037. The Zeppo (Buffy)

"I brought Marshmallows! Occasionally I'm callous and strange"

ORIGINAL AIRDATE: 26th January 1999
EPISODE NUMBER: Season 3, Episode 13
WRITTEN BY: Dan Vebber

Truly an underrated gem in Buffy's catalogue, The Zeppo is a fresh, original and inventive episode that began to expand the limits of the show.  The influences this episode has since had are numerous, but most notable is on Russell T Davies' Doctor Who reboot, which had several Doctor-lite episodes inspired by this Xander-centric tale.

The episode deals with Xander's insecurity in the group. A regular Joe in amongst a Slayer, a witch, a vampire, and a werewolf makes him feel he has little to contribute. Seeing the show through Xander's eyes is fun, as the apocalypse plot takes a back seat to undead hijinks.

Very meta and self-aware, the episode gets a lot of laugh from cranking up the melodrama and deliberately ommitting supposedly "important" scenes and playing it straight. But let it be said that The Zeppo is a very funny episode in its own right. What is zombie frat boy Bob's first reaction to being pulled out of his grave? To catch up on his favorite TV show. There's also the brilliant scene where Xander's questioning ends early after his subject gets his head knocked off by a mailbox.

The format takes a little while to get used to, but once it gets going, it's a riot.

036. David Bowie (Extras)

"Pathetic little fat man. No-one's bloody laughing. The clown that no-one laughs at, they all just wish he'd die"

ORIGINAL AIRDATE: 21st September 2006

EPISODE NUMBER: Season 2, Episode 2

WRITTEN BY: Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant

Extras season 2 was a drastic improvement on a show that was already good. I firmly believe it is Gervais' best work. The concept of a no-name extra scrambling for fame has taken a new development, as Andy does become a star, yet finds it isn't what he expected. Many laughs are delivered as hi day goes from bad to worse. Cleaned out by a tramp, blowing his chance of a date, to being the laughing stock of a whole club.

This episode also fully utilizes the Barry/Darren dynamic, often the unsung heroes of the show. Seeing them squabbling over Darren's payment for Barry's roofing is a great scene, as is their cringe-inducing attempt at picking up girls. There are plenty of other great scenes too, and Maggie has one of her best moments as she tries to salvage a botched autograph attempt.

David Bowie is the guest of the week, and whilst he doesn't really play with his persona as other guests have done, he provides plenty of laughs with his song, serving as the cruelly hilarious finale. It's mean-spirited, but that often makes the jokes funnier. Andy being mistaken for a frog in the same episode is another example of Gervais being able to laugh at himself. It can be argued Andy brought the incident on himself, which is why I love the end scene so much when he goes to spend time with the fans that he had previously mocked and been condescending to. I guess sometimes he actually does learn a lesson.

035. Jaynestown (Firefly)

"Our love for him now ain't hard to explain. The hero of Canton, the man they call Jayne"

ORIGINAL AIRDATE: 18th October 2002
EPISODE NUMBER: Season 1, Episode 7
WRITTEN BY: Ben Edlund

There's a lot of great characters in Firefly, but this episode was Jayne's chance to shine, as we arrive on a planet where he's hailed as a hero, after accidentally dropping a bag of money onto the houses of the "mudders".  But obviously not everyone is happy to see Jayne back, and Boss Higgins plots to take him down. Jayne proved he was up to the task of having an episode center on him and was brilliant throughout.

The scene where the minstrel sings the song about Jayne is some brilliant comedy. Simon's reaction is the funniest, wondering if he is "going mad", seeing his nemesis being heralded with praise. And if you want more laughs, check out Book's hair.

The concept of the episode was great, because Jayne is the character least deserving of hero status. He's selfish, arrogant and completely lacking in morals and class. And he knows it. The guilt he feels when his secret is exposed feels genuine, and gave it a sombre climax.

It also leads to a great ending, where Mal explains that the people needed something to believe in, whether it was true or not. He then caps the episode off with a great quote: "every guy who got a statue made of him was one kind of sonuvabitch of another".