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Danny DeVito seems like a good friend to have. He’s hilarious. He has his own brand of limoncello. And he’ll save your life if you’re ever bitten by a deadly snake. The It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia star told the highly entertaining story of how he saved Michael Douglas’ life many years ago.
On Thursday, DeVito appeared on The Talk to promote his new film Smallfoot and told the funny story of how he saved Michael Douglas from a nasty snakebite when they were filming the movie Romancing the Stone in 1984.
“We were in Mexico in this really rugged kind of place,” DeVito said. “There was this guy who had a truck with a cage on it and inside the pickup truck, in the bed of the truck, were snakes. All the kids were around. I’m scared of snakes, myself, so I’m not going near a snake.”
“But Michael, he’s being the hot shot, Mikey D.,” DeVito said of his Hollywood friend who he has known since they shared an apartment in New York City during the 1960s. “And the guys got a snake on his arm and all the kids are coming around. And Michael grabs the snake. I’m going, ‘Michael, don’t touch the snake! That’s a snake, man. That snake could bite you, man.’” (foreshadowing)
“Oh no, no Danny, it’s no big deal,” Douglas replied.
“Then WACK! The snake bites him on the hand,” DeVito revealed. “The guy gets it off. And I always heard the best thing to do is suck the poison out, right away, so I did. I grabbed his hand and I’m spitting all over the place.”
DeVito delivers the perfect punchline, “I say, ‘Boy, it’s a good thing this didn’t bit you on the balls man — you would be a dead man!’”
This is a fantastic anecdote, how true the story is for you to decide. But if you are thinking that sucking the poison out of an open wound is a good idea, you may want to reconsider. The YouTube account Today I Found Out cautions that sucking out poisonous venom is actually a horrible idea and might make things worse.
It should be noted that Hollywood has used the “suck the poison out” situation in several movies including Caddyshack 2, Norbit, Mean Girls, and Woody Allen’s 1971 movie Bananas. Sacha Baron Cohen used the exact same ballsy scenario that DeVito hypothesized in his movie The Brothers Grimsley, but you’ll have to find that on your own if you feel so inclined.
Let’s look back at Romancing the Stone featuring Douglas, DeVito, and Kathleen Turner.
In Episode 11 “Thunder Gun Express” of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia Season 7, Mac says, “I’ll come back for you!” This is a reference to Romancing the Stone, where Michael Douglas’ character yelled the same line to Danny DeVito’s character.
DeVito and Douglas have been great friends for decades.
[PageSix]