Like Father, Like Clown/References

General

References/Trivia

Appearances

Gags

Credits

Quotes

	Season 3 Episode References
← 040 "Homer Defined"	041 "Like Father, Like Clown"	"Treehouse of Horror II" 042 →

Cultural references

• The title of the episode is a parody of the saying "like father, like son" and a reference to the 1987 film Like Father Like Son.
• The ending of The Krusty the Clown Show resembles the ending of Saturday Night Live, when all the cast members reform for the credits sequence.
  • Donna Mills, the American actress that starred on the soap opera Knots Landing, is in Krusty's show.
• The New York Giants American football team is mentioned.
• Bart sings "This Could Be the Start of Something", a popular song by Steve Allen.

Krusty has pictures of him with both the Beatles and Alfred Hitchcock in Lois Pennycandy's office

• The lovelorn secretary Lois Pennycandy is a parody is Miss Moneypenny from the James Bond movies. Lois comes from actress Lois Maxwell who played Miss Moneypenny in the early films.
• The pictures at Lois Pennycandy's office include:
  • Krusty swapping chairs with director Alfred Hitchcock.
  • Krusty with the Beatles.
• Krusty says he hates missing "Schnapps Night" at the Friars' Club, a famous private club in New York City.
• Just before having dinner, Krusty starts a Jewish blessing, more specifically the bracha. According to Lisa, Lauren Bacall, Dinah Shore, William Shatner and Mel Brooks are all Jewish.
• In Krusty's flashback, he and his father Hyman Krustofsky walk down the street with the style of the "Death of Don Fanucci" scene from The Godfather II.
• One of the Jewish men that was asking for advice asks Hyman whether he should buy a Chrysler car. The Rabbi answers positively and also mentions the "Dyna-Flo suspension", possibly a play-on to General Motors' Dynaflow automatic transmissions that competed against Chrysler's.
• Krusty's Jewish heritage, his relationship with his father, and desire to be an entertainer rather than follow in his Rabbi father's footsteps, parallel Al Jolson in the 1927 film The Jazz Singer.
  • The phrase "I have no son!" later said by Hyman Krustofsky is a reference to that phrase said by Laurence Olivier portraying Cantor Rabinovitch in the fourth adaptation of The Jazz Singer.
• Krusty attended Yeshiva.
• Krusty's first big break was being hired as the entertainment for a Talmudic conference in the Catskills. The Talmud is the collection of ancient Jewish laws and traditions. The foothills of New York's Catskill Mountains were well known for summer resorts catering to Jewish New Yorkers which were mostly all closed by the 1970s.
• At the Simpsons' house, Krusty finds The Concert for Bangladesh album. This is album was credited to "George Harrison & Friends" and it followed two concerts of the same name.

The films being played at Springfield-X adult movie theatre are parodies of real-world ones

• The films being played at Springfield-X adult movie theatre include:
  • Crocodile Done Me, a parody of Crocodile Dundee.
  • Debbie Does Springfield, a parody of the pornographic film Debbie Does Dallas.
  • Doctor Strangepants, a parody of Dr. Strangelove.
  • For Your Thighs Only, a parody of For Your Eyes Only
• Krusty watches the Academy Awards Playhouse.
• The scenes of Krusty calling up his father then staring into space is a reference to the 1980 film Raging Bull.
• The The Itchy & Scratchy Show episode "Field of Screams" is a reference to the 1989 baseball-related film Field of Dreams.
• Lisa and Bart call Hyman and fake Saul Bellow's voice so that Krusty can meet his father. Saul Bellow was a Jewish Canadian-American writer who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts.
• The kids also fool Krusty by telling him that the French government wants to give him the Legion of Honour, the highest French order of merit.
• The food on the Izzy's Deli menu is called after Jewish American personalities, including entertainer Joey Bishop and stand-up comedian Jackie Mason (who voiced Hyman). Bruce Willis is also mentioned, although he does not practice any kind of religion
• Krusty hums "La Marseillaise", the national anthem of France, when he is at Izzy's Deli.
  • Krusty also asks the waiter to direct him to President François Mitterrand, who was in office when this episode aired.
• Lisa mentions the Judaica. She also reads about Simeon ben Eleazar in one of the Springfield Library books.
• Hyman mentions Hillel the Elder (Rabbi Hillel), Judah the Pious, Maimonides and the Dead Sea Scrolls while trying to come up with the person Bart quoted. At the end, Bart says the quote was by American entertainer Sammy Davis, Jr. from his book Yes I Can: The Story of Sammy Davis, Jr. Hyman also mentions "The Candy Man", Davis's career hit.
• When Krusty reunites with Hyman, he sings "O mein Papa", a nostalgic German song originally as related by a young woman remembering her beloved, once-famous clown father.

Trivia

• This is the first episode that truly focuses on Krusty the Clown.
• This episode shows the whole entire cast of The Krusty the Clown Show.
• This episode marks the first time Jackie Mason guest starred on The Simpsons, as Hyman Krustofsky. He would later come back and voice the character again several other times.
• Krusty reveals his real name is Herschel Krustofski.
• The first time Lisa and Bart go inside their local branch of the Springfield Public Library is reused footage from "Dead Putting Society".

Goofs

• When Krusty pulls Mr. Teeny out of his bag he tells the chimp to go wait in the car, but when Krusty leaves there is no car outside and in the next scene he is also walking home. (The bag has also disappeared.)
• After Krusty starts crying at the dinner table, Homer asks if he will finish his meatloaf, but there is no meatloaf on his plate.
• When Krusty is sprayed with seltzer during the flashback his makeup is gone, after his father tells him he never wants to see him again his makeup re-appears.

← Season 2 Season 3 References Season 4 →

Stark Raving Dad • Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington • When Flanders Failed • Bart the Murderer • Homer Defined • Like Father, Like Clown • Treehouse of Horror II • Lisa's Pony • Saturdays of Thunder • Flaming Moe's • Burns Verkaufen der Kraftwerk • I Married Marge • Radio Bart • Lisa the Greek • Homer Alone • Bart the Lover • Homer at the Bat • Separate Vocations • Dog of Death • Colonel Homer • Black Widower • The Otto Show • Bart's Friend Falls in Love • Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?