Airdate: Monday, August 7, 2006
Sender: Jonathan Shaheen
Ontario, Canada
Strong Bad: (singing) When email comes to town, you know, you know, it's like a rainstorm... in your browser!
Jonathan Shaheen of "On-ta-Rio, Can-a-Dah" ("Ooh, a little 'south of the border' flavor...") thinks Strong Bad's email show would be "a whole lot cooler" with a theme song. Strong Bad retorts that Jonathan would be "a whole lot cooler" if his face had not-tons of acne, and proceeds to dismiss theme songs as "an excuse for show-makers to make less show".
Strong Bad demonstrates with a series of mock opening sequences: the first shows a goofy Expository Theme Tune featuring the Brothers Strong, The Cheat, and Homestar.
Strong Bad is a wrestle-man
He's the email-checkin'-est guy in the land!
He checks real emails from the 'Net
He's got two brothers, and The Cheat, his pet!
(The Cheat, his pet!)
There's nobody dumber
Than Homestar Runner
On "The Strong Bad Email Show"!
Strong Bad: ...and the ratings have gone through the roof.
He's the email-checkin'-est guy in the land!
He checks real emails from the 'Net
He's got two brothers, and The Cheat, his pet!
(The Cheat, his pet!)
There's nobody dumber
Than Homestar Runner
On "The Strong Bad Email Show"!
Strong Bad: ...and the ratings have gone through the roof.
The second is a string of cliches from 80s sitcoms set to a "life-affirming pop-ballad type theme song, probably sung by some variety of Neville", accompanied by clips from "the unaired pilot that you'll never see":
You and me, babe, livin' for dreams,
Lifin' for love, drinkin' for free.
Sittin' on top of an old robot
Sharin' and carin' it out
The memory's scrubbin' you down!
Memory scrubbin' you down!
Lifin' for love, drinkin' for free.
Sittin' on top of an old robot
Sharin' and carin' it out
The memory's scrubbin' you down!
Memory scrubbin' you down!
The rest of the e-mail is mostly spent ragging on the trend of cutting to commercials right after the opening sequence of the show (including an advertisement for CGNU's Online E-niversity) and making fun of Credits Pushback.
Strong Bad: You see, Sha-heen? You're basically asking me to dedicate two minutes of my 3-to-5-minute email show, to what is essentially a commercial for something you're already watching! And besides, I give you people a new SBemail song every freakin' week. Allow me to leave you with the old standard "When Email Comes to Town, You Know, You Know, It's Like a Rainstorm... In Your Browser": When e-mail comes to town, you know, you know, it's like a rainstorm... in your browser!
(The Paper comes down.)
(The Paper comes down.)
The cartoon ends with a series of parody credits... that are pushed back to make way for a preview of Powered By The Cheat.
Tropes:
- AcCENT upon the Wrong SylLABle: Strong Bad pronounces "Ontario, Canada" in a Latin way ("Onta-ri-o, Cana-da"), prompting him to comment that it has "a bit of 'south of the border' flavor".
- Audible Gleam: There's a flash and an audible gleam every time Strong Bad says the e-mailer's last name. "Sha-heen!"
- Bait-and-Switch Credits: One mock-credits sequence plays a "life-affirming pop-ballad type theme song" that clashes with the tone of the usual Strong Bad Email, and also shows scenes not shown in any of the cartoons from the site. Lampshaded by Strong Bad claiming "The best clips they show are from the un-aired pilot that you'll never see."
- Book Ends: The email opens and closes with Strong Bad singing an e-mail song.
- Continuity Nod:
- One of the colleges mentioned in the CGNU E-niversity ad is Homestar's Knees Tech.
- The credits at the end name Sid Hoffrenchman as the "Script Supervisor" for the Strong Bad Email Show.
- Credits Gag: The e-mail features at least two mock-credits sequences, with positions such as "Key Boy", "Best Grip", and "Playa Hata".
- Credits Pushback: Parodied; a mock end-credits sequence featuring a "jazzy instrumental version" of the "life-affirming pop-ballad theme song" is interrupted by a commercial for a sitcom and a bumper for Cheat Commandos.Strong Bad: And on the off-chance that you actually wanted to hear the theme song... we've taken care of that, too.
- Expository Theme Song: Parodied. "I'm sure viewership would triple if I had one of those crappy cartoon theme songs that bludgeons you over the head with the blunt end of the show's premise."
- Extreme Omnivore: During the first sequence for "The Strong Bad Email Show", Homestar Runner is shown eating a light-bulb sandwich.
- Hilarity Ensues: From the mock credits at the end of the e-mail.Announcer: Next up on Powered By the Cheat, Strong Mad gets his own talk show, and his first guest is hilarity!"
- Impossible Shadow Puppets: The "Some Variety of Neville" theme song features Strong Bad using his boxing-glove hands to make a Trogdor shadow puppet that appears to breathe fire and smoke.
- Odd Name Out: The main characters of Three is 4 Tonite are Mandy, Brandy, Andy, and Scurge.
- Parody Commercial: The second credits sequence features an ad for CGNU's Online E-Niversity, as well as a bit of another commercial featuring the sighing bald man from "Senor Mortgage" and "Senorial Day".
- Shoehorned First Letter: From the commercial for CGNU E-niversity.Announcer: Enroll now, and join the e-niversity e-volution e-day... Uh, well, today. That last one didn't quite work out.
- Shout-Out:
- The "life-affirming pop-ballad" credits list the Cheat as "The Cheat Baxter-Birney", which is how Meredith Baxter was credited in the opening credits of Family Ties. The font used during said song is also similar to that show's opening. Strong Bad notes that said life-affirming ballad will usually be sung by "some variety of Neville", in reference to The Neville Brothers
. - Also during said credits Strong Bad at one point flings paper while he’s typing on the Lappy, a reference to the Stephen J. Cannell Vanity Plate.
- The Cheat Commandos are described as "They're tiny, they're toony, they're all a little loony!" — a line several continuity announcers would use to introduce Tiny Toon Adventures
- The closing credits feature Strong Bad doing a stand-up routine, much like Seinfeld.
- One of the degrees offered at CGNU e-Niversity is "Escrow Understandment" — one of the powers of recurring Saturday Night Live character Middle-Aged Man.
- The "life-affirming pop-ballad" credits list the Cheat as "The Cheat Baxter-Birney", which is how Meredith Baxter was credited in the opening credits of Family Ties. The font used during said song is also similar to that show's opening. Strong Bad notes that said life-affirming ballad will usually be sung by "some variety of Neville", in reference to The Neville Brothers
- Take That!: Strong Bad takes the chance to poke fun at a number of Theme Tune cliches in this email.
- Theme Tune Roll Call: During the first theme song for "The Strong Bad Email Show":He checks real e-mails from the 'net
He's got two brothers, and The Cheat, his pet! - Word Salad Lyrics: The "life-affirming pop-ballad type theme song" has rather silly lyrics like "Sittin' on top of an old robot / Sharing and caring it out".
Announcer: Next up on Powered By the Cheat, Strong Mad gets his own talk show, and his first guest is hilarity!"
