Do you Dangle? — The real story behind ‘Reno 911!’
The University of Nevada, Reno’s Homecoming Parade welcomed Reno’s most incompetent sheriff as grand marshal this year. Thomas Lennon plays hot-pants-wearing Lt. Jim Dangle on Comedy Central’s show “Reno 911!” Dangle is the leader of the fictional Reno Sheriff’s Department, overseeing seven of the most bungling cops on TV.
Lennon described the show as not about making fun of Reno, but the cops themselves. In his favorite skit, the cops try to get a weasel out of a wall and end up shooting one of their own members. The weasel never did get caught.
“Reno 911!” originated when Lennon and other cast members were shooting footage on location for another skit and realized that Reno, strangely enough, looked similar to Los Angeles.
Robin Holabird, deputy director of the Nevada Film Office, said the cast members had always planned to shoot a “Cops” spoof in L.A., but set the show in Reno after that similarity was noticed.
“The purpose was not to spoof Reno, but to spoof ‘Cops’ and shows like that,” Holabird said. “It could have been ‘Albuquerque 911!’”
Since that original pilot was shot in 2000, “Reno 911!” has had four seasons and a movie about the sheriffs’ mishaps.
Bringing Lennon for homecoming was the brainchild of Brita Muller, university weeks chair for the Associated Students of the University of Nevada.
She had heard a song Lennon wrote in the persona of Dangle rapping about his civic pride for Reno. Part of the chorus is “Keepin’ it alive in the 775,” which ended up being the homecoming theme.
“I just thought that it’d be cool to have someone everyone knows of,” Muller said. “It’s solely a Reno thing. For any other city, it wouldn’t matter.”
Muller said that the beginning of the process to get Dangle to Reno was difficult, but as soon as Lennon was reached, it was easy.
“He was really cool about it,” she said.
Lennon wore his trademark short shorts at the student tailgate Saturday, when the high temperature was 55 degrees.
Kyle Kimber, a 21-year-old music major, said when he first saw Lennon dressed as Dangle, he couldn’t help shouting out, “Daaaaangle.”
“I was just in shock because I didn’t expect him to be there,” Kimber said. “We were just like, ‘Oh my God, it’s Dangle.’ He came over and talked to us and said it was cold as hell.”
Muller said she hasn’t heard any negative feedback about a fictitious cop leading homecoming.
“All the students and everyone thought it was really funny,” she said.
Holabird said when she used to travel throughout the United States and Europe for work, people would ask her about “Bonanza.” Now it’s “Reno 911.”
“When I’m out of state, people ask about it,” she said. “Many, many people have heard of ‘Reno 911.’ It’s a door opener.”
Holabird said that having a city known for its fake cops has never been a bad thing.
“They don’t seem to think our officers wear shorts quite like Lt. Dangle’s,” she said.
Nor do people believe that there are palm trees in Reno, like there are on the show.
“They spell it right and pronounce ‘Nevada’ right, so we like them,” she said. “They get the name out.”
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