# Funniest moments on "The Wire" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 2, 2011, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-moments-on-the-wire/584086 "2011-06-02T15:22:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-moments-on-the-wire/584086/41 "2011-06-03T01:34:09Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > Oh yeah, and Snoop buying the nail gun. The salesman spends some time helping her choose a model. She asks him to ring it for her, and tips him several hundred dollars. When he protests, she answers, “Shit, man, keep it – you earned that buck like a motherfuck.” Shakes her head and leaves. “He said dis here’s the Cadillac! He mean Lexus but he ain’t know..” ---
**Author:** ![Lightsaber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Lightsaber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightsaber)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-moments-on-the-wire/584086/42 "2011-06-03T02:14:58Z")
I think McNulty’s serial killer profile scene was hilarious. But here’s one no one’s mentioned (that I saw): Cutty asking Avon to become a sponsor and donate money for gym equipment: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j9DZWCDws8&t=1m45s) ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-moments-on-the-wire/584086/43 "2011-06-03T02:49:38Z")
One of my favorites: Herc walking in on the Mayor getting a blow-job. Herc describing the situation to Stan Valchek later on, and asking for advice, was also great. Another one: Herc: Hey Carv, where you at? Carver: I’m at a desk outside the roll call room on the first floor of 1034 North Mount. My feet are facing west, and my dick is pointing south-southwest. Oh, one more: The two scenes in Season 4, before and after the robbery of the drug shipment, when Omar walks in on Prop Joe in his shop. “Just so happens that i got some heroin for sale. Market-wise, you fellas look like buyers. Ya feel me?” ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-moments-on-the-wire/584086/44 "2011-06-03T03:09:19Z")
Just thought of another one: [Slim Charles laying down the law](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xiL95jR44E) “On a Sunday mornin’, y’all try to hit a nigger when he takin’ his wrinkled-ass grandmas to pray?” 😃 Classic. Slim Charles was one of my favorite characters. ---
**Author:** ![Crawlspace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Crawlspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crawlspace)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-moments-on-the-wire/584086/45 "2011-06-03T04:55:24Z")
I forgot Herc’s plea for affirmative action for white drug dealers: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMtQ2vnlYWE](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMtQ2vnlYWE) ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-moments-on-the-wire/584086/46 "2011-06-03T14:08:29Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I think that’s the scene that made me laugh the hardest. Stringer running his meetings according to Robert’s Rules of Order were funny, too, but when you realized later that Stringer was never going to be able to make it in the legitimate business world no matter how hard he tried, it becomes poignant in retrospect. Does the Chair realize that this will make us look like a bunch of punk ass bitches? The scene where the two guys go to New York and they don’t understand that radio stations only have a certain range. The whole time they are out of town they think that they have to listen to NPR. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-moments-on-the-wire/584086/47 "2011-06-03T15:07:41Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I think he absolutely could have made it. He just had to figure out a new set of rules. But he was smart, willing to learn, and sought advice from people who knew the score. I think Stringer was realizing it was pretty hopeless. Ratting out Avon was a desperate move. I think after he died, someone overheard a phone call that suggested he was going to have Clay Davis whacked as revenge for robbing him. Even Avon knew it was a terrible idea. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-moments-on-the-wire/584086/48 "2011-06-03T15:21:00Z")
There’s also this exchange from season two: Bunk: Boy, them Greeks and those twisted-ass names. McNulty: Man, lay off the Greeks. They invented civilization. Bunk: Yeah? And Ass-fucking. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-moments-on-the-wire/584086/49 "2011-06-03T15:39:16Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > “On a Sunday mornin’, y’all try to hit a nigger when he takin’ his wrinkled-ass grandmas to pray?” > > 😃 Classic. Slim Charles was one of my favorite characters. You can smile at Slim’s expressions if you like, but I thought his point was serious and the message of the scene poignant. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-moments-on-the-wire/584086/50 "2011-06-03T15:44:23Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > You can smile at Slim’s expressions if you like, but I thought his point was serious and the message of the scene poignant. For my money you have put your finger on the appeal of _The Wire_. The situations are in most cases tragic or at least depressing and nearly hopeless. In the face of it all, the humor the characters exhibit and that the writers find in those situations can sometimes be knee-slappingly funny. That makes for drama that you can believe. It kept the show moving along at what felt to be a natural pace. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-moments-on-the-wire/584086/51 "2011-06-03T16:22:19Z")
Exactly - finding out, for example, that Omar’s grandma thinks he works at the cafeteria at the airport (so she couldn’t go visit him) was hilarious and also the saddest thing ever. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-moments-on-the-wire/584086/52 "2011-06-03T16:38:50Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > I don’t think The Wire is nearly as ‘real’ as people say it is. It is closer than any other show that tries to show inner city, ghetto crime riddled cultures that I have seen, but it isn’t on the money. There are many…moods of the culture that it just doesn’t get, and that comes off really phoney. I speak only of my own experiences, of course I don’t pretend to know it all about Baltimore crime culture, although I have spent much time there, I’m still a Bama to them, always will be. I’ve been thinking about what you’re saying, especially the part about “moods”. Maybe I chose the wrong word to focus on, but I think I get where you’re coming from. All the major characters in The Wire (and most of the minor ones) were way more “engaged” than addicts and dealers I’ve run across. They **connect** with each other, and not just in relation to the business. The druggies I’ve known don’t care about anything but their habit and the dealers don’t care about anything but the business. You wouldn’t catch them giving economics lessons to each other (McNuggets) or teaching chess by comparing it to the power structure. If the writers had been more “real”, the show would have been unbearably bleak, and boring. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-moments-on-the-wire/584086/53 "2011-06-03T16:44:28Z")
D’Angelo [explains](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cvq3Pf3j61c&NR=1) the development of the chicken McNugget to Wallace and Poot. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-moments-on-the-wire/584086/54 "2011-06-03T16:46:41Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > You can smile at Slim’s expressions if you like, but I thought his point was serious and the message of the scene poignant. You can look down your nose at my amusement if you like. I found the scene both poignant _and_ funny. The two are not mutually exclusive, especially on a show like The Wire. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-moments-on-the-wire/584086/55 "2011-06-03T16:51:56Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > You can look down your nose at my amusement if you like. > > I found the scene both poignant _and_ funny. The two are not mutually exclusive, especially on a show like The Wire. I wasn’t looking down my nose. I, **Zeldar** and **Zsofia** are all agreeing with this. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-moments-on-the-wire/584086/56 "2011-06-03T16:51:58Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > If the writers had been more “real”, the show would have been unbearably bleak, and boring. Yeah, “The Corner,” I think is a bit more along these lines (less cleverness, less humor, less making-of-a-point, less notice-how-this-is-a-metaphor), and I had to stop watching it because it was like getting kicked in the balls for an hour, every time. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-moments-on-the-wire/584086/57 "2011-06-03T17:04:13Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > Oh, and Bubbles and Johnny stealing copper pipes and Bubbles losing his pants! And Bubbles tying the police boat off quickly and competently for McNulty when his own attempt was a mess. Oh, and Bubbles training his “intern” to sell t-shirts from the shopping cart. In fact, Bubbles has a lot of great scenes. And the thing that makes a lot of them more than a little sad, as well as funny, is that the point of them can be summarized thusly: Beneath the drug addiction and lack of education, Bubbles is actually really, really capable. If he’d stayed away from drugs and finished high school, McNulty could easily have ended up working for Bubbles. The man is sharp, decent, and deserves a much better life than he has. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-moments-on-the-wire/584086/58 "2011-06-03T17:05:23Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > You can smile at Slim’s expressions if you like, but I thought his point was serious and the message of the scene poignant. It’s definitely played for humour; he’s got the lady’s church hat in his hands and he’s positively furious about it. It’s an absurd situation. There may be a poignancy behind it, especially in the context of the whole series, but the scene is written and visually arranged to be funny. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-moments-on-the-wire/584086/59 "2011-06-03T17:08:09Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > It’s definitely played for humour… Again, I agree. I was expanding on what had already been said, not contradicting it. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-moments-on-the-wire/584086/60 "2011-06-03T17:16:17Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > And Bubbles tying the police boat off quickly and competently for McNulty when his own attempt was a mess. What adds to the humour of the scene is Bubbles’s obvious amazement and contempt of McNulty’s pathetic knot-tying ability. He doesn’t say much, because he’s a nice guy, but he’s surprised someone can’t tie a decent knot. You’re absolutely right about Bubbles. Omar Little is often cited as people’s favourite “Wire” character, but the _best_ is Bubbles, because Bubbles seems more like a real person. Omar is fun, but he’s a fantasy. Bubbles was written to be a real person whose life falls apart because he has a weakness for dope and that’s just the way the chips fell. He has strengths and weaknesses, good and bad parts. He knows what he is but somtimes cannot accept it; look at his silly, bravado-laced comedy routine at the NA meeting. His life connects the street with ordinary people (his sister.) He’s a real, three-dimensional human being, and the show leaves us with the possibility that his life could get better, or it might not. His mirror, of course, is Dookie, who as the show ends is becoming what Bubbles become. We know Dookie has brains and talent, but the chips fell where they fell, and now he’s facing Bubbles’s life. Perhaps he’ll get out, and perhaps not. I don’t believe Andre Royo ever won an Emmy for his portrayal of Bubbles, but he should have. He was simply amazing. It’s one of the five or six finest long-term acting performances in the history of television, in my honest and humble opinion. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-moments-on-the-wire/584086.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funniest-moments-on-the-wire/584086.md?page=4)