A Smith in the Hand

Infobox American Dad! episode
Title = A Smith in the Hand
Series =American Dad!


Caption =Stan getting ready...
Season =1
Episode =9
Airdate =September 18, 2005
Production =1AJN10
Writer =David Hemingson
Director =Pam Cooke
Guests =
newspaper_headline = "Israel Pulls Out of Gaza, Gaza Not Pregnant"
Episode list =List of American Dad! episodes
Season list = Infobox_American_Dad!_Season_1
Prev =Bullocks to Stan
Next =All About Steve

__NOTOC__"A Smith in the Hand" is the 9th episode of the animated series "American Dad!". It features the special voice participation of Scott Menville (as Timmy/Kids), Peter MacKenzie (as Dr. Grossbard/Senator #1), Kevin Michael Richardson (as TV Announcer/Principal Lewis), Mike Henry (as Senator #2) and Mike Barker (as Dr. Heisler/Terry).

Episode summary

When Steve brings home a permission slip to take sex ed at school, Stan flips out and demands to Principal Lewis to get rid of it. But since it is required for Steve to graduate, Stan decides to teach the class himself -- with Steve as the only student. Stan proceeds to give an unrealistic explanation that demonizes sex and masturbation, so Steve won't give in to urges. Shortly after, he gets into an accident that damages his crotch when Steve accidentally burns it with a wood burner. Unable to comprehend what the instructions on applying lotion to his injured area, he calls the CIA doctor, who was in the middle of doing surgery on the Vice President. Due to misunderstanding, he assumes he has to masturbate to apply it. Soon, Stan becomes secretly hooked on masturbation. He uses up all his refills and traded his gun to get more lotion. He manages to avoid being found out by Francine, who feels he is no longer attracted to her. She tries to get breast implants but no size is good enough for her. Steve, who was responsible for his dad's accident, interprets his father's sudden reclusiveness as anger and disappointment in him. He begins to do all of his parents' chores around the house.

When Steve learns the truth about what his father is doing while cleaning near his window, Stan tries to get out of it by blaming television. Together, Stan and Steve convince the Senators to allow them hijack Langley Falls' TV network, and use it to broadcast Stan's anti-sex class, until Francine finally has enough of it and tells them that sexual feelings and arousal is natural, otherwise Steve will follow in Stan's exact footsteps, just good enough to put a stop to their enterprise. So Stan, knowing Francine is right, tells Steve the truth about sex... on live TV. When he nears the end, having traumatized the whole town and leaving Steve baffled, Francine stops him.

Meanwhile, Roger becomes a bartender in hopes of making something of himself. He refuses to accept it as pretend when Hayley comes to his bar. He takes her fake ID card she uses to get into bars. Later, Hayley tries digging around in his insides for her card, only to get a living pancreas from inside. It goes wild and Roger had to put traps laced with peanut butter to catch it.

Production

According to the American Dad DVD commentary (and collection of deleted and alternate scenes), there was a scene after Stan locks himself in the closet where Timmy (the boy from the "Wages of Self-Abuse" film) encourages Stan to masturbate.

Cultural references

* The way Klaus and Roger shout "Francine!" when she walks into Roger's bar is a throwback to NBC show "Cheers", where everyone would shout "Norm!" when he entered the bar.
* "The Simple Life - Life Without Parole" is a spoof of reality show, "The Simple Life", which, at one point, was going to have Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie in a prison.
* In "The Wages of Self-Abuse" quasi-educational video, two mythical consequences of excessive masturbation are portrayed: hairy palms and blindness.
* The song that is playing while Francine is going back to the bedroom to get her underwear is O Fortuna from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. (According to DVD commentary, this song was almost not used because the recording kept getting lost.)
* The shows that Stan throws off the air after he took over a TV network include "Wife Swap" and "SpongeBob SquarePants". The shows have been accused by conservatives of promoting homosexuality.
*Roger's line, "Oh, what fresh hell is this?" before it cuts to Stan singing on TV is actually a famous line from writer Dorothy Parker (which she said when she answered the phone) and the title of her biography.
*Stan Smith checks into the 'Bates Motel to have some "privacy".

Notes

* The title "A Smith in the Hand" is a parody of the proverb, "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."
* The episode was originally going to air on September 11, 2005; it didn't because it showed a picture of Osama Bin Laden.
* Stan's behaviour is known in psychology as reaction formation.
* Stan's buttocks were digitally blurred out during the airing of the episode on the FOX version, however on the Cartoon Network airing and on the DVD, it is uncensored.
* The cast performed this episode live at the 2005 Aspen Comedy Festival. The reading can be seen on the DVD.
* In this show, no one ever actually says the word "masturbation" (similar to the famous "Seinfeld" episode "The Contest", where Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer make a bet that none of them will pleasure themselves).
* The word "Fleischhosen" used by Klaus doesn't exist in German language (though, within the context of the part and the character background of Klaus being sexually attracted to Francine, "fleischhosen" could mean "erection").
* In the DVD commentary about the part where Stan says, "Sons have a complex relationship with their mothers--especially if they're as beautiful and sexy as "my" mother," Mike Barker, Matt Weitzman, and David Hemingson talk about a possible future episode where Stan is attached to his mother in an almost sexual way. The season three episode Oedipal Panties was from the idea that was pitched in the commentary.