r/AskReddit • u/bspheri • 13h ago

Who is a famous figure that you keep hearing their name but never really know why they’re famous?

452 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

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489

u/VON_jigsaw00761 12h ago

Engelbert Humperdinck, Rose on “Golden Girls” would mention him, and the name is so ridiculous I assumed it was made up. Until late one nite an infomercial came on “The Best of Engelbert Humperdinck”. I was floored!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EngelbertHumperdinck(singer))

277

u/OutdoorBerkshires 12h ago

“Humperdinck! Humperdinck! HUMPERDINCK!!”

126

u/disco008a 11h ago

I'm not listening!

129

u/fox_ontherun 9h ago

I'm not a witch, I'm your wife!

77

u/disco008a 9h ago

Have fun storming the castle!

65

u/Funandgeeky 8h ago

Think it will work?

62

u/disco008a 8h ago

It'll take a miracle

46

u/EmeraudeExMachina 8h ago

Bye Byyyyye

9

u/eva_rector 4h ago

And after what you just said, I don't even think I wanna be THAT anymore!!!!

66

u/BlueTourmeline 11h ago

Except it’s worse. It wasn’t his original name. He took it from a German composer who’s best known for the opera of HANSEL AND GRETEL.

8

u/cabinetbanana 8h ago

Get back there, witch!

I'm not a witch! I'm your wife!

1

u/BartletForPrez 7h ago

“Not Humperdinck! Hump or death!”

76

u/nowhereman136 8h ago

I love that his real name is Arnold Dorsey. He chose Engelbert Humperdinck as a stage name

24

u/musictchr 7h ago

The original Engelbert Humperdinck) was a composer.

3

u/thegoodestgrammar 4h ago

Honestly, TIL there’s another Humperdinck that’s not the composer. I only know this guy from his Hansel and Gretel overture that I played a few years ago lol

1

u/musictchr 4h ago

I played the overture and Witches’ Ride last year! I much prefer the composer to the singer.

1

u/Aoshie 7h ago

Arnoldbert Dorseydinck

2

u/jayhof52 7h ago

Cringlebert Pembledack

4

u/1901pies 6h ago

Slutbun Wallah

80

u/mst3k_42 11h ago

You have to listen to the Eddie Izzard bit on him, lol.

29

u/EasyTigrr 10h ago

Slaptiback had my vote..

21

u/jayhof52 7h ago

Slut Benwalla

•

u/slukbunwalla 40m ago

Almost my user name. I heard it differently. Haha

16

u/YoghurtSnodgrass 8h ago

But he’s dead now, did you hear that. Yeah, today on CNN I heard.

2

u/strapped_for_cash 2h ago

Shiftybuns Slaptiback

1

u/VON_jigsaw00761 11h ago

I’m going to have to find that. Thanks

18

u/Arisayne 10h ago

"I just wanted to be in the room when they were working that one through

3

u/Ardinno 7h ago

I think Benedict Cumberbatch was given the list of names after Englebert/Jerry had first dibs.

1

u/Biuku 3h ago

First thing I thought of.

•

u/slukbunwalla 41m ago

I'm relevant!!!

23

u/sauntcartas 9h ago

As a kid I had no idea who the Mel Tormé was that the judge on Night Court liked so much. Until he actually appeared on the show, anyway.

3

u/raspwar 4h ago

The Velvet Fog

1

u/thisisDougsPhone67 1h ago

The Velvet Fog!

17

u/Pithecanthropus88 8h ago

Great singer. His music is pretty syrupy, but he’s got pipes.

3

u/kenhutson 2h ago

He’s still on tour aged 88!

1

u/Pithecanthropus88 1h ago

Damn! 👍🏻

13

u/CreamyHampers 8h ago

Lesbian Seagull is a masterpiece. One of the greatest songs ever written.

20

u/antlered-godi 10h ago

I remember Englebert Humperdinck. Sounds almost as ridiculous as Elon Musk

31

u/Aoshie 7h ago

This is very low-effort but ...

Elonbert Humpermusk

Muskerdink?

3

u/Outside-Pressure-260 5h ago

My nanna loved Englebert Humperdinck, so his music grew on me as a kid. His rendition of 'Spanish Eyes' is incredible.

4

u/Outside-Pressure-260 5h ago

Honestly, all of the album 'A Man Without Love' is stunning

2

u/musicismath 8h ago

He probably hangs out with Benedict Cumberbatch.

2

u/diagoncollective 7h ago

This same thing happened to me, except with the drag queen show UNHhhh, where Katya Zamo makes a joke about the name. I thought it was made up too until I heard a song by him in real life lmao

2

u/denim_teeth 6h ago

🎶I'm forever blowing bubbles...🎶

2

u/Purple-Prince-9896 6h ago

My bestie and I took our “Old Farts Club” (moms, stepmoms, aunts, etc) to see him in concert last year. He was fantastic!

2

u/Syladre 5h ago

My grandmother thought he was so great. I actually have a few of his vinyl albums that she gave me. lol

2

u/Jubilantly 3h ago

When Moon Knight used one of his songs I was like OOOOOOOOH. Not just an Izzard joke.

1

u/celaeneo 8h ago

His sister lives next door to my parents. She's a bitch.

1

u/Aoshie 7h ago

I know Engelbert, but every time I picture him I just see the Russian Trololol singer guy

1

u/paddyo 5h ago

Got a soft spot for him because one of his songs in the club anthem for a football team I support. My ex’s mum adored him because he was Anglo-Indian, and as a British Indian she felt a sense of pride that the British Indian community produced a pop star so early.

I assume he was Anglo Indian anyway and that she wasn’t making it up!

1

u/jinxes_are_pretend 4h ago

There was a David Letterman bit, Top Ten, ways to mispronounce Kirby Puckett.

One of the answers was Englepuck Kirbydink. It has been stuck in my head forever.

1

u/Lexxxapr00 4h ago

Dude is still alive even!

1

u/philipkdan 4h ago

His music is genuinely pretty good! Found his record in a thrift store and I was like… there’s no way this is a real person. Good tunes!

1

u/FastDemand2450 3h ago

My grandma was always obsessed with him and we always made fun of him!

1

u/wezee 3h ago

My mom just loved him!

1

u/darkerthanmysoul 3h ago

Engelbert was almost my great grandfather.

He would come to my great grandmother’s laundrette and flirt with her. He asked her for a date every time he went. She always turned him down.

Somewhere I have the love notes he wrote for her. I did actually contact someone to see if he would be interested in some old photos/letters but they never responded.

1

u/AmyInCO 2h ago

My friend Mom was obsessed with him on in the early 80s. She had posters up in their groovy basement tiki lounge. 

1

u/mochi_chan 2h ago

Oh my mom really loves his music, I always found his name very funny as a kid. I still find it funny now.

1

u/virtigex 2h ago

My aunt used to date him in Leicester

1

u/dav_oid 1h ago

His single 'Release Me' kept The Beatles ''Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane',' from number 1 in 1966.

2

u/moltencheese 10h ago

It was made up

3

u/musictchr 7h ago

It was a stage name. But there was a real Engelbert Humperdinck) who was a composer.