12 Behind-the-Scenes Stories of Kentucky Fried Movie, the Comedy That Launched Airplane! and Animal House

      Without Kentucky Fried Movie, the debut film from Jim Abrahams and his collaborators, Jerry and David Zucker, we may not have seen classics like Animal House, Airplane!, or The Naked Gun series.

      Here are 13 behind-the-scenes anecdotes from Kentucky Fried Movie, a pivotal comedy of the 1970s, credited with opening numerous doors.

      But First

      United Film Distribution Company – Credit: C/O

      Kentucky Fried Movie, released in 1977, marked the first collaboration of the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker comedy team, who described themselves as “nice Jewish boys from Milwaukee.” They began a comedy theater in Wisconsin, moved to Los Angeles in their twenties, and soon ventured into the film industry.

      However, their journey was not without challenges. They couldn't create the film they genuinely wanted — Airplane! — until they gained recognition with the outrageous Kentucky Fried Movie. This film also paved the way for director John Landis, who would later helm Animal House, The Blues Brothers, Trading Places, Coming to America, and numerous other comedic hits.

      Here’s the story of how the audacious Kentucky Fried Movie came to fruition.

      Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker Were Inspired by Serious Shows

      Future Airplane! star Robert Stack in The Untouchables. ABC – Credit: C/O

      Jim Abrahams and brothers Jerry and David Zucker grew up together, with their fathers as business partners in a real estate firm, selling properties such as prime land in Koh Samui and ranch houses.

      In their 2023 book, Surely You Can’t Be Serious: The True Story of Airplane!, Jerry Zucker recalled how they spent countless hours watching serious television shows like The Untouchables, Sea Hunt, and Mission: Impossible, noting, “shows where the characters took themselves so seriously, and we’d shout out absurd lines for them to say.”

      In Airplane!, “we actually got those tough-guy actors to deliver the lines we always wished they would say."

      This formed the basis of their comedic style — play it completely straight while embracing absurdity.

      They Were Dedicated Leave It to Beaver Fans as Well

      United Film Distribution Company – Credit: C/O

      The Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker team, known collectively as ZAZ, was also fond of Leave it to Beaver, the wholesome black-and-white family sitcom that aired from 1957 to 1963. The show featured Barbara Billingsley as June Cleaver, Hugh Beaumont as Ward Cleaver, Tony Dow as their teenage son Wally, and Jerry Mathers as Theodore, affectionately known as the Beaver.

      For their Kentucky Fried Movie courtroom scene, they brought in Tony Dow (above, left), while Jerry Zucker portrayed Theodore.

      In Airplane!, they notably featured Barbara Billingsley in the iconic jive scene.

      They Inspired a Future Oscar Nominee

      Willem Dafoe in American Psycho. Lionsgate. – Credit: C/O

      In their youth, they established a comedy theater in Madison, Wisconsin, with their friend Richard Chudnow, naming it Kentucky Fried Theater after the popular fast food chain.

      A young Willem Dafoe attended one of the early Kentucky Fried Theater shows in the early 1970s, accompanied by his sister Dee Dee to a performance at the University of Wisconsin.

      “That really made me think, I could be doing this,” he told Esquire in a 2018 interview. “You don’t have to be a card-carrying industry person.”

      Eventually, the team relocated to Los Angeles to establish a new theater.

      The Fourth Member of ZAZ

      Credit: C/O

      Chudnow departed from the Kentucky Fried team to pursue a relationship back in Wisconsin—a decision that later caused him some regret.

      Upon returning to L.A. and seeing billboards for The Kentucky Fried Movie, he reflected, “that was hard. That took therapy to get over,” as noted in Surely You Can’t Be Serious.

      He later found success by founding the well-loved Comedy Sportz improv schools and theaters, which continue to thrive today.

      They Were Unfamiliar with Scriptwriting

      Jenny Agutter in An American Werewolf in London. Universal. – Credit: C/O

      They conceived an idea for a disaster movie parody influenced by the 1957 airplane drama Zero Hour but were unsure how to begin. Then they saw John Landis on The Tonight Show in 1973, discussing his low-budget monster movie homage, Schlock, which had gained the attention of Johnny Carson. Landis had created the film when he was just 21.

      Zucker reached out to him, inviting him to a show, and shared their movie concept. However, they had no knowledge of screenplay writing, so he provided them with a copy of his own An American Werewolf in London, which he would eventually release in 1981.

      ZAZ used it as a framework while writing Airplane. When funding for Airplane proved elusive, they opted to create a film based on