Original air date: 9/19/1993
The second episode of the first season of Rocko's Modern Life.
Carnival Knowledge
Rocko and Heffer go to Slippy the Slug's rigged carnival.
Sand in Your Navel
Rocko and Spunky spend a day at the beach.
"Carnival Knowledge" provides examples of:
- Accordion Man: Happens to both Rocko and Heffer when they crash to the ground after riding the Nosebleed.
- Brick Joke: Rocko plays the Frog Flip game, using a crane with a wrecking ball to launch a frog with a bowler hat and cigar into the air, who shouts, "Loser!". Later, when he and Heffer ride the Nosebleed, the frog flies past them, still shouting, "Loser!". At the end of the episode, when Rocko and Heffer are about to leave the carnival, the frog falls back down to Earth and lands on a lily pad.
- Circling Birdies: Stars spin around Rocko's head after his bumper car is destroyed by the other bumper cars.
- Crappy Carnival: Slippy's carnival fits this trope to a T; most of the games are rigged, the rides are dangerous, and Slippy takes every opportunity to fleece customers. This episode ends with Rocko winning one of the carnival games, and the toy he gets breaks about ten seconds later.
- Epic Fail: Rocko is having difficulty knocking down the bottles in a game booth. He gets so determined after a few tries he throws the ball so hard it explodes on impact, destroying the booth... but the bottles remain intact.
- Hellevator: An Elevator to Hell (complete with a sign that actually labels it as such) is one of the attractions at Slippy's carnival. More points to it when an actual devil winds up on the return trip and Slippy shoves him back in, sending him back to Hell.
- Instant Wristwatch: Rocko wears one when he plays the claw machine. The claw takes the watch from him.
- Iris Out: This episode ends with one that closes on Rocko just as the finger trap he wins breaks. The Frog then tries to open it back up so he can get through it, but ends up getting his head stuck.
- Jerkass: Slippy willingly puts his customers through dangerous rides and rigged carnival games just to make a buck.
- Over-the-Top Roller Coaster: Rocko and Heffer ride The Nosebleed, a roller coaster at Slippy's carnival that goes through the clouds all the way into space, and when they come back down, the coaster is still under construction.
- Piranha Problem: Live piranhas appear in the Saw Mill ride, trying to eat Rocko and Heffer.
- Playboy Parody: As Slippy operates the carousel, he can be seen reading a Playslug magazine.
- Running Gag: This episode starts one that progresses throughout the series where a pair of beaver paramedics would emerge from an ambulance shouting "Hup hup hup hup hup hup hup hup..." and doing a Bait-and-Switch where they would lift an inanimate object instead of the injured character. In this episode, after Rocko gets bumped in his bumper car, the beavers carry out the car instead of Rocko.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Rocko plays the Frog Flip game, and when he is unable to use the hammer to launch the frog off the platform, he uses a crane with a wrecking ball, launching the frog high into the air. At the end of the episode, the frog falls back to Earth and lands perfectly on a lily pad, much to everyone's shock. Slippy gives Rocko a finger trap as a prize (which ends up breaking after the screen irises out on Rocko).
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Rocko becomes dizzy after being thrown off a wild Merry-Go-Round. Heffer offers him a bite of his hot dog, and after taking a huge sniff, Rocko barfs all over the camera, which is used as a transition to the next scene. The puke is drawn rather cartoonishly, however (green with huge un-chewed food chunks visible).
- Wild Take: Once when Rocko notices his log heading for an actual saw blade at the Saw Mill ride and another when he sees the Nose Bleed's drop.
- You Are Fat: For safety reasons, Slippy refuses to let Heffer ride the Elevator to Hell, saying that he's "a little too hefty for this ride".
- You Must Be This Tall to Ride: To get out of riding the Nosebleed with Heffer, Rocko tells Heffer that he's too short to ride it. Heffer pumps Rocko's tail like a car jack to stretch Rocko's neck and make him taller.
"Sand in Your Navel" provides examples of:
- Accidental Pervert: Rocko. He helps put suntan lotion on Gladys, but he slips into her brazier, making her assume the worst.
- Beach Episode: In this episode, Rocko tries to relax by going to the beach with Spunky.
- Big Honking Traffic Jam: Rocko gets stuck in one on his way to the beach as a result of so many people going there as well.
- Embarrassingly Painful Sunburn: At the end of the episode, Rocko returns home with one. On his body, a mosquito is grilling hamburgers.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Just like real life hippos, it doesn't take much to set Gladys off.
- Harmless Freezing: After Rocko laments that Spunky is lost forever, he finds Spunky frozen in a block of ice at a fish market. Spunky's head and limbs stick out of the ice block, and Spunky barks.
- Heat Wave: This episode begins on a day so hot, Rocko's thermometer goes all the way up to "Please Evacuate the Premises".
- Intimate Lotion Application: While at the beach, Gladys asks Rocko to help apply sunscreen on her back and he complies, with both parties not having second intentions. But things get a turn from the awkward when the lotion makes the hippo slippery and Rocko winds up stuck between her huge breasts, much to her ire.
- Meat-O-Vision: A variant; a hot Spunky visualizes Rocko's buckets of sweat as a pair of slushies.
- Pirate Peg Leg: The Pelican is shown to have one.
- Road Trip Across the Street: On their way to the beach, Rocko tries to find a good place to park his car, but all of the parking lots are full. He eventually finds a parking lot called Big Ed's parking, which is right across the street from his house. He settles on it and walks to the beach.
- Running Gag: The Beaver Paramedics from the previous episode return in this episode as lifeguards after Rocko saves Spunky when the latter gets eaten by a fish. The Paramedics say, "Hey, someone to rescue!", then put the fish on their gurney instead of Spunky. They then put the fish on a barbecue grill and cook it.
- Vocal Dissonance: This episode marks the first appearance of Gladys the Hippo Lady, who speaks in a feminine voice, but shouts "HOW DARE YOU?!" in a masculine voice whenever someone ticks her off.
- Wearing It All Wrong: When Rocko comes across a nudist beach, he puts his bathing suit on his head.
- Wild Take: Rocko does one where his eyes pop out of his head when he sees that Spunky is about to land in the sandwich of a Pig Man about to eat it. He does another one when he sees Spunky riding in the Pelican's beak.
- Wingding Eyes: After Rocko jumps on the fish that ate Spunky, the fish' pupils turn into Xs. When Spunky is spat out, his pupils are also Xs, but fortunately, he's still alive and Rocko saves him with the Heimlich Maneuver.
