1996: The Nutty Professor

0:02 It was the mid nineties. Some of us were a year or two out of high school and some of us were a year or two into college. We didn't know who we wanted to be, but we knew where we wanted to be, the movie theater. These are the movies of nineteen ninety six. What's up, everybody? I'm Jeff Johnson from a Film By podcast with our fat That's Phaight new limited series. We've broken down the fresh films of nineteen eighty six. We've examined the gritty cinemascape of nineteen seventy six, and now it's time to check out the Hella good flicks of nineteen ninety six.

0:59 The man who has co hosted more of our limited series than anybody else, the guy who taught me that no matter what, you got to strut from the Shirley you can't me serious podcast, Jason Colvin is with us today. What's up? Brother? I am glad to be here. I'm like the Tom Hanks of the Film By podcast. You were the Tom Hanks. You are the Steve Martin. Yeah, you're the guy that brings it every time. I'm just glad that you didn't ask me before we started whether I want juice, coffee or rack of lamb before he started, Well, you know, listen, I saw you. You know, you showed up in spandex, all spandex, and you know I knew you didn't need anything like that.

1:51 Just a few days ago, you indeed dropped an episode that makes you the right guy to discuss today's film with me. Jason, for our first time listeners, do you want to tell them what the show You Can't Be Serious podcast is all about and what that episode was about. Absolutely? The Shrily Can't Be Serious podcast is a podcast for the MTV generation, and so what we try to do is we try to pick big hitting albums and compare it to other albums. We kind of make a matchup out of it. And we also do that with movies. We've got kind of a series of top five lists. We've even done some legendary stinkers, which you've joined us on when we do the What the heck Happened? Series? So right now, we just dropped an episode on what I think is Eddie Murphy's best movie, Beverly Hills Cop, and then we match that up against Beverly Hills Cop Part two from nineteen eighty seven. So I'm niade ben Eddie Murphy. And when you called me to do then Netti Professor, I'm like, dude, I've just been studying up on Ednie Murphy. Let's do this. Listeners check out the showy you Can't Be Serious podcast to hear all about Beverly Hills cop And now, as our Sineo used to say, let's get busy with the nutty professor go there this summer. I'm very much I'm flatter Flata, think big, think nutty. You'll make a swell way. Thank you, Barnet,

3:22 you're looking us in particular. Strand oh stand the nutty Professor. I'm not going to call action. Created story Friday, June twenty eight that theater's everywhere brilliant and kind hearted. Sherman Klump has created a miraculous weight loss formula. When the obese professor drinks the formula following an embarrassingly bad date, he instantly loses two hundred and fifty pounds, but gains the obnoxious, out of control persona of Buddy Love Jason. This is a this is a step in a different direction for Freddie Murphy, was it? Yeah? So I think this is kind of the convergence of a couple of things that he did later on his career. And so this is right before he steps into kind of the family realm. I mean, Daddy Daycare, Shrek, Doctor Doolittle, all those kind of family movies that he got, does you know, because he's a father and he's got kids and he wants to do stuff for them.

4:29 Mm hm. And so this is kind of a mixture of sort of the dirty, raunchy comedy and kind of a family loving classic, you know what I mean. Yeah, it kind of walks the line on between both of them. I want to take a minute to talk about nineties culture and how it influenced this film, and right away, I gotta say, it's all about It's all about our obsession with with losing weight and looking better, and that happened in the nineteen nineties, right, Definitely, definitely the Susan Powder if you remember that name from the early nineties. Yes, stop the insanity. Right, the nineties scene up boom in the at home weight loss industry. Infomercials were everywhere you mentioned Susan Powder's. We had Susanne Summers selling the Thigh Master. Tony Little was shouting at us on the Gazelle Glider.

5:25 We're drinking metoric shakes, We're eating Genny Craig meals, and all the while Richard Simmons is still successfully sweating to the oldies. We were obsessed. The culture was obsessed with weight loss and looking our best, and this movie, I mean it really zeros in on that. I definitely think that that is what you see most from nineties culture because this is kind of I mean, this is still the nineties were too early for you know, I mean, LiPo section was a thing, but it was priced so high that most people couldn't afford it. You know, even boob jobs and lip jobs and tummy tucks and that type of thing. We're too expensive for the average person. And so the weight loss shakes and you know, the the DCR at home where you would I know, in our house we had seven minute abs.

6:14 You know, you plug in that VCR tape and go for it. So, yeah, this is this is a step. Aerobics is at its like at its peak. Everybody is doing something at home or at the gym, and it's all based on what we're seeing on television. I think the guy's name was, was it Billy Blanks who did Tybo. Tybo was another big one. Yeah. Absolutely, we couldn't get enough Tybo. I mean, he had a whole series of those, those those tapes. Like I made a bazillion dollars on VHS tapes, he did. Eddie Murphy was making a bazillion dollars on VHS tapes prior to the nineties. I want to say, like his run in the early nineties went poorly. I mean, think about that. You and I talked about this a couple of weeks ago. Boomerang, the Distinguished Gentleman, Beverly Hills Cop Three, which should have been a hit just by name, right, even even Vampire in Brooklyn. He's he's got a lot of misfires in the early nineties, right, So he does have some misfires in the nineties, which is to me, it's interesting coming off his eighties where he could not miss right, he could not. No, he does, he does trading places, he does forty eight Hours, he does Beverly Hills cop he does Coming to America, Beverly Hills Cop Parts two. Is makes a bucket of money, and then in the nineties something shifts. He's just a little bit too old to play the the smart elek

7:45 guy from out of town. He's trying to play the romantic lead. I just it takes him a bit to find his footing in the nineties. It does. But you know, with the Nutting Professor, the audience response was that he was back, but like you said, he was walking a fine line between raunchy R rated topics but also family friendly. You know, get the kids together, We're gonna laugh because Eddie Murphy's on the TV. You know. This is the first Eddie Murphy film of the nineties to reach one hundred million dollars at the box office. It does just shy of two hundred and seventy four million on a budget of fifty four million, and Jason that opening weekend for it, it beats out a Racer, Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Strip Tease. Hey, that opening weekend it made over twenty five million dollars. Yes, which was a record for an Eddie Murphy movie, which I was like, you have got to be kidding me.

8:46 Beverly Hills Cop Two was people could not wait for that movie coming to America. Was the movie that was propped up and ready to go this, though, is the greatest opening Eddie Murphy, mo bet until Doctor Doolittle a couple of years later. That blows my mind too. Yeah, and even the critics are loving this. Roger Ebert said, and I quote a movie that's like a thumb to the nose for everybody who said Eddie Murphy had lost it. He's very good. And the movie succeeds in two different ways. It's sweet and good hearted, and then there's its raucous slapstick and bathroom humor.

9:26 I like both parts, you know. And he wasn't alone. I mean, you read all the critics when this comes out in ninety six. Everyone, they're kind of synonymous. Like Eddie Murphy's back. He's making us laugh again. Go see the movie. Yeah, I know. When I saw this in the theater, I was dying, like side splitting humor. My face hurt from smiling so much. And I loved it. I thought it was fantastic, super funny. Oh. I recall seeing this a couple times in the theater because it's one of those where you might have saw it with one or two of your buddies. So good you had to go back because maybe there was a couple of people that didn't get to go see it yet, and you're like, oh no, I'll go see it again, and you just wanted to see it again just for the family scene alone, just you know, I mean what Ebert calls it, the the raucous slapstick that that whole scene. I can't tell you how many times that that was quoted, you know, and and replayed by me and my buddies, you know, when we were when we saw this. So the family scene, I think is really interesting because they weren't sure that that was good enough to make the final cut of the movie, really and then when they show it to audiences, of course, audiences go crazy for the clumps, and then they decide, okay, that's the strongest part of the movie, and they actually increased the amount of the clumps in the second and then you know, the sequel. So that makes a lot of sense when you when you think about it, because there's so much work going on there. I mean, we

11:00 got to remember, Eddie Murphy is playing seven different parts in this movie, and it's something he you know, he he kind of shows us he can do it with coming to America. He plays he plays a couple different parts there in this situation, he's playing a whole family with exception to the youngest, the youngest son, his nephew, who I believe was played by Jamal Mixon. But it's just fantastic. And and hats off to Rick Baker because he wins an Oscar for Best Makeup, you know, ninety seven oscars. This one was up against Star Trek First Contact and Ghost of Mississippi. Blew them both out of the water as far as I'm concerned. Yeah, so, Rick Baker does American World London. He's famous for doing all the Michael Jackson makeup on the Thriller video. He is the guy who kind of got off the ground with John Landis. Kind of an interesting connection there. Of course, Eddie Murphy has a John Landis connection with coming to America and trading places. Here's my thing about I love seeing Eddie Murphy playing multiple characters, including two women. Right, yeah, he plays a white character in this kind of a Richard Simmons look like Lance. I forget the guy's name, I know Lance something, but yeah, wow, it's clearly Richard Simmons, right yeah, oh yeah, And and he plays all these characters so well, and it's so funny. I wonder, though, is there any way that he could have enhanced this by adding Arsenial Hall to the mix. That's

12:31 an interesting concept. I'm gonna say yes, because if Arsenio would have played his brother, who his older brother? I think, I think it's the older brother, yes, And then you get you get Arsenio playing the older brother, and maybe you get Arcinia playing one of I don't know who. I don't know which other clump he would play, because missus clump, you know, you know, Sherman's mother is perfect, so is the grandma. I don't he nails them both. Yeah, So I don't know. I like, I like where You're head and there like I would have liked to have seen Ursineo play maybe one of the clumps. But it's funny, and it's funny because initially the studio wanted the clumps played by by all kinds of you know. I think Oprah Winfrey was in the mix at one time to play his mother, which is hilarious. I think she would have done a good job with that. But as I recall, Eddie Murphy and Rick Baker get together and they do this little sizzle reel just to show the studio that they can in fact do it, because you know, obviously the studios like, there's no way we can do this. It's gonna cost way too much money to extend the shooting schedule to do all these different takes and all the makeup. Can't do it right. But he proved him wrong. Eddie Murphy is top level talent, super comedian. People don't really appreciate how well he does impressions. No, he is a great guy with impressions, you know.

13:54 So he can change the voice and change the sound. And when he plays the mother character, you know, the hercules fabulous. Yeah, and she's just such a sweetheart and we love her and sometimes it's easy to forget that's Eddie Murphy. Yeah, it absolutely is. Jason. Let's take a quick break and when we return, we'll go behind the scenes on this one. You can lose up to ten pounds. Stop the insanity contains knowledge that will empower you to take back your life, revelations that will bring out a whole new happy. If your body doesn't change, if your self esteem doesn't improve, send the program back for a prompt refund. You can get lean, strong and healthy. Now I did it. You can too. Let's stop the insanity together. Have your credit card ready and call one eight hundred ninety seven to two four oh four. We'll rush stop the insanity to you with our fourteen day priority delivery, so you can start becoming lean, strong and healthy right away. For just four credit card payments of only nineteen ninety five, you can end the yo yo dieting and take control of your life.

15:09 Call one eight hundred ninety seven two four four. Right now we are back Jason Colvin and I discussing The Nutty Professor. So the idea to remake the original, which starred Jerry Lewis, was initially written for Rick moranis. Did you know that? No, what Rick moranis was who they had in mind initially Now, as we know, shortly after his wife's passing. I think it was like nineteen ninety one, he had started a transition away from live acting. He was doing some voice work, but he was also moving towards an unofficial retirement as it were. Wow, I did not know that.

15:58 That makes a lot of sense, though, you know, Yeah, And I think I think I see ring Morana's doing more of a the Jeckel and the Doctor Jekyl mister Hyde version of The Nutty Professor that Jerry Lewis did. Uh. Probably not the overweight person to the thin, super attractive person would be my guests, especially when you figure when Morana's passes, they are looking at Andrew dice Clay for the role. Could you imagine what they were blowing me away? Could you imagine what that movie would have been like The Nutty Professor with Andrew dice Clay, Because I mean he's already starting off as Buddy Love as far as he is starting off right off the bat as Buddy Love, that's right. Yeah, I mean, I'm not saying he couldn't do it. I mean, you know, I'm I'm a sucker for the Adventures of Ford Fairlane, which was we should cover that one sometimes, I don't know, but yeah, we'll have to look at that one, Jason.

16:53 But it's actually its producer Brian Grazer, whom we talked about on our recent episode Ron Howard's Night Shift. That's where it changes direction with the film and he opts to have a black lead after it was suggested to him. B Russell Simmons Russell Simmons Deaf comedy Jam was huge in the nineties. It even gets a little, uh little shout out in the movie if you remember, yeah, when he does yeah, Reggie Warranton takes the stage and you know, of course, uh, Eddie Murphy, let's let's talk to Eddie Murphy. And Eddie Murphy you mentioned it already. His first choice for director is John Landis. So okay, So I think that there's some John Landis drama there that we're not really letting on with. Right, So yeah, John Lannis of course directs Eddie Murphy in Trading Places. Yes, he then directs him in Coming to America, and John Landis has talked about how Eddie is much more jaded by the time Coming into America comes around. He's much more of a prima donna. He was described him as a sweet kid.

18:00 In Trading Places. They had trouble with Beverly Hills Cop Part three. Yeah, so they did have a falling out. Eddie Murphy at one point said that Vic Morrow will work with John Landis before Eddie Eddie does again. Whoa that right, that's that's ice cold, man, I know, man, I know. And for those of you who don't remember, Big morro Is, the actor that was killed on the Twilight Zone set, directed by John Landis. Yeah, but here's the thing, So they ended up getting Tom Shaddyac who we know later in the nineties. He's the guy who brings Ace Fenturt of life. He does the Liar Liar and Bruce Almighty. So he's like Jim Carrey's guy. Yeah, he's the Jim Carrey He's the go to guy for Jim Carrey comedies. Right. Yes, And so here's a couple of things that blew me away. And you've alluded to this a little bit, but basically, The Nutting Professor in nineteen ninety six is a remake of The Nutty Professor in nineteen sixty three. Yeah, the nineteen sixty three version was a parody of Robert Luis Stevenson's Doctor Jekyll and mister Hyde, which is easy to see, but sometimes you don't really realize that. You step back and go, ah, yes, clearly this is Doctor Jeckyll mister Hyde.

19:18 Yeah, especially when you see this is Eddie Murphy, who we typically want to root for when he's Buddy Love, he's he's he's a jerk. We unbearable, Yes, yeah, we can't. He's obnoxiously. You know, he is obnoxious, and and you're like, get this guy out of here. He's terrible. Is he's mister Hyde, Right, He's mister Hyde, clearly, clearly. And it's pretty cool. You you actually do see the you know, in the last scene, the kind of the climactic scene. You see the good Sherman battling, you know, the evil buddy Love. Yeah, and it's super funny. But here's the other nugget I wanted to drop on you. The executive produc serve this movie. One of the executive producers. Uh huh, Jerry Lewis, Yes, how about that. I'll go you one better. This is a universal movie, right, And as we know, Jerry, Jerry, you know, originally this was this was set up at Paramount, Right. Paramount had this remake in mind for Eddie Murphy back in nineteen eighty three. Jason ooh, there was in There was immediate opposition though from Jerry Lewis, who had other ideas. According to Paramount creative executive David Kirkpatrick, he says, and I quote, we tried to buy it from Jerry Lewis, and Jerry Lewis insisted on starring in it, so we dropped it. Oh could you imagine, like here, Jerry Lewis, he owns the you know, he's got the rights to this movie.

20:52 Paramount says, hey, we're going to remake it. And if they're thinking hot young talent, that nineteen eighty three Eddie Murphy, he is on the way up on his stars, just about to rise. Yeah, and Jerry Lewis goes, nah, I don't think so, I'll start it. This is the king of comedy, Jerry Lewis, right this, Yeah, this is hardly working. Yeah, you know, Jerry Lewis, I'm assuming this was maybe like and you got kid, think this is nineteen eighty three, so maybe this is his one last grasp at that gaining regaining the his star, like regaining that comedy, that kingdom of comedy. Right, But it wasn't happening, so you know, And as you said, years later, Lewis would go on to executive produce the remake, but in two thousand and nine he makes a statement regretting the decision, saying that you know, basically, do you know about this one? No? No, tell me, Okay, I gotta read this one to you too, because I was like, wow, that's kind of a backstabbing moment, because you got to remember this movie wins an honorary Oscar and Eddie Murphy hand delivers it to Jerry Lewis saying, you know, this is from one professor to another. But in two thousand and nine, Lewis said, quote, I have such respect for Eddie, but I should not have done it. What I did was perfect the first time around, and all you're going to do is diminish that perfection by letting someone else do it. Getting that idea that I'm getting, The idea that Jerry Lewis is is buddy love. Yeah, that's not very appreciative.

22:29 Yeah, oh that's a little It seems like he's a little bit envious of a Vetti star. Maybe a little bit, I think so. I think that's a situation where you've got someone that should pass the top the comedy torch, as it were, and did not want to do that. You know, I want to hold on to it till it burned out to not very noxious. Yeah, I got one more nugget for you. What do you got for me? In the nineteen sixty three movie, which I haven't seen maybe since I was like five, Yeah, so a long time ago, little kid, yeah, little kid stuff. Right, But the character of Buddy Love is in that movie as well. Jerry Lewis plays both characters.

23:10 Yeah. He based the Buddy Love character on Dean Martin. No. Yeah, Oh that makes me want to go back and see it, because when I think Buddy Love, I think obnoxious jerk. But I don't think that when I think Dean Martin. That's now I gotta see this. Yeah pretty cool, right, Yeah, that's very cool. Uh. Speaking of Dean Martin, let's let's talk music. Let's let's discuss this film soundtrack. Okay, you're gonna have to help me here, man, this is this is my weak spot. But I'll tell you right now, if you were too lazy to burn a makeout CD, this soundtrack was a good substitute, Jason. It features a who's who of nineties R and B artists. I'm talking about Montel Jordan, Foxy Brown, Warren G's on there. We have an early track by Jay Z and you have to remember his debut album Reasonable Doubt was released the tuesday before this film came out. Oh wow, so he was he was just about to explode in popularity. I mean we think that, like nowadays we think jay Z he's you know a lot of people hold him in regard as like one of the greatest rappers of all time.

24:26 He is, he's very unknown when this, uh when this soundtrack comes out nineteen ninety six, that's good, of course, that's good. Yeah, and someone that's very well known, uh L COOLJ offers a remix of his popular song doing it on this On this one also kind of slowed down. You know, when you watch this movie and you know Sherman's getting getting in the mood at home, he's listening to Teddy Teddy Pendergrass, you know, oh, TEDNP this this whole CD. Man, I'm telling you, I listened, I gave it. I gave it a listen to a couple of days ago. It is just smooth like it is smooth in the mood music throughout most of it. So you know, I mean, it's good.

25:06 Yeah, granted, I'm surprised. So you I mean, you're you're known. I've I've listened. I've been listening to Shirley Keep Me Serious podcasts for for a couple of years now, and you're you know, allegedly you've you've you've got some pretty successful uh makeout music CDs and mixtaps that you've created over the years. Well, thank you. Uh, this is not my my sweet spot, but I can tell you this my wife if you want, uh, we have a joke at our house that there's a certain playlist that if you want my wife's name is Kathy. If you if you want fun Kathy to come out, you play certain songs. Yeah, and if you play this is how we do it and regulate by Warren g Kathy's coming out. So well listen, I'll tell you right now, I recommend the next time you want to see fun Kathy, put uh put this soundtrack on your Spotify playlist, because montel is he's got some smooth music happening. Not just this is how we do it, but he's got some other tracks on there.

26:00 Foxy Brown is laying it out. It's a good one, Jason, It's definitely a good one. Yeah. I recollecd it, love it. Let's talk about this cast. Uh. You know, we've talked a little bit about Eddie Murphy, but uh, Jada Pinkett playing the role of Carla Party. She's the the grad student who's who's just now teaching. I don't know. I don't know. Okay, you and I talked off air. We talk you and I we talked regularly. I called you this week and I'm like, I don't like jays Jada Pinkett Smith to begin with. Right, Yeah, Now, she's young, and she's beautiful, and she's you know, she's the trophy, you know that these guys are fighting for.

26:47 Basically, that's what she does in this movie. She doesn't she doesn't really do anything in this movie. No, I mean, she's you know, like you said, she's the trophy. There's there's there's kind of a there's a tennis match going on between Sherman Clump and Buddy Love, and she's being volleyed back and forth between them because she's sweet on Sherman, and she's she's saying yes to dates. You know, she's I'm not saying she's leading him on, but she's also she's she's basically she's encouraging him right to take that step and ask her on a date. But then with Buddy Love, she's she's bothered, she's repulsed by some of his behavior, but then she's also attracted. She's wildly attracted to him. She you know, she's willing to give him a second chance, the third chance, fourth chance. But that's really that's all her character does. You know, there's not a whole lot going on here. This is told you. I've got some problems with this movie, right, Yeah. It makes me laugh hysterically. I think it's funny, and I think Eddie Murphy is on total display. But I don't like her. I don't like certain characters in this movie. Okay, Yeah, she's giving him pity dates in my opinion, uh huh. And she's attracted physically attracted to the bad boy, which we know, we know how that goes. Yeah, yeah, being nice guys ourselves, you know, we don't like it when the bad boys get the dates with the girl.

28:15 But she's putting Sherman in the friend zone left and right. She's giving him pity dates and he can't really see it. And then for them to end up together, it's just kind of like m Sherman, come on, man, find your stuff a good woman. Is there is there any chance that she maybe we're looking at the character wrong and maybe because think about this, she was fascinated by Sherman Clump before she before she met him. You know, she had read his papers and couldn't wait to meet him. So is it maybe is there a possibility that maybe she's she loves the guy for his mind, for his intellect, for you know, and again he is Sherman Clump. Is is very very warm hearted. He is you know, the scenes that Eddie Eddie Murphy does Sherman Klump, they're funny, but there's also so there's something that kind of break your heart a little bit, you know, even when even when he does muster up the courage to ask her out that first time, and she's like, Professor, are you asking me on a date? And he's he kind of puts his head down like he's embarrassed.

29:15 He's like, yes, yes, yes I am. And but then she's like, yes, I'd love to do it, you know. So I don't know, maybe we're being are we being too hard on this party? It's possible, It's possible. I'll tell you one thing, And I mentioned this to you the other day. Jada Pinkett, she's a great actress. I'm not gonna take that away from her, okay, but I think maybe Stacy dash would have been the better choice to play this role. There you go, there, you go. She's sweet, she's beautiful, she's young, she's she's the trophy, She's everything you want right there. Yeah, And I think with Stacy Dash you could maybe have a couple extra scenes because I believe, like h Stacy Dash has shown that she can she can be fierce. If you've ever seen there's a nineties movie called Mo Money that she does with the Waynes brothers. Yes, I believe when she's when she's kind of fierce and she's trying to put Damon Wayns in his place in that movie, I feel like that could have been the Carl party that we we should have seen in this movie. I go with you on that. All right, here's the other thing. And this is gonna make me sound like a terrible person, but to make you sound like Buddy Love, this is gonna make me sound like Buddy Love. Exactly. Could they not find a better wig for Jade? To Pikett Smith, that wig looks ridiculous. It

30:45 doesn't it doesn't fit her, you know, I think that was and that that's it's weird when you think like this movie won best makeup her look, they're they're trying to make her a little too too adult, a little too studious. You know, I just it didn't work. You know, she's got short I mean, she's attractive woman, she doesn't need very attractive. I told you it was the Belinda Carlisle cut. I mean it doesn't work, right, It didn't work for her, not at all. By the way, you mentioned the fact that she was attracted to his mind but attracted to Buddy Love's body. Yeah, and I did see Eddie Murphy talk about how certain elements of this movie were based on Serrano da Bergerac right, the oh I did not. Yeah, that's a that's a nineteen eighty seven movie that we're both well not shan today, but I should let me let me correct it for the listeners. There is a nineteen eighty seven comedy based on Seranado Berzerdak that you and I both love, that, you know, talking about obviously Roxanne with Steve Martin. Yes, I never even thought about that being based you know, but I never thought about the Nutty Professor. I've always been so focused on the Jekyll and Hyde, you know, the stuff, that I never even thought about that one. But you're absolutely right.

32:07 I never even you've officially blown my mind here. Ah, there you go, there you go. Yay Uh. Supporting players we got, we got James Coburn and Larry Miller. Larry Miller is the great kind of odd slime ball in most of his movies, right, Yeah, and this I think this is the second It's either the second or third time he's played a dean of a university where he's after the students because he was the dean of the Necessary Roughness, Necessary Roughness. Yeah, he's always Yeah, he's always that guy that he's he's like out to get the cool character or trying to get Yeah, he's trying to get the armadillos on probation in the Necessary Roughness.

32:47 Yeah. James Coburn, he's a fantastic actor. Right. I kind of feel like we could have maybe had anybody in that in that role though, I mean it's you get one scene with him. I don't know, could anyone who played this role? Yes, yes, every time he speaks, Now, I like James Coburn, he's you know, he's been in a ton of stuff. Oh, every time he talks, I think young guns too, you know, young guns too. Yep, mister chick, a little billy bastards Yeah, let's have some fresh coffee with the boys. Yeah, he's fantastic at that. But uh chism, Yeah, I don't know.

33:27 Uh. I'll tell you one person I do want to talk about real quick talk about a cameo on nineteen eighty six. We like to talk about We like to talk cameos or before they were famous extras. Okay, so we got to talk about Dave Chappelle playing the the rude comedian Reggie Warrington. Yep. You know when you look when you when you look back on this movie now, if you haven't seen it in years or you've never seen it, and then you see Dave Chappelle jump out, kind of kind of take your breath away for a second. You're like, whoa young Dave Chappelle being a comedian. Yeah. So, Dave Chappelle, I think is one of the funniest guys out there right now. He's also extremely smart and thoughtful.

34:16 He's not this brash, obnoxious goofball, or at least he's not anymore, you know. Yeah, And so he's playing a stand up comedian and he's super talented as well. But as far as comedy goes, I prefer the style that we have now you know as well. Yeah, see this is bad people in the audience, you know, so, yeah, this is this is this is even long before the Chappelle Show. Uh, and you remember Eddie Murphy was a huge influence on him, and uh and Eddie even you know, I think I think one thing that helps Chappelle in this movie is uh, you know, allegedly Eddie pulls him aside and says, hey, I really like yours, I really enjoy your stand up. I think you're gonna go play. So when when Eddie Murphy, who is one of the biggest comedy talents on the planet, tells you that, you know, wow, you know, and you gotta think most of their dialogue is as ad libbed. That's just them going back and forth with with the mama jokes and the fat jokes. It's so great, right and one one up in each other. You know. Yeah, I think that's a great moment too.

35:24 They're they're kind of because they're they're both taking the abuse but also auditioning it out equally in equal measure. Fantastic moment and and it kind of messes with your head a little bit because we do not like buddy love, right, we don't want to like him. He is the he's the villain of the movie when you look at it. But this, in the moment where he goes after Dave Chappelle, he's kind of standing up for Sherman. He's kind of standing up for the little guy everywhere. Sure, and this is the moment where you know Carla Pardi she's she's into him. She's like she really appreciates what he does. So, uh, you're not waiting for the plus lines, redic I'm sorry, man, it's just just so funny.

36:07 You're so funny the way you take a person's personal defect and flipping around. That's you on your weight, you going to the top. That ain't work with me doing it to you, Reggiet, Yes it would if I would say, look at Reggie's gums and teeth. Look like his mother had a fair with mister Ed. See everybody laughing. You living on Lea. Oh you living on Reggie. It's your teeth, Reggiet. I don't know whether to smile. Lets you kick a field goal, man, we get like this one one brief moment where we're cheering buddy love on. It's not gonna last, right, because of things that he says and does. But it's a good moment for the character, right, Absolutely, I love that.

36:52 I love that scene, and you're right, Buddy, loved like out obnoxiouses the other guy's obnoxiousness, you know. He Dave Chappelle's character has one really funny line that I just picked up on this time around, like I just kind of heard it. Okay. He talks about how Sherman has to put on his belt with a boomerang. Oh yeah, no, little little little jab at Eddie Murphy there with a boomerang, not doing so hot. Yeah, so, but yeah, it's it's funny to hear them going back and forth. Too, talented comedians going out of it, and I mean both guys, very very talented comedians. Absolutely, we're gonna take one more break and when we come back, we'll be keeping it real with Jason Covin.

37:45 All right, everybody, we are back. It's time to keep it real. Jason, I've got a couple questions for you. Okay, you'll be familiar with this. We kind of did this on our ninety a sixth series, you know, when we did the breakdown. Now we're keeping it, so let's start with this one one of our favorite actors. William Zobka was dominating dojo's high school cafeterias and college swimming pools in some of the best movies in the eighties. Then he's notably absent from Hollywood for most of the nineties. So the question is what about zob Jason. I want you to replace one actor from this film with William Zobka. Okay, this is really hard because almost all the interesting characters in this movie are played by Eddie Murphy.

38:36 Yes, so you're kind of left with nobody left right, you can't can't play missus Purdy. I mean that's out right, that's out yep. Basically, you have three choices. He can play the James Coburn character, the Larry Miller character, or the Jason John Ayle's character. So I'm if I'm recasting, I am putting William Zobka yea as Harlan Hartley, the rich guy who's the James Coburn character, the guy who's uh backing you know, his university money is on the line, Okay, And I'm replacing John Ales the Jason character, with our Senel Hall. So I'm double I'm giving you a double shot right there. Are you double dipping the chip here? All that in a bag of chips there? Yeah? Oh well, okay, I'm gonna challenge you because for me, William Zopka replaces David Chappelle. Now, oh okay, let me explain. Okay, So, you know, Sherman asks Carla out on a date. They decide that they're going to go to the Scream. You know, it'd be a scream at the Scream, you know nightclub that you can get a bite to eat and see some music.

39:51 Here's some comedy. I'm gonna replace Chappelle and slightly rewrite the scene so that he asks her out and she says, well, how about you come with me to you know, to the gym. I'm doing this new tybo class. Oh yeah, And Sherman accompanies Karla to her gym for a tybo class, which that's where William Zopka comes in, and he's the instructor. So he can kind of make fun of, you know, Sherman because we see like leading up to the date, like he's he's in the gym, he's trying to work out, so we could lead that, you know, almost like a rocky montage for him. And then he goes faces off against William Zodka. He gets dominated, but then when he comes back, his buddy love he you know, turns it turns the tables on on on our friend William Zopdka. How about that. I think that's that's great. Now, that's I love it. I love it? All right, great joy by the way, all right, yes, I'm studying up. We're doing Karate Kid next. You know how I feel about uh, my friend William Zopka and and the and what uh what what John Lawrence does in that movie and who he really is and that movie. So we're going to have to talk.

41:01 I can't wait. I can't wait. I've got a nugget on the guy who could have played Johnny Lawrence that's in United I can't wait to tune in for that one. All right, Jason, A question I've asked you several times on our nineteen eighty six series sequel prequel remake. If you ConTroll this ip, what would be your pitch to the studio to revive it? This is This was really hard for me because this already is a remake. So we get a remake, we get sequels, we have the clumps, you know, so Yep, we have that. I don't know that a prequel really works, you know, I don't want to see Sherman get fat.

41:44 Okay, hope they can't do that. So here's my idea, and it's kind of an obvious choice, but I still have to go there. So I think you remake this. I'm with you, and I think you remake it with Kevin Hart. Okay, I think you do it where his alternate ego becomes tall Kevin Hart is he's physically fit, but there was there's never anything a short person can do about their stature. And all of a sudden, Kevin Hart's playing basketball. He's dunking on people. He's mister big Time on the basketball court. There's this long running, uh playful fighting going on between him and the Rock over the years, where they make the Rock makes fun of him for being too little, Kevin Heart makes fun of him for being too big. Huh. So a Kevin Hart a remake with Kevin Hart where he's Kevin Hart, but then you know, grows and he becomes like a taller person. Like that could work. I can't even see the Rock like though, these two sharing it. Maybe now that you're getting you get me on that idea. I'm with you, though, I'm going for a remake. I'm gonna ta I'm gonna take you on a different pitch though.

42:55 See what you think of this. Okay, all right, all right, I want to remake Call the Nutty Professors. Ooh ooh. This time a pair of scientists are working together. Both take the formula for conflicting reasons. And now we have two actors behind four personalities running around and co mingling. And I say, cast a male and female comedic talent. Okay, So I was I was thinking maybe like like Keegan Michael Key and Tiffany Hattish. Maybe. Okay, so you've got like two good to two villain and then maybe like there's interchangeable like you can see the two bad ones hanging out.

43:36 You can see the good one with one of the bad ones mixing, mixing match. It goes off the charts, right, and and Chappelle cameos as the dean or the rich alumni because I want you gotta have Chappelle back, right, I like it. What do you do you add another crazy nutty professor to the mix? I think that's that works perfectly, good, good God, I think I think that'd be I don't know, producers, money people. You heard two pitches. Let's let's get with one of these, and I'm a fan of either one of them. Love it, I'll I'll tell you what I'm not a fan of is the DVD extras that you got on the Nutty Professor. So that leads me to my final question, Jason, DVD extras. So it was in fact nineteen ninety six when the DVD format is initially introduced to US markets, and while the simplicity of the compact disc pleased us, the high definition wowed us and had us tossing our VHS tapes out. But for centophiles like us, the bonus features were usually like a no frills package of scene selection or Spanish subtitles. Sometimes you got a trailer. The Nutty Professor offered production notes. Yeah, that's it.

44:45 So my question, Jason, what DVD extra would you want on your DVD for this film? You can have an audio commentary, you can have deleted scenes, or you can have a making of documentary, which when you're going to choose, I think what we got is what we really wanted. Okay, and I'm gonna I'm throwing this at you because cannonball run style. At the end of the movie, at the end of the credits, we get the blooper reel yep, which is at least as funny as the rest of the movie, right, absolutely, and so top of the heap. My first pick would be like a blooper reel, which we get, right yeah.

45:27 But for DVD extras, and I'm with you, I get so mad because what you and I do, we rely on the DVD extras a lot of times to make you know, the notes on our podcasts and stuff. Absolutely yeah. So my default, and it's gonna be in this case as well, is always going to be the audio commentary, the scenes behind the movie, the stories of what was happening, the actors recollections, all that. I'm always an audio commentary guy, all right. Sub question is this audio commentary being provided by director Tom Shadyac or is it by Eddie Murphy. I always like a conversation between at least two people, all right. So you want both, I want them both, You get them both, okay?

46:15 Sweet. One of the worst audio commentaries of all time is when John McTiernan talked for two and a half hours about Diehard and I learned nothing. So that's not a good that's a terrible one. I liked it back and forth. I love audio commentaries obviously, but I also enjoy a good making of documentary. And this is a situation where I would love to see a Rick Baker documentary on his makeup process for Eddie Murphy. You know, give us some It could include some screen tests. Maybe it shows us the screen test that the executive saw to win them over, you know, because you gotta think, like Eddie Murphy is. I think it's three hours a day for eighty days he's doing makeup with Rick Baker, So that's an incredible amount of time in the makeup chair. Yeah, and you gotta think, like all that time, those guys, I'm sure they formed a pretty good friendship and I'd love to see what that what that looked like over the course of this production, all of Rick Baker's behind the scenes stuff has been great.

47:15 The making of Thriller Video one of my favorites as a kid, you know, amazing. Well, let's talk about the legacy that this film has, uh you know, has it has it aged well over time? And is it a strong representation of nineties culture? I think it has aged not quite as well as I would have hoped. There's lots of you know, fat jokes and you know fat shaming and that type of thing. There are some problems with it, but I do think it is still a nineties classic comedy, so okay. So that my next question was going to be is this a classic, occult classic or a product of its time. You're going with a classic, then absolutely, it's one of the funniest movies in the nineties.

47:55 I agree with you. I don't think it represents nineties culture all that well, but it is a classic classic comedy. As for how the film impacted pop culture, I think it's safe to say there's two things going on here. First off, this was Eddie Murphy's comeback role, which put him back on the map right right, and it helped Dave Chappelle as a star of stand up comedy. Oh yeah, that's a good call, I think. I think without without this movie, we don't have the Chappelle Show, right, we don't have we don't have Axel, we don't have Bellie Hills cop AXL Folly, which is about to come out soon. That's right, yep, I think we're missing out on a lot of a lot of great stuff without this movie, do we have I mean, Tom Shatty goes on and does some great Jim Carrey comedies later on he does. Now Ace Ventury predated this, but do we have that kind of legacy of Jim Carrey comedy comedies. I don't think we do without this one. I don't think you're gonna get to you know, Bruce Almighty or Evan Almighty you know. So yeah, Well, Jason, I want to thank you for joining me today to talk about the Nuttie Professor one more time. I gotta say the show you Can't Be Serious. Podcasts dropped a dynamite episode a few days ago on Beverly Hills Cop. What's up next? Okay, so we just dropped part one of our Beverly Hills Cop versus Billy Hills Cop Part two episode. We're

49:29 gonna do another chapter on that, so our second episode, and then we are matching up to Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack to the soundtrack of the TV show Miami Vice. I can't imagine, and I know you, so, I can't imagine where you're gonna fall, Like when you guys do your famous final judgments you know, it's always hard man, it's split children, you know. Well, Jason, thank you very much. I'm fatter, I'm flattered, and listeners, thank you for checking out our latest limited series, nineteen ninety six. We're going to cover a lot of movies from the year, but we won't get to all of them. So let us know, is there a film from nineteen eety six that is a must or maybe you've got a hidden gym to recommend. You can tell us by emailing a Film by Podcast at gmail dot com or hit us up on our social media channels.

50:20 We're on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Jason, we got a bounce. But next time on nineteen ninety six, we'll discuss another film based on doctor Jaco mister Hyde, talking of course about Mary Riley starring Julia Roberts, who was all that in a Bag of Chips in the nineties. Peace out.

51:02 Hey, you know, peek behind the curtains here at the Film by Podcast. You and I had agreed that we're going to do this at three o'clock Central, and then I got a call at two twenty Central. You're like, dude, what's going on? Where are you? I'm like, dude, I was like, what the heck is he is? We just talked a little bit ago. He knows it's three o'clocklock. You're like, yes, Like what's going on? I'm like how much? You're like, you're like Jeff's Baccoli. They're like, you know, what the hell's going on? Learning about Cuba, having a snack, supposed to be the studio man,