Like Father, Like Clown

"Poor Krusty. He's like a black velvet painting come to life."

- Lisa Simpson

"Like Father, Like Clown" is the sixth episode of season 3. It originally aired on October 24, 1991. The episode was written by Jay Kogen and Wallace Wolodarsky and directed by Jeffrey Lynch and Brad Bird. Kogen and Wolodarsky decided to parody the 1927 movie The Jazz Singer and establish that Krusty is Jewish.

Plot
Krusty cancels a dinner with Bart apparently not for the first time. This makes Bart extremly upset even to the point of turning in his membership badge, he sends a letter to Krusty and his secretary reads it, she is very disappointed and forces Krusty to go. Marge tells Bart that Krusty is coming and he instantly cheers up. At dinner they ask Krusty to say grace and he starts to recite a Jewish prayer, he tells a story about how when he was younger he was called Herschel Krustofsky lived on the Lower East Side of Springfield, his father was a Rabbi and he wanted Krusty to be a Rabbi too but Krusty wanted to be a clown, one day Krusty gets a chance to perform but he was sprayed by water, his make-up fell off and his father recognized him and disowned him.

After the story is over Krusty seems very emotional and stays at the Simpson home until one AM looking at photo albums, he finally leaves and trys calling his dad but afraid that his dad will reject him again he doesn't say any thing. Bart and Lisa noticing him getting increasingly depressed (even to the point of crying during his TV show) they deceide to try to locate and reunite Krusty with his father. They find him in a radio studio where a framed "Larry Davis Experience" gold record hangs on the wall. His father is still mad at Krusty, so after several tries they finally convince Hyman to forgive Krusty by saying the quote of a famous singer, Sammy Davis, Jr.. Bart, Lisa, and the now proud father meet Krusty on the set of his show, where they reconcile their differences.

Production
Like Father, Like Clown