Newcomers: Scorsese, with Nicole Byer and Lauren Lapkus - Raging Bull (w/ Branson Reese)

Episode Date: April 30, 2024

This week, Nicole and Lauren jump into the proverbial boxing ring to discuss Scorsese’s classic Raging Bull with special guest Branson Reese (Rude Tales of Magic)! Together, they bob and weave through the complicated story of Jake LaMotta played by Robert De Niro, rejoice in another stellar performance by Joe Pesci, and learn the movie magic behind how all of those fight scenes were filmed. Follow Branson: Instagram, TwitterListen to Rude Tales of Magic hereNext week tune in for our next episode covering Goodfellas (1990)! Like the show? Rate Newcomers 5 stars on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and leave a review for Nicole and Lauren to read on the pod!Follow the podcast on Letterboxd.Advertise on Newcomers via Gumball.fmSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is a HeadGum Original. The Bronx Bull, the Raging Bull, let's hear it for the great Jake LaMotta, ladies and gentlemen. I'm the best. I can take it more than anybody. You're dead, you're married. Take the young girls from me. There's no way I'm going down. I don't. You're married. Take the young girl's from me. There's no way I'm going down. I don't go down for nobody. Listen to me, then. Why does he have to make it so hard on himself? If you beat Trigger Ray, you'll get a shot at the title.

You feel that way? There's no one else around who wants to fight me. They're all afraid. There's a lot of bad things, Joey. Maybe it's coming back to me. Newcomer Okay, I'm Nicole Byer. Okay, I'm Lauren Mopkins. Okay, this time we're working our way through the filmography of Mare Scorsese. Also, we got producer Allie and producer Anya in here. I do have to say, I don't want to get too crazy just this many episodes in, but I did look up how to say his name.

Oh! And I found a clip of the man himself saying his name. Oh, Mare! And someone said, how do you say your name? And then he said it. And it's Scorsese. Scorsese. Yeah. I know, kind of mind-blowing.

I've always said Scorsese. Me too. Yeah. But anyway. Scorsese. That's that. So now we know how to say it, which is really important

going forward. It's pretty sexy. Because we're going to say it a lot. So we're going to do 10 episodes this season and we've picked all of the essential movies of Scorsese's super long and prolific career.

Of course, we can't get to everything. And of course, we have seen Wolf of Wall Street. Yes, we have. The only one we've seen. Lauren, I got to say, I understand why this man has had such longevity. So do I. I have had moments where I'm like, oh oh this is what everyone's been talking about yes and it also there's just so much about I mean there's just so much to say honestly when you but when

you're watching things that are classic good films it feels good in the soul it feels it feels so good and I'm like wow I don't want to look at my phone like exactly i had a pause raging bull because i got like a text that i needed to answer and i paused it yeah i never paused a single batman movie i said let it wash right over me you can't pause them you have to let them play or you'll never have time to do anything else so today we are discussing what is often hailed as a modern epic, Scorsese's 1980 film Raging Bull. Wow. In black and white. It's available for free on Tubi or the Roku channel or for a fee on any of the major streamers. Because guess what? It's a classic, baby. And we're going to spoil the shit out of it. So, yeah. And again, we're the last people to see this. So everyone will be like, yeah, we know how it goes.

But OK, we are so excited for our guest today. Branson Reese is a comedian, illustrator, co-creator and host of the HeadGum podcast Rude Tales of Magic. His credits include Alternatino with Arturo Castro on Comedy Central, Late Night with Seth Meyers, Broadway Video's 65th Man and more. And diehard fans of Brisk Ice Tea will remember him as the skinny, lemon-headed man from

the commercial. Now, Branson, thank you for being here. Tell us more about that really quickly. Yeah, tell us about that. Thank you for having me. Thank you for reading the bio I forgot to update on my website. I assume you sent it in. I was scraping for credits at that point. Oh, me more give me some new ones I don't yeah give us new ones I do the whole well I still am I said it like that was past tense like I've had

success since then but the uh that was I was doing a commercial for brisk iced tea where the idea was the brisk man would come visit you you would like call a phone number and he would deliver uh bris to you and they reached out to me and they were like we saw you in an improv show we thought you'd be like perfect and i was like an idiot i was like i made it somebody saw how funny i am and then i got there and they were like we already built the costume and it doesn't really fit most bodies and we thought that's so crazy i would pass right away you profiled my body it was pretty he'll fit into that thing i i was so inspired by raging bull that i i gained 80 pounds for this podcast okay good we really were hoping that you would do the work needed to talk about this film um what is your relationship to the work of martin scorsese or to or to raging bull in particular

if you if one more than the other i'm a big fan i like the man i like okay i like him i saw he was like on tv all the time when i was like a kid really i just remember it was like there's yeah he was like in commercials you know he'd like martin scorsese nicole this is our blind spot wait how old are you uh if you don't mind oh no it's fine i'm i but i'm yeah i'm i think i'm around 38 as well but something like that but i don't remember oh marty on my tv i feel like he was in like a mastercard commercial or something you know just like that and i just remember he had huge eyebrows and my first thought was like solidarity who is that like i like this guy yeah yeah i see myself made you feel safe and then the more i learned about it i was like oh he's like

he's like a little he's like a little smart ass i like this guy and then i i didn't see any of his movies for a while i think raging bull would have been one of the first ones i saw when i was like you know in high school and you're sort of like you're watching the classics it was like well i guess i had seen goodfellas but that didn't that just felt like american culture you know that didn't feel like a like a guy had made it it just felt like oh a thing that everyone riffs on exists well that's so interesting we're doing that next and i mean i i'm excited because i really i don't know i don't know okay and i am american same i'm an america i'm like that too and i don't i simply don't know anything and then i keep seeing these things and i'm like oh my god this is where it's from

i know that's right you're gonna have that big time with goodfell it's gonna be like when i watched citizen kane for the first time i was like oh my god every shot in this was in the simpsons at one point like they've oh yeah you're gonna have that with goodfellas it's like it's been picked apart to death by well i had it with this one when he said something like there was early in the movie there's something like he could be a contender and i was like oh my god as i could have been a contender from this and then we get there at the end, but it's not from that, but he's quoting that.

And then I was like, there's layers to, I could have been a contender that I didn't even know. I didn't know. We didn't know. I'm just glad I know. I mean, yeah.

And, and just about this movie, I liked this movie and I was fucking loved it. Yeah. It's so fun to talk. I think think i feel like the last time we had this happen was with tyler perry movies we were really our taste is all over the place we're like creme de la creme tyler perry marie scorsese that's a classic like a bernie to trump voter it's like the through line is so clear don't connect us to that do that i am not like that

but i mean but really we don't i feel like we just never know what we're gonna think like we and with batman we had many things that we that we were like this is the best one or whatever like we have our moments but like it's been exciting so i'm like i might feel that the whole way through with this which is really yeah i'm really excited i like it so much in this this particular movie or film if you will was just shot so beautifully and it told such a story also i was like i started dating pretty late in life and i was like if i had a boyfriend in high school would i have seen all these oh my god well no my boyfriend in high school to go like Lord of the Rings, but I always, but I always fell asleep before I got going. So I'd be in the same place I am now. I'd be like, oops, fell asleep.

Yeah. I mean, yeah, that's a good question though, because it is very, like, like these movies are for the average American male, very iconic. They've seen it all 500 times. but this one i also when i was googling because of course once again i had to google the actress's age to make sure that it was nothing gross was happening still questionable but the actress was playing 15 and then i was like 15 how old is she and i guess she was 17 or 18 when she was filming she was 18 okay okay because one thing yeah she was she was scouted i believe at a beauty pageant because i also did some a little a little google because i was like 15 also you're 15 going on 35 i was like i certainly oh my god it was wild if you saw me

at 15 at the pool like don't talk to her like yeah don't don't go over there but instead she was like yeah whatever uh-huh yeah i'll get in your car if i spoke like that at 15 boy oh boy your whole life would be different i wouldn't be doing podcasts but my movie yeah that like a mid-40s 15 is like a 2024 like 39 yeah yeah like that period of time like i it is weird how that's true but like i also discovered at that moment that it was a biopic because i didn't know that it was i didn't know until you told me yeah yeah unbelievable right yeah i'm jake lamotta and that movie gets made about me i'm i am breaking my legs running to a lawyer to be like, how do we stop this? And he was like, he wrote it all.

It's based on a book that he wrote. It's like based on his, clearly somebody helped him. I, you know. Yeah, yeah, I know. A lot of damage to the brain. I don't think he wrote it. Boxing, boxing is so disgusting to me.

I just really don't understand. It's very graphic, very prim very primal like like you're a caveman like we don't have anything else to do how about you beat your friend to death yeah and we'll all cheer about it and it's gonna be fun it's really crazy those are the those are the hardest parts for me to watch personally yeah marty like oh Well, the domestic violence also bothered me. Which is all of the movie, really. Yeah. We should move on to our new segment called Spotted

where we say if we see any of the following sightings, one of Marty's boys, a recurring actor, so we got Robert De Niro. Yes. Oh, did you guys catch him in this we caught him caught him uh yeah i spotted him is it uh harvey kytel was not in this or is he no okay joe pesci is in it and he's so great and he's so hot i want to fuck joe pesci so bad

that's so crazy i just want him to to love me and i felt like this since being a kid no okay okay that actually makes more sense i because i mean if it's like coming from this i don't know i mean he's very he's very charming he's very charming he's a great actor absolutely he's so good so talented and hot i can't wait to hear if you still feel that way after goodfellas oh yeah he gives like a really like love it or hate it performance in that i love. I want to fuck him after Goodfellas. Okay. That says anything. I mean, that means I think I'm gonna wanna.

Anyway, do we get Marty's dad, Charles Scorsese, in this movie? Is he in this? I don't think so. I don't think so. And then Marty himself. And then Marty was not in it? I also don't think so. Am I right?

I don't think he is. And Leonardo DiCaprio was not in it i also don't think so am i right i don't think he is and leonardo caprio was not in it no he did he passed on this movie yeah he said too busy i got things too busy learning how to talk yeah um okay so we're gonna take a quick break we'll be back with more raging bull and get all up into it. If you're wondering what a NordVPN is, I'll tell you. VPN stands for Virtual Private Network, a service that protects your internet connection and online privacy. A VPN creates an encrypted tunnel for your data, protect your online identity by hiding your IP address,

and allow you to use public Wi-Fi hotspots safely. I'm using a Nord VPN myself. And honestly, it's very easy to use. You connect with one click to enable auto-connect for zero-click protection. It has amazing speed. Nord VPN is one of the fastest VPNs out there, and it supports every major platform, Windows, Android, iOS, Linux, even

Android TV. You can switch your virtual location to access apps and websites in other countries. Get an exclusive NordVPN deal here at nordvpn.com slash newcomers, N-O-R-D-V-P-N dot com slash newcomers. It's risk-free with Nord's 30-day money-back guarantee. Link is in the episode description. We're back. It was released December 19th, 1980. Ooh, a Christmas treat. It was a Christmas treat.

And it was written by Paul Schrader and uh-oh, Mardik Martin. Mardik? Wow. Interesting name. And, you know, it being in black and white, it kind of goes right up there with It's a Wonderful Life. Just put it on every Christmas. You could swap one scene. You could just like trade scenes off. You wouldn't know which movie you were watching. No, I, okay. I have have to i'm excited about this and i'm also really excited about the sort of time periods that he's working with i find it really fun um so let's jump into the plot and talk about our thoughts

as we were watching so after an opening credit sequence sequence of jake lamotta robert de niro shadow boxing alone in a ring i got worried at this this part. Cause I was like, Oh no. Raging Bull opens with Jake rehearsing his act in the dressing room of a nightclub. The rehearsal ends with the repetition of the phrase. That's entertainment. Now I didn't know it was a boxing movie. I didn't know anything about this. So boxing,

I was immediately like, Oh no, is this gonna be really boring and all about boxing? It wasn't boring at all. But then the, when they jumped to him with his age makeup on or his like fucked up head makeup, I was like,

what? Like I truly did not know where it was going. And then I kind of like forgot about that pretty quickly. Cause it sweeps you up in the story. I was like, what is this? Is this like spoken word poetry? What's going on?

I was like, is this about a poet it certainly wasn't he's especially not a i don't know if anyone in film has ever less been a poet than jake lamotta but like he really wants to be by the end which is so yes he does like want to be a comedian yeah i mean this is like the age-old like rock stars want to be comedians and comedians want to be rock stars and like i guess boxers want to be comedians it's like another everybody wants to be a comedian comedians want to be boxers of course we all want to punch each other right but but i yeah i was i was really surprised by that because i'm like his personality

does not lend itself to comedy in any way. He didn't make me laugh. Not one time. Not when he's scared. He hit his wife and yelled about steak and threw in a room. She was fun, though. She was like, you scream at me. I'll scream at you.

I know. I know. OK, let's keep going. OK, so it's 1941 and Jake is a muscular boxer in danger of losing a fight against Jimmy Reeves, Floyd Anderson. The bell rings. And even though Reeves is physically removed from the ring, Jake suffers his first professional defeat after which confused me. I was like, wait, but like this man seems like he lost. Yeah, I wasn't really following a lot of the fighting.

Honestly, fighting. I didn't really look i didn't want to look at it it was so grotesque to me that i was just like yeah i'll just catch up to whatever happened there and i found it to be grotesque but i also was like it was like a like a car accident you know how like cars slow down because they have to see what's going on i was like yeah pretty enraptured because i was like what the fuck is happening yeah i mean and he does you know he scores it and shoots it like it's like ballet yeah even though it's yeah he'll get punched in the face and then the front row it's like shamu with just like blood spraying them yeah i mean it's really cool yeah i feel like okay

after watching it i was like is marty romanticizing abuse and, like, brutality? But I was like, no, I actually think they're, like, cautionary tales that people misinterpret. Yeah. Okay, this rocks. I was so, I was watching this movie, I was dreading it. I was like, oh, my God. And it was, like, hitting me all as I watched it. I was like, this is such a nasty downer of him

i love it but you know like he's he's punching his wife in the head like this is a brutal movie i'm gonna i'm about to have to go on a podcast and say why i like this and like make myself into a lightning rod like but yeah you're right it's not like because then he cuts to like kids watching that in horror you know he's got clearly a very morally driven filmmaker and when and how this story plays out like it's like it's not he's not a hero no he's not a hero at all but it's like i felt the same thing about taxi driver where i was like it's so interesting that i feel like a lot of men feel akin to what's his name? Travis or whatever. Yeah.

But I'm like, you shouldn't, you should want to run in the opposite direction of that man. And I feel like that's what old Marty likes to show us. But you know, it's interesting. I feel like with women, like,

especially when you're in this industry, like trying to create something, a lot of times a note will say that the main female has to be more likable. And yet none of these men are likable that the main female has to be more likable and yet none of these men are likable that we've seen you know but like they're they're likable as a performance and it's art and all these things but i'm like and that's what stories can tell you about a person who you don't like and who you don't want to hang out with so i mean i don't know that i think it's there's a little bit of a double standard. I think it's interesting because I think about Carrie and Sex and the City a lot.

She is a deeply unlikable character that you root for because you see a little bit of your own selfishness in her. And I feel like women aren't allowed to be selfish. So it is allowed that men can be selfish assholes. And people are like, boy, oh, boy, I love that. Yeah. And I want to be more like that because, look, boy, oh boy, I love that. Yeah. And I want to be more like that. Cause look, he got everything he wanted all the time or whatever.

Like, yeah, yeah. It's crazy. It does almost feel like a corrective. Like he made taxi driver. He was like, Oh,

I don't, he had like a crystal ball and he was like, one day like men are going to be like seeing themselves in travel. Travis, I'm going to make this, this is like the equivalent of like your dad catching you smoking. And he's like, now you're going to smoke the whole pack. Like this is the most unlikable man in film.

Are you sure you relate to him? You're absolutely right. Weren't you thinking, Nicole, how fun it would be to act this out? Like the scenes where she's the wife is like yelling at him and stuff. And it's like, oh, it'd be so fun. Yes. So much fun to just scream at Robert De Niro. Oh my goodness.

Okay, so we got to get through this. Okay, after returning to New York City. No, it's okay. Joey walks down the street with Salovey Batts, Frank Vincent, a mafioso working under Tony Como, Nicholas Colasanto. He's coached from Cheers. Oh my God, I didn't piece that together. Wait,'t piece that together wait because he's so smart in this you don't even recognize him oh my god wait a minute let me get on the

google i know i'm googling oh nope didn't didn't clock him at all i can't even i'm i'm not doing a good job googling i keep keep going. It's okay. He's a mob controller of the boxing industry in New York. Salvi tries once again to convince Joey, Joey that Jake can never get a shot at the title without playing ball with Tommy. This kind of confused me. Cause I didn't realize that like the mob had control over boxing too.

Oh yeah. Yeah. I don't think I really understand quite what the mob does i thought it was just a bunch of fine italian men who do a little bit of crime and protect their families uh-huh sounds so nice how you put it They just wear suits and they hang out. So Jake reveals his violent behavior is not restricted to the ring. This felt like a play. I really enjoyed this scene.

It did. So he gets in a heated argument with his wife, Lori Ann Flax, over his steak not being cooked to his precise specification. He throws the table and everything. Soon afterward, Joey enters Jake's apartment and Jake laments over his small hands and complains that his middleweight physique prevents him from fighting heavyweight greats like Joe Lewis.

Jake then abruptly provokes his brother into hitting him in the face as hard as he can, bare fisted. So it's with Joe Pesci, who is just so great. And then so he's like, he wraps a dish towel around his hand and punches him in the head over and over again. And Robert De niro has no reaction basically he's like just egging him on it was really an intense scene so intense but also i was like you just got done fighting your wife and now you want to fight your brother he's never

satisfied he's just gotta well i love how like the movie will like you know he'll have a fight in his real life and then they'll immediately cut to a boxing match where he's like having that fight again with another guy you know where she's like oh he's got a pretty face and she says it like 15 times and then or she says it once and then he says it 15 times and then he ruins the guy's face in the box it's like he's still upset about that but i would say the the foley when pesci is punching him it's so soft it feels like an actual punch to the face i was just wincing this time watching it all of that was so well done and i mean i just i love this the choices stylistically for to make it seem like an old movie as well but like um the i felt like the fights were all very realistic. It was really impressive. Yeah, everything was super, super real.

I felt so invested and like I couldn't stop watching it. And I spent a lot of this movie just with my mouth open. I was like, oh, no. Oh, no. Why? No. Okay, so Jake and Joey are at the neighborhood public swimming pool where Salvi and his cohorts hit on a young blonde named vicky i was also like boy oh boy she's got like a like a i don't know

like a a sex kitten name vicky vicky um not that a child can't be named vicky but they do sexualize her kathy moriarty jake asked joey if vicky is in a sexual relationship with anyone which is wild because she is 15 and he's married there's like two reasons for him to shut up but yeah yeah and then Joey's like nobody goes with her because she is 15 and then Jake said yummy yummy yummy uh better get in there and then Joey introduces him to Vicky impressed by Jake's convertible because she's a child she agrees to go on a date with him and after a game of mini golf which is yeah where you take a child jake takes her back to his father's apartment and they kiss in front of a photograph of jake and joey this i hated i hated it because i was like oh this is like you're actually watching grooming like he's like come

sit closer to me i know make her feel safe about that here come sit closer to me. I know. Make her feel safe about that. Here, come sit closer to me. The repetition of that. Here, sit on my lap. I was like, Vicky, no, bitch. Go back to the pool. I know. It made me uncomfortable. And she's extremely confident and like seems very mature.

But just knowing the person is 15, you're like, you can't possibly understand what's happening here. So that's just. is 15 you're like you can't possibly understand what's happening here so that's just but and also again being like this is true which gave me you know it gave a pass to the situation more in terms of storytelling because you're like this is a real story that happened like i just that was interesting i just want to throw my two cents in i feel really weird that i haven't spoken up i also hated that thank you thank you because we were all waiting for you to just interrupt us. Every sentence where I didn't speak up, it was like, it seems like I'm endorsing this, doesn't it?

We were like, and for some reason Branson's going like, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. If you guys feel that way, okay. He's typing in the chat, I love that part. Okay. the chat i love that part okay so jake hands future legend sugar ray robinson johnny barns his first professional loss launching what becomes the greatest middleweight rivalry of the 1940s after the fight vicky kisses jake's bruises and jake becomes sexually aroused to preserve enough energy for a forthcoming fight with robinson jake walks away from vicky and pours cold water on his erection now this scene she was like he basically is like come have sex with me and then she's like you said i should never touch you before a fight um like in the middle of this all this stuff and he was like

do it anyway and then she does stuff and then I feel like he literally poured like ice on it. Like it was like, he did. He poured ice on his dick. But before that, she was like, you smell, I like the gym.

And he was like, what? And I like, you smell like the gym. I like the gym. I was like, of course you like the gym. It reminds you of school where you should be where you are right now.

Not to mention though, at the wife, his first wife is erased. they don't ever address how that ends no they don't deal with that they said bye-bye he just was done which is interesting i mean it feels like wait wait no she does come back doesn't she he she yells yelling at him from the street yeah yeah but um but i don't know if that already happened here, but my point is that's the last time you see her and you don't see him like have to end his relationship

or get caught cheating or anything like that. It just is like now he's with the 15 year old, which is weird. I do think he does a pretty good job putting you in his head where he's just like onto the next, he's just like a dog, you know? He's just like, this thing is in front of me right now.

I think I got divorced back there a while ago. I don't remember. You know, like. Yeah. Keep going. Yeah. I was just so glad he put his erection down. I, too, was glad I said, I don't really want to watch that.

That's just a step too far. And then I was like, why do you have a pitcher of ice water in your bathroom? Yeah, I don't know what that, maybe that's how they used to like wash their ass back then. It's a makeshift bidet. Okay. Despite the sacrifice, Jake loses the Robinson rematch three days later, but Jake nonetheless elevated into the realm of the best of the middleweights. Then a montage shows a string of Jake's victorious matches

and features colored home video camera footage of Jake's happy domestic life. I love this. This is so great because you know it's not true. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, right. It's so picture perfect. And like what home movies typically are. Like it's just the best moment or something.

Yeah. And it's also, it's like shot on different film stock and it's color and it like feels like a dream he's having like from within the movie. It's so, and it's true. Like, you know, it's bullshit. You've already seen how violent he is to people he loves. Like those kids it's true like you know it's bullshit you've already seen how violent he is to people he loves like those kids aren't safe you know like no yeah it's great and uh

branson you had said earlier you're like you see it from his vantage point and that really felt like his vantage point like everything's happy whatever um and then i like loved when he was like get closer like to the kid or whatever. And the kid like pauses before moving closer because like the kid knows they're not safe. And I thought that broke a little bit of the dream. And I really liked that. It's such a painful. All the stuff with the kids is so like painful to watch.

It's like they're those are good actors, you know, and it's like really you can see that they're like around physical violence a lot and they are have already had to like learn little strategies to like deal with them it's so sad yeah in 1947 now out of fighting shape jake is angry with joey for organizing a fight between him and a young boxer tony geniro who is kevin mahone and joey believes jake can win the fight. And Vicky agrees, adding that Gennaro is good looking and popular, a comment which fuels Jake's ardent sexual jealousy. Jake, Vicky and Joey go to the Copacabana nightclub. Tommy and his gang are also there.

And Salvi invites Vicky over for a drink, which enrages Jake. This whole night stressed me the fuck out. Yes. Yeah. I was like, how did this 15 year old get in one two she just gets to drink she's just drinking with the the big dogs the big dogs who am i and and then she knows all of them and they all treat her well and And like, you kind of get the sense that there's history with everyone that she's talking to. And Jake is so jealous, which is really one of the nastiest traits, especially from someone who's really violent.

But it's like, it's just scary. It's like, oh, what do you, you can't, she clearly knew she couldn't even talk to them. She tells them like, oh, Jake's here. I got to go. Like, it's, there's that feeling of like, oh oh i'm not even supposed to like look at you yeah which feels yeah it's very very nasty i'm also like when does she leave your sight like when is she out of sight when is she ever having the opportunity to do to do these things that you're just thinking it seems to me never no never. No, she's never

away from him unless he leaves. But it is that thing with those types of people. And also because he's so... He's cheating and being evil. He thinks everybody's doing all the same shit he's doing. He's so jealous of her and assumes anything she says means she's going to do something.

Which we come to find out might be true. But can we blame her i mean no so while jake is away at training camp vicky goes out with salvi joey spots her and drags her out of the club salvi asserts that the night out is innocent but joey ambushes him and slams his whole body in a cab door tommy makes it clear to jake that jack to jake that jake will never get a shot at the middleweight title if he doesn't cooperate with the mob jake finally agrees to throw his fight against billy fox eddie mufasa muhammad that's a great name uh but it's clear that the fight is rigged and the boxing board suspends jake for two years oh my god this when fucking uh when joey fucking slams this man's body in the cat i was like oh my

god it runs in the family yeah oh yeah this guy it's only because he's next to jake the whole movie that it's like that guy's pretty reasonable but in any other context it's like this guy is a terrorist this is a monster i know because when we see joey like with his wife and kids he's like a terrible person he's like so abusive but it is true that like comparatively he seems like he's maybe a little bit of a wuss or something because like he didn't want to punch jake in the face we're like see he's kind of nice or something it's like no he's yeah he's disturbing awful yeah also did he jump over a table did he knock over a table i'm i'm remembering later when they go to like make or like uh where he's like yeah yeah it's all it's all good we can put this behind and And then he just slams a glass into his head.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Which is wild. Everything in this movie was wild. And the violence is so extreme, but there's moments where it's kind of funny. Oh, yeah. Well, in the beginning, they throw a man out of the boxing ring

or in a box. They're just throwing people. It looks like a dummy that they've thrown. That part's really good. Honestly, I was, this time, and this is only because this is, like, the fourth time I've seen this. The, did you fuck my wife scene? That whole time, I was like, you know, he looks a little like Kramer in this scene. And I was just like, I't watch it through not through that

lens it's like it's it's so close to being a funny scene that's why I get carried it's basically Seinfeld yeah so two years later Jake finally gets his shot at the world middle weight championship against current title holder Marcel Serdan

Luis Raftis or Lewis before the fight Tommy offers words of encouragement to Jake but Jake gets suspicious when he observes Vicky casually kissing Tommy and Joey on the lips Jake beats Cerdan to win the title but the joy is short-lived so yeah I mean yeah I mean not to blame the victim but Vicky you know your husband don't be kissing other people on the lips yeah you really can't get away with that in front of him i mean no you got to know that it's you don't want to blame them but tactically it's a it's an odd move or maybe she was fueling him for the fight she was like i know what will make him kill a man uh so jake confronts joey about what happened on the night of joey's fight with salvi enraged

and delusional jake asked joey if he slept with vicky joey leaves and jake then accuses vicky of having sex with joey he hits her oh i hated this yeah in a tumultuous explosion of emotion vicky mock confesses to sleeping with joey salvi and tommy she's like i slept with the mom is that what you want okay then she even said like i sucked their dick or something yes i think she did and the language actually i found hilarious in a lot of this there's like it's really graphic violent like in a way that i wasn't expecting at all i actually was sort of like i didn't know people talked like that back then with some other words maybe they didn't i don't know i mean i assume it's true i always think that got invented when i was in middle school totally totally like me and my friends talking like that that's ours

like that wasn't always happening but like the when he confronts joey and joey's like i'm not gonna answer that i'm not gonna answer i love that i love just the acting was so wonderful i'm like that he never answers it so you kind of go like they did and then when she mock confesses you're like i think she did all of that like i don't know like and then when he broke through the door which was like made of i don't know literal cardboard like he pushed he punched like like the center of the frame of the door and just walked in. I'm like, you're Frankenstein. Like, this is like scary. Yeah, it was absolutely terrifying.

But again, I think it's from his point of view. Like, I think in an actual reality, his brother says, no, I didn't. And Vicky goes, says no i didn't and vicky goes no i didn't but in his reality it's like a note like he doesn't get an answer so he can make up his own answer oh that's right i love that perspective this is he is such a this is such a good performance of a stupid guy who doesn't understand that he's stupid because i know so many and i grew up with so many stupid guys who get it they get that they're stupid and they have really fun lives because you know so many and i grew up with so many stupid guys who get it they get that they're stupid and they have really fun lives because you know they're just like hey i'm an

idiot whatever like and but i know i also know guys like this who are like i know they're smart guys but i think i'm probably right in the middle it's like no you're dumb and he's he's like convinced himself that he's figured something out and that's like when he's his most dangerous it's like he like thinks the way he boxes he's like i've got you on the ropes now and i'm not gonna let up until you're like dead that is so true i think it's like i think that's the scariest kind of man who like thinks that he's smarter than he is and it's like they are they think they're doing something and it's like you're not you're not doing something right now like that's it's it's scary okay so she might confess okay so jake heads back to joey's house next door and

attacks him during breakfast uh when vicky shows up to try to break up the fight jake brutally strikes her the couple reconciles but joey and jake become estranged oh i i found that interesting but okay wait robinson destroys jake in their final bout jake goads roy ray i'm sorry ray to beat him to a pulp until the referee steps in to end the fight and as he has helped to his own corner he reminds robinson that he never got him down that part i was like what's gonna happen you can walk over and kill him like that's what i thought like he's like he looks like absolute shit he's like, he looks like absolute shit. He's been beaten. He looks like a big, like,

I don't know what ball of cauliflower. Like, I don't know what he looks horrible. And he's like, you never got me down. You never got me down. It's like, you are down,

dude. Like, it's not, that's the point. Yeah. He's like been beaten down and he's just like a nasty little cauliflower but he's like but the thing that matters the most is you didn't knock me off my feet and it's like you're missing the whole fucking point your face is fucked yeah i this is my favorite part of the

movie because it's like he's you see it's like obviously scorsese who's like catholic as shit made this movie right and it's like he goes into thatese, who's like Catholic as shit, made this movie, right? And it's like, he goes into that ring like it's a confessional, right? And he's like, tear me up. Like, I know you're not, like, I'm dumb, but I'm not, I know you're not supposed to hit your wife and knock her out. Like, I know that's bad. And so, like, he needs this guy to, like, punish him for, like, what he's done. And there's, like, something sort of, this is the only part of the movie where I'm like Jake I sort

of feel for you know it's like this is the only context he's like sort of an underdog he sort of makes you're almost like there's something scrappy and like a a likable way about him here when he's like you didn't knock me it's like he's an abject figure you know he's like yeah he's been he's got

the shit kicked out of him his life is in ruins and he's the only thing he cares about is he didn't get knocked off of his feet and the movie like brings you to the brink where you're like okay if that's the only thing you care about i guess you did it you know you like yeah you can feel it okay so then jake's retired and the family his whole family lives in florida and he owns a nightclub. This turn was so surprising to me. Vicky files for divorce and takes the kids with her. Jake's arrested for allowing underage girls to pimp into his self-named nightclub, though he claims to be innocent. He's not.

He actively kissed the girl to prove that she was 21 by kissing her. And then turns out she's 14. So he likes girls who are 14 14 even though he keeps getting much older yes and he said you know 15 wasn't young enough i better go down one yeah and he couldn't believe it i mean when they come to his house the da or wherever he's sleeping i guess he's probably sleeping at the club he they could they show him the pictures of the girl that he kissed and i really i love i mean ro De Niro, amazing actor. It's like, just watching him take it,

at first kind of deny the pictures, then want to see them again, then kind of being like, she doesn't look 14 to you, does she? I mean, she's looking, she's trying to reason with them. Yes, like, it's too late. Which is so gross.

Also, Vicky, like, I don't, like, it was a classic, like, like domestic violence leaving she had an escape plan she moved her stuff out of the house while he wasn't there didn't tell him where where she was going like she said i'm taking like i was like boy this it's so detailed it's like it's very real and you know that she would was struggling with that for a long time at this point, because now he's already much older and retired and whatever. I don't know how many years it's actually been, but like she she had her whole game plan, which is not an easy thing to put together, especially, I'm sure, at this time and with someone like him. Yeah, I think the what the mid 50s. Yeah.

Yeah, it's not like we're not even great about it now, but I think we were like even radically worse at that as a society in the mid 50s yeah yeah it's not like we're not even great about it now but i think we were like even radically worse at that as a society in the mid 50s yeah yeah it's all it's all very scary to think about her perspective and how there's a whole storyline going on for her that we're only seeing these like brief glimpses where she probably didn't have a bank account so she had to like save money a little bit at a time like it's harrowing like i this film is so incredible because i felt for everybody i uh i know and yeah there are really moments where you feel really bad for him um so he pries loose his middleweight boxing championships championship belts encrusted jewels which is so low it was so it was so sad he's like ripping them out to sell only to be

told that the jewels don't have any value without the belt itself which is like duh why were you taking it apart it's so obvious if you just walk to the store like if you just walk to the pawn shop with the belt you're gonna get a lot of money like what are you doing yeah the thing that the belt symbolizes is much rarer than the little jewels they put in the film. And now they're all broken and crusty. Do you guys have a king of comedy on the list for this? No, I don't think so. That was a very king of comedy. He has a lot of really low,

like, okay, I'll try to bargain with you and I have no chips whatsoever in that movie. A lot of the De Niro Sc's a very, he, a lot of the De Niro Scorsese films, he plays these characters who are like, everything's a transaction. I can just you know, buy or barter my way out of any situation. And that was

in this, it's just like, the fucking, the little dime, the fake jewels on the belt. And he comes in with them in a little like wrap like tissue or something. He's like, here. And he's like, this in a little like wrap like tissue or something. He's like here. And he's like, this isn't anything. I don't want this.

Yeah. Like a cat bringing you a bird. You like this. I don't like this. So he this part was so fucked up. He's placed in solitary confinement. They really wrestle him in there. Yeah.

He howls that he's not an animal as he beats his fist and bangs his head against the cinderblock wall of the cell, calling himself a dummy repeatedly. Yeah. Which is like perfect because it's like you are an animal. I've never seen anything more animalistic than someone howling and banging and screaming. I know. It was so hard to watch. I mean, it goes on for a long time and then he's like oh my hand and it's like yeah yeah you idiot you can like see him as a baby at that point you know

what i mean it's like you can see him it's like oh my god there it is it's like usually you don't get that in a movie it's like you sort of have to guess and in that it's like no i see you as a baby i see when you figured out that you were like dumb and that made you angry. Like it's all there. Well, you know, those people who punch things to like out of anger, like we've all,

we've all met that guy. And it's like, you hurt yourself and damaged property. It's like, what did that do? Like, what did that do for anyone? But okay.

I don't think I've ever been that mad that i'm like i'm gonna put a hole in the wall like what weirdo that's like just like yeah it truly to me i mean it obviously not hitting you i wouldn't say you should hit a person but it's like hitting a wall you're just you're literally just causing yourself problems for later like i just don't what lauren is saying, hit the person. Yeah. I'm like, if you hit a person, they walk away. If you make a hole in your wall, you have to fix that.

People heal on their own. Their bodies do this. I've been, if I'm like that mad, it's the last thing I want is another problem. Right. You know, it's like, well, that's two more, at least the hand in the wall yeah you gotta go to home depot now and get spackle so i think out of prison jake marries

a stripper named emma classy name and returns to new york city one night he sees joey coming out of a liquor store and attempts to reconcile with him a reluctant joey allows jake to hug him but reveals no desire to reconnect which i love i was like maintain those boundaries i loved it he jumps out of the car and he's like well so also the stripper is in his show so he's like performing at this nightclub and then he's like and then he introduces the next act which is this woman and to me it looked like she was a pathetic act. Like kind of like she had her little boa or whatever she was doing. But it was like, and then the bar was like four people. It was all like a really shitty situation.

And he's doing his comedy, which is terrible. And like most people aren't enjoying it. And he's like fighting with people. And I didn't know, I didn't realize he married her, I guess. But then he's like, I'll see you at home. I'm like, send her in a cab because he sees Joey came out of the store and like him following Joey and Joey not even wanting to turn around. And then he follows him to the parking lot and he's like, give me a kiss.

Give me a kiss. He literally kept saying, give me a kiss and like kissing him. And Joey's like, no. And like, he's like, I'll call you later. So he's like, well, you really don't forget or whatever. It was really sad. It was so sad. That scene hurts to fuck it, to watch.

And it's also, it's like he's treated everyone in his life so transactionally up into that point. And they only put up with him because he offers them like access to the like power and wealth that comes with his boxing success and it's like you fucking idiot like what did you think was gonna happen when you stopped being in shape like did you think they were gonna be like all right well you're so easy to hang around with yeah we've always had a good time yeah no the film ends where it began 1964 in the dressing room where jake rehearses his act jake recites a famous scene from on the water oh interesting that's why i didn't know where it was from never seen on the waterfront where marlon brando's character famously insists i could have had class i could have been a contend oh that's for oh i thought it originated in this movie i

was like oh so this that's where this is from. No, right, right. So he's quoting Brando. This is so funny how little I know about the industry I've chosen to be in. I could have been somebody instead of a bum, which I am. A voice, oh, so Marty Scorsese was in this, tells Jake it's time to go on stage after shadow boxing jake walks out and the screen goes dark um that was so so so sad the the moment of like it's time to go

it's like other people there's a lot of there's a lot of people like okay okay and he's like then he boxes a little bit and goes i'm just like this is this feels like such a bummer and like i mean obviously comedy changes so much over time that like there was that one club where he's in his own club, I guess, which also skews it. He's performing and doing well, but it's still like really corny. Like, you know, it's you can't really tell if the audience is biased because or, you know, just giving him applause because he runs the club. It does feel like it's a novelty like it's like oh we come to jake lamotta's there he is yeah yeah yeah yeah and it's it i felt like it was such a like uh i don't know a statement on trying to stay

relevant because it's like there's a world where this man goes okay i'm not a boxer anymore i'll go get a job in a supermarket or whatever but he's like i'm above all that and i need to stay relevant and i need people to idolize me even though i'm this like piece of garbage yeah it's definitely yeah the constant need for like attention and accolades from people even especially that scene where he's performing for like four people who hate him you're like what like what is keeping this going like this can't even be like paying you anything like i don't even get it but it is sad i do think it's interesting to draw this has only occurred to me on this watch the like the idea that if your job is like pugilist, you know, like just like fighting and being violent for an audience that once you physically can't do that anymore, stand up is the next.

It's a good way to get beaten up. Yeah. Fight with your words. Metaphorically. Yeah. Yeah. Get your ass kicked by like lack of laughter. Oh my God.

yeah get your ass kicked by like lack of laughter god so the reception of this movie the brew of violence and anger combined with the lack of a proper advertising campaign led to the film's lukewarm box office intake of only 23 million when compared to its 18 million dollar budget it's so surprising yeah i mean i feel like word of mouth would have made this uh you know better like uh make make more money because i like i genuinely loved it and i was like i need to see more of this man's films and i was like well i'm in luck i get to i didn't know don't worry i had always heard it was like such a bomb and like i'm not saying that's a ton, but like if I spend $18 million and I get $23 million back, all of a sudden I've got $5 million I didn't have.

Like that seems pretty good to me. It's a win. Yeah, we win. Well, and that's what's so interesting because the next fact which Nicole is going to tell us. Yeah, so Bobby D, Robert De Niro, won Best Actor at both the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards. And Thelma Shoemaker won the Academy Award for Best Editing. She deserves it.

I thought it was. Yeah. It's so good. Oh, it's so amazing. But I'm so shocked by this. I feel like this doesn't happen as often where things that didn't do well in the box office also win Academy Awards. It feels much more intertwined now, maybe. Yeah.

Yeah. I don't know much about the... Wait, do you guys know the... I don't want to jump on any of the trivia you have, but do you know the story of how they chose to do this movie? No, please tell us. Okay, so Scorsese, sorry the uh in the 70s he was like uh he was doing a lot of coke and he i think he was like hospitalized uh for like just like

rocking too hard and he deniro came to visit him and said like hey i got a project i would love for you to work on it's the jake LaMotta story. I think you could, should make a movie about Jake LaMotta. And Scorsese said, that's great, but who's going to play him. And he was like, well,

I was hoping I could play him. And he was, he was like, that's crazy. You're not Italian. He's a quarter Italian. His name is De Niro. Like he's one quarter Italian.

And to Scorsese, that reads as an Irish man. Like, that's why he's the Irish man. The Irish man. He was like, I don't under, and so like Scorsese that reads as an Irish man. Like that's why he's the Irish man. He was like, I don't under, and so like Scorsese was like, it's this incredible,

like monumental performance in film. And it's like the performance that method actors are like imagining they're giving when they're being annoying on set. But like, and Scorsese was like, I just, I like, it was like a fight.

He was like, I don't see it, man. I'm sorry. You do not read as an Italian man to me. What? That is wild. I thought Bobby D was Italian.

Me too. He is. But not yet. If you're like Sicilian Marty Scorsese, like not so much. Yeah. That is really interesting. Well, some other trivia is that Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci are really punching each other in the famous hit me scene, which I thought was not real. I mean, I thought it looked very real, but I assumed it wasn't.

That's why it felt real. Yeah. I got to say, I don't think that's necessary. I think De Niro would be stupid. I don't want them to hit each other. Me either. don't be stupid i don't want i don't want them to hit each other me either especially my precious joey pesci uh so here's more trivia prior to receiving a call from deniro and scorsese for a proposal to star in the film pesci had not worked in film for four years and was working at

an italian restaurant in new jersey oh my god i'm from new jersey i wonder if i saw him oh my god that's amazing you were but i i'm truly like this is this is so crazy he kind of plucked him out of not obscurity because i guess he had done things before but like he wasn't completely known at all and then they're like oh come do our movie and it's like that kind of launched his whole thing right i mean oh yeah that's my assumption um to show up better on black and white film hershey's chocolate syrup was used for blood that's yummy that's the psycho effect is it psycho as well yeah yeah imagine me on set licking walls and they're like stop it nicole you're just like sucking a wound you you read as a vampire on film when you do that so to achieve the effect of blood gushing and spraying from robert de niro's face the actor

wore a prosthetic nose that was filled with the fake blood which would squirt in every direction upon impact with punches oh yeah and it was very effective that is like it's just like a little bit of like the, like this, like Lucio Fulci gore when he's getting punched and it's like, it's spraying out of the nose and like bizarre angles. It's like, it's almost like impressionistic. Like I don't,

I've never been punched in the nose that hard, but like, I don't think it, it goes like that. You know, it's like a little, they're taking some liberties with like anatomy in a fun way well

we gotta take another break oh we're back! More Raging Bull! So it's time for the New Academy Awards. And despite his films having been nominated for over 100 combined Academy Awards, Marty himself has only won one. So we're here to correct the record, presenting the prestigious first annual New Academy Awards! Yeah! Yay! We're going gonna start with the best food scene the nominees are irma jake's first wife feeding him a steak or jake storming into

joey's family breakfast and attacking him because he believes joey slept with his wife that's a great scene it is such a good scene but I think I really love the steak scene. I really liked the wife fighting back. I just, you just knew how loud that apartment was. Yes. Branson, what's your vote?

I'm going to give it to the storming into his brother's place though. I mean, look, they're both great. This is a painful decision, but I'm going to be the tiebreaker and i'm gonna vote for the steak because it really stuck with me more as like a sort of theatrical scene like i loved when he when he runs into the breakfast and kicks his ass and like all the stuff with the kids

watching like all that was like really crazy and so well done i just i loved that first scene and i i feel like that woman needs justice because we never see her again. And I felt like it really established how violent Jake is. It was like, this is the baseline for this man. This is what he's like at fucking home. Yes. And then doesn't it lead right into the guy shouting from the street? He's like, hey, guys, keep it down over there. Yes.

He shouts back and then like casually, like almost as a tossed off joke at the end he goes by the way i'm gonna kill your dog yes psychopath wild so the the new academy award goes to irma congrats irma irma somewhere being like finally um okay this is best line delivery the nominees are you want your steak irma jake's first wife cooking dinner i i heard things jake lamoda to his brother joey lamoda about joey sleeping with jake's wife you never got me down ray and that's jake to sugar ray robinson in the ring i feel like it's gotta be you never got me down yes that's exactly what I was going with I was part of me was hoping for an Irma

sweep but I'm hey we control how this goes we can make it hers but no I do feel like that you never got me down really stuck with all of us because it was such a like that moment of just like wow you really are fucked up man it's like someone getting hit by a car flying over the hood and like landing on their knees being like getting

get me all the way down it's like yeah but you were hit by a fucking car dude you're about to die there it also airborne and not on a plane i looked it up and lamada was knocked down in like reality his record that he was very proud of he got knocked down and i thought like honestly like all things being even like i sort of thought it was very like sweet of scorsese to like not include it's like you know what i am running this guy's name through the mud i'm gonna at least give him this victory that he didn't actually have in real life i thought i was like sort of touched by that wow i'll say this i think him not getting knocked down and being stuck on the fact that he wasn't knocked down is more pathetic than actually getting knocked down and taking the loss

yeah because it's sort of like if you got knocked down, it was uncontrollable and you just you your your body gave out or whatever. And like this version is like him just being like, I won't accept that you actually beat me. OK, so the new Academy Award goes to you never got me down, right? Congrats to that line. Congrats. Now, best? Congrats to that line. Congrats. Congrats. Now, best dressed. This is fun.

The nominees are Vicky, Kathy Moriarty, Jake LaMotta, Robert De Niro, or Joey LaMotta, Joe Pesci. Whose outfits did you like the most? Not Jake. No. Kind of like Joey, but Vicky. Vicky looked pretty good. She had fun, like the swimsuit. She had a lot of really fun 40s outfits that were cool.

I was trying to build a contrarian case for Jake, and I was like, what am I doing? It's Vicky. Like, there's no... Come on, dude. Obviously. He's not going to win even in this. No.

We got him down. Yeah. i just want to bring up again vicky flirting through the the fence i want to know how she knew to be so flirty through a fence if some man stuck his fingers through a fence i'd probably back up and be like ew don't do that i know he shook her finger with his finger like nice to meet you and i found that really like gross cute slash weird it was like it was one of the but i was like that's a funny little move to do like okay um but yeah that was interesting so vicky gets the new academy award Time for score. Sezzy! Time for reviews. So we're reading reviews from Letterboxd, and we're giving the film a one-sentence review ourselves and a star rating.

If you don't know what Letterboxd is, I don't know what's wrong with you, but it's a social platform where people can write reviews of films, and you can follow our show uh on letterbox at newcomers this review is from dougie four and a half stars cute and whimsical that's absurd um okay so we're all going to go around including our producers to give our star review out of five stars and one sentence about the film that you want to have written in eternity on our page um i'm gonna start i'm gonna give it five stars nice i'm afraid that i'm gonna repeat myself

a lot this season but like classic for a reason i mean amazing performances across the board joe pesci robert de niro i mean i'm really understanding in a new way why they're so amazing i'm sorry i'm so late but um great story told told very well made me interested in boxing yeah i'm gonna give it five stars. And my review is it was a beautiful love letter to violence that made me think and be like, oh, people be interpreting this very wrong. But Marty, good job on your alley or Branson. Anybody want to go next? Branson go ahead oh sure

I'm gonna give it five I came in hot loving this movie I'm sticking with five and I my one my one sentence review is

they should have given the people in the front rows of the boxing rings ponchos or ice cream sundaes to catch the chocolate. Oh, yeah. Oh, that's better. That's a lot.

Okay. I'm taking that and that's my review now. Okay, great. You can have that. Yeah, we'll do a strikeout in the text. My review, four stars, black and white and beautiful. It's gorgeous. Yeah.

And I'm going to give it five stars and say, Kathy Moriarty, you will always be a star. Yes. I like that. It is a great film

and, Dadoy, we now know that. Lauren, do you feel dumb? Don't you feel like an idiot never but here's here's what it is we're not dumb okay because people have not seen so many people first of all haven't seen these movies we just i know that there's a lot of our listeners who are gonna be

like i also haven't seen this and also sometimes you just like this has not been in my my realm of what this would be the kind of thing my dad would put on and I'd go what is this and then I would leave like it's like it's not put into my demographics like world like I don't feel like as women we're like really pushed to watch these movies like it's really like like you said like your boyfriend likes it or something and they're really good and I understand why but I'm like that we're not being told like you gotta watch this do you know what I mean yes no one ever told me to watch these until you know way later and people are like I can't believe you haven't seen them and I'm like hey we belong I know I like you know and it's so funny because we make fun of ourselves a lot and I was thinking about this today like we definitely

make fun of ourselves but I know we also have seen many artsy films that we like that are just not in these genres. So it's like, yeah, I have many things that are highbrow that I've seen and enjoyed, but do, but we ended up talking about Marvel for many, many hours.

What do you, what do you want? I can't talk about everything. Well, also it's like you're comedians. We're comedians. It's like, I can,

I can riff for an hour about Iron Man. Cause it's silly. It's like, I don't, I don't have a, I don't have a ton of jokes ready to go about like Breathless. Like, you know, it's good. That's kind of what I was going to say to defend you guys. I also feel like there's so many classic movies that like if you're a film buff, yes, you have to watch them.

But like Marty's movies, you watch them and it looks like it feels like it could have been made yesterday. And that's what makes them like so compelling. And I guess I'm glad we're doing this now i know it's really cool what were you gonna say nicole oh just that a friend brought up some classic movie that i hadn't seen and my rebuttal was but have you seen house guest a movie that starts sin bad sin bad yeah had they they had and i was like okay well okay cool so i guess you've seen everything okay so you're very cultured well branson this was so fun thank you so much for doing this thank you thanks for having me what is there anything you would like to plug or promote? Oh, please. Yes. Check out Root Tales of Magic right here on HeadGum. We would be great.

Be a huge help if people listened to the show. Check that out. It's fun. It's a very fun show. And read my comic, Swan Boy. You can read it at swanboy.com. Swan Boy? Is this a boy who's half swan, half boy?

Or a boy who rides a swan? Or a boy whose mother is a swan? Which one of the three? Back to the drawing board. It's about to become a boy who rides a swan. And the swan's his mom. It's all.

Well, you'll have to go to the website to see for yourself. And please, while you're doing that, go online and give us a five-star rating on Spotify and review us on Apple Podcasts. We also enjoy when you say nice things about us. And we're going to be back next week with Goodfellas from 1990 so we

will see you then nicole are you excited about good fellas oh you know i am joe pesci's in it and i can't wait to watch my boyfriend well i love ray liotta too oh ray liotta's in that oh he's the lead isn't he there's the end heroes right i mean i think it's the three of the i don't again hey they're the good fellas is joe pesci married that's what i'm gonna google i was googling this as well um i mean you know should we get into it really quickly yes okay his wife was from 19 1988 to 1992 he was married but he's been married and divorced three times. Okay. But there was something with his first marriage that I was trying to figure out.

There was something kind of wild about this woman. And I didn't get all the details. So I don't want to speak out of turn. We need to do more research. Maybe we'll come back with our Joe Pesci's marriage history. Real quick. He had three marriages he was engaged in 2007 but they broke up in 2008 and wikipedia doesn't seem to know if he's dating right now um so if anyone knows what's going on with joe pesci yeah he's 81 and potentially single

let's find out like honestly now would be the time for you to swoop in. I would. I would date him. I really would. I bet he's great. I mean, he's so charming. I'd love to know what his real personality is like, actually. I have no idea.

And once I start dating him, I'll let you know. Okay, good. Maybe we'll all get to hang out a little bit. Yeah. Wait, Nicole Pesci. Oh, my God. Sounds good. Maybe we'll all get to hang out a little bit. Yeah. Wait, Nicole Pesci. Oh my God. Sounds good. It works.

That's great. Bye. Bye. Newcomers is a HeadGum original hosted by us, Nicole Byer and Lauren Lapkus. Our executive producer is Anya Kanovskaya. Our producer is Ali Khan. Our theme music, editing, sound mixing, and mastering is done by Ferris Monchi. Listen to new episodes wherever you get your podcasts every Tuesday. Thank you. That was a Hiddem Original.