Greetings and salutations Hivers. Today I thought we'd do another You Should Laugh More post.

Research has shown that laughter is good for us. It has all kinds of health benefits. Despite most of us knowing this, none of us laugh enough. Yeah, I know, being an adult is tough, and furthermore there is a lot of grim stuff happening in the world. These things may be true, but that just is all the more reason for trying to get a little laughter into our lives.

For most people reading this, the name Lloyd Bridges probably instantly puts an image of comedy into your head. He started as a serious actor and was pretty good at what he did. He was a very successful actor and was well known as one of the best actors in Hollywood. His image as a serious actor was so strong that when Airplane came around in 1979 and cast the most serious actors in Hollywood for its comedy parts, Lloyd Bridges was on their list of people to get.

But wouldn't you know it, he was so good in Airplane, that just like that he started getting more offers for comedy parts, so just like fellow Airplane actor Leslie Nielsen, he turned into a comedy actor. Unlike Nielsen, Bridges still took serious roles so he kept a foot in both worlds for awhile, but his overall image had changed. And for most of us, that is how we know him.

Let's look at some comedy clips from him! There are other comedy roles he took, but I'm going to focus on the Airplane films, the Hot Shots movies, and his Seinfeld appearances.

Airplane

This is the role that changed his image for ever from a serious actor to a comedic one. With the exception of the end of the first film which went a little too far with his character (the hanging upside down while stoned part), he played the role completely seriously. He was just surrounded by idiots, which made him more akin to a clueless straight man rather than comic. Well, at least until the end when he relapsed on his glue abuse. Speaking of which, that is probably one of the things people remember best from his part.

Unfortunately, as a (mostly) straight man, there really aren't a lot of funny scenes with him specifically, so youtube doesn't have so much. Oh well—moving on.

Hot Shots

The Hot Shots films were in the same style as Airplane. They gave Bridges a larger role. They kept him as the straight man in that he acted completely serious when he was on camera, but instead of being surrounded by idiots as in Airplane, they made him the brainless idiot himself.

Added to the mix was the fact that most of his body parts seem to have been replaced for comedic effect.

Seinfeld

This role was more down to earth than the previous, and maybe even more funny for it. Less brainless, but more obsessive: he played a highly competitive old guy. See for yourself.

So what do you think? Did it make you laugh or was it just stupid? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

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David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Twitter or Mastodon.

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