“Whatchoo talkin’ ’bout, Willis?”

RORY: Oy with the poodles already.

LORELAI: I’m telling you, it’s knocking ‘Whatchoo talkin’ ’bout, Willis?’ right out of first place.

“Whatchoo talkin’ ’bout, Willis?”, is a catchphrase from the sitcom Diff’rent Strokes (1978-1985). The series stars Gary Coleman and Todd Bridges as Arnold and Willis Jackson, two African-American boys from Harlem, taken in by a rich white businessman and widower Phillip Drummond (played by Conrad Bain) – the former employer of their deceased mother – and his daughter Kimberly (played by Dana Plato). The show was known for its “very special episodes”, which would dramatically tackle serious issues such as drugs, alcoholism, eating disorders, and child abuse.

Arnold would say this line with great scepticism or confusion, his face screwed up in disbelief, whenever his older brother gave him information that came as a shock or didn’t sound right to him.