The Birthday Party is the 17th episode of Season 2 of My Name Is Earl, and the 41st episode overall. Hoping for his good deeds to be recognized, Earl celebrates his birthday but is instead reminded of more unresolved issues on his list. But with the kind-nature of Camden County's people, will Earl heave a load off with his list?
Episode guide[]
It's Earl's birthday and time for Earl to celebrate and reflect on his life. Randy throws him a party and gives him a half-priced cake. He reminds Earl about a previous time when he tortured Randy with "Jackass" style stunts. Kay reminds her son how he once used her living room as a toilet. Earl reminds everyone it's time to focus on "good" Earl.
The bad memories continue to pour in, and Earl cringes about the "Bad Earl" days, like getting Darnell busted for selling brownies with no pot in them. In an effort to "make nice", he hands the Karaoke mic to Donny Jones, who sings a bad version of Pat Benatar's "Heartbreaker" entitled "Pot Breaker".
Joy reminds Earl of a painful memory: A pregnant Joy, disturbed that the trailer park's resident peeping tom is ignoring her, asks Earl to help her. The pervert is actually Earl, on an undercover mission to find a big screen television. Despite Joy's announcements each evening that she is having sex, the trailer park pervert continues to ignore her. Earl suggests that they "bring another girl in". He pays his friend Donny to creep out the neighborhood.
Joy catches the Peeping Tom and the neighborhood women beat him up. One of them hits over the head, saying "That's for peeping me before I was done with Jenny Craig!" At his birthday, Earl confesses to Joy that he was only trying to make her feel better. She reminds him about all his terrible pregnant jokes when she was in a sensitive predicament: having another man's child.
Randy recounts some of his and Earl's bad one-night stands, including one with a woman, "Didi", who leaves her prosthetic leg lying on Earl in bed. To "compensate" for the experience, he steals her wallet and beats her with the detached leg. As he drives off, the woman fires a shotgun at a freaked-out Earl.
At his birthday, Carl gives an impassioned speech, but it's just another reflection of a bad memory. As a child, Earl dopes up his dad with his friend Eric's mom's pills, and his father becomes the laughing stock of a party. By embarrassing his wife, Earl's dad is confined to the couch for weeks; which is when his back problems begin.
Surrounded by bad memories, Earl's birthday celebration is a flat-out bust. Walking home from the bar, he comes face-to-face with a menacing Didi, the one-legged woman with a chip on her shoulder. She chases Earl home to a big surprise party, Randy's idea. His dad wishes him a "Happy Birthday". Each family member picks an item and, as a gift, crosses it off Earl's list.
As Darnell presents him with a cake, Didi, the one-legged lady, hammers on the door. He wishes her to go away and she finally leaves. The party begins and Earl finally gets drunk enough to wow the room with his "breaking dancing".
Notes[]
- The running joke of Nescobar-A-Lop-Lop having a pen-stealing addiction is reintroduced in this episode.
- This is the second episode to include Earl's birthday, the first being Joy's Wedding. Both times Earl refers at this day as the one time a year he gets drunk enough to break-dance.
- Note, also moved from Featured Music, as inapplicable: Silas Weir Mitchell, as "Crazy Eyes" Donny Jones, goes to sing Pat Benatar's "Heartbreaker", but instead turns it into a parody named "Pot Breaker", due to an incident that not only left a mark, but a piece of terra cotta permanently imbedded in the back in Donny's skull. Although Earl admits this is on his list, this incident nor its result is ever mentioned or remembered specifically in any previous episode, nor any episode following.
Flashbacks[]
List[]
- List items Re-introduced in this episode:
- List items introduced and absolved in this episode:
- - Unnumbered list item 11 Pulled pranks on Randy
- - Unnumbered list item 12 Peed on Mom's rug
- - Unnumbered list item 13 Got Darnell stoned (literally)
- - Unnumbered list item 14 Almost got Donny Jones killed by a fern
- - Unnumbered list item 15 Made fun of Joy being pregnant
- - Unnumbered list item 16 Almost got Dad divorced and gave him a back problem
- - Unnumbered list item 17 Stole DJ Dave's equipment except one turntable
- - #165 Made a wish and threw a penny into Electrolarynx Guy's hole
- - Unnumbered list item 18 Stole Slow Roger's car and slept with his sister
Featured music[]
- "Fat Bottomed Girls" by Queen
- "That's the Way (I Like It)" by K.C. and the Sunshine Band
- "Funky Cold Medina" by Tone Lōc
Memorable quotes[]
- Earl: Is there gum in these pancakes?
- Randy: Yeah! I put all your favorite things in there, like beer, and gummy worms, and you know that button that came off your yellow shirt I put that in there to kinda like a joke, but I think one of us already ate it. Happy birthday.
- Earl: Thanks Randy. I really think this is going to be a happy birthday. Ah, found the button.
- Kay: Earl, what are you doing? Not on the rug!
- Earl: What are you doing in the bathroom?
- Kay: Son, that's not the bathroom!
- Earl: Shut the door, Mom.
- Kay: My living room is not a toilet!
- Earl: You got great boobs, Peggy.
- Didi: My name's Didi.
- Earl: You got great boobs, Didi.
- Didi: Your mama sure raised a sweet-talker.
- Jasper: Hey man, you sold us pot brownies with no pot in them. I just sat through dinner with my parents straight. I haven't done that since I was 13.
- Donny: I listened to a whole Phish album, and it sucked!
- Earl: This is exactly the way I pictured my birthday happening, except how Dad was freakin' on Mom. And like all my birthdays, I eventually got drunk enough to break-dance.
- Randy: Hi, I'm Randy. Are you drunk enough to go home with me?
- Woman at the Bar: takes a look at Randy and tosses back what's left of her drink Yep. leaves with Randy
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Jason Lee as Earl Hickey
- Ethan Suplee as Randy Hickey
- Jaime Pressly as Joy Turner
- Nadine Velazquez as Catalina
- Eddie Steeples as Darnell Turner
Recurring[]
- Beau Bridges as Carl Hickey
- Nancy Lenehan as Kay Hickey
- Tracy Ashton as Didi
- Trey Carlisle as Earl Jr.
- Louis T. Moyle as Dodge
- Noah Crawford as Young Earl Hickey
- Phoenix Smith as Young Randy Hickey
- Abdoulaye N'Gom as Nescobar-A-Lop-Lop
- Juan Pope as Jasper
- Silas Weir Mitchell as Donny Jones
- Jack Axelrod as Electrolarynx Guy
- Bill Suplee as Willie
- Robert Clendenin as Slow Roger
Guest starring[]
- Melody Thomas Scott as Eric's mom
 < Season 1
|
My Name is Earl Season 2 | Season 3 >
| ||||||
| #01 | Very Bad Things | #07 | Mailbox | #13 | Buried Treasure | #19 | Harassed a Reporter | |
| #02 | Jump for Joy | #08 | Robbed a Stoner Blind | #14 | Kept a Guy Locked in a Truck | #20 | Two Balls, Two Strikes | |
| #03 | Sticks & Stones | #09 | Born a Gamblin' Man | #15 | Foreign Exchange Student | #21 | GED | |
| #04 | Larceny of a Kitty Cat | #10 | South of the Border, Part Uno | #16 | B.L.O.W. | #22 | Get a Real Job | |
| #05 | Van Hickey | #11 | South of the Border, Part Dos | #17 | The Birthday Party | #23 | The Trial | |
| #06 | Made a Lady Think I Was God | #12 | Our 'Cops' Is On! | #18 | Guess Who's Coming Out of Joy | |||