Krusty Gets Cancelled

"Krusty Gets Kancelled" is the final episode of The Simpsons' fourth season. It originally aired on May 13, 1993.

Synopsis

One afternoon while Homer and Bart are watching The Springfield Squares, an arresting commercial is aired for something named "Gabbo". The advertisement is the start of a massive blitz around Springfield to build interest in whatever "Gabbo" is. At one point, a distressed Rev. Lovejoy expresses his concern that the term "Gabbo" has fallen into common usage, in lieu of religious terms such as "worship" and "Jericho".

Finally, "Gabbo" is unveiled with great fanfare — he's a Howdy Doody-type ventriloquist's dummy with a voice like Jerry Lewis. Ventriloquist Arthur Crandall announces that Gabbo's new program will air in direct competition with the established The Krusty the Klown Show. Gabbo's catchphrase — "I'm a bad wittle boy" — instantly charms his intended audience.

Krusty vows to withstand the competition from the new program, but Gabbo's cutthroat tactics and fantastic reviews quickly erode Krusty's audience. Gabbo even steals away Krusty's signature cartoon, The Itchy & Scratchy Show, since it would be exposed to far-higher ratings than the fast-fading Krusty. Krusty tries to fight back with a dummy of his own, but its gruesome appearance and poor condition (since it falls apart on the clown's lap) conspire to scare off the children. Eventually, Krusty's ratings hit rock bottom, and after being left to air a poorly produced "Worker and Parasite" cartoon ("Eastern Europe's favorite cat and mouse team"), his show is cancelled.

Left without work, Krusty falls on hard times and begins suffering from depression. Meanwhile, Bart and Lisa — all along unimpressed with Gabbo — decide the best way to get Krusty back into the public eye is twofold: Expose Gabbo as a flash-in-the-pan, and plan a huge prime-time special starring Krusty.

After Bart begins derailing Gabbo's success (by secretly turning on a studio camera, which catches Gabbo bad-mouthing his audience on-air), he and Lisa begin recruiting major celebrities to appear on Krusty's special: Bette Midler, Johnny Carson, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Luke Perry (Krusty's "worthless half-brother"). Elizabeth Taylor is also asked to appear, but her agent, thinking Bart and Lisa to be pulling a prank, declines and sends them off, to Taylor's later regret.

The special — styled much like Elvis Presley's '68 Comeback Special — airs and is a huge success, ensuring Krusty's future success. Gabbo, meanwhile, has a "real boy operation" and quickly fades into oblivion (to be seen in the later episode "Bart to the Future").