55 Fun Facts About Tommy Boy

Which studio, also behind the Wayne's World films, released Tommy Boy in theaters in 1995?

Paramount Pictures released Tommy Boy, which opened at number one in theaters but found its lasting following later, as a cult favorite on home video.

Which MTV Movie Award did Chris Farley and David Spade win in 1996 for Tommy Boy?

Best On-Screen Duo went to Farley and Spade at the 1996 MTV Movie Awards; the same night Farley lost Best Comedic Performance to Jim Carrey.

Who directed Tommy Boy?

Peter Segal directed Tommy Boy and the same year formed his own production company under a familiar name: Callahan Filmworks.

Who produced Tommy Boy?

Lorne Michaels produced Tommy Boy, for which Farley accepted a pay-or-play offer for his first leading role before the film even had a director.

Tommy Boy's writers, Bonnie and Terry Turner, later created which two sitcoms?

3rd Rock from the Sun and That '70s Show both followed the Turners' 1994 move from New York to Los Angeles, after seven seasons writing for Saturday Night Live.

Tommy returns home after college to which Ohio city?

Sandusky, Ohio, is home to Callahan Auto and its 300 workers, and the film makes plain that if the factory goes under, the whole town goes with it.

Tommy's hometown is a real place whose tourism is led by which amusement park?

Cedar Point, open since 1870 on a Lake Erie peninsula, anchors the real town's tourism; the film instead shows a factory town whose tire and muffler plants have already closed.

Callahan Auto's survival hinges on a new division making what product?

Brake pads are the lifeline: Callahan Auto's new division needs a loan the bank refuses once Big Tom dies, so Tommy hits the road to sell them himself.

How many units of the new product must Tommy sell to prove the division is viable?

500,000, or half a million, is the bank's target; Tommy finally hits it in one stroke when Zalinsky signs a purchase order on live television.

What classic car does Richard drive on the sales trip, and gradually watch fall apart?

Richard's 1967 Plymouth GTX, fitted with a 440 Magnum engine, ends the trip a wreck: roof shredded, a door torn loose and the hood blown off on the highway.

Who plays Ray Zalinsky, the self-described 'auto parts king'?

Dan Aykroyd plays Ray Zalinsky, who wants Callahan Auto only for its brand name and plans to shut the factory, which would ruin Tommy's hometown.

Zalinsky Auto Parts, the rival that wants to swallow Callahan Auto, is based in which city?

Zalinsky's headquarters are in Chicago, where Tommy and Richard head for a last-ditch plea that he call off the takeover.

Zalinsky's TV commercial slogan says he makes car parts for whom?

Zalinsky's ads promise car parts 'for the American working man, because that's who I am'; Tommy throws the line back at him on live television to force the purchase order.

Who plays Big Tom Callahan, Tommy's larger-than-life father?

Brian Dennehy plays Big Tom Callahan, whose sudden death at his own wedding reception makes the bank back out of its loan and sends Tommy out on the road.

In Tommy Boy, who plays Beverly, the scheming new stepmother who is really a con artist?

Bo Derek plays Beverly, a role that earned her a Razzie nomination for Worst Supporting Actress; the character turns out to have a criminal record under another name, Beverly Burns.

The actors playing Big Tom and Beverly had earlier both appeared in which Blake Edwards film?

In 10, the future Big Tom tended bar in the Mexican resort scenes while the future Beverly became a star running down the beach in cornrows.

Which rural pastime does Tommy take his new stepbrother Paul out to try for the first time?

Cow tipping is Tommy's idea of brotherly bonding, and it ends with the pair down in the muck and Paul hosing Tommy clean.

Which Doc Hollywood actress plays Michelle Brock, Tommy's old classmate and eventual love interest?

Julie Warner plays Michelle Brock, who uncovers the proof that Beverly and Paul are con artists and rushes it to Tommy outside Zalinsky's boardroom.

When Tommy says lots of people go to college for seven years, what does Richard say they're called?

Doctors, Richard deadpans, having already noted that Tommy graduated in 'just a shade under a decade'.

Which actor plays Paul, Beverly's supposed son, without ever receiving an onscreen credit?

Rob Lowe plays Paul without a screen credit; his slick 'stepbrother' sabotages Callahan Auto's shipping computer to wreck the sales Tommy has made.

What does Tommy spill into the dashboard of Richard's prized car?

M&M's: when Richard fumes about melted chocolate inside the dash, Tommy assures him they will be fine because they have a thin candy shell.

Pulled over with a car that reeks of beer, what do Tommy and Richard pretend is attacking them?

A swarm of bees, or so they scream: Tommy calls it a little trick his dad taught him, and the officers back off because both are allergic.

Although set in Ohio, where was Tommy Boy primarily shot?

Toronto stood in for Ohio, which meant Farley and Spade, still in the Saturday Night Live cast, had to fly to New York and back around each week's show.

Big Tom says he could inspect a T-bone steak himself but would rather take whose word for it?

The butcher's word is Big Tom's folksy way of asking a buyer to trust him; Tommy later mangles the line so badly in a sales call that the customer is left at a loss for words.

Richard says Big Tom could sell what to a woman in white gloves?

A ketchup popsicle, Richard snaps, adding that he learned everything he knows from Big Tom, who looked out for him when he had no father of his own.

Which critic panned Tommy Boy as 'an explosion down at the screenplay factory'?

Roger Ebert wrote that no one in the film was funny and that it had no memorable lines, and he later put it on his list of most hated movies.

Which of Tommy's lines is the last one spoken in Tommy Boy?

'That's gonna leave a mark' ends the film: out on the lake in his sailboat, Tommy asks his late father for a little wind, shouts his thanks, then yelps the line one last time.

The 2005 two-disc DVD of Tommy Boy was branded as which edition?

Holy Schnike, Tommy's stock cry of amazement, named the 2005 two-disc DVD, which added a commentary by the director and a set of deleted and extended scenes.

Tommy Boy was its director's second feature; what was his first?

Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994) gave the director an established star in Leslie Nielsen; Tommy Boy then handed him Chris Farley in his first leading role.

Which SNL writer did an uncredited rewrite of Tommy Boy and then scripted the follow-up Black Sheep?

Fred Wolf, a Saturday Night Live writer, never got screen credit for his Tommy Boy rewrite, yet he later teamed with David Spade again to write Joe Dirt.

Black Sheep reunited Tommy Boy's two leads in 1996 under which director?

Penelope Spheeris, who had directed Wayne's World, made Black Sheep, a studio bid to repeat the Tommy Boy formula that was approved with its script unfinished.

Tommy barely graduates after seven years at which university, Chris Farley's real alma mater?

Marquette is Farley's real alma mater; in the film Tommy leaves it for an executive office his father simply hands him, which is what Richard, who earned his place, resents.

Which sport did Chris Farley play in college, a pastime the film also gives Tommy?

Rugby was Farley's college sport, and the film nods to it when Tommy toasts his campus friends as 'the best bunch of rugby freaks ever born'.

Where did the 'fat guy in a little coat' bit originate?

In the SNL offices, to annoy people, is where the bit began: Farley kept springing it on his officemate David Spade until the two decided it belonged in the film.

When Tommy recites a phone number with a 'niner' in it, Richard asks if he called from what?

A walkie-talkie, Richard sneers; Tommy, floundering over a message he claims he left, answers that no, the phone was cordless.

When Tommy asks whether his suit makes him look fat, what does Richard reply?

'No, your face does' is Richard's answer as he straightens Tommy up before a sales call, a moment before Tommy's clip-on tie comes away in his hand.

Which animal, believed dead, wakes up in the back seat and tears apart Richard's car?

A deer: thinking they have killed it, the pair load it into the car, where it revives and shreds the convertible roof on its way out.

What does Richard swing into Tommy's face to end their roadside fight?

A two-by-four, which snaps in half on Tommy's face; he calls it a good one before dropping, then complains that only his face hurts.

In his breakthrough sales pitch, Tommy warns that which imaginary visitor might be a crazy glue sniffer?

The Guarantee Fairy is Tommy's way of mocking a rival's label: a promise printed on the box, he argues, means nothing if the product inside is junk.

Hosing mud off a dancing Tommy, Paul asks whether he ate a lot of what as a kid?

Paint chips, Paul asks, and Tommy only laughs and says 'Why?'; the same question comes back much later, in the middle of his winning run of sales.

When Richard asks for a signature on some paperwork, Tommy corrects him with which jazz musician's name?

Herbie Hancock is the only Hancock Tommy knows: he scoffs at 'John Hancock' as Richard's slip, because he believes the founding father's first name was Herbie.

Big Tom tells Tommy he met his bride-to-be where?

At a fat farm, Big Tom says, where Beverly worked as a trainer: the job that let the con artist get close to a wealthy widower and marry into Callahan Auto.

Richard sees Tommy's sales gift after Tommy talks a waitress into serving what before the kitchen opens?

Tommy charms the waitress into turning on the fryer for chicken wings, and Richard realizes that people-reading knack is the sales gift they need.

How do Tommy and Richard get aboard a plane to confront Zalinsky?

Posing as flight attendants gets Tommy and Richard aboard, where Richard's sneering safety talk tells passengers they are likelier to hit a mountain than a lake.

Michelle's brother, who digs up the con artists' records, has what job?

Michelle's brother is a police detective who pulls the records showing Beverly and Paul are con artists; she calls him after seeing them kiss at the airport.

Why is Beverly's marriage to Big Tom ultimately ruled invalid?

She was still married to Paul, which made the wedding to Big Tom bigamous and void; his controlling stake passes to Tommy, who refuses to sell, and the Zalinsky deal collapses.

How is Paul finally stopped when he tries to flee Zalinsky's headquarters?

He runs into a crash test in progress, which stops him cold, and he is arrested on outstanding warrants for fraud.

What MPAA rating did Tommy Boy receive?

Rated PG-13 for sex-related humor, some drug content and nudity, the film struck the Los Angeles Times reviewer as fairly mild and unlikely to offend most people.

What does Tommy offer the bank as collateral to buy time for his sales trip?

His house and his shares in Callahan Auto, his whole inheritance, go up as collateral; when the sales are sabotaged, the bank keeps the shares.

Why does the hood of Richard's car suddenly fly open on the highway?

Tommy left an oil can under it after topping up at a gas stop, so the hood never latched; he protests that he used the right oil, 10W-30.

Which band covers The Damned's 'Wait for the Blackout' on the Tommy Boy soundtrack?

The Goo Goo Dolls cover 'Wait for the Blackout' on the soundtrack, alongside The Carpenters' 'Superstar,' the song Tommy and Richard belt out in the car.

Which Ray Charles song do Tommy and Big Tom perform together in the film?

Big Tom and Tommy belt out Ray Charles's 'What'd I Say' at the wedding celebration, moments before Big Tom's fatal collapse.

Which Spanish-language song by Mocedades appears on the Tommy Boy soundtrack?

Eres Tú finished second for Spain at Eurovision in 1973, then outgrew the contest by climbing into the US top ten while still sung in Spanish.

What does Tommy strap to his chest to pose as a suicide bomber outside Zalinsky's boardroom?

Road flares taped to his chest make Tommy look like a bomber, a stunt that draws a live TV news crew and gets him back into the boardroom.

On which two formats did Tommy Boy premiere for home viewing on October 10, 1995?

Tommy Boy reached home viewers on VHS and LaserDisc on October 10, 1995, and it was on tape that the film grew into a cult favorite.