Voices of Rhode Island Comic Con: Revenge of The Nerds Edition
In 1984 Adams College freshmen Gilbert and Lewis were evicted from their dorm when the Alpha Betas, who recently burned down their own fraternity house, took over the building. When the college forces the freshmen to live in the gym, Gilbert, Lewis and their fellow nerds relocate to a run-down house and open the Adams chapter of Lambda Lambda Lambda. When the Alpha Betas, led by jock, Stan, repeatedly humiliate them, the nerds plot revenge. For this edition of “Voices from RICC,” I want to share with you the conversations I had with the rapping Tri-Lamb Lamar (Larry B. Scott), child prodigy Wormser (Andrew Cassese) head cheerleader Betty (Julia Montgomery) and main nerd-tosser Ogre (Donald Gibb). I wanted to ask them about their favorite memories of making the hit film that spawned three sequels over the next 10 years and what they are working on now.
Larry B. Scott
Larry is a great with his fans. I didn’t see a single person go up to his table and not have a few laughs and leave with a big smile. He is probably the second most accomplished actor from the series, after Anthony Edwards of ER and Top Gun fame. You can follow him on twitter @Lbeezee17
The mid-80s were big for you. What was it like going from hit film to hit film with; The Karate Kid, SpaceCamp and Revenge of The Nerds? It was a blur when I was doing it. Now, looking back, I think I had three days between Iron Eagle and SpaceCamp. One of them was in the desert, where the sun comes up at 6:30 its boiling at 6:35, so it was tough. Tough, but fun, because I got to work with so many great people. SpaceCamp, in particular, because I got to work the babes of Hollywood: Kelly Preston, Lea Thompson and Kate Capshaw and I worked with Robert Zemeckis, Steven Spielberg and Tate Donovan who messed up by not marrying Jennifer Aniston. It was a lot of fun.
What is your best memory from filming Revenge of The Nerds and do you still remember any of your Lambda rap? Hanging out with the guys. There is a thing called chemistry. When it works, it works, and for us, it worked. I did the rap last night at the after party and I don’t think I will ever be able forget it. Funny thing, there was a guy last night waving his hand saying, “I want to do the rap. I know it I promise.” He comes up and just chokes. Then I am at a panel and start to do it, and I think everyone there knew every word. So, I guess if you know it, you know it.
Did you get to keep your bazooka from Fear of a Black Hat? “Hahaha!” No that was a prop. They don’t let you take that kind of stuff home, even if it would have been awesome.
Can you tell us a little about Spring Break ‘83 and Black Jesus? “Oh my God, Spring Break ’83!” How do you know about that? It was with a friend mine, Mars Callahan, who called me up and asked me to do him a favor. I said I don’t really do that anymore, but he was like “for me please?” So, I showed up for a day and we had fun. Black Jesus is on Adult Swim and should be in its third season, but unfortunately Charlie Murphy died, so they had to throw out all the scripts and rewrite the season. The show runner is Rusty Cundiff, from Fear of a Black Hat. I called him up seeing if there was a part for me. He wasn’t sure, but a couple weeks later he called me back and said, yeah, we have a place for you. I play Clarence in a couple episodes, and all I will say is, I have a gun and a wheelchair.
Andrew Cassese
Andrew only has 9 credits to his name, preferring to focus his energy on commercials, the theater, and working behind the camera. His biggest role after Revenge of the Nerds 2 was the television show, TV 101, which also featured actors like Stacey Dash and Matt LeBlanc.
You were about 11 years old when you were filming Revenge of The Nerds. What was it like being on set and being several years younger than the rest of the cast? When you’re young on a set, there are rules. You can only work so many hours, you have to go to school, and all that. It was like living two lives. You have to know the script and try to learn all the things other kids were learning too. When there was a break on set, the rest of the cast went to go do whatever they wanted, and I had to go to school. These guys were great though. They looked after me like older brothers and would sometimes hide me from the AD when they were trying to put me in school. So, I got to partake in some of the shenanigans.
Did it take a long time to learn your dance for the talent show? We had a dance coach and didn’t take too long. We had a few sessions, each a couple of hours. After that, we had to practice it on our own until we had it nailed down.
What was it like working with Raul Julia on Broadway? He was an amazing guy, a great talent and was exactly like you would expect him to be. He would have been huge at events like this.
What are you working on today? Are you still producing or doing Broadway? I do theater once in a while. I mostly do commercials and some voice over stuff too. It’s not high-profile stuff, but it keeps the work coming, which is great.
Donald Gibb
Even though Donald has 89 acting credits on IMDB, from 68 episodes of 1st & 10 to two Bloodsport films and the Will Smith movie Hancock, he is most famous for yelling, “NERDS!”
What was your favorite part of filming the three Revenge of the Nerds movies you have been in? Just being with the guys time after time, it was a blast.
What did you think of Ogre’s arc over the first two films? I was a little shocked when they first came to me and said that I would be becoming a nerd. I think we were able to pull it off convincingly, because I tried to play Ogre as more of a simple guy than a bad guy. I think that is why he could learn to like the nerds and fight for them instead of against them.
Julia Montgomery
Julia has been acting since the early 80s and has made appearances in several hit television shows. Besides playing Betty, she is best known for Girls Night Out and One Life to Live.
What is your favorite memory from filming Revenge of The Nerds and did you have a favorite scene? A favorite scene of mine was just walking down the hall singing “Old McDonald.” It was right before the shower scene. I had finished for the day when I got a call from Jeff Kanew, the director, saying he had an idea and asking if I was willing to come back. I never ever wanted the day to end with these guys. We had so much fun, so I rushed back down to film one of the many scenes he came up with on the fly.
What do you think of Betty’s arc throughout the series? It was really sweet. Actually, in the script for the second movie they had me cheating on Lewis, so I turned it down. It made no sense to me because the first movie was about me falling in love with a nerd, so why would I be in a hotel room with a jock on page 6 of this time? I came back for number three, and we were married and having kids in number four, so it was a real love story.
What are your thoughts on the evolution of how some people view the sex scene between Betty and Skolnick? I think we should have done a few more takes of her realization that it was the nerd and not her boyfriend. My character didn’t have a dialogue, and I think that we could have used it there to give another moment of shock, horror, and then the awareness that she was happy it was him. She always secretly kind of liked him. He grew on her, you know, but we missed the part of it not being consensual. I wish we could have changed that a little bit.
Do you have any upcoming projects that we should be on the lookout for? I did a couple of independent movies that are yet to come out. I have some commercials: one for Target and one for Home Advisor, but I also have two kids that keep me busy.
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