50 Fun Facts About My Name is Earl

Which late-night host is on the hospital TV when Earl first hears about karma in My Name Is Earl?

Carson Daly's talk show is playing while Earl recovers from being run over, and the idea he hears there inspires a list of 259 wrongs to put right.

In which city did a drunk Earl marry a six-months-pregnant Joy in My Name Is Earl?

Las Vegas hosted the shotgun wedding after Joy and her friends got Earl drunk. The couple then moved into a trailer left empty when Earl's friend Frank went to jail.

How much is the scratch-off lottery ticket worth that Earl loses when a car hits him in My Name Is Earl?

$100,000 blows away in the crash, then turns up again the moment Earl does his first good deed. That is what convinces him karma is real.

Which classic model does Earl Hickey drive in My Name Is Earl, a red one with a mismatched blue driver's door?

El Camino is the answer: Earl's 1973 car-truck first belonged to his friend Frank, who went to prison for twenty years after robbing a casino.

Which former professional skateboarder plays the title role of Earl Hickey in My Name Is Earl?

Jason Lee turned the part down twice before agreeing to read the pilot script. It became his first starring role on television.

Which local business employs Darnell Turner and serves as the gang's regular hangout in My Name Is Earl?

The Crab Shack is why Earl greets Darnell as Crabman. Its missing owner, Ernie Belcher, is later found to have died in the freshly cemented floor of its bathroom.

Which running gag in My Name Is Earl ruins every photograph that is ever taken of Earl Hickey?

His eyes are closed in every single picture, a gag that sits beside the moustache, flannel shirts and classic rock T-shirts as an Earl trademark.

Which film star played Big Chubby, the Camden tycoon who owns Catalina's strip club, in My Name Is Earl?

Burt Reynolds's Big Chubby likes to squirt vodka into customers' mouths from a realistic liquor gun, and dies when he mistakes a real firearm for it.

Which Charmed star played Billie Cunningham, who runs Earl over and later marries him, in My Name Is Earl?

Alyssa Milano's Billie ends the marriage by joining an Amish-like sect called the Camdenites, then hands Earl what is left of her insurance payout.

Which police reality series do Camden's residents watch themselves on in two My Name Is Earl flashback episodes?

Cops supplies the format for both episodes: handheld cameras trail Camden's officers while Earl and his friends cause chaos, the second time at a Fourth of July fair.

Which network aired My Name Is Earl for four seasons before cancelling the comedy on a cliffhanger?

NBC picked the series up after Fox had passed on the pitch. The last episode ended with a caption promising more, days before the cancellation was announced.

In the My Name Is Earl pilot, making up for which bad habit leads Earl straight back to his lost lottery ticket?

Littering is the first wrong Earl puts right, and the missing ticket turns up while he is picking up rubbish. He moves on to a classmate he used to bully.

Which job does Randy take in season three of My Name Is Earl so he can stay close to his jailed brother?

Prison guard is the job Randy lands after finding he cannot cope alone. His K-9 dog later stops an escaped Frank from fleeing with a hidden stash of cash.

Stealing which vehicle, with a store employee still inside, leaves Joy facing a third strike in My Name Is Earl?

A delivery truck was never the plan: Joy only wanted to return a cabinet to the store, and a third strike would have meant life behind bars.

Which secret about Darnell does Joy learn from an undelivered letter in My Name Is Earl?

He is in witness protection, and Darnell Turner is not even the name he was born with. Joy throws him out of the trailer until he tells her the truth.

Why does Randy marry Catalina after she is deported in My Name Is Earl?

To get her a green card is the plan, though Earl was meant to be the groom. He fails her bandit uncle's tests on purpose so that lovestruck Randy can pass them instead.

What kind of animal is Darnell Turner's beloved pet in My Name Is Earl, which Joy loses in season four?

A turtle is Darnell's pride and joy, and he treats it like a child. After Joy loses it, the animal finds its own way home and Earl sets off to return it.

Which TV legend played the Crazy Witch Lady who locks Earl and his friends in her basement in My Name Is Earl?

Betty White's character was taunted by Earl when he was a boy. He visits to apologise over tea, ends up her captive, and is soon joined by Randy, Joy and Darnell.

Which actress won a Primetime Emmy for playing Joy Turner, Earl's sharp-tongued ex-wife, in My Name Is Earl?

Jaime Pressly trained as a gymnast and had herself legally emancipated at 15 so that she could take up a modelling contract in Japan.

Which former bullying victim does Earl accompany to a gay bar in the pilot of My Name Is Earl?

Kenny James was picked on by Earl at school and becomes a loyal friend, using his copy-shop job to print fake résumés and birth certificates for the gang.

Which DNA-test twist about Earl Jr. ends My Name Is Earl on an unresolved cliffhanger?

Darnell is not his father, the test shows, so Joy must have had another affair. The writers had talked of revealing someone famous, but the cancellation came first.

Which Oscar winner played Ruby Whitlow, the lawyer Earl falls for during Joy's trial, in My Name Is Earl?

Marlee Matlin's lawyer is deaf, which is how Earl once burgled her home without being heard. She dumps him when she finds the break-in on his list.

Which actor earned an Emmy nomination as Carl Hickey, the disappointed father of Earl and Randy, in My Name Is Earl?

Beau Bridges's Carl is driven to distraction by aeroplanes rattling his house several times a day, ever since a flight path was routed over his neighbourhood.

Which Saturday Night Live alumnus played Little Chubby, heir to Camden's biggest business empire, in My Name Is Earl?

Norm Macdonald's Little Chubby only becomes likeable after an injury lowers his testosterone, and he turns cruel again as soon as surgery restores it.

Which actor from Remember the Titans and American History X played Earl's brother Randy in My Name Is Earl?

Ethan Suplee shared scenes with his own father, Bill, who played Willie the One-Eyed Mailman, a postman with an eyepatch and a habit of binning the mail.

In My Name Is Earl, what must Earl help Donny Jones's mother do to repay Donny for a wrongful jail term?

Quit smoking is the price of forgiveness. Donny served two years for a robbery Earl committed while wearing his shirt, found religion inside, and bears no grudge.

How did Earl get rid of clingy girlfriend Natalie Duckworth in My Name Is Earl?

He faked his own death and sent Randy to break the news. Natalie was played by Beth Riesgraf, the real-life girlfriend of the show's leading man at the time.

What did Earl steal from Didi, the one-legged woman who chases him whenever they meet in My Name Is Earl?

Her car was the prize: Earl told Didi he loved her, then drove away in it. She forgives him only after making him spend a day getting about on one leg.

Which class does Earl teach in My Name Is Earl to make up for mocking people who have accents?

English as a second language is the class, and the students learn to greet people with the four words of the show's title. One of them, Nescobar-A-Lop-Lop, becomes a regular.

Which natural disaster costs Earl his list and starts a finders-keepers scramble in season four of My Name Is Earl?

A tornado, one of several to strike Camden, also hurls Randy from a boat onto the motel roof. He decides he is invincible and wants to fly in the next one.

Which writer created My Name Is Earl, won an Emmy for its pilot script, and later made The Guest Book?

Greg Garcia spent the 2007–08 writers' strike working as a cashier and janitor at a Burger King in Burbank, California.

Which actor was Emmy-nominated as Ralph Mariano, the childhood friend Earl taught to steal, in My Name Is Earl?

Giovanni Ribisi's Ralph will do anything for $200 and wears a yin-yang tattoo that he took for a picture of two tadpoles.

Which actor played Thomas Monroe, who turns up in Camden to make amends with his son Darnell, in My Name Is Earl?

Danny Glover's character soon drags his son off on one last undercover mission, with Earl brought along and sedated several times on the way.

What is the head of Ralph's decoy dummy made from when he breaks out of jail in My Name Is Earl?

A watermelon does the job, and Ralph's goodbye letter says Earl could have come along too, if only Ralph had not got hungry and eaten the second one.

Which group's hit does Catalina bounce on the spot to as her whole strip-club routine in My Name Is Earl?

House of Pain's "Jump Around" was her entire act. She was the club's top dancer for a month, until a customer died and she vowed never to dance again.

What turned the intended name Carl into Earl on Earl Hickey's birth certificate in My Name Is Earl?

A handwriting slip did it: his father meant to name the baby after himself, but put one loop too many on the cursive C.

Which office does Carl Hickey lose twice because his son Earl gets arrested during the campaign in My Name Is Earl?

Mayor was the job Carl wanted, and Earl's attempt to put things right only gets him arrested mid-campaign again. Carl bails him out for the first time in six years.

Which of his father's cars did Earl lose in a street race and then lie about in My Name Is Earl?

A Mustang, which Earl claimed had sunk in a lake. When he finally wins it back, he learns his dad had planned to give it to him at sixteen.

What invades Camden in My Name Is Earl, trapping four of Earl's friends inside a phone booth?

Killer bees descend in a flashback to Earl and Joy's first wedding anniversary, a party Randy ruined by inviting the old flames listed in Joy's little black book.

Which later comedy from the creator of My Name Is Earl brought Earl's main cast back together as guest stars?

Raising Hope gave the actress who played Catalina a 2013 reunion with her old castmates, and the man behind Darnell later joined the same writer's series The Guest Book.

Which actor, first known as the Rubberband Man in OfficeMax commercials, played Darnell Turner in My Name Is Earl?

Eddie Steeples grew up in Spring, Texas, as the oldest of eight children, and took acting classes at a California community college before moving to New York.

Which actress gave up the role of Maricruz in Prison Break to play Catalina in My Name Is Earl?

Nadine Velazquez began her screen career as the drive-through lady in a McDonald's commercial, and holds a marketing degree from Columbia College Chicago.

The actors who play brothers Earl and Randy in My Name Is Earl both appeared in which director's comedy Mallrats?

Kevin Smith cast the pair again in Chasing Amy and Dogma, so the brotherly rapport on television had been a decade in the making.

In the ending planned for My Name Is Earl before its cancellation, what does Earl finally do?

He tears up the list, having met someone with a list of their own and realised that his good deeds had set off a chain reaction of people making amends.

Which actor played Jerry Hazelwood, the prison warden married to the state governor, in My Name Is Earl?

Craig T. Nelson's warden hands Earl his own hardest jobs in exchange for time off the sentence, then shreds the certificates to keep such a useful helper inside.

Which trailer park in My Name Is Earl is named after the Virginia neighbourhood where the show's creator grew up?

Pimmit Hills is printed on Earl's driving licence with Camden County beneath it and no state at all, because the series was never meant to be set anywhere in particular.

In which animation style does Randy see everyone after taking herbal medicine at a commune in My Name Is Earl?

Claymation takes over the screen for the trip, and a clay Catalina explains in Spanish that the sequence was meant to be fancier until the budget ran short.

Which reality show's family of builders appears in My Name Is Earl after a drunk Earl and Randy stole from them?

American Chopper's Paul Teutul Sr., Paul Jr. and Michael play themselves, and Randy must trace their missing motorcycle without Earl, who is lying in a coma.

Which actress played Jessie, the ex-girlfriend who becomes a bounty hunter to get revenge on Joy, in My Name Is Earl?

Juliette Lewis has a family tie to the cast: in 2006 her younger sister Brandy married the actor who plays Randy.

Which CBS family sitcom was the creator of My Name Is Earl writing for when he drafted Earl's pilot script?

Yes, Dear was his day job when he wrote the Earl script. The network that bought it would only order a pilot once a suitable cast had been found.