The Flop House - FH Mini 155 - Summer-y Judgments

Episode Date: August 1, 2026

Elliott guides us through an overview of movies with "summer" in the title, and asks us to evaluate them based on our own summertime experiences. Tickets for FLOP TV SEASON FOUR are now live! Go pick up a pass for individual episodes or the whole dang season! And if you live in the Louisville area and want to see us live NOT through your computer screen, come to our show at Whirling Tiger in September! Subscribe to our NEWSLETTER, “Flop Secrets! It’s the best way to keep up on all things Flop House! Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinflop

Hello everybody. Welcome to another flop house mini. My name is Elliot Kalan. I'm joined today by Dan McCoy and Stuart Wellington. Hey, what's up, what's up? Dan, do you want to say what's up, what's up? What's up? They did it.

Now, you know, all of us can say, what's up? As the undertone's once saying, the summer's really here and it's time to come out, time to discover what fun is about. This episode is coming out in August of 2026, right? It's summer, guys. were solidly in the summer. So I thought, let's talk a little bit about summer.

Not Mark Summers, former host of Nickelodeon's Double Dare. That's not what I'm talking about. Okay. But summer the season. First off, before we talk about movies, what are your associations, you guys, with the summer? When you think summer, what do you think? And not ancient Sumeria.

Summer, the season. I have strong associations from childhood with doing my favorite thing to do during the summer, which is to sit in, inside where it's air conditioned and read and watch television for hours on end. A classic indoor kid, yeah. Go to the, I remember going to the pool that my parents were members at. Sure.

Going to like day camps and spending time outside doing sports and yard chores. Stewart, I'm going to ask. The yard chores are the ultimate sport, yeah. Everybody wins. They get a clean yard. Yeah. I'll ask in a second about your summer vacations, but my own, we're very Midwestern,

which is why I'm curious about yours. Like, it was not, you know, we're not going to fly anywhere of fun or anything like that. We would pile in the car. What's the nearest beet farm? Let's go there. In my family, we would drive to the upper peninsula of Minnesota where my dad liked to go to a cabin and fish on a lake.

And I'm not saying I didn't enjoy being on a lake and swimming in the lake. I didn't love being in a cabin because, again, I was an indoor kid who liked comfort, but the swimming stuff was fun. Like modern Dan, who's kind of a rough and tough as nails guy. Yeah, real Baric Rills type character, yeah. But I really, to this day, I hate road trips because I remember being so bored in the car as a kid. You didn't like read in the car? I did.

I did not have trouble with motion sickness. Yeah, for the most part. I read and I enjoyed that part of it, but I would still get very antsy. Yeah, I'd like crack the spine on some like rolled doll book. I'm sure I tore through. Tor right through that sucker. So yeah, I mean, most of my... So Daddy Wellington would...

He was not very big on spending money on things. Classic dad. So we did not have... If we like went away, it would either be to go visit family who did not live on lakes or we would be going to like soccer tournaments. The only lakes you had as a kid was Landa Lakes Butter. That's true. No, well, I had a neighbor who had a late cottage,

and sometimes I would get to go up and spend time with him at theirs, but my family did not have a tradition of going anywhere nice for ourselves because we don't deserve it. But a lot of my travel, especially as I was a young teenager, was going to soccer tournaments with a bunch of all my other soccer boys. Yeah, and my summers were, I growing up on the East Coast, it's a very, especially Jewish, it's a very summer camp, sleepway camp thing. We would do driving trips sometimes, but they would just shuffle us off for four to eight weeks

or three to six weeks, the summer camp. Wow. And every now and then I would run away, get kicked out, you know, the different ways of leaving early. I've heard these tales, but that's a long time to be at a camp. Like I would go to a church camp, which was just normal camp, but sometimes there was Bible verses. And that was like one or two weeks of the camp. Oh, wow.

Yeah, the first time I went to summer camp. It's kind of like a normal burger place just with Bible verses. Exactly, exactly. The first time I ever went to summer camp, this camp I went to, you could choose between a four-week session or an eight-week session. So the first time I was away from home, it was for a month. And I really liked it that first year, but there were things in other years. But anyway, I asked because the camp,

it's the summer. But of course, on this podcast, we don't usually talk about our summertime memories or the summertime blues, which sounds like Dan had quite a bit of when he was in. We talk about movies.

Usually we watch a movie and then we talk about it. This time, I don't talk about summer movies. What movies are about summer and whether they reflect our summer experiences, not summer blockbusters. I feel like there's two different kinds of summer movies. We've mined that territory.

Exactly. We've talked about the summer blockbusters. your Jawses, your Armageddon's, your Armingdon's. Yeah, your ID forms, yeah. On Golden Pond, the scene at the end where they realize that the pond is golden because the local sewage lines

have been pouring into it, it really hurts that movie in a big way, yeah, yeah. And so I want to talk about movies about the summer. We're going to look at a few. I'm going to look at a few, by then I just mean I'm going to mention them. And I want you to tell me, have you seen this summer movie?

if it represents the kinds of summers you're familiar with and if it isn't if you'd want your summer to go that way is this a fantasy of a summer you wish you could have had and if we have time there might be more for us to do but let's let's take a look I think the um we I received a number of emails about how long our Gem and the Holograms episode ran and so they're like do more please they're like more of that please so we'll see how long this one goes

no I Dan I actually haven't received any emails about it so don't worry I've heard only positive things, probably because the only people who listen to it are weirdos like me. There's a reason, every now and then I'm glad that our podcast is not distributed in syndication on public radio. And I think that was not one of them.

I really wish more people could learn about that. Jam on the holograms. So let's take a look. Let's talk about summer movies. And again, the questions are, have you seen this movie? Okay. Can you, does it relate to your idea of summer?

would you want your summer to go that way? And the first of these movies, of course, actually I'm going to ask you, when you think of movies about summer, what is the first movie that comes into your mind? One Crazy Summer. Stand by me. Okay, well, stand by me.

We're going to talk about. We're only talking about movies with Summer in the title, unfortunately. No, okay. But one crazy summer. I missed that part. Let's start with One Crazy Summer, because that's on my list. I have never seen One Crazy Summer.

Have you seen this movie? Yes. crazy. Does it feel, what's, what's this movie about? What goes on in it? You know, this is, it's, it's a, you know, it's another Savage Steve Holland movie. It's the one of his that I haven't seen, because I've seen better off dead and, you know what, actually, and how I got into college, yeah, yeah, yeah. And of course, I was a big viewer of Eek the Cat when it was on TV, yeah. I don't believe that, there's no like, you know, there's no continuity. They're just similar styles, but they're very similar styles. Like, this is, you know, in the same.

same vein as better off dead uh just like wacky stuff happening um john kays there'll be animated stuff for no particular reason um you know that's art dude taylor negron shows up in it right i see him in the cast list yeah yeah it's uh you know they uh go to uh the beach for the summer is essentially the plot of that movie along the way uh he picks up a hitchhiker played by dimmy more and there's some romance. I believe he's also getting over a breakup in this picture, as he was in Better Off Dead, and by him, I mean John Cusack really in a lockdown on, like, Love Lorne Fools.

Mm-hmm. And there's, like, you know, there are a lot of zany, like, subplots that string through the movie, like, there's a character who's trying to win our radio contest, be the first caller. Because I was going to say you just buy a radio. There's a bit with, like, Godzilla costumes, yeah? Yeah, at one point, Bobcat Goldquake gets stuck inside a Godzilla costume and rampages through some sandcastles. Okay, so is this what your experience of summer was like? Getting stuck in a Godzilla costume and rampaging the sand castles, trying to win radio contests, trying to get over lost loves with the help of Demi Moore?

Other than, like, when I was like two, I think, and my parents went to California. You got stuck in a Godzilla costume? Yeah. When he was two years old, he and Demi Moore had a thing. No, like, when I was too young to really remember it. There was that period where she was into younger guys, you know. My parents went to California with the family when I was too young to really remember it. There was a Disneyland trip.

There was the beach. I have only the most fleeting memories of these things. That must hurt so bad to know that you don't remember your trip to Disneyland. It did. And I wanted to go back for years. I finally, like, 20 years ago, I went to Disney. But I really don't think that I went to the beach again until I was like a teenager. So this was not my experience of what the summer was like.

And Stuart, you already said your summers were not spent hanging out at the beach. No, I mean, this is that type of like, this is the type of movie. This is a movie I saw when I was younger than, you know, John Cusack's character is supposed to be in it. So it was that like, oh, this is. what being a high school kid is going to be like. This is what being a teenager is going to be like. And of course, that's not what it was like, for me at least. But, you know, John Hughes movies had lied to me as well. So I was used to it. You're used to being lied to about what it's like to be a teen. Whereas I was mostly lied to by, say, by the bell, about what it was like to be a teenager that

you just walk into the principal's office all the time. You didn't really have to go to class that much. Your school would only have like six students with names and everybody else was just kind of NPCs wandering around and bumping into walls and things like that. The school would be attached to a diner of some kind where you could just go whenever you wanted. Yeah. So that's one crazy summer. So would you like your summer to be like that? Would you like to have a crazy summer?

Just listen to the title, One Crazy Summer. Doesn't that sound fun? I mean, that could easily be the title of something where a madman is on the loose with a knife, you know, on the beach. I guess so. I think that's one bloody summer. That's true. And I think also that it's not. limited. You know this is just one crazy summer.

Not every summer is going to be like this. This isn't your whole existence. The thing is it makes it all the sweeter knowing that it's limited. Exactly. Just like life. Just like life. Well, let's, okay, so one crazy summer, not representative, but you would want to have that as your summer. Yeah, yeah. Elliot, now that I

know the rules, I have an answer for your initial question. Oh, shit. Okay, that has to have to work summer in the title. I know what he's going to say. Summer school. I knew exactly what he was going to say. That was the other one I assumed you were going to say. That was the number that was the first one written on my list was summer school because I figured that would be what...

So again, summer school from 1987 guys forced to teach summer school. It is a movie that's mainly montages. Yes, like Rocky Four. It is very montage heavy. It's carried on a wave of just like a lighthearted charm. Not a lot of incident or death, but... Well, what they call Charmin, which is the charm of Marmarman.

Yeah. So guys, one... So you've seen summer school, right? You've seen it before. So many times. Yeah. So is it representative of your summer? Did you ever have to go to summer school?

I never went to summer school. I definitely had to go to summer school, but it wasn't like that. It wasn't that fun and cool. You didn't meet chainsaw there. I didn't meet a guy who was moonlighting as a stripper. There wasn't an arcolectic kid, you know. There was the same kid. I'm talking about the same guy.

This is like a high school, right? Yeah, yeah. So that one of them is a stripper is weird, right? I mean, he's got to be 18, right? I guess, but even so, that seems... You would hope. Yeah. I certainly hope so.

I hope that the strip club that he's at is checking his ID to make sure that he's legal age to work. Yeah, all-mail review, yeah. Yeah. So I have never been to summer school. The closest that I ever was was when I worked for the Board of Education for a summer, just helping around in their office. Because even when I was young, I was ready to get into the working world

and become the workaholic that I am today. Is this... When I was in college, I took a May term. I took a May term. I took a May term. What is a May term? Tell me what that is. You had the option to take one extra month of school

where you were focused on a particular class. To what to get into the West Production Program or something? I was like, give me more school, please. That's the nerd. What was your May term did you too? It was a film class. Oh, I did an art class May term. It was awesome.

It was like a month of like getting hammered. Yeah, let's hang out on campus longer. I didn't want to go home. Yeah, I didn't have anything like that. Instead, I merely doubled up on class. so I could get out early. And I would have taken advantage of that. And then I worked during the summer because, again,

workaholic, I've got to get to take jobs. I think that people, I mean, like, I've heard this from Audrey as well. People who go to, like, school in the city have such a different experience of college. Like, for me, I was like, this is the most fun. Like, this is the most fun thing. Like, I'm away from home. I'm, you know, like, there's not anything interesting going on outside of campus. Like, I just want to be on campus where all my friends are mostly unsupervised, like having parties.

I mean, going to a traditional liberal arts college is probably the best training for living in a sort of George Romero living dead dystopia where you're just in kind of like a walled compound that you don't leave and you're just hanging out there doing all your stuff.

Because going to school in the city, certainly at NYU, there was no campus really at the time. And the student center had been torn down when I was a freshman and would not be finished being built. By Timothy Shalamey, right? Yes, by Timothy. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Because they told him not to take a bath, but he filled up the bathtub of anyway. There's a lot of ballet and opera happening again. And he said, not on my watch. No. And so it really did feel like I live in New York and my day job as I go to college.

Like it did, there was not much, not the same kind of student life. I bet if I had looked for it, I would have found it, but I didn't look for it. And you were walking around with your like little man briefcase and everything.

Exactly. You don't need to belittle them like that. No, but I mean, I feel like that's the thing. It was a little man tape branded briefcase. Oh, okay. I got you. It was just accurate. Yeah.

And I traded in. For one, Brandon, from the movie Little Man. Yeah, college kids' brains aren't fully... No, not Little Big Man. I didn't want that big a briefcase. Like, college kids' brains haven't fully developed. Like, you're still getting wrinkles in there, you know? You're not a real...

Like Little Big Man. Yeah. Had so many wrinkles. So many wrinkles when he's old, yeah. So summer school, is that how you would want your summer to go? You're with all these, you know, goofy characters. They are pretty fun. You're being taught by Mark Harmon.

Yeah, I don't like the school part of it. I do like the freedom of the summer. But these are some pretty great... It's near the beach, right? I think so. Friends. And I forget... There's a dog on the poster.

I forgot... Is there a dog in the movie, too? He's got a dog. You have to hang out with Courtney Thorne Smith. That's true. And Dean Cameron... Yeah. Dean Cameron, like,

Dean Cameron's pretty cool. I do it for a summer. Yeah. Yeah, like... Just for one summer. Character drive it. Yeah. Just one crazy summer school.

Come on, you could do it. Yeah. Yeah. Now, would you rather be... in this one crazy summer summer or the summer school summer? I think still one crazy summer. And I think I would get too antsy in class all day. Yeah, I think you're right.

All right. Moving on to another summer movie. This one, strangely enough, is probably of all the ones we're going to talk about today, the most representative of my summers growing up. And that is wet hot American summer. That's right. I thought it's going to be summer as Sam. Well, stay tuned.

Stay tuned. But, yeah, wet hot American summer, which I'm sure you guys have both seen probably, Right? Plenty O times. Yeah, plenty of times from 2001 featuring many members of the state.

This is Stuart's offensive Irish character, Plenty O'O times. Oh, I've seen that wet, hot American summer. Many amese. This is Stuart's character who's always late to everything. Oh, I could get there. I could get there. I don't have to leave yet.

I got plenty of time. Plenty of time. The movie is supposed to start at 6 o'clock. I don't have to leave till 5.55. Oh, wow. There's a boatload of trailers before the thing and ads for GMC trucks. I don't need to sit through Nicole Kidman

telling me about the movies one more time. I'm already going to the movies. I figure I could leave when the movie announced is starting and I'll get there right as the movie Excel starts. Oh, man. We're going to get so many angry letters. So many angry letters from the... Just meme depiction, yeah. Yeah, mean.

It reminds me of a... Unflattering depiction. When I was doing the Who was... podcast, the Who Was Show podcast, which was a quiz show. We were always talking about which people to do. And one of the people that we covered was Ernest Shackleton, who, of course, who was Irish? And they were like, well, who should we have play him? And I was like, I'll just do it.

Oh, my boat. Oh, no. Oh, my boat stuck in de ice. Oh, no. And they were like, please don't do that ever again. Killing Murphy will come and kill you. He would be so mad. He's like, you know what I mean?

They call me Killian. So, wet, hot American summer. You guys have seen it. I feel like this is so clearly a bunch of people who have been to an East Coast summer camp because there's so much stuff that's specific to what it's like to go to one of those camps. Did you guys feel at all?

Could you relate to it at all? Since I don't think you guys had that experience, you know? Well, I mean, the camps that I went to, I think it was just the one church camp was not so oriented toward that many activities like camps I always see in movies where it's like, okay, now it's the day that we all go boating

and like now's the day that like we're playing our like baseball game. Yeah, whatever. I mean, I mean, those camps that's like multiple activities per day to, like you are busy and you're real tired at the end of it. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you gotta tuck of them kids out

so then I'm getting trouble. You got a Tucker and Dale versus evil those kids, yeah. Yeah, I think it was like structured enough that what we did, but like it was structured with it like, but within that structure it was a lot of like, uh, yeah, just, uh, you know, do what you want.

Just hang out in the woods. See, I wonder if, because the East Coast camps are really based around this tradition of, like, kids from the cities need a place to go in the summer and experience the outdoors. So it really does feel still, it's like, it's like, we got to pack in all the outdoor stuff that you would normally have in a year

if you didn't live in the city into, you know, a month or something like that or two months, you know. But, Stuart, what about you? You said you traveled to a lot of soccer games. Yeah, so, well, my wife went to a, a East Coast Jewish summer camp. She has a... She has a...

Like me. Yeah. Had a very... You know, that was a very important part of her life and still informs a lot of her life to this day. But I went to soccer camp, which would be like a two-week thing

where it would be like the activities you're doing. It's more soccer. Let me look at the schedule for today. Soccer. Yeah. And we would stay in like... Hitting a ball with your head. Oh, okay.

We'd stay in like empty summertime college dorms. Uh-huh. Ain't no cure for a summertime college dorm. But when I actually saw what on American Summer, I was living in Pennsylvania and my girlfriend at the time was working as like a camp director or assistant camp director at a like an East Coast camp. This one was a Quaker camp, I believe. So I, when I would go to visit her and I'd,

would see the camp. I was seeing the movie roughly around the same time. I was like, ah, this all makes sense. Uh-huh. And so I have a question for you. The camps that you went to, Dan, did they ever have, like, color war?

That's a huge thing in the East Coast camps when you do color war. No. I don't even know what that is. The whole camp is split up into two sides where you're represented by a different color. And it's just for like two or three days, it's just competitive challenges

between these two teams. And everybody, everyone in the camp gets really into like being on a side. It's such an easy sociological experiment. It's to teach you to hate. Yeah, basically. They're like, you're red, you're blue. And it's like, oh, we hate you so much now.

Yeah, exactly. But they didn't have that. Yeah. No, no. I probably would have like super into it though, I bet. Oh, for sure. Yeah. You're really competitive in those kind of environments.

You would have been bane for blood, yeah. My main, uh, the main appeal of camp to me was like, I don't know, maybe a girl kissed me. Well, maybe that'll happen. Did it ever happen? No, but I got to hang out with a lot more girls in a way where, like, years of lack of social capital. Capital wasn't hindering me. Well, and also, you grew up in a town with very few girls.

I mean, it was known as the testosterone capital of America. Yeah, yeah. And I remember you talking about how your mom had to be hidden away at times because girls went out loud into the town after sundown. And so, yeah. I don't even understand this bit, but. No, I don't get it either. But I was just curious about that. Anyway, so moving on to the next movie.

It's interesting. Ellie, were you super into the color war? I, I think everybody would get into color war. There was something about being on a side and being, it was like, oh, I have acceptance for three days because everyone knows are part of this. And especially once I went, the camp I went to last, I could do, there was like a,

there was like a storytelling competition one time. And it was like, oh, I can do this. And I blew people away with that. Like that was the one time I was in like a camp competitive activity where I defeated, like just dominated the other side, you know? Not just wrestling, it was that too. Yeah, yeah. I mean also, we did a lot of like, that kind of like greased up oil wrestling they do

and kind of like turkey or grease. Yeah, yeah. We would do a lot of that. And there I would just dominate also because people would look at me and they go, oh, he's small. I can take him. But I would actually. But you're lithe.

I'm lithe, but also I could, because I was so greased up, it was easier for me to get inside the other person's body through their mouth or their anus. and just start attacking their organs on the inside, which they have no defense for. Once you're inside somebody, it's very soft in there. It's very soft.

They have no defense. And every move you make, every breath you take, you'll be hurting them. There's no, there's, again, all you have to do is flick your fingers and you're going to hit something that hurts. So, yeah, yeah.

And my finishing move was always when I would then, I mean, I would cheat a little bit and then I would bring a hand drill with me. And my finishing move would be to drill a hole through their chest and then just rip my way out. Oh, I thought you would use like a, like an old time he saw and saw an Elliot-shaped hole

Fredos to have. I mean, if I had the time to do it, but you can only do that once before they start to realize you're going to do that trick. And then they go, hold on, as soon as you start sawing, they pulled a saw out so that you can't use it anymore. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that makes sense.

Yeah, so anyway. More decisive, good counterstrategy. Camp memories. So, Stuart, it makes sense that you meant, it's helpful that you mentioned Pennsylvania because our next movie is Hotel Transylvania 3, summer vacation. Oh, okay.

Now, this is the movie where they're not at the hotel, Okay. Well, the movie, I think that one of them feels like a cruise, too, right? Like, I haven't seen the secret. A cruise ship is basically a hotel. Yeah. Okay.

But they're not at the hotel Transylvania, you know. Oh, okay. So have you guys seen, obviously you have... It didn't like uproot from the coast, like a, like a Nagarothy black arc from the worlds of Warhammer? No, it's just a regular cruise ship. Okay. Okay.

I watched the first hotel, Transylvania, because I... Not the one we're talking about. I believe it's a Guinea. Tarkovsky movie. It is, yes. And you wanted to understand the setting of all the fan art you've been enjoying in an adult way.

Yeah. Well, it's not sexy if you don't know the story behind it. Thank you. It's true. Thank you, dude. You need to know. You need to know the context. I mean, that was... That's why when you flip through Playboy, you're like,

but where are they from? Are they monsters? Are they girls of the Southern Conference or not? Do they work for Target? What's going on? Come on. Anyway, I saw that movie. This was another Gendi Tardikovsky movie.

I did the first three movies. I thought that movie was fine, but it did not inspire me to seek out any of the sequels. So I have not seen this one. I haven't seen any of them. They haven't seen any of them. They're fine. They're all right. You know, they're not bad.

I think you're not the target audience, Stu, as a number. adult without children. Yeah. So in this one, so it's... Or a man with a child's mind. Exactly. So, so let's... So you haven't seen them,

but you can imagine it's about monsters on a cruise ship. Does this represent your summers? I know you guys have been on cruises. I know Dan performed in a singing competition on a cruise. I've seen a video. Voice the ocean over here, yeah. Were there any monsters on the cruise with you? Did you feel like a monster?

I mean, I feel like you go on a cruise. You're going to meet some monsters. Wow. Yeah, yeah, yeah, like when that recent cruise ship with Patty Lepone wouldn't be allowed to dock because it was trying to dock in Turkey and they're like, you can't have a gay cruise dock here. What the fuck? That was not okay.

I hadn't heard that story, but... Well, the monsters were the people on the shore, not on the ship. Yeah, that's true. They weren't on the boat, yeah. It wasn't like the movie The Uninvited where there's a monster cat on a boat, you know. Oh, yeah. Whatever happened to that thing. I think they killed it.

And this is not the ghost movie with Ray Maland, the Uninvited, which is a much of the movie. Or ghost ship, for that matter. It's not ghost ship, yep. The movie that is one really good scene. But, yeah, they have a bad, they have one bad night of dancing on that cruise. One really good sequence. Similarly, the one good scene in a, in Jason takes, I was just like, Freddy Takes Manhattan.

In Jason Takes Manhattan is on a ship on the dance floor. There's that really good kill on the dance war But anyway Okay, so what's the deal with this thing? Is it like just a series of monsters doing things where you're like, oh wow, yeah, I guess the invisible man would be invisible in this situation.

I mean, Goddove. And Dracula falls in love with the great granddaughter of Abraham Van Helsing, his archimicist. And that's the Sandman, right? Adam Sandler does the voice for... That's the Sandman. Adam Sandler is still doing the voice in this one. Still all the same stars, Adam Sandler,

Andy Sandberg, Steve Busemi, David Spade, Kevin James. And that's much better than getting professional voice actors, right? I mean, they're at least, I mean, eventually that's what they did do. Because I think in the fourth one, I think Adam Sandler stops in Dracchola. I think it is one of the times that Sandler seems engaged. I mean, also, like, Sandler released comedy albums. Like, he's done comedy voice work, you know.

But so he does voices. But so would you guys want to be monsters on a cruise ship? Were to be on a cruise ship full of monsters. I mean, I've always wanted to be a monster. Like, when I was a kid, I would read, like, stupid little Y8 books about... I was a kid. I wanted to be a monster. Gould fellas. But, no, like, I feel like when I was a kid, if there was, like, I don't know,

like a little kid's book about, like, oh, no, you're a vampire now. I'd be like, I'm reading 100 of these. Yeah, you want that. Yeah, yeah. Now imagining in ghoul fellas about the guy, ever since I was a kid I wanted to be a monster, that when Joe Pache's character, he goes, goes, What am I a scary clown to you? Yeah, yeah.

Like the clown from it? Like the clown from it? Am I epit wise to you? Is this like a house of a thousand corpses or something? You know? So... Am I some sort of terrifier? So, Dan, would you want to be a monster on a cruise ship?

Yeah, you know, I was Stuart. I've always wanted to be... Have you ever been on a cruise, Elliot? Yes, I've been on a couple cruises. We went on a couple cruises when I was a teenager. that might have been it. It was on one of those cruises that I bought a piece of art

that still hangs in my hallway, which is a reproduction cell from one of the Hunters trilogy Chuck Jones cartoons. Oh, it's not anthropomorphic olives, blank wool. No, it's not. I'm also in my other painting

of Humphrey Bogart, James Dean, Elvis, and Marilyn Monroe all sitting around. And he ledgers the Joker. Yeah. I told you guys, I've talked about this on the podcast before, but there's an ice cream place

in Sonoma, California. I don't think it's there anymore. It was a yogurt place. Maybe it's still there. I've been there all the time. Like a Greek yogurt place? No, no, no. Like a frozen yogurt place.

Yeah, we would just go in for a big cup of Greek yogurt. It's really good for your gut bio. A frozen yogurt place. And they had those pictures, but it was like 50s vintage style themed. And they had those paintings up. And in one of them, you could see if he looked at closely that Humphrey Bogart was holding a newspaper with the headline about September 11th on it.

And I was like, wait a minute, what's going on this picture? Yeah. Well, he came on the second time. Yeah. That's good shit. That must have fucking flipped him out. Yeah, he was. He's like, oh, no, it's terrible.

So anyway, so we'll all be monsters on cruise. I've been on cruise ships. As a kid, I didn't like them. Now I think I might like him a little bit, you know. The same way that I never wanted to go to like an all-inclusive resort. Yeah. Last year, we went to Hawaii. We took the kids to an all-inclusive resort.

It was great. It was the perfect place for them. Well, that's the thing. Like, I always, you know, I read the, what, the... Supposedly fun thing. I'll never... Yeah. David Foster Wallace.

David Foster Wallace. That's what I was trying to think of. Yeah, I read that essay. David Australian for Beer Wallace. Uh-huh. And I found it very like, you know, interesting and funny. And like I always assumed that would be my attitude

about being on a cruise. And I've been on two now and I'm like, no, I mean like, yeah, there's a lot about this that's tacky. And like, obviously it's pitched to the widest, you know, swath of people that it can unless it's, you know, the Joko cruise, which is very specific,

which is one of the cruises I was up. But I get why people like are snobby about this. But you also, if you expect that, if you're like, yeah, I'm just going here to like not fucking think about anything. Yeah. There's a value to that as well. You're on goddamn vacation. Like, come on.

Fuck you for judging. This is just a place where you sit around and stare into space and just shovel food in your gullet. Yeah. It's called leaving the pain of, life for just a little bit. And at least the fucking scenery changes. I mean, I guess unless you run on those cruises where it's just the ocean for a long,

long time. Yeah, but that's, you're not seeing that outside your fucking home window. No, that's true. It's a different place. It's, it reminds me of, like, you could say the same thing about like French fries and chicken fingers and hot dogs where it's like, yeah, man, I know, it's not like the fanciest food. I'm not going to eat it constantly.

Every now and then you want something like that. So take that the late day. David Foster Wallace. Now, of course, he was also dealing with his own demons that I think made it harder for him to enjoy those types of pleasures.

Yeah, I like the demons from the Buffy TV show. Yeah, well, he had a Nesmeranian inside of him. That was part of the problem, yeah. So let's go to, we're going to go to one more movie before the break

when we're just going to update you on what's going on with the flop house. This is a movie mentioned by Stuart earlier, Summer of Sam. Now, of course, this is not true

to your summer experience, Elliot. I mean, the only, The only reason it's not true to my summer experience is I was not alive in 1977. So I didn't experience the New York City blackout or the murder spree of the son of Sam.

Guys, have you seen this movie? Yes. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Okay, does it represent the way summers were for you? Just hot in the city, murder on the loose. Yeah, certainly not. Tension everywhere. No, I did not grow up in any sort of urban environment

and there was no serial killer. everyone was afraid of. Okay. So I was just that one serial killer that everyone was friendly with. Yeah. Well, we understood why he was doing it and, you know, he kept it to the right people.

So, um... No, you just got one around dexter's. It's okay. Yeah, I got a dexter in the X-Out. Uh, no, I think that it would be hard to come up with a summer movie that was less like my experience. Yeah, I mean, this didn't speak to my childhood or teenage experience,

but as an adult living in New York, I've had some hot summer. And we've experienced blackouts there, right? You guys were there for the 2004 blackout, right? Although that was a different thing. I had to walk from Midtown back to Park Slope. Oh, wow. What a nice walk.

I mean, if you want to do it, it's not a... Yeah, he got pretty tiring by the end. I just had to walk from Midtown to Upper East Side, which was great. That was a different kind of blackout. That was such a friendly blackout. Everybody kind of like got along and was comfortable with each other. It was very sweet. Dan, was that the...

But on that walk, did you keep, like, doing pirouettes in the street being like, I've made it to Manhattan? That's right. I'm throwing my hat up in the air, too. Yeah, I mean, that doesn't happen in a show in Manhattan. Yeah, that's not in New York. Yeah, that's not in New York, yeah. I'm just going with the vibe, man.

I think so, yeah. And so, so Summer of Sam, let's just say... Is that the way you would want your summer to go? Would you like your summer to be a summer of Sam? Well, I feel like... There's a lot of cocaine involved. Is that a plus or a minus? I don't say a minus.

They got a this age. Studio 54, Plato's retreat, or both. I think they go to both. Yeah. They try to go to Studio 54. That's right. Yeah, they try to go and they end up at Plato's retreat. That stuff seems sort of interesting for some reason.

They go to CBGBs, but they don't like it. Yeah. Yeah, but being constantly afraid of someone murdering you seems like that. No, I'm going to guess that. In a city on fire, you know? Yeah. And I'm going to get, the only city on fire I want is the music from Sweeney Todd. Oh, yeah.

Sitting, Dan, I'm guessing the Plato's retreat experience was not a pleasant. It was not pleasant for the characters in that movie, no. No, or probably in real life, I'm guessing. Part of their dissolution as a couple, I think. Yeah, yeah. Now, and was Plato there often? Or does he just stop by every now and then? The same way that, like, because it's not like.

Oh, it's Plato the guy and not the, like, putty. Not the plenty, yeah, exactly. Oh, I thought that's what it was. A Play-Doh retreat is where, like, that would be fun. Where you just, like, lie down and it. That sounds great. Play-Doh, right? Yeah, or just, you know, it's just molding around you while you do it.

Yeah, of course. Because it's like when Grandpa Al Lewis from the Munsters had a restaurant, he would be at the restaurant and he'd interact with people's. But was Plato there at Plato's retreat? Just be, how you doing? Hey. Was he, try the affidado. Was he dressed his Grandpa Al from the Monsters?

Was he in the costume? Yes, well, I mean, he wouldn't be in the costume, but he would, he was called Grandpa Al all the time. When he ran for, he ran for the mayor of New York once, and the big thing was he wanted to be on the ballot as Grandpa Al Lewis. And it was a big argument about whether he could be listed as Grandpa. Was his restaurant in New York? It was in New York, yes.

Okay. So it's like a Jack on Hyde's thing where he's in costume? I don't think he was in costume. That's what I'm saying. But did they wear costumes at Check on Hines? They did wear costumes at Jekylln Heights. Did you guys ever go there? I sure did.

I didn't. I'm so upset. He missed out. I went. It was pretty awesome. I went when I was pretty awesome. I went when I was probably like 15 or something with my family, and it was, it was so much.

We went to the really big one, too. Like there were two of them. We went to the big one. It was so much fun. It was so cheesy. It was really fun. And then when I went to Mars 2112 later as a college student, I was like, no, no, I've been to Jeklin Heights.

I've seen this done right. I've seen it done well. This is not doing it for me. I've seen it for me. I've seen things you couldn't imagine. The Jeklyn Hyde floor show. Yeah. Those words just conjure something in my brain.

Yeah, now those memories they just melt away like tear drops in the rain. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Dan, you would have really, I think, Dan, I wonder when you, if you went when you were young, I think you would have been like, ugh, they're not treating the monsters with enough respect. But if you went now, I think you'd really enjoy it. Yeah, yeah. Unfortunately, it doesn't exist now, so you can't go now. Maybe I can find something on YouTube.

Maybe there's something about it. I bet you can. I'm sure. Now, while Dan looks up a Jekyllyn Hyde's restaurant, for anyone who's not familiar with this, This was a kind of like horror-themed stunt restaurant in New York that was as if you were going to a private club where every day Dr. Jekyll performed his experiment and turned into Mr. Hyde.

It was like an even more intense like Chuckie Cheese or like Rainforest Cafe. Even more intense than Chuckie Cheese? Better believe it, dude. It was like Chuckie Cheese for twisted guys. Like he'd see Cornack McCarthy in a corner booth. Just watching the floor show. Slamming down a Hydeburger or whatever.

You don't want the Hydeburger. Get the Jekyllberger. The Jekyllberger's all with the one with wild sauce on it. The Hyde one is evil. Let's take a brief break just to remind you, the listener, that you don't just have to listen to the Flop House. You can also watch it in person on September 18th if you're in Louisville, Kentucky on that date

because the Flop House will be appearing live, our first live show in months in Louisville, Kentucky at Worling Tiger. Go to Flophousepodcast.com slash events. It's Friday night, September 18th. We will be there. We're going to be talking about the movie Glitter, starring McGriacary, and we'll be joined by special guest, Howell Doughty. That's right, the Howl Doughty we talk about at the end of each episode.

We'll be there with us. What is he going to do? We have to figure it out. All we know is we're going to be there yucking it up, having fun. It's going to be great. Come see us. Go to Flophousepodcast.com slash events for tickets to see us live in Louisville, Kentucky.

And also, if you want to see us, but you don't want to see us in person, let's just say a little birdie told me that flop TV is coming back. Flop TV season four is on its way to you. That's our one-hour TV online internet broadcast version of the flop house. And what link can people go to to buy tickets for that dance? Well, as of this recording, it doesn't exist,

but I think there's a very good chance that by the time this is going to be released, we will have set up a link and maybe we can record a drop to insert here, the flophouse.com. But if you didn't hear it, we didn't have that link yet. As with before, we will be doing, it'll be the first Saturday of each month, September through February, and we've got a really fun theme. Should we talk about the theme yet or should we save that for next time? No, we can, like, hey, for teasing it, we can announce the theme, you know.

Get everyone excited. We're used to talking about the worst movies. How about the best movies, best pictures, that is? That's right. The Flop House is going to take on the best pictures that are maybe the worst best pictures. And we're going to do an episode for each of these. Let's not say the movies yet just yet.

Let's people marinate on that. But you know what? We may finally have our reckoning with a certain best picture winner that I'm not sure actually exists as a real movie. We're going to prove it. I think it's an elaborate sciop. and we'll find out if it's a real movie or not.

So that's FlopTV season four coming your way. Link insert here. Theflophouse.com. And go there to buy tickets. As always, you can get individual episodes or a season pass. In 2026, our comedy podcast solvents is one of the most reputable sources for medical information. Does that make me feel great?

No. No, me neither. But I do like to think we're doing our part in making sure that we're fighting the pseudoscientific misinformation that has pervaded modern society. Yeah, but we're doing our part over here on Sawbones Every Week, a marital tour of misguided medicine. It's not all serious stuff. We're still getting into all the wild, weird ways we used to try to heal people over the years. But we're also trying to keep tabs on the evolving situation. Yeah, we can talk about drinking raw milk and eating mummies.

It's Sawbones. That's right. It's Sawbones. It's every Tuesday. and it's on maximum fun.org or wherever you get a podcast these days. On Judge John Hodgman, the courtroom is fake, but the disputes are real. Brian would say, I'm the Gumby of this family. He's just not.

Claiming to be Gumby is an ungambi-like claim. No, it's just Gumby and I being our authentic selves. So what's your complaint? Too many sauces? There are no foods on which to put the sauces. Have we named all the sauces on the top shelf? yet not even close. You economize when it comes to pants. Truly, it's not about the cleanliness of the pants.

Well, why isn't it? This is what I want to know. Judge John Hodgman, fake court, weird cases, real justice. On maximum fun.org, YouTube, and everywhere you get podcasts. Now let's get back to the Flop House Mini, unless you guys have anything personal you want to talk about? Nope. Like our feelings or? Yeah, let's talk about our feelings.

This is your time. No, let's do it in the context. of the show like you're cool. Let's talk about more summer movies. We've got a few more summer movies. We're going to talk about whether you've seen them, whether they represent your summer. Would you like them to be your son?

Whether you see it and wouldn't want to be it. Or whether you see it and would want to be it. This first one coming up, guys, when we talk about movies with summer in the title, I'm just going to have to say that I know what you did last summer, which is also the title of this movie. So have you guys seen? I know what you did like.

Last Summer. Now, for the record, I'm talking about the original and not the sequel, which has the same title. But it's not a remake, right? It's a sequel. I still know is the sequel. And then there's the legacy. The legacy. But I'm talking about that. The original 1997, I know what you did last summer. Not the 2025, I know what you did last summer, which is a sequel to I still know what you did. You better believe I saw I know what you did last summer. I was in college when it came out. Everyone was in excited about Kevin Williamson because he wrote Scream and made Dawson's Creek on the on the TV and you're like, yeah, he's doing another horror movie. Scream, undeniable.

Yeah, no, scream, still great. Still works. Still worked. There's a reason they've done eight of them, one of which ripped me off. But otherwise, maybe it's not eight of them. How many have they done? They made what?

They made six, seven? I don't know. Stewart, stop trying to get on this young people, six, seven, grace. But the last two, yes, have been dog shit. So I know what you did last... So, yes, there's a reason that... But there's a reason they made so many.

That first scream is undeniable, for sure. But I know what you did last summer. Did you have the same experience as with scream? Did you laugh? Did you scream? Did you walk away saying Kevin Williamson has done it again? Oh, did I have the same... No, I mean, it's fine. It's a fine, like, silly, glossy slasher movie.

It's not that good, but I like seeing some of the actors in it. Uh-huh. At the time of its release, I had moved on to harder, stranger things that you could find deep within the bowels of my video store. But not the show Stranger Things, which would not exist for quite some time. No. I was wrong. I'm sorry.

I thought I know what you did last summer was a sequel to. I still know what you did last summer. It's a sequel to I'll always know what you did last summer, which was the third movie in the series. Oh, haven't seen the third movie? That's a direct-to-video. Oh, no, you know what? It's a direct-to-video standalone sequel. So it's actually, you know what, it's not part of the main last summer continuity.

Now, does it bother you at all? Dan, I imagine this would bother you, that they keep saying last summer when it is fact at this point many summers ago. Yeah, people have pointed out that it should have been, I know what you did the summer before last. I still know what you did the summer before last. But yeah, that first, I know what you did last summer's sequel is a great bad movie. Like that is a fun, bad one if you're looking for a dumb thing. And I mean, that title is just like perfect for scary movie. esk type bullshit jokes.

Yes, yeah, exactly. I saw, I know he did last summer, I don't remember it that well, to be honest. It's like fishermen, right? Fisherman, right? It's like, Gorton's fisherman is after them with a fish hook, yeah, exactly. Because they like hit someone with their car, right?

Yeah, it's got... It's got... Him? They hit him, right? Him, yeah. But it's not him who's after... It's not like... He's not back from the dead. It's somebody... It's, what? Someone wants revenge, right?

Yeah, someone wants revenge, right? Yeah. And they got, you know, you got your big 90s teen stars. Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Geller, Freddie Pringe Jr. Ryan Philippi. Everyone with three words in there. Yeah. Johnny Glecki's in there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Really? Yeah.

Wow. So you have a... Yeah, so is that representative of your summers? Did you ever hit someone with your car? And then they wanted revenge on you the next summer. Yeah, sure. Let me tell you about it. Oh, damn. Oh, whoa! Oh, no. We got what we need. Swarm, swarm, swarm. Yeah, no. It was worth doing it.

this podcast for 19 years or so to get that confession. I never lived in a fishing village on the coast. I never hit anyone with my car. I never... I mean, I've hit other cars with my car

accidentally from time to time. Did you ever do something during a summer that you were ashamed of and you hoped people didn't know about? During the summer. So I hit a guy with my car, haven't we all? But my experience is more like in,

affinity pool, then... I thought yours was more of a stuck experience, where he was still halfway through the windshield and you just left him in your garage. Like, oh, I'll bring some fruits next. My experience was more like, should we exchange insurance? No, it doesn't look like there's really any damage.

Okay, well, see ya. And he probably forgot about it, so he didn't know what he did last summer. Yeah. Is this what you would want your summer to be like, that you cover up a crime and then you have to pay for it afterwards? Yeah, when you think you've gotten away,

Scott-free, and then a murderer comes and kills all your friends and potentially you, Certainly not the pay for it part. Yeah. You'd like to get away with it, is what you're saying. I like sewing, but reaping is less fun. Yeah.

All right. Okay. Well, perhaps this will be more to your liking. This is a movie that's also about summer, but it's not about... Interesting. It's not about a crime that's committed, but it is maybe about a summer where boundaries are pushed, and that's Summer Lovers from 1982, starring Peter Gallagher, Daryl Hannah and Valerie Quinnesson.

Have you guys... Have you seen this? I've seen this movie. I have not seen this. There's no way Dan has not seen this movie. I was shown this by our AV expert, the man behind the scenes also

a flop TV, Matt Carmen and... He's a man. He's all man. Kassinia. Whole human being in her own right as Hodgman would say. Yeah, we watched it. I was... I got to say, I was annoyed at this movie.

This is a movie about a threesome that really backs off on the on the three-send. It's about, it's about, there's two, two Americans who are on vacation in Greece, right? And they meet a lady that they're attracted to and they have a summer of sexual experimentation. Yeah, I don't think they, like, yeah,

it never really, like, heats up to the point that you would expect from the setup, I would say. I don't think things are consummated fully in the way one who was brought into the theater with the promise of erotic secrets, You don't see it happen. You don't see the things that you want to have seen. So, Seward, you've never seen this movie.

Dan, you've seen it, probably seen certain parts of it more than other parts of it. It's not really that much of it. Anyway. So is this like your summer? Have you ever gone to Greece and had a summer of sexual experimentation and erotic adventurism? Yeah, and I got like I left learning more about myself and my body and the bodies of the people close to me. Oh, right. It's a Randall Kleiser movie

The director of Mac and Me Oh, yeah. Oh, right. Oh, that's right. He also did, I mean, also directed Greece. Oh, wow. You know, the Blue Lagoon, Fly the Navigator. Yeah.

White Fang. Wow. Bangers. Wait, he did Mac and Me also? Damn. Yeah, I, wait. Didn't he? Am I thinking of someone else?

I think of someone else. Let's look it up. Uh, da, do, do, do, no,

I'm thinking of someone else. That's Stuart Raffel who directed. Oh, right, right. Randall Kaiser, I mean,

you would probably know him best from, from, um, uh, big top pee we. Yeah. You know?

I, I, I think there's a similar vibe to their name somehow, but, uh, yeah. He actually, he directed Honey I shrunk the audience.

Grandview USA, uh, because he directed Honey, I blew up the kid. He did a lot of stuff. Yeah. Yeah, he's working, you know. Anyway, but, but so, Stuart.

So I've gone on one of these things. Dan, what about you? Was that your summer experience? My erotic adventures did not take place in Greece, no. So it's entirely unlike anything in my life. All right. I will also say this is not particularly relevant to my career. Oh, okay.

My life career. Is this how you would want your summer to go, guys? Always. Hell yeah. Wait, Peter Gallagher is in the mix Yeah, Peter Gallagher's in the mix Yeah, I'm Yeah, he's a charming fellow

I did I tell you guys about The terrible play I saw because of Peter Gallagher It wasn't the revival of guys and dolls he was in No, no, no, no, no Just a masterpiece, yeah Very important piece of my Petergoin history This was the musical He was in the Seusicle

Be sure to get upset about a thing I'm not saying Dan, how dare you slander Maybe one of the greatest musical revivals There ever was. No, we were looking through like The Discount Tickets on Theater Development Fund And Audrey's like, do you want to see this? Is this interesting?

And I was like, I don't want to see that thing But what about this thing? And it was called Left on Tenth And it was written by Delia Efron Which was, you know, part of why I was interested in it. And Peter Gallagher was one of the stars. And I'm like, how could this go wrong and it was uh you know they tried and god bless and peter galgar

gave whatever charm that thing had but it was one of these things were just like tealia just because this is very dramatic this is very dramatic this thing that happened to you but you've barely like turned it into theater like this is you you're too close to the material and it was one of the worst things i've seen on broadway and i just really enjoyed uh bad to the point that i was kind of enjoying it by the end because they're like these elderly women behind us who were in some sort of Broadway

club. I could overhear them starting going, it's not very good, is it? I mean, that, hearing older Broadway theater goers talking about a play when you're not doing a play is one of the greatest things. Yes. That was many, I had many conversations

like that with my own grandmother when we would see plays that we were not loving. But Peter Gallagher, he's fantastic. I've had some interaction with Peter Gallagher, I'll say, and wonderful. Just seems like a wonderful guy. Okay, so summer lovers, you guys are all on board for that. Now, what if it was, what if

there was a sadder version of that kind of summer? Oh, no. That's what we're talking about summer of 42. This is from 1971. It's a coming of age film about, it's during World War II, but these are some teenagers. They're not young enough to go off to the fight, and they really want to lose their virginity. And one of them does with a woman

whose husband is off at war, and she's waiting for him to come back. And it's mainly about, have you got, well, you guys have seen this. This is mainly about disappointing first, first sex experiences. I've not seen this. I haven't seen this one. All right. Is it representative of all of your experience? Did you, when you were a teenager, did you ever have a brief thing?

With a brief disappointing fling with a, I mean, it was a teenager. That's what happens. Was that disappointing experience with the wife of a soldier who was off at war? No. Okay. Thank goodness. But you did have disappointing sexual experience. Although I think I could have brought her some comfort.

Sure, sure. Is this something that you would have wanted in your summer? This kind of like kind of, you know, things that really turned. When I was a teenager, I was an idiot. You grow up fast after an experience like this. Like you enter that summer teenager and you leave it an adult, you know. Is that what you want? It sounds kind of like it would linger with me in a sad way.

Yeah, I think so. Probably. about the, you know, the space between two people. Every now and then you'd look back on it with a wry smile of regret, you know, but it made you what you are today. A big Fox News watching mega enthusiast old man. Wow. That infers a lot about my future, but that's okay.

I mean, the future of you, the guy who was a teenager in 1942, you know. Right. Yeah, it didn't happen. We don't have to go back in time to stop it, Stuart. I mean, to be honest, if you're a teenager in 1942, you'd be 100 years old now. So there's, you know, probably you're not doing much of anything. So you'd be waiting for fucking Al Roger to show up with your fucking bouquet or whatever. Giant oversized check, what does he do? Yeah. A giant like toblaron?

He gives you $100. Here's a $1 for every year. Every year you've been alive. I'll take it, man. Buy yourself some worth of worthers. Yeah. Buy yourself. It brings you $100 worth of worthers because he knows that you're going to spend it on anyway.

Yeah. Yeah, they go into the fucking Werther store and they have my number. I got a fat pigeons here Ready to be plop, boy I see the fucking salesman licking his looks Licking him because he's got a fucking We're meeting our sales quota today, fellas Hey guys, let me show you how it's done

Here take this new flavor after a spin Hey Rook, hey Rook You have a seat I got this one The master at work I got two mortgages to pay here kid sell this hard candy to this old asshole. Come on in, fella.

Come on in. He's going to be eating the candy out of my hand. I don't know if I should buy that much candy. I should talk to my wife first. Oh, so your wife makes the decisions. So I should be talking to her. Oh, fuck it, I'll buy this candy. See, that's how you do it, son.

He drives way in a Cadillac. Commissions, son. It's all about commissions. Yeah. Maybe you always be candy. I'm imagining one giant we're there. in the middle of the showroom on the pedestal. Yeah, slowly rotating.

There's the sales chart in the back who's pushed the most Wethers. An old man walks in, they're all fighting over each other to get there first. Well, guys, we've had a lot of laughs. There's only two more summer movies to look at. This next one is going to be just as funny.

That's right. It's suddenly last summer. Have you, I've guys, seen this movie, Are you familiar with the story of suddenly last summer? I think it's on criterion right now. I think I looked at it and was like, do I want to watch this, maybe? No, I'm not. Now this is based on the play by Tennessee Williams.

Are you familiar with the story of it at all, suddenly last summer? No, I don't think so. And it's not like suddenly Seymour, which is a different thing entirely. Okay. So suddenly, not to spoil it for you, suddenly last summer is the story of a young woman

dealing with the trauma of a violent murder that she saw the previous summer. But we find out. And she still knows what they did. Well, she's dealing with it. And her other members of her family, her mother, I believe it is, is this about the death of her cousin

after a cousin's dissolute summer of debauchery. And her mother is trying to get, has institutionalized her because she refused to admit that this exists, that what she, her daughter remembers actually happened. You know, it is a, it's a harrowing tale of psychic trauma you guys haven't seen it.

Is this what your summers are like? No. So summer lovers, suddenly last summer, both equally different than your summer experiences. Yeah, my psychic trauma

is just kind of a low-level sort of constant dissatisfaction and alienation. I don't, you know, I don't feel like it's tied to... It's not in any way tied to mass cannibalism or anything like that. Right, right.

Wait, what? That's what that's about? I'm not going to spoil anymore. See that movie. So the This is something that's some reason There's a part of me that wishes I had like Like a Cadillac of Trauma

Like a specific thing instead of like Oh yeah I just have to deal with the stuff I've inherited For my parents I think it's very easy for people to desire Something that's more distinctive than what they have But it's probably better not to have a Cadillac of trauma I mean you're probably right

Don't go to the And do not go to the guy who used to sell Werther's You know at the Cadillac of Trauma dealer and he's going to get you in a Cadillac full of bad traumatic experiences. You don't want that. He's too good a salesman, you know. So suddenly last summer, would you want this to be what happens to you? That you had a summer that was so traumatizing that you were in a mental institution now

and your mother wants to have a lobotomist cut the memories out of your brain. Well, that part. Yeah, I am always looking for like an easy way to solve my problems. Oh, they're just going to eternal sunshine me? Okay, okay. No, it sounds pretty bad. No, that seems horrible. That might be the worst one you've suggested yet.

Okay, that one's pretty, I think, so worse than I know what you did last summer, where you've killed someone and you're on the run from something else. Yeah, because, like, you get to be a teenage hard body. That's true. You do get to be a teenage hard body. I mean, I don't know you just become the character from I know what you did last summer. I think you're still you. We're not morphing?

I mean, everybody's morphed these days. Everybody's morphing these days. So suddenly last summer, let's say, let's not do that. Also, it's not what my summers were like either. I had my share of unpleasant summers, but they were not that bad, you know. Finally, there's one last movie on here. Uh-oh. This one snuck in because it has summer in the title.

That's right, it's 500 days of summer. It has to encompass summer in some way because it's 500 days. That's more than a year. So this movie, have you guys seen 500 days of summer? I'm not saying the parentheses, I apologize. 500 days of summer, yeah. the premise is you jump around

with a bunch of different days of the relationship between what's his face? Joseph Gordon Levin and Zoe Das Chanel. You got a looper and an adorable

in one movie. You've seen this movie. Does it represent your experience of summer? I mean, certainly having a crush on someone adorcable and then... You did?

And then going to a party and hoping that things might turn out a certain way and then it not turning out well. Like those are the experiences I can relate to. Yeah. What about you, Stuart? And the feeling of when things finally work out and you look at yourself in the mirror and you're Han Solo, like, that makes sense.

Yeah, yeah. So I think, and I similarly, I feel like not necessarily a summer. No, it did have that over a summer once, whereas like you have an unrequited crush on somebody and you're hoping that it works out and it doesn't work out. Do you want this to be your summer? Do you want to experience that again? I mean, it gets to be with Zoe Dish-Nelle for a little while. That's true.

Good. So you're saying the dopamine highs are worth the crushing lows. I mean, I think that's kind of ultimately the moral of the movie in a way. I mean, isn't that life though? No, you're right. You know, the highs are worth the low. No, no, no. I think it's better to armor myself in contempt and like nothing at all.

You would prefer to have a thick layer of cynicism between you and reality. Yes, please. Yeah. Well, we've got either side of the spectrum here. Just scab it up. Turn me into concrete, but for emotions. Yeah, not concrete who has a new book out right now. There's a new concrete comic out the first time in years.

Not concrete. Oh, he wrote something to do? Concrete, the fictional character, now has a new book out, yeah. But you want emotional concrete as opposed to concrete the character who is, his body is made of concrete, but he actually is very vulnerable. Yeah, he's very vulnerable, yeah. Yeah. I could totally see him in a fine.

500 days of summer type scenario. Easily. Yeah, very much so. And it's hard for him to fall in love because his body's made of concrete. He would crush a human being. Yeah, the physical act would provide challenges. And when he meets a woman made out of concrete, they're just not as tight. Yeah, that's the worst part.

Yeah, yeah. People assume just because they keep trying to push them together. You keep trying to match us up because we're both concretes. But, you know, yeah. You think I listen to music concrete all the time. Well, I don't. Well, guys, so if I can sum up, what we've learned about summer is you would like your summer to be crazy.

Sexy, cool. You would not like to have any sort of murder involved. You don't want a serial killer running around. You don't want to hit someone with their car and have revenge. You don't want to be eaten alive. You don't want any of those things to happen. Wait, that happens? You would not mind being around monsters on a cruise,

and you want to have sex. They're relaxed. But you want to have sex with someone that you're not going to regret it with after later because it leaves an emotional, you know, aftertaste. That's better. Usually one of the top ways to do it. Yeah, yeah.

So I think, you know what? I think we can make that happen. You guys, I think I can't provide it for you. But I think if you were far enough... I thought we were talking about the salesman again. He can put us in this... Yeah, I'll put you in a... This summer is here today.

What does it take to get you to drive away in a crazy sexy sexy... summer. What's it going to take? No, no, no. Now that we know, now that we've examined what we want out of summer, we can go out and get it. You can go out. Exactly. Because the first step of getting what you want is knowing what you want. Listeners, I know what you want. What you want is to tell other people about the Flop House podcast. Why not leave us a review on the podcast app of your choice. Make it a five-star review. Why not? Be generous. Come on. You only get crazy with it. Come on. It's the summer. Let's get crazy and sexy. It's the summer. Yeah. Come on. And I took a, I took some

A well-deserved heat on the Discord for recommending the Discord without telling people how they could go to the Discord. I'm like, oh, I forget. It's a last name withheld.com is the easy link to get to the Flop House. The Flop House Discord. It's a real nice place for conversation. The people there are real friendly. Tell them Dan sent you now that you know what the URL is to get to it.

When he actually sends it, yeah. This show, who has provided us with all the summer help, all the summer schooling and summer jobs for this one. Why? It's Alex Smith. You may know him better as Howell Doughty. He's going to be with us in Louisville, Kentucky on Friday, September 18th. I hope you can join us there.

This podcast, we thank him for making this rambling nonsense sound like an actual show that you listen to. We are a member of the Max Fun Podcast Network. Please go and try out other Max Fun shows. They've got a lot of great ones. If you like them enough, or even if you don't like them, go to MaximumFund.com. And become a member. Why not?

Because the show only exists. because of the support of our listeners and maximum fun members. Thank you so much for being members. We appreciate it. Thanks for keeping the lights on and the air conditioning on as well because this summer has been hot. We'll be back with you next week with another full-length episode of the Floph House

where we will watch a bad movie and then talk about it. Until then, I hope you've been having a great summer. I've been Elliot Kalen and I've been joined by... Dan McCoy and summertime, Stuart Wellington. Stay cool. See you next year at school. And also next week. Oh, and next week, yeah.

Maximum Fun. A worker-owned network. Of artists-owned shows. Supported directly by you.