"I need ketchup for my eggs, Rolfy-boy!"
Tired of Ed putting up with Sarah, especially after she ruins his swami fortuneteller scam, Eddy convinces Ed to move out of his house and puts him up at Rolf's place. Rolf enjoys his new boarder at first, but only when it's too late does he realize that guests, like fish, start to smell after 3 days.
"Rambling Ed" contains examples of:
- Actually Pretty Funny: Eddy snickers after Ed gets in trouble for leaving a stinky sock in Sarah's room.
- An Aesop: Being a good host is one thing, but when the guest is taking advantage of you, you have to put your foot down.
- Astonishingly Appropriate Interruption: When Eddy is complaining about Ed's slack-jawed obedience to Sarah.Eddy: Ed should tell her to just—
Sarah: Hit the road, flathead! - Battle Strip: Rolf rips off his shirt in anger right before he attacks the Eds in his shed.
- Big Eater: The Eds clean out Rolf's fridge for dinner, and they don't even bother cleaning up the huge mess of dirty plates they made from eating.
- Bookends: The episode begins with Eddy imitating a swami as part of a scam, and ends with Rolf in the swami role while commanding the Eds to do his work. Also, Eddy convinced Ed to move out so he wouldn't have to be bossed around by Sarah anymore, but now all three Eds have to take orders from Rolf, only this time it's well deserved.
- Brick Joke: After Eddy sarcastically asks Ed if he would let Sarah humiliate him, he responds by saying he had socks on, implying the sock in Sarah's room was one of the ones he supposedly wore and misplaced.
- Butt-Monkey: Rolf, considering the Eds deprive him of all his food and privacy and even do some damage to his house.
- Call-Back: Eddy takes another shot at making omelets after "Who, What, Where, Ed?" This time, he manages to get the egg into the pan, but nearly burns down Rolf's kitchen as a result.
- Captain Oblivious: Rolf fails to hear or notice the Eds eating all his food in the kitchen.
- Captain Obvious: A lot of Rolf's complaints about the Eds squatting at his place are quite understated, such as "A burden has been placed on Rolf" and "Ed-boys try me at every turn!"
- Cheesy Moon: Rolf remarks "The moon resembles half-eaten cheese".
- Comically Missing the Point: Quite a few:
- After Eddy sarcastically asks Ed if Sarah told him to stand around naked with a rock tied to his head and waiting for photos of him to develop so the other kids can see them, Ed responds that he did have socks on.
- When Rolf confronts Ed ask by asking why is he in the tub of food spoils, Ed oblivious to Rolf's anger claims he is hot tubbing. Similarly Eddy is oblivious to Rolf's sarcasm when the latter asks if he likes to be lazy on Rolf's stump.
- When Rolf appears in his tipped over shed, clearly seething with rage, Double D is the only one who seems to recognize this, and asks in a frightened tone if Rolf is okay and has a massive Oh, Crap! face when Rolf attacks them. Ed simply tells Rolf "Wipe your feet please." when he enters the shed and stares blankly when he charges at them, and Eddy just says a confused "What'd he say?" when he shouts one of his usual Unusual Euphemisms at them
- Distant Reaction Shot: The other kids do these in response to the Skyward Scream below, including Kevin, who crashes into a fire hydrant and falls off his bike while he's distracted by the scream.
- Early-Installment Weirdness:
- This was one of the many early episodes that portrayed Double D as being every bit as jerkish as Eddy and Ed have the potential to be—he joins them in taking blatant advantage of Rolf's hospitality, messes with Rolf's stuff just for the sake of his science experiments (though unlike Eddy and Ed, he at least has the decency to apologize for that one, although very passively), assists Eddy and Ed in stealing Rolf's food, allows Eddy to more or less lock Rolf out of his own bedroom just so that they have a place to sleep and has fun tipping the shed with Ed and Eddy.
- Another example of this is Eddy being a Nice Guy and helping Ed move out and get away from his bossy sister without any self-serving motives. While Eddy was pissed that Sarah ruined his scam, it's worth noting that he doesn't confront Ed about this until he sees the overly long list of chores Sarah gives him.
- Hit Flash: Occurs when Rolf ambushes the Eds in the shed near the end.
- Insane Troll Logic: Edd (Double D) thinks Rolf will appreciate being offered grapefruit and the newspaper for breakfast in spite of him, Ed and Eddy having eaten all his food in his fridge and leaving him with nothing to eat for dinner last night.
- Jerkass Ball: As the first Early-Installment Weirdness example explained, Edd is shown to be just as bad as Eddy and Ed (Him having to at least apologize to Rolf notwithstanding), so him and his friends' punishment by Rolf at the end is well-deserved.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While Eddy was a complete ass to Rolf in this episode (although this point is downplayed when you consider Ed and Double D were just as bad) you gotta give him props for attempting to help Ed get away from his abusive tyrant of a sister with no ulterior motives at all.
- "Jump Off a Bridge" RebuttalEddy: If she told you to jump in a lake with a rock tied to your head, and wait for naked photos of you to develop so she can hand them out to all the kids in the cul-de-sac, would you!?Ed: I had socks on, Eddy.
- Laser-Guided Karma: The whole reason the Eds moved to Rolf's place was to to get away from Sarah and her long but otherwise petty list of chores, but after driving Rolf up the wall by milking his hospitality for all it's worth, Rolf forces all the Eds to do hard labor for his farmyard for it.
- Lethal Chef: Eddy when making omelettes thinks his eggs are still going to taste wonderful even though he burnt them badly and made the smoke alarms go off.
- Loophole Abuse: Tired of the Eds' interference with his work, Rolf tells them never to leave his shed. The Eds respond by carrying the shed from the inside into Rolf's house to raid his fridge. But then Ed's snoring scares away Edd and Eddy into seizing Rolf's room and sleeping in his own bed while stranding him without a place to sleep.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: This is one of the few episodes (since the earlier ones) where Rolf briefly breaks from his Third-Person Person speech pattern, and refers to himself with the word "my" instead of "Rolf". Each one was when he was yelling at the Eds, showing just how pissed off he is.Rolf: (before using Victor as a battering ram on the Eds) My patience is wearing thin like mama's head of hair!
Rolf: (entering his knocked over shed) Having fun with my shed, Ed-boys?!
Rolf: (giving the Eds their orders) Aah. It says that your day will begin by... CLEANING MY PIG PEN! - Paper-Thin Disguise: The Eds hire Jonny to dress like Ed (with fake monobrow) to fool Sarah and Jimmy while Ed moves to Rolf's. They're both fooled.
- Pet the Dog: Played with. After spending all day and all night making no end of trouble for Rolf, Eddy and Double D try to make breakfast for Rolf the next morning. Two problems with this: 1. They don't appear to actually be doing this to make up for badly exploiting Rolfnote . 2. While trying to make him breakfast, Eddy nearly burnt down his kitchen.
- Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: Rolf says his Unusual Euphemism "You have broken the celery stalk on the back of a sea urchin!" right before attacking the Eds and running at them. Though Double D is the only one visibly scared of it, while Ed and Eddy are just confused by it.
- Rage Breaking Point: The Eds tipping over Rolf's shed repeatedly breaks the celery stalk on the back of a sea urchin.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Ed gets fed up with Sarah's abuse and moves in to Rolf's place (perhaps because he loves Rolf's animals).
- Sarcasm-Blind: Ed responds to Eddy he had socks on, oblivious to Eddy's sarcasm on Sarah bossing him about. Eddy who is one of the most sarcastic characters in the show is oblivious to Rolf asking him sarcastically if he likes to be lazy on his stump he was trying to remove.
- Skyward Scream: "THE BURDEN OF HOSPITALITY IS TOO GREAT FOR ROLF!!!!!"
- Suddenly Shouting: At the end, when Rolf bosses the Eds while performing a fortuneteller bit.Rolf: Aah, it says that your day will begin by... CLEANING MY PIG PEN!
- Taking Advantage of Generosity: Rolf initially accepts the Eds' presence at his home with open arms, but they soon wear out their welcome, eating all of his food, interfering with his chores, and even forcing him out of his own bed. Eventually, Rolf snaps and gives them a beating.
- Terrible Trio: A particularly hilarious example in this episode, which turns the Eds into a rambunctious gang of three terrible house guests.
- The Thing That Would Not Leave: When Rolf granted the Eds permission to reside on his land, he had no idea how much they can eat, how loud they snore while sleeping and how outright sloppy, annoying or inconsiderate they are.
- Ungrateful Bastard: The Eds aren't the most gracious of Rolf's hospitality, to say the least. They show themselves to be inconsiderate house guests at best. At worst, they eat his food, interfere with his chores, deprive him of sleep, and damage his house.
- Unusual Euphemism:
- "May your nose fester with the rage of olives!"
- "You have broken the celery stalk on the back of a sea urchin!"
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: When the Eds tip over Rolf's shed a second time, Eddy somehow defies gravity and stays standing on the 'floor'. Eddy seems mildly confused at first but no one comments on it further.
- Work Off the Debt: At the end, Rolf forces the Eds into doing farmhand work as deserved punishment and payback for interfering with his farmhand chores, eating all his food in his fridge, forcing him to skip sleep the whole night and doing some damage to his house.
