At lunch time at school, Carolina asks Helen, Alice, and T.D. if they're excited about a talent show. They don't even know about it, so she explains that Granny Flo is running a talent show, the winner gets a year's supply of alphabet soup, and Brian Otempest, the host of International Icon, will be there and allow the winner to be on the show. In the corridor, T.D. shows Carolina what he wants to do for the talent show - dance and armpit fart. Carolina disapproves and says that Brian is into "high-class" entertainment.
He decides to be a magician with Helen as his assistant, so he asks her at her house after school. Helen, however, has already decided to be with Carolina, and in a pantomime in case she gets too scared to talk. T.D. asks Alice to be his partner, but she's already decided to be a tap dancer. With no one to be his partner, T.D. sulks, but then when Martha walks up to him, he decides to have her as his partner.
He goes to O.G., who gives him a book on old-fashioned stage acts. T.D. tries several acts with Martha, but she can't juggle as she has no hands, she doesn't want to go on a trapeze, and Truman is already using the musical water glasses. On the day of the talent show, T.D. and Martha still have nothing to do, but then Martha gets an idea.
That night, the kids do their acts, while T.D. rehearses knock-knock jokes (inspired by one on his gum wrapper). Helen and Carolina's act goes awry when Carolina freezes up in shock. T.D. and Martha have the last act, which embarrasses Helen who doesn't like the jokes.
T.D. and Martha win, but only because Brian mistook it for ventriloquism. After the show, the girls go to the Lorraine house and look up "ventriloquist", then decide that T.D. doesn't deserve the prize since it was a mistake. Helen tells T.D., and he reveals that he knew what a ventriloquist was, but kept mum so that he and Martha could get the soup and be on TV. However, they then realise that they must tell the truth anyway, since Martha (due to being a dog) is a Bad Liar, T.D., while better at lying, doesn't like it, and he can't do his act without her anyway. They tell the truth, but Brian lets them on the show anyway since he's so impressed at Martha's ability to speak.
This episode provides examples
- Acting Out a Daydream: After imagining himself winning first prize, T.D. is seen pretending to hold an imaginary trophy.
- Amusing Injuries: The punchline to one of T.D. and Martha's knock-knock jokes is "Ben knocking so hard my hand hurts".
- And Your Reward Is Edible: The prize for the talent show is a year's supply of alphabet soup.
- Comically Missing the Point: When Helen is surprised that T.D. and Martha's act is just reciting knock-knock jokes, he thinks she's jealous.
- Continuity Nod:
- Helen initially wonders if the talent show is even real, or if it's just "those two guys who are always trying to steal Martha", which references "Martha's Got Talent", in which Weaselgraft and Pablum staged a fake talent show.
- Carolina documents the talent show in her newspaper, which she wrote in "T.D. Gets the Scoop".
- Martha is surprised that Carolina is acting in the talent show after "what happened in the school play", which refers to "Martha Plays a Part", in which Carolina got such bad stage fright she was rendered Dumb Struck.
- Double-Meaning Title: The title has two meanings — that Martha is smart in helping T.D. with the talent show, and that she was mistaken for having played the role of a ventriloquist's dummy when she hadn't been.
- Everyone Hates Mimes: T.D. and Martha think Helen and Carolina look ridiculous pantomiming.
- Exploding Calendar: Subverted. Pages fall off T.D.'s calendar, making it seem as though days are passing, but it turns out that the calendar is just broken.
- Facepalm: Helen facepalms due to finding T.D. and Martha's knock-knock jokes embarrassing, then again when T.D. says that his act was only "technically" not ventriloquism.
- Fantasy Sequence: T.D. imagines himself as a magician when trying to imagine what "high-class entertainment" is.
- Happy Dance: The girls do a little dance at the prospect of being on International Icon.
- "Knock Knock" Joke:
- T.D. finds the following joke on his gum wrapper:T.D.: "Knock knock."Martha: "Who's there?"T.D.: "Sherwood."Martha: "Sherwood who?"T.D.: "Sherwood like you to open the door."
- Another gum wrapper has this joke:T.D.: "Knock knock."Martha: "Who's there?"T.D.: "Justin."Martha: "Justin who?"T.D.: "Justin time for dinner!
- And then, there's a third joke:T.D.: "Knock knock."Martha: "Who's there?"T.D.: "Vera."Martha: "Vera who?"T.D.: "Vera few of these jokes are funny."
- The first joke T.D. and Martha tell onstage is:Martha: "Knock knock."T.D.: "Who's there?"Martha: "Ben."T.D.: "Ben who?"Martha: "Ben knocking so hard my hand hurts!"
- Then:T.D.: "Knock knock."Martha: "Who's there?"T.D.: "Sarah."Martha: "Sarah who?"T.D.: "Sarah reason you're not laughing?"
- T.D. finds the following joke on his gum wrapper:
- Lame Pun Reaction:
- After hearing a knock knock joke whose punchline is "Vera few of these jokes are funny", she says, "You can say that again!".
- When T.D. and Martha tell the "Ben knocking so hard my hand hurts" joke, Mariella looks bored and Helen and Alice groan. Some audience members, however, do laugh.
- Nursery Rhyme: T.D. once played "Mary Had a Little Lamb" with water glasses.
- Performance Anxiety: Carolina gets so scared onstage she can't move and then afterwards has zero memory of it.
- The Pratfall: Helen falls on her backside when T.D. walks across her imaginary rope.
- Santa Claus: Discussed when Martha wonders if Santa Claus is the "really really old" person T.D. was referring to. He actually meant O.G., who's not even that old.
- Saw a Woman in Half: Technically, slice a girl in half. When imagining being a magician, T.D. imagines using sheets of metal to cut Helen in half.
- Shared Family Quirks: Mariella, Helen, and Carolina all hate knock-knock jokes.
- Shout-Out: At the end, Martha sings the "Banjo on My Knee" song.
- Show Within a Show: The International Icon show is mentioned again.
- Sore Loser: Played with. Helen, Carolina, Alice, and Truman groan when T.D. and Martha win the game show, but it's hard to tell if they're bad losers or it's just because they don't like the jokes T.D. and Martha made.
- Speak in Unison: Martha and T.D. say, "Rats!" in unison upon learning that they must give back their soup if they confess to Brian.
- Still Believes in Santa: When T.D. says he knows someone "really really old", Martha wonders if it's Santa.
- Will Not Tell a Lie: When determining that he and Martha have to tell Brian the truth, T.D. reveals that he doesn't like lying.
- You Can Talk?: Brian says, "Holy cow!" upon realising that Martha really was talking.
