One afternoon while watching television, Homer and Bart see a highly distracting commercial for something named "Gabbo"; this is the start of a viral marketing campaign, with the whole of Springfield unsure what "Gabbo" actually is. Finally, "Gabbo" is revealed to be a ventriloquist's dummy. Ventriloquist Arthur Crandall announces that Gabbo's new program will air in direct competition with the established "Krusty the Klown Show" each afternoon at 4 p.m. Gabbo's catchphrase — "I'm a bad wittle boy" — instantly charms his intended audience, and this has a negative impact on Krusty and his show. The clown vows to withstand the competition from the new program, but Gabbo's cutthroat tactics quickly attract Krusty's audience. Krusty tries to fight back with a dummy of his own, but its gruesome appearance and poor condition scares off many of the children in the audience. To make matters worse, Itchy and Scratchy have moved to Gabbo's show, forcing Krusty to instead show a Cold War-era Eastern European Communist cartoon entitled "Worker and Parasite", which is incomprehensible. Eventually, Krusty's ratings hit rock bottom and his show is cancelled.