The Big Picture

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s transition into comedy was a wise business decision that resonated with audiences and brought in billions of dollars in grosses. Schwarzenegger’s ability to make audiences laugh quickly became as appealing as his action side, disproving concerns about his accent confusing or alienating viewers. Schwarzenegger’s success in comedies like Twins and Kindergarten Cop showcased his talent for humor and allowed him to humanize his larger-than-life persona.

While he started his career as the human embodiment of muscle, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s embrace of the more comedic side is when he really started to flourish. It turns out audiences liked seeing this huge man’s man of a man say silly puns, make ridiculous faces and generally be a goof whenever possible. Leaning into comedy certainly turned out to be a wise business decision for Schwarzenegger, but, perhaps more importantly, it provided classic and enduring humor for those who find his antics amusing–which can be measured by the billions of dollars in grosses and an enduring impression on pop culture over the last 40 years and counting. With Schwarzenegger’s latest return to comedy in the hit Netflix series FUBAR, recently renewed for a second season, it’s clear the action star still has a strong knack for comedic roles.

As a former Mr. Olympia, Schwarzenegger first became a widely known presence with 1982’s Conan the Barbarian, a classic in its own right, but it was The Terminator a couple of years later that firmly established him as a pop culture icon. While those first few roles focused on his physique more than anything else, which is an understandable shallowness for the early ‘80s, the dialogue-to-screen time ratio was absolutely on the low side. Even though Schwarzenegger was able to make memorable and iconic quotes from those films last, those performances weren’t really intended to be comedic. His accent was no doubt a concern to studio heads, producers, directors, or whatever other decision-makers thought it would confuse or scare away audiences, as evidenced by his first feature, Hercules in New York, actually dubbing over all his dialogue, per Schwarzenegger’s autobiography, Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story. Once he was finally given some lines to work with post-The Terminator, in things like Commando, Predator, and The Running Man, his ability to make audiences laugh in between mowing down dozens of anonymous henchmen quickly became as much of his appeal as the burly action side of things. It turns out the concerns about accent were not only unwarranted but actively incorrect and getting in the way of Schwarzenegger being as funny as he’d soon show he could be.

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Arnold Schwarzenegger Flexes His Well-Defined Funny Muscles
Image via Universal Pictures

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s penchant for silly one-liners became customary and then expected over just a few years, to the point that a movie-going experience to one of his films almost felt incomplete if Schwarzenegger didn’t have at least a few zingers interspersed. Almost the entirety of Commando, for instance, is largely Schwarzenegger’s John Matrix dispatching random goons with a constant stream of jokes about their various demises, of which there are far too many to even start listing (“I lied.”) The whole film is pretty much a demo reel for all things Schwarzenegger, from his sculpted body to his sense of humor to showcasing his caring dad side. Commando is a perfectly brutal execution of something being distilled down to its most basic elements in the best way possible. Obviously, there was the rather unique accent working in his favor, too, especially in the US where such a thing was still a fun novelty. He seemed entirely happy to milk the fact that audiences enjoyed the way he spoke because whether it was genuine, good-natured amusement at his delivery or simply chuckling at something for being different (which humans love to do), he was the one who wound up laughing all the way to the bank. It was natural, then, to try his humorous talents out in a pure comedy at some point.

Twins, his first comedy with none of the action elements one would expect from a Schwarzenegger movie (though it still has some violence to it, because baby steps), ended up being his biggest movie to date domestically, internationally, worldwide, and however else one would quantify success. Well, except critically. Pairing him with Danny DeVito, who’d had quite a few successes of his own the preceding few years, probably didn’t hurt, but Schwarzenegger proved to be rather excellent at playing a good-natured softy who was just trying to do what he thought was best. Being rated PG probably helped a bit, too, as after years of adults being amused by him in lots of R-rated action, fantasy, and sci-fi features, there was finally something people could feel comfortable bringing their kids to see. After that resounding win of him playing a relatively regular guy (all things considered) and aiming for laughs more than headshots, it should come as no surprise he continued to lean into comedy wherever possible.

Kindergarten Cop was just two years later and, aside from making a couple hundred million on just a 26 million budget, that one became another to add to Schwarzenegger’s list of oft-quoted classics. “It’s not a tumor!” comes to mind immediately, but then so do a dozen others. And then even more after that (“I’m not a policeman, I’m a princess!”), because this writer has probably seen the movie more than any one person should. There’s a reason it’s become one for the ages, after all, and clearly the mixture of Schwarzenegger being a stereotypical, yet still amusing, badass early on before having to evolve into a kid-friendly giant later on managed to nail the recipe very well. The screenwriters and director Ivan Reitman deserve a heaping of kudos as well, but in all reality, this was one of those instances where an action star wrangling a group of kids only works as well as it does because of Schwarzenegger.

Arnold Schwarzenegger Said He’d Be Back
Image via Netflix

Another reason Arnold Schwarzenegger’s comedy chops struck a chord with audiences around the world had to be that humanizing this hulking beast of pure muscle straight out of a comic book, worked well, as without humor he pretty much is the Terminator. Schwarzenegger gave the impression he was happy to poke fun at himself, too, as seen in 1993’s Last Action Hero. It was a dud at the time, getting swallowed up in Jurassic Park’s wake, but it’s since gone on to achieve a cult classic status as a pretty good meta-action comedy. It’s not perfect, by any means, but Schwarzenegger (or “Braunschweiger,” as he mistakenly refers to himself) brings the humor throughout, whether in the extremely heightened and wonderfully ridiculous movie world or boring old reality. The following year True Lies gave the world more fun and funny Schwarzenegger, and based on the unquestionable success, crowds were still eager and happy to see him save the day. Going through all his hilarious highlights from this film, or any others, would simply prove what anyone reading surely knows already–given the opportunity, Schwarzenegger gets better laughs than many outright comedies. It doesn’t hurt that he genuinely seems like he’s having fun on many occasions.

Fans of that enormously entertaining mix of action and comedy from Schwarzenegger can enjoy his talents in Netflix’s FUBAR, a show that not only gives us funny Schwarzenegger, but funny dad Schwarzenegger. There’s a True Lies reboot on CBS that has nothing much to do with the movie it’s based on, but at least those interested in seeing Schwarzenegger doing what always suited him best, making people laugh while taking out some bad guys, have this Netflix series season to binge. Plus, even if FUBAR doesn’t do it for some, that doesn’t take away the many, many hours of humor forever available.