Like everyone else my age, I am irrationally protective of the pop culture touchstones I grew up with. Just last week, I saw a trailer for a “Running Man” remake — starring

Lt Frank Drebin Jr. (Liam Neeson) is the son of…you guessed it, Frank Drebin, played by Leslie Nielsen in the original Naked Gun films. But that’s not all. As revealed in a hysterical gag, the entire police force, including Paul Walter Hauser’s Capt Ed Hocken Jr, is the son or daughter of someone from the original cast.

The Liam Neeson-led reboot could be the biggest theatrical comedy since the start of the pandemic—could it save the entire genre? Even the world’s most bumbling detective could probably figure out why there haven’t been any comedy blockbusters lately.