the bet

Strong Bad Email #95

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"Oh, CRAP!"

Strong Bad loses a bet with Homestar Runner, and he has to spend a night at the King of Town's castle.

Cast (in order of appearance): Strong Bad, Homestar Runner, The King of Town, Marzipan (Easter egg)

Places: Computer Room, The Field, King of Town's Castle

Computer: Compy 386

Date: Monday, January 19, 2004

Running Time: 2:37

Page Title: Compy 386!!

DVD: strongbad_email.exe Disc Three

Transcript

STRONG BAD: Come on, big money! Big money! And...email!

Dear Strong Bad,
Do you ever go over to The King of
Town's place for dinner? If so,
what's it like?

Chris
Ann Arbor, Michigan

{Strong Bad says "Chris Ann Arbor" as though it is the email sender's whole name, and places the stress on the middle syllable of "Michigan", pronouncing it as mish-EE-gan.}

STRONG BAD: {typing} Well, Chris Ann, I hate to admit it but uh, yeah, there was this one time when I went over to The King of Town's castle. Seems I placed a bet with one Homestar Runner some Tuesday night.

{Cut to Strong Bad and Homestar Runner in the field at night.}

STRONG BAD: So, hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on. Let me get this uh-straight: You're betting me that you're cool.

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Yep, I'm cool.

STRONG BAD: And if you're not cool, you have to change your name to... Kevin DuBrow. But if you are cool, I gotta spend the night over at The King of Town's?

HOMESTAR RUNNER: That's the deal, man. The total deal.

STRONG BAD: You're goin' down, son.

HOMESTAR RUNNER: No ways.

STRONG BAD: All right! Let's see you be's cool.

{Homestar pulls out a pair of shades and slowly puts them on. He pauses a moment for the effect to sink in.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: 'Sup?

{Strong Bad takes this in.}

STRONG BAD: Oh, crap!!

{Cut to The King of Town's castle. Strong Bad rings the doorbell.}

THE KING OF TOWN: Come on in.

STRONG BAD: {peeks out from behind the door} Is the coast clear?

THE KING OF TOWN: The coast is toast!

{Strong Bad comes out from behind the door. He is wearing a big fake beard that seems to be made out of a piece of bark}

STRONG BAD: All right, let's get this over with! {He takes off the beard and enters.}

{The two walk over to The King of Town's pantry.}

THE KING OF TOWN: So here's all my foodstuffs. You want some Pork Snagglins? Or a can of Butter-da or anything?

STRONG BAD: King, I think that stuff's for automotive use only.

THE KING OF TOWN: It's possible. Ooh! And check it out! This is my 200-pound bag of Awwww Gratin potatoes! It's an '83!

STRONG BAD: Yeah, that sucks. Look, do you have any video games or, like, R-rated movies?

THE KING OF TOWN: I have a video game. It's the stand-up kind even! Like from an arcade.

STRONG BAD: No way! Really? Why didn't you say so, you creepy old man? Let's play it!!

{The game turns out to be Typing Tutor Turbo.}

STRONG BAD: Uh... never mind.

THE KING OF TOWN: How many WPMs can you get up to? That's words per minute, you know.

STRONG BAD: You're about to get 175 fists per stomach if I'm not eating ice cream inside of one minute!

THE KING OF TOWN: Ooh!

{Strong Bad is narrating as they scarf up "ice style cream." Flavors visible are "choco-gravy" and "maybe mint?"}

STRONG BAD: {voiceover} So in the end it didn't turn out half bad. I got to eat a crap load of ice cream.

THE KING OF TOWN: Want another scoop of casserole flavored?

STRONG BAD: Yeah! Yeah! Spoon it up! {voiceover} And I left an open can of mayonnaise in his ventilation ducts.

{Cut to a shot from the interior of a duct as Strong Bad puts in a can of "army-style" mayonnaise.}

STRONG BAD: {voiceover} Oh, and Typing Tutor isn't actually that bad a game if you play it the right way.

{Cuts to outside the castle, where Strong Bad is hoisting Typing Tutor over The King of Town's head.}

STRONG BAD: Get ready for fun!

THE KING OF TOWN: {blindfolded} I'm ready!

{Cut back to Compy.}

STRONG BAD: {typing} Just goes to show you Chris Ann, big losers are what you make of them. For instance, I'm gonna go make an indentured servant out of Strong Sad. And now, the get up noise.

{The Geddup Noise is heard as Strong Bad gets up and leaves. The Paper comes down.}

Easter Eggs

"*BUTTER-DA IS NOH HUSH A BUSH PUSH LEOPOLD"

• At the end, click on "losers" to see a commercial for Butter-da.

{Cut to a blue screen with a picture of a can of Butter-da next to a picture of the King of Town's face. Some synthesized music is playing.}

THE KING OF TOWN: {voiceover} They tell me not to, but I still drinks it! {The second clause appears at the top in capitals as he says it.}

DISCLAIMER MAN: {He mumbles unintelligibly; the words "BUTTER-DA IS NOH HUSH A BUSH PUSH LEOPOLD" appear at the bottom of the screen.}

• Also at the end, click "them" to see more of Homestar.

{Homestar (still in shades) and Marzipan are standing in the field at night.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: 'Sup?

MARZIPAN: Homestar, quit saying that.

{A meteor shoots over Homestar's head}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: My name's not Homestar; {steps toward Marzipan} it's Kevin DuBrow.

MARZIPAN: I thought that was if you lost the bet.

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Oh, right. Never mind! 'Sup?

MARZIPAN: Homestar, that is not cool.

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Yes, it is. Strong Bad said so.

MARZIPAN: Well, if Strong Bad told you to jump off a bridge—

HOMESTAR RUNNER: {interrupting, forcefully} Yes!

Fun Facts

Explanations

• An indentured servant is an un-free laborer under contract to work for another person for a specified amount of time. This labor is often unpaid, in return for accommodation, food, other essentials, and/or free passage to a new country. After working for a number of years, the servant is released from the contract and is free to own land or practice a trade. Indentured servitude is now illegal under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights along with slavery.

Trivia

• The YouTube description for this email is "Strong Bad loses a bet and has to spend the night in the King of Town's castle. Something-arity ensues."

Remarks

• At the loading page of this email, the letters of the word "loading" do not blink.
• Initially, the letter spacing in the second line of Strong Bad's response is too narrow, causing the letters to overlap.

Inside References

• Strong Bad uses "be's" when challenging Homestar.
• Homestar says "total".
• The King of Town has a lot of food from previous cartoons, including:
  • Schenectady Crispies cereal (from labor day)
  • "Potate" Chips (from morning routine)
  • Fluffy Puff Mayo (from Where's The Cheat?)
  • Cocoa Butter and Animal Phat (from suntan)
  • Ham (from Homestarloween Party)
• The Typing Tutor Turbo game plays the same sound that plays at the start of Revenge of the King. This sound, in turn, is based on The King of Town DVD music.

Real-World References

• The phrase "Big money, big money, and... stop" was often said by nervous contestants on the 1980s game show Press Your Luck and its 2000s resurrection Whammy!. Strong Bad replaces "stop" with "email".
• The beard that Strong Bad wore bears a striking resemblance to the beards from "Monty Python's Life of Brian".
• "The coast is toast" is the tagline for the movie Volcano.
• "Typing Tutor" was a computer game whose purpose, not surprisingly, was to teach people how to type. (The "arcade Typing Tutor" in the email doesn't even have a keyboard; it looks more like a Space Invaders clone but with letters instead of aliens.)
  • The letters on the Typing Tutor game are in the same order as the first six letters of each row on an English-language QWERTY keyboard (QWERTY, ASDFGH, ZXCVBN).
  • In addition, the "Turbo" may be a reference to some games that use that line, most likely Street Fighter 2 Turbo.
• Awww Gratin potatoes is a play on "au gratin" potatoes, a dish consisting of thinly sliced potatoes baked with cheese and breadcrumbs.
• As confirmed on Twitter, the "Leopold" in the Butter-da disclaimer is a reference to the Looney Tunes short Long-Haired Hare, in which Bugs Bunny dresses as Leopold Stokowski.
• Kevin DuBrow was the lead singer of the metal band Quiet Riot. Although Homestar and Strong Bad pronounce his last name as if it rhymes with "plow", it actually rhymes with "snow".

Fast Forward

• Although Strong Bad says "And now, the get up noise" in this email, in the email geddup noise, Strong Bad corrects Marc by saying it is called "The Geddup Noise".

• Despite calling it "the get up noise" in this episode, it is later claimed that it is not the original Geddup Noise, but its cousin, Chairscoot. The original Geddup Noise left sometime around the email kids' book.
• Also in the same email, the announcer for The Show calls Homestar Kevin, though not necessarily Kevin DuBrow.

• Strong Bad asks the King of Town if he has any R-rated movies, which he will talk about later in rated.

DVD Version

• To view the Butter-Da commercial, select the hidden Strong Bad logo located at the bottom left of the Compy screen at the end of the video.
• To view the Homestar and Marzipan Easter egg, select the hidden Strong Bad logo located at the bottom right of the Compy screen at the end of the video.
• The DVD version features hidden audio commentary. To access it, switch the DVD player's audio language selection while watching.

Commentary Transcript

(Commentary by: Strong Bad, Mike Chapman)

STRONG BAD: Welcome back to the World Series of Poker. My name is Strong Bad, accompanied here by Mike Chapman.

MIKE: Hello there, everyone.

STRONG BAD: Uh, so Strong Bad's got pocket aces here—

MIKE: {simultaneously} Ooh, pocket— pocket jacks.

STRONG BAD: Yeah—

MIKE: Pocket hooks, we call them.

STRONG BAD: Yes. And the turn... Oh, didn't get anything on the turn. Okay, sorry. Uhh, I've been watching a lot of Travel Channel lately.

MIKE: Or any other—

STRONG BAD: Or four other networks that play Hold 'em. {pause} I like this night scene.

MIKE: I like— yeah, the moon, uh, with the rings around it's kind of— kind of nice.

STRONG BAD: Yeah, did you do that?

MIKE: The crickets? Yeah, I made— I made that.

STRONG BAD: Nice work.

MIKE: Thanks.

STRONG BAD: So, Kevin DuBrow, you know—

MIKE: Who— Who is that?

STRONG BAD: The incomparable.

MIKE: Who is that?

STRONG BAD: He's lead singer for Quiet Riot, Mike.

MIKE: Oh, really?

STRONG BAD: He had a metal face.

MIKE: Yeah {laughs}— Yeah, that's right.

STRONG BAD: Yeah, he— Well, what happened was, he shredded so much— he didn't play the guitar—

MIKE: Yeah—

STRONG BAD: —but the guitar shredded so much guitar in front of his face, that it melted off and he had to have it replaced with a metal face.

MIKE: Speaking of shredded guitars...

STRONG BAD: Yeah, dressed like, uh, what's his name, Billy Gibbons?

MIKE: Yeah. Or the other guy—

STRONG BAD: ZZ Top, or the other one. Not the drummer, though. So, I mean, who didn't have this experience where, just like, you're going through the directory; mom said you could have somebody spend the night on Friday; none of your real friends are available, so—

MIKE: So you have to invite the King of Town over?

STRONG BAD: So you—

MIKE: Or you have to invite yourself to the King of Town's house?

STRONG BAD: Yeah, well, you know {unintelligible}—

MIKE: Yeah, but—

STRONG BAD: What?

MIKE: That never happened. I— I think no one— that never happened to anyone but you.

STRONG BAD: Come on! You had— you're so desperate, you said, "I'll hang out with the loser guy." You know—

MIKE: 'Cause you—

STRONG BAD: Usually have, like, a lot of cool toys, or a hot mom. {Mike laughs} Right? You never did that?

MIKE: Yeah, uh, yeah, I did.

STRONG BAD: See, like I'd probably seen through the window the... the... the... silhouette

MIKE: {simultaneously} Silhouette.

STRONG BAD: —of an arcade game, and thought, like, "Oh! It's got Gallagher in there," you know?

MIKE: The comedian?

STRONG BAD: Yeah, you've never played his stand-up game? {Mike laughs} Breaking watermelons all over the place. {pause} That was some good ice cream, though.

MIKE: Choco-gravy sounds good.

STRONG BAD: Yeah, it was good. And it had giblets. Real chunks of giblets.

MIKE: {simultaneously} That's a good idea right there: putting the mayo in the ventilation duct.

STRONG BAD: I did that in art class.

MIKE: Yeah?

STRONG BAD: I had teach— Art teacher didn't like the smell of mayo.

MIKE: How long did, uh, it take before it really started stinking?

STRONG BAD: Four years.

MIKE: Really?

STRONG BAD: Yeah, I was—

MIKE: It seems like mayonnaise would go bad sooner than that.

STRONG BAD: Oh, it did!

MIKE: But it didn't smell leftover—

STRONG BAD: I— They thought it was me! They blamed it on me!

Fun Facts

• The World Series of Poker is considered the most important poker tournament, and has lately aired on ESPN.
• The Travel Channel is a cable network which showcases various travel shows and documentaries. One of its most popular programs is the World Poker Tour.
• Kevin DuBrow having a metal face is a reference to Quiet Riot's mascot (not DuBrow), who wore a red straitjacket and a metal hockey mask.
• Billy Gibbons is the guitarist for the rock band ZZ Top and is famous for his large, bushy beard. "The other one" refers to bassist Dusty Hill, who also has a beard; "not the drummer" refers to Frank Beard, who does not.
• Gallagher is a comedian famous for his stand-up act in which he smashes watermelons with a sledgehammer. This is also a pun on the popular arcade game Galaga.
• Giblets are the edible viscera of a fowl. Giblets are commonly used to make gravy.

External Links

• watch "the bet"
• watch "the bet" on YouTube
• watch "the bet" on the old Flash site
• view the Flash file for "the bet"