Daily Inspiration Quote by McLean Stevenson

A line like this lands because it’s almost aggressively reasonable - the kind of workplace “common sense” that usually doesn’t need stating. Which is exactly why it’s funny, and why it tells you more than it appears to: if someone feels compelled to say we shouldn’t serve alcohol at lunch, the room (or the production) has already drifted into chaos.

McLean Stevenson, best known as the affable, exasperated core of MASH, had a public persona built on genial authority. That matters here. The sentence isn’t a moral crusade; it’s a comedic safety rail. “Definitely” is doing heavy lifting: it’s the sound of someone arriving at a boundary after watching everyone ignore smaller ones. The phrasing “serve alcoholic beverages” is deliberately formal, too, like HR language trying to muzzle a carnival. It suggests a scenario where drinking isn’t just happening, it’s being normalized, even hosted - turning excess into policy.

The subtext reads as a gentle scolding aimed at adults behaving like unsupervised kids, but it also hints at a mid-century entertainment culture where daytime drinking was a lubricating tradition, not a scandal. Stevenson’s intent feels practical and performative at once: reassert control, keep the set (or the workplace) functional, and get a laugh by understating the obvious. It’s a small sentence that implies a whole story of long takes, looser inhibitions, and someone finally calling time-out.