# What's wrong with Emo Phillips? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 13, 2005, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-emo-phillips/284573 "2005-01-13T17:38:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-emo-phillips/284573/21 "2013-03-22T15:15:48Z")
Moved to Cafe Society. Please note this thread was started in 2005. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-emo-phillips/284573/22 "2013-03-22T15:22:18Z")
“Well…just callll meee Mr. Butterfingers.” ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-emo-phillips/284573/23 "2013-03-22T15:34:12Z")
If memory serves, a lot of people didn’t believe that Andy Kaufman was really sick during his last illness, thinking that it was part of an act. Joaquin Phoenix comes to mind as well. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-emo-phillips/284573/24 "2013-03-22T15:36:34Z")
Something caught my eye…and dragged it fifteen feet… ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-emo-phillips/284573/25 "2013-03-22T15:48:14Z")
“Alright then. What does it mean when you bite out its eyes and scream ‘STOP STARING AT ME!’?” ---
**Author:** ![planetcory](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/planetcory/32/1032_2.png) [@planetcory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/planetcory)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-emo-phillips/284573/26 "2013-03-22T15:58:13Z")
> [@Learjeff](#): > > I remember the first time I saw Bob, and my reaction was, gee, that’s gonna be an exhausting act to keep up! He was like Don Rickles on speed (in case anyone’s old enough to remember Don, especially on Johnny Carson). > > I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that either of them is ADHD, but manages to act normal when necessary. Here’s Normal Bobcat referencing his act a bit: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U\_-fiHLXTko](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_-fiHLXTko) His ‘calm’ self is still somewhat shaky-voiced and jittery, but much less so. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-emo-phillips/284573/27 "2013-03-22T16:05:29Z")
"My girlfriend was mad because I didn’t open the car door for her… …but I was too busy swimming to the surface." ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-emo-phillips/284573/28 "2013-03-22T16:34:37Z")
Paraphrased: "My girlfriend jumps to conclusions. She saw me looking at kids in the park and said ‘I think you’re a pedophile.’ Pedophile … that’s a big word for a 12-year-old." ---
**Author:** ![batsto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b2d939/32.png) [@batsto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/batsto)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-emo-phillips/284573/29 "2013-03-22T16:37:01Z")
> [@planetcory](#): > > Here’s Normal Bobcat referencing his act a bit: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U\_-fiHLXTko](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_-fiHLXTko) > > His ‘calm’ self is still somewhat shaky-voiced and jittery, but much less so. Bobcat has been a regular on NPR’s “Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me” lately, and he sounds mostly normal. Not at all like he did in the Police Academy movies. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-emo-phillips/284573/30 "2013-03-22T16:52:22Z")
Marc Maron had a great interview with Bobcat Goldthwait a while back on his WTF podcast – it might be available in his archives – and Bobcat sounded like a regular, nice guy. Fun fact: When he was first starting out, he was in a comedy troupe with his childhood friend Tom, where they called themselves Bobcat and Tomcat. Tomcat is comedian Tom Kenny, best known as the voice of Spongebob Squarepants. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-emo-phillips/284573/31 "2013-03-22T16:56:35Z")
> [@batsto](#): > > Bobcat has been a regular on NPR’s “Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me” lately, and he sounds mostly normal. Not at all like he did in the Police Academy movies. Like Paula Poundstone, I find him funnier on that show than in any of his movies or doing standup. They also introduce him first as “underground filmmaker” then actor/writer/comedian; apparently that’s how he prefers to be known. I too have wondered since the first time I saw him if Emo has a neurological condition that he slaps a clown mask on. Either way, his material is some of the funniest there is; I’ve doubled over just reading some of his jokes. Once when :rolleyes: to the roof while reading a pious ‘poor little led astray sinner me’ editorial by a college girl who’d had an abortion her first year at college but now repented and was forgiven and saw it as murder and wanted them illegalized, I wrote a long response but then thought “Emo Philips is shorter and works many times better” and posted this joke of his: > [@](#): > > When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle. Then I realised that the Lord doesn’t work that way so I stole one and asked Him to forgive me. Other favorites: > [@](#): > > Some mornings it just doesn’t seem worth it to gnaw through the leather straps. and > [@](#): > > I love to go to the playground and watch the little children jump up and down and run around yelling and screaming. They don’t know I’m only using blanks. (Though of course the above would probably get him booed off a stage at the moment.) [More Emo quotes](http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/e/emo_philips.html) (just words, no video). ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-emo-phillips/284573/32 "2013-03-22T22:04:17Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > “Well…just callll meee Mr. Butterfingers.” THANK you … I knew that guy in the Youtube clip seemed familiar. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-emo-phillips/284573/33 "2013-03-22T23:05:00Z")
Found [this interesting article that Emo wrote a few years ago when one of his jokes was voted Funniest Religious Joke Of All Time](http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2005/sep/29/comedy.religion). Yes, the joke is in the article (as well as several really good ones at the end). ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-emo-phillips/284573/34 "2013-03-22T23:19:41Z")
NM. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-emo-phillips/284573.md?page=1)