From where/whom did this meme originate?
:dubious:
David Spade on Saturday Night Live when he hosted the Weekend Update.
Also, “I liked it the first time when it was called _____” when reviewing a new TV show or movie that was similar to an old show.
Yep!
There was an SNL sketch where they were spoofing The Weakest Link. Rachel Dratch was playing the mean hostess. She was introducing the contestants, and when they got to Horatio Sans, Dratch (as the hostess said) “Fred Flinstone called, he wants his head back.” ROFL
Did “The Comeback” episode of Seinfeld air before or after the David Spade thing?
Yeah, David Spade can’t be the origin. It was old when George Costanza on Seinfeld did it, around the same time as SNL.
That wasn’t the same quote. “The jerk store called, and they’re out of you.”
Well I slept with your wife!
TV Tropes has a page on it:
I didn’t think it was nearly so recent, but their list of examples makes me believe that it actually did come from SNL in the 90s. Also, it appears the earliest reference to it on their list outside of SNL is a 1994 episode of Full House.
A little earlier on SNL: Spade had been a writer and a background performer for about two seasons. When they finally let him speak in a sketch, it was a joke of this sort. I think Adam Sandler and Chris Farley were wannabe bullies on a front stoop; they made fun of Spade, who came back and devastated them with something like “The seventies called and they want their hair back.”