When the airline he works for goes on strike, Quagmire becomes a male stripper after being mistaken for one at a bachelorette party...and things get worse when Peter steps in to help him out, turning their friendship into a pimp and prostitute relationship. Meanwhile, Brian gets a job at a hardware store so he can get medical insurance, and Stewie tries to get him fired (as he thinks Brian is being a pretentious know-it-all at his job).
Tropes seen in this episode:
- Body Horror: Stewie performing improvised surgery on Brian using home building tools.
- The Cameo: The "Who else but Quagmire" guy appears to hire Quagmire to have sex with his wife, as he can't do it himself. Peter refers to this as an awesome cameo.
- Credits Gag: Stewie notes how obnoxious Brian's been acting since getting a job, but he says he can live with it if Brian is happy. The end credits start, but then suddenly cut back to Stewie, who says he can't live with it and is going to get Brian fired.
- Hidden Depths: Meg gives a cello recital and does quite well. It's moot, though, since everyone ended up leaving partway through her performance.
- Hypocritical Humor: Quagmire first insists that he's not a gigolo, but when someone pays him to have sex for 500 dollars, he tells his friends that he's a gigolo.
- Insistent Terminology: To emphasize how superior his knowledge of carpentry is to Lois; Brian doesn't listen to her until she uses his wording.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: A platonic, subverted version. While Stewie is annoyed with Brian's attitude after he got a job, he says that he's happy if Brian's happy. The credits play for a couple of seconds, then:Stewie: Can't do it, let's get him fired.
- Laser-Guided Karma: How did Brian get hernia? He originally tried to save a woman when she crashes her car in the ocean, only to leave her to sink when she reveals she has a baby with her.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Peter, Joe, and Cleveland disguise themselves as each other to try to remain hidden from Quagmire at the strip club.
- Pink Is Erotic: When Quagmire performed as a stripper, it involved pink lighting and pink smoke. He also wore pink when he worked as a prostitute with Peter as his pimp.
- Pimp Duds: Peter wears a flashy purple pimp outfit when he becomes Quagmire's boss and holds a golden goblet.
- Shout-Out:
- Access Hollywood: A cutaway segment features an edited version of the 2005 hot-mic conversation between GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump and reporter Billy Bush, featuring lewd comments about women and sexuality, includes Peter's edited-in voice, to give the impression he is participating in the conversation. In reruns and on DVD, this is replaced with a cutaway about a cat getting pulled over by the police for a DUI and the cat ends up beating the police officer (and the whole thing turns out to be a public service announcement for more animal sobriety checkpoints).
- American Gigolo: The episode title is a play on the 1980 movie starring Richard Gere and Lauren Hutton, more famous for its title song "Call Me" by Blondie.
- Saturday Night Live: During Quagmire's HBO documentary about being a prostitute, Quagmire mentions that the women on the show are now funnier than the men, but he hasn't been able to catch it to see if it's true.
- Soda Can Shake Up: Stewie gets Brian fired by placing a shaken-up can of soda on his boss' desk with a note saying it was from Brian.
- Strike Episode: This episode begins when the airline Quagmire works for goes on strike. This is what leads him to become a stripper — he gets mistaken for one when he shows up to a bachelorette party in his pilot's uniform, and he needs the money, so he decides to go along with it.Quagmire: What do we want?
Other pilots: FAIR WAGES!
Quagmire: When do we want it?
Other pilots: ORIGINALLY NOW, BUT IT'S BEEN DELAYED UNTIL 9:40 DUE TO WEATHER IN PHILLY! - Take That!:
- After performing surgery on Brian, Stewie comments that the guy who killed Joan Rivers must have really messed up.
- Peter notes that his The Pretenders cover band, much like the actual band, has been described as "Meh."
- Workplace-Acquired Abilities: Brian actually gains useful skills at the hardware store. It comes in handy when Stewie accidentally opens his hernia.
