It started as a practical joke.

Rob Schneider teases that his pal Adam Sandler created his, “You can do it!” line from 1998’s “The Waterboy” so people would harass him wherever he went.

'When you have your friend Charlie Kirk murdered ... I don’t know what else you can do but fight for this country.'

And they do, Schneider playfully tells Align, whether he’s having dinner or just walking down the street. It helps that the actor repeated the line in five subsequent films, including last year’s “Happy Gilmore 2.”

“It’s still happening,” Schneider says of the fan reaction. So he decided to lean into the catchphrase. The quote inspired the You Can Do It Foundation, a group that celebrates faith, family, and freedom through the arts — Schneider is the official spokesperson.

Now that nonprofit has teamed up with the American Rights Alliance, an organization that defends constitutional rights through legal advocacy, public policy, and education.

We can do it

Together, the groups created You Can Do It, America! The national initiative will promote “values-driven” media and educational outreach.

And boy, is that content needed today, he says.

Modern schools are “taken over by communist teachers who are now more interested in taking kids out of the classroom to protest against the president who is not the party they approve of and tearing down the structure of our society,” the comic actor says. “We need to have stories to remind people how exceptional the United States is.”

“There may have been 117 billion human beings in the history of the world, but less than 1% of them got to live in a society that has free speech and are able to cast a ballot and were able to benefit from their own labors,” he adds.

It’s serious, sober stuff from the man also known as “Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo.”

Sacrifice in stride

Schneider’s expansive show-business career began with his standout work on “Saturday Night Live” (1990-1994). He segued seamlessly to the big screen (“The Animal,” “The Hot Chick,” “The Benchwarmers,” “Grown Ups 1 and 2”) while continuing to tour as a stand-up comedian.

He’s still working — he’ll return to the “Grown Ups” franchise next year and reprise the voice of the principal in “Leo 2.” But the roles aren’t coming as frequently as in the past.

That’s not an accident.

“I’ve suffered personally and professionally [for speaking out], but compared to what the ultimate sacrifice is, what Charlie Kirk went through,” he says, his voice trailing off. Failing to make another “Deuce Bigalow” sequel pales in comparison.

Fast friends

Kirk wasn’t just a political figure Schneider admired from afar. The two became friends after Schneider began appearing at Turning Point USA events, including joining Kirk on his college tour. In October 2024, the two appeared together at Grand Canyon University in Arizona, where Schneider got an up-close look at Kirk’s exchanges with students.

Schneider has since said that the experience changed his own thinking. “Charlie did for me what he did for so many university students across this country,” he told an AmFest 2025 audience last December. “He dismantled foundational thinking.”

What seems to have stayed with Schneider most, however, was the way Kirk treated the students who disagreed with him. “Charlie respected the dignity of every human being with love, with Christ’s love,” he said in an interview shortly after Kirk's murder.

“It was this summer that I’d realized he was a true, authentic American genius,” Schneider said. “He had the intellect and the love of country.”

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Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images

Media malfeasance

Kirk comes up repeatedly during our own conversation, which we're having shortly after the one-year anniversary of Kirk's murder. Schneider shows real passion when he describes what his friend brought to the culture and why his voice mattered.

He's also furious at what he sees as the media’s character assassination of the late leader. Media outlets, he argues, too often regurgitate false or misleading quotes about Kirk, staining the man’s legacy in the process.

Then-Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah wrote this following Kirk’s death:

“Refusing to tear my clothes and smear ashes on my face in performative mourning for a white man that espoused violence is ... not the same as violence.”

The Post subsequently fired Attiah over her social media posts, although an arbitrator later ordered the newspaper to reinstate her with back pay.

Never mind that Kirk never once "espoused violence" in any of his many public appearances.

“They can repeat it without being accused of character assassination or being liable for slander ... an accusation being enough proof," says Schneider.

"That’s what runs on social media."

Swimming to Cuba

He’s equally aghast that the Democrats are embracing communism anew, ignoring the ugly historical precedents.

“When the Iron Curtain fell ... no one was running to go into communist East Germany ... nobody’s swimming to get to Cuba,” he says, later paraphrasing Milton Friedman’s famous line.

“There’s never been a system that has taken more people out of poverty [than capitalism],” he says.

Schneider’s new initiative opens up a world of possibilities, allowing for stories that Hollywood won’t touch.

“I want to see a movie about someone who is de-transitioned, and that’s a TV series I’d like to make,” he says. Schneider also suggests projects about political dissidents here in the U.S., folks who have been targeted by groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Schneider has built up decades of goodwill with his warmhearted comedies and timeless “SNL” routines. But something else has connected him to his fans in recent years: his willingness to speak boldly about the state of the country in ways that most celebrities would never attempt.

“I can’t go anywhere without someone coming up and hugging me, shaking my hand. 'Thank you for speaking up and being our voice,'” he says. “I’m just a simple comedian. I’m a college dropout ... I make silly movies, but at a certain point I’m fed up. And if I can speak for some Americans and make them feel emboldened ...”

“When you have your friend Charlie Kirk murdered ... I don’t know what else you can do but fight for this country, in a way that I can, through the culture and whatever platform I have,” he says.