Lights, Camera, Action

After doing Uncle Moishy productions for a few years, we felt it was time to move ahead with a video. It was 1990, and our plan was to film Uncle Moishy in a helicopter. I rented a chopper and we met at the heliport near the West Side Highway in Manhattan — except that when it came to actually getting in and taking off, Uncle Moishy’s acrophobia got the better of him. So with the little improvisation, we pulled a switcheroo: We filmed Uncle Moishy climbing into the helicopter, and then I climbed in afterward, flying into the sky.

The same happened when we were shooting footage on a hot-air balloon in Florida for “The Balloon” on Uncle Moishy Volume 8. We got up at 5 a.m. to board the balloon, but when it was time for Uncle Moishy to fly away, once again, he got the butterflies. So Uncle Moishy got into the balloon and lifted off about six feet above the ground and then one of us went into the balloon instead, wearing the Uncle Moishy hat. Watching it now and even knowing the backstory, there’s no way to tell who’s really in flight!

During the famous Uncle Moishy “Pizza Song” shoot (Volume 2), Uncle Moishy’s pizza goes flying when he bumps into another fellow in the store (that was me), and then when he trips on a broomstick and the second pizza goes flying, it actually landed splat on the camera lens. The cameraman was not thrilled, but we reshot the scene after cleaning the lens.

The song “Only Kosher Food” (Volume 9) was shot at Teterboro Airport on a private jet. When the owner heard we were looking for a plane to shoot some Uncle Moishy footage, he said, “Use mine!” The private plane was magnificent, lined with actual gold furnishings and full leather seats. That was one 14-seater we will never forget. As we were waiting to start filming, the cameraman noticed a state-of-the-art, luxury-furnished Bell helicopter that had been parked near the plane. As soon as he turned his camera on the craft, one of the attendants rushed over to him and said, “You must put the camera away. Mr. Trump doesn’t let his helicopters appear in filmed footage.” (And that was before he became the president.)