Adam Sandler and Bob Barker Actually Had Second Fistfight After ‘Happy Gilmore’
The most iconic moment from the original Happy Gilmore wasn’t putting with a hockey stick or destroying Chubb’s wooden hand or Ben Stiller terrorizing Happy’s grandma. The scene that stuck in everyone’s mind was Gilmore’s epic throwdown with white-haired Price Is Right host Bob Barker.
Barker, who insisted on throwing his own punches in the scene, only wishes he had a dollar for every time he’d go on to hear the line, “The price is wrong, bitch!” The fight begged for a reprise in Happy Gilmore 2, but unfortunately, Barker headed for that Showcase Showdown in the sky back in 2023. In its place (minor spoiler here), we got a knockdown graveyard brawl between Gilmore and his rival Shooter McGavin, with only Barker’s tombstone to remind us of what could have been.
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But Happy Gilmore fans did get their rematch after all. Nearly 20 years after the original hit movie theaters, Sandler and 91-year-old Barker reunited for the 2015 edition of Night of Too Many Stars, a benefit for school autism programs. Barker was laid up in a hospital bed, supposedly recovering from hip surgery, but it didn’t take long for the fireworks to reignite.
The two men are still estranged, but they agree to bury the hatchet for a good cause. It’s not that Barker has forgiven Sandler, “but providing schools and services for people with autism is too important,” he says.
That’s why Sandler is visiting Barker in his hospital bed, blowing on his hot soup before feeding the game-show host like a baby.
Barker, who doesn’t want or need Sandler’s help, starts in on the insults. “You know, you are looking old.”
Sandler nods, thanking Barker for pointing that out.
“What are you, 60?” Barker asks, ignoring autism services for now. “You’re looking chunkier than the soup. I guess doing all those movies without me took its toll. If I had known that I had to toss your salad to be in another one, I would have, but Rob Schneider didn’t send me the memo.”
Shots fired!
Sandler suggests they stop talking and watch The Price Is Right. The new host is so funny, Sandler says, not crotchety and angry like some people he knows.
With both men on the edge, all it takes is for Barker to call Sandler “a desperate idiot” to incite some violence.
WHAM! Sandler delivers a right cross to Barker’s jaw.
SMASH! Barker returns the favor by slamming a glass flower vase into Sandler’s skull. His punches come fast and furious — left, left, left, and then a right uppercut that sends Sandler to the floor.
The mayhem continues, with hot soup and crotch-punches flying. When a blow from an artificial leg flatlines Barker’s heart monitor, all seems lost. Or is it?
I won’t say which man ultimately comes out on top — watch the video to find out — but here’s a spoiler alert: Somebody is going to have to tell David Spade that there won’t be any Grown Ups 3.
