page_title: Bart Carny
section_title: Production
hierarchical_section_title: Bart Carny / Production
caption_attribution_description: Big E fair in Springfield, MA on September 23, 2007
context_page_description: "Bart Carny" is the twelfth episode of The Simpsons' ninth season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on January 11, 1998. Homer and Bart start working at a carnival and befriend a father and son duo named Cooder and Spud. It was written by John Swartzwelder, directed by Mark Kirkland and guest stars Jim Varney as Cooder the carny. The episode contains several cultural references and received a generally mixed critical reception.
context_section_description: The carnival in this episode is based on The Eastern States Exposition (currently known as The Big E) fair. As a child, Mike Scully went to the fair, and had hoped one day to be a carny. This is the only episode that Mark Kirkland did not tell his parents to watch. This is due to Bart's line "Out of my way, I'm Hitler". Kirkland's stepfather was a lieutenant in World War II and was injured while in combat. Cooder was modeled after David Mirkin, the showrunner of seasons five and six and co-writer and the executive producer of two episodes in the ninth season. Spud's head shape is modeled after Bart's head. The "fisheye effect", when Cooder is looking through the peep hole, was drawn by hand, not optically, by assistant director Matthew Nastuk. Matt Groening said they had several endings worked out, including one where Homer made the hula hoop over the chimney.
caption: The Big E Fair was the inspiration for this episode.
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