According to a recent Reddit AMA, actor Michael K. Williams can’t whistle; every time his character Omar Little whistled “The Farmer In The Dell” on The Wire to send the message that Omar comin’, it was actually dubbed in by John Waters’ personal assistant. But as for corrupt state senator Clay Davis, a new video makes it abundantly clear that every single “sheeeeeeeeeit” out of his lips was the real thing. Along with his appearances in a ton of commercials (like this one), character actor and Clay Davis portrayer Isiah Whitlock, Jr. is best known as a guy who says “shit” in a super drawn-out way in The Wire and several Spike Lee movies.
Now, Whitlock has teamed up with a social media marketing firm to launch the first in a series of sketches in which he teaches aspiring actors how to deliver a Clay Davis-worthy “sheeeeeeeeeit” (the nine ‘e’s are evidently canon) in any context. If you didn’t reflexively pitch your phone or laptop out the window in revulsion at the phrase “social media marketing firm,” you can watch the sketch below and marvel at how seamlessly Whitlock’s catchphrase integrates into Shakespeare, or how he can draw a “sheeeeeeeeeit” out until it sounds like a feat of Tuvan throat singing that might actually never, ever stop, ringing out until the heat death of the universe.
