A popular joke about television’s “brightness” knob was given by the comedian Gallagher:
“I wish there was a knob on the TV to turn up the intelligence. There’s a knob called ‘brightness,’ but it doesn’t work.”
The Gallagher quote has been cited in print since at least 1996.
Wikipedia: Gallagher (comedian)
Leo Anthony Gallagher, Jr. (born July 24, 1946), known as Gallagher, is an American comedian and prop comic, known for smashing watermelons as part of his act.
Google Groups: bit.listserv.coco
To those requesting the “OrphanWare” discussion end.
Chet Simpson
1/28/96
(...)
“I wish there was a knob on the TV to turn up the intelligence. There’s a knob called `brightness’, but it doesn’t work.” —Gallagher
Google Books
A Treasury of Humor:
Thousands of humorous stories, jokes, anecdotes and one-liners, up-to-date and categorized for ease of use
By Lowell D. Streiker
Peabody, MA: Hendrickson
2000
Pg. 400:
I wish there was a knob on the TV to turn up the intelligence. There’s a knob called brightness, but it doesn’t work. — Eugene Gallagher
Google News Archive
13 September 2004, The Blade (Toledo, OH), sec. D, pg. 5, col. 2:
CRYPTOGRAPH
“I wish there was a knob on the TV to turn up the intelligence. There’s a knob called ‘brightness,’ but it doesn’t work.”
Twitter
Steve’s Quotes Today
@todayquotes
“I wish there was a knob on the TV to turn up the intelligence. There’s a knob called `brightness’, but it doesn’t work.”-Gallager, 60 today
9:53 AM - 24 Jul 2007
DonationCoder.com
Re: Your favorite quotes?
40hz
« Reply #10 on: December 04, 2008, 11:06:04 AM »
(...)
“I wish there was a knob on the TV to turn up the intelligence. There’s a knob called “brightness”, but it doesn’t work. Every time I turn it all the way up, the shows stay just as dumb.” - Leo Gallagher
Google Books
The Mammoth Book of Insults
By Geoff Tibballs
London: Constable & Robinson, Ltd
2011
Pg. ?:
I wish there was a knob on the TV to turn up the intelligence. There’s a knob called “brightness”, but that doesn’t work. – Gallagher
Storypick
19 Intelligent Jokes That You Need To Read Twice To Understand
Ananta Sharma - 28th May 2015
(...)
16. I wish there was a knob on the TV to turn up the intelligence. There’s a knob called brightness, but it doesn’t work!
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
Recent entries:
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•“I study old buildings because I would rather learn from those who built civilization than those who tore it down” (4/18)
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Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
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