Honey, I Blew Up Myself is the 15th episode of Season 8 of Married... with Children, also the 172nd overall series episode. Directed by cast member Sam W. Orender and written by Wayne Kline, it premiered on FOX-TV on January 23, 1994.
Synopsis[]
Peg gets a boudoir photo of herself taken as a birthday present to Al, which gets blown up to billboard size and posted next to the shoe store, where Al becomes jealous of all the men who find Peg attractive. He finally turns to Marcy's women group for help. Bud & Kelly try to find a perfect birthday gift for Al and end up buying stuff he already has and hates.
Storyline[]
On Al's 45th birthday, Peggy decides to give him a sexy photo of herself to hang in the shoe store. But the photographer decides to hang it in a huge blow up version of the same photo on a giant billboard in the mall outside the store. Naturally, this cannot be tolerated so Al, who becomes jealous and angry that the all of a sudden local sex symbol Peg has been getting from ogling men roaming about the New Market Mall, enlists the help of F.A.N.G., Marcy's feminist group and NO MA'AM's nemesis counterpart, to destroy the offending image. Meanwhile, Kelly and Bud can't seem to get the right gift for Al.
Recurring Cast/Regulars[]
- Amanda Bearse as Marcy D'Arcy
- Ted McGinley as Jefferson D'Arcy
- Buck the Dog as Buck Bundy
Guest starring[]
- Hill Harper as Aaron Mitchell
- Tom Silardi as Dabbs
- Winifred Freedman as Enid
- Michael Lowry as Sloan
- Michael Anthony Vaccaro as Patrick
Quotes[]
- [Al is dealing with a customer named Enid and struggles to get her foot into a shoe. He eventually resorts to using a can of WD-40 before it finally slides in, leaving both of them exhausted]
- Enid: See? I told you I was a four.
- Al: No, ma'am. "Fore." is what you'll have to yell when the shoe pops off your foot. Now, are we finished here?
- Enid: Well, I'm not sure I like this shade of blue.
- Al: I'll tell ya what I'll do then. We'll stand you in front of the mirror. I'll begin strangling you. When you reach the shade of blue that is satisfactory to you, you yell, "Moo," and I'll stop.
- Enid: That's it! I'm taking my business elsewhere.
- Al: May I suggest Jenny Craig?
- [Jefferson has stopped by the shoe store and has gifted Al a gift certificate to a topless car wash]
- Aaron: But I don't understand: both of you guys are married. Can't you just look at your wives topless?
- [Al and Jefferson both look at Aaron weirdly]
- Al / Jefferson: [pointing at each other] Have you seen his wife?!
- [Al walks over to Aaron]
- Al: Aaron, let me explain something to you. When you've been married as long as I have, you do not want to see your wife topless. Speechless, maybe. Headless, naturally. But never ever topless.
- [Peggy is making a "cake" for Al's birthday by putting whipped cream on top of a box of cake mix]
- Peggy: Now do we have any candles?
- Bud: Nope! Dad said no candles this year because of... [turns to look at Kelly] last year's little mishap.
- Kelly: Hey, I just thought that Roman candles meant that they were imported. You know, from Romany.
- [Peg, Bud, and Kelly visit Al at the shoe store after Peg's boudoir photo was turned into a large billboard in front of the store]
- Bud: You would know. Dad, we'd love to hang around and share your proudest moment, but anything just came up and we gotta go.
- Kelly: Oh, wait. Before we do, we just wanna apologize for yesterday's little birthday boo-boo. It's all fixed now. Here you go.
- [Bud and Kelly open the presents that they are holding, revealing two identical light blue dress shirts just like the one that Al is currently wearing. They then look at each other in disbelief again.]
- Al: [chuckling] Kids, come. Come here now.
- [Al extends his arms out to indicate that he wants a group hug. As Bud and Kelly come closer to him, Al continues to chuckle as he puts his hands on the back of their neck and suddenly bangs their heads together.]
- Al: Get out.
- [Bud and Kelly stagger out of the store, holding their foreheads.]
- Kelly: Bye, Dad.
- Bud: [weakly] Happy birthday.
- [At the Bundy residence, Al and Peggy are watching the news in the living room]
- News Anchor: And in other news, crazed feminists charged the New Market mall and pulled down an over-sized boudoir photo they deemed sexist. After storming into a photographer's studio, where local man, Jefferson D'Arcy was allegedly posing nude on a bearskin rug. Mr. D'Arcy was dragged by an unnamed body part and flung into the mall fountain by the howling women.
- Al: [turns off the tv set] Women! Can't live with them... can't herd them all into Canada!
Notes[]
Title[]
- The title of this episode is a reference to the 1992 film Honey, I Blew Up the Kid and that Peggy's boudoir photo has been blown up in size to fit a billboard.
Trivia[]
- Al reveals that he doesn't like it when people sing "Happy Birthday" to him.
- Although this episode was released in January 1994, assuming that this episode actual takes place in November 1993, Al would be turning 45 years old in this episode.
- Kelly reveals that her driver's license has a boudoir style picture of her, which has prevented her from getting tickets.
- During the ending credits, instead of the still-frame of Al and Peggy on the couch, the credits continue rolling as Al sits on the couch watching TV and Bud and Kelly arrive at home to give him another birthday gift. He then takes a guess that they got him the same style of pants that he is wearing. After they prove him right once again, they quickly exit the house.
- This scene remains completely intact and even features the original "Love and Marriage" credits, on the Mill Creek DVD release, making it one of the very few episodes after season 3 without any edits made to its original ending credits released on DVD.
- Kelly is partially right. Roman Candles are imported. But they are most likely imported from China.
- Perhaps the country Kelly was thinking of, in terms of importation, was Romania, a country in Europe.
- Roman candles are a type of firework that usually come in long narrow tubes and shoot flaming balls of fire.
Cultural References[]
- Al tells the fat woman at the shoe store to try Jenny Craig, a weight loss system.
- Al mentions to Aaron that once women know you are jealous, they've got you by your "bobbit". This is a reference to the 1993 incident involving John Bobbit, where his wife Lorena severed his penis off with a knife while he slept.
- Aaron rents Al a VHS copy of Hot Dog...The Movie, a 1984 sex comedy film, featuring Playboy Playmate and future MWC guest star Shannon Tweed.
- When Al arrives home and smoke come through the front door, Bud says that it's either Al or a new pope has been elected. This is in reference to the white smoke used to signify that a new pope in the Roman Catholic church has been elected following the death or resignation of the previous pope.
- Following the installation of her billboard for "Sex You Up Photo Boutique", Al tells Peggy "Yes Peg, I saw it. Ray Charles would see it!", referring to the pianist/singer who was blind for the majority of his life.
- After trying to talk to the photographer to take down the billboard, Jefferson tells Al that the photographer said that he has "...the best set of cheekbones this side of Rob and Fab of Milli Vanilli". This is in reference to the R&B duo consisting of Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus who gained notoriety after being caught lip syncing during a MTV live performance in 1989.
- When Al realizes that Jefferson has been compromised and that he must get help to take the billboard down, he says "I know now what I have to do...truly go where no man has gone before". This is based on a line used in the Star Trek franchise.
Music[]
- Jefferson and later Peggy, Kelly and Bud sing "Happy Birthday to You" to Al.
Locations[]
Sets[]
- Bundy Living Room / Kitchen
- New Market Mall Pathway / "Sex You Up Photo Boutique" Billboard
- Gary's Shoes Entrance / Cash Register
- D'Arcy Living Room / F.A.N.G. Meeting
Goofs[]
- Al's tie keeps changing positions after Jefferson gives him the topless car wash certificate.
- A camera flash can be briefly seen when Buck says that at least he never dated one of his plastic toys.