If the Shoes Fit...
Outlandish and over-the-top gubernatorial candidate Bo Gumbs (Dick Shawn) checks into a hotel while preparing for his latest speech. While there, he tells the strange hotel staff, consisting of Peter the bellhop and Marilyn "Mimi" the maid (John Zarchen and Catherine Hayes), that he views politics purely as entertainment, focusing simply on making people happy while avoiding tackling any actual issues. Overtime, Bo starts being subjected to various gags, hears music that belongs under the big top, and is fitted into a comically-oversized version of his campaign suit, almost as if he's being forced to reveal his true self to the populace.
Tropes:
- Almighty Janitor: Peter and Mimi are a literal sense of the trope, as they're hotel staff who possess seemingly omnipotent powers to screw with Bo.
- Ambiguously Human: Peter and Mimi, who seem to know all about Bo and provide the magic outfit that turns him into a clown. They can also teleport, and they're seen donning clown makeup and performing with him in the ending, hinting that they're some type of omnipotent beings that have spent the entire episode screwing with him for their own amusement.
- Becoming the Mask: After spending the whole episode behaving like a clown, Bo is physically transformed into a clown and forced to perform at a circus, though it's hinted that this may be a case of Through the Eyes of Madness.
- Clownification: The basic premise of the episode, as the wacky and enigmatic Bo is dolled up in greasepaint and a baggy suit, revealing his true self to his followers.
- Cool Old Guy: Bo spends the episode parading about like a joker, showing that he's perpetually happy and hopes to get the voters just as happy to get elected. It's later deconstructed because he places leaving people feeling good as much more important than actually solving the world's problems.
- Corrupt Politician: It's simultaneously downplayed and Played for Laughs with Bo and his political philosophy. He establishes early on that he wants to be governor, but he dedicates himself making people smile and laugh to get himself elected, refusing to take the initiative to solve the actual problems plaguing the state because he genuinely believes people don't care about such issues anymore.
- Creepy Circus Music: Bo starts hearing a circus tune playing throughout his head. While it actually sounds pretty pleasant, it's largely creepy because only he can hear it.
- Denser and Wackier: One of the most bizarre episodes of the series, as Bo is slowly turned into a clown by being fitted in a wacky outfit and being subjected to various clown gags. Bo himself even lampshades how ridiculous the whole thing gets in the second act.
- Gainax Ending: The episode ends with Bo turning into a clown, performing in a circus, and telling the viewing audience that they're "Gonna have a good time!" before driving away in a clown car. It's likely that he's just gone insane from his experience and succumbed to his own delusions, and this is just his POV while he's giving the speech he was meant to give.
- Happy Ending: It's one thing that Bo was turned into a clown for treating politics like a circus. But it's another thing when (assuming he hasn't succumbed to insanity) he takes his new role in stride, entertaining the idea he might like being an actual clown more than being governor.
- Hell Hotel: Bo calls his campaign manager Louie to complain about the hotel, claiming that it's eerie and has no people. It gets worse when the staff on-duty are omnipotent beings who turn him into what he truly is.
- Ignored Aesop: Bo's transformation is meant to teach him a lesson, but he gradually enjoys being a tried and true clown.
- Invisible to Normals: Bo is the only one who can see that he's being turned into a clown, as his manager Louie thinks he's drunk.
- Ironic Echo: Bo's campaigning material calls him "The Happy Candidate". Come the end of the episode, he's turned into a clown that’s seemingly perpetually happy. He also lives up to what he said to Peter about people wanting to "have a good time" in the process.
- Karma Houdini: Assuming that they were doing what they were doing For the Evulz, Peter and Mimi don't receive any comeuppance for making Bo go insane.
- Large Ham: Bo Gumbs. Played by comedian/character actor Dick Shawn, he spends all of his screen time acting like a complete and utter buffoon to everyone he meets. It gets to the point when the mysterious hotel staff physically transform him into a clown because of how cartoonish he is... and also as an ironic punishment for his treating politics like a circus.
- Meaningful Name: Our unlucky candidate-turned-clown's name is Bo. As in, "Bozo".
- Non-Ironic Clown: Bo's final fate of turning into a literal clown starts off this way, but he gradually grows to like it.
- Offscreen Teleportation: Peter and Mimi are capable of it, to show that they're possibly more than human.
- The Pratfall: Gumbs commits numerous pratfalls as he tries to take off the huge shoes he's been put into, which continue when his campaign manager walks in on him.
- Riddle for the Ages: What exactly are Peter and Mimi, and how do they do what they do to Bo?
- Shoe Size Angst: Bo isn't at all happy with the huge shoes Peter puts on him, since he already looks enough like a laughingstock.
- Squirting Flower Gag: Peter places a squirting flower in the buttonhole of Bo's new extra-large suit. Right after that, a spring-loaded snake pops out of his phone.
- Take That!: The entire episode is one towards politicians, dedicated to comparing them to clowns for how outlandish they act and the looney things they promise the populace.
- Through the Eyes of Madness: No one else can see Bo's new outfit or hear the circus music he claims to be hearing, resulting in his campaign manager thinking he's drunk. By the end of the episode, he's forcibly turned into a clown and performing in a circus. It's implied that by this point, he's giving the speech he was supposed to give at the beginning of the episode, but has gone mad and succumbed to his delusions about being a clown.
- V-Sign: Bo gives it on his campaign fliers.
