Arthur the Unfunny

Summary
Arthur decides to learn how to make people laugh.

Plot
Arthur starts the show by trying to tell a joke. He messes up the setup, and accidentally spoils the punchline, then walks off in shame.

Arthur the Unfunny

Arthur starts writing a letter to Buster about how the Elwood City Public Library is having a fundraiser. Mrs. MacGrady is having a bake sale, Mr. Crosswire is raffling off a car, and Muffy is setting up a backyard carnival. Arthur and his friends choose to be clowns at the carnival, so they practice doing funny things. Arthur tells a joke Buster told him, but nobody finds it funny. Francine and Muffy fear that Arthur will ruin the carnival.

Arthur practices his piano, and Kate starts laughing. Arthur continues to amuse Kate by making silly faces. Meanwhile, in The Sugar Bowl, Muffy decides that Arthur can't be a clown until he can learn to be funny.

Sue Ellen comes over to Arthur's house to teach him how to juggle, but he struggles with it. Brain teaches him jokes, but Arthur doesn't understand them. Binky shows Arthur how to make funny faces, but he is unable to do that as well. Even after Muffy hires Pickles to teach Arthur, he is still not funny.

Arthur admits that he is not funny. On the day of the carnival, he is the piano player. He starts to play the piano off-key and make silly faces, like he did with Kate, causing everyone to laugh.

Pickles tells Arthur that he found his own style of humor, and congratulates him. The episode finishes with Buster reading Arthur's letter and laughing.

Characters

 * Arthur Read
 * Buster Baxter
 * Francine Frensky
 * Muffy Crosswire
 * The Brain
 * Kate Read
 * Binky Barnes
 * Fern Walters
 * Sue Ellen Armstrong
 * David Read
 * D.W. Read
 * Jane Read
 * Pickles
 * Catherine Frensky (cameo)
 * Oliver Frensky (cameo)
 * Laverne Frensky (cameo)
 * Cecilia Tingley (cameo)
 * George Lundgren (cameo)
 * Mr. Powers (cameo)
 * Mrs. Powers (cameo)
 * Mr. Barnes (cameo)
 * Mrs. Barnes (cameo)
 * Leah MacGrady (cameo)
 * Ed Crosswire (cameo)
 * Millicent Crosswire (cameo)
 * Nigel Ratburn (transformed and mentioned)

Trivia

 * "Thick shake" is a term used outside the United States for a milkshake made with ice cream.
 * More sound is audible from the Reads' computer than usual. In particular, one can hear a startup chime followed shortly by the hard disk drive motor spinning up. A few seconds before the scene change, one can also hear the hard disk drive heads in action.
 * The chime sound reveals that the computer is most likely a Macintosh computer, although the case is more typical of the PCs from that era.
 * Sue Ellen is a clown, but on the day of the carnival, she is not present.
 * The location that Buster and his father are in when Buster receives the letter from Arthur is Venice, Italy.
 * When Arthur is telling jokes to his friends which they do not find funny, his laugh is used from the Buster Makes Sounds title card.
 * Nigel Ratburn is absent from this episode in person. He is mentioned by Arthur, and Arthur imagines himself turning into him.
 * Moral: Don't judge other people for your own personal benefit.

Cultural references

 * The beginning of the episode before the title card is a reference to Seinfeld.
 * While Arthur does his speech of apology, the girls hum along to "Battle Hymn of the Republic."
 * The front license plate on the car being raffled off is "EMC2," a reference to Albert Einstein's equation for special relativity, "E = mc2."

Home Video
DVD: VHS:
 * Arthur Makes a Movie (2005 DVD)
 * Arthur: The Complete Series 3
 * Arthur Makes a Movie (VHS)