Top Ten Funny Moments in Classical Pop Culture



This is a scheduled post while I'm away but please do add your own suggestions in the comments and I'll see them when I get back! With thanks to Penny Goodman for the idea.




In no particular order because it all depends on your sense of humour, but starting with my personal favourite:

'That's what conquering nations do. It's what Caesar did, and he's not going around saying "I came, I conquered, I feel really bad about it!"'
Spike, on why Willow can't make the Native American spirit feel better, in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 'Pangs'

A messenger brings the news of Lucius Caesar's death to Tiberius and Thrasyllus and they burst out laughing in I, Claudius, 'Waiting in the Wings'



'You lucky bastard!'
Brian is rescued and then dumped back almost where he was by an alien spacecraft, Monty Python's Life of Brian



'Infamy! Infamy! They've all got it in for me!'
Julius Caesar, Carry on Cleo

Flavia, Lupus and Jonathan pretend to have dreamed bad omens so that Captain Geminus can't go on his planned business trip, The Roman Mysteries, 'The Colossus of Rhodes'




'I'm... Spartacus.' 'And so am I!' (3.34 on the video)
The Doctor and Donna, Doctor Who, 'The Fires of Pompeii'



'It vexes me. I'm terribly vexed.' (The comedy is all in the delivery)
Commodus, Gladiator



'You - are wearing - his -MERCHANDISE!'
Hades, Hercules

'Beware Trojans, they're complete smegheads!'
Lister, Red Dwarf, 'The Inquisitor'



(Sounding exasperated) 'I was at an orgy, Mother'
Octavia, Rome, 'Heroes of the Republic'

And because you can never have enough funny - Honourable mentions:

'Have you been making friends again?'
Crixus to Spartacus, Spartacus: Blood and Sand, 'Great and Unfortunate Things'

'You sold me... queer giraffes.'
Proximo, Gladiator

(Also sounding exasperated, just after a book has caught fire) 'Xander, don't speak Latin in front of the books'
Giles, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 'Superstar'

Comments

  1. The Pepsi "I'm Spartacus" commercial first shown at the Academy Awards.

    http://youtu.be/-FYGmMzwJRA

    Followed by "I'm Brian, and so's my wife!"

    http://youtu.be/4SYc_flMnMQ

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lol! That's brilliant! (Though it's made me crave coca-cola, which possibly wasn't the idea!)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Everything on this list is brilliant! There are some I didn't know about, so it's been a treat.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Glad you enjoyed it :) One of these days someone will put the I, Claudius scene on You Tube, it's brilliant...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Horrible Histories' Ra Ra Cleopatra song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQVa1Nb0eKI

    ReplyDelete
  6. I like it, though I think it'd mean more to me if I knew anything about Lady Gaga!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm only aware of Poker Face and Paparazzi, and the video is an amalgam of the two. The songs and Stupid Death are pretty much my favourite bits of Horrible Histories!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm surprised "A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum" got overlooked.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I haven't seen it in ages, and then I was saw it on stage, not the film, and can barely remember it (I was really young and knew nothing about Rome or Plautus at the time). I do remember really enjoying the 'Tragedy Tomorrow Comedy Tonight' song though!

    ReplyDelete
  10. The Horrible Histories videos are pretty good... but my vote for best in class goes to the folks at the HistoryTeachers Youtube channel, who have created some truly awesome "edutainment" (my personal favorites are listed here).

    ReplyDelete
  11. This list of the Top Ten Funny Moments in Classical Pop Culture is absolutely fantastic! It is a great way to take a look back at some of the funniest moments in pop culture history. tech info The list is both entertaining and informative and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good laugh.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment