We noticed it a handful of times in our travels. And often while patrons were in line to enter clubs. Excited by the prospect of seeing a live comedy show, customers, usually young males, were moved to utter the phrase “Git ‘er done!” in that Southern-inflected grunt/groan that has been popularized by Larry the Cable Guy (aka Dan Whitney), who has gained notoriety via his participation in the Blue Collar Tour/Movie/TV Show. And they’re doing it during the shows once in a while, too.

We were poised to comment on it on this very website when we were alerted to an open letter from Doug Stanhope to Larry on Stanhope’s website. In which Stanhope implores Larry to get his legions of fans to quit yelling out the phrase during our sets.

…me and some of the other guys out there on the road have been having problems with this… “”Git Er Done” thing…

It used to be that you could use pause as a tool to enhance the timing and effectiveness of a bit. Now it’s the moment Gavin has been waiting for all week – to bellow out all the knowledge that you’ve impregnated him with– “Git Er Done!”

While we admit that it’s annoying, we hardly think it’s up to Larry the Cable Guy to stop his fans… or to move one muscle so that we might be free from the tyranny of “Git ‘er done!” This catchphrase, too, will run its course. As have all the others.

We were inspired to recall the other catchphrases that have plagued us throughout the past decade or two and we could only remember two: “…Not!” and “Yeah…that’s the ticket.” Both inspired by bad SNL sketches. The former being the most pervasive and the most destructive to building a comedy mood. Nothing will stop a comic’s momentum faster than some little douchebag in the front row inserting a “…Not!” into that split-second of silence between the last breath of a punchline and the audience’s crescendo of laughter/applause. It was truly a dark era for comedy.

Some of the other lesser-known crowd killers: “Yeah, baby!” (delivered in Mike Meyers’ Austin Powers voice), and, although not a verbal interruption, the laser pointer scourge of the late-90s was disruptive. And if you don’t think it was pervasive, recall that no less a superstar than Jerry Seinfeld had one trained on his chest during the taping of his “I’m Telling You For The Last Time” television special… and they left it in! (Note: The laser pointer thing has surfaced again. We’ve seen at least two incidents in the last six months in clubs.)

We will say that with “Git ‘er done,” the offenders at least seem to be having a good time and mean little or no harm. Unlike the weasels who shouted out “…Not!” (And we don’t particularly like Stanhope’s characterization of Larry’s fans as “water-brained Velveeta cheese flag-monkeys.” We say that Larry is bringing people into the clubs like nobody’s business. If a few of them are, how shall we say, “irrationally exuberant,” well, we have faith that, with time (and after they’ve been thrown out of a comedy club or two), they’ll be back and they’ll be shushing the loudmouths yakking on a cellphone at the next table.