Madeline Kahn Monday: I’m Tired -The Toast

The question has always been, for this series, “How long do I wait before I give them the Blazing Saddles/Clue scenes I know everyone’s really here for?” And I think you’ve waited long enough, and been good. Here it is.

(For context.)

(What were they thinking? HOW IS THAT THE CROSSOVER HIT THAT MADE HER SUCCESSFUL IN AMERICA?)

Mallory is an Editor of The Toast.

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+75 Vote up Vote down

ppyajunebug 137p · 488 weeks ago

My goal in life is to be 50% Phryne Fisher and 50 % Lili Von Schtupp

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+27 Vote up Vote down

frankie0darling 140p · 488 weeks ago

yes yes yes yes yes yES YES YES YES

YES

MOTHER
FUCKING
HERE
FOR
THIS

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+39 Vote up Vote down

fatslut 133p · 488 weeks ago

I remember having to explain the name "Von Schtupp" to a couple of gentile friends in high school when we were watching Blazing Saddles together. Good times, good times.

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2 replies · active 488 weeks ago

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alahmnat 104p · 488 weeks ago

I definitely remember being very confused when I was younger as to why her name was always bleeped whenever it aired on TV (usually as "Von Scht--"). Oh, dear sweet innocent younger me...

(Also, I may be mis-remembering, but didn't the AMC channel keep her name bleeped when they ran the movie without bleeping the n-word? I seem to remember that being a super weird thing that they did.)

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brigidkeely 112p · 488 weeks ago

When I was a kid my dad recorded it on VHS off the tv (probably fox). They edited out the fart noises, replaced it with horses whinnying loudly. My brothers and I figured the cowboys were all farting a ton and offending the horses and they were complaining and that was the joke. Meanwhile, they left the n-word in. Farts were apparently more jarring than the n-word? They didn't edit out Von Schtupp, either.

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CleverManka 143p · 488 weeks ago

This is particularly appropriate for me today since I stayed out way past my bedtime last night. Thank you, Mallory. Perfect timing, as always.

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+28 Vote up Vote down

Claudia · 488 weeks ago

You know, my dad and I don't agree on much, it seems, but we agree that this this particular part of Blazing Saddles is one of the best things ever. (He tends to prefer "What in the wide, wide world of sports is going on here?" and any and all Mongo bits, but he recognizes how great Von Schtupp is.) To this day, "So very tiwered," is a thing between us. DADS!

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Rillquiet 118p · 488 weeks ago

It ensaddens me that they cut one line from the movie: After Lily moans, "It's twue, it's TWUE," the actor playing Bart had ad-libbed, "You're sucking on my elbow."

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AKA · 488 weeks ago

At this point, the mere sound of her voice now starts a Pavlovian response where I just start grinning uncontrollably until the moment it's clear she's done performing. The part where she starts singing "ahh ahh ahhh" had me weeping.

She did some good work in a lesser-known movie "Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother" (Gene Wilder trying his hand at Brooks-style broad satire), although the movie's pretty uneven, it has some moments of inspired silliness worth seeing. This scene has Kahn in an opera spoof and my God...the cast. (Kahn! Wilder! Feldman! Dom Deluise! Albert Finney! Leo McKern!)
http://youtu.be/Ws1Y13AeGc4

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1 reply · active 488 weeks ago

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GabsHardy 16p · 488 weeks ago

I ADORE Smarter Brother. It's got one of my favorite Madeline lines - "My name is Jenny Hill, and I am simultaneously funny and sad." It's one I quote fairly often and, not surprisingly, never gets recognized.

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Frumiosa 141p · 488 weeks ago

"Have another schnitzengruben....."

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1 reply · active 488 weeks ago

+22 Vote up Vote down

JGlows 120p · 488 weeks ago

Baby, you know fifteen is my limit on schnitzengruben.

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+4 Vote up Vote down

PonyAlong 102p · 488 weeks ago

Dammit, THAT'S GOOD MK...also, I sing this at my partner at random intervals when life gets in the way of having a good time, ie. sitting through a tedious family function, picking up endless piles of horse manure in the freezing rain, etc.

Never fails to make us laugh; and now I'm going to see if Blazing Saddles comes in some kind of über DVD box set for the Ultimate Surprise Christmas Stocking Stuffer.

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RuncibleSpoon 107p · 488 weeks ago

ahhhhhh! when i was a tiny child and enjoying Mel Brooks movies with my dad (also my future plans, kids literally do not pick up on dirty jokes for which they have no context)... i fell deeply head over heels in admiring love with Madeline Kahn...especially for this song!

i mean, i only later discovered the overall actual point of the jokes, but as a kid, i just assumed she was sick and tired of men wooing her, complimenting her, pursuing her, etc like they did in every disney movie and beyond where boy chases girl. and i loved her for it.

her faces! her voice! that comic timing!

thank you a million times for getting me to watch this for the millionth time :)

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3 replies · active 488 weeks ago

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Unreadaethel 127p · 488 weeks ago

During my childhood spent reading comics/listening to comedy routines well above my age level, I got very good at figuring out what lines clearly had to be jokes, and how dirty they must be based on delivery and other characters' reactions. I now realize I repeated jokes that were much, much dirtier than I thought they were.

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RuncibleSpoon 107p · 488 weeks ago

I did, uh, much the same thing. one of my favorite jokes at like, 12/13 goes as follows:
"After a long night of reverly in Valhalla, one of the valkyries is tiredly making her way back to her room.
This beautiful, hunky guy appears in the hallway. He leans against the wall in front of her, beams his best grin, and says 'I'm Thor!'
She scowls and pushes past him, replying 'You're thor?! I'm tho thor I can hardly pith thrait!'"

see, it's funny because she misunderstands Thor, god of thunder...she's 'thor' because of partying all night!

Also, it's kind of dirty because she swears!

yeah, i told a lot of accidently much dirtier jokes...i had these milton berle and groucho marx books and the like and ended up parroting some cringe-y stuff

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Unreadaethel 127p · 488 weeks ago

I just included lots of innuendo and eyebrow-waggling, which I knew to be risque, but I didn't understand the full extent of it. I can't think of any examples right now, unfortunately. I expect that jokes about swords, sheaths, and suggestively-shaped vegetables were involved, however.

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leocadialee 84p · 488 weeks ago

This is always amazing, but I think a better context would be those two songs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YiFSDcIIb4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnqL_g1xako

(Love love love Dietrich, so this is my favourite MK scene!)

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ThatPoetChick · 488 weeks ago

I want this played at my funeral.

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GabsHardy 16p · 488 weeks ago

I honestly don't think I'd ever heard Dietrich before, so thank you - that just makes me appreciate Madeline's performance even more, if that's even possible.

Madeline Kahn Monday: I’m Tired

ByDaniel Mallory Ortberg

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