# Most expensive punchline? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 13, 2019, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686 "2019-01-13T13:41:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686/21 "2019-01-13T18:51:32Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > No badging, but the car is a Chrysler Crossfire, so it’s at least ten years old. I just did a web search and they’re in the $5,000 - $8,000 range. It’s also possible they got a cheap car that was totaled from engine/drive train failure but had a good body, like one that was started after a flood submerging. Being an insurance company they likely have a ready database of ones in any condition you car to name. ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686/22 "2019-01-13T19:36:20Z")
Not exactly a punchline, but Dodge had [years of commercials](https://youtu.be/Pn8HhmFSRq8?t=10) where they dropped trucks from a height to show how “Ram tough” they were. I doubt that the trucks they dropped were put up for sale. Still, I swore I’d never buy a Dodge because I didn’t want to get one. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686/23 "2019-01-13T19:50:55Z")
[Gerald Ratner’s](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Ratner)punchline wiped about about £500M off his company. And this was back in 1991, when £500M was a lot of money. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686/24 "2019-01-13T20:07:54Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > What about The Bridge on the River Kwai? That’s a payoff, not a punchline. The entire movie builds to that scene. In _The General_, it’s just a throwaway gag. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686/25 "2019-01-13T21:04:28Z")
Forget the commercial folks. It’s just the example that inspired the question. If you have a good example, please share. If you hate the first example and want to debunk it, to the pit. Geesh! While you are at it, you can debate the realism of elementary math word problems. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686/26 "2019-01-13T21:23:22Z")
First thing that occurs to me is the Shelby Cobra that gets smashed in the first Iron Man. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686/27 "2019-01-14T00:33:29Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > Is [this](https://www.ispot.tv/ad/d44G/farmers-insurance-hall-of-claims-parking-splat) the ad in question? Most of the “concrete” is poured onto the hood and windshield, and just a bit of splash goes into the interior. The next shot of the seats covered in concrete is obviously a model. > > But even if it was real car & real concrete, it says [here](https://fitsmallbusiness.com/tv-advertising/) the average cost of producing a nationally broadcast TV commercial is $123,000, and some costing much more. They could probably afford to destroy a real car, especially if it’s used or damaged in any way - e.g. totaled because of flood damage. In the mid-1990’s, I was the Steadicam Operator on a Mercedes-Benz commercial. No clue which model. We shot with me mounted facing backwards on a vehicle, with the rig hard-mounted. I had a stunt driver racing along behind me. All about safety first, I had a heart-to-heart with the stunt driver regarding loss of control on either side. If he had a problem, he said he didn’t care about the car- he’d swerve away. If I had a problem and was feeling as though the rig might fly off and hit the car/windshield, my move was to tilt my head up to the sky and he’d peel way. I felt good about this. That car was…wicked close to me. The lens was on level with the emblem. I thought about the frame, and my knees. We shot in the canyons of lower Manhattan, around Wall Street. All went well. Then, I took the Steadicam off of the A.T.V. I had it mounted to and stood off to the side as they shot longer-lens footage of some of the sexier stunts. ( Skidding, sliding into turns around the corner, etc. ) [Here’s what a Steadicam on an A.T.V. looks like. NOT me, not my rig. But a good representation.](https://www.imgrumweb.com/post/Bl-8s3AARw9) The driver was approaching from the right, and turning right- away from me. So I stood at the safe corner to watch. That same stunt driver who I worked with an hour before took that turn a bit too “hot”. He skidded fast in the turn and the car’s left wheels slammed into the (typically) high curb. So hard that the car rocked up on those two tires, about 30º, and slammed back down. He hit so hard he broke the trans-axle. Totaled a brand new car. I was stunned. The guys from Mercedes who were standing near me watching started cursing. They had one spare car. And, all of the cars were on loan from a dealer across the river in N.J.- and they were now on the hook for replacement cost. Driver got out. Looked at things. Walked away. Waited for the spare to be brought in. Could have cared less. A sobering education in stunts. All said, damage/ destruction of a car is frequently factored into the cost of shooting a car commercial. On the OTHER hand, I’ve watched that commercial a dozen times. It’s a real car, it is not real cement. Folks, it’s 2019, not 1995. C.G.I. is so advanced, that digitally creating that mess of random cement gushing down onto the car is child’s play. Literally. One could sit down at the Wacom Tablet, start making choices, and turn that cement iridescent blue. Or give it harsh texturing. Or make it deep flat black as though liquid velvet were pouring onto the car. Easy peasey. That car remains untouched, from what I can see. Digitizing the bird crap is an amusing touch. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686/28 "2019-01-14T01:00:34Z")
> [@ekedolphin](#): > > The last week that Conan O’Brien hosted The Tonight Show, he did a (facetious) series of skits in which he tried to get NBC to pay for the most expensive ideas he could come up with. It was several years ago, and unfortunately I don’t remember specifics. In one, they rented a supposedly-real skeleton of a giant ground sloth from the Smithsonian Natural History Museum and connected to it a hose that sprayed out Dom Perignon champagne. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686/29 "2019-01-14T02:29:03Z")
Blues Brothers movie wrecked a ton of cars . There is one scene late in the movie where a bunch of cop cars all crash and some even go on top of each others there are so many . ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686/30 "2019-01-14T03:20:20Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > No badging, but the car is a Chrysler Crossfire, so it’s at least ten years old. I just did a web search and they’re in the $5,000 - $8,000 range. BTW, I’ve never owned a Chrysler, but I thought that and the Pontiac sister car were pretty nice looking cars. It was a shame when the models were dropped as a result of the financial crisis. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686/31 "2019-01-14T05:58:16Z")
> [@Mr\_Shine](#): > > I haven’t seen it, but I would presume that a car shaped non-functional object could be mocked up pretty inexpensively and visually be indistinguishable from a real car. No - it’s a Crossfire convertible. Enthusiasts are outraged: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YGLk_ou3jo) ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686/32 "2019-01-14T06:05:49Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Please. The winner and still champion is the train gag in _[The General](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLgl8aEtnqc)_. That was an actual locomotive (Last I heard, it was still sitting in the river, rusting away). Though the actual gag is the Union commander’s reaction. The General was filmed in 1927. That loco wasn’t worth any more then scrap value at the time. Dennis ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686/33 "2019-01-14T08:44:20Z")
I believe there was a Simpsons episode where they licensed a song to use in a scene as a joke but the scene was deleted for time, but they had already purchased the rights to the song so it was all a complete waste of money for a 10 second joke that didn’t happen. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686/34 "2019-01-14T14:01:25Z")
Stanley Kubrick spent almost half a million pounds IIRC on a huge plastic pyramid as the alien artifact for _2001: A Space Odyssey_, and hated it the moment he saw the finished object. They went with a polished black wooden monolith instead. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686/35 "2019-01-14T18:15:41Z")
[We Just Wasted 2 Million Bucks](https://adage.com/videos/etrade-wasting-2-million/888) ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686/36 "2019-01-14T18:59:44Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Please. The winner and still champion is the train gag in _[The General](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLgl8aEtnqc)_. That was an actual locomotive (Last I heard, it was still sitting in the river, rusting away). Though the actual gag is the Union commander’s reaction. > [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Is the location known? I vaguely remember reading a magazine article decades ago by a guy who set out to find the locations used in _The General_, but that was before I even knew who Keaton was and I didn’t keep it. I know it was filmed in Oregon, the western half of the state, from the looks of it. Next time I’m out that way I’d be tempted to go and look for it. [You’re a little too late.](http://https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_General_(1926_film)) [QUOTE=Wikipedia] On July 23, Keaton shot the climactic train wreck scene in the conifer forest near Cottage Grove. The town declared a local holiday so that everyone could watch the spectacle. Between three and four thousand local residents showed up,[10] including 500 extras from the Oregon National Guard. They all dressed up in Union uniforms and were filmed going left-to-right before changing into Confederate uniforms and being filmed going right-to-left. Keaton used six cameras for the scene, which began four hours late and required several lengthy trial runs. **The shot cost $42,000, which is the most expensive single shot in silent film history.** [11] The production company left the wreckage of The Texas in the river bed after the scene was filmed. The wrecked locomotive became a minor tourist attraction for nearly twenty years, until it was salvaged in 1944–45 for scrap during World War II.[12] [/QUOTE] Emphasis mine. > [@mixdenny](#): > > The General was filmed in 1927. That loco wasn’t worth any more then scrap value at the time. Hardly. The two that weren’t destroyed were still in use on the Oregon railroad where the filming took place, and although the article doesn’t say anything about the age or provenance of the “hero” engine, it was clearly a working unit, and not just a worthless pile of junk. It may not have been the latest model, but it probably could have continued working for decades. Steam engines of all vintages were widely used right up into the 1950s, when diesel took over. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686/37 "2019-01-14T21:14:24Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > All good points, especially the second. Not because of cost - but because real concrete gives you only one take. And might not look like concrete on camera. > > However, anyone who has been to a commercial shoot knows that the cost of a car would be trivial in the budget. Probably cheaper than renting the studio. Almost certainly cheaper than hiring people to rig up a good looking fake car. Definitely cheaper than the ad buys for a national campaign. > Maybe cheaper than the craft services bill. You can get a good-looking sports car with failed mechanicals for less than it costs to hire a concrete-pumper for a day. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686/38 "2019-01-14T21:44:37Z")
They didn’t need a concrete pumper. As I remember, all we saw was the last few feet of the pipe. All they needed was that and some way to fill it with the fake concrete. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686/39 "2019-01-14T21:48:41Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > They didn’t need a concrete pumper. As I remember, all we saw was the last few feet of the pipe. All they needed was that and some way to fill it with the fake concrete. No, it’s very clearly a concrete bucket being held by a cable attached to a crane. Whether it was filled with concrete is unknown. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686/40 "2019-01-14T21:53:24Z")
I’ll throw in the “house over the cliff” gag at the end of Spielberg’s “1941” - that must have been a lot to spend for a single joke. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-expensive-punchline/827686.md?page=3)