History Film / UHF

* HistoricalBadassUpgrade: Gandhi II. He can punch through torsos, and carries a machine gun into restaurants.

'''George:''' Don't worry, Bob. It's just like working in a fish market! Except you don't have to clean and gut fish all day.

[[caption-width-right:350:"We got it all on ''UHF"''!]]

* ArtisticLicenseLaw: Upon learning that George is not an employee when he brings his package over, Fletcher threatens to have him arrested for trespassing if he doesn't leave. This would only be possible if George already had been legally banned from the premises from a serious reason (harrassment, assault, theft, etc) and all the police would actally be able to do is escort George out of the building while chastising Fletcher for wasting their time.

* INeedAFreakingDrink: Invoked by George, but Bob calls him on it, saying he doesn't drink; George says he's been meaning to start.

* FunnyBackgroundEvent: In the scene in the guys' apartment at the beginning of the movie, you can still hear Kuni's karate students smashing through windows and him calling them stupid while George and Bob talk.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* ReadingIn: George (Weird Al Yankovic) leaves a hilariously pleading apology on his girlfriend's answering machine. This was accomplished by having Al stand just out of shot and yell his lines while the girl reacted.

* AccentUponTheWrongSyllable: Uncle Harvey mispronounces "Rodeo Drive" [[note]]a famous high-end Los Angeles shopping district[[/note]], as "Ro-DEE-Oh" (like the event with bulls and horses) instead of the proper "Ro-DAY-Oh".

* EarWorm: The hard rock mash-up of Music/DireStraits' Money for Nothing music video with [[Series/TheBeverlyHillbillies The Ballad of Jed Clampet]] is so goddamned catchy that at least part of the lyrics will get stuck in your head.

* AmbiguousDisorder: Multiple professional reviews of the film refer to Stanley as "mentally retarded", but the character is never stated to be mentally disabled, nor would Yankovic likely ever mock the mentally disabled. At most he just seems a little childlike.

The station's fortunes change when, in a fit of pique, a depressed George carelessly puts station janitor Stanley Spadowski (Creator/MichaelRichards) in charge of the channel's morning kids' show; to everyone's surprise, Stanley's CloudCuckoolander antics become an instant hit [[PeripheryDemographic across all demographics]]. Emboldened and flush with new ad revenue, George unleashes the full force of his creativity with a line of unique, oddball shows to fill out the rest of the schedule, with Stanley as their flagship superstar. These moves quickly catapult U62's ratings to #1 in town -- which prompts Channel 8 head honcho R.J. Fletcher (played by sci-fi B-movie legend Creator/KevinMcCarthyActor) to take them down by any means necessary...

The station's fortunes change when, in a fit of pique, a depressed George carelessly puts station janitor Stanley Spadowski (Creator/MichaelRichards) in charge of the channel's morning kids' show; to everyone's surprise, Stanley's CloudCuckoolander antics become an instant hit [[PeripheryDemographic across all demographics]]. Emboldened and flush with new ad revenue, George unleashes the full force of his creativity with a line of unique, oddball shows to fill out the rest of the schedule, with Stanley as their flagship superstar. These moves quickly catapult U62's ratings to #1 in town -- which prompts Channel 8 head honcho R.J. Fletcher (played by sci-fi B-movie legend Kevin [=McCarthy=]) to take them down by any means necessary...

** During the DVDCommentary, Al at one point states that Stanley's line while being held hostage ("It's an orange!) is one of the stupidest things he's ever written. Jay Levey chimes in -- "Right up there with '[[Film/JerryMaguire Show me the money]]'." Al responds "Did I write that?"

* TakeThat: At Music/{{Prince}}-- while promoting the film in '89, Al described it as "Like ''Film/PurpleRain'', but it's intentionally funny."

** The quiet & corpulent camera guy was named [[NamesTheSame "Burt Reynolds"]] (according to an early script, it was "Bert", with an "E"), and in earlier scripts, there was a guy, Roger Dickson ('The Bowl-O-Rama [[TheCasanova Casanova]]') who kept hitting on Teri when George wasn't around; Morris Beckman, Uncle Harvey's accountant; and Noodles [=MacIntosh=] had a {{dominatrix}} named Rock Sands for a girlfriend.

* GoshDangItToHeck: Because of Al's refusal to use vulgar words, the script is prone to liberal uses of "slime" and "scum" in place of heavier words, the heaviest insults being "weasel" and "pinhead" (and a mention of "hell" in George's answering machine message to Teri).

* AmbiguousDisorder: Multiple professional reviews of the film refer to Stanley as "mentally retarded," but the character is never stated to be mentally disabled, nor would Yankovic likely ever mock the mentally disabled. At most he just seems a little childlike.

* TheComicallySerious: The "Head Thug" played by David Proval. He's this sort of "Intense Italian Mobster" kind of guy[[note]]His actual ethnic heritage is Romanian-Jewish, but he grew up in a neighborhood that has predominantly Italian cultural influence.[[/note]] (subverted a bit in the cut scenes; when it comes to bugs, he turns into a screaming ninny). The "Killer Thug" might qualify as well. If he wasn't in a family-friendly comedy film, he would likely be NightmareFuel. Instead, he's just an over-eager guy with a creepy face.

* GoshDangItToHeck: Because of Al's refusal to use vulgar words, the script is prone to liberal uses of "slime" and "scum" in place of heavier words, the heaviest insults being "weasel" and "pinhead."

* GreaterScopeVillain: Big Louie, the loan shark/potential crime boss, who drives the plot by forcing Uncle Harvey to repay a horse-gambling debt. One has to wonder if he was even aware of U62 outside of him pulling up through the crowd and his limited interaction with George-- he never even met Fletcher.

The station's fortunes change when, in a fit of pique, a depressed George carelessly puts station janitor Stanley Spadowski (Creator/MichaelRichards) in charge of the channel's morning kids' show; to everyone's surprise, Stanley's CloudCuckoolander antics become an instant hit [[PeripheryDemographic across all demographics]]. Emboldened, and with new ad revenue, George unleashes the full force of his creativity with a line of unique, oddball shows to fill out the rest of the schedule, with Stanley as their flagship superstar. These moves quickly catapult U62's ratings to #1 in town -- which prompts Channel 8 head honcho R.J. Fletcher (played by sci-fi B-movie legend Kevin [=McCarthy=]) to take them down, by any means necessary...

Like Weird Al's music, the film focuses its comedy on oddball humor and [[SatireParodyPastiche satire, parody, and pastiche]] of pop culture. Released in 1989, at the height of Weird Al's popularity, the film was expected to be a summer blockbuster, but barely broke even at the box office (having the ill-fortune to open against ''Film/Batman1989'', amongst other heavy hitter movies) and was relegated to obscurity until finding itself as a CultClassic thanks to home video and cable showings.

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: The human version... during the "Town Talk" promo, a bunch of weird guests are on the panel. They are, in order, a [[ThoseWackyNazis Neo-Nazi]], a {{Dominatrix}}, [[TheKlan a]] UsefulNotes/{{K|uKluxKlan}}lansman... a little girl with blond pigtails... and an {{ax|crazy}}e-[[AnAxeToGrind wielding]] {{expy}} of [[Franchise/FridayThe13th Jason Voorhees]]. Then subverted because the little girl is implied to be an EnfantTerrible with a perpetual SlasherSmile.