Plays via YouTube's privacy-enhanced embed

Real Genius (8/8) Movie CLIP - Jerry's House of Popcorn (1985) HD

M

Movieclips

20 videos recommended on HN

Like Watch later Share YouTube

Cited on HN 4 times, 2015–2023, never outright recommended score 0

Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

Not recommended; commenters use it as a joke reference in threads about military lasers and similar technology.

A clip from the 1985 comedy Real Genius in which a laser ignites a giant container of popcorn inside a house.

4 jokes · Comedy

Film & TV clips Comedy Arts, Comedy, Music & Film

4 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

B

@baldfat May 2015 Makes a joke

on HN thread Military technology: Laser weapons get real

Here the link I am referring to before I get 4 down votes. This "joke" actually is referring to something special. A 1980s movie about technology, military and academia. [this video]

View on Hacker News

M

@mr_overalls May 2019 Makes a joke

on HN thread U.S. Air Force has shot down multiple air-launched missiles in a test

This scenario has been carefully explored since the mid-1980s. For clarification, are you made of popcorn? [this video]

View on Hacker News

H

@hnhg May 2020 Makes a joke

on HN thread X-37b space plane’s microwave power beam experiment

I don't know if you're referencing it but that was the ending of Real Genius: [this video] [edit: possibly a spoiler?]

View on Hacker News

K

@karmakaze Sep 2023 Makes a joke

on HN thread Britain to build world’s most powerful laser

Good to see it's for a nuclear fusion energy source, rather than say a 'star wars' weapon or popping popcorn[0]. [0] [this video]

View on Hacker News

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.