Cool Runnin (Season One)

"Just give me one more chance, and I swear to God if I'm lying, may God strike me down right here! Pow! Don Rickles, and you know that."
Aired 10/5/84

This is one of my favorite episodes because of a wacky new character by the name of Nugart Neville Lamont, also known as "The Noog Man"; the ladies can call him Noogie, if they wanna boogie. He adds some much needed humor to this grim, and even more personal episode of Vice. In "Cool Runnin'" Crockett and Tubbs are under fire from mystery men in a van, who later take out a few of their colleagues and put them into a hospital. "The Noog Man" becomes their unlikely informant and I'm glad he'll return for future episodes.

Noog Man is introduced in a hilarious scene which even uses Switek and Zito's stolen property sting operation from the last episode, so the detectives bust Noog for trying to sell them "hot" property, like a trunk full of music including Duran Duran. I also noticed that their tech guy Lester is back, so maybe he wasn't transferred to janitor duty after the last episode. Crockett's wife returns here too, however this time she serves Crockett with divorce papers. Though the episodes of Vice are all considered standalone stories, I like how there is a loose theme that connects them.

Despite Crockett and Tubbs' efforts to lose The Noog Man, they eventually do need him to the catch the 3 mystery men and even come to his rescue at the end. I dig their plan that's a bit unconventional for cops but typical of 80's action shows, that has Tubbs in disguise as one of the bad guys for a final shoot-out. The best part though is the end, when Noog Man leaves the hospital and raps all the way from the parking lot to his car, then continues his free-style rap as he's driving away. Now that takes some pure rapping talent! Here's his complete rap, for your enjoyment: "The beat don't stop til the break of dawn. Skip, jive, what can I say? I can't fit 'em all inside my O.J. Suss the mic, trick or trill, I say hey baby, by the way, what's your name? She said I go by the name of Lois Lane. You can be my boyfriend, you surely can. Just let me break up with my boyfriend called Superman. He's a fairy, I do suppose, flying through the air in panty hose."