Star O'Hanlon and director Bare shared the same crazy sense of humor, which ran all through the series. "So You Want to Be a Detective" pokes fun at the detective mystery "Lady in the Lake"; the action is in the first person, with the camera representing Art Gilmore (taking a more active role in the story than usual), who is presumably tagging along with Joe. In "So You Want to Be in Pictures", McDoakes is listening to a record that is providing an acting lesson, and when the telephone rings the "record" tells him to answer it. Later in that same short, McDoakes is hired to serve as a stunt double at a movie studio. The job turns out to be a George O'Hanlon comedy (the clapper board identifies it as "So You Want to Hold Your Wife"), and Joe takes a pie in the face from Jane Harker! "So You Want to Know Your Relatives" turns into a wicked satire of "This Is Your Life", with Joe as the reluctant guest of honor. Joe occasionally punctuates the end of a scene by looking straight into the camera to speak to (or commiserate with) the movie audience.