“Where are ya, ya old bat?!”
Since it hasn’t been mentioned, when I saw the title, I immediately recalled a Cocoa Puffs commercial from the 80s where the Cuckoo takes a phone call and says “You don’t say! You don’t say! You don’t say.” When he hangs up, the kids ask him who it was and he says, “He didn’t say.”
“You don’t say. …You don’t say! You don’t say? You don’t say.” hang up “Who was that?” “Same guy.”
Sid Caesar?
“Harpo Marx/Marcel Marceau/Teller/Silent Bob called.”
“What did he want?”
“He didn’t say.”
And ‘Is that so ?’ is the catchphrase of Rumia, the dear little gymslipped occasional cannibal from The Touhou Project.
He didn’t say.
I’ve seen it in a Laurel and Hardy 2-reeler also…
Gotta be just one of those standard joke routines the early vaudevilleans all stole from each other.
If so, I’m guessing the job probably originated shortly after the invention of the telephone in 1876.
I’m absolutely certain I heard this joke in a Marx Brothers movie. I can’t remember which one, though.
Frank Nelson for the win!
Phone rings. Groucho answers.
Groucho: you don’t say… you *don’t *say… you don’t say
Chico: Who was that?
Groucho : That was Harpo. He didn’t say anything.
I seem to remember Lou Costello doing this bit in something.
The Phrase “You don’t saaay” or " Yeeeeesss" and “reeeeaaallly” was coined by TV and character Radio actor Frank Nelson. He played in a lot of old television shows like “I love Lucy”, “Jack Benny Show” and " Sanford and Son". He organized a radio union in the 1950’s. There is a site devoted to him and regularly visited by his daughter Bonnie. If never heard of him I’d recommend finding old clips of on “I Love Lucy”. Once you hear him you can’t help from repeating…lol
Betcha $5 Satch said it in at least one Bowery Boys movie.