Line #10 Trivia/UHF


1	* ActorInspiredElement: The false teeth Creator/MichaelRichards wore for Stanley's overbite were his idea, and were custom-made for him by his dentist friend.
2	* BeamMeUpScotty: Averted with the movie itself, but one of its jokes was inspired by one: Raul parodies the famous "We don't need no stinking badges" line, which is a straight example from ''Film/TheTreasureOfTheSierraMadre'' (the [[MemeticMutation better remembered]] version is actually from ''Film/BlazingSaddles'').
3	* BoxOfficeBomb: Budget, $5 million. Box office, $6,157,157. The film had the misfortune of opening during an absolutely brutal summer blockbuster season, facing competition with the likes of ''Film/LethalWeapon2'', ''Film/WhenHarryMetSally'', ''Film/HoneyIShrunkTheKids'', ''Film/GhostbustersII'', ''Film/LicenceToKill'', ''Film/DeadPoetsSociety'', ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'', and ''Film/Batman1989''. ''UHF'' got lost in the shuffle, and has since become a scapegoat for the demise of Creator/OrionPictures. Despite this, it [[VindicatedByCable sold well on home video]] and is considered a CultClassic by Weird Al fans.
4	* CaliforniaDoubling: Minor inversion. Scenes with Uncle Harvey and Aunt Esther vacationing in California were actually filmed in Oklahoma, as was the rest of the movie.
5	* CensorDecoy: According to [[WordOfGod Jay Levey]], a planned promo for "Those Darn Homos" was included in the script on the (correct) assumption that the suits at Orion would make them take it out. It can be seen among Al's collection of deleted scenes on the DVD.
6	* CompletelyDifferentTitle: The film had quite a plethora of foreign language titles. In Hungary it was released as ''Az őrület hullámhosszán'', loosely translated as ''Wavelength of Madness''. In Finland it was titled ''Kaapelit irti!'', or ''Cable, Go!''. In Norway it was ''Lufta er for alle'' (''Air for Everyone''), the Greece release had the mouthful of a title ''Ο πιο κουφος σταθμος στην πολη'' (''The Most Wacky Station in the City''), and Germany added a [[TheForeignSubtitle subtitle]] of ''Sender mit beschränkter Hoffnung'' (''Broadcast of Limited Hope''). Brazil had two, ''TV Pirada'' (a pun on "Pirate TV" that translates to ''Wacky TV'') and a translation of the WorkingTitle listed below, ''O Vidiota''.
7	* {{Corpsing}}:
8	** The kid who spits on George's nose is clearly trying as hard as he can not to laugh afterwards, even covering his mouth with his hand.
9	** Victoria Jackson corpses when George is banging his head on her counter yelling about how he lost his job again and how he doesn't know what's wrong with him.
10	* CreatorBacklash:
11	** Apparently, if you bring this film up to Creator/MichaelRichards, he will ''not'' react well, though he did appear in the cast commentary.
12	** Whatever was in those {{deleted scene}}s on the DVD for Al, as he went and fast-forwarded through them.
13	** Al is still proud of the film as a whole, but has expressed regret that he and Jay Levey decided to tone down their original wackier vision and go for a fairly conventional storyline outside of the parody bits to appease the studio, citing ''Film/WaynesWorld'''s BreakingTheFourthWall and tweaking of Hollywood cliches as more like what they should've done.
14	* CreatorKiller:
15	** Often used as a scapegoat for Creator/OrionPictures's demise. After years of box office flops, Orion heralded it as its savior. It didn't work, and within two years, the studio went bankrupt. The executives brought it on themselves by pitting it in a fairly crowded summer slate (for starters, it opened the week after ''Film/LicenceToKill'' and ''Film/WhenHarryMetSally'', and the one before ''Film/TurnerAndHooch''), and they probably wished to save face for this scheduling blunder as much as possible. The Orion title would eventually be quietly revived through MGM in TheNewTens with ''Paternity Court'' and ''Fort Tilden'' and would later be used for genre films.
16	** The movie ''almost'' did this for "Weird Al" as well; the film's poor performance caused him to fall into a depressed slump over the next three years, until the release of his next album ''Music/OffTheDeepEnd''. And it would take another 30 years for him to return to the big screen, with the satirical biopic ''Film/WeirdTheAlYankovicStory'' in 2022.
17	* {{Defictionalization}}
18	** ''Series/AttackOfTheShow'' did a recreation of the "Find the marble in the oatmeal" segment by having Candice Bailey and Sarah Jean Underwood [[LesYay wrestling in oatmeal]]. Complete with the winner getting the drink from the firehose.
19	** Fans of the movie have taken to making and eating their own Twinkie wiener sandwiches (consensus being that they're an acquired taste, but not at all disgusting). It helps that they're fairly easy to make. Some time after the film, Al became a vegetarian, but still enjoys the occasional Twinkie wiener sandwich.
20	* DeletedScene: Included, along with Al's reasoning on ''why'' they were deleted... "Because they suck!"
21	** Several of the deleted scenes involved a subplot with Teri's (Victoria Jackson's) secretary, who was completely taken out of the movie. Unfortunately, the actress playing the secretary wasn't told this until she saw the premiere.
22	** Remember the scene where R.J. discovers that his office has been wrecked and his {{Mooks}} disarmed, and he starts to make this really weird face before the camera quick cuts to Stanley outside the U62 building? Turns out there's a reason for the face: [[TheScream he originally ended up screaming]]. For some reason, that part was cut from the movie, though oddly enough it ended up in the theatrical trailer as part of a montage of screams.
23	** There was a whole subplot concerning the thugs. The Head Thug was [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes deathly afraid of insects]] and other creepy crawlies. Later on, after Stanley's rescue, they attempt to steal the telethon money (stored in a suitcase). However, they accidentally grab a look-a-like suitcase that appears identical... containing Philo's bug collection. Back on the highway, [[spoiler:Head Thug opens the case, full of massive & still very much alive roaches & beetles, and totally freaks out... causing the car to careen off a bridge and kill them all!]]
24	** In a cut scene, when George & Bob first arrive, U-62 has a news anchor named Fred Parker who clearly has anger issues and has had it with his job. During his newscast, he's reporting about the City Hall/budget cuts situation (later shown in the movie with Pamela & Noodles) when the camera guy, who's been noisily eating potato chips, let's out a huge belch. Cue nutty newsguy violently turning over his desk, "I HAVE HAD IT!!!". Pamela finally gets her much-wanted news position... which, of course, ''really is her forté.''
25	** There's an extended version of the scene where Philo teaches how to make plutonium from household items. It boils down to combining random things and sticking them in the microwave at impossibly high settings.
26	** After Kuni and his pals jump out of the supply closet and ambush the Channel 8 thugs, there was a bit of dialogue between George & Kuni for anybody who wondered how Kuni knew where he was. Philo saw it on the hidden camera he had placed earlier and told Kuni, and we already knew that Kuni was the host of Wheel of Fish.
27	** "And there's this scene where... ''get this''... [[MundaneMadeAwesome I go to the BANK!]]"
28	* DiedDuringProduction: Trinidad Silva, who played Raul, died in an auto accident before he got to finish all his scenes. The film is dedicated to him. The movie also had to abort his subplot, where [[spoiler:the poodles got revenge]]. It also explains why Raul's show just randomly appears on U62 without input from George or Bob: he was originally going to be a mailman that George threw in front of a camera, but Silva died before he could film the necessary scenes.
29	* DVDCommentary: One of the funniest, with Weird Al rattling off addresses for the various locations, along with both commentators pointing out things that probably were extremely expensive, as well as several scenes that had to be cut, and even snarking ''at the film itself'' (as well as cameos from Creator/EmoPhillips, Michael Richards, and Victoria Jackson [via phone for the latter]). It's akin to [[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 Joel and the boys]] deciding to riff their ''own'' movie.
30	* EnforcedMethodActing: Bobbo the Clown's unenthusiastic demeanor after being hit with the frying pan was genuine, as Al actually hit David Bowe in the face with a frying pan for the scene (albeit unintentionally). Bowe was taken aback, angry and in pain as a result of the mishap, and if you look closely during the scene when George is feeding him dog treats, you can see that his lower lip is bleeding.
31	* ExecutiveMeddling: Intended as a good example but wound up as a typical bad one: test screenings for the film received some of the absolute highest of Orion since the original ''Film/RoboCop1987'', convincing them to give it a wider release and, if all went well, make Al their flagship star for future comedies. Their enthusiasm proved to be detrimental, though, as this low-budget independent comedy was released during one of the biggest blockbuster summers of all time and was lost in the shuffle.
32	** To their credit, though, Orion thought it was a good idea to have a parody of trash TV, resulting in the hilarious "Town Talk" promo.
33	** It also doesn't help that practically [[CriticalDissonance every critic of note trashed the thing]].
34	** Averted during production; Al mentions in the commentary how Orion gave the filmmakers a great deal of freedom, rarely gave them any notes and the few they did, Al and director Jay Levey liked.
35	* HarpoDoesSomethingFunny: Aside from one action sequence, Michael Richards's part is entirely ad libbed because "it was funnier than anything we could write".
36	* OneBookAuthor: While both Al and Jay Levey's careers as a musician and a manager, respectively, remain in tact to this day, it remains both Al's only starring role in a feature film and Levey's only feature directorial effort.
37	* OrphanedReference:
38	** The reason ''Raul's Wild Kingdom'' randomly shows up on U62 without any input from George or Bob was due to Trinidad Silvia's aforementioned death during production. Originally, Raul was the mailman who delivered RJ Fletcher's package to U62, creating a running theme that George would give a TV show to anyone who was nice to him.
39	** Bob and Pam were originally supposed to [[PairTheSpares hook up at the end]], hence why Pam is significantly nicer to him when George introduces them and the two of them embracing during the finale.
40	* PlayingAgainstType:
41	** Trindad Silva playing zany animal lover Raul Hernandez, as he was otherwise mainly known for playing chicano gangbangers in ''Series/HillStreetBlues'' and ''Film/{{Colors}}''.
42	** Even Al was impressed with how well Anthony Geary subverted his ''Series/GeneralHospital'' image as the enigmatic Philo.
43	* PropRecycling: The producers struck a deal with KOED (the OETA/PBS station in Tulsa) to build a news set in their studio. The Tulsa network used the set for their own broadcasts for a couple years afterward.
44	* RealLifeRelative: In the scene where the boy finds a marble in a sandbox filled with oatmeal, the other two people in the sandbox are Weird Al's parents.
45	* TheRedStapler: People actually wanted to visit Spatula City after seeing the highway billboard featured during the Spatula City commercial. This billboard was rented by the production crew for use in the movie right off a seldom-used highway and was left up there after the rental period ran out. Motorists continued to see the billboard for months after ''UHF'' finished filming and started calling the billboard owners to ask where this store was; in the end, the Spatula City ad was pulled.
46	* ScienceMarchesOn: In Big Edna's, there's a sign in the background saying that they cook all of their meat "medium with a pink center unless otherwise specified". While commonly mistaken by today's viewers as a joke, that actually was the standard in which hamburgers were cooked in 1989. In 1993, an [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Jack_in_the_Box_E._coli_outbreak outbreak of E. coli]] caused the FDA to adapt more stringent cooking standards, leading fast-food restaurants to adopt "well-done" as the default standard for cooking hamburger meat.
47	* ScrewedByTheNetwork: Unintentional example; Orion loved the the film's test screening performance so much they apparently decided to pit it up against other summer 1989 blockbusters. This caused it to flop.
48	* TechnologyMarchesOn: Since the wide adoption of digital broadcasting, this is pretty much the last work that even ''mentions'' [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UHF_television_broadcasting UHF frequencies]], something that was said was dated even when the movie released. Al references this on the DVD commentary, wishing he'd picked another name.
49	* ThrowItIn:
50	** The scene of Bob catching grapes in his mouth came about when David Bowe was showing off his talent to Al while hanging out at the craft services table.
51	** Al wanted Michael Richards to sing "Helter Skelter" for the scene where Stanley is tied up and driving the goons crazy, but Richards didn't know it well enough, so instead he started belting out the theme song to ''Series/{{Bonanza}}''.
52	** George saying "[[Film/TheShining Redrum! Redrum!]]" during the scene where he and Stanley are briefly taken hostage by Fletcher's thugs was improvised by Al on the spot, thus making David Proval's confused reaction real.
53	* UncreditedRole: Neither the body performer or voice over actor for Big Louie is credited for the character. When asked who voiced him, Al said he has forgotten.
54	* VindicatedByCable: Ironically, it might have done better at the box office had Orion Pictures not been so excited by how well it performed at test screenings. They gave it a summer 1989 release that placed it amongst films like ''Film/Batman1989'', ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'', ''Film/GhostbustersII'', ''Film/HoneyIShrunkTheKids'', and so on. Lost in the shuffle, it found its audience through its subsequent video release and TV airings.
55	** As a result, and as Al sang in the commentary, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kII6zapaZs "Orion! Orion! Is bankrupt, now!"]]
56	** It was one of the top rentals after its release on VHS, and became a #1 seller when it was released on DVD.
57	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
58	** Yankovic and Levey wrote the role of Philo for Creator/JoelHodgson, who at the time was best known for his deadpan stand-up comedy routine featuring his homemade inventions, which also inspired some of the aspects of the character. Hodgson turned the role down, but developed a friendship with Yankovic that continues to this day. He would also use elements from his comedy routine on ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'', which premiered while ''UHF'' was in production.
59	** After Hodgson declined, Yankovic and Jay Levey offered the role of Philo to Creator/CrispinGlover. Glover, however, only wanted to play Crazy Ernie, the car salesman who clubs seals. Neither Yankovic nor Levey felt that Crazy Ernie was right for Glover, so they passed on him.
60	** In addition, Creator/ChristopherLloyd was also considered to play Stanley if Creator/MichaelRichards declined. Coincidentally, both Lloyd and Glover had previously co-starred together in ''Film/BackToTheFuture1''.
61	** [[Series/TooCloseForComfort Jim J. Bullock]] was originally cast as RJ's son Richard, but he dropped out (possibly due to his status as a regular on ''[[Series/TheHollywoodSquares The New Hollywood Squares]]'', also an Orion production), so they had [[Series/PeeWeesPlayhouse John Paragon]] take over (he'd auditioned for other roles, including RJ).
62	** Creator/SylvesterStallone was going to cameo as the helicopter ride ticketer during the ''Rambo'' parody scene, but had to cancel due to schedule issues.
63	** Creator/DavidSpade was one of the people who auditioned for the role of Bob. Creator/JerrySeinfeld was offered the role but he turned it down.
64	** Creator/EllenDeGeneres and Creator/JenniferTilly both auditioned for the role of Teri. [=DeGeneres=] was initially cast in the role, but for one reason or another it never happened.
65	** Other people to audition included Creator/JohnAstin, [[Series/{{Pyramid}} Teresa Ganzel]] and Creator/BillMumy.
66	** Ginger Baker of Music/{{Cream}} auditioned for the role of the bum who recurs throughout the film. Yankovic said he would have loved to have cast Baker in the movie, but felt his audition wasn't as good as the one Vance Colvig gave. Ultimately, Colvig got the part.
67	** If the movie hadn't been picked up, Yankovic would have toured Europe opening for Music/MichaelJackson.
68	** If the movie had been successful, Orion would have offered Al a multi-picture deal and made him their flagship star.
69	** ''Series/TheBeverlyHillbillies''–themed parody was going to be a spoof of "Let's Go Crazy" by Music/{{Prince}}. Sadly, the Purple One was never a fan of Al's and denied him permission. Al eventually did a sound-alike of the Prince song, "Traffic Jam," for his ''Alapalooza'' album.
70	** Ever wonder where the extremely short, random "Let Me Be Your Hog" came from? It was a last-minute filler song when the production couldn't license "Kung Fu Fighting" for the scene where Uncle Harvey is hanging out in his pool.
71	** Initially, Kuni, who runs the martial arts center next door to George, was also going to be George and Bob's landlord.
72	* WorkingTitle: Was originally going to be called ''The Vidiot''.

Context Trivia / UHF