The episode opens with Mac and Charlie calling in to a local radio station to correctly answer a question about the Philadelphia Flyers for chance to score two VIP tickets to the station’s private beach house. Pulling the answer out of his ass at the last possible second, Mac now has to score a goal from the center of the rink and in front of several-thousand Flyers fans.
Back at the bar, Frank’s taken to recorded the “Jibba-Jabba-Jibba-Jabba” banter of Dennis and Dee, namely because he likes listening to it when he’s driving. Dennis and Dee get the idea to do their own podcast and set up an impromptu recording studio in the back room but get stuck on their first topic (and Frank’s constant cracker munching).
The dead air spurs Frank to bring in his first special surprise guest, the ever-devolving Rickety Cricket (David Hornsby), his latest ailment being a speech impediment brought on by a throat infection from when Frank hit him with a trash can. (I almost forgot that actually happened.)
Cricket talks about the homeless situation in Philly (and makes some alarming suggestions about his current occupation as…uh…”dog prostitute”?), but the discussion quickly devolves into a barrage of insults (“Ugly Homeless Bitch!”) between Cricket and Dee.
Charlie and Mac take to the streets of Philly with their hockey sticks and beer to practice for the big event, but the session doesn’t go too well (“This isn’t regulation asphalt”), so they head to an actual ice rink, which also doesn’t go well, even beforethey get thrown out for playing hockey while people are skating.
The podcast isn’t going much better, as Dee keeps derailing the discussion with sporadic outbursts of a “duck noise” (how can you not like that it’s referred to as “duck noise” and not “quack”?) and other sound effects. Frank joins in and changes to topic to war, bringing in his next surprise guest, Dee’s ex Ben the Soldier to talk about how he used to bang Dee (“You’re in the Hot seat!”); and he offers the next guest, The Waitress, “50 bucks if you take off your top and drink soup out of my shoe.”
And just as Mac and Charlie’s story seems like it would run out ideas, they whip out a fantastic training montage that’s hilarious just for the song they choose. Mac’s skills improve dramatically, and when his big break comes, well, I won’t spoil it, but the nod to The Natural and reappearance of the beloved duster were nice touches.
Three episodes away from the season premiere, when I was wondering if the show was going to falter, I’m now wondering how it could possibly get better.
The only criticisms are the somewhat simple plots, but who cares? This is another flat-out great episode (and people will be repeating “jabroni” for a long time to come). Mac and Charlie continue to generate some of the oddest conversations and logical perversions (like two mutually enabling manchildren), and Frank keeps things moving along with Dennis and Dee.
The show’s good about keeping the two best performers, (not a jibe at the others, but my heart belongs to) DeVito and Day, in separate plots to maintain a balance of depravity, but I do love when Frank and Charlie team up for some horrible scheme (or just back when they were living together).
On to the next!
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