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"Happy Birthday Song Contest" is the seventeenth episode in Season 6 (and the one-hundred and seventieth episode overall) of Regular Show. It first aired on February 19, 2015.

Synopsis[]

Mordecai and Rigby are determined to win a happy birthday song contest.

Plot[]

Mordecai, Rigby, Eileen and CJ are watching a baking show about cake. This bothers Mordecai and Rigby by making them crave cake. CJ asks why they just don't buy some cake, to which they and Eileen tell CJ that a baking cartel moved into town and increased the price of cake, even for a small portion. Immediately after, a commercial plays, with a man called Farmer Jimmy advertising a songwriting contest, stating that he hates the classic Happy Birthday Song, and that the contest winner would not only have their new song possibly replace the traditional Happy Birthday Song, but would also receive a year's supply of cake. At this, Mordecai tells Rigby that they need to enter the contest.

Now at the park, Mordecai and Rigby ask Benson for 3 days off in order to write and present the song for the contest. At first, Benson disproves of this but after finding out they are trying to replace the Happy Birthday Song he swiftly says yes, for he too hates the song. After some time off screen writing the song, Mordecai and Rigby see Muscle Man and ask for his opinion of the song. They sing the song but it is inaudible, as a fart-like sound is heard throughout them singing the song (which is revealed by Muscle Man to be his new leather shoes squeaking), however, Muscle Man is visibly in awe and when they finish, he tells them that it is great.

Mordecai, Rigby, Eileen and CJ are now driving to the farm where the contest will be held. Mordecai and Rigby comment on how they nailed the song on their first try. Eileen asks how far away the farm is, and Mordecai responds saying that they would need to drive through the night to get there. The group decides to stop at a nearby diner after Rigby complains of his hunger. At the diner, Rigby peers into a dessert display case, overlooking 2 pies and noticing a cake but exclaims as a single slice of cake is 50$ dollars, which he blames on the new cake cartels. He goes back to the booth where Eileen is deciding what to order. Meanwhile, a mother and son in another booth are celebrating the son's birthday, when the son gets agitated at the birthday song being sung by the waiters and waitresses. Mordecai and Rigby stare at each other and nod, and then stop the singers and start singing their song. The song is inaudible once again as a vacuum overlaps the song along with the sound of broken plates dropped by a waiter. Afterwards, the singing waiters ask about the song, and Mordecai responds saying that they are entering a contest. The woman who works the cash register overhears this and leaves the diner to make a call in a phonebooth across the street. She warns a hidden figure in a chair about the contest, to which the unknown man replies with a thanks. She leaves the booth just as the group is seen driving out from the diner.

In the morning, the group awakens in the car and sees that they've made it to the contest. Farmer Jimmy states the rules, that each person will sing their new song and the less candles blown out by the judges, the more points they receive, with scores being out of a total 30 points. After a montage of multiple contestants singing, Mordecai and Rigby performs last, having to beat the current best score of 28. Just as they are about to sing, a cloud of white smoke fills the stage, and a tall, slender, caped figure appears, with a birthday cake for his head called Happy Birthday.

Jimmy tries to get Happy Birthday to leave, but suddenly Birthday shoots out icing at Jimmy. Birthday starts to have a monologue about how his song is supreme, and that he will prove it by singing it to the crowd. As he sings The Happy Birthday Song, the crowd is visibly displeased, but then Birthday throws confetti upon the crowd which entrances them, causing them to unenthusiastically sing along. Upon completing the song, the crowd begins to leave. Mordecai and Rigby then starts to sing their song, and the crowd snaps out of the trance and start to cheer and sing along to Mordecai and Rigby's song. Birthday tries to win back the crowd by playing his song on an organ, but is stopped by Jimmy who then plays the tune of Mordecai and Rigby's song on the organ. Birthday gives up, but warns that he will be back, as people would eventually get tired of their song and would come "crawling back, back to good ol' Happy Birthday". He then drives away in his car. After this, Eileen and CJ run on stage and congratulates the two on winning. Farmer Jimmy also congratulates them as the winners, stating that the judges gave them a perfect score. However, they must sign a contract (which also states that their song would never likely replace the Happy Birthday Song) to receive their cake. They sign and get the year's supply of cake, as a ton of cakes is dumped out on top of them from a truck and CJ remarks that they did want free cake. Nonetheless, Mordecai and Rigby are still excited and yell "Free cake!", ending the episode.

Characters[]

S6E17 Happy Birthday Song Contest Credits

Locations[]

Video[]

Trivia[]

  • This episode appears to be a critique of the controversy surrounding the rights to the birthday song. Ironically, the show was probably required to pay royalties to Warner/Chapell Music, Inc. who held the rights to "Happy Birthday to You" at the time.
  • This is the last episode written and storyboarded by Sarah Oleksyk. After this episode, she left the show to work on Sanjay and Craig.

Episode Connections[]

  • Farmer Jimmy returns from Season Five. (TV: The Thanksgiving Special)
  • One of the kids from "High Score" can be seen as one of the judges and the old lady who works in the court house in "Trash Boat" is also one of the judges.
  • This episode is very similar to "Free Cake", with Mordecai and Rigby doing a big task to get free cake.

Goofs[]

  • Despite Benson's mom being in the credits, she doesn't make an appearance in the episode.
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