Recapping the funniest moments from Season One of 'Mr. D'
Season One of Mr. D is chock-full of moments to watch our protagonist at his most awkward and absurd. Here are the funniest ones.
EPISODE 1 - Pilot
It's a small detail, but when the teachers at Sir Francis Xavier gather in the staff room on the first day of school, Vice Principal Robert Cheeley (Jonathan Torrens) strolls in and confidently shouts a ridiculous command in "French" that phonetically speaking, sounds something like "attention, c'estpperpep!" It is hugely perfect in every way.
Mr. D's basketball tryouts, in which he cuts and keeps students on the team for hilariously random reasons, is also a deeply pleasing scene, and additional hilarity points go to the scene where, after a student is busted for running in the halls, Mr. D demonstrates how a saucy speed-walk can help you avoid getting detention. It's all in the hips, guys.
EPISODE 2 - 24 Hour Famine
Mr. D. furiously bouncing a mini-basketball at his desk, trying to beat his dribbling record while a classroom of his students is trying to do silent reading is only made funnier by the fact that we have no idea what his criteria is.
EPISODE 3 - Grade the Teacher
Ever desperate to teach Phys. Ed., the opening scene where Mr. D. is earnestly demonstrating the concept of baseball in class using a metre stick for a bat culminates in a "walk-off" where he straight-up leaves his classroom, never to return. Great, bye!
EPISODE 4 - Exam Week
Every teacher atop the earth will relate to the scene where Mr. D, overwhelmed with a stack of exams he needs to mark, explains to Bill (Darrin Rose) his ridiculous system for powering through them faster. "A couple circles, and then sometimes 'too vague, too vague,' — that way I don't have to give her 100."
EPISODE 5 - Bully Awareness Week
Some of us fondly remember overhead projectors as a daily part of high school: JEALOUS? Hence our love of the opening scene where Mr. D can't figure out how to position the plastic sheet so it's right side up. Eventually he starts to physically contort his body to try and understand it before casually declaring "my machine is broken."
Bobbi's anti-bullying speech later in the episode, which starts because the Phys. Ed. students picked Mr. D last when choosing their teams, is a truly heartfelt and memorable moment.
EPISODE 6 - The Dance
If you've ever wondered what the lovechild of a drunken moonwalk, beginner Riverdance, and those crazy Russian squat-kicks would look like, may we recommend Mr. D's, uh, rad moves moments after he gets furious at everyone in the gym for failing to populate the dance floor.
EPISODE 7 - Job Opportunity
Ahhh yes, the always-very-comfortable moment where a middle-aged teacher would attempt to make a killer history pun only to be met with rows and rows of blank, confused faces. FUNNY OR PAINFULLY REAL? Both. Let's go with both.
EPISODE 10 - Field Trip
All hail the triumphant return of the tiny basketball from Episode 2. Mr. D stands in the aisle of his classroom, trying and failing to roll the ball down his back, and upon finally succeeding (sort of), he laughs with such genuine glee it makes me worry that I have in fact never known true joy.