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Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me...

The leg-breaking episode. It’s Richie's birthday and there's a party to prepare, but while doing this he breaks his leg. Eddie invites his friends Spudgun and Dave Hedgehog to the party, and since Richie does not actually have any friends they are the only guests. While playing sardines, Richie breaks his other leg.

When he comes back from the hospital, Eddie has invited everyone from the pub to the party. Richie tries and fails to chat up one of the women present and pisses everyone off, leading them to give him "the bumps" which result in another two broken legs.

Tropes

  • Actor Allusion: Richie claims that he "doesn't have time to put on (his) girl-bait underpants". This is a reference to The Young Ones episode "Summer Holiday", where it is revealed that Rik Mayall's character Rick also owns a similar pair of pants.
  • Amusing Injuries: Richie breaks his legs so comically they stick out at the front at right angles. Eddie's attempts to fix it don't help, and when he retells the story to everyone at the party, they all find it hilarious. At the end, when Richie returns to the flat with both legs in plaster, everyone gives him the birthday bumps, resulting in further injuries.
  • The Backwards Я: Invoked by Richie when he forges his birthday card from the Soviet Union.
  • Berserk Button: Eddie loses it at the telly when he sees the extra on Emmerdale who gets paid to drink in the pub all day.
    Eddie: They fill his pockets full of change, stick him in the Woolpack and shout: "Go on mate, drink as much as you like!" And then at closing time they give him a wage packet! LUCKY BASTARD!!
  • Bullying a Dragon: Richie, by this point in a wheelchair with both his legs in plaster, attempts to intimidate a man who is clearly bigger than him. It ends in further injury for Richie.
  • Butt-Monkey: Richie, more so than usual. He breaks both of his legs, unknowingly drinks someone else's urine and gets thrown up over (by the same guy whose piss he drank). Additionally, he sees hardly any of the winnings from Madame Swish's victory in the 3:30 at Kempton, even though he put up the £20 stake. And at the end, he gets given the bumps, which causes both of his legs to get broken again. On his birthday, too.
  • Calvinball: Richie wants to play a game called 'Birthday Charades'. All we find out about this game is that it requires the women present to undress.
  • Comically Missing the Point:
    • This conversation:
    Richie: [Reading a piece of paper, given to him by Eddie as a birthday present] "Madame Swish, 3:30". Oh Eddie, you haven't! Oh, what a pal you are! Madame Swish! Ooh! Aah! God, at last, I'm really gonna do it! And on my birthday as well! I wonder what she's like!
    Eddie: She's a dead cert, mate. A real stayer.
    Richie: Really?
    Eddie: Yeah, she'll come first.
    Richie: What, before me? Good grief, that's quick! So she'll think I'm great! Oh what a pal you are! And it's all paid for?
    Eddie: Um, not exactly, I'll need a tenner.
    Richie: A tenner? Right. That's quite cheap, isn't it?
    Eddie: Um, well, no. In that case, it's a tenner each way.
    Richie: [surprised] Well, how many ways are there?
    Eddie: Well, you'll come first, second, or third, won't you?
    Richie: [aghast] Well, how many people are gonna be there?
    Eddie: Well, a few thousand.
    Richie What?
    Eddie: Well, it's at Kempton!
    Richie: Kempton? I can't get down to Kempton by 3:30!
    Eddie: You don't have to, mate! It'll be on the telly!
    Richie: [terrified] They're gonna televise it? What if my auntie's watching?
    Eddie: Well, what's illegal about betting on a horse?
    Richie: A horse?
    Eddie: Yeah!
    Richie: Madame Swish is... is a horse?
    Eddie: Yeah! Well, what d'you think it was?
    Richie: [disappointed] Oh no, nothing, nothing. I was just checking.
    Eddie: I have given you a red hot tip!
    Richie: [shouting] I know, and there's nothing I can do about it now, is there?
    • Also, this exchange between Eddie and Dave Hedgehog:
    Eddie: What did medieval people did before television?
    Hedgehog: They probably had their tea, didn't they?
  • Double Entendre: Much of the Madame Swish exchange, especially the pay-off line.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: Spudgun and Dave Hedgehog are both clean-shaven here, with Hedgehog in particular looking a lot less dishevelled than in his future appearances. In addition, Hedgehog — aside from his Comically Missing the Point moment over what medieval people did before television — isn't the Cloud Cuckoolander that he is in his future appearances, with Spudgun being the dopier and more alcoholic of the two.
  • Forged Message: Richie receives several birthday cards from himself every year — only he claims they are from grateful Soviet citizens, the crew of HMS Ark Royal, Sue Carpenter and other celebrities. Eddie barely manages to play along with the joke with his usual dripping sarcasm:
    Eddie: ...and this one's from "The people of the Soviet Union, in grateful thanks to Comrade Richie."
    Richie: It's in Russian.
    Eddie: You just put the Rs the wrong way round.
    Richie: That's what Russian is!
  • I Ate WHAT?!: Averted, as Richie never finds out that the "sherry" was in fact Spudgun's piss.
  • It's All About Me: Richie uses his birthday as an excuse to play up to this trope more than he usually does.
  • Kick the Dog: In a single episode, Richie breaks both of his legs twice.
  • Literal-Minded: Eddie as usual.
    Richie: Write down "I'm sorry, I'm a twat" ten times.
    Eddie: (picks up a pen and writes) "I'm sorry, I'm a twat. Ten times." (stops writing)
  • Noodle Incident: Richie pretended to be the captain of the HMS Ark Royal to impress Ethel Cardew and pretended to be ill on Eddie's birthday by painting his face green and eating a tin of curry powder. The former led to Ethel getting off with the arresting officer, while Eddie saw through the latter because the paint washed off when the enema backfired.
  • One Dialogue, Two Conversations: The Madame Swish exchange (see above).
  • Toilet Humour: Spudgun has to piss in a glass when Richie refuses to let him go to the toilet. Later, Richie mistakes said glass for a glass of sherry, and takes a swig.
    Richie: It's a bit warm, isn't it?
  • Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Thankfully, we do not see Spudgun throw up over Richie after the latter breaks his other leg.
  • You Do Not Want To Know: Eddie to Richie when he asks Spudgun how he got his name, and again when he asks Hedgehog the same thing.

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