Chew Bubblegum - Television Tropes & Idioms

"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And I'm all out of bubblegum."

— Nada, They Live

This oft-parodied line originated in the 1988 film They Live (The line was actually ad-libbed by hero and pro-wrestler "Rowdy" Roddy Piper.)

The "kick ass and chew bubblegum" quote is referenced quite often for laughs (word for word except for the one part where it's mangled, the reversal is common as many people find it flows more naturally); it's assumed all viewers should know it by name. This is some of the most obvious Lampshade Hanging you will likely find anywhere.

Originally used as a Pre Ass Kicking One Liner, but in parodies more often indicates an Incoming Ham. Related to this is I Hit You, You Hit the Ground. Not related to an inability to walk and chew gum at the same time.

Examples:

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Anime & Manga

One volume of Samurai Deeper Kyo has the three male protagonists saying "We're here to kick ass and chew mochi balls... and we're all out of mochi." Seeing as gum hadn't been introduced to Japan yet, the chewy, doughy stuff makes an acceptable substitute.
Kuwabara pulls this once in the dub of YuYu Hakusho, in the dark Tournament Arc. Shizuru is not impressed.
Why Koga feels he should have been at the final fight in InuYasha... until his friends tell him otherwise.

Comic Books

From Marvel Zombies 3:
Aaron Stack: I have been programmed to eviscerate your repulsive squishy organic bits and chew gum. And I hate gum.
Twisted Toyfare Theater from Toy Fair magazine had one of the Smurfs say "I'm here to kick ass and chew bubblesmurf! And I'm all out of bubblesmurf!"
- The mag also inverted this once - showing a War Machine figure saying "I'm here to fire missiles and chew bubblegum. And I have plenty of missiles."
In Horndog:
Andrea Mouse: I'm here to kill lemmings and chew bubblegum... and I'm all out of gum.

Fan Fic

Light And Dark The Adventures Of Dark Yagami gives us "Imhere to sex up L and bake cup cakes and im all out of cupcakes which is why I need to bake them!", perhaps the most bizarrely worded Chew Bubblegum ever.
In the BZPRPG: Asked why he came to Ga-Wahi, Hau merely utters: "I've come to see the sights and kick butt. And I'm all out of sights."
Used and in Twillight Sparkle's awesome adventure just before the first big fight scene.
Applejack: Alright everyone, it�s time to chew bubble gums and kick plots.
From the Megane 6.7 MSTing of Artemis' Lover:
Crow T. Robot: I'M STUCK IN THIS CRUMMY FANFIC, I CAN'T SPELL TO SAVE MY LIFE AND I'M ALL OUT OF BUBBLEGUM!

Film

Clint in Dazed and Confused:
- Clint: I only came here to do two things, kick some ass and drink some beer. [glances over his shoulder] Looks like we're almost outta beer.
Used as a Stealth Pun in GI Joe The Rise Of Cobra: at one point, it's established that Duke really likes Dubble Bubble. Right before the Paris chase, he gives his last piece to Breaker.
Invoked during Roddy Piper's appearance at a wrestling match featured in the Juggalo documentary A Family Underground.
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy has this great quote by Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate).
Corningstone: Because I am good at three things: Fighting, screwing, and reading the news. I've already done one of those today, so what's the other one gonna be? Huh?

Literature

In Proven Guilty, book 8 of The Dresden Files, we find this gem:
Chapter Thirty-five
I kicked the door open, staff held ready to fight, and shouted, "And I'm all outta bubble gum!"
- Cue crickets.

Live Action TV

Although it's never explicitly referenced, an episode of Stargate SG-1 included a one-episode character shooting the hell out of a zombie while blowing bubbles with his gum.
Invoked by Adam while Jamie is busy setting up their latest rig:
Adam: Mr Hyneman says it's time to bash some heads in, and chew some gum. And he's fresh out of gum.
In 'The Final Countdown' episode of The IT Crowd:
Moss: I came here to drink milk... and kick ass. And I've just finished my milk.
Mystery Science Theater 3000:
- Parodied with Kevin Murphy as Santa Claus, pronouncing, "I'm here to kick ass and eat candy canes, and I'm all out of candy canes!" before fighting with Pitch.
- The episode The Outlaw (of Gor) made fun of this. Before the fight, the hero is chewing on something, and Crow quips "I've come here to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and I'm all out of ass!"
- And again during Godzilla Vs Megalon, with Crow substituting "sushi" for bubblegum.
One of the team captains in Robot Wars says this line once during their introduction.
In Doctor Who, Rory has the similar "I'm here to kiss my wife or kick your ass. And I don't see my wife."
How I Met Your Mother: When Ted comes to help Lily and Marshall pack.
Ted: I'm here to chew bubblegum and pack boxes, and I'm all out of bubble... [gags] Oh, my God, I swallowed it!

Music

"The Meddler" by the Subway Thugs, a street punk band, has the line during the intro.

Roleplay

Sarah Bishop in Dino Attack RPG humorously referenced the original line with a BZP-friendly version: "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick buttocks, and I'm all out of bubblegum!"

Tabletop Games

In the Scion sourcebook Hero, players are advised to make Physical Attributes their character's primary category "if you're building a Scion who kicks ass and chews gum, but happens to be all out of gum."
This simple tabletop system literally contains rules for being All Outta Bubblegum.

Video Games

Two examples from RuneScape
- The description of the troll (named by the first thing they ate) Cliff is "He came down from the mountain to drink milk and kick butt... and he is all outta milk."
- Sir Owen: "I am here to kick ass and take names... and I am a Temple Knight, so I already know your names."
The bubblegum line was quoted almost word-for-word by the main character in Duke Nukem 3 D. Thanks to the Weird Al Effect, many people actually attribute this line to the Duke, rather than the earlier, comparatively less-known film.:
"It's time to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and I'm all out of gum."
- In Duke Nukem Manhattan Project, the Big Bad has built a giant robot in Duke's image. During the final level, you can hear the robot mangle this line into "I came to kick bubblegum and chew ass, and I am all out of ass."
- Also used in the 2011 Duke Nukem Forever trailer. Near the end of the trailer as word are superimposed on the screen, two screens make mention to this. The first screen shows "...And He's Really...", the second screen (after a lengthy piss-off scene) says "Really", and the third screen shows "...All out of gum."
Macarena Of The Missing had Dick Fallout speak only in Catch Phrases, where one was that "it's time to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and I'm all out of ass".
There is a Gunslinger boss from the Malta Group in City of Villains who greets your character with the line "Guess what? I'm all outta bubblegum!"
- Also, the badge description for the fifteen-month veteran badge in CoV reads, "You've spent fifteen months chewing bubblegum and kicking butt. You ran out of gum a long time ago."
Invictus, a somewhat obscure strategy game, rendered the line as "I've come to kick butt and eat goats, and I'm all out of goats."
The online game Adventure Quest has this as one of the many, many cheesy Stock Phrases the Guardian Dragon uses when summoned.
Guild Wars: One of Gwen's battle quotes: "...and I'm all out of mossgum!"
World of Warcraft: "I have come from the frozen heart of Naxxramas to feast on souls and deliver a vicious threshing upon our sworn enemies — and I'm all out of souls."
- "Report to Vice Admiral Keller just northwest of here and let him know that you're all out of bubble gum."
- "It be time ta kick some arse an' drink double-rum! An' I almost be outta double-rum."
- Blizzard loves this one.
Warriors Orochi 2, the second game in a series of crossovers between Koei's Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors, has this one from Sun Wukong: "I'm ready to paint the town red! And I'm all out of paint!"
"Weird Al" Yankovic's Virus Alert game features the line, "I'm here to kick butt and chew bubblegum. And I'm all outta butt. Er, no, wait..."
In Fallout 2, one of the random NCR guards will occasionally say "I'm here to kick ass and chew bubblegum. Lucky for you, I still have one stick left."
- Funny, yes, but doesn't that just mean he can chew gum while kicking ass?
- The player character can use the very line in Redding, if he doesn't particularly care about the impression he makes on the sheriff.
In Fallout New Vegas a package of bubblegum can be found on a shelf in the Cottonwood Cove HQ Building, resting atop a box of shotgun shells. Very likely an invocation of the line, as Piper's character was brandishing a shotgun when making his announcement.
Champions Online has a mission titled 'Chew Bubble Gum And'. To the development team's credit, the mission also contains multiple references to They Live.
A variation in Destroy All Humans! 2: the Blisk sometimes say, "We have come to kick ass... and chew humans."
In Starcraft II, the marine has the line "I came here to kick ass and chew bubble gum, and I'm all outta... ah forget it" if you click on him enough times.
- Also, this is one of Tychus Findlay's Badass Boasts during his little rampage with The Odin.
Roddy Piper's character in SmackDown!VsRAW 2008 uses a version of this. "I used to chew bubblegum and kick ass! But I gave up on chewing bubblegum a long time ago, so now I kick twice as much ass!'
Used straight in One Must Fall 2097 with guest character Jazz Jackrabbit, "I'm here to kick butt and eat carrots and I'm all out of carrots!"
In Cargo! The Quest for Gravity, one of the evil robot gods accuses the protagonist of not being much of an engineer because "all [she does] is kick arse and chew bubblegum."
Kingdom of Loathing has an item that states, "You came here to make a lamp, and to beat things with a big club, and you're all out of light bulbs."
Said by Cookie Masterson in the start of episode seven of the 2011 release of You Don't Know Jack but with a different kind of gum. "I'm Cookie Masterson, and I came here to kick butt and chew gum. And I just ran out of chewing gum..."

Webcomics

In Bob and George, Dr. Light mangles the line due to being really drunk in this comic.
In Mac Hall, they were all out of ass.
No Need for Bushido uses the line "Yori's ready to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and he's fresh out of bubblegum!" as a subtitle on its banner at TopWebComics.com.
Parodied in The Non-Adventures of Wonderella, when the eponymous character gets pissed off at a sentient Target store:
Wonderella: I'm here to buy bubblegum and eat cookies... and you're all out of bubblegum.
Felicity Flint of John Troutman's various comics once gets distracted in the middle of it:
Felicity: I'm here to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and I'm all out of— OOH, Bubble Tape!
- Isn't Bubble Tape bubblegum?
The Forums for the webcomic Dresden Codak had a forum regular sprout "It's time for badass Kimiko to kick ass and manipulate the structure of synthetic polymers, and she's all out of synthetic polymers."
Parodied in Dragon Tails here.
Goldy: That's it, I'm stealing a one liner. Time to kick ass and chew bubble gum and I'm all out of gum.
Lemuel: Actually, I've got another pack of gum in my bag.
Goldy: Uh... ta.
- Also played with, because the gum is why he then kicks ass. The gum is actually a high power explosive, one of the few inventions created by the resident incompetent Mad Scientist (Bluey) that works as it's intended to.
Also parodied in this Ansem Retort comic. Justified in that it's perfectly in-character for Sora.
The MS Paint Adventures series Problem Sleuth pairs a variant with Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness when, in a donation-sponsored bonus comic, Pickle Inspector attempts to save the day with a desk fort.
"You're here for two things: to rain unspeakable devastation down on the forces of evil, and to flail your limbs about in a playful manner.
"AND YOU HAVE NO ROOM IN YOUR FORT TO FLAIL ABOUT WHATSOEVER."
- Earlier, in the actual "canon" storyline, there was this one:
  "You're here for two things: to fucking ruin someone's shit, and to play a friendly game of make-believe.
  "AND YOU'RE ALL OUT OF IMAGINATION."
  - Especially appropriate as it's been repeatedly established that Ace Dick's imagination sucks.
Today Nothing Happened had a semi-filler strip doing the usual subversion (only with dishes).
In Pegwarmers, Deadpool parodied it here.
The usual joke gets a little technical in this statement by CEO Duke Nukem, as reported by Penny Arcade.
If you scroll enough to the top-left in this XKCD, you find someone saying "I came here to chew bubblegum... and I'm all out of bubblegum."

Web Original

Angry Joe parodied this in his review of Duke Nukem Forever
Joe: I'm here to Kick ass and chew bubblegum, and I have... plenty of gum"
There used to be a website hosting things like Spider-Man: Shush, and Avengers: Misassembled spoofing Marvel and DC crossover stories, using action figures.
Ultron: "I'm here to chew bubble gum and kick ass. ... And even though I still have plenty of gum, I'ma still gonna kick all yo asses."
Duke Nukem: Forever (no, not that one, the one by Andrew Kepple) parodies it beautifully:
Elderly Duke Nukem: "I'm here to kick ass and chew gum—-[dentures fall out]—-and I'm all out of teeth."
Elderly Doctor Proton: "Plenty of gums, though."
In early February 2011, when ICANN assigned the last I Pv 4 /8s, the line mutated for a time into "I'm here to kick ass and assign I Pv 4 addresses... and I'm all out of I Pv 4 addresses!"
Spoofed in a Gag Sub version of Red Dawn 1984.
Col. Strelnikov: "I'm here to kick bubblegum and chew ass, and guess what? I'm all out of bubblegum."
(General Jackinoff nods for reasons you really don't want to know)
Yu Gi Oh The Abridged Series has Kaiba declare "I'm here to kick ass and play card games, and I'm all out of cards." This is later parodied by Yami in "The Other Abridged Movie" with "I'm here to kick ass and play card games, and I'm all out of ass."
- In one episode, Bakura says, "I've come to kick ass and drink cups of tea, and I'm all out of tea!"
A pre-Team Four Star Dragon Ball Abridged take on the "Dead Zone" movie had a botched take on it:
Piccolo: Alright. I'm here to kick bubblegum and chew ass, and I'm all out of ass... wait...
In .hack Trilogy Abridged, during Haseo's fight with Tri-Edge, at 6:17-6:25, Tri-Edge says "I'm here to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and I'm all out of bubblegum, AGAIN!! I need to shop for more!"
Gan Xingba, the creator of Avatar The Abridged Series produced this gem:"I'm hear to eat fire flakes and kick ass, and I'm all out of fire flakes."
This trope is used by SF Debris in his review of the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Regeneration", riffing on the concept of heavily armed scientific expeditions.
"I'm here to measure soil toxicity and kick ass, and I'm all out of samples! *makes machine gun noises*"
Humorously inverted in this◊ Professor Layton meme.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Abridged Series by Pony Not Ready:
Kyoko: I'm here to kick ass and eat food. And I'm all out of food.
Kyubey: Kyubey Kyubey Kyubey? *
(Subtitled:) You're out of food?

Kyoko: Of course I'm not out of food, who do you think I am?

Western Animation

Numbuh 4 of the Codename Kids Next Door also referenced the quote in "UNCOOL", with chewy pellets instead of gum. (The episode also featured zombies, so it fits.)
An episode of The Real Ghost Busters had Peter Venkman say "I'm here to chew bubblegum and bust ghosts! And I'm all out of bubblegum!"

Real Life

For the pedantic, it deserves to be mentioned that this is an "and" clause which works as a grammatical all-or-nothing; nobody is going to be kicking anything, if they don't have any gum to go along with it. If you try to point this out, expect your subject to demonstrate otherwise.

Bigger Than Jesus

Shout-Outs Index

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night

By the Power of Grayskull!

Harbinger of Asskicking