Stoner Movies – “UHF” starring Weird Al Yankovic, directed by Jay Levey

With Oscar season quickly approaching, I thought it might be interesting to discuss a movie that narrowly missed an Academy Award.😂

I was 12 years old in the summer of 1989. As an American, I had been well exposed to the pop culture phenomenon that was Weird Al Yankovic. I had bought ‘Weird Al in 3D’ at Liberty Sound and Video in Saint Joseph, Missouri, in 1984,and ‘Even Worse’ in 1988, so I was well primed for the arrival of UHF, just one short year later.

The kickoff of the movie is this; Weird Al is a slacker working a series of meaningless jobs when he bumps in to his Aunt and his Uncle, the degenerate gambling husband. The Uncle wins a UHF TV station on the edge of town — (OK, GenZ, let’s chat; A UHF TV station was generally a non-network affiliate that skated by on local ad revenue running rebroadcasts of The Addams Family, Mr. Ed, and Francis the Talking Mule…. Kind of like ShoutTV?) — and Weird Al brings his friends & zany nature.

Let’s check some boxes

Kids movie with adult humor? Check.
80s campy comedy bits? Check.
Gedde Watanabe? Check.
Poking fun at many  segments of the population? Check.
Weird Al spoofs of a dozen plus major market movies? Check.

ACTORS

Weird Al as George Newman,
Michael Richards (Seinfeld, Coneheads) as Stanley Spadowski,
Victoria Jackson (Saturday Night Live, Casual Sex) as Teri,
David Bowe (The Rock, A Few Good Men) as Bob,
Gedde Watanabe (Sixteen Candles, Gung Ho) as Eddie,
Kevin McCarthy (Innerspace, Invasion of the Body Snatchers) as R.J. Fletcher
and
Fran Drescher & Billy Barty.

Hilarity ensues.