The Glep Ep is the eighth episode in Season Three of Smiling Friends.
Synopsis[]
After his boss fires him and his wife leaves for her home country, Glep visits a bar and regales all the things he's experienced throughout his 1,696 years.
Adult Swim synopsis[]
Finally we learn about Glep, one of the characters at Smiling Friends- the green one who sits on the bean bag and spits on the ground and stuff like that. *Growls at you*
Plot[]
It’s the Christmas season at Smiling Friends HQ, and Mr Boss is going through the group’s performance review; Pim and Charlie managed to make 126 people smile this year (an increase of 7 from the year prior) while Allan is commended for his clerical work. Mr Boss goes to talk about Glep and noticed he isn’t there, assuming he’s too busy to attend. The other smiling friends give eachother a side-eye and Charlie asks what they’re all thinking: what does Glep even do? Mr Boss can’t think of an answer but the others break the news to him that he just watches videos on his iPad all day - something the boss always assumed he did just because he was on break. Enraged, Mr Boss heads to the lobby room with the others to confront Glep. He asks Glep to name one thing he even does and when he can’t give an answer, he asks why he even hired him in the first place. This enrages Glep, who breaks his iPad and storms off in a huff. Mr Boss fires him and then heads to the toilet, while Charlie and Allan talk about kicking him from the group chat. Pim is confused since he’s also not a part of the chat but Charlie reassures him that it’s not even funny.
Glep drives home to his mansion in his purple sports car and is confronted by his wife, Marge Simpson; she believes he’s spent way too much time at work and feels neglected and as of such she’s going to spend time with her family during the holidays. Glep, now depressed, spends his evening channel surfing only to realise it’s not making him happier. He heads out to a bar and orders a drink. When the bartender asks for his ID, he discovers Glep was born in 329 AD. He says Glep must’ve seen some crazy stuff only for him to experience a series of flashbacks. The first, in Rome in 476, has him brought before Emperor Romulus Augustulus for stealing apples. When he asks Glep why he should spare him, he does a dance similar to the one done to celebrate his joy at getting the role of Mr. Frog. This drives Augustulus insane, and he dives out of his window, causing the serfs below to erupt into anarchy now that he's dead, allowing barbarians to attack and pillage the city, causing the Western Roman Empire to collapse in mere seconds. Following Rome's destruction, the imperial guards tell Glep to leave and he has another memory of 1347 England where he’s being burned at the stake due to using “witchcraft” to turn milk into yogurt. The main peasant asks him for any last words and he coughs up blood onto him, infecting the crowd with the plague and wiping the town out, leaving Glep as the sole survivor. Finally, in 1777 Virginia, Glep is shown hanging out with the other founding fathers discussing the Boston Tea Party, but Glep’s anecdote makes it awkward for everyone and they all leave.
Back in the present, the whole bar is listening to Glep. The bartender - clearly not listening to the story - asks if Glep went to space only to be corrected by another attendee who points out that Glep feels like despite living for centuries he’s never fit in anywhere. The rotoscoped guy is also shown at the bar, ostracising Glep for starting the black plague and the bartender says it’s probably best for Glep to Leave. Glep leaves and the guy asks the others to join him in prayer for the 25 million black plague victims. Glep looks at a bus stop and remembers when he first came to the city - 1992. There he stumbled onto a homeless Mr Boss, who is shown throwing glass bottles against buildings. Glep asks for directions and Mr Boss tells him to not even bother due to the city’s harsh nature and that he lost everything due to a market crash. Glep tries to reassure him that everything will be fine and Mr Boss pulls a revolver on himself, asking him for a reason not to pull the trigger. Doing his iconic dance, Glep makes him smile, and after contemplation the boss realises he should make it a business to help others do the same. He asks Glep to shake on it and Mr Boss and Glep became the founders of smiling friends as glep being the co-founder.
Glep arrives at the Smiling Friends headquarters and enters to find the entire building has gone to hell. Pim is taped to the ceiling with a creepy blank look on his face, Allan is screaming and running in circles repeatingly and Charlie is dried up and covered in Rats. Mr Boss - now with several arrows in his body - apologises to Glep and invites him back in. Glep in turn apologises for his tardiness of not doing anything and agrees to join back in. We cut to the Smiling Friends celebrating Christmas dinner together with their loved ones in the supper room; Allan and his father share some peas like how a mother bird feeds her chicks, Pim talks to his (now adult) baby brother who is less into running around and now more into crypto, and Zoey tries to clean Charlie’s face of gravy but he tells her not to touch him. Marge Simpson runs in and apologised to Glep for the argument, making him an unspeakable nightmare of a dish as a makeup gift. A narrator closes the event and explains how Glep finally figured out where he belonged and how everyone can get along with eachother except “with a certain group of people.” Charlie asks the narrator what he meant by it and the two begin to argue over it, with the narrator saying it was just a joke and how the line was meant to be a sort of thought experiment while Charlie tries to get him to say what he was thinking. Allan backs Charlie up and asks him who he is, with Charlie asking how he got in since it‘s a private event. The episode ends with the narrator trying to remember how he gained access to the dining room in the first place. A post-credits scene shows the ending to the Rotoscope guy’s prayer, with him immediately telling the audience to have a great night after the others say “amen.”
Characters[]
- Glep
- Pim
- Charlie
- Allan
- Mr. Boss
- Bartender (debut)
- Marge Simpson
- William Worm
- Zoey
- Party Bro
- Mr. Red (debut)
- Running Pimling
- Romulus Augustulus (debut)
Title in other languages[]
| Language | Title | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| Czech | Glepova epka | Glep's episode |
| French | L'Histoire de Glep | The Story of Glep |
| German | Die Glepisode | The Glepisode |
| Polish | Co robi Glep? | What does Glep do? |
| Portuguese (Brazil) | O Episódio Do Glep | The Glep Episode |
| Spanish (Latin America) | El episodio de Glep |
Trivia[]
General[]
- This is the series' third Christmas special.[2] The first two were "Charlie Dies and Doesn't Come Back" and "Pim Finally Turns Green".
- This is the last episode to premiere in 2025.
- This episode's title and synopsis mirrors "A Allan Adventure", which aside from having a character's name in the middle of the title also has "*Growls at you*" at the end of the synopsis, referencing that episode's "*Spits at you*" phrase.
- The two synopsis' in general, with their asterisks, are references to a recurring bit on OneyPlays where the cast say actions surrounded by spoken asterisks (i.e. "*Growls at you*") to pretend as though they are doing an internet roleplay.
- It was stated in an interview that another title that was considered for this episode was "The Glepisode".
- This ended up becoming the title used in the German dub and localization ("Die Glepisode").
- It is revealed that Glep was the reason why The Boss wanted to start the Smiling Friends business back in 1992, and the company doesn't function well without Glep.
- This episode marks Marge Simpson's first speaking role, as well as her first time in regular clothes.
- The brown leather jacket that Glep wears is similar to the jacket Zach Hadel wears at many conventions.
- The holiday-themed end credits style and music are reused from "Charlie Dies and Doesn't Come Back".
Cultural references[]
- The narrator at the end appears to be a parody of Jimmy Durante’s character in Rankin/Bass' Frosty the Snowman (1969).
- The bar Glep visits partially resembles Paddy's Pub from the sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which also takes place in Pennsylvania.
- When Glep looks at the bus stop, he sees a bus drive by that uses the bus color scheme and features the logo of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority.
- The Rotoscope guy's "bye, have a great night" in the post-credits scene is an indirect reference to the Underdog Productions logo, which appears at the end of every American Dad! episode.
Errors[]
- Despite William Worm having a speaking role in the episode, his voice actor Harry Partridge is left uncredited.
- Voice actor Rodrigo Huerta's last name is mispelt as "Huerto" in the credits.