Review:
The Cleveland Show: Episode Eleven

111 – Love Rollercoaster

‘Okay, my invention is Magnetic Fly Jeans. Easy to get off and on, and if you’re bear hairy down there like I am, there’s no more worrying about the ZIPPER JAWS OF DEATH.’ – Tim the Bear

This week’s episode is another turn of quality, bringing the show back up to the level of hilarity we all now expect of the weirdly inconsistent writing team.

Inspired by Holt’s new nostril cleaner – the Nasal Laser – Cleveland, Holt, Lester, Tim the Bear and Terry all decide to invent something beneficial to the human race. Unfortunately, they all come up short and end up developing the Roller Coaster, a beer mat on wheels. However, tensions soon rise within the group as Cleveland starts taking over, refusing to change the name to the far more pleasing Brew-Choo Train (‘Ale Aboard!’) and is fired from the team.

Meanwhile, Roberta is challenged by new teacher Mrs. Eck to wear a fat suit around the school to prove that it’s what’s inside that counts. This leads to Cleveland Jr. falling in love with Roberta’s alter ego Tyra Obama.

It’s a great episode on many levels. The dialogue comes thick and fast, the jokes hit home with the ferocity of a multi-car pile-up and the plot moves and twists with expert precision. It is, very nearly, the best episode yet.

There are a huge number of moments that add to the episode’s quality, one of which is a showstopping song and dance number by Cleveland Jr., the epic romantic ballad ‘Balls Deep (In Love)’, featuring some of the show’s best double entendres ever. You simply can’t argue with lyrics like, ‘I wanna have sex with her personality/ Dry hump with her positive traits/ Give a poundin' to her feelings/ Make her south mouth salivate.’ Combine that with the strangely amusing image of Cleveland Jr. with an open shirt surrounded by ball pit balls and you have the best song to yet appear in the show.