Can't sleep, clown will eat me

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Bart in the clown bed

"Can't sleep, clown(s) will eat me" is a stock phrase that has become popular in the USA as joke-explanation for insomnia.

The phrase first appears in The Simpsons episode "Lisa's First Word," which first aired on December 3, 1992. During the episode, there is a flashback in which Homer Simpson and his son Bart are watching the Krusty the Clown show. During the show, Homer notices that Bart likes clowns and decides to build a new bed for him, shaped like a clown rather than buying him a new bed. However, due to Homer's questionable handicraft skills, the clown bed has a highly menacing appearance, causing Bart to imagine the clown behaving terrifyingly. Instead of "laughing himself to sleep" as Homer intended, Bart stays awake in a fetal position repeatedly uttering the phrase "Can't sleep, clown will eat me." Bart is therefore suffering from coulrophobia (fear of clowns) as well as clinophobia (fear of going to bed) and fear of being eaten.

[edit] Appearances in other media

Alice Cooper composed and performed a song called "Clowns Will Eat Me" which was inspired by the phrase.
Melbourne band 'Martin Martini and the Bone Palace Orchestra' also wrote a song called "Clowns Will Eat Me", which has little to no relation to the Alice Cooper one.
In the penultimate Queen of Wands strip, the main character Kestrel lies awake the night before a cross-country move musing "Can't sleep. Future will eat me."^[1]