A Plot: Lacey starts a book club with the other women of Dog River and decides to bring Brent in as a male opinion. Lacey is shocked when Brent actually reads the book, but then he takes over the book club with his own manly novel choices, which Karen, Wanda, and Emma also enjoy.
B Plot: Comedian Bob Lang comes into town to do a show, but Brent is upset when Lang steals his "Rowboat/Robot" story on a TV talk show. Lacey agrees to help Brent get his revenge.
C Plot: Hank has been chosen as Bob Lang's opener and is worried about being heckled. After getting tips from Lacey about comebacks, he turns the insults into his entire routine.
Tropes Referenced:
- Artistic License – Geography: Oscar enjoys a nature show where a lion kills and eats a dingo. Lacey tells him that the two animals don't even live on the same continent, which just ruins it for Oscar.
- The Cameo: Parodied when "Dave" shows up right after Brent complains that "the bald guy" from Whose Line Is It Anyway? has to make a cameo in everything, with Colin Mochrie naturally playing Dave. In the ending segment where Brent addresses the audience out of character to give a mock-PSA about reading, Colin rushes into the shot to make a cameo in that too.Brent: This guy's gotta be in everything!
- Cats Hate Water: Why Brent thinks the events of Life of Pi must be just as scary for the tiger as they are for the kid. Lacey corrects him by saying that tigers actually like water (Truth in Television).
- City Shout Outs: Lacey gets revenge on a comedian Brent has a grudge against by convincing him that he is in Wullerton, not Dog River. As a result, he makes all his shout-outs to Wullerton, Dog River's archrival, and nearly gets lynched as a result.
- Comically Missing the Point: Hank as usual.Lacey: Y'know, stand-up can be pretty tough. I used to work at a comedy club.
Hank: That's great! Maybe you could, uh, show me how to get laughs.
Lacey: No, I worked at a comedy club. I wasn't the one getting the laughs.
Hank: Ohhh … improv act. - Dialogue Reversal: When the book club is discussing their first book, Lacey offers to take Brent into the kitchen "for a glass of water", so she can give him book hints on paper. Later, when the books being read are more Brent's speed, he offers the same "glass of water" excuse to Lacey.
- Genius Book Club: Parodied and subverted. Lacey tries to create one of these, but the club turns increasingly to "action" books and eventually just movies.
- The Greatest Story Never Told: Brent laments that, since Bob Lang stole his best story and told it on national TV, he can no longer tell it without looking like he's the one stealing it from Bob. Oscar explains that this is why he never shares his own funny stories with anyone, because they'll just ruin it. He keeps them all in his head so that nobody can enjoy them but him. He then thinks of one and walks off laughing to himself.
- Heroic BSoD: Lacey snaps when she realizes she has completely lost control over the book club.
- Hidden Depths: Brent loves reading, though no matter how much he tells Lacey this she still refuses to believe he has the mental capabilities/level of maturity needed to get through and understand Life of Pi, and persistently pushes her cheat sheet about the book on him, right up until he surprises her by giving a thoughtful analysis of the book. Granted, Brent prefers to read Rated M for Manly books, starring people like James Bond, Rambo, and Hardboiled Detectives.
- Insult Comic: Hank becomes one when he memorizes a list of standard heckler comebacks and uses them in place of actual jokes.
- Literal Metaphor: Hank claims that the last time Bob Lang was in town, the show was so funny that he was literally rolling in the aisles.Davis: You mean you were figuratively rolling in the aisles.
Brent: I wish he was figuratively rolling in the aisles.
Hank: Anyway, he's gonna be on TV tonight! Ain't that cool? Maybe he'll mention Dog River!
Davis: …Actually rolling in the aisles? Like, on the floor? Laughing?
Brent: You really had to not be there. - "Not So Different" Remark: In The Teaser, Lacey is shown to start the reflexive spitting at the mention of rival town Wullerton. Brent claims she's "one of us now".
- Public Service Announcement: Parodied at the end of the episode with Brent inviting viewers to read several books, including a fake one made by the prop department (which he says is a surprisingly good read). It also features a reappearance by Colin Mochrie (see The Cameo above).
- Pun With Pi:Hank: [Reading the cover of Life of Pi] Ah, a detective novel.
Lacey: What?
Hank: Life of P.I., private investigator.
Lacey: Life of Pi, Pi.
Hank: A cookbook, huh? Well, that's kinda dumb. - Revenge: Apparently Lacey's is "swift and brutal". On behalf of Brent, it takes her mere seconds to trick Bob Lang into getting booed off stage as revenge for Lang stealing Brent's funny story.
- Shout-Out:
- Several books are mentioned in the book club, most notably Life of Pi.
- When Lacey explains that tigers like water and can swim from island to island, Brent quips that they also "bounce around on their tails".
- Karen gets book club and Fight Club mixed up.Karen: I thought the first rule of Book Club was "don't talk about Book Club".
Lacey: That's Fight Club.
Karen: [Defensively] What do you know about Fight Club?!
- Title Drop
