- Ah! Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah! - Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, ah!
See? Everything worked out.
Aww, I wanna be a letter!
♪ Iconic stance, a gift from France ♪
♪ To our fledgling nation ♪
♪ All green, made of copper ♪
♪ Call that oxidation! ♪
Who knew history could be so catchy?
Ugh. That's all I can say. Ugh.
Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa.
You didn't like "Lady L?"
What was to like?
It was awful.
James has an unpopular opinion and thinks he can say it out loud!
James is broken...
He doesn't know art.
It's not his fault!
He just doesn't get it!
It's okay. Aww, it's okay.
- Poor soul. - Yeah, he doesn't get it.
You think I don't get it?
I'm the only one who does get it.
You only like it because of the hype.
Lady L isn't even a real person!
She's a statue!
Liar!
You really don't like it?
I'm sorry, Max, but even I could make some catchy tunes
everyone would fall in love with
like a bunch of bandwagoning, lemming-people.
Lemmeople!
We prefer plemmings.
Care to put your money where your food hole is?
A hundred bucks says you can't pull it off.
A hundred bucks?
That's like 10,000 fountain pennies.
Hmm, 10,000 fountain pennies.
That's like 10,000 stolen wishes.
Hmm.
A chance to win your money and teach all these plemmings who they really are?
Heh! You're on!
I'm making a musical!
Sweet!
Can I get preview tickets?
Please?
All right. Say goodbye to your cash.
But how are you gonna make a musical, James?
There's lights and sets and dogs.
No, no, wait.
I think it's CATS.
Oh, my sweet, scaly Max.
I don't have to actually make a musical.
To prove my point,
all I have to do is create the idea of a musical and hype it up.
Did you just say hype?
I'm in!
First, we'll need a boring historical figure to base my musical on.
Hmm... Alexander... Constitution?
Uh, no. No one can make a rhyme out of that.
Uh... Franklin!
Everyone knows him!
♪ Lightning, keys It's all I need ♪
Ha-ha.
Oh, you're in trouble now.
Am I?
'Cause unless you've got some secret budget
and dedicated marketing team that I don't know about,
no one's gonna know your musical exists.
It doesn’t exist.
Yeah, I know, Max.
Thanks for tracking that for me.
I don’t need a marketing team.
Dirt has influencers.
"Franklin.
Sold out due to extreme popular demand.
Oh, and there's rhymes."
Ooh, I want to see it! I want to see it!
Tell me how I can see it!
Watch and learn.
Here we go again.
Hello, influencers.
I just wanted to tell you all about
"Franklin: A Historical Musical"
It's put on by a director that's so indie, so underground,
that you've probably never even heard of him.
Ha. People I've never heard of are the best. Ha.
You've got to be kidding me.
Ever hear of Biff Granwell Bonanza?
Do you know what he's talking about?
Yeah. It's actually pronounced Biff Gran-well Bonanza.
Yeah, I already knew that. It's all over social media.
I just wanted to make sure you knew it too.
Hashtag blessed. Ha-ha.
Where can we get tickets?
Go to this website and enter the preview code "plemmings."
Mm-mm, not before me!
Ha! Got the ticket.
Celebration selfie.
This isn't over.
Yes!
Look at all the tickets I've sold for Franklin's opening night tomorrow.
Ha. The hype worked!
Nothing gets plemmings to jump on the bandwagon
like smug influencers.
Huh. I can't believe how much they spent
on a musical that doesn't exist.
Doesn't exist?
But I paid three times face value for my tickets!
Winner. Me. Money. Now.
You know selling people a nonexistent thing is fraud, right?
And if you shove it in everyone's face to win our bet,
you'll be admitting a crime and get arrested.
Not delivering something you promised is a crime?
Yes!
I can finally go after my pizza delivery guy
for messing up my order.
Forget my kale, you go straight to jail!
Pfft. Please.
I'll just put on "Franklin: The Musical" for real,
so it won’t be fraud and I won't go to jail.
And I'll make it so bad
that everyone will see how stupid they were
to believe all the ridiculous hype,
still proving my point!
Your $100 of hard-scammed money is gonna be mine!
All right.
So how's the piece of garbage going?
It isn't!
I'm just too brilliant to write garbage!
Listen to this!
Ah!
♪ Lightning! Lightning! Key! Key! ♪
♪ Lightning! Key! ♪
Ah!
See? That's the worst I could do lyrically!
And it's amazing.
I think I'm a genius.
Sorry.
It's just...
Pfft!
Huah!
Huh... Okay.
Phew.
How exactly does your genius help you win our bet?
After experiencing the musical masterclass I'm about to put on,
all the plemmings will finally see what a good musical is,
and realize I was right all along about "Lady L" being trash.
Ha!
You and what cast?
Unless of course your "genius" enough to play all the roles yourself.
Don't be absurd.
But you're right, I need to cast actors.
But James, if you hold auditions, then...
Everyone will know I made Biff up.
Unless...
the auditions are run by Biff Granwell Bonanza!
Huh?
Hello. My name is Biff Granwell Bonanza.
Director.
Auteur.
Genius.
I'll bet some of you are wondering
why we're having auditions now for a show
that's successfully toured the globe, the International Space Station,
and is opening here tonight.
I fired them.
I fired all the actors.
And I'll probably fire you.
But hey, let's see what you've got!
Now, let's see some acting.
- Next!
- No!
- Pass!
- Awful!
But I haven't even sung yet.
♪ Lightning Lightning ♪
♪ Key Key ♪
♪ Ben Franklin is angling To make history ♪
♪ Gon' teach y'all 'Bout elec-tricity ♪
♪ With a lightning, kite... ♪
♪ And key! ♪
- Yeah, go McFly.
Wah!
Man, McFly is so talented, he can even make this garbage good.
Outstanding.
You were wonderful.
But I've realized there should only be one role.
The role of Franklin.
And that role should be played by me, Biff Granwell Bonanza.
Injustice.
One role, plus the part of Lightning!
Max, bring your trash can!
Aw, heck yeah!
You realize lightning doesn't make a sound, right?
Which makes it an artistic choice.
Man, I'm actually good at this.
Oh, James, I think you've really lost it.
There is no James, only Biff.
Not gonna call you that.
Well, you should.
Because this is who I really am.
I have always been Biff deep down.
And I'm about to singlehandedly give
the most beautiful, dramatic, poignant send-up
to one of the greatest men in history,
who sacrificed everything to teach us not to put our keys on kites.
Huh?
Uh, the number one.
Actually, the number two.
On second thought, the number one.
Uh, no wait, the number two.
Ah!
Why I oughta...
Phew... This is it.
Once they watch my musical masterpiece
and are left sobbing in their chairs over the tragic genius that is Franklin,
they'll see they were wrong about Lady Lib.
That the artist formerly known as James was right.
And Echo's money will be mine.
Shh.
Franklin,
Franklin.
♪ How does an old man with glasses ♪
♪ Bored but absorbed ♪
♪ With inventions think "How can I get some attention?" ♪
♪ I have a kite and a key, key ♪
♪ Any ideas for me, me? ♪
Ha, ha, ha, ha...
Hmm, must be looking at their phones.
♪ First name Benny Last name Frank ♪
♪ He's someone that You all ought to thank ♪
♪ 'Cause he took that kite And he took that key ♪
♪ And used them to discover electricity ♪
♪ With science ♪
♪ Physics ♪
♪ Science... theories ♪
♪ Science... experiments ♪
♪ And meteorology ♪
Grr!
Echo?
I should have known she'd try and sabotage me when she saw my genius.
Well, she can't sabotage this!
Hmm!
♪ The sky was dark ♪
♪ A storm was brewing ♪
♪ But Benny Frank knew what he was doing ♪
♪ Benny was scared As the thunder clapped ♪
♪ The electrical current might Give him a heart attack ♪
Echo brought friends?
Wait, she doesn't have any friends.
♪ But Benny was strong ♪
♪ "I don't care if this is frightening!" ♪
♪ He stood up and he said "Bring it on, lightning!" ♪
Did someone say "Lightning?!"
Go to the end!
The funeral scene!
Painful.
Sorry!
Ooh!
♪ Ben taught us about lightning He taught us about class, class, class ♪
♪ He was the master of smartness And master of sass, sass, sass ♪
♪ He invented swim fins He invented bifocals, bifocals ♪
♪ First Post Master General So your mail is more than local, local ♪
♪ On his death bed, in his last secundo On his death bed, in his last secundo ♪
♪ He said put my head On a hundred dolla' ♪
♪ Put my head On a hundred dolla' ♪
♪ Hundo! ♪
Huh?
All right, time to watch the trainwre--
Oh, it's over.
Wait... they liked it?
Best. Comedy. Ever!
Huh? Excuse me?
Seriously, when he got electrocuted.
Oh, I love ironic slapstick comedy.
No! It wasn't an ironic slapstick!
Franklin isn't a comedy!
It's art!
Real art with heartfelt passion!
How can you not see it?
You don't get it!
Who's this guy?
Oh, sad, he doesn't recognize the comedic genius of Biff's work.
And there is no Biff Granwell Bonanza!
It's me!
James!
Aww! No Biff?
I made up Biff to try and trick you all for a bet I made with Echo!
Please.
You could never make up someone as genius as Biff.
Hey!
Lady Lib's doing a secret show down the street!
Yeah.
- Yeah. - I'm out!
- Lady Lib. - Oh, Lady Lib rocks.
Plemmings!
All of you!
You wouldn't know quality theater if it struck you like lightning striking a kite!
- Yeah, yeah. - Nom!
Horrible.
Pay up.
I don't have any money.
I spent it all on the musical.
That's cool.
I also accept teeth.
Oh. Wait!
Wait, wait, wait!
Wait! Hold on.
Hold on a sec.
Wait! Hold on!
Hold on!
- Ah!
Gritada!