Jon Bernthal embraces his 'let me tell you' catchphrase
Jon Bernthal has embraced "let me tell you" as an unofficial catchphrase. The actor said the line began on The Walking Dead, later appeared in The Punisher and Dog Day Afternoon scripts, and even shows up when his Menelaus speaks to Tom Holland's Telemachus in Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey.
Key Takeaways
- Jon Bernthal says "let me tell you" is now written into every script he gets.
- He traces the habit to The Walking Dead, where the line fit his character and he began using it often.
- The phrase later appeared in The Punisher and in Dog Day Afternoon, his Broadway debut.
- In The Odyssey, Menelaus uses "let me tell you" while talking to Tom Holland's Telemachus.
- Bernthal knows fans clip and meme the line, joking you could watch hours of him saying it.
The 49-year-old actor has starred in dozens of movies, including Nolan's just-released epic The Odyssey, plus TV shows such as The Bear and The Walking Dead, and the play Dog Day Afternoon. Across that range of characters, one verbal habit keeps returning: they want to "tell you" something.
Fans hear variations such as "Let me tell you something," "Let me tell you something else, man," "Let me ask you something," "I tell you what," and "I'mma tell you right now." The pattern is so familiar that audiences now expect it no matter which role he plays. For more BlasterPost coverage, browse our Fintech & Crypto Alerts hub.
Where did Jon Bernthal's catchphrase start?
During a recent interview promoting The Odyssey, Bernthal said the unofficial catchphrase took root on The Walking Dead. The wording was already in the material, and it made sense for that character, so he started throwing it in a lot.
"I think it started in Walking Dead because it was sort of in there, and I was like, you know, that makes sense for this guy," Bernthal said. "So, I started throwing it in a lot."
From there, the line followed him into later projects. He has portrayed a wide range of characters since, yet the same setup keeps surfacing in the scripts that come his way.
Why is the line in every Jon Bernthal script?
After he leaned into the phrasing on The Walking Dead, "let me tell you" showed up in the script for The Punisher, another TV series Bernthal starred in. "I couldn't believe it," he said.
It was even in the script for Dog Day Afternoon, in which Bernthal made his Broadway debut. He now says the catchphrase is written into every script he gets, which is why fans keep spotting it across unrelated projects. Yahoo Entertainment reported his comments while covering the Odyssey press push.
Online, the habit has become meme fuel. Bernthal is aware of the numerous supercut videos of him saying "let me tell you," and he has openly joked that fans could watch hours of him delivering the line.
Does Jon Bernthal say it in The Odyssey?
Yes. Bernthal revealed that his character in The Odyssey, Menelaus, uses the phrase "let me tell you" while talking to Telemachus, played by Tom Holland. That moment is poised to join the many clips already circulating online.
"There's like all these memes all over the internet," Bernthal said. "You could watch hours of me just saying that, but it's in every script." For fans following Jon Bernthal from The Walking Dead to The Punisher to Nolan's epic, the unofficial catchphrase is now part of the package writers hand him.