#133 - "UHF" (1989) with Nicholas Pepin - 80s Flick Flashback

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:04):
It's Stanley. Yeah.
George, how would you like theirown TV show?
OK. Channel 62 needed a new station
manager. No, not him.
Forget it. No way.
Well, this is even better than Iimagined.
But what they got was a man so desperate for ratings.
Today we're teaching pools. How to fly?
He put anyone on the air. It's Weird Al Yankovic in UHF,

(00:29):
rated PT13. Starts Friday, July 21st at
theaters. In 1989, a groundbreaking film
burst onto the scene, revolutionizing the cinematic
landscape in ways previously unimaginable.
With an incredible cast and cutting edge special effects,
this film captivated audiences with its deeply relatable yet

(00:51):
hilariously flawed characters. Would you believe that it was
led by none other than Weird Al Yankovic?
Directed by Jay Levy and Co written with Weird Al himself,
this 80s flick tells the story of George Newman, a quirky
character whose career seems to crumble at every turn.
But when his uncle gives him in a struggling local TV station,

(01:12):
George unleashes a torrent of outlandish television shows
filled with social satire and zany humor.
With the help of his loyal friend Bob, their whimsical
creations attract the ire of a ruthless rival station CEO,
setting the stage for an epic showdown.
So grab yourself a Twinkie Wiener sandwich, a box of
yappies, dog treats, and don't forget to spin the wheel of fish

(01:34):
as Nicholas Pepin and I discussed UHF from 1989 on this
episode of the 80s Split Flashback podcast.
Sean Hughes. And all his teen dreams,
montages, the simply themes in Fairy's hands.
The city fence, living life likeit never ends.

(01:56):
It seemed bikes to the sky. But the scope just getting by.
Radical dreams and daring quests.
Back then we were all very bad in the 80s.
We will run where every day is just good.

(02:24):
All right, welcome in everybody.Thanks for tuning into the 80s
click flashback podcast. I'm Tim Williams, the creator
and host, excited to have you with us.
If you enjoy the show, please leave us a five star review on
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We want to hear from you as well.
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And if you're feeling generous, please support the podcast at

(02:47):
buymeacoffee.com. Every little bit helps.
You can also visit our website, 80s flickflashback.com and our T
public store for some awesome 80s flick flashback merch and
original designs. All right, it's time to meet
this week's guest Co host. And he's been ready to talk
about this movie ever since we launched the podcast back in
2020. If you're already a fan of his

(03:08):
Pop Culture Roulette podcast andyou know he's a bona fide Weird
Al fanatic and can name all of his parody albums to prove it,
welcome back to the show, Nicholas Pepin.
How you doing Nicholas? I'm just here to put the pod and
podcasting. UHF, this is, I think this is
one of those bonafide cult classic movies.

(03:29):
I mean, we've covered several that maybe didn't succeed at the
box office like they hoped, but definitely has a cult following.
And I would think anybody that was our age when this movie was
on video or on cable, we were obsessed with it.
Absolutely. So let's jump in.

(03:53):
When did you see UHF for the first time?
In January of 1990. OK.
So a couple of years after? Well, no, a year after, yeah,
1990. Because because I it was in the
theaters, I mean, and I, I'm sure you'll get to it with when
we get to that section. It had some really stiff

(04:14):
competition that year. 89 was a strong movie year.
For whatever reason, even thoughI was a massive weird elf fan,
my parents just didn't take me to see this movie.
And it could have been that it was in and out of theaters,
real. Quick, yeah.
So I didn't see this, but as soon as it came on video, like
we, we rented it, I watched it, I got them to buy me a copy and

(04:34):
I, I probably wore that VHS out.I watched this movie so much.
Yeah, this is one that I didn't,I know I didn't see it in the
theater. I don't even remember if I knew
it was in the theater or maybe like it was one that I probably
saw the trailer for was like, oh, I want to see that when it
comes out. And then like, never real.
Like it was in the theater for like a week or two and then it

(04:56):
was gone. And it was like, did I miss it
so? But I'm pretty sure this was a
rental that was like rented overand over again.
I don't know if I own this one on VHS, but it was definitely on
cable or people had copies that they recorded from cable because

(05:16):
it was one of those movies that if you were hanging out at
somebody's house on like a Saturday or spending the night,
oh, yeah, like we were going to watch it.
You know, if you had a copy, youwere going to watch it.
Yeah, I mean, this was a movie that was in pretty heavy
rotation for a while in in my world, you know?
Oh yeah, for sure. So how long has it been since
you rewatched it? You were watching it for the

(05:37):
podcast? When the weird Owl movie came
out, the one that Daniel Radcliffe was in, I, I had so
much fun watching that movie that I was like, I need to watch
UHF again. So I, I, I fired up a, you know,
I found it, it was streaming somewhere or, you know, and I, I

(05:57):
watched it and it just, it, it brought back all the warm and
fuzzies like it just, and, and like, I saw it so much that
like, I, I can't necessarily, like, it's been so long since
I've seen it that I couldn't necessarily quote it.
But like, as soon as I started watching it, I'm like, Oh yeah.
Oh. Yeah.
Oh yeah, yeah. I honestly don't know when the

(06:19):
last time I watched this. I think I'd seen like bits and
pieces, you know, in the last like 20 years or so.
But like, once again, it wasn't one that I think I owned on VHS.
It wasn't one I owned on DVD. But knowing we were going to
cover it, I was able to get a copy of the Blu-ray, you know,
and so, but I've been waiting till I wouldn't want to watch

(06:42):
it, but I want to wait until closer to time for the for the
podcast. So I honestly don't know how
long it's been. So watching it again yet last
night was like, it's not a firstwatch because like a lot of
stuff I remembered, but there were certain things like, Oh my
gosh, I totally forgot this is in this or this is what this
there's this is where that line came from.

(07:02):
Or like, that's where, you know,certain like little bits that
they had the spatula city. Like I could have swore that was
in something else that I'd seen.Or, you know, let me tell you
something, lady, guns don't killpeople.
I do like, I I thought that was something else or from something
else. So seeing those little parts
like, OK, that's where that you know, it's judged in my
subconscious and like it's part of my pop culture knowledge.

(07:26):
But if I was, if it was in a trivia up until last night, I
probably would not have thought that was from UHFI, would have
thought it was from something else.
And I had the Weird Al. I mean, I had the UHF
soundtrack. Right.
Which wasn't really like AI meanit was a soundtrack.
Like, I mean, what it didn't do the classic thing that a lot of
soundtracks do where they cut inlike clips from the movie.

(07:49):
Like it was just, there were a lot of songs that didn't make it
to the movie. He's just, it was almost like it
was its own separate album that he just called UHF as well.
It had, I mean, it had the Beverly Hillsbillies song and
the theme song and the Let me beYour Hog.
And yeah, so I, I and or they had the specialist that he.

(08:10):
You know. So like, I mean, I've listened
to that album probably as many if not more time since I've seen
the movie. So yeah, I mean, like you said,
I have this was one of the firstthings I requested after like, I
was like, wait, you have an 80s to film flashback podcast?
Yeah. All right.
Well, we've done Lethal Weapon. Let me do UHF.
Yeah, we'll we'll get there. Come on, let me do UHF.

(08:34):
Yep, I guess I had said a coupleepisodes before, like we did on
Golden Pond, which is one that Bethany had been asking since
the beginning. I said this was the year I was
going to like, OK, my, you know,some of my recurring podcast,
you know, host. I'm going to, but I'm I was
worried I was looking forward todoing this one on Golden Pond.
Not as much, but it was it was agood I mean, it was a good
movie. We go back in this episode.
This is not the same kind of movie at all, but this is

(08:56):
definitely one that I mean, on Golden Pond, I'd never seen this
one. I had seen and I had fond
memories of it. So I was excited to watch it
again. But I was also like, I hope it's
as good as I remember. And it it some things don't hold
up as well, but it's still a funwatch and appreciating it for

(09:17):
what it is, which is just it's out.
We're out doing parodies of movies just like he parodied
songs. But just it was it was an
extension of like the Zucker brothers airplane movies, Naked
Gun. It's got that same type of like
parody humor. So if if you're a fan of those
kind of movies, you're definitely going to be a fan of

(09:37):
this one as well. So.
Absolutely. All right, well, let's jump into
story origin and pre production.Not a long story here, but it
does have a story there and if you want to feel than anything
that I missed, I'm sure you knowthis movie backwards and
forwards as well. Yeah, yeah.
I mean, I do. I do know the movie quite well,
yeah. So Yankovic and his manager Jay
Levy had discussed the idea of amovie for Yankovic around 1985,

(10:00):
after the success of his third album, Dare to Be Stupid.
His popularity at that time led the two to thinking what other
venues would work for the musician.
The story concept they created was based on Yankovic's approach
to his music video parodies. After sketching several such
parodies for the film, they conceived Yankovic's character
owning a small time UHF station broadcasting these parodies as

(10:22):
shows as this would not require having a significant plot to
string the parodies together. In a similar manner to Airplane,
the two shop the script around Hollywood film agencies for
about 3 years. They were surprised to learn one
of their agents had shown the script to the founders of a new
production company, Synacorp, which was interested in a given
it to producers Gene Kirkwood and John W Hyde.

(10:45):
Kirkwood stated he had previous previously seen Yankovic's
videos and wanted to make a movie with him.
Kirkwood and Hyde had connections with Orion Pictures,
which offered up $5,000,000 to make the movie.
So of course the title refers toUltra High Frequency Broadcast
Band, which in the US was typically known for low budget
television stations with no network affiliation.

(11:08):
Weird Al wanted to call the movie The Idiot.
Like Video Idiot. He didn't think UHF would make
much sense in a world slowly gravitating towards cable
television. And the UHF designation is not
widely known outside of North America.
For the US markets, Orion insisted on UHF and most foreign
markets. It was called The Idiot from

(11:28):
UHF. In the DVD commentary.
Weird Al says that in interviewson foreign television shows.
When asked why he picked that title, he felt like replying.
I didn't. The studio did.
I hate that title. In Mexico, it was released as
Los Telelocos, which translates as The TV Crazies.
Which makes probably more sense than I mean, like, I mean,

(11:51):
obviously you and I being the age that we are very familiar
with UHF, like those were the stations that, you know, you had
to get up and retune the rabbit ears.
And yeah, that was, you know, like that was where you were
watching all the reruns, like. They they, you know.
That was where you got to see the weird Saturday morning
afternoon movies like those. Those were the fun channels that

(12:14):
like, you know, that it never had anything new, but you know,
I was looking. Yeah, if it was anything new, it
was nothing we wanted to watch. It was some news story or, you
know, local, you know, like a local talk show or something
like that. Yeah.
Right, yeah, that was, you know,well, I don't, I mean, I'm too
young to. I'm not too, I'm not too young.
I was too young at the time to know like any of the local,

(12:38):
like, I don't know if they had like in Memphis where I grew up,
like if there were like UHF, like local talk shows or.
You know. Kids shows or stuff like that.
I just, I remember vaguely here and there, but I don't remember
what was nationwide and what waslocal.
And yeah, yeah. Yeah, but I do.
I remember that's probably whereI watched Star Trek and

(12:58):
Gilligan's Island and, you know,all the stuff we'd watched
before prime time, and then we'dswitch over to one of the.
Networks, yeah. I mean, I remember UHF like I, I
remember a couple of stations like, like you said, like here
in Atlanta, I remembered, you know, 36 was a UHF and I didn't
think 69 was still out at that point.

(13:21):
But, and then of course, like TBS was local for us, like it
was a local UHF station, even though it became like the
superstation for cable or whatever.
So, but yeah, when I knew what UHF meant, but it was, it's like
that was, and I, if I remember correctly, like on the old dial
TV's, like sometimes like we were trying to get 36, it wasn't

(13:44):
quite clear enough. But if you turn the dial just
enough or like hung between the two notches, it would like clear
up a little bit. Well, some some TV's even had
the little button where you had to flip from VHS.
Yes, yes, UHS, you know. Yep.
I remember that. Because it would, you'd have to
do the different, you know, the different band or whatever.
Yeah, yeah. I just, I remember one TV we

(14:07):
had, I don't know if it was the UHF channel like the that was
that because we had, there was 2channels.
The top was the broadcast channel, you know, like one
through 13 or whatever it was. And then the bottom one went to
like 17 to you know, 69 or whatever.
But on one of them it must have been that the UHF channel one,

(14:30):
but the knob had broken off. So it was just like a little
metal stub. So we had a pair of pliers that
we would actually use to turn the channel.
So yeah, vivid memory as a kid of having that.
So when we got cable and you gotlike a little box that you push
the buttons on, that was like the coolest invention ever.
Like oh, we can keep our broken TV and still change channels on

(14:50):
this little box on top. Well, that was that was back in
the day when, you know, you had to get up to change the channel.
You couldn't just use. Nobody had a remote like come on
now. Yeah, I remember, I think the
first person I met that had a remote control, I was probably
like middle, like late middle school, early high school and

(15:13):
him like he has his parents had ATV with a remote control and I
was like, it's the cool, but they called it the clicker,
which I thought was so I hated that term.
Got the clicker and I was like what is a clicker?
Now, nowadays you can't even turn the TV on without the
remote and you can't find the remote.
You're just not watching TV. It's like you're touching the
back, like everything underneathit on the back of the screen.

(15:35):
And like, what does this button do?
Nothing it doesn't do. It doesn't do anything until you
turn it on. The 80s Flick Flashback Podcast
will return after these messages.
What seems to be the problem, pal?
There's so much pain in the world, so many issues, I don't

(15:55):
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That's right, sunny boy. When hope seems far, dive into
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(17:24):
blockbuster. Subscribe today and I'll see you
on the other side of the page. All right, well, we've got a lot
to cover on the cast and I triedto scale it as much as possible,
but this could almost be one of those before there were famous
movies because there's a lot of people in here that that are not

(17:47):
a lot. There's a few people in here
that were not as popular then aswe know them to be now.
And you'll also find out there were some people that auditioned
for this movie that were not popular then.
That became very popular. So.
But of course, we started the top with Yankovic himself.
He always envisioned to be the central character of the film,
written as a straight man with avivid imagination to allow the

(18:09):
insertion of the parodies in thefilm script in a manner similar
to the film The Secret Life of Walter Mitty from 1947, which is
a great movie as well. And I did see those parallels
and watching it again to focus on the parodies.
George was not developed. And beyond driving the principal
storyline, the name Newman was selected as an homage to Mad
Magazine's mascot, Alfred E Newman.

(18:30):
And the title of George's children's show, Uncle Nutsy's
Clubhouse, also came from Mad Magazine.
I was a huge Mad Magazine reader, especially during this
time, and I still have. I found my collection.
I thought it had been lost forever.
And a couple like last year, I found it in my parents basement.
I was like, it has been found and I went went through.
I have like, I've got a ton of like it's a huge stack of Mad

(18:52):
magazines. But yeah, so I didn't know that.
And so doing the research, I thought that was cool that it's,
you know, based on that. But once again, parodies.
So I was very accustomed to parodies when this came out
because I was a fan of Mad magazine.
So Weird Al. Since having one of his comedy
songs aired on the Doctor Demento radio show in 1976 at

(19:13):
age 16, he sold more than 12 million albums as of 2015,
recorded more than 150 parodies in original songs, and performed
more than 1000 live shows. His work has earned him 5 Grammy
Awards and a further 11 nominations, 4 gold records and
six platinum records in the US. His first top 10 Billboard

(19:34):
album, Straight Out of Lynnwood and Single White and Nerdy were
both released in 2006, nearly three decades into his career.
His 14th studio album, MandatoryFun in 2014, became his first
number one album during its debut week.
His success has been attributed to his effective use of music
videos to further parry pop culture.

(19:56):
The song's original artist, the original music videos
themselves. He has directed some of his own
music videos and has also directed music videos for other
artists including Ben Folds, Hanson, the Black Crows, and
Presidents of the United States of America.
With the decline of music, television and onset of social
media, he used YouTube and othervideo sites to publish his
videos. In addition to his music career,

(20:17):
he wrote and starred in UHF and the TV series The Weird Al Show
in 1997. He's also produced 2 satirical
films about his own life, The Complete Al in 85 and Weird The
Al Yankovic Story in 2022. He has acted in several TV shows
and web series in addition to starring in AL TV specials on
MTV. He has also written two

(20:38):
children's books, When I Grew Upin 2011 and My New Teacher in Me
in 2013. I had to give him a full
biography because it's his movie.
Yeah. Anything you want to add on
there? No, I mean nothing that I
haven't covered either when we did the little bonus episode for
the Weird Al movie or, or on my own podcast.

(21:00):
I mean, obviously I'm a massive fan of Weird Al.
I have been for as long as I've been aware of his existence.
Probably, probably sometime in, you know, 8687, you know, when
I, when I got the first cassettethat I bought at a garage sale.
I've seen him three or four times in concert.
You know, he, he is a super talented performer and he should

(21:26):
be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
It is a travesty that he that hehasn't even been nominated yet.
And I will agree, every year when they talk about who should
be the Super Bowl halftime show,it's like Weird Al is who we
want. We need a Weird Al Super Bowl.
Absolutely we do. So, so let's, all right, let's,

(21:46):
we might have talked about this because we did, we did do a
bonus episode about weird the AlYankovic story when it came out
because it's so laden with 80's pop culture.
We might have thought about them, but what was the did you
hear a song first? Did you watch?
Do you see a video or you just got a cassette tape?
I got a cassette tape like I I mean, I think it was one of

(22:08):
those like, you know, bad or, you know, fat and eat it and
like a surgeon and like all thatstuff was, you know, coming out.
It was super popular and it was you know, it was like, you know,
our like our age, like, I mean, it just that was it was like
peak comedy. It was something that, like, my
parents would let me, you know, have access to where like, I

(22:31):
wasn't necessarily allowed to have access to the people he was
parroting, but for whatever reason, I had access to him.
So there there are songs to thisday when I hear on the radio
that like, I immediately think of the Weird Al version because
I heard that version first. Yeah, that's great.
Yeah, I think I know. I saw his videos first before I

(22:52):
knew that I could actually buy his music.
And I don't remember which. The one that stands up, I
remember I lost on Jeopardy, which was one that I remember
seeing the video for as a kid. And of course, when edit came
out, that was probably like the biggest one that really kind of,
you know, blew him up, you know,worldwide.
But, and it might have been during that time they just

(23:14):
started playing some of his older songs, like his older
music videos at that point. But you.
Know and dare to be stupid was associated with the
Transformers. OK.
Like I think it made it into theTransformers movie, if memory
serves. I can't.
I mean, there's, there's, there's a memory that gets stuck
in my head with that. I don't, you know, I could be

(23:34):
wrong, but I distinctly rememberbeing at a garage sale, like,
you know, in the neighborhood, like going to a garage sale and
there being a Weird Al cassette for like 1/4 or $0.50 or
something like that. Running home, grabbing the money
out of my Piggy Bank and runningback and buying it.
Because like I was like, this isthat, you know, like, you know,

(23:55):
I didn't have cable growing up. I didn't have cable until like
96. So I probably saw Weird Al
videos on MTV when I was over atmy friend's house.
I don't remember that as well because I didn't have access to
the videos with any regularity. But I had the albums and that
was, you know, my parents would buy me the albums when they came

(24:17):
out. So like I had, you know, all the
Weird Al albums, you know, Yeah,I've, I've since gone back and
rebought a lot of the ones that I had on cassette, on CD or
Yeah. We'll we'll, we'll, I'm sure
we'll get more into but I, you know, we'll, we'll move on
because we got a lot to cover. But but go back, yeah,
definitely go back and listen toour bonus episode about the

(24:37):
Weird Al Yankovic story. Because I know we, I know we
talked a little bit more about our history with Weird Al in
that episode. So playing Bob Steckler and Bob
O the Clown is David Bowe. He's best known for his role in
this movie. His other film credits include A
Few Good Men in 92, Made in America in 93, Heavyweights in

(24:57):
95, The Rock in 96, and Kicking and Screaming in 2005.
I knew he looked familiar, like he definitely looked like
someone I'd seen before, but I really thought he had been other
things besides this, which I think he did.
He was, but he wasn't like, maybe I just mostly remembered
him from this as being like, I, I want.

(25:18):
I wanted to think he was a sidekick for somebody else in
another like teen comedy, but I couldn't, couldn't find where it
was. So, Oh no, I just, I didn't
know. I see him and I'm like, oh,
that's a guy. So the producers actually
considered Jerry Seinfeld, who, of course was not the Jerry
Seinfeld we know now for the role of George's friend Bob

(25:39):
Speck. But he turned it down.
David Bowe was a long time Yankovic fan, easily fit the
role during audition. So that was cool being a fan of
his to be able to play his best friends.
Probably a dream come true it. Would be for me.
And then someone else who was not as popular then, Fran
Drescher as Pamela Finkelstein. Nickel Stein Stein Stein.

(26:04):
She made her screen debut with asmall role in the 77 film
Saturday Night Fever, later appeared in American Hot Wax in
78 and Wes Cravens horror film Stranger in Our House in 78.
In the 80s, she worked as a comedic actress in the films
like The Hollywood Nights, Doctor Detroit, This Is Spinal
Tap, and made guest appearances on several television series.

(26:25):
In 1993, she achieved wider fameas fan Fine Fran Fine in her own
sitcom vehicle, The Nanny, for which she was nominated for two
Emmy Awards and two Golden GlobeAwards for Best Actress and a
Comedy TV Series. During the show's run, she was
cast for her established comedy and for her nasally voice that
made a humorous contrast for a news anchor.

(26:47):
So, But yeah, I I had no recollection that she was in
this movie until I was watching last night.
I like, it's one of those, like,I've seen this movie so much.
I'm like, Oh yeah, that's right,Fran.
Fran Dresser's in this movie. But yeah, I know.
I like, yeah, I, I think it was one of those like when I saw my

(27:08):
nanny, I'm like, hey, I know you.
I know her. Right.
Yeah. And it was funny because Tyra, I
told her I was going to watch itlast night, my wife, Tyra.
And so she came in like maybe 10minutes in right before they
meet, you know, meet her. And so when she came, she goes
that Fran dresser. I was like, yeah, so it was so.

(27:30):
And then of course she recognized a few other people,
but she didn't watch the whole thing.
She was like, this movie is so stupid.
But you know, she's, I was like,yes, it is.
And that's why I told she's like, you like this movie.
I was like, I love this movie asa kid.
So but yeah, we were talking about later today.
She was like, I thought I was doing the podcast tonight and
she was like, that terrible movie you watched last night.
So that's not terrible. She'll say it was so terrible.

(27:51):
I couldn't pull myself away because she kept saying she was
going to leave and she'd stand up and watch 5 more minutes and
then she'd start to leave and she'd come back.
So she didn't watch all of it, but she she made it longer into
it than she thought she would. But yeah, so it's not for
everyone. It's a movie that's not for
everyone. And we'll say that up front, but
it was for us. All right, moving on, Michael
Richards as Stanley Spadowski his he began his career as a

(28:15):
stand up comedian, first entering the national spotlight
when he was featured on Billy Crystal's first cable TV special
and went on to become a series regular on the AB CS Fridays
from 89 to 98. He played Cosmo Kramer on
Seinfeld, which is the most, youknow, famous role.
He made numerous guest appearances on a variety of TV
shows such as cheers. His filming credits.

(28:36):
His film credits include saw married an axe murderer,
airheads, young doctors in love problem child coneheads, trial
and error. One of his few starring roles.
In 2000, he starred in his own sitcom The Michael Richards
Show, which was cancelled after only two months, but the role of
Stanley Spadowski was written with Michael Richards in mind.
Haven't been impressed with the stand up comedy and performance

(28:58):
on the show Fridays. His role was influenced by
Christopher Lloyd's performance on Taxi, so Yankovic had
considered offering it to him, but Cup Richards due to their
original premise. Richards agents told Yankovic
that he was not interested in the role due to having a bout of
Bell's palsy. But on Second Contact, Richards
arrived on set, dropped right into character for the test read

(29:19):
and got the part. But he's a very different
character than Kramer, which is,I think it's hard for people to
see him in this role because he's so iconic as Kramer.
But. Yeah.
And, and I think if you do the time, I don't remember if it was
from the time it came out on VHSor the time that it was released

(29:40):
in theaters like it was within. Weeks it was.
A couple weeks from when this movie came out, from when he
started Kramer, Like it was like, you know.
And that was one of the, I don'tthink I put it in my notes, but
I did see that like, I think cuzSeinfeld was like a mid season
replacement or might have been like a like it was a short.
The first season was short because it was like it might

(30:02):
have been a summer release like.When it was still the Seinfeld
Chronicles. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, yeah, I think it was like when this movie came out like
literally like a couple of weeksor like a month later, it was
the show came, the show came out, he became much more
popular, but it was still Seinfeld really wasn't popular
until like its second, like halfway through its second

(30:22):
season. So it still took time for it to
it took time for it to find its it's it's flowing.
Yeah, I I remember watching thatfrom the beginning because I was
huge stand up fan. Like I love stand up comedy.
And there were a few shows that would come on that would like
feature stand up comics. So like, we'll get to Emo

(30:43):
Phillips here in a minute. I'm going to mention him or they
don't have much to talk about him.
But I remember seeing him doing his stand up.
And I know he used to tour with Weird Al as well.
So I guess he would probably do stand up before the concerts,
whatever. But when he popped, it was like,
I know that guy because I'd seenhim in a bunch of little
different stand up comedy specials.
So you know who he was. I, I mean, I know I've always

(31:05):
known Emo Phillips as the, as the guy from this movie I saw.
I mean, then I know he then I knew he was a stand up later on
in life, but I actually saw Emo Phillips open for Weird Al, OK.
And I went and saw him a couple,you know, like 2 years ago at
this. Point he still does the same
kind of comedy like The Voice and the.
Yeah, and I, I still don't know to this day if that voice is

(31:27):
real or if it's just a a part ofthe act that like Bobcat, Bobcat
Goldwyn. Yeah, Gilbert Gottfried.
Yeah, yeah, I don't, I don't know if that emo Phillips voice
is is real or if it's a put on. But if it is, if it is a put on
it, it's he's been doing it for so long now that like.
Right, right, All right, moving right along.

(31:50):
We got Kevin McCarthy as RJ Fletcher, the owner of Channel
8. Of course we talked.
Were you on the episode with Interspace?
Yes, because I remember, I remember I was talking about
him. I was like, I kind of remembered
that you just like he's in UHF. So he they found Kevin McCarthy
in this in a similar stage of his career as Lizzie Nielsen. 1
of many serious vintage actors who had crossed over to satire,

(32:13):
Mccordia Levy and McCarthy. According to Levy, McCarthy
relished the role. Yankovic noted that McCarthy
struggled not to laugh during takes.
McCarthy later described his character as a fellow who makes
Ebenezer Scrooge look like SallyStruthers.
Yankovic cited one of them McCarthy's best known roles as
the ageless history teacher in the classic Twilight Zone
episode Long live, Long live Walter Jameson.

(32:36):
So yeah, I mean, I knew Kevin McCarthy more so from
Innerspace, but I mean he still he pays kind of the same
character in both. I think we talked about that in
there in the Inner Space episode.
So but yeah, he's great in this just I mean, and I think I was
reading said like they can't tell him to be meaner.
They they want you. They like kept do it meaner,

(32:58):
like want you to be as mean as possible.
And so he just thought that wasn't so much fun to like just
be this over the top mean person.
So but yeah, he's pretty mean. This is like a #2 pencil to you.
And then, I mean, we haven't really got the scenes.
But when he fires Stanley for, you know, thinking he took the

(33:21):
the report, the paperwork, and then he sits in the chair and
it's in this chair and it's like, OK, you're not going to,
you know, hire him back. Nope.
Because he's already fired him. So just all those things.
Oh, but one of my favorite, I know we're not getting the
favorite scenes, but one of my favorite scenes.
We're going to talk about it nowbecause on my mind, I'll forget
later, is when the guy comes in the office with the awful cowboy

(33:43):
hat and he's about to leave and he's like, for God's sake, take
that ridiculous thing off. And he peels away his fake
mustache. Oh, man, I was like, that still
works. That is like comedy gold.
Like that is perfect. Yeah, that, that is.
That's a good one. All right, then we got Victoria
Jackson is Terry his long-suffering girlfriend.

(34:06):
She's best known as a cast member of Saturday Night Live
from 86 to 92. Her other film roles included
Baby Boom in 87, The Pickup Artist also in 87, The Couch
Trip in 88, Dream A Little Dreamin 89, and I Love You to Death
in 89. They did not significantly
develop the relationship of Terry when in the original
script because they didn't consider Yankovic a romantic

(34:28):
lead, but Jennifer Tilly and Ellen DeGeneres auditioned.
But Victoria Jackson's soft demeanor was preferred for the
role of Terry. I, I mean, like, I mean there's
not a lot for her to do. Yeah, yeah.
Like, yeah, I I couldn't see Jennifer Tilly doing the role as
easily as Victoria Jackson, but.No, yeah.

(34:51):
She's kind of the perfect kind of sufferable girlfriend.
That's just kind of like, you know, Yeah.
Yeah, but I mean, I know. Victoria Jackson.
More from Saturday Night Live. But.
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, she pretty much
plays the same character and everything, so it's not like a
big was like a big stretch for her, you know, kind of playing
herself. But I tried to watch some of the

(35:12):
deleted like I was a little disappointed with the Blu-ray
because the deleted scenes. But it was almost like a bit
where like Weird Al would come on and say, like, we have to do
deleted scenes because I guess it was it was just a pull from
the an old DVD copy because the quality wasn't as good.
And he was like, do you want to see me in a love scene?
And it's a pic and it's a it's ascene of him sitting in Victoria
Jackson's lap, like after they had their dinner and like she's

(35:37):
trying to be serious and he'd like starts tickling her and
they fall over in the chair. And like, you could tell it was
more, more than deleted scenes were more like outtakes than
they were deleted scenes. So it was a little.
Little I'm I'm sure you're you have it in your notes.
I don't know. But I mean, then there's
reportedly there was a 2 1/2 hour cut and they cut it down.
And a lot of people are like, wewant you to release the, the,

(35:59):
the, the full, the full movie. And Weird AL's like, there's a
reason why that stuff was cut, right?
Exactly. Exactly.
Like you don't want to see it like this is, you know, we
released the version that you you want to see.
Like you don't, you don't want the full 2 1/2 hours.
Well, kind of like we talked about a couple weeks ago with

(36:19):
Caddyshack, there's supposedly afour hour.
You don't want that, no. The the 90 minutes.
Is enough? Yeah.
Is enough. Yeah, exactly.
All right. I got a few more here to cover.
Stanley Brock is another. That guy for me.
Played Harvey George's uncle. He guest starred on numerous TV
shows. Probably why I recognized him
from One Day at a Time. Charlie's Angels, Happy Days,

(36:41):
Knots Landing, Hill Street Blues, The 18, Quantum Leap and
Hwy. to Heaven. He was also in episodes of The
Rockford Files and Night Court, which once again, probably where
I saw him on. But when he was one of those
that guys, I had to mention him.Yeah, we'll see how that guy for
you. Pretty much.
That you you coined that phrase on the podcast here for us.
So even when you're not a guest,you know that I mentioned you

(37:04):
when you're not a guest, right? I've.
Listened to most of the episodesso yeah, I, I, I, I know I get
mentioned occasionally. Yeah, whenever we talk about
that guy like this, if Nicholas was here, he'd say this is a
that guy. So one of my favorite on this is
Anthony Geary as Philo. Yeah, Philo, the station
engineer who's secretly an alien.

(37:24):
His role was inspired by Joel Hodgson stand up routines with
homemade inventions and deadpan comedy.
Hodson declined the role becausehe felt he was not a good actor
and he was also working on Mystery Science Theater 3000,
which became its own hit. Crispin Glover, That's right,
from Back to the Future was approached for the role.
But he only wanted to play the used car salesman.

(37:48):
And they were like, no, he doesn't fit.
As the producer saw other actors, their casting agent
suggested Anthony Geary, who hadgained popularity on General
Hospital. I knew him as Luke of Luke and
Laura from General Hospital and if you were if you watched that
in the 80s that you know who that is.
Gary said he wanted the role as a fan of Yankovic.
Once again, another fan that gotto be in the movie and as a

(38:10):
completely opposite from his normal acting, which is true.
He got to be a completely different character.
So which is why I love him in the Troll because I grew up
watching General Hospital Luke and Laura was like, that was
part of my childhood watching this love story of these two
actors. So this, I remember seeing him
in this movie, like being blown away, like it's the soap opera

(38:30):
guys in a movie. Like it was, it was like unheard
of for me. I I remember the Luke and Laura
thing but I never watched General Hospital so I had no
idea who this guy was. Right, right.
But yeah, I love it when he turns into an alien.
That's like another great, greatscene.
All right, almost done here. So then we got Billy Barty had

(38:53):
to mention as Noodles Macintosh.We talked about Billy Barty
previously from Masters of the Universe, so I won't go back
into his filmography, but a great actor who's been in a
bunch of great movies as well. Then Getty Watanabe as Cooney
the karate teacher later host the game show.
He's known for voicing the character of a lean in the

(39:15):
animated film Mulan and its sequel Mulan 2, as well as
playing Long Duck Dong in 16 Candles 84.
He played Kaz or Takahara, Kaz Kashiro and Dong Ho in 86,
another one of my favorite Forgotten 80s flicks.
And he was Nurse YOSH in the NBCmedical drummer drama ER from 97

(39:35):
to 2003. Cooney was conceived for Getty
wanted to be directly, while Yankovic created the role of the
clumsy shop teacher for Emo Phillips, who was a close friend
of his. So he, I guess he'd he had seen
Getty and wanted him in the movie and which he was.
I was reading. I didn't put all his
filmography, but I kind of figured because I've seen him in

(39:58):
so many other things he is not from.
I mean he's his parents are fromJapan.
But he's never lived in Japan, he was born here and he does not
have a thick accent and speaks no Japanese.
So he's always having to play put on this the heavy accent to
play these roles, which I think is pretty terrible, but
definitely remembered him. And then our other that guy is

(40:18):
David Proval as Fletcher's head goon.
He launched his acting career with a starring role in Mean
Streets in 73, directed by Martin Scorsese and has been
working non-stop ever since. His other notable movies include
The Phantom in 96, The Brady Bunch Movie in 95, Four Rooms in
95, and The Shawshank Redemptionin 94.

(40:39):
So I definitely recognized him immediately.
I was like, this is one of thosegangster guys always, always in
the in the mob or plays a hitmanfor sure.
I'll mention the last ones very quickly, but John Paragon as RJ
Fletcher Junior. He's best known for his work on
the TV series Pee Wee's Playhouse because he portrayed
John B the Genie and voiced Terry the the Pterodactyl.

(41:02):
OK. And then the two cameos or the
the cameo that was and the cameothat they wanted that they
didn't get. If you know the story already,
the first one is of course BarryHanson, also known as Doctor
Demento. Doctor Demento.
He's seen eating whipped cream during the Channel 62 promo.
The Doctor Demento Show, a syndicated radio show that

(41:23):
started in 74 and moved online in 2010, focuses exclusively on
novelty and comedy records. It played a huge role in Weird
AL's career, so of course, giving him a cameo seemed like
the perfect, perfect thing to do.
And do you know about the cameo that they could not land?
I do. OK, Weird Al originally wanted

(41:43):
Sylvester Stallone to do a cameoas the helicopter booth worker
in the Rambo sequence and discovered that he and Stallone
had a mutual friend. Stallone initially agreed to
make the appearance, but ultimately had to back out due
to scheduling issues. So it was like, that would have
been like, that would have been the cherry on the top, man, just
to have him and that cameo wouldhave been like, perfect,

(42:06):
perfect, perfect. So all right, I covered as many
as I could. I'm sure I left out some people,
anybody that I didn't cover thatyou wanted to mention.
No, you got them all that I was going to bring up so.
All right, so all right, let's hit it.
Iconic scene. When somebody says UHF, what's

(42:28):
the scene that first pops in your head?
The All right, so I've got a fewfor iconic scenes.
See, this is where I struggled. Yeah, I am.
I I'm I'm there with you. Because I had to.
I was trying to differentiate between favorite and iconic and
iconic. Like you've got the Rambo.

(42:50):
Absolutely. You've got the Twinkie Wiener
sandwich, the Beverly Hillbillies music video, Because
I'm sure that that was also on heavy rotation on MTV, yes.
Yeah. Yeah, crazy Ernie's I'm going to
make if I don't sell a car by, you know, 3:00 PM, I'm going to
club this seal and then Spatula City.

(43:11):
Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
And and I don't, I don't know where you'd want to put the
flying poodle scene if that's aniconic or if that's in.
Cringy because. Well, yeah, I mean, but it I, I
think it was cringy, but I thinkit was supposed to be.
Like even then. Even then it was because like
that was like, you have the whole like turtles of nature

(43:33):
suction cup and then he throws poodles out the and then him and
Bob are like, where'd you find this guy?
So you had this. So like they had this whole show
that somehow made it on the air that like neither one of them
knew about. So like that was kind of like,
you know. Yeah, that.
I think that was the scene whereit got you entire.
I was like, OK, I think I'm donenow.

(43:55):
She's like a can't, can't. Watch it and I don't.
Do you have any more on in your notes on that one?
On the actor or the scene. On on the well, because on on
either. Yes, I do.
OK. All right.
So well. It's it's kind of a downer.
Part it is but. Yeah, so I guess during the

(44:16):
filming of the movie, he had filmed that scene and then he
was killed by a drunk driver, right.
But they had originally planned on having a another scene
towards the end of the movie during the telephone, where like
the the poodles were going to have the revenge.
On him. Like, yeah, but they just, they
were, they were going to film itwith a stand in instead, but
they just decided that it didn'tfeel right.

(44:38):
So they just kind of let it be, which I think ultimately makes
the flying poodle scene or the, you know, Raul's magic king.
Well, you have the two scenes with Raul's animal Kingdom
because I I do quote it quite often and I know it's a RIP off
of of, you know, cheese and Chong, but Badgers, Badgers, we

(44:58):
don't need these thinking Badgers any anytime I'm at a zoo
when they have a badger, it's you know.
And it was funny because I was like, when it got to that scene,
I was like, oh, so the whole thing at the beginning was just
to get to him to, you know, likethe whole first section was just
there so that later we could have this scene for him to save

(45:18):
that line. Like it was all up for that.
Because once again, not knowing the story now about how they had
more to do with it because you don't see him again at all in
the movies. I was like, I feel like that's
just, it was just for that. They created that just for that
one little bit, but. Right.
And I, and I'm not sure, like I wonder if the Badger line would
have made it in had he not. Yeah, passed away, Right.

(45:40):
Yeah. Because then they would have had
the payoff at the telethon. Those are for me.
Those are the iconic scenes. I've got a few more that are in
my favorite. Yeah.
Yeah. So for me for iconic, like the
scene, like when I think of it, most of the things that I think
of are the stuff in the Stanley's his, you know, kids
show, like drinking from the fire, like it's time to drink

(46:02):
from the fire hose. But I know that was like heavy
in the commercials for it. But that that scene, I always
think about the Rambo scene. Of course, the opening sequence
of, you know, Raiders of Lost Ark parody was like like this,
like at the very end we're like,he's he's doing the whole things
with his face like Indiana Jones.
And then he pulls out the the sand and then just throws the

(46:23):
bag over his shoulder and grabs it, which I always thought that
was perfect. Like so that and then those are
like the two main ones that I remembered.
Honestly, what's so funny is I completely forgot about the Dire
Straits money for nothing parody.
Like I when it started watching last night, I was like, I

(46:44):
remembered watching the video onMTV and I'd forgot that it was
actually in the movie. Like I just, I had somehow in,
in my mind, I had separated those two things.
So like watch, I was like, I wasgeeking out during that part.
I was like, oh man, this was oneof my favorite.
Like whenever it came on MTVI was so excited because when
you'd hear that opening riff, everyone was like, which one is

(47:05):
it? Which one is it?
Is it the, is it the Weird Al parody or is it the Dire Straits
video? Because they would play them
both like in the same day a lot of times so.
Well, and the fact that Mark it's one of the rare songs where
Weird Al doesn't do the whole thing just with his band Mark
Mark Knopfler actually like guested on the on the the track.

(47:27):
Well, that was that was his stipulations.
Like you can do the parody, but I have to play the opening, I
have to play the guitar riff. And so I was like, yeah, I'll do
that. That's fine.
So and then and then they gave him, they gave him permission to
basically do the video shot for shot, you know, which was great
too. So man, yes, that's that's by
far now one of my moving into favorite scenes.
That was one of my favorite scenes for sure.

(47:49):
Iconic and favorite scenes are kind of interchangeable on this
one. Conan the Librarian was
hilarious. That's on my list, yeah.
Don't you know the Dewey DecimalSystem?
Right, Right. So I wasn't as big of a fan of
Gandhi 2. Like that one's just a little
bit over the top for me. But I mean, it's, you know, it

(48:11):
fits with the humor going back to like knowing, you know,
Doctor Demento and weird, like knowing their roots, like even
the, the, the the poodles. Like that fits in the thing
because it was kind of like, I want to say shock humor, but it
is kind of like it it it teeterson that edge of like, does it go

(48:31):
too far as far as comedy? But but even but even looking at
it now, like it's, it's harder for me to watch it now as an
adult, But as a kid, number one,you knew the dogs were fake.
So they're not really throwing poodles out the window.
And then and we'll get into it later because about how they're
rating like they wanted him to cut certain things out to give
it APG rating. So Emo Phillips cutting off his

(48:54):
thumb in the You know, the Shop demonstration.
Oh, me, Mr. Bucker Finger. Boy, is my face red.
Yeah, like, that seems kind of shocking, but Saturday Night
Live have been doing that since the 70s.
I mean, there's the infamous DanAykroyd is Julia Child cutting

(49:14):
off, you know, topic on her finger.
So. So you said that kind of stuff
didn't. And then like even the scene
when they when code code in the librarian chops the guy in half,
you know, so you can tell where it seemed like they cut some of
that a little bit to not be likeif they would have lingered on
it too long, it might have been too much.
But it's it's a human cartoon. It's like we saw worse in Wile E

(49:36):
Coyote cartoons and Tom and Jerry.
So when he cut the guy in half, it was bloodless like you.
Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah.
It wasn't like blood and gore like it would have been like in
like Nightmare on Elm Street or something.
Right, right. Exactly.
It was just the, you know. Yeah, but like I said, for, you
know, kids our age when this came out, like, you know, let's
just say preteen most likely, orearly teenager.

(50:00):
That's just that's the stuff that we thought was funny.
That's, you know, the kid spitting in his face when he
asked him with his name. Like that grosses me out now.
But as a kid, that was the most hilarious thing I've ever seen.
So it just, you know, you know your audience.
As a 12 year old, it spoke to me, yeah.
It's like, I've always wanted todo that, you know?
You know, and, and like digging through oatmeal to find the

(50:23):
marble like I, you know. You just won the prize.
You get to drink from the fire. Who am I?
All right. Any other favorite teams you
want to mention? I I've got two more.
I've got wheel of fish. Yes, yes.
Where you know, because I, I will, I sometimes I will quote
that line. Just you want to take what's in

(50:43):
the box? Like if I'm watching like like
let's make a deal or something. And I just, I just want like
some, I want Wayne Brady to break out that you're so stupid.
And then the hobo, when he comesup and asks for change at the
beginning of the movie. Oh, my gosh.
And Weird Al holds out the change and goes and then he

(51:05):
gives them a dollar. Yeah.
He's like. 95 cents, $1.00 and he gives them a dollar.
I was like, that was hilarious. I mean, or, and then the, the
payoff when he, he asked the RJ for change and he gives them
like the, the, the Super rare penny like that.
That's pretty funny. And I kind of remembered that,
like when I saw him give him thepenny and he was excited, I was

(51:26):
like, wait, I think he's the onethat like ends the telethon.
Like I, it was coming back to mewhen I was rewatching it.
So like, you know. And then and then there was one,
It was kind of a throwaway sceneand it was real quick, but I
caught it. I mean, I've definitely seen it
before, but this time it's turned out to me where George is
sitting outside the station. He's like, where where am I

(51:48):
going to get $75,000? And Stanley's like, and he pulls
out his wallet. Yeah, yeah, I got it.
Another one that's kind of a throwaway but I have made me
laugh is when they've taken Stanley hostage and Weird Al
gets there to save him and they're walking out and Yoshi

(52:12):
and is a Yoshi. What is his name?
Toshi Koshi Cooney Yeah, Cooney and all the karate guys come out
the supply closet and what do they say?
Supplies like instead of surprise.
So which, you know, that's what that's like one of the ultimate
dad jokes. Like, you know, what is the what
does the gender say when he jumps out of the gender deposit

(52:33):
Supplies. So.
But yeah, so there's a lot of like just those little bits that
were that that keep you, keep you laughing as you go.
And once in the Spatula City commercial was is gold, comedy
gold. And, you know, and much like the
the music, like there's a lot ofit.

(52:53):
Like I probably didn't understand at the time because I
hadn't seen those movies. Like, so now I go back and I
watch it and I'm like, oh, yeah,yeah.
I mean, I didn't see Rambo untillike five years later.
And I didn't see Conan until about 10 years ago, you know,
10-15 years ago. Like, yeah, I was like, they're
definitely like movies or TV or stuff that like he like the, I

(53:17):
like the company so much or I like the specialist so much.
I bought the company. Like, yeah, if you're not from
the 80s when you saw the, the, the, you know, Psych, whatever.
He you know I like the company so much I bought it.
Or it was a razor. It was one of the razor
companies. Yeah, whatever.
Yeah. There's just so many parodies in
there that like, you don't even think about like, yeah.
But as a, as a 12 year old, you,you probably missed a lot of it,

(53:40):
but because it was funny, like you, you, I love the movie.
Now as an adult, I can go back and watch it and be like, oh,
this works on a whole different level.
Yeah. Definitely like the the the
mashed potatoes and building. The mound of mashed potatoes is
from close Encounters. I had not seen when that came
out. The red rum was from the
Shining. I didn't know.
I didn't recognize that reference, which I found out

(54:02):
what later was ad libbed by Weird Al that was like not
scripted him to do that. And when when Stanley gets his
mop back and he talks about, youknow, we we're not going to take
it anymore. It's from Network, which I had
not seen, you know, so there wasa like I said, there's a lot of
things in there for like adults that had seen those older movies
would recognize, kids wouldn't know, but it's still funny, so.

(54:25):
The 80s Flick Flashback Podcast will return after these
messages. Hey there fellow 80s movie
aficionados, Are you ready to embark on a nostalgia filled
journey to the greatest era of cinema?
Then look no further than the Retro Life for You 80s movie
podcast. Join us every week as we rewind

(54:46):
the VHS test, dust off those Betamax classics, and dive head
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Heroes, we Got It All Covered, Breakfast Club, Ghostbusters, ET
in Indiana Jones, and more. It's like a trip in Doc Brown's

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Time Machine but without the DeLorean.
So whether you're a die hard 80sfilm buff or just curious about
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(55:28):
and we can be found anywhere youlisten to your podcast as well
as on our website www.retrolifethe#4theletteru.com.
All right, well, let's jump intosome scenes, trivia scenes.

(55:48):
I've got a few here, some we've kind of already talked about.
But talking about the wheel of fish, when the, when the the
model was standing there holdingthe fish, I was like, first of
all, that's got to be real fish.And I bet it stinks because
she's trying to like look pleasant, but you can tell she
does not comfortable. So they were real fish.
They were bought by a local fishmarket early one morning.

(56:11):
The set designer began attachingthem to the wheel around 6:00
AM, making sure the wheel would spin smoothly.
Filming started at 4:30 on a hotsummer day in a building that
wasn't air conditioned, filled with hot studio lights and over
100 extras. On the DVD commentary, Weird Al
describe the filming conditions as quote UN quote ripe.

(56:32):
I can only imagine. All right, so this is my I was
so glad that somebody wrote thisdown because I almost paused in
the movie to write all these down, all the titles of the
shows when he's doing the Fridaynight lineup.
So in addition to the program shown on Channel 62, the
station's Friday lineup on the wall board includes Bestiality

(56:52):
Today, Beat the Loan Shark, The Beverly Hillbillies.
Of course Buddha knows best Dog racing from Rio de Janeiro.
Druids on parade, eye on toxic waste.
Fun with dirt. Of course we know he mentioned
Leave it to Bigfoot. Mr. Ed.
Of course, my 3 mutants name that stain the news.

(57:16):
Raul's wild Kingdom. Stanley Podowski's clubhouse.
That's disgusting. The flying Pope.
The lice is right. The young and dyslexic town talk
traffic court secrets of the universe.
We saw the promo for that one. Underwater bingo for teens,

(57:38):
Volcano worshippers hour, Wheel of Fish, Wild World of Tractor
Pulls, Wonderful World of Phlegmand you bet your pink slip
programs. Programs shown but not on the
lineup include Bowling for burgers and Strip solitaire.
One of the shows volcano worshippers hour and high school

(57:59):
Weird Al started a volcano worshippers club just to get
into the yearbook. So nice little nod there.
So as we move into box office inlate 88 or Orion Pictures took
advantage of the high anticipation for Indiana Jones
and the Last Crusade, which was come also coming out in
18/19/89, by pulling out a teaser trailer for this movie

(58:20):
using much of the Raiders of Lost Ark spoof footage, not
revealing Weird Al Yankovic's face and the title until the
very end. You can actually watch the
teaser on this as a special feature on the DVD release.
I was like, that was smart marketing.
Like, you know, people are waiting to see the new Indiana
Jones, so why not use the spoof at the beginning?
They've done that now. They've done that plenty of

(58:41):
Times Now with more recent movies.
So before it's released in 89, Orion Pictures was pretty high
on UHF. In fact, it tested a higher with
audiences than RoboCop, which Orion released in 87.
The studio was so confident in the movie, they believed it
would be their biggest hit of the summer.
But it bombed with a $6.1 million domestic box office

(59:03):
gross against a reported $5 million budget.
It did open on July 31st, 1989 and landed at #11 for the
weekend box office. What else was out that week, you
ask? Here's the list.
UHF landed at 11. The only other new release was
Shag, which it beat, which was in 12th at #10.

(59:25):
Weekend at Bernie's at #9 Ghostbusters 2 #8 Indiana Jones
and the Last crusade #7 Dead Poet Society number six, A Peter
Pan Re release #5 License to kill #4 Honey, I Shrunk the Kids

(59:46):
number 2. When Harry Met Sally #2 I'm
sorry #2 #3 When Harry Met Sallynumber 2 was Batman and #1 in
its third week, Lethal Weapon 2.Yeah.
Didn't stand a chance? No.
No, that was that was just one of those like we decided we were

(01:00:07):
going to release the movie and it's like people are smarter
about that now than they used tobe.
Yeah, absolutely. It did beat Karate Kid Part 3,
so we'll just leave. Pathetic.
Which was #13 right. All right, so it's time for the
Rewatch Ability Nostalgia Meter.We come to our segment where we

(01:00:29):
take a look at how well this 80sflick holds up today.
The all new Rewatch Ability Nostalgia Meter is our way of
measuring how enjoyable a movie is for repeat, for repeat
viewings, along with the waves nostalgia brings you.
If you listened before, you knowhow it works.
But for those first time listens, it's a, it's a one to
10 scale. Any number between 1:00 and
10:00 will do, but here are a few parameters to help you

(01:00:50):
decide. If you give it a number one or
in the low range, you can say I saw it once and that was enough.
Right in the middle and #5 is a good rewatch every couple of
years. But if you want to take it all
the way to 10, that means it's highly rewatchable and full of
nostalgia. So Nicholas, I'm pretty sure
where this one lands for you, but go ahead and tell us, where
does UHF landmark? Where would you put UHF on the

(01:01:15):
rewatch ability nostalgia meter?I mean, come on.
I think, I think we already knowwhere it is.
It's a one. No, no, it's 10.
It's 10 out of 10. I mean, well played, well
played. Sir, it's I mean, I can't, I,
like I said, I don't watch it asoften as I used to, but I mean,
every time I watch it, I just like it.

(01:01:35):
It it it's it's a for me, It's agreat movie.
I mean, I, I, I understand it's not, it's that it's that type of
movie that like, you've got two different goods.
You've got good, like Shawshank Redemption good, right?
And then you've got good, like UHF good.
Yeah, yeah, I'm going to read like Shawshank Redemption is one
of the greatest movies ever made, but I'm going to rewatch

(01:01:56):
UHF about 10 times before I rewatch Shawshank Redemption,
right? Not saying that Shawshank
Redemption isn't a better movie,right?
Like, you know, I can sit down and watch UHF, you know, all the
time. You.
Know it's rewatchability and nostalgia.
That's that's what that's why this scale was created by me
because like you said, there arebetter made movies, better
quality, quote UN quote, movies,you know, that can win all kinds

(01:02:19):
of critical acclaim. This one's not going to do that.
But is it rewatchable? Yes.
Does it bring nostalgia? Yes.
I'm not going to rank it that high, but I I appreciate your
love for it only because, like Isaid, it's been a long time
since I rewatched it. It does rank very high for
nostalgia for me. Rewatchability, probably not

(01:02:42):
going to watch it that often, but I will want to rewatch it
again if I'm in that mood. Like if I'm in that, you know,
airplane Naked Gun type of type of mood.
It's definitely going to be someI'm going to give it about A8,
which I think is still pretty high, still pretty high.
So, but yeah, the waves nostalgia brought were really

(01:03:04):
good or really good for me. So so All right, Well, I think
we've we finally did it. Your wishes come true.
We've covered UHF. We finally got there.
Now I can stop doing this. Now you got.
To find another movie to beg me to do.
There's another one I've been begging for as well, but.

(01:03:24):
Oh, yes, yes, that one. Yeah, that one's coming too.
We'll get there. We'll get there.
All right. Well, thanks so much, Nicholas,
for being a part. What you got coming up on Pop
Culture Roulette? We've got an episode that's a
bit of a mixed bag like it. You gotta start those lately.
Well, yeah, this one, this one is a is a bit weird.

(01:03:45):
We, we start on a bit of a downer, but we we pick it up.
I mean, it was some things happened on a, on a personal
level that, you know, kind of forced its way into the podcast.
There was a weird synchronicity that happened that was
unfortunate, but, you know, it is what it is.
I think we might be going on on break for a little bit with the

(01:04:07):
holidays and and, you know, travel and stuff like that.
But we might be getting inconsistent for the next, you
know, month or so. But yeah, we got all those other
episodes. Or you can still reach out and.
And you got plenty of content. That's always, always good to go
back and listen. Find one of the bracket
episodes. Those are always, those are my

(01:04:27):
favorites. I always like the bracket
episodes so. If you hit us up on Facebook pop
culture roulette or Instagram pop culture roulette, I think
we're just pop cult roulette over on Instagram, but.
You can find it. Yeah, we're right there.
So. Cool thanks Nicholas for being
with us thanks everybody for tuning in.
Please don't forget to rate and review the show.

(01:04:50):
Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube
and make sure you check out the website and our T public store.
So thanks again for listening. I'm Tim Williams for the 80s
flick flashback podcast. You got to grab life by the lips
and yank as hard as you can as long.

(01:05:10):
As the 80s we will run where every day is just pure fun.
Coonies never say Friday your minds.
In those films, we lose our minds.

(01:05:39):
John Hughes and all his teen dreams, monsages and simply
themes In fairest hands, the city bends.
Living your life like it never ends.
You're still here. It's over.

(01:06:01):
Go home. Go.

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#133 - "UHF" (1989) with Nicholas Pepin

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}#133 - "UHF" (1989) with Nicholas Pepin