Mind-Blowing Connection Between Doogie Howser and Total Recall’s Quaid!

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Lately, I’ve been enjoying “The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast,” a show that’s been not only amusing but also satisfying for me as a fan of Saturday Night Live. Yet, it has taken me aback with some oddly intense pop culture debates, such as one that connects Doogie Howser and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character from Total Recall in an unexpected way.

The main topic covered in the podcast is the comedy group and late-night talk show host sharing stories from their time at Studio 8H, emphasizing their funny Digital Shorts on SNL along with other popular sketches. During one episode, they talked about a sketch inspired by the movie “Total Recall,” which led their podcast fans to be called the “Quaid Army” after the film’s main character. This label then resulted in an intriguing connection to a teen drama about medicine that was released around the same time. We’ll delve into how this link was made.

Doogie Howser And Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Total Recall Character Technically Have The Same Name

In a recent installment of the podcast shared by The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers, Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer reminisced with the Late Night host about an SNL Digital Short from 2009 titled “Doogie Howser Theme.” During this skit, Neil Patrick Harris (who should definitely make a return as SNL’s host someday) performed alongside the cast of the sketch comedy series for a lively, multi-instrumental cover of the theme song that propelled him to fame in his younger years. The amusing scene was referenced again in the subsequent episode when an audio message from absent Meyers highlighted the following:

In our previous conversation, we discussed how ‘Hauser’ is actually Douglas Quaid’s true identity in Total Recall. It’s quite interesting that you mentioned it during the Doogie Howser episode. Interestingly enough, just like Doogie Howser, Douglas Quaid is also known as Hauser. You might be surprised to know that Doogie’s real name is Douglas too. So, this has become a bit of an intriguing mystery!

I was taken aback when I found out this astonishing piece of trivia. It’s worth noting that the character named “Hauser” in Total Recall and the main character from Doogie Howser, M.D., share the same name, despite having different spellings of the surname for the TV doctor. Isn’t it incredible how similar their names are? Surprisingly enough, this isn’t such an unusual occurrence.

There Are Plenty More Examples Of This

In contrasting terms, the main character in what’s often considered Arnold Schwarzenegger’s finest film, “Total Recall,” and the title character from “Doogie Howser, M.D.” (later renamed “Doogie Kealoha, M.D.” on Disney+) are polar opposites. Yet, their identical names might come as a shock. This isn’t the only instance where characters from completely dissimilar stories bear the same name.

Before the beloved duo Bert and Ernie from “Sesame Street” made their debut, there was a police officer named Bert (played by Ward Bond) and a cab driver named Ernie (portrayed by Frank Faylen) in the 1946 film “It’s a Wonderful Life”. In the same year, a character named “Shaft” appeared in Robert Altman’s “Brewster McCloud”, one year before the iconic Richard Roundtree took on the role of “Shaft” in the Blaxploitation classic. Lastly, an interesting parallel can be drawn between Donald Sutherland’s character in the 1975 drama, “The Day of the Locust”, who is named Homer Simpson (not to be confused with the character from “The Simpsons”), and the Simpson family patriarch.

It’s not uncommon to find movie and TV characters with the same names, but this discovery has left me feeling quite dizzy nonetheless. Moreover, one might ponder whether Neil Patrick Harris would have been an ideal fit for the lead role in the 2012 film “Total Recall”. Given that it’s often seen as a remake that should never have existed, it could have potentially harmed his career more than helped.

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2025-05-21 23:25