# Origin of Meme: "\_\_\_ called, and it wants its \_\_\_\_\_ back" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 26, 2012, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-meme-___-called-and-it-wants-its-_____-back/642131 "2012-11-26T06:14:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![IceQube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@IceQube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IceQube)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-meme-___-called-and-it-wants-its-_____-back/642131/1 "2012-11-26T06:14:32Z")
From where/whom did this meme originate? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-meme-___-called-and-it-wants-its-_____-back/642131/2 "2012-11-26T06:25:04Z")
David Spade on Saturday Night Live when he hosted the Weekend Update. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-meme-___-called-and-it-wants-its-_____-back/642131/3 "2012-11-26T06:29:50Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-meme-___-called-and-it-wants-its-_____-back/642131/4 "2012-11-26T06:41:51Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > 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! ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-meme-___-called-and-it-wants-its-_____-back/642131/5 "2012-11-26T14:36:17Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > David Spade on Saturday Night Live when he hosted the Weekend Update. 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 ---
**Author:** ![Oedipus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Oedipus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oedipus)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-meme-___-called-and-it-wants-its-_____-back/642131/6 "2012-11-26T14:41:56Z")
Did “The Comeback” episode of Seinfeld air before or after the David Spade thing? ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-meme-___-called-and-it-wants-its-_____-back/642131/7 "2012-11-26T15:24:06Z")
Yeah, David Spade can’t be the origin. It was old when George Costanza on Seinfeld did it, around the same time as SNL. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-meme-___-called-and-it-wants-its-_____-back/642131/8 "2012-11-26T20:10:41Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > 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.” ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-meme-___-called-and-it-wants-its-_____-back/642131/9 "2012-11-26T20:27:25Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > “The jerk store called, and they’re out of you.” Well I slept with your wife! ---
**Author:** ![Mithras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mithras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mithras)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-meme-___-called-and-it-wants-its-_____-back/642131/10 "2012-11-26T20:43:32Z")
TV Tropes has a page on it: > **[X Called; They Want Their Y Back - TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/XCalledTheyWantTheirYBack)** > > A common put-down about how someone ran headfirst into Fashion Dissonance (or something related). Often it's something that is no longer fashionable, or that famously works for someone, but almost no one else. "X" is frequently a time period, but … 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. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-meme-___-called-and-it-wants-its-_____-back/642131/11 "2012-11-26T21:03:04Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > David Spade on Saturday Night Live when he hosted the Weekend Update. 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.”