Unintentional Comedy Award
The put-the-lotion-in-the-basket scene
In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 00:45:18Read transcript
- Nominees: Chris Isaac's (as transcribed) three-second cameo getting out of the van with one line; Charles Napier's reaction on realizing he is handcuffed just before he is clubbed; and Catherine Martin shouting a profane insult at Clarice, the person trying to rescue her.
- Buffalo Bill's dance scene is judged more disturbing than funny, and the lotion-in-the-basket lines are called an iconic thing to say.
- Miggs is nominated; the reply is that Miggs is on the nominator's Mount Rushmore of references and the most disturbing over-the-top performance, but not unintentional comedy; the case is then made that nobody toned down his crude act toward Clarice.
- Relaying Jim Cunningham's question about what became of the actor, the hosts name him as Stewart Rudin (as transcribed); a high-school friend's joking college-era question about the prop used in the scene is recalled, and a search for how it was made turned up nothing.
- The lotion-in-the-basket scene takes the cake over Miggs; the host reads Gumm's five lines in the scene in order.
- The host recalls seeing the film in a packed Worcester, Massachusetts theater in college and laughing through the lotion scene while people turned around and shushed the host, then doing Gumm impersonations with roommates for a decade before the internet showed everyone found it funny, while acknowledging the scene is about a man torturing a captive in a pit.