The Amanda Show reviews: Episode 6

 Cold Open

Penelope tries to use a cannon to reach Amanda’s dressing room.

• Another near miss for Penelope. While she does reach the dressing room, Drake is there instead.

TV Clips: A traffic light (repeat from Episode 3), and a guy saying “You gotta believe!!!!”

Monologue

Amanda teaches her audience to speak English.

• Second monologue in a row with an Asian joke. Apparently, her entire studio audience in this episode is made up of Asians who can’t understand anything she says. I have no idea how this makes sense, but it’s worth it just for the montage of Amanda teaching them how to speak English.

Commercial: Egg Splat

The object of this new game is to throw eggs at stuff.

• Probably the most simple of all the commercial parodies on this show. 

• The bedroom set appears to be the same one from the “Rock-a-Bye Ralph” sketch in Episode 12. Just wait until I get to that one...

• The “jingle” is hilarious (“Egg Splat, Egg Splat, take the eggs and you throw ‘em at stuff!”)

• First of many instances in these commercials where the kids’ father shows up at the end, only to get humiliated in some way.

So You Wanna Win Five Dollars

Guests include Marcy Stimple (Nancy Sullivan) and Totally Kyle

• A parody of then-hit show, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? I don’t know who Amanda’s host character is supposed to be based on, but it reminds me of Anne Robinson from The Weakest Link.

• First appearance of Marcy Stimple, a hyperactive little girl (played by Nancy Sullivan in a dress). Something about this character is kind of unsettling at first, but Sullivan does a great job.

• Kyle makes a rare appearance outside of his sketch, and we learn that his last name is Rostensan. We also learn that he is extremely stupid, as he gives ridiculous answers to every question. My favorite: he says that “False” is what planet he lives on.

• Not a bad debut for this sketch, but there would be better ones later on.

Stop-Motion Amanda: Broccoli

Amanda fights with her rude and insulting broccoli.

• Amanda’s German-accented mother appears again, even though she got eaten by a vacuum in the last stop-motion sketch.

• “VEGETABLES DON’T SPEAK ZE ENGLISH!!!”

• Foot Joke #4: The broccoli tells Amanda “You smell like a foot!”

• One of my favorite stop-motion bits, overall.

Blockblister

Irate customers return “Tidanic” and an exercise video to the store.

• Nice to see this back. For some reason, this sketch starts with a brief intro from Totally Kyle, where he simply says "Blockblister".

• The off-key violin rendition of “My Heart Will Go On” is hilarious, as are the random cymbal samples. I don’t remember any of those in the real song.

• I like how they call the iceberg “a giant ice cube”, which is then followed by them getting pelted with ice cubes.

• First time in one of these sketches where their father appears in the movie. In this case, he runs onto the screen and splashes them with water (after a brief delay, that is).

• After the above happens, the movie ends with them making these awkward “eh, heh, heh” noises. Genius.

• But the best part of this one is the pathetic exercise video, which entirely consists of Blini and Biscotti saying “Lie down. Sit up.” They even take a minute to eat some pizza, while still doing their “routine”.

• The family’s insults towards the fat woman who rented the exercise video are hilarious, especially Biscotti’s (“Your behind is like big mountain!”).

• This is also the last time that the name of the store is actually said in the sketches.

Hillbilly Moment: Large Mallet

Penelope Taynt

Penelope’s Amanda disguise is ruined when she ends her sentences with “please”. She then shows Johnny her website, before getting escorted away

• One of my favorite Penelope bits. It’s just so bizarre.

• Johnny’s facial expressions in this are great, especially his disgusted reaction to Penelope pulling off her Amanda mask.

• When the real Amanda shows up at the end, Johnny pulls at her face thinking that it’s a disguise again. Amanda’s puzzled reaction says it all.

Totally Kyle: Frisbee

Kyle talks about when he threw his Frisbee really far.

• Amanda is now the announcer for this sketch, but her announcement is different.

• Let me just sum up this one with one quote: “So, if anyone sees my Frisbee, you know...it’s mine.”

Becky Swanson, Professional Babysitter

A “professional” babysitter named Becky Swanson acts like a child when she doesn’t get her way.

• Really good performance from Amanda as this character. 

• “The Wrestlebergs” from Episode 3 can be heard on the television at the beginning of this sketch.

• The show that Becky watches later (“Gee, Skipper, we’ll never get off this island!”) is an obvious Gilligan’s Island parody.

• Apparently, the little boy went on to play Beans on Even Stevens. The girl has appeared in other sketches too (I’m pretty sure she’s in a Blockblister sketch later on), but I don’t know her name.

• Great ending where the kids lock Becky in the closet.

Closing

Penelope disguises herself as Drake while Amanda closes the show.

• A continuation of the Penelope plot from earlier. This time she’s pretending to be Drake. She runs out on stage as soon as Amanda leaves, missing her yet again.

• When Drake shows up with the guards, we get a repeat of the mask-ripping scene we saw before, except Drake’s reaction to this trickery is even funnier than Johnny’s.

Final thoughts: Another great episode! It just keeps getting better and better.