The narration at the beginning of the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre perfectly set the tone for what was to come. It struck fear in the hearts of generations of moviegoers and taught them words like macabre and idyllic. Let’s take a listen…
If we told you that that was the work of a veteran narrator with a long list of documentaries to his name, the chances are you’d accept it without batting an eyelash. But we’re not gonna tell you that; the primary reason being that it’s not even a little bit true. No, see, that chilling voiceover you just heard came to us courtesy of none other than John Larroquette. And to avoid any further confusion, we’re talking about the John Larroquette from Night Court—and also that other, newer Night Court—not some obscure film narrator who happens to have the same name.
As it turns out, Larroquette became friendly with Texas Chain Saw director Tobe Hooper when he was a bartender in the late ’60s. He hadn’t started acting and wasn’t sure what he wanted to do with his life. A few years later, Hooper called him when he needed someone to voice a creepy little intro for his next movie. The kicker? Since this was a low-budget affair, Hooper paid Larroquette for his time with weed, which he happily accepted.
Free weed for an hour of your time? There are worse ways to start your career. Larroquette would, of course, go on to have great success a decade later with the long-running 1980s sitcom Night Court, which ran for 9 seasons (12 if you count the 2023 revival). But his contribution to the Texas Chain Saw legacy did not go unnoticed by future filmmakers.
Perhaps the oddest part about all of this is that Larroquette says he’s never seen any of the movies in the series. It’s especially strange because he went on to have a longer association with the franchise than even Tobe Hooper. Hooper only directed the first two movies, whereas Larroquette not only narrated the original but also two Texas Chainsaw Massacre reboots and a prequel—none of which paid him in weed (as far as we know).
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