Insane Clown Poppy
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"Insane Clown Poppy" is the third episode of the twelfth season of The Simpsons. It aired on November 12, 2000 in the US. Drew Barrymore guest-starred as Krusty the Klown's daughter in the episode. She told the press, "I've got to be The Simpsons' No. 1 fan, so taking part was almost as much fun as appearing in a blockbuster movie."[1] The episode title is a play on the Detroit, Michigan based hip hop group, the Insane Clown Posse.
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[edit] Plot
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, where they will see Christopher Walken, Stephen King, Tom Wolfe, Dr. Nick Riviera, 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 asked Bart about Krusty's personality and now proclaims to Krusty that he is her father.
Sophie insists Krusty met her mother 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 had sex with her. However, she dumps Krusty the next day after he tackled her on a sand dune, preventing her from killing Saddam Hussein with a rocket launcher, since Saddam is "half his act". Sophie's mother never forgave Krusty and never will. That is why she thinks clowns are evil. On a trip to the beach, Krusty asks Homer to help him with fatherhood, and Homer becomes his mentor. Gradually, after a slow start due to Krusty's original indifference toward his daughter, the two spend more time together and develop a loving bond.
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 he mistakenly felt he was sure to win. As a result, Sophie loses her trust in Krusty, who becomes guilt-ridden for disappointing his daughter. Homer offers to help 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, who regains her trust in and love for Krusty. 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] Reception
Mark Naglazas of The West Australian called the episode "disappointing". He remarked that it and "A Tale of Two Springfields" (which premiered the same night in Australia) were "so surreal they would have Salvador Dali scratching his head". However, he identified John Updike's guest appearance as an example of "sophisticated comedy".[2] The Daily Telegraph said, "The episode gets lost in a quagmire of guest stars. The names range from the sublime to the ridiculous, or to be exact, from Pulitzer Prize-winning author John Updike to actor Drew Barrymore. The script seems designed only to fit in as many big names as possible. Oh for the days when it was the other way round and guest stars fitted in with the script."[3]
[edit] John Updike's reflection
John Updike described the experience of appearing on The Simpsons to a crowd at the University of Cincinnati in 2001, and his reflections were recorded in the book Updike in Cincinnati. Updike remarked, "I can't claim to be a morbidly avid fan, but I'm basically well-disposed toward The Simpsons, and was flattered to be asked to be one of the many voices that they work into the endless saga of Springfield. . . . It was the kind of invitation to which you can't say no. I did notice that Amy Tan and Stephen King got many more lines in the episode than I did." He joked that he struggled with the chuckle he had to perform in the episode, saying, "How do you chuckle over a microphone. . . to make it worthy of The Simpsons?"[4]
[edit] References
- ^ "TV week". The Sun. November 18, 2000. The TV Mag, 3.
- ^ Mark Naglazas. "End of an era?" The West Australian. February 14, 2001. 4.
- ^ Eleanor Sprawson, Michelle Cazzulino, Naomi Toy. "Highlights of the day". Daily Telegraph. February 14, 2001. 34.
- ^ John Updike and James A. Schiff. Updike in Cincinnati. Ohio University Press, 2007. 26-27.
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: "Insane Clown Poppy" |
- "Insane Clown Poppy" episode capsule at The Simpsons Archive
- "Insane Clown Poppy" at the Internet Movie Database
