why krusty looks like homer?

Herschel Shmoikel Pinchas Yerucham Krustofsky (Yiddish: ‏הערשעל שמױקל פּינחס ירוחם קרוסטאַפֿסקי; Hebrew: הירשל שמויקל פנחס ירוחם קרוסטופסקי), better known by his stage name Krusty the Clown (sometimes spelled as Krusty the Klown), is a recurring character on the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta. He is the long-time clown host of Bart and Lisa's favorite TV show, a combination of kiddie variety television hijinks and cartoons including The Itchy & Scratchy Show. Krusty is often portrayed as a cynical, burnt-out, addiction-riddled smoker who is made miserable by show business but continues on anyway. He has become one of the most frequently occurring characters outside the main Simpson family and has been the focus of several episodes, many of which also feature Sideshow Bob.

Krusty was created by cartoonist Matt Groening and partially inspired by Rusty Nails, a television clown from Groening's hometown of Portland, Oregon. He was designed to look like Homer Simpson with clown makeup, with the original idea being that Bart worships a television clown who was actually his own father in disguise. His voice is based on Bob Bell, who portrayed WGN-TV's Bozo the Clown. Krusty made his television debut on January 15, 1989, in the Tracey Ullman Show short "The Krusty the Clown Show".

Herschel Shmoikel Pinchas Yerucham Krustofsky was born in the Lower East Side of Springfield and is the son of Rabbi Hyman Krustofsky. Very little is known about Herschel's mother, aside from her name being Rachel and that she died when Krusty was around thirteen years old. Hyman strongly opposed Krusty's wish to become a clown and make people laugh, believing that it would distract Herschel from his religion, wanting the boy to go to yeshiva instead. However, Krusty performed slapstick comedy, obscuring this from his father. However, Herschel was performing at a rabbis' convention when one joking rabbi squirted seltzer on him, washing off his clown makeup. When Rabbi Krustofsky discovered Herschel was the clown onstage, he disowned his son and did not speak to him for 25 years. Krusty later reconciled with his father with the assistance of Bart and Lisa Simpson.

It was later revealed that Krusty did not have a Bar Mitzvah service, because Hyman feared he would violate the sanctity of the rites by "acting up." Krusty had two adult Bar Mitzvah ceremonies: a Hollywood gala which Krusty uses to stage a comeback after his show is cancelled, then a simple ceremony intended to reconnect with his father. After leaving the Lower East Side of Springfield, Krusty started his show biz career as a street mime in Tupelo, Mississippi (Elvis Presley's birthplace). Krusty later discovers that he has a daughter named Sophie. He had met Sophie's mother Erin when Erin was a soldier in the Gulf War and he was entertaining the troops. After spending the night together, he prevented Erin from assassinating Saddam Hussein to protect his Saddam-themed comedy act. After that, Erin started hating clowns, and she kept their daughter a secret from Krusty. Krusty and Sophie bonded over time, and while not a full-time father, he is known to acknowledge her birthdays and occasionally references his daughter publicly.

Krusty has his own show on Channel 6 in Springfield: The Krusty the Clown Show, which is aimed towards a children's audience and has many followers, including Bart Simpson. Krusty has licensed the show to dozens of countries that produce localized versions, including Ireland, China, Jamaica, and Romania with the original version being the least popular. Krusty's show has gone through various phases: a clip from 1961 presents the show as a serious talk show featuring Krusty interviewing AFL–CIO president George Meany on the topic of collective bargaining agreements, while a clip from 1963 shows Krusty interviewing Robert Frost, then dumping a load of snow on the poet. The show later takes a different turn, featuring Ravi Shankar as a guest and having Krusty howl a drugged-out version of The Doors' "Break on Through (To the Other Side)" in 1973. By the 1980s, the show had devolved into a children's entertainment show, although in one episode Krusty provided updates on the 1982 Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands. During the series, the Krusty the Clown Show is shown to be aimed almost entirely at children. It features many characters, including Sideshow Mel, Mr. Teeny, Tina Ballerina, and Corporal Punishment. Sideshow Bob begins the series as Krusty's main sidekick. However, years of constant abuse lead to Bob framing Krusty for armed robbery, although Bob is eventually foiled by Bart. Bob is replaced by Sideshow Mel, who has remained loyal to Krusty despite being constantly abused by Krusty as well.

Krusty seems to retire from—and then get back into—show business repeatedly throughout his career. One of his retirements is almost made permanent due to just-paroled Sideshow Bob's latest scheme: wiring plastic explosives to a hypnotized Bart and sending Bart onstage. When Krusty makes a tribute to Bob, however, Bob has a change of heart and stops Bart from fulfilling his mission. Bob and Krusty later reconcile, with Krusty exclaiming that Bob's attempts at Krusty's life make his ratings shoot through the roof. This reconciliation remains for the rest of the series, as Bob abandons his attempts for revenge on Krusty in favor of targeting Bart exclusively.

Bart Simpson is one of Krusty's biggest fans. In the episode "Krusty Gets Busted" he declares, "I've based my entire life on Krusty's teachings," and sleeps in a room filled with Krusty merchandise. He exposes Sideshow Bob's attempted framing, helps Krusty return to the air with a comeback special, reigniting his career, and reunites Krusty with his estranged father. For his part, Krusty is usually grateful for Bart's assistance, but almost immediately forgets about it — presumably due to his excessive drinking and drug habits as well as his general conceitedness — and usually does not even remember his name the next time they encounter each other. One summer, Bart enthusiastically attends Kamp Krusty, largely because of the promise that he would get to spend his summer with Krusty. The camp turns out to be a disaster, with Krusty nowhere to be seen, as the camp is simply a franchise location to which Krusty has licensed his image. Bart keeps his hopes up by believing that Krusty will show up, but one day the camp director, Mr. Black, brings in Barney Gumble with clown makeup masquerading as Krusty. This pushes Bart over the edge. He decides that he is sick of Krusty's shoddy merchandise and takes over the camp. Krusty immediately visits the camp in hopes of ending the conflict and manages to appease Bart.

Krusty is a multimillionaire who has amassed his fortune mostly by licensing his name and image to a variety of substandard products and services, from Krusty alarm clocks to Krusty crowd control barriers. Many of these products are potentially dangerous, such as Krusty's brand of cereal, Krusty-O's, which in one episode boasts a jagged metal Krusty-O in each box. One of many lawsuits regarding these products is launched by Bart, who eats a jagged metal Krusty-O by mistake and has to have his appendix removed. The "Krusty Korporation," the company responsible for Krusty's licensing, has also launched a series of disastrous promotions and business ventures, such as sponsoring the 1984 Summer Olympics with a rigged promotion that backfires when the Soviet Union boycotts the games, causing Krusty to lose $44 million. In the TV series and comic books, Krusty is also the mascot and owner of the fast foods restaurant chain Krusty Burger. It has been shut down by the health board many times for everything from overworking employees to stapling together half-eaten burgers to make new ones, as well as using beef infected with mad cow disease to save money.

Krusty wastes money almost as fast as he earns it: lighting his cigarettes with hundred-dollar bills, eating condor-egg omelettes, spending huge sums on pornographic magazines and call girls, and losing a fortune gambling on everything from horse races to operas and betting against the Harlem Globetrotters.

Krusty is a hard-living entertainment veteran, sometimes depicted as a jaded, burned-out has-been, who has been down and out several times and remains addicted to gambling, cigarettes, alcohol, Percodan, Pepto-Bismol, and Xanax. He instantly becomes depressed as soon as the cameras stop rolling; Marge states in "The Sweetest Apu" that, "off camera, he's a desperately unhappy man." Krusty appears to have used cocaine, one time emerging from a restaurant bathroom with white powder under his nose; however, he explains that he was simply researching a part for a film in which he played himself. In his book Planet Simpson, author Chris Turner describes Krusty as "the wizened veteran, the total pro" who lives the celebrity life. He is miserable but he needs his celebrity status. In "Bart the Fink," Bart inadvertently reports Krusty for tax fraud to the Internal Revenue Service and, as a result, Krusty loses most of his money. Bart soon discovers that Krusty has faked his death and is living as Rory B. Bellows on a boat. Krusty declares that he is finished with the life of a celebrity and is unconvinced when Bart reminds him of his fans and his entourage. Finally, Bart tells Krusty that leaving show business would mean losing his celebrity status, which convinces Krusty to return. Krusty has been described as "the consummate showman who can't bear the possibility of not being on the air and not entertaining people."

In "Mr. Spritz Goes to Washington", Bart convinces Krusty to run for Congress so that Krusty can introduce an airline rerouting bill and stop planes from flying over the Simpsons' house. Krusty agrees and runs on the Republican ticket. Although his campaign starts off badly, Lisa suggests that he try connecting with regular families. He does so, resulting in a landslide victory. Krusty's term starts off badly, as he is completely ignored by his new, more politically savvy colleagues. With the help of the Simpsons and an influential doorman, however, Krusty succeeds in passing his bill.

His body features include a third nipple, a veal-shaped birthmark, and a scar on his chest as a result of having a pacemaker inserted into his heart after suffering from a heart attack on-air in 1986.

Krusty first appeared in "The Krusty the Clown Show", one of the Simpsons shorts from The Tracey Ullman Show that first aired on January 15, 1989. The character was partially inspired by TV clown "Rusty Nails" whom The Simpsons creator Matt Groening and director Brad Bird watched as children while growing up in Portland, Oregon. Groening describes Rusty Nails as being a sweet clown whose show sometimes had a Christian message, but whose name scared Groening. Dan Castellaneta based his voice characterization on Chicago television's Bob Bell who had a very raspy voice and portrayed WGN-TV's Bozo the Clown from 1960 to 1984. Krusty has been compared to an earlier incarnation named "Flunky the Late Night viewer mail clown" who had appeared on Late Night with David Letterman. Jeff Martin, a writer on Letterman’s show, created and played the character. Martin also went on to become a writer on The Simpsons writing episodes that included Krusty.

Many events in Krusty's life parallel those of comedian Jerry Lewis, including his Jewish background, addiction to Percodan, hosting of telethons, and appearance in an adaptation of The Jazz Singer. When asked, Groening has simply noted that " characters are collaborations between the writers, animators, and actors" without specifically confirming or denying the association.

Krusty's appearance and design is essentially that of Homer Simpson with clown makeup. Groening said that "The satirical conceit that I was going for at the time was that The Simpsons was about a kid who had no respect for his father, but worshipped a clown who looked exactly like his father", a theme which became less important as the show developed. One concept initially saw Krusty being revealed as Homer's secret identity but the idea was dropped for being too complex and because the writers were too busy developing the series. There are two instances of the one assuming the identity of the other. In a Butterfinger commercial depicting a contest for $50,000 to find out who stole Bart's Butterfinger, a captured Homer appears to be the culprit until Maggie pulls off a mask, revealing Krusty. In the episode "Homie the Clown", Homer goes to Clown College and dresses up as—and is confused with—Krusty.

The Krusty character was originally conceived as just a normal man wearing clown makeup, but David Silverman noted that "at some point, we decided he looked all the time". The producers had long discussions about whether or not Krusty would always remain in his clown makeup but eventually decided that it did not matter. The writers had tried showing Krusty's real face a few times in early episodes, but decided that it did not look right, although his real face was seen in "Krusty Gets Busted" and "Like Father, Like Clown". Later episodes made jokes about Krusty's face. In "Homer's Triple Bypass", Krusty reveals that his "grotesque appearance" is the result of multiple heart attacks. Homer remarks that he seems fine, and Krusty replies, "This ain't makeup." In "Bart the Fink", he abandons an idea to sail away with a new identity and swims towards shore, leaving a trail of yellow makeup in his wake and his natural white face underneath. On shore, he shakes off his black hair, revealing his natural green clown hair, and removes his normal-looking fake nose to reveal his natural red bulbous clown nose underneath.

The third season episode "Like Father, Like Clown" is the first to establish that Krusty is Jewish. Krusty's religion had not been part of the original concept, and the idea came from Jay Kogen. The episode is a parody of The Jazz Singer, which is about a son with a strict religious upbringing who defies his father to become an entertainer. In order to make "Like Father, Like Clown" a full parody of The Jazz Singer, the decision was made to make Krusty Jewish and have his father be a rabbi. Krusty's real last name, Krustofsky, was pitched by Al Jean. Krusty's father Rabbi Hyman Krustofsky was played by Jackie Mason, who won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for the episode. It was established in "Krusty Gets Busted" that Krusty is illiterate. This was shown in subsequent episodes like "Itchy & Scratchy & Marge" but the trait was dropped after the first few seasons because it was hard for the writers to write for an illiterate character.

Krusty's design has undergone several subtle changes since the early years. For the episode "Homie the Clown", Krusty's design was permanently enhanced and he was given a different shaped mouth muzzle and permanent bags under his eyes in order to distinguish him from Homer. In the episode "Lisa's Wedding", which is set fifteen years in the future, Krusty's design was significantly altered to make him look considerably older and was based on Groucho Marx.

Krusty is a favorite character of several of the original writers, many of whom related themselves to him and wanted to write the Krusty-focused episodes. Krusty was used as a chance for show business jokes. Thus, many of Krusty's experiences and anecdotes are based on real experiences and stories heard by the writers. He was a particular favorite of Brad Bird, who directed the first two Krusty episodes and always tried to animate a scene in every Krusty episode.

In 1992, Matt Groening and James L. Brooks began planning a live-action spin-off from The Simpsons that revolved around Krusty and would star Dan Castellaneta as Krusty. They pitched the series in 1994. Groening and Michael Weithorn wrote a pilot script in which Krusty moved to Los Angeles and hosted his own talk show. A recurring joke throughout the script was that Krusty lived in a house on wooden stilts which were continuously being gnawed by beavers. Eventually, the contract negotiations fell apart, and Groening decided to stop work on the project.

Prior to Groening's live-action pitch, Simpsons showrunners Al Jean and Mike Reiss planned an animated Krusty spin-off in which he would be a single father in New York City. Supporting characters would include a prickly make-up lady and a boss resembling Ted Turner. This unsuccessful pitch was later reworked into the animated series The Critic.

Krusty has been included in many Simpsons publications, toys and other merchandise. Krusty-themed merchandise includes dolls, posters, figurines, Jack-in-the-boxes, Pint glasses, bobblehead dolls, costumes, and clothing such as T-shirts. Playmates Toys has made a talking evil Krusty doll, based on the one that appeared in "Treehouse of Horror III". In 1992, Acclaim Entertainment released the video game Krusty's Fun House for PC and home consoles. Krusty was made into an action figure, and several different versions were included as part of the World of Springfield toy line. The first, which shows Krusty in his normal clown attire with several Krusty products, was released in 2000 as part of "wave one". The second, released in 2002 as part of "wave nine", is called "busted Krusty" and shows him in a prison and without his clown makeup, as he was seen in "Krusty Gets Busted". The third was released in 2003 as part of "wave thirteen" and was called "Tuxedo Krusty". Several Krusty themed play sets were also released, including a Krusty-Lu Studios and Krusty Burger playset, both released in 2001. Krusty appears as a playable character in the toys-to-life video game Lego Dimensions, released via a "Fun Pack" packaged with a Clown Bike accessory in November 2015. In game, his only ability is being able to spray water and all his voice lines are archive audio from Dan Castellaneta.

In The Simpsons Ride, a simulator ride opened at Universal Studios Florida and Universal Studios Hollywood in May 2008, Krusty builds and opens a cartoon theme park called Krustyland. Sideshow Bob makes an appearance and tries to murder the Simpson family. In July 2007, convenience store chain 7-Eleven converted eleven of its stores in the United States and one in Canada into Kwik-E-Marts to celebrate the release of The Simpsons Movie. Amongst the products sold were "Krusty-O's", which were made by Malt-O-Meal. In 2015, Krusty had its first merchandise experience during the AW15 influence.

In 2004, Dan Castellaneta won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance in "Today I Am a Clown", an episode that heavily features Krusty. Several episodes featuring Krusty have been very well received. In 2007, Vanity Fair named "Krusty Gets Kancelled" as the ninth best episode of The Simpsons. John Ortved felt, "This is Krusty's best episode – better than the reunion with his father, or the Bar Mitzvah episode, which won an Emmy much later on. The incorporation of guest stars as themselves is topnotch, and we get to see the really dark side of Krusty's flailing showbiz career. Hollywood, television, celebrities, and fans are all beautifully skewered here." Matt Groening cites "Krusty Gets Busted" as his ninth favorite episode and has said that he particularly loves Castellaneta's voice work. Groening claims that he has to leave the room every time Castellaneta records as Krusty for fear of ruining the take. Star News Online named "Krusty the Clown's hatred of children", Kamp Krusty, and Krusty's line "All these rules, I feel like I'm in a strip club" as some of the four hundred reasons why they loved The Simpsons. The Observer listed two Krusty products, "Krusty's Non-Toxic Kologne" and "Krusty's home pregnancy kit", as part of their list of the three hundred reasons why they loved the show.

In 2015, The A.V. Club stated that Krusty has "arguably the most pathos of any Simpsons character not named Moe Szyslak". In 2021, Meghan Markle reflected on her old memorable haircut being compared to Krusty the Clown at The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

He was designed to look like Homer Simpson with clown makeup, with the original idea being that Bart worships a television clown who was actually his own father in disguise.

Herschel Shmoikel Pinchas Yerucham Krustofsky Current Opera Clownface Tuxedo Stonecutter Fox Coat Krustcraft Christian Clownless Soggy The Clown The Jokester Gender/Sex Status AKA Krusty the ClownKrustyRory B. BellowsThe Prince of Pies Krusty The Klown Soggy The Clown Krustila (by his agent)Krunchy the ClownMr. KMr. Monday AfternoonMr. ClownMr. The KlownKrustiforous Krumbull"The maitre d' of glee" Krustyleh (by Anastasia Alekova)Corpsy The Clown (by Janeane Garofalo)Señor No Fun (by the spanish) Hair Color Blue-Green Occupation Television personalityEntertainerCongressman Relations Father: Hyman Krustofsky (deceased)Mother: Rachel Krustofsky (deceased)Grandfather: Rabbi Zev Krustofsky (deceased)Children: Sophie Krustofsky, Chin Ho, Chan Ho, 12 Unnamed Children with Mia Farrow, Unnamed Illegitimate Child and Illegitimate SonHalf-brother: Luke PerrySister: UnnamedCousin: Krumpet the KlownNephew: JoshEx-wifes: 14, including Holly Hippie, Mia Farrow and Rita MorenoEx-fiancée: Penelope OwsleyEx-girlfriend: Unnamed First episode appearance "The Krusty the Clown Show" Portrayed by Dan CastellanetaJens Jacob Tychsen (Denmark)

Sir Herschel Shmoikel Pinchas Yerucham Krustofsky, also once known under the alias of Rory B. Bellows, better known by his stage name Krusty the Clown, is the cynical, burnt-out, addiction-riddled smoking clown host of Bart, Lisa, and Maggie's favorite TV show The Krusty the Clown Show. He is a recurring character in The Simpsons and has a supporting role in The Simpsons Movie.

Krusty has Jewish parents and lived with his father in the Jewish community. As a rabbi, his father heavily criticized his son's career choice as a comedian. Keeping his entertainment lifestyle a secret, Krusty continued his role as a comedian until the day when his father came to one of his shows and a rowdy rabbi sprayed the makeup off his face. After this event, his father stopped talking to him, and they didn't make contact until many years later with Bart and Lisa Simpson. Although ethnically Jewish, he generally doesn't want to stress this heritage, to the extent that he prohibits any references to his Jewish background on his show.

Krusty, without his makeup, bears an uncanny physical resemblance to Homer Simpson. However, there are also differences such as his cow-skull birthmark and small feet. Krusty, like Homer, has apparently faced heart problems in the past as he currently has a pacemaker, which has since permanently made his face white.

He also seems to be disturbed at even the mere mention of someone having an affair, as when Homer tells Krusty the Clown that Apu was cheating on Manjula (due to his thinking he would joke about it), he reacted quite differently from how Homer expected by saying in a remorseful tone that it was sad and feeling sorry for all of their kids. Krusty lives in his mansion in the upscale residential area of Springfield Heights, which is also home to mob don Fat Tony and actor Troy McClure.

When he was young, Krusty was similar to what Homer was like when he enrolled into clown school, showing an intense desire to become a showman and a stage performer when he grew up, estranging the relationship between his father to follow this dream. Like Homer, the decades of repeated humiliation, embarrassment, and dejection from the audience he entertained, jades Krusty's enthusiasm over his career until it turned him into a complete charlatan. Off-stage, Krusty has shown to be a skirt-chasing, manic-depressive, alcoholic, chain-smoking gambler which he states he became to deal with the stress of his job. He inhales moon rocks just to get him to "normal" and once became addicted to Percadon (ironically the sponsor of his show at the time). Krusty's cynicism has shown him to be a good comedian at times due to his way of seeing things as they are and most of his adult-orientated humor is uncouth for his role as a kids television presenter but his sellout tendencies, difficulty in taking matters seriously and enjoyment of his fame keeps him in a job he really hates. Once, he attempted standup, and even succeeded when he gave his cynical impressions, but his success ended up ruined when he tried to market the Canyonero.

Despite his image as a children's role model, Krusty is very inappropriate when it comes to women. In Like Father, Like Clown, his favorite hotline is called "Sex Chat." He also faced a sexual harassment lawsuit which landed him a court-order sidekick Ms. No Means No, wrote a book called Sex and is also had a history of being addicted to pornography.

Krusty, throughout his career as a comedian, sold out and totally over-merchandised his name from his own fast food restaurant chain to toys, clocks, swabs, eye-dabbers, a clown school, Canyanero and Vodka rather than work on his own act. It is implied that his over-merchandising was in a failed attempt at curbing his gambling addiction. Because of his tendency to sell-out, he often steals from other comedians, once having to pay a settlement of $10,000 out of court for George Carlin for stealing his "Seven Words You Can't Say On TV" skit, and also to Steve Martin due to his use of "Well, EXCUUUUUUUSE me!", ironically during his phone call to George Carlin seconds earlier. His gambling issues have got him into trouble with the mafia and close to bankruptcy and he has literally burnt money to light a cigarette (and also implied while doing the act that such was even better than lighting the cigarette itself), once with a hundred dollar bill, a rare comic book and diamond pearls. Once, he left a live show and his audience waiting so he and Mel could see if their lottery tickets were winners and regularly gambles on sporting events.

One of his most notable traits would be his deep dislike for his fans. For him, speaking to the audience at his live show is "death" and he almost never signs his own autographs, once having Bart, who was his assistant at the time, sign his own name for a crowd of fans, another time being Cletus' children and the one time he did sign an autograph himself, signed it "K the C" (which he justified by saying the pen he was using needed to last him all day). Ironically, the one fan who interacts with Krusty the most, Bart Simpson, who also saved him from jail, reunited him with his estranged father and helped him when his career was going nowhere, Krusty shows as much apathy for him as he does the rest of his fans, initially refusing to join Bart's family for dinner and even forgetting who he is without a reminder. He also has an unbridled hatred for his supervisors, Fox Television and interns. However, he has a notably closer relationship with Sideshow Bob and Sideshow Mel.

Krusty's father is Rabbi Hyman Krustofsky (who passed away in the first episode of Season 26 called Clown In The Dumps), and his grandfather was Rabbi Zev Krustofsky. He also has an unnamed sister and a nephew named Josh. Through his mother, Rachel, Krusty is supposedly an older half-brother to the actor Luke Perry. He has several illegitimate children, which includes a son whose name is not mentioned and a daughter named Sophie.

Krusty is known to be best friends with Sideshow Mel, but Mel is really just Krusty's sidekick. Krusty's real best friend is known to be Mr. Teeny, his helper monkey. He is also often shown to be friends with Sideshow Bob when he is out of jail even if Bob is merely trying to assassinate him. He also shares a relationship with Bart, who is his biggest fan and calls him his hero. While Krusty is fond of Bart and will often help him when he can, he often forgets about Bart and requires his memory to be coaxed, despite Bart saving him on several occasions. Often, Krusty just calls him "kid" rather than his real name.

Krusty has been married fifteen times. He usually gets married to his sideshows. He rejected Princess Penelope at their wedding believing that she deserved to marry someone better than him, but he eventually got back together with her. Krusty also had a child with a housemaid that said she was infertile. Krusty had a child named Sophie from a one-night stand with a female soldier named Erin.

Despite his wealth, Krusty is frequently depressed when offstage. The contrast between these two personae is often used as a source of comedy by the writers. Krusty also exhibits laziness, irresponsibility, and promiscuity, among other negative traits. He smokes heavily and appears to have a low standard of health. He also has a laughing problem; he can randomly laugh at moments.

Krusty is shown to be completely illiterate in "Krusty Gets Busted", and seems to be learning how to read in "Like Father, Like Clown"; it seems Krusty is completely literate by the events of episodes such as Lisa's First Word and "I Love Lisa", as he reads things in these episodes.

Krusty revealed that he was illiterate during a court case after being framed for armed robbery by Sideshow Bob. It is also revealed in "Pulpit Friction" he has vodka in his squirt flower and uses a monkey taser to train Mr. Teeny. He once committed tax fraud by placing some of his money in a secret account on the Cayman Islands. When he was accidentally exposed for it by Bart, he nearly lost everything. He deeply considered hitting Bart at the latter's request when he attempted to apologize, but chose against it, simply telling him to go home instead.

His illegitimate daughter, Sophie, was the result of Krusty sleeping with a female soldier during the Gulf War. Now estranged, her mother has developed a bitter hatred of clowns and displays it with her choice of artwork (depicting violence being performed against clowns), this being because his actions caused her to fail in her mission. Krusty also implied when meeting Sophie and learning that she was the byproduct of a one-night stand during the Iraq War that, besides Sophie's mother, he also slept with an Israeli flight attendant as well as Cokie Roberts during the Iraq War. Krusty is said to have married fifteen different wives, with each wife leaving him. He also was implied to have received fellatio from Susan Anton, as when asking for "the animal that bites on groin" so he could compete with Angry Dad in terms of comedy, his secretary mistakes the request as being for Susan Anton before he specifies he meant a lemur when he said "animal". At one point he tried to pick up a girl at some point until he discovered that the chick was actually male, in which the morning after, he tries to get a friend to get him out of the relationship. At one point, he also proceeded to visit people who were undergoing medical surgeries and comfort them for reasons strongly implied to be due being sentenced in court to do so (his movements and sounds imply he had been sentenced due to a drunken hit and run).

Outside of personal problems, he has also shown himself to have medical problems. As noted above, he once suffered a heart attack on the air. He was also implied to have had heart surgery from another relapse during the time New Springfield was being blacked out by Old Springfield. He also mentioned that he was diabetic once to his daughter. He also has several organ problems, causing him to get worried when everyone decided to remove their organ donor stickers upon Bart's point after getting a driver's license at an early age due to saving Springfield from a fire. He also has a serious smoking addiction, to the extent that he had one nicotine patch on his arm, and eventually tried to lick it off, resulting in him having to cover himself. One time, he also ended up while trying to do a wind up collar gag in a park sketch involving Sideshow Mel, or rather, Sideshow Melanie, only for it to horribly backfire where the wind up collar ended up tying up his collar so much that it started to suffocate him due to it prematurely getting to 100 rpm (as he intended to start off at 60 rpm and reach 100 with the skirt blow) and eventually forced him to yank it off to avoid suffocating to death, and then proceeded to throttle the technician responsible for the device upon telling him off as well as the technician's poor choice of words when explaining why he had it at 100 rpm, and then (according to Lisa) firing the associate producer.

Krusty the Clown has aqua-green hair in three tufts on the sides and top of his head, as well as a white face (which was once revealed without makeup in "Krusty Gets Busted"). He also wears a light purple, short-sleeved shirt and lime green clown pants with red clown shoes, a light blue bow-tie, and white gloves.

He has the same face, and body and shape as Homer, which was frequently made light of in earlier episodes. When he was in court, he had his clown clothes removed to wear a prison uniform, his makeup was cleaned off, and his fake red nose was off, which reveals that he has the same face as Homer, except for his teal haircut. In later episodes, however, it is heavily implied that his "makeup" was actually pale skin that was created as a result of his heart attack.

After leaving New York, Krusty started his 50-year show-biz career as a street mime in Tupelo, Mississippi. He then appeared on a variety of Laugh-In-style variety shows, but in the 1950s was banned from television for ten years after saying "pants" on the air, which was not allowed at the time. In the 1960s, he finally got his own television show, The Krusty the Clown Show, which featured Krusty discussing current events with serious guests.

In 1973, he performed a song of The Doors live on TV ("Break on Through (To the Other Side)"). The interview format got increasingly wacky, and by the 1980s the show had devolved into a children's entertainment show. He briefly took up stand-up comedy, and during the Gulf War, he tried to entertain the soldiers by making an off-color pun off of Saddam Hussein's name ("Saddam Hussein?! They should call him "So Damn Insane!!" Hahahaha!" "Hey, you're just fanning the flames of hatred!"), as well as having the Cincinnati Bengal Cheerleaders entertain the soldiers, which was controversial at best ("Hey, I can't watch this! I have a girlfriend at home!" "This is an insult to our Muslim hosts!"). However, the show was unexpectedly shut down due to a sandstorm, so he was forced to take refuge in a tent which coincidentally had a female soldier whom he later slept with. However, the night of passion quickly turned sour after he ruined her chance at assassinating Saddam Hussein (as well as destroying an entire shipment of Duff beer to the camp, due to his jumping on her and her bazooka's aim going awry as a result). As a result of the one-night stand, he became the father of Sophie.

He has been the subject of controversy a few times. As has been mentioned, his act during the Gulf War was considered to be in bad taste. He has also been known to utilize other outdated, insensitive stereotypes. For instance, during a charity stand-up routine in the Springfield Amphitheater, he imitated a stereotypical Asian to the shock of the audience, and his television show featured a skit with stereotypical portrayals of the French, Jamaicans, and gay men (which he associated with San Francisco).

Krusty quickly became a multimillionaire – mostly by mass-marketing his name and image to a variety of suspect products and services. In the Simpsons' world, there is everything from Krusty alarm clocks, to Krusty dolls, Krusty eyewash, and Krusty's Clown College (which Homer attended), many of which are owned by Bart. The more dangerous ones include the Krusty home pregnancy test, which "may cause birth defects", Krusty's brand of bubble gum, which contains spider eggs (which they knew about) and hantavirus (which they didn't know about), and Krusty's brand of cereal, which in one episode has a boast on the box first for a jagged metal Krusty-O in each box, and then flesh-eating bacteria in each box. Krusty seems also to be involved with the chemical industry; in one scene a railway tank car of Krusty brand sulfuric acid is shown. In addition, he also had a brand of Mayonnaise that ultimately ended up recalled for presumably health concerns, shortly after Krusty claimed it was safe, an event that Krusty apparently was still sore about as he called it "out of bounds" and immediately ended the "interview" with a swarm of news reporters after a similarly disastrous incident involving a massively overweight man getting trapped in the H-2-Whoa slide at Mt. Splashmore.

There is only one known lawsuit to date regarding these products- the time that Bart ate a jagged metal Krusty-O and had to have his appendix removed. However, it was suggested at the end of the episode that he would sue Krusty again after he ingested the flesh-eating bacteria that was put into the cereal (mostly to get back the $500 he spent to make Lisa feel better). At one time, he had his own brand of Pork Products. This might have led to his almost fatal on-the-air heart attack. He also has Kamp Krusty, which was a living hell for anybody who went there (it was later revealed that the only reason he signed off on the camp was that he had been bribed with "a dump truck full of money", and eventually regretted the decision). Krusty also operates his own television production company, Krustylu Productions (a pun on Lucille Ball and her husband Desi Arnaz's Desilu Productions). (A list of Krusty-related products is attached at the end of this page.)

Each Krusty product comes with his own seal of approval which he is 'supposed' to give after testing the product himself. Unfortunately for everyone who dares to buy any of his merchandise, Krusty endorses absolutely anything suggested to him immediately, and quality stamps shoddy products without even looking at them half the time. It's gotten to the point Krusty had to open the Klown Kollege because there was nothing else left for him to endorse.

His fame was also such that he was almost knighted by the Queen of England (the ceremony was interrupted with an urgent phone call that presumably notified him of the riot occurring at Kamp Krusty).

In "Krusty Gets Busted", Sideshow Bob frames Krusty for armed robbery of the Kwik E Mart in retribution of abusing him and his brother Cecil on his show. Homer serves as a witness to this robbery and sees the robber and describes him. Krusty is later arrested and put on trial while Sideshow Bob steals his show. Lisa and Bart go to the scene of the crime, and go over the evidence clearing Krusty of any wrongdoing - First, Krusty has a pacemaker, which prohibits him from using the microwave because the magnetron will short it out, which didn't happen because Bob used it to cook a burrito. Second, Krusty is illiterate, and Bob stole the Springfield Review of Books during the robbery and he was reading it before he held up Apu. Finally, Krusty does not wear clown shoes on his day off and would not have felt it, and Homer stepped on Bob's foot in the security footage causing him to exclaim in pain. With the new evidence Sideshow Bob is imprisoned for robbery and he vows to kill Bart and Krusty when he gets out, Krusty is released on bail, while Bart and Lisa get all the Krusty products back.

His show was canceled once after the debut of Gabbo, the ventriloquist dummy, who was so popular, Krusty was driven out of business. Bart managed to get the Gabbo show canceled in two ways: when he snuck into the studio and switched on the camera during what was supposed to be a commercial break, revealing ventriloquist Arthur Crandall saying "All the children in Springfield are S.O.B.s" through Gabbo, and helping Krusty with creating a comeback special for Krusty was ultimately held (Parody of the Elvis comeback special), in which Krusty's many Hollywood friends bailed him out.

Krusty often retires from and then returns to showbiz throughout his career. One of his attempts was almost a permanent one because of recently paroled Sideshow Bob's latest scheme – wiring plastic explosives to a hypnotized Bart and sending him up on stage to kill Krusty. However, a last-minute change of heart at Krusty's touching mention of him in a speech waylaid Bob's plan (as well as a last-minute rescue by Krusty's chain-smoking chimp, Mr. Teeny).

Krusty even faked his own death to avoid the IRS. Taking the name Rory B. Bellows, he became a salvager of sunken ships.

In "Lisa's Wedding", he attends Lisa Simpson's wedding and Julius Hibbert tells him that Maggie Simpson has an incredible voice.

In "Future-Drama", at age 60, he meets Marge Simpson after she and Homer separate. He beats up Homer after the latter challenges him to a fight. After the fight, Marge dumps Krusty and finally gets back together with Homer originally.

In "Holidays of Future Passed", at age 82, Bart Simpson tries to entertain his lovable (and sometimes disrespectful) boys but ends up embarrassing himself when he finds out Krusty The Clown is on a now grown-up category saying boring things about his life.

Krusty appears as the Headless Horseman in the opening of "Treehouse of Horror VI", throwing his head at the camera and making his trademark groan.

In the "Treehouse of Horror XIX" segment "How to Get Ahead in Dead-vertising," Krusty is the first celebrity harmed by Homer (albeit unintentionally) for a group of amoral ad men's purpose of using his likeness in commercials without having to pay royalties. Enraged, Krusty leads an army of celebrities from Heaven to take revenge on Homer and other Springfieldians, killing Homer with a shotgun blast to the head. When returning to heaven, they were locked out by Homer as revenge.

In the "Treehouse of Horror XX" segment "Don't Have a Cow, Mankind," Krusty was present at Krusty Burger for the unveiling of their new Burger², and explains the process of how it's made to Kent. Immediately after Kent becomes a "muncher", he bites Krusty in the arm, and while berating him for doing so, Krusty also transforms and confronts the cameraman.

In "Treehouse of Horror XXIV", Krusty has Lisa Simpson's head on him after her head gets sawed off her own body.

Krusty is involved as one of the townspeople who is attempting to do a taxi service among members of the community in an attempt to buy back the public transit system from Mr. Burns after the latter converted it into a nuclear-powered bus system. He also announces the player's current rating system after the player completes the level or loses the level (although the voice who says the title itself was actually Harry Shearer, in a monotonous voice, dubbing over the obviously pre-recorded message.) He is also an unlockable character with his clown car. In one of the game's missions, he tries to get tourists away from his house by knocking over the signs leading to it.

Krusty the Clown advertised and endorsed Buzz Cola shortly after it hit the market. However, most other times, he was frequently depressed, and also had some disbelief in regards to Bart attempting to warn the townsfolk about an impeding Alien conspiracy.

Rather ironically, Krusty appears in the level Mob Rules as one of the people Marge can use to protest the sales of the Grand Theft Scratchy videogame to minors. Mini-Krusties appear in Shadow of the Colossal Donut to attack Homer and Bart, spouting out various (and sometimes twisted) Krusty the Clown sound bites. Throughout the game Bart can collect Krusty coupons that he can use to win various Krusty-based trophies. The Mini-Krusties make a final appearance in the Game Over level as one of the icons God uses to defeat the Simpsons as the family destroy his ''Hii''.

Krusty appears in the very last segment of this as one of the passengers on the maiden voyage of the S.S Neptune. He is among those killed when a tsunami capsizes the ship. He sits up with a pair of legs across him and exclaims angrily "Hey you schmuck, get off of me!", only to realize that it is his lower body as he has been cut in half. He laments going out "with a side gag" before dying.

In the Simpsons/Family Guy crossover, Krusty can be seen at the trial next to Mort due to the fact they're both Jewish. He is later at the Krusty The Clown Show, blasting Peter out of a cannon while Peter and Homer are in combat.

In The Simpsons Ride at Universal Studios Florida and Universal Studios Hollywood, Krusty is at his theme park where he announces his new "Thrilltacular, Upsy-downsy, Spins-aroundsy, Teen-operated Thrill Ride." and decides on which family will be the first to try it out. Eventually, he chooses Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, Maggie, and Grampa for the ride, unaware that it is part of a sinister plot by Sideshow Bob who is not only seeking revenge on the clown, but the Simpson family as well.

The character of Krusty was partially inspired by real-life clown "Rusty Nails" whom Simpsons creator Matt Groening watched as a child while growing up in Portland, Oregon. Some of his biographical details echo those of comedian Jackie Mason, who voices Krusty's father, including being the son of an orthodox rabbi, and being temporarily banned from television due to a controversial performance.

Krusty's appearance and design is basically just that of Homer Simpson with clown make-up. Groening said that "The satirical concept that I was going for at the time was that The Simpsons was about a kid who had no respect for his father, but worshiped a clown who looked exactly like his father," a theme which became less important as the show developed. One concept initially saw Krusty being revealed as Homer's secret identity but the idea was dropped for being too complex and because the writers were too busy developing the series. The idea of Homer as Krusty, however, was revisited in Homie the Clown, where Homer takes a job as a Krusty double, only to get abducted by Fat Tony, who mistakes Homer for Krusty partly due to the resemblance.

It has been stated by Groening that the voice of Krusty was based on the long-time Chicago version of Bozo played by Bob Bell.