History Film / UHF

* CloudCuckoolander: "Hello. I'm Philo." Ultimately justified: [[spoiler:he's an alien.]]
** Stanley himself also exhibits CloudCuckoolander tendencies.
*** It'd probably be quicker to list characters who don't exhibit these tendencies.
* ContrivedClumsiness: One of the {{jerkass}}es from R. J. Fletcher's station trips the camera man for U62, and sarcastically chimes "Oopsie!" after. Later, the victim of this action enacts his revenge by doing the same thing to the {{jerkass}}, except this time, the trip ends in a mud puddle.

* AffectionateParody: The entire movie is strewn with them, especially the opening sequence.
** Conceptually, the movie as a whole is an AffectionateParody of cheaply run UHF stations from the 70s and 80s.

* AndStarring: "and Victoria Jackson as Teri". She gets the extra mention because she's the last name listed on the opening credits. This may seem strange, but having been a prominent player on SaturdayNightLive, she may have been the most famous person cast in the movie, other than Al himself.
** Apparently, Al and Victoria were dating at the time, which couldn't have hurt.

* BurgerFool: George and Bob work at "Big Edna's Burger World" before [[spoiler:they are fired for George insulting Big Edna while, unbeknownst to George, she's [[RightBehindMe right behind him]], which leads to her literally throwing George and Bob out of the restaurant]].
* TheCameo: Dr. Demento[[hottip:*:a radio host who specialized in comedy music and gave Al his first professional break]] appears for a split second during a montage of Channel 62's shows, getting whipped cream sprayed into his mouth by Stanley.

*** Whose appearance is almost a BigLippedAlligatorMoment for those not familiar with those guys. Of course, YMMV.

* ChekhovsGun[=/=]HoistByHisOwnPetard: The single coin Fletcher gives to the homeless guy [[spoiler:winds up being his undoing, being rare and valuable enough to pay for the last couple thousand shares of stock in Channel 62.]]
** And a [[HumiliationConga Rolex!]]

* HumiliationConga: R.J. Fletcher goes down '''HARD'''.
** '''HARD''' doesn't even begin to describe it! [[spoiler:First his true beliefs about the community are revealed, making him the most hated man in the city; then he loses his contract because a random homeless person purchased enough stock to save U-62; gets his license revoked; gets kicked in the nuts by an old lady; learns the one coin he gave the already mentioned homeless person was what caused his downfall; and the homeless man was able to get the same watch Fletcher wanted.]]
*** Weird Al states in the commentary that he put this in because he doesn't like it when a movie has a KarmaHoudini.
**** And yet, [[spoiler:he DOESN'T get arrested for kidnapping]]! Then again, by the time [[spoiler:the homeless man reveals his role in Fletcher's downfall]], Al must've decided that there was only so much hell he could inflict on Fletcher without making him into a JerkassWoobie.

** Who may or may not be MervGriffin, according to the commentary.

* MarketBasedTitle: Since the concept of UHF stations are not commonly known overseas, they asked Al for an alternate title. He suggested "The Vidiot". The film was then released in some countries, much to Al's chagrin, as "The Vidiot From UHF", succeeding only in transforming an incomprehensible title to a terrible one.
** Of course, [[TechnologyMarchesOn modern televisions don't differentiate between UHF and other frequencies, and haven't for years]], so it's not much better in the US anymore.
** The Latin-American Spanish dub is known as "Los Telelocos".

* {{Metaphorgotten}}: George delivers many of these.
-->''Come on, Bob. You gotta grab life by the lips, and just '' yank ''as hard as you can.''
** Stanley squeezes in a couple as well.
-->''And now they're throwing me out like a bag of moldy...tangerines.''
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: In BrickJoke form.
* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: as a parody of Geraldo and other 80's talk shows that lead the way for Jerry Springer, a bruised George tells us about what could be described as the ultimate controversial matter: [[CrowningMomentOfFunny "Lesbian Nazi hookers, abducted by [=UFOs=] and forced into weight-loss programs... all this week on]]''[[CrowningMomentOfFunny Town Talk."]]''
* NoBudget: While this limited who could be hired and where shooting takes place, this shows up most with the props. They couldn't afford to have any lead time on, leading to such things as a helicopter helmet with a Channel 8 logo made out of tape.
** Used In-Universe, too, as U62 had a shoestring budget until "Uncle Nutsy's Clubhouse" got turned into "Stanley Spudowski's Clubhouse".
** In the commentary Al jokes that they blew half the budget on the scene with the kid spitting in George's face on CG spit from Industrial Light and Magic.

** For a couple of minutes... at a time. Of course after his infamous outburst in late 2006 he hopefully will recall this movie as a happier time.
** Well, given [[TheDitz his role...]]

* ScaryLibrarian: ''CONAN: THE LIBRARIAN''

** Though to be fair, ''pink'' beef can still be hot enough to kill bacteria. It's ''red'' beef that's trouble.
** TechnologyMarchesOn: The UHF band in general.

* ShoutOut: George's show, "Uncle Nutzy's Clubhouse" takes its name from a skit in an issue of ''MAD''.
** The scene where Stanley first goes on air has a shout-out to {{Network}}. The whole concept of an station/network rising to instant unscripted prominence could be considered one, too.

** The final scene is a fantasy sequence with George & Teri as Rhett & Scarlett in "GoneWithTheWind".
** Stanley waves his mop like a light saber, complete with sound effects *WHOOM WHOOM WHOOM*.

** The ''Money For Nothing/[[TheBeverlyHillbillies Beverly Hillbillies]]'' segment.

* TemporarySubstitute: Anthony Geary wasn't originally planned to play Philo; one of Al's favorite comics, Joel Hodgson, was. But he couldn't accept the role. Before you go "aw, man!" keep in mind that Joel had turned it down due to being burned out in Los Angeles and returning to Minneapolis, where he ended up starting [[MysteryScienceTheater3000 his own little show]] on its own UHF station KTMA.
* TheyJustDidntCare: Parodied with ''{{Gandhi}} II'', which deliberately misses the entire point of the original movie (and, for that matter, [[CriticalResearchFailure Mahatma Gandhi's way of life]]).[[invoked]]
-->"No more Mr. Passive Resistance... he's out to kick some butt!"
** Aside from the obvious, he's also depicted ordering a steak.[[hottip:*:Hinduism considers consuming beef to be taboo.]]
* TheUnseen: Mr. Big. Picture "Dr. Claw" from ''InspectorGadget'' but with a white jacket, smoking a cigar, no cat & a hand that detaches & can be replaced by a meat cleaver.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: SylvesterStallone was going to cameo as the helicopter ride ticketer during the ''Rambo'' parody scene, but had to cancel due to schedule issues.
** And as mentioned above, Al originally wanted Joel Hodgson to play Philo.

* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: Although the station's location is never mentioned, it is clearly filmed in Tulsa, with several landmarks making appearances. There's an entire [[http://tulsatvmemories.com/uhf.html fan page]] listing these locations.
** Al lists off the addresses for many of the locations as they appear during his commentary track.
* YourFavorite: The "Twinkie Wiener" sandwich, a hot dog cut into a Twinkie and topped with spray cheese, offered by Al to his friend Bob.
** These remain Al's TrademarkFavoriteFood, though as a vegetarian he uses tofu dogs now.

** Aside from the obvious, he's also depicted ordering a steak.[[hottip:*:Hinduism considers practice of the consumption of beef taboo.]]

* TheCameo: Dr. Demento appears for a split second during a montage of Channel 62's shows, getting whipped cream sprayed into his mouth by Stanley.

''UHF'' is a 1989 movie starring WeirdAlYankovic, written by Al and his manager Jay Levey (who directed). Al plays George Newman, a young man with an all-too-fertile imagination adrift in life. After getting fired from yet another job due to excessive daydreaming, he is [[{{Nepotism}} appointed by his uncle Harvey]] as manager of Channel U62, a local UHF television station that Harvey won in a {{poker}} game.

* NoBudget: While this limited who could be hired and where shooting takes place, this shows up most with the props. They couldn't afford to have any lead time on, leading to such things as a helicopter helmet with a Channel 8 logo made out of tape.

** One of the unseen shows on U62's lineup is "The Volcano Worshipers Hour". The Volcano Worshipers were a made-up group Al created in high school just so he and his other friends on the yearbook committee could get an extra picture of themselves in the yearbook.

** After Hodgson turned down the role of Philo, Al asked Crispin Glover if he wanted the role, and Crispin said he would only be in the movie if he could play Crazy Ernie. Al turned him down.

* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: Although the station's location is never mentioned, it is clearly filmed in Tulsa, with several landmarks making appearances. There's an entire [[http://tulsatvmemories.com/uhf.html fan page]] listing these locations.

** Also, that blond bimbo formerly from ''SaturdayNightLive'' that now rails against ''Glee'' (while waving a Bible) is Weird Al's love interest.

**** And yet, [[spoiler:he DOESN'T get arrested for kidnapping]]! Then again, by the time [[spoiler:the homeless man reveals his role in Fletcher's downfall]], Al must've decided the bastard had already been punished enough for his misdeeds throughout the entire film.

* BigLittleMan: Noodles Macintosh, the U62 cameraman, played by the late Billy Barty.

** After Hodgson turned down the role of Philo, Al asked CrispinGlover if he wanted the role, and Crispin said he would only be in the movie if he could play Crazy Ernie. Al turned him down.

* CreatorKiller: Often used as a scapegoat for Orion's current status as MGM's in-name-only subsidiary by its executives. To be fair, they brought it on themselves by pitting it against ''IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'', ''Film/LicenceToKill'', ''Film/StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier'', ''{{Ghostbusters}} 2'', ''LethalWeapon 2'', ''DoTheRightThing'', ''HoneyIShrunkTheKids'', and, oh yeah, TimBurton's ''Film/{{Batman}}'', and they probably wish to save face for this scheduling blunder as much as possible.

* CreatorKiller: Often used as a scapegoat for Orion's current status as MGM's in-name-only subsidiary by its executives. To be fair, they brought it on themselves by pitting it against ''IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'', ''LicenseToKill'', ''StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier'', ''{{Ghostbusters}} 2'', ''LethalWeapon 2'', ''DoTheRightThing'', ''HoneyIShrunkTheKids'', and, oh yeah, TimBurton's ''Film/{{Batman}}'', and they probably wish to save face for this scheduling blunder as much as possible.

-->'''R.J:''' You idiot! Can't you do anything right? Does this look like a Number 2 pencil to you?

* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: Although the station's location is never mentioned, it is clearly filmed in Tulsa, with several landmarks making appearances. There's an entire [[http://tulsatvmemories.com/uhf.html fan page]] listing these locations. Heck, Spatula City is visible from the interstate.

* MarketBasedTitle: Since the concept UHF stations are not commonly known overseas, they asked Al for an alternate title. He suggested "The Vidiot". The film was then released in some countries, much to Al's chagrin, as "The Vidiot From UHF", succeeding only in transforming an incomprehensible title to a terrible one.

** Plus, Joe Early runs shop at the local high school but isn't all that [[EmoPhillips emo]][[AWorldwidePunomenontional]].

** Plus, [[EmoPhillips Mr. Phillips]] runs shop at the local high school.

-->

* {{Defictionalization}}: ''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. [[{{Fanservice}} Every bit as awesome]] as you would expect it to be.

** Well, given [[RalphWiggum his role...]]

* RalphWiggum: Stanley Spadowski.