# I can't believe she's never heard of The Mikado! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 17, 2011, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-shes-never-heard-of-the-mikado/603271 "2011-11-17T21:05:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-shes-never-heard-of-the-mikado/603271/41 "2011-11-18T15:32:06Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > I’d say knowledge of, at the very least, existence of the works of Gilbert and Sullivan is nearly up there with the works of Shakespeare. I mean, [Family Guy referenced it](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qcBjh8yfwY&feature=related)! Yep, don’t know the reference. What is it? I thought it was an original musical piece for the show. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-shes-never-heard-of-the-mikado/603271/42 "2011-11-18T15:40:06Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > BTW, I’ve never seen or heard of the movie “The Shootist.” I’m 36. I was 1 when it was released. “Periodic Table iof the Elements” came out in 1959. Can you think of a G&S reference in popular culture less than 30 years old? See Post #34, which is where I went when I read the OP. They also referenced G&S on _ST:TNG_ repeatedly, and I’m pretty sure _The Simpsons_ have gone there as well. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-shes-never-heard-of-the-mikado/603271/43 "2011-11-18T15:42:55Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > Can you think of a G&S reference in popular culture less than 30 years old?. https://www.youtube.com/embed/cHHlcyjXTSk?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque presumably in the expectation that a large proportion of children in the audience would know the original. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-shes-never-heard-of-the-mikado/603271/44 "2011-11-18T15:47:03Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Yep, don’t know the reference. What is it? I thought it was an original musical piece for the show. That’s from the Mikado. It’s a list of people who need to be executed. In most productions, there are sometimes extra verses added where the singer adds a few of his own, often other people in the production or notorious celebrities. It’s worth going to see just for that. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-shes-never-heard-of-the-mikado/603271/45 "2011-11-18T15:49:08Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I’m pretty sure _The Simpsons_ have gone there as well. It was the episode where Sideshow Bob was threatening to kill Bart, so they went into the Witness Protection Program. Bart delayed his own demise by asking Bob to sing the entire score of Pinafore. And earlier, the Simpsons were singing Three Little Maids from School. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-shes-never-heard-of-the-mikado/603271/46 "2011-11-18T15:58:34Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > See Post #34, which is where I went when I read the OP. They also referenced G&S on _ST:TNG_ repeatedly, and I’m pretty sure _The Simpsons_ have gone there as well. And apparently Aaron Sorkin likes to drop G&S lines into his scripts whenever he can. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-shes-never-heard-of-the-mikado/603271/47 "2011-11-18T16:07:43Z")
Frasier and Niles were both G&S freaks who took every opportunity to sing bits on _Frasier_. **tdn** - that was exactly the scene I was remembering. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-shes-never-heard-of-the-mikado/603271/48 "2011-11-18T16:31:56Z")
I’m in a “let’s feel superior and passive aggressively mock other people” thread! Yay! ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-shes-never-heard-of-the-mikado/603271/49 "2011-11-18T16:35:10Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Well, hardly ever. What a swell party this is! ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-shes-never-heard-of-the-mikado/603271/50 "2011-11-18T16:43:38Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > (Assuming this isn’t a whoosh) Is there another Itzhak Perlman??? :eek: Is there any other? 🙂 He runs a summer camp for student musicians. One year, his daughter (who sings professionally) arranged for the students to perform **The Mikado** as a change of pace. Perlman was cast as the Mikado and came on stage in his electric scooter, with a book with the lyrics in front of him and sang “A More Humane Mikado.” Perlman has a fine voice, and is a wonderful showman (he once kept an audience entertained by telling the stupidest jokes you’ve ever heard in your life, but still had everyone laughing at them). ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-shes-never-heard-of-the-mikado/603271/51 "2011-11-18T17:08:50Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > You know, the first year at university theater student. I mentioned Gilbert and Sullivan’s _The Mikado_, and this young woman had never heard of it. So when I tried to mention G&S’s other musicals, it came out she’d never heard of _ **G&S** _ either!!!:eek: > > How can anyone not know Gilbert and Sullivan, at all? Maybe you haven’t been able to see their work performed but they are/were famous! IMO being shocked that an 18 or 19 year old wannabee theatre major is not up on G&S is kind of overreacting. There are certainly young theatre majors who are historically aware, but there are also a whole bunch who are not all that intellectual or historically minded and just want to be in show biz. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-shes-never-heard-of-the-mikado/603271/52 "2011-11-18T17:29:27Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Perlman has a fine voice, and is a wonderful showman (he once kept an audience entertained by telling the stupidest jokes you’ve ever heard in your life, but still had everyone laughing at them). Yes, I’ve seen him in concert. And yes, his jokes are stupid (like the claim that he drives a “Kreisler”). And yes, everyone laughs. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-shes-never-heard-of-the-mikado/603271/53 "2011-11-18T17:49:24Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Frasier and Niles were both G&S freaks who took every opportunity to sing bits on _Frasier_. Yes, this is what I was going to say. I don’t think I’d even know what the Mikado was now without the multiple references to it on Frasier in the late 90s. I remember Bulldog tricking Frasier into singing “Three Little Maids From School Are We” on his sports call-in show. Maybe that’s why Sideshow Bob liked G&S, too. Perhaps Kelsey Grammer is a G&S fanatic. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-shes-never-heard-of-the-mikado/603271/54 "2011-11-18T18:36:04Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > > [@pulykamell](#): > > > > I confess, I have no idea what _The Mikado_ is or how even to pronounce it. I do know G&S, though…although just barely. Tom Lehrer’s _Elements Song_ is based on a G&S tune, isn’t it? > > Yes. The Major General’s Song, from _The Pirates of Penzance_. “A possibly recognizable tune…” ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-shes-never-heard-of-the-mikado/603271/55 "2011-11-18T18:40:36Z")
Gilbert & Sullivan lyrics are also [good for the elocution](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUkVEt3XGfQ)… ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-shes-never-heard-of-the-mikado/603271/56 "2011-11-18T18:49:56Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > . . . Can you think of a G&S reference in popular culture less than 30 years old? . . . . [A Metulous Analysis of History](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yjs7NL-YnfU), although they don’t reference G&S by name. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-shes-never-heard-of-the-mikado/603271/57 "2011-11-18T18:57:53Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > It really isn’t. “Pervasive” would suggest that a person virtually cannot avoid hearing it. Where would a person around the age of, say, 27 have encountered the music of Gilbert & Sullivan _other than_ through family or friends who are fans? Gilbert and Sullivan songs were added to Charles’ brain (along with a lot of lawyer-ese) in the tv show _Angel_. In one scene, he charmingly sings a bit from Three Little Maids from School. Gordie Laforge sings I Am The Very Model of a Modern Major General as an audition piece in _Star Trek Next Generation_. And an even-worse-than-most [Gico commercial](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpaS2Q3hTlA). Pervasive? perhaps not, but it’s possible to see/hear G&S without knowing what it is. ---
**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:** [November 18, 2011, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-shes-never-heard-of-the-mikado/603271/58 "2011-11-18T19:04:44Z")
> [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](#): > > Pervasive? perhaps not, but it’s possible to see/hear G&S without knowing what it is. This I think is the larger truth here. You could have seen most of these references and have no idea what they are referring to, nor would they inform you of who Gilbert & Sullivan are, or what they are famous for. ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-shes-never-heard-of-the-mikado/603271/59 "2011-11-18T19:40:57Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > I find it extremely self centered when anyone expresses shock that another hasn’t heard of some bit of knowledge or pop culture that they hold dear. It’s also no way to fight ignorance. “Wow, you’ve never heard of …!” is just rude. > > Besides, this is a _first year_ theater student who, since this is November, has been at it what? Three months? She’s probably 19 years old and hasn’t been exposed to over-rated Victorian crap yet. But a theatre student not knowing who G&S are would be kinda like a music major not knowing who Tchaikovsky is or a lit major not knowing who Tolstoy is. G&S aren’t the most prolific people in their field, but _maaaaaan_. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-shes-never-heard-of-the-mikado/603271/60 "2011-11-18T20:22:37Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > See Post #34, which is where I went when I read the OP. They also referenced G&S on _ST:TNG_ repeatedly, and I’m pretty sure _The Simpsons_ have gone there as well. As did Magnum PI with at least one episode. I loved when Magnum, TJ, and Rick had to perform “Three Little Maids.” And, of course “Chariots of Fire” had a major (almost continual) Mikado reference. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-shes-never-heard-of-the-mikado/603271.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-shes-never-heard-of-the-mikado/603271.md?page=4)