The Bill Simmons Podcast - Ep. 82: Joe House, Chris Ryan, and Andy Greenwald

Episode Date: March 28, 2016

HBO and The Ringer's Bill Simmons brings on Joe House to wrap up the Elite Eight weekend, Buddy Hield's rise on draft boards (10:00), Ingram vs. Simmons (15:00), the NHL playoff picture (22:00), Connor McDavid's rookie season (27:00), and GSW's historic season (32:00). Then, Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald join to discuss the Smashing Pumpkins reunion (38:30), greatest 'SNL' performances (52:00), and 'Girls' (1:00:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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The Ringer. Subscribe to our newsletter at theringer.com. Don't forget to subscribe to The Ringer's Channel 33 podcast, as well as our new golf podcast, Shaq House, presented by Callaway. One of the stars of Shaq House, Joe House, is going to be on the line right after this. Yeah. Clear enough for you. All right. Yeah. Is it clear enough for you that Joe House's golf podcast made it to number one on the iTunes rankings? What up, Joe House?

I can barely hear you over the music, but I enjoy rolling. We were on a nice roll last week with that golf podcast. Is that what you're saying? Yeah. I'm sorry. Tate's in a frenzy because UNC made the golf podcast. Is that what you're saying? Yeah. I'm sorry. Tate's in a frenzy because UNC made the Final Four. He just blasted the music. Come on, Tate.

He blasted the music. Act like you've been there before, Tate. Tate's, like, out of his mind. He's between my Barb jokes at the meeting today about UNC versus Syracuse being the all-scandal, who's going to vacate the final two spot showdown. He's a mess. And he's out of his mind. Yeah, I mean, we should have a tutor off. We should.

I had a suggestion on Twitter. I thought at halftime of the Saturday game, the UNC teachers from the African American Studies class should tutor Fab Bello. Just combine the two worlds. That could be the halftime show as Jim Nance gushes and acts super creepy about it. I thought that would be great. You have my endorsement.

I figured. Anything to get Nance to gush. So you went to Jamaica, and as you went to Jamaica, Shack House, our new podcast which talks about golf and the PGA Tour, made it all the way to number one. And I was very excited for you. It was nice to see your name on top of there. And now we have the Masters coming, which is exciting.

Yeah. Are you guys talking Masters this week or next week? We've been talking about it. Well, we talked about it a little bit last week. I was going to say we've been talking about it for a month, but the world doesn't know that Jeff and I did a couple pilots before we went live. Yeah.

So, yeah, we talked about the odds last week, and the odds I'm sure have slightly moved around a bit since the match play. So we're definitely going to talk odds. I think we're doing a little Q&A, and some of the questions that have come in by way of Twitter have been asking about Masters Food. So we'll do a little Masters Preview. That's like your all-time wheelhouse.

It really is, yeah, for sure. And I've been, so I have a certain strategy that I may or may not share. all-time wheelhouse. Yeah, for sure. And I've been, so I have a certain strategy that I may or may not share. So Mickelson is 15-1. I might just step in on that. It doesn't feel like enough. I would like him at 25-1.

What do you mean it's not enough? It isn't enough of a reward for the risk. Why is it a risk? He's Phil Mickelson. He's in shape. No, well is it a risk? He's Phil Mickelson. He's in shape. No, well, not really. But he's Phil Mickelson. It's an even year, and he's won all his Masters in even years.

I'm going through all the odds right now trying to find our friend Nathan's brother, Mark Herbert. I don't see him on here. I don't know friend Nathan's brother, Mark Herbert. I don't see him on here. I don't know that Mark's qualified for the Masters. Oh, well that's probably why there are no odds for him. Alright, let's talk basketball. Even though you're away, you're watching a lot of college hoops. We had a whole riff

either a week ago or two weeks ago about how much we love Buddy. We're not alone. It's not an original opinion. And how Buddy will whip his testicles out and show them to a live national TV audience as he makes big shots and does the Cassell dance. Although he doesn't do the dance. He does it telepathically.

And then Buddy really whipped them out since the last time I talked to you. I mean, they were out. Yeah, that was a week ago. Yeah. And we were doing a lot of Buddy celebration. We talked about buddy, buddy, buddy, all up in your face. We had it all out there. And you know what? He validated all of that. You know, it made me think college basketball has been ruined by the one and done to some degree. And every once in a while, somebody

stays three years and then they're awesome in college hoops. And every once in a while, somebody stays three years, and then they're awesome in college hoops, and it's really fun to watch, and it makes me think like, God, just wish. I know it's impossible, and I don't begrudge any of these guys for coming out early. But at the same time, it's really fun when somebody who's got a little experience and is a little bit weathered can just do it on a big stage.

To a point that you – like I really thought they were going to win Saturday because of him. I was like, he's going to come up big and he's going to win the game for them. You don't get to feel that way about college basketball players that often. Yeah, there aren't guys that you can identify. The thing that I like on that particular theme, there are two seniors that have effectively played themselves into the lottery. So Buddy was probably already a borderline lottery pick, but Chad has him as possibly sliding into the top five now.

And Bryce Johnson from North Carolina has also had a great tournament and looks like he's potentially sliding into the top 15. Two seniors, both of whom, but he's already 22, he'll be 22 until December, and Bryce Johnson turns 22 in June. It takes on this sort of prevailing sentiment with older players being in disfavor because you're missing out on some of their early cheap contract years. We're going to test that a little bit this draft, right? I think so. And you and I both like Bryce Johnson, too.

And we even went to Tate. We asked him a couple weeks ago, why isn't Bryce Johnson more respected? And he was like, well, he's older. And Tate insinuated there might have been some maturity issues. Tate's nodding. But yeah, Bryce Johnson's good. Why wouldn't he be able to help an NBA team? Some of this stuff, it just seems like they go nuts with the potential, potential, potential

of these draft picks, especially in January, February. And at some point, you know what helps is when you actually see them play really well in big games with big crowds. That's usually a good indicator of whether you might be good in the NBA. And, you know, Jalen Brown, who I think is a really talented swing man, certainly the type of guy any team's looking for in the small ball era, but he sucked in the Pac-12 tournament and he sucked in the actual tournament. And I don't want to overreact to it, but that tells me it would be nice if he stayed in

school for another year and maybe figured some stuff out, right? Yeah. I kind of feel the same way. I'm not going to kill Jamal Murray, who's only 19 years old. Yeah. And he's got the game to come out and play right now, but it's all potential. He didn't blow me away with any single performance this season. Well, the best thing he's got going for him is what Devin Booker's been doing on the Suns.

So the Celtics played him the other day. I've seen him a couple times in non-Celtic games, but I really got to watch him in the Suns game. The guy's great. He's the 13 watch him in the Suns game. And the guy's great. He's the 13th pick in the draft. The guy's going to be like a multi-time all-star. He's exactly who you want in the modern NBA for a perimeter guard who can create stuff and do things and create his own shot, shoot threes, create shots for other guys, attack the rim.

And I wonder if that's going to affect jamal murray's draft stock at all where i'm not saying they're exactly the same but it's it's you know some of the same dna right yeah some of the same dna and look i'm i'm not meaning to impugn or slight or diminish jamal's achievement this season yeah he's 19. He's 19, that's right. Which in this era is a desirable thing. He's three years younger than Buddy. Yeah, I mean, Marcus Smart's getting murdered back in Boston because he's just falling apart from an outside shooting standpoint.

Still does a lot of good things during games. And I looked up how old he was and he's three months younger than buddy so yeah that's why you have to you have to put all this stuff in perspective one way or the other right like if marcus smart was a junior in college i guarantee he'd be really good in these games you know and at the same time like we've seen guys who stayed four years and maybe that made us overrate them a little bit, three to four years. I think Morrison was a good example of that at Gonzaga.

Sometimes you're just a really good, mature college player and that doesn't translate to anything. I feel even stronger than how we felt last week about Buddy. He just has things that work in the NBA. And you know it when you see it. It's not just the three-point shot. It's the mid-range game. The guts and the fortitude are a very good starting point.

He's been up for every big game. He was awesome in the Kansas triple overtime. He's been great. He was great in the LSU game. Yeah. Even in the tournament when they got bounced, the SEC or Big 12, whatever one they're in, they're in Big 12. He made a half-court shot to win the game,

and then it didn't count by a split second. But he was pretty great. By a fingertip, yeah. My dad and I had a long conversation about this on Friday. Both of us really like Brandon Ingram. I think I probably changed my opinion on him more during this season over everyone else that I've been watching out of all the lottery picks. He just makes sense to me as an NBA player.

Unequivocal, perfect stretch for. He can rebound. He gives a shit. Like they had him at the front. They were losing that Thursday game. Like his team wasn't very good. But they had him at the front of the press. And he was really hustling, you know.

And then on the other end, he's got to create offense for them. And I kept waiting to see him like jog back or, jog back or take some sort of shortcut or not care. And I thought he played hard the whole game without exception, which was what I was looking for from him. And the other thing that jumped out with him, it's a really quick release on the threes. Just gets it off. And that's going to be something that when he's an NBA player and he's making 40% and he can get that off quickly with guys running at him. And then on top of that, go down low.

I don't know. I just really like him. And it really made me wonder if the Celtics somehow got number one. I don't know who I'd want. I think Ingram actually translates to where the NBA is going more than Ben Simmons does. What do you think? I disagree strongly with that. I also think that Ben Simmons is a much more mature physical specimen than Ingram.

He's a year and a half older. Yeah, so that makes a lot of sense. But Ingram will never have a body like Ben Simmons. And we know, we have lots of experience with guys who were effective in college but can't play a full 82-game season, can't play 75 games in the NBA. You know, Kyrie Irving, Bradley Beal, you know, a couple guys who have never played a complete season in the NBA. Yeah.

And Ingram is 6'10", 196, which, you know, and awesome wingspan and all of the things you just described in the way of offensive talent. Who is he going to guard? Who is he supposed to be guarding? We can go back 10 years. Is he going to be like a T. John Prince kind of a defender? We can go back 10 years, and we would have had the exact same conversation about Kevin Durant. And we might have because I think I had my podcast in 2007 that summer.

Same thing. Durant was 6'9 and 180 pounds and couldn't do any weights. I don't think Ingram's the same kind of scorer, but he makes sense to me where the league's going. My thing with Simmons, first of all, terrible that he didn't make the tournament. It's just really bad, especially when you watch some of these teams. It's like, wow.

How do you not make it? Not being able to shoot. Every NBA game I watch, they can't hide the guy who can't shoot. Unless he can go into these workouts and just make 25 or 33s in front of some of these people, I think

people are going to get worried. I think it's up in the air. The more I talk to people I know in the league and little birdies and things like that, I think it's a toss-up. I don't think people know who's going first, which is crazy because Ben Simmons had it locked three months ago.

I'm prepared to accept all the criticism that I may get and may deserve for this, but I'm not sure that we know for sure that Ben Simmons can't shoot. We know that he can't be successful in that garbage offense that garbage LSU put him in and had him, you know, took away his confidence. Early on in the season, when you and I were very enthused about trying to catch all of the LSU games and seeing Simmons and make sure we got all the Simmons we could catch, you know,

because we had such a great time riding Kevin Durant that year at Texas. Ben Simmons was willing to try a lot more face-up stuff early in the season than he was as the season went on. And I'm not so sure that the lack of success, you know, it's a classic small sample size kind of deal. And that team had such a poor concept and such a poor structure in terms of being efficient offensively. I'm not really prepared to say that Ben Simmons can't be an effective face-to-basket shooter.

It's all going to end up on me picking tiny holes into him and then him going to the Lakers and being awesome. Then I'm going to have to move. I'm going to move. If there's a Simmons on the Lakers and the guy's awesome, I'm out. That's done. And by the way- What are you going to do?

There's a really good chance that could happen. There's a really good chance. It's going to be Ben Simmons. You're telling me your son's not going to be wearing that jersey? What are you going to do? If the top two goes chalk and the Sixers

decide they like Ingram more than Simmons with the team they have, that is how it's going to play out. I don't know what I do. I don't know what I'd do. I don't know what I'd do at this point. You better start confronting that reality, my friend. Well, I have a couple of advantages. One is my son only weighs 70 pounds,

and I can just beat the shit out of him until he doesn't like the Lakers. And that's possible. Yes. Totally prerogative. Nobody knows what goes on in closed doors of the house as long as there's no bruises. So I could just beat him up and torture him. No, I'm kidding. I would never hit my son unless he hit me first.

No, I'm kidding about that, too. No, my son actually beats the hell out of me. Yeah, I've already hit my son. I have his crash test dummy. But not intentionally. Yeah, the little known fact about having kids is that when they come at you and they hit a point. Is your son seven yet? No, he's five and a half, but it's enough to bust me in the balls or give me a black eye.

I have to defend myself. It gets much worse. When they hit seven, now they think they can win the fight. And that's when they come at it like, hey, let's wrestle. And then it's like, wait a second. You're actually fighting me. What do I do? Yeah.

But my point is if he decides to be a Laker fan, there's going to be a lot of repercussions in my house because I do pay for everything. It would only be for the Simmons. Could he be a Simmons fan? No. What are you talking about? You're not allowed to be a Simmons fan.

Not if he's on the Lakers. You crazy? All right. You let him be a Kings fan. Your boy gives two shits about the Boston Bruins. Well, that is true. He can care less about the Boston Bruins. He's born in L.A.

What do you want from me? Well, Ben Simmons is about to be a, you know, there's at least a 50% chance he's going to be a Laker. I hate this conversation. Wait, I want to talk hockey for a second, but first

Sure. But first, you know, building a website can be daunting, House. As we found out with HouseFromDC.com, which you haven't updated in three months. Could you update that thing, for God's sakes? I would like to. I could put a link to Shack House on there.

Yeah, what are you doing? I could put my favorite master's foods on there. Creating something that looks good and works well is a time-consuming affair, obviously for you. Whether it's a business site, a portfolio, a restaurant, whatever else. This day and age, you might need your new website. I think you need a website. You're on two podcasts. Thank God for our buddies at Squarespace. They build gorgeous websites for normal people who don't know how to build websites.

I'm not sure you're a normal person. So maybe that's why this hasn't worked out well enough. You built this website, and I'm not satisfied with it yet. I think you could do better. It's a great website. I just need to get in there and do something well enough. You built this website, and I'm not satisfied with it yet. I think you could do better. It's a great website. I just need to get in there and do something with it. You know, I have a real-time job, by the way, a real full-time job. I know.

Can't you get your wife work on the website? This is a great idea. Well, actually, no, because I have some pictures up there between the food and the Redskinettes. I'm not sure. Well, now that you're the star of the Smash Shake Golf Podcast Jackhouse, I think you need a better website. Squarespace makes it easy regardless of skill level.

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Squarespace.com. Use the offer code BS for 10% off your first purchase. And speaking of sponsors that love Joe House, Athletes Collective sent you a bunch of swag. Right? You got that swag? They sure did that was they sent me an awesome bag of stuff and uh not not the least of which included some fantastic vintage trading cards hearkening back to my days uh there was a they they overdid the washington bullets collection in the in the basketball trading cards. The one thing I will say, I love the athletes' collective stuff.

In fact, you recall, I had this shoulder injury. I went in a couple different times and got what I like to call the Kobe treatment, which involves a shot and some blood and some centrifuge. What else? What did you think I was going to say? I thought you were going to say PEDs. I'm just kidding. Oh, I thought you were going to suggest that I went in there for the Trinity,

but that's a whole different story. But the point is with Athletes Collective, I wore that shirt in there for the procedure because you can't take a shower before or after, and you kind of just have to hang loose. And that shirt was awesome. It was the perfect shirt for what I went through. It's kind of a workout shirt.

And no logos. You would wear it to the gym. Yeah, but that's the point, right? We're too old. I can't be walking in there, you know, Johnny Nike. I'm not that dude anymore. That's why I like Athletes Collective. No logos, 30% to 40% less expensive.

If you go to athletescollective.com right now, enter promo code BS, you'll receive 15% off your first order. All orders include free shipping and returns to the U.S. or Canada. 100% satisfaction guaranteed. Athletescollective.com. T-shirts, not just for everybody, but especially for white guys in their 40s who can't wear stuff with logos on them anymore, like me and House. All right. So we talked about hockey before that segue.

So I went to see Connor McDavid again on Saturday night. I brought my daughter and her friend Inez, who's very sweet. So second time seeing McDavid. First of all, he might be the fastest skater I've ever seen in person. He didn't totally unleash the wheels in this game, but he did in the first game. And it was actually, he was going so fast that I got frightened. I thought he wasn't going to be able to stop and he was just going to go through the boards. But

his team's terrible. I mean, they're always terrible because they just pick forwards and they don't pick, you know, they don't care about stuff like defense and goaltending. Yeah. But they're up 5-2 after two periods and oh my that the kings kings are really good the kings will be a final four mark my words i know i'm worried about

the king so so zoe and her friend and i'm like should we go wait what do you want to do we'll just wait out the first because i I really want to get a couple more McDavid thing. The Oilers come back and there's like the last 10 minutes of the game. He took over the game and they were pretty much like he was. It just seemed like he was out there all the time. And the last

three minutes, they double shifted him. They pulled the goalie with like three minutes left, but he had a Gretzky pass to cut it to one, to cut it to 5-4. He was coming around from behind the net toward, like if you're staring at the goalie net, he came around the left side of the net, backhand, and just without even really looking,

flicked this pass all the way across to some guy who was at the far goal post who just tipped it in. And it was like, oh, my God. It was like one of those passes. Yeah. What kind of sound did you get from the crowd? Oh, shit.

It was one of those sounds. The disbelief. Like, whoa. Vincent Lecaveillé, who came back, who's our age, but had a really nice run with the Kings and then hasn't been playing as well lately, for some reason decided to stick handle the puck in front of his own net. This was earlier in the game.

McDavid comes in and poke checks it as a shot and scored. Oh! I've never seen that one before. I'm going to go look at the highlights for this game. He poked checked a goal because the caveat was stupidly just skating around the thing. And then he almost had a couple more, and he was just kind of – he's just really good.

And the one thing I've learned about hockey going five years, it's really hard for players to stand out because they're all wearing helmets. can't you can't really tell you can tell by the numbers and guys are fast like Ovechkin shot you notice like you'll notice somebody like Dowdy guys who can hold the puck like Kopitar where they go around the net and they're holding the puck and holding guys off and keeping it those guys stand out Lusich those power forwards they stand out. Lucic, those power forwards, they stand out. But it's really rare for somebody to just stand out in a hockey game just for being fucking great. And this guy really has a chance. And I know he's been anointed as the next one,

but having seen him now for two games, I'm all in. I'm all one million percent in. I was just so impressed by him. Anyway. Well, he needs a team around him. I'm going to spend 10 minutes looking up the Edmonton Oilers and see how they can get better. Well, they have a couple other dudes. Like Taylor Hall, he was a number one pick or a number two.

I forget if he was one or two. But he's really good. Eberle's good. They have some weapons. They just need defense. You know what else? I like McDavid kind of got into it in a scrum at one point. Like, one of the Kings got mad at him.

He stood up for himself. So he's not like a whistle Gretzky. How does he look on the ice? He doesn't look that big to me. Is he big enough? He's tall. He's a baby. He's like four years younger than Tate.

Oh, my gosh. He's like Ben Simmons' age. You know what else is cool? I love those uniforms. It's nice to have those uniforms back with a relevant guy. Your team, where are you standing on hockey these days? We're in the exact most predictable moment of the season possible. The last 10, 12, 15 games, it's really hard to keep up, you know,

that sort of momentum they had through the course of the season. The Ed is in sight. They're one point away from the President's Cup, you know, top points in the whole NHL. And they got, you know, I watched quite a bit of Friday night. They played St. Louis. St. Louis beat the crap, oh, Saturday night, beat the crap out of them, four to nothing.

And it was an even first period and, you know, a sort of even third period. But St. Louis scored, you know, three goals in the second, and that was the game. It was just an intensity problem. You're definitely getting the one seed, though. You're way ahead, everybody. You have 111 points. Oh, yeah, no, for sure.

We're already there. The thing that I'm concerned about is regaining that intensity. The momentum. How do you get back that momentum? And these are all intangibles, and some people argue made-up things. But hockey feeds on itself. We've known this from being hockey fans for 35 years. Yeah, the regular season doesn't matter.

Huh? The regular season doesn't matter. You just have to get hot for 10 weeks. That's right, but it matters for the purpose of, especially for this Washington team, sometimes building an identity. So this team came up with an identity during the course of the regular season. And they played really hard in great defense for the first time in Washington. It feels like 15 years and a hot goaltender.

And you want all of that in place for the postseason. And you're kind of in this mode where you're just sort of winning every other game. How do you get that back? That's the thing that concerns me. Well, the good news is the franchise history suggests that there's just no way this wall collapsed in round one or round two. So you'll be fine there. God damn you. That's your get back for the Ben Simmons to the Lakers.

I know that it is. That was terrible. You never should have said that. There's some Kings-Blackhawks round one potential. Is that right? The Blackhawks are just sort of trundling along here? If Anaheim caught—or not round one. I forget.

They've changed. I don't even remember how the playoffs is. There's a possibility they could meet before the conference finals, I guess is my point. Okay. And I got to say, like, and these words won't come back to haunt me because my kids are Kings fans, but ultimately I'm agnostic. I would love to see the Blackhawks early. I think it's too hard to win two straight cups. I just think it's too many games. Bring on the Blackhawks.

Yeah. Bring them on. Bring on the Blackhawks. Bring on that depleted, beaten up Blackhawks team. I think the Blackhawks. Yeah. Bring them on. Bring on the Blackhawks. Bring on that depleted, beaten up Blackhawks team. I think the Kings would kill them. That's my hot take. Here's the team I'm afraid of.

Here's who I'm afraid of. Just as somebody that wants to go to Stanley Cup games for the Kings. Thinking it that way. And who wants my kids to be happy, obviously. Anaheim's got a lot of dudes. They have four assholes in their team.

Just four flat-out assholes. Including Perry, who's one of the worst human beings in America. And really should be deported. I don't even know why we allow... Is he from here? Joe, is Corey Perry from here? Ryan Perry?

Perry? Is it Corey Perry or Ryan Perry? Either, whatever his first name is, I hate Perry. Canadian. Yeah, he's Canadian.

We should pull his cards. Corey Perry. Who's Ryan Perry? I don't know. Corey Perry. I knew it was Corey Perry. Wasn't he on 90210? I just know him as Fuck You Perry because that's what I yell at him when he skates by my seats.

I think all of those guys are going to try to get in a Lucha's head from the get-go. And you can get in a Lucha's head. You can get him to do dumb things and take dumb penalties. Oh, yeah. Ryan Perry's the pitcher. Yeah. For Joe House's Nationals. Yeah.

I just think the Ducks have a lot of guys who will be doing stuff and will be up to stuff in playoff games. And if I had to pick a final, I think I would pick the Ducks over the Kings. I hate to say it. Wow. What do you think of that? This isn't a reverse jinx at all. You mean the Western Conference final?

Yeah, Western Finals. Okay. Yeah. And Chicago's out. Yeah, back-to-back's too hard. It's not doable. You're playing over 100 games each year. These guys, there's only so many painkillers

and amphetamines you can take. You can't get through that. It's impossible. Yeah, they have Getzlaff, Perry, and Kessler, who I kind of secretly like Kessler, but when he's on the other team you don't like him as much. And then

they have Biexa, who's one of the all-time A-holes. You familiar with Biexa's work? No, I mean, these are all West Coast teams. I don't get to see hardly any of it. BX is this Canucks defenseman who was super annoying when the Bruins played them in the finals and has had some annoying moments with them as well. But, yeah, they have four agitators.

And Perry's the worst. Perry's like, ugh. Anyway. Well, you have to go. Anything NBA we want to talk to really quick? We should talk Warriors for four minutes. This feels like it's going to happen now. I just can't believe it.

I'm in shock. It's just disbelief. I kept waiting for them to have a tailspin, and now all of a sudden they need to go 7-2 in the last nine, and they're going to break the record. I never thought anyone was going to touch that record. We picked a couple games, and we had this conversation like three weeks ago to a month ago, and they've been up to it.

They pulled out the extraordinary win against Oklahoma City in Oklahoma City. They lost. They predictably lost that game to the Spurs, but they've been up to it. The Lakers' loss kind of makes up for that, pulled that W out of their butt win against the Thunder. But they haven't even really been tested. I mean, I guess at Miami was mildly interesting for a little while.

The Clippers have not been up to it. They won two games that they never should have won. The Nets game when Lopez missed the two-foot alley-oop, that should have been a loss. That was early in the season. Yeah, it was super early. And then the OKC game. OKC, I mean, that was just a reprehensible collapse by OKC. It was two very lucky wins, but you need luck, you know? And I don't remember them losing a game that they should have won, the Warriors. Maybe it the Wizards season. I mean, who could have seen Randy Whitman falling on his face like this?

Nobody. I'm never going to defend Randy Whitman, but really it comes down to Beal. Okay. They're good when Beal plays, and they're not good when he doesn't play. And it's that simple with the current roster and the way they're configured and the game plan they had coming into the season. And they haven't had them but for half the games.

I don't even know if they've had them for half the games. Well, it's always good to revolve your whole season around a fragile guy in his early 20s. So, Washington. John Wall will go at them. But I think they win.

Oh, yeah, for sure. At Utah the next night. That's a sneaky game. At Utah. Utah playing to get in the playoffs. That's sneaky. What do you think, Tate? You worried about that one?

It'll be interesting. And I like that it's a back-to-backer. Tate said no way. Not worried at all. Really not worried? Utah altitude back-to-back? Altitude. I'm always worried about altitude.

Some length in the front court? I think that's a sneaky one. Home for Boston Friday night. If we had Crowder, I would say we could go at it, but we don't have Crowder. A different team without Crowder. Home for Portland. Home for Minnesota. Home for San Antonio.

That one's really interesting. At Memphis. At San Antonio the following night, and then home for Memphis last game of the season. Feels like two more losses in there, but I don't see three. That's exactly the way I feel, too. I feel like they could lose maybe one of those San Antonio games and maybe one of those Memphis games. Can I just tell you why I want them to get to 74-8?

Why do you think I want them to get to 74-8? And then I'll let you go. 74-8. Why? Does that give them a chance of winning 100 games this season? No, 90. So the record is 87. The Bulls won 87. They had 72 regular season then they went i think 15 and 3

in the playoffs and they finished 87 and 13 the warriors if the let's say the warriors went 16 and 2 in the playoffs which i don't think is conceivable let's just say they did that would make them 90 and 10 regular season playoffs they would have won 90 of 100 games i don't think it's conceivable. Let's just say they did. That would make them 90-10 regular season playoffs. They would have won 90 of 100 games. I don't see anyone ever doing that. To lose 10 times in the entire season? So that's at stake. That's in play.

Oof. Yeah. Utah. Watch out for that Utah game. Utah's sneaky. All right. All right, House. Shackhouse that Utah game. Utah's sneaky. All right. All right, House. Shaq House is going to be on Wednesday.

You and Jeff Shackelford, you can subscribe to that feed on iTunes. Some great questions today. Jeff put out on his Twitter feed a solicitation for input for our speed round. We're going to do a little speed round tomorrow. Great. And there's been some great questions, so keep the questions coming. All right, I'm going to bring...

It's too bad you have to go. I'm going to bring Chris Ryan on right now to talk about James Eha rejoining the Smashing Pumpkins, which is the biggest story of 2016 so far. Well, tell Chris I watched two hours worth of Smashing Pumpkins YouTube yesterday based on that Eha reappearance, that shocking reappearance. And it was a great two hours worth of Smashing Pumpkins YouTube yesterday based on that EHA reappearance, that shocking reappearance. And it was a great two hours.

The perfect way to recover from Jamaica. I don't even know what the sports equivalent is. Those guys hate each other. Well, Chris and I will talk about it. You're left out because you have to actually work. Joe House, thank you as always. I'll listen in and I'll enjoy it. Thanks as always. Bye. All in and I'll enjoy it. Thanks as always.

Bye. All right. Bye. All right. We're going to bring Chris on in a second. But with college basketball in full swing, you might be like some of the guys in our office, including Tate, the producer. Cord cutters. Tate, you're a cord cutter.

When you're a cord cutter, you have to figure out which one of your friends will invite you over to watch games, how much money you need to go to a sports bar and milk like two drinks for two and a half hours, or look for a shady live stream that could shut down your computer. Those are your three options when you're a cord cutter. There's a better, cheaper option now. Slink TV, the best way to watch the games live for just $20 a month to get more than 20 live channels, including AMC, Adult Swim, and the four-letter network that I used to work for.

And most importantly for this weekend, you get all the Turner channels, including the Final Fours on TNT or TBS. Yeah, you get that on Sling TV. You can watch the Final Four on TBS, on Sling. You can also add on channel packs like the Sports Extra Package for just $5 a month extra. No installation, no extra gear, no annual contracts, no BS. All you need is an internet connection. Start your seven-day free trial at sling.com slash Simmons

for the best of live TV on your tablet, phone, laptop, Roku, Fire TV, or Xbox. Restrictions apply. Tate, did they send you a Sling? Oh, they should send you a Sling. Come on, Sling. Sling.com slash Simmons. They could send you one. You could start your seven-day free trial.

Check it out, though. Sling TV, good product. And now, Chris Ryan. All right, not only here With Chris Ryan But with Andy Greenwald His partner The Watch

Which you can subscribe to On channel 33 We're breaking that out Eventually though Couple things Let's talk a couple Pop culture things One

Dramatic Important Revolutionary Smashing pumpkins Reunion That was For some reason At the Ace Hotel in LA

How big is the stage In the Ace Hotel in LA It's like 1500 people000 people in that theater. I think that's perfect. That's a perfect statement on where we are with the 90s, that it would happen at a boutique hotel with no advance warning. Was it a Saturday or Sunday? It's right across the street from the Staples.

I was down there. I had no idea the Smashing Pumpkins were back. Well, it's the first time Corgan, Eha, and Chamberlain are on the same stage in 16 years. Yeah. But he's been recording as Pumpkins with various other people. But Darcy's been on a milk carton.

I don't know what's up with Darcy. Darcy bought a horse farm, I believe. I feel like that sounds like a very sketchy metaphor, but I think in this case it's true. I think she's gone off the grid and is farming. The Smashing Pumpkins are funny because, for one thing, they were like neck and neck with Nirvana for

a little bit there. And then Corgan became so annoying that everybody just wrote just now nobody wants to admit it. He became such a wrestling villain. He's the worst. Nobody's ever done more damage to their own band with more interviews. I was like, I'm going to research this James Ehat thing. I'm sure

there's not a lot on the internet about it. Corgan just gives interviews to anybody. He might walk in right now. There's a million Billy Corgan interviews. In one interview, he's killing James Ehat. In the other one, he's not. It's like, he's insane. I think Corgan's on Shack House this week.

Talking bastards. He's very available. I feel like he is waiting for everyone to realize his genius to the degree that he does and always has. But really, out of anyone in real life who should have done the Eddie and the Cruisers fake my death for more acclaim, he's the number one guy who should have done it. Yeah. He should be in New Jersey right now working in a construction site. Right around the time of Adore, which is what, 98, when he was getting fitted for leather capes, someone should have just done the intervention and been like, it's better to fake your death. Go to Tupac Island right now and be a legend.

Full J.D. Salinger. Just vanish. Yeah. You guys have seen Eddie and the Cruisers, right? Yeah. Sure. Is that Michael Perret? Michael Perret.

Yeah. He's a Berenger. Yeah. That's one of my favorite 80s movies, and it's actually still pretty good. It's got a bad ending. Didn't they make a sequel? Like an unasked for sequel like a decade later? Oh, they made a sequel.

Did they bring Eddie back? That was called Eddie and the Cruisers 2, Eddie Lives. You don't get a lot of Barringer these days. How has Barringer not gotten an NCIS? They give Gary Sinise 2, but Barringer hasn't gotten one yet. He was in Inception. He was in Inception, and I feel like he brought it in Inception. But didn't a little bit of that feel like it was some sort of charity intervention project?

Like that Nolan was just like, I'm going to invest in this guy. I'm going to bring him back. He's my guy. And then no one else wanted to be his guy. He didn't get like a Travolta Pulp Fiction bump from Inception is what I'm saying. Behringer had a nice run. He's the lost 80s star. Oh, yeah.

He really is. He was a leading dude. Major League. He's incredible the lost 80s star. Oh, yeah. He really is. He was a leading dude. Major League. He's incredible in Big Chill. Yeah. Oh, yeah. He's great in that. Platoon.

Someone to watch over me. I'm doing this off the top of my head. Did the Sidney Poitier one, Shoot to Kill, which I like that one. You're right. He's incredible in Major League. But wasn't he also the principal? Wasn't there some movie that was like the dark horror version of Lean on Me where he brings a baseball bat but he uses a suit? That was the tail end of Barringer.

Late period Barringer? He was being fitted for leather capes? What was it? Looking for Mr. Goodbar? That would have been young Barringer. Spoiler alert, kills Joe Clayberg at the end. Wow. You just broke the hearts of your dozens of Clayberg fans. Can you have a spoiler alert for a movie that came out a million years ago?

Wait, we're missing one. But yeah, he was neck and neck. He was like in the Costner. Yeah, Costner. He was with all those. The Big Chill generation. I think he turned into the guy from Platoon. It's very possible.

He has people walking around his apartment going, Barnes! Christopher Nolan, actually. Yeah. The substitute was the... The substitute. The substitute. So we had... What's post-inception?

We left out... Oh, Butching Sundance, the early days in 1979. Wow. Not great. Born on the 4th of July. I don't remember him in that one. He's in that? It just kind of ended in the late 80s for him.

Like when Major League, that was it for him. Yeah. But there's a good way for it to sort of end in a bad way. Like when Michael Keaton vanished for 10 years, he seemed happy, right? Every time they did a feature, he's like, I'm okay. I'm choosing to do this. A lot of Batman money. A lot of Batman money.

He's into hiking or living wherever he lives. That's how you do it. You don't want to seem hungry. You don't want to do the substitute. You don't want to do Eddie Lives. But back to do the substitute you don't want to do eddie lives but back to corgan yeah back to corgan so if he had done the eddie and the cruisers thing it's we're talking there's documentaries about him hbo's doing a two-hour documentary about him at the 20th anniversary of melancholy he's a legend in that but he's done more damage to his legacy in his career just by continuing to have a career

right over the last 20 years and he swore that they would never play together again i think the last time they played together was 2000 well i think and he was also just like it's my band so whoever is playing with me is the smashing because he did zwan yeah remember and he did like did he do a solo record and then finally he was basically a smashing popkins album zwan was yeah he found another woman to play bass he found another sort of strange guy with hair. Matt Sweeney was playing Zwan. Matt Sweeney was in it.

Yeah, Dave Pahoe. But, didn't they break up even more spectacularly than the Smashing Pumpkins? Like they were on Saturday Night Live

one week and then they were just, and then they were just gone. They were just gone. My wife and I went to see them a couple years ago at the Universal, you know,

in Burbank. Yeah. We left before the show was over. That's how annoying Billy Corgan was. Was he playing mostly new stuff? He was just, you know, in Burbank. Yeah. We left before the show was over. That's how annoying Billy Corgan was. Was he playing mostly new stuff? He was just, he's, you know how Eddie Vedder would, he'd kind of try to antagonize his fan base and, you know, weed some people out,

weed some of the bandwagoners out with some of the decisions they made. Billy Corgan, like, is just trying to antagonize everyone who's ever liked that band. I mean, that's part of his move. Nakai's doing these long, terrible guitar solos. And we just kind of looked at each other and we're like, do you want to go? Like, yeah, let's go.

Let's go get a drink. There's something funny about like the choosing to keep because, you know, you're saying reunite. LCD Sound System got back together this weekend after being broken up for like all of three years or something like that. There's something interesting about the idea of choosing to just keep going no no matter what and if you never vanish like your stock is always in flux i was thinking about this with prince because prince is doing this tour now where it's just him and piano he's playing like 57 song sets and the set lists are incredible and i saw him i saw a video of him playing heroes or something the bowie song and i was just like prince but Prince has never left you know like he's been releasing a record every

like year yeah yeah it's it's unreal and I feel like people don't appreciate how weird I think now probably seems weirder that Corgan was considered part of that 90s generation yeah that there was like Kurt Cobain and Eddie Vedder and Corgan was grouped in with them even though he was only he was always making prog rock albums in his head. And that did not fit the aesthetic of the 90s at all. But for a minute post-Kurt Cobain suicide, the aesthetic of the 90s was whatever those guys were doing. Yeah, that's like the same way that they brought in Weiland into that

because Scott Weiland was like really a glam rock, LA metal kid kind of, but he was part of the alternative rock thing. I always felt like he was a level below those guys for me. Corgan? It's like Weiland and Weiland. I always felt like it was Cobain, Vedder, and Corgan. And then the next level was Chris Cornell and Weiland. Scott Weiland, Layne Staley.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I thought those were the big three. Are you an Alice in Chains fan? Yeah, but it's, you know. What was the man in a box? Man in a Box. MTV gave that one a burn. Yeah, and then

Corgan just, you know, one of the problems is they made Melancholy a double album and this has happened before with other bands but it really would have

been an unbelievable like 11 song album and instead it's like 20. And then they would have had another amazing follow up as opposed to immediately dropping.

True, true. Was Adore after Melancholy? Yeah, Adore's after. I still like that song. Adore? Yeah, Adore's got jams. Adore is a good song and there was also the song, they had a single on that that sounded like 1979 so I liked it. His secret career that

he could have had as a song doctor because he wrote a bunch of, or he worked on a bunch of Celebrity Skin, that whole record. The best whole album. And it's great. It sounds like Fleetwood Mac. I thought he did that album. I mean, the rumors are kind of up and down about who did what on both of those big whole albums.

Who did who. Yeah. But those songs that he wrote on there are awesome. He could have had a second career as like in the background, kind of like a Max Martin super producer. But that wasn't cool in the 90s. No, I know. It's true.

You couldn't be a dude who had a band and also wrote songs for other people. You had to be the artiste. You had to be aesthetically pure. And that kind of went straight to his bald head. Yeah. I remember hearing 1979 on that album and thinking like, oh man, this is not going to last for these guys. Really?

That's the song. That's the song. And now I really like it. Yeah. But at the time I was like, this is his gentle toe dip into the pop music pool. Right. Yeah. He's just feeling it out.

He's feeling out whether this is going to take. I never felt like, I just didn't feel like, especially compared to the previous two albums. I don't know if Pumpkin's fans. That was not a song they would have put on the previous two albums. I don't know if that's

like a controversial song for Pumpkin's fans. No, I think everyone's at peace with it now. At the time, having really liked them, that song worried me. See, that was the song

that when it came on Alternative Rock Raider or just the radio in general, like at the end of high school, I think that came out like January of 96 was the single. You put it on there

in 95. Yeah, right. But when that came on, that of 96 was the single. You put it on there in 95. Yeah, right. But when that came out, like that would be the song that even people would never heard of Pumpkins. We're like, whoa, what's this? This is really good. Yeah. Well, so now they're back.

Maybe. But you're in on social media. You were excited. You wanted to see this. I felt like it was important. I felt like it was an important moment. More into this or more into Axl Rose fronting ACDC? No, I can't think of Axl on that one.

But the thing about Pumpkin's... Axl's been done for a while. But James Eha, is James Eha being back in the group, does that add to anyone's interest musically? Or is it more that this maybe is a sign that Corrigan is less of a lunatic and therefore it might suggest a focusing of his musical abilities? Or are they going to go out and play Siamese Dream front to back as a tour? You know what I mean?

Or are they going to have – It would make people happy. He was a very well-respected musician, though. E-ha. Even – and I did – like Kaus was saying how he did a two-hour YouTube deep dive on the clips. I watched Space Boy and Mayonnaise. And, like, you need E-ha for Mayonnaise. You need, like, a pro for that one.

You need E-ha for Mayonnaise. Just need him. Just do. I think that sums it up. I need E-ha for mayonnaise you need like you need like a pro for that one i need e-hot when i hear i really hope that that goes on the concert poster you can't have mayonnaise without e-hot you can't have mayonnaise without e-hot the sports guy there's so many weird questions with uh corgan though like i have no idea how involved he was in celebrity skin right there was always this thing that he just threw away everybody else's um yeah that he would go replay people's parts and it's like if so if you hear saimi's dream it's just him playing everyone's parts but they're pretending it was a band effort but then you always hear how important darcy was and he was was like well if they were that important then why didn't he let them play on the album if he was redoing it though is how much of a visual band they were

because the exact moment that they broke through was sort of the last gasp of MTV. So you think about the Tonight Tonight video or the Today video. They were very cool-looking individuals at that time. Eha and Darcy were cooler-looking than Corrigan. Bullet with butterfly wings. Yeah, and so that played it up. I mean, they were performing the role of a global rock band.

That Bullet with Butterfly Wings, I remember that being one of the last videos that I was aware of, like a countdown for its debut. I remember watching it too. You remember when they would be like, only six more days. It was like one of the last ones. And then they would play it at like 7am, 10am, 2pm, and I would take out my VHS, I would tape

premieres of videos, because that was the only way you knew you could be able to watch it and hear it. Was that 95 or 96? That was 95. 95 95 because you guys played up 96 on your pod last week on the watch which was a great musical year and then when we hit the late 90s it it oh it just got awful yeah we're gonna do a deep dive pot on the prodigy 98 that's coming the techno the rise of electronica. Well, there was like, Everclear got interesting there and the Foo Fighters and there was a couple ones. It's not like it died completely, but Sublime was in there.

You can make a compilation of great radio songs from like 97 to 99. But I don't know if you could make the same argument that like these were. That was also, that was rap rock. It was a dark time. Well, then it got super dark. Yeah. And then it gets cleaned up a little bit with like the strokes of the aes and the white stripes a couple years later and it gets really fun you know we're talking about like mainstream rock radio yeah god they had uh my dvr tapes all the snl so they had uh they run the repeats at 10 o'clock i always check to see like if there's any sketches i

forgot and it was the john mccain one and the white stripes played dead leaves and dirty ground it was just jack and meg yeah and jack's throwing like 107 miles an hour like he's he was really one of the best it got me thinking like what were the greatest performances in the history of that show this one had to be up there he was he was just peak peak peak of his powers what are some other off the top of your show. This one had to be up there. He was just peak, peak, peak of his powers. What are some other, off the top of your head, great SNL musical performances? That's what I thought.

That would be a fun topic for us. U2, U2, U2. When they did The Beautiful Day, that whole era, they came out and the whole band was there and they sang that last song and Bono started roaming around the SNL stage. Oh, yeahl stage oh yeah nobody ever done it was like breaking the fourth wall and they showed the cast yeah the cast was like just like fanboying it up and i remember that

being incredible the stones were the great big disappointment which was in the jeff ho weingrad book about or dug out jeff weingrad about belushi partied with them the whole week and ruined their boys. They were like screwed. Yeah. It was the biggest band that had ever been on that show from a point in their career. And he just kind of. It would be kind of interesting to make a list of the 20 bands that were important or that we consider to be like really important bands and then check their SNL performances

because they don't always get the timing right. So with the White Stripes, the timing was just right. Perfect. So they were peaking and building and everyone was excited and they brought it because the anticipation was high but then there are every other band that maybe they they hit between seasons scheduling doesn't work and then when they make their debut they're either not ready for tv or they're past it and they're not even most of the time they catch them right around when you'd want to catch they're pretty smart they catch people early yeah i'm pretty sure that Neil Young played Rocket

on the Free World. Not with Crazy Horse. It was like whatever that solo band. He was amazing. I can't remember when that was. And Nirvana's debut on the show was a big deal

because I think that was the first mainstream people got of them. Pearl Jam? Prince in the terrible season when Lauren came back and like Downey was on, Anthony Michael Hall.

Prince was on that year. I think he played Kiss. Ashley Simpson? I mean. Ashley Simpson's famous for. Just amazing. Bad reasons. I'm trying to think of if,

you know, part of the problem is hip hop's never really good on that show because of the stage and the setting. I do like how Kanye uses it as like a notebook almost. And I think that's really interesting, too, that when they did the 40th anniversary special, then they could have picked anyone from any era. And obviously, Lorne can pick up the phone and call Paul McCartney and call Paul Simon, which he did. But the people that he chose to represent the show going forward, he had Miley on it, right, singing an old song.

But then he had Kanye. And even though, as audio leaked footage has proved, he's kind of difficult to deal with, they all respected the fact that he takes it so seriously. Yeah, right. That he's not just performing the hits. He's going to create something for that show. The best, I think the best song ever sang on that show was when Paul Simon did the post-9-11 song

with all the firemen there oh that's amazing in terms of greatest moment yeah but they also had a Simon and Garfunkel reunion in the first season which I think was like

the second or third episode that uh was a big deal because those guys hadn't sang together in like five years or so is that what inspired

Lauren to do the thing where he's like if the Beatles come here right now we'll put them on TV yeah I think like a couple episodes later

and what's the legend behind that? That John Lennon was watching the show and considered going? They got in a cab. It was him and McCartney. No, they were watching it together, which was weird that they were, just to think of them watching a show.

Just hanging out. So they could have done that for Corgan and Eha. Like, and Darcy. Like, at any moment, Bobby Moynihan could have stood there with a blank check and said. I think, I remember Blondie was awesome on that show, but I don't remember what year. It was like in the first five years back when Deborah Harry was thrown in the high 90s.

It's just amazing that that set is essentially unchanged and it's a backdrop for every major musical development. I actually have one of my obscure favorites is Paul Westerberg from The Replacements. Oh, yeah. Can't hardly wait. Charlton Heston was the host. So Charlton Heston had to say, Paul Westerberg. And some guy at the end of Can't Hardly Wait, right before he sings, I can't. And he gets to like the break.

And some dude from the crowd yells out, Burt Reynolds. And Westerberg breaks. And it's just like they're cracking up all their play. But they kill the song. It was great. I would actually throw in, and longtime watch listeners would be surprised about this, but Chance the Rapper a few weeks ago or months ago. Because I was not in on him until his appearance on the Kanye record, and then I went back and watched his performance. And that's an example of them being really smart, because this guy has never sold a record.

He gives everything away for free. He's completely on the come up, and then he destroyed the stage. He just made it his in a way that was shocking because he's, what is he, 24, 25? I remember one other one

that I really liked was Eminem and Dido. Oh yeah. When they had that song and she sang all the, it was just really good and it was the rare case of a rapper actually

really being good. Has there ever been a show on late night where they just forget the talk show part somebody's just like let's do a live music show because in england they have jules holland where like it's just basically a chat show but mostly live performance clips on that too on youtube early fallon fallon on late night was this was more or less that yeah the show was better known for the music than certainly in the interviews and then having the roots you would get all like the excited like the and people would play with the roots and stuff and everyone would be so excited about that so it always sounded different you know but but

he was doing this thing where he was you know booking bands like jawbreaker who hadn't right or um dismemberment plan who were just reforming and they put them on tv with the roots or like then you have these things like uh our friend will from uckerville river playing with the roots on tv right it was that sense of it's the thing that TV networks don't want and why they don't have music shows, which is anarchy. But when you can harness it a little bit, it's pretty exciting. You're friends with the guy from Ockerville River? Yeah. I like that band.

It's a good band. Come to New York. I have a couple of their songs in my 2000s playlist. How big is this 2000s playlist? It's big. It's like 200 songs. Are you going to keep it going How big is this 2000s playlist? It's big. It's like 200 songs. Are you going to keep it going for the entire century? That's going to be the end?

No, no, just for the decade. Oh, just for the first decade. Storage will change over time. I've done this bit before, but I can't believe it's the serious channel that I just can't believe doesn't exist yet. You basically start it with the Strokes and the White Stripes in that era, and you go all the way through to the Killers second half. It's like 2001 to 2008, I would say.

Yeah. And it's a whole— Through Sam's Town. Yeah. But you get all these— Early block party in there. Yeah. A couple two-hit wonders like Giant Drag.

A whole bunch of those in there. Oh, yeah. Stella Star. A bunch of them. Wow. Yeah. That was a whole era. This playlist rolls deep.

Oh, yeah. Stella Star. Oh, yeah. God. That was, yeah, mid-2000s. you get a bunch of them wow yeah that was a whole era this playlist rolls deep oh yeah Stella Star oh yeah that was yeah mid 2000s it was I realized I was getting old I was like

I'm not getting old with music and I was like threw myself into the early iTunes scene into Stella Star no it was iTunes I was just trying to find all these

I'm picturing a training montage but with you just downloading things I'm not getting old yet I have a kid coming putting on sweats no but it kind of died around 08, 09.

Whatever that genre was, it became weird. The problem was that the record industry always tries to do things the same way. And so they had Strokes and they had the White Stripes and they were like, okay, rock is back. So that means we have to sign every band with a guitar right now. But the patience that people have is so small

and so compressed that none of these bands had any time to develop any kind of a real fan base or touring or whatever. So they just threw money at the problem, got a few one-hit wonders out of it, and just wasted tons and tons of money and then collapsed. And there was no scene to grow up behind it. When was the last time you guys listened to an album from start to finish just for fun? Oh, all the time. Okay. Yeah.

How many times have you done that when it wasn't Life of Pablo? No, I do that a lot, I think. I was just listening to the Iggy Pop record the other day. I've listened to it a bunch of times since it came out. It's Iggy Pop and a bunch of people from Queens of the Stone Age. They're using the Iggy Pop song from Almost Famous when Lester Bangs is like, Iggy Pop, amen! That's now a commercial, and it's been playing all through March Madness over and over again.

That Iggy Pop song. The song choices for commercials are getting better, is my point. Because there's no radio anymore, so that's the only opportunity. Yeah, that's like, you've got to diversify. Yeah. People don't care anymore. They're just like, how much am I going to get? Yeah, that's pretty much right.

So what's the watch going to be about this week? We're talking about togetherness and girls. A little bit of Batman vs. Superman, I think. Yeah, you're going to pummel me with the truth. And I've got to tell Andy about this movie, Get a Job, that I saw. I feel like I was on acid. Excellent. That's how I felt when I watched Aloha.

I really thought I had a small stroke. Because I didn't understand. Here's the thing about a movie. I don't want to step on my own bit, but if you're watching a movie with your significant other and that person gets up and goes and gets a glass of water and comes back and has, and asks you if you fast forwarded 15 minutes, because that's how little the plot makes sense. Then you've got some problems that you need to fix. Yeah.

I can't believe they held it for four years. I know. They tried to cash in on Teller while it's high. So you guys, I'm going to make you listen to my thoughts on Girls, and then people can hear your thoughts. Yeah, it'll be a good transition. People can just listen to like three hours right back to back. Unbelievable comeback season.

Oh, so good. So good. The show is just fantastic. And I don't really know the reasons why it's almost like she figured out i mean i'm a big lena fan obviously i think there was a lot i think she was maybe doing a little too much she was writing a book social media is going nuts and she became polarizing and there's a lot going on i think that's sometimes can uh distract people it's definitely possible.

The last couple seasons were uneven, I thought, and a little disjointed, and I wasn't totally sure what she was trying to say. And this season, it's like she has it. This is like a four-hour movie. And the one yesterday that was centered around Alison Williams, I just thought was really great. It was really, really good.

It was one of the best episodes. It'll be one of the best episodes of this year. It's one of the best episodes I've seen in forever of TV. I mean, it was so completely realized in 30 minutes. Yeah. It was like a mini movie. It was the best episode of this season. Definitely.

It's, you know, of girls, like, just how many seasons now? Six? This is five, right? Yeah, five. Five and six right a couple of yeah five episodes jump out like that episode the naked ping pong that episode with that patrick wilson one man's trash yeah that was really good couple good ones from first season this is in the mix i think that they did a subtle thing this season which is like background the soch and Marnie and foreground Adam Driver and Jake Lacey and

Jemima Kirk's character. It just changed the chemistry slightly and now girls can just be a banner for whatever this group of friends is now. But over the last few seasons, I think they were really pushing a little hard to keep it. They're still all friends. These four girls

still hang out. The one thing that Lena Dunham was really good at from day one is that she was an indie filmmaker. And she could make little capsules that were moving and interesting and funny, like last night's. Maybe not at the level of last night's episode. But that was more in tune with her talents. And I think the show struggled when it had to be a TV show

in which characters were serialized. Everything's interrelated. Everything's interrelated. And you built on things. People are meeting up at a coffee shop basically with friends. And so the fact that these people were friends, the show wasn't created with four characters that made sense to last five or six years as friends in each other's lives. And I think this season has proven they've gotten better at both.

Like the individual episode game obviously is super strong. But then the connective tissue stuff that makes good TV, the Jessa and Adam stuff, is just that's why you watch TV for five years, to have these beloved characters suddenly discover something that had been there the whole time, but then just realize this is a deep mine. There's so much stuff to pull out of this. And the characters, she figured out how to age with the characters finally. I think that was another problem for, the characters were in their mid to late 20s, but still acting like 22- olds, which can work.

And, you know, I'm not against it, but now it's like they're the right age. Like I thought that scene with when she was when she ran into the old boyfriend, Charlie, on the street and she was just saying, like, I don't care. I was 22. That was a million years ago. You know, it really wasn't. And then later she says it was two and a half years ago. And she says, I'm 25 now. And the woman in the store says, that makes sense. Yeah.

Right. It's like, it has enough wisdom to undercut that stuff. Totally. And I thought that nailed what it's like to be 25, where it's only been two years, but you feel like it's been a hundred. You're like, oh yeah, that was when I was 23. And you have so much more wisdom when you're 25 than you were when you were 22. But your compression of time, the way you understand time when you're 25, five years, I mean, it's a – I don't want to do math on the flyer.

I think it's a fifth. It's a fifth of your life. Yeah. When you get a little older, five years is not so much anymore. It spaces out. But also what you can accomplish and what you can try to do in those five years is a little bit more spaced out. It was excellent. It's really good.

Remember a couple years ago, two years ago, the season tagline was finally almost figuring it out? And I feel like that should have been the tagline for this year. I also wonder whether or not... Because they're building on what they've done. It could be that having an end point is helping. Like knowing that where the show is going, there's going to be like, however, 13 more episodes left of the show, right?

That's right. Yeah. So maybe like, I think that more often than not, when people have that runway to land on, they know where they're going. Like, it helps. Well, also, they know they can choose very wisely and carefully what stories they want to tell. Because the scary thing and the best thing about TV in season one or going to season two is you could tell any story.

And then, actually, a lot of good stuff happens when your options are limited slightly. When you're hemmed in, you only have this many hours of television left to make. So you have to choose the best story still waiting for you. And Lena's, I think, almost run out of ways to be naked on this show. Oh, I don't know. Challenge accepted. Has she hung out of a building

naked yet? No. Has she been in a convertible going on the highway naked yet? No, that's vinyl. That would be the crossover episode. Look, there's something infectious on that set. Everyone wants to get in on it now. Everyone's getting naked. Yeah, we need to get that going in the ringer offices.

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You receive 15% off your first order. Thanks to HBO Now. You don't need cable or satellite to watch hbo download the hbo now app and start a free one month trial if you like the ringer i think this would be a very good idea that's all i'm going to say thanks to c geek the presenting sponsor of the bs podcast channel 33 and uh go to the ringer.com to subscribe to our newsletter we're closing closing in 175,000 subscribers, getting great feedback for it. Andy, you miss writing sometimes. Yeah. That's how I feel sometimes, but then sometimes not, you know what I don't miss is the blank Microsoft word

document. Yeah. It's just so intimidating. It's just like the, like the marble and you just got to sculpt man. Maybe, maybe you could just like prep the page for me to write a couple like ideas and then I can work within that. Yeah. Talk to my agent. Okay. Alright. We about this bitch. Anytime y'all want to see me again

rewind this track right here close your eyes and picture me rolling.