Blank Check with Griffin & David - Citizens Band/ Last Embrace with Justin McElroy

Episode Date: November 17, 2019

Guest Justin McElroy is gonna be mad he volunteered to do any film when Griff and David talk about Demme's first two tries at "real" movies after his Roger Korman saga. The trio talk about CB, or "Citizen's Band," and Last Embrace, a surprisingly Judaic Thriller. The films contain oddly touching birthday party scenes, IMDB spoilers,  children named Blood, and the introduction of heavy concepts that are never dealt with. Did Ben Kingsley win an Oscar?  What's Justin's 30-second Tim Robbins story? Also what is Mandy Patinkin, the Patinkiest, doing in this movie? 

Everybody is somebody else in Citizens Podcast, the movie, Citizens Podcast, the ultimate fantasy in Citizens Podcast. The movie. Citizens Podcast. The ultimate fantasy. Citizens Podcast. The comedy. You're reading from the poster? Not only is that the tagline, I'm going to present this to you.

That is the entire poster. The poster has no graphics. No. It is just that and then the credit block at the bottom. What's the last Embrace poster? Oh, well, hold on. I have it queued up. Give me one second, please.

I'm a professional. Here we go. It begins with an ancient warning. This is good. This is good stuff. All right, here we go. It ends at the edge of Niagara Falls. Yeah.

In between there are five murders. It'd be funny if they were like in between. Excuse me. Excuse me. Sorry. I'm mid tagline here. Solve the mystery or die podcasting.

And then look at this fucking image. Yeah, amazing image. Amazing image. She's falling down the Niagara Falls. Roy Scheider, America's favorite movie star,

is valiantly grabbing a woman's wrist as she dangles off the side of Niagara Falls. A image that promises a movie full of thrills and spills, and that takes one hour and 45 minutes to get to that one image. I like a movie that tells you where the last scene's going to be.

Because that is indeed where the last scene occurs. I don't want to get too worked up wondering where the movie is. This is almost the very last image of the movie. And there may be two shots after this. I want to point something out. This is not an image in the movie. You do see in the trailer, by the way, the last thing that happens in the movie

is 100% in the trailer. It can be nothing else. And that is what it is. It is in there. In the movie, you just sort of see her go under some water. I mean, look at this landscape here. Yes, this is exciting. This is like a Drew Struzan-esque painting.

Right. But yes, this is a composite image of the feeling of it. They didn't actually throw her down the Niagara Falls. Okay, but this action happens in the last three shots of the film. Essentially. The movie wraps up right then. Right. Right?

It's sort of like. Right. The second she's submerged, it goes to credits. Spoiler for the film with a poster that spoils the movie but in the movie in the poster you think oh he's trying to rescue her

of course this might be the cold open twist that's the end of the movie and it says it in the thing the poster even clarifies in the text don't get it twisted this This isn't the beginning. This is the end of the film. It does take place.

They do clarify. It ends at the edge of Niagara Falls. Right? That's the inevitable. It all ends at Niagara Falls. Can I point out how effective a sentence is? In between there are five murders. Five.

I love that promise to the audience. Like, where's it going to start? An ancient warning. Where's it going to end? Niagara Falls with the image below. In the middle, count them five murders. So after the fifth murder, you're like, all right, I guess they're going to Niagara. Okay.

And in fact, there's still about 30 minutes until they get to Niagara. God, yeah. Yeah. They don't get on the bus until 15 minutes before they get there. Yeah. Two weird movies we're discussing today. That's right. Two early films from Jonathan Demme

were in this mid-period. He's out of the Corman slumps. Yeah. But right after this, he sort of starts making legitimate films and finds his footing. Right? Yeah.

I would say Let Us Embrace is a legitimate film. But the next movie is the first one where it's like, this is a Jonathan Demme But the next movie is the first one where it's like, this is a Jonathan Demme movie. And the first time he crosses over and gets attention from the Academy Awards, things like that. Well, both of these are studio films.

Yes. They are sort of legitimate movies with him working with proven cast, although his Corman movies have proven actors in them. They do. But after this, I just wanted to double check this stat. After this, only one of his next six films does not get an Oscar nomination or win for performance.

Wow. Is that true? Melvin and Howard, best supporting actress, win. Swing Shift, best supporting actress, nomination. Married to the Mob, best supporting actor, nomination That's true Something Wild weirdly doesn't get it Doesn't, but it got like Golden Globe

Right And then, of course, Silence of the Lambs Yeah, yeah, yeah I mean, you're excluding Swimming to Cambodia But that's sort of His narrative fiction films I understood And then Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia

Beloved is actually the next movie to not get Oscar attention. Right. It might have gotten like a costuming nod. But that's a pretty crazy run where he always gets

an actor a nomination or a win. A great director of actors. Four wins in a 10 year period. That's pretty crazy. Work with Demi. Get yourself a trophy.

When Tom Hanks won his Oscar for Philadelphia, the last actor to win for a Demi. Get yourself a trophy. When Tom Hanks won his Oscar for Philadelphia, the last actor to win for a Demi movie. Right, and the first Oscar speech to be turned into a movie. Yes, in and out. He said, my thanks to Jonathan Demi,

who seems to just have Oscars attached to him these days. Wow. Wow. I mean, I guess that was post-silence. So, yeah. Yeah. Four actors had won working with him.

Guess what didn't win an Oscar? Last Embrace or Citizen Dan. The movie we're making our guest watch. Yes. It barely won my attention for the duration of the film. So, here's the thing. When a movie wins your attention, you give it a trophy, right? You mail the trophy to the studio. It's a trophy of seeing the end of it.

This guy, you know, Jonathan Demme to the studio? Seeing the end of it. This guy, you know, Jonathan Demme, wins our March Madness bracket. And this, of course, is a podcast about filmography. Directors of my successful or on their career give me a series of blank checks saying whatever crazy product they want. Sometimes those checks clear and sometimes they bounce. Baby. And it's a mini-series on the films of Jonathan Demme called Stop Making

Podcasts. That's right. That's what the fans decided this should be called. Or that's just what the fans asked us to do, but we interpret it as a miniseries suggestion. We're going to interpret it as a miniseries title and not a suggestion. Right.

This guy wins, and we immediately go, okay, how do we do this? Because he's got five films before his first film that anyone really cares about. Right. And so we did the three Cormans. Yeah.

And then the two non-Corman studio films where he hasn't really found his footing yet. Sure. And we were like, how do we make this a listenable episode? And we had an ace up our sleeve, which is our guest today, who said, I've been listening to the podcast. I've watched almost every movie you've discussed in preparation for each episode. I will come on and talk about anything. And we said,

how's about we offer you the least appetizing episode possible? So mean. Could have given you a good movie. Yeah, I said in the text, I said, I love it because whenever you guys put two movies into one episode,

they're always really good, important movies that people will have some context. I love it because whenever you guys put two movies into one episode, they're always really good. Important movies that people will have some context. Guys, you can't watch these six. You can't watch these movies. No. I know. You can get Citizens Band on YouTube. Yeah.

If you want to rent it on YouTube, that's what I did that. You can rent it on YouTube. Otherwise, you can't watch these. I might as well be describing a fucking dream I had for all the relevance that this will have to their lives. I do frequently dream about Roy Scheider. I will say. His highly treated leather face.

God, I'd love like a Roy Scheider jacket made of his face. You know what I mean? Just stretch it out. I'd love like a Roy Scheider like necromantic, nomicon. You know? Right, his little eye is peeking'd love like a Roy Scheider like necromonic, nomicon, you know? Right, his little eye is peeking out at you. Roy Scheider's face

bound in Roy Scheider's flesh. What a wild movie star he is. We're going to spend most of this episode talking about how weird Roy Scheider is as a movie star, but our guest of course today... Go on.

Justin McElroy! Yeah! My brother, my brother and me and Sawbones and the Adventure Zone. Hey, how's it going? Number one New York Times bestselling author. Yeah.

Twice over. It's the second time I've dropped a mouth organ, Ben. David dropped a mouth organ. Justin. A what? Ben has started bringing props into the studio. He wants to become some sort of morning disc jockey. Much like your father.

Yeah. The great your father. Yeah. The great Clint McElroy. But Ben now has a little bell and a mouth organ and a tape recorder. This is like spoilers. Yeah, the tape recorder is funny because then you could do the bit where you're like, note to self, I should keep this in the episode. And then, you know, and it's like you do that and it's funny. Okay, wait, hold on.

Did you hear the click? What you suggested is a reality in which you make a tape that you have to scrub through to remind yourself what part of the audio that you are going to scrub through and keep in the episode. Yeah, he's also creating a reality in which the audience can detect the difference in versamilitude between Ben miming a tape recorder and saying note to self and holding a tape recorder up to the microphone.

It was a button press. I heard a button press. There's a very light click. Yeah. Unmistakable. It's about the theater of the mind. It's about the theater of the mind. There's a difference in Ben's performance.

He's working with something tangible. When y'all, I thought I'll Do Anything was the maddest I would get at you guys for making me watch a movie. Isn't that funny? Just a few short days ago, I thought that was the maddest I would be at you. Okay, so that's what you're up to now? You're in the Brooks? I'm actually halfway through, as good as it gets, the episode with Chris Cather. Yes, great episode.

That's where I am in. That's where I'm at. So you've watched I'll Do Anything, but you have not watched the musical cut of I'll Do Anything. Yeah, go ahead and slide that in my Gmail, fellas, if you don't mind. I will happily, because that for me is bottom three worst things we've ever discussed on the show. You should not send him that thing. I will send him that.

That thing is like toxic material. You should go to jail for transporting it through email. The musical cut of I'll Do Anything. I should warn you that the musical cut of I'll Do Anything is like the internet cloud version of the ring tape. Yeah, exactly. It's like the fucking version of the ring tape.

Yeah, exactly. It's like the fucking Ark of the Covenant. It's one of those things where you watch I'll Do Anything and you're like yeah, this is so hard. There's no way the musical version was worse. At least it must have been interesting. You watch the musical version and you're like, oh, it's a lot worse. Wow, they kind of rescued this one. And also an hour longer.

And it's not just an hour of musical numbers, it's an hour of like. Bullshit. Other bullshit. Fucking bullshit. Yeah. What a weird film. Anyway, today we're talking about two normal movies that everyone's loved and everyone

will have watched in preparation for this episode. So honored just to put a thumbprint on these cultural milestones. Gotta talk about the movies. So Demi has done three Cormans. That's correct. And they all did all right. And like Corman always says, if you do well enough under me,

you get to make real movies. Exactly. So here's him coming up with two films that feel like proven sort of models. One is, Susan's band is kind of working off the American graffiti archetype. 100%.

The small town comedy melodrama ensemble cast. It has Paula Matt and Candy Clark who are both in American Graffiti. Right. You know, Slice of Life. There's almost a bit of all men. Comedy. There's almost something

sort of Nashville adjacent, which I guess these are the same year? Is Nashville, no, isn't Nashville 76? 75. Okay, so this is two years later. Right, but he's picking two actors. American Graffiti, I believe, is 74. Yes. He's picking two actors from American

Graffiti, several years after American Graffiti, and going, this is going to be a surefire hit. They're back in cars again. Yeah, they're in cars. It's written by Paul Brickman who later goes on to write and direct Risky Business and then disappear. Yeah, he really

did disappear. Yeah. He made Men Don't Leave. Oh, of course. Well, Men Don't Leave. But apart from that, yeah. So, I think, well, also there's the movie Convoy. We have to talk about the movie Convoy. Justin, have you seen the film Convoy?

No. That comes out the next year. Have you heard the song Convoy? Convoy. Convoy. Yeah. So at 75, that song comes out, and it taps into this whole CB radio craze.

Right. Which is, when you watch this movie, it's fucking Twitter and all that stuff. It's a little social network. That's what I think is interesting about this movie. I agree. The movie's kind of about the internet. And then Convoy is a movie that comes out next year. It comes out in 78.

It's a peck and paw movie. It stars Chris Christopherson. But it's based off the song. It's explicitly like you love the song, get ready for an hour and 40 minutes of live action footage. But in Convoy, things are happening. It's more of an adventure movie.

The trucks are driving somewhere. In CB, it's a citizens band. It's like everyone's stuck in their same town and is kind of like bored, right? It's kind of just about people who are bored, right? But it is a movie about – but again, I think that that leans into that like – it's about Twitter. It is. It's a prescient film about Twitter created before – what is it?

30 years before the service itself would exist. It's fascinating. Yeah, well, that's the thing that's fascinating is his whole hook to the movie, which is the thing that Poster Tagline leads with, is the idea that everybody is somebody else on Citizen's Band radio, which is, yes, incredibly prescient for the internet. He's tapping this idea of, oh, is there something in the human spirit that would love to pretend to be someone else to create a false identity, to be able to like speak with impunity and anonymity and connect with others?

You know, it's like sort of like in the 90s, I guess like the sort of lonely hearts thing, right? Sure. Like, you know, singles and like people sending sort of personal ads to each other. It's a very primitive version of that. But then now it feels like a primitive version of a social network. Yeah, and this movie has like a little boy troll pretending to be an adult. It has essentially pornography being distributed over the CB radio.

Sure, sure. Kind of like smut. Right. The lead character is a social justice warrior. Like it was kind of blowing my mind how like he identified every type of person who like weaponizes the internet to their own enjoyment or advantage. But I feel like this movie is as we're sort of getting into Demi and trying to develop like the

Demi take and like you know the listeners have handed us this director who's sort of famously anonymous in weird ways. Like in interviews he was always like well I work with all these great people. You know like was very happy to pass the praise around. He did not create a sort of auteur narrative

for himself. He never had this sort of mythos of like, oh, he's a tortured genius who must make his movies. His narrative was he's a really kind man who's a great collaborator. Exactly. But he's handed this script and this premise that I feel like is sort of like, they're like, yeah, do this movie about goofballs.

And he's like, but these are human beings. And I feel like that's why the movie probably kind of just went nowhere. Yeah. Sort of flopped on release. And also why it's sort of like kind of interesting to watch it now. Do you know this, Justin, that like the movie came out, they were like, it's like American Graffiti but in trucks. Right.

No one went to see it. No. So then they pulled it from theaters and retitled it and then submitted it to the New York Film Festival. Re-edited it. Like they cut it down, I think. I read that the audiences were expecting it to have a musical component because they didn't know what CB stood for. So they thought Citizens Band would have some sort of musical element to it. Hey, we're the Citizens Band.

I will admit. Great Island, Missouri. I did not know what CB stood for until I started watching the movie. Oh, really? Oh, there's not going to be a band in this. Oh, you never heard of Breaker? I know what a CB radio is. I didn't know what it stood for. So when I heard

the title citizens band, I was like, what's this going to be some can't stop the music type movie? It's going to be a bunch of scrappy people from a small town creating a citizens band? Right. Is this going to be like the Muppet people from a small town creating a citizens band? Right. Is this going to be like the Muppet Musicians of Brennan? Yeah, it's not that. It's not.

Bill Conti did the music. Weird. You know, the Rocky guy. So, Justin. Yeah. When we asked you what episode you want to be on and you said, I don't care, I'll watch anything. I said, it has to be the Citizens Band Last Embraced combo. You were like, you're going to combine those two, right?

Right. You better. Right. Because there's a thematic tie between. Yeah, the thematic tie is they were made next to each other. Right, well, you said like either I want to be the guest on the combined Citizens Band Last Embraced episode or I need to ask to be a guest on two consecutive episodes. Right, because I have to share my thoughts

on these flicks with the world. You have to weigh in on both. Right. These movies that I and many other people, real people, have seen and remember. Yeah, seen and loved. Watch all the time. Right.

Well, WGN, their equivalent of TBS playing, or TNT playing Christmas Story 24 Hours Straight, is they play Citizen's Band 24 hours straight every Labor Day. It reminds me the way that they have worked in CB into this film in every possible angle. It feels like an adaptation of a thing. Like it feels like, you know how like like, the Garbage Pail Kids movie?

Yeah. They, like, how do we turn this into a movie? Yeah. This feels like the adaptation of a concept of CB radio. Like, how do we turn this inanimate object, this idea, into a film that is just, like, an adaptation of an idea? Like, that's what it feels like to me. It's like you made VHS the movie.

Well, I guess someone actually did make that. It's like you made Fisher Price cassette recorder the movie. Right, which is an act of pre-production at Paramount. But, no,

there is like, This is a Paramount picture film. I own one. Much like the Garbage Pail Kids movie, one of my favorite films. You do love that movie. I love it. It's one of the few bad movies

that I like. Like, I'm very adamant about like, if I like a movie, I don't think it's bad. And I don't like few bad movies that I like. I'm very adamant about, if I like a movie, I don't think it's bad. And I don't like watching bad movies on purpose. Right, you're not someone who's like, oh, it's a bad movie, but I love it. I don't have guilty pleasures,

except for, there are three movies that I think are terrible that I can't stop watching. Garbage Pail Kids movie. Obviously, Old Dogs. Yeah, sure. And I'm trying to think of what the third one is. Obviously, Old Dogs. Yeah. Sure. Sure.

And I'm trying to think of what the third one is. It might be just those two. I know. I'm trying to think of what the third one is. Citizens Band? Yes, Citizens Band. No, Citizens Band isn't even bad.

This movie is not bad. It's a little... It's just kind of meandering. You're just kind of like, okay. It's weird in that I don't know how much plot by plot

you guys are going to do on this. This one? What plot could we put? It's weird in that, I don't know how much like plot by plot you guys are going to do on this. This one? What plot could we have done? It's a can of berry tails. Yeah. Except the C and the B are capitalized. Yeah.

When it worked, there's just these, overall watching it, I'm like, I don't know why I'm watching this. I don't know why this is a movie. I don't know why any of this podcast. Yeah, what did I do?

What did I do with my life? Why did I agree to do this? I have to watch this entire thing. Every once in a while, a scene really works, and it's weird. It's like out of nowhere. It just kind of hits all its marks, and it's very strange because I think so much of it feels so, I don't know if listless is the word.

It feels a little listless. When characters take action in this film, it really comes out of nowhere. Yeah. Like it looks like they're like, I'm going to, the scene where, again,

not to get too specific, but the scene where Spider decides that he's going to clean up the, the, the airwaves basically is like, oh, this is the, okay, this is the movie you guys wanted to make. This is the movie. We're a third of the way into it, but this is the movie you wanted to make. I get it now.

And that action comes from nowhere. It's like, I have no idea why that moment of all others connects. And then two-thirds of the way into it, they kind of drop that. Yeah. Yes. When it gets to that moment, you're like, I guess this is the hook of the movie. Right. But you imagine that maybe that's what they hired Demi to do.

They were like, it's a movie about one man taking the CB into his own hands. Right. And then it sort of isn't. No. It's a little of that. This is what I was sort of trying to tee up. When we were asking you what you want to be on, you said, I haven't really seen any Demi movies. I'll do anything that you guys pick.

And I think you said Silence of the Lambs was the only one you had seen maybe? Long time ago, yeah. And I guess I've seen Manchurian Candidate too. I didn't realize that was one of his pictures. Long time ago. And those are two outliers because

he's got like three thrillers in his entire filmography and they're Last Embrace Manchurian Candidate and Silence of the Lambs and one of them is like a stone cold classic canonical American like work. Well he's maybe the most famous

and important thriller of all time. Right. Right. Along with like Psycho. Right. And one of the most dominant Oscar movies of all time and one of the weirdest Oscar movies of all time to be that dominant. And then the rest of his career is like predominantly better versions of Citizen's Band. And they are movies where like once he taps into it, it is sort of like he has figured out how to sustain the vibe of those rare moments that work in the way you're talking about. That weird magical kind of thing.

And part of that is that like sort of we're talking about that he doesn't sort of, he did not in his life try to present himself as some sort of like master auteur that he was like, I like to work with a writer and I like to cast actors and hire people to do their best work and create a fun environment and set and like dig into stuff and try to find something honest and truthful.

And all his other comedies after this, he's got this like incredible run of really weird studio comedies. Yes. That becomes his thing. Right. That are able to sort of sustain this energy for an entire runtime but also have sort of like a clear, simple plot on its face. This is, I mean, the beginning of this movie is close to unintelligible. Yes. When like the truck is turned over.

I watched it two times. I think they probably just, I mean, obviously we're watching these fairly grainy transfers. I feel like, you know, maybe it looks better. But like they probably just didn't have the money. Like you just don't really know what the fuck is going on. It's also at night. It's at night. A truck is I don't know. The sound is really rough.

It's really hard to dramatize. To figure out who's talking in a lot of scenes. It's really hard to dramatize people talking on the radio. You're also being introduced to all the characters at night in cars that are not illuminated. Yeah, and they all have freaking aliases and real names.

I can't keep track of any of it. But I will say it took me an hour to clearly identify which characters were the characters who were in the beginning of the movie. Because you're like that one guy looks kind of like Paul LaMapp but with glasses. Yes, yes. Wizard? Is that his name yeah no warlock

warlock and that guy fun fact about that guy do you want to know please I can't wait for this fact alright he's played by an actor called

Will Seltzer who never amounted to anything he was in the damn I mean no offense no offense to him that's some gold shit

he was in like more American graffiti I didn't know you were Will Seltzer's disappointed uncle I know I feel now I feel mean didn't know you were Will Seltzer's disappointed uncle. I know. Now I feel mean. He's a disgrace to the Seltzer family name.

The first family to ever carbonate water. If you're this fucking guy, you would never. He's living off the Seltzer billions. They make a commission off of every can of La Croix to this day. I'm about to blow your minds. Okay. Give me a mind blow. George Lucas said this guy was the runner up for Luke Skywalker.

Wow. He was the second best screen test that George Lucas saw. Will Seltzer. Will Seltzer, who like his IMDb page says, here's a sentence from his IMDb page. He also appeared in an episode of Barney Miller in 1977 and again in 1982. Like that amounts to a sentence on his five sentence Wikipedia page. And that guy was almost Luke Skywalker. The same year that Star Wars came out

and changed the world. I bet he's never had that thought. He's never thought that if I had got Luke Skywalker, my career would have been drastically different. No, because Justin, if he had gotten the part in Star Wars, he wouldn't have been able to do that Barney Miller in 77. Or the other one. Or, he wouldn't have been able to do that Barney Miller in 77. Or the other one.

Or 82. He might have been in pre-production on Return of the Jedi. Couldn't have done it. He wouldn't have had the joy of waiting five years for his agent to call and saying, Miller's bringing you back. They've made you a recurrent. Anyway, instead he got to play the horny virgin in

Citizens Band who gets taunted by um candy clark's character a character who feels like the shooter in nashville like i was like are they setting up this guy to massacre everyone right the um it i but i think that that's probably the the kind of craft thing that you pick up when you make a bunch of movies eventually you're talking about this this same basic idea and him improving over time the idea that you pick up when you make a bunch of movies eventually. You're talking about this same basic idea and him improving over time. The idea that you would need to take 10 seconds to just frame a character and who a character is.

If you're going to dump 10 characters on it, just a beat to establish who each one is as a person is great. Yeah, I mean that's the thing that is fun about doing this podcast and starting with people's first movies is you get to chronologically watch people figure shit out.

Acquire the basic building blocks of making a coherent movie. And usually the early ones have sprinkles of their best qualities but lack the basic craft to make a pretty entertaining thing. It doesn't help that Paul and Matt, at least especially earlier on, has a real down tempo energy. Yeah.

That doesn't feel like the propulsive sort of force behind a film. He seems to just sort of be be present for the filming. You know, we have a saying in our family. Use sports. Don't let sports use you. Hi, it's Jeff Merrick from 32 Thoughts to Podcast. Are you a sports parent, rep sports, travel sports, whatever you call it? If you're like me, you know that one of the great joys of having your kid or kids play sports is travel.

You know, our families use sports to see different parts of the world, meet new people, and stay in a number of different places. Recently, we've started using Airbnb. The kids love it because it feels like a sleepover at a new friend's house, while my wife and I enjoy more space, a proper bed, and mostly a washing machine. That really comes in handy for baseball trips. Trust me. comes in handy for baseball trips. Trust me. In fact, it was on a baseball trip last summer when my wife sent me a text after the first night saying, do you think we could do this? Look, if you've ever stayed at an Airbnb, you've probably wondered the same thing. Could our

place be an Airbnb? And now that our kids have also discovered the joys of skiing, in addition to travel hockey and travel baseball, we're on the move even more. While our house just sits there. Why not make a little extra money to cover some costs, right? We have friends who travel south every winter and they Airbnb their place. Why not? Look, if you want to make a little extra cash, and who doesn't need that these days? Maybe your home could be the way to make it happen find out how at airbnb.com so we got to talk about paul lamatt as there are

two what a weird movie star discussions we need to do in this episode paul lamatt's the first one sure the cast i want to be clear american graffiti is 73 not 74 i said 74 what egg on your face uh embarrassing it's like a real will seltzer Graffiti is 73. Not 74. I said 74. What egg on your face? Embarrassing. It's like a real Will Seltzer. Paul LaMatte served in the Vietnam War with the US Navy. Thank you for your service, Paul. And then basically

his first ever movie, he did like one TV pilot and his first ever movie is American Graffiti which he's sort of the lead of. He's kind of the neutral lead of the film. Right. I mean, the movie kind of has like three or four leads, but he's sort of the hero, anti-hero. He kind of is like the Han Solo of the movie. Yes.

If you're thinking about it, George Lucas' canon. You have to imagine that he auditioned for Star Wars. I mean, everyone auditioned for Star Wars. He did, for sure. But he wins a Golden Globe for Star Wars. for sure. But he wins a Golden Globe for like, Best New Star.

Yes. Which is a category I wish still existed. Oh, God. It's so much fun that the Golden Globes every year used to anoint the new star.

Can you tell me the last winner of Best New Star of the Year actor at the Golden Globes? 1983. 1983. Well,

the category gets disbanded because of Piazzadora. Is that true? I mean, somewhere around there. the category gets disbanded because of Piazzadora. Is that true? I mean, somewhere around there. I feel like, do you know about Piazzadora? Let's not get into Piazzadora right now. Justin, can we do a Piazzadora corner? Sure.

Go for it. Piazzadora was a terrible actress whose, like, millionaire husband financed a movie to make her a star. Called Butterfly. That no one liked and no one saw. It was like a soft core sort of like smutty movie. Right. He's like, I think my wife is beautiful. Everyone should think she is beautiful.

It was like one of those things. Yes. And she won new star of the year at the Golden Globe. In 1983? In 82. Okay. But like it's close to the end of the, they just, they do one more year and then that's it. But they disbanded because it was a big controversy

where they were like, this award means nothing now. Right, he bought the award. Because he bought the award for a movie that no one had even heard of. But the next year, someone won their final acting award in 1983, Best New Star of the Year. Now, was this a good pick? Did this person go on? Yeah.

Yeah, good pick. Also just kind of an obvious one. No, although he did win in 1977. Right, for Stay Hungry, right? Okay. Kind of an obvious one. Yeah, big movie that year. Big movie.

Won Best Picture. It won Best Picture. He was the star. In 1983. Well, now I'm trying to think. Rain Man is what? 88. Okay.

It's the movie that beat E.T. Big biopic. Oh, it's Ben Kingsley? Correct. Ben Kingsley. New star! There's a hot new star around town. Did he also win best actor?

Probably. Let's find out. I think that was the other reason is that the new star would often go to someone who also won the competitive actor or actress category. If you want to debate the merits of Googling Ben Kingsley versus talking about Citizen's Band, at least people can Google Ben Kingsley at home. That is the one advantage that they have is that they too can Google Ben Kingsley and play along with the film. And they will find voluminous results.

Right, exactly. They will be able to entertain themselves for days. He did indeed win Best Actor and confusingly, Gandhi also won Best Foreign Film. What? United Kingdom slash India.

Which meant E.T. got to win Best Picture. Like, they got to sort of spread the wealth. Whereas the Oscars ended up picking Gandhi over E.T. Which is one of their, like, you know, classic 80s, like they got to sort of spread the wealth. Weird. Whereas the Oscars ended up picking Gandhi over E.T. which is one of their like, you know, classic 80s like, whoa, we like this old fashioned movie, not this new kid. Well the point is, LaMatte is sort

of seen as much like the entire cast of American Graffiti, oh this is going to be the next wave. Right? Right. And the number of stars who come out of American Graffiti and spin in different directions, where you get Harrison Ford becomes the biggest guy in the world, Ron Howard, Charles

Martin Smith continue to have acting careers, but very quickly transition to being incredibly successful directors. Then you have Richard Dreyfuss goes on to have this triumphant run for seven years that ends in him winning an Oscar. Wolfman Jack? Wolfman Jack becomes the greatest

DJ of all time but then you even have like Suzanne Somers yeah Candy Clark gets her Oscar nomination for this Mackenzie Phillips like people going on

to sitcoms and things like that and LaMatte is kind of the one guy in the top ten of American Graffiti who like doesn't have the big career

but he does have somewhat of a career at this point he's gonna be in Melvin and Howard, another Demi movie. Which is, that's the big thing, that Demi sort of claims him and gives him his best post-American graffiti parts.

But if you look at him now, he is now a guy who does weird YouTube videos. Yeah, he hasn't done a movie, essentially, for 15 years. I stumbled onto the YouTube videos, just Googling for him. He has got a beard of such volume that I just assumed every video was a manifesto

of some sort it's a powerful statement of a beard it's so large it is a Randy Quaid adjacent look is he talking about like Randy Quaid thing like is it conspiratorial no he's just plugging his books yeah that's what's weird about it.

He writes a lot of books. Right, he's just It just seems very normal. He's doing the sort of like sort of grandpa YouTube angle where the camera's kind of like pointing. He has a poster of memoirs of a geisha in his room?

Yeah. Yeah. All right, he's sort of a He's got one of Titanic too. He's missing He does, you're right. He's missing a bunch of teeth. He's missing a bunch of teeth.

He's got This is brutal. He's got like a beard that's longer than my entire body. And he's bald but with crazy hair on the sides. He's got a little on top, but he has so much on the chin. He looks like a hobo wizard, let's say it. Yeah, he looks like Moon Vest from 30 Rock. That's who he looks like.

Right, or Radio Man from real life. That's the same person. I know, I was making a joke. God, Justin, that's who he looks like. Right. Or Radio Man from Real Life. That's the same person. I know. I was making a joke. God, Justin, he doesn't get it. That's what I'm picking up on. I gotta just get in the brother game. Is that the answer?

Do brothers get jokes? It's the secret. Just record with your family. Brothers get jokes. The point is, it's weird that, yes, when you look at the thumbnails and the amount of videos he has, you assume that they're all manifestos. they're all like QAnon shit.

Right. You would assume this is a guy who's about to tell you why he's like drinking, you know, poison to go on a comet or whatever. Or like telling like dark stories about other people in Hollywood. Right. And instead – Where he's like – Look at this guy. Instead they're all kind of nice –

This is good content, David. Amateurist cramp-up videos. Give him a podcast. He should have a podcast. OK. Well, these're all kind of nice. This is good content, David. Give him a podcast. He should have a podcast. Okay. At least people can watch these videos. Take it to the Le Mans. He has a James Dean standee, like a cardboard standee. Hey, he loves the movies.

What's the other poster? It just seems like it's like a glamour shot of Marilyn Monroe. Why is it not okay for poor people to have Le Mans? No, he can have them. I'm just intrigued. No, no, no, David. Listen, Will's dead. You can't kick Will Seltzer on your board, but let's be real to pull him out. Why is it not okay for this

man to have... This man who is in the film industry to have posters of movies that he enjoyed? To be clear, he has two posters up. Titanic, great movie. Memoirs of a Geisha, bit of a curveball, but okay. Then he has the James Dean cardboard standee that's just kind of leaning against the wall

and a framed picture of Marilyn Monroe. He loves the movies. Looks like he's got an HP laptop that's just open. He's talking to a separate laptop. David, what is the Mount Rushmore? He's got an Elvis Presley pillow. What is the Mount Rushmore of Oh, he's got an Elvis Presley pillow. What is the Mount Rushmore of film? Titanic.

Geisha. James Dean. James Dean movies. Right. If you were to carve into a rock side, the Mount Rushmore of films, it would be the ship, the Titanic. Right.

Marilyn Monroe's dress blowing up. Yeah. Just the sort of... A geisha with like an umbrella carved out of the rock. Right. I mean, the third face is five geishas. Full body. And then maybe like a sad LA apartment.

Yeah, with like blinds, you know, those sort of like, you know. I like that his videos are nice. I don't want to mock him. I'm literally just fascinated. Well, I can't hear what he's saying, so that's an issue. But it was like a relief. I mean, Justin, you felt the same way where you were like, he's going to say some really upsetting shit. Right.

Yo, 100%. I didn't even have to click on anything like that. I knew for sure. He has one. Guys, he has a film. According to IMDb, his last film was in 2009. It was a movie called chrome angels which is weird for for in the context of citizens sort of a right a sister perhaps there's a character

named chrome angel in this film yeah it's very strange uh his and he has one film called eli elder in pre-production can we please move the pre along on this flick because i've seen the beard and that's going to be a powerful performance let's get this going you are asking that we add eli elder to the blank check he's playing eli in this that we that we acquire the rights to the film i think we can do that poster is what i can only describe as like a sort of bitmap of paul lamatt's face and then someone is like put a word art sheriff star in the r of the elder yeah i mean he looks great that is vaporwave david it is it's vaporwave defined it was really hard to watch the first movie that goes straight to free sell i'm watching check an imdb when we're watching this movie. And it is infuriating because people are only identified in the credits by their CB handle.

Correct. Some of which are not used in the film at all, as far as I could tell. And also a couple of which are spoilers. Yes, that's true. That are like just by their role that they're playing uh but yeah i didn't i mean i love a put an end credits where you you know you see the actual actor and then like a title flashes on screen yeah um but yeah no i mean for what's his name this could use that at the time the hustler the kid the hustler turns out to be a kid yes

right but there is that thing a lot of the, you're hearing voices and you're meeting characters in person, and there are like four or five turns that are based on you not realizing that character you've been introduced to. IRL is also this voice you've been hearing disembodied. And IMDB will connect all those dots for you prematurely. To do the plot as basically as possible, I would say that there are two main plots in Citizen's Band. There is one plot in which two brothers, played by Paul Lamatt and Bruce McGill. The great Bruce McGill.

The legend Bruce McGill. It's such a delight to see Bruce McGill. Bruce McGill playing the role of Blood. Ben's favorite character. Yeah, definitely. It's a good name. They are in a sort of a love triangle with Candy Clark's character, Electra.

So that's plot A. Right. And there's like, two of them are teachers. What does Paul Lamatt do? Paul Lamatt lives with his ornery old dad. Right, who used to be a rancher in Canada, moved to America for opportunities for his son, and has never been able to ranch again. He has not been able to herd nary a cow he has herded.

I would say this is slightly, this is the maybe slightly less interesting subplot of the two plots. That would be my argument. This feels like the more conventional, here's the movie, it's down home people. But then of course Spider also is wrapped up in like fighting neo-Nazis and there's all this stuff that kind of crops up at the end there. Spider is like the

avenger of the CB radio that he believes it has to be like a public service for people to be able to help each other and there's all this trash. Again, it's about Twitter. This smut. Yeah, yeah. Okay. And his dad, really interestingly, I thought this was actually very... Played by the wonderfully named

Roberts Blossom. Who is... Roberts, plural. Yes, Roberts Blossom. Who's the guy? He's the old man from Home Alone, is he not? Yes, he is. He's the guy? I mean, yeah. He's the old man from Home Alone, is he not? Yes, he is. He's old man Marley from Home Alone. He's the old man from Home Alone.

I knew him from like, you know, I don't know. He's in like Christine and he like pops up, I think, in like Close Encounters and stuff. He plays an old guy. Great old guy. That quiet dignity was for me. Right? You remember that guy shoveling a walkway? Of course. He plays a character who is much nicer on the CB than he is in real life.

Which is kind of fun. Which I think is like actually really kind of smart and says a lot. Right. I mean, this guy like wants to pretend in real life that he's an asshole. Right. And that he's far less mentally there than he actually is. There's the weird extended run where he wants to convince his son that he has cooked and is now eating his dog.

Yeah, that's a fun thread. But it's like he, when the son asks him point blank if he has cooked the dog that he is currently eating, if it is dog meat, he acts like he's senile and doesn't understand the question and has lost his mind. But it is, again, like if you're going to keep this internet metaphor going, it's like when your older relative, your dad,

your grandpa, whatever, discovers message boards in their 70s, you know what I mean? Or I guess Facebook, whatever Facebook became. But he's not using it for ill will? No, he's using it to share. It's like nice core.

Like pictures of his sons. It's like I love them very much. All right. So then the other plot, the other sort of main plot is Charles Napier, who is going to be the most recurring figure in this miniseries. He's in most Demi movies. He's a great character actor. There's another recurring figure I want to bring up in a moment.

That's fine, sure. And it turns out that he has two, he's the one whose truck crashes at the start of the movie. Right. And this reveals that he has two wives, essentially, two ladies on the go,

and they discover him. And so that's the other plot, right? Which is the better plot and feels like the more Demi plot. Yeah, and it's just sort of funny and it arrives at a fun conclusion and everyone in it is really good. Both women were nominated,

one won and one was nominated like the National Society of Film Critics for Best Supporting Actress. I think that was the only thing that really connected. They're both excellent. And Wedgeworth and Marcia Rod, I believe. Yeah, Marcia Rod was the one

I was really impressed with who plays the sort of more soulful. Right, right. Marsha Rod was very funny. Very good. But yeah, I mean, this opening scene of the movie is supposed to be like, oh, here's like the central event that unites all these characters, except it is shot and cut in a way that makes it almost impossible to identify the characters.

It's really hard to figure out what's going on. So you have like Warlock is like flirting with Electra who's like sort of like, you know, like married and bored. Sex call line. She's sort of using the CB radio to kind of like get her jollies off because she's

bored. Right, she's not married. She's married. Not married. No, she's not married. No, because she's the one in the relationship with the two brothers. In the relationship. No, no, no, that's Candy married. No, because she's the one in the relationship with the two brothers. No, no, no. That's Candy Clark. Isn't that Elektra? Yeah, Elektra.

Right. She's not in the... Oh, sorry. In the relationship with the two brothers. I'm sorry. Thank you. I got confused between the two brothers and the two wives. Right.

Yeah, not married, but like... They're three love triangles. She's in a crappy relationship with one brother after ending a relationship for several years with another brother, and she is a school teacher. Right. She is pretending to be a sort of phone sex hotline woman, operating only over the CB, which Warlock, as a lonely man,

is hitting her up constantly on that old hand radio. But meanwhile, Napier gets turned over, and Paul Lomat, as the SJW of the CB, is going to try to rescue him along with his friend, the world's largest man. A guy where I cannot comprehend how big he is, even just down to— He's like a lump of granite. His head and his hands look massive. Yeah.

Yes. Yeah. Who's the other one you wanted to talk about? The other one I wanted to talk about is Gary Goatsman. Okay. Who has small roles in both of these films. He is the tour guide at Niagara Falls in Last Embrace.

And I forget who he is in Citizen's Band. But he is in both of these films. And he ends up having a small part in every one of Demi's films through Philadelphia. Right. I was like, I knew I recognized this guy's name. He's a producer, right?

At which point he teams up with freshly Oscar-anointed Tom Hanks and becomes Tom Hanks' producing partner for the rest of his career. Wild. He is like Tom Hanks' right-hand man. But before that, he's a character actor who Demi uses a lot. And that ends with Philadelphia, in which he's playing the same character that he played in Silence of the Lambs. Right. And now he has produced like every Tom Hanks movie but also Mamma Mia and My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

Right. Do you think he's got any money? I think he's got a little bit of change. $2. $2. He's got the $2 deal on every picture. He also apparently was a music producer who worked with Smokey Robinson and the Staple Singers and shit. So he's, yeah.

Okay, well, retired bit. But there are a lot of interesting people like that. Scott Rudin is the casting director on Last Embrace, who is now the most dominant producer in Hollywood. 100%. And on Broadway. Yeah. A lot of people start out sort of in the Demi circuit.

The other interesting thing which we forgot to mention in the Corman episodes is that these movies are shot by Tak Fujimoto. They are not both shot by him. Oh, Citizen's Band. Yeah, Jordan Cronenweth

who's another famous cinematographer shot Citizen's Band. But he... Tak Fujimoto who becomes Demi's main guy shot Last Embrace. I believe it's their first collaboration. But also was the cinematographer on KGT? Yes.

If not the other two. I mean he was working with them from the very beginning, which is one of these interesting things to see where you're like, this is a movie that's kind of a mess but has interesting aspects and is sort of low-rent looking but has like interesting shots and then 10 years later these two guys are going to do Silence of the Lambs together. Yep. And Taka Fujimoto shot Pulp Fiction. Yes. This cat was the

DP on Blade Runner. Yeah. Dude is... Jordan Cronenworth. Yes. Yeah. Both incredible. His son is Jeff Cronenworth who works with Pinscher now and like yeah another famous um i want to we're almost done with citizens band unless you guys have things to say but i want to read it's although one scene i i wanted to highlight there's there's one scene towards the end there's a there's a sort of like weird half-hearted struggle about spider

leaving he refers to as the farm, but his dad lives, he says he lives in a junkyard. So like, I don't know. Leaving his dad, basically. And his dad actively resents that he's not living on a farm. Because he feels like that's what he gave up by moving to America. And his son just keeps on like an

asshole calling it the farm. Right. And there's a scene where he has decided to throw a birthday party for his dad, who hates his guts. Tried to throw a birthday party for his dad, but there's a scene where they've lit the candles and they're sitting together

and Spider tells his dad that he's heading out. And it's like this like surprisingly touching scene of people just sort of expressing like real heartfelt. You know what? It felt to me like it had something where a lot of dramatic scenes where news is broken is not in it is that sense of like couching the information uh because the person really doesn't want to be saying it which you almost never see in movies is like usually if someone's going to say something they're pretty well made up and this guy's like kind of sneaks the information that he's leaving in and then starts talking about how if anyone talks bad about his dad he'll leave him and he really loves him so much and his dad just sits in total silence won't even blow out

his birthday candles. And it's like this weirdly like for me at least I found it like weirdly touching and affecting scene in this film that had not really had that sort of like weight or stillness at any point before that. Well, their relationship is really odd because they both kind of like tiptoe around each other. And then anytime they're in a conversation with anyone else, they talk about the other very differently. Right. Like they're like this burden on their lives. And there's also the scene where he's going to get the medal for being the best citizen on the Citizens Band radio. And he like tells his dad. And then when he goes to pick him up before the ceremony, his dad has gotten so drunk that he's like passed out on the table.

And thought man was dead. A hundred percent. I was like, this has to be right. And he starts crying and screaming. And you're like, oh, this is him realizing his dad is dead. Right. But in fact, he's crying and screaming because he's like, again, I fucking thought for once my dad was going to be able to see me do something good. Right.

There's some nice little human moments. And his relationship with his brother, Blood. You know, like, he, Blood is very aware of the fact that he was not his parents' favorite children. He is now a gym coach where he

gets to yell at other children. A scene that gave me PTSD. I truly, when this scene started and he was inspecting all the kids' jockstraps and yelling at them and making them do laps, I had a full body panic return to the feeling of being in gym class when I

was 13 years old. Did you mention Ed Begley Jr.'s in this film? He is, but I saw him in the credits before I started watching and I'm like, where is he? He's barely in it. But you hear his voice a bunch. You hear his voice. Right.

He would hate being in this movie now. He only wants electric cars. I don't know. Yeah. I'm going to make a Begley joke for you. Yeah. Jesus. It's a great joke.

Sure. I just love to do a show with my brother. I loved how Ed Begley became so famous for driving an electric car that he played multiple characters on other shows, not himself, where he drove an electric car. Because they were like, it's fucking Ed Begley Jr. Yeah. It's what he does.

I also imagine that's like a sticking point for him in contracts. Yeah. He's like, I will only, right, I'm not driving your gas guzzlers around the set. Right. And they're like, this movie takes place in the 1600s. And he's like, I must drive an electric car. Let me read you, guys, before we get off of this. I have a couple other things.

That's fine. But let me read you some. This is an interview with Demi. Okay. From 1991 in the Los Angeles Times. Okay. He got picked out of the Corman basket by Paramount. He makes this movie.

After he makes this movie, Michael Eisner, who later would run Disney. At this point, is that Paramount? Becomes in charge of Paramount. Yeah. He ascends to the throne right around now. Okay.

He sees this movie and his first question is, why did we make this movie? And Jonathan Demme is like, uh-oh. Then the movie comes out. It is a gargantuan flop. Yeah.

It costs, I think, about five million to make. It didn't even make like a million dollars at the box office. True. After they fucking recut. Yeah. It cost, I think, about five million to make. It didn't even make like a million dollars at the box office. True. After they fucking recut. Yeah.

And then a producer calls him, another Paramount producer, and says, hey, can we meet? And Demi's like, oh, okay. Maybe like, I'm not fucked.

Maybe this guy wants, maybe he liked the movie anyway. Because Demi's like, it's not a bad movie. Yeah. His opinion even like at this point is like, you know,

I made a movie that I thought was okay. And the guy sits down with him, this producer, and he's like, so I have a picture coming out in a month and I'm really worried it's going to flop. How does it feel having made a flop? What's that like? And Demi's like, wait, you only called me for a meeting to discuss the psychological toll of having a bomb in a box office bomb?

Demi, you're a fucking loser, right? Exactly. I feel like I'm about to get dunked on hard. Can you prepare me for the atomic wedgies I'm going to get from the press? A hundred percent. And his takeaway from this movie, here's his quote. I had to take a step back and look at the movie and go, good Lord, it's 90 minutes of people talking to each other over the radio.

Eric Romero would not have touched this. And he was like, I have to make movies for a wider audience. I can't just make a movie and think, well, it's a good picture and that's that. I should be conscious of this is a business. Movies are supposed to be

entertaining and broadly appealing. And that's something I need to not forget as I get into the studio system. That's the Corman thing where even if those movies are messy, there is on its face a very clean one sentence hook of what you can pretend the movie is about. And when he goes into his comedy phase after this, you can go like, married to the mob, it's in the title. Right.

You know? Something wild, a crazy lady. Like Something Wild is like the original Man pixie dream girl movie right uh like all these movies that have like a very clean premise and then he can put all sorts of weird sort of character and craft into it and i think after he makes this movie he's like shit i might not get to make another movie like this is such a bomb that i'm i'm a nobody like this could be it. And he says it was hard to find another. I think that's why he made Last Embrace, because he was just like,

any script anyone wants me to make, I'm there. And you're like, this is a thriller. Maybe this is an easier genre to sell. And I have a real movie star. I just want to talk a little bit more about the Napier, Chrome Angel. Love Napier. They're both named angels as well

in the call signs at the end of the movie. Dallas Angel in Portland. Right, right, right. But this beautiful thing Love Napier. What are their two names? They're both named angels as well in the call signs at the end of the movie. Yeah, Dallas Angel and Portland Angel. Right, right, right. But this beautiful thing where you're introduced to Napier in the accident. He just has this insane chin. It's just the most incredible jaw. We lost him a couple years ago, but he was one of my favorite character actors. Always stuck out in any movie.

I knew him from, here's how much he stuck in my craw. I knew he was familiar to me. Literally the only thing I knew him from and was trying to recall was a FMV game called Spycraft, the great game. Never heard of it. He was like the director of the FBI and he was like your mean boss, basically.

Great casting. Perfect role. And he made such an impression from that, I remembered him some 20 odd years later. Well, the thing that he stuck in my craw for i'm at a young age was he plays the american general in austin powers who has to go and unfreeze him uh and sets him up on his mission but he's got the scene where they they call him and say like we found dr evil uh it's it's clint howard calls him and says like we found dr evil on the radar and it Howard calls him and says like, we found Dr. Evil on the radar. And it's like 17 split screens. It's like a bunch of little boxes.

And he gives his directions where he's like, feed my fish. Don't forget to tell my wife I'm missing. Pack my suitcase. And you see all the split screens of all the different actions. And then he says, I'm going to London, England. And that line reading of London, England is a thing I quote all the time.

And I'm not even doing it consciously, but I just think it's funny. That's how you say London, England. Where I grew up, by the way. I'm sorry, what? Just getting that in there. Whoa. Wait a second. What?

Ben's here again. No, I've been here the whole time. I just was looking at something. I've missed this. I'm a long-time listener. I've never heard of it. And you've been, like, binging episodes. Wait.

You've been listening to them all the time. We're talking England. London, England. This is, God, Justin, I'm so sorry this has to happen in front of you. I know, I know. A brother would never pull this on you. No, it's amazing. This is like when you go over to someone's house for dinner

and the family starts fighting, their parents start yelling at them. The British one? Yeah, the British one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. My God. One thing I want to point out about Charles. So, like, the queen.

Have you ever met her? No. Okay, but do you? She walked by me once. What? At VE Day. Okay. 1995.

On vacation? No. Wow, wow, wow. But do you, are you like, do you pray to the queen or whatever? Do you have like, do you? Wait a second. Now you're just asking comically uninformed questions about Britain? So you do tea time every hour on the hour?

Is that you guys barely even know what Britain is? I know London, England. Oh boy. I know from England. written news? I know London, England. Oh boy. I know from England. You know the one I get when people bring up London is the

Dennis Farina and Snatch the bit where he's like, I'm coming to London. You hear that, Doug? I'm coming to London. I literally can't say if someone mentions London, I can't not do. I'm coming to London. You hear that, Doug? I just want to shout out my personal favorite Charles Napier, Austin Powers line reading,

which is in I Think the Spy Who Shagged Me. He's in the scenes with Tim Robbins as the president. And there's the thing where Tim Robbins is like, what if we nuke the moon? And he says, are you suggesting we blow up the moon, sir? That's the line. And he's like, would you miss it? Would you miss it? It's a great line.

Are you suggesting we blow up the moon, sir? and he's like, would you miss it? Would you miss it? It's a great line. Are you suggesting we blow up the moon, sir? Was Tim Robbins winning the Oscar for Mystic River a make-up for him not even being nominated in Spy Who Shagged Me? Of course, 100,000%. It's one of his better performances. And I'm not saying that in a backhanded way. He's really fucking good in Spy Who Shagged Me.

Robbins had that run in the late 90s, like his cameo in High Fidelity. He was a great fire like his cameo in High Fidelity like he was a great like firecracker cameo guy and now I guess he just doesn't really

do a lot of movies what the fuck is Tim Robbins even doing well of course he's going to be our guest on the Melvin and Howard episode next week

you can ask him directly huge please don't bring up the England stuff with him it will throw him off you know the other one that he has an incredible cameo, and it's after that initial run, but he's really fucking good in that? What?

The Tenacious D movie. Oh, I've never seen that movie. He has the best scene in the movie. Well, there you go. He has a cameo in Zathura. He has a cameo, of course, in Anchorman. Zathura is not a cameo. Well, it's listed as a cameo in Wikipedia.

He is the adult lead. He is the parent. But he must be in like one or two scenes, right? He's bookending the picture. Right, right, right. But he is the emotional core of the film. He is the adult lead. He is the parent. But he must be in like one or two scenes, right? He's bookending the picture. Right, right, right. But he's the emotional core of the film. He's the heart of the film. Public news?

He's funny in Anchorman. Remember that? Yeah, he's very funny. He's the PBS guy. What's your favorite Robbins Pop in? Justin, you got a favorite Robbins Pop? Rob Pop. You got a Rob Pop in?

I met him in real life once This is a 30 second Tim Robbins story I know we have to talk about Last Embrace It was after Hamilton I saw Timbo there You said Timbo And gave him a big hug We had both just seen Hamilton for the first time

It was my second It was Tim first I was talking about how the teens were obsessed with Hamilton We both just seen Hamilton for the first time. It was my second. It was Tim's first. And I was talking about how the teens were obsessed with Hamilton in much the same way that my generation was obsessed with the men. I said, but they're getting the better end of the deal because they walk away from this with a functional knowledge of the American Revolution. And Tim Robbins said, Justin, your generation got something just as important from Rent. I said, what's that, Tim? He said, empathy.

And it was the most fucking Tim Robbins I was waiting for like a joke. And I couldn't believe, I couldn't fathom that it was Tim Robbins not doing a Tim Robbins SNL impression or something. It was amazing. Can I tell my 32nd Tim Robbins story?

Everybody's got one. My first real acting job I got, not counting The Buried Secret of M. Night Shyamalan because I was cut out of it, was a pilot that Tim Robbins directed for Showtime that our friend Matt Patches was a PA on. It's the Gravity guy, right? That guy? Different show. Oh, different show. Different show.

It's the Gravity guy, right? That guy? Different show. Oh, different show. Different show. This was a Tim Robbins pilot called Possible Side Effects that was about, it was like a succession, but with the pharma industry. Great. Where it was a family, like an old money power family.

Sounds like a real barn burner. It was Ellen Burstyn. Love her. Try Silence. Try Silence. Josh Lucas, Tim Blake Nelson. This is the one that she insisted she wasn't in. Correct.

She told me she was not in this. She said, you have me mistaken with someone else. Could it have been Ellen Barkin? Is that possible? I'm 100% certain it was Ellen Barkin. Wasn't it Barker? No, absolutely not. She wasn't off the leash?

I just want to remember, three projects I was in with her, she does not remember the first two, despite, I think, winning an Emmy for the second. Anyway. She's lousy with Emmys. This pilot never went. It never aired. But I was not cut out of it. And I played the young stoner boy in it.

Sure. I was invited over to his place for rehearsals. And I got outside. Is this like in Manhattan? In Manhattan. I will not divulge the exact location, although I don't think he owns this place anymore. Sure, sure.

But I got to the buzzer board. It's 123 Tim Robbins Avenue. Just FYI. I got to the buzzer board outside this building and one of the names on the board was T. Dobbins. And I went, well,

very famous people don't want their name being publicly visible on a buzzer board. So I assume that this is the world's worst cover name. Right. He has literally just changed one letter. That'll fool him. So I sent a text to be like, I just want to double check.

Right. Is it Dobbins? It's apartment 8T Dobbins, right? Right. And the response was, no, it's apartment 9Jack Dobbins right and the response was no it's apartment 9 Jack Malarkey or whatever he just happens to live next to a T Dobbin whose first name is

Tim he lives directly next to we've never done a Robbins Corner before this is gold he lives directly above a man who is one letter off from his name and he's got some completely false name on the buzzer board. And so you got into this apartment, and who's there?

Ellen Burstyn, Josh Lucas, Eva Murray. Maybe Ellen Burstyn. Tim Blake Nelson, you said. Kimberly Quinn. Remy Auberjonois. Yes. There's some really big ones. Sarita Chowdhury.

I was about to say, that was the name I was trying to call. I feel like there's another. Jason Butler Hartner. Sure. It was a really stacked cast. Everyone was like, this thing is so going. Betty Gilpin? Betty Gilpin.

Young Betty Gilpin. All my friends were like, you are a TV star now because you play the stoner. Best friend of the young son. I was a stoner who played the theremin. Oh, sure. That came about because Robbins was like, do you play any instruments?

I was like, no. He was like, really, nothing? I was like, nothing. He was like, fuck, we're going to have to come up with something for you to fake. I was like, haha, like the theremin. He went, that's funny, but we'll have to come up with a serious answer. Then I showed up on set and there was a theremin.ha, like the theremin. And he went, that's funny, but, I mean, we'll have to come up with a serious answer. And then I showed up on set, and there was a theremin. Sure.

And they asked me to play it. Right. Don't you just sort of go like. That's what I thought. David is waving his hands like a moron. And I thought. What? I thought I can just wave my hands like a moron. And unlike the guitar where people will know my finger placement is wrong.

It's a real instrument. Yeah. So it's one of the worst scenes that any actor has ever done, which is me pretending to be stoned, laughing at my theremin playing, and I am unconvincing at both things, acting stoned and playing the theremin. Sure. I could do both those things great. Yeah, I know you could.

You should have played the part. Yeah. Because Justin's spotlighting these scenes of surprising emotional poignancy in this movie, right? He's like Mark Ruffalo. Justin's like Mark Ruffalo? He's spotlighting it. Spotlighting. They knew! They knew these scenes were poignant!

Justin knew. I knew! You know. So is this kind of where it devolves into? Am I at the peak of the James Lolves into am I at the peak of the the James L. Brook years is kind of the peak of the show right

and then it's kind of the wheels fall off yeah it's terrible we recorded our last Demi episode I think it was it's terrible right you

you tried to save it and the computer spat it back out at you it did win a couple of these though pre-release Star of Tomorrow no just

you started listening to the show in like the last six months and have been binging through it, but you're like a year behind and you don't understand that we have cratered. Oh, perfect. Okay, good. Yeah, you're hitching your ride to a medium.

I don't like this bit. I think if anything. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm kidding. Like a fine wine. Okay, it's a fine wine. Or a rare cheese. Yes.

Stinky. Okay. What I was going to say. David's waving his hand in front of his face. No, rare cheese. Yes. Stinky. Okay. What I was going to say, David's waving his hand. No, he's playing the theremin again. Okay. That was a good joke. And now he's pointing. Oh, my God.

Okay, everybody, mark your counters. That is the first visual gag in podcast history. I can't believe it. He did that thing like a meteor. That was actually, that was the first time that someone has done a physical joke that is based off of someone describing the thing they're doing to alley-oop themselves to negate the description. That's why they pay me the big bucks.

You're right. You know what, Justin? You're coming on this podcast at just the right moment. We're back, baby. We're peaking. We're peaking again. We're back. Oh, boy.

Paula Mad style. back, baby. We're peaking again. We're back! Oh, boy. Paula Mad style. Yeah, right. What I was going to say is you meet Napier, he's in the turned over truck, and then he's an injured man, right? And here's this guy who's like the most sort of like square jawed,

like Heartland America sort of dude playing this sort of like wistful, I got a second chance at life, I just realized how close to death I came. I'm reevaluating everything. And you see him explaining all of this with a prostitute he frequents on the side of the road

whose name is Hot Coffee. That's her handle because her trademark is she gives you a cup of coffee afterwards. And this lovely scene where they're undressing, getting ready to make love. Right. And while they're doing it, she's asking him what kind of cup of coffee he's going to want afterwards. Right. And then it just fades into the coffee cup, which is sort of a sweet thing.

And he starts just sort of explaining everything to her. And she's talking about how her business is failing and she doesn't know what to do. And the market's done and, you done and all of this sort of stuff. What's the other? She gives off another explanation. Oh, it's a construction. The road's leading to her house. They built too much else on the other side of the highway

and so no one's going to come her way anymore. And he decides to buy her a camper so that she can be a mobile prostitute, which is kind of this touching act just like kindness where he's like. Sex worker. Sex worker. Where he's just like, you know, you'll pay me off whatever. It's cheaper than whatever. You know, I owe you.

When you're on the road this long, you forget about the embrace of a woman. And you're like, what a kind of sad character. Here's a man who has no love in his life. Sure. And has this like emotional affair with this sex worker who he also then has sex with. But he's really invested in her.

And then you meet these two women who are waiting at a truck stop for their husband to show up who is constantly on the road and the one woman talks about how she knows that her husband's cheating on her and the one woman's sort of flighty and more superficial

and the other woman has this like emotional base. And then it seems like they're oil and vinegar, but they start to bond over like, well, we both have the same kind of experience. And then there's this like pocket drop scene where they're sitting on the bus and she talks about finding out that her husband was having an affair, realizing there was another woman, and the night that her husband performed cunnilingus on her. And it's described as that thing that we all like but never want to say that we like,

and he usually only does it on our birthdays. But that night wasn't my birthday, which I think is a pretty— It's a nice right around. It's a nice right around, and she performs it with this sort of like, not self-pitying, but this sort of like far off look in her eye where she's explaining like this one night where he was so fully the husband I wanted in every sense that he was so emotionally attentive

and physically attentive and there for me and then the next morning he just sort of rode off into the sunset again and I like, I don't know why I didn't leave him. I was so angry at myself for falling for his kindness and not having the backbone to leave

him. And then when they decide to exchange photos, they realize it's the same man. But you've defined the dynamic between the two of them, which is one of them is really affected by this and is like really considering, you know, the state of her relationship and the other one has never suspected that her husband has done anything untoward.

Meanwhile, they're both married to him, both have children. And then they sort of flip positions where the flighty one is now, like, totally emotionally distraught in every sense. We just became friends. Do you hate me now? Am I the enemy? I can't possibly be that other woman, could I? Because we were married. It's not an affair.

And then the other one starts to try to reason with the thing and try to get revenge. They release all the cows. He writes them a note that's like, I understand why you were mad at me. The cow prank was unfortunate. Let's sit through and talk through this. And hot coffee functions as their marriage counselor. Yeah, she's like the mediator. In the RV that he bought for her.

And they all go like, I don't know, should we just try? Let's just do all three. Try to be a big family unit in a really nice kind of, you know. This is when I was like, maybe this is a good movie. This movie's got, and it's one of these Demi things. I just didn't really care about the Lamatt stuff. So anytime we were going back to that, I was kind of zoning out again. I didn't either.

I care about his dad far more than him. McGill's performance is more interesting. Well McGill's the inventor of acting. Right. McGill is the father of acting. He's the inventor of acting. I think either one of these could have worked as its own film. I agree.

In a world where the CB elements were kind of scaled down a little bit and it was more about the characters. Like there's something there. It's just two different movies. Yes, but because this movie is so scattershot and sort of like unfocused and it's two movies wedged together, I did not expect that this movie had a Chekhov's gun. That it was going to pay off in the final moment where all threads perfectly tied together. Right. final moment where all threads perfectly tied together, which is

of course, Paul Lamatt's depressed father is the only one who can rescue the cows that Napier's wives, plural, unleashed. And it ends with just everyone laughing. Like it's the end of Rat Race and everyone's triumphant dancing

to All Star. Yeah, but you know what's interesting about that last scene? Everyone physically in the same place. The only time. The only time. The only time. So that's Citizen's Band. Thank you for bringing up Rat Race.

Anytime. Does it have... It's nice. No. There's no box office. There's no box office. Either of these. Okay.

We might do the years at the end of the episode. Yeah. Have we done 77 before? I don't think we have. I have no idea what's the top movie of 77. So the second film is called... It's the year punk broke. Oh, that's probably the episode. Yeah, have we done 77 before? I don't think we have. I have no idea what's the top movie of 77. So the second film is called... It's the year punk broke. Oh, that's probably the answer. It's punk the movie.

Alright, Last Embrace. Written by David Schaber. Based on the novel The 13th Man by Murray T. Blue. Now, Justin, you had a line via text about this movie being based off a novel. That sounds like me.

Yeah, what'd I say? I'm sorry. You were relaying your wife's line. It was, my wife said, I love old books, but when your nail-biting thriller includes multiple library visits, something has gone wrong. There are no fewer. something has gone wrong. There are no fewer. There's at least two,

and depending on how you count, three scenes where advancing the plot is handled by going to the library. And not like in a fun, you know, what's the Tom Hanks? Da Vinci Code. Sure. Yeah, not like in a Da Vinci Code kind of dramatic library.

Not like a John Wick library shootout sequence. No, it's not Indiana Jones, like, I love history thing. It's like, he's like, I gotta get to the library, and then it crossfades to him talking to another old Jew. Oh, God, there's so much great old Jew content in this movie. Now, this is the thing. I did not expect this to be such a Judaic thriller. But it's, here's my complaint.

Should you describe it broadly since no one can? Yeah, I will describe it broadly. But it's not's my complaint should you describe it broadly since no one can yeah I will describe it broadly but for it's not Judaic enough it should be more Judaic is the idea because this movie I found very confusing

sure is the idea well apparently I bought a book about Demi like the only book I could find about him and apparently like this is one of those classic

like the script wasn't really done you know like it was a disastrous production scheider wasn't into it so i think like it's a bit of a half-assed movie in that regard right and it's him it's fascinating what were you gonna say sorry it's fast it's it's what's interesting to me about last embrace is and this is i think this is like specific to the thriller or thriller slash mystery genre is that two-thirds of the way into the movie, I didn't know if it was working or not because it all kind of depended on where everything was going. Because the cards are held back, it's like, maybe this is going to land.

Did it land? It may very well land where it's going for. And you don't realize until the film's over it's like, oh. Oh. It lands at the bottom of Niagara Falls

onto jagged rocks. That's the other thing is that the poster makes it feel like, oh, is this movie going to be like fucking Runaway Train? Yeah, right.

Is this going to be some propulsive like epic landscape thriller? I was like, we got Roy Scheider. It looks like a Hitchcock movie. Jonathan Demme's behind the camera. Like, this looks like fun.

Right. And it begins with, like, his wife getting murdered in a restaurant with him. Which he's having as a nightmare, which is one of the cool sort of director flourishes in this movie is the nightmare is— It's real. It's real. Right. But also he does it with crossfades from every piece of coverage. So from the opening scene, you're like, something weird is going on here.

It doesn't feel surreal in a way that tells you it's a dream sequence, but it's clear that something unnatural is going on. And it's him reliving the night that his wife died. And that's a good... I assume when this starts, I'm like, oh, okay, maybe this is like a revenge thriller about him chasing the killers of his wife, or maybe this is like about him figuring out,

He's a weird government agent. He took his wife with him on assignment. While he was being targeted, right. And he got killed as collateral damage. Yes. And as this film starts, he has spent the last five months in a mental hospital trying to recover from the trauma of his wife's death. Right.

None of that has anything to do with the rest of the movie. Well, at the beginning I was like, is this one of those movies where a guy is convinced that he's being followed and the whole movie is about— And there's that very early sequence where he's on the subway platform and he thinks he's being, like someone's trying to push him and it's all in his head. Which I love. This is one of my favorite sub-genres of movies, which is person thinks they're in a movie. Right. You know, like, this is Roy Scheider

as a guy who thinks he's in the middle of like a John Le Carre novel and really he's just suffering from trauma. He's just going mad. Right. That brief bit where he thought someone pushed him off is amazing because it's Mandy Patinkin is the one that he thinks pushes him off. And it's one of those fun, like, oh, weird. Is this weird?

It's like seeing Maya Rudolph in a music video. It just pops up like, oh, weird. That's Mandy Patinkin. And then the fucking dad from ALF comes and saves the day. Max Wright comes out of nowhere to save Mandy Patinkin's life. Both men are then excused from the film. I could follow them. They sound like Great Leagues for a Judeo thriller.

Well, both men had hard outs. Mandy Patinkin needed to be wrapped by noon so that he could sing the entire Sondheim book. And the entire song book. And Max Wright needed to go back to working with a fucking puppet. What you're saying, though, about the... What's frustrating about this movie is that there's that, like, this idea of, like, you know, maybe it's on his head that he's being followed,

and he has the reason that he... It has the secret agent stuff. Like, maybe it's, like, some enemy or his employers or something trying to take him out, and then there's the stuff with, with like the sort of paranoia and anxiety he's still dealing with as a result of what happened to his wife. And then it turns out what is actually happening to him has nothing to do with either of those. That's what's frustrating. It's like fake tension that they've ginned up from nowhere.

Which feels like probably Demi was like, this is a more interesting movie. This is a more interesting exercise as a director to go in the head of someone dealing with that kind of paranoia and skepticism about everything around him. But that is not what the story inherently is. Because the story is a weird secret cabal of Jewish pimps who use their sex workers which was a real thing

to kill is the implication that Roy Scheider is the child of Nazis? No, no, no, no. Okay, so you really so Griffin was watching this movie

as he came into the I had technical difficulties. I watched the last 30 minutes here in the studio. Roy Scheider it turns out is descended from members of Zee McDowell

which was a sort of like prostitution ring in like turn of the century America. Okay. Consisting of Jews, usually Polish Jews, I think, who would like traffic people. You know, like they would sort of steal people from other countries, bring them to America, and put them into sex slavery. Right. This is a real thing. And it's still happening to Janet Margolin even as late as— She was a victim of this.

Right. And she's holding him responsible because his—it turns out— No, she wasn't. Her grandma was. Oh, okay. Her grandma was. But she's holding him responsible because his grandpa was one of the bad guys. Right.

And she's the one who's been killing people as part of this sort of avenging journey. I got that it was part of the grandpa thing. Right. Simultaneously, there's also like a secret. Secret agents are also kind of trying to kill him, putting like cyanide pills in his prescription bottles. His own agency. But like that seems unrelated. So the cyanide pills in his prescription bottles agency right but like that seems unrelated the chat this so the cyanide was janet margaret yeah that's right you're right you're right

you're right you're right you're right charles napier does show up as the brother of his wife that his wife's brother his deceased wife's brother who says he's just checking up on them for the agency that apparently they work and he holds um scheider responsible for like getting his sister scheider's wife killed right bringing her along but are they both at the same job i don't know the thing is the reason i thought the cyanide was the cia is because you don't learn what i just described that you know um yeah janet margolin is the actual villain until 20 minutes before the movie's over and there's so much that's such a big idea

and it takes no time to unpack this idea that like I am avenging like you know the whole sins of the father thing and also like the idea of prostitution what these people went through

none of it is like unpacked or dealt with in any way. No she essentially has one big monologue that is all retro exposition to make sense of what you've watched up until that point. Right. Then they have the titular last embrace and then she knees Roy Scheider

in the balls and he has a full onon dog's ass. Okay, can we talk about this? It is one of the wildest things I've ever seen in a movie, okay? She unpacks the whole finale. They're both there at Niagara Falls, okay? She unpacks the entire story. And we've seen the poster.

We know this is going to end with them dangling over. Someone's going to dangle. Yes. All the cards've seen the poster. We know this is going to end with them dangling over. Someone's going to dangle. Yes. All the cards are on the table. And then she meets him in the box. He goes full home alone for what felt like seven minutes lying on the ground

hoping Darwin jumps out of Niagara Falls to save him. And fucking, there is then the most boring chase I've ever seen in my entire life that involves I shit you not them joining a Niagara Falls tour group in the middle of the chase.

It's like the steamroller bit from Austin Powers of foot chasers. But it's also incredible that they each end up in a different tour group, so you're cross-cutting between two banal tour groups. The way they're ratcheting tension is going from one tour guide to another tour guide. You know that?

People kind of trying to crane their neck over a crowd. Where'd she go? Where'd she go? Ben, please pull the audio clip of Roy Scheider getting hit in the nuts because, A, the visual of it is incredible. He does do a full America's Funniest Home Video, like dad getting hit with the Nerf bat, sort of lean in.

He does everything but go cross-eyed, right? But then he is an actor of such weight. He is. He's such an intense actor. That's the thing. He's not even trying that hard in this movie. He's still just freaking scary. He's scary scary he's such a classic 70s leading man in that you're like is he about to like beat this person up like he just feels like someone a little slappy in the face and be like get out of here

he is doing at roy schneider is doing a uh a job keeping this film like even the least because like there are moments where it's like nothing is happening but he Roy is putting in a lot of effort to keep things feel like he acts so tense that it seems like he's in a better movie like he wow he's really he's really

said in the New York Times no leading actor can create so much tension out of such modest material I was trying to figure out like No leading actor can create so much tension out of such modest material. I was trying to figure out how to sum up what Roy Scheider's thing was. And that really is that there is something so tense about him. It's why he's so good in Jaws. He's sort of secretly my favorite in Jaws, even though I love all three of those performances. Well, and Jaws is the closest that anyone ever came to making him an acceptable movie star.

Because post-Jaws, everyone was like, this guy's a leading man. He was in Jaws, the biggest movie ever. And audiences never warmed to him in the same kind of way again. No, because he's frightening. That's the thing. And like, Jaws, Spielberg was like, I'm going to make this frightening guy

work as hard as he can to try to seem nice and charming. He's the normal one in Jaws. Like with the nerd and the psycho, he's kind of the cheese cat. The nice thing is you have the scenes where he's bonding with his children and then he stands up and walks to a corner and you're like this guy's haunted. There's some weird thing here.

To give you a little run of his, he's a terrific actor. He was an amateur boxer. He was. He served in the Air Force. He's like a fucking tough guy. He is. And then he's like a fucking tough guy. He is. And then he becomes like a Shakespearean actor. He wins an Obie Award just like Blank Check the Podcast.

Of course. His big breakout role is 71. He's in Clute and he's in The French Connection. Right. He gets an Oscar nomination for The French Connection. He's really good in that movie. But that's one of those performances where it's like. It's a pretty, I mean, obviously Gene Hackman is going big in that movie and he's pretty quiet. He's the partner.

He doesn't have a big emotional arc. He doesn't have a big emotional arc. He doesn't have a big breakdown scene. He gets an Oscar nomination because at this point in time, that kind of performance was stunning. Yeah. For someone to be like that real and that gritty and that intense. And then he's around, and in 75, he does Jaws. Right. Huge.

The biggest. Literally the biggest. Right. In 76, he does Marathonathon Man which he is like a supporting character but that's a big movie yes in 77 he does

Sorcerer the greatest blank check of all time he also yes right which he's the lead

of that he's the lead of that and Friedkin always says it was the biggest mistake he ever made in his career

in that Friedkin's so mean right he was like have you ever seen Sorcerer, Justin? No, I've not. Sorcerer fucking rules. It's one of the tensest movies ever made. It's essentially just an exercise in sustained tension, which is like five really fucking creepy and shady guys all get sent to the jungle through separate means on a mystery mission,

which is transport a bunch of wet dynamite through the jungle. Hell yeah. And the movie is they got a truck. They're in like the swamp of – are they in Costa Rica? I think it was South America. Let me look it up. But they just – they got a truck full of wet dynamite, and they're trying to figure out how to move that truck

over an incredible amount of land with as little movement as possible. Yes. It's incredible, and the whole movie is just close-ups. Mexico. Mexico, sorry, of Roy Scheider being really worried that dynamite's about to go off and kill them all, kill the entire cast at any single moment.

The studio really wanted Freak, and coming off of Exorcist and French Connection, this incredible run, to cast fucking Steve McQueen. And he was like, Roy Scheider's a real actor. I don't want to work with a movie star. Roy Scheider's got the goods. I'm hiring him.

And he's like, I think it's my best movie. Roy Scheider gave an incredible performance and it didn't fucking matter because I didn't have a movie star and for that premise and that bleak of film, you needed a movie star. And he's like, one close-up of Steve McQueen would have given me the spoonful of sugar to sell an audience on the entire thing.

And Roy Scheider is just kind of too prickly. And then Roy Scheider does all that jazz, which is like... Well, that's the same year as this. Right. That's his best performance. Agreed. Gets an Oscar nomination.

It's an incredible performance. And he's kind of playing against type. Yeah. He's playing Bob Fosse. Right. But he's also playing an asshole. The entire performance is this guy sucks.

He's an asshole. He's abusive to everyone in his life. Right. But he's an incredible artist and everyone hates that he gets away with it. Right.

And the movie is about him fucking dying and a chorus celebrating it in his fantasy, his half-dead brain. He's fantastic in that movie, and for some reason, that was the end of him. That's what I was going to say. I mean, in the 80s, he's in movies. He's in 2010, which is a weird-ass sequel to 2001. But at that point, he's kind of done. It's like that's his last big sort of major role and that movie is successful

but people don't like it. I don't know what... Just because you guys talk about movies doesn't mean you can sit here and dismiss Sequel's DSV. Well, right. For three years. I did watch that. That's the thing. Throughout the 80s his career is not great.

And it's like 52 Pickup is probably like his best of the decade and it's Frankenheimer movie right

and it's like a programmer with like Ann Margaret but it's like a good whatever right but then

after like the 80s being shitty where it's like oh he's like the grown up in Listen to Me which is otherwise sort of like

a sub Brat Pack like dramedy with Kirk Cameron then he just is like cool I'm on like an afternoon syndicated otherwise sort of like a sub-brat pack like dramedy with Kirk Cameron, then he just is like, cool, I'm on like an afternoon syndicated underwater adventure series. Right. And that's like his career now. But he famously, while on Sequest DSV, like went to the press and was like,

this show is a piece of shit and I hate it. Right, and it was like very successful. I think he's just a grump. Well, he's dead now. Was a grump. Well, he's dead now. He was a grump. But it was, yeah, a very successful show that could have given him a new audience and instead he hated it. It did give us one of the greatest gifts in

culture, which is a Roy Scheider action figure. A thing he probably burned. But this movie is coming at the tail end. The Dolphin's name was Darwin, by the way. That's why I said Darwin earlier because after he got kicked in the ball, he was going for Darwin to come and jump in. Oh, I get it now.

And Justin, that's really funny. And I wish I were your brother because if I were your brother, I would have gotten that. Brothers get each other's drugs. What about two friends? It's irrelevant now. It didn't work. Shut up. I came on hoping to get some number of comedy points awarded

to me and I feel like I put myself in the negatives. With my terrible CPSD. I'm going to give you 10 for the Darwin joke. I didn't get it at the time. He doesn't want pity points. Absolutely not. I'm going to give you 5 pity points but I'll retract the comedy points. In the edit, go back and listen. Maybe your head

wasn't in the right space to get points. My head's on a swivel looking for an opportunity to hand out some points. You know what else is weird about Nice Embrace? What? Christopher Walken's in it. In like... This is the year after he wins an Oscar. He won an Oscar

for a 1978 movie. He's a good actor. He's in this for two scenes. He's like, go kill that guy. Doesn't do anything. Two scenes that both take place with him sitting behind a desk on the phone. He's in this for two scenes and he's like, yeah, go kill that guy. Like, doesn't do anything. Two scenes that both take place with him sitting behind a desk on the phone, so they probably were shot

back to back. He probably was on set for four hours. Yeah. He gets the and in the billing, but it's not a substantial enough role for it to be like,

oh, we got like an Academy Award winner to be the heavy for a few scenes. Right. And it's also not like small enough that it's a cameo like it's a weird third

build he gets the end he gets the end you're right you're right yeah but it's it's also such a weird fit for a mystery thriller like this because he's he's so weird um tick so ticky that you assume that there's something like oh i wonder what this guy's like this guy seems like he's definitely at that point in the movie, you're supposed to be questioning whether this is all in Roy Scheider's head. And then you have the character that is sort of contextualized as being his boring

boss is the weirdest actor alive. It's like Christopher Walken in like normal garb. Like, oh, here's a mustache and boring glasses and a suit on Christopher Walken. He's a normal guy now, right? And he's going like, look, you know, the transfer, the wife

died, you know, with the talion. And then he's gone. You see one scene where he's conspiring. Yeah, that's it, basically. And it turns out he doesn't matter. It all turns out it doesn't matter. The Charles Napier character, the brother-in-law, there's like a shootout with him.

But I could barely understand why they're fucking shooting each other. It seemed like it was because he had reacted so – It's because he's like investigating the murders? The brother, Dave, goes to check up on him and he pulls a gun on Dave when Dave just has like some chips or something. He does not have a gun. He pulls a gun on Dave when Dave just has like some chips or something. He does not have a gun. He pulls a gun on Dave, Dave dips. And I think what was implied was that because of that, he went back and told the

bosses, like, hey, he's off the rails. We gotta get rid of this guy. Bring him down. Which is a wild person, by the way, to send to check up on the mental health. Exactly. By the way, very bad government organization that's an unbiased

observer. And also like one of the most triggering people for Roy Scheider after C.A. because he's like okay I know I was just in like a sanitarium for months and months and months but I'm ready to get back to totally normal life and instead his work is like we still think you're crazy we're going to send people to check your craziness.

And the brother-in-law shows up and is like, you're responsible for my sister, your wife's death. And there's a lady living in his apartment, Janet Margolin, who thinks that he's an intruder. And he has to prove he's not by kicking the floorboards in a way that gets the fridge to work properly. But then he very quickly explains, oh, when I'm away on assignment, they sometimes sublet my apartment to other people. And she was like, well, they said you were going to be gone indefinitely. And he's like, that's not true. Let's just be roommates. Yeah, it's like the goodbye girl.

Do you know how hard up for cash your secret organization has to be that every time your secret agent leaves the country, you sublet their apartment out. I forgot how ludicrous that plot explanation of why she's in his apartment is. Get all the secrets?

It is. You have to squeeze every extra- Are your agents also working as ride share drivers? What the fuck is this rinky-dink operation? It's- I mean, yeah. It is literally the premise of The Goodbye Girl, which is probably like the same year. Yes.

Which is like, we're both, we're like double booked to live in the same apartment. I guess we got to live together. Right. Except in this one, they fall in love while he investigates the Jewish Avenger murders of various other people. Because she hands him a note that is written in Hebrew, which he brings to a rabbi, played by the mayor of Ghostbusters, David Margulies.

Love that guy. Who then breaks it down for him, but says these two letters don't mean anything. Right, right. That's an M and a Z. They must be someone's initials. Right. So then this gets to the library thriller aspect of this movie. Yeah, then he goes to see John Glover.

He has to keep on seeing Jewish intellectuals to have them make sense of these notes. And they talk about like the Avenger of Blood, Goel. Right. Who is a, you know, biblical, like, I don't know, angry Avenger type. But then when he kills Charles Napier, then Sam Levine, not the same, not little Wolverine, comes out and goes like, Hey, Gewalt, you murdered the guy. And he was like, who are you? What are you doing here?

And he was like, I'm from the good Jews trying to make sure that you don't get in trouble with the bad Jews. But I don't know what's going on at all. And then they become like, it becomes a buddy picture. He's like his sidekick. The way he finds out about this, by the way, is that, so he gets this note that has the Hebrew on it. He goes to a rabbi who translates it for him. And then as he's leaving, rabbi calls well I have to assume just other Jews

like the good Jews basically and is like hey listen we've got we've got a situation we've got a go-out on our hands

so like the implication is that they like all the good Jews know each other and are like in a secret secret it's like the society

of cross keys from the Grand Budapest Hotel right like there's like a network of the most moral Jews. Oh, God. Of which there are many.

But then, okay, look. This whole movie's going on with all this shit. Ben, by the way, is asleep right now. Ben is asleep. Yeah. I don't have anything to add. This movie is hard to talk about. I mean, you guys are doing a good job, so keep at it.

Eventually, eventually, eventually, eventually, eventually, eventually, we cut to this scene of Janet Margolin suddenly dressed up in like a sort of lacy, sexy getup. Yeah. Sex murdering someone in a bathtub. In a hotel with a view of. Of Niagara Falls. Right. And to the point that I was like, did I miss 20 minutes of movie?

What is this? We hard cut to it. And she is such a sort of nondescript. Yeah, I'm like, is this Janet Margolin? Is this the same person? Are we cutting to an entirely new person? And this is supposed to be the devastating reveal of the movie. It's like it turns out it's been her all along.

She was a fine actress and a handsome woman. Yeah, I got no beef with Janet Margolin. There is something very generic looking about her. It's been her all along. She was a fine actress and a handsome woman. Yeah, I got no beef with Janet Marquand. There is something very generic looking about her. And this movie twice asks you to identify that it's the same character you've met when she's dressed totally different in a totally different scene in a totally different location. And then also to recognize her when fucking Scheider recognizes her in a photo in which they zoom into the photo and you go oh I guess that's her wasn't she like Gatesfield and Annie Hall

I don't know yeah it's I really I was watching the scene and my wife and I are both looking at each other like is that is it the same if it's not the same lady I don't know what there's going to corruption along the way because there is no reason. And then, okay, the weirdest thing about the sex murder, among the weirder things about the sex murder, is that the sex murder is she gets on top of him in the bathtub and then drowns him in the bathtub.

And there isn't like a secret. She doesn't pull any weird tricks. Poison. She doesn't have a knife poison she just like sits on top of him until he drowns it's like playful until it isn't like it seems like he's into drown play yeah until

she just holds him back a little too long we've all fooled around with a little drown play obviously but then and that there is no by the way it is not explained there have this is part the part that's very confusing to me. And, you know, I dismiss. I know her grandmother was definitely part of the secret sex cult thing.

They syphilized her to death in a very, very upsetting explanation. Yes. Yes. I don't know if this woman was or not. Because what is confusing to me is that she does have sex with this guy and then murders him it makes and then that photo it looks like her and the other two women are sex workers it feels like this but it's a really old photo it's like black and white daguerreotype it's like what i don't understand did roy schneider knowider know that she was involved because she looks so much

like her grandmother? Is that what we're supposed to... But that was supposed to be her grandmother in the photo? I'm deeply confused by this movie. But yes, that was her grandmother. Her sex scene with Roy Schneider comes after we've seen her sex murder another man. Correct. Almost immediately after.

And then she gets ready. She goes back home, and she's like, you know what, I'm ready to make love to you. Right, then she's ready to murder him, and he's figured out who she is, and she's like, but I really like you, so I don't actually want to murder you. And then, of course, there's only one way to resolve this.

Throw her down Niagara Falls. Roll credits, goodbye. Like, that's the thing with the movie. You're like, I have a lot to unpack, and the movie's like, get out of here. The next showing's in 15 minutes. We've got to clean up the popcorn. Like, it's just, it's so confusingly paced.

Yeah. Obviously, it's a Hitchcock movie. This is very much like, it's a Hitchcock thriller, right? Yeah. It has the form of one. And I will say, you've talked about how, like, 90s, like, Grissom legal thrillers, like, sort of, like, handsome are, like, your catnip. Yes. I feel the same way about, like, kind of, like, middling 70s, like, Hitchcock approximations.

Yes, 100%. Like this and, like, Silver Streak, these weird movies that are, like, we're, like, trying to do Hitchcock, but, like, it's kind of more, like, family plot because now the 70s have become so shaggy that you can't do the tight as a drum thriller anymore. It has to have a bunch of weird like side tangents and like character riffs. I mean this is that. I find them pleasant to watch even when they're this sloppy. I'll tell you what's interesting about this one

that I thought sort of broke the mold a little bit is that and I don't know if this is like I don't know anything about demi's work so maybe y'all can probably clue me in a bit better but um i don't feel like the aesthetics of this movie are doing anything to ratchet up the tension and in fact a lot of times i found the aesthetics of this film like very pleasing there's like weird but just like pleasing views there's this one scene where he's meeting someone in front of like a like a waterfall tunnel would

be the best way i could describe it you know after he gets the blank assignment thing and there's like this bizarre you know very early in the film um there's a bit where like uh he passes a guy who's like playing a song on a ukulele it It's all like very – but it's very pleasant. It's like very pleasant to look at. It's very pleasant to listen to. And it doesn't do anything to sort of set you, the viewer, on edge. I think that is a Demi thing. I mean I feel like he does try to make a cinematic world that is pleasant.

Yeah. And there's a lot of sort of like he does things that are unrealistic because he wants to make a movie that's the world he wishes he could live in, right? Especially in this comedy run. Like he goes between weird levels of realism and sort of like expressionism that are just like it would be nice if in the real world like people treat each other like this or like dress like this or whatever. But also that's like kind of the defining thing about Silence of the Lambs is that like people think of it as one of the scariest movies ever made and he almost like aggressively eschews any traditional sort of cinematic language for a thriller or a horror movie. That, you know, everyone always talks about like the other Hopkins Hannibal movies get

it wrong because all of them try to look scary and the thing that is scary about Silence of the Lambs is that everything is presented kind of in a banal way. What a perfect way. And he's using all the cinematic language that he had developed for comedies with the characters talking straight to the camera and all these weird things that shouldn't have worked. And he makes this one perfect thriller like eight years, nine years, ten years after he makes this middling thriller.

Twelve years. Right. Right. So it's like he makes this middling thriller. Then a decade later he makes one of the greatest thrillers of all time. Like the perfect archetype. Then he doesn't do that again. He becomes kind of a drama guy.

Yeah. And then he like makes one final like thriller at near the end of his career where he does a big remake of one of the most famous thrillers ever with big movie stars. And that's not really his zone. That's not really his genre. But within that, it's one weird commercial exercise, one weird him trying to get his feet as a filmmaker, and then one perfect movie that everyone views as the pinnacle of the art form in that genre. Right. What a weird career. Weird career.

We're going to dig into it further. Not me. I'll catch you guys probably around Christmas. You'll see us around Christmas. I mean, look, this next run is going to be great. It's going to be a blast, but the 80s demicomedies are sort of their own sub-genre. You're going to have a lot of fun, Ben.

You're going to love them. That's enough about Last in a Race. I never want to speak of it again. No, it's fine. It's not fine. It's a little rough. It's a rough one. And the good news is you can't watch it. That's true. It's unavailable. It is weirdly available on Blu-ray,

but not available to stream anywhere. We had to find it through somewhat less legal means. Not a thing I promote. Can we do the box office for 77 and 78? All right, 77 and 79. I'm sorry, 77 and 79. No, 77. Let's do the box office.

I have no... What would be the top film? Number one film of this year was quite successful. It's quite successful. Hmm, and what genre was it? We discussed it. Science fiction,

fantasy. Science fiction, fantasy film from 1977. Not part of a franchise, right? Sort of launched a franchise. It launched a franchise? Yeah.

So what, like two or three or? I couldn't even tell you. Nine? There was a seltzer guy. Yeah, this seltzer guy came close to this one.

Very close to it. So Will Seltzer tested for this? Yeah. There's length away from the lead of this one. Silent Running? Good movie. Eraserhead? I was almost Eraserhead.

2010's a couple years later. It didn't fit on my head, the eraser. It wouldn't cast. Too wet. He had the seltzer dripping through his hair. Will Seltzer looks like if they did

Eraserhead the TV series for like six episodes, you'd get Will Seltzer. Right, yeah. It's like, and now he lives in Hawaii and solves crimes. Exactly.

Like the sequel to The Jerk, you know, the TV sequel to The Jerk. The Jerk 2? The Jerk 2, yeah. Do you know there's a jerk comma T-O-O yes

that's about another jerk yeah I've never seen it it's not bad is it not bad um the film yeah no it's I mean no sorry

it's bad but it's not bad the film is called Star Wars yeah it is it is a a Star Wars movie

yeah it was a big hit big hit number 2 at the box office, though. Smoking the Bandit? Correct. Wow. $126 million.

I knew that, because I just find that really funny. Right, those were the twin prongs of pop culture at the time, Star Wars and Smoking the Bandit. The only two movies to crack $100 million that year, right? Well, you know. Or just number three.

Number three is listed at over $100, but I think that may include as many re-releases. It was another definitive science fiction film. I feel like that pairing covers all dads. Yes, it does. Yes, correct. Your dad is either a Smokey fan or a Star Wars fan. Right, it's one or the other.

This is the year that culture breaks in half. You know, and up until this point, every father would say Smokey and the Bandit is who you should aspire to be. Right. And now half the dads become Clint McElroy and raise their children in the house of Star Wars. Yeah. So number three. It's crazy that they came out the same year as Star Wars. It's another sci-fi.

But it's not Alien. Alien. No, that's 79. I know. It's going to come out. It's crazy that it also came out in 77. Does it spawn sequels? No.

No. It's a one-off sci-fi film that came out the same year. And I believe was also nominated for Best Picture. It's one of my favorite Simpsons jokes. It's interesting. It's one of your favorite Simpsons jokes. From a Treehouse of Horror episode. Weirdly was not nominated for picture, was nominated

for director. Interesting. Yeah. And is there a full Treehouse of Horror parody of it, or is it a standalone joke? Simpsons has made fun of this movie a million times. It's one of the most famous movies ever made. It's just like a, yeah, I mean, they've probably done it many times. But there's this one moment that I always think about.

It's one of the most famous movies ever made? Yeah. Do you got any idea what this is, Justin? I do, I do. But I'm a guess. I don't want to. Shoot. I want you to guess. I want you to guess.

Is it Close Encounters? Correct. Close Encounters is the third kind. Of course. Homer makes a house out of mashed potatoes. Yes, of course. And he says this is important. It is.

I mean, you know the famous story. I think it might have crossed 100 million when it came out. But the famous story is that Spielberg thought that Close Encounters was a disaster. And Lucas thought that Star Wars was a disaster after both of them had put together their cuts. And they briefly considered trading points on each other's movies. Unfortunately, neither of them ever ended up making much money in this business. Yeah, I was going to say, Stephen, what was the last? Number four is another cultural touchstone.

I mean, a very definitive movie, even though I feel like it doesn't get enough credit. People don't remember who directed it. It's really just famous for, like, its lead actor and its look and its soundtrack and stuff. But, like, it's a great movie. The Saturday Night Fever? Saturday Night Fever. Saga of just depressed people in Bay Ridge dancing. Yeah, yeah.

A very sad movie that gets reduced to, to like a sizzle reel that people parody. Right, and like a BG soundtrack. Right. Like an R-rated, tough, like fucking movie. Right. Who directed it? John Badham? Yeah.

Yeah. Who's like a good director who doesn't quite get that like new Hollywood crown in the same way as some of his peers. But was like a massive hit and was like a major Oscar film. Yeah, 100%. Yeah. Although I think it only got a couple Oscar nominees. It only got one Oscar nominee.

It only got Best Actor? Wow. Number five, the big comedy of the year. I already referenced it on this episode. The big comedy of the year that you already referenced

on this episode. Correct. Not an unwatchable movie. Definitely dated. But I have seen it. Won a big Oscar. It won a big Oscar. A performance Oscar?

Yep. A supporting... Lead. Is it Goodbye Girl? Yes. Okay. The Goodbye Girl. Yeah.

Richard Dreyfuss. It's a Neil Simon movie directed by Herbert Ross. Fun movie. They have to live together. Close Encounters and Goodbye Girl came out in the same. Dreyfuss was killing it, man. It is insane how dominant Dreyfuss was. Some other big movies in 77.

You got A Bridge Too Far, the big war epic that was actually, I think, a disappointment because it didn't do well enough. Yeah. Richard Attenborough movie. You got The Deep, which is like a Jaws ripoff. Peter Yates movie. No? Yes?

No? Yes. No, I'm just trying to get over the fact that there is literally a four-year span in which Richard Dreyfuss does American Graffiti, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It's 1973 to 1977. Well, sure. Yeah. I want to know.

Yeah, you're right. You're right. You're right. You're right. You're right. And then wins an Oscar for Goodbye Girl. And is the youngest actor to ever win that Oscar. Well, he's beaten by Adrian Brody.

Yes, but at the time. At the time. And then... He looks like he's 55. Right, and then his career never, ever gets close to that ever again. Hard to get close to that. I had a driver's ed teacher that showed us Mr. Holland's opus because everyone told him that he looked like

Mr. Holland from the final scenes of the film. It was the first time, growing up as a young person, I had a clear concept of someone who had given up. This man had given up. This man was done. Professionally, this man had checked out.

Do any of you remember they used to do on the Disney Channel when the Disney Channel was a lot of important family social value stuff. They used to have a yearly award show for teachers. Where it was like the National Teachers Award.

And celebrities would go like, they'd walk out and they'd project a photo of their class photo and they'd be like, I remember when I first fell in love with science. I'm Matthew Broderick here to present the award for best science teacher of the year. And Disney had made Mr. Holland's Opus and was doing this award show. And they play the entire trailer for Mr. Holland's Opus, not just during the broadcast but in the auditorium where the award show was happening. And then they go, ladies and gentlemen, the star of Mr. Holland's Opus not just during the broadcast but in the auditorium where the award show was happening and then they go ladies and gentlemen

the star of Mr. Holland's Opus Richard Dreyfuss and he comes out and he goes Jesus Christ look at me started making that film I look 25 now I look like the Monopoly man right I have never forgotten that joke it's a good joke but it's also so

weird that it is like Richard Dreyfuss was the youngest actor to win best actor. But he looks old when he's young. And he looked like a middle-aged man. Like the only time he looked young was American Graffiti. Yeah. And then he looks old. Yeah. And then he looks really old.

Yeah. And then like the first half of Mr. Holland's Opus, they're putting makeup on him to pretend that he's young. Right. And in the end, he looks like how he actually looks. And then he makes that movie The Crew, which was like four old mob guys. And it was Burt Reynolds and Seymour Cassell and Dennis Farina and Richard Dreyfuss.

And he was 10 years younger than the rest of them. But I mean, doesn't this guy look like a 48-year-old academic? He's like 29 in this poster. That's insane. Albert Finney is like that albert finney finney is an old face a scrooge musical called just called scrooge that we watch every year and he looks 70 years old in it and he was 13 years old yeah he was 34 years old yeah why i mean it's wild yeah it's it's nuts. Some people. Some people.

Other movies in the top ten. Spy Who Loved Me, the James Bond movie, Annie Hall, which is obviously the Best Picture winner. Oh, God, the George Burns comedy. The original. Yes. All right. 1979, however, number one film of the year. The number one film of 1979.

I feel like we've done this one. Is Kramer vs. Kramer? Yes. Have we done this? I don't know. We might have. Let's do it again anyway. Number two.

Let's do it again. The Omen? Nope. Amityville Horror? Yes. We have done this. I don't remember when. Number three, big sequel.

Number three is a big sequel. Huge sequel. A huge sequel. It's a Rocky sequel. Huh. Huge sequel. A huge sequel. It's a Rocky II. Correct. Number four, big fucking masterpiece war movie.

Number four, Apocalypse Now. Number five, the most stoned movie ever made. Number five is the most stoned movie ever made? Yeah, it's my opinion.

Up in smoke? No, no, no. You're thinking inside the box. Think outside the box. Think outside the box? Yeah. It's a movie for weed heads? Yeah, that's my opinion. Up in smoke? No, no, no. You're thinking inside the box. Think outside the box. Think outside the box? It's a movie for weed heads? Yeah, but from the director of The Sound of Music and No Drugs Are Done.

Oh, Star Trek The Motion Picture. David's whole fucking take is that Star Trek The Motion Picture is the equivalent of a planetarium laser light show. Exactly. It fucking rules. Then Alien, Ten, The Jerk, Moonraker again, so another Bond movie.

The Muppet movie. That's the top 10. I mean, that's maybe the best box office top 10 I've ever heard. It's a pretty good top 10, actually. It's a good call. The standard of quality in that top 10 is incredibly high. Yeah. You're right, because The Jerk, everything is good. Muppet movie, Masterpiece. Jerk, Masterpiece. You're right. Cause like the jerk, like, you know, everything. Yeah. Yeah. Muppet movie,

masterpiece, jerk, masterpiece, alien, masterpiece, apocalypse. Now, who am I?

Who am I doing right now? No, one's going to hear it though. I'm going to have to, I want to pull this episode. I'm going to have to keep this episode in my wallet and pull it out and show it to people to prove I was on this show. Hey, thank you.

I like right under the wire. Yeah, I earned them. That's the important thing. I just want to say how much I appreciate your show. I was never a big movie person. And then after we had Griffin on the show, I decided to give this show a shot. And it's really given me a context

to which I can like dig into movies. Like they're the vast, vast, vast majority of movies you all talk about. I have not seen. So it is, uh, been a real education for me.

And I just, I think it's such a wonderful, uh, thing y'all are doing. And I'm so happy to, uh, be involved in some small way. That should have been your title for that mini-series.

Okay. So Ben stopped recording. Are we recording again now? Yeah. Fuck, I must have hit like a button or something. Okay, so for the listener, Ben went to the bathroom and stopped recording and we spent four minutes saying very nice things to each other. Fuck! I didn't mean to do it.

Fuck me. I hit fucking C-Sport. Oh, yeah. Oh, wow. My nice things are still on my track. So you can just play mine and then leave theirs with silence afterwards. As if I said I put my heart on my sleeve and then they just gave me nothing in return. That would be, that's

the ideal. I mean, I think we gotta do that and I think much like Last Embrace we should let that play out without context and only have the listener make sense of it once we get to this point where we explain what just happened. Ben has kicked the recording track in the nuts. Ben looks real upset

right now. Ben is truly hitting himself in the head with the microphone. Oh, I I know it's just like dumb But for the listener that's fun Okay yeah okay And you gotta believe We said some very nice things about Justin We gave you comedy points We gave him comedy points you'll never know

How many we gave him But you'll hear the joke that got the comedy points Fuck me Wow what a twist ending. Yeah, well, I guess, you know, it was good that I did that. And Ben. Yeah.

Well, Justin, thank you for being on the show. Thanks, Justin. You're welcome back anytime. My brother, my brother, and me, the Mothership, one of the greatest podcasts of all time. Advice for the Modern Era. Adventure Zone, which is now a series of successful books

in addition to being one of the most successful podcasts where you guys have long-running D&D campaigns. And then you do Sawbones with your wife. My wife's a physician. It's a medical history show about weird ways we used to fix people. All excellent shows. You're the best in the biz. Oh, well, that's what it says on my business card.

And I guess this episode's coming out after the New York shows, but you guys are doing shows around. People should look up dates and see when you're performing, right? Yeah, right. That's exactly right. You're doing shows around. We're actually pretty well sold out for the rest of the year. Okay, never mind.

No, no, no. When did this come out? This is going to come out in early November. Sorry, folks. You missed us for this year. We'll catch you next year. Never mind. David, Ben, and I will be in the audience at a Brooklyn show that our audience will not have heard us talk about yet.

Yeah, that'll be us. Because this episode will come out several weeks after it. But yeah. Okay. Thank you for being here, Justin. Yeah. My pleasure. Send me free. Thank you all being here, Justin. Yeah, my pleasure. Send me free.

Thank you all for listening. Please remember to rate, review, subscribe. Thanks to Andrew Gouda for our social media, Lane Montgomery for our theme song, Pat Rollins and Joe Bowen for our artwork. Go to blankies.red.com for some real nerdy shit. Go to Patreon for blank check bonus features, where I think we're coming

up on Infinity War now. We're almost done with the Marvel commentaries. We only have four more left. Endgame in a couple days. Okay, great. Yeah. So that's what's going on there.

We're in the endgame now. Now I still you know what I have I have the because I'm recording the call I have the rough cut of the rough audio Skype audio

of you're all's part for that episode so you can reenact it you can do the quiet staging of your lines yeah that sounds like a lot of work but yeah let's do it