Episode 111: Mortgages and Marbles

Cast:
Brendon Small – Brendon Small
Jason Penopolis – H. Jon Benjamin
Melissa Robbins – Melissa Bardin Galsky
Coach Jon McGuirk – H. Jon Benjamin
Paula Small – Janine Ditullo
Josie Small – Loren Bouchard
Erik – Jonathan Katz
Mr. Lynch – Ron Lynch

Synopsis: Mortgages: McGuirk wants to move, so he seeks out Erik’s help. Marbles: After Josie puts marbles in her nose, Brendon decides it’s time to teach her not to do that.

History:
· This is the first (and one of the few) episode where Josie is central to the storyline.
· This is the first episode where we hear that Erik is divorced (which makes you think about the friendship of Melissa and Brendon).
· One of the main storylines in this episode is between McGuirk (H. Jon Benjamin) and Erik (Jonathan Katz). This is a type of reunion because Katz played Dr. Katz on “Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist” and H. Jon Benjamin played his son Benjamin Katz. That’s also probably why Erik and McGuirk work so well off each other.
· This is the first time we see the interior of McGuirk’s house.

Lawn Gnomes:
· Try as I might, I cannot find a gnome in this one.

Brendon’s Filmography:
· “Don’t Put Marbles In Your Nose” – Spiky McMarbles, Dr. Checktizum and Melissa show kids that they shouldn’t put marbles in their nose. Featuring music by Scab. Puppetry by Jason and Brendon.

The Movie-Episode Connection:
· No real connection, since the episode is more or less about the movie. However, I believe the video’s effects could be made into a drug war statement. “When did you get the urge to put marbles in your nose?” “When Spikey told me not to.” Think about it.

Song Lyrics:
· Don’t Put Marbles In Your Nose
Don’t put marbles in your nose
Put them in there do not put them in there
Don’t put marbles in your nose
Put them in there do not put them in there
Don’t put marbles in your nose
Put them in there do not put them in there
Come on!!!!!!!!!!!!
Don’t!!!
(Guitar solo)
Don’t put marbles in your nose
Put them in there do not put them in there
Don’t put marbles in your nose
Put them in there do not put them in there
Don’t put marbles in your nose
Put them in there do not put them in there

Random Observations & Facts:
· Paula wears the same thing to bed as she normally wears.
· Josie’s curly hair shows up in the X-Ray.
· Brendon and Lynch’s laughing after Brendon makes the “why don’t you use humor” joke lasts 20 seconds.
· During the first Lynch-McGuirk scene, the exact same animation is used three times (the one with Lynch trying to walk and McGuirk stopping him).
· Melissa has “Melissa” written on her shirt during the “Don’t Put Marbles In Your Nose” video.
· There is a tree and a castle in the background of “Don’t Put Marbles In Your Nose”.
· Even when Brendon & Jason are talking normally during the filming of “Don’t Put Marbles In Your Nose”, they still move the puppet’s mouths.
· McGuirk’s “luggage”: A box that says “BEER”, a bag with “McGuirk” on it, a suitcase, another bag and a goldfish (Sammy).
· Outside the window where McGuirk calls Erik, it says “Pub” backwards (he’s calling from a pub).
· The Robbins and McGuirk order food from “Chef Wong’s Golden Hippo Pupu”. There is a mildly racist Chinese chef with a duck and a knife on the box.
· McGuirk has a pink towel that says “Hers”.
· McGuirk’s eyebrows go over his shower cap.
· McGuirk’s ass is censored out, but is visible for a second (not that I checked).
· McGuirk set up his goldfish next to Robbin’s bird. All his other luggage can be seen throughout the house.
· This is the second time Erik has talked to McGuirk about breathing exercises.
· You can see a McGuirk style shirt on the couch at the Robbin’s.
· In the Kindergarten class, there are stars on the chalkboard that say: “Becky”, “Stan”, and “Suzie”, and a moon that says “Stevie”
· Brendon and Jason are clearly visible in “Don’t Put Marbles In Your Nose”.
· Spiky McMarbles’s arm falls off during “Don’t Put Marbles In Your Nose”. Melissa holds in it place for a while, and then tosses it on Spiky’s head.
· Brendon looks at Jason angrily when he answers “Yes” to “Is Spiky stupid because he puts marbles in his nose?”
· Scab apparently has a mixed message in the “Don’t Put Marbles In Your Nose” song, because they say “Put them in there do not put them in there”.
· McGuirk sweats through his clothes in the small house.
· The sign near the one house Erik shows McGuirk says “Exit 13 – Nowhere”.

Past Episode References:
· Once again, we get to see the cow and banana tattoos from Episode 101 – Get Away From My Mom.
· In Episode 104 – Brendon Gets Rabies, Melissa says she doesn’t like birds. In this episode, if you look at the Robbin’s house, you can see that they have a bird.

Movie & Other References:
· Brendon tells Melissa that “The call is coming from inside the house” about McGuirk. This is from the movie “Halloween”. (I think it was Halloween. Somebody please tell me if it isn’t.)
· Scab dresses up like KISS in the “Don’t Put Marbles In Your Nose” video.

End Credits: “Don’t Put Marbles In Your Nose”

Reviews: WARNING: Spoilers

DrWeird: 3rd best episode of season 1. I'll do the review like this:

Mortgages: For those not aware, Erik is played by Jonathan Katz and McGuirk is played by H. Jon Benjamin. These two actors worked together for around 6 years on the show "Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist". Katz was Dr. Katz and Benjamin played "Ben", his son. You can definitely see that these two actors know each other, because they work great off of each other in this episode.

We got to see a lot of the sides of McGuirk in this one. There's McGuirk the Jerk ("Melissa, you idiot! Kick the ball!") McGuirk the unwanted guest ("Melissa, he's only been here 4 hours...") and McGuirk the totally ignorant ("I'm taking out a loan, I'm doing a mortgage). It seemed in this one, all of the sides of McGuirk were funny.

And Erik had great interactions with just about everyone he talked to in this episode (Melissa and McGuirk).

Marbles: A lot of anti-season one/anti-Home Movies in general people refer to this storyline if they bash the show. Personally, I think it's one of the most simple, yet great, storylines the show has had. Brendon's opening (MAR-BLES!) was just a kind of weird funny, the Brendon-Lynch conversation was one of their best (I love it when they just go "Aaahhh...." for about 30 seconds) and the movie itself was just plain funny. The dialogue was laughably bad, the music video was so out-of-place it was good, and it was just great when everyone in the class puts marbles in their nose.

Paula's role was small (no pun intended) in this episode, but she still had some good scenes with Brendon.

So, as for grading:
Mortgages: A+
Marbles: A+
Mortgages & Marbles: A+

Positives: Good chemistry with Erik (Katz) and McGuirk (Benjamin), great Lynch lines, the entire movie, the actual song "Don't Put Marbles In Your Nose", Josie
Negatives: Jason could've been used a little more