Cletus

Cletus is a character on Smosh and the secondary protagonist of the That Damn Neighbor series. He was played by Anthony Padilla.

Character
Cletus is the best friend of Benny Jean and often joins him in sitting outside on lawn chairs and drinking beer. He has demonstrated foolishness and commits childlike mistakes. He often acts like a hillbilly.

Cletus often wears a camo shirt, white cap, blue puffer vest, and blue jeans.

"That Damn Neighbor"
Cletus joins Benny Jean in sitting on his lawn with beer and compliments the fence and asks what it is for. Benny Jean explains that the fence is to protect his pet flamingo from That Damn Neighbor, who is constantly trespassing onto his lawn and stealing the flamingo. Cletus asks if he is referring to the Neighbor standing next to them outside the fence, which Benny Jean uses to illustrate to Cletus that the fence is working, but the Neighbor suddenly appears inside the fence, next to the flamingo. Cletus watches as Benny Jean gets up and threatens the Neighbor into leaving. When he returns, Cletus is amazed at his friend for scaring the Neighbor away and the two watch the Neighbor from afar. Cletus suggests improving the yard's security to ensure the Neighbor never trespasses again, an idea Benny Jean likes.



Cletus later enters the yard and sits next to Benny Jean and commends the new security measures. As the two of them agree that the Neighbor will never again be able to trespass onto the yard, Benny Jean realizes something and asks Cletus how he entered. Cletus points to a massive hole in the fence he cut the other day. After a moment of silence, Benny Jean slaps Cletus.

"Reunited?"
Cletus walks past T-Bag while the latter and Ian are shooting a video. T-Bag pulls a gun on Cletus, causing the hillbilly to raise his arms and flee.

"Boxman's Girlfriend"


Benny Jean makes a cameo appearance in "Boxman's Girlfriend" in the "BOXMAN DANCE TIME!" scene alongside Benny Jean, the Gangstas, Gary Brolsma, and Frankie Rogers.

"That Damn Yard Sale"
Cletus joins Benny Jean on his yard and compliments his friend's yard sale and asks why he is selling so many things. Benny Jean blames spiking prices forcing a financial inability to enjoy his Hummer. Cletus suggests that he buy a Toyota or Honda (mispronouncing both as "Toyotees" and "Hondees", respectively), but Benny Jean shoots the idea down, claiming that both car models are made by communists. Cletus asks if there is anything good for sale and Benny Jean points to a box of camouflage shirts, which they see is being held by the Neighbor. Cletus watches as Benny Jean wrestles the box way from the Neighbor and threatens him into leaving, and subsequently watches and encourages Benny Jean, who decides to call the police after the Neighbor messes with a megaphone. When Benny Jean finishes his call, they find that the Neighbor is back across the street, running his own yard sale. Cletus suggests they advertise their yard sale, an idea Benny Jean likes and says he has "the perfect idea".



Soon afterward, Benny Jean leads a doubtful Cletus outside to work as a sign twirler. Cletus starts dancing and twirling the sign around while listening to "If" by Colette on earbuds. Cletus expresses doubt that potential customers can read the sign while he waves it around, but Benny Jean dismisses his concerns until he sees that the sign-waving seems to be bringing the Neighbor more customers. Just then, a potential customer walks by, prompting Benny Jean to leave to try to sell things the man, leaving Cletus in charge of the yard sale. When he returns, Cletus happily reveals that he sold his friend's flamingo to the Neighbor. Seeing the anger in his friend's face, his voice falters as he asks if the flamingo was for sale, but Benny Jean steps forward and proceeds to repeatedly slap Cletus until he suddenly switches places with the Neighbor, who is slapped, at which point a policeman finally arrives. As Cletus watches, the policeman mistakenly believes that the Neighbor was too traumatized by the slap and drags Benny Jean away.

Once they leave, Cletus repeatedly pesters the Neighbor if he is selling any shirts, poking his shoulders then face until the Neighbor looks at him and forcefully says "Don't f*cking touch me!", causing Cletus to scream in surprise.

"That Damn Prison Break"
Cletus is sleeping on his chair outside when Benny Jean, having recently escaped Tallahassee State Prison, appears and slaps a surprised Cletus for not writing him. Cletus apologizes, but Benny Jean interrupts him, explaining that he needs his help in getting his flamingo back from the Neighbor, who is standing right behind them. Cletus watches Benny Jean demands the Neighbor return the flamingo, but the Neighbor does not talk. Benny Jean turns around and orders Cletus to retrieve his "beatin' stick", but Cletus points at the Neighbor, who is making his escape on a segway. Cletus is ordered to get the Hummer, but he reveals that he traded it for a fog machine, so the two of them chase after the Neighbor on rollerblades instead. Partway through the chase, they bump into each other, sending Cletus onto some grass, breaking one of his rollerblades. He catches up with Benny Jean and convinces him to give him a partial ride, and the two of them corner the Neighbor between them and a freeway, but they watch as the Neighbor simply takes off into the air across the freeway to safety. Cletus suggests they go to the Neighbor's house and get the flamingo there.



Later, inside the Neighbor's house, Benny Jean asks Cletus how he knew the flamingo was there, and Cletus reveals that he and the Neighbor hung out a few times while Benny Jean was in jail, causing the redneck to accuse his friend of treachery. Cletus interrupts him, pointing at the flamingo in an adjacent room. He stops an excited Benny Jean from entering and takes out the aforementioned fog machine and activates it, revealing a laser security system encompassing the entire room housing the flamingo. An incredulous Benny Jean asks how he was aware of the lasers, and Cletus reminds him how he and the Neighbor occasionally hung out. Benny Jean interrupts him and orders him to do exactly as he says; once he safely makes it through the lasers, he instructs Cletus to do the same, but the hillbilly fails to make it past the first laser, triggering the alarm. Cletus starts to panic and exclaims that he is too young to die, and Benny Jean tells him that they are going to make a break for it.

They try to escape but are cut off from the front and back entrances by an axe-wielding Neighbor, who has returned home, as well as the Policeman, who gives chase throughout the entire house. Eventually, the four of them bump into each other in the hallway, where the Policeman demands to know what is going on. Cletus admits to breaking and entering, but Benny Jean covers his mouth and accuses the Neighbor of flamingo theft. The Policeman decides to bring both Benny Jean and the Neighbor into jail, for escaping prison and theft of an endangered species respectively, and reveals to Benny Jean that Cletus is not going to jail because they "hung out a few times".

Later, after Benny Jean and the Neighbor are in jail, Cletus is sitting with the Policeman and his pet chihuahua Doggy and comments that the tacos they are eating look "pretty good". He posters Doggy for some of their tacos until Doggy's eyes flare red and a demonic voice denies him the tacos, causing Cletus to scream.

"THAT DAMN PUNISHMENT!"
Benny Jean and Cletus are sitting with beers in hand on their lawn, where Cletus compliments his friend's new fence surrounding the flamingo. At that moment, Benny Jean's parole officer appears, prompting Benny Jean to scramble to a hiding place and ordering Cletus not to reveal anything. The parole officer steps out of his car and walks up to Cletus, the hillbilly instantly breaks down and points to Benny Jean out of fear of being harmed. He watches as the parole officer finds his friend and instructs him to, as part of his community service, has been instructed to participate in the "Ecomagination YouTube Video Challenge".



Later, Cletus appears to start filming for the video, but appears to Benny Jean to have forgotten the camera until he sees the Neighbor holding it. He gets the camera from the Neighbor and hands it to Cletus, who has to pan up once he starts filming to get Benny Jean's face into frame. Filming starts off fine, minus one minor incident with the Neighbor and the flamingo, but continues without issue until Cletus involuntarily switches places with the Neighbor and is teleported onto a nearby rooftop. Frustrated, Benny Jean goes to slap the Neighbor, who returns Cletus to his original position in time to have Cletus get slapped instead. Cletus quits in response, calling his friend a "jerk". He hands the camera back to Benny Jean and returns home.

Back home, Cletus starts crying and jumps into bed, expressing a wish for someone who cared for him. He feels a hand on his shoulder, and he is initially happy until he sees the Neighbor in bed with him, causing him to scream.

"THAT DAMN SHOWER!"


Cletus holds the camera as Benny Jean explains to viewers that he will be taking a 30-second shower in a Speedo. Cletus happily times the thirty seconds while his friend takes an uncomfortably cold shower. Once time is up, Cletus compliments his friend's clean appearance, but before he can hand him his clothes, the Neighbor appears in the doorway of the bathroom and escapes with the clothes, causing Benny Jean to run after him in the same Speed he showered in. When he returns, he goes to Cletus, who is peacefully sitting in his lawn chair, to exclaim that the Neighbor stole all his clothes and admit that his crotch feels weird in a Speedo. Cletus looks down to see his friend's crotch region entirely replaced by the Neighbor's face, causing him to scream.

"THAT DAMN RAP MUSIC!"
Cletus holds the camera as Benny Jean explains to viewers that he will be making a music video about helping the environment. Recording for the music video goes well initially as Cletus stars in the music video with Benny Jean, until the Neighbor appears, playing "Jarabe Tapatío" over their soundtrack. Benny Jean threatens him away and recording continues until Benny Jean raps about planting flowers, which he believes is "kinda girly", a claim Benny Jean denies and instead insists is "super manly". Recording continues normally (Cletus even raps a line with a deeper and much more gravelly voice) until the Neighbor appears, carrying the flamingo in his mouth. For a change, Cletus is not the one to get frightened into screaming as Benny Jean fulfills that instead.

"THAT DAMN TRASH PILE!"


As (presumably) Cletus holds the camera, Benny Jean explains to viewers that he will be building a house for his flamingo out of nothing but his own trash. When he is finished, he approaches Cletus, who is sitting in his lawn chair and brags about his flamingo's new home. Cletus excitedly gets up and goes over to see, where he admires the "work". At that moment, the Neighbor sits up from beneath the trash, to Cletus's horror as he once again screams.

"HOLY CRAP! 2 BILLION VIEWS!"


Benny Jean makes a cameo appearance in "HOLY CRAP! 2 BILLION VIEWS!" alongside many other Smosh characters. He is sitting with Cletus in their lawn chairs and laughs at George Zazz and calls him a "dummy" after the wildlife expert was shocked by Pikachu's Thundershock. Cletus laugh with him and says "Good one, Benny Jean!".

Trivia

 * A running gag, starting in "That Damn Yard Sale", has Cletus screaming in terror at something shocking at the end of each video, typically involving the Neighbor. This is present in all episodes except the original, "THAT DAMN RAP MUSIC!", and "THAT DAMN MOVIE!".
 * In "That Damn Yard Sale", the Neighbor uncharacteristically turns to face Cletus and shouts "Don't f*cking touch me!".
 * In "That Damn Prison Break", Doggy's eyes glow red and it shouts at Cletus in a demonic voice, "Back off my tacos, human!"
 * In "THAT DAMN PUNISHMENT!", the Neighbor suddenly appears behind Cletus in his bed.
 * In "THAT DAMN SHOWER!", the Neighbor's face appears on the Speedo Benny Jean is wearing.
 * In "THAT DAMN RAP MUSIC!", Benny Jean screams at the end of the video instead, in this case in reaction to coming face-to-face with the Neighbor carrying the flamingo with his mouth.
 * In "THAT DAMN TRASH PILE!", the Neighbor sits up from beneath the pile of trash.
 * Cletus does not appear in "THAT DAMN MOVIE!". Instead, the final "scream" can be attributed to Ian and Anthony, who scream in terror as they realize the Neighbor is driving their car before they crash.
 * For the most part, Cletus is portrayed as stupider than Benny Jean, except in "That Damn Prison Break", in which he acts clever by using his fog machine to reveal the Neighbor's laser security system.
 * Cletus only wears camouflage shirts.
 * Cletus is usually the one who tells Benny Jean where the Neighbor is by pointing and saying so.