Marshall encounters problems with the way that GNB treats people, while Zoey starts sitting in on Ted's class and turning his students against him.
This episode provides examples of:
- Bait-and-Switch: When Randy asks the guys if they're going to watch the parade, the audience thinks he is referring to the parade in West Village. It's actually "The Annual Post-Halloween Walk of Shame Parade".
- Big "NO!": Randy lets one out when Marshall tells him he's not fired.
- Butt-Monkey: This is still Randy's schtick, though he does eventually find redemption as a successful microbrewer.
- Call-Back: Barney dresses up as his hero, Johnny Lawrence from the Kobra Kai Dojo.
- Cool Teacher: Up until Zoey's intervention, Ted was this between his students.
- Crippling Overspecialization: Randy apparently is horrible at every job he had in his life. The only thing he is excellent at is at brewing artisanal beer. He would eventually become a great hit in the local beer business.
- Double-Meaning Title: The episode is about Marshall having to fire (or "can") a coworker named Randy, and Randy's dream of opening a brewery.
- Dude, Not Funny!: During the Hurricane of Puns about the walk of shame parade, Marshall jokes that "That Pocohontas has a couple of Wounded Knees!note ", and the other two call him out on it.
- Embarrassing Cover Up: Robin is so ashamed of her commercial she's willing to let the gang think she slept with Randy.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Marshall convinces Arthur of un-firing Randy by using his Precious Puppy Tugboat as example. It works, to Randy's dismay.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Arthur is a little disturbed when he misinterprets Marshall's comment about "fixing" Randy.
- Evil Is Petty:
- While she isn't evil, Zoey convinces Ted's entire class to join her protests just to spite him.
- According to Barney and Marshall, Arthur once fired a guy for wearing the same tie color as him. After reassuring Randy that he won't ever be fired, he tries to fight back the anger when he sees that Randy is also wearing a green tie.
- George Jetson Job Security: According to Arthur, Randy should have been fired from GNB a year ago. Everyone in the company, including Marshall, knows that the guy is a big screwup. After Marshall convinces Arthur of keeping Randy, Arthur reassures that Randy will be a GNB employee until the day he dies.
- Hurricane of Puns: The gang really enjoy puns about Halloween costumes.
- Line-of-Sight Alias: Robin looks at the bill and the pepper shaker on the restaurant table and claims that the man she slept with was called "Bill Pepper." Lily, not fooled, inquires if Bill knows "Fork Napkin."
- "Not So Different" Remark: Inverted when Randy says it's probably hard for Marshall to understand that Randy wants to live his dream, because Marshall already has his dream job, not realizing that Marshall settling for corporate law is actually a violation of his dream job. Marshall fires Randy on the spot.
- Old Shame: In-Universe, Robin gets another one to add to her career as Robin Sparkles — her commercial for adult diapers.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: The ridiculous adult diaper commercial Robin recorded is considered one of the most embarrassing things she has ever done in her career, and it couldn't possibly be on the air that long. In Season 7, Sandy Rivers uses it against her to continue shaming her at work. Future Ted states, in his narration, that it ran for seven years.
- Pet the Dog:
- Arthur agrees to let Marshall rehire Randy after Marshal appeals to his love for his dog, Tugboat.
- Marshall get one, too, by firing Randy so the latter can get a severance check and pursue his dream of being a brewer.
- Secondary Character Title: Randy's first and only previous appearance was in season three's "Rebound Bro". The episode is about the moral quandary faced by Marshall, who has to fire Randy while being pressured to promote GNB as a caring company.
- Series Continuity Error: When Randy's nose starts bleeding, it's coming from his left nostril. When they return from the flashback to him getting fired, it's his right nostril.
- Shout-Out:
- Barney's costume is Johnny Lawrence from The Karate Kid, who he is a big fan of.
- One of the methods Lily used to discipline one of her students is leaving the head of a toy in his sleeping bag during nap time, a la The Godfather.
- Slut-Shaming: Played for Laughs. The guys have a tradition of watching the parade, which they dub "The Annual Post-Halloween Walk of Shame Parade", where they sit at their entrance, drink coffee and crack jokes at the women returning from shameful hookups according to their costumes. The big bonus comes when Robin is returning home with a nurse costume.
- Stern Teacher: Lily tells Ted that he can't be friendly with his students if he still wants to keep his authority, especially after Zoey brainwashed all of them into joining the Arcadian protest. As last resort, he tells his students if they're not in class tomorrow, they'll fail the course, which ends up working.
- Tempting Fate: Robin laments doing the embarrassing commercial and hopes it goes away after a while. Future!Ted later tells that the commercial ran for seven years.
- Understatement: When Lily brings up the car with the annoying alarm under the apartment, Ted and Robin do a perfectly synchronized impression of the alarm, for Ted to finish with "We're familiar with it".
- Unfortunate Names: Randy's home-brewed beer is surprisingly good. He should probably name it something other than Wharmpess (warm piss). Also, Randy should change his last name, Wharmpess.
- We Care: Barney is filming a commercial for GNB with this premise to boost public opinion.
