When George Michael is a rejected by a private school due to the family's reputation, Michael hires a publicist from his gym who he's been flirting with to change the public perspective of the Bluths. Meanwhile, Tobias is sent to Boston to reclaim his medical license.
Season 1's lowest-impact episode relies on cringe over density, underperforming its 59-joke setup.
Directed by Lee Shallat Chemel · Written by Courtney Lilly
WAR
122.2
Wins Above Replacement
“Public Relations” ranks #63 of 84 Arrested Development episodes on the Humor Index, scoring 93.0 — Elite. The episode packs 87 scored jokes at 3.3 per minute, averaging 7.5 on craft and 7.3 on impact, with Michael landing the most laughs. Every joke is ranked below with its individual craft and impact scores.
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Top Jokes
Lucille · Waitress: At Klimpy's, waitress asks 'Plate or platter?' and Lucille replies: 'I don't understand the question, and I won't respond to it.'
Buster · Jessie: Buster enthusiastically volunteers to help ('Right here! Ready to go. At your service. Get me out there!') and Jessie tells him to stay in because 'People find you odd and alienating.' He replies: 'I shall be neither seen nor heard. Watch me.'
Narrator · Buster: Buster so excelled at being 'neither seen nor heard' that he remained at the Milford School undetected for a full two semesters after he was supposed to graduate.
Gob · News Anchor: The press gets hold of Gob's story. Gob: 'I put him in a box. I didn't kill him, all right? And don't edit this for your broadcast so it looks like I'm screaming, "I killed Earl Milford."' News anchor: 'Startling confession, tonight at 11:00.'
Maeby: Maeby: 'That'd be amazing.' — responding to George Michael's 'It's like we're not even related.'
Maeby Dark/Subversive Reaction Beat ★ Rewatch All Jokes — 87 analyzed
Show all ↓ Hide ↑ Narrator · Headmaster: The Milford School credo: children should be 'neither seen nor heard' — followed immediately by the headmaster saying 'Woman.'
Michael · George Michael · Headmaster: Michael tells George Michael the next four years are about his future, then the headmaster reveals they now have a 'talking room' where students can talk to their heart's content, and George Michael's first words all day are 'Sounds like fun.'
Headmaster · Buster: 'Save it for the talk room.' The headmaster shushes Buster's enthusiasm mid-sentence during the flashback.
Michael · Headmaster · Narrator: Michael assures the headmaster his family is 'back on track and no longer in any trouble' — cut immediately to the newspaper headline about the Klimpy's brawl.
Lucille: 'Don't ever mention Klimpy's to me again.' / 'If I still had money, I'd buy a Klimpy's just to burn it to the ground.'
Lucille · Waitress: At Klimpy's, waitress asks 'Plate or platter?' and Lucille replies: 'I don't understand the question, and I won't respond to it.'
Lindsay: Lindsay tells the waitress at Klimpy's: 'I'd like my old life back.'
Lindsay Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Lucille: 'Everything I've said about you can be covered with makeup and a lie about a thyroid problem.'
Lucille Dark/Subversive Character Comedy Lucille: 'Good grief almighty! You think I'm enjoying my slide into poverty?' — Lucille in the middle of a food fight at Klimpy's.
Lucille Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Lucille: Lucille: 'Good grief almighty! You think I'm enjoying my slide into poverty?'
Lucille Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Narrator: 'Sorry, Lindsay. There goes your dessert.' — Narrator's deadpan as food is apparently thrown during the fight.
Narrator Deadpan/Understatement Dark/Subversive Callback Lucille: 'Oh, big deal. Buster's the only one who ever liked it.' — Lucille dismisses George Michael losing his chance at Milford.
Lucille Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Narrator · Buster: Buster so excelled at being 'neither seen nor heard' that he remained at the Milford School undetected for a full two semesters after he was supposed to graduate.
Lindsay: 'Michael, if this is a lecture on how we're all supposed to whatever and blah, blah, blah, well, you can save it 'cause we all know it by heart.'
Lindsay Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Lucille: Lucille is eating a raw onion like an apple at the family meeting. When asked 'Is this your onion?' she simply says 'Yes.'
Lucille Visual Gag Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Michael: 'It's a ball of foil for my son.' — Michael explains what's in the foil while packing George Michael's lunch.
Michael · Narrator: Michael tells Tobias 'I never really noticed' about Jessie being cute — but the narrator immediately reveals he'd been working up the nerve to talk to her at the gym for weeks.
Michael · Jessie: Michael's flirting technique: 'Race you to the top of the hill.' Jessie brings a picnic lunch; Michael races anyway and arrives out of breath just as she's set up the picnic.
Michael · Jessie: 'My relations are already a little too public. I'm Michael Bluth.' — Michael's pun in response to Jessie offering PR services.
Michael: Michael catches himself saying 'She's a little cutie pie' after claiming he never noticed Jessie was cute — escalating through 'cute,' 'she's cute,' 'she's a cutie,' 'cutie pie.'
Michael Character Comedy Escalation Callback Michael · Tobias: 'That's not an option. / 'Cause you're scared? / No, because of George Michael. He still hasn't gotten over losing his mother. I just want to get him through high school; then we'll deal with me.'
Tobias: 'So you didn't get any while you were in high school, and now you're not gonna get any while George Michael's in high school.'
Tobias Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Callback George Michael · Jessie · Michael · Lindsay: George Michael gets a job at the banana stand, but the family (including Jessie) think he means a 'real' job — 'like a plumber or something' — and are shocked.
George Sr.: George Sr. on the prison telelink: 'I've started a Torah study group. I'm very excited about it. Looks like I have some possible converts.'
Lucille: 'Who doesn't love the Jews?' — Lucille, enthusiastically endorsing George Sr.'s Torah group as good PR.
Lucille Dark/Subversive Character Comedy Tobias: Tobias mishears 'single' as 'straight' and then backpedals: 'She said single, correct? I thought l... I didn't quite hear that. The reception is bad.'
Tobias Character Comedy Misdirection ★ Rewatch Tobias: Tobias: 'There are very few intelligent, attractive and straight men in this town.' Then realizing: 'Well, that certainly leaves me out.'
Tobias Character Comedy Meta/Self-Referential ★ Rewatch George Sr.: George Sr. on the telelink quotes the Talmud — 'to the jackal as to an oxen' — then immediately asks 'Did it get a laugh?'
Jessie: Jessie reveals Michael has only had sex with 'like, four women' — as background information for why he's likable.
Jessie Character Comedy Dark/Subversive Jessie · Tobias: Jessie tells Lindsay: 'You're a medical doctor and you're living an absurd fantasy as an actor. It's time to get real.' Tobias's response: 'Wow. It's tough talk, but I like it. You're saying land a major film.' Jessie: 'I'm saying get your medical license back.'
Tobias · Michael: 'I truly believe that the universe wants me to be an actor and not a doctor. I'm just waiting for a sign.' / 'Here's your cash.' / 'Universal Shuttle picks you up at 8:00.' / 'Any sign, really.'
George Sr. · Narrator/Unknown: George Sr. on the telelink: 'Not wag our genitals at one another to make a point.' — followed by 'Thought provoking.'
Lucille: 'Hanukkah can be spelled so many ways. Oh, God!' — Lucille has a crisis over Hanukkah spelling during the PR strategy discussion.
Buster · Jessie: Buster enthusiastically volunteers to help ('Right here! Ready to go. At your service. Get me out there!') and Jessie tells him to stay in because 'People find you odd and alienating.' He replies: 'I shall be neither seen nor heard. Watch me.'
Narrator: 'You can always tell a Milford man.' — Narrator tags Buster's exit after the 'neither seen nor heard' moment.
Narrator Callback Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Callback Tobias: Tobias on the Universal Shuttle, complaining about how many stops it makes: 'Come on! We're stopping again? How many more stops are we gonna make? Honestly, I haven't even seen this part of Los Ang... Is that snow?' / 'Oh, my God.'
Tobias Character Comedy Escalation Callback Tobias · Carl Weathers: Tobias recognizes Carl Weathers on the shuttle: 'You are Carl Weathers, the actor. I went to San Francisco to attend your stage fighting workshop. But you never showed up.' Carl: 'I got bumped from that flight.' 'Hell, they'll give you $300 if you get bumped. It's this crazy loophole in the system that the wrong guy discovered.'
Carl Weathers: 'Guess where I won't be going.' — Carl Weathers, after revealing he got bumped intentionally from the Boston flight.
Carl Weathers: Carl Weathers after Tobias says he's waiting in the shuttle: 'Guess where I won't be going.' — implying Carl will stay on the shuttle to get bumped again
Carl Weathers · Tobias: Carl Weathers charges Tobias exactly $1,100 for acting classes — the precise amount Tobias has for his plane ticket. 'Check this out. $1,100 is exactly what I charge for acting classes.' / 'No, it isn't!' / 'Yeah.' / 'What are the chance... Universe, you've done it again.'
Tobias · Carl Weathers: Tobias: 'No, it isn't!' Carl: 'Yeah.' / Tobias: 'Universe, you've done it again.'
Gob: Gob at the nursing home: 'I'm gonna need a volunteer for my next illusion, the Aztec Tomb!' Old volunteer appears. Gob: 'Or box. Box is... fine.'
Gob Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Gob · Elderly Volunteer: Gob instructs the elderly volunteer how to do the panel trick: 'There's a panel. Just flip it around, curl up behind it, don't make any noise.' — and the volunteer apparently follows through.
Gob · Assistant: During the illusion, after asking 'Ancient lore has it the Aztec gods put a curse on any man who dare—' the assistant reveals: 'He's gone.' The old man has actually vanished.
Narrator · Buster: Narrator: 'Buster was also doing his share for the family.' — cut to shot of Buster, presumably just sitting somewhere doing nothing visible
Lindsay: At the bar, Lindsay does the Cloudmir Vodka promotion: 'Wow! This Cloudmir's making me think fuzzy. I have almost no judgment at all.' Then she orders two more.
Lindsay Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Michael · Jessie: The photographer takes a candid photo of Michael and Jessie as Jessie says 'Get one of Michael and me on a date.' Michael is shocked: 'A date? This is a date now?'
Michael · Jessie: Michael flirts by saying 'Can't it be a little bit of both?' about the date/business question, then asks 'How will I know which part of it is business?' Jessie teases him and Michael ends with 'Show me business again.'
George Michael · Maeby: George Michael tries to fix the TV: 'Oh, yeah, I tried that earlier. I think it's still hooked up to the prison.' 'So when those guys kept saying, "Hey, you, boy," that was me? I was the boy?'
George Michael · Maeby: Maeby tells George Michael that going to Milford means they won't be at the same high school. George Michael: 'Man, it just keeps getting worse.' Maeby: 'But he's my Dad. I don't want to disappoint him.' George Michael: 'Man. You and I are so different. It's like we're not even related.'
Maeby: Maeby: 'That'd be amazing.' — responding to George Michael's 'It's like we're not even related.'
Maeby Dark/Subversive Reaction Beat ★ Rewatch Michael · George Michael: Michael comes home late from his 'date' with Jessie and tells George Michael that Jessie 'booked Gob a gig at Earl Milford's nursing home.' George Michael: 'Oh.' Michael: 'She's kinda something, isn't she?' George Michael: 'Yeah, I guess.'
Michael · George Michael: Michael and George Michael both over-emphatically deny that Michael is dating Jessie: 'You're not dating her.' 'No, I am not dating her.' 'Absolutely not dating her.' 'Just you and me. The Bluth boys.' 'Bluth boys.'
Michael: Michael tells Jessie 'This might be moving a little bit too fast for him... for us. Me. Uh, for me.' — catching himself in real time.
Michael Character Comedy Reaction Beat Callback Jessie: Jessie fires back: 'So the two months on the bike, that was, what, for my health?'
Jessie Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Michael · Jessie: Jessie quits: 'Let's take two steps back and why don't you find yourself a new publicist.' Michael calls after her: 'Jessie.' She keeps walking. Michael: 'No. I was just saying your name as you walked away. I didn't...' Long pause. 'I have no follow-up.'
Gob · Michael: Gob calls Michael in crisis: 'I need her to spin something for me.' Michael: 'Well, that's too bad because I think she quit. What do you need her to spin?' Gob: 'Murder.'
Michael · Gob: Michael: 'Murder, huh? Who died?' Gob: 'My career.' Michael: 'I'm going to go home now.' Gob: 'I lost a guy.'
Narrator: 'You can always tell a Milford man.' — Second use, after Gob reveals Earl Milford was the man in the box.
Narrator Callback Running Gag ★ Rewatch Callback Tobias: Tobias wonders aloud whether he's cut out to be 'a De Niro or a Regis or a Pinkett-Smith or what have you.'
Tobias Character Comedy Absurdist Carl Weathers · Tobias: Tobias's 'acting class' with Carl Weathers: 'I don't know what your police captain told you about me, but I'm a different breed of cop. I'm from the streets, and I'm the last cop you're ever gonna wanna mess with in a darkened alley.' Tobias: 'Dark alley. And l...'
Carl Weathers: Carl Weathers: 'Dreams are worth fighting for. Now, are you gonna be a fighter, or are you gonna be a doctor?' — delivered as if being a doctor is a dishonorable option.
Carl Weathers · Tobias: Tobias reveals his wife works at a restaurant. Carl immediately pivots: 'Do they get a shift meal or do they just pay half-price on select menu items?' — leading them to go to the restaurant immediately.
Gob · News Anchor: The press gets hold of Gob's story. Gob: 'I put him in a box. I didn't kill him, all right? And don't edit this for your broadcast so it looks like I'm screaming, "I killed Earl Milford."' News anchor: 'Startling confession, tonight at 11:00.'
Earl Milford: Earl Milford emerges from the equipment: 'Don't send me back. They abuse us. It's not pleasant.'
Gob · Earl Milford: Gob tells Earl he needs to return him to clear his name. Earl: 'You'll have a new name: Hero.' Gob considers it: 'Hero.' Pause. 'That could work for me.'
Gob: Gob: 'Although he was spectacularly quiet in there.' — about Earl Milford hiding in the Aztec Tomb for an extended period.
Gob Callback Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Callback Jessie · George Michael: Jessie visits George Michael at the banana stand and blames him for his father's unhappiness: 'Daddy lost his shot at happy, and it's all your fault, Opie.'
Narrator · Jessie: The narrator: 'Jessie had gone too far, and she had best watch her mouth.' — Then immediately: 'Michael's about to become the most unlikable man in town. Check the papers.'
George Michael: George Michael: 'She kind of reminds me of my mother.' — about Jessie after she's emotionally abused him.
Lindsay · Tobias · Carl Weathers · Random Man: At Rud, a man offers Lindsay $2,000 to touch him. Lindsay is shocked — 'Oh, my God. My husband.' The man is with Tobias.
Carl Weathers: 'I buy all my cars at police auction.' Carl Weathers delivers this as a life lesson he's teaching Tobias.
Carl Weathers: Carl Weathers: 'Give me a bourbon. Any room on that tab for me to jump on?' — to Lindsay, after the revelation that she's his acting student's wife.
Michael · Lucille: Michael arrives at Jessie's, ready to recommit, saying 'I really want to make this work' — but is cut off by Lucille storming in: 'Get away from my son!'
Michael: Michael: 'Hey, Mom. Kind of on a date here.'
Michael Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Callback Lindsay · Michael · Jessie · Lucille: The article Jessie planted: 'Lindsay's a combative, entitled princess.' Lindsay reads it and Michael confronts Jessie. The Bluth family food fight at Rud begins.
Michael · Jessie · Lindsay · Lucille: Michael confronts Jessie about talking to George Michael: 'You said that to my son?' / Jessie: 'Yeah.' / Michael: 'You're on your own. Ladies?' — and the food fight begins.
Lucille · Lindsay · Jessie: Food fight breaks out at Rud. 'Food fight!' 'What are you doing?' 'Oh, my face!' 'I'm gonna get you guys! Stop!'
News Reporter: News report: 'The press is having a love affair with hating the Bluth family, and they were the center of another brawl this evening. I'm looking at $50,000 worth of medical bills here.'
Headmaster · Michael · George Michael: The Milford School headmaster tells Michael: 'It looks like you won't be getting into this school. Are you disappointed?' Michael turns to George Michael: 'Well, are you disappointed?'
George Michael · Michael: George Michael: 'I didn't want to go to that school, and Jessie's a psycho.' Michael: 'That could've saved us a little bit of time.'
George Michael · Michael: George Michael tells Michael it's fine if he wants to date. Michael: 'Yeah? Thanks, buddy.' George Michael: ''Cause you know, I mean, four women, that is kind of sad.' Michael: 'All right. Thank you.'
Michael: Michael: 'That could've saved us a little bit of time.'
Michael Deadpan/Understatement Reaction Beat George Michael · Michael: George Michael: 'But, Dad, if you ever want to date anyone else, that's fine with me.' Michael: 'Yeah? Thanks, buddy.' George Michael: ''Cause you know, I mean, four women, that is kind of sad.' Michael: 'All right. Thank you.'
George Michael · Michael: George Michael: 'I know you got married in college, but that was your sophomore year. You had your whole freshman year to...' Michael: 'That's enough honesty for now. Thank you. Good night.' George Michael: 'There must have been girls at parties.'
Gob · Unknown: On the next Arrested Development: Gob holds a press conference: 'And, now, prepare to call me "hero."' The old man is apparently still asleep in the equipment box: 'He's resting, so... Oh.'
Gob Unknown Callback Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Callback Buster: Buster moves to the kitchen. Tag scene with Buster silently relocating.
Buster Callback Visual Gag ★ Rewatch Callback Top Episodes — Arrested Development
