TVSquad

(S02E10) One of the things that has made this season of Tom Goes to the Mayor so great is the guest stars. They haven't just used comedians with the same knack for irreverence as Tim and Eric, such as Tom Kenny and Michael Ian Black, but also actors like Judd Hirsch and Robert Loggia who aren't necessarily strangers to comedic acting, but simply have a different approach. Watching Black act like a goofball is fun and all, but it's not surprising. Seeing Hirsch behave in a similar fashion is surprising because we're not used to seeing him that way, and it makes the show all the more fun to watch.

John C. Reilly, a man known for dramatic, albeit quirky, roles in film, shows off his comedic chops in this episode as a mentally-unbalanced man who befriends Tom through a MySpace-like site called "Friendship Alliance." Tom hasn't even been on the site for more than a minute when John sends him a message to meet at Sauceman's, a "house-style saucehouse restaurant" where you can dip your food into over 3,000 different sauces. Tom was only logging onto the site to add his profile (he's the step-grandpop of a baby wolf-child), but since he's the easy-going sort he accepts John's invitation.

The two men seem to hit it off quite well, but by the end of the meal John reveals he might be more than a little off-kilter. He asks Tom to go hunting, but Tom takes a rain check. John tells him this is fine since he hunts every night anyway. Unfortunately, John doesn't actually leave town to do his hunting, and he's unaware that Gibbons, Tom's diminutive pal, likes to ride deer at night. That night he calls Tom in a panic to tell him he shot some tiny creature riding on a deer and then buried him. While Tom is at John's house trying to figure what to do, Gibbons burrows up through the floor, and John beats him with a lamp. It's funny to watch John react to everything so violently, but Gibbon's (Brian Posehn) reaction is even funnier, because he responds to being shot in the head and beaten with a lamp with the same slow, lackadaisical drawl he uses to respond to everything else. To him, being shot, buried alive, and then beaten with a lamp and wrapped in duct tape is nothing more than a minor annoyance.

Luckily for Gibbons, the Mayor has an odd kind of affection for him, and he breaks into John's home to rescue his little pal. John also beats the Mayor and duct tapes him just like he did with Tom and Gibbons, and Tom suggests that John feed them each "Rat Nap" to knock them unconscious for two weeks and take Tom's wolf-child step-granddaughter and care for her as his own. We have to assume that's what happened because it's at that point that the end credits roll.

Best line: Excuse me sir, I think I smell my friend's beard.