BONUS The Friday Show - I Know You Are, But What Am I?
Guest:I remember loving fishing.
Guest:Where were you fishing in Staten Island?
Guest:Yeah, in Staten Island.
Guest:I lived across the street from Highland Boulevard where there was a bay over there.
Guest:But also as a Boy Scout, I would go fishing.
Marc:You convinced yourself that body parts and needles were fish?
Marc:Hey, Chris.
Marc:Hello, Brendan.
Marc:You know, if it wasn't for the word child in this headline, I would have thought it was you.
Marc:Ooh, what's the headline?
Marc:This headline says child scratches Rothko painting worth $56 million in unguarded moment at museum.
Guest:Let me tell you something.
Guest:At the time when I saw that Rothko in Texas there in Houston, I was really concerned why there were these security guards like clocking me the entire time I was there.
Guest:And now I know people just scratch this shit all the time apparently.
Marc:Well, this was not at the, uh, the Rothko chapel in Houston.
Marc:This was at a museum in Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
Marc:And, uh, the, uh, the article says, uh, the unnamed child is responsible for damaging a 1960 Mark Rothko painting worth about $56 million.
Marc:Uh, the painting gray orange on maroon number eight has sustained superficial damage after a child touched the painting when it was on display.
Marc:The museum said in a statement to people magazine, uh,
Marc:And and I thought it was interesting that, you know, they're saying like they didn't say what it was that, you know, caused this or anything.
Marc:But, you know, they're saying they weren't going to show the damage and that.
Marc:But it just says like damage to the underside of the painting.
Marc:So it's like a little kid.
Marc:He probably scratched the bottom of the painting.
Marc:Right.
Guest:No big deal.
Marc:Yeah, because like the headlines that then this piece got aggregated, the headlines were like, you know, child damages $56 million painting.
Marc:And then this quote right here, it says that the museum has said in the past that those responsible for damages to the artwork are asked to cover the cost.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And it's like, I'm sure people are like, oh my God, this kid has to owe this museum $56 million.
Marc:It's like, no, he owes whatever the restorer they're going to pay to fix this little scratch mark on the bottom of the Rothko.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:You got to piggy bank little kid.
Marc:Hammer right to that thing.
Marc:That's an art exhibit in itself.
Guest:Exactly, yeah.
Marc:Smashed kid's piggy bank.
Marc:Kid's crying right next to it.
Marc:He has to stay in the museum.
Marc:He's part of the exhibit.
Marc:That reminds me of when I brought Owen to the Whitney for like the biennial one time.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:And he, there were, I brought him there because they were, they were doing a thing was like a hands-on thing for kids.
Marc:And they put like name tags on the kids to, you know, identify them so they could, you know, do little group art things and,
Marc:You know, it was just a fun thing for everybody to do.
Marc:And afterwards, he he took his he must have been like four or five years old.
Marc:He took his he took his name tag off and he put it over his mouth.
Marc:And I just looked at him.
Marc:I thought it was funny.
Marc:I said, here, go stand there.
Marc:I put him in the corner and I said, here, be art.
Marc:Exactly.
Guest:It's funny.
Guest:I was really close to those Rothko's.
Guest:And, like, when does the security guard be like, eh?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Like, you know, like, back away, baby, you know?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Because you don't want to do that every time.
Guest:It's a busy museum, I'm sure, in the Netherlands.
Marc:Also, you know, you should be allowed to get as close as any kind of barrier allows you to because, like, that's part of the experience of seeing a painting is the textures.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Right.
Guest:So, you know, I don't fault the kid and like, who cares if it's on the undercut?
Guest:I mean, I get it.
Guest:You don't want kids just to be like pawing at shit.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But like, you know.
Marc:Pull off Van Gogh's other ear and shit like that.
Guest:Right, right.
Guest:Just start.
Guest:Oh, look, this melting clock.
Guest:I wonder if I can like, it's a sticker, right?
Yeah.
Marc:Look, I drew more hands on it.
Marc:Right.
Marc:I like this piece of the article.
Marc:It says, in 2011, multiple visitors to the same museum accidentally stepped on the peanut butter platform exhibit, tracking the peanut butter across the floor.
Marc:At the time, the museum reportedly said those responsible for the damage were asked to cover the cost of the cleanup.
Marc:What, some Windex and a roll of brawny?
Guest:What the fuck?
Marc:I mean...
Guest:how does that cost anything right also what's this museum doing there's a peanut butter floor like oh yeah yeah you know the old the old peanut butter floor trick i'll i'll step on that every single time yeah i'll step on it because they did it right you dumb dumbs not even as an accident
Marc:Well, speaking of art, we got this message from Alex, and I thought it was appropriate to read here.
Marc:Alex said, I live in Switzerland, but have just come back from an eight-day Easter trip to New York City with my girlfriend.
Marc:We had a blast.
Marc:Your discussion and Mark's monologues about the importance of art and going to museums hit a nerve with me.
Marc:Since my girlfriend is a Swiss artist, she could get a membership of the American Alliance of Museums, and we could visit all museums for free, which we did.
Marc:Holy fuck, that is a crazy person.
Marc:yeah like how can i uh say that i am an artist to be to get a membership in the american alliance of museums seriously like is there like a like a round table of people deciding who gets that that yeah i did swirl art with my kid a bunch of times like that should count yeah that looks like a a pollock um
Marc:He said,
Marc:Even got last minute standing tickets to Clooney in good night and good luck.
Marc:The current political environment was palpable in everything we saw.
Marc:The political climate, not only in the U.S., but also here in Europe, can be frightening and depressing.
Marc:Art is a great way to shine a light on our humanity.
Marc:Yes, absolutely.
Marc:Couldn't have said it better myself.
Marc:In fact, I think we said something similar the last time we talked about this.
Marc:So I fully agree with you, Alex.
Marc:And I'm glad...
Marc:First of all, I just want to say I read that not only because I thought it was appropriate for the art stuff, but Alex did New York City right.
Marc:And listen, like I always say this to people, people, oh, I'm worried to come to New York.
Marc:It's like if you even if you just go to do exactly what he did, you went you went to the Comedy Cellar and some museums and Broadway shows that will cost you less than, you know, a trip to Disney World by far, by far.
Marc:And I'm talking about getting like the premium seats at the shows, too.
Marc:And and, you know, you will have the time of your life.
Marc:It is it's extraordinary.
Marc:And part of that time of Alex's life there was seeing a picture of Dorian Gray, which you also saw.
Guest:Right, Chris?
Guest:That's right.
Guest:I saw that.
Guest:And that was one of the best.
Guest:Best experiences I've ever seen.
Guest:It's one of those things where while I'm watching it, I'm realizing I am seeing a work of art that will change over each and every night, but I am seeing this iteration.
Guest:That's right.
Guest:humbling and it was people are unaware too it's a one person show it's just sarah snook yeah and she owns that stage man like she owns that stage i hope you get to see i hope mark goes to see it because i honestly think there that you can you can't possibly have a better experience in new york than seeing uh sarah snook doing that
Marc:Oh, amazing.
Marc:Well, she just got a Tony nomination for that.
Marc:Probably you would say well-deserved.
Marc:That's right.
Marc:Yeah, I'm excited.
Marc:I would definitely go to see that.
Guest:I have to try to find a cheap way to go see Glengarry Glen Ross because I need to see the third succession sibling.
Marc:Oh, yes.
Marc:You've seen two.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I saw I saw.
Guest:What's his name?
Marc:Jeremy strong.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Jeremy strong in a show that was like front row for, and that was awesome.
Guest:Like he was, that was the enemy of the people.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I mean, I mean, the people, and he was like spitting on me, dude.
Guest:And like, yeah, I need to try to adjust you.
Guest:He's Chris from that podcast.
Marc:Oh, Hey, wait, are you the guy who fucked up the Brooklyn food co-op?
Guest:Exactly.
Guest:But yeah, that's great.
Marc:Well, speaking of art, I will read something I wrote to Mark this week.
Marc:And it was when he texted me to see how the Cronenberg interview came out, like when I edited it.
Marc:And I said, you know, it's worth having some reflection every now and then.
Marc:For some reason, based on actions you and I decided to take more than 15 years ago, there now exists a circumstance where on a particular day, David Cronenberg will come over to your house and talk about all his movies and...
Marc:and really engage with you on them.
Marc:Like he's your gardener or something.
Marc:And you're asking him what flowers he planted.
Marc:It's quite a thing, man.
Marc:He agreed.
Marc:He's like, yeah, it is wild.
Marc:We have to think about that.
Marc:And that was, that was all I could think about listening to that.
Marc:I've had this moment before, but it's like,
Marc:That's a guy who's, you know, he's up there.
Marc:That is an artist who makes movies.
Marc:You know, he's a great filmmaker and some of his stuff is very accessible and you could call it mainstream if you want to say that, but like he's an artist and you could hear that in how he was describing things.
Marc:You know, he's not there to explain stuff for you.
Marc:He's happy to let Mark have his own interpretations of things and kind of, you know, be like, yeah, I can agree with that, you know, but he's an artist and this guy just like comes over and like...
Marc:Mark gets to be like, hey, what is this thing?
Marc:Remember when you made that?
Marc:What's that about?
Guest:Like he is on like the Mount Rushmore of like, you know, movie makers.
Guest:Like, yeah, people are like, oh, it's Hitchcockian or, you know, body horror.
Guest:That's right.
Guest:It's become an adjective.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And like that is a very rarefied air.
Guest:And it is wild to see that legend there.
Guest:And by the way, Mark just has the best job.
Guest:He has like a Marvin Schwartz type of like weekend where it's like, I did a Cronenberg film festival.
Yeah.
Guest:And he just lists off all the movies.
Guest:I'm just like, that's the dream.
Guest:That's the dream.
Marc:Maybe that's why Jennifer Lawrence wanted him to play Martin Schwarz.
Guest:100%, right?
Guest:100%.
Guest:Like she probably listened to like Paul Thomas Anderson where he did the same thing.
Guest:And it's like, oh, this guy is Marc Maron.
Guest:So yeah, yeah.
Guest:That was a trip, man.
Guest:And it's wild that he was so game to talk about anything and everything.
Guest:It was really cool.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:I mean, honestly, I take him at his word when he said I could stay here and talk about it for hours if he didn't have to catch a plane.
Guest:I know.
Guest:I know.
Guest:I was actually mad that Mark just glossed over, ah, so you were supposed to do Return of the Jedi.
Guest:I'm like, no, talk more about that, please.
Guest:Or like Flashdance.
Marc:I actually don't think there's much more of a story to the Return of the Jedi one.
Marc:I think it was like he was offered it and so was David Lynch.
Marc:And they both turned it down.
Marc:I think there's actually more of a story with Lynch because I think he considered it, but decided to do Dune instead.
Guest:Oh, wow.
Guest:Man, what a world.
Guest:Like there's a parallel universe where there is a David Lynch Return of the Jedi.
Guest:And I would love to just check that out.
Marc:I bet it would have made him quit movies because, you know, like, you know, nobody directed that but Lucas, you know, and he was there, you know, on every minute of every day, you know?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:I really liked his flash dance.
Guest:It's like, look, you don't want me to do flash dance.
Guest:Like, you would just ruin it, you know?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:If they had more time, I wish they could have talked about his, he was a year in making Total Recall and that just completely fell apart.
Guest:A whole year?
Marc:No kidding.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, full year.
Marc:With Schwarzenegger?
Marc:I don't believe Schwarzenegger was the person at the time.
Marc:I think it went through several actors, Richard Dreyfuss at one point, Patrick Swayze.
Marc:I think it was, I think it finally wound up on Patrick Swayze for the period of time that Cronenberg was making it.
Marc:And yeah, he was in it for a year with Dino De Laurentiis producing and they, you know, hated each other and couldn't get anything figured out.
Marc:And, you know, the script was very difficult.
Marc:It had third act problems and it was because that fell apart because
Marc:that De Laurentiis sold the script off and Schwarzenegger bought it.
Guest:Oh, no shit.
Guest:Wow.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Wow.
Guest:So I guess it couldn't have happened if that didn't happen.
Marc:Yeah, right.
Marc:And then to what we were talking about a couple weeks ago, Schwarzenegger watched Robocop and was like, this is fantastic.
Marc:And he approached Paul Verhoeven because he was like, I have this movie you should make.
Marc:And it was Total Recall.
Yeah.
Guest:That's great.
Guest:By the way, William Burroughs shot his wife accidentally.
Guest:Yeah, quote, accidentally.
Marc:Sure.
Guest:Like Cliff Booth?
Marc:Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Marc:Killed his wife and got away with it.
Guest:I did not know that about William Burroughs.
Guest:That's insane.
Marc:Yeah, I think it's one of those things.
Marc:I am not a Burroughs head.
Marc:I don't know the full story, but I think the lore is that they were all fucked up.
Guest:Oh, my God.
Guest:Yeah, that's wild.
Guest:By the way, we haven't talked about it.
Guest:Did you hear that David Fincher is rumored to be directing this Cliff Booth like spinoff movie?
Marc:I mean, I think it's more than a rumor.
Marc:I think they've actually said it's happening.
Marc:Is it actually happening?
Marc:Well, all right.
Marc:It's been announced.
Marc:It's part of like...
Marc:fincher's netflix deal where he's i don't know how long he's tied up in that but he's obviously makes stuff for them all the time and he loves it yeah and he's you know apparently he's gonna where you know he was the one who became the custodian of this script that tarantino decided not to make it was called the movie critic but it was essentially a cliff booth pseudo sequel to once upon a time in hollywood and
Marc:starring brad pitt and and as you and i know from reading the once upon a time in hollywood novel uh a lot of it is about that a lot of it is about after the events in the movie uh how cliff booth you know goes about his life and he's this guy who loves going to movies he loves going to like art house films and stuff and i think that's what the story of this is going to be and yeah apparently tarantino because of his you know
Marc:gun shy nature of making his final film decided not to make this one and he gave it to and but brad pitt loved it and was like how can we get this made and they he agreed i'll give it to david he'll do it and i say it's been like that's how it's been announced but these things take a million things to happen to get them off the ground like we'll see
Guest:Right, exactly.
Guest:That's what I'm thinking.
Guest:I won't believe it until there is a set shot of Cliff Booth with the cameras rolling.
Guest:And man, the news of that, when I heard that, I was like, oh my God, they're making this Once Upon a Time movie.
Guest:And then it's like with David Fincher, I'm like, whoa, okay, that's interesting.
Guest:I did not see that coming.
Guest:And it's like, oh, and it's going to be for Netflix.
Guest:I'm like, okay, this deal gets worse all the time now.
Guest:And it's not going to be in movie theater.
Guest:And like, well, now I'm really on the fence about this.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:Part of the magic of that movie was seeing it in the movie theater.
Guest:Over and over again.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:We saw it like five times, I think.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And like, that was the magic of it.
Guest:I can't imagine just being on my couch.
Guest:You know, I guess I'll go to the parish theater.
Guest:I'm sure it'll be playing there.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:That's where I saw the killer.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Nice.
Guest:And and like, yeah, I just I don't know.
Guest:I feel it's a bit of a letdown.
Guest:You know, I can you can you do me a favor?
Guest:Can you email David Fincher?
Guest:And because I know you have his email.
Guest:Can you ask him to release this movie in movie theaters?
Guest:And if you don't, I'm just going to release your interview.
Guest:Exactly.
Guest:I got it.
Guest:I got a bargaining chip with this guy now.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:Can you please do that for me?
Guest:I don't ask for much.
Marc:Oh man.
Marc:Do you think maybe I should like call him and disguise my voice?
Marc:I have your Mark Maron interview.
Guest:You are the killer and like, Oh God damn it.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Go just give yourself away.
Marc:I'll release it in seven installments.
Marc:One set to each of the deadly sins.
Guest:beautiful uh can we just talk about uh mark going to his first fish concert that was exciting to hear i was happy for him it's like he did the thing i also was a little let down that he left early however i've been to the hollywood bowl and that is a motherfucker it sucks yeah to get out of there the worst i actually took like the bus the bus right right that bus is terrifying by the way
Guest:Because at night, it goes like 80 miles per hour on like this HOV lane.
Guest:And it's like you're in speed, basically.
Guest:And the bus is just like moving.
Guest:And it's very terrifying.
Guest:But yeah, I too do not enjoy the mass exodus that happens every day.
Marc:Well, I don't know this for certain.
Marc:I'm just going to make an educated guess that if Mark was invited by Trey, they gave him VIP parking, which is not, you don't have to go where the bus is, right?
Marc:You go basically next to the bowl.
Marc:There's a little parking lot that you can only get into with a permit.
Marc:But...
Marc:Even with that, the gridlock coming out of that place is rough, you know, just getting right back onto the 101.
Marc:It's tough.
Marc:So I just I think I think he probably did the right thing, especially if it's not like his bag and he's not like, oh, my God, I've waited all this time.
Marc:I need to see this final song or whatever, you know.
Guest:Right, right.
Guest:And like, who knows?
Guest:I mean, have you looked at that concert?
Guest:How long did it actually go?
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:I don't know.
Marc:It wasn't that long.
Marc:If it was really long, I would have heard about it from him.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:But yeah, I was happy that he saw that.
Guest:That was very exciting.
Guest:And happy that he has a cat tree.
Guest:By the way, cat trees don't have to be ugly.
Guest:Like, they're nice cat trees.
Guest:Like, I have one.
Guest:Do you have one for your new cat?
Marc:We, we have a, it's not a tree, but it's this like multi-tiered platform, uh, so that they can sit and look out the window.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:So yeah.
Marc:And, and it's not that ugly, right?
Marc:No, it's, it looks like two boxes with fur on them.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:Well, mine, mine are kind of fancy and, uh, I just use Amazon points for it.
Guest:So it costs me nothing.
Guest:Uh, can I, I'm just going to hit you with a couple of questions, uh, that, that, that came to mind when I was listening to Mark and, uh, and the extra bonus material.
Guest:Um,
Guest:Has he ever, like, or have you ever thrown out, like, suggestions for his specials?
Marc:suggestions oh titles you mean yeah yeah i i sure have i just did and i'm not gonna say him because i don't know which one he's actually gonna choose but i will say he gave me he told me what one he was favoring and it was it was awkward because i hated it oh really so i was like how do i tell him this sucks i
Marc:And yeah, maybe someday when he names it, I'll mention what all these were because I don't know which one he's actually going to pick.
Marc:But you hope it's not that one.
Marc:I hope it's not.
Marc:And I don't think it will be.
Marc:Although like what I ultimately came around to him with was like...
Marc:Hey, is HBO, did you clear that with them already?
Marc:And he said, yeah.
Marc:I said, then it's fine.
Marc:Like, because my thinking would be that title sounds terrible to convince people to watch a comedy special.
Marc:And...
Marc:If HBO doesn't think that, then who the fuck am I?
Marc:Like it's their product, right?
Marc:Sure.
Marc:So if they're okay with it and that's your artistic expression of what your hour is, then go with it.
Marc:But it was just a thing that did not at all communicate, this is a comedy show and I'm going to have a good time watching this.
Marc:Oh, interesting.
Guest:Now I'm so interested to know what he is going to be calling this special.
Guest:That's fascinating.
Marc:He named a couple other options that I thought were better.
Marc:So I hope he picks those as opposed to the one he already cleared.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:All right.
Guest:Well, David Harbour, always a good time.
Guest:Great having that guy back.
Guest:They just picked up right where they left off.
Marc:What did you notice?
Marc:Did you notice anything about that interview?
Marc:Or I should say, did you notice anything missing from that interview?
Guest:Oh, ring notifications?
Marc:Well, those were thankfully not in there, but no.
Guest:What was missing?
Marc:I'm shocked I didn't get any emails about this or have to field a phone call.
Guest:What's that?
Marc:They did not mention that movie once.
Guest:I mean, I clocked it because, you know, it's opening day today.
Guest:I'm like, oh, that's weird.
Guest:They haven't mentioned it.
Guest:But yeah, it never comes up.
Guest:Not once.
Marc:Not like there were a few fleeting moments, too, where he started talking about like, well, you're an actor, you do these things.
Marc:And then they're talking about Black Mass, like movies fucking 10 years old.
Guest:You rewatch Black Mass?
Guest:Yeah, I wasn't even sure David Harbour remembered that he was in it.
Guest:I was like, I was in that?
Guest:Wow.
Wow.
Marc:Yeah, no, no Thunderbolts.
Marc:And, you know, hey, frankly, look, I guess I'm guessing the reason why I didn't get any complaints from a publicist or anyone involved in making that booking is because really, like, what do they need them to talk about Thunderbolts for?
Marc:Right?
Marc:Right.
Marc:having David's name in the episode title and then in the description, it says, you know, whatever is here promoting his new film, Thunderbolts.
Marc:That's all they need.
Marc:Just the billboard.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Because like, what are you going to, you got to sell somebody on the plot of Thunderbolts and all the, the great acting that he did in it.
Guest:Like, no.
Guest:Right.
Guest:The 28th installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Guest:Like, no, we get it.
Guest:Exactly.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I clocked that.
Guest:And yeah, that was very funny.
Guest:I also just love the idea of them hanging out, getting coffee.
Guest:It's like, what?
Guest:Adult friends?
Guest:Like, what are we going to talk about?
Marc:I know.
Marc:He says that as then they go on for another hour and 20 minutes about like, you know, the, the, the meaning of life.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And gurus.
Guest:Oh man, man.
Guest:Gurus is a thing that I know that I know people that love gurus and it is something that I am allergic to.
Guest:It's just not something that's ever been my bag.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Well, I mean like, why, why would it be?
Guest:I don't know.
Marc:You're like the most anti-guru guy I've ever met in my life.
Guest:What does that even mean?
Marc:Yeah, you're like, what are you doing wearing those flippers there?
Guest:I mean, I'm not going to a past life pavilion.
Guest:I love that.
Guest:Oh, you're a little kid.
Guest:Oh, in Egypt, huh?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Oh, a spider?
Guest:Okay.
Guest:Just loved that entire conversation.
Marc:Oh, I mean, look, at least it sounded like David Harbour took it all in stride and it doesn't seem like he was offended by it at all.
Marc:But like he, I think, felt he had some like really...
Marc:you know, thoughtful takes on spirituality and things that are important to him.
Marc:And Mark is just shitting all over all of it.
Marc:Just like whacking down one after another, playing whack-a-mole with that stuff.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Oh, man.
Guest:I did think he had some really nice and like, you know, sort of marked some nice moments of like clarity.
Guest:And like, I think, what did he say?
Guest:To be alive in the present moment exists in a full way without the definition of, you know, of being a certain thing.
Guest:Like, I thought that was great.
Guest:Like an authentic non-self in the present moment.
Guest:Like that's some deep, you know, thoughts right there.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Deep thoughts from David, deep, deep thoughts from Barry Marin.
Guest:So yeah, it was, it was a fun time.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Well, I, I, you know, it's always easy to choose guests like that when they've had such great chemistry with Mark, uh, one time and, uh, yeah.
Marc:I don't think it was a huge detriment that they didn't talk about Thunderbolts.
Marc:I haven't seen the movie and I don't have anything negative to say about it.
Marc:I just have a I have a suspicion that you know what you're getting with it and you don't need to be sold on it if you're going to see it.
Guest:I mean, I've seen the trailer.
Guest:I still don't really understand what the point of it is.
Marc:It's like Suicide Squad or Guardians of the Galaxy.
Marc:It's like the misfit group of Marvel groups.
Guest:But the trailer makes it seem like there's a Superman.
Guest:And it's like, yeah, those Avengers aren't around.
Guest:It's like, well, why aren't they around?
Guest:That seems weird.
Guest:Wasn't there a movie where a Red Hulk was attacking the White House and an Avenger was there?
Guest:Where's the Avenger guy?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Like, why isn't he there helping?
Marc:Yeah, but wait, isn't the fake Captain America there for this one?
Guest:Yes, the fake Captain America is there.
Guest:But like the real Captain America, you know, what's he doing?
Guest:I don't know.
Marc:He's busy with Red Hulks.
Guest:Yeah, I guess so.
Guest:So, yeah.
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:I'm not sure that Thunderbolts will stand the test of time, but that's that that is a nice segue into our next segment, because as you've been listening to The Friday Show, you might have heard that I have my son Owen on sometimes to talk about movies that he has started watching as a 13 year old, soon to be 14 year old.
Marc:And kind of recommending what works for kids his age and maybe a little older, a little younger.
Marc:But he did something different this week because he suggested watching a movie that I absolutely think stands the test of time.
Marc:And I thought it was a little different for us to kind of take on what I would consider and I think a lot of people would consider a classic film.
Marc:So right now, here is my son, Owen, and his latest movie review that he and I then talk about.
Marc:Hello, Owen.
Marc:Hello.
Marc:How's it going?
Marc:So we did something a little different this time.
Marc:We didn't watch a movie that was rated PG-13 or something that was a little bit for older kids.
Marc:What did we do?
Guest:We watched Pee Wee's Big Adventure.
Marc:Yeah, I was surprised.
Marc:You just said to us one day that you wanted to watch it.
Marc:So what was up with that?
Guest:So this was a movie that I believe you played for me back in like 2015, which is like 10 years ago, like exactly 10 years ago.
Guest:And it was like you like the movie, so it would be fun if we watched it together.
Marc:Although, didn't I say something at the time when we were going to watch it?
Marc:I said there's a part that's a little scary, right?
Yeah.
Guest:You said that, like, before the scene happened.
Guest:Like, you paused the movie and you said, do you want to be brave?
Guest:And I said, yes.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:And that's how it all unfolded.
Guest:Now...
Guest:if you've watched the movie before, you probably know what I'm talking about.
Guest:There is a brief jump scare during the nighttime scene.
Guest:There's a scene, like, a good scene, a long scene in that movie that takes place at night.
Guest:It probably wasn't at night.
Guest:It was, like, at a dark studio.
Guest:Oh, maybe, yeah.
Guest:And I'll probably mention this later, but the jump scare frightened me for a solid 10 years until I built up the courage this year to finally watch the movie.
Guest:And...
Guest:I was like, how come I didn't do this all along?
Guest:I could just close my eyes.
Guest:How come I didn't think of that?
Marc:You knew when it was going to happen, so you could just close your eyes right before that, right?
Guest:Yeah, because another podcast team that you and Mom listened to, Unspooled, they did an episode about Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, and they're one of the podcast people that play clips from movies, the audio clips.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And so...
Guest:I heard the audio of that particular scene, and I was like, now I know when it's going to happen.
Guest:So I guess that kind of gave me a bit more courage, but it took me a couple years.
Guest:So for people who haven't watched the movie, here is how it progresses.
Guest:So basically, it stars Pee Wee Herman, who was basically a comedian before the movie aired.
Guest:Was he kind of like a Jerry Lewis type guy?
Marc:Sure.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I mean, but, but more so the Jerry Lewis who was an actor and he played roles, Pee Wee Herman played by Paul Rubens was like the character that was out there in the world.
Marc:And he only went around as that character.
Marc:He would go on talk shows as Pee Wee Herman.
Marc:He would be, you know, you would see him on award shows as Pee Wee Herman.
Marc:And that was the character he did on his, in his stage show was, was Pee Wee Herman.
Marc:And that started out in, in LA and,
Marc:What do you play?
Marc:He played a character called Captain Carl, who then is no longer in the show after several episodes.
Guest:And he's at the end of the movie as that news reporter.
Marc:Yeah, that's right.
Marc:He shows up at the end of the movie.
Marc:Yeah, they unfortunately had a falling out.
Marc:They were friends and then they were not friends anymore.
Guest:So the movie progresses with Pee Wee Herman wakes up and decides to, well, make a breakfast machine.
Guest:And that's a good scene.
Guest:One of my favorite scenes.
Guest:But then he takes out his bike and it shows the bike.
Guest:It's like a classic, like 1950s sort of, what do you call it?
Marc:Like a Schwinn, but it's very souped up.
Guest:He's got a lot of stuff on it.
Guest:It's got like a lion head on it.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And...
Guest:And then his evil neighbor, who's just a spoiled kid, walks up to him and says, it's my birthday and I want that bike.
Guest:And Phoebe's like, no, it's mine.
Guest:And they argue for about like three minutes straight.
Guest:And then...
Guest:PeeWee takes his bike to the park.
Guest:He ends up going to... Well, the magic store to get some supplies.
Guest:Which end up being used later in the movie.
Guest:Except for one, which was used in a deleted scene.
Guest:I'll probably get back to that later.
Guest:And... Then... Well, he ties up his bike for like...
Guest:Four minutes.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then he comes back and realized the bike has been stolen.
Guest:He spent four minutes tying it up and it got stolen.
Guest:So he talks to the police station about how his bike might have gone stolen.
Guest:And they said, explain to me why the Soviets might have evolved.
Marc:Yeah, he must have been telling them all sorts of theories.
Guest:and so he's like well it all started with Francis and Francis so he goes up to Francis house and I like how the music lines up with him knocking on the door then this like this big buff man answers the door and Pee Wee says where's Francis and the guy says he's not here he's taking his bath Pee Wee says oh yeah where are you hosing him down yeah that guy's actually an old wrestler
Marc:I thought his name sounded familiar.
Marc:Professor Toru Tanaka, yeah.
Marc:He was a bad guy wrestler from like the 60s and 70s.
Guest:So he ends up meeting a fortune teller who tells him, since fortune tellers always fake, she tells him that, oh, your bike is at the basement of the Alamo.
Guest:So now Pee Wee's hitchhiking and gets picked up by a criminal who drives him a fair amount across the country.
Guest:Then he drops him off in the middle of nowhere
Marc:Oh, wait, hang on a sec, though.
Marc:When he's driving them across the country, what does he notice?
Marc:The bike drives past.
Marc:Yeah, because what were you told earlier on?
Marc:What does the audience know?
Marc:Francis actually took the bike.
Marc:He took the bike, and now he's worried that because Pee Wee is on to him, he's worried that Pee Wee is going to find out, right?
Marc:So he tells some dude, just get rid of it.
Guest:Yeah, that guy, the guy he sold the bike to just never appears in the movie.
Marc:That's right.
Marc:It's a weird thing.
Guest:Yeah, he should be a bigger role.
Guest:Like, he should be the guy that they find out took the bike.
Guest:I just, I don't know.
Guest:I just don't know what.
Guest:Maybe got cut out.
Guest:Yeah, there was only three deleted scenes in the DVD.
Guest:All right, I'll get back to that as well.
Guest:But then the second hitchhiker is even worse than the first.
Guest:Turns out to be a ghost.
Guest:You don't find that until she drops him off at the rest stop.
Guest:And that's where the jump scare happens, just so you're wondering.
Marc:When she's telling him a story.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And what's her name?
Guest:Large Marge turns around and face is like, I'm told it's claymation, but...
Guest:I'm trying to picture what it looks like in my head because I haven't looked at it in 10 years.
Guest:It's funny, but it's not funny in this jump scare.
Guest:What I vividly remember from that Unspooled episode is that they said that when they were younger, that large march jump scare was up there for a while.
Guest:They thought that was...
Guest:They thought it was a long jump scare, but it turns out, while listening to the audio and they said this themselves, it's a very quick jump scare.
Guest:Very quick.
Guest:It's almost like a subliminal message.
Marc:Yeah, I think that's true with a lot of things, that when you're younger, if it left an impression on you, you think it was a lot more impactful than it was, or you think it...
Marc:Maybe it went on longer or that you just saw more of it.
Marc:And yeah, it's almost never the case.
Guest:It's so weird.
Guest:It's just lots of stuff can toy with your brain.
Guest:I remember stuff way differently.
Guest:Yeah, sure.
Guest:Anyway, gets dropped off at the rest stop and meets...
Guest:the the the bartender the waitress they sit in the dinosaur together the dinosaur statue and watch the sunrise turns out she has the evil boyfriend or just a gross boyfriend who is trying to now hurt peewee because he's seen he saw peewee with his girlfriend so he's chasing him with a giant bone yeah peewee hops on the train just in time turns out he's on the train with a hobo hobo sings too loudly starts singing jimmy crab corn of all things and
Guest:And as Pee Wee jump off the train, lands in Texas.
Guest:Like, that's so weird.
Guest:He jumped on the train.
Guest:Now he's in Texas.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Like, it was two minutes, and now he's in Texas.
Guest:So he goes into the Alamo.
Guest:It's a bit of a boring tour, but all in all, there's no basement in the Alamo.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, he has to wait through the whole tour and then he finds out there's no basement.
Guest:So now he's super annoyed.
Guest:There's this whole scene with the rodeo that I completely forgot about.
Guest:I didn't know that was a scene.
Guest:I might have missed it when I first watched it.
Guest:I only watched that movie about twice because the second time I watched it, I was scared stiff.
Guest:Anyway...
Guest:There's the rodeo scene.
Guest:There's the bike gang scene.
Guest:That's fun because Pee Wee dances to Tequila.
Guest:Uh-huh.
Guest:He does his signature dance that apparently he did before that movie.
Marc:Yeah, the Pee Wee dance.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Oh, then he crashes.
Guest:They gave him a bike to go get his old bike, and he ends up getting hurt badly.
Guest:Like, it's kind of funny.
Guest:It's like he crashes into a billboard, and I swear I could see a dummy fly across the screen.
Guest:It's a good crash.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:um so that now he's in the hospital he's going all over the place and oh he has a quick dream about clowns finds out that the bike is now at a movie studio and so he has to go to warner brothers the good the good scene is the studio chase where he disguised himself as a nun and then steals the bike because he's he's supposed to be at a nunnery like in in the movie studio like the movie studio is being said like as a nunnery
Guest:So he takes the bike.
Guest:He's like, oh, I'm going to take this.
Guest:And then drives away.
Guest:And he's being chased by lots of staff through the studio.
Guest:He ends up going through tons of movie sets, ruining the sets.
Guest:He goes through a beach set, a Christmas set, then like a Japanese Godzilla movie.
Guest:And then like a Twisted Sister music video.
Guest:And then...
Guest:Oh, there was... Now, this was the deleted scene that was cut.
Guest:He was supposed to go through an old western set.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Guest:And he finally got to use what?
Guest:The boomerang bow tie.
Marc:That was when he got it.
Marc:Mario's Magic Shop.
Marc:Right, right.
Guest:Then he ends up in the jungle.
Guest:He swings over the lake...
Marc:Yeah, like Tarzan.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then now he's just randomly in the city.
Guest:Then there's one more scene with the pet store fire.
Guest:He has to free all the animals.
Guest:And what's funny is he keeps looking at the snakes.
Guest:Like he walks back, walks back to the snakes, frees some more birds, walks back to the snakes.
Guest:And he's like, ugh.
Guest:Then it cuts to him running out of the pet store with all the snakes on his hands.
Guest:Yeah.
Yeah.
Guest:Collapses in the middle of the street.
Guest:Firemen and police officer appear.
Guest:The fireman is happy, but the police officer is mad.
Marc:Yeah, because he just did all that stuff in the movie studio.
Marc:You know, Tom Sharpling, my friend Tom, he said that scene is one of his favorite scenes in all of movies.
Marc:The pet story scene.
Marc:Why?
Marc:Well, he said it's funny, but it also he said it touches him.
Marc:He feels he he thinks it's a very sweet scene that he goes through all this trouble to save the animals.
Marc:And then he even saves the animals that he's disgusted by, meaning the snakes.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Also, he just leaves his bike in the middle of the road.
Marc:Well, yeah, he cared about saving those animals.
Guest:That's just, yeah, you're right.
Guest:That is, that is touching.
Guest:But the director lets him slide because he was like, I liked your adventure so much.
Guest:I'm going to turn it into a movie.
Guest:The movie was bad.
Guest:It was just a James Bond ripoff.
Guest:And the only role that Pee Wee plays is a bell hop with a weird voice.
Marc:Well, why do you think he has a weird voice?
Marc:he's disguising it well yeah i think the joke there is that the movie is disguising it because they realized oh my god this guy's got such a bad voice the real peewee right because it talks like this so they so they decided to dub his voice over with a deep voice that that i could still hear that voice in my head mr herman you have a phone call it's a good joke
Guest:Um, so, and that's how the story ends.
Guest:He's at the, the, at the drive-in movie theater and everybody he met at his adventures there.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But then what's the very last person that comes by is who?
Guest:Francis.
Guest:And he ends up like, I like to think he killed him.
Guest:No, he just like ejects him off the bike like with a weird button and he flies off the screen.
Guest:You like that Francis got his comeuppance.
Guest:Put it that way.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:All right.
Guest:And the last thing I'll mention in this movie is probably its soundtrack.
Guest:It is probably the best like cartoony soundtrack I've ever heard.
Marc:Well, who's the, who did the, who did the score for this movie?
Marc:It's Danny Elfman.
Marc:Right.
Marc:And this, so I don't know if you remember this, but the entire reason why, why I showed you this movie when you were little is because we listened to a lot of Danny Elfman music.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:We, we would listen to, I had these soundtracks and then also at that time we listened to a lot of Pandora radio.
Marc:Cause like it was Pandora is like, you know, the early version of Spotify or Amazon music and that, and you go around.
Marc:It is, yeah.
Marc:But you could, you know, the kind of the thing about Pandora was it did like a kind of algorithmic playlist for you so that if you said Danny Elfman Radio, right, it would play Danny Elfman music and stuff like Danny Elfman, right?
Marc:So you listened to a lot of stuff like that.
Marc:And I think you were just interested.
Marc:Where does this come from?
Marc:What is this?
Marc:And that Pee-Wee's Big Adventure was at the time probably the only one we could show you.
Marc:Although I think we obviously did watch Nightmare Before Christmas as well.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So what I remember also from that unspooled episode is the history of Danny Elfman's compositions.
Guest:He had written music for like his friend's movie.
Guest:And I remember that from the Danny Elfman greatest hits CD or music for darkened theater.
Guest:And like, cause I have a, I have a Danny Elfman like greatest hits CD.
Guest:Apparently there's another one.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Um, but it's, it's called songs for a darkened theater or music for a darkened theater or something like that.
Guest:And it's like all of his,
Guest:All of his hits and even some of his obscure ones, movies I haven't heard of.
Guest:And the movie was called The Forbidden Zone, apparently.
Guest:I don't know what it was about.
Guest:Yeah, it was a very low-budget movie.
Guest:I don't think a lot of people have seen it.
Guest:So the music doesn't sound like what you'd hear in one of the movies he wrote for.
Guest:It was kind of bad.
Guest:But then he wrote this song in another movie, and it was kind of the inspiration for the Breakfast Machine song.
Guest:Like...
Guest:That was probably his debut of upbeat cartoon music.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:Because then most of the soundtrack in Pee-wee's Big Adventure is just... Yeah.
Marc:But were you happy you gave this movie another chance?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:What are your overall thoughts about it?
Guest:I'd give it like... It's a 10 out of 10.
Marc:Yeah, I agree with you.
Marc:You know, and quite frankly, I mean, obviously, I grew up with this.
Marc:I watched it a lot when I was a kid.
Marc:Sitting, you know, just slightly to my left is the Pee Wee's Playhouse toy set that has been in my possession for a very long time.
Marc:And it's now down in our basement here.
Marc:And you were using it recently.
Marc:Was that one of the things that made you think to watch the movie?
Marc:That you had this play set out?
Marc:No, actually.
Marc:Oh, just coincidence.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Oh, well, I mean, the bottom line, though, is obviously Pee-wee Herman had been in my life for a very long time.
Marc:And we watched Pee-wee's Playhouse together.
Marc:I have all those on DVD.
Marc:We watch the Pee-wee's Christmas special every year.
Marc:I watched this movie, I guess it was about two years ago when Paul Rubens died.
Marc:I went to the movie theater to watch Pee-wee's Big Adventure.
Marc:And I probably have seen this movie 20 times or whatever.
Marc:Watching it that time, and I was thinking it again, watching it with you just now, it's an even better movie than I thought it was when I was a kid.
Marc:It's like The Wizard of Oz.
Marc:It's a timeless movie.
Marc:It could be taking place at any time.
Marc:It's got fantasy.
Marc:It's got imagination.
Marc:It's got wonderful jokes.
Marc:It's got great energy.
Marc:It's it's kind of perfect for everyone at every age.
Marc:And, you know, that part you were scared of.
Marc:Like, I think about my uncle.
Marc:He was so scared of the flying monkeys in The Wizard of Oz.
Marc:Couldn't watch him.
Marc:Closed his eyes just like you did with this.
Marc:I sometimes I think that's kind of good for kids to have little things that are frightening to them is it helps them confront their fears.
Guest:Over the summer, I had a pretty vivid and scary dream of, well, essentially Large Marge, but it was like a maid, and it was like she is actually a monster, and she only turns into the monster when you least expect it.
Guest:Oh, wow.
Guest:And we were watching the movie at home, and I just remember the jump scare was so scary that it made mom go, oof.
Marc:In the dream?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So how do you feel about it now that you've seen it again?
Marc:Do you think someday you'll actually watch that part?
Marc:When I'm older.
Marc:All right.
Marc:Anything else?
Marc:Nope.
Marc:All right.
Marc:Well, thanks for your suggestion because I was very happy to go back and watch Pee Wee's Big Adventure again.
Marc:You're welcome.
Guest:When was the last time you saw that, Chris?
Guest:It's been a minute.
Guest:I'll be honest.
Guest:Actually, I think I saw it when Pee Wee passed away.
Guest:And they were playing it at the Alamo.
Guest:And I went to the Alamo Drafthouse.
Marc:Yes, I saw it at the same thing.
Marc:Because they had the bike on display.
Marc:I took a picture with the bike.
Marc:And I just thought it was funny to go see it in the basement of the Alamo.
Marc:Literally in the basement.
Marc:Because that Alamo, you have to go like six floors down.
Yes.
Guest:You know, I've been to the Alamo, and I have asked to see the basement of the Alamo.
Guest:Oh, you and 30 million other people?
Guest:Yes.
Guest:To the surprise of no one, they have heard that joke before.
Guest:And yeah, they were very nice.
Guest:They'd be like, no, there's no basement.
Guest:Why don't they make one?
Guest:I know.
Guest:That'd be so easy.
Guest:Just make a basement.
Guest:Put a bike down there.
Guest:Yeah, right.
Guest:Also, just like, you know, put one of those glass floors.
Guest:And like, oh, look, there's Pee Wee's bike.
Guest:It's right there.
Marc:Yeah, it doesn't even have to be part of the actual property.
Marc:Just dig a hole outside.
Marc:Totally.
Marc:And be like, look, you're seeing down into the basement of the Alamo.
Marc:Ha ha ha.
Guest:I also love that Owen has CDs.
Guest:That's a kid after my own heart.
Marc:Yeah, only CDs.
Marc:He loves listening to CDs.
Marc:He doesn't really like listening to, you know, digital music.
Marc:No kidding.
Marc:You know, he will when he can't find something, but he won't just sit there and listen to like a playlist.
Marc:He listens to his full CDs.
Guest:Wow.
Guest:All right.
Guest:And also cool that you guys listened to Unspooled.
Guest:I did not know that.
Guest:I didn't know that it left such an impression on him.
Guest:I just had it on.
Guest:Let me tell you something.
Guest:The things that go through kids' minds and stick with them is always the most fascinating thing ever.
Guest:I just took my niece, Aria, to a mech game, and of all the things that she was seeing, like she was seeing a pizza slice run on the outfield to try to beat the Empire State Building in a race, all this stuff, of course, a mech game, the thing that she was like, oh, look, they
Guest:changed the number for the home runs hit.
Guest:It's now like 12 instead of 11.
Marc:Oh, she was following along with that.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And like she, like the things that latch on to kids is amazing.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And yet unspooled for your kid.
Guest:Unbelievable.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I should send Paul Sher an email and say, you know, hey, buddy, got my kid into PB's Big Adventure after he would refuse to watch it for 10 years.
Guest:I'm sure there's other movies that they've covered that he'd also probably would get a kick out of.
Marc:Yeah, probably.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:um well it got me thinking though did did uh because you know i i feel very strongly after watching it again uh like i said you know i saw it at the same time you did two years ago or so and uh and then just watching it again now i i i think it's a classic movie and i don't mean that like from a nostalgic point of view i'm looking at it with like fresh eyes i'm trying to watch it as close to like 2025 mindset as possible and i legitimately think it's a
Marc:better movie than i gave it credit for when i loved it as a kid it is it's like um it's one of those type of movies that should play in film festivals or revivals like when they're doing these like you know foreign films that are beloved like playtime or something like that you know it's like it's one of those like some jacques tatty movie i i really think he made an uh absolute work of art with this that is tremendous popular entertainment at the same time and it got me thinking like
Marc:have there been other things for me?
Marc:And I, and I posed this question for you as well, where you loved it when you were younger, but as you got older, you realized it's even better.
Marc:It is you, you, the eyes you were looking at it with as a kid did not even appreciate how good it was.
Marc:And I, I find that, yes, that's true for myself.
Marc:There are several things that I wrote down and thinking about that.
Marc:And I find that a lot of them were things that like adults at the time,
Marc:were poo-pooing like peewee herman like you know people didn't take it seriously they were like oh it's that goofy guy you know it was not thought of as like so you can go back and look that movie didn't get like great critical acclaim or something i think people just didn't take it seriously they thought it was a goof and uh and there are a lot of things that i started thinking about that i'm like oh that absolutely fits in that category and i wonder if it's the same for you
Guest:Yeah, I mean, I think so.
Guest:Like, there are movies that when I have rewatched them, and I rewatch a lot of movies, and I'm just like, oh, this takes, this is even better than what I thought it was when I was a kid, you know?
Guest:And like, yeah, there's something special about, you know, a movie like Pee-wee's Big Adventure.
Guest:And by the way, can I just say, I love that Owen's like, why didn't I just think of this sooner?
Guest:I can just close my eyes.
Yeah.
Guest:Oh, I could just run.
Guest:That's exactly what I thought of.
Guest:Just effortlessly funny.
Yeah.
Marc:So yeah, so what is some of the ones for you?
Guest:The Breakfast Club.
Guest:Like, I know as a kid, that was a very fun movie, but rewatching it recently, I think it was on the Criterion channel.
Guest:It might not have been, but I rewatched it and I was like, oh, this is actually like great.
Guest:Like there's a lot of people that are, you know,
Guest:Not so much found and or sort of lost or like in between and not quite stereotypical.
Guest:And like they just kind of like all meld together.
Guest:And it's quite a touching and beautiful movie.
Marc:You know what I think is a movie like that?
Marc:That I really didn't even think of it until just now because you said The Breakfast Club.
Marc:But also a John Hughes movie is Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
Guest:Mm-hmm.
Marc:And I think it's because it wasn't until really, you know, maybe the last five years or so, whatever the last time I saw it, I can't remember exactly when that was.
Marc:But the last time I saw it, I was way keyed into the fact that, you know, like all throughout my whole life,
Marc:People have the criticism levied against that movie is that Ferris is kind of an asshole.
Marc:Right.
Marc:That he's that he that the stuff he's doing to his parents is disrespectful and he has no sense of authority.
Marc:Almost like Max Fisher in Rushmore, just to, you know, there's there's almost a level of mental illness there with or, you know, a sense of a lack of empathy to others around him.
Marc:I always internalized that and thought like, nah, I still like it.
Marc:I like him.
Marc:It's a funny movie and whatever.
Marc:It was only recently watching it that I realized that criticism is totally wrong.
Marc:The whole movie is about this guy who does this entire thing for the benefit of his friend that he is tremendously concerned about.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Like he's afraid this guy is going to kill himself.
Marc:Right.
Marc:And so he's like, you know what?
Marc:Fuck it.
Marc:I'm not going to school.
Marc:And I will, I will arrange my whole day so that we make this guy realize he's alive.
Marc:And the girlfriend even says that to him at the end.
Marc:She's like, you planned all this, didn't you?
Marc:And he just kind of, it's, it's because it's understated.
Marc:He doesn't answer.
Marc:He just smiles.
Marc:And, and I think that, you know, for, for,
Marc:Almost my whole life that like went over my head or I just didn't key into the fact that this was all for Cameron's benefit.
Marc:And after you think of it that way, it changes the whole movie.
Marc:You're like, oh, this guy's a hero.
Marc:He saved this kid's life.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:One hundred percent.
Guest:One hundred percent.
Guest:What's a movie that did that for you as well?
Marc:Well, I would say I have movies plural in the sense that I, it was all from one filmmaker who I think for a lot of, you know, again, it's like this thing of like critical reaction.
Marc:I think at the time people like treated these, like they were lesser movies or they're like B movies or genre movies that weren't, you know, that were, that were the kind of things that just like play on late night TV or whatever.
Marc:And yeah,
Marc:I liked them because I would have liked any kind of movie like that, you know, like B movies, like junkie movies when you're a kid.
Marc:And I thought these fell into that category.
Marc:But I think now later in life, I really believe John Carpenter is one of the great directors of American cinema.
Marc:And in particular, like Halloween, The Thing, Escape from New York, and They Live are just amazing.
Marc:Excellent movies, like not not good genre movies, excellent movies like Halloween's probably the greatest horror movie ever made.
Marc:You know, there's so much that's topped it in terms of horror, but in terms of skill and filmmaking, it's it's like a Hitchcock film.
Marc:Yeah, that's smart.
Marc:So, yeah, I mean, like that, that definitely what I was thinking of with movies.
Marc:But I was also thinking of because of Pee Wee's Big Adventure.
Marc:Owen and I were talking about Tim Burton a little bit afterwards.
Marc:And, you know, I was thinking about Batman when I was a kid, like Batman and Pee Wee's Big Adventure would have fallen in my category of favorite movies.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Right.
Marc:And, you know, I've watched Batman again.
Marc:It's great.
Marc:Fine.
Marc:But it did not rise to the level of like, man, this is even better than I thought it was.
Marc:But you know what did?
Marc:What's that?
Marc:Batman, the animated series.
Guest:No, I love that.
Guest:That's like right in my Q zone.
Marc:I mean, I loved it too, but I thought, look, look, there have been so many times, so many times, especially because our age is like very targeted for nostalgia stuff, right?
Marc:Our age group.
Marc:And-
Marc:You know, they made that whole channel like a spinoff of Cartoon Network called Boomerang that was just all old cartoons, like cartoons from the 70s and 80s, like stuff that we would have known.
Marc:And I can't tell you how many times I watched them and was like, oh, that's a rough sit.
Marc:Like the animation is bad.
Marc:It's just they were toy commercials.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You know, He-Man was a toy commercial.
Marc:I remember when G.I.
Marc:Joe was airing on one of those cartoon network or something.
Marc:And my friend was so excited to get home and watch G.I.
Marc:Joe for the first time in, I don't know, 20 years or whatever.
Marc:And I remember he was like at home watching and he called me and he was like, man, we were duped.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:He was so angry that like this thing was just total garbage.
Marc:Not true with that Batman, the animated series and with the X-Men animated series from the same time.
Marc:If you watch those today, which I have, they are excellent.
Marc:They're as good as the Spider-Verse movies.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And that X-Men 97 that came out on Disney Channel, it is just as good.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:I mean, that X-Men 97 is like the open acknowledgement that this thing was good.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:100%.
Guest:You know what movie that at the time I loved, but upon rewatch and upon like just life, you know, coming at me has gotten like significant more meaning to me is Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
Guest:And I know, look, I know it was a musical, but at the time, and I also know that, you know, I'm what, it came out in what, 2001?
Marc:I think so.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Guest:I was, I was, I was like 20 years old, maybe 19 years old.
Guest:I did not know too many trans people in my life.
Guest:And like, you know, that's just my life.
Guest:But this movie kind of introduced me to that idea.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And the movie, like upon rewatch it now, I know, you know, trans people and it is a beautiful movie and a touching movie.
Guest:And it has transcended what it was back then.
Guest:And it's become even deeper and more beautiful over time.
Guest:Like I still listen to that music all the time.
Guest:And it is a movie that is kind of...
Guest:It's all about transition and it's not about gender.
Guest:It's about like your identity.
Guest:Right.
Marc:Transition of identity.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I think I wasn't able to grasp it, you know, fully.
Guest:Like I was able to get it.
Guest:Sure.
Guest:And like that origin of love song is a fucking banger.
Marc:Yeah, and that song is a great distillation of what you're talking about.
Marc:Do you want somebody to... Is it hard for you to talk about this or to explain it or whatever?
Marc:Don't bother.
Marc:Just listen to this.
Guest:Exactly.
Guest:And in the movie, they have a little video about it.
Guest:And it's so beautiful and so touching.
Guest:And I think that movie, at the time...
Guest:I loved it, but like, I don't know, I saw it once and whatever, but I watched it again recently and I'm like, wow, this movie must have, you know, probably really resonates with a lot of people.
Guest:And I really hope there are people out there who, you know, maybe are, you know, transitioning or thinking of transitioning and I hope they get to see this and kind of feel seen.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So, yeah, I really thought that Hedwig fits into that category.
Yeah.
Marc:Well, to go 180 degrees in the other direction, this this one is on my mind because I just watched quite a bit of it.
Marc:And it is because as a little bit of advance notice, Monday's guest on the show is Tom Green.
Guest:No way.
Marc:Yes.
Guest:My wife's favorite.
Marc:Oh, really?
Guest:Yes.
Guest:She loves Tom Green.
Guest:She has a picture of Tom Green in her.
Marc:Well, I love Tom Green, too.
Marc:And, you know, I watched his show.
Marc:And when it came out, I watched it regularly.
Marc:I really loved his show.
Marc:And we had him on back like 13 years ago.
Marc:It was a long time ago now.
Marc:And great episodes.
Marc:I've always liked Tom Green.
Marc:Like, that's, again, it's like the Pee Wee thing.
Marc:There was never any negativity for me associated with Tom Green.
Marc:I was on board.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But, you know, I was also on board with anything around that time that kind of fit that mold, kind of somewhat juvenile, but like there was a little smart edge to it or whatever.
Marc:And I like Beavis and Butthead.
Marc:That's another perfect example where like, you know, grownups hate this, but it's actually funny and smart and whatever.
Marc:That's how I thought Tom Green was, right?
Marc:Or Jackass, right?
Mm-hmm.
Marc:Watching it again, like, and also kind of a few weeks removed from having all that Andy Kaufman stuff in my head.
Marc:This dude is, was an artist.
Marc:Like he, he, he was making something with intent.
Marc:Like it was not just the, just provocation.
Marc:It was like all these little weird touches, like having that guy in the background just sit and stare out the window and laugh.
Marc:And like these great little flourishes of his comedy.
Marc:That cancer special is one of the great things ever made that like the construction of it as this almost like, you know, after school special type thing.
Marc:Like he was a really smart, wonderful entertainer.
Marc:Visionary.
Marc:It just – he gets too boxed in to that era of, like, gross-out comedy.
Guest:100%.
Guest:Like, that punked sort of thing.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:He gets lumped in there.
Guest:But that's great.
Guest:And, yeah, the Tom Green show.
Guest:That is up there in, like, the Mount Rushmore, if you will.
Guest:I will say –
Guest:Owen got me thinking about things I liked as kids and would want to revisit now.
Guest:And I, you know, kind of just, you know, being around children, you know, with my nieces and nephews has really affected me.
Guest:And
Guest:there are things that I remember loving as a kid.
Guest:And as an adult, I just never think about because I'm a fucking adult and I have to think about bills and not dying and allergies.
Guest:But like my nephew, Liam, loves to go out and go fishing.
Guest:And he just sits on the dock and goes fishing with a little fishing pole.
Guest:And I remember loving fishing.
Guest:And like,
Guest:Where were you fishing in Staten Island?
Guest:Yeah, in Staten Island.
Guest:I lived across the street from Highland Boulevard where there was a bay over there.
Guest:But also as a Boy Scout, I would go fishing.
Marc:You convinced yourself that body parts and needles were fish?
Yeah.
Guest:Listen, Brendan, if you found a thumb, that was a good day.
Marc:How about Coney Island whitefish?
Marc:You ever find those?
Guest:No.
Guest:What is that?
Marc:Oh, used condoms.
Marc:That's what they were called when they'd float up on the beach.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But he goes fishing and he has a great time.
Guest:He's there for hours just on the dock fishing.
Guest:And like, yeah, it's like a thing that you don't ever...
Guest:it's an extracurricular activity that you just kind of gets lost in the shuffle of life.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:That's a lot of like outdoor stuff.
Marc:Like, you know what?
Marc:Just go outside.
Marc:You'll find something.
Guest:Hiking.
Guest:When the allergy season is gone, hiking is great.
Guest:You know, it's something I used to do a bunch again as a kid.
Guest:But then when I met my wife, she loves go hiking.
Guest:I'm like, sure, I'll go hiking.
Guest:And it's great.
Guest:Like, I know Mark does it.
Guest:He climbs the fucking hill by him.
Guest:Hopefully he doesn't die.
Guest:But like,
Guest:It's so great to just go hiking and do stuff that you did as a child that is just, you know, kind of just harkens back to that time.
Marc:And you can appreciate it in a different way.
Marc:100%.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:100%.
Marc:Well, the last thing I have here is kind of crazy that I put this on the list, but it's absolutely true.
Marc:And like, I wonder if this is true for a lot of people, at least in terms of the experience of like liking it as you're a kid.
Marc:But as you're an adult, you realize the genius of it.
Marc:And it's the Beatles.
Marc:Oh, wow.
Marc:I mean... Like, when you're a kid, they were like, it's like Christmas carols.
Marc:You just know all the songs.
Marc:They're around.
Marc:There's very few kids that are like, I hate these Beatles.
Marc:Turn them off, right?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But I just don't think I ever was able to really appreciate them beyond... Like, to me, they got lumped in with every other great pop music act of the 40 years prior, right?
Marc:Like, it's just like...
Marc:you know, Michael Jackson, the Beatles, Elvis.
Marc:Right.
Marc:And so they hit that pedestal and you keep them there because it's the peak.
Marc:You're like, well, that's the peak of it.
Marc:It's only been in like, I think a lot of it has to do with like some of those documentaries, that Peter Jackson thing.
Marc:Also just winding up listening to Beatles albums with my son.
Marc:And, you know, we'd be in the car on long drives and just play Beatles records.
Marc:It's like, these are masterworks.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Like the albums.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, they're not making those types of albums anymore.
Marc:They're not making those type of people, like the brains.
Marc:I mean, it was really, it was something I was already thinking, like, you know, after several years of kind of reengaging with Beatles music.
Marc:But only after seeing that Peter Jackson documentary with all the old footage, did I realize like, oh, yeah.
Marc:Paul McCarty was a, is a legit genius.
Marc:Like he's, he's, he's one, it's, it's one of the only times that in our lifetime, we're able to see an artistic genius at work.
Marc:Like watching him come up with the songs in out of nowhere, like writing, get back in the middle of like just the room.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:That's like watching Mozart.
Marc:It's like what's depicted in Amadeus when he's just like sitting there at the table, bouncing a billiard ball around and writing, you know, a symphony.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I recently finished that Beatles documentary.
Guest:And the trick that for me was I put the captions on and that helped me immeasurably.
Guest:And I like for me, I thought when Ringo was was trying to work out, not Octopus's Garden.
Marc:octopuses garden that's amazing that was i was i i had to pull aaron in and i was like you gotta watch this well okay because if if if you haven't seen what we're talking about you know and this is this you know eight hour 12 hour documentary so yeah yeah but uh but there's a scene and it's before like the rest of the band shows up and ringo is plunking out on a keyboard he's like oh i wrote something here and
Marc:it's george harrison that he's talking to there's no one else around maybe one other person around or so but but that's who he's talking to right and he plays him like a couple of bars of what will become octopus's garden and he just plays him and then he's like that's all i got and my reaction if i was george would be like that's great bud keep it up right right
Marc:george harrison in the most tender way possible goes over to him and helps him write the song that we all have known for our whole lives yeah it's amazing it's one of the most loving uh and and collaborative moments you'll
Guest:ever see captured on film and it's this famous song that we all know yes like the one of the most memorable songs and i mean the way george harrison's like well well we got to get back we got to figure out a way to get back to this and like yes you see it all happening the construction of this beautiful like building is happening before your eyes it is magical and we get to see it on film and it it took 30 years for us to see it it's yeah
Guest:I mean, just blows my mind, man.
Marc:I also love the fact that when they finally sit down and are listening to the demos of that stuff, they all hate them.
Marc:You know, they're like everything they've been recording through the whole documentary watching.
Marc:And then you're like, oh, yeah, that's why we never heard this stuff.
Marc:Because these geniuses knew this is not up to snuff for us.
Marc:We did not nail it.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:The Beatles, man, they were a thing of beauty.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I'm going to put some on this weekend.
Guest:Going to the movies alone.
Guest:Can I just say, going to the movies alone, thing I did as a kid because I didn't have too many friends, didn't know how to talk to people.
Guest:Now I do it, and it is such a great moment to just be by myself.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Not have to worry about anything else.
Guest:I'm just along for the ride.
Guest:I'm going to, okay, lights are down, thunderbolts, here we come.
Yeah.
Marc:See, look at that.
Marc:You're all hyped to go see it.
Marc:You didn't need to hear them talking about it.
Guest:Exactly.
Marc:Well, if you have any things out there that you'd like to contribute to this conversation, things that you revisited later in life and realized they were even better than you remembered, please send those in to us.
Marc:We've got the link in the episode description for you to send us your comments, your suggestions, your topics.
Marc:We'll keep doing them here on the Friday show.
Marc:And until next time, I'm Brendan and that is Chris.
Peace.
Thank you.