"Well, excuuuuuse me!"
About this Quote
A single, stretched-out vowel turned into a cultural hand grenade. Steve Martin's "Well, excuuuuuse me!" works because it weaponizes politeness: the phrase begins like an apology and ends like an indictment. The comedy lives in the overcorrection. Nobody actually says "excuse me" with that much operatic dignity unless they're trying to win an argument on vibes alone. Martin takes a minor social friction - being bumped, contradicted, lightly embarrassed - and inflates it into righteous martyrdom, mocking how easily the ego recruits manners as legal defense.
In context, the line lands as a signature of his late-70s "Wild and Crazy Guy" persona: the white suit, the banjo virtuosity, the deliberately too-big showbiz energy. It's anti-cool performed at maximum volume. The bit isn't just that he's offended; it's that he's thrilled to perform being offended. That choice exposes something enduring about American social life: grievance can be theatrical, even addictive, and the language of civility often doubles as a stage prop.
The drawn-out "excuuuuuuse" is the tell. It telegraphs indignation before the sentence even finishes, turning a small rebuke into a melodrama. That's why it became a catchphrase: it's instantly reusable whenever someone feels unseen or corrected. Martin's genius is making the audience recognize themselves in the pettiness, then laugh at the elaborate performance they didn't realize they were doing.
In context, the line lands as a signature of his late-70s "Wild and Crazy Guy" persona: the white suit, the banjo virtuosity, the deliberately too-big showbiz energy. It's anti-cool performed at maximum volume. The bit isn't just that he's offended; it's that he's thrilled to perform being offended. That choice exposes something enduring about American social life: grievance can be theatrical, even addictive, and the language of civility often doubles as a stage prop.
The drawn-out "excuuuuuuse" is the tell. It telegraphs indignation before the sentence even finishes, turning a small rebuke into a melodrama. That's why it became a catchphrase: it's instantly reusable whenever someone feels unseen or corrected. Martin's genius is making the audience recognize themselves in the pettiness, then laugh at the elaborate performance they didn't realize they were doing.
Quote Details
| Topic | Sarcastic |
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