Let's Go to the Hop

Let's Go to the Hop is an episode from the second season of the FOX animated television series Family Guy. The episode was first broadcast on June 6, 2000. It was written by Matt Weitzman and Mike Barker, and it was directed by Glen Hill; guest starring Greg Allman as himself.

Plot summary

Template:Spoiler When a Colombian drug cartel airplane crashes near Quahog, exotic toads invade the ecosystem. High school students soon realize that licking the toads gets them high. Lois discovers a toad in Chris's laundry and decides something must be done. To combat the new drug trend, Peter goes undercover as a high school student named Lando Griffin (a reference to Lando Calrissian from The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi), no relation to Meg Griffin. Lando becomes very popular by smashing the jukebox in the cafeteria and bleeding after a botched attempt to imitate the Fonz. His song and dance number "Give Up the Toad Now" convinces the students to give up toad-licking. Meg asks Lando out to a school dance in order to boost her popularity. Peter, as Lando, goes behind her back and asks Connie D'Amico, the most popular girl in school, to be his date so it will be like dating a girl he tried to ask while in high school, but accidently injured her. Lois is furious at Peter and forbids him to go. He sneaks out anyway. Lois convinces Meg to go to the dance by herself. Lando is about to be crowned king of the dance when he sees Meg in the audience. He tells the crowd that he doesn't deserve Connie and apologizes to Meg. Lando leaves the dance on his motorcycle never to be seen again.

Cultural references

• The title is the refrain to the 1957 rock and roll hit "At the Hop" by Danny and the Juniors.
• The two teenagers at the beginning of the episode are, oddly enough, arguing over which is “cooler” the Iron Age or the Bronze Age
• The effects of toad licking cause one of the teenagers to “finally get” Aaron Sorkin’s cult television show Sports Night; “it’s a comedy that’s too good to be funny,” referring to the show’s complex but dry humor.
• The Griffins watch a Doublemint Gum commercial featuring conjoined twins, a parody of the brand’s commercials featuring identical twins.
• A slang term for licking toads is "Doing Kermit", a reference to Kermit the Frog.
• Chris harasses a group of Sea-Monkeys, brine shrimp marketed as a novelty "pet," in his room. Chris' Sea-Monkeys are apparently much more complex than the typical shrimp.
• A poster for the pop band Hanson can be seen hanging in Meg’s room.
• A cutaway shows Judge David Souter picking-up a cherry with his butt cheeks and dropping it into a glass of beer as an initiation rite to join the Supreme Court. He is egged on by the other members of the court. Strangely, justices Clarence Thomas and Ruth Bader Ginsberg, both of whom were appointed after Souter, are seen in the group.
• The anti-toad licking public service announcement parodies a classic Tootsie Pop ad.
• Lois and Peter enact S&M-themed foreplay with “banana” as the safeword, the uncommon phrase used to end an S&M theme if a participant is having apprehensions.
• In a cutaway to "the good old days" of public education a girl correctly recites the quadratic formula, causing the class to deem her a witch and stone her. This is a reference to the Salem witch trials and the atmosphere of sexism and paranoia that facilitated it.
• Lando fakes his way through saying slang terms, one of them being "Poppin' Fresh", a reference to Pillsbury.
• Peter attempts to imitate Happy Days character Fonzie by saying the catch phrase “Aaaay” and pounding on a juke box in order to get it to start.
• When Peter goes to detention, he exclaims, “Holy crap! It’s the Breakfast Club!" However, instead of the gang from the 1985 teen movie, he sees several breakfast cereal mascots including Toucan Sam, Tony the Tiger, the Trix Rabbit, Lucky the Leprechaun, and Cap'n Crunch. Tony The Tiger's line about how his dad gave him cigarettes for Christmas is similar to a line in the movie.
• Peter spray paints "Thompson Twins Rule" on a school wall, referring to a 1980s new wave band.
• The song "Give Up The Toad Now" is based off of "You're The One That I Want" from the 1978 film Grease.
• Lando hopes Lois will make Steak Ums for dinner.
• Peter says “not only did I live long enough to see Meg go to her first prom but I’m taking her to it. Thanks, Geritol,” parodying that product's slogan.
• Peter writes a book report on Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, leading to a fantasy sequence in which Stewie handles Twist’s situation more aggressively.
• Peter turns to an Allman Brothers Band poster and asks Gregg Allman “how did you handle it when life got you down?" Allman answers, “I did a lot of drugs and married some broad named Cher. And I don't recommend either one of them.”
• Peter resolves to "fight for my right to party," referencing the Beastie Boys' 1986 release "You Gotta Fight for Your Right (To Party)".
• When Peter slips from his roof, Marvel Comics superhero Spider-Man saves him.
• At the prom, Peter dances to the 1988 Billy Ocean hit “Get out of My Dreams, Get into My Car”
• “Lando” says goodbye to his classmates saying "I will drive recklessly into the night, and up Dead Man's Curve," parodying the ending of the 1982 movie Grease 2.
• The ending of the episode mirrors the ending of The Breakfast Club, even the song “Don't You (Forget About Me)” by Simple Minds.

Notes

• It is true that some toads do produce venom that can a psychoactive effect. (see psychoactive toad), but merely licking the toad would not likely produce a strong effect. Also, there is no actual species of toad called the “Columbian Spotted Toad”
• Peter tells Chris that once he tried drugs and things “got way too real.” A flashback shows a non-animated person in a Peter costume, looking at his hands saying, "Holy crap, I am freaking out!" This is one of three uses of non-animated footage in Family Guy, the others were in the episodes “Mr. Griffin Goes to Washington and “Da Boom.”