What’s your favorite insult from Succession?

Let’s appreciate the most brutal burns from a show teeming with them

What’s your favorite insult from Succession?
Succession (Photos: Graeme Hunter/HBO and Peter Kramer/HBO) Graphic: Karl Gustafson

Is there a show that has perfected the art of the insult better than Succession? If you think there has, we’ll have to respond with a respectful, Logan-esque “Fuck off.” (Actually, wait, if you picked Veep, then yeah, we totally get where you’re coming from.) In anticipation of this remarkable HBO series’ final season, which kicks off March 26 (our own William Hughes will provide weekly recaps), we asked A.V. Clubbers: What’s your favorite burn from Succession? Here are their picks, in chronological order.

“I think what he meant to say is that he wished mom gave birth to a can opener because at least then it would be useful.”—Roman to Connor (season 1, episode 2)
“I think what he meant to say is that he wished mom gave birth to a can opener because at least then it would be useful.”—Roman to Connor (season 1, episode 2)
Kieran Culkin Photo Peter Kramer/HBO

It really didn’t take Succession long to focus on how much delight Roman gets from taking jabs at his siblings. All the siblings enjoy doing it, don’t get me wrong, but good old Romulus clearly has the most fun doing it. This line is obviously funny, but it primarily works in giving the audience insight into how the family views the eldest son: A can opener makes the cut. He doesn’t. [Saloni Gajjar]

“Forgive me, but are we talking to each other on the poop deck of a majestic schooner? Is the salty brine stinging my weather-beaten face? No? Then why the fuck are you wearing a pair of deck shoes, man?”—Tom to Greg (season 1, episode 3)
Tom Wambsgans Harshly Reviews Greg Hirsch’s Work Attire | Succession | HBO

The writers figured out pretty early on that there was comedy gold to be mined by putting Tom and Greg in a room and letting Matthew Macfadyen and Nicholas Braun bounce off each other. Their initial workplace encounter sets the tone for everything to come. Feeling out of his depth on his first day sitting at the grown-ups table, Tom encounters Greg, also a new hire, in the kitchen stuffing free food into a doggie bag. The rush of satisfaction and superiority Tom gets from mocking Greg is a feeling he’ll chase for the rest of the series. [Cindy White]

“You disgusting little pig. You’re pathetic. You’re a revolting little worm, aren’t you? You little slime puppy.”—Gerri to Roman (season 2, episode 4)
“You disgusting little pig. You’re pathetic. You’re a revolting little worm, aren’t you? You little slime puppy.”—Gerri to Roman (season 2, episode 4)
Kieran Culkin, J. Smith-Cameron Photo Graeme Hunter/HBO

Slime-puppy hive (a.k.a. Gerri and Roman shippers) rise up! Gerri’s insulting remarks to Roman over the phone have become the basis of their fandom’s name. She degrades him and his humiliation play kink kicks in—much to her surprise, as well as ours—so he masturbates as she talks down to him. Their pairing is unexpected, and while nothing actually romantic has developed, J. Smith Cameron and Kieran Culkin have emerged as a weirdly shocking sexy duo. And it all started with this insult that Cameron delivers pitch-perfectly. [Saloni Gajjar]

“But to just think, once you’re done, you won’t have to waste the 12 seconds it takes to look something up on Wikipedia.”—Shiv to Mark (season 2, episode 5)
“But to just think, once you’re done, you won’t have to waste the 12 seconds it takes to look something up on Wikipedia.”—Shiv to Mark (season 2, episode 5)
Sarah Snook, Matthew Macfadyen, Hiam Abbass, Alan Ruck, and J. Smith-Cameron Photo Peter Kramer/HBO

“The second PhD is much harder. Five years is an absolute gauntlet.” That’s Mark Pierce (Jeremy Shamos), of Pierce family fame, dropping a humble-brag, only to receive that brutal burn above from Shiv, which makes Tom (and us) laugh. The Roys’ trip to the Pierce’s home was always going to be a disaster, as was this ill-concocted acquisition, and this insult tidily sums up why: This is what the Waystar audience—and the Roys, to a large extent—think of these people. [Tim Lowery]

“Greg! You’re a criminal mastermind. What polyglot genius could ever hope to crack your impenetrable code?”—Tom to Greg (season 2, episode 7)
Secret, Greg? But not Top Secret.

Honestly, this list could be just Tom knocking Greg, a dynamic we’ve loved since the series premiere. Greg seems almost innocent here, as he explains, “But look, the actual envelope says ‘receipts,’” to Tom, showing where the sensitive papers from cruises are hidden. “Ooh! But they’re not, in fact, receipts!” replies Tom, before finishing the insult with the takedown above. We will miss a lot of things about this show, and those never-fail Tom-to-Greg putdowns are certainly among them. [Tim Lowery]

“The Logan Roy School Of Journalism. What’s next? The Jack Ripper Women’s Health Clinic?”—Ewan to Logan (season 2, episode 8)
“The Logan Roy School Of Journalism. What’s next? The Jack Ripper Women’s Health Clinic?”—Ewan to Logan (season 2, episode 8)
James Cromwell, Brian Cox Photo Peter Kramer/HBO

The Succession writers really knew what they were doing with this one, comparing Logan Roy’s non-existent journalism ethics with Jack the Ripper’s talent of … yeah, murdering women. Ewan’s insult to Logan is a deep cut because, on a show that’s full of brothers hurting each other with their words and actions, this one feels personal, specific, and obviously true. It helps that James Cromwell delivers it with blazing sarcasm. [Saloni Gajjar]

“Great title for your memoir.”—Tom to Greg (season 2, episode 10)
“Great title for your memoir.”—Tom to Greg (season 2, episode 10)
Matthew Macfadyen, Nicholas Braun Photo Graeme Hunter/HBO

What’s marvelous about this quip is the speed at which Tom delivers it without missing a beat. Greg’s infamous deck shoes are unfortunately not welcome on the family yacht, where Marcia has ruled that everyone must go barefoot. “Sails out, nails out,” as Kendall puts it. Later, while getting a pedicure on deck, he confesses that he has a toenail fungus, “a benign fungus,” and Tom jumps at the opportunity to get in a good dig at the only person on the boat with lower status. It doesn’t quite land with Greg, who’s barely within earshot, but it goes over well with his intended audience: Shiv, Kendall, and Roman. [Cindy White]

“I don’t mean to be insulting, but, having been around a bit... My hunch is that you’re going to get fucked. Because I’ve seen you get fucked, a lot. And I’ve never seen Logan get fucked once.”—Tom to Kendall (season 3, episode 6)
“I don’t mean to be insulting, but, having been around a bit... My hunch is that you’re going to get fucked. Because I’ve seen you get fucked, a lot. And I’ve never seen Logan get fucked once.”—Tom to Kendall (season 3, episode 6)
Jeremy Strong, Matthew Macfadyen Photo Macall B. Polay/HBO

Tom’s concise explanation for why he’ll never side with his brother-in-law in his latest effort to backstab their collective father-god is all the more effective because it lacks any of the elaborate wordplay or vindictiveness that so often characterizes a good Succession dig. Instead, it’s just brutally, inescapably true: Logan Roy wins, 99 times out of 100 … and Kendall Roy doesn’t. [William Hughes]

“Wife of Tom Wambsgans arrested in sweep of city street-walkers.”—Kendall (indirectly) to Shiv (season 3, episode 7)
“Wife of Tom Wambsgans arrested in sweep of city street-walkers.”—Kendall (indirectly) to Shiv (season 3, episode 7)
Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook, Kieran Culkin Photo Macall B. Polay/HBO

One of the most brutal burns in Succession history isn’t even spoken aloud, but displayed in 160 point font at Kendall’s disastrous and chaotic 40th birthday party. The “street-walker” bit of the fake headline that Kendall cooks up to roast his sister Shiv is just standard Roy Family sex shaming; the cruel part is referring to her only as “wife of Tom Wambsgans.” Shiv is forced to take a lot of shit from her family, but being reduced to a nameless appendage of her pet husband? It’s a bridge too far. [William Hughes]

“He is fun. Look at him fizzing over there like a cheap bottle of Prosecco.”—Caroline on Peter (season 3, episode 8)
“He is fun. Look at him fizzing over there like a cheap bottle of Prosecco.”—Caroline on Peter (season 3, episode 8)
Kieran Culkin, Harriet Walter Photo Graeme Hunter/HBO

Okay, admittedly, this quote isn’t a banger from one of the Roy siblings about each other or one from Logan insulting his children. It comes from Logan’s ex-wife, Caroline (Harriet Walter), as she is getting ready to marry Peter Munion (Pip Torrens) in season three. Not only does she poke fun at how he’s mingling with guests and having fun, but she does it in a snobby way—straight-up referring to him as cheap Prosecco. It made me spit out my drink and laugh when I watched it because Succession writers proved once again that no couple on this show is worthwhile. [Saloni Gajjar]

“Fuck off.”—Logan to his kids (season 3, episode 9)
“Fuck off.”—Logan to his kids (season 3, episode 9)
Kieran Culkin, Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook, Brian Cox Photo Graeme Hunter/HBO

There has been no better insult in the entirety of Succession than an impassioned Logan Roy “fuck off.” Brian Cox delivers it like he was born to say it every single time, whether his character bored or fuming or fed up. It’s always remarkable when he says it but none more so than in the third season finale when he berates his kids for going up against him. With a couple of final “fuck offs,” he departs, leaving them to pick up the mess as he proceeds to finalize a deal with Lukas Mattson and cut his children out of the company. Now let’s see how many times Logan will be motivated to say the phrase in the fourth and final season. [Saloni Gajjar]

 
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