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Comedy legend Jim Abrahams has passed away at the age of 80. He will be remembered for his writing and producing of comedy classics such as Airplane!, The Naked Gun movies, Top Secret!, the two Hot Shots! movies, and The Kentucky Fried Movie.
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Jim Abrahams, ‘Airplane!,’ ‘Naked Gun’ and ‘Hot Shots!’ Master of Mirth, Dies at 80 https://t.co/9sE6hG5ZPA
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) November 26, 2024
Abrahams was part of the ZAZ team of filmmakers. ZAZ stands for the Zucker brothers, Jim and David, and Abrahams. The team released the sketch comedy classic The Kentucky Fried Movie in 1977. They stretched their irreverent comedy stylings into the disaster movie parody, Airplane! in 1980.
Check out this clip. (WATCH)
In the 1980 movie “Airplane”, Barbara Billingsley was handed a script that told her to speak Jive. Not knowing how, she went to lunch with the two black actors in the scene, Al White & Norman Alexander Gibbs. The three of them improvised Jive during the whole scene. pic.twitter.com/wxL6bJnIdD
— Time Capsule Tales (@timecaptales) November 19, 2024
Here’s another hilarious scene. (WATCH)
RIP, Jim Abrahams, 1/3 of the greatest comedy trio of all time with David Zucker and Jerry Zucker.
Without “Airplane!”, we never would have known how far stupid yet brilliant comedy could go in a motion picture.
And I’m surely being quite serious. pic.twitter.com/YAOaehaQnZ
— Patrick (@dannydinosaur) November 26, 2024
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The ZAZ team had a penchant of taking serious actors and having them play comedy completely straight. Actor Leslie Nielsen owes the entire second half of his career to being cast in Airplane!
He ‘Shirley’ does. (WATCH)
Jim Abrahams, one of the creators of the highly quotable movie “Airplane!,” has sadly passed away. In 2016, he gave us the backstory on how its most enduring joke, “Don’t call me Shirley,” may have saved the entire production. https://t.co/vScMlyb2JA pic.twitter.com/JhIvmS6Mwn
— Vulture (@vulture) November 26, 2024
Though a box office flop, Top Secret! is a comedic gem. It has devoted cult following that endures today.
Here’s a funny excerpt. (WATCH)
Jim Abrahams will understandably be most remembered for Airplane and Naked Gun, but I still maintain that Top Secret is one of the most underrated comedies of all time pic.twitter.com/e9W557KuYp
— Ben Palmer (@benjpalmer) November 26, 2024
Leslie Nielsen became an unexpected and beloved comedic actor thanks to Airplane! and the Naked Gun movies.
The bribe scene from The Naked Gun.
RIP to the comedy icon Jim Abrahams. pic.twitter.com/fVhZpZx0Vo
— Mike Beauvais (@MikeBeauvais) November 26, 2024
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The ZAZ team even roped in Ricardo Montalbán. There’s no coming back from this death scene. (WATCH)
The Naked Gun still has the most definitive death scene of all time. pic.twitter.com/CopD72NAeC
— Nick de Semlyen (@NickdeSemlyen) January 14, 2022
Abrahams struck out on his own in the 1990s for Hot Shots! and Hot Shots!: Part Deux.
Check out actor Charlie Sheen. (WATCH)
— Al’s Lacrosse (@lacrosse_al) November 26, 2024
Abrahams also directed Ruthless People and Big Business. He is credited as a screenwriter for Scary Movie 4. This comedy genius will be missed.
