No, Josh Gad Isn't Rebooting 'Strange Brew' (So Far)

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With everything going on in the world and this platform where I can write about basically whatever I want (being free of all constraints and also any possibility of success is the logical conclusion of my career), I’ll often feel this internal pressure to try to give voice to what it’s like living through this idiotic time. Then, inevitably, by the time I sit down to write, five even scarier, stupider things have already happened and it all seems too overwhelming and also how do you even choose which idiotic, terrifying thing to write about? How can you write about X at a time like Y?!?! seems like the dominant impulse of our times. When obvious hypocrisy and creeping fascism becomes a constant, you do begin to question the value of acknowledging it.

Then this week at least four people sent me the same news story about Josh Gad playing Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas’s son in Strange Brew 2. Belatedly, I came to understand my actual niche in the media landscape: I’m not the guy who makes sense of society, I’m the guy who makes people feel better about hating Josh Gad! A man whose worst crime is being mildly annoying. Ah, well. Alas.

If that indeed is to be my legacy, I figured I could at least try to get to the bottom of this whole Strange Brew thing.

So far as I can tell, this story about Josh Gad being in Strange Brew 2 comes from a Facebook Page called “Golden Era Hollywood.” Whether people saw this “news” as an Instagram post, a TikTok, or, God Forbid, a Thread, it all seems to reference this same post with this same weird mugshot image (linked here, no idea if these things are copyrighted), with the accompanying caption:

Back in the early 1980s [specifically 1983. you can just say that -Ed.], Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas became comedy legends with their portrayal of Bob and Doug McKenzie, two beer loving Canadian brothers whose bumbling charm turned Strange Brew into a cult classic. Their flannel shirts, goofy accents, and outrageous antics made them unforgettable, and the film became a time capsule of pure comedic silliness that still resonates with fans decades later.

Now, the buzz is real: Moranis and Thomas are stepping back into those beloved roles. Seeing them reunited, mugshot boards in hand, feels like a direct callback to their mischievous origins, but this time with a new twist. Josh Gad, known for his energy and comedic timing, has been cast as their son a fresh character who’s expected to carry on the McKenzie chaos for a new generation.

“Their son?” Now I’m not an obstetrician, but it seems like it would have to be one or the other, wouldn’t it? Also, there are laws against incest.

In any case, it seemed suspicious that this supposed news was only showing up on this one weird Facebook account that I’d never heard of. Especially since the entertainment industry rags and comic book slop sites where movie news is often found are not generally known for their journalistic rigor (and hey, why not publish thinly-sourced rumors, it’s a frivolous business).

A closer inspection of the source shows that all of “Golden Era Hollywood’s” other posts seem to be weird AI pictures of beloved celebrities. Two hours ago, as of this writing, they posted an AI image of John Candy and Rick Moranis in their Spaceballs costumes sitting in make-up chairs, accompanied by the caption “Dark Helmet and Barf share a coffee break in season 1 showing friendship in chaos.”

There’s so much wrong and uncanny about that caption, from the reference to the actors as their parody-character names (look, it’s Dark Helmet and Barf!) to the insinuation that a famous 80s movie was actually show, that it might actually qualify as art. Some AI slop feels like it was made by an alien that only wants to make you happy without understanding your ways. (I saw that you liked Mr. Barf, so I made you this limited edition Barf news!).

Indeed, if you look closely at the original mugshot image accompanying the Strange Brew 2 news, you’ll notice that it too seems to be AI-generated. Good enough to fool people at a glance, certainly, but upon closer inspection, Rick Moranis is holding up a placard (a “mugshot board,” in their words) that says “Dave Dave Thomas.” Meanwhile Dave Thomas holds one that says “Dave Bave Thomas.”

Did the AI hallucinate a Newhart-style that never existed? Honestly, it’s not bad. “Hello, I’m Josh Gad. This is my fathers, Dave-Dave Thomas, and my other father, Dave-Bave Thomas.”