Recap / Sam And Max Freelance Police Episode 102 Situation Comedy

Myra Stump — a television talk show host — has taken her audience hostage and is giving them gifts against their will. Sam and Max are called to defuse the situation and stop the gift madness.

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Tropes:

• Acid Pool: On the Embarrassing Idol set, somehow combined with a Shark Pool.
  Sam: Why is there a pit of acid in the floor?
  Director: To make the show seem more exciting.
  Max: Does it work?
  Director: Only if someone falls in.
• Blah, Blah, Blah: On two occasions. First is during Midtown Cowboys, where Philo will mouth off in this manner during occasions the player needs to manipulate the set. Second is during Myra! where the titular character will go off on a long tangent and devolve into this. Unlike Philo, she will do it indefinitely until you interrupt it.
• Classically-Trained Extra: Philo Pennyworth, a talking chicken who plays the landlord Mr. Featherly on Midtown Cowboys.
• Colon Cancer: Sam & Max: Season One: Episode Two: Situation: Comedy.
• Cooking Show: Cooking Without Looking, a live cooking show aimed at bachelors using no natural ingredients whatsoever.
• Developer's Foresight: After Sam swaps Hugh's questions with Peepers' song lyrics, there are two ways he can win on Who's Never Going To Be A Millionaire: First, he can not ask Hugh to change his skin color (or have him turn red or green) and reply to "Am I blue?" with "No, Hugh, you're not". Second, he can have Hugh change his skin color to blue and respond with "Yes, you are."
• Fake Nationality: Two In-Universe Examples: Bosco, an African-American man, adopts a fake British Accent as part of his "Lord Rumplebottom" persona. Philo, a chicken who naturally speaks with a posh British accent, plays the American landlord Mr. Featherly with a voice similar to Don Knotts.
• Forgotten Birthday: Whizzer is vocally upset about the fact that Specs forgot his Birthday... in spite of the fact that the Soda Poppers are triplets.
• Foreshadowing: A picture with Hugh Bliss is needed to be submitted to the Alien Love Triangle Times.
• Glass-Shattering Sound: Sam's voice after the voice modulator — aka a helium balloon connected to an inhaler and a crazy straw — can shatter glass. This becomes pivotal in the final puzzle.
• Helium Speech: Bosco's "voice modulator" involves using a helium balloon to give Sam a high, squeaky voice so he can hit high notes better.
• Homemade Inventions: Bosco's "Chemical-Based Voice Modulator," AKA a helium balloon strapped to an inhaler.
• Laugh Track: Canned laughter plays during the recording of Midtown Cowboys.
• Lurid Tales of Doom: The Alien Love Triangle Times paper that Sybil has created.
• A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read: If you have Hugh Bliss read Max's mind, Hugh's response to whatever Max is thinking about is a disapproving "Oh my, that's unspeakably depraved!"
• Monster of the Week: Myra Stump, a bossy daytime talk show host who's holding her audience and guests captive.
• New Job as the Plot Demands: Sybil has quit psychotherapy to become a tabloid writer/publisher.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed:
  • Myra Stump is an exaggerated parody of daytime talk show hosts, most specifically Oprah Winfrey.
  • Embarrassing Idol and Who's Never Going to be a Millionaire? are obvious parodies of American Idol and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
• Offscreen Reality Warp: The station director does this constantly, in order to single-handedly produce every single show at WARP Studios (aside from Myra!). These range from simply warping from room to room to constructing an elaborate set for Embarrassing Idol.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Bosco, in a fit of paranoia, has donned a bowler hat, fake moustache and fake English accent to disguise himself as "Lord Reginald Rumplebottom, Earl of Dukedom, The Third."
• Plot Allergy: Whizzer just happens to be allergic to tomatoes, as they give him nasty diarrhea. Sam exploits this by tricking him into eating a cake covered in "red frosting" that's actually tomato ketchup.
• Product Placement: In-universe, Max has to appease the sponsors by working the line "Better get the Serious Toothpaste!" into the dialogue. He gets his chance when Sam tricks Mr. Featherly into eating a cow pie.
• Script Swap: In order to win at Who's Never Going to Be A Millionaire?, you have to swap out Hugh Bliss's impossible questions with the lyrics to Peepers' song for Embarrassing Idol, which just happen to be questions ("Am I blue? Who are you? Can I fly?")
• Separated by a Common Language: Bosco's sudden adoption of a British accent leads to this exchange:
  Max: Sam, what language is he speaking?
  Sam: I don't know, little buddy, but I think it might be... English.
  Max: (gasps)
• Shock and Awe: The final Puzzle Boss culminates in this, using a water puddle and a sparking wireless microphone to knock out Myra Stump.
• Subverted Catchphrase: After you trick Whizzer into eating tomatoes, he gets a nasty attack of indigestion and cries out "Time out for number TWOOOOO!"
• Tabloid Melodrama: One of the Three Trials to get on Myra! involves getting Sam and Max implicated in a juicy scandal.
• Third Act Stupidity: The final puzzle would be so much easier if Sam and Max can just leave their seats to knock Myra unconscious, but Myra's force of personality means Sam can't bring himself to break the social convention of a talk show, and Max would rather talk about himself at length.
• The Three Trials: You must get three pieces of proof that you are famous before the Freelance Police can enter Myra Stump's show as guests: a tape of them starring in a hit TV show, a recording contract, and proof of being involved in a juicy scandal.
• Unexpectedly Obscure Answer: The questions on "Who's Never Going to Be A Millionaire" are all impossibly complex questions to ensure that no one wins.
• Visual Pun: In Midtown Cowboys, the landlord literally eats shit.

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