Blank Check with Griffin & David - Roadies with Layne Montgomery

Episode Date: September 4, 2016

Musician and Blank Check theme song creator Layne Montgomery (The Romantic Comedy) joins #thetwofriends to lock the gates in our final episode of the Cameron Crowe mini series and discuss Crowe’s most recent project, the Showtime series Roadies. But does Cameron’s return to his roots pay off? Is the portrayal of the music industry actually relevant? Will this show get another season? Together the gang examines the ten episodes (so you don’t have to) including Ron White’s performance as an embalmed corpse, Luke Wilson’s Verizon commercials and Carla Gugino's filmography.

I think the general public has no idea what roadies do. Bless them all. I just play the podcasts. Boo. That's a Tom Petty quote. Boo. And we're kicking off our episode with a Tom Petty quote, just like Showtime's roadies kicks off its whole season with...

Boo. A Tom Petty quote. Ladies and gentlemen, my name... Thank you for pausing for my boo. Anytime. You know why? Because I am your friend, and collectively we are hashtag the two friends and this is the who friends

it's the who friends Griffin Newman David Sims this is blank I was listening to the who on the subway oh my lord I don't care I'm taking this off the rails as much as I can this episode. I'm trying to.

I'm fucking Steven Seagal. You're taking us into dark territory. Foreshadowing. And I'm trying to keep this train on the tracks. My name's Griffin Newman. Your name's David Sims. This is Blank Check with Griffin and David. This is a podcast where we go through filmographies.

Directors who had big success early on and are given a series of blank checks creatively to do crazy projects. Sometimes those checks cash out. Sometimes they bounce, baby. Sometimes they bounce over 10 episodes of television on a premium cable. And sometimes it's charming. Nope. This miniseries is called We Pod a Cast.

It's over. The ultimate episode. It's over. Whoa, episode. It's over. Whoa, what a rollercoaster it's been. Life's a carnival, is it not? It was a rollercoaster in that thing where it's like, you start right at the top, you take a big ladder, you climb to the top, and then it dips a little bit,

and then it goes back to the top, and then it just goes down, and then it's over. It's like a log flume. Forgetting that time we bought a zoo. Yeah, that's true. Ladies and gentlemen, our final episode. The most recent Cameron Crowe project is a 10-part Showtime original series, a dramedy. The last Cameron Crowe project?

Who knows? We made that same joke on our last episode. Ladies and gentlemen, roadies. Oh! I was drinking water, so I wasn't fast with that. Here to talk about Rays With Us is a very special guest. Yes. Now, here's the thing.

You've heard him before. Yeah, almost every week. Almost every week. He comes in, records, and he lives. Every episode of 2016, you've heard him. Yes, for sure. Yes. Reggie Watts style.

Yeah. I love that old joke. It's a great bit. Great old bit. He is the man behind our theme song for this show, the Blank Check song. Indeed. That of course, you know, is sort of, I mean, at this point the song has become

more popular than the show. Easily. It's sort of like Anna Kendrick's Cups. They're spinning it off. It's a number one Billboard single. We gotta make a music video and we're like, we didn't expect this to be a hit, but you know, the public decides. I can't do it. I can't do't do the cups and took a ticket for the long when i'm gone uh go ahead we already got enough foley work coming up a couple episodes from ben suggested he would strongly edit that episode not true we're stretching it out

ladies and gentlemen speed ladies and gentlemen He is a musician You know him from outfits such as The Great American Novel and then currently The Romantic Comedy Correct? Nailed it? Ladies and gentlemen, Lane Montgomery is here with us Hi everyone I actually expected applause for that

For a second At home everyone's doing golf We don't do applause Lane, you are a musician You have toured for that for a second. At home, everyone's doing golf. We don't do applause on this podcast. We don't, no. Lane, you are a musician. Yes. You have toured. You've lived on the road.

A little bit. You've played on the road. Did you go to Cincinnati? No, I've never been. You said the word. But now that's like I'm such a superstitious guy that that's going to be a thing in my head if I ever play Cincinnati.

Is that made up or is it? We'll get there. Well, you know the rule. What's that? Well, Comedy Bang Bang was doing a live show in Cincinnati and they were doing their sound check and the crowd heard it. It was a late sound check and they thought that the show was happening.

So they stampeded in and 15 people died. So you know what we have to do now. You have to go steal some eggs from a farm? Yeah. We cannot live... Are we going to fall in love? UCB offices until we find Steal some eggs from a farm. Yeah. We cannot live. Are we going to fall in love? UCB offices. Until we find five copies of Bossy Pants. Luis Guzman is going to burst through the door.

We have to get four bottles of Schweppes ginger ale. I'm done drinking the water. Okay. Lane, also, you also, your mother is a comedian. Yes. And you grew up in Las Vegas. Like, you've spent your whole life sort of in- In the performance arts. That's true.

But also around show folk. I mean, you were sort of behind the scenes, backstage, watching the nuts and bolts of things, and then went into music and like- With the unsung heroes of rock? Yeah. And the unsung heroes of- Of comedy. Of comedy.

Yeah. Okay. Both. All three. But, you know, you're a friend of the show. Of course, gifted us with the theme song.

No, you were the obvious candidate. You were the obvious candidate. We discussed you way back in the Say Anything days as the obvious candidate. Yes, and it felt like, you know... Here's how the conversation went. Griffin said,

oh, we're going to have to do roadies. And I said, oh, what? I don't want to. Yeah. And he was like, by the way, we should have Lane on. I was like, yeah, that like yeah that's fine yeah right that was sort of the conversation uh but I thought you

know because we had not watched any roadies at the time it felt like uh it'd be good to have someone uh with your background on to like sort of examine the veracity of the show yeah right you can be we'll just throw something at you and you just true false true false right yeah so Rhodey's the show true false so true okay great everything there actually happened the state the state and house band

true real band yeah I thought so I love that they didn't give us any songs of theirs except like a little line from one. There's one scene where they sing. Yeah. While they're like cutesy falling in love again.

Yeah. We never hear Janine. You hear Rafe Spall and Imogen Poots sing a little Janine, but you don't know what it actually sounds like. Maybe they're tone deaf. Yeah. The variety of opening bands that they have makes me have no idea what this band sounds like. No, absolutely not. And even just the response of Mr. Finger.

Oh, boy. Mr. Finger. The second worst blogger character on the show. And I was going to say, the way those two guys respond to the band, it doesn't make sense where this band functions in the universe. What kind of role they have. I took them as a worse Dawes. I don't even know if I know Dawes. That's the other thing. I could see that. That was an old AV Club joke, shouting

out the band Dawes in the comments section. They used to do that a lot. Yeah. I thought it would definitely be Coldplay-esque. You know? That's the vibe I got. Mumford Sons? The Mumford and the Sons? You know the Mumford and his Sons? Yeah, there you go. Fourth time lucky.

The Mumford and his Sons. My mom and my sister lived in Paris for a year because my mom wanted my sister to see the world! I don't know. But I went to visit them and it was just my mom my sister living in an apartment uh by themselves uh in a city where my sister like didn't know

anybody felt very isolated and they had like their their ipod plugged into an ipod dock that just for like the first four days i was there just played this one fucking mumford and song song on loop and i just at one point like just started screaming i I was like, why is this song playing on loop? And they were like, oh, well, the iPod's broken. And I was like, what do you mean the iPod's broken? I looked at it

and it was just on repeat one. And I turned it off, but I was like, how long have you been listening to this song? And they were like, I don't know, like six months. Did they go mad? No, they seemed fine with it.

But I, like they were like, oh, let's put on some music. And they just, every time they were going to put on some music, were resigned to listening to this one. You know that song? Yeah. It was that song, and I

after four days was like, I never want to Four days? Four days. I would last a minute. I lasted maybe four days and was like, I will never hear that song ever again. They did it for six months. I want to vomit when I hear the name Mumford. Alright, are we done talking about roadies? Because that was fine.

That was fine. Good ep, guys. Yeah, that was good. Roadies is a 10-part Showtime original series that premiered in May and just finaled. It just finaled last Sunday as we're recording this. Ooh, perfectly timed. And people ask why we pushed Cameron Crowe ahead of James Cameron. It's because three months from now

no one will remember that roadies exist. This is the one time. That is true. Yeah. Yeah, that is true. The show has finaled. Showtime has been

very, very sort of waffly about whether or not there is a future to the show. They're not renewing this show. But they're also not like we're canceling it. No, but well, I was talking

with TV mojo Joe Dalian who who's a great TV biz writer, a culture, and he's like, yeah, David, Friday before Labor Day is coming up. That's when you say that you canceled roadies. Really? It's the Friday before Labor Day? It's like some long weekend, like Friday afternoon. Oh, I get what you're saying. You bury the news.

You just say like, oh, and we canceled Brody's. And then so the 14 remaining Cameron Crowe fans could be like, no, but like almost no one will care anyway. It'll just sort of get forgotten. Put it this way. This show is the least watched show on Showtime. Is that true?

But there's one show that's behind it, except for one show, and I want you to guess what it is. Oh, boy. Ray Donovan. No, no, Ray Donovan, very popular. is. Oh, boy. Ray Donovan. No, no. Ray Donovan. Very popular. Really? Oh, yeah. Okay. So it's... That's the only other Showtime show I have. A Showtime lineup. Is it a

comedy or a drama? I believe... I've never seen it because I would never want to subject myself. Put it this way. Yeah. I was thinking about this as I was watching Roadies. I didn't like... It's not episodes, right? No. No. Wait. I think I've got it, but I want to see if Griffin gets it. What were you going to say about it? Well, I didn't like... It's not episodes, right? No, no. Wait, I think I've got it, but I want to see if Griffin gets it. What were you going to say about it?

Well, I didn't like Roadies. I thought it was quite bad. But as I was watching, I was thinking about another show that I liked more than Roadies, but also perhaps struggled to connect with audiences about the music industry that aired on premium cable this year called Vinyl. And I was thinking about one of the worst things about Vinyl was that there was a lot... The lack of dialogue I had?

Well, very true. But there was a lot of time spent on the murder of Andrew Dice Clay. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. And like, you know, it's funny that Vinyl maybe had too much plot. Rhodey's maybe had way not enough plot.

But anyway, yeah, Dice. Dice is the show. Yeah. Is that going to be your guess? Dice, which I did not watch. No. It was sort of a, wasn't it like a Marin-esque? Yeah.

You know, like they lock the gates, but with Dice? Yes. Which everyone was waiting for. Yeah. Everyone was like, God, give me some gritty realism comedy with Dice. Like, I want to see Andrew Dice Clay make an omelet. Have you noticed

on Twitter how many people are now tweeting Lock the Gates shit at us? Yes. In a way where someone tweeted

very happy that Blank Check has leaned into making Lock the Gates their Hainong man. Yeah. Which is ignoring the fact that we stole it from another show i know i mean that us parodying another show's catchphrase

we're doing the wtf catchphrase uh and it's become a comedy bang bang-esque bit yes so we've taken two other very wildly successful podcasts on our own moderately somewhat noticed podcast. We comedy bang banged WTF and made it into a blank check. Yeah. Well, we did. But this, I mean, it ties into this show, certainly. Dice? Mark Maron! Yeah.

This show unlocks the gates. For a second. And Maron walks through them. Let's have him in there. Yeah, lock the gates. And then he turns around, walks out, they lock the gates again. They lock the gates behind him. This show locked the gates on dramatic storylines.

Yeah. It didn't let him in. Well, no. It locked the gates on interesting things happening. So interesting thing that you said, I'm now going to immediately serve up a counterpoint and this will be the core of the rest of our episode. Oh, no. I think the show is better than Vinyl.

Uh, huh. Interesting. I don't. I just Vinyl at least I was like well I'm kind of interested in what's going to happen. You know. Chris got a good mustache. Chris got a good mustache. That was a great mustache. Uh, you know Vinyl wasn't my favorite show. I also, I didn't

dislike it in this. Some people seem to dislike it more than I did. No I think I. Rhodey's. I don't, yeah. I obviously, I didn't dislike it in this. Some people seem to dislike it more than I did. Rhodey is... I had a great time working on it and I don't think it was a bad show, but I think the thing, when you bring up the Dice Clay murder... Oh boy. I mean,

the last thing you want out of a show in the music industry is trying to solve the murder of Andrew Dice Clay. I think the downfall of that show is them putting too many things in the pot. They put too many toppings on the pizza. And you just want a nice cheese slice. The setup of the show is so clean. You got pizza and then you had some pepperoni, which was kind of Ollie doing martial arts.

Right. That's fine. And then you had some mushrooms, which is the cocaine. And you're like, this is getting a little... But then there's pineapple. That's Andrew Dice Clay's busted head. Yeah. His skull busted open.

And then four different cheeses, but one of them's Gruyere. And you're like, I don't know. I think Gruyere's not great on pizza. I like it on its own. Roadies is like they rolled out the dough, and then they just left. And then it sort of sat in the sun, so it didn't cook exactly, but it sort of crisped a little bit. Okay, I disagree with you. And then someone came back, like Showtime, and was like, Jesus, like at least put butter on it.

I don't know, like sprayed some oil on it. Okay, I like your metaphor. I think vinyl is definitely a pizza with too many toppings, right? When the core pizza itself had a lot going for it. And there's still good bites in there, but sometimes you're like, just too much. Too much, too much. You know, and it's like, do you want to take the time to pick the pineapple off of it? Like that stuff, right?

Also, they didn't give me enough dialogue. Very true. I think that roadies is like a flatbread. Yeah. I think they did put cheese. It's a flatbread. Right. I think they did put cheese and tomato on it.

No, they forgot. No, see, I'll disagree with you. They forgot. I think there's some cheese and tomato on the flatbread, but I think it is a flatbread. No, no. Here's what it is. It's like they've got this like big ball of mozzarella on the side

like fresh. Like a buffalo. Called gargugino. A buffalo mozzarella. Gugino mozzarella right. Gugino mozzarella. Oh I can't wait to see them put I can't wait to

eat that. And then they forgot to put it on. It's just sitting over there. Okay Lane would you like to step into the arena and throw out your own

pizza analogy. This is great I'm enjoying this. Yeah. I didn't think I was going to have so out your own pizza analogy? This is great. I'm enjoying this. I didn't think I was going to have so much fun recording this episode. This is going to be the best episode ever. Lane, if you had to compare vinyl and roadies to pizzas, how would you describe them? Well, first of all, neither show has enough of you, obviously. Very true.

You would have been good on roadies. I would have been good. Did you audition? I did audition. Did you audition? I auditioned. Can you guess which character I auditioned to play? Milo. apply uh milo yeah yeah no no no no actually no no did you audition for uh you know kelly west west i auditioned for yeah but but i played him much more like milo like

when i watched the show i was like oh that's what they wanted i played him real sad sacky well i guess which was like milo yeah and then they had milo but then they like forget the milos on on the show pretty fast. But he was great. He's really good. He was one of the highlights of the show. I like the actor. I don't know him.

Who is he? Peter Campbell? I don't know him either. There is a terrible TBS show from a few years back called Wedding Band. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Which he was in playing, I believe, a bass player also. Wow.

And I would watch that every night, every Saturday night on TBS, and it's not a good show, but it was enjoyable to me. Was that Brian Austin Green? Yes. Oh, wow. He was also on that show Notes from the Underbelly, which was like one of the many pregnancy shows. Oh, yeah. It didn't last. Yeah. There was like this rash in the mid-2000s where every network was like, we need a show about

how hard it is and or easy it is to get pregnant. It was In the Motherhood, right? Yeah, it was In the Motherhood. Which was Patty Heaton and Jessica Sinclair to get pregnant. It was in the motherhood, right? It was in the motherhood. And Jessica Sinclair. And then there was like a drama. Yes. And then there was a drama that was set at like a fertility clinic called like Inconceivable with like Ming Na. I can't believe that didn't succeed.

That sounds unbelievable. And it was canceled after like 20 minutes. Like, you know, CBS just like aired, I don't know, a black screen rather than complete the episode. And like Ming-Na and like Omar Epps, like how, when you see this, you're like, there were 80 pilot scripts. There were like 20 pilot, you know, like how did this make it all the way up the chain? Yeah.

And then they're immediately like, whoa, wait a second, no. Anyway, I think it was called Inconceivable? I mean, that's an amazing name an amazing name that's a perfect title for that show I did yes no I was very surprised by how little I appeared in roadies because I there was a there was a part of me that kept on being like I don't think I worked on this but I feel

like I could show up at any moment I mean that was my main problem with vinyl I just kept waiting for you I know I'm here yeah no I would watch episodes and be like pretty sure I worked on this it was main problem with vinyl. I just kept waiting for you to show back up. Same here. Yeah, no, I would watch episodes and be like, pretty sure I worked on this. It was the opposite of roadies. I was like, I have a distinct memory of being on set, and yet I'm not in this episode. I had a great time working on vinyl. I just think what I like about roadies is-

Omar Epps wasn't in it. Ming-Na, Angie Harmon, Jonathan Cake. All right, I'm done talking about- That's a great cast. It aired two episodes ten are unaired and will never be seen wow

even in this Hulu era yeah maybe Hulu's got it for all you know Hulu has all those shows yeah and I know like Hulu has done some of that

where like a show gets cancelled and they'll be like well the you can watch the last five on Hulu the remaining five episodes of Wicked City

yeah right or Hulu original oh I reviewed that show. That show was disgusting. Yeah? That show was disgusting. Was it wicked? I guess it thought it was.

Yeah. I mean, yeah, that show was gross. Was that Ed Westwick and Helena Christensen? Yeah, Ed Westwick. Erica Christensen. Erica Christensen. Ed Westwick is a serial killer. Erica is his victim who becomes his, like, minion.

A lot of sex. But, like, ABC, so, you know. Yeah, so real, real... Graphic. Wicked. This episode is ostensibly about roadies. We seem to be avoiding talking about it. Yeah, well, okay.

But here's what I like about roadies. And here's the thing with roadies. I'll give it a gentleman's sex. Oh. I'll give it a gentleman's six. Oh, I'll give it a gentleman's minus eight. This is the classic X-Men apocalypse debate. I think I'd also give it a gentleman's six. Hey, this is bad. I should have someone on my side.

Ben, Ben, Ben, Ben. Introduce Producer Ben. Oh, my God. Introduce him. Producer Ben, the Ben Ducer, the Poet Laureate, Mr. Hositive, Purdueer Ben, the Tiebreaker, Birthday Benny, our world's finest film critic. I think we were forgetting one that we introduced a couple episodes back.

It was White Hot Benny. Oh, yes, of course. Oh, White Hot Benny. Yes. He's not Professor Crispy. He is the Fuckmaster. Yeah. And he's graduated to certain titles over the course

of different miniseries such as producer Ben Kenobi Kylo Ben Ben Knight Shyamalan Ben Sate and of course Benny Lane

of course the new Benny Lane Ben Hosley is here I feel like in a future episode we're not gonna know what his name is I think his actual name

like Benny Lane oh yeah I think I feel like in next week's episode we hadn't actually decided yet. Yes. We've been courting out of a while. Our timeline's all over the fucking place.

All over the place. But anyway, Benny Lane, you said you had some names. I had a couple. I want to hear them. Lane's got a couple he wants to pitch. Lane, you know, friend of the show. He does his homework. That's so nice.

Actually, I pitched Lane an idea for his next album. Okay. I was telling him that they should call it U2, like U2 question mark. And I like it. Like U2? Like U2? Exactly. Like the spy planes?

Mm-hmm. Great. Yeah, that's a good idea. Okay, Lane, would you like to pay back Ben for that great gift? Well, so you've got to be an avid fan of roadies probably to get some of these. Oh, these are roadies specific nicknames? These are roadies specific. Oh, boy. You're talking to the... I mean, I'm probably by default now the world fan of roadies, probably to get some of these. Oh, these are roadies-specific nicknames. These are roadies-specific.

Oh, boy. You're talking to the... I mean, I'm probably by default now the world's biggest roadies fan. Yeah, I think the two of us are. The State and House Bend. Yeah, perfect. Very good. Really excellent. Everyone would get it, too.

Yeah. Benard Skinnerd. Oh, that did actually... Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Producer Ben, but in parentheses, like a music producer. Sure. Right. Just to make that clear. And then my Ben, but in parentheses, like a music producer. Sure. Right. Just to make that clear.

And then my favorite, M.O. Ben Poots. Yeah. Oh. Yeah. Which I felt like you had already come up with, Griffin. No, I think I have. Okay, good.

Yeah, no, M.O. Ben Poots is good. Hey, Lane, I'd like to give you a gift. Uh-oh. A 45 comedy plan. Oh, man. I've been waiting for this. Ben, you did not like Rory's.

Oh, so bad. Yeah, all right. So Ben's with me. I'm on your side 100%. We're two against two on this, okay? What I like about this show is that it is so basic. It's so basic. So basic, which is something I already said about

We Bought a Zoo in a Complimentary Way. I like that this show is just kind of like some fucking TV show. Do you know what I'm saying? It doesn't feel like important in a time where like... Or worth our time. But I love that. That's the thing.

Yeah, I kind of had the same feeling. TV is too important now. I don't disagree with that. I know't disagree with that. I know what you guys mean. I like that it's just some show. But I'll take that on a show that's 40 minutes long or 22 minutes long. It is long. Every episode is long. 60 minutes long with multiple offensive storylines.

They come out of nowhere and you're like, whoa, what is this? Yes. Okay, yes. I agree with you 100%. There are multiple storylines across the season of this show that are offensive. But there are also multiple storylines that the season of this show that are offensive, but there are also multiple storylines that are charming. Nope. I just don't get, it's

like, it's supposed to be a modern portrayal of the music industry, and it's so not. It's like a fucking relic of like 20, 30 years ago. Yeah, I mean, the show gets really tone deaf any time Cameron Crowe tries to comment on the music industry today yeah uh

yeah like it's painful so I mean this is a question I asked you I think and Ben in your group text I can't remember or I think we were talking about maybe last week when we were recording I just said like what is this show about like and I don't mean like obviously it's about you know some roadies working for a band and every week they're in a new show. But I mean, what's the show about? Just basic pitch. What's it about? What's it trying to tell us? Can I tell you?

Go ahead. The show is about the sky. If only it was about the sky. I feel like the show is kind of about, man, rock and roll's really changed. Yeah. And that's it. Yeah, I think it's- Man, things used to be a little different. really changed. Yeah. And like, that's it. Yeah, I think it's... Man.

Things used to be a little different. See, like I would... Now we've got cell phones. I don't know. I don't know. I'm just putting that out there. Anyway, that's 10 episodes. That's good, right?

Yeah. That's like, I mean, but like I kind of enjoyed that. I think my problem with vinyl besides Not Enough Griffin, as we've established, is that it was like I wanted to watch a show about 70s punk happening. And there's that book, Please Kill Me, that's about punk that's amazing.

Great book. If that had been a TV show, I would have watched the shit out of that. Yeah. And for me, this was more at least music-based and hit my, like, great, I'm watching a show about the thing I like. This is an argument I can get on board with. Yes. I get that. I like that Roadies is just about the music and the people who work in that world.

Right, and the music is boring, largely. Agreed. It's boring, and so it sort of makes sense that the show reflects that by being pretty boring. Agreed. I think a stronger take, I think I'm going to vomit as I say this. Oh, no. I've been vomiting this whole time. The other stuff you were saying,

so I can't even wait. My eyeballs are going to pop out. Wait, should I get the bucket? Yeah, get the bucket. All right, hold on. Excuse me. We're holding for Ben to get the bucket. We're holding for Ben to get the bucket.

We're going to include this stuff. There you go. Okay. Clunk. Thanks. Thank you. Let me the bucket. We're going to include this stuff. Okay. Clunk. Thanks. Thank you. Let me just drag this tin bucket over across on this table here. Look forward to this bit making sense two weeks from now, guys.

All right. Anyway. But the bucket, that's a new blank check item. We've added that item. Check out the blank check store for branded buckets. Get the bucket. And also, of course, in our... It's for vomiting into when Griffin says something. In our Blank Check mobile tap-tap game,

you can now buy the bucket for 200 coins. The bucket is available today, and of course, 200 coins will only cost you 75 gems. I really wish we had one of those pyramid schemes, and that it was the worst. It was not good.

We put no effort into it. We're just like, I don't know, just get Bejeweled, put our faces on it. Griffin and David blitz. You know what you could do for Bejeweled? For a Bejeweled-style game, is each little emblem is just a small print of one of Ben's nicknames.

And you have to match up the nicknames. I thought it would just be like falling like comedy points and like each one with different numbers. Oh, that could be good too. These are great endorsement opportunities if anyone is listening and wants to design us a bejeweled style game. Yeah, we're ready to sell out, baby. With serious like price point.

I mean serious like gems, coins, pyramids, buckets, everything. Only one request. Go ahead. It's got to be big. It's got to be big. Game's got to be big. Game's got to be big.

All right. I like that this show is about the music and about the people who work in music, which I think was where vinyl lost its way. I think when vinyl worked, it was when it was focused on that. And when it became about the other stuff it was just like that's not why I'm tuning into this show I like that Rhodey stays focused on that enough that I'm able to sort of forgive

it in the in the macro I forgive it for the things that drove me crazy while I was watching it because the totality of the series is what I wanted out of this series and sort of just like you know like shoot low hit your target you know, like, shoot low, hit your target, you know? But

I do think there's something to like, the show is sort of trying to be this like, when you ask what it's about, it's about these people who don't like fit in, right? Like it's all these people who are like out of time, out of place. I guess so. And have to be part of like this traveling circus fucking thing, right? It's sort of like a cheers

type thing where it's like, everyone who comes to this bar is inherently broken because why else would they come to this bar every day? And that's the unifying thing between all the characters and the same thing with roadies. It's like what would make someone want to commit themselves to this kind of life, which is so detached and disconnected from a sort of normal daily human emotional existence and relationships and all of that, right? Yeah. daily human emotional existence and relationships and all of that, right? There is the problem that Cameron Crowe clearly is still in love with how music existed in the 1970s and the 60s and what it meant to people

and even the 80s to a lesser degree and even the 90s to a lesser degree and has no such connection to the music of today, right? And is trying really hard to explain that and the show is obviously trying to represent this sort of like contrast between what it used to be to be a roadie, what the music industry used to be, how it's dying,

the reg character, all of this. You're losing me. I do think. What's the bad thing you want to say? I do think in a way the show would be more interesting if it was about them working on a band they didn't care about. That might be interesting.

Yeah. Because it's hard to buy that they care about the fucking state and house band anyway. Yes. Because the state and house band seems stupid. Right. They wrote a song called Janine. Yeah, but like

Cameron Coe is so open hearted that he's never going to make a show about people. About cynical people. We live in a cynical world. Yes. And we work in a business of tough competitors.

Right. But there's the thing of like he wants to have the moment where the people stand in the back and they're like, wow, you know, music really can change everything. And it's like,

it would have had to be a more ambitious narrative of a bunch of people who have lost the way finding a way to love music again. But that also would have been a season where for most of the season everyone was like, fuck this, it's dead, it's dead, it's dead. Which obviously the show he wanted to make. It would also have to be a show in which you see both the bad band and then whatever good band they end up liking. Yeah.

I don't know. There should have been one roadie who hated the band and then they did like one killer show at the end of the tour and he was like, no, all right guys, I came around, you know? Yeah. Why didn't, well. And then they do. No one came to any sort of conclusion at the end of the series really.

Ray Wilson's character, I guess. Well, yeah. Is the cynic who is turned. Yeah. All it takes is a, yeah. Drugs. And rape. Yeah.

Yeah. Burned. Yeah. All it takes is, yeah. Drugs. And rape. Yeah. But there is this thing of like, so I read this interview where it was an AV club feature where they like talk to-

I don't work for that place. I was pointing to the wall. Fair enough. The wall works for the AV clubs. I was pointing to David. I read this AV club feature where they talked to a bunch of real life roadies and had them like

look at the first two episodes and like say like what do you think about this and they're like well first of all that prayer circle bullshit would never happen no it's so earnest

and it's such a plot point it becomes like an emotional fulcrum of the show are we gonna do the prayer circle how are we gonna do it no one would be they are grown ups

I swear to god I know that they're you know you know kind of arrested development types in a certain sense. You know, they're a little, you know, childish sometimes. But, like, they wouldn't need to do the fucking. What are they, babies? Like, come on, man. And I think the one, like, era where you could sell that is in the 70s where it's like, you know,

or the 60s when there were still the vestiges of, like, the free love kind of thing. And you could be like, well, it's like, you know, or the 60s when there were still the vestiges of like the free love kind of thing and you could be like, well, I went on this spiritual plane. But in this cynical world of fierce competitors that we live in, it doesn't really ring true at all. A cynical world. Well, I have a minor counterpoint. Okay. Which almost works.

Which is that earlier this year I was dating a girl who played for played guitar for a pop singer and was like huge, big tour and like blah, blah, blah. And so I never, I didn't interact with the roadies that much, but I did know that the band like kind of had a together like moment before they went on every time. All right.

All right. And I was not allowed into that as the boyfriend. Yeah. So I don't know if it was like, I don't know if that was like a prayer circle or it was just like, hey, don't suck up there, you know? I haven't, I have an idea. Uh-huh. Why isn't this set on Taylor Swift's tour or something?

Like, why don't you show that juxtaposition between, like, kind of old rock and roll types and, like, an industry that's definitely changed? I think that's a better show, and I think the best version of this show would take place in 1983. Well, yeah. I mean, that's the problem

where they feel like a lot of Crowe's stuff is he's looking backwards. And I think there's a neither here nor there that's the problem where they feel like a lot of Crow's stuff is he's looking backwards. And I think there's a neither here nor there factor to the show where it's like he wants to make a show about how much people love music and how much music can bring people together, but also wants to make a show about a culture that is dying, if not already dead. And so he kind of can't have it both ways because it's like you have a show where everyone's affected by the music, but they're constantly talking about how the music is dead. And it's like it's kind of one or the other. Stay in the House is presented as being a very big, very influential band that is critically beloved, but also commercially successful, has been around for a while, has diehard fans. And can just be on a perpetual tour around the country that's quasi-profitable, which is pretty hard to pull off. Right, and if you're at that level, they're making a living

being musicians, obviously. Everyone on the crew is making a living. I mean, it's not... I mean, there's either, like you said, go for the Taylor Swift type thing, or I think you take a band who's just made it and they're our age

and they're taking along some Phil type and some kids. You would need to see the band and hear their music. Right, which you can actively avoid in this. They avoid it. They don't show us the band. It's kind of like the 30 Rock trick where it's like, you know what? It's not going to seem good if you see it.

I don't think we even meet a member until episode three. No, we see, I swear we see a member in episode one. You see them perform it. Because you see the finger kiss thing in episode three thing doesn't the guy roll in in episode one oh right yes yeah like rolls down the window and he's like we're playing Janine

or whatever but like barely yeah it's like they give it to us late and in small doses and they're very peripheral characters and the band members are probably the least

interesting characters on the show whenever they get pulled into the forefront and their storylines are the least interesting right and like even the way

that everyone else talks about the Taylor Swift tour on the show in space yeah which cameron come on like you just did your fucking like militarization of space movie and you're still on this space kick so it is about the sky it is about the sky it is insane that like five comedy points it is insane that like right after aloha he made a movie where you still he made a show where it's like okay get back into safe space cameron music concerts on the road nothing nothing weird and he's like okay here's puna and a space tour like he did like two of the fucking hits from aloha here's a hawaiian guy who's in touch with

the spirits and here's a concert tour in space. But it does have kind of his greatest hits all over, too, because basically the Skinner episode is almost famous, essentially. There's a lot of callbacks to his career. Yeah. It's a little bit of a greatest hits tour, I guess. We talked about in our Vanilla Sky episode, this is obviously going to be a pretty free-form episode, because we're not going to go through every fucking episode. What's the name of that movie? Banila Sky. Thank you.

Any comedy points for that? 45. Wait a second. Stop trolling for comedy points. Lane is really – this is a thirst trap for comedy points. You guys got any comedy points up here? That's what those kids talk about right now, those thirst traps, right? Yeah.

Lane's a human comedy point thirst trap. I've got 95 just for the record. Well, I'll say this. When I established comedy points as a bit with originators, co-originators, Sam Rugal, Alhansra Kalini, and Pat May, one of the rules was, and I'll say this to you, Lane, if you keep track of how many comedy points you have, you lose all comedy points. So, Lane, you unfortunately now have zero comedy points. But then I know that I have zero comedy points. Then do I just keep losing? You better start forgetting.

Stop thinking about it. Better start forgetting. That's the thing. You gotta just be in the moment. It's all I think about. Yeah, no, we're not gonna go through. No, we're not gonna go through, like, episode by episode. I mean, we'll hit certain.

I'm gonna set up the show. Okay. I'm gonna do it right now. But what was the thing I was gonna say right before this? I don't know. I was getting to a really profound point. Where are you? Vanilla Sky. Oh, yes. Yes. Yes, I am. I'm going to set up the show. I'm going to do it right now. But what was the thing I was going to say right before this? I was getting to a really profound point. Where are you? Vanilla Sky.

Oh, yes. Yes, I am. I'm poking the small of David's hands right now. It looks weird. Yeah. I'm poking the flesh between his thumb and his pointer finger. Richard Lawson said in our Vanilla Sky episode that he feels like that was Cameron Crowe trying to evolve into this realm of,

if not magical realism, more genre elements, able to get sort of more fantastical and less literal in his writing, right? Right. And that that bombed, and it was like, if that had worked, what would have happened? Like, could he have transitioned? Because now you get into the state where it's like

Cameron Crowe's neither here nor there. He's trying to replay the hits he used to do. They don't sound as good anymore, right? No. And he can't really figure out what the next step to go on to is. He's trying to replay the hits he used to do. They don't sound as good anymore, right? No. And he can't really figure out what the next step to go on to is. He's tried everything now. But there's a lot of that in roadies

where you feel him trying to get less literal, where it's like the fucking, the David Spade sex show is very bizarre, Puna's very bizarre, the Taylor Swift space tour is very bizarre, and a show that's otherwise very grounded. And I think that's where it works best is when it's just them hanging out and kind of shooting the shit. The show functions best as a hangout show.

Now, it's still not a show that I would want to watch, but it at least functions. I would watch a 22-minute version of it, maybe. Interesting. Yeah. Okay, you want to run through the season a little bit? The basic premise is there is a band called the Staten House Band, and they have a road crew. Hold on one second. Pow!

Griffin's new thing is drinking tea and yelling pow. Sorry, I just shit my pants. So there's a band. They have a road crew. They're on tour. Luke Wilson plays Bill. The great Luke Wilson. Uh-huh. The tour manager of the great luke wilson uh-huh the tour manager of the state and house band uh-huh and carla gugino the great carla gugino agreed i worked

with her and i could still never remember how to pronounce her name i think it's gugino she's the best i love her she's a big old ball of mozzarella uh she plays shelly i'm gonna have to look for their name shelly the production manager You know that's on her resume right Special skills Paula Mazzarell Accents big old Paula Mazzarell Mazzarell Mazzarell

Imogen Poots Yep The great Imogen Poots The great Imogen Poots Or at least the one day will be great I don't know like I feel like there's a There's an Excalibur waiting for her

She has greatness within her She does In the words of Emma Stone In Aloha I'm trying to tie it all back I'm trying to bring every fucking Crow project back in this one episode. Imogen Poot says, Kellyanne Mason, who's the lighting girl, lighting rigger. Yes.

Rafe Spall. The great Rafe Spall. I like Rafe Spall. He's so good in this. He is. He's the best part of the show. Son of Timothy Spall. As Reg Whitehead, who's like the suit.

He's basically Fitz from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I realized. He's the finance man. Another role I had to employ. He S.H.I.E.L.D., I realized. He's the finance man. He's the finance man. Another role I auditioned for. He would have played Fitz 10 years ago. Really? Oh, yeah, of course.

Wait, what'd you say? I auditioned for Fitz. Oh, of course you did. Yeah. Also, he is clearly playing the local hero character, which is why they keep on referencing that movie fucking 50,000 times over the course of this show. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

He's playing the local hero character. Yeah. All right. Also, while we're on references, how many times does someone say, oh, you look good, especially to Luke Wilson? A lot. Like 50 times. Yeah. All right. Also, while we're on references, how many times does someone say, oh, you look good, especially to Luke Wilson? A lot.

Like 50 times. A lot. Someone's like, Bill, you look good. Yeah. It is what it is. Okay. Other main characters. Keisha Castle-Hughes, the lovely Keisha Castle-Hughes.

Yes. As Donna Mancini. A character that doesn't exist. Nope. She's the soundboard girl. She's in scenes. I think she's good. Nope. She's the soundboard girl. She's in scenes. I think she's good in it.

She's a totally good presence. She brings a lot of charm to the three lines she has. Doesn't really do much. That's what I'll say. Does she have a plot line in the entire season? They fight, her and her wife, and they have a baby. Her wife is pregnant, and she knows secrets. She's able to infer what people aren't saying. Sometimes correctly, sometimes

incorrectly. So can everyone on this show basically. But I'll say this, like I was kind of really taken aback by how strong her performance was. A, because we haven't seen her in a while and B, because she's like spinning nothing into like gold. She is. She's got some good. Not into gold, but into at least like thread. I was trying to use

the straw into gold metaphor, but like the idea of like she's given nothing to do and she actually is like a pretty compelling presence on the show Peter Cambor is Milo the bass guitar tech also yeah I think really excellent on the show but nothing to do but cute he's got some good moments he's more

Colson Baker is Wes Mason also known as Machine Gun Kelly also known as MGK guitars people and coffee Wes Mason. Also known as Machine Gun Kelly, also known as MGK. Guitars, people, and coffee. Right, the role I auditioned for. Yeah, Machine Gun Kelly, who I had only ever seen in Beyond the Lights. Right, which he was.

Which he's quite good in. Yep. But he's playing a, you know, a trash man. He's playing a trash man. And I didn't know that he could not not play a trash man. Yeah. So good for him. Yeah. I think he's very good in this show. And Ron White and we were discussing this before.

Yes. I believe he has 15 minutes total screen time in the entire season. I go 25. I don't think so. As Phil the king of the road who is I guess that he's in charge. I don't know. He's like their mentor. He's the old hand. He's the old hand.

He's the old hand. And he's sort of in charge. He has a pistol. Yep. He's murdered people. He's committed many crimes. Yeah. He is fired at the end of the first episode.

He shows up back. For embezzling in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Yep. And then he shows up back at the end of the seventh. He's in the eighth episode where he tells a story, and he's not really in it. He's in the ninth episode. Then he perishes of death.

And then in the tenth episode, Ron White plays this guy as an embalmed version of himself. Taxidermied. Standing with his arms open so that the rest of the cast can hug him. There are two earlier moments in other episodes where he Skypes in through a bad connection from space. That's correct, yes. Just FYI. Let's just clearly explain this. space there is a rival we're not kidding that is losing crew members that is called the planet swift tour and it's not uh like a joking title it's literally they're trying to colonize a new planet of taylor swift fans it's a taylor swift

tour that happens in fucking space yeah which is he I guess it feels like I feel like I was talking about this with Aloha some or something or yeah yeah like John Krasinski's character talking through subtitles right I feel like Cameron Cole just be like ah that's really funny you know like he'll think he's like what if Taylor Swift was literally in space which is like that'd be funny right the dead sex thing has to be like him thinking this is hilarious. He's like flicking through the channels. He's like, what's next? Like a zombie sex soap opera?

Ha! Putting it in roadies. Written by and starring. Hey, Spadey! Noted sexual dramatic actor David Spade. He's also the writer of the show they set up. First of all, they keep on saying like, David Spade looks good. Yeah, everyone looks good on the show. Everyone looks good. This is, David Spade looks good. Yeah, everyone looks good on this show.

Everyone looks good. This is a show of people looking good. Yeah, we'll get to dead sex. But anyway, so that's the main cast. You also got Finesse Mitchell bouncing around. Wait, I want to get back to Planet Swift. Oh, yeah, sure. So, like, what are the logistics of this?

Is she playing? Does she go to the moon and play a show? If you join that tour, do you have to get on a space shuttle? Like, how do you get there? How does the people get? How do the audience members get there? Has Earth colonized the moon in this

future? Phil gets fired and within three days is working on the Planet Swift tour. By the end of the episode, he's already on that tour. Right, but it's like, wouldn't he have to go through training and medical tasks? I know he's not an astronaut, but even when people are talking about SpaceX

and Virgin Galactic and whatever, part of the thing is you have to do all this due diligence even if you bought your ticket. Well, also, it would cost like $80,000 or something. And this idea that they're just live streaming the shows from space, or are they performing for space stations,

or is she doing a fucking alien tour? Is she on the International Space Station? I don't know. This is what I was thinking. Did she build her own spaceship? Possible. You know what? I'd watch that show too.

Me too. Planet Swift. Planet Swift. Anyway, Finesse Mitchell's hanging out. Can I just add something really quick? Anything, though. Thank you. Save anything.

Great. Dot, dot, dot. So I feel like this part is making me think, especially it's like his commentary on sort of like the bigger acts of like contemporary music beyonce taylor swift and he's saying that the beebs they're you know they're all about costumes and lighting and explosions music yeah you know what though man i kind of like that there's these giant stadium acts and they're they're making it worth the money you pay to see them.

I do, too. I don't need to necessarily see five old guys stand around playing music, necessarily. That's not as entertaining as maybe a Beyonce show would be. But it is the Cameron Crowe. Fuck Cameron Crowe. Yes. Set it on record. That's very clear.

I want to get that on record. Fuck Cameron Crowe for this bullshit. No. I liked it. Yeah, yeah. I get it. I yeah i get it guys gentlemen's minus 50 uh i i agree with you ben i mean there's that like argument when people complain about like you know i can't believe this movie costs this much money the kind of argument it's like your ticket costs the same way either way like wouldn't you rather see the movie with more money by that i'm not behind wasting money but it's like what's the problem with like

trying to put on that much of a show, especially when concerts are this expensive. Yeah. Uh, he's obviously trying to comment on that, but it's like, it's a little too crazy to throw the space thing in and never really explain the logistics of it. And I also agree that the show could have kind of worked if it was like them on the road with a massive Taylor Swift act.

And it's like, we used to be the people for bands like this. And now this is all that's left. Sorry, I was yawning. It wasn't at you. Yeah. I was just tired. They can still love the music but have it be so much more commercialized and corporatized and whatever that it's a little

disconnected. Finesse Mitchell plays a financial manager who appears in two episodes. Is he just in two? I feel like he's in three maybe. No, he's in a few. There's a bunch where he's not in them at all. He's not a credited main cast. He's a guest star and not even a single bill guest star. Yet, he made the bus ads.

Do you remember in New York they had those buses that were wrapped in roadies? He's the only black character on the show. Yep. And they were like, look, diversity! And it's like way, way, way down on the cast list. Yeah, they've got a black recurring actor, Keisha Castle-Hughes, who is at least part Maori.

Right, yeah. You had Luis Guzman, who was in three episodes. Luis Guzman shows up occasionally as the bus driver, Gooch. He has one episode, I feel like, where he gets to do stuff, which is the Cincinnati episode. Yeah. Also, they don't bring him in for the finale. No.

Which seems like an oversight. Maybe his quote was high. The finale, we needed eight performances by fucking Jackson Brown or whoever the hell. It wasn't Jackson Brown. It was Jackson Brown. You got Puna, too. You got the band.

They're played by a bunch of guys. I don't know. You got this lady. Joy Williams plays Janine. Jan guys. I don't know. But these, yes. I mean, you know. You got this lady. Joy Williams plays Janine. Janine. The famous Janine. Who is inspiration for the hit song Janine and has a plot line in which exposed. All the women on the main cast are nice, but a lot of the women in the outer circle.

The guest star women are conniving. Yeah. Also, almost everyone in the outer circle is conniving. Yeah, that's true. I mean, yeah, I do feel like Cameron Crowe's like, all the main characters, what's their thing going to be? They're going to be nice. Yeah. What else?

I don't know. They're nice. They're nice people. And so it's like every week someone has to come in and kind of be a dick just for something to happen. But cartoonishly dickish. Like behave in a way that makes no sense just to have a little bit of be a dick just for something to happen. But cartoonishly dickish. Yeah, like behave in a way that makes no sense just to have a little bit of story, a little bit of tension. Which also

gets to like the We Bought a Zoo thing of like some people are in like a Cameron Crowe dramedy and some people are playing to like the rafters. Like, you know, you have like Rainn Wilson's performance, which is the worst episode of this series no matter, like unquestionably. Yes. That's the worst character, that's the worst plotline, that's the worst character. That's the worst plot line.

That's the worst episode. And he's playing it so fucking big. Yeah. Well, Rainn Wilson's a bad actor. He can be very good. Yeah, he can. You need to direct him well. When's he good?

The Office. Like the good season of The Office except when he went too big. Right. The good season of The Office. Yeah. And what else we got? I thought he was very good in Super. Yes, I agree.

I like Super a lot. He's great in Almost Famous. Yes. I think... No, no! He's terrible in Almost Famous. Wait a second. Galaxy Quest?

Galaxy Quest is straight in. I mean, I love Galaxy Quest. I love... Everyone comes away from that movie talking about Rainn Wilson's performance. Yeah, everyone after seeing Galaxy Quest wanted to make it rain. But you remember Juno when it's like...

A thousand comedy points for that. I'm a big fan of Juno. I can do that, right? But that first scene of Juno... Almost derails the entire movie. Really, like, a lot of people, I feel like, just get off the train there and they can't get back on.

Yeah, I feel like you have to... You have to rain him in. He's a wild horse that you gotta I didn't even mean that but it's true but what was that show he was on where he's like

I'm a jerk Baxterum solve crimes though Detective Baxterum yeah yeah I think if you let Rainn Wilson do what he finds funny

it's like it's weird it's catastrophic we are all members of Soul Pancake though that is true. I just want to rip on his weird... But I thought he was excellent super where it's clearly James Gunn knew exactly what he wanted.

I'm very focused. I think when he was good on The Office, he was great. And when he was bad, the show crumbled. I agree. Because he would get way too big and all reality would disappear. Yeah, he was the weapon they had and I think they used him too much. Especially post-Curral when they leaned on him way too much. It was a nightmare.

It was good in Hesher, too. I don't know if you saw Hesher. I didn't, I didn't. Yeah, he was good in that, too. He was bad in The Rocker. Didn't see it. Yeah. But yes, I mean-

It's called Roadies. It's called Roadies. A catastrophic decision to hire him to play this character, a character that was already catastrophically written. Yeah, I mean, I don't know if we can entirely blame Rainey for that one because it is a bad character. I think he made it worse.

Yeah, he did. No, he did. I think he made it worse. Just as the way that the great... What's her name? Which one? TC-14. Lindsay Duncan. The great Lindsay Duncan did as much as she could with that awful critic character in Birdman. Made it maybe a little better than it

could have been correct you know maybe rain wilson plays that character maybe that's a weirder scene this is an excellent point that character is horribly written in birdman right lindsey duncan actually so well across the line that you almost believe that she's an actual human being despite everything she's saying being like clearly the prop up of like you know a filmmaker just being angry and thinking that all critics are like soulless sociopaths. Right. Right. Rainn Wilson like fucking takes a balloon they give him and then just adds more and more air into it. Like he blows it up so much.

Here's the thing. Here's a general lesson. And we've now like come across this a couple of times. Here's a general lesson. Don't watch roadies. Go ahead. David. Gentleman six.

A gentleman six. You said it. I just thought it'd be funny to say it. Yeah, pal. A lesson I think we have learned time and time again, and it's come up even a number of times on this very show, hey, filmmakers, don't make characters that are critics who hate everything and get off on hating everything because your last movie wasn't what we're seeing. Yeah, especially if you had a couple bad reviews recently.

That never fucking works. It doesn't, no. Lady in the Water, fuck you. Birdman, fuck you. Roadies, fuck you. Anytime any property gets into that, especially when it's a filmmaker who feels spurned by their most recent work.

1998's Godzilla? Yes. It is the Achilles heel of that thing, whether or not the thing works on its own. That is always the weakest element. What is the only good depiction of a critic I can think of in the last 25 years? I don't know. Ratatouille. And why? Well, you know. Because

Brad Bird didn't have an extra grind. No, he didn't have an extra grind because he's perfect. Right. He's never gotten a bad review in his entire life, and why should he? But that movie feels like exactly, well, Tomorrowland, which we both love, but it did get bad reviews. That came later. But I'm saying at that point in time, he had only ever gotten good reviews. He was, in fact, a critic's darling

before he was successful or acclaimed. And that's him trying to deconstruct the way that other movies and TV shows villainize critics into, I get off on hating things. We should do a Brad Bird series. We will 100%. It's just a matter of, like, I feel like we want one more movie before we do him.

He's working on Incredibles 2. That's on out to, like, 2019 or something. Maybe we'll do it to coincide with Incredibles 2. All right. We'll keep our show going. Oh, yeah. But you know what I'm saying? Like, that character works because he's, like, showing, like,

no, critics do want to like things. Anyway, we're way off topic. Oh yeah. But you know what I'm saying? That character works because he's showing like, no, critics do want to like things. Anyway, we're way off topic. Jesus Christ. The fucking Newman character played by Rainn Wilson is disastrous. And that episode he comes in and it's like, this doesn't make sense. His role within the music scene doesn't make sense. There's no one with that much power

in the music industry. Okay, so I guess let's just leap ahead because whatever. I was setting up the show but there's nothing to set up. They're a band. There's stuff happening. Should happen. We'll get to stuff. Lots. All right. Okay. So I guess let's just leap ahead because whatever. I was setting up the show, but there's nothing to set up. They're a band. There's stuff happening. Shit happens. We'll get to stuff. Lots of sexual tension.

One thing that happens is a blogger. Yeah. A blogger. You guys heard of those? Remember those things from 2008? And it's not like he, well, he says he's not a blogger. Yeah. He goes in that dumb speech about like a blogger is one who types their words.

I'm the this and the that and the fucking whatever. A music blogger? Yes. I guess he's supposed to be like Pitchfork. I don't know what he's supposed to be. But he's supposed to be one person who is so I understand. It makes no sense. The closest thing I would think is Bob Lefsetz. Lefsetz? Who like writes a weekly letter. Never heard of him.

Really? But he writes a weekly letter? He writes like about the music industry but also also other stuff. And it's a well-read thing. Okay. I also feel like he's also Cameron Crowe's age and is always like, old music was great. So I feel like it's not him. Because this guy's hit on the State and House Band is that they're dad rock.

Boom! He nailed them! They're crumbling! That they used to be good? I guess so? He implies that they used to be good i guess so like he he implies that he used to like them which is like it doesn't make sense it feels like they're either the kind of band that he would view as like shitty pablum from the get-go you i say without ever having heard their music but the way they're presented on the show or the show is supposed to like show that they're like arcade fire and they're like critical darlings or whatever the

fuck it is but like there's no guy like this who like, I mean, even the Leffitz guy you mentioned, I haven't fucking heard of him, you know? I'm sure he's like influential and well-read, but this show presents him as like, as goes Newman, so goes the nation. Like they get the email and they're like, fuck, our tour is ruined. Newman trashed us. There's no person with that power. Right.

No pitchfork does have that power. He's trying to make him like a Lance bangs figure, but even Lance bangs was known for being an underground figure at the time. No one buys music anymore. It's like, what the fuck is this even about? People not going to go to the tour now? Like,

I don't, it doesn't matter. So they read this bad review in which he called them dad rock. And after 20 minutes of watching a YouTube video, yeah. Right. he watched a YouTube video all fucking time doesn't go see them they're mad

and so they furious they're like you know how to deal with this we're gonna ignore it and not care about it no that's not what they do they say

let's invite him to the show right roll out the red carpet for him accidentally get him drunk and drugged well they they put weed

in his cappuccino. And then the lady has sex with a crazy person who has sex with him. Right, their stalker. What's her name? I forget. Natalie something? Yeah. Natalie Shane. She's played by Jacqueline

Byers. And then he's going to humiliate himself on stage and admit like, I'm not a critic. I'm a loser. Heate himself on stage and admit like I'm not a critic like I'm a loser I love it and then when cool people pull up I change the station to hip-hop which makes me think like so like I guess someone really must have pissed off Cameron Crowe. Yeah, seriously. Some blogger really. What's the problem with all these fucking Did someone make fun of his liner notes? Yeah. Was it some, like, what happened?

The thing I don't like about all these critic characters when people create them is they always make them sound like they're disingenuous. They're lying to themselves. And it's like, the Birdman woman has an Instagram where she's like, I haven't even seen it.

I know I hate it because I don't like big famous actors. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And this guy's like, I'm going to trash the music that I think I'm supposed to not like, but secretly I like all that music. Right. You know, it's like presenting them all as being insincere and it's like,

hey, but Cameron Crowe, you loved critics after Jerry Maguire. Yeah, no. You know? He's full of shit. And he was a rock writer. He was a critic. Right. He was a fucking cultural critic.

Now, the other thing about this, and I'll use this to segue into my next point, is that the show kind of treats all of this like it's some cute misadventure. It's like, oh, he got drugged against his will and sort of sexually assaulted. Yeah. Ha ha ha ha. He deserved it. All in a night's road eating. Right.

And the show's on Showtime. Yeah. So you can say fuck. Yeah. And you can have a pair of breasts. Yeah. You can show Rain the show's on Showtime. Yeah. So you can say fuck. Yeah. And you can have a pair of breasts. Yeah, you can show Rainn Wilson's butt cheeks. Yeah, you know, you can do it all. Fat butt cheeks.

And I feel like sometimes, I don't know, you know, you used to hear back in the day that these premium networks would be like, can we get some nudity in here? You know, whatever. Like, just anything. Just do it, you know? Which Rhodey's does like four minutes into episodes. Yeah, I wanted to talk about this too. talk about that's what i wanted to segue to so and it feels like cameron crowe is either obeying this or more likely i would guess he's trying to be cool like

almost you know he's like trying to be kind of edgy and gross and it comes off so badly so badly and it also worst thing about the show yes and this show does a thing i hate which is like all the sort of young groupie type women they meet or like the women that luke wilson sleeps with are all all of these sort of peripheral young millennial characters who are usually the ones who end up showing nudity on the show are all presented as so stupid and vapid like so idiotic any any millennial that they would sleep with lu with Luke Wilson which I'm sorry but no way and I like I hate the way the characters are written and then they also were cast

and played by actors who are clearly making fun of the characters they're playing which is a big pet peeve of mine like when there's stupid characters and things I like when people play stupid characters affectionately but when I feel like the actor is mocking the character they're playing it grosses me out. Yeah. And like this show does

a lot of that where like that fucking opening scene is like Carla Gugino like storms into the room. Luke Wilson. And it is the worst. It's the high point of badness except for the gross weird Rainn Wilson stuff. The pilot is very bad. The pilot is really fucking bad. And this is the thing I feel like

these days networks, and so I have gotten emails from network people where they're like, you know, I know the pilot's really bad, but just watch a few more. They'll say to me, like, I know it starts out bad. You can't do that. People won't watch the show, especially

something like this. On a Netflix or an Amazon or whatever where it's like you can queue up the next episode automatically. Maybe. But this premiered on a Sunday night. People might tune in and be like, that was shitty. I'm not going to watch that again. Doing pilots is rough because you don't really understand

what you're doing until after you've done it to a degree. Are you speaking from experience? Yeah. Maybe so. As someone who's done a lot of pilots, if things come together well, there's, like, a chance, you know, there's an element of luck on your side. And, like, realistically, you want your pilot to be your worst episode you ever do. You just don't want your pilot to be bad. Right.

But you want to be able to, like, hit the ground running from there on out. It is different, like, a binge culture where it's, like, I mean, with a Netflix show, certainly they're mapping out the whole season from the get-go. They're not filming the pilot beforehand. So, like, the pilot is just part one of a 10-part series. Like, they, you know, can make it a cohesive thing rather than, like, having to, like, do the one. You put all the pressure on, like, as a pilot,

you're not just, like, creating a showreel for audience members, but you're creating a showreel for, like, the network to pick it up so you have to like promise a lot of shit and like overstuff it to like get people on board right um so i i like when you're saying like you can't really do that it's like well i mean it's like that's a remnant of like the studio system where it's like the network system where it's like it's hard to fucking make a pilot good that I'm inside this pilots know will be bad that

having been said yep notably this pilot was shot with Christina Hendricks playing the Carla Gugino role really I didn't know yes that's interesting and they got rid of her yeah which was

very bizarre and it was like the show's going in a different direction and then I read an interview with Cameron was like, the show's going in a different direction. And then I read an interview with Cameron Crowe when the show premiered. And they said, what happened with Christina Hendricks? And he went, look, it was just like as the show was going. We just realized she wasn't fitting in with the tone of the show anymore. I think she's an incredible actress.

It really bummed me out. I'm definitely going to work with her again. I thought she was incredible. You wonder how much of that has been. But it did sound like, you know, Gugino fits very well in this role. Yes. I also would see Christina Hendricks fitting well in this role. I can't see how she of that has been. But it did sound like, you know, Gugino fits very well in this role. Yes. I also would see Christina Hendricks fitting well in this role. I can't see how she wouldn't fit in.

Because there is no dimensionality to the role, and basically it's just you kind of have to be kind of charming. Both of them are charming actresses. And are serious-minded and are believable as professional people who can get things done. They have authority on screen, I was going to say. Here's the character. She's like the mommy, I guess,

and she's just sort of like knowing smile, tilt of the head, slight nod. But that's also all Luke Wilson does in this show. He's either like slightly grimacing if he's upset. Excuse me, did you just imply that Luke Wilson does something on this show? I think Luke Wilson is charming. Ben, Ben, I need you. Yeah. How's Luke Wilson on the show?

He's just nothing. I don't know. I love this idea that it's like Marvel versus Capcom. I can suddenly battle swing in. Okay, can I set up a new rule, though? If you want Ben to back you up, you have to do it by whispering Enchantress. Enchantress. Okay, cool I set up a new rule, though? If you want Ben to back you up, you have to do it by whispering Enchantress.

Enchantress. Okay, cool. While you're sleeping. Yeah. Enchantress. I didn't like it as bad. Suicide Squad? Suicide Squad, though. Yeah. That

kind of makes sense that the pilot is as disastrous as it is yeah because i even i mean they shot the pilot like i want to say like two years ago i remember auditioning for it a while ago wow okay um i believe it and and then there was the reshoots which happened like after the fact and then i think it took a while to do the season and the season was on the shelf for a little while like the whole whole show was a long process. I think that explains a little bit about why the pilot is so disjointed because they had to reshoot like 50% of it. Yeah but I mean I don't even think the problem

with the pilot is that although I know what you're talking about. I mean it's more just what I'm talking about which is like there's no strong premise. There's no real hook for why you'd want to watch more of this. None of the characters are compelling in the pilot episode. No. And in fact most of the characters are compelling in the pilot episode. No. And in fact, most of them are off-putting in the pilot episode. It ends with a montage of famous movies.

Which he's already done twice. And he did it in Vanilla Sky, too. And then he did it in fucking Vanilla Sky. That does not make any sense, like, even in the tenuous plotting of the show. And you're supposed to believe that, like, that montage is indicative of her skills as a filmmaker, which are so strong that Spike Lee himself offered her a full scholarship. Yeah, because she's watched movies and taken clips from them. Right.

She re-edits clips from other shit. Great. Spike Lee wants her to go to NYU really badly. Spike Lee? They say that at one point that Spike Lee had been leaving. I think I heard it as Spike Jones, and I just didn't put that together. She got a Spike Lee scholarship, and they say at one point after she doesn't show up to school that she's like,

I've been getting voicemails from Spike Lee asking where I am. Man, Spike Lee's thirsty. Yeah. Yeah. Thirst trap. Yeah. Kellyanne.

Yeah. Imogen Poot's a darling. I love her. A lovely, a lovely actress. Not given enough to do. I think, you know,

look, he cast a bunch of very good actors, right? People who have like meat and potatoes chops but also all are sort of naturally charismatic in the main cast of the show. Yes. And I think a lot of this show is about sort of the communal interaction thing. All the characters are two-dimensional, unquestionably, right? There is no fully realized character on this show.

There is. Yeah, I was going to take issue with the fact that you're saying all of them are two-dimensional. Some of them have two dimensions. Some of them are one-dimensional. Yes. And some are zero-dimensional. But I'm saying the most well-developed characters on this show are two-dimensional. Definitely. And I would say probably Rafe Spall and Imogen Poots' characters.

Are the most developed? Probably, right? Would you say? I don't know. Who else would you put up there? But even they kind of shift from episode to episode. Oh, They do. I think Luke Wilson's character is kind of well developed. Tell me one thing about his character. He's an older guy who can't stop fucking up

and fucking around. Yeah. And he's got to learn his lesson which is sleep with the most wonderful woman in the world who works with you. She is wonderful. Like the show thinks it can ring a 10-episode arc out of Will They, Won't They with Luke and Carla.

But I like that they do in episode five. You do? Yeah. That they don't do 10 episodes of Will They, Won't They. Yes, they do, though. They somehow turn it

into 10 episodes because they do in five, but then there's like, uh-oh, she's married. I don't know. What are we going to do? You're doing a lot of desk things. I'm flashing my hands because it's like the show is trying to lift its hands up and then it's just like, Uh-oh, she's married. I don't know. What are we going to do? You're doing a lot of desk things.

I'm flapping my hands because it's like the show is trying to lift its hands up, and then it's just like, eh, it's too tiring. No, see, I like that they just get it over with and then like. Yeah, get it over with five hours in. Yeah, just get it over with. Hey, David, you try to load in and load out for a concert. They're tired. They should be sleeping together like in episode one or married or whatever.

They're a good team. I don't care about them getting together or not. I assume they will. There's no tension to it. Literally in the first episode, we don't get any of them having a connection. We just get Finesse Mitchell being like, there's something going on between you two. Which is the most he gets to do in the show. In the first scene, and I think we touched on it,

but Luke Wilson is having sex with a young Asian woman with pierced nipples. Right, who is very stupid. And the camera can't stop staring at her nipples. And Carla walks in on them. I'm not going to use their character names. Carla Gugino.

She's in the bathroom, the girl he was fucking. Carla Gugino walks in and is like, red alert, can we talk? And Luke Wilson's like, oh, I don't know, right now is not. This was really good. Thank you. Yeah, it was pretty good. Thank you. When you watch this, you kind of remember like, yeah, he's Owen Wilson's brother. They really do sound alike. They sound

so much alike. Yeah, even though they don't really look alike. I mean, obviously there's a resemblance, but they're very different looking people, but they really sound alike. I guess I should just full disclosure, I'm way in the pocket for Luke Wilson? I mean, obviously there's a resemblance, but they're very different looking people. But they really sound alike. I guess I should just full disclosure. I'm way in the pocket for Luke Wilson. I always thought that he was the most underrated guy of that group, of the sort of slack pack. I don't appreciate it. Scene?

I love Luke Wilson. Yeah. Love Luke Wilson. Yes. He's great in other things. I think he's very winning. I think they won. I would have nominated for an Oscar, for two Emmys at least.

What were the- Enlightened. So good on Enlightened. Oh, I haven't watched Enlightened. Incredible performance. And you would have given him Best Supporting Actor for World Tandem Bombs? No, for the Verizon ads, yeah. Remember the Verizon ads where you're just like, did someone add another face of poundage

to his face? Like his face suddenly got so fat. Well, see, I kind of like his look now because it was like, he used to be really, really handsome, right, when he was young. And then Verizon adds, it was like, oh, he's been injecting, like, vodka under his skin. Like, he cuts slits into his face and has been pouring vodka directly under his skin.

Oh, Verizon, look at the map. So much red. Right. Like, what was even his bit on the back? Yeah. And now I like that he, like, kind of got it back together I think he kicked the bottle and he looks like just a little worn out like he looks like

a worn out handsome guy he looks like a roadie he looks like a roadie he looks like someone who conceivably did this for 20 years yeah and I think that history of the character kind of works where it's like he was a guy who got by on his charm for a very long time like he was friends with the band everyone loved him and he was kind of a fuck-up,

and everyone knew he was an alcoholic. When he sees everyone, they're like, wow, we had some crazy times. You're not still drinking, are you? They immediately are kind of like, you were the best. Please tell me you're not doing that anymore. They realized that-

You look good, Bill. Right, that was good. You look good. That it wasn't sustainable, and he's now trying to figure out how to be an adult, still kind of in slow motion, you know? He's got the heart. He's got the head.

How old do you think Luke Wilson is now? In real life? Yeah. 43? 44. Hey. Pretty good. Pretty good.

How old's Owen Wilson? Older or younger? That's a good question, actually. This could be a little game. Does anyone want to tell me how old Owen Wilson is? I'm going to say 41. I'm going to guess 46. And then the third one is Andrew, right?

Yeah. There's Andrew Wilson. I think he's the oldest. I think he's like 48. I think so, too. A lot of numbers being thrown out there, but you know what's not working? None of them are comedy points. So Wi-Fi.

All right, we'll get back to Owen Wilson. 15 comedy points to the Wi-Fi network there right, we'll get back to Owen Wilson. 15 comedy points to the Wi-Fi network there. Oh, he's 47, Owen Wilson. Hey. Wow. So he's older. I was one year off. That's pretty old.

Yeah. Pretty old for Owen Wilson. Yeah, that's pretty old for Owen Wilson. Andrew Wilson, 52. Yeah. Wow, I was way off. So Luke was the baby. Yeah.

All right. You know what's kind of crazy is that Ron White on this show, they present him as such a veteran, the old timer. Do you know how old he is? I don't know. 59. Really? He looks older.

Yeah. Good for him? I don't know what to say. My dad is, I think, five years older than Ron White now. And my dad, if he had a heart attack on a Showtime original series, they'd be like, that guy looks too young to have a heart attack. And with Ron White, with Phil's character on this show, you're just like, Jesus, I can't believe it didn't happen earlier.

We're jumping all around, but I just want to, I guess we finished on the stupid sex scene at the beginning. It's just a bad, it's off to a bad start. Oh, she storms in and she's like, I gotta talk to you about something. And then from the bathroom, the pierced nipple lady goes like, oh my God, I came so hard. The show has such a weird way of talking about sex and showing sex and it's also just like,

it was like the first episode, it's like, look at these tits and then later in the episode you see more and then like... Yeah, there's another tits scene. Yeah, there are a total of four tits in the first episode. The stalker deep throats a microphone in the first episode. Yeah, and then which is a really horrible scene. And she also sticks it in between her legs.

I believe so. She does a sexy dance with a microphone, essentially. But then the moment Rainn Wilson gets naked, they're like, No, don't show his dick! We just gotta show his butt! You see a lot of his butt. I don't want to see his dick. I want to see Rainn Wilson's dick out of curiosity.

If he's got a nice dick, I'll see it. But no, it goes through comically hysterical links to like hide it like he's just like there's like a person in front of them they do this by who shag me credits yeah they do they do there's a rabbi and a priest and they're like breaking some bread like I mean if you're gonna make him

this guy like just like give him a fake like tiny dick like really just like top it off. Lean into it, yeah. It's very bizarre, and then the tits kind of go away as the season goes on. There's not really much more sex or nudity in the show. But you get Carla's weird phone

sex thing. That whole episode where she hugs the guy and is like, ooh, if only I could have sex. I did. I guess it's episode five is the one that starts with her...

Supermoon. Watching. Yeah. Which makes everyone horny as we all know. Yep. It's another Vanity Fair article he read probably.

Supermoons make people horny. Great. Putting in roadies. Gonna have a whole episode. I kind of like the structure of that episode where it's like, oh boy, her husband, she hasn't seen him in a while,

she's getting real horny, super moon, and then you think she's going to hook up with one of the two cute guys, the cute little boys, and then sneak out. It's Bill. Did you really think she was going to? I thought I was all in on Luke. I was like, this is time. I didn't think she was going to hook up with Luke in that episode.

I thought that was their save for later in the season. Nah, I was like, all Luke. I was like, this is time. I didn't think she was going to hook up with Luke in that episode. I thought that was, they were saved for later in the season. Nah. Nah. I was like, all right, get it over with already. Jesus. Newsradio, the greatest television show ever made. Do you agree? I think it's way up there.

I saw you tweet that recently. You're now on a kick. You've put Newsradio up to number one. Guys, I've never seen it. I'm just kidding. Oh, you would love Newsradio. Newsradio is not easily watchable on the streaming medias right now. It used to be on Hulu, but it's gone.

Yeah, and I remember for a while it was on Crackle, but they'd only have like five random episodes at any time from across different seasons. Crackle still exists? Oh, baby. Excuse me. Crackle's new show, Startup, with Adam Brody next week or something. I can't remember. They're crackling.

They got a bunch of new Crackle originals. Let me tell you, they are not crackling Brody next week or something. I can't remember. They're crackling. They got a bunch of new crackle originals. Let me tell you, they are not crackling. Crackling, baby! So, what was I talking about? Totally. Oh, NewsRadio. Yeah. In the first episode of NewsRadio, Dave Foley and Maura Tierney, or maybe it's the second episode actually. NewsRadio is a perfect pilot. Yeah. And then there you go.

Now we can move on and deal with their relationship or not, and like, you know, great. Not just like, you think the two hot leads of the show are gonna make out like you know i agree that in a post sam and diane world no one needs to do the sam and diane dynamic anymore right yeah but like man i it i fall hard for tv show romance it's like nick and jess and new girl was a big one for me that first too. First kiss. Jim and Pam. Nick and Jess was the greatest. Loved Nick and Jess. But here's what I liked about

Nick and Jess. They didn't really do a lot of hinting about it. It just kind of happened. They knew you were thinking about it, obviously, because they're the two hot leads. Right. But they also positioned Schmidt for a little while. They positioned Schmidt for a little bit. They kind of just had him

have fun, sexy adventures. You know, both of them had romances and stuff. And then there's just that episode that whole... I think New Girl season two is a fucking work of genius. P.S. No one talks about New Girl anymore. I agree. I love New Girl. And like, you know, the whole second season, Nick is crazy.

He does all this weird shit. There are all these episodes where he does weird shit. There's all these episodes where he does weird shit. There's that whole episode where he talks to the Vietnamese man on the bench. Yeah. And then midway through, he makes out with her kind of out of nowhere. Right. Which, that's a great scene. It is.

It's incredible. And you're just like, oh, of course. He fell in love with his roommate. That's why he was so crazy. It's well done because it's kind of more like how that would be. Yeah. It wouldn be they would get stuck in an elevator and like oh her shirt would fall off i don't know like whatever like they'd have to remove their clothes in front of each other all the time i like what you know all the sort of sitcom tricks you do i'll tell you what i think is the best execution of the world they won't they the last 10 years in television uh yeah uh britta and Jeff. Oh, yeah. In community.

100%. Well, Britta and Jeff is, but it's all day in harmony and he's making fun of it. I mean, I love it. I think it's great that it's like they set it up and you think they've

forgotten about it and a season later it's like they've been fucking the whole time. That's my favorite show of all time. Yeah, I just think they deal with that perfectly.

I am a sucker for it. I mean, it's like a fucking storytelling show. We're failing to talk about the fact that this show has two separate will-they-won't-they things going on at the same time. Yeah, you mean Poots and Rafe? Yeah.

Rafe Poots? Reg and Kellyanne. Regianne. Relianne. Rafe Poots does sound like something you get after eating too much Redmaid. Oh, my god. I have to say, I only knew him as a terrible person in Prometheus, and I was on board after the show for Rafe Small.

He is my new favorite. He's also in all the Edgar Wright movies. Oh, right, right, right. He'll either play terrible people, or he'll play sort of Hugh Grant-y, you know, sort of fumbling Brit types. And he's good at both. I think he's good in the show. I also think the show doesn't do right by him because they pick one or the other per episode.

Absolutely. Like, they switch very hard between, like, he's the crass commercial, like, shark. Because he's the only member of the cast who disagrees with anything that's happening. Like, everyone else is on board. But sometimes he disagrees in sort of an oblivious, doofus kind of way, where it's like, you can still find him charming because he's Hugh Grant-y, and he's just not from their world, and he doesn't get it yet. And sometimes he's like, I know exactly what I'm doing.

I'm cutting this off at, like, you know, at the next. Did you see the BFG? Yeah. He's in that. He's really fun in that. He is. Him and Hall, Rebecca Hall, are very cute because you're, like, immediately like, oh, well, these two are in love.

Yeah. And they do it very subtly. I know, even though they're like the secretaries to the queen or whatever. We're like, nah, I get it. I get it. These two are hot. Ray Small is kind of one of my secret favorite actors. I always love him, and I went to see, what was it called?

Betrayal on Broadway. Oh, sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mostly because of him. The pinta play? Yeah, because everyone was going for Vice and Craig who, you know, I like both of them quite a bit but I was like, I really want to see Rafe Spall

on Broadway. Vice and Craig, you know, it's on TNT. No, it's on TNT. You know, one of them's a tomboy, one of them's a girly girl. Yeah. Vice and Craig. Right. I think my mom watches that show. Yeah, exactly. It's in its 18th season. But, so yeah, mean, I like this whole cast. There are a lot of my sort of favorite underappreciated actors are in the cast of the show,

or I knew were making guest appearances or whatever it was. So, Poots has got to be on that list. Gugino, Wilson. Gugino, obviously. But Gugino, it's like every great director has to have his chance to not use her right. Like, you know, it's. She's the most badly used actress in Hollywood. But can I say this? I think it's partly sexism. It's her age

and stuff so she sort of gets punted down to like a sort of a second tier of projects or whatever. But she works so much. Oh tons. And in a way she kind of has my dream career. She's got a nice career. She's someone I think about where it's like

her fame's never become overwhelming no but she just works all the time in like a variety of different types of projects so she gets to flex a lot of different muscles because she had her run of like she was like in all those shitty like family comedy like she did the fucking ninth museum and mr popper's penguin oh she's done all that. You know, for like older, like not older, but like... She's in Spy Kids. Right. All three Spy Kids. Right.

You know, she... I think of her as more of a TV actress. I feel like she got failed on TV. Yeah. So she was... She deserved a better TV show. I mean, Karen Sisko.

Yeah, well, Karen Sisko is the one that they fucked up. That should have been her show. That should have been her show. And everyone agreed that it was like, oh, here's her moment.

I saw her the other day. That's all I have to contribute to this. Wow. What was she doing? Going to the Tonight Show. That's cool. I was just like, oh. To talk roadies?

I think so. Must be. Maybe it was like a few weeks ago. Spin City. She was on Spin City in the first season. They wrote her off. Right. Because they didn't want Michael J. Fox to have a girlfriend.

Right. She was then on Chicago Hope for a year. They wrote her off. I don't know why. I didn't watch Chicago Hope. She was on Karen Sisko. That didn't want Michael J. Fox to have a girlfriend. Right. She was then on Chicago Hope for a year. They wrote her off. I don't know why. I didn't watch Chicago Hope. She was on Karen Sisko. That didn't work out. She was on Threshold.

Do you remember Threshold? Dinklage. Charles Dutton. Charles Dutton. Brian Van Holt, who is okay. Yeah. Brent Spiner. Yes.

I mean, it was like a crazy cast. A couple of my favorite people there. Yeah. Aliens. Yeah. Like, there's tentacle aliens taking over the world and they gotta stop them.

Dinklage, Spiner, they've got them all. But it like didn't exist. It was one of the post-Lost shows. It was 05. Right. So it's the second season of Lost and it was when every other network.

It was on CBS which is objectively insane. The wrong network. And that was when ABC had the show called, I think it was called Invasion that was about William Fickner in like a post-Katrina swamp being taken over by aliens. Brilliant show.

Completely no one knew to make of it. I love that year. I just remember. Everyone's like, no, weird sci-fi. We're doing this for a year. I remember at that time flipping through the channels and seeing the opening of Threshold with the cast list and going like, wait wait there's a Carla Gugino, Charles S. Dutton, Peter Dinklage show on television and I don't know about it. No one knew about it.

The marketing has objectively failed if I don't know about this show. And then of course Political Animals which didn't have enough she was on Entourage for years. I was eager. I wanted to get to the joke about me not having enough dialogue on Political Animals. I played her assistant.

She played, she's in Wayward Pines, the M. Night Shyamalan show. Yeah. Which I believe is coming back. Twin Peaks? She's on Twin Peaks? No, I'm just making a Wayward Pines. Is Twin Peaks, Joe? Yes, indeed.

I think she's on season two of Wayward Pines. Wayward Pines is coming back. It is coming back. Also, literally everyone is in Twin Peaks, the revival, so it's possible that she's also in it. Yeah.

Eddie Vedder is in it. Yeah, and isn't fucking Sky Ferreira in it? Yeah. I was using Eddie Vedder as a way to tie it back to Rowdy. Oh, very smart.

Gagina rules. Yeah, she's amazing. She rules, yeah. She's great in Watchmen, which is a pretty terrible movie. Yeah, you know who she should have played in that movie? Everyone. Modern Day Slayer.

Yeah, 100%. She was the best possible person to play. I mean, I don't even want to get into Watchmen. You guys should do... We'll do Snyder. We'll 100% do Snyder someday. That's 2021. We're doing it then.

I'm pitching it. It's a waste from now i don't want to do that shit i'll do it if we only do gahool yeah every episode and it'll be called snide kids because we're the kids who talk snide uh how do we get on this i think Carla Gugino has a perfect career. I think we did wrong by her, but I think she also still has a sense of anonymity and gets to do a lot of interesting work.

She does Broadway and does TV and does movies and does things of different sizes. I think she doesn't get... Oh, she's also done three movies with Dwayne The Rock Johnson. Is that right? Is she in A Journey? She's in... One of the Journeys?

I don't think she's in A Journey. She's in Raised to Witch Mountain, or Escaped to Witch Mountain. And she's in San Andreas, of course. Oh, of course! Yes, faint praise awards for age-appropriate love interest. Yeah, very much so. And she's got one other rock movie that I'm forgetting right now. I think maybe

she's in Faster. She is in Faster. Good call. Thank you. Yeah, of course she's in Sin City back in the day. Yeah. As topless parole officer. Topless gay parole officer. Yeah. Any other credits we want to list?

She's in Welcome Home. What if the rest of this episode- She's in Welcome Home. Roxy Carmichael is young Roxy Carmichael. Wasn't she in Troop Beverly Hills? Wasn't she one of the kids in Troop Beverly Hills? Yeah, she's Chica. This is the rest of the episode.

Ben, how long have we been going for? I'm sorry, Enchantress. Ah! How long have we been going for? Hour and 22 minutes. Okay, cool. What was I going to say? I even forget what we sidebarred off of here.

I think most of the characters in the show... We were just talking about each character? Yeah. Yeah, talking about Gucci, you know. Most of the characters are two-dimensional at best, but it's a lot of actors who I find very charming, and I think most of the characters in the show... We're just talking about each character? Yeah. Yeah, talking about Guido. Most of the characters are two-dimensional at best, but it's a lot of actors who I find very charming, and I think collectively, the scenes where it's everyone kind of together,

there's a decent energy to it. Yeah. Because, I don't know, I think Cameron Crowe's strength has always been when he's good at chemistry. Sure. At capturing... I mean, that's a strength.

Right. It could be a strength of his, for sure. Yeah. Capturing chemistry. And there are moments where everyone's sitting around and talking where there's just sort of a I mean, that's a strength. Right. It could be a strength of his, for sure. Yeah. Capturing chemistry. And there are moments where everyone's sitting around and talking where there's just sort of a very easygoing, loose nature to the history of these characters that I really like. By far, the best episode is the one where they're just listening to him talk about Skinner. No question.

Yes. I agree that's the best episode. Are we getting there? Yeah. Yeah. That episode works. It doesn't have any of the cast in it or have much to do with the actual show, which helps. But it's like you see the vision for a better show in that.

Set in the past. Rock, guys. So that's the eighth episode. It's called The All Night Bus Ride. I think there are two good episodes in this season. I'd say like five and five. Okay, what was your other one that you liked? I think the Cincinnati episode is pretty cute and basically works.

It is a functional episode of television. I'd say this is a TV critic who has seen a lot of TV. Yeah. You're going to pull rank on it. I am. Okay. And then I think the all-night bus ride is pretty good, which is the Skinner, which is basically Ron White shows up and he's like,

let me tell you about Leonard Skinner and you know, and Van Zandt and all these guys. Great. Yeah, and I was like, I know the history of Skinner, and I still was kind of touched at the end when Van Zandt died. I was like, oh, right. And he nails that scene. I mean, Ron White really brings it home. Also, it's interesting because I would say, just to bring it back to vinyl. One thing vinyl, you're doing the eye twitch from the tape right now.

I'm tired. And I haven't eaten enough. Yeah. One thing vinyl did that was a tough thing to do was have people play either actual celebrities from the past or like celebrity. Yes. And you're just like, well, that's not Robert Plant. Now I'm just out of this scene. Like I can't or what?

You know, like that's, this sucks. Fun fact, I know that guy. Yeah. Well, he had a tough challenge. Yeah. And then in this, that's the only time they do it. They have someone play a fictional musician. I mean, I have.

He does a decent job. He does a good job. And it also helps that it's in the past, so it's kind of like a memory play. I mean, that's always, like, a difficult thing where it's, like, when you get to a show like this, it's like, okay, so what are your, like, three options? When you get to a show like this, it's like, okay, so what are your three options? Do you have people play fictional musicians? Sure. It always kind of feels wrong.

Right. Right? Especially in the Stanton House band stuff. Doesn't really matter. And it's like even just their physicality where they're on stage feels a little too studied and affected. You never hear the songs. It's impossible to write a fake band and successfully make it like they're supposed to be great or they're supposed stage feels a little too studied and affected. You never hear the songs. It's impossible to like write a fake band

and successfully make it like they're supposed to be great or they're supposed to be terrible. Although I'll argue that the only, one of the only people who've done it successfully is Cameron Crowe.

Stillwater is a great fake band. Stillwater is a good fake band. Although you definitely sometimes are thinking like, so this is like, who is this? Who's this supposed to be? I think that's the problem

with fictional bands is you're trying to figure out like map it onto who they are. Except for in That Thing You Do which is the best movie ever. You're right. That's actually the best one. That's a good call.

It's good when it's just a very obvious type of music. Yes. You know and it doesn't have to be a particular band just a wave of music like a British Invasion or whatever you know.

Well and here's the other thing with That Thing You Do it's their one hit wonder so you only have to do one song, and that one song was perfect. You got to nail the song. They nailed the song. Right.

And the band is sort of so accidental where they're not ready for anything that they don't have to pitch it as like they're a great band or they're a terrible band. They're sort of caught up in a whirlwind. What a cute movie. That's so good. The music was written by the guy from Fountains of Wayne who grew up very near where I grew up in New Jersey.

Oh, did you know Stacy's mom? I did not, but I used to go to the Fountains of Wayne who grew up very near where I grew up in New Jersey. Oh, did you know Stacy's mom? I did not, but I used to go to the Fountains of Wayne which was an actual store that sold fountains. Cool. Did you get any fountains?

My dad did one time purchase a bird fountain. Did you ever see the store Fountains of Wayne eating a burger? Because that would be a good burger report. Ooh, no.

What do you want to say, Griffin? No, I'm just bummed out to hear that you didn't know Stacey's mom because I want to... I've been trying to get confirmation as to whether or not she had it going on, but that's... I don't know. I'll make a few calls. We'll see what I can turn up. I've just been trying to get to the bottom of that one for years.

No, sure. I'll ask around. Because she's all I want. I've waited for so long. Can I hand out comedy points? No. Not for that. I won't let you give me comedy points. If you tried to give him comedy points for that,

they would kind of repel like he was a magnet. But then I could catch them. They could be mine again. They would bend backwards. You're getting really, you're getting power mad at me. I've thought about this a lot. It's funny.

I love that people picked up on Andy giving you comedy points on Fox. Also, I've been given comedy points by Ali. Yes. Maybe. I don't think I've met the other members of this party. Oh, really? Okay. I was on Fox News recently on the television program Red Eye to promote the tech, and Andy

Levy, who was the guest host for the show, gave me comedy points on air. Really? Yeah, which was amazing to have that thing filter through to Fox News. And I think we talk about this in a future episode, but this is more relevant as to when that clip actually dropped, so we're mentioning it now. We won't talk about it anymore, because we'll talk about it in another episode. God, this whole thing of recording episodes out of order is insane. I'm very confused.

Well, we think it's a good idea because we're like, I mean, it's just a movie anyway, so whatever, right? We can do it in any order. We don't need to be topical. But then these narratives we weave. But we have all these bits that we, yeah, yeah. It's a tangled web we weave. It is.

So, episode one. Oh, God. It's the pilot episode, and it's called- Bad episode. It is. So, episode one. Oh, gosh. It's the pilot episode, and it's called- Bad episode. Life is a Carnival. Bad episode. We all agree. It's a bad episode.

Episode two is called What Would Phil Do? What happens in that one? I think- They fire Ron White. Yeah, Luke Wilson has to take over the responsibilities. Luke Wilson's got to be the new Ron White. Does he do the prayer circle? Yeah, not very well.

But everyone's kind of- I also feel like he's, in the first episode they establish he's like good at his job and then he takes over and everyone's like, fuck you.

Oh, get out of here, Ben. We want the embezzler. Like no one like hated him in the first episode. I'd say that episode is an improvement but it is still mediocre. I'd say that episode

is just kind of like, okay, you're getting to like a cruising altitude. Like the ship, the plane isn't crashing anymore. Does anything else happen in that episode? I can't remember. I just watched this in a week.

Me too. Now, I'll admit, that probably hurt my liking of the show having to slightly binge it. The show is very old school in that it really does feel like You could watch this over a year. Right. Every episode is just kind of an episode. There are obviously storylines that continue, but the episodes are kind of self-contained.

It feels very 2003, where even if it's a cable show, it's like, well, we might not get a DVD box set, so you have to make sure that someone could jump in at episode five and get it. I also think you see how this show could so easily be a half-hour live studio audience sitcom. Sure. Like, the format of the show feels very classical. Or a single-camera sitcom. You know, whatever. Probably would have been better like that. Yeah, I agree.

Third episode is the Bryce Newman letter. Catastrophic. Wait, I want to go back to the first episode and do a very nerdy nitpick. Please. Is that okay? Yeah. Which is that when Wes shows up,

he's handing bootlegs to people. It's like, here, I brought you these CDs, which is, okay, whatever. But he says to Donna, the one with the baby. Yeah, Donna. Yeah, Keisha Castle-Hughes. Yeah. Academy Award nominee Keisha Castle-Hughes. Correct.

He gives her a replacement CD, and he goes, last show with the original band, 1987. First of all, that's a weird, no one says last show with the original band. You say lineup. Last show with the original lineup, and it was 86. It was wrong. Wrong fact on this, and it bothered me,

and I was like, I'm gonna bring it up on the show, and here we are. And you feel like that's the one thing Cameron Crowe would get right. Right, which would be like, he should know this. He's the liner notes guy.

He's the liner notes guy. It's supposed to be his thing, which also makes me think that maybe he just kept saying it wrong in takes, and they were like, no one is going to notice this, and I'm the person who was like, no, it was 86, Stinson left the band. This season does feel like this season. This series feels like liner notes to the TV show.

100%. There's a Pino Palladino joke in one episode, which is like I feel like me and three other people were like, oh, yeah, Pino Palladino, cool. And also so much of this show is him grabbing, reaching his hands out of the TV screen, Fat Albert the movie style, grabbing the viewer

by the lapels and going like, you should care about music! Like the prayer circle thing is like a device to have Luke Wilson explain the history of every town they go to musically. And then even just like the song of the day thing is like such a weird listen to this song. I heard that's also the whole series is like the song of the day.

Like every episode has like five songs that are like spotlighted. I mean, I did the, this tweet last night that was like a too long. Didn't read version of roadies. I saw that. And I screen capped three things from one episode. Yeah.

I could probably find it. And it was like, it was basically every time... You go ahead. It was like Luke Wilson with a winsome expression, and then it said, like, gentle rock music. Yeah. And then it was like...

Jangly rock music. Right, but then it was like Carla Gugino looking sad, and then it said, like, rock continues playing. And then them, like, canoodling right before they kiss, and it said, like... Pensive rock music, I think. Oh, pensive is the first one. I don't know. Whatever.

It was just like... It was a great tweet. Yeah. Thank you. I threw it a fave. Slow rock continues, mellow guitar chords. Right, right. So, the fourth episode is called City Whose Name Must Not Be Spoken, then Rafe Spall says

the word Cincinnati. It's a cute episode. Yeah. That's the first one that made me kind of turn around a little bit. Best, I think, is a 22-minute episode

because the way they're like, wait, what did you do? He did it. He went and did it. Guys, everyone come in here. Everyone? Everyone's here? Finesse?

Everyone's here. He said it. What did I say? You know what you said. The C word. They say the C word. I didn't say the C know what you said. The C word. They say the C word as though... I didn't say the C word. But wait, my favorite thing in the show

happens in that episode. Well, my second favorite thing. Which is that he says it and everyone's freaking out and then Jim James from My Morning Jacket comes out of the bathroom. Imogen Pooks goes, you're Jim James, right? And he goes, yeah. And she goes, I'm a big fan. And then he's just there for the episode.

He vaguely is like, yeah, thanks for And he goes, yeah. And she goes, I'm a big fan. And then he's just there for the episode. He's just hanging out. He vaguely is like, yeah, thanks for taking me on the bus. But no one is like, why are you here? You're not opening for the band. You're just hanging out. Anytime they have a real life musician on the show, they constantly refer to them by their full name even when they're talking to them. Yeah, no one is like, Jim's here.

Right. Or they never even use pronouns where they're like, okay, so he's waiting in the back. Yeah. They keep on going like, look, the head and the heart. Sabotage ourselves. Lindsay Buckingham. Yeah, right. They keep on saying like, you spit on John Cougar Mellencamp's guitar.

Do you realize John Cougar Mellencamp is, hold on, John Cougar Mellencamp, I'm explaining this to the kid. No, John, John, John Cougar Mellen Camp. I'll finish talking to you in just a moment. Like, they keep on, the amount of times they say head in the heart in the first two episodes, if you had a drinking game,

you would die. So, um. And also, they just kind of shit talk them, too. They, like, bring them aboard and then they're like, they stole our shit.

And they also, like, head in the heart's, like, kind of well-known. Like, they're not, like. No, they're not that well-known. That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying. It's, like, weird

that they talk it up. Like, they're like, we have the head in the heart. Well, but that's why they have to talk it up. Yeah. That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying. It's weird that they talk it up. We have the head and the heart. That's why they have to talk it up. But also depict them as villains. And then they get Lindsey Buckingham to open too, which is why- They have two numbers. Right. I have no idea how big this band is if you're taking a moderate indie band or a legend of music.

Yeah. And that's this running fucking like plot thread is like, oh, they can't hold on to an opening act so every show they need a new opening act which is like an excuse to bring in new guest stars

but it also is like, I don't fucking care. Let's talk about how many running jokes there are. Okay. There's that. He can't find his suitcase. Uh-oh.

Every episode he has to make the call. It is what it is. Yeah. You look great. You look great. The security guard. Our listeners are is what it is. Yeah. You look great. You look great. The security guard. Our listeners are just like, delete.

Goodbye. What are they talking about? You look great is a recurring joke on this one? Yeah. You look great. The security guard. Put it on my tab. I've been waiting two years to use that on this podcast.

Carry on. Sorry. I'm sorry. The security guard every episode being like, it's not going to happen tonight. Puna. Carry on. Sorry. I'm sorry. The security guard every episode being like, it's not going to happen tonight. Puna. Yeah. Puna.

Puna. I refer to Puna's existence as a running joke because he's never treated seriously as a human being. Is that it? There have to be some other ones. But they all,

like every episode, and they do tie them up at the end, but like every episode, these five things happen. They hit the same things over and over again. Let's talk about the most important thing that happens on, these five things happen. They hit the same things over and over again. Let's talk about the most important thing that happens on the run of the show. Well, should we go to the next episode?

Because I think the next one is maybe where this happens. The fifth episode is Friends and Family, which is the one where Luke and Carla hook up. And it's the Supermoon episode. Okay. Sixth episode is Longest Days. I don't even remember what that one is. I think what I'm referring to-

That's with the fight with Janine? Yes. Oh, that's, the fight with Janine? Yes. Oh, that's, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Another supervillain on the show. Yes, that's the one, right. But he meets Janine in episode five. Janine pops up, I think, at the end of episode five, and she's all sweetness and light,

or somewhere in the middle of episode five. And of course, you know, steals young Rafe's heart so she can break up the band. And in episode five, you're like, oh, well, maybe she genuinely likes Rafe Spall. He's likable. As we all did. I'll say of all the Will They Want Days the show sets up, they're the couple that have the most chemistry for me.

Those early scenes. I think they're really good. And they try to set up this Imogen Poots thing where it's like, well, he clearly likes her. She hates him because he represents everything she hates. And then everyone assumes they've slept together. And then for the next seven episodes, the show proceeds proceeds with like well they're not really talking to each other they moved on because everyone assumed it so now like the tension's gone for them and the second allison came in or allison i was like thinking of the fucking uh uh elvis costello like that's

clearly the archetype of what she's supposed to be um but uh the second janine comes in it's like this is a much better couple. You're age appropriate. The two of you have good chemistry. These scenes are really nice. And that's kind of an interesting story idea. No, no, she's a hateful villain.

Right. Who must be destroyed. Which is a bummer. That's episode six. I love the plot line idea of money man in charge of a band falls in love with the ex that the band,

the singer can't get over who he wrote the song about. Yeah, that's a great idea. That's a cool idea. It's an decent idea. You guys are a little too jazzed about this idea. We love this show. It's a Gentleman's Six. It's a Gentleman's Six.

What don't you understand about a Gentleman's Six, David? Oh, my God. That was an AV Club rating, right? Yeah, it was a Gentleman's Six. It was an A plus, A minus. Vanderwerf would always hand out a gentleman's six. Old toddy. I do like the idea that he's drawn to her because she's like a quote unquote muse.

That's sort of just interesting. Especially because he doesn't get music, really. And also that he's around, yeah, 100%, and that he's around all these sort of show folk, and she's like a real person. She's presented as being the salt of the earth. In episode five. In episode six, she's like a real person like she's presented as being the salt of the earth like you know in episode five in episode six she's a monster right and it turns out she just wanted to get back at what's his pants in episode six she's the joker like she suddenly like fucking organized like she put the the prisoners on the one fucking fairy and gave

them the detonation for the other right yeah uh you know it's like a crazy master plan. But then, what's the guy? Mike Finger? No. Mr. Finger. Tiny Lister. Zeus Tiny Lister. Tiny Lister, yeah. He throws the keys in the room. Yeah, can we mention, because I forget which episode it is, but there's a multi-episode arc on this show where Rhodey's gets finger. Yeah.

I think finger. It's around the same time. Finger shows up in two episodes? yeah and then he's there at the funeral but no one looks at him there's no shot of him he's just in the back no Finger's got a three episode arc

he's got three because he's introduced in one they're trying to find outtakes and demos so that they can release a box set because that's his big idea. A thing that sells. Right. Yeah, it's 2016.

People buy box sets. Yeah, and Luke Wilson's like, I don't know about inviting Finger. So Finger is the guy who runs Mike Finger, is that his name? Yes. Yeah, but they always say his full name. They're like Michael Lewis Finger.

And he runs- Mr. Finger. He runs their fan site. Yeah. For the Staten House band. And he's a diehard. He dresses like- Austin Powers.

I was going to say he dresses like the millionaire from Gilligan's Island. He's always got a corsage and a little sailor's cap. He dresses like a yachting man. It's what I don't get about Crow. Isn't he supposed to be the voice of the fan and like you know the people who love these things he's like the closest crow surrogate on the show and then makes him into a lunatic fool yeah like he's like presented first as being a weird loser and he's presented as being like an obsessive asshole yeah it's at first he's bad and then the character actually becomes actively

malevolent yeah and then it gives luke wilson a chance like, alright, this is why I did music. When he like visits the shrines of the band, even though like a couple episodes before. It's shit that he stole. Yeah. But like a couple episodes before he has like the same revelation. Yeah. Like. When he goes to his own house with his ex-wife. Yeah, and he's like, alright, there's this Graham Parsons jacket. Ugh.

Music. He kind of picks the. Oh, and then Luke Wilson goes on a 10 minute rant about fucking Graham Parsons ruining country music. Yeah. That was out of nowhere. Also love that there's all these artifacts, important things that these people just own. Yeah, on this random tour. Woody Guthrie's guitar, which apparently Mellencamp actually does own. I Googled and found out.

But Graham Parsons' jacket and who has this and uses it. Yeah, the ashes of the big bopper. They got Jim Morrison's dick in a box. Just in like, a little shoe box. Oh boy. But no Rainn Wilson dick.

I don't remember what happened. I think episode seven is the one where Finger goes crazy. I can't remember. It's called Carpet Season. Oh yeah, where he has the-

He goes to an AA meeting. Yeah. It's the local, the Denver show, right? I mean, isn't that where everything goes? Yeah, so every episode's set in a different series, in a different city. Yes, except there are two Denver episodes because they do two nights. Yeah, that's the Janine and Finger thing. Right, right.

That's an arc. I can't believe it. I just have to say Finger is like a- That's when they finger Janine. Oh, no. Enchantress, drop the key. Finger. Lock the gates.

We didn't talk about that. Oh, fuck right. Marin, he's in the Denver episodes, right? He comes in earlier. He locks the gates. No, he doesn't. They unlock the gates. I was honestly disappointed he didn't make any reference to that.

Maybe it's earlier, actually. So Marin does a set in front of one of the shows. He's the opener. He's the sober partner. Sort of like Bobcat Goldthwait in Nirvana style. But let's remember, that's how he comes in as they go. The bassist who's been sort of bottoming out and now dating the stalker who snuck backstage and sexually assaulted Rainn Wilson.

Great storyline. And also, in the 10th episode or the 9th episode, the bassist looks at the camera as a mirror and shaves like he's Luke Wilson in the Royal Tenenbaums. And I'm like, is he gonna kill himself? Like, what is this? And then it's never, we don't see him again. It's almost shot for shot in terms of movement, editing

rhythms, identical to the Royal Tenenbaums sequence. But no Elliot Smith song. Right, and instead of saying Luke Wilson goes, you're going to kill yourself. Right. Instead he looks in the mirror and says, you married her.

Right. It's the weirdest homage to have. It must be an homage. It'd be crazy for it not to. David, it's like shot for shot. I know,

I know. The cuts are the same. I know. The literal movements he does, there's no way it's accidental. The framing is identical. He says one line, it's the same.

How do you think Luke felt about that? Fucking weird? I don't know, he's too busy it's accidental. The framing is identical. He says one line. It's the same. How do you think Luke felt about that? Fucking weird? I don't know. He's too busy thinking about Verizon. Great coverage all over this land. They do. Yeah. They do.

I got great coverage. He's so fat-faced. He gained 80 pounds in his face and nowhere else. But I like that he's got some wrinkles now. He looks a little- He looks good now. He looks a little sandblasted. He looked good when Enlightened started.

Bill, you look good. Yeah. He figured it out. Bill, you look good. Yeah. He figured it out. Bill, you look good. So, Merrin shows up. He's the sober partner. I just want to emphasize the fact that it's not like they're like, let's get comedian Mark Merrin.

The bassist has been going off the wagon. He's like, okay, he's got a sober partner. And they keep on saying like, I don't trust any sober partner that he hires when he's sober, when he's drunk, you know? Like, who's this guy going to be? And they show up and they're like, you're Mark Merrin. And he's like, oh yeah, drunk, you know, like, who's this guy going to be? And they show up, and they're like, you're Marc Maron. And he's like, oh, yeah, no, I'm his sober partner. Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do.

And they're like, what? And then, like, oh, catastrophe, our opening act dropped out, and Reg is like, oh, Marc Maron, why don't you do us? Oh, my God, Marc Maron. And they're like, oh, buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh. And then they're like,

you can't let Marc Maron do a set. He gets up, he does the best 45-minute set of his life, and then afterwards, Bill's got to fire him, and he does every Marc Maron joke. set. He gets up, he does the best 45-minute set of his life, and then afterwards Bill's got to fire him, and he does every Mark Maron joke. He goes, you know, I mean, the Lorne Michaels interview. He does it all. Who are your guys? I also like the minor thread about the roadies have a band,

and every time they're like, well, this might be the time you go on, and then Mark Maron shows up, and they're like, no, sorry, guys. And they're like, no, it's okay. We didn't want to do that. They get bumped for Maron, which feels like the inverse of a Marin story that he would tell as to why he hates somebody. There's somewhere in universe a podcast started by Milo. Yeah. It's like, man, fucking Marin bumped us again.

I think I just had to get over. I forgot about Milo. Through to this all, Milo maybe has a crush on Imogen Poots. I didn't mention that. Yeah, and he's pretty, like, brokenhearted about it, but he never does anything about it. He kind of forgets about it. And also when he actually goes to say it to her, they kind of sweep it under the rug. Yes, when they're in weed California.

And then there's the other time where he refuses to talk to her because he's so heartbroken by the fact that she allegedly slept with Rafe Spall, which he didn't. Yeah, he just believes that because Keisha Castle-Hughes, whose character actually, no more than I'm thinking about, is really kind of a bad person. Yeah. He's just going around being like, you fucked Rafe Spall. And then Jim Pooch is like, no, I didn't. Oh, no. Why are you doing that?

She's not there for the birth of her daughter. Yeah. She's a piece of shit. Fuck her. She's also the one who notices Luke and Carla, right? She's like, yeah, they had sex last night. Right, but she's right about that one and wrong about the other one, but people believe the wrong one more than they believe the right one.

I also just want to say, at some point, Rafe Spall is in a hotel and there's a fountain. This is my favorite moment in the show. He just goes over and touches it and he goes, oh, it's wet. That was my favorite line in this whole thing because it was so charming and British, you know? He's good. That's the show I want to watch.

Yeah. I have a question. Any relation to Timothy? Yes. That's his son. Oh, shit. What does Timothy Spall say in Vanilla Sky? What does he say?

Lock the gates? Yeah. Lock the gates. Listen to me. Lock the gates. I'm Timothy Spall. Lock the gates. You Timothy Spool Lock the gates You're gonna have to

Turn her Putters and murmurs Eight Episode eight is the Called the all night bus ride In which Ron White Shows up to talk about Working for Leonard Skinner

Best episode Pretty good I would give that episode A gentlemen's six And it feels more Formally audacious I'd give that episode A gentlemen's eight or nine

Directed by Sam Jones That's ridiculous That's like ridiculous I also don't watch a lot of TV. Yeah. I watch a lot of TV. Yeah. I also read the A.V. Club.

See, I don't watch a lot of TV, and I kind of, I will say this, okay? And maybe, you know. What the fuck are you going to say? Let's get the vomit bucket back out here. No, I have commitment issues to a degree, so I have a hard time getting into TV shows. And so I like watching shows that are very kind of just like wafer thin, like you can sort of bat around.

And an hour long. I can't. It's so much time to devote to something. But here's the thing. I don't want to get roped into a show that I feel like I need to keep on watching, if that makes any sense. I watch a lot of challenging, formally audacious, emotionally wrought movies and with tv i can't wait to see it either with tv i just kind of want to like unwind and watch stuff i find the show pretty relaxing and i kind of like that it's

like so basic and whatever there is the sort of i mean that episode feels more formally audacious and how it like the show could be in that something happens in it and yeah and that's its own format you know that like the storytelling structure could change every time but i kind of like that's just like i found this to be a pleasant hangout show certainly after watching the first episode i would not have kept watching if i did not have to for this podcast yeah but i like pleasantly watched like episodes you know from episode three on i was like i'm enjoying watching this i don't think it's great. I will never be compelled to watch it again. There are moments I like

a lot. There are performances I like. I am having a fine enough time playing this show episode after episode. But that's the thing. If I had watched the pilot, I would never have. A hundred percent. Like, if I just tuned in on a Sunday, but after

having to watch it being forced to and staying up and like losing sleep to watch this thing it's a low key trauma I liked it yeah

boo so episode 9 episode 9 is called The Corporate Gig yeah what happens in that Ron White dies

and he falls in a swimming pool they do a corporate gig at Funko which is a rubber company which shares the name of like the biggest toy collectibles company. Which is so weird. Which is very bizarre.

Because the Funko Pops were decimated. They were decimated. That is true. As we all know. I feel like that's a more recent thing, like in the past year. And if it really was shot a year or two ago, then maybe it wasn't a big deal. Not impossible.

But it is odd that they keep on saying that they used to be a toy company and now they make rubber ball. But what's his face from Togetherness, isn't it? Oh, Steve Zissus. Zissus. Oh yeah, he's a good actor. He was great. I was like, there's that guy. There he is. And David Spade. David Spade, yeah. And now David Spade, you're waiting

for this David Spade thing to pay off because the whole season they're all watching this show. They're watching this dumb show. They're like, hate watching this show and they're like, it's so bad but I can't help but watch dead sex. It's like the ring except instead of dying within seven days you have to have sex within nine. Yeah. Once you're cursed by zombies. It's like an

opposite it follows. Yeah. Sure. Sex is the thing that saves you and David Spade's the one guy who can have sex because it's about attractiveness and everyone throws out David Spade's attractiveness as an empirical fact. He also wrote and produced the show, which he would never fucking do. He's shown no interest in Trace.

Yeah, he's a famously lazy man. Yeah, who gets out of bed when his friends ask him to do stuff, you know? But he looks good. He does. Just like Bill. He did look good, yeah. And then he ends up emceeing this corporate show

and Bill's like, you gotta tell me how dead sex ends. And he's like, it ends with this. And he's like, that's a bad ending. And then you just see David Spade freaking out and going like, we have to reshoot the ending. And that's the payoff of the dead sex thing. Ha ha ha. It's so weird to set up a fictional show within a show that seems like it's going to have, there's no parallels. It's not just like a bad ending, but it's but they set up that episode after they show it clips.

They show a scene where he's trying to find a woman named Jen. Yeah. And so Luke Wilson asks him, I'm going to forget his name, but he's like, so what happens to Jen? And he's like, I killed her. And it's like- Why would you do that? Why would you do that? So was he supposed to kill Carla at the end of the show?

Is that the metaphor he's supposed to make? There at the end of the show like is that the metaphor right there's no metaphor it never maps it should have just been like oh yeah you know i realized like she was the one or like you know i had to keep on having dead sex with her you know and a show that's already about fake bands having them watch a fake tv show especially a tv show that makes no sense that like would never exist you never exist they would never let David Spade do that even if David Spade had the momentum to want to make that show they'd be like no you're David Spade why would we make a show about you having to fuck everybody

which kind of seems like Cameron Crowe's idea for this show basically is like his surrogate does kind of fuck everybody true I mean at least his surrogate is handsome yeah he looks good he's looked better surrogate does kind of fuck everybody. True. I mean, at least his surrogate is handsome. Yeah. He looks good. He's looked better, but he

looks good, as everyone says. Come on, guys. Let's get to the end of this. Well, the final episode is one of the worst things I've ever seen in my life and I wanted to throw my computer out a window, which is basically, Ron White dies in the ninth episode. He comes back, I guess, after being fired for criminal activity.

Because they need him, right? Also, they casually mention he's murdered two people, but they're like, this is okay, we can employ him. But can I say, I kind of like that. Okay. Just like vinyl. You said it. Can I make my whole argument?

Go ahead. I feel drained of energy. I like that he contains multitudes. Yeah, murderer, embezzler. That he, you know. But like, from episode one, it feels like they're going like, oh, Santa Claus is a piece of shit. You were fucking lied to.

The guy you thought was your mentor has been garbage the whole time. Yeah. And it's like, when he comes back, the Lenskin episode, it's like, he's a guy who's done awful unforgivable things. But he's not inherently a bad person. Well he's an interesting person in that it would be interesting to talk to a lot of bad people.

Yeah. They'd be full of things that you hadn't done to tell you about. But that he's not a cut and dry villain. He dies. He says pistachio. Tenth episode is his funeral. Yep. It is... 40% musical performances musical performances 60 i mean it's a lot it's a lot we get basically his funeral like it's largely people giving speeches or musical performances at his funeral right and then carla's husband keeps trying to fuck her in a van or

something husband shows up and he's like it's me your husband i love you i'm gonna get you pregnant now where i will impregnate you and then I'm going to pull the baby out of you with my hand because I love you so much. He is horrifying. Now we've been hearing all show that she's married or whatever. But he shows up and she is basically

like witnesses this nonsense for ten minutes and then she's finally like you know I don't really want to go to the Maldives. I think I want to be on this roadie tour. But they already established that she comes back and she looks happy in the episode before. And Luke Wilson's like, oh man, I lost my shot. And then

she was like, no, I was happy because I got to see you. And so they shouldn't have to re-establish. No, but the husband shows up. You gotta pay it off. He wants to go to the Maldives. It's the only thing that happens in the episode that's not boring or finding out what pistachio meant. Yeah.

Guys, his last word was pistachio. It was like a horse. A horse you like to battle on. Who cares? So. You're forgetting that Reg gets his Fendi bag back. He does. He does.

Old Reggie. And then he does the call back to the first episode of him running back to the venue. Oh, God, he runs through an airport. And then we get a cliffhanger. Yeah. Fuck this show. It's never coming back. You know why?

He was banging on that door. Salt the earth. Banging on that door to try and get in. Say that like Marin. Lock the gates. Go ahead. That's the joke I was going to make. The gate was locked.

They locked the gates. Fuck. They had locked the- Oh locked the gates. Fuck. They had locked the, oh my god. Lane. Lane Montgomery. You wanna take it again, guys? Yeah, let's take it.

Take two. Okay, ready? Yeah. Okay, so cliffhanger, they're on a plane. He's, Reg is on the plane. Right, right, right.

He's running, he realizes, he watches a movie of everyone. God, I have no idea what Lane's about to say. This is gonna be crazy. Ben, make sure you cut out You're not cutting any of movie. God, I have no idea what Lane's about to say. This is going to be crazy. You're not cutting any of this, right, Ben?

Ben, cut out the previous take. Okay, Lane, go ahead. Oh, of course. I'm elaborating now more on this scene just so it drags out. Okay, cool. Ben, cut all of it out. Okay, Lane. Sure.

So he watches the movie that Miss Poots made. Yeah. Poots. Poots. And, you know, he just realizes he's in love with her, so he runs in the airport, because you have to have the airport scene, but he gets in a cab, and he runs to the door,

and he's banging on the door, but you know what's happened? They've locked the gates. Oh! That wasn't as satisfying as I thought it would be. Lock the gates. Roadies forever. Lock it on roadies forever.

Lock it away. Like, paint. Like, quarantine on the gates. I'm hoping for season two. Me too. Gentlemen six. I would be genuinely surprised. Had a fun time watching it.

Had a fun time watching it. I think I'm, you know, this is the end of our camera crew. Yep, and you're going out as you went in angry. I'm real worried about him. Yeah. I don't know what the fuck he's going to do with himself. I don't know. He's failed in every way.

I'm actually, I'm here to help. What? Yeah. I'm here to help Cameron Crowe. What? Cameron Crowe? Cameron Crowe. Okay.

All right? Okay. So let's just start from the top. Okay. Your ideas aren't fresh, baby, okay? They've been sitting in a filing cabinet for too long. All right, you want music ideas? What do you do something about crust punks, okay?

Nobody's done that before. Crusties? Yeah. All right? A Starz original series? Exactly. Crusties? Get Machine Gun Kelly in it.

Instead of roadies, why don't you do something about backup dancers? That's cool. Baxies? Yeah. Or it could have been- A Cinemax original series? What if it was Roadhouse, the series, and it was about bouncers? I would watch the shit out of that.

Sure. You're talking about Roadhouse-ies? Yeah, dude. Yeah? So basically- An Epix original series? This is to Cameron Crowe, but really to Hollywood in general. If you're looking for a punch-up guy, well, let's just say I can do an uppercut.

You're like Sagat from Street Fighter II? Yes. Let's just take a little time to appreciate. Hyper uppercut. If you're looking for a punch-up guy, I can do an uppercut. Terrible. That's why we call him the Poet Laureate. It is.

It's true. That's my spiel. Thank you, Ben. Thank you, as always. I'm worried about Cam. What do you think he's going to do with himself? What would be your prescription for Cam? It's not make that meth movie.

No. No. I say season two of Road. That would be like some stars go supernova and then they're gone. Some stars just get kind of cooler and then they shrink into what's called a brown dwarf. That's what season two of Roadies would be. I think season two of Roadies, you could fix it. I think there's some greatness in this show.

I would love a season two. At this point, I'm fully on board. What would it be about? They're going to go on another tour. Tacoma, we're coming back. No, season two. I mean, look, season season 2 they are on tour the Taylor Swift type figure

and it's them and they're totally out of their element that would be fine the only problem with that is no one watched this show so what if it's under the sea

thank you what if it's the space tour yeah Planet Swift and I've already said my other things I've suggested that Cameron Crowe

does adapt yeah take someone else's script other someone else's work this show hit yeah adapting someone else's work directing someone else's script Planet Swift. And I've already said my other things I've suggested that Cameron Crowe does. Adapt. Yeah, take someone else's script. Other someone else's work. This show hit, yeah, adapting someone else's work. You know, directing someone else's script, adapting someone else's book, and or I think he should make an angry middle-aged movie with Alec Baldwin because I think-

Oh, and Maren. I think a Baldwin- Yes, and Maren. Baldwin-Maren road trip movie. Oh, man. Called Locked Against the Wall. Because I think this show is weirdly cynical in a lot of areas, but he's trying to be too open hearted. And I think he's pushing himself to be the classic Cameron and he should tap into that anger a little more.

I would worry about him making an anger movie simply because I don't want to hear the rantings of like a 50 something guy on like what's wrong with culture today. Kurt Cobain didn't die for. Yeah, I mean like that, you know, there's a lot of ways to go wrong. I'm not saying I want him to sit down and go, okay, here's my angry movie. But I'm saying I find a little too much in his recent work him obviously trying to push himself to be cute. But, like, the problem is maybe there's just not a place for Cameron Crowe in the, like, culture landscape right now. I think that's the thesis we come to. I mean, this show, its top viewership for the first episode was 350,000 people. Wow.

And it sank to a bottom of 242,000 people. Not good. It's not a lot of people. No, it's not. I mean, if we had that kind of listenership, we'd be rolling. We'd be killing it. Yeah, but we're a podcast. We're not a TV show that costs millions of dollars to make. It's it's not. I mean, if we had that kind of listenership, we'd be rolling. We'd be killing it. But we're a podcast. We're not a TV show that costs millions of dollars to make. It's probably

pretty expensive. No, our podcast does cost $1 million per episode. And we should introduce our new segment. Should I bring the cat into the room with you guys? Yeah, sure. Okay, cool. Oh, Boomer? Boomer is currently living.

Wait for the segment. Ben is opening the door Here's the cat Meow Hey Boomer Boomer Oh my god the cat's scratching at my windscreen Meow Lane did you have fun on Blank Check?

I loved it yeah this is great Ben do you want to remind us what the segment is? Did you watch the whole thing because we told you to, or had you checked it out beforehand? There was a part of me that wanted to still, although I felt kind of burned from vinyl, that it was not what I wanted, and so I was like, I don't know if I want to watch another music show and get let down. Guys, we have a third music show coming out very soon called Atlanta, and that one's actually good.

Oh, I'm really excited. There's also Dennis Leary's Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll. That's so bad. That is... Thank God I didn't have to watch all of that for this podcast because I might be actively furious. Griffin, the name of this segment is called Blank Cats. It's called Blank Cats?

I gotta write a new song, right? So we have a purely white cat here and Lane if you... Here's a sharpie. If you would like to write a song on the back of this cat. To draw on the blanket. Yeah. Okay, so start scribbling away. Yeah, okay.

Oh, it's not happy with the, you're writing too hard. Let's try to write softer. Lane, thank you for being here. Of course, thank you guys for having me. Thank you for coming in every week and playing the theme song. I was really, really nervous. You did great. I don't know, guys.

No, you did great. You did really great. Hey, here's Here's five comedy points For the world I was dreading This episode And

Because of me Yeah Oh my god I just Couldn't sleep No I just You know I don't like this show

And I found it A slog But you know Pretty good And it was a great episode I mean Roadies back I tip my hat

To roadies With a gentleman six and a wink in the eye. Bye, Cam. Bye, Cam. Bye, Cam. It's sort of sad every time we do these.

We say goodbye, yeah. Like, we're kind of tailing off because like the last thing is often not the best thing. We're kind of like, all right, well, we're done with you. And when you find,

when you spend this much time with one filmmaker thinking about them and watching them, by the end of the run, their style becomes pretty oppressive, whether or not you like it, whether or not the last couple of things have been good. Especially this guy. Yeah, it's a little much. There was a deep dive.

Speaking of deep dives, next week. Oh, yeah, we're going under the sea. Well, no, first, first, a palate cleanser. A Ben's Choice. I don't know if we've announced this officially. We have not. It's another Ben's Choice palate cleanser, and it is Ben, would you like to announce the movie? Yes, I would.

It is 1995, I believe. Film Starving. Correct. Starving. No, he looks pretty well. He's doing pretty well in that department. It's starring one Steven Seagal in Under Siege 2. And yeah, so next week, tune in for Bender Siege 2 Dark Podcast.

Nice. This is the art that Pat Reynolds made for us. Oh my God, it's great. It's Ben hanging onto the side of a train. Yes. I can't wait to see it. Thanks to Pat Reynolds for all the artwork he's doing for us. And then the week after that is the official premiere of Podinator Judgment Cast.

Yeah. Mini series devoted to the works. It's rough. Of Cameron Crowe. We kept the two out of that one because we didn't want people to think that there was a first mini series they had to listen to. So it's called Podinator Judgment Cast. Prana 2,

The Spawning. Thank you for listening. Yes. Don't forget to vote for The Tick on Amazon. Amazon.com backslash pilot season. It'll still be votable by the time this goes up.

This comes out next Monday. Yeah. Here's the final installment of Griffin's Tips for Watching The Tick. Please just vote for it. Go to Amazon.com backslash pilot season. We did it. Five star Please just vote for it. Go to Amazon.com backslash pilot season. We did it.

Five star rating. Just do it and then when the button comes up saying lock the gates make sure you press it. Oh yeah. If you don't lock the gates

the whole thing doesn't work. Because here's the thing if you don't lock the gates behind you all the votes will run away. They won't know how many people watched it. They won't know

how many stars they gave it. But give it some stars write up a little thing. Do the survey. Amazon.com back't know how many stars they gave it. But give it some stars. Write up a little thing. Do the survey. Amazon.com backslash pilot season up there until September 19. No burger report. Merchandise spotlight? Absolutely not. There we go.

You can't buy the St. House band's LP? Not yet. Can you go on the Taylor Swift Space Tour yet? Yes, 100%. Great. But they're all sold out because there's one extra seat on each spaceship. Oh no, we should say there is a merchandise spotlight. If you want to get your body embalmed, there's services. Oh, and the bucket.

Yeah. Oh, and we have the bucket. Yeah, so go to blank check, tap tap, our mobile game and you can buy the bucket for 200 coins or 70 gems. Yeah, and you get a real bucket when you do that. You do. Lane, where can people find you?

Oh, yeah. Oh, plugs. Oh, my God. I should have written a plugs theme. I should have written a plugs theme. The romance and comedy. That's true. I could try.

Yeah, we just got a Facebook now. Sweet. We have an EP coming out October 7th it's called let's be sad together perfect title so there's that time to change the title to you too yeah and you know Twitter play my American novel all the back how I can be found on bandcamp yeah is that correct yeah yeah we have records for that band too they're great thanks buddy if you like the theme song, there are four new songs that sound kind of like that. Perfect.

Fantastic. This has been Roadies. We podcast. We did it. Life is a carnival. Life is a carnival. We'll never have to do it again. David is holding his arms up a la Phil saying goodbye.

Yeah, we're all going to give him a hug. We did mention that Ron White's body is embalmed in the end of this episode and taxidermied and it's standing up. I don't think we did. And it's him with his arms out. But it's obviously just Ron White standing there. Right? We did talk about this.

Yeah, I think we didn't talk about it, but now we have. Great. We talked about it a lot before we recorded because we couldn't get over and it's a real phenomenon that happens uh yeah yeah there you go in puerto rico yeah do you remember those commercials the tourism commercials for puerto rico i don't think so where at the end the guy would sing and go in puerto rico and then luke wilson would say the coverage is great in puerto. It's great everywhere. I like Verizon Puerto Rico. Are we still recording? Yeah, ostensibly.

All right, so now it is time for us to... Lock the gates. Yep, and say goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye, Cameron. Thank you, Lane. Thank you, Cameron. Goodbye, Roadies.

Goodbye, Bill. Goodbye, Cameron. Goodbye, Kellyanne. I'll help you. Goodbye, Jerry. Goodbye, Penny Lane. Goodbye, Lloyd Dobler. Goodbye to all our friends.

Goodbye, Phil. Goodbye, Phil. And as always, oh, God. I got a bad case of the Rafe Poots here. This has been a UCB Comedy Production. Check out our other shows on the UCB Comedy Podcast Network.