Charles Atlas
Italian-American bodybuilderWikipedia
43
MENTIONS
22
EPISODES
20
PODCASTS
Search complete. 43 mentions across 22 episodes found for "Charles Atlas".
Sep 13, 2026
Tim CurrySOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
I didn't make him for you.
Tim CurrySOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
He carries the Charles Atlas seal of approval.
Tim CurrySOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
A weakling weighing 98 pounds will get sand in his face when kicked to the grind.
Tim CurrySOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
And soon in the gym, with a determined chin, the sweat from his pores as he works for his cause.
9 MINS LATER
Tim CurrySOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
It was a mercy killing.
Tim CurrySOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
He had a certain naive charm, but no muscle.
Tim CurrySOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Butter! Deltoid! And a bicep A hot groin And a tricep Makes me Shake Makes me wanna take Charles Atlas by the hand In just seven days Oh, baby
speaker_4SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
I can make you a man Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Andy BrownVOICE_ACTOR
Yeah.
Andy BrownVOICE_ACTOR
Now, if you two weaklings will get out of my way, I'll Charles Atlas myself right over to that swimming pool.
Jane WinslowVOICE_ACTOR
Oh, Andy, I'm so proud being seen at the swimming pool with a great big he-man like you.
Andy BrownVOICE_ACTOR
Yeah, well, don't mention it, Cuddles.
speaker_5SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
that takes care of one half of the team.
Bob SweeneySOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Hey, look at this picture I found of Charles Atlas as a 48-pound weakling.
Bob SweeneySOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Oh, Sarah, what are you doing lying on the floor like that? That's the matter.
speaker_5SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
That's the matter, muscle boy.
EddieGUEST
good good point
DevHOST
but i i do have to say if we go back to the old i'm thinking old bodybuilding days okay if we i think it was charles atlas i probably could dig it up but the old charles atlas comic books going back to the 40s and 50s or it was a comic strip that would be on the back of magazines what was it was a dude like me in a tank top out there lift first he was this weak scrawny guy and then at the very end he goes to work out and there he's lifting a woman up like a barbell and she All the women are like this.
DevHOST
See the key word you just said,
EddieGUEST
Devin.
speaker_1NARRATOR
The ad was itself a comic strip about a young man who gets sand kicked in his face at the beach by a muscled bully.
speaker_1NARRATOR
Frustrated, the young man gets a copy of a book by Charles Atlas, the world's most perfectly developed man, so he can learn dynamic tension techniques to make him stronger.
speaker_1NARRATOR
After following the book's methods, the young man grows huge muscles, goes back to the beach, and punches the bully in the jaw, shouting, Here's something I owe you.
speaker_1NARRATOR
Another ad promised the key to hypnotism, asking, Want the thrill of imposing your will over someone? Of making someone do exactly what you order? Yet another ad promised to teach how to command the love and affection of anyone and how to avoid disappointment and heartbreak.
SteveHOST
Steven Seagal.
DocHOST
Charles Atlas.
DocHOST
You tired of getting sand kicked in
SteveHOST
your face, you big pussy? Yeah.
JohnHOST
It was nothing a little love couldn't fix.
JohnHOST
Naive optimism? Not naive enough to believe that anyone can be saved by the right moisturiser or the Charles Atlas fitness regime.
JohnHOST
This band has always liked to sing about the ideas that are sold to us.
JohnHOST
And what a crock they are.
Chris GregoryHOST
As we reach the final verse, he descends further and further into self-pity.
Chris GregoryHOST
He asks himself, oh, why must I fall into this sadness? Which is followed by an extremely self-deprecating, do I look like Charles Atlas? Do you think I still got what you got, baby? This is another very funny line.
Chris GregoryHOST
Charles Atlas was in those days the world's most famous bodybuilder, featuring in countless and much mocked adverts in which a rather spindly young man on a beach has sand kicked in his face by a nasty bully who then takes his girl.
Chris GregoryHOST
This was supposed to persuade men to sign up for the expensive bodybuilding courses that they were selling.
Chris GregoryHOST
Charles Atlas was supposedly the strongest man in the world, which is an epithet that certainly doesn't fit this narrator.
Chris GregoryHOST
In many ways, he now positions himself as the one having that sand kicked in his face.
Chris GregoryHOST
Oh dear.
Chris GregoryHOST
After the lines about the pyramids and Billy the Kid, he now sings, they're so nice, but why must everybody bow? a line which, if delivered in Dylan's cynic mode, would have been quite viciously ironic.
Kevin ZuberGUEST
Jesus rose physically, it's not gonna all end spiritual, it's physical.
Kevin ZuberGUEST
I'm gonna finally get the body I want, which I hope, for those of you that remember this far back, is like Charles Atlas that I used to see in those cartoons, okay? Which there was no way that was ever going to happen to me, but you with me, Tom? You with me? Okay, this is what we want.
Kevin ZuberGUEST
This is what we want, okay? You know, I don't want to look like Arnold.
Kevin ZuberGUEST
That was too big, but I do want, okay? Somebody suggested years ago, they said, Zuber, you need to work on your abs.
speaker_6SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
There, that takes care of one half of the team.
speaker_13SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Hey, look at this picture I found of Charles Atlas as a 48-pound weakling.
speaker_13SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Oh, Sarah, what are you doing lying on the floor like that? What's the
speaker_6SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
matter? What's the matter, muscle boy? Jealous? Jealous? Me? No, sir.
12 more episodes mention Charles Atlas.
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