FX’s Fargo: ‘Wouldn’t Be Dignified’ to Shake Ronald Reagan’s Hand

November 9th, 2015 7:14 PM

A promo run at the end of last week’s Fargo, to plug tonight’s (Nov. 9) new episode on FX, showed Ronald Reagan, in 1979, shaking hands at a campaign stop as a character out of his earshot declared: “I’m not shaking his hand.” Asked why not, the man explained: “Because the man made a movie with a monkey. It wouldn’t be dignified.”

Fargo, a second TV season derivative of the original 1996 movie from Ethan and Joel Coen, is set in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Luverne, Minnesota and, like the movie and first TV season a year ago, is centered around solving a series of murders in which otherwise innocuous people have become entangled.

In the promo scene with Reagan, who is by a bus emblazoned with a “Reagan ‘80” sign, local car repair shop owner “Karl Weathers,” played by actor Nick Offerman, is the one reluctant to shake the hand of the future President.

Actor Bruce Campbell plays Reagan and should have a much longer part in Monday night’s new episode, set to run at 10 PM EST/PST, with a re-run of the same episode following immediately afterward.