Tag: Comedy

Makers of ‘Naked Gun’ Reboot Give David Zucker the Cold-shoulder

David Zucker is a longtime Hollywood director, producer, and screenwriter.

A hysterically funny guy, he is recognized in the entertainment industry as one of the chief sages of the spoof genre.

He fine-tuned his comedic filmmaking skills while working together with his brother Jerry and their fellow filmmaker Jim Abrahams.

The trio wrote and directed the breakthrough 1980 comedy flick “Airplane!,” which still stands as the archetypal film in the spoof category.

The same three filmmakers also created “The Naked Gun” franchise, which includes “The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!” (1988), “The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear” (1991), and “Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult” (1994).

All of the “Naked Gun” films feature the same stars portraying the same characters, including veteran actor and comedic genius Leslie Nielsen, the surprisingly adept comedic leading lady Priscilla Presley, stellar character actor George Kennedy, and of course, the infamous O.J. Simpson.

Zucker also directed the hit films “Scary Movie 3” and “Scary Movie 4.”

Following the trend in Hollywood of resurrecting successes of the past, execs at Paramount have decided to put together a remake of the original “Naked Gun.”

The casting of the remake is puzzling to say the least.

The lead is played by dramatic film actor Liam Neeson, who has the unenviable job of trying to fill Nielsen’s huge comedic shoes. The role is quite a switch for Neeson. After a long career as a character actor, he has become increasingly known as an action star.

Pamela Anderson, famous for her TV roles on “Home Improvement” and “Baywatch,” will play the character originally portrayed by Presley.

Oddly, the filmmakers involved in the reboot didn’t include Zucker in the creation or production of the upcoming movie.

Zucker and his partners had submitted a script to Paramount in 2018, and there were indications at the time that the studio liked it. However, Paramount somehow chose to go in a different direction.

The filmmaker was stunned when he heard that the reins for a “Naked Gun” reboot had been handed over to others.

“We are not excited about having the franchise given to other people. At the time, I couldn’t believe it because we thought we had a great script,” Zucker told TMZ.

He explained when it comes to the reboot, “I don’t have any control over it. I’m not involved, and they haven’t asked me for my help. It’s completely their concept, and they’re just going to go ahead and do it.”

At first glance it seems inexplicable that those involved in the reboot of the spoof film wouldn’t have wanted to consult with the master of the genre.

But then again Zucker hasn’t shied away from publicly expressing his political opinions, which don’t exactly align with Hollywood’s current penchant for wokeness.

Could this have something to do with the decision to bypass Zucker?

Hollywood is also a town that is enamored with atheism, and Zucker happens to be a believer.

He told the BBC, “I think there’s much more evidence that there is a God than that there isn’t. I don’t believe that Mother Teresa and Hitler go to the same place.”

He appears to be taking the rebuff in a lighthearted manner, and even displayed some of his comedic prowess in a remark about Simpson’s onscreen performance in the original “Naked Gun.”

“I found that O.J.’s acting was a lot like his murdering. He got away with it, but nobody believed him,” he quipped.

Funny how Zucker makes comedy look so easy. Any pro knows it’s not.

Failing to consult with him may turn out to be a really bad business decision.

And that’s no joke.

The Lopsided Humor of Late Night TV

Laughter is apparently built into our DNA, because I recently saw an ultrasound of a pre-born baby in full smile mode.

I don’t know what the little guy thought was so funny, but it’s a pretty sure bet he wasn’t listening to one of TV’s late-night comedy shows. They stopped delivering laughs a long time ago.

It all started when late-night hosts began moving further and further to the political left. Then so many of the jokes went woke. And finally Big Censorship came in with a knockout punch.

It’s no wonder that over the past several years late-night revenues have plummeted. Shows on CBS, NBC, and ABC are down significantly from five years prior, and network executives have even cut back on programming.

The following info may shed some light on what appears to be a major contributing factor in the demise of late-night humor.

While participating in a panel discussion, former host of the “The Daily Show” Trevor Noah stated that he and his team of writers look to the underlying news for their joke inspiration.

“I’ll say, ‘What is the news, what are the facts, what’s the truth?’ and then we will put the jokes on top. It’s the icing on the cake,” Noah said.

The problem is the icing on the cake tastes rotten to a huge segment of viewing audiences.

Some eye-opening research underscores the extreme partisanship that is embedded within late-night television programming.

The Media Research Center (MRC) released some compelling data, which were obtained during the time period between Labor Day and the Monday night that preceded Election Day of 2022.

Results of the study indicated that there had been 47 left-leaning guests who had appeared on late-night shows.

During this same time period, not a single conservative-leaning guest was booked to appear on the late-night shows.

In September of 2023, Bill Maher said out loud what late-night hosts are really up to.

“What they do is say exactly what a liberal audience wants them to say…,” Maher stated.

Maher also responded to a question about why other talk show hosts are handed Emmy Awards, despite having much smaller audiences than his own.

“Because I tell the truth,” Maher said. “I don’t perform for just one-half of the country and say the things that will make them applaud.”

A study recently conducted by the MRC provides additional evidence of the political bias that exists on the part of late-night television hosts and writers.

The MRC study analyzed the comedic content contained within the programming of the major late-night shows, which included ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” CBS’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” and up until the show stopped airing in April 2023 “The Late Late Show with James Corden.”

An extraordinary 81% of the comedic material contained within the programming was aimed directly at conservative-leaning public figures.

Certain shows contained more one-sided material than others. Kimmel’s show led the pack when it came to partisan bits aimed at right-of-center targets. Programming included slanted humor that 88% of the time lampooned conservatives.

Late-night TV took the same asymmetrical approach with the Supreme Court. Conservative-leaning Justices were on the receiving end of punch lines at a ratio of 64 to 1.

Late night shows used to be an American staple. Now at least half the country has tuned out because folks are tired of being the butt of old worn-out unfunny mediocre jokes.

Try poking at both sides and you just might bring back the funny.

Our babies in waiting are already primed to laugh.

Funny Guy David Zucker’s Serious Warning

Humor is David Zucker’s specialty.

Not the lazy blue variety that passes for comedy these days, but the laugh out loud kind that makes your sides hurt, your eyes water and the world disappear.

The mega-successful film director, producer and screenwriter is best known for the legendary spoof flick “Airplane!” and the side-splitting “Naked Gun” and “Scary Movie” franchises.

He happens to be one of our culture’s current reigning experts on all things funny, and he’s sounding an alarm bell for all to hear.

Lucky for us he has joined the ranks of other comedy greats who have issued similar warnings: Dennis Miller, Jerry Seinfeld, Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, Gilbert Gottfried, Mel Brooks, Adam Carolla, Steve Harvey and John Cleese.

The giants of humor are all saying pretty much the same thing; that Tinseltown’s head honchos and their like-minded fellow residents of the New Woke Hollywood are virtually strangling comedians, comedy writers and comedy itself.

Zucker was recently featured in a video posted by PragerU, where he shared some reflections on his trademark comedy.

He doesn’t think the jokes that propelled his films to the top could be delivered today. Too many folks now fail to understand the nature of comedy.

Unlike most audiences of the past, many of today’s joke consumers are so easily offended that it has risen to the level of ridiculous.

If everything is offensive, then nothing is funny.

New Woke Hollywood is decimating the comedic arts, along with the writers and performers that bring laughter to our lives.

As Zucker stated, “They’re destroying comedy because of nine percent of the people who don’t have a sense of humor.”

He used a real-life Hollywood example to illustrate the point. In a pitching session that he and his writing partner did for a James Bond/Mission: Impossible-style parody, he was stunned by the reaction of an executive just to some of the project’s dialogue.

“One female executive said, ‘This joke is getting pretty risqué here.’ It was a mild joke about the lead female character. Because she had come up through the police department and through the FBI…she needed a breast reduction to fit into the kevlar vest,” Zucker said.

“It was pure oatmeal, so mild,” he said. “Not one of our funniest things, but this was too much. I thought, ‘If this was the criteria for it, we’re in big trouble.’”

In speaking of the past, he said, “We went where the laughs were…We never worried about any of this stuff with the Naked Gun or Scary Movie films.”

Zucker honed his comedic skills in the 1980s and 90s with movies like “The Kentucky Fried Movie” (1977), “Airplane!” (1980), “Top Secret” (1984), “Ruthless People” (1986), “The Naked Gun” (1988), “The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear” (1991) and BASEketball” (1998).

He added his 21st Century contributions “Scary Movie 3” in 2003 and its sequel “Scary Movie 4” in 2006.

Many of the films that he was involved with are now classics and continue to attract appreciative audiences and younger movie fans.

He is often asked whether his most iconic film could be made today.

“When we do screenings of ‘Airplane!’ we get the question if we could do ‘Airplane!’ today,” he said. “The first thing I could think of was, ‘Sure, just without the jokes.’”

According to Zucker, although in the current comedy climate freedom may be taking a hit, the future actually looks bright.

“Comedy is in trouble, of course, but I think it’s going to come back,” he said. “There’s a pendulum, and the pendulum will swing back. I’d like to see comedy filmmakers do comedies without fear.”

Zucker has gone against the grain in liberal Hollywood. He has even worked on political ads for the GOP and directed a political parody film at the expense of Michael Moore, titled “An American Carol” (2008).

Charmingly, he is a huge fan of Davy Crockett. He once made a cameo appearance dressed as Crockett in “The Naked Gun 2½.” As a matter of fact, one of his dream projects is a Crockett biopic. He also hosted a “Davy Crockett Rifle Frolic” at his ranch back in the 1990s. And he decided to write some additional verses to the celebrated song “The Ballad of Davy Crockett.”

Regarding his faith, he was asked by the BBC some years ago whether he believes in God.

His answer was exquisite.

“Oh yeah, I believe in God,” he replied. “I think there’s much more evidence that there is a God than that there isn’t. I don’t believe that Mother Teresa and Hitler go to the same place. I believe in justice, maybe not in this life, but there has to be justice.”

In addition to justice, no doubt there’s laughter too.

As C.S. Lewis put it, “Joy is the serious business of Heaven.”