“Shocked. Shocked!” (meme)
“Shocked. Shocked!” is a popular meme for when something is not shocking. The popular film Casablanca (1942) featured actor Claude Rains as Captain Louis Renault, who was forced by the Nazis to close down Rick’s cafe (where he had been gambling). Rick asked him why it was being shut down:
Renault: Everybody is to leave here immediately! This cafe is closed until further notice. Clear the room, at once!
Rick: How can you close me up? On what grounds?
Renault: I am shocked- shocked- to find that gambling is going on in here!
Croupier: [hands Renault money] Your winnings, sir.
Renault: [to croupier] Oh, thank you very much. [announcing to the room] Everybody out at once!
The “shocked, shocked” expression began to be used in popular culture in the 1970s and 1980s. It was printed in the Boston (MA) Evening Globe in 1971 and the New York (NY) Times in 1974. “Shocked, shocked” has been used in politics, such as after finding that a politician is corrupt.
Wikiquote: Casablanca (film)
Casablanca is a 1942 film about an American expatriate owner of an upscale club and gambling den in the Moroccan city of Casablanca who meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications.
Directed by Michael Curtiz. Written by Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, and Howard Koch, based on the play Everybody Comes to Rick’s by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison.
(...)
Strasser: [after Laszlo leads the band in playing the French national anthem] You see what I mean? If Laszlo’s presence in a cafe can inspire this unfortunate demonstration, what more will his presence in Casablanca bring on? I advise that this place be shut up at once.
Renault: But everybody’s having such a good time.
Strasser: Yes, much too good a time. The place is to be closed.
Renault: But I’ve no excuse to close it!
Strasser: Find one.
[Strasser leaves, ending the conversation; Renault walks into the middle of the room and blows his whistle]
Renault: Everybody is to leave here immediately! This cafe is closed until further notice. Clear the room, at once!
Rick: How can you close me up? On what grounds?
Renault: I am shocked- shocked- to find that gambling is going on in here!
Croupier: [hands Renault money] Your winnings, sir.
Renault: [to croupier] Oh, thank you very much. [announcing to the room] Everybody out at once!
Newspapers.com
4 May 1971, Boston (MA) Evening Globe, “The Nation: D.C. police play it cool” by Martin Nolan, pg. 20, col. 6:
The scene was reminiscent of “Casablanca” wherein Claude Rains, the corrupt Vichy prefect of police, suddenly closes down Humphrey Bogart’s American cafe. “I’m shocked, shocked to find out that there’s gambling going on here,” he says as he pockets his evening’s winnings.
Newspapers.com
10 February 1974, Sunday Call-Chronicle (Allentown, PA), pg. B-14, col. 1:
Observer: You’ll Be Shocked—Shocked!—by Washington
By RUSSELL BAKER
(...)
It was a scene in “Casablanca”. The Nazi colonel (Conrad Veidt) is in a fury about the un-Nazi way of life in Rick’s (Humphrey Bogart’s) saloon. Summoning the police chief (Claude Rains) from Bogart’s illicit gambling table, where Rains is always allowed to win, Veidt orders Rains to shut the place. On what grounds? asks Bogart. Rains replies that he is shocked—shocked!—to learn that there is gambling going on.
Newspapers.com
29 March 1974, Philadelphia (PA) Inquirer, “Same old morality: Watergate hasn’t changed politics” by Saul Friedman, pg. 15-A, col. 2:
Some political declarations these days remind one of that scene in “Casablanca” when the inspector is looking for an excuse to close down Nick’s place. As he pockets his roulette winnings he exclaims: “I’m shocked, shocked to learn that gambling is permitted here.”
Newspapers.com
29 April 1983, Daily News (New York, NY), “Let ‘em teach school” by Harrison Rainie, pg. 32, col. 1:
Bok wins this year’s Inspector Louis Renault Prize. Renault, it will be remembered, is the slick French prefect in “Casablanca” who, on the command of his German overseers, orders Rick’s speakeasy closed because he is “shocked, shocked to find there is gambling going on here.” At that moment, a croupier sidles up to him and hands him his winnings.
Newspapers.com
23 October 1985, The Record (Hackensack, NJ), “What did we expect?” (editorial), pg. A-14, col. 1:
It also beings to mind the famous scene in “Casablanca,” in which Inspector Renault, played by Claude Rains, orders Rick’s place closed because he is “shocked—shocked!—to find that gambling is going on in here.” Whereupon the croupier hands him his winnings and the good inspector walks out.
Newspapers.com
20 January 1987, Statesman-Journal (Salem, OR), “Life resembles vintage films” by Ron Blankenbaker, pg. 7A, col. 1:
It was like a scene out of the 1940s classic, Casablanca, the one in which the Vichy police inspector, played by Claude Raines, walks into Humphrey Bogart’s casino and, as he collects his winnings, says: “I’m shocked. Shocked to find there’s gambling going on here.”
Newspapers.com
11 January 1988, The Record (Hackensack, NJ), “You talk poor and hide your money” by Peter Yerkes, pg. B-11, col. 2-3:
You remember the scene. Claude Rains, the French police inspector who likes to wager a few francs at Rick’s cafe, is ordered by the Germans to close the place down. he’s got no choice, so he stages a magnificent display of outrage.
“Rick, I’m shocked. There’s gambling going on here,” he declares. Then he pockets the proceeds of his latest round at the roulette table.
YouTube
Casablanca gambling? I’m shocked!
Mar 18, 2010
lesatseaside
Classic Casablanca scene
Rick: How can you close me up? On what grounds?
Captain Renault: I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!
[a croupier hands Renault a pile of money]
Croupier: Your winnings, sir.
Captain Renault: Oh, thank you very much.
Captain Renault: Everybody out at once!
Observer (New York, NY)
Captain Renault in Casablanca: I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!
By Politicker Staff • 09/28/05 1:05pm
Jon Corzine’s latest problem is published reports that he has made more than $5 million in donations or loans to black churches in New Jersey since he became a candidate for the United States Senate in 1999.
Twitter
Jim Parsons
@JPWP
Like Captain Renault in Casablanca, Congress is “shocked, shocked to discover this is going on” in the back room http://tinyurl.com/5l8ndw
2:23 PM · Aug 12, 2008·Twitter Web Client
Urban Dictionary
Shocked-shocked
A sarcastic way to express shock at a revelation that is actually not shocking because everybody knew it already.
Used with a healthy dose of irony, the phrase was first uttered in the film Casablanca.
Wall street was shocked-shocked to learn that Goldman Sachs was scamming investors on a massive scale.
#not shocked#no kidding?#seriously#dude?#fake shock#fake surprise
by tvsteve April 29, 2010
HuffPost
Victoria Saker Woeste, Contributor
Research Professor
‘I’m Shocked, SHOCKED, to Find That Gambling Is Going on Here’
04/02/2015 01:18 pm ET Updated Jun 01, 2015
Amid the uproar over Indiana’s new Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), its supporters declare that they never anticipated the critical outcry that has greeted the law’s passage. In statements that echo the incredulity of the French prefect of police in the movie Casablanca, they have professed themselves shocked to discover that anyone could object to the idea of giving religious believers added protection from an overbearing government that is apparently dangerously oppressive and hostile to religious practitioners.
Deadspin
Sepp Blatter Shocked, Shocked To Find That Bribery Is Going On In Here
Barry Petchesky
5/27/15 2:35PM
In a statement released just now, FIFA president Sepp Blatter wants you to know that he’s just as concerned as you are about corruption in his organization.
Twitter
Andrew Elliott McBurney
@aemcburney
Everyone: The “I’m shocked, shocked! to find that gambling is going on in here” meme is actually the most used meme in reaction to revelations of wrongdoing from the Trump campaign.
Me:(Casablanca GIF is shown.—ed.)
11:03 PM · Jan 17, 2019 from San Antonio, TX·Twitter for Android