Are We Still Doing Phrasing? ‘Archer’s 10 Best Best Recurring Jokes

Phrasing is Archer’s version of “That’s what she said.” However, like only the best of the show’s recurring jokes, this phrase has had a history. Originally, only Archer (H. Jon Benjamin) used “phrasing” until it was picked up by the entire team, especially Pam (Amber Nash). That shifted during Archer Vice (Season 5) when everyone except Archer stopped using “phrasing.” Now it’s not uncommon to hear Archer respond to an unintentional innuendo by quickly saying “Are we still doing phrasing?” No one has ever answered him.

Cheryl Tunt (Judy Greer) changes her name. A lot. This was a gag that was played with in Season 1 before it was dropped. However, the joke came back in a big way for Archer Vice (Season 5) and it’s part of Archer Dreamland (Season 8) as well. Here are all the names Cheryl has gone by throughout the show’s history:

• Cheryl Tunt (her actual name)
• Carol Tunt (Season 1, Episode 2)
• Cristal Tunt (Season 1, Episode 3)
• Carina Tunt (Season 1, Episode 4)
• Cherlene Tunt (Cheryl’s country persona from Season 5)
• Beans (by Cecil in Season 4, Episode 12)
• Tanya (Season 7, Episode 5)
• Charlotte Tunt (Season 8)

This is another Archer specialty that shows off how secretly pretentious — or uppity, another recurring joke — he is. Pam has also been known to adopt it at times. Some of the more obscure references made through this joke have included Karl Landsteiner, the man who discovered blood groups, 16th century Irish pirate Grainne O’Malley, and the inventor of the elevator, Elisha Otis. Other more normal references have included Lewis and/or Clark and Tron, the character.

Archer has had several weirdly intense relationships with animals, from his mother’s beloved dog that he was partially named after (Duchess) to Kazak, another giant dog who convinces him to give Lana life-saving water. However, nothing can compete with Archer’s deep love of Babou the ocelot. Babou is Cheryl’s pet ocelot, and she hates him. He’s frequently her reason for being late to work. For several episodes, no one believed Cheryl really had an ocelot because they’re expensive and she’s insane. However, in Season 2, Archer finally got to meet Babou, and it was love at first sight. Babou lives in a giant empty room with no toys, which Archer refers to as “Meow-schwitz.” Babou hasn’t been seen since Season 3, but he is still alive and is probably either puking or pissing on something Cheryl cares about.

Archer really only knows one way to get Lana Kane’s (Aisha Tyler) attention — to scream her name at increasingly loud volumes until she responds. Typically he does this when he’s mere inches from her, and it’s not uncommon for him to follow it up with a “Danger Zone” reference. 

The beauty of Archer’s recurring jokes is that they spread, not unlike a virus. In Season 1, Lana’s giant man hands used to just be something Archer and Malory (Jessica Walter) would mock. However as the show went on, more team members jumped on this joke. It’s been referenced so often, Lana has sought reassurances from both Ray and Archer about whether her hands really are big (they are). Lana’s hands are now such an essential joke, they’re often the first thing strangers notice about the super spy.

Naturally the award for best Lana hands joke goes to Archer. In the first episode, Malory tells Archer to distract the man Lana is trying to seduce from her “huge, Johnny Benchian fingers.” That’s a reference to Johnny Bench, a baseball player who was able to hold seven baseballs in one hand. That’s two recurring jokes in one, friends.

Surprisingly, Archer is all about authenticity when it comes to firearms. In an inverse of action movie tropes, Archer keeps careful count of his remaining bullets, and characters often run out of ammo mid shootout. But the award for realism goes to the team’s many many cases of tinnitus. After a gun is fired near someone’s head or something explodes too close to our heroes, it’s not unusual to hear a ringing sound. That’s tinnitus. However, it can typically be cured by saying “mwap” repeatedly.

There’s an old gypsy woman somewhere in the Archer universe who predicts nothing but insanity, but she’s almost always right. Either that or Cheryl is insane. Whenever Cheryl gets into an absurd situation, she’ll often gasp and say “It’s just like the old gypsy woman said.” However old gypsy women aren’t perfect. In later seasons it’s not uncommon to hear Cheryl angrily yell “This is nothing like the old gypsy woman told me!” Over time Archer has also become a believer of the old gypsy woman.

This one comes from Pam, but it’s been adopted by almost every woman on the team, expect Malory. “Sploosh” is shorthand for something that’s sexually arousing. Ray has also been known to use it, saying in Season 3 “whatever my equivalent of ‘sploosh’ is, which I guess is just ‘sploosh.’ But with semen.” Depending on what’s going on or who’s talking, “splooshes” are either loudly announced or are thrown quickly into conversation. It’s the perfect balance of unapologetically vulgar but weirdly catchy that Archer often walks.

This isn’t one of the show’s more common gags, but it is a simultaneously confusing and horrifying one. Every time the the word “piggy” or less common “pigely” comes up, Krieger (Lucky Yates) says “Aw, Pigeley,” a reference to one of the scientist’s many disturbing experiments. There have been three known Pigelys in Archer’s history. Pigely I, a half-human, half-pig hybrid, was killed by Krieger in Season 2. The pig that is presumably Pigely II was shown to be in Krieger’s pocket in Season 4, and the current Pigely, Pigely III, was also introduced in Season 4. Pigely III is still alive and seems to be a normal pig that just happens to glow green with radiation and enjoys the taste of human flash. Normal pig stuff.

You can watch new episodes of Archer Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET on FXX or on FXNOW. 

Watch new episodes of Archer Season 8 on FXNOW

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