Band of Brothers / Funny

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The Series

Episode 1 - "Currahee"

Sobel after finding Tab's huge stash of condoms: "How in the name of God was he going to have the strength to fight the war?"
- The guy had over 200 condoms. Perhaps Sobel had a point, for once.
One day has a forecast of rain, so Captain Sobel uncharacteristically says Easy Company will have a relaxing afternoon of lectures and spaghetti dinner. Perconte says that it isn't spaghetti, but "army noodles with ketchup." He also tells Guarnere that, as Italians, to call it spaghetti is a mortal sin. Then Sobel storms in and announces they're running Currahee. Half the men vomit their lunch on their shirts.
Bull addressing Lt. Winters during a full-pack midnight march.
Bull Randleman: Sir, we got nine companies, sir.
Winters: That we do.
Bull Randleman: How come we're the only company marching every Friday night, twelve miles full pack, in the pitch dark?
Winters: Why do you think, Pvt. Randleman?
Bull Randleman: Lt. Sobel hates us, sir.
Winters: Lt. Sobel does not hate Easy Company, Pvt. Randleman. (Beat) He just hates you.
Bull Randleman: Thank you, sir.
Perconte showing off his bloused trousers to the newly-promoted Martin.
Perconte: Now, just think. If you had any class or style like me, people might mistake you for somebody.
Martin: You mean like your fucking sergeant?
Perconte:...I'm just kidding.
- And then, when it looks like Perconte is going to be ripped a new one, Martin winks, laughs, and shakes his hand as the two go to get drinks together.
George Luz's impression of Sobel: "How will you slay the Huns with dust on your jump wings?"
As if to hammer in further just how much the men hate Sobel, resident Deadpan Snarker Liebgott has this to say right before they leave for another training camp:
Liebgott: [nonchalantly] Well, you know, I'm always fumbling with grenades. It would be easy if one went off by accident, you know?
Nixon offers Winters a celebratory sip of whiskey.
Winters: Since when do I drink?
Nixon: If I knew you'd take it, I wouldn't offer it.
- He also slyly reveals that he's hidden a case of VAT-69 in Winters's foot locker, the implication being that no one will look there since Winters is a known non-drinker.
- And when Welsh wakes up, he sees the hip flask and says "This could turn into a real nice trip."
During training in England, Luz impersonates Major Horton's voice from behind a tree, fooling Sobel into cutting open a barbed wire fence:
Luz: (as Horton) Is there a problem, Cpt. Sobel?!
Sobel: WHO SAID THAT?! WHO BROKE SILENCE?!
Tipper: (trying not to grin) I think it's Major Horton, sir.
Sobel: Major Horton? What, is he—? Did he join us?
Tipper: I think, maybe he's moving between the platoons, sir?
Luz: I said, what is the goddamn holdup, Mr. Sobel?!
Sobel: A fence, sir, a— God! -A barbed-wire fence.
Luz: Oh, that dog just ain't gonna hunt. (to the rest of the men beginning to crack up) Shut up! (as Horton again) Now, you cut that fence and get this goddamn platoon on the move!
Sobel: Yes, sir!
- The next scene shows an angry Lt. Colonel Strayer chewing out Sobel for setting loose a herd of cows which are now wandering all over their base. Sobel is made to look even more foolish when he finds out that Major Horton isn't even on the base.
Strayer: Who is the IDIOT that cut that man's fence?!
- Even better? When Luz first starts speaking in Major Horton's voice, if you look in the background, you see Tipper immediately break into a grin, because he knows what's coming.
- And part of the humour comes from Evans and Sobel looking terrified at the thought of Major Horton busting them for being lost, all while Tipper knows it's a prank. Likewise the rest of the men can barely conceal their own laughter around Luz while he's doing it.
- Apparently, in real life, Sobel was always busting Tipper's ass for the most minor of infractions. Getting in on the prank was probably his tiny way of getting revenge.
Winters moving his platoon out coincides with an old man on a bike cycling down the road. He changes direction three times and the soldiers block his path each time. He jokingly holds up his hands to Winters and says "You've done it now, Yanks. You've captured me."
- Upon hearing an approaching Sobel screaming "Hi-yo, Silver!" in the distance, he dryly asks "Would that be the enemy?" When Winters realises who the old man is referring to, he mutters "As a matter of fact, yes."
Joe Toye dreams of knifing Hitler and the president renaming Thanksgiving to "Joe Toye Day".
Guarnere says that his brother told him it's hot in Africa. Malarkey looks up from his centerfold and dryly remarks "Really? It's hot in Africa?"
- much of the humour in this comes from the fact that Malarkey and many others are sweating profusely at that point, as the troop transport to England offers little to no ventilation on the deck they are on.
When Guarnere and Liebgott quarrel over Sobel's worth as a Jew while travelling on the troop ship to England, Tipper—who is playing cards with another soldier off to the side—dryly remarks: "Fighting over Sobel. That's smart."
Liebgott: He's a what?
Guarnere: He's a Jew.
Liebgott: [throws down his cigarette] I'm a Jew.
Guarnere: ...Congratulations. Get your nose out of my face.
- Right before the scene cuts away, you can hear a soldier—probably Luz—shouting "How are we supposed to know who won if you guys keep getting in the way?!"
- Meanwhile, two other soldiers off to the side discuss the fight in the most bored tones possible.
After Luz reads out a Rousing Speech from Col. Sink's letter, Guarnere has this to say: "So that's why they gave us ice cream."

Episode 2 - "Day of Days"

Winters meeting Private Hall, despite it being in the middle of a tense situation.
Winters: Flash.
Hall: (struggling with his parachute) Shit!
Winters: I don't think that's the correct reply, trooper.
- Then there's this:
  Winters: Leg bag?
  Hall: Prop blast got it, sir. And my radio and batteries with it.
  Winters: Mine too. Landed somewhere behind those trees. Okay, follow me. (They walk towards the trees, gunfire erupts, and they turn around and run the other way) To hell with that!
Guarnere nicknames Hall 'Cowboy' for no real reason. When Liebgott hears the nickname and excitedly asks if he's from Texas, Hall tells him he's from Manhattan.
Malarkey striking up a casual conversation with a POW from his home state. Someone else yells in an exasperated voice "Stop fraternising with the enemy!" What's funnier is that he doesn't and when it cuts back, it implies Malarkey has been there for several minutes.
Guarnere spends most of the episode busting Hall's balls by nicknaming him 'Cowboy'. The one time Hall fires back with Guarnere's own Embarrassing Nickname (Gonorrhaea), Guarnere's reaction? Adorkable grin and saying "he's alright, that kid."
Malarkey's Skewed Priorities in battle - going out to raid a German soldier for a Luger - in the middle of gunfire. The soldiers don't shoot him at first.
Petty: Christ! They must think he's a medic or something.
Guarnere: He's gonna need a goddamn medic!
- Then it turns out the German doesn't have a Luger, the Germans finally start to shoot at him and he barely makes it back:
  Guarnere: Forget your friggin' Luger?! Why don't I go get it for you, ya stupid Mick!
In the battle a German potato masher ends up in the trench almost under Joe Toye. It goes off and he's miraculously unhurt. THEN when Compton tries to throw a grenade at the Germans someone bumps him and the grenade falls into the trench. Everyone gets out okay. EXCEPT Joe Toye who is AGAIN unhurt.
Toye: Fucking twice.
- Which then sets up the true blink and you'll miss it funny moment: Compton, Winters, and Toye move to take the second gun. Before Compton goes to throw a grenade at the gun he's pauses just a moment to look at Toye to make sure there's NO WAY for there to be a third time.
It turns out Malarkey is a Lethal Chef.
Malarkey: Sir, if you have a reservation someplace else, I'd be happy to go.
- It turns into a Brick Joke as, after a conversation between Winters and Nixon, we cut to Guarnere throwing the flap of the wagon open to get some fresh air.
Winters slyly letting Guarnere know "I'm not a Quaker." Guarnere guesses he must be a Mennonite - and unknown to anyone, this time, he's right.
Philip Barantini says they filmed a part where Sisk asked "does anyone want to buy a watch?" right before the men jump - something the man actually said in real life.
After the ambush, Guarnere is bitching about Winters' performance during the fight, with Toye offering rebuttals to each point. In the end, each point logically refuted, all Guarnere can say is a petulant "Joe, he don't even drink!"

Episode 3 - "Carentan"

Perconte has developed the odd habit of looting watches from German soldiers. Sure enough when they come to a field full of dead soldiers, he kneels down to take a few more watches.
Luz and Welsh are separated from the rest of the team and get pinned behind a wall, which results in this exchange:
Welsh: Where the fuck is everybody?! Where'd everybody go?!
Luz: I HAVE NO IDEA!!
During the battle to take Carentan, the battalion staff officers are hiding behind a wall, whisper-yelling to Winters asking if it's safe to come out (ostensibly to move the wounded to safety). Winters tells them it is, exchanges incredulous looks with Nixon, and a moment later gets hit by a ricocheted bullet in the foot. The look on his face just screams "Really?!"
Another gem from George Luz: "Remember boys, flies spread disease. So keep yours closed."
Before the German counterattack at Carentan, Easy Company is hiding out in a hedgerow after being ambushed by German positions. At night, the German were singing loud enough that Easy Company could hear them...in pouring, thundering rain. We see Blithe and Martin looking extremely down and out of it.
Martin: What have they got to sing about?
Welsh and McGrath go to engage a German tank with a bazooka. They load, take aim, and fire an anti-armor round, which bounces harmlessly off of the tank's armor.
McGrath: I knew you were gonna get me killed!
An unpleasant incident between Smith and Talbert has Talbert getting stabbed when Smith thinks he's a German. At the end, Smokey Gordon has made it into a poem called "Night of the Bayonet". Even Smith and Talbert find it funny.

Episode 4- "Replacements"

After losing several games of darts, Buck convinces his opponents to make a wager on the next game. He is then "reminded" that he has been throwing with his off hand all night. Cue bulls-eye.
Muck sees Sobel coming towards him and Malarkey and wordlessly disappears, leaving Malarkey by himself to deal with their former commander.
The look on Perconte's face after being given Marshmallow Hell by one of the Dutch women.

Episode 5 - "Crossroads"

Winters wakes up a sleeping Nixon by throwing a pitcher of water on him...only for Nixon to splutter:
Nixon: That was my own piss, for Christ's sake!
- What makes this funnier is that Winters is usually serious and composed—and then clearly finds this hilarious.
Webster gets shot and shouts "They got me!" and the next time we see him, he's grumbling about it.
Webster: 'They got me'? Can you believe I said that?
Luz quoting the movie Seven Sinners, as he's seen it 13 times and thoroughly annoying Toye and Lipton in the process. What makes it especially funny is that he's quoting it like someone these days would quote Mean Girls.
Luz [imitating John Wayne]: Look at me! I'm John Wayne! The costume department set me up with these great Navy whites! Whaddaya think?
Moose and Nixon take full advantage of Winters being the Ex-O and have his PA get them all coffee and bacon sandwiches.
In a Call-Back to Nixon mentioning that he hid a case of whiskey in Winters' footlocker, the former walks into their room wordlessly waving his empty flask in the air, with Winters wordlessly reaching over and popping the lid on the trunk.
While Easy watches the film, Malarkey arrives next to Skip and Perconte and Skip asks him how he did in craps. Malarkey repays Skip the $60 he lent him and as a thanks, gives him a $500 tip^note About $6,750 in 2015 from the $3,600 he won. Perconte tells Malarkey to give him a tip too^note.
The boys' helpful advice to a replacement on how to deal with the cold:
Toye: What about socks, Junior? You got extra socks?
Junior: A pair.
Skip: [very seriously while chattering] You need four minimum: feet, hands, neck, balls?
The boys: Extra socks warms them all!
Skip: Yay, we all remembered that one...but did we remember the socks?

Episode 6 - "Bastogne"

Eugene's complete obliviousness to why Babe Heffron is so annoyed at the Last-Name Basis.
Babe: What is with the 'Heffron'? You know my name, why don't you use it?
Eugene: It's Edward, right?
Babe: Edward!? Are you serious? Only the goddamn nuns call me Edward!
- Later on, while Buck and Guarnere are discussing how Eugene never calls anyone by their nicknames, Babe smugly says "he calls me Edward" in a tone that screams "oh yeah, I get special treatment". Guarnere finds that hilarious while Buck is surprised, saying "you don't look like an Edward." The best part is that Buck is so cold that he's stuttering like an idiot, so that right after he says this, Guarnere has to pat him on the back.
Heffron and Spina are nearly shot when the former falls into a German's spider hole. The only reason the German hesitated was because he thought it was a comrade, "Hinkle."
- Later at chow, the platoon goes on talking about "Hinkle" as if he's one of the boys from Easy. Even Doc Roe thinks it's funny. The real Babe Heffron mentioned in his memoir that every time he saw Spina after the war, Spina would always ask him how Hinkle was doing at some point.
- In real life, apparently, Babe managed to yell "Hinkle your ass, Kraut!!" before running for his life.
At one point Roe is looking for Toye, who is apparently "missing something". When Doc Roe arrives, Toye gives a show of being a Deadpan Snarker as he's watching the line.
Roe: Toye, are you missing something?
Toye: Home.
McClung: Ask him to dance, Doc.
Roe: Show me your feet.
Toye: You watch the goddamn line, McClung. [Toye shows his feet wrapped in blankets]
Roe: Where are your boots?
Toye: In Washington up General Taylor's ass.
Immediately after that, Martin teases Perconte about how regularly he brushes his teeth.
Martin: Frank, you keep cleaning those teeth, the Germans will see you a mile away and shoot you dead!
In a reversal of roles, it's now Malarkey who is complaining about the food.
Dominguez: Nothing you won't eat, Malarkey.
Skip: I won't eat Malarkey.
Perconte helps Eugene carry a wounded Sisk and then complains about him getting blood all over his trousers.
Sisk: Oh, I'm real sorry, Frank!
The last scene between Babe and Eugene is both this and Heartwarming. Eugene is bandaging up his wound and Babe notes that Eugene just used his nickname. He playfully imitates Eugene's accent and gets a stern "Heffron" in response, prompting Babe to laugh in a "oh, there really is no pleasing you, is there?" sort of way.

Episode 7 - "The Breaking Point"

The scene where Winters describes the flaws of the possible replacements for Lieutenant Dike is like something out of a comedy. The way the camera flashes back to Shames acting like he is in a war movie and Peacock getting his men lost in the wildness is hilarious. The angry looks on everyone's faces when they are lost (especially Christenson's) are priceless.
Although things turn sour when the German artillery hits them, it's a welcome bit of comic relief when Skip tells a story about how he once swam across the Niagara river and his sister told him he was an idiot. Luz and Penkala agree that she was right.
This important distinction between 'injured' and 'wounded':
"It's called 'wounded', peanut. Injured is when you fall out of a tree or something.
- While Muck is telling Webb about the various wounds the platoon has suffered, Buck (who is talking to the other Lieutenants) overhears Muck talking about him getting hit in the ass in Eindhoven. Buck taps the place the bullet hit him for illustration, not even breaking from his own conversation.
  - "Bit of an Easy Company tradition, being shot in the ass."
- In the same conversation, Muck happily tells the newcomer that Lipton took some shrapnel to the face and near another very important area. Guarnere chimes into the conversation.
Guarnere: How are those nuts, Sarge?
Lipton: [smiling fondly] Doing fine, Bill. (Beat) Nice of you to ask.
Luz's little Cigarette of Anxiety after a shell falls into his foxhole and doesn't go off. It's a welcome chuckle in the middle of a terrifying scene. Lipton even shares it with him.
Christenson, Perconte, and Webb are in the OP talking about the rumours of Speirs offering POWs cigarettes before he shoots them. Eventually Speirs pops up, and after a short conversation, he offers them cigarettes. The looks on their faces are priceless.
- The scene between Speirs and Lipton in the church later implies that he was doing it to deliberately Troll them. It seems Speirs does have a sense of humour after all.

Episode 8 - "The Last Patrol"

The boys are all scrambling for a Hershey's Bar. Poor Private Vest is absolutely mobbed.
- When Luz gives one to Perconte after refusing to give any to the other men:
Liebgott: He gets a fucking Hershey bar?
Luz: Well, he got shot in the ass.
Webster gets welcomed back to the front line with a little mortar attack. He actually falls over from the force of it, prompting Malarkey to quip "nervous in the service, Web?"
- To be fair, a mortar hit is what injured Webster in Holland, and laid him up in the hospital for several months. It probably made him a little more nervous about such attacks.
- In the background, one can see Speirs just standing there, barely fazed as everything explodes around him.
Lieutenant Jones asking Malarkey if he is going to introduce him to the men of Second Platoon. Malarkey wryly points out the men are right here in the same room.
Martin's Death Glare towards Webster when the former realizes the latter was the one who (inadvertently) got him put onto the patrol.
A Bilingual Bonus is Webster shouting something to the Germans while they're on the eponymous patrol. It translates as "be good and you'll get a cookie!"

Episode 9 - "Why We Fight

Shockingly enough, this episode has most of the funniest moments in the series. Probably to make the later Mood Whiplash all the more jarring.
The first scene has Perconte and Luz trying to steal eggs from a German farm, because Perconte desired to make an omelet. Specifically they're holding up the chicken, trying to get her to lay the egg. The fun starts when one of the farm girls walks in.
Luz: Gutten Tag, fraulein.
Girl: ....Gutten Tag.
She flees the barn in terror.
- Luz runs after her and tries to make her feel better by offering cigarettes and chocolate. We cut to Perconte outside carrying the eggs in his helmet, with Luz following soon after to tell him that the girl slapped him.
Janovec's first scene is a little R&R with a German girl. The door flies open and in walks CAPTAIN SPEIRS. Janovec jumps up and salutes in the nude. Speirs doesn't bat an eyelid and simply collects some of his stuff. As soon as he's gone, Janovec goes back to his R&R. What makes this funnier is that the miniseries is Tom Hardy's first on-screen credit. So this is his first scene ever.
Nixon getting divorced from his wife is played for comedy somewhat. He seems most annoyed that she's taking the dog. "It's not even her dog!"
- On the way to Landsberg, he's still grumbling about it ("She hates that dog!"). An amused Winters can only pat his knee in sympathy.
- Eventually he joins in with the rest of the men singing "Blood on the Risers."
Liebgott is making friendly conversation with Webster. When he hears Webster studied literature in Harvard, he excitedly says that he loves to read, too. He names Dick Tracy and Flash Gordon as his favourites ^note. Fortunately, Webster realizes that Liebgott is only trying to be friendly and says "no kidding."
During the patrol, just before they find the concentration camp, we get this exchange:
Perconte: Hey, Luz. Kinda reminds you of Bastogne, doesn't it?
Luz: Yeah, now that you mention it. Except, of course, there's no snow, we got warm grub in our bellies, and the trees aren't fucking exploding from Kraut artillery, but yeah, Frank, other than that, it's a lot like Bastogne.
Perconte: Right?
Luz: Bull, smack him for me, please?
(Bull promptly smacks Perconte on the back of his helmet)
Luz: Thank you!

Episode 10 - "Points"

Luz cracks wise as he and Talbert play cards, as the replacement that shot Grant is being worked over by the Easy NCOs.
"I don't know who's taking a bigger beating... me or him!"
Winters sends Lipton to accept a German General's formal surrender of his army... because the General felt it was beneath him to surrender to an enlisted man like Heffron. In other words, Winters accedes to the General's demands...and sends a 2nd Lieutenant (aka the lowest ranked Army officer) to do it instead.
When the soldiers are walking through Hitler's mansion and stealing anything that isn't nailed down, Welsh starts filling his helmet with cutlery. Winters walks by, and the audience briefly thinks that he might chew Walsh out, only for Winters to join in and fill his helmet as well.
- Speirs then walks in, hoping to join in the looting, only for Welsh to smack his hand away like a naughty child reaching into the cookie jar. Winters finds it amusing enough that he actually laughs. To top it all off, after Harry stops him from stealing, Speirs hurriedly looks to Winters with a "But daaaad, I want to steal!" expression on his face.
Nix being so happy that Dick has accepted his job offer that he jumps into the lake.
The boys happily running up to the Eagle's Nest while screaming "Hi-yo, Silver!"

Behind The Scenes

General

Neal McDonough brought a bottle of whiskey to boot camp with him. Afterwards, they all got a talk from Dale Dye about how if they were found with any contraband, they'd be fired and sent home. Neal's solution? Pour the whiskey into his canteen, where he knew they wouldn't search. Of course this is the same canteen that's supposed to be filled with water for him to drink when he's dehydrated. So for four days he had to do five mile runs etc without being able to take a water break, since there was whiskey in the canteen instead of water. He jokes that the rest of the men just thought he was a badass who didn't need to hydrate. He finally got rid of the whiskey by sharing it with the privates after a successful exercise - much to the dismay of the actors playing the officers, who didn't get any.
Another Neal McDonough story is how during an exercise in boot camp, his weapon went off and he suffered damage to his face. He went to Shane Taylor, expecting him to stitch it up since he was playing Doc Roe. As expected, the wound got infected and he had to be taken to a hospital in London at ten in the evening - while still wearing his costume. Not wanting to attract negative attention from the media, he gave his name as 'Buck Compton' to the doctor. He also refused any painkillers while they were stitching up the wound, seeing as a hospital in the 1940s wouldn't have any. He was brought back to boot camp at 3 am, just in time for morning exercises.
Neal: I'm Buck Compton, baby.
David Schwimmer suffered a knee injury during training and had to be taken into hospital (later having to film the Currahee run scene with said injury). The others describe him as returning with a bag full of sweets and naughty magazines for everyone (managing to sneak it past Dale Dye). They also apparently used the M&Ms as poker chips. In a weird way this doubles as a Heartwarming Moment, since Schwimmer was kept isolated from them for the sake of Enforced Method Acting - so it was one of the few times he got to bond with the others. It's also Hoist by His Own Petard for Capt Dye - who decided to give Schwimmer preferential treatment and send him out to a hospital to drum up feelings of resentment among the men.
James Madio appears to have gained a reputation as a Memetic Badass:
- Neal McDonough recalls just being in his trailer changing, when Madio out of nowhere jumps on him and bites his chest "like a rotweiller". Neal chases him, with his chest bleeding. He catches him right beside a nest of thistles (but Madio says it was nettles) - and actually picks him up and drags him through them. James Madio's only defence of this? Neal wasn't shirtless.
"I would not bite a man shirtless on his chest."
- On the first day of training, he got pranked by Donnie Wahlberg to go up to Dale Dye and ask for help with his gun. Dye recalls overhearing this and just waiting for it to happen. Madio specifically says "Hey, General, I got a problem with my gun here". ^note. Dye says that his Ex-O thankfully gave him a reason to leave before disciplining Madio. And that as soon as he was out of earshot, he broke down in a fit of hysterical laughter.
- A common prank was to go into people's trailers, put toilet paper in the toilet as a base and then proceed to...well, you know, on top of it, and then turn up the heating inside the trailer, to allow the smell to spread.
- A story that got passed around during many interviews involved a drunken bar brawl in Soho. Madio's version says that a drink accidentally got spilled on a girl, and that he went downstairs to apologise to her infuriated friends. Neal McDonough however mistakenly assumed a fight was breaking out and called out "Madio's getting attacked" - and rallied everyone else to go downstairs. Police had to be called of course but Madio ran for it and disappeared. He was apparently already in bed by the time they called him to see how he was.
Madio: I am from The Bronx. When you hear the "cops" and none of your guys are down, you run.
Damian Lewis apparently took full advantage of the extensive audition process - since he got flown out to California to read for the part. He decided he would go out on a magnificent drinking spree - only to be called at 8 am and being told that Spielberg wanted to meet with him at 10. He describes himself as having three showers and about sixteen cups of coffee to attempt to cure the hangover.
Matt Hickey (O'Keefe) says that the actors frequently just slept wherever they could find on set. While filming the concentration camp scene, he claims that himself, George Calil, and James Madio went to sleep at the top of a lookout tower. When they woke they found out that an AD had been running around frantically looking for them for the last two hours.
The actors took turns doing impressions of Dale Dye. General opinion seems to be that Michael Cudlitz did the best. According to Dye, he had the remarkable talent of looking convincingly innocent whenever he was caught out.
Richard Speight Jr. (Skip Muck) recalls Dale Dye giving them all a talking to, saying that the production office had been giving him a lot of grief. As this was a military situation, he kept referring to it as "the rear". Dick Speight turns to Scott Grimes and completely obliviously said "man, Capt Dye is really getting it from the rear". The two actually did manage to avoid Corpsing.
A few of the actors were taking protein shakes during the boot camp. This proved a rather unpleasant experience for those behind them on the five mile runs.
Damian Lewis says that when he was leading his men on an exercise, he gave a lecture about proper gun safety and the importance of making sure the weapon doesn't accidentally go off. Of course he heard the sound of a weapon going off and looked around for the culprit, only to discover that it was ''his'' weapon. He covered up by saying "As I've just demonstrated for you..." What makes this even better is that this was meant to be a secret attack.
- Also Capt Dye and his officers came over to reprimand them for it. Damian jokes that he was hoping one of the others would take the blame for him. They didn't.
  Damian: Every night for ten years I've woken up wondering why did no one come to [take the fall].
Damian also recalls a funny moment where they had to quickly transport him from one shoot to another to get a shot in. He got into a van covered in mud and had three assistants (all women by the way) rip his clothes off and give him a head-to-toe sponge bath. All the while the driver was flooring it.
Damian: It wasn't an unpleasant experience...
Matthew Settle and Ross McCall ended up as roommates for a while. Ross later discovered that Matt owned a VHS with a certain Queen video on it^note but that - once he found out Ross was on it - the tape got frequently brought out to charm the ladies.
Scott Grimes says that one night during boot camp, he and his squad mates were out on an exercise in the woods. He went on a patrol and found an empty cabin full of food, water, and hot showers. He took full advantage of this and later found out it had been put there for the officers to relax in. He describes an annoyed Dick Speight Jr asking why he didn't come back to get the rest of them.
- What's more is that he later confessed this to Dale Dye and, instead of the expected reprimand, he was congratulated since a soldier would be expected to take advantage of any comforts or luxuries they come across in the field.
When the real Bill Guarnere and Babe Heffron came to visit the set, Babe asked Robin Laing to do his Philadelphia accent. Laing did and Babe replied, "No, your Philly accent." Laing didn't know what to say until Babe laughed and revealed he was just trolling him.
- Apparently the two of them ran up a $25,000 alcohol bill during their stay, during which they berated the actors for not being able to keep up with their drinking.
Guarnere: (to Frank John Hughes) How the hell you gonna play me going home this early?!
Stephen McCole (Moose Heyliger) tells a story of how before he was to start, he was brought on set to look around - right after getting a fitting, so he was already wearing the costume. Sgt Farnsworth approached him, asking if he was the new guy. Stephen replied that he was - in his thick Scottish accent (not knowing that the Fake American actors were required to keep their accents up 24/7). Farnsworth ordered him to do push-ups as punishment and Stephen replied "you can go fuck yourself." Capt. Dale Dye interrupted Farnsworth ordering him off the set and took him aside to explain the proper procedure. He also said that, since Moose Heyliger was a Lieutenant and Farnsworth was a Sergeant, he outranked him - so he could order Farnsworth to do push-ups if he wanted.
- Then on his first day of filming, he describes bumping into Dexter Fletcher (Johnny Martin) who said "are you the guy that told Farnsworth to go fuck himself?" and then shook his hand.
Michael Fassbender told a fun story of when the cast went to Switzerland to film the scenes in Germany and Austria. There was a climbing wall over a swimming pool, and Nicholas Aaron (Popeye Wynn) opted to drunkenly climb it naked (apparently so his clothes wouldn't get wet if he fell off).
Eion Bailey says that he and Matthew Settle burned their jump boots at the end of filming.
While most of the cast managed to swipe a few mementos to bring home with them, Nolan Hemmings apparently just threw on a trenchcoat at the end of filming and walked off with nearly everything his character had. He claims the only thing he didn't get was his rifle.
During filming, the actors were given two rifles, a fake one and a real one. Frank John Hughes, being a method actor, always used the real one. One day, the prop department refused to give it to him because he wrote his name on it. Hughes claimed he didn't and got into an argument with the prop guy until the he showed Hughes the rifle which had "Fran" carved into it, thinking Hughes got caught before he could put the "k". Hughes angrily informed him that, as Bill Guarnere, he carved "Fran" (Guarnere's wife) into the rifle just like the real guy did in the war.
- When Mark Huberman (Hashey) first came to the set, Frank John Hughes was one of the few actors who were cordial to him. Later on during filming, Bill Guarnere came to visit the actors and Huberman asked him what he thought of the real Hashey. Guarnere said he didn't like him and Hughes did not speak to Huberman again until production wrapped up (luckily, Huberman understood why and there were no hard feelings).
Marc Ryan Jordon (Pt Julian) claims he met someone on set whose job was just to roll cigarettes for everyone all day. They were paid £200 a day to do so.
Eion Bailey took a vacation while Webster was Put on a Bus. Damian Lewis describes himself being in the mud, having just filmed a particularly hard scene. He looks up and sees Eion standing there with a tan saying "India is awesome!" - much to the pleasure of everyone else.
According to Doug Allen, who played Alton More, the actors developed a habit of breaking into each other's hotel rooms as a prank as filming went on. One night, a group of them broke into Matthew Settle's room, only to find the man who plays Speirs wearing a sleeping mask with a teeth whitener in his mouth. He also recalled how, when they were all filing out to avoid disturbing Settle's sleep, a confused Doug, who had never seen such a device before, kept asking "Yes, but what is it????"
- In the same vein, Matthew Leitch recounted the time they broke into Eion Bailey's room. Eion, who was in the middle of, well, something, simply looked up, butt-naked, and said "Hey, guys! Come on in!" much to the actors' horror. Leitch specifically mentions how they all ran out after that.

Ten Year Anniversary Interviews

Blacksky Radio organised interviews with most of the cast to commemorate the ten year anniversary of the show. Highlights include:
- James Madio calls in during Rick Gomez's interview pretending to be a woman called 'Atari' from Rick's hometown of Bayonne, New Jersey. Later on, Michael Cudlitz also calls in to ask if he's slept with Jenna (one of the interviewers) yet - to which he gets a fantastically indignant "MICHAEL!"
- During Cudlitz's own interview, he gets offended when Jenna calls him "Mr. Cudlitz" and she later reveals that she did it just to annoy him.
- A fan also asks Cudlitz if he could fight Neal McDonough shirtless. Cudlitz responds by asking if he'd rather they just hugged it out.
- Dale Dye says that before the interview began, he felt that Nightmare wasn't being civil enough to Jenna:
  "Reach out with your right hand, grasp him by the operating rod handle, snatch it smartly to the rear, get him by the stacking swivel, and tell him to be polite."
- Ross Owen (organiser of the whole thing) attempts a DeNiro impression for Dye. Note that Ross is very Scottish.
- Ben Caplan (Smokey Gordon) calls in during Eion Bailey's interview, and Eion doesn't know who it is at first (having mostly just heard Caplan as a Fake American). Eion also casually mentions a fiancee, causing everyone to do a Double Take and demand to know "did you drop down?" It's also Heartwarming in Hindsight, as Eion is now Happily Married with the lady in question, with two kids.
- The entirety of Matt Hickey (O'Keefe) for how Adorkable it is. Notably he makes fun of the fact of the...unusual way he was rubbing his weapon in his introduction scene (the Oklahoma one).
- During Scott Grimes's second interview he and Nightmare playfully tease Jenna for her shameless flirting with the actors. She insists she's doing it by proxy for the rest of the female fans.
- During Capt Dye's interview, Cudlitz calls in to do his impression. Dye knows who it is instantly.
- Likewise during James Madio's, someone calls in doing a voice and he easily guesses that it's Ross McCall because the Skype name was "LoveCeltic" (McCall's favorite soccer club).
- Freddie Joe Farnsworth (the technical advisor) describes his reaction learning that Ross McCall was a Fake American - punching Ross in the chest and asking what that fake British accent was.

Ron Livingston's Video Diaries

At the airport, Matthew Settle and Eion Bailey get stuck in customs for not having work permits. While they're waiting, Eion is trolling Matt with the camera. The latter is terrified that they'll be sent back.
After Sgt Farnsworth has explained what the proper procedure is at the start of boot camp, Rick Gomez stares down the camera lens to sum it up quite nicely.
Rick: We are so fucked.
- Sgt Farnsworth's hilariously snarky low-down also deserves a mention.
  "If you're British, it's 'yes'. If you're American, 'yes'. 1940s. Not yep, yup, yo...'wassup yo'..."
Apparently, HBO forgot to tell Farnsworth that Livingston was going to be filming the boot camp with his camera. Livingston tries to explain the situation to him, but Farnsworth doesn't believe him and tells him to put it away. The diaries then cut to a few days after when it's clear that the studio told him to let Livingston film and Farnsworth, clearly unhappy that everything he's doing is going to be recorded, keeps giving a Death Glare to the camera.
Bart Ruspoli (Ed Tipper) joined the boot camp a day later than everyone else^note, so it was Ron's responsibility to show him how to put together an M1 rifle. He then had to put it together in front of the cadre. When he was taking longer than usual, Farnsworth orders Ron to stay in a push-up position until poor Bart got it right. Turns into a Heartwarming Moment, as first Frank John Hughes, followed by all the other men, get down into the position as well without being ordered to.
The night time mission wherein the officers had to find Capt Dale Dye's coffee pot from Vietnam. They spend all night looking for it, Ron explaining they spent at least a half hour arguing about how they were going to find it and after they do, Donnie Wahlberg looks down the camera with a face that says he's lost the will to live.
Donnie: Blind luck is what that is.
- What makes the story funnier is Dale Dye's retelling of the men coming in covered in mud and with their uniforms all torn. Ron comes up with this "shit-eating grin" on his face while saying "here's your coffee pot, ''sir''".
When the men are doing a caterpillar push-up^note, Donnie Wahlberg can be seen lifting his head up and coughing from the guy in front of him just farting.
As Ron narrates that everyone is starting to get tired, Frank John Hughes points out James Madio with his arms wrapped around Eion Bailey from behind while he naps on Eion's back. All the while, Eion has a magnificent Death Glare on his face.
While polishing boots, Neal McDonough tells a story about how Michael Cudlitz and David Schwimmer were trying to start a jeep. It wouldn't start, so all the officers had to just push it. Along comes Sgt Farnsworth, who gets into the front seat and starts it instantly.
Neal: (at the end of implied to be over three hours) They [the boots] still look like shit.
Witnessing Michael Cudlitz's Capt Dye impression is fun. What makes it more fun is that he does it while a group picture is being taken. Even the captain himself finds it funny.
- Even better is that Dye actually corrects him saying that he uses more alliteration when he talks.
Capt Dye ends everything by giving the men a Rousing Speech that is definitely a Heartwarming Moment, then says "I hope you didn't record that".
Ron: We did, sir.
Capt Dye: Aw shit. I gotta learn to watch you, Mr Nixon.

Funny / Band of Brothers

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