French

"French" is the fifty-seventh live-action segment of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!. Its corresponding animated episode is "Escape from Koopatraz."

Plot synopsis
At home in Mario Brothers Plumbing, Luigi is pretending to act like a gentleman to an imaginary woman, when he consults a book that he's holding for advice. Quoting what he just read, Luigi speaks a few sentences in French, except that he mispronounces all of the words as he transliterates what he reads into English. Luigi's practicing grabs the attention of Mario, who had been working on the furnace, and he comes over. Giggling to himself, Mario asks Luigi why he's been acting so goofy, and Luigi responds that he isn't acting goofy.

Mario notices and picks up Luigi's French book, and questions him as to why he's trying to learn French when he can hardly speak English. Luigi argues back at Mario, saying that women happen to love a man who can speak French because it's romantic. Mario thinks it's ridiculous, and tells Luigi that no matter what language he speaks, no woman would ever want to go out with him. Luigi prepares to prove Mario wrong, tells him he'll be eating his own words in a very rich, French sauce, then sits down to continue reading from his French book.

Later, Luigi is practing at the dinner table, now making comments in French about pizza. Mario tells Luigi to give French a break, as he's about to get a French headache. Luigi explains to Mario that he needs to practice his verb conjugation, so that he can talk about pizza in French to the ladies. Mario reminds Luigi that he'll never be able to impress girls with French, and Luigi goes on about how French is the language of love. Luigi asks if Mario ever learned about it in school, only for him to respond that he took up shop class instead.

Mario tells Luigi to go out and impress the ladies with his French skills. Fed up with Mario, Luigi closes his French book, gets up and tells him that he is a grand peasante. Luigi then announces that he's going to the park, so that he can practice his French, without being bugged by a grand fatso like Mario. As Luigi walks up the stairs to the front door, Mario tells him not to return until he can talk like his brother again, and Luigi leaves.

While Luigi is gone, Mario uses the periscope to check out various monuments in Paris, but is unable to find any sign of Luigi. CooKoo Bird pops out of the wall, suggesting that maybe Luigi is in France. Mario then laments that maybe been too hard on Luigi earlier.

At that moment, Luigi, now wearing a beret, enters Mario Brothers Plumbing accompanied by a beautiful girlfriend. The girlfriend asks Luigi to speak in French again, and he responds by properly saying "Bonjour mademoiselle". She then tells Luigi that he's very romantic, as he leads her down the stairs, and the two compliment each other on Luigi's French and the girl's beauty. Meeting up with Mario, the girlfriend asks if he speaks French, to which he says no. The girlfriend turns her attention back to Luigi, and asks him to show her his French etchings. Luigi agrees, then taunts Mario as he hands him a rose and walks off with his girlfriend.

Before leaving, Luigi tosses his French book on the table, and Mario sits down to read it. Impressed by Luigi's girlfriend, CooKoo Bird asks Mario if he's thinking the same thing. Mario agrees, and starts thumbing through the pages. Mario struggles to read some French words, followed by their English meanings, such as "Bonjour mademoiselle" meaning "good day, madam", "fromage" meaning "cheese", and "au revoir" meaning "goodbye". Mario then discovers that at one point, Luigi called him a "Spanish cow" in French, which nearly baffles him.

Trivia

 * The phrase "Spanish cow" which Luigi calls Mario at the end of the episode means telling someone they're not speaking French properly.