Believe It Or Not… Bob Barker Refused To Use A Stunt Double In The Iconic Fight Scene Featured In ‘Happy Gilmore’

We’re still learning more about the original Happy Gilmore film, even with the highly anticipated sequel hitting Netflix in just a matter of days.

Back in April of 2024, Adam Sandler revealed that a sequel to the 1990’s classic Happy Gilmore was in the works. Though some were concerned that a continuation of Happy’s story would potentially take away from the first film, others have been over the moon thinking about the possibility of seeing everyone’s favorite amateur-professional golfer back on the big screen (or however big your TV screen is at home).

Adam Sandler will reprise his role as Happy, while Christopher McDonald – who was the first person to spill the beans about the sequel – will return as the iconic sports villain Shooter McGavin. Other actors and actresses that were in the original – like Ben Stiller and Julie Bowen – are also set to step back into their Happy Gilmore roles.

And there have already been plenty of cameos confirmed for the film, including Travis Kelce, Eminem, Jack Nicklaus, and sports radio host Dan Patrick – who has been known to drop in for small roles on Adam Sandler projects. It has also been rumored that Tiger Woods will be featured in the film, but that has yet to be confirmed (though a bust of Tiger’s head did appear in the first trailer that was released).

At the very least, other professional golfers such as Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, Will Zalatoris, Tony Finau, Keagen Bradley and many others – including the legendary John Daly – are playing a role in the movie.

Sounds like the second Happy Gilmore will be chock full of cameos, and for those complaining that the sequel could just be a cameo-fest, have you forgotten that one of the more memorable moments from the first film featured an unexpected drop in from the late, great Bob Barker? Who could forget that iconic line delivery of “the price is wrong b***h” from the man who politely greeted contestants and revealed prices on The Price Is Right for all those years?

That fight scene that’s included in the 1996 comedy hit will always be revered as one of the best uses of a cameo in all of film. No one expected it, and everyone laughed their you-know-what off the first time they saw it. And according to Christopher McDonald, Bob Barker insisted that he do all of his own stunts for the scene.

The actor behind Shooter McGavin joined The Rich Eisen Show recently, and shared that he was ecstatic to meet The Price Is Right host and watch the scene play out as it was filming. He also shared that when it was time for the comical fight to go down, Barker wouldn’t let the stunt double that was arranged for him step in:

“He said, ‘I’d really like to do my own fighting, because I’m a bit of a pugilist.’ And he just started (waving his fists in the air).”

Never would have guessed Bob Barker would consider himself a pugilist (that just means professional boxer, for those who don’t know).

Evidently, Barker felt as though he had the skills to get through the scene. And he also probably felt as though it would come off funnier in the movie for people to see the beloved daytime gameshow host socking it to Adam Sandler. McDonald doubled down and said that Barker quite literally refused to pull his punches, and that the crew actually had a harder time getting him to do a different part of the scene:

“He really wanted to do the ol’ (punch, punch, punch). It was so funny. The hardest thing was to get him to say the b-word.”

Thank goodness Bob Barker ended up saying the b-word. It made the scene.

And for those that are Happy Gilmore fanatics, you’ve probably watched the movie enough to know that Bob Barker goes tumbling down a hill at one point during he and Happy’s standoff. I wish I could tell you that was actually Bob, but I can’t. Christopher McDonald confirmed that was the only thing the stuntman was used for:

“(Bob) knocked (Happy) into the water, gets back up… oh my gosh. The tumble down the hill (Barker had) was the only stunt guy that was in it. Bob did everything else.”

I don’t know about you, but I’m a huge fan of Christopher McDonald… even though I think I’ve only ever scene him play Shooter McGavin. Guess he was so good in that role that he just stuck with me, and I can’t wait to see him reprise his villainous golf character when Happy Gilmore 2 drops on Netflix on July 25.

Until then, I suppose I’ll pass the time by watching the iconic fight scene from the first film. Here’s to hoping we get something in the sequel that’s just half as good as this:

The post Believe It Or Not… Bob Barker Refused To Use A Stunt Double In The Iconic Fight Scene Featured In ‘Happy Gilmore’ first appeared on Whiskey Riff.