Adam Sandler And Bob Barker's Fight After Happy Gilmore Was Even Better
On August 26, legendary game show host Bob Barker passed away from natural causes at the age of 99. The longtime entertainer was best known as the host of "The Price Is Right." One of the most moving remembrances of Barker was a tribute penned by Adam Sandler. Sandler and Barker, after all, had a unique relationship owing to their time as sparring buddies.
Indeed, for fans of a certain age, Barker will always be known for his hilarious cameo in "Happy Gilmore." Sandler stars as the titular Happy, a failed hockey player with a killer slapshot, a temper, and zero affinity for ice skating. When he needs to come up with the cash to save his grandmother's house from foreclosure, Happy turns to golf, a sport at which he surprisingly excels. Happy's skills lead him to the Pepsi Pro-Am tournament, where he is partnered with Bob Barker. Soon, the men are sand trap deep in a round of fisticuffs.
For "Happy Gilmore" fans and critics, alike, the fight scene is a highlight, with Variety calling it one of the movie's "inspired laughs." Even the biggest "Happy Gilmore" devotees might not know that Barker and Sandler reunited in 2015 for a rematch — in the name of charity, of course. In support of Comedy Central's "Night of Too Many Stars" fundraiser for autism charities, the duo appeared in a four-minute video. While the "Happy Gilmore" scene mines humor from the familiar, usually friendly faces and the staid environment of a golf course, the video takes place in a setting even less amenable to fistfights: a hospital room.
For round two, Barker and Sandler went at it in a hospital room
Directed by Tyler Spindel, the "Night of Too Many Stars" fight begins with Sandler visiting Barker in the hospital, attempting to bury the hatchet almost 20 years after their violent meeting. But old habits die hard. Teasing turns to ruthless barbs turns to Sandler sucker punching Barker in his hospital bed. The fight is even more ridiculous than the golf course squabble, with hospital props like prosthetic legs and a vase of bedside flowers being reappropriated as weapons.
At one point Barker flatlines, then pops up, zombie-like, to dump his bedpan over Sandler's head. The fight ends in comic fashion, with Barker infecting the two of them with ebola. Even as angels in heaven (where Carl Weathers shows up in a cameo), the pair comes to blows yet again, with Barker delivering the final wallop with his harp.
For those keeping score, that's Barker 2, Sandler 0. If the rematch was anything like the original fight, that was Barker's doing. Barker had a "Happy Gilmore" stipulation that he would only appear in the film if he won the fight. Moreover, he was gung-ho to do the fighting himself, stunt doubles be damned.
"He was completely game for it, he got the joke," director Dennis Dugan told Cracked. "But he was totally up for it. Also, he'd studied martial arts as a hobby forever, so, even though he was about 70, he really could kick ass."
Barker loved to look back at his Happy Gilmore scene
Even at 91, Bob Barker was raring to go in the battle royale redux. That should come as no surprise, given his affection for "Happy Gilmore." For the game show host, his famed fight scene revitalized his career among a younger demographic. Between the film's release in 1996 and his retirement from "The Price is Right" in 2007, younger fans often came up to him to ask him about his "Happy Gilmore" cameo.
"They asked me all sorts of things," Barker told People in 2014 (via Entertainment Weekly). "The young men would ask me, 'In real life, could you really whip Adam Sandler?' I would tell them, 'Are you kidding? Adam Sandler couldn't whip Regis Philbin.' I'm in fighting frame, fit to fight." Years later, he was still happy to chat about the scene. "It was a delight to beat up Adam," Barker told HuffPost in 2013.
Barker's "Night of Too Many Stars" appearance wasn't the first time he recreated his famous cameo. In a 2014 episode of "The Bold and the Beautiful," Barker recreated the scene with Wyatt Spencer (Darin Brooks).
"I thought it was a wonderful idea because 'Happy Gilmore' is still playing on television frequently and everybody loved that fight scene," Barker said in the same People interview. "For 'Bold and Beautiful' to be so bold as to copy, more or less, is wonderful!"