Buster Bombs

"Buster Bombs"
Season/Series:	17
Number in season:	3b
Original Airdate:	November 13, 2013 October 29, 2013 April 25, 2013
Credits
Written by:	Ken Pontac
Storyboard by:	Ken Cunningham
Episodes
Previous "Molina's Mulligan"	Next "Opposites Distract"
Read transcript

"Buster Bombs" is the second half of the third episode in the seventeenth season of Arthur.

Summary

The unthinkable has happened! Buster has lost his flair for funny, and the harder he tries to make people laugh, the worse it gets. Fortunately, comic legend Vince Ruckles is on hand to teach Buster the true secret to comedy.

Plot

Buster shows the viewers his 'comedy garden', which contains clown nose bushes, squirting flowers, banana peel patches, and his joke tree, which is supposed to contain hysterical new jokes growing on every branch. Buster reads some of the jokes to the viewers, but they aren't very funny. He then climbs a ladder to the top of the tree, and reads a joke that asks, "What does someone say when he reaches the top a dead tree? Ahhh!", but Buster doesn't get it. When the tree falls down, Buster screams, "Ahhh!". He then says to the viewers that he's OK, and laughs nervously. 

Buster Bombs

After the title card, Buster is seen telling a joke to his friends at recess, while Arthur is drinking a carton of milk. After Buster tells the punch line of his joke, most of his friends laugh, but Arthur squirts milk from his nose instead. 

Later at school, when Buster tells it to Binky, Binky thinks it's hysterical, but Arthur squirts water from his nose while he's getting a drink at the water bubbler. 

In the cafeteria, Buster discovers that his friends think his joke is boring, as Muffy says they got it the first time. Binky says that the funniest part was when Arthur shot water from his nose, and he asks Arthur if he could do it again, but Arthur doesn't want to, saying that he never found Buster's joke funny in the first place. Buster then gets advice from Mrs. MacGrady, who says that he is using old jokes, and should get new material. 

Later, Buster goes to Elwood City Books, and gets a joke book. At home, he also picks out crazy clothes and clown shoes. 

Over the next few days, Buster tries several different ways to be funny. First, he tries to smash a watermelon in Binky's backyard, to which Binky asks Buster if he'll clean up the mess he made. Next, Buster tries observational comedy at recess, but Brain and Muffy don't find his humor very funny. Finally, in Buster's kitchen, he convinces Arthur to throw pies at his face, but grosses out Arthur in the process. When Bitzi comes in to the kitchen, she makes Buster clean up the mess.   

Buster gets to go see Vince Ruckles and he gets him to sign his copy of the book. Vince tells Buster that he lost his touch in life, and then says that he stopped entirely. Buster does just that, and makes jokes unintentionally. Soon, he starts making the gang laugh again, and then he joins along.

Characters

Major

• Buster Baxter
• Vince Ruckles
• Leah MacGrady
• Arthur Read
• Bitzi Baxter
• Muffy Crosswire
• Francine Frensky
• Binky Barnes
• The Brain
• Ramon Molina
• Emily's mother
• Alex
• Maria Pappas

Trivia

• Trident Books has been renamed as "Elwood City Books".

Cultural references

• Smashing a watermelon with a hammer is a signature act of American comedian Gallagher.
• When Buster is performing some observational comedy, it's in the style of American comedian Jerry Seinfeld.
• Vince Ruckles' name is a reference to Don Rickles.

Episode connections

• Several of the baby books Buster had read in "Buster's Book Battle" are on the shelves of the bookstore.
• Elwood City Books has been the host of book-signings before, in "Fern & Persimmony Glitchet" and "Falafelosophy".

Production notes

• An alternate title for this episode is "Buster Flops", possibly due to the Boston Marathon bombings occurring not long before this episode first aired.

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