While any self-respecting comedy fan undoubtedly knows the Naked Gun movies by heart, I hope those same fans are also aware of Police Squad!, the short-lived 1982 ABC comedy series that set the stage for Leslie Nielsen’s Frank Drebin character. Created by the Zucker Brothers and serving as a hilarious sendup of police procedurals, Police Squad! was a slightly drier version of the movie characters we would all come to know and love. The show was infamously cancelled after only six episodes, with ABC executives claiming that the rapid-fire comedy and plethora of visual gags were too complex for television audiences. Thus, Police Squad! remains a television show impossibly ahead of its time.
They’re making a new version of The Naked Gun, because they’re making a new version of every old movie. And they’re making this one with Ed Helms, because Ed Helms starred in some of the biggest comedies of all time, including The Hangover (and he’s already remaking, or at least updating, National Lampoon’s Vacation). But according to David Zucker, the director of the original Naked Gun, the new film “won’t be like” the old one, because ... honestly, I have no earthly idea.
It's almost impossible to stay on topic when interviewing 'Weird Al'. He's a walking encyclopedia of popular culture knowledge and every answer leaves multiple alleyways to explore. Ahead, the topics covered include 'Star Wars,' 'UHF,' Charlie Kaufman, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Springsteen, 'The LEGO' Movie, his is favorite movie of all-time, Joe Piscopo, 'The Naked Gun,' 'Rocky' and a host of other topics that don't have much to do with one another.
Ed Helms is slowly but surely turning into the face of rebooted films from the '80s. The 'Hangover' star has already signed up to lead a new reboot of 'National Lampoon's Vacation,' and now he's decided to step into the shoes of the late Leslie Nielsen to headline a 'Naked Gun' reboot for Paramount.
As Nielsen remarked in the original 'Naked Gun,' "it's like eating a spoonful of Drano; sure,