Every Monday, I spotlight a random episode of M*A*S*H, providing a brief review and asking readers to offer their thoughts.
“The Joker Is Wild” (#239, 11×04)
Originally Broadcast: Monday, November 15th, 1982
Written by John Rappaport and Dennis Koenig
Directed by Burt Metcalfe
Capsule Summary: Tired of hearing about Trapper’s practical jokes, B.J. suggests pulling a prank on everyone within 24 hours, leading Hawkeye to grow increasingly paranoid.
It’s easy to think of “The Joker Is Wild” as a final season tribute to the character of Trapper John and, in turn, actor Wayne Rogers. The episode was actually produced for Season 10 but not aired until Season 11. In fact, it was the 24th and final episode produced during Season 10. However, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t intended as a tribute to Trapper and/or Rogers. More broadly, it’s a tribute to all of the practical jokes and pranks depicted over the course of the series.
There’s a mild twist ending to the episode, so if you haven’t seen it, I suggest you stop reading and go do so.
The episode features just one story but there are two ways to look at it. Is it the story of a frustrated B.J. trying to top the memory of Trapper, the merry prankster of the 4077th? Or is the tale of poor Hawkeye pushed to his limits worrying about when and where and how B.J will strike?
Why B.J. was so obsessed with somehow topping Trapper’s practical jokes is never really explained in the episode. The references to Trapper certainly aren’t necessary. It’s very easy to think of a way this episode could have unfolded without any mention of Trapper. Still, I like it when the show remembers its past, even if it doesn’t quite work.
The minor subplot involving the doctor swap with the 8063rd and B.J.’s friend Paul Yamato doesn’t add much to the episode other than a little more fuel for Hawkeye’s paranoia. At some point, perhaps after Paul is nearly choked unconscious, maybe someone should have said enough is enough and called off the prank. Or maybe Colonel Potter should have stepped in when he realized just how crazed Hawkeye was becoming.
I’m sure there are many viewers who watch this episode and don’t like the way it ends. After all, the bet was that B.J. could pull a prank on everyone within 24 hours. He didn’t actually prank anyone except Hawkeye so technically he lost the bet. He should have been the one dancing on the table in the Mess Tent, not Hawkeye.
So why did Hawkeye readily concede that B.J. “got” him? Why did he sing and pull down his pants? Maybe he was legitimately impressed with the way B.J. pulled off such an elaborate scheme.
I love the way Hawkeye gets back at B.J. by shaving off half of his mustache. I just wish we saw more of B.J.’s reaction and not just a freeze frame.
There’s something not quite right about hearing Father Mulcahy scream “Take it off, Hawkeye! I want to see some skin!”
Maybe I never noticed it before but I swear the floor to the Swamp is usually just dirt, right? B.J. hammers a nail into a piece of plywood. Was the plywood added just for this episode so he’d have something to nail into?
This episode marked Clyde Kusatsu’s fourth and final guest appearance on M*A*S*H. He first appeared in “Officers Only” as Kwang Duk in Season 2, a role he returned to in “Henry in Love” that same season. Then in “Goodbye, Cruel World” in Season 8 he played Sgt. Yee.
David Haid, who played Pvt. Leightman (the soldier who gave Hawkeye the cigar), later made a guest appearance in a Season 1 episode of AfterMASH.
Both IMDb and TV.com state that this episode was the last to be repeated on CBS, with the exception of a “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen” repeat during the 1984-1985 season. That’s not true. Six other episodes aired after it during the summer of 1983. Check out my Broadcast History for details.
The floors in all the tents are plywood, at least on the Stage 9 set; I believe they’re just dirt on the Ranch set. . . . but realistically, why would there not be any flooring at all inside the tents? I mean the military is all about things being neat, tidy, and efficient, isn’t it? Seems like no flooring – especially for a medical unit, would be a sanitation issue.
The way I see it, I think B.J.’s frustrations with the constant Trapper praise would be similar if Potter had to endure constant praise of Henry, in that they’re having to live in the shadows of their predesessors and/or try to measure up to them when they shouldn’t have to – it’s like Potter told Klinger when he took over for Radar, “My first days in his shadow were a might uneasy. People weren’t jumping for joy over me. I was no Henry Blake, never tried to be. That didn’t mean I was better or worse, just different.” It could also be jealousy, too, albiet on a childish level . . . you ever have a situation as a kid where you have more than one best friend, and at one point each of them pressures you into singling out one of them as your “real” best friend? I almost get a sense that’s why B.J. feels the way he does about Trapper: in a childlike scenario, Trapper was the best friend who moved away and B.J. is the new best friend who moved in, and feels like since he’s Hawkeye’s best friend now, there’s no need for him to keep bringing up Trapper. It kind of goes back to “Period of Adjustment,” where Beej admits he hates Trapper even though they never met, and also adding, “he built that still with you. . . .” that also almost sounds like when one best friend jealously points out something the other kids did without his inclusion – it kind of comes out of nowhere, but at the same time, Beej was in a drunken rage, so he probably spoke his mind without thinking about it.
That said . . . oh, so this is where that uncharacteristic Father Mulcahy moment came from. I agree, that was just too weird and out-of-character for the good father. . . . especially when you consider moments like him excusing himself from Henry’s sex lecture, or being totally oblivious to the reason everyone is hooping and hollering over Margaret running around in a towel. Then again, later-seasons Mulcahy seemed out-of-character quite often; there’s a couple of moments from Season 7 where he uses some tad colorful language, such as, “I am deeply troubled about the incident, and would appreciate it if you would not speak about it with the jawbone of an ass!” Or, “I don’t know about us, but these eggs have certainly been through hell.” The former is obviously a Scripture reference, but the latter just seems like such an odd thing for Mulcahy to say – it seems odd for the good Father to use mild swearing.
I know this is a little late but, when I was in the Navy I was attached to a Fleet Hospital. Basically it was a very big M*A*S*H, we had 500 beds as to 12-14 beds in M*A*S*H we were tasked to be the primary hospital for the Marines that were wounded. Any way the floors through out the hospital and in our quarters were canvas. They were constantly being clean. The most strenuous thing was walking in the hospital. It was 3 miles long. We had no upstairs or downstairs, so it took forever to clean the floors.
I don’t know about this one. On one hand, I like that Trapper, and by connection the earlier, jokier years of the show, are so heavily referenced. It’s kind of a neat thing for such a later-era episode to do.
But on the other hand, this one just never impressed me as much as maybe it should. It’s not a bad episode at all, and I know people who consider this their favorite episode (my brother, also, adores this one). Maybe the best way to describe this episode for me is like, but not love.
And yes, Mulcahy’s “skin” line is really, really weird.
The outcome of the bet never made sense to me, from the first time I saw this during the initial airing on CBS. All that writing staff on the show, and nobody bothered to speak up about the sticks-out-like-a-sore-thumb problematic resolution to the story.
I once wrote to Mike Farrell to ask about the mustache situation at the conclusion of this one, since I wondered if he had maybe been wearing a fake one during this time on the show. His exact response: “The mustache was REAL. Figure THAT one out!”
IMO, the logic is there, but you do have to work for it a bit.
IIRC, part of the terms of the bet are whoever BJ gets has to dance in the table. Well, he got Hawkeye. So, time to show some skin.
As for the mustache, easy answer… this is episode 1-G24, the final episode filmed for season 10. So, they shaved half of Mike Farrell’s mustache for that scene, and it grew back by the time they filmed the first episode of season 11.
It is a lot easier to put that together in the internet age with production codes and episode lists at your fingertips, though.
Not a fan of this episode, just because I don’t really like BJ.
To add to what BDOR said about the floors, there were definitely other episodes with the floor having plywood. In the episode where Hawkeye/BJ and Charles are “tearing the swamp limb from limb” while Sydney was there, we get multiple good shots of the floor, and it’s definitely wood.
I always disliked the ending of this episode, for the reason that RJ mentioned about the bet technically having been lost. I also find it strange that BJ is all of a sudden annoyed at “all the Trapper praise” since in the past 8 seasons we heard about Trapper maybe 4 times, and only 1 or 2 at the most being about his jokes. It also seems stupid to me that BJ would be so jealous/annoyed about it, since there was never any comparison between BJ and Trapper, they simply mentioned that Trapper was a great prankster. BJ is the one that took it personal and acted like a turd.
Also forgot to mention. Almost every joke/prank in this episode is pretty stupid and not very funny at all. Klinger is right that the pranks used to be more original in the old days, I guess because the writing was better.
Putting extra hot sauce in food, a snake in a bed, taking the top off a salt shaker, or especially nailing a boot to the floor are not original at all, and are really just dick moves. Putting a nail through Hawkeye’s boot means he now has a hole on the bottom and the top. So much for keeping the feet dry and warm…ever.
Hawkeye conveniently forgot that he himself put a snake in CEW3’s bunk his first night there.
There isn’t really hot sauce in Father Mulcahy’s food, Charles didn’t really have a snake in his bed, etc. … they were all in on it with B.J.
There is such a fun twist to this one.
Sometimes connecting all their fast lines is tricky; above R. Banner said “the logic is there, but you do have to work for it a bit.”, he is so right.
The boot joke itself may not be funny, but the dialogue sure is!
The dialogue all the way through is.
This statement sets the stakes:
[Margaret] “What kind of stakes are you talking about here, funny pants?”
[B.J.] “…. I’m sure he’d want to see everybody he got do a striptease on a table while singing …. ”
The bet wasn’t lost. The ending is spot on.
This seems like what in later years would be called a meta episode. After all, it’s not just BJ ‘acting like a turd’ everyone else is also ganging up against Hawkeye and by extension Alda.Ether it was BJs plan originally and he went to everyone else or someone went to BJ, possibly with the “You’re no Trapper” idea to turn him against Hawk, and started him down that path. As for the ending the bet was everyone fooled would strip in the mess tent. And Hawk WAS the only one fooled since everyone else was in on it.
There is a good shot of the Swamp’s plywood floor in “Give and Take” when Charles fakes falling on Rizzo’s dummy hand grenade.
I don’t get why BJ’s friend stared at Hawkeye at the end and walked out shaking his head. Was there more to that?
I took that to mean that nobody ever explained to him why Hawkeye was acting so loony. So here he comes into the mess tent the next day, after everything that happened in post-op the previous night, and now this crazy dude is on the table singing and stripping.
I’d probably shake my head and walk out too hah.
It probably would have been more effective if they didn’t show Hawk was still wearing his boxer shorts and leave it to the imagination like Klinger in “Chief Surgeon Who?” And Hawk himself when a ‘real’ bet/prank with Trapper sent him to the mess tent leaving his pockets in the Swamp.
I always figured BJ saying he hated Trapper in “Period of Adjustment” was only because he was home with his family and BJ was taken from his wife and daughter on account of Trapper’s departure,even though jealousy over him and Hawkeyes friendship couldve played a role in that as well. After all his main object of hate in that episode was Radar because of his daughter calling him daddy and you know BJ was very fond of Radar while he was at the 4077th.
I don’t feel like B.J. says he hates Trapper (or Radar), what he said was, “ I’m so torn up with envy, I almost hate him!”
In “Period of Adjustment” Trapper is torn up with jealousy of those (anyone) who are home, brought on because his daughter called Radar daddy.
So mostly agree with you, Brian.
What was “the kid with the cigar” Hawk mentions in his recount of the day’s events, I’m assuming a scene was snipped for syndication in the TVLand version.
In post-op, a patient gives Hawkeye a “genuine Cuban stogie” as a thank you present. Then BJ walks in and the increasingly paranoid Hawkeye turns suspicious (thinking BJ has had the patient give him an exploding cigar) and dunks the cigar in water, to the confusion of the patient.
I was just happy to hear them talking about Trapper. I miss him and Henry so much by this point in the show that it’s really nice to have his name brought up. I wish Alan could have talked him into calling on the phone or something which would have been perfect.
BJ was a child and it was all about boredom and being overly competitive. No matter who was a better joker (Trapp), I think Hawk and BJ would never have been friends if not for the war. Trapp and Hawk would have been (and were in real life). They were very alike in a lot of ways. BJ can whine and act like a baby but there’s nothing he can do about that. Trapp was fun-loving and always laughing. BJ is so serious and only laughs at winning something at someone else’s expense. Even when he’s playing jokes he’s got a straight face. I think the whole Trapper scenario mirrored what Farrell probably felt when he joined the show. What any new character might feel replacing someone beloved. Either way, I found this episode to be a bit formulaic in places. The “practical jokes” were beyond lame which proves Hawkeye’s point about BJ not being creative. Even the larger joke had to involve other people so he couldn’t even come up with anything on his own. I’m sorry but BJ is the worst. I can’t like any episode that focuses on him.
This was, IMO, a dumb episode. Writers were getting desperate for stories, actors are OVER ACTING, & the pranks are not funny. We’re supposed to be Hawkeye, a good prankster & nobody’s fool, is now a paranoid tower of jello. MASH, IMO, was a great show but should have shut down 2 years earlier.
I like this one okay, but given Hawkeye’s eventual problems in the finale, it seems really terrible in retrospect for BJ to deliberately cause him to fall apart this way. It makes it feel less like good clean fun, and more like a really cruel prank. I always wondered if BJ beat himself up for it when Hawkeye fell apart for real.
The problem with the plot’s ending could have been easily resolved with Hawkeye pointing out that BJ didn’t actually win the bet, everyone insisting he strip anyway, and Hawkeye giving in good-naturedly with a comment about how BJ deserves the victor’s spoils. It’s a little sad that no one on the writing staff noticed the flaw in the plot.
Given this episode’s repeated mentions of Trapper, I’m surprised no one mentioned the song playing in the beginning of the episode. It’s the Korean (Japanese?) version of “Happy Days Are Here Again” that played over and over again in the first few seasons of the show, but that at this point we haven’t heard in ages. It’s a very clear musical choice calling back to Trapper’s era.
Great (and fun) catch on the song!
I think Hawkeye was just being good natured about having been pranked so went along with the punishment, after all B.J. really was the victor anyway.
Si pero podría haber añadido un poco más la escena en que Bj a de afeitarse el resto del bigote y luego cuando en comedor le digan oye trn ciudado no te manches yu largo y gran bigote que vaya como te ha crecido yed que esté totalmente sin el gran bigote porque es e lo ha tenido que afeitar lo que quedaba de su gran moustacho y ahora está irreconocible sin la autorización del gran bigoteatazo aunque llegó sin su gran moustacho pero le ha dado una nueva identidad que parece que siempre ha sido un gran bigotudo y tiene que esperar a volver a que v
Crezca y mientras se burla de su despeja de labio en gran vellos y cantidad de largo y pelirrojo de su carteristas en la personalidad y hasta que no vuelva a ser el se siente como inferior y no como una persona fuerte que sabe lo gusta que su atracción y la hs perdido po sus bromas y esto tenía que haberse visto como el se humilla dn su bigotazo.
S
Random comment – I just noticed that Dr Yamato comes in at the end to see Hawkeye dancing on the table. He seems visibly upset and leaves. We don’t see him again. It’s awkward, and makes me think he had another appearance later that must have got written out. Anybody else notice that, or is it just me?
I’d probably be upset too if the next time I saw the guy who was acting super paranoid and allowed me to get strangled, was standing on tables in the mess hall singing and stripping while being cheered on by everyone else. I’d probably think that place was a complete mad house and be pretty disgusted and upset with not just Hawkeye, but everyone else too. Remember per BJ’s comments, he had not yet told Dr. Yamato why Hawkeye was acting the way he was, so in Paul’s mind, Hawkeye is still this psychopath who almost allowed him to be killed, despite supposedly being a doctor, but is still loved and adored by everyone, including his friend BJ.
Reading through the comments here, it’s strange to me that everyone is so weirded out by Mulcahy’s “I wanna see some skin” line. If he was saying it in a serious way it’d be very weird yes, but it was clearly a joke, made better by the fact that it was him saying that instead of someone else. I always took it as he was purposely trying to be funny.
I think the big prank on “April Fools” was a better long con with a big payoff than this one. I liked the Trapper tribute and all, why would BJ need to be so jealous anyway? He more than distinguished himself in the rash of practical jokes in “Dear Sigmund” alone.
I don’t think it started out that B.J. Was jealous of trapper. When he nailed Hawkeyes boot to the floor or loosened the salt in the mess tent I don’t think he was thinking about “topping” Trapper. It was only after both Hawkeye and Klinger invoked Trappers name for the purpose of ridiculing B.J.‘s jokes that B.J. Said “if trapper were here he could pull something on all of you in 24 hours.” Yes, they used trappers name as a segue but it was about B.J. Proving he was a good prankster not necessarily that he was better than Trapper.
I agree with Jeff, it’s not out of jealousy of Trapper or trying to “top” Trapper. … B.J. just found another way to create some fun.
Great episode!
Me hubiera gustado ver como Bj luego se tiene que afeitar la otra mitad del bigote para que le crezca igualado. Y le queda muy bien el bigote es como un homenaje al de elliott gould el film Mash.
I imagine he did shave off the other half of his mustache after the episode was filmed then grew back the whole mustache in time for Season 11 production.
It’s a dumb episode. Not funny. Alan Alda was given too much control. The actors are bored. Roger and out.
I think B.J. using Trapper’s reputation as a springboard for the challenge was a great idea; besides, I love how they pay tribute to the beginning characters throughout the series.
It was fun how Margaret, Potter, Charles, Klinger, and Father Mulcahy all helped B.J. set the trap.
Klinger’s “Seems to me the pranks used to be more original in the old days.” was a great line to reel Hawkeye in, Father Mulcahy’s “Trapper was a scamp.” and then Potter’s “Are you proposing a “jokeout” at the O. K. Corral?” were all great.
The second time I watched this I really enjoyed watching Hawkeye getting so jittery, and this line of Potter’s was twice as good “I’d hate to think what you’d do to somebody you’re really gunning for.” – There are so many nuggets in this episode, several I missed the first time.
In the beginning when Hawkeye says what would make a good joke, “Something with flair, with imagination, with, with style, like… the dribble specimen bottle.” … Is great!
I do not see B.J. trying top Trapper, I think he’s just using Trapper’s reputation to pull one over on Hawkeye, which everyone gladly helped with, of course!
This time while watching I realized the stakes are just what the ending is …. No writers error, just creativity.
This statement sets the stakes:
[Margaret] “What kind of stakes are you talking about here, funny pants?”
[B.J.] “…. I’m sure he’d want to see everybody he got do a striptease on a table while singing …. ”
The dialogue before and after definitely adds confusion to what the stakes are, but doesn’t change them.
B.J. has several great lines, my favorite is “… anybody who’d want to get everybody, would want to get you worst of all.”
I still do not see B.J. as being jealous or trying to top Trapper, if anything I believe he and the others are honoring him.
Such clever creative writing masterfully delivered!
I think IMDB and tv.com might have been referring this episode as the last one to be repeated before the final episode aired.
yamato pig! he enslaved my country! he sold my country!
your colleague he thinks i’m kidding!
I very much enjoyed this episode and felt it was nicely light hearted, if a bit convoluted.
My query is that, to be honest, I don’t really remember Trapper himself being much of a practical joker in season 1-3. Have I missed something?
In fact I don’t really recall much in the way of sustained practical jokes of any kind until season 5’s “Dear Sigmund”, in which it turns out BJ is the practical joker.
Can anyone enlighten me as to the season 1-3 episodes featuring Trapper practical jokes?
Because of the way the practical jokes are recounted there is no need to have actually witnessed Trapper doing any … the setup (and follow-up) is very cleverly done.
It is such an excellent shout-out to Trapper.
There’s definitely practical jokes that happen throughout the first 3 seasons, they’re just often “one and done” types (like putting various internal organs in Frank’s boots) rather than being drawn-out elaborate episode-long campaigns like the kind BJ engages in. And Trapper is behind several of them – just off the top of my head, one episode has a scene in the Swamp of Frank reading his Bible and saying something like “who rewrote these commandments?” and the camera pans to show Trapper smirking on his bunk. Granted, a lot of the time it’s ambiguous as to whether Hawkeye or Trapper is the driving force behind any given prank in the first 3 seasons, but (especially if we expand the criteria to include all the various schemes the pair come up with, which often involved pulling what could loosely be deemed “practical jokes” on various people – e.g. ‘Bananas, Crackers and Nuts’) the characterisation of Trapper as a prankster discussed in this episode isn’t really too far off what was shown or implied about him while he was on the show. He was just more lowkey about it than either BJ or Hawkeye.
Well said.
This episode is a great example of the talents involved in creating the series.