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Ladies and Germs

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"Dearly beloved. Gems. Humans. Lions big and small. Living gourds. Onion."
— Steven, Steven Universe, "Reunited"

Possibly coined by Milton Berle, this is a variation on the respectful greeting "Ladies and Gentlemen" with which a speaker or performer traditionally addresses their audience from the stage. Usually takes one of the following forms:

  1. "Ladies and X", where X is usually some corruption of "gentlemen".
    • A little less commonly, "X and gentlemen".
  2. "Ladies, gentlemen, and X".
  3. "X and Y", if the writers are clever enough, with plays on "ladies" and "gentlemen" respectively.

Although the phrase is often purely Played for Laughs, it also sees more genuine use when the greeter wishes to acknowledge any non-binary gender dynamic.

Generally not used as an insult against X — but compare gender-based versions of My Friends... and Zoidberg.

Examples:

    open/close all folders 
    Advertising 
  • An ad for the educative software Microsoft Dinosaurs opens with "Ladies and theropods!"

    Anime 

    Asian Animation 
  • In Bread Barbershop, the characters in focus are bakery foods like bread and pastries. In "Lonely Tart", the host of Show Within a Show Master Patissier refers to everyone as "Ladies and gentlebreads!"
  • In one version of Simple Samosa's English theme song, Dhokla's verse is preceded by Samosa saying "Ladies and gentlesnacks! Meet my sweetest friend, Dhoklu!" (The show takes place in a town populated by Anthropomorphic Food, hence "gentlesnacks".)

    Comedy 
  • More than one sketch comedy troupe: Ladies and gentlemen, mesdames et messieurs, bozos and bozettes…
  • From the highly esteemed Goon Show: "My Lords, Ladies, and other National Assistance holders..."
  • Eddie Izzard often addresses her audience as "Ladies and Jellyspoons..."
  • Hosting the 2006 Oscars, Jon Stewart said, "Good evening ladies, gentlemen... Felicity."
  • Rowan Atkinson starts a stage skit as a tipsy father giving a speech at a wedding with "Ladies, gentlemen, friends of my daughter."

    Comic Books 
  • Star Wars: Doctor Aphra. While holding an auction for the Rur Crystal, Aphra greets the gathering of academics, collectors and organised crime thugs thus:
    "Ladies, Gentlemen, Droids, Ruffians, Intellectuals and...most of all, Rich People..."
  • Justice League International: In the title's second Annual, The Joker, after several failed efforts to kill members of the League, addresses the team from a trashed tank: "Y'know, ladies and germs, I have my foot on the self destruct switch even as we speak, and it would be just like me to use it..."

    Comic Strips 
  • A Bloom County strip features a grade-school math teacher (who may or may not be drunk) addressing his class as "ladles and gentlemints" before embarking on a lesson about fractions, which is simply a thinly-disguised rant about his low pay.
  • Garfield once greeted his audience as "Ladies and Germs" while on the fence for a show.

    Fanfiction 
  • Harry Five-0, a Harry Potter / Hawaii Five-0 crossover has "Ladies and gentlemen… and Danny," in chapter 26.
  • The Pieces Lie Where They Fell: Vix-Lei's illusion sequence in chapter 45 has her announcer welcoming the crowd with "Fillies and gentlecolts, griffons and griffettes, dogs, dragons, my lords and lady minotaurs, and every other species represented here,".
  • When the author is introducing episode 35 of Pretty Cure Perfume Preppy: "Ladies, gentlemen, and Ryanasaurus...", referring to the author of Pretty Cure Heavy Metal, which is set in the same universe.
  • A Diplomatic Visit: In chapter 5 of the second sequel, Diplomacy Through Schooling, during the ceremony when she transfers the mantle of the Nightmare to Pharynx, Luna greets the attendees with "Fillies, gentlecolts... Discord." Luckily, he doesn't take offense and just tips his (previously non-existent) hat to her.
  • At the School Play in Skyhold Academy Yearbook, Varric greets the audience as "Ladies and gentlepersons."

    Film — Animated 
  • The white rabbit from Disney's Alice in Wonderland: "Your Majesty; members of the jury; loyal subjects; [dismissively] and the King..."
  • A Bug's Life:
    Slim: Ladies and gentlebugs! Larvae of all stages!
  • Cars:
    Mater: Ladies aaaand gentlecars!
  • At the end of Robots, Bigweld starts his speech with "Ladies and gentlebots".
  • Batman: Hush. Harley Quinn when interrupting an opera performance to rob the audience.
    "Ladies and jerks, there's been a slight change to tonight's program!"

    Film — Live-Action 

    Literature 
  • Spider Robinson, in many Callahan's Crosstime Saloon stories: "Genties and ladlemen".
  • In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: At Hallowe'en, Dumbledore greets the school with "Good evening, ladies, gentlemen, ghosts, and particularly, guests".
  • In Eric Frank Russell's anthology Men, Martians and Machines, chronicling the adventures of the crew of the spaceship Upskadaska City, the Martian members of the crew start speeches to the (all-male) crew with "gentlemen and adults." Since the Martians are male too, this is not a gender distinction but a piece of Martian snark.
  • In Screwtape Proposes a Toast by C. S. Lewis, the titular toast is introduced by Screwtape with the words, "Mr Principal, your Imminence, your Disgraces, my Thorns, Shadies and Gentledevils..."
  • In Star Wars Legends, it seems like the standard form is "ladies and gentlebeings".
  • Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga: In Diplomatic Immunity, Miles opens with "Ladies, Gentlemen, Honourable Herm", which is an accurate form of address for the genders present.
  • In Keep Out, Claudia! in The Babysitters Club, sitting charge Jackie Rodowsky welcomes the audience to an outdoor concert with "Good afternoon, Lysol and germs."

    Live-Action TV 
  • In one episode of The Big Comfy Couch, Loonette took on the role of a circus ringmaster and said, "Ladies and jellybeans! Boys and gorillas!"
  • An episode of Bill Nye the Science Guy used "ladies and germs" during an episode on... well... germs.
  • The Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Homecoming" has "Ladies, gentlemen, spiny-headed looking creatures..."
  • The Dinosaurs episode "Germ Welfare" has a scene with a germ greeting other germs with "Ladies and gentlemen..." after which they all laugh and then the germ says, "just kidding. I mean ladies and germs..."
  • Doctor Who:
    • "The End of the World": "Ladies and gentlemen and trees and multiforms..."
    • "The Long Game": "Ladies, gentlemen, multi-sex, undecided or robot..."
    • "Midnight": "Ladies and gentlemen, and variations thereupon..." Used twice, the second time with rather more strain than the first.
  • In the 2001 Dune miniseries, Paul gets a little drunk and takes the piss out of the Harkonnens by pretending to make a speech as the Baron.
    Paul: Gentleman and ladies! I use the terms loosely.
  • At Phoebe's wedding in Friends, Joey begins the ceremony by saying "Friends, family, dog."
  • Glee: In "Big Brother", Sue Sylvester addresses the club with "Ladies and gays..."
  • An scene of iCarly shows Freddie walking into the room, saying, "Hello ladies. Or should I say lady and Sam."note 
  • The Goodies Rule — OK?. A million police officers are brought in for crowd control for a public performance by The Goodies, and to ensure there's no trouble whatsoever the police stop anyone else from entering the stadium.
    "Gentlemen, Constables, Sergeants, Special Branch, Superintendents, Inspectors, Deputy Controllers, rozzers, plods, fuzz, et cetera et cetera...here they are...THE GOODIES!"
  • Hawkeye would use the Trope Namer "Ladies and germs" on at least one early M*A*S*H episode.
    • Also, in the episode where Colonel Blake appointed Hawkeye chief surgeon, Hawkeye began his acceptance speech, "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen...and anyone in-between."
    • On at least one occasion, the snooty Major Winchester greets Hawkeye, BJ, and Radar with, "Gentlemen... and Corporal."
  • Midsomer Murders has a Pompous Windbag starts a speech at a funeral addressing the ladies, gentlemen, honorable members... and not-so-honorable members, the last one directed at some politician who brought his mistress along.
  • Monty Python's Flying Circus; during the Confuse-a-Cat sketch, at one point a Long John Silver impersonator announces, "My lords, ladies, and Gedderbong."
  • Henrietta Hippo uses the Trope Namer "Ladies and germs..." as part of her pathetic comedy act in an episode of New Zoo Revue.
  • In one episode of Power Rangers S.P.D., Bridge and Boom introduce the updated version of RIC to "ladies, gentlemen, [and] assorted extra-terrestrials."
  • Quark. Dr Otto Palindrome is introduced doing this trope, which becomes an Overly Long Gag when a Reveal Shot shows he's addressing a roomful of aliens.
    "I want to thank you all... ladies, gentlemen, humanoids, multiforms, polomorphopods, genunites, tun-guans, transtodulites."
  • In one episode of Red Dwarf, Lister begins a toast with "Gentlemen, and skutters." In his defense, there are no women on board... and technically only one man. The other characters are a cat, a hologram and an Artificial Intelligence.
  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Odo once had to get the attention of everyone on the promenade with, "ladies and gentlemen." After a pause when he realized he still didn't have Morn's attention, he added, "and androgynous species."
    • Although, it's worth noting that Morn has been addressed with masculine pronouns at any other given point in the series. Since he was the only Lurian we saw in DS9 and the only named one to date in the entire Star Trek franchise, it could just be how his species prefers to be addressed.
  • Star Trek: Voyager. In "Spirit Folk", the Emergency Medical Hologram is playing an Irish priest in a holodeck program, and gets some funny looks from his congregation when he talks of "man or woman, husband and wife, photons and forcefields..."
  • Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip has "ladies and germs" as an added note of sarcasm and incredulity when Matt Albie remembers to his ex-girlfriend (and the audience) that she doesn't have the right to question who he is dating because she broke with him, and she did it by e-mail.
  • On The Suite Life on Deck, we get "Ladies and Quentilmen" from London. It wasn't said with any mean subtext, she's just that dumb.
  • Tales from the Crypt: Everyone's favourite storytelling zombie has this gem:
    Crypt Keeper: Welcome, boils and ghouls!
  • On Tattletales, whenever Dick Gautier was on the panel and the question was directed towards the husbands, Bert Convy would preface it with "Men... and you too, Dick..."
  • In an episode of Will & Grace, Karen is making a grand entrance at a gay rights rally, and announces, "Ladies, Gentlemen, and undecided."
  • WKRP in Cincinnati: On at least one occasion, Venus Flytrap addressed his co-workers and/or listeners as "Dudes and Dudettes."

    Music 
  • Emilie Autumn addresses her audience as "Ladies, gentlemen, and all those undecided or in-between".
  • From Blue Öyster Cult's "Subhuman" (from Secret Treaties and part of the Imaginos Myth Arc):
    So ladies, fish, and gentlemen
    Here's my angled dream
    See me in my blue sky bag
    And meet me by the sea
  • Cher addresses her audience with "Ladies and gentlemen... and you flamboyant gentlemen."
  • From Dr. Dre's The Chronic album: "What up, niggas and niggettes..."
  • A live recording of Finnegan's Wake by The Dubliners begins with Ronnie Drew addressing "The Lord Mayor, Your Excellencies, ladies, gentlemen... and fellow peasants".
  • "Business", from Eminem's album The Eminem Show, begins with him saying to listeners, "Bitches and gentlemen..."
  • Meat Loaf addresses his audience with "Ladies and gentlemen...brothers and sisters...." while doing his impression of a Southern Baptist minister.
  • The immortal Anna Russell began her "Introduction to the Concert (By the Women's Club President)" with, "Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen ... and others. — I'm sorry, of course I know all our members are ladies and gentlemen. What I meant to say was, some of you have brought friends."
  • Rapper Slick Rick begins his song "Mona Lisa" on The Great Adventures of Slick Rick with the introduction "Ladies, gentlemen... and lowlifes."
  • "Drip Fed Fred" by Madness begins with "Gentlemen, assassins, and ladies of the night..."
  • Planet Booty frequently address their audiences at live shows with "Ladies, Gentlemen, and everyone in between!"

    Oral Tradition 
  • A famous rhyme/faux speech begins with the words "Ladles and Jellyspoons". Past that there are many versions, but it always begins with those words.
  • The 'One Fine Day' rhyme sometimes starts with 'Ladies and gentlemen/hobos and tramps/cross eyed mosquitoes/and bowlegged ants...’

    Puppet Shows 
  • The Harry Belafonte episode of The Muppet Show begins with Kermit reading a typo-ridden script written by Fozzie that says, "Lagies and genglefens."
  • In Toby Terrier and His Video Pals' theme song, before the song starts, Don Dane addresses the viewers as "Ladies and Dobermanns!"

    Radio 
  • From an episode of The Burkiss Way:
    "Your majesty, your most royal highness, your grace, your excellency, your worships, my lords, ladies and gentlemen... tables, chairs, napkins and cruets... curtains, cutlery... things in the soup... gravy on the tablecloths... stars on Sunday, raindrops on roses, whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens, brown paper packages tied up with strings, these are a few of my favourite things..."
  • Among the many nonsense expressions of The Goon Show was Seagoon's address, "Ladies and Gintlepong..."
    • One episode has Bloodnok start a speech "Ladies, gentlemen and wogs..." This line, and some similar later ones, are omitted from repeats on BBC7.
  • From an episode of Hello Cheeky:
    "Ladies and gentlemen...and Gladys Suavely..."
    • They also had this:
    "My lords, my ladies, my dukes, my duchesses, my earls, your most royal highnesses, ladies and gentlemen...the building is on fire."
  • When he was on the Rick Dees show, Meat Loaf introduced the number one song with "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, cats and dogs, turtles and gerbils..."

    Theatre 
  • In Cabaret, the Emcee (when played by Alan Cumming, that is) doesn't change the wording, but makes his feelings clear whenever he says "Ladies!... and gentlemen."
  • In Kinky Boots, Lola addresses "Ladies and gentlemen and those who have yet to make up their minds..."

    Video Games 

    Webcomics 
  • Axel from Ansem Retort gives this gem: "Ladies, Gentleman, Marluxia of the jury..."
  • Bruno the Bandit shows us how complicated this can be in a fantasy world. (The wizard eventually gets sent to multicultural sensitivity training.)
  • Amical from morphE addresses his audience in the awakening party as "Ladies, Gentlemen and everything adorably in-between."
  • Sonichu: Christian Weston Chandler's FUTURE MESSAGE, according to the introduction, is intended for "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and dudes of all teenages."
  • Housepets!: When Keene announces his retirement he delivers a particularly long version of this trope.
    Keene: Friends. Citizens. Non-citizens. Dogs. Cats. Miscellaneous. Manifestations of the dead. Possible Demigods. Bitter Enemies. Pets who showed up just for the food. That weird-looking hobo in the corner. Representatives from the zoo. That one camel in the back who only speaks Arabic. And the esteemed officers of the local police department, most if not all of who were already aforementioned under the dog category—
    Crowd: Get on with it!

    Web Original 
  • Arkada, formerly of DesuDesBrigade and currently of Podtaku, is fond of "Ladies, gentlemen, and others...".
  • Atop the Fourth Wall: Linkara likes to open with "Ladies and gentlemen and others, welcome... to Atop The Fourth Wall."
  • ContraPoints: Whenever Lady Foppington is about to begin a monologue, she will often preface it with 'Lords, Ladies, Those that lieth betwixt...'
  • ExoParadigmGamer begins his videos with, "Greetings, gentles and ladiesmen."
  • On Homestar Runner, the Strong Bad Email "pizzaz" had Strong Bad addressing an audience on a Show Within a Show with "Good evening, mostly people."
  • In the Jake and Amir episode "Girlfriend", Amir says "look who decided to show up, ladies and Germanies!"
  • Markiplier: Wilford Warfstache uses 'Ladies, Gentlemen and other configurations of being' (like Dark).
  • The Selectives Lore podcast always begins with "Ladies and gentlemen, and variations thereof..."
  • Sanders Sides: Thomas ends each video with "Take it easy, guys, gals, and nonbinary pals!"
  • Cecil of Welcome to Night Vale once addressed his listeners as "Ladies and gentlemen and those of you not clearly falling into either category..."
    • The second-anniversary special opens simply with "Listeners of every kind..."
  • Caddicarus will occasionally refer to his audience as "Lumpies and Germs."
  • The Overly Sarcastic Productions episode discussing the myth of Amaterasu has the goddess Ame-no-Uzume address her audience as such:
    "Ladies! Gentlemen! Those of us whose gender fluctuates from myth to myth!"
  • A Heist with Markiplier, as well as other projects made by Markiplier, feature the character Wilford M. Warfstache, a deranged, murderous talk show host who opens all his shows with "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and all other configurations of being!" This could simply be a randomly chosen catchphrase, or it could be a nod to Darkiplier, another character in the same universe who's technically neither male nor female, or even entirely human.
  • B. Dylan Hollis usually makes short and hilarious Tik Toks about cooking vintage recipes; but for some of his more popular creations, he also creates lengthy serious videos on YouTube where he goes more in-depth about details of the foods. He welcomes viewers to each of these longer videos by greeting them as "Gentles and ladymen."
  • LoadingReadyRun starts every episode of LoadingReadyLive, after the cold open, with "From near and far; young and old; people of every shape, ability and gender; welcome to LoadingReadyLive" or the occasional variant.

    Western Animation 
  • The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius:
    • "Ladies and gentlemen... and Cindy."
    • Jimmy later uses this in a flattering way during his magic show for Betty Quinlan: "Lady and gentleman ... and Betty!"
    • "Lady and gentleman ... Mom and Dad!"
  • Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers used a couple. The Queen's announcer in "Shootout" opened with "Ladies, aliens, and mutants!"
  • In an episode of Arthur, we have Francine's dad saying to the rest of his family: "Ladies and, uh... ladies."
  • Chowder: In “The Dinner Theater”, Mung appears to have done this on purpose just to get a reaction from Ms. Endive:
    Mung: Ladies and gentlemen! And Endive!
    Ms. Endive: *growls*
    • Mung then starts laughing uproariously for a good ten seconds before moving on.
  • Cow and Chicken: Chicken is in prison and The Devil the Red Guy, who is the warden, enters. The entire group of convicts are men. So Red goes: "Laaaaaaddddddiiiiiieeeeeeees!!!!!!!... and gentlemen".
    • Another instance in Cow and Chicken is when Cow wrote the school play "The Ugliest Weenie". They greeted the audience with "Ladies and Germans".
    • In the Mexican dub, Red Guy would often address people as "Damas y caballos" (Ladies and horses) instead of "Damas y caballeros".
  • The referee in the Daffy Duck cartoon To Duck or Not to Duck opens the boxing match between Daffy and Elmer with "Ladies and gentleducks..."
  • In Dinosaur Train, characters usually address groups as "dinosaurs and pterosaurs" (occasionally with other categories of animals added), and King Cryolophosaurus addresses his audience as "carnivores, herbivores, and omnivores" in "Troodon Train Day".
  • Ed, Edd n Eddy: Eddy normally started out scams like this.
  • Used in The Fairly OddParents!:
    Timmy: Ladies...and Timmy Turner's Dad!
  • Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: In "Hiccy Burp", Wilt serves as the MC for the big talent show, but suffers an attack of stage fright. After fumbling his introductory monologue several times, he tried to start again. Unfortunately, his note cards had become so soaked with flop-sweat that it came out as "Lardies and gestlemen" before he got dragged offstage by a Vaudeville Hook. Madame Foster then quipped that he still did better than last year.
  • Futurama:
    • A wrestling announcer says "Ladies, gentlemen and smizmars..." We don't find out what a smizmar is for a few more seasons.
    • Hedonismbot: "Courtesans and gentlefops..."
    • Speaking of Zoidberg, he actually Lampshaded this while doing open mic night in "A Clone of My Own": "Good evening, ladies and germs. [Rimshot] That wasn't a joke. I was talking to Dean Streptococcus."
  • In the Gravity Falls episode "Weirdmageddon 2: Escape from Reality", Bill Cipher addresses a group of fellow monsters with "Ladies, gentlemen, that creature with like eighty-seven different faces..."
    Creature: "Eighty-eight different faces!"
  • House of Mouse: One episode has Mike the microphone introducing Mickey by saying "Ladys and jungle man, toys and squirrels..."
  • Jelly Jamm: In "Radio Goomo", Bello, when he does his magic act for the first time, greets the (non-existant save for Goomo) audience with "Ladies and jellymen!"
  • In the King of the Hill episode "That's What She Said", Hank considers a lawsuit against a new co-worker's boss-approved juvenile language and pranks:
    Ms. Borginnis: "Sexual harassment" is an umbrella term. It doesn't just cover women, but also men. And transgender individuals.
    Hank: *groans*
  • Visually taken literally in the Bakshi Mighty Mouse cartoon "Bat With A Golden Tongue". Trophy thief Ski Nose (a caricature of Bob Hope), about to disrupt a ceremony by stealing another trophy, greets the audience as ladies and germs. The tables are populated by ladies and germs.
  • In My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, "Fillies and gentlecolts" is commonly used to address a crowd.
  • The Patrick Star Show:
    • In "Squidina's Little Helper", Patrick addresses his viewers with "babies and gentlemen..." We then see that his audience consists of babies and fancy-looking fish, one of whom marvels, "That's us!"
    • In "The Starry Awards", Patrick greets his audience with "Ladies and German man!"
  • Phineas and Ferb: "Friends, bullies, Irving..."
  • Rosie's Rules:
    • From "Chef Rosie": "Ladies and gentlemen, and all the other kinds of people in this family."
    • From "The Cake-Off": "Ladies and gentle-bakers."
  • Scooby-Doo! Music of the Vampire: Bram of the Fangenschanz acting troupe welcomes the audience with "Ladies and gentle-mortals!"
  • The Simpsons:
    • Shows up at least once at an event called "Robot Rumble".
      Announcer: Ladies and gentlemen- ah who am I kidding, just gentlemen.
    • In another episode, Bart introduces himself at a contest by saying "Ladles and jelly spoons!"
    • In the Treehouse of Horror sequence "The Island of Doctor Hibert," Homer addresses the animal/human hybrids as "manimals" and "invertibroads."
  • "Ladies and Gentlesnorks" is used in The Snorks.
  • SpongeBob SquarePants
    • The line "Ladies and Jellyfish" is used on a few occasions.
    • Spongebob actually uses the term “ladies and germs” in the episode “As Seen On TV”.
  • Star Wars Resistance: In "The Platform Classic", Aunt Z opens up bets on the titular race with "Ladies and gentaliens".
  • Steven Universe: In "Reunited", Steven does this at Ruby and Sapphire's wedding.
    Steven: Dearly beloved. Gems. Humans. Lions big and small. Living gourds. Onion.
  • The 1980s opening: "Boys and girls, moms and dads, brothers and sisters, cats and dogs, welcome to the world of Strawberry Shortcake!"
  • Teen Titans: Cyborg does this just before revealing his hand-built T-Car to the rest of the team:
    Cyborg: Ladies and gentlemen, and whatever Beast Boy is...note
    Beast Boy: (stops drum roll) Hey! Do you want your drum roll or not?!

    Real Life 
  • The former German federal president Heinrich Lübke, an acknowledged and frequently parodied poor public speaker, is often reported to have begun a speech with "Ladies and Gentlemen, dear Negroes" while on a state visit to Africa. (Despite his track record, however, this particular quote appears to be an Urban Legend lacking actual verification.)
  • The current king of Sweden pulled one of these off giving a public speech a few years ago.
    "Distinguished foreign guests, Mr Speaker, Members of the Riksdag, Mr Minister of State, Chairman of the County Council.[Beat]Dear citizens of Örebro."
    • He was giving the speech in Arboga.
  • Reversal: the traditional start of some auto races, especially the Indianapolis 500, is 'Gentlemen, start your engines!'. Then the women started showing up, and a few wondered how to adapt. (A valid question, since for years there was only one woman driver at a time.) The eventual solution for those years was the somewhat awkward 'Lady and gentlemen, start your engines!' Now, however, the larger pool of woman drivers allows for 'Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines!'.
    • NASCAR, by contrast, just uses "Drivers, start your engines!" now.
  • The Disney theme parks always opened announcements with, "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls!" Others have taken that up as homage or parody. At Disneyland, Bill Rogers provides this booming voice.
  • In England, the proper way to greet a crowd is "Ladies, gentlemen, and officers of the Royal Navy", due to a decree by Queen Victoria stating that officers of the Royal Navy are not considered gentlemen.
  • The Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus (and circuses in general) often have the ringmaster begin the show with, "Ladies and Gentlemen, Children of All Ages!"
  • John Lennon to the audience of the Royal Variety Show: "Would the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands. And the rest of you, if you'll just rattle your jewelry..."
    • The tribute act The Bootleg Beatles topped this with Neil Harrison as Lennon saying "And the people in the really cheap seats, rustle your giros!" (girocheque = UK welfare payment)
  • There is some discussion about how "Ladies and Gentlemen" excludes those who consider themselves neither or both. Some suggest hosts say variations of those listed on this page, such as "guys, gals, and non-binary pals".
  • In Israel, the audience is nowadays usually referred to as kahal nikhbad, ‘respected audience’.
  • In schools, assemblies, special events and guest talks sometimes begin with "Students and faculty" instead. If there's a high possibility of people who are neither, "members of the community" or "guests" is added as well.
  • German far-right political party AfD, in opposing a bill which would legally recognize 60 genders, cast their vote in a speech which began, "Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, Gays, Lesbians, Androgonous, Bi-genders..." and went on to list all 60 proposed genders, ending with "and, of course, a hearty welcome to all 'Other' genders."

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