Great topic! As a teacher (now retired) and actor (local theater) I used dramatic license all the time in my classes (Science and English) in order to make a point or deliver a lesson. And one of my favorite characters to use was Columbo (and his assorted guest stars). I've always loved the way Abigail Mitchell (Ruth Gordon) delivered the lines, "However, however..." and I used that often in class when I wished to emphasize a point. Sometimes when deep in thought and it looks like I'm trying to figure something out, I like to mumble, "Going to get the nut off the self-steering vane and the mizzen boom jibed. Blood on the port." On the physical side, I like to pretend to hit every pocket (jacket, vest, pants, etc.) while looking for something. I haven't yet used, "This is what I've been lookin' for all the time", as Columbo did in THE CONSPIRATORS when he removed the LA 213 piece of paper, but I probably will when the opportunity presents.
Every time I'm a cheapskate - especially when it's only partly deliberate - I feel like Columbo.
In particular, it makes me think of the moment between him and Arlene Martel in "A Friend In Deed."
I hit a awful shot on the golf course when i was playing with my son ( who is 28 yo now...and was force fed Columbo when he was growing up...lol)and he said " uh oh, another bad one , doc?" and i responded with my best Dr . Kepple voice .." yes, that's a bad one".
I laughed to myself and i thought how my Columbo obsession/impressions over the years and think my boys thought it was cool....hopefully not thinking i'm too geeky.
My wife and I just off the tennis court here in our development. A guy, who I later found out is named Fred, came to the fence to ask me how much longer he thought we'd be. I told him, "in about three seconds," after we collected our tennis balls. We did so and chatted with him for a few moments. As we turned to walk home, I noticed we'd missed a ball on the court. The guy got to the ball first and tossed it across the court to me.
I responded, in my best Columbo voice, "Thank you, Fred", making sure to run the words together as he did in "Last Salute to the Commodore".