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Dirty Work

year 1998decade 90sdirector Bob Sagetgenre Comedy

82 minutes

IMDb
Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Dirty Work | The Rewatchables

host Bill Simmonshost Sean Fennesseyproducer Craig Horlbeck format Norm Macdonald Tribute
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Roger Ebert's review

Rating not yet verified

No Roger Ebert review was found.

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 00:30:40Read transcript
  • The panel says Ebert sat this movie out and that no review or television discussion could be located.

Most Rewatchable Scene

The jail sequence is the durable favorite, with the dead-fish revenge, dead-hooker trunks, skunk release, and several compact cameos also praised.

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 00:34:07Read transcript
  • The childhood opening credits are praised for casting children who resemble neither lead and for the superglue revenge against a predatory crossing guard.
  • The frat-house prank works through fake police calls, robbery, and a blunt final insult.
  • Chevy Chase's first doctor scene is praised for coldly rejecting the heart-transplant patient before trying to sell a hospital bed.
  • Don Rickles' hospital-room insults are praised as a concentrated comic performance.
  • The Men in Black pornography scene wins laughs by pushing a thin premise into blunt absurdity.
  • The dead-hooker trunk reveal is praised for escalating through the remote-controlled trunk openings and a remembered Saigon story.
  • The dead-fish revenge sustains a silent pose while violence occurs offscreen, recalling an older broad-comedy serial.
  • The jail scene remains funny across repeated viewings because the lecture about respect collides with the more painful assault.
  • Chris Farley's skunk release is described as an unnerving, fully committed burst of comic chaos.
  • The abrupt ending and final line about the doctor's death are praised for refusing a normal resolution.

What’s Aged the Best?

The note-to-self device, period soundtrack, bloopers, Jack Warden, Jim Downey, Artie Lange, and Chris Farley lead the discussion.

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 00:42:08Read transcript
  • The note-to-self recorder remains a funny extension of the lead comic persona.
  • A rapid sequence of three period pop hits fixes the comedy firmly in the late 1990s.
  • Closing-credit bloopers are praised as a comic tradition associated with the Cannonball Run films.
  • Jack Warden holding the invented old-men magazine remains a strong visual gag.
  • Jim Downey's homeless-man routine repeatedly sets up sentimental music and wisdom only to be cut off.
  • Jack Warden's long supporting career is celebrated through The Replacements, 12 Angry Men, Shampoo, The Verdict, and Heaven Can Wait.
  • The compact jokes about stopping people and the brothers’ parentage are praised for efficiency.
  • Artie Lange's casting looks smart because the film helped lead to his later radio career.
  • Chris Farley's final film role preserves one of his strongest short comic appearances.
  • The catalog of note-to-self lines is praised, with the beer reminder called the most memorable.

What’s Aged the Worst?

Dated Gary Coleman and Ken Norton references, the rushed ending, and thin girlfriend roles draw criticism.

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 00:50:32Read transcript
  • The Gary Coleman and Ken Norton material is expected to confuse viewers under forty.
  • The final twenty minutes feel rushed, as though the crew had only a week left to turn sketches into a movie ending.
  • The fed-up girlfriend who throws out a loser hero repeats a familiar comedy opening used in Stripes, Happy Gilmore, and Big Daddy.
  • The female lead receives no interesting dialogue or useful character material.
  • The casting is compared unfavorably with Julie Bowen and the performance draws a blunt negative reaction.

Casting What-Ifs

Howard Stern declined Satan, while Rodney Dangerfield was considered before Don Rickles.

This discussion recalls a choice from an earlier episode.

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:53:46Read transcript
  • Howard Stern was originally offered the Satan cameo and declined it.
  • Rodney Dangerfield was the initial choice for the insult-comic role before the director chose Don Rickles for faster attacks.
  • Dangerfield is separately proposed for a cameo as Jack Warden's hospital friend.

Recasting Couch

Tiffani Thiessen is the preferred girlfriend replacement; Amy Smart is another option.

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:58:39Read transcript
  • Thiessen is proposed as a broadly effective 1990s comedy lead.
  • Amy Smart is another choice but may have been too young.

Half-Assed Internet Research

Research covers an NBC advertising ban, competing accounts of the firing, and material removed for the PG-13 cut.

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 00:58:59Read transcript
  • NBC reportedly banned advertising for the movie, though the sourcing is openly questioned.
  • A later interview complicated the familiar account that one network executive alone caused the comedian's firing.
  • A deleted sequence involved donuts photographed around the leads’ genitals.
  • In the jail scene, an explicit phrase visible on the speaker's lips is dubbed over.
  • The dead-prostitute and Saigon material makes the family rating itself seem inconsistent.

Apex Mountain

Norm Macdonald’s apex is placed in 1998 or at publication of his first Grantland column; no other film participant peaks here.

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:01:37Read transcript
  • The year 1998 is proposed because he had just left SNL and still appeared poised for a larger screen run.
  • Publication of his first Grantland column is the preferred personal apex.
  • The memoir is also praised, but the movie is not judged an apex for the director, writer, or supporting cast.

Picking Nits

The locket, family photos, office lease, crimes, public skunks, and formal business structure are questioned.

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 01:03:29Read transcript
  • The father's decision to wear a locket containing a sexual photo for fifty years is questioned.
  • A second family photo and the half-brother relationship further strain credibility.
  • The expensive business sign appears before the office has even been rented.
  • The stomach-punch rental agreement and the leads’ ability to qualify for office space are implausible.
  • Nearly every revenge job appears likely to send the visible storefront operators to jail.
  • Releasing skunks at close range in a crowd raises questions about injury and legality.
  • The revenge operation’s possible corporate and consumer-protection structure is questioned.

Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All-Black Remake

A ten-episode streaming series with one revenge job per episode is endorsed.

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:05:43Read transcript
  • A remake could devote each episode to a separate revenge job.
  • Nathan Fielder’s elaborate bad-idea commitments are cited as a smarter contemporary cousin to the movie’s comic premise.

Probably Unanswerable Questions

The questions ask how Artie Lange outlived both costars and whether the movie helped create Little Nicky.

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:06:21Read transcript
  • The survival of Artie Lange despite a well-documented hard life is treated as statistically astonishing.
  • The Satan cameo is proposed as a possible seed for Little Nicky.

More from the conversation

The memorial opening argues that the comedy failed commercially but became a cult showcase for Norm Macdonald’s persona.
Approx. transcript time · 00:02:16Read transcript
The discussion traces the film’s sketch structure through a 1990s cycle of star-persona comedies.
Approx. transcript time · 00:03:14Read transcript
A long tribute describes Macdonald as a fearless joke writer and chaos agent across television, stand-up, and late-night appearances.
Approx. transcript time · 00:11:08Read transcript
The revenge-for-hire premise is called clever and traced to a Roald Dahl short story, though the movie feels more like linked sketches.
Approx. transcript time · 00:29:21Read transcript
The film’s 1998 release is placed amid an unusually crowded slate of still-familiar mainstream movies.
Approx. transcript time · 00:31:19Read transcript