What’s the pun created by adding “as an actress said to a bishop” onto the end of an otherwise normal sentence? Ricky Gervais uses this one a lot in “The Office,” but it doesn’t seem to translate. What does it mean? What’s it based on?
Is it a bit like when someone adds “that’s what she said” to the end of a sentence to make a cheap pun? ie., “Man, you should have seen how big that thing was.” - “That’s what she said.”
It basically means that whatever was said could be taken as a double entendre. It might help to know that “actress” is sometimes used as a euphemism for a prostitute in Britain (like in this phrase).
Yes, what Daffyduck said, with occasional variants such as “as the bishop said to the choirboy”. See? You guessed right about “cheap pun” 
Umm… the examples you are discussing are not, in any sense of the word, puns.
A pun is a play on words, as in “He used to repair televisions, but his business went down the tubes.” See more examples here.
No, it’s not a pun. It is supposed to be the archetypal punchline for a risqué joke. Maybe an old British music hall thing. The idea is that if you say something that you then realise could be taken another, ruder way, you append “as the actress said to the bishop”, or a variation on that phrase. Sounds a little old-fashioned these days.
I used to read Leslie Charteris mysteries when I was young. He invented “The Saint.” Remember those?
That tag line appeared frequently, in every book.
“As the showgirl said to the bishop” was common as could be.
From whom he stole it, I have no idea.
His first “Saint” novel was 1928. Whether he used it in earlier works, again, I don’t know.
It would be interesting to know if he “invented” the phrase.
My 74 year old mother uses this one all the time, after I’ve said something like: “This is really hard to fit in” “Can’t you do it more gently” etc etc
I’ve never heard it before, but it sounds like the end of a Wellerism to me. Wellerisms are named after Sam Weller, a character in the Pickwick Papers by Dickens who was fond of saying things like “Wery glad to see you, indeed, and hope our acquaintance may be a long ‘un, as the gen’l’m’n said to the fi’ pun’ note” and “Wery sorry to 'casion any personal inconwenience, ma’am, as the housebreaker said to the old lady when he put her on the fire”. There is no Wellerism about actresses and bishops in the Pickwick Papers itself, but it is my understanding that it was long a common diversion to invent new ones.
Well, i don’t know much about the origin of the phrase, but i just wanted to add that it’s also heard with reasonable frequency in Australia. Unsurprising, i guess, given the country’s British origins and cultural ties.
I recently used the phrase in front of my American wife for the first time, and she had never heard of it.
" … in bed!"
74 y old mothers should not be allowed to make rude jokes. Its enough to give one a complex :eek:
Also worth emphasising that it’s an exceedingly old punchline tagged on to another’s unitentional double entendre. Much loved by lame office comics and others who believe themselves to be witty. Which is why it’s perfect for Ricky Gervais’ character.
It’s supposed to be an embarrassingly bad.
…as the actress said to the bishop.
My Dad says it, though the other way around: “…, as the bishop said to the actress”. He’s 76. I think it’s a generational thing.
BTW, nobody loves a rude joke more than my 81 year-old great aunt. This is even more spectacular, given that she’s very upright and strict-looking, even compared to other women her age. She asked me about “Two Dogs” hard lemonade: “I hear it’s based on a naughty joke”. So I told her the joke, and I swear she was nearly in tears from laughing so hard.
…and? You can spoiler box it if you think it’s uncalled-for, but I plead ignorance, and call on your obligation to fight same, please.
According to Brian Bolland (who drew a comics feature called “The Bishop and the Actress”), it starts out with fairly obvious jokes, like “It’s too big!” “Said the actress to the bishop.” It continues in this vein (“I paid too much!” “Said the bishop to the actress.”) and gets funnier as you apply it to less and less appropriate situations (“This takes a spanner, not an Allen wrench.” “Said the actress to the bishop”).
So yeah, it should get pretty obtuse after a while.
Or …as the art mistress said to the gardener (which is what we used to say in my neck of the woods).
…or as the nurse said to the sailor.
This version came from a recently deceased filthy, wry old workmate of mine.
Although if someone did something stupid, Clyde would say, ‘they need f@#&ing up the arse like a chook’. I never quite got over that one to roll of my tongue, but by christ it made me laugh.
“I don’t make 'em, I just deliver 'em,” says the Midwife to the Bishop.
That particular line comes from a 50’s BBC radio comedy series called " Educating Archie" , spoken by a school-girl character played by Beryl Reid .