Open Thread: Expanded Quotable Comedies Edition

by Eric Martin

Rob Farley wants to know if Anchorman really is the most quoted comedy of the last decade.  I say the question is too restrictive and would rather point out that The Big Lebowski is likely the most quoted comedy ever.  At least for the folks I run with.  Which isn't saying much.

Monty Python's Holy Grail would make that short list as well.   In terms of new blood, Hangover is beginning to influence the vernacular.

What say youse?

Comments

[cleek]

it's Napoleon Dynamite, for the people i hang out with.

[Ugh]

I would think that Caddyshack and Animal House are always up there, no matter the decade, in a when the Germans bombed Varmintcong sort of way.

Embarassing note: I own both the Big Leboski and Anchorman on DVD and have yet to watch either one (I blame Ugh Jr.).

[Jacob Davies]

"Obviously you're not a golfer."

Sadly, I have yet to find a situation where an appropriate variation on this quote would have worked, at least where I've actually been quick enough to come up with it.

Never seen Anchorman, was not aware of its existence until about a minute ago, so I guess if people are quoting it all over the place, I wouldn't notice...

I try to keep the Holy Grail quotes to a minimum except where absolutely essential, which seems to happen all the time.

[Eric Martin]

Caddyshack and Animal House for sure...

[Jesurgislac]

Anyone who claims that anything other than Monty Python is most quotable is committing a horrible blasphemy. You must have tea and cake with the Vicar, or you die!

So, cake or death?

Cake please. Thank you for flying Church of England.

[tgirsch]

Jes:

There's an important difference between "quoted" (Eric's standard) and "quotable" (the one you've just used).

Just remember that we're standing on a planet that's evolving.

[Jesurgislac]

Oh, I'm sorry, just one moment. Is this a five minute argument or the full half hour?

[cleek]

but if we open it up to TV shows, Seinfeld is second only to The Simpsons.

[Davidwonk]

I picked a bad week to give up sniffing glue, Shirley.

If you're over 40, it's Airplane, Airplane. Airplane.

[jrudkis]

it could be a hat, or a broach, or a pteradactyl...

But really, Holy Grail is the all time most quoted movie. I am pretty sure that it could provide full communication and be an all inclusive language that allows for a full and happy life. Just try and find a situation where the Grail does not provide the appropriate line.

[Tony P.]

I'll make you guys an offer you can't refuse. It may be the start of a beautiful friendship. Or it may sap and impurify all our precious bodily fluids. Frankly, my dears, I don't give a damn. Road trip!!

Greed is good. But your money's not here, it's in Joe's house and Sam's house and ... anyway, drop the gun or the parrot will be pushin' up the daisies.

So what is your major malfunction? When I ask you to pour every light you've got on that runway, it's not meant to be taken literally.

--TP

[Judson]

I'm going for Young Frankenstein. "he vas my boyfriend" "He has an enormous swannstucker!" "Sedagive? SEDAGIVE!" "You made a yummy sound"...It's the movie I most quote, which may be why people look at me strange.

[Linkmeister]

If you're over 50 it might be "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World," except that other than "the Big W" nearly every joke was a sight gag. Durante kicking the bucket, the two black taxi drivers flying off the fire engine ladder into Abe Lincoln's lap, Buddy Hackett and Mickey Rooney flying that airplane, Jerry Lewis driving over the hat, the ongoing battle between Ethel Merman and Terry Thomas . . .

[bobbyp]

"Badges? We don't need no stinking badges."

Blazing Saddles, 6 B.C. (before conservatism)

[bernard Yomtov]

Whatever the most quoted comedy is, it's either Mel Brooks or the Marx Brothers.

[Mike Schilling]

The Princes Bride. Anyone who says differently is selling something.

[anna missed]

"I have only one thing to tell you. Plastics!"
"Who are those guys?"
"Nik,Nik,Nik,Nik"
"Hal, open the pod bay doors"
"Are you lookin' at me, are you lookin' at me?
"The horror,the horror"
"Badges? We don't need any stinkin' badges"
"Heeeere's Johnny!"
"I'll have what she's having"
"Phone home"
"If you build it, they will come"
"Life is like a box of chocolates"

Most of these are still in use

[someotherdude]

I have to say, my generation Monty Python (I've heard ex-Cons quoting "The Life of Brian")...and then "The Big Lebowski"

[miwome]

Well, for me and a few people it's Murder by Death and all the Marx Brothers' movies, but that probably doesn't go for the rest of the world. I can only hope that Kick-Ass will be added to the canon.

I can attest that my friends quote Anchorman a hell of a lot, but I never know what they're talking about because I haven't seen it. Also, can't forget Ghost Busters, if solely on the merits of "Don't cross the beams!"

[Anthony Damiani]

I'm a geek, and therefore in a zone where Grail >> Lebowski to the point where I'm mildly astonished that there's even a comparison.

Are we restricting this to comedy for a reason?
----

[Jesurgislac]

Because if you allowed tragedy, Hamlet would win hands down?

[Brett Bellmore]

"I am serious. And don't call me Shirley!"

[envy]

</tagclose>

[Alchemist]

I liked hangover, but wasn't one of those people who thought it was "the best comedy ever". Certainly weaker than individual episodes of "Arrested Development". (And I certainly don't remember quoting anything from it...)

Unlike:
There's always money in the banana stand...

[Ugh]

Big trouble in little china is also very quotable, in a quirky kind of way.

Swingers too.

[Chris J]

I'd second Young Frankenstein:

Here, walk this way

Hump? What hump?

Werewolf? . . . There wolf

Plus that whole charades scene about giving the sedagive.

Not so quotable individually, but Mystery Science Theater 3000 is chock-full of goodies.

[russell]

Stripes.

"Lighten up, Francis".

Buckaroo Bonzai.

"Wherever you go, there you are", the quote that launched 1,000 zen self-help books.

[wj]

Some of these examples are really, really painful. Fortunately, it's only a flesh wound.

[Turbulence]

This is the most brilliant piece of art I've ever seen. Someone has arranged it so that John Yoo literally wipes his ass with the Convention Against Torture:

Yoo Toilet Paper, the creation of Los Angeles artist Matt Cornell, was installed temporarily and very unofficially in restrooms at UC Berkeley's law school last week. Each roll contained text of the U.N. Convention Against Torture.

[joel hanes]

3. Young Frankenstein

2. Monty Python and the Holy Grail

1. Princess Bride

[bluefoot]

I have to go with the Holy Grail crowd (assuming we're going past the last decade). Not just because it's quoted so often, but SO MUCH of it gets quoted, rather than the famous line or two from other movies.
I have to admit to having a soft spot for Terminator along with some of the others listed.
And Linkmeister: holy crap, "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World" is a classic!

[ral]

Needle nardle noo. And there's more where that came from!

[No, I'm not suggesting it's the most quoted. It only ought to be. Probably it's because you can't get the wood.]

[JanieM]

http://www.thedemocraticstrategist.org/strategist/2010/04/enhancing_freedom_by_governmen.php>Ahem.

(It *is* an open thread, right?)

[xanax]

Everyone who misses hilzoy
raise your hand...

(xanax raises hand(s)...)

Thanks for the link, JanieM.

[wonkie]

Pogo.

And flap on your own side.

[Kib]

We have clearance, Clarence.
You ARE the brute squad!
Nice grouping!
What? Behind the rabbit?

[cleek]

wait... was this a trick by Eric to try getting ObWi commenters to date themselves ?

[joel hanes]

Mongo only pawn in game of life.

[nous]

Princess Bride? Inconceivable.

[Randinho]

@Davidwonk

Stop calling me Shirley!

[Randinho]

Make that Stop calling me surely.

[Anthony Damiani]

Speaking of the absence of Hilzoy, and then Publius and Von-- what happened to Lindsay? Is the identity of ObWi as a group blog in jeopardy?

[minstrel hussain boy]

jayzus folks

this isn't Nam.

this is bowling.

there are rules.

[Tsam]

I mostly quote Airplane, including "Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit ________ ."

My younger buddy at work assigned that I see Office Space so I would understand his jokes.

I frequently quote Monty Python, but not from a movie, especially this one: "As a naval officer I abhor the implication that the Royal Navy is a haven for cannibalism. It is well known that we now have the problem relatively under control..."

My favorite movie quote actually is visual, adapted from Dirty Harry.

Does the Die Hard quote that "He's still alive. ... Only John can drive somebody that crazy." count as being from a comedy?

[Shawn]

Don't forget "Repo Man". Plate of shrimp, "the life of a repo man is always intense", "lots of guys like to wear a dress", "you do a lot of acid back in the hippie days?", "there's room to move as a fry cook", etc.

[Julie O.]

I'm not even fully conscious of all the quotes I use. The other day we were watching some of the less frequently aired episodes of Monty Python and I saw Michael Palin as Cardinal Richelieu. I had completely forgotten that's where I got the "A-oui," and "I did that thing," that I sometimes say.

Personally, though, I quote a lot from Blackadder.

[Ryan]

Funny, she doesn't look druish.

[cleek]

no love for American Pie ?

MILFs the world over are insulted.

[Slartibartfast]

"The Big Lebowski"

Possibly, but you can't quote most of it here.

I need to get my car out of this bad area, now.

[hairshirthedonist]

Am I really going to be the first to write "We're gonna need a bigger boat"?

[hairshirthedonist]

Oh, crap...I forgot about the comedy part. Jaws has some funny, though.

I quote Rocky a lot, and consider it to be at least half a comedy. I just noticed for the first time about a week ago, after having seen Rocky, at least in part, a hundred or so times, that Rocky says to Adrian, completely matter-of-factly, as she finally gets to him in the ring just after the fight "Where's your hat?" That after all the screaming like a madman "ADRIAN!!!" at the very climax of the story. How Stallone could be so dead-pan funny and sympathetic in that film and so dreadfully cheesy for almost all of the rest of his career is beyond me.

[Slartibartfast]

Ok. So...she's a dog.

[hairshirthedonist]

Yes, it's true.... This man has no dick.

[Eric Martin]

wait... was this a trick by Eric to try getting ObWi commenters to date themselves ?

Yes, all part of my scheme to steal your email addresses, create demo profiles and then spam y'all to hell ;)

Speaking of the absence of Hilzoy, and then Publius and Von-- what happened to Lindsay? Is the identity of ObWi as a group blog in jeopardy?

It's been a bit of a struggle, but Lindsay has a thousand other commitments. She's very busy and in demand.

I'm working on it, though.

[Agentzero]

Jes at 7:01: Yes, Eddie is frequently quoted in my house. (I'm assuming the point of your post was that those are *not* Monty Python quotes.)

VADER: I will have the penne a la arabbiata.

SERVER: You'll need a tray.

VADER: Do you know who I am?

SERVER: Do you know who I am?

VADER: This is not a game of who the fuck are you!

[Jesurgislac]

Agentzero: I'm assuming the point of your post was that those are *not* Monty Python quotes

Er, yes.

Well, that certainly sounds like a genuine Picasso. But I would have to see it to be sure.

[Mister X]

"Dave's not here man."

[Skaramuche]

Python has to make the shortlist. Among the teenage set Mean Girls has a surprising amount of traction too. Especially "She doesn't even go here!"

[xanax]

"Ray, when someone asks if you're a god, say YES!"

[Ugh]

Man do I need to watch Ghostbusters again.

Ugh's short list of comedies in which every scene is just about perfect:

Ferris Bueller's Day Off
The Princess Bride
Ghostbusters

Talladega Nights is also eminently quotable, though not perfect.

" I like to think of Jesus as a mischievous badger."

[hairshirthedonist]

Films by the Coen brothers other than The Big Lebowski are also very quotable. Raising Arizona is one of my favorites.

These blow up into funny shapes and all?

Well no... unless round is funny.

[cleek]

Heathers?

I love my dead gay son!

Our love is god. let's go get a Slurpee.

[Jesurgislac]

What shall we hang... the holly, or each other?

I know. You know I know. I know you know I know. We know Hilzoy knows, and Hilzoy knows we know it. We're a knowledgeable family.

Of course he has a troll, he always has a troll, we all have trolls! It's 2010 and we're barbarians! How clear we make it. Oh, my piglets, we are the origins of war: not history's forces, nor the times, nor justice, nor the lack of it, nor causes, nor religions, nor ideas, nor kinds of government, nor any other thing. We are the killers. We breed wars. We carry it like syphilis inside. Dead bodies rot in field and stream because the living ones are rotten. For the love of God, can't we love one another just a little - that's how peace begins. We have so much to love each other for. We have such possibilities, my children. We could change the world.

...or something like that.

[Bernard Yomtov]

Bialystock: How can you take the last penny out of a poor man's pocket?

Building owner: I have to. I'm a landlord.

[Bernard Yomtov]

Biology Professor: What do you think of that slide?
Professor Wagstaff: Well, I think he was safe at second, but it was very close.

[Pharmakeus Ubik]

A lot of familiar sources mentioned, but I don't see Fear of a Black Hat up there. Far too many lines from this one have nested in my speech patterns.

[Slartibartfast]

If I held you any closer, I'd be in back of you.

[Amos Newcombe]

I'm shocked ... shocked! that there is no gambling going on in this thread.

[Slartibartfast]

If I told you that you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?

[John Thullen]

We've got to speed things up in this health insurance company.

Chef, if a guy orders a 3-minute egg, give it to him in two minutes.

If he orders a 2-minute egg, give it to him in one minute.

If he orders a one minute egg, give him a chicken and let him work it out.

She's my daughter. She's my sister. my daughter, my sister, my daughter, my sister.

That latter wasn't funny in the movie, of course, but I find it hilarious when someone is slapping me repeatedly.

[John Thullen]

Time wounds all heels.

Which I found hilarious when Groucho said it and John Lennon repeated it, but now I find depressing when someone is slapping me repeatedly.

[Jesurgislac]

How extravagant you are, throwing away jokes like that. Someday they may be scarce.

[hairshirthedonist]

Okay, guess what movie these lines are from:

"What are you?!"

"I'm Batman."

[John Thullen]

I cheated on my metaphysics exam. I looked into the soul of the boy sitting next to me.

Guy goes to his psychiatrist and says "my brother thinks he's a chicken." Doctor asks, "Why didn't you turn him in?" Guy says, "I needed the eggs" ....

..... which is another reason why I'm not bartering my chicken for a colonoscopy.

I forgot my mantra.

My love life is so bad the last time I was inside a woman was when I visited the Statue of Liberty.

and .. during a longer scene between Woody, Diane Keaton, and the Humphrey Bogart look-alike in Play It Again, Sam ..

Go ahead, tell her she's got the most beautiful eyes you've ever seen ...

Your kidding

Go ahead, tell her.

You've got the most eyes I've ever seen.

Oh .

She bought it!

[Josh]

John T, Thankyou thankyou thankyou. I was flabbergasted that no one'd mentioned Annie Hall yet.

Jes, wait, they made a movie out of The Lion in Winter? I hope they kept Rosemary Harris and Robert Preston in the lead roles.

Russell, I think "No matter where you go, there you are" was a cliché before Peter Weller said it.

Hairshirt, "It's about friendship. It's about character. It's about--hell, Leo, I'm not ashamed to say the woid--it's about et'ics." Or something like that: I'm quoting from memory. Also: "Ya know--for kids!" And "I'm not afraid of you, Marty." Although it takes a special person to regard Blood Simple as a comedy.

[Jesurgislac]

Jes, wait, they made a movie out of The Lion in Winter?

They did? I saw it performed at the Edinburgh Festival, a few years ago.

[chmood]

YES they made Lion in Winter into a movie - Peter O'Toole & Katherine Hepburn in the leads, Timothy Dalton, Anthony Hopkins & Nigel Terry as the sons.

Magnificent.

[JanieM]

Thanks, chmood, I needed that.

I started to write a comment pointing out the same thing, then decided that since I am sometimes humor-impaired and definitely recent-movie-impaired, and this thread is full of movie jokes that I don't get, this must be just another one of those.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lion_in_Winter>For the record>:

* A film version was made in 1968 with Peter O'Toole as King Henry II of England and Katharine Hepburn as Eleanor of Aquitaine.

The film was nominated for 7 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Peter O'Toole), Best Director (Anthony Harvey), and Best Costume Design. The film won three Academy Awards: Best Actress (Katharine Hepburn), Best Screenplay (James Goldman), and Best Score (John Barry).

Also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lion_in_Winter_%281968_film%29>here.

[Jesurgislac]

Sorry Chmood, I think Josh was being ironic ... I know I was.

Katherine Hepburn was totally amazing, but ... done right, a live performance is just magnetic. There are actors who have a certain intense quality (Derek Jacobi is one: I'd never miss a chance to see him on stage - and I understand Laurence Olivier was another) such that a performance by them on stage is something completely beyond what can be transmitted by film.

OTOH, the nature of such performances is they're unrepeatable and therefore easily missable - but I get to cheer myself up with Monty Python just by putting a DVD in the player.

[JanieM]

See? :|

[hairshirthedonist]

Since you guys are getting way to high-brow, I think it's time to mention the heyday Austin Powers enjoyed as a quoted comedy. It was an annoying time.

I say that as someone who went to see it before anyone, including me, really knew what it was, and I laughed my ass off in the half-full (at best) theater. Then everyone else saw it on video some number of months later and it became the Stairway to Heaven/Freebird of comedy movies. Every dick with ears thought it made him the funniest guy in the room to say "Yeah, baby."

[hairshirthedonist]

I should admit that I've pretty much memorized Dr. Evil's monologue from the group-terapy session. People in bars never busted that one out, and it's one of the funniest minutes on film for me.

[Phil]

^^^ "There really is nothing like a shorn scrotum. It's breathtaking."

[Laura Sympson]

I'm a longtime lurker, but I just logged in to say: Jesurgislac is my hero for bringing up "The Lion in Winter". Heartbreakingly funny.

Aside from Monty Python and Airplane, these days I mostly think of "Phineas and Ferb" (my son is 6). Sad, isn't it?