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And don’t call me Shirley! The story of the 1980 film and the three maniacs who created it: David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker (ZAZ).

This is a book that matches the silliness of the film. From Madison, Wisconsin to Hollywood, California, these three guys and their friends transported their successful Kentucky Fried Theatre show to L.A. where it would eventually be adapted as a film. I never saw the Kentucky Fried Movie, but I do remember The Groove Tube, a similarly outrageous packaging of bizarre skits, commercials and mockery on film. College-age audiences devoured the ribald and off-kilter humor. Nothing seemed off-limits for parody and farce.

The book reads like a long interview with ZAZ, broken up by pictures, newspaper ads and comments from people associated with or influenced by ZAZ. The stories of casting Stack, Bridges, Graves and Nielsen are priceless. Bridges and Nielson got major career boosts by this film. The film depended on these actors playing it straight and not trying to be funny. The humor was there.

Surely You Can’t Be Serious follows the evolution of ZAZ’s performing careers with the Kentucky Fried Theatre through the making of Airplane!. The Kentucky Fried Movie proved challenging to get made, but eventually it did, and helped launch the career of director John Landis. Instead of a studio, theater owners financed the film, and got their investment back on the first weekend of the film’s release. The film was not a traditional film, it had no structure or story, it just went from skit to skit.

The goal of ZAZ was to write and direct an actual film, which initially was called Kentucky Fried Airplane! Not a great title, but these guys knew less than nothing about the film business.

The story of getting Airplane! made is fascinating. You might think that the success of the Kentucky Fried Movie would throw open the doors to financing and development. It did not. ZAZ had no idea how to script and structure a traditional film, that’s part of what makes the success of Airplane! such an amazing story.

“While we were shooting, I was laughing at it myself. I really enjoyed it. But I never knew it was as funny as it really was. I went to see the first screening, and I hear people laughing. I’m in the scene… what are they laughing at? Because I did not know. And I was doing things that were funny. But I couldn’t see it. The dumbest lines, like, ‘Don’t call me Shirley.’ I had no idea that would stick with me forever.” – Leslie Nielsen

ZAZ hit on the idea to base Airplane! on the popular disaster films of the 1970s and a B-film from 1957 called Zero Hour! ZAZ purchased the rights to Zero Hour! and followed key moments of the film, while changing, adding or reimagining scenes and dialogue to set the serious melodrama against crazy, unexpected humor. They would hire four well-known dramatic actors to play it straight, while all around them was chaos and bizarre events.Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves and Leslie Nielsen agreed to the concept and parody of their screen personas. That was the easy part, but before that, they had to find a studio that understood, and supported, this wild and goofy idea for a film.

“I went in and said, ‘You should have Harvey Korman do it, he would be perfect.’ But they said, ‘We want somebody of your stature and dignity,’ and so forth, who plays it absolutely straight. They had Bob Stack doing the same thing, and Lloyd Bridges and many others. And then I started thinking about it, and I said, ‘Ooh, this could be funny, but, now wait a minute, this is old iron pants from Mission: Impossible and Fury and all that stuff. Are audiences gonna buy this from me?’ And I couldn’t believe it. So I crossed my fingers, said, ‘Okay,’ and did all that stuff. I went for it. They say you’re supposed to stretch as an actor, so let’s go stretch it.” – Peter Graves

The majority of the film studio executives didn’t “get” the screenplay or didn’t see the commercial potential. ZAZ’s vision, and their demand to direct the film were major hurdles. Michael Eisner, head of Paramount Pictures “got” it, entered into negotiations with ZAZ, and eventually approved the unusual demand for all three to share directing duties. Eisner had several caveats including assigning a veteran producer to the project: Howard W. Koch. Koch was a Hollywood legend and the studio felt safe with him supervising the project. ZAZ loved Koch and he ended up believing in the film as much as they did, so Koch’s involvement was a godsend for the rookie filmmakers.

“They came after me for about two and a half years, and I kept saying, ‘Fellas, you sound like Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney, ‘Let’s put on a show in a garage.’ I said to my wife, ‘No one’s got any money, all three are gonna direct it.’ And my wife said, ‘I think it’s funny.’ I said, ‘I think it’s funny, too, but c’mon already, it’s their first picture, and well.’ I finally said I would do it, under great trepidation, of course. They offered me a piece, and I didn’t take it. Well, it turned out to make a hundred million dollars, and that just goes to show how terribly clever I am.” – Robert Stack

Airplane! as the project was now titled, blazed a new trail, as much as Blazing Saddles and M*A*S*H did at the beginning of the 1970s, and Animal House and Saturday Night Live in the middle of the decade. ZAZ had no directing experience and was a three-headed monster, but they had a united vision and surrounded themselves with talented and creative people on the film.

“Jeff and I really howled when they hung him upside down and he said, ‘Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue,’ because our father was such a straight arrow. – Beau Bridges

Airplane! is full of character actors and some inventive casting of supporting parts. Barbara Billingsley, known as Beaver Cleaver’s TV mom, is probably the best of all. After this film she was known as the “jive lady.” Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was another surprise, but he played along and did a credible job.

The other thing that worked, and ZAZ go into great detail in relating how they had to push to maintain the “B film” look and feel of their film. Even the music, provided by the veteran film composer Elmer Bernstein, had that frantic, over-the-top, melodramic vibe. The special effects were perfect, but a little cheesy by design. It was supposed to look like a low budget film, which added to the appeal.

ZAZ didn’t invent parody and putting serious people in crazy, surprising situations. They just found a more effective and successful way to do it. Each of the three went on to very successful Hollywood careers. Jerry Zucker even directed a classic love story, Ghost.

Surely You Can’t Be Serious is a funny read and one that moves quickly. If you like the film or the work of these guys, you should read it.

4.5/5