Our next interview: Robert Hays!

[Hal Bryan]

Thanks to all of you who chimed with questions for our upcoming interview with astronaut Jim Lovell. Next up ... Robert Hays! If you had a chance to sit down with the man who brought Ted Striker to life in the classic comedy "Airplane!" what questions would you ask him? (But remember ... just don't mention that day over Macho Grande!)

We're all counting on you ...

[PaulDow]

Well, one thing I hope doesn't get asked is if he had fun making any particular movie. Personally, when I hear that question asked on a talk show, I think how miserable I was at a job doing mind-numbing paperwork. I'm sure there are a lot of people who have to spend their day in worse environments too. We don't need to know that someone had fun at a job to get our entertainment dollar.

Since I consider Airplane to be one of the funniest films of all time after only It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, I wonder if the people working on a movie can judge the quality of the film's humor while it is being produced. With all the retakes, and filming out-of-sequence, are they able to get an idea on the surprise and outside references that makes things funny.

Maybe it was just that both films had Ethel Merman in them that made them so funny.