Welcome Back, Kotter - Characters and Catchphrases - Vincent "Vinnie" Barbarino

Vincent "Vinnie" Barbarino

(John Travolta)
A cocky Italian-American, and "unofficial official" leader and resident heartthrob of the Sweathogs. Barbarino's prowess with women was a source of envy (and more often amusement) among his classmates. On occasion he would break out in song of his last name sung to the tune of The Regents' classic, "Barbara Ann". He was the first of the Sweathogs to move out on his own when he got a job as a hospital orderly. In the first episode of the series and fourth season, he has a girlfriend, Sally. Vinnie is Catholic (often quoting his mother as a saint), and as shown in "I'm Having Their Baby", is a Star Trek fan. Little is known about Vinnie's life at home other than his parents argue a lot ("Follow the Leader (part 2)"), his mother's name is Margie ("The Great Debate"), and he shares a bed with his brother. The episode "Don't Come Up And See Me Sometime" implied that Vinnie is the older of the two.

Vinnie's catchphrases

• "Up your nose with a rubber hose!"
  (Barbarino was the first in the series to rank somebody. In later episodes, other body parts and objects whose names rhymed were incorporated into the rank. For example, "Up your gizzard with a rubber lizard!" was used by Washington in a later episode.) The so-called art of ranking was immortalized in song in 1976 performed by Gabe Kaplan. The song, "Up Your Nose", did not get very far as it highly dated itself by making numerous contemporary references-- CB Radios, The Gong Show, singing cat commercials, et al.).

• "Wah-ha-ha-ha-howwww..."
  (Whenever he becomes love-stricken)
• "What?" "Where?" "Why?"
  (Usually to feign ignorance when accused of something or asked to do something he's not ready to do)
• "I'm so con-fused!" (Usually over-dramatized)
• "I'm Vinnie Barbarino!" (Also over-dramatized, usually when a girl snubs or spurns him)