Springfield Confidential by Mike Reiss

Author:Mike Reiss
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2018-04-23T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Four Episodes That Changed the World (Kinda)

If you Google “Simpsons Best Episode List,” you’ll get 20,100,000 hits. If you Google “Simpsons Worst Episode List,” you’ll get 669,000 more (yeesh!). The point is, the world doesn’t need another list of best episodes. Instead, I’d like to tell the never-before-told stories behind four Simpsons episodes I worked on that broke new ground and changed the series forever.

Seminal Episode Number 1: “Like Father Like Clown”

Often it takes just one joke to clinch an idea. This was the case with Jay Kogen and Wally Wolodarsky’s “Like Father, Like Clown.” It was a take on The Jazz Singer, with Krusty the Clown estranged from his Orthodox rabbi father. The problem was we’d never even said Krusty was Jewish in the show before. But then Al Jean pitched, “His real name should be Krustofsky.” It got a big laugh, particularly from Jim Brooks, and the idea was approved.

The show established a number of precedents:

IT WAS ABOUT A PERIPHERAL CHARACTER. Bart and Lisa save the day here, but it’s Krusty’s story, going all the way back to his childhood. Since then, we’ve explored almost every character’s backstory, from Sideshow Mel’s acting career to Carl’s Icelandic roots. “Like Father, Like Clown” was a big revelation: The Simpsons doesn’t have to be about the Simpsons.

OTHER RELIGIONS ARE FUNNY, TOO. This was only episode 41, but we’d already explored the family’s religion, a Protestant sect called Presbylutheranism. But this show explored Judaism in a big way; in years to come, we’d tackle Homer’s conversion to Catholicism, Apu’s Hindu faith, and Lisa’s embrace of Buddhism. We’ve made fun of every religion except Islam. There’s nothing funny about those guys. Don’t hurt us!

HOMEWORK PAYS OFF. The episode ends with a Talmudic debate between Rabbi Krustofsky and Bart. To write this, we enlisted the help of three real rabbis, as consultants. It remains the most scholarly debate you’ll ever see on the nature of comedy and Judaism. In a cartoon. On Fox. Jay and Wally wrote a terrific script; it was beautifully animated by Brad Bird. And Jackie Mason, a former rabbi himself, was unexpectedly moving as Rabbi Krustofsky—he won an Emmy for the role.

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