The Worst Idea Of All Time - Episode Four: PeterKimPeterKim.com

Episode Date: January 3, 2019

Welcome Canadia-dians. In this fourth watch and review, Guy joins a pyramid scheme and Tim becomes a Coffee Guy. But where is THE Coffee Guy? Sex and The City becomes an announced enemy of The State of Tim and we introduce a new friend, Paul. The glossy Hollywood depiction of packing and moving is ripped apart by the boiz and they discuss who Richard Scarry is, leading to an even better question: Have adults simply been doing mindless busy work since the 1960s? 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 to the worst idea of all time, season 4, episode 4, Guy Montgomery. Stop that off-mic chatter, the show begins now. I was just trying to tell you Tim that I'm actually planning a boycott of the Edinburgh Fringe this year until the last week. Do not put any kind of a date stamp on this podcast. It is immortal and it is to be consumed morning, afternoon and evening at any part of the year you choose. There should be no talk of seasons. It is prohibited or festivals that fall annually at a particular time but if it's truly timeless

i could be talking about going to the edinburgh fringe in any year or not going as the boycott may stand presently now that's a good point boycotts are forever festivals are once a year but boycotts are forever until they're not uh hi tim how are Mate, we're talking about every day at the moment. Which is good, it's lovely. It's good to hear your voice again so soon. I'm doing well, thank you. I've had a lovely day today. Went to the physio, try and get my knee sorted out.

Yeah, still haven't got dang problems with that knee. Yeah man, it's been seven years. Seven bloody years. But he's taped it up real good. How about you? That should sort it out, I always reckon, eh? You got a bone or a cartilage problem, just whack a bit of external tape on it.

They should see it, right? Absolutely. What is skin if not just a bit of tape holding us together? Yeah, and that tape needs a bit of a tighten around that bloody knee of yours you got a loose knee it's trying to get out but we got to keep it in how's your day been going guy uh it's pretty good thanks man i um i just got home uh so the way i watched the film today is I watched two hours and ten minutes of it this morning. A lot of which I watched in not slow motion, but certainly warp speed.

No, not warp speed forward, but warped speed. It was not good. Fucking good on you, man. I really tip my hat to you for doing it and doing it immediately as well you sent me a short video of it it seemed like nightmare fuel yeah yeah it really uh makes than anything tim it just sort of slows things down and anyway i only watched about half an hour of the movie at that speed before uh returning to normalcy and yeah uh i then went and watched for homework i'm currently

learning how to do improvised comedy at the helm of a wonderful little pyramid scheme called the Upright Citizens Brigade. And as part of that curriculum, you've got to watch two shows, two improv shows, specifically at the school. Do you have to pay to see them?

No, you don't. Because that is how you do a pyramid scheme yeah that's true i well i'll tell you what you should i'll send a letter um but anyway so i just watched uh it was interesting it was sort of sex in the city and then uh two pretty you know ordinary improv shows back to back, which beggered the question, what is harder to get through, two hours of consecutive subpar improv or Sex and the City in slow motion for the fourth time?

Take that, you fucking improvisers. Right up there with the 2008 absolute dinger, Sex and the City. So Alice Nenden of Boners of the Heart recently stayed with me here in New York. And when she did, I have a small desk in my room and on top of which was a piece of paper which was explaining the Herald,

which is what they call the house format at UCB. It's just like a long-form improv game, essentially. And Alice walked into the room and saw that piece of paper on the desk and broke into hysterical laughter, what wouldn't have been less than a minute, and then just said, exacerbated through gasping breaths, I just imagined you studying improv at that desk. It is truly the most humiliating practice to acknowledge being interested in

or particularly formally educating yourself in. Fucking hell. You've fucked up in a massive way when that's where you're at, right? Because you get into performing arts because you don't want to do schoolwork, and you get into improvising, presumably, because you don't want to do any of that kind of book stuff,

and yet there you are with a bloody book learning how to do the one presumed escapism. Yeah, no, it was certainly... Because I live with myself, and I live in my room, and I just hadn't used the desk for about a week, so that was just the last thing I'd put on top of it. But certainly it provided a fascinating glimpse into where I currently reside professionally.

Well, let's hit up pros and cons, or however this will work, of versing the improv shows that you saw in the movie against one another. So tell me one advantage that the improv show had over Sex and the City. Spontaneity. I couldn't help but notice the spontaneous nature of the performance.

You are an acute observer of art, yes? And in a lot of ways, Tim. I actually feel like, funnily enough, the improv probably could have used a bit more rigid structure or certainly a judicious edit at certain points. Not unlike Sex and the City. I keep wanting to call it two, but it's not two. It's not unlike Sex and the City.

I keep wanting to call it two, but it's not two. Look, I think all up, they both take an emotional toll, but it's sort of different. With the improv, it's like there's no greater service to it. It's just sort of time stretches out in front of you, and you're just living inside of these sort of silly ideas. There was one woman in the first group who was like sort of what you'd qualify as a middle, you know, a senior student at a university or polytechnic sort of institute, you know,

sort of 20 years older than the rest of the group. And I don't want to be ageist, but, you know, immediately her energy was just out of this world nervous. And this is like, you're watching an advanced class so this is someone who has chosen to not only like you know learn this and practice it but pay not an insignificant amount of money to continue with the experience and so i was immediately drawn to her performance in a way that sort of eliminated everything else that was happening on the stage

i i was just captivated by her she would not have spoken more than four sentences over the half hour performance uh but the amount of time she almost stepped out onto stage and did not i couldn't count on hands and feet uh and like it was so i was so engrossed by it that i went from sort of being fascinated and amused by it to sort of feeling slightly worried for her to just genuinely wondering where she's at in her life for this to be. It was stressful. I mean, I'm feeling very pensive just hearing your recounting of it, to be honest, and I don't want to entertain the notion anymore because it's making me feel a little bit sick i'm so sorry that's how i felt

but then enough time has passed i've sort of made my peace with it uh but yeah for you obviously this is new information and you haven't even you haven't even seen this so you don't even know how funny it was you just heard about the weird reflective parts. Less to do with her performance, more to do with me. Go ahead. Can I ask you a question? This is one of those questions that gets formed in your head when you're watching a piece of content when you don't have full confidence

in the people who wrote it and made it. Do you think that the writers of this film um know that the country is called ukraine and not ukrainia because there's a line in the film which is and there in old ukrainia miranda found her new apartment that's right uh look as always uh i think the question has to be asked maybe this is a deliberately written character flaw in Carrie well not necessarily character flaw but maybe maybe the writers do know exactly

what the name of Ukraine is but Carrie doesn't but Carrie Bradshaw don't I mean it's jutted out at me every time as well I just hadn't thought to bring it up so I'm glad you have because I have it written in front of me. Oh, great. I mean, what is there for it?

You know, it's just... It's like, have you ever accidentally called Canada, Canadia? Yeah, not often, but it's certainly happened. Isn't it embarrassing as soon as it comes out of your mouth? You just feel this clunky error just come rolling off your tongue. But maybe it certainly happened. Isn't it embarrassing as soon as it comes out of your mouth? You just feel this clunky error just come rolling off your tongue. But it kind of, maybe it should be.

Maybe they should just roll with it and rename the nation Canadia just to fit in. So many people have worked so hard to deprogram themselves from saying that they'll be absolutely ripped to hear they've got to relearn it. It's going to be a real challenge.

Things change, man. You know, every other country used to be on a system uh like the imperial system and now everyone's metric god bless the united states have really cast their die um big time with that one put a real stake in the ground but think that you know time marches forward and maybe this is time for canadia to reclaim its glorious pronunciation do you need to add an i in there somewhere to make it yeah it'll be between the d and the a at the end canadia but i just feel like you know sjp in the recording booth when she's laying down some of that sweet VO, she would have felt it coming out to sound weird.

And they're in old Ukraine-ia. It's possible that it, yeah, it might be written, it might be not. Carrie Bradshaw, she's known for her japes and puns. But this one, it just, she doesn't seem worldly enough to my mind, that character. I think she's just fucked up, is what I'm saying. Anyway, look, it's one of those things which you're going through the movie, you're going through a smooth bit, and then that bit just comes out at you like a little ridge. How did you enjoy watching the movie today?

Two parts, similar to yourself i watched about an hour and 10 minutes before i uh went and got my knee sawn to and then came back and consumed the rest of it it's a bit of a different experience doing this project solo you're doing the watches solo guy it's not as fun that's for sure no uh but there is scientifically speaking there's a quite an enjoyable or interesting element of uh bringing our findings to one another that is you know unique from uh it's true we've done it before but never like as the bedrock of the season i mean yeah and also the turnaround that we're looking at here just to just to get to get the work done is crazy. We've done like four in two weeks, mate.

We've done four, it feels like, inside about eight days or something. We're watching this a lot at the moment. We both must have quite a lot on. Yeah, clearly. This isn't true, but it feels like you're doing work as well like i feel like it's a good use of a morning which i'm sure will change before very long you know you know i'm doing something something is being achieved i uh i'm waking up first thing and watching the film i'm embarrassed and gleeful to confess the same feeling where i sort of

factor it into a day when i think about it looking forward to reflect upon a day as i go to sleep if i've done one of these i'm like well you know not for nothing which is ludicrous absolutely for nothing we turned up in the office we said hello to everyone we got the in and out trays well we gave them a dusting you know we had a look at them didn't get to the bottom of any piles but we had a thumb through the envelope seeing if anything looks urgent are you are you the kind of guy who goes uh through a pile one by one or do you sort of you got three piles you just sort of taking stuff off the top and looking at it as you go uh i think i'd be a pile

dude if um yeah if i was in a position that warranted me looking at a lot of envelopes. Yeah, I think I'd want to get a bit of a system. I wouldn't face it without a cup of coffee in front of me as well. I'd need to sort out some piles in a hot, steaming cup of java. Which reminds me, I still have not seen our boy anywhere in this picture. No. You know, this coffee guy. He's hidden somewhere in one of the frames.

I mean, you'd hope so, because if after 52 screenings he doesn't turn up, then something so much more sinister than neither of us can imagine is afoot. His shadow lurks in every frame. Before we get into that, though, I just want to ask, are you the same person after that steaming hot cup of java? So do you think the guy who wants to put a system in place

and get ready to go through piles one at a time is the same guy who's looking at three piles after a cup of coffee? No. I think that you can attest firsthand to the change that happens when I've got low blood sugar and then suddenly put some food in my body it's not quite as pronounced but a similar situation does occur pre and post caffeination in the morning for me so i i actually think we're dealing with an entirely different kettle of tin oh yeah uh wouldn't you agree absolutely um you're i would say you're probably uh you would rival my

wife as being the most qualified person to be able to comment on this because we don't usually interface with each other in a um any anything approaching a work capacity you know it's just uh take it as it comes for both of us but you and i we want to be in some sort of fine fighting form when we're uh going up against an enemy like this movie. Yeah. Is this movie an enemy of the state? Is it an enemy of Tim? Oh, of course.

It's an announced enemy of Tim. You better believe it. I love this. I love your system of just creating enemies to motivate yourself. I think it's so good. It's so sound. It's a great motivator. It really works too.

But what were we talking about? Something coffee guy. So no siding of him, yeah? No, cannot find hide nor hear of the guy. Rest assured he's out there just fucking pounding the streets. I don't know if he is. And pounding caffeine. Where else could he be, Tim?

I reckon he's fucking with us, man. I don't think he was ever in the movie, and I think someone got to IMDb before you did and maybe just put that line in. So they knew what was coming. They knew one day we would get there. I'm actually just trying to look up an actor from the film on IMDb. And it weirdly doesn't seem like they're credited,

even though I've seen them in tons of movies and there's a lot of TV stuff. Paul. Should I just dive into him shining light? Yeah, you go straight into your shining light, mate. Do you know who I'm talking about, just dropping the name Paul? Yeah, yeah.

I've researched him myself, although I've also... He's the arsehole at the no oh no unless there's two pauls i thought there was carl the guy who's the partner who interrupts uh yeah that's that is carl i think that's carl paul is one of the interviewees for the position of personal assistant to one carrie bradshaw yes yes yes yes yes yes he's the guy who worked as an assistant to a vp at merrill lynch and he's extremely well kept he he's in a sharp looking suit perfect hair gorgeous face and then she sort of says um you know he lists his credentials and sounds very impressive and then Carrie Bradshaw asks him

what did you want this particular his credentials don't directly lend themselves to the job he's applying for they're a bit more banking oriented and she asks why he was interested in this particular position or where's that effect and he

does this lovely like just small eye motion down and the camera pans to below the table to reveal that he is wearing an incredibly fetching pair of pink i think high heels um beautiful shoes on a beautiful man yeah it's a it's a nice little pullback and reveal uh The actual shining light bit is the look that he does then. So we see the shoes and he just gives a little to carry Bradshaw. It's very knowing, isn't it? I love it. It is.

I actually, I quite like that too. I've just looked him up. I don't recognize him from anything. He was in, what would you, he was in an episode of Louis is a Doctor. I don't know if you've ever watched the TV show Louis. Starring serial creep Louis CK. His name is Peter Y. Kim.

The Return of Jezebel James. Ugly Betty. Law and Order. Oh, he's in Hackers. Fuck yeah. I was on a podcast recently, like yesterday, talking about the 1995 smash hit Hackers, which is one of Angelina Jolie's first movies.

He's, um... He, interestingly, if he's who I think he is, he's this very gender- very gender ambiguous cross-dressing character in that as well so i wonder if this is this is the dude if this is a bit of him so it would seem uh would you like to hear my shining light tim i'd love to nothing would bring me more joy uh it was a real attention-grabbing turn by Kim Cattrall, entirely occupying the character of Samantha, after Smith, get it, who, by the way, the more time I spend with,

the more I like. This is like a... What? We've gone in different paths. Please go on. He's a great guy. He's a fantastic partner. He works hard, sure, but he's very he's you know

he's uh he obviously loves samantha he's very um adaptive around her lifestyle you know they're making sacrifices for one another but i think by he takes the breakup like an absolute hero i reckon he's covering himself in glory i reckon he presents as being dumb as a pack of hammers and the fact that he can't figure out there's anything wrong with him turning up late on valentine's day evening and she's obviously upset about this and he can't you know muster enough actor he's a professional actor you got to pretend to care he's off the clock he doesn't need to pretend to care it's better to react honestly in this instance maybe but he comes off quite callous and cold i think and i i actually took a real strong dislike to smith garrett in this particular watch so it's interesting

that is interesting no i so i have here, he's literally the best dude. Wow. I just, I don't know. I mean, I guess we'll both take each other's findings to our respective next screenings. But I just thought, I mean, do you disagree that he doesn't take the breakup like a champ? That he does, but I think he takes it so well that he's one of those guys who actually orchestrated it by being a dick.

You know, like he wanted to break up, but he couldn't be bothered. We've got a body of evidence of him not being a dick. Oh, that's true. The chemo thing, do you mean? Yeah, I mean, I'm not even thinking of that. That's in the back of my mind, obviously, but just generally within the movie. He's not perfect.

He's late on Valentine's Day. You know's he goes to sleep at 9 p.m but i mean that's a fair gripe it'll get pretty tiresome if someone does that but my shining light actually is when he gets chewed out after he arrives late on valentine's day uh kim cattrall channeling the the power of samantha uh bellows at. She's prepared a delicious homemade, handmade series of sushi rolls that she has draped across her naked body in the hopes of his arrival at 7.30 p.m. to eat the sushi from her. And eventually, I imagine, they will fuck the ever-loving shit out of one another. But he arrives late. She's in a a robe there's a stack of sushi in

front of her she's furious as you've said uh and he says hey come on babe what's the problem here and she goes uh well i you know she's just she's angry about the whole state of the relationship the sacrifices she's made and she bellows out enjoy your california handmade roll and uh as she says she throws it at him she hurls just a big whack of raw fish and it gives a very satisfying slap against the cooled steel of the fridge and uh that entire moment uh i found really great this week well my new favorite my new shining light of this uh this watch is you doing that announcement of the sushi roll like a baseball commentator yeah look i tell you because it was probably ended up being quite loud it's a little late at night here so i was was wary of really channeling Samantha.

But I think I just wound up talking as loudly in some weird made-up character. Some dispassionate but noisy baseball announcer. It's a good moment. It's a great moment of the film. It's a moment of tension and fun. Because you're like, shit's going down, but it's with Samantha,

so there's still an element of fun and levity to this. Absolutely. Can I say another thing I noticed from this, Tim? Do you think it's weird that catwalk models aren't allowed to smile? Hmm. Yeah. This movie's got me thinking about it but it seems like an odd rule to me

yeah what's that about is it is everyone i guess not everyone's allowed to smile the buckingham palace guards famously not allowed to smile at their job but otherwise by and large smiling uh is if not encouraged certainly not uh you know frowned upon if you will it is odd as well because i think most people look more beautiful when they smile and i've noticed that you yeah i mean and you don't you're not afraid to tell that to every single person you see as you walk past them down the street. Only the woman. Be fair to me. Only the woman.

That's true. You are, you know, indiscriminate in who you choose to say it to. As long as they're women. Yeah. That's the main criteria they have to pass. You're truly a joy to be around. Yeah. Well, I mean, I don't know.

Do you think it's odd? Would you be more likely to buy some high couture, some weird bit of fashion if someone smiled at you and said, this will look fantastic on you? You've bowled me over with this observation. I don't know what it's about. Every other thing that's being advertised to us in terms of a service or a product that we wish to buy

is being sold using smiling people. You know who's frowning? The people who are using the competitor's products in the app. That's right. I'm always looking at car insurance and some poor sap hasn't bought the right one from Gecko and his bloody upside down smile is telling me everything I need to know

about calling up that fucking gecko. What kind of a mascot? How did they land on that for car insurance? Like, what is the relevance between a lizard and not just driving, but specifically protecting your finances in the event that something goes wrong while you're driving? I don't think of a gecko driving I don't think of a gecko I wouldn't think of a gecko in a hundred years associated with that event when you get a gecko with that sort of talent

what you're just going to let it walk out the door that gecko has been the anchor of a series of very popular well received and largely funny ads on behalf of Geico insurance if uh you know if you let that gecko walk out the door it's going to be snaffled up by any of any of the other competitors

and then who's smiling well whoever's got gecko whoever's got geico you just figured it out then yeah i did you literally just backed into the answer to your question look i i think you're right i want to i want to acknowledge the fact this is a great point that you've come up with guy um thank you rare you've really knocked it out of the park it's not that rare i'm pretty smart guy a lot of people tell me i'm a smart guy. I've found Peter Kim's website over here. It's PeterKim.com. That bodes well. Yes.

It has the Webley Favicon. I'm probably saying that wrong. Fave icon. It's the little icon that websites have in the top corner of your browser. So when you save it as a bookmark, it comes up with that picture. have in the top corner of your browser so when you save it as a bookmark it comes up with that picture he's got the webley one which i know is someone who has some websites made on webley that means he hasn't paid for the professional level he's on the starter pack um says welcome this is the website of actor peter kim please make yourself comfortable take a look around and hire me

seriously about me i'm from new jersey yes the state that is the butt of many jokes but seriously it's an awesome place lovely towns great schools close to new york city tons of balls no sales tax did i mention no sales tax that said i reside in brooklyn after doing numerous high school plays how long is this website and getting this is on the front page baby and getting through an awkward growth spurt i attended nyu to study acting i made my off-broadway debut in yoko ono's rock opera new york rock and yes yoko is a genius and i got to go to the to the dakota is that a venue i'm not familiar with the dakota and struck the keys of the white piano i then made my feature film debut in hackers opposite angelina jolie and yes angelina is as beautiful in person as she is on screen. Two and yeses in one paragraph? You've got to be out of your mind.

That device is, you're lucky to get away with using it once. He's got headshots on here. He's got a resume. If you scroll down to the bottom, it'll actually tell you that this is the free tier of website you can make on Weebly. Maybe Peter Kim is not the roaring success I had him pegged as

but he's very likeable well certainly the brief glimpse into the biography that you just read for us has endeared me to the fellow no end oh he's good he's literally got his whole resume on here someone needs to get peter

kim in some more fucking movies well you can be that someone tim hackers and then sex in the city and that's it come on i reckon i could uh he lives in brooklyn i live in brooklyn i should go up for a coffee with this guy could you yeah I'll have a go at it. I'll get in touch. Let's get him on the pod. What a great guest guest that would be. Fuck me, imagine that. The Peter Kim from Hackers.

Of Peter Kim, PeterKim.com Oh, that's good. Can I share something else I wrote down? man this is hey this is an open space i want to hear from you thanks man okay samantha has uh reshaped her entire career to be geared to serving the needs of smith i am not surprised that she is sick of this dude she is not only dating him living with him if you look behind her all the shots of the interior of her workspace there's huge blowing up posters of his tv shows his magazine front pages and then just random headshots and tasteful nudes of him can i can i interject briefly that is her workspace

that is her fit out that is not yeah that's not his call it's fucking me it's it's it is the um uh what is it called home makeover extreme edition of offices someone's gone what do you like lego cool we built an entire house of lego i hope you kids never change your mind about the things you like what do you like smith garrett cool he is like the color of paint that we are going to head to toe redecorate this office in he's inescapable i'm not i'm surprised the relationship lasted as long as it did to be honest it's a nightmarish way to interface with a person it is undeniably too much uh in saying that though you know the idea of painting the walls with garrett uh is not like the idea of change to to the characters in this film is not it's not uh it's entirely unrealistic you know it's not it's not a burden like they bounce around houses uh you know if

anything i mean if anything this this movie provides an entire misrepresentation of the experience of packing which is famously one of the worst things you can possibly do and yet like an entire party montage which is just fan service is dedicated to the idea of packing being a real laugh yeah there's so much packing in this film a lot of movement and moving god it's a nightmare i hate taking stock of how much stuff i've accumulated it is a disgusting pursuit it's actually one of the great reminders that we've all got too many objects hey i think in this day and age i think most people day and age i think most people could probably benefit from a bit of a slim down on the amount of shit that they own

i certainly could i'm looking around in the studio guy i'm surrounded by by bits bits everywhere yeah you're a big bit guy though there's a there's a um something i don't know some vaguely useful sounding but also absolutely nonsensical new age movement where you pick something up and if it doesn't spark joy in you, you don't need it and you cast it aside. It's from a book, isn't it? One of those books I've heard so much about.

Yeah. I think it's from Richard Scarry's, or his books. God, jokes don't work if you don't remember the details. No, I don't know who Richard Scarry is. You're on your own. A Drift at Sea. No, you know him.

He does the best little word book ever. He does all those weird, oh, this is a nightmare of a riff. I am so, so, I am humiliated go back to school mate jump back into your bloody textbooks teaching you how to do improv what are these books are they like the ones that you keep buying people for christmas and stuff and it's like little words of advice or something and it fits in your pocket you are going to remember his very distinct animation style uh i'll see i'm gonna google it i'm right next to a computer uh my computer not someone else's very good name richard what

scary s c a r r y um what do people do all day oh okay oh yep yep yep yep children's books yes did i not say children's books at any point in that process i didn't hear it but that's not to say definitely that you didn't say it they're kind of a lot of anthropomorphized animals doing things this one's very familiar the busy world of richard scary which has got a worm driving an apple car on the front that's delight that is some shit you remember indelible mark on my subconscious i love what he's done with the place here it's like animals playing out the roles of humans and all the the titles are kind of like the busy busy world and

what do people do all day it It's about like children's perception that adults are just kind of running around doing busy work, which I have to attest as an adult, if we've got any kids listening, absolutely true. We're not achieving anything anymore. I think we peaked in about the late 60s. Yeah, I'm inclined to agree.'re not really well i mean we i speak for myself and we speak for ourselves um it doesn't feel like there's a i'm always in buildings

i got like you know you got a lot of levels in a building nowadays and you're sitting in a room full of like young looking people and you're like none of us have any idea how this thing is upright yeah no there's you know 20 people in a room 40 floors up fucking no one with a fucking clue how we got there we need to get back to basics before it's too late hey do you know that the human species forgot how to make concrete for 300 years there was evidence of concrete i can't remember where exactly maybe ancient greece there's evidence of it up until this particular period and then everyone forgot how to make it for three centuries and then they figured it out again what if we do that with basic structures that is incredible uh see i mean

you'd like to think someone's written it down somewhere but uh i mean i think we're so focused on going viral these days no one's paying enough attention to how a bloody a-frame stays up you going viral lately tim absolutely not but i'll die trying won't we all and that is the greatest thought of all uh it's horrible so have you got any other observations quips uh quibbles man i got tons moments of joy what did you uh what got under your skin the most this week uh under my skin the most oh wee well i've actually got two moments i really enjoyed and at the risk of burning future shining lights i i wouldn't mind just uh effort man you you'll dig deep week after week yeah yeah i love that i really like the picture of big eating dinner by himself on new year's surrounded by salubrious folk who were

just drinking and smooching up a storm around him because he seems contented we're supposed to feel sorry for him because it's like oh this this poor sad old man's fucked his life up. He had it all. Beautiful penthouse apartment, gorgeous writer wife. He should be celebrating his first New Year's and his third marriage. But no, he's eating by himself. But he looks like he's having a fucking good go at that steak and just a lovely glass of pinot. Oh, good times.

I find the character's decisions of places and ways to celebrate holidays that, you know, the way they talk about them, you know will be triggering for them. Absolutely fascinating. There is all sorts of self-harm taking place. Like Carrie and Miranda's choice of restaurant for Valentine's Day when they are both processing pretty deep cut heartbreak is mind-boggling they choose a place that is so fitted out with helium

inflated heart balloons that you can barely see five inches in front of yourself for low hanging like red foil i guess you know attached to the balloons the staff are wearing it's a real oh i mean it's sorry you can you finish the thought it seems like the art director was just having a bit of fun because it's it's so deeply impractical when carrie tries to storm out in a huff and i do usually get a little laugh out of this she tangles herself in the the low hanging uh foils from the balloons and um i feel like they were playing that for laughs, but you know, all the staff are wearing angel wings.

Like this is a restaurant geared so specifically towards romance. Um, and they just gleefully go out and like then big doing that on new year's Eve. It's like, if you're feeling upset, mate, don't go out to a fancy restaurant where everyone's partying and

have a meal for one without engaging with anyone i love that he did i love that that was his call and that actually does genuinely feel very new york to me it's like i don't give a shit how i'm feeling i'm going to get out in the community and interface with my favorite restaurants and in places to be. I love that. It feels very metropolitan, very urban. I'm happy to hear it, actually. I like going out for a meal myself as well. But given the circumstance, I don't know.

Happy to see you enjoying it, though. It's a lovely... What do you think of Chris Noth's performance in this movie? I'm into it. I'm into it. I think it's better than he does in the second movie frankly how about you yeah i'm inclined to agree there's a few bits where he sort of just he just seems to be in a bit of disarray just he seems to be a bit of a mess as an actor i can't tell i can't tell if it's a performance decision by Chris Noth.

Because Big comes across as quite aloof throughout this film. And I can't necessarily discern whether or not it's a character choice or an actor who's just very relaxed on set. But the scene where Carrie spills out her disgusting line about coloring inside or outside the lines and she goes home and big sort of stumbling around the balcony with his tire skew and it's it looks the tire skew just looks it looks bizarre like it looks to me you know if you're watching a movie and you know you don't notice things and that's the intention of art direction and the mise-en-scene and all that

stuff and then sometimes if you're making something or if you see footage of yourself on camera or you look in a mirror before you're about to do something and you've dressed yourself like there's a certain difference i think in the standard between a tie being askew on a set and you trying to make your tie look askew for a performance and it's the job of like it's more pronounced yeah like you know a wardrobe person will get it just right so they know how it will look on camera to read perfect and you'll get an approximation of it that could wind up looking goofy as all hell and terrible and there's there's a scene that's what's happened

yeah when he's stumbling around the balcony his tie like it's the same thing as like what i noticed with those awful wide fucking caprizi suit pants uh it looks to me like wardrobes absolutely nailed the placement of the askew tie and then chris noth is like just before michael mattress booklet king calls action he sort of gestures over to wardrobe and he's like, don't worry, I got this, and moves it like half an inch and it just looks so fucking hopeless. Why have you got so little faith in the good Reverend Chris Noth and so much faith in this completely unknown wardrobe department

that you're laying the blame at his feet? This is before he got his act together and started his church this is a man adrift uh probably awash with cocaine and booze from the high-rise success of sex in the city and uh whatever i guess advertisements or you know special appearances he booked on other sitcoms uh i feel like we're watching a man in between shooting this movie whose life is spiraling out of control before he found god and started preaching actually on that there's a bit where um uh what is it i think it's when carrie is around it's

the night before the wedding and she's hanging out with the gals and big rings her and is he like at work and he's kind of he's in front of some books and he says carrie there's something i have to tell you and in my head i went i can't read like he's gotten away with it up until this point and it's never like that bit's never actually answered yeah the thing that he directly has to tell her i'm like fuck maybe he can't read he's just harkens back to our theory that he um also has no idea what's going on with the the stock market in spite of the fact that he has been uh charged with the wardship of potentially billions of us dollars absolutely colors every action the man is perpetually just out of his depth a wedding you say but sure i'll show up literally to the venue and then not marry the woman i've been in love with for 10 years

because she's wearing a veil before walking into the wedding venue we have booked so i'm not 100% certain i'm gonna be marrying her which is if you boil it down to its essence the logic that underpins his jelting her at the altar is like i needed to know it was us too what and not you and someone else who accidentally shows up to your wedding dressed almost identically to your wife and you accidentally marry the guy is a fucking lunatic what else have we got here a balanced uh fund some mutual fund worth 500 million dollars yes that sounds like definitely within my wheelhouse i'm pretty sure i'm pretty sure when they're preparing dinner and vegetables uh and carrie brings up the idea of her selling the apartment so they can share the financial deed to the house he's chopping

chili or capsicum or peppers or something on a chopping board and i might be misremembering this but after he's chopped up all of the vegetables i'm pretty sure he scrapes them straight into a rubbish bin the guy is slightly off he's seen jamie oliver on the telly and he's got it fucking cutting things up that That's what cooking's all about. And he doesn't know that there is a second step to it. You just produce a knife, get it nice and sharp. I can do that. That's definitely something I'm capable of.

I, too, am a chef. Here's all the things I am. Marriage material. A chef. Definitely someone who should be I am. Marriage material. A chef. Definitely someone who should be put in charge of a lot of money. Can I read books? Let me answer your question with a question. How do you feel about us going out for dinner?

And then when he has to write her love letters to win her back, instead of doing anything of his own accord, he literally transcribes an entire book as though to prove he can both read and type and somehow this is enough to win back the woman he jilted at a wedding in front of 200 of new york's best and brightest it's not fucking romance it's plagiarism for god's sake is there an original thought in your head do you know another beautiful little before we put a pin in this a beautiful little big moment to round off this fantastic conversation about his motivations and intelligence is when carrie uh is going to pick

up the expensive shoes the 525 shoes at the penthouse apartment which they never lived in and have sold uh she runs into big who's you know just behind the one of the double doors and the wardrobe he built for them in happier days and uh she walks in and he's got sort of the quite a guilty and mischievous glint in his eye that's as he's carrying the two 525 shoes which suggests his life had spiraled so badly and he was feeling so low, he was about to put on a little show for himself where he paraded around the apartment performing in character as the woman he jilted

but still is madly in love with. And the fact that Carrie's arrival, while I'm happy for them as a couple and their reunion, deprives us of what would undoubtedly be the highlight of not just this, but any moment in the Sex and the City franchise is devastating. Well, we could all learn a lot from Paul. Sometimes you just need to put on some high heels and give yourself a little show. Absolutely.

Not to undercut that moment as well, but that's definitely an attempt at a Cinderella moment, right? That's why they use shoes, and they've kind of got that shot of him before i answer your question i'd like to say i hate the fact that you tried to undercut this very uh deft and touching piece of cinema by uh suggesting it is emulated or aped in some way the story of cinderella i retract my previous statement i'd like to end the podcast uh before i embarrass myself further not at all man it's been uh if nothing else and this might be this is an interesting thing i think which colors our experience so far is while the screenings

of the movie are undeniably worse um alone and really quite challenging the the fact that we're deprived of one another as we watch it makes the recording of the conversation sort of it feels like it's tinged with a little more happiness than previous experiences it's early doors i know but i think maybe you know there's um there is sort of uh unforeseen value in these individual watches and that it's so right it's a joy to speak with you heart uh what is absence makes the heart grow fonder and whilst previously we could kind of let off steam during the movie because we're watching it together now we're suffering in silence and capturing the obvious love and affection that these two best friends have for each other on the mic for your enjoyment so look hopefully you're having

fun you're enjoying yourself out there um we'll catch you in the next episode guy it's a pleasure to talk to you and to you my friend have a a fantastic and safe honeymoon. Thank you very much. We just have a good rhythm together, you know. He sort of feels me out, I feel him out. And we go for it.