One of the hallmarks of a great comedy is staying power, particularly how long after its release fans are still coming back to it and quoting lines. There are few comedies in the new millennium as memorable as the cult classic Super Troopers. The 2002 comedy found its audience over the years on home video and built a fandom large enough to crowdfund the long-awaited sequel film, Super Troopers 2. Even though it has been 16 years since the first film, fans are still coming up to the cast and quoting the jokes to them. The Broken Lizard crew recently spoke about which jokes they hear the most, take a look:
CHANDRASEKHAR: Who wants a mustache ride?LEMME: You boys like Mexico.HEFFERNAN: I get a lot of litre-of-cola and shenanigans.STOLHANSKE: Chugging Maple Syrup.HEFFERNAN: A couple of chicken fuckers.
There's so much to choose from, but these sound about right. The ones the Broken Lizard guys cite to Collider are some of the more ridiculous and memorable one-liners in the film. Hearing them, you remember just how much funny content is in the original movie and how much it has weaved its way into the culture over the years, with many knowing at least some of the lines, even if they can't always remember what it's from. I will say I'm surprised none of them cited the traffic stop scenes that became so memorable with "I'm freaking out man," or the traffic stop meow challenge with Jim Gaffigan. The quotability of all these jokes just speaks to how enduring the original Super Troopers was, and hopefully the sequel will be just as memorable and won't take as long to find its audience.
The interesting thing to look for in Super Troopers 2 is how Broken Lizard strikes a balance between playing their greatest hits and referencing the original, and doing something fresh and new. This is the struggle of most comedy sequels and why so many of them fail. In the hilarious red band trailer, you can already see the sequel will reference 'litre-of-cola' scene from the original that Kevin Herffernan mentioned. The sequel will also feature what looks to be a great traffic stop scene with the Vermont Highway Patrol in full Canadian Mountie get-up spouting off ridiculous French. That is part of striking the balance as fans would be devastated if we didn't get at least one hilarious traffic stop in this film.
Super Troopers 2 has had a long road to the big screen that included a wildly successful crowd-funding campaign and a positively insane production process, but it is almost here. Hopefully we'll be walking out of the theater with another set of jokes we can quote for the next decade and a half, and the Broken Lizard guys can continue making us laugh. The shenanigans ensue when Super Troopers 2 hits theaters on April 20, or 4/20 if you prefer. For all of the movies hitting theaters this year, check out our release schedule.
