The Simpsons aired a very monumental episode 34 years ago today that changed how we would see Krusty the Clown for years to come. The Simpsons is now in the midst of Season 37 with FOX, and it’s hard to believe that the animated series still finds new stories to tell for each of its characters even after all this time. But thanks to the massive roster of characters who populate Springfield, there have been many opportunities to expand on each of these characters with new sides of their personalities or histories. It’s a practice that has been in place since its earliest seasons.
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While The Simpsons had highlighted Krusty the Clown in some fun ways in previous episodes, “Like Father, Like Clown” added a whole new layer with the introduction of Krusty’s father, Rabbi Hyman Krustofsky with an episode that aired 32 years ago today on October 24th, 1991 on FOX. This episode not only expanded on Krusty’s family and history, but also introduced his Jewish heritage. This would become a key part of Krusty’s character in the years that followed.
“Like Father, Like Clown” Was a Very Important Krusty Episode
“Like Father, Like Clown” was the sixth episode of The Simpsons Season 3, and it came at an important phase of the series. This was when the animated series started to branch further out from its grounded, familial drama seen in the second season, and explore more of the extended cast. Written by Jay Kogen and Wallace Wolodarsky, and directed by Jeffrey Lynch and Brad Bird, this episode had Krusty revealing to the Simpson family that he was in fact Jewish and was estranged from his father because he decided to pursue a career in comedy. With his father kicking him out at a young age, the Simpsons wanted to bring this father and son back together.
Jackie Mason was brought in as the voice of Krusty’s father, Rabbi Krustofsky (of which he actually won an Emmy for), and it was explained that he and Krusty had been distanced from one another for 25 years. But after Bart and Lisa do their homework on Jewish mythology and eventually convince his father to reconsider, Krusty and Hyman do reunite on live television. From that point on, the Rabbi would become a recurring character over the years before the series would kill him off decades later as part of a big event episode, “Clown in the Dumps” in Season 26.
How This Simpsons Episode Changes Krusty
This ended up being quite the turning point for Krusty’s identity in The Simpsons. This was essentially a sequel to his Sideshow Bob saga in the first two seasons, and helped to forge a new route for the character to take going forward. Rather than being a television icon that Bart and Lisa loved to watch, this episode started to focus on the type of person Krusty actually was. It’s where we started to see more of his flaws, and Krusty then cemented himself as a real figure that future episodes could anchor themselves on.
The Simpsons was in search of the kinds of characters in its roster that it could base an entire episode’s story off of, and Krusty thankfully started to reveal these layers early on. It’s why he’s one of the standout ancillary characters even after all these years later, and we’ve learned so much more about his Jewish heritage and relationship with his father in future classic episodes like “Today I Am a Clown.” It really was the first of many great episodes we’d see in years to come.
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