Hear Me Now and Understand Me Later Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. "Hear me now and believe me later" was a phrase uttered by a Hans and Franz on "Saturday Night Live". Which two actors played Hans and Franz?

Answer: Dana Carvey & Kevin Nealon

In this funny skit on "Saturday Night Live", Dana Carvey and Kevin Nealon played the part of two Austrian bodybuilders that were here to "pump you up!"

2. Which oft-quoted British Prime Minister said of Labour politician Stafford Cripps "He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire"?

Answer: Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Churchill, who served as PM from 1940-1945 and 1951-1955, offers us a treasure trove of great quotes. Some of them include "Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result", "A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on" and "An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile - hoping it will eat him last."

In the late 1930s Stafford Cripps (along with some other left-wing politicians) had urged active co-operation between the Labour Party, the Communist Party and the Independent Labour Party against Fascism - in Spain, Italy and Germany. For a time during World War II he was very popular, but in the late 1940s as Chancellor of the Exchequer he became associated with 'austerity' - and presided over the forced devaluation of the pound in 1949.

3. Showing his disdain for music writers, what front man for Mothers of Invention, said "Most rock journalism is people who can't write, interviewing people who can't talk, for people who can't read"?

Answer: Frank Zappa

Frank Zappa was a prolific singer and songwriter, with 91 albums to his credit, and songs that ranged from rock to jazz to classical. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1995.

In the mid 1980s, when the record industry was putting offensive content disclaimers on albums, Zappa came up with one of his own. It said, in part, "Warning! This album contains material which a truly free society would neither fear nor suppress. The language and concepts contained herein are guaranteed not to cause eternal torment in the place where the guy with the horns and pointed stick conducts his business."

4. One of the biggest names in comedy in the 1950s is quoted as saying, "If it weren't for electricity, we'd all be watching television by candlelight". To what man, known as "Lonesome George", does this quote belong?

Answer: George Gobel

George Gobel was the star of "The George Gobel Show", which ran from 1954 to 1959 on NBC before moving to CBS in its last season. His low-key, homespun comedy gave viewers a change from Jack Benny's offerings.

After having followed the legendary Bob Hope and Dean Martin to the stage of "The Tonight Show", Gobel said to Johnny Carson "Did you ever get the feeling that the whole world is a tuxedo and you are a pair of brown shoes".

5. Since 1968 this man has intermittently hosted talk shows in different formats on different television channels. He had a brief career as a stand-up comedian. Who said "If your parents never had children, chances are you won't either"?

Answer: Dick Cavett

Dick Cavett began a short stand-up career in New York City in 1964. He worked as a talent coordinator and writer for "The Tonight Show" before hosting his own show.

Some other quotes of Cavett include "It's a rare person who wants to hear what he doesn't want to hear" and "There's so much comedy on television. Does that cause comedy in the streets?"

6. "We are not retreating - we are advancing in another direction". Which American General, commander of the Allied forces in the Pacific during World War II, said this?

Answer: Gen. Douglas MacArthur

Douglas MacArthur is one of the best known American generals. After graduating from West Point in 1903, MacArthur rose through the ranks during World War I and beyond. He was named commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific in 1941.

Some other quotes attributed to MacArthur include "Old soldiers never die; they just fade away" and "The enemy is in front of us, the enemy is behind us, the enemy is to the right and to the left of us. They can't get away this time!"

7. What British author (who wrote a trilogy in five parts) is quoted as saying "The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair"?

Answer: Douglas Adams

Douglas Adams' line of thinking was, at times, as wonderfully twisted as a corkscrew. Some other quotes from his writings are "I refuse to answer that question on the grounds that I don't know the answer", "If you try and take a cat apart to see how it works, the first thing you have on your hands is a nonworking cat" and "I seldom end up where I wanted to go, but almost always end up where I need to be".

8. Which Irish author reportedly said, upon his deathbed, "This wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. Either it goes or I do"?

Answer: Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde is known for such writings as "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and "The Importance of Being Earnest". Other witticisms by him are "Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation" and "Relations are simply a tedious pack of people, who haven't got the remotest knowledge of how to live, nor the smallest instinct about when to die."

9. Which British crime writer, creator of Lord Peter Wimsey, said "I always have a quotation for everything--it saves original thinking"?

Answer: Dorothy L. Sayers

Dorothy L. Sayers is best known for her novels and short stories featuring amateur sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey. Other quotes include "Even idiots occasionally speak the truth accidentally", "How fleeting are all human passions compared with the massive continuity of ducks" and "Heaven deliver us, what's a poet? Something that can't go to bed without making a song about it."

10. What MLB hall of famer, who spent most of his career with the New York Yankees, had this to say: "Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours"?

Answer: Yogi Berra

What quiz on nonsensical quotes would be complete without a visit by the late, great Yogi Berra? He spread his wisdom in his own way, with such gems as "It's like deja vu all over again", "If you don't know where you're going, you might end up someplace else" and "Half the lies they tell about me aren't true".

Source: Author arthurdent001

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Some of these quotes will have you scratching your head. Author quiz challenge suggested by LeoDaVinci

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