# "You must pay the rent!" "But I can't pay the rent!" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 18, 1999, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-must-pay-the-rent-but-i-cant-pay-the-rent/4869 "1999-11-18T02:46:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2023, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-must-pay-the-rent-but-i-cant-pay-the-rent/4869/41 "2023-03-04T19:38:09Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > At the climax, The Hero bounded onto the stage with a roll of Reynolds Wrap and (this had not been rehearsed) proceeded to cocoon the three of us in shiny aluminum, after which I got to holler You-know-what. Amazedly, it brought down the house! In our high school version, sometime in the 1960’s, the villain got “oiled again”. I can’t remember whether we actually poured oil (presumably vegetable oil) on the character, or what the dialogue was working up to it. I only remember that we thought it was funny at the time. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2023, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-must-pay-the-rent-but-i-cant-pay-the-rent/4869/42 "2023-03-04T19:51:26Z")
You have to admit, no matter how cornball this type of “theatre”, it was preferable to schoolboys than having to put on your mother’s Hanes stockings to perform Shakespeare. I was the king who had the poison poured into his ear during a nap. Oh, the ignominy! ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2023, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-must-pay-the-rent-but-i-cant-pay-the-rent/4869/43 "2023-03-04T23:18:58Z")
I miss the melodrama that used to play at [Knott’s Berry Farm’s Birdcage Theater](https://www.knotts.com/blog/2018/march/3-12-2018-history-of-the-bird-cage-theatre). It was always the same play, one with two titles separated by an ‘or’. I don’t remember the first title, but the second was OR Don’t Switch That Engine, It Has a Tender Behind. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2023, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-must-pay-the-rent-but-i-cant-pay-the-rent/4869/44 "2023-03-05T02:09:26Z")
I remember the skit with the multi-purpose costume piece, but I don’t remember it being about rent specifically. Nor what else it was about. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2023, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-must-pay-the-rent-but-i-cant-pay-the-rent/4869/45 "2023-03-05T08:47:28Z")
The Simpsons’ rendition of this routine is what most readily comes to mind for me. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/dP1ToFQOBdg/hqdefault.jpg "Rent II - Condo Fever - Broadband.m4v") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP1ToFQOBdg) ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2023, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-must-pay-the-rent-but-i-cant-pay-the-rent/4869/46 "2023-03-05T14:42:56Z")
I’m also partial to Elliott Forrest’s rendition (starting at 1:10): [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/RqlIfWgvhv4/maxresdefault.jpg "Pledge Plea") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqlIfWgvhv4) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-must-pay-the-rent-but-i-cant-pay-the-rent/4869.md?page=2)