>Let me tell you a little story, dear reader. This story takes place a year and a half ago, when I was but a down-on-his-luck, unemployed screenwriter struggling to find a job. An assistant to an agent, who had read a couple screenplays of mine and was helping me find employment, sent me a pilot script called “Clone High USA.” He did this to help me prepare for a meeting with the two young creators of the show, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who were looking for an assistant. Before this, my most promising job opportunity was to be the guy who copied scripts in the middle of the night for the show “Bob Patterson.” (They eventually decided to “go another direction.”)

>The day before my interview, I sat down and began reading the “Clone High USA” pilot. The first three or four pages basically summed up the premise of the show, which, as you know, is that famous historical figures were cloned and are now attending high school. Pretty funny. But then æ then! æ on page five, there was a joke that summed up, to me, all the potential that said premise held. This joke was a shining beacon of comedy that said to me, “Adam, you need to work on this show! For this is not just a show, but the very vessel that will change the world... forever!” Anyway. It was a really good joke.

>It goes like this. It is the first time we see the high school. JFK is leaning against a tree. Marilyn Monroe walks by. JFK nudges his pal Julius Caesar and says, “Hey, Caesar. I invaded her bay of pigs. If you catch my meaning.” That’s a pretty good joke in itself, but not the joke I’ve been building up here. The joke that I want to draw your attention to, which made me laugh out loud, which made me want to work for Phil and Chris, which made me question my very existence, is what Caesar says back to JFK in response.

>JULIUS CAESAR: Veni, vidi, booyah!

THE GREATEST JOKE EVER WRITTEN