Summary
- Fans still quote Ricky Bobby’s iconic lines today, cementing
Talladega Nights
as a comedy classic. - Will Ferrell’s portrayal of Ricky Bobby is one of his most memorable roles, full of humor and arrogant charm.
- The movie’s hilarious moments and memorable quotes showcase the chemistry between Ferrell and his co-stars, making it a must-watch comedy.
The most iconic Ricky Bobby quotes from Talladega Nights are memorable snippets that show why the NASCAR comedy is an underrated gem. While Will Ferrell and Adam McKay’s collaborations may be over, Talladega Nights remains one of their best joint projects. The story of an arrogant NASCAR driver who needs to learn some humility is packed with laugh-out-loud moments and hilarious one-liners. While there are many funny performances, Ferrell’s Rick Bobby is the star of the show.
Ricky is one of Ferrell’s most memorable roles, and he has some of the funniest lines that people still quote today. There are endless hilarious Ricky Bobby quotes to cement Talladega Nights as a classic. While the movie has plenty of funny characters with memorable lines, the Ricky Bobby quotes remain memorable years later and still make audiences laugh out loud. Whether it’s the accent with which Ferrell busts them out, his facial expressions, or the antics of the character itself, there’s no question that Talladega Nights quotes are in line with the hilarity of the best Anchorman quotes.
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25 “Absolutely Ma’am. I’d Love To Sign Your Baby.”
Ricky Bobby To A Fan
One of the best Ricky Bobby quotes comes right at the beginning of Talladega Nights. The early scenes in the movie show Ricky’s quick rise to the top of the NASCAR world as one of its best drivers, and he becomes a huge celebrity with fans all around him at all times. While he might have been unsure at first, Ricky quickly takes to this new level of fame.
Ricky Bobby is one of the most arrogant characters Will Ferrell has ever played, even compared to the likes of Anchorman‘s Ron Burgundy, and there are many Talladega Nights quotes like this which show just how inflated his ego is are hilarious. Ricky happily signs autographs for a group of eager fans and loves the attention. He even excitedly agrees to sign the forehead of a fan’s baby and then suggests that they won’t want to wash the child anymore.
24 “I Said, ‘With All Due Respect.'”
Ricky Bobby To His Boss
Though there are plenty of people who are impressed with Ricky’s sudden rise to success, not everyone is so thrilled. Larry Dennit Jr. serves as a minor antagonist in the movie, the owner of Ricky’s racing team who despises Ricky and his antics, mostly because his father seems to admire Ricky more than his own son. However, while Larry tries to put his foot down multiple times, Ricky doesn’t much like Larry either.
While Ricky’s obscene gesture during a race led to the team losing sponsorship, Ricky insubordinately mocks his boss. When Ricky points out that he said his disrespectful comment “with all due respect,” Larry insists that doesn’t mean he can say whatever he wants. This turns into a hilariously childish argument in which Ricky claims those are the rules and that “It’s in the Geneva Convention.”
23 “I Was Gone For Three Hours!”
Ricky Bobby To Cal & Carley
Ricky Bobby’s teammate, Cal, has been fed up with being in Ricky’s shadow, and the second he gets the opportunity he usurps Ricky in more ways than one. Just as quickly as Ricky’s career rises to great heights, it falls apart. When Ricky Bobby is no longer the best racer around, it is not just his career that suffers but also his personal life. After being fired, Ricky returns home to find his best friend Cal at his house hanging out with his wife and kids like they are one big happy family.
This quote is all the more memorable thanks to the presence of Ferrell’s frequent collaborator John C. Reilly
Cal and Carley then tell him that they are planning on getting married. Confused, Ricky points out that all this has happened when he’s been gone for only a few hours. This quote is all the more memorable thanks to the presence of Ferrell’s frequent collaborator John C. Reilly, who plays Cal, and the chemistry of the pair comes to the fore throughout the entire scene.
22 “The Ninjas Are Trying To Get Me.”
Ricky Bobby To His Race Crew
Will Ferrell comes up with one of the best Ricky Bobby quotes in the throes of paranoia. Following his devastating crash, Ricky loses his edge as a racer and has a hard time getting back behind the wheel. While such a reaction to a traumatic experience like that is to be expected, Ricky’s fear is all over the place. After trying out a practice run in which he fails to go more than a few miles per hour, Ricky strips naked in panic and runs out onto the racetrack.
For no particular reason, he starts raving about ninjas attacking him, proving that he might not be ready to race again. While Ricky’s arrogance makes for some great Talladega Nights quotes, this one instead leans on Ferrell’s ability to deliver even the most ridiculous of lines with total earnestness, and the result is — of course — hilarious.
21 “Everyone Turn Away. Things Are Gonna Get Crazy. We’re Gonna Make Animal Noises.”
Ricky Bobby To The Restaurant Customers
To say that Ricky Bobby has no issues with public displays of affection is an understatement, a fact that’s made clear at several points in the movie. However, while the scenes with Ricky and his wife Carley (Leslie Bibb) are hilarious, so is the moment he finds his next love. Talladega Nights is a comedy filled with some terrific actors, and it is especially fun seeing some up-and-coming talents appearing in smaller roles.
Ricky is courteous enough to warn the other patrons to look away from the bizarre love scene.
While Amy Adams was on her way to becoming an iconic actor in the 2010s, she appeared as Ricky’s assistant Susan, who becomes his love interest in a hilarious scene. While at a restaurant, Susan tries to reignite Ricky’s fire. Gradually, the two realize they share a mutual attraction and begin climbing on the table and making out. Ricky is courteous enough to warn the other patrons to look away from the bizarre love scene.
20 “You Gotta Watch It When I Get Into Autograph Mode.”
Ricky Bobby To Susan
While Ricky’s romance with Susan isn’t a big part of the movie, it is charming how it unfolds because she is initially an assistant that he barely acknowledges. When Ricky earns his fame in the racing world, he becomes more arrogant and thinks he is better than those around him. As such, he barely pays attention to Susan as seen in her first scene but that changes over time.
As Ricky is singing autographs (and babies) for his fans, Susan approaches him, only for him to absent-mindedly sign her forehead. When she points out that she is not one of his fans but rather his assistant, he acts as if it is her fault for getting too close to him when he is in autograph mode. Adams sells the moment even more by sheepishly apologizing and agreeing “I shouldn’t have been standing.”
19 “Well, What Do You Say We Get Thrown Out Of An Applebee’s?”
Ricky Bobby To His Dad Reese
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Many of the best Talladega Nights quotes have to do with the chaotic Bobby family. When Ricky’s father, Reese, comes back into his life, they attempt to have a father-son bond, only for Reese to prove he is still an irresponsible and reckless man. At the end of the movie, when Ricky has won everything back that meant something to him, he knows that Reese isn’t going to change.
However, Ricky seems to accept that his father is no role model and suggests the whole family go out together and get kicked out of Applebee’s. It is the kind of family outing that seems fitting for this clan. The fact that getting ejected from the establishment is part of the plan says everything about the Bobby family and their values, and this makes for one of dozens of laugh-out-loud moments.
18 “Shake And Bake!”
Ricky Bobby & Cal’s NASCAR Catchphrase
“Shake and bake!” is one of the most memorable Ricky Bobby quotes and is repeated many times throughout the film. Talladega Nights may be about Ricky’s redemption as a racer, but it is also a buddy story between Ricky and his racing partner, Cal Naughton Jr. John C. Reilly’s performance as Cal is one of the most underrated aspects of the movie. These two men make for an unstoppable duo on the track and even come up with their catchphrase. These best buddies often yell their saying, “shake and bake,” after every victory or really whenever they feel like it.
The words mean much more to Ricky than they do to Cal.
Supposedly, the catchphrase is meant to speak to how well they go together. However, as becomes apparent as Ricky’s life falls apart, their partnership isn’t as solid as it seems. Cal is eager to take Ricky’s place, showing that no matter how many times they say “shake and bake” then fist-bump for the cameras, the words mean much more to Ricky than they do to Cal.
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17 “I Just Read In The Newspaper That They Put A Pig Heart In Some Guy In Russia.”
Ricky Bobby To His Manager Lucius
Despite his talent as a racer, Ricky Bobby can also be reckless, which doesn’t sit well with his team. Unfortunately, the fact that he keeps winning only fuels his ego and makes him feel invincible. And the more delusional he becomes, the funnier it is. After a particularly dangerous race, Ricky’s manager Lucius warns him against such moves and says that he won’t live forever.
However, Ricky argues that with advances in science, anything is possible, and he’s even heard of a pig heart transplant. It’s a hilariously strange detail that is made even funnier as Ricky clarifies that the man died. The interactions between Ricky and Lucius are made all the funnier due to Lucius being played by The Green Mile star Michael Clarke Duncan, who does a great job at remaining poker-faced despite the ridiculousness of some of Ferrel’s lines.
16 “You Sound Like A Dog With Peanut Butter On The Roof Of Your Mouth.”
Ricky Bobby To Jean Girard
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One of the highlights of the movie is the rivalry between Ricky Bobby and the French racer, Jean Girard, played by Sacha Baron Cohen. Much like Ricky Bobby, Jean Girard isn’t one of the most renowned characters played by Sacha Baron Cohen, but he is definitely one of the most hilarious, and made all the funnier by Ricky Bobby’s reaction to him.
It’s made all the funnier by Cohen’s highly exaggerated French accent, especially the way that Girard pronounces Ricky Bobby.
While former Formula 1 driver Girard admires his opponent, Ricky is immediately hostile to Girard and sees him as an outsider. When they first meet, Ricky shows his ignorance by talking down to Girard just because he is French. Ricky says he can’t even understand the man just because he is speaking English with an accent. It’s made all the funnier by Cohen’s highly exaggerated French accent, especially the way that Girard pronounces Ricky Bobby.
15 “I Feel Like I Was Riding Inside An Asteroid Or A Comet Or Something.”
Ricky Bobby After His Slow Practice Lap
Ferrell is hilarious at playing Ricky’s arrogance, which makes it even funnier when he has his fall from grace. Following his crash, Ricky gets his courage up to get back in the car and race once again. However, he has lost that reckless edge that made him so hard to beat, making him a lot more cautious on the racetrack.
His first time back on the racetrack, Ricky goes ridiculously slow. Of course, even with his embarrassing pace, Ricky’s ego doesn’t allow him to recognize that he is not the same racer anymore. He confidently talks about going epically fast even while being frightened by all the other cars that are speeding past him. The oblivious nature of Ricky and his refusal to acknowledge his failures makes him an even more entertaining and over-the-top character to follow.
14 “I Play For Keeps!”
Ricky Bobby To Jean Girard
Will Ferrell and Sacha Baron Cohen are two great comedic talents and watching them play off each other is one of the joys of Talladega Nights. Cohen’s character of Jean Girard is a more sophisticated and mature racer, but he is often pulled into childish arguments with Ricky Bobby, making for some of the funniest moments. After Jean Girard wows everyone at the practice track, Ricky comes to confront him.
The two men get into an intense war of words that builds to them getting within an inch of each other’s faces and yelling into each other’s mouths. They are talking over each other so loudly that it is impossible to determine much about what is being said but it becomes clear that Ricky is simply repeating “I play for keeps!” It is a hilarious moment that feels like it was just the two actors getting carried away with themselves.
13 “I’ve Lived My Whole Life By That!”
Ricky Bobby To His Dad Reese
Ricky Bobby has some incredibly temperamental family dynamics, and not just with his own wife and children but with his parents too – especially his father, Reese (played by The West Wing star Gary Cole). Despite barely knowing his father, Ricky has always lived by the one piece of advice he gave Ricky: “If you’re not first, you’re last.” It’s a philosophy he espouses multiple times throughout Talladega Nights and drives everything he does, though learning the truth behind the wisdom becomes crushing for him.
When his father shows back up in Ricky’s life later on, Ricky reminds him of those words he said to him years ago. However, Ricky’s father admitted he was high when he gave this advice to his son, and pointed out how it didn’t even make sense. These were the words Ricky lived his whole life by, and the fact that they are immediately deemed meaningless makes it a little sad — but mostly hilarious.
12 “Yup, Flying Through The Air. This Is Not Good.”
Ricky Bobby To Himself
Though Adam McKay was mostly known for his comedic filmmaking at the time, Talladega Nights also showed he could handle action sequences. Talladega Nights never forgets that it’s a comedy first and foremost, but McKay delivers genuinely thrilling race scenes that would be worthy of the best car movies — and the most impressive of them comes with Ricky’s devastating crash.
To see him completely calm while he’s in mid-car-crash is priceless.
Viewers could be forgiven for momentarily forgetting they are watching a comedy as they see Ricky’s car flip through the air. But McKay is wise enough to add some levity in the intense moment as Ricky Bobby calmly sits in his airborne car and points out how bad this situation is. This moment is made all the funnier because of how overly emotional Ricky Bobby is in even the most mundane situations, so to see him completely calm while he’s in mid-car-crash is priceless.
11 “Well, Let Me Just Quote The Late Great Colonel Sanders, Who Said… ‘I’m Too Drunk To Taste This Chicken.'”
Ricky Bobby To Jean Girard
Any moment Ferell’s Ricky Bobby and Sacha Baron Cohen’s Jean Girard are on-screen together has plenty of memorable lines, but their argument when they bump into each other at a bar produces many of the funniest. Whether it’s Will Ferrell’s delivery or the actual line itself, one of the best Ricky Bobby quotes is also one of the few that barely makes sense. Something that the Adam McKay-Will Ferrell collaborations excel at is non-sequitur humor.
This quote is a prime example of how they can make audiences laugh by saying something completely unexpected and unrelated to anything. While the intellectual Frenchman Jean Girard quotes William Blake while the two battle it out in the bar scene, the less intellectual Ricky Bobby is forced to break out a more obscure quote — that is likely made up.
10 “This Sticker Is Dangerous And Inconvenient, But I Do Love Fig Newtons.”
Ricky Bobby To His Pit Crew
The best Talladega Nights quotes also poke fun at the racing industry in general, which is why it stands as such a good sports comedy regardless of whether viewers are fans of Will Ferrell’s unique style of comedy or not. It would be a fair accusation to say that Ricky Bobby is a sell-out. As a famous NASCAR racer, he would promote absolutely anything on his car, and it’s this willingness to offer up anything he can as advertising space that leads to an incredibly funny moment.
Ricky Bobby goes so far as to sell ad space on the windshield of his car, making driving difficult.
Ricky Bobby goes so far as to sell ad space on the windshield of his car, making driving difficult. Even Ricky has to admit that he might have gone too far and shows some rare regret. However, he also seems to justify it by insisting he does love Fig Newtons. It’s funny how Ricky Bobby can balance liking a product he’s endorsing and putting himself in incredible danger.
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9 “Handsome, Beautiful, Articulate Sons, Who Are Talented And Star Athletes And They Have Their Legs Taken Away.”
Ricky Bobby To Lucius Washington
Once Ricky Bobby’s downfall does come, it comes hard. While it’s tragic for the character, it also understandably creates some of the funniest lines of dialogue in the entire movie given both Ricky Bobby’s ego reacting to not being the absolute best like he thought he was, and Will Ferrell’s delivery. After a terrible accident on the racetrack, Ricky convinces himself that he is paralyzed.
Ricky’s friends visit him in the hospital try to show him his paralysis is psychosomatic and all in his head, but Ricky doesn’t take it well. Trapped in his own delusion, Ricky wishes that his friends had healthy and athletic boys only for them to lose their legs. It is a shockingly cruel thing to say to someone and Michael Clarke Duncan’s explosively angry reaction to it makes it all the more hilarious.
8 “From Now On, You’re The Magic Man And I’m El Diablo.”
Ricky Bobby To Cal
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There’s a reason that studios enjoy casting Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly together, as the two have almost unmatched chemistry as a comedy duo, whether it’s playing adult children in Step Brothers, Sherlock Holmes and Watson in Holmes & Watson, or NASCAR drivers — as this hilarious Ricky Bobby quote shows. While Ricky Bobby and Cal seem like inseparable friends in the beginning, their friendship soon falls apart after Ricky’s fall from grace.
The nicknames make even less sense, especially when Ricky insists El Diablo means ”
fighting chicken.”
With Ricky out, Cal steps into his role as the star racer and even goes after Ricky’s wife. This breaks their friendship, and it seems impossible to fix. However, Cal eventually regrets what he did and suggests the return of their famous “Shake and Bake” catchphrase. Ricky refuses but introduces new nicknames for them. The nicknames make even less sense, especially when Ricky insists El Diablo means “fighting chicken.”
7 “Dear 8 Pounds 6 Ounces Newborn Infant Jesus, Don’t Even Know A Word Yet”
Ricky Bobby Praying At Dinner
It’s safe to say that nobody has made saying grace before a meal quite as funny as Will Ferrell, despite the fact that it’s been in many comedy movies. One of the funniest scenes in Talladega Nights is Ricky’s long and utterly ridiculous blessing at the dinner table, resulting in several hysterical Ricky Bobby quotes.
Ricky decides he can say grace to whichever version of Jesus he likes best, and for him, that’s the baby Jesus because it reminds him of Christmas. The prayer goes on to hilarious lengths as Ricky describes this infant version of Jesus he sees in his head. The scene only gets funnier when Ricky also insists Jesus had blonde hair and blue eyes, and that anyone at the table is allowed to pray to whichever version of Jesus they prefer.
6 “Also, Due To A Binding Endorsement Contract That Stipulates I Mention Powerade At Each Grace…”
Ricky Bobby’s Product Placement During Grace
While Ricky’s comments about baby Jesus are the most memorable aspect of his hilarious delivery of grace at the dinner table, the entire scene is one of the funniest in the movie and features some of the best quotes. It also highlights just how far Ricky has climbed from his humble beginnings and how jaded he has become throughout his career. He ends the grace by revealing that he has a contract with Powerade and is required to mention it every time he gives such a blessing.
It is one of the funniest examples of the way Ricky has grown obsessed with corporate sponsorship, taking money wherever he can and proving that literally nothing is too holy not to be monetized. The way he begins pitching the new flavor, Mystic Mountain Blueberry, as if trying to convince God to buy some, is the kind of absurdity the film nails each time.