Dave Thomas Filmography

The Aristocrats

Synopsis: "A family walks into a talent agent's office..." So begins "The Aristocrats," a joke kept mostly secret by stand-up comedians for decades. An intentionally "bad" joke, the laughs in The Aristocrats aren't in the punch-line (one of the only elements that's the same every time), but in the set-up Read More

Deluxe Combo Platter

Actors: Dave Thomas, Jonathan Cherry, Barry Watson, Marla Sokoloff, Jennifer Tilly, Monika Schnarre

Synopsis: A small-town Canadian waitress pining for the attention of the former high-school football star finds her affections returned from the least likely of places in this entry into the 2005 Vancouver Film Festival from director Vic Sarin. To say that Eve Stuckley (Marla Sokoloff) has a low Read More

Intern Academy

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Peter Oldring, Pat Kelly, Viv Leacock, Ingrid Kavelaars, Jane McLean

Synopsis: When the best doctors at St. Albert's Hospital suddenly abandon their posts, it's up to the six inexperienced interns to keep the hospital running and the patients breathing in an all-star comedy featuring Dave Thomas, Dan Aykroyd, Maury Chaykin, Dave Foley, Matt Frewer, and Saul Rubinek. Things Read More

Brother Bear

Actors: Joaquin Phoenix, Jeremy Suarez, Jason Raize, Rick Moranis, Dave Thomas

Synopsis: In the Disney-animated adventure Brother Bear, Joaquin Phoenix provides the voice of Kenai, a young Native American boy whose brother, Sitka (voice of D.B. Sweeney), is killed by a mother bear protecting her cubs. With revenge in mind, Kenai sets out into the woods only to find himself magically Read More

Beethoven's 5th

Actors: John Larroquette, Faith Ford, Dave Thomas, Daveigh Chase, Sammy Kahn

Synopsis: Taking over the reins of the venerable Beethoven franchise, John Laroquette headlines this family-oriented comedy about the further adventures of the world's most meddlesome Saint Bernard. In this installment, it seems as though Beethoven has dug up the first part of a buried fortune, and his Read More

Fancy Dancing

Actors: Jason Priestley, Tanya Allen, Ewen Bremner, Dave Foley, Deborah Odell

Synopsis: Composer and man-about-town Asa (Jason Priestley) can either be found hard at work writing a new song or trying to pick up women dressed in tails and a top hat. With considerable success in both ventures, Asa has no need to trouble himself with a real job, especially since he is quite capable of Read More

Rat Race

Actors: Rowan Atkinson, John Cleese, Whoopi Goldberg, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Seth Green, Jon Lovitz, Breckin Meyer, Kathy Najimy

Synopsis: A very loose remake of the classic multi-star comedy It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963), this madcap comedy is directed by Jerry Zucker, one third of the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker comedy team and director of Ghost (1990). John Cleese stars as an eccentric casino owner who devises a contest pitting Read More

King of the Hill: Not in My Back Hoe

MVP: Most Valuable Primate

Actors: Kevin Zegers, Jamie Renee Smith, Russell Ferrier

Synopsis: A chimp learns the blue lines rules of hockey (which is more than can be said for many fans) in this family oriented comedy from the creative team behind Air Bud. Jack is a three-year-old chimpanzee who has been the subject of a long-term experiment by Dr. Kendall (Lomax Study), a researcher who Read More

Pippi Longstocking

Actors: Melissa Altro, Catherine O'Hara, Carole Pope, Dave Thomas, Gordon Pinsent

Synopsis: This animated musical is the newest incarnation of Astrid Lindgren's mischievous, magical Pippi Longstocking, the nine-year-old daughter of a sea captain whose adventures have delighted young readers, moviegoers and television fans for generations. The tale begins as Pippi sails the seas with her Read More

Kidz in the Wood

Actors: Dave Thomas, Julia Duffy, Tatyana Ali

Synopsis: When a wise teacher takes eight troubled, aimless kids on a re-creation of a wagon train journey along the Oregon trail, the youths learn important lessons from the past while enduring the struggles and strife suffered by the pioneers who settled the West. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

The Larry Sanders Show: Headwriter Phil

Synopsis: While discussing the hiring of a new head writer with Artie (Rip Torn), Phil Wallace Langham) unexpectedly jockeys for the position himself. Despite the fact that Artie thinks Phil lacks the "people skills" that the job of head writer demands, he gives a determined Phil a shot at the job. Quickly Read More

Ghost Mom

Crew: Director

Actors: Jean Stapleton, Geraint Wyn Davies, Shae D'Lyn

Synopsis: This made-for-television movie, which debuted on Halloween, has Jean Stapleton as a mother from hell (literally) who returns from the dead to help her son, a doctor. He must find a Japanese artifact called the Stone of Ise, which possesses magical powers, and keep it out of the hands of a criminal Read More

Coneheads

Actors: Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin, Michelle Burke, Michael McKean, Jason Alexander

Synopsis: "The Coneheads" were a sketch on the Saturday Night Live television show of the late '70s which were expanded to feature-length proportions with this film. The story concerns Beldar (Dan Aykroyd) and Prymaat (Jane Curtin), who leave the planet Remulak to prepare for an invasion of Planet Earth. Read More

Grace Under Fire [TV Series]

Actors: Brett Butler, Julie White, Dave Thomas, Sam Horrigan, Casey Sander, Kaitlin Cullum, Cole Sprouse, Dylan Sprouse

The Best of John Candy on SCTV

Synopsis: For many years, comedian John Candy was a staple of the prestigious Second City comedy troupe where he was known for creating such unforgettable characters as Johnny La Rue and Dr. Tongue. He was also a noted impressionist who had audiences rolling in the aisles with his take on such figures as Read More

Boris and Natasha

Synopsis: A live-action rendering of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, this time we follow the exploits of the two Cold War "no-goodniks", Boris and Natasha. Sent from their beloved Pottsylvania by their "Fearless Leader", their job is to try to capture a missing time-reversing microchip. Espionage films being Read More

The Experts

Crew: Director

Actors: John Travolta, Arye Gross, Kelly Preston, Deborah Foreman, James Keach, Charles Martin Smith

Synopsis: SCTV alumnus Dave Thomas manned the megaphone for the direct-to-video Experts. John Travolta was between career highs when he agreed to appear in this anachronistic cold-war comedy. Travolta and Arye Gross play Travis and Wendell, a couple of vagabonds hired by Soviet spy Cameron Smith (Charles Martin Smith Read More

Love at Stake

Actors: Patrick Cassidy, Kelly Preston, Bud Cort, David Graf, Stuart Pankin

Synopsis: John Moffitt directed this silly Canadian comedy about a falsely accused Salem witch (Kelly Preston). Terry Sweeney's script seems to find most of its humor in sex, drugs, and bathroom jokes, none of which are very amusing. Genre devotees will be quite pleased, however, with a cast featuring Barbara Carrera Read More

Moving

Actors: Richard Pryor, Beverly Todd, Dave Thomas, Dana Carvey, Randy Quaid

Synopsis: A transit engineer and his family must face the gargantuan task of moving from New Jersey to Boise, Idaho in this lively comedy starring Richard Pryor. It all begins after he gets a really great job out West. Unfortunately, his family is less than thrilled with the prospect. The furniture movers Read More

Rocket Boy

Actors: Rick Moranis, John Candy, Dave Thomas, Robert Donner

Synopsis: In this sci-fi comedy a gentle video store clerk has a secret double life as an intergalactic crimefighter who must stop an evil alien from stealing the hair off human heads. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

My Man Adam

Actors: Raphael Sbarge, Page Hannah, Veronica Cartwright, Dave Thomas

Synopsis: Adam Swit (Raphael Sbarge) is hounded by his consumer parents in their plush L.A. home, beset by his sexually deprived sister, and faces agony at school at the hands of the tougher kids. In order to escape his troubles, he daydreams about a fantastic young woman. Lo and behold, a dead-ringer for Read More

Spies Like Us

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Steve Forrest, Donna Dixon, Bruce Davison

Synopsis: Director John Landis helmed this Cold War farce starring Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase as Austin Millbarge and Emmett Fitz-Hume -- two loser misfits who dwell in the lower ranks of the Central Intelligence Agency. Convinced despite much evidence to the contrary that they're prime secret agent Read More

Sesame Street Presents: Follow that Bird

Actors: Carroll Spinney, Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Paul Bartel, Sandra Bernhard

Synopsis: The first film to be adapted from the popular children's television series Sesame Street, Follow That Bird follows the story of Big Bird after a social worker (Sally Kellerman) takes him away from Sesame Street to live with a family of birds in Illinois. Unhappy in his new surroundings, Big Bird Read More

Messiah (Westminster Abbey Choir)

SCTV Channel: The Date Debate/Scary Previews with Valri Bromfield, Dave Thomas and Catherine O'Hara

Actors: Valri Bromfield, Dave Thomas, Catherine O'Hara, Marcus O'Hara

Synopsis: Horror mavens Count Floyd (Joe Flaherty) and Woody Tobias Jr. (Eugene Levy) host their own movie-review series, critiquing "Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde" (starring Scott Baio [Martin Short]), "Cujo II" (a family is attacked by a mad housewife), and Woody's own existentialist masterpiece, "The Read More

SCTV Channel: Stars In One/Happy Hour with Dave Thomas and Catherine O'Hara

Actors: Catherine O'Hara, Dave Thomas, Mike Short

Synopsis: James Hemphill makes his first appearance as Happy Marsden, the stewed-to-the-gills host of "Happy Hour," a kiddie show telecast live from the star's favorite bar and featuring a moth-eaten puppet who bears a remarkable resemblance to Chicago TV icon Garfield Goose. Happy introduces episode six of Read More

Strange Brew

Crew: Director, Screenwriter

Actors: Dave Thomas, Rick Moranis, Max von Sydow, Paul Dooley, Lynne Griffin

Synopsis: Purporting to be loosely based on Hamlet, Strange Brew is about an evil braumeister at the Elsinore Brewery who has discovered an additive that when guzzled in beer, allows the drinkers to be easily controlled. Braumeister Smith (Max von Sydow) has a plan to take over the world with his new brew Read More

Saturday Night Live: Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas

Actors: Rick Moranis, Dave Thomas, The Bus Boys

Synopsis: This 1983 episode of Saturday Night Live is hosted by Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas and features musical guests the Bus Boys. ~ Skyler Miller, All Movie Guide Read More

The Best of SCTV [2]

Actors: John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Rick Moranis

Synopsis: This is the second of three 90-minute NBC specials offering prized vignettes from SCTV's three seasons and the first season of SCTV: Network 90. Highlights include the hilariously irritating Canadian game show "High Q"; Funnyman Bobby Bittman's remake of "On the Waterfront"; "The Irwin Allen Read More

The Best of SCTV [1]

Actors: John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Rick Moranis

Synopsis: This is the first of three 90-minute NBC specials offering prized vignettes from SCTV's three seasons and the first season of SCTV: Network 90. Highlights include "What's My Shoe Size?," "Play It Again, Bob," "Perry Como: Still Alive," "The Merv Griffith Show From Mayberry," "Leave It to Beaver Read More

The Best of SCTV [3]

Actors: John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Rick Moranis

Synopsis: This is the last of three 90-minute NBC specials offering prized vignettes from SCTV's three seasons and the first season of SCTV: Network 90. Highlights include Gregory Peck and Woody Allen's versions of Taxi Driver; the 2-minute adaptation of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf; Doug and Bob Read More

SCTV Network 90: Season 01

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Rick Moranis

Synopsis: Expanding from 30 to 90 minutes per week in the process of "graduating" from Canada's Global Television Network to America's NBC, the popular sketch comedy series SCTV also boasts an expanded title -- SCTV: Network 90 -- as it launches its first NBC season. The "new" series' format is primarily Read More

Stripes

Actors: Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Warren Oates, P.J. Soles, Sean Young, John Candy

Synopsis: Bill Murray decides to be all that he can be -- and it ain't pretty -- in this hit comedy. John Winger (Murray) is a quick-witted but unambitious loser who comes home after getting fired to discover that his car has been repossessed and his girlfriend is leaving him. With no idea of what to do Read More

SCTV: Season 03

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Joe Flaherty, Andrea Martin, Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas, Rick Moranis

Synopsis: Although former stalwarts John Candy, Catherine O'Hara, and Harold Ramis are no longer part of the action, the third season of SCTV still boasts some of the Canadian-based sketch comedy series' best material. For starters, the season opener offers a special presentation of My Fair Lady...that is Read More

Caddyshack

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, Bill Murray, Michael O'Keefe, Ted Knight

Synopsis: The smash success Caddyshack became a prototype for countless other wacky T&A-tinged teen comedies of the early 1980s. At an exclusive country club for WASPish snobs, an ambitious young caddy (Michael O'Keefe) from an overpopulated home eagerly pursues a caddy scholarship in hopes of attending Read More

SCTV: Season 02

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Joe Flaherty, Andrea Martin, John Candy, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara

Synopsis: Although season two of SCTV appears to be higher-budgeted than season one, the series' strong suit is not its production polish but instead the brilliant ensemble work of John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Catherine O'Hara, and Dave Thomas (Harold Ramis is largely absent this Read More

SCTV [TV Series]

Actors: Joe Flaherty, Andrea Martin, Harold Ramis, John Candy, Eugene Levy

Synopsis: An outgrowth of Chicago's Second City comedy troupe, which was created in 1959, the Toronto branch of Second City invaded Canada's CBC in the fall of 1976 with a weekly, half-hour sketch comedy series, making up in talent and energy what it lacked in budget and production polish. Taped in Read More

Home to Stay

Actors: Henry Fonda

Synopsis: Set in Illinois (and filmed in Canada), Home to Stay stars Henry Fonda as an aging farmer who resists the notion of moving into a nursing home. Fonda's son Michael McGuire would like to honor his father's wishes, but realizes that the old man is becoming increasingly unable to care for himself. Read More

Just Me and You

Actors: Louise Lasser, Charles Grodin, Julie Bovasso, Paul Fix

Synopsis: Louise Lasser, who wrote the script, stars in this made-for-TV comedy as a flaky New Yorker who finds romance with a staid computer salesman when the two are thrust together on a cross-country trip. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide Read More

Roseland

Actors: Teresa Wright, Lou Jacobi, Don de Natale, Louise Kirtland, Geraldine Chaplin, Helen Gallagher

Synopsis: New York's Roseland ballroom was in 1977 the traditional gathering place of senior citizens who wanted briefly to relive the good old days. Appropriately, the cast of Merchant/Ivory's Roseland includes a quartet of always-welcome showbiz veterans: Teresa Wright, Lou Jacobi, Helen Gallagher. The Read More

SCTV: Season 01

Crew: Screenwriter

Actors: Joe Flaherty, Andrea Martin, Harold Ramis, John Candy, Eugene Levy

Synopsis: The Canadian-based sketch comedy series SCTV wastes no time in setting its devastatingly satirical tone as it enters its first season. The opening episode begins with Dave Thomas' sidesplitting commercial for the "Laser-Matic Camera," then segues into the first session of "Johnny LaRue Exercise," Read More

The David Steinberg Show [TV Series]

Actors: John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Andrea Martin, Martin Short, David Steinberg, Dave Thomas, Bill Saluga

Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams

Actors: Grant Code, Joanne Woodward, Martin Balsam, Sylvia Sidney, Dori Brenner, Teresa Hughes

Synopsis: American GI Harry Walden (Martin Balsam) emerged from a harrowing experience in WWII to find himself living an outwardly-happy but inwardly-empty and tedious existence in the post-war U.S. He is an eye doctor, successful in his work, but unfulfilled spiritually and emotionally. He and his wife Read More