So Funny I Forgot to Laugh

This article is about the episode. You may be looking for the online comic.

"So Funny I Forgot to Laugh"
Main image Title card
Season/Series:	16
Number in season:	10a
Production code:	192A
Original airdate:	May 10, 2013 May 24, 2013[citation needed] April 25, 2013 December 14, 2012
Credits
Written by:	Peter K. Hirsch
Storyboard by:	Allan Jeffery
Episodes
Previous "Sue Ellen Vegges Out"	Next "The Best Day Ever"

Read transcript

"So Funny I Forgot to Laugh" is the first half of the tenth episode in the sixteenth season of Arthur.

Summary

Arthur thinks his jokes about Sue Ellen's new sweater are all in good fun but Sue Ellen's feelings are hurt. Has Arthur become...a bully?

Plot

Sue Ellen writes in her diary about the yak wool sweater that her Tibetan pen pal Tenzin recently sent her. And yet, she looks at the sweater differently now. Instead of thinking of just happy things, she now looks at it as a meaning for how mean people can be (foreshadowing what is to come).

So Funny I Forgot to Laugh

Sue Ellen unveils her new sweater on a cold day at school for the first time. Arthur cannot help joking about the sweater, saying that it makes Sue Ellen look like a giant sheepdog. Sue Ellen finds the joke funny, followed by the rest of Arthur's friends, who think the joke is funny, too. However, although it is simply slight, mild teasing at first, Arthur cannot seem to let it go. He frequently makes that same joke on Sue Ellen, using one sheepdog joke after another, back and forth. And even though Buster, Francine and Muffy have stopped laughing, what will not stop are the "funny" jokes created by Arthur (which actually becomes very hurtful as the episode progresses). Arthur even draws a picture of Sue Ellen's head on a sheepdog's body (with the words "Happy Sheepdog Appreciation Day" which are seen at the bottom of the paper) and tapes it to her locker. Sue Ellen reacts with anger upon seeing the insulting drawing, implying that the joke transitions from funny to hurtful. As Binky looks at the drawing as well, he, too, thinks that the drawing is offensive and unfunny, claiming that the sheepdog does not even look a bit like Sue Ellen and instead, looks like Fern as a goat, prompting him to shove the drawing into Arthur's chest and storm off.

Later, as Mr. Ratburn's class is dismissed, Arthur is surprised when Mr. Ratburn makes him stay behind. Mr. Ratburn tells Arthur that he is actually being a bully to Sue Ellen because he is continuously teasing her even after she told him to stop. Arthur tries explaining that it was only a joke, but Mr. Ratburn says that even jokes can be hurtful, too. Arthur promises to stop bullying Sue Ellen, to Mr. Ratburn's content. But, just as Arthur is about to go, Mr. Ratburn says they’re not finished with the conversation and still has more to say to him. As the scene wipe-transitions to The Sugar Bowl, it is revealed that Arthur has been told to write Sue Ellen an apology letter and is not happy about the situation at all (since he does not think that what he did was bullying and is worried that he will probably fail the history test). Buster consoles him, assuring him that once the latter writes the letter, everything will be alright by then. In his room, Arthur proceeds to get to work on the letter. At first, it's okay, but when the letter is given to Sue Ellen, the situation worsens when it is revealed that Arthur made it look like that it was Sue Ellen's fault and that is he is sorry for her overreacting manner. Francine, Muffy, and Sue Ellen realize that Arthur was not sorry at all (thus he destroyed his goal of apologizing to Sue Ellen). Until he gives Sue Ellen a real apology, they all agree to stop talking to Arthur (followed by Buster, offscreen).

At lunch, Arthur sits at the table and briefly chats with his friends, only to discover in less than a second that his friends are literally not speaking to him. When Arthur asks what's going on and demands for an explanation, Buster accidentally speaks to him, to Francine's anger. Arthur continues asking what the problem is, prompting Buster to speak to him again, to Muffy's anger. Irritated that Buster ruined the scheme, Muffy angrily tells Francine that they will just sit at another table away from Arthur, escalating the conflict. Arthur starts growing annoyed at what is going on, so he, again, asks Buster what the trouble is. Buster, who is still trying to keep from talking to Arthur, writes on a piece of paper with the words "Your letter to Sue Ellen", and shows it to Arthur. Arthur still has no clue, until Buster tells him how terrible the letter was, which is the reason why he is not speaking to him, and he leaves Arthur alone. Realizing his letter was indeed terrible, Arthur is shocked.

After school, Arthur catches up to Sue Ellen and tries explaining to her that he didn't mean to hurt her feelings. Then, he puts his hand in front of her (hoping for a handshake), asking if they can just forget about it and be friends again, but Sue Ellen asks if he still thinks that she overreacted. Unfortunately, he is unable to think if she overreacted or not. Therefore, Sue Ellen declines his apology and walks off, still hurt, much to Arthur's anger. Later, Arthur is shown at home, watching an episode of Bionic Bunny. After a few minutes, he turns it off and goes over to the phone to call Buster. Buster answers the phone and Arthur asks him what is he doing. Yet, Buster, who still tries his best to keep from talking to Arthur, places his hand on the phone and stays silent. Arthur irritably states that Buster literally just said hello. But, in order to avoid talking to Arthur, Buster only makes things worse by imitating a voicemail, and by the time he says "Bye, Arthur!", he hangs up the phone, much to Arthur's frustration and anger. Arthur angrily states how unfairly he's being treated for how he treated Sue Ellen and simply goes back to the living room.

That night, Arthur uses the computer. He is shown photo-shopping and cutting out the head from a picture of a sheepdog, and stitching the head onto Sue Ellen's body. He then e-mails it to her afterward. However, he appears to feel a pang of remorse after doing so.

Meanwhile, Sue Ellen is on the computer, doing her school assignment. She then sees the e-mail from Arthur. When she opens it, she sees the picture of her body with the sheepdog's head stitched on. Realizing that Arthur has gone too far with the bullying, she cries, and closes the picture on her computer. We then go back to where the episode started, with her writing in the diary. Sue Ellen puts her sweater in a bag and she goes to talk to her mother about something, which is obviously her issue of being constantly bullied by Arthur.

The next day, Arthur is at the clothing and food drive bin, donating some canned goods. Sue Ellen comes to the donation bin with her sweater in a bag, and attempts to donate it to the school's clothing drive. Arthur tries giving her an apology once again, but she still does not think that he really means it, replying "You thought I overreacted. I know. You've told me." and she turns around and leaves, and Arthur sighs, upset.

Later at lunch, Arthur is eating with Binky, Rattles and Slink. Binky asks Arthur if he's gonna eat the latter's beans, and Arthur, who is still upset about the situation and is in no mood for eating, gives his beans to Binky, who gobbles them up. At that moment, Francine and Muffy come to the lunchroom. Not seeing how upset Arthur is, they angrily confront him. Arthur, initially unaware why the two are angry at him, tells them that he was sorry for sending Sue Ellen that e-mail. When Francine ask what e-mail he was talking about, Arthur was about to admit it but asks if that was they were yelling him about. Muffy says no and tells him that she and Francine came to yell at him for making Sue Ellen ask to switch classes, to avoid being continuously picked on with the sheepdog insults. Arthur, shocked, could not believe it, and is horrified at the bad news. Francine adds that Sue Ellen doesn’t want to be in the same class with someone who picks on her continuously. Now opting to truly make it up to Sue Ellen for real, Arthur asks where she is. Muffy states that Sue Ellen was in the hall a few minutes ago, but angry reminds him that he already messed up real bad, as he runs to the hall.

Sue Ellen walks to her dad’s car and Arthur tries to catch Sue Ellen before she goes home, but she shuts the car door as the car drives off. Arthur then walks to the donation bin and he states that Sue Ellen can't be changing classes because of him. Arthur then sees the bag in the clothing drive and is surprised to see that the sweater is still there. He takes it from the clothing bin, looks at the sweater, and as he does so, he starts reminiscing about all of his repeated teasing and finally realizes that he has been a bully, how much it was bothering her, and that it is not funny anymore. Arthur then stops reminiscing and finally realizes that he bullied Sue Ellen and how far his teasing went. With that, he sadly shakes his head in regret. He probably wishes that if his friends warned him that if he didn’t stop his repeated jokes, she would want to change classes.

The next morning, at the school entrance, Sue Ellen walks to school, and Arthur walks up to her and says that he is not going to say anything mean and begs her to listen to what he has to say. At that moment, he finally makes a heartfelt and sincere apology, confessing that she did not overreact and that he has been a bully (as well as explaining that he originally did not realize how hurt she was, but now he did). He begs her not to switch classes because, among other things, he does not want to lose one of his best friends. Then, Arthur reveals that he is wearing Sue Ellen's yak sweater now and promises to do so for the rest of the year, as well as promising that he will never pick on her again if she forgives him. Sue Ellen accepts the apology (affirming their restored friendship), but adds that she will take her sweater back. Arthur states that the sweater is "the warmest thing he has ever worn". Sue Ellen even adds “And soft, right?” Sue Ellen then jokingly adds that it makes him look like a mouse and says "Squeak, squeak!", closing the episode.

Characters

Major

• Arthur Read
• Sue Ellen Armstrong

Minor

• Binky Barnes
• Buster Baxter
• Francine Frensky
• Muffy Crosswire
• Mr. Ratburn

Cameo

• Alex Davidson
• The Brain
• Fern Walters
• George Lundgren
• Jenna Morgan
• Ladonna Compson
• Maria Pappas
• Molly MacDonald
• Mr. Armstrong
• Nancy
• Rafi
• Rattles
• Slink
• Tenzin Wangdu

Mentioned

• Bionic Bunny
• Capri di Vapida
• Mrs. Armstrong
• Shrubman

Trivia

• Arthur appears to be the only one at home all alone, and neither D.W., Jane, David, Kate, and Pal are seen at home. However, Jane appears in unused footage in the game version on the episode.
• This episode is permanently available for free on the PBS KIDS Video app and website.
• Mr. Ratburn says they have no tolerance for people being bullied at the school but ironically nothing has ever been done about Binky, Molly, Rattles, and Slink bullying the other kids at the school.
• Moral: Some harmless jokes can start off funny, but at some particular point, they can eventually hurt people's feelings. And if friends tell you to stop picking on a friend or friends, take their advice. And overall, never make fun of a friend or friends (or anyone in general).
• In 2013, about 5 months after the original US air date of this episode, an online comic/game based on this episode was created for the Arthur website. Most of the timeline/lines/etc in the game remain unchanged from the episode.

Cultural references

• Sue Ellen is working on a report on Canadian athlete and cancer research activist Terry Fox when she receives Arthur's email.

Episode connections

• Arthur mentions when he was teased for wearing glasses in "Arthur's Eyes".
• Tenzin's last appearance, "Sue Ellen's Little Sister", was also a season finale.
• Sue Ellen teasing Arthur about looking like a mouse could be a reference to the character Andy/Alfred from the TV show "Alfred", a parody of the Arthur show itself. Alfred was seen in "The Contest" and "Baby Steps".
• This is actually the second time Arthur has made fun of someone for wearing unique clothes. He previously called Francine a marshmallow offscreen because of a weird sweater she wore, which ultimately led to the events that would occur in "Locked in the Library!". Both episodes feature girls being teased.
• It's ironic that Francine is among the people who are standing up for Sue Ellen, given Francine's notorious reputation throughout the series for not only picking on Arthur, but also Fern, George and Jenna. Among the episodes that showcase this are "Arthur's Eyes", "Arthur's Tooth", "Draw!", "Vomitrocious", "The Good Sport", "That's a Baby Show!", "Jenna's Bedtime Blues" and "The Cave".

Production notes

• A special preview broadcast of this episode and "The Last Tough Customer" was aired for North America on May 3, 2013, on Ovee.

Errors

• The clothes donation bin is still around during the winter, but in the episode "Spoiled Rotten!" it was already picked up during the fall before winter came; Muffy found that out when she was going to donate her sneakers, and Buster said that the donation bin was picked up.
• Arthur teases and makes fun of Sue Ellen's oversized sweater. When Francine and Muffy confront Arthur. And Muffy says that Sue Ellen is changing classes because of him. What all three girls and everyone fail to realize is that all of them share a class with a bully named Binky. He's been a bully a lot longer than Arthur has, but no one had ever changed classes because of him.

Home Video

DVD:

• Arthur Stands Up to Bullying

Gallery

Main article: So Funny I Forgot to Laugh/Gallery