The Hambone King

"We're about to watch two nerds compete by slapping themselves. I think we'll be okay." — Jade to Cat.

The Hambone King
Season 4, Episode 2
First Aired	September 29, 2012
Production Code	314
Writer(s)	Dan Schneider Matt Fleckenstein
Director(s)	Russ Reinsel
Viewed By:	2.391 million
Episode Guide
previous "Wanko's Warehouse"	next "Opposite Date"

The Hambone King is the 2nd episode of Season 4 of Victorious and the 49th episode overall. This episode got 2.391 million views on the premiere night. This is the lowest documented audience of an episode in the series.

Plot

Robbie posts a video on TheSlap called "The Hambone King", showcasing his rhythmic talent of hamboning, gathering the attention of other students at Hollywood Arts, and even other people, namely Mrs. Lee and Kwakoo at Nozu during Robbie's dinner with Cat and Tori. At Nozu, Jarold Ardbeg, who is said to be the real hambone king, and his friend show up, claiming that Robbie is a fake and challenging him to a hambone-off. Robbie and Jarold have a hamboning competition behind Nozu, but Robbie loses when he hurts himself. The gang then brings him to Tori's house to try and comfort him, where they find out Tori's secret; she used to hambone seven years ago on a hamboning team with Jarold. Then, Tori agrees to help Robbie train to beat Jarold after venting about how Jarold was jealous that she was better than him and she caught Jarold hamboning with Suzy McCallen. They both do a lot of training, and with the help of the others, Robbie eventually gets better at hamboning.

When Robbie hambones against Jarold a second time, at Nozu, his friend Merl throws a piece of sushi at him, causing him to lose. Tori calls them out and says they cheated and then proceeds to hambone against Jarold. Merl tries to cheat again and throws a piece of sushi at Tori, but she eats it and completes her sequence. When it is Jarold's turn, he messes up and Tori becomes the "Hambone Queen."

Subplot

Cat tap dances everywhere to practice for a role in a musical. Cat tap dances so much to the point where André and Jade put slippers on her feet so it doesn't make so much noise. Cat's tap-dancing helps Robbie practice his hamboning, however, as Tori trains him.

Trivia

• Victoria Justice said she was "hamboning" the week they filmed this episode.
• Ariana Grande tweeted that she had walked around a lot in tap shoes in rehearsal for the episode.
• Matt Bennett said in an interview that The Hambone King would be a tribute to "Rocky."
• There are many references to Rocky III seen throughout the episode:
  • When André and Robbie are running in the corridor, their outfits match the ones worn by Apollo and Rocky during training.
  • The scene where Robbie is whacking the balloon being held by Tori is a parody of the exercise that is seen throughout the Rocky series.
  • When Tori and Robbie are talking on the Vega's patio, the line "I'm afraid! Alright?! Do you want me to hear me say it? Do you want to break me down?", is a reference to when Rocky is talking to his wife Adrian on the beach.
• In this episode, "hamboning" is another term for "clap dancing."
• This episode was filmed around the beginning of March 2012.

  

• Cat's tap-dancing talent, along with Robbie's and Tori's hamboning talent, is revealed in this episode.
• Only Cat from the beginning was in the opening sequence.
• Nozu returns in this episode for the first and only time in season 4.
• When Robbie and Tori talk to each other on the Vega's patio, Robbie comments about the bad scriptwriting, breaking the fourth wall.
• This is the third time that Trina flirts with Beck, the first two being The Worst Couple and Car, Rain & Fire.
• This is the second time that Jade's highlights are blue in Season 3 and 4 after Tori & Jade's Play Date.
• This episode marks the second time Cat has kissed Robbie on the cheek, the first being in A Christmas Tori.
• This is the last episode written by Matt Fleckenstein.
• There may be a reference to Victoria Justice's movie, Spectacular!, when Cat says "Ta-Do!" and Tori responds "It's Ta-Da", one of her lines in the movie.
• Mrs. Lee and Kwakoo appear after a 5 episode disappearance.
• This episode shows Kwakoo's soft side.
• Tori reveals she used to hambone 7 years prior.
• "Yellow Kitty", the purse Tori mentioned, is a parody of Hello Kitty.
• Cat wore her tap dancing shoes throughout the whole episode.
• The brand of sunflower seeds André was eating is called Schneider, like show creator Dan Schneider.
• The episode premiered to a surprisingly low 2.39 million viewers, by far the series' lowest audience yet, even lower than The Great Ping Pong Scam.
• After this episode aired, a great majority of fans were outraged that it ends with Tori winning and Robbie losing. It was the infamous theory, "Tori gets everything."
• Ending tagline: "How bad do you want this?" - Tori

Goofs

• On TheSlap, Jarold's name is spelled with a G, an E, and an A in the beginning, as in "Gerald", but the captions for this episode spell his name Jarold.
• Cat said her brother is allergic to dairy, however in Ice Cream for Ke$ha, she says Funky Nut Blast is his favorite flavor of Lichter's Ice Cream. She also said in this episode that he drank milk, which means he consumes dairy despite his allergy.
  • She may have lied about her brother being allergic to dairy.
• When Jarold threw Robbie's dessert, it landed, but in the next scene, it can be seen landing again.
• When Tori covered her head with a plate to exit the main door where Jarold was, she could have just exited the back door Sikowitz used in Tori and Jade's Playdate.
• When André pulls Jade by her hand outside Nozu, she drops her purse and didn't pick it up. In the next scene, she has her phone in her hand although she didn't take it when she went to the back of Nozu.
• Mrs. Lee would have been given a fine or even be dismissed from her job if she didn't give Tori the same dessert she gave Robbie after she asked for one.
• Robbie has been claimed to have accidentally whacked himself in the groin from hamboning. But, if seen closely, he never hit himself in the groin, he just goes from hamboning normally to painfully clutching it.
• If the "Hambone off" video on TheSlap was filmed by Jade, the video couldn't have started way before she begins filming and she couldn't have been in the video either.
  • It is likely Jade gave the phone to someone else.

Running Gags

• Cat tap dancing.
• Robbie hamboning.
• Tori getting annoyed at everyone talking about Robbie's hamboning.
• People saying it's weird that other people are paying attention to Robbie.

Quotes

André: Man Robbie is loving all that attention!
Beck: I know right!
André: I bet he does his signature flirt move.
Beck: Flirt move?
André: You know the gigglechin. It's where he giggles and then he puts his fist up to his chin.
Beck: I don't think I've ever seen Robbie do...
Beck and André: Aw alright! Yes... well played.

Beck: Ooh, sunflower seeds.
André: I guess I'm sharing today.

Robbie trying to impress girls.

Tori: (comes up) Hey, why are those kids paying attention to Robbie?
Beck: They love the video he posted on TheSlap.
Tori: What video did he post on the...?
Cat: Hi! (comes tap-dancing) Don't worry, there's nothing wrong with me. I'm doing this on purpose. (finishes her tapping) Too-doo!
Tori: It's ta-da.
Cat: Ta-da!
Beck: Why are you tap-dancing?
Cat: 'Cause I'm auditioning for a new musical and I have to tap dance.
Beck: Ah.
Cat: Hey, people are talking to Robbie, that's so weird!
André: They're all excited about the video on TheSlap.
Tori: What is this video?
Beck: Show her.
André: Alright.
Robbie: And I can also do it with this fist. (demonstrates, then laughs with the other teens)
André: What did he call the video again?
Beck: "The Hambone King".
Tori: Hambone?? Did you say "The Hambone King"?
André: Wait till you see this.
Cat: What's hambone mean?
Tori: (uneasy) Who cares?
André: Look.

Tori: (feeling uneasy) I uh, I got to get to Sikowitz's class.
Cat: We don't have Sikowitz today.
Tori: It's a different Sikowitz! (leaves)
André: What's her deal?
Beck: Not sure. Do you know my problem with these sunflower seeds?
André: So, first you're going to steal my seeds, and now you're going to criticize?
Beck: Yes. It's too much trouble to open.
Cat: I'll open them! (Pours seeds on the floor, to André's chagrin, and starts tap dancing on them)
Beck: Um...Cat?
Cat: What?
André: Baby, no one wants to eat sunflower seeds that have been tap-danced on the floor.
Sinjin: Ooh! Pre-cracked sunflower seeds! Don't mind if I do! (starts eating them off the floor like a bird)

Robbie: Okay, so tell me; how do girls put on skirts? Do you do it one leg at a time, like pants, or do you jump right in?
Tori: One leg at a time.
Cat: I jump right in.

André and Jade eating sushi at Nozu.

Tori: Why'd you stop?
Robbie: I... I need to get some air. (heads for the patio)
Cat: There's air in here!
Robbie: I DON'T WANT YOUR AIR!! (shuts the door)
Tori: (follows him outside in confusion)
Cat: What's wrong with my air?

Robbie: This whole conversation just sounds like bad writing!

Cat: Good luck Robbie. (kisses Robbie's cheek)

Everyone: Fight, fight, fight, fight!
André: Woah, Woah, Woah, Woah, hold up! If you boys wanna fight Robbie, you gotta fight me too.
Robbie: Ummm, would it be okay if they fight just you? 'Cause-
Merl: Hey idiots!
Robbie: Yes?
André: Sup?

Jade: Robbie.
André: Come on man, it's-
(Jade and André looks at Cat in annoyance, who is still tap dancing)
André: Come on Rob, it's not so bad.
Jade: Okay, big deal you lost a hambone competition.
Robbie: (Squeaks)
Jade: It's over. And it's not like the whole world saw it.
Cat: Uh-huh. It's all over the internet.

Cat: This Hambone battle is really scary.
Jade: We're about to watch two nerds compete by slapping themselves. I think we'll be okay.

Jade: We'll get you some ice for your, uh…injuries.

Beck: (walks in) Hey.
Jade: Why are you here?
Beck: André texted me and said Robbie got hurt, so I brought a watermelon. (smiles, pats watermelon)
André: Why?
Beck: Robbie loves watermelons. (hands Robbie the watermelon)
Robbie: (sadly) Wawa. (takes watermelon)

Tori: Hey! I'll take on the Hambone King.
Cat: But Tori, you haven't hammed boned in years!
Tori: Well now I have a reason.

Cat: Hey! Hey, hey!
Merl: What? what? (Cat blows in his face)
Cat: Blowback! (Runs away laughing)

Tori: Hey, idiots! You wanna talk, or hambone?!
Jarold: Tori Vega.
Tori: What up, Jarold?
Jarold: Still mad about me and Suzy McCallen?
Tori: You still pick your nose, and eat it?
Merl: Don't waste your breath on her, king.
Tori: Oh hey Merl! I see you're still sniffing Jarold's butt!
Merl: Hey, that was a dare!

Gallery

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