Tobias searches for meaning after splitting with Lindsay, only to find that old habits die hard.
Wordplay-heavy Tobias episode sustains 91.5 score through character-rooted irony across 44 jokes.
Directed by Mitchell Hurwitz, Troy Miller · Written by Dean Lorey, Jim Vallely
WAR
67.1
Wins Above Replacement
“A New Start” ranks #3 of 84 Arrested Development episodes on the Humor Index, scoring 91.5 — Elite. The episode packs 44 scored jokes at 1.3 per minute, averaging 7.6 on craft and 7.4 on impact, with Tobias landing the most laughs. Every joke is ranked below with its individual craft and impact scores.
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Top Jokes
Tobias: Daddy needs to get his rocks off.
Tobias Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Tobias: I want to say 19? But I like to think of her as 15.
Tobias Cringe/Discomfort Character Comedy Tobias: Other people are incapable of ever being nude. Everybody has something.
Tobias Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch Callback DeBrie · Narrator: You remind me of Billy Crystal... Billy Crystal Meth, a funny drug dealer.
Narrator: At the time of this family meeting, 2,000 rupees was $36.
Narrator Escalation Deadpan/Understatement Callback All Jokes — 44 analyzed
Show all ↓ Hide ↑ Law enforcement officers: Looks like we got ourselves an Anus Tart.
Narrator: Yes, Tobias was finally about to get a starring role on a hit TV show.
Narrator Irony/Sarcasm Meta/Self-Referential ★ Rewatch Narrator: It's Tobias' Arrested Development.
Narrator Meta/Self-Referential Wordplay/Pun ★ Rewatch Tobias: Everyone thinks I'm gay?
Tobias Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Callback Tobias: ♪ It's just a fallacy! ♪
Tobias Irony/Sarcasm Character Comedy Narrator: So he just took Eat and Pray.
Tobias: And these romantic gestures are possibly why people think I'm a homosexual.
Tobias Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Callback Tobias Callback Wordplay/Pun ★ Rewatch Callback Local drivers: Stay in your lane, anus tart!
Tobias Wordplay/Pun Character Comedy Tobias: I look like one of those hot guys from Spartacus.
Tobias Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Tobias: How could they not have Failure to Launch?
Tobias Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Doctor · Narrator: This man here broke his skull in two places. Once outside the airport and once in the elevator when his sheet got caught and he was pulled off his gurney. Literally.
Tobias: Now I've broken my skull in a third place! On this elephant guy statue!
Tobias Escalation Callback Callback Doctor: You should be a comedy actor.
Doctor Irony/Sarcasm Meta/Self-Referential ★ Rewatch Tobias: It's just, I've got a bit of a stick up my bunghole about what I've now found is a running joke about me.
Tobias Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Callback Lucille: For 2,000 rupees, we'd both go down on Matthew McConaughey.
Lucille Dark/Subversive Cringe/Discomfort Narrator: At the time of this family meeting, 2,000 rupees was $36.
Narrator Escalation Deadpan/Understatement Callback Real estate agent: I'm a real estate agent. I'm a predator. I sell giant houses to very poor people who can't afford them with predatory loans.
Tobias: Lindsay! Lindsay, get the scooper! Throw oranges at it. Hot orange! Hot orange! It's throwing its voice! Lindsay!
Tobias Physical/Slapstick Absurdist Tobias: Well, then I shall redouble my efforts so that he died in vain.
Tobias Character Comedy Wordplay/Pun Tobias: Meaning he will have led a pointless life, is what I mean.
Tobias Escalation Character Comedy Callback Tobias: Get it out there. 'This is up, sir.'
Tobias Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort DeBrie: I almost never get recognized as the Invisible Girl.
DeBrie Irony/Sarcasm Wordplay/Pun Customer: This is the gayest Starbucks ever!
Narrator: She did six of these movies, and after lunch, did three more.
Narrator Deadpan/Understatement Dark/Subversive DeBrie · Narrator: You remind me of Billy Crystal... Billy Crystal Meth, a funny drug dealer.
DeBrie: Did you see my StraightBait movie of the same name?
DeBrie Callback ★ Rewatch Callback Tobias: Her heart stopped! She's dying! Please, someone! She had too much butter!
Hospital staff: Someone say 'butter' out here? Oh, my God, that's a butter face.
Doctor: Now, what this means in non-medical terms is that you have landed a real party girl.
Doctor Deadpan/Understatement Irony/Sarcasm Tobias: Other people are incapable of ever being nude. Everybody has something.
Tobias Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch Callback DeBrie: I almost a guy for a hamburger.
Tobias: I'm Johnny Storm, the Human Flamer.
Tobias Character Comedy Wordplay/Pun Callback Tobias: And this is Sue Storm, my sister and fellow fighter-in-law.
Tobias: Well, apparently in this instance, paper beats rock.
Tobias Wordplay/Pun Observational Tobias: Actually, technically, I'm Rock Monster, and this is Ability to Be Invisible Person.
DeBrie: No, I was gonna have sex with him. For money.
DeBrie Dark/Subversive Misdirection Buster: Oh, Tobias got a new girlfriend.
Buster Reaction Beat Irony/Sarcasm Tobias Deadpan/Understatement Character Comedy DeBrie: You're worse than Marky. He couldn't see me, but you can't hear me.
DeBrie Character Comedy Escalation ★ Rewatch Callback Tobias: Daddy needs to get his rocks off.
Tobias Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Tobias: I want to say 19? But I like to think of her as 15.
Tobias Cringe/Discomfort Character Comedy Tobias: I just broke my skull in a fourth place. The patio!
Tobias Escalation Callback Callback Top Episodes — Arrested Development
