Wonderful! - Wonderful! Ep. 45: Frasiest

Episode Date: August 2, 2018

Rachel's favorite pop culture recommendation YouTube series! Griffin's favorite relief! Rachel's favorite repeated food! Griffin's favorite summertime cooldown activity! Music: "Money Won't Pay" by bo en and Augustus - https://open.spotify.com/album/7n6zRzTrGPIHt0kRvmWoya MaxFunDrive ends on March 29, 2024! Support our show now by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Hi, this is Rachel McElroy. Hey, it's Griffin McElroy. And this is wonderful. This is a podcast where we talk about things that we're very much into, and this is going to be our special episode. We're going to dedicate the whole time that we end up talking. We usually shoot for 45 minutes, but have never managed to come in actually around that time. We're going to sort of dedicate this one to the Frasier reboot.

They're doing new Frasier? No. Yeah, they're doing new Frasier. So they're going to do new Frasier. Why did you say no we spent all day researching new frazier to talk about new frazier um and so this whole episode's gonna be that and do you want to start off about like what you're thankful for about new frazier uh what am i grateful about with new frazier yeah the new ones um well i'm excited about

you know the ways that they've modernized it yeah yeah yeah like with the smartphones now uh and the uh the recliner that the dad used to sit in you know sure um what is it now i mean nothing he passed away i'm sorry did he yeah oh man you could have done a joke there and not broken that news to me you could have said like I mean nothing. He passed away. I'm sorry. Did he? Yeah. Aw, man. You could have done a joke there and not broken that news to me. You could have said it's like a Japanese future toilet. Dog's probably gone too, huh? Jesus Christ, Rachel.

I'm sorry. That's not the point of the show. But you know, Frasier, Roz, Daphne. Yeah, I mean the surviving cast members of Frasier will almost certainly be there in new Frasier. Jesus. I'm excited about, do you know about the name? Do you know what they're calling it? No. So they're doing a prequel called Frasier,

and then these new episodes are going to be called Frasier. You know the prequel was Cheers, right? No, they're doing a new prequel. Okay, continue. And it's just about him, and it's called Frasier, and then these new episodes are called Frasier. Okay, I see that that that's good that's good work griffin it's good do you have any small wonders i do i couldn't care less about new frazier is this real me caring about new frazier or the

existence of new of phrase the existence of a new frazier spinoff phrase yes yes is real do you not believe me i don't believe you who is out there demanding new frazier our friend bristol well yeah that's true it's being explored by kelsey grammar and cbs okay that doesn't mean anything i googled new frazier and the first result is brand Slam, the Polygon series, where Kelsey Grammer fights David Hyde Pierce. So thank you for that. Do you have any small wonders? Small wonder. The new episode of The Terrorist House on Netflix.

I'm so glad that it's back. Are you having trouble keeping track of what's in Opening New Doors and what's in Boys X Girls Next Door, which we've watched now, I believe, 89 episodes of? I did need the refresher on what the cliffhangers were yeah sure for sure because uh there is significant overlap there well i mean it's the same show but different years well and one cast member oh spoilers um but yes it is true um i wanted to bring up i've been listening to a podcast called Reply All from Gimlet. Yeah. That I started listening to, I think, before our, I've only been listening for a few weeks now, and I think I've listened to about 45 episodes or so.

All the McElroys are on this. Yeah, Justin and Travis recommended it to me. It's just like, it's a podcast about the internet, but it's really a podcast about like human stories that like sort of internet and technology you listen to that new one i was telling you about uh the pets one oh my pets yeah it's very very good uh but i listened to an episode called hello and all it is is it's it's their longest episode i've listened to it's almost two hours and uh the two hosts alex goldman and pj vote um they just open up a phone line, like a conference line, where anybody can call them for 48 hours.

And it's so good. It is so, so good. The show is really, really well produced. And the two hosts are just like, they're really, really great. And this experiment is really interesting because they regret it by like hour six. Like they're so tired.

Not only because like they're staying up all night, but they're having to be, they're having constant conversations with only because like they're staying up all night, but they're having to be there. They're having constant conversations with people for two fucking days. It is wild. And then they start getting in like bargaining with the people who are calling in. Like, do you have unlimited minutes? Will you just mute your phone and set it down so I can go to sleep for like an hour?

It's a really, really. But then there's like genuine moments of human connection that are really cool. Yeah, it's a great podcast. I haven't like fallen this hard for a podcast in a long time. You actually go first this week. Yay. But we already did new Frasier, so I'll do my first thing then. Psyched out of her gourd, it's just all tossed out and scrambled eggs with Rachel this whole week.

Do you want me to? Sing the Frasier theme song? Very badly, because I bet you would crush it. Hey, baby. Baby? You can't! Baby, that's cruel!

Just a little teaser. You can't just give me the intro to that. That's cruel, babe. You're playing games with my heart right now. Just a little taste. The Backstreet Boys said explicitly not to do what you just did with my heart. This is how we keep things interesting all these years in.

When am I going to get... Bluesy call. When am I going to get that? Just let me know what I have to look forward to. Around 3 a.m. Okay. Oh, shit. Update.

Because I did Google it, and there's a news article from Vulture and a little preview, and it says Kelsey Grammer, quote, not sure he wants to do Frasier reboot. That's fine. We'll fucking do it without you, dog. Would you replace him? And if so, with who? I don't give a shit about him. It's all Niles for me. I feel the same way.

Me too. What's your first thing? My first thing is actually a YouTube series. Oh, okay. Amoeba Music has a series called What's in My Bag. I just watched this today with Jason Mantzoukas. Yes. That's wild. How did you end up watching it? Somebody tweeted about it that I follow. Oh, funny. That's so weird. Weird. Was that the episode that you watched i mean i watched a few episodes i watched part of that one i didn't watch the whole thing his episode was illuminating i added like a bunch of music to my spotify from that and that's what i like about it okay yeah sorry so explain what this series is uh so i have never actually been to the record store uh amoeba But it started in 1990 in Berkeley and since moved to San Francisco and Hollywood as well.

But they have 11 seasons of this What's in My Bag series. And they're five to 10 minute videos with famous musicians, actors and comedians, where they go to the Amoeba music location, just one of the three, and sift through records and then kind of sit down and reveal their selections. Records and movies and lots of stuff. Yeah.

And it's, I guess, paid for with an Amoeba gift certificate, although apparently some artists are willing to dip into their pockets to get even more than is covered. covered damn that's a good fucking deal so there are 500 or actually over 500 there was a the 500th episode was may 2017 uh and since then they've obviously continued and so let me just give you a list of some of the artists sure but this is really fucking weird i didn't know how long it had been running. And the fact that you're talking about it this week, literally the day that I first found out that this thing existed is very strange. Well, it showed up, I was watching something else and it showed up in

my like related videos, which is how I ended up clicking on it. We could have had our first, like both bring the same thing situation. So just to give you a sense of the variety uh artists include most staff uh eugene merman the swell season robin dave grohl tegan and sarah fan farlow d antwoord justin towns earl elijah wood best coast elvira jason schwartzman meat puppets ks1 cheech marin ben queller chromio cat power fred armisen charles bradley the zombies the KS1, Cheech Marin, Ben Queller, Chromio, Cat Power, Fred Armisen, Charles Bradley, The Zombies, The Decembrists, Belle and Sebastian, Death Cab for Cutie, Dan Deacon, My Morning Jacket, Future Islands, Blonde Redhead, Vince Staples, Junior Junior, Kumail Nanjiani, and Emily Gordon, Big Boy, Big Boy, which is not how anyone says his name, Andrew Bird, Air, the XX, and then Jason Manzoukas. That's like all my favorite people. Like most, like pretty much my top 10 favorite folks are on there. Let me tell you the history of it.

Actually, it started in 2008 when Weird Al came shopping and they just stopped him in the parking garage. Because he had shoplifted like a lot of stuff. People don't know that about weird owl but like he gets people think oh what a goofball but like the whole weird thing you can watch the weird owl you can watch the weird owl video on their youtube channel but uh they stopped him and asked if they could film him and so they shot the video in their uh elevator room as he was on his way out um but yeah i just i think it's really cool because i mean obviously spotify is

something incredible that we talk about a lot but sometimes you specifically want to know the artists you like who they're interested in like who influences them like what music they're listening to now and this is like a great way to do it and they're real short videos uh and like i was explaining the diversity of the artists is incredible. Uh, and it's really cool. It's really cool. I think, uh, in the Jason Mantzoukas episode, uh, he, they like picked up a My Bloody Valentine, uh, record, which I, I, I've never really listened to much of them. And like the clip that they played sounded really good. So I added that to Spotify and then a band called the Hop Along. I never heard it before. I was like, oh, this really good so i added that to spotify and then a band called the hop along i never heard before i was like oh this is good i'm gonna go

ahead and add that um yeah it's it's it seems very cool i watched the whole i watched the whole thing um they have a like an anniversary on if you go to their youtube channel which their uh their username is just amoeba a-m-o-e-b-A. They have like a, what is it, like a 10-minute video or a 5-minute video, which highlights kind of the whole 500 episodes and some of the crossover between artists. It's really cool. I think Jason also recommended Touching the Void, which is the documentary about those two dudes. Oh, yeah.

I've seen that. And you've seen that movie? Uh-huh. And it's all on YouTube. The whole of Touching the Void is on YouTube. So I watched about 40 minutes of that while I was working on some prep stuff for a podcast today. It's really well done.

Yes, but also very, very scary. Yes. Got a little spooked out. Yeah, that's a good series. How weird. Mm-hmm. Do you want to know my first thing? Yes. also very very scary uh got a little spooked out um yeah that's a good series how weird uh do you want to know my first thing yes speaking of amoebas my first thing is getting out a sneeze that you've been working on for a long time i don't know if you can tell from my voice but i has a sick like do you know the cheeseburger cat meme where he's like i has a sick do you know him

i can't has medicine do you know him yeah yeah yeah he's really cute but i've been sick and there it's been a few days now and there was a good two day period or so in there where there was a sneeze i had that wouldn't come out and it was a real problem for me because it hurts a lot i mean hurt might not be the right when you are denied the satisfaction of a sneeze for so long i think it feels like pain right griffin would start to kind of rear back and sneeze position and then i would make the mistake of making eye contact with them and sometimes that spooks him right out yeah and i feel very rude whenever this happens because like when i get in this state where i've had this one fucking sneeze that won't come out i will get a little bit rude and i'm i'm typically

not like this but we will be having a conversation. And I'll literally do the like, up, up, up, up, up. Just because like, if I don't have complete Zen-like focus, it's not going to happen for me. And I'm kind of neutral on like sneezes in general, just like your everyday sneeze. I know there's folks who like say like, it always feels super good. And there's probably folks for whom it's like not convenient. Right? Like if you're driving and sneezing, if you're like a truck driver and sneeze all the time, that's probably not safe. I heard you can't sneeze with your eyes open. Do you know this?

There's a lot of sneezing myths out there. I could totally do it. Put me to the fucking test. I, I also sneeze very, very loud very loud apparently and so i'm very kind of self-conscious about my sneezes but there's no better feeling in the world than working on a sneeze for a long time and then finally getting it out the working on it for a long time part sucks so bad but then when you finally get it out it's really really good um i finally got mine out we were hanging out with our friends i think i was drinking a glass of wine i don't know if that had anything to do with it the tannins maybe, maybe, getting up in there. And I felt it coming, and I looked up at the light in the ceiling, and it finally happened. It finally came out.

Yeah, Griffin, I guess, did some research and read that you can look at a light. Yeah, that research was actually an episode of Pete and Pete. I think it was the one where he gets the marshmallow stuck in his nose. Do you remember that? It was like the marshmallow of like a president or something. So that worked. And that's our bodies are so fucking wild. I did some cursory sneeze research. Okay. It's so wild.

And there's like a million things that are wild about our bodies. But sneezing is like is up there. Top five wildest things that we do. There's actually lots of research into what causes sneezes but when i was looking up this like not being able to see finally getting it out there's actually like i couldn't find anything for what makes this like false start thing happen so hey science you want to don't actually look into this. There's way more cancer and global warming. There's a lot of stuff. But, okay, so sneezes are a reflex, right?

They are triggered by foreign matter getting up in your nose, in your nasal mucous membranes. I really want to sneeze just hearing you talk about it. Yeah, I know. And they trigger this violent expulsion to try to get rid of that stuff, right? This is from Wikipedia. Whenever you get that sort of foreign matter up in your nose, it triggers the release of histamines, which irritate the nerve cells in the nose, resulting in signals being sent to the brain to initiate the sneeze through the trigeminal nerve network. The brain then relates this initial signal, activates the pharyngeal and tracheal muscles,

and creates a large opening of the nasal and oral cavities, resulting in a powerful release of air and bioparticles. I've never really thought about the anatomy of a sneeze before, but what this is saying, I've never really appreciated until this very moment, is that you get some weird dust or pepper up in your nose, and then it gets in your mucus, and then it's that nerve cell sends a message to your brain that's like, yo, deal with this.

And your brain sends a message to your fucking whole chest area that's like, hey, can you convulse for me really quick? That's wild. Yeah, I guess i never really thought about that either um sneezes can also be caused by like stimulation of the sinus nerve so if you're like very congested which i almost constantly am uh or if you have allergies uh it can that can be the source of those sneezes um but there's also a ton of like external stimuli that i didn't really know about that can cause sneezes some of it is fucking. But there's also a ton of like external stimuli that I didn't really know about that can cause sneezes. Some of it is fucking wild.

There's something called the photic sneeze reflex. And that is when you look at a bright light and this is not for, this does not work for like a hundred percent of the population. I know I mentioned, like I looked up at the light because of Pete and Pete episode told me to, but there are people who, when they leave a dark building and step out into the sunlight, they sneeze. That's called the photic sneeze reflex um there's some folks who

sneeze when they get aroused and that's just because of some like crossed wires in the automatic nervous system um and i i i feel almost like i shouldn't make light of that uh because i imagine it's very inconvenient and probably something that you have to explain. You know what? Something I do, I'm not talking about arousal right now. That's a first. All week you've been talking about arousal and phrasist. When I get nervous, I yawn a lot.

I think it's because my breathing becomes more shallow and maybe that's why i'm start yawning but when i'm about to cry i always yawn oh is that weird that's not like a nervous response though um anyway that's nothing there's also a phenomenon where some people feel the urge to sneeze after eating a large meal. And there was a scientist, a doctor who wrote a letter to like this medical journal about this phenomenon. And they coined sort of jokingly the only name that I could find about this phenomenon. The name of this phenomenon that this doctor came up with is snatiation. Oh, I love that. It's very good.

Let's start a band and call it that. Snatiation. It's kind of hard to say, so I don't know that it would be the catchiest band name. But I couldn't find anything that causes sneezes to stop. I don't know if there is some sort of trigger for your nerves that send this thing to your brain, but maybe if there's like not enough like particles or whatever that are not enough of whatever the stimulus is to actually like push it over the top uh i don't know i don't know but um i was a little disappointed about that but what i do know is that i finally got that sneeze out we were hanging out with our friends i sneezed and i

very loudly went yes and all our friends looked at me at me like I was just a wild person who'd run in from the street and sneezed all over everybody and then celebrated. So it feels good, right? I feel like I haven't gotten much confirmation from you that sneeze feels good. No, it does feel good. I feel like, I don't know if you did any research on the history of sneezing, but I feel like I remember learning that there were people back in the day before there was any kind of television or radio that used to recreationally make themselves sneeze

for the pleasure of it. Isn't that what Flatliners is about? I don't know. No, it's about people who stopped their hearts so they could talk to ghosts and shit. I got it confused. I can see how you'd make that mistake. yeah no that sounds that sounds like a bad idea because that probably i don't think you want to like work that reflex i don't think you want to get that reflex like really really strong um because then either you won't sneeze enough or you'll sneeze way too much. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, can I steal you away?

Back to basics, folks. We have some messages. Fuck yeah, dude. This one is for Kale and Lydia. Hell yeah. It is from Lydia. Badass. Hi, Kale and future me. You're wonderful.

Happy New Year and all holidays within it. Our fave podcasts help me get by every day at work. I hope this message finds future us vibing and keeping it tight. This is the best and the top, and I'm never buying another present. This heartfelt message from Rachel and Griffin can never be outdone. That is true. It's better than the Nintendo 64 I got in, I think, 1998. What about that Ewok Village? That was Travis's. He wouldn't

even let me touch it. And now you've really touched a nerve with me. I'm sorry. I never got any toys. I saw that in the background of one of his photos. Did he go out and buy himself another one? He got another Ewok Village playset. He's incredible. He's an incredible man. He's a remarkable, remarkable man. History will remember him for being an incredible

man. This next message is for Spoopy Samantha. Oh, they got you with that one, didn't I? It is from Dungeon Master James, the third of his name. Okay. You're in the dark labyrinth.

Can you give me like a DM voice? You're in a dark labyrinth. Oh, shit. Exits to the west and northeast. Suddenly a hug bear appears before you and borks. Oh, I love menacingly your inventory contains my heart a ring of plus one marriage and a rusty dagger what do you do roll of happiness that's a very sweet message also rachel's voice gave me asmr just i think for the first time ever

and i don't really understand what that sensation is all about, but I guess we'll look into it. I also don't know if that's another proposal that we've had on our show or not. But if it is, let us know about it. Congratulations, spoopy, Samantha and dungeon master,

James, the third of his name. Yeah. Well done. And if not, sorry for making it weird, I guess, but the details there are a little cryptic.

You know, it says your inventory, so I think they already have the ring. I think it's, yeah. Hi there, I'm film critic April Wolf and host of the Maximum Fun podcast, Switchblade Sisters. Do you love genre films? Do you love female filmmakers? Do you love discussions on craft? If your answer is yes, you'll love Switchblade Sisters. Every episode, I invite one female filmmaker on,

and we talk in-depth about their fave genre film and how it influenced their own work. So we're talking horror, action, sci-fi, fantasy, bizarro, and exploitation cinema. Mothers, lock up your sons, because the Switchblade Sisters are coming for you. Available at MaximumFun.org or wherever you find your podcasts. What's your second thing, though?

My second thing, and this is something that's kind of evolved over time. Okay. My second thing is Leftovers. Oh, I love that show. I didn't quite understand what happened in the last season because I didn't watch it. Griffin, the food leftovers. Yes, I think I know why you're talking about this. Because we had really great leftovers today.

We sure did. Griffin made pork tonkatsu last night. With Japanese curry and rice. And it was delicious. And he made a whole bunch. And so we had lunch today. And it was so good, especially like I was doing some research on leftovers and things like curries get so much better with time. I was going to bring, I thought about bringing curry, but I didn't know that I, first of all,

like there's Japanese curry and then there's obviously like Indian and Thai curry. There's a lot of different types of curries out there. So I didn't really, but curry rules, it's so easy to make at least Japanese curry. You get like the roux blocks and you you make it yeah see i feel like that's probably kind of a cheat yeah maybe but it gets spicier and more flavorful when it becomes leftovers yeah yeah it's wild yeah uh so

leftovers i did some research because griffin and i are kind of notorious that if we don't eat leftovers within 24 hours we are not going to eat them. Nope. But here's the thing. From the Mayo Clinic, leftovers can be kept for three to four days in the fridge. No, no. Thank you. Mayo Clinic, I appreciate it. I feel like maybe you're in the pocket of big mayo, so you want me to eat the old sandwich that I have in my refrigerator four days after I fucking made it. But no, Mayo Clinic, I think I'm all right.

Four days? That's what it says. Three to four days. I made lasagna on Monday. It is now Friday. I think pasta is one of those good things for sure. No way. You can definitely eat that a few days later.

Oh my God. Because it's been cooked and like, there's no like you know leafy greens or anything in there that are gonna wilt i never let my opinions get in the way of scientific fact but fuck the mayo clinic on this one no way four days i am i know that griffin is more uh strict on this than me so a lot of times I will turn to him and ask if I should eat something. Because if he says no, then I trust his judgment.

There was one time where we had a loaf of bread, like a nice loaf of bread, I think from the farmer's market that was in the fridge. And there was some mold on some of the pieces and you wanted to eat bread off the other side of the loaf. And we'd had it in there for a week and a half,

maybe two weeks. It was not two weeks. You stop. It was for a week and a half maybe two weeks it was not two weeks you stopped it was it was it was it was not two weeks ancient it had become it was not ancient grains when it went in it became ancient grains and rachel was like can i eat this this bread on this side and i was like why risk it you gotta you don't risk it for that biscuit because that bread has become a biscuit because it's older than I am. So here's some other information. Perishable food should never be left out of refrigeration for more than how long?

Four hours? Two hours. I doubled it. It says this is true even if there is no meat products. Foodborne bacteria that may be present on these foods grow fastest in the, quote, danger zone, which is temperatures between 40 degrees and 140 degrees, and can double in number every 20 minutes. You want to hear something fucked up? Yeah.

When you referencing a food danger zone reminded me of a food handler's license. I don't know if you had to get that when you worked at... I didn't. Did you work at Barnes & Noble? Yeah, I worked at the coffee shop in Barnes & Noble. There wasn't a lot of food to handle. I worked at a TCBY where I don't know if I was supposed to get one there or not. But then I worked at the movie theater in Huntington.

Oh, yeah, yeah. And Travis worked there before I did. And he worked concessions. And I worked concessions mostly. He complained about having to get his food handler's license to work concessions. And I worked there for like a summer, and the topic was never broached with me. So I don't know if they were like, that's too much trouble. It's just fucking popcorn.

Don't worry about it. So I don't know what the danger zone is or how long food is allowed to stay in there. I thought four hours, but I guess I was wrong. No, two hours. a lot to stay in there. I thought four hours, but I guess I was wrong. No, two hours. So I did a little research also on the history of leftovers, which is probably not going to be a big surprise to anyone. This is from an Atlantic article called The Economic History of Leftovers. The Great Depression helped to usher in the golden age of leftovers. Americans at that time were spending 40% of their income on food.

During the Great Depression? Yeah. Yeah, I would imagine 40% even seems low to me. Yeah. We were all kind of in survival mode back there. By the 60s, the leftover craze was starting to kind of wane. A big reason was that Americans were more financially secure. And there was this idea of, you know, like, if you were, if you had means, you know, you shouldn't need to save your previous meal. I'm gonna ask a really dumb question. Okay. That I have, you could say, you could say any year

before 1975. And I would believe you. But when was the refrigerator invented? Because I would think that has something to do with this, right? Because where are you going to put your freaking leftovers? 1939. 1939? I'm going to I'm gonna say 19 I'm gonna say 1948.

Okay. What is it, like 1908? 1834. 1834. I was off by we were both off by a fucking century.

Oh, my God. That's embarrassing. Oh, man. Oh, shit. Okay. Oh, wait, wait, wait. Okay. What were they like in homes?

Yeah. The first commercial ice making machine was invented in 1854. In 1913, refrigerators for home use were invented. Okay, so we're not that bad. Vapor compression refrigeration systems were invented in 1834. So that's when the tech was invented. But it's like computers, how computers used to be the size of an Amtrak train. Yeah, exactly.

Oh, shit, though. All right. So by the 60s, Americans were only spending 25% of their incomes on food. And people, you know, we're also kind of going through what I think we go through, which is like, oh, do I really want to box up all this food and have to prepare it again? Or do I just want to throw it away? Yeah. Yeah. Today, Americans spend just over 10% of their incomes on food. But more Americans are becoming aware of the externalized costs that go into food from water to fuel to transportation. So there's been kind of a surge in leftovers again, just kind of knowing where we are globally.

What greedy, greedy folks we are for the sort of resource-wise. Yeah, totally. I think we do usually try to eat our leftovers. Can we talk about our favorite leftovers? I mean, curry is my favorite leftover, hands down. Because again, the longer you let a curry stew, for the most part, as long as you don't burn it, you do develop more flavor in it and then for whatever reason you throw that shit in some tupperware overnight and then you microwave it the next day and it is like twice as good it's like twice as flavorful curry rules uh i like chili chili is yeah i like pasta most soups like pizza pizza? Pizza is not. Pizza is a five out of ten for me.

It never is as good. And please, God, don't tweet at me like, put it in a waffle iron. I don't need to hear that shit. Yeah, Justin McElroy has told us that enough. I know there's ways. There's fucking necromantic rituals you can cast over the fucking pizza box to get it back. But I'm busy. What else? fucking pizza box to get it back but i'm i'm i'm busy um what else i mean like fried chicken is good because you don't even have to heat that up i'll go at that cold the things that are hard

for me are the things that have like a more prominent produce uh piece to it like whenever things start to like wilt or get gushy like i don't know how to handle that uh and then anything with like bread is bad like a hamburger done throw it put it away french fries a hamburger because the bun maybe if you take the meat off and then heat that up separately and then put your bread on it but like um and then french fries i are like a restaurant french fries you can't they're barely good when they're in the restaurant. As soon as they start to get cold, they're not good. No way, they're dead.

There's also some foods that like, I just can't eat twice in a row. Like big, heavy, cheesy, spicy foods. We will have that for dinner one night and then I'll look at it for lunch. Like if I have you twice in a row, I'm done. I don't know how to do stuff like fish either. Like I wouldn't know how to.

Fish I would still get down with. Would you microwave it though? Uh, no. I don't know what I'd do. That's a good point. I don't think I've ever had leftover fish though. I think the only time I've ever cooked fish was at Blue Apron. And then I just, no that's

not true. I would make tilapia but then you'd do it yourself. Um, anyway. Leftovers are good. I did not really enjoy them. But as I get older, especially since I'm like going to work the next day, I appreciate being able to bring a little meal with me that I know is going to be super tasty. I also like leftovers when they are with meals that I cooked, because I can like sort of and that you cooked, right? Because I can kind of quality control it. I don't think I would eat somebody else's leftovers. Is that weird? If I went over to a friend's house and they had made dinner the previous night and they're like, do you want to eat some of this

leftover ravioli I made last night? Yeah, that might be kind of weird. That'd be weird because I don't know what you did to it the first fucking time. And I cannot guarantee that when you revive it, do you know what I mean? Yeah, I do. Do you want to know my second thing? Yes. So I've kind of talked around my second thing. I've talked about things that are somewhat related to it. But it was a thing. I was just trying to think of like,

what's a big thing that I'm very excited about. And then I thought about tomorrow, Rachel and I are going on a movie date. And I realized I've talked about sort of summer blockbusters. And I've talked about, you know, specific movies here and there, but I I've talked about sort of summer blockbusters, and I've talked about, you know, specific movies here and there, but I've never talked about going to the movies.

Oh. Going to the movies is good. Going to the movies is really good. Oh, I also talked about midnight releases. That's sort of an edge case, going to the movies. It's sort of a physical endurance challenge,

going to the movies. It doesn't always have to be like that. Sometimes you just go to the flicks, which is what I call movies sometimes. I numbered them for some reason, but I have facts about movies. And by facts, I mean opinions that I believe about going to the movies.

Things that are good about going to the movies. Can I ask you a question before you start? When you worked at a movie theater, did that lessen any of it for you? No. For several reasons. One, I stole a lot of concessions. But I feel like that would ruin it for you because you ate so much of it.

Oh, you misunderstand. It's all very good. Okay. Yeah, so like, yeah, a lot of popcorn. I've talked about this so many times. The trash bag popcorn. The trash bag we bring back to my apartment and dump Nutella in and just go at it. But then like you could go to movies for free.

And so I was going to more movies than I ever had in my entire life. Movies that I didn't even especially want to see, but they were free and I could get free popcorn. So, hell yeah. And I found like one little candy machine that the knob was loose on so i could turn it like one of those 25 cent candy machines so i could turn it and fill up a dixie cup with free candy and go see my free movie it was dope i got very into movies then so going to the movies is good there's a lot of reasons why one you get to see a new movie and that's very exciting going to see a new movie is very exciting it doesn't even have to be like the biggest movie

that you're most excited about like knowing that like you are among the first people to see a new movie is very exciting it doesn't even have to be like the biggest movie that you're most excited about like knowing that like you are among the first people to see this new creative work of art is is very cool right like tomorrow we're going to see mission impossible fallout i've had a lot of people tell me it's very good i'm excited to go see this new movie that's only it's like a week old it's a newborn. We're visiting it in the movie hospital. And seeing it alongside a bunch of people is also very neat when you see like a funny movie and everybody's like laughing at the same time or a scary movie. Scary movies are my favorite in theaters because when people like yell, when it gets scary and you yelled alongside them, that's a nice bonding moment with everybody, isn it it is yeah um and i also just sort of enjoy the tactile feeling of being in a movie theater which is to say we live in texas and it's

uh always 100 to 200 degrees here and just being in a dark air-conditioned room for two hours is really nice yeah especially with these like new fancy chairs that they have in all the theaters. I feel like every movie theater has significantly upgraded their chair situation. I mean, I know they have at the Alamo Draft House. No, and a lot of other theaters do. A lot of other theaters have those stadium-style seats that are very nice. But also, like, a theater smell. The theater smell is good.

Oh, I do like the theater smell. Have you ever been in a stinky theater? I don't think you have, because you have to be in there for two hours and you don't want a stinky hang zone for two hours i mean it sometimes it'll just smell like soda and popcorn which is not a bad smell just great yeah it's a very good smell and there's something about being in that dark cold good smelling room where there's a big movie in front of you, that is very, like... People talk about, like, works of art as being transportive, and I think that's very true, especially of movies, right?

Like, I love sitting in front of a movie and having to dial into it because there's fucking nothing else to do. Yeah. Especially at Draft House, like, you can't pull out your fucking phone. Like, you have nothing but the friends on the screen in front of you

you have to watch. And so you get very sucked in and very transported by the movie. I also kind of love how loud it is. It's really loud. It's really very loud. So you get transported by the movie, especially if it's one of the transporter movies starring Jason Statham. One of the transporter movies? Is that what you said? Yeah, he's made like four transporter movies. That's great. Have you seen any of those?

No. Oh, Rachel, they own bones. So he drives this car and he like delivers shit, basically. Yeah, yeah, yeah. People aren't always out to get him, but he's a really good driver. There's a scene where somebody puts a bomb under his car and he doesn't know about it until he's already driving. And so he hits a ramp and flips it and he goes under a crane

and he knocks the bomb off the bottom of the car using the crane. Where's the merchandising in that? I wonder. It doesn't all have to be about. It can be about the art. Okay. The movie kicks ass, dude. But yeah, having to dial into this sick ass Jason Statham movie and being in this like cold, dark room that smells different from the place that you usually are.

And then walking outside. Every time you do that, it's like, whoa. It's nice. In the summertime? In the summertime, it's gotten a little bit later. It's a little bit cooler outside than it was when you went in, maybe. But still like warmer than the theater. But still warmer than the theater.

So you get that nice blast of nice warm air. And then like you're out in the real world again. And you realize like, oh, I just wasn out in the real world again and you realize like oh i just wasn't in the real world for a long time that's really cool um and then also if you're like going there with a friend you get to have like and i used to not enjoy this but you have like a talk with them about the movie that you just saw and if you both agree about the movie it can be fun and then if you disagree about the movie it can be an argument that you and your family have at Applebee's for an hour and a half.

Oh, I mean, wait, what was I saying? We went and saw The Village, the M. Night Shyamalan flick. And I can't honestly remember who was on the pro side and who was on the con side. What side were you on? I know I was on the side with Justin, my mom, and my dad. Travis was on his own little island. I think he...

I think he liked... I don't remember. I don't want to discredit Travis. But he was... I think he was ultimately on the right side of history on that one. But anyway... So it was just all of you against him and that Applebee's? Yeah, I think we were all like,

it's a great movie. And Travis was like, it's not good. And now that I'm, you know, much older, I can see where he made a lot of good points. And going on a date

at the movies is also so good, especially if it's like a first date. This used to stress me out when I was younger. That's what I'm saying. It's a very low pressure situation

unless you are in potential first time hand-holding scenario. And then it is the most stressful. It is fucking Thunderdome. I have enjoyed them a lot more as I got older. But when I was younger, there were just all these expectations of like, are you what are you expecting in this?

Is this like supposed to be some kind of some kind of handsy time? And you can't talk. You can't like discuss it. Right. I mean, that's probably why it's not a great place i love the idea though of young couples standing out in the lobby and saying all right we're gonna go in there what are your feelings on hand holding but it got about smooching did you ever have that experience of like sitting there and like inching the hand over and over like

uh-oh maybe this'll we're touching pinkies we're touching pinkies we got pinky touch uh no no the only experience i had was uh in high school i went on a date to see batman forever oh hell yes uh and the gentleman put his arm around me and it was very very uncomfortable for both of us because uh obviously we talked about this before like there's no comfortable way to like keep your head and neck in somebody's armpit for that long we haven't talked about this before on the show i know but we've talked about this as as lovers rachel hates having arms put around her it's the truth it's so uncomfortable i can't put my head anywhere that feels natural some people like it but yeah i totally know what you're saying um so anyway anyway uh and also trailers are good like

i still do like a good trailer yeah even when the movies if the trailer is bad or for a bad movie i still enjoy it because it's usually short and like entertaining enough too when the trailers i mean and they probably always do this are kind of tailored to the audience they think that is seeing the movie it always is it's it's like funny to kind of figure out kind of who they think is there yeah for sure um but even if a trailer is bad and it looks for like the movie's gonna be bad it still does you the service of letting you know that you don't have to care about that movie I just I love every part of going to the movies and uh I worked there as a summer job. I worked at a sort of new big multiplex in downtown Huntington when I was, I believe, 19 years old. And it was a very

exhausting job. Actually, I have a lot of respect for people who work at the movies because you are on your feet literally nonstop. You do not do not get a break you have to work like holidays and shit because a lot of people come to the movies on on thanksgiving and new year's eve and stuff uh and like ushers have to touch the grossest imaginable shit ticket takers ticket taking was secretly like my least favorite job because you're just standing there for your whole shift basically and it got really really boring and really really exhausting but i i it like you asked about earlier like it did not lose the magic of going to the movies for me because i i think it's like a really one-of-a-kind experience that's honestly true everybody i know that has worked in

a theater has left that position still really appreciating movies yeah uh so i'm excited to see the mission impossible with you uh so i hope to see some cool stunts and some big cars. But do you want to know what our listeners at home were excited about? Yes. This one was sent in by either Rian or Ryan. I apologize. My partner and I went camping this weekend and it was so lovely. We wanted to do something with our fire pit, but neither of us likes s'mores, which is unbelievable. I get not liking them for the mess factor, but the taste is sensational.

Unbeatable. So we bought a pack of Tostino's pizza rolls and roasted them over the campfire. It was next level. It is, yeah. I've never been to that level, so I don't know if it is above me or below me, but it is next in some. I bet it's probably pretty good. I don't know how you guarantee that it doesn't destroy your mouth skin inside your mouth. Good point.

You have no idea what that internal temperature is. No fucking clue. At least in a microwave, you can have some sort of guarantees that scientists have figured out how many watts of pure micropower it takes to get these to an edible temperature. Rebecca says, my favorite souvenir experience of all time is collecting souvenir pennies. The excitement of finding a penny machine and actually having enough quarters is a feeling only matched by deciding which design to pick. Oh my gosh.

You know, these things where you like crank the wheel. If you've never seen one of them, you put i think two quarters and a penny into a machine and you choose a design by like spinning a little wheel to decide like what you want it to be and then it flattens it out and you crank a bigger wheel and it flattens here's my question is this not destruction of u.s currency like isn't that is that not yeah like if you got pulled over and i had a bunch of souvenir pennies would would you go to jail? I don't know. I don't think pennies anybody really cares about anymore. But still.

But I do. If you flattened out a $100 bill, even flatter, and put another picture on there. Yeah, for sure. Stop it. Here's one from Jenna who says, something i find wonderful is cleaning my glasses they can get nasty by the end of the day so i find it super refreshing to take my special lens wipe and spray bottle and clean them each morning when i wake up this is like the best thing that rachel does for me yeah this is something that i started doing for griffin when we first started dating uh is i would take the glasses off of his face and clean them when I could tell they were smudged. Yeah. I kind of, um, I kind of just

like, can't tell when they're dirty and I know I should be able to, but like, it doesn't even sink into me that they're dirty. Um, and these days, like they are our sons, they're our son's most favorite grabbable object in the house. Uh, And so they are just always smudged and dirty. But I think it's a really affectionate thing that you do. I really feel a lot of affection towards you because it's such a nice little kind gesture that you do that I can't do for myself because I'm a child. But anyway, thank you for listening to Wonderful. I hope that you enjoyed it. I sure did. Didn't you? I did. Okay, good. I want to thank Bowen and Augustus for the use of our theme song

Money Won't Pay. You can find a link to that in the episode description. And hey, thanks to Maximum Fun for having us on the network. What's up with Maximum Fun? Like what's what is it? I don't know anything. I really don't know anything. It is a network of artists' own podcasts that you can enjoy both in the comedy sense and in the culture sense. All right. Do they have any other shows or just ours? They have other shows like Pop Rocket, if you're interested in culture, let's say. If you're interested in comedy, you could check out the Beef and Dairy Network. I like both beef and dairy.

So you can head over to MaximumFun.org to access all the cool products and podcasts. They have cool products, too? They do. Yeah, you can buy merchandise. Cool. And yeah, we have other shows, too, that our family do. That our family do? That our family do.

McElroyshows.com yeah and i think that's it and i have one more podcast to record this weekend i don't know that i'll be able to do it babe i do not think my my strained plagued beleaguered vocal cords are gonna allow me just take a load off those cords i can't i can't because after this i gotta go outside and yell at some birds. It's fucking Wednesday night. You know it's time for me to yell at some birds. Working all day. Money won't pay. Working all day.

Money won't pay. Working all day. Money won't pay. Working all day. Money won't pay. MaximumFun.org Comedy and culture. Artist owned. Listener supported. You probably know that MaxFun podcasters are funny in the talking way.

But did you know they also are funny in the writing way? We are very excited to announce that John Hodgman and Paula Poundstone wrote books that have been named as semi-finalists for the 2018 Thurber Prize for American Humor. John Hodgman, celebrated fake internet court presider, is the host of Judge John Hodgman and was recognized for his book Vacationland. Paula Poundstone's book is called The Totally Unscientific Study of the Search for Human Happiness, and you can hear her expound on happiness and many other topics on her new podcast, Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone.

The Thurber Prize is one of the highest awards for humor writing in the United States, and we are proud to have both these authors on Maximum Fun every week. Paula Poundstone and John Hodgman, congratulations.