Carl Weathers Didn’t Love Being the Butt of ‘Arrested Development’s Jokes, According to Andy Richter
The late Carl Weathers starred in classic movies like Rocky, Happy Gilmore and Predator, aka Bicep Meme: The Movie. But for some younger comedy fans, Weathers’ greatest performance was as the character of “Carl Weathers” in TV’s Arrested Development.
Weathers was unquestionably hilarious playing a sly, ultra-thrifty, stew-loving version of himself in the cult series, which he did with an unwavering earnestness. But it turns out that the Action Jackson star wasn’t always thrilled about the material he was given.
On a recent episode of Andy Richter’s podcast The Three Questions, guest Tim Herlihy discussed working with Weathers on Happy Gilmore, which prompted Richter to share a story about the time they briefly overlapped on Arrested Development.
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Richter, who played himself and his four identical quintuplets on the show, didn’t share any scenes with Weathers in the original Fox run of Arrested Development. But when the show was brought back for a (wildly disappointing) continuation on Netflix, Richter joined Weathers as part of Michael’s proposed cast for a Bluth family biopic.
On his podcast, Richter argued that any celebrity who played a version of themself on Arrested Development would be depicted as “a fuck-up and an idiot and a loser.” And in the case of Weathers, “there was this running gag of everyone seeing him and thinking he was another actor, and then being disappointed that it was Carl Weathers.” Specifically Ron Howard, as himself, confuses Weathers for Cuba Gooding Jr., who he wants for the Carl Weathers part in the movie.
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Moments later, his producing partner Brian Grazer casually greets “Cuba.”
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Even by the low standards of Arrested Development’s fourth season, a joke about people confusing Weathers with another Black actor is just lazy and insulting. During a break in filming, Richter touched base with his co-star. “I was like, ‘How do you feel about that?’” the comedian recalled. “And he’s like, ‘It’s not great. I know they like me, and I like working here. But it is weird.’”
Richter told the same anecdote during a 2024 appearance on The Howard Stern Show and noted that it felt as though Weathers was “being shit on repeatedly, all day” thanks to the writing.
To be clear, Weathers objection was seemingly in regards to the fourth season’s jokes, not the earlier episodes. As Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz has admitted in the past, Weathers’ trademark cheapness was actually the actor’s idea. Hurwitz originally wanted Weathers to parody Rocky III’s “homoerotic” beach scene with Tobias.
But when Hurwitz contacted him, Weathers immediately asked, “It’s not going to be just a bunch of Rocky jokes is it?” After Hurwitz lied and assured him that it wouldn’t, Weathers added, “Because I direct and I’m a funny guy, and I don’t wanna just do a bunch of Rocky jokes. Nobody wants that. Maybe I could be really cheap or something?”
In retrospect, perhaps they should have just let Weathers write the entirety of Season Four.
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