You generally wouldn’t think that Adam Sandler’s films would all be connected, but as it turns out, they actually might be. One eagle-eyed Sandler fan recently got lost down a never ending rabbit hole and unearthed connections and links between the comedian’s various cinematic endeavors. Yep, that’s right, there are dozens upon dozens of characters that bind the Sandlerverse together. And it’s the sort of revelation that might haunt you forever.
OK, so Shawn Kohne took to YouTube to unveil his findings after he originally notieced that Dan Aykroyd’s character in 50 First Dates mentioned Callahan Autos from Sandusky, Ohio. This immediately rang a bell to Kohne, and his research led him to Tommy’s Boy, where Dan Aykroyd’s character in the bawdy comedy actually works for that very same company.
Most people might just assume this was a coincidence, or a nod to a friend's film, and then move on with their normal lives. Fortunatley for us, Shawn Kohne decided to keep right on digging. This soon led him to 10 Second Tom, played by Allen Covert, in 50 First Dates.
You might also remember 10 Second Tom showing up in Blended, which was released 10 years after 50 First Dates, and also co-stars Drew Barrymore. The character is once again played by Allen Covert, and he is still suffering from the same short-term memory loss that repeatedly plagued him before.
Now Kohne was on a roll and there was no stopping him. But little did he, or anyone with even a remote interest in cinema, realize, just how deep these connections ran. And it's deep. Obviously there were some rather obvious ones, like Rob Schneider’s "You Can Do It" character, who has appeared in everything from The Waterboy to The Longest Yard, but once you finally sink in, this is a sprawling web of interconnected films.
There were even more obscure characters and oblique references, like the Lamonsoff family. David Hasselhoff mentions that surname on screen in Click, and eventually both Josh Gad and Kevin James play characters that have that name, in Pixels and Grown Ups, respectively. And it just keeps getting deeper from there. In fact, check out the entire video from Shawn Kohne. It will immediately blow your mind.
Told you. Who knew that Adam Sandler was so deep? Maybe Marvel and all the others out there trying to craft their own interconnected cinematic universes are actually just copying Sandler. That's something to consider.
