iHire an Idiot is the 7th episode in the 4th season of iCarly.
When searching for interns, Carly and Sam end up hiring a boy named Cort who's completely stupid, but Carly and Sam refuse to fire him because he's cute, so Freddie tries to teach them a lesson.
Meanwhile, Spencer learns of a stupid promise he made to Granddad that he has to put one of his sculptures in a museum within three years after dropping out of law school, which is almost up.
Tropes:
- Berserk Button: It's the missing meat from the raw meat storm that causes Carly and Sam to decide to fire Cort, though they keep their anger suppressed.
- The Bet: After dropping out of law school, Spencer made a stupid promise with Granddad to get an art project of his into a museum within three years; if he fails to do so by then, he has to go back to law school.
- Brainless Beauty: Cort is a male version.
- The Ditz: Cort is definitely one. He writes on a Pear Pad with marker, drinks lemonade out of a bag right onto a playing laptop of a live broadcast, mistakes the words "To do" on a to-do list as "todo", and eats the food props that are supposed to be used on iCarly.
- Dumb Muscle: Again, Cort.
- Hired for Their Looks: Carly and Sam do this to Cort, who is anything but a responsible intern. Freddie, who doesn't like that at all, decided to fight fire with fire by hiring Ashley, who is seemingly also a beautiful and stupid person.
- Hypocrite: Carly and Sam get mad at Freddie for hiring a dumb intern just because she's pretty, even though they did the same thing with Cort. Freddie even lampshades this.
- Insignia Rip-Off Ritual: After firing Cort, Sam asks him before he leaves, they need "their" shirt back, which he takes off. Carly says the shirt Cort took off was his own, but Sam doesn't care.
- Insult Backfire: Carly tries to make Freddie fire Ashley, whom she calls a "feminidiot."Freddie: I'll fire my "feminidiot" when your fire your himbecile!
Carly: [Beat] Okay... that was clever wordplay. - Ironic Echo: When Cort ruins Freddie's laptop while on alive broadcast and Freddie uses that as proof to fire him, Carly claims that everyone deserves a second chance. When Ashley does something similarly stupid and Carly complains about it to Freddie, he mockingly throws her words back at her.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Freddie barely hides his dislike for Cort. But given how dangerously clueless Cort is, and how it’s hurting their show, it’s hard to blame Freddie for wanting him gone.
- Kindhearted Simpleton: Cort is very outgoing and friendly, and tries to be a good intern. But he’s just…dangerously stupid.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: At the end, it is revealed that Ashley, the "stupid" intern who Freddie hires for iCarly, was only pretending to be dumb both as part of a sociology essay she's working on and to make Carly and Sam realize how they are acting with Cort in order to fire him.
- Race Against the Clock: Spencer's deal with Granddad was if he doesn't put a sculpture on display in a museum within three years, he has to go back to law school.
- Tranquil Fury: Carly and Sam barely raise their voices when realizing Cort ate some of the meat for an iCarly segment, which leads to them firing him.
- We Need a Distraction: Spencer asks Gibby to help distract a museum guard in order to sneak one of his sculptures over onto a display. Gibby pretends to be a clueless visitor who takes flash photography when told not too, and instigates the guard into chasing him around the museum.
- Wham Line: After firing Cort and then firing Ashley... it turns out she was faking being stupid the entire time for an experiment and to help Freddie fire Cort.Freddie: Thank you, Ashley.
Ashley: Glad to help. This was a really interesting experiment. I can definitely write about this as part of my sociology experiment.
Carly: [To Freddie, confused] What did she just say?
