This week, I’m thrilled to be joined by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker to discuss their new oral history, Surely You Can’t Be Serious: The True Story of Airplane! In this episode we discuss, among other topics, what set the ZAZ style apart from other titans of the 1970s/1980s comedy boom, how the serious actors on set nailed their deadpan comic patter, trying to nail comic timing in test screenings that weren’t generating many laughs, and how Jeffrey Katzenberg and Michael Eisner helped change the face of comedy by championing the movie during their tenure at Paramount. I cannot recommend this book enough if you love Airplane! and it’d make a great gift for the person in your life who never stops telling you they picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue. If you enjoyed this episode please share it with a friend!
I love all the Zucker Brother movies, just my kind of humor and the puns, and the Easter eggs etc...( also big on Mel Brooks and The Muppets..lol...do we see a pattern here?..lol)
My favorite isn't as well known...Top Secret....with Val Kilmer...
I need to get this book
I loved Top Secret (but Val Kilmer proved to be toxic).
ZAZ got their start in Madison, WI? The same place where The Onion started? Why am I not surprised by this.
We need more comedians come out of Madison.
Apologies for offending anyone (as if when it comes to Airplane) but....there are so many visual gags going on besides the dialogue. In an airport scene toward the beginning there is a shot in front of a newsstand...the rack has magazines sorted by type. News, sports etc. toward the bottom is a section labeled “whacking material”. Perfect. Clearly I’ve seen it too many times to have noticed that little gem.
The audiobook version on Audible is also terrific. Great to hear the stories and interviews in their own voices (for the most part). Everyone should buy both!
Thank you for this interview!
I knew Leslie Nielsen from “Forbidden Planet”, Robert Stack from “The Untouchables”, Peter Graves from “Mission: Impossible”, Lloyd Bridges from “Sea Hunt”, and Barbara Billingsly from “Leave It To Beaver”. I was totally blindsided when I walked in with my 10-year-old son to a matinee showing of “Airplane” (especially when a certain shirtless young woman dashed in front of the camera for three seconds). It was hilarious, and I had no idea I was watching the birth of a classic. I constantly quote from it, and I still think of it when pulling to the curb at LAX:
Male announcer: [later] “The red zone is for immediate loading and unloading of passengers only. There is no stopping in the white zone”. Female announcer: “No, the white zone is for loading of passengers and there is no stopping in a RED zone.”
Now I HAVE to get this book!
"Listen Betty, don't start up with your white zone shit again."
Glad you clambered aboard!