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Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of Michigan Citizens for Science and co-founder of The Panda's Thumb. He has written for such publications as The Bard, Skeptic and Reports of the National Center for Science Education, spoken in front of many organizations and conferences, and appeared on nationally syndicated radio shows and on C-SPAN. Ed is also a Fellow with the Center for Independent Media and the host of Declaring Independence, a one hour weekly political talk show on WPRR in Grand Rapids, Michigan.(static)

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Paul Gleason Dies

Category: Pop Culture
Posted on: May 29, 2006 2:53 PM, by Ed Brayton

Who's Paul Gleason, you ask? He's a "That Guy", one of those actors you instantly recognize but whose name you don't know. He frequently played the same kind of character - the authority figure who blusters and poses but doesn't really know what he's doing. He was Deputy Police Chief Dwayne T. Robinson in Die Hard, the bumbling police administrator who thinks Bruce Willis should leave it to them. He was Clarence Beeks in Trading Places and Professor McDougle in Van Wilder. Most famously, he was Dick Vernon, the asshole teacher in the Breakfast Club.

Comments

I've never seen Van Wilder but it's on my list.

I know you aren't a big Eddie Murphy fan; but Gleason, to me, will always be the one and only Clarence Beeks. My favorite scene was when he was on a pay phone and a lady, waiting real close, tried to impatiently *signal* to him to hurry up and get off...and his classic two word response.

Posted by: Jon Rowe | May 29, 2006 4:14 PM

Van Wilder is very, very funny. Bravo has been doing a countdown of the 100 funniest movies of all time. If I could find a list of them, I'd like to do a post on the subject. The last few years have seen some very funny movies come out when you least expected it. Van Wilder, Eurotrip, the American Pie movies (which really are funny, much to my surprise), Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. I was happy to see the last one make the Bravo list. Neil Patrick Harris should have gotten an Oscar nomination for his cameo.

Posted by: Ed Brayton | May 29, 2006 4:24 PM

I'm looking for Bravo's list right now. So far, I've come up with this forum thread about the list. From what I can gather, it was terrible. Monty Python and the Holy Grail was #40 (right below Mrs. Doubtfire) and This is Spinal Tap was in the 70s. UGH.

Posted by: FishyFred | May 29, 2006 4:56 PM

Okay, I have the list. Pulled it from this thread.

100. Anchorman
99. The Birdcage
98. School of Rock
97. Happy Gilmore
96. Four Weddings and a Funeral
95. Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
94. Waiting for Guffman
93. The Aristocrats
92. Father of the Bride
91. Revenge of the Nerds
90. Clueless
89. Slapshot
88. Team America
87. The Kentucky Fried Movie
86. Zoolander
85. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
84. Silver Streak
83. Sister Act
82. Tootsie
81. Half Baked
80. Lost in America
79. Three Amigos
78. Bananas
77. Flirting with Disaster
76. Ghostbusters
75. Dumb and Dumber
74. Trading Places
73. City Slickers
72. Moonstruck
71. Roxanne
70. The Nutty Professor (Eddie Murphy)
69. The Blues Brothers
68. Broadcast News
67. Kingpin
66. Dazed and Confused
65. Office Space
64. This is Spinal Tap
63. Manhattan
62. The Pink Panther
61. Election
60. When Harry Met Sally
59. Police Academy Series
58. Private Benjamin
57. Swingers
56. Young Frankenstein
55. Bull Durham
54. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
53. Dr. Strangelove
52. Meet the Parents
51. National Lampoon's Vacation
50. The Princess Bride
49. American Pie
48. American Graffiti
47. 9 to 5
46. The Incredibles
45. Raising Arizona
44. Sixteen Candles
43. What About Bob?
42. Harold and Maude
41. Austin Powers
40. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
39. Mrs. Doubtfire
38. Best In Show
37. Dodgeball
36. Good Morning Vietnam
35. Beetlejuice
34. Rushmore
33. Clerks
32. Groundhog Day
31. The Big Lebowski
30. The 40 Year Old Virgin
29. Legally Blonde
28. Annie Hall
27. A Fish Called Wanda
26. Wayne's World
25. Meet the Fockers
24. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
23. Big
22. Beverly Hills Cop
21. Shampoo
20. The Jerk
19. Wedding Crashers
18. Stripes
17. M*A*S*H
16. Old School
15. Fast Times At Ridgemont High
14. Napoleon Dynamite
13. Naked Gun Series
12. The Producers
11. Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
10. Arthur
9. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
8. Blazing Saddles
7. The Wedding Singer
6. Airplane
5. South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut
4. There's Something About Mary
3. Shrek
2. Caddyshack
1. Animal House

Posted by: FishyFred | May 29, 2006 4:58 PM

The absence of Spaceballs completely invalidates this list. The end.

Posted by: FishyFred | May 29, 2006 5:00 PM

Cool, thank you. I'll write up a full post about it soon.

Posted by: Ed Brayton | May 29, 2006 5:16 PM

That is a fascinating list. It illustrates how many meanings are encompassed by "funny". I had to think about some of those movies to ralize that they were funny because they were so "pointed", e.g. Dr. Strangelove. And others that would be classified as: droll, witty, clever, smarmy, slapstick, juvenile. With all the variations on "funny" though, I don't see how Annie Hall can be considered a "funny" movie even though it had some clever scenes from Diane Keaton. And finally, they seem to have imposed a time limit going back only 20(?) years - no Marx brothers, no three stooges, no Chaplin.
Ed, you're going to have a wonderful time blogging on that. You can do pages and pages.

Posted by: Karl | May 29, 2006 7:36 PM

I remember Paul Gleason. He's a fine character actor, playing roles we love to hate. He will be missed.

On the top 100 list, I've seen about 67 of them. I'm surprised Top Secret isn't on it, as are any of Jerry Lewis' movies (C'mon, his Nutty Professor is better than Eddie Murphy's). Even the Odd Couple isn't on the list! What a major oversight! I think Some Like it Hot deserves a place in the list too.

And yeah, Harold and Kumar is damn funny!

Posted by: Danny Boy | May 29, 2006 7:49 PM

The Producers is from 1968. They can't mean the 2005 version, can they?

-LilLeaguer

Posted by: LilLeaguer | May 30, 2006 6:41 PM

Sorry, The Pink Panther (from 1963) is the oldest I recognize. Again assuming that they don't mean the Steve Martin version. Beats out Dr. Strangelove by one year.

-LL

Posted by: LilLeaguer | May 30, 2006 6:45 PM

Where is The Full Monty? Where is Dave? These movies are critically acclaimed because the a good and VERY funny.

Posted by: Jessica | November 24, 2006 12:09 PM

I am trying to get a hold of the DVD version of "Orgasmo" by Trey Parker.
Any idea of how I could purchase one???
Thanks!
Tali
talipeterson@hotmail.com

Posted by: Tali | January 6, 2008 2:59 PM