# weird trivia **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 4, 2010, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603 "2010-01-04T10:07:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/41 "2010-01-05T21:33:08Z")
None of the people mentioned so far in this thread have been in my kitchen. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/42 "2010-01-05T21:42:01Z")
Janis Joplin and Keith Moon died in the same hotel room, about 7 years apart. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/43 "2010-01-05T22:13:40Z")
Found this one out a little while ago. In **The Empire Strikes Back** , there are some prominent Imperial officers. The two I’m focusing on are Admiral Piett, played by Kenneth Colley, and Admiral Ozzel, played by Michael Sheard. To jog your memory, Ozzel is force-choked by Vader just before the Imperial attack on Hoth, and Piett is promoted to Admiral to replace him. The year before **TESB** was released, Colley appeared in **Monty Python’s Life of Brian** in the role of Jesus. In 1989, Sheard appeared in **Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade** in the role of Hitler. Sheard has played Hitler and other Nazis at numerous other points in his career, as well. But I find it funny that, in several scenes in **The Empire Strikes Back** , you have two actors on screen who have played Jesus and Hiter. ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/44 "2010-01-05T22:15:10Z")
The sight of oranges in the Godfather shows that something bad is about to happen. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/45 "2010-01-05T22:20:37Z")
> [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](#): > > Janis Joplin and Keith Moon died in the same hotel room, about 7 years apart. He actually died in the same room as Mama Cass Elliot, not Janis. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/46 "2010-01-05T23:19:03Z")
Sheb Wooley, who you’d possibly recognize as Pete from **Rawhide** , the drunken country cowboy from **The Muppets** , and later as Cletus in **Hoosiers** and Travis Cobb in **The Outlaw Josey Wales** , also wrote and performed the 50’s song **Flying Purple People Eater**. That would normally be weird enough…but you have also heard his voice hundreds of times, in places such as the **Lord of the Rings** , **Star Wars** and **Raiders of the Lost Ark** series, all of Tarantino’s movies, all of Pixar’s movies, **Lost** , **Buffy** , **Angel** , **Metal Gear Solid** , **Call of Duty** , etc etc. He’s credited as the voice of the [Wilhelm Scream](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_media_that_employ_the_Wilhelm_scream#List_of_Movies). ---
**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:** [January 5, 2010, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/47 "2010-01-05T23:25:21Z")
Turkeys are so dumb that they’d rather walk through an electric fan than around it. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2010, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/48 "2010-01-06T00:12:27Z")
When Central America made a move to gain independence from Spain back in the 1820’s, Mexico made a move to take Guatemala. As El Salvador was next, the independence leaders in El Salvador feared the incorporation into Mexico so they petitioned the U.S. Government for statehood! ---
**Author:** ![Odaran09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Odaran09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odaran09)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2010, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/49 "2010-01-06T00:29:10Z")
Night Court (TV show): Judge Harry T.Stone was appointed to the bench because it was the last day of the governor’s term and he was the only one home on a Sunday night. His name was last on the list of possible appointees. As stated in the first season’s first episode. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2010, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/50 "2010-01-06T00:44:08Z")
More Night Court trivia - a big part of why Richard Moll was cast as Bull is that, at 6’8" tall, he was significantly taller than Harry Anderson and John Laroquette (both ~6’4"), and thus could tower over them. Charles Robinson, who played Mac, is also 6’3. The end result is Brent Spiner, himself moderately tall (5’11"), looks like a major league shrimp in his recurring guest shots as Bob Wheeler on the show. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2010, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/51 "2010-01-06T00:51:41Z")
I knew someone who was in the arena audience of the pod races in The Phantom Menace. The audience was a CGI mosaic, so he was roughly every fifth bearded guy. ---
**Author:** ![tattman40](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/db5fbb/32.png) [@tattman40](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tattman40)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2010, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/52 "2010-01-06T01:31:49Z")
Adam Savage from Mythbusters was the drowning kid in Billy Joel’s “You’re only Human” video. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2010, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/53 "2010-01-06T01:47:23Z")
John Beradino, Dr. Steve Hardy in _General Hospital_, played baseball for St. Louis, Pittsburgh and the 1948 World Champion Cleveland Indians. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2010, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/54 "2010-01-06T01:58:31Z")
> [@Lethal\_Babydoll](#): > > This is hard to believe but true and fun to see. > > In the movie _Appointment With Danger_, **Jack Webb** is a bad guy named Joe Regas. > > During one scene he is beating on a character to get information out of him. > > That character is played by **Henry Morgan.** > > And during one glorious scene, Morgan is on his knees being whooped on by Webb and he says something along the lines of, “Please Joe, don’t hit me again.” > > The Dark Side of Dragnet. The Internet is [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XjZF-OJRp4)awesome. ---
**Author:** ![kidneyfailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2010, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/55 "2010-01-06T02:39:17Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > The end result is Brent Spiner, himself moderately tall (5’11"), looks like a major league shrimp in his recurring guest shots as Bob Wheeler on the show. Good thing Billy Crystal never guest-starred on that show… ---
**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 6, 2010, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/56 "2010-01-06T02:52:29Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > …But I find it funny that, in several scenes in **The Empire Strikes Back** , you have two actors on screen who have played Jesus and Hiter. David Bamber played Mr. Collins, the unctuous clergyman, in the 1995 version of _Pride and Prejudice_; Tom Hollander played him in the 2005 version. Bamber then played Hitler in the thriller _Valkyrie_, with Hollander playing his aide Col. Brandt! ---
**Author:** ![groo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecd19e/32.png) [@groo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groo)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2010, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/57 "2010-01-06T04:38:01Z")
When a pretty good musician named David Jones started gaining popularity, he had to change his name, because a faux musician named Davy Jones was already semi-famous from being in The Monkees. So he took a stage name: David Bowie. ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2010, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/58 "2010-01-06T04:46:32Z")
In the first “The Thing” (AKA “The Thing From Another World”) movie, based on John Campbell’s short story “Who Goes There?” the Thing is played by James Arness who went on to bigger & better things in “Gunsmoke.” ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2010, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/59 "2010-01-06T05:42:00Z")
Shoot, I noticed now that you are looking just for entertainment trivia. Well, here is my favorite from the old country that I noticed when I did visit: In Central American nations at least, Toy Story 2 was advertised as starring “Tim Allen and Tom Hanks” :smack: Why was that a :smack: moment? Because the movie was **dubbed in Spanish** , no subtitles. They got away with a credit like that by using the Spanish voice talent that usually dubs Tim Allen and Tom Hanks in their live action movies! ---
**Author:** ![Lethal\_Babydoll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3be4f8/32.png) [@Lethal\_Babydoll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lethal_Babydoll)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2010, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603/60 "2010-01-06T11:02:58Z")
\*\*Isaac Asimov \*\*invented the handheld calculator in one of his early stories. Only the outside, though. He didn’t know what the inside would look like [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-trivia/523603.md?page=4)