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Service with a Smile (Carl!!!)

The State (1994) Episode 1
youtube.com
A fast-food manager goes absolutely ballistic on poor Carl for serving the wrong size soda.
Absurdist
Restaurant
Fast Food
Satire

Chicken sandwich, Carl!
If we wanted a [smaller] soda, we would've asked for a [smaller] soda!
And KEEP IT DOWN!
Did you... ask... for small soda?

In this brief but memorable sketch, a fast-food manager aggressively berates an employee named Carl for giving a customer the wrong size soda. The manager escalates the situation with increasingly absurd intensity, yelling at Carl about proper customer service while ironically creating a terrible customer service experience. The sketch satirizes overzealous corporate training and management styles in the fast-food industry. According to viewer accounts, the full sketch ends with the customer asking the manager not to be so loud, to which the manager yells at Carl to "KEEP IT DOWN" before throwing the entire cup of soda in Carl's face.

  • This sketch became one of the most memorable and frequently referenced sketches from The State
  • The available YouTube video is only 30 seconds long and appears to be an incomplete version recorded from a phone
  • Fans frequently reference this sketch with the phrase "Chicken sandwich, Carl!" though this may be a misremembered or related line
  • The sketch is often cited as a fan favorite and is considered one of the best sketches from the series
  • The absurdist humor and escalating tension typified The State's comedic style
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