Humor & Life Quote by Robert Klein

Name-dropping as neighborhood credential is a very Bronx kind of flex, and Robert Klein knows it. “Regis and I were inducted into the original Bronx Walk of Fame” isn’t trying to land a punchline so much as it’s doing what Klein’s comedy often does: turning identity into a tight little status joke, with affection baked into the ego.

The phrase “Regis and I” is calibrated. Regis Philbin is the perfect foil: relentlessly genial, broadly famous, a TV fixture who reads as “everybody’s guy.” Pairing himself with Regis lets Klein borrow that mainstream glow while keeping it local and a little competitive, like two kids comparing trophies back on the block. The word “inducted” is mock-grand, lifting a borough tradition into the language of Hall of Fame ceremony. That inflation is the humor: it treats civic recognition as both profoundly meaningful and faintly ridiculous, which is exactly how hometown pride actually feels.

Then there’s “original.” Klein is claiming authenticity, first-edition legitimacy, the pre-gentrification, pre-branding Bronx. It’s a subtle jab at later, slicker versions of fame-making: the commodified “walk of fame” as tourist product versus the Bronx version as a community roll call. Under the joke sits a real generational note: for comics who came up before social media metrics, being honored by your own neighborhood is a different kind of proof. Not viral, not global, but real enough to brag about forever.