Original air date: 7/12/2000
Cartman decides to form a boy band after he has a dream in which he starts a boy band and becomes world-famous. The four boys (and Wendy) go to extreme lengths to get their name out there and become famous...but Stan's dad, Randy, objects to Stan being a boy-band member.
Something You Can Do With Your Finger includes examples of:
- Because I Said So: Said by Randy when Stan tries to go to the mall to perform with the band.
- Big "NO!": Also yelled by Randy during the same argument (see Shout-Out below).
- Brick Joke: Cartman used the orange smoothie cart to distract the mall cops, by the end they stopped selling orange smoothies.
- Celebrity Is Overrated. Parodied. This trope kicks in for the group after their mall performance results in one little girl asking for an autograph and a compliment from the security guard. Already tired of their "fame", they decide to end the band.
- Children Are Innocent: Cartman thinks that "fingerbang" refers to when you pretend to use your finger like a gun; Kenny, however tells him otherwise. Cartman naturally thinks he's just joking and tells him to stop being gross and immature.
- Country Matters: Wendy slips one in there during her song by saying "CONTaminated water."
- Dark and Troubled Past: Randy used to be in a boy band and left school, his home, and girlfriend to achieve his goals only for his fame to collapse after getting too old (one year after he started).
- Distracted by the Sexy: One of Cartman's attempts to bypass security is by telling the mall-goers there are naked people.
- Flipping the Bird: Ike flips off Cartman after being rejected by Cartman to be in his band.
- Groupie Brigade: Cartman tries to create one for his boyband by paying Bebe, Red, Annie, and Millie to scream excitedly at them when they're performing for their video, which fails not only because their lack of talent, but also because Timmy is a horrible cameraman who can't keep the camera steady and spends large portions of the video filming himself instead, including the aforementioned part with the girls.
- In the Style of: Wendy's song is a more vulgar version of the playground rhyme "Miss Suzy Had A Steamboat."
- Informed Attribute: Cartman, trying to stop Wendy from joining the boy band, claims that she has big "hooters." Wendy, who is flat like nearly every child character, scans herself and is confused afterwards.
- Ironic Echo: When Randy's telling his story of how he got screwed over by the record industry, he's shown ditching his school, his friends and home with a goofy high-pitched "see ya!". After he and the rest of his band members are kicked out of being "too old" to perform in a boy band, he loses his new car, his women and is kicked out of his fancy house with the repo men, the women and the record producer shouting an identical "see ya!" at him in turn.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Randy was really harsh on Stan's attempts to become famous, but ultimately he did it because he was worried Stan would turn out the way he turned out after joining a boy band.
- "Jump Off a Bridge" Rebuttal: Randy attempts to use this to convince Stan not to join the boy band; Stan responds with "Cartman said we'll make ten million dollars".
- Midword Rhyme: Wendy's song contains a series of these, used to mask profanity, until it ends with a Precision F-Strike.
- No OSHA Compliance: The mall can simply allow anyone to stand under an elevator shaft which Kenny finds out the hard way.
- Selective Enforcement: A terrorist with a strain of anthrax is okay to go through mall security, while more harmless people get maced.
- Serious Business: The mall cops take their job incredibly seriously, to the detriment of the mall's customers and especially for Cartman.
- Sex Sells: Chef's advice to Cartman telling him to put a cucumber in his pants for his video was intended for this.
- Shout-Out: Randy's Big "NO!" reuses Captain Picard's audio from Star Trek: First Contact, where Picard angrily screams the word and smashes a glass case full of scale models of the Enterprise. In Randy's case, he smashes his head against a glass case filled with the family's china sets.
- Sound-Effect Bleep: In the
Edited for Syndication version of this episode, the first syllable of the phrase "contaminated water" is censored by an off-key piano chord that isn't present in the standard version. - Story Arc: This episode begins the arc of Cartman trying to make 10 million dollars.
- Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion: Wendy Testaburger does a version of the "Miss Susie" song. However, Subverted when Wendy says the F word in the end.Wendy: Dictate what I'm saying 'cause it will bring you luck, and if you all don't like it I don't give a flying fuck.
- Sweet Polly Oliver: Cartman makes Wendy disguise as a boy since the band is supposed to only have boys.
- Taped-Over Turmoil: Cartman recorded the video of his Boy Band over a tape of his mother and Mr. Mackey engaging in BDSM activities without knowing it.
- They Killed Kenny Again: Kenny dies when an elevator crushes him.
- Verbal Tic: The mall manager keeps inserting random "what?"s and "who??s" into his speech.
- Would Hurt a Child: One of the mall cops pepper sprays Cartman in the face, and threatens to do it to the rest of them if they keep causing a disturbance. He does it again later on to a young girl trying to get Finger Bang's autographs.
