Cutting Room Floor

In the summer of 2005 Rush Limbaugh ran a radio contest in which he offered to buy a Big Boy restaurant franchise and pay all start up costs for any Floridian able to justify to him why they deserved to win. Rudy Bob Russell and his wife Crystal are now the proud owner operators of the Sanford, Florida Big Boy. They were able to win his confidence because before moving to Florida to take care of Rudy's aging father they had managed a Big Boy in Valley View, Michigan. They sealed the deal by explaining rumors they'd heard of Limbaugh's Big Boy passions from some franchise owners they knew in Michigan. They guaranteed they'd get things right in Florida.

At the time of the filming of Fahrenheit 9/11 there were no Big Boy restaurants in Limbaugh's home state of Florida. While traveling for work between Florida and New York on his private jet Limbaugh would often take lunch layovers in the Traverse City, Michigan Big Boy because he was particularly fond of the way they serve the Big Boy Famous Onion Rings.

Traverse City Michigander Michael Moore shares Limbaugh's passions for Big Boy. They both regularly order the The Super Big Boy Combination with a side of Our Famous Onion Rings. Rush goes for the Strawberry Shake. Moore gets the Chocolate Malt. It was really only a matter of time before the wait staff arranged for the two to meet.

Their first meeting took place informally during the filming of Fahrenheit 9/11 when the two spent a long lunch discussing how they were each first introduced to Big Boy and how their road trips are occasionally planned to include stops in states with Big Boy restaurants. Moore's film crew was with him on lunch because they were all heading to Flint to interview town folk regarding military recruiting tactics. The film crew was able to get some candid footage of the two men enjoying a post lunch tour of the restaurant. Although the footage shows Moore and Limbaugh joking with one another and having what appears to be a great afternoon Limbaugh would not allow the footage to be included in the film.