Last night I introduced my roommate and dear friend Jen to the lunacy that is the movie What’s Up, Doc, generally acknowledged to be one of the funniest movies ever made. My parents let my brother Brendan and I stay up late to see this movie when we were kids, and I distinctly remember that during the whole Chinese-dragon-out-of-control sequence, he and I were literally rolling about on the floor with laughter, clutching our stomachs.
Since then I have seen it countless times, and can basically recite the entire movie. My sister Jean is in the What’s Up Doc club, as are my high school friends Meredith and Beth…My friend Mitchell and I have actually watched the movie together for the sole purpose of reciting the entire thing in unison, an activity far too obnoxious to involve anyone else.
“Oh, we’re just testing a little theory that Howard has about vocal reverberation under spinal pressure.”
“Vocal reverberation under spinal pressure?”
“Yeah, you know. VRUSP.”
“So…Burnsy—”
“Don’t call her Burnsy.”
“IF YOU DON’T OPEN THIS DOOR IMMEDIATELY, I AM GOING TO COUNT!”
“Don’t count, Eunice. I hate it when you count.”
“How much do I owe you?”
“$69.25.”
“Well, how much is it without the Bufferin?”
“I’m a doctor.”
“Of what?”
“Music.”
“Can you fix a hi-fi?”
“No, sir.”
“Then SHUT UP.”
“You vill tell her that you are there to make passionate love to her.”
Pause.
“Couldn’t I just kill her?”
Clearly, this sort of behavior is only amusing to others in the same club, so I had to hold myself back last night, and let Jen experience the movie on her own.
The guffaws of laughter coming from her rocking chair, especially during the ENDLESS chase scene through the streets of San Francisco, which goes on for half an hour and has to be seen to be believed, did my heart good. There was a part of me afraid that she would watch the movie stone-faced and I would feel like an idiot.
Where the hell is Kenneth Mars? He has to be one of the funniest men alive.
I had no idea I could recite parts of this movie until the other day I said the VRSUP bit, even adding, “I think I read a monograph on that.”
So, maybe I can do the entire movie, too? I’ve never tried, but if I can, “I am Hugh,” too!
P.S. Use your charm.
Don’t you know the meaning of propriety??
I love that you are commenting on a post written my first month even doing this blog and that was over 20 years ago.
what’s up doc is eternal.
I work in a hospital–in IT, no interaction with patients, but sometimes with doctors. I am constantly thinking that none of these people know how to fix a hi-fi
lol!!! legit laugh out loud!!