The Simpsons: Homie the Clown

(S06E15) This episode opens with Krusty the Clown's signature bicycle trick in which he rides in a loop and swallows the tiny bike in the end. The kids go crazy for the stunt, but Krusty has other things on his mind, like spending all the money he's making. He tells his assistants to hire Kenny G to play for him in the elevator, to put flowers on Bea Arthur's grave (he doesn't know she's not dead) and to purchase him a new house since his old one is dirty.

His MC Hammer-style of spending money concerns his accountant, who tells Krusty he's broke. The only way for Krusty to make money again is to open a clown college that will train men to pretend to be Krusty and appear at parties and openings the real Krusty wants nothing to do with.

Cut to Homer driving down the highway, excited that it's the first of the month and the new billboards are finally on display. Ever the obedient consumer, Homer obeys every billboard he reads because they each have to do with food. He ignores Krusty's clown college billboard, however, because, "you can't eat that."

Nevertheless, Homer can't get clowns out of his head. When a fire ignites at work and his fellow employees writhe around in agony, Homer sees them as dancing clowns. At the dinner table he constructs a circus tent out of his mashed potatoes, a nice little nod to Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Finally, out of nowhere, he announces he's going to clown college and storms out of the room.

After graduating and majoring in squirting water from a flower, Homer's first gig is the opening of a new Krusty Burger. He "parachutes" down through a pile of giant fake burgers (he hits the burgers and his parachute flutters down about five seconds later) and begins to do his act for the children who have gathered around. A midget dressed up like Krusty Burger's answer to the Hamburglar tries to "steal" one of the giant burgers, and Homer reacts as if the whole thing is real, beating the midget to a bloody pulp while the kids look on in horror.

Homer also appears at Milhouse's birthday party as Krusty, and there's a great gag when he first arrives and crashes his car into a tree. The car hits the tree, there's a pause, and then Homer crashes through the windshield. Cartoons always toss the laws of physics out the window, and in this case I guess they toss it out the windshield.

Homer soon learns that being mistaken for Krusty has a lot of perks, so he begins to tell everyone he's Krusty so he can get free stuff. This isn't a smart move, however, because the real Krusty owes money to the Mob. They try to shoot Homer while he's at a car dealer, and the dealer tells Homer the bullet holes in the car are actually "speed holes" that make it go faster. Homer heads home and adds some "speed holes" to his own car using a pick axe. The Mob also tries to shoot Homer while he's doing that, but instead they keep hitting Ned Flanders, who manages to deflect the bullets with his bible and piece of the true Cross.

The Mob has agreed to give Krusty more time to come up with the money he owes them, but his method of getting the money inexplicably involves betting against the Harlem Globetrotters. Luckily for Krusty, the Mob has instead nabbed Homer, thinking he's Krusty. Later, Krusty also arrives at the Mob hideout, and both Krusty and Homer are forced to do the bicycle trick, which they perform blindfolded. After all of that, it's revealed that Krusty only owed the Mob forty-eight dollars.