Adam Sandler has revealed that the host of The Price is Right, Bob Barker, was not the first choice for Happy Gilmore’s famous fight scene.
Speaking on the IMDb podcast, That Scene with Dan Patrick, Sandler said Tonight Show sideman Ed McMahon was originally approached for the role.
“I remember being so young and cocky then that we would literally say when we sent it to Ed McMahon, we thought, ‘Of course he’s going to do it. It would be good for him. It’d be good for his career to be in a movie with me and get in a fistfight,’” said Sandler.
McMahon allegedly never responded to Sandler’s request.
Sandler also revealed that Barker insisted he would only film the scene if he won the fight, as he had been training with his neighbour, the martial artist and actor Chuck Norris.
The scene had originally been written with Sandler winning the fight, but the revision ended up providing one of the most memorable lines in film history: “The price is wrong, b****.”
Sandler can currently be seen in the comedy Hubie Halloween, out now on Netflix.
