Tommy Boy turned 20 years this week.
That movie has always held true to my heart as it was “the movie” back at Drake from 1996-1998. All of us had a Tommy Boy poster somewhere in our dorm…and if you were an 18 or 19 year old male during 1996…you knew every line by heart.
I didn’t see Tommy Boy when it was in the theaters…but when I got to Drake, it was a VHS tape that I owned within the first week of being at school. It’s a movie I’ve easily seen over 100 times.
It made us all further fall in love with Chris Farley….it made us love David Spade as a pompous jerk…it was the comeback of Rob Lowe…and “Come On Eileen” made it’s way into every 1996 Drake Theta Chi party playlist.
In fact…Rob Lowe was originally cast to play the part of Richard (David Spade)…that would have been nuts!
The meltdown scene is an all-timer…punctuated with the “We just killed Bambi”
At your next meeting, when you catch yourself rambling, just stop and say “Wait…it has to be your bull”. Everyone will laugh…and that’s when you stand up from the table, throw your arms in the air, and say “Good night everybody”. Leave ’em on a high note.
The car scene with David Spade & Chris Farley became a staple of every college road trip…
It captured how every road trip happens…you think you know the words, but you don’t…until you get to slow, cheesy ballads….then it’s all hand on deck, time to belt it out.
Oh, and if you’re ever at hotel…you’ll at least once knock on a door and say “Housekeeping…housekeeping.”
Sales people should commit the following quotes to memory…just to psych yourself up for the big sales pitch.
Richard: All right, now it’s sale time, so remember, we don’t take no –
Tommy: No **** from anyone!
Richard: No.
Tommy: Um, we don’t take no prisoners!
Richard: We don’t take no for answer.
Tommy: Oh yeah.
Beneath all the silliness….all the gags…all the goofiness….there is an inspiring message. A message of the little guy fighting the corporate man….of one man’s will versus the ever powerful greed of “The Man”…an Everyman who won’t take no for an answer, and is willing to do whatever it takes to complete the job.
We should all aspire to be Tommy Boy!
AWESOME is as AWESOME does!
