"A Visit to a Funeral"

On February 27, 1979, the same night that Squiggy was "in love" with Vivian McCafferty, news reached Knapp Street that Fonzie was dead, so Carmine, Lenny, Squiggy, Laverne, and Shirley went to his funeral.  They proceeded to steal the scenery from even Arnold and now it's time to discuss that tragicomedy.

About 17 minutes in, Carmine strolls in first, relatively serious and then he performs a dance tribute to Fonzie.  Screencaps can't do it justice, but on the other hand....

I particularly like the "thumbs" part.  And Howard's reaction is great throughout.

Carmine tells Fonzie's boots, which supposedly are the only part of him that survived an explosion, that he knows that that's the way the Fonz would've wanted it.

There's a brief cutaway to Ralph and Potsie as hostages (which I doubt anyone cares about), and then Lenny & Squiggy enter with a large wreath, which I'm sure they stole.

They hand the wreath to a couple of the villains and approach the casket.  Lenny says that Fonzie's boots died with him off.  Squiggy says, "We'll miss you, Fonz.  You was the nicest guy what ever beat me up."  Lenny looks like he's going to cry.  They join Carmine, standing over by the villains.

And then the girls come in.  The studio audience, which has already been laughing and cheering, goes crazy over them. 

Laverne and Shirley are both in tears, although confused that the body isn't there.  Shirley thinks "the big boss" must've just yanked him out of his boots.  Laverne says she'll never forget Fonzie, because he was the only guy who ever hickeyed his initials on her neck.  Shirley says that's sweet, but she won't let Laverne keep a boot.  Shirley asks if Laverne wants Fonzie to "stand barefoot in that stag line in the sky," and Laverne lets go and says, "No, he'd kill me."

Laverne tries to leave Fonzie her favorite sweater, but Shirley stops her from stripping in this "holy place."  Shirley tears the L off Laverne's sweater and places it on the boots.

The five friends from the working-class side of town come over to the mourners, Carmine patting Shirley's back.  Howard Cunningham introduces "the Widow Fonzarelli," the Fonz in disguise as his own mother.  Lenny sadly asks, "Does she know?", and Laverne elbows him.  Laverne says, "We're very sorry."

The party of five starts to leave but they do some great double-takes, like Could it be...?  Nah!  Then they exit, Carmine and Shirley embracing.

By this point, the Laverne & Shirley cast were so well defined that I assume it was easier to write them in character, and it's a perfect, if odd, set-up to showcase them, although, yeah, Carmine's dance is over te top.  This might actually be my favorite minisode from the HD side of things, although I prefer most of the episodes where Richie interacts with Laverne and Shirley and company on their show.