49 Fun Facts About Revenge of the Nerds

At which fictional college is Revenge of the Nerds set?

Adams College: Lewis and his best friend arrive as freshmen to study computer science, and a fraternity crowd is chanting 'nerds' at them before they have even unpacked.

Why do the Alpha Betas take over the freshman dorm at the start of Revenge of the Nerds?

Their own house burned down: the jocks set it alight themselves, fooling about with 188-proof liquor and a lighter, and their coach then pressures the dean into handing them the freshman dorm.

Revenge of the Nerds was the first film from which production company, whose name later became a famous record label?

Interscope: founder Ted Field produced the film himself and says he came up with its title; in 1990 he co-founded Interscope Records.

Who plays Lewis Skolnick, the lead nerd in Revenge of the Nerds?

Robert Carradine arrived on campus early in full nerd costume and went through fraternity rush for real; no house would have him, which convinced him he had the part right.

Which future ER star plays Gilbert Lowe in Revenge of the Nerds?

Anthony Edwards filmed only a few brief scenes for the sequel, reportedly because he was committed to another project, and by the third film the part was played by someone else.

By what nickname is Curtis Armstrong's lewd nerd character known in Revenge of the Nerds?

Booger was the first key role cast: the writers decided that if they could get Curtis Armstrong, fresh from Risky Business, they had a hit, and he says strangers still shout the name at him.

Which actor plays Alpha Beta leader Stan Gable in Revenge of the Nerds?

Ted McGinley's villain comes round in the end: in the third film Stan Gable confesses in court that he is a nerd himself, and by the fourth he turns up as one of them.

What do the nerds use to sabotage the Alpha Betas' jockstraps in Revenge of the Nerds?

Liquid heat: the prank on the football team, along with a hidden-camera raid on the sorority house, is what finally convinces the national Tri-Lamb president to grant the nerds full membership.

Which actor plays Coach Harris, the Alpha Betas' football coach, in Revenge of the Nerds?

John Goodman played the bullying coach four years before Roseanne made him a household name, and remembers the director running 'a very loose ship' on which he made up a lot of his lines.

Which former NFL player plays Tri-Lamb national leader U.N. Jefferson in Revenge of the Nerds?

Bernie Casey was a Pro Bowl receiver who also published poetry and painted; Sports Illustrated profiled him in 1969 as a 'poet, painter and wide receiver'.

Which actor plays Lewis's father, Mr. Skolnick, in Revenge of the Nerds?

James Cromwell, billed here as Jamie Cromwell, came back in every sequel, turning up in court to stand by his son in one of them, a decade before his Oscar-nominated farmer in Babe.

Which future thirtysomething star plays Arnold Poindexter in Revenge of the Nerds?

Timothy Busfield says he danced through his audition to 'Billie Jean' on a Walkman and the director offered him the part on the spot, his first substantial film role.

Which of the nerds in Revenge of the Nerds is a child prodigy?

Harold Wormser is no bystander: during the nerds' raid on the sorority house, the child genius and Lamar are the two who install the hidden cameras.

In Revenge of the Nerds, Larry B. Scott's Lamar Latrelle is written as what kind of character?

An openly gay fraternity member: Larry B. Scott played Lamar in all four films, and Lamar's wobbling javelin throw helps the Tri-Lambs through the Greek Games.

Brian Tochi, who plays Takashi in Revenge of the Nerds, later voiced which Ninja Turtle in the live-action films?

Leonardo: Tochi voiced the Turtles' leader in the first three live-action films; in Nerds, a co-star claims his 'Looks like salad' over the pile of jockstraps was made up on the spot.

Betty Childs is played by Julia Montgomery, previously known for which soap opera?

One Life to Live, where she played Samantha Vernon; her Nerds character is missing from the first sequel, then returns in the two TV films as Lewis's wife.

Who directed Revenge of the Nerds?

Jeff Kanew thought the script 'sounds stupid' when the studio sent it, then realised he related to it; four years earlier he had edited the Oscar-winning Ordinary People.

Under Greek Council rules in Revenge of the Nerds, what must the nerds find before they can start a fraternity?

An outside sponsor: the council demands the backing of a national fraternity, and every one turns the nerds down except the all-Black Lambda Lambda Lambda, which takes them on trial.

Where were most of the exterior campus scenes in Revenge of the Nerds shot?

University of Arizona: its administrators refused the 'too raunchy' script, then relented after negotiations with the producers.

Fox first aired the TV sequel Nerds in Love in 1994 with which gimmick, sold through 7-Eleven stores?

Scratch-and-sniff cards: Fox called it 'aroma-vision', flashing an on-screen prompt when it was time to sniff each card, and Variety's critic reported that they smelled mostly of Kool-Aid.

Who becomes Greek Council president after the nerds win the Homecoming carnival in Revenge of the Nerds?

Gilbert Lowe: winning the carnival gives the Tri-Lambs the right to name the president, ending Stan Gable's habit of using the office to block every complaint against his own fraternity.

How do the Alpha Betas and Pi Delta Pis sabotage the nerds' first party in Revenge of the Nerds?

They release pigs inside, just as the party has finally come to life; the nerds agree not to answer with violence and plan pranks of their own instead.

How do the nerds outsell the Alpha Betas at the Homecoming charity fundraiser in Revenge of the Nerds?

Pies with nude photos: each plate hides a picture taken by the cameras the nerds planted in the sorority house, a prank one of the film's own writers now says he regrets.

Which sorority of nerdy women, Judy's, allies with the Tri-Lambs in Revenge of the Nerds?

Omega Mu: Judy calls in her sorority sisters when the Pi Delta Pis accept the nerds' party invitation only to stand them up, and the two houses then compete as a team at the Homecoming carnival.

How do the nerds finally clinch the Homecoming carnival in Revenge of the Nerds?

An electronic musical number: tied for first going into the last event, the nerds win the loudest applause with a Devo-like electro-rap, Poindexter sawing away on his violin.

Which Queen anthem is heard in Revenge of the Nerds?

We Are the Champions: yet it was left off the film's soundtrack album, as were the Michael Jackson and Talking Heads hits heard on screen.

Nerds in Paradise was filmed on location during which annual event, using the crowds as extras?

Spring break: holidaying students filled the backgrounds; the script was first set in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, but moved to an American beach resort because shooting there was faster and cheaper.

In Revenge of the Nerds, Alpha Beta brother Danny Burke is played by the son of which famously reclusive novelist?

J. D. Salinger's son Matt made his film debut as the jock, and six years later the recluse's boy was playing Captain America.

A real Lambda Lambda Lambda fraternity inspired by Revenge of the Nerds was founded in 2006 at which university?

University of Connecticut: it began as a joke among friends unhappy with what campus fraternities had become, and grew into the founding chapter of a real Lambda Lambda Lambda.

Which star of The O.C. had the idea for a Revenge of the Nerds remake that shut down two weeks into filming?

Adam Brody was a co-producer on the remake, which stopped for good in November 2006 after the university hosting the shoot threw the production off campus.

Which comedy producer announced plans in 2020 to reboot Revenge of the Nerds with the Lucas Brothers?

Seth MacFarlane, the creator of Family Guy, planned not a remake of a film that Variety said 'hasn't aged all that well' but a comedy about what counts as a nerd today, written by and starring twins Keith and Kenny Lucas.

Curtis Armstrong and his Lewis Skolnick co-star later hosted which TBS reality competition?

King of the Nerds: the pair first pitched it about six years earlier and were turned down because Beauty and the Geek was already on air; its contestants shared a house called Nerdvana.

Where does the United Fraternity convention take place in Nerds in Paradise (1987)?

Fort Lauderdale, Florida: bumped from the Royal Flamingo by a manager who wants no nerds in his hotel, the Tri-Lambs end up at the run-down Hotel Coral Essex instead.

Which future West Wing star plays Alpha Beta villain Roger Latimer in Nerds in Paradise?

Bradley Whitford's preppy villain has the nerds arrested and then marooned on a deserted island, and ends the film punched into the hotel pool by Lewis.

Which Canadian rock star co-wrote "Back to Paradise", the Nerds in Paradise theme?

Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance are among its credited writers, but it was the Southern rockers 38 Special who recorded the nerds' theme.

How do the Tri-Lambs escape the uninhabited island in Nerds in Paradise?

In an army amphibious vehicle: the castaways stumble on a hidden cache of old military equipment, then drive back and crash the vote being held to expel them.

Which former Alpha Beta is inducted into the Tri-Lambs at the end of Nerds in Paradise?

Ogre: thrown overboard by his own fraternity in case he bragged about marooning the nerds, he cannot swim, is rescued by Wormser and ends up friends with his old victims.

How does Nerds in Paradise explain why Gilbert misses the fraternity convention?

A broken leg, which Gilbert says he got playing chess: the actor filmed only a few brief scenes, so the character stays home and later appears in a dream, urging Lewis not to give up.

In Revenge of the Nerds III, what is the grown-up, successful Lewis Skolnick trying to do?

Hide his nerdy past: Lewis restyles himself as 'hip' and even urges his nephew to pledge Alpha Beta, before the jocks' scheming pushes him to rediscover his true geek self.

Which former talk-show provocateur plays nerd-hating businessman Orrin Price in Revenge of the Nerds III?

Morton Downey Jr., the late-1980s pioneer of 'trash TV', was 'appropriately cast', Variety said, as the rich alumnus who frames the nerds by planting marijuana in their house.

Which nerd's wedding is at the center of Revenge of the Nerds IV: Nerds in Love?

Dudley Dawson is marrying the daughter of a newly rich would-be politician, who is so dismayed at gaining a nerd for a son-in-law that he goes along with a plot to wreck the wedding.

Which member of the Newman family of film composers wrote the score for Revenge of the Nerds?

Thomas Newman was 28 and just starting out; a year earlier John Williams had let him orchestrate Darth Vader's death scene in Return of the Jedi.

Which popular sorority girl tricks Lewis and his best friend into a fake Alpha Beta initiation in Revenge of the Nerds?

Betty Childs, girlfriend of Alpha Beta leader Stan Gable, sets them up for a humiliating hazing; by the end of the film she has dumped Stan for Lewis.

After the Alpha Betas seize the freshman dorm in Revenge of the Nerds, where are the displaced freshmen sent to live?

The gymnasium: most of the displaced freshmen are soon taken in by fraternities, and the handful nobody wants, left behind there, become the film's nerds.

Producer Peter Samuelson said the nerds' nonviolent stand in Revenge of the Nerds was inspired by whom?

Mahatma Gandhi: Samuelson said he and his fellow producer 'fought hard' for the pep-rally ending against colleagues who wanted the nerds to blow up the Alpha Beta house instead.

In Revenge of the Nerds, which instrument does the nerds' friend Judy play?

The accordion: Judy is carrying hers to class when one of the nerds tells her he loves the instrument, and she asks him to walk her there.

Which future Melrose Place star plays hotel receptionist Sunny Carstairs in Nerds in Paradise?

Courtney Thorne-Smith's Sunny sides with the nerds: she bails them out of jail, ends up stranded on the island with them, and back at the hotel exposes Roger's frame-up to the delegates.

Which Atlanta university threw the 2006 Revenge of the Nerds remake off campus over its script?

Emory University backed out once officials had read the script; the fallback, the smaller Agnes Scott College nearby, never looked like a big campus, and the studio shut the film down.

Rotten Tomatoes' consensus calls Revenge of the Nerds a minor classic of which comedy subgenre?

Slobs vs. snobs: the same consensus calls the film 'undeniably lowbrow but surprisingly sly', and it turned into a surprise hit of summer 1984.