Irritation Technology

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**Irritation Technology** is the third episode of the third season of No Strings Attached, and the 17th overall.

## Plot

Tommy and Caleb get into an escalating war of pranks when Tommy is granted access to the computer. Meanwhile, Dad teaches Pops the ins and outs of his new phone.

## Characters (in order of appearance)

*All characters are portrayed by Caleb McGrath unless stated otherwise.*

* Caleb McGrath
* Tommy McGrath *(voiced by Patrick McGrath)*
* Patrick McGrath *(portrayed by himself)*
* Pops *(voiced by Fred Thayer)*
* Denise McGrath *(portrayed by herself)*
* Patrick's co-workers *(portrayed by Chris Abdoo, Dave Collins, Dacey Bonney)*
* Patrick's receptionist *(voiced by Mary Ann DeLuca)*
* Ad announcer *(voiced by Josh McGrath)*
* Bill *(voiced by Kilosim)*
* Bobby Branson

## Synopsis

Caleb is editing a video blog, as part of a goal he has to film a video each week for a year, only to discover Tommy's voice can be heard throughout the whole thing. Dad walks in and tells the boys that Tommy is old enough to share screen time with Caleb, which Caleb protests as unfair, and Tommy finds exciting. Caleb has an idea, and shows Tommy a “trick” he’s found, which really ends up shutting off the computer. A few days later, in response, Tommy uses Caleb's Amazon account (linked to Mom's credit card) to order 500 bags of pretzels. Caleb is blamed for this and grounded for the rest of the week, giving him time to think of his revenge.

Tommy later opens up the computer to find everything has been changed to Russian. In revenge, he goes to the computer late at night. Tommy, although unable to read the computer while it’s still in Russian, finds Discord and calls Caleb's friend Bill repeatedly to no answer. When an annoyed Bill finally calls back, Tommy hangs up. The next afternoon, Caleb tells Tommy that Bill is mad at him for waking him up, skeptical that it was really Tommy doing it. After the two argue, Tommy is called downstairs to play with his friend Bobby. Once Tommy leaves, Caleb changes all of Tommy's passwords to stall for time and keep Tommy busy while Caleb thinks of another plan. Tommy talks to Bobby, whose mother works developing video software. They plan to create a deep fake of Caleb spreading misinformation and post it on his vlog so he can get banned.

Meanwhile, as Dad prepares dinner, he is called upstairs by Pops, who has gotten repeated spam calls on his brand new phone. Pops doesn’t understand the concept of spam, thinking of the canned meat product of the same name (which he tries to sell to other people in spam calls of his own). Dad has trouble explaining it to him, causing his dinner to burn. Later on, Mom and Dad are awoken in the night by their TV blasting a loud song. Pops has casted a music video to the wrong TV. Dad walks into Pops’ room and has a long discussion over how to cast a show. Pops continues to ask Dad many questions about the phone, including all the time at home and calling Dad while he is at work.

A week later, thinking he has won the feud, Caleb sees what Tommy’s made: a deep fake video where "Caleb" says that chocolate ice cream is poisonous and deadly. He tells Tommy, who is on the bed, that there’s no way anyone will think it’s real and try to ban him. Pops sees the fake video recommended to him by the click-bait, and is offended by it, calling Dad upstairs to help get it banned as soon as possible.

In a post-credit scene, Caleb's friend Bill is once again woken up in the middle of the night by Pops, still spamming people to try and give away Spam over the phone.

## Production

This episode's script was written from February 20, 2022, to March 29, 2022. Caleb's siblings Benjamin and Sara each suggested jokes for the scene in which Pops gets spam calls, and were given a "special thanks to" credit. Many of Patrick McGrath's coworkers guest starred for the office sequence, and Caleb McGrath's friend Kilosim recorded a voice line. The episode was shot from May to July 2022, with production wrapping on July 29.

### Music

This episode introduces multiple recurring themes for characters, as it was the first episode in which Caleb McGrath composed the majority of the score. The track "Vlog Prolog" and later "Deep End" use a music cue for Caleb that is loosely based on the Daily Caleb theme song. "Spam" and "Deep End" introduce a Pops motif, and additonally, "Word Games" and "Forgot Password" incorporate the show's theme song, "Meatball Parade" as a theme for Tommy himself. The track "Nighttime Discord" also remixes the melody of the default ringtone on the app Discord.

* Vlog Prolog - Caleb McGrath *[Title sequence]*
* Meatball Parade - Kevin MacLeod *[Dad cooks dinner]*
* Spam - Caleb McGrath *[Pops calls Dad upstairs]*
* Watch Out For the Step - Caleb McGrath *[Slowed down; Caleb discovers Tommy has ordered the pretzels]*
* Who Put the Bomp - Barry Mann *[Mom and Dad are woken up by this song playing on the wrong TV]*
* Word Games - Caleb McGrath, Kevin MacLeod *[Tommy discovers his computer's language has been changed to Russian]*
* Nighttime Discord - Caleb McGrath *[Tommy makes a call]*
* Forgot Password - Caleb McGrath, Kevin MacLeod *[Tommy talks to Bobby about a final plan while Caleb enacts one of his own]*
* Deep End - Caleb McGrath *[Ending]*
* Who Put the Bomp - Barry Mann *[Credits]*

### Trivia

* When Tommy's computer is displayed in Russian, the text in the search bar, when translated, reads "Caleb makes an announcement August 30th." This was because the McGrath Media series Steve's Adventures would later be announced on that date. Similarly, a paper on the brothers' desk reads "8/30/22 ~CPM" to foreshadow the same announcement.
* This is the first episode in which Caleb McGrath portrays Tommy's friend Bobby Branson. Patrick McGrath previously portrayed the character in the episode Bro-King News, Part 2 and Boat Ride.
* Caleb’s in-universe vlog series, *Caleb’s Life*, is a parody of its real life counterpart, *Daily Caleb*.
* Caleb McGrath has described this episode as the one he is most proud of, taking inspiration from his favorite shows such as *Seinfeld* to structure a longer, more complex story.
* Caleb's in-universe computer password is "supersalad615." While "super salad" is a reference to a family inside joke, "6/15" is a reference to June 15, 2015, in which Caleb uploaded his first ever YouTube video.
* In the summer of 2022, there was a controversy involving Spam meat being stolen from stores and locked up at said stores as a result. Caleb McGrath has acknowledged this episode's comedic timing of release, as Spam was the center of a joke early in the episode, which released a few days after this news story broke.

### Cultural references

* When Tommy's tabs are displayed in Russian, Caleb comments "I don't see how that could have happened," and Tommy replies "Oh, you don't see?" Caleb and Patrick McGrath intended the line delivery to reference an exchange from the *Seinfeld* episode "The Wallet".