It's an inside joke, son.

[Menard]

Movies and television have been rife with quirks, improvisations, and even inside jokes for decades.

Sometimes we have been lucky to discover some of these nuances through the media or an interview with one of the particulars involved.

With the advent of DVD and the behind the scenes commentary, we have had an even better introduction to certain elements of film and television which may not have been originally intended, but have become an impotant part of the finished product.

What are some of these?


The movie Animal House was filled with stuff which was thrown in, improvised, or even flubbed, just because it seemed to work for the producers and the movie going audience agreed.

John Belushi had a knack for being able to crush a can against his head. Somebody with the film saw this and thought it would be a funny thing to add.

The same with Bruce McGill, who played D-Day. He could play his throat like an instrument by flicking on it with his fingers. Somebody saw him do that and wanted it in the film.

When Belushi is running across the lawn and slips, jumps to his feet, and prances around, was an actual slip and he improvised to recover. The producers thought the improvisation was hilarious and wanted to keep it in the film.


What about television?


On the TV show WKRP in Cincinnati, the character of Les Nessman, played by Richard Sanders, always had a band-aid on some part of his person in every episode. This came from the first episode when, before taping, Sanders was injured when a lighting unit fell over and hit him in the head. They were unable to cover the injury with makeup, so they just had him wear a band-aid over it for the episode. Somebody got the idea to continue that and keep Nessman always having a band-aid on him due to his clumsiness.


What insider, behind-the-scenes, information do you have about a film or TV series which made it, perhaps, even more memorable?

[ToyMan]

i love the scene in lucio fulci's "the beyond" where david warbeck makes a little joke by trying to reload his pistol by dropping the bullets down the barrel. you can see his co-star, cat mccoll laughing as he does it, just before the elevator doors shut.

[Scott]

Menard there is always the one from CITIZEN KANE ......"Rosebud". Supposedly it had something to do with newpaperman Hearst woman or something like that. Not sure it was meant to be a joke eithier.

[LilCerberus]

Scott Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Menard there is always the one from CITIZEN KANE
> ......"Rosebud". Supposedly it had something to do
> with newpaperman Hearst woman or something like
> that. Not sure it was meant to be a joke eithier.


According to rumor, "RoseBud" was William Randolph Hearst's pet name for his mistress Marion Davies' , eh, "WooWoo".

"Phylomath lies right between Lexington & Crawfordville, and used to have it's own post office."
- Peter S. Buck

[flacorocks]

Thanks for the tidbit Menard!! I always wondered why Les had a band-aid on all of the time!!

[Neville]

lilcerberus Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Scott Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Menard there is always the one from CITIZEN
> KANE
> > ......"Rosebud". Supposedly it had something
> to do
> > with newpaperman Hearst woman or something
> like
> > that. Not sure it was meant to be a joke
> eithier.
>
>
> According to rumor, "RoseBud" was William Randolph
> Hearst's pet name for his mistress Marion Davies'
> , eh, "WooWoo".

Heard that as well. That would certainly explain Hearts' vicious attacks on the movie and Welles.

[The Conqueroo]

"Rocky and Bullwinkle"had quite a number of inside jokes and very bad puns.Here's a couple from "Peabody's Improbable History":Mister Peabody and Sherman meet Lawrence of Arabia.At the end,he tells Sherman how TE Lawrence captured so many Turkish Prisoners that they had to put them in a Barn filled with straw.Sherman asks him what he means and he says "You've Heard of 'Turkey in the Straw'Haven't You?".In one episode,Boris falls off a Cliff and Natasha asks him "Boris Dahlink!!Are You All Right?"he answers her "Natasha,Do You Know What Happens When A Chest Falls On Top Of A Cartoon Character??"."No Dahlink!!Vat?"."EET HURTS!!". "Fortunately,I Keep My Feathers Numbered For Such An Emergency."

[plan9superfan]

What about the many inside jokes and references on "The Simpsons"?

[The Conqueroo]

True.So True.

[Shadowphile]

And of course there is the 'chest waxing' scene in Forty Year Old Virgin.    It was real.  The actor went into it with a 'can't believe it can be as bad as all that' attitude and emerged with an 'oh God, I can't beleive it was as bad as all that' attitude.  When the black actor leaves the room, he is doing so to avoid bursting out laughing in front of the camera.

[LilCerberus]

One that's had me scratching my head for a number of years is "Sex and the Single Alien" (1993). http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108091/

It's a T&A flick about a guy whose wife refuses to have sex, not because she's mad at him, but because she's gotten mixed up in one of those mail order TV cults that preaches celebacy.

What the possible "insider joke" that's got me scratching is, the film opens with a statement about some statistic about how "more people believe in family values than in UFOs". Then the film starts, and we learn that this guy & his wife co-own a strip club called "Family Values".

(????)

(Sigh) A T&A flick, and I can't stop thinking about how I must be missing something!

Spaeking of insider jokes, has anybody ever tried to interpret the record sleeves & liner notes of any of R.E.M.'s albums? Those things have caused me to suffer a complete cereberal collapse on more than one occasion.

[plan9superfan]

How about the scene in "Looney Tunes: Back in Action", when Bugs Bunny, Daffu Duck, D.J. Darke and Kate Houghton are at Area 52, and the aliens there are all aliens from old B-movies?

They were The Metaluna Mutant (from "This Island Earth"), The Fiend Without a Face, Ro-Man (from "Robot Monster"), a Triffid (from "Day of the Triffids") and a Dalek (from "Dr. Who").

And them Marvin the Martian frees them so they attack our heroes.

[Flangepart]

I loved that!
Marvin : "Wakey, wakey, friends. Time to wreak mayhen, in the cause of E-vil!"

That, and the alien from...an old Brit Sci-Fi films whos title i forget! (D'oh!), who gets turned into a popcorn poper by Bugs. "Isen't it about time you folks enjoyed a cold soda from the consession stand?"