In this clip of one of Archie’s most famous funny moments, the scene opens with Carrol O’Conner’s classic character, Archie Bunker, who lies in a hospital bed. Edith stands beside his bed, smiling her big smile amid the situation.
“Here’s my real wife,” Archie calls to the other side of the room, which is separated by a partition. “Edith, say hello to Johnny Duval; he’s a Frenchman,” Archie says to his wife.
The camera pans to Roscoe Browne’s character as Edith attempts a French greeting. Archie rolls his eyes and quickly corrects her by saying she can “talk English” to him.
Edith looks aloof and a little confused, like only Jean Stapleton, can, as she remarks back that Mr. Duval doesn’t “look French.” Archie quickly dismisses her by saying she “wouldn’t know a Frenchie from a hiney.” Laughter erupts. Archie mentions he hasn’t seen John because of the partition, but he knows he’s French because of the sound of his voice.
Meathead tries to tell his father that his back pain is all in his head, which further frustrates the fussy father.
As the clip continues, Archie and John discuss Archie’s time in WWII and his job. It becomes even more evident that Bunker is unaware of Duval’s race as he mentions the men he works with and says he has one Black man named Elmo and one “regular” man named Elmo at his job.
Duval seems to find this amusing, and when his new friend asks him to come over for dinner, he remarks that perhaps they are just two ships passing in the night.
Archie insists that John is his “kind of people.” He wants to give John his address, and then John gets up to get a pen, crossing the partition to Archie’s side of the room. Archie looks up at John wide-eyed as John smiles.
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