David Cooper

0013 - Krusty the Clown

Added 2021-08-23 08:00:04 +0000 UTC

Hey hey!

Krusty is one of those klassic - sorry, classic - characters that allows the show to make broader statements about a specific area, in this case showbusiness.

He's a children's television presenter, the type that comes on between cartoons. There's no reason that he would be as huge a celebrity as he appears to be within the Simpsons world, but if the writers need a stand in for Johnny Carson, or a stand-up comedian, or even bizzarely "McDonalds", then Krusty is your man. It's great though! It allows the Los Angeles writers to lampoon their industry, and over time Krusty has become a vehicle for demonstrating one of the shows common themes - the phoniness of the entertainment industry. There's a reason he's such a beloved character, he's a great joke delivery system (even if his own comedy is...well...terrible.)

Early on Krusty's resemblance to Homer was an important point. The idea was that Krusty was in fact played by Homer, and it was ironic that Bart respected Krusty so much while having no respect for his own father. Thankfully this idea of them being literally the same person was dropped quickly, and it could be argued that their visual similarity still gets the point across.

I like that Krusty is the type of character that makes less sense as the show continues on a sliding timeline. He's old enough to have had an established career being broadcast in black and white. He is supposedly 52 years old, meaning he must have been born in 1969, a decade after the invention of colour television. I swear I'm not nitpicking here, there is literally no way to make it all make sense any more, I just like thinking about it.

This post is part of my "Every Simpsons Character Ever" series. For a list of my rules in this project, click here.