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It was so funny how that whole thing happened. For the first time in over a decade he was suddenly relevant in a way. People remembered he existed, and they we
by MBCook 7mo ago
It was so funny how that whole thing happened.
For the first time in over a decade he was suddenly relevant in a way. People remembered he existed, and they were playing off his tough guy image.
And what did he do? Try and shut it down and start suing people. Stupid.
It took him a couple of years to come around to it. If it wasn’t for those jokes would he be remembered anywhere as well? Or would he be a much more obscure celebrity by now?
- petcat 7mo ago> would he be remembered anywhere as well? You underestimate how popular Walker, Texas Ranger was. It wasn't pulling ratings like Seinfeld, ER, or Friends, but it was a solid primetime staple for almost a decade. I never watched it myself, but the 50+ demo loved it.
- MBCook 7mo agoAnd he would be known by those people. I remember him being famous in the 90s. Would the people who grew up in the early 2000s, or especially 2010s, know much of anything about him? I mean how much do younger people know about Scott Baio or the Corys or Candice Bergen these days?
- spencerflem 7mo agoHaha haven’t heard of either of those but I do know that when Chuck Norris does pushups he pushes the Earth down
- leephillips 7mo agoWe all do. That’s the only way you can do a pushup. It would be more impressive to say that when Chuck Norris does pushups, he violates conservation of momentum and the Earth does not move.
- ben7799 7mo agoYou might be able to argue he was a bigger star than any of them. His career lasted far longer. He had big movie appearances for 30 years, none of those people accomplished that. Norris' first movie role was in 1968, first big credited appearance was 1972, Walker Texas Ranger finished in 2001.
- allturtles 7mo ago> You might be able to argue he was a bigger star than any of them. I think that's a hard argument to make. Candace Bergen's career was just as long. Her first movie role was 1966, she was nominated for an Oscar in 1979, and she was on a popular sitcom from 1988 to 1998 that won her five Emmies and attracted national commentary after criticism from the Vice President. I was a kid in the 80s and 90s and to me even then Chuck Norris was a B-movie self-parody joke character. He was not an A-list "action star" in the sense that Schwarzenegger, Stallone, or even Van Damme were.
- kakacik 7mo agoThe dude was a badass, 6 time undefeated karate world champion (!!!), created his own variant of karate mixed with korean martial arts, was a good friend with Bruce Lee and that scene in Colloseum - probably the coolest thing I saw as a kid growing up behind iron curtain... not many actors can have such a resume on top of their acting career. Those who cared would/will know him regardless. But obviously those people would be relatively few and far apart.
- smartmic 7mo agoAn immense amount of time, dedication and talent must have went into all those achievements. This requires mastery of body and mind at an exceptional level. Putting aside all jokes and acting roles, the martials arts is where he earned my full respect and that will also stick in my memory about him.
- beAbU 7mo agoHe had is own line of denims, with extra stretchy crotches. Makes roundhouse kicking baddies in the face easier.
- lern_too_spel 7mo ago"World champion" is an embellishment, but he was a strong point fighter within North America. His six championships were for a tournament that crowned self-titled "Professional [weight class] Karate Champions", with the "World" embellishment added later. To be fair, people from other countries did occasionally appear at these tournaments, but there weren't Japanese fighters there, and Japan dominates the gold medal count for the WKF World Karate Championship that started in 1970.
- pamcake 7mo agoReminds of King of Kong and those arcade and video game "World Championships" in 80s/90s basically only involving Americans.
- rayiner 7mo agoI loved that show! I was a teenager. Peak 1990s.
- PoignardAzur 7mo agoMaybe for people in the US. Internationally? I haven't watched a single episode of WTR, I don't know anyone who has, but everyone knows who Chuck Norris was.
- pingou 7mo agoIt was quite popular in France.
- flagos10 7mo agoIn France, it was popular enough that everybody knew Texas ranger before the Chuck Norris jokes.
- johnisgood 7mo agoSame in Hungary.
- trizoza 7mo agoSame in Slovakia
- riffraff 7mo agoSame in Italy, it was prime time TV for a few years. Not overly popular, but many people already knew him from the Bruce Lee era, so it had a following by default.
- RajT88 7mo agoLots of fans in the Philippines, apparently.
- sameerds 7mo agoIndia too!
- mmmuhd 7mo agoWe used to watch lot's of chuck Norris films back then here in Nigeria, I can't even remember the titles, but all we knew was chuck Norris alone can defeat a whole country's army. We used to think one American soldier can defeat a whole army.
- beAbU 7mo agoAny person from South Africa from that era will have a certain tv announcement permanently etched in their memories. It goes something like: "Friday night is action night with Walker Texas Ranger"
- UncleOxidant 7mo agoThe only time I ever saw Walker,Texas Ranger was when I was living in Italy for a few months in the aughts. It was dubbed in Italian. Apparently it was popular there.
- calmbonsai 7mo agoSomehow, I don't think he'll be remembered for Karate Kommandos ;) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK6hb602588 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK6hb602588
- BrandoElFollito 7mo agoNever heard about this series in France. I discovered him through the jokes. I am 55
- TheGRS 7mo agoPersonally I was at a prime age watching a lot of Conan O'Brien's Late Night show and one of his best skits was the Walker Texas Ranger Lever. They would pick the most ridiculous clips from the show and just run them out of context. IIRC Chuck Norris even showed up on the show one time to give him a "stern talking to". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpIEyn9G6_8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpIEyn9G6_8 Also, he fought Bruce Lee! One of my favorite face-offs ever filmed, esp in the martial arts movie genre. Not many actors who could say that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlTyJhbTxxo&pp=ygUZY2h1Y2sgbm9ycmlzIHZzIGJydWNlIGxlZQ%3D%3D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlTyJhbTxxo&pp=ygUZY2h1Y2sgb...
- jcmfernandes 7mo agoIt was super popular in Portugal.
- agumonkey 7mo agoI can report that french reddit thread all mention Walker Texas ranger all along the page. These Sunday lunch shows hit different.
- dfxm12 7mo agoMaybe not as well, but between the "Walker gave me aids" clip and Conan's Walker Texas Ranger lever, he'd still have been known well enough.
- seba_dos1 7mo agoThis post certainly wouldn't be here right now.
- romanhn 7mo agoFound out about his passing from my teenage kids. They knew him as some legendary tough guy based solely on the jokes, but had no idea who he actually was. To be fair, looking at some other comments here about his political and personal leanings, I didn't know who he actually was either.
- observationist 7mo agoHis proximity to Bruce Lee earned him more or less permanent kung fu cinema fame. Walker,Texas Ranger and other work he did definitely boosted it, but the memes clinched it.
- beAbU 7mo agoChuck Norris made a Chuck Norris joke in one of the Expendable movies, and for that I'm willing to forgive all his indiscretions.
- tracker1 7mo agoThat is hands down one of my ATF scenes in any movie. Expendables 2 was IMO just about the most "fun" movie I've ever seen as well. It wasn't great cinema, or a specific classic.. but it was fun. I have similar feelings about Gremlins 2 as well. We need more fun movies, but too many people seem to have not been issued a sense of humor these days.
- tim333 7mo agoMaybe https://youtu.be/OBGtINJmFto?t=79 https://youtu.be/OBGtINJmFto?t=79
- beAbU 7mo agoYep, this is the one
- basisword 7mo ago>> If it wasn’t for those jokes would he be remembered anywhere as well? You’re assuming the jokes make people dive deeper. In reality I know the jokes and didn’t have a clue who he was and never cared enough to find out. The reality is the probably didn’t make much of a difference to how well he or his work was actually known.
- MBCook 7mo agoNo, I didn’t mean it that way. I meant they wouldn’t even know the name. Not that they actually know about him past the tough guy persona of the jokes.
- amelius 7mo ago> And what did he do? Try and shut it down and start suing people. Stupid. Isn't that an obligation when you own a trademark? That you sue people, or else you may lose the trademark?
- fooqux 7mo ago> Isn't that an obligation when you own a trademark? That you sue people, or else you may lose the trademark? It's not quite as cut and dry as you suggest. Besides, in which way was a trademark being violated? Last I knew merely talking about and referencing a celebrity by name was not a trademark violation.
- netsharc 7mo agoIs it trademark, or IP. If someone made a list of Mickey Mouse jokes, Disney's law department will send them a letter too. Chuck Norris is a person/name but also a persona.
- chirau 7mo agoChuck Norris was and is still an international sensation. Chuck Norris is right up there with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jean Claude Van Damme. His round kick, Walker Texas Ranger and his fight with Bruce Lee. In Africa, to this day, some TV channels still play his stuff.
- block_dagger 7mo agoIf it weren’t…subjunctive mood. Sorry, it’s Pedantic Friday in my small world.