Insane Clown Poppy

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The Simpsons episode
"Insane Clown Poppy"

Episode no.	251
Prod. code	BABF17
Orig. Airdate	November 12, 2000
Show Runner(s)	Mike Scully
Writer(s)	John Frink & Don Payne
Director(s)	Bob Anderson
Chalkboard	"I will not surprise the incontenent."
Couch gag	The family jumps towards the couch. In mid-leap, the picture freezes, and turns 180 degrees. Once it unfreezes, the Simpsons sit on the couch.
Guest star(s)	Drew Barrymore as Sophie Jay Mohr as Christopher Walken Stephen King as himself Amy Tan as herself John Updike as himself
SNPP capsule
Season 12 November 1, 2000 – May 20, 2001
Treehouse of Horror XI A Tale of Two Springfields Insane Clown Poppy Lisa the Tree Hugger Homer vs. Dignity The Computer Wore Menace Shoes The Great Money Caper Skinner's Sense of Snow HOMR Pokey Mom Worst Episode Ever Tennis the Menace Day of the Jackanapes New Kids on the Blecch Hungry, Hungry Homer Bye Bye Nerdie Simpson Safari Trilogy of Error I'm Goin' to Praiseland Children of a Lesser Clod Simpsons Tall Tales
List of all Simpsons episodes...

"Insane Clown Poppy" is the third episode of the twelfth season of The Simpsons. It aired on November 12, 2000 in the US.

1 Synopsis
2 Trivia
3 Cultural references
4 External links

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Homer and Bart are playing with fireworks in the backyard, however Marge gives them a list of things they need to fix. First, they decide to unjam a stuck drawer with the fireworks. At first, Marge protests but Homer asks her if she wants it done right, or fast. Marge says, "Well, like all Americans fast but..." then Homer and Bart cut her off by lighting the fireworks planted in the stuck drawer. The drawer is knocked out and works properly again. Homer and Bart continue to use fireworks to 'fix' things around the house until they come to Lisa's room to fix her VCR. They plant a massive amount of fireworks and end up blowing up everything in her room.

To make it up to her, they go to the Springfield Festival of Books (which Lisa wants to go to, after Bart and Homer tell her that they can do whatever she wants and 'pretend it is her birthday', even though it actually is her birthday), where they will see Christopher Walken, Stephen King, Tom Wolfe, Dr. Nick, Tom Clancy, Maya Angelou, Amy Tan, John Updike, and even Reverend Lovejoy offering books. Krusty is seen signing new memoirs, when he ends up signing the memoir of a girl named Sophie, who then proclaims that Krusty is her father.

Sophie insists Krusty met her mom when she served as a soldier in the Gulf War. Krusty then remembers, as he was at the Gulf War entertaining the soldiers as a comedian, when he meets Sophie's mom-to-be and makes love to her. However, she abandons Krusty the next day after he tackles her on a sand dune, preventing her from killing Saddam Hussein with a rocket launcher, since Saddam is "half his act". On a trip to the beach, Krusty asks Homer to help him with fatherhood, and Homer becomes his mentor.

However, things start to go wrong when Fat Tony and his goons, including Frankie the Squealer and Johnny Tightlips, take Sophie's violin after Krusty bets it on a poker game. Sophie then loses her trust in Krusty, and Homer offers to help the now guilt-ridden Krusty steal the violin back from the mob. They are nearly killed when they break into the mansion, where a Mafia summit is being held, but they manage to get the violin back to Sophie. Homer ends up getting chased down by the Mafia, accused of stealing the violin by Frankie the Squealer, and the episode ends at that.

[edit] Trivia

Johnny Tightlips and Frankie the Squealer both make their first appearances in this episode.
Jay Mohr, who impersonated Christopher Walken on Saturday Night Live, voiced Walken in this episode in the short scene where Walken reads Goodnight Moon to children.
Sophie in the episode, apparently finds Krusty by typing "pathetic clown" into a search engine (as her mother deemed him a pathetic clown). In dedication to this, sites have been made, usually spamming the phrase "pathetic clown", or by googlebombing, to cause a fake page about Krusty the Klown to come up.
After the 9/11 attacks and the anthrax scares that followed, the reference to anthrax was removed from syndication for a few years.
In this episode two members of the Rock Bottom Remainders (Amy Tan and Stephen King) appear as themselves. Simpsons's creator Matt Groening is also a member of the band.
Though not the original UK broadcast, this episode was shown in the UK January 5th 2007, less than a week after Saddam Hussein was executed. As well as being the time that Homer said that Santa's Little Helper's kennel was set to be completed.

[edit] Cultural references

The title alludes to the rap group Insane Clown Posse. Furthermore after Krusty sleeps with Sophie's mother, she awakens the next morning and she panics because she is late for her mission and pushes off Krusty who wants her to stay and "get down with the clown". Which is track 14 on ICP's Great Milenko album.
During his flashback to his Gulf War days, Krusty's USO performance is based on that of veteran entertainer Bob Hope, even down to the golf club. The routine he later mentions following the failed assassination attempt is the classic Abbott and Costello "Who's on First?" skit, but using Middle Eastern names ("Hussein [Who's sayin'] is on First, Ayatollah [I-a told ya] is on Second...").
It's revealed that Fat Tony's real name is Marion.