Newsradio-E70/S4-Balloon 1/3

Jimmy announces he is going around the world in a hot air balloon. Bill switches from cigarettes to chewing tobacco.

At the end of this episode, when Bill (Phil Hartman) tells Dave that he's gone back to using (nicotine) patches, it's a reference to the first season's third episode 'Smoking' where Bill tries to quit smoking and Dave goes to the doctor to get himself prescribed nicotine patches which he gives to Bill and Bill ends up overdosing.

In the final shots of the episode, Bill gets curious and tries to use the nicotine patch like it was a piece of chewing tobacco. The last shot is an ambulance racing down the street, presumably taking Bill to the hospital, again. Though this wasn't the last episode of the season, it was the last one NBC re-ran before airing season 5's premiere, "Bill Moves On," where it's revealed that Bill died at his home of a heart attack.

Jimmy: Using a lot of people is exactly what went wrong back in Dallas.
Probably a reference to the John F. Kennedy assassination and the various conspiracy theories involving it. These ideas were depicted in great detail in Oliver Stone's film JFK.

Bill: Who's on first?
Jimmy: I don't know.
Bill: Third base!
Bill and Jimmy engage in an impromptu recreation of Abbott and Costello's famous 'Who's On First' comedy routine.

Jimmy: In the grand tradition of Phineas Fogg...
Jimmy is referring to the lead character of Jules Verne's novel 'Around the World in 80 Days' an eccentric and rich Englishman who takes a bet he can circle the globe in 80 days. However like so many other people, Jimmy actually gets the name wrong. The character was Phileas Fogg.

Bill: Looks like I picked a hell of a day to stop smoking.
Bill quotes Lloyd Bridges' performance as McCrosky in the 1980 hit comedy Airplane. In both cases a high pressure situation involving air travel causes the character to revert to self destructive behavior.

Jimmy: Riddle me this, boy wonder...
Jimmy channels Frank Gorshin's performance as the Riddler on the Batman TV series.

Category:

Comedy

Tags:

• sitcom
• maura
• tierney
• phil
• hartman
• stephen
• root
• dave
• foley
• andy
• dick
• vicki
• lewis
• joe
• rogan
• khandi
• alexander
• jon
• lovitz

[monkeyross]

well done you picked up on a spelling mistake, kudos to you.

[ironfrog77]

Thank you for the help! This is my favorite episode.

"I"m ballonning my ass off"

That's high quality humor.

[SChamp]

0.28 is Jimmy's impromptu audition for a hip-hop track

[spacecowboy5000]

This was the first episode of News Radio I ever saw. I remember thinking what a strange group of human beings. Watching the rest of the series showed me how truly weird they were. This is probably the best ensemble cast on tv ever. Nothing else compares.

[singedrac]

"Looks like I picked a hell of a day to stop smoking." is originally from the Serious Drama "Zero Hour", a black and white film which Airplane was parodying and took several scenes and lines from.

[thayesthe10]

It's funny how Joe makes a model Hot Air Ballon a little under 7 bucks with a $15,000 budget. I guess the remaining $14,000 was spent on lighting. Best part of this epsode.

[00Billy]

When Lisa claps at Mathew......its sexy somehow...

[LeppKingGathbertI]

excellent more info aphid. lol AP-ocolypt - H - ybr - ID aphid. LOL he hehe

[ironfrog77]

Ballonning? What the hell is ballonning? Is it similiar to ballooning?