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The Lounge
Singer
Already this cartoon captures my interests with music being a
key element. Plot-wise it’s very basic,
but as I often say, basic stories can still be greatly executed. This is mainly apparent when the featured
characters put their own spin on familiar conventions.
That’s what happens with Filburt here. He’s typically a nerdy turtle and not a huge talker. He soon turns out far more talented than he
lets on as he performs a lively lounge song, “Come Crawl With Me”. It’s a super number affluent with class.
Even with these talents, Filburt’s usual
anxieties are intact made obvious by not wanting to be noticed singing. However, Rocko ends up hearing him perform,
and the suggestion for Filburt to perform professionally is brought up. It’s no surprise Filburt isn’t wild about the
idea, even if it is his secret dream as inspired by other singers, such as his
personal favorite, Buddy Gecko.
A few
things that make the familiar stage fright angle stand out are comedic
exaggerations like how Filburt immediately breaks into hives thinking of an
audience. Things like this continue at
Filburt’s actual lounge singing attempts.
When advised to picture the audience naked, shots of less than pleasing
looking people make Filburt deem the idea too disgusting.
A placebo-driven approach is then taken when
Filburt buys a set of motivational tapes from Buddy Gecko. As expected, they help him through all
performances, but really stand out with more creative interpretations. A phrase about letting stage fright flow out
of Filburt is depicted as an actual liquid of a peculiar color flowing
out. This isn’t even him imagining this
since a janitor notices the spilt stage fright in reality. It may be suggestive and tongue and cheek,
but it’s the best thing to think of if you ever heard such a motivation. We even a gag out of an implication that
Buddy is just using the tapes as a marketing ploy. The other side is on a completely unrelated topic
and Filburt using it in his act.
Humorously, it only makes him more popular.
From there, thanks to the motivational tapes,
Filburt quickly moves up in lounge singing backed up by a sudden narration from
Rocko. Ultimately, Filburt makes it to
the place he always aimed to perform in, Las Vegas, only for him to lose his
motivational tapes there. It happens
through his biggest idol himself, Buddy Gecko, sitting on them, and he doesn’t
even care, confirming that they were just a placebo.
Although it’s no surprise that Filburt has a
nervous spasm after losing his motivation, the familiar setup is still
immensely entertaining. For one thing,
his anxieties come with a hilariously ridiculous fantasy of being chased
Frankenstein-style and being called a menace by the UN just for being a lousy
singer.
Also, the way Filburt overcomes
his fears for good brings solid creativity and humor. Picturing the audience naked turns out to be
a helpful method for his singing when he unknowingly performs in front of a
nudist pig clinic. In addition, his
performance of the earlier song is livened up through being joined by Buddy who
proves to be cool despite being a con artist.
This performance simply makes the cartoon with an entertainingly
endearing conclusion. Even if Filburt
does return to the status quo by going home in the end, it’s still nice that
the last scene shows him genuinely keeping up with his talents.
This cartoon goes to show how even the most
clichéd plots can stand as something special when working in character
development, style, and of course great music.
A
She’s the
Toad
Out of the Bigheads, Bev has always been the better natured
one. She’s an amiable neighbor and
housewife unlike her constant curmudgeon husband Ed who’s usually stressed from
his job at Conglom-O.
The first scene
features many exaggerated depictions of how overwhelmed he is about a business
proposal he’s to present. The problem is
that he doesn’t have one prepared, and the mention of how it determines if
he’ll keep his job makes him a total wreck.
Among the comedy from Ed’s disproportionate faces and nonsense is a big
moment for Bev. Her positivity brings an
idea of how Ed’s normal job would go if she was in his place. It’s felt when she decides to write the
proposal for Ed, claiming that someone has to do it. Ed’s nervousness reaches the most hilarious
depiction as he literally shatters when he’s about to leave with what Bev wrote
up.
Still, Bev astounds with her
devotion when she comes up with a quick solution. Granted, it’s very ridiculous with Heffer and
Filburt wearing a bulky Ed costume to read the proposal. The sequence of them walking around as Ed is
a laugh riot all things considered. Just
the sight of that bug-like two-person costume that comes close to falling apart
and Heffer’s Ed impression are easily chuckle-worthy. The big laughs come from both Heffer and
Filburt not understanding business ethics.
As funny as this sequence is, the humor falls flat when Heffer and
Filburt flat out expose themselves. I
know they’re not too bright, but it’s hard to buy that they’d be stupid enough
to remove the costume at the wrong time.
However, they say Bev set them up to say the proposal as her husband,
and that sets up an intriguing new direction.
The board of directors love her proposal and tell her she should run the
company. This brings a firsthand look at
Bev working her good nature beyond being a housewife at this big business. Just from her determining how much rates
would go up from all the directors stopping their nose picking, you know she’s
got things worked out. This is true as
Bev proves herself as an effective Conglom-O employee in a following montage. The only thing that could’ve made this more
impactful is if her business role was actually explored. Maybe if there was less time on Heffer and
Filburt messing with Ed in that disguise while he’s staring blankly at TV
static in bed. It’s a funny image of
Ed’s shot nerves though.
As for Bev, at
the height of her success, a brief remark that she misses her husband shows
that her true nature is very much still intact.
All the employees, in a humorous getup of wearing water coolers show
devotion to the new worker do something about her little concern with another
humorous getup of Ed hats.
This is
unfortunately meaningless because when she hears things couldn’t be better, Bev
decides to leave Conglom-O. She says she
believes Ed is more for the job than she is, but there’s little to no support
to her claim. Bev ran the company great
while Ed was a total wreck for the whole cartoon, so it feels like a bad
decision for her to just leave. The
cartoon brought a convincing and welcome change for the status quo only to turn
things back to normal as if the idea was never brought up. It makes the whole thing seem like a
waste. At least the humor is still in
full force in the end with Bev literally driving the building to a vacation for
her and Ed and one last funny bit with Heffer and Filburt’s disguise.
Although this cartoon goes nowhere after
seeming like the contrary, what it does for characters and comedy make it good
and fun enough as it is.
B+
The Ranking
- Tickled Pinky
- The Lounge Singer
- I Have No Son
- Pipe Dreams
- She’s the Toad
The next Rocko's Modern Life review is on an interesting cartoon about Spunky eating a deadly vitamin featuring the return of Bloaty and Squirmy, and Rocko and Heffer go on an exciting road trip.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is a Steven Universe review of "Greg the Babysitter."
If you would like to check out other Rocko's Modern Life reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.
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