"Comedy of Errors" is an episode in the fifth season of The Golden Girls.
After a high school classmate dies unexpectedly, Dorothy decides to fulfill a long-forgotten dream of being a stand-up comedian. Blanche, meanwhile, is in a panic over being audited, and Rose is at wit's end about trying to get a coworker of hers to like her without success.
Tropes:
- Anti-Humor: Sophia begins to tell Dorothy a pretty obvious joke - "Why did Rose throw her clock out of the window?" - that she changes with the punchline: "Because she's a moron!"
- Bad News in a Good Way: Played with. While looking through her yearbook, Dorothy notes one guy in her class, who played tackle football in his school days, had died of heart failure. Blanche promptly tells Dorothy to spin it in a less-depressing choice of words — in this case, it's God telling him to "go deep". Dorothy then notes another guy in her class who also had died; when Blanche asks her how the second guy died, Dorothy responds with "God told him to drive into a brick wall at 80 mph" in return.
- Black Comedy Pet Death: According to Rose, the coworker of hers who doesn't like her recently suffered the loss of his pet dog... due to his dog peeing to an electric fence. The mention of said dog's name is the icing on the cake that prompts Dorothy's Reaction Shot.Rose: Poor Sparky.
- Cats Are Mean: The cat Rose gets for her coworker certainly is mean — enough to kill the man's pet bird and injure his hand enough to get it bandaged. After the coworker in question returns the cat to Rose, she gives the cat to Sophia, who in turn gives the cat to a friend of hers, whose house has a rat infestation problem.
- Digging Yourself Deeper: Rose's attempt to cheer her coworker up and get him to like her by getting a cat for him ends up backfiring when her coworker shows up with his hand bandaged due to cat-scratch injuries.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Blanche spends the whole episode trying to beat the odds against the IRS for auditing her without success, due to the combination of George being the one to handle the finances when he was alive and her not notifying the IRS of the extra income she receives from the Girls paying rent. In the end, she decides to charm her way out of the mess by wearing a sexy nightgown, and answers the door when an IRS agent comes knocking on the door... only to find a no-nonsense, middle-aged woman claiming to be from the IRS, prompting Blanche to give up.Blanche: Come on in my kitchen. I'll write you a check.
- Somebody Doesn't Love Raymond: Rose simply can't get past this, much to the annoyance of the coworker she keeps trying to please — and failing at it. In the end, he finally manages to get her to go away by promising to be her friend; as a pal, Rose has to do what he says, including leaving him alone, to make him happy.
- Take That!: Blanche's recount of seeing the name of Merv Griffin in a magazine while she was in her accountant's waiting room.Blanche: While I was in the waiting room, I was reading a magazine that listed the 10 richest men in America. You know, Merv Griffin's moved up a couple of notches.
Dorothy: He probably ate the two guys ahead of him. - Wanting Is Better Than Having: Played with in that the one wanting is not the same as the one who got it. One of the unfulfilled things Dorothy reads off of her bucket list is to have sex with a particular guy, whom Blanche quickly recognizes after Dorothy mentions his name. Once Blanche lists off the things she remembers about the guy (e.g. selling insurance in New York) and Dorothy confirms it...Blanche: (to Dorothy) You didn't miss much.
