# Surely you can't be serious **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 2, 2026, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358 "2026-07-02T14:35:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/1 "2026-07-02T14:35:58Z")
I am serious - **Airplane!** was released on July 2nd, 1980; 46 years ago today ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/2 "2026-07-02T14:40:10Z")
Thank you, I just want to tell you good luck we’re all counting on you. ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/3 "2026-07-02T14:44:34Z")
Johnny, what can you make of this? This? Why, I can make a hat, or a brooch, or a pterodactyl! Gonna drag this classic out tonight for a watch 😃 ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/4 "2026-07-02T14:45:01Z")
I picked the wrong day to give up sniffing glue. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/5 "2026-07-02T14:56:40Z")
It’s an entirely different kind of flying, altogether! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/6 "2026-07-02T15:00:42Z")
[Moderating] Landing this thread in Cafe Society ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/7 "2026-07-02T15:09:52Z")
@Chronos, that was probably the lousiest landing in the history of this message board. But there are some of us here, particularly me, who would like to buy you a drink and shake your hand. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/8 "2026-07-02T15:13:54Z")
Roger, Roger! ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/9 "2026-07-02T15:18:06Z")
@Chronos I think you’re the greatest, but my dad says you don’t work hard enough on defense. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/10 "2026-07-02T15:29:29Z")
What’s our vector, Victor? Roger! What? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/11 "2026-07-02T15:32:30Z")
Chronos is not Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, although the resemblance is uncanny. For true propeller-heads, ZAZ did the definite book. Practically every line and gag is lovingly detailed. > **[Amazon.com: Surely You Can't Be Serious: The True Story of Airplane!:...](https://www.amazon.com/Surely-You-Cant-Be-Serious/dp/1250289319)** > > Amazon.com: Surely You Can't Be Serious: The True Story of Airplane!: 9781250289315: Zucker, David, Abrahams, Jim, Zucker, Jerry: Books ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/12 "2026-07-02T15:36:41Z")
Ooh, I’mma need that for my cruise read! Thanks for the recommendation! Now, the question on everyone’s mind is, who likes movies about gladiators? ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/13 "2026-07-02T15:39:23Z")
“It’s an entirely different kind of flying!” ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/14 "2026-07-02T15:41:26Z")
For those who may be interested, Ross Harris was the actor, 10 years old at the time, who played Johnny and who was asked if he had ever been in a Turkish prison, etc. He did [an interview](https://www.monsterchildren.com/articles/ross-harris-and-the-late-great-elliot-smith) about it years later; TLDR, he didn’t get the joke at the time. The director had told him to really lean into the “Golly Gee Whiz!” of it all, so I suppose that’s where his mind was at the time. A year later he went to see the movie and realized that those jokes were about. > [@](#): > > Well, the funny thing is I didn’t understand it while we were shooting, but then a year later, when the movie came out, I went to see it with my whole family, and all of a sudden I understood everything … I don’t know what happened in that year, how I developed and grew up, but when I saw the movie I was like, Oh! That’s what all that was. You could never make that joke in a movie today. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/15 "2026-07-02T15:47:29Z")
Also, before _Airplane!_, Leslie Nielson was a serious actor who played serious roles for seriousness. After that film, he became a sort of parody of himself and his later roles, like his in _Airplane!_, juxtaposed his seriousness with the films’ absurdity. And he loved it. He would later say that it was the best thing to ever happen to him: he was a jovial and jocular fellow who preferred comedy over drama. Also, on the subject of kids and dirty jokes, Michelle Stacy (“I take [my coffee] black, like my men”), who like Ross Harris was 10 at the time, also wasn’t in on the joke. ZAZ deliberately kept all of the kids on the set in the dark about what their lines really meant. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/16 "2026-07-02T15:51:45Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Also, on the subject of kids and dirty jokes, Michelle Stacy (“I take [my coffee] black, like my men”), who like Ross Harris was 10 at the time, also wasn’t in on the joke. ZAZ deliberately kept all of the kids on the set in the dark about what their lines really meant. She abruptly dropped out of acting after _Airplane!_ [Michelle Stacy — The Movie Database (TMDB)](https://www.themoviedb.org/person/166120-michelle-stacy) ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/17 "2026-07-02T15:59:59Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Ooh, I’mma need that for my cruise read! Thanks for the recommendation! You might want something a little lighter. I recommend Famous Jewish Sports Legends. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/18 "2026-07-02T16:09:50Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > I recommend Famous Jewish Sports Legends. Harold Abrahams. The End. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/19 "2026-07-02T16:13:16Z")
There are a lot of **Hank Greenberg** & **Sandy Koufax** fans that would like to talk to you on that one. Both in the Hall of Fame. Oh and from the Olympics: I’m pretty sure **Mark Spitz** with his 7 Gold Medals was Jewish. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/20 "2026-07-02T16:15:10Z")
My bad. Also, in one of his Chanukah Songs, Adam Sandler name-checks Rod Carew, but apparenlty Carew never followed through with conversion. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358.md?page=2)