A Nero Wolfe Mystery
2001
Archie: Nero Wolfe gets what Nero Wolfe wants, or he throws a tantrum and I get fired.
Nero Wolfe: May I sit down? All: NO! Nero Wolfe: I'm afraid I must overrule you.
(Wolfe fakes a nervous breakdown for Dr Vollmer) Nero Wolfe: Do you want to pay two dollars a pound for butter? Fifty cents for shoestrings? A dollar for a bottle of beer? Hmph. Well? Confound it, answer me! Archie: I don't know if it's the willies or what, but as you can see - Nero Wolfe: Just because I ask you to lend me five dollars until the beginning of the next war, does not mean that I'm a frugal person. Dr Vollmer: Who wrote this script for him? Archie: It's been like this ever since I brought him home. Dr Vollmer: He's been out of the house? Nero Wolfe: Archie tells me that you're masquerading as a doctor. Bah! They'll take your clothes off too! Oh, yes, they'll examine every inch of your skin, and they'll find the mark. The one that entitles you to a discount.
(Wolfe pretends to have lost his mind) Nero Wolfe: Aren't you a physician? Don't you know a nervous breakdown when you see one? Dr Vollmer: Yes. Yes, I do. Nero Wolfe: Well, then, what's the matter with it? Dr Vollmer: It doesn't seem, um, typical. Nero Wolfe: That's a faulty observation! That's a defect in your training! Specifically, it's a persecution complex, you idiot! Dr Vollmer: And who's been doing the persecuting?
(Feigning a nervous breakdown) Nero Wolfe: You're not going to cut me! They're coming in hordes! I see them on chariots with spiked wheels, waving insolent banners of inflation! Oh! Archie! They're pelting me with worthless coins!
(repeated line) Archie: Nuts!
(repeated line) Nero Wolfe: Pfui!