Cultural References
Folk singer Judy Collins' 1975 rendition of the song "Send in the Clowns" is parodied in the episode, and Krusty sings the altered lyrics: "Send in those soulful and doleful, schmaltz-by-the-bowlful clowns" in a musical number of his comeback special. Gabbo's name comes from the 1929 film The Great Gabbo. He was originally designed to be more square, but the second design was made to be "a demented Howdy Doody". His voice was based on Jerry Lewis. The sequence with Gabbo's song contains several references to the 1940 film Pinocchio. Krusty mentions that he beat Joey Bishop. Bishop was an entertainer who had his own show, The Joey Bishop Show, which ran opposite of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Bette Midler's serenading Krusty is a reference to the way Bette sang to Johnny Carson on the penultimate episode of Carson's The Tonight Show. The scene in which Krusty instructs the Red Hot Chili Peppers to change the lyrics to the song "Give It Away" is a reference to Ed Sullivan instructing The Doors to change the lyrics to the song "Light My Fire". The poses of the Red Hot Chili Peppers in the scene are based on the movie The Doors. Flea, the bassist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, is mistakenly seen playing a guitar during the performance of "Give It Away". Several scenes in Krusty's special are based on Elvis Presley's '68 Comeback Special. The musical piece that Hugh Hefner plays on the wine glasses is from Peter and the Wolf and was composed by Sergei Prokofiev.
Read more about this topic: Krusty Gets Kancelled
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