Tony Perkis

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Tony Perkis Jr. or "Uncle Tony" is a character played by Ben Stiller in the Disney movie Heavyweights.

[edit] Biography

Tony Perkis is a fitness guru who hails from Western Pennsylvania. His father, Tony Perkis Sr., is a well-known businessman and the self-proclaimed "Lighting Fixture King" who donated all the lighting fixtures in his son's business, Camp Hope. Although now a famous fitness instructor, at the age of 12 Perkis weighed 319 pounds. He has described himself during that period as having "bad skin, low self-esteem, and no self-respect." [1] He now claims to achieve success in all aspects in life in a manner comparable to devouring a piece of food with skim milk.

Perkis is famous world-wide for his revolutionary fitness program known as the "Perkisystem", which has been denounced by some medical professionals but retains the full endorsement of Tony, his loyal assistant Lars, and his personal camera man, Kenny. One who is in the Perkisystem is said to be "Perkisizing." He attempted to introduce this fitness breakthrough to the world when he purchased Camp Hope, a summer camp for overweight children in the hills of North Carolina. His motivation for the purchase of Camp Hope has long been debated. Opponents point to exploitation, noting that Perkis was filming a late-night infomercial promoting the Perkisystem and the kids were only there to be actors. However, it is important to note that Perkis cared deeply for the campers. He was often quoted saying, "All you need is Mother Earth, Father Sky, and your dear old Uncle Tony." [2]

The kids of Camp Hope could not handle the intense regiment of the Perkisystem, nor could they "repulse the monkey," "part the wild horse's mane" or "feel the chi." This led to an coup d'état where Perkis was removed from his ownership of Camp Hope.

[edit] Connection to other Stiller characters

The Tony Perkis character grew out of writer-director Judd Apatow and Stiller's previous work together on the Ben Stiller Show, in which Stiller played a parody of self-empowerment motivational speaker Tony Robbins, called "Tony Bobbins", who was formerly morbidly obese. In the film Dodgeball, Stiller again portrays a hyper-kinetic fitness instructor, "White Goodman", who eventually returns to overweight depression and binge eating. Stiller described the Perkis character as "a cousin—probably a first cousin."^[1]

[edit] References