There’s nothing Adam Sandler loves more than making his daughters, Sadie and Sunny, laugh — but it’s proving to be more of a challenge these days.
“They used to laugh easier,” Sandler, 59, admitted to David Letterman during a special episode of his series My Next Guest Needs No Introduction. “Now they’re older and they judge you a little bit. I do hear, ‘Oh, don’t say this.’”
Still, getting his two teens to crack a smile remains the “greatest thing” Sandler can hope for. “You’re happiest when they’re happy,” he said.
Greenlit for a sixth and seventh season — season 6 will begin airing later this month — My Next Guest Needs No Introduction returned to Netflix on Monday, December 1, for a special conversation with Sandler to discuss his career trajectory from Saturday Night Live to Happy Gilmore 2, upcoming film Jay Kelly and his current You’re My Best Friend stand-up comedy tour, which runs through 2025 throughout the United States.
Sandler also touched on fatherhood during the conversation, and being a dad to Sadie, 19, and Sunny, 17, as they follow in his footsteps as actors. Sandler confirmed that Sadie has a role in Jay Kelly, which filmed in Italy and London last year. The comedian recalled the special way his costar George Clooney made sure he and his family felt comfortable overseas.
“In Europe, Clooney just knows everything. He’s such a giving guy. He took care of my family,” Sandler explained to Letterman, 78. “His birthday is the same birthday as my daughter Sadie, so that day, everybody wanted to make it about George and George was like, the whole day was about Sadie.”
Sadie and Sunny have popped up in an array of Sandler’s projects over the years, with Sunny taking a lead role in this year’s Happy Gilmore 2 (Sadie and Jackie also made cameos). They also starred alongside their dad in Netflix’s 2023 movie You Are So Not Invited to My Bar Mitzvah and had roles in Hotel Transylvania, Pixels, Jack and Jill and the Grown Ups franchise.
“My friends all had kids at the same time, so they all grew up together on sets,” Sandler said of his reputation for bringing his family along for all his projects. “And now kids know a lot about making movies and stuff. It’s great. … They’ve been in a bunch, they did two different movies this summer.”
Jackie, who Sandler wed in 2003, has also popped up in a variety of his films over the years, appearing Big Daddy, 50 First Dates, Grown Ups and more. While speaking to Letterman, Sandler recalled first meeting Jackie at a friend’s party in the ‘90s with friends and instantly being drawn to her.
“I was sitting down, and we were all introduced, my friends and Jackie’s friends, and somehow we sat next to each other, and, like you get when you immediately fall in love, you stare at each other,” Sandler shared. “We couldn’t stop staring at each other.”
Sandler said the pair were “being sweet with each other” when Jackie revealed she was leaving for Florida the next day to visit her grandmother, something that made the actor fall for her “even more.”
“So we continued our flirting on the phone and then she came back and we just jumped right in, maybe 28 years ago,” he said as the camera cut to Jackie in the audience, smiling.
Sandler has never hesitated to gush over his love for his family, but he admitted to taking creative liberties during his You’re My Best Friend comedy tour, often making up things that aren’t “true” about his wife and kids to make the audience laugh at his “goofy” stories. “I think during [the set] while I’m saying [this stuff, Jackie] must go, ‘Let’s move on,’” Sandler told Letterman with a laugh.
To redeem himself, Sandler ends his sets by serenading his wife and kids with a song from his 1998 film The Wedding Singer, altering the lyrics to be a dedication to his love for them.
“Now we don’t know a big house, we don’t need any money, all we need is your and me and Sadie and Sunny,” a clip from Sandler’s performance showed him singing on stage at the end of the episode. “I got everything I need growing old with you.”
My Next Guest Needs No Introduction is available to stream on Netflix.
