Twenty-six years ago, Daniel Stern — then best known as the narrator in The Wonder Years and A.J. “The Reverend” Shepherd in the greatest movie about cannibalistic humanoid underground dwellers ever, C.H.U.D. — starred in a little film called Home Alone. Chris Columbus and John Hughes’ Christmas classic became the biggest box office hit of 1990, and it’s currently the 40th highest grossing movie of all-time (when adjusted for inflation). Sure, that precocious little scamp Macaulay Culkin played a big part in the film’s success, but that’s kid’s stuff. The older you get, the more you appreciate Home Alone‘s true heroes: the villains, Harry Lime and Marv Merchants.
Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern are an unlikely comedy pairing, but somehow, it worked — nearly three decades later, a blowtorch to the head and a BB gun to the nuts is still hilarious. Less funny: a certain horrifying animal being placed on your face. (I won’t name the animal, so as not to ruin the surprise, but c’mon, you’ve seen Home Alone; you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t seen Home Alone: go see Home Alone. I’ll wait.) It’s nice to see that even after all these years, Stern — who named the video above, “Home Alone Co-Star resurfaces after 26 years” — is still horrified by his fuzzy enemy.
And that he remains a wonderful weirdo.
