All In The Family may have been taken off the air a long time ago, but that doesn’t mean that the show is not fondly remembered by anyone that has ever watched it. This show had everything a viewer could want: a great cast, writing that was both funny and relevant at the time, and some truly relatable storylines.
But one of the best things about the show was the main characters. Archie Bunker was fun to laugh at, Mike and Gloria Stivic represented a young and modern crowd at the time, and Edith Bunker was the heart and soul of the show. She always did the right thing, and she was hilarious as well. Here are some of the character’s most humorous lines from the series.
10 “Oh, Ain’t That Smart. Who Better To Impersonate A Female Than A Woman?”
Edith says this line to another impactful character, Beverly LaSalle, that came into the show later in the series. Although LaSalle ended up being a very close friend of the Bunkers and the Stivics, things were a bit rocky when they first met.
That is because LaSalle was a female impersonator, and Archie wasn’t very happy about it, despite the fact that the two of them got along very well. But what’s funny is that, at first, Edith doesn’t understand what Beverly does for a living at all. But unlike Archie, she never let it bother her once she figured it all out.
9 “They Got A Naked Band At Disney World?”
Edith misunderstands something Archie tells her, which leads her to believe that Disney World would have a naked band, despite the fact that it is a place for children. This is one of the episodes that demonstrates how great of an actress Jean Stapleton really was.
This episode, called “Edith’s Problem,” was all about menopause. This is one of many times when the show put a humorous spin on a serious topic. At one point in the episode, Archie tells Edith that there is a band of bears at Disney World, but she thinks he means that there is a naked band there.
8 “Well, I Like Being Called A Goddess Of Beauty, But Somehow It Seemed More Permanent When Your Father Called Me A Dingbat.”
Edith says this line when her daughter asks her why she married Archie instead of someone else that she had dated in the past. Throughout the show, Archie repeatedly refers to his wife as a “dingbat.”
That’s not very nice, but it did get a lot of laughs when the show was on the air. Edith is not always the most intelligent character on the show, but she does have many moments during which she demonstrates more intelligence than Archie does, so it’s pretty ironic that he has that nickname for her. That’s why Gloria wonders why her mom chose Archie over an ex-boyfriend who seemed much more charming.
7 “Could’ve Fooled Me; You Ain’t Even Got No Accent”
This is another line Edith says when she finds out the truth about Beverly LaSalle. Perhaps she misunderstood what Beverly said, but it seems much more likely that she simply lacked much knowledge about Beverly.
She simply thought that Beverly was claiming to be from a foreign place, and she was very surprised that her newfound friend didn’t have an accent. Sometimes it took Edith a while to understand some things, but she was always one of the best characters on the show. Edith always seemed like she wanted to be friends with everyone.
6 “No, And I Can’t Tell You What It Is”
This is Edith’s response when Gloria asks her if she has found herself in some trouble in the episode “Edith Flips Her Wig.” Edith, who is usually very calm and collected, shouts this line at her daughter, which is a pretty good implication that she did get into trouble of some kind.
Even though Edith always tries to do the best thing in every situation, there are some times when she finds herself in sticky situations. There is one episode where she was under the impression that she had accidentally taken some items from a store she frequently visits.
5 “You Never Could Get Used To A Strange Bathroom”
This is a line Edith says when she tells Archie why she does not want him to go to jail. This episode is called “Archie’s Fraud.” Archie was a decent person for the most part, but he did not always try to do the right thing, unlike his wife.
In this episode, he discovers that there is a small problem with his taxes. In some of the episodes of All In The Family, he had a part-time job as a cab driver, and he forgot to claim the money he earned from it. He tries to fix the issue but ends up offending the person he speaks to about it, which only makes the whole thing worse.
4 “Can I Finish My Soup First?”
This is another line Edith says in the episode that focuses on her going through menopause. Throughout the episode, it becomes pretty clear that none of the Bunkers or the Stivics knows much about what she is going through, but Archie does the best thing he can think of, which is visiting a doctor to discuss the issue.
He has a very hard time watching her go through this time in her life, and by the end of the episode he is getting a bit hysterical. He tells her that he knows what she’s going through, and he gives her thirty seconds to do it, which is when she asks whether or not she can finish her soup.
3 “It Won’t Be The Same Saying ‘I Went To School There’ While Pointing At The A&P”
This is something Edith says in response to the news that her old high school was supposed to be turned into something else. This line is probably relatable to a lot of people. It does seem like it would be quite awkward for one to say that they went to high school at a certain location that is now a totally different business altogether.
In this case, Edith’s former high school was being turned into a grocery store. This line is humorous, but it’s also a bit sad. It’s hard to see a building that one associates with good memories disappear and become something else entirely.
2 “I Told Him To Take Two Aspirin And Get Plenty Of Rest”
This is a line Edith says when Archie asks her if she spoke with a doctor. There is a lot going on in this episode, which is called “Archie Eats And Runs.”
After Archie eats a mushroom stew that Edith made, Mike tells him that Poconos Mushrooms have been recalled, which makes him a bit anxious. He worries that he might have eaten that kind. Gloria has the flu in this episode, and he catches it from her. Archie asks Edith if she called their doctor, and she said she did, but she also said that he was sick as well. Archie asks her what she said to the doctor after getting that news, and she replies with this line.
1 “Tomorrow He’ll Be Home At His Regular Time, And I’m Sure He’ll Have A Nice Argument With You”
In an episode called “Archie Learns His Lesson,” Edith says this line to Mike. Throughout this episode, Archie has been spending more time away from home than usual so that he can work on earning his GED, but Mike and Gloria think that he is just working late because he doesn’t want them to know what he has been doing.
Though he and Mike argue a lot, Archie’s unusual absence really starts to eat away at Mike. When he sits down to eat, he claims that things feel really different without Archie being there, and that’s when Edith says this line to him.
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