DECEMBER 22, 2002  to  DECEMBER 23, 2003                              Curated by: JoyceDeWitt,                                                                                                                      Jimmy Page and Ronnie Spector

Leslie Nielsen and Robert Hays - "Surely You Can't Be Serious"

While shopping at a local thrift store for decent Levi blue jeans a few months ago, we came across an intriguing WAV audio file for only $1.00 (or maybe it was 50 cents...) As collectors of weird and wonderful sounds, we all know how cool it is that thrift stores sell WAV files so cheap! Anyway, we didn't know what was 'on' the WAV file until we came home and played it through our Windows Media Player (Win98) We were pleased to find out that it was a relatively famous short comedy routine from an old movie.

More specifically, it was actors Robert Hays and Leslie Nielsen engaging in the cool and witty "Surely you can't be serious" routine from the movie "Airplane!" (1980) directed by the comic trio David Zucker, Jim Abrahams & Jerry Zucker.

As we all know, "Airplane!" is the coolest and quintessentialest movie spoof ever and we all know that it spawned an entire genre of wacky parody films! "Airplane!" also revitalized the careers of such B-movie studs as Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves (of Mission Impossible fame), Robert Stack, and the aforementioned Leslie Nielsen, who built a second career on endearing and goofy films like "Airplane!"

It was cool that me and my fellow curators found this WAV file of the "Surely you can't be serious" routine, as none of us had seen the movie in quite a while and now we could enjoy listening to it over and over again and also play it for our close friends.

Big fans of 'incorrect/outside audio' or 'incredibly strange and weird sounds' will shirley (oops, surely!) appreciate the funny-yet-brief interchange between Hays and Nielsen. The routine calls to mind the bizarre legacy of mid-period Little Marcy (before the operation) or perhaps the terse witticisms of Lord Buckley or Bob Newhart, Dennis Miller and Chris Rock.

Whatever the case, you must admit that $1.00 is not a bad price to pay at a thrift store for a WAV file of such a classic comedy routine from the great film "Airplane!"

PS - We as curators feel that this "Airplane!" comedy bit would be perfect to sample and place into a drum 'n' bass or trip hop context. Or it could be turned into a stand alone post-modern aural collage - - something along the lines of what Tim McDonough does.

Enjoy!

Leslie Nielsen - King of Nonsense fan site

http://lnielsen.cjb.net/

Robert Hays filmography

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/p/RobertHays-1006778/

- Joyce DeWitt, Jimmy Page and Ronnie.Spector

WAV audio file - 0:05 / 47 k/ 88kbps 11.025 kHz
from the film "Airplane!" (1980)

Leslie Nielsen, star of the movie "Airplane!"

Robert Hays, star of the movie "Airplane!"