King of the Hill/Smoking and the Bandit

Smoking and the Bandit
Season 9, Episode 12
Airdate	April 17, 2005
Production Number	9ABE10
Written by	Dan McGrath
Directed by	Cyndi Tang-Loveland
← 9x11 Redcorn Gambles with His Future	9x13 → Gone with the Windstorm
King of the Hill — Season Nine

Smoking and the Bandit is the twelfth episode of the ninth season of King of the Hill, and the one hundred eighty-third episode overall.

Starring: Mike Judge (Hank Hill, Boomhauer), Kathy Najimy (Peggy Hill), Pamela S. Adlon (Bobby Hill, Waitress, Son, Maitre 'd), Brittany Murphy (credit only), Johnny Hardwick (Dale Gribble), Stephen Root (Bill Dauterive, Bare-Chested Bartender)

Special Guest Voice: Henry Gibson (Bob Jenkins)

Special Guest Voice: Phil Hendrie (Roddy Rae Biffel, Dad, Manly Voice, Short Order Cook)

Special Guest Voice: Tone Lóc (Bouncer)

Also Starring: Dennis Burkley (Principal Moss), Ashley Gardner (Nancy Gribble, Second Waitress), David Herman (Bartender, Miguel Hernandez, Math Teacher, Really Old Bartender), Breckin Meyer (Joseph Gribble)

Plot Overview

After defying a no-smoking law and running off unidentified, Dale finds he's branded the Smoking Bandit. He soon finds through this identity that he gets the respect from Joseph he's been missing.

Notes

Stinger Quote

Dale: See you in the history books, people.

Seen, But Not Heard

• Dooley

• Clark Peters

Music

• Ken Doll - "Chill"

• Jessa - "Great Big Nothin'"

Trivia

The Show

• Johnny Hardwick was nominated for an Annie Award for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production for his work in this episode.

Behind the Scenes

• Peggy is suddenly working at the Arlen Bystander in this episode. That's because the episode that first introduces this story arc, "Bystand Me", was withheld until Season 10. It aired in place of "Bill's House".

Allusions and References

• The episode title is a play on the 1977 film Smokey and the Bandit.

• The ice cream store in the first scene is named Billy Sundae's, a play on the name of baseball player-turned-evangelist Billy Sunday.

Memorable Moments

• After Dale lights up a cigarette in a leather bar, he runs out out-of-breath, but satisfied in his defiance. It then cuts to the inside of the bar where everyone has resumed their affairs, as if nothing happened.

Quotes

• Hank: See, Dale, I'm a man of my word. You didn't cry when you got your tetanus shot, so ice cream's on me.

Dale: How much will you guys give me if I literally scream for ice cream?

• Joseph: Dude, let's run back and forth!

Hank: Bobby! Never run in a parking lot! Those cars look parked, but they could be driven by slow-moving seniors.

Bobby: Yes, sir. Sorry, dad.

Dale: Joseph, stop that.

Joseph: Yeah, in a minute.

Hank: Joseph, cut that out! It's dangerous.

Joseph: Okay. Sorry, Mister Hill.

Dale: Don't make Hank have to tell you again.

• Dale: Sure, today it's us smokers, but who tomorrow? Pudgy white guys with strange propane fixations?

• Hank: Dale, that smoking ban barely squeaked by. But it did pass, so it's the law.

Dale: That's awfully convenient. Especially since I didn't vote.

Bill: I voted! I guessed right four out of five times.

• Dale: How do I get my son to respect me?

Hank: Well, boys need their dads to be strong role models. You just need to, you know, be a man.

Dale: Dammit, Hank, I'm 42 years old. It's kind of late for me to start the whole "being a man" thing. Is there a short-cut or at least a - a website?

Hank: No.

Dale: This is gonna be tough. I can't even take that like a man.

• Nancy: Get this, sugs: "And the Sheriff vows to prosecute this rogue to the fullest extent of the law."

Joseph: Wow.

Dale: The - The fullest extent of the law?

Nancy: Mm-hmm. That's what the Sheriff vows.

Dale: But our extent is pretty full. We have a death penalty in this state a-and we're not afraid to use it.

• Dale: What have I done? I really Gribbled myself this time.

• Joseph: Dude, you're missing the message. You're not like the Bandit when you smoke. You're like him when you break the law and run away.

Bobby: I'm listening.

Joseph: He fights back. He disobeys unfair stuff, like, like homework, a-and math tests, and girls who tell other girls that I'm a dork.

Bobby: Math is so unfair. How are kids like us supposed to know all those answers?

Joseph: Yeah! No one has the right to teach us stuff we don't want to learn. That's what our Bill of Constitution's all about.

• Dale: The Bandit is making my own son defy me even more. It's pretty ironic.

Hank: How is that ironic?

Dale: Oh, well, uh, I'm probably just misusing the word ironic, as people so often do.

• Dale: You know, I don't really see why we have to go after the Bandit. This is one of those things that's funner to talk about than actually do.

• Hank: Don't they say criminals always return to the scene of the crime?

Dale: Uh, not if they don't want to get caught, Hank.