December 28, 2010

"Everything you like to do is wrong."

21 comments:

Richard Dolan said...

"Everything you like to do is wrong."

At that point, you know there is a major problem with your understanding of "right" (to say nothing of "wrong").

w/v: blimbe. High on anyone's wrong list.

The Crack Emcee said...

I can't see the video because I'm at work, but the phrase "Everything you like to do is wrong" this sounds about right in the nanny state. Thinking about it, I even found myself muttering a prayer yesterday:

Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray the Lord my soul to keep
If I should die before I wake
that's one escape from the nanny state!

Fred4Pres said...

W.C.'s follow on line is: "According to you everything I like to do is either illegal, immoral, or fattening." Which is about as timeless and accurrate as you can get.

Unknown said...

"A woman drove me to drink and I never even thanked her."

Unknown said...

Everything that taste good is forbidden by physicians

Robert Cook said...

W.C. Fields was a genius, (and one of the world's greatest jugglers...he toured for years in vaudeville as a juggler, where he began adding humorous repartee to his act, which led to his evolution into a comedic performer).

Unknown said...

Update to his gravestone:

All in all, I'd rather be here than in the Nanny State.

Skyler said...

I'm amazed that he was and is caricatured as a fat man, but he really is almost thin by today's standards.

Charles said...

The sheriff explains how he came to be known as Honest John

chickelit said...

Skyler said:
I'm amazed that he was and is caricatured as a fat man, but he really is almost thin by today's standards.

Stuff like this didn't help.

Penny said...

Before we decide how timeless his character was about the nanny state, it helps to put this particular Field's character in context.

Charles, thank you for that link. If seems to flesh out what we might not have known from Althouse's 18 second snapshot.

Penny said...

The man was clearly very talented at what he did.

What a shame that the path of his characters coincided with his real life love of the whiskey.

Hector Owen said...

So the Fields line would have been the inspiration for the song.

David said...

"What elephant?"

Best film line ever.

Jim said...

"I always carry a bottle of whiskey in case I should see a snake, which I also carry."

ferd.berfel said...

"...I may be drunk, but you're crazy. Tomorrow I'll be sober and you'll be crazy for the rest of your life!". His most classic line IMO.

Michael said...

"I'm amazed that he was and is caricatured as a fat man, but he really is almost thin by today's standards."

In his last few films (The Bank Dick, Never give a Sucker An Even Break) he's much rounder, but in the early thirties he's fairly trim and in his silents he even does a fair amount of physical comedy-- in Running Wild he's a milquetoast who winds up running through the streets roaring like a lion. Quite surprising given the standard image...

Unknown said...

You couldn't juggle at the level he did for most of his professional life and be truly overweight or unfit.
All in all one of the brilliant comedic stars of all time.
I also am struck by the fact that he never engaged in mean "edgy" humor, but those were, unfortunately different times.

TMink said...

"Don't drink water. Fish fuck in it."

W.C. Fields

JorgXMcKie said...

William Claude Dukenfield's [w.C. Fields] Law: If it's worth winning, it's worth cheating.

I give that one to every one of my classes every year. If it's worth anything, someone will cheat to win.

Human nature.

Anonymous said...

I can't see video :((
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