Terrance and Phillip: Behind the Blow
Behind The Blow
Season | s05 |
Episode | e05 |
Written By | Trey Parker |
Production Code | 0505 |
Original Air Date | 2001-07-18 |
Episode Chronology
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Story
Description
The boys get tickets for a live Terrence and Phillip show in Denver, but then learn that they're supposed to help that night with preparations for Friday's Earth Day Brainwashing Festival. In order to see the show, they tell the Earth Day organizers they'll get Terrence and Phillip to perform at their event.
However only Terrance -- a fat, out-of-shape Terrance -- appears at the Denver show. Afterward the boys learn that the comedy team has broken up, with Phillip now performing Canadian Shakespeare in Toronto. In a bid to reunite the two, they travel to Canada and get Phillip to sign on for an Earth Day appearance, without telling him that Terrance will be there too.
When Terrance and Phillip meet on the big day, they instantly get mad and refuse to perform together. The boys instead offer a taped Behind the Blow documentary about the two during the live event. Upon seeing this, the Earth Day organizers go berserk and start chasing Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny around with a meat cleaver. But after watching the television special, Terrance and Phillip reconcile and agree to perform together. The Earth Day organizers spare the boys' lives.
What I Learned Today
"You know, Phillip and I have learned an important lesson: That when you go through a lot with somebody, you can't let trite things come between you." To which Phillip responds: "That's right, Terrance. You should only let trite things come between your asscheeks."
Memorable Quotes
- "Nothing matters more than saving the planet from Republicans." (Earth Day organizer)
- "I don't think we're female groupies or random sluts." (Stan)
- "Well, in that case, I'd say you four boys are up Fart Creek without a paddle." (Terrance)
- "Look, if you don't come and do the show, I'll make you eat your parents!" (Cartman)
- "Oh, Kyle, you just made a huge withdrawal at the First Bank of Lies." (Cartman)
- "Excuse me, is this where the Earth Day crap is happening?" (Phillip)
- "Nothing is more important than the environment, boys not even your lives." (Earth Day President)
- "Why don't you go eat some more pudding you fat ass drug addict!" (Phillip)
- "Republicans are ruining the Earth." (Earth Day President)
Characters
Body Count
Kenny, who's killed bit by bit over the course of the show. Initially, an Earth Day operative cuts off his left hand when it looks as if Terrance and Phillip won't show. After the comedy duo refuses to perform, he chops off Kenny's other hand. Later, both his legs are hacked off, leaving a bloody stump. When Terrance and Phillip finally get back together, Cartman rolls over Kenny's limbless body towards the stage, "Look, Kenny! Everything turned out OK!!"
Locations
Original Songs
A young Terrance and Phillip perform a fast-paced Canadian ditty "Chicken and Ham".
Behind The Scenes
Where Did The Idea Come From
The plot was hatched while the show's writing trust was sitting in a restaurant in Hawaii.
Pop Culture References
Shout Outs
One of Terrence and Phillip's "classic" sketches is a takeoff on Abbott and Costello's famous "Who's On First" routine.
The TV show "E! True Hollywood Stories", best known for it's biographical portrayal of celebrity downfalls -- is parodied throughout as "Behind the Blow". Punky Brewster - the cute little freckled girl from an 80s sitcom of the same name - has her own Behind the Blow, where it's revealed: "She learned that the price of fame can be pleasing sixty-five men at once in a dark, dirty alley."
The Earth Day Spokespeople all use the "Jedi Mind Trick" from Star Wars, waving their hand magically and stating an order they want to be followed. Kyle also uses it to convince Terrance and Phillip to do the Earth Day show.
Phillip performs in the Canadian Shakespeare Company's performance of Hamlet. It actually stays pretty true to the classic play, if it were translated into Canadian.
In their biopic, Terrance and Phillip are shown throughout entertainment history: on The Ed Sullivan Show, Sonny and Cher, Donnie and Marie, and The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson; meeting with former president Gerald Ford and Playboy Bunnies; and on the cover of The Times and Teen Heat (a magazine Randy also headlined in "Fingerbang"). They even had their own Star Trek-esque Saturday Morning cartoon, for which they supplied the voices.
Clips of past South Park adventures are shown, corresponding with T&P's two feature films: "Not Without My Anus", from the Season 2 episode of the same name, and "Asses of Fire" which was featured in Bigger, Longer, and Uncut.
Bonus Factoids
Pointless Observations
The documentary Terrance and Phillip: Behind the Blow provides a trove of information about the duo. Among a great many other things, we learn that the war between Canada and the United States sparked by the comedy duo cost 8 million lives (we see this carnage in Bigger Longer, and Uncut); that their appearance on The Donnie and Marie Show won them the Nobel Peace Prize; and that their film Not Without My Anus caused enraged viewers to burn down the TV network's headquarters when it unexpectedly aired instead of the John Schneider Variety Hour. Finally, their full names are Terrance Henry Stoot and Phillip Niles Argyle.
Terrance and Phillip have the adage "Crapper Sweet Crapper" hanging in their bathroom. That sign also hangs in Kenny's bathroom, as we see in "Cartman Joins NAMBLA".
Cartman threatens to make Phillip eat his parents if he doesn't agree to do the Earth Day Show. Stan even says, "He'll do it, dude." If you still don't believe him, watch "Scott Tenorman Must Die",
Terrance and Phillip are responsible for the "birth of Canadian comedy" - an event that happened live on the Ed Sullivan Show.
Season 5
- e1 Scott Tenorman Must Die
- e2 It Hits the Fan
- e3 Cripple Fight
- e4 Super Best Friends
- e5 Terrance and Phillip: Behind the Blow
- e6 Cartmanland
- e7 Proper Condom Use
- e8 Towelie (episode)
- e9 Osama bin Laden Has Farty Pants
- e10 How To Eat With Your Butt
- e11 The Entity
- e12 Here Comes the Neighborhood
- e13 Kenny Dies
- e14 Butters' Very Own Episode