TV's Top 50 Funniest Catch Phrases: Reader Feedback

By Robert Paul Reyes  

Last night NBC aired "TV's 50 Funniest Phrases", and I'm sure it inspired a long of arguments around the water cooler.

This morning I wrote an article giving my two cents worth about the lis -- my essay got a lot of hits and generated a few emails.

In my original editorial I wrote:

"It's an outrage that my fave phrase 'I pity the fool' wasn't included on the list. I don't tolerate any jibba jabba, and I pity the fool at NBC who left Mr. T's trademark phrase of the list.

My second favorite phrase is 'Lucy, you've got some splainin' to do', even folks who don't know Lucy from Oprah Winfrey have been heard to mutter this phrase."

NBC has some splainin' to do, I wasn't the only one outraged by the omission of some great catch phrases from NBC's official list.

Here are the comments of some of my readers:

"Although I think the list was OK, I felt the ORDER in which they placed them was a little (no A LOT) off. And 'Burn', 'How ya' doin'' & 'Ayyyy' to me, just really aren't all that funny. And the topic of the list is '50 FUNNIEST Catch Phrases', so the #1 criteria would be FUNNY!! As far as 'Oh my God, they killed Kenny' goes, the final 'those bastards' is really the most humorous part of the phrase! And to leave out Ralph Kramden's 'To The Moon' and Roseanne Roseanna Danna's 'It's always something' to me is an outrage! And I agree with you on 'I pity the fool', it belongs somewhere on the list! "

Becki
Jackson, TN

I thank Becki for her brilliant insights, and I pity the fool who disagrees with her.

"I think they hit the mark on most of the quotes included and their approximate order of importance. I do question 'Gumby'; hardly a land mark phrase, nor did it really get laughs, when they re-played the clip last night. And a little more respect to Lucille Ball and Jackie Gleason please, who coined countless clean phrases long ago, if the Honeymooners belongs after Urkel there is something wrong with the laughing universe. How about 'Yabba, Dabba, Do!' by Fred Flintstone, while we are heaping phrase on the cartoons such as the Simpsons and (yuck) Southpark.

Others of note:

'Citizens arrest!' Barney Fife on Andy Griffith Show.
'Dynomite' not a top 50 funny moments. Shame on them. It's Top 10.
'How sweet it is!' (Jackie Gleason, The Jackie Gleason Show)
'Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!' (Jan Brady, The Brady Bunch)
'Schwing!' (Mike Myers and Dana Carvey as Wayne and Garth, Saturday Night Live)
'Whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Willis?' (Arnold Drummond, Diff'rent Strokes)"

David

I should give David co-credit for this blog for quoting so extensively from his email, but he made a few good points.

David wasn't the only one who was annoyed that "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia" and "Dynomite" were left off the list. Marcia, Marcia, Marcia has taken on a brand new meaning since the actress who portrayed Marcia hinted that she and Jan had a hot fling.

As far as "Dynomite" is concerned it's perhaps the most obnoxious catch phrase in the history of TV land. Back in the day when "Good Times" was popular it was always the nerds and geeks who delighted in screaming: DYNOMITE!

"I do not agree with # 6 ('Burn'), 11('It's going to be legendary') & 13 ('We were on a break').
Missing: (a few samples)
'Watch cha talking about Willis' - Different Strokes
'Schwing' - SNL, Wayne World
'Norm' - Cheers"

Patrick

"Watcha talkin' about Willis" definitely belongs in the Top Ten. I often find myself using this phrase when answering some of my letters.

I would like to thank my readers for all of their comments. How Sweet It Is to have such an intelligent readership.

50. "Hello, Newman" from "Seinfeld"
49. "Missed it by that much" from "Get Smart"
48. "Yeah, that's the ticket" from "Saturday Night Live"
47. "God'll get you for that" from "Maude"
46. "Hey, Hey, Hey" from "What's Happening"
45. "Holy crap" from "Everybody Loves Raymond"
44. "Let me show you something" from "In Living Color"
43. "Nip it" from "The Andy Griffith Show"
42. "Thank you beddy much" from "Taxi"
41. "Do you wanna hug it out" from "Entourage"
40. "Watch it sucka" from "Sanford and Son"
39. "Jane you ignorant slut" from "Saturday Night Live"
38. "Mom liked you best" from "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour"
37. "Sit on it" from "Happy Days"
36. "Now cut that out" from "The Jack Benny Comedy Program"
35. "I'm Larry, this is my brother Darryl…" from "Newhart"
34. "What you see is what you get" from "The Flip Wilson Show"
33. "I've made a huge mistake" from "Arrested Development"
32. "I know nothing from "Hogan's Heroes"
31. "Here come de judge" from "Laugh In"
30. "You look marvelous" from "Saturday Night Live"
29. "I'm comin' to join ya Elizabeth" from "Sanford and Son"
28. "Would you believe" from "Get Smart"
27. "Up your nose with a rubber hose" from "Welcome Back Kotter"
26. "Ohhhh Rob" from "The Dick Van Dyke Show"
25. "Kiss my grits" from "Alice:
24. "Nanu, Nanu" from "Mork and Mindy"
23. "Don't be ridiculous" from "Perfect Strangers"
22. "I'm Gumby, damn it" from "Saturday Night Live"
21. "No soup for you" from "Seinfeld"
20. "One of these days, pow right in the kisser" from "The Honeymooners"
19. "Did I do that" from "Family Matters"
18. "Will you stifle" from "All in the Family"
17. "Eat my shorts" from "The Simpsons"
16. "Hated it" from "In Living Color"
15. "Well isn't that special" from "Saturday Night Live"
14. "Sock it to me" from "Laugh In"
13. "We were on a break" from "Friends"
12. "That's what she said8 0 from "The Office"
11. "It's going to be legendary" from "How I Met Your Mother"
10. "Homey don't play dat" from "In Living Color"
9. "Excuuse me" from "Saturday Night Live"
8. "Lucy, you've got some splainin' to do" from "I Love Lucy" (even though he never said it quite that way - the closest he came was "Lucy, splain" and "All right, start splainin'")
7. "Oh my god! They killed Kenny" from "South Park"
6. "Burn" from "That '70s Show"
5. "We are two wild and crazy guys" from "Saturday Night Live"
4. "Ayyyy" from "Happy Days"
3. "How you doin'" from "Friends"
2. "D'oh" from "The Simpsons"
1. "Yada, yada, yada" from "Seinfeld"

List courtesy of: Gina Carbone/Seacoastonline.com

Robert Paul Reyes is a NewsBlaze writer on Politics, Pop Culture and Pointless Pontificating. Contact him by writing to NewsBlaze.

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