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Dirty Work poster

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.

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.

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.

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.