Michael takes Maeby to work with him on Take Your Daughter to Work Day. After being slighted by Michael, Tobias, George-Michael and Gob all go to the mall to prove that they are just manly. Oscar takes Lucille and Buster to Annyong's soccer game.
Escalating absurdity reaches fever pitch: 74 jokes in 27 minutes fuels Season 1's tightest finale.
Directed by Lee Shallat Chemel · Written by Mitchell Hurwitz, Richard A. Rosenstock
WAR
118.5
Wins Above Replacement
“Not Without My Daughter” ranks #45 of 84 Arrested Development episodes on the Humor Index, scoring 94.8 — Elite. The episode packs 79 scored jokes at 2.9 per minute, averaging 7.5 on craft and 7.5 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
Gob: Gob: 'Say what you will about America... 13 bucks still gets you a hell of a lot of mice.'
Gob Absurdist Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Gob · Michael: Gob: 'If you give someone permission to use a tissue, you can't be upset if they blow their nose. Right? I mean, right?'
Michael: Michael: 'Only two of those words describe Mom, so I know you're lying to me.'
Michael Setup/Punchline Character Comedy ★ Rewatch George Michael · Gob: George Michael: 'Gob, are we shoplifting?' / Gob: 'MICE!'
Gob: 'Wow. I guess we didn't need the mice.'
Gob Deadpan/Understatement Character Comedy Callback All Jokes — 79 analyzed
Show all ↓ Hide ↑ George Michael · Narrator: George Michael's 'I'm your girl' joke on Bring Your Daughter to Work Day
George Michael: 'They're out of sanitary napkins in the ladies' washroom' — George Michael, playing along with the daughter bit
George Michael: 'Pretty soon I'm going to have to start wearing a bra. Right, Dad?'
Michael: Michael: 'I cannot kill this joke.'
Michael Deadpan/Understatement Character Comedy Callback Maeby · Tobias · Therapy Patient: Maeby completes Tobias's therapy patient's sentence: '...HOMOSEXUAL.'
Lucille: Lucille: 'She's right though. You probably are a homosexual.'
Lucille Deadpan/Understatement Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Gob · Narrator: Gob's magic show was filmed for 'Girls with Low Self-Esteem'
Tobias: 'Not really. Kids love boundaries.' — Tobias's post-hoc rationalization after Maeby obeys Michael
Tobias Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Gob · Narrator · Maeby: The tape shows Gob's magic act failing — 'The only thing this guy could make fly away was the crowd.' DOUCHE CHILL.
Gob · Narrator: Gob: 'It's not like they used the part where I made the yacht disappear.' / Narrator: 'Sunk the yacht. Blew it up, sunk it.'
Gob Narrator Irony/Sarcasm Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Callback Gob · Michael: Gob: 'If you give someone permission to use a tissue, you can't be upset if they blow their nose. Right? I mean, right?'
Lindsay · Michael: Lindsay's 'hand-me-down from Mom' with price tag still on it
Michael: Michael: 'Only two of those words describe Mom, so I know you're lying to me.'
Michael Setup/Punchline Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Michael · Lindsay: Michael: 'Unless you're stealing or working, I'm pretty sure it is.' (re: money for clothes)
Lindsay · Narrator: Narrator reveals Lindsay applied for a job — shown in flashback with 'Can I have a job application please?' — but was 'relieved when Michael gave her the out'
Gob · Lindsay: Gob: 'What'd you use for misdirection?' / Lindsay: 'My ass.' / Gob: 'My ass. You're lying.' / Lindsay: 'No, I'm not.'
Lindsay: Lindsay: 'It was shoplifting, and I'm white. I think I'm going to be okay.'
Lindsay Dark/Subversive Character Comedy Maeby: Maeby: 'Shoplifting? Cool. Can you take me?'
Maeby Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Buster · George Michael: Buster carrying a purse, asking if it goes with his outfit — 'DOUCHE CHILL' reaction from George Michael
Michael: 'Okay, so you can run faster than me. But you can't make me work.'
Michael Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Michael: 'See that? Who knew you were such a good little climber?' — Michael complimenting Maeby for climbing to escape him
Michael Irony/Sarcasm Character Comedy Annyong · Michael · Narrator: Annyong appears as Lucille's date to the soccer game and says 'She don't want other soccer moms think that she a single mother. She old school. I liked it better when he just said Annyong.'
Annyong · Buster: Annyong: 'Go, fatty.' to Buster
Buster · Lucille: Buster: 'No, he's not! I came out of you! He didn't!'
Michael · Narrator: Michael: 'Damn it! Can't you just find somebody else, please, to look like your husband?' / Narrator: 'In fact, there was someone else who looked like Lucille's husband...'
Narrator · George Michael · Tobias · Buster: Narrator: 'And back at the model home, three of the Bluth men struggled with their manliness.'
George Michael: George Michael: 'I know I'm a man. It's his insecurity, not mine.' — talking head about the daughter joke
Tobias: Tobias: 'I mean, if I have to have a job to impress my daughter. If she needs something that butch.'
Tobias Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Michael · Maeby: Michael and Maeby's honesty bet: 'I would like to see if you could go one day without telling a lie. Just one whole day without being like your mom.'
Maeby: Maeby: 'Good night.' — after Michael offers his respect as a reward for honesty
Maeby Deadpan/Understatement Reaction Beat Michael · Maeby: Maeby: 'Fine. I'll do it if you do it.' / Michael: 'That-a-girl. This is gonna be fun. I win.'
Officer Taylor · Michael: Detective: '...the disappearance of Kitty Sanchez. Apparently you're the last person to see her... alive. Or around town or whatever.'
Michael: Michael: 'She was my secretary, but she left. Or I-I fired her.' — immediately undercutting his own alibi
Michael Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch Michael: Michael: 'I certainly didn't... didn't kill her and drop her in a back bay. Boy, I hope that's not what happened to her. I'm sure it isn't.'
Officer Taylor: Detective immediately radios: 'Please send Officer Davis and little Hanna to the back bay.'
Maeby: Maeby: 'So you killed Kitty, huh?'
Maeby Deadpan/Understatement Character Comedy Michael · Narrator: 'And apparently a fun one.' / 'Let's go see what's going on in the back room.' / Narrator: 'Were those the last words Kitty ever heard?'
Office Worker · Michael · George Michael: Someone at the office: 'I think that's her right behind you there.' — pointing to Kitty alive on TV; George Michael: 'And that's the boat that Uncle Gob blew up.'
Tobias: Tobias at mall security interview: 'I do know stage combat if the partner is willing and a bit more petite than I.'
Tobias Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Security Manager · Tobias: Security manager: 'It's gonna be a couple of days before we can get you a gun license, so you'll have to use mine.'
Gob · George Michael: Gob to George Michael re: awkward around girls: 'What do you mean? Like if there were three of us and I didn't know where to start?'
Gob: Gob: 'Not a lot of complaints, if you know what I mean. At least not from the girl.'
Gob Character Comedy Dark/Subversive Callback Gob · Narrator: Gob: 'You're saying I should just be myself?' — mishearing George Michael's attempts to change subject / 'And he had to drive her home. So I think I did pretty good.'
Gob · Pet Store Employee: Gob asking the pet store: 'How many mice will $13 buy?'
George Sr. · Buster: George Sr. to Buster: 'You were just a turd out there, you know? You couldn't kick and you couldn't run. You know, you were just a-a turd.'
Buster: Buster: 'Prison has destroyed the way you talk.'
Buster Deadpan/Understatement Character Comedy Buster · George Sr. · Prison Guard: Buster mentions Oscar at the soccer game; George Sr.: 'Whoa, whoa, whoa — Oscar? My brother Oscar? Oscar's been coming around?' / Guard: 'NO TOUCHING! No touching. No touching.'
George Sr. · Prison Guard · Buster: 'NO TOUCHING!' / 'Oh!' — George Sr. attempts handshake, gets shocked by the guard
Prison Guard: Prison guard/warden: 'Her self-esteem is through the roof.' — after Buster's daughter apparently does something at the prison
Prison Guard Deadpan/Understatement Absurdist ★ Rewatch Callback Michael · Maeby · Detective: Michael arrives at police station with Maeby; detective: 'I didn't know you had a daughter.' Michael: 'I don't.' Maeby: 'I thought you wanted me to call you Daddy?'
Barry: Barry: 'Are you nuts? Not without a better lawyer.' — re: polygraph
Barry Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Maeby: Maeby watches the Gob spring break tape and gets 'douche chills' herself — 'Why do I keep getting these bruises?' (a third deployment of 'douche chill')
Maeby Running Gag Callback Callback Barry · Michael · Maeby: Barry: 'I do think that we should lie.' / Michael: 'We don't lie in this family.' Maeby's soda errand used to avoid her hearing Michael lie
Gob: Gob: 'Say what you will about America... 13 bucks still gets you a hell of a lot of mice.'
Gob Absurdist Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Gob: 'We'll see who the sleight-of-hand artist is in this family.' — Gob, preparing to shoplift
Gob Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Callback George Michael · Gob: George Michael: 'Gob, are we shoplifting?' / Gob: 'MICE!'
Lindsay · Michael: Michael on the phone as chaos erupts: 'Michael, I'm not as bad an influence as you think I am.' / Michael: 'Well, you're not a great one.'
Lindsay: Lindsay: 'That's what I am, Michael. I'm a shoplifter! I've got a whole bag of clothes I shoplifted!'
Lindsay Character Comedy Escalation Callback Tobias · Narrator: Tobias leaps into action as security guard — 'a surprisingly catlike one'
Gob: 'Wow. I guess we didn't need the mice.'
Gob Deadpan/Understatement Character Comedy Callback Lucille · Oscar: Lucille to Oscar: 'What are they gonna take, the one can of Comet you've got in there?' / Oscar: 'Oh, your tongue is as sharp as your body is still taut.'
Lucille · Oscar: Lucille catching Oscar smoking pot at a children's soccer game: 'Oscar, this is a children's soccer game, not Woodstock.'
Buster · Oscar: Buster discovers Oscar getting high in his camper — reaction shot
Buster: Buster: 'You do not belong here. My mother's been spoken for. You know, I may never have played organized sports, but I AM A MAN.'
Buster Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Callback Buster: Buster: 'No, she's happy. She's just mean all the time.'
Buster Deadpan/Understatement Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Buster: Buster tries to grab the check and pay for Oscar: 'Let me get you. I'm a man. Move.'
Buster Character Comedy Escalation Callback Lindsay: Lindsay: 'I wasn't shoplifting, you twit. Yes, thanks to me. No. I WORK here. At least I used to. They fired me because they thought I was helping this idiot shoplift. Also, they said I wasn't a very good salesgirl.'
Lindsay Character Comedy Escalation ★ Rewatch Callback Gob: Gob: 'I knew it! I knew you couldn't pull it off. There's only one magician in this family and that is me. And you got caught by a 13-year-old girl.'
Gob Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Callback George Michael: George Michael: 'It's not like you were there to spend any time with me, Dad. Because I'm not daughter enough for you.'
Michael: Michael: 'It's just you're getting a little too manly for Bring Your Daughter to Work Day.'
Michael Character Comedy Callback Callback Michael · Narrator: 'I've put a bounty on my own head.'
Maeby: Maeby lies her way into the detective's office: 'No, it's okay. I'm Detective Fellows's daughter.'
Maeby Irony/Sarcasm Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Maeby: Maeby: 'I said there's a tape of Kitty getting on the boat and that you guys blew it up. I told them the truth, like you told me.'
Maeby Irony/Sarcasm Callback ★ Rewatch Callback Maeby: Maeby: 'I'd save your money. Kitty's got a lot of evidence and she thinks you tried to kill her. So you're probably going to need a better attorney.'
Maeby Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Callback Barry: Barry: 'Lo siento.' — after Maeby calls out that they need a better attorney
Barry Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Michael: Michael: 'I hate Bring Your Daughter to Work Day.'
Michael Callback Deadpan/Understatement Callback Tobias · Narrator: On the next AD: Tobias loses his security job trying to solve the store's mice problem.
Lindsay · Narrator: On the next AD: Lindsay 'goes with her initial instinct' — shown applying for another job application
Annyong · Buster: On the next AD: 'Where is everybody?' / 'HEADS UP, FATTY!' — Annyong kicks ball at Buster
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