The Flop House - FH Mini 48 - A Trip Down Memory Lane with Nukie, featuring Erik Marcisak

Episode Date: February 5, 2022

We're joined by Erik Marcisak, the man who holds a hallowed place in Flop House history, as the man who introduced Dan and Elliott to one another. We reminisce with Erik about the old days, doing shows in his tiny comedy theater; then we segue into a discussion of Nukie, one of the bad movies that bonded him with Elliott; and wrap up with Erik subtly hijacking the show to interview us for a little bit.

Hello, welcome to the Flop House Mini. That's right, it's the Flop House, but it's a slightly smaller episode. It's just the length of a normal podcast episode, and not one of our normal, extra sized, which is for us regular-sized episodes. And so, to wrap up, it's to remind you, the Mini is regular sized, which is smaller than our normal episodes, which are bigger size than regular podcasts. I'm Elliott Kaelin, you're not complicated at all, host. And joining me are my regular co-hosts.

Dan McCoy. Oh, and right over here, it's Stuart Wellington. And joining us today is a very special guest, a luminary of the video game scene, but you probably know him best for his important role in the secret origins of the flop house. The person who created the comedy space through which Dan and I first met and became bestest buddies. That's right.

It's Eric Marseys-Ack, former New York County and Preserveo, current Canadian video game and Preserveo. Woof! Okay. That was a sound of, uh, this is my first podcast. So I've never been on a podcast. So yeah. Alex loop in a fucking bottle pop and sound effect back there. It was awesome.

It looked great. Yeah. I didn't make a lot of noise though. Yeah. I didn't make a lot of noise on the, well, maybe, I don't know, maybe. Eric popped a bottle of champagne, but it appears to be a screw top bottle of champagne on a cork. No, I popped it off the way you're supposed to, right? I don't know, maybe you're like popped a bottle of champagne, but it appears to be a screw top bottle of champagne. I thought a cork.

So I popped it off the way you're supposed to, right? See what I don't know. I didn't know what you were saying. You did it perfectly. It just didn't cause a lot of sound. That's why I'm telling Alex, Alex makes sure to loop it, make it sound insane. I want people to be like wondering if there's

an earthquake happening in their town when they hear this. The right way to do it, Eric in the future, the correct way to pop a champagne cork is to shoot it into Jessica Beale's eye during the mid-credits scene at the end of a very bad movie. There's a little, there's a little asterix and then there's a little box that the asterix Lee Suge is, see the last episode, accidental love, aka nailed smile and stand. Well, I actually got the reference because it's a weird thing. I love this show. I just want to say I've been listening to it forever. I'm going to take a sip though. Since you kind of, since you kind of get credit for creating, I don't think so. I don't know that one. Thank you, Eric. I'm not running with that all the way to the courts, but I love the show and I've expressed it to Dan several times.

I think still are probably not so much because we don't see each other that often. We're kind of like, yeah, so you don't tell me much Eric and we talk every few weeks. No, you and I vent about like just how horrible it is to be just writing and being in this business that just wants to eat your soul all the time. Yeah, that's true. We do talk about that a lot. Well, Eric, to explain to listeners who may not know the secret origins of the flop house. Oh, yeah.

Eric, for many years, Ryan, he's a long time friend of ours. For many years, Ryan, comedy spaces in New York, one in particular, which was called Juve Hall, underneath the Gene Frankl theater on Bond Street. This is after we had left the place that we had gone to after leaving show worlds, the porn house where Eric first began his comedy producing career. No, we can't just, we can't just speed over it like so. So, the Eric ran a space called above kleptomania that was a theater above show world, which was one of the few remaining sex, I guess, live sex shows and porn places in New York.

I don't, I don't know if it was a live peep show for a place, and I think they just said video booths. It think it was a video booth. It had video booths. It was basically a place where they had Giuliani came down with this rule on all these sex entertainment places in Times Square. And he said a percentage of this place could be for this horrible stuff of just basically a closet where a guy could watch a video clip and trick off to it. But there had to be a percentage of the space that had to be dedicated to like a legit

business. So they would have souvenirs. Yeah. I also want people to know like in New York, unlike like outside of New York, everybody's got a closet in their home where they watch pornography and just jack off onto the floor and then a stranger comes and cleans it. Well, New York, you actually have to rent that. Because you're not everybody.

You don't have the closet space. The closet space. Yeah, exactly. If the closet is big enough to jerk off and it's technically a bedroom in New York and you can rent it out. Yeah. And now this show world had it had some very frightening circus themed decorations and also some of the least accurate posters on the walls. I remember there was one of Times Square that said like Times Square in 1942 and there was a big poster for the third man a post-World War 2 movie so that could not have a night. What a day it was and there was a there's a poster that just was a picture of thanks not for that said the golden age of jazz on it. Really going on attention but only that's one of my glorious memories of hanging out with you while waiting for another show to finish was just like looking at this stupid poster and how wrong it was. Yeah.

And so after my, but my favorite memory of us performing at show world was when I and my former sketch partner, Brock Mayan used to perform as the hypocrites. We had very small audiences. Often it would just be like a family member of mine and then some rando who thought the girls were going to come out at any moment, start taking their clothes off. And one time my grandmother, who at the time was in her early 80s maybe, or late 70s, unless it was in the late 70s,

was there with my mom and my sister, and they went to see the show, and then we were standing under the marquee afterwards before going our server ways, and we heard a couple walk by, and the woman turned the man and said, this place looks too tame for us. I think the same thing that my grandmother was a patron of the photographic part of it.

Imagine the history that your grandmother has seen and that she then got to go to show world to watch you perform. Sure. And she did, I mean, not to go on a tangent on a tangent, but my grandmother did meet with many illustrious people. She told me many times about the dinner party she was at where she sat next to Jackson Pollock's art agent and tried to press him to admit that Jackson Pollock's work was garbage that she was, she kept saying, come on, you admit

it. It's not real painting, right? It's a bit. And the man whose job was to sell Jackson Pollock's paintings to galleries did not, did not bite the, bite the data on it. Anyway, Eric eventually moved to this other theater space, Juby Hall, where Dan and I first met and we all performed comedy there for a while. Not Stuart, who's too cool for that? But Stuart was a patron there, if I were a creator. I don't know when you moved in New York, Stuart. Was that, when, when, when, yeah, it was around. I feel like I, I either went to go see Dan perform there or I went with Dan to see Elliot's show.

But no, I wasn't a performer because I had not gotten over, I was still a coward and didn't like to perform in front of audiences. Yeah. But yeah, it was very kind to come either way because this was not, Eric,, this is, this was not, you know, Eric, no, no, you know, no insult to you who has launched many great comedy careers, ours and Sarah Shaper and Matt Koff and various folks went through the whole,

but this is not the the high end of New York comedy that we're talking about. Small basement black box theater. One can imagine, I guess, that since the last year was literally in a sex shop that this was a step up, but we were not rocking straight to the top. It was. Even though literally it was a step down, it was below ground. Below, yeah.

No, it was, I mean, like at that time, that was a crazy time of comedy in New York City. There was the UCB theater. There was another one. There's a pit. There were all these other theaters that were kind of competing for people and classes. Most of them wanted you to kind of join their cult and pay $300 so that you can learn how to do. And so, Eric, would you say that yours was either the was yours? Either the friendliest theater or the least successful cult. I'd say the least successful cult. Because I did not charge any money for anybody to pay for any classes. What's the problem?

Pete, readers of was that the post for the daily news may remember that Eric is notorious as the man who is quoted in the paper saying, Lord Michael is an old man and needs to step aside and give it as well as you know, I was still hasn't done it. All right, he hasn't. He hasn't. Yeah, I was. Any day ago. Any day.

He's going to. Yeah, and this caused a, this caused a führer in which the upper citizens brigade took to the message boards to lambastaric in a really real example of all these comedians standing up for the biggest man in television comedy? He's f**king taping for Saturday night fucking live. Jesus. Yeah, it was a real, real admirable case of the most successful alt comedy theater supporting

the most successful sketch comedy show in American history against a tiny downtown theater. Right, right stuff, good stuff. Okay, I can't pay it. James, you can't paint the awesomely in the show that we were doing as like, to the innocent. I had a show called, Sirenite Rewritten, that was literally like,

we're gonna watch Sirenite Live, and then the next day, we're gonna basically be inspired by what they did, and write a whole new show in less time, it could be almost as funny. I think it was funnier. It was certainly less professional, but I think often it was funnier than the show the night before. Yeah, funnier than I was saying. Nightlife, history's least funny show that I've watched every episode of. I do think that it was... Part of the problem was the framing of the show made it seem much more like we were just taking

Saturday Night Live sketches and tweaking. And it's really, really right. Which we were not. The sketches themselves were all new sketches. Yeah, it was a completely new show that was vaguely inspired by SNL in the same way that an improv scene is inspired by a word from the audience. But a full disclosure, like, you know, 100 years later, like, the name was on purpose. The explanation of the show was on purpose to kind of get audience members to the door. The interview of course. The interview that I did where I called Lauren Michaels a grandpa who should retire, which I think he was about 20 years ago still, but now he's

a mummy. That retire. But I you were just being a prov, a provocateur. Yeah. I was, I was being a young asshole who was trying to get more butts in the seats and like, sure, maybe like, Hey, this guy thinks he's, you know, these, you know, like an asshole. Totally. You wanted to be a, like, you're a, you know, like an asshole. You wanted to be a total getter. It was a total getter. You were a sketch comedy disruptor. And you were hoping that day would come where the lights would go up, and there was just

clapping, and there's one person that seats, and it's Lauren Michaels, and he said, well, the God that has been thrown down, the worthy competitor. Well, well, well. But that being the case, people should have taken you about as seriously as I always took you, which is not that much. Yeah, exactly. So this episode is not just about Eric's career as a comedy provocateur. Really?

Bought par none. I remember that. Non-parallel. Or this is, Eric is here because another thing that Eric really stoked in us, although I think he wasn't the first stoker, but certainly he was someone who was one of the early stokers. Yeah, and Stoker, the movie, which actually came later than the event. And Stoker, it's a whole history that goes back in the far left. So, but Eric is also a bad movie connoisseur.

And Eric, we were talking about before the show, you and I, about talking about some of our memories of being maybe overeager bad movie connoisseurs and one movie in particular that we glombed onto. Yeah, the movie is new. As someone who used to go to video stores and buy, you take, it looks like there'd be bad movies. Right, maybe it's my age or whatever,

and I'm looking back, and it's also this convergence of being old, wondering why I still like bad movies, and wondering why I also devote my time to listening to you guys every episode. I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, guys. I really don't give us the Lord Michael's treatment. Come on.

You guys should all return. Don't disrupt this podcast. I gotta go text the UCB theater to beat you up. Oh my god. They will if I step inside. I'll wait. They don't exist anymore. Oh, I'm really.

I mean, you live too. I mean, you didn't. You're theater. I didn't. I long before theirs did. But I know. I know. you are too. I mean, you're theater and I wrong before theirs did, but I know I ran away. You literally went over the boundary to another country. I had to, I got so scared of certain people, I just had to run, I had to go on the run.

No, so thinking about all this kind of stuff, because I, guys, like I said, and I don't think I finished the thought, but I love this show. I love it. And I used to be a fan that used to be like, oh, I see the title of what they're watching. Let me watch the movie and then listen to what they have to say. And then I kind of over time evolved to the point of just like, I just like what they

say, like what you guys are talking about. And I think it's that communal feeling that I've chased throughout my life with bad movies. And there's something about it that I find fascinating. And you guys provide that little like hour and a half, two hours longish or whatever. Sometimes more. Sometimes more. Like once a week that I get, even with the guests in the nanny episodes, like it's still like, I like hanging out with you guys, even though it's all one side of it.

Like I don't think I've spoken to Stuart since pre-pandemic. No, probably a wedding or some other function. Yeah, I think yeah, maybe at a live show, we kind of like cross paths, but then like damn occasionally we email and LA, we chat. We talk on the phone regular.

We chat on the phone regular. So Eric, it's a, but it's bad movies are no longer the glue of your social life that they once were. No, they're not. But, and maybe it's the glue of your social life now. He's a parent. He doesn't have a parent. I have nothing. I have nothing, but you guys, let's one wake up. For me, it's booze. I mean, it's for these.

For me, it's for glue. We're like, like, I have a new big glass. So Eric, so you're a time out, Nookie, there's this one particular movie that is that was a big one for Eric and me and also Eric and other friends of ours. But it's a movie that was mentioned in, I think, multiple speeches at your wedding, Eric. So tell us about, tell us about Nookie. We can make this an unofficial missed that movie.

I've seen this movie several times. Well, my question is Dan and Stuart, have you guys seen it? I have not seen it. I've seen Elliot's presentation on Nuky probably eight to ten times. Yeah, that makes sense. I used to do it a lot. I've seen this presentation so many times, and the message of Elliot's presentation is don't watch the movie.

And I tell you every time I've seen him do it, like three people come up to me afterwards and they're like, man, I got to watch Newke. I'm like, you weren't listening, dude. I don't even want your take on Fight Club now. I don't care if you like the Chinese ending more where they arrest him at the end. I mean, I gotta say that's, it's quite a choice. I don't care if you like the Chinese ending more, were they arrest him at the end? The buildings don't blow up. I gotta say, it's quite a choice. It's a twist that I was not expecting.

I'm impressed. Well, learning in this past week or two that China often, well, I guess, end movies with a text screen that just says everyone was arrested. It turned out okay. That's the way that I'm breaking up. That's the end of I'm breaking up. So we got the we got the Chinese added of unbreakable. Which master of twist himself, I think

you can appreciate it. Game recognize game. So Eric, tell us about Nuki, what's what's the basic facts? Okay, so we start on a tracking shot. It's I don't think we can go into that much. It's just the way it's your boys. It's a tracking shot. It's him. I don't think we can go into that. I don't know. We can go into that. My. It's just. It's just. It's just. It's just. It's just. It's a tracking shot in Long Island city. Oh, okay. One Fred Durst is walking down the street. No, no, no. He's walking. I think you're. I know. I know. Sir, I think you're thinking about the time of the video for Nookie. Not not. Not. Not.

Not. You're afraid. I'm sorry about that. No, Nookie. So nookie was this weird movie that I found at the time there were in New York City, there was a lot of mom and pop VHS stores that were going out of business that were like just closing down and they had the seller stock. So it'd be like five movies for 20 bucks. And you'd look at these covers

and you're like, what the hell is this shit? So you put it on one time and it was just watching it at home and it was, it's basically a knockoff of ET. Somehow learning now, like looking at the information now, it was filmed in South Africa, like it's a South African production. So it's kind of a knockoff of trying to do that. And it was, and don't just South Africa, not, not before the end of the bad times in South Africa. Right. So not after. It was, but yeah, it was before the end of the bad times in South Africa. Right. So not after. It was before the end of the bad times.

It was a time when you really don't want to be affiliated with South Africa. Right. And so it's basically like a story of two brothers that get separated and one is captured by NASA and the other ones. There's aliens. Yeah, keep pointing to them.

Keep pointing to them. I knew he was running me. Go ahead. First is aliens, brother's second. They probably would write they were saying brothers, brothers first and not aliens at all because they see the earth people as aliens. They're on the other planet. Yeah. Oh, I guess that makes sense because they're they're just normal, right?

And we're the aliens. Yeah. It may it may it doesn't never make sense in movies when aliens show up. We're from outer space. No, they're from all we live in outer space to them. Yeah, I mean, actually everybody's in outer space. We just have to be sitting on this rock. Yeah, that's a very good point, very good point.

Money is all made up. You're everything about this? Like, it just has no value that we put on. Hold on, Dan, I have a picture of a, of a, of a champ wearing a hat. I don't want to sell you for a million dollars. Okay. Well, if that's for a million dollars. Okay. That's what we started on that, bro. Made up.

I mean, who cares? You should just. Sure. Yeah, just give it to me. It's not real money. Oh, man, Eric's room got really cool. Yeah, I have this. I have this for work.

Just anytime, like the conversation gets really like college drugged out kind of. I just, I go back to a dorm where it's got Bob Marley on the wall. There's what across the universe movie poster. Yeah. It's pretty. No framer. It doesn't mean a frame. Why would you put a frame on a poster? No, frames aren't real. It's just not that much. It wants to be free. Is that a tapestry on the ceiling or is that just another movie poster? Garden State right next to it. Oh, wow wow that's really cool. Probably something of some mountain sea. Oh and is Dan sitting on a hamburger grill? Yeah. That's a background of a singing that guitar hamburger from a Better Off Dead, right? Yeah. Yeah. This is

a that's a scene that lives in my brain. You know I much like Bernstein and Citizen Kane I don't think a month goes by that I don't think about that scene from better off dead. Yeah, for things for no reason. You saw that Claymation hamburger for just a couple of minutes. He didn't see you at all. Yeah, but a month doesn't go by. So Eric Nuky and Nico, their brothers from space, one lands, and once captured in America, the other lands in Africa, right?

Right. And so it's really about them trying to connect with each other or get back together so that they can kind of like be with each other and then kind of leave the earth because it's pretty dangerous and fucked up. And there's one so the one brother that's at NASA is just getting like studied by NASA and getting pumped with drugs and there's a drama there and he's in the US. And the other one is in Africa who befriends like a tribe and it's really weird but they try to meet each other and in the end the happy ending is of course they meet each other and they take a talking chimp with them.

There's also a chimp that they can, well because Nuki can talk to animals. Nuki has a bewildering variety of powers. He can freeze people with his mind. He can change the weather. He can talk to animals, but he spends a lot of the movie just kind of like with his head in his hands, not knowing what to do and like, what do that sounds like? Like a press. A lot of those powers seem easily represented on film with not a lot of money. Uh, I think he'd be correct. Yeah.

Uh, and Miko, on the other hand, his brother, he can, he can leave the lab where he's being tortured on his own will. He keeps leaving and then walking back in again, uh, which is confusing. See, that is a detail I've already started to lead in my head. He like walks out of the chamber they kept in and has a conversation with the computer for a long time and then walks back in again. Like, just go, Miko, just go. Now, what I recall from the Nuki presentation that again I've seen several times is that one or both of the aliens is very snotty.

That's Nuki. Yeah, Nuki constantly has not dripping out of his nose. Yeah. And this is not done, Eric, it's not done comically, right? It's not comedically, it's just not. No, I think he's suffering from the environment or he's got like a cold or something, but it's always, it's a thing that they had to have

somebody on set be like, oh, it's dried up. Let's spray more nose, not ooze. Coming up in the nose. That's not really highlights the character design of them having very enormous upper lips like right like they look kind like the Grinch or like when Sam Elliott shapes off his mustache and you're like what is going on here? I like when you look at Bruce Willis and you realize just how much space is between his nose and upper lip which is quite a bit like yeah if I recall they kind of look like the exact midpoint between say ET and a big turd.

Like a huge yeah, very much so. Yeah, like an ambulatory pile of dog poop, yeah. Yeah. And the great thing is that they built two. Like you could almost, if you, if you were to do like a cheese movie, you're gonna be like, I got one nookie suit and like, you know, you put on a hat and it's like,

ah, that's Miko. No, they, they built two for the very dramatic scene at the end where they hug each other and like, with the fear of the shot. Yeah, as opposed to a tinouki suit, which allows you to turn into a statue for just a very short amount of time. Yeah. Yeah. And fly also. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Very. No, the statue is more important. I mean, you can fly just using a maple leaf, using a leaf. You know, the tinnukey suit gives you the statue of power.

That's true. It's true. Yeah. Multiple uses. Anyway, this is all Super Mario Brothers talk. Welcome to welcome to super boys, the Super Mario Brothers podcast where we talk about just the costumes that Mario gets to wear. But like talk about Caribo shoe, Caribo shoe, I don't know how you pronounce it, but you

know, that shoe let let you bounce around on piranha plants. Finally. And they say that the tech industry isn't solving real-world problems. You know, it's a video game podcast. It's whatever you want to be. It's a mini. So I think I feel like we haven't fully gotten across just how bad Nukias, because it sounds like just any other ET ripoff shot in apartheid South Africa with characters who are constantly being tortured and it's not boring out of their noses. There's just an air of depression around the whole thing, right? It's an air of depression,

but there's also, at the same time, it's mixed in with, they were trying to make a move. They weren't doing a trauma thing It's an air of depression, but there's also, at the same time, it's mixed in with, they were trying to make a move. They weren't doing a trauma thing where they just kind of just make this crazy ass shit. This was such a shit. Somebody was like, this will be great for kids. They love ET. They love this.

Well, I think that that puts your finger, I mean, like, Nuki is notoriously bad again, Elliot's messages don't watch it. But I think that what you're saying puts your finger on one of the things I do like about bad movies to get back to kind of the general question we started with, which is that watching a movie of that caliber, which is to say, lower than most movies, normal people will ever watch. I do find a certain joy in seeing it and seeing the people who made it thinking like, we are making a movie. Like the excitement of filmmaking, just like that, we are telling a story, we are part of it, we are Hollywood, we are making a movie. That Mocking Show magic factory stuff.

Yeah, exactly. It's the way, like, you know, I think that Be Kind rewind is kind of an underrated movie. It doesn't like, it doesn't go a lot of places plot wise, but I think that it captures that joy of like the do-it-yourself homemade film. And I think that if you watch a really low budget, poorly made movie, you get some of that same joy where you can really see the handcrafted quality of the crap you're watching. I think this, I think Nuki is high enough budget that it does not have that handcrafted feel. It has big stars in it. Glenis John Steve Railsback huge stars. And, but I know what you mean, there's, I mean, that's part of the, as much as Neil

Brings movies are a horrifying look into the mind of a man who seems to have been brought here only to hate the world that he has found himself trapped on. There is an endearing quality of the like, yeah, this guy's doing it. Like, I've never gotten my act together enough to make a movie, but this guy's doing it. It doesn't matter how bad it is. Like, you can make it.

He's going to make it happen. I have watched, by the way, I have not watched all of twisted pair. I have watched the first 30 minutes of twisted pair that I shut it off, and then I get back to it, and I haven't done it yet. But that's the most recent one, which we haven't covered on the podcast. I just want to report back to you guys

that based on the first 30 minutes, he has moved into a whole new area, which is the film is almost entirely made of stock footage that he has inserted himself into and seemingly written a story around. I mean, that's Edward stuff. That's the magic of filmmaking. Yeah. That's the music. Yeah, he used the promo code for the flop house to get some of that. Yeah, I'm sorry, boss.

Yeah, like Neil Brin is like a lot of the, a lot of the heavy metal artists that I have liked over the years where I'm like, oh, I like the music, but this guy's a creep. And that's the thing about Neil Brin, is you're like, oh, he does some things that are really great, like dumb bullshit, but he's a horrible person who has bad ideas. So what is it then about? I understand. there's a part of me that gets so much pleasure out of watching a bad movie with other people. Yeah, I mean, and enjoying it with them. But there's a period in my life

where I crossed that Rubicon of watching bad movies by myself, and that was a big mistake. That was a big mistake, huge, in the words of Robinson, you're good movie. Of one's Juliet Roberts. What happens? Have you guys had experience with that? With suddenly finding yourself watching a bad movie, so I mean, Dan, you were just talking

about watching Twisted Pairs. I guess you're still living in that zone. Yeah, well, look, it all depends on where your life is at, Elliot. Like, I, there was, you know, a few years where I was, let's say, extra sad when I was watching bad movies on my own and having a cocktail while, while still doing so and I wouldn't recommend that lifestyle to, to folks. But now that my life is back in a more happy, stable place,

you know, I can enjoy a bad movie on my own, but I would definitely recommend that you do it with people. Like, it really is, it does cross the line into a shameful waste of time. I'm just doing it by yourself. of time. Yeah, I like for me, like this is the core of it. Like I started and it's it was it's very I remember how this vivid memory. I was like I was at a sleepover with some friends. We weren't we didn't have a pillow. This is only a couple of years ago, right? Only a couple of years ago. But I was like I was trying to do the math on it. I was like 10 or 11. And it's like as a friend of mine just being like, hey, have you seen up USA's up all night?

Like let's watch this. Dan's eyes just lit up. Yeah, yeah, yeah, this brings Dan to the happiest. What were they showing? Screwballs, California, hot wax, the skinny car wash. Probably what bikini business, based business, were they were they investigating? It was actually a Keeney store. It was just a Keeney store.

You got to start from somewhere. Probably a Malibu Keeney shop. I would submit, I would say objection to your honor, that a USA up all night, there is a secondary motive here, aside from watching a bad movie, that involves the, what's been termed the cheapest special effect, which is the human boob. So I would say it falls into a different category of shameful things to do by yourself. Elliot, I've arguably spent more money on human boobs. But yeah, so USA up all night, bunch

of boys hanging around. I bet this party was great. The pass and popcorn around. So we can go. Yeah, we'll watch this thing. We're talking where we're going. No, we're just, the thing is like, it was the first time I'm the only child. So it was like for me, it was like, oh wow, I'm hanging out with other people.

And we're kind of watching a movie. And like, we're talking about it. We're not like in a theater where you kind of have to be quiet. We're just being assholes in somebody's room and just kind of ragging on it. We're not like in a theater where you kind of have to be quiet, which is being assholes in somebody's room and just kind of ragging on it. Put ourselves above this like piece of shit that's on TV. So somehow I keep coming back to like that kind of thing. I get it. I get it. I get it. I get that there's that you get you feel, when you first start watching bad movies, you do feel a sense of superiority. Like, can you believe this garbage? Like, this is ridiculous. Who would make this? And it's only as you do feel a sense of superiority. Like, can you believe this garbage? Like, this is ridiculous.

Who would make this? And it's only as you, as the amount of bad movies that you watch overtakes the amount of good movies that you're like, Oh, no, now I'm beneath it now. Like, I don't even have, I don't even, I'm just a spectator. I don't even have it in me to go out and make a bad movie. I'm just sitting here watching them, feeling my life with them.

Well, also, the more that I have the bad movies above me. Yeah. The more that I've become like, I mean, Lord knows I've never made a movie, but let's, let's call it. Showbiz adjacent. The more that would know that the Lord knows all, yeah, showbiz adjacent. I, it's more like a feeling of there before the grace of God goes on. Like I, I start getting like this weird fondness where I'm just like, you know, what? you got out there and you tried. Good job. Good job. Good to get them next time. Have some orange

slices. So when you're watching, yeah, you're more, you're more the supportive coach. Yeah, yeah. Sure. Yeah. But for me, like, so that origin of being pretty puberty, puberty area of just like being a shit disturbance, at least just a shit disturbance, and just kind of like make it fun of these things with other friends and having a blast. Like the movie wasn't important. Now it was just like, I'm hanging out with my buddies.

And then like, you know, you grow up, you go to a different school, you don't have my friends with those kids anymore or whatever, not even Facebook friends with them. But, but yeah, yeah, sick burn. Well, YouTube is even with the new QAnon crew that you keep telling me about. Yeah, trust me, you got to believe it. It's real pizza games.

No, it's not. Please edit that out. I do. Do you like this is going out live on Joe Rogan's channel? Damn it. Oh, wow. Damn it. So I feel like I went through a phase of doing that. And then like I said,

the VHS store is kind of closed down and then it became a thing of just like, I went to film school and it was just kind of like, oh, we're analyzing movies, but we're also making fun of them. You know, like that feeling is the same feeling that I get from listening with like with you guys. Honestly, I'm sorry to be like a fanboy about the whole thing, but it's just like, you guys bring that bring me back to that. It's slumber party. When I was a young team. Yeah.

So, um, we're the cool slumber party that you aren't friends with anymore on Facebook. Yeah, that's right. And it's so one side of you guys are just so funny with it that I don't have to say anything It's it's it's a blast listening to it, but it's just like I mean that is That is the flop house slogan you mentioned before a bunch of assholes in a room Being assholes room that describes so many things though like like Congress and most corporate boardrooms. Wow. I guess we're opening our third eye, guys. Good one, Elliot.

No, I think you guys are right. I feel like the thing that I love about mad movies is that it taps into the same thing. I feel like humans that are searching for a partner are looking for somebody that when weird shit is happening, they can give that person a look, and there will just be a knowing look in their eyes, that you will be able to share a moment without having to say anything. And watching bad movies, I kind of is kind of the same way,

like being able to watch a bad movie and having a friend that you can share that weird thing with, is really great. So that's what we are. We are somebody's perfect mate. And we're gonna find out who on today's episode of flop date. So Dan, can you bring the contestants for flop date? The ones we're supposed to go on dates with to find out who were the perfect mate of.

You boys. Oh no. No, and what's your name miss? I don't know. I'm an old lady've been old lately. I'm a lady from an old cartoon. Oh, hey. Okay, probably like a flower name like Petunia or something like that.

Yeah. This is going to make it harder to make flop-date islands. That was going to be the next episode. But it's going to end up being the three of us on an island. Hi, I'm Jesse Thorne America's Radio Sweetheart. And I'm Jordan Morris, boy detective, our comedy podcast, Jordan Jesse Goe, just celebrated its 15th anniversary. It was a couple months ago, but we forgot.

Yeah, completely. Our silly show is 15 years old. That makes it old enough to get its learners permit and almost old enough to get the talk. Wow, I hope you got the talk before then. A lot of things have changed in 15 years. Our show's not one of them. We're never changing and you can't make us.

Jordan Jesse Goat, the same forever at maximumfun.org or wherever you get your podcasts. Prepare yourself for the greatest pro wrestling podcast spectacular known as Tarzada. Tarz! A back-dropping audio showcase that helps you understand the world of pro wrestling with a lot of love and no toxic masculinity. Picture your host, Danielle Radford. Time to kick button, Chuga.

And I'm all out of butts. Lizzie, girl. I'm a brutal Brit, and my fists were made to punch and hit. And how loblin! I was doing the voiceover this whole time. He rests talk about pro wrestling's greatest triumphs and failures, and make fun of its weekly absurdities. On the perfect wrestling podcast. Tights and fights every Saturday, Saturday, Saturday on maximum fun.

So I'll ask the question to you guys. Where did you guys get hooked on the struggle of watching a bad movie with other people. Like what was your first experience with it? Well, I got hooked on bad movies the nerdiest way through books, which was my brother, my brother's John and Rob. I'm not sure who's it was specifically. They had the book, The Golden Turkey Awards by the Medved Brothers, who Michael Medved is going on to be a terrible asshole, speaking of assholes. But at the time, he was a lovable man who just put out books ripping apart other people's

movies. Yeah. But, you know, like it was, it was a, you know, sort of one of the earlier, like, mainstream, like, hey, let's all have fun laughing at bad movies, things. And I read it, covered it, cover, I was fascinated with all the bad movies in there. That's kind of where the, like, plan nine from outer space got its reputation. That was the one that they chose is the worst movie of all time. And then, of course, Mystery Science Theater later on. But yeah, what about you guys? I had pretty much the same story, so I can't really have nothing to add. So books like that exactly. Well, I actually, I feel

like I just discovered those books after I discovered Mystery Science Theater, but that's not that. But I do remember showing my friends Mystery Science Theater and finding out that they did not find it as funny as I did and being horrified by this. And I think the only thing I can compare to is when I discovered Money Python and showed it to my friends and they did not find that as funny as I thought it was. And I was like, who are my friends with these people? Like, what's going on? I don't understand.

But I guess I was searching for again that communal aspect. We were searching for young Dan McCoy in the basement of Julie Hall. Yeah, but like, seriously, if you would have shared, like I, same thing went from me with Monty Python. Like I got the scripts of the Monty Python sketches

that they published them. Yeah. And would share them with other, like I was sharing video tapes, things that I had and stuff like that. And none of my friends at that time, the ones that I'm not friends with on Facebook, none of them got it. Like they just were like, what is this weird shit? But like, I think-

I remember- Yeah, what we just say, sorry. No, I just, I kind of make sense that like if you had that also, Elliot, we all had that one friend we tried to introduce to Mystery Science Theater 3000 and was not into it. And instead he just wanted to watch Major League every day for a summer. And you know what, you just watch it with them

because they're your friend and Major League kind of rules. Yeah, we did all have that experience. That is the universal experience. All I ever saw, universal experience. And yeah, as you've seen in Joseph Campbell's book, the hero with a thousand friends who don't want to watch Mr. Science Theatre and just want to watch Major League every day for his summer, but we watch it anyway. This hero only had the one friend.

But I, so yeah, Mr. Science Theatre was obviously my introduction. But then for me, like a big part of it was the communal aspect for me was in high school, the guys that I on the weekends, the guys that I would play role playing games with, like one night on the weekend, we would stay up all night playing role playing games. The next night, we would go to blockbuster or whatever local video store, family video, ideally, because they had the best selection and pornography. And we would rent like a handful of tapes and we would just sit around watching,

we would almost always be bad horror movies and we'd just watch a stack of bad horror movies and we'd complain the whole time and that was great. And I missed that in somebody's sticky basement, like mine. And as long as this movie movie or there's a movie as long as this episode of the Flop House has kind of a Flop House origins theme in it. Like, you know, when I first came to New

York, Stewart was here in New York as well. And I we've said this in the past, but we didn't know each other so well in college. We had friends in common. But then being new to New York, we started hanging out much more frequently. And most of what we did was we'd get together and be like, all right, what's the dumbest movie we could watch together? So that was even before the podcast,

that was like early bonding for Meets 2. Because we both wanted to watch the dumbest possible thing we could find from that video store on Atlantic Avenue, right? Yeah. Was it family video? Which one was, oh, that's hard.

That's hard to remember. It was it, yeah, it was on Atlantic. It goes back. What does it mean? No, it's not. It's not. It's not. No, it was on Atlantic. It wasn't back. It wasn't back. It was gone. No, it's not. It's not.

It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not.

It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not.

It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. back with Bratz and you guys were like, I don't know. I don't know about this. I got a feeling. I want to watch this. What did you do? Rent this to watch after we left on your own or. Yeah, I got put on watch list for worth it though. What a great movie. So, so question for you guys then. Like you, I know life has put you guys up in different places and COVID isolation and so like that.

So, before and the olden days when you guys are recording this, you guys were watching the movie together together the whole time. Like in the same room. Always in the same room and then we record it right afterwards in the same room. Yeah, right. Yeah, and that's how these guys got to watch me

eat so many chickens over the course of those years It still walks me But like and I would be getting drunk while watching the movie so by the time we started recording I was definitely drunk And you see and Dan was tired because he'd either fall asleep or was watching looking at something on his phone That only happened one time the Dan fell asleep, but it was hilarious Yeah, it's why the Transformers movies. So then now you guys watch it separately or do you guys watch it on a shared call? No, we watch it separately, which means that we're kind of back to watching a bad movie on our own. Although now we know that there's professional,

semi professional reason to do it. But yeah, it's, or I guess Dan, Dan watches with Audrey. Stu, I don't know if Shirley Watchers with you. If I ever try to watch the time, no, yeah. If I ever try to watch with my wife, she usually stops watching. We're falling asleep about 20 minutes in, 25 minutes in. So she still doesn't know who committed the crime in House of Gucci. So it was Gucci. It was Gucci the whole time. Yeah. But there is still doesn't know who committed the crime in House of Gucci. So it was Gucci. It was Gucci the whole time. Yeah. Yeah. But there is we do get some of the communal aspect of it because it is fun to watch a bad movie by ourselves and then come together and like I'm I'm always looking forward to see what what they have to say about

it. And I like to be surprised when Dan likes the movie, although at this point, I think I'm just going to assume he likes Bruce. Now I'm more surprised when he doesn't like the movie. I just like movies, guys. Whenever we record a dinner, it goes, you know, the magic of the movies, fresh, fresh, baked popcorn and you got your, you got a twizz learn one hand. Yeah, I'm not breaking. I said there was a cold kid, then, you know, just watching the twinkles on the screen. Yeah, just give me those screen twinkles. Just make them twinkly extra twinkly.

And put them on the biggest screen you can get. Screen me those twinks. No, no. What's your word for twinkles? But yes, so Dan, Dan isn't becoming old softy. No, no. No. Well, it's for trinkels. But yes, so Dan is becoming old softy. I, now that I know that I see my children getting older and see the sand running out of the hourglass of my life, I get angry and angry at these movies that I'm.

So you look at your hands and you see hairs falling out of your head. Hair is falling out of my palms. The palms I I earned that hair with with all of my self abuse over the years. And now I'm losing it terrible. So would you guys? Okay, I was going to ask that question about the like watching it together. Because I always assumed that you guys were watching it together. You guys are making comments kind of almost I almost would assume you would be making bits or like, you know, dance sometimes text as well

as watch together. Okay. Yeah. And we go, we go save it for the podcast, but maybe we should do that. Guys, maybe we should do that sometime. We'll watch it on like a, on like a Google Hangout. Do they still do that? Let's think up. Yeah. I mean, we could. You would have to text us when your dishwashing time is. Yeah, I mean, I have to watch this as well. I watch this a bunch of, I edit checks. Yeah, yeah, that's true. And I would want you to be doing dishes too at the same time. Elliott would often, Elliott would often, that's when I do calls with Elliott and I then

termed it bath time because of the way the Elliott was giving me a bath a little. Just like some wonderful audio. Well, you you clink and clink like a porcelain too. So that's the other part of it. Exactly half my body here in Canada. That's what. Well, I feel like we've answered all the questions we set out to answer tonight.

Why do people watch bad movies? What is a new key? And it turns out the answer is the friends we made along the way. They answered all those questions, yeah. So Eric, is there anything else you any final thoughts you wanted to give to us before we close out this miniature kind of a little diorama episode of the flop house, a little nutshell episode of the flop house, like that little library of murder scenes that that person put together to teach forensics people about.

Do you know the one I'm talking about? What? I never mind. Eric, did you have any parting shots? No, just keep on trekking, guys. You know, I'd love to hear you guys even more. You know, I feel like that's been a request I've had with Dan from When The Shows.

Longer episodes, what I'm hearing. Longer episodes, or like more often, I love that you guys do the minis. This is the right, this is the time to announce it. We're going daily, everybody. No. And we love the so-to-every day. Oh my god.

Now, would you, if we, if somehow our pledges were at such a high level that this could be our only job, would you consider doing a daily episode of this show? Every day we watch it. Sure, it would be important. It would be fun. Well, I mean, like what kind of money would you like? I mean, like, not, I mean, you're not rich, but like you don't have to worry until the show ends and then you have no in-pretirement savings.

Mm-hmm, and no skills. And no skills, yeah. And you're certainly not earning guild health insurance of the podcast, but yeah. But like, there's the fan in me and also the bullshit artist producer who'd be like, yeah, guys, trust me, there's going to be an audience for you. If you do this every day of your life, like, they're going to become, you guys are going to be influencers. All you guys are going to go is going to move together into an influencer house. Oh, yeah.

Totally going to like, yeah, it's going to be the flop house. We just got to, we just got to pump out that 10 to 15 hours of content a week. And we'll be, we'll be sitting pretty. Speaking of this being the only job I have, before we say goodbye to Eric, I just want to mention the live show. I was probably should have mentioned that at the top. Theflophouse.simpletix.com. Theflophouse.simpletix. That's TIX.com. Not TICS like, ah, Lyme disease, TIX like short tickets.

For $10, you can get yourself a ticket to the Masters of the Universe live streaming show. We're doing a live show, but we're doing it online because we still don't feel comfortable touring out in the world. So on Saturday, March 19th at 9 p.m. Eastern, that's 6 p.m. where Elliott lives on the other coast. We're have to be reviewing? We got Masters of the Universe from 1987. That's right. We're taking on...

...a key man and the Masters of the Universe. The live action-hymand movie, I'll talk about this one. When we do the show that is my first experience, I think, as a kid, with seeing an adaptation of a property I loved, made by adults who could not care less about it and are just going to change everything they can about it because they don't care. So it was a very jarring experience for me as a young person, but I haven't watched the movie since then as a result. So we're there. I was very into it as a kid. Yeah. Yeah. So we'll discuss. March 19th movie will do some presentations and other comedy bits.

This is not to get to see my apartment. You're gonna get to see Elliot's torture garage and Dan's bookshelf. It's gonna be great. Yeah, it's just a garage. This is, yeah, this is not a screening of the movie. We do not have the rights to masters of the universe. This is just, you know, what we would do on the road,

which is, you know, talk we would do on the road, which is, you know, talk about a movie plus other stuff. Yeah. We'll be doing our presentations and questions from the audience and talking about Masters of the Universe starring Dolph Lungringen, Courtney Cox, Frank Langella and Billy Barty, the only movie with that cast. So, so if you want to hear about those actors, this is your one chance. But Eric, thank you for joining us from the Frozen North. Is there anything you want to plug or anything? I could plug Far Cry 6, but I'm not getting a kickback because I left the company.

So it doesn't have to go into my bank account, but Far Cry 6. I work on video games and they take like five years to make. We put a lot of heart and soul into it and then it just kind of goes. So I'm working on some little come out in like four years. So I'll be back maybe in four years to plug that. Yeah, but you can plug it for people to enjoy your work. And you've snuck a flop house references into stuff in the past. Every game I work on, I have you guys in there in multiple degrees.

I even have like at the end, I worked on the Eastern campaign. The country's broken up into three parts of, uh, and Far Cry 6. And at the end, there's a bad guy that you have to face off with. And if you don't kill him, you have the option to not kill him, spoiling the ending for you. You don't pull the trigger on him. He'll just call somebody. You're in the room with him, but he'll just start calling like other pieces of shit like himself. And some of the people on the car on the call are Elliot, Stuart, and just references those guys. And I think even mentions the house cat, but it's just, I just throw in things there

just to be like, I don't know if anybody will find it, but maybe the flop house player is who. People find it. They'll find it. So you guys are in there. And the bad guy's name is McKay. We tried to come, but everybody was just like, it's gonna be Star Trek.

So it got morphed into the K. So you were, Dan, you were going to be the piece of shithass hole campaign. That was the original plan, but inspired by at least. Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah He's an evil college professor. Yeah. Well, Eric, thank you so much for joining us. Dan and Stewart, it's always a great time, spending time with my friends, talking, bed movie stuff, and thank you listeners for tuning into this special flop house mini. Walk down slightly memory lane. Memory lane is what I called it. Memory lane. It's a memory lane was Memory lane is what I called it. Memory lane.

It's a memory lane was named after Fred memory, the inventor of memories. Memories. And when he was telling, he wanted to name it after himself, but the pent off this guy was here taking it over the phone and he misheard it and he mispelled it. So anyway, thanks for listening. Again, that's our live show is on March 19th.

Tickets are available now, though. At what was it, Dan? The flop house dot simple ticks dot com. And We'll work on that. Bye everybody. Bye. Let's see it.