Die, my dear? Why that’s the last thing I’ll do!

In this quip, Marx turns a grim imperative—“Die”—into a piece of comic logic. By replying that dying is “the last thing” he’ll do, he exploits the literal truth that death is one’s final act, converting fear or solemnity into wordplay. The humor also reflects Groucho’s trademark persona: quick, defiant, and verbally agile, refusing to grant seriousness the upper hand. As with many Marx one-liners, the joke works as a miniature philosophy of resilience—meeting existential inevitability not with denial, but with a clever reframing that restores a sense of control through wit.