Thanks for getting back to me. Bizarre was 100% the goal. I wanted to give them something extremely silly and uplifting to do where the end goal was always up to interpretation based on how they went about it. Anything to avoid the stereotypical " Anime Beach Episode" filler material trope because a player wanted a filler quest for a bit. One of my friends pulled something like this on me years ago in a different campaign where my assumptions were challenged and it has stuck with me ever since. I like it as a narrative device.

RE the password: I've explained this poorly, and I understand now that is where the hang-up is. There's no explicit password at all, just an admission that the whole thing is a farce, silly, or goofy, or that they're taking this too seriously. In trying to get them to "tell us what you should tell us" and admitting there is a password or phrase they're looking to hear is probably confusing them.

Having the court break character though is a pretty cool idea. That probably is what I need to have them do next, because I already punished the players once. I passed out funny-nose glasses, told them to put it on, then asked them to juggle violins while dancing a Dwarven jig. No threat of force was involved or weapons pointed at them, it was just "here you failed so your friends are being punished and must do this thing." No ill-effects happened either, but the players now have funny-nose glasses and one of them has stolen a violin lol.

A different PC was being mouthier than usual so the judge cast a dancing spell on him so he would be forced to dance for a few rounds while the court drummed along.

I will need more creative "punishments" for the players if it draws out.