Dewey, Cheatem & Howe

Dewey, Cheatem & Howe ("Do we cheat 'em? And how!") is the gag name of a fictional law firm, used in several parody settings. For example, a popular Three Stooges poster features the Stooges as bumbling members of such a firm (although the name was never used in an actual episode, "Dewey, Burnham, and Howe" was used). Similarly, mention of a firm by this name is employed by comic figures such as Johnny Carson, Groucho Marx and Daffy Duck. In Leisure Suit Larry 3, the protagonist must pay several visits to a firm by this name.

The name pokes fun at the perceived propensity of some lawyers to take advantage of their clients. Many law professors perversely work "Dewey, Cheatem & Howe" into the hypotheticals presented on final exams, especially in professional responsibility and legal ethics courses.

Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers, the pseudonyms of Tom and Ray Magliozzi of NPR's Car Talk radio program, named their corporation for managing the business end of Car Talk "Dewey, Cheetham & Howe." The DC&H corporate offices are located on a third-floor office, directly above the corner of Brattle and JFK Streets, in Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The office is clearly visible from the square and, like the show, is a perennial source of amusement to the denizens of Cambridge.

The name is mentioned in the film One Night at McCool's during an early scene with Paul Reiser and Matt Dillon. It is also mentioned in an episode of Fox's "Prison Break" in it's second season by character Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell.

The UK magazine Private Eye uses the similarly-inspired "Sue, Grabbitt and Runne" (sue, grab it and run) when satirising the legal profession, reflecting the magazine's experience defending from libel lawsuits.

In the Simpsons episode "Bart the Fink" the family visits the law firm: "Dewey, Cheathem, Howe, & Weissmann" (the joke being that the addition of "Weissmann" ruins the pun). Similarly, on the sitcom 30 Rock there is a brief mention of the law firm "Dewey, Cheatham and Livingston".

In a set of legal forms published for lawyers and other legal professionals, one fictitious law-firm name is "Skrewer, Widow & Children."

In episode 4x02 of Gilmore Girls "Lorelai's First Day at Yale," Luke Danes tells a lawyer who represents his ex-wife that his lawyer was "Don Dewey; he works at the firm of Dewey, Cheatham and Howe." He also gives Dewey's phone number as 555-5555. When the lawyer says his bosses are going to learn about Luke's joking around, Luke replies, "Oh, come on; they've heard that one before."

The champion standardbred race horse Deweycheatumnhowe takes his name from this pun.