# I'll be here all week, try the veal. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 29, 2012, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-be-here-all-week-try-the-veal/614302 "2012-02-29T01:40:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mewl\_Dear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Mewl\_Dear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mewl_Dear)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-be-here-all-week-try-the-veal/614302/1 "2012-02-29T01:40:32Z")
I hear it all the time. Anyone know where it started? ---
**Author:** ![bleach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bleach/32/3106_2.png) [@bleach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bleach)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-be-here-all-week-try-the-veal/614302/2 "2012-02-29T01:53:02Z")
I can’t give you an authoritative answer, but my understanding is that it’s from stand-up comedy. Specifically, awful stand-up comics in Las Vegas lounge acts. “Try the veal” means that you should go the casino’s restaurant. ---
**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:** [February 29, 2012, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-be-here-all-week-try-the-veal/614302/3 "2012-02-29T01:55:35Z")
[Here’s a 1992 articlr](http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=QrdJAAAAIBAJ&sjid=fxANAAAAIBAJ&pg=2562,6703300&dq=be+here+week+try+veal&hl=en) which refers to it as “old.” How old, who knows, but I always thought that “Shrek” went a long way to its gaining currency. ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-be-here-all-week-try-the-veal/614302/4 "2012-02-29T01:57:22Z")
Yeah, it’s a riff on stand-up comedians signing off at a comedy club. I’ve never heard one actually mention veal, or any other menu item, but I have heard comedians say, “I’ll be here all week — don’t forget to tip your waitresses.” Or were you asking for the first person to use it outside of its original context in order to get a laugh? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-be-here-all-week-try-the-veal/614302/5 "2012-02-29T02:08:50Z")
[Previous thread from 2006](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=355723) It probably goes back to, or at least refers to, the [Borscht Belt comedians](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borscht_Belt) of the Catskills in the 40s and 50s. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-be-here-all-week-try-the-veal/614302/6 "2012-02-29T02:09:49Z")
I’ve never seen the movie, but a friend told me a lot of these “cheesy night club comedian” phrases came from the 1992 Billy Crystal movie _Mr Saturday Night_ - which presumably were inspired by reality. I’ll watch the movie soon and report back. ---
**Author:** ![Mewl\_Dear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Mewl\_Dear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mewl_Dear)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-be-here-all-week-try-the-veal/614302/7 "2012-02-29T02:11:45Z")
I knew it came from stand-up and have heard the tip waitress reference. Also thought it could be traced to a reference. Not having luck. ---
**Author:** ![Mewl\_Dear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Mewl\_Dear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mewl_Dear)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-be-here-all-week-try-the-veal/614302/8 "2012-02-29T02:16:00Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > [Previous thread from 2006](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=355723) > > It probably goes back to, or at least refers to, the [Borscht Belt comedians](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borscht_Belt) of the Catskills in the 40s and 50s. Fast. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![sco3tt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@sco3tt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sco3tt)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-be-here-all-week-try-the-veal/614302/9 "2012-02-29T03:04:52Z")
> [@Cayuga](#): > > I have heard comedians say, “I’ll be here all week — don’t forget to tip your waitresses.” Datapoint: I recognized this as an old trope when I heard a patron respond to this in 1989 in a club in Michigan with “Tip her, hell. I’ll give her the whole thing.” ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-be-here-all-week-try-the-veal/614302/10 "2012-03-02T11:04:34Z")
Checking back to confirm “did you see what I did there?” at 9:40 in _Mr Saturday Night_. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-be-here-all-week-try-the-veal/614302/11 "2012-03-02T11:19:59Z")
At 27:00 he’s playing a nightclub in the Catskills. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ill-be-here-all-week-try-the-veal/614302/12 "2012-03-02T11:29:24Z")
It goes back to the s0-called _Borscht Belt_ resorts in the Catskills, where a Jewish-American comedy tradition was born & flourished.