EPT
The reason, I think, is simple enough. On top of providing an outlet for the zanier, more outlandish gags and plots, the residents of Springfield also allow the writers to explore a larger range of stereotypes and social dynamics, and really the entire cultural zeitgeist of America. The affluent but miserly Mr. Burns, the overbearingly altruistic but deeply repressed Flanders, the bumbling and incompetent public servants like Principle Skinner, Chief Wiggum, and Mayor Quimby, and countless others (far too many to detail here) are not only comedic, but also deeply insightful caricatures of American society. For over twenty five years, the supporting cast of The Simpsons accompanied Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie, as well as the American public, through a kaleidoscopic and often disorienting two and a half decades. Far more often than not, The Simpsons resonated deeply with the happenings encountered in everyday life as well as the issues facing the nation as a whole, and it is thanks in no small part to the Springfield residents that constitute a frighteningly accurate and relevant microcosm of the United States.
And yet, as an avid fan of the show who grew up almost step by step alongside The Simpsons, one of the most iconic characters in the show has always seemed incredibly out of place to me.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/4Dcxf44.png)
Krusty is a
Krusty’s character was inspired by Rusty Nails, a TV clown in the Portland area where Simpsons creator Matt Groening grew up. By all accounts, Rusty Nails was a sweet, sincere, and genuine child entertainer. Rusty, indeed, is but one of many clowns who brought joy into the lives of American children in the early days of widespread television. You might be familiar with the name Bozo the Clown, the most popular of these TV clowns, who enjoyed immense popularity in the 1950s and 1960s. Indeed, Dan Castellaneta based Krusty’s voice on that of Bob Bell, one of the actors who portrayed Bozo.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/snfl0PT.jpg)
A negative, in some shape or form, clown is nothing novel. The very origin of the modern concept of a clown traces its roots to the fools and jesters of the courts of old. Beyond mere entertainment, these fools and jesters were expected also to provide services both ceremonial and practical with complete severity, to the point where the position entailed an inherent juxtaposition. In theater, the Fool character is often the only voice of wisdom and reason in a world gone mad (see King Lear for but one prominent example among many), and in opera, the sad clown of Leoncavello’s Pagliacci ingrained the idea that there is always more to the story behind the laughter.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/U51gxnw.jpg)
The outright evil clown trope is typically attributed to the aforementioned It, by Stephen King. Though there have been similar examples of an evil clown before the late 20th century, none are really manifested in quite the same way as the eerie supernatural/psychotic/otherwise menacing clown of modern popular culture. Far be it for me to speculate on the cultural, psychological, and social reasons behind why this evil clown characterization has caught on so rapidly, but perhaps allow me to suggest that it is but one of many manifestations of an inherent human need to embrace an abutment of established ideas through contrast (Mikhail Bakhtin might have a word or two on the phenomenon through his work on the carnivalesque; alternatively, it can always be attributed to the increased cynicism of the modern world). The genuine, good-natured TV clown of the 60s, then, gives way to the wicked and demented clown of the late 20th/early 21st century.
The Simpsons came into prominence in the 1990s, decades removed from the heyday of Bozo and Rusty Nails, and well after the establishment of the modern evil clown trope. Indeed, the show itself features many evil clowns, from Homer’s hilariously ill-advised attempt at constructing a clown bed to the beloved Sideshow Bob.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/K3s3WiG.png)
The writers proved themselves to be very much in tune with how modern society perceives the classic clown character, but nonetheless included Krusty from the very beginning, having included a Krusty short on The Tracey Ullman Show before The Simpsons ever hit the air. In a show where most of the side characters exhibit timeless (at least by television standards) traits and stereotypes, why was something as incredibly dated as a TV clown included?
Avid fans of the show and collectors of Americana trivia probably know that Krusty was originally intended to be even more prominent. Ever notice the startling similarity in character design between Homer and Krusty? Groening intentionally designed Krusty as a “satirical conceit,” since “The Simpsons was about a kid who had no respect for his father, but worshipped a clown who looked exactly like his father.” There is even an eventually scrapped plot where Krusty is revealed to be Homer’s secret identity. Eventually, Krusty morphed into what we know him as today, a minor celebrity who is often down on his luck and require two elementary school kids to bail him out, on top being of a lecherous alcoholic with a drug problem, accelerated by years of jading at the hands of the cruel world of show business, and oftentimes an outlet for the writers to joke about their own industry.
Even though the very idea of children sitting down in front of their televisions to watch a TV clown program today is laughable, Krusty has nevertheless managed to implant himself firmly into the center of American cultural consciousness. As a conduit into a world both bygone and modern, Krusty proves that there is still room left in this world for a simple TV clown, albeit a somewhat non-traditional one.
