With all the breuhaha (haha) about this idiot woman (okay idiot couple) who just had her (their) sixteenth child*, I’m reminded of one of my favorite stories from the biz we call show. There is, after all this time, still disagreement over whether this incident really occurred, but here is the purported exchange between Groucho Marx and a contestant on You Bet Your Life:
GROUCHO: "Why do you have so many children? That's a big responsibility and a big burden."
MRS. STORY: "Well, because I love my children and I think that's our purpose here on Earth, and I love my husband."
GROUCHO: "I love my cigar, too, but I take it out of my mouth once in a while."
This has all the usual earmarks of an Urban Legend. The details vary -different number of children, sometimes the contestant is a man (which really puts a whole different spin on Groucho’s remark), some people claim to have heard/seen the remark on air while others claim that it was edited out- but the weird thing is that Groucho himself couldn’t even decide if it had really happened. Anyway, good story. Read more here.
*of course, this has already been all over blogtown, but Dana wins for best headline: "I sincerely hope this woman's uterus drops out of her the next time she sneezes"