Episode Overview

Podcast: Pablo Torre Finds Out
Episode: Why Everyone Says "Let's Gooooooo!": The Lost History of a Phrase, from Shakespeare to Taylor Swift
Air Date: January 23, 2024
Host: Pablo Torre (with guest correspondent Jeremy Tache)
Theme:
This episode dives deep into the cultural, historical, and viral journey of the phrase "Let's go!"—from its origins in literature, music, sports, and pop culture to its current omnipresence as the celebratory exclamation of choice. Using humor and journalistic rigor, Pablo and Jeremy try to answer: Who really deserves credit for making "Let's go" the modern rallying cry, and what does its evolution tell us about language, sports culture, and internet memes?

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Stage: "Let's Go" Takes Over Everything

• The Catalysts: The NFL postseason, Taylor Swift at Chiefs games, and the noticed ubiquity of "Let's go!" across sports and pop culture.
• The Dilemma: As the phrase explodes in usage, Pablo and his team puzzle over its origins and why it's resonated so hard, especially recently.
• Notable banter about Pablo's "overworn" blue cardigan (03:00), segues to the threadbare "Taylor Swift" discourse in the media.
• Pablo wonders: “Why is everyone saying this same phrase as if this is a meme that they're all forced to retweet?” (05:06)

2. The Ubiquity of "Let's Go"

• Seen everywhere: NFL, NBA, F1, social media, classrooms, esports (09:00).
• Listener voicemail asks exactly when and how the phrase took over as a sports exclamation (05:00).
• Notable quote about its multifaceted meaning:

  "It's a call to action as well as a celebration of the action you already had successfully completed." (09:36, Pablo)

3. Chasing "Patient Zero": Is Tom Brady Responsible?

• Tom Brady seen as the modern face—“Mr. Let's Go”—for the phrase, especially his enthusiastic, multi-O version ("Let's gooooooo!") since at least 2015 (11:40).
• Pablo on the Brady effect:

  "Every bro in a quarter zip sort of fleece. They're cosplaying as Tom Brady." (12:01)

• But "let's go" predates Brady by a long shot.

Brady’s Own Explanation

• Brady used “Let's go” as an emotional trigger on game day:

  “For me, anger was good. Anger was good because it was motivating...when I ran out on the field and I said, let's go, it was really, let's go kick some ass.” (12:44–13:25, Tom Brady)

4. The Search Expands: From Taylor Swift to Shakespeare

• Taylor Swift’s involvement mostly limited to being seen mouthing “Let’s f***ing go!” at games, but does NOT own the phrase.
• The team considers what would count as true ownership:
  • It must be organic and guttural—not performative or designed (14:44).
  • Needs that long, launched “goooooo” (15:51).

The Historical Trail

• Wikipedia and popular memory cite various sports teams and chants (e.g., “Let’s Go White Sox!”), but these don’t explain the recent explosion.
• Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors ("Now, let's go hand in hand, not one before another") is the earliest known source (17:10).
• 1942: US Navy World War II posters—“Fight! Let's Go! Join the Navy!”—give the phrase a militaristic, communal edge (18:04).
• 1962: “Let’s Go (Pony)” by The Routers; origins of the stadium chant + clapping (18:48).
• The Ramones (1976), The Cars (1979), and “Let’s Go Mets!” (1986) contribute to the phrase’s spread in sports and music (19:33, 20:24).

The Jingle Era

• The same jingle writer who did “Meow Mix” created the “Let’s Go Mets” anthem (21:10).
• On why it works:

  “What can people get their head around with six beers in them?” (21:50, Jingle writer)

Spanish Language Connection

• “Vamos” as the Spanish equivalent, carrying its own charged history.

  “There’s an edge to ‘vamos.’ There’s that Brady, the Tom Brady animosity to vamos.” (23:40, Pablo)

5. “Let’s Go” as Meme: From Arena to Internet

• Musical and commercial origins blend with modern meme culture.
• Lil Jon’s “Let’s Go!” (2000s) cements it in hip hop and the club/sports lexicon, but he declines to claim credit (24:42).

6. The Modern Crown: The “Let’s Goat”

• Enter Coach Matthew Driscoll, University of North Florida men’s basketball coach, whose viral “Let’s go!” in 2017 is the platonic ideal of the phrase (26:21–27:32).
  • Visual: Short, energetic coach, white shirt and tie, turns to camera and unleashes the ultimate “Let’s go!”
• Driscoll describes his method:

  “The breath is huge. Whether or not you have a vitamin C drop in your mouth is critical. The way...you take that breath before the depth of the ‘let’s go’...you want it to be able to breathe back out.” (29:45, Driscoll)

• Driscoll is so passionate, he judges other uses of the phrase (29:07) and is even recognized in public more for his voice than his face (30:36).
• “Let’s Go Offs” and “Let’s Go” competitions are now part of UNF’s team culture and marketing (31:20).

7. Who Truly Owns “Let’s Go”?

• By Pablo and Jeremy’s standards, Driscoll is the most authentic embodiment of the phrase:

  1. Organic, sincere, from-the-gut usage.
  2. A “let’s go” with more “O’s” than anyone else.

• Driscoll is crowned “the let’s Goat” (the Greatest Of All Time at “let’s go”).

  “Maybe I could be the goat of the let’s go.” (34:05, Driscoll)
  “I think we’re hammering the over on this one.” (33:18, Pablo, counting the O’s)

• Driscoll proposes a “Let’s Go-Off” with Tom Brady (34:49)

  “Let’s let the nation decide who is the goat of the let’s go.” (36:03, Driscoll)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “It's shalom, essentially.” (09:54, Jeremy describing the all-purpose utility of “let’s go”)
• “What can people get their head around with six beers in them?” (21:50, jingle writer, on the simplicity of “let’s go”)
• “I am reeling at the arc you’re tracing here. Right? So we go from William Shakespeare to Meow Mix guy.” (23:18, Pablo)
• “He’s the greatest, and he is the king of the ‘let’s go.’ And I think he knows it, right? He loves when other people do it too.” (28:45, Jeremy on Driscoll)
• “If you say any phrase often enough, it can no longer be considered ironic. In fact, if you say any phrase often enough, it just becomes who you are. Lol.” (39:11, Pablo in closing)

Key Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment/Quote | |-----------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 03:30 | Taylor Swift seen saying “let’s go” at Chiefs game—sets off the investigation | | 05:00 | Listener voicemail asks about "let’s go" as a sports reaction | | 11:41 | Tom Brady and the multi-O “let’s go!” | | 12:44 | Brady on using “let’s go” for game-day emotion | | 17:10 | Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors as earliest known usage | | 18:48 | “Let’s Go (Pony)” by The Routers—song as stadium chant origin | | 19:33 | The Ramones, The Cars, and the 1986 “Let’s Go Mets” hype video | | 23:40 | "Vamos" and the Spanish influence discussion | | 24:42 | Lil Jon’s “Let’s Go!” and his humility | | 26:21 | Introduction of Coach Matthew Driscoll (whose “let’s go” went viral) | | 29:45 | Driscoll explains his technique for “let’s go” | | 31:20 | UNF “let’s go” competition and the meme as university marketing | | 34:05 | Driscoll crowned “let’s Goat” | | 36:03 | Driscoll proposes a “let’s go” contest against Tom Brady | | 39:11 | Pablo’s sign-off on how repeated phrases lose their irony (the “lol” parallel) |

Episode Takeaways

• "Let's go" is a phrase with deep roots, stretching from Shakespeare to meme culture, with music, sports, and advertising all shaping its meaning.
• Its enduring appeal comes from its simplicity, communal spirit, and ability to amplify emotion—making it the ideal modern celebratory soundbite.
• The “ownership” of “let’s go” is less about who said it first and more about who says it best—and most authentically.
• UNF Coach Matthew Driscoll is, by the hosts' playful and thorough analysis, the truest “let’s Goat.”
• Closing reflection: Even the most overused phrases start to become sincere just from repetition. Language, ultimately, gets its power from those who shout it—and mean it.

For sports and culture nerds, meme scholars, or anyone who has ever bellowed “let’s go!” after an accomplishment, this “talkumentary” is a witty, deeply reported, and surprisingly philosophical journey into a phrase that unites locker rooms, arenas, and, apparently, the history of the English language.