With their signature gothic style and their love for all things dark and gloomy, The Addams Family is one of the most iconic families in popular culture. One reason why there are so beloved by fans is that each member of the Addams clan individually stands out as a hilarious, delightful character with their own personality.
What's more, characters that have joined the Addams clan (no matter how brief their appearance) have made just as memorable an impact as the main family members themselves. And as a result, each Addams has a number of excellent quotes and one-liners from across the movies.
Gomez
"It's Terrible When You Stutter!"
Played by Raul Julia in one of his final movie roles, Gomez Addams is the Addams' charismatic and charming patriarch. Despite his love for the macabre that makes most people in the movie raise eyebrows, Gomez is a warm and hospitable man who unconditionally adores his wife and family. In fact, one of the greatest things about the franchise is Gomez and Morticia's undying love for one another.
Gomez has a number of excellent moments throughout the movies but one particularly brilliant line is when Thing tries to tell him that Morticia has been kidnapped. As just a dismembered hand and one of the best silent characters to appear in movies and TV, Thing can only communicate through gestures. So as a result, one of the best gags in The Addams Family is when Gomez impatiently tells Thing, "It's terrible when you stutter!"
Morticia
"I'm Just Like Any Modern Woman, Trying To Have It All. Loving Husband, A Family. It's Just I Wish I Had More Time To Seek Out The Dark Forces And Join Their Hellish Crusade."
The beautiful and elegant Addams matriarch Morticia may be one of the most iconic members of the already iconic Addams family. This is not only down to her recognizable witchy look (and ethereal lighting across her eyes) but also down to some excellent lines and quotations.
Addams Family Values starts with the birth of Gomez's and Morticia's son Pubert but neither Wednesday nor Pugsley are so keen to welcome their baby brother. The ongoing hilarious ways of them trying to dispose of their new sibling worries and exhausts Morticia, as she expresses woefully to Gomez how she has no time to "seek out the dark forces and join their hellish crusade." The quote perfectly encapsulates Morticia as both a loving mother and a gothic icon, and it's perhaps one of the most famous quotes in both the Addams Family franchise and gothic culture.
Pugsley
"I Am A Turkey. Kill Me."
The elder son of Gomez and Morticia, Pugsley is most recognized by his signature black and white striped shirt and black shorts. He is often seen either aiding his sister Wednesday's plans or being subject to her torturous games such as axes and electric chairs.
Pugsley sadly is overshadowed by his family in terms of scene-stealing, especially when compared to Wednesday. But perhaps his most memorable moment is when he is made to sing and dance in a turkey costume for Camp Chippewa's problematic Thanksgiving play. After the saccharine song about eating turkeys, Pugsley in full turkey gear announces, "I am a turkey. Kill me." Whilst in the spirit of the awful play, it's also a fittingly macabre line for any Addams and is one of the best quotes in Addams Family Values.
Wednesday
"Are They Made From Real Girl Scouts?"
As one of the best goths characters in movies, Wednesday, like her mother, is one of the most famous Addams Family members. With her deadpan stare, biting remarks, and malicious streak, Wednesday has become something of an icon in her own right. It's little wonder she's getting her own television show on Netflix.
Wednesday has some of the best lines and moments in both The Addams Family and Addams Family Values. One particularly noteworthy moment is when she 'questions' the authenticity of Girl Scout cookies after being asked about her lemonade's authenticity by an obnoxious girl scout. The stunned silence that follows after Wednesday dryly asks if the cookies are made with real girl scouts really highlights how utterly hilarious the line is.
Fester
"We Should Have... Ugly Girls!"
In the Addams Family movies, Fester is the older brother of Gomez, and Wednesday and Pugsley's uncle. Played spectacularly by Christopher Lloyd, Fester is a very endearing character and plays a very key part in both of the movies' main plots.
Although the older of the two, the gaunt and stocky Fester is something of the opposite of his younger and suaver brother, and this is most evident when Gomez and Morticia go on a double date with Fester and Debbie. Gomez makes a beautifully eloquent speech about how lucky they are to have such lovely women. Fester, in an attempt to be like his brother, inadvertently brings this crashing down by claiming, "we should have... ugly girls!" Even when he receives advice from the effortlessly charming Gomez, Fester's attempts to woo are cringe-worthy, funny yet oddly sympathetic, and it somehow makes him all the more likable.
Grandmama
"Just A Curse. Have A Nice Day."
The eccentric and witchlike Grandmama Addams is a relatively minor character but a brilliant one nevertheless. Quirky and full of energy despite her age, Grandmama Addams is always on hand to help her beloved family, usually by cooking something questionable for meals.
Grandmama has some funny moments, such as chasing dogs and cats in an attempt to feed her family. But perhaps her greatest moment is when before leaving Fester's new home, Grandmama approaches Debbie and mutters strange words whilst waving a skull. Debbie asks in disgust what she's doing and Grandmama simply replies, "Just a curse. Have a nice day," followed by an air kiss and a toothless grin. It's the perfect spooky comeback insult and adds a hilarious element of sass to the kooky old grandmother.
Debbie
"Don't I Deserve Love... And Jewelry?"
Addams Family Values sees Fester fall in love with Pubert's new nanny, Debbie Jellinksy. Unfortunately for Fester, Debbie is a black widow serial killer who hunts, seduces, marries, and murders rich men for their money, and Fester is her next target. Her marriage to Fester was brief but regardless of her intentions, she is technically an Addams whether she likes it or not.
Debbie as the villain is why Addams Family Values is considered at least an equally good movie to its predecessor. She is even given some moments of questionable sympathy in the movie's climax, where she laments her past to the Addams, whom she has each strapped to electric chairs, ending on, "Don't I deserve love... and jewelry?" Whether it was genuine or not, these moments perfectly define Debbie's character whilst also making the audience laugh.
Margaret
"Everyone Keeps Asking Where He Bought His Costume."
In The Addams Family, Margaret is the wife of the Addams' crooked lawyer Tully Alford. But she catches the eye of Cousin Itt at the Addams' party and eventually the two fall in love, and are married by the end of the movie. Margaret appears again briefly in Addams Family Values, now a proud mother to her new son What.
Like Debbie, Margaret is from a more conventional background (which in the context of this movie is anything other than an Addams upbringing.) But unlike Debbie, Margaret embraced the Addams' odd nature and aesthetics when she fell for Cousin Itt. This is perhaps very sweetly highlighted when she lovingly comments how everyone asks Itt where he got his costume. This moment is made even funnier when Gomez happily remarks, "It is a wonderful hat."