Stark Raving Dad - Production

Production

"Stark Raving Dad" was written specifically for Michael Jackson, a fan of the show, who had called Groening one night and offered to do a guest spot. The offer was accepted and a script was written by Al Jean and Mike Reiss, based on an idea pitched by James L. Brooks. Creator Matt Groening and co-executive producer Sam Simon also contributed significantly to the writing of the episode. In an early version of the script, Homer decided to take his alcoholic friend Barney Gumble in for rehab, but while there Homer began acting crazily so the doctors assumed he was the one to be committed. It was later changed to Homer being hospitalized for wearing a pink shirt, an idea pitched by Brooks. Michael Jackson pitched several story ideas for the episode, such as Bart telling everyone in town that Michael Jackson was coming to his house. He also requested that there be a scene in which he and Bart wrote a song together and asked that a joke about Prince be changed to one about Elvis Presley.

Kipp Lennon guest starred as Leon's singing voice. Hank Azaria provided Leon's normal speaking voice.

According to Jean, Jackson would not commit to the episode until after a read-through of the script was done. The read was held at Jackson's manager Sandy Gallin's house, and Dan Castellaneta (who provides the voice for Homer) was 30 minutes late. Jean recalls that "no one said a word, we just sat there waiting". Following the read, Jackson stipulated his conditions: he would record his speaking parts but not receive credit, and his singing voice would be performed by a sound-alike. Leon Kompowsky's singing parts were performed by Kipp Lennon, because Jackson wanted to play a joke on his brothers and fool them into thinking the impersonator was him. Lennon recorded his lines at the same time as Jackson, who found the impersonations humorous. Jackson showed up for the recording session alone and did not use the special trailer that was set up for him. According to Jean, Jackson did record versions of the singing parts, and while there have been rumors that those parts were the ones used in the final episode, The Simpsons music editor Chris Ledesma has stated the Lennon versions were used. Kompowsky's normal speaking voice, which is heard at the end of the episode, was recorded by cast member Hank Azaria. The episode originally was supposed to end with Kompowsky singing a portion of "Man in the Mirror" in his Michael Jackson voice as he walked down the road, but it was changed to him singing the beginning of "Happy Birthday Lisa."

"Stark Raving Dad" was the final episode in the season two production run, but aired as the premiere of season three, over a year after it was completed. Michael Jackson was credited with pseudonym John Jay Smith in the closing credits. At the time, the producers of the show were legally prevented from confirming that Jackson guest starred, although many media sources assumed it was really him. Similarly, in season two, actor Dustin Hoffman had guest starred in the episode "Lisa's Substitute" under the name "Sam Etic". After "Stark Raving Dad", the producers decided that if a celebrity wished to guest star on the show, they had to be willing to be credited under their real name.

Jackson was a fan of Bart, and in addition to doing a guest spot on the show, he wanted to give Bart a number one single. He therefore co-wrote the song "Do the Bartman", which was released as a single around the same time that the episode was produced. Jackson could not take credit for his work on the song due to contractual reasons. Jackson also wrote the song "Happy Birthday Lisa", which was later included in the album Songs in the Key of Springfield. A version of the song was reportedly scheduled to be included on a bonus disk in the October 2001 special edition of Jackson's 1991 album Dangerous. However, the bonus disk was eventually dropped from the release.

Jackson died on June 25, 2009, and the Fox network re-aired the episode on July 5 as a tribute to him. The producers had intended to air the episode on June 28, 2009, three days after Jackson's death, but could not resolve issues with syndication rights in time. The music video for "Do the Bartman" was aired on that date instead. The producers screened the episode first, and the only change made, which was unrelated to Jackson, was the blurring of a phone number.