I was only vaguely aware of Police Squad! when it was on TV – I didn’t actually watch it, and I didn’t realize it was a spoof, so you can imagine how confusing the credit sequence was for me. I also didn’t see Airplane! until college at least (look, it was Alabama, what do you want from me?) so I was pretty cold coming into The Naked Gun over Christmas break in 1988.
We almost got thrown out of the movie theater. We were roaring. I mean, serious gasping-for-breath-Oh-God-I’m-gonna-die howling. I was literally, no lie, doubled over walking out of the theater, my gut hurt so bad. It was like I’d done three hundred crunches – which I pretty much did. Hell, years later at City Stages 1994, my buddy Ken was bewildered – “There’s no way Nordberg shot his wife!”
No human being alive before or since has made me laugh like that. Well done, Mr. Nielsen. People may argue for Barenaked Ladies or Molson XXX or Chris Jericho as Canada’s greatest export, but I was there and I know better and I say it was Lt. Frank Drebin.