Mr. Frog
Original air date: 1/10/2022 (produced in 2021)
Pim and Charlie are sent out to help Mr. Frog, a dangerously unstable T.V. star, once his tendencies land him into trouble. Meanwhile, Glep becomes Mr. Frog's replacement, but the demands from the execs may prove too much to handle.
In Memoriam Gag: Quinton "The Animal" Gwillington (1973-1994)
Mr. Frog contains examples of...
- And There Was Much Rejoicing: In spite of Mr. Frog's ultra-violent ways seemingly becoming his undoing, he regains public approval after eating Rex, his unforgiving executive producer, live for blowing off his apology.
- Bait-and-Switch: When Glep shows up for his audition, Rex is instantly unimpressed, and doesn't even want to see his performace. This causes Glep to spit in his face. And when Rex demands he do it again, and Glep does, there's a moment of tension... And then:Rex: (gets up) Alright. I had to be sure. That seals the deal. (bends down to shake Glep's hand) Congratulations, you're the new Mr. Frog.
- Black Comedy Animal Cruelty: Mr. Frog has what Charlie describes as a "beautiful animal sanctuary"; in reality, the sanctuary has several animals all trying to kill each other in a space that's too small to accommodate all of them, and a dead dolphin is lying next to a dried-up pool.
- Bittersweet Ending: While Pim and Charlie succeed at making Mr. Frog smile, he hasn't learnt his lesson judging by the fact he rushes at a woman with a hammer, and goes mostly exempt from trying to eat the TMZ reporter and successfully eating Rex beyond the controversy of the former incident.
- Character Death: Mr. Frog swallows Rex whole, killing him. This is after having on several previous occasions having attempted, but failed, to kill another character.
- Cluster Bleep-Bomb: When Mr. Frog has a TV interview with Jimmy Fallon, he says something that's censored by several seconds of censor bleeps. Whatever he said is apparently offensive enough to shock Jimmy, Pim and Charlie into silence.
- Credits Gag: Beyond the In Memoriam Gag, the credits for the episode of The Mr. Frog Show shown. It speeds by in seconds, listing the In-Universe cast and executives before cycling through a list of lewd Punny Names.
This list of credits, in fact.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?:
- An extremely famous macro-celebrity is caught doing a criminal act wherein someone is seriously harmed, and is thus cancelled. This sounds a lot like the wave of sexual harassment claims that swept through Hollywood at the end of the New 10's, and this connection is furthered when Mr. Frog ends up getting his job back at the end of the episode despite committing an even worse act than the one he got cancelled for.
- Mr. Frog's situation overall is rather similar to that of Pepe the frog (which he resembles, is a notable topic of discussion in Zach's podcast and whose "Pepe Con" is alluded to by two people with a picture of "Frog Con"), who has garnered controversy due to being used as a mascot by faux-ironic neo-Nazis and from whom his own creator tried to distance the character from.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: Looking at most of the names of the credits on The Mr. Frog Show will reward you with a parade of Punny Names, all of them being sexual innuendos.
- Getting Eaten Is Harmless: Zig-zagged; Mr. Frog eats a bug on every episode of The Mr. Frog Show, but it seems to be harmless since the same bug appears on the set after Mr. Frog has been fired while looking none the worse for wear. It's definitely not harmless when Mr. Frog eats Rex, especially when there's nothing left of Rex but a bloodstain.
- Incredibly Lame Fun: Both Mr. Frog's show, which consists of him running onto the screen and explaining everything about the show, such as his actions and that it is his show, with the only difference between the episodes are his costumes, and Glep spitting, which prove to be massively popular.
- Jerkass Has a Point: While not one to talk himself and coming from his own perfectionism more than anything, Rex isn't exactly wrong to label the Ax-Crazy Mr. Frog as toxic.
- Long-Runners: The Mr. Frog Show is an In-Universe example, as it's been running for 47 seasons even though every episode is almost exactly the same.
- One-Joke Fake Show: The Mr. Frog Show consists of Mr. Frog running up to the camera, introducing himself, saying he'll eat a bug, proceed to eat the bug, announcing the end and saying he loves the audience before the credits roll. This is apparently how every single episode plays out, and the show has been running for 47 seasons.
- Role-Ending Misdemeanor: This happens In-Universe to Mr. Frog, as he gets fired from his own show after he attempts to eat a TMZ reporter. Pim and Charlie spend the rest of the episode trying to fix his reputation so he can get his career back. Ironically, he gets back on the show by doing something even worse: eating Rex on live TV. Okay, mostly worse.
- Sapient Eat Sapient: The whole reason Mr. Frog got in hot water with the media is that he attempted to eat a TMZ reporter, and he later eats Rex near the end of the episode.
- Seasonal Rot: If Charlie is to be believed, the only seasons of The Mr. Frog Show worth watching are Seasons 4 though 17. As a reminder, it ran for 47.
- Spiteful Spit: When Rex rudely dismisses Glep during auditions for the new Mr. Frog, Glep angrily spits in his face. This somehow gets Glep the part.
- Strictly Formula: In-Universe, every episode of The Mr. Frog Show is pretty much exactly the same: Mr. Frog runs onscreen, introduces himself, announces that this is his show and that he eats the bug, proceeds to eat the bug, and then says he just ate the bug and tells the audience he loves them. Despite the bare-bones premise, the show lasted 47 seasons and is extremely popular.
- Take That!:
- Jimmy Fallon's infamously fake laughter is made fun of when he cracks up at Mr. Frog telling him about how difficult his life is right now, and him shifting his position every second as well as slamming his desk are exaggerations of his body-language.
- Rex is a pretty obvious jab at studio executives who try and force their creative decisions onto a show, often doing more harm than good. He also seems to poke fun at executives that try to keep works squeaky clean, seeing as how he tones down the crude antics of The Mr. Frog Show even though the crudeness is what made the show popular to begin with.
- The Unapologetic: Mr. Frog outright says he's not sorry for trying to eat the TMZ reporter after Pim suggests he apologizes. "Hello, but I'm not sorry."
