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Herschel Shmoikel Pinchas Yerucham Krustofski, better known as Krusty the Clown, is a cartoon character in 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 common characters outside of the main Simpson family and has been the focus of several episodes, most of which also spotlight Bart. 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". ==Role in ''The Simpsons''== Krusty the Clown, born Herschel Shmoikel Pinchas Yerucham Krustofski, was born in the Lower East Side of Springfield and is the son of Hyman Krustofski. Very little is known about his mother, aside from her name being Rachel and that she died when Krusty was around thirteen. Hyman strongly opposed Krusty's wish to become a clown and make people laugh, believing that it would distract him from his religion, wanting the boy to go to ''yeshiva'' instead. However, Krusty performed slapstick comedy behind his father's back. One day, he was performing at a rabbis' convention when one joking rabbi squirted seltzer on him, washing off his clown makeup. When Rabbi Krustofski found out, he disowned his son, and did not speak to him for 25 years. Krusty was 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. Krusty later discovered that he has a daughter named Sophie. He had met Sophie's mother when she served as a soldier in the Gulf War and he was entertaining the troops. After spending the night together, he prevented her from assassinating Saddam Hussein to protect his Saddam-themed comedy act. After that she started hating clowns, and kept their daughter a secret from Krusty. 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, including Ireland, China, Jamaica, and Romania, that produce localized versions. Some of the early details of Krusty's career have been revealed in clips, but he himself has been contradictory. For example, Krusty once said that he was banned from television for consecutive 10 and 22 year periods - the first after saying "pants" on the air in "Day of the Jackanapes" during a sketch about the Sputnik satellite, and the second after a disastrous appearance on ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh In'', where the trap door he was supposed to appear through failed to open - taking him from 1957 to 89. Yet he was back on TV as early as 1961 - an episode of Krusty's show exists from that year in which he interviews AFL-CIO president George Meany. Krusty's show has gone through various phases: a clip from 1963 shows Krusty interviewing Robert Frost then dumping a load of snow on the poet. The show later took 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. During the series, the ''Krusty the Clown Show'' is shown to be aimed almost entirely at children and features many characters, including Sideshow Mel, Mr. Teeny, Tina Ballerina, and Corporal Punishment. Sideshow Bob used to be Krusty's main sidekick, but years of constant abuse led to Bob framing Krusty for armed robbery, although Bob was eventually foiled by Bart.〔 Bob has since been replaced by Sideshow Mel, who has remained loyal to Krusty.〔 He seems to retire from and then get back into show business repeatedly throughout his career. His most recent retirement was almost permanent because of recently paroled Sideshow Bob's latest scheme – wiring plastic explosives to a hypnotized Bart and sending him up on stage. When Krusty makes a tribute to Bob at the last minute, however, Bob has a change of heart and stops Bart from fulfilling his mission. Bob and Krusty were later reconciled, 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" (Season 1, Episode 12) he declared "I've based my life on Krusty's teachings" and sleeps in a room filled with Krusty merchandise. He exposed Sideshow Bob's attempted framing, helped Krusty return to the air with a comeback special and reignite his career〔 and reunited Krusty with his estranged father.〔 For his part, Krusty is usually grateful for Bart's assistance, but will almost immediately forget about it, presumably due to his excessive drinking and drug habits, and usually doesn't even remember his name next time they encounter each other.〔 One summer, Bart enthusiastically attended Kamp Krusty, largely because of the promise that he would get to spend his summer with Krusty. The camp turned out to be a disaster, with Krusty nowhere to be seen, as the camp was simply a franchise location that Krusty had licensed his image to. Bart kept his hopes up by believing that Krusty would show up, but one day the camp director Mr Black brought in Barney Gumble with clown makeup masquerading as Krusty. This pushed Bart over the edge. He decided that he was sick of Krusty's shoddy merchandise and took over the camp. Krusty immediately visited the camp in hopes of ending the conflict and managed to appease Bart. Krusty is a multimillionaire who 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, which in one episode boasted a jagged metal Krusty-O in each box. One of many lawsuits regarding these products was launched by Bart, who ate a jagged metal Krusty-O and had 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 backfired when the Soviet Union boycotted the games, causing Krusty to lose $44 million. In the TV series and comic books Krusty is also the mascot and owner of the restaurant Krusty Burger. He 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 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 appeared to have used cocaine, one time emerging from a restaurant bathroom with white powder under his nose, but he explained 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 reported Krusty for tax fraud to the Internal Revenue Service and as a result Krusty lost most of his money. Bart soon discovered that Krusty had faked his death and was living as Rory B. Bellows on a boat. Krusty declared that he was finished with the life of a celebrity and was unconvinced when Bart reminded him of his fans and his entourage. Finally, Bart told Krusty that leaving show business would mean losing his celebrity status, which convinced 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 the fourteenth season, Bart convinced Krusty to run for Congress so that Krusty could introduce an airline rerouting bill and stop planes from flying over the Simpsons' house. Krusty agreed and ran on the Republican ticket. Although his campaign started off badly, Lisa suggested that he try connecting with regular families, which Krusty did, resulting in a landslide victory. Krusty's term started off badly, as he was completely ignored by his new, more politically savvy colleagues. With the help of the Simpsons and an influential doorman, however, Krusty succeeded in passing his bill.〔 His body features are 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 the air in 1986.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Krusty the Clown」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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