Listopolis: Top 10 Obscure Catchphrases
10. “This is the best Miss Sally ever!” – Oz, various characters
One of the great running jokes of the violent prison drama was the inmates’ favorite TV show. The buxom Miss Sally hosted a children’s show and a fitness program, and both inevitably involved her bouncing, jiggling, stretching, or getting motorboated by a hand puppet. No matter what, one of the violent criminals watching in Em City would proclaim it to be the best episode ever.
9. “I got something to say!” – Strangers with Candy, Jeri Blank
It’s all in the delivery. When the episodes inevitably ended with Jeri learning a (usually deeply offensive) lesson, she had to burst into the largest possible gathering of people to show them the error of their ways. And sure, most of her revelations were really nobody else’s business, but that never stopped Jeri.
8. “Somebody think of the children!” – The Simpsons, various characters
Sure, The Simpsons has many, many catchphrases. And while most of them are more famous, this one deserves special attention. Usually (but not exclusively) delivered by Helen Lovejoy or Sideshow Mel, this panicked entreaty comes up in just about every town meeting, whether or not the topic at hand technically involves children. Try it yourself and see if it doesn’t liven up your next conference call.
7. “In my pants” – Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, Black Vulcan
Michael Scott would love Harvey. The cartoon had three different running jokes to call out the double entendres. Judge Mightor might wave around a phallic pool toy while singing “Deedle-deedle-dee”, Phil Ken Sebben might bust out his trademark “Ha Ha!”, or if you were lucky, the former SuperFriend would favor the remark with an “In my pants”.
6. “Kirstie Alley!” “Shelley Long!” – The Kids in the Hall, various characters
In sketch comedy, it’s always better to start a scene while something is happening. It makes it feel like a presentation and more like something organic. Of course, there’s no sense in writing part of a conversation that has no bearing on the point of the scene. So the Kids elected to occasionally start scenes in the middle of this presumably Cheers-centric argument.
5. “I don’t know Butchie instead.” – John from Cincinnati, John Monad
This, like everything about JFC, requires some explanation. When John first appeared in Imperial Beach, he was given to vague prophecy and answered most questions with “Some things I know, and some things I don’t know”. Butchie Yost got tired of this and told John, “Next time you want to say that, you say “I don’t know, Butchie” instead.” John follows directions to the letter, folks.
4. “Sheeeeeeeeit!” – The Wire, Clay Davis
In the hands of a lesser man, it’s just an expletive. But in the hands of Senator Clay Davis, it’s a 
symphony. In the beginning of the series, it was just a slight extension of the word, but by the end of the series, you had to spell that thing with 20 or so e’s just to come close to conveying the majesty. You will never go back to the old way of swearing again.
symphony. In the beginning of the series, it was just a slight extension of the word, but by the end of the series, you had to spell that thing with 20 or so e’s just to come close to conveying the majesty. You will never go back to the old way of swearing again.3. “Boosh!” – Frisky Dingo, various characters
This is actually used really frequently on the series, but since Dingo is pretty obscure in and of itself, I think it still counts. It’s an expression of excitement and agreement, or sometimes it’s just shouted with no good reason. It sort of approximates the noise that the Xtacles’ lasers make, as they used to point their guns in the air to punctuate a good “Boosh”. As the series went on, it spread to other characters (Where did Simon pick it up?), as well as most of my conversations an occasional business related e-mail.
2. “Your last name is Garrelli?” – NewsRadio, Bill McNeal
I love this one. Every time Joe’s last name comes up, Bill asks this question. And because Phil Hartman was amazing, he delivers this line with such a range of emotion. Surprise, irritation, disbelief, and on one memorable occasion, outright hostility – You never knew how Bill would ask, but you knew he would. After his untimely death, Vicki Lewis and Jon Lovitz picked up the slack in the final season, but nobody did it like Phil.
1. “Do I look like Montel Williams?” – Homicide: Life on the Street, John Munch
For extra points, this line should be followed by “Then why do you wanna lie to me like I’m Montel 
Williams?” This rhetorical question popped up frequently in the earliest seasons of Homicide, whenever some perp got it in his head to lie to Munch. This ends up in first place for two important reasons. First, the non-sequitur is hilarious. (It’s possible that nobody looks less like Montel Williams than Richard Belzer.) Second, Munch used this phrase during his appearance on X-Files, making this a catchphrase that crossed series, nay, networks!
Williams?” This rhetorical question popped up frequently in the earliest seasons of Homicide, whenever some perp got it in his head to lie to Munch. This ends up in first place for two important reasons. First, the non-sequitur is hilarious. (It’s possible that nobody looks less like Montel Williams than Richard Belzer.) Second, Munch used this phrase during his appearance on X-Files, making this a catchphrase that crossed series, nay, networks!So there’s our inaugural list. Let us know if we missed any of your favorites, ideally in a civil and measured tone. And yes, we agonized over whether or not to include “Spooooon!” For the record, we decided it wasn’t obscure enough to count. Our standards may be a little off.
