Fans will recognise this from many of his movies, including Grown Ups, The Waterboy and Big Daddy. They are often packed with scenes that radiate the kind of chemistry only real-life friendships can produce.
Whether it’s Kevin James, Rob Schneider, or David Spade, Sandler’s movies often feel like a family reunion and fans have always wondered why.
He finally spilled the beans in a candid interview on The Howard Stern Show in 2015, and it’s a surprisingly wholesome answer.
It’s not just about the comfort of familiarity; it’s about making memories with people he genuinely loves.
“I grew up with these guys,” Sandler told Stern. “We have such a great time together. And, honestly, life’s short. Why not do what makes you happy with people you love?”
He went on to describe how the bond with his friends is more than professional – it’s deeply personal.
Adam Sandler opened up about why he casts the same friends in his movies (Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)
Sandler’s sentiment resonates with anyone who cherishes their inner circle.
“I don’t care if it’s good or bad [for business]; I just like to be with my friends,” he added.
While Hollywood can often feel like a cutthroat world, Sandler’s approach flips the script. For him, movies are not just about box office numbers or critical acclaim – they’re an opportunity to share laughs, stories, and unforgettable moments with his tight-knit group.
And Sandler’s fans love it – many have pointed out that part of the charm of his films lies in their fun, laid-back energy, which mirrors the vibe of friends hanging out.
Of course, it helps that Sandler’s friends are talented comedians in their own right.
Kevin James, Chris Rock, and others bring their A-game to his productions, creating iconic characters that fans adore. But for Sandler, it’s not about the fame or the paycheck.
As he put it: “I don’t need to meet new people. I’ve got the best people in my life already.”
Fans on TikTok flooded the comments section of the video, praising Sandler for his loyalty and wholesome attitude.
“This is why we love Adam Sandler,” one user wrote.
Another chimed in: “He’s not just making movies; he’s making memories.”
In an industry that often values profit over people, the comedian’s approach is a breath of fresh air for a lot of fans.
Don’t worry, no actual quiz contestants were harmed in the making of this show, though it required a hell of a lot of preparation and misdirection to pull off.
If you haven’t seen it before then the best advice I could give you is to fire up iPlayer and watch the whole show, all 55 episodes of it, and enjoy your new TV obsession.
In the case of ‘3 by 3’ fans were tricked as they thought they were getting an episode called ‘Hold on Tight’ set on a bus, with promos and previews shot to further the grand deception, only for the BBC to say it had to be replaced at the last minute with this quiz show nobody had heard of before.
Of course that was all just a ruse to cover for the real episode and while some Inside No. 9 fans twigged that the name of this quiz show was a big hint, along with the fact that they’ve tricked the audience before as was the case with their live special, others didn’t realise this actually was the real episode until someone’s brains were smeared over the set.
In the quiz show itself a trio of teams are competing to build up and win prize money, and the Oakwood family’s secret weapon is daughter Catherine (Saskia Wakefield) and her ability to suddenly know answers her comments about a very sheltered upbringing would indicate she’d have no way of knowing.
By the end of the show Catherine seems to have learned a lot about the world and would like to get out and see a bit more of it, though her mother Margaret (Gemma Page) says that’ll happen ‘over my dead body’, which is a horrible choice of words when you’ve got a daughter with special mind powers.
Just as Mack is wrapping up the episode Catherine gives her mother a hard stare and Margaret’s head explodes, throwing the studio into pandemonium.
For the viewers who hadn’t realised what they were actually watching, it was quite a shocking ending and was a clear sign that all was not normal as sudden cranial explosions are not generally a feature of a quiz show.
Inside No. 9 is the brainchild of Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton, and they know how to play with audience expectations. (John Phillips/Getty Images)
However, for the creators of Inside No. 9 that was rather the point.
A few years before they put ‘3 by 3’ to screen, Shearsmith and Pemberton explained in an interview they did with Empire how Inside No. 9 could really horrify an audience.
Shearsmith said: “When something is gory in comedy, it’s really horrifying for people because they’re sat thinking they’re going to get… Open All Hours whereas if they’d been geared up for a nine o’clock drama – you could see the most horrendous things in Waking The Dead and all those things that are on earlier and are actually more horrific, but because they’re in the world of drama your mindset is changed in your head and you’re prepared.
“But that weirdly works in our favour as well, because that’s what makes some of the things we do in this ‘comedy’ all the more shocking because we dare to go in places you might not expect in a comedy.”
Having bamboozled the audience with the bus episode misdirection (plenty of Inside No. 9 fans would still quite like a bus episode, incidentally) and lured them in with the trappings of a quiz show, it made the moment a head exploded all the more shocking.
The entirety of Inside No. 9 is available to stream on BBC iPlayer, and you’ll probably want to make time to rewatch them to pick up on all of the clues and details which make so much more sense the second time around.
Even if you’ve seen the whole thing you might not be aware of an interactive digital episode they did called ‘The Inventors’, the interactive version is sadly no longer available but you can still watch the footage on YouTube.
