During the coronavirus pandemic, we’ve been watching a lot of comedies. One of our favorites is The Naked Gun, a1988 crime comedy film directed by David Zucker and released by Paramount Pictures. The movie stars Leslie Nielsen as the bumbling police lieutenant Frank Drebin. Priscilla Presley, Ricardo Montalbán, George Kennedy, and O. J. Simpson also star in supporting roles. The Naked Gun is an extension of the TV series Police Squad which features slap-stick comedy and plenty of silliness. Leslie Nielsen’s dead-pan delivery of comic lines is legendary.
The Naked Gun was a hit movie and spawned two sequels: The Naked Gun 2 1⁄2: The Smell of Fear (1991) and Naked Gun 33 1⁄3: The Final Insult (1994). Are you a fan of these movies? What comedies are you watching during the Age of Coronavirus? GRADE: A
Loved The Naked Gun movies and Airplane. Haven’t watched many comedies lately. Did rewatch The Big Lebowski for the umpteenth time. Clockwise with John Cleese. Borat 2. That’s about it.
Steve, I’m a fan of AIRPLANE!(1980) too. Most of the contemporary TV sitcoms don’t strike me as funny.
Not so much. Puns, pratfalls and silliness elude me. Never found THE THREE STOOGES funny, for instance. (Or even THE MARX BROTHERS) I know I am a stodgy old lady.
Patti, comedy is subjective. I remember going to see ARTHUR with Dudley Moore and the couple with us laugh hysterically throughout the whole movie. I never laughed once.
No, you’re not, Patti, and I agree with you on Stooges, Marx and I’ll add Laurel and Hardy.
I enjoyed them, but remember Nielsen as Swamp Fox in an early disney show
What cheers me up is the Graham Norton shows (wish they were for sale, I’d buy the entire series)
Also on you tube, the Andrew Cotter “sports shows” featuring his 2 labs, Olive & Mabel. There is one he did in Australia, calling a penguin “race” that is also hysterical.
Olive & Mabel have trick or treated, sought love online, tried to make $ on line, had eating contest, and stood in a fetid pond for no reason. I love these, and bought a signed (and pawed) first edition of the book he wrote about life with them.
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Maggie, I remember SWAMP FOX, too. I find it extraordinary that Leslie Nielsen was able to transition from a dramatic actor to a comic one. Not easy to do.
I’m sure I’ve seen “Airplane”, maybe twice, but not lately. And I probably saw “The Naked Gun” but not the two sequels. The 80s were a long time ago. The kind of things I tend to watch are not at all affected by the state of the world.
Michael, I find comedy a retreat from the gloomy Reality that we’re living through now.
Enjoyed the movies, but I’m not a repeat watcher. We’re making our way through Seinfeld on Hulu right now. John & the girls have been watching the Pink Panther movies (they’re a little too OTT for me). And there’s always Monty Python and Blackadder.
Deb, I’m fond of MONTY PYTHON. And, I’m with you on the Pink Panther movies. A little too cute for my tastes.
Yes, a fan of THE NAKED GUN and POLICE SQUAD as well as AIRPLANE. Leslie Nielsen was definitely born to do comedy.
The only comedies we’ve been watching have been SCHITT’S CREEK and DERRY GIRLS and THE WINDSORS and THE GOOD PLACE, plus old British favorites like THE GOOD LIFE and ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE, plus the occasional SEINFELD or THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW or I LOVE LUCY. We have a number of favorite movies on DVD too.
Jeff, many of our friends have watched SCHITT’S CREEK on Canadian TV for years.
I won’t watch Priscilla Presley but saw these movies before she went nuts! I watch the Three Stooges, who ARE funny, and Seinfeld clips on YouTube!
Bob, THE THREE STOOGES are on local TV every day. Obviously, there’s a market for their brand of slap-stick humor.
I love THE BIG LEBOWSKI but Jackie only tolerates it. Another favorite: IT’S A GIFT, the W. C. Fields classic. Of course there is ANIMAL HOUSE.
Nope. None.
Jeff, I love anything with W. C. Fields in it. Also Mae West.
Rick, you need to get more humor in your Life. Of course, this blog should provide some for you!