Great episodes of The Simpsons: Like Father, Like Clown

Like Father, Like Son is not only a great episode of The Simpsons, it’s also one of Krusty’s best episodes.

Plot: After Krusty joins the Simpsons for dinner, Bart and Lisa try to reunite him with his estranged father.

Why is it a great episode of The Simpsons? Like Father, Like Clown does a terrific job of combining humor with a genuinely heartfelt story. Like many people, Krusty the Clown uses humor as a defense mechanism to cope with life. The episode also does a great job of explaining Krusty’s inherent cynicism and what seems to be a lack of genuine friends. But who could blame him? His TV sidekick once tried to frame him for armed robbery and his father disowned him for doing what he loved.

But even though they may appear to be complete opposites, Krusty and his father aren’t as different from each other as it seems. Like countless other families where relatives are not on speaking terms, the two are more alike than they probably realize and that goes a long way in explaining their estrangement.

Not only are they both incredibly extraverted personalities, their respective careers have more in common than meets they eye because Krusty and his father are both people others turn to in order to help cope with life. The only difference is that Krusty uses humor, whereas his father uses faith. Comedian Jackie Mason is also on terrific form, as he gives a superb performance as Rabbi Krustofski.

Like Father, Like Clown is without a doubt one of Krusty’s finest episodes and it ranks alongside Krusty Gets Kancelled as one of his best moments on The Simpsons. Taken together, the two episodes are much like Krusty himself as they are both incredibly funny, yet incredibly poignant at the same time.