My Mom's Basement - EPISODE 317 - LOKI WRITER ERIC MARTIN

Episode Date: December 1, 2023

Robbie and Clem are joined by Loki Season 2 Head Writer Eric Martin to discuss one of the MCU's best projects to date! From the Key Lime Pie to Alligator Loki, Throg, and more - we cover it all in this podcast! #Loki #MCU #MarvelStudios 3Chi: Use code BASEMENT15 for 15% off your complete order at 3Chi.com! C4: Grab the new C4 Ultimate Energy WWE flavors today at GNC, online, or find them near you at https://FindC4.com. Factor: Head to https://FACTORMEALS.com/robbie50 and use code robbie50 to get 50% off. ****************************************  Subscribe to My Mom's Basement on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIeZ96PqdsJYQ7DFLRx6MHw My Mom's Basement Merchandise: https://store.barstoolsports.com/collections/my-moms-basementYou can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/mymomsbasement

Hey, My Mom's Basement listeners, you can find our episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube, and Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Hello, and welcome back to My Mom's Basement, presented by Barstool Sports and 3C. I am your host, Robbie Fox, along with my co-host, Clem. And today we've got a very special interview that we've been teasing for a long time. An interview with Eric Martin, head writer of Loki Season 2. He was also a writer on Loki season one. And I think overall one of the MCU is best writers right now.

We've been tweeting back and forth with them since Loki season two came out, finally got them in the basement, just recorded the interview. What a great guy. I'm excited for people to hear this. I'm trying to think of like a nickname, like he who write mains.

I'm trying to have like a dad joke kind of name for him. It's like, Oh, we got a writer from the mcu oh which one the good one we got the good one yeah everyone loves right now i was trying so hard in this interview not to be like well everything else has kind of sucked and i uh what did i say like i no longer the fight. Yeah, I try to keep it as positive as I could. And he was he's awesome. He was just like Waldron just seems like a nice, normal, extremely intelligent person that I could never dream of having the brainpower of but just like a good dude that's like a legit fan of the work it seems like he just gets the characters. Like the way he just talks about certain characters and the way he was writing his process and writing them, the way he thinks about their emotion,

where they would be coming from. It's very cool to talk to someone that literally is crafting the MCU before our very eyes and doing it well. Very, very cool interview. It's one step closer to Feige, I think. Again, we just keep making contacts with people who Feige knows their names.

That just gets us that much closer to seeing that whiteboard that I'm starting to think doesn't exist. You did mention the whiteboard in this interview. So everyone stay tuned. Look forward to that. Of all the things in life, one of the best has to be getting high wherever you want, whenever you want, without the paranoia of consuming some sketchy black market stuff. What's the best way to do that? With 3C, of course. 3Chi has the highest quality cannabis products from their delicious Delta 9 edibles and their industry leading Delta 8 products to their new line of Delta 9 O vapes. And today we've got something

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Must be 21 or older to purchase. Please use responsibly. Before we get into the interview, we got some news to talk about. Wasn't a crazy big news week, but something that excites us as two big fans of The Boys and Gen V, The Boys is getting another spinoff, The Boys Mexico, and it will be executive produced by our boy Diego Luna. And he may have a role in the show. This thing probably won't be a lead role, but he'll probably be in the show at some point.

You said you saw both sides of the table on this, and I did as well. I saw some people saying, amazing. The Boys is the best. Gen V is the best. Give us as much The Boys content as you can. I saw people going, they're going to water this universe down. Obviously, I hope they don't water the universe down. Right now, I have no reason to believe

that they are doing that. Right now, I'm trusting whoever the Feige is there. Seth Rogen, the executive produces that show. I'm trusting the Rogen over at The Boys because, oh my God, I loved Gen V. Finally, all caught up, finished the whole season and everything. The finale, the way it's going to lead

into the next season of The Boys, everything about about this universe i'll take what i could get yeah so i again i saw people saying all right we don't need too much don't water it down but then it's like are there five and all right now is that their record right four is there three three boys three seasons of the boys and then jenny three seasons of the boys, and then Gen V. Three seasons of the boys, Gen V, yeah. So then they're 4-0. And I think just whether you're a business, a restaurant or something, you just create more restaurants and you become a chain. And you do get worried as it gets super big.

But so far, so great. So keep it coming. I think it's enough of a unique twist where you might get maybe the whole Mexico subplot of it or the change in scenery could definitely make it more fun. And how should we discuss Gen V? I guess we won't get into spoilers because I'm sure people still have to catch up. People probably still, yeah. I'll keep it high level. I love Gen V.

All right. I really, really like Gen V. I think I have the boys higher on my list than Gen V. What about you? Are you the same? Same, yeah. My problem was, for me personally, anytime you have college-age kids or college scenarios

or setting or whatever it may be, you're going to have kind of like the, I call it almost like quick-talking quips, and it's like that kind of scene. Or if I watch a college or high school age show on TV or something like that, like The O.C and it's like that kind of scene where if i watch a college or high school age show on tv or something like that like the oc or something like that which is probably like a million years old for some of the people like black and white tv just mentioned that is my example nonetheless i i can't really get into that stuff it just it's just never been my style

even when i was that age so gen v because of that I didn't really love it. The Mexico side of things can bring in a completely different, you know, I guess I say in the interview where I told you beforehand, I'm watching Narcos. So I'm living in fucking Central South America right now in terms of my headspace. So there's a lot of shit going on. So I am excited to see like, what has the boys or the boys universe showed us

that would make you say, oh, they're gonna fuck this one up there's nothing there's been nothing really far you know and nothing nothing but yep basil's bankroll in it amazon prime you know kind of knows where their bread is buttered uh so i'm feeling good about it i understand the hesitancy but come on guys this isn't marvel kind of like you know fuck screwing the pooch again or the old dcu this i think deserves a benefit of the doubt so i hope i hope they're good pray what is it uh expect pray for the best expect the worst or vice versa yeah um that's kind of how i'm going into it

also if they create like a boys mexico team and you could eventually do like they build to a war with the vault you know uh united states team or something homelander is getting accused of all sorts of things against the mexican superheroes i'm sure if that fits homelander's character if i know him well also homelander and fits into our next topic omnini-Man are both in Mortal Kombat. I sent you the Omni-Man subway fatality a while ago. Seeing that go from a 2D cartoon to a 3D animation put my jaw on the floor. I was like, oh my god.

I thought that was bloody in the show. That's real bloody in Mortal Kombat. Invincibles full-fledged back but they hit a little stop in the road because we got a mid-season break. So they're back but they're not little stop in the road because we got a mid-season break so they're back but they're they're not back right now i was not happy about that bob because i had so i had you who uh you've told me about it all of our listeners have been like you got to get into invincible again just

not a cartoon guy but i was like i'm going to i'm going to i watched the first episode which again we won't do spoilers for people that haven't gotten to it but after first the first episode, I was like, wow, that was a mind fuck. Like, it's just a lot to take in. I can't really say more than that without spoiling anything. It was a lot to take in. And then I just said, you know what, we're going to bang it out. And I banged it out. I was so happy.

KFC was on me to watch it. I get all the way caught up, and then I'm told we're taking a break. What the fuck's going on here? Is it the strike is it um you know production thing and i think it was always the plan but you can't just be springing this on people it's like when i fucking watched across the spider-verse and i got a to be continued like what are we doing no idea yeah my whole heart is out there now that you guys just fucking you know knocked it off the table so i'm i ammed about that. I will say I love it.

I would have Invincible behind the boys. I might have it above Gen V though. Is that weird if I have it between the boys and Gen V? I don't think that's weird. I think a lot of people would probably put it there. I saw some videos of them recording the voice animation for it too. And it was like Sandra Oh in a room

with J.K. Simmons in a room with Steven Yoon. And they all do it together. So it's like that's why you room with J.K. Simmons in a room with Steven Yeun. And they all do it together. So it's like that's why you're getting such real performances. Yeah. So I don't know if they always do it like that, but at least for some things, like for conversations between the family. Yeah, you're getting like actual performances that they go in and animate later. But Invincible is so good. The first half of this season has been amazing.

I loved episode three. That was my favorite because it focuses a little more on Seth Rogen's Alan the Alien character. The whole Boys, Invincible, Amazon superhero universe is such a breath of fresh air right now when things do feel like the Marvels is a perfect example of a movie that's not bad, but it just feels pretty generic. It feels like something we've seen before. This is still surprising me. Invincible is still surprising me seen before this is still surprising me invincible still surprising me the boys are still surprising me i don't know how the boys are still surprising me after like watching some of the gore and stuff in season one but they still get my jaw to hit the

floor from time to time so i'm very very hopeful about the future of superhero content especially james gunn dcu on the horizon yeah and again i i invincible might be gorier than the boys when it comes down to it's just some of the shit they're pulling the the boys hits you with like more shock value with different body parts that are blowing up we'll just leave it at that um but man invincible they hit you with some fucked up shit and i'll answer we've had a lot of people saying hey can you guys do some sort of content around the boys around gen v around invincible maybe this invincible break either in december or when season two ends we could do sort of like a wrap-up or something like that and generally we were kind of on different uh timelines i haven't even finished

see episodes three and four because i was fucking i was catching up on season one yeah i'm sorry i was catching up on season one invincible trying to catchcible I'm sorry I was catching up on season one of Invincible trying to catch up to you guys And then I'm here told oh don't worry There's a you know Do we know when it's coming back has there been like An official announcement or it's just It's probably out there but I don't know You guys are killing me you guys are killing me

So Robbie and I will probably do something at some point Maybe at the end of a future episode Or maybe we just chop it up talk about our favorite characters Favorite scenes But what do you have it The boys invincible and gen v i think same order as you i think i go the boys invincible gen v but the the space between invincible and gen v is so little like they're almost on the same playing field for me where you have boys clear cut number one yeah yeah yeah for sure yeah i'm with

you boys characters are just so good the deep the homelander friggin uh starlight like they have the better characters i think even frenchie like the guys the actual boys right like i'm sure oh my god huge yeah they butcher girls with almost without saying and again i understand it's there's been so much more content done in the other universes and stuff like that. But even Invincible, as well as obviously the boys, I just don't understand how they can have so much in every episode where you feel like you're getting a full, great standalone episode that also ties into stuff from the past and the future. Yet Marvel can't do that. And I mean, like, again, Loki season two was the one time where I was like, oh, this is great. It's making some of the characters in the past better, but then it's

also giving us stuff for the future in all the other projects. I just don't know why we're not getting more of that. It's just one of those frustrating things, but man, it's fucking good. Well, now let's tell the people about C4 Ultimate Energy before we get into this interview with Eric Martin. Eric Martin is on deck, but C4 first. You need some energy? Get yourself some WWE Undisputed Energy with C4. Their Ultimate Energy has teamed up to provide Ultimate Undisputed Energy, packing a powerful punch of 300 milligrams of caffeine in delicious WWE-inspired flavors like Ruthless Raspberry. That's the blue one. And then Berry Powerbomb, that's the red one.

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I think CM Punk's a caffeine guy, duh, because he drinks Pepsi. But he's straight edge otherwise. This might be the supercharged choice of a guy like CM Punk now that he's back in the WWE. You never know. I think he's in on the C4. I think everyone should be in on the C4. It's delicious. Bob, give us a flex, too. Give us a flex

in case they gotta, you know, get the powder or whatever. There we go. The protein. There he is. There you go. Yeah, you get the protein powder, too. It's all good stuff. Go back. You can listen to you and Jarrah bringing it from the top rope back for the CM Punk special for people that missed it big times in the WWE. I'm very jealous for all the wrestling fans out there so maybe i'll just

maybe i'll just try the c4 and that'll be my way of being in wrestling i'll just drink some with the wwe boom on it there you go now without further ado let's get into this interview with eric martin all right welcome back to the show myself and clem are now joined by eric martin a guest that we've wanted on the show for a while we've been teasing this interview it's actually my fault that it's taken so long i sent the wrong email to eric's pr person a while ago but he is a writer on both seasons of loki the head writer on season two also writer on heels one of the basement's favorite shows thanks for joining us how are you oh great Oh, great, guys. Thanks for having me. Of course. Yeah, we've been tweeting all season about Loki. So it feels like you're a friend of

the basement before we even got you in the basement. Now we could finally do the interview. Let me start with this. Loki season two, as I'm sure you know from our tweets, we thought was amazing. We loved it start to finish finish and it felt like it got as much praise as any marvel project in recent time especially the way you guys ended things i felt like the ending was so perfect everyone loved the the way you tied a bow on it when did you know in the process where loki's fate was going to wind up i mean that was a very very early thing i think it was a little bit nebulous about how it would land but i mean even that i think we kind of figured out pretty early but the big idea early on was always take loki

from like this lowercase g god to a capital g god but do it in a way where he's having to sacrifice like he's gonna finally get that throne that like that's what we we started the series with he still wanted that throne and he finally gets it but now it's not the thing he actually wants it's more burden than glory did you hear that bob he used the lower g capital g thing that's been my thing with loki yeah that's been my thing for a couple years it really made my day you know what probably oh that's so fun go for a couple years. It's made my day. You know what, Robbie, if you go back, I'm going to re-watch this on YouTube. I'm going to watch

Robbie's face. It sunk a little because he's like, I'm going to have to hear about it from this jerk for the rest of my life about how he basically, him and the Loki writer are on the same page about him. So that was a great response, Eric. Great start to the interview. That is hilarious because that really was exactly how i i was talking about it from the very beginning so wow yeah mind meld right here

amazing i i am i would like to be included in all the rumors for all the future writing projects that marvel may have because apparently i am a writer i just i write smut blogs on a you know smut site apparently i have a little more chops than that. I could actually make a blockbuster one day. This is good to know. Very good to know. And speaking of writing, it sounds like a lot of season one was rewritten on the fly because of the way that production, I guess, had to go through COVID and everything like

that. Was season two the same way? I know you guys didn't do any reshoots on season two. No, no. I mean, you know know covid was a very particular thing where you know that happens we're like 30 into shooting and we all have to go home and then it's like okay we have to look at these scripts again because all of a sudden this scene where we're going to have like 50 extras we can have five people okay Okay. That's a whole different scene. So there was just a lot of that, but it was definitely like, okay,

hold it together, but like mold the things that need to be molded. Season two, you know, we didn't have COVID to deal with. So yeah, I like those flags were all planted. All those set pieces were there, you know, things just naturally get molded as you go along. Somebody has an idea and it's like oh that's great let's see if we can fold that in but for the most part you know because we didn't do reshoots like we had scripts that were in good shape when we started and we're able to like hold all of that together throughout yeah and going back to season one how did you get involved with the loki team in the first place

uh well that was waldron uh michael waldron and i are uh buddies like we were i think each other's first friends in the industry and uh you know worked on heels together we were uh rick and morty together before that we were at pepperdine for grad school together. And so we've always just been tight friends and trusted collaborators. So I was his first hire for season one. Were you a Marvel fan prior to that? Yeah, yeah. I do Big Brothers, Big Sisters. And my little has been obsessed with Marvel from when we first started hanging out.

So we would go see every movie together. And, you know, that's what really kept me in the game. When things got busy, I might not have time to, like, go see movies just for pleasure. It was like, oh, no, Matthew wants to go see the new Thor. Cool. Like, we're going. So I was, like, up to date on everything when I went in there.

That's incredible. Did you have to write any kind of like, how do you, how did you handle Michael watching his brave choke away one of the greatest regular seasons of all times to losing the playoff? Did you have to text him anything or to just let him simmer on his own? I'm a Mets fan that had to live through that hell. And he would text me like, Hey, I'm at the Mets game. You guys are looking all right tonight.

He'll beat you guys like eight to three. So as you know, I consider Michael a friend. How does it feel to be like a close friend of Michael watching him go through all that? No, it's funny because I, my opinion is like, I think Atlanta sports do pretty well for him. But he cares so much that when things don't go perfectly, it's like he does feel all that pain deeply you know i guess i should kind of text him my condolences but uh i think it kind of goes the other way razz him a little bit on it yeah i like that and when you're the writer you control the story that's the worst part is then when you're watching other people play a game you have no control so

that must have really hurt michael a lot so i just wanted to let him know that I know how much it hurts him. I'll send my regards. Do you have a favorite Marvel movie? Um, you know, I think the first iron man, I probably remains my favorite. I just think it's like, there's just such a great mix of everything in there.

And Robert Downey jr. It's just like, you know, a lot of different people could have played that role but i don't think anybody could have played it as well it was like like you just got the perfect person at the perfect time favreau did such a great job uh i love jeff bridges as the villain and it's just like i don't know like i think that thing's perfect i just don't think there are any changes you need to make to it um i think it's like rewatchable in such a great way uh and you know

it just kind of started everything oh my god yeah rewatchable is the word for it i've rewatched that one as many times as any other marvel movie because like you said it's perfect and i felt season two of loki really like hammered this home for me. I think Tom Hiddleston is to Loki exactly what Robert Downey Jr. is to Tony Stark. I feel like they're in the same echelon there where I can't picture anyone else. Well, I mean,

you could picture Sylvie and some variants, but as the true Loki, I can't picture anyone else, but Tom Hiddleston. Well, like that's such a testament to Tom and what he brings to that role. Right. Because this character wasn't supposed to continue on but

everybody's like oh well loki was pretty great uh maybe we fold him into the next one the next one and like he just kept coming back and you know i don't know like tom really you know in a funny way you know i think rdj is really the face of the mcu but tom is kind of the backbone right like he and even more so now with what we've been able to do with the series and I think really deepen the character and like get in there in some great ways and just let him breathe because I think you know we have far more screen time for the character because we've done two seasons of a series with him than everything that came prior and it's just like such a gift like tom is just so amazing yeah crushes and kind of i i said this to robbie in in the early days of marvel

it was loki was always somehow involved he's always causing the shit right and i loved him for it and then when he dies in infinity war you're just like oh man that's a bummer they're not going to see uh loki anymore i guess. And then obviously you guys bring them back. And I wonder as a writer, are you just like, oh man, I got Tom Hiddleston. I can basically write whatever I can write. I know this guy is going to be able to play exactly what I want to have play. So it's kind of like you just have a stud pitcher or whatever, you know, going back to the baseball analogy that you can just throw whatever out of knowing he can handle

that role. I mean, yes, but also like, I to the baseball analogy, that he can just throw whatever at him, knowing he can handle that role. I mean, yes, but also, like, I don't want to abuse that and be lazy. I want to give him meaty things that he can go out there and kill. I want him to be excited about the things that are there, and, like, that's where, like, the ending of the series was always

so exciting for Tom, because he's going to get to play all that emotion that he does so well like Tom has this ability to just like pull up tears and just hold them in his eyes and it's just he he does that so well and can emote in that way I want to make sure that the writing is up to his standard of what he's able to pull off just because he's able to do that i don't want to lean on that i want to be able to like be up there with him so it's a great challenge in that way and then you pull owen into the mix those two they play so well together

like yeah they're the chemistry there is just so natural real and amazing like that's such a gift and then you get sophia like yeah we have such an amazing cast you have a favorite moment from season two where you feel like you and Tom like met on that amazing stars cross level you know I really think the end I think it is that that final shot of him on the throne it was like that's exactly like that was the mind meld right it's like you have that slight mona lisa look to his face that's like look he's he's happy to be able to protect everything so that the people he cares most about can continue on and do what they need to do but what he really wants is just to be with them

and he can't be and tom just paints that perfectly like that's it wasn't better in my head than what he was able to do that whole sequence too like visually it was straight out of a comic book to us we were like oh my god that was so crushed. And the way you see the threads turn into his cape at the end and everything. Was that how you pictured it as you were writing? Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean, like I should give a shout out to Justin and Aaron, our amazing directors who visualized all of that

and brought that to life. And then the stuff with like the threads kind of becoming a part of him. Like, yeah, that was absolutely like, that was the idea that it's like he he comes in and he's physically handling them but at some point it's just like a part of him it's flowing through him like he is he is the loom now and like they just visualize that in such a wonderful emotional way it's incredible like you said, it makes the character,

even going back and rewatching the first ones, it makes you love the character even more, which we already loved. But my question is now that this character is so important and this series has now is so important to just the fabric of the MCU. I think there's been a lot of talk about this phase stuff being disconnected or kind of in its own little universe where everything in the original, in the old days blended a little more together.

Did you guys have like, you know, like a roadmap or maybe a whiteboard in kind of like his office that said, we have to get from point A to point B. This is on you guys. Here are the characters you can use and can't use, or is it go wild, go crazy.

And we'll go from there. No, like we, we siloed ourselves off. And the idea was like, let's make it so great that the mcu comes to us um there was never like oh you have to get him to this place but that was part of the pitch is that like we're going to take him from this lowercase g god to a capital g god

and 5e was on board for that it's like oh great i get that that makes sense that's really cool um so there wasn't any dictate that we had to like, oh, we have to land them here. Like, this is our box. We were able to kind of make that. And I think that was, in a lot of ways, I think the secret sauce, it wasn't like, oh, we didn't want to connect everything.

We wanted to, but we wanted to do it on our terms. Like always be good partners and not nuke anything for anyone else, but do the absolute best story that we could do that everyone else is going to want to be a part of that. That's fascinating to hear because, again, we talked about it during the final season two is it was like, oh, my God, they really just progressed us this multiverse. We've been here in multiverse forever. It doesn't exist as far as it feels like because we've been talking about it so long but it's like obviously the spider-man movie had you

know quantum media had its own little had kang in it but it's like you guys have really progressed and you guys feel like the bridge that's getting us from the last phase to the next phase and it's just amazing that in a tv show with i mean what was it 20 episodes that you know 12 12 12 yeah it's crazy a A dozen episodes. You guys have done that over only two years. It's banana land. It's awesome. So tip of the cap, sir. I appreciate that.

There's so many talented people involved in it to get it to that place. But really, all of us, we were just trying to tell a very emotional story that's true to our characters. We love these characters. We love our performers like let's just do the best by them and everything else is just kind of like the benefit that you get with that definitely i just have to ask this bob one last question here uh before you go on the next path

thanoscopter who came up the thanoscopter because that that was, I was the, you know, a Leo DiCaprio point of the TV screen. I could have done a three hour podcast about it. I just love the Thanos copter. Uh, who said, let's get the Thanos copter. I believe that was Kevin Rice. I don't remember exactly, but I think that was one of his Easter eggs. I love that. All right. Got to cut off this interview real quick to tell everyone about factor this holiday season. You might be looking for nutritious, convenient meals to keep you energized on jam packed days. We'll factor America's number one,

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Was there any thought of bringing either of those guys back in Season 2? last season and we also said not really an easter egg more of a true character alligator loki was there any thought of bringing either of those guys back in season two you know we talked about that uh definitely it's like everybody loved classic loki it's like well is there a way to get him in there i think the way we all looked at it was like maybe it's best to honor those characters and what michael and kate did by not bringing them back by letting them live kind of perfectly as they already are uh if there was something that was like oh okay that makes so much sense and like we can we can build some really meaty drama and emotion out of that you know that would there'd be something to talk about, but you know, it's, it's already good. I'm kind of of the mind that like when something's great,

like let it just be great. Like it's a big risk to pull it back in again. And there was some great stuff with those that like, you know, I think it's already good. Like definitely Throg. It was like, I was sad that that ended up getting cut from season one. I thought that scene was really funny. I thought Tom really, really nailed that, but no, it made sense. And I was glad like we could still have the Easter egg in there. Yeah.

And I love this sets this season and last season too. I feel like just like the TVA gives this like warm vibe. What's your favorite set that you actually got to visit? I think I went to all of them. Well, yeah, and first, call out Castro Farahani, our incredible production designer, who put all those great sets together. I think the temporal loom in the control room,

that was just awesome. That was exactly what we talked about, this kind of almost antiquated-looking technology that we sourced all of these old Russian nuclear or Soviet nuclear reactor control rooms. And we're looking at those for that. And then kind of the scale when you get outside of it, that was really exciting.

And that set was humongous and so cool. Like it's really one of the great joys to walk the sets and see those things come to life. And we have such great craftspeople putting those together that like, they just feel real. It's incredible. Like production is such a waste.

Like we build these things and they're temporary. Like how is this not going to just like exist can we just get this to disneyland to live forever yeah like no you build it like all right you destroy it or just tuck it away into a warehouse and maybe some other show use it later on i don't know i loved the running gag in that loom room of the skin written on the computer the whole season you can always see it in the background i in that loom room of the skin written on the computer the whole season. You can always see it in the background. I thought that was so good.

And who did you enjoy writing for more? He Who Remains or Victor Timely? I don't know. They were both very different. He Who Remains is really like such a joy because he is just this gregarious. I kind of read him as a bit of a blowhard. You know, I just I always wrote him as like. I like a blowhard tech CEO.

That's just like self-aggrandizing. He's there to celebrate himself. But I think Timely was actually a little bit more fun because it's like you get to do kind of both like he is this kind of brilliant guy and he's playing that charlatan version a little bit of that he who remains but it's really just because he wants to be a scientist and he needs to get this money so he can do his uh experiments um and then yeah i don't know that episode three was a lot of fun to write with all of that because i'm getting to like write a different character across the episode so yeah i'll be timely is episode is it episode three or four that we get

miss minutes making a move on him episode three i mean that was incredible that was i did not see that coming her face on the mannequin head insane yeah eric how early was miss minutes being horny in your notes like was that day one in addition to it or is that something after season one i mean when i heard the voice i knew she was sus when i heard that southern voice i've heard a lot a lot of women that could get you you know in trouble with that voice and then i saw it come to the screen and i was like wow i did not expect to be calling that one uh yeah so i had inklings of it in i in writing episode six of season one when she shows back up and just like because i always have to like when i'm gonna write a scene it's like i have a character i need to know where they are emotionally so So I'm like,

what's her backstory? Like, like why, why is she doing this? Is she just like purely just an unemotional AI or is it like, have they been living together back here? Is this his only friend? This is the only person he's been talking to. And I started thinking about that from his side. And then I started thinking about it from hers and it's like, Oh, well she really cares about him. Like she's actually worried that he's going to die and so going into season two i knew i wanted to use her

more and i wanted to treat her like a real character part of me is just like it's as dumb as well how weird is that if we have a cartoon clock that's just a real emotional character like that's hilarious that's fun we have to do that's hilarious. That's fun. We have to do that. And from there, it was like, okay, well, what is her story? What is she doing? And it just kind of came naturally. It's like, oh, no. Oh, my God. She's in love with him. Oh, she loves him, doesn't she? Oh, okay. Let's make this weird. Let's make this touching and weird and like from a real emotional place let's just do it and i could not believe that nobody stopped me i thought it was going to die every step of the way

oh in the mannequin even just setting it all in the mannequin shop i thought okay people are going to be creeped out by that no that went through like okay cool she's going to put her face over a mannequin that's purely they're not gonna allow that no it just kept going and it just ended up on there i know it creeps some people out but uh good that's that's what it should do yeah miss minutes has this incredible ability of creeping me out because her like i guess call it like a death scene the reboot scene where she glitches and she's like you'll never be him i was like oh my i sent a shiver up my spine i couldn't believe how much this silly cartoon clock actually scared me and bob also don't forget she's like getting off watching people just get crushed in a cube like her

that was crazy her smile oh my god yeah yeah no she's not so um one of our many failed uh conspiracy theories this season was that there was going to be a larger story around the key lime pie. We thought, is this key lime pie erasing memories of the TVA? Why are they eating the key lime pie? Was there ever going to be anything more to that key lime pie? Sadly, no. We're the biggest. I love key lime pie.

And I think there was a stylistic choice on a cast for his front i i needed to hear that eric because again we were in the basement we're coming up with our stupid theories we're reading the theories on reddit and then we just blend them all together before the finale i text robbie i'm like robbie what color is loki's magic he's like green i'm like what color is keyline pie he's like like green. I'm like, what color is key lime pie? He's like green. I'm like, I cracked the code. I wish I said it on the podcast. I'm going to like call my shot. And then from the writer's mouth, nope, you're a bunch of idiots. I just like to taste the key lime pie.

Yeah. Well, color green. Yeah. I mean, that is kind of why it is there, but that's as far as it goes. Sorry. Sorry. Also, what is it like watching i guess like twitter and social media react to these episodes and make all of their crazy predictions mephisto this mephisto that

what's it like knowing that like knowing where the story goes are you almost worried that you hope none of the theories get too popular because then people will expect them yeah i guess i probably should be worried about it but i'm more just fascinated by watching it all unfold and i i think it's it's really humbling just seeing the engagement that like people care about it that much that they they're engaging in in such a way that that they want to prophesize about where this is going um i love seeing those things. And like, I guess maybe it could be a danger if we if somebody's idea, somebody's prophecy is a better idea than what we actually did. But I don't know, I feel strong about the work. So I see all of those things. It's like,

awesome, like, they keep watching. I hate when somebody's like disappointed by something. But you know, I hope that it's like, you know, not everybody's going to love every part of the thing. Just hope that like they appreciate the whole. And I loved the penultimate episode of season two where we got a bunch of backstories for the characters that we've grown to love over the last two seasons. What was your favorite backstory to come up with there? That was for sure. Keys OB's life as a sci-fi writer. That's one that just came to me fully formed and it's like, okay, this just feels right. And that's going to be like, cause it was fun to change him a little bit because he was this scientific guide in the TVA and well, the writer's more of a spiritual guide, right? So like, let's have him talk to Loki in those ways, because that's really what Loki needed to learn in that episode. And there's just something so sweet about Ki being this

aspiring sci-fi writer, when he can just be a brilliant scientist. Like, he'd rather be a sci-fi writer than just a great scientist. That's funny to me. I mean, obviously, we're a little biased here, but when we finally got to see, you know, that jet ski, Owen Wilson on that jet ski, and we were just so thrilled for him, and it was, you know, there are shows where that would have just kind of just went away.

It would have went to Ralph Boner, just never happens again, and you don't get it. I just want to thank you for that, and I also would like you to know that we have also come up with two theories you don't have to answer whether they're true or false or whatever but uh his kids what was it his kids one acts like loki the other acts like thor yeah that's one thing is that that is like the thor and loki of that universe or something and then the other was that the wife who just you know your mom just disappeared or died one day, she got snapped away.

That was our little fan fiction brain. So just let you know, we are still poisoning our brains with stuff that we have no verification whether true or false. Well, let me just say there, there was a prior version to this where he had like eight kids, all boys. And it was just a madhouse uh like when he's getting that call at work it's one kid like calling because like the other kid had lit the house on fire and when we go in there like you literally come into it uh and one of the kids is just like

scratching fart in the wall that was a i love the movie uh raising arizona and there's just like a scene in there where some friends come over and their kid is literally scratching fart in the wall i'm like i want to steal that and put that in there ultimately that version didn't make it in there a lot of child actors and uh we had the uh wonderful chance to use owen's own sons in there. Oh, really? I didn't know that. That's really cool for them. That's awesome. I think that adds a layer of sweetness to it all. Makes it really fulfilling. You mentioned working with Key there. He just seems like the most wholesome dude in Hollywood.

His comeback has been the most fun thing to watch. His Oscar speech had us all crying. What was it like working with him? Did you write that character for him or no? No, no, no, no. I like that. That was just kind of written in a vacuum, like wasn't thinking of any particular person. It was just like, OK, who is this person that lives alone down the bowels of the TVA and loves their job like they are this ultra engineer it's like the uh the star trek

engineer that uh loves doing his sci-fi work down there that all just kind of formed without thinking of him and then he when he came into it it's like okay well what a gift like this makes perfect sense um and uh you know i met key he came to set before he actually started just to kind of meet people, get a feel for things. And we had he obviously starred in goonies and uh um temple of doom worked with steven spielberg and you know steven has touched his life since then you know 20th anniversary of goonies i think they have like a little thing and he said when steven comes into a room when you talk to him he's fully focused on you. And he is having a conversation with only you. 100% focused on that, but he's also Steven Spielberg. So somebody is going to come talk to him and pull him away and that attention goes. But he gives that attention to whomever is in front of him. He's not distracted. He's being genuine and he's like well that's how i kind of see ob he's like that he's fully focused on whatever he's doing when he's doing it and so when loki and mobius come in they're like hey we have a problem with this tent pad can you take a look at this we want to know what brad's up to he's like great okay cool

i can really get into this is this more is this more important than me saving the loom and the entire tba like yeah he's being genuine like everything he does is genuine in that way and i just thought it made a lot of sense and i thought it was a very uh thoughtful way to approach it and obviously it's cool because it's steven spielberg that's so cool like steven spielberg somehow inspired that character that's amazing i would have never put that together of course i wouldn't i don't know steven spielberg um last question from me are there any other comic book characters your marvel characters even that you would like to get your hands on one day um honestly the x-men uh i'm sure they'll get uh someone fancier and cooler than me to do that. But I just think they're the best characters in the MCU. I think everybody has so much depth

and they're all flawed and interesting. I think, yeah, every one of them would be a joy to write. So being able to write for all of them, that would be the dream. I'm starting to think, I think that was my variant, Bob. We are on the same page and a lot of think uh i think there's my variant bob we are on the same page and a lot a lot of different things here that's that's my crew i'm very happy to hear that and i'll be rooting for you from afar you know there's ever like uh any links or anything like that uh one marvel character i wanted to know if you could write the silver surfer as an animal

which animal would the Silver Surfer be? I have no idea. I don't have an answer for you. You tell me. What animal should the Silver Surfer be? I'll ask the question and you say it. I'd love to make him a rabbit. If you could write the Silver Surfer as an animal, which animal would he be? A capybara.

Okay. I was thinking dolphin, maybe? I mean, it's too close it's already like kind of silver right but maybe that's actually a call to go that route i don't know i think you can go either way with that all right so when this interview goes out just expect all the headlines like eric martin confirms silver surfer will be written as a capybara yeah there was a lot of anger about him being a woman so we're gonna just completely put it on his head now he's a capybara yeah that popped in my head because you know season one we had

talked about capybaras a lot at one point uh we would visit a a world that was all capybaras and uh that just popped in my head and you know what i'm gonna stick with it i think i i truly believe that the silver surfer should be a capybara. I love it. I love it. We're all into, thank you so much for the time joining us in the basement, talking Loki season two.

Like we said, we were such massive fans of it. Thank you for the amazing entertainment we got for 12 episodes, 12 hours of our lives. And hopefully we'll get you back in before too long. No, I'd love to. And yeah,

yeah. Thank you all for being so into the show. No, I'd love to. And yeah, yeah. Thank you all for being so into the show. No, it's great. I love the enthusiasm. Yeah. So much fun. Great being here.

Give my best to Michael about his brain is very tough. I'll let him know right now. All right. See Eric. All right. Thanks guys. See ya.