Writers of the Movie "Airplane!" On The Rules of Comedy

The Book Case

ABC News

Fiction, Arts, Books, Society & Culture

4.1 • 766 Ratings

🗓️ 12 October 2023

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Surely You Can’t be Serious - heard that before? Surely you have, if you have seen the movie Airplane! Made in 1980. The incredibly successful and popular movie was the brainchild of three guys from Milwaukee - then in their twenties - David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker. They called themselves ZAZ. And, improbably, they got their movie made against all odds. They admit they didn’t have the slightest idea how to make a movie. Much less direct it. Much less convince Hollywood executives to invest in it. But they did and the rest is history and not to mention, a very funny book, just released. Surely You Can’t be Serious is the story behind the story of one of the funniest movies ever made. Books mentioned in this week's podcast: Surely You Can't Be Serious: The True Story of Airplane! by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro Ketogenic Diets: Treatments for Epilepsy and Other Disorders by Jon Freeman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Is crypto perfect? Nope. But neither was email when it was invented in 1972.
0:05.9	And yet today, we send 347 billion emails every single day.
0:12.0	Crypto is no different. It's new. But like email, it's also revolutionary.
0:17.5	With Crackin, it's easy to start your crypto journey with 24-7 support when you need it.
0:22.5	Go to crackin.com and see what crypto can be.
0:25.3	Don't invest unless you're prepared to lose all the money you invest.
0:27.2	This is a high-risk investment, and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong.
0:35.6	Welcome aboard, butcase listeners.
0:38.3	I am your airline host, Kate Gibson.
0:42.3	I'm not the pilot. I promise you.
0:44.3	I'll be in trouble.
0:45.3	Yeah, thank God for that.
0:47.3	I'm Charlie Gibson, but the airplane mention is worthwhile.
0:50.3	Before we start, by the way, I should say you have a bad cold and I don't have my
0:55.4	microphone with me. So I'm just talking into my computer. I hope the sound quality is okay.
1:00.1	Now, why you mentioned that you are the flight attendant and I am the whatever I am on the
1:05.9	plane because you're the rudder? I don't know. I'm just trying to come up with a role for you.
1:10.7	It's because I'm super, I'm always super excited.
1:13.7	But this episode we have sitting with us, David Zucker and Jim Abrahams, who have just,
1:20.9	along with Jerry Zucker, released a book called Surely You Can't Be Serious, which is sort of the compendium of the story of how airplane got made
1:28.3	from start to finish, from the beginning of the world until like yesterday.
1:32.2	And it's a really funny and amazing book about a movie that you and I have watched together
	...

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