Homie the Clown/References

Episode	References	Gags	Appearances	Gallery	Quotes	Credits

◄ Bart's Comet

Homie the Clown

Bart vs. Australia ►

Citations

• Close Encounters of the Third Kind - Homer obsessively sculpts a circus tent out of mashed potatoes at the dinner table. Roy Neary does the same thing with the Devils Tower, sculpting it in various media throughout the film, starting with mashed potatoes at the dinner table.
• Krusty bets on the Washington Generals who regularly play the Harlem Globetrotters. The Globetrotters are not an actual competitive sports team, but an exhibition team that plays games which are largely staged or comedic. They have at times gone decades without losing a single game and lost to the Generals last in 1972 (a game that was largely seen as an accident) while having defeated them on thousands of occasions in the years since.
• Starsky and Hutch - At the Cable ACE awards, a voice-over announces that the son of the actor who played Huggy Bear will accept an award. In actuality, Antonio Fargas played Huggy Bear and his son is Justin Fargas, a running back for the Oakland Raiders, who does not dress as Huggy Bear did.
• When the mob runs out of bullets after creating speed holes at the car dealership, Fat Tony says "Let's go to Big 5." Big 5 is a sporting goods store which sells bullets (for hunting).
  • On the audio commentary, Matt Groening believes that this was also used for an O.J. Simpson reference (OJ possibly bought a knife at Big 5, according to Groening).
• When Homer and Krusty are riding the tricycle for the mob, Homer hits his head on several hanging wine glasses. The pinging sounds like the love song in The Godfather, heard when Michael Corleone is hiding out in his ancestral homeland of Italy and gets married to his first wife.
• One of the objects Krusty burned to light up his cigarette was a copy of Action Comics No. 1, one of the, if not the most expensive comic book ever.
• Krusty throwing the mirror to the floor after seeing the results of his plastic surgery refers to Jack Napier's similar action in Batman. It also mimics Lisa's reaction to her braces in 'Last Exit To Springfield'.
• Krusty shouting at phone "Well Excuuuuse Me!" was a reference to comedian Steve Martin, whom Krusty subsequently pays $10,000 for plagiarizing his catchphrase.
  • The phone call in question was from George Carlin, who called in to complain about Krusty stealing his "Seven Words You Can't Say on Television" comedy skit, with Krusty denying, only to tell his accountant to pay $10,000 for the act of plagiarism.

Trivia

• The scene with Krusty eating his bike could also be seen in Virtual Springfield
• Krusty has his accountant send three thousand roses to Bea Arthur's grave, even though she was still alive at the time (as his accountant tried to point out). However, Bea Arthur did eventually pass away in 2009, after voicing a character In Matt Groening's other show, Futurama.
• In the episode "Homer Goes to College", Bart asked, when learning that Mr. Burns wanted Homer to go to college, if he meant Barber College or Clown College.
• We learn Homer's favorite parts of the first of the month are new billboard adverts.
• Krusty used $48 to franchise his name.
• Krusty burns his cigarettes with a 100 dollar bill, an Action Comics No. 1, and a pearl necklace.
• The episode name is in reference to a character also on FOX at the time, Homey D. Clown, from the sketch comedy show In Living Color (his real name is Herman "Homey" Simpson).
• The concept for this episode seems to be inspired by a discarded idea that Krusty and Homer were the same person, with Krusty being Homer in disguise. Krusty's design was maintained for the irony that Bart reveres a near-exact double of a man for whom he has no respect.
• The billboards are a reference of the Billboard Gag from the Opening Theme.

Goofs

• Pearls are not flammable. They could be faux pearls or had been dipped in gasoline or some other flammable substance.

"Seattle A"

Janey with yellow skin

• When Homer imagines the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant employees as clowns, the one on the far right has an outfit with purple and yellow dots. The two colors of dots repeatedly change places with each other.
• As Krusty showcases the amusing location names, the word "Seattle" has an "A" after it for a couple of frames.
• When Homer arrives at the Van Houten house for Milhouse's party, Janey is among those at the entrance and she appears with yellow skin than brown.
• When Krusty uses a $50 bill to retire his debt of $48 to the Mafia, the Mafia Don returns $2 to Krusty but uses three bills to do so, despite $1 being the smallest denomination of American money in bill form.

Chief Wiggum with black hair

• When Chief Wiggum pulls Homer over but lets him off the hook thinking he is Krusty, Wiggum has black hair.
• Krusty's breast implants conveniently have disappeared when he returns to America. It seems unlikely he could have had them removed due to the lack of funds at the time. Of course Krusty is most likely not above seeing a back-alley doctor and obtaining what money he would need through begging, borrowing, or some less than honest means.