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Famous Last Words

2008-12-15 · list · John · 3:48 · watch on YouTube

Topic: History & curiosities (also: Nerdfighteria) · mode: Curiosity & trivia · tags: community lore

John recites the real last words of 50 famous, deceased people, in honor of Hank's 50-jokes video and of Looking for Alaska, whose protagonist memorizes last words.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Congratulates Hank on being featured on YouTube; dedicates the video to Hank's 50 jokes video and to Looking for Alaska

  • ★★ John congratulates Hank on having been featured on YouTube the day before. — 00:00:00 · YouTube, Hank Green
  • ★★ John makes the video in honor of Hank's recent video of 50 jokes in four minutes. — 00:00:03 · Jokes in four minutes, Hank Green
  • ★★ John also dedicates the video to his first book, Looking for Alaska, which he says is about a kid who memorizes famous people's last words. — 00:00:06 · Looking for Alaska (novel)
  • ★★★ John shares what he calls the real last words of 50 famous, deceased people. — 00:00:11

00:00:22 — The real last words of 50 famous, deceased people, with comic asides

  • ★★ John notes that John Adams's last words, that Thomas Jefferson still survived, were untrue: Jefferson had died earlier that same day, July 4, 1826. — 00:00:25 · also in: NERD ALERT: Presidential Last Words
  • ★ John notes W.C. Fields's last words were addressed to Carlotta, his mistress, not his wife Hattie; he says he tones the quote down for young nerdfighters. — 00:02:37 · Nerdfighteria

00:03:45 — Sign-off

Humor (significant)

  • After Vespasian's 'I think I'm becoming a god' and Nero's 'what an artist the world is losing in me' — 00:00:47

    “Those Roman emperors sure knew a thing or two about humility.”

  • Lady Astor woke to find everyone she knew in her room and asked 'Am I dying or is this my birthday?' — 00:00:55

    “It wasn't her birthday.”

  • J.M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan, said 'I can't sleep' as his last words — 00:03:00

    “Yes, you can.”

  • Conrad Hilton's parting wisdom was to leave the shower curtain on the inside of the tub — 00:03:11

    “I would have preferred it if he'd said, "Never let my granddaughter, Paris, in front of a video camera."”

Mentioned

People: Abraham Lincoln · Benjamin Franklin · Brendan Behan · Charles Darwin · Che Guevara · Conrad Hilton · Daniel Webster · Del Close · Dylan Thomas · Edgar Allan Poe · Elizabeth Barrett Browning · Elizabeth I · Emily Dickinson · Ethan Allen · Eugene O'Neill · Franklin Delano Roosevelt · Franz Kafka · George Bernard Shaw · George Washington · H. G. Wells · Henrik Ibsen · Henry Ward Beecher · J. M. Barrie · John Adams · John Field · John Maynard Keynes · John Sedgwick · John Wilkes Booth · Kurt Vonnegut · Leo Tolstoy · Lope de Vega · Ludwig van Beethoven · Malcolm X · Millard Fillmore · Nancy Astor · Ned Kelly · Nero · O. Henry · Oscar Wilde · Pablo Picasso · Pancho Villa · Paris Hilton · Paul Claudel · Robert E. Lee · Stonewall Jackson · Thomas Edison · Thomas Jefferson · Vespasian · Voltaire · W. C. Fields · Walt Whitman · Winston Churchill

Works: Looking for Alaska (novel)

Organizations: YouTube

Rituals: Jokes in four minutes

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