9 iconic moments in Jennifer Coolidge's career, from 'Legally Blonde' to her eccentric Emmys speech

Jennifer Coolidge's most popular role is Paulette Bonafonté, a manicurist who befriends the lead character Elle (Reese Witherspoon) in "Legally Blonde." Her performance in the movie and its sequel features several iconic moments that are still quoted today, including "I'm taking the dog, dumbass!" and "the bend and snap! I did that last night naked. I broke a window though."

The most popular Paulette quote, and one of the most memorable quotes from the franchise, is in the sequel "Legally Blonde: Red, White and Blonde."

After seeing Elle in her all-American outfit, Paulette says: "You look like the Fourth of July! Makes me want a hot dog real bad!"

Coolidge has said in interviews that this quote gets said to her all the time.

If've ever wondered what it's like to be applauded every time you enter a room, just ask Coolidge. In between her early 2000s success and her 2020s renaissance, Coolidge's most popular gig was playing a wealthy neighbor named Sophie in "2 Broke Girls." 

After joining the cast of the sitcom in season one, Coolidge received rounds of applause almost every time she made a dramatic entrance, which happened quite a lot in the show's six seasons.

While this was a running joke for the show, I like to view it as a sign of respect for the underrated comedy actress.

Over the last decade, social media has breathed new life into many underrated film scenes. That is the case for Coolidge's performance as the evil stepmother in "A Cinderella Story," a modern retelling of the classic fairytale.

In one particular scene, the stepmother tells the lead character Samantha (Hilary Duff), the film's version of Cinderella, that she's not allowed to go to her school's Halloween dance.

After they argue, the stepmother comically ends the conversation by saying: "You're not very pretty, and you're not very bright. I'm so glad we had that talk."

This is all done while Coolidge is wearing incredibly tiny goggles. In 2021, as Coolidge's fame began to rise again, this scene went viral on TikTok and even received a remix with Gwen Stefani's "Sweet Escape."

Last year, Coolidge made headlines for talking about how much "sexual action" she got after starring in "American Pie."

Jeanine Stifler is one of the most renowned roles of her career, and it is where Coolidge received the title of MILF as she plays a mother who has a fling with her son's classmate.

When asked about her thoughts on the title, the 60-year-old actress told Variety: "I got a lot of play at being a MILF and I got a lot of sexual action from 'American Pie.' There were so many benefits to doing that movie. I mean, there would be like 200 people that I would never have slept with."

Over three months after the interview took place, Coolidge clarified that this comment was a joke.

She told Entertainment Weekly in December: "I did say that jokingly and, God, you really can't make jokes in our town, because I did make the terrible mistake of saying, 'Thank God for that movie, I got to sleep with 200 men,' or whatever. And, look, I would love to say that was true, but I mean, that was sort of an exaggeration — so I'm glad you're asking me."

The "American Pie" actress did note that the role opened up "the world to a much broader group of handsome men — and younger men" before recounting an awkward experience, involving a guy, his mother, and a hair salon recommendation.

It's pretty cool that Coolidge is so open about her sex life, making her all the more relatable to fans.

Paying homage to an artist's work is probably the biggest sign that they've achieved icon status. With that in mind, pop phenom Ariana Grande has recreated Coolidge's greatest hits not once, but twice.

The first time, a moment that Coolidge credits for relaunching her career, occurred in Grande's 2018 music video "Thank U, Next," in which the "Scream Queens" star recreated the nail salon scenes in "Legally Blonde." Coolidge actually reprised her role as Paulette in the music video.

Then last year, Grande reacquainted her younger fans with Coolidge's filmography once again. For Halloween, Grande and her "Victorious" co-star Elizabeth Gillies recreated scenes from the 2000 mockumentary "Best In Show," starring Coolidge, Jane Lynch, Eugene Levy, and Catherine O'Hara. In the videos, Grande does an impression of Coolidge's character Sherri Ann Cabot and the resemblance is uncanny.

Coolidge herself commented on the post: "This is f***ing great. I was gonna go as the young boy's pet weasel from "The Watcher" but now I think I'm gonna go as @arianagrande's dog Toulouse."

While the Coolidge renaissance began with Grande's "Thank U, Next" video, the actor's performance in "The White Lotus" cemented her revival.

Coolidge stars in the first two seasons of the anthology series as a rich, lonely, middle-aged white woman named Tanya McQuoid. While Coolidge has had many great scenes in the show, the most viral one is in the season two finale where she claims "Please! These gays — They're trying to murder me."

The scene has already been memorialized with fans turning it into memes, merchandise, and even remixed into a song.

Over the last two years, Coolidge has finally received critical recognition during award season. 

When she was awarded the Emmy award for outstanding supporting actress in a limited or anthology series or movie last year for her role in the first season of "The White Lotus," she struggled to give her speech within the time constraints.

However, instead of stopping when the music began to play her off stage, Coolidge protested and continued her speech. The music then switched to a jazzy arrangement of "Hit the Road Jack," at which point Coolidge began to sway her hips and dance in time with the music.

This clip went viral and was a classy way to handle being played off-stage.

Coolidge also won her first Golden Globe earlier this month for her performance in "The White Lotus."

After accepting the award for best supporting actor, Coolidge gave an epic gratitude speech that was a bit all over the place. In the speech, she tries to thank the people she wasn't able to thank during her Emmys speech, griping that she had been forced off the stage.

"But I just want to say, I hope my agent at UTA and Tiffany [Kuzon], you all forgive me because the hook came out at the last thing I got an award at," She said. "This giant hook, and I thought it left when vaudeville ended, and this hook came and took me off the stage at the Emmys."

The speech was funny, inspiring, and also one of the most memorable moments of the night.

In "Shotgun Wedding," which premiered this week, Coolidge stars as Carol, a slightly overbearing and oversharing mother of the groom (Josh Duhamel). When the trailer of the new action rom-com came out, Coolidge immediately stood out for one reason: she was using a machine gun.

In the epic scene, Coolidge lets it rip on the pirates trying to destroy her son's wedding. It may be one of the best scenes of the entire movie because of the bizarreness of Coolidge handling such a weapon.