The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast - Hot Rod (Again)

Episode Date: June 17, 2024

The Lonely Island and Seth are back with a part two to discuss their 2007 hit comedy, Hot Rod! (Not all the clips we mention are available online; some never even aired.) If you want to see more photos and clips follow us on Instagram @thelonelyislandpod. Sponsors:AirbnbThe Lonely Island Podcast is supported by Airbnb.  Your home might be worth more than you think.  Find out how much at airbnb.com/host VuoriVuori is offering 20% off your FIRST purchase. Get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet at vuori.com/ISLAND.  Not only will you receive 20% off your first purchase, but enjoy free shipping on any U.S. orders over $75 and free returns. Liquid DeathYou can get free shipping of Liquid Death’s Mountain Water, Flavored Sparkling, and Iced Tea 8-packs with Amazon Prime or grab a can or a case at your local 7-Eleven, Target, Walmart, Whole Foods or on Instacart. Go to liquiddeath.com/ISLAND to check out all their healthy, infinitely recyclable beverages and find your closest retailer. LinkedInPost your job for free at LinkedIn.com/RESOURCE to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. Produced by Rabbit Grin ProductionsExecutive Producers Jeph Porter and Rob HolyszLead Producer Kevin MillerCreative Producer Samantha SkeltonCoordinating Producer Derek JohnsonCover Art by Olney AtwellMusic by Greg Chun and Brent AsburyEdit by Cheyenne JonesMix and Master by Jason Richards

This episode is brought to you by Airbnb. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much more at airbnb.com slash host. Yo, I'm here reminding you that this is part two of our Hot Rod episode. So if you didn't hear part one, go back to last week and give that a listen, or else you might be really confused. Now back to Seth in progress, who's confirming that he's milking the Hot Rod convos. Take it away, Seth.

It's the Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast. I'm not picking up the pace at all. Yeah. Basically, Kevin figures out he can edit this together, make a full film. You do a screening of the film. Rod thinks it's going to be a kick-ass stuntman movie. Everybody's going to be in awe of him. Yeah.

Instead, everybody starts laughing because they're shitty stunts and they all go wrong yes there's a really nice move where rod wants it to stop goes up into the projectionist booth throws basically the uh what would you call it's like a video projector your video projector out the window yeah comes down gets in a fight with kevin cops show up feel like it's weird that the cops showed up but what turns out what happened is you've thrown the projector out the window and gone through the window of a guy's car. Right. Yeah. And then you had to give, you raised up to five grand at that point.

You have to give that all back. Now you got no money. Right. Yeah. Lowest moment. Classic. Clean. Classic.

Dark night of the soul. Dark night of the soul. Also, you then post-dump man are a dork. Yeah. He decided he's a square now. You're a square now. It's his idea of being an adult. He gives up on his dream.

Right. It was really funny because it reminded me how you had to wear a wig in the show when you played a dork because your hair was so... Unwieldy. Like this was your real hair being dork hair was not. It was something else. Yeah, it's somewhere in between. It's weird. Yeah.

But it's super fun to look at, but it just doesn't quite... Because you didn't get a haircut. You just combed it. Correct. Well, because we were shooting out of order. Yeah. Like Andy's hair then was not meant to be parted. And it's very, it's very good look.

You're wearing also the worst khakis I've ever seen. Yeah. They're perfect. They're perfect. Because they're like half sweatpants, half khakis. They're exactly what Rod would have. It was a bad outfit. We were laughing at the fitting.

Yeah. Like, oh yeah, this is bad. Why, does it have an elastic waistband? Yeah, it does. Oh, that's really good. It's also just like this person who is not an actual adult's idea of what being a grown-up would be. Yeah. Yeah.

He no longer collects bugs. Perfect. Again, right into the talents of Danny and Bill. Bill starts crying pretty hard when he gets the news yeah danny says who am i going to build ramps for yeah he goes to anger twice yeah rico goes to anger and yeah that's their different characters and then bill in this really nice hater-esque acting move he stops crying and then just gives you a very sweet nod and goes on his way right yes and somehow sells it as like natural because he's just a machine.

Yeah. Wait, can I go back before you? There was a line that got cut. Oh, you're going to talk about this. I was wondering if you're going to talk about it. Oh, we have to talk about it. Don't you think? Yes, I'm fully. There was a line between Rod and Kevin. We were very sad to lose this line. Right before the screening starts.

And there's still some of it in there where he's like, I can't believe you did it. Like, we're going to pull it off, you know? And Kevin's like, I know, Rod, it's looking good or whatever. And Rod's like, ah, how did it go? He was like, I'm so excited. Why don't you whip out that little baby weed in your ears and let me suck it? What?

Yeah, Kevin's like, what? He's like, I don't know. I'm just so excited. Don't tell anyone I said that and then he runs I don't know it's kind of a weird joke

right yeah exactly it's a joke I'm just so excited you say it's weird oh yeah I'm joking around yeah

what you with all the little baby weenie ears let me suck it what I'm joking around did you shoot it yeah

oh yeah we almost put it in you could probably YouTube hot rod delete scenes and they're beeped bleeps because it would have

made the DVD rated R extra features unrated. Yeah. We were told it was maybe beyond R and we were like, what? That's so fucked up. That's so like, what? I can't say that I would suck a dick. And they're like, no, you say baby wiener. Well, yeah. And I was like, Oh wait, like they're taking that literally. They're like, yeah. Like they're taking that literally they're like yeah like they're thinking like it's the wiener of a baby child and i was like but he's clearly an adult no and incest yeah i still think they were wrong and that it's a good joke but i will also say there were definitely some people with the test readings that did not like it when i'm showing it

to my children i'm grateful it's not in, just to have a consistent safe space for the film. But I will say Tim Robinson, I don't know who he was talking about, but some skater, cool dude he was skating with, this is like a month or two ago. He's like, I was skating with this dude. He's like a rad skater guy. And he told me he was at a test screening once for Hot Rod

and he heard the funniest joke of his whole life. And then he was so sad it wasn't in the movie. And then he said it was something about like, you know what I'm having a baby wiener or something? And I was like, oh, I know the joke. So to this cool skater dude who was probably 20 when he saw it, or 15 or something, it was the funniest joke he had ever seen in a movie.

Definitely. I will say it was at that stage of getting to know your character for that long, and then having him say that was pretty mind blowing. But he's not, he doesn't really mean it. He's just so excited. It's a figure of speech to him. Yeah.

He gets carried away with enthusiasm because everything is about to go his way. That's why it makes me laugh. I know. I'm joking around. Oh, heads up. And then you move on and the screening starts. By the way, a guy in his 40s explaining how he saw a cut line from a test screening and how mad he was it wasn't in a movie feels like a, I think you should leave

scene. Like the guy at a party who starts talking about it and then realize, and then he starts explaining like Andy why it's actually okay. Tim might've made it up that that happened. Yeah. But by the way, there's one of those in every studio comedy, at least. Did we talk about this on this already? That we went and saw an early screening of Talladega Nights and they cut out our favorite thing? What was that? There's a scene where it gets to the final race and before it starts, the broadcast is happening, the announcers. And they're like, now we're going to go live to our reporter in the stands. And he's like, you guys, I'm here with country legend Kenny Rogers.

And it just pans over and it's this dude who's definitely not Kenny Rogers. And they just talk for a while and it's very casual. And then it just goes back and back to you guys. And they're like, okay, I'm pretty sure that wasn't Kenny Rogers. And I will say at that screening, it was like a friends and family screening. We were laughing uncontrollably loud and the rest of the theater was so i'm not surprised it got cut but i also i'm like sometimes you gotta know you have one for like just people who are obsessed with comedy and do you sacrifice everyone else for that one

joke well but to be fair harrod still has maybe like five jokes that are strictly just for us yeah sure yeah well i mean in that sense i'm like we should have kept it it's the cost benefit How Rod still has maybe like five jokes that are strictly just for us. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. Well, I mean, in that sense, I'm like, we should have kept it. It's the cost benefit analysis of keeping Baby Wiener. It was just that it would have been a rated R. Yeah. But it's hard to imagine the movie making less money.

That's true. We'll get there. Because you were keeping it PG for box office reasons. But I will say this, longevity wise, there are a lot of kids, as we've said, that do really love Hot Rod. So in that sense, it is probably good. Like Keith said, he wouldn't want that in there when he's showing his kids.

So it was probably the right call. But I love that joke. The movie is sweet. And so there's no need to... I would just argue that that joke is also sweet. Yeah, I would too. I think it's kind. He's just loving on his bro.

Yeah. His brother. Put that little pee in there. Every time you circle back... It's like just loving on his bro. Yeah. His brother. Just put that little P there. Every time you circle back. It's like sweet. He loves him. Yeah. I like when you circle back, make a case for it.

And then I'm like, yeah. And then you say the line again. I'm like, whoa. Oh, no. Yeah. But then he clarifies. But it's called out too. I'm just joking around.

And Kevin does say that's kind of a weird thing to say. There's so many weird jokes. Like ancestors protect me is is almost equally weird right kind of like i mean but you know are we that square in europe they would have let you do it exactly do it you're a pot rod it's in then we have the quick i think if memory serves i wrote too legit to quit yep that was yours yeah we love that one yeah that joke cost thirty five thousand dollars how much it cost thirty Wow. Because we just stole the lyrics from Too Legit to Quit. Well, Keefe had money to burn.

But I forgot after that very earnest line reading, you walk in the street and get hit by a van. And it's really, it's a great stunt. I mean, it's great. Made me laugh really hard. Oh my God, I forgot about that. A movie I've seen a bunch of times. Love that.

Then we meet Chris Parnell. Yeah. And just what a delightful bit of plotting. Chris Parnell runs an AM radio station and they have bought the rights to the jump because he's trying. It's really funny in this day and age where now TV is like up against the same thing. He's trying to keep AM radio alive. Right. And he explains how much he hates it's TV and fm radio right like that's who he's

raging against yeah he's a few steps behind by the way they're cutting am radio out of cars now guys yeah yeah and it's a stunt the only way to enjoy a stunt is to see it yeah but he has the right he bought the exclusive rights i mean it's really it's chef's kiss good then the best is he explains why he hates it and then he lifts up his and he's a very sort of parnelli am radio host pulls up his shirt he has a basically uh you did not call it this but it's very clear it's a calvin tattoo yeah where calvin instead of just peeing on a sort of car that maybe someone doesn't like is peeing on both a radio and a television set. And this is the line that I guess you would have

maybe an issue with the kids, Keith. This is your line. Do you want to explain why there are two divergent pee streams of urine? Oh, well, he doesn't say semen, by the way. It's clean. He says, I like to think he had sex the night before and a little bit of residue is blocking his urethra,

causing or allowing the urine to flow in two separate directions, something like that. Because it's on the FM radio and on the TV, right? I believe Eliden is implausible, I know. But I like to imagine that he had sex the night before. Also, then you see it up here is the AM radio. And the AM radio is floating above the tattoo on a magic carpet. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, safe and sound.

Oh, right. We had a stretch of time where we really loved calling out Calvin pissing on stuff, as I think a lot of people in comedy did. Yeah. Well, I feel like that's fallen out of favor with truck drivers. Yes. It used to be on the back windshield of many a car, many a truck. Yeah. Calvin pissing on stuff.

We would put that into things we wrote. Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes, for those of you who don't know. But I remember this being a Keeve special. I'll say that. There was this scene, which I could barely keep it together for. And then post-riot, I also didn't see me laughing. With Danny having sealed the television set. I missed one thing before

we get to riot which is one of my favorite scenes can i just go back yeah yeah you should go ahead i'll just say cool beans is another real lonely island flourish yeah cool bean scene and i remember you were editing the movie in new york keeve yeah and you and your arm were there and you guys had been fighting all afternoon about an edit in Cool Beans and you showed me each version and I laughed so hard because I couldn't tell the difference. That's right. That sounds right. And it was just so funny to me because I remember saying either the audience is in for Cool Beans or they're out. Yes, that's correct. But there's no tiny edit. Like I would have been in, but you added an extra three frames there. Now I don't. That was

proven by the test screenings because it was both the highest negative and highest positive. Well, at first, though, Jorm, it was just a negative. The original scene was imagined as just us saying it back and forth in different weird ways. Before there was the music edit. Right.

And originally it was just cool beans? Yeah, cool beans. Just twice, like super earnest. And that was the joke. And then either during writing or on set, we decided to try to get it a whole bunch of different ways in case we wanted to make it go longer. And then we cut together the really long version

and it was dying at test screenings. And then Keeve was like, I think we just need to lose this scene. And I believe it was me or me and you, Yarm. I think it was you. I think it was you that was like, hey, let's take all this footage into the other room. There's another editing bay at where we were cutting. And I asked you to make the beat. We edited it with the footage in the other room because I feel like we were also down on it. We were like, let's try this crazy ass move with it because otherwise we're going to have to cut it.

And we did it and it was making us laugh and we were like, yeah, maybe. And we brought it back in and Keith was like, it's funny, but I don't think it's going to work.

We were like, all right, we have one last test screening so let's just put it in and see and if not, we'll just cut it down to the studs. And it destroyed. Yeah, it did great.

We were like, what the fuck? It was like the highest rated scene in the movie and we thought it was the most lost of causes. It's a real lesson. Yeah, it did great. We were like, what the fuck? It was like the highest rated scene in the movie and we thought it was the most lost of causes. It's a real lesson. Yeah.

And, fun little addendum on the soundtrack, which I think you can now listen to on Spotify, but there is a Cool Beans remix that has B-Legit.

Oh my god, that's from Bay Area Rapper. Yeah. He crushes it. What's the first line, Jorn? Cool beans in the place 40 cal in my waist

pointed at your face if you really want to take. Yeah, but you told him the direction was like, just do a hard, yeah. Just like be as gangster as possible. Oh, yeah. And he did. Got that bay in. We've mentioned this wonderful cast.

We've not mentioned Will Arnett, who is perfect. Oh my God, that's right. And really, really funny as the sleazy boyfriend, Jonathan, who is incredibly unlikable from the first time he shows up. And then each successive time we see him, you do not pull off the gas letting Ernest know how horrible he is. No, he's truly the worst possible boyfriend. And at one point, Rod calls him to say the jump's back on,

and he's reading Barely Legal. jumps back on and he's reading Barely Legal. Which is also just insane that that, I can't imagine. Is that still? Barely Legal is so horrific. Like it could be called, you're almost a pedophile. We wanted him to be a bad option, you know? He's such a bad option. And it's really funny because it again

plays off the trope of, oh, God, they were so close. She has a boyfriend. And you feel like you want to slowly show the audience he's not right for her.

Throughout the entire shoot, we were like, she should not be with either of these guys. I know. You're awful, too. Yeah, bad options. I mean, we miss the scene

where you're just literally hammering an engine in your garage and she walks in and says she'll miss the scene where you're just literally hammering an engine in your garage and she walks in and says she'll join the crew and you say there's an initiation and obviously there isn't. And when she says she's in, you just pour your drink on her foot. Like, you're not good.

No. But he sucks. Yeah. And it's really funny. Reading Barely Legal, I forgot that was awful. Oh, God, I forgot that too. By the way, Arnett, that was Arrested Development time. And we were like fucking obsessed with Arnett. We still are. We love him. But like, we didn't know him yet. And

we were like, Jesus Christ, we have to get Will for this part. We wrote it like for him, towards him. And luckily he was down. And he's Canadian. Yeah. So we didn't have to get him like a work permit. Yeah, exactly. He was happy to go back to the motherland. He actually was doing us a huge favor by doing it. Yeah. Now we have another montage and this is just a music montage and there's a really nice moment. You're doing Tai Chi on the beach. We've established Tai Chi earlier. Yeah. And you're very oily, which I think is, again, we've seen this before. Yes. In Rocky movies where guys are working out and it seems like they're glistening in a way that body does not naturally glisten. And then we see as we widen out that just a sort of random guy is applying oil to you while you're doing your Tai Chi. Yeah. Like a guy that might be like a guy that might

work on the trains or something. Kind of an elderly fella. Yeah. He looks sort of like maybe a local fisherman or something who just wandered over. It's very funny. But it was a nod to Roadhouse, right? Roadhouse, yeah. Didn't you have like a neighbor who like basically dressed like that? There's a shot in Roadhouse when he's doing his Tai Chi where a neighbor sees him, or is that our movie? I don't know if he sees him. Got it.

But in our minds, he saw him, and then we added the boiling him up. The boiling him up. Anyway. And now Roadhouse, Jorma, you later direct a film called MacGruber, which borrows a great deal from Roadhouse. Yeah, we loved Roadhouse. That's a touchstone film. up the oiling up anyway and now roadhouse yorma you later direct a film called mcgruber which borrows a great deal from roadhouse yeah we'd love to roadhouse that's a touchstone when this comes out we're talking about the original roadhouse not the gyllenhaal right because there's going to be a new roadhouse yeah which better be funny so we can steal more from it

better inspire the next generation of hot rod tours he better be ripping throats so you then, again, really fun trope. You guys are off. You're like walking down the street. Rod's walking down the street one by one, getting joined by the crew.

Now it's the four of you. Yeah, it's the morning of the big jump. So it's the morning that they're on their way. Big John Farnham song starts. Neighbors at first noticing, then kids join up behind you.

Has a very sort of inspirational, but now more people are joining. You guys seem a little, this isn't what you expected. Strangers to be joining behind you has a very sort of inspirational, but now more people are joining. You guys seem a little, this isn't what you expected, strangers to be joining behind you. Yeah. Now strangers are also singing along with the song.

Right, that's weird. That's playing. So now it's very weird. And we keep, again, none of them think it's weird, but we see on the faces of the four of you. Yeah, we're confused. But you're happily confused.

You're like, whoa, wow. I guess the town is rallying behind. Something magical is afoot. Yeah. But you were hinting to the audience, this is not what we expect when we're walking down the street to the Big Jump. Then a dude just picks up a trash can, throws it through the window of a storefront,

and everybody just starts looting. Yeah. Let's tear this place apart. And it becomes like a car gets flipped. Dude sets one on fire. Music continues. Music continues. Music continues. Same positive.

Two people dump a dude out of a wheelchair. Yeah. It's just incredibly gnarly. Yeah. You guys take off running. That's Lauren's child, Henry Michaels.

Is it really? He's the kid who runs up and steals like, hey, free wheelchair. Yeah. Two people dump a guy out just for the purposes of dumping him out,

but then another kid's like, hey, free wheelchair. Yeah. The best though, and I think this is what you're alluding to, Joram, is then the four of you sort of run off. To safety. And you're now at the location of the jump and you talk about how crazy it was. And it's the best because Danny McBride's Rico is holding a TV. He's definitely just stolen. So he runs up not holding it. You guys notice it

and he just keeps talking about how crazy it was and no, it's never mentioned. No. It's like there was no time to do anything but just try to make sure

you're safe and get out of there. And it really is, again, I know I keep saying it, it's such a wonderful, really nice Danny McBride thing

of his characters. They're so good at not having any shame about their shitty illness yeah credit to yorm and andy on that one as well as cool beans there came a moment i remember in prep where all my time as the official director start getting eaten up with location scouts talking to department heads just all the stuff that starts happening but the script was still ready for more inspiration. And that's when you guys came to that one.

We would listen to John Farnham. He's Australian, very popular in Australia, but not an American, very well known. But he had a song on the Rad soundtrack that we would listen to. He had multiple songs on the Rad soundtrack. So then, you know, we would just peruse his other library and found that song that's a big hit down under.

Yeah. You know, just inspired. You were just breathing in that Crocodile Dundee air. Yeah. Yeah, it was just in that office. And you have Isla. There's a lot of Australia stuff going on here. We were like, this should be the song before we came up with the idea for it to turn into a riot.

We were like, this should be like, this song starts playing. This is like the day of the jump. And then people start joining in yeah yeah i would bet big money or that you were the one who said and then a dude just throws a trash yeah that was and then we just wrote it from there but this one i did not have doubts in like cool beans it is the best i think depiction of how looting starts i've ever seen on television yeah you're like yeah that seems real because everybody's behind one idea and then as soon as it becomes a new idea,

everybody now has sort of just a collective thrust behind them. It's also great because when you watch it, when you see the dude, you're like, oh, wait, oh, no.

Oh, you know where it's going. But you're like, oh, God, no, no, don't do that. Yes. He's like the giant orc in the second Lord of the Rings with the big torch.

Yeah. You see him running through the crowd. You're like, oh, no, no, stop that guy. When we shot that, it was maybe the end of the second Lord of the Rings with the big torch. Yeah. You see him running through the crowd. You're like, oh no, no, stop that guy. When we shot that, it was maybe the end of the second week. It was somewhere pretty early on. Or it might've been Friday of week one even. Yeah.

Because I remember Lorne being in a typical kind of Lorne, like bird's eye view. He was like, now the crew really knows what movie we're making. I can feel there's a different energy now because everybody's kind of galvanized and they know that we're having fun and doing something big. And it was also because everybody, you know,

we had a techno crane and we got big shots and a car was on fire, so it felt big. And he was like pontificating about how now, now we're really doing it. Also, I feel like everyone as we were shooting thought it was funny, which helped. Yeah. No, but it is such a weird tone that I think that you're right.

Like when Lauren said that, it did feel like, oh, now people get it. Right. It was both not a thing I'd seen before, and it would have been funny in any comedy. It was such a funny idea. Well, thanks, Seth. That I think anybody working on it would be like, oh, okay, great. These guys are doing a new thing,

and I don't have to know anything about it to know that this is a very funny idea. I'll tell you what, it was fun to do. Yeah. The Lonely Island Podcast is supported by Airbnb. Seth, I don't know if you know this, but when I was out in Los Angeles when we were making Popstar, I had to stay at seven different places. Get out of town. Yeah, because we kept editing for seven and a half months.

And five of those places were Airbnbs. And I got to say, my experience was lovely. In each one of them, I stayed in every kind of location around Los Angeles. And the whole time I was thinking, I should be doing this same thing because these houses are just making moolah for people. And I never did. And you know what? I don't know if you know this about me, but I hate

leaving money on the table. Do you know that? I hate leaving money on the table. You'll go back and you'll take the tip we've left the waitstaff. And we have to say that money is supposed to be on the table. I've done that many times and you've told me not to so many times. But you know what? I hated leaving it on the table. So I got to go back. Well, I'm glad you finally came to that realization, Jorm, because a lot of people don't realize they might have an Airbnb of their own right under their noses. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at Airbnb.com slash host.

Support for The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast comes from Viore. Hey, Jorm. Hi. You know what I just bought for you, my friend? What? A pair of Viore Men's Sunday performance joggers. Oh, my God. You knew that I was working on my butt.

Well, you were talking a lot about how you want clothes that are both athletic and clothes that are in the leisure category. Yeah. So I thought getting you a fresh take on athleisure would be a nice new staple in your wardrobe. The Sunday performance joggers are made from premium recycled performance stretch fabric. You get me, Seth. You're going to move around with less bulk around your ankles. You don't like bulk around your ankles or anywhere else. Hate it. Especially not on my butt. Yoram, because Viore is an investment in your happiness. And now for our listeners, they're offering 20% off your first purchase. Get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet at viore.com slash island.

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There's a really funny scene where the news, right? We've seen this move in films before where all of a sudden a newscaster's on TV giving us some information. Right. The newscaster says, and then the dog came home, ate a pizza and took a nap.

So that's the story. We've seen the tail end of the first story. Yeah. I believe that's Akiva bubble trousers vibe. Yeah, for sure. That's very bubble trousers. Then she gets to the information at hand where there's going to be a big jump. Everybody's there.

But unfortunately, you can't watch it there. Yeah. Because an AM radio station has the exclusive rights. Very funny. Second piece of news is that. So then we've kind of haven't mentioned that the amazing Sissy Spacek plays your mom, which is hilarious every time I see it.

Both pieces of those casting was us just not even understanding exactly how big a deal a studio movie being made is just in general. I remember multiple times. I remember our main executive,

our day-to-day executive, this woman, Ali Shermer, coming up to us one day when we were greenlit in pre-production, but still in LA and going, this is a big deal, guys. This doesn't just happen. This is a very big deal. Because she could tell our anxiety and worry because the script wasn't where we wanted it to be was way superseding

any enjoyment we were really getting about like, hell yeah, we're doing it. There was no, as we call it, Vinny chasing it, where you're just like, Mehdi, and where are we going to shoot it? As we call it? Yeah, as we all do. You guys have never, and I mean this as a compliment, you've never Vinny chased anything. No.

You are always worried about it. We were just balls of anxiety and worry, and she would have to stop us and go, this is a huge deal. But also, it had come relatively easy to us in that moment. Not like we didn't work hard, but it was Lauren just going, how about a movie now?

And I was going, are we ready? I don't even know that we're ready and it was like just start working on the script we'll worry about it later and then all right well just go up to vancouver and start scouting we'll worry about later like so we were the ones trying to put the brakes and go hey let's make it cheaper hey are we sure we're ready to shoot yet like because once those trains are leaving the tracks it's scary you're just going or as somebody else said like the boulders behind you and you're just running as fast as you can. I mean, yeah. I mean, a train leaving the tracks certainly would be scary.

Yeah, that's what I mean. Jumping off the tracks and derailing. But anyways, just to say the point. But then we would say things like, what if his dad was Ian McShane? They were like, give us a list of people. And we were like, what if it's that? Of course, that would never happen. And then Lauren would be like, no, that sounds about right.

And he would call Ian McShane and be like, okay, Ian's in. And we would be like, what are you talking about? And then same with Sissy Spacek. Them being like, what about Sissy Spacek? And us literally going, yeah, sure. Why don't you ask Sissy Spacek if she'll do our movie? And then they were like, she's in. And we were like, what the fuck?

Oh, no. And then was the greatest person we've ever met. Yeah. She runs. When she hears it's on AM radio, she turns off the TV. But you do hear right before the TV goes off. Also, a riot broke out downtown. And I really, also really funny to think that the way the news structured the stories that week.

Yeah. Top story was about a dog who had maybe been lost or something. Then it was the jump, but they didn't have rights to, so they wouldn't be able to show you. And then this crazy riot. And then there was also a riot, by the way. It's maybe not a good news show. I remember with the recording of that, News Anchor Woman is a real one of a local news up in Vancouver. And they kind of showed us a few different local anchors who were allowed to do things like that and could do it at their station with their equipment so it'll look perfect.

Oh, right. And they just said, you don't even have to go down there. They'll just read it like it's news because they just know how to do that. Just give a script. And I remember the joy of being like, oh my God, anything we type here, this predates Anchorman, but it was very Anchorman in the feeling of like anything that goes on a teleprompter, she's going to say. Right, right. And then when we got that footage back and we're watching her talk about the dog walked itself home, ate a pizza and took a nap.

We were like in heaven. Oh my God. What were some of the other ones? It was, and that's why whales are stupid. Just for the record, Anchorman came out in 2004. Oh, it was post Anchorman. Nevermind. It was Anchorman IRL.

There's a moment I wanted to ask. It's jump day. You're signing autographs for some kids. And you basically write, you say, you are cool. Don't be like Frank. But then what you're writing is, I hate Frank. It seems like you're dictating a different thing. Yes.

I just watched this. It's so confusing. It's very confusing. It's great. I still like that joke. And I don't even remember it in the movie. I don't remember it at all. But that is funny.

It's the exact kind of choice we would make. And also like the handwriting, I have no sense of what we're trying to, it's like, this is another reminder. Like a lot of these movies, like a lot of Sandler movies, there was like a 20 year stretch where late in the movie, you're like, oh, there's something super wrong with this dude. Yeah. Like he's God. Yeah.

Yeah. You're definitely like, he should not be with a grown woman. Yeah. Like no one should be with him. It's crazy. When you see how he wrote it and it's like, like you didn't know how much paper you had. You barely fit. I hate Frank on it.

You can tell it's Andy's actual handwriting though. Cause you're like, well, why would they use this? This is crazy. I have no recollection of any of it. Your handwriting is so bad in it. It's unbelievable. We then revisit jonathan denise jonathan has not told denise about the big jump and they're driving down the street

and again because the audience is a little on the fence about jonathan you hear a bump and she goes what was that he's super psyched because they hit a raccoon just cackling and then she's a little taken aback and he says some version of that raccoon would have hit us if it had the chance. Nothing stopped for us. Again, it's really funny because this is our last scene with Jonathan. He's just really pouring it on his last moment. Because we don't want the audience to feel like she's making the wrong choice. He goes in to buy vitamin waters.

And then also, I can't even remember what he calls condoms. The worst thing you've ever done. It's dong bags. Dong bags. Maybe I should pick up some dong bags so we can knock boots later, is what he says. Awful. Yeah, makes a lot of sense that his character

as like a stockbroker would say knock boots. Then a really funny thing happens, which is he goes in the convenience store. So of course, what would she do? If your bad boyfriend left you in a car, you'd switch over to AM radio. Back to what she likes. Now she gets the news.

Perfect plotting. And so she takes off and he yells, babe, wait. It's very funny. Arnett leans over the car and screams, babe, wait. It's much like the fall in the woods. It's more babe waits than you think they're going to be. Yeah. It's funny because it's actually in the script too, which you wouldn't think.

He switches it up each time. It's really nice. Babe Wait, I believe, also Yorm, yeah? Yeah, that was a me. Because we wrote No Babe Wait, and then I had the great idea to make it longer. What if he kept saying that over and over? I don't remember which one of us decided

to chop it off and edit, but whoever did was great. Because the fact that he's mid-babe and it chops and cuts off the implication being this is one of the better edits we've ever made. There's a Parnell line.

I don't know who wrote it. It was you. I know I wrote it. Okay. Had to have been you. If you like stunts or terminally ill stepfathers. Yeah, definitely.

That was you. If your answer to either of both of those is yes. Yeah, then you're in the right place. The reason so many of these are you, Seth, is that like the day before or a couple of days before we realized, okay, so we're going to have Parnell. We're going to have him sitting there at a mic in the script. Of course, a script will be way too long if you put everywhere he could narrate. And then there's always that moment

when you're like, oh wait, he's going to be sitting there. We should get him talking about everything that happens from the moment the day starts to it ends so we can cut to it whenever, but it's not in the script. There's only a few choice lines in the script and we're all super busy and you're there to do exactly that. So you wrote us a ton of stuff. And once you have two cameras and he's sitting there,

he can just run through them. So you give us tons of gold and it helps of course in editing so much. And we should note that I share something with the three of you. Nothing's more fun than writing for Chris Parnell. Yeah. Just knowing an absolute technician of dryness.

So funny. Addiction and dryness will just perfectly enunciate any nonsense you put in front of him. A joke I forgot. Denise shows up, kisses you. And Bill says, why is Rod kissing his sister? He saw the whole movie. Yeah, done the whole movie really quiet a very quiet moment we were so happy to have that too because the whole time we were like it's a studio movie so they have to have that in it yeah like they were just like oh and then she has to show up and you guys have to guess and we were like does it seem

honest and they're like don't ask that question. Well, we undercut it twice. One with Bill and one with your reaction to the kiss, right? Where at least at first you're like confused by a kiss because you probably never really tongue kissed a girl. And you're like, whoa, I just wasn't ready, like in your tongue. And she's like, oh God, sorry. And then you do kiss her again to make it okay. Yeah. But at first you are confused by like an adult passionate film kiss because you're a child. But the Bill one for me is gold, obviously. Then Parnell does add, if the Boner police are here, I demand a lawyer. Oh, there you go.

Really good line. I think we've now undercut it plenty. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Maybe even too much. I demand a lawyer. And then the jump. I forgot this joke about the jump. You go off the jump.

Wait, wait, wait. Can we back it up, though, real quick? Please. Because my favorite line of my lines in the movie is when we're giving Rod presents for the jump, and he gets the cool leather Evel Knievel jumpsuit, and I say, You're going to look like a champion, Rod.

And it's so whack and earnest. Nothing's funny about it. It's just just so whack you just love him so much you're gonna look like a champion rod then nothing's funny about i feel like on set we would constantly make fun of you you would make fun of your own character like what else rod what can i do for you today rod like are you sure you didn't try to convince us to cut that line a bunch of times before the movie i probably did now it didn't. Now it's my favorite. You're going to look like a champion rod pick. I just don't think it plays as a joke. That's even funnier that I was

like uncomfortable about not being cool. It's a great scene. You jump off. You're in the air. Slow motion cuts as you like sort of nod to each your teammates again it's really thumbs up heroic music and then we cut to the wide and we realize you've long separated from the bike yes yeah it's great i want to say that was pam brady and it was always in there yeah i don't know if all the nods and stuff but the separating from the bike hers was

snake river canyon much like the real Evel Knievel did. There was a bunch of other details that were different, but that's what I mean. All the big points of it, of like that he doesn't nail the main jump, but it doesn't matter because he earned the money. So he succeeded even if he failed. That was definitely in. And the separation. Did Pams go to Vegas at the end?

Yeah. It did, right? I thought Pams went to Vegas. Oh, didn't do Snake River Canyon? I don't think so. It was like, that was his reference of like i gotta do something bigger than evil kenevil maybe that is i don't know well anyway you take a very hard fall slide across the ground it's a really good fall by the way another fucking incredible stunt really great yeah also to the not spending

money i remember sometimes producers going you know you can use some of the like steady cams or you could ask for a techno crane it's a a studio movie. You don't have to make everything feel like handheld and small. And then I remember us being like, yeah, well, we will in the third act. Like we throw away the cheapness in the third act as a way to be like, no, his world is expanding. I remember us talking about like, it'll turn into a big movie as it goes. So when it got to the riot, we're like, okay, the riot can feel like a big riot. And then when it gets there, all of a sudden you really notice

when like it gets that shot where you're on the top of the jump and the camera is on a big crane and goes up and meets him up at the top of the jump. Right. It's like a really heroic, big movie shot.

Yeah. And all of a sudden we really have 2000 extras and we have the bleachers and we have all the buses. It'd be so funny if that's how Tom Cruise felt about the Mission Impossible movies. Like in the beginning, it should be just like a totally small thing.

Yeah, it should feel like an indie film. Like he should stop like a purse snatcher. Yeah. That's the first part of the Impossible mission. Early on, the mission should be like really possible. Yes. The odds are constantly building. And you're like, what?

Why is this called this it's like he's got like 99 to 1 like wait for it it's gonna be fine yeah yeah it'll be fine by the end it's 1 to 99 it's a really like portly gentleman purse snatches and you're like oh he's gonna catch him yeah he's gonna get him he's like don't worry this is easy very possible he's fast parnell says when you crash i hope none of his teammates had a fight with him this morning because he's more than likely dead. I do enjoy that. And then, it's a wonderful callback to an earlier question

you asked Denise when you were obviously going to ask her out and then you realized she's dating Jonathan and she asked you, what were you going to ask me earlier? And you said, who would win the fight between a grilled cheese and a taco? And it turns out that when you're basically dead, that's what you have a vision of.

Right. Yeah. And we see your third haircut of the movie, which is the dumbest one. Now it's part of dead in the middle. That's his heaven. Your heaven hair is my favorite hair. And I forgot that you had a different,

a third haircut. Middle part. A third style. Having a part down the middle is definitely heaven head. Yeah. Yeah. It's like how all those Hummels look. It's like Hummel hair. I don't know what that is.

You know, those like little porcelain figures that like old people have? Oh, yeah. With the little angelic. I like that you know the name of that. Oh, I know what Hummels are. I Googled it. Okay, go on, Seth. A lot of people are celebrating when you get up, including a Scrooge.

Yeah, well, first of all, that originally made more sense. Because when we get to $50,000 and big triumphant music starts, it was going to turn to Christmas. And so it was going to start snowing and the bells were going to ring out and then Scrooge was going to appear and say, a cook, Groose. So it all made sense. And then we were told we couldn't do that. So then we kept Scrooge. And Scrooge leans out the window of one of the buses you've jumped with a Christmas turkey? Yeah, with a cooked goose. A goose, of course.

I apologize. We're goose guys. Yeah, a cooked goose for everyone. It's a success. And then you think, you know, you think, well, that's obviously the last big set piece of the film. But for those of you who might have forgotten, the whole purpose of this was to successfully do the jump to make the money to save Frank. It's six months later, and we have our final fight scene. Now, I should note, Deadwood has the greatest fight scene I've ever seen in a show.

The street fight between Dan Doherty and Captain Turner. It's like the gnarliest fight. This gives it a run for its money. This is a very good fight. It's like Deadwood, they live in this. Well, and to back it up, it's set to europe's the final countdown album which many many of the tracks on the soundtrack of this were from that album yeah while we were writing we were listening to europe's album and then eventually said can this album just be has a movie ever been

made where a pre-existing album becomes the soundtrack where we don't even need to make a soundtrack because someone can just go buy it right we're just okay and we were at one point going to challenge ourselves to license every song on the album and just re-put their album out as our soundtrack. I think like six of the songs made it in. Yeah. You crash through multiple walls, fences. You sort of roll into a barbecue in the back.

But there is a really jarring, very funny moment where Frank just throws a throwing star at you. Oh, yeah, right at the top. He's been expecting you. Do you think Rod's ready now that he feels he's a true man, but then he gets hit with that throwing star and thinks twice? And he lands the ultimate punch. Yeah. He lands the ultimate punch. And that's the last moment is we see that Frank shits himself. Yes, exactly.

Which is also a callback because that happens earlier when Denise does it to you. Right. Denise teaches him the Tai Chi move that makes you shit your pants seamless callbacks all the threads are knotted perfect i'm gonna just say a compliment to our friend akiva when i first saw an edit of that fight scene i remember vividly being like oh shit he directed this hell of well like the action looked good and painful and it moved really smoothly and there's like the really cool shots where the camera on Dolly goes like to the side with the action. And then especially the moment when they go through the wall and back out into the yard looks really cool. And it was like innovative and cool in ways that I was not expecting from what we had shot even. Piggybacking on that, even you talking about the cranes and everything key because i

wasn't really privy to it like that's a real learning experience that you kind of had separately for me being around you i mean the real learning experience was when you guys got to go to the pirates of the caribbean premiere at disneyland and i was already in vancouver location scouting and i didn't get to go that's the hard way is what you call that so you learned that directing is really tough, because when you're up there learning things, everybody else is having a closed-down Disneyland where you get to ride the rides

and then watch the Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Do you guys want to talk about how that was? It was great. I didn't even remember you weren't there, dude. Who went for me? Who took my spot? Somebody took my spot. Did Chester or Matt? Matt Bettinelli came. Matt from Who Does the Scream movies now maybe was with you guys? I'm sorry. It was fun. It was so fun. I think, I hope, did Chester or Matt? Matt Bettinelli came. Matt from Who Does the Screen Movies Now maybe was with you guys?

I'm sorry. It was fun. It was so fun. I'm sorry, Keev. Yeah, but I was up in chilly Vancouver in that sad office. By the way, we got invited to that premiere

because Lazy Sunday was about the Chronicles of Narnia. Yeah, it was not Jack Sparrow related yet. We hadn't made that yet. No. Oh, that's right. But it worked. They invited you to the premiere and then you came back and helped brand their franchise. Yeah, it was not Jack Sparrow related yet. We hadn't made that yet. Oh, that's right. But it worked. They invited you to the premiere

and then you came back and helped brand their franchise. Yeah, we did some of that, what do we call it? NARC advertising? Yeah, whatever you were talking about. NARCvertising?

We've come full circle. Native advertising? Is it that? That seems like maybe something you're not allowed to say anymore. You always know you're in good shape

when you have to say that after a joke. Can't say that anymore. Don't worry, no one can hear this. I will say though, if it hasn't been thought of yet, I do like narcvertising. Support for The Lonely Island and Seth

Meyer's podcast comes from Liquid Death. You know what I love to do, Yorm? Drink water? Yeah, but I like to keep it in a giant tall boy so when I crack it open at a 9am business meeting everybody looks at me like I'm the coolest dude they've ever seen. Well yeah, because you're not like such a tough guy. But with that, that description made me think,

wow, tough guy. And that's what I like about Liquid Death is not only am I a tough guy, but it's a healthy beverage. They make mountain spring water, low sugar sodas, low sugar iced teas, too. It's a very fun, if you've ever been at a barbecue, and I know you don't get invited to many social gatherings due to things that have happened in the past. Well, there's been some incidences. But I like being at a barbecue, not filling up on heavy alcohols, but rather I still like that crack of a fresh water in a can with a skull on it. Because again, look, I got three kids, but I used to rock and roll. You did. I remember that. Yeah. So I like people looking at me and being like, hey, that's the day drinking guy. And we're getting what we asked for when we came to this barbecue.

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slash island liquid death.com slash what your island i'm gonna go right now support for the lonely island and seth meyer's podcast comes from linkedin Dot com slash what, Yorm? Island. I'm going to go right now. Support for the Lonely Island and Seth Meyers podcast comes from LinkedIn. Hey, Yorm. Hi. You know, a lot of times in comedy, the people you hire are going to be degenerates, but there's also businesses where you try to find the best possible candidates. And that's when you turn to LinkedIn. LinkedIn isn't just a job board, Yorm.

LinkedIn isn't just a job board, Yorm. LinkedIn isn't just a job board, Yorm. And I'd love you to stop saying it is. LinkedIn helps you hire professionals you can't find anywhere else, even those who aren't actively searching for a new job, but might be open to the perfect role in a given month. Over 70% of LinkedIn users don't visit other leading job sites. So if you're not looking on LinkedIn, you're looking in the wrong place. Where's a bad place you've once looked for a job? Just walking by a store that said help wanted. And then I went in and they were like, oh, no, thank you.

So, I mean, you know, I prefer LinkedIn. And actually, I just looked up different jobs on LinkedIn. And you can find a smoothie maker on there. It's not just for CEOs, Seth, which I know you think that I think that about LinkedIn. But it's not. You can get a dog walker or a smoothie maker. What I said was you only respect CEOs. That's what I said.

Ah, yes. Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash resource. That's linkedin.com slash resource to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. Yeah, boy. Guys, this is the hard part now. You make this film.

I watched it. Like I said, in the last 24 hours. Really enjoyed it. Holds up really well. It's tight. It's right. Great actors. The movie does not work the way the studio wanted to, the way you guys wanted to.

Can you talk a little bit about when that became clear? Let's talk about editing for one second. We were right back at SNL. Oh, yeah. And we only could edit on off weeks of SNL, which was really difficult emotionally, because we were all like, we have a feature film that's going to come out. And for better or worse, Lauren's attitude is always that SNL is real work and movies are like fun summer break vacations. So it wasn't like, I would be like, can I not be at work this week and edit? And it'd be like, no, no, no. The editor's working on editing.

We have a show. Yeah, we have a show. So, I mean, and God bless him. He could talk to Paramount. He's one of the few people that could and just get us a really long post schedule. I have no idea how long it was. But, you know, it's really expensive to have editors in an editing room. And he must have just been calling Paramount going, they have to be at SNL this week.

So, give them more weeks. Yeah. Because ultimately, I bet you we did have the right amount of time to some degree, but it was always very stressful because our minds were in two places at once that whole, that whole time. Right. And I remember also we did have money left over and they were like, if you want to reshoot something or find something. And we were, I don't know what I would do in hindsight, but we were so young and so like not equipped for that. were kind of like i don't know how like we were still also just being like we're just trying to get what we have edited the best it can be to see

the forest for the trees and then maybe once it's edited perfect we'll be able to look at it and go what else could it use but until you get what you have correct that we couldn't even think about what else we might need i will just say this i don't think there's a reshoot that would have made that movie make more money. I agree. What it is is what it was. And that's what we wanted it to be. We just didn't know that that was not something people didn't want to go to the theater to watch. But there's a little bit of a push and pull like you're talking about when you're mentioning like what the studio would allow or not beyond Baby Wiener. There really was that script. We had a game plan. We were like, all right, we're going to take this script here that has all these great ideas and really good jokes, but doesn't make a

lot of sense and doesn't like have a beginning, middle and end in the version we were handed. And our first draft was like, let's just make it make sense. We turned that in. And to us, it was like, yeah, that's like the bare minimum. And to the studio, they're like, holy crap, you turned in a movie. That was the quote. I remember like, well, you know, they say a movie, meaning like, this is a whole movie because so often writers don't turn in something. That's a movie, honestly.

And we were like, right, right, right. Now for our next round, where we're going to like, give it more emotional stakes. And we kept referencing welcome to the dollhouse being like,

we're going to give it some of that sadness of that so that you actually care about these characters. Always a good reference. Welcome to the dollhouse. Yes. And we weren't, we knew we were making a different movie but we were like the weirdness that this character feels like let's put some of that into this so you actually might care i would have loved to have seen that version of this movie but thinking about us name checking welcome to the doll well that's coming up in the second part of the story which is that so we write the first here's what i'll say though.

We wrote the first 50 pages maybe of that version, just starting to eke it out that had him like moving out of the house into a tent because he's so upset about the dad and the dad doesn't love him as much as the brother. But the brother's nice. Jorm's coming out there to give him food and is worried about him. And it has these different elements. and I remember Allison Jones, our casting person, the legendary casting, the number one comedy casting person of all time probably, reading those 50 and going,

ooh, I really like where you guys are going with this. And she was the only person that read it besides Lauren and Goldman and the studio. And I don't even know if Lauren and Goldman even read it because it was in the middle. And the studio read it and was like, what are you guys doing? They called an intervention. We had an active intervention of like, don't do this.

They came over and said, you have to stop. Spent two hours with us going page by page. But halfway through we went, you're just reverting everything. Yes. It was like, let's just go page by page. And every scene would be like, see what you used to have was this. And that was good. And what you have now is bad. And then we were like, yeah, we get it. You thought we nailed it the first time, essentially. It was a real talking to. We got dressed down. We were like, okay, fine. And I remember Lauren also getting really mad at them for doing that. Like, how dare you? Because it was a real talking to. We got dressed down. We were like, okay, fine. And I remember Lauren also getting really mad at them for doing that. Like, how dare you?

Because it was a little bit behind his back. Oh, got it. And he was like, you don't give my guys notes. Like, you give them through me kind of thing. And he's right. But we were all so naive. Us, not Lauren. We were so naive.

We were like, oh. And then we always kind of grieved that version of the movie because we never got to know what it could be. Because we never went back to it or anything. It just went away. So somewhere, I remember even in editing, we got the movie The Best We Can Be. And we were like, hey, fingers crossed people like this. But we knew it was a little uneven. Test screenings would laugh a lot and people would like it.

And it didn't test. Now that I know more about test screening, it didn't test terrible. It tested okay. Yeah. And Rod was most likely character. Go on. It tested okay. How did they feel about Jonathan, the other boyfriend?

They didn't like him. They didn't like him. They hated him because he was a bad guy. But Rod, they wanted to see Smooch. Oh, but she did name check Welcome to Dolls. In that meeting, that long meeting, she was like, you can't make it Welcome to the Dollhouse. She threw it back at us. And we're like know we were just using it as a like underdog sad guys sad

but truthfully we did kind of want it to be more artsy and quote unquote indie with what we were doing and they were like that's not what we are paying for here we want a big studio comedy that's slapstick and that went into the actual trailer, though, too. Like, they got a Beastie Boys song that they got approved that it was going to be like So What You Want or something like that. Exactly. And we were like, no, we want to do this Test Icicles song,

which is this, like, indie band from England. Yeah, looking back, I mean, no regrets. And I love Test Icicles, obviously. But it would have been totally fine. We were way in our heads about Beastie Boys. We were like, why do they want to put a rap song on it? Just because we have made a rap, like, because we made Lazy Sunday.

That's not the tone of the movie at all. Yeah, and in hindsight, it totally is. Yeah, it would have been dope. Now, you guys did make Dollhouse Box Office. We did. I remember very clearly, I don't remember the guy's name, but we cut a trailer, our own trailer,

that was even another trailer that we actually put some wolf parade in. We did! Wolf parade! That in my mind was a really cool trailer that we really thought was awesome, but I will say would probably have led people to believe they're about to see some version of Garden State meets Stunt Stuff. Like, you know what I mean? Like, it seemed like an emotionally interesting indie. And I remember the marketing guy going like, this might play for your friends in Soho, but I'm trying to get the kids in Kansas.

And then he made his trailer and he did not get the kids in Kansas. And then the third part is, I remember them marketing it as if Andy was a star, not somebody that had just done one season of SNL. Yeah. So if you had missed three sketches, if you had missed the Natalie rap and Lazy Sunday,

you didn't know who he was and it was being marketed like he was Will Ferrell, someone that had done seven years of SNL. Yeah. We were saying,

give us less money, don't market it on Andy. Just imagine Keeve in the room with me sitting there looking so sad yelling this exact stuff. This guy's a nobody.

Nobody knows who he is. Not only that, he's a piece of shit. You were actually the biggest against it. Because you felt embarrassed by the billboards. It was the wrong call. Have you seen testicles? He couldn't carry that. Exactly.

To answer your question, though, Seth, the first real moment, because I think we were getting numbers on Thursday of like, it's going to make this. There were projections of like, it was going to do kind of better. So I do think for people who don't know this, you do sort of find out even before it's official, right? They're projecting and they know so soon once it actually opens. We were still on our press tour.

Yes. The moment it happens, it's like an algorithm of just like, if it makes this on Friday, then it'll make this on Saturday. It'll make this on Sunday. And I was also going to the theater though, to see it. Cause I went to theaters and was like, oh no, just, just, just seeing like how few people were in the theater was like, oh God. And it was the closest it felt like getting broken up with of just like, this is shattering.

Genuine heartbreak. Genuine heartbreak. Yes. You shattering. Genuine heartbreak. Genuine heartbreak. Yes. You feel it. Really genuine heartbreak. Also the week leading up, we did a big press tour for it, which was new for us,

of course, because every part of this was new, but we like flew state to state and we're doing events and this and that. And the tracking hadn't like become super official yet. They were still pushing the movie credit to Paramount. They put money into the advertising. And we were still being told by people, like, hey, I think it could do

somewhere between this and this. You know, like teens and maybe even low 20s kind of a thing. And we were like, shit, that'd be cool. Like, just naive little dudes. But we knew in our heart of hearts, we're like, no, I don't think so. But then they'd say it,

and it's exactly what your biggest hope is. So there's this part of you, it's like buying a lottery ticket where you're like, I know I won't win the lottery, but part of you starts fantasizing. And no matter what, you're disappointed when they call the numbers. You're like, well, I knew it wasn't going to win. But sometimes I would think like, are they crazy? Because I remember them calling with those kind of calls and I'd be like, are they in the real world like i can feel that it doesn't have momentum right yeah but then you can't help but go like maybe maybe it will do 12 i don't know yeah you know and what did it do four and a half maybe five i'm gonna say 5.6 i'm thinking of mcgruber which by the way was

identical they were like 14 it's gonna be 14. Four, eight? It made 5.3. 5.3 was the answer for the weekend. I was 300 grand too high. And so do you remember like, how was Lorne with you guys on it? I'm going to just predict this is kind of Lorne at his best. I would imagine Lorne is very good at a time like this. Oh, so supportive. Yes.

He told us a story about, that was one of the saddest Chris Farley stories I've ever heard, but anybody can relate to it, which was when Tommy Boy was coming out, or maybe it was black sheep but i think it was tommy boy and this is pre-email so to see the reviews the studio would have people in every city across america whose job was to like honestly just cut out clippings from local newspapers and fax them in and they would put together a binder that you could get all right sent to you friday afternoon that had like the reviews of every local paper in america the equivalent going on rotten tomatoes but only people with studio access would have this access otherwise you would just read your local paper and so it was just him like sadly flipping through just getting ripped you know but we love that movie so it was a story he was telling to more be like i know you're going

to beat yourself up that That's what he did. He was torturing himself the way you guys are torturing yourselves. But think about how you think of that movie. He had the long sight to go. We just need patience because he's able to watch the movie and go, I know there's going to be kids out there that watch it and see what you want to see. And I remember looking up old reviews for like Billy Madison and stuff. Yeah, our favorite movies and reading bad reviews because it makes you feel better

because you're like, oh, they didn't understand that and they didn't get this. Yes. And I feel like some of the bad reviews of Hot Rod were saying, is Seth just gone? Yeah, yeah, he left.

Well, it doesn't matter. I mean, we can still talk about it. Fucking Frisbee. I'm starting to think he just blames the dog. Can you even hear me, Seth? Is there even a Frisbee? You think I want to be talking about Hot Rod and how it failed?

You just walked away. We're like, you're like, hey, this is- He was about to roll a tear. He's like, this is going to be tough. You're going to have to go back to a painful, painful place, but start talking. And then I'm going to walk away to pick up the dog you ate. Look, the door opened. My wife's standing in there with the dog.

Yeah. The dog goes to the bathroom through my podcast area. Yeah. So you're trying to convince me how the dog is good? Sorry. And I also, I will be honest, I tuned out about 10 minutes before that. How did it do? We made a million dollars.

Move on. I will say this. I remember Keef and Liz, your wife, you guys were in Copenhagen that summer. Yeah. The movie come out. Yeah, we got out of town. Yeah, smart guys were in Copenhagen that summer. Yeah. The movie had come out. Yeah, we got out of town. Yeah, smart. You guys got out of town.

I was going to Amsterdam with my brother. Oh, no, I was actually going to Finland because I was going to run the Helsinki Marathon. And then I remember I called you up, Andy, and I was like, get out of the country. You should come with me. Just book a ticket. Get out of the country. We got Jost to come. Yep.

So we flew overseas. You met us, I think, in Copenhagen, hung out with Keeve and Liz. Yeah, we went to Tivoli Gardens. I have great photos of us at Tivoli Gardens. Julian Casablancas from the Strokes. Yeah, Julian and Juliet, because Juliet's family's from out there. So they go out there. Yeah, all of a sudden we had this great crew out in Copenhagen. We had an amazing vacation, one of the best vacations of my life. Tivoli, I just want to say, has my favorite carnival thing I've ever seen, which was you just give them a dollar and you throw baseballs and break plates. Yeah.

There's no prize. It's just you get to break plates. Someone just told me, though, Andy, that it is still very charming and lovely, and that thing is gone. Why? I don't know. Juliet, I think, told me that last summer. Heartbreaking.

I gotta say, you guys reminiscing about this vacation makes me very sad because I was in New York City just eating shit. Just stewing. Just so sad. Just sitting in it. We were just in bicycles. Wind in our hair. Do you think there was a plate shortage or?

Yeah, I don't know why it's not there. Oh, you're back at that. You don't care at all about Yoram's tough summer. This was a cool game. You should have came, Yoram. I know, I blew it. But I will say, this is a photo for show notes if I can find it. We then went to Amsterdam. I used to work there, I had friends there.

And we didn't go to see Hot Rod, Andy. We went to see a movie, though, with my friend Andrew and his son, Finn, who was probably about eight at that time. Yes. And we went into the Dutch movie theater and there was a Hot Rod poster. And I was not doing a bit. I said to Finn, I'm like, Finn, do you want to get a picture with Andy in front of the Hot Rod poster. And I was not doing a bit. I said to Finn, I'm like,

Finn, do you want to get a picture with Andy in front of the Hot Rod poster? And he was like, no, I'm okay. I do not need that. And you were like, Finn,

you just met this kid. You're like, I need this, buddy. And we took the picture and Finn really is like an eight-year-old Dutch kid who was like,

what is happening here? But he's a nobody. But he's a nobody. But he's a nobody. For some reason, that just reminded me, because were you guys going to see the Bourne Ultimatum or Bourne Legacy, whatever the second Bourne movie was? With an eight-year-old? Could have been a Bourne movie.

Well, what I remember, guys, is us at the press junket at the Four Seasons Beverly Hills for Hot Rod, getting in the elevator and Matt Damon was in it. Oh, really? But we didn't know him. I still don't know him, but we didn't even feel cool enough to introduce ourselves. And then what I also remember is when they were telling us

what date we were going to be on for the movie to come out, they chose this weekend where the second Bourne Identity movie was coming out, which is a huge deal. And we were all like, our movies for people that like Bourne Identity movies, they're not similar, but we love those movies. We would go see that and we would never go see A-Rod.

And they were like, no, it's R-rated. Don't worry. It's a different audience. And then like two weeks before our movie was coming out, we just like saw it out on TV or billboard and went, it's PG-13, just like ours. Oh my God. As soon as you said that, I was like, oh my God, I remember just how crushed I was seeing that. I'm just like, oh no. You're like, no. The one reason you gave wasn't true. And you just fully blew it even in that way. Yeah. But they're like, yeah, but you guys got stunts in your movie.

Yeah. That's true. I mean, the truth is, if we had wanted the movie to make more money, we should not have been us. Lauren said as much to me at the premiere when we were walking up the aisle. And Lauren was like, well, you know, in a normal movie, you would have been a 14 year old boy i was like that's a good point yeah point in case and then he was like but you know if you're a 14 year old boy we would have had to cut baby wiener and you were like we did cut it he's like oh fuck what was the point of his rated

r so you're fine reshoots uh lauren kept mumbling reshoots during the premiere. Pretty loudly. You did not, Seth. Recast, recast that. So then, though, let's just wrap up by saying this movie has, again, doesn't make up for the fact that, you know, it was tough to get through the initial reception. It's found its audience over the years and people really like it. Yeah, I would say within not that long.

Yeah, there was a couple of years though, where it was not a big punchline, but where if it came up, you had to disavow it. Like even on talk shows, you'd have to like really make sure you made fun of it before they did kind of a thing. You'd have to talk about that it made no money. We always stood by it creatively though. No? So-so. Yeah, I think there were some rough times where we did.

I also think there's a very lazy thing where people love it when a movie that feels like an SNL movie doesn't work. People love it. Oh, yeah. Exactly what happened with MacGruber was the exact same thing, you know. Also, there was a lot of comparisons to Napoleon Dynamite, if you go back and read the reviews. Yes. Yeah. A lot of people being like, it wants to be like Napoleon Dynamite, but it's not.

And we were like, we weren't trying to do that. We were trying to do those other movies. Yeah. And Jackass, which is funny because the stunts, even though we like them all, stunts are not our thing. Like we would never think to make a movie with stunts, like stuntman stunts, meaning like a movie about evil Knievel types. And so the Jackass and the Napoleon Dynamite, you needed a bunch of years

to where nobody would think about that stuff because it has nothing to do with them. It is interesting though, and this is speaking to what I was saying a second ago, which is when I looked up old Billy Madison reviews, they were all knocking it for not being as good as Ace Ventura. Wow. That's very interesting. And I was like, oh, right, because they came out around the same year and Ace Ventura was a hit. And they were like, oh, right, because they came out around the same year. And Ace Ventura was a hit. And they were like, this is two different movies where the lead character is crazy. And it's a dude. And it's like high concept.

But when, for me, those two movies are like, they're both comedies, but stylistically, they're so different. But that was the knock on Billy Madison in a lot of them. Yeah. Sometimes to be able to do just look back one thing. Hobrod really gained steam when it went on Netflix. And I think that was four or five years after it came out because it was on HBO or whatever and Comedy Central for a while.

And then when it got on Netflix, that's when I noticed it shift in a bigger way. But I will say also, it was so nice to come back to SNL and have a digital short air and work and sort of, for us, not make it that we were like

hot in movies, but clear the slate for us in terms of feeling like we still had momentum in our careers and we were still making stuff that people liked. That'll be a whole season away

from this podcast. Right. You will have done a second season before the movie comes out. Yeah, because it comes out the next summer.

Because this is, the summer of 2006 is when we're filming. Yes. Then we edit it during... Anecdotally, I believe the first one back was I Ran So Far, just for context. So Dick in a Box was while we were editing? Yes, and then they tried to market Hot Rod on Dick in a Box because it had come out before the movie came out, even though we shot the movie first.

That's how movies work. That was the Christmas 2006 one? Yeah, exactly. Well, I do think it was a triumph to this day. I'm so happy that I got to work on it in a very small way, but just again, just getting to spend more time with you guys.

You know, this was before podcasts, so we would hang out in person. That's right. And Seth, let me just say on behalf of all of us, thank you for helping us. You wrote a ton of really funny jokes that are in the movie and make it way better. It is...

I hate your dog. Yeah. I wanted to leave a little breath there. While I tried to think of something to wrap this up, I did leave too much air. You've made it so much worse today. All right, guys. So next up, we're going to get into your second season

of Digital Shorts at SNL. It's pretty amazing to me to this day that after one season of doing the show, you went out and you made a wonderful film. Love talking to you guys. It was a total joy, Seth. And it was honestly one of the highlights of our lives to make this film. All right, you guys, do this again soon. The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers podcast is supported by Airbnb.