How Netflix Comedian Bert Kreischer Inspired the Van Wilder Movie Franchise

Over two decades ago, comedian Bert Kreischer inspired the Van Wilder movie franchise. He partially describes his connection to Van Wilder in the 2020 Netflix special Hey Big Boy, in which the Florida native takes the stage shirtless, laughs at his own jokes, and even chugs a beer. Kreischer is a famous American party animal, one who inadvertently gained the attention of filmmakers while attending Florida State University during the late 1990s.

In Hey Big Boy, Kreischer drops numerous movies references, ranging from Titanic to Black Panther to Friday the 13th. Unlike fellow comic Dave Chappelle, Kreischer doesn’t provoke the audience by reminding them that he’s allowed to joke about whatever he wants, nor does he adopt a wink-of-the-eye bad guy stage persona like Anthony Jeselnik. Instead, Kreischer tells stories about his life experience, and incorporates themes like race, gender, and family as comedic hooks.

At 47 years old, Kreischer is well past traditional college age, but remains legend due to a 1997 Rolling Stone article entitled “Bert Kreischer: The Undergraduate.” Written by Erik Hedegaard (who was recently described as the publication’s “last great cover story writer”), the story details the alcohol-driven shenanigans of a sixth-year senior named Bert Kreischer along with his roommate, Hutch. Five years later, as an up-and-coming actor Ryan Reynolds starred in National Lampoon’s Van Wilder, portraying a collegiate party animal with a friend named Hutch (Teck Holmes). The title character also forms a bond with a school journalist (American Pie star Tara Reid as Gwen Pearson). Interestingly, Kreischer never gave his approval for the movie adaptation, nor did he ever make any money off the film or the other franchise installments, Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj and Van Wilder: Freshman Year.

In 2014, Kreischer told the New York Post that he’d never seen National Lampoon’s Van Wilder. One year prior, he spoke extensively about the movie on “The Joe Rogan Experience #73” and explained the chain of events that led to Oliver Stone optioning the movie rights for his story. Kreischer recalls his “loudest guy in the room s**t” at Florida State University, most notably how he announced marijuana house parties in front of police officers and even managed to win a collegiate election by getting naked and pooing in a pizza box. At that point, Kreischer had performed stand-up comedy only once and then moved to New York City to pursue a career.

After Stone’s movie project stalled, the “intellectual property” was sold to National Lampoon and ultimately became National Lampoon’s Van Wilder. Kreischer has stated that he’ll never sue and also revealed that he once reached out to National Lampoon to discuss the true inspiration for Van Wilder. Bert Kreischer‘s suspicions were confirmed, and he later expanded about the premise for his comedy in “The Joe Rogan Experience #507,” stating that it was all about “wanting to be accepted” and dates all the way back to 1985 when he realized his comedic potential as a 13-year-old.

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Q.V. Hough
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Q.V. Hough is a senior writer at Screen Rant. He’s also the founding editor at Vague Visages, and has contributed to RogerEbert.com and Fandor.

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