Some good ones there! Then there are some that I would not have included on a top ten list......
For instance, the Keith Moon one is not particularly funny, I don’t find — it’s of interest b/c of how spectacularly wrong Moon was about the prospects for such a band and that Moon himself provided the name for the band (if that’s what he actually said in a drug-induce haze). But I don’t find it to be a great, hilarious “zinger”..... maybe that’s just me.
btw, the opening bit about “L’esprit d’escalier” misunderstands the point of that expression, since it has to do with what someone DIDN’T say as a comeback, but only thought of too late, on the stairway, while departing the premises. Thus, it is not the expression to use in referring to these ten comeback zingers which all were (allegedly) uttered at the time, not thought of after the fact.
I'm inclined to agree. Maybe we don't take enough drugs to appreciate it.
Kind of a down the up staircase moment, eh?