When ChatGPT or some other A.I. inevitably starts writing comedy scripts, the list of phrases banned from the Workaholics writers’ room will give it everything it needs to write something indistinguishable from the average broadcast sitcom.
In 2016, the writers for a show that was noticeably heavy on catchphrases decided to make a list of the overused quips, cracks and punchlines that had already been drained of any remotely humorous applications by the movies, TV shows, tweets, memes and comments that used the phrases as placeholders for an actual joke.
While a handful of these humorless lines have thankfully gone extinct through the natural cycle of overuse and exhaustion, some of these have hilariously endured for the better part of a decade – they even accidentally roasted the Netflix show Nailed It! two years before it premiered.
If I could add anything to this list, I would include “This ain’t it,” “Sir, this is a Wendy’s,” “Weird flex, but okay” and literally any joke about pronouns. I’ll show myself out.