Daily Inspiration Quote by Dom DeLuise

Celebrity dinner-party gossip is doing double duty here: it name-drops Gene Wilder to set the scene, then pivots to the real flex - performance as social currency. Dom DeLuise isn’t telling you what he ate; he’s reminding you what he does. The verb choice matters. “Imitated” isn’t “quoted” or “talked about.” It’s work, craft, and compulsion wrapped in a casual anecdote. Even off-camera, DeLuise frames himself as the guy who can turn any room into a stage.

The Ethel Barrymore reference sharpens the joke. Barrymore stands for a certain grand, old-world theatrical authority - big diction, big gesture, aristocratic drama. DeLuise, a beloved comic presence, invoking her at a dinner with Wilder (another performer whose persona mixed sweetness with precision) signals insider taste: these are actors who know their lineage. It’s also a gentle bit of cultural gatekeeping. If you recognize Barrymore, you’re “in” on the bit.

Subtext: there’s affection and insecurity in the same breath. The line reads like a brag, but it’s also a defense of comedy as artistry. Imitation isn’t party-trick fluff; it’s evidence of fluency, an actor’s way of proving membership in a tradition. Contextually, it fits the mid-to-late 20th-century entertainment world where impressions were both calling card and currency - a portable talent you could deploy anywhere, especially in rooms where being memorable mattered.