{"id":130738,"date":"2025-08-09T03:37:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T03:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/130738\/"},"modified":"2025-08-09T03:37:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T03:37:12","slug":"tommy-boy-fans-flock-to-ohio-town-to-celebrate-30-years-of-laughs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/130738\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Tommy Boy’ fans flock to Ohio town to celebrate 30 years of laughs"},"content":{"rendered":"

SANDUSKY, Ohio \u2014 The band was warming up, lawn chairs started filling the field along Lake Erie\u2019s picturesque shores on a gorgeous summer evening.<\/p>\n

Then two people showed up with what looked like bombs strapped to their torsos.<\/p>\n

The appropriate response? \u201cHoly Schnikes!\u201d<\/p>\n

Almost anywhere else, this would probably be concerning. But not this weekend in Sandusky, Ohio, the setting for cult classic comedy “Tommy Boy” starring Chris Farley and David Spade. <\/p>\n

\"CHRISChris Farley and David Spade, 1995 in “Tommy Boy.”Maximum Film \/ Alamy Stock Photo file<\/p>\n

The movie, which debuted in March 1995, was actually filmed in Canada. But that hasn\u2019t stopped the Ohio city of about 25,000 from treating Tommy Callahan as a hometown hero. <\/p>\n

This weekend, Sandusky is celebrating the movie\u2019s 30th anniversary with Tommy Boy Fest. The festivities kicked off Thursday and will conclude Saturday.<\/p>\n

Hundreds watched a look-alike contest featuring anyone \u2014 or anything from the movie, including the deer hit on Tommy and Richard\u2019s road trip.<\/p>\n

\"CHRISChris Farley, 1995 in “Tommy Boy.”Maximum Film \/ Alamy Stock Photo<\/p>\n

Jay Stevens, who entered the look-a-like contest said he’s been watching the film with \u201cmy dad since I was a kid, I know I\u2019ve watched it probably more than 10 times. It\u2019s always been a very wholesome memory of always watching Chris Farley over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The festival’s events include a \u201cTommy Want Wingy Throwdown\u201d fundraiser, movie screenings and a car show featuring the infamous, destroyed convertible from the film, which now belongs to director Pete Segal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had more successful movies box office than this, but this is the one that people keep talking about,\u201d Segal said Friday from the driver\u2019s seat.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a generational film. \u2026 And I think there\u2019s a sweetness to it, and the fact that it was arguably, you know, Chris Farley\u2019s best film, and people absolutely adored him,” Segal said.<\/p>\n

Michael Pecker drove more than three hours from Cincinnati to get in on the “Tommy Boy” fun.<\/p>\n

Farley “has a way to grab the audience and captivate you, and pulls you in to where you just get immersed in it,” Pecker said. “To me, it\u2019s just good old-fashioned comedy at its best, and he delivered it 100 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was Segal\u2019s first visit to the real-life Sandusky, where one restaurant changed its name from \u201cTony\u2019s\u201d to \u201cTommy\u2019s\u201d on a banner and another offered a \u201cTommy Want Wingy\u201d special. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so heartwarming and wonderful. The people of Sandusky have been fantastic. The whole city. There are banners on the street and posters in every store. It\u2019s unbelievable,\u201d said Segal.<\/p>\n

Farley died less than three years after the film’s premiere. His brother Kevin made the trip to Sandusky for this milestone celebration.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe lived a relatively short life, but he lived a great life, and I think it\u2019s nice to see people still remember him after this whole time,\u201d Kevin Farley said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SANDUSKY, Ohio \u2014 The band was warming up, lawn chairs started filling the field along Lake Erie\u2019s picturesque…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":130739,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[171,53,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-130738","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-movies","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114996723487674649","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}