Life of the Party is the eighteenth episode of the second season of Family Matters, which aired on ABC on February 8, 1991. It was directed by Gary Menteer and written by Janet Lynne Jackson.
Synopsis[]
Steve teaches everyone how to "Do the Urkel" at Maxine's rooftop party, but the party may be his last when Willie Fuffner spikes the punch with whiskey as revenge for humiliating him in the Coach Redding-forced boxing match in Requiem for an Urkel. An intoxicated Urkel soon tumbles from the rooftop, and is clinging to dear life. Rachel ends up risking her life to try to save Steve's, while Fuffner and his pal, Waldo, end up in juvenile hall. Meanwhile, the Winslows are trying to decide what their one-week vacation will be, and Harriette decides to take Carl's idea to go to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
Plot[]
Carl wants to go to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin for the family's vacation. Many refuse because they believe he is just being a cheapskate like he always is. Eddie points out that the family wants to go to Disney World because they want to have some fun there and thinks Carl's choice to go to Lake Geneva is so boring. This makes him have a hissy fit over how the family doesn't care about his opinions.
Resident school bully Willie Fuffner is still sore over his ill-fated boxing match in "Requiem for an Urkel" and is still convinced Laura likes him. He and Waldo decide to crash Maxine's rooftop party, where Urkel is a guest. No one is dancing, since they're interested in getting drunk with Waldo's booze he hid in his trench coat. Steve decides he needs to break the ice and lift the party up by showing the guests the "Urkel Dance". He asks his buddy, Harvey Garvey to crank up the music. Urkel wows and impresses the fellow party-goers with his performance of "The Urkel." The only one who wasn't impressed is Willie. Irate and humiliated over the fact that Steve embarrassed him again, he grabs a mini vodka bottle on the table to spike his drink. Waldo asks why he's doing that, which offends him. Willie mentions Urkel embarrassed him again, only they're at the party and wants him to pay up. Waldo mentions that he humiliates him everyday, which embarrasses Fuffner. Willie reminds him that it was just because he was his friend but Steve is his enemy. Sure enough, Urkel samples some and it isn't long before he's very drunk! The fun of watching a drunken Urkel stagger about and babble incoherently quickly ends when he falls over a high ledge and is hanging on for dear life onto a concrete ledge.
A scared Rachel (who has catered the party and is serving as chaperone) must pull him to safety. She later admits she never has practiced tightrope walking but she succeeds in rescuing Urkel. After the party ends, the two cops had arrested Willie and Waldo and they ask for the booze. Fuffner denies hiding any alcohol at the party. However, Waldo's loose lips in confessing to the crime by hiding it his trench coat, angers Willie. A disgusted Laura tells off an unapologetic Fuffner that it isn't funny and cool to let Steve look like an idiot while he was drunk, and hiding a mini-bar in his coat was a low and dangerous move on his part, since her friend could've died because of him; the cops agree and also mention it's also against the law, and escort both Willie and Waldo to the door. They tell the boys they're heading to juvenile hall until their parents pick them up. Willie asks if they can make one phone call to their parents, and the cops agree. Waldo stops for a moment and asks if it can be a 976 number (porn number prefixes). This causes a humiliated Willie to grab his foolish sidekick and force him to walk.
At the Winslow home, Carl continues to have a big fit that no one will consider his wishes to go to Lake Geneva for the family's vacation trip. However, Harriette reprimands him for being such a big baby and asks him to see their family trip this time. Carl feels bad when he finds out that they already had made reservations to go to Lake Geneva; he later apologizes for his rude behavior because the family has listened to his wishes. The next day, Carl helps Steve with his hangover.
Cast[]
Main[]
- Reginald VelJohnson as Carl Winslow
- Jo Marie Payton as Harriette Winslow (credited as Jo Marie Payton-France)
- Rosetta LeNoire as Estelle Winslow
- Darius McCrary as Eddie Winslow
- Kellie Shanygne Williams as Laura Winslow
- Jaimee Foxworth as Judy Winslow
- Bryton James as Richie Crawford (credited as Bryton McClure)
- Jaleel White as Steve Urkel
- Telma Hopkins as Rachel Crawford
Guest[]
Recurring[]
Cameo[]
- Larenz Tate as Willie Fuffner
- Robert Balderson as Cop
Trivia[]
- Eddie and Richie only appear in the cold open of the episode.
- On ABC Family reruns, the "Hell" part of "Hellhole" is edited out.
- Harvey Garvey is also the name of a minor Power Rangers character.
- When the family is arguing where to go on vacation, one of the suggestions is Disney World. The family would later go to Disney World in the season 6 two part episode "We're Going To Disney World".
- Steve performed "The Urkel" again in the Step by Step episode “The Dance”.
- Shawn Harrison and Larenz Tate were both offered contracts to join the show. However, only Harrison accepted, and thus his character Waldo Geraldo Faldo continued to appear for the rest of the series.
- This episode is referenced in Tips for a Better Life in which Waldo keeps the dangers of alcohol in his mind and tells Eddie off.
Goofs[]
- After Rachel steps off of Urkel's fingers, we see her mouth, "Sorry," but no sound comes out.
- When Carl gives Urkel the glass of "hangover cure," the level of liquid changes between shots.
Quotes[]
- Willie: We're trying to decide what we want to drink.
- Laura: You don't like punch?
- Willie: Sure. Especially when it's spiked. Here, have some rum.
- Laura: No way. Waldo, where'd you get those?
- Waldo: My dad's a stewardess.
- Laura: Drinking is for losers.
- Maxine: Laura, if you don't want to drink, fine. But shut up about it. You're going to ruin my party.
- Laura: Fine. But I don't need to drink to have a good time.
- Maxine: Come on, Laura, relax. So some guys had a few drinks. Big deal.
- Laura: Waldo, what's with Steve? He's acting weird, even for him.
- Waldo: Willie told me not to tell.
- Laura: Tell what?
- Waldo: That he spiked Urkel's punch.
- Willie: We were just having a little fun.
- Laura: Fun? Steve could have been killed.
- Willie: Hey, but he wasn't, so chill out, okay?
- Laura: You just don't get it, do you? You think it's cool to come to a party with a mini-bar in your coat? You think it's funny to spike somebody's punch and watch them act like a fool? Well, it's not cool, it's not funny, it's dangerous.
- Carl: Oh, buck up, Steve. I am fixing you a surefire hangover remedy. This will either cure you or kill you.
- Urkel: Either way, I'll be better off.
- Urkel: I'll never snort with a hangover. I just blew my adenoids at the back of my head. As God is my witness, liquor will never touch these lips again.