As the pets are watching a newsreel on TV about space travel, Minka identifies the simian passenger as her great-great-grandfather Grinka. Sunil asks if Minka is honored to be related to such a historically important animal, but Minka does not take this remark well, accusing Sunil of thinking her unaccomplished. Seeing the other pets admire Vinnie for putting a foot in his mouth at will sets Minka over the edge, desperately trying to find ideas for how to be notable until Pepper points out that no animal has ever been to Mars. Minka latches onto this idea and tasks Russell with building a spaceship that will take her there.
At the front counter, Jasper informs Blythe that their school will have a stand-up comedy show in a week and a half with the host of Late Afternoon with Bob Flemingheimer as the celebrity guest. Pepper overhears Jasper and Blythe and becomes giddy, being a fan of Flemingheimer's show, but sulks back into the day camp room, as the school's comedy show is for humans only. Pepper complains within earshot of Minka, who tells her that being someone's pet should not stop one from achieving his or her dreams and uses herself as an example as an aspiring astronaut. At that moment, Russell announces to Minka that, with Buttercream's help, he has finished building the rocket. Made out of parts gathered from Sweet Delights, the whipped cream canisters used as thrusters simply splat everyone and everything nearby in whipped cream. Russell apologizes, but Minka forgives him, understanding that it takes more than one try. Watching the effort inspires Pepper to try stand-up comedy.
Pepper and Minka dash up to Blythe's room and simultaneously request a costume for them. Minka asks for a spacesuit that can take her to Mars, though not before a bit of confusion. Pepper requests a human disguise as an attempt to enter the comedy show, but Blythe reminds Pepper that other humans can't understand what she's saying. Instead, Pepper insists an alternative: She writes material for Blythe to say onstage. Blythe is initially reluctant but gives in after Pepper annoys Blythe into submission.
Taking the launch to Sweet Delights, Russell tries more whipped cream canisters and switches from vanilla to strawberry. The rocket again fails to launch, and Vinnie now has doubts if Russell can ever successfully build a rocket. Russell delivers a motivational speech, which gets Minka back in the remains of the rocket. With Minka gone, he confesses to the other pets that he does not believe he can build a rocket that will send Minka to Mars, but he has another idea.
Pepper teaches a few jokes to Blythe, which she then tests with Mrs. Twombly and Roger. Blythe promptly tells each joke wrong without realizing it, leaving Mrs. Twombly and Roger confused. After two jokes, the two of them leave the room, with Roger recommending Blythe try something other than comedy. Pepper, cringing at the whole performance, suggests for Blythe to take Pepper onstage where Pepper will whisper jokes to Blythe so she doesn't have to memorize them. Blythe is reluctant but, again, caves in after Pepper attempts to annoy Blythe again.
Minka walks into the day camp in the astronaut suit Blythe made for her. Russell pulls down the visor over her helmet, but she protests being unable to see. Russell invents an excuse, that it will shield her eyes from "gramma rays," then he and Vinnie escort Minka into the dumbwaiter. Vinnie pulls the dumbwaiter rope up the shaft and stops at an upper floor of the building. When she disembarks and pulls up the visor, she sees Blythe's room painted and draped to look like a Martian landscape, though she falls for it. Within a few seconds, she sees Sunil, Zoe, and Penny disguised as a martian. The "martian" wastes no time trying to attack Minka and, upon hearing Minka is from Earth, demands all of Earth's pet food. When Sunil threatens Minka with a ray gun that will turn every Earthling into a jelly bean, Minka jumps up to take the ray gun from him and crash-lands into a stack of paint cans. Wondering what these are doing on Mars, Sunil, Zoe, and Penny hastily say that they are angry because they don't know how to use them. Minka, as an artist, decides to teach the martian about painting.
At school, Blythe emerges onstage with Pepper. Pepper, standing on a stool, whispers into Blythe's ears, and Blythe recites them to the audience, getting them to laugh. Pepper soon notices Bob Flemingheimer in the audience, really enjoying Blythe's performance, and gets stuck, unable to recall any more jokes. Blythe figures the only option now is to continue on her own. She tries the jokes Pepper told her earlier and flubs them even worse. The audience becomes impatient, and Pepper starts stinking up.
Minka, meanwhile, has painted a portrait of the martian and herself. Minka figures she should return to Earth but cannot find her spaceship. At that point, Penny advises Minka to pull down her visor as "gramma rays" are coming, and the three of them guide the blinded Minka back to the dumbwaiter.
Blythe is eventually forced offstage. Pepper apologizes to Blythe about running out of material upon seeing Flemingheimer, while Blythe feels bad that Pepper was not able to get closer to her dream. As they head back to the Littlest Pet Shop, Blythe bumps into Flemingheimer, who chastises Blythe for her performance but likes the jokes she tells and offers to buy them from her. He leaves through a back door with Blythe and Pepper elated, though he also remarks that Blythe doesn't need a skunk onstage.
Minka returns to the day camp room through the dumbwaiter, where she recounts her experiences on Mars. She tells Russell and the others that while she was there, she introduced the martians to art, upon which she realized that she already has a talent she can be proud of, and that from there on out, she will stick to artwork on Earth. Her speech is interrupted by Sunil carrying the artwork Minka drew, however. Minka asks where he got the artwork, and Sunil claims the martian sold it to him.
Blythe and Pepper return to the Littlest Pet Shop to catch Late Afternoon, where Flemingheimer tells a corrected version of one of the jokes Blythe attempted, where his audience enjoys it, along with Blythe and the pets.
This episode contains examples of (YMMV entries go here):
- Artistic License – History: Invoked in Russell's inspirational speech in Act 2, where he mangles up famous historical events confusing them with food named after them.Russell: Did Isaac Newton say "can't" when that fig fell on his head? No! Did the pilgrims say "can't" when they invented stuffing? No!Sunil: Suddenly, I am hungry.
- Berserk Button: While Minka is proud of Grinka, she does not like to be compared to him.
- Big "NO!": When Minka leaps up to take the doomsday ray gun from the martian.
- Call-Back: Sunil seems happy to stuff a plush cobra into Buttercream's rocket. He has shown a seething hatred of cobras and a satisfaction at watching them suffer in "Gailbreak" and "Heart of Parkness."
- In "Lotsa Luck," Old Bananas recommends Pepper to take her comedy routine to the next level. She attempts that in this episode.
- Cannot Tell a Joke: Blythe has a hard time memorizing Pepper's jokes.
- Caustic Critic: Flemingheimer chews out Blythe, who has clearly never done a comedy routine before, but respects the jokes she tells.
- Continuity Nod: Minka said that she's a "space monkey" in "DUMB DUMBWAITER." This episode reveals her family has a history of space travel, and she desires to travel into space herself.
- Disguised as a martian, Zoe is wearing a recolored version of the outfit and sunglasses she wore at the fashion show in "Blythe's Big Adventure, Part 2" and at the sendoff in "Summertime Blues."
- Minka's story culminates in a slow-motion leap and a Big "NO!," much like towards the end of "Eve of Destruction."
- Pepper suggests she and Blythe watch a marathon of That's My Orangutan! together.
- Deliberately Monochrome: The newsreel.
- Department of Redundancy Department: Bob Flemingheimer from Late Afternoon with Bob Flemingheimer.
- "Everybody Laughs" Ending
- Evil Laugh: Sunil tries one. It comes off as a giggle.
- Generation Xerox: Grinka looks like a male Minka with a crew cut.
- Hammerspace: Where Vinnie keeps a light bulb.
- Idea Bulb: Minka comes up with the concept of a light bulb, which Vinnie then pulls out from behind his back.
- Imagine Spot: Pepper being on Late Afternoon with Bob Flemingheimer. Not a minute later, we get another one of Minka imagining how the trip to Mars must be like.
- Lame Pun Reaction: Act 1 opens with Jasper telling a joke that Blythe is not amused by but leaves Jasper in stitches.
- Mobile-Suit Human: Pepper asks Blythe to make her one.
- Never Trust a Trailer: The promo on The Hub had the "peanut butter and jellyfish" joke bomb and made it look like it was Blythe's joke with Pepper facepalming in response.
- Newsreel: The pets watch one on TV in the Cold Open.
- Offscreen Inertia/Overly Long Gag: Pepper bounces up and down at Blythe rapidly saying "Please!" again and again to close out Act 1. Act 2 begins with Pepper, continuing to say "Please!," now running around Blythe's bed with Blythe lying bored, hinting that Pepper had been yelling "Please!" non-stop the entire commercial break.
- One-Way Visor: Played with. The visor is actually opaque from both directions.
- Niche Network: The Before My Time Network, which the newsreel is on; and the See It Again Network, which reruns old shows.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Blythe's room, dressed up to look like Mars, has some of the floor and furniture still exposed. Someone also hung her globe from the ceiling. The martian is like this too, but Minka never notices either.
- Performance Anxiety: Pepper chokes upon seeing Flemingheimer in the audience.
- Playing Cyrano: What Blythe does for Pepper.
- Resistance Is Futile: Said word-for-word by Sunil as a martian.
- Running Gag: Pepper gets Blythe to do what she wants her to do by yelling "Please!" over and over while running circles around Blythe.
- Shout-Out: It is most likely a coincidence, but this episode premiered one week before the 53rd anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's ascent into space, the first human to do so.
- The B-story is based on the tradition of sending monneys into space. Grinka, in particular, is based on Albert I, the first monkey in space, or possibly Able, the first monkey to survive a space flight.
- Penny mishearing Bob Flemingheimer's name as "flaming steiner" may refer to the Blue Blazer cocktail, the most well-known flaming beverage that is commonly served in a container that large.
- Flemingheimer himself seems to be an amalgamation of David Letterman and Jay Leno. Actually, he has Letterman's teeth, Leno's chin, and Conan O' Brian's hairstyle.
- Penny licks the whipped cream off her head after the failed prototype launch like Scooby-Doo does in the opening sequence of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! This was previously done by Vinnie in "Bakers and Fakers." Buttercream does it later in this episode after the second onscreen failed attempt.
- Minka recites her rendition of Neil Armstrong's famous "One small step for a man" speech, but she stumbles after "One giant leap."
- Smelly Skunk: Pepper gets nervous when she can't think of any material and starts releasing fumes. At that very moment, one audience member yells, "You stink!"
- Space Episode: As close as this series will likely get.
- They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!: A rare variant where it's not "Mister Tibbs" himself who says it.Penny Ling: Who's Bob Flaming Steiner?Pepper: That's Flemingheimer to you, Penny Ling!
- Totem Pole Trench: Sunil, Zoe, and Penny stand on each other's shoulders wearing a wizard robe pretending to be a Martian.
- Visual Pun: Vinnie can easily put his foot in his mouth.
