King of the Hill/Rodeo Days

Rodeo Days
Season 4, Episode 12
Airdate	January 16, 2000
Production Number	4ABE11
Written by	Jon Vitti
Directed by	Cyndi Tang-Loveland
← 4x11 Old Glory	4x13 → Hanky Panky (1)
King of the Hill — Season Four

Rodeo Days is the twelfth episode of the fourth season of King of the Hill, and the seventy-second episode overall.

Starring: Mike Judge (Hank Hill, Boomhauer, Dooley), Kathy Najimy (Peggy Hill), Pamela Segall Adlon (Bobby Hill), Brittany Murphy (Luanne Platter, Joseph Gribble, Concerned Woman), Johnny Hardwick (Dale Gribble, Roy), Stephen Root (Bill Dauterive, Form Taker, Chet Howley)

and Toby Huss (Zip Twilley)

Also Starring: David Herman (Rodeo Announcer), Andrew Lawrence (Rodeo Kid)

Plot Overview

Hank encourages Bobby to participate in the rodeo's calf scramble for kids. However, Bobby soon finds himself becoming attracted to becoming a rodeo clown.

Notes

Stinger Quote

Zip: Here's your ass-pad, son.

Seen, But Not Heard

• Nancy Gribble

• John Redcorn

Trivia

Allusions and References

• The rodeo announcer invokes Mister Ed and its theme song when he calls out the horse Mister Dead with "A horse is a hearse of course, of course."

• Hank refers to Bobby as Ben Cartwright, the main character of the long-running western series Bonanza.

Memorable Moments

• Bobby comes out of the dressing room in cowboy chaps and stops in front of a mirror. Hank is horrified that Bobby isn't wearing pants and screams in horror as he gets a look via three different mirrors.

• Bobby and Joseph practise lassoing and try to snare the queen ant on Dale's bugabago. This sets off the alarm, which leads to Dale coming out with a shotgun. However, upon seeing it's just the kids, he laughs... then proceeds to cock the shotgun and menacingly demands they "untie the queen."

Goofs

• When Bobby confronts him, Zip has makeup under his nose. It's gone in the very next shot.

Quotes

• Bobby: This is nice country. Maybe I'll retire out here, tell 'em all to go to Hell.

Hank: This may seem like an exotic getaway from the hustle and bustle of the alley, but if you lived out here for a month, you'd go crazy.

Bobby: The cows seem happy.

Hank: Well, that's 'cause they're not bein' slaughtered. Talk to 'em again in two weeks.

• Hank: (seeing a propane tank made up like a cow) Madness.

• Luanne: The rodeo's cruel to animals. In nature, the bull lives peacefully with the giraffe.

• Peggy: It is brutal. My uncle was a cowboy in the rodeo. He had to leave Vietnam because he was waking up with rodeo nightmares.

• Joseph: Bobby is going to kick butt at that rodeo. Mister Dauterive is much smarter and faster than any baby cow.

Bill: Well, quicker over short distances.

• Bobby: We should do the rodeo together. All you need is your parents' permission.

Joseph: Aw, dad, can I?

Dale: Sure, son, you can ask your mom.

• Bobby: How'd you get that belt buckle? I want a belt buckle.

Form Taker: Well, I won the bull-ride in Tucson.

Bobby: Wow. How'd she get that buckle?

Form Taker: Well, that's a "Buckle Bunny" and she got that by bein', uh, friends with a cowboy.

Bobby: Hey, even if I don't win, I can be a Buckle Bunny!

Hank: Just give him the forms.

• Dale: (giving knife to Joseph) All right, Joseph, tie him tight, then quick and clean across the throat. He'll never feel a thing.

Hank: Uh, Dale. I think you just tie 'em up. There's no killing involved.

(Dale takes the knife back)

Dale: (to Nancy) We need to pick up something for dinner on the way home.

• Hank: Son, you're going to be up against farm boys. But we've fed you like a farm boy, so go get 'em.

• Zip: Okay, but if anyone asks, you're a midget.

Chet: He's too big to be a midget!

Zip: Nobody's gonna ask.

• Peggy: We had rodeo clowns in Montana. They are not just inconsiderate, they are diseased freaks who will cut your throat for your invisible dog.

• Hank: I tell you what, this rodeo's worked out pretty good for both our sons. I haven't heard the words "prop comic" since Bobby picked up a rope. And it keeps him away from the video games. He was playing this Tomb Raider game where he was a girl.

• Hank: Your first concussion. Now, don't fall asleep, son, both because you could die and because I want to tell you how proud I am. I mean, look at you, the bruises, the dirty clothes, the smell. You're all right. Is there anything I can get you?

Bobby: The blonde girl who lives here said I like fruit pies.

Hank: No, you don't. A tough guy like you? You like sports!

• Zip: Now, kid, it's hard for an old clown to admit he's made a mistake. It's a lot easier to just leave town and change your name.

• Dooley: You've got dust coming out of your butt.

• Hank: Maybe this is my fault. I kept clowns away from him as a child so he never got scared by one.

Peggy: Do not be so hard on yourself. It is not your fault. It's all my fault! My uncle wasn't a cowboy, Hank. He was a dirty, drunken rodeo clown!

Hank: Don't tell me. Uncle Boffo?

• Hank: You're not only a clown, you're a thief. I don't know which is worse. (beat) Clown.

• Hank: Bobby, I'm trying to help you. You see, a circus clown is a carny who's too stupid to flip a ride switch on and off. Now, you take a circus clown, roll him on the barn floor, and kick him in the head a couple hundred times and what have you got?

Bobby: Your son!

• Joseph: My time was so good, they made me take a drug test!

Dale: The only drug you're on is Gribblecillin. (to Hank) And you told me Gribblecillin would possess no performance-enhancing qualities.

• Hank: Cheer up, Bobby. Except for the cowboy and the man who straps the bull's genitals, there's nobody more important than the friend cheering in the stands.