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!
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!
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.
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.
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.”
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”.
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.”
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!’…”
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.
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.”
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.”
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:
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.)
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 twocharacters 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})
