What riffs do YOU still not get?

Thanks! I have been wondering this for a long time and I’m glad to finally get it answered.

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“Wise men still seek him” in The Day Time Ended. I guess it has something to do with Mormanism?

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It has its origins from the bible story (see Matthew chapter 2) about the three wise men. If you go into a Christian book store/gift shop, especially around the Christmas season, you’ll see the phrase “Wise men still seek him” on T shirts, posters, mugs, etc.

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You can buy stuff around Christmas time in places like Deseret Book (an LDS bookstore for those unfamiliar) with that phrase. I think my parents might have something, but as @JakeGittes said, it’s really just a Christian reference, not specifically the LDS Church.

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I do wonder if they are referencing something specific, an advert for a movie, etc, or a commercial, that used that as a tag line?

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Not everything is a reference.

I frequently will say something that makes people laugh and they’ll say “What’s that from?”

And I’ll have to explain that I don’t speak entirely in quotes and do occasionally originate things*.


*Disregard other threads where I claimed I spoke only in movie quotes. I was probably lying.

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True, but something about that one - that scene, the way Jonah says the line, that touches on a dim memory, but I can’t bring it into focus.

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It sort of sounds like '80s ad copy, yeah.

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For some reason in the late 90s there were bumper stickers and things EVERYWHERE with “Wise men still seek him”. I think some religious group was using it in advertising. Which might be why @Chelsea_Nelson connects it with Mormonism, because in the late 90s there were a LOT of commercials for The church of the latter day saints.

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I think the most common ads were the “Family. Isn’t it about… time?” :slight_smile: But I don’t remember us using that phrase in advertising. However, it’s possible I didn’t notice.

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The LDS still use(s) it:

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It’s also possible to misattribute things, too. Two religions running ads and mashing them all together.

You know it just struck me how weird it was that religions were advertising.

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Oh, yes. We do use it, but I meant not as advertising. Unless you count people sharing on social media as advertising? I don’t even know anymore. :slight_smile:

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That’s basically the definition of the word “proselytize.”

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I’ve never quite understood one from Final Justice.

Right before the final showdown, the villain’s boss says to Geronimo “You Americans…”
Mike says “Your ‘Leo Sayer’”.

Leo Sayer is Australian.

Never been able to figure that one out.

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I’d always thought that it was a reference to Toffifay candies, which always have a whole filbert nut in the center. Oh, well. Live and learn.

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I’ve never known whether the ubiquitous, “You do it. I’m bitter,” which popped up in so many CC episodes, has a book/movie/tv source, or if it’s just something they made up and ran with.

Does anyone know?

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I don’t think it’s a reference to anything specific.

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I’m probably all alone on this one, but there’s a recurring riff in MANY episodes where a character is walking into/around a large room by themselves and Tom Servo will mumble “Hellooo…? Mr. [usually something specific to the movie]… ? Hellooo… ?” in kind of a timid English-person voice, and I have no earthly idea what that could be referencing. Wallace & Gromit? Mr. Bean? I haven’t seen enough of either of those to be sure, but it’s maddening.

Update: One place it appears is MST3K The Movie, where the line is “Hellooo…? Mr. Magic Plane Person, hellooo…?” This evidently is also the title of a Jonah Ray comedy album, so it clearly made an impression on people, but Google doesn’t have any more help for me. Aargh!

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In The Screaming Skull, when Jenny is sitting on the wall Servo says, “pinched lady at Giverny”. I know there’s a famous painting Lady at Giverny but pinched?

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