Flunky the Clown was an early character that would appear on
David Letterman's NBC Late Night talk show. Flunky, dressed like
Bozo the Clown but with a cigarette in hand, would plunk himself down in the interviewee chair and help Dave answer a particularly hard
Viewer Mail question. Usually, however, he'd just ramble to Dave about his
prostate problems.
In one bit, Flunky had a
bandage around his arm. Letterman asked what happened:
Flunky: I got a tattoo but it's infected. It's all oozy and puss covered...not something you want to see.
Dave: Eww. That's too bad. What's it a tattoo of?
Flunky: A hula dancer. I thought I'd be able to make the tattoo dance and that would look cool.
Dave: You can't get it to dance?
Flunky: No. Apparently you need some muscle tone to do that. I don't have any. You know, carnival food.
Flunky might have originated the phrase "
bite me" which Letterman later turned into his own signature phrase. During a viewer mail segment a representative of some sort of
clown society wrote in to complain about Flunky. He took issue with not only Flunky's negative portrayal of clowns but Flunky's earlier allegation that circus people were disease-ridden, garbage-eating bums. Letterman brought out Flunky to answer the charges. Flunky took a long drag on his cigarette, shrugged his shoulders, and quipped "bite me".
Flunky was played by Letterman writer
Jeff Martin. There's a lot of speculation that
The Simpsons Krusty the Klown is based on (or a
rip off of) Flunky. Those who argue the "based on" idea point out that Jeff Martin is now a writer for
The Simpsons. Those who argue for the "ripped off" idea point out Martin didn't join
The Simpsons team until 1990. Flunky existed while Martin was still with Letterman and then the chain-smoking, tattooed,
junk food eating Krusty magically appeared on
The Simpsons years before Martin started writing for
Fox.
Many of the writers on Letterman and
The Simpsons got their start at the
Harvard Lampoon and many remain friends. As well, early Letterman writer George Meyer was also doing double duty with
The Simpsons since its inception. It's not unbelievable that there's a
crosspollination of ideas and many obscure tributes that go back and forth. "Hey, Jeff help me brainstorm a new character" "Well, over on Letterman I used to do this smoking clown bit..." "Great idea!"
So it's likely Krusty isn't so much a rip off but a tribute to Flunky. Consider as well that Jeff Martin and
Damon Wayans are friends. It's no coincidence that Wayans had a Flunky-like character called
Homey the Clown.