Emo Phillips is great. Favourite joke: "I prayed to God to give me a bicycle, then I realised God doesn't work that way, so I stole bicycle and prayed for forgiveness."
When I was a little boy in the fall, my dad would spend all day raking the leaves into a big pile. And I'd come out of nowhere and I'd jump into the pile.... and he'd pull me out and brush the flames off......
Nice to know I'm not the only guy that remembers Emo from back in the '80s, ya don't hear so much about him nowadays, when 80s comedians get mentioned, but he was always entirely his own crazy flavour, and you gotta love him for that! 💖
My favorite joke was in Weird Al’s commentary. At the part with the buried limbs sticking out, he was like, “We had to pay the interns a little EXTRA that day. I’M JUST KIDDING. We paid them what we usually pay them.”
I was always blown away by the commentary gag where Commentary Al appears on-screen to give Stanley a warning when he's about to be attacked. That shit blew my mind as a boy.
@Chandster I would dare say that Al also usually _improves_ the music of the songs he parodies, as he doesn't just replace the lyric track from a stock recording but actually records an all-new performance. Whenever I hear certain originals like Nirvana's "Smells like Teen Spirit" or Cherry Poppin' Daddies' "Zoot Suit Riot" they feel extremely flat compared to Al's vibrant renditions.
Not only has he lasted longer than the acts he parodies, but the band still has all of its original members. No one has left, died, or been replaced. The same 5 guys for almost 40 years.
The old dvd for UHF has one of the greatest commentary tracks ever recorded. It opens with the Orion logo, and Al singing new lyrics to the music... "Orion... Orion... Is Bankrupt... Noooow"
There’s one random joke in this film that’s stuck with me for some reason: the blind man trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube and just passing it off to his friend like “is that it?”
Ha. I just saw your comment when scrolling down after I just commented the same thing. I use it as a metaphor when working on projects for other people.
That was probably the last joke I noticed upon rewatching that movie for the millionth time, literally years after I first saw it, and it wound up being one of my favorites.
Nothing I love better than some dork walking up to you with heavy eye contact and a shit-eating grin singing and dancing the “Knights of the Round Table” song expecting you to start cracking up
Not at all salty about the way Prince kept turning him down for parodies. Not that Al can't take "no" for an answer without being snarky, but Prince's public persona could often come off as pretty full of himself. And then he did the Dave Chapelle album cover.
@@Belgand That's all fine and good but what do you really think about Low Res wunderbread? I think it's the freshest content around. I'd like your opinions on if you think they'd allow Weird Al to parody their content or do you think they'd act pretentious too? I'd like an answer within the next few minutes before I lose interest. PS LoveSexy is better than anything Weird Al ever put out
The best part of the commentary track is Al explaining why they hired the guy who says the line "Guns don't kill people, I do." "It's cause he could make this face right... here."
I was at a Weird Al show in Denver in the late 90's. During the show he did a gag where he reached in his pants, pulled out a pair of boxer shorts, and threw them in the audience. Long story short, I still have Weird Al's underwear.
I remember when he had this band, Radish, on the show. They were like a more badass Hanson. Let's not forget the Bare Naked Ladies appearance either, "Shoebox"!
@@lemfandango Exactly I put the quotations above the Al. Unless you missed that. The man so weird he thinks Al is the strange part of his name and he wrote a song about the Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota.
@@billgaits3717 Maybe but that quote is considered the best part of the Nirvana episode. Which if we're supposed to take seriously Homer Simpson invented Grunge Music and not Kurt Cobain.
I love Weird Al's intro to the deleted scenes on the DVD. "These are the scenes that were deleted from the final cut of the movie. Why were they deleted? Because they SUCK!"
Many times over a couple decades my wife and I would include a spatula in the Christmas gifts for each other. "There's no better way to say, 'I love you" than the gift of a spatula."
Re: "Where did they find that guy?!" playing the homeless man, that's Vance Colvig, character actor and voice actor who was on Yogi Bear and played Bozo the clown. His father Pinto Colvig originated Bozo, Pluto, and Goofy.
And most people in music seem to love him to. Like I heard a story that that's how nirvana knew they were famous when weird al asked if he could parody there song. (oh and that's another thing he would always personally ask the artist he was parodying if it was ok if he could use there song. He could probably get away without it with parody laws and all that. He just seems like a classy guy)
I’d argue that this mostly applies to the 80s and 90s, when he was young and the most in touch with popular music as a consumer. From the 2000s to his final album, his track record got a little spotty. He always got the most undeniable targets (Backstreet Boys, Lady Gaga) but he also did a lot of parodies of songs that have been mostly forgotten to time. (Hot In Here is a big one that comes to mind.) His choices for polka medleys also started feeling more and more like they were just based on what was in the top 40, rather than anything he was actually interested as a listener, so there are a lot of forgotten songs in those as well.
I remember the guy playing Raul passed away during the making of the movie so he hadn't finished all his scenes but they rearranged things to make it work in the editing because he was so great and funny that it wasn't right to leave him on the cutting room floor.
I found it a bit odd when his second scene came about because his first scene could be explained as an oddity like the other odd shows. His character was supposed to be a mailman that Weird Al hired to do a show but his scenes hadn't been completed by the time he was killed in a car crash.
Sad fact: The Hispanic animal guy was supposed to have a much larger subplot in the movie, but his actor died before they could film the rest of it. Also, Spatula City got referenced in the 3DS game Project X Zone 2.
Weird Al's most important rule when making parodies is that it has to be funny even if you don't know what he's parodying. That's the key to UHF's old corny jokes still working today
Reminds me of the Zucker-Abrams-Zucker comedy rules (have the characters act serious, among other things), and much like Weird Al and UHF, their 80s movies still hold up today.
I'm a die-hard Weird Al fan, but I've got to say that "Skipper Dan" is an extremely unfunny song. It's not even amusingly ironic. It's just a boring story about a guy who dreamed of being a great actor, but because of his poor career decisions ended up stuck doing the jungle cruise ride at Disney Land.
This movie influenced me & my best friend in middle school so much that WE DID IT FOR REAL! Obviously we didn't own a UHF station but we took his dad's VHS camcorder and made a bunch of parody shows. His uncle worked at a local public access TV station and our silly shows were on the air! And our Star Trek parodies were good enough that we won regional TV awards & they were distributed to public access stations all over the Pacific NW. We accepted awards in Portland, Yakima, & Salt Lake City. We owed a lot to Weird Al & this movie for inspiring us. While other kids in school were doing drugs & getting drunk- we were producing TV spoofs. It was the best time in my youth.
He's totally get-able when he's not on tour with the band, too. I'm slightly surprised he hasn't shown up on RLM in general. It might be because they are in Wisconsin and he is in Cali, though. *shrug*
Don't forget the story about his 3rd grade teacher putting the kids severed finger in her mouth to take to the hospital. NOW it's the most Midwestern thing ever seen.
That bit about “comedy nerds”-oof. I felt that. I believe even John Cleese addressed this when he said Monty Python was underrated in the UK and overrated in The U.S.
I put them in the same category as extroverted anime geeks. I'm as big a weeb as they come but even I couldn't stand being around the guys (and girls) who dressed in Naruto cosplay and screamed at each other while playing Pokemon in the cafeteria.
@@glint8824 You're doing yourself a grave disservice if you've never seen any Monty Python or the Princess Bride. Please, just watch Life of Brian and Princess Bride. I'll bet you'll enjoy them.
@@draconianking - I remember watching Monty Python & The Holy Grail as a teenager and didn't love it but haven't seen some of the others like Life of Brian. I'll have to give them another chance but The Princess Bride is a childhood treasure of a movie for me.
I went to a screening of this that featured a Q&A with Weird Al and Jay Levey, it was a lot of fun. One of the best questions was from a kid, he asked about Anthony Geary 's role as Philo - 'the guy who played the alien.' Both Jay and Al said they were skeptical of him as first when the casting agent suggested him because he was a soap actor but he ended up being great and a lesson to both of them about judging people before getting to know them. Weird Al also answered some stuff about his music including a question about what his least favorite song was. He eventually figured out it was probably "Girls Just Want To Have Lunch" which he begrudgingly wrote after the label begged him to spoof Cyndi Lauper.
Yes was absolutely tickled to hear them described him as coming and going into public consciousness and there's not really much else they could do with him.v 😁
For the longest time when people referred to "emos" I thought they were talking about people who idolized Emo Philips. I'd ask my younger friends what these "emos" were they were talking about and they would say "they often have straight black hair with bangs that fall in their eyes, they dress weird and are over emotional" I thought how nice Phillips was making a comeback with the younger crowd.
RE: "Seems like a genuinely good guy." A bartender friend of mine was working a club where Weird Al played. He said after the show, he went to his tour bus to do meet-and-greets with the fans so the employees could start cleaning up inside sooner (rather than wait for all of that to resolve).
I loved this movie since I was a kid. I loved Yankovic’s music and style. My father had shown me that he was an extra in the “Celebration” scene. He’s the dude who looks like a chick in the red shirt behind R.J Fletcher. He had told me that when he lived in Tulsa for a bit, they asked a bunch of people if they want free beer to just pretend to celebrate. I’m glad it’s getting Re:Viewed.
So we're just going to skim over, "Ghandi II?" That's probably the funniest thing I've ever seen or even contemplated. "he's back and ready to kick ass!"
I think that Weird Al's secret is that he's just a really, really good musician and (song)writer who also happens to have a good sense of humor, and is just happy doing his thing without any need of forcing anything or "expanding" or whatever.
Something non-musicians rarely realize about Weird Al: He's actually a really, *really* good instrumentalist, musician and composer. His "Genius in France" is a Zappa-parody... being able to *play* music like Zappa's takes *serious* chops! A good number of the greatest drummers (and guitarists, percussionists, keyboardists) became that good and prolific among other things through being part of Zappa's bands. So - being able to play it: Serious chops! But writing an homage track that actually matches Zappa's own music in terms of inventiveness, complexity, virtuosity, fun and many other dimensions.... I didn't think it could be done, and it hasn't been done nearly this well before or since.
Some of my favorite Weird Al songs are his originals and more subtle homages from his early days: Midnight Star, Nature Trail To Hell, Dare To Be Stupid, etc.
@@joshuatxuk I can still sing Midnight Star and Nature Trail to Hell line for line. Love those songs! My other favorites were Melanie and Stuck In A Closet With Vanna White.
Agreed...not only does he have an incredible ear for detail and what makes a particular song “work”, he’s a great singer and a SMOKIN accordion player. That dude absolutely slays the accordion on his early stuff and the various (meticulously arranged) polka medleys he’s released throughout the years.
Yeah I looked him up immediately, I thought "either this guy is literally homeless and they pulled him off the street or he's one of the best character actors ever". He had quite a career himself, but over shadowed by his dad.
Ya, I was surprised they didn't mention that in the video. Usually they tend to know the obscure stuff. I heard Weird Al mention this once somewhere a while ago. Maybe on the commentary when the DVD came out- i dont remember. This would explain a bit my feeling after this latest rewatch that Micheal Richards- while yes doing his schtick- is playing Goofy in the movie.
I got to meet Weird Al in Atlanta for a meet and greet thing. I only got to say about a paragraph to him before I left, but for those 30 seconds, he listened to me with a smile on his face as I told him how much of a musical inspiration he's been for me. They say to never meet your heroes, but if Al is one of them, you should definitely try to if you get the opportunity.
I met him once at an event in Minnesota when I was a kid, back in the 90s when he still had the glasses and mustache. I'll never forget what he said to me, it was so inspirational: "Excuse me, I have to get by." I'd like to think he'd appreciate that.
I saw Weird Al live in Folsom back in 2017, hands down the best vocalist I've ever seen. He was so good we thought it was lip sinking but then he went off script and blew our minds even further.
Re: Weird Al being a good guy, 25 years ago, some college classmates happened to secure time backstage with him to film hijinks for their cable access show. My friend did a lighthearted Q&A that Yankovic seemed born to take ("A *blank* a day keeps the doctor away." "A...a shot of B12"). The other one, though, made Al recite lines from a script he'd written for a "film" that would never get off a camcorder. It dragged on and on as the kid kept feeding lines. Yankovic played along. The whole time. Waited until the ordeal was done, not a single negative expression. Thanked the kid and resumed being Weird Al.
Isn't that also in a Cheech n Chong movie? (maybe "Up in Smoke" or "Rude Awakenings") - except it's "Badges" there, coz they're hippies ripping on some cops)
@@zetetick395 Yeah, it's a common parody of a line originally spoken in "Treasure of the Sierra Madre". It's been a running gag ever since. The line has a long and storied history, even its own Wiki page! Never gets old.
That is the perfect example of what they talk about when they mention jokes that work even if you do not get the refference, as a younger viewer that is not from USA I found it to be pretty funny and now that I get its origin it is doubly funny when I watch it again.
I saw the Orion logo at the front of a fairly new movie which surprised me, so they're making a small come back as an MGM subsidiary. Great commentary track for sure.
Weird Al is such a genuine and love-able guy. His music deserves way more credit for how talented he and his band are and they always put on a great live show.
I Cape Fear-laugh every time I see it. It's probably the most perfectly executed gag in movie history. It would have been a mere snicker without the tense build-up.
"Badgers? Badgers? We don't need no stinking badgers". A parody of a parody, Al has always been amazing and changed my life when my parents took me to see him in 97.
This movie will always be on my top 10 list. This is one I can put on any day of the week and find myself sitting and laughing through the whole damn thing.
I watched UHF for the first time last night, and it was one of the most insanely dumb things I've ever watched, but I'll be damned if it wasn't hilarious and well-written.
My friend and I watched this movie as kids, and the bit where he’s sculpting his mashed potatoes and says, “This MEANS something...” was fucking hilarious to us. It seemed so random because neither of us had seen Close Encounters.
I'm here without nostalgia because I was born in 2001, and I can say the movie definitely holds up. It's still one of my favorite comedies of all time. Also, who else wanted "Ghandi II" to be a real movie?
That's one of those of-its-time parodies that most people don't know about anymore (that was a line used by Victor Kiam, former New England Patriots owner, for his brand of electric shavers whose name escapes me--Remington?) But the gag still works without knowledge of the original ad and it's only one line.
I love watching red letter media reviews for movies I've always considered watching, but never watched on my own. There have been multiple times where watching the RLM first has actually caused me to watch the actual movies
Hearing Jay talk about Mystery Science Theater, even if briefly felt weird, RLM sort of reminds me of a modern day MST3K, It's even based out of the midwest.
UHF was that movie I watched over and over as a kid and a teen, showing it to like every friend I could. I finally got to see Weird Al perform live for his Ridiculously Self-Indulgent Vanity Tour, and Emo Phillips opened for him and it was just the most surreal, wonderful night. I can't believe he played an EXTENDED version of Albuquerque live, it was like 50% longer. Just an amazing performer.
Two things: 1) I am proud to say that I actually saw this film in a theater in 1989 here in New York. I did not know I was witnessing the death of a studio. 2) I want Jay's bowling shirt.
Likewise, Weird Al has a connection to MST3K via doing the Jurassic Park commentary with Mike Nelson. Someone should do a Wield Al version of 6 degrees from Kevin Bacon, with a specific focus on niche comedy.
My oldest son and I watched this last year. I hadn't seen it in 30 years, first time for my son. I almost died on the "Supplies!" moment. I had totally forgotten most of the film, and that just set me off laughing. Definitely a cult classic!
Thank you for doing a re:View episode on my one of my favorite movies. I used to go to my best friend's place almost every day growing up and we would have a VHS of this movie (I guess his dad recorded it when it was playing on HBO) playing in the background all the time. We quote this movie literally every conversation we have together, to this day. His VHS's (usually crappy bootleg recordings) of UHF, Terminator 2, Commando, Predator, Tales from the Crypt Keeper, Blind Fury, Hard to Kill, Hot Shots, and Total Recall were always on rotation.
There isn't a single scene in UHF that isn't quoteable and hilarious. If it wasn't for the god-aweful timing of its release in theaters, it would have been a smashing success.
Loved this weird movie. LOVE you guys! I go into hospice in the next few weeks. I'm going to miss these reviews So much. You guys have gotten me through some dark times lately and I love your channel. Thank you So much, all of you ♥️
My favorite gag from UHF is the blind guy with a Rubik's Cube, making an adjustment and holding it up to the guy next to him "is that it", "No." Reminds me of how projects get run sometimes.
Mark Mothersbaugh is on record that he spent decades trying to write the perfect DEVO song and Al comes along and does it! I was so happy to hear the KTMA reference since I have lived in the recently infamous Twin Cities since graduating St. Olaf (really) in 1992 and remember thinking nobody will ever pick up MST3K.
I remember being introduced to UHF after watching Weird Al's BEHIND THE MUSIC episode as a 9 year old, because the way they described how badly that movie flopped made me think it never came out on video afterwards and was locked up in a vault somewhere. That same day, I was surprised and delighted to have found a copy at my local video store, and it has been a constant source of joy through my life ever since. Also, I believe that Frank Conniff and Trace Beaulieu on their podcast recently debunked the story about Joel Hodgson being considered for the part of Philo. He would have been perfect for that part, but apparently, he was never actually in the running.
He's either expressing his optimism that there will be a normal Halloween this year, or his pessimism by celebrating it ahead of time because we will all be dead by October
Emo Phillips is great. Favourite joke: "I prayed to God to give me a bicycle, then I realised God doesn't work that way, so I stole bicycle and prayed for forgiveness."
I'm not as good a swimmer as I used to be thanks to evolution.
When I was a little boy in the fall, my dad would spend all day raking the leaves into a big pile. And I'd come out of nowhere and I'd jump into the pile.... and he'd pull me out and brush the flames off......
"My brother says 'hello'; so, hooray for speech therapy."
Saw Emo at a local comedy club back in the 00’s. He was hilarious.
Nice to know I'm not the only guy that remembers Emo from back in the '80s,
ya don't hear so much about him nowadays, when 80s comedians get mentioned, but he was always entirely his own crazy flavour, and you gotta love him for that! 💖
My favorite joke was in Weird Al’s commentary. At the part with the buried limbs sticking out, he was like, “We had to pay the interns a little EXTRA that day. I’M JUST KIDDING. We paid them what we usually pay them.”
I was a sucker, strangely, for "Orion.... Orion is bankrupt... now!"
there's a commentary?
I was always blown away by the commentary gag where Commentary Al appears on-screen to give Stanley a warning when he's about to be attacked. That shit blew my mind as a boy.
@@kolasunset9221 There is, it's one of the funniest commentaries I've ever listened to.
My god, how I love Weird Al.
I suspect one of the secrets to Weird Al's longevity is that he's one of the most normal people in the music industry. No, seriously.
@@td7723 That was so minor eventually he got back around on it and last I heard Coolio likes the song now.
Session musicians say he's the hardest working guy in the biz.
@@cornbredx Coolio, at this stage in his life, is happy for anything that reminds the planet that he was once a thing
@@td7723 lol survived ok he was given permission so what did he survive
@Chandster I would dare say that Al also usually _improves_ the music of the songs he parodies, as he doesn't just replace the lyric track from a stock recording but actually records an all-new performance. Whenever I hear certain originals like Nirvana's "Smells like Teen Spirit" or Cherry Poppin' Daddies' "Zoot Suit Riot" they feel extremely flat compared to Al's vibrant renditions.
Not only has he lasted longer than the acts he parodies, but the band still has all of its original members. No one has left, died, or been replaced. The same 5 guys for almost 40 years.
I didn't know he even actually nas a band!
That's actually pretty amazing
I don't know his drummer's name, but he is one talented MFer.
@@charlottecorday8494 Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz
The old dvd for UHF has one of the greatest commentary tracks ever recorded. It opens with the Orion logo, and Al singing new lyrics to the music...
"Orion... Orion... Is Bankrupt... Noooow"
I still sing that in my head whenever i see the logo
shit i need to find that
PowerGlove79 I do too as well!
I remember so many of his cool little facts from the commentary it's fantastic
The best commentaries are UHF, Dark City, Seven Samuari, Spinal Tap, and Citizen Kane. My top 5
Jay: "July 4th, time for the Halloween attire."
whats he think this is, a craft store?
Don’t you think Halloween is starting earlier and earlier each year?
@Richard Trischka if you're drinking in a bowling shirt you can't be an alcoholic
U.S.A. is pretty fuckin spooky RN very fitting
@@guillermoelnino You ever noticed hobby lobby smells like dank weed??
1989 was also the release of the hit musical epic "Creating Rem Lezar"
UHF never stood a chance...
There’s one random joke in this film that’s stuck with me for some reason: the blind man trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube and just passing it off to his friend like “is that it?”
Ha. I just saw your comment when scrolling down after I just commented the same thing. I use it as a metaphor when working on projects for other people.
NOPE!
(Incidentally, his friend is the homeless guy who then saves the station at the very end.)
There was a similar joke in an old Finnish sketch comedy show about Stevie Wonder trying to solve a Rubik's Cube.
That was probably the last joke I noticed upon rewatching that movie for the millionth time, literally years after I first saw it, and it wound up being one of my favorites.
something bluuuuuuueeee
That Monty Python clique went to everyone's high school.
Theatre kids
Nothing I love better than some dork walking up to you with heavy eye contact and a shit-eating grin singing and dancing the “Knights of the Round Table” song expecting you to start cracking up
The Monty Python kids are my high school are either standup comedians or in antifa
In high school I was asked to join the improv group full of drama kids ..... couldn’t do it. same thing with the curling team
@@user-wx3wc4bo7c Most Canadian Comment of the Day!
🏅
The best review for this movie actually came from Al himself: "It's kinda like PURPLE RAIN, except it's intentionally funny."
Purple Rain is the jam.
Not at all salty about the way Prince kept turning him down for parodies. Not that Al can't take "no" for an answer without being snarky, but Prince's public persona could often come off as pretty full of himself. And then he did the Dave Chapelle album cover.
@@Belgand That's all fine and good but what do you really think about Low Res wunderbread?
I think it's the freshest content around.
I'd like your opinions on if you think they'd allow Weird Al to parody their content or do you think they'd act pretentious too?
I'd like an answer within the next few minutes before I lose interest.
PS
LoveSexy is better than anything Weird Al ever put out
Never heard it more eloquently
. 11 ¹ 23 ½¹ be
The best part of the commentary track is Al explaining why they hired the guy who says the line "Guns don't kill people, I do." "It's cause he could make this face right... here."
I was at a Weird Al show in Denver in the late 90's. During the show he did a gag where he reached in his pants, pulled out a pair of boxer shorts, and threw them in the audience. Long story short, I still have Weird Al's underwear.
I remember when he had this band, Radish, on the show. They were like a more badass Hanson. Let's not forget the Bare Naked Ladies appearance either, "Shoebox"!
🤣🤣🤣🤷♂️
Zoolander
As Homer Simpson once said: He who is tired of Weird "Al" is tired of life.
@@lemfandango Exactly I put the quotations above the Al. Unless you missed that. The man so weird he thinks Al is the strange part of his name and he wrote a song about the Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota.
@@billgaits3717 Maybe but that quote is considered the best part of the Nirvana episode. Which if we're supposed to take seriously Homer Simpson invented Grunge Music and not Kurt Cobain.
Larry talking about a man named Al. How.. weird
@@GRORGvideot Weird maybe, but at least it's good clean family fun.
@@larrylaffer3246 I don't even think Kurt invented Grunge
I love Weird Al's intro to the deleted scenes on the DVD. "These are the scenes that were deleted from the final cut of the movie. Why were they deleted? Because they SUCK!"
I like when he stands up and warns about the people coming through the window.
"And then there's this scene, where get this, I GO TO THE BANK!"
Many times over a couple decades my wife and I would include a spatula in the Christmas gifts for each other. "There's no better way to say, 'I love you" than the gift of a spatula."
I hope you went to spatula city
Re: "Where did they find that guy?!" playing the homeless man, that's Vance Colvig, character actor and voice actor who was on Yogi Bear and played Bozo the clown. His father Pinto Colvig originated Bozo, Pluto, and Goofy.
Heyyyyyy there, Boo Boo!
Le'ss go gettus some picker-nic baskets! :P
Michael Richards has more chemistry with his mop than most couples in modern films.
One couple comes to mind right away, Ray and Kilo
the guy is just allround awesome. He even left a 10.000$ tip once
he deliberately stole 2 cases of designer water from the store my ex worked at in santa monica...
He has a great chemistry with a certain word as well!
Weird Al is like the Mr. Rogers of music. No one could ever hate this man, and I would fight those who do.
Those who tire of weird Al tire of life.
Homer Jay Simpson
And most people in music seem to love him to. Like I heard a story that that's how nirvana knew they were famous when weird al asked if he could parody there song. (oh and that's another thing he would always personally ask the artist he was parodying if it was ok if he could use there song. He could probably get away without it with parody laws and all that. He just seems like a classy guy)
Weird Al's got a gift for identifying "classic" media before it has time to lose immediate cultural relevancy.
I’d argue that this mostly applies to the 80s and 90s, when he was young and the most in touch with popular music as a consumer.
From the 2000s to his final album, his track record got a little spotty. He always got the most undeniable targets (Backstreet Boys, Lady Gaga) but he also did a lot of parodies of songs that have been mostly forgotten to time. (Hot In Here is a big one that comes to mind.) His choices for polka medleys also started feeling more and more like they were just based on what was in the top 40, rather than anything he was actually interested as a listener, so there are a lot of forgotten songs in those as well.
@Luschan I know nothing about pop culture and even I know Hot In Here is majorly culturally relevant and is still played on pop and hip hop radio.
I remember the guy playing Raul passed away during the making of the movie so he hadn't finished all his scenes but they rearranged things to make it work in the editing because he was so great and funny that it wasn't right to leave him on the cutting room floor.
That badger joke had to survive.
I found it a bit odd when his second scene came about because his first scene could be explained as an oddity like the other odd shows. His character was supposed to be a mailman that Weird Al hired to do a show but his scenes hadn't been completed by the time he was killed in a car crash.
Sad fact: The Hispanic animal guy was supposed to have a much larger subplot in the movie, but his actor died before they could film the rest of it. Also, Spatula City got referenced in the 3DS game Project X Zone 2.
Emo holding up a residual check for $0.30...holy shit! That’s both hilarious and sad at the same time.
It's pretty apt, you just summarized Emos whole comedy schtick (If we can just crowbar the word W E I R D between "sad" and "Hilarious")
That interview was from Weird Al's VH1 Behind the Music episode. If it's online somewhere I highly recommend watching the whole thing.
There is (was) a Bar in Studio City called Residuals. Any residuals (endorsed) check for under a dollar got you a drink.
@@jdunnatl I take it the date was like 'uh oh...'?
I saw that clip years back. Only I had misread it as being a check for 0.00. I don’t know if 0.30 is better or worse.
Weird Al's most important rule when making parodies is that it has to be funny even if you don't know what he's parodying. That's the key to UHF's old corny jokes still working today
Reminds me of the Zucker-Abrams-Zucker comedy rules (have the characters act serious, among other things), and much like Weird Al and UHF, their 80s movies still hold up today.
This is a classic movie, one of the few that I have on DVD and one of the few that is great in English AND in French. Because it's so damn stupid.
I'm a die-hard Weird Al fan, but I've got to say that "Skipper Dan" is an extremely unfunny song. It's not even amusingly ironic. It's just a boring story about a guy who dreamed of being a great actor, but because of his poor career decisions ended up stuck doing the jungle cruise ride at Disney Land.
8:05
@@TheHouseOfWaffles Everyone has a weak moment.
This movie influenced me & my best friend in middle school so much that WE DID IT FOR REAL! Obviously we didn't own a UHF station but we took his dad's VHS camcorder and made a bunch of parody shows. His uncle worked at a local public access TV station and our silly shows were on the air! And our Star Trek parodies were good enough that we won regional TV awards & they were distributed to public access stations all over the Pacific NW. We accepted awards in Portland, Yakima, & Salt Lake City. We owed a lot to Weird Al & this movie for inspiring us. While other kids in school were doing drugs & getting drunk- we were producing TV spoofs. It was the best time in my youth.
Sounds like an incredible experience
Weird Al on Best of the Worst would be the greatest thing to ever happen.
He's totally get-able when he's not on tour with the band, too. I'm slightly surprised he hasn't shown up on RLM in general. It might be because they are in Wisconsin and he is in Cali, though. *shrug*
I second that suggestion. It would be wonderful to have Weird Al collaborate with Red Letter Media.
Weird Al mixed with RLM's cynical and mean-natured jokes would either work fantastically or horribly and I can't decide which.
@@MartKencuda Fantastically!
@@justacup8676 as if you've ever tried it ...
Jay talking about UHF and drinking leinenkugel's is the most Midwestern thing I've seen
I want a Summer Shandy now, thanks Jay
Don't forget the story about his 3rd grade teacher putting the kids severed finger in her mouth to take to the hospital. NOW it's the most Midwestern thing ever seen.
Josh should play some math rock guitar riff to it to make it 100%
UHF is one of my favorite movies EVER
Agreed!!!
me too!!!!!
Hi berdie
BERD
Ikr
"What better way to say I love you than with a gift of a spatula?" Kills me every time.
For sure. The Spatula City ad is probably my favorite part of the entire movie.
Spatula City! Spatula City!
Simply put, those 80's fake commercials were hilarious
I gave every member of family a spatula for Christmas
That bit about “comedy nerds”-oof. I felt that. I believe even John Cleese addressed this when he said Monty Python was underrated in the UK and overrated in The U.S.
I put them in the same category as extroverted anime geeks. I'm as big a weeb as they come but even I couldn't stand being around the guys (and girls) who dressed in Naruto cosplay and screamed at each other while playing Pokemon in the cafeteria.
Monty Python and Princess Bride were over-quoted by these people I knew. Made me never want to watch either of them . . .
What's worse than people who won't stop quoting movies? People who quote the entire movie WHILE WATCHING IT with you.
@@glint8824 You're doing yourself a grave disservice if you've never seen any Monty Python or the Princess Bride. Please, just watch Life of Brian and Princess Bride. I'll bet you'll enjoy them.
@@draconianking - I remember watching Monty Python & The Holy Grail as a teenager and didn't love it but haven't seen some of the others like Life of Brian. I'll have to give them another chance but The Princess Bride is a childhood treasure of a movie for me.
Jay's film-nerd haircut is really coming in, hes a year away from getting tenure
Lmao Jay is transforming :D I think he's gotten bigger too
I went to a screening of this that featured a Q&A with Weird Al and Jay Levey, it was a lot of fun. One of the best questions was from a kid, he asked about Anthony Geary
's role as Philo - 'the guy who played the alien.' Both Jay and Al said they were skeptical of him as first when the casting agent suggested him because he was a soap actor but he ended up being great and a lesson to both of them about judging people before getting to know them. Weird Al also answered some stuff about his music including a question about what his least favorite song was. He eventually figured out it was probably "Girls Just Want To Have Lunch" which he begrudgingly wrote after the label begged him to spoof Cyndi Lauper.
My god do you think he based Madonna from the Weird movie off that experience
Eagerly awaiting Jay and Josh’s Re:View of “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story”
Yes was absolutely tickled to hear them described him as coming and going into public consciousness and there's not really much else they could do with him.v 😁
For the longest time when people referred to "emos" I thought they were talking about people who idolized Emo Philips. I'd ask my younger friends what these "emos" were they were talking about and they would say "they often have straight black hair with bangs that fall in their eyes, they dress weird and are over emotional" I thought how nice Phillips was making a comeback with the younger crowd.
I knew what the emo sub-culture was, and I still thought they were just ironically imitating Emo Phillips.
Marcin OK millennial.
@@TheRitzierComic Zoomer is the generation after Millenials. It's also what advertisers have been trying to call boomers for a decade or so now.
re:View is the modern day equivalent of having a friend in college who tells you about that weird movie that's gonna be on TV at 1am.
RE: "Seems like a genuinely good guy." A bartender friend of mine was working a club where Weird Al played. He said after the show, he went to his tour bus to do meet-and-greets with the fans so the employees could start cleaning up inside sooner (rather than wait for all of that to resolve).
I loved this movie since I was a kid. I loved Yankovic’s music and style. My father had shown me that he was an extra in the “Celebration” scene. He’s the dude who looks like a chick in the red shirt behind R.J Fletcher. He had told me that when he lived in Tulsa for a bit, they asked a bunch of people if they want free beer to just pretend to celebrate. I’m glad it’s getting Re:Viewed.
So basically, Weird Al will be showing up on BotW soon. I'm ok with that.
If My Little Pony can get him, RLM can too
He already showed up on the Game Grumps, so it wouldn't be too far-fetched. And the Game Grumls are fans of RLM.
Macaulay Culkin did a great interview with Weird Al not too long ago, so there’s another connection that could bring him to the show.
Breath of the Wild?
Still waiting!
Evil Boss Man - "And take the ridiculous thing off!"
Man with the silly hat - (frowns and removes mustache)
lol I had forgotten about that gag.
Good thing you saw it on this video so you could just type it out into a comment
I see the Last Jedi seems to have copied this joke with context
Seems Someone is a fan of IT Crowd.🤔
In any case, yes. That is a clever gag, and it's surprising hard for others to pull off for some reason.
So we're just going to skim over, "Ghandi II?" That's probably the funniest thing I've ever seen or even contemplated.
"he's back and ready to kick ass!"
"No more Mister Passive Resistance"
"I'll have the steak, medium rare."
I think that Weird Al's secret is that he's just a really, really good musician and (song)writer who also happens to have a good sense of humor, and is just happy doing his thing without any need of forcing anything or "expanding" or whatever.
I still use the Spatula City jokes when my wife suggests we go somewhere that me and our kids don't want to.
Are you my dad?
Where do you go when you want to buy name brand spatulas at a fraction of retail cost?
I can't even take spatulas seriously anymore!
@@TravisSheflin SPATULA CITY! spatula city.
Isaak Haley we sell spatulas! AND THAT’S ALL!
Something non-musicians rarely realize about Weird Al: He's actually a really, *really* good instrumentalist, musician and composer. His "Genius in France" is a Zappa-parody... being able to *play* music like Zappa's takes *serious* chops! A good number of the greatest drummers (and guitarists, percussionists, keyboardists) became that good and prolific among other things through being part of Zappa's bands. So - being able to play it: Serious chops! But writing an homage track that actually matches Zappa's own music in terms of inventiveness, complexity, virtuosity, fun and many other dimensions.... I didn't think it could be done, and it hasn't been done nearly this well before or since.
Devo loved Al’s tribute to their music, Dare to Be Stupid. It was worthy of being a Devo song in it’s own right.
Some of my favorite Weird Al songs are his originals and more subtle homages from his early days: Midnight Star, Nature Trail To Hell, Dare To Be Stupid, etc.
@@joshuatxuk I can still sing Midnight Star and Nature Trail to Hell line for line. Love those songs! My other favorites were Melanie and Stuck In A Closet With Vanna White.
Everyone knows that already, calm down nerd
Agreed...not only does he have an incredible ear for detail and what makes a particular song “work”, he’s a great singer and a SMOKIN accordion player. That dude absolutely slays the accordion on his early stuff and the various (meticulously arranged) polka medleys he’s released throughout the years.
Loved this film as a kid. Weird Al is immortal haha.
@Wreckless Eating, perhaps a marble cake eating challenge in honor of the movie?
In the Netherlands the movie was called "The vidiot from UHF"
The homeless man was Vance Colvig Jr, the son of Pinto Colvig, the original voice of Goofy
bump
Yeah I looked him up immediately, I thought "either this guy is literally homeless and they pulled him off the street or he's one of the best character actors ever". He had quite a career himself, but over shadowed by his dad.
Had to go check "Was that the lady producer from the start of Dave Lee Roth's 'Just a Gigolo' video?"; yep :)
Ya, I was surprised they didn't mention that in the video. Usually they tend to know the obscure stuff. I heard Weird Al mention this once somewhere a while ago. Maybe on the commentary when the DVD came out- i dont remember.
This would explain a bit my feeling after this latest rewatch that Micheal Richards- while yes doing his schtick- is playing Goofy in the movie.
I don't think his Dad understands how naming your kid "Junior" works...
Jay lookin like a character pulled out straight from the big lebowsky
Or Clerks
Yeah. What's with the "halloween" shirt?
Hmm, something about your comment seems off... oh no.
This is what happens Larry...
Well, man, that’s just your opinion.
Jay is serving major “college Shaun for Boy Meets World” vibes, and I am HERE for it
The animal show is great.
"Where did you find this guy?"
"I thought you hired him!"
Is that how using youtube with a sign in account works?
I got to meet Weird Al in Atlanta for a meet and greet thing. I only got to say about a paragraph to him before I left, but for those 30 seconds, he listened to me with a smile on his face as I told him how much of a musical inspiration he's been for me. They say to never meet your heroes, but if Al is one of them, you should definitely try to if you get the opportunity.
I met him once at an event in Minnesota when I was a kid, back in the 90s when he still had the glasses and mustache. I'll never forget what he said to me, it was so inspirational: "Excuse me, I have to get by." I'd like to think he'd appreciate that.
@@gregbauer4433 Brings me to tears every time
Jay is getting into his Kurt Russell 80s phase.
the best phase
Which 80s Kurt Russell? The Thing or Tango and Cash?
He’s come here all the way from early neckbeard Jay...
I’m so proud of our weird little horror goblin
Weird Al is one of the most underappreciated talents ever. The guy is a genius.
I saw Weird Al live in Folsom back in 2017, hands down the best vocalist I've ever seen.
He was so good we thought it was lip sinking but then he went off script and blew our minds even further.
Jay looks like a grown up teenwolf that's just about to head off to win a bowling tournament.
I like how J got the reputation for liking the darkest horror films but his taste in comedy is the same as my dads lol
@IntrepidFinch I thinl he meant Susan.
Love how Josh pantomimes turning a cranky dial when trying to remember how many UHF stations there might be. Nostalgia!!
Emo will always be known as "Shannon" from Home Movies to me.
Daddy DREET holy shit
SAME!
jay didn’t have time to change shirts after his team’s bowling practice
is their team called the rolling pumpkins?
Mark it 8 dude
They’re called Goodnight Sweet Cats
The Spoopies.
They rolled their way into the semis.
Elvira gets hit on the head. Guy she's got her eyes on comes over to see how she is.
Guy: "How's your head?"
Elvira: "I haven't had any complaints"
HAHAHA I missed THAT ONE as a kid!
Re: Weird Al being a good guy, 25 years ago, some college classmates happened to secure time backstage with him to film hijinks for their cable access show. My friend did a lighthearted Q&A that Yankovic seemed born to take ("A *blank* a day keeps the doctor away." "A...a shot of B12"). The other one, though, made Al recite lines from a script he'd written for a "film" that would never get off a camcorder. It dragged on and on as the kid kept feeding lines. Yankovic played along. The whole time. Waited until the ordeal was done, not a single negative expression. Thanked the kid and resumed being Weird Al.
I was waiting for the other shoe to drop while reading this comment...
But it never did, and I got something very wholesome instead. Thanks! :)
Still waiting on that Twin Peaks: The Return re:View, Jay.
You've got your re:View, now leave these midwestern film nerds alone, you jerk
fraud comment.
Badgers?! BADGERS?!! .....WE DON'T NEED NO STINKIN' BADGERS!!
Fun fact: the pet delivery guy is the guy who voiced Bob Page from the original Deus Ex.
Isn't that also in a Cheech n Chong movie? (maybe "Up in Smoke" or "Rude Awakenings") - except it's "Badges" there, coz they're hippies ripping on some cops)
@@zetetick395 It was in Blazing Saddles.
@@zetetick395
Yeah, it's a common parody of a line originally spoken in "Treasure of the Sierra Madre". It's been a running gag ever since. The line has a long and storied history, even its own Wiki page! Never gets old.
That is the perfect example of what they talk about when they mention jokes that work even if you do not get the refference, as a younger viewer that is not from USA I found it to be pretty funny and now that I get its origin it is doubly funny when I watch it again.
“Orion,
Orion,
is bankrupt, now!”
-Weird Al singing along to the Orion films logo at the start of the UHF commentary track
The commentary track on the DVD is solid gold.
Genuinely surprised that they didn't talk about the DVD commentary; it's seriously one of the best ones ever made.
I saw the Orion logo at the front of a fairly new movie which surprised me, so they're making a small come back as an MGM subsidiary. Great commentary track for sure.
Orion did Bill and Ted, that was probably their peak.
A movie so good the kid Conan cuts in half is still smiling.
Weird Al is such a genuine and love-able guy. His music deserves way more credit for how talented he and his band are and they always put on a great live show.
To this day "Supplies" is one of my all time favorite gags in any movie.
I Cape Fear-laugh every time I see it. It's probably the most perfectly executed gag in movie history. It would have been a mere snicker without the tense build-up.
Has to be one of the best gags ever
Both that and the "you got change?" are the gags from that movie that sent me in a hard laughing fit when I first saw them.
love that one. my favorite is the homeless guy helping the blind guy solve a rubik's cube. "Is this it?" "No." "Is this it?" "No."
Used to say that whenever I opened the supply closet at work. None of the cube dwellers ever laughed.
I feel like this movie predicted the creation of Adult Swim.
Or Adult Swim copied him (inspired by).
"Badgers? Badgers? We don't need no stinking badgers". A parody of a parody, Al has always been amazing and changed my life when my parents took me to see him in 97.
This movie will always be on my top 10 list. This is one I can put on any day of the week and find myself sitting and laughing through the whole damn thing.
I still sing the Spatula City jingle to this goddamn day.
I mention spatula city quite often. And I get a kick out of the fact that no one has seen the film so doesn't know what I am talking about.
What better way to say "I love you" than with the gift of a spatula
Spatula City, we sell spatulas...and that's all!
Me too! The two best parody ads in the movie are Spatula City and Plots R US.
"Endless free Parking, and don't forget to try the salad bar!"
I have never gotten a spatula out of the drawer without saying "SPATULA CITY! (spatula city!)" first!
Jay's hair is about to reach its final form!!
B-but it's power-level in that state is over 1,000,000!
He has now transformed into Edgar Wright
jajajajajajaja4
5
I watched UHF for the first time last night, and it was one of the most insanely dumb things I've ever watched, but I'll be damned if it wasn't hilarious and well-written.
My friend and I watched this movie as kids, and the bit where he’s sculpting his mashed potatoes and says, “This MEANS something...” was fucking hilarious to us. It seemed so random because neither of us had seen Close Encounters.
I'm here without nostalgia because I was born in 2001, and I can say the movie definitely holds up. It's still one of my favorite comedies of all time. Also, who else wanted "Ghandi II" to be a real movie?
Gimme a steak, medium rare.
*Reads cue card*
"Hi, this is Cy Greenbloom president of Spatula City. I like their spatulas so much I bought the company."
That's one of those of-its-time parodies that most people don't know about anymore (that was a line used by Victor Kiam, former New England Patriots owner, for his brand of electric shavers whose name escapes me--Remington?) But the gag still works without knowledge of the original ad and it's only one line.
This line makes me cry laughing
I love watching red letter media reviews for movies I've always considered watching, but never watched on my own. There have been multiple times where watching the RLM first has actually caused me to watch the actual movies
I actually got to see Emo perform last year. He's still a great act.
Hearing Jay talk about Mystery Science Theater, even if briefly felt weird, RLM sort of reminds me of a modern day MST3K, It's even based out of the midwest.
I mean, Milwaukee is is just a straight-shot south from the U.P. which I think MST3K was from.
@First Last Preach brother, Wisconsinite here confirming.
Oh, it's a straight line for me. I was. a Weird Al nerd in elementary and high school turned MST3K goob circa college turned RLM fan.
@@horseytown I pretty much had the same trajectory.
Also, Jay has mentioned watching MST3K on BotW before.
@@blue6sub6remnant6 MST3K was always based out of Minneapolis, which is even closer to Milwaukee
The fact that Tom 'tache' Selleck was wanted to play Indiana somehow makes Weird Al even funnier as Indiana.
Tacky Selleck
UHF and Top Secret are the 2 best comedy ever made imo, ive watched them both so many times that i cant even count it, i still watch them regularly!
UHF was that movie I watched over and over as a kid and a teen, showing it to like every friend I could. I finally got to see Weird Al perform live for his Ridiculously Self-Indulgent Vanity Tour, and Emo Phillips opened for him and it was just the most surreal, wonderful night. I can't believe he played an EXTENDED version of Albuquerque live, it was like 50% longer. Just an amazing performer.
Two things:
1) I am proud to say that I actually saw this film in a theater in 1989 here in New York. I did not know I was witnessing the death of a studio.
2) I want Jay's bowling shirt.
The guy who played RJ's son and Jombi also has a Seinfeld connection. He was a half of that mean gay couple that was always chasing Kramer around.
Likewise, Weird Al has a connection to MST3K via doing the Jurassic Park commentary with Mike Nelson.
Someone should do a Wield Al version of 6 degrees from Kevin Bacon, with a specific focus on niche comedy.
Who?! Who doesn't want to wear the ribbon?!
not that there's anything wrong with that
Seeing you guys do a video on this got me so excited, I have so much nostalgia for this film and having watched it recently, it still holds up.
I quit at the 7 minute mark so I can go find a copy to watch. I’ll come back after.
Oh man. There was this One guy in my high school, that was quoting Monty Pythons "Nobody's expecting the Spanish inquisition" sketch ALL the time.
What was it about high school and people quoting Monty Python?
NI NI NI NI NI NI
Just the one sketch? Doesn't that get a little tiring? I mean, even more tiring than your usual Monty Python quoting
Jesus christ, 9th grade me's leave me alone. I left you behind 30 years ago.
I think everybody had that one classmate who only quoted Monty Python because British humor was "superior"
Oh my god, his face when he has to take the mustache off, awwhhh
My oldest son and I watched this last year. I hadn't seen it in 30 years, first time for my son. I almost died on the "Supplies!" moment. I had totally forgotten most of the film, and that just set me off laughing. Definitely a cult classic!
Thank you for doing a re:View episode on my one of my favorite movies. I used to go to my best friend's place almost every day growing up and we would have a VHS of this movie (I guess his dad recorded it when it was playing on HBO) playing in the background all the time. We quote this movie literally every conversation we have together, to this day. His VHS's (usually crappy bootleg recordings) of UHF, Terminator 2, Commando, Predator, Tales from the Crypt Keeper, Blind Fury, Hard to Kill, Hot Shots, and Total Recall were always on rotation.
I think every high school had a group of kids who endlessly quoted Monty Python.
Around my senior year it was Tim and Eric with a bit of Xavier Renegade Angel.
Bonus points if they have a god complex
We were prePython. For us Firesign
Mine conisted of "theater nerds" who endlessly quote Hamilton.
@@Hobo_Knight TASTE THE PAIN!
The SONG U.H.F. actually had all the characteristics to be an 80's pop sensation hit song. Upbeat, catchy and it has an amazing guitar solo.
Oh yeah. Whole thing is just great, and those last two minutes are (indescribable).
Except it wasn't written and performed by Kenny Loggins. 😆
You can sit and stare at the picture tube till your face turns into cottage cheese
Orion released Silence of the Lambs like 2 years later.
There isn't a single scene in UHF that isn't quoteable and hilarious. If it wasn't for the god-aweful timing of its release in theaters, it would have been a smashing success.
Loved this weird movie. LOVE you guys! I go into hospice in the next few weeks. I'm going to miss these reviews So much. You guys have gotten me through some dark times lately and I love your channel. Thank you So much, all of you ♥️
The best character was "blind guy with a rubix cube."
"NOPE!....Is this it?....NOPE......Is This it?...NOPE!.....Is th-"
Or maybe the lady that walks past the bench and notices how ridiculous it is that a blind man is trying to solve a Rubik's cube haha
I loved that Rubik's cube guy! That tiny scene kills me every time!
My favorite gag from UHF is the blind guy with a Rubik's Cube, making an adjustment and holding it up to the guy next to him "is that it", "No."
Reminds me of how projects get run sometimes.
Mark Mothersbaugh is on record that he spent decades trying to write the perfect DEVO song and Al comes along and does it!
I was so happy to hear the KTMA reference since I have lived in the recently infamous Twin Cities since graduating St. Olaf (really) in 1992 and remember thinking nobody will ever pick up MST3K.
I remember being introduced to UHF after watching Weird Al's BEHIND THE MUSIC episode as a 9 year old, because the way they described how badly that movie flopped made me think it never came out on video afterwards and was locked up in a vault somewhere. That same day, I was surprised and delighted to have found a copy at my local video store, and it has been a constant source of joy through my life ever since.
Also, I believe that Frank Conniff and Trace Beaulieu on their podcast recently debunked the story about Joel Hodgson being considered for the part of Philo. He would have been perfect for that part, but apparently, he was never actually in the running.
this movie was huge on home video.
Jay wearing clothes 3 months ahead of his time
Every year his window for celebrating Halloween is getting 1 month longer.
Either that or mum is late with his laundry this month...
Jay will eventually become one of those people that put up Halloween decorations but never take them down.
Mans was aahead of his time.
Only by three months, though.
He's either expressing his optimism that there will be a normal Halloween this year, or his pessimism by celebrating it ahead of time because we will all be dead by October
years from now when we can have guests back on RLM we need a Weird Al ep of BotW.
Saw Weird Al in concert and it the best concert I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen some big bands and huge artists. His costumes, music. Just awesome!