“My Name Is Earl”: Creative Writing

Please respect the meat, my friends. Please respect the meat.

“Creative Writing” starts with Earl taking a creative writing class with some other inmates. He wants to come up with an imaginative story, but all that ever pops into his head is a male gymnast.

Randy takes up a creative writing project of his own, imagining a story in which he, H.R. Pufnstuf and a chimp battle a puppet sniper, a sumo guy with a bazooka and a bunch of ninjas. But all Earl can think of is the gymnast.

Joy has a story idea, too. (See where this is going, now?) In an animated sequence, Joy dreams up a fairy tale called Quit Your Bitchin’ which explains to her sons why they need to do their homework (so they don’t end up like Earl) and take a bath (so they don’t end up like Randy). And if they don’t obey their mother, God will crush them with His coffee cup.

Even Darnell has a story. His is a soulful music video, featuring the song “Please Respect the Meat” off his Songs for my Crabs album. In the song, Darnell expresses his guilt and sadness over having to boil his crustacean friends, and asks that people respect the meat.

Catalina’s story is a steamy telenovela called Catalina, Woman of a Thousand Tears. Catalina must pole dance to raise money to pay her brother’s ransom, but her lover Javier does not know of her secret job. While she is doing her final pole dance, Javier walks in and is shocked to find Catalina performing. He runs away, but Catalina explains the story of her brother’s ransom and … well, there’s a plug for Frijoles de Garcia.

After all that, Earl still doesn’t have anything to write about. So he just relaxes and writes about what he knows and makes him happy: being surrounded by friends and family at the Crab Shack. Earl reads his story to his class, and the inmates give him a standing ovation.

What We Learned:

Creative writing is a wonderful way to escape from prison … in your imagination.

The pen is mightier than the sword, until someone uses their pen as a sword.

Frijoles de Garcia: No. 1 in our hearts. No. 1 in our stomachs.

Wisdom From Randy: He’s here for two things: to kick some ass and drink some beers.

Crab Man Chronicles: While he disagrees with Joy’s view of a conventional anthropomorphic God, he respects her using that myth to discipline those rascally boys.

About Ryan Berenz 2166 Articles
Member of the Television Critics Association. Charter member of the Ancient and Mystic Society of No Homers. Squire of the Ancient & Benevolent Order of the Lynx, Lodge 49, Long Beach, Calif. Costco Wholesale Gold Star Member since 2011.