Based on the title, I thought this was the dreaded Christmas episode when they get stuck in an airport. Man, it’s gonna take some serious drinking to get through that one. But no, the “jingle” in this title refers to the jingles that Uncle Jessie writes. Those Full House writers, they’re just too clever for me.
Pre-Credits Gag: DJ holds a magazine up to Michelle and asks, “Isn’t Patrick Swayze cute?” The baby then pops the bubblegum she’s blowing and says “funny.” Then she says, “yuck.” So, yeah, I’m pretty sure that all of these pre-credits gags are going to consist of the baby doing something totally inane that’s meant to be cute. Great. In this case, I thought DJ’s line was a lot funnier than the baby’s…
Jesse sits in his room, struggling to come up with another successful advertising jingle. He’s feeling the pressure because he quit his family’s exterminator business and took on advertising jingles as a full-time career after selling just one song. I wish I lived with my tv show host brother-in-law so I could make hairbrained decisions like that without planning ahead, too. As he searches for inspiration he is repeatedly interrupted, first by Stephanie and her little friend Harry, then by Joey, who announces that the baby just told him that she has to shit. The Uncles high five over the realization that it’s time for potty training and then Joey tries to help Jesse with his jingle. As he kicks Joey out, Jesse realizes that one of Joey shitty ass jokes might actually make for a jingle he can sell.
Back in Stephanie’s room, Harry runs around pretending to shoot guns. As he lies dead on the floor, Stephanie comes over and says, “Master of the Universe, your tea is ready.” You know, I tried to coerce my girlfriend into enacting a similar scenario one time and she got really mad for some reason.
Anyway, the kids continue to horse around and then DJ comes home from karate class and gets all pissed about them messing with her stuff. She calls them, “nerd bombers,” which seems to be her default insult for Stephanie and her friends. How the fuck do they come up with the insults on this show? Remember when everyone called DJ a “geek burger”? It’s like the writers on this show decided that all kids of this era pair traditional insults with totally unrelated nouns. What a bunch of asshole Parthenons. Anyway, Stephanie blows off DJ and says she’s just jealous because she has a boyfriend and DJ doesn’t, which is actually kind of awesome.
Danny rushes through the front door because he just can’t wait to teach his baby how to shit in a bowl.
His enthusiasm is interrupted by Jesse, who enters the house feeling all jazzed after selling his jingle. He credits Joey for coming up with the idea and gives him half of his earnings, so it’s kind of like the story of Motown records. Well, there may be a few dissimilarities there, but I forget what they are… Anyway, Jesse says that the agency offered him a shot at a big cat food campaign and he asks Joey to help him write it. And with that, the world’s most obnoxious and corny advertising duo was born.
A brief vignette shows Danny trying to potty train the baby. For some reason he really wants her to ring a bell after she shits. If you ask me, there’s something really fucked up about that.
Jesse and Joey brainstorm, doing reggae and conga routines that are worse than you could possible imagine. Joey’s attempt to drudge up some material leads to him doing that thing where he says, “cut. It. Out.” and does the little finger motions, which is pretty much his primary catchphrase for the rest of the series. So the brainstorm session goes on for fucking forever and in the end Joey really wants to wear a cat suit to their presentation but Jesse makes him promise not to.
Meanwhile, DJ yells at Stephanie and Harry for eating her ice cream and vows to get revenge on Stephanie. Wait’ll you see how these various plot threads all weave together… it’s all a rich tapestry.
Jesse waits for Joey to show up to their big jingle proposal and when he finally arrives he has a cat hand puppet that he insists on singing with. Jesse gets all pissed and they do one of those routines where they’re sort of foiling each other throughout the audition. Given the stakes that this gig holds for these two unemployed losers, you’d think that they would have their shit together, but I guess adequate preparation rarely makes for wacky situations. At the end of their audition the board look just like I do whenever I watch this show.
Danny continues to pressure Michelle into learning how to shit in a bowl. His overbearing fathering is interrupted by Stephanie, who’s all pissed about DJ tying all of her shoelaces together. Wow, that’s some pretty intense revenge right there. Danny commands them to create a resolution but neglects to see it through as he immediately becomes totally fixated on the baby again after she says, “poo poo.”
The girls, abandoned by their father, continue to argue, and then Joey and Jesse enter the scene while having a similar argument about the advertising fiasco. The Uncles continue to argue and it’s made clear that they didn’t get the gig. Jesse suggests that there are too many dads in the full house and that things were better on the show My 2 dads. As much as I hate Paul Reiser’s stupid face, I have to agree with Uncle Jesse. Even still, it’s kind of weird for a show to acknowledge another show that’s pretty much exactly the same and even go so far as to say that it’s better. The girls become concerned that the Uncles are “going to get a divorce” and devise a plan to bring them together. In the very next scene they lure the Uncles into their room with shoddy excuses. The Uncles refuse to mend their conflict but the tension is soon interrupted by Danny barging in elated by the news that his baby just shit in a bowl. She rings the bell and everything.
The baby’s shit brings everyone together. Once cooler heads have prevailed, Stephanie expresses her concern over Joey and Jesse getting a divorce and a heartwarming discussion is had. Jesse says that he and Joey have become like brothers and then the music comes on as he describes his much deeper fear of not making it as a terrible songwriter. Joey tries to reassure him by saying that he has the same fear every time he does his comedy routine but it can’t do much good because if there ever was a posterboy for not pursuing your dreams, it’s Uncle Joey. I honestly believe that the world would be a better place if he would just do us the courtesy of killing himself, or, failing that, at least quitting comedy. Anyway, the Uncles who are now brothers decide to continue with their partnership and then they hug.
Firsts: Jesse and Joey’s advertising partnership, Joey says, “cut. It. Out.”
I’m very tempted to start calling people “asshole Parthenons” now. I literally LOLed.
I also appreciated the gay-friendliness of earlier blogs pointing out the obvious homoeroticism in some of the scenes between Jesse, Joey, and Danny.
This blog is awesome and your suffering is not in vain.
LikeLiked by 1 person
As did I I spoke to Billy about this last year at one point his response was awesome as is he and this site love it. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Everyone else sees the poor man’s Denzel on the board, right?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think it was Jackie Chiles from Seinfeld right?
LikeLike
That’s what I thought, too. It totally looks like Jackie Chiles…
LikeLike
You forget this is the first episode where Michelle shits in a bowl.
LikeLiked by 1 person
you are cracking me up laughing here! my sides are splitting! 😀
LikeLike
Furburger, I think your poor man’s Denzel was Dennis Haysbert with a terrible moustache!
LikeLike
Definitely *could* be Haysbert, as he had showed up in bit roles on a couple of Growing Pains episodes around this time.
LikeLike
also forgot that it rang a bell after shitting in a bowl… or, maybe you didn’t forget… maybe you BLOCKED OUT THE HORROR!!! lol keep up the good work.
LikeLike
“Cut. It. Out.” was also from Out of Control, the kids’ show that Dave Coulier used to host back in the ’80s and which I dilligently watched every Saturday and Sunday at 4:30 on Nickelodeon, after You Can’t Do That On Television. Full House makes me question if I ever enjoyed Out of Control or, indeed, my own childhood.
LikeLike
I too used to watch Out of Control regularly. I’m so glad that the annoying hollering girl is not on Full House. That said, before my voice dropped and I got pubes, I used to be able to do that exact holler. I don’t think there is any way to duplicate it with the written word, so I won’t try.
LikeLike
Perhaps that’s how Dave Coulier met Alanis Morissette, since she was on You Can’t Do That on Television.
LikeLike
It’s probably also how Bruce Baum wound up doing 3 guest shots on FH, considering he was a guest on an ep of OoC before that.
LikeLike
YCDTOTV was filmed in Ottawa, Canada. Don’t know where Out of Control was filmed. I doubt it was Ottawa too.
LikeLike
You have to love that painting hanging on the wall behind all those enthusiastic people at that jingle audition.
LikeLike
I just learned of this blog a few days ago and have started from the beginning and am reading each review.
I could NOT stop laughing at “asshole Parthenons”.
Also I love that you referenced the movie “Rad” on the review of the episode that first introduced us to Rebecca. I just rewatched that movie this summer.
LikeLike
Since you mentioned Paul Reiser, did you know he was considered for the role of Danny Tanner? Can you imagine him and Dave Coulier together? Man.
LikeLike
Asshole Parthenons. That made me laugh OL.
LikeLike
I liked the blooper that came out of this episode – when delivering the “my two dads” line, Jesse misspoke and said, “Haven’t you ever seen the show my three dads?” and Joey replies, “Yeah, it’s called Full House, you dipshit.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love that! Lmao.
LikeLike
Is that Jackie Chiles, the attorney from seinfeld?
LikeLike
Omg those parts about Michelle shitting in a bowl made me crack up
LikeLike
The baby’s shit brings everyone together.
ROFL!
LikeLike
so the guys fight the girls fight. there sisters and the guys are like brothers .
LikeLike
I realize I might sound like an asshole Parthenon for saying this, but this episode review left me convinced that Joey might genuinely be retarded.
I don’t need do do arithmetic to know your penis could be bigger!
LikeLike
I lost my shit at “asshole Parthenons”
LikeLike
There are a few bloopers from this episode, when they start the tape at the ad agency, it starts playing really fast. then Jesse says “oh you heard us girls fighting huh?” and of course the “my three dads” line flub. LOL. If I had a dirty mouth (like Bob and Dave) I would at least try to keep it to myself if there were kids on set. However, my grandparents always swore like sailors, even around the kids, but at least I never picked it up. They didn’t say the f word until their last years. I was always exposed to SOB, shit and bastard, from a young age. They tried not to say that stuff around us, but we’re Italian, so . . .
LikeLike
I’m going to install a bell in my bathroom.
LikeLike
“that thing where he says, “cut. It. Out.” and does the little finger motions”
A part of me died because I literally did the finger motions while reading that. I am so ashamed of myself.
LikeLike
Did anyone else notice when the girls bring Jesse and Joey into their room to make up, after Joey comes in and there’s the close up of Jesse, you can see a can of soda on the closet shelf behind him?
LikeLike
Is that a carpeted bathroom floor? Gross.
LikeLike
In the first picture i thought that thing sticking out of Dj’s mouth was her tongue ahahaha!
LikeLike
another first for this episode: there was an actual black dude on Full House. two if you count the poster of Sammy Davis Jr.
LikeLike
“The baby’s shit brings everyone together” line had me laughing so hard! 😀
LikeLike