Take me to your leader (phrase)

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Graham's original cartoon Kindly take us to your President.jpg
Graham's original cartoon

"Take me to your leader" is a science-fiction cartoon catchphrase, said by an extraterrestrial alien who has just landed on Earth in a spacecraft to the first human they happen to meet. In cartoons, the theme is frequently varied for comic effect, such as a pun on the phrase to suit the setting, or the alien addressing an animal or object they assume is an earthling.

It is believed to have originated in a 1953 cartoon by Alex Graham in The New Yorker magazine. The cartoon depicted two aliens telling a horse "Kindly take us to your President!" [1] [2]

By May 1957, when the "Mr. Zero" episode of the Adventures of Superman aired, the phrase was already a popular cliché.[ citation needed ]

In science fiction

The phrase is also frequently used in parody science-fiction media. Notable examples of its use include:

(Luke Skywalker, in Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor (2008))
(from Life, the Universe and Everything (1982) by Douglas Adams, describing Trillian addressing the inhabitants of Krikkit)

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Take Me to Your Leader may refer to:

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References

  1. The Yale Book of Quotations , Yale University Press, 2006, p.  320, ISBN   9780300107982
  2. "What Do You Say to an Alien?". New York Times . February 11, 2012. Retrieved 2012-02-12. The first words of a conversation initiated by aliens were immortalized in a 1953 New Yorker cartoon by Alex Graham: 'Take me to your leader.'