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An Oral History of ‘Not It,’ the Stephen King ‘Treehouse of Horror’ Parody That Required a Whole ‘Simpsons’ Episode to Tell

In Springfield, Krusty the Clown has long been known as a cheap, desperate, steamed hams-slinging TV personality with innumerable vices and personality flaws. But despite the fact that he was framed for murder and a killer doll with his likeness once came to life, the kids of Springfield still love the cackling clown. In Kingfield, however, things are much, much different.

In the 2022 “Treehouse of Horror” special “Not It,” The Simpsons did something it had never done before: The show dedicated an entire episode to a single “Treehouse” parody, which took aim at Stephen King’s It. Of course, taking the place of the evil Pennywise had to be Krusty — or Kusto in this episode — who feasts on the flesh of Kingfield’s children.

The 20 Greatest Political Comedies of All Time

Of all the comedy subgenres, the political comedy is probably the hardest to nail down. What, exactly, constitutes a political comedy? Is it a movie set in the world of politics? It is just a movie that has political commentary? And what’s the difference between a political comedy and a political satire? Is one meaner in its humor than the other? 

In order to make a list of the 20 best political comedies, I had to figure out answers to these questions. And that meant making some tough choices, like any good elected official. And what I decided was to be pretty strict in my definition of what counts. There are so many good films that are often called political comedies — Four Lions, Borat, numerous war movies — but for my purposes, a film had to feature politicians, world leaders or at the very least some folks who were running for something, even if that’s just class president.

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