How Did This Get Made? - Last Looks: Christmas Mail

Episode Date: December 20, 2024

Jason & Paul gab about everything from teen slang, to the new movie "Carry-On", to bonkers AI videos. But first, Paul dives into corrections and omissions from Christmas Mail and opens up the phone lines to talk BS movie tropes. Plus, as always Paul announces next week's movie! PAUL & JASON'S WATCH PICKS:Carry-OnStar Wars: Skeleton CrewJunior TaskmasterBlack DovesDisclaimerAn Almost Christmas StoryA Man on the InsideA Nonsense Christmas with Sabrina CarpenterAnthony Jeselnik: Bones and AllJim Gaffigan: The SkinnyKneecapBlue GiantLook BackRyuichi Sakamoto: OpusWe Are Lady PartsShoresy JASON'S READING PICKS:"Good Material" by Dolly Alderton"Roaming" by Jillian & Mariko Tamaki"Clementine" Series by Tillie Walden"Absolute Batman" by Scott Snyder & Nick Dragotta"Batman & Robin: Year 1" by Mark Waid and Chris Samnee"Astonishing Spider-Man" by Scott Aukerman Tix for our Spring 2025 tour in Austin, Denver, Seattle, Boise, San Fran, Portland, & Los Angeles are on sale now at hdtgm.com.Order Paul’s book about his childhood: Joyful Recollections of TraumaFor extra content on Matinee Monday movies, visit Paul's YouTube page: youtube.com/paulscheerTalk bad movies on the HDTGM Discord: discord.gg/hdtgmPaul’s Discord: discord.gg/paulscheerFollow Paul’s movie recs on Letterboxd: letterboxd.com/paulscheer/Check out new HDTGM movie merch over at teepublic.com/stores/hdtgmPaul and Rob Huebel stream live on Twitch every Thursday 8-10pm EST: www.twitch.tv/friendzoneLike good movies too? Subscribe to Unspooled with Paul and Amy Nicholson: listen.earwolf.com/unspooledSubscribe to The Deep Dive with Jessica St. Clair and June Diane Raphael: www.thedeepdiveacademy.com/podcastWhere to find Paul, June, & Jason:@PaulScheer on Instagram & Twitter@Junediane on IG and @MsJuneDiane on TwitterJason is not on social mediaGet access to all the podcasts you love, music channels and radio shows with the SiriusXM App! Get 3 months free using the link: siriusxm.com/hdtgm.

Why clip-on ties can save your life, how kids are better at Taskmaster than adults, and the location manager of Christmas Mail Speaks. All this and more on today's How Did This Get Made? Last Looks hit the theme. Hey! How did this get made? Trash can fires and chicken splatter

Stir it up bad, now it's getting battered Jason's Statham, Angelino Down at Delarco is where I seen him How did this get made? Tall John Sheer and Jason Seuss Balcony Monster's about to puke Hello How did this get made? Hello all my fedora wearing postal workers. It's me, the Ragman, Paul Scheer, and welcome to How Did This Get Made?

Last Looks, where you the listener get to voice your issues on Christmas Mail, a movie that Discord user Scully thinks should have had the tagline, Christmas Mail, return to sender, please. Thank you Scully for that tagline. And remember, if you have an alt movie tagline or title submitted to us on our Discord, and we may just read it on the show. Coming up on today's show, we will be hearing all your corrections and omissions on Christmas Mail.

And let me tell you, you people are coming out strong with your post office takes. We'll then open up the last looks hotline to hear about what movie trends you think are BS. Plus, Jason will stop by to chat about a bunch of stuff like the new Taron Egerton film, Carry On, Taskmaster Jr., Anthony Jeselnik's stand-up special, and teen slang that we don't understand. And finally, as always, I will reveal the movie for next week's episode. But big news people, how did this get made is going on tour this spring.

That's right, we're gonna be on tour all over the country. Well, I mean, in a couple places. We're gonna be in Austin, Boise Seattle San Francisco Portland and Los Angeles for a big big Los Angeles show celebrating our 15th year anniversary So you can get tickets for that at HD TGM calm. We also have some shows at Largo Dinosaurs gonna be performing in January in San Francisco as well as Largo So check out HD TGM.com that will have all your ticket needs for us in Austin, Denver, Boise, Seattle, San

Francisco, Portland and LA. Okay that's all the plugs I got so let's get into it. Last week we talked at length about Christmas mail. We had questions and we might have even missed a few things. Well here is your chance to set us straight, put a stamp on it, let us know what we got right and what we got wrong in something I like to call Corrections and Omissions. ["Corrections and Omissions"] Corrections and omissions. Corrections and omissions.

Corrections and omissions. We're told, John Faulding, for that theme song. Let's go to the Discord. All right. Adam1138 has chimed in on something that everybody has come at us about, which is Mrs. Claus's first name. Now in the Rankin-Bass Christmas special, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, we learn that her first name is Jessica. People say I highly recommend watching or re-watching that special for the Hippie Dippie musical number that she has midway through it. Well now Adam, are we gonna say that Rankin Bass is responsible for Santa?

I don't think so. That's why Beneferon adds an alternative name option. On the other side of the Atlantic where Santa Claus is known as Father Christmas, Mrs. Claus has a default first name, Mary, as in Merry Christmas. This is what I'm saying people. You can't just say, well in the Scooby-Doo holiday special,

they called her Julia. That doesn't make, we need to go deeper. I like Benefron's point of view here. Merry So Far is the winning name for me. Merry Christmas is a great name for Mrs. Claus. But as I've been told on social media, let the women pick the names. Okay, Bonjour Jamie writes,

Rolanda Watts who played Shelley was a talk show host in the 90s. Her eponymous show ran for almost a thousand episodes. She was also the announcer on the show Judge Joe Brown. Whoa, that is crazy. First of all, that was Rolanda? Oh my gosh, I'm reading it and I'm capturing it back. I know Rolanda, I used to watch Rolanda. How did I miss Rolanda?

And then she became the announcer on Joe Brown. Good, cash that check. Anyway, Dr. Guts, 10.03 writes, Matt looks at the photo of his bandmates and decides to give him a call. We then cut to the scene where Heather is helping the band with their breathing exercises and two of the guys are wearing the same exact outfit

that they're wearing in the photograph. I guess they wasted their wardrobe budget on fedoras. I mean, maybe they're like a character band, like Kiss. Like Kiss is always in the same outfits, ultimately. You know, that's their show outfits. Right, don't bands have show outfits? I think they do. Danny the Wall writes,

"'Call to Action' for Team Sanity here. "'We're assuming a lot of circumstantial evidence "'to accept that Christie is related to Santa Claus. Thank you, Danny. Thank you for bringing up what I have been passionately saying in that episode. What if there isn't any Santa at all in this movie world and Christie is just really a disturbed person

with psychotic delusions? Danny, you and I are on the same page here. I don't believe Christie. Unless I can see him with my own eyes, I don't know who she's calling. can see him with my own eyes, I don't know who she's calling. All right, let's go to the phones. First up, Jen from Kentucky. Hi, Paul. This is Jen, and I am calling about You've Got Christmas Mail. There was a comment in the live show about one of the characters wearing a clip-on tie. I think this actually

speaks to the authenticity of the representation of the Postal Service in the film. My husband used to be a supervisor at UPS and he had to wear a tie to work, but it had to be a clip-on because they work around conveyor belts. And if you're wearing a traditional necktie and it gets hung in a conveyor belt, you're in trouble. You wear clip-on ties so that they will just rip off the front of your shirt instead of taking you down to the conveyor belt and, you know, causing all sorts of terrible trauma. Anyway, hope that helps. Love the show. Love you all. Thank you so much for all the joy and laughter you guys bring into our lives. I wish you all a Merry Christmas, happy holidays,

and a very happy 2025. Thank you, Jen. Yes, I've heard a lot of these theories. As a matter of fact, there's a famous story, well, not a famous story, a story on, that I remember because it happened to me. On Human Giant, we, our showrunner, got into a fight with our costume designer

because Aziz and I were playing cops and We had regular ties and he's like you would never put regular ties on a police officer They need clip-on ties. So if someone goes to choke the cop it would fall right off. So I guess what I'm realizing is Most people need clip-on ties because they can be choked so I need clip-on ties because they can be choked. So I didn't know that about cops. I don't think it made a difference in our sketch. I think that we were giving our costume designer a hard time. And if I was a little bit smarter and older, I would have stepped in there. And I think I did. But here's what I'm saying. Clip-on ties are for our protection. All right, let's go to Austin. What

do you got? Hi, this is Austin calling about the post office talk podcast. Wanted to mention a big part of the reason why the post office runs at a deficit is because of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006. You mentioned that it had been running at a deficit for about 15 years and a large part of that is because the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act,

which up until then, the post office funded their pensions on a pay as you go basis, which is how most places do it. But this law required the Postal Service to calculate all of its likely pension costs over the next 75 years and then stow away enough money between 2007 and 2016 to cover most of those pensions for 75 years. The result of that was a massive catastrophe for the post office. The postmaster general said in 2015 that their $15 billion debt is a direct result of the mandates. According to the week, the USPS began defaulting on pension payments in 2012, but the Postal

Service lost $62.4 billion between 2007 and 2006. Its inspector general attributed $54.8 billion of that to pre-funding retiree benefits. So there you go. Thought it was worth mentioning that a big part of the reason they're running at a deficit, some of it's competition, some of it's modernization, but a big part of it is because they were required to cover all of their pensions for 75 years, which is pretty silly. Anyway, thanks.

Love the podcast, bye. Now this is fascinating. I read about this after the show because I was interested in this. Now this is not the end of the post office talk. No, it's not. Because Carrie the librarian, not Carrie the postal service worker,

explains why the post office is important. Hey guys, this is Carrie the librarian. I actually just paused the new episode a few seconds Hey guys, this is Carrie the librarian. I actually just paused the new episode a few seconds into it, few minutes into it, to call about the post office real quick. This is a really important topic because it's honestly kind of like saying, why do we need libraries? We've got Amazon, it's about access.

As somebody who has spent a fair amount of time in rural Alaska, let me tell you, the post office is super important. And it being part of the government, and while yes it is self-funded, it still needs taxpayer dollars because the postal office is the USPS is the only ones that will go to rural villages, to out of the way places, very difficult locations. Amazon, UPS, FedEx, the ANCHL, none of these people will go to the fishing villages who will deliver to extremely rural post boxes, et cetera.

So in order for literally everybody in the country Yes, it's a great way to get your mail delivered to extremely rural post boxes, etc. In order for literally everybody in the country to get their mail, the post office is important. But yes, it does self-fund. It works really hard to self-fund, and especially on Christmas time. So if you want to love your post office, get some stamps. They have cool seasonal stamps. Anyway, I love you guys. I'm going to go back to listening to the podcast, and I love you guys. I'm gonna go back to watching the podcast,

listening to the podcast, and I hope you have a great holiday. Yes, exactly, Carrie. And this is what June was saying at the top of the episode. She had this momentary thought of, why do we need it? And then when she did some research on it, she changed her tune. That's what we were saying at the top of the show. People didn't know, you've let us know, and now we got it. All right, thank you, Kerry.

Thank you, Austin, for giving us some good old post office details. I'm like, I feel very connected to the post office now. Our post office truck on our Christmas tree is right in front. We gotta support our post office. And congratulations to the Canadian post office who just recently came off strike.

So Vicki from Winnipeg, what do you got? First of all, I love the episode of Christmas Mail. I had a lot of big laughs listening to it. I want to talk about Heather. Why didn't they just make her his cousin or his other sister? Why did she have to be this other woman who could potentially be a love interest for him? Also, I feel like they went out of their way to make sure we knew how fun Heather was. So she was always like skipping while walking slowly down the street with the little girl,

but she had to stand frame so she couldn't really skip that much. Or they were always like tickling each other or dancing, any interaction. Just seemed very unnatural. Happy holidays, love the show, and thanks for all you do. You know, Vicki, great question. Could have been a sister, right? Could have been a sister, would have been easier if it was a sister, would have been maybe less creepy.

Oh, I guess her sister died. I guess his sister died, I should say. Huh. Well, maybe if there's any other family member They were worried that like why doesn't that person who's more responsible take care of the kid? Probably that was a reason like he clearly shouldn't be taking care of the kid So if you introduce a family member who could take care of the kid you'd be like why isn't the kid with that person? Anyway, I also want to point out that someone on Discord realized that Matt was making a sandwich with

peanut butter and jelly and vegetables. So there we go. He's not good. But yes, Heather probably should have been maybe a distant cousin. I don't know. Yes, it would have been better. All right, let's go back to the Discord for one last message. Okay.

This is from Wicker Man. Longtime listener. First time working on a movie featured on the pod. Wait, this is from Wicker Man, longtime listener, first time working on a movie featured on the pod. Wait, hold on. What? Wicker Man says, uh, they were the location manager on Christmas Mail and I don't fully understand how the post office works either, but I can help answer a small percentage of movie related questions that came up in the episode. Oh, Wicker Man, I cannot wait. Okay, first of all, unsurprisingly, it was a quick shoot. Principal photography lasted for 14 days in the spring of 2010,

and the finished film was delivered a few months later in time for the holidays. At the time, I took a big swing and reached out to the USPS corporate, and I asked them, could I shoot there? And they got permission to film at an actual USPS facility and use the official USPS logo and signage on screen. Now all the scenes in the USPS sorting area were filmed on one Sunday, yep just one day, to be clear the interior scenes in the post office suites were filmed at different non USPS locations over multiple days and those

machines were a bit loud in the sorting area so most of the dialogue in those scenes had to be 80 yard later. Now that space was so large that some of the crews used bikes and tricycles to move to different locations like Matt did in the film. Now the USPS did not finance the film or anything like that, nor did the Ragman, to my knowledge, I mean we have to, well you wouldn't know if the Ragman was involved, honestly, Wickerman. Ragman works in mysterious ways. The truth is that the on-site USPS staff, as well as all the USPS corporate filming contacts, were very kind and generous to this film. They even offered an official uniform to our wardrobe department so everyone

would look the right way. Now, I agree the exteriors definitely felt Pasadena-coded. Now, most of the movie was filmed in the Valley and Santa Clarita. For me, the work experience was fun. We were all aware of the type of movie we were making and the stakes and budget were very low. I since moved on from locations and have never worked on a film quite like Christmas Mail again. Also, the whole crew was paid in fedoras. I made 10 fedoras a week and was able to put my kids through college. Oh man, Joe Wicker, forget it. I'm not even gonna hesitate.

You, my friend, are the winner of this week's Corrections and Omissions. And you don't get anything, but you do get this amazing song from Case Silva. Hit it! You win, are you proud? Think you'll stand out from the rest of the crowd. But now,

here's the thing. All you get through that is just some fucking nothing. Thank you, Kase, for that song. And thank you, Joe, for all that amazing info. I mean, if you don't come away loving the post office

more and more after this episode, you must be dead inside. Anyway, if you wanna submit a theme song to us, email your theme to howdidthisgetmadeatearwolf.com. Please keep them short. 15 to 20 seconds is best. And if you wanna chime in with your own thoughts about the latest episode,

hit up the Discord at Discord.gg slash HDTGM or call us at 619-P-A-U-L-A-S-K. Okay, coming up after the break, we are talking about movie BS, plus Jason will stop by to just chat, stick around. How did this get me? How did this get me? All right, welcome back everybody.

Before Jason stops by, our friends at Midas have inspired us to talk about some BS trends in movies. But remember, when it comes to car care, there's even more BS out there. Bad service that is. Now Midas provides an auto experience without the BS. From oil changes to tires, they provide reliable service that you can trust. And I trust that all of you have delivered on my demand to call us and sound off on what you think is BS in movies.

So let's go to the phones. Jake from Milwaukee. Hey, Paul, this is Jake in Milwaukee with a BS movie trend. It drives me up a wall. It's the Christmas party on Christmas Eve. I've never worked for a company that would even consider such a thing. I don't know, maybe it was a big deal in the 70s and 80s. But I can't imagine a company having a Christmas party on Christmas Eve. Love you guys. Bye. That's right, Jake. That would be, I mean, only people probably like working on Grand

Theft Auto, you know, where they're not allowed to leave their desk, are having Christmas parties on Christmas Eve. It is a psychotic way to move forward in this world. All right. What else do we have? Ben from DC. Hey Paul, this is Ben driving around thinking about things I hate in movies, something I do not enjoy in movies or people who don't appear to have jobs, don't appear to be independently wealthy

and just spend all their time on the plot of the movie. You have to have a job to survive as a middle-class person. That should always be a part of a movie. It shouldn't just be frictionless free living. It always bothers me. And I think it adds a lot to a movie when you actually have to work and earn a living. Anyway, thanks for all the great entertainment

over the years. Amen, Ben. Yes, you are right. People need jobs in movies. We make it all about like the girlfriend or the boyfriend. What about showing up to work? You can't just solve the mystery and not go to work. Okay? The mystery ain't paying you. So I love this point of view. It's something that I think we overlook so much. Just people don't have jobs. So far, 10 out of 10. Jay coming in hot, Ben coming

in hotter. And now we go to Anonymous. Hi Paul, I have a BS movie trend. Whenever a movie acknowledges that they're doing something that has been seen in other movies, they always have to say it's like something from a bad movie. Why does it have to be a bad movie? Why can't they just say it's from a movie? Thank you. Anonymous, I'm going to agree to disagree here because yes, you are right. It's kind of like a bad movie trope. They're like hey You know how that thing is bad in a movie well if we comment on it It's probably not that bad because we're commenting on it. I agree with you that sucks

But then when you have like a scene like Philip Seymour Hoffman and Magnolia saying you know that scene in the movie We're like they're trying to find the Sun and you them up like that's this scene that works really good. So Yes, it's hack, but it could be used Well, we do use movie references in our lives, but I hate it the way that you talk about it So, you know what? I'm a mixed on yours, but I believe that your heart is in the right spot and these are amazing BS trends that we are seeing in movies. I love this. I want to continue this segment. Keep on calling us. I love hearing your thoughts. So thanks again to Midas for sponsoring this segment and remember

don't let yourself get taken for a ride when you bring your car in for service. Turn to Midas for transparent automobile care without the BS. Say goodbye to bad service and visit Midas.com for a location near you. Alright people, now that we've said goodbye to BS, let's say hello to a little Just Chat. Seth Chatfield, perfect name, play us in. Is it this? Could it be that? A little swing of the cane? A little tip of the hat? No, it's Jason Jason, how are you? Paul, I'm doing great. Hooray!

Hooray! Man, oh man, there are so many things going on. And I have to ask you right off the bat, because I think you and I, there's a certain type of film that we like, that we enjoy. Did you watch the movie Carry On on Netflix? I have not. It's so funny you say that, because I was driving through Los Angeles the other day,

driving down Sunset Boulevard, and came upon, at this time of year, there is an overabundance of, for your consideration, there's tons of billboards and installations and stuff. And the installation for the movie, Carry On, is a three story tall Christmas tree made out of black roller suitcases on sunset. I was looking at this thing like what on earth is this

monstrosity and then figured out that it was promo for this movie. A movie that, uh, as someone has said, uh, does what, uh, what Top Gun has done for Air Force for TSA workers. Uh, it is, it is a, it is, Taron Egerton is our hero. Our bad guy is Jason Bateman. And,

And it's a holiday set TSA airport, like thriller, right? Yes. Thriller. Very reminiscent of Die Hard 2, I would imagine. Oh yes, of course. It is fun. I won't tell you much more about it, but here's the thing, every now and then, and you know that June loves a plane movie, this movie kept her up, like she falls asleep

five minutes into anything that's not really like, Fully engaged. Fully engaged, up and rewinding sequences, and excited about wanting to talk about it the next day. Never are these things that June does. It's so funny. Oh, that's great.

Oh, I'm excited to watch it. Yeah, so I think you will. I think the beginning, if anything, if people watch it, like I would say at the beginning, I'm like, I don't know what's happening here. But then it gets, then it gets, within the first five, the first five minutes, there's just a little bit of, they gotta make you like the character. And sometimes I find that to be a little bit like,

all right, all right, we got it. Wait, like the baddie or the good guy? No, the good guy. Oh, like a classic save the cat kind of moment? Yes, and I like Taron Egerton a lot, but I felt like I'm like, we're existing in this. Is he playing Elton John in this? Well, that's the funniest thing is like,

they put a piano for his TSA thing. So he, when he's pulling it through, it's a kind of a subtle. You know how some airports just have a piano in the middle of the airport. Like he just like saunters over and starts playing Elton John. That would be, I want that we should have more mashups

of people playing characters in other movies. Like, we just like, you know, just like- Wouldn't that be so funny? Incongruous. I would love it. I would love it if people were in other movies as the characters they were famous at from a previous movie. Well, that was kind of like I was watching, like Roger, not Roger Rabbit. I was watching Last Action Hero, which we were watching for a blank check. And they have funny little asides like that.

Like Humphrey Bogart was partnered up with somebody else from Casablanca. I was like, oh, this is, I want more of that. I like that. Why not? That will be what that... Just give us more. That's what AI is gonna be. We're gonna be like, yeah.

That is what AI is gonna be. It's gonna be like, oh, okay, what about if Pee Wee Herman was playing the, you know, a character playing, you know, and you Wee Herman was playing the you know a character playing You know and and you just start to get it down the rabbit hole of fictitious characters meeting other fictitious characters But here's the thing it does not that I'm saying anything revolutionary about AI It does lose some of its soul because you start to realize the personality of the person who's inputting the options like I saw One that I didn't even seek out it just kind of popped up on my social media.

It was like, Chris Farley in GQ ad. So it was just like Chris Farley being really sexy. And that was interesting. And then the other one that I saw recently. So that's just such insight into the person who made that. Yes. And it's like, there's no sound to it. So you're just watching like Chris Farley

like in nice suits, like, and looking very un-Chris Farley-like. Okay, so you just's no sound to it. So you're just watching Chris Farley in nice suits and looking very un-Chris Farley-like. Okay, so you just said you came across it. You said you are not looking for sexy Chris Farley photos. Okay, just making sure. As far as you know, yes. So how do you come across it? Where is it, where does it exist?

So there are these pages. So occasionally if you're watching, especially on TikTok, but if you're watching Instagram. Oh, it's just in your feed or something like that. It's in your feed. And so Instagram, I'll watch something that I did wanna watch. And then as I click through the next thing, it might just be that thing.

The other one that I really love that I sent to my basketball chat group is it was how Michael Jordan saved LeBron from a plane accident. So they're both sitting together in their uniforms, holding hands because they're scared of the turbulence. And then the plane explodes and Michael Jordan jumps out of the plane.

He has the only like a parachute and grabs LeBron and they fly down together. Oh my God. This is, but that's what I guess, and I wonder is that what is going to be, will this contribute to the end of kind of how much social media people consume when the amount of what they're looking at

is just patently AI, like fiction? You know what I mean? It's like, it's, you know, I would argue that sexual or like sexual fan fiction, fan fiction in general, they have niche audiences, you know, because they are very specific. So I imagine that, you know, anyone who's gonna be like, oh, I need to see how Michael Jordan saved LeBron

in a plane crash, I don't know how many, what the audience is for that, right? No, my question is more, my question is more, once all of your feed is more, more just these crazy constructs that are not what you're looking for, but are what you're being fed, at what point do you like,

why would I look at this platform when 80% of what I'm seeing is nonsensical AI generated content that is not for my niche fandom? You know what I mean? Or whatever. Sometimes you'll come across Elton John chopping onions generated content that is not for my niche fandom. You know what I mean? Or whatever. Sometimes you'll come across Elton John chopping onions

and you're like, wow, I didn't know I needed to see this. Look, and I have seen that. I've seen Elton John. I don't know what that is, but okay. Just Elton John in a kitchen chopping onions. Is it real or is it AI? No, it's AI. Oh my God.

Oh my God. And again, I'm like, who's making that prompt? This is a game show. Is it real or is it AI? Yeah. Oh my God. It really is.'m like, who's making that prompt? This is a game show. Is it real or is it AI? Yeah. Oh my God. It really is. It's a bizarre, it is interesting,

especially as I talk to my kids about stuff. You know, you have to kind of let them understand that things are not always real, you know? Sure. And I remember we were going to school one day and one of their kids that we were carpooling with is like, I saw that there's a dog the size of the White House. And I'm like, well, that's not true.

And they're like, no, I saw it on YouTube. I'm like, well, yeah, but yes, but you understand, like YouTube is not like a fact-based. And he's like, but I saw it, I saw a dog the size of the White House. Well, he's got alternative facts. Yes, exactly. And then you have to talk to my kids about that.

And I have to be like, there is no saw. One of the kids in your carpool is Kellyanne Conway, right? Yeah, but, you know, look, something she says I disagree with, but a lot of times I know her heart's in the right place. Uh... Wait, did you get to the root of the dog the size of a lighthouse? Yeah, it was just a crazy...

It was even like... I mean, the shit that my kids are watching on YouTube. I mean, it's like... and they're watching kids' YouTube. So that's the one that's like really vetted. Like you can't get much stuff on kids' YouTube. You know, like I can't even find a how-to for them. Like for drawing how-tos, it's like, it really stops. Like my kid has done every drawing one, but.

So yeah, it's just like, you know, funny picture of dog as big as White House. It could be as simple as that, you know, just like that's all. And it was a still, still image of a giant dog. And I'm also like, the funny thing to me was the lead wasn't, oh my God, there's a scary, the dog is big as the White House.

It was like, oh, I wanna get a dog as big as the White House. Like this kid wanted a Clifford. And not like I'm scared of Clifford. Well, cause that's what I was gonna say, like we had Clifford or Marmaduke, of course, big giant dogs in our world. In our stories rather. Stories.

But you know, but to consider that, yeah, the kids these days are just like learning off of YouTube just like the preposterous nature of the world. Boy, would it be hard to like drill down into what is real and what is not right now. Well, that's why I mean, you know, I will say as a parent, I am being subjected to words that I've never heard before.

It's the first time I've truly felt old when, you know, Skibbity Riz. Like slang, you mean, Skibbity Do Toilet or whatever? Yeah, yeah, Skibbity, Ohio, Gat, a lot of Gats. Yeah. I'm like, oh boy, am I. Somebody else who has teenagers was just running down all of this for me, and it was making

me laugh so hard because to hear my 50-something-year-old friend detail all of her kids' slang terms was making me laugh for so long because she was having to deliver them earnestly, and I would be like, well, no, how do you use that, though? Yeah, well, by the way, I'm, and that's where I get on line and I start going, all right, there's a guy I follow on TikTok, he's called like Mr. So-and-so, the middle school slang teacher,

and he's like, I teach these kids and this is what I got. And I'm like, and the funniest thing is, and this is the thing that I've found to be the most interesting. So I watched that and I tried to be up on it. And then I'll ask my kids what they mean. They don't even know what it means. They're just repeating.

Oh, so some of these things are beyond, oh, oh, they don't know, they just, they know context. They know how to use it. They just know skibbity, they don't know what even like, you know, skibbity toilet means. They just know that they're saying skibbity toilet. They know Riz means something, but they don't really know what Riz means.

They do know that Gap means butt, but they're not saying it in a way that's like aggressive. You know, it's so crazy. It's so crazy. It really makes me laugh. Really, I'm always just like, okay, all right, guys. But then they're surprised when I know what it means, and they don't, so then I'm like, then I had a nice. Well, because you're researching the etymology of these things, and they're surprised when I know what it means, and they don't. So then I'm like, then I had the nice suggestion. Well, because you're researching the etymology

of these things, and they're just overhearing them and then reusing them. Yes, and then now we've gotten into a thing, too, with June where, and this is probably something that you'll fall into if you have these kids, which is I don't know how to gauge what is appropriate and what is not appropriate for them. Oh, yeah, yeah, like what is too sexual

or what's a dirty or a swear word? Yeah, so like, I mean, more matter of factly, my wife walked in on me and my eight-year-old playing Mortal Kombat and she was like, you cannot play that with him, it's too violent. I'm like, well, I mean, it's not that violent. I mean, it is, but it's also kind of funny violent. I'm like, but I'm like, you know.

Is that the one where you like rip someone's spine out? Yeah, exactly, it's, but it's also kind of funny, violent. I'm like, but I'm like, you know. Sure, is that the one where you like rip someone's like spine out? Yeah, exactly. It's like, you know. And look, he doesn't know how to do that move. We're just kicking and punching. Sure, sure, sure, sure. He doesn't know the finishing moves. No, but what is acceptable in our house

is Star Wars Battlefront, which is something that we play a lot, which is just, you know, and there's a thing called Ewok Hunt, where you just go around trying to kill Ewoks. Whoa! But they're very resourceful, these Ewoks. They're gonna come get you. Wow, I mean, as someone who hated the Ewoks,

I would love, I'm surprised they let you play a campaign where you can hunt the Ewoks. Ewok Hunt is a lot of fun, but again, like I said, hard to kill these fucking Ewoks. They're tricky. Oh, yub nub. You know? Ha ha ha.

By the way, that was a moment that I showed my kids that blew their mind. We were watching something, and I was able to show them the original face of Anakin Skywalker. Oh. Not, you know, and like at the end when they're like on the planet. Oh, that's what it was. I was playing them that Yub Nub song, because I was like, you gotta hear the original song. And then they cut over to Luke looking over.

And my son's like, who's that old guy? I'm like... BOTH LAUGH Oh, that's Anakin Skywalker. And I was like, that's Anakin Skywalker. And he's like, no, it's not. And I go, yeah, it is. It is.

BOTH LAUGH Wow. I mean, imagine, you can, I like, no, it's not. And I go, yeah, it is. It is. It is. Wow. I mean, imagine you can, I mean, look, you can, for your kids, Star Wars, the, like, exposing yourself to Star Wars as a child is to experience all of the aging process that George Lucas spent the last 16 years depicting. They can watch it all at once. From a young person's story,

from a coming of age young person's story to a story that is about the totality of a person's life, from light to dark to light again, what a crazy story to process. Well, and I'm gonna give you a little thing that you're not gonna like. What they often say to me is like, and I'm gonna give you a little thing that you're not gonna like. What they often say to me is like, I hate when they get old.

I don't wanna watch them when they're old. Of course, I feel like that's what the old people are saying too. I feel like all the old fans are like, oh, but you know, like the toxic fandom of Star Wars, I feel like wishes it was more, like again, you guys are too old to talk about this show like this.

Right, right, right, yes. It's supposed to talk about this show like this. You know? It's supposed to be a story about young people for young people. I will say though, skeleton crew so far is wonderful young people storytelling, Star Wars young people storytelling. It's great. This is what I get that I'm so kind of blown away by.

I'm like, how can they make it so good? And what I think, like, there's a lot of stuff that's bad, right? Or not bad or mid-length sometimes. But this is like what they did that they took a giant swing and created, like, again, just if people have not watched it, we won't spoil it all, but suburban planet. We've never seen that in Star Wars.

Never have seen a planet that doesn't have a lot of spires going up in the sky, a planet really during the day, like in school. I mean, Coruscant is an entire city, an entire planet that is a city. There are no suburbs, it's all just a city. So to see a beautiful suburban, Amblin-esque kind of a suburb is really funny and funny.

I thought that was so cool. And I'm like, and the fact that that got through whatever it got through, I was like, this is great. Like I'm, and it just makes me go, we need more of that. You just need more people just allowing that to happen. I think, you know, and then you're gonna get better stories. But I love it, I highly recommend it.

I'm having a blast with it. I think it's so fun, I'm really enjoying it. And I just love a Goonies style coming of age, kid story, kid adventure story, regardless. So the fact that they've put it into very compelling Star Wars world, great. I love it so far. I love it. And I love that guy.

Who's he? The dad of that one kid. He's from a band, right? Oh, it's Tunde Adabimbe from TV on the Radio. Yes. I love him. They recently are not reformed because I don't think they've properly broke up, but a band that has been

on hiatus for many years and has come back together and is playing a lot of shows and releasing music again. They just released the 20th anniversary of their debut record, incredible band TV on the radio. Yeah, I love it. And fantastic actor, Tunde Adubimbe, and amazing singer. Who also is in Twisters, very good.

Oh yeah, was in Twisters, is in Rachel Getting Married, is in a bunch of movies. He's one of those guys who I feel like, he's a great actor, but also his voice does so much great work for him. Like he's just got a great, great voice. I'm like, I'm on, I'm on, whatever you're saying, I'm on, I'm on in.

Big time. Anything else you've been watching, been? Yeah, I've watched some pretty fun stuff. I'll keep going on the line of like stuff for young people. Yeah. We're talking about Skeleton Crew. Taskmaster Jr. has started on YouTube, which is- So good. Exceptional. Like we've Crew. Taskmaster Jr. has started on YouTube, which is exceptional.

Like we've talked about Taskmaster before, but this is so fun. I am loving it. And I have the Taskmaster app, so I get all the things. You know, it's great. You get every country, every show, it's all there. It can go right onto your Apple TV or your Roku,

whatever you have. And we are, as a family, loving it. I will say that, like, my kids are enjoying the sassiness of these kids. Because when you go out, that was the part I was like, oh, I wonder how they're gonna do this, like the conversation pieces. Totally. And Rose is so funny with them.

And Wozniak is so sweet and supportive. Yes. It's weird because you would think, oh, I don't know if they could do, but they managed to keep the soul of the show. It's still very funny. And they keep their status as Taskmaster, but at the same time, they allow themselves to be poked, it's really beautifully done.

I- It's very, it's very well done. And cause Taskmaster is, it can be very, you know, Greg, it can be very surly, it can be very negative, it can be like, like a lot of roasting and ball busting and all that stuff. And so to apply it to now a children's show,

you have to keep all of that energy and that mischievous, chaotic energy while still keeping it appropriate for kids, which is a really hard trick, but they do it so well. They thread the needle expertly, and the show is not just a blast, but in the same way that I have felt about MasterChef Junior

or some of the other shows like that, the emotionality of the kids and their stories is so wonderful and accessible. Um, it's really, it's so funny, but also so sweet and heartfelt in a way that regular Taskmaster Simple is not, you know? Um, I'll shout out a couple of other things. Um, the Netflix show Black Doves, espionage show starring Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw,

is terrific. Is just a straight-up British espionage spy story. Six episodes, very fun, very pulpy. Maybe not as spy crafty as A Slow Horses, but nonetheless a very, very compelling spy thriller. Really fun. I like that, okay. I'm gonna watch that.

June has been watching and she told me I should talk about it, Disclaimer. She loves Disclaimer. Oh, I haven't watched it yet, yeah. She loves it, oh good. She loves it and is, and again, every now and then, she'll watch one of these shows and it surprises the hell out of me.

And this is the one that she is constantly talking about. This is the Cuaron one, I haven't watched any of it. I'm curious. Well, have you seen the short that Cuaron did with David Lowry on Disney Plus? Oh wait, is it the owl one? Yes. Oh, I did, I didn't know that Cuaron did it.

I thought it was just David Lowry. Okay, yes, I did watch that. It's David Lowry directing it and Cuaron producing it. I thought it was just David Lowry. Yes. Okay, yes, I did watch that. It's David Lowry directing it and Cuaron producing it. I thought that was really beautiful. Oh, cool. Yeah, we may have missed that. I did too. I thought it was stunning.

It's like a stop motion animation kind of. Yeah, really, really loved it. Beautiful thing. I loved that. I loved that thing. I will also shout out Man on the Inside, the Mike Schur Netflix show. Oh, I've been meaning to watch it, yes.

This show is absolutely phenomenal. This is a show where Mike Schur created from Parks and Rec and The Good Place, Ted Danson, of course, you know. Ted Danson, retired man, goes undercover, retired professor, takes a job and goes undercover, retired professor, goes, takes a job and goes undercover in an old age home, an assisted living facility, in order to do detective work at the behest of like a young private investigator.

And so he's the man on the inside. And what ostensibly is a setup for a very funny sitcom, a half hour show full of very funny characters and very funny stuff, is in fact that, but then gives way to this absolutely beautiful show that is about grief and loss and mortality and all of the discrepancies between parent and child and what it is to get older and lose your partner or lose the things that are keeping you invested and moving forward

in the world when you've lost your partner or lost your job or aren't working anymore. It is confronting so many things, the differences between adult children and their aging parents is such a component of it. It's absolutely fantastic. The show is absolutely so silly and so funny. I've never seen my dad laugh harder

than he did at this show. He laughed so hard at this show. And then turn on a dime and be absolutely devastating and heartbreaking in a way that is so earned and so wonderful. I think the show is fantastic. Man on the inside. All right, I've been meaning, it's on my to-do list and I have to watch it.

I've been watching a bunch of movies because I try to like, you know. What do you got? Well, I mean, I'm just new, like I'm in Christmas mode. I'm watching favorites. I'm like, yeah, so I'm not doing anything new. So that is like, you know, I'm down to watch like the Travis Kelcey, Taylor Swift, Kansas City Chiefs

produced by movie Hallmark film. I'm watching shit like that. I didn't know that. I did watch, I watched the Sabrina Carpenter Christmas special. I've been wanting to watch that. And I also had to watch it. It has sketches in it.

Yes. It has sketches in it, which is crazy. Written by Megan Amram, I believe. Oh no, not, and Fran Gillespie. It's got in it. Yes. Written by Megan Amram, I believe. Oh, no, and Fran Gillespie. It's got good writers. I mean, obviously, she comes out of, like, a comedy kid background, Disney background. So she's terrific.

Like, and the show, it's fluff. It's like, you know, holiday fluff. But it was the perfect thing to have on while decorating the tree. And that's the way to do it. It was great. Do you have on while decorating the tree. So. And that's the way to do it. It was great. Do you cook at all during the holidays?

Do I cook? Cook, yeah. No. No, not really. Yeah, I get it. Why, are you? No, I mean, I do, yeah, but I'm also realizing that a majority of things I cook,

and especially on the holidays, are egg-based. Oh, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, like cookies and things like that. It'd be very hard for you to cook it. No, yeah, I have no traditions inside of like a special dessert, a special cookie, all that stuff was never, never been a part of it for me. No, yeah, all right.

Sadly. Yeah, I mean, I get it. I also understand the why. I did bring the family to Tammoshanter out here, which is a Tammoshanter. Oh, now we're going. Now we're talking. I to Tammoshanter out here, which is a Tammoshanter. Oh, now we're going. Now we're talking. I love Tammoshanter.

We do it every holiday season because they have these carolers that come to the table. And- I didn't know that. Oh yeah, it's really fun. It's really decked out for the holidays. And then the carolers come over to the table and they are absolutely amazing.

And they will pull out some weird hits. Like the other day we asked them, my mom as a matter of fact said, can you play Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer? And I was like, mom, they're not gonna sing that. And let me tell you, they sang it and they killed it. And it got the restaurant very excited. Oh, that's awesome.

Cause everyone's hearing like, side note. Yeah, for sure. They're hearing jingle bells and this, all of a sudden they're talking about Grandma getting run over by a reindeer. Oh, that's great. Oh, for sure. You know, like they're hearing jingle bells and this, all of a sudden they're talking about grandma getting run over by a reindeer. Oh, that's great. Oh, I love that. Anything else you got?

I'll shout out a couple more things. Yeah, please. I've talked a bunch lately about some of the fantastic standup specials that have come out this year. Oh, yes. From- Joe Mandy, our friend Joe Mandy as Chill. From Joe Mandy's Chill to, I mentioned James Acaster's special earlier.

Fortune Feinster. To Ali Warren's special. Langston Kerman's special that I thought was fantastic. But- Alana has a great, Alana Glaser has a great special on Hulu as well. For me, the best special of the year, a truly incredible comedy special,

is Anthony Jesselnyk's Bones and All. Absolutely. One of the funniest things I've seen. One of, I just, that special was phenomenal. Just demolished for a straight hour. I don't have the metaphor, but I can kind of give you the half metaphor that I've been playing with.

It's like, watching him do that special is like watching a magician and being surprised every time they do a trick. I'm like, oh, right, of course. Cause you think he gets you every single time. It's crazy. It's exceptional. He is, I think just the best person,

the best joke writer, the best joke teller we have currently. I think he's the best. The smartest, the sharpest, the most, like the most incisive. He's getting a knife so deep in every one of these jokes, it's crazy. And he is also, I mean, I don't wanna say it's mean.

It's not mean, but it's darker than, it's like he's able to keep you writing, there's a moment. And I say this to kind of underline how good he is at reading the audience. At a certain point I'm watching the show, I'm like, all right, I've had enough of this dead baby stuff. And literally, as I literally thought that,

he said, I know you're thinking enough of this. And I was like, and it was like, he just had it down to, like, a sign, like it was, and it was perfect. He is, he is one of the only people I feel like who is truly ahead of us. Yes. You know what I mean? Like he is, he is, whether you know it or not, and you really don't know it,

he's walking you through the special. He's holding your hand without you realizing it. He knows, and a magician is a great way to put it, or he is so in tune with what the audience is thinking and feeling at every step it is an absolute blast to watch I just thought that was a masterpiece I really was blown away by that special really really loved it you know who else I thought you know had that same vibe and completely different as far as content was Gaffigan. Gaffigan's special. I haven't watched it yet. The new one? Oh man.

I haven't watched it yet. The Gaffigan special to me is, look he's definitely catered a market of like dad jokes. For sure. But not dad jokes. But it's so effortless and funny and you're like why have I not heard this point of view articulated

or I've seen people dance around this but never articulated as well as this. And it's completely clean and it's so funny. He's so good. And again, a person that I'm like, oh right, you're surprised at how funny it is. It's like, oh, that's why he's like one of the greats. He is truly a next level talent.

He's just fantastic. All of his specials are great, but this one in particular I thought was phenomenal. Yeah. And I'll shout out a couple of movies that I watch that I think are smaller, and I would love for people to check out just cause I think they're great.

The Irish movie, Kneecap, it's called Kneecap, it's about a hip hop band, it's called Kneecap, it's about a hip hop band, it's about the Irish language, it's about a lot of things and it is just fantastic. It's a blast, it's hilarious, it's very sweet and heartfelt, Kneecap. It's terrific, I think I watched it on Netflix, I can't remember.

I've been watching so much anime and so many, like two movies this year that have truly blown my mind, like reduced me to blubbering tears that I will think about for years to come. One I've mentioned before, Blue Giant, all about creativity and jazz musicians and improvisation and stuff like that. The next one is called Look Back.

This is an anime that's also based on a manga. It's by Kiyotaka Oshiyama. Is that the one that's like only 55 minutes or something like that? It is, yes. It's like a little over an hour or it's just an hour. And it is also about creativity and collaboration and ambition and what it is to be friends

and what it is to be friends and what it is to be collaborators. And it's also a bit of a sliding doors. What if this didn't happen, but that happened? And it's about a lot. It's a coming-of-age story. It's all the stuff that gets me so in the feels. And it is absolutely fantastic. I can't recommend it enough.

I love this. It's called Look Back. And then the other one I'll recommend, which is a very sad one, but nonetheless absolutely stunning and beautiful, is the documentary Opus, which is the final performance of Ryuichi Sakimoto playing his songs for the last time.

Oh yeah. And is absolutely stunning and beautiful piece of piano, and is absolutely stunning and beautiful. Piece of piano, concert piano, just, to watch him play these songs in this manner, shot this beautifully, knowing that these are the last times he will perform many of these songs is staggering. It's really phenomenal.

Oh wow, all right, I gotta watch this. This is it, this is good. And you know, Jason, I will say that a lot of the 2024 lists have We Are Lady Parts on their list. I know you gave that a huge shout out here. That show is the best. And so, you know, listen to these recommendations. Jason knows what he's talking about.

I can't recommend We Are Lady Parts enough. It's on Peacock and another one that I'll recommend that I've recommended here before that I feel like deserves the attention is Shorzy on Hulu. Oh, love it. Those are two of the best half hours of the year. One that I'll recommend that I've recommended here before that I feel like deserves the the attention is Shorzy on Love it. Those are two of the best half hours of the year I'll shout out a couple of books just because people buy books for people for Maybe this will be out by then

Dolly Alderton's good material the Tamaki cousins roaming the Clementine books by Tilly Walden are fantastic graphic novels set inside the Walking Dead universe that are so beautiful. These are some new comics. There's been a bunch of new Batman comics that have been just absolutely beautiful. Absolute Batman by Scott Snyder and Nick Tragota, incredible. But I can't recommend enough.

Batman and Robin, year one. Mark Waid and the incredible, the incomparable Chris Somney drawing a Batman and Robin year one book. And it is so gorgeous. There's only one story. There's only, I think two issues out now, but it is, I gotta tell you, it's fantastic.

It's so good. And then last but not least, our friend Scott Aukerman has a book, The Astonishing Spider-Man, an ongoing book that he's writing on the Marvel Unlimited app. I think there are eight issues in there so far. It's terrific, it's great. I love it.

And by the way, if you're confused, I had to write all this stuff down. Don't worry about it because it's in the show description So just you know, you can go visit it at any point. You'll see it all there That is the hard work of our producer Scott who is keeping track of all the shit, which is a lot a lot of stuff Well, Jason, this is so great to talk to you. We will talk soon. Great bye for now Thank you, Jason for dropping by now It is finally time to announce our next movie and all I have to say is what you're gonna do

What you're gonna do when they come for you? That's right next episode. We'll be watching 2024 is bad boys ride or die. That's right bad boys 4 starring Will Smith Martin Lawrence and Vanessa Hudgens this is the fourth movie in the bad boys franchise and I gotta say they keep on getting better and better. Alright here's a breakdown of the plot when their late police captain gets linked to drug cartels, Wisecrack and Miami Cops, Mike Lowry, Marcus Burnett embark on a dangerous mission to clear his name. Alright Rotten Tomatoes gives this film a 65% score on the tomato meter. What? What? Oh man and my, unspooled co-host Amy Nicholson wrote in the Washington Post,

Lawrence's high spirits also defibrillate the franchise. Turns out the bad boys film need less swagger and more dorky, goofy joy. Well that I can agree with. This movie is funny and weird and it's perfect. Let's listen to the trailer for Bad Boys, Ride or Die. Mike, you've been my partner a long time. You my boy. and it's perfect. Let's listen to the trailer for Bad Boys, Ride or Die. That's my boy! Bad boys. I got this Mike. What you don't do! Be gone, Gator.

I rebuke you! That's how you command the universe. They're my braves, Mike. They're my braves! Read it R. Tickets on sale now. Bad Boys, Ride or Die is available to stream on Netflix. You can rent it on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV. In addition, I also encourage you to check out Hoopla, Canopy and Libby,

which are digital media services offered by your local public library that allow you to consume movies, TV, and music, audio books, any books, and comics for free. I mean, why aren't you using those? It's so good. Anyway, that is it for last looks. If you listen to us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, please rate and review us. Please also make sure that you are following us and have automatic downloads turned on. Yes, that helps the show a lot and we appreciate it. Visit us all on social media at HDTGM. a big thank you to our producers Scott, Sonny

and Molly Reynolds and our movie picking producer Averill Halley, our associate producer Jess Cisneros and our engineer Casey Holford. We'll see you next week for Bad Boys Ride or Die.