18 Easter Eggs in ‘Happy Gilmore 2’ You Might Have Missed

A fan does Happy’s bull dance

Happy Gilmore 2 starts off strong with references from the original. Within the first minute, a fan in the stands of the U.S. Open can be seen doing Happy’s celebratory bull dance — which Happy himself does again later in the film.

The Happy Gilmore video game recreates scenes from the original movie

At the beginning of the movie, Happy reveals that he launched a video game that the “computer guys made too realistic.”

His character recreates a few scenes from Happy Gilmore, including when he strangles his caddie and gets punched by The Price Is Right host Bob Barker.

Happy still lives in Grandma’s house

The fight to keep Grandma’s (Frances Bay) house was a major plot point in the first movie. The sequel shows that even though his beloved grandmother has died, he and his five kids are still living in her house. 

But, like in Happy Gilmore, the golfer loses the home once again and has to fight to get it back.

Chubbs mentors Happy from heaven

Though Chubbs Peterson (Carl Weathers) died in Happy Gilmore, Sandler’s character still seeks his guidance in the sequel.

Happy continually pulls from this old mentor’s advice throughout the movie, both by asking him in heaven and secretly reading Chubbs’ book, The Science of Golf, during an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.

Happy’s caddie returns — but is no longer a caddie

Fans will never forget how Happy choked out his first caddie (Jared Van Snellenberg) in the original film. He returns for the sequel, only this time he’s a professional golfer, and he’s played by real-life pro Will Zalatoris. 

At one point during the film, Happy cheers on Zalatoris as he strangles his own caddie, played by Ben Stiller’s son, Quinlin Stiller.

Happy goes back to his Happy Place

There’s no place like Happy’s Happy Place. While the pro golfer continues to revisit his mental fantasyland to find inner peace, he often updates it in the sequel to be more “age-appropriate.”

Rob Schneider delivers his signature line

While finding his zen in his Happy Place, Rob Schneider makes a cameo and continues a decades-long bit he’s had with Sandler. The actor tells Happy, “You can do it!” — a line he’s uttered in five different films, starting with The Waterboy in 1998. 

Schneider also says that to Sandler in 50 First Dates, Little Nicky, Bedtime Stories and The Longest Yard.

The nipple pincher from The Waterboy makes a cameo

Blake Clark, who played the famous nipple-pinching Farmer Fran in The Waterboy, plays a similar character in Happy Gilmore 2.

Though he’s not a farmer, he reprises the same uncomfortable routine as “Beach Man.”

Chubbs’ son also loses his hand

The Happy Gilmore sequel introduces fans to Chubbs’ son, Slim Peterson (Lavell Crawford). Like his father, Slim also has a comically large wooden hand.

There are tons of quotes from Happy Gilmore

In addition to flashbacks from the original movie, Happy Gilmore 2 also includes some direct quotes from the first film. Happy’s new golf rival, Billy Jenkins (Haley Joel Osment), repeats a swinging tip that Chubbs used to say, “It’s all in the hips,” and Slim instructs him to “tap it in,” just like his father taught him. 

Happy gets to tease his longtime nemesis, Shooter McGavin (Christopher McDonald), once again when he tells him, “Why would I want to steal the life of somebody who eats pieces of s— for breakfast?”

Some original characters reprise their roles

Even though it’s been nearly 30 years since Happy Gilmore premiered, multiple actors from the original film reprised their roles in the sequel. Stiller returns as the psychotic Hal L., who played an orderly for Happy’s grandma at the nursing home in the original film. 

Hal is still abusing his power in Happy Gilmore 2 — only now as a therapist running an Alcoholics Anonymous group that Happy is mandated to join. He even tells the golfer the same thing he told Grandma decades ago: “You’re in my world now.” 

In addition to Stiller, Dennis Dugan returns as tour championship commissioner Doug Thompson and sports news announcers Jack Beard (Jack Giarraputo) and Verne Lundquist (a real-life sportscaster) also reprise their roles. Kevin Nealon also brings back his character, Gary Potter, a professional golfer who becomes a sportscaster in the sequel.

Richard Kiel, who played Happy’s former boss he famously shot with a nail gun, died in 2014, per ABC. But his character is honored by professional basketball player Boban Marjanović, who plays his son, Drago Larson, in Happy Gilmore 2. Marjanović also appeared in Sandler’s 2022 sports comedy Hustle.

Happy has an homage to Virginia Venit on his lock screen

About an hour into the film, fans catch a glimpse of the background on Happy’s phone (which doubles as a flask). It’s a photo of him and Virginia Venit (Julie Bowen) kissing from the original movie.

There are tons of props from the first film

Some of the original props from the first Happy Gilmore made their way into the second movie, including Happy’s clubs and Subway-sponsored golf bag, which were found in the Universal Studios prop room, director Kyle Newacheck told Tudum in July 2025.  

Though Newacheck tried to get the original Duster that Happy drove back in 1996, they found a similar model and beat it up to look like the same ride. The golfer also wears a Boston Bruins hockey jersey to make his long-awaited return to the course, just like he did in Happy Gilmore.

Happy has a picture of Grandma hanging in the car

Happy’s love for his Grandma is just as strong in the sequel. The same photo of her is still hanging on the rearview mirror of his car.

The names on the gravestones honor late characters from the first film

During the scene where Shooter and Happy are fighting in a cemetery, they tussle amongst gravestones that honor stars from the original film who died before the sequel was released.

Those include Barker, who died in 2023, Weathers, who died in 2024, and Bay, who died in 2011, according to the Los Angeles Times. 

The son of Happy’s heckler taunts him on the course

The late Joe Flaherty played a heckler in the 1996 movie who continually called Happy a “jacka–” on the course.

To honor him and that character, rapper Eminem makes a cameo in the sequel as the son of the “Jacka–” guy and maintains what’s likely Happy’s least-favorite tradition.

The alligator makes a comeback

Even the alligator that bit off Chubbs’ hands gets a nod in Happy Gilmore 2.

Not only is Eminem’s character mauled by a group of gators on the course, but the animal that attacked his golfing coach waves down to Happy in heaven right next to Chubbs.

Cameron Boyce appears on a TV screen

Sandler paid tribute to the late Cameron Boyce in a quick cameo when Happy walks up to a check-in booth where a person behind the counter is seen watching an episode of Jessie, which Boyce starred in from 2011 to 2015.

Boyce played Sandler’s son in 2010’s Grown Ups and 2013’s Grown Ups 2, where the two developed a strong bond.

“We think of him all the time. This was just a moment where we were like, ‘What should we throw on the TV?’ ” Sandler told The Hollywood Reporter of why he decided to include the cameo. “We said, ‘Might as well throw Cameron in there. He’s the man. Keep him part of our family.’ And so that’s why we did it.”