# "Yeah....but what an American!" What movie/show is this quote from? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 30, 2019, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-but-what-an-american-what-movie-show-is-this-quote-from/842715 "2019-10-30T20:11:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2019, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-but-what-an-american-what-movie-show-is-this-quote-from/842715/1 "2019-10-30T20:11:27Z")
I can not for the life of me remember what the quote is from, but it is the punchline to a scene where someone is actually being a huge jerk or terrible to someone and pretending to be a patriotic American doing their duty. The jerk walks off and one guy says, “Man, can you believe that guy? He’s terrible.” Naive character responds, “Yeah, but what an American.” Joke being that you’d have to be stupid to believe the jerk was motivated by loyalty or patriotism to the U.S. when he was obviously just being a jerk. What is this from? It’s driving me nuts and my google-fu is not working for me. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2019, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-but-what-an-american-what-movie-show-is-this-quote-from/842715/2 "2019-10-30T20:43:19Z")
Sounds like something Howard Hunter would have said on _ **Hill Street Blues** _. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2019, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-but-what-an-american-what-movie-show-is-this-quote-from/842715/3 "2019-10-30T20:45:18Z")
Or maybe Martin Crane on _ **Frasier** _. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2019, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-but-what-an-american-what-movie-show-is-this-quote-from/842715/4 "2019-10-30T20:57:05Z")
Or maybe Coach on _ **Cheers!** _. ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2019, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-but-what-an-american-what-movie-show-is-this-quote-from/842715/5 "2019-10-30T21:50:18Z")
Jim Ignatowski from _ **Taxi?** _ ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2019, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-but-what-an-american-what-movie-show-is-this-quote-from/842715/6 "2019-10-30T22:36:28Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Or maybe Coach on _ **Cheers!** _. It is Coach! That’s it! From Cheers! Can anyone find the episode it is in? I distinctly remember Coach saying, “Yeah…but what an American.” Maybe I’ll go ask on the Cheers subreddit(assuming there is one). ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2019, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-but-what-an-american-what-movie-show-is-this-quote-from/842715/7 "2019-10-30T22:39:36Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > It is Coach! That’s it! From Cheers! > > Can anyone find the episode it is in? I distinctly remember Coach saying, “Yeah…but what an American.” > > Maybe I’ll go ask on the Cheers subreddit(assuming there is one). You only have 3 seasons to look through if Coach said it. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2019, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-but-what-an-american-what-movie-show-is-this-quote-from/842715/8 "2019-10-30T22:59:58Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > You only have 3 seasons to look through if Coach said it. Yeah, I’ve been scouring “best of” clips of Coach to try to find it, but can’t yet. I asked on the Cheers subreddit(which, of course, exists). ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2019, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-but-what-an-american-what-movie-show-is-this-quote-from/842715/9 "2019-10-30T23:22:23Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > It is Coach! That’s it! From Cheers! > > Can anyone find the episode it is in? I distinctly remember Coach saying, “Yeah…but what an American.” > > Maybe I’ll go ask on the Cheers subreddit(assuming there is one). Maybe the first season finale, where Sam’s overachiever brother Derek comes to visit? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2019, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-but-what-an-american-what-movie-show-is-this-quote-from/842715/10 "2019-10-30T23:55:34Z")
I think it’s Season 2, Episode 16; if so, the reason it was ungoogleable is because he actually says _“yeah, but what a citizen!”_ ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2019, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-but-what-an-american-what-movie-show-is-this-quote-from/842715/11 "2019-10-31T00:09:14Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > I think it’s Season 2, Episode 16; if so, the reason it was ungoogleable is because he actually says _“yeah, but what a citizen!”_ Winner! That’s it. I was just(uh…majorly) misremembering the punchline part. It went like this: Cliff: It’s the duty of every citizen to learn the exits of public places in case of an emergency: flood, atomic holocaust… Carla: What a chicken. \*\*Coach: Yeah, but what a citizen. \*\* Solved! ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2019, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-but-what-an-american-what-movie-show-is-this-quote-from/842715/12 "2019-10-31T00:30:16Z")
MST3K the giant leeches, I think… “Yes, but he’s an incredible bastard!” Similar lines in tons of shows… ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2019, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-but-what-an-american-what-movie-show-is-this-quote-from/842715/13 "2019-10-31T14:21:14Z")
I don’t see how anybody in that scene is being a jerk (except maybe Carla). ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2019, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-but-what-an-american-what-movie-show-is-this-quote-from/842715/14 "2019-10-31T14:27:44Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > I don’t see how anybody in that scene is being a jerk (except maybe Carla). You ever seen the show? Cliff is always a jerk. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2019, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-but-what-an-american-what-movie-show-is-this-quote-from/842715/15 "2019-10-31T15:14:16Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > I don’t see how anybody in that scene is being a jerk (except maybe Carla). The context is, Cliff saunters up to a guy, calls him _“Beagle Breath”_ — “you’d better not be talking to me, pal” — _“If you don’t like the way I talk, maybe there’s something you’d like to do about it.”_ “I’d be glad to. Let’s go outside.” _“You got it,”_ replies Cliff; _“I’ll pay my check, and I’ll be right behind you.”_ The guy who’s ready to fight steps outside and promptly removes his shirt (“ooh, nice upper-body development”). Cliff eventually walks over to the bar’s front door likewise, and then decides to — instead exit through the restaurant upstairs, and head for home. So, y’know, cue the exchange at that point.