April Fools' Blank

April Fools' Blank is the 8th episode in Season 3 of Victorious, making it the 41st episode overall. It aired on March 24th, 2012.

Plot
Tori realizes that nobody at Hollywood Arts celebrates April Fools' Day, even though numerous random things happen: Mr. Belding appears and steals Tori's bag, Cat randomly blows a trumpet, Robbie's chair floats up, Drake Bell picks up Tori, and Sikowitz explodes.

In the hallway, André runs up to Tori, telling her that there's war. After Tori asks if it's Switzerland, André tells her to forget the war because there's going to be a pop quiz, which he found out about in the bathroom at the urinal. When she talks about it, he again tells her to forget about the test because of the war. He then runs off, singing The Star Spangled Banner to recycle some aluminum, but is shot by a Swiss arrow in the leg and is carried out by two congress-looking men. Tori is then carried by helicopter going to class.

Then, in a parody of The Wizard of Oz (called "The Wizard of Wazz"), Cat, as Dorothy, comes into the ladies' restroom with the video in sepia. She puts her fish, Tofu, down, before opening a window to which a fan is attached. She accidentally hits herself against a stall and is knocked out. With the video now in color, Cat, aka Dorothy, wakes up. Tori, as Glinda, or the Good Witch of the North, comes out of a stall. She sees that Cat has a ruby-colored PearPhone XT. With that, Jade, as the Wicked Witch Of The West, comes out of a stall which bursts open with red smoke. She tries to grab the PearPhone, but it shocks her electrically. Then Jade leaves, speaking her stage directions. With Tori happily following, she suggests Cat should "wazz." When Cat is confused, Robbie the Scarecrow, André the Lion, and Beck, playing Tin Man, say that they can help her find her way. Suddenly, breaking the fourth wall, a director tells that Leon Thomasis late for a scene. André/Leon quickly leaves the set, and we transition into the next scene.





At the Asphalt Café, it is unclear whether Leon and Victoria are in character or not, and they are hand fed fancy food by two children. The kids run away when Robbie comes to warn Tori that the Beverly Hills Volcano is about to explode. Robbie begs Tori to spend her last few minutes alive kissing him, but they are cut off when Beck comes in to tell them that the volcano has "retired" and is now in Florida.

In the next scene, Jade is surprisingly nice to Tori, even tickling her to cheer her up when she is upset about April Fools' Day. Sikowitz interrupts this when he tells the girls to go to the janitor's closet. Upon entering the closed, Tori appears on the iCarly set, and from there onto the set of a game show, Match Play (a spoof of the mid-1970's incarnation of Match Game).

In the game show, Tori has to fill in a blank, guessing the judges' words, to win $5,000, but the judges choose the most random words, causing Tori to lose each round and keep getting pushed to the floor by someone dressed like a dancing lobster from The Amanda Show.

After playing the game show, it cuts to the next scene, where Tori's neighbor comes into her living room looking for advice. The episode ends with everyone spontaneously performing the song Shut Up N' Dance. Then, a person dressed as Lady Gaga dances with them. Eventually, they all fall to the floor. The cast, as if a sketch comedy show, act as themselves and thank the viewers for watching, also telling them to go to TheSlap.com.



Trivia

 * This episode is non-canon. No ships can be taken seriously due to all of the characters acting majorly out-of-character.
 * The entire episode is a big April Fools joke.
 * Gibby's head can been seen throughout the opening credits (on Tori's balloon and multiplied on the screen behind the dancers.)
 * Even though this episode takes place on April 1st, it aired on March 24 (because Nickelodeon's Kids Choice Awards were the following week).
 * Victoria says that this is "The funniest episode that she has ever filmed."
 * iCarly, as well as How to Rock and Bucket &amp; Skinner, had an April Fool's episode airing on the same night.
 * This is the second Victorious episode based on a holiday, the first one being A Christmas Tori.
 * This is the second game show the gang hosted, first being Queries for Couples in The Worst Couple.
 * Drake Bell, Jerry Trainor and Dennis Haskins all guest star.
 * The episode includes a cast performance of "Shut Up N Dance".
 * When Jade goes to the Janitor's Closet for "Match Play", she sounds and acts like Peewee Herman.
 * Tori, Cat, Jade, and partially André, Beck and Robbie do a parody of The Wizard of Oz in the Hollywood Arts bathroom.
 * This is the second time that Jade has been shocked, the other being in Rex Dies.
 * André breaks the fourth wall by answering to his real name by a director for a scene with Tori.
 * André plays the Cowardly Lion in the parody of The Wizard of Oz. Ironically Leon Thomas III played young Simba in the Broadway version The Lion King.
 * The Dancing Lobster from The Amanda Show makes a special appearance. Also, Sikowitz mentions Debbie, who is from a sketch on The Amanda Show called The Girls' Room as well, although this might not intentionally be a reference to the same Debbie. There are goofs where he continuously wrestles Tori to the ground in the game Match Play every time the judges get an imperfect match & Sikowitz is heard shouting: "It's trying to eat my heart." when it tackles him before he goes into the Janitor's closet.
 * This is the second time the cast was out of character, first being The Breakfast Bunch; this also happened in the sister show, iCarly episode, iApril Fools.
 * The hilarious parody of the classic 1970s' game show Match Game was done with wonderful attention to detail. Not only was the set almost an exact replica of the original set, the celebrity panelists' name plates lit up with green triangles when a correct answer was given, and Sikowitz's microphone exactly matched the type host Gene Rayburn used on the show. Furthermore, the impersonations of the most frequent celebrity panelists, in addition to Sikowitz's portrayal of Gene Rayburn, were so spot-on and had the Victorious kids sitting in the same spots that the 1970s celebs did that most of the six Victorious kid panelists' impersonations are able to be discerned. André is clearly Nipsey Russell, Jade is clearly Brett Somers, Robbie is clearly Charles Nelson Riley, and Beck is clearly Richard Dawson. The only two panelists who are unclear are Cat and Trina. Based off of her ditzy demeanor and response to "April Fool's [blank]", Cat likely was supposed to be ditzy, perky blonde Elaine Joyce. Trina is less distinctive and has the least time on camera; plus, her location on the panel had more variable celebrities, unlike Brett, Charles, and Richard's spots. However, she may have been Fanny Flagg without a Southern accent, since Fanny was probably in that panel spot the most.
 * There possibly was a scene filmed where Drake kisses Tori, but it is never shown in the actual episode.
 * The sign on Hollywood Arts read "Hollyweird Arts Pie School" in this episode.
 * This episode had different opening credits than the rest of Season 3.
 * Every new episode since this one has included the shot of the entire cast falling to the floor at the end of the song right before the episode continues.
 * During the episode, Matt Bennett posted several fun facts on Twitter, including:
 * At the end you can see him getting the girl dressed as Lady Gaga's phone number.
 * "Where's the beef?" is a reference to the Wendy's commercial in the 80s.
 * Dan Schneider took the whole cast to dinner in their 70s costumes.
 * The guy in the hat is Mike Caron.
 * The Hollywood Arts bathroom toilets aren't real toilets; they're a television set.
 * He has never taken a dance class, but claims he is "just a naturally great dancer".
 * Whether you watch the show or not, Rex gets paid either way.
 * This is the second time Robbie has been punched in the face (the first being in Tori the Zombie).
 * This is the second time Cat has ever punched anyone in the face, the first being Tori in Cat's New Boyfriend.
 * This is the first time of the season Daniella Monet has a solo and sings seriously (not as Trina).
 * At the beginning of the episode, Tori's joke has her saying that her mom slammed her hand in the car door. This might be a reference to Sleepover at Sikowitz's and The Worst Couple when Jade said she would rather suffer that fate than certain things.
 * When Robbie was being lifted in the air with the harness, his shoulders looked buff.
 * The ending parodied Saturday Night Live, complete with the credit format, good-nights, and music.
 * All of them wore the same clothes through the whole episode except when they are doing the Match Play Game and Wizard of Oz.
 * Sikowitz is referring to Drake Bell when he said "Wait, was that the bell?" Then, the bell rang.
 * Ending Tagline: Tori: "You could wazz."
 * In the title sequence, where you see the iCarly gang in the bubble, it is from the end of the iCarly episode, iApril Fools, which aired the same night as this one did and it has to do with April Fools' Day too.
 * This is the third episode where Tori hasn't posted any status updates, the first two being Part 2 of Locked Up! and The Breakfast Bunch.
 * This is the first time we see the Hollywood Arts bathroom
 * It's possible that André could have a bit of bisexuality, as he replies when Robbie actually said to Tori: "Let's kiss." in which André replies: "Okay, come here" although this could be a part of the running jokes.
 * This is the second time where Tori had a trumpet blown by her ear. The first time was in iParty with Victorious.
 * In real life, if you got hit by a Swiss arrow, the arrow won't go through your leg, as it will be blocked by the bone. Swiss arrows are very aerodynamic and extremely sharp and that's why some states in the US have made them illegal.
 * This is the second episode with an ending tagline that uses the word "wazz". The first was Wi-Fi in the Sky.
 * This episode was originally scheduled to air after Crazy Ponnie, where Cat gets shaved bald by Jade, though Cat has her full hair in this episode for unknown reasons.
 * Tori's closing monologue is a reference to Saturday Night Live.
 * Trina has been a terrible singer throughout the series, but when she sang "Shut Up N' Dance ", she was pretty good.
 * This is the second time we see Cat in pigtails, first is in Wok Star.
 * This is the second episode where a movie is spoofed. The first was The Breakfast Bunch.

Goofs

 * You can constantly see Beck going up and down the stairs, and then jump in front of the couch during the camera cuts in the performance of Shut Up N Dance. This could have been intentional, seeing the theme of the episode.
 * At the end where the gang falls down after the song, Cat pushes her hair back to fall, but when they fall, her hair is in front of her.
 * At the Wizard of Oz scene, before Tori gets out of the restroom, the stall door which Jade went out is open, but when Tori went out of the restroom, the stall door was closed.
 * When Robbie was lifted up in the air, you can clearly see the harness' reflection on the glass window (and, if watching it after downloading it on iTunes, at 1:58 you can hear a pulley noise).
 * When Tori hits the play button on the remote, the top of the counter behind her has a basket, two picture frames, and some kind of dock, but when it cuts to the next shot (Where Tori starts to dance) you could see GIBBY'S HEAD 'magically' appeared on the counter top. (Or this is meant to be done since the whole episode is an April Fools' Joke.)
 * After Tori finishes recording Sikowitz she puts her Pearphone in her back pocket, but when she turns around the Pearphone isn't in her back pocket.

Running Gags

 * Tori being upset about no one celebrating April Fools' Day.
 * 4th wall breaks.
 * A lobster running around.



References/Shoutouts/Crossovers

 * Saved by the Bell - The teacher, Mr. Belding, appears in the opening scene and references Zack and Screech from the same show.
 * The Amanda Show - The Dancing Lobsters make several appearances throughout. The set design of the Match Play game show is also similar to the Amanda Show set.
 * The Wizard of Oz - The scene in the bathroom. Cat plays Dorothy, The Boys play Tin Man, Cowardly Lion, and Scarecrow. Jade plays the evil witch. Tori plays the good witch. Instead of a dog Cat uses her gold fish.
 * iCarly - Tori runs through the Shay loft and says hi to Spencer, and he says, "'Sup, Tori?" back at her.
 * The Match Game - Match Play is a parody of this.
 * Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory - Trina says, "But I want an Oompa Loompa now!" after Tori complains about her moving to the next scene. Also in the opening credits, Trina is shown dressed as an Oompa Looma, but that part was not in the actual episode.
 * Wendy's - "Where's the beef?"
 * Saturday Night Live - The closing credits where Tori and the gang thank everyone.
 * All That - Having a musical performance/guest star at the end of the show.

Quotes
Jade: (to Cat) I'll get you my pretty! And your little fish, too!

Tori: Be gone, you have no powers in this restroom!

Jade: The witch sneers at Dorothy!... (growls) Then exits.

Jade: Who took my ruby cellphone? Was it you?

Cat: Well I didn't mean to. Here you can have it back.

Jade: Good. Give it! (Jade touches the ruby PearPhone XT and gets shocked)

Tori: Are you a good witch, or a sandwich?

Cat: Who me? Well, I'm neither a witch nor a snack. You're talking some crazy chiz.

André: Tori! Tori! Did you hear, did you hear the news?!

Tori: What? What happened?

André: It's war. It's war, Tori, it's war!

Tori: (points at him shocked) Is it Switzerland?

André: (grabs her by the shoulders and shakes her) Will you forget about the war?! We're gonna have a pop quiz!

Tori: But...you just said that...

André: It's true, I tell you! I just heard it from two boys in the bathroom! At the urinal. We're gonna have a pop quiz! A pop quiz is going down, Tori!

Tori: Oh...my god, I hate pop quizzes!

André: (grabs her and shakes her in the air) HOW CAN YOU THINK ABOUT A POP QUIZ WHEN WE'RE AT WAR?!? It's war, Tori! It's war! (puts her down) I gotta go recycle some aluminum. (starts running) Ah. Oh, say can you see- (his leg gets hit) AHHHH! (Tori gasps) AH, I'M HIT! ARROW! (falls down the stairs) AHHH! AHHH! Ow! I got hit in the leg by a Swiss arrow. DANG THIS CURSED WAR! (two Congress-like men come in and drag him away)

Everyone: Where's the beef?

Tori: Okay, kids won't get that reference!

André: Put 'em up, put 'em up!

Cat: Put what up?

André: Your socks, they fell down. Put 'em up!

Cat: Robbie, who are you?

Robbie: I'm Robbie!

Cat: Oh! Hi Robbie!

Sikowitz: What's done is done. (Dancing Lobster runs down the street in the corner of the screen)

Robbie: TORI! TORI! IM RUNNING IN WITH BIG NEWS! TORI!

Feeding Children: It's him! Aaah! (runs away screaming)

Tori: What's the big news?

Robbie: The Beverly Hills volcano is about to erupt!

André: What?

Robbie: In 3 and 1/2 minutes, this whole school is going to be covered in hot lava!

Tori: We only have 3 and 1/2 minutes?

André: The same amount of time as a commercial break.

Tori: Well, what do we do?

Robbie: I say we kiss.

André: Okay. Come here.

Robbie: Not you. (looks at Tori) You. I want my last 3 and 1/2 minutes to be spent with my face, smooshed against your face.

Tori: Are there any other ideas?

Robbie: (begging) Tori, please?

Tori: (nodding) Alright.

André/Leon: Sorry I'm late. I was in the girls' bathroom doing a Wizard of Oz bit.

Video
thumb|300px|right|the video for shut up and dance Full Episode