The Worst Idea Of All Time - 27: Radiation

Episode Date: March 25, 2019

Tim is sleep-deprived from humidity and a puppy pooing inside. After reaching out on Twitter to broadcast his dismay, he gets a call from Radio New Zealand to check on him (included at the end of this episode). Meanwhile Guy puts forward a fantasy of seeing Carrie and Big staring death down from his penthouse wardrobe and the pair discuss how to get into the movies if you have $10,000. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We just have a good rhythm together, you know, he sort of feels me out, I feel him out, and we go for it. Hello and welcome along to The Worst Idea of All Time, Season 4, Episode 27. I'm Guy Montgomery, Tim Batt is frantically throwing back a piece of toast. Can you do a couple of chews close to the microphone, Tim, to prove to everyone I'm telling the truth? Oh, yeah, that's enough. That's grisly. No, you like, I know you hate that.

Although we were experimenting with ASMR recently. I am in Sydney, Australia. Tim, Auckland, New Zealand. I did the thing I actually chastised you for recently, Tim, Auckland, New Zealand. I did the thing I actually chastised you for recently, Tim, wherein I put an hour of work, put in an hour of solid work last night just trying to break this thing into digestible chunks or ensure I had some semblance of life.

It wasn't actually quite an hour. I went to bed. My goal was to make it to the wedding day. So I went to bed full of hope, full of promise, actually. I sort of saw a frame of Carrie emerging from her dressing room in her wedding dress. And I thought, oh my God, you've got no fucking idea what's coming. And I went and tucked myself in and then got up, you know, to face just the absolute mess. It's not a dissimilar feeling to, I don't know, I've read about it in a book by John Ronson called

So You've Been Publicly Shamed, where someone sends out a tweet thinking they're sending a funny tweet before a flight, and then they land, and they're in the middle of a social media maelstrom. I went to sleep thinking, well, Kerry, maybe this is the week, maybe this time things will work out. And I got up and, I mean, to no one's surprise it was a mess. She got jilted once more

and then they just faffed around for another, what, hour and 45? I love how you treat this media product. It is an actual fact of play that you're attending twice weekly. See who's tuned up, who's doing a good performance,

how it stacks up against last week. This isn't a new phenomenon, but it really does tickle me that you've persisted with this particular style of watch. It's honestly a coping mechanism. If I believe there's the opportunity for deviation the movie becomes slightly less haunting uh and actually you i listened yesterday to a radio interview after you fired out a tweet um and a quite a prominent new zealand broadcaster actually went to the trouble of reaching out to you to make sure you were okay.

He did. I'm talking to you on the phone, so I can't pull up the tweet verbatim, but I basically said, look, I cannot bring myself to watch Sex and the City again. And Jesse Mulligan, who is the host of our 7 o'clock current events nightly show, and he's also a prominent radio person on our state broadcaster.

He got one of his producers to get in touch and was basically just checking in to see how I was coping. So that was very nice. And in actual fact, I thought, Guy, with your permission, I might just tack that on at the end of this episode or just fang it on so people can have a listen to that. Oh, mate, fill your boots um the quality of these audio records and what goes out into the public sphere as far as i'm concerned is none of my business uh well so you know you were in a

despondent state um you know i guess the the mental preparation that you had to do heading into the watch this week it looked like you were sort of not doing so well how did you find the actual watch what was the situation really really really bad and it's hard when you start to run out of language because it's kind of like trying to think of a non-inflammatory example um i guess if you call someone an arsehole enough times and then they're being a real arsehole it's like what word do you have left you know to pull out the bag so i um well you know in that in that situation what you're describing you would just cut that person out of your life you'd stop

talking to them it's not that you'd need to delve deeper to find different language you'd be like well this person obviously has no place in my life not an option situation although for most people i would say work would be the place where that happens and you can't just sort of cut your boss out something like that um i'll i'll give you a bit of context for my viewing monty um up top so uh haven't been sleeping great lately a combination of the humidity and this gorgeous wee pup who um needs to go out to go to the toilet sort of two or three times a night he's been quite sick recently as well so we have to take him out make sure he goes he's been um acting up a little bit and doing some less than solid incredibly stinky poos inside which is not good doggy behavior so we're just

trying to get that trained out of him and um isn't it that's so much worse than a solid poo isn't it oh the cleanup is like yeah the cleanup's worse because you've you're actually dealing with the if it's solid you can just sort of pick it up with something between your fingers in the poo totally distribute it no trouble but if it's if it's sloppy you're in trouble yeah uh and this smell is very different for a sort of um diarrhea style scenario so with that in mind um my wife's usually been getting up so he's been getting up to sort of look after this pooch um and i was i was like you know i'll take this one and uh you know i i don't know if everyone has this i am a very bad sleeper i'm very bad at sleep so i have a window and it's pretty small where i could go to sleep and if i miss that window i'm fucked and for last night that window was about sort of 10 30 p.m which was about one third the way through my watch

of the movie so that that window closed, that train sailed. And then I was just, so what, I finished it like midnight-ish, something around there, and I was trying to just get off to sleep and the dog started making a bit of noise because he's in a crate. So I let him out and he just like in a split second ran under a desk in our bedroom and took a huge shit. And I was like, okay, good, good stuff. So then, you know, all this sort of accoutrement with that.

And then, yeah. So anyway, all that to say I've had two hours sleep and the watch was absolutely ghastly. I couldn't believe it. The big thought that was running through my head last night was this doesn't make any sense. Like it's just pixels on a screen now and random vibrations that are hitting my eardrums there's no real meaning behind it or there's nothing being transmitted to me it's just static i feel like an alien trying to interpret a radio signal that they don't have the equipment for what is undeniably a film that has been

captured in both audio and visual uh you know like i mean i've watched it i understand what you're articulating but what i watched was definitely a coherent uh assembly of pictures and noises it has been reduced to what just rubble just white noise digital rubble yeah yeah that's it oh man that's crazy i actually um against all odds was pleasantly surprised by the company this week that's not to say i enjoyed myself but you know you're grading against a pretty uh interesting curve here where i thought i don't know what i was i don't know what was happening uh but i was sort of i was really having a red hot go at just being like okay let's watch this for the first time and obviously that's that's impossible uh but i don't know it was it was not um

it wasn't as frustrating as i imagined like i i there were there were a few moments uh where i got annoyed i remember like one of the last or not last things but something i did do last night i had a very exciting moment you know when uh carrie when big reveals the the beautiful wardrobe he's put in the um heaven on fifth and carrie says double doors very nice i just had this overwhelm like in my mind i painted such a vivid picture just this overwhelming urge for the doors to open and he hasn't actually installed this beautiful walk-in wardrobe what he's done is he's just put double doors uh in front of just a sheer drop 30 thought 33 floors straight down to fifth avenue so it's just like he has installed the most dangerous set of double doors in the world in their apartment

no wardrobe just big going out in his own saying it's my house i bought it this is what i want to put in and um just the sort of difference that that would make to the rest of the movie because i don't know that it's not a fight that they wouldn't get over, but certainly it would put a spanner in the works in terms of marriage. It sounds like she might die. No, no, no. She doesn't step out. The door's open.

She steps as though she's like, oh, my gosh, this wardrobe, and then just steps up to this sheer drop and sort of does like a, you know, like arm spinning spinning you know when you lose like sonic the hedgehog when you go up to an edge or exactly yeah yeah um and just the idea of this sort of new character lurking in the background of every scene inside of that tremendous penthouse i mean it would damage the resale value no doubt it would break all sorts of late like you know construction laws but um i don't know i mean if they've got so much money start having a bit of fun with it don't put a wardrobe in your house do something exciting do something new yeah this feels

dangerous and like there's not a huge amount of payoff is the only thing you don't like the idea of having like it's it's like the wardrobe and the the lion the witch and the wardrobe that takes you through to narnia only instead of going to narnia it's just a sheer drop and i can't emphasize how sheer this drop is to you look down it's just straight down 90 degrees just uh i like when i was when i was visualizing it last night it was so vivid in my mind. I had the fearful sensation you get when you're up high and you go, whoa, like, I just want to see this really sheer drop, just 33 floors.

I could say it all day. Of course, that wasn't what happened. He had installed a wardrobe. Well, no, no, no. Don't shy away from this because I want to stay in this. Is part of the allure for you the possibility that someone actually could drop down there? Or is it just sort of the visuals? I mean, if we want to, yeah, it's both.

The visuals certainly are arresting. But I think if we want to break down the psychology of it, I suppose there is an underlying notion that either one of the characters or myself could wind up stumbling through the double doors to our grisly demise um and i guess you know in some sense or you know way that there is appeal in that idea to me which suggests that the rosy watch that i was describing earlier has in fact opened up some pretty dark passageways in my mind. No, that's okay, because I think coping mechanism is the word you used before, and I think that's right. And this is what the human psyche will naturally do. When faced with some pretty oppositional circumstances,

it will go, okay, I can't change this. What I can change is myself. So what you've done is you've managed to kind of judo flip the movie and insert your own fun in there and if that's what you need to get you through i'm here for you i support you and i think you're doing a great job well you know thank you and it does change that last reunion scene towards the end of the movie when they both go to the apartment to pick up the shoes because instead of having a beautiful like moment where they realize the error of their ways and that they are meant for each other at the end of the film what we've got is a double suicide yes i see

there's something about and this is probably my um marxism showing a little bit but there's something beautiful about the visuals of that sort of thing transpiring on fifth avenue because isn't that like a real center of wealth on manhattan it would be yeah i mean it would upset a few commuters um and presumably you know rubbernecking tourists um i mean don't get me wrong i i don't want that to happen to the characters that would be a disaster. Absolutely not. But what I am looking for is ways that this movie can deviate.

And for better or worse, that's what I came up with. Yeah. I think that stems from... I got really cross. I'm sure we've done it before. But when... You know, after that big wedding photo shoot, when that song by... shoot when uh that song by who's singing that song the the the fergie ripoff of glamorous or whatever

ciara is that the click click flash click yeah click and flash carries clothes yeah yeah carries wearing all sorts of different wedding dresses and And then it transitions to her in her apartment and saying, and then the impossible happened. And then it's a message from Vivian Westwood saying, I saw you in the dress, this is your dress. And I was just like, in the world of the film, this is not the impossible. Carrie has literally been handed everything she could reasonably want

from the outset of this movie. There has been no challenge, no hardship. We're just watching a character just have... That's a good point. You've brought up the thing about the dress before, but what you've just said there is right. In a movie, you want to see someone doing something. But Carrie, who is the central protagonist here doesn't do anything things just sort of seem

to happen to her and the things are quite nice except for being stood up at the altar but that's kind of it but prior to that it's like in her world there is nothing unlikely or impossible about vivian westwood giving her address she just bought a penthouse apartment on fifth avenue she's engaged to the man of her dreams she's maintaining these friendships with uh her three core friends even though they appear to have less and less in common she's a vogue model all of a sudden yeah and then um exactly yeah she's a vogue model now and then it's like and then then i don't know it's it's sort of that faux faux modesty it's like just acknowledge that your life's going great. Don't say, and then the impossible happened.

And you go, yeah, and then, because I was on a real fucking tear, I got a free dress. And if Vivian Westwood thinks I'm posting a hashtag spawn post on Instagram, she's fucking mistaken. I'm taking this one for free. I mean, the whole movie's hashtag spawn, hashtag ad, hashtag instant love. You know what struck me this week was the um sheer amount of starbucks in it because i i didn't really um they did a good job i guess it's so wedded into the fabric of the film that i didn't really notice it is standing

out like i would with an adam sandler movie because it was pretty in the dna the film but there's so much starbucks in this yeah what are the ones what are the what are the other products you've noticed to me it's all liquids starbucks smart water vitamin water those are the those are the trio the holy trinity of spawn um it would make sense to me that back then sex in the city had enough sort of clout and uh whatever my vocab's not so great on two hours sleep um that louis vuitton probably paid for that glorious sort of worshiping at their feet about the bag and whatnot yeah um who else maybe sotheby's oh wait no what was it christie's the auction house at the start yeah although that's more of a location so they probably paid

for that maybe there was some sort of contra arrangement where they didn't have to pay for the location as long as they'd splash the name around a little bit and the logo yeah all those all those fashion houses that she reels off in that wedding wedding yeah try to shoot those are that's all spawn right so naked isn't it do you know this is, I don't know if I should, I probably shouldn't say this on the pod, but I will. I caught up with a mate, sort of a, yeah, you know, a light mate. Mate light, yesterday. An acquaintance. A strong acquaintance.

I'm very interested in this phrasing. Yeah, I will let you know who it is afterwards. That person was describing to me i think i didn't want to dwell on it because it was kind of awkward a situation where they are um sort of independently wealthy uh through entrepreneurial pursuits and we're talking about um buying a scene in a movie from a um from a pretty well-known new zealand director tiger um that not that they had done this or anything with that they're in conversations with tiger but like that was their pledge they were just like yeah yeah so i'm gonna um because i'm not getting a lot of auditions and

stuff so what i think i'll do is i'll fund a scene and then people can see that i can act i like you just throw money in a film so you can be in it and that's that's acting now but that's great i mean what say we transplant that idea which is absolutely batshit insane it's so crazy yeah i mean because like what what sort of i mean see that like it was the most normal yeah every day this is this is how our films get made everyone just buys their scene their one scene you click it all together like a jigsaw puzzle taika specifically i imagine it's not exactly hard up for cash like i have no idea what the number you would have to offer at which that becomes undeniable but what say we transplant this

concept of buying screen time as a showreel uh where would you insert yourself into sex in the city and what would you be doing in your scene uh i mean there's so much of myself that just wants to pay to be a walk-on spot and fuck up the shot but disallow them from having any other takes so they have to use it so i'm just barreling the camera at the back while big's on one knee in a starbucks or some shit and they have to they have to use one of your takes because you've paid such a hefty amount of money exactly do you know what i'd enjoy actually as well be a bit of me is being one of the interviewed assistants for carrie like another peter kim of peter kim peter kim.com fame yeah a version of that like and i'd come in uh i

think because not enough people have an idea of like a super stereotypical new zealander so i'd go aussie and i'd attempt a very broad australian accent and wear a cork hat and i think i'd really pop off the screen i mean it's it's your it's your show reel to use how you want so i respect that i i feel like you're not maximizing it do you know my one i think would be um i would pay to feature in every scene that is set in a coffee house and my role would be i just be frantically running around the background of frame flipping over tables and asking everyone if they knew where coffee guy was and so anytime the gals are out for a meal or whatever, you just see this character in the background

just tearing through the cafe. I love that. And I mean, I imagine, if not making me necessarily more employable for future jobs, it would certainly leave an impact on screen, on the extras. I mean, the amount of intensity i'd bring to this i i can't even begin to articulate to you tim i would i would go whole hog every now and then you do get a character or an actor an actor's portrayal in a film that doesn't fit the rest of the film

whatsoever the one i always think of off the top of my head is the room and admittedly like that movie's got countless issues with it in a really fun way but um uh there's a guy in that who looks like he is or he sounds like he's from scooby-doo from like a film adaptation of it and it kind of it's like he's from a whole other genre of movie and he's just walked off the wrong set into frame in this and started winging lines is there have you found anyone in sex in the city like this is there anyone this this watch that you thought what are you doing here get out of here it's actually for me the strongest contender would be the woman with the loud glasses who sits behind samantha at

christie's when she's bidding on the ring she's not i don't think she's good at acting and i think she's so distracting uh with her big movements and things and she's right in the center of shot that it feels like she shouldn't be in the movie yeah she looks like she she should be having afternoon tea with my mum to me. When you described her then, in the picture I have in my mind of her, it's like someone who's performatively reading a magazine. Yes. I'm like, I know you're not reading that magazine, Susie.

I imagine Charlotte, your mum, has a very wide array of friends because she is a very magnanimous and magnetic sort of a person so i imagine she has a fantastically broad sweep of mates boners of the heart magnetic hot she yeah no she she does have she's got uh a far-reaching you know assembly of chums um yeah that's just that's just, that's just what I think. Should we do some shining lights?

Yeah. Could you say that woman in the mix with the other? Yeah. I mean, that's what I mean. Like I can see her as she is in that costume with that auction house magazine, like sort of half engaging with the conversation, half engaging with the magazine,

sailing straight through the middle, not quite nailing either. Um, she feels like a tatter to me like she tats a lot the sort of friend if mum had her over i'd go into whatever room they were sitting in and say hi for a few minutes and then even if i didn't actually have anything to do i'd be like oh well i got to go off and do this um i was quite excited for my shining light this week, Tim, because it's something I've noticed and enjoyed before but never articulated to you. And controversially, it's not even a person.

It's a pen. There is a Sharpie and clipped inside of Carrie's dress and bra strap when they are doing the first wave of wedding planning with Charlotte and Anthony. I see it every watch. I've seen it before and I've never paused to just say how much I love this pen.

I love the idea of keeping a pen there. I love the idea of people having pens on their person, especially in places that I can't have them. And I love having a pen on me. I I love having a pen on me. I've always got a pen on me. I mean, I might not write anything down all day, but I've always got the option. And yeah, it shows up week in, week out.

We don't give it as due credit. It's a fantastic pen. It's a great piece of costuming. I mean, and to me, it's a beautiful spot where costuming and props cross over. And it's probably one of the stronger collaborations in the film and so when I saw that pen show up I thought, yeah, hell yeah. Man, a thousand percent I'm with you on that.

I've seen that pen several times and it's a tasteful placement. It's on the inside. It's like when women will put stuff in their bras like credit cards and stuff so they don't have to leave home with with a with a big heavy wallet um it's just a very practical pragmatic it adds to the scene i really like um i believe it and it adds stuff sorry my um speech is a bit disjointed i am getting messages on this phone and some of them seem important so i'm just putting my phone on do not disturb so that i can hide myself from the world now that's right doesn't intervene uh yeah but that that pens a fucking strong contender for best supporting i think in this movie why don't

we have academy awards each watch for best supporting prop just a whole plethora of awards let's let's give some awards away it's kind of like a shining light style positive segment idea where we can we can roam around finding something to celebrate each time yeah and the winner is for best supporting prop this week in the 26th watch of seventh watch of sex in the city 27th congratulations... 7th watch of Sex and the City. 27th, congratulations, my friend. First step down the mountain. Ah, we're in the 27 club now. I might die in the next couple of days

before the next watch. Anything's possible. Oh, we're watching tomorrow, aren't we? Fucking hell. Oh! Oh, my Lord. This is so bad man fuck this is so bad i can't even fucking describe the state i was in last night watching i i was in such a state there's no other word for it bleary-eyed exhausted just receiving radiation from a tablet

an inch away from my fucking face, trying to make sense of tiny red, green, and blue pixels attempting to communicate romance to me. It is so fucked. I'm coming apart at the seams. You really are. I mean, you're wearing a singlet today which i think looks fantastic but sort of speaks to my uniform yeah i haven't had a shower i look terrible as you get

we're actually on video skype today which is rare i do love this singlet though i bought it um for a hike i got it at cotton on which is i don't normally shop there's one of those dreary fast fashion places where they've got slave labor to construct a cotton t-shirt for three dollars for you but the reason why i love it is i walked in i saw it because i didn't have a singlet from a tramp and it's got a picture of the capitol building of the united states from washington dc which i have visited in person and slathered on top of that image are the words San Francisco in huge bold letters. And I thought, I don't know if that's intentional or not, but that is fucking funny. It's making you laugh right now, which I enjoy.

It is. It is. It tickles me. It's so good. Hey, Guy, have you seen any other movies lately that you enjoyed? I refuse to talk about that. Tim, what was your shining light? Don't be a dick. Don't be a dick.

Come on. I'll tell you my shining light. My shining light. You were so scared just then oh my god i wasn't scared i felt like i saw it and i saw into you the don't be a dick thing it wasn't like authoritative it was pleading it was like please allow me to have this diversion my shining light this week and it's so weird that i remember it because i last night when i was watching i was like fuck i better write this down because there's no way that i'll recall it in the morning but i do crystal clear it's the moment when um louise from saint louis and carrie are

going through sort of the to-do list and carrie wants to know when they're going to get to unpacking their clothes in her closet or packing them in some shit sorting out the closet yeah and louise says one thing at a time um when were you going to check these emails we've got a shot of carrie and she does this kind of like half guilty half resigned face and just sort of shrugs and says now and it's uh i buy it i buy it every every watch that's cool yeah do you know the exact moment i'm talking about friend of course i do do you like it uh yeah i mean i do i do i don't mind that scene i i find it really cute that moment i find it a really cute little moment from sjp uh i'm noticing that we gravitate towards scenes that are in carrie's old apartment um i guess that could be related to the idea that

these are scenes that uh it's easier to be invested or believe in or you know transplant yourself into uh i do know what you're describing i think jennifer hudson was a breath of fresh air this week and uh yeah i mean i know exactly what you're saying is the next thing she does is reads an email from john preston um john james preston heingl smith uh yeah i i was gonna say something else but i can't remember what it was um sorry bud no it's okay man i'm not i came in with that middle name i've ankle tapped you when you're on a sprint no good thing to do no no no no look hey guy just a little update mate um this seems relevant i think jesus i think a hurricane might be coming or something The weather has changed Like instantly The sky has darkened and all of a sudden

There's a ton of leaves falling Fuck man This is I might check the internet or something Because this feels slightly apocalyptic Like it was really hot before Basically when I started the record Now the sky is totally grey

And the wind just picked up all of a sudden It scared my little dog It was really hot before, basically when I started the record. Now the sky is totally grey. And the wind just picked up all of a sudden. It scared my little dog. He was on the other side of the room on a pillow. He's hung out with me now. It sounded like someone was trying to get into the studio at one point. That sort of banging noise. And it's just a big gust of wind.

That is freaky, man. It's like a little tornado. Well, the wind. The wind is crazy, isn't it? Because you can't see the wind. You can see the impact of the wind, but that's different from seeing the wind. You know, have you got your computer on you? I'm on my computer.

You do me a favor. You look up the weather for Auckland? Sure thing, Tim. I'll look up the weather for Auckland. Thanks, mate. What else to say about the watch last night? Who did I like? no one is the answer to that that can't be true i appreciate no it is i appreciated steve but i didn't i didn't like

anyone i thought brady was a real shit actor this week that's very rude of you he's a child yeah try harder uh what you're looking at, Tim, you are looking... Is there a hurricane warning or anything? No hurricane warning, but there are gusts, and you're about to experience some pretty intense showers until early afternoon. Thank you. Not a problem.

It's a subtropical storm. It's going to stay warm. What do you think of Magda? We never talk about Magda. Yeah. I like her. She of like i like her because i like the way that she's represented and i like that she's sort of i feel like she mumbles to herself and miranda and steve are so swept up in their own lives and problems that they don't catch a lot of what she's saying but she's dropping bombs she's funny she's got really firm opinions

on these people like they've so let her into their lives and she's such a part of the fabric of their day-to-day that they've almost forgotten that she has total autonomy over her mind and thoughts and that uh she is observing the things they do and she's making some pretty harsh judgments uh it's an interesting thing isn't it when you get rich enough to have Full time help like a nanny for childcare Or a cleaner who's in your house Like a lot of the time I don't know if this is real life or just kind of a trope

I as a poor person will never know The joy of having like a full time Nanny or cleaner I don't think But yeah their autonomy starts to Slip away in your own head It's a cool little rebellious thing that she's like man these guys they're no good yeah these guys and i'm going to talk about a little bit when she takes brady to the bathroom like when they're in that first

italian restaurant scene she sort of starts but she goes i'm going to wash your beautiful face but then i feel like as they're walking she'd keep like i'd love the camera just pick up and and get off steve and miranda for a moment and just follow them in because i i wouldn't be surprised to hear her sort of whispering um not outright like slander or things to alienate brady from his parents but certainly the opening statements planning sowing the seeds of discontent um to try and you know exercise i mean and i understand why you know because in a sense brady is her child as well she spends the most time with him during these formative years um like yeah i i just i wouldn't be surprised to see whatever her own dealings or plans for the world, the city, her life are,

her to sort of cross-pollinate those with Brady, and whom she probably sees in his training quite a powerful young ally. Do you see it as a Splinter and Ninja Turtle style relationship of this sort of sensei parent figure imbuing them with martial arts powers? say parent figure imbuing them with martial arts powers somewhat although i do think down the line there is scope for brady to rebel in a way that the teenage mutant ninja turtles never do against splinter um i think that would be a good series right you know because i think teenage mutant ninja turtles started as comic book characters originally and it would be a cool little um series like you know how batman has the dark knight just a little

divergent series of the boys rebelling against splinter that would be a fun story to pursue especially if splinter was in the right the whole time but maybe the turtles couldn't see the bigger picture of course i mean but it's only natural i mean you know they they squabble with each other these turtles but but for teenagers, they are remarkably differential towards authority. They really do respect the hell out of Splinter. And I think Brady does feel like that way about Magda right now.

The turtles are different ages, eh? Who's to say, man? I do, I like Magda. And I'm glad you asked, because she doesn't get her due credit in the film nor on the podcast what do you what nationality do you think magda is what ukrainian no she well she just says that when i first came this was the this is the old ukrainian area yeah um neighborhood do you think she's yeah ukraine absolutely where Do you think she's from Ukraine? Absolutely.

Where do you think she's from? I want... Now I want to say Ukraine, because I think it would be fun. Cool that she got out. I wonder what her opinions on Putin would be. Probably not good, I imagine. I've just Googled her.

There's a 2018 Interview with Cosmopolitan Very cool Which does not look Insignificant In which She says She's 84 now

The actor Veteran theatre actress Lynn Cohen She first appeared in a season three episode memorably replacing miranda's vibrator with the statue of the virgin mary and telling her that she'd need to learn to cook if she ever wanted a boyfriend this rings a bell this is the sort of backstory i mean this is why the movie gets to prop itself up and slap us in the face twice a week because that's a funny storyline. That's really good fun. That is really good fun.

Yeah. Yeah, a bit more of that in the film plays. Any other lovely tidbits there? Lynn, now 84, says that Magda was only supposed to appear in that one episode but eventually returned in season four and throughout the rest of the series and both movies. There's nothing like Sex and the City, says Lynn. I've never done another show like that where I found a dildo although i'm still ready to

find another dildo at another time that's awesome good on you lynn yeah so is she american herself and it's just an accent that she's putting on by the looks of things. Yeah, yeah. She's from Kansas City, Missouri. Missouri. Yeah. On Magda's importance to the series, Lynn says it showed a woman of a different age who was smart as the devil, very bossy,

and also understood sexuality, and they needed that. It enlarged the canvas on which they were working, and they would not have a typical old lady molding away in some retirement home somewhere, but a woman who worked and didn't suffer fools. I say as an actress, you're never any better than the person you're working with and I was working with the best in Cynthia,

so I must have been pretty damn good. Aww, that's so sweet. And I like that she's big up seeing both of them. That's really cool. Fuck, man. They really passed away so much goodwill that they built up through the series well i mean it really is a tragedy our relationship is so um unshakably poisoned and broken to it because they didn't build that we didn't build that goodwill

with the series the series didn't build that goodwill with us we just kicked the door down and said hey what the fuck's going on in here and they said well we're making a movie and if you want to enjoy it there's about 10 years of context that would really help you along the way we said no no we're cool we'll just watch the movie it's like judging a suburban party of like you know neighbors getting around hanging out by the orgy that happens at 2am that you walk in on it's like no no you've missed monopoly yeah you You've missed several bottles of wine, some old records that have been passed around, maybe a doobie or two for old times' sake,

and, you know, a lot of revelations about people being curious in their existing relationships and wanting to just kick the tires on that a little bit. You can't judge it just by the orgy, you're lying. You can't judge an orgy by its... No, it doesn't quite work but i know what you're saying there's a lot of context here yeah exactly um tim should we check in with steve yeah i suppose we should uh steve doesn't want to bother these people or so he says but

yeah what a man who doesn't want to bother anyone take his shirt off and reveal a Z etched across his chest in the form of Zorro that's right Antonio Banderas has taken a peyote trip and is running around New York City with the actual prop from the Legend of Zorro

and marking literally anyone he comes across Steve I don't know why in this particular moment but he has an aversion to authority he has an aversion to getting uh the police or anyone involved he turns to the only people he knows he says I don't want to bother you people but Antonio Banderas is freaking out right now and I really need your help yeah Yeah. Well, Steve, I'm sorry. Do you think he's bleeding out or it's super clean?

He's going to bleed out. Okay. All right. Well, that's probably about enough of that. Any other business we need to tend to? Come and watch me doing comedy. I was part of the problem before. We were talking about it happening in

australia and new zealand right now just google guy montgomery and whichever australian or new zealand city is relevant to your placement in the world and hopefully there'll be tickets available i'm funny it's good uh if you go to little empire podcast.com slash live we've got everyone shows on there i think i've got all your shows on there monty hey pretty sure so uh check that out you can also buy tickets for worst idea of all time coming to melbourne to do a live show i imagine we'll probably do one during the new zealand comedy fest as well but deets will be laid down the track for that and uh yeah why don't i yeah i'm gonna i'm gonna do it guy now you will be hearing um the radio new zealand interview between myself and jesse mulligan checking in on me after i tweeted

out to the world um despair about this project thanks for listening thank you in particular to those who support us on patreon you guys guys make this possible. Love you. And here's that chat. Watching the same terrible film each week for a year sounds like torture. But for New Zealand comedians Tim Batts and Guy Montgomery, it is the basis of their aptly titled podcast, The Worst Idea of All Time, which they record each week.

If this is ringing bells, we have chatted about it before on the show, previous seasons. Tim Batt, one of the podcast hosts, joins me now. Hi there, Tim. Hey there, Jesse. How are you doing? Great, thanks. Year one was a movie called The Grown-Ups 2. Correct. What was year two? Year two was Sex and the City 2, the movie. Yeah.

Year three? We did a Zac Efron film, which was supposed to be a vehicle for him and his artistic miracle, We Are Your Friends, which holds several records for its lack of box office performance. Lost a tremendous amount of money.

Yeah. And what are you doing this year? We're looking down the barrel of season four. We're actually midway through it right now, doing two watches every single week of Sex and the City 1. We thought that'd be a fun twist on it because we've already done the second film.

Oh, yeah. Twice a week. And when did you begin? We began just before Christmas. But it turns out the twist wasn't so fun as it was. I feel like a lot of cries for help are going out at the moment. My mental shape is not good. Yeah, that's the reason I've got you on the show

because I saw your tweet last night saying that you didn't know if you thought you could do it anymore. I'm worried about you. Yeah, I really appreciate you reaching out as well. It's important that we all look after each other out there and I sort of sent a bit of a distress flare on

Twitter saying that I didn't know I could watch it one more time. I've already watched it 26 times so far inside one calendar year and it's bringing me down, man. But this is the agreement. This is what we signed up for for the podcast. Where are you calling this from, Tim? It's extremely

loud behind you. It is and I apologise for that. It's the sound of progress. I'm actually inside of Britomart and you're hearing the CityLink rail network being constructed around me. My apologies for that, but it gives it a nice sense of atmosphere, doesn't it?

Yeah, that's good. So now, Sex and the City 2, which was a couple of years ago that you were watching that, that was a famously bad film but I don't seem to recall Sex and the City, the original being so reviled by uh pundits and viewers um is it is it a terrible film or is it just not for you

here's the thing about that i think the television series had built up so much goodwill by being legitimately groundbreaking really funny really well written and having this phenomenal ensemble cast of all women which was a pretty novel concept in the 90s that a lot of that goodwill carried over to the first film so I think a lot of people overlooked how atrocious it was as depressed as I am to be watching the first one over and over again at the moment, the second movie is still worse, but the first movie is an undeniably terrible piece of cinema.

And the reason you're doing this, well you might be able to tell me some other reasons, but the primary reason is that you're making a podcast and it's quite fun for other people to watch you suffer week after week tell us something about the success of the podcast so far yeah i'm glad you didn't ask in that that run of questioning i'm going why are you doing this because we still

haven't got a good answer for that but um whatever the rationale was we have managed to clock up over 10 million downloads um i've managed to clock up over 10 million downloads. I've managed to go over to the States about four times now doing live shows and podcast conventions. We've been to Los Angeles, New York, Portland, Oregon, lots of fun places like that. We actually, I don't know if I'm allowed to talk about this, but it was a little while ago now, we made a pilot for a TV show version of the podcast with YouTube. Wow. So we decided the idea was not for them,

so they spent a considerable amount of money funding the pilot. Oh, okay. Well, that's a success in its own right, even if it doesn't get picked up to have that sort of backing. Now, tell me... You know what's a better success, though? Getting a TV show. Okay, all right.

Well, you've had your own TV show. It's not all it's cracked up to be. Oh, you know that it's a lot of fun, alright. Well, you've had your own TV show. It's not all it's cracked up to be. Oh. You do know that it's lots of fun, though. Come on. What is the worst thing about watching Sex and the City, the movie, twice a week?

So, the thing is, it's quite unique now because Guy Montgomery has moved to New York City. He's relocated himself. My best pal in the world, my comedy partner, my comedy wife, he's gone abroad to chase his dreams. And as a result, both of us are now watching the movie totally in isolation. So the time zone's really tricky.

And what's happening most of the time is I wake up at 7 a.m. and just have to start watching the film. It's a terrible way to start the day. Yeah, it's terrible. It really a terrible way to start the day. Yeah, it's terrible. It really takes the shine off the whole day. And it's the only possible time slot where New York can sync up with New Zealand. So it's grim. It makes for a really grim start to the day.

Oh, so you have to watch it at the same time. Are you on Skype or something? No, we've got these arbitrary rules that we like to try and follow as much as we can. So I think it makes for a better product if people can hear us immediately coming off the back of the watch so it's still raw. It's sort of for accuracy of capturing our emotional state, so it's unfettered. So what's the worst thing about the film and about watching it, other than the time zone and the non-ideal viewing conditions? What is it about the film that's wearing you down?

Jesse, without question, it's the length. The film is two and a half hours. I've actually watched it so many times now that I've been able to pinpoint there's a movie in the film that I think comes at one hour 42, where if they stopped the movie right then and rolled the credit it would actually be a quite a great ending but they've tacked almost a full another hour onto the movie it is insanity wow and were you serious that you're not sure if you can keep it up kind of yeah i mean we've we really went through um

depths of despair that I wasn't used to or had experienced before when we were watching Sex and the City 2, and that was only once a week. Now we've ramped up the intensity by doing two watches every week. Admittedly, the movie is slightly not as bad, but it's a pretty low bar to be able to pass. So, I don't know.

We're at the midway point now, man, and it's not feeling great it's not feeling great at all we believe in you you've got lots of fans out there and look most people listening probably don't enjoy their job all of the time

this is your job think of it like a job think of it as like the first couple of hours a day when you could be in an office sat next to someone you can't stand and someone's just heated up their fish curry in the microwave you know what i mean yeah absolutely right and that is how i'm trying to frame it in my head and the flip side of it is we do get a huge amount of mail from people all over the world who listen, who go, hey, I listened to your podcast while I'm doing my PhD research, while I'm driving to work for two hours,

while I'm doing this menial job that I don't really like. And it's nice to know that our suffering is bringing a dispersed amount of joy out there on the globe. So it almost makes it worth it, but I don't know if it's quite at the threshold. Nice to talk to you, Tim. The podcast is called The Worst Idea of All Time, if you'd like to listen to it. And thanks for your time today. Thank you for reaching out, Jesse. I appreciate it.

We just have a good rhythm together, you know. He sort of feels me out, I feel him out. And we go for it.