Literary Riffs

From “Fire Maidens o fOuter Space”:

“Pound pastrami, can kraut, six bagels—bring home for Emma.”

The sacred text from A Canticle for Leibowitz

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I can’t recall which one, but I know they had an ep where a guy is caught reading a girly mag and the guys riff “Um, there’s a Kilgore Trout story in there I wanted to read.”

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Though missquoted, Mike’s reference to Shakespeare in The Incredible Melting Man:

“Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, creeps along at its petty pace until the last syllable of recorded time.”

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That reminds me. I want to give Canticle For Leibowitz another try. I got partway through 20+ years ago, but never finished it.

Uh-oh. Here comes the Sermon on the Gran Torino. –Blessed are the grease monkeys, for they will lube …

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I’m pretty sure the opening line from Ulysses is in more than one riff (but I can’t recall a particular episode offhand):

“Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came down from the stairwell …”

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“This has more pauses than a Pinter play.”

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I recall “Boo Radley’s House” turned up as a quip a few times.

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I think that’s Mitchell.

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How would Steely Dan be shown?

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Almost forgot that in The Rebel Set Tom
Servo cosplays as Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot in a futile attempt to discern the true identity of Merritt Stone.

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Come to think of it, Rebel Set also has a reference to the disturbing dramatic play EQUUS. :sweat:

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If plays are ok, in the Screaming Skull Tom Servo went back to 405 BC, from Aristophanes “The Frogs”, with his riff… “BreKekekekex Koax Koax”

Though the writer of the riff could have also been referencing a Star Trek ep, which quoted it. Or maybe Finnigan’s Wake, I’ve read that Joyce quoted it there as well.

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“Did it make you mean mad?” is a Grapes of Wrath reference.

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Last I checked Shakespeare counted as literature and he’s best known for plays. :slightly_smiling_face:

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I think Mike read an e.e. cummings poem in response to the Is It Love? short.

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Jackson also shows up in the Nelson/Pehl production of The Troublemaker.

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:clap: I gave it a re-watch just to hear it. I know the Lottery gets the most riff love, but she’s one of my favorites so I always appreciate hearing them.

Oh, and in addition to Jackson, MJ also threw in an “I, Claudius, high school senior.” riff

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“Hit 'em with the Pickwick Papers!” from Danger Death Ray

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Has the crackly “Ah, when lilacs last in the dooryard bloom’d…” over the police scanner at the beginning of Last Clear Chance been cited yet? I love that one.

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