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The popularity of kung fu movies in the 80s with stars such as Chuck Norris was bound to eventually bring on a parody version. In 1982, They Call Me Bruce? fit the bill with an odd combination of slapstick comedy and martial arts.

 

The story revolves around Korean stand-up comedian Johnny Yune, who plays a cook named Bruce. Bruce is always getting mistaken for Bruce Lee, for no other reason then they share the same name and are both of Asian descent. People are always asking him to demonstrate his kung fu talents, and his complete inability to do any martial arts results in good physical humor.

 

It turns out that the restaurant Bruce works for is actually a drug running front for the mob. Bruce’s delivery jobs are a way for them to transport drugs, and when both the cops and the drug dealers come after him, Bruce needs to learn how to channel some of those fighting skills that his namesake has.

 

Yune’s talent and deadpan performance with lines such as "I'm a sex object. Women ask me for sex and I object" helped make the film a success. It was a unique combination of an adult comedy about drugs and women, along with Disney-esque slapstick. Moviegoers never knew what was going to happen next. An array of one-liners kept the audience in stiches, like when Bruce’s dying grandfather tells him “The most important thing in life is… broads." Or when a mafia guy is in a massage parlor and does the famous  “Your name is Toby- No, Kunta Kinte” scene from Roots while beating a mannequin with a whip.

 

The film’s low budget enabled it to make over $12 million at the box office. Shown regularly on cable and available on home video, the movie continued to make fans with it’s strange humor and kung fu combo long after it left theaters. In 1986 they released a sequel called They Still Call Me Bruce, starring Yune and Robert Guillaume from TV’s Benson.