A bat research doctor (Moss) is bitten by a cave bat and undergoes an accelerating transformation into a man-bat creature, which essentially ruins his honeymoon and causes considerable distress for his wife (McAndrew). [1] After committing a few murders and causing some mayhem, the man-bat makes love to his wife, infecting her with the bat contagion. The wife then kills the nasty local sheriff and joins her husband in the caves.
Marianne McAndrew also played Irene Malloy in the film version of Hello, Dolly!(Some of her scenes were featured in the Pixar filmWALL-E).
The Episode
Host Segments
Crow as Mary Richards, Mike as Ted Baxter, and Tom as Lou Grant
Prologue: Mike quizzes Crow and Tom on colors and the moods they invoke. All of them make Crow want to ask out Lisa Stansfield. ‘Eggshell’ horrifies the bots, which makes it the perfect color for Mike’s bathroom.
Segment One: Mike finds a color that makes the bots want to invest everything they have in steam-powered weaving machines. Pearl uses tactical misdirection so Mike and the bots won’t notice that she’s spraying poison on them, causing mutations.
Segment Two: Crow insists that he looks more like Mary Tyler Moore than the woman in the movie. Mike and Tom can’t deny that they didn’t forget that Crow is not Mary Tyler Moore. Mike does an impressive Ted Baxter!
Segment Three: Finding Mike unconscious with foam on his mouth, Crow and Tom assume the worst and begin to administer rabies shots. It turns out Mike simply fell asleep while eating a cream puff.
Segment Four: Mike seeks Pearl’s opinion on his new mustache, but Crow’s larger 'stache impresses her more. Tom, of course, takes the premise way too far.
Segment Five: Tom is unhappy with his franchise kit from the Buddy Ebsen Hat Distressing Corporation after he sees Crow’s franchise kit from the Red Skelton Hat Distressing Company. Down in Castle Forrester, Pearl torments Bobo and Brain Guy with slides from her many honeymoons and stories of the deaths of all of her husbands and fiancés.
Stellaluna is a children's book about a fruit bat.
"Oh!... Vikings... WHY!?"
This film was released during the same year as Super Bowl VIII, so this riff has some timely relevance. The Minnesota Vikings lost 24-7 against the Miami Dolphins, making it their second Super Bowl loss. (Incidentally this riff also carries over to the many Larry Csonka references made in The Final Sacrifice, as this was the game that won him MVP.)
Bread and butter is an superstitious phrase uttered by young couples to prevent bad luck.
"God, I hate festival seating!"
Festival seating is a seating method at concerts in which attendees are able to choose their own seats on a first come, first serve basis. The practice largely fell out of favor after eleven fans were asphyxiated by a rushing crowd before a Who concert in Cincinnati in 1979.
"I suppose Mary Slaney will blame a bat this time."
A reference to an incident in the 3000 meters race in the 1984 Olympics, in which Slaney, heavily favored to win a gold medal, collided with another runner (Zora Budd) and then blamed her for not getting out of the way.
"Hey, do Agony of Defeat again!"
A reference to the opening credits sequence from Wide World of Sports, in which the narrator mentions "the agony of defeat" over footage of a ski jumping accident.
"Suzy Chapstick and her husband Ron Chapstick."
Skier Suzy Chaffee was a spokesman for Chapstick lip balm in the 1970's. Supposedly she was so happy with the product's performance she changed her last name.
"Look honey, I'm doing daffies!"
The bat-ologist is swinging his legs on a ski lift in a way reminscent of how Daffy Duck would do the same while bouncing around going "Hoo-hoo!"
"I'm thirsty, let's tap those."
A reference to an ad campaign for Coors Light beer that featured the slogan "Tap the Rockies".
"Oh, Professor Firefly!"
A quote from the Marx Brothers movie Duck Soup, in which Groucho plays a character named Rufus T. Firefly.
"What would you say if I sang out of tune..."
From the Beatles song "A Little Help From My Friends", in particular Joe Cocker's famous performance of the song at Woodstock, which was punctuated by spastic movements quite similar to the patient's here.
"Rikki-tikki-tavi's waiting for you!"
A reference to the short story Rikki-Tikki-Tavi written by Rudyard Kipling. The main character is a mongoose that kills snakes.
"I'm mistaking you for a hat!"
An allusion to The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, a book in which neurologist Oliver Sacks details his experiences working with people with unusual mental conditions.
"Please protect us from Ozzy Osbourne."
Refers to the British heavy metal songwriter who was notorious in 1982 for biting the head off a bat during a performance
"His hands are small, I know, but they are his, they are not our own."
Security guard Richard Jewell was briefly suspected by the FBI of carrying out the Centennial Olympic Park bombing, and later sued several news media outlets for libel after his name was cleared.
"Man, this remake of the The Robe is pretty bad!"
The Robe was a 1953 film about the Roman soldiers who crucified Christ.
The Shakey's Pizza chain was popular in the United States during the 1960s and '70s, but its restaurants are now found mainly in Asia.
"Have you seen Mother or Jugs?"
Mother, Jugs, and Speed was a 1976 comedy film about ambulance drivers starring Racquel Welch, Bill Cosby, and Harvey Keitel.
*The doctor walks shakily towards the desert* Tom: "It's...!" *begins humming*
The show cuts to commercial before Tom could get far enough into the theme song to say "Monty Python's Flying Circus-us-us!". Reference to the opening sequence of the shows, where the "It's Man" would often run across vast landscapes to say "It's" before the opening theme.
"I think he'll be okay if he can just make it to the mountains of Busch!"
A reference to the advertising jingle for Busch Beer.
