How Did This Get Made? - Last Looks: The Big Hit

Episode Date: May 15, 2026

Was Antonio Saboto Jr.'s character moonlighting as a drag queen? And was Melvin Smiley based on a character in Murder, She Wrote? Paul finds answers to these questions and more when he responds to your corrections & omissions on last week's The Big Hit episode. Then, Jason pops in to chat with Paul about Widow's Bay, Taskmaster, and many more TV shows they're currently loving. And you know at the end of the episode Paul announces next week's new movie!   JASON & PAUL'S RECS: Widow's Bay Taskmaster (Season 21) Fatiha El-Ghorri's short film "Donkey" Last One Laughing UK (Season 2) The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins Dark Winds (Season 4) The Comeback (Season 3) Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord Film Club The Gold Soviet Jeans • Go to hdtgm.com for tour dates, merch, FAQs, and more• Leave us a voicemail at speakpipe.com/hdtgm• Submit your Last Looks theme song to us here• Join the HDTGM conversation on Discord: discord.gg/hdtgm• Buy merch at howdidthisgetmade.dashery.com/• Order Paul’s book about his childhood: Joyful Recollections of Trauma• Shop our new hat collection at podswag.com• Paul’s Discord: discord.gg/paulscheer• Paul’s YouTube page: youtube.com/paulscheer• Follow Paul on Letterboxd: letterboxd.com/paulscheer• Subscribe to Enter The Dark Web w/ Paul & Rob Huebel: youtube.com/@enterthedarkweb• Listen to Unspooled with Paul & Amy Nicholson: unspooledpodcast.com• Listen to The Deep Dive with June & Jessica St. Clair: thedeepdiveacademy.com/podcast• Instagram: @hdtgm, @paulscheer, & @junediane• Twitter: @hdtgm, @paulscheer, & msjunediane  • Jason is not on social media• Episode transcripts available at how-did-this-get-made.simplecast.com/episodesGet 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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

drag queens ghosts and a little murder she wrote all this and more on this week's last looks hit the theme hello to all my breakdancing assassins i am your host and people pleasing hitman paul shere and welcome to how did this get made last looks where you the listener get to voice your issues on the big hit a movie that discord user you brace yourself thinks should have had the tagline the big hit these rental fees just might cost you your life. All right, thank you. You brace yourself for that alt tagline. A big shout out to Latex drool for today's opening theme song.

And remember, if you have a alt movie tagline submitted to us on our Discord at Discord.g. And if you have a Last Looks theme song, go to hdtgm.com and click on a submit a song button on our homepage. Remember, keep them short, 15 to 20. 20 seconds is best. Coming up on today's episode, we're going to be hearing all your corrections and omissions on the big hit. Then Jason will join me for a just chat. We're going to talk about our new favorite show. Also, just kind of check in. We haven't gotten a chance to really break down all the things that we've been excited about, but I got to talk about Widows Bay. And we do it in a way where there's no spoilers. So if you haven't watched yet, we'll just going to psych you up. And if you have watched, it's just confirming you have great taste. As always, at the end of the show, I will reveal the movie that we'll be covering for next week's episode. People, heads up.

We're going to be back at Largo in Los Angeles on June 5th. Snag your tickets now at hdtgm.com. We will announce the movie soon, so keep on checking back in. Dinosaur Improv will be at the Del Close Marathon in New York City on June 12th and 13th. You can get info at Dinosaurimprov.com. It's all part of the Del Close Marathon if you've never been to the Delcose Marathon. or if you are a giant fan, I'm going to tell you that I'm going to be doing a retrospective

on what's in the dumpster with Chris Getherd. We're going to do a reunion of Match Game 76 on Saturday night. Also going to be joining the George Lucas talk show. So many great shows that weekend. It's June 11th, 12th, and 13th. Come out, check out Dinosaur. We're doing two big shows and also so many fun, small shows around the horn. All right, that is it for all the plugs.

and let's get into it last week. We talked at length about the big hit. Well, we had questions, and we might have even missed a few things. Here's your chance to set us straight. Fact-check us, if you will. It is now time for corrections and omissions. To whom it may concern.

Gonna drop some knowledge on you. So get ready to learn. Tell us something that we don't know. Maybe something they said wrong in the show. Corrections and omissions. Corrections and omission. Thank you, Wally Tarkington, for that theme song. Now, before I get into your comments, I'm sure you've heard in our episode that June and I had this disagreement about whether they established the character, Keiko, to be in college, despite clearly seeming like she was in high school.

Now, after he recorded the episode, we did find and insert a clip from the movie where Keiko's dad does say the line, I need to pick up my daughter at college. So, June? you've been corrected. But yes, I also acknowledge it was creepy and probably a fix that was done in ADR. But I did hear that line, so I feel vindicated. All right, let's go to the Discord. Firebert says, as a Trekkie, my mind always focused on Avery Brooks' character, Paris, in this movie. He feels like the one person who's doing a mostly serious badass character while everyone else is doing Looney Tunes.

But I also have to point out how weird it is that they named Lou Diamond Phillips' character, Cisco. I mean, sure, it's a different spelling, but it's so weird to have the name of Avery Brooks's Star Trek character Captain Sisko. It would be like naming a character Picard in a Patrick Stewart movie. I got to say, I agree with you 100%, but here's the thing. Avery Brooks is so badass in this movie that I forget that he's Cisco because he's carrying himself completely different. And so I can separate the Star Trek from the man. Not always, but I can in this. Picard would be unforgivable.

B.B. Max writes, while the meal prep scene was essential to discuss, let's talk about the kitchen fire afterwards. Melvin enters the kitchen to find the whole, uncut chicken, on fire, while it sits in an uncovered pan on the stove top. Can you even cook a whole chicken this way? I mean, let alone a chicken getting hot enough to burst into flames. Yes, I believe that the same amount of research they put into cutting wires in this movie, they put into cooking chicken.

There's no way that a chicken would burst into flames, especially in that short of a period of time. I don't think, I've never really started a fire in the house. Smoke, sure. But this chicken seems like it was big. based in kerosene to kind of ignite. I'm looking at an image of it right now. It is literally impossible.

No one is cooking a stove chicken, rotisserie chicken on a stove top. That doesn't happen. I mean, you know, there's stovetop stuffing. That's on a stove top, but not stove top chicken. All right, let's go to the phones. Anthony from Florida. Hi, Paul, Jason, and June.

This is Anthony. I am also a former video store clerk. In 1998, I got my first ever DVD player, and one of the movies I got was the big hit. And I just wanted to say that in the deleted scenes, they showed what happened to Vince. Antonio Sabato Jr. had a drag show to go to. So at one point, he shows back up, and he's in full drag, and he's like, hey, I told you, I had that thing to do this weekend. So that's where he was. I have no idea why they didn't keep that in the movie.

Oh, Mike. This is why this movie is kind of amazing and awful at the same time. It's like, what a wild choice. All right, so he was going to a drag show. That's enough? Like, do we know that? Is that part of the movie? Or was he unavailable and they made a joke?

There's things in this movie. And I don't want to point out too many things. There's some interesting conversation on the Discord about some ADR lines in here that are covering up some way more offensive words. especially out of the mouth of Lou Diamond Phillips. I don't mean to bash Lou Diamond, but it feels like there was a bro vibe going on. This is what I'm talking about.

This movie brought me back to a year, a very specific year in time that I feel like all bad things happened. It was bad. It wasn't like, it's not even like bro culture. Like, oh, man, you can't take a joke. It was no. It was like, the advent of axe body spray.

Remember that commercial where a girl was like humping a fucking, water line because a guy above her was showering in like his tub, like his pipe is like in an apartment building and so she's like fucking hump in the pipe because she's so turned on. Anyway, that's what this movie is. A girl humping a water pipe from the guy above her wearing X body spray. Dr. Guts continues to add some more color to Anthony Sabato Jr.'s whole drag queen plot because you know what, we do need to go a little bit deeper. In the DVD, there are these deleted scenes where we do actually see a entire subplot where Vince does moonlight as a drag queen.

Again, I'm not yucking it. I'm just like, why do we need it? So the scenes they have, it's like he shows up in full drag to pick up the garbage bags and the body parts. You know, so there is images of him, and he looks like a more masculine Liza Minnelli. You know, it's like Liza Manelli meets Cher, not masculine, I would say muscular. That's what we're looking at here. God bless this movie for making big swings.

And again, I never like to rip on a movie that takes chances. But again, I don't feel like these chances were from the people you want to take chances with. Luke from Portland, what do you got? Hey, Paul. This is Luke. I'm listening to the big hit episode right now. Lots of talk about movie rental shops. I just want to bring up, give a recommendation to come and visit movie madness in Portland next time you're here. It's an amazing movie rental shop. It's a part museum. They have 90,000 titles. I think it's the biggest movie rental shop. This side of the Mississippi, maybe. the whole United States. I think you would really like to see it. I'd also be wondering if you know of any other great movie rental shops around the country that, you know, still exist. It's still a great thing. So great episode. Thanks. Bye. I love this. I did not know about this. I've been to Portland so many times. I will definitely

come and visit. And I'm so glad you brought this up because I just got an email from a friend about this brand new place that is opening in L.A. It's actually in Vegas as well. It's called Back to the Video Store. And it is a speak easy like 90s Y2K video bar. And I will tell you that just based on what I've seen from it, it looks really fun. It's not traditionally what you are describing. It's not a, you know, it's a bar. But it's a themed out bar. and it's like you're drinking in a blockbuster. I think it looks awesome. I have not been, but it's opening in LA

and I will report back to you. But if you want to follow them online or go see them when you're in Vegas, back to the video store. But more importantly, we will visit movie madness. I mean, I need a little bit of video store energy. I was so upset when I was not cast in that Netflix show about the blockbuster.

I was like, wait a second. I did that. I could get in that. Anyway, but I love the people who created and they're amazing and all good friends. Anyway, let's go to our next call. Ooh, this one's anonymous. Hi, I just want to validate June's bathroom fears from the most recent episode. Although I've used more modern bathrooms with two doors, which are okay because they both lock securely,

my grandmother had a bathroom in her house that had a door to a bedroom and a door to the hallway, neither of which had a lock, and there was sort of a housekeeping do not disturb type sign that you could put on the door and flip around. But any time I was in there as a kid, the whole time it was just like, is someone going to walk by? is someone nearby, like, again, too far away from the door to be able to stop anything if someone starts opening it. So I definitely understand where June was coming from on that point. I'm glad that we are in a safe enough space to share. Yes, you know, look, people don't

recognize a closed bathroom door means someone might be in there. I always knock. I always knock just in case I don't know. What does it cost you? What does it cost you? Always knock. Not going to disturb anybody if no one's there. You're only going to help yourself and save someone from the worst embarrassment of their life. Next up, Becky.

Hi, guys. I loved the episode. Thanks so much. I just wondered if you would talk about Bokieme Woodbine's finger grip strengtheners. It was a heck of a little thing to add in an already kind of overstuffed fun movie. And he seemed to have a very precious relationship with them. I wonder if you guys wanted to comment on that in addition to all the great things he already commented on. Again, wonderful episode.

Love the show. Thanks so much. Hmm. Becky did not notice this, but thankfully Scott did show us. Oh, that thing. Yes. Okay. So Scott is showing me a picture of it.

That was wild. It does not seem, if you're not familiar with what Becky is talking about, the finger grip strengthener is that giant, like it almost looks like a shield where it's like he is, I don't know, like on like some sort of like weightlifting machine, but it's, it's, I would say if you put it in your hand, it would reach down to your like elbow. It's giant. Yes. So he's always, I don't know why his fingers would need to be, strengthened, but I guess I'm looking at it more as a palm thing,

but I guess he wants that tension and that tightness. And at this point, I think, you know, this is a time before pocket vaginas. And, you know, Bo Keem could have been so much more focused if he just bought himself an appropriately sized

sex toy. And I can only imagine that at this point in his life, the character's life, not Bo Keem's life, that he would be a wash in so many, amazing sex toys, that he would never have to worry about the gym of it all. But maybe he likes the gym. I mean, this is a bunch of guys who do like gyms.

But I'm just assuming that his dick is going to be beat up. It's going to be black and blue. It's not a good look for Dick to feel like it's gotten that much tension or grip on it. I don't think any part of the body it would be good for. Anyway, back to the Discord. So Todd W. talks about something that is very near and dear to my heart. He goes, I can't make heads or tails of the locker room situation.

were we to believe that a rag-tag group of freelance hitmen go to their office every morning and change clothes together in a locker room like their football players and that they all shower together at the end of the day. I get having a warehouse or, you know, a building for your death squad to meet up and plan. But why on earth would they need a fully operating locker room where they can strip naked at the end of the day to change back into civilian clothes? I mean, when they appear to be wearing normal clothes for most of the time anyway. The one exception was their construction worker disguises. But why? Why? why couldn't they just put those on, you know, at home or like, you know, the way that regular construction workers do. I would even go one step further, Todd, and say, like, in a van. It's not like they were in a costume closet. They were naked, showering, brushing their teeth and putting on deodorant in the locker room. This is not really the way I think freelance hit men group operates. You know, maybe I'm the naive one.

Now, here's what I'll say. I read it slightly differently. Now, yes, Avery Brooks has this amazing office, and I feel like maybe. it is in the same building. This is clearly on a higher level. I would think, okay, well, I work for Avery Brooks, and he gives me these great benefits, like a gym. And, you know, at that point in your life, you're like, I, gym memberships were, like,

in this time, oh, again, membership to crunch, it was worth something. So there's a world in which we say, oh, yeah, and part of working for me is you get to work out at my gym whenever you want. I buy that. I buy that a little bit. Here's the other thing I'll say, that these dudes just like to work out together. So they go to the, like, this is, like, not part of the criminal world. This is just their, like, gym.

They all belong to the same gym. Again, I don't know why a gym would be that high up, but I guess maybe that's my own thing. I just think of gyms being lower, but I guess, yeah, why not? They could be high up. All right. And lastly, we have a bespoke correction and omission because this is possibly one of my favorite, like, nitpicks with a movie. This is from a friend of the show, Mel Tomlin, who is just amazing, runs her own bad movie nights.

We often will exchange different takes on things. And Mel writes, as June mentioned, it was very weird that Mark Wahlberg's character was cheating on his fiance with multiple women because he was a people-pleaser. And it immediately made me think of a classic episode of murder she wrote. Now, there is an episode from 1987 titled, If it's Thursday, it must be Beverly, where during the course of the murder investigation, it is revealed the deputy Jonathan Martin, whose wife was the murder victim, Yakes, had been sleeping

with a different woman in Cabot Cove every day of the week, seemingly because he was also a people-pleaser. He said he slept with one of the women because he didn't want to hurt her feelings. So I guess, you know, this is, you know, it's not coming from me, but it's coming from Mel. June, you've been disproven once again, okay? Learn from me, learn from Mel. All the things are in there, okay? There's nothing that doesn't make sense in this movie, okay? We are gas-lighting you right now.

So take it. So many great corrections and omissions this week, but there can only be one that is the best. And I will say, honestly, yes, we've talked about burning chickens, we've talked about strength grips, we've talked about deleted scenes, but I will say for anyone to draw the line from this movie to a mid-series episode, not mid-quality, but mid-as-quality, but mid-as-in, like how many seasons in, a mid-series episode of murder she wrote and being able to use that to prove June wrong. Well, guess what? Mel, you are this week's winner, and your prize for having the best submission is that we will be mailing you a bottle of premium hand lotion purchased by Boeem Woodbind's character, Crunch in the movie. Don't worry about sending us your address. We use Trace Buster on the message to track down your location, so you should be enjoying silky, smooth hands, courtesy of Crunch's lotion within three to five business days. By the way, we didn't bring it up, but somebody did also bring up that there's no reason for that the man who invented trace busters would ever go broke because that technology is pretty

fucking amazing. All right. And for all of you who didn't win this amazing prize of the hand lotion, you can try your luck next episode by submitting your corrections and omissions on our Discord or by leaving us a voicemail at speakpipe.com slash HDTGM. And I got to say, wow, the quality of these messages are just a plus. Thank you for jumping on SpeakPipe. It sounds so much better.

And I hope more and more people leave messages because I love hearing. hearing your voices. Coming up after a quick break, Jason will join me for a just chat. Stick around. How did this can be made? Welcome back by now. I'm sure you've all noticed that every Tuesday we re-release classic, how did this get made episodes into our feed in honor of the new Mortal Kombat movie in theaters. This week's classic episode was the original 1985 Mortal Kombat movie. And next week's classic re-release will be the best movie about a woman who falls in love with her dog. That's right. We're talking about love on a leash with our favorite co-host Jessica St. Clair, so keep checking out all of our replays of classic episodes every Tuesday.

And without any further ado, it is now time for Jason to pop in for a Just Chat. Chris Finky, play us in. If your bookshel's getting dirty, you better dust that. If a barrel's all corroded, it's a real rust vat. Your fedora sitting crooked, a Just Hat. We fall in Jason on the mic, you know. No, it's just chat. Just chat.

Jason, I want to get right into it. Let's jump right in. We have not been able to break down some of the things that we've loved for a little bit of time. And I wanted to just check in with you. I don't want to put pressure on you because it's fairly new. But have you been watching Widows Bay? Katie Dipold's Widows Bay. I am heartbroken to say that I have not watched it yet.

Okay. Absolutely gutted that I can't jump in right now. Well, here's the thing. I imagine a handful of our listeners are also in the same boat as you. And I'm going to say, put it at the top of your list. It is so funny. It's really beautifully done. It's directed so well, Hero Mori, you know, from Atlanta and so many other great things,

really captures something that is so distinctly unique. Katie Dipold, friend of ours from UCB. She created this show. It's been in our head for a very long time. But here's the thing I will say. And without any spoiler, because I don't want to give you any, I want you to enjoy it the way that I watched it. What she is able to do with these scenes, it feels like great long form improv scenes because the little tags and quirks of the people are, it makes me cackle so loudly because it's, it's the thing that someone would yell in a back line or walk across and say. And it's completely in the world.

And it's just little details like that throughout are killing me. And the show as a whole is fantastic and scary. But it is those little details. I have not seen any show do that. Just a meek little like, well, I'm over here. I did that. You know, it's like a little. And just like calling out stuff, there's a moment where one of the characters makes a very big declaration and then is immediately called out.

Like the way that. In a way that you would do it on stage. I don't know, like, I don't want to give it any more than that and just say that to me is, like, the special sauce of Katie because she's so attached to horror. And if you don't know Katie is... Yeah, what I was going to say is, like, this is a horror show. This is a horror show that is very funny, you know? And this is, if you don't know Katie Dipple, this is like her sweet spot. I mean, June absolutely loves it.

My dad loves it. My dad found it unbeknownst to, you know, any connection that I had to it or anything. I think the best way that I can illustrate that I often will say, here is if somebody, if I'm trying to explain Katie Dippled to somebody, just Google Katie Dippled Babaduke. This is exactly what I was going to say. This is the thing. She is mostly known. She's a brilliant screenwriter.

We perform with her in Dinosaur. she wrote The Heat and Ghostbusters, so many different films. But she is a meme online because she is dressed fully as the Babaduke at a Halloween party. Where nobody else is dressed up. No one. And it is this shot that really, I mean, you have seen it. You've definitely seen this meme and that is Katie Dippold. Because she's also not a person who is want for attention.

It's not like she posted that. No. No. She's into Halloween and we know that. She's obsessed with Halloween in the funniest way. So, like, this show is so exciting to me because it is, like, truly dips being given the keys to just run rampant with a very cool horror show that is very funny. And that I just kills it. I love her. I'm so excited.

It'll be on the top of your list. It'll be on top of everybody else's list. But I'm excited for more and more people to find out about it. I'm stoked. It's on Apple. Do it up. Get out there. Watch it. I'm so excited that it's getting so well received. And it's like, I feel like I've been hearing from everybody. They're obsessed with it. I haven't been able to watch it because I have been traveling. I was in Europe. I was doing some work. And then I was in London. And I got to see my taskmaster I saw the reunion pictures

online I follow enough of your castmates to have seen it all together and it looked like a great time such a blast we had such a great time hanging out and catching up with all of them

I do want to shout out Fatia Elgori has a Bafton nominated short film up called Donkey that is on YouTube you can watch it on YouTube here and it's hilarious she's so fantastic

and then Season 21 of Taskmaster is up, is midway through the season right now. Kamail Nanjiani is one of the guests or is one of the competitors. It's a killer cast. It's a great cast. It's, I would say, more famous than in recent note. Like, you know, like in the sense that you know a couple of, yes. Armando Yanucci's in there, the creator of Veep and a number of other things.

Surprise that he did this. Like, in not, you know, just a wild choice. And he's having a blast. Oh, my gosh. It's a great season. They're all great seasons. Listen, we love the show. But it's a particularly funny season that I think is absolutely worth everybody watching.

In addition, I would recommend everybody, please, if you haven't watched it yet, season two of Last One Laughing, the UK, last one laughing. I am obsessed. I am obsessed, obsessed, obsessed. This show is fantastic. Season one was incredible and so funny. Season two, the head-to-head pairing of David Mitchell and Sam Campbell is next level insane and so funny. I have never gone to bat more to be like, can I host the American version of this show?

I love it so much. By the way, this is kind of a tangential side note. I know that I've talked to you very openly and passionately about my love for traders, but maybe Maybe the thing that will get you on board is the new season of traders, which is going to be... Celebrity traders, you mean? Yes. I've heard about this. Michael Sheen. Yes. Richard E. Grant. James. James. James A. Castor is in the cast. And I'm going to mispronounce his name, but Ramesh from... Ramesh is in there. Yeah. Yes, from Taskmaster. Fantastic. It is going to... I mean, it's James Blunt. Is it? Can I ask you a question? Is this... This is this. This is... is this normal? Do they always do high-end celebrity traders? Or is this a new thing?

So I don't feel like I've ever heard this before. Because to me, whenever traders has been described, it's like real housewives and, you know, like it's kind of like Bravo celebrities and so forth. There's a couple of things to go over in the sense. I mean, I know Ron Funches was on it, you know. No, no, no. But this is what has happened. When traders first started, there was like a handful of British celebrities in the original cast mixed with real people. It was an interesting, like, diverse group, right? It's kind of like the way when Mike White competes on Survivor. Like, oh, that's Mike White, but he's with a bunch of Normies.

But America was like, no, no, no, no. We're never doing Normies. We're only doing Bravo people. But BBC has always been in front of it. But the show's popularity has just grown and grown and grown. So I think that they are like, oh, shit, like we can actually really get high-end celebrities and then following that the next season which i know a little bit about we could talk off air the next american season is going to be matching that in some ways this this

this i would say wait until celebrity season two because that that it's going to be all the people that you like it'll be a good and it will feel i think like what we like in the taskmaster world it's going to be more fun and more playful but here's a funny thing i think which is like traders has gotten so with the Bravo celebs that now they're doing a normie version of Traders that's going to air on regular television. So Traders is a streamer show, but now they're doing the Normie version as a network show. And I got to say, I like the normie version of Traders in the sense that no one's coming in with baggage.

It's a lot more of like, oh, I don't know you. Everybody's a discovery. Yes. And that, to me, it's like, because there's a lot of shit that I don't like. Like, vocally I've talked about this, but I, that where when you come on to celebrity traders, like, well, you're a housewife. So you're definitely manipulative. I'm like, no, no, no. Let them play the game.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You can't, because in a game like Mafia, you're looking for any reason. And it's so much more fulfilling, I think, to really be like, no, no, no, it's all here. It's all on the level. Well, it's also like you're not getting people's, like, you're not getting, like, people who are like trying to do their thing. Right. If it's normal people,

you are really just getting to know these normal people, you know, and then my ultimate issue with the entire show is, you can't pick if you're a traitor or not. You are picked by the, by Alan Cumming or, you know, by the host picks you. So even if you are the most manipulative person,

it means nothing because you have no control over who you are. It's not like, I get to choose what side I'm on. And that's part of the fun of the show is like when they bring on you know, Travis Kelsey's mom and they make her a hidden

traitor, you know, then people really attacked her. I guess she... Oh, I didn't know she was on there. Oh, that's funny. So yeah, Mama Kelsey was on and could not really keep a straight face in the deliberation. So she was booted relatively quickly. Oh, my God. Oh, that's

great. Yeah, so anyway, I will say that I feel like if you wait for season two of celebrity traders, I believe that that will be a great time for you. And you won't. And you will also get who I think is fantastic. Claudia Winkleman, who is the BBC host,

and she is just a wildly funny weirdo. Oh, great. Yeah, in a great way. Perfect. I'll watch that. All right. So you've been traveling, which means a lot of time on planes.

A lot of time on planes, a lot of time in hotel rooms. But frankly, a lot of time not having access to, like, my shows or my stuff. Yeah, yeah. Because it's not a...

Partially why I wasn't able to watch Katie Diplold's show is because I couldn't get any Apple TV stuff. You're not rocking some sort of VPN? You know, I travel now with a Roku thing. Okay. That gets me some stuff, but then, but Apple, HBO, I don't know how to do a VPN on the Roku, I guess, is what I would have to do. I'm certain it can be done. I also like when I'm in different countries to kind of partake in what's going on. I watched a lot of just, I'm flipping around Italian television. I mean, that's, you know, I'm just flipping around. and what's what. Let me ask you, we won't talk about what you did,

but you're in Italy. Yes. How are you approaching dining in Italy, knowing the egg allergy is, yeah. So I had a card printed up in Italian that explains my allergy in detail. Now, that being said, I used it only a few times.

Almost everybody was very attentive and very, very on top of allergies, which I was very surprised by. And so even though it was very stressful, and even though there was a lot of eggs in a lot of the meals, I was able to navigate pretty safely. And so knock on wood, it had no bad experience. That's amazing. Because it is to me, it's like there's egg and pasta, everything. Oh, big time. All the breads, all the pastas, all the desserts, all the brecats.

all the breakfasts, all of it. But this is why you look so good. You can come back from a little time spent in Italy and not have taken any of that weight. I had pasta a couple of times. It worked out a couple of times, but mostly for me, like, I'm in Italy having grilled fish and a caprazi salad. I'm eating very clean as opposed to everybody else who's going bananas. I mean, it's so good. I know we've talked about it, but I cannot recommend enough the fallen rise of Reggie Dinkins. Oh, my God. It is pound for pound the most joke-dense funniest show on TV, full stop. It's phenomenal.

Well, I got to tell you, there's a joke where it's not a plot joke. It's just a joke joke. Yeah. And I'll see if you remember it. It's like in the second and the last episode and they go to a deli, Reggie has like a sandwich at a deli and they kind of have this moment with the delicatessen guy. And through the course of this conversation, the delicatessen guy is like, Wow, I sell animal slices.

Huh, slices of animal. And he just said, like, for cold cuts and he has this, like, existential crisis. I laughed. It's so hard. It's so funny. I've never thought of cold cuts as slices of animals. And then, and then I was, I wrote to our friend Meredith Scardino, who is the creator of Girls Five Ever, whose name was on the episode. I was like, that is one of, the hardest I've laughed.

watching an episode. And then she's like, that's your buddy Phil Jackson's joke. That's the Phil Jackson joke. And I was like, oh my God, I watched it play out. And that's how Phil would play it.

And I talked to Phil and Phil's like, I literally just improvised that in the room. And I was like, and it's, because the guy has this momentary existential crisis. It's so fucking funny. The show is a blast. And kind of like what you were saying before,

like there is an improv feeling to it. Like there is, there are, like what you were saying about Dipl's show, there are jokes and throwaway lines that feel as though they're improvised, or feel of the moment, and it's really satisfying and it's so funny to watch. I just loved it. Do you know what I thought was phenomenal on that show?

I mean, the cast is... Megan DeSalian? Always. Megan Nesalian was so funny in the show. Truly, everybody in the show just, like, crushes. Like, Megan, like her... bit with Radcliffe is so, so good. But the one that I was, like, I've blown away by was Anna Camp.

Anna Camp who plays... Great episode. I was like, oh, wow, it's such a fun... Because I think it's hard on a show like that to kind of come in and, like, up the stakes even more and, like, play in a different thing, and they do that. Also, it's really hard to come into a show that already has so many bananas characters. Yeah, that's, yeah. And to be the focal...

point of that episode. So it's not like, oh, she's got a couple of scenes. She's going to do her thing. No, that episode is really about her in a way that is like really hard and challenging. And I thought she was absolutely hilarious. Just killed me. Just like literally, I was like, oh, man. And it's just funny because like, I just feel like to me, I'm like, oh, I didn't even

expect her to be able to come in and do that. You know, yeah. So I loved it. I loved it. Dark Wins, season four, is happening now. It is, I mean, I remain on record as saying, I think Dark Wins is the most underrated show on television right now. It is, I don't understand a world in which this isn't the show everybody's talking about all the time.

It is absolutely phenomenal. Well, now, I'm going to probably ask another question where you're going to be like, no, I've not had a chance to catch up on this, but I'm going to ask it nonetheless. Have you watched the comeback? the new season. Yes. Although I'm not caught up on it. I watched the first, that's a good example of, I watched the first chunk and then HBO was one of the shows, one of the things I couldn't get.

Got it. So I've got the last half of the season to watch. Another great, like I love that we have adopted or we have been able to adopt a certain British model for these shows where it's like, oh, we can come back whenever we want. Like when Alan Partridge comes back, it's always wonderful and great. by the way, I think he just came back in something else because he just won a BAFTA at the recent BAFTA ceremonies. He did something last year. Yeah, yeah.

Yes. So it's like, I'm always kind of, but I think the comeback this season is really, really, really interesting. I also rewatched the previous comeback. Before this season, I rewatched the old ones. And they are just so funny. I mean, it is, that is one of the most consistently hilarious series that's ever been. You know, so saying that, like, you know, this season is, I mean, in the very broadest way, Valerie Cherish has brought in to be the center of a show that is written by AI. And I had this conversation with June last night because she's like, well, you know, the show is bad, but people are watching.

I'm like, June, though, if you look at season one and two of the comeback, those sitcoms written by human writers are equally bad. Like, there's no discernible quality difference between any of these shows. Which is I think it's also like just meta commentary too. It's like they're not, they're all about the same level. But people tell you that show is great. But I think that is also intentional. There is some great. It's really, it's another show that has just an amount of jokes coming at you that are so satisfying and land so hard.

And I just think Kudrow is unreal. I mean, she's unreal as that character. truly fantastic. I mean, they definitely, I think, are saying goodbye to her this season. And the ending, it just wraps in so many great ways. And there's so many beautiful things. Like, there's a, I don't want to spoil any of it, but there are just these great, full circle moments that, like,

literally brought tears to my eyes, like twice in one episode. I was like, wow. Really, really great. I love it. By the way, the show, I believe that we were both talking about with Steve Coogan is, Uh, how are you? It's Alan. And then in, and then in, is it parentheses, Partridge. Uh, I haven't seen any of it, but I love it. Uh, I love it. I love it. I cannot wait. The, the Disney Plus series, uh, the animated Darth Mall shadow lord. I think is what it's called.

Oh, yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fucking awesome. Um, more of that. I agree. Give me more. Give me more. It's terrific. I loved every minute of it. I think it's, it's a fantastic mall. Who would have thought Darth Mall such a kind of problematic character in the prequels would in the animated series, across the animated series, become one of the most interesting, most three-dimensional characters in all of Star Wars. Well, I mean, this is the thing, you know, Darth Mall is such a visually iconic character who was so underserved by the prequels. It was like, it really was just like, oh, wait, why? Wait, no, come on. And no character really lives up to that level of, like, look besides him in those prequel films. And the fact that they are able to do this, I mean, the Clone Wars, everything was so much better in this show animated.

It is a great world to be these stories to be told, not just to be villains that are dealt with their match. So really build them out and build him, like a character who, I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, I'm pretty sure I'm right. Darth Maul doesn't talk in the prequels. No. And he talks so much in these animated series. And his growth is so fantastic. And they're shining a light on periods of mall's life that we just haven't seen yet. And it's all it's gangster stuff.

It's smuggler stuff. It's all crime stories inside of Star Wars just as the empire has taken over. It's fantastic. I wanted to say that there's a thing I saw online and I'm just repeating somebody else's observation. So I'm not taking it as my own. But they said one of the most. bad ass things about Darth Mall is that in the first prequel series, he does not know that

Anakin is anything special. And he is chasing him down on the motorcycle ready to kill him. It is one of the most bad. He's like, oh, I'll just kill this child. Like, I don't even, there's no, there, he knows very little and is ready to go. And it's like, and that, that really is, like, I never thought of it like that. It made me laugh so hard because it's like, oh, yeah. This is a kid who's kind of good at pod racing. That's what he's doing. And he's like, got to kill this kid. Got to kill it.

Oh, man. I know I mentioned it, I think maybe last time we spoke, but I did want to thank one of our listeners, very kindly after I requested that people send me film club. Yes. The Amy Lou Wood Show. Somebody sent it to me. And I got to say, it's one of the most wonderful watches I've had in a long time. It is so sweet and so heartfelt, and it's all about the movies, and it's all about how we feel about the movies,

and how they interpret and allow us to exercise and exorcise our emotional interiority. And it is dynamite. It's so funny and so sweet and so heartbreaking, and it's six episodes. It's a little bit hard to find, but I really urge everybody to seek out Amy Lou Wood's Film Club. But by the way, you know, one of the great things about being in our Discord is access to certain things like this. As we talk about this, people continue to help us out, whether it's direct messages or even simply have access to things that we might not even have access to. So the Discord is not just about this show. It is about the community around the show.

Everybody is amazing. Now, before we disconnect the Discord, here's what I will say. In the spirit of, if you're willing to help me out, please, I'm looking. looking for the gold season two. I know it's going to air here at some point. The gold season one, Paul, I've talked about it on the show before, is one of the best, most wonderful, like, heist crime shows. Oh, I don't, okay, yes. It's a British show that's based on a real story. And I'll tell you the setup. The setup is the first scene is these guys go to rob a bank. And as they're breaking into the vault, one of them is like, hey, what about that stuff over there?

And they look over and there is, and I'm not going to remember the amount, but they think they're going into Rob like a couple hundred thousand pounds worth of money. But there instead is like 26 million pounds in gold. Right, which is about, which I guess in 2025 is 88 million. So this is a giant amount. Yes. So they instead steal that. But then have no understanding or capacity of what.

what to do with it. And so the show is about all of the people that have to get involved that they have to like now find and reach out to figure out how to melt the gold or sell the gold or bury the gold or fence the gold. It is, it's this sprawling epic that is so fantastic. Jack Loudon from Slow Horses is in it. Hugh Bonneville, like a whole ton of people. It's cops and robbers, but it's also all these other people that are, that they have to keep bringing in and all the ways that it's always just falling apart. Well, I will say it's going to be on PBS, apparently, soon. That's what I've heard too, but they've been saying that now for so long.

Okay, God. And I'm like, well, somebody just send it to me because it aired in the UK over a year ago, I think. Yeah. So I'm looking for the gold season two. And I'm also looking for a show called Soviet Jeans, if anybody knows about that show. All right. We have to wrap it up right now, but we will be back again to talk about all the things that we love. Jason, great talk to you. Can't wait.

All right, that is a wrap talking with Jason, which means it is finally time to announce our next movie. Next week, we'll be going from gun shooting to parachuting. That's right. We'll be watching the 1994 skydiving action film Drop Zone. Oh, I love this movie, starring Wesley Snipes, Gary Bucy, and Yancey Butler. IMDB describes it like this. A tough cop teams up with a professional skydiver to capture. a renegade computer hacker on the run from the law.

Rotten Tomatoes rates drop zone, 41% rotten on the tomato meter, and Letterbox user Justin La Liberty says, where some see a poor man's point break, I see a rich man's terminal velocity, which released a mere three months prior. Let's take a listen to the trailer. Two million dollars a month for the operations and names of every undercover agent in the world.

In a world of high-tech espionage, these people are killers, all that stands between lawlessness and justice. You leave the cop stuff to me. Is one man. Stage one is complete. Right on schedule. Wesley Snipes.

Schedule's going to change. Drop Zone, rated R. Starts Friday, December 9th. That data's everywhere. If you want to watch Drop Zone, you can stream it for free on Hoopla or rented at all the usual places that you rent movies. That is it for Last Looks. If you listen to us on Apple Podcast or Spotify,

please rate and review us and make sure you are following us and have automatic downloads turned on. It helps the show. appreciate it. You can visit us on social media at HDTGM and a big thank you to our producer, Scott Sani, Molly Reynolds, and our engineer Casey Holford, as well as our social media manager, Zoe Applebaum. And of course, we will forever be thankful to the one and only April Hallie. We will see you next week for Drop Zone.