Buster struggles to make it on his own and break away from his overbearing mother.
Revised-season cringe finally clicks: 61 jokes land at franchise-high discomfort density.
Directed by Mitchell Hurwitz, Troy Miller · Written by Mitchell Hurwitz, Jim Vallely
WAR
72.3
Wins Above Replacement
“Off The Hook” ranks #46 of 84 Arrested Development episodes on the Humor Index, scoring 81.1 — Elite. The episode packs 61 scored jokes at 1.6 per minute, averaging 7.4 on craft and 7.0 on impact, with Buster landing the most laughs. Every joke is ranked below with its individual craft and impact scores.
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Top Jokes
Buster: I'm not a mother boy anymore. I'm a mother man.
Buster Character Comedy Wordplay/Pun Callback Buster: Innocent people?! You mean I've been hurting guilty people?!
Buster Character Comedy Dark/Subversive Army officer: He deserves a big hand for that and we gave him one
Narrator: But his biggest fear wasn't confronting a wet, loose seal; it was losing one
Narrator Wordplay/Pun Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Lucille · Buster: Hamster or turtle? No, Mother. Hamsters are gross. It's a female. Human. Female human. Whole thing
All Jokes — 61 analyzed
Show all ↓ Hide ↑ Narrator: It was Tres de Cinco, or the day before Cinco de Cuatro
Buster: In case you wanted to make confetti out of something other than the pictures that they sell of the chubby Linda Ronstadt
Buster Observational Character Comedy Narrator: As you'll see, he admits it plenty
Narrator Meta/Self-Referential Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch Narrator: But his biggest fear wasn't confronting a wet, loose seal; it was losing one
Narrator Wordplay/Pun Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Buster: Wait! She doesn't have her makeup! I have her lipstick! Mother!
Buster Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Buster: Mother is going to come waltzing through that door any day now, and she is going to be screaming, 'Make sure you frisk that girl before...'
Buster Character Comedy Observational Buster · Lupe: That's my perfume. Mm, good. Okay, good. She wouldn't wear that
Buster: ♪ The vodka goes in, you pour it in the other ♪ ♪ The olive on top and then you call your... ♪ ♪ Mother. ♪
Buster Character Comedy Observational Buster: Except for the hair. You have reduced. Well, you're not that skinny. Welcome home, chubs. Oh, you will kill me for that. And I don't want that blood on my hands
Buster Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Narrator: To an uninformed observer, it looked a little like that Vince Vaughn movie Psycho
Narrator Meta/Self-Referential Wordplay/Pun ★ Rewatch Buster: This pasta's way overcooked, Buster! Well, you didn't leave me the simplest recipe, Mother
Buster Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Buster: Chinchilla! The one you got after Dad had the affair with the chubby intern from Riverside
Buster Character Comedy Dark/Subversive Lucille: Right to the smokes, huh? Give me a minute. Let me catch my breath
Lucille Irony/Sarcasm Character Comedy Lawyer: You've managed to combine people's fear of homosexuals and eels into one alibi
Lawyer Absurdist Observational ★ Rewatch Callback Lucille · Buster: Half your testicle was hanging out of that thing. Good! I'm glad they saw it
Lucille: And keep your ball joke to yourself, Andrew Dice Clay
Lucille Character Comedy Observational Lucille · Buster: You're a hot mess! You're a hot mess!
Lucille 2: Hello to you, too, 2
Lucille 2: It's 5:00 in the afternoon. It's 5:00 a.m. somewhere
Narrator: Well, that was a freebie
Narrator Meta/Self-Referential Deadpan/Understatement Buster: I was making two ban... Late last night, it was drizzling rain! I'm a key witness
Buster Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Buster: The fish is frozen here! It's frozen! Do you really want to spend $30 on frozen fish?
Buster Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Buster: Like the saltless pie?
Buster Character Comedy Wordplay/Pun Lucille: I hope your juicy blender bender was worth it
Lucille Wordplay/Pun Character Comedy Buster: Is that baby toe of yours still crawling over the others like a weird weed?
Buster Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Buster: Oh, it's one of my night terrors
Buster Character Comedy Dark/Subversive Narrator: Did you hear it?
Narrator Meta/Self-Referential Misdirection ★ Rewatch Narrator: Before you accidentally skip back too far and wind up in the middle of the Maeby episode, trust me, no '2' was spoken
Narrator Meta/Self-Referential Observational ★ Rewatch Buster · Narrator: Alex Trebek? She then rephrased it in the form of a question. Who is Alex Trebek?
Lucille 2 · Buster: Buster, that was innuendo. Oh. My Lord, it's like we're speaking different languages here
Lucille 2: Holy Toledo, Buster, sometimes I think I'm nothing but a Horn & Hardart to you
Lucille 2 Observational Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Lucille 2: Buster, you can either be a son or a lover and right now, you're no good to me as a lover
Pawn shop owner: What will you give me for these? All-time low
Army officers · Buster: Are you gay? No. You can tell me. I'm not. It's okay. Drew, tell him. I'm gay. Oh. Peter's gay. Oh... Sergeant Melnick's gay. Oh. Bi. Oh, sorry, he's bi
Army officer · Lucille: Who did Larry Kert replace in Company? I don't know. I know who he thought he was replacing, and it was Dean Jones. But he didn't come close
Army officer: He deserves a big hand for that and we gave him one
Buster: This is so much more fun than 'Guess the Fur'
Buster Character Comedy Callback Callback Army officer: If I had him back in the '60s, Cuba would be the 51st state
Buster: Take that, Taliban wedding!
Buster Dark/Subversive Character Comedy Buster · Army officer: Oh, you can go to Spain in this thing? Maybe you should take a break
Buster: Innocent people?! You mean I've been hurting guilty people?!
Buster Character Comedy Dark/Subversive Lucille: This looks like you're pointing to a place that buys your gold
Lucille Observational Character Comedy Lucille: It's as if they wrote that song for my own son
Lucille Character Comedy Observational Buster · Therapist: Too hard. Uh, I think that was too hard. Okay. Yeah.
Army officer: Hope this guy likes the music acts on Saturday Night Live because he's gonna be watching a lot of them
Army officer: Aren't you the 'cu-test'?
Ophelia: I see a veteran whose hand I'd like to shake. Not that one
Herbert · Ophelia: I suppose we could use a Blind Side Monster. Well, we shouldn't call him a monster
Buster: See, light drizzle will just annoy you but, you see, thunder... will 'F' you up!
Buster Character Comedy Escalation Undercover cop: Whether he's an attention hog who looks just like you, or whether he's half your size
Herbert · Buster: If you want me to pay for her diaphragm, I get to put my hand in her... Shoe! Nice stop, Blind Side Monster
Buster: I've worn a captain's hat with someone who had hair like that
Buster Character Comedy Callback ★ Rewatch Callback Ophelia: You can either be a son or a lover to me. And I already have two sons
Ophelia Character Comedy Callback ★ Rewatch Callback Lucille · Buster: Hamster or turtle? No, Mother. Hamsters are gross. It's a female. Human. Female human. Whole thing
Buster: I'm not a mother boy anymore. I'm a mother man
Buster Character Comedy Wordplay/Pun Buster: I'm not a mother boy anymore. I'm a mother man.
Buster Character Comedy Wordplay/Pun Callback Buster: After I've zipped down, you can't expect me to zip up!
Buster Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Buster: And he's gotten himself in some pretty hot ham water this time
Buster Wordplay/Pun Character Comedy Buster: Oh, this is just like Mother's Day Eve!
Buster Character Comedy Observational Gene Parmesan: Perhaps uno mas, señor, to feed to the fishes? Gene Parmesan. This is not my real job
Buster: Oh, no. I'm in the movie. Oh, no
Buster Meta/Self-Referential Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Top Episodes — Arrested Development
