How Airplane! Became a Comedy Legend

On today's episode of Timeless Wisdom, one of the funniest movies ever made in any language on any planet in any universe, Airplane! So who do we have in studio? This is really a special, a special hour, folks. We have in studio the, the writers, the producers, the directors, the Zucker brothers and Jim Abrams who made this. I'll ask you the obvious: does it seem like 30 years? Does it seem like 30 days? Does it seem like a century? I mean, You're sitting here, this, this put you guys in the center of Hollywood and the world.

That's coming up on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager.

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Welcome to Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Hear thousands of hours of Dennis's lectures, courses, and classic radio programs. And to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles, go to dennisprager.com.

You are listening to the best of the Dennis Prager Show. Stand by for the most extraordinary chain of events ever swept up into high adventure. Never has the screen been so big You ever been in a cockpit before? No, sir, I've never been up in a plane before. Peter Graves. You ever seen a grown man naked? Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. My name is Roger Murdoch. I'm an airline pilot. Leslie Nielsen. This woman has to be gotten to a hospital. A hospital? What is it? It's a big building with patients, but that's not important right now. Lloyd Bridges.

Johnny, what can you make out of this?

This? Well, I could make a hat.

What a brooch!

A pterodactyl could eat your—

um.

Robert Stack. All right, Steve, let's face a few facts. And we hope you enjoy the rest of your flight. Julie Hagerty. By the way, is there anyone on board who knows how to fly a plane? Can you fly this plane and land it? Robert Hayes.

Surely you can't be serious.

I am serious. And don't call me Shirley. The most incredible adventure the screen has ever created. Airplane! All right, I'm sure you're wondering, my friends— Dennis Prager here— why we opened the show with the trailer from exactly 30 years ago to one of the funniest movies ever made in any language on any planet in any universe, Airplane! And the reason is that it is indeed the 30th anniversary of what is considered a classic. There are not many film classics. Airplane! is truly one of them, and there are almost no comedy classics. It's much easier, in my opinion, and we'll talk to the folks that I will introduce you to in just a moment. I think it's a lot easier in a film, in a screenplay, to make people cry than to make people laugh. It just is. You know, somebody's dying of cancer and the kid is with the mother who's dying and everybody cries. But to make people laugh and to make people laugh for 30 years, that's an achievement. And by the way, it's a beautiful achievement because people do need to laugh. So who do we have in studio? This is really a special, a special hour, folks. We have in studio the, the writers, the producers, the directors, the first grip, the second grip, the third grip. Uh, you guys did everything. I mean, really, I don't— I'm surprised anybody else is listed in the credits. We have the, the Zucker brothers and Jim Abrams who made this. There was— it wasn't exactly your first film, correct?

It was—

it was— go on.

The first time we directed, but we had written a movie called Kentucky Fried—

That's right, Kentucky Fried Chicken. But this was a movie. Yeah, with you directing. I'm sorry, what was that?

Kentucky Fried Movie.

Oh, I said chicken.

There was no chicken.

Okay. No, no, I knew Kentucky Fried Movie, but my brain went into automatic. It happens every so often, Bill. And so Jerry Zucker, David Zucker, Jim Abrams, this is huge. I'll ask you the obvious. Does it seem like 30 years? Does it seem like 30 days? Does it seem like a century? I mean, you're sitting here. This, this put you guys in the center of Hollywood and the world.

Why are they every looking at me for this answer? It's like, David, all I know is that the traffic is much worse in LA today than it was 30 years ago because, you know, it took the full you know, hour and 15 minutes to get here.

That's true. That is a difference.

But it just seems— I mean, the time— well, time flies and it gets— goes faster and faster once you get older. And, you know, I mean, soon, you know, one of us is going to have a grandchild for all we know, you know.

So that's right. May you all— may you all be blessed with grandchildren. The movie is listed— you showed me, uh, Alan, it was listed in the top 10 funniest ever made. I, I think it's in the top 3. Funniest ever made. I'm—

you thought that there were two that were funnier?

No, no, not at all. It could be in the top three at number one.

Okay, thank you. I just want to say—

no, no, I know. No, that's very fair.

That's a Mel Brooks fan, are you?

No, actually, no. The truth is I'm not. Okay, that's a good point. And there many are. It's, it's, it's not my, my genre of, of, of humor. All right, the another obvious question, then less obvious questions. What did you think would happen to Airplane? Did you think it would do okay? Did you— were you overwhelmed by what happened, Jim?

Well, it took us 6 years to make Airplane!, and during those, those whole 6 years, from the time we started writing it to wound up in a movie theater— and when you worked that hard and that passionately and so devout about something, you believe in it. And so we absolutely believed in it and would have been shocked if it hadn't been a hit, that it would have lasted for 30 years and we'd be sitting in your studio with Dennis Prager 30 years later reminiscing about what it was like. I don't think anybody had a clue that would happen.

Well, I— you deserve it. I'll tell you, it's really one of those classic, uh, I don't— I won't say rags to riches. I don't know if you guys were in rags, but you certainly weren't wearing— is that fair? Yeah.

Middle class to riches.

Middle class to riches. Are you all from Milwaukee?

Yep.

Oh, same high school.

No kidding. That's very powerful.

Our fathers were actually business partners at one time.

Abrams and Zucker. Yeah.

And our sisters were college roommates.

And our mothers used to dance together at the Boom Boom Club in downtown Milwaukee.

No kidding. Yeah, that was my next question. The last one was kidding. The rest of it is actually true.

Just in case Jim's mom is listening.

I want you to know that the thing that is so amazing about your film— well, one of the things— is that to this day people will use lines from it. That's really what you call an achievement. I myself, I can't believe it, will say, uh, don't call me Shirley. I can't, you know, when somebody says, oh Shirley, you're going to the park, Yeah, and I find this—

I do the same thing, and it's more embarrassing because, you know, people ask me how I want my coffee, and it just comes out, you know, I take it black like my men. And it's—

it's—

then I forget, oh wait a minute, I'm just quoting from this movie.

Were the actors cooperative and cracking up? Were there any problems? I mean, 30 years later, I think you could be— you could divulge this.

Not, not as much as you'd think. I mean, you know, the business of making comedy is pretty much just that. It's a business, you know. We, we live with the script for a year, a couple years, and then, you know, you get it on set, you rehearse it a bunch of times. There's very little cracking up on the set, really.

No, there wasn't, really?

Not really.

I mean, Jerry, do you have outtakes?

I'm— my memory is a little different than David's, and, and, uh, I, I, um, I remember actually— I mean, we didn't improvise a lot. The movie was— Oh, you didn't? 9% of the script of the film that you see is what was on the page. But I do remember laughing a lot, you know, watching, you know, when we're watching it unfold, not after the 12th take, but I, I, I, I do remember laughing a lot and having a, a just— my recollection of it is that it was just a wonderful time making the, the film.

I thought you meant like outtake kind of laugh.

No, well, yeah, I do both. In other words, where Leslie Nielsen would just crack up because he couldn't say the lines with his straight face.

That didn't happen much. But Jerry—

we were laughing at our own jokes.

You were? Yeah, but it's good.

Part of, part of the business of directing comedy is you, you do have to see it every take. And we watch the monitors for the— which, you know, shows what the camera is seeing. And we have to laugh at the end of the— because if we don't, that means that it's a bad sign. We have to We have to approach it like we're seeing these lines.

Folks, if you'd like to speak, this is, uh, you're probably a unique opportunity. A classic film and all, and the three people responsible for it— writing, directing, producing, and everything else. Did you guys order the food as well? I mean, I, I—

unfortunately not.

1-800-PRAGER-776 and, uh, 877-243-7776. It's the 30th anniversary of one of the funniest films ever made. What I would be curious to know, I'd love to show this to a college audience today, 'cause humor is almost always culture-bound. That's one thing about humor. It's very hard to translate. I mean, nobody starts cracking up at A Midsummer Night's Dream or any of the comedies of Shakespeare. You know, you enjoy it, you smile, but the audiences then were rolling in the aisles, presumably. And, uh, and have you tried this? Do you know how it would go today with college kids? Maybe some young people will call in. Yeah, Jerry.

Actually, at the time, in order to edit the film, we screened it for college kids because in a normal recruited screening, nobody knew anything about it and it was hard to get the right reaction. So that age was actually great. Now, the thing is, because of DVDs, they've all seen it since they were 11.

Oh, that's very—

and so you really don't find a college crowd who, who are seeing it for the first time.

Oh, that's terrific.

I, I'm—

I think it can— I, I—

well, it would be better if we had a better percentage of the DVD revenues, but I, I believe this transcends time.

I do.

Well, we've been—

I don't—

sure, we've been screening it all summer at these 30-year anniversary celebrations.

Oh, you have?

And the, the audience is laugh, uh, you know, start to finish.

That's great. All right, back in a moment. 30th anniversary of Airplane!

Surely you can't be serious.

I am serious, and don't call me Shirley.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

Soldiers, you are about to embark upon the great crusade.

From Focus Features and the producers of Darkest Hour. There are two Major storms advancing towards the Normandy coast. Experience the untold true story of D-Day. If you invade tomorrow, they're going to be washed away. An inspiring story of courage, sacrifice, and the mission that gave the free world hope.

We will accept nothing less than full victory.

Pressure: The Untold True Story of D-Day. Rated PG-13. May be inappropriate for children under 13. Only in theaters May 29th. Discovered at Dolby Cinema.

Now back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

Flight 209er, you are cleared for takeoff.

Roger. Huh?

LA departure frequency 123.9er. Roger. Huh?

Request vector, over.

What?

Flight 209er, clear for vector 324.

You have clearance, Clarence. Roger, roger. What's our vector, Victor?

Tower radio clearance, over.

Clarence, over.

Over. Roger.

Huh?

Roger, over.

What?

I'm sitting here giggling like I had never seen this. It's the 30th anniversary of the classic film Airplane, and I have the, the everythings, the people who made it, wrote it, directed it, produced it here. The Zucker brothers, Jerry and David, and Jim Abrams, they've known each other since high school from Milwaukee, and, uh, they I'm gonna go to calls. I have a lot of my own questions, but people around the country have questions. New York City, Jonathan. Dennis Prager and everybody who made Airplane!

Hi, Zucker Brothers. Hi, everybody. Abrams. I want to just wish you Mazel Tov on your 30th anniversary, and I want to tell you that your movie literally is one of the guiding lights in my life. Actually, in the office here, We have some fans and we've literally gone through your videos. Sometimes in the morning we'll turn it on and watch for a few minutes a day just to start the day. And I have a question for you that I've always wondered. You know, I watched your movies back in the '80s when I was a little kid and I always wondered, how did you manage to pull off a PG rating back in the '80s with some of those wild scenes going on there?

There was no PG-13 invented at that time.

This was—

it was, it was a new rate. I think Spielberg got that first PG-13 a couple of years later for some movie he did, but there was only PG, and then I think it went right to R.

Well, there was no— except for slapping the lady in that row, which I thought was one of the great moments of my life. The lady screamed. We'll talk about that in a moment. There was no nudity, right?

Yeah, there was.

There was.

How did you miss that, Dennis?

Yeah, that is painful. You know, if you turn away, you can't see it again, you know. Yeah, maybe. Yeah, I don't know. I had this jumbo popcorn. It was in the way.

It was utterly gratuitous.

Yeah, I mean, there was no reason for the name, which is exactly true for almost all films, but it got a laugh, so we left it in. Oh, okay, I see. So that's why he— it is a bad sign that I don't remember that. It must have been brief. Was it brief?

It was very—

tell me it was brief. Okay, fine.

But brief but wonderful, as were the auditions.

And it was my son's favorite part of the movie.

I mean, when he was at 3 Yeah, I know, I knew that was coming. I knew, I knew. Yeah, I'm sure he did.

He saw it as food.

How do 3 people— how do 3 people direct a movie?

Well, it's not really difficult.

It's just the kind of thing. All right, I'm a straight man. I am now. I am an official straight man. How many times did you guys do that? The truth. Was this the 8,004th? Okay, fine. Yeah, uh, we're going to more, uh, or more, more films here. Let's go to Lake Balboa, California. And Gary— hello Gary, Dennis Prager and the Zuckers and Jim Abrams.

Hi Dennis, love your show.

Thank you, me too.

This is one of my favorite all-time movies and I've always wondered what the inspiration of the genesis for this idea was. It's just brilliant.

I think these guys survived an air crash. And what was the genesis?

What we used to do— Jim Abrams For inspiration would be to leave a tape recorder on the television all night long to capture late-night commercials, because that's when all the cheapest, silliest stuff was on TV. And then we would do parodies of those commercials or TV shows. One morning we got to work and had captured a movie called Zero Hour, which was a 1957 melodrama written by Arthur Hailey. Starring Linda Darnell and Sterling Hayden and Dana Andrews, and it was the story of Airplane! And so we rewrote Zero Hour as a comedy and hung our jokes on their story using their characters, and that was where it came from.

So a real film inspired you?

An actual real movie, yes.

I would like to see that now.

Yeah, it's fun. It's, it's excellent. To see it now, especially in, in the wake of Airplane! And we, um, we have put together videos of intercutting Zero Hour scenes with our scenes.

And are those videos publicly available on YouTube?

I think they have Zero— if you Google Zero Hour and Airplane!, I mean, type in Zero Hour Airplane!, you may, you may see it.

This—

people have done a side-by-side a scene-by-scene comparison.

Oh really?

Yeah, right.

I bet they have. It's probably studied constantly.

Some of the lines we lifted completely intact.

No kidding.

When Leslie Nielsen says, uh, 'Stewardess, I think I— you ought to know what our chances are. The lives of everyone on board depends on one thing: finding someone back there who not only can fly this plane but who didn't have fish for dinner.' And that's it. And it gets a laugh.

But that really was in the original.

That was in the original.

Said by the doctor in Zero Hour.

But he meant it seriously.

He meant it seriously, right?

It sounds like quite a film. It's great. It's worthy of parody.

In parts unintentionally hilarious.

Jerry, how are the first reviews?

Um, the first reviews were, I think, pretty good but mixed. I mean, I think, you know, who panned it?

Um, Pauline Kael.

They sure know now. Wait, was she New Yorker? Was she at The New Yorker?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, but I found out later, she's— when she saw it, she was sitting next to Woody Allen. And Woody Allen kept saying, "No, this is great, don't you see? This is funny." And she says, "But there's no comedians in it." So she just, she really didn't like it.

Well, look, when push comes to shove, I'd rather Woody Allen think it's funny than Pauline Kael, right? I mean, you know, if you had to really choose. So, but, well, let's say other reviews. So it was mixed, in other words.

Yeah, it was, but I think it was mostly, it was probably 70% favorable. The thing about AIRPLANE, it divided people in the sense that there's a certain kind of person that that's just— that's their sense of humor. They really respond to that satire. And then there's a certain kind of mind that just didn't, you know, didn't get that, didn't love that, didn't understand why everybody was just being straight and there weren't any silly funny people in it.

In light of that, how did it do overseas? How culture-bound is it? Great.

No, you know why? Because it was a satire on American movies, and they get American movies.

They share the references.

And so, but, but they wouldn't know Roger Roger and, you know, looking for Clarence.

The puns had trouble translating.

Yeah, exactly.

But actually, we had, we had an interesting experience because we had an opportunity to see it in Germany. Yeah, and, um, was it dubbed or subtitled? But when the scene came up with the Black guys— yeah, the dubbed Black guys— um, it got as big a laugh in Germany as it did in the United States. And that is fascinating, sitting in the audience, how— why that could happen. And it was explained to us afterward that the, that the Black guys were dubbed Bavarian.

Oh, which they don't get.

Okay, back in a moment.

Sad anymore?

I've got to get out of here! I've got to get out of here! Down!

Get a hold of yourself!

Just please let me handle this.

Calm down now. Get back to your seat. I'll take care of this.

Calm down!

Get a hold of yourself! Doctor, you wanted on the phone. Everything's pretty— Sister, how do you know this? Get out of here! Out of here! I gotta get out of here!

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

Soldiers, you are about to embark upon the Great Crusade.

From Focus Features and the producers of Darkest Hour. There are two major storms advancing towards the Normandy coast. Experience the untold true story of D-Day. If you invade tomorrow, they're going to be washed An inspiring story of courage, sacrifice, and the mission that gave the free world hope.

We will accept nothing less than full victory.

Pressure: The Untold True Story of D-Day. Rated PG-13. May be inappropriate for children under 13. Only in theaters May 29th. Discover it at Dolby Cinema.

Now back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

The red zone is for immediate loading and unloading of passengers only. There's no stopping in the white zone.

No, the white zone is for loading and unloading, and there is no stopping in the red zone.

The red zone has always been for loading and unloading. There's never stopping in a white zone.

Don't tell me which Which zone is for stopping and which zone is for moting?

Listen, buddy, don't start up with your white zone shit again.

I'm still laughing 30 years later. It's 30 years since one of the true classics— and that's the highest appellation you can give to any work of art— has appeared, and that is the film Airplane! And we have the Zucker brothers and Jim Abrams, who wrote it, directed it, produced it, etc. By the way, I see produced it. Where did you get the money to do this? You guys were not rich. Where did you— how did you—

we took— for years we took it around to studios and we kept rewriting it, and every studio in Hollywood turned it down until one guy saw the idea and the script and liked it, and that was Michael Eisner at Paramount. So we really owe him a lot. He, you know—

wow, that's fascinating. I'm glad I asked.

One guy.

Yeah.

And he saw it somehow and had us in to meet. And I remember the first time we ever went to Paramount, we were just awestruck by the carpet.

Right.

It was really plush carpet.

Yeah, I believe it.

Yeah.

By the way, producers never put their own money into movies.

They raise money.

Very rarely, yeah. They get either the studios or foreign financing.

And you got a studio, so through— Yeah. Through Paramount.

It was also very inexpensive.

And Paramount took the script and made it better. Yeah.

Why was it inexpensive? Because it was shot in one place?

Well, it was, you know, a bunch of people on a plane, you know, plane and the control tower and all. We shot it in 7 weeks. It was a $3 million or $3.5 million—

expensive cast, inexpensive. Everything about it was in—

who casted it? Did you guys—

did you guys hire a casting director?

Yeah, you have a casting director, but we but we've always—

You think veto power?

In movies, it's not just veto, but the movies, the directors make the decision, although obviously the studio can say has veto power.

Who thought of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the costume?

Kareem was actually a fallback position. We had originally written that part. We wanted to have a famous athlete play a part because to make fun of the whole notion that athletes are frequently frequently given parts in movies and they really can't act, they're athletes. And so we originally wrote the part for Pete Rose.

Oh really?

And that was before Pete Rose had been outed as Pete Rose. And, um, but we filmed the movie during the summer and so he was unavailable, he was playing baseball. So as a fallback position, we wrote, uh, the part for Kareem.

Did he enjoy doing it?

Not particularly, I don't think.

I think he actually did enjoy it, but he's not demonstrative. Kareem is a very low-key guy, and so I think it's hard to tell whether Kareem is happy or unhappy.

I understand.

But he really, he said, I ran into him recently actually, just a couple months ago, and he wants to act again more.

30 years later, he responded. Yeah, I did like it.

And I've read interviews with him. He said Airplane! changed his life.

Yeah, really?

Yeah.

Oh yeah.

The, the other thing that was, that was kind of interesting is that at the time, um, he didn't memorize his lines, so we had to give him cue cards. And recently, with all this 30 years later stuff coming out, somebody wrote, and, and at the At the time, when, when you can see him reading cue cards in the movie, and we were upset because he didn't memorize his lines and had to use cue cards. 30 years later, in an article, we were given credit for being brilliant for exposing athletes who are not really actors by making him read, obviously read.

Oh, is that funny? Yeah. Oh, that's precious. That is a precious story. Let's go to Minneapolis and Bill. Hello, Bill. Dennis Prager and the airplane gang.

Dennis, good morning to you. First of all, I'd like to say it's certainly an honor to talk to you and these gentlemen that gave us this American icon, and especially from the aviation community, we would just like to say thank you, thank you, thank you. It's, uh, we use these lines almost daily in the cockpit.

That's real, that's reassuring.

That scares me.

Yeah. Do we have clearance?

Clearance? And Dennis, someone will hand me a map, of course, and say, what can you make of this? And I was telling your screener one time, I had a— we were sitting at the gate and we were finished with our checklist and we had briefed the takeoff and all the departure procedures. So it was just kind of a downtime. And I turned around, there was a young boy standing next to me. Which happens quite often, you know, they come and they visit the cockpit. And not seeing the mother in the cockpit door, I turned around and I said, oh, and who are you? And he said Timmy or whatever. And of course, without even thinking, I said, Timmy, do you like Gladiator movies?

You don't work hard enough on defense. And he says that lots of times you don't even run down court, and that you don't really try except during the playoffs.

The hell I don't!

Listen to you. I've been hearing that crap ever since I was at UCLA. I'm out there busting my buns every night. Tell your old man to drag Walton and Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes. You like movies about gladiators? You're listening to The Dennis Prager Show. It was a, uh, an airline pilot, maybe one, maybe one of the planes I will be flying or have flown, who speaks about how often pilots use the jargon and the funny lines from this great classic airplane. And if you're just tuning in, shame on you because you missed so much fun Uh, here, that's why we have Pregutopia, by the way, so you can get every hour anytime you want at the giant price of, uh, $6 a month. And it's Pregutopia at the, at the, at the website, DennisPrager.com. Jerry Zucker, David Zucker, Jim Abrams, the folks who made this, they were in their early 30s when it was done. It's 30 years ago. Is it? It's not 30 years ago today, but it's 30 years ago. Was there— what was the opening date?

I think late July, I'm not sure.

It was late July. We often talk about how sort of the seas divided for airplane. I mean, everything eventually just fell into place beautifully. And one problem, one of our worries at the time was, gosh, late July of 1980, we're going to be competing against the Summer Olympics. But what do you know, we boycotted the Summer Olympics, so there was no competition.

Oh, how interesting. There are those who say that that was the reason, not Afghanistan. It was to help Airplane.

And so we've all been big Jimmy Carter fans ever since.

So there finally is a reason to be a Jimmy Carter fan. We found the bomb. There you go. He's a hero.

He is a hero.

Lori in Minneapolis. Hi, Dennis Prager and the Airplane gang.

Hi, this question is for the Zucker brothers. Actually, it's just more of an anecdote. I also love your movie Top Secret.

Thank you.

I used to work with a woman who, her husband, I do believe he worked with you guys when he was in college. It was a summer job or maybe a school year job in Madison. Does that sound—

What was his name? What's his name?

I'll just say his first name. I believe it's Bill.

Oh, Bill, of course.

You guys were line cooks and he was a the dishwasher. Does that sound right? I was telling the story a long time ago, so I'm trying to remember the details, but I was just basically just told me—

where were you? Yeah, yeah, in college. All right, all right, Lori, thank you so much. All right, you guys don't remember Bill, don't give me a— get out.

I remember a few.

Come on, guys, I didn't start radio yesterday. You know Bill like I know Bill. My Uncle Bill. Thank you, Lori. Atlanta, Georgia. And Ben, hello Ben, Dennis Prager.

How you doing? I just want to thank you guys. Your movie was the first movie I took my wife-to-be, we went to see. And did she laugh? The movie opened up—

wait, did she laugh?

Above the Clouds.

Wait, Ben, Ben, did she laugh?

Excuse me?

Did she laugh?

She was hysterical. We had to go see it again because we missed so much.

Okay, then he did the right thing. He got a second date out of it. He married—

got a—

oh, So that's it, you got a second date out of it and you're thinking—

and I married her. It's going to be our 29th wedding anniversary next month.

Congratulations.

You can be on this show next year.

You know, I think that— I think the three of you should go to Atlanta and celebrate with them.

Yeah, that would be—

movie started and they showed Above the Clouds and the Jaws music started playing and the tail of that plane went by. I looked at my wife, I said, that was worth the $5.

And she said, that's all I'm worth? $5 for a movie? Yeah, that dates it. That absolutely does. All right, let's go to, uh, San Diego and Beck. Is that right, Beck?

Yeah, Beck.

Hi, Beck.

Hey, so look, I've been trying to track down these bookers for a long time because I'd like to put in a request for the refund of the $300 92 hours of my husband's life that he has lost watching this movie over and over again.

No kidding. And he's a pilot.

He's a military pilot and a private pilot. And oh my God, it doesn't matter if it's, you know, if we have to get up at 3 AM the next day to do whatever, if that movie comes on, he's staying up and watching it.

I'm sorry, that might be a pre-existing condition we can't take any I, I think you should sue the Zucker Brothers and Jim.

I, I do, you know.

I, I think I should too. Are they worth anything?

Well, the laughter tells you that the answer— what the answer— that's terrific. I know, I love the fact that all these pilots love the film, so that's a great sign.

Yeah, but there's certain movies that you just, once you start watching them, you just, you get sucked in.

Oh well, you're— that is one of them for me. It's been— it's like Midway.

You know the one with Charlton Heston? It's all about the, uh, the battle.

Yeah, yeah. No, I didn't see it. Alan, you know it, right? Is that— does that suck you in, Alan? Okay.

Oh, it was panned by the critics.

I mean, that's panned by Alan. That's all I care about.

That's when the audience left, was midnight.

Yes. Okay, we have here, uh, what is it?

Okay, so that mean the movie sucks?

Anyway, Phoenix and Christine. Hello, Christine.

Hello, how are you all, gentlemen? Thank you so much for such a wonderful film. I have to tell you, at the beginning of your hour, um, I watched this movie with my father, and the sound of him laughing is one of my favorite sounds in the world. And I called him to tell him you guys were on. He just retired, um, so he put you on as well. Um, but my question was, how difficult, um, was it to get June Cleaver to speak jive.

Explain that to the audience, Jerry Zucker.

We grew up on Leave It to Beaver, and for David and I, it was like that was our family, you know. But when we first wrote that stuff, we really didn't write those lines. We kind of wrote Moshofu Mufu, you know, in the script. And sort of when these African-American guys would come in to audition, we'd apologize and just say, "That's the best 3 white Jewish guys from Milwaukee can do," you know. But so these guys, Norm Gibbs and Al White, actually wrote this stuff then, and the actual, you know, jive and And they really helped Barbara Billingsley with it.

It's an incredible scene. Back in a moment, Dennis Prager and the Airplane creators. Just hang loose, blood. She gonna catch up with you, you better admit that. What it is, Big Mama?

My mama didn't raise no dummies.

I duck her rap. Cut me some slack, Jeff.

It's a cutting cliché.

Chump don't wanna help, chump don't get dickhead.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

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Now back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

Would you like something to eat? Do you have anything light? How about this leaflet? Famous Jewish sports legends. You guys, I tell you, it's, it's, it's a little painful that the hour is— this is the last segment of the hour. I, I'm having almost as much fun with the creators of the movie Airplane as I am— as I do— I'm stuttering here because I love it so much— as I do watching the actual, uh, the the actual movie. Uh, we have the Zucker brothers and Jim Abrams, the creators of this epic. It's 30 years since it was made. Sharon in Los Angeles. Dennis Prager and the creators of Airplane!

Hi guys, thanks for taking my call. Uh, I just wanted to share this. In 1983, I was a soldier back in Israel, and we were in the desert watching the movie under the open sky at night as an entertainment for the soldier. I wanted to thank you guys. We have this very intimidating big guy officer, and when the point where the guitar was playing and the tubes were starting to fly out, and he just lost it. He almost burst the steam. It was a great joy for all of us to see this very serious intimidating guy act humanly.

Oh, that's a beautiful story. That's what— that's what you guys— that's why you—

laughter is a great equalizer.

Oh, it is.

When you think about it.

No, that's why I salute you. That's exactly right. Uh, let's go to San Diego and Anne. And Dennis Prager and the creators of Airplane! Hello, Anne. Okay, and well, let's go to, uh, Minneapolis and Dean. Dean, hello. Dennis Prager and the Airplane! creators. Hi.

Dennis, hi, love your show and I'm really having fun here.

Yeah, me too.

Okay, I was on a first date as well when I first saw this, but it was not only a first date, a blind date. Like my friend's girlfriend's cousin was visiting from who knows where and we decided to go to a movie. And I just remember spending at least half the movie bent over looking down the row of seats at my friend with tears in my eyes. And your comment earlier about, you know, some people Some people get it, some people don't. To this day, I don't know if she got it or she didn't, but it was one of those where she didn't— I don't, I don't think she wanted to laugh, or she felt like she couldn't because she didn't know.

Well, all right, and he didn't marry her.

So you didn't end up marrying her.

That's right, you guys prevented a bad marriage. Listen, in all seriousness, on behalf of tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of people, thank you. Because to make people laugh, it's a tough life for everybody on Earth. And you made people laugh, and you did for 30 years. May you have many more years of making great films.

Thank you.

Thank you all for coming in. I'm Dennis Prager. It's like I picked the wrong week to quit smoking.

It's like I picked the wrong week to quit drinking.

Tomorrow on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager.

All right, Dennis, what's going to make me happy? And what's going to make me unhappy? Well, I'll answer that.

All right?

With all the chutzpah at my disposal, I will tell you what won't make you happy that you pursue, or if not you, of course, you collectively, not you individually, but you and me. I have to fight the same battles as many of you. None of us all have the identical battle, but I have battles. If I didn't have battles for happiness, I couldn't do this.

Join us tomorrow to hear more on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. This has been Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Visit DennisPrager.com for thousands of hours of Dennis's lectures, courses, and classic radio programs, and to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles.

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