Sloppy Joes in 1990s Television and Film
Depending on who you ask, the ground beef Sloppy Joe sandwich was either created in a Cuban dive bar, making its way to Florida via Earnst Hemingway, or in a tavern in Sioux City, Iowa. In either case, it became a cheap, tasty food item during the Great Depression and remained popular throughout the 20th Century. The Sloppy Joe graduated to pop culture icon status in the 1990s with its appearance in film and television. Here are five times the Sloppy Joe was featured in 1990s TV and movies, forever cementing the sandwich in the memories Generation X and Millennials.
Manwich commercials (1970 - present)
The “Manwich” brand Sloppy Joe sauce was launched by Hunt Foods in 1969 and the first Manwich commercials hit airwaves in the Fall of 1970. Thus, Manwich television ads have been a fixture for Generation X from their beginning. However, it was the Manwich commercials of the 1990s, with their catchy tunes demanding, “don’t feed me no baloney” that still patronize the memory of 90s kids today. The commercials featured children having fun eating Manwiches to snappy ditties featuring the musical styles of Jazz, Reggae and Calypso.
The 90s also introduced other Manwich flavors such as Bold and Burbon BBQ. If you were a typical Gen-Xer or Millennial who was raised by television, the melodious song dissing other sandwiches in favor of a Manwich was part of the soundtrack of your life. If you did manage to block it out in adulthood, I’m glad I could help rekindle your memory.
The word “Manwich” itself has become an unofficial synonym for the Sloppy Joe. The term also often describes any sandwich of sufficient size with a lot of meat, suitable for a man. There’s another meaning as well, but I’ll let you look that up on your own.
“Lunch Lady Land”, Saturday Night Live (1993)
The Sloppy Joe officially entered into popular culture on January 15, 1993, with the Saturday Night Live skit, “Lunch Lady Land”. Widely considered among SNL’s funniest, the skit features Adam Sandler singing about a high school lunch lady’s struggle with various institutional-grade school lunch items. All the while, Chris Farley, dressed as a lunch lady, performs interpretive dance. At times, you can see Adam Sandler trying to compose himself while singing because Chris Farley is hilarious. Various actors donned in food item costumes then appear to harass the lunch lady before she’s saved by Kevin Nealon as “Sloppy Joe”.
Sandler ends the song informing us that the lunch lady and Sloppy Joe got married and had six children together.
Like most comedy, this skit is funny because its relatable. Many American school children in the mid to late 20th century probably remembers a hair-netted lunch lady serving Sloppy Joes at the school cafeteria. Lunch ladies had a particular affinity for Sloppy Joe’s because they were easy to make en masse on an underfunded school lunch budget. Do you remember your lunch lady?
Incidentally, the song charted at #129 in 1994 as part of Adam Sandler’s album “They're All Gonna Laugh At You!”.
“Sloppy Jimbos”, The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror V (1994)
By 1994, “The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror” had become a Halloween television tradition for many of us. In their fifth installment, a segment called “Nightmare Cafeteria”, a lampoon of the film “Soylent Green” starts with lunch lady Dorris complaining about using grade-F meat and then being tripped by the school bully Jimbo Jones. In retaliation, and to make up for school lunch budget shortfalls, Principle Skinner sends Jimbo to detention helping lunch lady Dorris in the cafeteria.
The next day, Jimbo is missing and the cafeteria services “Sloppy Jimbos”.
Serving human Sloppy Joes might be something Hannibal Lector might do if he were a lunch lady, but it makes for funny Simpsons horror comedy. It also “feeds” further into lunch lady - Sloppy Joe relationship lore. Hehe.
There are some versions of The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror V that remove the blood from lunch lady Dorris’ apron to earn a softer rating, even though the episode ends with an evil fog that turns the Simpson family inside out. Go figure.
“I made ‘em extra sloppy for yous”, Billy Madison (1995)
Adam Sandler was not done exploring the lunch lady and Sloppy Joes trope with his SNL skit. In 1995, his movie’s title character Billy Madison must go through the entirety of primary, middle and high school in order to receive his father’s business empire. While having a meal at the school cafeteria with his elementary school friends, a creepy lunch lady comes to serve them more Sloppy Joes, declaring with a chilling laugh, “I made ‘em extra sloppy for yous! I know how you kids lik ‘em sloppy!”
Billy responds, “Lady, you’re scaring us!” and everyone erupts into strange laughter.
A piece of trivia: Adam Sandler’s mother was a schoolteacher and this was her favorite among Adam’s films.
“The big, gooey, messy burger”, It Takes Two (1995)
The Olsen twins were impossibly popular in the mid 90s through the 2000s. One of their many family films was their 1995 Prent Trap clone, “It Takes Two”. In this film, rich kid Alyssa (Ashley Olsen) meets her poor orphan doppelganger Amanda (Mary-Kate Olsen) and they hatch a plan to keep Alyssa’s father, Roger (Steve Gutneburg) from marrying a nefarious gold digger. Meanwhile, Amanda wants to be adopted by her kind social worker Dianne (Kristie Alley) who does not meet the salary requirements.
No spoilers but you can probably guess how it ends.
In a scene where Alyssa (rich one) is posing as Amanda (poor one) and having lunch with Dianne, she is introduced to the Sloppy Joe and utterly amazed how tasty it is. Dianne is surprised as Amanda’s favorite dish is the Sloppy Joe. Not even knowing its name, Alyssa declares, “Oh yes, of course! The, um, ‘big gooey, messy burger!’”
That’s pretty accurate actually.
Whether you like Olsen twin movies are not, this scene is amusing.
call me trash but sloppy joes >>> pic.twitter.com/g1q0co8m3n
— Netflix Food (@NetflixFood) January 25, 2019
This is also probably the best scene in film history to depict just how sloppy the Sloppy Joe can really be.
These are the five most prominent depictions of Sloppy Joes in 1990s television and film that I remember. Can you think of any others? Do you have fond memories of Sloppy Joes in your 90s school cafeteria? Let me know in the comments below. Also be sure to check out food episodes on The 80s and 90s Uncensored podcast. With that, I leave you with this quote:
“The beauty of a Sloppy Joe is that it’s supposed to be sloppy.”
We are joined by author Alexander Cherin of “The Mighty 390” to discuss how 1980s California shaped the entire US.