The Nutty Professor (character)
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The Nutty Professor (known as Julius F. Kelp in the original film (1963) and as Prof. Sherman Klump in the 1996 remake, and by his alter ego Buddy Love in both films) is a
fictional character In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life person, ...
portrayed by
Jerry Lewis Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker and humanitarian. As his contributions to comedy and charity made him a global figure in popular culture, pop culture ...
in ''
The Nutty Professor The Nutty Professor may refer to: * ''The Nutty Professor'' (1963 film), directed by and starring Jerry Lewis * ''The Nutty Professor'' (1996 film), directed by Tom Shadyac and starring Eddie Murphy ** ''The Nutty Professor'' (soundtrack), sound ...
'' and its respective sequel, and by
Eddie Murphy Edward Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and singer. He rose to fame on the sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', for which he was a regular cast member from 1980 to 1984. Murphy has als ...
in the 1996 version and its 2000 sequel '' Nutty Professor II: The Klumps''. Julius F. Kelp is an awkward and shy but intelligent and lively chemistry professor. Sherman Klump is a jolly, kind-hearted science teacher at Welman College. Murphy also played the rest of Klump's family in the sequel. Lewis was not fond of Murphy's characters, due to excessive fart jokes in the films.


Films


''The Nutty Professor'' (1963)

In the 1963 film Professor Julius Kelp is known for his clumsiness and generally shy and awkward demeanor. When he meets the beautiful and attentive Ms. Purdy he tries various methods to have a more charming persona. When he creates his serum it seems at first to have terrible consequences but this is dissipated when he arrives at the local bar. His alter ego Buddy Love is known for his ease for words and assertiveness but also for his brash behavior and aggressive attitude. He also possesses a talent for singing and playing the piano. Nevertheless, the serum seems to dwindle as he reverts after a short while and even seems to lose his singing at times. At the end the serum's effect ends and he reverts in the midst of a song with the school's big band.


''The Nutty Professor'' (1996)

Throughout the first film, Professor Sherman Klump is portrayed as highly intelligent and generally respected by his students, as well as being a fundamentally friendly man, but has occasional clumsy accidents due to his obesity. Additionally, his lack of confidence makes him a victim to bullying and
verbal abuse Verbal abuse (also known as verbal aggression, verbal attack, verbal violence, verbal assault, psychic aggression, or psychic violence) is a type of psychological/mental abuse that involves the use of oral, gestured, and written language direct ...
from the Dean of the university. Having recently fallen in love with grad student and chemistry teacher Carla Purty (
Jada Pinkett Smith Jada Koren Pinkett Smith (; née Pinkett; born September 18, 1971) is an American actress and talk show host. She is co-host of the Facebook Watch talk show '' Red Table Talk'', for which she has received a Daytime Emmy Award. ''Time'' named ...
), Klump uses his latest discovery, a weight-loss serum that rewrites the subject's genes, to lose weight in order to spend time with her. Unfortunately, this serum creates the confident but mean-spirited individual known as Buddy Love, as the testosterone imbalance caused by the transformation results in Buddy manifesting as an independent personality instead of just being a thin Sherman. When Klump's student and assistant Jason learns what has happened, he realizes that Buddy is gaining increasingly greater freedom from the professor's influence. This encourages Klump to take back control of his life, disposing of most of the serum and 'fighting' Buddy for control of the body before Buddy can drink enough of the last samples of the serum to eliminate Klump forever. At the conclusion, Klump admits what has happened to the faculty staff after he transforms back to normal in public, concluding that he must learn to accept himself as he is.


''Nutty Professor II: The Klumps''

In the second movie Klump's kind personality is polluted by the Buddy Love gene in his DNA, causing him to occasionally say offensive or insulting things to people without realizing, especially when talking to his new love interest Denise (
Janet Jackson Janet Damita Jo Jackson (born May 16, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and dancer. She is noted for her innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows. Her sound and choreog ...
). In an attempt to eliminate this, Klump uses a risky experiment to extract Buddy's DNA from his system, but his plan backfires and results in Buddy manifesting as an independent entity (albeit with some dog-like traits as his genetic make-up filled in the gaps with samples of canine DNA). Klump proposes to Denise, who happily accepts, but Klump gradually begins to lose his intelligence due to the damage his brain cells have sustained as a result of Buddy being extracted from his system. Eventually, he is able to reabsorb Buddy by using a powerful version of his new youth serum to regress Buddy to
amniotic fluid The amniotic fluid is the protective liquid contained by the amniotic sac of a gravid amniote. This fluid serves as a cushion for the growing fetus, but also serves to facilitate the exchange of nutrients, water, and biochemical products betwee ...
allowing him to 'drink' Buddy and regain his old intellect. However, Buddy dies and evaporates into a public coin fountain. Denise and Klump's father, Cletus, arrive just in time to help him when he loses his intelligence. Cletus forces Klump to drink the water from the fountain, which still retains enough of Buddy's genetic pattern, and he regains his intelligence. Later, he and Denise are married.


In other media

Sherman Klump appears in the third season '' Robot Chicken'' episode "Endless Breadsticks".


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nutty Professor Fictional African-American people Film characters introduced in 1963 Fictional characters with dissociative identity disorder Fictional mad scientists Fictional professors The Nutty Professor Male characters in film