The idea of "The Krusty the Clown Show" being canceled was pitched by writer John Swartzwelder. The rest of the writers decided this would be an opportunity to include a group of celebrity guest stars. They had done a similar episode the year before called "Homer at the Bat" (which starred nine Major League Baseball players) and had hoped to emulate its success. At that point, the writers had a list of celebrities who had wanted to do a guest spot on the show and decided to use this episode to burn through some of them. However, the episode was described by executive producer Mike Reiss as "a nightmare" because several guests pulled out at the last minute and the script had to be changed several times. One of the goals for the episode was to have an ex-President of the United States. They wrote "very respectful but cute" parts for each then-living ex-president (Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan) at the time, but they all turned them down. Only the latter responded, sending a politely worded reply.