FOXTalk about your blink-and-you-missed-it moments.
Embedded along with the countless other pop culture references to be found in The Simpsons' 26th season premiere last night was a tribute to Joan Rivers—who, in addition to being an inspiration for the funny folks who've been making the show happen since 1989, also provided the voice of Krusty the Clown's agent (and former lover) during a 2011 episode.
Yes, we know what you're thinking: "Wait, where?!"
We certainly didn't catch it either, despite our attempts to pause right on the spot where Joan's animated character was glimpsed, not even because we knew to look out for her but just on the hunch that we were missing something regardless.
Caution, season premiere SPOILERS ahead...
It turns out that Joan was included in the massive group shot of people in "Jewish Heaven," the celeb-studded land where Krusty envisions his father, Rabbi Hyman Krustofski, ended up after passing away during the episde (aka the big character death that was promised in the premiere).
But boy was it hard to see the shot, which is barely on screen for more than a second, right after the dance scene, featuring the pairings of Albert Einstein and Golda Meir, Marx brothers Chico and Harpo, and other Marx brother Groucho with economist/philosopher Karl Marx.
Joan is, fittingly, in the front row of the "VIP section" that the camera pans over on its way up to a shot of Jesus and Rodney Dangerfield kibitzing from on high.
(Many thanks to eagle-eyed Dave Itzkoff for tweeting the screengrab.)
Joan died on Sept. 4, months after production had already started, but executive producer Al Jean explained to USA Today why it was important to them to make that last-minute addition.
"She did the show three years ago and it was really sweet," he said. "I had met her and told her how when my parents went to Vegas in the '70s, all they could talk about was seeing her act and how funny she was...About a week after she passed away, I thought that it wouldn't be hard for us to just put her in, because she had done the show and we had the design."
And if there's really a Jewish Heaven, Jean—who tweeted a heads-up for the Rivers sighting before airtime last night—is sure that Rivers would want to be there. "I'm sure she'd like it, because there's no Johnny Carson," he cracked.