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In the 2021 movie Licorice Pizza by Paul Thomas Anderson, the main character Gary makes an awkward joke that, as far as I could understand, goes like this (not verbatim):

(on the TV show stage)

  • Host: How are things going for you, Gary?

  • Gary: Last week I did three beavers.

  • Host: You mean Leave it to Beaver?

  • Gary: Three beavers.

Can someone explain to me as a non-native English speaker and non-American what Gary is referring to here?

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2 Answers 2

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"Beaver" is a euphemism for female genitalia. Still used, but more common in the early 70s. I would say using "Leave it to Beaver" (the TV show) in a joke of this nature was about as commonplace as jokes about Uranus.

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    I'd say ‘beaver’ is slang (already dated at the time of the story), not a euphemism. Euphemisms are what you say to avoid vulgarity, and ‘beaver’ is not that.
    – Anton Sherwood
    Feb 10, 2022 at 2:36
  • After noticing that he says he did three beavers and with this answer, the joke is now clear to me.
    – PasadenaPancake
    Mar 2, 2022 at 19:20
  • Do you want to know more? english.stackexchange.com/questions/18810/…
    – UnhandledExcepSean
    Mar 6, 2022 at 4:54
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Continuing from the first answer, he's implying that he had sex three times.

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    This was already implied through the existing answer. Please use comments to address other answers. You can take the Tour to familiarize yourself with this platform. Welcome to Movies & TV!
    – Joachim
    Feb 25, 2022 at 13:00
  • Disagree @Joachim. It is not implied at all. It is not spelled out, nor understood.
    – Jason P Sallinger
    Feb 25, 2022 at 14:04
  • @JasonPSallinger Hence "implied" :) But sure, that's subjective. I just think that apart from that this is a comment, not an answer - the OP asks what is referenced in the dialogue.
    – Joachim
    Feb 25, 2022 at 14:07
  • For me, this is a very helpful amendment to the other answer. It explains the emphasis on three.
    – PasadenaPancake
    Mar 2, 2022 at 19:20

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