# Joe Ancis: Who IS the dude?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-ancis-who-is-the-dude/171899>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 29, 2003, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-ancis-who-is-the-dude/171899 "2003-04-29T13:05:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![StaceyH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@StaceyH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StaceyH)\
**Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-ancis-who-is-the-dude/171899/1 "2003-04-29T13:05:53Z")

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Hi,

I want to use the following quote in a sig:  
“The only normal people are the ones you don’t know very well” - Joe Ancis

Good quote - and plastered all over the web - but who is the dude? All  
I could find on-line is that he seems to have been a humorist from the  
fifties.

Can anyone help?

-StaceyH

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**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\
**Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/joe-ancis-who-is-the-dude/171899/2 "2003-04-29T14:48:37Z")

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Tough one. Joe ancis was Rodney Dangerfield’s best friend (for 50 years), and Lenny Bruce called him “the funniest man in America.” He was reportedly too scared to get onstage, so he never did stand-up, but he is remembered by many comedians as a good friend and a very funny guy. To most of the public, he’s the guy who gets credit for that line; Dangerfield said “Everything he says is funny, but you can’t repeat it – you have to be there.”