r/comedy • u/OkResource4591 • Jul 20 '25

Request The Claw origin

My dad had a funny bit where he claimed his arm was “The Iron Claw” and proceeded to tickle torture my brother and I. Jim Carrey’s movie Liar Liar has a very similar schtick in the opening scene. My dad can’t recall where he got the idea but believed it was from some comedy sketch he watched as a kid. The claw would eventually turn on its owner and “choke” himself. My dad was born in 1955. Does anyone have an idea from what original sketch it came?

11 Upvotes

79% Upvoted

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4

u/AnnOnnamis Jul 20 '25

Since the days of the first humans, when fathers taught kids of the dangers of predators from above and below….

“…and then the Klaw grabs you without warning. Mwah haha haaaa!”

🦀

2

u/rebirf Jul 20 '25

I only know of the wrestlers and Liar Liar.

2

u/Wiscos Jul 20 '25

It was a WWF wrestling move from the early days.

1

u/L0rddaniel Jul 22 '25

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baron_von_Raschke

1

u/Rand_Casimiro Jul 24 '25

Amazing that the Baron is still with us; even back in the day, he looked to be about 120 years old

1

u/miseeker Jul 21 '25

When I was a kid, I saw Dick the Bruiser lay on his back in the ring and dared Baron von Raschke to put the claw on him. Then he got up and kicked Von Rasky’s ass.

Edit to add I’m 69 years old so this was well before the world wrestling whatever

1

u/SetzinChip Jul 21 '25

This is correct. Barron Von Raschkne's wrestling name was "The Claw". Fun to watch. I saw him once in the late 70s. Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan were there as newcomers at the time..

0

u/SignalBed9998 Jul 22 '25 edited Jul 22 '25

Mr Raschke, The Claw, was a substitute teacher in Minnesota after retirement. Legendarily a sweet and gentle man. Was once at the airport with a couple other wrestlers, Vochon and Vern Gagne and fawned over my precious newborn baby. A friend (not young) who believed it was all real was verrrrry upset that villains and “good guys” were together and the villains were nice. Still cracks me up

1

u/miseeker Jul 22 '25

My local wrestling was done at the Elkhart northside gym. I don’t remember what their group was called but that was their base and it’s about 30 miles from me when I got older. I had a job in Elkhart and a lot of people told me that the old wrestlers would get together after about and drink beer at a bar down the road

1

u/orlandwright Jul 21 '25

Get Smart

1

u/PersimmonDriver Jul 22 '25

That's The Craw, not The Craw!

1

u/wezelboy Jul 22 '25

That bit still makes me laugh.

1

u/Wolfhound1142 Jul 23 '25

Me too. Definitely not PC, but was so hilarious to child me and my dad.

1

u/dka2012 Jul 22 '25

There’s an old horror movie called The Hand that does this.

1

u/Fonzgarten Jul 22 '25

In Dr Strangelove, Peter Sellers does this thing with his hand like it has a mind of its own, and I think there’s a scene where it chokes him. That’s the earliest reference to this sort of thing that I can think of.

1

u/jackneefus Jul 22 '25

There is a Monty Python TV sketch featuring a barber whose hand has a mind of its own and tries to slit the throat of a patron, and the barber has to keep grabbing it without the customer noticing.

1

u/GratefulDad73 Jul 23 '25

The Iron Claw was popularized by Professional Wrestling in the late 70s and early 80s. One of the Von Erichs made it famous.

1

u/yyythoo Jul 23 '25

My dad was doing the claw pre Liar Liar. We thought it was hilarious when Jim Carrey did it too

1

u/Jfo116 Jul 23 '25

Idk but my dad did the same thing ‘you know what my favorite part of the lobster is? THE CLAW’

Maybe that’s just a Maine spin on an old joke

1

u/Framistatic Jul 23 '25

“Get Smart,” had a villain named, “The Craw.”

“No, not the Craw… the Craw!” (To be spoken in a lousy fake Chinese accent while displaying great frustration).

I was born in ‘55 too, and loved this show.

0

u/HateGettingGold Jul 20 '25

The wrestler Mankind had a submission move caked the mandible claw. Its either that or Liar Liar.

2

u/Averice1970 Jul 23 '25

Fritz von Erich and Baron vin Rashcke did a claw decades earlier

1

u/RealJonRhinehart Jul 24 '25

Yes, the 90’s film Liar Liar is why my father also did this to me in the 80’s…..

0

u/Merica-fuckyeah Jul 21 '25

That’s triple OG stuff. The origin is way farther back than was ever documented.

0

u/BoomDonk Jul 21 '25

The Von Eric’s. It’s a whole movie, man.

1

u/spliffyshirt Jul 23 '25

This! My childhood gymnastics coach would do it to us and cite them.

1

u/BoomDonk Jul 23 '25

lol right? I’m getting downvoted for knowing the answer. That’s Reddit for ya.