Rambling Ed

"Rambling Ed" is the 12th episode of Season 2 and the 38th episode of Ed, Edd n Eddy. In this episode, Ed, as per Eddy's suggestion, leaves his home and stays at Rolf's house when Sarah becomes too bossy to him. Rolf enjoys this at first, but the Eds soon start to test his hospitality.

Plot
The episode begins with Eddy showing off his latest scam to two–no, make that three–excited customers. Eddy is running a spirit summoning for Rolf, Jonny, and Plank. After he makes contact with the other side, he tells them that the spirit needs "bus fare" to cross. As if to prove this, a can with a hole in the lid for change rattles. The three customers reluctantly each drop a quarter in, and the can makes its way across the table before dropping off the edge. Eddy bends down, and we get to see that the can trick was performed by Edd with a magnet. Edd then heads backstage secretly and starts moving a clothesline. Clipped to the line is a flour-covered Ed. When Ed gets an arm inside Eddy's curtained-off seance room, however, he suddenly stops. Rolf and Jonny are miffed by this, so Eddy reaches outside, grabs Ed, and tugs him through. Ed flies through the room, and Eddy's customers look after him–a lucky thing, as Eddy's hard tug has inadvertently pulled Edd into the room as well. Eddy quickly pulls his ghost back, and Ed begins to speak, reciting "I'm a Little Teapot". Suddenly, however, Edd cries for help outside the curtains. Those inside look at him and see shadows of a monster flashing on the curtains. The monster attacks Edd and then turns towards the seance. Eddy, Rolf, and Jonny cower under the table as the monster rips the curtains down...and reveals herself as Sarah. Sarah grabs the "spirit" and drags him upstairs with her.

Eddy follows his stolen ghost upstairs to find that Jimmy is complaining about one of Ed's socks lying on Sarah's floor. Ed picks it up, and Sarah then yells at him to dress his dolls. After a few more commands, including one demanding he get rid of his freezer experiment she pulls out a long list of things for him to do and walks off with Jimmy. Seeing this, Eddy decries it as pathetic, and asks Ed if he'd do whatever Sarah told him. Upon receiving a yes as the answer, he suggests to Ed that he find his own place. Instead of replying, Ed stares cluelessly ahead, so Eddy puts his hands in Ed's mouth and talks for him. When Edd brings up some of the problems inherent in moving out, Ed performs the same hand/mouth trick on Eddy, making Eddy say that he'll help Ed pack.

Once Ed's stuff is packed up, Eddy and Edd help him move it out. Ed has packed his stuff in a gigantic suitcase, and he tries to fit it through his window. Once he gets it through, the release of tension is so great that the suitcase flies along the ground, forcing Edd to run from it. Eventually, it runs over Edd, and stops there. Ed asks Eddy about the chores, and Eddy says it's taken care of; in reality, he has tricked Jonny into doing them disguised as Ed. Ed and Eddy get on top of the suitcase, and Eddy asks Ed where he wants to live; upon learning Ed wants to be somewhere close to a mailbox, Eddy gets an idea and says he knows just the place.

Rolf, meanwhile, is testing dirt by chewing it, he then goes to his shed, but finds a horrific sight inside. The Eds have taken up residence there. Rolf angrily beckons them to the ground, and accuses them of swindling him earlier. The Eds then explain how they're helping Ed move out, and Rolf's whole attitude towards them changes. He is completely in favor of Ed's moving out, as he sees it as a brave decision. Edd notes that Rolf is a fine fellow, and they unpack. When he unlatches Ed's case, the shed shakes, and the case erupts. When the dust clears, there is a replica of Ed's room set up in Rolf's shed.

While Rolf is initially welcoming, however, things soon go sour. Ed bathes in the troughs of pig food, Eddy lazes around on things Rolf is trying to work with, and Edd performs experiments with eggs. Rolf's patience finally wears through when one of Edd's experiments sends him tumbling into his remaining eggs, breaking them all. At this, he becomes completely fed up and banishes the Eds to the shed.

Even this banishment does not solve his problems, however, for the Eds find a way to transport their shed around. Thus are the Eds able to sneak into his house and raid his fridge without breaking their banishment. When Rolf gets inside, tired and hungry, and finds his empty fridge and some stacks of dirty dishes, he looks around, amazed, and then sets to work washing the dishes. When he finally finishes with these, he's so tired that he lies down in the kitchen and goes to sleep. Rolf's eyes have barely shut when he is awaked by a loud noise. As it turns out, Ed snores, and this noise is loud enough to drive Rolf to search for a new refuge. When he comes to his room, he thinks he's found a place to hide, but this isn't so; instead, Edd and Eddy have commandeered his bed.

Finally, the next morning, the snores stop. Rolf, who has not gotten any sleep, is finally ready to lay himself down to rest, but he is roused by the beeping of a smoke alarm. He runs to the kitchen and finds Eddy making omelets. Edd then comes up to him and offers the paper and a slice of grapefruit. Rolf isn't sure which situation to confront first, and is then faced with Ed, who has ripped out his sink and wasted all his toilet paper. Rolf's eyes slide about the room, looking at all the chaos; eventually, fed up, he lets out a yell on how he cannot take the burden of hospitality anymore. This yell echoes throughout the cul-de-sac, stopping all activity in its tracks.

Later on, however, it seems that the Eds have taken no notice of Rolf's anger, as they are playing with Rolf's shed. Rolf, finally fed up with the Eds, bursts inside and corrals them. He then drags them outside and makes them watch as he looks into a polished pumpkin, pretending to put on a "crystal ball" act. He then says that the spirit of the rind speaks, and brandishes his muscles as a threat as he commands them to do various acts. The episode ends with Ed in much the same position as he was in at the start; the only difference is that instead of only him serving his sister, it's him and his friends serving Rolf.

Memorable Quotes

 * Rolf: [worried about Eddy's spirit summoning spell] "I think we have angered the spirits, as it is a travesty to mix salami and bologna."


 * Eddy: [waiting without subtlety for money] "The spirit's a little low on cash and needs bus fare to join us!" [Rolf and Jonny insert quarters into jar. The jar shakes, demanding more money.] "Crosstown, full fare."

Ed: [dressed up as the spirit] "I am a little teapot, short and stout! This is my handle, this is my spout!"
 * Rolf: [frightened] "Look! It is so repulsive! It wants Rolf!"


 * Ed: [while being pulled on the ear by Sarah] "It wasn't me, Sarah, I always put the seat down!"

Ed: "I had socks on, Eddy!" Eddy: [disgusted] "Ohhh!"
 * Eddy: [exasperated at Ed's manipulation by Sarah] "Get over it! If she told you to jump in the lake with a rock tied to your head and wait for naked photos of you to develop so she could hand 'em out to all the kids in the cul-de-sac, would you?!"

Edd: "Going out on one's own requires planning, Eddy. There's so much work involved that–" Ed: [manipulating Eddy's mouth and impersonating him] "Relax Double D, I'll help him pack!" Edd: "Well, let's just be sure to pack hand soap."
 * Eddy: [manipulating Ed's mouth and impersonating him] "I like it, Eddy! I have one eyebrow and the brain of a bug!"

Ed: [pushes his oversized luggage with extreme force] "Tag! You're it!" Eddy: "Go, Double D, go!" Edd: [forced against the front of Ed's luggage] "Aah!" [running from Ed's case] "Curse these short legs!" [after being crushed by the case] "Well, there's my exercise for the day."
 * Edd: [struggling to pull out Ed's oversized luggage] "Ed, did you pack only the essentials like I asked?"

Ed: "Close to a mailbox, Eddy."
 * Eddy: "Think big, Ed. Where have you always wanted to live?"

Eddy: "Don't break a nail, Double D."
 * Edd: "Shall we unpack?"


 * Ed: "My place is the cat's tuxedo, guys! Right, Poochie?" [pets cow]


 * Ed: "I love canoes!"


 * Rolf: [trying to pull up a tree stump] "May shower scum devour your head!"

Rolf: [calmly] "A burden has been placed on Rolf."
 * Ed: [passes by while being pulled by Rolf's cow, captures Rolf's attention] "I'm a cowboy! Bang! Bang!"


 * Rolf: [to Edd] "May your nose fester with the rage of olives!"

''Edd: "Look, a hypothesis!" [Rolf lands face first in the eggs.] "Documented and proven." [holding up an egg] " Not a scratch." Rolf: "MY PATIENCE IS WEARING THIN LIKE MY MAMA'S HEAD OF HAIR!" [uses Victor to ram the Eds back into the shed] "You have the use of Rolf's shed and NOTHING MORE!" [He slams the shed door.]
 * Ed: [to Rolf] "Hi, Rolf." ''[Victor rams into Ed which causes him to hit Rolf's tractor, knocking it over.]

Rolf: [so loud that it echoes across the entire Cul-de-Sac and catches the attention of all of the other kids] "THE BURDEN OF HOSPITALITY IS TOO GREAT FOR ROLF!"
 * Ed: "Anyone got a breath mint?"

Ed: "What does it say?" Eddy: [sarcastically] "Yeah, tell us, O Swami!" Rolf: "It says that your day will begin by..." [angrily as he shows his muscles] "CLEANING MY PIG PEN!" [The Eds get so scared that they run off and call for his pigs.]
 * Rolf: [seeing the Eds' future] "The yeast has risen and tells me the future of the couch-creature Ed-boys. Do you hear it? The spirit of the rind speaks."

Edd: [panicking] "Gloves! I need gloves!" Ed: "Pumpkins sure are bossy." Eddy: "Shut up, Ed!"
 * Rolf: [happy to see the Eds working for him] "Also your future will hold that you de-lice the chickens, and shake the dew from the tree, and brush the hair on the back of Rolf!"


 * Rolf: "Ah, the beast has stopped. Nighty-night Rolf." [hearing the fire alarm in the kitchen] "Smoke? What!?"

Edd: [frightened] "Is all well, Rolf?" Ed: [happily, oblivious to Rolf's frustration] "Wipe your feet please." Rolf: [ripping his shirt and charging at the Eds] "YOU HAVE BROKEN THE CELERY STALK ON THE BACK OF A SEA URCHIN!" Eddy: "What'd he say?" Rolf: [attacking the Eds] "SHAK-LA-VA!"
 * Rolf: [angry] "Having fun with my shed Ed boys?" [Jumps inside shed]

Trivia/Goofs

 * When Edd moved the can with the magnet at the beginning of the episode, it had to be done through cartoon physics, because the table was too thick for the magnetism to work (regardless of the fact that magnets can attract metal).
 * Apparently Rolf does not allow all his animals to be in his shed.
 * The money can was the same one Edd used in "Look Into My Eds". This is the can's second appearance on the show. The money can later appears in "X Marks the Ed".
 * When Ed puts Rolf and the tractor on top of the egg, the red stripe on Rolf's shirt is missing.
 * Rolf's bedroom is on the first floor in this episode, but in "Here's Mud in Your Ed", it is on the second floor.
 * When Ed snores, the shed expands when he inhales and contracts when he exhales. Technically speaking, the opposite should happen, as the shed would compress with his inhalations and expand when he exhales.
 * Eddy demonstrates his special self-proclaimed omelet-making talent a second time. It was previously mentioned in "Who, What, Where, Ed".
 * During the scene where Ed is snoring, some of the background music from "A Glass of Warm Ed" plays.
 * Ed's freezer experiment comes back in "X Marks the Ed".
 * Rolf has bags under his eyes after he opens the door to Eddy and Double D. But when he zipped to the kitchen after hearing smoke, the bags under his eyes are gone. The bags then reappear immediately afterwards.
 * This is the second appearance of Wilfred and the first episode where his name is revealed. Wilfred's first appearance was "Flea-Bitten Ed".
 * During the scene where Rolf yells "THE BURDEN OF HOSPITALITY IS TOO GREAT FOR ROLF!", it shows Kevin and Nazz looking towards the right side of the of the cul-de-sac, near the playground, though Rolf's house is on the left side of the Cul-de-Sac.
 * When Eddy says "Enter, O' spirit of the Underwood", he's making a reference to Scott "Diggs" Underwood, a storyboard artist for the show.
 * Because Eddy and Edd were sleeping in Rolf's bed, Rolf was forced to sleep on the bedroom's door. So how did Eddy and Edd get to the kitchen in the morning without waking Rolf and opening the bedroom door?
 * Edd reveals in this episode that he is an only child. (He claimed that after seeing Sarah bossing Ed around he is glad to not have siblings, but he regrets it in "The Day the Ed Stood Still").
 * When the Eds tipped the shed over the first time, the door handle was on the right. But when Rolf opens the door, you can see that he puts the door downwards! Shouldn't he open it the other way?
 * When the Eds tip the shed over, before Rolf opens the door to the shed, Eddy is seen standing on the top of the bed, when he should be standing on the walls of the shed like Ed and Edd.
 * This is the second time that Ed said "Anyone got a breath mint?". The first time was in "A Boy and His Ed".
 * This is the second time Ed said "I love canoes!". The first time was "Oath to an Ed".
 * 23rd time the Kankers never appeared.
 * Kevin and Nazz make cameo appearances in this episode, and do not speak.
 * In Ed, Edd n Eddy's Big Picture Show, Edd said it's difficult for him to sleep in an unlabeled environment, but in this episode he sleeps in Rolf's room with Eddy and had no problems. It is possible this habit wasn't fully established yet.
 * A running gag in this episode is that Rolf is forced to handle all of the mischief that the Eds cause.
 * When Edd is doing his egg experiment and Rolf's tractor falls, he says "Look! A hypothesis!". This would not make sense as in the Scientific Method, a hypothesis is an educated guess of the expected results of an experiment. Edd's statement would make more sense if he said something like "My hypothesis was correct!"
 * Rolf breaks from his usual habit of speaking in third-person when he uses the word my in this episode three times ("My patience is wearing thin like Mama's head of hair!","Having fun with my shed Ed-boys?" and "Your day will begin by, CLEANING MY PIG PEN!").
 * In Ed, Edd n Eddy - The Mis-Edventures, on the final cut-scene of level one, Ed's stuff from his room reappears in Rolf's shed.
 * When Sarah ripped the curtain down and said "Eddy, you idiot!", her lips didn't sync up with her voice.
 * Ed's line "Eggs, eggs, eggs, eggs, eggs." was previously said in "Who, What, Where, Ed".
 * This is the first episode where Ed sings a nursery rhyme.
 * This is one of the few episodes where Edd is bad rather than good as he stole Rolf's food, used his eggs, etc. However, he may not have seen this as bad, as Rolf did allow the Eds to stay at his house, and Edd may have believed this to be a privilege of guests.