The Flop House - FH Mini 97 - The Theatrical Experience

Episode Date: January 20, 2024

Stuart leads the gang in a general discussion about going OUT to the movies, where the popcorn is extra oily and heartbreak feels good.Get tickets for a stop on our January 2024 West Coast Tour.Get 55% off a Babbel subscription at Babbel.com/FLOP.

Hi, floppers. Before we start our regular nonsense, we wanted to make sure you knew the Flop House is going on a four-city West Coast tour this January. It's the Flop House Errors Tour, the biggest event in pop culture entertainment this year, probably. You can see us in Vancouver on Wednesday, January 24th at the Rio Theater. In Portland on Thursday, January 25th at the Aladdin Theater in San Francisco on Friday, January 26th at Cobb's Comedy Club as part of San Francisco Sketch Fest and in Los Angeles on Sunday, January 28th at the Regent Theater. For tickets, go to flophousepodcast.com slash events. Again, that's flophousepodcast.com slash events. The Flop House Live is like the podcast, but you can smell us. And now without further ado, our regular nonsense. Hey, hello. Welcome to a Flop House mini. That's right.

This is the Flop House podcast and I'm your host Stuart Wellington and joining me are Dan McCoy and Elliot Galen. I don't know why you gave it. You gave a lot of good energy to it, Dan. Yeah. I'm sorry. I don't know. I know. I don't like the energy you gave it. You gave a lot of good energy to it, Dan, yeah. I'm sorry. I don't know why I laugh. I know that we introduced ourselves at the beginning of every show,

but something about Stuart's wave turning me through, threw me off. I'm sorry. Yeah, when it came time for Dan's turn to introduce himself, he visually, visibly flinched from me. I froze. I was very happy.

Who am I? Okay, so here at the Flop House, we normally watch a bad movie and then talk about it, but today's a mini, so we're gonna do something a little bit different. We're gonna be doing a show that I like to call Only in Theaters. That's right, we're doing a special mini episode

talking about the theater going experience. Cause you know me, Stuart Wellington, I'm a bit of a theater kid growing up. That means I like seeing movies in movie theaters. So that means usually you went to theater camp, which was just the movie theater in the summer. That's what I would call it, yep. That's great.

So I think you guys can agree that the movie theater experience has been fairly formative for all of us and I would like to talk about various elements of the theater going experience. And specifically, I want to talk about an early pitch for the Flop House TV show. This was pitched to me, and then possibly not relayed to these guys

a while ago by my wife, Charlene. So this is all TM Charlene. One of our pitches for the Flop House TV show was the idea that Dan would inherit a movie theater and that for some reason, Stuart and Elliot would have to live with him and we would have to try and run a movie theater. But of course, the only movies we would get

would be bad ones that we would have to make fun of, something like that. This is a good pitch. I remember this pitch. This was a good one. I like it. So is it primarily sort of pivoting to a sitcom with this premise or is it sort of like Mystery Science

Theater where this is the framing device to us, you know, watching movies? I think it could be both, Stuart. What was Charlene's original vision of it? You know, I don't remember. This is many years ago. I think it was a little bit of both. I think there was a little bit of both. I think there was a little bit of-

I could see this being a sitcom elements and riff elements much as the way, same way that jury duty has kind of like sitcom elements and hidden camera prank elements, you know. Yep, and just like that, we would also feature somebody who doesn't know we're making a show. That's right, Dan McCoy. Yeah.

You would be the plant, the real life person. Just wait for the answer to push me out of bed. Uh-huh. So before we get too much into the theater going experience, let's talk a little bit about this movie theater. If we inherited a movie theater, Dan inherited some movie theater and we had to run it. Love it.

What would we name that movie theater? The flop house is the obvious one, but I say let's dig a little deeper. Sure, yeah. Okay. The pitch pitch. Well, really putting this on the spot for a clever rejoinder or even-

You can think about it. Why don't we circle back? Dan McCoy's movie mad house? That's okay. Well, why would we mess with perfection? Nearly there. Dan McCoy's movie mad house. Now, I'm assuming in this case,

it would also only be a single screen, not a multiplex, right? I would think so, probably. Yeah, I'm imagining an old time kind of like, yeah. Old timey movie houses. Now that's the thing, guys. Do you, speaking of movie theater experiences, I went to a, That's what we're doing.

I went, Sure, maybe. Like a few years back, I went to a small theater in downtown Brooklyn. I think the one on Court Street maybe, and the smell of like, the real little one. The little one with the smell of popcorn baked

into that fucking carpet. And the sound of like video games around the corner. Like it took me back so hard. So it made the experience of going to see Gone Girl that much better. But I feel like a little bit of that is lost nowadays. When was the last time you went into a movie theater

that smelled like a movie theater? It's interesting, because, you know, yeah, like we have all these like boutique theaters near us in Brooklyn now that I don't feel like I'd go into one where it's just like someone dropped a bunch of butter flavored coconut oil on the carpet 20 years ago the place just takes yeah, there's a most of the theaters near us are pretty pretty new and clean and like we went I took my kids to see a movie

pretty new and clean. And like, I took my kids to see a movie, was it last weekend? I guess it was. And my younger son spilled an entire jumbo bucket of popcorn right outside the theater. And I reported it to the staff there. And when we left the theater, it was gone and you would never have known it had happened.

Like there was not a single crumb left. And, but there is a theater. It was like those aliens in heavy metal that use their giant vacuum noses to snort up cocaine. Exactly, but with popcorn, yeah. But there is a theater in Pasadena that is an old, fairly rundown theater, very poorly laid out.

I took my older son to see the Ninja Turtles movie there, and I was delighted to see that the middle of the theater where the best seats would be was actually where the stairs going up into the room were, and they had railings around it. So if you wanted to sit in the middle theater, you had to look over the railings. It was the worst theater I feel like I've ever been in, but there was something very old fashioned about that, that like this was probably a bigger room that they cut up maybe

or something like that. But and the place is dirty and it smells gross and popcorny. But there's something kind of fun about that because it felt like, oh, we're going to a real movie theater. We're not going to like a clean multiplex that you would order food at your chair from. We're going to like a place that feels old, you know? So there was something nice about that, yeah. So this is, I mean, this is all important information because we're obviously brainstorming the movie theater

that we're going to be opening of course. And it's gonna, it's gotta be a gross old theater. There's no, it's no fun if it's a, if we're doing this at a clean new theater, right? So yeah, of course not. It has to be a hell hole. So it has to be like the old Park Slope Pavilion Theater. I was just thinking the same one,

the Pavilion Theater, which everyone said they had bedbugs. I don't think they did, but they did routinely turn off or just break the lights in the stairs. So if you had to go to the upstairs theater, you would be in the dark, just hoping you didn't fall down.

I mean, they certainly had multiple screens with visible tears on them or stains for where sodas have been thrown. And a lot of theaters where even the seats that didn't have garbage bags over them to indicate that they were broken were broken. We're still broken. Yeah.

I remember seeing a hot tub time machine in one of those theaters and the like, the smell of mildewy chairs was so prevalent. I'm like, I'm in the movie. That was, I used to go, that theater was in close walking distance to my apartment. So I would go there so often and it was just like, you knew there would be no one else in the theater because no one else wanted to be, that theater was in close walking distance to my apartment. So I would go there so often and it was just like,

you knew there would be no one else in the theater because no one else wanted to be in that theater. Yeah, you were there because you wanted to see a movie because you have a problem. You know how some people in the summer go see movies because they want to get some air conditioning? That's not why you're at the Pavilion theater. No, no, you will not get it.

There's something in you demands the movie experience, and this is what is within walking distance. That is their promise to you. Then I would round it out by going to the used bookstore that I think is now closed, which was roughly the size of an alleyway and smelled like cat pee. Every book I bought there also smelled like cat pee. Cool. That rules. and smelled like cat pee and every book I bought there also smelled like cat pee. That rules. So wait, now the downtown Manhattan theater where you could always hear the subway. Was that the Angelica?

That's the Angelica, yeah. Oh man, that was great too. And they had that was... And they would always crank the AC so high. That was the way you talk about it in the past tense. It's still there. I think it's still around, yeah. But I remember seeing, years ago,

I remember seeing Snowpiercer there and the combination of super frigid cold atmosphere and sound of subway trains running. I was like, I'm in the movie. I used to go, I remember, I saw a lot of movies there. Remember they have one theater there that's tiny. That's so incredibly tiny. And I saw Primer in that theater.

I saw the fountain when I was first dating my wife and Yeah, that a lot of magical experiences in this tiny theater where you can hear trains sometimes the other theaters also and The and the refreshments are pretty expensive Stuart do you remember the theater that was like? It was closed very early on in our time in New York, but it was like basically across from Charlene's There was a place that then became like a, like an American apparel. Yeah, absolutely. American apparel for a long time.

I never actually saw a movie at that theater. I saw The Final Matrix, which was a disappointing experience, and the only incredible haul there. It was called Matrix Disappointments. That was the title. Yeah. I feel like it's had a cultural re-evaluation. Yeah, Ongly Incredible Hulk. It was called Matrix Disappointments, that was the title. I feel like it's had a cultural re-evaluation. But Dan, I cut you off. Sorry. What was your experience seeing Matrix, what, Revolutions?

Yeah, I saw that and Ongly is the Hulk. A movie that I still like. No, that one's fun. It's got, you know, it's got Flair. But that was also kind of just like no-frills. You walk in there and it's like, okay, well, this kind of feels like a big, I don't know, storage container that got turned into a movie theater.

That was the movie where there's occasional wipes where it like turns into a comic book page. Yeah, yeah. Man, I wish comic book movies did that shit still. They're like, no, it's a movie. We don't have to do that. We don't have to, people know it's a comic book. It's a movie now.

At this point, more people know this from the movies than know it has a comic book. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, I would think of like, oh, the old movie palaces, but- But like- You're not gonna get Last Action Heroed while you're there. It certainly reminded me of like the place, I wish I could remember what it was called like Sunnyland, Sunnyland I think, movie theater in Washington, Illinois,

the half an hour away that we would drive to as I was a kid that kind of like, I don't know, it could be the architecture, that Midwestern architecture where it could be a church or it could be a fast food restaurant. In this case, it was a movie theater. Yeah, it kind of reminded me of that. Now, I want you guys to think back,

we've all been seeing movies for a while now. Can you think back to a time where you have been a bad movie theater attendee? Like, have you walked out of a movie before? Have you been particularly disruptive? I've never walked out of a movie. In fact, I remember seeing Joe's apartment in the theaters and the film broke within 20 minutes

And me and my brother sat around waiting for them to fix it It just took too long and we had to go but we were even that that was the universe telling us you should walk out of this movie early Yeah, there definitely been times when I mean What on the day we talked about this on the podcast on when on my wedding day when we all went to see piranha 3d We were not particularly good audience members to the two other people in the theater for that one. Who were expecting a somber viewing of Piranha 3D? Or what I went with when Jenny, Jaffe and I went

to go see Cats in the theaters, you know. But otherwise I try to- I feel like you probably weren't as bad as the people that were in the same theater as us as cats who were trying to do their own riff show. And I'm not talking about me and Dan. We were being lovely. We were enjoying it like it was meant to be enjoyed.

Somewhat ironically. But otherwise like I don't usually talk, I don't talk back to the screen. I don't yell in movies. I don't masturbate in the theater. I don't try to steal the things I have. You gotta try. I mean, when I was a teenager,

I definitely remember seeing what man without a face with a bunch of fellow teens, and we were super disruptive. We like snuck fucking jolt colas in. We were real jerks. Yeah. And I think we were either kicked out or left. I don't think I have ever been that guy. I've left a couple, like I remember distinctly,

I left the Korean horror movie, The Eye. Not because it was particularly bad, like I've never seen it in full since then, but I know that there are proponents out there. I know it. I just, you know, I was going there because it was my birthday and I was like, I want to see a movie. Like this one's gotten good reviews, and like just birthday and I was like, I wanna see a movie.

Like this one's gotten good review and like just the vibe just was wrong. You know, I'm like, this is not making me happy right now. Let's leave. Yeah, Dan, you reminded me of the one time I did walk out of a movie. I did do this.

It was on September 12th, 2001, when I was living in a dorm on Union Square in New York. There was a, what used to be that huge AMC theater that was on the corner of 14th Street and was it Broadway? I can't remember, that has since recently, relatively recently closed. And the day after September 11th,

they posted notices on the doors saying, New York, let's make this a day at the movies. Let's take, forget our troubles or something like that. Free movies all day, free refreshments all day and Me and another college student were like oh, we've been hearing that a Jeepers creepers is kind of a fun throwback to Like old-timey grindhouse horror and we got the biggest popcorns We could and the biggest sodas because it's all free and we went into our free packed Screening of Jeepers creepers and about ten minutes in we were like and I don't I don't have this I can't right now. This is not

doing it for me. And we left that. Yeah. So it's extenuating circumstances. It was the day after September 11th. Well, yeah, I mean, it's never been as dramatic for me as September 11th. But the times that I've left a movie have been all about, you know, like, I love movies as I think should be apparent to listeners of this podcast. Even ones that you probably shouldn't. It was just for parents to listeners of the podcast. Yeah. And because of that, I think I will reflexively think to myself,

like what do I want to do? I want to watch a movie. Like this will make me happy. I'll go to the movies. And as I've grown older and better able to sort of identify my own emotions, there have been more times where I'm like, oh, I did this because I thought it would make me happy.

It's not actually what I need to do right now. A lot of the times, like I'm seeing a thing because I'm part of a loyalty program. So I'm paying the fee anyway. It's not like I spent extra money for this movie. It's like I'm gonna leave. Yeah, it's like a post nut clarity or something. Yeah, exactly.

Maybe I'd rather be reading quietly at home. Maybe that would make me happier. I mean, and I think it's very mature of you that you don't have that feeling, that completionist feeling where you're like, I'm here, I have to watch the whole thing. Like I can't not finish it. I did walk out of a screening of Logan that I have to watch the whole thing. Like I can't not finish it. I did walk out of a screening of Logan that I went to.

It was a matinee and I didn't realize. Nope, Logan, the killer Wolverine movie. Oh, okay. And I didn't realize it was a matinee and I didn't realize it was like a school holiday. So I sit down and then like right after the movie started, like a mom brings in like a dozen very young children. And then Wolverine starts like chopping dudes arms

and saying, fucking shit. And like the kids start or like yelling. And I'm like, I just stand up and I go, fuck this and walk out of the thing. Yeah. That was just like, it was just passive aggressive enough, but it was a little showy. Oh man, it was great.

I felt really good. And or I could talk about the time that I was, when I went and saw Speed Racer on a school trip, on a work trip. I wish it was a school trip. Today we're going to see Speed Racer. Our field trip to the Museum of Science and Industry, where they're playing Speed Racer for some reason.

I went to this, I was like, with a bunch of work people, and I was out of town, and I just remember, I was getting into a very intense like, sexting situation with an X, and it was, I was like... X-X-ting. Yeah, yeah, I'm like, I like kept sneaking out of the theater. And that was, I think there was back in the day when like, iPhones, if you wanted to send a dirty message,

like a dirty picture, it didn't go direct, it like went to a website you had to log into. You remember that? Wasn't it? Makes it really hard to pay attention to Speed Racer, which is a movie you really have to pay close attention to. When you first knew me, I was married for a long time. So by the time maybe six to get her in my life, it was.

You know, sex with your partner? Oh man, it really spiced things up. Okay, so let's, now that we're talking about. Cause I have never done it. I'm just, I'm not aware of this. We've talked about great theater experiences, maybe some bad ones. How do you guys feel?

Do you prefer a totally full theater or an empty theater? You know, honestly, it just depends on the people in that crowd. Like if they are respectful moviegoers, I would always prefer a full theater for certain types of movies, like horror or comedy, I think work the best when you're just like with a full crowd that's in it. But if it's like assholes, I don't want those people to be there alone. What's assumed that not everyone is an asshole?

I think that for the most part, well, I guess it differs for genres, what I would say. Like there are certain genres where I'm like, I hunger more for like the communal experience, but I also really enjoy going into a theater and being like, yeah, I'm the only one here. Like so Dan, you're going to see Ava DeVane's origin. Do you want a full communal packed theater

or do you want just to be myself? Yeah, it's just a crowd leisure that's gonna have a lot of moments where people stand up and cheer like Flash is entering the speed force. This year, I feel like origin is a lock for that stand up and cheer moment. Oh man. Yeah. Oh, it's got it's up there with the zone of interest. I didn't, I'm not cheering.

Certain people are cheering. They feel emboldened to cheer whereas in the past, perhaps they wouldn't have cheered. Uh, I think the, it's, think for me it depends on how I'm feeling at the moment and dancing, what kind of movie it is. There are times when I've enjoyed having that private theater feeling when I'm the only one there for Matt and A, but there are other times where it feels, I feel sad that I'm the only one there.

Like I went to see Stop Making Sense when it was re-released in the theaters and there was part of me that was, there were only a couple of other people in theater. It is part of me that was kind of glad because it meant I didn't have to feel self-conscious if I was like moving to the music at all. But there's also part of me that was like, oh, be cool if this was more of a like a whole audience getting into this concert feel, you know, if it felt more like a concert that way, you know. Yeah. Now, I think, I mean, I think in general, we all agree that seeing a movie in the theater is probably

the preferred experience. Is there a specific, like you had mentioned genres work better with different crowds. Is there a type of movie that you need to see in the theater as opposed to watching at home? Or the inverse? I mean, I think that there's this general conventional wisdom like, oh, like big movies are like what you gotta see in the theater.

And I get why that catches on cause it has a certain like blunt ring of truth of like I wanna see something visual, highly visual in the theater. But again, like- And it can change the impact. Like when I saw Gravity in the theater, I was like, I want to see something visual, highly visual in the theater, but again. And it can change the impact. Like when I saw Gravity in the theater, I was like, this is amazing.

And I have not watched it since then because it's not going to be the same on a television or an iPad. I have never had any desire to revisit Avatar at home, not in giant 3D, but I had a good time at the time. I saw, yeah, I saw somebody on a plane watching gravity and I'm like, this is a weird experience, buddy. But I feel like it's, but it's, it can be helpful for me

sometimes to be in theater for a smaller movie because I can be hyper focused on it. There's no disturbance. Like I watched past lives at home and I loved it, but I kept thinking like if I was watching this theater, I could be watching this only and not distracted by anything else. And then I think I would pick up so much nuance

in the performances that I was probably missing. Yeah, you were so distracted by like all the possibilities that you missed out on and all the things that you like. Exactly, yeah. Like the different paths your life could have taken, but like you weren't in a theater, so you... Well, I was at home and so I really, I was distracted by the reminding of what it was like

when I was Maude Deb and I had the choice between creating a galactic jihad or not. And I chose the not. And it's like, well, what if it had been different? What if I had gone all the way with it? Yeah, that makes sense. But that's what I wanted to get at though. Without the, you know, throw the conventional wisdom out.

I think any good movie is probably enhanced by seeing it in the theater. Whereas there are some like mediocre movies that maybe you'd be easier on critically if you saw them at home and didn't feel like you were making a big deal out of it. And then of course there are certain sort of art films from Europe with highly sexual situations that maybe are best enjoyed

in the privacy of your own home. Not in the theater with your mom, yeah, sure. Yeah, yeah. Of course. Yeah, just, although you were talking about cranking in the theater, do you want to elaborate on that? Yeah, Daniel, you came out as pro cranking? JK, just kidding.

Oh, JK, JKs, okay, cool. That means that there are horror movies. I would normally rather see a horror movie in a theater with an audience, because you can get their scares. But there are times when a horror movie is much scarier to me if I'm at home by myself. Or like I watched Barbarian by myself at home and it was like, yeah, I'm in a situation where someone

could come out of the basement right now and kill me. And it was, it made it scarier. Or watching Mandy at home, I had an extra level of fear that my children would get up from their bedrooms and walking at any moment and see what I was watching and that would traumatize them. Yeah, I mean, the real joy of Mandy seeing in the theater

was the moment when I'm like, I'm watching this in a movie theater. Yeah. This is crazy. Yeah, what a picture. So we talked a little bit about the experience. Let's talk about snacks. What kind of movie snacks do you love in a movie theater?

Movie snacks. Popcorn, candy, do you go nuts to buy everything and have to hire somebody to care for you? Gotta go with classic PC, that's right, an old PC computer that you just take bites out of, just rip off the circuits and eat them. I'm just kidding, popcorn is what I'm talking about. You have to get popcorn for me.

I love popcorn. Like, it's the sizes at which you get it at the movie theater, even when it's small. And like the butter, which I want, I dammit, I want the weird butter, but I know how bad it is. Yeah. Like, I dammit, I want the weird butter, but I know how bad it is. Yeah. Like I just feel bad.

So I like, I get something that's also bad for me, but feels like size-wise, at least less of an indulgment. And I actually like nachos. Okay, nachos. I do definitely, at the end of a movie, I always feel gross because of all the popcorn I've eaten. Like my stomach always feels bad. So, yeah, I mean, obviously I like-

I'm sure right now you mostly just eat kind of nuts and berries throughout the day in small amounts. And forage. What has fallen on the force floor. So what do you eat in the theaters? Yeah, when I met like, when I met one of these fancy boutique theaters where they have like a full kitchen, I'm like,

can you just make me like a garden salad? I mean, I am kind of late. Can I buy one onion and just eat that? Yeah. I'll keep it in my pocket until it gets a little bit soft. And then I eat it, because that's when it's the best. When it's nice, soft and sweet, you know? Yeah, soft, sweet onion. So that's also, that's also Stuart's catch phrase.

I mean, there is a lot of sweetness. That was also Stuart's catch phrase when he was Superman's best friend, Sir Wellington, soft, sweet onions, Superman. I often go and make a full experience out of going to the movies when I'll go to like the Nighthawk or one of the Alamos, like one of these boutique theaters with a full kitchen. And I spend a lot of money, which is, I feel like I'm glad these theaters weren't common, but I'm glad that I'm here. to like the Nighthawk or one of the Alamos, like one of these boutique theaters with a full kitchen. And I spend a lot of money, which is I feel like I'm glad these theaters weren't common when I was like a broke 20 year old

because I'd be like, but I want to go to the movies and spend all my money. But yeah, like I'll often get like a salad or a grain bowl. They have like sandwiches, but that always feels like too messy of a food item to me. Like pizza or bread and like soup. Over a salad or a grain bowl? I saw you're in the dark.

In the dark, there's nothing of the foods that one could have as a full dinner. Like a sandwich is a good choice for a movie theater. The reason I don't tend to get like, I'm always like, I mean, granted, there's probably other more base reasons where I'm like, eschewing the healthier food, but I'm like, I can't eat that.

Like I don't want something that has, that involves me like putting a fork back and forth to my mouth in the dark several times and drawing it on myself. Yeah, you might accidentally stab your dick which is out because you're masturbating while watching the movie apparently. Oh yeah, you might accidentally stab your dick, which is out because you're masturbating, while watching the movie apparently. Oh yeah, you might pour fucking queso all over your thing.

I just know that one time- You take a bite out of it because you think it's a sausage or something. Oh god, that would be horrible. One time in one of these places, I had their brunch pizza, which ended up having an over-easy egg in the middle of it, which don't get me wrong,

under normal circumstances, I would enjoy. Under these circumstances, I ended up with yolk all over my pants. Oh. You're like, oh, I shouldn't have worn my fresh clean black pants. I definitely went and saw one of the Mission Impossible's and I wore black on black

and got Keso all over myself because I was getting so into the movie. I was, there was, I did have a great sandwich experience in the movies once when my brother and I went to go see shoot them up in the theaters the day after, the day after Yom Kippur. And we had all this,

my grandmother had hosted Breakfast the day before and gave us all the sliced hypernational salami that was left over. So we just made ourselves enormous salami sandwiches and just sat there watching this movie, eating salami sandwich after salami sandwich. And it was a duet of pleasures. Yeah.

I feel like if you shave some carrot on there, that'd have been perfect for the movie, but that's, Yeah, because it does eat carrots in it. Yeah. It's always chomping on carrots. And as I said, it gets immediately better. Now, we talked about what we have eaten.

What do we think, what is a, like peering into the future, what do you think is a snack item that movie theaters should start to have? Are we talking dip and dots? Dip and dots, the ice cream of the future. My kids would love that, because they love dip in dots, even though I think it's not so good. More corn dogs, I feel like.

Dippin' or the dots. The dots. They like the dots. I think the dots are the ice cream part. The action of getting the ice cream into them is not, you know. I feel like sure. I don't see a lot of corn dogs on menus, but I feel like that's such a self-contained item, right? Oh, I feel I see that. Yeah a self-contained item, right?

Oh, I feel I see that. It's not going anywhere. Yeah. I think corn dogs might be hard for theaters, because unless you're just having soggy, frozen corn dogs, you need a fryer in the snack area. That being said. Suice would probably be a bad idea. Soup is probably a bad idea. Soup is best for airplanes airplanes and that's it.

And roller coasters, yeah, sure. What's the, the movie food, it's so hard because popcorn is such, popcorn and candy are such perfect things because as Dan has said, you can eat them in the dark easily with- What if you're like, imagine you're in a place that has a full kitchen, Elliot. Mm-hmm, okay.

Soil and tacos. I'm in a place with a full kitchen, my house. Okay. What do we have here, yeah. How about some soylent corn? Mm-hmm, okay I'm in a place with a full kitchen my house. Oh, yeah, yeah about some soylent corn. Mm-hmm. Yep So I like corn okay Like just like a big pile of bacon There's something there beans Because you're gonna get a theater full of farts. That's not Is there something there beans? I don't think so, because then you're going to get a theater full of farts. That's not so great.

Okay. I'm having trouble. I feel like there are theaters with relatively full kitchens now. So it's hard for me. I feel like that semi-permeable membrane between not a movie food and a movie food has been broken so much. So what do you think? Like a pork tenderloin or some short ribs? Yeah, probably. Oh, short ribs? Yeah, probably, maybe ribs, yeah. One of those classic Midwestern pork tenderloins

where the thing's like 80 times the size of the bun. Yeah, it's like the bun's just like a tiny little hat on it. Yeah. All right. I love them. I introduced those to Audrey and she's like, but why? I don't know, because the excess is the joy in and of itself.

Just to like- It is wild that there's a commitment to putting like a little bun on it. Cause you're like, you don't need it. Like, no one has ever eaten a pork chop and is like, this would be better if I had a small amount of bread. One, cause you can't even hold the bun with your hand

unless you have like crazy long fingers. When you're a kid, you know, you have plastic man fingers that can stretch, yeah. So you have to hold it with two hands, with your top hand on the top of the bun. Have you ever had the experience where you're like, oh man, like this sandwich has like these portions where I'm just getting bread,

I'm not getting the stuff inside? Here, you don't have to worry about that at any point. No, not at all. But it will have the issue, I think I have usually with hamburgers, which is that the bottom half, the bottom half of the bun just disintegrates in my hands. And I have to turn the hamburger either upside down

or eat it with a knife and fork because it's just in wet pieces at that point. Yeah, because you ordered an extra wet burger, right? I mean, to be honest, I do like them, super juicy. So yeah, they go, how would you like your burger cooked? I say, does it have to be cooked? Can it just be kind of like a wet lump of raw meat? And they say, no, we can't do that.

So maybe like raw hamburger, just a lump of raw hamburger to eat with your hands at the movie theater. My trainer was telling me that he'll catch his dad just going through the, he'll open up the fridge and just take like handfuls of ground beef, like uncooked ground beef and like carried around like snack on it. Yeah.

I'll get there someday. I've always dreamed about having a little shelf in my car that I can put a rotisserie chicken on. So I can just steer with one hand while I reach with the other hand and just pick off pieces of chicken to eat. Yeah, vision's the future. When I was in Paris, like some years back,

I remember you fully. Oh, all right, must be nice. Yeah, well, years back, I remember- Oh, all right, must be nice. Yeah, well, you know, I was working in the Daily Show at the time, it was easier. Oh, wow, must be nice. Yeah. Yeah, well, you know it was, you were there too. Yeah, it was nice.

Anyway, I saw someone, I was at this little bistro, I saw someone order steak tartare, and you know, like, I've seen steak tartare, it's usually like thinly sliced. When you're out riding with the golden hoard and you stick the beef on your saddle. I know, I sound so fucking, thinly sliced steak is usually what I associate with tartare.

And this guy was like, like tucking into this big mound of ground beef with like a yolk, an egg yolk cracked in the middle. And I'm like, I'm a pretty adventurous man and I've eaten raw beef in tartare form. This is grossing me the fuck out right now. Yeah. Anyway, it's not really a story. I just needed to unload that trauma onto you guys.

No, no, but that was good. That was good. And it was very on point for what we're talking about which is movie theaters. Well, I think Tartar. Yeah, I think Tartar is, we'll put that in the no column. So Tartar is the sequel to Tar,

starring Kate Glanchard, right where there's two of them. We found your twin sister. No, that's two Tars. Then there's my two Tars where this man hires her to be his personal conductor and they have a sexual relationship. Yeah, yeah. Don't forget when somebody moves next to her and it's my neighbor Totaro.

Okay, on that note, I think it's time to talk about some of those sponsors, Sportnus Silas. Oh, good. I was certainly prepared for it, is the best thing about this being the time that we talk about the sponsors. Here it is. Hey, one in five Americans have learned a new language on their bucket list.

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Yeah, sorry. Here's a jumbotron for you. You know how Dan says the letters are from listeners like you? Well, that's us. We write all the letters. Not really, of course, but we are the podcast called Listeners Like You. Our podcast is made for listeners by listeners.

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This next ju-ju-ju-jumbo-tron is for Trenton. It is from Tanner. Happy birthday, Trento. Hope you, Jeanette, and the baby are making the most of the day. Thanks for being a great big brother and sharing the flop house all those years ago. It resolved so many cowboys and aliens questions,

and I've laughed every episode since. Stay warm in Norway and hope to see you soon from your brother Tanner. Aw. Very sweet. Very sweet. Alright, time for the sweetness to end and the hard sell to begin because there's some flop house stuff going on that you need to know about and you might already know about it but if you don't know about it now you're gonna know about it. Please don't skip this part because I'm telling you the things you gotta know. There won't be a test afterwards unless you count life as a test, which I do. The Flop

House is just- Really a trial. Thank you. Thank you, Dave. The Flop House is just about to go on our long-awaited, eagerly anticipated West Coast tour. That's right. We're about to go across the coast. That's the western most. And by across, I mean two four places that are all mostly in the North and one place in the South. We're gonna be on January 24th in Vancouver talking about the movie Cobra. On January 25th, we're gonna be in Portland

talking about the movie Cool As Ice. On January 26th, we're gonna be in San Francisco talking about Geely. And on January 28th, we come home to my home in Los Angeles and talk about the movie, Spawn. We're super excited about these shows. If you haven't been to a Flop House live show, you should do it because they're super fun.

If you have been to a Flop House live show, come to this one. We will probably not be coming back West Coast way too much sooner after this because we've done shows out here. Before it's time for the Flop House to explore new pastures, new places to spread our seed, if you will, our movie seed, not any other kind, like Johnny Appleseed, you know, how he was having sex all over the place.

Anyway, go to flophousepodcast.com slash events and you will find all the information and links to where you can get tickets. These shows, if you've never been to one, we do each do a PowerPoint presentation at the beginning that is very funny. Mine, spoiler alert, is a little more autobiographical than it has been in the past. I'm gonna be talking about some of my experiences in the movie selling world. Okay. And I want to learn about my friend.

Yeah, and I have no idea what, well not that much. I have no idea what Dan and Stuart are gonna talk about, but Dan showed us one slide from his presentation and it looks bonkers. So, get ready. But then we talk about the movie and then we take questions from you, the audience. So you get your chance to have your voice heard on the show. We always say hi to everybody afterwards in some way and we sell merchandise and things like that.

It's super fun. We love doing these shows. We love meeting people. We'd love to meet you. So go to flophousepodcast.com slash events and come to one of our shows. January 24th in Vancouver, January 25th in Portland, January 26th in San Francisco, and January 28th in Los Angeles. That's the Flop House West Coast Errors Tour.

It'll be super fun. I don't know when we're doing another tour again. So take advantage of this opportunity to come see us. If you can't make it at all to one of these shows and you still wanna see us or you just don't live close enough with modern airplanes, everyone lives close enough, but that's fine, okay, let's allow it.

Wow. Maybe they don't wanna contribute to the pollution. You know? That's possible. That's the new pollution, the Beck song. I wanna remind you that Flop TV may be over in terms of new episodes, but until the end of January, you can still watch the old episodes

that were recorded, that six episode recordings. They're super fun, super funny. We had a great time. Go to theflophouse.simpleticks.com until the end of January, and you'll be able to buy a season pass that gets you a discounted watch of all of those episodes. And we hope you enjoyed it. They're really good.

And at the end of January, they're gonna go away and you're just not gonna be able to see them. So take advantage of the chance you have to see us live. Take advantage of the chance you have to see us talking on a video screen because after the end of January, you're not gonna have that chance for a little while.

Ooh, spooky. That is spooky. Yeah. Also spooky is the fact that Stewart decided to choose this moment to leave the room. Literally ghosted us as I was finishing the ad read, or not the art tour. He is the one in charge of the mini today,

and I don't know where he's taking us next. Where do you think, should we guess? Should we try to figure it out? Yeah, let's go. So we've talked about the sort of like the vibe's go. So we've talked about the, sort of like the vibe of the theater. We've talked about the food. I wonder if there's something about the technical elements,

the actual screening. Yeah, maybe he's gonna give us a test to become professional projectionists. We're asking about Dolby sound. Digital photography versus, oh, here he is. Yeah, whether it counts as a movie, if it's not shot on, maybe it doesn't count as a movie, if it's not shot on film, which of course it does. Okay, now that is. Yeah, whether it counts as a movie if it's not shot on, maybe it doesn't count as a movie

if it's not shot on film, which of course it does. Okay, now that we're back, we are back to Only in Theaters, a special Flop House mini where we talk about the theater going experience. And specifically, we're brainstorming ideas for our own Flop House branded movie theater. Now, since we're gonna only have one screen,

I think the best thing, and we're all forward thinking fellows, I think that one screen is gonna have to be 4DX capable, right, Dan? Yep, that's what everyone wants. See a movie is pretty sh- It's clearly where the trend is going, yeah. Shaking around and gets water in their face.

I've never seen a 4DX movie. Have you guys seen a movie in 4DX? I saw Moonfall in 4DX. I can't remember whether there may have been another one that I can't recall right now. Did you see Top Gun Maverick in 4DX or no? No, I saw Top Gun Maverick in another one of their weird made-up formats that Regal has where it's, they project extra stuff on the sides of the walls. That's stupid.

So like, and it's not for all of it, but there's certain ones where it's like, let's expand your peripheral vision or whatever. Oh, so it's extra footage of the scene. It's not like pop-ups in like information or things like that. No, no, no, it's not like that. That would be unwatchable.

This is just mildly. Because if I'm not watching Evil Gantz as Napoleon, I don't want a bunch of stuff on the side of the screen. Yeah. So, can you explain the 40X experience slightly for those including me who don't understand it? Well, the whole sort of bank of seats in your row is on hydraulics, so it can go up and move around.

Like I thought it would just like shake a little, but when I saw the moonfall, for instance, we started out in space and the thing was like raised up and sort of like gently drifting around. So we had that feeling of being weightless. And it was actually kind of impressive. And then if there's any excuse for, if there's like wetness in a scene,

they will shoot water at you. The cleanliness of the water is unknown at this time. Let's see, there's like stuff in the back of your seat that sort of like punches your back. It sounds, you're making it sound wonderful. Every now and then if it's a scene set in a desert, it'll just blow grit in your face. Well, they do have like, it'll like just like

puffs of air like at the eye doctor when they're testing like the pressure or whatever. They have those like air guns. I don't know. I mean, it sounds a lot like being Viggo Morton sitting in Crimes of the Future and having to eat in a weird chair that shakes you around and hurts you.

Is it like that? Well, I will tell you. That's all, that's only way ways body can process that crap, dude. Yeah, until he starts eating plastic. Yeah. No. Spoiler alert. Legitimate good film should be watched in 4DX. However, there are certain films

for which it is an additive experience and Moonfall was one of them. Cause it was like, I'm watching a big dumb movie and I want this to turn it into an amusement park ride for me please. And it is. As opposed to the, you hurt my feelings, 40X experience. It feels like you'll be distracting.

Well, you guys latched right onto the idea because we are, since we're going to have only a single screen and we're not always gonna have big movies, we might do some repertory screenings. How would we use the 40X experience to translate to these past best picture winners? So no country for old men. How would we? Well, obviously when people get that like pressure thing in their head. Oh, the air gets puffed onto them. You say they're about to die, sure.

Yeah. So you get the whole Antonchukur. Anything else? Maybe blow grit in our face. When he's grit or when he's feet, when he's giving the water to the guy in the desert, maybe it sprays some water. Oh, yeah. There's not a lot of water in the movie. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. More of a blow for him. Pretty dry movie. Yeah. I guess when Anton Chigur blows that thing up, like your seat's shake or something, you know? Sure, certainly. Oh, when you walk out with a haircut, yeah.

Yeah, yes, that's right. That's the interactive experience. Everyone gets a dumb haircut. Forest gump. Oh boy. Well, you know it's gonna blow a feather in your face. That's gotta happen. Oh yeah, totally.

You gotta blow a puff of like chocolate smells in your face. I'm allowed to expand it to more just sort of, it's, it's our movie theater, Dan. The 40 X is in our control. Yeah. So we can do more like William Castle style. Shenanigans. Well, it's basically like, there's the scene in Kentucky fried movie with sense around.

The, uh, where the guys literally just, someone stands behind him and shakes him around and hits him and things like that. Yeah. Shrimp and shit. The scene where they're on the shrimp boat and the storm, that's just begging for water. Yep, yep, water in your face, yeah, definitely. And when you have these flashers in the reflective pool, that's water, right?

Yeah, that's water. And when he has to pee, you have to pee. Okay. So I think that's Boris Gump covered the next best picture winner out of Africa. Not having seen the movie, I believe, if you. Now we talked about this, have we, we still have not rectified that. None of us have seen out of Africa yet.

No. No. As we mentioned in a previous episode, I'm not sure it's a real movie. Yeah, I think all I've ever, I assume it's a movie about lounging on the Savannah and looking at lines of the distance, because I think that's the only footage I've ever seen from out of Africa. Okay, I mean the weird thing is it's called out of Africa, but it seems like the movie spends a lot of time in Africa. So, that's the problem with us. Yeah, so let's just assume an elephant steps on you at some point and it shakes your around. Okay, how about Patton? The movie Patton.

Okay. Also, solutions. A robot hand has come out of the street in front of you and slap you. Mm-hmm. Okay. Yeah, sure. So you can really feel the indignity. I think I saved the best for last though. Now that we have, I think Patton's pretty straightforward.

Sound of music. Okay. This has been have, I think Patton's pretty straightforward. Sound of music. Okay, this has been on my mind lately because my wife has been exposing my younger son to sound of music to see what he thinks about it. And he likes music, right? He likes music. He likes music and he'll watch any cartoon but live action movies are kind of a harder sell for him.

And they're watching it and he kept saying, this movie is kind of weird. Maybe it's a little boring. And my wife would say, do you want me to turn it off? He goes, no, we can keep watching it. So he's still, he really wanted to see the puppet scene was really what it comes down to. That's kind of my attitude to sound on music.

I'm like, yeah, it's kind of boring. That's also kind of compelling. Yeah. So maybe during that, that's a good question. So you so you're exposing him to you're gonna start with the sound of music Then it's gonna be sound of metal and then sound of freedom Because he needs to know the truth. It's time to red pill this kid. Yeah, exactly I did it's what we're gonna start with sound of music and then we're gonna go to cabaret And I'm just I want every Nazi musical I can get Yeah, I get every Nazi musical I can get. That I can totally get into. Yeah.

I know those are not Nazi movies. They're movies, they're musicals with Nazis in them. You know? So then I guess it's going to be a list of mania. It'll be the third movie that we show them. Sure, wow. What was the question? Sound of music, 40X experience.

I mean, you got a, Hills are a lot. Yeah, there are a lot. I figure out around, right? Yeah, you're shaking. got a Hills are a lot Because those hills are standing on her life. Well, there's so much like beautiful Landscape photography that I feel like you can't have them the seas kind of moving around a little bit like you're flying through it I suppose like you're in Soarin. Yeah, exactly like exactly like you're on the ride so The I mean sound of music is kind of the Soren of movies in some ways, you know. And Soren Kierkegaard is sort of the Soren of philosophers. In that it feels like you're flying through the California landscape. Yeah.

Wait, what's Soren? Why are you saying this? Do you not know Soren? No, it's a, now I feel like you're fucking with me. What's going on? So Soren is the bad guy in the Lord of a, now I feel like you're fucking with me. What's going on? So Soarin' is the bad guy in Lord of the Rings. I'm surprised you don't know that. It's a Disney attraction where basically you just get in like these seats that are held up from the ceiling

on these like things. Like Batman rollercoaster. And there's a projection in front of you like 360. So it's like you're soaring over the landscape. Oh. The beautiful landscape. You're like flying around. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay, that makes sense. I was delighted that Dan referenced it though, cause I was like, that's, yeah, let's run to this one. That's something I didn't expect to come out of Dan, but it fits Disney attraction. I went to Disney world a couple of years ago. And it's, you know, still Dan, the resident Disney adult here at the moment.

You saw it. And that had been to Disneyland and Disney World twice. Yeah, but I guess. You saw it enough. And that I've been to Disneyland and Disney World twice as an adult, I guess. It was because you saw a Florida project and it really made Disney World look appealing and exciting, right? You're like, I could escape from my life going to Disney World.

I went with our friends, John and Mary, who are like real like, you know, like planning nerds. So they, you know, like we knew all of the things that we had to do to actually get to do like rides and do things efficiently. So a lot of the stress that normally I think people associate with Disney was taken off the plate because I was with those in the know, you know?

Yeah, I think the secret that the hack I've been able to figure out, maybe Dan, you can figure out to do this the next time you go to Disney park is be related by marriage to someone who works at Disney so they can get you free passes to the park. It takes a lot of stress off of feeling like you need to do everything.

Yeah, yeah. Can you get like a flash pass or some shit? There's like lightning lanes and stuff for different rides. You know, it's all, you know, it's all just a way to like, let's get more money out of you, you know, so you have a better experience than the other guy than you feel kind of guilty about it, but you're also like, well, what are you gonna do? Like. So you have a better experience than the other guy. Then you feel kind of guilty about it, but you're also like, well, what are you gonna do?

Like I want to have a better experience. I feel like Griffin Newman was explaining his like a recent trip to Disney. And like, I'm sure he talked to me for like an hour about this and my brain doesn't process any of it. Send them my way next time. I mean, knowing Griffin, it was all concise, relevant information. Yeah, no digressions at all.

No digressions at all, yeah. Okay. So, yeah, for Sound of Music, you're flying around a lot. We did it, yeah. I think the hills are alive with the Sound of Music. Okay, so now that we're all forward thinking guys, let's take a step out of our own movie theater. Let's talk about theater in general.

Let's talk about how movie theaters and actual theater are connected to each other. We're all forward thinking guys, let's take a step out of our own movie theater. Let's talk about theater in general. Let's talk about how movie theaters and actual theater theaters. Legit theaters, the legit stage, yeah. Now, how can the stage experience inform movie theaters or how can movie theaters, how should movie theaters inform, say a Broadway show experience?

Other than the most obvious one, I don't know if anybody's been to a Broadway show here, those seats are too dang small. They're too tiny. They are very small. Most of those theaters are old houses that are trying to, one, pack a lot of seats into a small space, and also were made for smaller people at a time when people were generally smaller. They are too small, yeah. I thought you were going to talk about how the two experiences appear to be converging in that, you know, if you go to a Broadway show,

most of them are based on movies and like a lot of them have video elements. Yeah. They're all Beetlejuice at this point. Like there's something, I really want to take my kids to a Broadway show. And at this point, it's like, I want to- Everything's Beetlejuice. Everything's all this. I went, look, I'm trying to go see,

I'm trying to find a place where I can just grope a horrible Congresswoman. And all I can find is Beetlejuice. That's the only thing I can find. I mean, that's a reference to a scandal that Lorne Poverhead a couple months ago, I guess. I did like the first Broadway show I went to post, you know, the reopening after COVID was the Lion King,

which was incredible. It was amazing. We were seated very close to the front and we were right on one of the rows. So I almost got stepped on by an elephant. It was amazing. But it was also awesome to see a guy who looked very much like a Midwestern dad there with what also looked very much

like a sex worker or just an inappropriately dressed, much younger woman sitting in the front row. And I just love the, I would love to be a fly on the wall in the conversation of this guy hiring a sex worker to go see the Lion King with him. Yeah. It's a little like Steve Buscemi taking that prostitute to see Jose Feliciano in Fargo, right? Yeah.

I feel like every time Audrey and I go to, like, sort of an anniversary-level dinner, like a truly nice restaurant, there's always at least one sort of couple in the room. Yeah, and Uncle and his niece. Is this a sex worker situation? Yeah, I feel like it shows how innocent I am that I never, when I'm in those, my wife and I used to play a game called daughter or second wife and never occurred to us that it would be a sex worker.

But it was always like that man is 30 years older than the woman he's with. Is that his daughter or is that his second wife? We've got to try to figure it out before the end of the meal, you know. And then you realize, if you don't your meal, if you do your meal is free. Your meal is free and if you don't,

you have to work in the kitchen for the rest of your life. Oh no. Well, there's no way anything he's saying is as delightful to her as her reaction. So this could be an exchange of goods for services. Yeah, I mean, it's not like they have similar like interests. I mean, he looks like he really loves Yellowstone. And she's more into getting paid.

Being able to live a life that, you know, has some freedom aside from this man. Obviously, yeah, yeah. I mean, this is in no way an indictment of that. No, I want to make that sex work. Yeah. So we're talking about the theater experience. Only of the age difference.

Yeah, so I think I also would like those experiences to be a little bit different in terms of content. I was saying I'd like to take my kids to a Broadway show but I wanna take them to something that is not just a stage version of something they've seen in the movies. But I have seen Broadway shows where they use video elements in really cool ways and that's neat. But in the movie theater experience,

I wonder if there's a way to make it, hmm. I don't know. Like if you go see Megan in the theater, you're gonna have like a dancer dressed up like Megan dancing in the film. I don't wanna turn into cats or something. Yeah, it turns into like kitsch at that point as opposed to art.

And I also, and I don't want to do anything too immersive, because I don't want that. I don't need the performers interacting with me during the movie or the show. No, thank you. Sleep more, sleep no more. I don't think so. Sleep yes more.

I think I'll sleep less, thank you very much. I happen to a few screens that I've enjoyed that, you know, they do this sometime where there's a live performance of the score or some accompanying it. Yeah, actually, I've had some great experience with that. Been to one. Like an extra saxophone player just pranking it. Yeah, that's right.

Like if I went to see Lost Boys and they had an extra fucking saxophone player, that'd be great. Or like when I went to see a... One of those drummers you can hire for your wedding reception. Yes. Yeah.

Which I thought was ridiculous the first time I went there and I'm like, you have DJ and an extra drummer and then that dude started wailing. I'm like, hell yes, thank you. When the Gimad movie, Brand Upon the Brain was in theaters, they would do that, they did this whole big thing

where it's a silent movie, but they would have live Foley artists in the theater and they had live musicians and you had a celebrity narrator who was reading the narration. And that was a really cool way to do it. But I wouldn't want that for every movie. Like, I don't need to see the Foley artists working for every, if I go if I go to see, I don't know, like, what's a movie that's out now? The holdovers? I don't need to see the guy, the guy

with the shoes crunching on gravel to me, it sound like walking through snow. Oh man. You know, that would be a great 40X one where they get like fish smells and you smell Jim Beam. Oh, God. Yeah. You just, the wafts of a liquor scented breath are just pumped out at you at different

points. Man, I love that fucking movie. Yeah. I like that movie. This is reminding me that a former coworker of mine at the Daily Show, Joe Opio, who's from Uganda, was telling us that a lot of films in Africa that were from other countries, they would have sort of a local, like, man, like basically like a DJ, like, with a microphone, sort of narrating the film and embellishing the film rather than having, like, you know,

like subtitles or dubs or whatever. It would just be like, all right, this guy's gonna tell you the story and embellishing the film rather than having like you know like Subtitles or or dubs or whatever it would just be like all right This guy's gonna tell you the story and like really like embellish it however he wants to and that sounds amazing It does remind me of those those those movie posters you see from I don't remember where and which which definition where they're They take something like Mrs. Doubtfire and all the characters are covered in blood You know, it's like the embellishments go a little too far, so it's right. Or it'll be like Dumb and Dumber and like a xenomorph is bursting out of one of their chests or something.

Now, we've, you've also touched on the, like the other part of this question, as we're all forward-thinking people, and we're thinking about the future of both cinema and the stage. There have been a lot of stage adaptations that were once movies and movies that were once stage shows. Mean Girls is in theaters now.

And it's a movie based on a Broadway show based on a movie. Yeah, just like it was a real hairspray switch. So what do you, is there a show that you think should be turned into a movie or a movie that you think is be turned into a movie or a movie that you think is desperate to be made into a Broadway show? I just realized the first of those

was probably Little Shop of Horrors, right? Was that the first movie that was made into a theater musical that was then turned into a movie of that musical? Oh, maybe. I bet this one from like 30s. I don't know, write in folks. Audience is write in, but yeah, so what's one that we think would work that way

or should work that way, you're saying? Yeah, exactly. Okay. Oh boy. I mean, I've seen a few musicals. I wouldn't be surprised if something like Ann Juliet were to be turned into a movie because it is, I mean, I guess it is a lot of pop music,

but I feel like it's peppy, it's bright. Young people like that stuff, right? You guys seen this deer Evan Hansen play? They could probably make a movie of that, but they've got to keep the main guy. They've got to keep it. I feel like the musical based on the movie, deer Evan Hansen, that's where it's really gonna kick off.

I wanna see a musical about the movie being made of deer Evan Hansen, and all the songs are about like, am I too old for this part? Oh man that would be great. Digitally DH me. I'm trying to look up. At one point I was keeping a list of stuff I'd seen in the theater. I would love to see.

You just saw Marely we roll along. Should they make a movie out of that? No actually, Audrey went without me. Those are friends. Wow. I guess you didn't roll along. Wow. make a movie out of that? No, actually, Audrey went without me. Those are friends. Wow. I guess you didn't roll along. Wow. I had seen it recently though off Broadway.

Not the- Daniel Radcliffe? I didn't see the Daniel Radcliffe. She did. There have been a lot of revivals of Merrill that we roll along in the past few years. That's the Sondheim revival du jour of the moment. But I think like I've talked,

I don't remember I've talked about on the podcast. There's a play I saw years ago called Mr. Burns by Anne Washburn that I think it's a great experience in a theater, but I think that would be a really cool movie to see too, but I'd kind of want like, I would want a normal director to do the first two parts and then like Ken Russell to do the last part, you know. But as for movies that can be turned into musical plays, that's a good question. What have I seen

that that would work? I mean, theoretically, like if you're seriously approaching it, you need to find something that has managed to capture some kind of cultural zeitgeist on some level, right? Not just a, like it has to, it has to like, part of what makes mean girls work is that it like hit at a very specific time. Yes, I think so. I mean, you never know, there are definitely, I mean, like I said, little shop of horrors, like I guess the Zeitgeist was people, like camp being something that people were more open to,

you know? Evil dentists. And evil dentists, yeah. But at the, then you see movie, there's like, I didn't see the Broadway show of like Tootsie, but that was one of those ones where it was like, this does not feel like the right time for this show. That was interesting. I saw that one because I think that-

Because you love the movie. No, for some reason, like the Daily Show got an opportunity for like just like free tickets for people who wanted to go. And so I was like, yeah, sure, why not? Yeah, free Broadway show. Free Broadway show. And it was a lot better yeah, sure. Why not? Yeah. Great. Free Broadway show. And it was a lot better than I kind of imagined it might be. And I think that part of it was like, it did engage with the fact like, Hey, it's weird that this guy's like,

aggrieved and like dresses as a woman to try and get a role and steals it from actual woman out there. And the, like the movie, you know, like the movie is from another time and is trying to do a different lesson. It's like, oh, if you walk in a woman's shoes, maybe you'll learn something and it's ignoring this other stuff that the play then did sort of work. And I don't think it quite cracked it,

but it came closer than I expected. Who was the lead in the stage show? Was it the guy who played original Greg on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend? Yeah. That's cool. Okay, so let's go back. Now that we've talked a lot about theater stuff,

let's cycle back to the original premise, which is we have all, Dan has inherited a movie theater and we now have to run it. What job would each of us be responsible for? Dan, I see you at the snack bar, because you like food, you like to cook. And also in theory, you should be front of house,

but I feel like you will get easily flustered at the front of house. I will get flustered. Whereas as the snack bar, I think you can also like really criticize people for what they're buying. And I think you can be sarcastic to them. Okay, I will accept this if, you know, in this constructed reality, like,

there's a bit more of a short order cook element than just the regular snack bar element. Oh, sure, sure. We've got a half kitchen. And also, do we have a bar? Is it that kind of theater? Because otherwise- Yeah, I mean, we should, right?

That's where the money's at. Okay. So Dan'll do that, obviously. He has the most experience. It's not in ticket sales. Yeah. I think Stuart's- He has the most experience. Yeah. I think Stuart's the most experienced serving alcohol to people. Yep.

I think Stuart's going to be in the ticket booth. I'll be operating the projection probably. Yeah, right? Because that way I can yell things at the audience while they're watching it. So who's going to handle the program? Well, that's the thing. We have to split up the programming duties because I think we're going to fight for it. But like, you know, Ellie can, you know, like maybe we have focuses.

Like Ellie, it's more in the classics programming and. That's weird. Why would he do that? For the same reason Dan's running the bar experience. Yeah. We want to make him feel like he's older. Dan would have his cheeky Wednesdays where it shows cheeky. Tinto brass movies.

Tinto's Thursdays, yeah. Tinto Tuesdays is the obvious. There you go. Come on, come on, come on. It's the only theater I could imagine where Dan is like, right, dear Mr. Brass, we're holding a retrospective of your work. Please come live at our theater.

Yeah, because we would have a, we'd all sleep in one giant bed with little caps on. I've seen his cameos in his own pictures. He seems like a gross man. Really the guy who's, that's an almost entirely shots of up women skirts based filmography. Yeah, sure, okay.

So I guess now that we've divided that up, I think the only thing left to do is to open this sucker dance. So you just need to have a long lost relative die and leave you the movie theater. All right. So wow, so this was a pretty informative episode. And I think everybody learned something. Thank you so much for tuning in.

This has been on Flophouse Mini, we're part of the maximum fun podcast network that has a ton of really good podcasts on it. We have an upcoming tour, which you should come see because as Elliot put it, thanks to the way that airplanes work, you can go anywhere you want. Wow, that's putting a lot of pressure on people.

Distance no longer exists, we have crushed it. It is now, the world is your oyster. Financial issues involved. I'm on your side. That's true. Now, where the show has been edited and produced by Mr. Howell Dottie, that's Alex Smith. He's Howell Dottie on various social media platforms.

He's the best. He was my best man in my wedding. I love him. What a credit. I mean, it's a pretty unique credit, dude. Top of the call sheet above us. So, for the Flop House podcast, I have been your ticket taker, Stuart Wellington. I've been your snack bar coordinator, Dan McCoy.

And I'm the projectionist, Ellie Kalin saying, quiet down there. I'm the only one who's allowed to talk during the movie. Bye! MUSIC Maximum Fun. A worker-owned network. Of artist-owned shows. Supported.

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