As one of the funniest and most brilliantly written comedies of the 21st century, Arrested Development is jam-packed with jokes. Some of them can be picked up on the first viewing, like “I just blue myself,” while others aren’t spotted until repeat viewings, like “I never thought I’d miss a hand so much” and all the other foreshadowing of Buster losing a hand.
But some of the jokes in Arrested Development will go over the audience’s head every time they hear it if they don’t know a very specific piece of background information. Here are Arrested Development’s 10 Most Obscure Jokes.
Motherboy
In the episode “Motherboy XXX,” Lucille takes George Michael to a mother-son costume contest called Motherboy. When Michael and Buster head down there to save him, they’re told at the reception that it’s “not the band.” The Narrator then explains, “Motherboy was also a heavy-metal band that used to rock pretty hard in the ‘70s. We are legally obligated to make the distinction.”
This is a reference to the band Arrested Development, who tried to take legal action against the show for using their name. To add insult to injury, the members of the band Motherboy are played by cast members from Arrested Development.
“Jessie had gone too far, and she had best watch her mouth.”
The Bluth family hires a publicist named Jessie in an attempt to turn their public image around in the season 1 episode “Public Relations.” The publicist’s name is Jessie and she turns out to have a nefarious plan to seduce Michael that involves telling George Michael that he’s getting in the way of his father’s happiness.
In one scene, Jessie insultingly refers to George Michael as “Opie,” and the Narrator says, “Jessie had gone too far, and she had best watch her mouth.” This is because the narration is provided by Ron Howard, who played Opie in The Andy Griffith Show.
Blendin Mobile Pet Grooming
There’s a running joke in Arrested Development that any time a secret surveillance team is operating out of a van, the van’s disguise uses the name “Blendin,” a reference to the undercover feds’ attempt to “blend in” and remain undetected. In the season 1 episode “Shock and Aww,” the van bears a logo for “Blendin Mobile Pet Grooming.”
When George, Sr. is onto them, they bring out a fake dog and start washing it. The use of pet grooming as the cover is a reference to guest star Jane Lynch, who plays undercover agent Cindi Lightballoon in the episode and played a dog groomer and trainer in the Christopher Guest mockumentary Best in Show.
“You’re a regular Brad Garrett.”
After Michael is threatened on his way out of Wee Britain, he believes his dad hired the guy, so he heads to the penthouse to confront him. When George, Sr. is confused and concerned about the threat, Michael thinks he’s lying, so he jokingly says, “That’s a wonderful performance, Dad. You’re a regular Brad Garrett.”
This is a reference to the fact that Brad Garrett had beaten out Jeffrey Tambor for an Emmy Award in the previous year. Tambor was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his performance as George, Sr., while Garrett won for playing Robert on Everybody Loves Raymond.
George Bush doesn’t care about black puppets
Gob’s puppet Franklin can be seen wearing a t-shirt that reads, “George Bush doesn’t care about black puppets.” With its initial run airing between 2003 and 2006, Arrested Development took more than a few jabs at the Bush administration.
But this is a very specific reference to Kanye West’s comment at A Concert for Hurricane Relief, a star-studded 2005 benefit concert to raise money in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. West was presenting alongside Mike Myers, and surprised audiences (and Myers) by going off-script and saying, “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.”
“The HBO’s not going to want us.”
In the meta episode “S.O.B.s,” the family hosts a fundraiser in an attempt to save the company, but it’s really just a vehicle for self-aware gags about saving the show. To understand this joke – and a lot of the jokes in season 3 – you have to know that the show’s ratings were declining and Fox had canceled it.
There were rumors that the series might be picked up for a fourth season by HBO or Showtime. George, Sr. says, “I don’t think the Home Builders Organization is going to be supporting us,” and Michael quips, “Yeah, the HBO’s not going to want us.” Then, George, Sr. says, “Well, I think it’s showtime.”
Mr. Roboto
Arrested Development made much more effective use of cutaway gags than Family Guy because the cutaway gags in Arrested Development each serve the narrative, and none of them drag on too long. In fact, there’s a lot to unpack in each one.
One cutaway gag shows Buster doing the robot dance in the stair car while Styx’s “Mr. Roboto” plays on the radio, leading to his hook getting wedged in the dashboard. This is an obscure reference to a Volkswagen commercial featuring Tony Hale (who plays Buster) that aired in 1999, in which Hale can be seen dancing to the same song.
“F*** you, Tom!”
Despite being on network television (at least before the move to Netflix), there’s plenty of cursing in Arrested Development – it’s just bleeped. However, the FCC isn’t okay with bad language just being bleeped. You can’t show the actors’ lips making the shapes of swear words, either.
So, Arrested Development made it a running gag that any time a character says a curse word, they cover their mouth with a hand or a cup, or the camera pulls away. The most noticeable example of this is Gob holding up his hand over his mouth to point to Tom whenever he says, “F**k you, Tom!”
Barry jumps the shark
When the Bluth brothers go down to the pier to see if Buster’s hand has been found in the stomach of a dead shark, they’re joined by the family lawyer, Barry Zuckerkorn, played by Henry Winkler. Winkler is most famous for playing The Fonz in Happy Days. When Barry leaves the pier, he jumps over the dead shark.
The term “jumping the shark” refers to a TV show’s quality declining when it’s been on so long that the writers come up with ridiculous, outlandish storylines. It was coined from an episode of Happy Days in which Fonzie literally jumps over a shark on a pair of water-skis.
“Everybody thinks they’re Frank Sinatra.”
In the season 2 episode “Queen for a Day,” as Buster speaks to Lucille 2 in a karaoke bar, we see Buster’s self-appointed wingman Tobias go up on the stage and start singing a rendition of “New York, New York.” Lucille 2 deridingly says, “Everybody thinks they’re Frank Sinatra.”
This is an obscure reference to the fact that the song is commonly attributed to Sinatra, but it was actually first recorded by Liza Minnelli, who plays Lucille 2. Minnelli performed the song for the little-seen Martin Scorsese movie of the same name, and Sinatra recorded his version a couple of years later.
