The third episode of the second season of Rocko's Modern Life.
The Lounge Singer
Rocko finds out that Filburt has a dream of becoming a lounge singer like his idol, Buddy Gecko.
She's The Toad
Ed has a nervous breakdown and Bev enlists Filburt and Heffer's help to deliver a speech he has to give.
"The Lounge Singer" provides examples of:
- Daydream Surprise: Filburt gets all nervous after his singer idol Buddy Gecko accidentally breaks his Walkman and motivational tapes that have been helping him with his stage fright. Buddy assures him the tapes were all a sham and to go out there, as "what's the worst that could happen?" Filburt goes out on stage and nervously says "Ahem..." but the audience immediately starts booing and Produce Pelting him, and then chase him with Torches and Pitchforks to a windmill, and then a Spinning Paper announces the U.N. declares "Filb" is a menace to society, and they bomb him to death. His gravestone reads "Here Lies FILB, he was a lousy singer". Buddy Gecko then knocks over his gravestone, which is then blown up by lightning. It then ripples back to reality, showing Filburt is alive and well, had imagined the whole ordeal, and hasn't gone on stage yet.
- Hidden Depths: The nerdy Filburt is a surprisingly good singer.
- Imagine the Audience Naked: Buddy's advice for dealing with stage fright. When your audience is a nudist convention, it's surprisingly effective.
- Lounge Lizard: Filburt had a dream of becoming a nightclub singer, particularly idolizing Buddy Gecko (a literal example).
- Mad Libs Catchphrase: After seeing Filburt bomb on stage, Rocko looks out at the audience and says, "Open mic night is a very dangerous night."
- Magic Feather: The Buddy Gecko motivational tapes served as this to Filburt, giving him enough confidence to go onstage. When the Walkman he was using to play them breaks, Buddy admits to Filburt that the tapes were a sham.
"She's The Toad" provides examples of:
- Borrowed Catch Phrase: A delirious Ed says Rocko's "Garbage day is a very dangerous day."
- Brick Joke:
- While disguised as Ed, Heffer and Filburt punch out a worker trying to talk to them. At the end, the same worker, now with a huge swollen eye, appears to knock out Ed.
- After Bev takes the Conglom-O building, Hef and Fil appear in costume again and get the employees to say "wee-wee!"
- Continuity Nod:
- Heffer tries to make small talk with Filburt.
Heffer: Y'know, I died once.
Filburt: Yeah?- At one point, Ed deliriously mutters "Garbage Day is a very dangerous day."
- A Day in the Limelight: For Bev Bighead.
- Driven to Madness: Ed suffers a nervous breakdown in the face of having to deliver a proposal to his bosses, and spends most of the episode either a gibbering wreck or completely out of it. He regains his sanity by the end of the episode.
- Eat the Camera: Played straight and inverted mere seconds afterward. When Ed Bighead is in his office and remembers he has to give a proposal the next day, he starts screaming and the camera zooms into his mouth, only to zoom out again to show Ed still screaming in his bedroom.
- Heh Heh, You Said "X": When Heffer and Filburt tease Ed while disguised as him.Filburt: Ed Bighead, I am your conscience!
Heffer: I'm his conscience too.
Filburt: What?
Heffer: Don't say "I," say "we."
Filburt: What?
Heffer: We! WE!
Filburt: Oh, okay. We we!
Heffer: (laughing) You said wee-wee! Say it again!
Filburt: Wee-wee! (Heffer laughs again) - "Hey, You!" Haymaker: At the end, Ed Bighead is approached by an employee who, unbeknown to him, had earlier been punched by Heffer disguised as Ed. As he lowers the car window, the employee punches him out.
- Hidden Depths: In most episodes, Bev just seemed like an ordinary housewife. This episode shows us that she's surprisingly business-savvy.
- Inopportune Impersonation Failure: Exaggerated. Instead of Heffer and Filburt being found out by accident, they give themselves away by jumping out of the costume and yelling "Surprise!" because they didn't realize they had to stay disguised as Ed for the rest of the day.
- Moving Buildings: At the end, Bev takes the building for a vacation, driving the entire Conglom-O building as if it were an RV.
- Nose Nuggets: Bev notes Mr. Dupette picking his nose and suggests that he could improve productivity by not picking his nose all the time. Dupette agrees, and then has his assistant pick his nose for him. A later scene shows the board members having their noses picked by assistants.
- Out of Focus: Most of the episode focuses on Bev Bighead (and Heffer and Filburt to a lesser extent), while Rocko is reduced to a brief cameo.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: The Mr. Bighead costume Bev cooks up for Heffer and Filburt, made hastily out of cloth scraps, a toilet lid, and balloons for eyes. It actually fools the Conglom-O board, until they take it off and yell "Surprise!", not realizing they weren't supposed to let them know they weren't the real Ed.
- Reactive Continuous Scream: While pretending to be Ed's conscience, Heffer and Filburt pop the balloons on the costume. This causes Ed to scream, which leads Heff and Filb to scream as well.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Immediately after Bev considers having Heffer and Filburt dress up his Ed, she expresses her belief this isn't gonna work. Surprisingly, the ruse does work, but then Heffer and Filburt reveal their identities to Mr. Dupette.
- Toilet Humor: "Wee-wee!"
- Two Men, One Dress: Mr. Bighead is too sick to give a proposal to the Conglom-O executives, so Mrs. Bighead puts Heffer and Filburt in a hastily made Mr. Bighead costume so that they can give the proposal. The plan goes off without a hitch, until Heff and Fil, Comically Missing the Point, jump out of the costume to yell, "Surprise!". At the beginning, Filburt points out the absurdity of the plan by asking Mrs. Bighead, "Since when does Mr. Bighead have four legs?"
- Wingding Pupils: In one scene, Ed's eyeballs have analog TV static on them.
