Toby Huss Actually Punched Thomas Lennon In Weird: The Al Yankovic Story

When actors find themselves playing roles in high-budget action films, they can lean on the guarantee that just about all physical interactions will be handled by stunt professionals. However, Thomas Lennon learned the hard way that when it comes to lower-budget biographical parody movies, actors are sometimes expected to power through these loosely choreographed altercations on their own. For Lennon, this was the case in the film "Weird: "The Al Yankovic Story" which was released on November 4, 2022. The film, which stars Daniel Radcliffe as the title character, has been praised by both critics and viewers.

Based on fan reactions, the film, which is based on the comedic musician's life, is as fun and interesting as the different actors who were chosen to play all the people Yankovic interacted with throughout his public rise to fame. There seems to be an endless list of character cameos, in addition to those playing Yankovic's close friends and family. As mentioned, Radcliffe signed to play Yankovic shortly after he read a scene from the original script, which involved a diner fight which Pablo Escobar's henchmen. And speaking of fighting, now that the film has been released, Lennon explained the physical authenticity of the scene he had with co-star Toby Huss.

In the newly released film, "Weird: "The Al Yankovic Story," Yankovic's parents are played by Julianne Nicholson and Toby Huss. On the Lights Camera Barstool podcast, Thomas Lennon, who plays an accordion salesman in the movie, recalled the day he filmed a scene, opposite Huss, who quite literally didn't hold back any punches. "[Huss] beats me up so bad, it was a really long day," Lennon said near the hour mark of the episode. "He definitely connected with my face a bunch of times." Lennon went on to detail how they were all supposed to be fake punches, but in the excitement of the scene, a few haymakers connected. "But, I can take it, I can take it, " he said, unconvincingly.

That wasn't all Lennon had to endure from Huss' over-enthusiastic performance. The scene also required a chair to be broken over his back. Despite the chair being made of breakable balsa wood, the "Reno: 911" star still wasn't fully comfortable about it. "That was the one thing I was really nervous about," he admitted. "It's never as light as you think it's going to be, Toby's aiming at my spinal cord, which makes my legs work and stuff." Well, this probably more-than-needed realism helped contribute to the quality of the film, with Lennon sacrificing his body for the weirder good.