If I Were You - 479: Scare Me (w/Josh Ruben!)
Episode Date: March 15, 2021Actor/Director/Friend Josh Ruben joins us to discuss cursed roommates and blessed bathtubs -- as well as his movie SCARE ME which is on Shutter/iTunes right now!Advertise on If I Were You via Gum...ball.fm.See omny.fm/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
This is a Head Gum Original.
I don't know what's wrong with me
I don't know what's wrong with me
By the top shot it was 10k
But it won't sell and I feel sick
That was all my girlfriend's savings
So I'm all alone cause she hates me
I was trying to get rich
I think God owes me
Call me liquid nice
But don't take that nickname from me
All my favorite jokes make no one laugh
All my favorite podcasts sound like trash
Love my mom but I don't love my dad, dad, dad
All my favorite jokes make no one laugh
I don't know what's wrong with me
Damn
Whoa
That sums up what it is to be a fan of Jake and Amir
All my favorite jokes make no one laugh
I can imagine that
Josh Rubin in the house
Josh, what do you think of that?
Who was that? Dadly Ambrulia?
Nice
It was a little...
Who was that Bradley Ambrulia?
Michelle Brams?
I thought it was fine
The effort was okay
We brought Josh in to be the Simon Cowell of If I Were You
And I give it a fanship for...
No, no, no
Anyway, my titties are sad
It's very well done
They have a wonderful career ahead of them
Now I'm the Paula Abdul
Well, this guy...
You're crying
You're turning it to all four of them at the same time
I personally requested a Weezer parody for my new favorite song
All my favorite songs make no one sad
All my favorite songs make me feel sad
I don't even know the lyrics of my own favorite song
Either way, we got a bunch of good ones
And this one is from Tad's Shepherd
Just shout me out
Tiago de Souza, working on music currently
But maybe I'll have something to plug in the future
So thank you, Tiago de Souza
Hey, Tiago!
That could have been Tadly Ambrulia
Holy shit
It could have been Tadly Ambrulia
I almost meant to say Bradley Ambrulia
You ever do that when you're like
I'm gonna say Bradley Ambrulia
You just never say that
Yeah
You know what I mean
Josh, how the hell are you?
We haven't caught up since the world started birding
First of all, you guys look phenomenal
Sound great
I have my airports in
We all have a road mic, a shore mic
And iced coffee and milk
We all have a milk
We all have milk
It's been a minute
This time last year
Like this week last year was my last date
Like out in the world
Like my fiance and I
We went to the Invisible Man
And then went to get a massage
You know, an interesting date
It all worked out
You said fiance
Yeah, it did
You have to introduce some bright light of good news
You know, in the shit field
That was 2020
But I remember like that when we
We just see a matinee
And they're like
Let's get a massage
This random place in Silver Lake
And we went and the masseuse shook our hands
And then she immediately
Like started pumping Purell into her hand
As if to make it
And I was just like
This is something I did
Like I knew that, you know
It was coming
But it did make me feel bad
And so it was just like kind of being
To like touch like all over the place
What a last thing to do before
Like we'll never ever touch somebody again
Without being like
Oh, are we going to be okay?
Yeah, I don't know
I don't know
I'm going to get a deep Swedish
Like, you know
In a window
In a windowless room ever
But a damn good last hurrah
That's the last massage you'll ever get
Yeah
Oh, and I like, yeah
Eight like a sloppy burger
Alamo Draft House
Watching Invisible Man
Which was like the last film in theaters
So Lee Waddell is just swimming
In surplus cash
Because it's like
It was a good movie
It was kind of like, you know
After 9-11 and was like
Fuck it, I'll see glitter
Like why not
I'll see Mariah Carey in glitter
Like it's out
I'll see glitter
Yeah, it's like you knew
You knew it was going to be your last hurrah
Like why would you get a massage
Without knowing full well exactly
What was about to go down
What was the last thing you guys did
In the real world, you know
Like when things were normal
What's your last memory
I remember
Not having to think about it
I remember what it was
I went to a sports bar
To watch a Laker game
And it was cutting it so close
That I felt bad shaking people's hands
Like I was like
People would like
Go to shake my hand
Like maybe let's be safe
And like elbow bump
And I got a weird look
That's like alright bro
Like relax man
It's going to be gone in a day
And then I want to find those people
Be like hey remember when you
Want to fucking shake my hand
Well he died
He ended up having COVID
And he died
I want to go to the funeral
I can't remember if we've talked
About this on the podcast
But like all of the
Everybody like the guys that run head gum
We all had like a zoom
And I think Amir
I think it was you
Or maybe Cohen asked
Like on a scale of like
Raise your hands
How concerned are you guys
About coronavirus
And we all did it on the count of three
And I put up two fingers
And I'm saying deuces to this shit
I think about it every single day
How wrong, how wrong I got it
My sister who actually
She's a touring musician
And had gotten back from Wuhan
She's patient zero
Like not long before it all happened
Yeah she's like
She's like I'm telling you
Something is coming
Like she bought us walkie talkies
A life straw
Which filters out like piss
To make it drinkable
Two N95s
Like the real ones
That are now you know
$6,000
And you know like a map of LA
And she's like please take this home
Because I was in New York
And I was like fuck you sister
Like no
And I begged her
I begged her to risk her life
And go to a post office
And send it to me
And she did
And she laughed
She cackled
She's like I need to drink my own piss
Send me the piss straw sis
Please I don't have any TP
I don't have any TP please
And that was after you got vaccinated
This was just last week you begged her
For the piss straw
This was like 62 hours ago
Honestly
I just got bored in lockdown
Now I'm just curious about the piss straw
I'm finally willing to admit I was wrong
But also throughout this
Quarantine you released a movie
Which is like a pretty big accomplishment
For a year where a lot of people
Felt too despondent to do anything
And as a 30-something white male
I thought what a better time to show off
And tell people how great I'm doing
Yes
One movie came out
Another one is like
Announcements are starting to come out
About yes this summer theaters
Please risk your life
And check out Werewolves
Within dropping June 25th
I do think we'll be okay
But
Maybe that'll be the glitter
Maybe your movie can be glitter man
Well that's right
People will be coming out of it
Going like I guess I'll see that
I feel shielded from terrorism
Yeah
I feel
Movies open
Movie theaters open on Monday in LA
If you can believe it
Yeah I don't know
It's just a lot of maskless
Like a lot of just
We have to hang out
Apparently we're one in four out here
Which is fantastic
Shielded but you know it's like
Let's not jump the gun
But it does feel like this year was a little bit like
All your dreams are gonna come true
But they're gonna have a little bit of poopoo on it
That's how I
The monkey paw
You got the golden ticket
Absolutely
You have the golden ticket
But there's just a little
There's someone else
There's something on it
It smells like shit
We wiped it off
Yeah you have duty on the ticket
Absolutely there's duty
You have a little bit of duty on your dreams
Although
I saw Scare Me streaming
And that's how I watch every movie
So it felt like a theatrical release
Because you know like
All these major movies have come out
On whatever
Amazon Netflix
So Scare Me just felt like
One of those real movies that came out
And did you like it more or less
Than Clockwork Orange
Your favorite movie
Wow
That's a great question
I think I would put it right above
Clockwork Orange
I'd have to
Cause you're in it
Oh dude
You're in it
Oh come now
That means a lot
As the director of Scare Me
Did you also torture your actors
During the making of this movie
To get an authentic performance
Like Kubrick did
And Clockwork Orange
I did
Did you make people sleep deprived
And cold, angry and scared
I screamed at Iacash
In a scene where she didn't even need
To open a heavy door
But everybody got like
Everybody got like
Such a bad flu
Like tuberculosis flu
And somehow I made it through
Without getting sick at all
There's literally a scene where
Aya crawls on the floor
When she was at her sickest
And then like gets in my face
And growls in my face
And I thought well this will be it
And it'll be fine
Cause it's you know
It's worth it
It's my film
Right
But I was fine
I was fine
Took everyone to a pasta dinner
After we were out
And when did you get it
When did you know that
And then a year later
This was 2019
Or 2018
Yeah exactly
2019
Yeah
Cause we went to the last super spreader
Or the first super spreader event
Sundance
2020
In Utah
Which like shortly after we left
People were like
That may have been where there was a lot of
We shouldn't have that
Yeah
Right that was February
Amir and I were supposed to
We were supposed to go to South By
Which was like rightfully canceled
But like leading up to it
They just kept on like
Kind of like making the event
A little bit smaller
It's like it's gonna be fine
We're gonna do it
Some people canceled
But we're gonna have
We'll still do our house
And then like the day
Cause it was March right
Yeah
They called it
I think actually Amir and I
You and I pulled out before they canceled
And then they ended up
Canceling the week after
Yeah I think we are
What did it they're like
Jake and Amir is not coming
Like this is just gonna be
The domino effect
Yeah
We still have like Obama
But like what's the point
At this rate
People are dropping like wise
Yeah
So what's the latest
Literally all but digital
All but digital
What's the latest with
Scare Me
I see like DVDs
Or Blu-rays are being shipped
DVDs shipped
Blu-ray shipped
Got big props to RLJ
For sending me a bunch of free DVD
And Blu-rays
I'm gonna give away to some fans
They're all damp
Like they're all
They have a little tear in their jackets
So I thought that was
That was really good
That whoever was like
You know what
I'm gonna send these to the director
I just wanna make sure
That these are a little damaged
Yeah
A little poopoo on the dreams
A little poopoo on the dream
Really at all levels
So the DVDs out
The Blu-rays out
Which is wild to have my face
On a product of any kind
That you know I didn't ask
A props person to make
And the
Oh and
There's a making of
Podcast called Make Cool Shit
About the making of
About like the play by play
Of the drama
The highs, the lows
Cars getting stuck in ditches
Poor Becky Drysdale
Having to squeeze through a car window
To get behind the wheel of the car
For all the car shots
Wow
And yeah
Are you the host of that podcast?
No, Aaron Kaifetz
Who used to do a bunch of college humor videos
Back in the day
Really lovely New York
New York
New York boy
Love the New York boy
So you know
And now he just
He just put it out into the world
And you just honestly collect
I mean I've made at least
Negative
I don't know
Negative
Do you guys know
So I actually
I cashed
I didn't cash out all of my 401k
From IAC
But
At least $26,000
From my 401k
Wow
Does that work?
Tax heavily, right?
You got to pay a penalty
I haven't gotten
I haven't gotten the penalty yet
That's technically
I guess it's a loss
I don't know how the IRS will like
I don't know what the rep or man will be
But I've talked about it at every level
Like it's
You know like
The headline
For some vulture article
At some point
It was like
Josh Rubin, you know
Cashed out is
But I did
I took out a significant portion
And I don't know
When the penalty will come
Wow
She was going to drop
At least 2020 happened
Yeah
I mean that's a gamble
That worked though
Right
Like that's
You
It seems like
You know
Betting on yourself
And making this movie
Is like led to a lot of other
Great stuff
Yeah
You can
It's kind of crazy
The hardest thing is
When I wrapped
When I wrapped
Scare me
$26,000 less wealthy
With almost no money in my bank account
Otherwise because I spent a year
Prepping this movie
I booked a DiGiorno commercial
Directing a DiGiorno like
Campaign with Jay Farrow
And I didn't have to like
Pitch on it
Because I'd done one
Like a year before
And they were like
You can just fly here
And just come right to set
I got there like
Broken exhausted
And after having led this whole movie
And having to answer
Every single question
And like guide everyone
Who's just like
You know
Probably quite unhappy
Making $125 a day
I got there
And they were like
15 people excited
To answer for me
Because that's what commercials are
Like 19 cooks in the kitchen
And it was such a relief
Where usually I just
Feel like
Fuck this
It was just great
I was like
I think we should put the couch
And everyone's just like
Over there by the window
Next to the pizza oven
With the cheesy cross pull
And I was like
Yes, answer for me
Is that a right, Josh?
Yep, looks good
So grateful for
Yeah, the cushion
Well, what is the
What's the log line for scare me
In case people haven't seen it
You want to sell them a little bit
Besides being the ultimate
Josh Rubin vehicle
Where you and Haya Cash
Just stay in one location
For nearly 90% of the movie
That's correct
It's just Josh doing
Going slowly and saying
And doing all the cool stuff
That you're used to seeing
Josh do
I think the biggest criticism
Was
I can't believe I just watched
Josh Rubin's SNL Reel
What a shitty excuse
But hey, no one's going to
Just repeat it
I watched one of your SNL Reels
It was incredible
So, yeah
A high production SNL Reel is good
I feel like if anyone
Were to watch it now
Like every joke would get me
Cancelled
Like even Isabella Rossolini
Doing jock jams
There's probably something
Someone will find
Like Alex Jones
Like there's just something in it
But it's scare me is
Let's see
Two strangers tell each other
Scary stories to write out
A power outage
But the scariest tale of all
Is
Fred is the
Lesser storyteller
That was like a really bad log line
But basically
About a guy who's like super competitive
With this woman's storyteller
He realizes she's way better than him
And that becomes more dangerous than
Any creature at any of the tales
Over this campfire
But the cool thing is
There's no props
We like literally tell stories in space
Like I guess like a little
Like a little improv story
Yeah, and it's very
You do a good job of setting a tense mood
Throughout the entire movies
That like while things are silly
Like in a hardly working environment
But like everything is a little
Moody, scary, tense
Anxious the entire time
The horror movie of it all
It was interesting to like
I didn't make a preachy me too movie
But it's definitely about like men
Like emasculated men
In the face of a woman's greatness
Like this woman is like so much more talented
So it's like it reminded me a lot of men
I've met in my life
Who just like feel entitled to
When like women like make a little more money
Like with that we don't ever say this sort of stuff
But she's clearly more successful
Than this guy
And so when I pitched this
When I was sort of pitching this story to like
You know, fellow white mid-30s men
They were kind of like
Yeah, that's wow
They wouldn't necessarily compliment it
Or sort of like
They're just like
I do understand that
Yeah
Like a Philipsine were all
The twist is that he's actually
A better storyteller in the end
Right?
Isn't that interesting?
Yes
But he has a better car
Does he have a better car?
Hell, I will not see it
I won't see it
I won't see it
So is it still streaming?
Or can you only watch it with these?
Yeah, it's on
It's on Shutter
It's on iTunes, Amazon
I don't know
Just go to the old Just Watch app
And find even I don't know
You know
Hell yeah
Alright, I guess
I guess I should introduce this podcast
Now that we're about 20 minutes in
Just to let people know
If you're listening
Just for Josh
This is If I Were You
An advice podcast
Actually the only one on the internet
Hosted by me and Jake
And often times we're alone
In our Zoom room
Today we're fortunate enough to have
Josh Rubin, writer, director,
Actor of Scare Me
What's the new one
That I haven't seen yet?
Well, the new one
New one no one's seen yet
June 25th
Unless it's been pirated
Werewolves within
It's a comedy ensemble
Who Done It
With Sam Richardson
And Milana Vayntrub
Our buddy Milana
Yeah, they're fantastic
And it's
Yeah, it's cool
It's about a divided small town
That gets actually
Similar to Scare Me
Snowed in
And they basically
Have it out with each other
As toxic resentments in the small town
Sort of like boil over
But also there might be something
Like lurking in the darkness
Picking them off
So it's got kind of like
A ready or not
Knives out kind of a vibe
It was fun as hell
We shot it when there was
A lot of snow in Fleischmann's New York
And also like
We wrapped like
Three days before lockdown
So towards the end
Everyone was like,
Have you heard about this?
Do we shake hands?
Why do you only shoot movies
In really cold, dark,
Wintery months
In freezing places?
Horror movies specifically
I think because
I'm
Averse to wearing a fitted shirt
So if I can wear a big Patagonia
And eat a lot of brownies
I think that's it
I think I'm ashamed of my body
And so I wanted
If I could shoot where it's cold
I could wear a big chunky sweater
And have a pilsner with a brownie
And just like, you know
Not have to go swimming
Is that why you guys
Shot hardly working brownies?
You two?
Is that?
Oh yeah
The end for this was
Wow
Funny story about hardly working brownies
My ex-girlfriend who I was trying
Desperately to
Win her affection back
Because you know, I was 25
And didn't want to sort of
You know, explore my life
Right
She had brought those brownies
I think like maybe 16 minutes
Before we shot
I feel like we just kind of decided
To shoot it like after
Yeah, we were just like doing that
It felt like we were like doing that bit
And then it was like go
Everyone go get the cameras
We'll like
We'll do it for real, right?
Right
Because that wasn't scripted
It was just like
It was one joke
Done in a very interesting way
I think it's one of my favorite
Hardly working still
Just like you guys laughing
And getting mad
With brownie batter in your teeth
How is it?
Can't you ever look back
At that like golden era
There's got to be
There will be a documentary, I'm sure
I hope
You know, it'll look like
I'll be gone in the dark
But it'll be about
The college shimmer days
Where you could like
Make a salary
But also leave for
Three hour lunch and buy jeans
I'm still waiting for the oral
I want the oral history
So badly
So badly, yeah
I want someone to write
That oral history
It will happen
Absolutely it will
It totally will
Do you think about that?
Like
Yeah, we were poor and happy
A lot happier
And a lot poorer
That we are now
And it doesn't make any sense
Yeah
What did we know?
Why are we so carefree?
I used to sleep
Like I used to
I mean now
You like go to work
And you want to go home
You know
It's like better to be at home
I used to sleep at the office
I used to like be there until
Like 11
I used to go there on the weekend
Sometime
Yeah
Yeah
It was like a social club
Right
Showing that place off
Like oh my gosh
If you want to use the bathroom
Please
Like I'll let me scan a card
I knew a doorman
I do remember
Like having friends visit
That office was like so impressive
Yeah
And you were in every
Were you guys in every office?
Or were you in like the white street one?
Yeah
We were in Tribeca
Yeah
We were in the Tribeca one
The Tribeca one was nice
But it got so crowded by the end
That it was just like
And there were two bathrooms
And they always stunk of shit
It was
It was brutal
And
Yeah
And then
225 Park Avenue
The Park Avenue office
Was just like the absolute best one
I rode my bike by there
The other day
And it like gave me
Oh god
Yeah
That's where Jordan Hall
Got in a wrestling match
Oh my god
The shit that we did
We did
We did that too
First Jack Serbe shout out
Do you remember the
Like what that was
Like we had
Just almost like an after work
Wrestling club
Where the entire office
Yeah
Stood in a circle
And we would just
Point to two different people
And they would wrestle
Like that could never happen
Now we would just like
You
Like you
Jordan and like
I think I wrestled
I wrestled Vinny
Rosie wrestled
Like Kevin maybe
But like
Jordan Hall
Was the strongest guy
It made no sense
Like I remember helping
It was terrifying
I remember being like
Deadwood scary
Yeah
I was like cleaning up
A set after
After a shoot one time
I was like trying to help Jordan
And I was like
Moving like these
This box
Like
Both hands dragging across the floor
Needing somebody else to come
Pick up the other end
And Jordan just like
Picks it up by the handle
One hand toss it into a truck
It's
He's a maniac
Yeah cause he was like
A cattle farmer or whatever
Which is why it was
It was terrifying to watch
Jack, Dahmer, Zerbe
Who was an MMA fighter
Jack was like a
A fucking like a dad
And like a trained
Mixed martial arts fighter
And Jordan was just like
Okay so that's why
The strongest
Jordan just couldn't lose
Man in town
Yeah Jordan has no
Like no wrestling knowledge
He was a lumberjack
He was a little lumberjack
But he just doesn't lose
And Jack is like
A trained fighter
And he was fucking insane
But it was
I didn't know that
I just saw a man
And khakis in a button down
And I was like
Oh this will take too much
And I think there's
7D footage of it somewhere
Everybody had that camera
There are like
There's beautiful photos
Of these
Of this somewhere
Absolutely
On a Flickr account
That nobody can access
That's Zerbe's Flickr account
Alright we need to
Take a break
And answer some fucking questions
Otherwise
Jack Zerbe's legal department
Is going to send us
A very hateful
Ceasent desist
And the line is open guys
The line is open
Please start calling
Nobody's calling yet
But we'll be back
After these messages
I think we got a good one
For you
Alright
Thank you to Stamps.com
For sponsoring this
Episode of our show
Visiting the post office
And dealing with
Shipping and handling
Is probably one of the
Most stressful parts
Of owning a business
But with Stamps.com
All you need
Is a computer
And a printer
And they can bring
The post office
In your office
So
If you need
A package pickup
You can easily schedule it
If you need to sell
Products online
Stamps.com seamlessly
Connects with
Every major marketplace
And shopping cart
Running a business isn't cheap
So
Stamps.com
Has huge carrier discounts
We're talking up to
84% off
USPS
And UPS rates
Holy smokes
And for 25 years
Stamps.com
Has been indispensable
For over one million
Businesses
So if one million
Businesses
Can trust
Stamps.com
Certainly you can too
Set your business up
For success
With Stamps.com
Today just sign up
With promo code
If I were you
For a special offer
That includes a
Four-week trial
Plus free postage
And a free digital scale
Wow
No long-term commitments
Or contracts
Just go to
Stamps.com
You click the microphone
At the top of the page
And enter code
If I were you
And that gets you a
Free
Postage
And a digital scale
That sounds pretty good
Thank you
Stamps.com
For sponsoring this show
Thank you to
AuraFrames
For sponsoring this
Head Gum podcast
You know AuraFrames
Is sponsoring
Not just this episode
But the entire
Head Gum network
Jake
Wow
That's correct
I mean this might be
The Goat Father's Day
Gift
I think it actually is
Yeah
Yeah not just Father's Day
But if for any
Not-so-tech
Savvy family member
You need a gift
For soon
These digital
Photo frames
Might be the best
Of all time
Yeah
For me personally
These things are perfect
I'll tell you why
As you know
I am expecting
Yeah
My first child
We got one for
Jill's parents
Oh wow
We got one for
Jill's grandma
Holy smokes
We got one for
My parents
So there are three
These bad boys
In our family
Right now
But they are
They're a great
Really easy way
You can watch with
Your family
You can upload as many photos
As you want
Directly
Into my parents
Kitchen
It's really nice
Oh that's cool
So you take a photo
Of anything
Perhaps a baby
And then it goes to
Their digital photo
Yeah
Frame
This is actually
How we
How we told
Jill's grandma
She was pregnant
We
Got her the
Aura frame
We plugged it in
Jill's grandma
Was pregnant
Really nice
Asshole
I was just
Being goofy a little bit
Like
This is how I told
My grandma
She was pregnant
Yeah
Kind of like
She misheard it
Or something like that
Or the way you said it
Was kind of like
Could go either way
By the way
Jill's grandma is pregnant
Oh my god
Jill's grandma is 90
And pregnant
It's pretty cool
And you told me
With a digital photo frame
Holy smokes
And we let her know
With an aura
Yeah
Thank you
The aura announcement
So you can instantly
Frame photos
With advice
Anywhere
And invite the whole family
In on the fun
Through the aura app
Admit to your aura app
I'd love to upload
Just a picture of me
Like at a pool
Or something
That could be funny
Yeah
Like your banana
Or your dog
Alongside pictures
Of my daughter
Yeah
Yeah
Exactly
You deserve that
You can even preload photos
And add a personal
Video message
That will display
As soon as your dad
Or anybody
Connects to the frame
Yeah
It's a great gift
For those of you
Who are using the code
head Gum
To get up to $30
Off plus free shipping
On the best-selling
Frames
There it is
Oh wow
This is timely
The deal ends on June 18
So don't wait
Terms and conditions apply
That's AuraFrames
A U R A
Frames dot com
Okay
Go get
Your parents something
All right
And use the code
Head Gum
For $30
Off plus free shipping
Right on
Thank you aura
And now back
to the headgun podcast you were listening to.
And we're back, uh, as I said, Josh, this one has some horror movie vibes.
It's written by a lady, so why don't you give this lady a fake name we can refer to her as?
Oh, Mildred Dinks.
Wow, that was fast, okay.
Mildred Dinks, right.
I've lived with one of my roommates for four months now, and I'm still slowly getting to know him.
He's kind of quiet, but we'll have small talk here and there,
and occasionally he'll ask how my day was.
We had a movie night a couple times with one of our other roommates, and we're both,
wow, and we're both working as well and are not home very much at the same time.
He seemed totally normal until recently.
He mentioned how he was thinking about purchasing a satanic Bible he saw at a bookstore downtown.
Then he mentioned, then he mentioned how he's never used a Ouija board before,
and is curious about the experience.
He's never given any indication that he's into that kind of stuff or curious about it,
and it obviously has me taken aback.
I'm not religious, and I've personally never had any paranormal experience,
and I don't really believe in ghosts either,
but the fact that this guy is thinking so much about dark matters is really concerning to me.
Should I find a new roommate or leave the situation be considering I don't believe in ghosts?
Do I tell him you shouldn't purchase a freaking satanic Bible?
What if he's a sociopath?
Please help me out.
Love your show. Do more live shows soon.
Come back to Seattle.
Thank you so much.
Mildred.
Thanks, Mildred dinks.
So Mildred doesn't believe in ghosts,
but at the same time is really creeped out by the satanic Bible and what it's capable of.
And should she tell her roommate that he can't actually do that dark arts shit in her apartment?
How long is she known, Jack Serbie?
It's like it's four months.
I live in one of my roommates for about four months.
So do you do you believe in that stuff?
Weegee and ghosts and I don't I don't know if I believe in we in Weegee words,
but I wouldn't fuck with one.
I've see I've just heard a little too much.
I don't want to open a crevice.
Oh, what's happening?
This is opening.
It's opening in Josh.
Yes, my advice for you.
Rock it open.
Learn.
Learn from him.
Sorry, that was just my cry.
Holy shit.
Sorry, that was my cry.
It was just cry, but no, Mildred, get out.
Yeah, you think that's too scary of a situation.
The dark arts, the satanic Bible.
There's a difference between Weegee and the satanic Bible.
If the roommate is like curious about like paranormal activity and ghosts, that seems fine.
Like maybe more quirky than creepy.
If he's if he's fucking like doing dark arts satanic rituals, that's fucking not no bueno.
You got to you got to get that one.
Yeah.
And like this.
Ah, yeah.
The the risk isn't that the ritual works and Satan is unleashed, right?
It's just that this guy is a little too.
He thinks he's possessed.
Yeah, you don't want that.
What wouldn't refusing the Bible almost escalated to the point where it feels too real?
Or it's like, you can't let that cursed book in here, not near my bed.
Then it's like, ooh, what powerful powerful.
Yeah, you get yourself across across necklace and like a garlic garland.
Get some garlic.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We got some holy water.
Just overdo it.
Just overdo it.
Get a Jehovah's Witnesses book, some Christian science pamphlet, some garlic.
A big just a pilgrim hat.
I don't know why.
Right.
And maybe he'll maybe he'll just at least cool it a little bit.
Totally.
Yeah.
That's terrifying.
It could also be Henry Zabrowski.
I don't know.
Yeah.
I mean, you could have your own exorcism.
That could that at least makes you the creepy one.
That's right.
That's a that's a tag.
Out creep him.
Right.
Out creep him.
Just drink some Croy.
Josh, did you watch these movies?
Like, why are you?
How do you have such an encyclopedic knowledge of these scary movies?
You've been pigeonholed into directing these horror films.
Are you like a horror aficionado?
Or did you just luck into this world?
I was a horror fan before I was a comedy fan.
My sister and my brother.
They while this is more Rachel, my sister, that was like, she was like, you know,
yeah, hey, check out this movie with Freddy Kruger.
He's like a cartoon character.
You know, you can tear his face off and be able to skull underneath.
I think I just for some reason just took to took to horror movies a lot earlier,
especially the schlocky like VHS colorful cover stuff.
Because they kind of looked cartoonish in their own way, like, oh, monkey shines.
That's cool.
It's a picture of a monkey.
It's like, no, it's there's there's a, you know, monkey in the attic killing people.
But I took I took to it.
I don't know.
Maybe it was because, you know, on sweatpants days, I wore my sweatpants.
But on jeans days, I wore my sweat my sweatpants.
Yeah.
So you were an indoor kid like on gym days.
Yeah.
On gym days, you know, like I wore sweatpants, so I didn't have to change.
And so harm movies made me feel whole.
Got it.
Yeah.
You weren't watching the Super Bowl.
You were watching Child's Play at home at age eight.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Did you watch any sports growing up?
Did you dabble in that world at all?
I took karate for a day.
I'm sure at one point there was like a girl that like football and I pretended to like it.
That was a hard time.
I remember one time, though, when I bought like athletics or my mom bought me athletic sneakers
when I was like nine.
She bought me like basketball shoes, which I just thought were like cool looking,
along probably with like a Cardinals hat, because I thought it was cool colors or like
like a Charlotte Hornets hat.
Because like, oh, cool B.
And the cashier was like, oh, do you play basketball?
Like looking at, you know, a chubby Danny Torrance pretty much.
And she was like, he's an actor, not an athlete.
And I remember being so offended that my mom said that about me as if like,
no mom, tell him I'm a basketball star.
I go home and play with, play Batman toys until I fell asleep in my own drool.
It does feel like there were two types of kids growing up.
Like I didn't know anybody who was like a movie freak like you and also a sports fanatic.
It seems like those were two different types of brains.
Like even.
Well, I feel like that's you guys, though.
I feel like you guys appreciate like, you know, or maybe it was like comedy albums
or maybe I'm conflating sports or something.
I guess I, yeah, I think I was a comedy fan when I was like, I don't, I mean,
I don't remember anything.
I thought about it when I was nine, but I think when I was like 12, like fifth and sixth grade,
me and my friends liked like Adam Sandler and Chris Farley movies.
I'm pretty sure.
Yeah, but you weren't like.
You were also like playing like, you know, basketball probably.
I guess I got swept up in like sort of playing sports.
I was never, I was never good at sports.
I would, but my friends were good at sports.
I guess I'm thinking more like I was a transitional like crossover crossover kid,
like nerd and cool kids, but I had no actual, I basically had no skills or likes of either,
either group.
I wasn't as smart as the nerds, but I was more of a nerd and I, but I wasn't as athletic as the
cool kids.
So I was in the middle of nowhere.
Like when, when you listen to that Adam Sandler, they're all going to laugh at you.
Did you know that came from a horror movie, the Carrie movie?
Or did you just think that was Adam Sandler being wacky?
Oh, I thought that was just that.
I thought Adam Sandler made that up for sure.
Yeah, and that would be the only thing that I liked about it.
Yeah, you were watching, I remember watching those horror movies and like,
I was like seven or eight and I was like, yeah, that seemed like too young.
And then I see like my seven or eight year old niece and like, Jesus Christ.
Like somebody this age was watching fucking Friday the 13th.
Like no way.
That's so fucking alarming.
She saw Kevin Bacon get stabbed through the throat or like a bear giving fallatio to a
businessman or tell him in the shining.
It's like, I don't think so.
That was too early for me to have seen that.
I saw Candyman when I was like, it had to be like less than 10.
And that's, that is what ruined horror movies for me because I was so scared.
Yeah, yeah, trauma.
Yeah, I fucking petrified.
I'm still afraid of it.
Me too.
That one is, that's Tony Todd.
That's a terrifying one.
Looking in the mirror, I will not say Candyman.
I'll say Beetlejuice anywhere.
I want to hang out with a fucked up look at Michael Keaton, you know, nice zag nut bar.
Like I'll do that, but Candyman.
Yeah, that's not a fucking bad.
What's the scared, most scared you've been after watching a movie?
I have a very specific movie and memory of this.
So I can answer first my own question.
I had no joke.
I think I, well, Candyman was one.
The scene in the bathroom was pretty terrifying.
And actually, oh man, I was, I was going to say Cat's Eye with the troll in the wall.
Little young Drew Barrymore getting, you know, her life sucked out through her nose by a troll.
But I think it was, this is, I don't know, kind of basic, but paranormal activity too.
Interesting.
I almost start, I almost cried.
I was so scared.
There's a scene when like the, some character gets like dragged from upstairs all the way downstairs.
It's like into the, into the attic.
And like, once they go in the attic, like the door, the attic door closes.
And I remember being in the theater, like as a 30 year old man just going like, you know what I mean?
Like I just, I thought, I was like, no, I can't, I can't do that.
Mine was, I mean, mine was Blair Witch, like 15 years old, seeing it like a burned DVD or not even
DVD, like CD copy on my computer with my friends or like, we can't sleep alone tonight.
Like the Blair Witch will probably get us.
Was this real?
Was this a movie?
Like who found this fucking disc?
Yeah.
They like, they leaked it out to like teenagers around America to like.
Yeah.
I got motion scared after Blair Witch, which I think was a blessing.
Like I was, I like got nauseous and threw up because of all the camera movements.
And I think like, I, so that, that kept me from being scared.
But I do, I remember watching The Ring on like, it was in high school.
It was in high school and the girl that I liked came over and she liked scary movies.
And I lied and was like, yeah, I like scary movies.
And we watched The Ring and I'm fucking 17 years old.
I was so fucking frightened afterwards.
I went upstairs and I slept in my brother's room on the floor,
which was too scary for me.
Cause I'm like, there's only one other person in here.
And then my two of my sisters shared a room and I went and I slept in their floor with the lights on.
I'm a senior in high school.
And they're all younger.
So are you the oldest sibling?
I was the second oldest, but yeah, they were, they were 12 at the time.
They were 12, I'm 18 or 17.
And they should have all made their hair soaking wet.
I don't know why, yeah, why would I want to surround myself with like 12 year old girls
after The Ring, it's counterintuitive.
That was the only time my friend Nick, who was like the manliest friend I knew,
which is funny because he's a, you know, a very gawky kind of Bill Murray lookalike
and 17 years old.
We saw The Ring in the theater was the only time ever, like Nick ever like yelped and like
literally dug his fingernails into my forearm as if I were on a date, you know.
Is it that first, that like jump scare?
Yes.
Is it in the closet?
In the first five fucking minutes with the jaw?
Yeah, I can forget it.
Forget it.
I hated it.
I hate it.
I still, that just gave me the chills now when it's fucking daytime.
You should watch The Ring tonight at midnight.
Yeah, dude, never sleep again.
Yeah, I fucking scared.
All right, let's take one more break.
We have one more question we want to answer on the other side of these messages.
This show is sponsored by BetterHelp.
Thank you, BetterHelp.
If you're finding yourself in a difficult, anxious, stressful situation,
talking to a professional licensed therapist is the best way to navigate yourself out of that
difficult place.
And it's not necessarily easy to find a therapist, especially one in your area,
but BetterHelp makes that all easy because it's online therapy designed to be convenient,
flexible, and suitable to your schedule.
You just fill out a brief questionnaire and get matched with a licensed therapist.
And you can switch therapists at any time for no additional charge.
It's incredibly helpful.
Therapy has helped millions of people over thousands of years.
So give therapy a try.
It can give you the tools to find a more balanced life.
I've tried therapy.
It's been very helpful.
So you can find that balance better with BetterHelp.
All you got to do is go to betterhelp.com slash if I were you.
You do that today.
You can get 10% off your first month.
So the prices are already affordable because you're not paying rent for a building somewhere
that you have to drive to and wait in a waiting room.
This is done entirely online, but you're still getting professional licensed help.
And it's extra affordable.
That's betterhelp.com slash if I were you.
Check them out.
Thanks, BetterHelp.
Thank you to Squarespace for sponsoring this episode of our show.
Wow.
For years and years and years, we've been ranting and raving about Squarespace because
it's the best way for dummies like me and potentially you that don't necessarily know
how to code or design to create a professional looking website.
So if you're building an online portfolio for yourself or a loved one,
or you want to sell stuff online, you can do an online store.
They have 24 seven live customer support, email campaigns, data.
You can even purchase a domain name through Squarespace.
For example, I didn't even look this up, but there's no way you can't buy a mere
Blumenfeld is a good dude.com.
I bet that's available and you can have it today and you can buy it through Squarespace
and build an awesome website dedicated to me or I guess dedicated to anyone else in your life.
And maybe you want to give somebody a gift this season, a summer birthday coming up.
Who doesn't want a website?
So the best way to do that is to go to Squarespace.com slash if I were you for a free trial.
And when you're ready to launch, just use that offer code if I were you to save 10%
off your first purchase of a website or domain.
Again, Squarespace.com slash if I were you free trial.
Everything looks good.
Let's launch it.
Just use that offer code if I were you to save 10% off that first purchase.
Thank you, Squarespace.
And we're back.
We got another non scary but still silly roommate question.
This is about a contentious bathtub issue from another dude, a dude in SF.
So give us an SF dude's name, Josh.
Okay, Blinken Andy.
Love the name Blinken.
Blinken Andy writes, I'm a 24 year old from SF and I just moved into a house with two of
my best friends a few months ago.
The house is sick but not quite equitable.
I'll keep it quick, but the context is important.
The house is three stories, two bedrooms on the second character.
Josh just did before the break.
I'll keep this quick, bro.
Two bedrooms on the second floor that share a bathroom and a master on the third floor
with an ensuite and walking closet.
Oh, ensuite and a walk.
Fucking forget about it.
The ensuite bathroom is absolutely prime and has a nice ass bathtub.
When we got the house, we bid on the master bedroom and I had the highest bid.
So now I pay 25% more in rent for my room than what others pay.
Totally fair.
Here's the sticky part.
One of my roommates is in a long distance relationship and his girlfriend is coming
over next weekend to visit.
He mentioned to her that I was going to be out of town and she asked him,
oh, can we use his bathtub?
He brought this up to me a couple days ago and said he would clean the bathtub
before and after as a thank you.
Sorry, the bathroom before and after.
I sort of said it was fine because I was caught pretty off guard, but now I'm thinking,
do I really want to let him have a romantic bath with his girlfriend in my bathroom?
That feels gross even though he's going to clean it.
Plus, I'm already paying way more for the nice bathroom, even though I don't really use the tub.
Am I being a little bitch about this?
Or is this a pretty absurd request?
Is it too late to back out?
I'm kind of a bit of a coward, so I was thinking about sabotaging the bath
by finding a way to cut off the water or leaving a bunch of dirty clothes in there
to deter them the next day on the day.
Any creative suggestions would be much appreciated.
Thank you.
Blinken Therapy's my creative suggestion.
Cool the fuck down, Blinken, brawl.
What if you let somebody use your fucking bathtub?
I mean, this is prime bathtub.
They're going to clean it before and after.
They're going to clean it.
Yeah, right, twice.
His cum is going to stain the bathroom for eternity, the amount of fucking.
No one fucks in tubs, bro.
That's just something that like you've seen in like skull face or scar face, bro.
Yeah, but then they're using the bathtub.
They're like, all right, what's the big deal?
Let's make the jump to his fucking bed.
I mean, we're already on the third floor and now we're spending the whole weekend.
They're shitting on your sheets.
They're wiping their teeth on your curtains.
It's just not.
That's true.
It's the cascading.
If it's tacky, it's tacky.
It's tacky.
Don't do it.
It's tacky.
I understand.
You know what?
Let's sabotage it.
Cut the water off.
Great.
Exert it.
Exert the effort.
I do like the idea of cutting the water off just because it might result in him not
being able to ever turn it back on, which would be the good result for.
But you know what?
You're totally right.
I think call the San Francisco Department of Water and Power.
I think that's a great.
I think that's a perfectly rational decision.
Shut off your tub.
Don't ask him not to take a sludge hammer to your tub.
Jake, this was you in a way.
We moved in to a big ass place in LA.
Me, you and Marty.
I remember.
We had one master with the en suite.
The master with the en suite.
One master.
The his and hers, the dual sinks, the soaking tub.
There was a Japanese soaking tub in there, a walk-in closet.
It was perfect.
I had the mini master.
Two fucking balconies.
Yeah, two balconies.
Two walk-out balconies.
And you had that fucking Romeo and Juliet balcony.
Yeah, I had one mini balcony.
We called it the master, the mini master.
And then Marty stayed in a sort of hamper type room
down in the basement area.
It was adjacent to the laundry room.
We got the Kiekel.
Oh, that's right.
So the Kiekel would sort of live below the house.
Then there was the mini master and then there was the master.
And I think you were probably paying two and a half times
what Marty was paying.
It wasn't like a 25% premium.
I literally think.
But Marty's room was fucking awful.
It was a dark hole.
It was a dank, dark hole.
And he shared his bathroom.
Because we also had podcasters coming in and out of the house
at that time because we launched head gum from that house.
That's right.
So any guest, anybody that was just in there
would use Marty's bathroom.
Because that was the only downstairs bathroom.
That's right.
So you leave.
I was at the party where that toilet flooded.
Yeah, that was my toilet.
That was my toilet.
Your toilet.
Yeah.
But it was leaking into the Kiekel.
So every time Jake would take a shit,
the poop would land into the Kiekel's bed.
That was sort of the way the plumbing worked in the home.
So the master directly into the Kiekel.
That's the way the Kiekel crumbles back then.
You get that, buddy.
You're only paying $1,100 to live here.
That's a small price to pay.
And yes, you live in a crawl space behind the pantry.
And the only way to access it is through the cereal.
That's sort of how it goes.
It's par for the course.
So would you let the Kiekel use your soaking tub, master?
I mean, I think that I definitely let Marty never ask,
but I definitely let you use my bathroom from time to time.
Why did I use your bathroom?
I had a bathroom of my own.
Yeah, you used to need to shave in my bathroom.
And I don't entirely remember why.
Oh, I think because you had the sink with the counter space,
and I had just like a sink that was kind of like a loose bowl in the middle.
You had a pedestal sink.
Yeah, that's a pedestal sink, buddy.
Yeah, exactly.
There was no counter space.
How did you win the argument to get the 6,000 square foot bedroom
when everyone else had Kiekels and shitholes?
If anything, I lost because I just overbid.
I wanted the master so bad.
That I was like, I will pay any price.
I'll pay because all three of us were so competitive
about who was going to have the best room.
We had to make the master so expensive that he felt like he lost.
Otherwise, there's no way to make the master worth it.
It has to come with the price of guilt that I'm paying two and a half times
what Kiekel is paying so that the financial and mental gymnastics
sort of balance themselves out.
The real hard part was pricing the mini master.
Is it more of a Kiekel or more of a master?
And it was sort of right in between.
Which was your room?
Yeah, that was my room.
I had not my own private bathroom, but like a bathroom right across the hall.
No one used it but you, yeah.
And only one balcony instead of two.
And it was probably half the size of the master.
But the master was insane.
The master had like fucking, it really was.
It was worth what I paid for it, I think in retrospect.
I think your balcony.
It was a pretty epic.
Yeah, you had a balcony that was like a separate room.
Like your balcony alone was bigger than the Kiekel.
My balcony was almost the size of your room and there was like a couch on it.
Yeah.
So yeah, we ever left that house.
We shouldn't have left.
I was going to ask.
Yeah, we were renting it as part of like headgums.
So like it was split between us and the business.
And then the lady realized she was undercharging us
and ended up selling the place for like millions of dollars.
And we're like, yeah, you probably should have done that six months ago.
But yeah, you would let two like three idiots live here for a year.
You would let people use your soaking tub if you were out of town.
Would you not?
Yeah.
And I'm pretty certain that that it happened.
I can't remember exactly.
Oh, you know, I mean, definitely.
Yes, definitely.
I remember we like let people stay there and they use the tub.
It's it's weird to this guy's out of town to they're not even asking to use your bed.
I could imagine being like, I want to stay in your room for the weekend.
I I might bristle at that.
But they're just saying, let us use your bathroom.
Like that's that's fine.
Yeah, it is weird because like there's not much of a difference.
You're not there.
They can use your bedroom and you have no idea.
Like it's not a favor at all, it seems like.
And yet it still feels a little weird.
It's honestly nice that he asked because he's going to now.
And you're going to get a tub clean out of the whole thing.
Because the like the alternative is he just lies to you and you leave down and they use it and,
you know, never you never say anything.
And don't Ajax the come.
You have like that's the that's the Kiko Crisp.
But you know, that's the Kiko.
That's the way the Kiko Crumble.
Crumble Ajax.
Eat your Kiko Crisp.
Eat your Kiko Crisp.
Hey, the t-shirt t-shirts ideas.
The Kiko would actually clean Jake's toilet every day, right?
Well, the Kiko will have to do that.
The Kiko was my toilet.
So you would use the you would almost clean the room that Kiko was cleaning the toilet.
Yeah, that's cool.
Good night, Marty.
Don't forget to make the flushing noise, Kiko.
I want you to be a real toilet for me now.
Don't just half-ass it.
He paid $20 a month to live in that mansion, but the torture he had to endure from the master
will never be paid off.
He was the client face.
He was the client facing operation.
He had to have a suit.
Why do you smell?
Yeah.
And at that time, Jill had Jill had a studio apartment like down the street.
So I would spend some nights at her house and I would just be like, what am I doing?
What am I doing?
I should be it.
I should be in the fucking master.
Yeah, or you should have switched with the Kiko, but you didn't want to give him that.
No, I didn't.
He didn't deserve that satisfaction.
Yeah.
If anything, you'd have to promote me from the mini master to the full.
It doesn't go from Kiko to master.
That's too much of a step up.
Or let him sleep on the balcony with the couch.
I mean, I feel like that's a get-a-tent, you know?
I would sometimes catch the Kiko sunning himself,
sunning Kiko's self on my balcony and I would spray him with the hose and the Kiko would scamper
away down the wall.
Oh, so sorry.
Oh, sorry.
Just climb down the side of the house.
What are you doing in my room, Kiko?
I'll climb down the side of house naked.
You frightened me, Kiko.
Oh, sorry.
You flush on me one less time.
No, no, no, no, no, no.
What is this angry attitude, Kiko?
I am the client facing operation.
I caught the Kiko reading a book yesterday, master.
I don't know where he's learning such courageous thoughts.
Quiet, mini master.
I was only reading the back of the Kiko crisp.
I read the back of the Kiko crisp.
Who gave you cereal, Kiko?
I thought you were to only eat fish.
I had to crawl through the cereal to get to my room.
I had to crawl through the cereal.
I have to go through the cereal.
I smell a third horror movie for you, man.
It's called Mini Master.
Oh, yeah, Paris.
Do you have plans for a third?
Do you know what's next?
Well, yeah, I'm chasing after these things.
You can't announce it.
Is it a secret?
Holy shit, where it's going to be on deadline.
No, it's not a secret.
I know it.
No one's paying me.
Yeah, bro, I have no dreams left.
I think the third thing I'm going to do
is go back to working best by inventory.
All my dreams have come true.
All my dreams have come true.
I won the EGOT.
I'm ready to go back.
Congrats, by the way.
It's kind of like being a cobbler like Daniel Day glue us.
You know what I mean?
He's like kind of just gluing shoes.
Very nice.
All right, Josh, one last time.
How do people watch these movies?
What are your social medias?
Let people learn.
You could find me at Just My Name, Josh Rubin, R-U-B-E-N.
And you could see Scare Me on Shutter.
It's on Blu-Ray.
It's on DVD.
It's you can rent it or buy it on iTunes, Amazon,
anywhere you get your movies.
Great, great horror movie.
Great low pro horror movie.
You guys did so much with such a limited space.
And I'm assuming about it.
With just Josh's 401K.
My god.
Wow.
Can you believe it?
Oh, here comes that IRS car.
You can't retire as it were,
but you do have six DVDs with broken jackets to give away.
Correct.
I hope the fans appreciate it when I'm shivering in my 1940 Volvo.
Actually, that's kind of nice.
Because you'll be able to wear a lot of jackets.
Sweet.
And thank you to you guys for sending in your questions
and your theme song.
The email address for anything, everything,
is ifiriushowatgmail.com.
Would you believe we have another,
all my favorite songs are slow and sad parody for the closing.
Slow and sad, yeah.
We do.
Yeah.
Cool.
This one is by Liam Masters.
So he doesn't have anything to plug.
So shout out to Canada, I guess.
Thank you to Liam.
Okay.
And thank you to Josh.
And thank you to you guys for listening.
We'll be back, of course, next week.
Bye, everybody.
Bye.
Bye.
Thank you.
I mean, if you think about it, most chimpanzees don't win any awards.
So by comparison, a turtle is not that bad.
That was a hit gum original.