logo
episode-header-image
Aug 2025
24m 18s

The Naked Gun And What's Making Us Happy

NPR
About this episode
The Naked Gun franchise has always been a rapid-fire delivery system for gags, delivered straight-faced by a cop who doesn't know that anything is funny. In the new Naked Gun movie, that role is handled by the very straight-faced Liam Neeson. With Pamela Anderson as his femme fatale, Neeson tries to save the world from, quite literally, a plot device. And like the original franchise, this Naked Gun is all about a joke pileup.

Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopculture

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy
Up next
Jun 2025
Bring Her Back
The hit Australian horror movie Talk To Me was both very good and deeply unsettling. Now its directors (Danny and Michael Philippou) have returned with Bring Her Back, which ups the ante when it comes to disturbing, nightmarish storytelling. The film stars Sally Hawkins as a woma ... Show More
18m 52s
Jun 2022
Jurassic World Dominion And What's Making Us Happy
23m 42s
Mar 2019
2020 Grammys Recap
21m 5s
Recommended Episodes
Sep 2024
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
Adapted from an ill-fated, albeit hilarious, TV show from 1982, THE NAKED GUN! Funniest movie of the 80's? We are gonna make a case for it, from the files of police squad. Please give us a nice rating/review on your preferred platform. It genuinely helps spread the love. 
56m 51s
Jul 2024
‘The Naked Gun’ With Bill Simmons and Kyle Brandt
No matter how silly the idea of rewatching ‘The Naked Gun’ might be to Bill Simmons and Kyle Brandt, as Americans, they must be gracious and considerate podcast hosts. The guys revisit the 1988 classic ‘The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!’ starring Leslie Nielsen, Pri ... Show More
1h 36m
Jul 2024
120. The Bling Ring
<p>Crimewave summer continues with Sofia Coppola&#39;s film about celebrity thieves! We discuss the movie in the context of Coppola&#39;s filmography, her artistic motivations and the creative aspirations of the criminals the movie is about, criminal deniability, and, of course, ... Show More
56m 10s
Oct 2020
Death Becomes Her with Katey Rich
Now armed with an arsenal of wild special effects, Zemeckis takes it up a notch with 1992's Death Becomes Her – the first to include computer-generated skin on film. Katey Rich returns as we reminisce Bruce Willis putting effort in, irritating European monologues, the thrilling b ... Show More
2h 25m
May 2022
Legally Blonde: Everything You Didn't Know
Jordan and Alex talk about hilarious true story that inspired classic 2001 film, as well as Reese Witherspoon’s nature documentary-style trips to Southern California sororities, Bruiser the Dog’s connection with the Taco Bell dog, the drunken origin of the bend-and-snap (and its ... Show More
59m 26s
Jul 2025
The Naked Gun
With a reboot on the horizon, Paul and Amy revisit the 1988 slapstick classic The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!. From the creators of Airplane!, they explore how this team transformed a short-lived TV series into a beloved comedy franchise and in the process, helped ... Show More
59m 30s
Dec 2023
That One Scene From... Die Hard
This week we dive into one of the many classic scenes from the original 1988 (Christmas?) film Die Hard, directed by John McTiernan. We chose the "Ho ho ho, now I have a gun" scene. We discuss the origins of John McClane, his effect on future action stars, how smart of a characte ... Show More
12m 44s
Dec 2024
Hasan Minhaj (Off With His Head / Patriot Act / The Daily Show) • #329
LOOK OUT! It’s only Films To Be Buried With! Join your host Brett Goldstein as he talks life, death, love and the universe with the hilarious and awesome comic, actor and writer HASAN MINHAJ! A lovely episode featuring someone big in the game, from a good handful of comedy spec ... Show More
50m 17s
Jun 2024
The Many Faces of the Hit Man
<p>“Hit Man,” a new film directed by Richard Linklater, is not, in fact, about a hit man. The movie follows Gary Johnson (Glen Powell), a mild-mannered philosophy professor who assists law enforcement in sting operations by posing as a contract killer—and playing on the expectati ... Show More
46m 51s
Feb 2020
INCREMENT VICE - EPISODE #14: "...this is Golden Fang territory..." with Millie De Chirico
The novels of Inherent Vice author Thomas Pynchon are littered and laced and threaded and latticed with all manner of references to songs and bands and movies and TV shows and cartoons either real or imagined, a paranoid prism of pop culture through which you see his characters, ... Show More
1h 50m
Listen to millions of songs and podcasts on Anghami