Plumbing the Death Star - How Would You Pitch the Truman Show to Investors?

Episode Date: January 18, 2025

Oh shade! That's what the boys needed! Now somewhat out of the sun the Plumbing Boys can bring Pooling the Poolstar to a close by trying to pitch the Truman Show to investors. Zammit isn't sure that a company should own a baby, Jackson wants desperately to live in the moon and Duscher shills for Big Crack. So chuck on the boob tube and flick over to your favorite show of all time "Screwin' with Truman" to see how they torture that boy this week! I hope you enjoyed Pooling the Poolstar, it was good to be in the pool. Links to everything at https://linktr.ee/plumbingthedeathstar including our terrible merch, social media garbage and where to become a subscriber to Bad Brain Boys+ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

ACAST powers the world's best podcasts. Here's a show that we recommend. Have you ever been to an Olympics or a Super Bowl, a World Cup final or a big title fight? I've enjoyed that privilege for more than 30 years doing the best job in the world. My name is Stephen Brunt and my new podcast Up Close will introduce you to some of the most interesting people I've met along the way. Six episodes of one-on-one conversations with sports folks who really have something to say. I hope you'll join me on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. Up Close is made possible by the support of Group M Motion Entertainment. Group M Motion Entertainment.

Acast helps creators launch, grow, and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast.com. Hey everyone and welcome to another episode of Pulling the Death Star. I'm Joe. I'm Jackson. And I'm also Joe. It's named Pulling the Death Star because we're in the pool. Because we're in the pool. That's true.

You fine listeners and you might might be thinking, there's something different about today's episode and that's right. We discovered shade. We were like, God it's so hot. If only we could just block out the sun a little bit. We put our heads together and we thought, what do we do? Exactly. When I woke up this morning at like midday, the 1, because we'd have been bathing, I come

out and I'm like, oh, you didn't put the pool into the position of shade before you filled it with water. But Jackson went, yeah, we can move it now. And let me tell you, water's heavy. But then I said, like a genius, even if we had put it in the shade to begin with, the sun wouldn't crouch on us. We would have to move it again. You're actually wrong because this part over here has been in shade the whole day. Yeah, but look where the sun is now. It's here compared to it was like here before. So even if we'd been here the sun would have... we would have wanted to move it.

Either way, I realised I had some shade cloth that I was sitting in the shed, there was nothing, and zip ties! We realised there was an alternative to baking our own heads To everyone's shock Yeah, yeah But we also have been in the pool for hours at this point Yeah, so I think unfortunately that means that this is the final pooling the depth the depth stove. Yeah, that is correct Oh wow Yeah, that is correct. Oh wow! That is the final episode of Pulling the Depth Snow.

The third and final, always intended trilogy. Yeah, the Pulling the Depth Snow trilogy. And as always here on Pulling the Depth Snow, we ask the important questions like, how would you pitch the Truman show to investors? So we've had the brilliant idea, the genius idea I'll say. What if we made a TV show that's a man? Yeah, if a man was not a man he's a man yeah yeah we are at Harris we say my and I like to mention it comes from my pitch

if I wish I lived in the moon okay yeah that's good pitch I want to live in the moon and I want TV to be a guy I want to live in the moon and I want TV to be a guy. I want to live in the moon so badly! We can't live in the moon, but I guess we could make a studio that looks like a moon. We could make a fake moon and then be like, well, it has to be over a fake town. Oh, yes. If we had a fake town, we could film like, the townsfolk. Yeah, but what if there was one real guy in the fake town?

Oh yeah, because we want to be like, natural. We want to see what happens if you... What if we owned a baby? As a corporation. Woah, I love this idea. So, I will say, I guess as like a quick base to how to pitch The Truman Show. The Truman Show, not as we know it in the the movie the Truman Show, but a similar thing did happen Yes, that's true. Okay, and when it happened for real it was one year before the Truman Show

Yeah, a Japanese reality TV show was like hey, we're gonna do a segment called a Curve was my life in prizes or a life of prizes. Yeah. And they said, hello, come into this room, give me all your clothes. Um... I'm off to a good start already. I love this game show. I'm not sus yet. And you're not allowed to leave this room until you win one million dollars, one million yen worth of prizes. Here's an entire magazine rack.

Yeah. And start entering the prizes. You can only wear clothes if you win them. Wow! How long was he in there? So basically what happened is when they told it to him, they were like, don't worry, we're filming it all, but we're gonna edit it down into like nine minute weekly segments. So nothing too bad will get aired and also we don't even know if we're gonna air it yet. So like just be natural. It's gonna be chill. Yeah, you be chill we don't even know if we're gonna air it yet. So like just be

It's gonna be chill. Yeah, you be chill, don't even think about the camera. Um, so 20 days in they were worried he was about to die because he hadn't won any food yet And then he won a bag of rice Uh-huh Um Did he just eat the rice raw? No, he cooked it by, so actually it was the second food item he won but the first one wasn't helpful

Yeah Um, the first one he won was like packets of jelly, basically. Oh! Um, so he emptied the jelly packets out, poured water, because he had a sink. Yeah. Uh, poured water and rice into the bag of jelly. Whoa. And then cooked the rice by just leaving it near the stove for five hours.

God damn. And it worked. God damn, dude. Anyway, Anyway, so he started, you know, it drove him insane straight away because obviously. Oh, as it would. Which means the TV executives then were like, oh, rather than having like an eight minute edited segment every week, what if it's a half an hour edited segment every week. And then, around day 100, they had started selling his diary that he had kept while he was in there. While he was still in there. Oh my god.

And had set up one of the first ever live streams so you had 24 hours unfiltered access to this game going crazy in a box. Okay. I mean, yes. So that's a real one. And he was in there for 400 and something days. That's too long, dude. So yeah, he went insane.

The thing is he knew he was being filmed in some regard. Yes. So I'm guessing in this scenario which says Yeah, I'm this and being like he went insane sure, but he knew he was being filmed Yeah, we own the baby. What if we owe the baby? What if the baby was owed by plumbing that I start LLC? Yeah, I feel like we've had this conversation before like is it good to have a baby Like, is it good to have a baby? Well, I mean, it's good to have a baby. But is it good to own a baby?

I mean, your baby's going and they're screaming and shitting on its own nuts here. I think it would, I mean, you know, if the company owns the baby, we don't have to deal with the baby, right? Tax-deductible baby? Tax-deductible baby. Win-win. That sounds like an old- Oh, that is actually, tax-deductible baby would be good. Tax-deductible baby sounds like an old crooner song from

Tax deductible baby Cause there's a lot of stuff you gotta buy for baby Take you out for dinner claim it on tax The tax man doesn't have to know about my other baby Non tax deductible baby One tax man doesn't know can't hurt him As far as the tax man knows I've got one baby Tax deductible baby

I need this high chair for tax reasons And I'm getting two because I want my baby to have two high chairs Not because I have two babies What's this riff? You're hiding a baby from a taxman? Why? But you're also not hiding it. Why is one baby taxman safe and the other is not?

I don't know if the rest of the world likes books like this or if it's just Australia, but I feel like what you're playing into there was the tax-free threshold of having two moms. Yes, I think you're right. I think you're right. But it's two babies. One baby's in cash. Cash and baby.

Tax deductible baby. I got one tax baby and one cash baby. I got two babies, but if you're the taxman, one baby. I love this guy This song's amazing Yeah, 1959's number one song chart of the year If you look into it I've only got one baby Who's asking how many babies I got if it's the school?

It's two babies cause I gotta give them both an education Oh I'm getting audited Whose baby is this? I've never seen this baby in my life. And this is by Little Al on the monotones. Little Al on the monotones. The greatest song ever, Tax the Doftyful Baby. I don't know what you're saying tax man I've never seen this baby in my life. You can take it away I don't care. Please don't take away my baby I love those babies my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby, normal. Yes, okay, but we gotta pitch this idea to investors, because it is a crazy idea, partially because of the ethical reasons, but also I feel it has to come from like, alright, we

have this baby first. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, that's the thing. How, what is the most exciting period of the Truman Show? Well, I guess... Like, so much of it is boring. I think it would have to be like like, his dicey teenage years. Yes.

Because it's like... He's making morally questionable decisions. Yeah, and also that's like, puberty makes the human brain go fucking insane. He's getting up to mischief, it's entertaining. I reckon... It's so controlled, though, by everyone else. Yeah. The mischief is kind of, you know, you make it the mischief, hasn't it?

Yeah, that's true. You're not seeing it, but I guess the entertainment must be like, okay, on this episode. We're not seeing it, but I guess the entertainment must be like, okay, on this episode... We're gonna test him with a flashed boob. What's the test? See what he does? Okay. Because I was gonna say we say, hey, he's down at the beach, and some guys say, hey, wanna do some drugs? And then we as the audience, because we don't know what he's gonna do.

That's true. We don't know. That's the unknown of Truman. We also need sponsors. Are we we being sponsored by DARE? No, we're being sponsored by CRACK! Ah! Hahahaha! Truman's like, well all my life I've heard, crack is great! Yeah!

I love it! Crack fucking rocks, Truman! Smoke crack! Hahahaha! We've fucked up so badly, boy! We've fucked up so badly, boy! We've made a crack! a crack. We can't do it anymore. Why did we think taking money from big crack was the way to go? Normally cracks- We'd shoot, they would be ethical and just be like,

hey, we're just gonna give you the money and you do what you do. You figure it out. No. No, they want us to advertise the corner. They want to expect- And we gotta show the glamorous side and none of the bad. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'd love to give you some crack for the Truman Show, but we just really need you to... Crack has become... Crack has become somewhat undesirable. It's not one of the designer drugs anymore. Big cocaine, big speed have taken over. We could give you a lot of money if Truman does crack.

Okay, we're listening. We're all in this big crowd. Side plumbing, I guess. How would you make Truman smoke crack? Smoke crack. My first thought was you have a very attractive person come to Truman Town. Somebody who's very glamorous. S'wab. S who's very glamorous. Yes. Swab.

Swab, big celebrity. And Truman, you know, we want someone that Truman wants to be like. And Truman asks them, how did you get like this? And they're like, smoking crack, kid. Hates his dad. He's got to, you know, invite him back. And they're like, here's some crack. Yeah.

Well, we have, so in the tin. If your dad smoked crack, he would have got lost at sea. Exactly. We have his dad, before he gets lost lost at sea be like, I would never smoke crack and then he goes out to sea and dies and Truman's like, would you smoke crack? No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no

no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no

no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no Truman's dad says, no thank you, I don't want to smoke crack. And then he dies of tea. Truman's like, he should have smoked crack. And then, so well, then that makes that episode where he does drugs the first time not interesting. Well, then we could have like, you know, a lot of appetizers and be like, crack is cool and it's healthy for you. Yeah. Yeah, we've ruined a town.

Yes, we've made a crack epidemic. We've ruined fake town. Okay, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, okay. I got an idea how to fix this. Okay. So, we, yes, we started a crack epidemic. Yes. But then we get big dentists, you know. Okay, no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no way because you never need to advertise. I've smelt a lot of crack. My teeth are real bad. I want more crack. I don't care about my teeth. It's sore and painful but you know what? What ever! More crack. I got a two word pitch for you. Crack dentist.

Brother, that's what they call synergy. That's upwards energy. So you go to the dentists, you pay for some dental work, get some free dentures. Not free dentures, expensive dentures. You get some expensive dentures, and instead of a lollipop... They give you crack cocaine. Oh well done, you've been so brave. Have some crack. How about instead of, hey, hey, as a person who loves all this delicious crack, can we not do the dentists stuff and just get me that crack? Sorry, you need good dental work if you're gonna get crack. Yeah, it'll be a loyalty

That smile of the week people are watching this version of the Truman show like what is the fuck? How is this allowed? Do I want crack? Because yes, there's gonna be a lot of time, like Truman as a baby, maybe cute for the first couple of years. Well yeah, I honestly think it's not set in the Truman Show, but I reckon the only way to do this is to start at like what happened in the real life version. Where you start it with little weekly segments, like you have hours and hours of footage edited into and it's like he's the highlight Yeah, he's like the cute highlight Yeah, and then as he starts doing more and more interesting stuff check in with him more and more

Yeah because if you're filming a baby like you have a newborn 24 7 and like that is a lot of screaming crying and a lot of Parents having a breakdown. Yeah, that's less about Truman and more on the parents Yeah, yes, I just said if're, that's a corporation baby, it's like a whole corporation looking after that baby. Yeah, that's true. So no one's gonna have that slow descent into madness. But don't we need to quick fake that...

For the baby, you're faking it for the baby, so you don't care. No, but for the viewer, don't we need to make it seem as though Truman's a real guy? Truman is a real guy. No, but like, as in, if... Hey, no, the viewer's... But if, no, but I, it isn't part of the appeal. That it's like we're watching a guy's real life. So if we're watching Truman be raised by like a team of corporate nannies,

that will be incongruous with- in a couple of years, when I'm watching Truman just live a regular sitcom life. Because I'm going to be like, well in the beginning I know- You're breaking the fourth law. Yeah, exactly yeah but also like again but that's okay because you can you can fake that just on the show it looks like these parents but when the cameras are off with a newborn it's really kind of boring in a sense of what you what yeah you're watching a screaming child eat yeah and or shitting itself yeah or sleeping I hate the baby channel dude

Like it's like it's if it's like a it's 24 7 unfiltered access to a baby. It's it's like oh my god What is it doing? Yeah, and there's those moments where he's really cute, but ultimately it's a lot of mostly just screaming Yeah, well well then when would you change from going there? You know baby Truman highlight reel to 20 minute episodes what what age I want to say five start a school maybe you get up to mischief at five you know I don't even think maybe it's high school high school Truman the high school years for no no 20 minute daily or weekly daily 20 minute daily yeah a A daily recap, uh, yeah. Okay, okay, hey, hey, hey. I'm not going for weak-leaded. Uh, you gotta, you tell me. Thank you for letting me introduce you on Shark Tank.

This is our pitch. I haven't heard this pitch yet, so I'm just really happy to be here, Shark Tank. Are you part of his team? I want my friend, Dusev, for moral support. I'll decide when I hear his pitch. Otherwise I might hit you with a second pitch. Okay, in possession yes of a baby okay now I would like to say that I'll be making a second pitch now a normal TV the average sitcom mm-hmm it remember this is before reality yes before the internet so yeah

there's no streaming no streaming okay the average sitcom wait where is this Remember, this is before reality TV. This is before reality TV, this is before the internet, so... Yeah. There's no streaming? No streaming. The average sitcom... Wait, where is this set? Are you pitching this in real life? Because in real life, the thing that I keep talking about has already happened. But in the world of the Truman Show...

Reality TV is pre-Truman. Also, look how many cans... Oh, I fucked it. Yeah, in the world of the Truman Show... Yeah. Reality TV exists pre-Truman? I think? Yeah, I'm pretty sure. Well, I thought it didn't. That was what made Truman stand out.

No. Because the Truman Show was made in like the 90s. Yeah. It's like just before the big reality TV boom. Yeah, so like the ASC, the one you were talking about before, yes, it existed like a year before the Truman Show. Yeah. It had big brother really popping. Oh, Big Brother hadn't happened. Yeah, exactly. So, sitcoms, and I'm not really pitching reality TV, I'm pitching a real life

sitcom basically. That's what Truman is. So, my frame of reference is, I guess, is it 7 Up? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, you know 7 Up. Great drink. So, you know 7 Up. Okay, not what I was thinking about. Not on the TV show, but it's just also a good drink. Oh, it is called 7 Up?

Yeah. 7 Up, 14 Up, 21 Up, 28 Up. But it's just also a good drink. Oh, it is called 7 Up? 7 Up, 14 Up, 21 Up, 28 Up. It's not related to the drink. They should have really had some synergy. If I was part of their marketing team, every single kid would have been living a 7 Up diet from this point onward. I'd buy 64 Up, everyone's teeth would be fucked up. That's why we have the dentist program.

The 7 UpUp Dentist. No, okay, so, sitcoms are boring. Friends can suck my ass. Alright, it's making a lot of mo- alright, go. Yeah, yeah, but it could be making more. Like I said, I'm in possession of a baby. Now, what if... Shut up.

It's not a good idea to tell the people that you're pitching to to shut up. No, I was telling myself to shut up. The voice is in my head. I love this well man. What if... See if the sharks have a button under their desk. Shut up! Stop saying that to me. No they do, but in my reality they do and they're pressing that button.

You can't make me kill again. In my head they've got a button that just drops an end Anyway, you have a baby security. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So what if we charted this baby's life in a fake town? with a fake moon that I From birth to death and we gave the people unfiltered access to this gave the people unfiltered access to this human being. They got to watch as it grew, as it lived, as it learned, as it loved. We give him a fake wife when he's of wife age. We give him fake mum, fake dad.

So when you say sorry, sorry, so you say fake wife, like, but like, like, what if the marital... You fucking... He's not really married is the trick. Yeah I know, but so you've... Is they fine? They might f***. That's what's exciting about the show. That seems really unethical.

We get to see him masturbate. We get to see him experiment with himself. We get to see... Do you want to see that? The people will. I don't like this. Do you want to see this? That's bums and seeds.

I mean it's worrying because I feel like this is exciting to Jackson the man. They're like, oh yeah, it would be interesting to see how people of age masturbate. Yeah, behind closed doors. So wait a second, so everyone else is an actor? Yes, but he's the only real man. So nothing is real, so everything he's doing involves another person. It's kind of like, it's duplicitous. Yes!

Yeah. Hugely so! There's nothing real there. Nothing real except him. And if it becomes a hit, and everyone's famous on that show, chances are they'll just do the thing for fame. Yes, and imagine... And he won't know. He won't know.

Imagine the corporate sponsors. 7-Up. Crackup, crack, dentists. Anything you can imagine, we can convince this man, the world's celebrity, to imbibe or drink or inject whatever it needs to be. Acast powers the world's best podcasts. Here's a show that we recommend. Have you ever been to an Olympics or a Super Bowl, a World Cup final or a big title fight? I've enjoyed that privilege for more than 30 years doing the best job in the world. My name is Stephen Brunt and my new podcast Up Close

will introduce you to some of the most interesting people I've met along the way. Six episodes of one-on-one conversations with sports folks who really have something to say. I hope you'll join me on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. Up Close is made possible by the support of Group M Motion Entertainment.

A cast helps creators launch, grow, and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast.com. So you're controlling a person's life? Mm-hmm. For viewers? Yes, for viewers. And the people around him are paid actors. Paid actors. And he lives in a fake town and we never let him leave and we kill his dad. Are you killing the actor?

No, we kill- no, no, no, no, no. Within the fake reality, the keyfabe, kayfabe? Kayfabe. Within the kayfabe of the show, we kill his dad and that's to stop him from ever trying to flee the little town that he's grown up in. Very clever. You made him scared of boats but not of planes. We don't put planes in the town, okay? You also made him scared of cars either.

Well he'll need to drive around town. This is very similar to an M. Night Shalerman film called The Village. Are you setting in modern times? Yes, yes we are. Why do you set it not in modern times? Well I'm open to it. What is the point of this? Make this guy born in 1910.

Okay, we set it in caveman time. And then we convince him that he's a caveman. Yeah, we call it caveman Truman. So you're pulling a prank. A life-long prank. It's a life-long prank. From one guy. Yeah. From birth to death. From birth to death. If he dies on his... A life log prank. It's a life log prank. On one guy.

From birth to death. So presumably you're gonna die before him. I hope not. But you're older. And he's your son? No, he's the baby I acquired. I'm in possession of. How does that house get the baby?

A lady volunteers in it. The corporation adopts a child. That's awesome. And then they film it. So what's the go? Yes? Okay, what resource? Hi, sorry I just like to... There's a guy I thought was my friend but he betrayed me. Friend of the crazy guy. He's betrayed me. Hey, you know how television's not real and like people like they what they crave realness Everything's a script and yeah We have news. It's the late 90s. Yeah, it's going a bit Bananen we have like we've got I guess MTV and then like the real world and all that

People can document their lives. Yeah, but imagine that but from the beginning. Sorry your bitch. I know Yeah, okay, so I want to do that on a bigger scale. Yeah, yeah, people can document their lives. Yeah, but imagine that but from the beginning sorry your bitch. I know yeah, okay So I want to do that on a bigger scale. Yeah, okay, so birth to death Yes, but they don't know they're being filmed but everyone else around them knows they're being filmed. Yeah Yeah, so it's not really the real it's it's heavily constructed. Why oh, it's real the paid access And just so that we can stay in control. Yeah exactly There's that word. Control of the situation. What would you rather, you corporate fat cat,

we drop him in the woods somewhere? Let him fend for himself, you sicko! I think you should just raise a trial. Oh, no. Okay, so this meeting actually did happen, and then the man that was like, well, there's too much control, went off and created survival. Yeah, exactly. I know what I'm gonna do. I think they should drop them in the woods.

Yeah, I think that would be great. Yeah, yeah, I mean, we could drop them in the woods and we all film, but they know they're being filmed and it's a short brief time to see how they survive in the wild, but we make sure that no one is harmed or, like, you know... And we do it from birth. We get a wild child, like raised by wolves. We can call the show Real Wild Child. Real Wild Childs, yeah. And Sung will be the... And you're doing this to prove nurture versus nature. wild child like raised by wolves yeah show real wild child real wild child

yeah and you're doing this to prove nutribusness I'm doing it to make money pal we're sponsored by big tree we need people buying tree yeah so we have little baby feral Truman and he goes out he loves trees and the big tree lines our pockets with another kind of green Isn't a good way to

Pitch the Truman show yeah, and I think it's just because Ed Harris's character was already rich that he was able to do this Yes, that's true. Would you do the same thing if you had had Harris's money? Yeah, you wouldn't but you've got a baby You get access to a baby. I'd just go live on the moon. On the fake moon? On the real moon? On the real moon. You're gonna get lonely. No, no, no, no.

How do I get back to Earth? I'm just gonna stand on the moon and say, I've become bigger than this. Cause he makes like a giant... What's next for Joel Moonshaw? It's a giant soundstage that can be seen from the moon that you're currently on. Oh shit, that's really big! I just... I'd be scared if you were on the moon. I'd be scared for any astronauts we would send to the moon.

I'd be sending them to the rocket and I'd be like, hey, be careful. It was a god-like option. Do we have like an, is there like an economic problem? We have to create like a lot of jobs real quickly? And the way we do this is by filming. Well, I guess you can think about it like that. You could be like, okay, imagine a corporation owned a global economy. We basically had our own country, more or less, you know, not a huge country, but it's

pretty big, what becomes Truman's Town. And we owned that in its entirety, and somehow that's good for us. Yeah. And then, so instead of doing anything with that land or resources... Mm-hmm. We make a fake town. We're gonna make a fake town that's actually a real town because everyone's gonna live in there. Mm-hmm. And then we're gonna convince one guy that it is a real town.

Yeah. And we can control... I'll tell you what, you know, startup costs expensive, but once it's running... Yeah... No? No... The opposite. What electricity, plumbing. So every single expense you could possibly have yeah I guess it's expensive running a small town and of running a film set. Because also like if you remember it's a dome right yeah yeah so it's not getting sunlight you artificially create sunlight. Imagine! How do you do this? You know in the Truman Show where one of their lights falls in front of him and he does what?

Yeah. And he just valid him and kills him. But also like, to mimic a sun. Yeah. That's a bright light. Yeah, dude. And there's a lot of them and they can control what it is lighted like night and day. How do they stop Truman from just like accidentally killing they don't be so it's a like theoretically they're allowing for like true that like seven does it not to put a knife in a toaster they are dead i mean because it's constantly being surveyed yet that's true i guess as he was doing that it'd be a thousand people be like

no no no no no no no no yet point it wasn't letting him watch him die like that is an old man well again like the show was talking about yeah that, the creators were like, Oh yeah, there's a ch- like, he might... We didn't consider it, but then it got to the point where we're like, Well, he might die, we just won't have a show anymore, that's sad. I guess in the Truman Show, the ratings are down.

Yeah. And when it starts, and that's why they're trying to do like, crazy shit, like bring his dad back. It is interesting that ratings are down when he's like, what, in his like, thirties? Well yeah, cause his life sucks He's boring. Yeah, hey, if I don't see you get off to eat my arse or whatever. Fuck you Truman, I don't care. I guess what that kind of implies to me is that maybe in the early days the Truman show was and maybe this is actually part Of the movie we've just forgotten it like was less control It oh even like I think you'd like the highlight reel and I think that's kind of you know Because it's not because they talk about it in like the corporate sponsors. Yeah, that's like nude. Yeah, that's true They're advertising a lot of stuff that has to be because so losing money. Yeah. Oh, yeah

Maybe it just got boring in his 20s and then they kind of yeah, yeah downward spiral Yeah, well like is there anyone's life right now that like that you think would be great to watch 24 I think I'd like you know that guy if I forget what his name is, but he like- The Unabomber? Yeah, dude. I'd love to see what he's up to. I got some bad news for you. It's very boring, six feet on duck.

Yeah. No, I was gonna- they made a documentary about him free solo, the guy that- Oh yeah. He free climbs mountains or whatever. I reckon he's just sitting at home jacking off his dick. Yeah, but sometimes he's climbing mountains Yeah, but like again, we want to know we watch the documentary of that guy I know is that a condensing to like what 90 minutes or two hours and that was filmed in the course of like how many

Months or yeah, that's true. That's true condensed because that's what's entertaining. Yeah, but then again I guess people watch a lot of twitch stream Yeah like People do shit where they're like like there's that one guy that gave himself severe brain damage by staying awake for like 12 days or something I guess with the whole idea with Twitch at least, when someone's doing something for 8 hours Within that 8 hours, something interesting is going to happen at least once And that gets clipped and then that's the kind of thing

But also shout out to all the Twitch streamers out there that stream for eight Hours to no one and yeah, that's awesome. You're the real ones without you the website real winners Yeah, oh, but I but I guess the thing with those twitch streamers is like they're in control Yeah, they make the decisions. Yeah, this is akin to I don't know. I mean, I guess We're putting a camera in like say a zoo enclosure Yeah, hey, you can watch them little penguins do things and you do enough they should film the monkeys they probably do I want to see the monkeys live I mean they're probably right now you could go on to a yeah they probably is I mean yeah they

definitely were like really pushing but it was I remember it was always like penguins and seals there's never monkeys they never showed me what the chips are doing but even that is like edited and kind of yeah, so again Well then as an investor, I'm like I die this felt first off feels so wrong. Yes, it is a crime There's like what is the reason are you doing it? Because again you kind of Know my I mean based on the the movie the reason is that Ed Harris believes, and is proved correct by the film, that it'll make huge Mondo-Bazongo-Castellos. Why does it?

Yeah! Are you sure? He wants to make fat stacks. Are you sure? Isn't it a social experiment? Isn't it a social experiment? Yeah, but he's making fat stacks on the side. Yeah.

He can't be upset about that. He has fat stacks to begin with. More's always nice. Yeah, more is always more. More's always nice. Yeah, but he's making fat stacks on the side. He can't be upset about that. He has fat stacks to begin with. More is always nice. Yeah, more is always more.

Well, then, social experiment, you're doing the whole nurture vs. nature kind of idea. But then you need the control, then you need the experiment. Oh, okay, so we take the woods idea. We got two channels. One, we just let a boy grow up feral. Yeah, yeah, feral boy and city boy. City Truman, feral Truman. What about Truman and falseman?

Oh, that's good. But falseman is going to have to be the Truman we know. Because he lives in a false reality. The Truman is dropped in the woods. And left to be raised by wolves. and if he's just eaten by those wolves That's the result Because you can't raise a- unless the whole town is real that you're monitoring, that they don't know they're being monitored. Which you also hate, so we're dropping a boy in the woods.

We're dropping a boy in the woods to be raised by wolves! Again, if the whole town is being monitored and that kind of stuff, I mean, I guess that's ethically bad, but it's less ethically bad than only one person not knowing? You think that no one knowing versus one guy not knowing No one knowing is a class-action suit No one knowing people do know but London's film. Yeah. Yeah, that's true. They know they know that there's a CCTV cameras on every But it's not like it's not a um, yeah, there's a not a camera in your house. Yeah as far as you know Well, okay, would- If the bloody Tories had anything to say about it

and bloody cameras everywhere. Pulling the Death Star, getting political. Mmm. They want to make sure you're using the right bathroom, which is stupid. Yeah. I think it's okay. What in hell, Tories?

I hate you. You should. What in hell, Tories? Yeah. What if, uh, you then said, well, what, what, we have a town, though, everything is filmed. Yeah. And like, you know said well what what we have a town though everything is filmed Yeah, and like you know we get the townsfolk like you know they sign a waiver mm-hmm But like this is a social experiment which documenting a town you can leave of course if you want to it's not yeah locked off

But when you're into this town everything is filmed yeah, and then we get all that footage and we condense it down to a you know 30 minute thing every day Yeah, because then it's just kind of like, I guess there's a lot of footage. But the problem is that, you know, if somebody's observed, they behave differently to what they're not observed. I know, but you start doing this, and then eventually it'll chill. Like eventually people forget that there's cameras. Eventually everyone will be calm, everyone, you know. Or they just create a fake guy, because they're like, hey.

Oh, reverse Truman. Yeah, because they'll be like- At real town, one fake man. Everyone then you'll get all they just create a fake guy cuz they're like hey Oh reverse true Yeah, like at real town one fake. I know that Yeah, well one guy yeah, that's just prank videos yeah, but over a man's life Pranking a town He just lives a normal life Everyone else is being observed. He kind of really pranks that whole town. Everyone's like is he a wizard? We don't know good night mom good night dad. You're my real parents Everyone's got like a little earpiece in so you can do so much damage. Yeah

He's just doing impractical jokes. Yeah, like he's doing... Your favorite TV show, Jackson. Yes, absolutely. Q and Sol? Sol! Sol? Sal? Sal?

Sal, Murph and Q and Huey. I want to say like, one of them friends with Kevin Smith. Yeah. Kevin. Kevin's one of them I guess. Would the Truman Show be improved for you if like every week something crazy happened? No, because it takes it away being like you've gone as a real person's life.

Which is like getting more and more into the soul. I'm low baby. He's dragging my cord with him. It's onto my cord with him. Yeah Yeah Yeah, so Because it's like it's something cool and zany and wacky is happening. Yeah, I can wait from the fact that it's real Yeah, either way no matter what way you cut this other one invest. It feels ethically bad morally bad entertainedly bad I feel like it's gonna the end result

You know when if Truman does find out doesn't't die on stage or whatever it's gonna be the biggest court case you've ever seen in your life. What happens if he has an aneurysm at like 26? We say the Truman show, the next episode is a best-off. Yeah, and in the next episode one of them is the fake funeral where actors who were pretending to mourn him mourn him. He lives a life where no one truly loves him No one really mourns him I think no one really cared about His best friend is getting fed lines

Yeah About like how he cares about him Yeah like that He never goes off script The only person who cares about him is his fake wife Who then learns to love him by pretending to love him If they put And she's like you gotta get out of here

You gotta get out of here He's like what the fuck is going on What is happening It's I just as an inventor Because again when you initially pitch it by pretending to love him. And she's like, you gotta get out of here. He's like, what the fuck is going on? What is happening? I just, as an invert, because again, when you initially pitch it, it's gonna have to be... Don't they recast someone as well? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think so.

Or the girlfriend, and then like, she gets got, and then he's always obsessed about her. And so then the Truman Show is like, quickly go to the black back. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Dude, what about if you were a viewer? Yeah. Could they improve it in any way? What would improve the viewing experience? A countdown, but they don't tell me what it is. That's scary.

Yeah, I would keep watching. But also, it depends how long the countdown is for. 33 days. Okay, yeah, now I'm intrigued. That's soon enough that I'm like, I will see it. But I probably won't watch the episodes leading up. Do you know what I mean? Well, yeah, but what if it's if we just keep saying we're escalating Yeah, then what I'll fall out. Oh my god

Bob is dropped on Truman Yeah, oh Down another fake town okay town wars Joel Douche's town We say Truman is the god king of Truman town yeah, and so is this other true Oh, yeah I mean like the thing with Truman and I think you know down this path as well And we spoke of it before you just do whatever yeah, so they make it seem like you could be like all right

Well this one we're just gonna pretend he was born in 19 Yeah, yeah, I'm thinking like again. What would be he was born in 1914. Yeah, that's what I'm thinking, like again, what would be interesting? Alright, well yeah, let's scale everything back and make him, yeah, like it's the village. Yeah. And let's put big scary monsters on the thing. Not even big scary monsters, like what happens to a man that's born in say, 2025, if they're raised where they're like, oh, you're living like it's the 1900s? Yeah.

What happens? So he basically makes a giant, like, real life sovereign hill. Yeah, yeah. Or, I guess it's Westworld. Or, like, well, yeah, yeah. Kind of making Westworld. And then what? Are you living?

Is he living his life? I guess it's a good, yeah. Or are you like, and then we gave him an iPhone? Yeah, well, that's what I was going to say. Whoa! It's a good way to do experiments. Happy 25th birthday. Here's an iPhone.

Like, to me, I mean, look, OK, ethics out the window. Yeah, yeah, yeah an iPhone. Like to me, I mean look, okay, ethics out the window. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So to me, I guess the most interesting one is like, okay cool, let's raise this kid wrong. It is like the turn of the century. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's the turn of the century, whatever. It's like, hey, it's the 1800s, deal with it.

And so you have this whole thing set up like it's 1800s, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. We get like historians, everything is like perfect, right? And then it is, yeah, 25th birthday, why not? We're like, hey, guess what? This is like, we're caught, hey, it's there we get like historians everything is like yeah, and then it is yet 25th birthday. Why not? We're like hey Yeah, this is like we were caught. It's hey. It's not true, but it's fucking Plato's cave. Yeah Yeah, yes, what this is all being shadowed. We make him know is the fire idiot. Yeah, but We take him out and we're like it's 1942 We have a war to Truman for a couple of seasons we like guess what again, bitch 1942. You're in World apostrophe. Fucking with Truman.

Welcome back to fucking with Truman. We're gonna spin a wheel and decide what year it is right now. He thinks it's... Oh, he thinks it's 2000 BCE! Yeah. Let's see what happens. Oh, wait. Never mind. We're making him a younger creationist.

But you can even do stuff like, you have an assassin come in and kill, in quotation marks, everybody he knows and loves. You let him mourn, and then a week later, everyone's back! You come in, you have an assassin, and basically you're dead, Truman, and he gets the trigger, and he shoots Truman, loud bang or whatever, but he's like a sleeping dog, right? Knocks Truman out, he wakes up, it's, I don't know, yeah, it's Truman out. He wakes up. It's it's I don't know. Yeah, it is now 1733 well he wakes up and it's like you've given him like an earthly paradise

Yeah, exactly white clouds really you're in heaven. Yeah, and then after he's there for a little bit we say wrong What you do is you go? Groundhog day this bad I think my first prank would be getting his dog to talk to him as a child. Don't reveal my secret to him. I can talk to him. I know all your secrets. But also I like, make him best friends, one day, dog stops talking.

What's he gonna do? That's a fucked up kid. Okay, so... We could give him an imaginary friend that's real, but with like everyone pretending this person isn't there. And then he dies in front of him. Truman makes one tiny infraction, and the imaginary friend goes forever. You- Oh, the dog does the same thing. You did this, Truman! It's your fault, Truman! Because you masturbated,ated Truman you took away my

ability to talk yeah we're gonna fuck this kid up okay so I guess yeah what's morality is out the window yeah fucking with Truman is nothing but awesome. Truman is way more engaging than a regular Truman. I'd be shooting it every week. What are they gonna do now? What are they gonna do to this boy this time? So I guess the best way to pitch the Truman Show is to throw morality at the window. Just be like, brother, it's time to fuck with you. Have you ever imagined a world where we could raise a kid normal style, and then maybe on like their 13th birthday, really just pull the rug out from underneath them?

I have, yes. Truman, you know what? You're actually still a baby. I'm like like their 13th birthday really just pull the wrong out Truman you know what you're actually still a baby Yeah, oh baby true man, and he's like 25 Oh little baby true good. I think this is a great idea, and I think that I'm gonna give you all of my money now Yeah, yeah, yeah as. As an investor I say, hey, here's my bank account, take what you need. Thank you. I've always wanted to ruin someone's life. Oh, I love to fuck with Truman. Yes, thank you very much.

Oh my god. I love fucking with Truman. It's the best TV show we can show you. Best show on TV, dude. Oh my god. And on that note, let us know, do you recommend being in the sun directly for four hours made it good or bad? And hey, did you live love-poo-ling the Death Star?

Did you live love-poo-ling the Death Star? The greatest show on Earth. Please like and subscribe. And I've been Joel. And I've been Jackson. And I've also been Joel. And we've been in the pool. Yes, we have.

Goodbye! See ya! Follow us on TikTok! Good stuff, boys! Good pool, boys! Don't go in the pool! Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, Here's a show that we recommend. Have you ever been to an Olympics or a Super Bowl, a World Cup final or a big title fight? I've enjoyed that privilege for more than 30 years doing the best job in the world. My name is Stephen Brunt and my new podcast Up Close will introduce you to some of the most interesting people I've met along the way.

Six episodes of one-on-one conversations with sports folks who really have something to say. I hope you'll join me on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. Up Close is made possible by the support of Group M Motion Entertainment. Acast helps creators launch, grow, and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast.com