Boston Comedy Festival Podcast

About David Zucker:   With his younger brother Jerry and childhood pal Jim Abrahams, writer-producer-director David Zucker was responsible for a series of hilarious spoofs of a wide swath of popular movie genres. After forming a comedy troupe in college, the trio made their film debut with the cult classic, "The Kentucky Fried Movie" (1977), which featured a string of disconnected vignettes. But it was their next spoof, "Airplane!" (1980), that marked their first major hit and established the three as an influential comedic force. After "Airplane," the Zuckers and Abraham made a failed attempt at television with "Police Squad!" (ABC, 1982) before bouncing back on the big screen with "Top Secret!" (1984). With the trio going their separate ways, Zucker began making more mainstream movies, directing "Ruthless People" (1986) and the successful film franchise, "The Naked Gun - From the Files of Police Squad!" (1988), which revitalized the Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen) character from "Police Squad" and spawned two