# Why is the devil so fucking incompetent? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 23, 2005, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-devil-so-fucking-incompetent/309589 "2005-06-23T19:59:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 27
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-devil-so-fucking-incompetent/309589/27 "2005-06-24T12:38:22Z")
> [@Odinoneeye](#): > > There was an episode of “Tales of The Darkside” with Ron Glass and Sherman Hemsley. > > Hemsley played a mathmatician who created a formula that opened a portal. Ron Glass, whlie not “the devil” was a entity that took souls… It was on “The New Twilight Zone” and was adapted from a story by Joe Haldeman, “I of Newton.” This is a very common trope, so much so much so that Michael Armstrong wrote “Absolutely the Last – This is It, No More – the Final Pact with the Devil Story.” That may have been the one where an author was required to get a particular story published or lose his soul. No editor wanted it, until, just in the nick of time, an editor bought it. For _The Last Dangerous Visions_ 🙂 Others: **Damn Yankees** book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop, Music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross – classic Broadway musical & film. Joe Boyd sells his soul so that the Washington Senators can get into the world series. Songs include “Whatever Lola Wants,” “You’ve Got to Have Heart.” “The Same to You Doubled” by Robert Sheckley – the devil gives the protagonist a wish, no strings attached: he can have three wishes, but his worst enemy gets each of them doubled. “Dealer’s Choice,” another New Twilight Zone episode (by that I mean the 1980s version, not the UPN one). Dan Hedaya plays the devil who sits in on a poker game. He always has the highest hand, and eventually challenges M. Emitt Walsh for his soul. Walsh is dealer, and chooses to play lowball – lowest hand wins. \*For those not in on the joke, Harlan Ellison announced in 1974 that the book would be published “in six months.” We’re still waiting. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-devil-so-fucking-incompetent/309589)._