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Jackie Mason

'The Simpsons' mourns beloved character's death

Bill Keveney
USA TODAY
Rabbi Krustofski (guest voice Jackie Mason), second from left, made an early appearance on 'The Simpsons' in the 'Like Father, Like Clown' episode in 1991.

Spoiler alert: This story contains significant plot points from Sunday's episode of The Simpsons.

The Simpsons' Season 26 premiere featured the tears of a clown, along with the usual laughs, as Krusty the Clown mourns the death of his father, Rabbi Hyman Krustofski.

The death of Rabbi Krustofski, a minor but memorable character voiced by Jackie Mason, resolves a mystery that led to widespread speculation after executive producer Al Jean offhandedly mentioned a character's upcoming demise last year.

"It was not designed to be a premiere or a promotable event. I was doing a phone interview and somebody said, 'What's coming up?' and I thought instead of saying it directly, I'll just say the actor (who voices the character) won an Emmy. And the next thing I knew, it was on the front pages in Uruguay and the sensation grew," Jean says. "Well, once that happened, we said, 'OK, let's make a big deal of it.'"

Some people guessed the identity correctly, Jean says, but others were way off, suggesting Krusty or even central character Homer.

The death creates additional angst for Krusty (Dan Castellaneta) as the father, with his final breath, assesses his son's comic ability: "Eh ..."

"We're looking for stories relatable to life and I was thinking it would be a good story if Krusty's dad died and the last thing he said to his son was, 'I think you're, eh ….,' " Jean says of the episode, which was written by Joel Cohen. "Fathers and sons often have a lot of difficulty communicating, and I thought it would be a great plot."

The Fox animated comedy (Sunday, 8 p.m. ET/PT) has featured character deaths in the past, including those of saxophonist "Bleeding Gums" Murphy and Ned Flanders' wife, Maude.

The show plays with the death theme in its opening credits, with Ned appearing as an angel, Lisa playing the harp and Bart writing on the blackboard: "Spoiler Alert: Unfortunately, My Dad doesn't die."

Late in Sunday night's episode, Krusty finds peace with his father's passing — and the latter's assessment of his son's comic talent — imagining a Busby Berkeley-style musical number set in a mythical "Jewish Heaven" with Rodney Dangerfield, Albert Einstein, Golda Meir and four Marxes, the brothers Groucho, Harpo and Chico and the philosopher Karl.

In a late change to the animation, Jean added a fleeting image of comedian Joan Rivers, who died early this month. Rivers had guest-starred in an episode as Krusty's former agent/lover Annie Dubinsky.

Rabbi Krustofski could reappear in Krusty's memory, but he really is dead, Jean says. He won't come back to life, as did Brian the Dog, a main character in Family Guy.

Jean sees the episode as a tribute to the late rabbi and the very much alive Mason, who has voiced the character in several episodes. Mason won an Emmy in 1992 for his appearance in Season 3's Like Father, Like Clown, in which Krusty and his father repair their estranged relationship.

"We thought it would just be great to give Krusty's dad a real sendoff," Jean says. "Jackie is such a great actor, and it's such a treasure to have had his voice on the show."

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