This summer,Happy Gilmoreis headed back to the links, withAdam Sandlerreprising the title role from the 1996 comedy hit. While theHappy Gilmore 2trailer shows off returning cast membersJulie Bowen,Ben Stiller, andChristopher McDonald,Jeopardy!fans have latched on to a brief appearance by hostKen Jenningsin the trailer. Jennings appears alongside sportscasterStephen A. Smithand rapperCam’ronin a scene showcasing the titular golfer’s return to prominence, but fans of the long-running game show are speculating about how much of a role Jennings will play in the film, which will premiere on Netflix on July 25.
The film centers around the return of Sandler’s Happy Gilmore, a violent hockey player turned surprisingly skillful golfer, to pay for his daughter’s ballet school. However, the path back to the course is a rocky one: he needs to enlist the help of both the son (Lavell Crawford) of hislate mentor Chubbs, who implausibly also lost a hand to an alligator, and his old nemesisShooter McGavin(McDonald), who he defeated and humiliated in the first film. His comeback has his name on everybody’s lips, including Jennings, who appears to be reading them as part of a clue onJeopardy!
Game Show Host Appearing on Happy Gilmore
This is not the first time a game show host has appeared in aHappy Gilmoremovie, and it didn’t end so well for Sandler’s character. In one of the more memorable scenes of the original film,The Price Is RighthostBob Barkeris partnered with Gilmore at a pro-am tournament; the competitive Barker becomes increasingly displeased with Gilmore as a heckler (the lateJoe Flaherty) throws the latter off his game. Eventually, the tension between the two leads to a brutal fistfight, with the then-septuagenarian Barker (who, in real life, had trained with neighborChuck Norris) emerging the victor. Will we see the mild-mannered Jennings trade blows with Sandler? Or, in a page taken fromanother Sandler classic, will Jennings excoriate Gilmore for an answer that is “one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard?”
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Previous hosts ofJeopardy!have been no strangers to the big and small screen.Art Fleming, who hosted the original incarnation of the series, cameoed inAirplane II: The Sequel, and tormentedWeird Al Yankovicin the music video for “I Lost on Jeopardy.“Alex Trebek, who hosted the series from its 1984 revival to his death in 2020, became a pop culture icon over the course of his decades with the series, and guest-starred on multiple TV series in which, includingCheers,The Nanny,The Golden Girls,Blossom,The Simpsons,Sesame Street, andScooby-Doo and Guess Who.
Jeopardy! Has Popped Up on More Shows Than You Think
Trebek also turned up alongsideWill Ferrellon an episode ofSaturday Night Liveas part of aCelebrity Jeopardy!sketch. Trebek andJeopardy!play a key role in the 1992 filmWhite Men Can’t Jump; after Gloria (Rosie Perez) has an upset win on the game show, her winnings end up as the stakes for her gambling-addicted basketball hustler boyfriend Billy (Woody Harrelson). Trebek also made a memorable guest appearance onThe X-Filesas a shadowy government operative who had undergone plastic surgery to resemble Alex Trebek; thus, when witnesses described him as looking like the game-show host, they would be immediately discredited.
Comparatively, Jennings, a relative newcomer to the game-show hosting business, has only started to make his mark outside the show itself. Before becomingJeopardy!’s host, he guested on a 2017 episode ofThe Simpsons, and also made a guest appearance onCall Me Kat, the ABC sitcom headlined by his onetimeJeopardy!co-hostMayim Bialik. However, it can take time for public perception of an institution likeJeopardy!to shift; even Ferrell’s long-suffering Trebek sported a mustache long after the real Trebek shaved his off. It’s probably only a matter of time before Jennings becomes indelibly associated with the game, as Trebek was, and it’s appearances like his upcoming role inHappy Gilmore 2, no matter how brief it may be, that will cement it.Happy Gilmore 2willpremiere on Netflix on August 16, 2025. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.
Happy Gilmore 2
