Airplane! is a 1980 comedy film written and directed by the team of Jim Abrahams and David Zucker and Jerry Zucker. It was followed by Airplane II: The Sequel in 1982, without the involvement of the Zucker brothers or Abrahams.

References[]

• In The Great Muppet Caper, during the song "Night Life," the Happiness Hotel bus drives past a theater marquee, listing Airplane! (along with Xanadu, Life of Brian, and Rough Cut).

• In a sketch with Guy Smiley hosting a reunion dinner for things beginning with "SH", Guy says to a Fat Blue Short King, "But surely..." who replies, "And don't call me Shirley!"

• During Telly and Baby Bear's story in Episode 4103, Telly portrays a chef to a king played by Baby Bear. After learning there is no more porridge, the king tells his chef, "Surely, you jest!" The chef replies, "No, there is no more porridge - and don't call me Shirley." The king's servant punctuates the moment with a verbal rimshot.

• In the "Elmo the Musical" segment "President the Musical," Elmo and one of his Sheep-ret Service agents have an exchange borrowed from the "but that's not important right now" running gag in the film when they receive a call from The Pentagon.

• In a 2017 Vanity Fair YouTube video, Bert and Ernie quote the "Don't call me Shirley" exchange (with Ernie reading Dr. Rumack's lines).

Connections[]

• Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played Roger Murdock
• Barbara Billingsley played the jive lady
• Julie Hagerty played Elaine Dickinson
• James Hong played the Japanese general
• David Leisure played the first Krishna
• Ethel Merman played Lt. Hurwitz
• Leslie Nielsen played Dr. Rumack
• William Shatner played Commander Buck Murdock in Airplane II
• Robert Stack played Kramer