Something You Can Do with Your Finger

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"Chef Goes Nanners"

"Something You Can Do with Your Finger"

"Do the Handicapped Go to Hell?"

"Something You Can Do with Your Finger"
File:409 fingerbang malllive.gif
Episode no.	Season 4 Episode 8
Production no.	409
Original airdate	July 12, 2000
Episode chronology Previous Next "Chef Goes Nanners" "Do the Handicapped Go to Hell?"
List of all South Park episodes

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"Something You Can Do with Your Finger" is the eighth episode of Season Four, and the 56th overall episode of South Park. It aired on July 12, 2000.

Synopsis

The boys form their own boy band, and everyone in town is lining up to audition for a spot as the fifth band member.    

Plot

Spoiler warning! Plot details follow.

In a dream, Cartman sees himself and the rest of the gang becoming the next big boy band to sweep the nation, earning them, or at least him, the admiration of thousands of beautiful women and $10,000,000 (his pursuit of which becomes a running plot line over the following few episodes). Convinced that his dream is a message from God, Cartman corrals Stan, Kyle and Kenny into making a band called "Fingerbang." However, Kyle notes that most major boy bands have five members (using New Kids on the Block, the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync as examples). As a result, they hold auditions for a fifth member. The seemed to fail until Wendy showed up and turns out to be the best out of all the auditions. Stan, Kyle, and Kenny approve of her, but Cartman was stubborn about allowing a girl in a boy band; arguing that everyone will notice that Wendy's a girl due to "her huge freakin' hooters." Outvoted, Cartman admits Wendy into the group as long as she dresses up like a boy.

When asked by Stan what "fingerbang" means, Cartman interprets the term as referring to Finger Gun the action of pretending one's hand is a firearm. Only Kenny knows the actual definition of the term, but no one believes him. After an argument between Cartman and Kyle on the subject of being "the tough one" of the band, the boys and Wendy attempt to secure a gig at the mall, but must first evade two ornery mall security guards by causing a stampede. Cartman then visits Chef to ask him about how to make the group successful, to which Chef tells him "a cucumber in the pants don't hurt either" and that he needs the "Garmlich Effect" (if one girl screams, then all girls will scream).

Randy inexplicably throws a fit when he discovers what his son is up to and forbids him to take part in the band. It's eventually revealed that he was part of a boy band called "The Ghetto Avenue Boys" back in the 1980s. Randy dropped out of high school and left his friends and family behind to pursue this fame. Although initially wildly successful, the Randy and the other members was quickly replaced due to its members' getting "too old" to be part of a boy band (despite only being nineteen at the time). Deeply in debt and properly shamed, Randy was forced to sell his possessions and return home with the remainder of his earnings to complete his education.

However, after a heart-to-heart father-to-son conversation, Randy agrees to let Stan play, realizing that his son has to make his own mistakes in order to learn. The two rush to the mall for the gig, where Cartman is desperately stalling for time while they try to find a replacement for Stan. Stan and Randy arrive in the nick of time--just in time, in fact, for Kenny to be crushed by an elevator, reducing their numbers once more to four. Randy gallantly steps in to replace Kenny and perform the song. When one of the few remaining listeners asks for an autograph afterwards, the group realizes that, what with all the "fame" that they have acquired, they will never be able to live normal lives. They promptly disband the band.