Michael is tired of his father always having Gob compete with him, so Michael gets Gob his own banana stand franchise, only to find that Gob has set it up 20 feet from the old one. After the two compete, they decide to teach their father an elaborate lesson, and Buster refuses to use his handicap to scare kids. Meanwhile, Maeby uses Lucille's surgery in a horror film.
Three-thread callback structure sustains 81.8 score despite missing standout moments.
Directed by Peter Lauer · Written by Mitchell Hurwitz, Chuck Tatham
WAR
159.6
Wins Above Replacement
“Making A Stand” ranks #4 of 84 Arrested Development episodes on the Humor Index, scoring 100.0 — Elite. The episode packs 84 scored jokes at 3.1 per minute, averaging 8.0 on craft and 7.8 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: If I didn't have a live dove in my pants right now, I would leap across this table and... you know what? Forget it.
Gob Character Comedy Absurdist Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Gob: You don't want a hungry dove down your pants. That's how Tony Wonder lost a nut.
Gob Character Comedy Dark/Subversive Absurdist ★ Rewatch Callback Michael · George Sr. · J. Walter Weatherman · Gob: This is all fake. These guys are painters! / I'll kill you! / Oh, God, my arm! / Dad, you just shot off this... this guy's arm.
Lucille · Maeby · Mort Myers: I'm thirsty... / Gangee. / We should start production on Gangee 2. / Well, I know she wanted a skin peel.
Narrator · Maeby · Lucille: That night, Maeby, displaced by Buster, heard a noise. / Hello? George Michael? / I'm thirsty. / And Maeby knew she had found her blood-sucking creature.
All Jokes — 84 analyzed
Show all ↓ Hide ↑ Gob · Michael: Is it my turn to speak yet? I've got a good one. / We're gonna wait till after lunch for the tricks. / That's not a trick, Michael. It's a business opportunity.
Gob: Okay, you can turn the music off. I already shot my wad. Off. No, that's tape.
Gob Character Comedy Physical/Slapstick ★ Rewatch Gob: I have got a quick way for us to literally be showered with money. That's where the penny thing with the...
Gob Character Comedy Absurdist Gob · Michael: Anyway, it involves us making some money with our Mexican friends from Colombia. / I think they're called Colombians. / Oh, I forgot, we're being politically correct now.
George Sr. · Michael: Translation: Wish I'd thought of that. / Nice translating, Dad.
Gob: 'A Colombian cartel that won't kidnap and kill you.' / I underlined 'won't,' 'cause it makes the competition look like...
Gob Dark/Subversive Character Comedy Absurdist Gob · Michael · George Sr.: It's not stupid. You're stupid. / Nice pout, Dad.
Gob: If I didn't have a live dove in my pants right now, I would leap across this table and... you know what? Forget it.
Gob Character Comedy Absurdist Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Narrator · George Sr. · Michael: He's calling you a liar. I don't want your cards, Michael! / He believed it created a competitive spirit... He also believed footage of the tussles would be a big hit in the burgeoning home video market.
Narrator: Boyfights 2, A Boyfights Cookout, and Backseat Boyfights: The Trip to Uncle Jack's 70th.
Narrator Dark/Subversive Escalation Absurdist ★ Rewatch Callback Lindsay · Michael: How do you think I feel? You weren't even in the tapes. / Uh, no, I was talking about my marriage.
Lindsay · Bob Loblaw: Why won't you (bleep) me?! / Look, I'm not blind. You're an attractive woman, and you've been dressing like a common whore. Well, I've been trying.
Bob Loblaw · Lindsay: Well, our copy boy's very striking, but he often has toner on his fingers. / I meant another lawyer.
Lindsay · Michael: ...plus fit an eyebrow pluck in there all before the weekend. / Perhaps you can talk to Maeby while you're getting your eyebrows plucked. It'll look like your eyes are watering 'cause you're sad.
Lucille · Michael: Que? / What's Spanish for 'I know you speak English'?
Michael · Lucille: Mom, if you're gonna speak to these guys like this, you might want to sleep with one eye open. / Actually, I'll be sleeping at your place.
Michael · George Sr.: I see, the apartment's not the only thing getting a face-lift. / Hope you kept your punch card, you're about due for a free one.
Michael · Narrator: You guys are both gonna be sleeping with your eyes open. / Mom, however, will not have a choice.
Michael Narrator Dark/Subversive Setup/Punchline Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Callback George Sr.: That ship sailed 35 years ago.
George Sr. Deadpan/Understatement Dark/Subversive Character Comedy George Sr. · Painters: I didn't do it with Buster and look how he turned out. He's Buster. / Bebe Buster. Yo quiero leche, yo quiero leche del madre. Even though I'm so old.
Narrator · Buster: The job was at an Iraqi-owned toy store that was hoping to deter shoplifting. / [visual: Buster with a hook hand standing by a store entrance] / They only wanted me because I had one hand. And I won't do it!
Store Employee: Okay, I'll just take off this cheap fake, huh? And we're going to put on this sign. Beautiful. You like?
Buster: I stole the sign. Of course, I left my hand there, also.
Buster Dark/Subversive Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Narrator: But FAO al-Jabaaly Muhammed a-Abat wasn't the only one having trouble scaring kids. So was Hollywood's third youngest movie studio executive, Maeby Funke.
Narrator Deadpan/Understatement Character Comedy Mort Myers: That's a bloodsucker? It looks like Alf. You got a week to fix it.
Gob: You don't want a hungry dove down your pants. That's how Tony Wonder lost a nut.
Gob Character Comedy Dark/Subversive Absurdist ★ Rewatch Callback Gob: I know that I don't know about this housing stuff, but I've got this Christian girlfriend now, and she's trying to get me to be a better man and reconnect with my son. And I'm trying to get her to renounce God and (bleep) me.
Gob Character Comedy Setup/Punchline Irony/Sarcasm Michael: Well, as always, Gob, a mixed bag there, but the middle part sounded pretty admirable for a second.
Michael Deadpan/Understatement Character Comedy Gob: If you feel something moving down there, it's just the bird. I know it.
Gob Character Comedy Absurdist Awkward Silence ★ Rewatch Callback George Michael · Narrator: That's gonna be difficult. Plus, they have a very aggressive slogan. [visual: Gob's banana stand sign visible 20 feet from the Bluth stand]
Gob · Michael: Did you know that more frozen bananas are sold here on this boardwalk than anywhere in the O.C.? / Don't call it that.
Gob: You're just scared of a little competish.
Gob Character Comedy Wordplay/Pun Michael · George Michael · Gob: There's no recipe, you just freeze a banana, then you stick it in the... / Don't tell them! Stick it in the what?!
Michael · George Michael: When we do, we'll have the last laugh. / We'll be the laughingstock of the boardwalk.
Tobias · Lindsay: Only the best-looking and best educated lawyer in the whole O.C. / Don't call it that.
Tobias: You want me to be explicit? [Tobias misinterprets legal language about explicit promises as an invitation for something sexual]
Tobias Character Comedy Misdirection Wordplay/Pun Buster · Michael: There she is. / She wants to know where you want to put her. / She can take my room. / She wants to know if I can sleep there, too. She said that's very important to her.
Buster: You better not lock it! I'll kick it in! / Oh, by the way, doctor said no kissing her on the face for one week. / I was like, 'Make it two weeks! See if I care!'
Buster Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Cringe/Discomfort Michael · Buster · J. Walter Weatherman: Got a new hand? / Oh, yeah, I'm trying it out. Guess who I ran into at the prosthetics shop while I was waiting for Mother. / Sorry, no refunds. And that's why you don't take your foot out of its wrapper.
J. Walter Weatherman · Buster: You one of George Bluth's kids? Hey... I guess you'll be scaring children yourself now. / As a matter of fact, I won't. If anything, it strengthened my resolve to be more than just a one-armed man.
Buster: Even if it means me never taking a job again.
Buster Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Narrator: A pulse makes him worth it.
Narrator Dark/Subversive Deadpan/Understatement Narrator · Maeby · Lucille: That night, Maeby, displaced by Buster, heard a noise. / Hello? George Michael? / I'm thirsty. / And Maeby knew she had found her blood-sucking creature.
Michael · George Michael: How you doing there, Champ? / Is my name 'Champ'? / It's so hot...
Gob: Attention, everyone! Why go to a banana stand when we can make your banana stand? I give you Barbara and Dee!
Gob Character Comedy Wordplay/Pun Setup/Punchline Gob: Don't worry, these young beauties have been nowhere near the bananas.
Gob Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm George Michael · Michael: Dad, are they strippers? / If I know your uncle, they're at least strippers.
Narrator: And they did. But it was less entertaining than you might imagine — no matter what music was put under it. / It was kind of funny to 'Yellow Submarine,' but who could afford it?
Narrator Meta/Self-Referential Deadpan/Understatement Absurdist ★ Rewatch Narrator: So here's what happened at the end. / [scene showing the escalated absurdity]
Narrator Meta/Self-Referential Deadpan/Understatement Callback Michael: A Hefty bagful of pesos.
Michael Setup/Punchline Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Michael · Activist: 'The only scary thing about a one-arm man trying to scare someone is the fact...' / '...that he feels that his one arm is good for nothing but trying to scare somebody.' / It's upside down. / Well, let's see you try to put a button on with this.
Michael · Lucille: What is more pathetic than grown men being scared of their father? / I'm thirsty.
Michael Lucille Callback Setup/Punchline Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Michael: There's an off chance they might just want to take you, leave the ankle. But... anyhow.
Michael Dark/Subversive Deadpan/Understatement Character Comedy Michael · Painter · Michael: Maybe pose as Colombians? / But we are Guatemalan. Won't he know the difference? / I think anything south of San Diego will be just fine.
Painter · Rolando: Rolando was in The Groundlings. / Just classes.
Painter: Is it going to be unscripted like Curb?
Painter Meta/Self-Referential Character Comedy George Sr.: It's got to be a secret, okay? Between a dad and his... his favorite son.
Gob · George Sr.: Gob Bluth doesn't cave. / Yeah, you just did for me. / Well, you asked me to, so I thought... / Go. Go. Go. It's fine.
Treat (Lawyer) · Tobias: Now, my client has not pursued sex outside of this marriage. / Nor in it.
Lindsay · Lawyer · Bob Loblaw: I have plans with a friend. / A man? What's his name, please? / Don't answer that. I withdraw the question. / Why don't we stop for the day... so Mrs. Funke can get to her date with her mysterious Mister... Blah-Blah-Blah. At 8:30, unless you want to sit at the bar.
Tobias: I feel like I'm making a friend in you. So, I was wondering if maybe tonight you just want to, uh... take in a movie, or a shvitz... or just stay in and nest.
Tobias Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Irony/Sarcasm Bob Loblaw · Tobias: Actually, I was going to stay in my office tonight and work on my law blog. / Of course — the 'Bob Loblaw Law Blog.' / Wow. You, sir, are a mouthful!
Narrator: While Tobias was trying to get his mouth around Bob Loblaw...
Narrator Wordplay/Pun Meta/Self-Referential Character Comedy Callback Mort Myers · Maeby: Ah! Oh, it's terrifying! / Who did that for you, Industrial Light and Magic? / Kopelson Plastic and Silicon. / Did he do Land of the Dead?
George Sr.: Oh, a blanket, who thought of that? That is very nice.
George Sr. Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Deadpan/Understatement George Sr. · Painter · George Sr.: What about my ankle monitor? / We have an ankle monitor deactivator. / Oh, good. See? I've been meaning to get one of those.
George Sr. · Narrator: I'm not going to resist you guys, because, you know, I don't want you to beat me. / But the mistreated painters were actually looking forward to that part.
George Sr.: Oh, I forgot my iPod.
Michael · Gob: CD... CD one! CD one! Track two! Track two! Put the hostage here by the ottoman! Get it out of here! What's it doing in here?! Ottoman out!
George Sr. · Rolando: Where am I? / Colombia, where do you think? And you just missed the last train that will come through the jungle for three days.
George Sr.: He's good. He was a Groundling.
George Sr. Character Comedy Callback Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch Callback George Sr.: He's good. He was a Groundling.
George Sr. Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch Callback Rolando · George Sr. · Painters: You have betrayed us, we will make you pay. And then we will go back for your sons. / Oh, my sons? No. / They, too, will suffer for your terrible decisions. / And you should really pay your workers what they deserve. Not make them have to buy their own supplies. Not just the painting, the sanding, too. / Yeah, and the taping is very time-consuming.
Painter · Another Painter: And you should really pay your workers what they deserve. Not make them have to buy their own supplies. Not just the painting, the sanding, too. / Yeah, and the taping is very time-consuming.
Michael · George Sr. · J. Walter Weatherman · Gob: This is all fake. These guys are painters! / I'll kill you! / Oh, God, my arm! / Dad, you just shot off this... this guy's arm.
George Sr. · Michael · Gob: Now who's the stupid one now? / Thank you, Gob. / 'Gob?' You told him? I thought we were a team.
Gob · George Sr. · Michael: It's not fun feeling stupid, is it? / You son of a... / Wait a minute, I have to get my camera.
Michael · George Sr. · Gob: Cheat out. / I will kill you! / You're going out of frame.
George Sr. · J. Walter Weatherman: Wait a minute, I have to get my camera. / What is all this? What's going on? / Cheat out. / I will kill you! / You're going out of frame.
Narrator · Gob · Michael · George Sr.: And that's why you don't pit Gob and me against each other. / Yes! Yeah! / You set me up. / That's right! / No more 'Boyfights.' / J. Walter Weatherman was in on it, too? / Right from the very start.
Michael: And that's why you don't pit Gob and me against each other.
Michael Running Gag Callback ★ Rewatch Callback Police · Michael · Narrator: Freeze! Drop the gun. / We're just trying to teach this guy a lesson. / Drop the gun! / Oh, my God! Buster's good hand just... came... flying off.
Narrator: And that's why you don't use a one-armed person to scare someone.
Narrator Callback Dark/Subversive Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Lucille · Maeby · Mort Myers: I'm thirsty... / Gangee. / We should start production on Gangee 2. / Well, I know she wanted a skin peel.
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