Legendary actor and comedic hero to every weird kid who sits in the back of the lunchroom quoting stupid movies to his two friends, Leslie Nielsen died this past weekend. Because all are probably familiar with his story of stone-faced serious actor completely cashing in on that image late in his career to become one of the funniest movie straight-men of all time, there's not really much I can add here that will be a revelation for anyone.
But as someone who, like countless others in my generation, had their comedic world view completely shaped by Nielsen's work in the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker parody movies, this is truly a tragic time. I don't think anyone will ever be better at rapid-fire zaniness or straight-laced delivery of absurdist dialogue like he was.
And while I'm tempted to just start listing every great line the man ever delivered (and Lord knows some people are heroically doing just that), I figure it's more appropriate to leave you with the one line that will be most indelibly connected to him for the length of time recorded film exists.
Yes, surely I'm speaking of:
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