Repeat After Me
People following instructions too literally out of ignorance, feigned or otherwise. The archetypal example is:
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Speaker: Repeat after me. I... |
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Contrast Literal Genie and Exact Words, both of which involve a "backfire" effect, whereas Repeat After Me is merely benign and silly. For a visual variation, see Walk This Way. See also Disobey This Message and Reading the Stage Directions Out Loud.
Comic Books
- In Empowered:
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- In one Little Arsehole story by Walter Moers, with Kalle Klammroth as Obelix.
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"Obelix": "Who's fat? I'm not fat! A bit... a bit..." |
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Film
- Animal House used the "state your name" version.
- Mel Brooks loves these:
- From Blazing Saddles:
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- From History of the World, Part I:
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Madame Defarge: Repeat after me! (Cough!) (Cough!) (Hack!) (Spit!) |
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- Another example from Robin Hood: Men in Tights is when Maid Marian tries to make Robin promise to not go to the archery tournament:
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Marian: Oh, Robin, promise me you won't go! |
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- From the Soviet comedy Ivan Vasilievich (the quote is translated from Russian):
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Miloslavsky: Well... Tsar and Great Prince, repeat, of all of Rus'... |
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- Variation in Airplane!!:
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Striker: It's an entirely different kind of flying, altogether! |
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- No less than three times in Pulp Fiction!
- After giving Mia Wallace the adrenaline boost:
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Lance: If you're all right, then say something. |
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- When Butch leaves for his golden watch:
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Butch: I'll be back before you can say Blueberry pie. |
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- And finally:
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Wolf: Say goodnight, Raquelle! |
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- What's New, Pussycat? - Romy Schneider plays a language instructor teaching English to a mixed nationality group. Her fiance (Peter O'Toole) storms into the classroom, and as the two have a heated shouting match, the class repeats all their lines in unison. O'Toole finally shouts "Aaagh, you bunch of PARROTS!" and storms out.
- Disney's Pinocchio:
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Geppetto: Say hello to Figaro. |
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Literature
- In the Discworld series, the Ankh-Morpork City Watch Oath takes the cake for this trope:
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"I comma square bracket recruit's name square bracket comma do solemnly swear by square bracket recruit's deity of choice square bracket to uphold the Laws and Ordinances of the city of Ankh-Morpork comma serve the public trust comma and defend the subjects of His stroke Her bracket delete whichever is inappropriate bracket Majesty bracket name of reigning monarch bracket without fear comma favour comma or thought of personal safety semi-colon to pursue evildoers and protect the innocent comma laying down my life if necessary in the cause of said duty comma so help me bracket aforesaid deity bracket full stop Gods Save the King stroke Queen bracket delete whichever is inappropriate bracket full stop." |
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- One Crowning Moment of Awesome for Sam Vimes is when he, while stranded in his own past, recites the whole thing from memory. He also implies that it's meant to be recited this way. (partially because Ankh-Morpork has been monarchless for centuries)
- If you have trouble reading it, it should be:
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"I, [recruit's name], do solemnly swear by [recruit's deity of choice] to uphold the Laws and Ordinances of the city of Ankh-Morpork, serve the public trust, and defend the subjects of His/Her [delete whichever is inappropriate] Majesty [name of reigning monarch] without fear, favour, or thought of personal safety; to pursue evildoers and protect the innocent, laying down my life if necessary in the cause of said duty, so help me [aforesaid deity]. Gods Save the King/Queen [delete whichever is inappropriate]." |
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- In a Captain Underpants book, everyone signed a card "your name here".
- A rare non-comedic example crops up in The Lord of the Rings, of all places, when Pippin peers into the Palantir and winds up on a direct hotline to Sauron himself:
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'It is not for you, Saruman!' he cried in a shrill and toneless voice, shrinking away from Gandalf. 'I will send for it at once. Do you understand? Say just that!' |
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Live Action TV
- The Burns and Allen Show always ended with George Burns saying, "Say goodnight, Gracie." The popular myth is that Gracie Allen would respond, "Goodnight, Gracie", this is a Beam Me Up, Scotty She actually simply responded, "Goodnight."
- Other shows use this gag. For instance, from Tiny Toon Adventures:
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Buster: Say goodnight, Babs. |
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- And from over the pond, this variation from The Two Ronnies':
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Ronnie Corbett: And it's goodnight from me... |
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- Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. "Say goodnight, Dick." "Goodnight, Dick."
- ...and this is likely the example codifier, and the source of the Beam Me Up, Scotty.
- British snooker quiz gameshow Big Break did similar.
- Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. "Say goodnight, Dick." "Goodnight, Dick."
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Jim Davidson: Say goodnight, J.V.! |
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- And from Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
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Warren: Say goodnight, bitch. |
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- From a Stargate SG-1 episode in which Daniel was turned invisible and only his grandfather Nick could see him:
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Daniel: Repeat what I'm saying; I'm standing right beside you. |
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- In Friends, Joey Tribbiani, reading from a script: "Hi, I'm Name."
- Fraggle Rock, from the episode "I Don't Care":
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Gobo: I swear... |
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Drew Carey: Say "Alakazam!"; lift up the lid. Ready? One, two, three... |
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- One sketch by German humorist Loriot:
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Herr Müller-Lüdenscheid: If you want to put some water into the bathtub, say please. |
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- A variant is commonly used in Police Squad!. For example:
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Ed Hocken: All right, Eddie, let's say you did go to the movies. |
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- In a Monty Python's Flying Circus sketch, Biggles tries to dictate to his secretary a letter to King Haakon, and explains that he is not dictating when he takes his antlers off, doing just that as he says so. When she repeats "I am not dictating," he says "What?" and asks her to read what she has been typing, which is:
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"Dear King Haakon, I am not dictating. What?" |
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- The very first Saturday Night Live sketch features this, albeit a physical version. Buck Henry plays a language tutor teaching an immigrant (John Belushi) how to read. ("I would like to feed your fingertips to the wolverines.") In the middle of a sentence, Henry has a heart attack and drops dead. Belushi looks at his dead body and slumps over the same way.
- Hilariously taken to extremes in the Night Court episode "Here's To You, Mrs. Robinson". Harry is trying to swear the pregnant Quon Le and other foreigners as U.S. citizens while Mac has appendicitis.
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Harry: All right then, at this time, I'm going to ask everyone to raise you right hand and repeat after me... |
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- Then they try it again, but this time, they repeat Quan Le going into labor.
- Mystery Science Theater 3000 played with this trope. In "The Human Duplicators", when the hero says to his girlfriend, "Say something." Joel and the bots chime in with "Something". They're then surprised when the girlfriend also says, "Something."
- At the end of "The Indestructible Man", Joel reads aloud an affidavit that he and the bots have agreed to sign, stating that they will never make any more cop/donut jokes. When Joel reads, "I, state your name--" the bots immediately respond with "I, state your name--", much to Joel's chagrin.
- A variation from Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In;
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Dan Rowan: Now repeat after me. |
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- A recurring gag on Beakman's World:
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Beakman: Let's say this wall represents a magnified section of human skin. |
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- After Hello Cheeky's local pianist, Denis King, is pelted with tomatoes:
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Denis: Another television first...I shall now play "Fascinating Rhythm" with an eyeful of tomato. (playing and singing) Oh, fascinating rhythm with an eyeful of tomato... |
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- This Horrible Histories segment on how Victorian schools were run (by the students repeating whatever their teacher said).
Music
- Stan Freberg's version of "C'est Si Bon" does this joke with Freberg instructing his backup singers. On "I've Got You Under My Skin," Freberg dictates the lyrics to the vocalists, but starts forgetting them and they dutifully sing lines like, "Oh, darn it, what are those words?"
Other
- McDonald's once held a promotion where they gave out little vinyl records, and you could win a million dollars if the choir on the record was able to successfully finish the The McDonald's Menu Song. The choir slavishly repeats everything Ronald McDonald says:
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Ronald McDonald: Repeat after me! |
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Video Games
- A pre-recorded message in Portal 2:
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Cave Johnson: Say goodbye, Caroline. |
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Web Comics
- This Irregular Webcomic strip.
- Sam deliberately exploits this tendency in this Freefall strip.
- One of the (player) characters in The Noob is known as Your Name Here.
Western Animation
- In one episode of Winnie the Pooh that (loosely) reenacts "The Three Little Pigs" with Pooh as the narrator, Piglet asks Pooh what he should say to the Big Bad Rabbit who wants to be let in his home.
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Pooh: I believe you're supposed to say no, Piglet. |
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- From DuckTales (1987):
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Some guy: Say you'll do it. |
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- At least once in The Animals of Farthing Wood, when taking their oath.
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Badger: Repeat after me. I, name of animal... |
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- Animaniacs: Woe betide anyone who asks the Warner siblings to "repeat after me". They'll repeat everything, including the words "repeat after me". Of course, being the Warners, they obviously just do it to mess with whoever asked.
- Used in South Park, where a ghostly minion of Satan is manipulating the Republicans, whispering in the ear of George W. Bush during a press conference. It all goes fine until...
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Kevin: It is God's will that he live! |
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- In Meet the Robinsons, the comically inept villain Bowler Hat Guy gains mind control of a talking frog, and this trope is played with, then subverted. Hilarity Ensues.
- SpongeBob SquarePants, "Squidward The Unfriendly Ghost":
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Patrick: He really needs to get to the Great Beyond. |
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- Beavis and Butthead get jobs as telemarketers - Butt-Head reads from his script: "Hello. My name is your name..."
- Tiny Toon Adventures:
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Buster: Say good night, Babs. |
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- During one episode of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, all the boys join the "Secret Snake Club in order to get out of gym class, and have to respond to an oath... but when the senior members get into an argument, everyone else keeps repeating what they are saying.
Real Life
- In the late, lamented Adventurers Club, this was a routine occurrence in the "New Member Induction Ceremony" segment. For instance:
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Character: Repeat after me: *clears throat* |
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- In Blink-182's live album The Mark, Tom, and Travis Show (The Enema Strikes Back!), Tom addresses the audience: "I want all of you to say FUCK with me!" On the count of three, the audience yells out—you guessed it-- "Fuck with me!" Mark asks Tom why he would want them to say that. They explain that Tom wanted them to say fuck, but he wanted them to say it with him. They try it a second time, and get it right.
- In an America's Funniest Home Videos clip, a scout troop instructed to repeat the scout motto all repeat after the leader: "I, and state your name". The adults present were amused.
- Some of them had cheeky grins on their faces, indicating it was deliberate on their part.