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Phineas & Ferb: Terrifying Tri-State Trilogy Of Terror
Reviewed: 10/07/2017
That's What All The Haters Would Say!
All right; I've already done the Teddy Ruxpin Halloween episode, now it's Phineas & Ferb's turn with this one: In this trilogy of strange tales, Candace accidentally conjures up a spell that turns her Ducky Momo plushie into a living, breathing doll that is set on stalking her, Doofenshmirtz encounters the inexplicable Giant Floating Baby Head that grants cursed wishes, and Phineas, Ferb and their friends confront a horde of mischievous, evil platypuses set on destroying the town. Now; the episode is basically three different segments; but since Rusty connects them together, I'm treating it as one complete episode. All right, this is episode #4-18 on the animation paper and how does this episode fare? Let's rant on shall we...?!
This episode was written and storyboarded by Mike Bell, Kim Roberson, Aliki Theofilopoulos Grafft and John Mathot. The story was done by Dani Vetere, Martin Olsen and Scott Peterson while direction was done by Robert F. Hughes. Animation is done by Wang Films.
Opening Moment #1: Ah; here's the opening with a Halloween Theme. Basically; a spooky voice edition of the same theme and a spooky adult version of Phineas' voice when he calls for Perry; which is slightly funnier than it should be. A couple of backgrounds and images (like the out of nowhere skeleton) were changed to fit the theme and the scene is shadowed, and Candace is accusing Phineas & Ferb of doing a Halloween special; but that's about it. Oh; and what's so bad about 2006?
We begin this one with a far shot of a haunted house complete with graveyard as I count three Christian crosses in plain sight! Pan down to the road in front as an antique steam powered truck with a camper on the back arrives with the side reading "The Macabre Book Mobile"; so this library's gimmick is Halloween books; or books that have been banned from schools or face awful book burning. Zoom into the sign and then it opens because it's like a medicine wagon and up rises a creepy old man with white hair and a red dress with pink tie on the front. He also does the time dishonored Z-grade movie move of shining the flashlight up from the ground during his entrance, which is useless since the area is properly lit. This is Mr. Macabra and is voiced by Oliver Chris and according to Wikipedia (DANGER! DANGER!): Chris has appeared in several comedy series, including The Office, Green Wing, According to Bex, Nathan Barley, The IT Crowd, Rescue Me and Bluestone 42. In 2004, Chris re-wrote the lyrics to the Beatles' "Let It Be" to a song about the England football player Wayne Rooney and recorded it in collaboration with the actor Stephen Campbell Moore and a number of other actors and journalists. The song was reprised and re-recorded, with rewritten lyrics, for the 2006 Fifa World Cup and became a hit on YouTube, with 200,000 hits. Chris has also narrated most of the Alex Rider series of audiobooks by Anthony Horowitz, although Dan Stevens replaced him as reader for "Snakehead", "Crocodile Tears" and "Scorpia Rising". In early 2006, Chris played the role of Captain Leonard in Sharpe's Challenge, starring Sean Bean, while 2007 has seen him in the TV comedy Bonkers, written by Sally Wainwright as well as Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew at the Wilton's Music Hall.[2][3] In 2006 he also appeared as Christian in Cyrano de Bergerac at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester.
He later appeared in Peter Hall's production of The Portrait of a Lady. He made his West End debut in late 2008 in Lisa Kron's comedy, Well.[4] In 2010 he appeared alongside Judi Dench in Hall's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Rose Theatre, Kingston.[5] Chris was also cast in Ben Miller's feature-length debut comedy film Huge, which premiered in June 2010.[6] 2011 has seen him appear in two episodes of Silent Witness, whilst also playing one of the leading roles in the National Theatre production of One Man, Two Guvnors alongside James Corden. He appeared in three series of the BBC Three comedy Bluestone 42, about a British bomb disposal detachment in Afghanistan. He also played Dr Richard Truscott in the ITV medical drama series Breathless, set in the 1960s, which ran for one series from October 2013. From 2014 to 2016, Chris played Prince William in the play King Charles III, appearing in the West End and on Broadway. In May 2017, he appeared in the same role in the BBC Two film adaptation.[7] February to May 2017 Chris was playing Orsino in a new production of Twelfth Night at the Royal National Theatre. He is due to play Friedrich Engels in Richard Bean and Clive Coleman's new play Young Marx, the opening production at the Bridge Theatre in December 2017. He began his career as Charley Doone in Lorna Doone in 2000. Phineas & Ferb is his DTVA debut and only appearance. National Theatre Live: Young Marx (Engels), Night Of The Lotus (Andrew), King Charles III (William) and National Theatre Live: 12th Night (Orsino) are his most recent credits. He has 39 Television Acting credits, 1 Thanks credit and 3 Self credits to his resume. Macabra asks what their pleasure is for tonight's events and shows off a large book about the terrors that haved in the Tri-State Area, basically giving away the title on television. He has three stories that will make you scream with delight. As opposed to make you scream with horror.
His laugh is so pathetic that Renfield (the long black sleeved arm of doom) has to try to tickle him with a feather, which Renfield cuts off and blows off. Macabra tells Renfield to stand over by the chifforobe and stay out of the olives, because he is saving it for company complete with pathetic Z-grade martial arts zoom in. Seriously; they didn't even try here. He laughs and it's much better (so the feather worked to perfection again) as some brown haired dude with a sploshed green/black shirt. I swear to god that it was Disney's answer to Shaggy from Scooby-Doo! He wants a free-range organic grilled cheese slider (basically a more rounded version of a grilled cheese sandwich); even though Macabra doesn't sell food and sells horror books. Yip; this hipster guy is high as he bails to give the place a bad review as Macabra shakes his fist in outrage and threatens to curse him with ancient moths of Sumeria feast on his skinny jeans. He could know that this will backfire and cause the ancient worms of finance to feast on his already skinny profits. Macabra's cell phone rings, he checks it and he got one star and it burns. Oh come on, now! There were 10-12 people giving The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild a zero on Metacritic. So he opens the book and begins his story complete with bloody red title and echoing effects, which sounds pathetic. It's a Disney show; you really think this can scare anyone at this point? Even Macabra is hating this; so you know it was stupid as he brings out the squeegee of doom to clean the hard camera off. So we finally begin the story proper with Candace chatting to Staci on her cellphone (my words, not exactly his, but implied still) in her room as a storm rages outside at the Flynn-Fletcher residence. Thunderclaps ensues as little does she know that she's screwed in this show forever. Oh wait; she doesn't know what evil awaits her because of the dangers of careless words can be. Okay; is this a Halloween show; or a cautionary tales about assholes? So Phineas & Ferb are playing ping-pong at Bufords and the rest of the family is at the movies.
Candace has the house to herself as she's wearing a purple robe, a towel on her head (taking a shower beforehand) and slippers on sitting at the window with Ducky Momo and a ragged beyonf belief teddy bear as Candace is reading the same book Macabra showed at the beginning of the episode. So yeah; the story took place before Macabra got the book in his hands. Okay; good to know. So Candace claims that if one repeats the incantation in the presence of a doll, then alive it shall be. Oh; the light of the full moon will make it evil. Candace grabs the Ducky Momo doll and laughs off Staci because this will be fun. Yeah; sure, hope for a new moon or a bloody moon Candace, since we all know that a full moon is coming, since Occam's Razor rarely applies in a cartoon. Candace's chant is in Swahili (so says Disney Captions and Candace has fun talking as if Ducky Momo is talking about her buying more Ducky Momo stuff. Candace is concerned about it's re-sale value and makes Ducky Momo play attack her, just to troll Staci. HAHA! I should note that the "Me, Myself & I" poster keeps screwing up in between shots as Candace is dressing up into her regular clothes and then Candace hears something under the bed as a black cat screams and runs out of the bed as some cheese and crackers are cursed by Candace. Candace claims that they don't even have a cat. Ummm; this show does. How else do you explain those spots of crashing stuff off-screen with the cat screaming? She finds Ducky Momo and uses Occam's Razor while putting it near the window. Thunderclaps ensue and it moves as Candace is drying her hair and talking about Jeremy...AGAIN! It's all about the same song being played at the same time as Ducky Momo climbs onto the bed as Candace does some gymnastics on the bed that causes Ducky Momo to be kicked out of the window and is buried near the tree outside in a white sheet. It wakes up like it was in bed and out comes a raccoon and Ducky Momo hisses at it and the raccoon bails. Then it starts raining as we zoom out during the FPS shot, goddess knows why.
Thunderclaps ensue as Ducky Momo takes two steps before getting crushed by the out of nowhere tree branch. Jump cut to in the kitchen with Candace raiding the top shelf containing Cheezey Corn and Donuts with peanut butter. In the window in the background, Ducky Momo rises up as Candace and Staci talk about healthy eating and Candace being called out for lying about it. Yawn. Ducky Momo uses a trash can to try to rattle the door knob; no go. So he brings out the ATM CARD OF DOOM and slides it through the door; I don't know why since Candace comes to the door talking about mani-pedis (nail salons) and then raids the fridge. Oh; that's why then. Okay. The door opens by itself as leaves whip in the wind as Candace takes out a pitcher of water and a glass. She looks outside, calls it creepy but doesn't see Ducky and then kicks the door closed squashing Ducky Momo. When is the scare coming because it's been nearly four minutes and almost nothing of note has happened. Candace's talking is the only thing of note here as Ducky nearly loses his eye in the process. Candace puts the pitcher of water back into the fridge and comments about her groomed foot as we jump cut to Ducky Momo looking worse than Candace's ragged teddy bear. However; since Ducky Momo is cursed, it completely puts itself back together within seconds and rises up. So we head to the living room after dark with Candace on the computer in complete darkness, which is a bad idea. TEDDY RUXPIN SONG OF DOOM ensues as Candace notices a floorboard creak. Yip; they promised scares and they are not even trying to deliever on that. I thought it was two crescent eyes not two crazy eyes, Disney Captions? Jump cut to Candace reading a book while walking, which is on par dangerous with drinking while reading. So yeah; it's a song to waste time because we cannot deliver the scares due to BS&P. There was a moment where Candace sees a plate on the bookshelf and it contains Ducky's mug with a line that says "I Hate People" as apparently; the color of fear is yellow.
Jump cut to Candace in the bathroom doing her hair and looking around for something that might have caught her eye; but Ducky Momo keeps successfully hidden from her. Candace looks for ketchup bottles, Ducky Momo keeps looking for Candace as we end the song inside the living room as Ducky Momo bails from Candace and Candace somehow spots him and wonders who is there. She gasps and picks up her cellphone, calling Staci...AGAIN! Candance cuts a really pathetic promo about the presence being right next to...her...yip. Ducky quacks and raises it's wings. Oh come on now; you're telling me Candace has never seen a Teddy Ruxpin doll before?! Candace screams and runs onto the coffee table, stomps her feet like a jackrabbit start and makes a mess on the floor. Candace tries to go upstairs; but bonks into the window near the bottom of the stairs and her ankle gets snagged by the curtains. Candace somehow is sitting on the steps and cannot get free from this as Ducky waddles and quacks at her. Ducky crawls up the stairs...slowly...as Candace does the Baloo method of getting herself free which is to bite the curtains. Candace is free and hides behind a wall as she calls Staci for help. Boy; you are beyond pathetic now Candace, that I cannot laugh at this anymore. This is tragic! When even Staci is laughing at you and she's shooting milk from her nose; you are pathetic. Candace sees Ducky, Candace panics, phone goes flying, Ducky steps on it and ends call. Somehow; this doesn't destroy the cellphone; so this makes Candace even more pathetic than she already was. Oh wait; Candace backing off throwing objects in it's path and Ducky Momo barely steps on the first object. This is so pathetic now that I'm literally laughing my ass off now, and the tragedy has turned into pure giggling mirth. Which was probably done on purpose. Well played, show; well played, indeed. Ducky does the Baloo method of hurdling with a crumbled up piece of paper as Candace declares it unstoppable. Candace really raises the pathetic level by forgetting that the door opens inward instead of outwards before finally going inside and pants.
Candace tries to barricade the door; but Ducky Momo somehow got in; which is the actual first sign of the cursed doll as Candace sits in her bed under the covers, now begging for mercy. How about begging for forgiveness for your insecure performance in this entire sequence. Candace demands answers to this outrage and Ducky Momo simply quacks. Because you see, it's not evil since there is no full moon shown. Yet. Candace then realizes that it just wants a hug and she hugs him. Awww, my heart melted! Apparently; the moonlight makes him evil as the clouds go away and there is a full moon, but the moonlight shines on the ragged teddy bear Mr. Miggins and it growls and turns evil. Because teddy bears are evil, you see. Even in the new Disney, ducks rule and bears drool. Some things never change. Candace screams, we jump cut back to a shot outside of the residence, thunderclaps ensue and that ends segment one at 8:15. Okay; this was pretty funny, but I want a refund because I got exactly zero scares out of this.
So we cut back to the Macabre Book Mobile with Mr. Macabre being generally bored; as in rubbing a pea between his fingers. So he notices us as we want more. If it's scares, we're still waiting for the first one. Anyhow; Macabra brings out his book and we begin segment two on a dark and stormy night. I wonder if Snoopy is the ghost writer for these segments? Anyhow; we head to Doofenshmirtz's Evil Incorporated (no jingle of course) to begin segment two as Perry will show Doofen that every wish has a twist that a wisher might not wish for what he wanted. Perry is currently on the roof while Macabra laughs and it still sucks. Perry notices Doofen reading a book at his latest laser weapon...ERRR...I mean, Inator of the day. Or night in this case. In comes Perry from a rope and Doofen of course has the same book as Candace did and he's reading it. Of course; the animators screw up the book when Doofen spins it after acting like an idiot, not noticing the obvious. Doofen blows Perry off for being rude on a dark and stormy night as there is a chapter that might interest Perry. It's a stupid idiot trap, Perry! Don't fall for...SUCKER~! Doofen traps Perry with said book and Doofen puts Perry on a book shelf, taunting him for falling for it. And then admits that he's an idiot. HAHA! Doofen then proclaims that the pages of the book Perry is trapped is...DA DA DAAAAAA~! -- I'm better than you Disney Captions! AGAIN! --... about the legendary Giant Floating Baby Head~! Every good show and even some bad shows always has a character or gimmick that is considered legendary. Like a legendary Pokemon for instance. In Peppa Pig; it's the story of Miss Rabbit, which the biggest mind blower was her selling products on the moon and having connections with the Queen of England. In Ducktales 1987, it was Vacation Van Honk. In TaleSpin, it was WildCat. In Phineas & Ferb; this honor goes to the Giant Floating Baby Head, who always appears for no reason and never fails to make me laugh, most of all when it cuddles near Candace. The thunderclaps are so overwhelming that the scene turns to greyscale for a second or two. YAY!
Doofen calls it weird as he mentioned the GFBH and we repeat the thunderclaps, and Doofen is all cool with that. Doofen then tries to fool the thunderclaps, and it works! HAHA! See; even ham sandwiches can be trolls. So basically; the GFBH is like Genie from Aladdin, in that it grants you three wishes and yes, Doofen is trying to avoid saying the name. Why? I thought the whole spot was cool. So Doofen talks about the rest of the baby doll mentioned in the book; but he hasn't seen it in Danville, so he didn't finish. Doofen's plan; use the laser known as the Inexplicable-Gaint-Floating-Baby-Head-Attract-inator. I don't see the point of this since I'm sure the GFBH will come without the need of such a device. Damn; this is why these repeat spots are so pointless at this point. We get thunderclaps; but no special effects. Very sloppy there, animators. The inator contains a grappling hook with keys as Doofen demonstrates that he has zero clue in how baby psychology works. The strangest thing about this is; Doofen might be better at baby psychology than his parents. Ponder that for a moment and despair. Doofen uses the purple button on the remote to open the roof as here comes the GFBH, in thunder and shadows, just like that. See; I told you the inator was completely pointless. Doofen calls it horrible (Screw you, you evil scientist!) and sneaks up gently and even begs for the baby head to not kill him. Doofen touches the GFBH, thunderclaps ensue, Doofen shoots into the cardboard boxes placed there to break his fall (BS&P RULEZ~!) and now Doofen has three FBGH faces on his fingers, one for each wish. Oh; and the GFBH disappears into thin air. Oh; and those faces are alive as Perry is stunned by this. So Doofen decides to test this and wishes for an iced tea; and he gets an iced tea in a glass with a straw; but not on the rocks sadly. One of the GFBH faces disappears on his finger as Perry struggles to get free while Doofen drinks some iced tea. Doofen isn't all that impressed as now he goes for his second wish and Perry escapes by pushing the bookshelf over and Doofen screams cheese and crackers while wishing that he want to control (the Tri-State Area).
Doofen blows him off as we get more tongue twisting baffoonery as he he can now control the cheese and crackers as we get jump cuts of all cheese and crackers productions coming out of the fridge upon Doofen's command. I should note that there is a twist and Doofen has to make his wishes clear. That's why Perry's bookshelf smash on Doofen was so important storyline-wise. The fridge was Doofen's by the way as Perry dodges cheese for a while. I should note that Doofen orders the Limburger cheese to help with the bookshelf and getting it off his foot. I should note that Processed Cheese Slices are in fact trademarked as Perry brings out the handled cheese grater of doom and grates a block of cheese in slow motion. Perry then slices and grates the cheese off-screen. Oh come on, BS&P; it's just cheese, dammit! Doofen is hungry and cannot be scared because the cheese is shredded, but not dead as the shredded cheese surrounds Perry with his back to the wall. Doofen giggles and anyone with one brain cell can figure out how Perry gets out of this with ease. Perry licks and eats the cheese as Doofen blows Perry off for violating the five second rule, and Doofen gets smacked in the kisser for his trouble. Yeah; like a platypus gives two damns about cleaniness there, you quack doctor. So next up; we magically open the cupboard for the crackers and they fire the boxes contents on Perry. Doofen asks: Who in their right minds has six boxes of oyster crackers on sale? Coming from Doofen, the answer is obvious. Perry dodges crackers which leads to Perry hiding behind a table with a box of toothpicks and a meat grinder which looks like a perfect makeshift gatling gun. This takes down the boxes of crackers, which should be impossible, but it isn't. Doofen then brings out the big RED ROLLING CHEESE WHEEL OF DEATH from the bottom cupboard and Perry runs and dodges the wheel of cheese. Perry brings out a mouse whistle and blows it as a swarm of mice from a conveniently placed hole run out; forcing the cheese wheel to hightail it out of there. Of course! Doofen blows him off for beating up a bunch of snacks, claiming Perry is just a big bully basically. HA!
Doofen does have one wish left and goes into a long rant about learning from his past two mistakes. Spoiler alert: He doesn't. Doofen goes on and on basically saying a lot in three minutes when he could have said that he wants to be the king of the Tri-State Area in ten seconds. They go on about rulers and butterflies and other such crap. You cannot say "King"? Of course not, because the story has to end with Doofen losing, so basically he said he wants to be the head of the Tri-State Area and he transforms into a Giant Floating Doofenshmirtz Head and floats into the sky. Now; THAT'S horrible, so that at least was a great payoff to the segment. This is still really funny though as Perry bails out as he gives Doofen the smirk face as Doofen blows him off and has an itch on his nose. This was enough to curse the platypus and the Giant Floating Baby Head. Screw you Doofen, just screw you! Doofen sneezes and crashes into the computer mainframe, destroying it and somehow making yet another cat scream. Perry parachutes off Doofenshmirtz's Evil Incorporated during the cursing and that ends segment #2 at 14:25, with Doofen blowing off the thunderclap at the end. HA! No scares, but a lot of comedy still. Then again; who is buying scary stuff from Heinz Doofenshmirtz anyway?
So we head back to Macabre's Book Mobile with Macabra texting on his cellphone; probably giving a bad review to Shaggy Clone from the first segment and calling him a weed smoking douchebag. And my theory was a lot closer than I thought it would be, BS&P notwithstanding. Macabra wants to continue on as we get the final grim installment of this trilogy of terror. As in terrorly hilarious, you see. This one takes place in an unassuming suburban backyard (Read: Phineas' backyard inside a giant tent.) as Phineas, Ferb, Isabella, Baljeet and Buford are inside camping out. Perry has also returned as Macabra claims that they might be forced to admit that they may not know what they are going to do today. Geez; talk about losing all your creditability there, Macabra. We hear Buford telling everyone a ghost story about a zombie bunny rabbit appearing and eating up all the marshmellows. Yawn; add "..on the moon" and that might scare me. Burford is eating a bag of real marshmellows like a pig and Baljeet is calling him out on it; like that is going to work. Buford's response: Zombie bunnies don't care. That made sense to me. So Phineas is thinking his scary story and Isabella runs down all the genres of horror while Phineas has the book of demon magic (the same book Candace and Doofen has) and Phineas even flips through it recapping the last two segments in less than five seconds. Ah; here's something I didn't know about: Pouring grape juice on Perry creates an evil purple clone of himself. Buford literally seconds later, intentionally pours his grape juice from the box right onto Perry. Animal cruelty, thy name is Buford and he's going to pay for that. Buford wants Phineas to keep reading and Phineas orders him to stop. Too late, triangle dood! Phineas grabs Perry and wipes him down with a towel while Phineas blows off Buford for doing that and Buford was just testing this theory. Perry has a splosh of purple and that splosh jumps from Perry's back and we got our Perry clone. Theory successful, and now Buford must pay for his crimes! Buford is loving it; unless it snarls and Baljeet sums this up quite nicely, methinks.
Perry turns into a hedgehog and steals the juice box and runs out of the tent. Isabella cuts the stupidest line I have ever heard in this series, saying that they take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. Isabella sucks as a horrible monster heel; so sod off! Cheese and crackers, indeed. All the kids get out of the tent as Hedgehog Purple Perry is making clones of himself with the juice. This is the first remotely scary part of this episode and it still doesn't impress me. All the clones roar and then bail as Phineas calls this a Halloween thing in the middle of summer. Isabelle yells at Phineas to do something and Phineas paces around going over his options and every single one of them; he rejects as Buford claims that his brain is burning; and Baljeet calls him out on it as Phineas claims that he's kind of stumped. You don't say? Anyhow; Baljeet steps in and has an idea and tells everyone to follow him. Damn; I thought it would be using Buford as forcing him to come up with the idea, so he could get justice on Buford for being an idiot. Nope; it's the kids running out of the backyard. Then we get a running sequence as the purple clones of Perry are in fact legit destroying the Tri-State area. If FOWL's giant rubber ball wasn't such a weaksauce destruction device before, it sure hell is now. Oh my god; I'm scared now...at the clones playing tennis. Yeah; that was funny. So Baljeet arrives at a house which has a western saloon motif to it as Baljeet tells us that he has a life coach. I suppose the whole tone deafness of a dark skinned boy like Baljeet having a life coach who is a cowboy redneck is completely lost on the writers, but then again, this was written in 2013 anyway. Still tone deaf bigotry just the same. Even Buford is remotely thinking that this is tone deaf as Buford rings the tone deaf door bell as he calls the cowboy dood an embodiment of pure thought and wisdom. Oh lord; that is the third thing in this segment alone that scared me. The door opens and we see the cowboy complete with a green band around his neck, introduce himself to the kids. So Baljeet addresses him as Rusty Britches, as in Rusty Pants. That amused me for some reason.
Rusty Britches is voiced by David Koechner and according to Wikipedia (DANGER! DANGER!): In 1995, Koechner landed a year-long stint on Saturday Night Live, joining the show with Second City friends Nancy Walls and Adam McKay. During his time at SNL, he befriended guest-writer David 'Gruber' Allen, and castmate Will Ferrell. Some of Koechner's recurring skits included Bill Brasky, the British Fops (playing Fagan, opposite Mark McKinney), Gary Macdonald (the fictional younger brother of Weekend Update anchor/SNL castmember Norm Macdonald, based on "Jokey", a character he originated at Second City), Will Ferrell's "Get Off the Shed" sketches (playing his neighbor, Tom Taylor), and Gerald "T-Bones" Tibbons. Koechner impersonated several celebrities, including Burt Reynolds, Mike Ditka, Charlie Sheen, Robert Shapiro, Willard Scott, Oliver Stone, Phil Gramm, David Kaczynski, and Pat Buchanan. After his one-season on SNL, Koechner joined the 1996–97 sketch cast of Late Night with Conan O'Brien. On the set of the 1999 country music mockumentary, Dill Scallion, Koechner struck a partnership with SNL friend David 'Gruber' Allen, joining Allen's improvisational comedy act, The Naked Trucker Show.[8] Koechner joined the act as Gerald "T-Bones" Tibbons, a character he had been playing on comedy stages for a few years, including a recurring character bit on SNL. Gerald Tibbons dates back to 1995, when he filmed a short television pilot based on the character's misadventures.[9] The "Gerald" character, based on a real drifter named Four-Way George, became so popular that Koechner would go to auditions, only to find that directors were always demanding his stage persona.[10][11] The stage act, a mix of stand-up comedy and off-color country songs, became a hit on the Hollywood improv circuit, ultimately landing television performances on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Real Time with Bill Maher. The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show toured with fellow comedic musical duo, Tenacious D.[12]
In 2004, Koechner landed his largest film role up to that point, as sports reporter Champ Kind in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. As part of the Anchorman ensemble, Koechner shared two MTV Movie Award nominations for Best On-Screen Team and Best Musical Performance. MTV's initial press release accidentally listed Fred Armisen instead of David Koechner, but eventually corrected the error on their website, crediting Koechner during the broadcast.[13][14] Following this role, he landed small and supporting roles in such films such The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Talladega Nights, The Dukes of Hazzard and Snakes on a Plane. In 2006, he made his voice acting debut in Barnyard as "Dag". That same year, he had a supporting role as a gun lobbyist in the critically acclaimed satire, Thank You for Smoking. The three actors portrayed lobbyists for the tobacco, alcohol, & gun industries, dubbed The M.O.D. (Merchants of Death) Squad. Thank You for Smoking was one of the best-reviewed films of Koechner's career, and he was included in Fox Searchlight's Oscar campaign, among the film's listings for Best Supporting Actor.[15] After co-starring in Anchorman and The 40-Year-Old Virgin, fellow Second City alum Steve Carell personally recommended Koechner for a recurring role on NBC's The Office, playing Todd Packer.[16] Koechner's role is the American version of Chris Finch from the original. Packer is an obnoxious, alcoholic best friend of Carell's character. Koechner guest-starred, both in person and voice, on fifteen episodes of the series. His frequent work with actors Ferrell, Carell, Jack Black, and Ben Stiller have led some critics and journalists to point out his association with the media-dubbed "Frat Pack". David had a guest starring role as Uncle Earl in an episode on Hannah Montana.[17][18][19]
In 2007, Koechner was seen in his first leading role in The Comebacks (which opened on October 19), the first comedy to be released under Fox Searchlight's Fox Atomic division.[20] He played a college football coach with the worst record in the history of the sport who vows to turn things around with his new team of ragtag recruits. He described this career opportunity as the "first lead for the right-hander."[8] Veteran actor Carl Weathers played Koechner's rival coach. Though Koechner, who usually writes and improvises his material, had no involvement with the screenplay, he complimented director Tom Brady for taking "great care to make it as smart as he could", adding that it's a sports comedy rather than a spoof.[8] On January 17, 2007, Comedy Central premiered The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show, a sketch comedy series starring Koechner (as T-Bones) and longtime performing partner Dave "Gruber" Allen (as The Naked Trucker). The duo performs their unique brand of off-color songs and introduces pre-taped skits. Many of Koechner's past co-stars made cameos, including Will Ferrell, Jack Black, Steve Carell, Andy Richter, Dax Shepard, and Paul Rudd. The pre-taped skits gave Koechner more screen time than Allen, often letting him showcase his comedic charisma alongside guest stars like Richter and Shepard. Comedy Central ordered eight episodes.[21] In the eight years Koechner & Allen have been playing these characters, there have been several attempts to bring the act to television, but they had trouble figuring how to translate it into a series.[10] Koechner & Allen's first album, Naked Trucker and T-Bones Live at the Troubador, was released March 20, 2007.[22] Koechner co-starred with Luke Wilson in the 2009 indie-comedy Tenure and was a lead in the 2012 horror film Piranha 3DD.
Koechner returned as Champ Kind, in Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013).[citation needed] Following the release of Live at the Troubador, Koechner revealed that a T-Bones film is in development with Will Ferrell and Adam McKay's Gary Sanchez Productions.[23] Koechner wrote the script with veteran television writer/producer Norm Hiscock, who also wrote for The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show, in addition to past work on Saturday Night Live, The Kids in the Hall, and King of the Hill. He made his first return guest appearance to Saturday Night Live on December 7, 2013 with his fellow Anchorman co-stars Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, and the episode's host, Paul Rudd. The Anchorman stars sang "Afternoon Delight" with the episode's musical guest One Direction during the opening monologue. Koechner and Ferrell also reprised their Bill Brasky sketch in the same episode. In 2015, Koechner began co-starring as Commodore Bellacourt in the Comedy Central series Another Period. He also currently recurs as Bill Lewis on The Goldbergs. In a contrast to his largely comedy-based acting career, Koechner starred in the 2016 drama Priceless, a film about human trafficking. He began his career on It's Now...or NEVER! as Jay in 1995; along with his first stint on Saturday Night Live in various cameos. Phineas & Ferb is his DTVA debut and also appeared as Mac Antfree in Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja, Muck in Sofia The First and Coach in Future-Worm!.Depatures as Bob is his most recent credit. He has 167 Acting credits, 5 Writing credits, 5 Soundtrack credits, 3 Producer credits, 69 Self credits and 7 Archive Footage credits to his resume. Isabella is confused by this cowboy talk and I'm feeling that Rusty is way too awkward to be a legit cowboy and is merely cosplaying one. So; we head inside as the kids are sitting in chairs literally made of barrels drinking lemonade. Except for Perry of course. Oh; and the glasses of lemonade are in legit jars. Why? Why not?!
Rusty asks how he might serve them as Phineas and Rusty exchange notes on the situation. Rusty calls this a real beehive in your well water, since you cannot say poop on this show, for some reason. So Rusty brings out his thinking bench; which is a bench that makes a lot of noise. Rusty then just steps on it with one foot and cuts a totally non-sensical promo about baths, horses and welcome mats. Buford is not amused by this and neither is Phineas as he wants to get to the point as Rusty spills his drink, so he won't be driving Isabella back home for the next 72 hours. Rusty goes on while using a brush to scrub the mess on the floor and this is enough for Phineas to get the point that he needs a brush, soap and water to defeat them, calling Rusty a genius. Even Rusty is way too humble to accept this; so this was dumb. So they finally know what they are going to do today and they basically create super soakers crossed with vaccum cleaners. Now this episode really sucks. HAHA!
Ron Sparks: It sucks more than Sean Desmond.
Phineas calls them bubble washers, so I was accurate for the most part. Rusty offers to help by giving them music background singing. Oooooookkkkaaaayyyyy, whatever makes you happy there Rusty. Phineas loves it and so does the kids as the door is kicked down and it's time for the TEDDY RUXPIN SONG OF DOOM! Rusty's playing sucks by the way and it is off-key. Rusty's song sucks so much; Buford blows him off for that demotivation as Phineas is far more diplomatic about it as Isabella suggests an up-tempo beat to it. Or maybe just sing the low point and then crescendo the big babyface comeback. Rusty loves the idea and we run on the street as Perry clones attack and run after the kids as Phineas and company shoot the Perry clones dead, so we get an actual kill count for Phineas and he might even surpass Chargeman Ken's kill count in less than three minutes. Did I just say....Oh wait, never mind. Rusty's yodeling is much, much funnier and better as a song, methinks. Perry clones become Rusty haters (and a perfect visual of Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Gamecube haters to boot) as they swamp Rusty and drag him into the streets of hell. Dammit! So Phineas panics and then notices a conveniently placed factory in the background and they run into the factory, which somehow is not locked. Like stupid idiots, the factory is a grape juice box factory which Baljeet calls terrifying specific. Of course! So the doors are knocked down and Isabella of course gets swamped first, then Phineas (which gives away the fact that this is a work right there. Ooops. I'M GREGORY WEAGLE~!), then Buford and Ferb as Phineas sums up they were ripped to shred and left to die, which means the story was a work despite no indication that it was until that moment. I hate that. If you want to do a work; do a work. Don't make it a shoot and then turn it into a work because that is a bait-and-switch. Yes folks; Phineas is just telling a scary story with the flashlight and Isabella calls this a stupid grim ending and Buford has the Gruffi pose on agreeing with this along with Baljeet. No crap, Sherlock! Phineas agrees to do the Hollywood ending; which is code for BS&P ending. Wink!
So here's how this segment ends: Phineas and company run away from the clones as Phineas' Krackpotkin Plan is to pour soapy water into the sprinkler system housing; while everyone else holds off the clones. They try the best they could; but they are out of soapy water. Phineas and Ferb pour the container of liquid soap into the housing pipeline; but there is a problem, the manual override is a wheel that Phineas cannot reach in time. It's all over....Oh wait; the doors open and in comes Rusty riding a Swiftwind from She-ra, minus the armor mask. This is so Z-grade-equse, I cannot believe they would stoop to this low of comedy. So Rusty invokes the LASSO OF BANE TO ALL ACTION CARTOONS EVERYWHERE and pulls out the manual override and soap's on, little tykes. Oh great; now I sound like Rusty. That's horrifying. So the soap flows like water; all the clones melt away, yee-haw. It's like the Juralian all over again, only I care even less abvout it. Baljeet being so happy was more compelling than this. Music bugle ensues again and in comes...I know it's already a work; but we get a Miss Rabbit moment with Kool-Aid mascot, only it's a Grape Juice mascot dressed up like a cowboy cop. Yes; the mascot has a name according to Baljeet: Officer Concord. Concord is so happy that he wants to dance and everyone dances on the spot, including the swarm of mice from the second segment, the cheese wheel and the cursed Ducky Momo waddles in as well. Pfft; whatever. We finally stop this nonsense by Buford as he hates it and Baljeet asks what is unbelievable: the unicorn or Officer Concord. Hey; you guys wanted the BS&P ending and that's what we got, so eat it and like it, you BS&P pieces of monkey crap! Buford goes on about seeing a cowboy in real life and we get jackhammering sounds with martial arts zoom in and that ends segment #3 at 21:00 approx. Well; this was the best of the three and it had some scary moments, but then ruined it by going for the BS&P ending and it was more absurd than most Z-grade movies.
Okay; so here's how this episode officially ends: Macabra is going on about having a book mobile while flashing a flashlight right in front of the bank officer in an office inside a bank. Bank Officer is voiced by Jay Harris of ESPN Sportscenter. According to Wikipedia (DANGER! DANGER!): An American journalist who has worked for ESPN since February 2003. Jay currently calls late night his home, seen primarily on the 11pm and midnight eastern editions of SportsCenter, and sometimes on the west coast Sportscenter from Los Angeles. Jay has hosted a variety of shows during his tenure at ESPN, including Sportscenter, Outside The Lines, NFL Live, Baseball Tonight, Cold Pizza, First Take, Friday Night Fights, and ESPN Sports Saturday on ABC. Prior to ESPN, Harris worked for many years at WPGH-TV in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as a weeknight news anchor. He also has local morning radio news experience at WAMO-FM, and national news experience at American Urban Radio Networks, also in Pittsburgh. He also did local radio news at WOWI-FM in Norfolk, Virginia. Even though, the bank officer looks somewhat like Jay Harris, Jay is black and the character is white. This is the reverse of Andrea Martin voicing Mrs. Goatky from Recess. Never a good idea either way. Bascially; the bank officer refuses to give him a loan because Macabra has nothing...AND THE ROCK SAYS NOTHING to justify giving him one. It's a bad business proposition. Geez; ToonEGuy would say the same thing about CGI and be the biggest liar in history. Macabra says "please" and Officer orders him to leave, and apparently saying "please with a cherry on top" is enough for the officer to sigh and Macabra gets the bank loan statement with a warning that this is the last one he's getting. So he writes the bank loan and Macabre shines the flashlight to end the episode at 22:05. So we end this entire special with Rusty singing a stupid cowboy in front of the Flynn-Fletcher door and then tries to walk down the steps, trips and crashes off-screen. He claims he's fine and unlike most times, I am certain that he's right since he's supposed to be the embodiment of wisdom. He tells us to read the credits. I do and that is that, along with the logo. Cute segment and this was a mostly funny episode with absolutely no terror to speak of. Minus the grim false finish ending from Phineas of course. *** 3/4 (75%).
THE REVIEW LINE
Well; that was one loaded Halloween specials in terms of comedy and giggles; but very short when it comes to scares, which they promised from the start and failed to deliever until the Phineas segment; and that required Perry being an evil clone in order to work. I did love the entire Giant Floating Babyhead segment a lot and the ending to segment two with Doofen and Candace's Ducky Momo segment was pathetic; but still hilarious to watch. I didn't like the "Tease a shoot and then bait and switch it as a work" twist to the Phineas segment; because it felt like BS&P stepped in, instead of being a twist plot since the BS&P ending was also hilarious and the endings with Macabra and the bank officer were cute along with the ending credits. Overall; this was a sloppy Phineas & Ferb episode that overdelivered on the humor; but underdelievered on the scares, so it was a mixed bag. Very typical of a Phineas & Ferb episode, actually. So...
Thumbs in the middle pointing up for this episode and I'll see you all next time.