- Big Howard: But this is Purley!Mother: It's the end of the WORLD!Little Howard: Oh come on, Purley isn't that bad.How can I be lucky?
Little Howard and Big Howard live together with Mother in a house in Purley where they examine the answers to questions posited by Little Howard.
Only a lot more awesome than it sounds.
You see, Little Howard is a 6-year-old cartoon boy, Mother is a highly neurotic computer and Big Howard is a struggling actor and stand-up comic.
The show tends to follow this format: First there will be a short sketch in which Little Howard will get his inspiration for the "Big Question" of the week, blow his klaxon, shout the question out loud and cause Big Howard to have an accident due to shock.
After the title song, "I Love Monkeys", Big and Little Howard use a range of techniques, from research and asking experts to dream sequences and songs to answer the question with a layer of absurdity, slapstick and pop culture references on top.
The show is notable for examining questions other than the standard edutainment fare, examining concepts such as scarcity, superstitions, love and TV production.
The characters first appeared in Howard Read (Big Howard)'s stage shows The Big Howard And Little Howard Show, At Home With The Howards and Little Howard and the Magic Pencil of Life and Death, with the animation being projected on an onstage screen.
Tropes Used:
- Absurd Phobia: In the episode "What is the World's Most Dangerous Food?", one of Little Howard's fears are coconuts because he mysteriously got hit on the head with one before.
- Affably Evil: Little Howard couldn't tell that Roger the Pigeon was the one who stole the money in How Did I Get Here. Subverted with Little Albert, who is a total nutcase.
- Artistic License – Paleontology: "Could The Dinosaurs Ever Come Back" is a carnival of this, from a T-Rex with three fingers to Brontosaurus mentioned in the song. It lampshades the fact that most modern reptiles are often called dinosaurs, however.
- Cloudcuckoolander: MOTHER and Little Howard
- Comic Trio: The schemer and follower alternates between MOTHER and Little Howard, whereas Big Howard is mostly powerless.
- Harmless Villain: Subverted with Little Albert who could have killed Little Howard, if he was not stopped
- Misplaced Wildlife: Subverted. There are no wolves in Britain; Little Albert is just a nutcase.
- Never Sleep Again: In the first episode. Little Howard takes the bed bug phrase too seriously and when MOTHER shows him that bed bugs are actually real and what they can do to him, he claims he'll never sleep again. He sticks to his word and becomes incredibly sleep-deprived.
- Once per Episode:
- Little Howard blowing his klaxon, causing Big Howard to suffer through an unfortunate mishap. Then...
- "I, LITTLE HOWARD, HAVE COME UP WITH ANOTHER ONE OF MY BIIIIIIIIG QUESTIONS!" *States the name of the episode as his question*
- A song at the end of each episode.
- Little Howard picking his nose.
- An intermission during the episode which parodies advert breaks.
- Little Howard's dream sequences.
- Somewhere, a Herpetologist Is Crying: In the same episode as above, a bearded dragon is shown savaging Big Howard's neck. In Real Life, bearded dragons are actually quite placid.
- Shoo Out the Clowns: MOTHER only appears during the funeral scene and the flasback sequence but has no lines in the series 2 episode "Why Do Things Have To Die?". Roger doesn't appear in the episode either but it was later lampshaded in that series finale episode "The Best of Little Howard's Big Question" in which due to a mix-up, he got paid anyway.
- Straight Man and Wise Guy: Big Howard and Little Howard. Bonus points for being the main premise in "What is Funny?".
- Raised by Wolves: Little Albert claims he was this, but he was actually raised by squirrels.
- Evil Plan: Little Albert tries to steal Big Howard's Sketchpad in an attempt to rule the world.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Little Howard grows 40 feet in Why can't I be bigger?.
- No Fourth Wall: There is an entire episode which involves finding the budget so they can air the show. As well as constant fourth wall breaking in episodes incredibly commonly.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: In Little Howard’s case, most people are not freaked out about him being a cartoon boy.
