My Name Is Earl (Series) - TV Tropes My Name Is Earl You need to login to do this. Get Known if you don't have an account Share Series / My Name Is Earl × Timeline Karma's a funny thing... Earl: Do good things and good things happen to you. Do bad things, they'll come back to haunt you. Randy: That's deep Earl, so why don't you stop hogging those Vicodins they gave you and we can all chat about that for a while? NBC sitcom starring Jason Lee as Earl Hickey, a petty criminal, drunken vandal and all-round piece of obnoxious white trash who has a revelation one fateful day. He wins a hundred thousand dollars from a Scratch 'n' Win lottery ticket only to get hit by a car during his celebration dance, losing the ticket to the wind and putting him in traction. While he's high on painkillers his promiscuous wife Joy hands over divorce papers so she can run off with Earl Jr's real daddy Darnell. While watching TV, he sees Carson Daly explain the concept of karma.

It occurs to Earl that possibly the reason his life sucks is because he's been nothing but a Jerkass doing bad things to a lot of people, and that maybe he would have better luck if he made up for them . To that end he prepares a list of all the bad things he can remember doing, and starts finding a way to make up for them, one by one. Starting on his first item of picking up litter (because he used to litter a lot), he walks to the trash and comes across his missing lotto ticket. This is evidence to him that karma really does work, and he sets out to scratch every item off the list. The Lotto money allows him to focus all his attention on his list . Most episodes show how Earl deals with one entry on his list, helped (and sometimes hindered) by his friends, most often his simple brother Randy, a new friend Catalina and sometimes even Joy and Darnell. Any given item on his list is likely to be more complicated than a simple "stole 10 dollars" where it causes additional problems for the person involved and Earl goes to extremes to repair the damage he caused.

He initially starts out of karmic fear , but he finds that dedicating himself to the list and doing good things changes him. It causes a similar ripple effect through Camden . The show falls well down the ideal side of the Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism : The concepts of karma and inherent goodness are integral to the premise, and indeed, to most of the episode plots. Despite this it does not shy away from many ideas and topics that other shows on that end do. It also adheres more strictly to the concept of karma than straight Idealism, meaning it's a little more realistic and/or cynical than the usual idealistic fare. Many bad things happen to the characters, but they almost always provide character development, and serve an ultimately good purpose. The show ran from 2005 to 2009 before it was cancelled after four seasons. Several rival networks expressed interest in picking up the show after its cancellation, though this would have resulted in near-universal pay cuts, and so the show ended with no real resolution and several unresolved plot devices, leaving it in a territory and cult status similar to Freaks and Geeks .

This show provides examples of: open/close all folders Abusive Parents : Philo, the man Earl helps in "Something To Live For." Earl: That's an interesting mark on the back of your neck. Philo: My mom hit me with a curling iron. I spilled cereal on the carpet. There wasn't even milk in it. Accidental Innuendo : The Right Choice Ranch has tried a number of slogans throughout its history, but each one turned into one of these (examples include "Touching Bad Boys Since 1963" and "Bringing Bad Boys To Their Knees Since 1963". In desperation, they eventually settled on "We Don't Do Anything Inappropriate To The Boys." invoked Accidental Pervert : Earl ends up being known as a trailer park peeping Tom when he starts checking out trailers to steal. Acrofatic : Randy gets a couple moments of this, such as doing a perfect backflip off of the back of Earl's El Camino. Adam Westing : Geraldo Rivera in the Inside Probe episodes portrays a slightly Large Ham -ier version of himself. Actor Tim Stack (who is also a writer and consultant for the show) often plays a bitter, drunken version of himself.

Alcohol-Induced Idiocy : The pre-reformed Earl had a lot of acts of this in his past. The Alleged Car : Earl's "perfectly good 1973 El Camino with a 1977 door and a 1987 Camaro transmission." It won't go over 40 miles per hour ever since Randy put gum in the gas tank. Also, the driver has to keep one foot over a hole in the floor in order to prevent the car from filling with exhaust. This turns out to be a particularly useful anti-theft device on at least one occasion. Amicably Divorced : After a rocky first half of the first season, Earl and Joy eventually became rather good friends, and in the fourth season Earl (after two brief marriages in between) fondly admitted that she was his favorite wife. They ended up starting a tradition of still celebrating their anniversary (at the least with Joy giving Earl a corn dog ). An Aesop : Every episode of the show ever devised concludes with Earl dropping an Aesop on the viewer's head in a voiceover.

Analogy Backfire : Earl wanted his post-marriage relationship with Joy to be more civil, "like Bruce and Demi ," so he decided to give Joy the best marriage to Darnell she could ask for. With all that good energy floating between them again they slept together in a moment of weakness. Joy accused Earl of "seducing her" but he explained the Bruce and Demi analogy. Joy replied with "Please, don't you think Bruce and Demi have a quickie once in a while..." Anguished Declaration of Love : After Earl provoked him for his cowardice, Randy storms out to Catalina and blurts out a touching confession. Arc Symbol / Call Back : Of a sort. In "The Magic Hour," Earl first comes across a toy xylophone when a little boy is playing with it. He mentions that he used to want to play xylophone, and he regrets giving it up. Later on, an annoyed Joy grabs the xylophone away from the child and hurls it up onto a roof. The episode ends with Earl sitting on the roof, playing that same xylophone while internally monologuing about not giving up on dreams (like his dream of getting good at the xylophone).

In Season 4, one of the items on Earl's list is to get Joy a hottub, because he accidentally cost her a hottub she would have gotten as a reward for tradeshow modeling. Back in season 1, Joy requested that Earl buy her a hottub, but he refused because it would be too expensive. Ash Face : Occurs when Earl decides to light a cigarette while Joy is using lots of hairspray. Earl: (gleefully) Randy, get in here! We look like cartoons! Art Shift : When Earl tries saving everyone from pollution and melts down from the realization there's too much for him to do alone, Randy starts seeing every human character in claymation after ingesting some powerful herbal ointment after being explicitly warned not to in the same episode. This lasts until Earl's done with the meltdown mentioned above. Artistic License ï¿½ Biology : Darnell accidentally gets stuck with a needle full of Pitocin (oxytocin) after Liberty suplexed the doctor that was going to give it to Joy.

This causes Darnell to go into "labor." In actuality, while it does induce labor in pregnant women, in men it just increases feelings of relaxation and to some extent attachment...and also sleepiness. (This is why men tend to conk out after sex.) Artistic License ï¿½ Law : When Earl falsely confesses to Joy's crime. First of all, the fact that Joy's prints are mentioned as being also on the truck would mean she at the very least would be an accessory to the crime, the fact that she jumped bail and escaped to Mexico is also a major felony and her star witness deciding to suddenly confess at the very least would require a retrial to rule out Earl making a false confession. All-in-all, Joy still would have done some jail-time for her either being part of the crime or the felonies she committed while attempting to resist arrest. Also, Ruby would have been pretty much required to not do anything about her crush on Earl, because he's the ex-husband of her client, creating a conflict of interests.

Earl and Joy's marriage could have easily been annulled, because Earl was extremely drunk when it happened, too drunk to give proper consent to marriage (or anything else.) Heck, the officiant should have refused to marry them on those grounds! (And usually would.) Artistic License ï¿½ Medicine : In the above-mentioned scene where Darnell gets stuck with a needle full of Pitocin, the nurse was going to give that to Joy as a direct injection. In Real Life , Pitocin is given via an IV bag. Ascended Meme : Taken to ultra-meta levels. Creator Greg Garcia started up an account on Television Without Pity under the name of whojackie, and began writing all these little bits and pieces on the My Name Is Earl forum that eventually coalesced into an actual episode of the series where whojackie is revealed to be a (very) minor character on the show. When TWoP users saw the episode they looked up Jackey's post history and saw that many of the things he posted on there foreshadowed the events of that episode, including being worried about his Murphy's (wall) Bed.

After the episode aired they even had "Joy" post on the site under Jackey's name mirroring the events of the episode. All of the details are discussed in the DVD Commentary of that episode. Little Chubby turns out to be one. After Earl kicked him in the nuts, the pain made him take a walk to take his mind off of it. Since LC was a Rich Idiot with No Day Job , that "walk" was implied to go around the world. His walk made him realize Good Feels Good , and came back to take over the family business with this philosophy. Then when he and Earl went to the doctors, it turned out the Heelï¿½Face Turn was because Earl's kick caused his body to stop producing testosterone. When this was fixed, Little Chubby instantly went back to being a Jerkass . Before Little Chubby could get revenge for the Groin Attack , Earl reminded him that he didn't want to die being hated, so he gave himself a Groin Attack so he could go back to being nice.

But in Little Chubby's next appearance, an elderly stripper he hired breaking her back made him realize he couldn't run the business being a pushover, so he had a transplant to receive new male parts so he could go back to being a jerk (the donor being a bull). Ax-Crazy : Chubby Sr. is a Crazy Witch Lady with a Hair-Trigger Temper . Not to mention Betty White 's character, "Crazy Witch Lady". Donnie, before he went to jail (while taking the rap for Earl's robbery because of his cold) where he had a religious epiphany. Ralph Mariano Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other : While much of the time they are at each others throats Earl and Joy have admitted that despite their drunk Vegas wedding neither of them really regretted their time together. When those moments occur it is surprisingly sentimental and quite sweet, actually . Background Music : Incessant. Possibly as a counterpoise to the lack of a Laugh Track . Backwards-Firing Gun : Happens to Kenny, only with mace, while trying to spray Earl with it. Earl helps take the sting out of his eyes afterwards.

Earl: When you steal a lot of purses, you learn a thing or two about mace. Badass Mustache : Earl, full stop. Many flashbacks show Randy trying to grow one, with Earl telling him both of them having mustaches would be weird. Becoming the Mask : Earl genuinely has become a better person, originally he was just wanting bad stuff to stop happening. Bee Afraid : When Earl falls for a sexy woman named Alex and begins to ignore his list to spend time with her, the forces of karma send bees after him and, when that fails, a whole swarm after her. Berserk Button : Harming Joy's kids, emotionally or physically, causes her to turn into Mama Bear . Beware the Nice Ones : Randy. They've shown on various occasions that he is unconventionally strong and in the fourth season (hyped up on Shark Adrenaline ) he goes toe to toe and actually takes down the freakishly big guy who spent all his time working out and refusing to be a "pansy" (he was a list item for Earl).

Birthday Episode : During the Birthday Episode , Earl had a birthday party and all anyone can talk about is how much bad stuff he used to do, rather than all the good stuff he's doing now. It turns out it's all a big Practical Joke , and as birthday presents everyone crosses something off of Earl's list that he had done to them, so he doesn't have to make it up to them. Bilingual Bonus : Catalina's supposed insults to Joy in Spanish are actually comments to her fans, breaking the Fourth Wall Biting-the-Hand Humor : "Inside Probe, Part 1" Randy: Network executives, they sure take the cake Joy: Plus, they don't let people cuss anymore on TV until a certain time at night. [Looks at her watch] Douchebags. This line was censored in the C4 airing, making it even more funny reading it here. The sequence in question came right after a bit when the guys question why Inside Spot needed a " To Be Continued ", and Darnell explained that they didn't have enough episodes for a full season, and just split one episode into two (ironically, this was said in an episode from the longest season of the show).

Black and Gray Morality : When Earl becomes an antihero to help people then he follows into the gray area morality whereas the villains he goes up against are far worse than he is. Black Comedy Rape / Double Standard: Rape, Female on Male : When Earl is in a coma, a truck driver captures him as her love slave. It's mostly Played for Laughs , but the implications are still pretty Squicky. Randy, Joy, Darnell, and Catalina rescue him, though, so it turns out all right. Bland-Name Product : Earl refers to a Nyquil Expy as "Generic brand, nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, aching, coughing, best sleep you ever got with a cold" Medicine. Boobs of Steel : Referenced by Randy in regards to Joy. Gym Patron: How big is your bully? Randy: About 'this' tall, about 'this' wide, [pantomimes feeling her chest]about a 32 C. Gym Patron: Wait? Your bully is a girl? Randy: Yeah, but a really tough girl... 32 C!

Book Dumb : Except for Darnell (a child genius) and Patty (who has a master's degree), everyone in Camden. Bottle Episode : The crew admitted that the C.O.P.S. and Inside Probe episodes were to trim the budget for the normally expensive episodes. Because they were aiming for a documentary-look, filming consisted mostly of the cast just reading through their lines for an entire scene and then moving on to the next scene. Bounty Hunter : Jesse. And Dog The Bounty Hunter . Broken Aesop : The Aesop of Witch Lady; having Earl put away his list for a day so people will stop calling him 'Karma Guy' in an episode about not letting labels define you. Broken Pedestal : Earls hero was astronaut Chaz Dalton who run a space camp Earl went to as a kid. years later he found out the man who ran the camp wasn't really Chaz Dalton, things get even Worse when he finds out that the real Chaz is a Jaded Washout and a Fake Ultimate Hero who only got to be an astronaut because his his dad was funding NASA .

Rebuilt Pedestal : Eventually he realizes that the fake Chaz (Wayne) really dose want to teach kids and his fake legacy inspires the real Chaz,they start running the camp together with Wayne as the public face and Chaz providing the equipment. Broken Record : "Inside Probe, Part 1" had Randy's "confession" to the Camden police. "We killed Ernie." Call Back : The people Earl helps often come back to help him out. This happens as early as the third episode, when the first guy Earl helped comes back to make a fake birth certificate so that Randy can return to high-school. The poison cookies Joy leaves for Earl in Season 1 reappear in Season 4. In Season 1, Earl rides a bus and talks to a little girl who shares her treat with him. In Season 2, he does the same thing. Except that time, the little South-American girl was only showing him the churro because she only gets one a year, and was telling him she wanted him to move because he'd probably get targeted by gang members and she didn't want to get involved. In Season 2, Randy says when he gets hungry, he gets angry like the Hulk, only dizzy.

At least once more through the series, he's referred to as a "dizzy, angry Hulk" when he gets hungry. The Cameo : Josh from "Very Bad Things" and "Kept A Guy Locked in a Truck" appears in Earl's sitcom coma dream in part 2 of "I Won't Die with a Little Help from My Friends" as the chauffeur arriving to "take Earl away". Camp Gay : Kenny toes the line on this. He is certainly effeminate, but not quite "fabulous." His co-worker in the fourth episode is a more pure example. Can't Get Away with Nuthin' : Because karma will get you. Catch Phrase : Earl and Darnell's "Hey Earl - Hey Crabman" routine and Joy's "Oh snap!" In the Christmas episode "Don't you judge me" is said so many times by Joy's mother Connie that it becomes her catchphrase. Joy's "Great googly moogly," as well, and her frequent use of the word "dummy" when addressing anyone. Both Earl and Randy vary the morning greeting "Wakey wakey hands off snakey" throughout the series.

Celebrity Star : John Waters, Jenna Elfman, Burt Reynolds, Betty White, just to name a few Celebrity Paradox : Earl and Randy are fans of Smokey and the Bandit and Burt Reynolds plays a local respected and feared businessman. Censorship by Spelling : When Earl sleeps with Joy, Joy and Earl have this conversation in front of Earl Jr. Earl: I have to tell [Darnell]. Joy: Like H-E-double-L you do. Earl: I can't live like this Joy, he needs to know we....H-A-D sex together. Joy: That is B-U-double-L hockey! Chain of Deals : Earl uses one of these to right a wrong in a prison episode. Character Development : Earl in particular, due to working on his list he has become a genuinely good person even if it doesn't involve his list. But Joy has also been shown to not be quite as mean and selfish as spill-over from Earl's good attitude. Characterization Marches On : Revisiting the first season it is interesting to see what was different in the beginning. Not quite to the degree Flanderization, but Earl was the only one to escape this trope as he had a sharp degree of character development.

Randy was simple-minded but not all that stupid, Joy looked more like a streetwalker than a trailer park mom (her signature hair bands aren't in the early episodes), there is no hint of Darnell being a super-intelligent ex-spy and Catalina was a bit less feisty . With Darnell, it makes sense. He is in the Witness Protection Program, so he wouldn't want to hint at it. He even admits at one point that his behavior up to that point had been a ruse. Chroma Key : Darnell uses this to insert Joy into various heroic situations to convince a young faith healer that she is a good person. The situations become increasingly outrageous, including Joy congratulating George Bush and US soldiers in Afghanistan and praying with the Pope. Joy: I thought you said this was going to look like I was standing in front of an Alaskan oil spill. This is just our big blue sex tarp. Earl and Randy visit a TV station to make amends with a news reporter who they previously embarrassed while on the air. Randy wanders over to the blue screen where the weather forecaster stands and unzips his jacket, revealing a blue shirt underneath.

He freaks out when he sees himself on the monitor , thinking his body's disappeared. Citizenship Marriage : After Catalina is deported, Randy marries her so she can return to the US. Cliffhanger : Of the unresolved type. In the last episode it's revealed that Dodge is actually Earl's son but Earl Jr. isn't Darnell's son. Cue the To Be Continued to be suddenly canceled after this very episode. Continuity Snarl : On occasion Cousin Oliver : Parodied, like many sitcom tropes, in Season 3's coma arc. Apparently The Hickeys adopted a young boy when their own kids were no longer cute. Crazy Cultural Comparison : One episode involved an incident where Nescobar Aloplop received a lap dance from a stripper, who then got into an argument with Catalina , because Nescobar Aloplop is one of her regular "clients". His response: "Wives, please, there's no need to argue. I have enough seed for both of you. The thin one, I will lay with you for pleasure.

The thick one, you will birth my sons." And then he was informed by staff at the strip club, "Sir, just because a woman sits on your lap does not mean you're married to her." Crazy-Prepared : Darnell is like this at times and attributes it to his super-spy training. One episode had Catalina's voodoo practicing nephew cause a mob to form with Earl, Randy and Darnell trying to keep him safe. Darnell produced a trunk with various survival supplies , including passports, and explained, "I've been trained to think three steps ahead. I saw this coming 7 months ago." Creative Closing Credits : In the episode citing Smokey and the Bandit , "Stole Beer From a Golfer". Credits Gag : In "Buried Treasure" Randy, Joy, and Darnell narrate to the audience their versions of what happened to the stolen silverware. These are started with a parody of the opening credits ending with the logo My Name is Randy/My Name is Joy/My Name is Crabman. "You know the kind of woman who seems like the quiet librarian, but when she removes a pencil and lets her hair fall down she looks all wild and sexy.

I wish that was me. My name is Dotty." Crisis of Faith : Sister Millie has one of these when she finds out it wasn't God's voice she was hearing, but Earl's. Earl also temporarily loses his faith in Karma after he gets out of prison (ironically for doing something bad), life on the outside is pretty rough since no one wants to hire an ex-con, and it's been years since he started the list but he hasn't had any real reward for doing good things like he wanted. (Meanwhile, his old friend Ralph has been posing as a little old lady's deceased husband and living it up.) Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass : Earl is not the brightest of guys and generally Book Dumb , but he is not a complete idiot and can be quite resourceful with the various problems he has to face. The skills and connections he picked up as a lowlife comes in handy frequently and is capable of being The Chessmaster when he puts his mind to it. Curb-Stomp Battle : Subverted for laughs in every fistfight. Whoever appears to be the strongest fighter always gets their ass kicked by the person you would least expect to win.

Earl once gets beaten to a pulp a man who has no legs and a single arm. The Cutie : Natalie, Joy while taking her meds (which matches her dollish looks perfectly). A Day in the Limelight : "Buried Treasure" has Randy, Joy, Darnell, and Dotty the Librarian replicating Earl's opening introduction and narrating part of the episode. Double Entendre : The reforming camp's unfortunate slogan choices. Downer Ending : The second season finale. Earl has tried to become an adult, but in trying to help Joy, he's lost his job, his apartment, his new girlfriend, and he's had to give up his list. Fittingly, "House of the Rising Sun" plays as he goes to prison. Driven to Madness : What Earl (and the other Camden residents) did to the Crazy Witch Lady. Dropped After the Pilot : The character Sonny, until he is unexpectedly (and briefly) brought back in the third season. Earl even lampshades this in the relevant episode. Dude, Where's My Respect?

: At his birthday party a year into his quest to do good things, people still only talk about the stuff Earl still needs to make up for instead of giving him the pat on his back he hoped for. Turns out the party was just a prank and there is a real one waiting for him at home, where everyone gives him genuine praise and each person crosses off a list item related to themselves as a present. Dysfunction Junction : There isn't a single resident of Camden County who doesn't have SOME kind of educational/developmental/mental/psychological/criminal/disability/buffoonery thing going on. Even the cops are portrayed as bumbling idiots. Eagleland : A Running Gag has it that whenever Earl is trying to make a good impression he always makes mention of being (specifically) a law-abiding American. Joy would be the perfect patriot if she didn't have zero respect for the law. Early-Bird Cameo : "Number 86: I stole a car from a one-legged woman" Earn Your Happy Ending : Earl's belief in this is what motivates him throughout the show. It works for the most part, but there are more than a few bumps in the road.

Expansion Pack Past : Patty's character has elements of this. Actually, most characters have this to some degree or another. Expy : Liberty and Ray-Ray, for Joy and Darnell, only with exchanged colors. Played for Laughs , since they're half-sisters Also, the gangsters seen in Catalina's homeland bear a striking resemblance to the Hickey brothers, except evil counterparts- Earl's counterpart actually has a list of wrongdoings to inflict on people, and one of them is stealing a donkey from a one-legged woman, the opposite of #87 on his list. Eyepatch of Power : Subverted with Willie the One-Eyed Mailman. What happened was Joy was throwing Earl's things off the trailer roof, and she warned everyone to move before she threw a bowling ball on a painting. Willie was listening to music during her warning... Faceï¿½Heel Turn : Earl has a crisis of karmic faith in the third season where he finds himself being punished while doing good things and rewarded when he does bad things.

He reverts back to "old Earl" because karma wasn't acting fast enough, but after an intervention from his friends and getting hit by a car again he remembers all the lessons he learned from the first two seasons. Failure Gambit : In an early episode, Earl's El Camino is impounded with the bulk of his lottery winnings in the glove compartment. To get it back, he tries to help Randy get back into high school football and then bet on the game. Randy plays, but his team unfortunately loses. Earl then wonders what he's going to do, until Randy drives up in the El Camino. It turns out that he had made a bet as well... against his own team. Faking the Dead : Earl did that, as did Natalie in order to get him back for it. Fanservice : Joy and Catalina. Don't forget Ralph, who spends an inordinate amount of time shirtless and pantless, and Darnell, who appears in various states of undress during flashbacks of Interrupted Intimacy with Joy. Fascinating Eyebrow : Well, more like weirded-out/confused eyebrow. Earl does this pretty often. Almost Once an Episode .

Five-Man Band : When "the gang" gets together for a storyline (two examples: "Stole P's HD Cart" and " Y2K " in Season One). The Sixth Ranger : Catalina Flanderization : Camden County started as a small southern town with a few cartoonish quirks and gradually got more absurd. They had their own faction in the civil war (the Central) which lasted about half an hour and the Camdenites split off from the Amish because the latter were too accepting of new technology like the wheel and pitchforks. One episode addresses how this trope can come into play in reality. After his mistreatment of a "witch lady" (played by Betty White ) because of her appearance, she became a vindictive witch. Earl realized that it was just too easy for people to accept how others view them and start playing up to the role. By the episodes end, Joy resolved to be nicer and less of a bitch, Randy got a Word-A-Day calendar and Earl decided to not be so obsessed with his list, being known as the "karma freak." Also, while Randy was always a bit slow, by season 3, he's got full-blown mental retardation.

(By season 4, however, he's back to his usual self: still slow, but not mentally-handicapped.) Flashback : Used to introduce the current list item that Earl needs to check off. Flipping Helpless : Crabman's pet turtle Mr. Turtle is scared of being flipped on his back, at least according to Crabman. Catalina's entire stripper act is just jumping up and down. She once sent a guy into cardiac arrest doing this. Gambit Pileup : Essentially what happened with some silverware Joy, Earl and Randy stole from the county library a while back- them, and Darnell all thought they had stolen the silverware and hidden it, not knowing each one of them had done their own thing with it, then unknowingly transferred it to the next person. Girls with Moustaches : In junior high, Earl made fun of a girl with a mustache, so now she's on his list. He tracks her down and discovers she's got a full beard and is in a carnival freakshow as "The Bearded Woman". He convinces her (and the other freaks) to quit the freak tour and follow their dreams - in her case, being a realtor.

God Guise : In one episode, Earl used a walkie-talkie to transmit messages through his religious cranky landlady's hearing aid to get her to do nice things for him and his friends. She later became a nun... and Earl had to tell her what he did, thus shaking up her faith. Gone Horribly Right : Catalina deliberately disgusted Randy in order to get rid of him without hurting his feelings. She succeeded, but Randy was so good in bed she fell for him. Good Feels Good : Randy brings this up to Earl when Earl decided to abandon his list and karma altogether. Although he will follow his brother anywhere he knew that doing good things felt good. Good Old Fisticuffs : Joy. A former girlfriend of Earl became a hard core, martial artist bounty hunter just so she could get back at her for knocking out her front teeth. It didn't help. Gosh Dang It to Heck! : In a flashback, one of the prisoners in Season 3 gets a tattoo "before he knew what swear words were." His tattoo says "Fudge the Police." Gotta Catch Them All : Earl's list is a manifestation of this in that he must cross everything off his list.

Gratuitous Ninja : Randy's story in "Creative Writing." Groin Attack : Lil Chubby's highly effective torture scene where he ties Earl to a baseball chamber, intent on making him impotent. Free Bird plays in the background. Oooh yeah. In "The Professor," the titular prof mistakes Earl for a potential rapist and kicks him. When he returns her laptop, she sits down to talk to him and asks him to speak to her class. This wasn't the first time a woman kicked me in the cherries and called me a rat, but it was the first time I didn't mind. "Groundhog Day" Loop : "Sweet Johnny". The title stuntman suffered so many head injuries "his brain can't make new memories", meaning he's been living the same day over and over since "Livin' A Vida Loca" was popular. The only thing that could convince him this was true was how big his old girlfriend's ass had gotten in ten years. Johnny even compares his situation to the Trope Namer at one point. The episode ends with Johnny Driven to Suicide rather than living this way, only for Earl to stop himnote or, rather, Joy, because of her gun.

Earl realizes it would be better for Johnny if he didn't cross him off his list. Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow : The whole series is very flashback centered. Typically, all the actors playing themselves in the present and 20 years ago just get a (rather bad) black wig as a sign they are younger. Jason Lee had a giggle fit in the DVD Commentary over this trend. For the main actors, there are often some mild changes done, like Randy having a rat tail or Joy with her hair down instead of in bands. Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today? : Kenny and Stuart, taking the Suspiciously Specific Denial route Heelï¿½Faith Turn / Faithï¿½Heel Turn : A Scary Black Man gangster who went by "Hash Brown" and eventually became a minister ends up being on Earl's list at least five times, with each new list item revealed making him angrier and angrier until he snaps and decides to return to his gangster life. Then Earl recognizes his car and reveals that he broke the taillight on it (another list item).

The broken taillight caused Hash Brown to get pulled over and be late for a deal which ended up turning into a brutal shootout, meaning that Earl had indirectly saved his life. Since this event was what had caused him to take up religion in the first place (he originally attributed it to divine intervention), he thanks Earl and goes back to being a minister. Another person on Earl's list was Donny, a former violent criminal lunatic who found religion while serving two years in prison for a crime Earl committed. Donny forgave Earl almost immediately, reasoning that if he hadn't gone to jail he wouldn't have cleaned up his act (and that he'd have likely gone to jail anyway at the rate he was going). Similar to the first example, an early episode had Earl deal with an angry, religious old woman who became a nun after Earl's walkie-talkie hit the same frequency as her hearing aid and Earl pretended to be God, ordering her to do things for him and the others. When Earl revealed the truth, she left the nunnery, gave up on God, and returned to the trailer park, angrier than before.

Earl's speech about her (and everybody around her) being happier when she was a nun made her realize he was right. Heel Realization : Joy has one when she realizes that Liberty, her sworn enemy, is angry at her for getting to grow up with a daddy. Earl: Muppets. Randy: That's who I had. Cut to Joy and Darnell having one about their family members, ending with both agreeing Darnell's scary aunt wins no matter what. I Ate WHAT?! : The toe Ralph puts in the hot dog to get money out of the hot dog corporation. Joy neglects to tell Darnell. I Know Mortal Kombat : Joy has an impressive set of martial skills... learned from watching talk shows (!). She proved to Darnell street smarts are real by using a trick from MacGyver to save their lives. Idiosyncratic Episode Naming : Not every episode, but the vast majority of them read like an item from the list: "Made A Lady Think I Was God," "Made a Kid Scared of the Boogeyman," etc.

Most of the ones that don't read like this are the Something Completely Different episodes like "Our Cops is on!" and the first half of season three. Impersonating an Officer : Earl once stole a cop's badge and used it to get free food and other stuff. Then someone stole it from him. Improbably Cool Car : One of the obnoxious students has a mint 1967 Chevrolet Camaro, despite being sixteen and in a town implied to be largely poor and rundown. An early episode has Earl get back the first-gen Mustang his father bought intending to give to Earl when he turned sixteen. The Mustang is never mentioned or seen after that episode. To be fair, Earl stored it at his parents' and only a few episodes involved them, not their garage. Incest Subtext : Earl and Randy are good brothers and the motel room is small, but it's still weird that Randy pedicures Earl and knows what his nipples taste like. Earl and Randy sleep in the same bed. Their usual wake up routine includes Earl announcing to Randy some variation of "Wakey wakey, hands off snakey." In one episode Earl announces "Rise and shine...

hands off mine!" Incredibly Inconvenient Deity : Karma (well, the Theme Park Version of it, anyway) is portrayed this way. Earl has to stick to his list, even when Being Good Sucks . Otherwise, Karma punishes either him, or people around him (such as a beautiful professor he had recently started dating). Inelegant Blubbering : All the prisoners in Earl's cell block engage in this. Inheritance Murder : Earl wins the lottery shortly after his wife Joy divorced him. Joy is upset that she will not get a share of the money but remembers that Earl once made a video where he stated that should he die, Joy should get all his property. Based on this, Joy attempts to kill Earl. She fails multiple times and when Earl realizes what is going on, he informs her that he has already had a new will drawn up and she will get nothing if he dies. Instantly Proven Wrong : On one episode we find out that Earl and Joy once sold an Alleged Car to a man. Earl tries to right this wrong only to find out that the experience left the man bitter and pessimistic about society and seemingly plans to kill everyone.

Earl tries to change his mind by showing him that people can be nice. Unfortunately, he tries to track down the car and finds that everyone who's owned it did the same thing as Earl and Joy. He later gets Darnell to pretend he was the last owner who sold the car for scrap used to build a playground. In the narration, Earl says that he thought karma would forgive this falsehood. But then the car that was supposedly scrapped drives by. The Internet Is for Porn : Inside Probe 2 — "For anyone out there who is not aware of the vast array of pornography on the Internet, you are about to become far less productive" Also, Randy calls laptops "porn-machine". Kafka Komedy : The basic premise for the show after Earl makes his Heelï¿½Face Turn . Karma Houdini : Deliberately averted - the characters tend to get what's coming to them while at the same time learning life-lessons and becoming better people. Keeping Secrets Sucks : The entire basis of one Christmas Episode. Knife-Throwing Act : Earl volunteers to be on the target to help win a mother and daughter beauty pageant.

The knife-throwing girl doesn't want to spend her life doing pageants though, so Earl encourages her to "accidentally" hit him in the leg during the act. He forgot how much getting stabbed hurt. In an act of Art Imitates Art, or something like it, the knife-throwing daughter is played by Chloe Grace Moretz, who went on to play Hit Girl in Kick-Ass . Laser-Guided Karma : The entire basis of the show is in showing this exists. Laser Sight : On a sniper rifle. A boy who Earl crosses off his list shows up at the motel asking to live with Earl since Earl was nice to him and his parents aren't. When Earl tells him he can't, the boy pretends to have been kidnapped and a SWAT team arrives at the motel. During the standoff, Randy notices a red dot on Earl's back, prompting him to drop to cover. Medium Blending : Randy's drug-induced claymation. Meta Casting : Most of the more unusual recurring actors on the show are actually very much like their characters. Didi, the one legged girl hopping around, is played by an actress who only has one leg.

Ruby Whitlow, Joy's deaf attorney, is played by well-known deaf actress Marlee Matlin. Norm MacDonald gets one as Little Chubby: Chubby was played by Burt Reynolds, whom MacDonald played on Saturday Night Live Metaphorgotten : Inverted by Randy who, after he allowed two convicts to walk into an ice cream shop unsupervised, was offered the 'bull in a " Chinese " shop' analogy by Frank: "How could you even get a bull in a Chinese shop? The doors would have to be huge. And even if you managed to get him in there all he would do is start wrecking... oh." And the real kicker here? Frank wakes up from a nap in the prisoner van when Randy tells him they've stopped for ice cream and warns him it's a hell of a mistake. When Randy runs off to keep his prisoners from trying to make a run for it he discovers they really only got ice cream, didn't try to ditch him, and chastise him for not trusting them, but then come to realize it was a wasted opportunity and never crossed their minds. Unfortunately, Randy repeated his mistake by leaving Frank unsupervised with the van unlocked- and he jumped on the chance to escape.

Monster of the Week : In the form of the individual improprieties Earl sets right episode by episode. Motionless Makeover : Ernie's Crab Shack has a Christmas tradition that the first one to pass out drunk gets to be the Christmas tree. Mundane Made Awesome : The National Bagging Competition. Murder Is the Best Solution : The Crazy Witch Lady thinks killing people is the best way to deal with all the idiots in Camden that tormented her over the years. Also Darnell agrees that killing Catalina is the best way to hide that Joy tried to drunkenly run her over with a mower in an effort to prevent Joy getting her third strike offense. Naked People Are Funny : One episode featured a former stoner who joined an outdoorsy environmentalist group which included some nudists. In particular, an old woman tastefully sitting in a garden. Also, when Frank posts a nude photo of himself on a billboard in an attempt to win his ex-girlfriend back.

Never My Fault : John the Artist from "Burn Victim" when Earl arranges an apology with his parents for burning their house down he thought they were there to apologize to HIM , eventually Earl gave him some Laser-Guided Karma by burning all his paintings and claiming he wasn't in control of his own actions prompting a Heel Realization No Theme Tune : Usually, but there are moments that invoke its use, such as the episode with the stolen silverware and "My Name Is Earl" parody openings for each character, and when Earl gains respect in prison at the end of the episode and pulls a Title Drop . Noodle Incident : Most everything is explained, but one Running Gag is Darnell's unexplained proficiency with weapons and Pressure Point 's. Darnell was a trained by and worked for his father as a secret agent. The reason he is in Camden is that he is in Witness Protection. And there is all that worry over his love of cheese... The bullet hole in the motel and the bloodstained sheets. Most notably, the night Joy's half sister paid her prom date to stab her and left her with a scar she apparently hand-stitched back together. We don't know what motivated it, nor have we actually seen the scar.

Earl mentions a couple during his lecture in "The Professor." These include the reason the Air Force didn't shoot him, the amusement park, and what he was doing with the Ginsu knives. Ginsu knives could cut through cans, but not bones. So now I'm stuck in a trap and bleeding. Oh My Gods! : Earl's "Holy Moses!" and Joy's "Oh Snap!" Only a Flesh Wound : Earl gets stabbed, shanked, and shot in different episodes. Only Sane Man : Earl, well, eventually anyway. At first he is just another Camden idiot, but by about halfway through the run he has become the only person with a working brain in Camden. It even becomes a plot point in the Prison-Arc where the Warden needs Earl simply because of this. Darnell also fits the role at times, but his shades of Conspiracy Theorist prevent him from fully qualifying. Our Nudity Is Different : In one episode, a foreign Sikh neighbor denies spying on Joy in her trailer and says "Look at the way she dresses! I can see her elbows any time I want to!". Out-of-Context Eavesdropping : Happens during Earl's coma fantasy .

Earl is the star of a 1950's style Dom Com in his head, and he is married to a friend's ex-girlfriend that Earl was attracted to. She is pregnant, and conversing with Joy (their next-door neighbor) about a really awesome guy. Earl thinks she's talking about a gigolo...it turns out she's referring to a doctor. The Outside World : Near Camden County there's a Camdenite settlement, Camdenites being their version of Amish. Every teen is expected to leave the settlement and explore the outside world, and decide for themselves whether to stay away or return. In the past Earl & Randy made a point of greeting the visiting Camdenite girls and ruin them for the settlement. Overly Long Gag : During "Inside Spot" Part one, we see, through a slideshow, that Earl has never appeared in a picture with his eyes open, starting back to when he was a baby. Pointed out repeatedly in the DVD Commentary that making something longer than it really should be is part of the joke, like Joy playing Red Rover with senior citizens and spending 30 seconds on a lady trying to cross the gap with a walker.

The Password is Always "Swordfish" : When trying to return a stolen laptop to its owner, Randy tries to figure out the computer's passcode, only to conclude it's hard to think of a word you wouldn't think of. Person as Verb : Joy tried to sneak in past her accidental hostage, thinking he was asleep, when he managed to get past her in his underwear because he stuffed his regular clothes to make it look like he was taking a nap. Joy exclaimed, "Son of a bitch Ferris Bueller'd me!" A purely in-universe version occurs when Darnell "pulls a Castro" on Little Chubby. The Plan : Earl pulls off a fairly impressive one in "Orphan Earl." It borders on Gambit Roulette , but each step of the plan was well explained after it was accomplished. Posthumous Character : Josh, the guy Joy locked in the truck in the beginning of season 2, died from an unrelated accident. Since then, an episode revolved around Earl giving him a decent funeral, and he made a few more appearances, the latest one being in the penultimate episode. Ernie , the Crab Shack's original owner, vanished under unknown circumstances several years ago.

Geraldo Rivera is able to piece together that he vanished during a blackout caused by someone hoisting the Central flag on the roof of the Shack (the small nation Camden tried to form during the Civil War when it refused to take sides), while he was trying to switch out tapes for the hidden camera in the ladies bathroom he used to generate exploitable content for his porn site business. The flagpole caught a power line when Darnell tried to remove it and caused a blackout. Eddie tripped, and fell down in the darkness. knocking him out cold at the worst possible time- right as he landed in a pool of fresh cement laid down to coat the bathroom floor, which he sank into, and it entombed him when it hardened. Since nobody ever figured out what happened to him all that time, he was in there so long it's almost assured he died- except his nose managed to stay above the surface, perhaps allowing him to breathe and stay alive until he finally kicked the bucket - unless his lungs had filled with cement. Everyone thought his nose was just an odd doorstop until then.

And then Randy opts to instill us viewers with horror when everyone leaves the bathroom- he gives Ernie a Mercy Kill by clamping his nostrils shut while smiling and shushing him. If Ernie was still alive somehow, Randy's done something unspeakable. Power Walk : "The Gang" has one when they get together to scratch the hot dog cart off the list. The Powers That Be : This is what karma is considered to be in this show. Pregnant Hostage : In "Randy in Charge (...of Our Days and Our Nights)", Earl has to point out to Frank that the very pregnant Joy makes the perfect candidate for a hostage situation. Prison Episode : The first half of season three is a series of prison episodes. Punishment Box : The prison has a 2 person "Hot Box"; there's a chain-link fence between the two sides of the box, but there's also a hole in the fence big enough to put your arm through. Prosthetic Limb Reveal : In the backstory, Earl once slept with a woman who only had one leg. He didn't know she only had one leg until the next morning when she got out of bed.

It freaked him out and he ran away, leading to #86 on the list: "Stole a car from a one legged girl." Punch! Punch! Punch! Uh Oh... : Joy is certainly no stranger to fighting, but she finds herself on the bad end of this trope dealing with a psycho lady who wanted comatose Earl as her husband. This includes using a phone as one of the punches... "Damn, and that was my go-to." Real Life Writes the Plot : Jaime Pressly was pregnant during the second season, hence the written-in surrogate pregnancy. Reckless Gun Usage : Chubby had a squirt gun full of vodka he used to top off patrons' drinks at his strip club, and an identical-looking real gun. He didn't learn from his mistake when he shot a drink with the wrong gun on-screen. You can all guess how he died off-screen. Remember When You Blew Up a Sun? : Several instances.

One (from "Stole an RV") even doubles as Overly Long Gag , summing up a complete season (plus the last few episodes of another): Earl (to Joy) Listen, do you still have that real doll you bought to make Darnell think you're in bed when you ran to Mexico to avoid the cops but got caught by Dog the Bounty Hunter, went on trial and I went to prison for it then got out and got hit by a car and went into a coma where I thought I was living in a sitcom world? Retcon : Darnell's Witness Protection backstory wasn't worked out until late in the first season, when they already had several visits from his extended family. Admitting the goof-up, Greg Garcia Hand Waved it by saying Darnell found some way to sneak his family into town. The fourth season Darnell also handwaves the extended family bit, saying his Grandma wasn't really his grandma. Retro Universe : Camden is stuck in the 80's with a dash of early 90's. Modern technology is shown as being a very foreign object to most people. Earl bumped a computer mouse while it was on a fish tank screensaver and he was visibly confused over what happened.

In general, tape recorders are on large spools, TVs are never flat-screen or hi-def, very few people have cell phones (cordless phones have metal extendable antennas) and there is a lot of flannel. A Round of Drinks for the House : Earl & Randy discover that if a golfer hits a hole in one the tradition is for that golfer to buy a round for everyone in the clubhouse. So they make sure that that golfer gets a hole in one every time. CSI: Miami , in the form of the Memetic Mutation joke regarding Horatio Caine's "witty comment, sunglasses, YEAHHHHHH". 24 was parodied in "My Name Is Alias". The local convenience store is the Quick Stop . Also something of an Actor Allusion , given that both Lee and Suplee have appeared in View Askew films. During the Season 2 episode "The Trial," Dodge and Earl Jr. are running around popping firecrackers with "Sister Christian" playing in the background. Show Within a Show : The completely fictional game show Estrada or Nada and two fictional episodes of Cops centering around Camden.

Sitcom Arch-Nemesis : Joy and Catalina for each other, probably in a competition as the two eye candies of the show. Sinister Shiv : One of the episodes set in prison centres around Earl attempting to make a shiv for one of his fellow inmates. He takes inspiration from a display of shivs in the warden's office that has a sign reading "Do Not make Any of These". Sliding Scale of Realistic Versus Fantastic : Most of the Karma's actions are mundane, but Earl's recovery while being in coma thanks not to the medical treating, but the List is almost a clear supernatural intervention. Stunned Silence : When Randy busts out an impressive opera solo in preparation for "Estrada Or Nada" Joy and Earl just stare in stunned amazement. Also, everyone in the courtroom while the prosecuting attorney plays Earl's 911 calls over Joy's crazy behavior. Superstition Episode : In an episode Randy makes Earl stay where he is because a black cat crosses his path; then just as the 5 hours (or however long it's supposed to take for the bad luck to dissipate) is up, it crosses his path again.

Earl takes this as a sign from Karma to do a list item where he stole a woman's cat. Earl: "How's your English going?" Nescobar: "I speak better than you, bitch." Too Dumb to Live : A lot of the Camden residents fall under this, but Randy definitely takes the cake. Tranquil Fury : Joy normally would go full on Unstoppable Rage if anyone crossed her, but when she was trying out some "happy pills" to help with her legal troubles nothing could faze her... until their neighbors accidentally hit Earl Jr. with a beer can. In her approach to them she remained perky and sweet but she basically said "I look sweet right now but I am going to stop taking those pills and we'll see what happens in a few days..." Trapped in TV Land and Dream Land : The infamous coma episodes, in which Earl thinks he lives in a 50's Sitcom world. Twitchy Eye : Earl has this when stressed. Ugly Guy, Hot Wife : Played with in multiple instances. There was Randy and Catalina, whose marriage was purely for the green card.

Randy did love her, but she considered them Just Friends until an Unrequited Love Switcheroo . Then there was the sadistic fast food manager, who managed to have a hot wife and a hot mistress on the side, which caused Earl some doubts about how karma works. Jason Lee sure isn't unattractive, but Earl is portrayed as a slob, wearing the same clothes for weeks on end, his hair always a mess and that enormous mustache. Still, he's picked up several very attractive women, including marrying Joy and Billie. Inverted with Frank and Billie's cousin, and the Earl's Fourth Date Marriage to Ralph's mother, especially when she leaves him for the elderly lead singer of Phish Tahko. Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny : Earl and Randy arguing about children's show characters, Joy and Darnell about Joy's relatives. Uncatty Resemblance : Every cat in the Camden Cat Show. The Unfair Sex : Zig-zagged in "Look Who's Coming Out of Joy," a Whole Episode Flashback filling in the details surrounding Joy cheating on Earl with Darnell.

Previous episodes skimmed it over and even Played for Laughs but here her actions weren't condoned, although it did soften her a little with regards to the circumstances . The episode shows that Earl did take the news hard after it sunk in and technically left her for an afternoon before his dad convinced him to stick with a cheating wife and two kids that weren't his. But the interesting thing is his dad didn't really like Joy and only did it so that Earl knew what it meant to take care of someone (and keep Earl from moving back in with him). In hindsight Earl considers it the only decent thing he did before he found karma, and while he and Joy never really loved each other for the time they were together they needed each other. Unfortunate Item Swap : Chubby has two guns, a real gun and an identical-looking water pistol he keeps filled with vodka. He accidentally kills himself (offscreen, between episodes) when he tries to squirt some vodka into his mouth with the wrong gun. Wheel o' Feet : Hilariously used in a police sketch of the titular character. When She Smiles : Gwen from the Season One episode "B.B." Played by Miriam Shor. Where Da White Women At? : Joy and Darnell.

Plus the finale makes it obvious Joy probably did at least one other black guy. Inverted with Liberty and Ray Ray. Whole Episode Flashback : Lots of these. And the narration in general makes it seem like Earl is recounting every story from a time far distant in the future. Whole Plot Reference : The episode "Get a Real Job"'s "A" plot is an Affectionate Parody to Rudy, with Charles S. Dutton even redoing his iconic speech. Win Your Freedom : A item of the third season: the more deeds Earl did for the warden, the more time he got knocked off his sentence. It even applies to "Early Release", despite the warden shredding Earl's certificates and refusing to let him leave early. All it took was Darnell crashing into the warden's office, and unintentionally giving Earl some blackmail material.

Question: What is Earl's band called in the TV series My Name is Earl?
Answer: Phish Tahko