Do Go On - 303 - Sex and the City (with Claire Tonti)

Episode Date: August 11, 2021

Claire Tonti joins us this week to tell us about the game changing HBO comedy/drama series Sex and the City, enjoy!Check out TONTS. on acastSupport the show and get rewards like bonus episodes: patreon.com/DoGoOnPod Get a ticket to our show at the Great Australian Podcast Festival on Nov 6: https://bit.ly/DGOgapfFor tickets to Matt's Live Shows: https://www.mattstewartcomedy.com/Buy tickets for our screening of The Mummy on September 10: https://www.lidocinemas.com.au/mummyStream our 300th episode with extra quiz (and 16 other episodes with bonus content): https://sospresents.com/authors/dogoon Check out our AACTA nominated web series: http://bit.ly/DGOWebSeries​ Check out Matt’s Beer show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej4TUguJL58 Submit a topic idea directly to the hat: dogoonpod.com/Submit-a-Topic Twitter: @DoGoOnPodInstagram: @DoGoOnPodFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/DoGoOnPod/Email us: [e-mail] Check out our other podcasts:Book Cheat: https://play.acast.com/s/book-cheatPrime Mates: https://play.acast.com/s/prime-mates/Listen Now: https://play.acast.com/s/listen-now/ Our awesome theme song by Evan Munro-Smith and logo by Peader Thomas REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Melbourne and Canada, we got exciting news for you. And we should also say this is 2026. Jess, what year is it? 2026. Thank God you're here. Right now, I'm in Melbourne doing my show with Serenji Amarna, 630 each night at the Cooper's Inn Hotel, having so much fun. We'd love to see you there.

Canada, we are visiting you in September this year. If you've somehow missed the news, we are heading up Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, and Toronto for shows. That's going to be so much fun. Tickets for all this stuff, I believe, are online. And I'm here too. Matt, is it true? You are doing a stand-up show in Perth.

That is true, Dave. How did you know? I forgot what I was telling you just before, but it's on, uh, in Perth, Australia. It's Western Australia. So excited to be getting back over there for the first time in a little while. People get tickets fire at Matt Stewartcom. And if they use the discount code, do go on. They'll get a discount.

Whoa. Yeah. Is it a code? Yeah, that's the code. Oh, okay. Do go on. Hey, if you're in Melbourne, we're also doing a live show. at the Great Australian Podcast Festival

Saturday, November the 6th at the Palais Theatre. We'd love to see you there. Tickets are available now and find the link in the description of this episode. Palais where I saw Kiss. Of course and personal. Welcome to another episode of Do Go One.

My name is Dave Warnikey and as always I'm here with Matt Stewart. Hey Dave, how good is it to be here? It is great to be here with you and also a very special guest is joining us this week. It's Claire Tonti. Hello! I'm here.

I'm so excited to be here. Thank you for having me. Thanks so much for being here, stepping into Jess's big shoes. They're so big. Probably not that big. Oh, no, surprisingly, they are so big. How big are her feet? Like size.

Clown feet. 11. Yeah, yeah. Well, try and push her over. You can't. I've tried. Hang it to the ground. If there's nothing I know about Jess is that she's very stable.

Very stable. We've even done the thing where I like get down on or falls behind her and Matt pushes her over from my back. I just got injured. She just bounces back. Stirty Perkins, we call it. Sturdy Perkins. My favorite kind of perkins.

Well, those are big shoes to fill, but I'm here to give them a burl. Oh, thank you so much for giving it a burl. You're welcome. Well, that's just feeling there. Is that your big toe there? Filling that? Wiggle it for me? Wiggle it?

I reckon what you'll need to do is wear thick socks with this one. That's their answer to everything. Shoes sales people. Oh, you're growing to those. Yeah, growing up. I'm 26. Yeah, pretty young, though. You're still growing.

I always had those slidy things. Do you know the metal things that they slide? Oh, that's so cold. Oh, I mean cold. That's what I meant. Fun. It's so fun. Look at them.

Yeah, love it. They're figuring out foot data right now. Amazing. It's like being in a science lab for your feet. But you're kind of here. You're doing a bit of a book tour at the moment, or a pod tour, I suppose, because you're just released a brand new podcast series. called tonts.

Certainly have. And it's about tonsillitis? It is. It's a podcast all about tonsillitis. 600 episodes. It's a deep dive, a real deep dive. 600 episodes on your mouth. Yeah, no, it's called tons.

It's really fun to say the word tonts. Tons. Tons. Yeah, anyway, it's an interview show. It's an interview show and it's about your inner critic and kind of your inner voice and mental health. And I'm interviewing lots of different people who've made things or done things or been through things to kind of help us through this time. Because I feel like it's such a weird time, right, at the moment we're living through.

And mental health is obviously really important. Yeah. So that's kind of what the show's about. And you've had Bigfoot Jess on the, and as a guest, I believe. I have. She was on my third episode. And a lot of it is also to do with, like, the TV and films that we watch as well. And those stories as kids that were absorbed.

And then what that kind of, how that manifests. as we get older. And so Jess and I deep dive into a lot of stuff, including the Avengers movies and how much we love them and then how different it is now to the films that we got to watch as kids that were like The Little Mermaid and like really bullshit movies where girls just kind of lost their voice and had to change their whole life in order to marry Prince Eric and all that kind of stuff.

So there's a bit of rage in the show as well. Prince Eric. I don't remember Prince Eric. Oh, he was hot. He was one of the hot ones. And Eric is hot? Is it possible? Well, it is a fairy tale.

Yeah, okay. Yeah, him, Aladdin. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, okay. I'm a more Aladdin. Yeah, for sure. Exactly. So, yeah, so that's kind of what we examined.

Actually, I did an episode recently on coming to America with a comedian called Zaneb Johnson, who is here in the Melbourne Comedy Festival a couple of years ago back when we could do comedy festivals. And, yeah, we just talk about how awesome that movie is. and then also how problematic and why she loves it still. And yeah, so it's been a really fun show. I'm really enjoying doing it. So it's called Tons and it's out now on all your favorite podcast apps. It certainly is.

It's out on all your POTO apps. So I would love me to go and check it out. But you're not just here to plug your fantastic new podcast program. Oh, yes. No, I am. I'm only. I'm living now. That's it.

That's the only reason I was here. It's a short episode, mate. Correct. Well, while you're here, would it be possible to get you to tell us a report on a a certain topic. I mean, it's got a top of your dome. Just a bit of a stretch there, Matthew.

But I guess I could pull this giant novel out of my handbag. That'd be fantastic. And while you do that, maybe Dave can explain to you and any new listeners what this show is all about. Yes, Claire, I probably should have taken the time to tell you this earlier. But what we do here is we take it in terms to report on a topic, often suggested by a listener, go away, do a bit of research,

ring it back. And you're the person who's done the research. Correct. Matt and I don't know what you've reached. Researched. Research. And as you said, you have pulled out a novel here. This is the first ever report given on the show that has been printed out in hard coffee.

Yeah. And also got out been published by Simon & Schuster. That's right. That'll be available at Dimmix this week if you want to read along at home. But we often start with a question. All right. Are you ready for my question? So ready.

So excited about this. I'm such a massive fan of this show. It's real good. If this is your first episode, what are you doing? It's like 300 other episodes. Go back and listen. Okay, so question. What TV show is responsible for inspiring a global cupcake craze

that culminated in the Manhattan Cup, Magnolia Bakery, needing to employ a full-time bouncer? Whoa. That's a lot of questions. Power Rangers. I'm trying to, I can't think of, there's all these, like, it'd be great British bake-off, great Australian bake-off, great Canadian bake-off.

Oh, great. Manhattan bake-off? Is it a bake-off show? No. Okay. I'll give you a clue. It's set in Manhattan. Oh, sex and city.

Yes. He's got. Wait, sex and the city. Sex. Yes. In the city? In and out of the city. Okay.

In and out and again. And out again. Claire, Tompty, please. Look, I'm standing a toad for the whole episode. This is a family-friendly program. Please. So, this has been inspired because it's just been, it's just coming back for a Yes, there's a new movie, the third movie, called And Just Like That, That's Coming Out, That's

Is it called Sex in the City dot dot dot, and just like that? No, it's just called Just Like That. Because that's what Kerry, one of the lead characters would always say. Have you seen any of Sex in the City, actually? I saw the first film when I was in Eos and the Greek Islands to stay at this party resort thing, and they had like, by the pool, they had a big screen, they do a movie each night. And right near the screen is where you could charge your phones.

there. So I said, I'll go to look after our group's phones while they charge. And I've never seen Sex and the City before. And they're like,

yeah, we'll charge half an hour and then we'll catch the bus into town, hit the clubs and stuff. I like, no worries. They come back half an hour later

and I've got my, my head resting on my chin looking up with big eyes at the screen. Enthroled. And my mates still talk about they're like,

we could not pull you, I said to him, I'll meet you later. I want to watch the end of the Sex and the City film. So, yeah, I've got a little connection. You got a fuss spot. There's go. And you're in the water watching?

No, I was, well, I couldn't be because I was up near the PowerPoints. Charging the phone. I mean, the people who were really enjoying themselves are floating around. But, I mean, they weren't giving it enough attention for me. And you've seen the movie, but not the series. Yeah, was it the movie good? Because I don't know why, but it really sucked me in. Because I've heard since that it's awful.

No, the second movie is awful. Oh, the second is awful. And diehard fans really don't, like, want that to be in the canon. Oh, Jesus. Because it's like super racist. Okay. Awful. The more recent one is the racist one.

Yeah, yeah. So sex and the scene one is actually not too bad. Like, it did really well in the box office. And fans genuinely loved it. But the second one was so bad. It was set half in Dubai. And at one point, the lead character, Samantha, that just stands in the middle of like the town square,

throwing condoms in the air and like celebrating the fact that she's American and free to have sex wherever she wants. It's really like... No wonder you were enthralled, Matt. Yeah. I love a dingher shower. Yeah, it's just, it's famously so bad

that I pretend to myself because I'm a massive sex with city band. It doesn't exist. I love that there's a sort of a Star Wars-like fandom who has canon. They say things like canon and that things should not be. canon.

Anyway, shall we get to the report? Yeah, Sex and the City. Just quickly, I have very little knowledge of the sex in the city world. You're such as an answer. One thing that I would love you to do, Claire, and maybe you get to this, is I would love you to explain what that means. When people say, oh, you're such an insert, I'd love to know the traits of each character. I don't understand when people say, you're such a blah, blah.

All right, okay. What's that mean? We will get to it. We will get to it. I need to set the scene first. So I will say as well that the movie. are not really the heart of the show. Okay.

They're just, like, added extra icing on top, and the bulk of it is the episode, like the seasons of the show. Okay. As die-hard fans. So we're going to start right back at the very beginning. So you don't know anything about it, really. No, no, I know.

Like, two of the characters' names and Mr. Big. I was going to say, Mr. Big. Mr. Big. And the guy from, what was that, Alaska show, from Northern Exposure. Northern Exposure. The Northern Exposure DJ was a, in it at one point.

Oh, I didn't know that. Who's also in my big fat, great wedding? Oh, Aiden Shaw. Yes, he's excellent. There you go. He's like, yeah, he's amazing. All right, okay, so let's start at the very beginning. So, imagine.

Candice Bushnell is a writer, eking out in existence, getting by, living in a friend's 10th-story apartment on 79th street in Manhattan and writing for various newspapers and magazines for no money on an old Dell laptop. The phone rings one day, And it was Peter Kaplan, editor of The Observer, asking if she'd like to turn her sporadic reports on New York Glamour Nightlife into a regular column at $1,000 apart.

This is in the 90s. That's, I mean, I'd take that today. Yeah. Me too. Yeah. US? Imagine. It's pretty like that's a bit of a revelation.

Yeah, I would take pretty good money for writing a column. Writing a column all about you going out drinking every night. Sounds pretty good, right? Cosmos. Yeah. For all, you know, heaps about it. I'd love if you. I don't know.

You probably haven't noticed it, but not too far from the studio here, there's a laundromat called Soap in the City, and it's got a Cosmo, it's all Sex and the City design. I don't know how much they're paying for the rights to that. That's where I'm going immediately. I have no washing, but I would take this jump on, but I'll write in that laundry. That's where we should get it.

We should take the photo down there after the show. We should actually. Initially call it sex and the soap. Yeah. I don't know about this. Sex and the soap. Soapy. Soapy sex in the city.

Ooh, clean. All right. So Candice entitled the column Sex in the City as a non to Helen Girlie Brown's bestseller, Sex and the Single Gal. A perfect topic for the time. So, this was so, wow, okay. So it's based on a real column. It's based on a real column. Yes, correct.

I didn't know that. I didn't know that. Yeah. So just as a side note, Candice grew up in the 1960s dreaming of becoming a writer from the age of eight. She grew up with no brothers in a world that was super sexist and the message she got from a very young age was that boys are better than girls, which as we know isn't true. As a feminist. We're way better. As a feminist. I'll take it. Sorry, Claire, I'll take this one. As the feminist, I will say, yeah, girl power. You know, I'll say, uh, solidarity. Lean in.

Lean out if you want. Lean out. Up to you. Lean in or out. Thanks, Matt, for mad spleen all over my report. Sorry, Claire, I finished out. I respect you as an ally, thank you, my friend. So, anyway, back to it. So this is where the seeds of her feminism were firmly planted. Fast forward to America in the 1980s, where a cultural shift was taking place.

Young women were moving into the cities and entering into the workforce in droves. The 1920s was another time of social change just like this. And in the 80s, it was the first time for men, that they were able to rewrite the script of their own lives. And this is Candace's quote, to find a better life and a bigger love. Oh, cool.

Mr. Big. Mr. Big. Candice says it was also a time, hold onto your hats, when women were finally allowed to talk about the Big O. What could that be? Overeys. Definitely.

They were all talking about their big ovaries. Comparing them. Mine's the biggest. Yeah, we don't see needed an x-ray machine. Just doing the bar, everyone's x-raying their ovaries and comparing them. Everyone wants the biggest one. Okay, no, it was orgasm. The big orgasm.

Everyone's comparing each other. I've got the biggest orgasm. I have the biggest one. You're telling me the big O is not Roy Orbison. I've been saying it wrong this whole time. The big O is actually 90s racehorse octagonal. Cheers, there's been a lot of big O's. So many bigos.

The big orange? Is that a thing? Yeah, there's a couple of big oranges. There's one in Meljura. Yeah, you've just been from... We're big fans of the big things. Oh, we love. The bigger the better.

The bigger the orgas and the better. Yeah, great. Okay, back to the story. So a new sexual freedom had begun. In the 80s, the idea of the single woman, war man. I can't say that word. War man. Was a new concept.

So they just hadn't heard of it before. You know that vibe of like the single girl? No, apparently not. No, all the dating rules because of that had to be written in the culture. So, for example, how many dates do you go on before you sleep with a guy? Or how can you tell if a guy is a player versus a guy that wants to settle down? They were the big questions Candace answered in her column. Okay.

What did she say? Do they wear a certain coloured hat? Players like to carry around big oranges. Okay. That's how you know. That's a giveaway. Exactly. Everything had changed.

And the one thing that was common, which I know a lot of single women still talk about today, was that there was a feeling that there are all these eligible women in their late 20s, early 30s and no great single men. So Candace quickly grew a keen following for her juicy gossip column as she wrote about the wealthy Manhattan socialites around her and their love lives, sexual politics and her own tumultuous relationship with the real life, Mr. Big Orange. I just Mr. Big. It was actually a real person called the Vogue publisher Ron Golotti. Oh.

So she wrote really candidity. Candiddy? Candiddy? Candidly. Candidly, with pseudonyms, of course, about the different types of men and women she met and their issues with raised the sharp wit and comic timing. She had a real knack for getting people to open up about their private lives and loves.

Yeah, so people would love to read her column and then guess who she was really talking. about. So it was very juicy and, like, salacious. So then, enter Darren Star. Have you heard about Darren Star before? I don't know. Ah, so Darren Star is a TV producer who met Candice when she profiled him for Vogue magazine and the two became fast friends. He would go with her on nights out through the city where they'd get super drunk with the extremely rich, real Mr. Big, bar hopping and partying all through dark bars in New York. Darren hailed Candice as a 90s, Dorothy Parker.

Now, just as a side note, Darren Starr produced Marrow's Place and Beverly Hills 9-0-2-10. So he's like a really big TV. Got some runs on the board, yeah. Mr. Big. Yeah. This is good because I had been picturing the 90s rock ballad band, Mr. Big, who I once bought their greatest hits album called Big Big Big Bigger Biggest. And yes, it did just have their one hit.

Which was? Which was, I'm the one who wants to be with you. Oh, yeah. I don't know what it's. Might be called to be with. You know when a Greatest Hits has a Cat Stevens cover, they're really filling it out. Bigger, biggest.

Great name for a. I found the photo of the real Mr. Big with the guy who played Mr. Big. Yeah, he's bald and not as good looking, right? Well, I mean, you know, Hollywoodify him a little bit, don't. Right, yeah, you got to. You know Chris North, side note, is a slob in real life and hates the fact that he had to play Mr Big. Like he hated being the character.

He thought the whole show was like really fussy and annoying and he hated the fashion and he hates that women still come up to him and talk to him about it. And that no matter what he does, he can't shake the fact that he's Mr Big. So he has to like avoid going to play too. It would be frustrating. Surely people now remember him as the husband of the good wife. Surely, but no. He was pretty much the same guy, I think.

Yeah, exactly. Or he's also in Law and Order as well. I was going to say, you showed me that photo and I thought, why should showing me I've heard of that guy from Law and Order. That's Mr. Big, Dave. There you go. I'm the one who wants to be with you. Yeah, correct.

Exactly. Do you know what? Here's one of the first examples of a man being objectified in a show. And usually it's like the other way around. And he hated it. And he absolutely hated it. Yeah, correct. Exactly.

Anyway, we'll get back to him later. So that was like a choice to like making a feminist point, was it, to objectify a man in a show? Well, kind of. I think it's just how it happened, really. Because really, women are usually always. the eye candy, right? And not that the women aren't gorgeous in this show, but it's just interesting because he actually doesn't have a lot of lines in the show.

And he had to really fight. He does have some comics, like, lines in the show, but he had to really fight for them because he didn't want the guy to be one-dimensional, which is kind of really interesting. Are you saying that two wrongs make a right here? Correct. Yes. Boys, the better than boys.

I'm all for the vengeance because of my big ovaries. Hey, let's not, you know, let's not admit. Get them tape measures out, Claire? Because Dave and I don't have a lot to contribute. No, my ovaries are bigger than yours. Oh, there you go. My ovaries are bigger than yours. Anyway, back to it.

So, Darren Starr is not Mr Big. That's Rongolotti. He was the publisher of Vaux. So Darren Starr is the TV producer who was Francis Candace, who's also gay. And he hailed Candice as a 90s Dorothy Parker. Now, don't... Oh, okay.

I was going to say, you said Dorothy Parker before as well, and it sounds like you thought we'd know who that is. But you were just about to explain. Well, I'm glad I interrupted then. Great. I literally, I put all paragraphs and I was like, they're not going to know who that is.

That sounds like I should know. But I keep thinking Dorothy from Wizard of Oz, and that's probably not her. And also Georgie Parker. Or Sarah Jessica Parker, who's like the main star of the show. Yeah, okay. Anyway, correct. Well, let me enlighten you.

So, Dorothy Parker was born in 1893 and died in 1966. So she was an American poet, writer, critic and satirist based in New York. She was best known for her wit, wise cracks, and eye for 20th century urban foibles. I love that word. Love foibles. Great words. I love it. Parker became famous for her short, viciously humorous poems in the New Yorker,

many highlighting ludicrous aspects of her many largely unsuccessful romantic affairs. So basically she was like the 18 sort of, what is it, early 1900s of her. version of Candace Bushnell. Ah, cool. Yeah, she eventually traveled to Hollywood to pursue screenwriting and received two Academy Award nominations before being curtailed because of her involvement in left-wing politics. And she was blacklisted.

Oh, no. Exactly, because it was so unusual at that time for women to write anything or do anything or be funny or anything. Were they like, woman writer, communist? Yes, genuinely, exactly. So Whittie and full of wise cracks, Dorothy was known for her, Zingers, including this one, when famously taciturn, former US President Calvin Coolidge died. Do we know who that is?

No, there's no by name. Correct. He was very serious, apparently, and boring. Parker remarked, when he died, Parker remarked, how could they tell? That's a zinger. Got him. Got him, Dorothy. That's the book chick, Dave.

Dave, clear, you might not know this, but he has a very successful book-related podcast called The Book Chook and Friends. The bookchook. Have you heard of Dorothy Parker? Yes, I've heard of it. I knew she was a writer, but that was about it. I didn't know that. You didn't know she was a Zing merchant.

I didn't know she, yeah. I didn't know that she was the queen of sting. Well, now you know. Happy to help. All right. Anyway, back to SATC, as I like to call it, sex and the city. Like I had to check your notes there. I was like, oh God, do this be the wrong letters?

As soon as you look at your notes, all confidence evaporated from me. Yeah. Like, Claire, does she know what she's talking about, Claire? Never. I never know. Anyway, eventually Candice turned her columns into a best-selling book, weaving stories of living as a single gal in Manhattan, sexual politics and her on and off again romance with Ron Galotti.

And it became a hit. What a name, Ron Golotti. We love good names on this show. And that's got to be in the top 100 or so, I reckon. Yeah, it's pretty good. Ron Galotti. Ron Golotti. And does he realize that she's writing about him?

Does he have any issue with that? Oh, yeah. He totally knows. Yeah, because everyone's reading the column at the time, and they're all living in New York and boozing and sleeping with everybody, and so he's writing. Yeah. And she refers to him as Mr. Big in the column?

Mm-hmm. Oh, that's so fun. Is it or is it? I don't know. It's fun. I think that's fun. I think you wouldn't want to be called Mr. Small. Yeah.

Oh, and it's about his dick, is it? Is that what is it? Is that what I'm talking about? No. Overies. No. No, it's not. No.

No, it's about his statured because he's extremely wealthy. Right. He actually was modelled on Donald Trump. He's that kind of it. So Mr. Big Shot. Yeah, Mr. Big Shot. Like, he's compared to Donald Trump. Donald Trump.

And he's kind of like an enigma. He's stringing her along. She's always kind of in love with him, but she can never know exactly how he feels about her. And he's always, like, flying her in private jets and going up to the Hamptons to his fancy beach houses. And, yeah, so he's a big shot. In 1997, Darren Star asked Candace,

if he could adapt her book, Sex and the City into a TV series. At that time, a man, American TV was going through a sexual revolution with shows like Melrose Place and 90210.1. Things were becoming a bit more racy on screen. How racy was that theme song? I forget which one it was because... Da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-a-na-ha. Yeah.

Da-na-na-na-na-ha-ha. Was that Melrose place or Beverly Hills? I don't know. I feel like was it Melrose Place? Maybe it was Marrish Place. No. I do know. But it may.

Yeah, the smash match. It's so good. Is there they are? Was it the age of the wild guitar back then? Yeah, it really was, wasn't it? All right, so Darren Starr had already garnered success for, as we said, shows like Marys Place in Beverly Hills that were smart, slick and juicy. And so...

Like a big orange. That's how he pitched it. Imagine an orange. I'm in. How much you want, Star? Oh, God. Anyway, so he saw sex in the city. as a more of a risky artistic project

because it was going to be, it needed to be highly explicit, which is why he pitched it to HBO, and I thought this is interesting. HBO was a cable network, so not free to air, and it was mainly famous for sports and fighting, like all the fighting, all the boxing,

but they had very little else on there at the time. And because now we know it as synonymous with shows like Game of Thrones and like, you know, the golden age of TV. Correct. Supranas. Yeah, yeah. And so one of the reasons I think that happened

was because they decided. decided to go with a strategy to get good producers and TV runners and writers from, you know, the, like the free-to-air networks to come across to them. They said they could make edgier shows because they'd have freedom to do whatever they liked. And that's how they managed to attract Darren's star to HBO and how he managed to get Sex and City made because it's an R-rated one camera show, which at the time was unheard of. So so much about this show was like groundbreaking. Yeah, right.

Yeah, I assumed it was like an NBC show or something. No, no. And so this was the first kind of TV series like this that HBO produced. And it's probably since then it's changed the kind of TV that the commercial networks make or whatever they call the free-to-air networks make, maybe. Because it just seems like it's a mainstream show now, but at the time it was kind of groundbreaking. Yeah, completely and definitely not mainstream at all.

You think it was sort of just after Seinfeld had become like a massive smash hit on free-to-air. And that's like a four-camera sitcom. So, like, with the laughter tracks and all of the stuff. Not that, or those, do they have a live studio audience? I think they had a live audience. Yeah. So it was, and friends as well, all of those kind of sitcom. So Sex and the City was done completely differently.

Darren Starr wanted to make it from a female point of view, which was also revolutionary at the time. And there were very few shows starring a whole cast of women, especially women in their 30s. And it's still actually quite rare for shows. that to have four lead characters that are all women. Yeah, it was amazing though. It's still never passed the Bechamel test. The Bechamel.

The Bechamel. The Bessemele cheese sauce test. The Bechdel. The Bechal test. Matt, Jesus. Never passed. I thought you were an ally. That's it.

I'm leaving. The Zoe Deschamel test. No. The lasagna test. Every scene, I was still talking about Mr. Biggs. I never passed it. But you're right. It still hasn't.

So, to be fair, as if total caveat, there's a lot of problematic stuff about sex in the city. Like it is now thought of as problematic in a lot of ways in that there's like no diversity in the cast. It's very hetero. Well, you've come to the right place because what we like to do here is judge things from the past on today's standards. So you've come to the right place.

Excellent. Get the red texter out, Dave. Hey, I never put the cat back on here. Perfect, excellent. All right. So though Bushnell's column was a collection of snapshots, of her life in New York City, Starr's idea was to turn into a story about four women who were friends.

Carrie as a columnist in New York, who was the main protagonist based loosely on Bushnell herself. He wanted an every woman who would then have three friends she would go to for advice and inspiration for her writing. The characters needed to be distinct archetypes and were taken from Starr's own life, the sexually free and confident career woman in Samantha, which I think would be Matt Stewart.

Okay, well, you can, yeah, the three, us plus Jess first Dave you can or Claire if you give us each one and then Dave you do the Ninja Turtles okay I think Dave like to do that whenever we have a fawesome but which one is cool but rude

all right okay so the sexually free and confident career woman in Samantha so she's the one that is a PR exec and really execs really ambitious and just has lots of sex with everything and that's oh okay yeah that's That's definitely Matt. Yeah.

I'm definitely career-minded. The cynical and uptight high-flying lawyer in Miranda, who's very dry-witted and sarcastic, and the more traditional conservative looking for marriage and a family, Charlotte. His idea was that each episode Kerry would ask a question in her column that would then be explored in her own life and in the lives of her three friends. He wanted them to women to have debate and differences of opinion on everything from their sex lives to Korea and to love.

each episode would have the theme or question that was then explored. Makes sense? That makes sense. So we got Carrie is obviously Leonardo. The leader of the crew. Yeah, she's a leader. She's a leader. Correct.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Samantha's the party dude. Yeah, definitely. Party jude. Charlotte's a family-minded, maybe a bit more sensible like Donatello maybe. Yeah, he does machines. Yeah, and then is there a cool but rude? They do a lot of machines in the show as well.

Yeah. So Miranda is... Charlotte does machine. Miranda is quite rude in some ways. Like she's, yeah, she's very direct and honest. Yeah, very direct, very closed emotionally, quite cynical, very funny. Okay, yeah. That's cool but rude.

Yeah. And he's the red Ninja Turtle too, so that winds up perfectly. Perfect, exactly. Mate, are you sure they didn't just rip-off? What a rip-off? That's just later in my report. They live in a sewer. They're trained by a rat.

This wasn't based on Candace Bushel at all. It was based on the... Digital turtles. They love to eat pizza. They live in New York. Oh, my God. They have a friend who's a rat. Mr. Big shredder?

Yes. Oh, yes. Yeah. Correct. How do you get big? You shred. That was a genius. I really enjoyed that day.

Well done. Thank you. There's a reason you're a comedian. All right. I can't do anything else. That's the reason. Hey, everyone. I'm just going to let you know that this week's episode is brought to you by ExpressVPN.

Now, question here, Matt. Did you ever read the fine print that appears when you start browsing in incognito mode? No. Well, it says that your activity might still be visible to your employer, your school, huh? Your school, Matt. Oh, no. Or your internet service provider. How can they even call it incognito?

They really shouldn't. Yeah. Yeah, that's a real con. Inconito. Yeah. Incon job, needo. And it's not needo, as far as I'm concerned. No, unneito.

To really start people from seeing the sites you visit, you need to do. do what I do, and what you do, Matt, and use ExpressVPN. I've been all over it. The last couple of years, I've had an ExpressVPN on all my devices, loving it. Genuine Incognita, you know what I mean? Yeah, proper. Like, think about all the times you've used Wi-Fi to coffee shop, Dave. We were doing it just before.

Yeah, we were. Or, you know, a friend's house, parents' house, or, you know, a hotel, whatever. Without ExpressVPN, every site you visit could be logged by the admin of that network. Like your dad. Oh, no. dadmin. And that's still true even when you're in incognito mode. So do you really want your dad to see what you've been up to? No, I went through a real spate of, I went through a lot of Sex and City style Cosmo quizzes to find out what kind of lover I am. Yeah. You don't want the fence to be

checking that out to do it. Oh my dad. No. You want him to find out when the time's right. Yeah, that's right. I want to remain a mystery to both my dad and the feds. Well, ExpressVPN is an app that encrypts all of your network data and re-routes it through a network of secure servers so that your private online activity stays just that private. Now, I don't fully understand it, but I get the end result. Yes, well, that's the thing. I don't understand it either, but we don't have to because it's literally an app with one button. You install it on your browser or on your phone.

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and you'll get three months extra for free. Let me just spell it out for you. That is EXPR-E-S-SvP-N.com to learn more and get yourself three months extra for free. All right, back to it. So many of the themes and character stereotypes came from Candace Bushnell's original column. So this is every episode had like a question that would then be answered or explored or a theme.

So the questions were things like, should you settle for what you can get? What are the breakup rules? Can you be friends with an X? Is there really such a thing as the one? Is monogamy in New York too much to expect? Is there such a thing as the one? What do we think? Who knows?

So how do they bring up the question? Is it like so explicit that that's the column that week or do they, that's just the overarching theme and they just talk about that for the episode? type of thing. So Kerry, it's all in Kerry's head. So Kerry always famously has like her laptop open in her New York Brownstone apartment and she's always smoking a cigarette in the early episodes and she's typing away. She's always like, cheap dell. On a, yeah. No, she has an apple in this one I think. Anyway, she's typing away and she's always like, could it be that monogamy is dead in New York City? I pose the question, will we ever

find love? And then the episode kind of starts. So it's a narrated, in her voice, if that makes sense. And that lasted the whole way through, and there were hundreds of episodes probably. Yeah. That's a lot of questions. So many questions. I think she did, I mean, they've ripped off both Ninja Turtles and now Doogie Hauser. Because I'm pretty sure.

Diary and Trippin's happening on his computer at the starting end. In the first season, actually, she would, Carrie would often look at the camera and break is it the fourth wall? The third wall, the fourth wall. So, and they got rid of that pretty quickly. She broke the third wall as well. then she's really creating havoc. She broke all the walls there, big origins,

just throwing them at the walls. Yeah, so she would look directly at the camera and sort of say something like, what do you think? Her husband famously did that in Ferris Bueller as well. Well, there you go, it must be. Matthew Broderick. Correct, exactly.

She got it from him. You would say that as well. Yeah, everything so far, I'm like, yeah, I think they got that from a show that men made. Yeah, exactly. I mean, this sounds pretty great. but not as groundbreaking as the men doing it. It's like they even ripped off four male turtles.

Yeah, correct, exactly. Oh, God, women can't do anything. No, don't quote me on that. So they drop that pretty early on, though, do they? Yeah, after the first season, because I realized it was kind of annoying. And isn't it annoying? When you watch it back now, you're like, what's she doing? Yeah.

It's not really the rest of the show. Yeah, exactly. And also kind of breaks the mystery of the show. Like, it makes you, takes you out of it. You sort of don't believe the characters as much if someone's constantly thinking at you. you're like, wait, is this a TV show? Yeah, exactly. Okay.

Anyway, so then famously, Carolyn Strauss was a major producer for this show. So she's one of the ones that helped to get the first series Greenlit. And she worked for HBO, and she's since been involved in the production of just a few little shows,

like The Sopranos, the Wire, Curbier Enthusiasm, the Great British Bake Off. No, no, really. I know that one. Oh, no. Not that one.

No, and most recently, a tiny show you might not have heard of called Game of Thrones. Oh, wow. Yeah, so she is known to be like basically a hit maker, and Sex and the City was her first one that she kind of greenlit. Holy shit. No one, like nearly no one would have ever been involved in that many massive blockbuster hits, probably. What is that five of the biggest shows the last 20 years? Yeah, that's amazing.

I know, because women are better. No, but it is really amazing, I think, that she managed to do that. Sounds like you've got a bit of an agenda here. I do. I do have an agenda. Talk more and more about my big ovaries. No, not really. All right.

So she was the executive producer and she helped to bring the show in. And she suggested another writer called Michael Patrick King. Now, have you heard of Michael Patrick King? Yeah, he played Doogie Hauser. Nailed it. Exactly. So Michael Patrick King, and I'm just going to. turn my page over because I've jumped into him first. Where is he? There he is. He asked to them,

so Carolyn Strauss had a pilot maid with Darren Starr starring Jessica Parker and Sarah Jessica Parker. And Michael Patrick King was asked to take a look at it. So initially he was unattached until the last moment when Kerry turns to Big and says, asked if Biggs ever been in love and he says, Abs a fucking loo. And Kerry is completely. drone. So Michael Patrick King said in that moment he saw something really special. So he's I saw an absolutely belladacious brother. Nice one bro. Yeah, correct. Exactly. So he grew up in a very conservative Irish Catholic family where his father delivered coal and beer and his mom worked at Krispy Kreme. But he'd always loved language and storytelling. Did you just say his father delivered

coal and beer? Yeah. What a combo. I know. Correct. Why would you? I guess because you'd want to fire and then you'd have a beer with it. Is that why you'd want to deliver coal back then? Yeah, I guess so. That sounds right, isn't it? I don't know. Anyway, so he was Irish and he waited tables, worked as a messenger and got a job unloading buses from 5pm to 3am before finally making his big break as a stand-up comedian

touring the country. He started writing plays and his first one got writing acclaim. He then moved to L.A. and started writing on Ferreforc's Good Sports and on Murphi, and on Murphy Brown, and he became SATC's sole showrunner and protector and guardian from that point on. And it's thought that Michael Patrick King kind of brings the depth and emotion to the show, and Darren Starr kind of brings the overarching idea, if that makes sense.

Right. Yeah, okay. So it's starting to sound like a couple of men have been the secret of this. Possibly. Oh, no. There's my theory. No. What about that producer that produced five of the biggest shows?

Correct. Yeah, exactly. And the writer who the whole thing is based on. Yeah, Candace Bushnell. And the four leading ladies. Yeah, exactly. And that's who I'm going to talk about next day. Because Sarah Jessica Parker is credited with also being a producer.

Because when Darren Starr convinced her to be the lead character, he also asked her to produce the show with him so he could mentor her. And she's credited with a lot of the really iconic attention to detail in the show. So at one stage she paid for the rain in a scene just out of her own pocket because she felt it really needed to be there. That's sort of God-level stuff, paying for rain. Sorry, I was thinking for a second that she decided that the character should pay for rain. And I was like, what does that mean? Gotcha.

She paid for the rain behind the scenes. Correct. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Do you go into Sarah Jessica Parker's at all or her career up to this point? Correct. Oh, you do great. Yes, I'm about to do it now. I'm going to stop talking

But no, no, I just mean because every time I ask a question You're about to answer it anyway Because I'm like, I don't think I'd heard of her before this show I was also wondering Was she a big deal before this? Because she's already getting offered the lead role and producing credit You know? It makes it sound like she was already somewhat of a star

Well, you would be correct there Yeah, so she was in footloose in 84 And she was in girls just want to have fun in 85 and also the first Wives Club in 1996 just before Sex and the City kind of came out. So she wasn't like a giant star, but she was definitely on the map as being like a famous actress. And she, yeah, so because she was like the big movie style at the time

and the most famous of the cast of women, she also got the biggest contract as well. Right. Which is what has led to some controversy around things later on. Yeah, right. Yeah, so she was pretty famous. She interestingly didn't think she would suit Kerry at all because Kerry was such kind of like a brassy character

and smoking and drinking and all that stuff. And Sarah Gessica Parker is really known to be quite traditional and super academic and she's been married to Matthew Broderick for over 20 years now and she was just getting married at the time that the show was kind of about to launch. So she initially didn't want to do Kerry at all. Who G thinks she was. She thought she was more of a Charlotte.

I think she just didn't want to be in it at all until she read the script. So her manager. Until she read the line, Abs of fucking Lutley. Oh my God. There's something here. Wow. Yeah, exactly.

So Kevin Hoveyne. Have you heard of him? No. So he manages Merrill Streep and J-Lo among others. So he was her manager at the time and read the script alongside. Sarah Gessica Parker and just told her she really needed to do it because it was just so brilliant and different to anything he'd seen before. And interestingly, he grew up in the Bronx and was like working at the front desk of the Wyndham

Hotel and was so well known in New York at that time as being like really lovely and really hardworking even though he was just kind of working at doing odd jobs in the hotel. He kind of cozyed up to all the celebrities. And then there was this story where a well-known celebrity's, complaint that she brought to him was handled so well in the hotel that William Morris, which was the biggest fanciest management agency in New York City in the 1980s, offered him a job. And that's kind of how he got his break and then ended up managing Jessica Parker from when she was 19.

Wow. And also other superstars. Yeah, like Merrill Street. So maybe you can have that many multiple clients, you think that someone like Merrill Streep and or J-Lo, that would take up, that's a full-time job managing them, isn't it? Yeah, you would think so. A little legend. I know, yeah.

So he's credited also with having a massive hand in the big deal that Sarah Jessica Parker got because the show had sex in the title and it was on the fight channel. And so it was really strange that someone as conservative as Sarah Jessica Parker would even agree to do it. So she got all these, like her name directly underneath the show and you'll see it. She's always on the posters as the main person. Yeah, she does seem like the star. So it wasn't that surprising to hear that she was the best paid. But yeah, I can imagine that the other three.

It's like being in a band and the, you know, you hear of the most successful bands, the ones that stay together. They'll often have a deal where they just share everything. Oh, divvy it all up. Yeah. And that makes sense. She's like, we're all doing very well. It's probably fine.

You know, it would be weird to be like, hey, these are my friends. I just make sure they're paid a little less than me. We do the same amount of work, but I'm the star. Yeah, it sounds like do go on to no. Yeah, that's right. Jess demands to be paid four times as much as Matt and I as the star. And she gets paid for her balance, of course. And also because of her big feet.

Yeah, we decided to get paid the most with a balance competition. Dave and I regretted it. Oh, I fell over in the first eight seconds. I have to pay to be here. Also, she needs extra money. I need to buy a bigger shoes. That's right. A lot of material.

Yeah, correct. Exactly. All right. So Sarah Jessica Parker knew of Candice's column as well because Matthew Broderick, her husband, rode a souped-up bicycle growing up in New York City. And Candice had written an article about that particular type of man who wrote a bike all around New York City called What Has Two Wheels Wers Sears Sears Succa and Makes a Sucker of Me?

A Bicycle Boy! That's great. Sounds so hot. Do you know what a Searsucker suit is? No. You've heard of that. It doesn't, yeah, it sounds like a lollipop or something. Searsucker.

Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, well, it's a suit made of lollipops. A bicycle boy is so funny. Bicycle, yeah. Oh, I'm a real sucker for that bicycle boy. That's so funny. Yeah, apparently it's like a phenomenon of lots of men in their 30s riding bicycles everywhere to seem kind of, I don't know,

kooky and like or something. And Broderick fit that. Yeah, correct, exactly. So Searsaka suit is just like a lightweight suit that they would ride around in summer. Oh. Yeah. Yeah, they're cool. I can see Dave wearing a Searsucker.

Oh, yeah. Pretty fancy. They're originally from New Orleans. Yeah, they look like, that makes sense a hotter climate sort of suit, maybe. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So they could still ride their bicycles around. When I'm riding my bike, I like to suit up. Yeah.

Be a bicycle boy. Exactly. Anyway, so that's how Sarah Jessica Parker knew of Candice. And once she read the script, she was all for it. And yeah, so that's how she got cast as Carrie. The second character to be cast was Kristen Davis as Charlotte. Initially, when it looked like SJP wasn't keen, she was sent the script for Carrie,

but immediately knew the role wasn't for her. Charlotte was a tiny part initially in that script, but Kristen just had a gut feeling that the show needed Charlotte's conservative, optimistic viewpoint and that she could really play her. Who was Charlotte in Dugan? Did you decide? Well, that was your job. You didn't give us all.

You only gave me Samantha, which I'm not sure is quite right. But, yeah. No, I don't know now. No, maybe you're more a Miranda, actually. The red hair. I think I might be a Matthew Broderick bicycle boy. I reckon that I think you might be. Who would you be?

So if you're like Cynthia Nixon, so you're Miranda quite giant. Dave, Cynthia's husband. Oh, Steve Brady. Steve Brady. Steve. What of Steve. You and me, Dave. No, I've got no idea who this is, but I'm going to agree to him.

All right, excellent. Well, I think he's like, like he's likeable guy in the show, isn't he? Yeah. Oh, no, Aiden Shores really likable too. But yeah, he is. Steve Brady's the one that's the best one. Everyone loves Steve. I reckon that Dave might be the carry of the group.

Yeah, that's true. Do you think like the leader? Smoking. Breaking the fourth week. Yeah. T-by-ta typing on my keyboard. Yeah, correct, exactly. And then maybe, I don't know then who Jess would be, though.

It's very tricky. Yeah. Who are you? Because you're the... Are you the Charlotte? Maybe I'm the Charlotte. I'm so boring, really. I like Miranda, but yeah, I'm probably with Charlotte.

No, you're... Yeah, well, I feel like we... You don't really fit. Yeah, not like the Ninja Turtles. They certainly don't rip off our lives. Ninja turtles are... They're every man. They are everywhere, correct, exactly.

All right, anyway, back to Charlotte. So Kristen Davis had a gut feeling that Charlotte would become a bigger part, and Darren agreed, having worked with Kristen Davis on Melrose, he described her as the perfect mix of beautiful, wide-eyed girl next door that also makes you want to throw a pie in her face. And every episode, there has to be some sort of elaborate setup where she gets pied in the face. Actually, it's funny, you say that,

Because often that does happen in the show, she gets into kind of the worst situations. Because it is very funny for some reason. Which character is? Charlotte. Charlotte, right. Yeah. She's the most sensible, but she's getting in the worst situations. Yeah, well, she's the most conservative, I guess, and kind of naive, I think.

She comes from like a very uppercruss, wealthy sort of family and has this idea of who she married. Oh, maybe she's Dave, yeah. Yeah, yeah, that sounds like Dave. Copping a pie in the face. Apoena's pie on the face. And Dave is Charlotte. Yeah.

Yeah, I think we've got it now. Yeah. Actually, you might recognize it because I know you a big fan Dave of Seinfeld. She played the girlfriend who unwittingly brushes her teeth with a toothbrush that has fallen in the toilet. I'm going to look up a photo so I can see all of them and imagine it. All right. Okay. So, yeah, so Darren said she doesn't know how funny she is.

And that's actually quite true. She's hilarious in the show. Cynthia Nixon, the redhead, was cast. Who did we say? Matt Stewart. Oh, Redhead as well. Yeah, that makes sense. was cast her after a long back and forth.

The main thing they were worried about was that she wasn't a redhead. She had to dye her hair. Oh, so that was written into the character. Yeah, and she kept coming in and auditioning it, and they kept going, you're just not right for the part. That's so weird.

I know, because she just had blonde hair at the time. I once got knocked back from a pub on my ID because I said my hair color was different. The banser's looking at my ID going, your hair color is different. I'm like, well, it's not. Plus, you can do that. You know, there is technology to change hair colour.

He's never seen that before. Look at the face. That's the bit you should be checking on. No, but the hair colour's different. It's just not right. How's it? How have you done that? I like your hair colour.

Thanks, Claire. You're welcome, but they didn't like Cynthia Nixon's, apparently. Anyway, so once she agreed to change her hair, her manager falls. That feels so strange. I know. She had to audition like 10. times or something. I feel like that sometimes

casting agents have no imagination at all and that sounds like it proves it a bit there. You're like you can't picture with a different hair colour or just picture the character with brown hair. Yeah, exactly. I know.

It's so weird. No, I just don't think that's possible. There's several plot lines with Charlotte gets a pie in the face and other plot lines about how she's a red hair. So we've already written the season. Great. Anyway, so Cynthia Nixon

was an accomplished theatre actor who'd never really been in TV before. But she wanted to stay in New York City because that's where she lived and she loves New York. And she also applied, recently went to be the governor of New York City. So she went up, I don't know,

for election a few years ago. Anyway, side note. She really loves it. She really loves New York City. Anyway, so Kim Cottrell was the last to be cast and she really didn't want the role. So she's the semester. Please.

They don't want to. people into this show. Is there a single one of them who wanted to be honest? Oh, no. Well, I think that's the shows you're right at the time. Like, being in a show called Sex and the City. Now we're like, sex in the city. But at the time, even a show with sex in the title was like really awful.

It couldn't sound any tamer now. But their manager's like, you've got to do this. Please, I don't want to. It's not making me. Well, there's like huge amounts of nudity, I guess, as well in it. And it's very explicit, all of that stuff. So Kim Cottrell really had to be convinced by Darren start to do it. And I feel like that has actually haunted her for the whole of the TV series

that she never really wanted to play Samantha in the first place. Even though she's brilliant in the role and hilarious. She's like the most famous one, like character. I think without knowing the show very well, I know her character. She's sort of like the fun out there one. Yeah, the partyer. Yeah. That's so interesting that you would say that. So, yeah. I guess, yeah, she is. And that's her argument, right? Because she doesn't get paid the same amount as Sarah Jessica Parker, and that's really the crux of why she's not doing the third movie. Oh, right. And where all the controversy started from, because she thinks she's everyone's favorite

and should be paid the same as SJP. But at the time when she was cast, her career was on the downhill. And so Sarah Jessica Parker was the blonde movie star, and she was, you know, seems strange, but by this stage they haven't gone. Let's all just, you know, come together, like the friends cast. did. Yes. They all came together and everyone got paid the same in the end and it was a real family,

but obviously they just don't like her very much. Otherwise, they probably would have, right? Or obviously, I'm simplifying and I might be missing something. But it feels like we're all getting paid multi, multi millions. Let's just make it nice and all get paid the same. Yeah, right. Well, exactly. A lot of people are saying that.

I think the problem is that because Sarah Jessica Parker, the sort of line is she took such a risk in putting her name to the show and she was the big star initially. And she's also a producer on the show. So she, and she's like contributed to the writing and put so much work into it that really she, she and her contract is ironclad. Like, unless she unpicked it herself. Yeah.

Then they would, but exactly. Like, maybe they should have just done that. I mean, what's the difference between billions and squillion? Yeah. I don't know. I guess once you're earning that amount, you start to notice. But from down here, it's like, what's the difference? Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. I think the friends people, they agreed early on. though. Right. And then once it's the precedent it is established, I get paid more than everyone. I'm the lead. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know.

It just makes it feel like an uncomfortable scenario. I just, I feel like I would feel weird being that person. But, I mean, it would make sense if everyone's acting fee was the same. And then she got paid a producer's credit or something. Yeah. And that would make sense. But anyway, you know, hey, look, if you're listening, uh, Sarah Jessica Parker, Hey, you do you.

She was about to make a phone call. Okay. I'll keep thinking about it then. Matt Stewart from Googlewere podcast has changed my mind. Oh, goodness. Yeah, anyway, it's quite interesting really how that all happens. So, after all of that, and they start, they had the pilot, they end up producing the whole first season, and they make the whole thing set in New York City.

So there's no sets involved. Everything is filmed on location. And because they're unknown, they can do that. They film in all the bars and all the places and iconic stuff, which is another reason why everyone loves the show so much. Yeah, in a lot of ways, the fifth character of the show is The City. You do know a lot about this show. That's just the trope.

People say all the time, oh, the actual The Fifth Character. Yeah, the writer's room actually call her The Fifth Lady. Oh, there it goes. That's so funny. It is really, isn't it? I know. I love it so much. Anyway, so...

New Yorkers have a real... They think it's the most unique place in the world. I love here in New Yorkers talking about it. If you're not from here, you don't get it. If you weren't born here, you're not really a New Yorker. Yeah, you might live here now for the last 70 years. You're not a New Yorker. I love that kind of strange belief in a place.

Yeah, do you feel like that about... Seinfeld talks about it like that. He's like, you know, a city. It's living and it's breathing. Like, unlike any other city, this one's... different. And there's probably New Yorkers listening right now who are furious. They're yelling at their iPods and I apologize. I agree. I've been there. It's like no other place. There you go. Actually, because a lot of people said, New York City was dead because of COVID. Yeah, that's right.

And Seinfeld came out. It was like really offended. Yeah, he was replying to a blog about it. And he was, yeah, furious about it, which, I mean, it was ridiculous to be like, to me, it was like, yeah, it'll recover, obviously. It seems strange that someone thought Yeah, that it would be dead Anyway Yeah, he really, he found that very frustrating He did

He's very obsessed with his city He loves New York City He loves those Mets He loves them He always wanted to be an urban dude Yeah, yeah I wonder if he's a bicycle boy As well

All right, okay So, the show launched They had no idea how it was going to go On June 6th, 9 to 98 And touted as a show About everything, opposed to Seinfeld's a show about nothing, it actually hit critical, not a claim. Oh, the opposite of not to blame is.

The listeners at home, Claire wrote, read, critical, turn the page. Well, here we go. And I don't know if you were thinking this day, but I was thinking a claim. Yeah, I was thinking, oh, it's a hit from day one. But when the page turned, unaclame, holy shit. What? What? People are going to look back at this episode who just think, genius.

Yeah. Not at all. I don't know what I'm doing. Anyway, let's solve your one. So critical, not acclaim. No, yeah. It was not acclaimed. You know what?

I think about this podcast, by the way. I reckon the fourth character is this room. Yes. This studio just lives and breathes. I can hear it through the walls. It's just the setting, you know? It means everything. It does.

I wish you could make us cosmos. Then I'd be really there for it. I feel like that right now. Fuck, wouldn't that be good. I know. What is a cosmo? It's vodka and pink. It's pink.

Vodka and pink. That's it. I think it's cranberry, actually. Cranberry juice, vodka, something else good. Lime, I think. I'd drink that. Yeah, I would drink that. Free to go.

Oh, love it. Maybe we could ring up Michael Patrick King's dad and get him to deliver us some beer and coal. Oh. That'd be good. That's an essential worker. Excellent. Anyway, so I've got a couple of reviews here.

One that was done by, oh no, and it's on the opposite page. Tom Shale from the Washington Post, he says. Here we go, Tom Shale. He wouldn't get it. From Washington? Yeah, good luck understanding this. All right, so Sarah Jessica Parker has an in-your-face face-face. In her new HBO comedy series, sex in the shitty.

She always seems to be thrusting it forward. She's in love with the camera. Unfortunately, it's unrequited. Oh, my goodness. Parker, with her scraggly hair and jutty jaw, is certainly not the worst thing about this smirky jerky sex com, but she usually seems so light and funny that it's dismaying to see her in bad form

looking like a walking flea market and coming across about as subtly as a tsunami. Okay. That's a little mean. Yeah, I think that more than anything else shows you where this show, like the time it came out in. Right. Yeah, exactly, because that's what's so funny.

All of these reviewers are blokes right at the time. So it's just all men writing about the show, watching it and going, I don't get it. It's too full-line. He may as well said, I'm ladylike. Yeah. Exactly. But he's trying to be witty.

He's like, guys, I'm the modern-day Dorothy Parker. I'll take it from here. I've got some zingers in my pocket. Yeah, oh, absolute shocker. There's nothing worse than a reviewer who thinks that they're being clever. I know, exactly. Like Eric Mink from the New York Daily News, from the constant smoking to the constant whining,

Darren Starr, who wrote several of the scripts, has again given his actors and directors dialogue and plot lines that make it virtually impossible for them to do anything but laboriously go through the motions of real life. More like stink other than mink. That was his name. Eric Stink. Eric Stink. Eric Stink.

Exactly. What I also find funny about that is that he's canning like a show about real life, except this was before reality TV, which now is like the best thing that everyone wants to watch, obviously. Not me personally. The best thing. No, you said it. Best thing that everyone wants to watch. I agree.

It is. It's genius. All right. Anyway, another interesting fact I thought you might be interested in to know. The interesting fact is interesting. We love them. We love them. The biggest cult following started to build around the show. And interestingly, when the cast walked down the street, the biggest sort of demographic were African-American men who were like constantly really interested. Really? A massive in that community. Wow. Yeah. They were like die hard fans. And I think it's because it was on HBO that was had all the fighting and the sport. and then Sex and the City would come on. Oh, right. You'd be watching the boxing and then they'd come on and you're like, you're like Matt.

I'll just watch a little bit of this while the phone charges. By the end you're like, play it again. I loved it. Yeah, amazing. I think that that is really interesting that it feels like a massive gamble to put this on a sports channel. And had they done no big dramas before this? No. Wow.

Yeah, I know. Because yeah, so this is the, I mean, you've already said this and we've already been astonished by it. but I'm just doing it again. Great. This changed the fucking game. Yeah, it's like Fox Sports.

They're chucking on a sitcom. Soon as Sarah Jessica Parker, SJP, as I call her, thrust at her chin. Hey? We never look back. Yeah,

into the world of television. Do they zoom in a lot in the first episode or something? Yeah, they actually do. I actually kind of agree with some weird angles where she's constantly like, mm-hmm.

It's funny that, like, he's talking about it, like she's also directing the camera operators? Yeah, exactly. I know, I just feel like... Or that the camera operator's just there and she's against everyone's will. She's running up to it.

She's like, can you just focus more on my chin? That's what I'm about. Yeah, they're just like a locked off and she's just running up to it. Pointing the chin out. Oh, maybe it was because it was a boxing channel. That's like leading with your chin. Oh, yeah. A sign of arrogance in boxing.

Is it? I can't have a... Go on. Got a granite chin. Oh. Is that how that why they lifted up like that? when you're going to go to a fine. Talking like a real boxing.

Oh, yeah. You know your stuff. There's a term leading with your chin, I'm sure. That sounds right. I believe. I know having a strong chin means you don't get knocked down, don't get knocked out. And if you have a glass jaw, you're easily knocked out. Oh, there's some boxing fans are absolutely yelling at their iPods right now.

No, I just feel like you should keep calling. Yeah, people, you're really learning a lot. You are, you're feeling just as she's, beautifully. She loves just leaving space for me to put my foot in my mouth. Keep talking. Ironic for Jess, she's, her foot's too big to put in her mouth. Well, she is the carry of the group now. That's true.

So I'm Charlotte. All right, I've just looked up. Dictionary.com leading with your chin. Take a risk. Did you just say dixsharing.com? Dictionary. Well, I think that really shows where Claire's heads at. Come on, Matt. That's your other favorite source, Dixirring.com. Sticking with the theme of the podcast. For example, Gordon always says exactly what he thinks.

He never minds leading with his chin. This term alludes to a boxer leaving his chin, a vulnerable point unprotected. So what I said was pretty much true. Yeah, you're an expert in boxing. Holy shit. Holy shit, who knew? Occasionally I watch boxing with some friends.

And like Rob Hunter, Dave, you'd know. And he's like a big boxing fan. I didn't know that. He sits with a pad and he scores himself. You know how you... Wow. Like unless it's a knockout, it goes to the points. And he scores himself and checks it against the judge's scoring.

So he's a big fan. Big fan. Big fan. Wow. Wow. Big fan. Huge fan. He leads with his chin.

So I've learned a bit from him. Yeah. He really, Rob Hunter leads with his chin. No doubt about that. All right. No doubt at all. Excellent. You would lead with your chin too, with your beard.

Yeah. That would be the first thing. You'd enter into room with your chin. Yes. Yeah, but people will swing for that. They don't know how big your chin. Yeah, that's right. That's like the false chin.

It's self-protection of anything. Excellent. Yeah, that's genius. Maybe I should grow a beard, too. I think you should. I think I should. I think everyone should. Excellent.

All right. Okay. Shall I continue? Please, do go on. Do go on. Oh, I see, is that how the... Now I understand the show. Oh, I never knew.

All right. So, the first series screened and to critical unaclaclaclac. But the fans loved it, and HBO started to get more and more subscribers. And then the show was actually nominated for an eminy, an eminy. And an enema. See an enemy? Yeah, right. So it took a while to make the mainstream.

They're still winning enemies and... See an enemies. Anyway, they got an enemy... I can't say an enemy. They made an enemy for themselves in Eric Stink. No. Emmy... Fuck you, Eric Stink.

Fuck you, Eric Stink. Yeah, exactly. No, they got an Emmy. Emmy. Yes. Emmy. Emmy. What's Emmy, Emmy?

What's Emmy mean? Emmy means. Emmy means. Yeah. Or is it just, is it named after someone called Greg Emmy or something? M.E. Me. Me.

The Me Awards. The Me Awards. It's about you and me. Yeah, I've never thought about that before because, you know, like the Oscars are named after some guy. Well, maybe. There's rumors. I'm not, Oscar.

And like a Tony War, that's Antoinette Perry. Do you know what the Emmys are named after? No, I don't. I don't know either. Yeah, I've never thought about that. Why you look that up, I'll just let you know that it was nominated for an Emmy,

SATC, was nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series in 1999. So as the second season came to be, and it was the first cable series of all time to be nominated for an Emmy Award. Oh, that's great. Wow. Yeah.

Yeah. Exactly. And from there, HBO's subscription exploded due to people all over the world falling in love with the show. It became a global phenomenon. Have we worked out all the Emmys means? Yeah, well, this is according to Wikipedia.org. I don't know if you're familiar with that website. Oh, God.

The Big O. And they... The Big Orgy. Oh, that's what the O's does for. Ah, now I get it. So, according to them, the Emmy is named after Emmy. An informal term for the image of... orthicon tube that was common in early television cameras.

Although the weight and dimensions of the statuette may vary among the Emmy events, the basic design depicts a winged woman holding an atom. Why wouldn't they call them the IMEs then? So weird to name them after I'mys, just changing one letter. That is weird. God, the world is weird. It's beautiful, though. It's mysterious.

It's beautiful. It's wonderful. It's wonderful. It is. It's marvelous. It's fantastic. It's excellent. You should, after you speak to Sarah Jessica Parker about her feud with Kim Cottrell,

you should also ring up the Emmys organisers and tell them they should call them the Emmys. What's going on there? Let's write that wrong. You totally should, Matt. They've listened to you. You've got a chin with a beard. Yeah, that's true. Everyone knows you listen to people with chins and beards.

All right. Back to the global phenomenon that was Sex and the City. It shaped the way that people started to date and eat and even dress and change the language around what it was and wasn't okay to talk. about in terms of sex and relationships. Cynthia Nixon is said to have said that the fame grew and grew and it really hit home when they appeared on the front of Time magazine. Yeah, people in Sex and City were raw, dimensional and valuable, funny and frank.

And as it documented the age-old search for lust as well as love from the female perspective, it really changed the game. Instead of representing women as burning the roast while waiting for their husband to come home from work with their boss for a dinner party. Is that a trope? Burning the roast. Haven't you seen it? It's in like bewitched and all of those like sitcoms.

This show about four women was brash and bold and full of poignancy and emotional depth. The writer spliced its episode with highly comedic sex scenes. So even though it seems like a show about sex, really, the sex was usually always there for comedy value. And then the real heart of the show was the friendship between the women. Sex is funny if you're doing it right. Oh my God, it's so funny. If you're not laughing, you're wrong. These people having big O's, I'm like, what?

You're not doing. Whoa, whoa. My big O is the O in LOL. L-O-L. All right. What am I saying? Women finally had a show that reflected their way they talk to each other, and men would say it was like being a fly on the wall

while women dissected them, really. Not literally, you know, metaphorically. No one's dissecting any men on the show. Anyway, sex in the city predated curbier enthusiasm and the sopranas on HBO. And obviously, as you talked about, was a smash hit. Overall, it aired from 19998 to 2004, with 94 episodes in all,

54 Emmy nominations and seven wins. A prequel called The Kerry Diaries ran from 2013 to 14, and it also spawned two movies, Sex in the City in 2008, which we've already talked about, was a smash hit. And people love that. one. They bloody love it. You love that one? I did love it. I love it so much.

I can't remember anything about it, but I just remember looking up at it. I've been drinking cocktails by the pool all day. Could not have felt any more like I was, yeah. One of the gang. Carrie gets married to Biggin' it and nearly gets married and then he like jilts her at the altar. And there's that scene where she's in a big fancy wedding dress and she like throws her bouquet at him and it's a whole big drama. That's kind of what the premise of that whole storyline sent to

around because the whole show really is about whether or not Carrie Big will get together. Right. And then all the other kind of plot lines twist around that. So it's $415 million is the figure that it made at the box office, that movie. And the second film made a similar amount, though people obviously hated it. Obviously. I'm surprised that it only ran for, what, six seasons. Yeah.

It seemed like it was around for ages. Yeah. Well, it's just played so often now. Yeah, right. It's still on all the time. And the third movie was slated a few years ago, and then there was all this controversy about Kim Cottrell, and she pulled out at the last minute.

So apparently the script was actually really amazing, and so the cast and crew and everyone is still kind of really mad at Kim Cottrell because she pulled out. And now the third movie is currently in production, called him just like that, and Kim Cottrell is not a part of it. And is it mostly a money issue? They think it is, yeah.

Though they also think that part of it is to do with the fact that Kim Katrall is scared of trying to play Samantha again because now she's in her 60s and there's a huge amount of sex scenes for Samantha's character and a lot of nudity and she's supposed to do these kind of like rock and bombshell and now she's in her 60s and feels like maybe she wouldn't be up to the task. Right. So there's like rumours about that. She's rumoured to come out on Twitter and have like made a massive attack at Sarah Jessica

Parker and said that she's never actually been very nice and they were never friends and all this stuff. even though the rest of the cast and crew who were interviewed actually in a really great podcast called Origins about Sex and the City said that that wasn't true that actually once she was on set, Kim Contraal had a great time with the women. It was just that in negotiations around money, things always fell through because as Matt thinks, she should have been paid the same amount as Sarah. Yeah.

Well, I mean, if we're trying to figure out whether or not she had a good time on set, I think you wouldn't listen to what she said. I would definitely be listening to the other people. They'd know. They'd know. wouldn't they exactly um anyway so the movie fell over and now the third movie and just like that is in production um so just a few cheeky facts um after that public feud and all of the things and the movies launching i thought i just talked quickly and i'll skip some of this stuff because it's quite long um there are a few

really interesting parts of the film of the tv show one of which was um when 9-11 happened so obviously Obviously, September 11th, 2001 was when the Twin Towers came down, and many credit Sex and the City with encouraging New York to rebuild and thrive with tourists continuing to visit with confidence after it happened. So the show's narrative nods to the events of 9-11 itself were deft, subtle and moving while it continued to portray New York City as the greatest, freest and most glamorous place on earth. So the sixth episodes that ran that January and February in 2001 were, whether, you know,

the first to appear after the attack and made no direct mention of that day for good reason because they'd been shot before it happened. But just as a coincidence, two unintended tributes were already filmed within those two episodes. So in the second episode, there was a loving shot of a souvenir snow globe of the Twin Towers, even though this was before the attack even happened. Whoa. I know, crazy. And the season finale titled I Heart NY, emerged as one of the sweetest 9-11 elegy's television

had to offer, even though it hadn't been written. such. So it's kind of an episode where Kerry just talks about the fifth lady in New York and how much she loves the city. And it just by coincidence ran just after the attacks happened. It kind of makes sense to me that that would end up being one of the better ones because you know, you're not bogged down by some full-on emotions and... Right, yeah.

You're writing it just, you know, without all of that baggage. And pressure? How much pressure you would feel to write an episode just after... an event like that to do the city justice, if you know what I mean? I don't know if that makes any sense, but... Yeah, no, it does. It totally makes sense. Yeah.

They actually did try and write. So the next season that comes, they had some beautiful kind of nods to New York City as well, one of which was that first episode about Navy officers, and it's like called Fleet Week. And so Kerry talks more and more about how she's in love with the city, even though she's got this really sexy Navy guy there. She's like, no, I'm not going home with you.

I'm going home. with my city. She'll never let me down. You're right. It was better that they wrote the other ones for the whole. Yeah, exactly. Not quite as good. It's interesting because when the show started filming,

all the New Yorkers were like, get out of here. We don't like this. You'd taken over our streets. That's supposed to be a New York accent. Yeah, that's out. Actually, yeah. You threw me for a second.

I'm like, have you been putting on an Australian accent all this time? I feel like I deserve an Emmy Award for that. Cat, this woman an Emmy! Anyway, but after that, three years later, when sex in the city was booming, locals loved the fact that it brought starry-eyed tourists and new residents to town, and the show sent throngs to the pleasure chest and sushi sandbar, turned Magnolia Bakery, as we discussed from a sleepy West Village neighborhood spot into a tourist scene requiring a bouncer,

and transformed the meatpacking district into hot real estate. Oh, I went to the meat packing district. I didn't know there was a connection. The night I got to New York, we just jumped in at me and my mate, jumped in a cab and said, take us to a cool place. And he took us to a pub in the meatpacking district. I'm like, what a funny place. Where do you want to go out?

I'll take you to the meat. Yeah. You're like, all right. I spend my time packing some meat packets. Does it smell bad there? I think it must have been like traditionally where they pack meat. Putting sausages in. Borders.

Yeah, no, I think it was. And then it sort of, it became gentrified, I think. I think it's a bit like, you know, Fitzroy in Melbourne. It's very much the equivalent or something. Got you know, it became cool. Because Samantha moves there in one of the seasons. And she's like, all the meatpacking districts, super cool now. Yeah, so they really put that place on the map.

Also, as we've mentioned, cosmopolitans became just like a massive thing and so exciting. Everybody loved them. It was really great. And millions of women dreamed one day of living in a version of Carrie's Brownstone apartment or strolling through Central Park in Jimmy Chew Shoe Shoes as the leaves turned in autumn. Jimmy Chew Shoe Shoes. Jimmy Chew Shoes, correct, exactly. Yeah, so very exciting.

You put lots of restaurants on the map as well. I've just got a couple of extra things to talk about, one of which is the fashion. So, as you might know, the fashion in Sex and the City is really famous. And it's run by this costume designer who's a legend called Patricia Field. And she's very kind of New York in the way she talks and quite gravelly. She sounds like, you know, like a cool smoking woman. I don't know. She's awesome and a bit scary.

But she just had this really unique style, really distinct, irreverent and often envelope pushing. And she just turned the film and the TV show into a juggernaut because of that. And so often Michael Patrick King would be fighting with her over costuming because they'd have like a scene in an apartment with her and Kerry and say her boyfriend, Aiden, would just be arguing over razors and like deodorant or something. And she'd have Kerry dressed in a top hat and ruffles or something like ridiculous.

And Aiden would have a top that said virgin or something. And she's like, and Michael Patrick King would have to be like, they're just in their apartment on a Friday afternoon. Can we tone it down? But that was actually, it became iconic. So that made it through. She would just be randomly wearing top hats and stuff? Yeah, not in that scene.

because he really fought for that scene, and that's a really amazing scene about Aiden moving in with her and how that all happens. But there's, yeah, a lot of that kind of stuff. They'll just be walking down the street on the Thursday and Kerry's wearing, I don't know, some kind of like sculpture on her head with like a giant bird or a huge butterfly or like a really like, I don't know,

crazy coat or something. And she's often wearing heels with like tiny shorts or, I don't know, just all kinds of crazy amazing stuff. Well, you know, that actually reminds me that, in my mind, the sixth character of the show is the fashion. It's the birds that she would wear. Well, actually, I don't know if you know the poster of Sex and the City. Have you seen the tutu that Sarah Jessica Parker wears? Have you seen that's quite an iconic image?

Yeah. Yeah, well, that tutu was found in a bargain bin for five bucks. And now it would be worth like... 10, 20 bucks. 10 to 20. Millions of dollars. Anyway, so Patricia Field was known for mixing a really high. high quality, expensive stuff with really cheap stuff as well.

And Kerry's necklace as well, she wears this really iconic necklace that says Kerry was really like a couple of dollars or something. So, yeah. She wears a necklace with her name on it. She certainly does it. It became iconic. Oh, I can see that. I'm wearing one right now.

Do you wear one that says Carrie? Yeah, correct, exactly. I always, is her name Carrie? I always thought it was Carrie. Carrie. It's Kerry. Well, it's Carrie, I guess. C, A, R-R-I-E.

So, carry, yeah. But they, but in America, they pronounce that more like Carrie. Yeah, right. Maybe I've only ever seen it written down. Yeah. Carrie, Carrie. Yeah, they probably don't say, they probably don't say, Carrie.

No, carry. Boy, carry. Get over here. Get over here. Yeah. Why we were in a flaming top hat. Yeah, Gala. Get over here.

What are you, a bloody galar? What are you, drungo? Oh, screwing. Oh, no, on you're Kerry Yeah, nah Yeah, nah, on you, Carrie Yeah, when she gets married in the first movie Which you would be familiar with

She has a bird on her head Oh On her wedding dress like a bright blue bear Is it meant to be there? Yeah One of the dumps came out early Yeah, but no one knows That it's not meant to be there

When does the fashion end And where the pest? Sorry, Kerry, we thought that you were I thought that you wanted to wear that Correct, exactly. Oh, God. Anyway, yeah, so just a couple of final things. The writer's room is really interesting in Sex and City. So for the first three seasons, Darren Starr and Patrick King were working together,

but they were often arguing about what the show should be like. It's only a lot of arguing behind the scene. A lot of arguing. And in the end, Diron Star leaves after season three, and Michael Patrick King starts to write the show in the way that he sees it, which is much more emotional. So the characters really start to change and grow. So, like, Kerry might become Charlotte or a bit more,

a bit softer or like Cynthia Nixon's character ends up having a baby and they explore all of that kind of stuff. So is there a writer's room as well or but these are the head writers? Are there women on the writing team? Great question, Matthew. So yeah, so Patrick Michael King decides to hire a team of all female writers to write this part of the show. So they were constantly in the early days just asking the cast themselves for input.

What do you reckon? Yeah. What do you think about this scene? Because when you were saying before, that it felt like men watching where eavesdropping on women. I'm like, but it was written by men. It was like men, eavesdropping on women saying words written by men. But yeah, that makes more sense. It's very confusing, isn't it? I know, I think. It's like a Shakespeare thing where it's a boy playing a woman playing a boy playing a woman or whatever. Yeah, it's very Shakespeare in love.

Playing their own twin. Yeah. Yeah, it's Gwyneth Paltrow and Shakespeare in Love. Absolutely. No, yeah, so well, that's very true. So they were, Michael Patrick King grew up with women and they're both gay. So they had a lot of female friends, I think. Plus, they'd based it on Candace's column. Did she have any input after the column? I don't think. Like ongoing sort of stuff? They check in with her. Yeah. I don't think she was actually on the writing team, but she definitely had input. Hopefully she was catching some sweet royalty checks. Yeah, surely. But yeah, wouldn't that be strange to have no control over this character based on you that sort of becomes a runaway success? Yeah, and she does get interviewed, and I think she feels like the carry in the show is different to her,

and she gets annoyed too that people think that she's the same. Because people would be like exactly like that show about you. Yeah. That ducco? You look to be different, but. Yeah, because one of the things she says, annoys her is that the narrative arc in the show is all about finding love and that for women, the only way that you're going to ever be happy is if you find a man. And she actually really pushes back really hard on that idea that women.

the only path for women is to be with a man. And she said in her life, she's actually realized that it's not that she wanted to be with a guy like Mr Big. It's that she wanted to be Mr Big. Right. And at that time in history, and probably if it's still now,

women can't, it's very hard for women to be Mr. Big. So, but they can be adjacent to that kind of power and wealth. And so that's kind of what annoys her about the show in that she feels that, yeah, depicts the idea that women just have to find love

and that Carrie ends up, Well, or let, with Mr. Big in the end of the show, also really annoys her. Right. Yeah, I thought it would be the kind of show that would not do that. Yeah. You know, in the end, like, have her find that she's happy without Mr. Big. Yeah. But, yeah, that is interesting.

But, yeah, I guess this is like we're talking about before. These, you know, standards and expectations have changed a lot since the 90s. So maybe if it was made today, maybe that's what the third movie is going to do, maybe change some of that stuff. I think they're hoping for that too because the other criticism is the cast isn't very diverse. But then, you know, it was made of a time. And you were saying that it was quite a big deal, that it was an all-woman cast. So at the time, you know, sometimes you go, walls are slowly broken down and then looking

back at you're judging on today's standards. But at the time you're going, we felt like we've, We're like pushing the envelope. Yeah, so it's tricky. Exactly. Well, I think that's the thing because shows like girls couldn't have been made without shows like sex in the city. But even that faces criticism now, doesn't it? Yeah, I think everything does.

Yeah, so it's like, you're right. They're progressive at the time never seems progressive looking back, I guess. Yeah, it's so true. But yeah, you hope that it leads to the next thing that leads to the next thing. Yeah, totally. Exactly. And so what was groundbreaking is Michael, Michael Matric King. Is this a new person?

Kikele Patrick Ming. He hired an all-women writing team because before that he was just asking women in his life what they thought. Just fox-mopping on the street? Yeah, exactly. What do you reckon? Yeah, what do you reckon?

Does this team right? And so the all-female writing team were there from season four to the end and they were kind of credited with really making the show what it was in those last seasons and delving really deep because they were all,

he wanted women that were single dating and living in New York just like in the show. And so they all would. doing that. So they constantly were just sitting in a room, mining their dating lives. Oh, no, but imagine you get a partner, you get fired. Yeah. Sorry, you're not single anymore. You're out.

Sorry, Sarah. Yeah. Oh, no. Well, it's funny you say that because a lot of the women say that they actually found it really hard to find anyone to date because men were so worried that they would end up in the show. And they said, with good reason, because they always did end up in the show. And they actually became iconic in themselves in New York.

They became super famous. And they were invited to everything from Paris Fashion Week to the hottest restaurant openings and front row seats to the best shows in New York. And so that kind of team of writers became just like famous everywhere they went. And the show itself had unexpected fans, like Tom Cruise, who once confessed to a cast member that he had an assistant take the show and FedEx it to him

so he and his then girlfriend Penelope Cruz wouldn't miss out when they were in Europe. Even Stenna of John McCain had an opinion on whom Carrie should ultimately choose breathlessly telling writer Amy B Harris during the series' final stretch, oh, when Carrie touched those diamonds, I knew she was never going to end up with Petrovsky.

So... What does that matter? No, have you never seen the show? John McCain, what are you talking about? Okay, so there's a seat... Someone called an ambulance immediately. The senator has taken ill. So Petrovsky is Carrie's last love before she ends up with Mr. Big.

And he's this old Russian artist who's like, doesn't, he's very kind of like kooky and like has dates at like 3 o'clock in the morning in like dark art galleries. And he gives her this like special diamond necklace and she goes with him to Paris. And anyway, Petrovsky. He's like very much Russian and like interesting. Russian. Fantastic. I've obviously done their research.

Anyway, he makes light installations or something. I don't know. Anyway, and so, yeah. He installs lighting. Got to. Exactly. He's an electrician. Yeah.

He's a sparky. Gotcha. Anyway, famously, the last scene, she's in the apartment in Paris with Petrovsky, and he accidentally slaps her, and it's very terrible, and her necklace breaks or her diamonds like break everywhere before that. And so that was one of the signs she knew. and so did John McCain, that she wasn't destined to be with Petrovsky. And then John, who, like, is the name of Mr. Big, like, turns up in Paris and is like,

you're the one for me. And she's like, thank goodness, I've been waiting for all these seasons. And it was at that that Senator John McCain knew that she wasn't going to be with Petrovsky when she went with her long love. Yeah, correct. Joe, this John McCain's got a real savant. He is. He is.

He's a real survivor. Anyway. So, yeah, so Amy Harris was one of the famous writers, obviously, and she had a joke that the show should be called No Sex in the City because the hours were so long, and she was often alone, and she said it was really hard to date because of that. So she said the men that she did try to date during that time tended to fall into two camps, social climbers,

a men who feared that their foibles would be shared in the writers. Not my foibles. Already said, not my foibles. You would say no. You weren't going to talk about them, and of course it, you were. So yeah, that's what she said. So that's that you can credit all of the really touching moments in the film and I think and the TV series. And one of the reasons why I think it's such an iconic show now and women feel so strongly, or people in general feel so

strongly about it, is because of those, that team of writers, those women who are talking about their real lives and their real friendships and their real insecurities and also the weird, strange sex things that happened to them while they were dating. Yeah. So that's sex in the city. any questions? I guess like if I was to watch it from the start now, do you think that I could, I would be,

because I don't have the nostalgia for it at all, do you think that I would be like, oh, some of that stuff seems a bit weird? Or would I, do you think it's still something you could like, you know, marathon through and get addicted? Definitely. Yeah. A thousand percent.

Yeah, cool. Thousand percent. Because even though there are spots of it that's problematic, the characters are so funny. It's one of the funniest shows to me. And I think, I mean, James is a massive.

fan. Oh, great. He gets really, because there's also love interests with, like, Carrie, obviously, there's Aidenshaw, or like Mr. Big or Petrovsky, or like, Jack Burger, who she gets broken up with on a post-it. Jack Burger. Jack Burger. They're running out of ideas in season four.

Yeah, exactly. They have some really... Looking around the room. There's a Hungry Jack's Burger, anything in that. There's just a lot of really iconic, hilarious writing in it, too. Like, you really believe the characters of the relationships between them. when you get very invested, but also the way they write about sex and sex acts themselves are really, really quite funny.

And so the way they typecast, some of the men in the stories are really hilarious too. I don't know. I just think you would get into it. Do you like rom-coms, though? Are you into that kind of vibe? Yeah, I guess so. Yeah, I think if you like Seinfeld, you like this. I reckon it's...

Well, because we both shows the fifth character is. It's the city. The city. I do love Seinfeld. Yeah, well, I do, I mean, it's obviously really different to Seinfeld, but I think the dialogue is just as witty, like just as great and groundbreaking and still holds up. I think the cast could have been more diverse and all those things.

And yeah, some of the storylines are problematic, but really it's just, I think it's one of the best TV shows ever made. I know, which is terrible because obviously it's really problematic in spots. But it was made at a time when women didn't have voices, right, in TV and film often. And their characters were always like sidekick. And so to have a show about female friendship still feels really exciting and not always done. So, yeah. I love it.

Shout to you. We already know that Mr. Big is there in the end, so probably not yet to watch it. Oh, yeah, I've spoiled it for you now. I was really hoping Northern Exposure was going to make it in the end. I was talking about Petrovsky. Betrovsky. So we lost him. He accidentally slapped her.

That sounds. Don't want how that happens anyway. I'm looking forward to finding out. An accidental slap. Oh, no. Well, it's rumoured that Mr. Mr Big dies in the third movie, so maybe Petrovsky will make it come back. Oh, that's the only reason he would sign on to do it.

If you kill him off. Yeah, that's right. People stop repression me in the street because they'll be like, hey, you look a bit like they missed a big guy that died. That's a Harrison Ford type contract with Hans Solo. Get me out. Yeah, I'll come back if I'm out. Pay me big bucks.

Correct. Chris Knoth, actually, the actor that plays Mr. Big, had one got an anecdote that happened in his real life in the show. So apparently when he was dating a famous celebrity, he found it really high. hard because she could always contact him, but he could never contact her. And there's a famous scene, and it's his favorite party in the show, where he's complaining to Kerry about how he's dating this woman and he can't contact her, even though she can get him.

And then he's crying because they've broken up or something. And then he visits her while she's dating someone else at Hayden in their cabin. And they get into a big mud wrestle out. And it's a big fight. And Chris Knopf is like, yeah, that was my favorite episode. It's a mud wrestle. The mud wrestle one. And that bit was based on real life.

Yeah, it really happened to him. Yeah, he was really dating like a famous actress who like strung him along and then broke his heart. And then he got in a mud. Did they, it was a mud wrestle real? Yeah. Yeah, not with the famous celebrity with like Kerry's boyfriend Aidan. He just sounds like a real piece of shit, Mr. B. He's like, he's stringing Carrie along and then just rocking up to have a mud wrestle now and then.

And then going, oh, yeah, I really hate how I'm being strung along in this other relationship while he's clearly. doing it to her. This sounds like a frustrating show to watch. It is frustrating, Matthew. You really nailed it. Exactly, Maddie. But you love it. I do love it.

Love to be frustrated. I think I'm going to love it too. I'm going to watch it. I'm going to try and track it down. I reckon you should. It's really worth it. It's very funny. There's some very funny scenes.

There's one scene with Chris North because he doesn't get very many lines. He has to do all his comedy with his face. And Carrie and him are trying to be friends. And she picks up the jazz, man. Who's this guy who plays jazz? Okay. That makes sense.

Grand breaking riding. Correct. And they all get a cab home together. And Carrie was going to sleep with the jazz man. And Big like shoves himself into the cab with them. But Big usually rides in a limo and never rides cabs. And so Carrie's like flirting with the jazz man in the back of the cabin. He's sitting next to them.

And just like halfway through all they're flirting. He goes, cabs are bullshit. Jesus. Yeah. That's just more like he's just coming in a cock block. I know, it sounds like he's got a real, I don't want her, but no one else can have a kind of vibe about him. Sounds like a piece of shit. Mr. Big fuck off.

We haven't known a hashtag on this show for all. That's probably already been taken, to be honest. But, you know what? I second that motion, Matt. I think he should have, she should have ended up with Aidan. He's the Northern Exposure guy. Yeah, he's lovely. He's so good in everything.

He is. I mean, I've seen him in Northern Exposure. And then in... My big factory wedding. No, I haven't seen that. Oh, that's great. But I've seen the ads for it. And I love them.

I loved the ad. But I saw him in a rom-com recently. Maybe I'm amazed or something like that. Oh, yeah. And he's the dad in that. And just again, dreamboat. Oh, he's always playing a dad. He's so good.

In one of the episodes, he actually straps on Sarah Jessica Parker's real-life baby. Okay. In a sex show, that could have gone a different way. There is an episode with strap ones. Okay. And actually, I didn't say this. The show made famous, the rabbit, a vibrator as well, like ran out. Like, they sold out everywhere.

Yeah, so it was super influential. They go, here's a vibrator. Everyone's buying it. Here's a cocktail. Everyone's drinking it. Here are the shoes Jimmy Chues, and everyone's choosing a Jimmy Choo. Oh, so you'd be stoked to. Was Jimmy Choo paying for product placement, you know?

Is it that kind of thing? I don't know. Possibly. or maybe not. Because if it wasn't, that's just winning the lotto. If they've just chosen your stuff. Oh, yeah.

And Manolo Blonix was the other line that would be... Oh, yeah, Manolo. Yeah, everyone knows Manolo Blonix. Spanish shoes. Okay. I thought it was going to be like some sort of a blender. Oh, you got the top of the line, Manolo Blonix.

Oh, yeah. That'll whip you up a beautiful smoothie. Yeah. Oh, thanks so much for joining us, Claire. That was fascinating. It's funny how it's a thing that's all around. I think these are often the best episodes where it's a thing that you feel like you kind of know and then you realize you don't know anything about it. And that's,

that's an interesting tale. Oh, you are welcome. I realized I didn't actually tell you the whole story of the show, but, you know, I told you the backstory. Yeah, well, I think maybe we'll do a Patreon bonus episode after Dave, watch the series and we'll have you back on and we can do like a kind of a recap on the series. Correct. And then you can decide whether you stand by by math hashtag, fuck you, Mr. Big. Or fuck off, Mr. Big. Or not. That would be good.

I love to do that. Maybe I'll be on Team Big. Yeah, you could be. Who's my go again? You are Cynthia Nixon. No, Aiden Shaw. Aiden Shore. Aiden sure.

You're Aiden and your team, Mr. Big. Team big. Team big. Go big. Go hard. The bigger the better. Nothing Shorer than Aiden. A couple of teams.

We got there 20 years too late. I really like that. I wonder who Jess could go for. Maybe burger. Does she like burgers? I feel like she does. She does like burgers. She does like burgers.

I've seen her read a burger before. Yeah, she might go with the jazz, man. There's also a guy called the Jack Rabbit, who just has sex like a Jack Rabbit, like pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow. Yeah. I mean, just to let you know. There's options. So many options.

Carrie had a, you know, she, I mean, six seasons. In the last season, she dates 28 different men. Wow, how many episodes? That's a good question. I don't know. Is that one and F or is it? It's more than one an F. More than one an F.

She goes through quite a few. That is kind of Jerry Sondfeld sort of levels. Correct. Yeah, there's a lot of the same kind of like Jerry-esque. Obviously they're very different characters. But Jerry and the way he dates like, like for instance, Kristen Davis's character who he doesn't date because her toothbrush falls in the toilet and she brushes their teeth unknowingly.

There's a lot of stuff like that with Carrie, she's dating a guy and she's like, no, a small thing. Yeah, right. That's very Seinfeld. Yeah, yeah. Like Seinfeld, are you watching a lot going, hmm, I don't think they would be dating him. He's so annoying. Yeah, yeah, possibly.

Because, well, Carrie, that's the other thing. She has a really different type of look. I mean, I think she's incredibly beautiful, but she's got like an unusual face. Oh, unconventionally attractive. Correct. Yeah, exactly. Whereas Sarnfeld is unconventionally unattractive. It's an Alastair Trombly Virtual line.

I can't remember what was in reference. It's always wearing sneakers with jeans in a weird. Yeah, both fashion icons. Oh, yeah. We've got to do a Sinefeld episode one day. I reckon Alistair would be a great person to have on to do that. He would know all about it. Oh, yeah, about Tom.

I saw him in an ad on the television. I watched an ad break recently. Geez, we're going off track. We should wrap up in a second. But I watched an ad break recently where it was near. all previous guests of this show. Dave's ad was on. Have you seen Dave's ad?

It was like in about accounting or something. I mean, an H&R block. Then there was a Nick Kappa of 7-Eleven ad. And then there was Alice there in a car. It was a funny ad break. I'm like, all my friends. And I think I was up for at least a couple of those roles. So it's good to see.

Good to see who I've lost out to. Must have been the hair color. Yeah. I just couldn't imagine you were different hair. Geez, we love a brown beard, but I can't think of a way of making that happen. Yeah, exactly. Anyway, thanks so much for having us, having us Claire. Thanks so much for being had as well.

Oh, lovely. And if people want to hear more of you, they can check out taunts. They can't. On all your favourite podcast apps. And I have an episode with Jess Perkins, which is really cool. But other interviews with people like Jamila Risby and Jesse Stevens, Yeah, Zanam Johnson, who I mentioned. And the most recent episode is an interview about kids and the internet and TikTok.

And it's the dark underbelly of TikTok. I had no idea. It's really intense and fully. I didn't realize there was a non-dark section of TikTok. Oh, well, there you go. Now, we should swap notes. I need to know about the good stuff about TikTok. Anyway, so, yeah, there's lots of, yeah, it just goes into that and all the stuff we can do.

If you have kids and are a bit worried about iPhones and how to cope with all of that tech stuff. and my friend Marty is a cyber safety expert and he goes around talking to schools and kids and parents about all this stuff and some of the stories are full on like really full on but also really important to know about anyway so that's my most recent episode thanks for having me guys hey thank you so much Claire what an absolute privilege

oh it was my pleasure what a privilege to be here with the two of you sharing my great American novel It was great. He's been such a carrie right now. He totally is. A Clary. A Clary.

Oh, you definitely are a Miranda because that was very funny, that wordplay. Very much, though. And now it's time for everyone's favourite part of the show where we start to thank some of our great supporters. Claire has just walked out the door. That's coincidental. Obviously, one of our greatest supporters.

One of our greatest supporters. But, yeah, so to get involved with this, you can go to patreon.com slash do go on pod or do go onpod. And there's a bunch of different levels you can sign up to with all sorts of different rewards, including bonus episodes. You know, you get to hear about live shows and tours before everyone else. You get discounts. You get to vote for topics, steer where the show goes. Yeah, and all sorts of things. There's a Facebook group exclusive for our supporters, all sorts of fun stuff.

It's a beautiful community, maybe the most beautiful community. And I mean that both physically and emotionally. Oh, emotion. And mentally? Yeah. And not their value, but their value. Yeah. Beautiful inside and out.

So hot. It's a real hot community. And I feel very comfortable being a part of it. So one of the great rewards you get, if you support us on the Sydney-Sharmberg Deluxe Memorial Edition package level, rest in peace, you can. can get into this the fact quote or question section. I forgot what it was called.

Hey. But I think it's got a little jingle to go something like this. Fact quote or question. He always remembers the ding. Damn right. And to be involved in this, you just go and you sign up

and you get on that level, Sydney-Shanberg level, and then you get to give us a factor quota a question. You get nearly all the rewards from that level. Oh, yeah. Big time. And you get to give us the fact credit question.

You also get to give us a title for yourself. And the first one this week comes from Nathan Damon, who's given himself the title of Logistics Manager in charge of transporting this pod to Perth. Oh, okay. Fantastic. We'd love to get over. I'm actually due to come over to Perth soon if I'm allowed in.

And has Nathan organized some sort of hovercraft, I imagine? I would hope so. Nathan, you got that hovercraft ready? What sort of logistics is he dealing with you? So, yeah, hopefully I'll see you. Tickets still available. I think people have been holding off because of COVID reasons, but you can now, you can stop holding off and you can get involved. Go to match sure comedy.com.

And, yeah, click on the appropriate link. Do go on pod for a discount code. But anyway, Nathan has given us a fact this week. I don't read these out until I read them out. Okay. So you're hearing them the first time I'm hearing them. As you say them. As I say.

And Nathan's fact is, DoGo on hasn't appeared in Perth since the 3rd of November 2019. We want you back. Oh, and also bring back Listen Now. Oh, and love you guys. Stay safe. Well, that's interesting. Very serendipitous.

Yes, funny that you should say that, Nathan. Because Dave and I, before this episode, we just recorded an episode of Listen Now. Sam, my co-host and co-cousin on the Listen Now podcast, is too busy to Pod at the podcast. the moment. And she said that I should go on and just do it with fill in Sam's. And Dave is doing the first couple of episodes at least I might even be able to twist this. I'm to do the rest of the season. I had a great time. I had a great time. So yeah, check that out.

That'll be on your list in our feed. And what was the album we went through? We went through Born in the USA. Bruce Springsteen's bestseller. Seventh album and some say his most popular. some some say so yeah great fact Nathan we are obviously super keen we had a great time

Dave and I went out for an ice cream after possibly even with you Nathan there was a little game we had oh yeah sorry I can't remember who was there because I was absolutely blind I was embarrassingly drunk knocking over beers oh dear sorry everyone

yeah well next time that's the real reason we haven't come back to Perth shame and I've been banned so but next time around we will not be anywhere near is uncouth. Yeah, sorry about that, but we will get the ice cream. Yeah.

Looking forward to getting back. So hopefully we can organise that before too long. But yeah, obviously there's just some things that have made booking live things in a bit tricky for us lately. Yes. It's hard to get excited about life stuff too, isn't it? Just because if you get excited, you might get disappointed. Yeah, that's right.

But still, if we put something on sale, please do buy tickets. Yeah, because that makes it happen. So thank you very much, Nathan. from Victoria Dorocia, which I believe this is Victoria's first fact quota question entry. Welcome to the club, Victoria. Welcome. And Victoria's title is Lesbian Prime. Lesbian Prime.

Which is great fun. And the question from Victoria goes a little something like this. Hello all. And sorry if I'm lacking. Oh my God. The irony of me not reading this very well. Hello all, and sorry if my English is lacking. I recently started listening to your podcast

and I'm currently working my way through the backlog. And I'm having a great time. Thank you for feeding my passion for useless knowledge. Obviously, this episode didn't have any of that. This is all very important knowledge. Oh my goodness. You don't know this stuff. Victoria goes on to say,

anyway, here's my question. If you could live in any country in the world, where would you live? I'd go for Norway, for the beauty. and the calm. Lots of love from France. Oh, so Victoria's in France. Okay. Thanks so much for...

Big fan of France. Had a great time traveling through France a few years back. I really loved... It was one of the periods where I was solo traveling for a couple of weeks through Europe back in the day.

kicked off your tour. Yeah, I just had a really nice time. I can't remember a single cloud in the sky the whole time was in France. It was just like a beautiful blue sky. Were you burnt to a crisp? Oh, yeah.

Yeah, yeah. I've been smashing through a lot of French TV shows lately. Watched all five seasons. He's actually Belgian. I'll pull you up there. No, watched all five seasons of the Bureau or La Bureau de Legend or something like that. It's called. Then Lupin, call me by your agent.

No, call my agent. I always confuse that with call me by your name. Call me by your agent. This is lost in translation somewhere. call my agent. Yes, I'm loving. All the stuff obviously is set in France too, so I've got to get over there. Beautiful country.

Such a rich history. Oh, absolutely. But is that the place that you'd live? I mean, it's the first one that came to mind when Victoria said she was from France. I think New Zealand's a place I'd love to live. Okay. I think Canada, America, North America. I'd love to live anywhere, really.

Yeah. I do have a dream of living in NYC. which is a little nickname I have for New York City Oh, I didn't get that I was like Nike I don't know, maybe Spain for me Love a Spanish food, weather Paella

Oh yeah I love that Barthalona Oh great city Love the architectural work of Gaudi Oh Gaudi Yeah Or Catalonia, love that area

But Yeah Iceland The most beautiful country I've ever been to, but I don't know if I could face the cold. Right. Cold spells. I'd love to visit Iceland for sure.

But, yeah, living somewhere else. Following one of Poirot's jaunce. Oh, over to Mesopotamia. Yeah. Fantastic. Modern-day Iraq? Iraq. Yeah.

Or I had a great time when we were in Dublin. It was very beautiful. Oh, fantastic. I mean, if you're worried about the cold, that might hit you a bit of it. I know. That's why I'm thinking that Spain might be the one for me. And also I love their culture of getting up later, staying out later. I'm a morning person.

Pre-COVID, you were really keen to get over to Africa, which is obviously many countries, but... 54, I believe. 54 countries. Is there still plans to get over there? Yes, it's still on my ultimate bucket list. Any country in particular? Yeah, I'd love to go to Southern Africa

and go on safari in, like, Namibia. Yep. And then, so I was hoping to do a tour from South Africa, up the West Coast through Namibia, and then east through Botswana, finishing up sort of around Victoria Falls. I'm really keen to tag along if we can make it happen. Okay, let's make it happen once they open these goddamn borders.

Yeah, fantastic. Great question. Oh man, I love dreaming of traveling. Yeah. It's something, it's one of my favorite things to do and just have not been able to do it really at all, certainly internationally. But yeah, thank you for letting me dream there, Victoria. The next one comes from Ben Johnson.

Ben Johnson, who were met a few times all over the world. That's right. In cold climate and also warm climate. That's right. We was at the Thailand podcast festival. In Coast Movie, that was a great time of the pool. I can, honestly, I think about that trip a lot. Yeah.

I'm thinking about, you know, now we can't travel at all. I was like, oh, yeah, that didn't appreciate as much as I can. I'm really good to, every time I see Carl, who's the patron of the festival. I've got to just say, hey, Carl, just, you know, if it ever does happen again. Yeah, no, no, no, that's curious in mind. I reckon you can twist our arm to come back. We consider it. Um, so Ben has given himself the title, Ben J from MK. Milton Keynes. Milton Keynes, which he calls out an homage to Gadigier from the UK.

That's great, Ben J from MK. And Ben's offered us a fact, and his fact is sort of a fact slash trivia question. Oh, Dave, you'll be all over this. Do you know whether Stephen Hawking went to Oxford or Cambridge University? Says, pause for others to answer. Oh, okay. Is it one of those things where it's he went to both. Oh, okay.

Is that your answer? Maybe. Yep. Well, you are correct. Oh, nice try, baby. Sorry, Ben, but he is often pointed to as the smartest man in history. So you can see why he, you know, you'd let him in. You'd let him in, right?

Says both, Hawking went to Oxford University. university to study physics and chemistry, then went to Cambridge to continue studying cosmology, which is how to make, how to mix Cosmo. Cosmo cocktails. And he was pretty good at it. Yeah. Great fact. That's a great fact. That is.

That's so funny. I would have, I mean, just because he asked it, there was, there was, there was, they didn't gotten onto it until you said it. I'm like, that sounds right. Thank you very much, Ben. this week, I would love to thank and ask, not ask for forgiveness? I'd love to thank and ask for forgiveness from Julian Barnes,

who is the self-appointed reference for if a fact is sexy. Oh, okay, because I've obviously got dull facts, Jess has got fun facts. I've got grim facts. And now Julian's got sexy facts. Okay. So I wonder if that will come up here from Julian. He's offered a fact.

He writes, Hey, once again, I've completely failed to come up with my own facts. So I've grabbed a juice off the production line and taken off the cap. Or if you recall, that's how Julian gets his facts. He gets little facts. Oh, the little facts. That's right, on the Aussie juices there that affect inside the lid. Yeah, it's a Galvin Valley juice, maybe.

Yeah. Is it? Anyway. Anyway, the ones with the glass bottles. This is Little Fact number 196. Male monkeys lose their hair on their heads in the same way men do. He says, I don't know if that's true, but I do know that it's not sexy. You're not casting aspersions over the little facts.

Yeah, sure. Truthfulness. Come on, mate. No, that's definitely, that sounds right. Male monkey pattern baldness. That's right. Do they have the midlife crisis? Yeah.

So there, thank you so much to Julian. Ben, Victoria and Nathan for their facts and their questions. No quotes this week. Or brags. Or brags. Yeah, that's right. You can now offer a brag as well. So to get involved in this, like I said, get on the Sydney-Shimeberg level.

And once you sign up, you get a link to add in a fact, quote or question, or brag. And yeah, if you're in that level and you haven't had one for a while, get them in there. We've only got enough to get through another week or two, I reckon. So if you've got one, you've got a burning brag or other. Yeah, get it in. Get it in. What we also like to do is thank a few of other great patron supporters. We normally have a little game that Jess comes up with.

But in her absence, Dave, do you have any ideas? All right. So we're talking about sex in the city. Obviously, I'm fascinated with Mr. Big. That's a great name. I'm the one who wants to be with you. We want to give the characters, no, sorry, the supporters, their version of Mr. Big. Oh, okay.

Miss big. So something. Is it all size based or it can be anything? Oh, that could be cool. It was size based. Mr. Medium. You've wasted a great one. All right.

Well, I'll read out five. How about that? And you give them names and then you read out five and I'll give them names. So I'm giving you dibs on the first five sizes. Okay. Which I've regret instantly. Why did I do that? All right.

So first up, I'd love to thank from West End in Queensland, Anne Penny. Anne Penny. All right, Anne, I'm going to give you, what about, Ms. I've absolutely blanked. Ms. Massive. That's good. Ms. Massive. Miss Massive.

Love that. Anne Penny, aka Miss Massive, Ms. Mazzive. I'd also love to thank from Melbourne, Victoria. Have I heard of it? In Australia. Shelby Seddon. Geez, we're off to a hot start with names this week. Shelby.

Is that a Ms. or a Mr. Sheldby? We used to have a refrigeration mechanic back when I was selling air conditioning. And that was a man named Shelby. Okay, so I'll give both just in case. Mr. or Ms. Aments. Amence. Mr. Amence.

That's very good. I think that's fantastic. Shelby, you've got to be happy with that. Shelby Sedan. I mean, you were absolutely kissed on the dick when you were named at birth, or otherwise. Is that a well-known phrase? I've never heard of it. I think that you could claim it.

No, that's not one of mine. Is that show where you're your refrigerator mechanic? It means blessed, very lucky. I don't know why yet. I've never thought about it. That's just sort of like a not eat of fuck spider's kind of doesn't really make sense. How often was your fridge breaking? down to have your family's own

refrigerator mechanic. Oh no, that when I was working in air conditioning. Oh, okay. It was an install. Growing up and I'm like, you think that I'm in the affluent east. You laugh about a butler's pantry. You've got a staff

of refrigerator repair. Yeah, out in the manor. Yeah, yeah, for sure. I'd also love to thank from Auckland in New Zealand. Jenny Strangleman. Oh, Jenny Strangleman. What about Ms. King,

Sise. Ms. King's size. Love that. Very good indeed. Jenny Strindleman. That's three for three great names. Can we keep this run going? I doubt it.

He couldn't possibly. But let's try. And I'd love to thank from Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. It's Sarah Cushert. Oh my God, we did it again. Sarah Cushert. What about Ms. Minute? Ms. Minute.

We were going for all all literative sort of stuff. Yeah, it's fun. It's fun. We're having fun here. Okay. You are definitely using them all then. How many M-1s can there be? I know.

How many can there be? And finally for me, I'd love to thank from Mollinger in Westmeath in Ireland. I.E. as a country, is that? That's Ireland, I'm pretty sure. Usually. Alan Coil. Very Irish name. Alan Coil.

Mr. Microscopic. You'd be happy with that, Alan. Mr. Microscopic. Sure. Ant-Man's adversary. Damn you, Mr. Microscopic. All right, I'm going to throw it over to you, Dave. And Dave, can I ask, did you have some sort of help there?

Surely not. Yes, I did have the thesaurus open for big and small. So feel free to copy me there. I would like to thank, first up, from Tulsa in Oklahoma. That is Jeanette Newton. Jeanette Newton, aka Lady Length. That's great.

That is great. Jeanette Newton, Lady Lank, that sounds like a discount superhero. Yeah, it really does. Instead of like stretch Armstrong, the invisible woman. Lady Length is here. Okay. Jeanette, I love it.

I would love to think now from Des Moines. Oh, someone at. to be, a famous Bill Bryson line. I come from Des Moines, Iowa. Someone had to. You know who else comes from there? Michael Schiller. Michael Schiller.

Michael Schiller. Count Capacity. Does anything? I've gone away from these are sizes anymore? This is even better. Michael Schiller. All killer. Thank you so much.

I'd like to thank from Dublin in Ireland. A few Irish people this week, I'd like to thank Robin Blakey. Robin Blakey. I would love to thank Sir Stature. Sir Stature. So, yeah, I think that's, I don't know, what is that? That kind of makes you think of like a knight in armour, right, Sir Stature. Yeah.

I'd be trusting Sir Stature with my life. And I would like to thank from an unknown location. I can only imagine it's deep within the fortress of the moles. Ruth Luxford. Ruth Luxford. The Honorable. It doesn't work. H's have such inconsistent sounds.

Honorable highness. Honorable highness. Technically, it's alliteration, technically. Technically, look, if it's written down. What about Honorable height? Okay. Is that better? Yeah.

Thank you so much. Honorable huge. Honorable huge. I think that's it. You can choose. Or honorable huge. Honorable huge. Like Donald Trump says,

huge. Huge. It was huge. Honorable huge. Yeah, I think that's pretty good. Nice one, Ruth. Shout out to the other fortress of the mole dwellers. And finally, I'd like to thank from Texas,

specifically in North Richland, It's DJ McMillan. DJ McMillan. Is that really? Yeah, is there a D-1 you can come on with, DJ something? DJ, uh, DJ diameter. DJ diameter on the decks. Well, I love it.

Dave, like I often think, as long as we're having fun. Right? Right. Right, everyone? Anyone out there? So I'd love to, love to thank once again. What a fantastic batchonaut. There we are DJ Ruth, Robin, Michael, Jeanette, Alan, Sarah, Jenny, Shelby and Ann.

Welcome to the, what did the size gang? So it's a whole real home brand. Yeah, we're size kings and queens here. But the other thing we like to do before we close out the show is welcome in a few people near the Triptitch Club. Now, the way you get involved in this is to be supporting us on the shout-out level or above for three straight years, then you get welcomed into the Triptitch Club.

I'm standing on the door. I've got the velvet rope ready to lift it up. I've got your name on the list. Oh, yeah. I'll read it out. Then Dave, he'll hype you up when you come in, and then I'll, because Jess isn't here, I'll give Dave a little fluff,

a little tickle on the way through. I think of that much. It's a lot of work to really big people up. And Dave, you've normally booked a band, often semi-relevant to the episode. Well, I did just see a list of guest stars in Sex and the City, and I saw none other than Ginger Spice herself, Jerry Halliwell, who's coming out to perform all her solo hits.

Gag, you know many? Yeah, just give me a second. Helly-well songs. While you're looking that up, I'll say, because Jess only has a little cocktail. It's raining man. Oh, yeah, one of her big ones. Yeah.

Obviously, there'll be Cosmos on the bar all night tonight, as well as all the other drinks that Jess has put together in previous weeks. Is there anything else we need to say here before we start bringing them in? So this is, if you want to know, the physical address of this place, it does exist in our hearts, but also it moves around physically. Where is it this week? The tallest skyscrow in New York City. Currently unsure. Yeah, it's so tall that they haven't named it yet. Wow.

That's tall. All right. So there's four inductees this. week. You ready to go, Dave? You ready to hop them in? All right, here we go. Here we go. So, come in, grab yourself with Cosmo, get ready for a bit of Jerry Halliwell. From Greenville in South Carolina in the United States, it's Ted Sanders. Oh, I thought this night was dead, but you know what? It's Ted. That's in great.

Yes, Dave. Thank you. Ted is in great. Love that. I get it. And from Kawasaki in Japan, it's Afka F-A. Oh, this night ain't going to Kawasaki. Yes, Dave. The pause is very... I thought...

I thought you were halfway through, but that's how good it was. Kawasaki. It sounds like Kawasaki. Very cool to have someone from Japan in the club. Thank you so much. From Jersey City, New Jersey,

home of the boss in the United States, it's Anastasia Sabo-chick. Oh, this night it's become a bit of a fantasia for the senses. Yes, Dave. He's done it again.

And finally, from city in Great Britain. Which one? It's Tom Horton. Horton. We're not going to be Borton tonight. We're going to have a great time. Yes, Dave. Horton is a hoo-hoo.

Yeah. I don't know what that means. Horton is a hoot. Horton is a hoot. All right. Thank you so much, Tom, Anastasia, Afka and Ted. Welcome into the club, make yourselves at home. And, yeah, just enjoy the tune.

Just enjoy the tune. tune of Jerry Halley. It's running men over and over again. It's Homer Simpson's favorite song, Dave. And it's also your wedding song, Dave. That's right. It's raining man. It's raining man. And yeah, I guess it's time to boot at home. Dave, anything else to say

before we go? No, I think we're all done here. Thank you so much everyone. Should have Jess, Bob Perkins back next week. Looking forward to that. It will be my report. And I'm, yeah, looking forward to getting really getting the chalkboard out, really.

learning some lessons. This might be a free choice for you, is it? I hope so. If it is, I know what I'm doing. Well, maybe it's a free choice for me actually coming up. Sorry to... What a tease. Disappoint you there.

You know what? I'm going to do the topic that you were going to do with my free choice. Anyway, find us at Do Go on Pott on all the things, website, a Gmail address, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc. All those links are in the show notes anyway. Hopefully we'll catch you again next week. Hey, tell your friends. And why not give us a review?

You, if you've listened for a while and you like it, chuck us a review on your app of choice. Yeah, that always helps. It's nice. And, yeah, well, tell a friend. Both things help get us out and about. All right, Dave, boot at home. Thank you so much for listening.

And until next week, I'll say thank you. And goodbye. Waiters. Speaking of science, loves for your feet, some shoe shops decades ago used to have a special machine that would x-ray your foot through the shoe. What?

Yeah. To show you where it was. What? What inside the shoe? Yeah, so you could see it was better than wiggling your toe. They'd be like, hang on, let me just pull out this small X-ray machine. Yeah, like, there it is. It's right there in your shoe.

It may affect your future fertility. Yeah, I think that they... Worked out that sort of stuff and really pull those from the market. Isn't that a strange... That is strange. A strange part of shoe history. I would love that, though. Thanks, Dave.

Actually, last time I went to get runners, I went to a particular shoe shop and I had to walk along this, like, conveyor belt thing. The guy was like, right, take your shoes off. Bare feet, please. And then you had to walk. And then they showed you in like 3D how your feet moved. Yeah, like the pressure and stuff. I did that one as well.

Yeah, yeah. What are these fancy shoe shops you're visiting? It's very weird. It was like a catwalk. I had to like walk all the way along. Oh, I'm just going to Victorian era ones where they just x-ray meter. Yeah, you're going in for a pair of Reeboks coming out with a hairline fracture. So it's a podcast about The Little Mermaid.

Is that right? Really not explained it very much. And tonsillitis. And tonsillitis. Well, that's like she couldn't talk. Yeah, correct. Correct. That would be tricky having people with tonsillitis on a podcast.

It's not the right medium for them, I don't think. No, I wish she did lose the voice, didn't she? Yeah, there you go. It's a show where I interview Mermaids, who've lost their voice, you did tonsillitis. And we just unpack how they feel, except there's not much talking. I do all of it because she can't, obviously. I'll do the talking here.

Correct. Exactly. And you've got a question here? I have. It's very long. I love that. Well, you haven't really got into Jess's shoes that well. She normally forgets to write a question.

Oh, no. Oh no. That was the first thing I did. Excellent. I'm already starting to fill those shoes. I'd be still typing on the report until about this point. So the fact that you've printed it out shows a real confidence. I'm if nothing if not thorough.

I'll give you a clue. Is it one of those ones? Is it, what was that one that they try to get a dessert? It's one happening here. It was a spin-off from Master Chef. Oh, Zumbos. Is it Zumbos? What?

Dessert. I know what you're talking about. Master Chef. No, you are all wrong. Is it Zumba related? No. What's Zumba? Zombo was one of the chefs.

Oh, okay. That makes sense. I thought they'd just come up with a new concept. It's like, just call it Master Desert or something. Yeah. No, yeah. It's like Zumba. It's a mix between exercise and baking.

They just throw macaroons at each other. room. And the city. On the city. All right. Now you're talking. Yeah, no, that was, that was, uh,

King Kong was heading that way, sex on the city. Is that what he was going for? Yeah, when he climbed up that big building. Oh, God. Well,

that's how, that was my interpretation. That was, I've never heard that before, that innuendo about King Kong climbing up a big tall building. Yeah. Well,

big phallic, very symbolic there. Oh, yeah. I was talking to people about Star Wars recently. And one, and the guy was saying, and I shouldn't start this, because there'll be people from each side listening, I'm sure. But I'm like, I really like the one with, I can't remember, it's got it. The lightsaber.

The second most recent one, there was this scene with Red Sand, it's like I can remember, but it was real cool. Oh my God. And I'm like, I know Star Wars fans hate this. And the guy was talking about, no, no, half of us hate it. I like that one. But then the other half loved the next one and hate that one. And I'll like, that's... Yeah.

I'll probably edit this out because I don't want to start any trouble. But that red sand scene was pretty sick. It was bloody awesome. James and I are definitely in the red sand camp. Okay. There you go. Skywalker walks out and it's like bloody awesome. Side note, James is telling me that the guy who plays Luke Skywalker and his name in...

Mark Hamel. ...came up with a whole lot of ideas for the movie. One of which was that he, in that scene, could be a giant version of himself because he projects himself. So he could just be giant and step on everybody. That's fine. I love that. James, if people aren't know,

that's the same James who did our Star Wars episode. It is. Yes, he's my husband and man. I do another podcast with him too, called Suggestable, where we yell at each other over half an hour a week if you're interested in that kind of thing. Don't forget to sign up to our tour mailing list

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