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The Simpsons

 "Like Father, Like Clown" is a beautiful episode from the third season of "The Simpsons." It's one of only three cases in history in which a guest actor won an Emmy for a "Simpsons" voiceover (a performance by Jackie Mason as Hyman Krustofsky).


The episode rewrites Paul's famous monologue from the climax of "A Chorus Line." A young man has a taboo interest--an interest in clowning. His imperious father, the rabbi, says that the interest must die. The boy Herschel locks himself in the bathroom--we think he is masturbating--but a violent act destroys the lock. (Nothing onanistic was happening; Herschel was just trying to teach himself how to juggle.)

Later, in the Catskills, Herschel paints his face white; attending a rabbinical conference, Hyman doesn't recognize the clown. A bucket of water falls from on high; the makeup is washed away. Hyman understands that he is looking at his son, and a rupture occurs.

The reconciliation is silly, and in fact it wouldn't work if it weren't part of a cartoon. But it leads to one of the great climactic moments in "Simpsons" lore; having broadened his own horizons, Hyman agrees to appear on-screen after "The Itchy and Scratchy Show," and he takes a cream pie and throws it in Krusty's face.

This script belongs in a script museum; it's one of several "apex moments" in the early "Simpsons" years.

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