Blank Check with Griffin & David - This Is My Life with Michelle Collins

Episode Date: June 14, 2020

"Everything is copy." is the code Ephron lived by and no film fit that better than her directorial debut, This is My Life (1992). After the success of When Harry Met Sally, Nora and Delia Ephron teamed up for a comedy about two sisters and their mother's rise on the comedy scene in NYC. Comedian and host of Sirius' The Michelle Collins Show, Michelle Collins, joins to talk Julie Kavner's career, realistic movie standup, and weird child actors. For the month of June we will be spotlighting groups dedicated to and run by Black trans and non-binary people who need our help. This week's organization is: The Emergency Release Fund emergencyreleasefund.com @release_fund

Hi. Before you listen to today's episode, we want to dedicate some time to the Black Lives Matter movement. You folks have given us a voice, so we intend to use it as best as we can. Every week in June, we are going to highlight a different organization dedicated to and run by black, trans, and non-binary people. This week is dedicated to the Emergency Release Fund, a mutual aid fund that helps LGBTQ and medically vulnerable individuals in New York City jails and ICE detention. Donations to the Emergency Release Fund go towards bail as well as advocacy efforts, and you can learn more at emergencyreleasefund.com. Additionally, we are committed to using our platform to amplify black voices, both in booking more black guests and covering black directors on the show, the first of which will be announced at the end of this miniseries.

We know actions speak louder than words. So once again, we encourage you to donate if you're in a position to do so. Links for the emergency release fund are available in the episode description and on our social accounts at Blank Check Pod. Thanks again. Enjoy this very, very silly episode and stay safe. with Griffin and David blank check with Griffin and David don't know what to say or to expect all you need to know is that the name of the show

is blank check what about the podcast maybe you'll get to like the podcast it grows on you the first part of that was okay I got okay it got worse Maybe you'll get to like the podcast. It grows on you. The first part of that was okay. I got okay. It got worse.

You lost it when it grows on you. You went full Muppet there. Then you were like Cookie Monster. There's a fine line between Julie Kavner and Cookie Monster. And that line is what she has ridden to success. If anyone could do Julie Kavner, Julie Kavner would not have had the career she's had. Yep, 100%. Hello, everybody. My name is Griffin Newman. I'm David Sims.

This is Blank Check with Griffin and David. It's a podcast about filmographies. Directors who have massive success early on in their careers and are given a series of blank checks to make whatever crazy passion products they want. And sometimes those checks clear, and sometimes they bounce, baby. You're realizing it, aren't you? I am.

Yeah, okay. Okay, good. We don't know what this miniseries is called. No, we do. We do, because you forget we've recorded one episode. Oh, yeah. We're doing this very out of order because of the state of the world.

We had recorded one episode before everything collapsed're doing this very out of order because of the state of the world we had recorded one episode before i forgot about that i forgot about that yes so i can say pre-covid episode i could say definitively that we're doing a mini series on the films of nora efron and is called you've got podcast right right right it had to be it had to be It had to be. It had to be. It had to be that. I don't know. I'm sorry. But this is, yes, Amazers on the films of Nora Ephron, and it's kind of a weird case because usually we start with the director's first film, but in this case,

we have started with When Harry Met Sally, a film she wrote and not directed because it felt too important to the canon. It felt like we had to start there. And it's the ur-text. Everything comes from there, yes. Totally. But this is her actual first film as a director

and one of those cases of someone making such a big impact as a screenwriter that everyone was like, I guess you have to direct now. We have to see what you would do. So yes, this is You've Got Podcast and today we're talking about This Is My Life. Now, a thing we love

on the show is when guests talk before they're introduced. Hint, hint, winky, winky. No. I'm not doing it. I was raised in a home. And now she spoke. I'm sorry. I was raised in a home with both parents. So I don't talk until I'm introduced.

Take it away. Any either comedians or no comedian? My father did do stand up comedy in the 1980s. What? That's true. Like Dottie Ingalls? He's a little mini bald chub chub Dottie Ingalls. Wow.

Yeah. And my mother, my mother was the funnier one people don't know who's speaking because you didn't introduce me but i like that we'll get to that in about that's our vibe that's our question was your dad's act like any of the other comedians in this movie was he like a props guy um my dad was uh we're jewish people so he used to do uh jackie mason impressions at like old very eugene levin waiting for guffman like um sure he would do parody songs uh he had one i mean i'm not making this shit up like there's a reason why i'm a controversial figure on the comedy scene okay because of my background he background. He had, like, instead of Shake It Up Baby, he had Shake It Up 80. And instead of The Wanderer, he had The Handler.

He was doing song parodies and impressions of a different stand-up. That's correct. Who, by the way, dated my mother, Jackie Mason. What? That's a fact. Oh, my God. I'm saying all people don't realize I'm connected baby I have hookups in this industry okay wait I cut you off you were about to tell us

how your father's wanderer parody went I was it just went well I'm the type of guy who goes from store to store there's a reason he didn't make it big. And that reason is he wasn't that good. He's still with us. Making those little choices comedically. I don't know. He goes from store to store. Oh my God. Yeah.

You, I, and as I said, I'll introduce in about 30 or 40 minutes, but, uh, you are a friend. And when we were trying to figure out who to ask to be a guest on this As I said, I'll introduce in about 30 or 40 minutes. But you are a friend.

And when we were trying to figure out who to ask to be a guest on this miniseries, looking at the list of movies, this was a movie that I feel like has almost no cultural reputation. I was like, I don't know if anyone's seen this. So let's try to find a guest who might have some sort of thematic connection to it. And I was like, oh, we should have a stand up on. Threw it out to you and then you told me that in fact not only had you seen it but this was one of your favorite movies when you were 11 and now we found out on top of that you were also the child of a stand-up that makes sense this is like it's a hat trick yeah no one knows that of all, I love this movie and I do remember it was this movie and a movie called Gloria

with, I think, Geena Davis. Like, I loved movies about struggling single moms when I was little. I don't know why, but yeah, I loved it. Wait, I'm trying to find this Gloria movie. Because there's Gloria with Sharon Stone and Gloria with Jenna Rowland.

Sure. The movie is called Angie. Yes. Okay. Yes. Angie. Yes. Angie. I know I could picture the video in my head.

What'd you say? Gandolfini's in that one. Yeah, that's right. And she's got like red curly hair. Is that right? Yeah. It was a good movie,

but I mean, imagine like a little kid being like, I love when like 40 year old ladies struggle with their children. Like I was a good movie but i mean imagine like a little kid being like i love when like 40 year old ladies struggle with their children like i was a little right you like movies about like outer borough ladies who are like look i'm just trying to find some time in between dropping the kids off and making dinner yes i loved it i love the struggle i'm trying my hardest over here you're really good i'm working on it by the end of this episode i'm gonna be Struggle. I'm trying my hardest over here. You're doing good.

I'm working on it. By the end of this episode, I'm going to be pitch perfect. Yeah. No, I just, we were like, let's just ask. And then it turns out you have all these roots with the movie. And I was joking earlier when I said 30 or 40 minutes. Our guest today is Michelle Collins, the great Michelle Collins. Thank you. Comedian extraordinaire and also host of The Michelle Collins Show.

That's right, on SiriusXM. Now, before we get into this movie proper, I want to ask you. Yeah. Because you host a daily radio show that has now gone to at-home remote records. That's correct. Many of us podcasters are struggling with figuring out how to adjust to these weird times. And you are doing about five times as much as everyone else. Thank you for saying that. It's all true.

Have you learned, like, is there anything you figured out, like things that help make an at home record good things to avoid anything like that? Well, my listeners are familiar with my neighbor who's across like the air shaft for me for weeks, had this little cage hung out of her window. I assume it's a woman who put it out, sexist, I admit. And it had a sandwich inside for the birds. And so for weeks, every day when I would do my show, I would just watch these birds peck away. I don't think it was a sandwich.

It was some kind of seed block or something, but I like to picture it as a sandwich and I would watch it every day. And it would like weirdly soothe me. And then when that huge storm came through last week, she took it down. And I'm not joking to that. Since that bird sandwich has been removed. I have actually felt myself getting more and more stressed doing the show.

I'm not joking. Like, since I can't, it's I'm like, um, now, you know, I need something.

I don't know what it is. You're Tony Soprano with the Ducks to bring up Gandolfini twice. Please, never stop. So it's been hard. And actually, it's funny because I'm sure you guys feel this too. There's no audience. You have no one to be funny with. I don't even Zoom with them.

So it's just via the headset and it's hard. Yeah, yeah. headset and it's hard yeah yeah and it is it's like i think people don't realize how much body language still comes into play in an audio format if you're talking to other people and just the difference of oh there might be a half second uh delay or even just you're only getting a medium close-up of someone it changes it all i'm gonna admit now that the reason i asked you that question was because i realized i had forgotten to do the thing that I have come up with as a hack to better remote records. Which is what? I have realized that I think I do a better job when I'm wearing shoes. Wow. What? It makes it feel a little more like formal, a little more like profesh.

So I was putting my shoes on while you were giving your answer about the bird cage. I know this is an all male podcast in me. Pointedly, a pointedly all male podcast. And I'm a broad shouldered girl, so it's still cusping. But let me add that I have to wear a bra during my show. Like I can't, I have not done the show without a bra on. Same here. So I can't. And boys, I don't want to bra during my show. Like, I can't. I have not done the show without a bra on. Same here.

So I can't. And, boys, I don't want to nauseate you all at once, but I am like the milking ladies in Mad Max. I need a bra. I have some problems, you know. And without it, I feel so unkempt. Like, it just makes me feel too loose. I don't know.

I know. I think we got it. And, like, similarly, it's like there's a difference between if I'm wearing pajama pants versus real pants. And I had like started this process being like, well, here's the silver lining. You can be comfy during your records. But I'm now

realizing I might be like two steps away from wearing tops and tails during remote podcasting. Are you wearing jeans right now, Griffin? No, I'm wearing like my fake pants. I'm really into pants that look like jeans but are actually kind of secretly sweatpants.

But they feel a little more pant-like. I think they're called jeggings. A jegging, yes. I'm pretty much wearing jeggings, yes. Hip-hugging jeggings. So, okay, this movie, you say to me, when i throw this out to you i love this when i was 11 i forgot about this movie until you just mentioned it but that was

weirdly a movie i watched a lot i have no idea if it's like still good and there's almost nothing you can find about this movie it barely came out i found like 10 reviews in total on the internet from when it came out the wikipedia pages unfinished whoever made the wikipedia page didn't bother to add the cast the thing every single movie and tv show has on wikipedia yeah so i was expecting for this to be a classic like what we like to call movie that doesn't exist and then dave and i both watched this and we're like this thing fucking rolls it's pretty great i loved i cried i loved it and i wonder it's hard obviously to know but if i had the emotional depth at 11 to understand the pain

i don't want to spoil the plot yet but later on the pain of what these daughters and their mother is going through and the mistrust and the abandonment and all that stuff did i feel that as a kid like somehow and is that why i was gravitating towards it it's an interesting thing but it broke my heart watching it as an adult i think that is so much of it too like you you joking that it's weird that you were into all these like uh single women doing it on their own movies as a young girl but this movie is so much a daughter movie too yeah um which it's also the effron thing is she likes to translate these tough things into like fairly light easy comedy like and i was obsessed with sleepless in seattle when i was a kid and there is nothing for a kid

to relate to in that movie that movie is about being like afraid of getting married and uh you know like are you gonna is everything gonna work out for you in your 30s or like i don't know what i liked about that as a kid except that i loved it i watch it over and over and over again well it's also death it's about being a widower if i can uh uh use uh my my most overused uh phrase here on the podcast this movie is such a rosetta stone because i feel like nora efron's most famous quote is everything is copy which she would say all the time like you can make something out of anything and her career really started writing all these very kind of personal uh essays and pieces that then led to writing heartburn which then led to that being made into a film which then led to her becoming a screenwriter and then ultimately a director and then this is her adapting someone else's book but her and her

sister delia efron who was one of the first writers ever on SNL were both the daughters of a screenwriter mother who is the one who told them everything is copy like they grew up in a household with a mother who was like you take every

embarrassing thing that happens to you and you make it into something like you gotta milk all of that for material. Phoebe Ephron is the mother. Yeah. So this, you can just see like, even though she's adapting someone else's book,

there is such a clear reason why she reads this thing and goes like, Oh, I see the movie that could be made out of this. Well, I actually had to look it up. Cause I really thought that Nora, it was Nora Ephron's story. Totally.

And I was like, Oh, this must be based on her childhood because it's so raw and like personal you know and I think one of the other reasons why uh David I don't know if I can speak for you but for me why I love Sleepless in Seattle and why I love this movie is I loved Gabby Hoffman who as a fellow child prodigy I felt very connected to you, you know, this little actress who was so ahead of her time. You know what I mean? She was. She was great.

And also, she's so different in this. And Sleepless in Seattle is just the next year. And it's totally like she's such a cool, weird kid in that one. And in this one, she's such a little sweetie pie. No, she's like a genius. Yeah. A little genius yeah this is also one of the only movies where she seems like a kid and not an adult in a kid's body like in uncle buck she's also kind of weird grown-up kid right because like a lot of child stars the success is like look at this kid they act like an adult right they have this weird

precociousness that's that's the trembley thing he goes up to the you know he wins a critics choice award and he gets up and he's like i'd like to thank the broadcast film critics right and everyone's like the fuck is this kid this is very much what i look like right now on this i look like jacob charlotte i was like what am i looking like right now i think no makeup on. You look like America's hottest movie star. Is that what you're talking about? That's a high watermark. Wow, what assholes you are. You're like, you don't look as good as Jacob Tremblay.

I'm just saying, look, I mean. Chill, Michelle, okay? You thought you were shitting on yourself, but that's like a pretty heavy back pat to say you're looking like Tremblay. When I saw room, I was like, what are we talking? VF5 hot oil treatments? Like what?

That is making his hair so silken. That's what I kept screaming throughout Room. Yeah, you locked yourself in a room for five years just to try and get that. Yeah, whatever that kid's doing, it's working. Did you know that Jacob Tremblay loves the Star Wars movie so much that his dog is named Ray after Ray from Star Wars? I thought it was Ray Charles. That's a funny name. I was sure he named his dog after Ray Charles.

Yeah, because he's such a Taylor Hackford fan. Specifically. Have you ever Googled the Tremblay's parents? What? Have you seen them? I don't think so. Have you never Googled Jacobacob tremblay's parents nope doing it now uh you might want to turn the video off when you start to jerk off about how hot they

are okay because they are so hot you are i'm gonna turn my video camera off because i have jesus fucking oh my god you've never seen the tremblays holy shit that was Mr. Tremblay calling me That was the FBI calling Simultaneously This is insane The Tremblay parents look like catalog models They're the most beautiful people I've ever seen in my life His dad is a cop

His dad's a Canadian detective That guy's a fucking detective I have to change my pajama pants My jeggings I'll be right back His dad's a Canadian detective. Holy, that guy's a fucking detective. I have to change my pajama pants, my jeggings. I'll be right back. Holy shit. Tell me about that mom. What does she do?

She's a homemaker. I mean, I would watch a show called The Tremblays that's about like his hot dad solving hot crimes. Oh my God. I would watch his father. I mean, truly truly if he had an only fans account i would be uh home for house for what do they say he is so um and that's why when i look at jacob i'm like uh what happened no he's like but i'm like wait these are he's like cute but he ain't hot how old is he now like 11 look at this he's i believe he's 13 he'll he'll

glow up though you know he's he'll glow's 13 he'll he'll glow up though you know he's he'll glow up you never know he'll either do the reverse munis or the munis is when you're a really cute kid and then you grow up on cute and then the munis is where you are a cute kid and you grow up to be frank and you know right for the listener at home uh who hasn't googled tremblay's parents yet yeah let me just say, you know when you watch like an NBC cop show and you're like, that's not what a detective looks like. Right, right, right. I didn't go to the hairdresser every two weeks. A guy who's that like young and full of life would never rise to the ranks of a detective.

Daddy Tremblay is proving that hella wrong. I actually forgot how hot they were. I just Googled them. It is, it's upsetting. It's absurd. It's actually infuriating. Yeah, yeah. Jacob will be cute when he grows up.

He has to be. He looks like a beautiful Orthodox Jewish woman as a child, you know? Yes, because he has that sort of silken hair. Yes! Yeah.

I'm like, yeah. Where you're like, that's you're like that's unorthodox what's her name like ezra schifrin i don't know her name i would love to see tremblay do a reverse linda hunt in a year of living dangerously i would love to have them be like you want him to play a lady we tried to find a 47 year old actress to play an orthodox jew and ultimately tremblay had the best read we're just gonna suspension of disbelief the guy sells it he can do anything yes come on pro um i i think we've talked about this before uh on the podcast maybe michelle have you seen the movie doctor sleep the sequel to The Shining. I've never heard of it. Came out last year.

Big flop. Oh, God. Secret masterpiece. Secret masterpiece. Worth watching. Good movie. Long. But Jacob Tremblay, long, very long.

Jacob Tremblay, he has a two-scene cameo. Is he even credited in it? I think he might be, but it's a small role. He plays, spoiler, a victim of, he's the Drew Barrymore in Scream Yes He's like the oversized, over-famous movie star To be killed off quickly I got you

Is he the most famous person in the movie? It's him and Ewan McGregor Oh, Ewan McGregor, isn't it? Ewan McGregor plays the kid from The Shining Grown up Hold on a second second you don't have to sell me anymore on it ewan for me is my top number one of all time you will love this movie oh i have to watch it okay here's the pitch of dr sleep hey imagine if you were the kid

from the shining 30 years later you'd probably be a full-on alcoholic right that might sit with you that you you that whole experience a little bit. It is only, it's like 40% horror movie, 60% pretty realistic recovery drama. Right, right. Is it because, is he a doctor who sleeps a lot, or does he go to a doctor who melts in sleep?

He is an orderly in an old person's home, and he gets the nickname Dr. Sleep, because he helps people sleep by like sitting with them. Dr. Sleep is actually like a nice heartwarming plot point in the movie. Yes, it's not a creepy

thing. I thought it was like a nickname for booze. Oh yeah, he's like, oh I gotta go visit Dr. Sleep. Yeah. No, it's this thing where like... I got an appointment. Is there anything funnier than this being booze? The weird

sort of like, the classic like hand symbol. You're doing banana phone with your fingers. Yeah, he's throwing up the shocker. Yeah. No, this is the shocker, isn't it? No, but isn't this a shocker? What is this called? Oh yeah, I can't remember. I don't know. I don't know i don't know we should definitely revisit it dr sleep is really good but i just want to say tremblay has this cameo which is essentially just to be brutally murdered

he's like disemboweled um and it's like horrifying and like super graphic and he's giving this incredibly good terrified performance like screaming and crying and begging them to stop murdering him a bunch of adults and the story on the set is they like film that scene and the actors who were like attacking him were having a hard time staying in it because his reactions were so realistic that they were worried that they were actually traumatizing him and the director calls cut and Tremblay just pops up and smiles, and, like, runs off to the craft services table. Oh, and it's like, hot dad is there, like, in the back, like, in a hoodie, watching.

That's so cute. Yeah, and he, like, winked at them and was like, pretty good, huh? Wow! What a little stinker. The dude can apparently just fucking turn it on and turn it off. Okay, when the scene was finished, Tremblay popped up, covered in blood, gave his hot dad a high five,

I added in the word hot, and then went off in search of a snack while the rest of us were shell-shocked and traumatized. The high five was the detail I forgot. That he popped up high five hot dad yeah what a fucking legend our finest movie star i just love him and of course i i also appreciate that hot people can still have smart kids because i guess my read on it is that only um average to ugly people can have genius children so i'm happy that makes me feel good

but i feel like often when you see like an impossibly beautiful person and you're like Average to ugly people can have genius children. So I'm happy. It makes me feel good. But I feel like often when you see like an impossibly beautiful person and you're like, oh my God, their parents must have been so hot. You look it up and you're like, oh no, it's a weird combination. Their features don't work separately, but you mix and match. Tremblay is like bucking all trends. He's smart. He's talented. He's humble.

Silky hair. No, I always feel like when people you know every country has um a type of animal they look like like i feel like um you know the british are very bird-faced germans are quite piggy or frog face the french are very froggy obviously uh americans i would say can lean towards piggy. I think we lean piggy a little bit. But I think when you combine beautiful animals, I hope that I'm making sense. The point is that

I agree with you that too hot people normally do not make hot children. Something goes wrong. I think you need an ugly parent to mix up the genetics so that the final product is otherworldly. I think too hot parents often is like putting the wrong sides of the magnets together i know this isn't the point

of the podcast but can i just while we're talking about celebrity children this has pretty much become a tremblay podcast the point of the podcast is out the window yeah it's a blank jake go ahead say whatever you want michelle you see the paparazzi photos of Andy McDowell and Margaret Crawley crawling under the gates of Runyon Canyon that I'm sorry it bears repeating has to be one of the funniest things I've ever seen in my life that these two idiots

went to Runyon when the gate is closed but that better yet the paparazzi knew to park themselves to fuck someone over yeah they're fucking over Andy McDowell and the star of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Come on. Right. They knew someone's going to do it.

Someone's going to dare. I went. I sent it to the chat. I went on a rare daylight grocery store run recently because I've been trying to do my grocery shopping at really off hours in order to respect social distancing but i did a daylight run and i saw a guy out on the street who had like two different long zoom lens cameras around his neck and i was like this has to be a COVID paparazzi, right? I mean, he had the energy of a paparazzi. Right, he wanted to be like celebs buy dried beans too or whatever.

He's looking for something like that. No, I think they're mask shaming people. I think that they're out to catch people breaking the social distancing. That's what they want to catch. Yeah. Where were you? Were you in Tribeca? I was not. I'm not going to say where I was.

Fair enough. But it was not, it was not a hip neighborhood. Like it was also, I was like, this is a weird place. He was in fact stationed outside of, and maybe he was just changing SD cards or whatever,

but he was stationed outside of a closed movie theater. And I was like, dude, I think I'm the only person who's going to be walking back and forth this spot over and over again crying and i am not famous enough to be worth your time if i saw you weeping in the daily mail i would slowly close my laptop and take the longest nap i would just be like i was outside the amc location like it was like the spot where like uh uh you know river phoenix fans outside the viper club like it was like by the way way to tie

it back into the thank you thank you come on i know about that are you gonna tell everybody else yes so this movie we're talking about today this is our life based on a meg woolitzer novel this is my life this is my life and they keep saying no this is my life dueling narrators

i read it like the shirley bassie way this is my life you know that song and i don't give a damn about emotion you know that song first of all i do shirley bassie welsh legend uh i love her too and um but i Yeah sure it's sort of a You know like when it's the daughter It's kind of like well this is my life And when it's the mom it's like no this was My life and like I did it just how I wanted yeah

I love this life homie Alright She's back to Cookie Monster But the three leads of this Movie That's the other name that they work for Just to Cookie Monster. But the three leads of this movie. Me, not life. That's the other name that they work for. Just the cookie monster.

Me, not life. Alice for life is good enough for me. The three leads of this movie are Julie Kavanagh, a.k.a. Marge Simpson. I mean, just impossible for our generation to watch a Julie Kavner performance Without constantly thinking about Marge Simpson And we're going to get back to this and talk about it in a second

Yeah Gabby Hoffman who we discussed and then Samantha Mathis Who is River Phoenix's Girlfriend tragically on the night At the Viper Club She also dated Christian Bale She was like a uh yeah yeah go on

well this is her second movie ever the year before this is pump up the volume with christian bale another favorite of mine when i was little no absolutely great movie i think she may have made this before pump up the volume or maybe not this movie was made a long right it was made like in 1990 right what was it a long time i'm not sure i'm not sure i can i don't know i feel like pump up the volume is credited as her debut but it might just that is definitely her big debut yeah she almost immediately re-teams with christian slater for fern gully where i always forget that they are the hot elves in that movie yes they are the hot tree fairies or whatever they are and pips um controversially i have never

seen fern gully uh it's absolute trash and it's it's like hook and it's one of those movies our generation is like that was great i saw it when i was six what are you talking about i'm like go watch fern gully it looks like they drew it over a weekend no it's horrible it's a nightmare uh it was the first animated movie that robin williams signed on to and when they offered him aladdin he was like you can't advertise me being in aladdin because i'm really all in on fern gully and i want them to have sort of like the exclusive shine and then you watch fern gully and you're like this is a dry run for al. Yeah. Like he has not figured out how to be a cartoon character yet. I agree that Ferngully's a bad movie.

It looks like trash. If you think Tremblay's parents are hot, check out the animated tree fairies that Christian Slater and Samantha Mathis put in Ferngully's. Are they hot? They are hot cartoon characters. I think the reason

Our Generation has nostalgia for that movie is because it was a sexual activator for a lot of young kids. I mean, they all look like they're at some like rave. Like they all they're all dressed like, you know, in these sort of midriff bearing shredded clothes in Fern Gully. They look like they're, you know, I don't know. What did the kids do? Lollapalooza. What was like a 1992 thing? Yeah.

Right. Let me say a couple of things. I've never seen even the animation from this movie until just right now. She looks like a combination of Marissa Tomei and my cousin Vinny and a little Debbie Mazar thrown in. Yeah. Yeah. He is a ginge, which you know is my type.

Oh, sure. And the body on him is insane. insane yeah the body don't stop yeah the body don't stop but he kind of looks like chris katan as mango with the red oh boy wow yes i mean now that you've said it yes right and we all we all love the mango yeah and we all have jerked off to mango so you were right um it is just crazy though that it's like she's playing 15 16 in this movie well i feel like she's playing from like 12 to 18 almost right like she's she seems to be like um very young when the movie begins well she's 22 in

real life when they film this i think i know And then the following year she's in fucking Super Mario Brothers. Yeah, man. She was Princess Daisy. John Leguizamo's royal love interest. Yeah. That was what I knew her from. Well, of course. Yeah. I had no idea that she was 22 until just you saying it now. And

I was also very confused about her age throughout it because she behaves like a 13, 14 year old. Like she's so childish, but also emo and funny. I also noted that her fashion in it was so of today. Like everything she wore was like Williamsburg, Nighthawk, Evening Out. High-waisted jeans. Yes.

With the cuff. Right. Yeah. Head to toe looked totally normal today but then she like had sex with a dude. I was like,

wait, huh? But I feel like this movie spans, it doesn't get into it too hard but it spans several years. Like it starts with them in Queens. It ends with Julie Kavner

as like a relatively famous comedian. Like it's not set over one year. Well, I don't know. I viewed it as like how fast this shit can move. But you think it's several

years yeah no because she yeah she gets a boyfriend they you know like yeah no there's there's there's time passing here i i will say i was uh relatively relieved when i did the google search and found out she was 22 and this movie was filmed because talking about her fashion the second she showed up i was like this is someone i have a crush on at the Metrograph like this is I mean in vibe like with your ticket in half there 100%

right right she disaffectedly rings up my $5 Boylan's ginger ale bottle yeah I could see you two together actually Griffey absolutely cute little coupling I think it would work What's Mathis doing now

She is I looked it up She's been doing She's still a recurring on billions She lives in New York She moved to New York about 10 years ago Because she was tired with Hollywood and she wanted to do theater And she mostly does theater

And she was in a musical that was supposed to open the night that all the Broadway theaters closed. No, what was it? That was Whisper House. It was called. She's also like a VP in SAG. Yeah.

I saw that. Yeah. But that doesn't mean anything. Cause like, you know, Andrea Carteris ran SAG forever. I mean, I'm barely in the union,

but let's not bring up my professional career. I'll say this about her. That's a new podcast I'm starting called Barely in the Union, where I just talk shit about SAG and how I got like two screeners this year and it was the Joker and some other bullshit. And I was furious. But other point, back to Mathis.

Yeah, she's like, what, 50-something now? I think she's 49, 50, around? She's 49 years old now, yes. 49. And I just am fascinated. There's a musical called Whisper House, because nothing's going to not get me in a seat. I'm like, oh, you got to see the big,

fun musical extravaganza, Whisper House. No thanks. I'm good. Yeah, it does sound like some sort of British chocolate company. I just got a sampler from Whisper House. It sounds like a Japanese reality show. Like, have you seen Whisper House on Hulu? They literally do not speak over two decibels.

It's great. It's so calm. Nothing ever happens. They just sit there making food. Calling a musical Whisper House essentially ensures that the show has no ballads in it it's like do you want to hear zero belting from people who can sing now i just want to uh circle back around to the the kavner uh marge connection because it is weird this movie comes out like three years after the simpsons starts and it's obviously become a cultural

phenomenon and at this point like she was a sitcom star she won an emmy she had been in a lot of films she had been in a lot of tv shows it's so weird now because she very rarely acts on camera and it's kind of impossible to imagine seeing her on screen in a movie four years after the Simpsons came out and not being thoroughly distracted. Right. But in the early nineties, she was able to like coexist as like,

Oh yeah, Julie Cavner, who, you know, also fun fact is the voice of Marge on the Simpsons rather than the opposite where it's like, fun fact, you know,

that Marge used to be in movies and TV shows. Right. And there's like a person, a human person that's when her mouth is open, she speaks with the voice of Marge Simpson, the cartoon character. It also shows you that it didn't take much for her to be Marge. I mean, she's a genius, but I'm saying that was a genetic lottery ticket, basically, of having like that one larynx cord snipped. And all of a sudden she's, you know, a billionaire. Absolutely. The performance that's actually good is Patty and Selma.

That's where she's actually messing with it. Cause that's the, she plays all the Bouviers. Yes. Yes. I love the Simpsons. Yeah. It's also one of those things where like she only is the voice of Marge

because she was on the Tracy Ullman show where those shorts originated she was part of the ensemble cast for all those sketches right as was Dan Castellaneta and then there were two other regulars on the Tracy Ullman

show who did not get to voice Simpsons you're kidding who are they Sam McMurray and Joseph Malone. Yeah, both good actors, comedians. You would recognize Sam McMurray, no question. Sam McMurray, you would know. You've seen him a ton of times. He's like a classic character actor, but it's one of

those things where you're like, there but for the grace of God, go I. Just coin flip. I don't know. Why don't you play five of these Simpsons characters? A question I have is why didn't Tracy herself voice one of the characters? I think she views that as one of her big regrets. She's fair. That's me.

By the way, she's on Mrs. America. I don't know if you guys are watching on Hulu. No, not yet. Not yet, but I'm going to. I'm not just saying this because I'm a woman who went to a Barnard,

but it is fantastic. It's, it's really, really good. She's who went to a Barnard, but it is fantastic. It's really, really good. She's, she's phenomenal on it, but she really like, I mean, she was Tracy Allman and then you just had the Simpsons and that's like her

legacy almost, which is kind of, I know, I know it's crazy. I want to say one last March thing before we go onto the movie proper. Yeah. Yeah. My zoom background is like a spread of Marge with her hair down on to the movie proper. Yeah, yeah. My Zoom background is like

a spread of Marge with her hair down, sprawled out in a bed. It's hot Marge. Okay, now you folks probably saw this and went, oh great, Griffin googled Simpsons porn. Of course, an infinite well on the internet. And he found a slightly tasteful example of Simpsons erotica. This, my friends, is in fact the actual official photo from Marge Simpson's Maxim cover spread. Oh my God, that's funny. There was an issue of Maxim in which Marge Simpson was the cover girl and they had like eight drawings that were signed off by Matt Groening. And I like had this in memory, and I was like, am I wrong about this? Let me double check.

And in Googling to double check, I was reminded, not only did that happen, there was also a Playboy issue. What? In which Marge's nipples were visible. Oh, no, no thank you. I swear to fucking God. I want to see Marge's nipples in Playboy. I don't want like the fake porn Pony Island version.

I want the official Marge nipple color. Yeah. This is officially licensed, a show that is now owned by Disney and is on Disney Plus. Wow. I'm looking here. Okay.

They're like human. Her nipples are a light pink. I regret to inform you that Marge is... Yes. What did I do in the background, please? She's wearing a see-through nightie. I'm going to add it to the chat. She has like a plate of donuts.

And she's on a bear rug, which is very strange. What are you saying? There's so many words coming out of your mouth. You're sending it to us? I'm waiting. Yeah, it's one of these but can you just like imagine like disney buying the simpsons and being like oh fuck there's no way to like men in black memory flash this from the consciousness to be fair no one remembers this yeah but it will also exist on the internet forever yes okay i sent it to the chat click open oh boy here we go the article is called

the devil and marge simpson correct the devil and marge simpson so let me say something clearly what this picture is is they animated marge and then they did take a human i think a photograph of ladies breasts i would imagine so and then just like because the color doesn't even match like they're being she's yellow no it looks like they traced over a photo of a Playboy model and then just put Marge Simpson's head over her head. That is exactly what it looks like. I'll tell you this. I knew I was going to be fat shamed on this podcast.

I didn't know it was going to be because of Naked Marge. I'm joking. I'm kidding. But I feel fat shamed. She's so slim. Well, she's always been very slender, but I will point this out. She has the up hair, the classic Marge beehive,

whereas in the show, Marge's hair being down is like when Marge is hot. Like in my Maxim virtual background, that's hair down. So the movie, This Is My Life, starts in a way that immediately made me angry with how good it was. Because I recently, while struggling to do anything creative during quarantine,

was like, oh, you know what would be a cool way to start a movie? Having a character tell the audience, this is not my story. Like, wouldn't that be an interesting way to frame a movie? And character tell the audience this is not my story like wouldn't that be an interesting way to frame a movie and that's literally how this movie starts yeah i had no idea beyond that but i was like i'm gonna be able to unwrap that into something interesting um this movie has these dueling narrators it's narrated by samantha mathis and cavner switching off more mathis yeah yeah occasionally cavner comes in to interject i wish there was more of by Samantha Mathis and Kavner switching off. More Mathis. Yeah.

Occasionally Kavner comes in to interject. I wish there was more of that though. It kind of drops that after a while. Kavner disappears for a good chunk of the movie and it really becomes almost exclusively from the daughter's perspective. Yeah, but don't you think that's on purpose? Because she disappeared from their lives. Yes.

I think it's pretty smart. But yes, the movie starts like this isn't my story but I'm gonna tell it anyway I guess it is actually kind of my story and then you see the title this is my life and then Julie Kavner like resets the narration and says like this is my life and they show the opening

title card again and then Maya's crossed out and Maya's written in and already I was like does this honk yeah I was that They show the opening title card again. And then Maya's crossed out and Maya's written in. And already I was like, does this honk? Yeah, that was when it got me. Is this honking right out the gates? Well, I'll tell you when they're honking. It's when they're driving to Manhattan.

Carly Simon sings. First of all, everything that you wanted in this movie happens. Carrie Fisher shows up and Carly Simon sings. Yes. The two things that would show up wearing a great silk scarf oh first of all she probably has never looked better than she looks in this movie i mean she's so cheap she's constantly smoking which made me wish i smoked again i was like oh it's like so something so sexy like just lighting up middle of a room surrounded by children. I love that. Oversized fake teeth. Big, the cap teeth. We forgot to mention that in the opening

scenes, George Costanza's mother was also featured. What's her last name? Stell Harris. Stell Harris. Mrs. Potato Head herself. Yes. And also,

in the opening scenes, because the movie gets gets going pretty quickly it ramps up but it's uh julie kavanagh single mother uh husband just ran off was never heard from again has never been tracked down she's living with her aunt and her two young daughters she works uh a makeup tester at a department store. With Joy Behar. I was going to say. You said her name wrong and that does make me laugh. I'll be honest. I was like half in, half out at this point

because I was like scrambling to like get Washington Time. I actually missed Joy and only saw it in the credits. I was like, oh, that's funny. But she also works at the possibly now bankrupt Macy's. Oh, yes. Yes. But it is this thing of like... You see her? She's doing a whole placenta pitch. She's reeling them in.

She's got presence. She's got a routine. She's got the mic and she uses this opportunity not just to sell some makeup, but to sell some jokes, you know. Have you worked retail? to sell some makeup but to to sell some jokes you know but it's like it's retail yes i worked at the disney store oh my god yeah a nightmare scenario in which much like julie kavanagh and this is my life you have to be performing all the time you cannot behave like a normal human being the managers would come up and give you notes and line readings.

In food and drink. But I also did work in a menswear store, which is the most boring job in the world because no man ever wants to talk to you. Like no man goes into a menswear store and is like, what do you think? Like, you know, they're usually just like they just get their shirts and they leave. They're like, goodbye. It's all just folding shirts. I worked at J. crew and uh years ago and when they put me in the men's department i was like this is the worst shit in the world because like they didn't want help they wouldn't flirt they were all married it was just like well what is the point of being

alive in the store if i can't you know right i mean judging by most anyone who wants to flirt has no money to go to a menswear store or doesn't know what a menswear store is. Like they're right. Yeah. Or what I was going to say from most movies I've seen, if you're an employee at a clothing store who wants men to flirt with you, you should work in the women's department. Yeah. And then it's the like, oh, I'm buying this for my mother. And then you start dating some scumbag who pretends he wasn't in a relationship when you met.

Yeah. Yeah. That's sweet. Yeah, it's sweet. It's old fashioned. Guys, remember flirting with people in menswear stores. Oh my God. Don't even say the F word to me right now

because I am losing it. Did I say that close enough into the microphone? That's why I'm truly, I've turned into Nell. Like I'm walking, I see a leaf in Riverside Park and I'm like spinning around. I'm out of my microphone. That's why I'm truly, I've turned into Nell. Like, I'm walking, I see a leaf in Riverside Park and I'm, like, spinning around. I'm out of my mind. I will say, you, Michelle,

said that you, this movie made you cry. I got really verklempt at several different points, the first of which was unexpectedly, within, like, the first five minutes

of this movie, Estelle Harris dies. She leaves behind the inheritance and it makes Julieie kavanagh realize this is my opportunity i have money now we can move to the city and i can make a real go of being a stand-up she flips their queen's house and they move to the upper west side right and then there's a montage of them driving uh over the bridge into manhattan

through central park that that that made me me so close to tears because of the nostalgia I had for a place where I currently live but cannot really access. It wasn't even like, oh, the New York of my youth. Like I was expecting, oh, I'm going to remember what New York was like in the 90s. It was literally just most of these blocks look the same and i can't walk them anymore right no it's not the same thing i was like or is that a twine reed i was like weeping like yeah like all these stories it's it was hard to watch losing my mind and it's like an extended just like clearly not stock footage just like the the perspective of the front seat of a car turning corners, driving through like six different areas of Manhattan.

And all of it just made me so overwhelmed. While a Carly Simon song plays, because Carly Simon wrote an entire album for this movie, including a song that became a hit. That has nothing to do with the movie. Yeah. Has nothing to do with the movie. It's the only legacy this movie has.

She's like, you're the love of my life. And I'm like, who is the love of whose life i thought they were moving dan akroyd that's what these songs are about fucking akroyd what do you think that she has like a friendship with nora efron and nora was like look i'm directing almost like favor soundtrack yeah like it might be that and maybe and it was also right like it's like after working girl's like, if you want your rom-com to, you know, to really sing. Right. But the only thing I do know about this movie is that Julie Kavner was cast in a smaller role. My guess, probably the Carrie Fisher role, something like that.

Interesting. And Joe Roth, who is in charge of Fox, the legendary chairman of Fox, was like, no, she should be the lead. The lead should be someone we don't know because it's about someone getting famous. Wow. Yeah. So that is, and Nora Ephron says that that's why the movie's good. Kavner has no vanity. It's like she doesn't care about anything, making the character more sympathetic or anything like that.

I do think she is also one of the only actors I have ever seen playing a standup where in those performance scenes, you really buy her being a standup. Like there's something about the energy she has on stage, especially like that sequence where they do they see her in vegas and she's doing the routine with the looks i was like she actually has like a very specific stand-up timing aside from the fact that she's someone who like did a live studio audience uh sitcom clearly has like experience working with a crowd is naturally funny.

There's that thing of like a lot of actors can play a musician, but the thing that's hard to buy is an actor playing a rock star because there's something about the energy on stage and how they feed off the audience that like, if you haven't done it just doesn't ring true. And Kavner in this, like you buy it in a way that you know many actors I don't I felt like she was good certainly better and not to throw this show under the bus but a show that I have a real problem with the stand-up is uh Mrs. Maisel only because the the jokes are

so bad in it yeah and she's a great actress. It's really not her fault. It's like whatever, whoever's writing the standup doesn't know how to write standup jokes. I don't care what era you're in. So it makes it really annoying

as a performer to watch her and be like, are you fucking kidding? It sucks. Like nothing funny about this. Sure. Other than that, she's like small ribbed.

You know, that's the one thing that she's got little ribs. Other than that, I don't really see what's so funny. But with I Agree With You with you that she was good i just i get very secondhand embarrassy embarrassed um when i just see any actor doing scripted stand-up like it just inherently makes it's like watching someone it doesn't feel spontaneous at all yeah and you can tell

you can always tell you're right it's scripted. She is good. She was good. But even like the pauses and the beats and the fake audience laughter for me, it's a little bit like I don't know. I want it to like mildly Armadillo. I agree. And I think it is less embarrassing than most actors playing stand-up. And I also think in a

way, this movie isn't trying to position her as being like an amazing genius stand up. They're positioning her as someone who just like is kind of confident enough as a performer. Their material is just good enough. And they've like, that's fine. They've established like their brand, like they have their like their catchphrases like this is my life and they got the dots thing and you're like this person totally could have ascended to like a mid-level of visibility for two years in the 90s you know like she's just good enough to buy that um because you

mentioned the joe roth thing on the opposite side of the coin uh john peters who we've really been talking about a lot on this podcast he comes up a lot notoriously kind of one of the most blowhardy producers of Hollywood in the 80s and 90s the film was originally at Columbia Pictures where John Peters was before they put it into turnaround in 1990 and this is the quote from Wikipedia

one of the only things on the Wikipedia page. Efron allegedly asked John Peters if he had read the script. He answered, I've made over 60 movies. I don't have to read a script to know whether it works or not.

But I don't get what that even means. This is what it means. By all accounts, John Peters is functionally illiterate and has never read a script in his life. Yeah.

So someone was just like, it's about a comedian and she's going to, and he's like, no, no, thank you. Goodbye. And he tried to like,

make that seem like it was like, my instincts are so strong. I don't even have to read it. When in fact, if someone put a paper in front of him, he would break out in a cold sweat. Well, as opposed to Dan Aykroyd, where if you put a paper in front of him, would break out in a cold sweat well i mean as opposed to dan akroyd where if you put a paper in front of him he makes a fucking meal out of it

literally he's playing he's playing sam cone who's famously ate paper yes the founder of icm one of the most influential agents of all time famously ate paper and nora efron put it in the movie to show like look at all these weird eccentricities that like agents and reps have. And then a lot of critics were like, this is like so broad. Like this movie is so sick, Tommy. There's a guy who eats paper. Isn't it funny that my one thought when I was watching that in quarantine was, God, he's like only eating paper and he's still not thin. It's Aykroyid at his most robust.

He's quite needy in it. It's like micro acroid. And I was just like, if I ate napkins all day, I better be walking a runway next week. Like the fact that he's so pudgy. I was upset. He does not have the figure of a man on the napkin diet. But I don't think he eats paper to diet. He eats paper.

It's like a power move. It's like a mic. Isn't it like pica? What do they call it? Pica. That's what they call it. Yes. Yeah.

I love that. I love. But yeah, they moved to New York and or no, even before they moved to New York, there's the scene where she drives the girls into the city to meet with the agent. Yeah. Yeah. And gets the rejection so you're getting the sense of just like uh she is limited by how much she can put herself out there but also it's just like that weird sense that the kids know what

she does but they don't really know what she does like they don't really see her being a comedian for a long time they're just into the idea of her as a comedian. Like they love that their mom does this magic thing. But also that like everything in entertainment, but especially stand up is like a numbers game where it's just like, you are going to succeed such a small percentage of the time, both in terms of like people who will hire you, people who will rep you after you meet with them, but also just shows that she is so limited by being a full-time mom and being like a, you know,

bridge and tunnel away from most of the clubs. So yes, Estelle Harris dies. They flip the house. They move to the upper west side. Yep. Is there anything you want to say about this,

David? Oh, boy. Because you teased something in the slack that I am now going to force. Everyone knows that I grew up in England. You grew up where? I grew up in England.

I moved to England when I was nine years old. Yeah, we all know that. Lived there for 13 years. Michelle might not actually know this because we haven't really dug into my life. This is my life, one might say. But Michelle, for the record, know this it's very well established let me just say that's probably why i like you because i love the english people

yeah um but before i lived in england i moved to england from the upper west side where i lived for the first nine years of my life how am i just hearing about this for the first time my mom in the united states my mom moved to the upper west side when she was uh i don't know 23 years old or whatever when she moved to new york basically and she lived there from the 70s all the way through 1995 the same apartment are you saying that we could call you uptown davy sims that's right i was an uptown boy wow can i ask why you moved to england my dad got a job like my dad was english but also like then then he got a job in england and like we did like a year where

he was there and we were still in new york because we weren't sure what to do but then it was clear it was like now he's got to say it so we all moved to england in 95 well were you in New York because we weren't sure what to do. But then it was clear. It was like, no, he's got to stay. So we all moved to England in 95. Wow. That's exciting. Were you in London? Yep. North London, baby.

Kentish Town. Kentish Town is nice. I know. Do you know, off the record. I just have to edit that out because it's actually my friend's address. You just listed the specific house number. Make a note, please, to cut that out. We'll bleep it out.

We'll bleep it out. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. I was actually going to say more, but I shouldn't say more. Do you know where it is? Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, it's pretty. But yes, but before then, I was an an upper west side boy and i do love an upper west side in the 90s movie and that is this is that movie for sure yeah back when the upper west side was still a middle-class neighborhood and i mean when my mom moved there it was dangerous like the you know but i also i like the energy like there's there's the scene where they're meeting with the lawyer and going over the inheritance and he's like and she's like i have the house now like how much i'm sorry she's like i get the house now and how much could i sell it for um i'm gonna be spot on perfect by the end of this um and he's like i don't know somewhere upwards of like a hundred thousand

dollars and she's like how much upwards like that's a that's a lot of territory there um but the idea that like that's a big lump of money to get all at once but also the next thing you see is she's moved into a doorman building in the upper west side like i love the idea that she's like not being conservative with the money she just came into. She's like, this is my chance to make a real shot at living the life I've dreamed about. I'm going to go straight to the nice apartment and try to like dress for the job I want and go all in, push all the chips in on the standup career. I respect that personally. I think that's, you know, that's the way to be.

I love spending every dollar I earn. Did you know that about me? You gotta. And a little more even, honestly. I think that's the way to be. I love spending every dollar I earn. Did you know that about me? You gotta. And a little more even, honestly. I think you want to spend a dollar more than you've made. Yeah, always. They came out with a new cheap iPhone. I was like, okay, no thanks. I'm earning almost no money now. I'm like, I'm good.

I'll get the 11 Pro. Thank you. Add a couple zeros to that and we're talking. You refuse to buy Cheap products I just won't do it So I respect that She could also be renting that apartment But even still it's like the point is

In a lot of movies like this She's not making the conservative choice In most movies where someone moves to New York City To follow their dreams The apartment you see them move into That they're renting is like a flea bitten yeah kind of it's it's like the blues brothers apartment you know you can hear the neon lights and gunshots next door and like even if she's renting it she goes straight to like i'm gonna fucking like fake it till i make it um there is the scene that I love is you said, David,

that like they know their mom is funny, but they have no idea whether she's funny in a professional way and they've never seen her do it. And then the first time you see her do stand up

is when they go to the club, meet Carrie Fisher for the first time, which is after that scene where you see all her stand up friends that she's been making come over for dinner,

including Tim Blake Nelson in his first film role ever. Incredible one-scene performance from TVN. He's got two. He's got two. Well, okay, fine. But you know what? The fish monologue. I saw him do one of those recent career retrospective

all-my-roles videos online for some magazine. And he said that she let him write his own material. So all of his limerick jokes are Tim Blake Nelson originals, I believe. Who's the name of the guy who was also in like the Three Stooges movie, Bob?

I want to say it's also Nelson, but you know the guy, the bald guy? Yeah, it's Bob Nelson. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It is, yeah. He's also great. He's adorable.

And are any of you Seinfeld people? Oh, yes. Of course. Did you recognize Jerry's girlfriend in the movie? Yes. As one of the two who babysit, right? Yeah. Yes.

Yes. I got excited. I always love a Seinfeld callback. Oh, yeah. Oh, it's such a pleasure to see. She's the girl that Newman wouldn't date because she wasn't his type. It's the Big Salad episode.

Yes, Big Salad. Yes, yeah. She's so pretty. Wait, wait. Her name is Marita Garrity. That's her name. Yes, that's right. Yes.

All right. So who's the comedian does the baby routine? That's Ed. That's her name. Yes. That's right. Yes. Alright, so who's the comedian that does the baby routine? That's Ed. That's Bob Nelson. That's Bob Nelson. Okay, that is an insane act, and I can't imagine that existing

anywhere, and that he's honing it. It really threw me off. I kept being like, that guy used to go on Carson all the time. He was like really weird, right? I have no idea. Are you joking? Is it based off a real guy?

No, Bob Nelson, right? Like Bob Nelson. Yeah, yes, yes. He was in Kindergarten Cop. He played the boyfriend of the other police officer. I mean, I feel like these are exaggeratedly shitty versions of the types of comedy acts that were happening during the comedy boom in the 90s

when people were so desperate to be like, I gotta have such a clean hook. You know? All these people are getting sitcom deals. I need to be the blank guy. So as much as I don't know if you'd ever actually see a dude who wears a hat with a fish head sticking out of it doing solely fish film themed limericks.

It's maybe only 5% over the top from what was actually happening on TV at that time. Like that guy might have gotten a spot on Arsenio. What about that on, are we allowed to go a bit ahead in the movie? Sure. Yeah, go ahead. A cameo that I personally really enjoyed was ellen claghorn yes who played one of the talk show hosts and ellen claghorn to me has always been um a comedian who i believe never really got her due i agree not and i don't know why that is i always found her hilariously funny

she's funny in this it's the snl if you don't make it on SNL and then you never really like happen then you become if that just becomes your entire career it's like well flamed out on SNL she did like a half season WB sitcom in like the first year that the WB was a thing

called like Ellen I believe it was called Clegghorn Ellen was taken it was actually called Clegghorn. Yeah. Ellen was taken. It was actually called Clegghorn. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It was

the other one. And it was with Garrett Morris. Oh. I mean, another like both two legends. Yes. And never had the

post-SNL careers they deserved. And Ellen Clegghorn is like, I think it is a combination of racism and sexism. Honestly, because I would say

Garrett Morris had a big, much bigger career than Ellen. It wasn't as totally. Right. Totally. I mean, and he had the worst career of all the original cast

members from SNL. But yeah, it's like one of those things where you're like, she should have been doing roles like this for the next 20 years. There's no excuse for why Ellen Cleghorn didn't become, at the very least, just like a steadily working ace in the hole character actress.

And she like rarely shows up. She did a bit on the SNL 40th special and she was so fucking funny. She's funny. She has that scene in Armageddon. I always think about that. She's so good. She's the nurse doing all their physicals. Great scene.

Anyway, all that comedy stuff is good. It's nicely sprinkled in. It always feels like it's from the kids' perspective. So they always feel appropriately cartoonish. They're like these weirdos that would be in the house that you would just remember. Right. They have everyone over for dinner. And the kids clearly are like, these people are comedians. But there's also the joy of for the first time, mom has friends who also do comedy as opposed to just like co-workers who know that she's funny.

But I love that they just like you still haven't seen her do stand up up until this point. That scene ends with her revealing that she has an agent after someone makes a joke about having an agent and then everyone looks at her with like like a dead eye seething jealousy ethics kathy namiji does a great bit where she pretends to stab herself uh in her cleavage it's a good good good butter knife bit that's how I'm ending the pod. That's why I'm in my work bra. I'm going to take a knife right in the middle of my chest.

I love seeing Kathy Nagini. She's a genius. Let me also say that I have never identified more with a moment on film than watching a bunch of comedians be jealous of another comedian for their success. Right. It felt like very appropriate. They're not happy at all.

It's really hard. I don't know if it's like this in all businesses, but like when you hear something getting a Netflix special and it can be someone you like when it's someone you don't like, you literally want to just blow your brains out. When it's somebody you like, even though you're like, that's awesome.

I'm a new tweet. Like, yay. I love this person, but deep down you're hating yourself. And that is right there why it is the worst business to be in yes anytime

someone retweets someone else's good news comedian to comedian and frames it as like so well deserved not only one of the funniest people in comedy but also one of the nicest yes it means they are seething with rage

at the job that that person just bought. Wait a minute. Is that the name of my new podcast, Seething with Rage? It might be. It's pretty good. It might be. Or Barely in the Union.

You're establishing a couple new shows in this one podcast appearance. My name is Chris Hardwick. You might be building an entire network worth of shows. Wow. You boys are really inspiring me today thank you it's okay you call it seething with rage but the whole podcast is just you saying how nice your guest is like you never acknowledge the title yeah such a major fan please welcome one

of my just favorite guests and i'm like speaking so slowly one of the funniest people out there but more importantly one of the good genuinely good people in comedy supports other women that's how you know a lot supports women um that's the biggest bullshit lie in comedy by the way when you i don't even know where to begin with this one i just will say this i find well i don't want to say because i like to work and i actually don't want to make any enemies but there are a lot of people out there who are like i support women and i support fucking women okay like i but i don't do it with a whole marching band behind me i just do it like i don't need a fucking you know what i'm saying i don't need to have like my soliloquy about do it you're not looking for the keys to the city just because you're right. Yeah.

No de Blasio ticker tape parade. Yeah. People who do that shit and then brag about it. I'm like, okay, you literally are so bad to women, but I'll allow it because I like to work. Good for de Blasio though, guys. Two months into this nightmare, every day I'd wake up and I'd be

like, when is the future ticker tape parade for nurses gonna be announced when are we getting it i need it on the schedule finally our mayor stepped up this guy and what you know who's stealing who steals the show is um i call him weird asl yankovic the guy who does the signing next to de Blasio is so funny. He makes them, he's like great at it. He feels like also like a 90s throwback. Like he feels like a 90s New Yorker. His fashion, his hair.

Oh my god. Oh please, I love him. Weird asshole Yankevich. That's 100 comedy points. That's really good. Thank you. I mean that's good. Finally, I get asked. That's good out points. That's really good. Thank you. And that's, I mean, that's good. Finally, I get asked. I know.

That's good out loud. I can only imagine how funny it would be written out. Visually, that joke is perfect. I think I got seven staves on that tweet. So thank you so much for bringing that up. Absolutely. It's a real hit. Thank you.

This movie has a bunch of scenes and moments and lines in it that are things that I feel like, oh, that's a very specific thing about the world of comedy that I have never seen represented accurately well before. And one of them is the scene where the daughters see her perform for the first time, where they meet Carrie Fisher at the club. They're sitting at a table with her waiting for mom to go where they meet Carrie Fisher at the club they're sitting at a table with her waiting for mom to go on the introduction of Dan Aykroyd as well the moss showing up to see her for the first time as this legendary agent and it's like a those two character types are so spot on the Carrie Fisher agent because I feel like so many people when they do like show busy agent characters just make them into monsters, which most of them are.

Or they're like the agent from Friends. It's like a cartoonish, tiny old woman who has a thousand cigarettes in her eyes and is like, yeah! Which is funny. To be clear, very funny. The very specific thing

that they're getting right with the Carrie Fisher character, both in Fisher's performance and in the writing, is person who works on the business end of comedy is not a performer, but also desperately wants to hold court at all times. constant stream monologue chain smoking she's making all these jokes to these two young girls where she's like i need you to think that i'm funny even though i'm not a performer and i have no aspirations of being a stand-up i work with funny people but everyone needs to know that secretly i'm the funniest one it's just like unspoken but so fucking spot on and then the acroid comes in and it's the opposite thing where it's like guy who seems radically disinterested in all comedy right he seems to not even like being outside like let alone having to watch a performance he'd rather just be locked up overnight in the napkin factory that's why i love the spoiler or i love the reveal that he's sleeping with cabner where both of them they barely even make eye contact with each other at any point in the movie like they don't

give a shit it's so good but the moment when Kavner comes on stage she's first up and she just like immediately starts working like she's hitting with the crowd they like go in on Mathis and Hoffman and

it's like these two girls realizing I think she literally says it in voiceover. Like I, there she was, like she was doing it. She was on stage. She was getting laughs. I never realized mom was actually funny.

Like I knew we shot thought she was funny. And it's that feeling of like when you meet someone socially who is a comedian before you've ever seen them perform or you have a friend who's getting into stand-up for the first time and you're just like, this is so nerve-wracking because if they suck, I'm never going to be able to talk to them ever again. And the relief you have when they start actually hitting on stage. Yeah, but when they don't, which often happens, is the worst feeling in the world. The single worst feeling because you're like, I can't talk to's the worst happens is the worst feeling in the world

the single worst because you're like i can't talk to this person again i can't be friends with them i cannot pretend that i respect them comedically even if they're funny at a bar um interesting thing about my family my mother who has her own little um like internet fan group, fan club, fan group, you know, those famous things. Anyway, she, she is hilarious. Like, honestly, even she can make, if you're on this, you'd be dying from her. She's so funny. But what I realized in my twenties, when I started doing standup, she came to New York and I was like, you have to do a bit on stage with me. Like, this is going to be so funny. She'd never gotten up on stage with me. And she got up and she was so nervous and so out of sorts from

that that she bombed it was honestly one of the most scarring I remember I'm on that stage as I'm telling the story because I remember the feeling of like having an anvil dropped on me like oh god she's not she just made such an off-color joke about coming like my mother i was like oh my god this can't be happening and she was like laughing but nervously it just i think it really stresses her out and i think that in fact when they first saw me perform on stage which was not that long ago it was even nerve-wracking for my parents because what if i wasn't funny as a performer and like thank god i'm great so they are like oh thank god they can now see me and not be wasted. Zero concerns.

My father, I largely forbid him from coming to see me perform back when I still performed or any of us still performed. Because the few times he has, he tends to, if he's invoked, start yelling out jokes from the audience as if suddenly we are a two person comedy team and he just thinks that that's a you opening conversation with him like that's well but no but he's also but he's trying to be a stand up like he's not responding as if like oh I don't understand this isn't a private conversation

and he always the well he always goes to is Ron Jeremy reference and it's almost always too oblique to track why do your parents work so blue both of you i don't know and i've been doing podcasting too oblique to track too put it on the network the collins network i've been doing like more instagram live shows during all of this and my dad keeps on crashing the comments and making Ron Jeremy jokes. No,

that's horrible. Wait, what is a Ron Jeremy? Like, come on. Like what, what joke is he making? He's like,

I mean, this is like apropos of nothing in a stream of comments. He'll be like, uh, uh, Griff, you, you learned that joke from the Ron Jeremy School of Comedy? Griff, any thoughts on Ron Jeremy?

Like, sometimes that's the joke, is just saying that. But Griff, do you remember that the night where I think it was the second time we met after you did my show? And you met my father. And I fell in love with your dad. Your dad is like a real flirt and he's so funny and i remember being like griff's dad is like he's got it he's like very well but this is what we're talking about my dad incredibly charming like king of like a cocktail party conversation oh my god God, he was great. So fucking good at it.

We had him on the podcast. He tried to cancel like 20 times. We had to like really massage him into it. He was so nervous. He came with 20 pages of notes. He ended up being really good, but he is very much one of those guys where you're like, you're so funny. You could just get up on stage and be funny like your mom.

And then he tries to perform and he can't do it. Like he just, his instincts go out the window. And there's that moment in this when Kavner's jokes start landing, where you realize like, oh, you've been watching her for like 20 minutes, be funny in a way that a movie character is funny, where she's making like off-the-cuff jokes to her daughters.

And then she gets on stage, and Kavner really nails the difference in performance of, this isn't someone who's just naturally funny, this is someone who actually understands how to frame herself on stage. And she is heightened, and it is an act. And that moment where you feel that relief of just like, oh, she knows what she's doing

is like this beautiful moment for her daughters to see and it is the difference michelle what we're talking about of like when you see someone you know bomb versus when you see someone you know turn out to actually be good and the relief that but also it's like you know you later when they're in vegas you see her fans and they're like old you know mom type you know like you later, when they're in Vegas, you see her fans and they're like old, you know, mom type, you know, like right there, like older ladies, like it's clear,

like she knows who she's, uh, exactly who she's pitching herself to. And also when fans will come up to her, she like goes straight back into performance mode where like her response is like, Oh, I hope they didn't cancel the show or like whatever, you know,

like she's got, like, so I'm going back didn't cancel the show or like whatever, you know? Like she's got like... So I'm going back and forth here on my catner. But she like, yeah, she like, she has the persona down separate from the ways that she is funny in conversation. It turns out that she's like closer

to being ready from the time she moves to New York than you would think. Right. And also, after you see her in this performance we're talking about, that's when she sort of leaves the movie and it more becomes about the kids. That's when she's now just getting famous. She's sort of in and out. And it's the Samantha Mathis, Gabby Hoffman show. Sorry, what were you going to say, Michelle? No, I just said they're so good in it. They have such a good sisterly connection. They're very funny with each other and it you know it's really like a

coming-of-age movie basically about this teenage girl who uh feels rightfully so in my opinion abandoned by her mother yeah right especially because her mom's a single mom so there's you know there's no one else around and it's obviously tough on the mom. Uh, but it's not what I like. It's not a movie where they worship the forgotten dad. Like the dad is like not even an entity until right at the end of the movie.

And then when he shows up, he's not an entity. I mean, that's the, the sort of twist with the dad, I guess. Um, but yeah,

her, it's annoying. It's sucky. I would, I would present it to, even though like as a viewer, I understand it. Everyone is good at making you sympathize with everybody. When the parents aren't around,

you can get into trouble. You can bring over someone and make out with them. You can fall in love with the dorkiest boy in the world. Well, yeah. Ben was disappointed this movie didn't turn into House Party once she became famous. Yeah, yeah. Ben was disappointed this movie didn't turn into House Party once she became famous. Yeah, get a flat top. Were any of you

abandoned by parents? I guess this is a good question. No. No. I was a latchkey kid. Does that count? Yeah, I mean, my mom was like

a city hall reporter. She got home later. Dinner time was at like 8 o'clock or whatever 8 30 like you know that was just so but that was just like how they figured it out like it was like look this is when we get home so you're just gonna stay up late yeah my my dad would work late but then the weekends were mostly dad time and my mom would like lock herself in her room like it was like i'll take these five days and then I need two days

to just fucking decompress. I found watching it and I don't know, I don't know how it works if we can jump ahead or not. Yeah, you can jump ahead. It's not a potty movie. In the words of Christopher Cross,

we could jump around. God bless. Say it like Marge. Jump around. Here comes the Shack Attack. That's my favorite Marge line. Look out for the shack attack. I said,

Christopher cross instead of crisscross too. I fucked up my own joke. That's a different guy, different singer. I know. So, uh, what I was going to say though,

is that her little romance with, uh, Jay Sherman son from the critic was. Yes. Oh my God. That's so spot on. Yeah. I i was like this is what's his little name by the way i re-watched all of the critic like the first week of quarantine oh yeah it really holds up it is so funny i was like i don't know what it is about this being locked inside that's

making me revert to things i loved when i was like 15 but i've been going back to watch a lot i know a lot of people who are doing this, watching just like cartoons and stuff that used to love. Yes, absolutely. It feels healthy. I think it's comfort, you know? Yes.

I've been watching a fair amount of, uh, uh, primetime cartoons that got canceled, uh, under one season. Uh, I watched all of mission Hill,

which I think is very good. The, the show that Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein did after they quit the Simpsons, uh, and it's all viewable on YouTube. It's a really good show. Um, but, very good. The show that Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein did after they quit the Simpsons. And it's all viewable on YouTube. It's a really good show. But also I just,

I said this on another podcast, but I just immediately like day two of quarantine was like, I'm going to watch the first 10 Adam Sandler movies. Oh, wow. And you did it. Yeah, I just did it. I was like,

I'm just going to watch like everything through to 2003. And what does that include? So hand is not in that right no that's the next wave which i'm about to embark on i did everything through to anger management but michelle it sounds like you're us that you're a big zohan fan you're a big zohan fan i'm a big i'm a zohan fan we i love i love it this is a podcast that regularly considers that Zohan might be his crowning achievement. Let me tell you this. I believe that the Golden Globe, I wish he had been nominated for

an Oscar so I could say I think that was to make up for not nominating him for Zohan. He is so funny in Zohan. My mother's from Israel so it's like a very close story. If you have any family in Israel, you just know the culture. It is like a love letter to that country in a way. Because it's all, it's so the funniest.

Yeah. I loved it. I mean, it's terrible. It's like every movie where the first half an hour, you're like on the floor laughing. And then the rest of the movie is just unwatchable. But that first half hour. Have you ever seen The Software Crisis, right? On SNL?

Yes. Yes. One of my favorite sketches ever. Yeah. It's a top sketch for me of all time. It's essentially an entire movie of that sketch. That's what it is. It's the movie based on that sketch.

Literally. Yeah. I believe the story behind that movie too, is that like, because they love Sabra prices, right? So much when they did it on SNL, which small Smigel wrote. When, and with the announcer, by the way, on it, when they did it on SNL, which Smigel wrote.

And was the announcer, by the way, on it. When Sandler had, like, his first or second movie, like, after maybe Happy Gilmore, they were like, let's write this script. And then they made the script,

shopped around to everyone, and they were like, you will never make this movie. What the fuck are you doing? And to an extent, the next 10 years plus of Adam Sandler's career were him trying to build up the like box office prowess that no one could turn down Zohan anymore. And they didn't. And you know what? I'm glad it was made.

It's better than some of his other movies for sure. It's better than most of them. It might be the best one. Thank you for being on my side about this. Absolutely. But the little guy that she sleeps with. Oh, he's so good. I'm looking up his name now.

I looked him up already. He has like no credits, I believe after 2005. He has a very tragic story. No, does he? He does, yeah. He's not alive anymore? He was bipolar

and had addiction issues and he is unfortunately not alive anymore. No, you're kidding me. I'm not. He had a whole career before. I mean, he was in like, I don't know. He was in a bunch of stuff, right?

Like he was in IQ. Am I like a bad person? I was like, he doesn't have any credits after 2005. I had the same thing. Date of death. It looks like his last movie was, was basically what planet are you from? I mean,

he was never a big star. He just has like a bunch of sort of like, you know, sitcom credits and supporting roles or whatever. Oh, he died in 2012, 40 poor guy. Yeah.

Jordan Strang, uh, his sister, I think it's on Huffington post. There's a really good piece that his sister wrote about him and sort of the lack of good infrastructure for health care in this country. Oh, God, don't even go there with me. It's horrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's a good piece if you want to feel depressed. But it's, you know, someone standing up and saying, we need to build a society that offers more support to people like this.

I've been in such a great mood lately. I could really go for a downer right now. I think I'll look that up. If you need a push-me-down, what's the opposite of a pick-me-up? Yeah, I need someone to shove me down, baby. I gotta find this thing. There's nothing going on in the world that's really troubling at all. I'm feeling too good.

No. My nostrils are breathing in the same stale air since February 28th of 2020 we all basically just live on an airplane now live on our own airplane you're breathing in that leap day air yeah but this

kid is so fucking good and this section of the movie is just like because I was so ready for like oh this is one of those weird first movies like james cameron making piranha 2 where then the second film the director is just fully formed like suddenly the next movie is sleepless in seattle and she just has it all down but this movie has so many good touches like for someone who doesn't come from a filmmaking background doesn't come from a technical background, is just a writer.

She clearly is just such a good storyteller that there are even some really nice visual touches in how this movie is handled and the sex scene

in particular is just like, the framing of everything is so ideal where it's so honestly awkward. Like it is one of the only teen sex scenes

I have seen that is awkward in the way you say it's over i can't remember what exactly his like and she's like oh it's over it's done something like that just the writing the performances the framing the editing like i feel like all teen sex scenes are either way too sexy or way too awkward in like a porky's way where it's just like well no human being has ever behaved like this like and this has like the patience to make it like the actual comedy moments are just like let's hold on the close-up while he's trying to get the condom on out of frame for like a full minute you Incredible. But like, it's not a bit because the condom thing I feel like in teen movies

is normally it's slipping around. Totally right. They don't know how to put it on. They're putting it on their head. It's like surprisingly- They do put it on their head a lot, which is a classic mistake. Such a classic mistake.

It doesn't go there. All those Howie Mandel teen movies. Oh, are we talking about Howie Mandel? Because I have time. Please. I'll be here all day i love me some mandel i mean well hey you said you were trying by my father my father was regularly mistaken for mandel in the 80s it was i'm gonna send you a photo michelle and this is done dead fucking ringer having i have seen your dad in the 80s and yes i'm gonna say something that you're not gonna like what what if i was like i have slept with dad in the 80s and yes i'm gonna say something that you're not

gonna like what what if i was like i have slept with howie mandel and it was the most incredible night of my life no i he did my show okay and uh i was so ready for that to be true in person what is he 60 yeah howie you know i think not touching germs helps yeah like he always knew how he was always ahead of the curve him and mark Mark Summers. Mandel has been there and he was so funny and so attractive that it actually really threw me for a loop. I was not prepared. Thank you for letting me speak my truth.

Of course. He's 64 years old. He's good. He looks better than me right now. I'll tell you, I will not. He looks 10 times better than me. Not true. He does. My dad would literally, people will not. He looks ten times better than me. Not true! He does! My dad would literally, people at bars would be like, Mandel!

Mandel, can I take a photo? And my dad would very calmly have to say like, I'm sorry, I know I look like him. I'm not Howie Mandel. And people would not accept it. They were like, oh, I see how it is. Trying to big time us, Mandel. Just because you know Ed Begley Jr. doesn't mean you're better than me. You don't have time for your fans, Mandel. Just because you know Ed Begley Jr. doesn't mean you're better than me.

You don't have time for your fans, Mandel. Go fuck yourself. I just wanted you to sign my Bobby's World standee. I love Bobby's World. Great show. That might be my next quarantine watch, actually. Bobby's World is great. People used to stop my mother in the early 70s

and they thought that she was julie newmar oh the actress yeah and which is why i have issues and she would sign autographs as julie newmar wow oh so she would just she would just go for it she didn't give a shit my mother was an out like out in a loud loony sack you know yeah she would be like meow from julie well i've talked about this before but my my mom used to be a frequently mistaken for holly hunter and she would do the griffin's mother looks very similar to holly hunter very similar weird and like they're the same size and everything she doesn't sound like her the voice is very different but she would do the don't ask don't tell thing where like if she went into a store and is very different. But she would do the don't ask, don't tell thing where if she went into a store

and started getting special treatment, she would be like, I can tell they think I'm Holly Hunter. I'm going to speak as little as possible and just not give them any reason to think I'm not, but not lie. I like that, though. I think women, for the most part,

well, it depends on who it is, but usually flattered. Yeah. Yeah. What was was i gonna say about the scene we were talking oh well awkward boy awkward boy uh the the decision and it's like not called out but the child's bed where the angle she chooses for the majority of the actual sex is like heavily framed around his headboard, which is some like child's cowboy design. It's so good. It's so good.

And I also think this actor who is so good, it's so tragic what happened to him. But, um, when he shows up on screen, I was like, Oh boy, is this going to be like, this kid is such a loser?

The movie is like really dunking on him. They let him be really charming in spite of him being a very goofy kid seen in the park. You're like, I understand why she would fall for this guy. And it feels like, oh, my God, it was so cute and nice and like innocent and sweet it was nice it's like the inverse of nick cage and peggy sue got married where it's like oh the guy who was hot in your mind's eye and the movie wants you to realize that he was actually really lame so he does the dorky voice and in this it's like this kid looks like a classic teen movie dork and then when he starts talking to her you're like he's like this kid looks like a classic teen movie dork and then when he starts

talking to her you're like he's like a good listener he's pretty charming he makes good jokes and that scene afterwards where the mom seems like very like new wave accepting walking in on them having sex yes and then you find out it's because she's a gynecologist and she makes them sit down for a lesson. And I know you recognize these. Your ovaries is a very good line. It's so good. All of this is so good. And I love that Samantha Mathis in the narration frames it as like, and mom disappears just while the most important thing of my entire life happened.

No, that's just that's the back half of this movie, right? It's the Mathis thing. It's the, her, her resentment building up to the point that she decides to take an Amtrak to Albany or whatever, to try and find her dad. Right.

You see, uh, Julie Kavner, them watching Kavner on, I think it's on the Clegghorn show. This is that scene, right? Where she makes the joke about,

uh, her daughter changing her name to the boyfriend's name. And Samantha Mathis like flips out. Yeah. And, and early in the movie, they keep on saying like, you got to give us credit.

Like that was our joke. We were the ones who told you to do a bit about that. But for the first time they they are becoming the material. Yeah. And it is like it's the everything is copy thing. Like you can tell it rings true for Efron, who also co-wrote this

with Delia. Like it's two sisters writing a movie to be directed by one of them as the children of a playwright, screenwrite mother who told them everything should be turned into material

yeah and um i just i just love the thing with the dad when they're like so many of these movies the dad is going to be a fuck up and instead he's just like oh it's you oh hi what's up like you know like he's just so uninterested in them it's it's one of two things it's either like the dad is a major fuck up asshole he's like a charming fuck-up he's like kyle chandler in the spectacular now right we're like well i get it but also this guy can't like hold it together or it's like end of boyhood ethan hawke where you're like oh it's a shame like now he has a family he knows how to be a while to figure it out right could have been me i i was stuck being the first

kid. And this is just like, he's just such a piece of shit in such a way. He looks like an ad for an accountant before the movie starts. I was like, okay. That was his face. And the Jewish person, let me add, that I found the performance almost borderline

anti-Semitic. Comes this guy and I was like, are you fucking kidding me Nazi direct this everyone in this movie is Jewish though yeah so you're my kids and what am I expected to do about it what do you want from me a hug and a kiss

yeah oh your mother's a comic big surprise a lot of people used to laugh at it behind the back but anyway alright it was like so I was like what like who made the choice to make him this like weirdo accountant nasty jewish guy so weird and ugly that having been said he's not an attractive man that having been said he's just completely uninspiring like there's the only thing he can do is buy them a ticket home like that is his only like you know who was good the wife who's a well-known actress she's great He's just completely uninspiring. The only thing he can do is buy them a ticket home. That is his only... You know who was good?

The wife, who's a well-known actress. I was going to say, Caroline Aron. Yeah, and she's in a lot of these Efron movies. And that's example of a character that is so often just so shitty. But she's just polite about it. She's like, oh yeah, he might've mentioned he had some daughters. no like a lifetime ago you want some lemonade yeah and also what kind of woman marries a man who has two grown daughters and he's a fucking piece of shit if this were my husband i would be like you're bald accounting ass up and you father those children are you kidding what

kind of a monster is she it's it's tough Rensselaer or wherever it is they live. Like, come on. I do think Caroline Aron, though, like in her performance, actually convincingly sells the one type of woman who would be oblivious enough to not tell her husband to be a better father. Also not being angry at the past wife and kids. Who's just like, oh, okay, right. Like, oh, the daughters. Right.

Right. Okay. I knew it. He went to Cornell. He had two daughters. I always forget these things. She's even like he does something in middle something yeah like something in the middle oh he's a middle man for

fruit yeah and by the way like how old is gabby hoffman in this movie eight at most if that i mean seven it's not like the kids are 27 years old and they're like, Daddy, she's a tiny girl. Yeah. It's cool. No, I didn't like that. I didn't like that. No, she is so much more warm to them than he does. But it is to that point, like,

what kind of woman would not tell her husband to be a better father or tell them, keep him in the rear view, I never want to hear you talk about them again? The exact type of woman who doesn't know what her husband does for a living. Maybe you might have a point. Like it's pretty consistent characterization. I agree with you that in real life, it's hard to imagine someone doing that. But I think this film creates a good example. The other moment that I think is just such a good like efron uh kind of shorthand is the whole sort of extended vegas chunk where which is where they discover that she's uh in a romantic relationship with dan akroyd as well but that whole mini arc with gabby hoffman falling in

love with the tech guy he's so cute with his meds cap cute mid-20s guy who treats an eight-year-old like a grown-up which to her is just like oh my god this is what love must feel like like someone is actually respecting me and is like letting me wear the hat and sit in the chair and she just keeps on looking up at him so lovingly and then then her and Samantha Mathis have such different responses to Julie Kavner's bit about falling in love, which is her best stand-up bit in the movie, I think. But the fact that Mathis is furious because she's like, Mom's a hypocrite.

There's no way she believes in love. She's not even saying material that means anything to her anymore. And Gabby Hoffman is like, I get it. Like, finally, this rings true to me. Truth truth and comedy and then the sneaking out of the bedroom them just finding the mets hat and samantha maffitt's consoling her you think that's a dead end and then the like double twist of she's sleeping with akroyd not the kid but also the reason the hat was there was because he gave it to Gabby Hoffman and she like swoons.

It's so sweet. Yeah. What did we think about how, like when you're a certain age, like you just hate your parents. That's what this movie reminded me of. Yeah. Just like,

like why though? Why do we all do that? It's a thing. It's a thing you have to go through is the sort of like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. They're actually like, these guys are idiots.

Like, just that sort of dawning realization. Yeah. I think it's that exact thing. You hit an age where you start getting cynical and realizing that the world sucks. And then part and parcel with that is,

oh, my parents suck. Look at all these fucked up things they did and then you get a little older and you're like oh no one knows what they're doing like you loop all the way back around to like sympathy for your parents where you're like I guess they relatively did alright well let's just wrap up the movie

very quickly they go to the father they have this sort of brush off they get in the train uh back to new york city where julie kavner is waiting for them at the train station um there's the the heartbreaking scene before that where they're watching her on tv and samantha mathis starts doing her impression of a julie kavner routine that scene for me and i don know, because I'm a daughter, I'm the only daughter here on this show right now. That killed me. Like the idea of, it was so raw.

I can't explain it. That was one of the moments, cause I'm very close to my mom, but we have like a pretentious relationship, even though we talk almost every day, we do fight a lot. And seeing that, I don't know, for some reason really struck a chord.

Cause it was just like seeing how angry, and I am on the side of samantha mathis in the movie i think she has a real right to be angry yeah watching her process her her abandonment and her anger with her mom for me was almost too close i was like shit this is like real and the the shift from everyone else in the room laughing at her doing the impression to the impression goes on too long and it gets too angry no one's laughing anymore then to julie cavner has walked in and is listening and she doesn't know and she's still going on and then their big fight that julie cavner essentially saying like this is my coming of age movie i never got to have a coming of age movie you need to let me do this and then the movie wraps up very quickly very quick cavner has the sort of like uh come to jesus moment with akroyd

while they're visiting the dad when they get off the train she's not angry at them and then matha says that very sweet thing about like and it was the one time she never gave me a life lesson when there probably was one to give and then the movie ends with them like pitching the mom on a sitcom where she could work normal hours and it would be based on their life. But I like that it ends with it being like, yeah, no one's going to change here. Like everyone's going to, this is the situation.

We just got to live with it. Right. And also Julie Kavner being like, it's very weird getting very successful very suddenly. And she also has that line where she's like, I was miserable when you were happy and now that i'm

happy you're miserable like that's a that's a great summary summary of it all and as a fisher says like every child only wants their mother to be happy and she's like no a child would rather their mother was suicidal but home with them than in hawaii and happy yeah right because that's what kids that's what parents yeah that's the role we see them as especially when you're gabby hoffman's age yeah totally good fucking movie ends on a freeze frame as they laugh and then the totally insane carly simon song flings again and gives us a v end and this is 1990 like this is not like like i don't know that is going out of style but no yeah i missed those days i did too i fired this movie up and I saw that it was 90 minutes, that was the first time I cried from happiness.

I was like, thank fucking God. A perfect length and a classic sitcom episode ending. It's going to be good for this miniseries in general. I feel like Nora never broke two hours, right? Yeah. Anyway, so this movie was a total bomb. It made like two million dollars total three i think like and it's so irrelevant that it's not there's no box office data for it

i'm just looking at the weekend it supposedly came out but it was clearly out of the top 10 i hate to say it but february 21st 1992 griffin what was the number one movie? It's a comedy. It was beloved by teens. Is it Wayne's World? Yes, it's Wayne's World. Wow. That's all you needed. You have a hard out, so I'm really putting the pressure on myself

to try to guess all of these really quickly. But I had a gut feeling. I remembered Wayne's World being a February release. Yeah, Wayne's World. Two weekends in. Two weeks in, it's made 30 million bucks. It was such a huge feeling. I remembered Wayne's World being a February release. Yeah, Wayne's World. Two weekends in. Two weeks in. It's made 30 million bucks. It was such a huge hit.

My God. I know. It's not even one of those things where you're like, oh, that was a big surprise hit relative to expectations. It was just a flat out mega hit. Mega hit. And also is a perfect movie. Is a perfect movie.

As everyone's doing all these perfect movies on Twitter, that's a top to bottom perfect movie. Yeah. There's nothing in Wayne's World that doesn't work all right no number two is a famous bomb um action star doing comedy uh stop or my mom will shoot holy shit that's right wow i'm telling you he's not a bomb michelle i work well under pressure and i gotta get david out in the next three minutes. Wait, Ben, is that a Ben's choice? Yeah, it might be a Ben's choice. Yeah, I love that movie.

Oh, shit. It's a great, come on, odd couple. Maybe we should do Stop Where My Mom Will Shoot. I mean, yeah. All right. Number three. Number three, again, this is just, I guess this would just go straight to Hulu now. It's like an adaptation of a best-selling Oprah's's book club type type novel that was like a pretty big hit beloved

no no i'm just saying things i'm bad at this by the way no you're not bad at this it's not bridges of madison county is it no it's a soul fighter waiting to exhale you know down in the delta no prince of tides no these are all fine guesses can we hope springs

it's about female friendship boys in on the side no good movie how to make an

american quilt no great movie though oh my god fuck i feel like we're so close to this whatever um it's not

tomatoes yes okay two oscar winners yeah come on that's a good movie but it would go straight to hulu if it were made today you know what i mean like studios would be like what it's about ladies and get out of here that thing's going yeah that thing's going to voodoo yes unfortunately it would be it would be a crackle original if it were made today unfairly unfairly number four is a movie that we might cover on this podcast one day because it's probably one of the least well-known movies by this action director is it no we've done cameron already is it it's not Bay is it McTiernan yep wow holy shit is it uh what's it called Michelle we're like the old couple that plays charades or whatever I don't I'm not even playing anymore I'm like it's it's not Nomads Griffin it's the other one

it's the other lesser known one that I'm fucking forgetting can you just because i want to get you out in sean connery is the star oh it's a it's not rising sun no although that is sean connery movie lorraine bracco sean and lorraine jagged edge what's this no it's called medicine man oh jesus christ right uh which i can't've never seen, but can't wait to watch. Number five. Okay. Huge hit. Sort of a, I don't know, like a trashy word of mouth smash hit.

This was a Disney movie, which is insane to think about. And it's a holdover from the previous year, I'm guessing? No, I think it came out in January. It's like a thriller. Word of mouth smash hit. Keep going. It's like a thriller keep going it's like and it could happen to you there you go there we go the hand that rocks the cradle oh i love that movie rebecca de mornay another annabelle shara and rebecca de mornay um so that's the box office game i am gonna peace out but you guys should keep talking Shara and Rebecca de Mornay. Oh.

So that's the Barclays game. I am going to peace out, but you guys should keep talking. Okay? I don't have all day either. I have to go put a new t-shirt on. No, we're going to wrap the show up. We all have shirts to change into. Michelle, thank you so much for being on the show. Michelle Collins, still happening five days a week?

Every morning, 7 to 10 a.m. on Sirius 109. Follow me on Instagram also, at Mish Call, if you've made it this far. You can see what I look like with makeup on. Thank you. And I'm going to be guesting soon. And by my demand often, because I need things to do with my life. You're the best, and our listeners are the best. And thank you all for listening

and please remember to rate, review, subscribe thanks to Andrew Guto for co-producing this show Rachel Jacobs for editing help Lane Montgomery for our theme song Joe Bone and Pat Reynolds for our artwork go to blankies.red.com for some real nerdy shit and go to

patreon.com backslash blank check for blank check special features where we'll be talking about the mission impossible movies i think by this point um and as always if i can please read the lyrics of carly simon's uh you are the love of my life that play over the end credits of this movie quickly griffin jesus here we go ready you can you can end the call i'm gonna read them for the audience david you can drive me crazy bye you can drive me crazy you can drive me anywhere here are the keys just do as you please it may not always be easy but you are the keys. Just do as you please. It may not always be easy,

but you are the love of my life. What a fucking demented song.