How Did This Get Made? - Super Mario Brothers LIVE! (Classic)

Episode Date: April 7, 2026

Can you make a movie out of a video game? In this case, no! Jenny Slate joins us to discuss Super Mario Bros. the movie on this week’s How Did This Get Made? LIVE at Bumbershoot! We cover everything from the alternate dinosaur infested dimension, the absence of gold coins, Mojo Nixon’s odd cameo as a Goomba, and the fact that Mario & Luigi are not brothers in the movie. Plus, we hear what the gang was doing when the movie came out in theaters during our Q&A. (Originally released 10/16/2012) • Go to hdtgm.com for tour dates, merch, FAQs, and more• Have a Last Looks correction or omission? Call 619-PAULASK to leave us a voicemail!• 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.

Can you make a movie out of a video game? In this case, no. We saw Super Mario Brothers, so you know what that means. Now it's time. How did this campaign? We're going to have a good time, celebrate some failure. How did this campaign? Let's follow in the mediocrity of sub-bar art.

Perhaps we'll find the answer to the question. How did this get made? Hello, people of Earth and people of Seattle. we are live here at Bumbershoot Super Mario Bros. This is going to be great. Joining us, as always, my two co-hosts,

Jason Manzukas, give him a warm welcome. June, Diane Rayfield. And we have a very special guest today. The enormously funny, incredibly talented. Jenny Slate, give it up for Jenny Slate. I have a seat right there. All right, guys. Super Mario Brothers.

So good. So good. So good. Just like the game. Everything about the game that you love, but none of that. You know, I do think that just from the beginning of this movie, it starts off like crazy bananas. Like they don't even... Oh, you think?

Yeah. No, come on. It starts off pretty normal. They don't even give you a chance to kind of like be like, oh, yeah, you like these characters. No, though. They go absolutely insane. And there's built in, I feel like built into this movie should be like, hey, you all play the game, this is based on that. Like they could have done something that tied the game and brought the game into the movie.

No. Instead, they did something very different. Well, this movie is really about how the Mario Brothers became super. Yes. Right. Literally, spoiler alert, that's kind of the last line of the movie. That's what happened. It's not kind of.

of it's the last line of the movie. Well, no, no, you forget. The real last line of the movie is the cliffhanger ending that sets up for the sequel that, thank God, no one will see. I think they should make that sequel right now. Oh, man. I guess that's my question, though,

is what did we know about the Mario Brothers from the game? Because I know you only played the game once. I didn't have Nintendo. I watched this as a film. Well, and, This is, and Jenny, this is interesting because I did a little bit of research. Bob Hoskins did not know that this movie was based on a video game until he was in the middle of shooting it.

Of course not. Are you serious? Yes. It says that Bob Hoskins, while shooting the movie, his son asked him what he was working on. He mentioned the film's title, his son immediately recognized it, and showed Hoskins the game on his Nintendo. So he read this and was like, yep, this is a movie I got to make. He was like, I want in.

His agent was like, hey man, you know what, this is based on a pretty popular... You know what? I don't need to hear anything else. I play a plumber that goes through an interdimensional vortex. I wind up on what appears to be the set of Pluto Nash, I believe. His name is Mario Mario Mario. Yes. Mario, that's probably the biggest laugh of the movie.

Yeah, the sets look like Judge Dredd meets Pluto Nash. But I do want to just show you the opening. This is what... This sets the bar. So from everything here forward, like just, I can't, yeah, just watch it. Here we go. We'll pull it up because when you watch it, you'll be like, what? Here we go.

A long, long time ago, the earth was ruled by dinosaurs. They were big, so not a lot of people went around hassling them. Actually, no people went around hassling them because there weren't any people yet. Just the first tiny mammals. Basically, life was good. You know, it just don't get no better than this. Yeah. Then something happened.

A giant meteorite struck the earth. Goodbye dinosaurs. But what if the dinosaurs weren't all destroyed? What if the impact that that meteorite created a parallel dimension where the dinosaurs continue to thrive and evolve into intelligent, vicious, aggressive beings? Just like us? And hey, what if they found a way back? Oh, shit.

Oh, shit. What are you talking about? Oh, shit. What are you talking about? This is happening. If a meteor hit Earth and created an altered dimension where dinosaurs exist, what? What if they find their way back? Super Mario Brothers.

Just like. The game. You see what we're setting up, right? Dinosaurs with Brooklyn accents and Super Mario Bros. And they didn't even have Bob Hoskins do his Mario voice. That's just a random Brooklyn dinosaur. Yeah. Which is good that the accents did start back 65 million years ago.

Oh, my God. And I love that, like, that is, that's the beginning of the movie. Like, that is what's supposed to get you excited. Oh, my God, they did it. They did it. All of my dreams have come true. By the way, the choice to animate that whole section, later on you do see dinosaur reptile type creatures.

When they're going to Dinosaur Hatton. But they're like Jurassic Park. Exactly. Yeah. Like Yoshi actually looks a lot like the raptors from Jurassic Park. And because I didn't know who Yoshi was when he came into the room, I was like, oh, my God, but then he was really nice. Yeah, Yoshi is a nice raptor. He's really nice.

Except when he started eating that woman's leg. was not nice to her. Yeah, not nice to her at all. No. I have a real problem with the... I mean, listen, I don't want to poke too many holes in this, but like... Let's not. Let's not.

I'm pretty suspect of the physics that a meteor crashing to Earth creates an alternate dimension. Jason, it's a movie. I don't think... Well, Jason, to be fair, to be fair, you're not a scientist, right? Yeah. What is your degree in from college? I am not a scientist. Yeah.

but I'm pretty sure striking something very hard does not cause a rift in the dimension but you're not positive I don't think that gives you access to the multiverse again I'm going to say you are not a fact yeah you're not a scientist

but to be fair I am not a scientist all right fine the first 15 minutes of this movie is kind of like a dromity of these plumbers I mean we're not seeing too much super we're just seeing Mario brothers doing their plumbing job And by the way, they're not very good.

They're very unsuccessful. They can't get work. They can't. Were you guys confused about what was going on here? Like, they get a call. It's like, Marriott Brothers, we need you guys to fix this leak. And then they have to race there to beat another competing plumber. Like, is that how plumbing works?

You send out a call? But wait. They're like, who gets here first gets the job? That's how I do everything. I call four different versions of whatever I need. Whoever gets there first, they get the job. They want it the most. Also, a big, weird turn.

Mario Brothers, you would think they would be brothers, right? That would probably be the easiest thing. They're not. They're not brothers. It is Mario and his, like, foster kid? That's what I... Yeah. I felt like he was, like, left on the stoop, similar to...

But, like, Samantha Mathis' character was also left on the stoop. That's my favorite part actually. I mean, maybe I'm skipping. When they're out to dinner, like really casually and someone's like, I like your necklace. And it's like, if I had that necklace, I'd be like, oh, thanks for my grandmother or whatever. But she's like, thanks. It's from when I was found. Oh, I was abandoned.

Like, really. Actually, by the way, the way they get into that conversation is from Maria Maria Maria's girlfriend, Daniela, who says, out of the clear blue sky, I own a tanning booth. You should come tanning. And then Princess Daisy says, oh, I can't because I can never take this necklace off. Right. It's like, oh, okay.

And then they immediately like, they love each other like, it's like instant horniness and they're like, you also were found? That's the key. They get off on each other being orphans. Yeah, they love it. There is a lot of really weird Italian stereotypes going on.

And Bob Hoskins is not an Italian man. Do you think they were like, okay, we have Hoskins. He's the perfect Mario. Great. Who are we going to get to play his brother? Holy shit, we've got Leguizamo. They can't be brothers. Screw it.

They're not brothers. Legozamo's an orphan too. Great. That's even better. And Mario has huge accent. John LeguZamo, no accent. None. No.

I want to just read to you guys some people who were approached to play Mario. Danny DeVito. did not respond to the script. Turned it down. Tom Hanks then was attached. To play Mario. But the film executives believed that Tom Hanks

was more than the studio could afford, so they dismissed him and hired Bob Hoskins, believing Hoskins would be a more profitable actor. Was this, but just because I'm not, was this like right around who framed Roger Rabbit era or no?

It's 1993. So none, I don't know. Maybe. I just want to know, like Tom Hanks being like, hmm, Philadelphia's Super Mario Bros. Philadelphia's Super Mario Brothers. Well, here's my question, though. What does Mario Mario think Luigi is to him?

What do they think the relationship is? Do they think their brothers? No, he said that he's, he, John Lagozama goes, he's like a mother, a brother, a father, and an uncle to me. But that's what I'm saying? What did they land on? What are, what would they? What are they?

To me, those all sound like excuses covering up a gay relationship. It is weird how John Leguizamo can't ask her on a date at all, and then Bob Hoskins just stands to the side, and he's like, come over for dinner, like whatever. No, that's the worst way to ask someone on a date. I feel like Bob Hoskin, his girlfriend, what's her name? Daniela. I feel like he's fucking her constantly.

Yeah. They just had, like, the electric chemistry of people who are just filthy. I actually thought, they did. They really did. With Big Bertha was a lot better than his chemistry with Janella. Well, I got to say that this whole movie has odd adult themes. I mean, it really, it feels like, I don't know, like, maybe I'm giving it too much credit, but Blade Runner meets, like, Nintendo or something like that.

Because there are some moments that you're like, oh. Like, he keeps a bunch of women and, like, a little K, like, all those women are kidnapped and they're just hanging out in a room. And they're not in a bad mood at all about it. No, they're kind of psyched. Like, I guess I'm not the princess. There's the one girl. Too bad I got kidnapped from Brooklyn.

All of these women have been kidnapped because they're looking for Samantha Mathis, the dummies who are looking for the escaped princess are looking so they just keep kidnapping New York's women. But that's my question is, what were they going on? Who knows? Just woman? No, no, remember? He says she's got two arms, two legs and one head.

Okay, so that's it. That's it. That's it. These guys were set up. The two henchmen were very dumb. Yeah. And then my favorite of the kidnapped women in the prison was the one who always had a cigarette. Always had a cigarette

like for days. Just was always like, we gotta run, we gotta run. But my favorite part, there was a moment when they're all in that prison and she goes like, I think I wrote it down, I'm just looking to see if it's here.

Basically, they go, she's the princess. They find the princess. And then the other one goes, now it's getting in. Interesting. Oh, you mean the fact that you were kidnapped, brought into an alternate dimension run by dinosaurs,

and kept as slaves? That wasn't interesting. Boring. The development of the princess involved now. Now things are shaping up. That's the thing that this movie, I struggle with so much about this movie, because I'm like, again, I didn't play the game,

I don't know much about it, but if you were like, oh, this movie is a scientist. And you're not a scientist. I'm also not a scientist. But if I was like pitching, I'm like, hey, I'm one, to make a movie out of Super Mario Brothers. Oh, great. It's a super popular game.

Jumping, turtles, turtles, turtles shells, mushrooms. Great. It takes place in a bleak dystopian multiverse where dinosaurs run the world and they're trying to combine two worlds into one and reduce everybody to their reptile past. Super Mario Brothers.

And look, I've read a lot of stuff online and people get really defensive. Like, come on. You can't base it on the game. I'm not saying make a movie where they run across screen, bumping things with their head. Just make them brothers. Just give us something.

Let's not throw out everything. Like, they just are like, we got the title now. Let's start from scratch. So basically this like Armand Asante lookalike mafia boss is, and this is in the real New York, is threatening to shut down a dinosaur dig site.

Right under the Brooklyn Bridge. Right under the Brooklyn Bridge. They get sucked into this dino land. Well, and Princess Daisy, Samantha Mathis, who's wearing a safari outfit. Yeah, yeah. She's dressed for an archaeological dig in the desert, but she is under the Brooklyn Bridge.

That's correct. And they get sucked into this dino land where things are pretty different. Things are very, very different. Did you realize the musician they bumped into was Mojo Nixon? Yeah, from Jello Biafra. Again, great for a kid.

movie. Actually, I should play the clip of Mojo Nixon because this is actually, this is kind of a moment in in Dino Land here. Take a luck. It could only be better if they ran into G.G. I'm gonna cut myself and then shit on you. I'm just gonna shut.

Here we go. Cheer up. Things we get worse. Ain't got no water. The law of toad. Hey, wait a minute. You can't arrest the guy than just singing a song. For anti-Cupus songs we can.

Uh-huh. Plumbers. No, he is. I'm just apprenticing. Get in the car. But I didn't do that. Are you telling us that you can arrest a guy by the plumber? What do we do?

I'm getting arrested before you're a plumber. That is a great scene where they... That is a real scene from this movie. You might think that that's just some random assemblage of insanity, but it's a real scene from this movie. This movie does a great thing which not many movies do. which is they do exposition in every scene. Where are we?

What's happening? Why is it happening? Why, if you're confused, here's an ADR line that we've given. A few scenes later, they're running out of the police station. We just, we see them run out of the police station. Then the next shot, it's in this sort of Pluto Nash type, like, just generic. I love that Pluto Nash has become just a reference point for us. Because the color scheme is exactly the same.

Guys, if you haven't seen Pluto Nash, see, go right now, we'll wait. Yeah. back in an hour and 40 minutes. As they're running into frame, they just scream out, we're still in the police station. Okay. Clearly there were problems when they were editing this movie. They're like, we need to.

Because a lot of the movie, they recorded the dialogue later, and they just threw it in because they're never on camera when they're saying this stuff. You can hear it. They're like in the cab ones, or like the bad guys are in a car, and you just see the car and someone just goes, out of my way, but it's like nowhere? No, yeah.

By the way, I do love the way the police are. dressed in studs. Yeah. Studs on the back of a leather jacket that say police. It looks like something out of like the village people. Now I was concerned though about this. So

this is an alternate reality where dinosaurs have evolved into humans or are they all humans wearing, are they all dinosaurs wearing human costumes? Because Dennis Hopper, what is he putting his hands in that? What is that? I couldn't figure that part out either.

but they are, I think what they're contending is that as we have evolved from apes, they have evolved from lizards, from dinosaurs. But they look exactly like humans. Yeah. And act exactly like humans. Because I would argue that humans look, I mean, without the hair, similar to apes. But humans do not look similar to dinosaurs. I would say that evolutionary chain, they might be way far advanced.

But you're not accounting for the meteor creating an, environment. Got it. In which dinosaurs still exist. They have evolved into their human counterparts that also sing the same songs we sing. Have the same police uniform. They have the same. They have all the same technology that we have.

The pizza. And pizza? Oh, when they order pizza though, they order it with dino toppings. But no mammal. No mammal. Are they stealing the humans from Brooklyn to put on their pizza? I don't know.

I wanted to know about that. Didn't he say I want like a triceratops pizza? What would lead me to believe that a piece of a dinosaur is being put on his pizza? Yeah, and she, the lady who always has her like titty's up. Yeah. She drank, no, not to be a unashore. Dennis Hopper's girlfriend. She drank a drink with snakes in it.

Yes. And the snakes go, oh God! Like they made a little noise. We should just mention, by the way, Dennis Hopper is the ruler of the Dinoland. Go ahead. As he is basically playing Frank from Blue Velvet as the bad guy in this movie. He might as well have the little thing

and be like, it's that intense. Now, I know in this scene, they're specifically looking for these plumbers because Cupa has asked for them and put the word out that these plumbers are here. But there are so many other points in the movie where people make comments like,

oh, plumbers. Yeah, they don't like those. Plumbers are hated. in this universe, is that because... There's no water. Really? That's what Jello Biafra said. He goes, we ain't got no water.

And you think they blame plumbers for that? I think they go, it reminds them of what they don't have. It reminds them, they go, oh, I wish we had a rich history of plumbers, but we don't have water, so I hate these plumbers. This is a classic, how did this get made moment? Because I don't think that's it at all.

I don't think it's not either. I think what has happened in the... the past within these 65 million years is that plumbers or the last 20 years I guess plumbers have been the closest to getting into this other dimension so have caused trouble to them how what just by you know turning the wrong though they get to the alternate dimension I literally I think turning the wrong I think that because the the Mario brothers come in who are not technically brothers huh they're who are not the Mario not brothers The Mario acquaintances.

The Mario pals. Their relationship is very Batman and Robin in a world in which Bob Hoskins is Batman. I have to give it up for Bob Hoskins because he really does sell the shit out of Mario. I think he's a great actor in this movie.

Great in this. In an interview with the Guardian magazine, Hoskins answered Super Mario Bros. to these three questions. What is the worst job you've ever done? What's your biggest disappointment? And if you could edit your past, what would you change? By the way, all three basically the same question.

His whole past? His whole past. Just this movie. He broke his finger on this movie. So if you watch the movie, he is wearing a pink hand cast over his hand. So for a majority of the movie, he is wearing a cast.

I think, I was just going to say, I think that because they're plumbers and they are the enemy of Dennis Hopper, I think that's why people hate plumbers. I don't think the culture as a whole hates plumbers. They don't even know. They've only been in this other universe for hours. How does everybody know? They put the plumber alert out. They said they wanted plumbers. But that's not how they're delivering those lines. But what about? It's not. Are we analyzing actor choices? Yes. Those lines are being delivered like plumbers again. Not like these guys. My biggest question is, did this take place after Mario saved that girl from the Donkey Kong? I want to know that, too. Is this a Lord of the Rings scenario?

Yes. Where Bilbo has already had his adventure and now he's just living life in the Shire? Because he did not, yes. Because I felt like Mario had been through some stuff and he wasn't letting on 100%. At some point, he should have been like, you know what, I've actually seen some pretty crazy stuff already. I battled an enormous ape for a woman's virtue. I had to run up ladders, jump over barrels, things are tough. Now, in the game, because I've never really played it,

did they have any superpowers or anything like that? No. They would grow big. Yep. Because one of the big themes of the movie is using your tools. They do more plumbing. They don't do any plumbing in the games. There's no, right?

Would you guys? There's no plumbing in Mario. They go in pipes, but they never like a... But there's never like wrench. You don't have to be like A, A, A, B, wrench, wrench, wrench, wrench, wrench, wrench. Right? Righty, tidy, lefty, lucy.

No, they don't. They just jump over stuff. You know what I? And I was really disappointed. There is not a goddamn gold coin in this movie at all. That's what I thought. Yeah. There is not a...

I played that game and I was like, all I wanted was those fucking coins, not a fucking coin in this movie. Although there is talk about getting their coins. There is talk about getting their coins. about getting their coins. Really? Well, I'll play the clip.

I'll play this clip of the coin getting seen. I'm about to be shamed right here. All right, here we go. Coin getting scene. Are you boys new here in town? Lady, we'll look up for somebody and we're from Brooklyn. Yeah. You know, boys, it's very dangerous here in this neighborhood.

You shouldn't wander around without a weapon. Yeah. You got one? No. All right. Get on, suckers. Oh, my God. This is a lot of those cup coins.

Those are all right. Everyone remembers the crazy old lady who wants cupac coins in the Super Mario game. Right? Who's an old lady who can be thrown off of a bridge, land in a car, get up and start shooting the driver. That woman wants her coins. Three quarters of that scene, it is a stalky man playing that character. Like, visibly a man. Also, in that scene, why does everybody? Every car has sparklers on it.

Every car that's driven, it looks like a bumper. Oh, yeah, why? Okay, because it is, they're run an electricity grid. Because this is how the buses in Boston used to run, where they have these big things that go up to electricity wires that run through the city. So they have to, and they create sparks, that that's how they get driven. Okay. So it works on the same, it works on the same thing as a bumper car at a state fair.

Yes. And that's why they all have the... All right, well, there we go. All right. You've proven, you've answered my question. That's the part that I was like, oh, I get it. That makes sense. I can lock into this.

Oh, yeah. Now I'm in. And now you got me. I'm just looking for something that takes something universal and applies it... It applies it to my individual experience. That was it. There are so, I mean, man alive. Oh, my God.

There's so many things I want to talk about. Please. when Mojo Nixon gets turned into a toad-headed man and they give him his harmonica back? Yes. Yeah. So Mojo Nixon is so, oh God. So Dennis Hopper has a machine that can either...

Yeah. Guys, this movie is fucking garbage. I would argue it's not even garbage. It's art. It is the closest thing to art that I've seen. It's abstract. It's experimental art. It is.

Yeah. This is like a student film with $100 million. So Dennis Hopper has a machine that can either evolve you further or devolve you, right? So it can bring you, it can make, he makes dumb people very smart and he makes regular people so dumb that they have tiny toad and or lizard heads. But big body. But big body. It only shrinks their brain. They only shrink, not only does it shrink their brain, but it shrinks the skull and everything.

So their heads are, yeah, they're head. Yeah. So he's in the process of doing this. He shrinks Mojo Nixon's head to it. So he's one of the gumbas. Yes. Is what they're called. Are Gumbas part of the game? Yes. Gumbas are part of the game. What part of the game are they? The mushrooms. Oh. I do like, though, that they go like, oh, we got to tell everybody these gumbas are coming to Brooklyn. Which, you know, hey, look, there's already gumbas in Brooklyn, man. We already know that. We saw the front of it.

But the Mojo Nixon Gumba is a good guy, right? He's like, he has, he still has. He still has. a conscience left, so he kind of helps them. And they must have been like, how are we going to know the good gumba from the rest of them? What about that harmonica? Put the harmonica back on him, and then he plays the harmonica, and it tricks all the gumbas into dancing. Which is their weakness.

They love it. They love it. They love it so much when they're in the elevator. It's so sweet. Their big bodies and their little heads. And when questioned, don't they just simply say everyone loves to dance? As if you were to play music for anyone, that would be the end-all-be-all.

Right. I'm not a scientist, but I would say that everybody does love to dance. Well, yeah, you don't have to be a scientist for that. You don't have to be no human nature. That's right. But why does everyone love to dance in the same beat to the same? Like this. It's kind of like a slow rock.

Yeah. Which allows the Mario Brothers to walk behind them as they make a turn. But the Mario Brothers are here the entire time. They just walk right behind them. There is a lot of dancing in this movie. Do you remember Mariel? Mario's sexy dance with the busty woman. He loves her, too.

Oh, he loves her, too. There was a lot of chemistry, and I think Bob Hoskins was, like, on fire during the day. He was a sexy dude. Wait, with Big Bertha? Yeah. Oh, remember that? He was dancing with her super sexy, so much so that she's like, you know what, you keep that artifact meteorite. But did you think that he...

I want your artifact meteorite in between your... That's right. And your plummer pants. You can take the rock and give me the rock. Okay. I actually thought, I thought that he, well, first of all, I was confused because it didn't seem like he was putting this on to get away from her as a part of a bigger plan. It seemed like he genuinely liked her. Yeah, well, had he forgotten about Daniela?

He forgot. Well, first he was just trying to get it done. He was like, nobody can resist the charm of to Mario. And then he goes up to her and I thought he was going to be really smooth. And he goes, hey, I'm your main man. He rhymes, right? She was like, and she just punched him right in the face. Classic denisional.

Hoper line, do you know what I love about mud? Yeah. It's clean and dirty at the same time. Tell me that's not a frank line from Blue Velvet. I mean, come on. Oh, man, we do have, I mean, Dennis Hopper does some also solid acting in this movie, too. Yeah, yeah. Doesn't cheat it, brings it 100% even when he is doing a scene with a pile of goo.

Like boogers. Like boogers. Yeah. I will play you the scene of him doing a scene. If you're wondering whether there is sentient goo in this movie, there is. And the sentient goo will give the Mario Brothers gifts. It helps them out. You got to trust it.

You have to. The goo looks a little bit like pasta. All right, so here's the goo. My mind, you have let yourself go. You see? I'm not such a bad guy. You always wanted to be everywhere? Well, now you are.

And I want to tell you something. You can go ahead and choke this little mushroom kingdom all you want. Because I'm out of here. I'm out into the bigger world. I got a couple of plumbers bringing me the rest of the meteorite. Soon to be dead, plumbers. And by the way, You really ought to try to pull yourself back together again.

Slime bucket. All right, so if you can't see this, it is a tight close-up on Dennis Hopper as just a literally, like just an oozing fountain of goo is just shooting out. He's doing a scene with goo. I love that he left the chair there for the goo, though. Yeah. Because the goo, just for those of you who can't put it together,

because it's pretty obvious, the goo is the former king of this universe, or this dimension, rather, who Dennis Hopper put through the devolution machine and reduced him to a fungus. He is a fungus, and everybody is like, the fungus, you have to be cleaned of the fungus. And the meanwhile, the fungus is, right?

Mushrooms are a thing in the game, right? And he keeps giving, the goo keeps trying to give the mushrooms And they don't really do dick with them Well, only at the end when Bob Hoskins is able to shoot the diva vulva gun back at Dennis Hopper Oh, the mushroom grows. Yeah, the mushroom grows because he trusts the mushroom. I mean, that's the whole lesson. Luigi's telling him from the very beginning.

Trust my skills. Trust my this, trust my that. Luigi gives him no reason to trust him because every time Luigi does something, it's dumb. But at the end of the movie, he goes, well, let me just try trusting him one time. I'm starting to understand what was happening with the character arc. So Luigi's arc, well, no, Luigi's teaching Mario to really just trust in the universe, trust that things are going to happen for a reason, just trust and believe. And Mario is trying to teach Luigi over and over to use the tools that he has with him.

So you're saying, Luigi, June just broke it down, broke it open. Take a bow. Take a bow. That is. Wow, wow, wow, wow. June's final episode of how did this get made? She figured it out. She figured it out better than the nine script writers.

That is a pretty heavy, like, one is to put your faith in a higher power and one is to believe in yourself. Yeah, pretty much. It's a pretty real religious messages going on in this movie. And then I guess the answer is do a little bit of both. I will say watch this movie, watch this movie, because that scene with Dennis Hopper in the pile of goo is awesome. what's more awesome is the pile of goo is Samantha Mathis's father and when she is reunited with the goo

it's amazing I wish it is wonderful it is bonkers she has like a she's like has like a oh my god you're my father like as if to say she was reunited with a real man for the first time an orphan finding her father except that it is a gripping jizz bucket

Well, not only that. Which, and the jizz bucket does get turned into Lance Hendrickson at the end of the movie. But also, before that, when he's still goo, right after Daisy meets him, John Linguzaimo, Luigi also meets him and is introduced to him. It's as though he's meeting her dad for the first time as a pile of goo. She's like, I hold on. She goes, hang on, hang on, there's somebody I want you to meet. This is my father.

Literally, as like a. stalactite of jizz erupts from the ceiling. Stelag might which is the one that hangs down? Either way in this movie doesn't make a difference because in the dinosaur world is the opposite. Nice, nice. I wanted to

try something different because we're doing a live show and we never have done this before. But if you have, if you've seen the movie and you have a question about something that stuck out to you, I will take a question from you guys. Do anyone have a question? Or do we nail it? Do we nail it all?

I'm pretty sure we're fucking killing it tonight. Yeah. Well, think about it. If you have a question, you raise me. Oh, yeah, we got one right here. Okay, let me go get the mic over to you. All right. Here it is.

So, we just watched this last night. Okay. You're welcome. Yes, yes, yeah. That was a great hour in 45 minutes. But we were wondering, why is there election posters? Yeah, why is there election posters in a dictatorship?

That is a very good question. It is a monarchy. It is a monarchy because he is King Cupa. Okay. And it was a monarchy before that, by the way. It wasn't a democracy because the Gou is also a king. Maybe it's to keep morale up as if they do have a choice. Like just a chance to be like, hey, you know, it's a, you're not really stuck.

Nobody else is running. But the first thing that they do when the Mario Brothers win is to paint over those propaganda signs. Immediately. Immediately. They're like, you know what is the first order of business? All right. It happened. And they do it like.

But also nobody. Like, he's, like, really on them. Like, Cupa is, like, on everyone. But then when he calls the pizza place, they're like, oh, hey, Cooper. Yeah. You know, like, it's Cupa. Like, he makes a lot of pizza phone calls.

His pizza, his pizza is a runner through the whole movie. There's, like, big battle scenes where he's on his walkie talking. He's like, I want all the Gumbas to invade, ready to invade. And where's my pizza? And then, like, two scenes later, he's talking on the thing again. The guy's like, oh, your pizza's here. Well, you know what? I just had a question about this.

Is, is. is the land that he inhabits, is it as big as Earth, or is it only as big as Brooklyn? Well, remember, he has that globe. So what it is, it's just a few streets with the skyscrapers. It's a tiny little city. And then the rest of their planet is the desert. The desert.

Oh, right. And you can't drive your car there. Forgot about the whole desert sequence. Any other questions from the crowd? If you have a question, you raise your hand. I'll come out to you. Well, Jason, should we play the, Jason and I talk about this one image in the movie.

Oh my God. Super dark. This shit is mental. Maybe we'll play it and then just stop it we can talk about, but I want to review it. You just tell us what part of this scene you think is really pretty fucking crazy. All right, here we go. Can we get, we're going to put on the screen to dim the house lights for a second. Here we go.

Those guys will do anything for publicity. All right. So what everyone is reacting to, what everyone is reacting to is Super Mario Brothers, kind of called 9-11, basically. It showed the destruction of the Twin Towers. There it is.

Too soon, you guys? It was one of the most disturbing images. Oh, God. I literally, I was watching this and I was like, whoa. And especially because they do fall down like that, it's very upsetting.

And that led us to have a conversation, which was do you think Osama bin Laden saw this movie, saw this movie in like a cave in Pakistan who was like, you know what we have to do? This exact thing. We have to King Cuba at. We don't have this gun that will devolve things, so we're going to have to fly planes into it.

That's the only thing we can do. Osama bin Cuba. Too much. Bumpershoot. Okay. Another question right here. Another question. How financially successful was this movie?

because every time I go to Target, it's still featured on the shelves. They're still trying to get rid of it. I will tell you, I actually have the stats on the, the expensiveness of the movie. I don't know how much it costs. I feel like it must have cost too much.

Bob Hoskins later has admitted that he got drunk throughout the whole filming of this movie. And John Lagu Zamo wrote about it in his book. Let me see here. I'm just going to get the... John Liguizamo has a book? I did a lot of research for this one.

Figuring that out, Paul. There's a point where they're not in the costumes for most of the movie that we know them from the video game. And then all of a sudden in one scene, they're in like a bright red and green. Yellow. And yellow, I'm sorry, plumbers. Like futuristic suits. Yeah, like costumes. Like animals.

Wait, wait. Are you talking about the suits they wear? In the club? First they're wearing those, when he fights Big Bertha, they first change into an all-red woman's suit on, like, Guzama and an all yellow suit. Yeah, no, I'm not talking about those. I'm talking about the plumber suits with the overalls and the pants. The ones that make them look like they're in boys in the hood.

Yes. Where did those come from? Didn't they grab them out of a locker in order to sneak into somewhere else? Yeah. I can't remember. So we're not to understand, though, that that's sort of the origin of these suits. So when we've watched the video games, that's where the suits came from. When we watch the video games, like we all do.

I just watched Paul play this. I only watched the cut scenes. of Mario. The movie was made for $48 million. What? And it only made $21 million. That is still way more than I would have thought it would have been. And a lot of people blame the failure of this film on Jurassic Park, which was released

the following week. Please. That's like I heard Pete Berg say Battleship didn't work because Avengers came out. Nope. Not the case. Not the case. Not true.

Obviously we add very strong opinions, but there are some people who thought differently. So now is time for a second opinion. These are reviews cold from Amazon. These are all five-star reviews.

of Super Mario Brothers. Now, I will say, this is the hardest second opinion I ever had to do because the fans of this movie are bananas. And they have no sense of humor. And they're kind of volatile. So I tried to take the ones that were a little lighter. Here's one of them from F. Smith, Jr. I bought this for a friend.

She really liked it. I like her. Everything's just fine. Yeah. That's like a high-coo. That's an amazing haiku. This one's a little bit longer, but I still like it. I really like the movie and spent a lot of time yelling,

oh no, then, oh, never mind. It's funny. I thought I was going to die of laughter. There's a lot of action, too. So if you're an action fan, this is for you. My friend and I laugh at this movie a lot. We normally do stuff like this. Hey, remember the part where Mario and Luigi at the police station

and the guy's like, your name, Mario. Last name, Mario. Oh, yeah, and then he asks Luigi, your name? He goes Luigi. Luigi. Luigi? No, Luigi Mario. And then, okay, how many Mario is we talking about here? Three Mario Mario Mario and Luigi Mario?

But our favorite is Goombas. Strong, lethal, and stupid. So he just talked to you, took you through kind of a conversation that he has with his friend. Another fact that I thought was really interesting about this movie that deserves to be mentioned. Again, like we said, John Leguizamo, yes, he does have a book, his autobiography. He said the director, Rocky Morton, once poured hot coffee on an extra's head because he didn't like the extra's costume. Now, just to put this in perspective, the extra has no control over what he's wearing.

Yeah, this is how much money did it cost to make this movie of 40? The extras are not bringing their costumes. No. They are being handed to them. The director poured hot coffee on an extras head because he did not like his costume. You know what?

I'm cool with that. I mean, right? Fucking extras. Wear the right thing, you dummies. Any other questions? Any other thoughts from the audience? Yes. Oh, in the back.

All right. Here we go. What does a good donkey say? Oh, this is a joke. All right. What is a good? A good donkey say. What? He-ha.

All right. It was worth it. Okay. Wait, no, no, no. Hang on. Hang on. Hang on. Hang on. Hang on. Hang on. Whoa, whoa. What is the donkey say? Jason, you're not a scientist. You're not. You're not. All right. Do you have any donkey jokes?

I do not. I appreciate the way that that donkey joke was delivered. What is your question? I am not a jackass. Okay. Oh. This was 20 years ago. Where were you guys when this movie came out?

Because when this came out, this was before Jurassic Park, and we all thought... A week. Jurassic Park. That's awesome. That looks great. We all thought Super Mario's, that looked awesome. That looked great. Where were you guys when this came out?

Guys, locations. What year is it? What year did this come out? 93. 93? Maybe that specific? Locations. I was in high school.

I was a sophomore in college, and I did not have any clue. If there had been a legend of Zelda, movie, I probably would have gone to see it. I couldn't have given a shit about Super Mario Brothers, though. I was stalking Bob Hoskins. Oh shit. Everywhere he went. Did we offend you guys? Dubai. Goodbye. I bet they're fucking

scientists. Fucking scientists. Yeah, I don't even remember that. I really don't remember this movie even coming out. I do. I feel like I do. I was 11. I was a child, but I wasn't allowed to.

have a Nintendo or play the games. And I remember people... Why not? Because my parents are weirdos, and I grew up in a haunted house in the woods in Massachusetts. You had your own ghost to play with. Yeah, we didn't have any extras besides the spirits.

You're not going to get a Nintendo. Go play with the ghosts. Yeah, exactly. I remember being sad that I couldn't see it, but also too scared to see it. It seemed like it was for boys. Well, yeah. Yeah, I'll stand by that.

Scared because it was for boys? Also, when I was watching this, I was scared of those little head, big bodies. Yeah, they are, they are scary. One thing I will say about that guy who turned into one of the gumbas, what's his name again? Mojo Nixon? Yes. He seemed a lot happier as a gumba. Yeah, he smiled a lot.

He did. He was not busking on the street anymore for money. He definitely has, he has the best arc in the movie. He's the most satisfying character arc in the movie. You know what I love about him is he brings Princess Daisy some meat. and she's like, oh, no, I don't like that or whatever. Do you have any steamed vegetables? And he's like, you know, like, and he does.

And for some reason, he knows where to get them. By the way, terrific gumba impression. There's a remake you need to get in for one of the same ones. Final thoughts on this. Is it worth watching? I think so. I think so. Again, it is free on YouTube.

Take it in small doses. Don't take it in small doses. Watch, like drop acid and watch this movie. So that's it for How Does It Get Made Live in Bumbershoot Super Mario Brothers with the movie? You can follow me on Twitter at Paul Shear. You can follow Jenny Slate on Twitter at Jenny Slate. And June is at Miss June Diane. One thing I want to draw your attention to, if you did not watch the full movie,

you have to stay through the credit sequence because the end of the credit sequence, there's a little scene where Japanese men come into Mario and Luigi's house and decide that they want to buy their story for a video game. You see, so it does tie in. You see, the Japanese video game guys didn't get their life right. It wasn't that the game was poorly translated. It was a Japanese guys didn't understand their story the right way. So it all makes sense.

Thanks for listening. We'll see you next week.