Editing Arthur the Unfunny

{{Episode infobox
|ep. name = Arthur the Unfunny
|image = Comedian Arthur.PNG
|titlecard = Arthur the Unfunny Title Card.png
|season = [[Season 2|2]]
|number = 13B
|can=September 9, 1998<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20120413104003/http://ww3.tvo.org/program/157024/arthur</ref>
|us = April 8, 1998<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20010316024917/http://www.ket.org/visions/apr98/VL980408.html</ref>
|writers = [[Joe Fallon]]
|storyboarders = [[Stéphanie Gignac]]
|prev. episode = [[Water and the Brain]]
|next episode = [[Sue Ellen's Lost Diary]]
}}
{{EpisodeHeader|2|13|2}}

==Summary==
[[Arthur Read|Arthur]] decides to learn how to make people laugh.<ref>http://www.ket.org/episode/ARUR%20%20000213/</ref>

==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.

<center>'''Arthur the Unfunny'''</center>

Arthur starts writing a letter to [[Buster Baxter|Buster]] about how the [[Elwood City Public Library]] is having a fundraiser. [[Leah MacGrady|Mrs. MacGrady]] is having a bake sale, [[Ed Crosswire|Mr. Crosswire]] is raffling off a car, and [[Muffy Crosswire|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 Frensky|Francine]] and Muffy fear that Arthur will ruin the carnival.

Arthur practices his piano, and [[Kate Read|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 Armstrong|Sue Ellen]] comes over to Arthur's house to teach him how to juggle, but he struggles with it. [[Alan Powers|Brain]] teaches him jokes, but Arthur doesn't understand them. [[Binky Barnes|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==
===Major===
*[[Arthur Read]]
*[[Buster Baxter]]
*[[Francine Frensky]]
*[[Muffy Crosswire]]
*[[Alan Powers|The Brain]]
*[[Kate Read]]
*[[Binky Barnes]]
*[[Fern Walters]]
*[[Sue Ellen Armstrong]]
===Minor===
*[[David Read]]
*[[D.W. Read]]
*[[Jane Read]]
*[[Pickles]]

===Cameo===
*[[Catherine Frensky]]
*[[Oliver Frensky]]
*[[Laverne Frensky]]
*[[Cecilia Tingley]]
*[[George Lundgren]]
*[[Mr. Powers]]
*[[Mrs. Powers]]
*[[Mr. Barnes]]
*[[Mrs. Barnes]]
*[[Leah MacGrady]]
*[[Ed Crosswire]]
*[[Millicent Crosswire]]
*[[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 Armstrong|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 Read|Arthur]] is telling jokes to his friends which they do not find funny, his laugh is used from the [[Buster Baxter|Buster]] Makes Sounds title card.
*'''Timeline:''' Pickles recognizes Pal as the dog that stole his balloons back in season one while teaching Arthur how to mime, and quits the job on the spot. Ironically, Arthur has no idea about their previous enmity and says that Pickles had to leave for health reasons.
*'''Moral:''' 
**Don't judge other people for your own personal benefit.
**Dont make goofy/silly faces for your own personal benifit.
===Cultural references===
*The beginning of the episode before the title card is a reference to ''Seinfeld''.
*While [[Arthur Read|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:'''
*[[Arthur Makes a Movie (2005 DVD)]]
*[[Arthur: The Complete Series 3]]
'''VHS:'''
*[[Arthur Makes a Movie (VHS)]]

==Gallery==
{{CollapsingGallery|
===Screenshots===
<Gallery>
Comedian Arthur.PNG
Arthur and DW argue.PNG
DW is speechless.PNG
Arthur + Francine = Discussion.PNG
Arthur the Unfunny.png
Pickles.png
</gallery>}}
==References==
<references/>
{{EpisodeNav|2}}
[[Category:Season 2 episodes]]
[[Category:A to Z]]
[[Category:Arthur episodes]]
[[Category:1997]]