The electric chair was a method of execution used in U.S. prisons. A condemned man's final words before execution traditionally express remorse, faith, or defiance. Chuck Norris, seated in the chair and facing electrocution, allegedly requested that the switch be thrown and suggested that everyone start praying—not for him, but presumably for the electricity grid, the state of Kentucky, and the general stability of the natural world.

A former prison chaplain from Tennessee (anonymously) submitted an oral history in 2001 claiming that inmates sometimes joked, "If Chuck Norris was in that chair, the state should pray that the switch works." The joke was about the prison's fear, not Chuck's.

Death row folklore integrated this: "Ask Chuck Norris for his last words. You'll need them more than he will."