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English
Etymology
From a 1986 cough syrup ad – originally "I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV".
Phrase
I'm not an X, but I play one on TV
- (snowclone) Used by an actor or actress to create a false appearance of legitimacy based on a role they played on TV.
2006, James L. Hirsen, Hollywood Nation: Left Coast Lies, Old Media Spin, and the New Media Revolution, Crown Forum, →ISBN, page 28:West Wing star Martin Sheen has pitched everything from his favorite presidential candidate to his foreign policy advice with a subtext of "I'm not the president, but I play one on TV."
2012 August 7, Amy Sohn, Run Catch Kiss: A Novel, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 30:I pushed the door open and posed in the doorway, the cigarette hand poised against the jamb, the other on my hip. I looked straight at him and said, "I'm not a smoker, but I play one on TV." He lifted his head and smiled.
2015 October 31, K.D. Sanders, Where Did My Life Go? Homeless and Out of Business, Kevin Dale Sanders, →ISBN:As I understand it though, I am not an attorney but I play one on T.V., Federal law has a mandate that a city or county must provide shelter to the homeless within 50 miles of a city limit or something like that.
References
- ^ McFedries, Paul (2008) The Complete Idiot's Guide to Weird Word Origins, Penguin, →ISBN, page 168: “I'm not an X, but I play one on Y. — from a 1986 ad for Vicks Formula 44 cough syrup, in which the actor Peter Bergman, a star on the soap opera The Young and the Restless, said 'I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV.'”