Episode 1F11
Written by John Swartzwelder
Directed by Susie Dietter
Also starring: Marcia Wallace, Pamela Hayden, Maggie Roswell, Russi Taylor
Special guest voice: Conan O'Brien (as himself)

Premise: The Springfield Elementary Fourth Grade field trip is to the local box factory, so Bart slips away and finds work at Channel 6, initially as Krusty's PA. However, after Sideshow Mel is poisoned, Bart takes part in a sketch, destroys the set and says 'I didn't do it', which immediately makes him a star.

Features: Mr Burns, Principal Skinner, Edna Krabappel, Martin Prince, Lewis, Richard, Sherri and Terri, Wendell, Nelson Muntz, Milhouse, Otto, Ned Flanders, Grampa, Barney Gumble, Kent Brockman, 'Diamond' Joe Quimby, Selma, Patty, Snake, Apu, Sideshow Mel, Bumblebee Man.

Couch: The Simpsons rush in, meld, and become an amorphous glob.

Trivia:

• Bart's popularity really takes off in a sketch known as The "I Didn't Do It" Boy in the Ming Vase and a Ladder Sketch.
• Sideshow Mel is allergic to cheese.
• Krusty, much to Bart's sadness, does not remember him as the boy who saved him from jail or who reunited him with his father.
• Bart does indeed appear to be credited on Krusty's show under Assistants to the Producers, but it's not entirely clear and the other kids' readings of the name could be just as likely.

Homage: Bart's first single is a cover of MC Hammer's 1990 hit U Can't Touch This, and his other showbiz chums include Billy Crystal, Farrah Fawcett Majors, Laurie Anderson, Spike Lee and Kitty Carlisle. Planet of the Apes is referenced (again) as Homer thinks Bart has been tumed into a box. Bart guests on Conan O'Brien's chat show - in real life, O'Brien is the writer of several Simpsons episodes.

Notes: Even without that final sequence, this would still be one of the best episodes, with Bart at his very best. The scenes in the box factory are superb, as is Martin and Skinner's joyful singing and, once again, Edna and Bart's enforced team-up.