From left to right: Sally, Reginald, Ms. Frick, and Charles.
"If you can't get into any of those hot places, you can always stay at...the Nutt House! A hotel where people who check in without reservations, check out with plenty."
— from the pilot episode's opening narration by Robin Leach
The Nutt House was a short-lived 1989 American sitcom created by Mel Brooks and Alan Spencer (creator of Sledge Hammer!). Starring Cloris Leachman and Harvey Korman from Brooks's Production Posse, it was a show about a fading New York City hotel named for the Nutt family that founded it. Korman played Reginald Tarkington, the hotel's stuffy manager, while Leachman played Ms. Frick, the head of housekeeping and Tarkington's Abhorrent Admirer. Other main characters included Brian McNamara as Charles Nutt III, grandson of owner Edwina Nutt, sent to help rejuvenate the hotel, Molly Hagan as Sally Lonnaneck, Edwina's secretary, Gregory Itzin as Dennis, the front desk clerk, and Mark Blankfield as Freddy, the nearly-blind elevator operator.
The show was cancelled after ten episodesnote were made and fivenote had been aired on NBC. However, the show ended up being fairly popular when it was aired on BBC2, and all ten episodes were aired there.
Tropes found in The Nutt House include:
- Abhorrent Admirer: Reginald's view of Ms. Frick. When it's suggested that he marry her to give her US citizenship, he tries to jump out the window.
- Achilles' Heel: Charles has a weakness for champagne. After using that weakness as part of his attack on the hotel, Norman calls Charles the hotel's Achilles Heel.
- Addiction Displacement: Big Jake is chewing sunflower seeds instead of tobacco.
- Always a Child to Parent: Edwina Nutt treats Reginald like a child, making him jump rope and giving him a lollipop.
- Animated Credits Opening: The opening credits for the pilot pan down the titular hotel, with animated versions of the cast members appearing in the windows.
- Argument of Contradictions: A discussion about how nobody says 'no' to Big Jake.Big Jake: Sounds to me like you're tryin' to say no to me. Are ya?
Norman: No.
Big Jake: You just said it!
Norman: No I didn't.
Big Jake: You just said it again!
Norman: No, I'm not saying no to you.
Big Jake: You just said it twice, just now!
Norman: No I didn't!
Big Jake: That's three!
Norman: No, no, no!
Big Jake: Four, five, six! - Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: The pilot's opening narration by Robin Leach mentions that the hotel has been host to visiting kings, queens, and dental hygienists.
- Bad Boss: Big Jake spits in Norman's ear, makes him ride a mechanical bull under threat of being fired if he falls off, and then tells him to take up smoking - six packs a day.
- Berserk Button: Do not mess with Ms. Frick's maids. Agent Flynn from Immigration hassles one of the maids, and Ms. Frick charges in and judo-flips him.
- Big Damn Kiss: Sally and Charles, after he returns with the Swedes to save the hotel.
- The Big Rotten Apple: Par for the course for the late '80s. The pilot's intro narration (by Robin Leach) jokes about the pollution and violence.
- Blind Mistake: Freddy the elevator operator can never tell where to stop the elevator.
- Blind Without 'Em: Freddy wears extremely thick glasses, but doesn't like to wear them, leading to a large number of Blind Mistakes.
- Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: The opening narration for the pilot mentions things tourists do in New York City: "Walk the streets, see the sights, and inhale carbon monoxide."
- Briefcase Full of Money: Half a million dollars, which Norman offers to Charles to pay off the Nutt House's debt as part of a sale to Texplex. Ms. Frick takes the cash while he's in the shower.
- But Liquor Is Quicker: Apparently Reginald got drunk at the last New Years party and was ravished by Ms. Frick.
- Chekhov's Gunman: The Swedish twins that Charles arrives at the hotel with. They're there a day early for a masseuse convention; Charles then uses that information to go round up the rest of the conventioneers and bring them to the Nutt House, giving them enough guests to neutralize Big Jake's threats.
- Chick Magnet: Charles arrives at the hotel with two attractive Swedish women that he just happened to share a taxi with, and his first reaction on meeting Sally is to kiss her hand.
- Citizenship Marriage: Suggested to keep Ms. Frick in the US when she is suspected of being an illegal immigrant. Reginald wants nothing to do with it, but Freddy offers; Reginald is eventually convinced to go along.
- Cool and Unusual Punishment: For contradicting Big Jake, Norman is forced to ride a mechanical bull.
- Cutaway Gag: Doesn't actually cut away to them, but many of the jokes are random insertions that have nothing to do with anything else. Examples include:
- The astronaut (in full space suit) going into his room ("My flight got cancelled.")
- The Native American requesting a room. ("Do you have a reservation?" "I did. It was called 'Manhattan'.")
- The couple going into a photo booth marked "3000 for $1" ("What a bargain!"), followed by a long sequence of flashes going off.
- Description Cut: "I wonder what Frick's doing right now." "Probably quietly reflecting on the noble sacrifice you made for her." (Cut to Frick and the other women dancing wildly.)
- Do Not Call Me "Paul": Inverted. Reginald Thorndyke hates being called "Reggie", except by close friends, and he doesn't have any close friends.
- Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Ms. Frick and Reginald.Ms. Frick: Did you mean all those things you said...while I was ravishing you?
Reginald: About pressing charges? You'd better believe it. - Establishing Character Moment:
- Reginald: A guest wants to speak to the manager. Dennis summons Reginald with the bell; he rushes out of his office and shoves Dennis aside.
- Ms. Frick: Two maids are chatting in the hallway. Ms. Frick arrives and is infuriated that they are talking instead of working. Reginald shows up, and she tries to seduce him.
- Charles: He walks into the hotel with attractive Swedish twins.
- Everything is Big in Texas: The Texplex tower in Houston is a giant tower wearing an even larger cowboy hat. Big Jake Herder, CEO of Texplex, wears a cowboy hat and spurs all the time, and there are gouges in the meeting-room table from where he puts his feet up.
- Exact Eavesdropping: Norman happens to hear Sally and Charles talking about both the exact amount of money the hotel is in debt, and Charles's weakness for champagne.
- Expy: Ms. Frick has the same accent and general character as Frau Blucher from Young Frankenstein, also played by Cloris Leachman.
- Family Business: The Nutt House, owned by Edwina Nutt and her grandson Charles Nutt III.
- Fanservice Extra: When Norman calls Big Jake on the phone, two attractive young women at Big Jake's place are playing pool in miniskirts and low-cut tops. They have no lines, and appear to just be there for him to comment how he loves playing dirty pool.
- Frivolous Lawsuit: "Suing Sadie", an older woman who goes partway up the staircase, only to take a flying leap back down it, apparently attempting to injure herself so that she can sue the hotel. Upon sight of her, an all-hands cry goes out to catch her.
- Gagging on Your Words: Reginald proposing to Ms. Frick for her Citizenship Marriage.
- Gone Swimming, Clothes Stolen: Norman takes a shower, and Ms. Frick takes the opportunity to throw all his clothes out the window. He steals some clothes from a laundry rack going past; turns out to be a dress.
- Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Big Jake Herder. "Makin' money's the only thing I give a flyin' Huckleberry Hound about anyway."
- Handy Feet: The telephone operator is handling a plugboard with both her hands and feet.
- Hidden Wire: Norman gets Charles drunk and records him saying incriminating things.
- High-Class Gloves: Reginald is always seen wearing elegant grey gloves. (He has to take one off to snap his fingers.) Lampshaded: Big Jake's reaction on seeing him is to ask if he's a magician.
- Home Porn Movie: Dennis couldn't find a video store that was open for Reginald's Stag Party, so he made his own porn movie for it.
- Humiliation Conga: Norman, at the end of the pilot, for his attempts to drive the Nutt House out of business. He's hit in the head with a champagne cork, at which point Ms. Frick tries to give him mouth-to-mouth. She is removed and he is picked up to be put on the stretcher, only to be thrown over the stretcher to land on the far side. Finally, he's put on the stretcher, and Reginald says to take him to the infirmary on the fifth floor. Freddy hears "fifth floor" and takes the elevator up, leaving the doors open. The stretcher stops and Norman doesn't, falling down the elevator shaft. He is next seen wearing a cervical collar while trying to smoke the six cartons of cigarettes that Big Jake demanded he smoke. After he gets Charles drunk, all his clothes are stolen while he's in the shower, sending him down to the lobby in a dress he stole.
- I Ate WHAT?!: "Why are you drinking out of that jar where I store my teeth?" Cue Spit Take.
- I Kiss Your Hand: How Charles greets Sally the first time he meets her.
- Idle Rich: Charles, who went to Miami to recover after an exhausting twenty minutes attending Harvard Business School.
- Insatiable Newlyweds: A pair of newlyweds are having trouble with their hotel room door when Reginald stops to help them. As he's jiggling the door handle, their clothes are flying past him.
- Insistent Terminology: Ms. Frick is Ms. Frick. Not Miss Frick.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Just after Reginald tells the immigration agent that the Nutt House only employs "red-blooded American workers", a Japanese painter comes in and talks to him in Japanese.
- Kavorka Man: Dennis reels in women like nobody's business, for no readily apparent reason.
- Laugh Track: Imposed by the network, and frequently jarring, to the point where it drowns out the actual joke.
- Letting Her Hair Down: Ms. Frick, reminding "Reggie" of what the two of them did together at the last New Years party.
- Making Love in All the Wrong Places: "Here's the room where over four hundred men and women have consummated their relationships." "The bridal suite." "No, the broom closet."
- Mistaken for Bad Vision: Freddy gets a new pair of glasses that will finally let him see well. Then he sees the Swedish twins walk past and assumes that the new glasses are giving him double vision, so he throws them away.
- Mistaken for Gay: Norman comes downstairs wearing a dress after Ms. Frick steals his clothes. Everyone assumes that Trans Equals Gay and is a bit uncomfortable about him coming out like this.
- Morton's Fork: Norman is asked if he's saying no to Big Jake. If he says no, then he is saying no; if he says yes, he's admitting he said no.
- Must Have Nicotine: Big Jake is quitting chewing tobacco and substituting sunflower seeds, but is having a nicotine fit. So he insists that Norman take up smoking for him.
- My Friends... and Zoidberg: "Ladies and gentlemen...and Miss Frick." "Ms."
- Predatory Business: The Texplex hotel chain wants to buy the Nutt House, mostly because the owner told him 'no', and "Nobody ever says no to me!"
- Pun-Based Title: On "nuthouse", implying that the hotel is an insane asylum. (Not entirely wrong.)
- Punch-Clock Villain: Agent Flynn starts as one of these, but after wet paint drips into his eye and he gets water dumped on him to wash it out, he decides It's Personal.
- Repetitive Audio Glitch: Reginald is pretending to conduct the orchestra, only for the record to start skipping.
- Running Gag: The woman trapped in the soundproof phone booth shows up repeatedly in the first half of the pilot. It's a sign of how Charles is going to help the hotel that one of his first actions is to free her; it's a sign of what that will do to him that her first action upon recovering is to punch him in the stomach.
- Saving the Orphanage: The pilot is all about saving the hotel from Texplex.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Subverted. Charles heads to the airport when Big Jake shows up, but not to escape; he's grabbing the Swedish masseuses arriving for their convention.
- Sexy Scandinavian: The Swedish twins that arrive with Charles.
- Sexy Secretary: Downplayed with Sally; she's attractive, and certainly Charles is immediately taken with her, but she's not generally viewed as a sexpot.
- Shout-Out: Most episode titles are references to other works:
- Sleeping with the Boss:
- Sally and Charles have a Big Damn Kiss at the end of the pilot; as co-owner of the hotel, he's her boss.
- Ms. Frick is certainly trying for this with the hotel manager, Reginald Tarkington, but unfortunately for her he considers her an Abhorrent Admirer.
- Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace: Averted. "Skip to the good part! Cut to the chase."
- Spiteful Spit: Big Jake Herder spits sunflower seeds just past Norman Shrike, seeming to aim at him. When Big Jake quietly asks him about the Nutt House, Norman leans in to hear what he said, only for Jake to spit into his ear.
- Stag Party: A rather staid one for Reginald, while Ms. Frick's is loud and wild.
- Tear-Apart Tug-of-War: Two bellhops grab a guest's luggage and head in opposite directions, bursting it open and tearing it apart.
- Tempting Fate: "Well, I'd say we've had enough crises for one day, wouldn't you?" Cue Norman coming through the door to buy the hotel for Texplex.
- Translation by Volume: When Charles comes in with Swedish twins, Reginald starts to speak loudly and slowly to them. Lampshaded: their response was "This guy thinks we're deaf."
- Twin Threesome Fantasy: Dennis and the Swedish twins.
- Visual Pun: Reginald, to Charles: "Women literally crawling at your feet." Meanwhile, a woman kneels down next to Charles to look for her lost contact lens.
- World of Ham: Perhaps the show was cancelled because the scenery budget was too high, what with it all being chewed up constantly. Korman and Leachman, in particular, spend most of the series in Ham-to-Ham Combat.
- Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Played with. Big Jake doesn't hit Norman (who is wearing a dress), apparently because the thought of hitting somebody in a dress triggers this response in him.
- You Remind Me of X: Reginald, to Charles: "You remind me of myself when I was your age ... You're puny and weak."
