49 Fun Facts About Idiocracy

Etan Cohen, who co-wrote Idiocracy with Mike Judge, also co-wrote which Ben Stiller comedy?

Tropic Thunder. Judge had mentored Cohen since his first writing job, on Beavis and Butt-Head, and worked with him again on King of the Hill.

In Idiocracy, what is Joe Bauers's army job before he is picked for the hibernation experiment?

Librarian. Joe loves the post because nobody ever comes in and nothing can go wrong, which suits the most average man in the armed forces.

Who plays Joe Bauers, the thoroughly average soldier at the centre of Idiocracy?

Luke Wilson. His Joe has coasted through army life by always choosing to get out of the way, until a dumbed-down future forces him to lead.

In Idiocracy, Joe and Rita are meant to hibernate for one year, so how long do they actually sleep?

500 years. The officer running the project is arrested in a scandal, the base is shut down, and the two sleepers are simply forgotten.

Who plays Rita, the woman frozen alongside Joe, in Idiocracy?

Maya Rudolph. Her Rita ends the film as First Lady, married to President Joe and raising what the narrator calls the three smartest kids in the world.

In Idiocracy, why does the army hire Rita for its hibernation experiment?

No suitable female candidate could be found in the ranks, so the army turned to the private sector and dropped criminal charges against Rita to get her.

In Idiocracy, what finally frees Joe's long-forgotten hibernation pod?

A garbage avalanche. Rubbish has been piled up for generations with no plan at all, and the collapse sends Joe's pod sliding into Frito's apartment.

Idiocracy's narrator describes future English as a hybrid of hillbilly, Valley Girl, inner-city slang and what?

Various grunts. Joe can understand everyone, but his own ordinary way of talking gets him mocked wherever he goes, even at his own trial.

In Idiocracy, which fast-food chain pays the Secretary of State every time he says its name?

Carl's Jr. Life nearly caught up with the joke: soon after the 2016 election the head of the chain's parent company was nominated as US labor secretary, though he withdrew.

In Idiocracy, a faulty prison identity machine registers Joe under what name?

Not Sure. The machine takes his hesitant 'I'm not sure' as a first and last name and tattoos it on his arm before he can cancel.

In Idiocracy, which vast warehouse store has a greeter who tells every shopper 'I love you'?

Costco. The store has grown so vast that it runs its own shuttle, and its scanners end Joe's time on the run by flagging him as a fugitive.

In Idiocracy, what does Joe offer Frito to take him to the time machine?

A savings account in the past. Joe promises to open one back home so the interest is worth billions by Frito's day, but the time machine turns out to be a theme-park ride.

Which cabinet post does President Camacho give Joe in Idiocracy?

Secretary of the Interior. Joe admits he does not even know what the job is, but Camacho gives him one week to fix the crops, the dust storms and the economy.

In Idiocracy, which soft drink is part of President Camacho's full name?

Mountain Dew. His full name is Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho, which Joe recites in full when he takes over the presidency.

Who plays President Camacho in Idiocracy?

Terry Crews. His Camacho opens his address to the nation by ordering the rowdy chamber to shut up and sit down, then unveils his plan: Joe will fix everything.

In Idiocracy, what was President Camacho's job before he took office?

Professional wrestler. The narrator's billing puts five Ultimate Smackdown titles and an adult-film career ahead of the presidency, which comes last on the list.

In Idiocracy, what ingredient in the sports drink Brawndo, which plants supposedly crave, has ruined the topsoil?

Electrolytes. Nobody in the cabinet can say what they are, only that Brawndo has them; the narrator reveals they have been building up in the topsoil and killing the crops.

In Idiocracy, Brawndo's makers bought the FCC along with which federal agency, freeing them to sell anything?

The FDA. With the regulators in its pocket, the company got its sports drink onto the nation's crops in place of water.

In Idiocracy, what hits the country as soon as Joe switches the crops from Brawndo to water?

Mass unemployment. Brawndo's stock drops to zero and half the population, all on its payroll, is suddenly out of work, so rioters come looking for Joe.

In Idiocracy, what is the future court that sentences Joe to a night of 'Rehabilitation' called?

The Extreme Court. A TV reporter recaps the trial for viewers: the chief justice brushed aside Joe's clever arguments and declared that everyone knew he was guilty.

In Idiocracy, Joe's execution is a demolition derby against which undefeated 'rehabilitation officer'?

Beef Supreme. His monster truck is so oversized that it wrecks itself trying to get into the arena, and Joe goes on to outlast the other drivers.

How does Rita stop Joe's execution in Idiocracy?

She shows the crops on screen. Rita pays a cameraman to put the sprouting fields on the stadium's Jumbotron, and Camacho calls the execution off as soon as he sees them.

By the end of Idiocracy, which job does Frito hold in Joe's government?

Vice president. Frito gets the post once Joe is elected president, and the narrator calls his 32 kids by eight wives the dumbest ever to walk the earth.

Who wakes from a third hibernation chamber in Idiocracy's post-credits scene?

Upgrayedd. Rita's pimp, who spells his name with two Ds 'for a double dose of this pimping', climbs out and sets off to find her.

Which Geto Boys rapper plays Rita's pimp in Idiocracy?

Scarface. The rapper, whose real name is Brad Jordan, plays the pimp who loans Rita to the army for a year in return for leeway with the local police.

Which Mike Judge collaborator presides over Joe's first trial in Idiocracy?

Stephen Root. His judge opens proceedings by announcing that he is 'fixin' to commensurate this trial', then lets the jeering gallery laugh Joe into a guilty verdict.

Which star of Apple's 'Get a Mac' ads plays Doctor Lexus in Idiocracy?

Justin Long. His doctor reads Joe's chart, offers a diagnosis made up entirely of insults, then panics on finding that his patient has no tattoo to scan.

Which Sideways star plays Brawndo's chief executive in Idiocracy?

Thomas Haden Church. A year after Sideways earned him an Oscar nomination, he turns up here far down the cast list as a nameless, panicking executive.

Which actor plays Frito, Joe's dim-witted guide to the future, in Idiocracy?

Dax Shepard. His Frito agrees to help Joe for one reason, summed up in the character's favourite phrase: 'I like money.'

In Idiocracy's time machine ride, which Hollywood legend is said to have led the Nazi regime?

Charlie Chaplin. The ride's mangled history has him and his 'evil Nazi regime' enslaving Europe in 1939, until the 'UN un-Nazied the world'.

Idiocracy was shot in 2004 in and around which Texas city, then home to director Mike Judge?

Austin. The production built its dystopian sets on the lot at Austin Studios, a film complex on the site of the city's former municipal airport.

How does Joe finally persuade Idiocracy's cabinet to water the crops?

He claims to talk to plants. After hours of failed logic, Joe simply tells the cabinet that the plants have told him they want water.

How does Joe get out of prison in Idiocracy?

He says he is being released. A guard scolds him for standing in the wrong line and waves him straight through to the exit.

Which Canadian city was the only one outside the US among the seven where Idiocracy opened in 2006?

Toronto. The other six stops were American, among them Los Angeles, Chicago and Atlanta, but New York was left off the list entirely.

Which studio opened Idiocracy in only about 130 theaters in 2006, without releasing a single trailer?

20th Century Fox. The film was shot in 2004 and then sat on the studio's shelf, before slipping into cinemas with no promotion behind it.

In Idiocracy's future, where is plain water still used after Brawndo has replaced it almost everywhere else?

In toilets. When Joe suggests putting water on the crops, the cabinet's first question is whether he means the kind out of the toilet.

In a 2017 interview, what did Mike Judge give as the reason the studio barely marketed Idiocracy?

Negative test screenings. Judge said the studio reckoned the film might still take off by itself, or at least earn its budget back on home video.

In Idiocracy's future, which real coffee chain has added 'adult' services to its menu?

Starbucks. The joke runs through the film: whenever Joe says he could go for a Starbucks, his companions tell him there is no time for that sort of thing.

Which new-wave band's co-founder called Idiocracy the movie his own group should have made?

Devo. The band is named after 'de-evolution', its running joke that humanity is going backwards, so co-founder Gerald Casale saw their whole story in the film.

In Idiocracy, what does President Camacho promise Joe if he fixes the nation's crops within a week?

A full pardon. Joe is a fugitive when Camacho hires him, so the terms are blunt: do a good job and walk free, fail and go straight back to jail.

In Idiocracy, what does Rita tell Joe she does for a living before they are frozen?

A painter. Pressed on what she paints, Rita comes up with 'people and fruit', and the trusting Joe says it must be great to do something you love.

Idiocracy director Mike Judge earned a degree in which subject before turning to animation?

Physics. He hated the engineering job his degree led to, quit after a year, and eventually found his way to animation instead.

Which Mike Judge film came immediately before Idiocracy?

Office Space. It too flopped in cinemas before finding a devoted audience on home video, a history the studio hoped this film would repeat.

In Idiocracy's future, what keeps happening to the star of the TV series Frito loves?

Hit in the groin. Its title is "Ow! My Balls!", and its star fares no better in person, taking the same blow when he turns up later in the film.

What is Frito Pendejo's profession in Idiocracy?

A lawyer. The court appoints him to defend Joe, and he proves so useless at it that his innocent client goes straight to prison.

In Idiocracy, what brings the fugitive Joe to the attention of President Camacho's government?

His score on an IQ test. The prison quiz is laughably basic, yet Joe's result marks him out as the most intelligent person alive.

In Idiocracy's prologue, the narrator says evolution had begun to reward which people?

Those with the most children. With no predators left to thin the herd, the narrator explains, being clever stopped paying off and the intelligent became an endangered species.

In the days before the 2012 US election, President Camacho returned in new sketches made for which comedy website?

Funny or Die. The shorts grew out of talks that summer about a Camacho spin-off, which the actor behind him said would start small on the internet.

In Idiocracy, Joe wakes from hibernation in the ruins of which American city?

Washington, D.C. Joe was frozen at an army base just outside the capital, and he never gets far: he ends up working for the president there.