https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movie ... 236071689/Quote:
Jim Abrahams, the writer-director who with brothers Jerry and David Zucker turned the comedy genre on its ear with such zany efforts as Airplane!, Police Squad! and The Naked Gun films, died Tuesday. He was 80.
Abrahams died of natural causes at his home in Santa Monica, his son Joseph told The Hollywood Reporter.
The trio made their first mainstream impression by writing the sketch-filled Kentucky Fried Movie (1977), directed by John Landis in his prelude to Animal House, and they also combined for Top Secret! (1984), starring a young Val Kilmer, and Ruthless People (1986), featuring Bette Midler and Danny DeVito.
Without his childhood buddies from Wisconsin, Abrahams directed Big Business (1988), starring Midler and Lily Tomlin, and co-wrote and helmed Hot Shots! (1991) and its 1993 sequel, both starring Charlie Sheen.
Joke-filled and laden with sight gags and puns, the humor of Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker, or ZAZ as they came to be known, was fast, frenetic and just downright silly. Parody was their specialty. Everything was ripe for ridicule — the more absurd, the better.
This really sucks. Airplane!, Naked Gun, and Police Squad are all huge for me, and I quote from them all the time. It was almost like they were custom-made for my sense of humor (or at least a decent portion of it).
RIP, and thank you, sir.
