Favourite obscure references

[Johnny L.A.]

We all quote films, books, TV shows, etc. from time to time. Many quotes ('Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.' or 'I'll be back.') are very well known. But there are a lot of good, quotable lines that are more obscure. Some of them are very obscure.

In GD I saw a thread title asking about whether books will ever become obsolete. This reminded me of one of my favourite obscure quotes, from Max Headroom (Blank Reg trying to get through to a young punk): 'A non-volatile, random-access storage medium. A book!'

I have others that pop into my head from time to time, but I'll keep it at one quote for now.

I've shown you mine, no you have to show me yours!

[jimpatro]

Here's one that had me rolling recently.
On MXC(Most Extreme Elimination Challenge) they have really wacky, clever names for the contestants.

So this one guy steps up for the next challenge and his name is Warner Toler.
A combination of Warner Oland and Sidney Toler, two actors who played Charlie Chan. Not many would have caught that but I was dying!

[Pushkin]

Originally Posted by Johnny L.A.

In GD I saw a thread title asking about whether books will ever become obsolete. This reminded me of one of my favourite obscure quotes, from Max Headroom (Blank Reg trying to get through to a young punk): 'A non-volatile, random-access storage medium. A book!'

That's where its from, I remember a review of a PDA in a PC magazine ages ago compared it to a filofax using those precise terms

[Marley23]

Six other people will probably pop in and say this, but the Rashomon reference on The Simpsons is quite clever.

Marge: You liked Rashomon!
Homer: That's not how I remember it!

Maybe it's not [/i]that[/i] obscure, but still.

[Mr. Blue Sky]

Maybe not obsure:

In an episode of Rocko's Modern Life, Mr. Bighead goes to Rocko's house to invite him, Heffer, and Filburt to join his bowling team. When he answers the door, Rocko is holding a paddle. Heffer and Filburt also also holding paddles. On the table is a game board. In the middle of the board is a monkey with a hole worn out of the bottom of his clothes.

They were playing "Spank the Monkey".

[Robot Arm]

The Newsradio thread reminded me of one of mine. Joe is leaving Dave's office, and he passes Jimmy who's on his way in (and they're using the window, for reasons I don't entirely remember), and they say hello to each other.

"Good morning, Ralph."
"Good morning, Sam."

[SolGrundy]

An episode of "The Venture Brothers" had Dr. Venture drugged out on truth serum and being interrogated. They say "State your name." He gets up, twirls around the room turning on desk lamps, saying, "Starting from the top: Lisa. Carol. Fremont."

[raz]

Another Rocko one.

Whenever I eat chinese (which is a lot) and I read my fortune cookie, I tell people that it says "bad luck and extreme misfortune will infest your pathetic soul for all eternity".

No one ever gets it .

[Mr. Blue Sky]

Another Rocko:

Rocko has a problem chewing his nails. He tries to cope by putting a roast on one hand and a monkey puppet on the other.


He answers the door one day and it's Heffer(?) who accuses Rocko of hiding his chewed up nails. Rocko replies:

"Everybody's got something to hide 'cept for meat and my monkey."

[longhair75]

dennis miller once said "i'm harder on sunglasses than moe green"

he also commented that admiral stanhope (ross perot's running mate) had "all of the social skills of boo radley"

[Sampiro]

Originally Posted by Robot Arm

The Newsradio thread reminded me of one of mine. Joe is leaving Dave's office, and he passes Jimmy who's on his way in (and they're using the window, for reasons I don't entirely remember), and they say hello to each other.

"Good morning, Ralph."
"Good morning, Sam."

There was another episode of the show in which Beth's evil two faced former friend comes by the office; when everybody else is around she's the sweetest, most charming person imaginable, but when it's just her and Beth she's evil. Beth is flustered and trying to explain it to Mr. James:

"She's... evil...frog... people around... 'Hello my honey hello my baby!'.... "Ribbit!'...."

[Marley23]

Originally Posted by longhair75

dennis miller once said "i'm harder on sunglasses than moe green"

he also commented that admiral stanhope (ross perot's running mate) had "all of the social skills of boo radley"

Way back when, there was a new men's supplement - hair growth, I think - called Uprima. Miller's joke about it was "It's paired with a pill called U-keely Smith." I liked it because I'd heard Prima and Smith's names for the first time ever on the radio only a day or two before, so it was only by an unlikely coincidence that I had any clue what he was talking about.

[Eve]

Typical example: I was having some friends over, and was putting ice in the drinks. I slipped and dropped the tray and ice cubes went all over the floor.

Eve: "I feel like Anna Held--I just can't make my ice behave."

Guests: "???"

[Tarrsk]

Not particularly obscure, but I got a big kick out of Xander's offhand reference to Giles as "Locutus of Borg" in one of the early episodes of Buffy.

[spiralscratch]

Whenever someone completely overreacts to a simple question or request, I often like to shoot back with, "Jeez, all I wanted was a Pepsi."

[Ludovic]

I myself make obscure references all the time. It's just as well that people don't get them usually, but some of them I'm darn proud of.

Not so proud: I asked a question in a trivia game about ionic bonds, then someone compared me to Ionian columns (don't ask me why.) Then I mentioned that I had a bit of a driver's tan. Then someone told me to get "back in the tin" (again, don't ask). I responded "well, you already tried to put me in the column bin, but despite my mottled appearance, I'm not Harlequin."

Proud reference I make often: People announce several bits of good news. I respond and repeat their bits of good news, and make an addendum "Ahhh, so you just discovered 50 cents in your couch? AND you get tomorrow off? Well, I think I'll have a Coke."

[saoirse]

I was out on Friday, and asked a friend of mine what he'd be doing for the holiday. Hwe said he'd be traveling, as he had to be in Mechanicsburg first thing Tuesday. I replied "Mechanicsburg is a city in Pennsylvania." He gave the countersign: "6x7 is 42." We both stifled the urge to giggle like Turtles being tickled.

On a similar note, when my sister announced that she'd bought a VW Jetta, all of my brothers and sisters got together and chanted:

Jetta. Jetta. Jetta Jetta Jetta. Jetta-Jetta Jetta-Jetta Jetta-Jetta Jetta-Jetta A ha ha ha ha.

[Johnny L.A.]

For those of us who do not catch the references, can you provide origins?

Incidentally, spiralscratch's post inspired me to order ST's eponymous CD. And as long as I was in the mood, I sent an e-mail to Rhino Records to please re-release New Wave Theatre Vol. 1 & Vol. 2, on DVD. (I haven't found my VHS copies yet.)

'I'm Rula Lenska. Friends are visiting from Europe.' (Ref: The Pee-Wee Herman Show, which referenced it from the then-almost-contemporary Alberto VO5 commercials.)

[Sampiro]

I didn't consider it particularly obscure, but when I drove a Yugo (five very long years) his name was Victor. Nobody ever laughed.

I also used to wear a self-made (copyright infringing) T-shirt with these two characters on the front but nobody ever got it.

I learned my lesson on being too obscure when I went to a Haloween party at the Frist Presbyterian Church in small-town Alabama when I was in 9th grade. I was in a Poe kick at the time and dressed as "the masque of the red death" (in part from the description in the story and in part from the actor in the Corman film) and horrified the people- they thought I was dressed as Satan. (I wore a rust-red robe with a very long hood made from a pair of drapes my mother had replaced- I thought I looked pretty cool, and I even took a copy of THE SHORT STORIES OF E.A.P. with me, but... I was pretty much invited to not attend anything else outside of Sunday school. (My father, not known for his imagination or his humor, actually majorly approved of the costume as he was a rabid Poe scholar {that's an obscure joke}, but he himself dressed as a plantation owner {white frock coat, black string tie, big white hat} which I found more offensive {especially considering that the church had a slave balcony})

[saoirse]

Well, mine are from Sesame Street.

Incidentally,one that only a few people pick up on:

An experience that included several surprising or unexpected encounters might earn the reference "I saw geeks and I saw god," from

SPOILER:

"I Slept in an Arcade" by Black Randy and the Metrosquad.

or upon reporting that one had been somewhere might end with "And when I walked out, by God I was rich," from

SPOILER:

Death of a Salesman

[Ludovic]

My first reference is to the only two characters I know from commedia d'arte, or however you spell it. The second reference is to a joke I first heard in Boondock Saints, although it sounds like an old joke.

And for a third obscure reference, in the chatrooms I go into there's a person with the screen name "Davey", and I always call him "Davey, oh Davey", after the Promise Ring song with that in the lyrics, and only myself and one other person get that. If I ever get in the front row of a Dashboard Confessional concert (fat chance, what with all the raging groupies,) and Chris announces his touring bass player, Scott Schoenbeck, I'm gonna scream "Yeah, Scott Schoenbeck!" and see if they get yet another reference to the song.

[Garfield226]

"It must be indicatave of something, besides the redistribution of wealth."

and

"There is an art to the building up of suspense."

Both from Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.

[Kamino Neko]

Originally Posted by Sampiro

I didn't consider it particularly obscure, but when I drove a Yugo (five very long years) his name was Victor. Nobody ever laughed.

Well, I did.

[Morgyn]

"Operator! Operator! We've been . . . disconnected."

I love that phrase, particularly in IRC, and no one ever seems to get it.

[Robot Arm]

Originally Posted by Sampiro

I also used to wear a self-made (copyright infringing) T-shirt with these two characters on the front but nobody ever got it.

That's pretty damn obscure. I think we have a winner.

[Johnny L.A.]

Originally Posted by Sampiro

I didn't consider it particularly obscure, but when I drove a Yugo (five very long years) his name was Victor. Nobody ever laughed.

I also used to wear a self-made (copyright infringing) T-shirt with these two characters on the front but nobody ever got it.

When I was driving with my dad in California City when I was an adolescent, we passed Victor Street. I said, 'Wouldn't it be funny if the next street was "Hugo"?' It was.

I 'got' your T-shirt!

The Poe thing reminds me of the South Park episode where Cartman dresses as a 'ghost'.

[Chefguy]

"It's semi-permeable, but non-osmotic." My answer to questions about how something works, when I don't really know the answer (from Christmas Vacation).

[Push You Down]

Well, apparently not in the spirit of this thread, I wanted to point out a VERY obscure reference thta is being made in a commercial right now.

One of the new Starburst ads.... Its in high school. A boy asks a girl to come with him. He has something to show her. He takes her into an art studio and pulls a tarp off his project. It's a bust of the girl made entirely out of starbursts. The guy describes the reasons he used certain flavors (lemon for her lemony yellow hair) and finally gets to her cherry red lips. He starts to eat/make out with the bust. The girl is freaked and leaves.
The music in the background is "Hello" by Lionel Ritchie.... which if you've seen the video for it waaaay back in the mid 80s IS FREAKING HILARIOUS! The video features Ritchie stalking a blind girl at a college campus... finally he gets the nerve to talk to her and it is revealed that despite being blind she knew he was there and what he looked like. She sculpted a horrific looking bust of Lionel Ritchie.
The reference in the starburst ad is amazing.


For myself and my friends if it ever comes up to say the word "mostly".. it is always preceded with " 'They mostly come at night.' Mostly"
Newt's line from Aliens.

[Albert Rose]

I admit that I don't get the T-shirt reference. TomFlo?

My own favorite obscure reference gets used when someone asks for the time. I'll encourage all within earshot to "Respect the Clock!" This is a takeoff of Tom Cruise's character in Magnolia, who gives inspirational speeches which include the line "Respect the Cock."

[Johnny L.A.]

Originally Posted by AlbertRose

I admit that I don't get the T-shirt reference. TomFlo?

Eb and Flo. From Green Acres and Alice.

[Mr. Blue Sky]

Originally Posted by Push You Down

One of the new Starburst ads....

I caught this right away. It is pretty funny. In one of the VH1 "I Love the 80's" shows, they talked about how bad the Lionel sculpture was. Even Lionel had to admit it was bad.

[Larry Mudd]

From this week's b3ta newsletter:

>> Lionel Ritchie's Hello vid <<
Probably the very finest accompaniment to
a pop song ever. Who can forget the former
Commodore's touching performance as a man
obsessed with his blind student. It's worth
sticking with to the final denouement
when Lionel's lady love rewards him with
a lumpen clay Ritchie-head.
http://www.stereogum.com/archives/001195.html

[jimpatro]

Mr. Blue Sky

I caught this right away. It is pretty funny. In one of the VH1 "I Love the 80's" shows, they talked about how bad the Lionel sculpture was. Even Lionel had to admit it was bad.

She was BLIND!! for gosh' sake!

[Mr. Blue Sky]

Originally Posted by jimpatro

She was BLIND!! for gosh' sake!

So was everyone on the set - blinded with laughter!

[fishbicycle]

In A Hard Day's Night, in one of the scenes on the train, they all have a bottle of Pepsi, and John lifts his to his nose with a finger on the other side, and inhales. He's sniffing Coke, get it? All the kiddies missed that one.

[Evil Captor]

When a conversation is winding its desultory way down, I sometimes like to chime in with, "My sister was bit by a moose."

SPOILER:

It's from Monty Python's "And Now For Something Completely Different" and constitutes a non sequiter as the credits are winding down.

[Feydeau]

Originally Posted by Evil Captor

When a conversation is winding its desultory way down, I sometimes like to chime in with, "My sister was bit by a moose."

SPOILER:

It's from Monty Python's "And Now For Something Completely Different" and constitutes a non sequiter as the credits are winding down.

It's also

SPOILER:

in the opening credits of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

...not that that has anything to do with what you said.

Sorry, carry on.

[Raygun99]

"Getting to the fireworks factory" has come to be a favourite reference among my friends as the point in which a piece of entertainment reaches its peak. e.g. "Star Wars Episode III really got to the fireworks factory quickly" or "Lara Croft Tomb Raider never did get to the fireworks factory".

It is of course, from the inaugeral Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie cartoon from the Simpsons.

[RealityChuck]

Well, the best I've seen in a movie is in Robert Altman's Brewster McCloud, when Margaret Hamilton is murdered and we discover she was wearing ruby slippers.

I use them all the time, though I don't play favorites, and they come up at the spur of the moment. For instance:

"If I could only write, I'd send a nasty letter to the mayor, if he could only read."
"Ott is my kendll, dokk is my room, none by dimp sheddows beset me." (whenever the power fails)

[Johnny L.A.]

Originally Posted by RealityChuck

"If I could only write, I'd send a nasty letter to the mayor, if he could only read."

That reminds of what my dad used to say: 'If we had some ham, we could have ham and eggs, if we had some eggs.'

[Sternvogel]

Originally Posted by longhair75

dennis miller once ... commented that admiral stanhope (ross perot's running mate) had "all of the social skills of boo radley"

<Nitpick> The admiral's name is Stockdale. James Bond Stockdale. </Nitpick>

On an episode of the sitcom Family Ties, Alex was looking at colleges. When interviewing at Princeton, the dean he spoke with had the surname of Meminger. The show's writing staff must have featured a basketball fan or two, as Dean Meminger was a star at Marquette University and later played six seasons in the NBA.

[Loopus]

When ever someone asks me a "when" question that doesn't have a real answer (e.g. "When are you going to get over that?"), I immediately respond "August!"

That comes from an episode of Taxi in which Alex impassionately asks Jim, "When are you going to stand up for yourself?" and Jim gets up and dramatically says, "August!"

[BurnMeUp]

*geek alert*

I was playing World of Wardcraft on Sunday, and one of the quests involves getting ingredients to make a stew.

Someone kept senging messages to everyone in the zone 3 or 4 times saying "Is anyone doing Westfall Stew".

After the 4th time i responded to the while zone "Westfall Stu doesn't advertize".

I only got one person responding, but at least they laughed.

For those of you missing the joke it was from the George Bush Simpson's episode, where they were having a garage sale, and homer was selling some tool (a bedazzler?) to put rhinestones on clothes, and a jacket he started working on but never finished. The jacket said "Disco Stu" implying it was supposed to say "Disco Stud" when it was finished. At the garage sale this guy in an afro and leisure suit came up and his friend said "Hey Stu, you should buy that jacket" and Afro guy says "Disco Stu doesn't advertize". Of course Disco Stu is a recurring character now.

[CandidGamera]

When I'm uncertain as to the arrival time of something, and I'm asked, I quite often will reply 'Tuesday.' The reference is to Star Trek : Generations, where all the ship's nifty components are scheduled to be installed on Tuesday.

[Odinoneeye]

MST3K.

A woman in the movie makes a feminist comment to which Crow T. Robot says, "She must be a Kevilist"

I had to call up my friend to tell him that one.

[Kizarvexius]

When I hear someone say "act 2", which happens often, seeing as how I am in a theater company, I tend to say "gesundheit".

[Cliffy]

Whenever someone makes a less-than-astounding observation, I reply with "Next stop, rocket science." Jerry Horn says it to a bartender who understands his slightly complicated order in an episode of Twin Peaks.

Noticing BurnMeUp's sig, in the last month I've more than once commented on the double-time canonization process (figurative and literal) of John Paul II with a comment that normally a saint needs four miracles, but that he's got only three, and two of them are card tricks. I swiped this from Father Guido Sarducci; I don't know where Burn's sig comes from.

--Cliffy

[Biffy the Elephant Shrew]

Originally Posted by CandidGamera

When I'm uncertain as to the arrival time of something, and I'm asked, I quite often will reply 'Tuesday.' The reference is to Star Trek : Generations, where all the ship's nifty components are scheduled to be installed on Tuesday.

Is that itself a reference to Wimpy's perpetual promise? ("I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today!")

[Corii]

Everytime I'm cooking or out to eat somewhere, when someone asks "How long 'til the food is here" I always answer "Two minutes, Turkish!"

Of course my SO responds with "You said two minutes five minutes ago!"

[AskNott]

Occasionally, here on the SDMB, I tell somebody I've "been here since before the beginning."

The other day, my wife was doing a crossword puzzle. "What's a 10-letter chapparal bird?" I replied, in a cartoon voice, "Meep, meep." She got it right away.