The Daily Zeitgeist - Icon #21 - Mr Bean: Angel or Alien?

Episode Date: May 4, 2026

In this episode, Jack and special guest co-host Tamara Yajia are joined by comedian Amy Miller to talk about our first (nearly) silent icon: Mr. Bean! They'll explore his debut, his insanely popular YT channel, and his inimitable sex appeal!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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listen and learn the hard way on the AHA radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Hello, the internet, and welcome to this spin-off episode of DERDAily Zeitgeist, which we're calling the iconograph instead of looking at the zeitgeist through current events. On Monday mornings, we're looking at the zeitgeist. at the zeitgeist through the powerful pop cultural idols that are our icons.

We give these magical beings credit for quotes. They didn't really say to make those quotes seem true. I actually forgot in last week's episode to talk about how when researching Frida Kahlo, I came across that somebody opened their podcast with this Frida Kahlo quote

that was completely not by her. And it was like obviously written by like using internet speak. Anyways, I'll tell you guys about that quote in the notebook dump. But yeah, we dress up like these people for Halloween, whereas some sort of like weird religious calling in the case of Elvis or Malamomro or Santa.

We use them as symbols to create meanings, to build identity, to learn that some comedy transcends language, that some things that seem like a quick fad to us in the U.S. were earth-shaking phenomenon around the world, and that getting your head stuck in a turkey is funny in every language. That's right. We're talking about Mr. Bean this week. I'm joined by today's guest co-host, a comedian, actress, musician, writer on TV shows like This Fool and Strip Law.

She's the author of the memoir. Cry for me, Argentina. It's Tamya here! Hey! Hey! Hey, guys. What up? Oh, my God.

I cannot wait to talk about Mr. Bean. my husband can't wait either. He is a fan of Mr. Bean too much. So it creeped me out a little bit. Wow. Hell yeah. And you did not grow up in the United States, which ICE just asked me to ask that question.

No, which is, I think, important context for everybody's relationship to Mr. Bean because I think it's like very, anyways, we're going to get into it. Oh, yes. I will tell you about me, yeah, me and Mr. Bean. Yes. In our third seat, the reason for this episode,

one of the funniest stand-up comics in the world. You know her from TV podcasts. A great follow on Instagram. You can see her headlining at theaters near you. Check her website. It's Amy Miller. Yay. I'm sorry to do this to everybody.

I'm a beanie baby. Bit of a bean brain myself. So, yes, Amy, the way we select icons is going out to people with a list of icons saying, or if there's anyone you'd like to cover, let us know. And you somehow cut us off mid-email. And we're like, Mr. Bean is going to be Mr. Bean. So I got to hear from you. Why, Mr. Bean? I'm in free.

Send your free hole, if you will. Yes. If you're nasty. If you're sexy. You know, my love for him has grown as an adult, which is interesting. And I have like a lot of sort of like thoughts about the existential nature of being and maybe why like why that is. I really didn't like it as a kid.

And I don't really know why it's going down smoother as I get older. The beans are really, I'm digesting it better. Yeah. But watched a lot of bean during the quarantine. It was a bean quarantine. It was a corn bean. Yeah. And have always had a great appreciation for Rowan Atkinson separately, but can you, but can you separate?

I mean, that's another big question. Can you separate the art from the artist? I mean, exactly, like Kanye. Yeah, this Kanye Ron Atkinson as Mr. Bean. Yes. And I don't know. I just, I didn't see it on the list and I thought maybe absolutely nobody else would have chosen. You are correct.

But this has been one of the most exciting, fun ones for me to research because, yeah, I, so a couple of things that are surprising about. First of all, I'm learning a lot too, by the way. Yeah, I did not, his initial run, I, like, I remember being shocked to learn that Gilligan's Island only ran for three seasons because when I was a kid, that show, like, never was not on TV. It was just, like, always on somewhere. There were only like 100 episodes of that that they just re-ran in perpetuity and nobody actually ever watched a full one so you like couldn't tell that you had just like seen

the same episodes over and over. Similar with the Brady Bunch. I think the Brady Bunch was like five short seats. Like it was like less than 100 episodes or right around 100. Mr. Bean had 15 episodes total of the initial show that came out in the 90s. Doesn't it feel like more?

each. Yeah. It was... Oh, I'm shocked. Yes. This is crazy. And the second really surprising thing for me is that from those 15 episodes stepped an absolute world striding pop culture fucking colossus.

I don't think we fully appreciate in the U.S. I know I didn't. His first movie made $40 million in the U.S. It made eight times that around the world. Yeah. And then I remember, like, that doesn't shock me like that much, although we'll get into like, well, what the box office numbers looked like at the time. But the sequel, a decade later in 2007, when I was like, when we were fully off our bean shit in the United States, made $235 million, like globally. Like, these are fucking blockbusters.

Rowan Atkinson's net worth is $160 million. The first was 1997. Oh, I thought it was 90. No. Oh, the first movie. The show was 90. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was literally the year I moved to the United States was 1997.

Yeah. Wow. I think, well, the weirdest thing, too, about the episodes is they weren't even on a schedule. I think the funniest fact is that in the first season, if you can call it that, there's just two episodes came out in a full year. Like, they debuted Mr. Bean. They premiered it. and then like six months later they showed another one. I think, which is so bizarre,

but I think in the States, it was an access issue because it's not like you just like, even if you have like a good cable package, you know, in the early 90s, it's not like you just have the BBC. So it would be like it would come on PBS when they would do those sort of BBC chunks like on the weekend or whatever and show like, you know, Miss Marple or whatever.

Yes, it was definitely PBS. Yes, that's right. Yeah. And so I think we had very rare access to it. And I think, I didn't look this up, but I feel in my body, like maybe then they started showing them like late night on HBO as they got sort of like a cult following for like American stoners. You know what I mean? Like I feel like it became a thing.

Young men looking to jack off instead on Mr. Bean. Oh, no, it's Mr. Bean. No, just laugh. Yeah, just laughter instead. I took off to him. Now. Yes, that's right.

Yeah, back then, we weren't ready for it. It's very, so my brother's 10 years older than me. And it's very, it lives in the same part of my brain where we would like watch peewee together, you know. And now I know he was probably extremely high or fucked up on something. But it's like peewee and Bean, you know, and Monty Python. And there are such similar sort of tones of like comedy. For some reason, being as a kid, I just, I just don't, I didn't like how upset he made everybody. Yeah.

Same. It gave me anxiety and something about the quality of how it was filmed depressed me a little bit. It was, yeah, it was filmed like a PBS documentary a little bit, but then there was a weird laugh track throughout. Like a BBC show. Yeah. This was actually, I showed my kids, Mr. Bean, because I was like, is this going to hold up? I treat my children like they're a control group. And they really enjoyed it.

They were like, oh, he reminds me of the minions. but I realized it was the first time that they had encountered a laugh track they were like why the fuck are people laughing like this is so annoying they don't watch like Disney Channel shows I guess oh yeah that makes sense did they know that he was an alien

when they compared him to the minions no I don't think so yeah sorry my god that's the twist end no yeah he is an alien it's the beginning of the show it is the beginning of the show But I feel like people were like, that's just a pop culture conspiracy. But literally the show, when it first aired, opened with him, like,

arriving on Earth in a beam of light. A beaning down. Yeah, Mr. Beam, more like. But he is, I was like. I think it's canon that he's an alien. Yeah, it is. It is. You're correct.

Yeah. At first, they, like, kind of soft rolled it. And then there is an episode. that they were thinking of ending the live action series with where he arrives and finds a UFO and the UFO is full of identical Mr. Beans. And then they were like, oh, wait, that sounds expensive as fuck. But then they did eventually do a animated series.

And there was an episode in which they used that plot. They used every part of that initial 14 episode run. Like they used the, they recycle the gags for the movie. movies. We're going to talk about his YouTube channel, which has 35 million followers. My God. Mr. Bean is so fucking popular. It's, it's, yeah, it's pretty impressive. And like, and like so much more so in countries that consistently had the BBC.

Like he's fucking huge in India. Like, like massive. But I think, I mean, it stands to reason that he's an alien. more than like like a like a brady kid like say a peewee because he's not he doesn't seem to be pissing people off on purpose he just is trying to figure out how to live like a person yes um and he has some of the information right yeah he's very competent at like certain parts of like being a adult human but then there's like missing information and he just like goes strong and wrong somehow and then he does I mean, he does like have this unknown rivalry with other kids a lot of the time, with kids a lot of the time.

That's really hilarious and bizarre. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, he's curious like an alien, like not just like being a dick. And that actually makes it easier for me to deal with. Yeah. Because I'm like, it's not his fault. It's not your fault, Mr. Bean. She's never been to Earth before. I knew, I knew absolutely nothing about Mr. Bean.

And then I moved to the United States. And I was 13 years old at the peak of my hormonal, like, wanting to get finger banged by boys at school. And my friend is like, we're not going to go to the all ages club tonight. We're going to go see a movie instead. And I was like, and she took me to see Bean. And the whole time I was so fucking pissed. It was like there couldn't be anything more opposite than go. and hooking up with guys than to be taken.

And I was like, what am I watching? This man depresses me, the way he dresses, depresses me. Now I love him. I have a great movie to meet cool guys there either. No offense to all the Bean has. Speaking of the way he dressed, somebody once dressed out, like there are Mr. Bean impersonators who have like caused international incidents we'll get to.

Like, the Mr. Bean costume, I don't know if, like, a kid came to my door during Halloween dressed as Mr. Bean. I don't think I would go Mr. Bean right away prior to research for this. But, like, it is a powerful, like, that's what's interesting to me about this one

is, like, a lot of the icons that we've covered. Like, are icons whose power I grew up, like, Elvis. I've, like, known that there were Elvis impersonators since I was a kid. Whitney Houston, like, I've, you know, I was 12 when, like the bodyguard soundtrack came out or whatever.

Like that was like a massive deal. But like so Mr. Bean is like, I'm seeing the powers exhibited by someone who like for me was like a British earnest. I thought like I thought it was like of goes to camp fame. I thought he was just like. Yeah, yeah.

But instead he's like, oh wait, no, this person has this like ring of power energy coming off of him. this icon that is just like blowing people's minds. I mean, to talk about the fashion too, it does stand out because it's not an outfit that pretty much anyone would wear, right? Like, we've all seen men in like a tweed suit or tweet jacket. I mean, I went to Berkeley, so it was every professor that I ever had.

But you don't, they don't pair it with like a stark red tie. Right. Like it would be a fun pattern or another earth tone maybe or like, I don't know. No, a blue. It's like, it is a, it is a look that no one else has ever worn. That's right. And I love that. Yes.

And it's just, I'm looking at it now. It's like just slacks. And slacks. Yeah, yeah, yeah. With sensible slacks. And then if you just have, like, that's how he thinks human men dress. That's right. And if you just have, like, there's a, we were just talking about this new thing that was going

viral a few weeks ago where like somebody found their doppelganger because of invasive facial recognition technology and we're like on a TDZ episode we were like speculating. You know, I've seen people, people have like showed me pictures and they're like, there's somebody who looks exactly like you. I went to high school with somebody

who looked really similar to me. I think there, I think the Mr. Bean, the Rowan Atkinson face is a common face type. And like that you can, you can just, if you put that face type in that outfit, it will fool me nine times out of ten.

I'll be like, oh shit, there goes bean. In the UK, especially. In the UK. He's got a very British, very British eyeballs to me. Yes. This is like a weird form of phrenology we're doing where Tam just tells us about where people's eyeballs look like they're from. All right. Let's get into, so his origins, unless any final thoughts before we get into the backstory.

of the bean. Let's roll. Yeah. Let's bean it up. 1979, Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He did a sketch where he played a mute character who could not stop himself from dozing off.

And that marked the birth of Mr. Bean. This is so crazy and special to me as a comedian in particular because it's like the first two sightings of Bean were like at Edinburgh and just relaxed. And just relax. Yeah, yeah. like eight years later. Like it's so, it's so cool,

you know, because, you know, we go into that stuff, like thinking only about marketability. Right. Who's gonna want to work with me?

What's my like, hackiest five minutes or whatever? That will make me crush, but maybe be memorable. And like, he's just like out of his goddamn mind. Like, nobody's even allowed to do this anymore.

Like, if he auditioned, people would be like, the fuck is going on. Like, you're not going to the festival. You know what I mean? Yes.

Like, it's just, It's like a time gone by that I really wish we still had and I could see someone like that. Yes. It's so when he talks about the popularity of Mr. Bean, it's, it's really interesting. Like there's this quote where he says, I remember seeing all these souvenir sellers at the Piazza selling souvenirs of British rock stars at the time when he was in Venice, Italy, like Duran Duran and David Bowie. I thought it was interesting that these British artists can assume an international audience, while I as a comedic performer cannot.

Bean is very simple humor, extremely broad and extremely accessible. It's the inner child within the adult who identifies with him and the dichotomy of responsibilities. When asked if it was surprising to him that he was this popular, he was like, didn't come as a shock when we achieved global outreach. Because that was the main instigation for doing him in the first place. So he's like, wow. He's basically like, yeah, no, of course he was globally popular. That's what I was trying to do. Yeah, it was calculated.

So I noticed I wasn't famous in countries that, like, didn't speak English. And I decided to be famous in those countries. And so I did it is like such a funny approach to fame and success. Incredible. And you're just like, yeah. No, I was trying to be successful. Of course I was. Yeah, we're trying to make hundreds of millions of dollars.

Duh. and then on JFL, he requested to be on the French showcase, right? Like, not speaking a word of French because he was like, well, I'm going to, yeah, like, I need to prove that I can appeal to any audience and I'm going to do a silent bit, which is so crazy. I mean, a cocky motherfucker, really, like the confidence. It's like the idea of trying and failing to achieve success is not something that had occurred to him prior to this question where they're like, were you surprised? I don't want to take you off track. Sorry, Jack, but what was this deal before? Like, what was famous already for like Black Adder and yeah. He was already a famous comedian. Yes. I see. Okay. But not huge. Not. And not international. He was big in England and was like, this is so weird. So yeah, obviously I'm famous in my home country. But like I go to these other countries and like they haven't heard of me.

Yeah. Well, these people are so weird. Like, like, current. day that like UK comedians who are fucking massive you know elsewhere and in the UK and can sell out an arena will you know get like JFL new faces or whatever or be performing in a bar

in in LA because just nobody knows yet um yeah yeah still but to have this like sort of calculated listen Rowan Atkinson let's talk about it he's got swagger I mean he's a confident hot man

especially now I would. He would definitely would suck up and down. He even now with his hair grip up and down. I don't know. I've just made that up. Bean dip. I like it.

Yeah. He could get the bean dip. But now that he's got like gray hair, I'm into it. Yeah, he's hot. He does have some weird takes that we'll get into. Yeah. I'm excited for that. They're not like that crazy.

They're just like he's like real. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. real, like, worried about cancel culture, but, like, in a way that, like, makes it seem like he thinks of himself as, like, an insult comicer. We'll get to it.

It's very weird. But, yeah, he, he says he represents, uh, Bean represents both his childhood innocence and his viciousness. I was like, that's not how I read Bean at all. But he also said, this is a thing that keeps coming up throughout. Like, it almost feels like doing the character of Mr. Bean, like, hurts his entire he's it so this is a quote despite the continued success things didn't come any easier quote i hate doing the job of mr bean i find being mr bean very stressful

being a solo act meant that there was little support when things were difficult um this is something we see every this is i think the best example in our icons episodes uh to this point was sir arthur conan doyle when he invented sherlock holmes what like everyone's like, all right, man, you've done it. You've created like the biggest fictional character of all time. And he's like, yes, and now, how do I kill this mother friend? Like, he immediately was just like,

let me kill him. I hate writing Sherlock Holmes. For him, it was because it came too easy. And so he like felt embarrassed by it. But with being, yeah, there's just like some people, when they hit the sweet spot and like get hold of an icon,

they're like, oh good. Like, that's what I was trying to do. Like James Gander. Feeney. Yes. And then some people. And peewee. To some extent. Totally.

And some people are like, get this character the fuck. Off of me. It is hurting my skin. I get that. I get that. And where's the documentary? I mean, if he's talking about this struggle, like I want to see. I want to see the doc while he's alive.

Being being. Being being. Being. You get to see him get into character. And it's like this rigorous two hour process. Yeah. Like Bradley Cooper and the elephant man. Like just.

Um, there's, so, uh, Jok Tati is this French comedian who was apparently very influential on him. There's a famous film where he's like learning to play tennis and he like plays tennis in kind of a funny way that like didn't really work for me. The films are beautifully shot, but like the comedy wasn't like I find Mr. being very funny and like I didn't find like it's sort of like the French Charlie Chaplin. Yeah, yeah, exactly. But he, Tati said that comedy begins in the legs. And Ackinson said that is why Mr. Bean scenes so often begin in wide shots. Like you see him in the full context of everything around him. And I like that idea of comedy begins in the legs.

I love that. As somebody who does comedy while sitting down. I'm like, oh, good. I stand up and still don't ever think about my legs. I know. Yeah. You've got to get in an athletic stance when you get up there. There.

Can you imagine? In a dress? Yeah. I mean, he is great with his legs. Like that makes so much sense that Chaplin and Tatee were inspirations for him. Because, I mean, his body work is just insane. Amazing. You know what reminds me of Mr. Bean, but actually not at all now that I think about it, is the Benny Hill show.

I was a big Benny Hill show fan as a child. And, you know, I think what it was about it is just the quality of how it was filmed and the fact that it was British. Right. Yeah. And the constant like mishaps. Yes, it's the mishaps. It also gave me anxiety.

Yes. Yeah. Always gave me anxiety as well. And I think as a kid, I was strangely more serious than I am as an adult. Me too. Totally. Yeah. But I mean, I don't know because of traumatic upbringing.

I don't know. But I was just like, I can't watch things that are stressful. Yes. Right. I don't need this extra stress. Yeah. In like prank shows. Me too.

Get into jackass. Like I was like, I feel bad for these people that are being embarrassed. And now I don't feel shame or embarrassment. So it's much easier to watch. So, Amy, as you mentioned, he. I'm bean now. And I have become the bean. Yeah.

Really. He debuts at the 1987 just for last festival on the French language show as well as the English language. But he's like, look, I can do both. Obviously, I'm about to become. wildly famous. An international superstar. Yes. But that year,

1987 just for laughs, also debuted a stand-up comedian Chris Rock. Yes. Just to put it in context. These two starting out at the same time, Chris Rock and Mr. Bean. The selection should work.

That's right. There should be two people that different. Yes. Like, you know, or, I don't know, like someone over 40, for example. Just throwing things out there. It's so, it's just really cool that he did that and like it was that calculated. But like also, you know, it still would be so long until like the states really got into him.

Yeah. It was a six year run from 90 to 95 that the 15 episodes came out. So crazy. So two to three a year. Like is bat shit. And they were just like not even 30 minutes. it's long, I assume, right? Less than a half hour, yes.

Wow. And it would just be like a bit and then like another bit and then laughter. And then they're like, all right, that's been Mr. Bean. Tune back in around Christmas maybe and we'll have something. Yeah, it almost feels like an interlude on another sketch. Do you know what I mean? Like how the Simpsons started on Tracy Allman. Totally.

Like Bean was like a side quest for Monty Python or or kids in the hall. or something. Yeah, he was, he was a little treat, a little bean, if you will. Yeah. Okay. A snack. And then so he, then he does this fringe festival and it kind of, and that's when it takes off. So, no, fringe festival first, and that's like late 70s.

I see. When he, like, first gets the idea of, like, oh, I'm good at physical comedy and, like, maybe I can do this kind of mime-ish character. And that is before he really had done anything. Yes. But before JFL, he was already black out of famous. As we say, as we call it. My fucker is black adder famous.

Then he goes and is like, I'm going to do both the English and French stage. The French audience has no idea who I am and it's still going to kill. And that's exactly what happens. And then off of that, he gets the deal to make the TV show. That runs from 90 to 95. and is just these 15 episodes, which I think is a total of six and a half hours of content created over the course of that time. And it is basically the text for everything that comes out. Like everything is just a remixed version of that initial thing.

But they really had it locked in. I will say the other person who was working on this with him was Richard Curtis. I just learned this today. It blew my fucking mind, Jack. So, Richard Curtis, who is, like, so basically Mr. Bean was a dream team of British comedy talent. Richard Curtis wrote four weddings and a funeral, which was the most successful British film ever, until that record was broken by Notting Hill, also written by Richard Curtis. I mean, this man is so deep in my psyche, like, so many of his movies that he wrote and directed.

I love Notting Hill. That's a big one for me. I love not. I just watched it, like, a month ago. Again, Bridget Jones, love actually, like, of course, the Mr. Bean movies. And then, Mama Mia. Like, I'm like, I watched these movies constantly. It makes so much sense, too, because there is a romance to Bean.

You know what I mean? Like, I mean, yes, yeah. as a girlfriend, but he's really mean to her, but like, Irma Gob. Irma Gob. Um, but like, there's a romanticness to how he, like, is trying to figure out being a person in the world and, like, how he relates to people, even if it's, like, embarrassing and awkward a lot of the time. Like, I can't believe I never knew this. I was so shocked. And then it, it made the most sense. Yeah. It's like, oh, we'll do our two best comedy people from our country on this project.

And also his cockiness of being like, wait, I don't understand why you keep asking me if I was surprised it was a success. No, of course. He literally,

literally held the release of Bean of the Mr. Bean shows back in Italy because he's like, I like to take vacations there and I don't want to be fucking Beatlemania famous in Italy. So can we hold it back

for a couple years? so I can keep taking vacations to Italy. Like, that's how confident and assured he was of, like, the massive success of this. He's like, less money, please. So I can not be the most famous person in one European country. That's incredible. Yes. Brian is asking in the chat, what was Mr. Bean's name in France, Monsieur Legume?

Yes, Brian. I looked it up and it was Mr. Bean. Mr. Bean. There was no change. Mr. Bean in every single language. Yeah. Brilliant. Brilliant. It's funny. Like they were, at first they were going to call him Mr.

White and they were like, that's a terrible name. Vince Gilligan was like, actually, might work. Then they were going to call him Mr. Corvette or something. Like a bunch of different. Yeah, like different vegetables. One of them, which I didn't. So Mr.

cauliflower, Mr. Corjett, which I don't even know. that vegetable. I think that's like a British name for a different vegetable that we have. It's a zucchini. It's a zucchini. Which is much better name. The European is perfect.

It is. It's perfect. I could imagine like a Mr. Radish perhaps. Yes. I see. What? I will just have you know, Ron Atkinson has a theory of comedy. So this is his

description of them coming up with the name. There's Mr. cauliflower. Mr. cordia, we definitely went through a few, then Bean just struck us as a short, sharp, single syllable with a B in it. Generally speaking, words beginning with B are slightly funnier than words that aren't, in my opinion. It's true. The two categories of words. I do employ these rules. It's 100% true and I've practiced it and I see the effect B, G, D, and a hard C or K. Always gets a bigger laugh.

Yeah, Seinfeld's the thing as K, right? Yeah, K always gets the biggest laugh at the end of a joke. But B, especially in alliteration for some reason, like B's back to back, like, oh, people go crazy. Well, I never thought about this. I'm too, like, stupid to stop and think about things. Really weird, right? I'm out of my mouth.

Yes. I also want to say about Richard Curtis, by the way, is, it makes so much sense, too, because the Rowan Atkinson, like, bit parts in his movies are movie stealers, scene stealers. Like, Ron Atkinson for weddings, fucking insane. And Love actually is maybe one of the funniest Rowan Atkinson characters of all time when he's just wrapping the gift at the mall. Like, and taking his sweet fucking time, like, doing the bow. And Alan Rickman's really trying to rush because he's like buying jewelry for his mistress and Emma Thompson's walking. around. And so it's like heartbreaking, but it is so fucking funny. And I'm like, of course,

these are Richard Curtis movies. Like, amazing. He uses him. He really gets him. Yeah. Yeah. It's the one time that you can say someone is someone else's muse and not sound weird and predatory. My muse, Rowan Atkinson. And I'm not trying to fuck him. Like, that's just, he's my muse. Truly, and they've made a fucking bag together. Like, that's so cool. Yeah. Shout out to that. What do we know about, I'm interviewing you now? I know. What's the deal with his personal life? Or is that,

are you going to talk about that later? Not really. I didn't get into his personal life that much other than his like, being like, we got to stop it with this cancel culture. And his, him having like sort of a personal aversion to, uh,

doing the character. He also, so he does, he did say that like when he was a kid, people called him the alien because he just seemed like weird and looked weird. He's weird. Yeah, he's like weird. And so I think like it's built on probably pain

like the character. And so that's probably why we see this thing. And we're like, oh, it's blast. That looks like it's fun to do. And he's like, fucking rip it my heart out here for you, you know? I think so, uh, could be wrong, but I feel like he's pretty, he's like fairly religious. Interesting.

But not in a homophobic way, which that's cool. Does he have children? Do we know, are there little beans out there? I don't know if he has kids, but oh, yeah, okay, he has one child. This part I did know, because I remember when it happened, I was already a comedian, but not that, I mean, not that long ago. in 2015, he had a long-time wife. And then she, I guess they met in the theater or something.

She left him for a fairly well-known stand-up comedian, James Acaster. Oh, really? Yeah. I don't, like, I think she, like, cheated on being with the stand-up comic. And then, and so they got a divorce. But they have one kid together. And then, oh, and he has two children with his first wife. So he's been married twice.

Damn. Okay. And I think it's currently single, which is good news for me. Yeah. Let's go find him. Ladies. But otherwise, I think he's very private. Like, he's not someone that people just like, that the paparazzi catches, even in the UK or even like pays attention to.

And that James at Castor thing was like the biggest, I think, sort of scandal he was involved in because he's just like, he's just like in hiding. And that's why I didn't do that research is because. because I chose to respect his privacy and it was not laziness or anything. It was just that I chose to respect his privacy. Experience Harry Styles live in London, England at Wembley Stadium. This is Harry Styles. IR Radio wants to send you and a mate across the pond

with flights from Virgin Atlantic, hotel from trip central.ca, tickets, and $1,000 cash. Download the free IHart Radio app. Listen to IHart new music for 10 minutes. Enter to win. Every day is another chance to see Harry Style. Very excited to see you with the show. Kiss all the time, disco occasionally, available now.

2%. That is the number of people who take the stairs when there is also an escalator available. I'm Michael Easter, and on my podcast, 2%. I break down the science of mental toughness, fitness, and building resilience in our strange modern world. I'll be speaking with writers, researchers, and other health and fitness experts, and more, to look past the impractical and way too complex pseudoscience that dominates the wellness industry. We really believe that seed oils were inherently inflammatory. We got it wrong.

Many of the problems that we are freaked out about in the world are the result of stress. Put yourself through some hardships, and you will come out on the other side a happier, more fulfilled, healthier person. Listen to 2%. That's T-W-O-Persent on the I-Hart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying.

Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand-new podcast,

The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream,

this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking.

What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jett. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know.

I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack, so I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now, so. Thank you for finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me,

it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I do just want to, because you are expressing a bit of a bean horniness. And I do just that you guys know the filmmaker Robert Eggers, like the guy who made like Northman and the witch. And like his films are interesting. because their perspective, like one of the things I find interesting about them is like their perspective on history is that it's like a different planet and just like, like, history is much stranger than you could like possibly imagine. And that's what this next anecdote makes me think

about is like a Robert Eggers movie because I can't believe what I'm about to describe happened during my, during my lifetime. 1996, he came to a mall in Toronto. showed up to the mall in character's Mr. Bean to autograph copies of his newly released Mr. Bean VHS tape. 3,000 fans showed up. Some of them were extremely horny. One of them yelled, I want him. Another woman said, he's my life and I want him to have my baby. People began getting crushed and he had to like stand on a table and ask people to stop pushing in character.

as Mr. Bean. He barely talked, so that's so funny. I know. And then he had to be like whisked away after 20 minutes. Like he was supposed to be there for three hours signing things. And they were like, this isn't safe.

Like we got to get the fuck out of here. I get the attraction at because I assume he was a virgin, Mr. Bean. The character. Yeah. He's an alien. Yeah.

But like, he's horny though. Right. Right. There's a horniness. And so. women just wanted to teach him things. Right.

I don't know. There's like full nude scenes in one at least one Mr. Bean episode that aired on the like not his dick, but you can see like his back nuts and his full ass. What? Yeah, he's zoom. screenshot Zoom. It's on my phone. Just out of context.

Like Mr. Bean is like, yeah, he's like. I it you it's implied that he like fucks irma but he's just like not nice to her but I don't know but he's like he is kind of a horny care in the movies he also is very flirty yes he's amorous yes quite it's got very expressive eyebrows the all the better to be amorous with can I tell you in uh rowan Atkins in fact that'll make people horny yes um so apparently he was like he has a private plane of course because he's so so rich. And in 2001, he was on holiday in Kenya. Mr. Bean on holiday. He does. The name of the second movie. He was in his,

his pilot of his private plane fainted and couldn't be recovered. And, and then Rowan Atkinson landed the plane himself. No, what? No, this is a made-up. He staged this. There's no. Hot. That is hot. That's crazy.

That is, that's the sort of story. Like some Harrison Ford shit. I feel like there's a PR firm out there for famous people. Actually, sorry, that is the opposite of some Harrison Ford shit. Arizona Ford goes up expressly as the pilot and fails to land to play. That's true. Yeah, yeah. He needs Ronack and sit in his thing.

I feel like there must be like a celebrity PR team that's just like, okay, so we go around and stage the most outlandish shit that like makes you sound. happenings. Yeah, that makes you sound like you're a biblical hunk. Anyways, I do just want to, so talking about the movie, I did, I watched the movie. I did not like it as much as the show. It's called being the ultimate disaster movie in the U.S. because they were like, I don't know, how are we going to sell this shit? It's so funny, Jack. He's paid, he's paid $4.5 million for it. I am unfortunately required to read how that fact was presented in a trade from the time. Please. The latest tints, Town Tittle Taddle was that Atkinson was being paid $4.5 million

by a Hollywood studio to make a Mr. Bean movie. The latest Tensletown Tiddle Taddle is... Guys. Guys, that's so good. 2026 sucks. We've lost all joined. Yeah, exactly. There's just somebody just typing away

in the variety offices. The latest Tinsletown Tiddle Taddle. Fuck yes. The movie restaged several of the sketches from the original show. It also had Bert Reynolds, who, so just again to put this into like context of like the time, Bean came out mere weeks after Boogie Nights was released. And Bert Reynolds was like a fucking hate Boogie Nights. Give me more Bean.

He loved Bean. And it was so humiliated that he was in. Boogie Nights. It costs around $18 million to make. I'm not going to tell you how much it made exactly, but I do just want to put the box office performance of that and the sequel into context. So the sequel comes out in 2007.

We're going to start with that. That's the same year, the Pirates of the Caribbean, at World's End was number one at the box office. Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix is number two. The top comedies that year are Juno and Knocked Up in America. The sequel to Bean that comes out 10 years after his popularity peaks in America, beat knocked up. It's just behind Juno at the global box office.

It made $60 million more than no country for old men. It was the 23rd top grossing movie that came out that year. Crushed. Okay. So on to the original movie came out in 1997, the year of Titanic Men in Bonnet and, Black, the Lost World, Liar, Liar, Air Force One, Goodwill Hunting, face off. That's a sampling of like movies from the top 15 of that year. LA Confidential was number 28. Where do you think

being the ultimate disaster movie came in on that list on the global box office? I'm scared that it's high up. I mean, it was massive, right? It was number two. No. It goes Titanic. Titanic? It goes Titanic. It goes Titanic being. men in black. That's the top three at the global box office for the year 1997. It like makes me equally mad as it does happy. Is that fucking crazy? Another thing that I just feel like wouldn't happen right now. So it makes me very happy, but angry, maybe for different reasons than you.

But that's incredible. We were so pure back then. Well, we invested in real talent, okay? He took a chance. Like, think about how big men and black was. Wow. It's huge. It's so big. It's crazy.

Yeah, that's crazy. So those movies are huge. 2002, they create a cartoon series produced by Atkinson, made with Richard Curtis, that lasted one very lengthy season. Again, it's like kind of reviving and reusing different gags from the live action show. They're really just like using every last bit of that original live action show. There was another season in 2019, which paved the way for Bean to provide an essential COVID-19 checklist for a World Health Organization PSA in 2020. So you weren't the only one having a bean.

Foreign Bean. Corn Bean. But the Mr. Bean cartoon actually continues to this day. A new season kicked off in 2025. but he has millions of followers on platforms like Instagram, TikTok. The big money maker is the YouTube channel, which... So I watched this video where this guy's like talking about how weirdly popular it is. It's, I think, from like 2019 maybe.

And he's like, this channel has 15 million followers. And I like go to the channel today and it's... It has like 35 million. So it's like doubled in the last five years. Like it's just so popular and like not slowing down at all. Like the 2020s have been about like the rise of bean for like people around the world. But he his YouTube account just puts out like weird. Like it puts out multiple videos every single day.

And like there's been multiple videos dropped today on the Mr. Bean. YouTube channel. So one of the tactics they use is just like a clip from a bean thing and then like a clip from another one. They're like, oh, we haven't put these two together. It's like the Chipotle menu

thing where it's like you can actually do 15 million different options. And like he probably has nothing to do with it at this point because he's not talking in the videos, right? Or is he writing? Like what's happening here? But he's allowing them to like keep up.

the original episodes and his content. I mean, I hope he's making some money from it. Probably. He's making so much money. So he owns the rights to all the big stuff, probably. There's a series in there. So another thing they do is called Handy Bean, which begins with like an awkward little intro from Agnison.

So it'll show him and he'll be like, and like just, you know, make faces like walk towards the camera and then pretend he's about to do something with his hands. and then it will be followed by shots of Mr. Bean's hands that are like clearly not him performing like tasks and crafts well being as like, oh, mm-hmm. It's like ASMR.

Yes. And I'm like, wow, that's lazy. And then I looked at one, it has six million views. No. No. It's just, it's like they're just sitting in an office somewhere being like, what else? What else? Like, what can we get out of this footage we have of him like,

kind of looking at the camera and so Riley smiling and they're like, I don't, well, what if we got a hand model in here to like do crafts? And people are consuming this because Mr. Bean has tapped into something. We need to, we need a college course on this. Right. Because there's a, there's magic. There's black magic. It's truly like I don't.

I mean, I think there is like a childishness to it. I think there is like a thing like we were saying earlier with like he has. has this weird sense of like certain adult things and like other things so like you don't so like he makes you like see things anew through fresh eyes and then he's like very talented but it is like yeah it's it goes beyond that like it goes beyond words it's it's it's it's

literally goes beyond on words it's relatable I think if you're anyone because he's so massive in like in India and the Middle East I feel like, you know, he's trying to adjust to this sort of like stodgy, like Western culture. I think maybe that's relatable for some people. And then there's almost no like language in it. So there's not that barrier. It's like enjoyable by everyone.

But I think, I don't know. I think it feels like a very universal story for anyone. Like it's like an immigrant's tale. You know what I mean? Except he's pissing everybody off, which I guess, I mean, you know, people do get. Which I'm sure a lot of immigrants. as we've seen, but unjustly so. But like,

people are mad at being. So producer, Victor says my grandparents who didn't speak English loved Bean. Yeah, dude. And Mr. Bean and Roan Atkins like, yeah, of course they did.

What are you fucking talking about? Why are you surprised? That's what I meant. I meant for your grandparents to fucking love me. There has to be a comfort in it too. Like we were talking about this in the Bart Simpson episode. Like something about Bart Simpson made everybody want to do bootleg merch

and just like have his image and like the Simpsons provide that like nostalgia. And Mr. Bean does that too. Yeah. It's come. I mean, the pace of the show is comforting. But I think kids and anyone who's,

any adult that feels like an outsider who's had an experience like that was, you know, we love a fish out of water tail where it's just like, hey, I'm trying my fucking bass. I just like don't know what all the rules are. And like, I don't know.

I can't just be like everybody else. I'm being. Right. I'm an alien. We've all been in church trying to eat a piece of candy and like just try to fucking stay awake. Or didn't like, you know, the dish at the very fancy restaurant and didn't want to send it back or offend the chef or the server. And so you have to just scoop it all into a lady's purse. Like that's just what life is sometimes.

Like he's trying not to be rude and then being ruder as a result. And I think that's something we've. all experience. Exactly. The meeting the queen one is my favorite. Oh, it's so good. I haven't seen the meeting the queen one. What do you do? What do you do to the queen? I can't remember, but he's just like, obviously he spots everything up. He's like, I don't know. Amy, do you remember exactly what it is? I just remember like being stoned and laughing my ass off. I feel like she, she does end up like without a dress in some way or he's under her dress. Oh, no. But he's in like, like a line of people meeting the queen.

And this is one of the scenes that's in both the show and the movie, but slightly different. And it's much bigger budget in the movie. But like, yeah, it doesn't go good. Not well. How does it go? Not well. Yeah. Oh, my God.

I can't believe I can't remember that. There's like a plant involved. Like he's holding a plant at some point. I don't know. Yeah. It's, by the way, speaking of church, this is the funniest fucking thing. I may learn through any of the research. And I never knew it before.

But people didn't know for sure if he was an alien because there's like it's, because of the choir, it's almost implied that he's coming from heaven. Right. Yeah, people thought he was an angel, a fallen angel. Yeah, but there's like this choir singing in Latin. And I never really knew what it was, but they're singing, there's just singing over and over this phrase in Latin, et te homo, ki, Faba, which just means

behold the man who is a bean. And they're not wrong. No, he sure is a bean. That's right. Real goof. There's been some weird attempts to merchandise. There's a book called Mr. Bean's diary from 1993. Speaking of his relationship,

there's, so it's literally just a day planner with notes, Mr. Bean and includes the revelation that his girlfriend, Irma, left him for someone named Giles, followed by some, like, very unsettling serial killer eskidoodles. Which is like... Emma would never leave. I mean, it's just not very... So this is not canon.

I don't know if it's canon. It's just hard for me to really buy it, too. I don't believe it. Yeah, yeah. They should have named it. They should have named it Mr. Bean's diarrhea. It definitely should. You're right.

And it's not too late to pitch that. It's not too late. There's also a weirdly depressing Mr. Bean video game 2007's Mr. Bean Racer 2, which begins with the revelation that, and I quote, Mr. Bean has become homeless. Like what? Mr. Bean's down on his luck and so he has to run around doing stressful tasks. Again, it feels like they interpret it and we're like,

the thing people like about it is being stressed out. I was like, no, I don't think that's not it. I love that it starts with two. There was no Mr. Bean razor one. Yeah. That's just how it started. And then I do want to get to the international incident. There have been quite a few Mr. Bean lookalikes, but only one of them nearly caused an international incident.

A guy named Asif Mohammed became a celebrity in Pakistan owing to his bean-like look. And he starred in a series of bank commercials in which he just literally like plays Mr. Bean. and he's just like, yeah, I don't know. What are you going to do, sue me? They call him Mr. Pack Bean. Oh, my. I love this guy. He was booked to appear at a show in Zimbabwe in 2016

where he received a hero's welcome from fans who thought he was the actual Mr. Bean. And the organizers of the show like kind of didn't make it clear that it wasn't the real Mr. Bean. They put the word pack in like very tiny letters. on the on the poster and he also had no actual standalone act and only appeared on stage while other comedians were performing and then so Zimbabwe didn't forget that shit uh years later

zimbabwe played pakistan in a 22 cricket match and the meeting was dubbed the mr bean derby in reference to the incident and when Zimbabwe won the president congratulated the team adding next time send the real Mr. Bean. It's like a piece of lore between these two countries that they sent the wrong Mr. Bean. And like they've never forgiven. That's so funny. He looks so much like him. I'm looking at it now.

It's crazy. There's like obviously like not perfect, not exactly. He looks good. Have you guys seen the Bean filter on Instagram? Oh my God. No. But it makes perfect. sense. Oh, it's crazy looking. I highly

suggest trying it. I'll send you guys a screenshot of what it looks like when I did it, but it sure doesn't look like Mr. Bean. I'll tell you that. So they just like put you in the outfit? Scary third thing. No, it's literally only his face mashed up with your own face. And then it just looks insane. Right. You got to see it. there's also a bar in Vietnam

that has it's like one of the things that happens with like magical spells in ancient mythology is that they'll like lure you into a cursed place where you'll be like trapped and harmed and like the spell of Mr. Bean is no different there's this bar that just says Mr. Bean on the outside and it serves bean themed cocktails

has a TV dedicated to playing Mr. Bean 24-7 and the interior is full of images of Mr. Bean, including some of him as Jack Sparrow and the Joker, as well as photos of Michael Jackson and Kenny G., who you made. Oh, I love that. I have noticed are not Mr. Bean. But tourists have come before you go, and I know we're all rushing out.

We're making our travel plan. Tourists have complained about the, quote, disgusting drinks, the pork quality food. the she shishas that come with bacterial lung infection and there have been allegations of methanol poisoning harassment and customers being served drug drinks at the bar. Oh my God. I'm still going, guys. This is nothing used.

This is only making me more excited. I mean, I wonder if there's got like, you know, because like a lot of guys that hang out all the time at like Margaritaville like look exactly like Jimmy Buffett. I wonder if there's Bean lookalikes that are there like roofing people because it's like, hey, but like, you don't have to roofy me. Buddy. Why do you think I traveled here? If you look close enough to being like it's on. Yeah.

Let's go. So sadly, he has alienated a lot of Bean fans with his anti-cancel culture rants in which he claimed that the job of comedy is to offend and every joke has a victim. which just is very funny for someone who has made their career doing a comedy that seems like profoundly victimless. Right. Like the character is obviously a fool and he's the butt of the joke, but it feels like because of this misunderstanding that all comedy has to have a victim, he's like interpreting the popularity of Bean as like him being the victim. Like it just, it feels like maybe this is why he's like playing Bean hurts my like whole.

soul. Right. She probably gets a lot of shit for it though. Yeah, that's probably true. There are probably scenes in like the original being episodes that, you know, certain people would say were like not okay or inappropriate now. I don't know. Like he's mean to kids.

He's like inappropriate with women, but it's just like he's an alien, dude. Yeah. He should have just shut the fuck up and that's it. Yeah. Just keep doing your comedy. Yeah, just keep doing your thing. But I feel like he's probably gotten way more. hate than we can imagine, which is why he's like, oh, you're after me or whatever.

But the idea of Rowan Atkinson reading or caring about the comments is also like embarrassing. So I hope that that's not true. Like he just seems way too cool for that. Right. That's something I do. You know what I mean? That's for losers. He's just a huge Kill Tony fan.

He's not even talking about his own comedy. He just loves Tony and Inchcliff. He's 71, younger than I thought actually. Yeah, I mean, he really hit, like, so young. Really young. Yeah, I mean, he, and he did this, like, while he was, he was already famous. And it was like, and now for my next trick, I will become one of the most famous people on earth. Does anybody know what the deal with the little teddy bear is?

He's, like, holding a teddy bear in so many pictures. That's his best friend, Teddy. It's his best friend, Teddy. This is clearly me not knowing shit. I do think it's also been foregrounded a little bit more as, like, a lot of the content on his YouTube channel, like, including the handy bean or whatever the fuck. That was the thing where they would like cut from his face to like a hand model just doing crafts. I think are aimed at children, you know? And like so I think the childlike aspect of him has been foregrounded a little bit to like broaden his appeal and like make it even more popular with children.

but like you does have a lot of like shared DNA with the minions who are very popular with children but like also kind of rock if you ask me he was also I'm recent he was in the lion king he was Sazu yeah yeah which is crazy for someone who doesn't talk yeah he's got a great voice voice I mean it seems like he he's not wrong maybe that he hasn't followed up being in any sort massive way, but then everything he's done is good. And so it's like, I don't know. Why are you upset about this? Like some people don't get any fame or money.

But like, but like, I get it. It, you know, it's hard for him to be anything else. Yeah. I mean, it's hard to, yeah. And when that's what people expect from you and he has such a very unique look as a person. Like the iconic look is just him in a tweet jacket. And so, like, I'm sure everyone's just like,

oh shit, Mr. Bean. Like, that's like what his wife called him. But also, it's not too late. Like, it shocks me he's not coming out with some, like, highly dramatic, like, Oscar slash BAFTA grab of a role. You know what I mean? Because why couldn't he do that? Like, it seems like it's time.

Too rich. Yeah, he doesn't care. It's hard to, like, get motivated to do that difficult, emotionally wrenching work when you have $160 million in the bank. You're right. But even in, by the way, rat race, I think it's one of the funniest movies

of all time. But like, you know, he's still, he's been, he's been in everything. Yeah. He's been in Johnny, he's,

Johnny English is Bean. He's been. They do just sneak in Johnny English clips on his YouTube channel. They're just like, yeah, this is well, basically Mr. Bean.

I think he should reduce Cinectody, New York. Oh my God. Rowan Atkinson and Charlie Kaufman is a dream team. That would be incredible. You're a genius. A-24, Mr. Bean movie.

That's a good pitch, Brian. All right. Amy, such a pleasure having you. Thank you so much for picking Mr. Bean. This was a delight. I feel like we overlooked one very major fun fact. Please. Do you know this, that when Osama bin Laden was captured?

Oh my gosh. Oh, no. Of the items on his laptop and things, you know, media he was watching for entertainment, it was mostly Mr. Bean. Wow. This is crazy. And like Lady Gaga. Because my favorite detail from our Whitney Houston icon.

iconograph is that Osama bin Laden was obsessed with her and was planning to kidnap her and have Bobby Brown killed because he loved her so much. Oh my God, so he had great taste. Yes. Yeah, he had great taste. Kind of, yeah.

RIP Osama bin Laden, you would have fucking loved this show. He really would love the Daily Zay guys. I mean, you know, there's some overlap there. Amy, where can people find you, see you all that good stuff? Oh, yeah, find me on Instagram at Amy Miller Comedy. And then check my website, amy Millercom for show dates. I'll be in Vancouver, British Columbia for my first time here. And then I have a bunch of other stuff coming up.

But just follow me and you'll see it. There you go. How about you, Tam? You can find me on Instagram at Tamara Yeh. and you can read about my fucked up life by buying my book, Cry for Me, Argentina. Amazing. All right. That is going to do it for this conversation.

I will be back in a moment for the notebook dump. Experience Harry Styles live in London, England at Wembley Stadium. This is Harry Styles. IR Radio wants to send you an mate across the pond with flights from Virgin Atlantic, Hotel from TripCentral.ca, tickets, and $1,000 cash. Here we got that! Download the free IHeartRadio app. Listen to IHeart New Music for 10 minutes.

Enter to win. Every day is another chance to see Harry Styles. Very excited to see you with the show. Kiss all the time, disco occasionally, available now. 2%. That is the number of people who take the stairs when there is also an escalator available. I'm Michael Easter, and on my podcast, 2%, I break down the same. science of mental toughness, fitness, and building resilience in our strange modern world.

I'll be speaking with writers, researchers, and other health and fitness experts, and more, to look past the impractical and way too complex pseudoscience that dominates the wellness industry. We really believe that seed oils were inherently inflammatory. We got it wrong. Many of the problems that we are freaked out about in the world are the result of stress. Put yourself through some hardships. and you will come out on the other side, a happier, more fulfilled, healthier person.

Listen to 2%. That's T-W-O-P-Cent on the I-Hart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions,

my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, This platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment.

And the next, we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeard radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim?

Well, you're going to be. can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84's big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack all day, but yeah, yeah, literally.

But just so you all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah.

For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, that was our conversation about the surprisingly iconic Mr. Bean. Thank you to Amy Miller. And to Tamara Yehia for joining. Extra thanks to Amy Miller for suggesting the subject. Extra thanks to Tamara Yehia for stepping in with Miles out of the country. Tam also with Bart Simpson and Mr. Bean is really positioning herself well on a Venn diagram for the inevitable Mingon's episode.

And thanks to J.M. McNabb for the research on this one. He knew the Toronto story very well. I was like Mr. Bean is kind of a big deal up here. Before we get to the bean notebook dump, the bean dump, the much less popular Super Bowl alternative to bean dip, I've got a Frida Kahlo notebook dump. I've reserved the right to revisit past icons when I run into something I didn't know during the original notebook dump in the case of Elvis's monkey scatter. Or in this case, something I did know, both when we recorded the episode and during the notebook dump, and I just forgot. Got to say both places. So Frida Kahlo, as I've said, one of my favorite signs of iconography is when quotes are misattributed to them.

Einstein, always seeing bumper stickers with fake Einstein quotes. And one of the podcasts I listened to on Frida Kahlo, when I was doing research, opened with this great quote that nonetheless felt a little fishy. to me as far as being something Frida Kahler would say, even if I imagined it being said by Selma Hayek in her accented English like she spoke in the movie Frida. The quote, which again I like, is as follows. I used to think I was the strangest person in the world, but then I thought there's so many people in the world. There must be someone just like me who feels bizarre and flawed in the same ways I do. I would imagine her and imagine

that she must be out there thinking of me too. Well, I hope that if you are out there and read this, know that, yes, it's true. I'm here. And I'm just as strange as you. So the Queen's podcast about Frida Kahlo opens with that. And everyone's like, yes, that is fucking awesome. And I agree.

It's an awesome quote. but I like love it as a line for a manic pixie dream girl in like a rom-com from the aughts or I don't know. Like I went to research it anyways and found that the MoMA had tweeted the quote as being from Frida Kahlo in 2021. So no shade to the Queen's podcast, you know, the MoMA made the same mistake. In actuality, the quote is an original piece of writing by a. Canadian teenager at the time, she was a teenager named Rebecca Martin, published to post-secret with a picture of Frida Kahlo when Rebecca Martin was 17 in the year 2008. So congratulations to her on writing a great quote, try harder to the MoMA.

But I don't know what it, you know when they say that like an actor doesn't make sense in a period piece because they have a face that has seen an iPhone. I feel like that quote has seen an iPhone. I don't know how else to explain it. Although 2008, I guess it had seen an iPhone by a year. I think it didn't iPhone come in 2007? Something we'll dig into on a upcoming iconograph. All right.

On to Mr. Bean's notebook dump, the Bean dump, my Super Bowl special. First, I can debunk the rumor that Mr. Bean is dating former adult film star Mia Khalifa. if you are not one of the people who encountered that like me, if you just type Mr. Bean space into Google at this moment in history, it will auto-complete to Mr. Bean and Mia Khalifa dating. She has, unfortunately, for people who are horny for that combo, for that couple, she has come out and said, guys, I am dating a fool, but it's not Mr. Bean. but I do love that she has essentially defined Mr. Bean as the patron saint of fools.

I think that's pretty astute of her. That's kind of the rule that his icon slots into. I loved the detail that Chris Rock and Mr. Bean debuted at the same just for last festival in 1987, I think it was. If you had asked me who was a bigger addition to comedy history up until the research for this episode, I would have assumed you were joking and, you know, it's still debatable, but I wouldn't have thought it was a debate. But I'm just saying Chris Rock never beat Men in Black at the box office. I mentioned a couple times how strange I thought it was that Mr. Bean only had 14 episodes. They weren't even really episodes.

And the fact that they came out sort of sporadically, it's kind of like he's a YouTube comedy group in the 2010. It's just like one-off specials like he was dropping. albums. I feel like there hasn't really been anything similar since where they're just sporadic one-off specials or like releases and people just gobble them up globally. We talked about how they landed on the iconic Mr. Bean moniker using Rowan Atkinson's funniness math that words that start with B are slightly funnier than the other category words that don't start with B. I will say that in China, known as the foolish Mr. Bean, which I don't think is quite necessary, but also it's not bad, kind of like it. He recently appeared in a movie spin-off of the Chinese variety show,

top funny comedian, The Movie in 2017. It was him, various Chinese comedians that I was unfamiliar with, and Mike Tyson, so, you know, the biggest, the top funny comedians in the world. And as for more opportunities for him to dilute his box office dominance, there is supposedly an animated Mr. Bean film in development with Ron Atkinson Atkinson saying he finds playing the character stressful and exhausting, it's easier for me to perform the character vocally than visually. Yeah. Yeah, I guess so.

The character is basically a mime. I feel like that would be easier to perform vocally. Yeah, I highly recommend, speaking of his refusal to inhabit the role of Mr. Bean, or, you know, doing it as little as is physically possible. I highly recommend you check out his YouTube channel for all the ways they've figured out how to make money off a character where the only person who can legitimately play the character has a full body allergy to doing so. In addition to the hand model thing with 6 million views, they have an EDM song called I'm just going to read the name of the YouTube video.

Pizza Bean new song summer soundtrack Mr. Bean official. That one has 887,000 views, the song of the summer, as we all remember. But I do think the difficulty he has playing the character, Mr. Bean, his early statement that the character possesses a viciousness. And his recent statement that every joke has a victim really kind of came together for me to paint a portrait of someone who could have been much happier if he was just like, hey, why do you find the character of Mr. Being Funny? Because I bet most people wouldn't be like, it's his pathos, you know?

Or it's because he's a fool and I hate him. I think people, you know, would have been like, I love him. I think he's just so silly and fun like, you know, Amy was saying. Or they would have said, I want him inside me right now. as that woman in Toronto said, if he could just learn this one simple fact that doctors don't want you to know, he'd be so happy

and we'd be able to get more bean, eat more bean. All right, that's going to do it for this week's episode. Next week, we're going topical with the subject of a smash hit feature film that just dropped and not the one that would end up being a tremendous bummer. Man, icons really burning

up the box office, not Michael. We're talking about the one that's going to teach you to respect Cerulean. So tune in next week for our Anna Winter episode with Miles Gray, who will be back and who once, I believe, worked

for Condé Nast. And Mono Agapien, until then, I hope you have an iconic, foolish week, and we'll talk to you on Monday. Bye. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me. Clivert Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Cliford Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Clivert Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. For more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok's podcast network on TikTok. On The Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me.

84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. It was a wild year.

I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. My mother-in-law spent years sabotaging our relationship until Karma made her pay for it. All right, Sophia, tell me about how we started this story. She moved in for two weeks, lasted five days, left a mess, and then pressed her ear against their bedroom door and burst in screaming. When kicked out to a hotel, she called her son-in-law's workplace, pretending his partner had been rushed to the hospital by ambulance. She faked a medical emergency. And spoiler, that was just the beginning.

To find out how it ends, listen to the OK Storytime podcast on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hardway with your favorite therapist and host, Kare Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor it? It signals to the world that you're not. not to be played with. And just because you have the capability

that does not mean that you need to. Listen to learn the hard way on the IHard radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHart podcast. Guaranteed human.