Ed Helms shared a hilarious memory about the wildest gift given by Zach Galifianakis to a helicopter pilot during the filming of The Hangover Part II. While talking on The Good One podcast, Ed Helms talked about the most fun moments they filmed during The Hangover trilogy.
During the finale of the second film, Stu (Helms), Phil (Bradley Cooper), and Alan (Zach Galifianakis) ride a big speedboat to the wedding of Stu. They sped through Bangkok’s Chao Phraya River at about 50 mph, with a helicopter flying low above them for cinematic effect. That stunt seemed to be a military operation instead of a comedy shoot, and the helicopter was so close to them that the entire cast looked excited as well as scared.
“We had this French helicopter pilot who was legendary as being, like, unbelievably good,” Helms described the pilot “He was doing these insane sweeps around us. We’re going, like, 50 miles an hour in this giant boat and this helicopter is swooping over us. It felt like a military operation and we’re just whooping it up on this boat.”
Helms said that the stunt was exciting, but the helicopter was so close to their heads that it made the whole moment feel extremely terrifying. His co-star Galifianakis felt nervous too. He later gave the pilot a gift to show how thankful and terrified he was during the moment.
“That night, Zach got a Snickers bar and mashed it into a pair of tighty-whities and had it delivered to to the chopper pilot’s hotel room as like a thank you for scaring the s— out of us,” Helms said. “That was awesome.”
That Snickers-underwear surprise turned into a legendary behind-the-scenes moment from The Hangover. Fans loved these candid, off-screen moments that show how much fun the entire cast had on the sets.
“He wouldn’t trade The Hangover for anything,” Helms said. “I love all three movies. I think what was so special about the first one is how joyful it was. And that was something that we were very consciously adding in.”
