Okay, I think we are all (for the most part) agreed that Who’s on First takes the title of Most Famous, but I couldn’t just sit by and have Chris Farley’s motivational speaker “Living in a van down by the river” bit go unmentioned. I know it’s not famous outside the U.S., and probably not remembered by 1/4 as many people, but I wanted it listed, just on general principal.
I’ve only ever seen the Niagara Falls skip preformed by the Three Stooges. Though I have no doubt it was in use before they played it. Maybe that will jog your memory a bit more as to where you heard it, and perhaps aid in any searches for a transcript.
Ok, sorry for the double post, but here is a link to a blog regarding the bit, it contains several links to diffrent sources. http://www.crn.com/weblogs/stevegillmor/2003/08/08/08.asp Just go all the way down to the bottom of the page.
I think it is Chaplin. There is an episode of The Simpsons where Grampa imitates this act to entertain his date, but is forced to stop by Chaplin’s lawyers.
No sooner asked than done!
Upon seeing the thread title, and before opening the thread, the first two that came to mind were Who’s on First? and Dead Parrot.
If you had asked the question in 1945, I’m sure Niagra Falls would be up there, but I doubt anyone has referenced that routine since 1960 or so.
I also like MrDibble’s mention of running through doors in a corridor. That one still turns up regularly. (Does it qualify as a “skit,” though? Is there a technical difference between a skit and a routine? Or a bit?)
The “Niagara Falls” skit fails an important test as to whether something is famous or not: I’ve never heard of it.
Slight hijack here, but who really came up with the dinner roll gag?
It is most closely associated with Chaplin, who put it to film in The Gold Rush in 1925.
However, according to this site the gag “had been around since at least Fatty Arbuckle did it in 1917’s ‘The Rough House’…”
IS Chaplin getting credit for a stolen bit?
If we’re going into SNL sketches, I Find that a huge number of people recognize the lines, “It’s a floor wax! It’s a dessert topping!” and, “‘Eww, this milk is really spoiled.’ ‘Really? Let me try!’”
And you can break up a bunch of geeks by mumbling at the appropriate time, “Candygram.”
But I still think Who’s on First? would win, even above mirror routines: mirror-reflection games are different from one another, but Who’s on First? refers to a specific set of dialogue that’s probably more famous than any other specific standalone comedy routine.
Daniel
I’d place The Cheese Shop a very close second to The Parrot Sketch.
I remember seeing it in a movie, but I forgot which one. Since I was having a brain fart on “Gold Rush”, I tried googling “Little Tramp” images looking for a still of that scene. FYI, make sure your safe search function is ON if you google that at work. I didn’t even think about it, and :eek: …
For SNL skits, I nominate the “Schwetty Weiner” skit.
I can’t answer the OP, but the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand is the most famous comedy killer of all time.
Chevy: “It’s new Shimmer. The dessert topping that’s also a floor wax. Here, try it.”
Dan: “Tastes great!”
Gilda: “And just look at that shine.”
I submit that, in the U.S. “Who’s on first” is definitely the most famous, although it may not be elsewhere.
And let’s not forget:
“Jane, you ignorant slut.”
Johnny Carson (as Pres. Reagan) once did a sketch that could be callled “Who’s on the Phone?”. See a Quicktime clip here.
Last time I saw it was in an episode of MAS*H, I believe spoken by Hawkeye during a bout of insomnia.
At least I think that’s the right clip. I don’t have Quicktime here.
The parody using “Who” “Guess Who” and “Yes” goes back to - I think - the 60s comedy troupe, The Ace Trucking Company. (Possibly The Committee, but probably not.)
The punch line to the sketch was:
“Why don’t you write this down?”
“If I could write, I wouldn’t have to steal this bit!”
I was watching a tape of the Monty Python 30th anniversary show last night, which showed people all over the world doing the Spam bit. If they get remembered for nothing else, spam will still be their legacy. That’s got to put them in contention for most famous.
You know what? Now that I think about it, I’m going to consider this the most prevalent comedy skit of all time. It doesn’t seem to immediately leap to anyone’s mind, so it might not meet the fame requirement, but I’ve seen it EVERYWHERE. Old cartoons. New cartoons. Children’s cartoons. Adult cartoons. Live action. Video games.
Silent comedians stole from each other all the time; indeed, it wasn’t even considered stealing. If someone had a good idea, everybody used it.
Some people theorized that Arbuckle learned the dinner roll dance from Chaplin while they were both working together at Keystone, but that’s nothing more than a guess. While I haven’t seen Arbuckle’s take on it, from the description I read it was far less whimsical than Chaplin’s (or, for that matter, Depp’s): Chaplin really makes a little performance out of it, giving a surprisingly convincing impression of a little dancing man, while Arbuckle doesn’t.
IOW, Chaplin may not have made it up, but it’s still his bit.
And BTW, those of you touting “hallway” routines or mirror gags as “sketches”: no. Sketches are scenes, with characters, settings and some kind of beginning, middle and/or end. Things like doorway jokes, people looking into hoses that suddenly spring to life and drench them, etc., are business, or, nowadays, bits. A sketch has its own context and stands up on its own, while business requires some kind of established setting to work. You can go out on stage cold and perform “Who’s on First” (or say, for the Brit’s, Peter Cook’s “One Leg Too Few”) and it would work. You can’t go out on stage cold and start running through doors and expect people to find it funny.
I’ve heard a recording of the Credibility Gap doing that bit. (Michael Mckean and David Lander, in this case. Harry Shearer wasn’t in this one.)