There’s several notable cameos in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, the 2004 comedy starring Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn. David Hasselhoff briefly appears as the irate German coach of team Blitzkrieg. Lance Armstrong shows up as himself convincing Vaughn’s character, Peter LaFleur, not to quit the sport. “Once, I was thinking about quitting when I was diagnosed with brain, lung, and testicular cancer — all at the same time,” he tells him. “But I’m sure you have a good reason to quit!”
But the greatest cameo in the film comes from Chuck Norris, who plays himself, as a member of the American Dodgeball Association of America (ADAA) judiciary board. At the Las Vegas International Dodgeball Open, team Average Joes (Vaughn’s team) are forced to forfeit the match, leaving Globo Gym Purple Cobras (the team of Ben Stiller, a.k.a. White Goodman) to become the champions. But as Stephen Root’s character points out to dodgeball chancellor William Shatner, judges can overturn the forfeiture.
The other two judges — Mr. Chelsea and Mrs. Lewis — create a tie, and Norris shatters it like he would any karate kick. It’s a crucial moment in the scene, because by being the deciding vote, Norris allowed the underdogs to win. He throws his thumbs up in approval. “That is PURE poppycock!” Goodman yells, while LaFleur smiles and says, “Thank you, Chuck Norris.” A twinkly-eyed Norris salutes in response. “Thank you, Peter.”
Reflecting on the role in 2012, Norris said he first turned Stiller down. “I was in L.A. when they asked me to do the cameo — I said no at first because it was a three-hour drive down to Long Beach,” he said. “Then Ben Stiller calls. He goes, ‘Chuck, please, you’ve got to do this for me!’ My wife said he should send a helicopter for me, and that’s what happened. I didn’t read the screenplay, just did my bit where I stick my thumb up. When the movie comes out, we go see it. It’s cute, a little risqué in some areas.”
Norris also touched on the scene that rolls during the credits, where an obese Goodman is eating junk food and watching television, which is airing a commercial for LaFleur’s newly renovated Average Joes gym. “Fuckin’ Chuck Norris!” Goodman says to himself. “My mouth fell open,” Norris said. “I said, ‘Holy mackerel!’ That was a shock, Ben didn’t tell me about that!”
A year after Dodgeball hit theaters, “Chuck Norris facts” became an internet sensation, making him an early meme star. More often than not, they featured Walker, Texas Ranger-era Norris, with hyperbolic jokes about his roundhouse kicks or general masculinity (“The flu has to get Chuck Norris shots once a year,” one read). Norris’ cameo in Dodgeball played no small role in this, and the internet loved to quote “Fucking Chuck Norris!” as often as “Nobody makes me bleed my own blood” and “If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball.”
With the news of Norris’ death at 86, we’re all remembering this beloved cameo and grateful that Stiller sent out that helicopter. Thank you, Chuck Norris.
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