Joe Pera Takes You On A Fall Drive

Joe Pera Takes You On A Fall Drive is the third episode of the first season of Joe Pera Talks With You. It premiered May 27th, 2018 on Adult Swim.

Premise
Joe Pera takes viewers along on his Fall Loop, the drive he does every year on the Saturday following Halloween.

Summary
It’s Fall, and Joe Pera rolls down a road in his nice 2001 Buick Park Avenue. He tells us about being gifted the luxury car by his grandfather, and all the names his peers have given it.

This is his annual fall drive, a tradition that started back when he asked himself, “how come jack-o-lanterns scare me so goddamn much?”

Back in 2013, when he was passing out candy on Halloween, he posed this question to Gene, Lulu, and Nana. Lulu thinks it might be the teeth, Nana suggests it’s because they're not being used for livestock, but Gene gives the most decisive answer. He says that when you carve a pumpkin, you give it a one-sixteenth piece of your soul. So when Joe looks into the eyes of his pumpkin, he’s looking back at some of himself. Joe looks back at photos from old Halloweens from the past, the people in his household fades over time. Joe asks if he doesn’t have a soul, because he’s carved more than sixteen pumpkins. Gene tells Joe that he can grow it back with something like a trip to the carnival, watching a music video, or a fall drive.

So he’s done one every year since. In his back seat, a Jack-o-lantern sits. Joe thinks about how he would feel if he was a pumpkin, in the back seat of his creator’s car, knowing his existence is purely for a choir teacher’s seasonal decoration. Joe takes a bite out of his sandwich and tells us about how he now allows himself to eat in his car, when necessary.

In another flashback, he avoids going to the teacher’s lounge with science teacher Jon, because something in there turns them into animals. So he goes to his car to eat. He’s stopped by the new band teacher, who asks if he has a genuine reason to be eating in the school parking lot. He says he’s the new choir teacher, reassuring her that he’s not “some kind of weirdo”.

Back to the present, Joe drives around with his pumpkin, stopping for apples on the way. It’s a fun time, but Joe doesn’t forget the ultimately somber purpose: laying the pumpkin to rest in the same way he hopes to be someday.

He steps out of his car. Walking through a forest with his pumpkin, he tells us that he has to visit 4.6 waterfalls every year to see all of them in the UP before he dies at around age 85. He arrives at the waterfall. Knelling beside a tree, Joe looks out at the rapids then down at his pumpkin. He sets it in the water. It flows through the stream and eventually down the waterfall.

After the credits, Joe is back at home and uses his apple to have a traditional Warm Apple Night.

Cast

 * Joe Pera as Joe Pera
 * Jo Firestone as Sarah Conner
 * Gene Kelly as Gene Gibson
 * Alma Washington as Lulu Gibson
 * Nancy Cornell as Nana Danny
 * Goldring as Papa Joe
 * Nathan Min as Science Teacher Jon
 * Alyssandra Schnetzky as Frog #1 (as Aly Schnetzky)
 * Ashley Schnetzky as Frog #2