The first episode of the fourth season of Rocko's Modern Life.
With Friends Like These
Rocko finds himself caught between his two best buddies when he wins two tickets to a big wrestling match.
Sailing the 7 Zzz's
An unearthed childhood trauma causes Mr. Bighead to sleep-walk and act like a pirate.
"With Friends Like These" provides examples of:
- Amusing Injuries: Rocko suffers these when he, while still handcuffed to both Heffer and Filburt, continuously slams into every object between his bickering friends, who are so busy arguing they fail to notice the physical pain they're putting their friend through.
- Black Comedy: When Heffer and Filburt are competing with each other to get Rocko's attention on his way to work, Heffer gets Rocko to stop in front of a movie theater to recall a time they saw a movie there together. But Filburt blows up the entire theater, presumably killing everybody inside, just to divert Rocko's attention away from Heffer.
- Chained Heat: Both Heffer and Filburt handcuff themselves to Rocko as a desperate last bid to get the extra ticket.
- Continuity Nod: During their argument about who's Rocko's better friend, Heffer tells Filburt that he invited Rocko to his house for dinner to meet his family, referencing the events of "Who's For Dinner?". Filburt retaliates by saying he was married to him, referencing the events of "Kiss Me, I'm Foreign".
- Genre Savvy: Rocko instantly figures out Heffer and Filburt are trying to butter him up for the tickets, and bluntly tells them to cut it out, eventually deciding neither of them will get the tickets because of their antics.
- Here We Go Again!: The episode ends with Heffer and Filburt getting into another feud over Rocko and two tickets.
- Irony: Filburt and Heffer both have a feud about who the better friend is as they drag Rocko on the way to the match, causing him to suffer numerous Amusing Injuries. And they don't even notice!
- Just One Extra Ticket: In this episode, Rocko wins two tickets to a wrestling event, and Heffer and Filburt compete over who will get the second ticket. Rocko is eventually fed up and decides to go by himself, but they don't listen. They take things too far by handcuffing themselves to Rocko as he is on his way to the arena. Brought to the edge of madness, Rocko tears the tickets into little pieces under the delusion that they can all attend. With no tickets to enter, his friends take him back home.
- Madness Mantra:Heffer: You hear that, Filb? It's ringing. Ringing. Ringing. Ringing. Ringing....
- Platonic Declaration of Love: Filburt and Heffer try to get into Rocko's good graces by telling him that they love him. It doesn't work.
- Radio Contest: The wrestling tickets were being given away on the radio, looking for the 92nd caller. Filburt and Heffer try to rig the system with multiple telephones; Rocko wins by dialing a wrong number, looking to order a pizza.
- Sanity Slippage: By the time they reach the stadium, Rocko snaps after all the abuse Heffer and Filburt unknowingly put him through.Rocko: Let me see now. Where did I put those tickets? Where did I put them? Oh, here are the tickets. Here they are, I found them. I found them (starts ripping them up) here are the tickets, here they are! (throws the shreds in Heffer's face) HERE'S A TICKET FOR YOU!!! (throws the shreds in Filburt's face) AND A TICKET FOR YOU!!!! (throws the shreds in the air) AND TICKETS FOR EVERYBODY!!! NOW WE CAN ALL GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! (short circuits)
- Serious Business: Pro wrestling is so serious that Rocko, Heffer and Filbert are all driven to the brink of madness.
- With Friends Like These...: It's right there in the title! Heffer and Filburt put poor Rocko through hell trying to prove which of them was his "best" friend.
"Sailing the 7 Zzz's" provides examples of:
- Berserk Board Barricade: Rocko tries setting one up to keep Ed out. It's immediately broken down by Heffer and Filburt coming through the door.
- Borrowed Catchphrase: Rocko does Dr. Hutchinson's "'Kay?", complete with head tilt.
- Chekhov's Gun: The squeaky monkey seems to provide a portion of the episode’s comedy, but comes in handy with snapping out Ed later.
- A Pirate 400 Years Too Late: Mr. Bighead sleepwalks and acts out dreams of being a pirate, brought on by going to see a play about pirates with Bev, and thinking back to his first instance of stage fright while performing in the very same play back in grade school.
- School Play: As a child, Ed Bighead was in a school play about pirates. He totally froze up when it came time to sing a song, then started crying from anxiety.
- Sleepwalking: Ed starts playing pirate in his sleep, driving Rocko crazy.
- Stating the Simple Solution: When Rocko rants about his situation with Ed attacking him over a treasure map, Heffer innocently asks, "Why don't you just give him his map?" inspiring Rocko to make a map to give Ed.
- Through the Eyes of Madness: We are frequently shown what exactly Ed is seeing the world as whenever he's sleepwalking.
- What the Hell Is That Accent?: Heffer starts going into a vaguely Swedish accent when playing pirate which prompts this reaction from Ed.
