12

Pretty much every single time Seth Meyers mentions Mike Lindell (often while doing an impression of him) he closes with some variation of the phrase "tha bears!" (at least that's what I'm hearing) in a very specific cadence

Some random examples (links to exact timestamps):

  • (slight variation: "cy-bears!")

I often wondered what the origin of this joke was. So far, my research hasn't turned up anything. I should probably mention that I'm not from the US and had never heard about Lindell before he started being mentioned by Late Night talk show hosts, so I guess it might be a riff on a phrase he used in his commercials? Does anybody have a link?

Improve this question
1
  • 2
    It's Da bears.
    – Mazura
    Mar 9, 2022 at 21:53

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
28

It's from an Saturday Night Live skit in the early 90s called "Bill Swerski's Super Fans".

An example of the skit:

It features a group of men with very thick Chicago accents who are super fans of the Chicago Bears American football team. They all frequently yell "Da Bears!" whenever they get brought up. Most of the characters sport mustaches similar to Lindell's which makes him look like he belongs to that group.

Improve this answer
13
  • 4
    Oh, wow, no wonder I didn't make that connection. :D That's quite a stretch. And in hindsight, there was even a hint in the second of the random samples I picked... (totally lost on me, being from Germany and thus not being able to identify (most) US dialects if my life depended on it)...
    – Oliver Giesen
    Mar 9, 2022 at 1:35
  • 8
    and one might add that the mustache joke was alluding to the Bears' coach Mike Ditka, as well as the fact that Myers was an actor on SNL (though much later than these skits)
    – Mike M
    Mar 9, 2022 at 14:08
  • 4
    Seth of course was a long-time SNL head-writer and cast member before getting his own show, though this was before his time there. He has, when doing this impression, sometimes apologized since Lindell is from Minnesota, not Chicago.
    – Darrel Hoffman
    Mar 9, 2022 at 14:09
  • 5
    @DarrelHoffman To Meyers's credit, Lindell's accent is not too far off from the one used by the characters in the sketch. He doesn't just look like he belongs, he sounds like it.
    – Barmar
    Mar 9, 2022 at 15:35
  • 6
    What's the origin of [Michael] Meyers' running gag? : "Shortly after Robert Smigel moved from New York to Chicago in 1983 to start his career in comedy, he made his first visit to Wrigley Field to see the Cubs play. He noticed a prevalence of large men who wore walrus mustaches and aviator sunglasses, a look similar to Mike Ditka, who had been hired to coach the city's NFL team, the Chicago Bears, the year before. "There was just a swagger among these very virile-looking men", he recalled. "All sports fans kind of have it." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Swerski%27s_Superfans
    – Mazura
    Mar 9, 2022 at 21:51

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .