Adam Sandler on Happy Gilmore 2, Bobby Boucher's NFL Career, and Why He Still Gets Nervous Around Taylor Swift

Adam Sandler walked onto New Heights wearing the same shirt he’d had on for three days straight, explaining that he’s been ‘hiding these tits,’ and from that sentence forward the whole interview made perfect sense. This is a man who has spent thirty years being completely, stubbornly himself, and it has worked out fine. Better than fine. The Kelce brothers, two of the most famous athletes on the planet, were visibly starstruck. Travis admitted he almost quoted every Sandler movie the first time they met. Jason had to talk him out of crying during SNL rehearsal. Sandler, for his part, kept saying the brothers reminded him of his boys from New Hampshire. Everyone in the room was a fan of someone else in the room. It was genuinely sweet, and also kind of funny, which is exactly the Sandler brand.

How Happy Gilmore Actually Started

The origin story of one of the most-quoted sports comedies ever is, fittingly, a dad story. Sandler’s father was a serious golfer, shooting in the low 70s. His friend Kyle, a hockey player from New Hampshire, came to the driving range one day and started crushing drives. Sandler’s father watched and said there was something about the wrists, the turn, something hockey players had. That observation sat in Sandler’s head until he was around 23, when he called his dad and floated the concept. The father’s verdict was a very encouraging ‘we’ll see.’ The ‘it’s all in the hips’ line that became a movie catchphrase? That came directly from Sandler calling his dad mid-script and asking whether the golf detail checked out.

when me and my buddy Hurley who I write all the movies with we would write that and we’d call my dad and say does this make sense in golf D when you putt what do you think like and it’s all in the hips and stuff that was my dad I would say what is it he said it’s all the hips baby it’s all the hips and that’s why we wrote that

Happy Gilmore 2 is actually filming soon, and Travis Kelce has a role in it. Sandler confirmed the scene involves a lot of great golfers, promised it would be funny, and gave the plot summary you’d expect: Happy is older, a bit of a mess, and needs to get his life cooking again. Sandler said he and his writing partner sat on every single line asking ‘are we sure, are we sure, are we sure’ before moving on. That’s the level of anxiety driving a sequel to a comedy that came out in 1996. The bar he’s holding himself to is his own legacy, which is a genuinely strange and specific kind of pressure.

The SNL Hall of Feelings

Both Kelces hosted SNL. Both got emotional about it. Sandler hosted again around six years ago and had the same reaction, getting teary walking the halls on Thursday, two days before airtime. This is apparently just what that building does to people. What came through in the whole SNL stretch of the conversation wasn’t nostalgia exactly, it was more like Sandler trying to explain how lucky he knows he got. He name-dropped Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen as people he suddenly found himself ‘shooting the shit with.’ He talked about watching the current cast and wishing he had another crack at it because he’d ‘do better next time.’ He also described the dynamic with the older cast members, Belushi, Aykroyd, Dana Carvey, Dennis Miller, as the same feeling you get around Andy Reid: just shut up and absorb it.

I watch every cast I’d be like these guys are incredible and the men and women on the show and the way they handle themselves I was like oh man I wish I had another crack at that because I’d do better next time

The Farley detour was brief but landed hard. Sandler mentioned Chris Farley was a football player, that he was ready to throw down when he’d had a few drinks, that the people around him had to calm him down constantly. There was obvious, uncomplicated love in how he said it. No life-lesson framing, no reflective pause. Just ‘Farley was great’ energy delivered at full speed.

On Taylor Swift, Bulldogs Named Bagel, and What Bobby Boucher Did After Football

Sandler said he gets nervous around Taylor Swift specifically because he doesn’t want to ‘blow it for his kids.’ He described listening to her albums on road trips during the Grown Ups shoot, back when his daughters were little, as one of the first times he’d listened to every single song on a record start to finish since the Beatles. That is a real compliment. He delivered it completely earnestly and somehow it didn’t feel like a bit.

I said somebody asked me who do you get nervous around I said I do get nervous around Taylor Swift because I don’t want to mess up for my kids and say something stupid so I’m just like she means so much to my house I better say the right thing here

His bulldog is named Bagel. Previous bulldogs included Meatball, Matball, Pickles, and Baboo. This information was delivered mid-conversation when the dog wandered into frame. It is entirely consistent with the brand. As for Bobby Boucher’s post-football life, Sandler improvised a complete canon: Bobby saw Vicky’s boobies and loved them, played a couple of NFL years, saw some things he probably shouldn’t have seen, things got a little crazy in Vegas, and then he went back to Mama. That’s the story. Perfectly unsatisfying. Completely correct.