# Surely you know who died yesterday \[Jim Abrahams\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [November 27, 2024, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-know-who-died-yesterday-jim-abrahams/1010855 "2024-11-27T16:27:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![goodkitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b38774/32.png) [@goodkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/goodkitty)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-know-who-died-yesterday-jim-abrahams/1010855/1 "2024-11-27T16:27:10Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/KM2K7sV-K74/hqdefault.jpg "Don't call me Shirley") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM2K7sV-K74) > **[Jim Abrahams, ‘Airplane!,’ ‘Naked Gun’ and ‘Hot Shots!’ Master of Mirth, Dies...](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/jim-abrahams-dead-airplane-naked-gun-hot-shots-1236071689/)** > > He and boyhood friends Jerry and David Zucker got their start with 'The Kentucky Fried Movie,' and they also were behind 'Top Secret!' and 'Ruthless People.' I don’t know if these guys invented this type of humor, there are probably plenty of examples it throughout the history of TV/Movies. But I think Airplane was the first movie that the entire movie is nothing but stupid jokes. And they all made work within the context of stupid plot. Hardly a line of dialogue is not at least setting up a stupid joke. ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-know-who-died-yesterday-jim-abrahams/1010855/2 "2024-11-27T16:36:08Z")
> [@goodkitty](#): > > I don’t know if these guys invented this type of humor, there are probably plenty of examples it throughout the history of TV/Movies. The Zuckers and Abrams were great examples of the genre, but Abbot & Costello, The Three Stooges, and The Marx Brothers did it first. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-know-who-died-yesterday-jim-abrahams/1010855/3 "2024-11-27T16:38:58Z")
I think the groundbreaking element in _Airplane!_ was that you could have twice as many jokes if you eliminated the straight man. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-know-who-died-yesterday-jim-abrahams/1010855/4 "2024-11-27T16:40:38Z")
Sigh. And I still haven’t watched “Zero Hour --” the 1957 movie that “Airplane” basically spoofed. “Airplane” was a staple in my misspent youth. ---
**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:** [November 27, 2024, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-know-who-died-yesterday-jim-abrahams/1010855/5 "2024-11-27T16:48:55Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > Sigh. > > And I still haven’t watched “Zero Hour --” the 1957 movie that “Airplane” basically spoofed. > > “Airplane” was a staple in my misspent youth. - You should. Trying to watch _Zero Hour_ without layering _Airplane!_ over it is an exercise in futility. Some years ago, one of the cable channels(I think it was Turner Classic Movies) ran the two back to back. ---
**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:** [November 27, 2024, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-know-who-died-yesterday-jim-abrahams/1010855/6 "2024-11-27T16:56:20Z")
Just saw him in a couple of his more serios roles. Forbidden Planet and Viva! Knieval. Both would been betters as comedies. I swear. Good bye, funny man. You"ll be missed! ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-know-who-died-yesterday-jim-abrahams/1010855/7 "2024-11-27T16:56:51Z")
Sad news. I should, in tribute to Jim, make some sort of silly joke, but nothing’s coming to mind right now. I met him, very briefly, in 1984, when ZAZ did a test-screening of _Top Secret!_ at the University of Wisconsin. The trio were brilliant at their style of comedy. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-know-who-died-yesterday-jim-abrahams/1010855/8 "2024-11-27T16:57:58Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Just saw him in a couple of his more serios roles. > > Forbidden Planet and Viva! Knieval. It wasn’t Leslie Nielsen who died, despite him being in the video clip in the OP (Nielsen died in 2010); it was one of the writers/directors of “Airplane!” ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-know-who-died-yesterday-jim-abrahams/1010855/9 "2024-11-27T17:04:54Z")
> [@FinsToTheLeft](#): > > > [@goodkitty](#): > > > > I don’t know if these guys invented this type of humor, there are probably plenty of examples it throughout the history of TV/Movies. > > The Zuckers and Abrams were great examples of the genre, but Abbot & Costello, The Three Stooges, and The Marx Brothers did it first. Depends on how much you narrow it down. Those three acts each had their own brand or style of humor, recognizably different from each other (as well as from _Airplane!_ and other ZAZ movies). In particular, I think _Airplane!_ was “spoofier” than those others or any other feature film that came before (though I’m open to evidence to the contrary). Even aside from the fact that the whole thing was a parody of the earlier, serious film _Zero Hour_, so many of the _setups_ for the jokes in _Airplane!_ were tropes or scenes or situations that would have been familiar to moviegoers of the time, but they were then given an unexpected twist. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-know-who-died-yesterday-jim-abrahams/1010855/10 "2024-11-27T17:07:15Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > (Nielsen died in 2010) Tomorrow marks the 14th anniversary of his death. I’m sure that Leslie and others would be heartened to know that he is remembered at this time of year 🙂 [“It’s an entirely different kind of flying.”] ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-know-who-died-yesterday-jim-abrahams/1010855/11 "2024-11-27T17:07:44Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > You should. Trying to watch _Zero Hour_ without layering _Airplane!_ over it is an exercise in futility. > . Amen. Almost drove me nuts trying to watch that flick all the way to the end ---
**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:** [November 27, 2024, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-know-who-died-yesterday-jim-abrahams/1010855/12 "2024-11-27T17:09:17Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Sad news. I should, in tribute to Jim, make some sort of silly joke, but nothing’s coming to mind right now. Surely, you can’t be serious. ---
**Author:** ![veryfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@veryfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/veryfrank)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-know-who-died-yesterday-jim-abrahams/1010855/13 "2024-11-27T17:12:31Z")
Very sad. His filmography isn’t massive, but there’s some iconic stuff in there. Top Secret! is an unerappreciated (at the time) masterpiece. (Had to recall which of the ZAZ trio turned into an unfunny loony right-wing shill, wasn’t Abrahams, fortunately) ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-know-who-died-yesterday-jim-abrahams/1010855/14 "2024-11-27T17:16:26Z")
Mean Teenaged Mustard saw “Kentucky Fried Movie” oh so many decades ago and thought it was the funniest thing ever created. I recently re-watched it just to see if the comedy held up. It did not. That said, “Airlplane” does still tickle my hilarious bone. RIP Jim. mmm ---
**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:** [November 27, 2024, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-know-who-died-yesterday-jim-abrahams/1010855/15 "2024-11-27T17:17:02Z")
Well, crap. Sorry. Should have watched the video. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-know-who-died-yesterday-jim-abrahams/1010855/16 "2024-11-27T17:20:11Z")
> [@veryfrank](#): > > Top Secret! is an unerappreciated (at the time) masterpiece. I agree; it didn’t do particularly well at the box office, but I think it’s every bit as funny as _Airplane!_. I’ve told this story here before, but when I saw the test screening of the film, a few months before its release in '84, ZAZ did a question-and-answer session afterwards. They said that they had a bunch of ideas for what genre to spoof in their next (post-_Airplane!_) movie, and eventually cut the list down to three genres: - World War II movies - Spy movies - Elvis movies Unable to pick just one, they instead made a spoof of all three. ---
**Author:** ![veryfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@veryfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/veryfrank)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-know-who-died-yesterday-jim-abrahams/1010855/17 "2024-11-27T17:22:23Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I’ve told this story here before , but when I saw the test screening of the film, a few months before its release in '84, ZAZ did a question-and-answer session afterwards. A film school teacher of mine was friends with David Zucker, and relayed that at a test screening on a college campus, people were standing on the seats, they were laughing so hard and so loud that couldn’t stay still. ZAZ thought “Wow, this’ll be a massive hit.” and then it kind of fizzled when it hit the general public. Hollywood: nobody knows anything. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-know-who-died-yesterday-jim-abrahams/1010855/18 "2024-11-27T17:24:06Z")
> [@veryfrank](#): > > A film school teacher of mine was friends with David Zucker, and relayed that at a test screening on a college campus, people were standing on the seats, they were laughing so hard and so loud that couldn’t stay still. That does sound a lot like the screening that I was at. The audience absolutely loved it. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-know-who-died-yesterday-jim-abrahams/1010855/19 "2024-11-27T17:36:02Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > > [@veryfrank](#): > > > > Top Secret! is an unerappreciated (at the time) masterpiece. > > I agree; it didn’t do particularly well at the box office, but I think it’s every bit as funny as _Airplane!_. I know of no other movie that has better sight gags. ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-know-who-died-yesterday-jim-abrahams/1010855/20 "2024-11-27T17:55:30Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > The trio were brilliant at their style of comedy. You dropped your fake dog poop. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-know-who-died-yesterday-jim-abrahams/1010855.md?page=2)