# "My work here is done" Origin of phrase ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 21, 2004, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-work-here-is-done-origin-of-phrase/260848 "2004-08-21T14:30:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jan07042](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/90db22/32.png) [@jan07042](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jan07042)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2004, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-work-here-is-done-origin-of-phrase/260848/1 "2004-08-21T14:30:59Z")
What is the origin of the phrase – my work here is done ? Context is usually after an individual creates deliberate chaos or confusion – and is said with a great deal of personal satisfaction. Literary ?? Movie ?? TV show catch-phrase ?? It’s driving us nuts. Does anyone know ?? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Mort\_Furd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mort\_Furd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mort_Furd)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2004, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-work-here-is-done-origin-of-phrase/260848/2 "2004-08-21T16:13:57Z")
> [@jan07042](#): > > What is the origin of the phrase – my work here is done ? Context is usually after an individual creates deliberate chaos or confusion – and is said with a great deal of personal satisfaction. Literary ?? Movie ?? TV show catch-phrase ?? It’s driving us nuts. Does anyone know ?? 😕 It comes from old comic/cartoon super heros, sort of. The hero used to make some kind of corn ball speech after saving the day and leaving the scene. The shows you are seeing are just playing with that. ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2004, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-work-here-is-done-origin-of-phrase/260848/3 "2004-08-21T16:44:34Z")
I thought it originated with the Lone Ranger radio serial. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2004, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-work-here-is-done-origin-of-phrase/260848/4 "2004-08-21T16:54:38Z")
> [@vibrotronica](#): > > I thought it originated with the Lone Ranger radio serial. That was my thought when I opened the thread, too. But this is the Straight Dope, where proof of “what everybody knows” is expected. And I’ll lay odds that within 72 hours, somebody will come into this thread and say that it was a catch phrase derived from a line in the August 24, 1940 Lone Ranger program (date used solely as example, pulled directly from the trivia repository in my butt, and not to be taken seriously), or something of that same sort. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2004, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-work-here-is-done-origin-of-phrase/260848/5 "2004-08-21T17:14:55Z")
And 72 minutes after that somebody will show that Enkidu said the line to Gligamesh in a variant late-Sumerian manuscript that they translated themselves. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2004, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-work-here-is-done-origin-of-phrase/260848/6 "2004-08-21T18:25:42Z")
[LR: I guess our job is finished, Tonto.](http://www.genericradio.com/loneranger-fear.htm) (Scroll to very bottom, then up to 11th last line.) ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2004, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-work-here-is-done-origin-of-phrase/260848/7 "2004-08-21T18:27:58Z")
(While I found a citation to a specific script, the line was used repeatedly throughout the radio and TV series It did not appear in every episode, but was certainly used often enough to become a catch phrase.) ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2004, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-work-here-is-done-origin-of-phrase/260848/8 "2004-08-21T18:30:52Z")
> [@vibrotronica](#): > > I thought it originated with the Lone Ranger radio serial. That was my thought as well. I entered the thread to post that same thing. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2004, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-work-here-is-done-origin-of-phrase/260848/9 "2004-08-21T19:32:14Z")
I vaguely remember seeing it in an article about “last words.” Now, you have the same recollection, only second-hand. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2004, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-work-here-is-done-origin-of-phrase/260848/10 "2004-08-21T20:44:10Z")
During the late 1980s / early 1990 there was a Canadian comedy sketch group called “Kids In The Hall.” They still tour a bit. One of their characters used to say “My work is done here” with great Significance in his voice after doing some goofy quasi-good yet utterly pointless deed. Notice the slight change in word order; perhaps that’s the Maple-Leaf version of the cliche. I’m not suggesting they originated the phrase, but they certainly were one of many people who helped popularize it. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2004, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-work-here-is-done-origin-of-phrase/260848/11 "2004-08-21T20:49:41Z")
Wow – not only “within 72 hours” but within 101 minutes of my post. Thanks, **Tom~**!!! ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2004, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-work-here-is-done-origin-of-phrase/260848/12 "2004-08-21T20:52:18Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > pulled directly from the trivia repository in my butt… Ok, I’m not playing Trivial Pursuit with you. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2004, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-work-here-is-done-origin-of-phrase/260848/13 "2004-08-21T21:38:44Z")
Edited title for clarity. - **xash** General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2004, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-work-here-is-done-origin-of-phrase/260848/14 "2004-08-21T22:29:33Z")
In 1932, after learning he was suffering from a worsening spinal ailment that would cripple him for life, George Eastman, the founder of Eastman Kodak, shot himself to death. His suicide note said simply, “My work is done. Why wait?” ---
**Author:** ![Kortoso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kortoso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kortoso)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2011, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-work-here-is-done-origin-of-phrase/260848/15 "2011-02-01T01:02:37Z")
Tyrone Power as Zorro (1940). ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2011, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-work-here-is-done-origin-of-phrase/260848/16 "2011-02-01T02:43:26Z")
> [@Kortoso](#): > > Tyrone Power as Zorro (1940). Do you have a cite worth resurrecting this? ---
**Author:** ![Archivist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Archivist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archivist)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2012, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-work-here-is-done-origin-of-phrase/260848/17 "2012-01-07T20:31:29Z")
In Anthony Hope’s 1894 novel “The Prisoner of Zenda”, Rudolf Rassendyll says that to the King of Ruritania as Rassendyll prepares to return to England. (p.155 of the novel). The Lone Ranger used to say it, too or to include Tonto, he sometimes said “Our work here is done.” However, I have never found an earlier example than in the Hope novel. ---
**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:** [January 8, 2012, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-work-here-is-done-origin-of-phrase/260848/18 "2012-01-08T04:52:39Z")
[Here’s one](http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=sBICAAAAQAAJ&dq=%22my%20work%20here%20is%20done%22&pg=PA116#v=onepage&q=%22my%20work%20here%20is%20done%22&f=false)from 1860 ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2012, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-work-here-is-done-origin-of-phrase/260848/19 "2012-01-08T05:27:19Z")
> [@stuyguy](#): > > In 1932, after learning he was suffering from a worsening spinal ailment that would cripple him for life, George Eastman, the founder of Eastman Kodak, shot himself to death. His suicide note said simply, “My work is done. Why wait?” Gosh. What would have written about the [current news?](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203471004577140841495542810.html) ---
**Author:** ![Firstintime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/91b2a8/32.png) [@Firstintime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Firstintime)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2016, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-work-here-is-done-origin-of-phrase/260848/20 "2016-09-26T16:32:53Z")
“My work here is done” occurs in The Prisoner of Zenda, a novel written by Anthony Hope and published in 1894. The hero says it after rescuing the kingdom of Ruritania from a political coup, as he prepares to leave and return to his life as an English gentleman. Not many people today have heard of this novel, but it was extremely popular and influential at the time it was written and at least through the first half of the 20th century. I’m guessing, but it seems likely that all the comic book and movie characters who use this phrase got it from the book. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-work-here-is-done-origin-of-phrase/260848.md?page=2)