Airdate: Monday, February 4, 2008
Sender: Sarah, QLD
Sarah from "Quick, Look Down" asks if The Cheat has ever been entered in a pet show, and also accidentally warns Strong Bad against Homestar trying to give him "the ol' relish foot". As it turns out, Strong Bad has been prepping The Cheat (AKA Saberlord's Scritchascratch Cakemonger The Cheat) for this year's Cat Mess Inbredtational Pet Show.
After a montage that involves vigorous grooming (including a rub-down with glazed donuts) and vigorous answering of test questions, The Cheat is ready to face some stiff competition in the hotly-contested Best of Sheen category: Pom Pom with his dog/cookie jar Trivia Time, the King of Town with an As Seen on TV Low-Fat Cooking Device, and Marzipan with "Fluffle's Buffles Scruffle's Truffles Homestar Runner".
The Cheat proceeds to do what he does best and cheat like crazy: busting up Trivia Time, chewing on the Cooking Device's cord, and putting "puke drops" in one judge's water. Finally, it's time for the final scores: Pom Pom and Trivia Time get 3.5 ("Good GPA, terrible pet show score!''), The King of Town and the Low-Fat Cooking Device get told they're "Not Supposed To Be Here!", Marzipan and Homestar get a respectable 8.5, and Strong Bad and The Cheat... get disqualified. Not because of The Cheat's cheating, but for "flagrant use of relish foot". Much to Strong Bad's annoyance, the Best in Sheen Trophy goes to Homestar.
(The Cheat smacks Homestar in the face with the head of a toy spaceship. Cut back to the Lappy.)
Strong Bad: Don't worry, we're currently appealing the decision of the judges. We're also currently a-peeling... POTATOES! (leaps into a pile of potatoes as a snippet of salsa music plays. New Paper comes down.)
Tropes:
- Bait-and-Switch: One of the judges, Madame Bodewell, has it in for Strong Bad and company "Just 'cuz you peed on her dress that one time." Strong Bad seems to be addressing The Cheat, but it's Strong Mad who apologizes for that incident.
- Chatty Hairdresser: Strong Sad talks gossip while grooming The Cheat for the pet show.
- Chekhov's Gag: Homestar's sudden obsession with giving Strong Bad a "relish foot" at the beginning comes back at the pet show, getting The Cheat disqualified.
- Compressed Vice: Despite Strong Bad's claim that "Homestar's always trying to give me the ol' relish foot," this is the first time we've seen it.
- Distracted by the Sexy: During The Cheat's cheating montage, he uses a poster of a hot girl to distract Pom-Pom.
- Feghoot: Invoked; Strong Bad ends the email on a bad pun to try and distract the audience from the fact he and The Cheat lost the pet show.
- Framing the Guilty Party: Strong Bad decides that The Cheat needs to cheat at the pet show to ensure victory. They don't get caught, but end up getting disqualified anyway for the "flagrant use of relish-foot" that Homestar sneakily applied to Strong Bad.
- Hilarious Outtakes: An Easter egg shows alternate takes on how Strong Bad could have misinterpreted "QLD".
- Orphaned Punchline: The Cheat answers one of the practice questions Strong Bad gives him with "With a rusty fork and a guitar string."
- Overly Long Name: The Cheat's pet show name is "Saberlord's Scritchascratch Cakemonger The Cheat" while Homestar's is "Fluffle's Buffles Scruffle's Truffles Homestar Runner".
- Pet Contest Episode: This email revolves around The Cheat trying to win "Best in Sheen" at the Cat Mess Inbredtational Pet Show.
- Running Gag: Characters rattling off strings of synonyms whenever they use a metaphor.Homestar: Oh, man, Marzipan. We're gonna clean house this year. We're gonna clean apartment! We're gonna clean dorm room! We're gonna clean time share!
- Shout-Out:
- Strong Bad says "The Cheat has papers."
- The Cheat uses the head from a Milton Bradley Starbird
toy spaceship as a blunt instrument. - The floppy disc visible on Strong Bad's desk is labeled "monkey island" after the video game series of the same name.
- Stage Mom: The King of Town acts like an overbearing, abusive stage parent when he and the Low-Fat Cooking Device get disqualified.King Of Town: I told you you'd never amount to anything! I'm not even your real father!
- Tampering with Food and Drink: The Cheat puts some "puke drops" into judge Madame Bodewell's glass of water.
- Writing Around Trademarks: The King of Town's entry in the pet show is an As Seen on TV Low-Fat Cooking Device, an obvious take on the George Foreman Grilling Machine.
The Cheat: (peeling a potato, in full pet show garb) (affirmative The Cheat noises)
Strong Bad: Man, is there anything potatoes can't do?
Old-Timey Strong Bad: Yesss, good show, The Sneak! You've got more infectious diseases than any other vermin here!
