"I go from stool to stool in singles bars hoping to get lucky, but there's never any gum under any of them"

This quote by Emo Philips is a humorous take on the concept of looking for something that might not exist. The expression "I go from stool to stool in singles bars" indicates that the speaker is looking for a romantic connection in bars, however is not having any luck. The phrase "wishing to get fortunate" even more highlights this concept, as it indicates that the speaker is wishing to find somebody special. The expression "but there's never ever any gum under any of them" is an amusing method of stating that the speaker is not finding what they are searching for. This quote is a funny way of expressing the concept that often, no matter how hard we search, we may not discover what we are looking for.