"I often go on a liquid fast a couple of days a week. I never take just water. Instead, I'll have maybe six glasses of vegetable and fruit juices a day"
About this Quote
Coming from Paul Lynde, that clean-living confession lands as a joke even when it’s technically sincere. A “liquid fast” sounds like 1970s wellness chic, the kind of self-improvement trend that promises purity and control. Lynde punctures it with one perfectly timed turn: “I never take just water.” The line is doing double duty. On paper, it’s practical (juice has calories). In Lynde’s mouth, it’s a wink at indulgence and a sly nod to his persona: the guy who can’t commit to austerity without sneaking in flavor, pleasure, and a little mischief.
The subtext is classic Lynde: discipline framed as performance, virtue undercut by appetite. Even the specificity - “maybe six glasses” - plays like a setup, the faux-accountable detail of someone who knows audiences love the sound of effort more than the reality of deprivation. It’s dieting as comedy, where the punchline is that self-denial always comes with an escape hatch.
Context matters. Lynde was a TV fixture in an era when celebrity confessionals were becoming a form of entertainment and when “health” started morphing into lifestyle branding. For a gay comedian working in a mainstream, carefully managed industry, the public persona was always curated, always a balancing act. This quote fits that world: it offers a wholesome surface while letting the sharper, more hedonistic undercurrent leak through. The humor isn’t in the fast; it’s in the refusal to be sanctimonious about it.
The subtext is classic Lynde: discipline framed as performance, virtue undercut by appetite. Even the specificity - “maybe six glasses” - plays like a setup, the faux-accountable detail of someone who knows audiences love the sound of effort more than the reality of deprivation. It’s dieting as comedy, where the punchline is that self-denial always comes with an escape hatch.
Context matters. Lynde was a TV fixture in an era when celebrity confessionals were becoming a form of entertainment and when “health” started morphing into lifestyle branding. For a gay comedian working in a mainstream, carefully managed industry, the public persona was always curated, always a balancing act. This quote fits that world: it offers a wholesome surface while letting the sharper, more hedonistic undercurrent leak through. The humor isn’t in the fast; it’s in the refusal to be sanctimonious about it.
Quote Details
| Topic | Food |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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