Recap / Strong Bad Email E 86 No Loafing

Airdate: Monday, October 6, 2003

Sender: Ryan, CO

Strong Bad: (singing) Driving down the strip in my cool cool car, checkin' all the emails out!

Ryan asks Strong Bad what happened to that "No Loafing!" sign he used to have. Strong Bad first delves into the sign's brief history.

Strong Bad: The year was 1987, not a very good year for productivity. And as a result, productivity was down something-eight percent. I realized things were gonna spiral out of control unless I gave them a little jumpstart. A sign that said "No Loafing" was the answer.

Strong Bad decides that "Ol' Loafy might be losing his edge", and it's time to add some more motivational posters, with whales and sunsets and stuff about determination and all that, to jump-start things again.

Strong Bad approaches The Cheat and Strong Mad, who are just lazing around, and scolds them for goofing off on their vaguely-defined job involving a pipe and muffler. He puts up some extra posters to hopefully inspire his lackeys to quit with the loafing already, including:

• One of "Some kinda whale in space" with "Remember the 'tivities: Creativity; Productivity; Activity; Get Back to Work".
• A windsurfer reminding viewers "Failure is not a four-letter word".
• An "incredibly inspirational" poster of a man leaping out of water with the caption "I HAVE FRIENDS! Keep working, little man"
• A picture of a dog bluntly captioned "The Cheat, watch your freakin' back, Squeaky".
• A wood-burned image of a horse with the caption "The loneliest goat sees the last sunset last..."

Inspired, The Cheat and Strong Mad go back to what they were doing... which was apparently pummeling the muffler with the pipe.

Strong Bad: Excellent! That-a way, boys! Chins up, tifle down! And so on... (walks back to the Compy) Well, whoever, I see I've gotten things back on track. Sounds like I deserve a three-hour lunch. I'ma head over to Bubs' for one of his 30-cent lunch specials. (puts a sticky note reading "out to lunch, then appointment, then something else" on the Compy's screen and leaves)

(The Paper comes down)

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Tropes:

• Butt-Monkey: Strong Sad; an Easter egg reveals Strong Bad's "appointment" involves jumping up and down on Strong Sad and chanting "I hate you" while the latter is lying in bed.
• Fauxtivational Poster: Strong Bad puts up a bunch of motivational posters to supplement the "No Loafing!" sign.
• Honest John's Dealership: Bubs' "thirty-cent lunch special" consists of two still-warm buffalo wing bones, a cup of ice, and a half-eaten candy bar.
• Hypocritical Humor: After scolding his lackeys for loafing on the job, Strong Bad decides to treat himself to a three-hour lunch.
• Ice-Cream Koan: The new motivational posters feature slogans like "Failure is not a four-letter word" and "The loneliest goat sees the last sunset last".
• Space Whale: The "Remember the 'tivities" poster features "some kinda whale in space".

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Strong Bad: (jumping up and down on a tucked in Strong Sad) I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you.