Learning Town is a comedy series starring musical comedy duo Paul And Storm, which premiered on Felicia Day's Geek & Sundry Youtube channel in early 2013.
The children's show Learning Town has been on the air for several decades as the series begins. Paul and Storm are invited as guests, but before the episode can get off the ground, the show's longtime host Learning Larry passes away. Storm, who remembers the joy the show gave him as a child, wishes the show to continue.
Paul and Storm end up taking over Learning Town as the new hosts, but things go wrong pretty quickly. While Storm wants to put on a good show that makes learning fun in the spirit of the original series, Paul would rather use the show as an advertisement for their CDs and merchandise. Meanwhile, one of the puppets on the show is extremely accident-prone, catching fire or suffering other catastrophes on a regular basis.
Enter Cookie Tuesdays, who defects from the rival edutainment show Hikky Burr to become the new producer of Learning Town. She is there to make sure Paul and Storm get on the same page, even if she has to spray them with a fire extinguisher several times to do it. Can Paul and Storm, with the help of Cookie and the puppeteer Teddy, save the show? Hilarity ensues.
This show contains examples of:
- Affectionate Parody: Of several artists, musical styles, and children's entertainment.
- Broken Pedestal: Storm learns how much of an asshole Learning Larry was (compared to modern values at least) in a dream sequence.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: The original Princess Wand-a qualifies, in her present day appearances.
- Hidden Depths: Parodied with Teddy in Episode 8. His hidden talents involve making well-done compromises between Paul, Storm, and Cookie's visions, and beatbox hand farting.
- Lyrical Dissonance: "No Sirree", definitely.
- Metaphorgotten: Lampshaded in "Without You (My Right Hand)".
- Mood Whiplash: The season finale of the first season has it. They perform a heartwarming song about friendship which gets the entire cast and crew all cheerful and upbeat only for Cookie to bring the mood down by telling them the network's not renewing them.
- Musical World Hypotheses: The songs performed on the sets of Learning Town and Hikky Burr are Diagetic, as is 'Baby Come Back'. Meanwhile, 'A Princess Ought To Be' is Adaptation Hypothesis. 'Just Ain't Good Enough' is clearly All In Their Heads since it's Cookie's inner voices (manifesting as three clones of herself dressed in gold sequins) singing to her. 'Without You (My Right Hand)' is probably All In Their Heads since the puppets from the show appear at Paul and Storm's houses to sing backup with no explanation.
- Only Sane Employee: Cookie Tuesdays is this for the most part.
- Passing The Fire Extinguisher: Cookie does this to Teddy when he shows that he's great at keeping Paul and Storm in line.
- Plot-Triggering Death: Learning Larry.
- Posthumous Character: Learning Larry's death, as stated above, sets the events of the series in motion. He is then seen often in flashbacks and dream sequences, and his ghost appears in the first season finale.
- Sausage String Silliness: Sausage Party.
- Sequel Hook: After Learning Town is cancelled, Cookie suggests renewing the show's license with the network through a web series release.
- Spin-Off: The Puppet Actor segments featuring the puppet chorus (background characters in the main show) probably qualifies.
- Troubled Production: In-universe. The whole first season, if not the entire show, revolves around this trope.
