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Young Einstein

Young Einstein

Young Einstein (1988)

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Source: JustWatch

In 2000, he sued the search engine Yahoo! for using his name. He lost.

Yahoo Serious - his legal name - grew out a shock of wild orange hair and cast himself as Albert Einstein, reimagined as the son of a Tasmanian apple farmer who splits the beer atom while trying to put the bubbles back in the family brew.

Serious wrote, produced, directed, edited, and did his own stunts for YOUNG EINSTEIN (1988), a one-man act of joyful nonsense.

This Einstein carves the first surfboard, invents rock and roll by wiring up his violin, works out relativity from a falling box of apples, romances Marie Curie on the train to Sydney, and pauses a jailbreak to rescue a pie full of live kittens.

The film was a colossal hit in Australia, and for a moment the whole world seemed ready to embrace it - and him: Serious landed on the cover of Time and got his own slot on MTV.

Warner Bros. spent eight million dollars selling Young Einstein to America, where critics tore it apart and audiences shrugged. Roger Ebert called Young Einstein a one-joke movie and gave it a single star.

Thus ended the brief, would-be glorious Australian comedy invasion that began with Crocodile Dundee.

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a member added 9/25/2026

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About the Film

The Incredible Untold Story of the Greatest Mind of All Time.

Directed By
Yahoo Serious
Runtime
91 minutes
Released
December 15, 1988
US Theatrical
August 4, 1989
Certification
PG
Country
Australia
Starring
Yahoo Serious, Odile Le Clezio, Ian "Peewee" Wilson, Su Cruickshank, John Howard
More Credits
Genres
Comedy, Science Fiction
Language
English
Origin
AU, US
Studios
Warner Bros. Pictures
Written By
Yahoo Serious, David Roach
Produced By
Warwick Ross, Graham Burke, Yahoo Serious, Ray Beattie, David Roach
Cinematography
Jeff Darling
Music
Tommy Tycho, Martin Armiger, William Motzing
Also Starring
Christian Manon, Basil Clarke, Adam Bowen, Russell Cheek, Lulu Pinkus
Budget
$24,900,000
Box Office
$5,000,000

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    1. Roberta Burgess Probably.

      Looking up the word’s etmology, it has no etmology. It was invented by Jonathan Swift.

      Sure, that’s so old that it technically makes it public domain, but without the body of Greg “Yahoo Serious” Pead, it wouldn’t be in the public eye as much as it was.

      People don’t remember the Yahoos from Gulliver’s Travels the way they remember the Liliputians.

    4. Robert Janca Those are definitely worth checking out if you enjoy Yahoo Serious’ style of comedy. Reckless Kelly (1993) and Mr. Accident (2000) have the same over-the-top, slapstick humor and visual gags as Young Einstein. They weren’t nearly as successful commercially, but they’ve developed a small cult following among fans who appreciate his quirky sense of humor.

    5. My brother was a technical advisor on Reckless Kelly. He kept the motorcycle running, and repaired anything that got broken on set.

      After an off-location accident, Yahoo Serious visited my brother in the hospital. Nice guy.

  7. Dang. I looked him up and found a video of him being a squatter in some old man’s house (who has dementia and needs the house sold to cover costs). The video is in terrible taste if you ask me. It’s one thing to report on him doing that, but they ambushed him (72 years old now).

  25. I actually liked the movie. I don’t understand why he didn’t get famous after it. He was hilarious. Too bad how he turned out now. He’s literally a squatter now & refuses to leave the house he’s squatting.

  27. Yahoo Serious was last seen being evicted from a property he was squatting in. He took his dog, left his car filled with property at the place he was squatting in and disappeared. He was sick when he was squatting in that house. I haven’t seen any follow up about whether or not anyone even saw him again after that.

  28. He also did the movie “Reckless Kelly” which I think is a bit better then Young Einstein. Based on the Australian outlaw Ned Kelly. He then did a movie called “Mr Accident” which isn’t as good as the other two.

  40. I remember this weird publicity surge even though I was around 8-9; eventually rented the movie; I didn’t hate it, just seemed like it expected you to have a very Australian sense of humor.

  100. The production values a cinematography of this movie are crazy good. Seriously. Awesome locations, costumes and there are animals seemingly present in almost every scene. It might be a one joke premise, but it’s got a lot of other comedy to it, it’s got a great soundtrack of 80s Aussie pop hits (including what’s basically a music video for Great Southern Land by Icehouse) and the supporting cast performs admirably. One of the better sleeper hits of the era and deserves a lot more love for its heart and crazy premise.

  135. I remember this coming out in the summer of 1989 and he was being billed as the next big thing. Then it flopped. I know what happened to him being homeless and squatting in a house but the last I heard he’s still in the house and never leaves it.

  140. I haven’t seen it in about 30 years. I remember it was good and I’d like to see it again. Im glad about the death of mainstream Critics. They destroyed alot of films before they got off the ground.

  146. LOVED this movie as a kid and now that I’m older and have a little more edumacation thought they did a lot of clever jokes regarding the sciences and the scientists who love them.

  162. Mr. Inbetween is a great Aussie show! not a comedy tho, heads up… it’s about a hit man… but it’s not all fighting, blood, & guts… you get to also see his homelife & vulnerabilities. I wish there were more seasons of it!! 👍

  170. They made a lot of young Einstein in Newcastle. I remember newspaper advertisements wanting extras to turn up in period dress etc. they blocked coal ships from the frame by having extras stand in front of the ships that were heading in and out on newie harbour.

  187. I loved this movie when I was a kid, was too young to get all the references to like Marie curie and other historical figures, barely knew who Einstein was, but it didn’t stop from watching this movie more times than I could count

  206. No no no This wasn’t hit one and done. He followed it up with reckless Kelly, and then Mr. Accident but after that his career really just kinda mellowed. Sad really I really enjoyed the quirky and unique roles, and his energy. I know he’s not been in the movie world for a long time but if we have seen the return of Brendan, Fraser, Cameron Diaz, and Ke huy Quan( Short Round) then why not him?

  208. Roger Ebert was often wrong with his reviews. There was a lot more than just one joke in that movie, so he was wrong there. Also, Ebert gave “Speed 2: Cruise Control” 3 stars. He almost always hated actual comedies, not having much of a sense of humor himself.

  240. Tasmania, was just about the best place to grow up. Thousands of miles of wilderness? And right in the middle of it all, was our apple farm 🖤

    The screams that came from baby Roz upon having Tasmanian representation in a feature film was beyond comprehension.

    Also learned what a pacifist was from this film 😁

  249. I saw this movie a thought it was silly abd a great movie to boot Roger Evert doesn’t know a good movie we he sees one likely paid off to give it a bad review This movie was every bit as good as Crocodile Dubdee if not better!!!!

  252. …It’s a very clever and fun film; I saw it at the time snd was surprised when Yahoo Serious himself almost sank without trace afterwards. It was undeserved. I think the problem was that YOUNG EINSTEIN was overhyped. Warners decided to ‘make’ it a hit instead of more gently let it find an audience. Australian talent had become recognized as being bankable after the success of George Miler’s MAD MAX films and Peter Fairman’s relatively low-budget CROCODILE DUNDEE, both of which were unexpected global hits. So Yahoo Serious was seen as the next possible big franchise, but Warners overdid the media exposure and it alienated the audience. It really deserved to do better but still has a solid cult following…

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