Recap / Strong Bad Email E 156 Road Trip

Airdate: Monday, September 4, 2006

Sender: That guy, from that place

Strong Bad: (singing) Good morning, Mr. E-mail, there's a call for you, on line two!

"Pete from Pete's parents' basement" wants to know if "Fatty Bad" ("I've actually lost two pounds in the last nine months, thank you very much.") has ever gone on road trips with his gang. Strong Bad boasts that he and The Cheat are "road-tripcionados", and know all the ins and outs of road tripping, including coming up with a cheesy in-joke that only people who went on the road trip will get (sometimes in advance, as is the case with "jumbo/LARGE").

Armed with Bubs' old AMC Gremlin and eighty-something cases of Bull Honkey "caffeinergy sauce", Strong Bad and The Cheat are ready for their road trip... except Strong Bad forgot the keys.

Strong Bad: Keys? I don't have any keys. Look, the only thing I know about this car is what Bubs told me. And that's that the windows and doors are broken and you can't open them from the inside. (beat. The Cheat glares at him) Oh. Right. That was pretty poor planning on my part.

While Strong Bad and The Cheat wait for help from Bubs, Green Bubs, or anybody, Strong Bad scavenges for supplies beneath the passenger seat, finding some ancient "petri-fries", "a large melt-shake that's almost eaten through the cup", and "a half-sucked booterscotch in desperate need of a shave." After trying, and failing, to play a CD of "jammin' tunes" on an 8-track player ("I'm sure that thing's forwards compatible"), Strong Bad gives up in despair and declares this "The worst road trip ever!"

Late that night, Strong Bad and The Cheat are interrupted from passing the time staring at the ceiling of the Gremlin by Homestar, looking for young lovers to shoo away from Make-Out Point, and for the melt-shake he left in the car. He lets Strong Bad and The Cheat out of the Gremlin, and off with a warning.

Strong Bad: And that was our road trip. Or, more accurately our car trip, since we didn't go on any roads. Or, even more accurately, our car, since we didn't go on any trips either. So yeah, Pete from Pete's parents' basement, I go on car with my gang all the time. And that's the end of this email. Until next time everybody, remember to stay j-LARGE.
(The Paper comes down.)

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Tropes:

• Brick Joke: Strong Bad finds an old "melt-shake" someone left in the Gremlin; later, Homestar asks if Strong Bad has seen his "jumbo/LARGE melt-shake" that he left in the car "about a week or a month ago".
• Didn't Think This Through: Strong Bad knows beforehand that the car's doors and windows won't open from the inside, but doesn't remember until he and The Cheat are already trapped.
  Strong Bad: Keys? I don't have any keys. Look, the only thing I know about this car is what Bubs told me. And that's that the windows and doors are broken and you can't open them from the inside.
  [Beat. The Cheat glares at Strong Bad.]
  Strong Bad: Oh. Right. That was pretty poor planning on my part.
• Embarrassing Damp Sheets: Strong Bad asks The Cheat about Strong Sad's "not-originally-yellow-spotted" sheets covering the cases of Bull Honkey, while also denying that they came from his bedroom.
• Joke Exhaustion: According to Strong Bad, a good road trip in-joke should be repeated to the point that "your friends that didn't go on the road trip will want to... kill your legs... every time you bring it up."
• Make-Out Point: Homestar is initially convinced Strong Bad and The Cheat are "young lovers" making out by the side of the non-existent road.
• Malicious Misnaming: Strong Bad is indignant when the sender addresses the email to "Fatty Bad" ("I've actually lost two pounds in the last nine months, thank you very much"). In retaliation, he reads the sender's signature as "Pete from Pete's parents' basement". Strong Bad also refers to Homestar as "Officer Cheese-For-Butt".
• Meet My Good Friends Lefty and Righty: Bubs threats anyone who calls him "the Orange Coach Z" with "a free consultation with my friends Jacoby and Myers!"
• Noodle Incident: Invoked; Strong Bad says "every good road trip needs a good inside joke that only the people that went on the road trip will get", and goes so far as to make one up before actually going on the trip: "jumbo/LARGE".
• Portmanteau: The email brings us such mashed-up words as "Road-tripcionados", "caffeinergy", and "petri-fries".
• Road Trip Plot: Strong Bad fully plans on going on a road trip with The Cheat, but he can't find the keys to the Gremlin and the two end up locked in the car by accident. Because of this, they don't actually go anywhere.
• Running Gag: The phrase "Jumbo/LARGE" gets thrown around a lot since Strong Bad is trying to make it an in-joke.
• A Simple Plan: Strong Bad plans to go on a road trip with The Cheat, but they both end up stuck inside the Gremlin with no way to get out since the car won't open from the inside and neither of them have the keys.
• Strange Minds Think Alike: Strong Bad decides "jumbo/LARGE" is going to be this road trip's inside joke. Homestar, who isn't even part of the road trip, later asks if anyone's seen his "jumbo/LARGE melt-shake".
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: Strong Bad claims that their stash of Bull Honkey is hidden under a dirty, "not-originally-yellow-spotted sheet from Strong Sad's bedroom, not my bedroom".
• Worst. Whatever. Ever!: After accidentally locking himself and The Cheat into the Gremlin, Strong Bad tries to liven the mood with some "jammin' tunes". It doesn't take long for him to realize it's not working, causing him to cry out "Who am I kidding? This is the worst road trip ever!!"

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Coach Z: Whaddaya mean, I'm the Green Bubs? If anything, you're the Orange Coach Z.
Bubs: The next person to call me the Orange Coach Z is gonna get a free consultation with my friends (balls up his left and right "hands" into fists) Jacoby and Meyers!