But it was also intended as a take-off of the “spy gadget” bit in the James Bond films that had already become a cliche, e.g. the cigarette pack that’s really a camera, the ink pen that shoots poison darts, the auto headlights that turn into rocket launchers, etc.
Sister Slappy.
Ah. in the UK I did see that after 9/11 and Grissom just seemed even more smug and sanctimonious than usual giving them their dressing down.
Also, the Family Guy joke that sublight noted.
There’s a similar joke in Die Hard 3, released in 1996, about how Hillary will be the 43rd President. Might be - might be! - only one digit off.
Except more often than not, they’ll wake up the next morning in an Awkward Embrace ™. :rolleyes:
In Woody Allen’s Sleeper, Woody is shown a picture of Richard Nixon, with the man from the future saying to Allen’s character, “We think that this man was once president of the US, but did something so terrible that all records of his presidency have been erased.” The film came out in 1973; Watergate had begun, but no one realized it would end in Nixon’s impeachment, and it moved from Nixon-bashing to a reference to his resignation.
In Bringing Up Baby, Cary Grant was the first to use “gay” meaning “homosexual” in mainstream media because he’s wearing Kathering Hepburn’s robe. Later, however, Grant, when asked about the robe says, “I’m just waiting for a bus on 42nd Street.” At the time, 42nd Street was a known hangout for gays, who, when challenged by the police, would say they were waiting for a bus.
There’s a Rock Hudson movie from the early 60s with this set-up:
His love interest (I don’t think it was Doris Day) has snuck into the all-men’s club to visit him. Now she must be smuggled out, so Rock helps her dress up as a man, complete with a fake beard.
In the lobby, an overbearing bully mother is having her very henpecked son join the club so that he’ll have a 'respectable, upright, morally-sound" place to stay in the heathen NYC.
Rock & his g.f. walk through the lobby, the g.f. catches sight of herself in the mirror and gasps at how she looks with a beard. Rock assures her that’s she beautiful, and kisses her on the lips!
The bully mother sees all of this and recoils in horror. She immediately grabs her son by the arm and yanks him out of the club.
I don’t know the name of this flick, but I remember that it was shown as part of a Rock Hudson marathon the day after the actor died from AIDS in RL.
That was a terrible joke, too.
Marty: Give me a Tab.
Shop Owner: How can I give you a tab if you haven’t ordered anything?
Marty: Well, give me a Pepsi Free.
Shop Owner: Hey buddy, if you want a Pepsi, you’re gonna pay for it!
Marty: Just give me something without any sugar.
Shop Owner plunks a cup of black coffee in front of Marty.
The only problem is, Pepsi Free was free of caffeine, not sugar. That gag grated on me even at the time, and I was like 12. :mad:
“And their Warner Sister Dot.” Slappy was the cranky old squirrel.
Wow, really? Was it really that precipitous a fall? Did people not see the writing on the wall by 1989?
Definitely. Even the hardcore Reaganite conservatives who believed communism was destined to be consigned to the “dustbin of history” thought the whole process would take about 20 years.
And nobody thought the USSR would collapse as quickly as it did in 1991 (complete with other socialist republics becoming independent).
Yes, and the episode you’re referring to was the crazy mixed up episode where the characters were switched around. Remember? Pinky and the cat (Rita)? Pesto and Runt? The Warner Brothers and their sister Slappy?
I don’t think you’re geeky enough for the internet…
Wow, my own memory seems to have revised history on me. Hell, I graduated high school in 1991; it isn’t ancient history or anything! 
:smack:
Not merely a joke, but an entire career: Vaughn Meader’s *The First Family, *released in 1962. It satirized JFK, his administration and his family. It broke all sorts of records in sales and won the “best album” Grammy. Everyone, including JFK himself, loved the album, and Vaughn Meader was an instant superstar.
Then came November 22, 1963. The album was pulled off the shelves, Meader’s career was effectively over, and he basically never performed again, with a few rare exceptions.
I think I have that album. I really ought to listen to it.
Actually, I thought that was why they did the mug over the mouth thing–because they knew what might happen. And there was a joke about Al Gore measuring the curtains towards the end of the episode, too, right?
This one’s ancient:
A man goes into a coma in 1954, comes out of it in 1972. His first question upon waking is, “How’s President Eisenhower doing?” The nurse tells him, “Eisenhower’s dead.”
The man is horrified. “Oh my god! That bastard Nixon is President!”
Well, the meaning of the joke hasn’t changed, really, except that few would really appreciate now just how slippery Nixon might have seemed as early as 1954.
Lenny Bruce started his first show after the assassination with a long sigh … then … “Poor Vaughn Meader … .”
The phrase ‘the writing on the wall’ took on a new meaning for a while after the Berlin wall came down. (or was that a woosh?)
Also, Pink Floyd used the Berlin Wall as a backdrop for a live performance of one of their albums (what was the name again…) because of the extra meaning the location imparted.
Thinking again, when I’m watching my VHS tapes of Star Trek, any time Spock mentions information held on “tapes”, I think to myself that he and I must be the only ones left using them 