Krusty's Li'l Starmaker

"Not affiliated with American Idol. We've never even heard of American Idol."

- Announcer

Krusty's Li'l Starmaker is a singing competition on TV. The winner would be animated into an episode of The Itchy & Scratchy Show.

History
When the Simpson family, except Lisa, were ill, Lisa sung them "". After the family got better, an advert came on TV for Krusty's Li'l Starmaker, a singing competition. The family pushed Lisa to try out for the show as she was a good singer, having helped them feel better when they were ill. The family then camped outside the Springfield Mall at night for the auditions.

Krusty introduced the auditions, showing off the Applause-O-Meter, which would be the judge for the show as he couldn't be bothered to pay attention. The auditions then started with Ralph singing a song which started off as the "", and then transitioned into "", receiving a sarcastic applause rating from the Applause-O-Meter. After Ralph, Clarissa Wellington walked onto the stage and sung a version of "", which was the song Lisa was going to sing. Clarissa's performance won over the audience and Clarissa went through to the televised stage of the show. Homer then told Lisa that he would write her a new song and ran into The Toothless Elephant Piano Store to begin writing. Meanwhile, Milhouse performed "", until he was insulted by Lenny and Carl and walked off stage. Homer then came out with the song for Lisa to sing, "I'm Talkin' Springfield". This impressed the audience and the needle of the Applause-O-Meter shot off into Krusty's eye. Krusty then welcomed Lisa to the next stage of the show.

At the televised stage of the show, Cameron sung "Greensleeves", which impressed the fans he had made, many of which were young girls who were going crazy over him. Lisa was worried about following up Cameron's act then sang "My Kitty Died", which moved the audience to tears. After all the contestants had finished singing, the first elimination took place, which was Katie Anderson. Contestants were eliminated by being dropped through the Buzz Cola trap door.

During the rest of the show, many other contestants were eliminated, and Paul Simon, who had been pretending to be a 10-year-old boy, was disqualified from the competition. Eventually, the show was left with only three contestants; Lisa, Cameron and Clarissa. Clarissa was then the next to be eliminated, leaving Lisa to face off against Cameron in the final. Lisa was having problems with Homer's attitude at the time, with Homer being very aggressive towards people in order to help Lisa. Due to Homer's aggressiveness, Lisa fired him as her songwriter. Homer then switched sides, taking Cameron under his wing. He started to train Cameron to win the competition, which caused a rift between Homer and Lisa.

The day of the final then came around, with Lisa going first. Lisa told the audience that she wrote the song herself as Homer wasn't her songwriter any more. Lisa then sang "Always My Dad", which moved the audience to tears, and caused the Applause-O-Meter to leak battery acid. After Lisa's performance, Homer and Lisa make up with each other, with Lisa saying that she enjoyed the time they spent together the most. Homer then gleefully told Lisa that Cameron was about to learn to never trust people in the music business. Cameron then went on stage, under his new stage name of "Johnny Rainbow", and sung "Privileged Boy", which angered the audience. Cameron then ran off stage crying, leaving Lisa to win the competition.

Contestants and crew
The contestants and crew for Krusty's Li'l Starmaker are:
 * Host: Krusty the Clown
 * Judge: Applause-O-Meter

Contestants:
 * Lisa Simpson - Winner
 * Cameron/Johnny Rainbow - Second place
 * Clarissa Wellington - Third place
 * Paul Simon - Unknown place; disqualified
 * Katie Anderson - Last place

Auditions:
 * Ralph Wiggum
 * Milhouse Van Houten

Other crew:
 * Lighting technician:
 * Pianist: Bernie

Behind the Laughter
Li'l Starmaker is a parody of  and this is even referenced in the episode ("Not affiliated with American Idol; we've never even heard of American Idol").