The Simpsons’ continuity can be quite confusing, especially when looking at the ages of the characters. Many of them have had the same birthday over and over again, and the ages of some have never been revealed, with the dates and other clues dropped throughout the series only making the mystery even bigger. Such is the case of Krusty the Clown, who is believed to be a certain age but some details don’t quite match that number.
Created by Matt Groening, The Simpsons began as a series of animated shorts for The Tracey Ullman Show in 1987 before being developed into a half-hour prime time show and officially debuting on Fox in 1989. The Simpsons has since followed the many ups and downs in the life of the title family as well as those of other notable citizens from Springfield, among those Krusty the Clown. Herschel Shmoikel Pinchas Yerucham Krustofsky made his debut in the short “The Krusty the Clown Show” and has since appeared in a number of episodes, being at the front and center of many.
Over the course of the series, viewers have gotten a look at Krusty’s backstory, learning that he’s the son of a rabbi who didn’t approve of his career choice. It’s understood that Krusty has been in the entertainment industry for a long time, as his show (appropriately named The Krusty the Clown Show) began in 1957 as a serious talk show before becoming a children’s show in 1978. This has made way for the big question about Krusty’s age, which some sites list as being 52, but there are some details about his life and career that don’t support that.
The Simpsons has been quite inconsistent when it comes to Krusty’s career. Prior to having his own show, he appeared on a variety of TV shows, and was banned from television for ten years, with The Krusty the Clown Shown finally appearing in the 1960s. Now, when the show began, he appeared to be in his 20s, and he hasn’t changed at all, as opposed to other characters who have been shown in their younger years and older in the present (the most obvious example being Grandpa Simpson). In addition to that, it has been mentioned that Krusty has a 50-year show-biz career, which could be counted from his days as a street mime or when he began working on TV shows. The episode “Like Father Like Clown” shows Krusty performing as a clown at a young age, around his early 20s (or a bit younger), which would mean that by the time the series begins, Krusty is in his late 60s.
After that event in which his identity was revealed in front of his father, he didn’t speak to him for 25 years, which would again mean he’s a different age. It’s important to remember that the characters in The Simpsons don’t age, so Krusty should be the same age now that he was when the series began – if only his backstory was consistent enough to hold one specific number. It’s unlikely The Simpsons will solve the mystery of Krusty’s age anytime soon, and it will surely continue messing with it to fit the stories it wants to tell.