Fonzie
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Image:Fonzie.jpg Arthur "The Fonz" Fonzarelli, popularly known as Fonzie, was a fictional character in the American sitcom Happy Days (1974-1984) played by Henry Winkler. He is a leather-jacketed biker and mechanic. Although he is seen by the establishment as merely a high school dropout, he seems to be almost superhuman in his skills, wisdom, sexual attractiveness, and abilities that make him a much admired character in the show's setting of Milwaukee, Wisconsin sometime in the 1950s. During the course of the show, the Fonz finished his high school diploma via night school and became an auto mechanic instructor. Though he never married, he also adopted a son in the final season, completing the transformation from rebel to family man.
In the first season of Happy Days, the Fonz was a minor character, but he soon became a regular due to his instant popularity. His fame and admiration quickly grew among the American public and Fonzie eventually became one of the definitive pop culture icons of the late 1970s. Viewers were (and through reruns, still are) enchanted by his effortlessly stylish personality; the way he speaks, his trademark "Aaaay!" catch phrase, and the way he can seemingly get anything he wants with a snap of his fingers, a pound of his hand on a jukebox, or whatever else he'd do or say. He is said to be number one with the ladies, and is often seen with many different women in the same scene. These qualities made the Fonz nearly synonymous with the American concept of "cool".
Trivia
- Fonzie's leather jacket is now in the Smithsonian Institution.
- Originally, according to ABC, Fonzie was supposed to wear sweaters, except when he was around his motorcycle. So, the producers of Happy Days put Fonzie around his motorcycle all the time so that he could wear the leather jacket all the time.
- According to Happy Days creator Garry Marshall, he originally created the character with the surname of Marsciarelli (Marshall's birth name), who was nicknamed "Mash." However, ABC insisted that he change Mash's name in order to avoid reminding viewers of the series M*A*S*H on rival network CBS. Thus "The Fonz" was born.
- Fonzie met Mork, of Mork and Mindy, which led to Mork (Robin Williams) getting his own spin-off series.
References in popular culture
- On the sitcom Friends, in "The One With the Triplets", Phoebe's obstetrician is obsessed with Fonzie.
- In the animated television show Futurama:
- In the episode "Bender Should Not Be Allowed On TV", one of Professor Farnsworth's inventions is the hand-held Cool-O-Meter, which measures the coolness of an object in units of "MegaFonzies".
- In the episode "I, Roommate", Fry fixes the TV by banging on it, then he says "Aaaay!" and puts his thumbs up.
- The show Family Guy has featured several references to Fonzie, including:
- In the episode "The Son Also Draws", where Peter Griffin goes on a native vision quest, his spirit guide is The Fonz.
- In the episode "The Father, the Son, and the Holy Fonz", Peter starts the Church of Fonzie. The church decor contain a number of objects associated to Fonzie and the rituals incorporate his catchphrases.
- In the episode "Let's Go to the Hop", Peter attempts to turn on a jukebox by slamming it with his fist. Unlike the Fonz, though, his fist breaks the glass and he is badly injured.
- In the sitcom That 70's Show (which has a number of parallels with Happy Days):
- In the episode "I Love Cake", Michael Kelso dresses as Fonzie. Steven Hyde makes fun of him by saying Fonzie's legendary lines, and Fez taunts him with the line "A gang of toughs has taken over Arnold's. Help us, Fonzie; you're our only hope!"
- In the episode "Holy Crap", Pastor Dave compares Fonzie to Jesus. "Fonzie says Ayyy, and Jesus says Ayyyy-men!"
- In the episode "Jackie Says Cheese", Fez imagines himself jumping over a shark on water skis. In his fantasy, people call him "The Fez".
- On a South Park episode, the boys have a flashback to Fonzie jumping several trailers on his motorcycle.
- At the beginning of the South Park episode "Probably", there is a flashback section continuing from the previous episode, during which is a random Fonzy scene parodying a Happy Days episode where he jumps over a pool of sharks, except he dosn't quite make it.
- In the cartoon The Simpsons:
- In one episode, Homer Simpson attemps to fix Moe's jukebox (when Moe allows Homer to run the bar while he goes back to bartending college) by punching the jukebox in a "Fonzi-ish" fashion. Unfortunately, he smashes through the glass and receives a "hemmorage-a-mundo". When asked by a fellow barfly if he was okay, Homer responded "Aaaaaay" and displayed two thumbs-ups then faints, presumably from blood loss.
- In another episode, the elementary school installs air conditioning during a heat wave in order to attract students. The plot works so well that one of the teachers comments that "[she's] seeing students [she] hasn't seen in years". The next shot shows a number of famous TV show school drop-outs entering the school, including Fonzie.
- In yet another episode, the Simpson family visits a Smithsonian traveling exhibit, and see Fonzie's jacket, which is the single most heavily-protected artifact in the museum (less important and less protected artifacts in the museum include the Bill of Rights).
- In... yes, another Simpsons episode, Gump Roast, there is a satirical montage of scenes from upcoming shows. One features Homer jumping a shark.
- In the SIRIUS Satellite Radio Covino and Rich on MAXIM 108, they commonly use the "WWFD" (What Would Fonzie Do).
- In an episode of Scrubs, Dr. Dorian fantasizes about doctors with miracle cures. In the fantasy, he walks in wearing a leather jacket and hits a comatose patient in the chest, causing a full recovery; this of course mimics Fonzie's ability to work the jukebox.
- In the film Pulp Fiction, during the last scene in the coffee shop, Jules and Yolanda (played by Samuel L. Jackson and Amanda Plummer, respectively) hold the following dialogue:
- Yolanda: You don't hurt him.
- Jules: Nobody's gonna hurt anybody. We're gonna be like three little Fonzies here. And what's Fonzie like? Come on Yolanda what's Fonzie like?
- Yolanda: Cool?
- Jules: What?
- Yolanda: He's cool.
- Jules: Correctamundo. And that's what we're gonna be. We're gonna be cool.
See also
- Fonzie syndrome, a phenomenon in which a character that had originally been part of the supporting cast becomes the central and most popular character on the show, named after the Fonz
- Jumping the shark, a metaphor originating from a Happy Days scene with Fonzie.de:Fonzie