In the opening, a sleepier-than-usual Joel shows up in a bathrobe with a cup of coffee to explain the show concept. In the invention exchange, the Mads demonstrate a self-inflating whoopee cushion filled with methane gas. Joel has created the Cumber-Bubble Bund, for when you want to create a good impression and carry a portable disco show.
The guys then sit through chapters four and five of Radar Man from the Moon, where Cody and Ted do something that was probably exciting in the 1950s. Or not. The reason there are two chapters is because the feature, Robot Monster, is very short. It still drags on, as an alien robot wearing a gorilla suit and a diving helmet destroys most of Earth with the aid of his bubble machine. One plucky family survives, and "Ro-Man" lusts after the teenage human daughter, so an interminable chase sequence ensues. At the end, it's revealed that it's a young boy's dream sequence. Or... is it?
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At the first break, the gang wonders how Cody can fly when it's aerodynamically impossible. They discuss other physics conundrums, including the aerodynamics of bumblebees.
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Crow and Tom act out the scene where Ro-Man's leader gives Ro-Man orders. When Crow orders Tom to kill Joel, Tom does so and Joel defends himself. Twice.
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Joel instructs the Bots on surrealism as it applies to real life and to the movie.
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Joel and the Bots perform a skit, "The Life and Times of Ro-Man the Ro-Man". As Larry so aptly notes, "Could we have sent a stranger man into space"?
Written by Gadfly on May 10, 2021