Bobby finds himself the secret weapon on the quiz bowl team, thanks to his endless plethora of pop culture knowledge. But the pressures of being the team's ace-in-the-hole soon start getting to him.
Tropes:
- Anti-Frustration Features: In his first quiz bowl, Bobby hits his buzzer and answers correctly ahead of the quizmaster (voiced by Ben Stein) calling on him. The quizmaster allows credit, but he instructs Bobby to wait until his name is called next time.
- Break the Haughty: At first Bobby finds being the quiz bowl team's pop culture ace a breeze. Then he gets a question wrong during practice and is reprimanded by the others. This leads to him deciding to study harder, but because pop culture is such an expansive subject he burns himself out trying to keep up with all the latest celebrity news and media.
- Cannot Tell Fiction from Reality: Downplayed. Bobby writes a report on Martin Sheen's character from The West Wing for history class, apparently under the belief that President Bartlett was a real person Sheen was portraying.
- Faint in Shock: Bobby has a panic attack at the Megalo Mart as a result of the pressures of Quiz Bowl, especially after he sees a bunch of T Vs.
- Karma Houdini: The Quiz Bowl team and the adults around them get away with putting undue stress on Bobby in order to boost themselves. Bobby, for his part, was going to quit, but Hank talked him out of it.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: After his panic attack, Bobby wants to quit Quiz Bowl, but Hank tells him to continue participating because he made a commitment to the team; as for the stress, Hank tells him to face it head on.
- Mushroom Samba: Bobby suffers one of these while at the Mega-Lo-Mart and finding himself in front of a bunch of TVs, adding to his already deteriorating mental state while on the debate team. He then hallucinates Kelly Clarkson (voicing herself) rattling off film, TV and celebrity trivia until he faints from the stress.
- Nervous Wreck: The entire quiz bowl team are all incredibly frayed types. Bobby soon finds himself one after the pressure proves too much. When he passes out from a hallucination, Hank and Peggy try their best to fix this. With both Hank and Bobby ultimately coming to terms with the pressure and bone up by watching The Beverly Hillbillies.
- No Ending: The episode doesn't show if Bobby won the quiz bowl or not.
- Shout-Out: Bobby writes a report on President Martin Sheen.
- Special Guest: Kelly Clarkson as herself, John Ritter as Eugene Grandy and Ben Stein as the Quizmaster.
- With Friends Like These...: Connie of all people keeps putting pressure on Bobby to win Quiz Bowl, and tells him not to make mistakes after he gets a question wrong at practice. When they start winning, she only thanks him for how it benefits her.
