He might be among the elite in Hollywood these days, however, the road to the top was not an easy one. By Sandler's own admission, his brother was a big influence, pushing Adam Sandler to take the stage at a comedy club during his teens.
Success would follow, soon enough to start of the '90s, Adam was working as a writer on 'SNL'. Later in his time on the iconic sketch comedy show, he would be used as a character, that's when his fame really took off.
'SNL' provided Sandler the perfect launchpad for his career. At the time, 'SNL' films really weren't doing all that well, receiving little fanfare. Sandler took a different road, starting his own movie production company, 'Happy Madison Productions'. The concept worked and then some, creating so many memorable films, not to mention that Sandler became a lot wealthier because of it.
Along the way, there were a few bumps and hurdles Adam needed to climb. In particular, getting fired from a certain gig left Adam in a bad place.
In his own admission, he wasn't ready to leave a certain show at the time, but looking back, oh boy is he ever grateful that it played out the way did, as he would turn into a huge star.
'Billy Madison' Changes The Game
Losing a job is always a difficult reality to deal with. In Sandler's case, although he didn't take the decision all that well at the start, he surely made the most of it.
Adam wasted no time, as in 1995, he took his career to the next level, starring in the comedy classic, 'Billy Madison'.
That was just the start, as a slew of films would turn Adam into a major '90s star, 'Happy Gilmore', 'The Wedding Singer', 'The Waterboy', and 'Big Daddy' were just a few of his major hits.
Later, Sandler would expand on his wealth, closing the '90s with 'Happy Madison Productions'. The company released so many memorable films, from 'Joe Dirt' back in 2001, to 'Murder Mystery' which was released just a couple of years ago.
Adam also received praise for the production company, Lauren Lapkus who worked with the crew was nothing but supportive of Sandler's crew.
"One thing that’s really nice is that there is a feeling of family within the production because a lot of people are actually related. But even if they’re not related, they’ve worked together for like 20 years."
"He’s really loyal to his crew — people doing hair and makeup and every single department — so most of the people had worked on Happy Madison films for decades. It was nice to feel like I was immediately brought into the fold that way."
Despite the success, Sandler thought it came all crashing down when he was 28, barely hitting his prime in the industry.
'SNL' Firing
According to Sandler, what hurt the most was the fact that he wasn't ready to leave the show at the time of his 1995 release.
In his view, he was set to stay on the show forever.
“At the time, I was hurt, because I didn’t know what else I was going to do.”
Sandler realized things weren't looking good when speaking to his agent, who kept nudging him to look elsewhere.
"He was talking to me, and I said ‘Yeah, next year on the show, blah blah blah.’ And he was like, ‘Maybe you don’t go back next year.’ And I was like ‘I don’t know man. I still got a few more things.’ He’s like ‘Yeah, but you did it already.’ I was like ‘I did, but you know…I’ll think about it,’ and he was like ‘I think you thought about it.’”
He left the show but Adam admits he had the time of his life on the show. He would return to host years later and of course, he made light of the situation with a song.
“I was fired, I was fired. NBC said that I was done. Then I made over 4 billion dollars at the box office, so I guess you could say I won.”
He left the show just prior to entering his 30s. Things really took off for Sandler from then on, becoming a major film star and possibly the face of comedy during the '90s.
The ageless wonder continues to get it done these days, without a doubt, he isn't dwelling on the past any longer.
Sources: CNBC, Cinema Blend, YouTube & Twitter