# First use of mock-solemn answer "Yes. Yes, it is." **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 6, 2013, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-use-of-mock-solemn-answer-yes-yes-it-is/665467 "2013-08-06T03:16:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tierce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@Tierce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tierce)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2013, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-use-of-mock-solemn-answer-yes-yes-it-is/665467/21 "2013-08-09T01:29:54Z")
Probably not exactly what you’re after, but I seem to recall the ST:TOS episode “Mudd’s Women” where someone asks McCoy a question and, distracted by the women, he replies “Yes… yes they are.” ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2013, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-use-of-mock-solemn-answer-yes-yes-it-is/665467/22 "2013-08-09T05:41:50Z")
Surely not the first, but there’s the Seinfeld episode in which [George mistakes an onion for an apple](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-DMnQvQHAc). ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-use-of-mock-solemn-answer-yes-yes-it-is/665467/23 "2013-08-11T19:40:02Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > They’re from about the same time. You’re quoting a line from “Whacking Day,” which was from late in season four, and **bouv** is talking about “Homer’s Barbershop Quartet,” which was produced at the end of season four and aired as the premiere of season five. Wow, it’s been a while! I would never have thought that was the B-plot from “_Whacking Day_”! ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-use-of-mock-solemn-answer-yes-yes-it-is/665467/24 "2013-08-12T20:53:23Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > An episode of _Sanford and Son_, mid-1970s. > > Fred’s doctor orders some tests. They are routine, but they do require him to stay in the hospital overnight. Fred finds himself sharing a room with another elderly man, who seems to be in some pain. The nurses are fairly lackadaisical toward Fred, but whenever they look at the other man’s chart, they fuss and fawn over him. Fred decides that he wants some of that attention, so he switches the charts. > > A doctor and several nurses enter the room, dressed for surgery. They take a quick glance at the chart, and start wheeling Fred’s bed out of the room. Lamont enters the room. Upon learning that Fred is being taken to surgery, Lamont protests that there must be some mistake. > > The doctor looks closely at the chart. “Isn’t this Mr. Smith, in for a hemorrhoidectomy?” > > As he realizes what his father had done, Lamont grins. “Yes. Yes, he is.” They haul Fred away, and the show cuts to a commercial. Holy crap. Please tell me you were a script assistant on that episode or something, before I start a new religion around you. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-use-of-mock-solemn-answer-yes-yes-it-is/665467/25 "2013-08-12T22:02:07Z")
The first thing that came to mind was another Simpsons, in “Bart vs Australia” (February 1995) Milhouse: Hey, Bart! The bakery caught fire and all of downtown smells like cookies! Wanna go smell? Bart: Yes… Yes, I do. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-use-of-mock-solemn-answer-yes-yes-it-is/665467/26 "2013-08-13T02:41:27Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > Surely not the first, but there’s the Seinfeld episode in which [George mistakes an onion for an apple](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-DMnQvQHAc). Bzzzzt. He didn’t repeat the word “Yes.” ---
**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-use-of-mock-solemn-answer-yes-yes-it-is/665467/27 "2013-08-13T05:47:58Z")
Is? Yes, yes it isn’t anything…_that’s_ the beauty of it. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-use-of-mock-solemn-answer-yes-yes-it-is/665467/28 "2013-08-13T09:12:36Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > Holy crap. Please tell me you were a script assistant on that episode or something, before I start a new religion around you. Nope. I was just an impressionable youngster, who was young enough to find hemorrhoids side-splittingly funny. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-use-of-mock-solemn-answer-yes-yes-it-is/665467/29 "2013-08-13T10:10:37Z")
In retrospect, I probably had to ask my parents to explain it. They would have been hideously uncomfortable with that. Which probably made it that much funnier, and that much more memorable. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-use-of-mock-solemn-answer-yes-yes-it-is/665467/30 "2013-08-13T13:10:40Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > Nope. I was just an impressionable youngster, who was young enough to find hemorrhoids side-splittingly funny. I must’ve been impressionable, too, because it is thanks to _Sanford & Son_ that I can’t take the Teddy Roosevelt nickname “The Rough Rider” seriously, or drink sangria without thinking about doing a spit-take. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-use-of-mock-solemn-answer-yes-yes-it-is/665467/31 "2013-08-13T14:28:42Z")
Certainly an early progeniter of this trope has to be Kyle Machlachlan. The scene from the 1987 sci-fi flick “The Hidden” in which he confesses to his police detective partner that he is an intergalactic law enforcer was actually pretty famous at the time for his deadpan delivery. (I couldn’t find a single clip of this scene. The whole movie is on youtube though, and it is worth watching.) And of course the same actor’s signature role as Agent Cooper on “Twin Peaks” really helped popularize the deadpan, blunt 'Yes it is" (or “No it isn’t”) response. ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-use-of-mock-solemn-answer-yes-yes-it-is/665467/32 "2013-08-13T14:32:55Z")
Not the first of course, but the one that sprang to my mind immediately was a commercial. I think for HBO. Trendy-looking director with beard and black suit. Someone comments that he makes “movies” and he haughtily corrects them that he makes “features.” Some more blah blah blah and then the end of the commercial, cue the smoking hot chick who comes up to director guy. In her best awestruck sexiness she asks him if he makes movies. Without missing a beat, he replies. “Yes. Yes I do.” (I’m curious if my memory of this commercial is anywhere close to accurate.) ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-use-of-mock-solemn-answer-yes-yes-it-is/665467/33 "2013-08-13T14:57:12Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > or drink sangria without thinking about doing a spit-take. Yep. I’ve never even tasted the stuff, but I thought of that scene just this morning when sangria was mentioned in today’s Sally Forth comic. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-use-of-mock-solemn-answer-yes-yes-it-is/665467/34 "2013-08-13T15:11:52Z")
I love this as a running joke on Phineas & Ferb, although that’s probably the most _recent_ incarnation: “Aren’t you boys a little young to be building a nuclear reactor (or whatever)?” “Yes. Yes, we are.” The funniest version was two delivery guys bringing them building materials. One asks the usual question, and the other delivery guy rolls his eyes and says, “Yes. Yes, they are. Sorry Phineas, he’s new.” ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2013, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-use-of-mock-solemn-answer-yes-yes-it-is/665467/35 "2013-08-14T15:08:39Z")
I watched Tootsie over the weekend and I think there was a “Yes. Yes, it it is.” in there. I forget the context, though. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2013, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-use-of-mock-solemn-answer-yes-yes-it-is/665467/36 "2013-08-14T18:13:52Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > Certainly an early progeniter of this trope has to be Kyle Machlachlan. The scene from the 1987 sci-fi flick “The Hidden” in which he confesses to his police detective partner that he is an intergalactic law enforcer was actually pretty famous at the time for his deadpan delivery. (I couldn’t find a single clip of this scene. The whole movie is on youtube though, and it is worth watching.)… Yup, great movie. Don’t remember that line in it, though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-use-of-mock-solemn-answer-yes-yes-it-is/665467.md?page=1)