Will Work for Ed

"Will Work for Ed" is the 9th episode of Season 3 and the 61st episode of Ed, Edd n Eddy. In this episode, the Eds find out that Rolf is looking for some help. Eddy convinces Ed to work for Rolf on his farm in order to make money for jawbreakers.

Plot
Once again, the Eds are flat broke, but this time their pain is worse than usual as this is the time of year that the candy store holds a three-for-one jawbreaker sale, and all they can do is mournfully look into the store at the piles of delicious jawbreakers that they could get if they only had a quarter. Just then, Kevin exits the store with his purchase of three jawbreakers, and Eddy instantly formulates a scheme. He quickly tells Kevin that Nazz is skydiving in a bikini, and swaps pants when Kevin looks up. Once Kevin leaves, Eddy joyfully takes the jawbreaker from Kevin's pants and prepares to eat only to be met by a haymaker from Kevin, who has come back for his stuff. Eddy flies out of Kevin's pants, leaving behind his ill-gotten jawbreaker and his dignity.

When Eddy lands, he comes down by a light pole. Rolf comes by with a stack of fliers, sets them on Eddy's rump, and proceeds to nail one to the pole before taking most of his stack away, leaving a single sheet lying on top of Eddy's underwear. Ed and Edd find their downed friend, and Ed asks about what he perceives to be a diaper; Edd reads the sheet and finds out that Rolf needs a hired hand. Hearing this and knowing that there must be cash in the deal, Eddy immediately gets up and goes after Rolf. Although Rolf initially refuses, Eddy says that the employee he's offering is Ed, and after a short inspection, Rolf hires Ed and tells him to come to his house in an hour.

The Eds then head over to Ed's house, where Edd fixes his friend a bowl of organic oatmeal to give him some energy to start his day while Eddy paces the floor gleefully. Double D is happy with Ed, as he's about to carve his niche in the world, and while Edd rambles on about the working man, Ed tosses his horrid-tasting oatmeal away and gets ready to. Edd hands Ed a lunch, but tells him to take no more than a one hour break, and fixes Ed's clothes and hair. Edd and Eddy then happily watch as Ed sets off to go to work, but Edd's content immediately goes away when he sees that Ed is actually going to try and drive a car to work, and he runs over to stop his friend.

When Ed arrives at his workplace, Rolf immediately dresses his new nincompoop down for not using the nincompoop entrance. Ed does as commanded and enters the backyard, where Rolf strips him of his tie, his haircut, and most of his clothes before throwing some mud on Ed's undershirt for color and giving Ed a pair of work boots. For these boots, he'll have to deduct Ed's pay, a transaction that makes Eddy (who is hiding with Edd) scream. Hearing this, Rolf looks up and yells at Ed, but Ed is perfectly fine with the deal. Rolf then takes Ed into the shed.

Inside the shed are a veritable mountain of spuds. Rolf yells at Ed to peel them, and Ed attempts to use his thumbnails on the potato, only for Rolf to slap him and give him a tool to do the job. There will be a rental fee for this tool, however, a proposition that makes Eddy yell again. Ed then attempts to use the peeler and gets a sliver of skin off, only to be yelled at by Rolf again because there is, according to him, too much waste on the peel. Rolf has other things to do, however, and he exits the shed, telling Ed that he has to peel all the potatoes by the time Rolf gets back or he will be fired.

As soon as Rolf leaves, Ed's friends enter the shed. When Eddy learns about the precarious situation Ed is in, he ropes Edd into helping, and Edd pulls out a hairpin that he welds into a more efficient potato peeler. Eddy doesn't think that this will work fast enough for them to peel all the potatoes, so Double D looks around and starts constructing a machine for them to peel the potatoes. When Rolf comes back, he is amazed at the size and scope of the invention, but he soon notices Ed's helpers, and he angrily states that no visitors are allowed and slaps down another pay deduction. This elicits another annoyed complaint from Eddy, and Rolf sees what has happened to the potatoes: they have been cut into french fries. Rolf sees this as sacrilege, and gives Ed another pay deduction, before beckoning Ed onwards for more work. Hearing this, Eddy complains, and tries to get Ed to stay, but he reluctantly lets go of his friend when Rolf threatens not to pay up at all.

Eddy is still upset, however, and to this end he stages a strike outside of Rolf's house. Most of the kids gather to watch, and confused by this, Kevin decides to go ask Rolf what's going on. When he tries to cross the picket line, however, Eddy stops him, and Nazz surprisingly sides with Eddy, as he is protected under the Workers Rights Act. Seeing that there isn't going to be a fight, the kids leave, and Eddy returns to picketing. Double D isn't happy with Eddy's abrasive style of confrontation, and decides that what the confrontation really needs is a mediator. To this end, he goes up to Rolf's door, and when Rolf lets him in, Eddy's interest is peaked. Eddy then heads over to the window and eavesdrops on the debate. Soon, though, the dispute is over, and Rolf, Edd, and Ed leave the house happily. What's really interesting to Eddy, however, is the fact that Rolf has given a jawbreaker to both Ed and Edd, and he's the first in line to ask for one as well. Seeing this, Rolf sighs, and decides to make Eddy an offer.

Later that day, the Eds are hard at work. Ed has been promoted to a supervisory position and given the title of Turkey Eyes, while Edd and Eddy work underneath him. When Rolf asks for a report on their progress, Ed tells him that Edd is good worker, while Eddy is a sad sack who can't perform his job. This is underlined when an angry rooster starts chasing Eddy, who runs from it. When Ed calls Eddy a nincompoop at the same time as Rolf, Rolf realizes that his protege has learned well and leaves. With Rolf gone, Eddy runs from the angry fowl while Ed merely laughs and deducts his friend's pay for being a nincompoop.

Memorable Quotes
Kevin: [turns his head in the direction Eddy points as Eddy discreetly swaps pants with him off-screen] "No way! Where? Yeah, right. I'm on to you, dork!"
 * Eddy: "Hiya, Kev. Holy cow! Is that Nazz skydiving in a bikini?"

Eddy: [dazed, noticing Rolf] "Hiya, Rolfie-Boy, got any loose change?" Rolf: "Not in this life, Ed-boy." [He laughs and walks away, leaving a flier on Eddy's bottom.]
 * Rolf: "Ah, may I borrow your rump?" [placing fliers on Eddy's rump] "Yes, thank you." [hammers a nail on the flier to the streetlight pole]

Edd: "Well, Ed, a diaper would be worthy of Eddy's character, but this posterior posting is a job placement. Seems Rolf's looking for a hired hand." Ed: "Rolf lost his hand? Boy, that is sad, Double D."
 * Ed: [noticing the flier on top of Eddy's underwear] "Why is Eddy wearing a diaper, Double D?"

Rolf: "Poppycock! Rolf requires one with the backbone of a yak! This is no job for a jellyfish like yourself." Eddy: "Yeah right! I don't work, but he does!" [He shows Ed off to Rolf.] Ed: [with his shoes on his ears] "Polly wanna cracker! Arf, arf, arf! Tweet, tweet, tweet!"
 * Eddy: [after hearing about the job] "Reporting for duty and ready to work, Rolf! So, uh, what kinda income are we talking about?"


 * Edd: [after Ed gets into a car and attempts to start it] "ED, NO! YOU'RE TOO YOUNG TO DRIVE!"

[Ed tries to peel the potato with his fingers, but he gets nowhere] Rolf: [slaps Ed in the face a few times] "Nincompoop! Must I hold your hand?!" Ed: [missing the point] "Nope. Went before we got here, boss."
 * Rolf: [holding up a potato] "Behold the potato! Bow to this fruit of the earth and peel it as if it were the last task of your miserable life! [gives the potato to Ed]

Ed: "Fruit of the Earth!"
 * Eddy: [after seeing Edd peel the potato with a hairpin] "That's real pretty, Double D, [shows Edd the two huge piles of potatoes] but we only got ten zillion more to peel!"


 * Ed: "Tell me a story, boss."

Jonny: [interrupts Eddy as if trying to support his protest] "WE HATE BROCCOLI!" Eddy: "…ain't gonna work!"
 * Eddy: [picketing] "Rolf's a jerk! Ain't gonna work! Rolf's a jerk! Ain't gonna work! Rolf's a jerk! Ain't gonna work! Rolf's a jerk-"

Kevin: "Dorks."
 * Nazz: [after Kevin pins Eddy] "Kevin! According to 'The Worker's Rights Act, Sub-section E, paraphrase 4': Eddy is entitled to express formal protest as to wherefore, must be totally respected." [pause while Kevin, Edd, and Eddy gape at her, stupefied] "Babysitters gotta know this stuff."

Ed: "Well, yeah. Let's see here, boss. This guy I got no problems with." [points at Edd, who has a clean and tidy work station] Edd: "Double D waiting for orders, Turkey Eyes, sir." [then points at Eddy, who has a dirty work station and is attempting to take the chicken's temperature] Ed: But then there's the sad-sack, boss. A real slowpoke, trouble with a capital 'R'." [kicks the chicken box and a chicken comes out and chases Eddy] Eddy: "Help! I hate chickens!" Ed & Rolf: [in unison] "HEY, NINCOMPOOP!" [both look at each other, surprised] Rolf: [pats Ed on the head] "You've learned well, Turkey Eyes." [Rolf leaves] Eddy: "Stop the chicken, Ed!" Ed: "Nincompoop! I'm deducting your pay 'cause you're a Nincompoop! Pretty good, huh, Double D?" [laughs]
 * Rolf: "Tell Rolf the progress of the laborers, Turkey Eyes."

Trivia/Goofs

 * It is unknown why Kevin would buy jawbreakers if his dad has a garage full of jawbreakers (besides adding jawbreakers to his collection).
 * How was Eddy able to switch pants with Kevin without lifting up his legs?
 * Ed tries to start a car suggesting that he either has a key to the car or the adults leave their keys in their cars and their doors unlocked for some reason.
 * Rolf carries a large sundial as a watch. In "Who's Minding the Ed?" he is shown to have a smaller sundial on his wrist. It is possible Rolf got a different watch at some point between these two episodes.
 * Edd seems to be wearing hairpins in his hair since he took one out from under his hat.
 * Rolf already had three jawbreakers near the end of the episode when he gives them to the Eds. He probably got them from the jawbreaker sale shown at the beginning similar to Kevin.
 * Even though Rolf says that the work isn't for Eddy, he hires him anyway at the end. However it is possible the work was for an assistant like Ed to help him with nincompoops that don't have the yak backbone that Rolf claimed that the worker he needs has to have.
 * Running Gags:


 * 1) Rolf deducting Ed's pay repeatedly for little or no reason and Eddy complaining about the deduction issue (often Eddy says "WHAT?" in response to the pay deduction).
 * 2) Rolf calling Ed "Nincompoop."


 * Rolf says "Nincompoop" 15 times and Ed four times which would make for a total of 19 times. However, one of those times, both of them said "Nincompoop" at once in unison. So that would really make for a total of 18 times.
 * When Ed tells Rolf that he has only four more potatoes left, more than four potatoes come out of the machine.
 * No scams are available in this episode.
 * 4th time Jimmy doesn't appear.
 * 6th time Sarah is absent.
 * 42nd time the Kankers were absent.
 * This is the second episode where Eddy is chased by a chicken because he angered it. The first was in "Button Yer Ed".
 * Also another interesting fact is that the chicken that chased Eddy in this episode is the same one from "Button Yer Ed".
 * The word "sloot" ("tools" spelled backwards) is written on Rolf's tool box.
 * There seems to be several sticks of dynamite and a detonation box inside Rolf's shed. Reasons for him owning dynamite is unknown.
 * This is the first episode to air in 2002.
 * Nazz is highly knowledgeable in the field of labor laws. She even states that "A babysitter's got to know this stuff."
 * Ed's shoe size is 2 5/6.
 * There are two lines that are heard from previous episodes; "You have broken the trash of a son of a shepherd!" which was stated by Rolf in "Key to My Ed", and "Eggs, eggs, eggs, eggs" which was stated by Ed in "Who, What, Where, Ed" and "Rambling Ed".
 * This is the second episode where one of the characters are starting up or using a car (in which case it was Ed in this episode). The first episode to do this was "Sir Ed-a-Lot" and Eddy was the first character to use a car.