The Schitt's Creek Joke Creator Dan Levy Actually Hates

The quirky comedy "Schitt's Creek" took the world by storm over the past few years, endearing audiences with its rich family displaced from their cushy New York lifestyle into a middle-of-nowhere small town called Schitt's Creek — the last thing they own after losing all their money. Father-and-son duo Eugene and Dan Levy created the series and likewise starred as father-and-son Johnny and David Rose along with Catherine O'Hara as the mother, Moira, and Annie Murphy as the daughter, Alexis. The series swept the Emmys in its final season, after steadily growing its audience through its six seasons.

While Eugene Levy and O'Hara were well known before it, "Schitt's Creek" launched Dan Levy and Murphy into the public eye, which includes having to reckon with being recognized for their on-screen characters and their popular catchphrases. In an interview with Jimmy Kimmel, while Dan Levy discussed his new book, "Best Wishes, Warmest Regards: The Story of Schitt's Creek," he mentioned one famous joke from the series that has plagued him since the show grew in popularity.

On Jimmy Kimmel Live, Kimmel showed a double spread of the book with pictures of fans' "EWDAVID" license plates. The catchphrase comes from Annie Murphy's Alexis, who frequently says her brother's name with a hilarious, unique sibling whine and emphasis on the "id," and it has become a sound bite synonymous with the series. The phrase "Ew, David" has found its way to stickers, shirts, socks, and even face masks thanks to the fans who populate sites like Redbubble with merch.

Unfortunately for Dan Levy, he's not too pleased with just how big "Ew, David" has gotten. "It has resulted in a sort of tagline that I think will haunt me for the rest of my life," he told Kimmel with a laugh. "'Ew' is not necessarily something you want screamed at you in your most vulnerable time." Good thing he didn't name the character after himself!

Still, it wasn't exactly written to be such a big line. On The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Murphy talked about the phrase as well, saying, "This 'Ew, David' thing spiraled out of control." She said, "I just found out recently, some woman told us, that I only actually say 'Ew, David' twice in the entire series." In one YouTube compilation, it seems to come up on at least four occasions, with one instance being the rarer, "Ew, no, David."

The popularity of "Ew, David" probably arose because Alexis says plenty of similar phrases, like "Ugh, David" and "Why, David?" and "No, David." Murphy told Fallon that while acting as Alexis, she "tacked 'David' onto whatever [she] possibly could." Combining that with the fact that Alexis also likes to use the word "ew" frequently, it became a perfect storm to coin her fandom-beloved catchphrase.