"Kamp Krusty" is an episode of The Simpsons first broadcast on September 24, 1992 as the debut of the fourth season of the show. Bart and Lisa go to a summer camp with high expectations, but are subjected to a harrowing experience instead.

Executive producer James L. Brooks had wanted "Kamp Krusty" to be a full-length feature film, but the show's staff said they had trouble even stretching it to a half-hour episode.

Episode details

Production Number: 8F24
Original Air Date: September 24, 1992
Writer: David M. Stern
Director: Mark Kirkland
Blackboard: "This punishment is not boring and pointless"
Couch Gag: Fred Flintstone, Wilma and Pebbles are sitting on the couch

Synopsis

It's the last day of school. After getting his teacher to change the Fs on his report card to Cs, Bart, his fellow students, and the faculty tear down the school. This turns out to only be a dream, but it really is the last day of class. Bart and Lisa are excited about being able to spend the summer at Kamp Krusty ("The Krustiest Place On Earth"), a summer camp run by Krusty the Clown, but Homer has made Bart's stay conditional on his getting at least a C average on his report card. At school, Bart finds Mrs. Krabappel has given him a D- in each subject. On the bus ride home, he uses a marker to fix each grade to an A+. Bart presents the card to his dad, but Homer sees through the ruse. Homer chides Bart for not faking plausible grades ("a D turns into a B pretty easily") but admits that he didn't really want to have Bart around the house all summer, so he can go to Kamp Krusty after all.

The kids of Springfield all leave for Kamp Krusty. Once there, the camp's director, Mr. Black, announces that Krusty won't be around for a few weeks, and instead Springfield Elementary's bullies, Jimbo, Dolph, and Kearney, will enforce order. At Kamp Krusty, the cabins are decrepit and vermin-infested, the lake is too dangerous to swim in, and the kids are fed nothing but imitation gruel. Meanwhile, with the older kids gone, Homer and Marge are having a wonderful summer together. Homer has even grown two extra strands of hair and lost a few pounds. Lisa sends a letter to Marge, describing how the kids are forced to make wallets for export in arts and crafts, and hikes have become brutal forced marches, but Marge and Homer think she's exaggerating. Bart is keeping alive the hope that Krusty will come and save the kids. Krusty himself, unaware of any of this, approves more shoddy merchandise bearing his name before heading off to Wimbledon.

Mr. Black announces to the campers that Krusty has finally come, but it's just Barney Gumble the drunk dressed as Krusty. This indignity leads Bart to finally snap; he leads the campers in rebellion, driving out Mr. Black and the bullies, and establishing Camp Bart. The newscaster Kent Brockman arrives at the camp to report on the revolt; when Homer watches the live broadcast and finds Bart is the leader, he instantly loses his newly-grown hair and gains back his weight. Krusty is called back from England and comes to the camp to apologize to the kids, saying he was offered "a dumptruck full of money" in exchange for putting his name on the camp. To make it all up to the campers, he offers to take them to the happiest place on earth: Tijuana. The kids and Krusty have fun together in Mexico.