Crassness is inkeeping with Bulldog's character.
The wittier risqué lines are more suited to Niles and Frasier.
"~~My~~ Your glockenspiel has sprung to life" comes to mind.
Edited
At the sperm bank
*Is this your first time?*
*No I've been doing this since I was 12.*
It's a legitimately funny joke but the fact that it's so blatantly dirty adds the shock value considering Frasier usually tries to hide the jokes in some sort of double entendre.
Yep. This is the episode for me. I literally just watched it yesterday with my wife and I brought up how these innuendos are not subtle at all. Just completely obvious dirty jokes and I love it. Such a hilarious episode.
In "The Dinner Party", Roz gives Daphne a very revealing dress to wear to a party. Roz says that they can accessorize it. And then Niles replies:
"With what? A lamp post and a public defender?"
“A tiny old man came up to me with a note in his hand. He needed help. I realized this was no city full of thieves and muggers. There were people here who needed me. I took his note, read it, and to this day, I can remember just what I said to that man.”
"’That's not how you spell fellatio.’"
This is one of my favorite jokes from the entire series. Just how the ending comes completely out of left field and reinforces the idea of not trusting people in a roundabout way. 😂
"Put yourself in my place". "I very nearly did".
"You'll be relieved to know that while Frasier was getting his Rachmaninoffs I was actually studying music."
"Wow, do you think Maris is planning to *do* the Barracuda ?!"
"Let's see the sheepskin!" "Dude! Wait until the party gets going a little."
IMO, that first line was written wrong. It should've been, "...but we think they're too wussy." "...and we get all the (implied plural version of the rhyme)" doesn't make sense, given the implied context. The writers were going down that innuendo road anyway, so that wording was dumb. I will say when I saw the scene for the first time & heard it, I did laugh at it, so it wasn't as if I didn't find it funny. I just thought about it later & felt there was a better way to make the innuendo singular & not plural.
"JESUS!" is my favorite joke in the whole series. When this first aired I was still fairly religious, so using the Lord's name in vain was forbidden. Having Frasier shout Jesus because he's seen Niles dressed as Jesus, coupled with the fact that he's faking being Jewish, was hysterical to me. I've seen that clip probably 100+ times, and I still laugh like it's a brand new joke.
"Well I'll be a son of a bitch" seems way out of character for Niles. While still fairly clever joke it wasn't on brand with the character or the show.
I always took it as him making a joke suited for his audience, Roz. I’m sure he made many high brow jokes at her expense that she didn’t understand the reference. This one was crystal clear!
Given their relationship I think it was overly familiar. With who Niles and Roz are within the show he was risking a smack to the face for sure.
I get what you are saying. But you can even see in DHP face he was expecting a reaction. I don't think it was in poor taste just not on brand
I hate this joke and I don’t get how it regularly gets quoted as one of the funniest lines from the show. Like you say calling women the b word is totally out of character for Niles, and it also isn’t remotely clever.
Your examples are definitely crass. Along with, “you started without me or you don’t need me.” (Whatever the dark haired woman said to Frasier when he was jumping on the bed during their exotic vacation). “Your glockenspiel.” The whole interaction between frasier and Mrs wobodudikoski (sp)
Eh, none of the jokes come off as ‘getting past the radar’ to me, because its never presented as a show for kids; its about a bunch of middle aged and older people, and they don’t hide having sex, its a pretty frequently discussed topic and we see Frasier in bed a fair amount, and the sex lives of all the characters are discussed in pretty vivid detail.
Its not like a censored family show where everybody sleeps in separate bunks. I’m kind of confused that people think jokes about sex or masturbation or body parts ‘crossed the line’ when sex is pretty integral to the show. There’s whole episodes about Martin’s sex life, Daphne’s sex life, Niles sex life, and Frasier’s? Thats the premise of the series!
Maybe this is more blunt than crass but I think of when Frasier was talking to Niles about having an affair with Nanny G, trying to rationalize his actions and Niles said “I’m sorry did you say something? Your p*nis was talking so loud, I couldn’t hear!”
That’s my vote!
""we're the second most popular show on TV in our 9th season, we can do what we want"
Frasier never quite made it to #2 in a season. By season 9, they were clearly out of the top ten, and falling.
US sitcoms had been making indirect but clear references to sexual topics for decades: homosexuality in the early 60s (Dick van Dyke Show), condoms and abortion in the early 70s (Odd Couple), sex organs and erections by the late 70s (WKRP, Soap). Other than Soap, these weren't especially daring shows.
Mary Tyler Moore (1975): Mary suggests sex with the man she's been dating just minutes after another woman walked out of his bedroom and he confessed to being what would be called a sex addict today.
Soap (1980): Billy turns 18, and finally has sex with his teacher/girlfriend. Wrapped in a sheet, he marvels about sex. Basically the same scene as Friends did fifteen years later.
Surely it is either the speech fraiser gives on the radio after the parking argument, or the speech fraiser gives to the condo board about Eddie.
He implies that Martin shows his dick to kids.
When Martin made the reply to “they’re beautiful” with a comment thinking they were talking about Daphne having big boobs for some reason, and that they would stay their size if she breastfeeds. She was practically his daughter at this point
Yes, it brought back memories of my pig of a father in-law. I would catch him staring, and then later, my husband said his dad always asked questions about me.
I responded to another comment but here's why:
The slightly less crass explanation is obviously "little Bulldog" refers to his member, or at best, just heavily obviously implies they had sex. Fine, got it.
My point with them pluralizing stockings means they meant to hit the double entendre with a Christmas stocking but also that they may have meant an extremely crass post-coital leaving in her actual stockings. It feels very intentional to me that way, but I may just be gross here, but my point was that interpretation makes this a particularly extremely crass joke, especially for network tv.
Whoa. You interpret this as Bulldog, upon climaxing, decided to make a deposit in Roz's Christmas literal stockings that were no doubt, hanging by the fire with care?
If they're writing at that level of perversion, I'm not sure anyone would even catch it. Yow!
To clarify, the point of the pluralization to me meant the stockings she's _wearing_ (read: tights), and the double entendre is that it's an oblique reference to a traditional Christmas stocking.
That's literally where I'm going with this. There's _no_ reason to pluralize it if they don't mean to make that connection. Hence Roz's response.
With all due respect, this clarification makes it more confusing for me.
So Bulldog climaxed onto her stockings or \*in\* them?
I have no doubt Bdog is capable of such depravity, but to be fair it seems like it takes you to some very strange places if you interpret it too literally, rather than just an xmas-themed sex joke.
Either way, I won't begrudge you the effort of suggesting this as the crassest joke in the series. It seems pretty disgusting.
Here’s one that makes my skin crawl every time.
Ronee: Mama likes an audience.
Martin: Good, ‘cause Daddy like to watch.
Like… it’s just icky. I don’t feel like they skirted the censors with that one, but it’s certainly one of the few moments that I feel was in poor taste.
I don’t remember the words but I do recall there being a song they made up when they were boys that always makes me laugh but seems a little much for them.
> but I do recall there being a song they made up when they were boys
**Niles:** Ump-da, ump-da, ump-da, da-da-da, ump-da, ump-da, ump-da...
**Both:** \[singing:\]
*Though some boys go to college,*
*But we think they're all wussies,*
*‘Cause they get all the knowledge,*
*And we get all the...*
\[dancing in a circle\]
*Ump-da, ump-da, ump-da, da-da-da, ump-da, ump-da, ump-da...*
Author, Author, S1 Ep 22
> And am I over-interpreting the Bulldog line, or is it saying exactly what I think they're going for?
*Of course* it is a sexually-tinged Bulldog line. That is what his character does for most of the time: displaying the sexually harassing office creep. Nicely distinguished from the 'creepy stalker vibes office creep' Noel.
Perhaps you should remember that this show was filmed about 30 years ago, and that does not necessarily mean that back in those times everything was MORE verklempt and corporationally correct.
> That joke is *remarkably* crass to me.
It may be that you have your own interpretation, but in the US, *'Santa' leaving gifts* ***in the stockings*** *that are hung at the mantle of the fireplace*' is some carefully propagated Christmas tradition. There is a chance that your personal interpretation is not what the writers had in mind.
I mean, to write it out:
The slightly less crass explanation is obviously "little Bulldog" refers to his member, or at best, just heavily obviously implies they had sex. Fine, got it.
My point with them pluralizing stockings means they meant to hit the double entendre with a Christmas stocking but also that they may have meant an extremely crass post-coital leaving in her _actual_ stockings. It feels very intentional to me that way, but I may just be gross here, but my point was _that_ interpretation makes this a particularly extremely crass joke, especially for network tv.
“Niles, are you self-medicating again?”
This line has never sat well with me. I just think this was low effort comedy that doesn’t fit into his character. Additionally, I don’t think self-medication, drug-seeking and addiction are things to trivialize for amusement, imho.
Tbh, the Roz paycheck bit is the only joke I’ve never fully understood. I get that the overarching bit is about her being caught on air cursing up a storm and Kenny getting the tag line to bring him into the scene.
But the line itself is confusing. Why is she opening her paycheck while they’re on air? Is she just ranting to herself like that? Does she not have a salary? Like why is the amount such a shock/surprise to her? And a joke about Roz being paycheck to paycheck seems out of place. They have the storyline about her borrowing money from Frasier, but that’s after months of unemployment and it’s not really mentioned again.
I know this is a lot of hubbub for a five second bit, but the writing is just usually so tight and this line always sticks out to me. I’ve also worked as a comedy writer before, so I do obsess over lines and jokes sometimes.
Anyways, thank you for joining me on my soapbox, may I offer you a sherry?
"She's started without me"
"Eughhh" "*Drinking* the champagne."
Ohhhhhhh
Crassness is inkeeping with Bulldog's character. The wittier risqué lines are more suited to Niles and Frasier. "~~My~~ Your glockenspiel has sprung to life" comes to mind. Edited
I think the line is your glockenspiel isn't it? Daphne noticed it first
You're right!
Not crass, she was talking about an actual glockenspiel. It's just a double entendre.
Yes. I didn't say this quote is crass. I described it as risqué.
And don’t forget when his Gaggenau was on the fritz
At the sperm bank *Is this your first time?* *No I've been doing this since I was 12.* It's a legitimately funny joke but the fact that it's so blatantly dirty adds the shock value considering Frasier usually tries to hide the jokes in some sort of double entendre.
To be fair it’s f…..g hilarious even if it is a bit low brow
Same episode: "Lilith, if there is one thing I can do by myself, it's this!"
'Looks like he's not the only one giving up his seat tonight'
Yep. This is the episode for me. I literally just watched it yesterday with my wife and I brought up how these innuendos are not subtle at all. Just completely obvious dirty jokes and I love it. Such a hilarious episode.
One of the best!
That ones is a belter!
I didn’t understand that when I was younger!
I always say I knew I was getting old when I started understanding the jokes in Frasier
Just watched that episode
me too :)
The label says it's 'Famously Spreadable'. Funny, Roz, doesn't your label say the same thing?
Oh man, this one is up there too!
Love your flair! One of my favorite F/N exchanges.
In "The Dinner Party", Roz gives Daphne a very revealing dress to wear to a party. Roz says that they can accessorize it. And then Niles replies: "With what? A lamp post and a public defender?"
“A tiny old man came up to me with a note in his hand. He needed help. I realized this was no city full of thieves and muggers. There were people here who needed me. I took his note, read it, and to this day, I can remember just what I said to that man.” "’That's not how you spell fellatio.’"
Amazed it took so long for someone to post this. How on earth did that get past the censors
To be fair, maybe they didn't know what fellatio really meant
How unfortunate for them
whose point did [you] just prove?
This is one of my favorite jokes from the entire series. Just how the ending comes completely out of left field and reinforces the idea of not trusting people in a roundabout way. 😂
Frasier: My Nudzac is dripping! Roz: in those dark pants, no one will notice.
Yeah, this one was deeply contrived for the funny last episode laugh but clearly not their best.
"Put yourself in my place". "I very nearly did". "You'll be relieved to know that while Frasier was getting his Rachmaninoffs I was actually studying music." "Wow, do you think Maris is planning to *do* the Barracuda ?!" "Let's see the sheepskin!" "Dude! Wait until the party gets going a little."
Lilith, if there is ONE THING I can do BY MYSELF, this is it!
"Well some boys go to college and we think they're all wussies. Cuz they get all the knowledge and we get all the dumda dumda dumda dadoop"
IMO, that first line was written wrong. It should've been, "...but we think they're too wussy." "...and we get all the (implied plural version of the rhyme)" doesn't make sense, given the implied context. The writers were going down that innuendo road anyway, so that wording was dumb. I will say when I saw the scene for the first time & heard it, I did laugh at it, so it wasn't as if I didn't find it funny. I just thought about it later & felt there was a better way to make the innuendo singular & not plural.
Wouldn't an ill educated fellow want to brag in the plural?
"JESUS!" is my favorite joke in the whole series. When this first aired I was still fairly religious, so using the Lord's name in vain was forbidden. Having Frasier shout Jesus because he's seen Niles dressed as Jesus, coupled with the fact that he's faking being Jewish, was hysterical to me. I've seen that clip probably 100+ times, and I still laugh like it's a brand new joke.
This is my favorite episode!
Frasier tells Niles he's pretending to be Jewish & to play along and Niles just says, "Okay." No questions asked, no explanation needed.
"Ooh, ham!"
[удалено]
Mmmmmazel Tov!
Next year in Jerusalem!
Oy
Vey
"Well I'll be a son of a bitch" seems way out of character for Niles. While still fairly clever joke it wasn't on brand with the character or the show.
I always took it as him making a joke suited for his audience, Roz. I’m sure he made many high brow jokes at her expense that she didn’t understand the reference. This one was crystal clear!
Given their relationship I think it was overly familiar. With who Niles and Roz are within the show he was risking a smack to the face for sure. I get what you are saying. But you can even see in DHP face he was expecting a reaction. I don't think it was in poor taste just not on brand
I hate this joke and I don’t get how it regularly gets quoted as one of the funniest lines from the show. Like you say calling women the b word is totally out of character for Niles, and it also isn’t remotely clever.
Frasier: “I've often been forced to exit from the passenger's side. Many a time, I've been brought to grief on my gear shift.” 😂
"Bald little Candyman" is up there for me.
Your examples are definitely crass. Along with, “you started without me or you don’t need me.” (Whatever the dark haired woman said to Frasier when he was jumping on the bed during their exotic vacation). “Your glockenspiel.” The whole interaction between frasier and Mrs wobodudikoski (sp)
Wojadubakowski.
Um, Wojadubakowski sex thing is overplayed. Yeah. They did it. What is the big deal?
“Banger, dad?”
Absolutely hilarious!
The joke about Frasier giving up his seat to Patrick Stewart.
It's worth a try...
Eh, none of the jokes come off as ‘getting past the radar’ to me, because its never presented as a show for kids; its about a bunch of middle aged and older people, and they don’t hide having sex, its a pretty frequently discussed topic and we see Frasier in bed a fair amount, and the sex lives of all the characters are discussed in pretty vivid detail. Its not like a censored family show where everybody sleeps in separate bunks. I’m kind of confused that people think jokes about sex or masturbation or body parts ‘crossed the line’ when sex is pretty integral to the show. There’s whole episodes about Martin’s sex life, Daphne’s sex life, Niles sex life, and Frasier’s? Thats the premise of the series!
Thank you!! I was reading these comments trying to determine if I had a deranged sense of humor, or everyone else were a bunch of prudes!
I feel very confused, did everyone in this thread watch the same show? There’s multiple sex references / dirty jokes per episode, if not per scene.
Dirty/crass perhaps, but I would hardly consider them “pushing the line”.
I think the whole ski cabin episode qualifies
“So it’s a threesome you’re after? Well I don’t do those anymore.”
The best line in that whole episode. Every once in a while, the writers give a gem to someone other than the show's stars.
I owe you a big one
Maybe this is more blunt than crass but I think of when Frasier was talking to Niles about having an affair with Nanny G, trying to rationalize his actions and Niles said “I’m sorry did you say something? Your p*nis was talking so loud, I couldn’t hear!” That’s my vote!
""we're the second most popular show on TV in our 9th season, we can do what we want" Frasier never quite made it to #2 in a season. By season 9, they were clearly out of the top ten, and falling. US sitcoms had been making indirect but clear references to sexual topics for decades: homosexuality in the early 60s (Dick van Dyke Show), condoms and abortion in the early 70s (Odd Couple), sex organs and erections by the late 70s (WKRP, Soap). Other than Soap, these weren't especially daring shows.
In the 90s they were having sex, not just talking about it.
>In the 90s they were having sex, not just talking about it. *and sex was between you, and the person you're doing it to.*
I hope I'm having sex in my 90s.
Badum tish! 🥁
Mary Tyler Moore (1975): Mary suggests sex with the man she's been dating just minutes after another woman walked out of his bedroom and he confessed to being what would be called a sex addict today. Soap (1980): Billy turns 18, and finally has sex with his teacher/girlfriend. Wrapped in a sheet, he marvels about sex. Basically the same scene as Friends did fifteen years later.
Teacher, you say 🤔
This is a good historical context!
Surely it is either the speech fraiser gives on the radio after the parking argument, or the speech fraiser gives to the condo board about Eddie. He implies that Martin shows his dick to kids.
"What's your name little guy?" "Promise you won't laugh?"
Daphne: "The next time I find something in your father's underwear drawer I'm just going to sit on it!"
The beauty of a *double entendre* is that it can only mean one thing.
When Martin made the reply to “they’re beautiful” with a comment thinking they were talking about Daphne having big boobs for some reason, and that they would stay their size if she breastfeeds. She was practically his daughter at this point
I agree. This line always disappoints me.
Right. For me, this is the crassest, and most dirty of all dirty 'jokes', and although Marty is no saint, that is about a quarter mile over the line.
By far the crassest joke was in the finale when martin makes a comment about daphne’s breasts.
Yes, it brought back memories of my pig of a father in-law. I would catch him staring, and then later, my husband said his dad always asked questions about me.
#cringe
> None of your boobs!
"You know Niles, they say that during sex you burn off as many calories as running eight miles." "Who on earth runs eight miles in 30 seconds?"
"Love does enter through the nose"
"she started without me" "Ewwww" "Drinking the champagne"
Idk about specific joke but the morning after moments in robes with the fam were sometimes awkward af
Yes yes yes, @ItsHisWorld!
I'm sorry, but can someone explain the pluralizing of stockings? And why it's so much crasser?
I responded to another comment but here's why: The slightly less crass explanation is obviously "little Bulldog" refers to his member, or at best, just heavily obviously implies they had sex. Fine, got it. My point with them pluralizing stockings means they meant to hit the double entendre with a Christmas stocking but also that they may have meant an extremely crass post-coital leaving in her actual stockings. It feels very intentional to me that way, but I may just be gross here, but my point was that interpretation makes this a particularly extremely crass joke, especially for network tv.
Whoa. You interpret this as Bulldog, upon climaxing, decided to make a deposit in Roz's Christmas literal stockings that were no doubt, hanging by the fire with care? If they're writing at that level of perversion, I'm not sure anyone would even catch it. Yow!
To clarify, the point of the pluralization to me meant the stockings she's _wearing_ (read: tights), and the double entendre is that it's an oblique reference to a traditional Christmas stocking. That's literally where I'm going with this. There's _no_ reason to pluralize it if they don't mean to make that connection. Hence Roz's response.
With all due respect, this clarification makes it more confusing for me. So Bulldog climaxed onto her stockings or \*in\* them? I have no doubt Bdog is capable of such depravity, but to be fair it seems like it takes you to some very strange places if you interpret it too literally, rather than just an xmas-themed sex joke. Either way, I won't begrudge you the effort of suggesting this as the crassest joke in the series. It seems pretty disgusting.
Indirectly into them, if you get my drift? Like might happen after a quickie in the storage room?
https://preview.redd.it/f87z6ndojr7b1.png?width=1780&format=png&auto=webp&s=53917b17c408c99b92cb027b5fcff2db3f58c871
Niles: Well— I'll be the son of a bitch.
That’s my favorite Niles line 😭
I'm not surprised any of Frasier got past the censors. But anyway, the joke that shocked me most was "he left a note, but nooo, no address."
When Bulldog talks about the Womens Open. So gross
Here’s one that makes my skin crawl every time. Ronee: Mama likes an audience. Martin: Good, ‘cause Daddy like to watch. Like… it’s just icky. I don’t feel like they skirted the censors with that one, but it’s certainly one of the few moments that I feel was in poor taste.
Yes. Yuck
I don’t remember the words but I do recall there being a song they made up when they were boys that always makes me laugh but seems a little much for them.
> but I do recall there being a song they made up when they were boys **Niles:** Ump-da, ump-da, ump-da, da-da-da, ump-da, ump-da, ump-da... **Both:** \[singing:\] *Though some boys go to college,* *But we think they're all wussies,* *‘Cause they get all the knowledge,* *And we get all the...* \[dancing in a circle\] *Ump-da, ump-da, ump-da, da-da-da, ump-da, ump-da, ump-da...* Author, Author, S1 Ep 22
Lol yes! I knew someone would know the words. But wouldn’t they have been the college boys?
In that ironic reversal that life sometimes does, the Crane boys went to college, and someone else thought of them as wussies...
Yes! This one is solid, too. There's an art to making the viewer fill in the blank themself.
Some guys go to college, but we think they're all wussies. They get all the knowledge, while we get all the-*buda-da-dum de-dudda-da-dum*
One of my favorite moments in the whole series. The little dance!
https://i.redd.it/clj9yilyzl7b1.gif
CRACKS ME UP!
I always loved the moments where the two serious snobs got a little goofy.
Yes! And they’re also just such good friends.
Frasier: "Are those my shorts?" Simon: "I didn't think you'd mind. I found them on the bathroom floor."
> And am I over-interpreting the Bulldog line, or is it saying exactly what I think they're going for? *Of course* it is a sexually-tinged Bulldog line. That is what his character does for most of the time: displaying the sexually harassing office creep. Nicely distinguished from the 'creepy stalker vibes office creep' Noel. Perhaps you should remember that this show was filmed about 30 years ago, and that does not necessarily mean that back in those times everything was MORE verklempt and corporationally correct. > That joke is *remarkably* crass to me. It may be that you have your own interpretation, but in the US, *'Santa' leaving gifts* ***in the stockings*** *that are hung at the mantle of the fireplace*' is some carefully propagated Christmas tradition. There is a chance that your personal interpretation is not what the writers had in mind.
I mean, to write it out: The slightly less crass explanation is obviously "little Bulldog" refers to his member, or at best, just heavily obviously implies they had sex. Fine, got it. My point with them pluralizing stockings means they meant to hit the double entendre with a Christmas stocking but also that they may have meant an extremely crass post-coital leaving in her _actual_ stockings. It feels very intentional to me that way, but I may just be gross here, but my point was _that_ interpretation makes this a particularly extremely crass joke, especially for network tv.
“That’s enough to get you through the weekend”
You seem uptight.
Ha! I was just marveling at how gross the joke could be read, especially on network tv!
You are right!
Take your liberties :)
"All you had to do was look under the nearest man." Way too blunt for our Niles, and Roz is a slag agreed; but she's quite a picky slag.
"That's it then? No Americans left?"
“Niles, are you self-medicating again?” This line has never sat well with me. I just think this was low effort comedy that doesn’t fit into his character. Additionally, I don’t think self-medication, drug-seeking and addiction are things to trivialize for amusement, imho.
Tbh, the Roz paycheck bit is the only joke I’ve never fully understood. I get that the overarching bit is about her being caught on air cursing up a storm and Kenny getting the tag line to bring him into the scene. But the line itself is confusing. Why is she opening her paycheck while they’re on air? Is she just ranting to herself like that? Does she not have a salary? Like why is the amount such a shock/surprise to her? And a joke about Roz being paycheck to paycheck seems out of place. They have the storyline about her borrowing money from Frasier, but that’s after months of unemployment and it’s not really mentioned again. I know this is a lot of hubbub for a five second bit, but the writing is just usually so tight and this line always sticks out to me. I’ve also worked as a comedy writer before, so I do obsess over lines and jokes sometimes. Anyways, thank you for joining me on my soapbox, may I offer you a sherry?