David Zucker first made a name for himself in the 1970s as one-third of the filmmaking trio known as ZAZ. Alongside his brother, Jerry Zucker, and Jim Abrahams, Zucker wrote such revered comedies as The Kentucky Fried Movie, Airplane!, and The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! That’s in addition to directing two of the Naked Gun sequels on his own and having a hand in cult classics like BASEketball and Scary Movie 3. As it turns out, though, Zucker wasn’t just content with getting laughs for his on-screen efforts.
At some point in the 1980s, Zucker developed an interest in horse racing. Around that time, he came up with an idea for what turned out to be a very expensive practical joke. His plan was to buy a horse and name it All Pink, intending for it to lose any race it took part in.
As a matter of fact, Zucker told the horse’s jockey to avoid winning at all costs.
David Zucker Once Spent $60,000 Just to Make a Horse Racing Joke
Instead, the jockey was instructed to run the horse as close to the inside rail as he could. The ultimate goal here was to get the announcer giving the play-by-play to tell the audience that it was “All Pink on the inside.” If it’s not immediately clear, this is a clever reference to an old joke about dating outside of one’s race. The punchline, for those unaware, is usually something to the effect of, “We’re all pink on the inside.”
According to Zucker, his numerous attempts to make this happen occurred in Saratoga, NY, between 1989 and 1993. At the end of the day, it took three different horses for him to pull off the gag. All Pink and Ol’ Pink were unsuccessful, but a mare named Awl Pink finally got the call Zucker was waiting for in 1993.
In the end, Zucker says the joke cost him a whopping $60,000.
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