blue in the mouth

[nyota]

"If you want to get anything done in this country you've got to complain till you're blue in the mouth. " (The Dead Parrot Skit)

Is it a variation on "blue in the face" or a well-established idiom?

[emsr2d2]

"If you want to get anything done in this country you've got to complain till you're blue in the mouth. " (The Dead Parrot Skit)

Is it a variation on "blue in the face" or a well-established idiom?

It's not a well-established idiom. I think the Dead Parrot Sketch is the only place I've heard it.