This week Griffin and David begin a new mini-series on the films of Tim Burton! Together they discuss the origins of the character Pee-wee and Burton's background in animation and being a goth boy from Burbank, California.
[00:00:00] Blank Check with Griffin and David, Blank Check with Griffin and David, Don't know what to say or to expect All you need to know is that the name of the show is Blank Check
[00:00:21] On this very night, ten years ago, along this same stretch of road in a dense fog just like this I saw the worst accident I ever seen. There was this sound like a garbage truck dropped off the Empire State Building
[00:00:38] And when they finally pulled the driver's body from the twisted burning wreck, it looked like this! Yes sir, the worst podcast I've ever seen! That's right! This is in fact the worst podcast you've ever seen. Hello everybody my name, hello everybody my name, hello everybody my name
[00:00:58] Is Griffin Newman? Hi, I'm David Sims. Is this microphone different Ben? What do you mean? I don't know it feels different on my nose. It's a different mic, yeah. Yeah! I have your mic. Oh weird, alright cool. And David also took your chair today.
[00:01:14] All by accident, I didn't mean to do any of this. It's the nice chair for the engineer. It's less fungy. Yeah, because I kind of almost rest my nose on the mic, which is a little gross I guess. Yeah, kinda.
[00:01:25] Yeah, why do you think he had to replace the mic? No, he's got my... Mic was lousy with boogers. Alright, what a great start to our new miniseries. Hey! Alright. Here's the parade. Oh my god, marching band. New miniseries, new miniseries, baton twirlers, confetti cannons, fireworks.
[00:01:52] Oh my god it's the blank check mascot. Oh it's Blanky. Hello everybody! I forgot about that. It's me, Blanky or Checky? This is new. We have a mascot now. It's me, Checky! Hey Checky! How are you? Welcome! I am here to officially...
[00:02:10] We've never done this bit before, right? Chris in a new miniseries! What does he look like? He's a little angry check. He's got a director's megaphone. Oh yeah! Right. Yes. Perfect. Hello boys. Yeah it has to be Checky.
[00:02:24] Oh, Checky is taking out a giant sword and he is tapping it on our shoulders. Guys, Neil, take a knee. I hear by Chris in the beginning of a new miniseries. How much are we paying this guy? 15% of ad revenue. What the hell?
[00:02:39] Was I not here for this negotiation? Let's podward scissor cast commence! There you go. That's right, that's right. As Checky says so goes the nation. Scrap in four months baby. And Checky has left the studio. He will be on every episode from here on out.
[00:02:55] He definitely won't be. We've already recorded some. Checky is big and we already paid Jobo into design Checky. That's true. Yes. We've been sitting on the design for a while. We're building a media empire baby. My name is Griffin Newman.
[00:03:07] I already said it four times but I'm going to say it a fit. This is Blank Check with Griffin and David. A podcast about Checky, a lovable new mascot. It's about filmographies, directors who have massive success early on in their career
[00:03:20] giving a series of blank checks, make whatever crazy passion projects they want. Sometimes those checks clear and sometimes they bounce baby. Just like Checky, buy your Checky rubber bouncing balls. Available now at Toys R Us.
[00:03:37] I swear to God go to any Toys R Us location and you're going to find they're filled with Checky merchandise. And if your Toys R Us is closed, I don't know what to tell you. Bad luck.
[00:03:48] This is the main series I've been pushing for for a long time. Yeah. You had shown a lot of resistance. Disinterest that's how I would put it. Right. You know I think you categorize it as some Griffin bullshit. I think I saw the threat of Griffin bullshit.
[00:04:03] Where this would go? Right. And your complaint was always it's going to be... This is my actual complaint. Eight or nine movies we both like. Yeah. And then the second half of the miniseries is me going to be saying... It'll be you being like, wow! Actually!
[00:04:17] And me being like, I didn't think it was very good. Making half-hearted defenses. I didn't like it. It's actually kind of interesting. But this is, we're starting in the golden era because this guy hits the ground running. He does.
[00:04:29] And kind of takes Hollywood by storm in a way that I would argue is a little unprecedented. I would argue he's sort of a very unique phenomenon in Hollywood. In that he is a comedy director.
[00:04:43] I think people lose track of that as time goes on because he gets a little lost from the plot. Well, so you made a superhero movie early which... Yes. You know, sort of like different job.
[00:04:54] But he's a comedy director who comes out of animation and has a very, very distinctive style. True. And immediately is successful. Is making very personal esoteric films on a big studio level and they work in their commercial. True.
[00:05:10] And he is that weird phenomenon where like he's this weird bouillabaisse of all his cultural influences growing up. A lot of weird pulpy trashy stuff. Sure. And he made these things very mainstream even though people didn't have the reference base for the stuff that he grew up on.
[00:05:24] Yeah, okay. Which I think is like a weird phenomenon. Sure. And you compare him within the realm of directors like this to like someone like Edgar Wright where it took like five movies for one of his films to be successful. Yeah. You know? Yeah, I guess so.
[00:05:40] The fact that like Burton like hit so quickly. This was like a big cult surprise success. In terms of our blank check arc, you are correct. Yes. He like got a blank check fast. And everyone kind of went like oh I get this thing this Tim Burton thing.
[00:05:56] He's a guy I grew up idolizing. He was my favorite director and I've said I think in previous mini series. He's still your favorite director? He was my favorite director for a very long time.
[00:06:05] I said in previous mini series I think for a lot of people of our generation. People grew up with Tim Burton because he's like. You're one of the first directors you recognize.
[00:06:16] You just start a hit, a tour where you're like I get that these movies are all made by one person. Exactly. It really is that for our generation. In terms of theme, in terms of aesthetics, in terms of sensibility, tone, you know, all of that sort of stuff.
[00:06:30] And he comes from a background that I'm obviously fascinated by which is that he was a CalArts animation guy. Uh huh. You know what he said his name? His name is Timothy Burton. Timothy Walter Burton.
[00:06:42] The mini series is called Podward Scissorcast and Buckle in because we're doing all of it. Buckle in because he made a lot of movies. Now we're not doing the animated movies on the main feed. Winky winky? Right. Winky winky? That's all I'll say about that, I guess.
[00:06:55] Winky winky? It'll be December, Ben. We'll be, yeah. Ben is reluctantly nodding his head. Tim Burton, you know, we often try to give like some background on where these directors came from before they got big.
[00:07:08] But the thing with Tim Burton is I think everyone knows what Tim Burton's backstory is because it's what you extrapolate from watching his movies. I don't know his backstory except as you say, right? When it just described to me, I'm like, oh yeah, that makes sense.
[00:07:18] He grew up in like Burbank? Yeah. From California. So Burbank parents couldn't connect to. He was a weird dark kid. Sure. He was obsessed with TV. And like stop motion little animations. Made a lot of monster movies in his backyard. Made a lot of stop motion.
[00:07:32] Uh, my girlfriend, Humburg, was saying. Humburg. Uh, no, I said it first. Uh, was saying how many short films she was surprised he had made because he has like 20 short film credits and IMDb. But they was like a teenager.
[00:07:43] People have listed every, like film he made as a kid because I knew all those fucking titles because I've read every book on him.
[00:07:49] It's similar to Spielberg because you know Spielberg as a kid teen would make the Super 8 movies and people will like talk about that as a real thing. Right.
[00:07:57] The difference is that like Spielberg and those movie brats grew up on like the sort of the school of cinema of like high art cinema.
[00:08:04] And they talk about like, they got in a world cinema at a young age, but they also were studying Hitchcock and they were studying Howard Hawks and John Ford, Orson Welles. And Tim Burton was just like. Tim Burton is like sort of like 10 maybe 12 years younger than Spielberg.
[00:08:17] Right. So right, there's like a decade removed. So he's like the start of the generation of the people growing up on the movies made by the movie brats to some degree. Before that though, he has television. That's a huge.
[00:08:30] He's very big presence in his house probably less so with Spielberg as a kid. I'm sure Spielberg watched TV, but it was like very early TV. With TV you get an onslaught of non curated media. Because here's a ton of shit.
[00:08:42] And he is by all accounts like an omnivore. And it's like he's watching martial arts films and he's watching monster movies. And he's watching Roger Cormentzley's, you know, genre pictures and he's watching black exploitation films.
[00:08:54] He's watching old sitcoms and he sort of feels like a guy who isn't a student of film as much as he's like a student of pop culture. Right. Because you watch like Peewee's Big Adventure and like this is a movie about like pop culture. Sure.
[00:09:07] You know, like he's just synthesized all of these things into his being and all his weird hang ups and his obstetric obsessions and all of that makes all these films in his backyard.
[00:09:16] It's really good visual artist and goes to CalArts to become an animator and is contemporaries with all the Pixar guys. Is classmate something there's a class photo you can find of the A113 class where he's there with Brad Bird and John Lasseter putting his hands on everyone's legs.
[00:09:32] And Musco in Clemens and all these guys, right? Sure. And they all pretty much go to Disney because at that point CalArts is just a pipeline for Disney. There are very few other places animators can get hired. Right, where else do you animate? Right.
[00:09:45] Handbar Barbera is kind of like dwindling. If you're doing like real serious feature animation, Disney's pretty much your one stop shopping. Right. And then you have the nadir of Disney animation.
[00:09:53] The period of time where Brad Bird is so angry about how shitty Disney is that he gets himself fired because he was so difficult. He worked on like Fox and the Hound by Cauldron. Right. Apparently he worked on Tron. Yes.
[00:10:04] But it was all concept art that Wig wouldn't make it into the movie. Or he would do like in-betweening, like he would animate like a shot or two. Uh huh.
[00:10:12] Because all those CalArts guys they have the distinctive style but you also learn how to like just replicate whatever the thing is.
[00:10:17] So there's like a shot or two that I think he did in Fox and the Hound and they were like this guy's too fucking, he can't make the normal shots. Right. You know? Okay. One could say they were too twisted.
[00:10:29] Well that I was actually going to say like he is almost a parody of that. Yes. Like where it's like you know like, like Brad Bird draws a person right? Right. And it's like a regular person.
[00:10:41] And then like Tim Burton starts drawing and you hear like a weird little piano. It's like do do do. And like the person has like big eyes or skull head.
[00:10:48] I was going to say it takes some five seconds to draw the head but he spends two hours drawing the circles around the eyes. Right.
[00:10:56] Every Tim Burton drawing looks sort of traumatized and he was able to do it but they were just kind of like this guy's interesting. He's clearly a good artist. He's got a unique sensibility. He's not fitting in with this.
[00:11:05] So they were like Dark Cauldron that was like Disney's attempt at doing like Black Cauldron, sorry, doing like a darker fantasy sort of monster movie. And they were like this is okay. He's going to fit into this. He'll do monster designs for us.
[00:11:17] And then they were like two twisted, two twisted. We don't know what to do with him. So after a little while because it was just like you get all the animators there. It's not like they're going to fire him and let him go somewhere else.
[00:11:26] There's not a dream works or something to go to. They were like we're just going to give you money make something. Okay. So they knew he was talented. They did.
[00:11:34] And at that point even when Disney was at like a low point it still was kind of a talent incubator to develop voices. Right. He was pitching them features. He was coming up with concepts that were like we can't make this.
[00:11:44] We can't make this night before Christmas is one of them at that point in time. So they give him a little money to make a short film called Vincent, which is phenomenal. You can find it on YouTube. It's like three minutes long. It's a little thing.
[00:11:55] It's so good. And it's six minutes. It's just like it is the ultimate or text. It is black and white throughout like a little boy who lives in Burbank. Right. And his life is totally normal.
[00:12:06] He lives in a very sweet place with nice parents and he can't stop fantasizing about being in a gothic horror film. Right. He wants to be Vincent Price. He's like crying over his dead wife and his mom keeps on interrupting and telling him to take out the garbage.
[00:12:19] Funny. It's so visually striking. It's like very influenced by German expressionist films. It's dark black and white. It's these insane angles and these amazing transitions, the transitions from reality to fantasy are great.
[00:12:32] And that's where it puts them on the map and they go, oh, this guy is a really good director. Put aside his artistic sensibility and all of that, this has like got a really good visual language to it.
[00:12:42] And I think a big thing with Tim Burton is because he comes out of animation and because with animation student films, they're very often non-sync sound because that's very hard to do at a student film level. Okay.
[00:12:56] If you're in a live action film school, you can make a short film with a bunch of dialogue even with 16 millimeter Super 16 or whatever. Right. But in animation, because it's so hard to do, you maybe get one line of dialogue and a little bit of sound effects.
[00:13:07] You really learn visual storytelling, shot sequencing. You can't rely on dialogue. Right. And for a guy who is as stylish as he is, especially with these early films, he's not manic.
[00:13:18] There's a very sort of deliberate shot sequencing and structure to these scenes that he understands the comedy of gesture and language and all of that. Right? So Disney's so impressed with that that they give him some money to make a live action short film.
[00:13:33] They're still in this thing of every year, they'll re-release one of the old Disney films from the vault because VHS is still pretty nascent. Right? So Pinocchio is back on the big screen. They need a short film. They're re-releasing Pinocchio. All those movies are like an hour long.
[00:13:46] They are. Right. So they were like, let's give them some money to make a short film and he makes Frank and Weenie. And they look at it. It starts Shelley DeVall and Daniel Stern. It slaps so fucking hard. Fucks and slaps, huh?
[00:13:57] And they're like, this is too twisted. So they pull it. It's kind of long too, right? It's like half an hour. It's like half an hour, yeah. But it's also exquisite. Just an excellent film and they're like, oh, this guy's got some facility with live action. You're exquisite.
[00:14:11] I was getting a follow up. Thank you. I much appreciate it. Can you give me one as well? I'm getting parched. Sucking Tim Burton's dick. I need to salivate. So they don't release this film.
[00:14:25] But in this early era of like, here we got the VHS tape and it makes the rounds. It starts traveling around Hollywood. OK. And people are really impressed by this tape. So he starts getting thrown into all these meetings and he gets offered and then hired
[00:14:40] to direct the film after hours. Yeah, I knew that the film that Scorsese made. Yes, that's supposed to be his debut film. Right. I like that movie. That movie rules. And I actually haven't gotten to see the whole thing.
[00:14:52] I just like randomly caught it late night on like HBO or something. You're your pal Griffin. Griffin Dunn. My name's it. Right? Not really, but he's a friend. Hopefully having the podcast with him there. But love that movie.
[00:15:07] I think it's one of the best New York movies I've ever made. Wouldn't say it's objectively the best. It is definitely my favorite Scorsese movie. It's also a decent punk movie. Yes, I agree. Yeah. It's an amazing solo movie. After hours of home movie. It's great.
[00:15:20] But Griffin Dunn was producing his own films at that time. And he had the meeting with him. He said Tim Burton came in, he built a model and showed how he's going to build all the sets with these like force perspective and everything.
[00:15:29] It was like 100% on board with it. They were doing the film. They were like prepping it, you know, not an act of pre-production but like, you know, development and everything. I think starting to assemble like, you know, their key crew. Scorsese was burned post Last Intention of Christ.
[00:15:46] Yeah. And was like, I need to get back on the horse. I need to make something small. Just make something, get it out of my system. And that script he got wind of and he was like, I would love to make this. And Griffin Dunn was...
[00:15:57] Well, you got it fluffed around. He hasn't done much. Oh, he's trying to get it made. Yeah. Last Intention is the lady. That's what it was. He was stressed out trying to get that movie made. He was in like year three.
[00:16:07] It was Paramount had canceled it, I think. Yes. So he was like, like you say, I just got to make the movie. I need to make something. He reads the script. Griffin Dunn was like, hey, look, you know, I'm blown away.
[00:16:18] But we got this guy, Tim Burton, and Tim Burton goes, I'll step aside if Scarce says he wants to make the movie, I'll make it. But I think that also gives him even more mythology around him. Sure.
[00:16:27] So now we go to the parallel track, which is Paul Rubins. Yeah. Paul Rubins is a groundlings guy. Yep. He's in the same class as Jan Hook's as Phil Hartman. These guys who are in there in this movie...
[00:16:40] John Paragon, these people who end up on PB's Playhouse as well. And groundlings is like, what is it? How is it related to IO and Second City and stuff? Groundlings was the West Coast equivalent of Second City. It was started by Lorraine Newman. Sure.
[00:16:55] Not her solely, but she was in the original group. It was an LA sketch comedy theater. Gary Austin, I believe, was the big, the theater, and it becomes like, you know, IO and Second City in Chicago. Later, UCB in New York, the LA incubator. Yeah.
[00:17:10] And these people had trained under Del Close. Half of the... I don't think so. They weren't Del Close. I don't know who their guru was. Well, it's this guy Gary Austin from the committee, like the famous San Francisco guy. Yeah.
[00:17:25] And like, you know, half of them are plucked for the original SNL. It's the groundlings. Come on, people know the groundlings. So it becomes one of those places like Second City, where if Lorraine Michaels is scouting for talent, he's going to the groundlings once a year
[00:17:36] to see who their best people are. And when the 1979 season of SNL is wrapping up, Lorraine Michaels is stepping away. Jean Domainian is taking over. They're going to put together the 1980 cast. Paul Rubins is heavily in contention. Goes through all editions, goes through the test,
[00:17:53] is the last guy cut, doesn't make it. And he is like really burned and bitter about the whole thing. And he told the story. He was on Comedy Bang Bang and he was great talking about the origins of Pewee Herman. Look up that episode.
[00:18:06] I'm sure it's behind 17 paywalls. But... It's on Stitcher or whatever, right? I don't know. It's on HAL.FM. Right. You got to buy a Victrola and they'll send it to you. It's a 45 of the month club. Yeah, it's on H-Track. Yeah. You're so frustrated. I'm furious, David.
[00:18:27] Why are you mad? Because I cannot get over how much I like Brooklyn and its products. I know that it took you a back. It takes everyone a back just how good it is. You don't get it. No one gets it. I've been there. You haven't. Well, OK.
[00:18:40] Because look, they offered us free samples, right? Because we were sponsoring them on the show. They were sponsoring the show, right? Yeah, they wanted you to experience the five star hotel sheets that are inexpensive and given like straight to the customer. Which is very kind of them. Right.
[00:18:57] And I took a long time to cash in that offer because... Yeah, you're a useless person. Right. And I finally did and I loved them. I'm getting the best sleeps of my life. For the listener, Griffin is red in the face. Oh my God.
[00:19:13] You don't get it, David. I like the product so much. I went back and ordered more. So you got your free, your Brooklyn and sample, but you're saying you then were so entranced by these sheets that you... I tried to tell the listener, look, I'm not lying.
[00:19:29] I love this product. I want people to get it. And they went, oh, you're in your ivory tower with your free podcast products. You don't know what it's really like to make a transaction and have the thing arrive. So I put my money down on the barrel.
[00:19:42] I took the ad sales money. They're giving us and spend it right back on more Brooklyn is because I love it. And also because they like work directly with manufacturers and customers with no middlemen, so they can give you quality sheets that are affordable and easy to order.
[00:19:54] Yes, obviously. And their sheets don't just feel amazing, but they look great. So you can mix and match and have, you know, 20 different colors and patterns. We all know this, David. I mean, they're certainly the best, most comfortable sheets that I've ever slept on.
[00:20:06] So, you know, it's time for everyone else to upgrade. My girl, Fermo's on my bed. And she was like, these are nice triple humble brag girlfriend in bed Brooklyn. And she said, but look, maybe if you want to be an adult,
[00:20:21] you should get a comforter and some more pillows. Fair. So that I would wait. Did you just? All right, look blank check off blank check offer coming up. They offer so much. I thought it was just sheets. Stuff yelling, so I can do the offer.
[00:20:34] Oh, Griffin, smack me in the face. He hit you with the palm of his hand. All right, Brooklyn.com. You can get twenty dollars off and free. Don't start a fire. Hey, the studio's on fire. I don't care. I don't care. I'm going to read this copy.
[00:20:51] You can get twenty dollars off and free shipping when you use promo code check at Brooklyn and dot com. No one understands me. Confident in their product that all their sheets, comforters and towels come with a lifetime warranty.
[00:21:04] That's the only way to get the twenty dollars and free shipping is to use promo code check at Brooklyn and dot com. The shipping is so free. It's very free. That's a B R O OK L I N E N dot com promo code check.
[00:21:16] I just also mentioned that at the end, they ask you how you found out about Brooklyn and you should say that it was because of blank check with Griffin. Save. But he was like, you know, walking after, you know, getting the call that he didn't make the cut.
[00:21:32] At that point, you go 1980 SNL, everyone who's been on SNL permeated the culture in such a gross way that you're just like everyone who's on the cast of SNL is going to be humongous. And then, of course, that's the doom season where like they fire
[00:21:44] everyone other than Eddie Murphy and Joe Pescapot. And Eddie Murphy saves the show from being canceled. Right. Everyone gets fired. Yeah. Gilbert Godfrey. Yeah. Denny Gordon. You're going. I don't know how many. Mathias. What was her name? Julia Louise.
[00:22:01] She comes in after that when they go to what was they were called the the gap over the call. And Risley. Yeah. Julia Louis, Dreyfus. Denny Dylan. I said, oh, I said Denny Gordon, who's the director. It doesn't matter. Whatever. Who cares?
[00:22:17] Who gives a shit? Who could possibly care about this? So Paul Rubens is like, fuck it. I don't need SNL. I'm going to make my own luck. Yeah. Yeah. And they were doing a groundling show where the bit was the worst stand up comedians.
[00:22:29] Yes. And he creates this character who's this weird guy. Which this trying to be a stand up and will obviously sucks at it. Right. That's the job. Right. But he comes up with the visual look with the voice and with a couple of catchphrases.
[00:22:42] The I know where you are. What am I? Right. That sort of thing. But what's interesting about Hugh Herman is there is no game inherent to him, unlike most sketch characters. Almost what's so baffling about him if you've never seen him before.
[00:22:57] Like you're like, but what's the what's the bit with this? Like, what's the joke? He's not making fun of a type of person we know because there's no one like him. No, not really. There's no game inherent to him.
[00:23:08] And even you go like, you know, like Wayne's World, which is like the other most successful sketch to movie adaptation. Right? I'd say Wayne's World, Pee Wee kind of counts as a sketch thing and and Blues Brothers.
[00:23:20] Right. Blues Brothers is like, OK, there's an art form central to this. It's performance. The Blues Brothers never spoken their sketch. It's easy to build a movie around that. Wayne's World, what's great about them is the characters are a circumstance.
[00:23:30] It's a type of person because it's based in reality. You can write the human versions of them. It's an environment. It's not like making a Stefan movie where like, how is he going to have any dialogue that isn't him listing things? Yeah, you know, Stefan is so big.
[00:23:43] No, I get it. The game. Pee Wee is just like, who the fuck is this guy? Right. But it kills at this one groundling show. And he decides, I'm going to build a Pee Wee Herman show. I'm going to do like an old 50s style TV show
[00:23:57] as a live groundling stage show as Pee Wee Herman will be like a howdy duty kind of thing. And so he makes something called the Pee Wee Herman show, which blows up. It was on HBO. Well, that happens like the early days of HBO.
[00:24:10] Right. They do it at the groundlings. It blows up. It becomes a phenomenon. They move it to the Roxy Theater. It doesn't extended run. HBO films it, airs it like one of their HBO comedy specials. That's huge. And then Pee Wee just becomes a public figure.
[00:24:25] Like Pee Wee starts going on Letterman. Right. And Letterman. He was in a Cheech and Chong movie. Yes. But it's like as Pee Wee. It's not Paul Rubin. It's like let's. He didn't do an interview as Paul Rubin until Mystery Men. Correct, which is insane. Yeah.
[00:24:40] But I think it also ruined his life in a weird way. I think it's a complicated issue. I think it ruined his life. But he clearly loves the character. I mean, he brought it back to his whole way. The character I know, but he's yeah. Yes.
[00:24:54] It becomes hard to people thought that was his real name. It became one of those things like Bobcat Goldthwaite or like, you know, where it's like where is the separation here? OK, so apparently my impression of someone sounds like Bobcat Goldthwaite.
[00:25:10] Now I can't remember who everyone was tweeting this. Fuck, it was in the holiday episode, wasn't it? Oh, they said my wallach sounded like my day. Is that what I don't know what Bobcat sounds like. It's Venom. Oh, Venom sounds like Bobcat. It's my Venom.
[00:25:24] See, I don't really remember what I was doing. I said Simba. I ate some beans. I ate some beans. Yeah, that sounds like Bobcat. OK. I'm trying to find this letter. I'm sure that character would be as Venom, but it sounds like Bobcat.
[00:25:39] That's the character where I'm like, now I'll do Venom and I do it. And then I'm like, so who's that sound like? The audience is like Bobcat Goldthwaite. Oh, yeah, you got to do call and response. Right. I'm trying to find this.
[00:25:52] Oh, this is the letterman quote because Letterman at this time would find a lot of oddball. Right. It's Letterman's right at the start of his. Yeah, right. And this became like an oddball character. And David Letterman said, what makes me laugh about Peewee Herman
[00:26:07] is that it has the external structure of a bratty little precocious kid. But you know, it's being controlled by the incubus, the manifestation of evil itself. I've seen that quote. It's very funny. I was like, that's the best distillation I've heard of the Peewee Herman thing.
[00:26:18] The closest thing to what he's referencing culturally is just a little boy who's very amused with himself. Sure. Like Peewee Herman is kind of problem child. He's a little stinker. But in the body of an adult. Right. But then why is it different?
[00:26:30] And this is a crucial question for blank check from Clifford. Yes. What makes Peewee Herman work and Clifford, like you is sort of unspeakable in terms of like cultural. Yeah. And I don't even mean that in terms of like you can't stand Clifford,
[00:26:46] which obviously is part of the point. Not everyone can't stand Clifford. I love Clifford. I know you love Clifford. Whereas like Peewee Herman not really mad at Peewee. No. Peewee walks a tightrope and it watching it now. I mean, obviously he's not malevolent really.
[00:26:59] Like he does feel evil. That's the weird thing. I mean, he's kind of evil to me. I love the letterman quote. He doesn't feel evil. He feels a little evil to me. I think I read that and I realized like, oh, that's the weird edge the character had.
[00:27:09] He doesn't. He doesn't feel evil. Behave poorly. But he is kind of a little stinker. I do think there's a sinister edge to him in a way where it's like the little kid where you're like, don't touch that. Don't touch that. There is giving you the sly grin.
[00:27:24] But but like he's he's very delightful. You know, and he's very honest, very delightful. His enthusiasm is infectious. The other thing that works so well in this movie. And I think this is what happened culturally with Peewee Herman is that everyone just loves him. Yeah, it's the look.
[00:27:40] It's something about the look. But it shouldn't be. You in. It should be fucking creepy. It should. But it's just like the rosy cheeks and shaved like six times. The little bow tie and the in the Pepe Herman show, which is like a lot bodyer. It's more sexual.
[00:27:55] It's a parody of like it's like this is a sinister sort of like Gen X version of that's the thing though. Right? Right. That's initially what it is. It's a weird sexual children's thing. Right. And then Tim Burton, who is a warped Gen X guy, takes it.
[00:28:10] But then he turns it into this sort of like thing that can appeal to children, which is also like college kids. Right. But that's that's crazy. It makes no sense. And even you go like when people like do like, oh, I do a good Pepe Herman impression.
[00:28:22] It's like in order to do a good Pepe Herman impression, you need to do three impressions well because there's three different voices. He switches between like that's what's crazy about how inconsistent the character like when he's got like the nasally one.
[00:28:34] He's got the one that's like, you know, and he switches between them with no real reason. Like it's just sort of how he does. Yeah. Everything about it doesn't. And I was just trying to like watch the movie last time to make sense of this because like Pepe
[00:28:49] Herman is so foundational to me in terms of everything I find funny, all the different mediums he worked in. And I was watching this and I was like, what is the thing I connect with here? So I was like connecting with when I was five.
[00:29:00] What am I connecting with now? I don't understand. I watch this like on something. With my girlfriend Hummel Reck who has no like concept of this person. Like she had heard the name Pepe Herman and she had heard that there was later a scandal
[00:29:13] involving the actor who played Pepe Herman that had sort of soured him in the brain of the people. I don't know. Yeah. Right. And we're watching it and I'm so delighted by the movie, but I really can't explain. No, like I really can't be like, but you see,
[00:29:27] because like you see this is what he's getting at. I can't say that. Mr. Bean. Yes. A character that is very similar. Mr. Bean in a few different ways. Slapstick. Like he is the classic clown. Like right. That's like he's like Monsignor Oolow or whatever.
[00:29:43] Like he has sort of a game. It's like this is how Bean is going to react to things. Right. Like you see him with a turkey and you're like, how is he going to fuck this up? You know, like that's the big, you know,
[00:29:52] what's funny is when he draws the little face on the thing. So funny. But he also is just odd. That's yes. He is. You're right. Mr. Bean is like a person. It's not like you're like, oh, everyone knows a Mr. Bean type. Like, right.
[00:30:08] But that's I think the difference with Pee Wee is that Pee Wee isn't clean like that. Like Bean is like so laser focused on like this. Barely talk. The type of weirdo he is. Even if no one's like this, it's all consistent behavior.
[00:30:21] He's going to fuck up in relation to anything he comes across. Right. And Pee Wee is like sometimes very high status, sometimes very low status. Everyone accepts him, you know, like that. Like in this movie, the way they world build around Pee Wee
[00:30:33] and it's there are two other Pee Wee movies and neither of them totally work. So I've never seen big top Pee Wee or the more recent one. Neither one is bad. Sure. But they just kind of don't. They're a little laden and it makes you realize
[00:30:48] what a precise pitch this thing is because like big top Pee Wee is directed by what's his name? Ronald Kessler. Yeah, Randall Keisler. Right. He was the director of Grease and yeah. And it's a little too grounded. Right. He joins the circus. It has ridiculous creatures.
[00:31:02] But it's a little closer. Yeah, you're no, no, I'm sorry. And then the third one, Pee Wee's holiday, which is the recent one for Netflix was directed by the guy who directed most of Wonder Shows and directs a lot of comedy TV and it's a little too weird.
[00:31:15] Right, but that that was sort of doomed by it's made by people who love Pee Wee. Yes. Like, you know, it's like Paul Russ co-wrote it with him. And Avatar produced it because he loved Pee Wee. And they're just like we love do another. Do it.
[00:31:27] Yes, please, like bring it back. Because throughout the 90s and 2000s, he had said he was working on two other scripts and he wanted to make a third Pee Wee movie. And the two scripts were one of them was Pee Wee's Playhouse, The Movie.
[00:31:37] He wanted to make an adaptation of the TV show that was like a road trip movie with Jambi and Globie and Terry and all the great characters, right? Magic Screen, Konki, Need I Go On. And then the third one was The Pee Wee Herman's Story,
[00:31:53] which I think was a really fun idea, which was he was going to make the serious biopic of Pee Wee Herman's Rise to Power. He was going to play Pee Wee Herman, but it was going to be like here's the real story of how he made it.
[00:32:03] Both movies sounded too weird to ever get made, but those were the films he really wanted to make. And then Judd Apatow was like, can you make another just like Pee Wee's Big Adventure? Right. Judd Apatow quite possibly sort of saw like,
[00:32:17] oh those things might not go over, especially since it's been a while since we've had Pee Wee. But he was having this resurgence. He started doing talk shows again. They brought back the show. They did it on Broadway. He was appearing on TV a lot.
[00:32:28] One also did SNL. That's the weirdest thing. You know, he hosted SNL in like 85, 86 as Pee Wee Herman and every sketch was like Pee Wee Herman in a different environment. Like it's not like he's playing Pee Wee, playing characters.
[00:32:42] It was like this sketch is Pee Wee in jail. Such a weird. So weird. You know, I love County Bang Bang show, which was obviously so heavily indebted as I'm sure Scott Ackerman would have said. He said Pee Wee is one of his
[00:32:55] Playhouse and Pee Wee in general. And he's someone who also does that thing where you're like, what is this? Am I on his side? I guess so. Sometimes he's playing the fool. Sometimes he's right. Sometimes he's the asshole. Yeah, it's weird. It's hard to pin down,
[00:33:10] but I think it's a similar kind of vibe thing. But Burton builds this perfect world around him. I mean, the story just is Warner Brothers saw the Pee Wee thing catching on. This was a time where people still took flyers on things. I think especially post-Chichin Chong,
[00:33:22] it was like, you don't know where a comedy sensation is going to come from. Sure, sure. The Letterman appearances were really big. He was so visually distinctive. But it is still so weird to think about this guy's career arc as like improv guy. Does a special.
[00:33:36] Does a movie. Does a children's TV show? And that's the arc up. And it's also he does the movie, he does a children's TV show. Then does the second movie, which takes place in its own reality. Like every Pee Wee thing exists in its own...
[00:33:51] It's like the Madagascar franchise. But where are you at? If I could just really quick. I did not watch Pee Wee's Playhouse. I love the movie, but I didn't grow up watching that. I was a little too old or too young for it or whatever.
[00:34:04] Yeah, I did miss. You know who was my dude? Who? Ernest. Yes, Ernest is kind of a similar phenomenon to Pee Wee. Well, hard. JD Amato, of course. JD Amato, the world's number one leading Ernest scholar. I didn't know that. Oh, he goes hard on Ernest. Jim Varney.
[00:34:20] I'm going to email JD about Ernest. He's constantly asking us when we're going to do a Don Cherry mini series. That's his name, right? John Cherry, I believe. John Cherry. Don Cherry, I think it was a hockey announcement. Yeah, I think you're right.
[00:34:30] Yeah, I don't know much about Ernest. I used to go to the video store and I would see them all lined up and be like, what are these? Ernest was a local TV commercial character who did a lot of local TV commercials.
[00:34:43] They got big then it became national commercials that they did a few video specials and then he became theatrical movies. But he had already had a Saturday morning cartoon show. There was a more natural sort of build to Ernest in a way.
[00:34:54] But it's a similar thing where it was like he was Ernest. Like Ernest was the thing. But Warner Brothers just goes, yeah, Pee Wee, make a movie. He brings on Phil Hartman, his buddy from the groundlings. His original pitch was I want to remake Pollyanna. Yeah, I know.
[00:35:09] That's crazy. His idea was let's just do other movies and have them star Pee Wee Herman. And he's apparently obsessed with Pollyanna. You know, Paul Rubin's very into kitschy shit. Yeah. And at some point he said they were on the Warner Brothers lot,
[00:35:22] they were letting him start to develop the Pollyanna movie, saw everyone on their bicycle. This is so fucking stupid. It is hilarious, right? It's like Warner Brothers is like, okay, you can remake Pollyanna. And then he sees people on bicycles.
[00:35:33] He's like, what if I did like a thing about a bicycle? And they were like, sure, fine. You want to do a bicycle movie now? But the beauty of the film is just how fucking simple the concept is. Well, I agree.
[00:35:45] I think the Pollyanna remake is a bad idea. What he came up with is much smarter, which is like do a sort of sketchy movie, like, you know, vignettes. But you got one driving force. Guy has to find his bike.
[00:35:55] And I believe that Pee Wee is upset about losing his bike. Whereas I might be freaked out if Pee Wee is upset about a more complicated thing. Like I might not get that. The bike feels like the right thing for him.
[00:36:05] And this movie, a thing I think it kills really hard is they really sell the stakes of how much the bike means to Pee Wee. Or even in the grand scheme of things, you're like, it's a bike. For this character and his worldview,
[00:36:15] you're like, this is the ultimate challenge. And it's just a good sort of superstructure to hang the hat on. He said they bought like Sid Field's screenwriting book because they'd never read a screenplay before. And they were just like, okay, here's the premise.
[00:36:27] He's got to find the bike and they just followed it to the tee. Like page 30, he loses it. Right. Page 60, he finds out where it is. You know, page 90 you end. It's three X structure, 30 pages per act, like to the tee, that's what they did.
[00:36:42] And they bring on Burton because he liked Frank and Weenie and they make him look like he rocks. He sees Frank and Weenie and probably thinks like, right, this guy is- This is a math. The same zone that I'm playing.
[00:36:54] The same references, the same sort of pitch of humor. And they make this movie and it's inexplicably wonderful. Right. It's just like an inside joke that everyone gets. Right. Like this movie should be at best a curio. Yes. You know where you're like,
[00:37:09] oh, it's Tim Burton's first movie and look he's got some visual ideas here and probably Rubens is doing his thing. But instead it's like a very good film. And it launches both of them to massive success. It does. Of course, Rubens, his career is shorter.
[00:37:22] But he has six big years after that. Yeah, he does. Right. From 85 and then he jerks off in 91. Yep. Which it's kind of crazy to think he didn't jerk off for six full years. I mean, no wonder he had the burst of-
[00:37:33] This is what I'm saying is like, he was, it was the shock of that was the people could not handle that he was a person. No. With like sexual agency. That's what kind of killed him. And also- And they couldn't handle that he was like Paul Rubens.
[00:37:45] It was the mugshot where he like- The mugshot was terrible. He looks like a scumbag. He looks like a scumbag. And then even though all he was doing was jerking off to porn, which like, you know- Can you think about how-
[00:37:55] I just had that moment watching the movie thinking about the scandal. Just going like, that's so crazy that we as a society because computers didn't exist. We're like, okay, you have to go to a theater to watch porn and just don't masturbate. Wink, wink. Right.
[00:38:09] I'm just gonna sit in a room with strangers in a dark theater and watch porn and then just try to keep it in my mind and then go home to my bathroom. Go home, right. I mean whatever. You're right. It's insane. It's a weird structure. Sure.
[00:38:22] And then Peewee, you know, but yeah, but it was just right. And then you go back to watching and showing you're like, oh, he's creepy. Like I guess was the arc that the country went through in 1991, it doesn't matter. Especially because the character is kind of asexual,
[00:38:33] pointedly in this movie. He's like revolved every time Dottie tries to go on a date with him. Paul Rubens has said that originally like in the special in the Peewee Hermit show- Dottie is cool though. Dottie rules. Dottie's awesome. Voice by- Well played by each day.
[00:38:45] Played by each day. He's the voice of Tommy Pickles on record. She sounds like Tommy. In this movie, she sounds like Tommy. You're like, it's Tommy. Maybe he's got a baby, baby. Right. But he, you know, in the Peewee Hermit show,
[00:38:57] he refers himself as the luckiest boy in the world. Cause I think at that point it was like, well we're adults, we're doing a sketch show. I can pretend he's actually a child. Right. At some point he decides that Peewee is an adult.
[00:39:07] But he's sort of like a weird man- Everyone in this movie is either a child or an adult even though they're all adults. Yes. Like there's like the guy in the pool. I can never remember any of their names. Francis is a child. He's like a child man.
[00:39:20] Right. Whereas like Simone is like a woman. Right. And Dottie is kind of a child. Yes. And then the convict, you know- What's his name? Why am I forgetting? Mickey now. Mickey. Yeah. Is kind of an, is it, is like a man. Right.
[00:39:33] These are the people who are hardened. But you have the people who are adults are like burned by the world. Like it was heavy on them. And then like Francis and Dottie- It's one of those things like, is there a big world out there? Oh yeah.
[00:39:42] These people have like lost. They loved and lost. Sure. Dottie and Francis exist in like day glow bubbles, like surrounded by cereal and dogs and shit. Right. Well the movie begins so, it's so aggressive. Even just from like black title screen and the Elfman score starts
[00:39:59] and the Elfman score sounds like anarchy. Right. This is like, I think his first film score. It is. Cause it was just the Tim Burton like the Oingo Boy. Right. It was this and then he does back to school. It's true. Yes.
[00:40:10] And the thing that like made Elfman so exciting at this time period was like, he knew how to write a character theme better than anyone else. Right. Where you're like this is the musical expression of Pee Wee Herman. It's not that this is the score
[00:40:22] for Pee Wee's big adventure. This is what Pee Wee Herman sounds like. And that like. Dun dun dun dun dun, dun dun dun dun. Like it's so chaotic. I remember watching this as a child when like the Rube Goldberg is making the breakfast
[00:40:35] and the music was so alarming. I was like, what's about to go wrong? Right right. Like I couldn't imagine that the breakfast would be successfully executed because I was like the house is gonna catch on fire. You're gonna fuck a pancake face?
[00:40:44] I don't know what you think Ben. I love Rupert Goldberg Machines. Yeah, his dog's back. The dog's great. The tapeface. Like this movie just launches you straight into the deep end of Madness. But that's the thing and Joanne is just going like, What the fuck?
[00:41:02] What's the thing? I don't get it. What is this? Because he does the tapeface and you're like, Oh, why do you do that? I'm like, I don't know, he just does this shit.
[00:41:12] I keep going back to this as a reference point because I think it is like the best sort of like, you know, counterpoint to the opposite end of how you do this thing of Wayne's world. Which is like totally groundless thing.
[00:41:22] And I remember showing that to Romley when she was young. Wayne's world? Yeah. And she was like, so what's the thing here? And I was like, okay, so like in the 90s, like this genre of music, this is what these guys acted like, I could explain it.
[00:41:34] Right, yeah, yeah, yeah. And in Wayne's world it begins with Wayne being like, So I'm Wayne and I host a TV show in my basement. Right, like in the sketch. I get it. He's got greens, he's a normal person.
[00:41:44] I'm like a real person and we host the show and we're some weird guys and that's the movies about that. We're going to try and make the show for real. Right. Peewee Herman is like, I'm a fucking lunatic.
[00:41:54] I live in like a cartoon house in a cartoon town. I have no job. God knows how any of this works. I wrap tape around my face in the morning and scream. Like... And then I go outside and like water my lawn
[00:42:08] and the neighbor has to close the window. Everyone in town has just learned to live with... Sure, go for it. Oh, it's that time of day. And then he gets on his bike and bikes around. Loves his bike. He's got his whole security system for the bike.
[00:42:22] The bike does look rad. That's a cool bike. And you're like, I guess it's the 50s but like not really. It's really much the 80s. I guess... I guess he's grown up? I don't know. You don't know. I don't really know.
[00:42:40] He exists outside of like time and space but the thing I love is how like everyone's pretty charmed by Peewee. Like within his town they're just like, we understand how to behave. Like our society runs on Peewee. He's this weird like force of chaos
[00:42:54] that like somehow is the perpetual motion machine that keeps this town running. He goes to the magic shop. Like his usual Spanish read. The guy gets along with him so well. He goes to trucks by a school shop. He sees Dottie. Dottie is madly in love with Peewee.
[00:43:08] Peewee is revolted by the idea of ever going on a date with somebody. Parvins had said originally his intention was to make Peewee not only like asexual but also like agendered. And he wanted to be a question. Peewee was like an adult, a child, a man, a woman
[00:43:26] which is what the things about me you couldn't understand, wouldn't understand is like a reference to although it's not literally something he's still holding on to in this movie. That idea. Because I think they make it pretty clear he is male. Sure. I don't know.
[00:43:42] I'd rather not think about it. Right. I don't want to think about him as a being. That was the problem with the fucking masturbating. No, that's what I'm saying. The weird note that people I think always get wrong is that they said like, oh the show was
[00:43:56] cancelled because of the scandal. And he had No, it already been cancelled. over a year earlier. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he was like, I'm done with Peewee, I've hung it up I need to like figure out what the next thing is and lay low for a little bit.
[00:44:08] And so then everyone sees this like headshot that looks totally different. Here's the story that is totally scuzzy. And then what happened was they took the repeat off at its indication. He was part of a Disney World ride. They pulled that. Well, and also he just vanished.
[00:44:25] I think that's the story that's coming out in 1999 because when I was 12 and mystery men's coming out or whatever, I didn't really know much about Peewee Herman. I guess I that had all passed me by and I remember reading like this big EW probably
[00:44:39] Empire one of those things features about mystery men where like Jeanine Garofalo and Ben Stiller and all like were like the hip cool right there like fucking Paul Rubins man. We didn't know how to behave around and he's it's like it's like he's
[00:44:51] such a legend character for the first time. His character mystery man is like arguably the worst of the mystery man he's funny but like really broad when ever else insanely broad and it's farting. Yeah, I mean like he farts. Yeah, you have to understand
[00:45:05] that my favorite character is the blue Rajah blue Rajah fucking rules blue Rajah more like great Roger. I'm a shoveler guy shovel is cool. It's great. I think that movie is so good. We agree on it and it's a great movie that's
[00:45:17] kind of poorly directed but doesn't matter like Nathan Ray been had the best line about is mystery man looks more like Batman and Robin than any movie should ever look including Batman and Robin and yet somehow in spite of that it's still great. I like mystery
[00:45:30] man. I haven't seen the script is so good. Shuffle is great. All the performances are great. Yeah. I was just cool like Thrust War. My parents said when they were together before I was born and through when I was pregnant they were pregnant. You were pregnant?
[00:45:45] When they were pregnant with me they were like but I think even before that we're like if you're a kid he's going to watch Peewee's play. Like my parents would apparently watch Peewee's play together and which my parents are not as infantile as I am right but they
[00:45:57] loved that show and they were like I hope we have a kid who watches this so from the time I was born which is like the tail end of him doing the show leading into the masturbation scandal I was raised on Peewee's play. So instead of playing Mozart
[00:46:11] you're you're just absorbing in utero Peewee. Yeah and this is how that turned out. As if anything has ever explained me more my parents were just like playing the Danny Elfman theme on a fucking cassette like a walkman on her belly
[00:46:25] you know that thing they used to do where it's like you put the headphones on the belly? Yeah. Anyway I was like very much raised on Peewee when the show went off the air we had the VHS
[00:46:35] tapes that we'd rent from across this year I watched them over and over again. My understanding of Peewee was just this show didn't know there was a movie some older relative in our family a great grandmother great aunt or something died and I remember being three or four
[00:46:51] and we went upstate to where they were sitting Shiva and I was like really impatient I was like the only young kid there and they were like what if we like bring upstairs and watch a movie James was maybe a baby right? Sure. And they were like
[00:47:03] let's see what VHSs we have and they were like Peewee's big adventure and I was like there's a fucking Peewee move how did no one tell me about there's a goddamn Peewee movie and they were like it's not Peewee's playhouse and I was like what do you mean
[00:47:17] I know what Peewee put it on immediately on like what the fuck is this where's John B, where's Globy, where's the house who is he, what's going on here they were right to warn you. Weird about it and then when it gets to the clown part
[00:47:29] I literally run out of the room screaming I forgot about the clown terrified me and I was like that's not Peewee Peewee would never do that to me and didn't see this movie until like maybe I was nine or ten. Sure. At which point ABC Family
[00:47:45] then Fox Family had started replaying Peewee and I started watching it again a lot then saw this movie I was into Tim Burton at that point in time and I think it was on Comedy Central or something and was like this is the fucking
[00:47:57] jam. Now I get it, I totally get it and I'd seen other Burton movies but now I was like this is the one that I think made me all consuming Burton obsessive right once I was able to string everything together so Francis is a shitty next door neighbor
[00:48:13] he wants the bicycle he does that thing where he's like oh you know regret this he wears monogram jumpsuits as does his father they live in a gilded house they're the trumps Mark Holton is the actor which I got that wrong in trivia
[00:48:29] there was a photo and it was from Teen Wolf but I knew it was Francis even though in the photo he's holding a newspaper that says Teen Wolf right and you went there's a fucking wolf there anyway he played Gacy in John Wayne Gacy movie
[00:48:43] that makes a lot of sense sure does the setup of the film is just super fucking simple Francis wants the bike Pee Wee loves nothing more than his bike is kind of mean about it which I kind of like that yeah me too
[00:48:57] he's a little stinker he really is kind of like an asshole he's so rude to people so often when also in a way where you're like what the fuck are you being rude to me for you like non-person what you don't do anything
[00:49:09] what are you so superior about that's what's interesting is that this movie in terms of the effect he has on people positions Pee Wee as something of like a Paddington or an intern character who magically changes people's lives except he's kind of like an asshole to everybody
[00:49:25] he's annoying and he's very sarcastic he's very snarky all he cares about is his bike he he chains the bike up to this clown while he's going shopping he's already rejected Francis offer with a lot of judgment and he comes back up and the clown is terrifying
[00:49:45] and it's like crazy canted angles and the music gets and he's been Dottie is introduced and he talks to Dottie right Dottie wants to go on a date with him he like hates the notion he's a loser I mean he's a rebel I'm a rebel Dottie
[00:50:01] all these lines that are very quotable now and sees the bike is missing walks into trucks with the horn as his dying thing and knocks her for all the bikes that's funny makes me laugh and it's like that's really well pitched stuff where it's like you gotta play
[00:50:15] the stakes high around Pee Wee they play it like it's real high drama wakes up in the hospital a loner or a rebel Jesus Christ it was taking me so long to figure that out he passes out the EMTs come in
[00:50:31] they do a cut to him at the police office and they go so why do you think the Soviets are involved in this which is a really good joke and also great that like the cop the woman playing the cop is like playing it real straight against him
[00:50:45] they can't help him though and Pee Wee just goes like maniacal overdrive conspiratorial calls the entire town into his basement where he has 27 items of evidence and goes on this long thing recreating the scene of the crime maybe my favorite joke in all of
[00:51:03] of Pee Wee's big adventure is you are only seeing the crowd from behind he's like running through like exhibit B and he's like going over something you hear someone whispering and he goes is there something you'd like to share with the rest of us amazing Larry
[00:51:19] and it just cuts to a middle aged man with a day glow Mohawk and he shakes his head no and I as a kid was just like the fact that they don't explain who amazing Larry is is the funniest fucking thing in the world
[00:51:31] and when this movie finally came out on DVD I remember Aritamat Weekly in their review of the DVD said like and we finally get the backstory of amazing Larry on the deleted scenes and I was like day one gotta buy it mom
[00:51:43] dad take me to fucking circuit city and we bought the DVD and there's a scene where when he goes to the magic shop there's a much longer version where amazing Larry is just a magician in town and his business is bombing
[00:51:55] right and Peewee's like you gotta get hip you gotta be like more like the kids do something trendy mix up your hair so he's in the joke supposed to be the next time you see him he's gotten this ridiculous haircut which is funny
[00:52:05] but the joke of no explanation the guy's name being amazing Larry is way better is hilarious yep I agree with you so everyone's like Peewee you gotta chill the fuck out he's despondent he goes to Francis Francis denies it he wrestles him in a bathtub
[00:52:21] he gives him trick gum so they start like the bathtub scene is the one like violent it's the one time Peewee's like violent yes yeah he really like goes for it the bathtub seems good though I like whatever it is like psychotic break about the bike right and
[00:52:37] despondent out of options is it's the psychic who tells him you're looking for something and he hands over his I love that scene again because it's sort of like I like acknowledging that Peewee can be tricked that like there is a world
[00:52:57] because he's like I'm not going to give you my money so fast you gotta prove to me you know what you're talking about and he just silently hands over Alan Moe yes right the basement of the Alan Moe is where the bike is and thus right and
[00:53:13] here now the movie the stakes are set they're high for him and it's just one thing he's got to do he's got to get to the basement of Alan Moe to find this bike and then it becomes like my favorite movie right my favorite structure for a comedy
[00:53:27] just like road movie meets various people it's been yet yeah that's my favorite like the fucking finding Nemo fucking midnight run you know like any sort of like Pickeresque journey road movie I love if the segments are fun plane trains and automobiles my beloved due date the darkest
[00:53:45] comedy of the two thousands ten weird movie hey Griffin let's talk about talk space I know what you are but what am I well I am talking about an online therapy company that's you message licensed therapists from anywhere at any time
[00:54:03] yeah I know what you are but what am I all you need to computer with internet connection or the talk space mobile app and you can improve your mental health even if you've had trouble making time for it in the past I know you are but what am
[00:54:17] I this is what I'm doing I'm proving that you don't want to end up with some pee we Herman giving you therapy sure that's not a good sounding board no they're just saying one phrase to you over and over
[00:54:29] he's not listening he's just telling me I would say not sound medicine absolutely not well if you can't imagine fitting anything else into your life at talk space you just have to send your therapist a message on the app right anytime you your bike gets stolen
[00:54:43] you reach out you go I need to go to the Alamo you can communicate with them on the road yep you can just send them a message chat about life talk about everyday challenges like the stuff you're getting into jailbird you just met
[00:54:57] a lonely waitress who dreams of Paris you can tell your therapist as you travel all these details because therapy isn't just about like your innermost thoughts are digging into childhood memories it's getting stuff off your chest it's practical everyday strategies for stress management living a happier life and
[00:55:13] you know so maybe you miss your bike talk about it to someone not everyone has a podcast they can use to get stuff off their chest and talk space is like a good alternative to that alright so the talk space platform has over 2000 licensed therapists who experience
[00:55:27] in addressing life challenges that we all face humble break to match with a perfect therapist for a fraction of the price of traditional therapy go to talkspace.com and use the code check to get $45 off your first month and show your support for this show that's
[00:55:43] check and talks based on that makes so I have to check my wi-fi router just to make sure the internet's up and then it will automatically I mean that is true that you should do that but then you should but then the discount will be
[00:55:55] if you know you didn't have to use promo code check talkspace.com slash check okay well I know what you are I love the Americana though like nature of the vignettes like even I love ghost trucks ghost truck is amazing that is such a large march
[00:56:16] large march rules it's very much like I love that it's like this is sort of the mythology of like the American road where it's like here's the sad waitress the diner the crazy killer cop on the run you know here are the hobos and the train like
[00:56:32] you're putting kiwi in like recognizable tropes of like Americana this is true and all these characters are played really straight which I like that's why it works you know like but then but then I like that you know what's it called Mickey you know yes
[00:56:46] is like look I like you pee we like you know he's come around on pee we what I love like Paddington the Paddington effect of like everyone in the town is like you've saved me right makes sense because Paddington helps people but somehow everyone
[00:56:58] is just transformed by being next to pee we even though he doesn't do anything for them well pee we helps with the cop stop yes it's funny when they cut to him just dresses a lady right just both of them dressed well and the bit I like because
[00:57:12] you know watching this you go like is this going to be like uncomfortable watching like a cross dressing bit is this something that's going to hold up no the bit is that he gets so into the character like that's what's
[00:57:22] funny is the bit is he develops a very specific character he won't drop it even after they get right checkpoint and he well I mean obviously also the funny bit is that they are two yards from the checkpoint and pee we's like I know what we'll do
[00:57:34] I mean that's just funny yes but also that he's wearing this like insanely unflattering like sweater cape and the cop is like I just wanted to take a look at just yet nice outfit you know like it's like the worst hey hey we yeah we is pleasure we
[00:57:56] please I think you should do him more don't move it did you watch it I did as crazy he says don't move six now I was wrong that he literally began saying the movies but it's like the third word I think he says everyone
[00:58:08] loves dumb movies everyone loves dumb movies and then he literally just introduces movies the magic of the movie he doesn't pivot out of that to like anyway best supporting actor he's just like and now we celebrate dumb movies the movies God people really responded to dumb
[00:58:26] movies no but I love that like pee we doesn't like reform Mickey no but Mickey is like I can't drag you down with me pee we right that off the side of the road thing is so funny just because it becomes them in an abyss of black
[00:58:38] like it becomes so stylized suddenly and then of course the convertible hood saves them and Mickey kicks him out and then next stop is Simone at the diner yeah is that right yeah which I just love how it's like here's this weird like Alice doesn't live here
[00:58:52] and no next is large March then it's the oh right right right because Simone is the waitress at that diner yes right right but large March is great obviously large March we stand for large March stand for a legend yes Alice none Alice none
[00:59:08] died like not long after really yep this is also the first example of Tim Burton making a human being look like a timber and drawing right like the way he mobs up her hair no one else in this movie looks like a
[00:59:22] timber you see the touches of his sensibility but it's very much the main aesthetic is the pee we aesthetic the sort of 50s but then once in a while you get you know you get this well obviously the stop motion screen thing yes and there's that fantasy with
[00:59:38] the weird windows they're walking through what's it what am I remembering here I love you talking about the the nightmare he has with the the dinosaur yeah yeah like that's where Tim Burton is like let me run wild that's very much in line with Vincent
[00:59:52] I there's the the great animated just his eyes in the dark where he's trying to figure out where he is and then he turns on his headlight goggles and he's surrounded by taxidermied animals it's like a quick enough shot that they
[01:00:08] hope you won't notice that most of them are taxidermied like the less dangerous animals are alive and then there's just like a stuffed lion and a bear roaring in his face how many times have you seen this movie I couldn't even tell you yeah yeah
[01:00:20] these give me details from like oh yeah I guess so right yeah yeah I watch it so so many times because it's just one of these movies where I was just like I remember as a kid I I was often so literal minded that I wouldn't get
[01:00:34] a lot of comedy and I would like see something and I'd stop my dad my mom and be like what's the joke there can you explain that to me and they were like the joke is the reversal of this right which probably is why
[01:00:44] my brain turned out the way that because I like dissected every single frog when I was five I understand but this was one of those movies where like you know I see this eight or nine nine or ten whatever age it was and I was just like inherently
[01:00:56] all of this is funny to me there's no explanation there's no logic to it but every look at to my veins yeah is it right it's like enough of like the loony tunes like sort of anarchy sort of just combined with like doing funny voices with your friends
[01:01:12] on a playground like there's something just about like pee we just like you know it's just energy um but I like that Simone has this like a real pathos to her she's this like uh you know the diners Tom that large March died ten years ago
[01:01:30] I like they repeat the exact same monologue to him that she just did um and Simone is this woman who dreams of Paris yeah uh he doesn't have any money she makes him watch the dishes and then she asks him if he can watch
[01:01:46] the sunset with her and I love this like very like sweet romantic thing where they sit in the mouth of the dinosaur it's cool it just looks nice and watch the sunset nice color talks about her bad abusive boyfriend she
[01:01:56] talks about her dreams of her life and pee tells her that like she has to go and like live them the boyfriend mean while sees them Andy here's are talking about the but everyone has a big button your butts one of the biggest I've ever seen Simone
[01:02:08] he pulls off the fake bone and chases Pee we funny yeah it looks like Paul Bunyan yeah looks like he looks like Paul Bunyan yeah yeah I remember even like at the young age being like I like that Simone actually matters that she's not treated
[01:02:22] as a joke sure you know Simone played by Diane Salinger yeah she rules he does rule and then the next is the biker bar um see for how much I remember yes the next is the biker bar of course the next is tequila right
[01:02:38] because then you got to get to the Alamo which is like sort of directly connected yes this is my favorite part this is the best part yeah I mean this is like this makes me very happy yes I don't know I'll describe it and I love the
[01:02:50] bikers yeah the guys like are all playing it perfectly you know who the head female biker is the one with the red hair uh alvira oh my god yeah yeah totally yeah um yeah they're playing it just like caricatures of bikers but they're still kind of
[01:03:10] scared to think genuinely menacing so the tension is actually there and once again you can't explain what this bit is he walks into a biker bar right tries to like ask everyone to quiet down they all stare at him so so right now I'm like I get it
[01:03:24] he's not he doesn't belong in the biker okay there and there are a bunch of guys I get it I get it I get it so they're threatening to murder him a vira comes with the knife and he's like don't I get a final request and you're
[01:03:36] also knocked over some motorcycle yes he's funny but she also does it trucks bicycle guy he keeps on over like the same gag and yet it still works still funny especially because you have to think about like the reset time after one take Jesus Christ he is coming
[01:03:52] everything back over but you go okay so what's the logical bit here now the bit is either like he appeals to them and does something that would like show that he's a real biker right or he tries to intimidate them pretending a tough guy wins a race
[01:04:06] something like this right he's gonna exist within their world he tries to prove his relative no no he just puts on high heels first he asked he asked the bus boys silently right for his wedge yeah which I love that he shrinks down yes and then just
[01:04:26] stands up on the table presses first he puts tequila on the jukebox yep and then just does this very joyous dance it's not an incredibly like complicated not at all it's not like right it's not like Napoleon dynamite where he does like a big
[01:04:40] thing the bit is that it's so impressive that he's like choreographed this much of it and he's sort of like shuffling around and it's funny it's the right song and it is like kind of the movie in a microcosm where you're like
[01:04:52] I don't know why this is funny what does this have to do with anything and also why are the bikers falling for this because who wouldn't fall for this this is charming it's charming and it's like the cutaways to them like where at first they're just like
[01:05:04] what is I don't like this and then as like the song progresses they're like totally on board yes it's so great right and that's where like Burton's really like he then as a comedic filmmaker is like the stuff the stuff that isn't on the page
[01:05:18] but that he knows like we'll make the sequence work is having those reactions be just precise having to wind up of the sequence be like really tense and all that sort of stuff right walks out of the bikers love him now they're just watching it
[01:05:34] they give him a motorcycle and he immediately crashes it that's funny and then they hard cut to him in the hospital that's his nightmare sequence right then he makes it to the Alamo he makes it to the Alamo and Jan Hooks one of my favorite comedic actors
[01:05:52] left her hooks never had the career she should have had yeah what did I mean she did designing women after she left SNL yeah she was on third rock from the sun a lot she ended up being on 30 Rock is Jenna Moroney's mom
[01:06:06] and that's just like a couple episodes at that point she hadn't been on screen in like six or seven years she's got her one really good scene in Batman Returns I just think she's one of the best when I like great voice actor too
[01:06:18] like she would do The Simpsons sometimes so she's great when I do my idol like okay fantasy roster drafter best SNL cast ever I always include Jenna sure as not an obvious one but someone who is just so fucking valuable on that show um and
[01:06:34] she's just playing like the ultimate ultimate tour guide ridiculous I don't know like some Chinese like Texas Texas down home kind of like oh well but performative down home super polite to the point of annoyance where she's like hold all questions to the end
[01:06:52] honestly or maybe the best group I've ever had that's funny and Peewee just wants to ask where the basement is that's funny Peewee just wants to ask where the basement is and she keeps on saying hold all questions and this tour goes on for fucking ever sure
[01:07:08] finally asked the question and it's like oh sweetie there's no basement the animal everyone laughs at Peewee it's his worst nightmare now he's just spun and he doesn't have a bike there's no basement this is all fools errands and you feel it I remember being a kid
[01:07:20] and feeling it so hard like everyone laughing at you and you know about this like information that everyone else knows it just shows you a movie can be so fucking simple we we flipped this the Alamo is first in the but the biker bar is second
[01:07:34] oh okay we did I'm pretty sure we flipped this okay and this movie has it doesn't matter anyway yeah yeah but it's he sees it's because when he wakes up in the hospital is when he sees the TV yes right anyway it doesn't matter yes love the Alamo
[01:07:48] part yeah I mean I remember the Alamo was the best joke in the movie right he goes to the biker bar to spawn to call Dottie yes but right isn't it like once he crashes the bike is the I remember the Alamo joke
[01:08:02] yes yes right right right right that's my favorite you remember anything yeah I remember the Alamo and they'll go yeah I have those cuts of black yeah so he wakes up in the hospital and he sees it on TV season on TV it's being used
[01:08:18] as a prop in like a kids movie about a nun and big brother from the wonder years yeah Kevin Morton yeah played by Jason Hervey so now Pee Wee has to go to Hollywood which like once again one of these things where it's like
[01:08:32] you're like what the fuck he's going movie within a movie it within 60 minutes of his first movie we're going that big like but this becomes like kind of the perfect back lot chasing like it's a thing that's done a lot I love it in Blaz & Saddles
[01:08:48] but this one just has all the elements of like him invading a Godzilla movie don't get why this movie is good right it's so weird I'm spending the whole night being like like if I say I'm like a critic in 1985 or whatever and it's like
[01:09:02] I see that and I come out and I'm like how am I gonna sell people on this critics dismiss it at the time because they I think they were just like I can't mount a defense of this sure it looks
[01:09:12] ridiculous I don't know how critics were such funny duties yes you know back then Roger Ebert didn't review it back in a day and then years later was like it's a great movie it's one of my Roger Ebert's great movies right and he was not a Burton fan
[01:09:24] he like dislike most Burton movies throughout his career is that true yes interesting because I remember reading Burton on Burton when I was young and then going but once again Roger Ebert gave it a thumbs down I was like he's the villain of this book fuck him yeah
[01:09:38] he doesn't see my beautiful Timmy for what he is but yeah this back lot chase which like now I'm interested now I'm like looking up Tim Burton yeah he liked Sweeney Todd he did like Sweeney Todd he often said about it he was like the movies
[01:09:56] he liked Edward he liked Edward the movies look great sure Edward he was like finally he's gotten a real script yeah yeah they're usually visually impressive he loved like he said Batman's worth seeing because of Gotham but he gave it two stars yeah
[01:10:10] but he would do that sort of argument where he's like I don't think it's a good movie I highly recommend going to see in theaters because they are directions on believe and that would be his like review of all of them yes it is one of these
[01:10:22] things where I don't know why this movie works but it speaks to these two guys being in the right position and why the other two Pee Wee movies don't work where you're like I can't tell what they're doing wrong but somehow it's not just achieving this very specific
[01:10:38] spot I don't think Tim Burton could have made this movie today I don't think he could have made it ten years later I think this is one moment where the two of them were really synced in with each other and with the culture and all of that
[01:10:50] this back lot chase is just so much fun and just keeps on escalating and escalating all the elements I mean Conan O'Brien talks about like how he loves whenever they would do backstage sketches at late night he always had like a guy leading a horse
[01:11:06] and a person like a monster costume and that notion of Hollywood where someone's like carrying a backdrop and it's all just a bunch of blue collar guys who are like oh I gotta get the Godzilla over there or whatever the work of day thing and this just like
[01:11:18] it hits all of the points a thought I had too is all the movies he's invading yes are like parodies right like really blown out but it sort of feels also like it was like that's kind of what movies are now a little bit
[01:11:32] oh yeah that's true yeah I also do love that like it's literally Godzilla and King Gider that they like clearly got the rights and it's not just like oh this is like a Godzilla stand-in well it is Warner Brothers maybe Warner Brothers could had the rights
[01:11:46] was it that possible I don't know I mean maybe Warner Brothers is like we got these things like maybe Sony did role in Emmerich's movie I don't know Warner Brothers and because Dino Diller Rentus did the 70s ones which are Paramount it's completely
[01:12:04] what am I talking about yes I'm just saying that you know that Sony did the Roland Emmerich what are you talking about it's top of the dome if I know anything it said it was a Columbia picture it was actually Tristar oh well apparently I don't know anything
[01:12:18] weirdly enough remember Tristar yeah the Galloping Pegasus of course they still make movies occasionally they brought back for like District 9 once in a while you see it in front of like a movie yeah like Baby Driver at Tristar that was one of my favorite
[01:12:36] logos you like the Pegasus fanfare well remember also there was the the 2D Pegasus that they would do sometimes here I got a P you guys got a P more like Pee Wee it's good yeah Pee Wee Herman so what else I don't know now I don't
[01:12:56] wanna get to the finale because he's in the bathroom what is something we can talk about like only now because David's out of the room is there a penalty on something or something that would piss him off hmm I mean usually he just gets mad at our bits
[01:13:08] I know but it just feels like it's fun to do a bit if he's not getting mad no no because his frustration is what sort of then helps to ramp up the comedy it's almost like I can't even get it up to like try a bit
[01:13:22] if David is in the room because it's like I don't get the same rush unless he's frustrated yeah I mean we could do something like really I was gonna say like a visual bit because you and I like that
[01:13:32] oh yeah you know if we like swapped all our clothes yeah yeah right but I don't know I don't again David would have to be here to be like I hate this I have a friend Max and then he'll give me a shout out he's a great guy
[01:13:44] and there was one night we were at a large dinner with like a lot of our friends and he kept on changing his outfit he had like a lot of layers on yeah it's one of the funniest things
[01:13:54] I've ever seen anyone do he had a lot of layers on and he wasn't talking right he's like a really good like he's really good at working bits where he understands like human behavior so he was like this is a large table with a lot of comedians
[01:14:08] if I don't talk for a while no one's gonna pay attention to me so if I can silently rearrange items of clothing so it's like now he's got a bowtie but he doesn't have a sweater and now the sweater zombie is wearing a hat
[01:14:20] that's very funny things would disappear and come back and then we'd like look to him and we'd be like Max did you change your clothes it's one of the best bits I've ever seen cool you'll never know about it well I'll listen to the episode
[01:14:34] James Brolin did we talk about him and Morgan Fairchild so he gets caught by the security guards and the president Warren Brothers is watching all this black and white footage of Pee Wee invading the movies and he's like I think he might be a star
[01:14:46] this guy's got something how about a Pee Wee Herman motion picture and then of course he gives him the bike right that has like control of the bike right and makes a special movie about him and his bike the bike school chase has so many good bits too
[01:15:02] where like the handles fly off and then the new replacement handles come in right it's just fun shit and you get to see Pee Wee at the beginning his dreams of the Tour de France now you're seeing him really cycle like his life depends on it
[01:15:16] it's like good visceral chase shit like you feel some speed on that thing we forgot to talk about the hobo guy and the kind of him singing with a guy oh yeah I mean all of these people come back for the finale where they're all watching the movie
[01:15:32] Dottie gets her way she gets to go to the drive in with Pee Wee and all his friends come there even Mickey and the boss straight from prison Pee Wee gives him a footlong which of course is a file to try to break out file down the bars
[01:15:46] Simone's there with her French boyfriend it's just like really nice like all the people but I just like that it's like they just were charmed by him this movie is so fucking weird I don't know why I like it
[01:15:58] and you see the movie which is about Pee Wee Herman right played by James Brolin an incredibly sexy James Brolin like he's a really handsome in this movie and one of my favorite touches is how bad of an actor
[01:16:10] Pee Wee Herman is because they let him play the bell boy right when Brolin says the name's Herman they cut to a close up of Pee Wee and Pee Wee can't help but mouth along the lines like he knows Brolin's lines well he doesn't have to see it
[01:16:26] he lived it and he keeps on making eye contact with the camera and then like starting to move in one direction but then moving the wrong it's like really subtle bad acting and yeah he rides off with Dottie doesn't need to see it he lived it
[01:16:40] of course James Brolin says the line I'm a loner I'm a rebel and thus film history is made Phil Hartman is there yes Phil Hartman co-wrote the film he plays a reporter, he's interviewing Francis who takes credit for the whole thing
[01:16:56] but then he gets the old ejector seat yeah and the rest is history the movie Fox no yes it does it was generally positively received was a solid box office well then it did well the box office this did well the box office was the
[01:17:14] back coming no made 40 million dollars yeah which would be like 80 something today well let's find out according to box office mojo it would be 86 105 million dollars hey now not bad I mean if this movie made 105 million dollars today people would be blown away
[01:17:32] and Warner Brothers would say that's not worth our time right but that is unfortunately true they would be like well do you want to make like a 200 million dollar movie Tim Burton like maybe like we got some theme park rides here like explain this to friends
[01:17:48] who aren't in the industry where it's just like so why don't they make romantic comedies anymore and I'm like because they don't think it's worth their time to make 200 million dollars they only want to attempt to make a billion dollars they'd rather lose 500 the 18th guy
[01:18:02] I know walked in and said like when you guys make 100 million dollars like that's how much we make in like a second in the telecom industry and what's so frustrating is you and I have talked about this being talked about on Mike
[01:18:12] but Warner Brothers has had this weirdly good year their franchisee stuff is disastrous right but they had like crazy rich Asians and the Meg and the nun the nun well I mean the Meg cost a lot of money but that was Chinese co-production the Meg was
[01:18:26] yeah but like the Meg should not have done well at all except in China and instead did well right but my point is you go crazy rich agents star is born and the nun combined cost $75 million and each will end up over 150 well over
[01:18:44] 150 that's a lot of profit for them in addition to the fact that like the fucking money they must be making up the stars born soundtrack I mean all this shit oh yeah that's a future of a studio and then their new corporate overlords is like irrelevant to us
[01:18:58] who cares makes six more Joker movies I'm looking at what else they had they had game night which kind of ruled this year kind of rule and did well well and it ended up at 75 yep um yeah a tag which was based on a true story
[01:19:14] about a bunch of guys who played tag yeah but now has been adapted to its ideal form Jack O'Lanterns I don't know what that is Davey Great comedian UCB guy decided that he would carve the entire cast of tag into separate pumpkins for charity and it went viral
[01:19:32] and then the cast of tag donated like tens of thousands of dollars so he did like the 12 principal actors and the director of tag which I thought was really nice they're really good pumpkins too better than the movie. They also had Ready Player One
[01:19:44] which was another actual surprise hit for them this year. Pretty well yeah it did amazing overseas and it did fine here was another thing where it's like did a little better on both ends than expected right but but the Joker universe I know
[01:19:56] wow and seven more Grindelwald movies look I mean have we said this on air what I'm like I'm excited to see the Joker I am too I kind of think it I'm kind of on board I'll say this too I want to see it I think the design
[01:20:10] is really good. I know I like it too I don't know what to do with this information and the like the fucking interesting videos that have come up your body language says you're like grossed out like you look like you're gonna throw
[01:20:22] over right I mean look it's gonna lock the gates it's gonna fuck it's gonna be twisted I swear we're gonna get fingered it's got everything going for it's a culmination of everything this podcast has been leading towards it's a twisted DC movie with Marin you're right
[01:20:38] you're right we should have Marin on that one a weird a weird blank check film it's very much a blank check in a way and franchise like it's everything we have talked about in one movie yep I'm excited I was I mean we were so against
[01:20:55] it and I like the second stuff started leaking out I was like Pete's and Francis Conroy were in it so actually like a really interesting intelligent cast really canny actors um yeah but I just like the pee we thing is so hard to think about because it's like
[01:21:17] where was the sort of like audience education like there was no like okay here's pee we you all get it right like suddenly he was just in a movie yeah you're right done some shit and that was how they would just take
[01:21:29] flyers on people because I think really Cheech and Chong was I don't know these guys made some big records and let them make a movie and the movie was huge where they would still do this sometimes it opened to 4.5 million so it must
[01:21:41] have had like a very long steady mouth kind of tail thing as well um yeah because it basically made the same amount of money week after week it didn't it didn't significantly drop like it was like a sleeper hit it was a classic immediate
[01:21:59] cult phenomenon they offered him to direct the sequel immediate Paul Rubin said I want to make a kid show I see this character connecting with kids now because of the movie he makes few playhounds but they also started developing big top pee we and they offered to Burton
[01:22:11] he passes because he's read a script that Warner Brothers and Geffen have had lying around for a little while sure and takes to it with a lot of new visual ideas and that script of course famously is called house ghosts is that what it was called yes
[01:22:25] beetle juice it's beetle but it was called house ghost yeah right now to be fair it's not like you walk into a studio pitch meeting and being like I've got the title for you beetle juice they're like oh everyone loves an overbearing character who's only in the movie
[01:22:41] for 13 minutes right it's a word that no one's ever heard before that's the title beetle juice but we'll talk about that next week now let's talk about the box we're playing about it no no not next week oh next week is it's our 200 episode it's not you're crazy
[01:23:03] you're crazy next week is beetle juice cut this out Ben next week is our 199th episode no it's like our 196th episode none of this is gonna be in so stop we still gonna do Aquaman shut up we're gonna do beetle juice then Aquaman just take it
[01:23:24] from where you were before oh so it's Aquaman and Batman back to back that's kind of fun that lined up that way that we have like great now the two men but also like we were never cutting this out Ben you know that the most recent DC
[01:23:38] in one of the earliest DCs back to back Hello Fennel it is the early I guess Superman right but that's beginning yeah of real franchisey stuff uh yeah franchise filmmaking week anyway um but yeah you know Merry Christmas blah blah blah so what is it open at
[01:23:56] 4.5 million number number three okay number one at the box office is 1985 what time of the year August 9th right in the middle of fucking no wears though these are ones obviously get tougher when they're from before I was born I don't have a memory number one is the
[01:24:12] most popular film of 1985 and it's sixth week three man and a baby nope was that not that year not that year maybe it was 85 it wasn't is a part of a franchise it begins a franchise it Batman begins I'm sorry Bartman begins franchise terrible joke hahahahahaha
[01:24:38] boy do you want more clues I can give you more no I won't I'm trying to sell this out how many are there in total three there's three in total it starts in 1985 that's true is it the motion picture Beverly Hills Cop
[01:24:52] fuck is it the motion picture back to the future there we go you got it back to the future Beverly Hills Cop was number two that year nope number three no Beverly Hills Cop is not that year what I don't know what to tell you okay fine
[01:25:06] it's back to the future Beverly I now I want to know though we gotta go back in time Beverly Hills Cop is number one movie of 1984 oh okay 1985's best movies were back to the future Rambo First Blood Part 2 which was the second highest
[01:25:20] grosser and like and is an awful movie and also like tripled the gross of First Blood which is the only good movie in that franchise well First Blood's an amazing movie and then first blood's like an actual movie
[01:25:30] and then Rambo First Blood Part 2 which is one of the silliest titles ever Jingleistic porn but yeah but also the poster is like he's shirtless holding a bazooka and the background is fire right so they were kind of like yeah you know the last one was like he's
[01:25:42] like a vet but like this one don't worry shoot a bazooka and it's gonna be awesome right and it looks like they like sliced open his flesh and stuck chicken cutlets underneath this is the beginning of me looking at photos of like
[01:25:54] Sylvester Stallone going like that looks like it smells bad any movie where he's like roided out and like shirtless and greasy it looks insane yeah but they they send them
[01:26:04] on a mission and set them up to fail but they made one mistake which is they forgot they were doing Rambo it's it is the funny title evolution of First Blood and Rambo colon First Blood Part 2 and then the third one is called Rambo
[01:26:16] and then the fourth one is called John Rambo Rambo oh just Rambo they go back I think the next one's gonna be called John Rambo is that possible sure they're doing more he's like fighting a fucking wolf or something I don't know the wolf he's like training
[01:26:28] for Rambo 5 right now and like in Rambo 3 it just looks tired yes like but whereas Rambo 3 is also but also he does look kind of smelly there doesn't he's too shiny Rambo 2 he looks like an action figure
[01:26:38] yes he looks like an actor and then they make a Rambo cartoon show yeah that ignores the fact that Rambo is like a victim of PTSD right he's like someone having a mental breakdown but here we go this is actually crazy I actually wrote about this
[01:26:52] because remember when Ethan Hawke was like super hero movies aren't so good yeah and then he was arrested yeah and then of course he was crucified for this opinion by Thanos himself I don't know I can't even snap the shit out of Ethan Hawke
[01:27:06] and you know people are like ah fuck you Ethan Hawke Mr. Linklater I suddenly don't feel so good go on I went into Ethan Hawke's filmography and I was like this guy's kind of put his money where his mouth is where he's never really done a big movie
[01:27:24] like in his career and he's been in a zillion movies and some of them have been big hits Valerian's like the biggest movie he's ever played for a minute like a porn right but like his big studio sell out movies are like training day
[01:27:38] but you got nominated for a house or a house or a house or faking lives or whatever yeah and like or he'll like do a Blumhouse movie right he used to do adult thrillers when those still existed now that they don't he'll do like Sinister
[01:27:48] and he did that weird what was it Selina Gomez car movie anyway what were you saying but like 1985 was his first year at the box office and so I did an article where I compared like last year at the box office dude and I thought I was like
[01:28:02] yeah I'll do that and I said I'll do it and he just said okay so I did a Blumhouse movie and I said I'll do it and he said I'll do it and he just said I'll do it and I said I'll do it and he said
[01:28:26] I'll do it there could be such a diversity if you look at the top right that was the point there was a spread yeah so 84 was Beverly Hills Cop Ghostbusters and Gremlins right let's find out wow Beverly Hills Cop beat Ghostbusters yep
[01:28:44] Beverly Hills Cop was like the 10th biggest parody kid footloose see this is you start to see these are the years that forms the next stage of Hollywood these are the years that build the 90s David we love movies true blanket thank it another thing we love
[01:29:02] is we hate movies and that can get a little confusing you know what I'm saying slow it down because that sounds like wait they love hating movies no no no no no we love the boys at we hate movies who also love movies but they
[01:29:16] also love to hate movies the name's a little fissitious and and they are much like us so in love with the enormity of what movies can represent what they tend to cover bad films on their podcast right now we've had Andrew and Steve
[01:29:30] on the show yep that's a Chris Cameron and Eric Cisca who we hope to have on very soon but they're doing some kind of funky this month they're flipping the whole thing on its head they're making it we love movies right they usually use a bad
[01:29:46] movie as a jumping off point for some discussion of movies in pop culture these are some of the best dunkers in the biz this is like the slam dunk competition Suicide Squad right, Scripps Squab Squab B Movie B Movie 300 yeah I mean you know things like this
[01:30:02] you know the Friday 13th sequels the Transformers Franchise I mean these are guys who have the courage to do 5 episodes on the Transformers Franchise but this month they're doing we love movies so they're tackling some of their favorite movies ever that's the criteria movies they love
[01:30:18] back to the future it's wonderful life we're back to the Transformers 2 we've covered on this podcast Batman Bartman 1989's Bartman a film we're about to cover they're covering it this month as well oh can you contact the attorney contact the lawyer to sue them
[01:30:36] sounds like we got another cracked movie club situation on our hand no no I can't wait to hear their Bartman episodes no and the thing is they're also celebrating it on their Patreon so you're getting subscriber only episodes on Star Wars Star Trek The Routh-a-con
[01:30:52] commentary to the Schwarzenegger Classic Commando one of their favorites and then they're throwing some bad movies as well Ready Player One oh yeah they're Patreon they've got Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance Man of Steel Jurassic World they've also got a monthly Star Trek show called the Nexus
[01:31:08] which covers the original series in the next generation which I really like because Star Trek's great Animation Damnation which covers random episodes of Saturday Morning Cartoons which I really like because I am a baby anyway you can subscribe to We Hate Movies on iTunes or Google Play
[01:31:22] and you can check out their Patreon at www.patreon.com we hate movies they're great guys anyway after that long digression yes number two at the the specific box office is a movie I've literally never heard of so I'm going to have to look up
[01:31:38] what it is oh I have heard of this lots of comedy it's starring one of Ben's Ben's Faves I think it's not Chevy no Jim Belushi no Uncle Buck himself John Candy John Candy who is Harry Crumb no weird movie that's a weird movie not great outdoors
[01:32:00] no I don't did you know volunteers already came up never heard of it directed by Carl Reiner but John can't is he the only above the title guy yep directed by Carl Reiner I'll give you the tagline yeah John Candy is about
[01:32:16] to face the most devastating experience known to man the family vacation what the fuck is this movie it made 25 million dollars what's it called summer rental oh wow that's right he's rented a house in the summer what will John Candy do next for that to exist post national
[01:32:38] vacation and it's not doubt what this movie is what this movie he rents a season yeah no he's uh he goes on vacation with his family that's the plot this film was based on a summer holiday taken by Bernie Brillstein don't Jesus Christ based on a real vacation
[01:32:56] my vacation was interesting you should make a movie that he literally is like I look I'm a fat guy with a bunch of kids being heavy on the beach it's no fun so I guess he just like called some of them and was like do a movie
[01:33:08] about how I what did being fat on vacation that's how like you know like I don't understand the Ron Howard Vince Vaughn movie the dilemma yeah is based off of Brian Grazer being like uh my friend's wife is cheating on him I can't decide
[01:33:22] whether to tell him or not right make a movie of that here's 75 million dollars these like dumb fucking bubble Hollywood executives who are like the thing I just experienced is so interesting let's attach the biggest comedy stars alive to it direct director Carl Reiner said quote
[01:33:36] quote like a like a small beautiful painting in a large frame John is a handsome guy in a larger frame than is necessary what's he talking about I don't know he's just saying junk yeah he's a handsome guy that has got a nice face
[01:33:50] he is I agree but he's just kind of saying like he's a real handsome guy he's just kind of big yeah and I'm like okay Carl Reiner like is that breaking news uh Roger Ebert's review of uh Paul Blair mall cop
[01:34:02] which is from his later more generous years sure where he gave it like three years and a half stars and he was like there's some like intelligence the visual language here at the beginning of the film where he's meant to be buffoonish
[01:34:14] they film him in low angles that play up Kevin James is for a tonness but later in the film as he becomes more heroic and is chasing people on his segue they go to higher angles that show off that actually has a pretty solid draw line
[01:34:26] I just remember that constantly that he was very impressed with how they made the shot selection they make him look less fat as the movie went on that's all he was saying but he like really got into he devoted like a graph to it rip Roger Ebert
[01:34:40] rip enemy of Tim Burton number four is another comedy there's a lot of comedies yeah people are yucking it up 1985 and have you seen this movie you like this of course you've seen it which is like a comedy central man so no it's another of his like
[01:34:52] ones you already mentioned him uh Chevy it's Chevy it's not flesh no because obviously we know Ben seen flesh right spies like us no no no this is a solo Chevy no so it's not a solo I mean he's it's his he's with people
[01:35:08] it's all hard to give clues very hard I mean it's not a vacation movie it is a vacation so it's European yeah directed by uh Amy Hackerland that's right and we'll hopefully cover some there I think so interesting career very interesting career
[01:35:24] number five is a very good movie I like this movie it's a horror comedy uh Casper a spirited beginning no wait a second that's not what it is at all okay nice I find it's a very good horror movie is it how to get my years wrong
[01:35:40] here is it a sequel or is it an original it does have a sequel and then much later a remake only had one sequel just the one that sequel was a huge bomb huge bomb and how was the remake I like it it stars one of my boyfriends
[01:35:57] not Colin yes Colin it starts Colin sequel it's a horror movie starring Colin he only really as far as I know made one horror movie oh oh oh yes a movie I like although and I know this is sacrilegial good drag
[01:36:15] for this I think the remake is better I like them both the movies Friday night right night I like both of them but I really like you know what because I think Collins really Colin is he got great I give him a best supporting Griffey
[01:36:27] that year nomination not win but he's great in that way that movie is really good that's the best movie Craig Gillespie is directed by a mile by a nautical mile yeah and do you know what the second one is second best movie Lars the real no
[01:36:39] Mr. Woodcutt no what the finest hours baby those hours they fine I forgot talk about an article mile yeah we got to get over the bar I can't believe I haven't seen we got to get this fucking boat over the fucking bar
[01:36:53] that's like that whole movie is just Boston accent is being yelled about getting over a sandbar it's great I love that movie the finest hour I looked it up hundred twenty three minutes where do they get off Jesus Christ I mean the reason we went
[01:37:09] long in this is because we were not long on the movie we were short what do you say about Pee Wee it's a master piece that's very strange yeah how long was this we haven't even hit 90 minutes baby yeah you can make yeah that's crazy we're efficient
[01:37:23] look what happens when you bring a guest in we're lean we're no John Candies so what's up with you what's up with me I wanted to say yeah weird science weird sciences number six oh yeah of that movie sure yeah I have a feeling though if I would
[01:37:39] watch it today feel dog feel gross yeah a real genius number seven that was really just they would just dump all the comedies in August yeah clearly cocoon is still going follow that bird which I've seen many times the very odd film very strange kind
[01:37:55] of creepy kind of feels like it was directed by Tim Burton it was direct by Ken Quipis I'm aware director if he's just not that into you that's right but it has a very ominous well doesn't it end with big bird like putting
[01:38:07] his feather on the the Egyptian like death yeah thing the scale also the middle of the movie is it gets imprisoned by a traveling circus run by Randy Quaid and he gets so depressed that he literally turns blue and then becomes their central
[01:38:23] act which is the blue bird and he's a giant sad blue bird in a cage singing songs of sorrow and it's about him being relocated that they're like you don't belong here with these humans you fucking bird you know what 10 is what's 10 fall that bird I'd love to
[01:38:40] do an entire many series yeah let's definitely never do that someone cool is directing the sesame street movie there's a sesame street movie they're doing a sesame street movie but someone cool is directing it Hong Seng Siu yes tell me a number 10
[01:38:56] as I look at some oh I'm sorry quickly John Braylock texted me cool oh man I agree with you so hard about a star is born whatever as I pray so goes the nation actually really true love you Braylock all right number
[01:39:14] 10 is this movie Silverado have you seen Silverado the Lawrence cast in movies yes okay I was taking a train the other week back from DC so I put some Netflix you know Netflix you can download a movie you want to Netflix and show
[01:39:28] no I just wanted to watch Netflix were you trying to relax it's I was your right Netflix okay fine so I was I'm just sort of looking at like movies I can download right I picked Silverado because like it's Larry Castin the cast is superb
[01:39:44] you got Kevin Klein John Cleese Kevin Costner Danny Glover I'm like Jeff Goldblum's in it I'm gonna have a great time and I put it on and I'm like this movie is fucking boring and lame that's it so my I got it's not good
[01:40:00] I remember when I was in Glockland love Silverado tried to get me to watch it for years Kevin Costner once used Silverado as a teaching tool to give me a lesson about acting you mean like he showed you Silverado or he just like mentioned
[01:40:12] he's pretty good in it this is breakout movie I'll tell the story because I think this is an interesting thing I think about all the time okay but do you agree with Silverado just kind of boring I kind of like it what the fuck are they doing
[01:40:28] trying to get to Silverado or something exactly you just answered your own question so there is there was a scene in draft day where they wanted me to go bigger they wanted me to go really broad for one moment and I was resistant to do it
[01:40:48] because it felt a little goofy sure he kept on saying like you gotta go bigger rightman was saying but then Costner was leaning into me and going I know it feels weird just do it just go big you're gonna want this moment
[01:41:04] to be big I know it feels weird I know where you're going through and I did it and I felt weird about it and he at the end of the day he was like I talked to you for a second
[01:41:14] yeah and he said my first movie I did I think it's maybe the next morning he told me this in like the hair makeup chair he was like this is why I was so persistent with you about this first movie I did Silverado
[01:41:24] I was a lot like you and I was like I don't think that's true you were devastatingly handsome in that movie I'm playing Rick the interim he's playing like the sexy young cowboy I was like you are some young funny actor no you're a movie star
[01:41:38] he was like a goofy in it but he was also a leading man and waiting I was like beating out Josh Gad for roles you know if they decide to flip the role skinny so so he was like we did this movie
[01:41:52] and there's a moment where I walk out of the bar and there are two bad guys on either side and I take out two guns and I shoot in both directions without even looking at sure yes and that's like my big badass moment
[01:42:02] right and Larry Kasin the director said to me after that you should sort of turn your head towards the camera and I look at the camera turn your head towards the camera and smile turn your turn yes I agree my constant impression isn't great whatever right
[01:42:16] okay so he's like you turn your head towards the camera and smile and Kasin was like I don't want to do that and he's like come on and he's like it doesn't make sense he just killed two men it's like kind of fourth wall breaking
[01:42:28] like it feels out of character why would he do it and he's like trust trust please do it it'll be so cool and he's like I'm not gonna do something because you think it's cool and he's like I'm protecting the integrity of this character
[01:42:36] he said he went to the premiere of Sol Verado and he saw that moment where the guns came out and he is an audience member went fuck I want to see that guy smile yeah and he said it felt so wrong to me in the moment
[01:42:48] and I watched it and I said that's what the movie demands right now and if you're with a good director or you're surrounded by people you trust you need to trust them when they tell you I'm looking at the thing from this perspective
[01:42:58] and even if it feels unnatural sometimes the movie demands something weird that's sort of got a life of its own and he linked up to this story where he was directing someone on Dances with Wolves and had the exact same argument
[01:43:08] with the guy where the guy didn't want to go big on a shot I won't say which actor or scene it was but it was a smaller part and he brought the guy to the dailies he got the guy to do one take the way he wanted
[01:43:18] and he brought the guy to the dailies and they were watching all of them and it was like fine fine fine and they did the take that Costner won on and it blew up like it just gales of laughter and he got a call from the local police
[01:43:32] wherever they were shooting that movie Montana at like three o'clock in the morning that they had found the actor drunk and belligerent having a nervous breakdown in the middle of the street because he was like if I can't trust my own instincts and it felt wrong to me
[01:43:48] and now if Costner's thing was he just said to me like sometimes you just gotta trust the people around you even if it feels weird I know what it feels like to be an actor I know vulnerable it is you get in your head
[01:43:58] and it's a bad director cause he didn't get him to do it good instincts not forceful enough perhaps Silverado more like Bororado but Kevin Costner said to me that was his biggest regret of his entire career was not smiling at the end of the gunshot in Silverado
[01:44:12] not the postman that's what I... please why do you think I said that because I'm not gonna finish that joke but you can insert punchline here but that's what he said to me kid that was the biggest mistake of my entire career now get me a fucking coffee
[01:44:26] did you go big? you went big yeah but you know what I watched I watched the movie and I wish I went bigger I truly do they used the biggest take I did I won't say which scene is because I don't want to mean my homework
[01:44:38] which I already could do but I watched it and I wish I'd gone bigger 100% agree with what both of them were saying what do you think Ben? weigh in it was cool when you dropped the coffee thank you Ben
[01:44:50] I'm gonna cut it out and put it in the trailer oh no I know I'd be getting 20 million a picture if they had kept that in should have kept it in that's all my life would be so different if they had kept in the coffee drop
[01:45:04] yeah but you wouldn't be doing blank check baby would we... would Kid me? blank check would be an NPR yeah baby what's like the hottest you can be in radio doing it on Broadway I guess we could have like a serious channel that'd be cool
[01:45:26] yeah what if we were on satellite radio Ben that would be lame does anyone listen to satellite radio? no sometimes you get a rental car and you can listen to it it's only people who want the Frank Sinatra station and stern weird weird
[01:45:44] is this sort of a dry end to the episode? yeah well tune in next week where Howard Stern will be our guest on Beetlejuice I like that Beetlejuice guy I can't decide I can't really do stern either I'm not a stern guy a big dick
[01:45:58] are you a stern kid? yeah yeah come on I just feel like there's like a solid 25% of comedians our age and a little older who like like stern is a big one for them and then like a catheter or whoever and then some people
[01:46:18] don't pass them by but there's a solid show and some people it's all about pee wee baby sure I do watch the opening of this movie and I just moved departments I'm like setting it up and I looked at the opening with this house
[01:46:34] I'm like I gotta resist the apartment I moved into dude do not flood your apartment with fucking bullshit the apartment I moved into is like pretty classy and adult modern like it's got this really nice like classy bathroom and I've been like buying better things
[01:46:48] dollar store like shampoo looks low rent now yeah you gotta bring the yeah get yourself some like trace I don't live in an apartment where like the ceilings collapsing every five seconds but then I also watched this and I was like
[01:47:00] what if I just threw it all out and I had a Rube Goldberg machine that made a Mr. Breakfast face God I did tape in the bathroom here every morning um we're done I mean anything else to say? I don't need to go longer let's end it
[01:47:16] oh come on just grab longer yeah you're right let's do some pickups baby I don't know next week's Beetlejuice it's good God I can't wait for Beetlejuice you're gonna talk so much about Beetlejuice what's the one you're gonna go on the most about what's your RoboCop
[01:47:38] it's Batman Returns isn't it maybe although I mean Ed Wood is my favorite Ed Wood isn't firmly my top 10 of all time Beetlejuice might be the one where I go off Beetlejuice not to like front load this
[01:47:52] although we'll see what happens at the end of all the revises Beetlejuice Batman Returns and Ed Wood represent like the three things I like him doing the three modes I feel and the best of each mode we got some good guests coming up
[01:48:06] yeah let's say who's on the next episode right sure we got a lockdown yeah we got Becca locked in and everybody Rebecca Bonet's post a classroom crush that's right we can't give too much away but this is a pretty stacked yeah it was a big
[01:48:22] we got some big guests you know I mean who knows maybe they all cancel on us but we have already recorded at least a couple good guests yeah you know to not to shock the audience but we're doing it out of order
[01:48:34] yeah but we got a couple luminaries in the podcast world mm-hmm yeah we do yeah we got award winners sure we do we do okay I don't want to say which award because then people might start to draw conclusions right we got someone who won
[01:48:50] a major acting award yes oh yeah that's right yes oh I'm very excited for that one yeah I like the most excited for that one yeah though I realize and we'll talk about it afterwards you folks have guessed it Monique is doing
[01:49:09] Mrs. Perakins home for Perkele your children thank you all for listening please remember to rate review subscribe thanks to layman coming for our theme song and for good for our social media Joe Bowen and Pat Reynolds for our artwork uh thank you to uh
[01:49:26] I don't know my parents I forgot that there wasn't another one go to T-Public for some real nerdy merch go to blankysoutread.com for some real nerdy shit and as always here we fuck