...Boxing and referees!

January 5, 2009 5:43 PM

I recently heard a joke on the show 30 Rock: "I love Foxy Boxing. It combines my two favorite things: boxing and referees!". I think I've heard this joke before. I feel like it was on Futurama. Is this my imagination?
posted by The Wig to Writing & Language (17 answers total)

hmmmm there was a foxy boxing joke on the simpsons:

"Lisa, if the Bible has taught us nothing else, and it hasn't, it's that girls should stick to girls sports, such as hot oil wrestling and foxy boxing and such and such."

I wouldn't have brought it up as its not the same joke, but you mentioned Futurama.
posted by jeb at 5:56 PM on January 5, 2009 [2 favorites]

"The Simpsons" has used foxy boxing a few times, but not as a joke with referees as far as I remember and have seen on searches.
posted by Science! at 6:00 PM on January 5, 2009

I wouldn't stake my life on this (especially since I haven't seen all of those made-for-DVD movies), but I don't recall that joke on Futurama, and a quick Google search doesn't seem to produce anything promising.
posted by box at 6:36 PM on January 5, 2009

I seem to remember Homer Simpson making a similar joke (more similar than the ones mentioned above) but couldn't find it on The Simpsons Archive.
posted by Bella Sebastian at 6:39 PM on January 5, 2009

Yep, Homer Simpson. I think it was the episode where Maude dies.
posted by iamkimiam at 7:20 PM on January 5, 2009

'Along Again, Natura-Diddly'? It doesn't seem to be mentioned in the SNPP writeup.
posted by box at 7:42 PM on January 5, 2009

Foxy Boxing is also used as a joke in the Simpsons episode "Tennis the Menace":

Homer: What on Earth are you doing?
Lisa: Practicing tennis.
Homer: *That's* tennis? Oh, then what's the one where the chicks
whale on each other?
Bart: Foxy boxing?
Homer: Yes! That's what I wanted. [anguished moan]
posted by pombe at 7:59 PM on January 5, 2009

Beaten to it by Science!, I see.
posted by pombe at 7:59 PM on January 5, 2009

Homer - "That's a tennis court?! What's that sport where the two chicks wail on each other?"
Bart - "Foxing boxing?"
Homer - "Ahhh that's what I wanted!"
posted by Octoparrot at 7:59 PM on January 5, 2009

Foxy boxing is mentioned a couple times on The Simpsons, but I don't think that two-of-my-favorite-things joke ever is. (Those writeups aren't complete scripts, but they usually include all the jokes.)
posted by box at 8:08 PM on January 5, 2009

Response by poster: To clarify, the thing about the joke that feels really familiar isn't the foxy boxing but the 'includes two of my favorite things: boxing and referees'. I just have Fry in my mind saying 'it includes two of my favorite things: ___ and ____' and he leaves out what you expect him to like.
posted by The Wig at 9:17 PM on January 5, 2009

"It combines my two favorite things" jokes are common with comedy writers, and one you'll hear all the time in writer rooms. Different writer rooms have their own oddities -- I recall two weeks spent determining the funniest two-digit number (19), the funniest day of the week (Wednesday), and the funniest month (February), and on and on. "30 Rock" is so well-loved by insiders because it's the show that actually uses all those jokes and gags and things that've been bouncing around writer rooms for so long -- like the funniest month thing, which got an aside in the first season. Foxy boxing must've been a running gag in the Simpsons room. It's entirely possible that the same writer was responsible for the foxy boxing joke in all three shows. I think Ron Weiner was on staff at both Futurama and 30 Rock, at least, but I'm not sure about the Simpsons. Most of 30 Rock's staff came from the last years of Friends and Joey, they're not too heavy on the Simpsons writers like some other shows.
posted by incessant at 10:45 PM on January 5, 2009

You're not thinking of the quote where he says "I prefer shows of the format worlds blankiest blank", are you?
posted by !Jim at 2:25 AM on January 6, 2009

I recognise the joke as well, but have never seen 30 Rock. If it's Futurama it's from the movies as they are what I've seen recently.
posted by Iteki at 5:53 AM on January 6, 2009

It wasn't on Futurama. Depending on your level of persistence, you could check this site of Futurama transcripts and see if you could find something that fits your recollection. Looks like boxing is only mentioned in two episodes, and Fry only has one of those lines:

Fry: "Man, I thought Ultimate Robot Fighting was real, like pro wrestling. But it turns out it's fixed, like boxing."

The only thing that stuck out at me was a line from one of the Valentine Day shows, where the crew is touring the company that makes those little candy hearts. They have a lab testing pickup lines, and a dummy made out of chicken wire says, "My two favorite things are commitment and changing myself."

The site has transcripts for the first two movies, but doesn't have one of Bender's Game, so maybe Iteki's recollection is right.
posted by averyoldworld at 6:16 AM on January 6, 2009

Response by poster: hmm I also saw Bender's Game recently...
posted by The Wig at 8:36 AM on January 6, 2009

Is there any chance you are thinking about a reference to foxy boxing on How I Met your Mother? The reference I found has kind of a similar format to what you remembered:

Ted: OK, Barney, I'll tell you what I'm gonna do. You make this call and I will go with you to Foxy Boxing.
Barney: Really?
Ted: Yeah.
Barney: But you always said that Foxy Boxing girls were neither foxy nor good at boxing.
Ted: I'm ready to be proven wrong.
posted by folara at 5:30 PM on January 6, 2009