Original air date: October 1, 2023
The Belchers end up in a showdown when Bob and Linda suggest the kids do chores.
* * *
Linda: So, everyone enjoying the dinner your father and I nicely made you?
Don’t be afraid to shout out compliments.
Tina: Oh, sorry. It’s really good.
Thank you.
It’s chicken, right?
Yes, Tina.
I knew it.
Sorry, mom, I’m just still sort of reeling from school, where my grape-flavored finger pop-pet was cruelly taken from me!
Yeah, you’ve mentioned the finger candy thing.
Finger pop-pet!
Whoops. Hey.
No candy in class.
But I wasn’t eating it.
Then why does it look half-eaten?
Because I’ve been savoring it, slowly and responsibly.
Well, I’m gonna savor doing this.
Louise: No, no, no, no, no, no! Not the trash, no…
And that’s why grown-ups are monsters.
Okay. Uh, sorry about that, Louise, but, uh, kids, we wanted to talk to you about something.
Right.
Are we all getting matching jumpsuits finally?
No.
(gene groans)
So, uh, starting tomorrow, your father and I thought it would be good and also re-really fun to do chores.
Chores?
Didn’t we try those before and we were all like, “nah”?
Uh, we’re-we’re gonna try it again.
Yep, you’re gonna clean the bathroom, vacuum the floors, dust… Stuff.
Um, are we getting a raise in our very meager allowance because of these so-called chores?
Yeah! I mean, yeah.
No. I think the reward is that you are contributing to this family.
And learning that it’s important to pitch in in society and stuff like that.
You know, we do work in the restaurant.
Every day. For free.
Not that any of us have called child welfare or anything.
Except for that one time.
I didn’t love that you did that.
But the guy we talked to was nice.
Oh, yeah. Todd. What’s he up to?
Where is all this chore stuff coming from, anyway?
Npr?
Well, if you must know, I was talking to grandma Gloria the other day and she reminded me that they made me and Gayle do chores every weekend when we were growing up.
And she thought we should be doing it with you kids.
She actually thought we already were, and I said we tried, but it didn’t really stick and then she made that “hmph” sound.
Ugh, grandma Gloria.
No huggies from genie for a year.
All right. Well, what if we refuse to do these chores?
Yeah.
Respectfully?
Okay, well, then, I would respectfully say you don’t have a choice.
Right, Bob?
Uh, uh, right.
Well, then, we’re going to respectfully stop eating our vegetables.
Gene, Tina? Want to stop eating your broccoli?
(whispering): But I like broccoli.
Tina!
Right, sorry.
(normal volume): Well, then, you are respectfully
Not getting any dessert.
Damn it!
Okay, then we are respectfully not doing our homework.
Ooh.
You’re gonna play this game with mama?
Oh, yeah.
Oh, good.
(whispering): But Lin, “no tv” means we don’t get to watch tv.
Show no weakness.
They’re gonna crack.
What if they don’t crack?
I’m worried they’re not cracking.
Louise (normal volume): Mm-mmm. Nope.
Not brushing them.
(groans)
Bob: Mm.
And if we get painful cavities, we’ll be the ones laughing.
Yeah. Wait.
Linda: Okay, early bedtime, in your room, lights out, now.
Nuh-uh. Not going to bed.
Until we get tired.
Yeah.
Guys.
I mean, never.
Right.
Okay, then, no…
What?
No…
You got nothing.
No, no Christmas ever again!
Uh, Linda, want to have a quick chat?
I feel like it’s not going well.
What-what if I go buy a bag of candy and we give them candy if they do the chores?
No, Bob.
They should do chores ’cause we told them to and ’cause it’ll make them better people in society and all that crap, not to get candy.
I mean, what if they turn into little delinquents who won’t listen to authority and it-it ruins their lives?
Then we’ll just pretend we don’t know them?
Hmm. Maybe.
Well, the kids have to go to bed.
So, we need a cease-fire, I think.
(sighs) okay, fine. You’re right.
Eh, we’ll-we’ll put a pin in the chores thing and figure out a way to make them do them tomorrow.
Blackmail, maybe?
Have you been writing stuff down? I haven’t.
(groans)
kids.
Come in here. Come on.
Okay.
Hmm.
I’m sorry about that “no Christmas” thing.
Come on. Come up in the bed with mama.
Come on.
Are you gonna kill us?
No.
Let’s, uh, revisit the chores thing later.
Why don’t we all just relax, huh?
(yawns) so tired, right?
No.
Yes. Should we sing a nice song or tell a bedtime story? Huh?
A bedtime story? Like you guys used to do?
Back when we were children?
Oh, yeah, dad, you used to tell that story about pepperoni the sleepy pony.
Oh, right.
Aw, pepperoni.
Roaming the plains, looking for a nice place to sleep.
And a little pepperoni.
Gene: Aren’t we all?
Tell that story, Bob.
Okay. Um, I think I remember it.
But maybe he’s not sleepy.
And maybe he’s really buff?
But also super humble. About how buff he is.
But he’s still into pepperoni.
Uh, okay, so,
Pepperoni the super buff pony wanders around, looking for a place to, um, not sleep.
And he ends up in a town.
It was a small mining town called W-Western-ville.
Linda: Oh, that’s good.
Bob: And there were three siblings that lived there, the Belch-Earps.
The-the Bearps.
And they operated the town’s tavern.
The youngest ran the bar and the gambling side of things…
Louise: Oh, and give me giant boots with huge spurs on the back.
And the front.
Bob: Uh, okay, sure.
A-and the middle one ran the entertainment.
Gene: And I have one of those player pianos.
But I can carry it around.
Bob: You carry around a player piano?
Yeah, because it’s cutting-edge.
All right.
Uh, and the oldest runs the hotel and stables.
Tina: Well, more of a horse hotel that also has rooms for people.
Right this way, sir.
It’s classy.
Linda: (clears throat)
And, uh, maybe there’s some nice sheriffs in this town.
M-married sheriffs.
Bob: Uh, okay.
Linda: Yeah, and they’re really great, but the townspeople don’t listen to the sheriffs because the townspeople can be big pains in the butt sometimes.
But I thought this was supposed to be a relaxing bedtime story?
Yeah, so one of the sheriffs says…
Yeah.
Hey, Bearps, maybe you could try and keep your area nice and clean today?
Hmm, let me think about that.
(blows raspberry) oh, and also…
(blows raspberry)
But I mean, maybe you could, you know, sweep up all the glass?
Um, I think I know the gambling business, m’kay?
(grunts) It’s read ’em and weep, not read ’em and sweep.
♪ and I’m not cleaning up anything, either ♪
♪ in the wild, wild west. ♪
Linda: They wouldn’t listen to anything the married sheriffs said,
Who were actually a lot older and smarter than the townspeople, but still good-looking for their age.
But there was a reason the townspeople didn’t want to listen to the married sheriffs.
No, there wasn’t.
Yes, there was.
Because one night…
Hey, you’re not telling the story.
Because one night, after they ordered the townspeople to go to bed…
Linda: Townspeople, go to bed.
Bob: Yeah.
Linda: ‘|Cause we’re the boss.
Yeah.
Louise: And after all the old-timey old west lights were out, the married sheriffs got on their horses and they rode off into the night.
But not everyone went to bed.
The three Bearps followed the sheriffs.
Attaboy, pepperoni.
Three riders on him and he’s not even breaking a sweat.
So buff.
Louise: They tracked them to the mine outside of town.
And there, they discovered that the married sheriffs were having a sneaky nighttime meeting with owner of the mine and super rich guy mr. Goldoeder.
Hello. I was just kissing my gold good night.
So, how’s the secret plan to have those nitwit townspeople keep the place nice and tidy going?
So that big g will be impressed and want to buy the town, the mine and all this land, and we get our big payout?
Wait, what? No, the married sheriffs are good guys.
Yeah, that’s what they want you to think.
It turns out their intentions were not so good.
In fact, they were bad.
No.
And all to serve their own greedy purposes.
No.
(grunts)
Louise (whispering): We got to get rid of the married sheriffs.
Tina: Yep.
Gene: The merriffs? That what I call them.
(pepperoni sighs)
Gene: Pepperoni likes it.
So, the plan… the tidy townspeople plan…
Catch me up. How’s it going?
It’s going really good.
It-it’s not going good.
It’s not going good.
Well, you two need to get tough.
Maybe make an example of one of them.
Blast ’em with your bean blaster.
Like this. Pew!
That’s uh, the exact rock I was aiming to hit.
I should have, uh, said that beforehand.
Anyway, everything has to be perfect for when big g comes.
She does not approve of messy towns or ill-behaved townspeople.
And if big g doesn’t approve, then she’s not gonna buy us out and we don’t get the money, which I know we’re all big fans of.
Don’t worry, we’ll make sure big g is happy.
(sniffs) what am I smelling?
Oh, that’s me. I-I don’t wash myself.
That’s… (sighs) okay.
So, the townspeople had to figure out how to get rid of the terrible, greedy, smelly sheriffs.
(whispering): What if I just pop down to the pharmacy and ask for drugs that put kids to sleep?
Probably not. But maybe?
(normal volume): Anyway, the three siblings had a secret meeting of their own.
Okay, all the townspeople chipped in.
We’ve got about a thousand dollars here.
Tina: Or we can offer you and your horses a free, all expenses paid
Weekend here at the inn,
Which includes drinks, horse massages,
Our finest pretty-clean chamber pots.
Your own personal entertainer.
♪ look at you, using your chamber pot. ♪
I think we’ll just take the money.
But I like that song.
So, how exactly does the whole
“taking someone and leaving them in the middle of nowhere”
Business work?
Well, basically we just take ’em
And then we, uh, leave ’em in the middle of nowhere.
Louise: Okay, then.
Yup, with no money,
Uncomfortable walking shoes,
Only, like, a super small thing of sunscreen.
No podcasts.
Okay, but what if then,
One of the leave-inthe-middle-of-nowhere guys
Starts asking some questions?
Are you sure you want to
Get rid of the married sheriffs?
I mean, uh I haven’t been here long,
But they seem nice to me.
And-and loving, I want to say?
Yeah, and wise. Like, they’ve got all this wisdom
To pass on about life, and the world…
Uh-uh, uh-uh, uh-uh.
They’re forcing us to do chores.
(gasps)
do what?
No way. You guys seem like
You work so hard all the time.
And you’re delightful.
I know.
Well, I’m gonna enjoy
Leaving them in the middle of nowhere.
And maybe only one bathroom break on the way, and then, after that, we’ll be like, “you got to hold it.”
Yeah.
But if we have to go, we still stop.
I-I have a small bladder.
But a big heart.
Linda (whispering): Married sheriff bob, I think something weird might be going on.
Bob: Why, ’cause some strangers threw us on a horse and put a blanket over us?
Yeah.
I’m beginning to think maybe this isn’t about a surprise birthday party for us at all.
I mean, for one thing, it’s not anywhere close to our birthdays.
Yeah. Come to think of it,
I was actually the one who said “is this, like, a surprise birthday party thing?”
And they said “sure, whatever.”
(normal volume): Ooh, that’s bright.
Where are we?
The middle of nowhere.
What town is that near?
None.
This is your stop.
Aah!
Aah!
Can we have our bean blasters back? No reason. Also, can you maybe give us your bean blasters? No reason.
Nope.
Bob: Fair enough.
And don’t you start pleading with us not to leave you here ’cause we don’t feel emotionally compromised about this at all.
Uh, please don’t leave us here?
Dang it!
Please!
I’m not wearing the right bra for this.
Sorry. Best of luck.
Are they still looking at us?
Uh, let me check. Yeah.
Do they look po’d?
Pretty-pretty po’d.
How about now?
Hmm. Look still pretty upset.
Aw, man.
Jimmy jr.: Hey, cheer up. Let’s go get you a western omelet.
Zeke: Okay.
So the married sheriffs got what they deserved.
The end. What a great story.
I mean,
The structure’s a little all over the place…
Linda: Up, bup, bup.
That’s not the end. No, no, no. You know why?
Gene: Because nobody’s kissed yet?
Because the married sheriffs didn’t give up.
They weren’t gonna let those punky townspeople win.
Not that it was about winning or losing.
No, it was. So, they started walking.
And they kept on walking.
And sure, there were some piggy back rides.
And then they switched.
Uh, yup. And-and they,
Uh, fought wolves.
They danced with wolves, and they fought more wolves because those wolves didn’t like the fact that they danced with those other wolves.
Anyway, it was all to get back to the townspeople to help them and watch over them.
Oh, no, the townspeople are having an amazing time and just totally taking care of themselves.
♪ ♪
(cheering)
Yeah!
Well, that’s because they didn’t know what was coming.
It was trouble. Real bad trouble.
The bad kind.
You naughty little nincompoops.
You couldn’t just do what you were told, could you?
Big g is gonna change this whole place.
You could have been part of it.
A wonderful, new, civilized society.
The well-mannered west, she’s gonna call it.
And also, I’m gonna get even richer, which will be pretty cool.
So, what’s it gonna be? You leave town or my miner minions and I
Fill you full of beans.
In a bad way?
In a very bad way.
Linda.
What? Too harsh?
It’s a western.
Don’t you make me scared of beans, woman!
So, the townspeople… who could have avoided all this by just listening to the sheriffs
And cleaning up the place, but no… now they were staring down
The bean blaster barrels of mr. Goldoeder and his miner minions. It was a standoff.
They were so standoffish. Sorry.
Standoff music.
♪ ♪
(linda panting)
Whoa, whoa, whoa!
Whoa!
Stop, stop, stop.
We’re here to protect you.
Who? Me? That’s nice.
No, them.
Oh, boo.
Also, water would be great.
Anyone have water?
Uh, I-I’ll ask later.
Wait, wait, wait.
Why should we trust you?
Because.
Because why?
Because we’re the sheriffs and it’s our job to protect you.
But how do we know you’re not just out for yourself, working with goldoeder to get your big payday by impressing big g?
Okay, yeah, maybe we wanted to impress big g a little bit. So sue us.
Not that this town has a lawyer.
I’m a lawyer.
Oh, you are?
Yup. Personal injury, mostly.
Oh, uh, great.
A little tax law.
Okay, yeah, I got it.
Yup.
Linda: Anyway, what if doing chores was actually good for you?
Huh? Did you ever think about that, you punks?
That-that we love.
Maybe making you do chores is protecting you.
From being delinquents. Ugh!
Why didn’t you just listen to us?
Now!
Aah!
Huh?
Hey!
See? That’s what happens when we listen to you…
We get all distracted and we get our bean blasters stolen.
Damn it! Mine tied my whole outfit together.
Linda: But then married sheriff linda said…
Well, you can’t bean blast all of us, goldoeder.
For one thing, it would be a big beany mess,
And you know big g doesn’t like messes.
That’s true. Dang it.
Louise: But then he had an idea.
I have an idea. Let’s have some fun.
Yay!
Yay!
Bearps? Married sheriffs?
How about a quick draw contest?
Each round is two people, two beans. Best shot wins.
And the winner of the whole thing gets to decide who stays and who goes.
Oh, and also, I’m entering and I’m an amazing shot.
Pew!
Yup, that’s… The one I was trying to hit.
And I did.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, the sheriffs would not get into a quick draw contest with their own people.
Also, Louise, this sounds a lot like the movie the quick and the dead.
Gene: Which came first, the movie or this story?
Uh, the movie.
So, is it like a rom-com, or…
Have you seen that movie, louise?
Only, like, the parts they showed on tv.
While you were asleep on the couch, when I watched the whole movie.
Anyway, of course the sheriffs would do it because, deep down, they knew it was the only way to prove who’s boss of this town.
No, I don’t think so.
She’s right.
What?
They got to do the bean blaster competition thingy to show who’s boss.
And sheriff Bob and sheriff Linda somehow both win, the end.
Dut, ba, dut-dut-dut-dut!
So, the contest began.
First up, married sheriff bob vs. Louise.
And please enjoy my tiny hat.
A baby gave it to me.
Just kidding, I had it made. By a baby.
You’re going down.
Uh, can I go against someone else?
Maybe someone, uh, less I-intimidating?
Maybe the lawyer?
Hey.
Nope.
Okay, I-I just…
My butt’s out, isn’t it?
It is.
Disgusting!
Well, that’s not fair.
Also, louise, why would my butt flap be open?
Wouldn’t it be closed?
Oh, they don’t invent closing butt flaps for another 50 years.
Everybody, just listen.
Mom, I didn’t get to the part where you shoot gene’s belt off
And his butt is hanging out.
Nice.
Why?! Why?! No!
(weakly): Ashes to ashes.
Butt to butt.
Wait. Did I die?
No, you were just being dramatic.
Got it. Continue.
How did I do, louise? Pretty good?
Get ready for me to, um, shoot you with…
Oh, you won.
So, not great.
Louise: Then it was time to find out who would face off with goldoeder in the final round.
And that’s when goldoeder decided to make it more interesting.
Let’s make it more interesting.
Now that we’re down to the real-deal head honchos around here,
Why don’t we switch to the real-deal bean.
Lima.
(gasping)
You can’t be serious.
But lima beans are huge. And they hurt like hell.
And they taste okay at best.
I mean, if you sauté them with a little butter…
Bob, shush.
Dad, shh.
Sorry.
And married sheriff linda said: I can’t believe you’re about to blast me with a lima bean.
Louise: And louise said: I can’t believe you’re about to
Blast me with a lima bean.
Just do the frickin’ chores.
No frickin’ way.
Aah! Why can’t you just do something when I ask you to?
I’m in charge and I know what’s best for you.
It’s like you don’t respect me at all, even though everything I do, I do it for you.
Okay, Bryan Adams.
Sorry. Not doing them.
Ugh! It’s so frustrating!
(sniffs) you know what? Forget it.
Forget everything, I don’t care. I don’t care what you do.
(sniffs)
Are you crying? During a quick draw competition?
No, I’m fine.
Just, I’m in charge and I’m fine. I’m fine.
Uh-oh. Uh, hey, everyone,
Uh, look at, uh, pepperoni the pony.
(clucks tongue)
So hot.
It’s not all about you, pepperoni.
(cries) It’s not…
Uh, do I… Win?
Is mom okay? I’m only asking ’cause she ran out of the room crying.
Maybe it’s part of her nightly beauty regimen that we just aren’t aware of.
If it works, it works.
I’m gonna, uh, go talk to her.
Or maybe I go?
Oh. Uh, okay.
So, anybody have any fun weekend plans?
No.
Okay.
Uh, mom?
Hi. I’m fine.
I just needed to fart, so I ran out here to fart.
And I’m-I’m not crying, even though it’s really cool for moms to get angry and frustrated and cry in front of their kids.
I’m sorry I made you not cry.
Now I feel like a jerk.
I just… It’s not easy having someone bigger than you telling you what to do all the time.
And then that thing at school,
Labonz taking my beautiful finger pop-pet.
You, uh, you caught me at a bad time.
I know, I know.
But I just had that phone call with grandma and her whole chores spiel got in my head.
So let’s call it all grandma’s fault.
No, we love grandma.
But, yes, sort of.
Also, I mean, one of our chores was to light grandpa’s cigars.
Like, in our mouths, so…
I can still taste it.
So, maybe she’s not mother of the year.
Well, now she sounds great.
It’s just, you know…
It’s been so much pressure trying to raise good kids. Good humans.
It can mess you up. And then I get mad at you guys,
But you’re just being kids.
It’s-it’s just… (sniffs)
You know, it’s just a lot.
Mostly ’cause of tina, right? And gene?
Come here, you.
You know, I’m glad you’re so spunky.
It’ll be good for you when you’re older.
Nobody’s gonna push my louise around.
You’ll be the toughest little cutie in prison. (grunts)
Thanks, mom.
And I’m still gonna try
To make you do chores.
Mmm, never.
What if I give you candy?
Deal.
Maybe some of those finger blasters?
Finger pop-pets.
The candy thing was my idea.
I’d clean the crap out of this place for some candy.
As usual, candy solves everything.
Now can we go back to mom and dad’s bed and finish the story? I need to know what happens to that intriguing piano player.
Does he ever play Coachella?
Oh, hurry it up already.
I need to go home and wash these miners
Before tomorrow. They’re filthy.
What the…
Yeah, we’re on the same side now.
Yeah, deal with it.
Yay!
Same sidesies!
Oh, whatever. I’ll just bean you both.
Could you stand just next to each other?
And-and also stand closer to me?
What is going on?
Oh, big g. When did you get here?
Just now.
I took a coach from the train station.
The driver was very rough with my bags, and his horses were way too loud.
Oh, sorry to hear that.
Well, everything’s fine, big g.
Just gonna get rid of all these naughty townspeople real quick and then I can take you on a fun tour. Fyi, the married sheriffs are not cool anymore.
Ech. Is nobody doing any chores around here?
I do not approve.
Well, guess what? That’s fine. You don’t have to approve of it.
Louise: Yeah. Agree to disapprove.
This is our town. These are our people.
And that tart, onion-y odor is our smell.
And sure, us sheriffs may not always do what we’re supposed to do, but we do what we need to do.
For the good of this town.
And I’m gonna be a better sheriff
If I listen to my gut, and not someone else’s gut who doesn’t even live here.
And right now, my gut is telling me back off, big g.
Aah!
Bob: Wait, there’s a canon?
And I ride it, somehow?
Linda: Yeah, a bean canon.
Bob: And it’s rolling on its own?
Linda: Well, that’s how some canons worked back then, I’m pretty sure.
Psst, hey.
Should we move them?
No, they look so sweet.
We can all fit, right?
Yep. Half my body is probably fine just floating.
(yawning): Wait, you forgot something.
Yeah.
Oh, right.
This is some good pepperoni.
♪ ah, pepperoni roamin’ the plains ♪
♪ yes, sir, he’s one handsome pony ♪
♪ one handsome pony ♪
♪ looks like he found some pepperoni ♪
♪ he’s super buff and super humble ♪
♪ the only thing hotter than his muscles are his morals ♪
♪ he’s got hard morals ♪
♪ go on and look at him flexing his pectorals ♪
♪ ah, come on, pepperoni ♪
♪ no sliced ham ♪
♪ or baloney ♪
♪ don’t want no ham or more baloney ♪
♪ sure hope he finds more pepperoni. ♪
