I knew going into this only about 25% of our audience was going to know who Bob Hope and Bing Crosby are. And even if they did, most of them had never seen any of their “Road” movies. Hope and Crosby weren’t in the Marx Brothers league, but they weren’t bad.
And RJ and Verne owe a bit of their personality and patter to the them (though more to Bill Murray and Harold Ramis in Stripes).
I don’t know. When I’m grinding for a gag sometime I go for the low hanging fruit rotting in my vodka soaked memory. Hope and Crosby were drowning in there and I threw them a life preserver. Maybe some kid will scratch their head and look them up on Netflix and the his/her cultural knowledge (useful in Jeopardy and Trivial Pursuit) will become a bit more broadened.
But probably not.
You want obscure reference? I have confused many a friend, co-worker and neighbor by singing out loud one line from the ‘theme’ song from “Road to Morocco”…
“Like Webster’s Dictionary, we’re Morocco bound!”
At least you aren’t going as obscure as the Ritz Brothers…
http://wardkimball.tumblr.com/post/26004580836/27-the-ritz-bros-from-the-autograph-hound-1939
(Disclaimer: I’m older than most of my friends, co-workers and neighbors but NOT THAT OLD)
Here’s the whole “theme song”…
Hey, my blog is full of old cultural references that nobody under 50 gets (and some that nobody over 50 gets either!).
I love Stripes, I joined the Army the year it came out…I remember guys just like the characters played by Murray and Ramis… I also remember thinking like RJ when Drill Sergeants got too into it…
I think moose are scary…they’re like huge, powerful horses but with horns on their heads. A moose in a cemetery in Marquette, MI, kept people at bay for DAYS.