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The Simpsons episode
"Bart the Fink"
Krusty with Bart, after he has gone broke
Episode no.	143
Prod. code	3F12
Orig. airdate	February 11, 1996
Show runner(s)	Bill Oakley Josh Weinstein
Written by	John Swartzwelder Bob Kushell
Directed by	Jim Reardon
Couch gag	The couch is a fax machine that spews out a piece of paper with The Simpson family in a sitting position. (in this version, the paper doesn't slide back under the couch like it did when it first appeared in the episode Radioactive Man)
Guest star(s)	Bob Newhart as himself
Season 7 September 17, 1995 – May 19, 1996
Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part Two) Radioactive Man Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodily Bart Sells His Soul Lisa the Vegetarian Treehouse of Horror VI King-Size Homer Mother Simpson Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular Marge Be Not Proud Team Homer Two Bad Neighbors Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield Bart the Fink Lisa the Iconoclast Homer the Smithers The Day the Violence Died A Fish Called Selma Bart on the Road 22 Short Films About Springfield Raging Abe Simpson and His Grumbling Grandson in "The Curse of the Flying Hellfish" Much Apu About Nothing Homerpalooza Summer of 4 Ft. 2
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"Bart the Fink" is the fifteenth episode of The Simpsons' seventh season. The title is a play on the film Barton Fink.

After the death of Great Aunt Hortense, the family attends a will reading. Each member of the family discovers they will receive $100 to do with as they like, but only after spending the night in a haunted house. The rest goes to Ann Landers. Though the kids have other ideas, Bart wishing to buy 100 tacos from the TacoMat and Lisa contributing to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Marge has them open bank accounts at the Bank of Springfield. Bart is excited by his new checking account and begins writing checks for his friends - including a $1 check for bully Jimbo Jones, so he would not beat him up.

Bart attempts to get Krusty the Clown's autograph, but the clown is having a new Sandwich named after him and has to leave. Just before he does, Bart slips a check for 25 cents into Krusty's pocket, figuring that he'll receive a copy of it, endorsed by Krusty, with his monthly bank statement.

Instead, the check is endorsed with a stamp - "Cayman Islands Off-Shore Holding Corporation". Angry, Bart takes it back to the bank so that they can force Krusty to sign it. Suspicious, a bank teller investigates, and within minutes Krusty is charged for tax fraud. Bart has inadvertedly finked onto the clown as one of the biggest tax cheats in American history.

However, Krusty discovers that though he will not be going to prison ("Krusty," an IRS agent assures him, "This is America. We don't send our celebrities to jail!"), his salary will be garnished by 75% for 40 years. He then tells them he doesn't plan to live that long, so they make it 95%.

The IRS also auction off Krusty's house contents, including his bed, and convert the Krusty Burger chain of restaurants to "IRS Burger". They also take a major portion of the "Krusty the Clown" show's annual earnings and residuals. Ruined, unable to maintain his "swanky lifestyle" (a "Sheik lifestyle" in Italian dub), and living on the streets, Krusty mans his private airplane one night and appears to fly directly into a mountain.

Everyone assumes that Krusty is dead, but Bart believes otherwise when he begins to see a very Krusty look-alike all over town, on the street, the doctor's surgery, an electronics store, and underwater opening a lobster pot. Bart and Lisa soon discover that Krusty has gone into hiding under the guise of Rory B. Bellows, a grizzled old longshore worker. They finally convince him to return to his former life, but wonder aloud what he will do about his tax problem. "Don't sweat it," says Krusty. "The life of Rory B. Bellows is insured for a surprisingly large amount." Behind them, Rory's houseboat explodes.

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• The episode title is a spoof of the 1991 Drama Barton Fink.
• The episode begins showing the law firm is called "Dewey, Cheathem, Howe, & Weissmann" - the joke being that the obvious joke name is Dewey, Cheatem & Howe, but somewhere along the line they've acquired a fourth partner, ruining the pun.
• The house the Simpsons are asked to spend the night in looks exactly like the house in Hitchcock's famous 1960 film Psycho.
• Krusty's airplane, "I'm-on-a-rolla-Gay", is a spoof of the Enola Gay B-29 airplane that dropped the A-bomb on Hiroshima.
• The Sea Captain ends a phone coversation by saying, "Call me back, Ishmael," a reference to the opening line of Moby Dick.
• During Krusty's funeral, Luke Perry is among the special guests because he is Krusty's half-brother, as seen in "Krusty Gets Kancelled".
• Also attending the funeral is Simpsons writer John Swartzwelder, who appears with a Kermit the Frog puppet on his hand.
• The wreath seen in the background displays the phone number '369-3084', which was Simpsons writer and producer Bill Oakley's office phone number at the time.
• Krusty's illegal Cayman-Islands 'accountant' is modeled after Sydney Greenstreet, particularly from Casablanca, considering his line "oh, it's too hot today".
• Krusty's alias of "Rory B. Bellows" may refer to Elvis Presley's alias of "John Burrows." An urban legend states that a man strongly resembling Elvis was spotted buying a ticket to Buenos Aires, Argentina using the name "John Burrows" shortly after Elvis's death.
• Krusty's rant on the pavement is a reference to John Rambo's speech at the end of the movie First Blood

• "Bart the Fink" episode capsule at The Simpsons Archive

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