Thirty years ago today — Sept. 18, 1993 — the sci-fi comedy series Mystery Science Theater 3000 mentioned Duluth in “The Train Song” a.k.a. “What a Pleasant Journey.” Specifically referenced in the lyrics is the 1992 benzine spill in Superior known as “Toxic Tuesday.”
Comedian and sitcom actor Tim Allen referenced Duluth in a scene on the ABC-TV sitcom Last Man Standing in 2015. The scene appears in season 4, episode 19, titled “Summer Internship.”
The 2004 film The Life and Death of Peter Sellers contains a brief mention of Duluth. Geoffrey Rush plays the role of the famous actor/comedian Sellers, whose agent Dennis Selinger, played by Henry Goodman, encourages him to broaden his audience in the scene embedded above.
The 1981 comedy/action film The Cannonball Run includes a mention of Duluth. Lamborghini Girls #1 and #2, played by Adrienne Barbeau and Tara Buckman, respectively, are pulled over for speeding. In a successful effort to sweettalk the highway patrol, the girls supply him with a phone number.
“If you’re ever up in Duluth, remember to look me up,” Buckman says.
A friend let me know that Duluth recently appeared on Twitter’s Cars.Destroyed.Our.Cities (you might need to log in to see the Tweet; Twitter is undergoing some changes), an account that shows how the addition or removal of car infrastructure can dramatically change the urban environment.
The romantic comedy Sleepless in Seattle premiered in theaters 30 years ago today — June 25, 1993. The film includes a scene in which the character Annie Reed, played by Meg Ryan, tells her fiancé Walter Jackson, played by Bill Pullman, about a guy on a radio show who lived in Duluth … which is in North Dakota according to Walter.
Duluth is name-dropped in the new Netflix action/comedy series FUBAR, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, which premiered last week. In episode 4, titled “Armed & Dane-gerous,” the regional Central Intelligence Agency director informs a team of operatives that a medical glass manufacturer in Duluth went bankrupt and left a miniature nuclear reactor in the basement, where kids used it as a backstop for their stickball game.
This weekend’s syndicated Classic Peanuts comic includes a mention of Duluth. The strip was chosen for Mother’s Day weekend because Snoopy speculates on the location of Woodstock’s mother, who “could be in Anchorage, or in the Caribbean or Duluth for all you know.”
In honor of the Academy Awards on March 12, this week’s PDD quiz takes a look at mentions of Duluth on the silver screen. A previous quiz on this topic was published in August). If you’re looking to cheat study up on references to Duluth in popular culture, check out this sweet PDD tag.
The next PDD quiz will review the month’s headlines; it will be published on March 26. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by March 22.
Kip Praslowicz is perhaps best known in Duluth as a photographer and on YouTube as a ranter, but did you know he’s also a championship bowler? A movie shot in Duluth in 2022 has the proof. In his latest video, Praslowicz delves into Merry Kiss Cam from a local’s perspective.
Noting when movies reference Duluth is a top hobby on Perfect Duluth Day, but when its comes to Merry Kiss Cam — the flick that has more Duluth scenes than any before it — we hesitated. So now we’ll let Minnesota Public Radio explain the convenient taxi system, clean street-side snow and disappointing hockey team that make our city great.
Duluth was mentioned on the Nov. 2 episode of the NBC comedic talk show Late Night with Seth Meyers. During a segment titled “A Closer Look,” Meyers cuts into My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, suggesting it’s strange he made so much money on pillows because he doesn’t look well rested.
“He has the energy of a guy being dragged out of a Buffalo Wild Wings in Duluth for stuffing barbecue sauce in his pockets,” Meyers quips at the 9:25 mark in the video above.
Retired professional wrestler Greg Gagne mentions a match in Duluth on the new Vice cable television series Tales from the Territories. The anecdote occurs after the 19-minute mark in episode 3, titled “AWA: Bodyslams in the Heartland.” (The embedded video above appears to be some sort of scrambled pirated version, but it gets the story across.)
Comedian Mary Mack performed on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on Friday. During the set she mentions her mother is “from that very bland Scandinavian country called Duluth, Minnesota.”
Mack’s parents are both Duluth natives and Mack herself was raised in Webster, Wis., about 50 miles south of Duluth.
