- Are You My Neighbor?Episode number: 3Original release date: January 1995
- Countertop Intro
Bob and Larry are on the countertop again, though Larry is seen with a shoe on his head. When Larry asks why he has a shoe on his head, Bob explains that he got a letter from Latasha Robbins of Savannah, Georgia, who wants to know what it means to love your neighbor. Bob says that he's going to tell Latasha "The Story of Flibber-o-loo".
- The Story of Flibber-o-loo
The story is told entirely in rhyme. In the Mountains of Fibble, there are two tiny towns. One is called Flibber-o-loo, where everyone wears shoes as hats. The other town is called Jibberty-lot, where the headgear of everyone is a pot. Because of this, the two towns would fight each other by throwing shoes and pots at each other. However, one citizen (played by Larry the Cucumber) doesn't care about all the fighting going on around him, preferring to play with his pet blue plastic wind-up lobster.
One day, the boy and his lobster decide to go out on a little walk in the Mountains of Fibble. However, he ends up in the territory of a trio of bandits (played by the Scallions) who are spying on him. They attack him, steal his milk money, and stick him upside-down in a hole. After the bandits leave, the boy is left stuck in the hole. At that moment, the Mayor of Flibber-o-loo (played by Archibald Asparagus) happens upon the boy, making note that he too is from Flibber-o-loo. The Mayor says that he would be glad to help, he explains through song that he is much too busy to help him out.
After the Mayor finishes his song, the Doctor of Flibber-o-loo (played by Lovey Asparagus) also comes along. When the boy asks if either of them could help him, both the Mayor and the Doctor explain once again in song that they are much too busy to help him out. After they finish singing, they leave, abandoning the boy. However, a third person comes along, a young boy (played by Junior Asparagus) with a pot on his head from Jibberty-lot. The young boy from Jibberty-lot makes note of the boy from Flibber-o-loo looking beaten and bruised, but ultimately decides to help him out before taking him back to Flibber-o-loo.
At the doctor's office, the Doctor of Flibber-o-loo is surprised to see that a denizen of Jibberty-lot actually helped someone from Flibber-o-loo. When she asks the boy from Jibberty-lot why he did it, the boy with the pot explains through song that even though they're from different towns and that their headgear is different, God wants us to love our neighbor. After singing this song, the boy with the pot gives the doctor some money to pay for the treatment of the boy with the shoe. The Mayor finally understands that even though one person is from one town while another person is from the other, they should learn to get along with each other. Because of that, Flibber-o-loo and Jibberty-lot have now become friends, throwing flowers and candy at each other.
- Silly Songs with Larry
After finishing his morning bath, Larry wonders where his hairbrush is. First, Pa Grape comes in, telling Larry that he "saw a hairbrush back there". Larry is initially joyful about this, until Junior Asparagus also shows up, asking Larry why he needs a hairbrush when he doesn't have any hair. Larry is confused about this, before Bob the Tomato then shows up, explaining that because Larry never uses the hairbrush, he gave it to the Peach, "'cause he's got hair". Larry then laments about the loss of his hairbrush, until the Peach shows up and thanks Larry for the hairbrush. After the Peach leaves, Larry then calls out to the Peach to take care of his hairbrush. After finishing the song, the audience then throws flowers at Larry for his performance.
- The Gourds Must Be Crazy
Junior is in bed while talking with his dad about who to invite to his birthday party. When Dad suggests that Junior invite a new kid named Fernando, Junior isn't so sure about it, because he doesn't know Fernando very well. Dad then explains to Junior that God wants us to be friends with everyone, not just people who are like us. After saying good night to Junior, Dad then leaves the room, before Junior then notices some bright lights from his window, which turn out to be from a tiny spaceship. After the spaceship lands, two bright lights come out before Bob and Larry (here called Captain Bob and Lieutenant Larry) appear in front of Junior. After a small mishap, in which Lieutenant Larry has a candy bar stuck on his helmet, Captain Bob explains to Junior that their starship, the U.S.S. Applepies, is in grave danger, before explaining that in 8 minutes a giant meteor will smash the ship to bits. After recruiting Junior, the trio then zoom out from Junior's room and fly off towards the stars.
In outer space, the U.S.S. Applepies (an apple pie-shaped starship and a parody of the U.S.S. Enterprise) is approached by Bob, Larry, and Junior, before Bob explains to Junior that they will be greeted by Scooter, the ship's engineer, and that they will get to work on repairing the ship's engine. The elevator that they are riding in finally makes it to the main floor of the Applepies, before Scooter, a Scottish-accented carrot, greets them. When Captain Bob asks Scooter if there was any luck with the ship's engine, Scooter replies that the engines have no power, as well as the fact that they only have 5 minutes before the meteor comes. When Junior asks Scooter how many people there are on the ship, Scooter answers that there are 364, but when Junior asks how many escape pods there are, Scooter answers that there are only 2.
Junior then asks Scooter how much he knows about the meteor, to which Scooter explains that the meteor is made entirely out of popcorn, which surprises Bob, Larry, and Junior. When Larry wants to know if the popcorn meteor is caramel or cheese, Scooter replies that it makes little difference when it hits you at 5,000 miles an hour. Before the conversation can continue even further, Junior then hears the sound of singing, before looking over to notice two gourds who are singing the song "Meet Me In St. Louis" (from the 1944 film of the same name). When Junior asks who these two gourds are, Scooter just tells him to never mind them because they're the new guys. When Junior suggests that these gourds may have some ideas, Scooter disagrees with this idea, saying that the new guys don't know anything and that all they do is sing and eat, as well as mentioning that he thinks that they're crazy.
Despite this, Junior then approaches the two gourds after they've finished singing, before he introduces himself to them. The two gourds then introduce themselves as Jimmy Gourd (the orange gourd) and Jerry Gourd (the yellow gourd). When Junior asks the gourds why they sing all the time, Jimmy answers with "Why don't you?" Junior replies that it's weird, but corrects himself before saying that it's different. Jimmy then replies that sometimes differences can be good if we take the time to get to know each other. Junior then asks the gourds why they eat so much, with Jimmy replying that they're hungry, before Jerry also replies "It's our metabolism, or something". Jimmy and Jerry then begin to get competitive with each other about how hungry they are, Jimmy saying that he could eat a bus, and Jerry saying that he could eat a spaceship. Of course, when Jimmy says that he could eat a whole planet, Junior double-checks with Scooter about how many escape pods there are on the ship. When the answer is still 2, Junior then asks Jimmy and Jerry if they would like to help save the ship. When the two gourds agree to this idea, Junior then announces "Grab the gourds!"
This time, the gourds are being carried by the other crewmates to the escape pod room, with Junior and Scooter carrying Jerry and Bob and Larry carrying Jimmy. After the gourds are placed into the escape pods, the pods then launch out into space, with Jerry remarking that it's like a field trip. Once the gourds are launched, the crew then looks up at the clock to see that they now have two minutes left. While out in space, Jimmy and Jerry are now singing "Do You Know The Muffin Man", before they once again bet on who can eat all of the Muffin Man's muffins. The two gourds then begin to approach a large object, which turns out to be the popcorn meteor. After crashing into the meteor, when Jimmy and Jerry discover that what they crashed into is popcorn, they joyously yell "Let's eat it!" before they proceed to eat the popcorn meteor.
Back in the ship, Scooter asks if it's even possible, with Junior answering that if anyone can do it, the gourds can. Time goes by as the crew is worried about the result, while the gourds are still eating the popcorn meteor. Soon, there are ten seconds left on the clock as Bob quips that he hopes that the gourds were hungry. After the clock reaches zero, the crew then take cover, preparing for the impact of the meteor... until Jimmy and Jerry end up slamming into the windshield of the Applepies, having been successful in eating the popcorn meteor. Once the gourds are brought back inside the ship, everyone starts congratulating them for saving the ship. Jimmy modestly proclaims that it was nothing, but when Scooter is surprised by Jimmy's modesty, Jimmy then states that maybe it was a little something. Scooter then admits that he was wrong for judging the gourds because of their differences and says that if they weren't different, none of them would even be on the ship right now.
Jerry then brings everyone else to attention when he explains that he was snacking on an end table when he saw some kind of electric plug. Junior then tells Jerry to plug it in, and when Jerry does, it turns out that the plug powers up the ship's engines, restoring power to the U.S.S. Applepies once again. Scooter is even more impressed by the gourds' ingenuity. With that, Jimmy and Jerry then start singing "I Can Be Your Friend", explaining that even though we're not the same, we can still be friends. Even Bob, Larry, Scooter, and Junior join in the song as well, before Bob and Larry take Junior back home again.
After Bob and Larry leave Junior's room after bringing him back home, Junior then calls out to his dad, telling him that he finally decided to invite Fernando to his party after all. Dad is proud of Junior for making the right decision, before he says good night to Junior once again. However, Bob and Larry return in their tiny spaceship again, where Bob explains that Larry dropped the map right out of the spaceship so they ask Junior for directions. Junior then tells them, "Out the window, down the street, left at Mr. Slushy's". After getting these directions from Junior, Bob and Larry leave again, before an argument ensues between the two about whether or not to go to Mr. Slushy's.
- Countertop Outro
Back on the countertop, Bob and Larry (who doesn't have a shoe on his head anymore) explain that they're with Qwerty to talk about what they've learned today. The "What Have We Learned" song starts up again, but Bob is able to stop it momentarily, before it starts up again. After the song ends, Bob and Larry review the lessons they've learned about loving your neighbor and learning to be friends with everyone. Qwerty then brings up the verse, which is "...Love your neighbor as yourself. Leviticus 19:18". After that, Bob and Larry then sign off once again, which ends the episode.
Character Introductions: Laura Carrot, Lenny Carrot, Dad Carrot, the Peach, Scooter Carrot, Jimmy Gourd, Jerry Gourd
Tropes:
- Affectionate Parody: "The Gourds Must Be Crazy" is an obvious parody of that of Star Trek: The Original Series.
- An Aesop:
- God made everyone different and he wants us to respect them.
- Some people may do things that are weird to us, but we can learn a lot from them.
- Batman Can Breathe in Space: Jimmy and Jerry Gourd are capable of breathing in space in "The Gourds Must Be Crazy", despite not having any space helmets.
- Big Eater: Jimmy and Jerry Gourd. Most of their dialogue is about all of the things they'd be willing to eat, which include vehicles, all of the muffin man's muffins and planets, the last of which they're actually called upon to do.
- Call-Back: Bob and Larry's arrival in "The Gourds Must Be Crazy" recalls the first story from the very first episode, to the point where Junior looks at the camera and remarks, "Deja vu."
- Eating Solves Everything: In "The Gourds Must Be Crazy", Junior send Jimmy and Jerry out to eat a meteor made out of popcorn heading toward them after hearing them complain about being hungry. The solution essentially killed two birds with one stone.
- Eat the Camera: Happens in "The Gourds Must Be Crazy" when Junior says "Grab the gourds!"
- Extreme Omnivore: Jerry Gourd showed mild shades of this in "The Gourds Must Be Crazy" as he was apparently snacking on a nearby end table, to which he discovers the plug that powers up the ship's engines.
- Fantastic Racism: Only naturally in "The Story of Flibber-o-loo," where the citizens are prejudiced towards those that wear pots or shoes on their heads depending on the town.
- Good Samaritan: "The Story of Flibber-o-loo" is based on the Trope Namer from Jesus Christ's parables, just with Flibber-o-loo in place of Jerusalem and Jibber-de-lot in place of Samaria.
- Help, I'm Stuck!: Larry ends up in this position in "The Story of Flibber-o-loo" when the bandits stick him in a hole in the ground.
- Homage: "The Story of Flibber-o-loo" is the parable of "The Good Samaritan" done In the Style of Dr. Seuss.
- Hypocritical Humor: When Larry gets robbed, beaten up, and left on the side of the road, the mayor and the doctor both pass him by, insisting they're far too busy to stop and help Larry. However, the mayor and the doctor clearly aren't too busy to stop and chat with each other—nor are they too busy to sing an elaborate musical number with lyrics about how busy they are.
- "Pachelbel's Canon" Progression: The song "I Can Be Your Friend" uses it.
- Rhyming Episode: "The Story of Flibber-o-loo"
- Running Gag: The other characters in "The Hairbrush Song" are described as "shocked and slightly embarrassed at the sight of Larry in a towel."
- Seinfeldian Conversation: While on their way to the giant popcorn ball, Jimmy and Jerry sing a round of "The Muffin Man," then have a casual discussion about the Man in question, including the possibility of eating all of his muffins and whether or not the planet they're going to is where he lives (it isn't).
- Shout-Out
- The second segment, "The Gourds Must Be Crazy," is a pun on The Gods Must Be Crazy.
- According to Phil Vischer, the Flibbians wearing shoes on their heads is a reference to Brazil of all things.
- The Gourds are introduced singing the title song from Meet Me in St. Louis.
- Stock Sound Effect: In "The Gourds Must Be Crazy", when Bob, Larry, and Junior are on the elevator of the U.S.S. Applepies and make it to the main floor of the ship, the door opening/closing sound effect from Star Trek: The Original Series can be heard. This sound effect was strangely muted out when the story was included on home video releases since 2006.
