#21. Pen Island - (BFDI 5)

Before I officially start this countdown, I wanted to ask the question. Did anyone actually expect Pen to make the Funny 55s?

Pen never really stood out on screen as a contestant people actually liked and favoured. It wasn't until BFB that he became the random breakout star of the season. But during his time on BFDI, he spent his time coasting through each episode being as inoffensive as possible.

Okay, with that one exception. All you could actually remember about Pen was that he was cool.

Okay, I'll stop. Also at the same time, he was probably one of the least covered contestants. He would usually show up to the episode, say something nonsensical. And then leave. So the audience was surprised when he says his most iconic and possibly the most iconic line in the show. There is no real setup to the punchline. But here are the events leading up to the event.

Wow, now of course this mildly funny conversation wouldn't be the reason I put this at number 21 on the Funny 55s. It's what Pen says afterwords that makes this one of the best monologues in BFDI.

Beautiful...

I love this scene, we all do. The first of which is the legendary innuendo that somehow snuck its way into the show. I don't think I need to go into too much more detail about this scene. Your imagination can do the work for you there.

The second thing that makes this line so great is it comes out of nowhere. We as the audience had no idea that this random bizarre punchline was going to happen. It just happens and then the cast moves on as if Pen didn't just say the dumbest thing possible. The show doesn't even acknowledge that this happens, as they decide to cut to ERASER of all people standing and listening to Pen's absurd fantasy. And that's the end of the line, no fanfare, no snarky comeback. Eraser just doesn't care for what Pen is saying to comment.

Eraser comes with the best comeback he can think of.

And Pen falls to his death. This entire sequence is so weird. I won't be commenting on how strong that tape is to have supported him until halfway through. Instead I just want to talk about Pen as a character being so bizarre.

Because you have this random throwaway character. His sole purpose is to be cool and hang around with Eraser and Blocky. We all expect him to be cool because that's what the show is telling us to belive. He barely gets any screentime, always had that same expression on his face. And the only ever speaks in innuendo. Pen is like some kind of broken puzzle, all the pieces at there. But nothing he does ever really fits together with Pen. He's just sort of there.

Anyways, I am going to stop talking about Pen Island before this becomes a pay site.

P.S. Thanks to Star for drawing the art of Pen being a standup comedian.

P.P.S. Something ironic I find about Pen's popularity is that he only became popular after he dropped the cool kid act and began to be have more like a dork.

P.P.S. Penisland.com is something that you should never google. It will give you a virus. On the other hand, Penisland.net is safe to visit and is actually a store for custom made Pens. It's also one of those sites from the early 2000s. Check it out, it's like viewing a window into the past.

P.P.P.S. Hey guys, Alien here. I would love to comment on this article: I feel that after thinking about Pen in retrospect, he is just a cool character. Sure not one of the greatest BFDI characters of all time, but definitely high on the list. It's this one moment that basically cemented him as a character that makes him very likable; by having him shout the phrase "Pen Island", he's become one of the best remembered characters who could say politically incorrect jokes (GB's voice commentary comes to mind), but he's still very much a fun guy to have in the series.