# Arrested Developent, what's the most obscure joke you caught? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 29, 2007, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-developent-whats-the-most-obscure-joke-you-caught/402079 "2007-04-29T19:45:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2007, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-developent-whats-the-most-obscure-joke-you-caught/402079/21 "2007-04-30T20:43:20Z")
[QUOTE=Lightnin’] In the very first episode: “His cousin, Maeby.” It took me almost three years to get that joke. His cousin. _Maybe_. [/QUOTE] Ok, hm? Michael and Portia deRossi are brother and sister, right, and those are their respective kids? Or what did I miss? This is an obvious one, but my father almost peed himself at the scene where the jailed dad made a yarmulke out of part of his shoe. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2007, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-developent-whats-the-most-obscure-joke-you-caught/402079/22 "2007-04-30T20:53:27Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] Ok, hm? Michael and Portia deRossi are brother and sister, right, and those are their respective kids? Or what did I miss? [/QUOTE] It was often suspected that Maeby was adopted. As it turns out, Lindsay was adopted. Her natural father was Sitwell (Ed Begley Jr.). Wouldn’t that have made her Christine Taylor’s sister? Anyway, when Lindsay found out, when she was fighting with Lucille, she proudly and defiantly announced “I’m going to marry Michael!” ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2007, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-developent-whats-the-most-obscure-joke-you-caught/402079/23 "2007-04-30T21:22:08Z")
[QUOTE=Lightnin’] In the very first episode: “His cousin, Maeby.” It took me almost three years to get that joke. His cousin. _Maybe_. [/QUOTE] Well, I finally got THAT joke. How about Maeby’s alter ego, Shirley. Maybe. Surely. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![TommyTutone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@TommyTutone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TommyTutone)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2007, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-developent-whats-the-most-obscure-joke-you-caught/402079/24 "2007-04-30T21:33:28Z")
Here’s the video I mentioned earlier: [http://youtube.com/watch?v=GNv6-HlMVuw](http://youtube.com/watch?v=GNv6-HlMVuw) ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2007, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-developent-whats-the-most-obscure-joke-you-caught/402079/25 "2007-04-30T22:04:37Z")
[QUOTE=tdn] But in the last episode it was called the C-Word. [/QUOTE] And the yacht that they had (before GOB made it disappear) was named the “Lucille”. I can’t point to one particular joke, but what always amazes me when I go back and watch the episodes is how incredibly common the incest jokes are. George Michael and Maeby, Michael and Nellie, Maeby and Steve Holt, Michael and Maeby, George Michael and Lindsay, Michael and Lindsay, Buster and Lucille (2). ---
**Author:** ![MMI](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/53a042/32.png) [@MMI](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MMI)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2007, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-developent-whats-the-most-obscure-joke-you-caught/402079/26 "2007-04-30T23:49:24Z")
[QUOTE=tdn] It was often suspected that Maeby was adopted. As it turns out, Lindsay was adopted. Her natural father was Sitwell (Ed Begley Jr.). Wouldn’t that have made her Christine Taylor’s sister? Anyway, when Lindsay found out, when she was fighting with Lucille, she proudly and defiantly announced “I’m going to marry Michael!” [/QUOTE] I don’t think this is entirely accurate. The Bluth’s only adopted Lindsay to spite (and out-humanitarian) Sitwell, who was going to adopt her otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-developent-whats-the-most-obscure-joke-you-caught/402079/27 "2007-05-01T00:35:43Z")
[QUOTE=iamthewalrus(:3=] And the yacht that they had (before GOB made it disappear) was named the “Lucille”. I can’t point to one particular joke, but what always amazes me when I go back and watch the episodes is how incredibly common the incest jokes are. George Michael and Maeby, Michael and Nellie, Maeby and Steve Holt, Michael and Maeby, George Michael and Lindsay, Michael and Lindsay, Buster and Lucille (2). [/QUOTE] I was watching “Afternoon Delight” today, which features a big joke about Michael and Maeby and then Lindsey and George Michael, singing the song together, getting to lines like “and the thought of rubbin’ you is getting so exciting,” and getting very embarrassed. Here’s another delayed-action joke: when Buster is supposed to report to the Army, he (according to the narration) “got hooked on the claw-grab game” at the arcade. What did he win? Among other things, a stuffed seal, of course. Oh, and before the adoption plot, there was the issue of Maeby’s genetic parentage - after Tobias mentioned, “And then we couldn’t conceive . . .” but got distracted, George Michael asked Lucille about it and she said, “She’s not real - they made her in a cup, like soup.” ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-developent-whats-the-most-obscure-joke-you-caught/402079/28 "2007-05-01T01:08:14Z")
Not quite as good as the VW commercial reference, in the episode where GOB takes Lucille II out to dinner, Will Arnett reads the menu in his voiceover voice. I don’t know it, but there probably there’s a specific commercial that he did for a restaurant; he’s done a fair amount of voiceover work and it was recognizable when he did it. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-developent-whats-the-most-obscure-joke-you-caught/402079/29 "2007-05-01T02:32:11Z")
[QUOTE=TommyTutone] Here’s the video I mentioned earlier: [http://youtube.com/watch?v=GNv6-HlMVuw](http://youtube.com/watch?v=GNv6-HlMVuw) [/QUOTE] Oh my God. That is hilarious! ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-developent-whats-the-most-obscure-joke-you-caught/402079/30 "2007-05-01T16:49:39Z")
[QUOTE=tdn] It was often suspected that Maeby was adopted. As it turns out, Lindsay was adopted. Her natural father was Sitwell (Ed Begley Jr.). Wouldn’t that have made her Christine Taylor’s sister? Anyway, when Lindsay found out, when she was fighting with Lucille, she proudly and defiantly announced “I’m going to marry Michael!” [/QUOTE] Thanks! I feel I should buy the DVDs and learn everything I can. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-developent-whats-the-most-obscure-joke-you-caught/402079/31 "2007-05-01T18:16:32Z")
[QUOTE=Unauthorized Cinnamon] I was watching “Afternoon Delight” today, which features a big joke about Michael and Maeby and then Lindsey and George Michael, singing the song together, getting to lines like “and the thought of rubbin’ you is getting so exciting,” and getting very embarrassed. [/QUOTE] That’s a great scene. (“No, go that way. It can’t look like we’re together.”) There’s also the time that Lindsay tells George Michael that she’d be happy to fill the role that he wants Miss Barely to fill, thinking that it means being motherly, rather than being his lover. And Maeby blurts out “Marry Me!” to Michael at least once. ---
**Author:** ![Merkwurdigliebe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/74df32/32.png) [@Merkwurdigliebe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merkwurdigliebe)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-developent-whats-the-most-obscure-joke-you-caught/402079/32 "2007-05-01T20:52:31Z")
[QUOTE=panamajack] Not quite as good as the VW commercial reference, in the episode where GOB takes Lucille II out to dinner, Will Arnett reads the menu in his voiceover voice. I don’t know it, but there probably there’s a specific commercial that he did for a restaurant; he’s done a fair amount of voiceover work and it was recognizable when he did it. [/QUOTE] “Chicken Fingers” _wiggles fingers_ “With club sauce” GOB is great. Remember when he’s doing a magic trick with cards? “And he showers her with Diamonds! Or clubs. Covers her with club sauce!” Also the scene with GOB trying to figure out what is allowed with Atkins. “Macaroni…let me finish, salad” ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-developent-whats-the-most-obscure-joke-you-caught/402079/33 "2007-05-01T20:57:34Z")
[QUOTE=iamthewalrus(:3=] I can’t point to one particular joke, but what always amazes me when I go back and watch the episodes is how incredibly common the incest jokes are. George Michael and Maeby, Michael and Nellie, Maeby and Steve Holt, Michael and Maeby, George Michael and Lindsay, Michael and Lindsay, Buster and Lucille (2). [/QUOTE] And Buster and Lucille I. And a vacuum cleaner. There was also Lucille and Oscar. And let’s not forget Jason and Justine Bateman. She was great in that role. She blew me. Away. It wasn’t until recently that I got Ann’s name. She was fat (though I didn’t think so), like a veal. What I didn’t get the first time around was when Ann and GM were protesting the movie Dangerous Cousins, GM’s protest sign said “It’s a gray area at best.” ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-developent-whats-the-most-obscure-joke-you-caught/402079/34 "2007-05-01T20:59:24Z")
[QUOTE=Merkwurdigliebe] GOB is great. Remember when he’s doing a magic trick with cards? “And he showers her with Diamonds! Or clubs. Covers her with club sauce!” [/QUOTE] Still, where’d the lighter fluid come from? ---
**Author:** ![teemingONE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b4bc9f/32.png) [@teemingONE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teemingONE)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-developent-whats-the-most-obscure-joke-you-caught/402079/35 "2007-05-01T21:03:04Z")
“I think George Michael is hiding Anne in the attic.” “From who, the Nazis?” Besides this line being downright funny by itself, I really enjoyed how proud Lindsay’s looked after she said it. ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-developent-whats-the-most-obscure-joke-you-caught/402079/36 "2007-05-01T21:12:42Z")
[QUOTE=tdn] It wasn’t until recently that I got Ann’s name. She was fat (though I didn’t think so), like a veal. [/QUOTE] I like her yearbook picture - Her nickname is listed as “Egg,” (Michael’s name for her), she’s in the math club, and her quote is, “We were supposed to have a quote?” But best is that under her picture it says, “Ann Veal (Not Pictured).” ---
**Author:** ![AdmiralCrunch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@AdmiralCrunch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AdmiralCrunch)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-developent-whats-the-most-obscure-joke-you-caught/402079/37 "2007-05-01T21:24:52Z")
[QUOTE=Unauthorized Cinnamon] But best is that under her picture it says, “Ann Veal (Not Pictured).” [/QUOTE] “The printed a retraction in the spring supplement.” ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-developent-whats-the-most-obscure-joke-you-caught/402079/38 "2007-05-01T22:14:02Z")
On the poster for _Les Cousins Dangereux_: “A relative masterpiece of complex eroticism.” - Tim Goodman, SF Chronicle. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-developent-whats-the-most-obscure-joke-you-caught/402079/39 "2007-05-02T02:41:52Z")
As an aside, I heard the song \*\*The Final Countdown \*\* on the car radio a few days ago. All I could think of was Gob dancing around with a knife between his teeth. It made me laugh. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-developent-whats-the-most-obscure-joke-you-caught/402079/40 "2007-05-02T13:19:21Z")
[QUOTE=Frostillicus] As an aside, I heard the song \*\*The Final Countdown \*\* on the car radio a few days ago. All I could think of was Gob dancing around with a knife between his teeth. It made me laugh. [/QUOTE] I **ALWAYS** think of GOB when I hear that music now. More incest jokes - Operation Hot Mother and Operation Hot Brother, both courtesy of Buster. -Joe [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-developent-whats-the-most-obscure-joke-you-caught/402079.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrested-developent-whats-the-most-obscure-joke-you-caught/402079.md?page=3)