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Recap / Tiny Toon Adventures S 2 E 9 Henny Youngman Day

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The ninth episode of the second season of Tiny Toon Adventures, and the seventy-fourth episode overall.

When Daffy Duck is sick, Henny Youngman becomes the substitute teacher. Henny bores the entire class (minus Hamton) to the point of them leaving him.

Short One: Stand-Up and Deliver"

Babs signs up for a comedy club, but is disappointed to find out that she's picked last. After all the shambles of performers play their parts, Red Rad Robin Kill'ems seems to best Babs, but in fact, saves her from certain doom when she gets stage fright.

Short Two: "The Potty Years"

A flashback to Plucky as a baby. Since he is almost three years old, his parents decide it is time to potty train him. At first, Baby Plucky is reluctant, but he becomes interested when he sees the water go down the hole as the toilet is flushed. He soon flushes various items down the toilet, clogging it up and creating a flood that leaks onto the floors.

Short Three: "Lame Joke"

Buster is disappointed when his joke (represented by a dying clown) is lame whenever he tries to tell it, but his friends eventually find out what is funny about it.

This episode provides examples of:

Overall:

  • Cobweb of Disuse: In the second wraparound, Buster is so bored from having to listen to Henny's one-liners that a spider forms a cobweb in between his ears.
  • Credits Gag - Top Four Henny Youngman "Savers" note 
  • Ink-Suit Actor: Henny Youngman voices his namesake in this episode.
  • Non-Indicative Name: Henny is actually a male rooster. Lampshaded by Babs:
    Babs: You know, I don't get it. Our sub's name is Henny Youngman, a hen's a female chicken, but he's a guy!
    Plucky: Maybe it's a hormone imbalance.
  • Only One Finds It Fun: Hamton is the only one who likes Henny's jokes, and as a result, he's the only student left in class by the episode's epilogue.
  • Overly Narrow Superlative: This exchange between Henny and Hamton in the second wraparound:
    Henny: People are always askin' me, "How do ya keep your act fresh?"
    Hamton: Practice!
    Henny: This kid's got more talent in his little finger than he does in his big finger.
  • Pun: The wraparounds are full of these.
    Henny: What do you think of Flushing, New York?
    Plucky: I think it's a good idea.
  • Rimshot: Gogo does these in the wraparounds, until he eventually gets sick of it and leaves.
  • Running Gag: Hamton yelling out "Practice!" as the punchline to all of Henny's jokes.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Every student except Hamton by the third act. Even Gogo Dodo gets sick of doing rimshots.
  • Sick Episode: Although he isn't seen in this episode, Daffy Duck is revealed to be sick, and Henny becomes his substitute.
  • Three Shorts

Stand-Up and Deliver:

  • Driven to Suicide: The male toons are so bored by the other comedians, that Plucky tries to drop himself into a tank of water with a ball and chain, Hamton tries to slice his head off in a guillotine, and Buster is tied to a rocket and holding a match.
  • Expy: Besides Robin Kill'ems being a caricature of Robin Williams, the other comedians include a squirrel caricature of Emo Phillips, a cockroach caricature of Andrew "Dice" Clay, and a walrus caricature of Louie Anderson.
  • Expy Coexistence: This short features Red Rad Robin Kill-em's, a parody of Robin Williams. The previous episode, "Buster and Babs Go Hawaiian" had the actual Robin Williams appear at the gate of the Warner Bros. studio, dressed like Peter Pan from the 1991 Spielberg film, Hook.
  • Oh, Crap!: Robin Kill'ems upon realizing that, contrary to what he was told by the club, he wasn't the night's last performer and now Babs has Performance Anxiety because she has to follow him.
  • Performance Anxiety: Happens to Babs when she realizes she has to go on stage after the immensely popular Robin Killems.
  • Shaped Like Itself: This line from the Louie Anderson Walrus:
    "I'm so fat, I'm... fat!"
  • Shout-Out: At the beginning of the episode, Babs' impressions include Robin Leech, Quasimodo, and the Energizer Bunny.

The Potty Years:

  • Fun with Flushing: Baby Plucky gets a lot of enjoyment from flushing various items down the toilet, such as toilet paper, Furrball, his toys, even his own diaper! He even climbed into it himself and tried to flush himself down the hole! The toilet gets clogged up as a result.
  • Here We Go Again!: At the end of the short, Plucky is his normal age, but he's still wearing a diaper and flushing the toilet, much to his father's annoyance.
    Plucky's Father: Plucky?!
    Plucky: I wanna flush it again! I wanna flush it again! I WANNA FLUSH IT AGAIN!
  • Oh, Crap!: Baby Plucky when he realizes his parents are coming up to check on him, knowing he'll be in a lot of trouble if they see the state of the flooded bathroom.
  • Shout-Out: The short's title and Plucky's opening narration is one to The Wonder Years.
  • Spinoff Babies: This is the first of three shorts that focuses on an infant version of Plucky Duck.
  • Toilet-Drinking Dog Gag: Midway through the short, Byron Basset comes into the bathroom and drinks out of the toilet. He then licks Baby Plucky afterwards, much to the latter's disgust.
    Baby Plucky: Ewww...
  • Toilet Training Plot: Mr. and Mrs. Duck attempt to potty-train Baby Plucky in this short. Baby Plucky shows more interest in flushing various items down the toilet than using it for its intended purposes.

Lame Joke:

  • Credits Gag: Nicholas Hollander and Sherri Stoner are credited as "Shecky Hollander" and "Boom-Boom Stoner", respectively.
  • Disney Acid Sequence: Buster finds himself in a crazy whirlpool where he's surrounded by floating heads of Babs, Hamton, Plucky, and Youngman.
    Babs: Yoooooooou kiiiiiiiiillllleeeeeeed hiiiiiiiiimmmmm...
    Hamton: Huuuuuuummmmmoooooorrrr hooooommmmmiiiiiccccciiiiiiiddddeeeeee...
    Plucky: Yoooouuuuuu'rrrrrrre the Freddy Krueger of cooooooommmmeeeeedyyyyyy...
    Youngman: Somebody call the Maytag man, this whirlpool is killin' me!
  • Expy: A chimpanzee caricature of George Burns is shown when Buster's joke dies.
  • Flatline: The Lame Joke flatlines from the terminal illness that is caused by Buster's unlaughable lame joke. As a result, Henny delivers this one in the form of Good News, Bad News.
  • Good News, Bad News: This exchange from Henny when Buster's joke dies:
    Henny: I've got good news and bad news. The good news is, your joke died, the bad news is, who cares?
    George Burns: Your delivery stinks! Anyway, you told it wrong.
  • Hollywood Heart Attack: The Lame Joke suffers one after Buster told his friends a bad joke that can't make them laugh, then collapses and slowly dies.
  • Premature Eulogy: Doubly subverted when, after Buster finishes the eulogy, and he and his friends say goodbye to the dead Lame Joke, he suddenly recalls his lame joke that didn't make them laugh before but now makes them laugh with a little bit of reasoning... and brings the Lame Joke Back from the Dead.
  • Rule of Three:
    • A clown runs by in the background three times. After the third and final time near the end of the short, Babs dryly explains he's "a Running Gag".
    • The plot of this short is about Buster's quest to revive a joke he's driven into the ground (represented by a dying clown). The joke has this trope too: "A duck, a rabbit, and a pig go to a restaurant..." note 
  • Running Gag: Played literally; throughout the short, a clown runs past the characters.
  • Shout-Out: When calling 911, Babs, Plucky, and Hamton do it to the tune of The Three Stooges' "Hello" routine.
  • Visual Pun: Buster's Lame Joke is represented by a sick clown on crutches.

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