Pablo Torre Finds Out - Stephen Glover on His Secret Star Wars Movie, Inventing Memes with Donald, and Inspiring Atlanta

Episode Date: September 14, 2023

PTFO SOURCES: The new Lando show isn't actually a show. Pablo hangs with the screenwriter and rapper to find out how real life inspired he and his brother Donald's award-winning art — and why they're not afraid of internet backlash. Also: evil fortune-tellers, jail baloney, Spider-Man Cartoon Maker, and Jim Carrey's Riddler. Hollywood! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Pablo Torre finds out. I am Pablo Torre, and today we're going to find out what this sound is. People are like places like, man, that show Atlanta sucks, you know? Like, I got to sit around long enough to like see the full like spectrum of it. We're like, man, who wrote this stupid episode? I'm like, man, that was, I didn't feel that long ago. I was at a Golden Globe party dancing to Bad and Bullshit, you know. Right after this ad.

You're listening to... Giraff Kings Network. What are you allowed to talk about when it comes to your actual profession right now? The one you are currently on strike from? I think everything is fine as long as I'm like... As long as... So I can say like, Steve, congrats on you and Donald doing this New Landau show, which I read about... Oh boy, you shouldn't have said that.

But that's... Literally that's the extent of what you can say, is that. All right, so that is the voice. the already regretful voice of my friend Stephen Glover, the genius screenwriter and rapper and producer, the guy who may be best known as the head story editor of Atlanta, the TV show which won pretty much every award in Hollywood, and is also one of my absolute favorite shows of all time.

Steve and his brother Donald are now making a widely reported and super highly anticipated new Star Wars show, a Landau Calrissian show for Disney Plus, or at least I thought they were until now. No, yeah, I mean, I could pretty much be like, yeah, you know, we're doing a, it's not even a show. Should we bleep it? I'm sure, like, the nerds will figure it out anyway. Like, they'll read my lips or something.

But wait, you said it's not even a show? No, the idea right now is to do a movie You know, but Like, that's the thing Right now, because of the strike, it's kind of like Telephone All the information like coming up I can be an information broker

Between you and the Walt Disney company Guys, they're doing a movie Bob, they're doing a movie You just got a text I'm hearing my sources are telling me Did you ever play a game And I hesitate to call it a game.

But in high school, we played the pass-out game. This sounds like something on a date line. It was definitely some things like some white kids at school were like, hey, check this out. And you would like stand there up against the wall

and you'd cross your arms like this. Like hand over shoulder crisscrossed and they would like press up and under your like rib cage until like you lost consciousness. And you would pop back in like 15 seconds later And people would be like, yo, that was like, that was like being inside of like mortal combat

Or like it was like a Mario Kart level I didn't I didn't know you could do this I'm gonna go home and play the pass-out game right now So I should say that I never played it But I was in the room socially Watching and I was like This doesn't feel like a thing that my mom I couldn't even lie to her about this.

I always kind of wanted to, like, faint just because I wanted to know what it was like or what it was happening. But, like, yeah, I remember, like, I played football and there was, like, a kid who, like, like, an offensive line. And he's, like, really big. And I remember we were, like, taking, like, the photos.

And we're, like, all standing. Like a team photo. Yeah, yeah, like a team photo. And we're, like, all standing on, like, these little makeshift, like, you know, bleach your things they set up or whatever. The offensive alignment are like in the back because they're the biggest. They're like on the top thing. I mean, like getting ready to take it.

And also you're just here like, why? Like this like giant office life is just tumbling forward over out to everybody. And everybody's like, what's going on? He like passed out. And then the coach is like, I told you guys, stop locking your knees. Like don't lock your knees. I'm like, lock your knees. I'm like, that's all it takes.

Like, I lock my knees all. the time. So I want to just set up a little bit about the fact that I think I was trying to do the math on this. I think I first encountered you and or Donald and or Ibra and or swank like 10 years ago now, like 2013, which is wild. I don't think I've ever asked you a single question about what it was like to play high school football. Yeah. I honestly forgot until you just reminded me about that now. That's a part of my life I'm trying to like forget. I've been like running away from... No, I mean, high school football.

What was the scouting report on Stephen Glover? What position did you put? I don't know any of these answers, honestly. I totally... I played running back. I was... Holy shit. So, me getting to see the devaluing of the running back position personally affects me.

At what point were you like, oh, I'm not going to be doing this in college? Man, I didn't play a whole lot. Like, I didn't have, like... I'm shocked to hear that. I didn't... I wasn't, like, highly recruited, Pablo. So... At what point did you...

At what point did you resolve in yourself, like, oh, this is like a thing that's... This is where this ends for me. Man, it's funny. I remember... How quickly did you get disabused of this idea? There's a funny story, man. Like, everybody who played football remembers this speech, because it was hilarious. at the time. We had a coach. And my 11th grade year, we found out, like, at the end, it was

going to be his last year coaching there. So, like, it's like the last game, like, right before. And he gives us, like, this speech. He's like, you know, like, we're all, like, huddled together. He's like, you know, you want to, like, take this time. Like, this is, like, a special time right here. Like, this is, you know, remember this moment. Like, look at the guys, like, around you. Because, like, Some of you, this will be the last time you ever play football. Like, this will be the last time you ever touch a football field. That kind of day is like, hmm, that's like kind of inside. He's like, you know, a couple of years from now, like, some of you will be in jail.

Some of you will be dead. Like, it's like really like morbid. Yeah, it was like, yeah, like some of you, you know, you're going to have problems with your wife, kids. Like you're like, one point six of you will be involved in a heavy machinery accident. Some of you are just going to, you're not going to make it home from this game. Like, statistically, at least one of you was dying in a car crash. We're all just, like, looking at each other, like, wow, I mean, I guess. Like, I thought this was a celebration, but now it's like...

Increasingly specific. Kind of like an evil fortune teller. Yeah, no. But what was funny, too, is he was right. That's why I can't be mad at him, because I'm like, man, he was trying to tell us the truth. And I think when I thought about that, it's not like basketball where it's like you go to like the pickup game. There's like an 80-year-old man like shooting three-pointers. Like football, once it's over, like there's no like pickup football game.

There's no recreational football over a certain age. You're never going to put on a butt pad again. That's it. So Atlanta, like for me to provide context for the listener on like you, I almost need to like say stuff. like you are the real life inspiration for Paperboy. And I don't know if people really appreciate that. And no, they don't. They don't appreciate enough.

I am the real Paperboy. Okay, so I should just do a crude summary here, I think, for anybody who has never seen Atlanta, which is a shame. Because the show ostensibly is about a rapper named Paperboy, who is played by Brian Tyree Henry, and his manager slash cousin, Earn, who is played by Donald. And it speaks to, I mean, truly, like, so many different things. It speaks to viral video culture and magical realism and race in America.

And anyway, I'm writing a fucking think piece at this point about my friends TV show anyway. Know that it's ostensibly about music. In reality, hijinks ensue. I do do all of the songs. So, A, you're the actual voice. You're like on those songs. Yeah, I do all the tracks. That's me.

You're rapping for Brian Tyree Henry. You're his ghost rapper. I'm the ghost rapper for Paperboy. And, you know, because I grew up in Atlanta and spent like a good part of my formative years out there. Like a lot of the stories are based on stuff that I've seen and like gone through. But also like our friend like Swank, you know, who he's also a writer. He's from Atlanta and like my brother too. But you and Swank, though, in the lore.

around you guys, as I've gotten to know you. It's like the shit that is the most absurd that is in the show seems to be inspired by like you and or swank's actual real life adventures. No, very, very much so. Very true. What's an example, just so I can express this, like accurately? What's an example of an episode that is in fact inspired by something that happened to you guys that seems like it happened to nobody?

ridiculous. The second episode of Atlanta where you know urns in jail and paper boy gets out of jail. Like that was like me and Swank. You know, like we In jail. Yeah, we went to jail

when we were like in college. I know. That's exactly when I knew. I was like, wow. I was like, I'm never playing football again and I'm in jail just like he's. Wait, what were you in jail for? So it was funny, we were shooting a music video.

I was just getting ready to, like, move to L.A., but we were shooting a music video. And it was funny, because we were shooting at this, like, these, like, artist warehouse things. It was, like, kind of, like, private property. But we had this director, like, this guy, he was, like, directing. I said he was living there, like, the artist thing. So we're like

shooting in this like car It's like Friday night Or Saturday night It's like already like kind of hot out there And like Atlanta As far as like cops are out They're looking for like In every sense

Literally and figurative It's real hot This block is extraordinarily Hot They're looking for like Troublemakers But we weren't doing anything We were like

We shot this video We're in the back of this like Place This like these warehouses or whatever And so the director is like I'm gonna go inside my house And like grabs us something real quick. So he walks into his house or like the little studio thing. We're standing

outside and this like cop car just comes around real slow. And like it's like a lady, she's like, what are you guys doing here? We're like, oh, we're like shooting a music video, you know, we just finished. And then she like looks around. She's like, I don't see any cameras. And I was like, oh, this isn't going to go. Like I already do, I was like, this isn't going to go well. Right. Her first follow-up question indicated a lot about the rest of this conversation. She already doesn't believe us. So I'm like, all right, well, yeah, you know, the director, he has the camera. He just, like, went inside.

She's like, uh-huh, like, yeah, and then she gets out. The funny part about this is the dude who was directed a video. He, like, saw this cop car from inside, and he ran out the other side of the building. He just ran out and left us. He was like, later he was like, yeah, man, I had, I got, like, warrants, you know. So, like, once I saw that, like, I just, and so it really felt like we were lying.

Like, we were like, we were like, we did this video. She's like, where's this director? I'm like, he'll be back any moment. He, like, never came back. He ditched us, like, completely. So we're there, she's like, she calls for, like, backup, you know? We're like, okay, like, we're standing there.

Looking in the car. And then there was, like, a gram of, like, weed in the car. And she's like, whose weed is this? We all, like, looked at each other. She's like, all going to jail. So we went to jail. What's also funny about this story, too,

is it was such a small amount of weed. They lost it. On the ride over to the jail, they lost the weed. The one piece of evidence they had against us. The chain of custody on this evidence was not especially rigorous? It was not. The whole, the whole case.

was botched from the beginning. It was like the OJ trial. That's what many say. Many people say this about your arrest. So the whole thing was just like a kind of like silly experience. People were protesting outside for you and Swank over freeways holding like shirts with people running after the car, the cop cars that we're in. So it was like yeah, like the whole thing was like very like just farcical and like funny.

It all ended up like we just had to, we spent like 18. hours in this, you know, holding area in, like, jail. And so that whole episode... This is something I do want to find out about, though, briefly, is what's that 18 hours like? Man, it's just like the episode. It's terrible. You know, there's like a Simpsons episode where, like, the school gets, like, those cheap, like, chairs. And they have, like, a hump in them.

Like, none of the kids can get comfortable in a chair. It's constantly trying to find a groove that doesn't ever arrive. That's how it felt. like the chairs in there are like super uncomfortable. You're just like sitting there. So my first thing I've learned about being in jail from you is that the chairs are suboptimal. Yes, they suck. They're not comfortable at all.

The other thing, too, is whenever you go to jail, you will be hungry. You will never go on a full stomach, you know? Like only my bosses get arrested right after dinner. So as soon as you get there, you're going to be like, Damn, I wish I had ate. I wish I had thinly sliced some some garlic. Yeah, you know, because

put it on my chicken farm. The food did give it. They're like, here's like this baloney sandwich, you know, that's, was made, who knows how long ago. Hold on, though. Hold on. At this point, you're sounding a little bit like a snob.

Actually. Sorry the jailed baloney. It wasn't up to Steve's specifications. I personally hate baloney. I've always hated baloney. So, you know, I'm like, I wish it. was turkey, you know, a turkey sandwich in jail would have been great.

But, yes, I am kind of a snob on that. I'm like, so, okay, chairs and the lunch meet. The lunch is terrible. Both terrible. And it's a lot of sitting around. And there's a joke in the episode where, like, you try and, like, go to sleep, and they're like, you can't sleep in here. And it's like, so what am I supposed to be doing?

I don't know, just stare forward. Think about your life, you know. What's the logic behind don't sleep? Is that, that's a rule that's imposed? It's probably so that you're not mentally, you know, there enough to fight back. You know, that's the first move of mind control is like sleep deprivation. They're like, let's keep these guys up for the next 18 hours, and they'll be easy to mold and, you know, they'll do whatever we tell them to do kind of thing.

And so the resolution of this, 18 hours passes. And then what happens at hour 18 or thereabouts? Well, you get bailed out. Who bailed you out? Who did bail me out? That was my friends. Who did you ask to bail you out? Well, that was the thing.

Everybody, my friends, me, Terence and Swank, we were shooting the video, so we all got arrested. So we had to call our other friends who weren't there to, like, bail us out. And it's like, you know, it's like college. So it's like trying to get together. You're at Georgia Tech at this point. Yeah. So like trying to get together, trying to scrape together like 200 bucks between your friends. It's still hard. Everybody's like, I don't know how much. It's a lot of padding of pockets. Yeah, like, got to like get eight people together to get this bail to happen. Before I end up like getting in trouble for changing the story.

I'm like, my ex-girlfriend bailed me out. Let the record show. She's like somewhere like, I'm the one. Where am I in the episode is what she's asking right now? She's Vann. Van comes at the end. Bales earn out. That's right.

And she's mad about it. And she knows she's Van in real life. She knows she's Van in that situation, you know, for sure. Because Van's character arc does get. Yeah, she didn't go to Paris and beat anybody up. But it's important to point out that like you go from that To like being a An objectively successful risk do you feel highly respected in Hollywood?

No No I don't Because like you guys won Golden Globes You've been got WGA awards You've been nominated for Emmys I've seen you on red carpets I've snuck into parties with you after you've won things and it's it's i i've gotten the sense that it's sort of like you're living a lucid dream

except for some reminders i guess that you're not in the most inner inner sanctum yet no i mean it's funny because it's like you know like especially early on the success was like it was like strange because like it came so so quick it happened it was i just want to If I could salute myself for just being a great stockholder. I mean, you know how to pick them. You can tell early on, you're like, this kid's going somewhere. I'm a fucking, yeah, I'm a GM. A GM of friends.

Hollywood GM. Yeah, this guy. He's a glint in his eye, his motor. He's an unstoppable motor. I've got all the intangibles you look for in a writer, in a TV writer. But wait, you were saying, though, that like it happened immediately. which was how it felt to me watching it. And I was like, holy fuck.

You know, I mean, the success, like, was very early on, which was, which made it, like, crazy. But, I mean, now that we're past that, you know, like, I've gotten to see, like, in the beginning, it's like, wow, Atlanta. It's, like, the greatest show. And, like, it's awesome. To, like, now I'm, like, people are, like, places like, man, that show Atlanta sucks, you know?

Like, I got to sit around long enough. To like see the full, like, spectrum of it. We were like, man, who wrote this stupid episode? I'm like, man, that was, I didn't feel that long ago. I was at a Golden Globe party dancing to Baden Boogey. You know, like. It wasn't so long ago that you literally introduced Hollywood to the Migos. To the Migos, you know.

And now no one cares anymore. Now everybody, I'm like, check out this ice ice chick. Everybody's like, shut up. You watch comment section. turn. Yeah, you know. But I mean, like, you know, I just feel like... But hold on.

You're making a... Potentially, you're making a Lando movie. So on some level, like... But... So explain how it is that both things can be true. Like, how is it that you're doing the shit that, like, is a dream, but also, you know... I feel like, you know...

Is this a baloney situation? You're like, look... Well... My suite at the... At the Chateau Marmont. They didn't fluff my pillow. Well, no, it's like, you know, now I'm, now I know enough to be like there are pitfalls to all of this. You know, this, like when episode one of Star Wars came out, people were excited.

I remember that. Requels. Yeah, you know, they were like, oh, man, it's going to be cool. And then it's like, you see Jar Jar Binks and, like, people were upset. It's like, man. Like, there's always room for people to be. disappointed in you. There was always room for decades later a series of think

pieces that only now reckon with the racialization of the Gungans. Are you ready? So by the way, that's the part where like I actually do want to know how you and Donald on some level like, because you guys

something that I respect and fear for both of you guys is that you as much as anybody I know, you guys are attuned to the internet. both in ways that are like speaking to the creative sort of like fuel that you guys get from it and also like the cynicism around how it works but also that means that your antenna has to be way up for how this can be dangerous no for sure I mean you know like just the internet

in general like I said I've gotten to see the I've gotten to see the love and the hate several times in just different context you know I got to what was your favorite moment of Steve getting high off the internet. I won't say this is my favorite moment, but just showing like the highs and lows. It's like, you know, in Hollywood, like especially, it's like you're only as valuable as the last thing you did. And it's like until you're like Martin Scorsese or something,

like everyone is like, this could be the last we ever hear from you. So like a swarm, we just did swarm. And swarm didn't have a lot of fans. Fair, like going into it, I don't think. I think a lot of people may not even have known it was going to come out at first. But then it, like, came out and it was like a big deal, big hit everybody. Yes. I was watching it.

It was crazy. Right. Inspired by the super fans of Beyonce. Inspired by the Internet, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. And it's like, that was, like, a cool moment to, like, just like, yeah. It was like, I imagine being DMX, you know, in the 9.

It's like you go outside and you're just hearing your album playing on the streets. It was like everywhere I went, there were people talking about Swarm. It was crazy. You know, but it was like, yeah, like, just a reminder like, oh, okay, like, I know what I'm doing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Maybe I'm not as terrible as everybody thinks I am, you know. Like, maybe we still got something. You know?

So that was just like a good, like, reminder of like, yeah, you know, on to the next thing. you know, and like, you don't get too high or too low ever, because it's all coming back around. So wait a minute, but what I'm registering from all of this is that like that your experience releasing swarm and people having it resonate with them on some level made you think to yourself, I want to do something else that has some element of,

does it feel like this thing has risk with it? Well, I mean, everything has risk. with it unless it's like... But like, look, Swarm, it's like, I'm going to do a show about what it's like to be an unhinged, animalistic, Beyonce superfan.

And then I'm going to do a show, or a movie, about Star Wars Landau, which obviously Donald had portrayed Lando before, but like the idea of like, this is going to be our thing, it feels like it's also daring the hive that you just commemorated. Well, I mean...

To then attack you. I think that... This is not me trying to persuade you to not do this, by the way. I'm just curious. I'm not doing it. I've already decided. Like, this sounds like a dangerous idea, guys. You should have called me first.

No, but I think, you know, everything that's worth doing, has some risk to it, especially when you care about the quality of things. You know, I think that's like a big part of us. we don't want to do things that are just going to be mediocre, or just going to be like, yeah, they came and went. Like, that was fine enough. You know, so to think.

Exactly. So there's always going to be some risk. And with something like this, you know, there's going to be people who are going to, who are really going to, like, judge you based on it. When they realize you guys made Lando white, it's going to be. When they realized that Lando is,

everything has been run past, DNC first. Woke Lando. Woke Lando. That's right. None of the stuff you saw on the other movies is canon. Critical Race Theory Lando is not going to play well on Reddit.

Yeah, no. People are, they're not going to like it. But, I mean, I think it's just like, yeah, you know, I think a lot of people would probably be worried to do something like this because of the pressure of pissing off these fans, you know? But I think it's like, yeah, you know. You're like Bain is what you're saying.

I hear you like rounding your way to like being born in the darkness raised by it, molded in it. Exactly. This is what I want. This is what I live for. You know, I want to, because that's the other thing too. It's like, it's like Eli Manning. To circle this back to football.

I have no idea how this is like Eli Manning in any way. Explain how this is like Eli Manning. Eli Manning comes into the NFL. He's supposed to go to the Chargers. He's like, nah, I want to go to New York. He comes to New York. So there's already that hanging over him. Then he comes in, people are like, man, you are nothing like Peyton.

You got this look on your face. You know, you got this body language we don't like. Everybody's like, man, I don't know if this kid has it, you know. And then it's like he beats the Patriots, you know, on a crazy run with Randy Moss and all. Yes, the greatest team of all time. Exactly. Dirk face, Payton Manning. And now I'm sure Eli can walk into any bodega in New York and get a chop cheese for free.

You know, he's the man now. It's like most people do not want to step into that, into that cauldron of the New York Giants quarterback position with, you know, And for years, people were like, this team is terrible. Like, you know, it could have went the wrong way. I just like how you have Eli going into a bodega. I guarantee Eli Manning is not walking in. I saw Eli Manning in the Hamptons. He could be.

He could go into... I saw Eli Manning. Dude, I was eating lunch with David Samson, works for Metal Arc. We're at, we're very stoned. We're eating lunch at, like, a dock side fancy restaurant in, like, the Hamptons, right? Mm-hmm. And in walks Eli Manning. And Eli Manning is, like, 6-5.

like just tall, confident, perpetually dressed like he's at an Easter function. Just like shorts, polo, just like the dude, the confidence that he has in any setting in the tri-state area, that part is real. That's what I mean. He can go anywhere now. It doesn't matter what he did the other years of his career.

It's like, that was enough. Like, this fan base that has chewed people up and spit them out a million times. times. Yes. No, by the way, that's some of the shit that I love about New York,

like the mythology of New York that I do subscribe to. It's like, if you survive the media here and the spotlight here, that shit is real. We were talking about like the ways in which attention

and spotlight can like melt your brain. Yeah. The people who have won, who made it to that highest level, Derek Jeter, is like fascinating

for this reason. Eli, too. They escaped unscathed, which is the hardest thing. It's like, we did everything. we could to try and break you and you didn't break, so now you can be our friend, like kind of thing.

That's how New York operates. It's like, yeah, like, of course we were hazing you the whole time. Like, but you passed. So now you're, now you're the guy, you know. But it's like, yeah, that's kind of how I feel like with, you know, doing something like Star Wars. It's like there's a, there's a, I get the metaphor now. Yeah, see now, you're bringing it all home.

It's like you take that risk. It could end up badly, you know, you could end up badly, you know, you could end up like, I'm trying to think of a New York Giants quarterback who flamed out. Let's... Who was the shittiest? Oh, Joe Pesarchick. Is he... Craig Morton.

Scott Bruner. I think the point is being proven. We don't even know who these guys are. Correct. Correct. Frank Philchok? No. You don't...

You don't remember Frank Philchok from 1946. He had a 60.2-cube quarterback radio. I don't have to go back that far to find a Shepardine's quarterback. No. Danny Connell. He's go Danny Connell from 96, 98. That's a good one. So I should say that you identifying with Eli Manning feels a little on the nose.

I am, me and Eli are shit, you know, we're like kindred spirits. He's the younger brother, too, you know. He gets what I'm going through. So I texted Donald and I said that we're going to do like a podcast. And he was like, is there anything specific you guys are talking? about? And I was like, what should I ask him about? Let me know. And Donald said, quote, ask about the clip art jokes we used to make his kids. End quote. I have no idea what the clip art jokes are. Yeah, man. Donald likes to be like, we invented memes. We invented memes in the

90s, early 2000s, like you guys. Like, we... What does this mean? Well, there was a computer, like, game program called, like, Spider-Man, like, comic bookmaker, which we had on our, like, family computer, which is, like, it had really, like, shi kind of, like, animation that would just do, like, certain things, like, Spider-Man walking weird, or... Spider-Man Cartoon Maker. Yeah, Comic Book Maker. Oh, my God. You have photos of a CD-ROM with this, this as the cover art.

So we would just make funny stuff with that, you know? We were making little comic book things. It was pretty terrible. There was that. But then what I started doing was, you know, PowerPoint had all the clip art. Oh, right. And so I just started doing things where I would find clip art that I thought was funny. And I would just like put it there.

And it like kind of like put like a blurb or like a meme of like, you know, explaining this out of context like clip art. So in a way like making memes based off of like the shittity stock clip art. that you find in PowerPoint. It sounds like you were making New Yorker cartoons. Pretty much. Powerpoint. This sounds far more highbrow,

did I imagine. No, that's what I mean. It was ahead of its time. This is me as like a 13-year-old being like, let me find these funny, like, clip art to me like, this is great. One that I remember specifically, there's like a clip art of like an umpire.

in between two people. It was like a black. Because it's like, you know, it's like corporate stuff. So it's like one guy in like a tie and another guy in tie. And it's like a real umpire like in between them. And because it's like clip art too,

like one guy's black and one guy's white. So I just remember I had that clip and I just put underneath like, hey guys, save that racism for the game. Just the empire trying to keep them. But just like, yeah, stupid stuff like that. to make each other left. We probably did.

We probably had like 80 of these things that we would just go at different times. You and Donald had a hard drive. Full of... Mostly based on hard drive sizes back then, mostly full of clip art comments. 90% clip art memes that we made. So, yeah, that was, that's how we changed the world. Once Bill Gates got a hold of it, it was out there.

But wait, you... and Donald at that age, like, making each other laugh? To what extent were other people laughing? I mean, a lot of people. I mean, my family in general, it was, like, it was pretty funny. My sister is also funny. My sister, Ria. She would make clip art.

She joined in with us doing that, too. So a lot of it was always just, like, making each other laugh. You know, my dad was also, like, a silly guy, like, love to laugh. And I remember we had a Donald had a talk boy. This is really going back. Yeah, like a home alone talk boy. Yeah, and like we would like just make like fake commercials and like fake stuff on that, you know.

So it was always just like, you know, we like not to like be like we never had much, you know. But it's like no, it's like if we like as kids, I think our imagination was really good because we could just take. something as shhitty as that Spider-Man comic bookmaker, which I think my dad bought, like, secondhand for, like, $10 or so. It was, like, terrible. Your dad bought a ripped version, a bootlegs Spider-Man cartoon maker on a burned CDR. I'm sure it was, like, on sale for, like, five bucks. I'm sure somebody had already bought it and was, like, this is terrible and, like, returned it.

That stuff would be, you could, like, sell all of those NFTs now. You guys got to find that hard drive. Like two years ago would have been the perfect time. I know, actually, yeah, right now, no one. Yeah, like $7 million. They'd have, like, the arena in, like, L.A. is named. Like, the Spider-Man Comment Book Maker Arena. There's a shot of it being airlifted off.

They have to rename, they had to un-rename the Staples Center. Spider-Man. That's going to be funny to look back in a couple of years. People would be like, the crypto. saying, what is that? It's like an old man explaining like, well, Jimmy, there were these board apes. In that way you did

foresee, I mean, that is clip art fundamentally. It is. You know, they should have put something funny underneath these board apes. Nope. They took themselves too seriously. That was the problem. They should have been meming themselves.

So, wait, so just give me a sense of, You, so what year is this roughly? I want to place myself in this timeline. Oh, man, it was probably like 2000, 1999, maybe, like right around there. Were you guys, were you endowed on AOL? I didn't have an AOL.

What was your ISP? To what extent are you guys of the internet? Man, it's funny. I remember we went over to a friend of my dad's house and like he was like he was like he like we came in there

and I remember he was like I got like the internet I got like the computer and like I remember Donald was super excited that I was like what like he like ran over there and I didn't really know

what it was I was like yeah I like went over and I'm like his big Eli Manning face wandering over there and I'm like look and I'm like

so what is this and he's like you know you can like go on you go like to all these different things I'm like so I'm a kid I'm like go to nicolodeon.com.

Okay, like, let me see that. It's like, you pulled it up. It was, like, so early that you would go there and it would be like, under construction. It's like a picture of like a one nicotine cartoon cartoon. Like, Chuckie from the Rugrats, like shrugging. Like, like, literal clip art of, like, those orange construction cones on either side.

Yeah, exactly. Like, a web counter at the bottom. Yeah, it's like, your person number 628 to come here. It's like, this one. appointed, like, you shouldn't be, like, soon. One day we'll have something. And I remember we went to a couple of, like, sites, and they were all like that. They were all, like, under construction, like, you know, what, and I was like, I don't fucking get this. And I remember, like, a year later, a couple of months later,

like, my dad was like, he got a computer and he was like, yeah, you all need email addresses. You guys got to have, like, email. What were we using? We were using, like, Juno? I don't even know what people... I mean, all you need to do. to do to express your poverty was say I was Steve Glover at juno.com.

Somewhere out there there's a judo account racking up like Nicktoons newsletters. I appreciate my dad about my dad, like his enthusiasm for like new technology. He was always like on the cusp. He was like, like he was

excited about the internet. He's like, we got to like have a computer. Yes, my dad is the same way. My dad brought us a joystick before we knew what it was. You know, like, my dad, like, was somebody who loved a sharper image catalog. Or so it seemed in retrospect, just, like, devices and stuff. Here's another, here's another deep cut. There was a video game called Monster Rancher. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Monster Rancher was a great game where you raised a monster, kind of like Pokemon. But the cool thing about it was. was, like, these monsters are, like, trapped on disk. Discstones was, like, the thing. So you could find any disc, put it into the PlayStation, and it will create you a random, like, monster,

like, based on the data on this disc. So because my dad had hundreds and hundreds of CDs, it was, like, the greatest game ever, you know? And, like, they're, like, super rare ones that you can only get from certain disc, and he would, like, it's like, this in living color CD. you could get this cool monster. I'm like, my dad has this CD. Wait.

So I should say that my memory of Monster Rancher ends at there was a thing called Monster Rancher. And the idea that there would be specific CDs that resulted in like triggering, unlocking a special monster. Exactly. And you're saying that literally the programmers of Monster Rancher were like, if you have this CD. Yes. You will get this special edition, like, limited. Kenny G.

Monster. Well, he wouldn't, like, look like Kenny G. But it might be, the monster might be called something, you know, winking at Kenny G. Like a, I don't know, like a jazz,

jazz-a-sore. I don't know. But it'd be like... This is an incredible game. It would be like a special, like, one of, like, you couldn't get it on any, like, by using any other disc. Like, sometimes you could use two.

like CDs and you'd get the same monster. You're saying you would get like a David Allen Greer monster after plugging in like your In Living Color CD. See this is also taking about in Living Color. Like Living Color, there's a black rock band called Living Color and then there's the show In Living Color. Oh. Yeah. See this is I should

I should now reflect on why I thought in Living Color would have a CD. There's like the soundtrack to like this The original soundtrack to live in color. It's like Jim Carrey doing songs. But you don't know what's funny? It's back then that's how it used to be. My dad had the original Batman soundtrack that Prince did.

He actually had like three Batman soundtracks. A lot of great music came from Batman soundtracks. Very true. You know, Kiss from a Rose. Oh, my God. I mean, Batman Forever soundtrack is an all-time classic. Man, there's a, I remember there was. a song, Method Man,

does a song about the riddler. I think he raps from the perspective of the riddler. Wait. Hold on, I'm going to play some of this. Hold on. Oh, my goodness. At this. At this point, we should point out that the music

with like almost like strobe-like clips of Jim Carrey becoming the riddler in Batman forever. It's like the least hip-hop thing. And weirdly also, Brayette. Bring us back to In Living Color. Yeah. Everything's connected. Everything is connected to Jim Carrey. This is, uh, this is incredible.

Yeah. My dad has to see it. How many views do you think this video? Like, I'm going to say 700. It has 13,000. Wow. This is the official music video. It has 13,000.

We're going to chart the success of this episode based on how many views this gets after this comes out. I want to come back to that video in like two weeks and just see people like in the comments like, came here because of Pablo. Only here. Came here because Steve referenced his dad's CD collection. If you told me, Steve,

that this podcast would end in us playing the music video for The Ridler by Method Man, I would have said, yeah, that's about right. I wouldn't have guessed it, but I'm not surprised. I look forward to being cast as a character in your Lando movie. You can be one of the senators. You can be a space senator.

You guys got that as illegally binding. I'm turning to our producer. That's a legally binding contract. I'm sure Lucasville is already canceling our contract. You're supposed to say. You're already making promises to people. You're casting people? The WGA is going to come down on me pretty hard too.

So this may not happen. Steve, thank you for getting in trouble with me. Yeah, no, thanks for having me. Anytime, man. Anytime a good excuse to come to New York. Okay, so I'm sitting down at my computer and reflecting on what I found out today. And I knew this, but I should just re-executive. I love Steve.

I think he's just brilliant, one of the most brilliant writers and entertainment in general. I'm definitely going to demand to have Steve in our regular rotation here as a friend of Pablo Torre finds out. Because today, specifically, what I found out is so clear to me.

If you have a friend who's making a secret Star Wars movie, you can just invest Invite him onto your show and shamelessly pressure him until he finally agrees to make you a galactic senator. This has been Pablo Torre finds out, a Metal Arc Media production. And I'll talk to you next time.