History Main / WhoopiEpiphanySpeech

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS5E23IBorg I, Borg]]". Instead of the typically enlightened speech, Guinan tries to convince Picard (via fencing) that the nature of the Borg can never be altered and trying to show compassion to the one they've found is futile. Guinan [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E16QWho has good reasons to feel this way]], but she eventually faces the Borg individual and confronts this. It falls to ''Geordi'' of all people to deliver an Ephiphany Speech ''to'' Guinan, and it works. [[DoubleSubversion This leads Guinan to give another speech]] to Picard.

** Whoopi Goldberg's ''Film/SisterAct'' has lots of inspirational and motivational speeches, because she's pretending to be a GoodShepherd.

* A Magazine/NationalGeographic reporter asked the leader of a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult John Frum cult]] how he could keep his cult going, in spite of all the modernisation that had come to the island. The leader's response?
-->"We've only been waiting for our prophet for 60 years. [[TakeThat You've been waiting for 2,000.]]"

Frequently utilized by the MagicalNegro. See also WaifProphet, BookDumb, SimplemindedWisdom, WisdomFromTheGutter. Note that just because the character is black, and is giving a speech, doesn't make it a WhoopiEpiphanySpeech--if the character is powerful, intelligent, and respected, they don't fit this trope.

* Subverted in the first episode of ''TheSarahSilvermanProgram'', where an old black lady gives sagely advice to Sarah.

** As nurse Valerie, to Susanna, combined with TheReasonYouSuckSpeech.

* In the Creator/RobertAltman film ''GosfordPark'', the maid Dorothy delivers a speech about what's really important to a discontented aristocrat.

* In the end of the remake of ''Film/{{Bedazzled 2000}},'' in which the hapless hero is stuck in jail with the prospect of having sold his soul to the Devil and only one wish left to make it worthwhile. His cellmate, a [[MagicalNegro gentle young black man]] reminds him with a smile that he can't sell something that doesn't belong to him -- in this case, [[OurSoulsAreDifferent his soul.]] This man and the Devil (Hurley) are later seen playing chess.

''"No, not really."'' -- L.A

* ''Freejack'': After Furlong barely survives jumping off a bridge to escape capture, he encounters a random homeless dude.
--> Furlong: "I'm beat."
--> RHD: "You think so?"
--> Furlong: "Pretty much."
--> RHD: "Then you're beat. A man thinks he's beat, he's beat."

* ''MeanGirls'': "I just wish we could all get along like we used to in middle school. I wish that I could bake a cake made out of rainbows and smiles, and we'd all eat it and be happy."

** The speech inspires Harold [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome to hijack the extreme sports punks' car]].

* WhoopiGoldberg is the TropeNamer

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'', "The Great Can Drive": a bunch of kids are fighting over some geezer's can of food, as part of a contest to see who can get the most cans. TJ's class has just accumulated the exact same number of cans as the Ashleys' class (the scores were in the thousands), and TJ is teed off even more than if they had lost and contributed to the Ashleys' [[BrokenStreak winning streak]]. As they fight, Mikey tells them that the true point of this whole contest is to get lots of food for the needy. After hearing this, they continue fighting over the can anyway, and the can somehow ends up knocking over the pyramid of cans they had collected, making Mikey both sad and mad.

* Whoopi tries to deliver one about how overworked and pressured people in her line of work are while on the stand as a social worker in ''Series/LawAndOrderSVU''. Subverted by the fact that she has knowingly neglected actually caring for children in favour of paperwork and advances. Despite the message being an important one, the speech rings hollow with both the characters and the audience as a result.

* Whoopi delivers an epic one while on the stand as a social worker in ''Series/LawAndOrderSVU''.

-->-- TheOnion News Network [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXbcaVY8FQ0 video]], ''The Strong Women in Film Award for [[MagicalNegro Most Extraordinarily Intuitive Black Woman]] in a Motion Picture''

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* The "It's a very good day to me," speech by the Ethiopian taxi driver in an old strip of ''ComicStrip/ForBetterOrForWorse''.
** Also done more recently, with vaguely mentally disabled character Shannon delivering a rousing speech about tolerance to an entire high school from atop a cafeteria table.

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* Parodied in ''WebVideo/ATrailerForEveryAcademyAwardWinningMovieEver'', where an InspirationallyDisadvantaged delivers a naive yet inspiring statement from his hospital bed. ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAG9Xn5bJwQ link]])

* King said this famous piece three days into the LA riots. They went on for three more afterward.
-->''"People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along? Can we get along?"'' -- Rodney King\\

Profoundly wise, life affirming short speech given by the [[WisdomFromTheGutter poor, oppressed]] [[TokenMinority minority]], [[BookDumb uneducated]], or [[DisabilitySuperpower mentally challenged]] character to the more-educated protagonist. Thus, perhaps, clearly distinguishing between the "Intelligence" and "Wisdom" attributes in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''.

* Parodied in ''WebVideo/ATrailerForEveryAcademyAwardWinningMovieEver'', where an InspirationallyDisadvantaged delivers a naive yet inspiring statement from his hospital bed. ([[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeIRQol52HU link]])

* Jim from ''HuckleberryFinn'' has many of these, although they are rarely understood by anyone other than the reader. Even ''he'' doesn't realize he says them.

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* WhoopiGoldberg is the TropeNamer

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''"No, not really."'' -- L.A

* Ellen's teenaged ex-boyfriend delivers an odd example in the Season Two finale of ''SlingsAndArrows''.

-->''"People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along? Can we get along?"'' -- Rodney King
** ''"No, not really."'' -- L.A

* In the Creator/RobertAltman film ''GosfordPark'', the maid Dorothy delivers a speech about what's really important to a discontent aristocrat.
* In the end of the remake of ''Film/{{Bedazzled 2000}},'' in which the hapless hero is stuck in jail with the prospect of having sold his soul to the Devil and only one wish left to make it worthwhile. His cellmate, a [[MagicalNegro gentle young black man]] reminds him with a smile that he can't sell something that doesn't belong to him - in this case, [[OurSoulsAreDifferent his soul.]] This man and the Devil (Hurley) are later seen playing chess.

* [[{{Blackadder}} Baldrick's]] cry of "Why can't we just stop, sir? Why can't we just say, 'no more killing, let's all go home'? Why would it be stupid just to pack it in, sir? Why?"

* Subverted in ''Series/DoctorWho'' when Rose Tyler tries it on her mother's analogue in an AlternateUniverse while posing as a waitress at her birthday party, but Jackie just turns around and asks her who the hell she thinks she is.

''"People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along? Can we get along?"'' -- Rodney King

* And, of course, Whoopi again due to her role as mysterious bartender Guinan in Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration. In a show full of philosophising and intellectual debating, she definitely represented the 'wise' contingent, and she had the captain's ear for whenever she felt like weighing in on an issue.