Newt Pulsifer’s Dick Turpin Joke in Good Omens, Finally Explained
Witchfinder Newton Pulsifer does not want much in life – just to be asked why he named his car Dick Turpin.
In Good Omens, Newt Pulsifer is an aspiring computer engineer who, unfortunately, cannot make a computer work for the life of him, which results in him getting fired from every job he gets a hold of. He has one thing that he loves dearly, and that is his car, which he calls Dick Turpin.
In the show, Newt makes a big deal out of the name, and his only wish seems to be that someone will inquire about its meaning. At some point, Anathema entertains him by asking why the car is called Dick Turpin. Newt is over the moon because he finally gets to make the joke he thought of a long time ago, saying, “Because everywhere I go, I hold up traffic.”
This joke has probably gone right over most people’s heads, especially if they haven’t read the original Good Omens book by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, which offers an elaborate explanation in the footnotes.
It turns out that there was a famous highwayman by the name of Dick Turpin who robbed people on the road in the 17th century. In other words, Dick Turpin (the person) held up cars (i.e., robbed them), and Dick Turpin (the car) holds up traffic (i.e., backs it up because it keeps breaking down).
In the book, Newt’s car is the Japanese Wasabi that issues mysterious voice warnings, and it has more of a backstory altogether. The series has replaced the Wasabi model with the Reliant Robin one, making the joke funny on two levels – the second being that such an unreliable car is called the Reliant Robin.
Anyway, we are glad that Newton has finally found someone to be interested in his car, and he was lucky that Anathema even got his joke, considering how niche it really was. To be honest, we have missed both of them in Good Omens season 2…