Krusty performedslapstick comedy, obscuring this from his father. However, Herschel was performing at a rabbis' convention when one joking rabbi squirtedseltzer on him, washing off his clown makeup. When Rabbi Krustofsky discovered Herschel was the clown onstage, he disowned his son and did not speak to him for 25 years. Krusty later reconciled with his father with the assistance of Bart and Lisa Simpson.[4]
It was later revealed that Krusty did not have aBar Mitzvah service, because Hyman feared he would violate the sanctity of the rites by "acting up." Krusty had two adult Bar Mitzvah ceremonies: aHollywood gala which Krusty uses to stage a comeback after his show is cancelled, then a simple ceremony intended to reconnect with his father.[3] After leaving the Lower East Side of Springfield, Krusty started his show biz career as a street mime inTupelo, Mississippi (Elvis Presley's birthplace).[5] Krusty later discovers that he has a daughter named Sophie. He had met Sophie's mother Erin when Erin was a soldier in theGulf War and he was entertaining the troops. After spending the night together, he prevented Erin from assassinatingSaddam Hussein to protect his Saddam-themed comedy act. After that, Erin started hating clowns, and she kept their daughter a secret from Krusty.[6] Krusty and Sophie bonded over time, and while not a full-time father, he is known to acknowledge her birthdays and occasionally references his daughter publicly.
Krusty has his own show on Channel 6 in Springfield:The Krusty the Clown Show, which is aimed towards a children's audience and has many followers, including Bart Simpson.[7] Krusty has licensed the show to dozens of countries that produce localized versions, includingIreland,China,Jamaica, andRomania with the original version being the least popular.[8] Krusty's show has gone through various phases: a clip from 1961 presents the show as a serioustalk show featuring Krusty interviewingAFL–CIO presidentGeorge Meany on the topic ofcollective bargaining agreements, while a clip from 1963 shows Krusty interviewingRobert Frost, then dumping a load of snow on the poet. The show later takes a different turn, featuringRavi Shankar as a guest[9] and having Krusty howl a drugged-out version ofThe Doors'Break on Through (To the Other Side) in 1973.[10] By the 1980s, the show had devolved into a children's entertainment show, although in one episode Krusty provided updates on the1982 Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands. During the series, theKrusty the Clown Show is shown to be aimed almost entirely at children. It features many characters, includingSideshow Mel,Mr. Teeny, Tina Ballerina, andCorporal Punishment.[11]Sideshow Bob begins the series as Krusty's mainsidekick. However, years of constant abuse lead to Bob framing Krusty forarmed robbery, although Bob is eventually foiled by Bart.[5] Bob is replaced by Sideshow Mel, who has remained loyal to Krusty despite being constantly abused by Krusty as well.[7]
Krusty seems to retire from—and then get back into—show business repeatedly throughout his career.[12] One of his retirements is almost made permanent due to just-paroled Sideshow Bob's latest scheme: wiringplastic explosives to ahypnotized Bart and sending Bart onstage. When Krusty makes a tribute to Bob, however, Bob has a change of heart and stops Bart from fulfilling his mission. Bob and Krusty later reconcile, with Krusty exclaiming that Bob's attempts at Krusty's life make his ratings shoot through the roof.[13] This reconciliation remains for the rest of the series, as Bob abandons his attempts for revenge on Krusty in favor of targeting Bart exclusively.
Bart Simpson is one of Krusty's biggest fans. In the episode "Krusty Gets Busted" he declares, "I've based my entire life on Krusty's teachings," and sleeps in a room filled with Krusty merchandise. He exposes Sideshow Bob's attempted framing, helps Krusty return to the air with a comeback special, reigniting his career,[7] and reunites Krusty with his estranged father.[4] For his part, Krusty is usually grateful for Bart's assistance, but almost immediately forgets about it — presumably due to his excessive drinking and drug habits as well as his general conceitedness — and usually does not even remember his name the next time they encounter each other.[4] One summer, Bart enthusiastically attends Kamp Krusty, largely because of the promise that he would get to spend his summer with Krusty. The camp turns out to be a disaster, with Krusty nowhere to be seen, as the camp is simply a franchise location to which Krusty has licensed his image. Bart keeps his hopes up by believing that Krusty will show up, but one day the camp director, Mr. Black, brings inBarney Gumble with clown makeup masquerading as Krusty. This pushes Bart over the edge. He decides that he is sick of Krusty's shoddy merchandise and takes over the camp. Krusty immediately visits the camp in hopes of ending the conflict and manages to appease Bart.[14][15]
Krusty is amultimillionaire who has amassed his fortune mostly by licensing his name and image to a variety of substandard products and services, from Krustyalarm clocks to Krustycrowd control barriers.[16] Many of these products are potentially dangerous,[14] such as Krusty's brand ofcereal, Krusty-O's, which inone episode boasts a jagged metal Krusty-O in each box. One of manylawsuits regarding these products is launched by Bart, who eats a jagged metal Krusty-O by mistake and has to have hisappendix removed.[17] The "Krusty Korporation," the company responsible for Krusty's licensing, has also launched a series of disastrous promotions and business ventures, such as sponsoring the1984 Summer Olympics with a rigged promotion that backfires when theSoviet Unionboycotts the games, causing Krusty to lose $44 million.[18] In the TV series andcomic books, Krusty is also the mascot and owner of the fast foods restaurant chainKrusty Burger. It has been shut down by the health board many times for everything from overworking employees to stapling together half-eaten burgers to make new ones,[19] as well as using beef infected withmad cow disease to save money.
Krusty wastes money almost as fast as he earns it: lighting hiscigarettes withhundred-dollar bills, eatingcondor-eggomelettes, spending huge sums onpornographic magazines andcall girls, and losing a fortunegambling on everything fromhorse races tooperas andbetting against theHarlem Globetrotters.[16]
Krusty is a hard-living entertainment veteran, sometimes depicted as a jaded, burned-out has-been, who has been down and out several times and remains addicted togambling, cigarettes,alcohol,Percodan,Pepto-Bismol, andXanax.[20] He instantly becomesdepressed as soon as the cameras stop rolling;[16] Marge states in "The Sweetest Apu" that, "off camera, he's a desperately unhappy man." Krusty appears to have usedcocaine, one time emerging from a restaurant bathroom with white powder under his nose; however, he explains that he was simply researching a part for a film in which he played himself. In his bookPlanet Simpson, authorChris Turner describes Krusty as "the wizened veteran, the total pro" who lives the celebrity life. He is miserable but he needs his celebrity status.[21] In "Bart the Fink," Bart inadvertently reports Krusty fortax fraud to theInternal Revenue Service and, as a result, Krusty loses most of his money. Bart soon discovers that Krusty has faked his death and is living as Rory B. Bellows on a boat. Krusty declares that he is finished with the life of a celebrity and is unconvinced when Bart reminds him of his fans and his entourage.[22] Finally, Bart tells Krusty that leavingshow business would mean losing hiscelebrity status, which convinces Krusty to return.[21] Krusty has been described as "the consummate showman who can't bear the possibility of not being on the air and not entertaining people."[23]
In "Mr. Spritz Goes to Washington", Bart convinces Krusty to run forCongress so that Krusty can introduce an airline rerouting bill and stop planes from flying over the Simpsons' house. Krusty agrees and runs on theRepublican ticket. Although his campaign starts off badly, Lisa suggests that he try connecting with regular families. He does so, resulting in a landslide victory. Krusty's term starts off badly, as he is completely ignored by his new, more politically savvy colleagues. With the help of the Simpsons and aninfluential doorman, however, Krusty succeeds in passing his bill.[20]
His body features include athird nipple, a veal-shapedbirthmark, and a scar on his chest as a result of having apacemaker inserted into his heart after suffering from aheart attack on-air in 1986.[5]
In the "Once Upon a Time in Springfield", Krusty's age is revealed to be 52.[24]
Krusty first appeared in "The Krusty the Clown Show", one of theSimpsons shorts fromThe Tracey Ullman Show that first aired on January 15, 1989.[25] The character was partially inspired by TV clown "Rusty Nails" whomThe Simpsons creatorMatt Groening and directorBrad Bird watched as children while growing up inPortland,Oregon.[26][27] Groening describes Rusty Nails as being a sweet clown whose show sometimes had a Christian message, but whose name scared Groening.[28]Dan Castellaneta based his voice characterization onChicago television'sBob Bell who had a very raspy voice and portrayedWGN-TV'sBozo the Clown from 1960 to 1984.[29] Krusty has been compared to an earlier incarnation named "Flunky the Late Night viewer mail clown" who had appeared onLate Night with David Letterman.Jeff Martin, a writer on Letterman’s show, created and played the character. Martin also went on to become a writer onThe Simpsons writing episodes that included Krusty.[30][31]
Many events in Krusty's life parallel those of comedianJerry Lewis, including his Jewish background, addiction to Percodan, hosting of telethons,[32] and appearance in an adaptation ofThe Jazz Singer. When asked, Groening has simply noted that "[Simpsons] characters are collaborations between the writers, animators, and actors" without specifically confirming or denying the association.[33]
Krusty's appearance and design is essentially that ofHomer Simpson with clown makeup.[34] Groening said that "The satiricalconceit that I was going for at the time was thatThe Simpsons was about a kid who had no respect for his father, but worshipped a clown who looked exactly like his father", a theme which became less important as the show developed.[26] One concept initially saw Krusty being revealed as Homer's secret identity but the idea was dropped for being too complex and because the writers were too busy developing the series.[35] There are two instances of the one assuming the identity of the other. In aButterfinger commercial depicting a contest for $50,000 to find out who stole Bart's Butterfinger, a captured Homer appears to be the culprit until Maggie pulls off a mask, revealing Krusty. In the episode "Homie the Clown", Homer goes to Clown College and dresses up as—and is confused with—Krusty.
The Krusty character was originally conceived as just a normal man wearing clown makeup, butDavid Silverman noted that "at some point, we decided he looked [like a clown] all the time".[29] The producers had long discussions about whether or not Krusty would always remain in his clown makeup but eventually decided that it did not matter.[5] The writers had tried showing Krusty's real face a few times in early episodes, but decided that it did not look right, although his real face was seen in "Krusty Gets Busted" and "Like Father, Like Clown". Later episodes made jokes about Krusty's face. In "Homer's Triple Bypass", Krusty reveals that his "grotesque appearance" is the result of multiple heart attacks. Homer remarks that he seems fine, and Krusty replies, "This ain't makeup." In "Bart the Fink", he abandons an idea to sail away with a new identity and swims towards shore, leaving a trail of yellow makeup in his wake and his natural white face underneath. On shore, he shakes off his black hair, revealing his natural green clown hair, and removes his normal-looking fake nose to reveal his natural red bulbous clown nose underneath.[36]
Thethird season episode "Like Father, Like Clown" is the first to establish that Krusty is Jewish. Krusty's religion had not been part of the original concept, and the idea came fromJay Kogen. The episode is a parody ofThe Jazz Singer, which is about a son with a strict religious upbringing who defies his father to become an entertainer. In order to make "Like Father, Like Clown" a full parody ofThe Jazz Singer, the decision was made to make Krusty Jewish and have his father be a rabbi. Krusty's real last name, Krustofsky, was pitched byAl Jean.[37] Krusty's father Rabbi Hyman Krustofsky was played byJackie Mason, who won aPrimetime Emmy Award forOutstanding Voice-Over Performance for the episode.[38] It was established in "Krusty Gets Busted" that Krusty is illiterate. This was shown in subsequent episodes like "Itchy & Scratchy & Marge" but the trait was dropped after the first few seasons because it was hard for the writers to write for an illiterate character.[39]
Krusty's design has undergone several subtle changes since the early years. For the episode "Homie the Clown", Krusty's design was permanently enhanced and he was given a different shaped mouth muzzle and permanent bags under his eyes in order to distinguish him from Homer.[40] In the episode "Lisa's Wedding", which is set fifteen years in the future, Krusty's design was significantly altered to make him look considerably older and was based onGroucho Marx.[41]
Krusty is a favorite character of several of the original writers, many of whom related themselves to him and wanted to write the Krusty-focused episodes. Krusty was used as a chance for show business jokes. Thus, many of Krusty's experiences and anecdotes are based on real experiences and stories heard by the writers.[42] He was a particular favorite ofBrad Bird, who directed the first two Krusty episodes and always tried to animate a scene in every Krusty episode.[37]
In 1992,Matt Groening andJames L. Brooks began planning alive-action spin-off fromThe Simpsons that revolved around Krusty and would starDan Castellaneta as Krusty.[43][44] They pitched the series in 1994. Groening and Michael Weithorn[45] wrote apilot script in which Krusty moved toLos Angeles and hosted his own talk show. A recurring joke throughout the script was that Krusty lived in a house on wooden stilts which were continuously being gnawed bybeavers. Eventually, the contract negotiations fell apart, and Groening decided to stop work on the project.[46]
Prior to Groening's live-action pitch,Simpsons showrunnersAl Jean andMike Reiss planned an animated Krusty spin-off in which he would be a single father in New York City. Supporting characters would include a prickly make-up lady and a boss resemblingTed Turner. This unsuccessful pitch was later reworked into the animated seriesThe Critic.[47]
Krusty has been included in manySimpsons publications, toys and other merchandise. Krusty-themed merchandise includes dolls,posters, figurines,Jack-in-the-boxes,Pint glasses,bobblehead dolls,costumes, and clothing such asT-shirts.[48]Playmates Toys has made a talking evil Krusty doll, based on the one that appeared in "Treehouse of Horror III".[49] In 1992,Acclaim Entertainment released thevideo gameKrusty's Fun House for PC and home consoles. Krusty was made into an action figure, and several different versions were included as part of theWorld of Springfield toy line. The first, which shows Krusty in his normal clown attire with several Krusty products, was released in 2000 as part of "wave one".[50] The second, released in 2002 as part of "wave nine", is called "busted Krusty" and shows him in a prison and without his clown makeup, as he was seen in "Krusty Gets Busted".[51] The third was released in 2003 as part of "wave thirteen" and was called "Tuxedo Krusty".[52] Several Krusty themed play sets were also released, including a Krusty-Lu Studios[53] and Krusty Burger playset, both released in 2001.[54] Krusty appears as a playable character in thetoys-to-life video gameLego Dimensions, released via a "Fun Pack" packaged with a Clown Bike accessory in November 2015. In game, his only ability is being able to spray water and all his voice lines are archive audio from Dan Castellaneta.[55]
InThe Simpsons Ride, asimulator ride opened atUniversal Studios Florida andUniversal Studios Hollywood in May 2008, Krusty builds and opens a cartoon theme park called Krustyland.Sideshow Bob makes an appearance and tries to murder the Simpson family.[56][57][58] In July 2007, convenience store chain7-Eleven converted eleven of its stores in the United States and one in Canada intoKwik-E-Marts to celebrate the release ofThe Simpsons Movie. Amongst the products sold were "Krusty-O's", which were made byMalt-O-Meal.[59] In 2015, Krusty had its first merchandise experience during the AW15 influence.[60]
In 2004,Dan Castellaneta won aPrimetime Emmy Award forOutstanding Voice-Over Performance in "Today I Am a Clown", an episode that heavily features Krusty.[61] Several episodes featuring Krusty have been very well received. In 2007,Vanity Fair named "Krusty Gets Kancelled" as the ninth best episode ofThe Simpsons. John Ortved felt, "This is Krusty's best episode – better than the reunion with his father, or the Bar Mitzvah episode, which won an Emmy much later on. The incorporation of guest stars as themselves is topnotch, and we get to see the really dark side of Krusty's flailing showbiz career. Hollywood, television, celebrities, and fans are all beautifully skewered here."[62] Matt Groening cites "Krusty Gets Busted" as his ninth favorite episode[63] and has said that he particularly loves Castellaneta's voice work. Groening claims that he has to leave the room every time Castellaneta records as Krusty for fear of ruining the take.[64]Star News Online named "Krusty the Clown's hatred of children", Kamp Krusty, and Krusty's line "All these rules, I feel like I'm in a strip club" as some of the four hundred reasons why they lovedThe Simpsons.[65]The Observer listed two Krusty products, "Krusty's Non-Toxic Kologne" and "Krusty's home pregnancy kit", as part of their list of the three hundred reasons why they loved the show.[66]
In 2015,The A.V. Club stated that Krusty has "arguably the most pathos of anySimpsons character not namedMoe Szyslak".[67] In 2021,Meghan Markle reflected on her old memorable haircut being compared to Krusty the Clown atThe Ellen DeGeneres Show.[68]
