Behind the scenes at the filming of Winnebago Man, the world’s angriest man

By Dave Solberg
Winnebago is synonymous with the word “RV.” However, in the late ’80s, it also became known as the home of “The Angriest Man In The World.” His name was Jack Rebney, soon known to millions through YouTube as the “Winnebago Man.”

Jack Rebney died in rural Oregon on May 10 at the age of 93.

To this day, he is remembered as one of the most foul-mouthed men to ever appear on YouTube — one of the very first social media “stars.” The story begins as a VHS compilation of bloopers and swearing tantrums by Jack that was sent for fun to production crews at TV stations across the country. The first copy was titled “The Definitive Mr. R”, with the description “You are not going to believe this lunatic!” Those who received the tapes made copies and sent them to their peers.

The novelty of the video eventually died. That is, until it was uploaded to a new website called YouTube. It quickly became a huge hit with millions of views, a rarity then. Many YouTube channels reposted it, increasing its fame and notoriety.

Here is a link to the video. Warning! If you are offended by foul language, do not watch this. If you can handle it, then get ready to laugh. Or watch this 2-minute “bleeped” G-rated trailer below of the film:

How do I know all this?

The year was 1988. I was a member of the crew during the filming of the videos as Winnebago’s Dealer Communications Representative. My assignment was to help promote the 1989 Winnebago product line, which included producing television commercials.

Jack Rebney was hired to produce a series of product videos of the new model motorhomes. He was to write the scripts and serve as host. His resume and demo tape had impressed us. It appeared to us that he had experience at a major TV station. We later learned he was working at a small station in Duluth, Minn., where he was the weatherman and part-time anchor.

The first time I met Jack, I was impressed with his command of the English language and his fantastic voice. But I could not fail to notice his ability to “swear like a sailor.”

In his scripts for the videos, Jack painted a poetic picture of the wonderful life of traveling carefree around the country, staying wherever you wanted, visiting every National Park, and never dealing with the hassles of other ways of traveling. According to Jack: “Just jump in, turn the switch, and off you go!” Truth be told, he had never even stepped inside an RV, much less camped. His script also stressed that a Winnebago RV was built so well it would never break down or have problems.

The crew included a production manager, two camera operators and Tony, an intern production assistant. I mention Tony as he is summoned by Jack several times in the outtakes, as in “Tony, would you do me a kindness.” The Sony tube camera, state of the art in 1988, required lots of lights, which were hot, heating up the already sizzlingly hot and humid day.

Jack was a perfectionist but inexperienced with on-camera production. “Cut” became his second most popular word behind the “F” word.

The beginning of Jack’s fame

One night after a very grueling day of production, the crew and I returned to the editing room to see if we could salvage any of the footage. After watching hours of missed lines followed by a steady stream of foul language, it almost became stress relief watching Jack’s antics. Nobody could mess up that bad and swear that much, could they?

We decided to make a blooper reel. Some of Jack’s more famous lines were: “Why can’t I remember this S#@? I wrote it!” That would be followed by, “My mind is a piece of S#@$!” One time he said something about Winnebago quality then stumbled off camera shouting; “Will anyone believe this S$#@?”

And the flies…

Then there were the flies, and the sweat. Jack would constantly yell at Tony for a towel or order him to “get this F$$#ing fly out of here.” So naturally we cut a series of Tony clips together that were hilarious.

All of the “Definitive Mr. R” outtakes we gathered together seemed like harmless fun. That soon changed when one of the production guys decided to send the bloopers via satellite to 500 television stations. Others made VHS copies and sent them to their production friends who, in turn, made more copies. Production crews around the country would gather after a grueling day of production, pop in the tape, and, with beer in hand, “decompress”!

That year I believe we only produced four of Jack’s product videos. The quality of the 1989 model motorhomes was so bad the videos weren’t shown much. Jack’s contract ended and he rode off into the sunset.

That is, until YouTube caught on. Someone, somewhere, dusted off an old copy of the original blooper tape and posted it. Before long it went viral! Winnebago executives were mad as hell. I received several calls from the legal department asking to “cease and desist.” I told them I wasn’t involved in the YouTube posts.

In 2017, a documentary producer and a few friends tracked Jack down in California; he was 87 years old and almost blind. Not long after, Winnebago Man, the movie, appeared—where it was a big hit among Jack’s fans.

Dave Solberg is a leading expert in the RV industry and author of the “RV Handbook” as well as the Managing Editor of the RV Repair Club.

Read more from Dave here. 

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