The hoo-ha behind the 'Woo-hooo!'

By Pam Harbaugh
Florida Today

"I pray thee, sing, and let me woo no more."

— Don Pedro to Balthasar in William Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing."

You've heard the crinkle of the cellophane and the ringing of the cell phones. You've smelled the ladies who've bathed in cologne. You've endured antsy kids who kick the back of your seat.

But now, dear culture vultures, there is another crass interloper into your sacred, intimate communion with the arts.

Steel yourself for "The Woo."

Or, should we say, the Wooo! Wooo-hooo!, delivered with so much gusto, volume and animation, you think you've just been teleported to a tractor pull.

Many think The Woo began in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when Arsenio Hall encouraged his late-night audience to "bark" out their approval with short shouts. The noise, which was more of a "Whoop" than a "Woooo," was punctuated by fists held high, moving in an elliptical pattern.

Not so, says disc jockey Eric DeNiro. As far as he knows, The Woo began in the 1970s as professional wrestler Nature Boy Ric Flair's trademark. He'd shout "Wooooo!!" as he entered the ring and get a chorus of "Wooooos" in response.

"I associate 'woo' with Ric Flair the same way I associate somebody yelling 'Free Bird!' with Lynyrd Skynyrd," he says.

Homer Simpson adds his own spin, creating a more complex, melodic "Woo-hoo!" His is a proclamation of personal triumph, like getting the last doughnut.

For MTV fans, The Woo is an assertion of personal existence.

Heck, you could even notice The Woo from an extra during Sci Fi Channel's movie "Children of Dune." Who knew that would be adopted by intergalactic freedom fighters of the future?

When Adrien Brody hosted Saturday Night Live on May 10, he waved his arms to keep The Woo coming.

But The Woo appears to be grating on some.

Conan O'Brien is known to chastise his "Late Night" audience when they let out with The Woo. David Letterman tries to ignore his "Late Show" audience when that happens.

Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show" darts sarcastic "aren't-you-ashamed-of-yourself" looks at purveyors of The Woo.

Jay Leno, on the other hand, still seems to encourage it. His beam only grows wider when The Woo raises in volume.