BONUS The Friday Show - No More Monster Mash
Guest:I would not advocate being the ultimate warrior because if you don't have the jacked muscles.
Guest:Yeah, it doesn't work.
Guest:It doesn't work.
Guest:Yeah, I've been.
Guest:So here's a guy.
Guest:Oh, that sounded very sad.
Guest:hello chris b to the mc how's it going oh it's going well i i like that that had my actual mc uh spelling of my name b mac is it's like a you know a big mac oh right in there but yeah but yeah it's mc but i guess that's mcdonald's too they have a big mac and it's mc
Marc:That's right.
Marc:You had quite a big day.
Marc:Or this week, honestly, has been just a pretty outstanding day.
Marc:How are you feeling about it?
Guest:Oh, you mean just Arnold in general?
Marc:Yeah, Arnold.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:How was it listening to it?
Marc:Being the only person to listen to it besides Mark, like that must have been a treat.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I knew that we had the goods, so that was the one thing.
Guest:As soon as it happened, as we talked about last week, I listened to it, and I knew right away, like, oh, well, this is great.
Guest:And it was great to me, and everybody can have their own opinions on it.
Guest:I'm not saying you have to think this was a great episode or anything, or your favorite episode at WTF.
Guest:Nothing like that.
Guest:But to me, as somebody who's done hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of these...
Guest:Thousands.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:The thing that's crazy is the, you know, the, the ability, like Arnold was all over the place.
Guest:He had done Stern the morning of, like he did a bunch of other podcasts, Conan and Rob Lowe.
Guest:And, you know, I watched and listened to as many of them as I could.
Guest:And like,
Guest:There was nothing like this one with Mark.
Guest:It was totally different.
Guest:And it's like, that is the satisfying thing to be like, we have set this thing up, this structure that we have in place with this person, Mark Maron, and the talent that he has and his personality type.
Guest:And we've been able to craft a show around that that then allows for guests to come on and have a totally unique interview.
Guest:And it's like Arnold Schwarzenegger is already like one of the more unique people in the world.
Guest:So like to have him and then get all, like I said to Mark, you got all of him.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Like it's all the parts, all the varying parts were in that.
Guest:I love that part where they just talked about like politics for a while.
Guest:And Arnold's like, you know, straight up on the like Republican free market track, even when it comes to like green energy stuff.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I thought it was great, not because I was like, oh, these guys are having a very deep political conversation that's going to solve things.
Guest:It was more like, oh, this is very revealing about who Arnold is, like all that bluster that goes into his like salesmanship of bodybuilding and movies and any other project he's doing.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:he just carries that right into politics.
Guest:And it's like, it's kind of shallow.
Guest:It's not, it's not very nuanced, but like there is definitely a market for that.
Guest:And it works in its own weird way.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And I, but I just thought it was very fun to watch, like nobody's going to sit there while he's selling a movie and be like, yeah, but do you really think people want to go to Mars in movies?
Guest:Right.
Guest:Like, like people just like, oh yeah, that sounds great.
Guest:It's a movie with Mars.
Guest:Oh yeah.
Guest:It's fantastic.
And,
Guest:He's doing that with like this green energy stuff.
Guest:And Mark, you know, just keeps puncturing it with things.
Guest:He's like, but what about like unadulterated greed?
Guest:Like, how do you deal with that?
Guest:It's like, it's inherent in the system.
Guest:And he's like, well, I would just innovate and get around it.
Guest:You know, there's always time.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:There's always time.
Yeah.
Guest:I was like, this is so great.
Guest:Like, I guess, you know, it's revealing about me in that, like, I'm not looking for interview.
Guest:God, who the hell do you think we are?
Guest:We're not going to change the world.
Guest:We're not going to solve problems.
Guest:But the whole point of doing this, I can do any other job.
Guest:That, you know, in media, the whole point of why this one is cool to me is that like we can open eyes up or open ears up in the case of our show to things that people may have not have heard in a perspective that they're not used to.
Guest:And like, I doubt many people are used to this perspective from Arnold Schwarzenegger, a guy they almost certainly have formed an opinion of already.
Marc:I loved Arnold talking about Mark's muscles.
Marc:It was just fantastic.
Marc:And he's naming them so well.
Marc:He's like, oh, look, he's flexing his drives now.
Marc:Just amazing.
Guest:Yeah, I love when Mark's casually like, well, you know, I do work out.
Marc:I know you do.
Marc:Just great to hear.
Marc:The Hans and Franz bit, amazing.
Marc:Holy cow.
Marc:And just like Mark was saying in your bonus episode, when he does his thing, when he just says a movie quote or something, I'm just smiling the entire time.
Marc:It's impossible not to.
Marc:It is just really fun.
Marc:He just has this way of talking.
Guest:Yeah, it's really amazing how entertaining he is just listening to him because he's never particularly insightful or profound.
Guest:It's just very matter of fact salesmanship.
Guest:But in that voice.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:right and in when with all of that all of everything you back load your knowledge of arnold with that comes out of his mouth every time he speaks and that's i thought i said to mark i said please pass this along to kit i was so glad that he asked her question yeah about like his his coding right when he was learning english and that because that set him onto a great answer that he he knew the accent was a major selling point
Guest:And it's like, of course it is.
Guest:It's the, it's, it's, it's beyond any trademark you could invent.
Guest:It's real.
Guest:It's what most, it's all I want to do whenever I've talked about the guys do his voice.
Guest:It's fun.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:I loved in your bonus episode where Arnold just left you, you're asking bar questions and like, you know, did you guys get to this alpha sort of mentality and how Obama had this mentality where,
Marc:And you know what?
Marc:You have that mentality as well, my friend.
Marc:Ah, get out of town.
Marc:I mean, I think you know.
Marc:But when we've interviewed folks together, like there was one interview, I think it was with Excalibur, where he got on the Zoom and he's like, oh, you look kind of familiar.
Marc:And you just jump right in.
Marc:He's like, oh, he's one of those guys.
Marc:You can just rearrange with the magnet, with the hair.
Marc:You can just put the hair anywhere.
Guest:Oh, wait, wait, wait.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Willy Willy.
Marc:And just, just burying me like immediately.
Guest:You have to have a assured sense of ball busting in, in, in this, in what we do, because like, you know, for Mark, he's done it all his life and has to control a stage.
Guest:And now when he's doing this on the microphone, he's got to control the room and whatnot.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:and he's the one who's usually trying to dictate the terms of engagement, right?
Guest:And I think that's always what it is.
Guest:It's like, what can you do to disarm somebody?
Guest:What can you do to make them feel more at ease, not feel like they have to be on the defensive?
Guest:And so, yeah, like, if you and I are sitting here, we're looking across the Zoom, we're going to talk to a person who's a total stranger, like, you're going to catch some strays if that's going to ease...
Guest:ease the situation.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Break the ice.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Exactly.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And I know, you know, I'm like, I don't have to worry about, I'm going to have to clean this mess up later with Chris.
Guest:Like, no, it's not right.
Marc:But that's what Obama's also doing.
Marc:He's like busting some chops just to, just to sort of, you know, get the, get the mood right.
Marc:You know?
Guest:But the interesting thing there is that like, he's the guest and it's the same with Arnold.
Guest:Right.
Guest:It's like, so, but when they're, and that's why I like for somebody like me, it's like,
Guest:I would say it's just more about my producer instincts kick in.
Guest:How do I get the best product here?
Guest:It's like my impulse to go pay off the contractors next door.
Guest:Just do whatever you got to do to make the thing happen.
Guest:A thousand dollars.
Guest:A thousand dollars is a lot.
Guest:a thousand dollars is it would have been very fortunate if they took it because it's like you're you don't know what their work order is you don't know what their time limit is so it's like you're just hoping they're okay with taking cash under the table so they can put in their pockets and pretend they did work for that hour right and and you're hoping that that's the money that makes it work if you're getting into actually paying for time stoppage that's tens of thousands of dollars i got you
Guest:So, you know, the idea of just go grease some palms is a real thing.
Guest:That works, generally.
Guest:But you know what else works?
Guest:Having the fucking Terminator say, I'll be back!
Marc:Wait, so first of all, he says, I'm back!
Marc:Which I believe what he says, which is just amazing.
Marc:I love thinking the contractor's eyes are bugging out like Bugs Bunny, looking at like a carrot or something.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:But then...
Marc:Mark says, he's like, oh, and he says some other line from another movie.
Guest:I guarantee.
Guest:I guarantee.
Guest:And this is because I know Mark wouldn't know it.
Guest:It's get to the chopper.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:I guarantee it.
Guest:Because that's what Arnold thinks.
Guest:I think he thinks that's his, like, that's the line that most people probably yell at him.
Guest:So he thinks, oh, that's the one everybody loves.
Guest:Get to the chopper.
Guest:And he can yell it and he gets, you know.
Yeah.
Guest:i i love that he arnold is his own sort of arnold soundboard the thing i used to play with in college oh my god dude i i texted that exact thing to mark uh last night as i was you know finishing it up i was like you know if we were still doing a radio show i would fill up an entire instant replay machine with just sound bites from this interview it's a
Guest:Oh, you throw you up into your baby poop.
Guest:You know, just all of these things, just put them all as little drops and we would have used them forever.
Guest:Forever.
Guest:You know what else I was saying to Mark?
Guest:I was like, this interview is very much like your Bruce interview, Bruce Springsteen.
Guest:Because almost anyone else...
Guest:would have gotten hung up wanting to talk about all the popular things.
Guest:Because by and large, most people are fans of both Bruce Springsteen and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Guest:Even if they're not deep fans, they're like, oh, I love Born to Run.
Guest:right or whatever oh i've seen the terminator so many times terminator 2 one of my favorite movies and so you'd be impelled to be like well i i know this thing's super popular and i know other people like me will want to talk about it you want to talk about those things right yeah and mark benefits from his distance from those things like it's it's funny like when he was reading the arnold book the um
Guest:this new one to be useful.
Guest:He texted me and he was like, this guy, this guy is an opposite person from me.
Guest:Like we are absolute, like I would never think anything like this.
Guest:This is, and it's so funny.
Guest:It showed up right at the beginning of the talk, how, how he was like,
Guest:how are you doing or whatever what do you mean what do you mean how am i feeling like yeah and he says like i read about you you've had some obstacles some health wise and i just want to make sure you're okay and arnold's like what about all the victories you like to focus on the obstacles how about the victories glass empty glass and mark goes i'm an obstacle guy
Guest:I was like, wow, this is perfect.
Guest:This is exactly.
Guest:And and that's why I think he got all of them.
Guest:You know, if he if if if Arnold was able to size Mark up right away and be like, oh, this guy, you know, loves twins, then it just would have been like, you know, Danny DeVito jokes the whole time or whatever.
Guest:You know, he as a guy who perfected being a politician to get elected and reelected as governor of California.
Guest:You know, he knows how to gauge wavelengths.
Guest:It's a big state.
Guest:And he's dealt with lots of different people throughout his whole life.
Guest:He's very good at all of that.
Guest:But, you know, I just think Mark is uniquely qualified to talk to a guy like that.
Guest:I also love the dynamic of...
Guest:Guy who is relentlessly positive and flattering as a strategy.
Guest:Right?
Guest:Like, oh, look at you.
Guest:You're the best podcast in the world.
Guest:You created an empire.
Guest:Versus a guy who is incapable of taking a compliment.
Guest:Such an odd couple.
Guest:Pathologically incapable of it.
Guest:It worked like a charm to have that happen.
Marc:Totally.
Marc:And it's wild.
Marc:It's not so much a downshift when they got into politics, but it just was on a different gauge, I'd say.
Guest:Yeah, you're getting every level of that guy throughout that hour, which I thought was great about that.
Marc:Yeah, I mean, and, you know, he got into his personal life, and it was so well-rounded.
Marc:It was such an all-encompassing interview.
Guest:Especially when that guy's got that life, and you only have an hour to talk to him.
Marc:Right, right.
Marc:I mean, you got the bodybuilding, and I love that he was jealous of, like, of all these people being like, oh, you know, is chess a sport?
Marc:What about me?
Yeah.
Guest:Oh, no, my favorite part is when he's talking about how he realized the inherent foolishness of it.
Guest:Like, oh, look at me and my little speedo, and I'm oiled up.
Guest:I'm the most muscular man alive.
Guest:How silly is that?
Guest:And then he's like, it's like golf.
Guest:You walk around, you go, okay, what do you want?
Guest:Three iron?
Guest:Oh, no, it should be a five iron.
Guest:How stupid is this?
Marc:Just awesome.
Marc:Really fun.
Marc:I honestly have not heard an interview like that.
Marc:Did you listen to Stern, his interview with Stern?
Guest:I didn't hear the whole thing, but I heard enough of it.
Guest:Stern does a good interview with people.
Guest:It's hamstrung, I think, as a lot of things are, by not being there with him.
Guest:You know, and I think, you know, Howard would probably prefer doing it this way now in this point in his career.
Guest:And that's fine for him.
Guest:And he can still make it work.
Guest:He's still got the crew of people who can help bolster it.
Guest:And it has energy, has life.
Guest:But there's always going to be something missing when you're not there with the person, which is, you know, something we discovered having to do Zoom interviews by necessity for a year plus.
Guest:Right.
Guest:So, yeah, I think, you know, you're probably not going to hear one that's just like this, which to me is a calling card of this show.
Guest:You know, if I could put a stamp on anything, it's like, hey, we'll do a unique interview with whoever you got.
Guest:Send them this way.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Well, you, you also had some other episodes this, uh, this week that were in last week that were really fascinating.
Marc:Like the Larry Charles episode.
Marc:First of all, this is a guy who's, I've seen his name like so many times on my television, like, cause I've taped Seinfeld episodes and he's like the last credit that shows up, uh, you know, on, on the, uh, on the credits for Seinfeld.
Marc:Uh, so this is a guy who's been in my life a while and that episode, uh,
Marc:Man, that is not for a passive listen.
Marc:You can't like tend to your garden while listening to that episode.
Marc:They are fucking on one.
Guest:Yeah, I told Mark, I think that they made each other high.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:Like I think it was like getting a contact high from a person's thoughts.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Like it was like they were, they were, they were, the synapses were firing in such a way that you could hear each of them getting elevated as they were talking and getting excited, you know?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I, at times I had to, I had to look at my phone to make sure I didn't speed up the speed of the, of the interview.
Marc:They were just going a hundred miles per hour with each other.
Marc:And yeah, they were, I mean, first of all, like they get into this, this musical, which sounds fascinating.
Marc:I'm going to try to see it.
Guest:I would never,
Guest:I've checked it out before hearing that.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Now I'm like, oh, this is definitely something I'm going to check out.
Marc:But it's so heavy and it happens immediately.
Marc:Is there ever, you know, has it ever happened where something is so heavy right off the bat?
Marc:Do you ever try to edit it so that that stuff's at the end of the interview?
Marc:No.
Guest:Not anymore.
Guest:I mean, Mark knows well enough of what he's doing and he can get things on track.
Guest:I think sometimes, as people might have heard on producer cut episodes that I've done, there might be like five minutes of something that I don't include.
Guest:I start the interview, you know, like five minutes after they got going.
Guest:Like, you know, him and Brooke Shields talking about their dead animals.
Guest:And I was like, I just don't think this is how we should start the talk.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:moving things around like modularly.
Guest:I haven't had to do that in many, many years.
Guest:And it's just because Mark is now a good self editor, right?
Guest:He, or course corrector.
Guest:He can do it in real time in the moment.
Guest:And I just think with that, that Larry Charles one, you know, it's like,
Guest:There's nothing I'm going to move around there where it's going to actually hang together and make sense.
Guest:It's like they just shot out of a cannon.
Guest:Let them go.
Guest:They're talking about interesting stuff.
Guest:So just hang on there with them.
Guest:They're going to take you through this ride.
Guest:It was exactly what I expected out of that interview.
Guest:Mark wasn't too sure just because he didn't know Larry from Adam.
Guest:He was completely unknown to him other than you seeing his name on things.
Guest:Right.
Guest:But yeah, I just had a feeling, man, with all the stuff of that guy's background and what he focuses on and his thoughts about the role of comedy and how he wants to use comedy, why it's a tool rather than just something passive.
Guest:I was like, oh, this guy's perfect.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I also liked when Larry was saying like, oh, well, people ask him a question and just not answer.
Marc:And Mark shoots back, oh, well, Jerry, Jerry does that.
Marc:And it's such a nice little dig at Jerry Seinfeld that he sort of, he recognizes and then just kind of keeps going.
Marc:But man, that was great.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Larry, you know, he seemed like a very honest guy, a truthful guy.
Guest:But, you know, I didn't get the sense he had any axes to grind.
Guest:He wasn't looking to throw anybody under the bus.
Guest:But it didn't feel like it was a guarded talk or was a dishonest talk.
Marc:I thought it was fascinating with the Larry David documentary that he did that Larry just nixed it at like the last possible second.
Marc:Like, that's fascinating.
Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, I think that that was the one part where it sounded like he has some like, you know, bad blood there and he's unsure of how to deal with it.
Guest:Because, you know, there was all this talk about that, you know, he and Sacha Baron Cohen didn't get along and that's why he didn't make the second Borat movie.
Guest:They had disagreements with that.
Guest:And he was nothing but like...
Guest:positive about that when he and Mark talked.
Guest:So I don't get the sense that he's this guy who holds grudges and looks to settle scores and that.
Guest:And he wasn't like, you know, he didn't show a lot of animosity toward Larry David, but he definitely was...
Guest:You know, purposefully telling that story about that doc getting nixed and how they haven't spoken since since it happened.
Guest:Like, you don't have to share that unless you want to.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And another great episode was Tom Papa.
Marc:For some reason, I see Tom Papa and I think of a sports announcer.
Guest:Oh, Bob Papa.
Marc:Yeah, Bob Papa.
Marc:So I'm always kind of getting that wrong.
Guest:I think I had the same reaction the first time I heard of Tom Papa, that he was like, you know, whether it was on a show, like, you know, on a comedy show or something, or he's opening for somebody.
Guest:And I was like, Bob Papa, the sportscaster?
Guest:And it's like, no, no, no, Tom Papa.
Guest:Oh, okay.
Guest:Because I think Bob Papa used to call the Giants games.
Guest:Yeah, I think that's what it was.
Guest:But yeah, no, this is Tom Papa, who was on the show five years ago now.
Guest:And this is one of the things that I think is so great about having people back, especially if they're the right person.
Guest:Because go listen to that old episode.
Guest:Hell, listen to it back to back with the new episode.
Guest:You will not hear a single thing cross over again.
Guest:between the two like there is no there is no redundancy there it is simply a sequel a continuation and it's because mark did the standard wtf style career and you know timeline interview with tom the last time he was on you got a full sense of that guy and now he comes back and they're doing the like
Guest:where's everything at now in our lives?
Guest:Like it, it, it was like, uh, my dinner with Andre, right.
Guest:It's just like this, like existential exploration that lands at two guys toward the end, really contemplating their life and death and existence.
Guest:And yeah,
Guest:you know i it was the same feeling i had with the gaffigan one which we talked about here that back in july how i really think it exemplifies the show it it takes me back to when we initially had people on the you know just the first years of doing the show and it was just comedians but it's different right like that was like driven by mark's
Guest:personal failings at the time his insecurities his doubts about his position with his peers and that all that stuff kind of came up in the interviews in the midst of kind of getting introduced to a person for real for the first time and now it's like he knows these people first of all right second of all he's had success he's in a much better position like for his life than he was in 2009 2010 but like
Guest:There's different problems.
Guest:Nobody can outrun themselves, right?
Guest:Wherever you go, there you are.
Guest:That's Mark.
Guest:And that's all of us, frankly.
Guest:I mean, who are we kidding?
Guest:But that's what this show is trying to document over the course of 14 and going on 15 years.
Guest:It's like...
Guest:how do you measure a life?
Guest:Right.
Guest:Just take a listen.
Guest:You've been on the journey and like these guys have no problem sitting down and actually talking about it directly.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Instead of, you know, what you do sometimes with casual conversation.
Guest:Oh, what's, so what's going on with your family?
Guest:What's a, Oh, you watch this sports game and that, like these guys are going to sit down and be like, do you think about dying?
Guest:And that's regardless of whether the microphones are on or not, they're just going to do that.
Marc:Right.
Marc:It's literally like being a fly on the wall and hearing a conversation for sure.
Marc:Tom has this great story because Mark brings up TikTok and he's like, ah, do we have to do this now?
Marc:And Tom brings up a great story with Jeff Tweedy being at the Grammys and with Katy Perry being popular.
Marc:And I just love that Jeff and Mark had the same response to different things and being like, I don't think we're in the same business.
Marc:says comedians on TikTok.
Guest:Oh, and, you know, when I heard that line, I was like, that basically is the kind of subtext of this phase of our show.
Guest:You know, we're doing this thing.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And, you know, I have so many conversations with people and I have had them for years about like, hey, well, you guys maybe should think of doing this or think of doing that.
Guest:Or, oh, have you heard how these people are doing this and that?
Guest:And it's like,
Guest:I have that same reaction, but it's not in a negative way.
Guest:Like, I have it in a very matter-of-fact way.
Guest:It's like, nah, I'm in a different business.
Guest:Right.
Guest:I'm not in that business.
Guest:And so, like, you know, in terms of talking about it from a subtext point of view, it's like, this show, we're still going.
Guest:We're still doing what we're doing.
Guest:We're holding our audience.
Guest:And it's kind of in spite of the...
Guest:the passing of time it's in spite of the way things actually move like and i don't want to say we're obviously we're adaptive we we can you know change things on the fly as has been noticed in the last year of how we've kind of booked the show and doing bonus content and that but uh but at the core like we kind of have to be true to what we are and if that means you know
Guest:that some aspect of the business is passing us by well then let it be and let us be a legacy and uh just kind of exist the way we need to exist but i can also understand why if you're doing stand-up that is not as easy because you literally have to be on the stage with somebody before and after you yeah
Guest:Who could be doing something totally different and in a new vanguard, right?
Guest:And so I love listening to guys like Mark and Tom talk about that stuff and how they're dealing with it.
Guest:But frankly, I'm closer in age to them now than I am to a 20-year-old on TikTok.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And oceans rise, oceans fall, you know, shorelines, you know, crumble.
Marc:But you guys are just doing your thing.
Marc:Yeah, I love that.
Marc:But I will say I felt pretty attacked during this episode because Mark and Tom just laughing at people who wear sneakers on planes.
Guest:I mean, yeah, but, you know, here's the deal.
Yeah.
Guest:you could feel attacked all you wanted that all i hear in that is a guy who can't leave the house without looking in the mirror and then once he does leave the house he goes does my hair look okay my shirt look okay right like if you gotta worry about what you fucking look like on a plane that is a yp buddy not an mp yeah
Marc:Okay.
Marc:It did feel though that they were staring at me while commenting on people on planes wearing sneakers and they're wearing boots.
Marc:Why would you wear boots on an airplane?
Guest:Dude, I walk around New York City with Mark and he's wearing these boots complaining about his feet.
Guest:I'm like, you see what's on my feet?
Guest:These are fucking sneakers, man.
Guest:They feel great.
Guest:And you know what?
Guest:Everybody wears them.
Guest:Like, it's not a crazy, weird thing.
Guest:Oh, are you out of the mental institution wearing sneakers?
Guest:No, this is a normal thing for people to wear.
Marc:I love that.
Marc:I think Tom, like, he's like, oh, I actually did.
Marc:I did wear sneakers once and it was really comfortable.
Marc:It's like, yeah, yeah, it was.
Marc:Welcome, welcome.
Marc:That was a shocker.
Marc:But yeah, really, really great run of episodes.
Marc:Really enjoying it.
Marc:And Arnold, of course, is just like the cherry on top.
Marc:I do want to go back to one more thing.
Marc:Mark mentioned on one of his Ask Me Anythings, he's like, oh, I don't really know how to do roasts.
Marc:And that's why, you know, part of the reason why that was such a bad day for him.
Marc:But I will say, working with him,
Marc:For all those years at Air America, whether it was me or Pashman, he would always bust some balls.
Marc:And he does have that sort of roasting in his repertoire.
Guest:You're pointing something out important, though.
Guest:What's that?
Guest:Who did you just mention he was doing it to?
Guest:You?
Guest:Dan Pashman?
Guest:Right.
Guest:People he likes.
Guest:Oh, I see what you're saying.
Guest:When he's doing it to people he likes, it comes from a place of love.
Guest:Go listen to the, I think, two episodes we've done with the comedian Godfrey.
Guest:And it's like an hour of Mark just shitting all over him.
Guest:And Godfrey laughing his ass off uproariously just loves Mark laying into him.
Guest:And Mark loves that Godfrey loves it.
Guest:And so he does it more.
Guest:And it's joyous.
Guest:They do have a great time of Mark just busting this guy's balls.
Guest:You know where else I've heard him do it?
Guest:To his dad.
Guest:Like he'll just make fun of his dad right to his face and his dad will laugh and it's totally fine.
Guest:Where Mark runs afoul is that if it's someone he doesn't like or respect, but he's being told, make a joke about this person, he will cut them.
Guest:Like in a way where unless there's intervention, they will bleed out.
Guest:Too deep.
Guest:Too deep.
Guest:Exactly.
Guest:I can scream.
Guest:I think the famous story – famous is not famous – but the story he has told several times was that he was asked to speak at some –
Guest:Viacom event.
Guest:And it was something about the, you know, they were honoring the executives behind Comedy Central who had both come from MTV.
Guest:And he said something about like, well, congrats.
Guest:I'm so glad that Doug and Amy have moved up to Comedy Central where they can continue their run of turning all of television into a 24-7 pie-eating contest.
Guest:And
Guest:Like, I'm just saying that right now.
Guest:And it doesn't even sound as bad.
Guest:Like, it's like, okay, that's like a dig.
Guest:But I guarantee the venom that came out of him saying it.
Guest:Like, it did not ring as a joke.
Guest:It rang as, this is what this guy truly believes.
Guest:He hates these people.
Guest:He thinks they've destroyed television.
Guest:And he's telling them that to their face right now.
Guest:and he had to go apologize like this was this was he was told it was like supposed to be like a roast like or you know i don't think it was like they're on the dais make a roast it was like hey mark go up there and make some jokes about doug and amy right like and he said that line and had to go to their offices and apologize oh my god
Guest:So yeah, I think that's what he's referring to when he says he's not good at it.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:Gotcha.
Marc:Gotcha.
Guest:Which I'm sure, you know, you can't really tell because if you ever tried to watch that Chevy Chase roast, they've cut Mark's thing down to like three minutes.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:They make it look and sound good.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It sounds fine.
Guest:They sweeten the crowd, whatever.
Guest:And they put only the jokes at work.
Guest:But I guarantee that while he was sitting there getting no reaction from Chevy and then subsequently no reaction from the audience, he probably got mean.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You know, that's probably the stuff that's missing from the thing.
Guest:So I totally understand what he's talking about when he says that.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Well, yes, we will be doing more of the Ask Mark Anythings because the last time we put a solicitation up there for that, we got hundreds of questions.
Guest:So I kind of have a bank of them now.
Guest:You know, we don't...
Guest:I don't like to have Mark do like more than 30, 35 at a time.
Guest:So we'll go back to those.
Guest:And if you have any questions of your own, you could always include them in the comment section that we put a link to in the episode description.
Guest:Just scroll down and wherever you're listening to this, click on that link and you can send us a question.
Guest:You could send us your thoughts about any of the episodes we've been talking about.
Guest:Really anything that's on your mind, particularly as it relates to the full Marin and the content we're doing here, because I did notice something this week that was really the first time I saw it.
Guest:You know, I was looking at it with any real scrutiny was, you know, the number of subscribers we have and the number of people listening to episodes.
Guest:And we have within the past couple.
Guest:couple of months, crossed this threshold where the number of people listening to us on the Friday show here is virtually identical to the number of people who are listening on the Tuesday bonus content.
Guest:So I think it fluctuates from maybe 100 people each time.
Guest:And it can go either way.
Guest:There was one that we did the other week with the shoot fighting that I noticed had more listens than the Ask Mark Anythings.
Guest:So I'm very appreciative that everyone is hanging around and listening.
Guest:I want to also make sure that we're delivering for you the kind of stuff you want on this show.
Guest:So always put some feedback in the comment section there.
Guest:You just go to the episode description, click on the link, and there's a comment page that you can send us whatever you want.
Guest:I thought maybe it would be a good idea this week.
Guest:I know we always kind of give our wrestling fans a little bone and we talk wrestling.
Guest:Sometimes we do match reviews or we go to the nostalgia pool.
Guest:What I thought today was to do something that's kind of all-encompassing because Halloween is coming up, right?
Yeah.
Guest:And I don't know about you, Chris.
Guest:I think I know about you, but I am not going to speak for you.
Guest:Halloween is one of my favorites, one of my favorite times of the year.
Guest:I know that you have participated in the Village Halloween Parade.
Guest:That's right.
Guest:I have a feeling that you are very free of spirit when it comes to this time of year.
Guest:So, you know, I just thought maybe we could do a little Halloween PSA for people because I have a bone to pick with the way Halloween has been treated and the routines that have been built around Halloween.
Guest:I think they are stale.
Guest:And here's what I mean.
Guest:What do you think about when people say like, oh, it's Halloween time.
Guest:Yeah, let's put on some music.
Guest:What do they put on?
Marc:Monster Mash.
Guest:Yeah, Monster Mash.
Guest:Thriller.
Guest:Ghostbusters.
Guest:It's not even like Christmas carols where you can cycle through 20 of them.
Guest:You got like three or four.
Guest:We need to freshen those up, people.
Guest:And there's plenty of stuff that you can do to freshen that up.
Guest:What about movies?
Guest:Are there things to watch at Halloween?
Marc:Sure.
Marc:All scary movies like Scream and The Exorcist and Psycho, that sort of thing.
Guest:The one that says Halloween in the title, all those movies?
Guest:Right, that one, yeah.
Guest:They're all horror movies.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Basically, if you go, oh, make a list of the best Halloween movies, you're just making a list of horror movies.
Guest:Halloween is very specific.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Halloween is about kids and candy and dressing up and being spooky and running around your neighborhoods and camaraderie and fun monsters.
Guest:It doesn't always have to be terrifying and murderous.
Guest:I'm very much an advocate of, like, kids Halloween.
Guest:Like, I get it that there are people out there that don't have kids, don't want to have kids, but still want to celebrate Halloween.
Guest:That's great, but, like, it should be fun.
Guest:It's not like...
Guest:terrifying like it's it's halloween and i i thought a big part of this is also present in costumes i mean the the worst thing is all the packaged costumes i'm a big advocate of make your own costumes like you know you you you should be able to like use your creativity to to and and not a lot of money to make something that's entertaining and interesting and people will get a kick out of
Guest:The buying the costumes in the bag, especially when everything is like sexy toaster and sexy police car or whatever, we got to help that.
Guest:And here's where all you wrestling fans come in, because I think there is a tremendous wealth of wrestling-related costumes.
Guest:that can be easily adapted for halloween and they work whether people know what you're dressed as or not and i will explain that but i do first want to go back to the movies because i think let's do a favor for the people listening and give them some suggestions to add to their halloween movie list okay the
Guest:Ghostbusters is great.
Guest:The Addams Family is great.
Guest:Beetlejuice is great.
Guest:That's the spirit I'm talking about, but those are very common.
Guest:And I feel like people kind of lose steam after those type of movies.
Guest:All right, we watched Ghostbusters for Halloween or we watched Beetlejuice.
Guest:There's plenty more like that.
Guest:that are not like guys cutting heads off or, you know, Freddy Krueger, which like, you don't need me to make a list for that.
Guest:There's a million best horror movie lists.
Guest:So why don't we give people some suggestions for a little like off the path horror movies?
Guest:Cause I've got five here that I think people, people do well adding them to their list.
Guest:Do you have any that you want to throw out there?
Marc:Uh,
Marc:I have a list, but honestly, I want to hear your list first because I actually need some recommendations because I do have like this sort of, you know, I'm not a big horror movie fan.
Marc:Right.
Guest:Not a ton of people are.
Guest:It's as specific as wrestling.
Guest:But Halloween is for everyone.
Guest:So, like, much like with wrestling, let's get up to the point where everyone can come together on it.
Guest:Right?
Guest:Like, let's not make it this niche thing.
Guest:Let's open the aperture.
Guest:And so here's what I would say, especially if you've got kids, but even if you don't, there's family entertainment that is geared toward Halloween.
Guest:And, you know, it's a lot of it's like Hotel Transylvania, right?
Guest:Or Paranorman.
Guest:Like, these are kids' movies.
Marc:Yeah, cartoons, yeah.
Guest:I would say there's a really good one.
Guest:And we watched it recently, maybe last Halloween.
Guest:And I remember seeing it before I had kids.
Guest:And it's a cartoon, but it is done by Dan Harmon was the writer of it.
Marc:The guy from Rick and Morty?
Guest:Yeah, Rick and Morty Community.
Guest:Yeah, exactly.
Guest:And the movie is Monster House, which is an excellent Halloween movie.
Guest:It's about as ideal a Halloween movie as you can get.
Guest:And it is about a haunted house where literally the house is, as the title says, the monster.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And it's these three kids trying to infiltrate this house.
Guest:It actually is also a mystery.
Guest:It is a, you know, because there is a secret behind why the house is like this.
Guest:It's very funny.
Guest:It's very clever.
Guest:It's motion capture animation.
Guest:So the performances are very real.
Guest:These kids are very, like, lived in by the performers.
Guest:It's a Robert Zemeckis production.
Guest:So you've got this entire pedigree behind it.
Guest:No one really watches this movie.
Guest:And I think you should absolutely add it to the Beetlejuice, Ghostbusters, Addams Family list of like spooky, quirky movies that your family will love.
Guest:But you can totally watch it if you're an adult looking for something fun to watch.
Marc:No, that's awesome.
Guest:I would say I also have another family movie that is a great Halloween movie, especially if you're looking for something that's not the typical Halloween.
Guest:And this is because it focuses on the Day of the Dead as opposed to actual Halloween.
Guest:And that's Coco.
Guest:Most people, I think, have seen Coco.
Guest:Sure.
Guest:Sure.
Guest:watch it at Halloween.
Guest:It's great at Halloween.
Guest:It's got all the colors of Halloween.
Guest:It feels like Halloween.
Guest:You can just kind of like drape yourself in autumn when you have that on, especially if you have like an awesome TV, put cocoa on in the background while Halloween music is playing.
Guest:It's great.
Marc:Yeah, I think actually Disney did on Disney Plus.
Marc:They put out like Coco at the Hollywood Bowl and I've seen it and it's awesome.
Marc:It is really fun and it's colorful and it's a really fun place to see that.
Guest:Well, that's encouraging.
Guest:Maybe that is getting in there in the Halloween bloodstream then.
Guest:I think I want more of Coco.
Guest:Here's another suggestion.
Guest:I'm sure people listening to this have seen this movie.
Guest:I'm sure you maybe have seen it many, many times.
Guest:This is, to me, the spirit of Halloween is in this movie.
Marc:What's that?
Guest:Young Frankenstein.
Marc:Ah, see, that was on my list.
Guest:Well, go ahead.
Guest:Talk about it.
Marc:Tell me your thoughts on Young Frankenstein.
Marc:I mean, Young Frankenstein is what Halloween was for me.
Marc:Yes!
Marc:Didn't watch horror movies as a kid.
Marc:Didn't see Freddy Krueger until I was like 18.
Marc:Young Frankenstein was Halloween to me.
Marc:And it is the most cutting, funny movie that I could watch as a kid.
Marc:I love it.
Marc:My wife loves it.
Marc:We watch it every year.
Marc:It is so, so good.
Guest:You hit it on the head.
Guest:It's just one of the funniest movies ever made.
Guest:So when you have something that funny, but also...
Guest:With Halloween in it, great.
Guest:Turn it on on October 30th and leave it on for 24 hours.
Guest:It's like a Christmas story, but do that with young Frankenstein.
Guest:A related movie to this that I would throw on the list.
Guest:It's not a great movie, so I don't want to oversell it here.
Guest:But it is one of, you know, Shane Black's entries into non-lethal weapon, you know, gunplay, shoot-em-up style movies.
Guest:And it is The Monster Squad, which has several excellent elements that will get you in the Halloween spirit.
Guest:Really?
Guest:One, it's all kids, right?
Guest:It's got a very Goonies vibe to it.
Guest:Two, they're wandering around in the suburbs, which is like... Hallmark.
Guest:Stranger things.
Guest:You very much need this in the world of Halloween.
Guest:And it has all of the classic universal monsters.
Guest:So you've got Dracula, you've got the Wolfman, you've got the Mummy, the creature from the Black Lagoon.
Guest:And Frankenstein's monster is the good guy.
Guest:in the movie.
Guest:He turns on the other monsters and is teamed up with the kids.
Guest:The actor Tom Noonan, who you may know as the Tooth Fairy from Manhunter, is in this as Frankenstein, because he is a Frankenstein.
Guest:And yeah, that is a great...
Guest:uh addition to like you know family friendly but i mean it's it's like it was at the time pg-13 and there's you know they say some minor swear words to get kids you know jazzed up you know yeah and uh yeah it like i don't want to oversell it that it's some great movie it's not i'm sure it's a lot of the enjoyment of it for people my age would be nostalgia but uh definitely the monster squad should get a
Marc:One movie that isn't family friendly that I saw recently.
Marc:And it is it is I wouldn't say it's a Halloween movie, but it's just a really like I'm going to say an experimental supernatural horror film.
Marc:And that is Skinnamarink.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:What the hell even is that?
Guest:Because I never got around to it and it just looks bizarre.
Marc:Yeah, I was I was in the movie theater because I have like that AMC pass.
Marc:I'll just see everything.
Marc:And there were like five other people in the theater and we all sit down.
Marc:We're watching it.
Marc:And it is basically just like a like someone has like a old camcorder.
Marc:And they're sort of like this camcorder is left on in a room.
Marc:And these like a four year old and a six year old are just like walking around, putting on the television.
Marc:It's like, you know, and just like grainy.
Marc:It's almost like the Blair Witch Project.
Guest:Right.
Guest:That's what it got the vibe of.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And like nothing's really happening until sort of the house is sort of different.
Marc:And then it's, you know, things start moving.
Marc:And it's just this creepy ass movie that I've never experienced before.
Marc:But people were like pacing around and like screaming like, what the fuck is this?
Marc:And like they actually left because they couldn't take it because it was so like they didn't know what was going to happen.
Marc:And the just the thought of what's going to happen to these kids was just too terrifying.
Marc:So they actually left.
Marc:They were like left screaming.
Marc:It was it was bizarre.
Marc:But this is an interesting movie.
Marc:I wouldn't say it's it's family friendly.
Marc:In fact.
Marc:On your television, I don't even know how you manage not to look at your phone during it because nothing really happens for the entire like 90 minutes or 80 minutes that it's a movie.
Marc:But it is weird and like there's whispering from like, you know, like the phone and it's all just really – and then also you just don't know what happens.
Marc:Like it's one of those movies that's like, that was it.
Marc:And leave it up to your imagination as to what happened.
Marc:So really fascinating art that I would recommend people check out.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I mean, like it was one of those things that just came out in the theater and it was at a time where I couldn't get out to see it.
Guest:But I did get the sense that like, this seems like a thing you have to sit in a theater with people to see.
Marc:Yeah, there should be like midnight screenings like they do for Rocky Horror, honestly.
Marc:It is weird.
Guest:Well, the last one I have in here is kind of, you know, breaking my rule of like, no scary movies, maybe.
Guest:I mean, I don't think it's a scary movie, but it has... What I'll say is like, look...
Guest:And I'm unlike you, Chris.
Guest:I liked horror movies a lot as a kid.
Guest:I watched as many of them as I could that I was allowed to watch.
Guest:And I still go to movies all the time to see things.
Guest:And I think one of my general problems is the same things kind of play in repertory.
Guest:I can't go see the thing anymore.
Guest:I've seen it at the theaters four or five times.
Guest:I always kind of crave new blood in the canon of movies like this.
Guest:And to me, if you're going to do a scary movie at Halloween, there's a great one that's both scary and funny.
Guest:And even in a way for people who don't like horror, it's like kind of taking the piss out of horror.
Guest:And that's The Cabin in the Woods.
Yeah.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:I did go to see in the theater last Halloween and it rocked.
Guest:It's still rocked.
Guest:Like the audience ate it up, even though I'm sure other people in there were like me and had seen it before.
Guest:Everyone, all the bits worked, all the, all the big high points delivered.
Guest:I was laughing my ass.
Guest:ass off through the whole thing it's still so well paced you get a million horror monsters at the end of it uh if i don't even want to get into cabin in the woods for people who haven't seen it because part of the joys are how it subverts expectations and
Guest:twists things and puts things on its head and uh i i just recommend it as if you're the kind of person who likes friday the 13th at halloween or you know sleep away camp put those to the side this year and just you know throw cabin in the woods into the rotation i think you'll be very well surprised
Marc:That's a great suggestion.
Marc:That movie is so surprising and so, so worth it.
Marc:And I honestly, if one of these theaters puts it out again, I'm going to go see it.
Marc:I'm going to buy a ticket and see it.
Marc:Last movie on my list.
Marc:For me, as a kid, I thought this movie was terrifying.
Marc:It would just be on Channel 11 for no reason.
Marc:But it is actually a really fun movie.
Marc:It is also terrifying.
Marc:But it is Little Shop of Horrors.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Marc:1986 Rick Moranis.
Guest:I can't believe you consider it terrifying.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:That's crazy.
Marc:As a kid, yeah, that plant was horrifying.
Marc:I thought it was going to eat me.
Marc:I had nightmares about it.
Guest:I think that might not happen anymore because it looks so much like the plants in Super Mario Brothers.
Guest:So kids now are like, oh, look, a piranha plant.
Marc:Just jump on its head.
Marc:It will eat you like the Super Mario.
Marc:But yeah, I love this movie with all my heart.
Marc:It is just great.
Marc:Like John Candy, Christopher Guest, Bill Murray.
Marc:Just like what a great movie.
Marc:And man, it makes me miss Rick Moranis, honestly.
Marc:I can't wait to watch it again.
Guest:Yeah, well, maybe if you can, I think it still exists online because I believe it was released only once as part of like a laser disc or something.
Guest:But they put the original ending on it where everybody gets killed and the plants take over the world, which is how the musical ends.
Guest:And in the musical, he feeds Audrey to the plant because she's mortally wounded.
Guest:And then he decides he's going to go in the plant and kill it from the inside.
Guest:And the plant just instantly kills him.
Guest:And so then they're dead.
Guest:And the last song is a song called Don't Feed the Plants, which is about how they're coming to your town.
Guest:They're going to take over the world.
Guest:And they literally filmed that.
Guest:It's like a monster movie with all of these plants taking over the world and destroying, you know, it looks like Godzilla.
Guest:And it was super expensive.
Guest:I think something like $30 million went into it or something like that.
Guest:It's all puppetry and miniatures, marionettes.
Guest:Frank Oz tells the story that they did a test screening of the film.
Guest:And like, I think like to get, you know, released, you know, you get your movie in like a releasable form.
Guest:You have to get like 60 out of a hundred points at a test screening, which is like very hard to get below 60.
Guest:Like, like, you know, like you could get like a 65 and the studio will be like, we got work to do, but like we could get this under control before releasing it.
Guest:Right.
Yeah.
Guest:They got 20.
Marc:No.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Like, it was like, he said, the worst test screening that the studio had ever been through in the history of whatever it was, Warner Brothers.
Guest:And so they tested the movie again, got worse scores.
Guest:No.
Guest:Like, it wasn't just an aberrant, you know, one-time thing.
Guest:And he was like, what?
Guest:This play was a massive hit.
Guest:What the fuck is going on?
Yeah.
Guest:And he said he had this realization and it helped him in all movies going forward was like, oh, when you do a play, the actors are right there in front of you.
Guest:And then they come out at the end and everybody claps for them and they bow.
Guest:And you're like, that was so great.
Guest:That thing when you played the person who got killed.
Guest:Right.
Guest:When you're watching it on a screen, these people you love who you spent this time with, they go into the plant.
Guest:They're now dead.
Guest:They're out of your mind.
Guest:You don't see them again.
Guest:You're never going to see them again because the character is gone.
Guest:And he's like, we stole those people from the audience who they loved.
Guest:And on stage, they loved them and then got to tell them, hey, we love you.
Guest:You love me.
Guest:awesome you don't get that with a movie and he was this like fascinating realization he had so they scrapped the entire costly final scene they reshot it they added a scene of seymour killing the plant and uh and then it ends with like an ambiguous note of they go to a new uh house and there's a little baby plant in the in the uh garden bed and
Guest:So it's like a little nod to the to the play.
Guest:But yeah, they literally had to just give a happy ending.
Guest:It's like the the classic thing of a Hollywood ending.
Guest:No, they were like not going to release the movie if it wasn't a Hollywood ending.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Wow.
Marc:I love that you just know this, by the way.
Marc:Like you have this amazing story like I like in your deck that you can just throw out.
Guest:Well, I saw the musical Little Shop of Horrors was my first, I can't say Broadway play because it was off-Broadway play, but it was the first play I was ever taken to, first musical I was ever taken to.
Guest:I believe I was four.
Guest:What?
Guest:Wow.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:I loved it.
Guest:I had the soundtrack.
Guest:Amazing.
Guest:Well, yeah, so that's a little side tangent, not having anything to do with Halloween, but I'm glad you brought it up.
Yeah.
Marc:Actually, I do have one other movie that as a kid, I always thought it was great.
Marc:I guess it's considered a cult classic, but it's The Frighteners.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:But dude, that's scary.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But I mean, it's kind of scary.
Marc:I mean, it's Peter Jackson making monsters, which is terrifying.
Guest:But it's disturbing.
Guest:Like the idea that like death can kill dead people and then it's gone forever.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I remember even seeing that and being like, that's fucked up.
Marc:Yeah, it was fucked up.
Marc:And I used to watch this movie all the time because I just loved Michael J. Fox.
Marc:And Peter Jackson was coming out with Lord of the Rings.
Marc:So I would watch this to prepare for those movies.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:No, I was the same way.
Guest:I had seen Frighteners and then I heard, oh, the Frighteners guy is making Lord of the Rings.
Guest:So I was very excited about that.
Marc:Funny.
Guest:All right, well, let's move on to music because this is definitely a place where everybody, I think, could use a helping hand.
Guest:Like you said, with Monster Mash and Thriller.
Guest:You're the guy who did the Thriller dance in the parade.
Marc:Oh, like three times I did the Thriller dance.
Marc:I dressed up like a zombie.
Marc:It was great, by the way.
Guest:Fantastic.
Marc:Highly recommend it.
Guest:So you don't have to delete it from the playlist, but let's add some stuff to it, okay?
Marc:So what do you got?
Marc:What songs would you put on for Halloween in your house?
Guest:Here's the thing.
Guest:You got to add songs that, you know, have the general kind of spooky tone for Halloween.
Guest:Right.
Guest:But I think what the pitfall a lot of people fall into is they're like, oh, that song is about a killer.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And it's like, yeah, it is.
Guest:But does it sound like a country song?
Guest:Like the redheaded stranger.
Guest:It sounds like Willie Nelson singing a country song.
Guest:It's not a particularly spooky song.
Guest:So it needs the spookiness.
Guest:Think about it this way.
Guest:Would you play this song out in front of your house while kids are coming trick-or-treating?
Guest:You want to give the right vibe in there.
Guest:The number one with a bullet on my list.
Guest:Everyone should add this to their Halloween playlist.
Guest:If you don't have a Halloween playlist, start it with this song.
Guest:The Man Comes Around by Johnny Cash.
Guest:Oh.
Guest:Here's the deal.
Guest:Again, is it about like, you know, skeletons and the bones are their money?
Guest:No.
Guest:But it is about death.
Guest:It's about the grim specter that awaits us all and
Guest:And the key is that it has three instruments.
Guest:One is a guitar.
Guest:Then one is a harpsichord.
Guest:And then one is a piano in the bass register.
Guest:So you get the dong.
Guest:And you get like Lurch playing the harpsichord like the Addams Family.
Guest:The sound of that song is one million percent Halloween.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I would follow that right up.
Guest:Just put it one and two on your playlist.
Guest:Follow right up with a very thematically similar song, another vengeful God song, Red Right Hand by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.
Guest:Here, not only do you get another organ...
Guest:but you get a gong, a bell tolling the whole time.
Guest:You get Nick Cave's raspy, angry voice.
Guest:This one is perfect for your haunted house, anything you want.
Guest:People coming up to your doorbell, they ring the doorbell, you should have that gong right in with the gong.
Guest:It's like The Undertaker.
Guest:But this is ready-made for you, and it's on all your streaming services.
Guest:Just make this a Halloween playlist staple.
Guest:Red right hand, and the man comes around.
Marc:Excellent.
Marc:I have, I'm going to say it's probably a very strange addition, but it's a song that I feel like has that same tone that you're getting at with what you recommended.
Marc:And it's from Taylor Swift.
Marc:It's from her Evermore album.
Marc:And it's her duet with Bon Iver.
Marc:How do I say his name?
Marc:Yeah, sure.
Marc:But it's Exile.
Marc:And I think it has that register of his voice.
Marc:Exactly.
Marc:And hers.
Guest:Bon Iver could be a spooky ghost no matter what.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:In any song you sing it.
Guest:Who's this guy singing like this?
Guest:He's like Paul Bearer.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:Oh, man, that's all I'm going to be able to now see when I hear this song is Paul Bearer singing with Taylor Swift.
Marc:Thank you for that.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Hey, hey, Paul Bearer, could you sing Skinny Love for me, please?
Marc:So, yeah, that's that is what I would recommend for a Halloween song.
Marc:I honestly, again, I don't I don't listen to to, you know, I don't know what I would would put on for little kids in, you know, for Halloween.
Marc:So this is these are really good suggestions that you've made.
Guest:I got a great I got a great suggestion for you for little kids.
Guest:Two of them, actually.
Marc:What's that?
Guest:One is a song called Papa Power.
Guest:They spell it P-A-P-A power.
Guest:And that is by a group called Dead Man's Bones.
Guest:Have you ever heard of Dead Man's Bones?
Guest:No.
Guest:Probably haven't.
Guest:No.
Guest:This is a experimental gothic rock group that has one album.
Guest:And the album, the entirety of the album is kind of spooky and creepy.
Guest:I think Papa Power is probably the one that I would say is the best for actual Halloween.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Marc:They have a synthesizer going on in it.
Marc:I'm listening to it now.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:A synthesizer and a children's choir.
Guest:This is the Silver Lake Conservatory Children's Choir, which is the school founded by Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Guest:We've been on the show to talk about that.
Guest:And the band is made up of two guys.
Guest:who are playing all the instruments, a guy named Zach Shields and his co-bandmate, co-writer, co-founder of the band, Ryan Gosling.
Marc:No kidding.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:That Ryan Gosling.
Guest:If you want any more reason to just be totally envious of this guy who is like the best looking dude in the world with like an eight pack abs at 40 or however old he is.
Guest:And hilarious.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, he's funny, and he is also in a totally cool Halloween band that you should add to your repertoire of Halloween songs.
Guest:Dead Man's Bones, Papa Power, go ahead, put it on there now, and your kids will love it too.
Guest:My son, when he was little, loved this song.
Guest:When he was like four or five, he'd be like, oh, Papa Power, you know, so...
Guest:Oh, wow.
Guest:It is going to be a good hit because it's got children in the song.
Guest:That's always an entry point for kids.
Guest:The other song that I would say is great for the whole family, you want to add a newer Halloween song to your list, maybe even eject the Monster Mash and replace it with Werewolf Bar Mitzvah.
Guest:Spooky scary.
Guest:Boys becoming men.
Guest:Men becoming wolves.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It is obviously the 30 Rock song, which I think in the show is featured for about 10 seconds, but is an actual song that they wrote with Donald Glover.
Guest:And I believe Donald Glover is doing most of the vocals on the song.
Guest:He's doing a Tracy Morgan impression.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:to do most of the vocals.
Guest:There is a little bit of Tracy in there.
Guest:But this is also available on streaming services.
Guest:You can just get it wherever you get your music and add Werewolf Bar Mitzvah to your list.
Guest:And again, a great family song, kids song, thing for everyone to enjoy.
Guest:Excellent.
Guest:I would say the last thing I have here is not that.
Guest:It's a thing.
Guest:Maybe only I enjoy it.
Guest:But if I hear this, I immediately think it's spooky time.
Guest:It's Halloween time.
Guest:All I need to hear is like the drum beat at the beginning.
Guest:But then you just get like two notes and I'm in.
Guest:I'm like, oh man, we're in creep town.
Guest:And that is Goodbye Horses by Q Lazarus, also known as the Tuck Song from Silence of the Lambs.
Guest:oh wow that is that is great that is really fucking great all you need to hear is those things and you're you're you're uh you're in halloween it's not halloween you're in some real trouble and get the hell out of wherever you're at right now
Marc:Yeah, absolutely.
Marc:So my last thing with music, it's actually just an artist, just like you with Papa Power.
Marc:But there's an artist that I used to listen to a lot when I lived in Brooklyn.
Marc:And it's one guy.
Marc:I actually saw him at a concert at, what's that place in Park Slope where you could do bocce?
Marc:Mark used to play there.
Guest:Union Hall.
Marc:Yeah, Union Hall.
Marc:I saw him at Union Hall, and at first I thought, oh, it's going to be like a whole band.
Marc:But no, it's just a guy with sort of like a Casio and him singing.
Marc:He used to be called Say Hi to Your Mom.
Guest:I remember that.
Guest:Say hi to your mom.
Marc:Oh, no kidding.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So he cut it to just say hi.
Marc:And I love his music.
Marc:And there's all these synths.
Marc:And most of his songs are just really, like, fun, but also spooky.
Marc:So, yeah.
Marc:So I would recommend Say Hi.
Marc:And basically his whole discography is great.
Marc:But he has, like, you know, Eloise and Audrey and just a whole bunch of songs that are just really fun, like Spiders.
Marc:And there are
Marc:they're catchy tunes.
Marc:And, uh, I, I really, I really enjoy this artist and, uh, I recommend him, uh, for, uh, for Halloween time.
Guest:Wow.
Guest:Say hi to his, to your playlist.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Put him on there.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:Uh, all right.
Guest:Well, let's finish up with some Halloween costumes.
Guest:Now I know Chris, you, you have some other ideas for throwing in things here, uh, in Halloween costumes, but like I said, I think a great way to introduce new costumes into the bloodstream of Halloween is
Guest:is to go to the world of wrestling.
Guest:Because wrestling is all about costumes.
Guest:Wrestling is pageantry, and it's about making yourself look larger than life.
Guest:But here's the deal.
Guest:As I mentioned, I think costumes are best when you make them at home.
Guest:I think they're best when they're cheap, when they don't cause you to have to break the bank on them.
Guest:And if you do buy stuff for them, you can reuse the stuff, or it's simple at-home things that get recycled or whatever.
Guest:But
Guest:And so here are some very easy Halloween costumes that I also think are successful, even if people don't know about wrestling.
Guest:So the easy one, the easiest, and I just did this last year, is Orange Cassidy.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:Where you're just wearing a Canadian tuxedo.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:right?
Guest:Denim jacket, denim pants.
Guest:And really you just need a white shirt underneath.
Guest:You can go buy an actual orange Cassidy shirt if you want, but white shirt is fine.
Guest:And then some type of aviator shades.
Guest:They can be really cheap that you don't need Ray-Bans, aviator shades.
Guest:And then all you got to do is keep a, a dour face, not too expressive, mild thumbs up when people walk by you.
Guest:And then if people go like, what are you supposed to be?
Guest:You're like, I don't know, whatever.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:You know, you don't have to commit.
Guest:That's a great costume.
Marc:Yeah, absolutely.
Marc:Yeah, you've done that.
Marc:And I've seen like little tiny kids at wrestling shows.
Marc:And Orange really loves seeing that.
Guest:And he'll go give them the high tap.
Guest:It's not a high five.
Guest:It's just a tap of his hand to their hand.
Marc:That's right.
Marc:Another easy one, if you can afford it, is MJF.
Marc:You can just wear a suit with a Burberry scarf.
Guest:Oh, and you don't buy a Burberry scarf.
Guest:Buy the $5 one from Canal Street.
Guest:There you go.
Guest:Yeah, that's absolutely what you do for that costume.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:And you choose some gum and you just act like a smart aleck, which is super fun.
Guest:That's a great idea.
Guest:Now, I would say if you don't mind the face paint, there's a couple that really work for this.
Guest:Obviously, Sting.
Guest:But here's the great thing about Sting.
Guest:Sting, you'd think, oh, well, didn't he have long hair?
Guest:You have to buy a wig or you have to have long hair.
Guest:No, look, Sting, go look at pictures of Sting.
Guest:He's got all different hair.
Guest:He's got short cropped hair.
Guest:If you want to do surfer Sting, there was a period of time where he was doing the colorful paint, but his hair had grown out like mine.
Guest:It's just like regular hair.
Guest:So you could totally do that.
Guest:And if you do that, just put the Sting face paint on and then like get a jacket, any jacket you have and tie like tassels to it.
Guest:You're Sting all of a sudden.
Guest:Then of course you can look like the crow and be Crow Sting.
Guest:If you have long hair, if you have a cheap wig, I don't advocate going out and buying a wig.
Guest:So just, you know, use what you got around.
Guest:There's a million ways you could look like Sting and he's one of the coolest.
Guest:But then if people don't know who you are, you just, oh, you're the crow, right?
Guest:Like it works no matter what.
Guest:Yes, exactly.
Guest:Another guy who's like that with face paint.
Guest:See, I would not advocate being the ultimate warrior because if you don't have the jacked muscles.
Guest:Yeah, it doesn't work.
Guest:It doesn't work.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I've been there.
Guest:So here's a guy.
Guest:Oh, that sounded very sad.
Marc:Arnold would be, by the way, you're so right.
Marc:If you went to see Arnold.
Marc:No, thanks.
Marc:He's going to comment on how skinny I am.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So go on.
Marc:Sorry.
Guest:So, all right.
Guest:If you have the face paint, here's another one.
Guest:And this is a classic WWF character.
Guest:Papa Shango.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:Papa Shango, the voodoo master, who you're just going to paint your face like a skull, right?
Guest:You can put any hat on.
Guest:He had a bowler hat.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But, you know, I think if you get any kind of black hat, it kind of works.
Guest:Or not.
Guest:You don't have to have the hat.
Guest:The face paint will save the day.
Guest:Then any kind of toy skull you want to carry around.
Guest:Now, if you have a skeleton in your Halloween decorations, fine.
Guest:Look, a skull at the convenience store.
Guest:Right.
Guest:It costs $5.
Guest:Carry that skull around.
Guest:And then for the costume...
Guest:All you got to do is rip garbage bags.
Guest:Like it's just ripped garbage bags.
Guest:Go Google Papa Shango.
Guest:You'll see.
Guest:It's very easy.
Guest:You can put whatever accoutrements you want on there.
Guest:But Papa Shango is an easy one.
Guest:And guess what?
Guest:When people don't know who you are, you're from Day of the Dead.
Guest:You're a skull face.
Guest:You're at the beginning of the James Bond movie.
Guest:It's easy.
Guest:Oh, that's great.
Guest:All right.
Guest:My last wrestling-oriented costume is so good.
Guest:And when I thought of this, I was like, wait a minute.
Guest:Should I do this?
Guest:What's that?
Guest:I actually might have to do this.
Guest:What is it?
Guest:And that is all you need.
Guest:You don't need much.
Guest:You need...
Guest:long john underwear right white long johns and uh black shorts of any kind bicycle shorts regular shorts workout shorts shorts you'd wear every day white long johns bicycle shorts if you want you can get some tinfoil and maybe make a a fake belt like wrap tinfoil around a uh some cardboard and make a
Guest:Okay.
Guest:That's an option.
Guest:That's not necessary.
Guest:But the white long johns and black shorts is all you need to be Andy Kaufman.
Marc:Oh, that's perfect.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I'm actually, I might have to do that.
Marc:That's really good.
Marc:Wow.
Marc:Wow.
Guest:I mean, the more stuff you add, I'm sure it could be great.
Guest:Like if you had like, yeah, the intergender belt or a roll of toilet paper, right?
Guest:Because he would do the things about, oh, you people in Memphis don't use toilet paper or soap.
Guest:look, add up whatever props you want, but Andy would be a very easy costume to do.
Guest:You kind of, if you have, I mean, like hair optional, right?
Guest:Obviously I'm not trying to discriminate against people with no hair, but if you got a little hair, all you kind of do need to do is pull out the sides, do a little spray paint.
Guest:So your hair is a little muffed up and messy.
Marc:You'll look great.
Marc:You'll be Andy.
Marc:That's a good one.
Marc:That's a really good one.
Marc:Uh, my last one, uh, and you know, yeah,
Marc:First of all, this wrestler, obviously, we know him.
Marc:We love him.
Marc:But it's a costume that is so easy, except for one piece, and that's the headgear.
Marc:But it's mankind.
Marc:You just need a button-down shirt, black tie.
Marc:You have a long sock, and you paint the face on it for Mr. Socko.
Marc:But it's the headgear that really would be difficult.
Marc:Well, so here's what I would suggest.
Guest:If you're going to do this, I would say, because it's going to be an expense, right?
Guest:You either got to build that face mask or you got to buy it or whatever.
Guest:So then here's the deal.
Guest:Go in on this with three other people, two or three other people, and go as a group where you're all of them, right?
Guest:You're every face of Mick Foley in one pack.
Guest:And you guys walk around as the many faces of Mick.
Guest:That would be how I would have.
Marc:doing that one yeah that's a smart one yeah I was gonna say maybe you could just combine them all into one costume one giant Mick Foley monster yeah just have a Mr. Sacco with a tie-dye shirt and I don't know what you would do with a Cactus Jack but yeah you could just make a well you could use the flannel vest over the tie-dye perfect see you could do it all with one who are you I'm Mick Foley I'm many faces of Mick exactly exactly yeah
Guest:Now, wait, you said you had thought of some other ideas for costumes that didn't have to do with wrestling.
Guest:Well, it's funny.
Marc:Your show, you know, if you think about it, people have dressed up as most of the people on your show.
Marc:But before I get to them-
Marc:I mean, yeah, honestly, a most is accurate.
Marc:I tried to make a list and I was like, well, this is futile.
Marc:This is just silly.
Marc:But the other thing I was thinking of for a Halloween costume that has to do with wrestling is, and I've seen it in the wild, people have dressed up as Mark from Glow.
Guest:Oh yeah, sure.
Guest:The glow, a whole cast of glow got a lot of play with Halloween.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Alison Brie's Soviet character.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:It is just, it is just full on, you know, a treasure trove of Halloween costumes.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:But, but,
Marc:People dressing up as WTF guests, I mean, there are so many.
Marc:Like, people have dressed up as Obama.
Marc:Sure.
Marc:You know, Alex Winter from Bill and Ted's.
Guest:Okay.
Marc:Killian Murphy, the people are going to be dressing up as Oppenheimer for sure this year.
Guest:You'll get a lot of Barbenheimers, I'm sure.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:Half Oppenheimer, half Barbie.
Marc:Right.
Marc:I'm sure people have been Ben Kingsley dressed up as a serious, annoying person.
Yeah.
Marc:But like William Shatner, Ice Cube from Friday, Ray Romano.
Marc:I mean, like there's so many.
Marc:Who dresses up like Ray Romano?
Marc:I've seen it.
Marc:I mean, I live in the New York area.
Marc:So it's just like.
Marc:Is that someone dressed up or that's just a guy who lives in Queens?
Marc:It's one of those like office things.
Marc:Like, who are you?
Marc:Oh, I'm Three Hole Punch Jim, you know?
Marc:Right.
Marc:But like Michelle Yeoh from Everything Everywhere All at Once with the.
Guest:Oh, but there's a lot of costumes.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:In that.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Christina Ricci, her character from Yellow Jackets.
Marc:Tony Hawk is an easy one.
Marc:You just grab a fucking skateboard, for all's sake.
Marc:There's so many.
Marc:Like, it's really silly.
Marc:Like, you could be Nicole Kidman from the AMC trailer.
Marc:Everyone fucking loves that trailer, New York City.
Marc:New York City's the only place people applaud when they see Nicole Kidman in the AMC thing.
Marc:But, uh...
Marc:Anywhere else.
Marc:No one gives a shit.
Guest:That would be really funny if you dressed as Nicole Kidman elegantly and you're replicating her look from that thing and you're just walking around with an AMC popcorn box.
Marc:Yes!
Marc:She doesn't need popcorn.
Guest:Trick or treat.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:But yeah, that would work.
Marc:That would work.
Marc:But yeah, there are so many guests that people have dressed up as who have been guests on your show.
Marc:It's really, really quite remarkable.
Guest:Well, there you go.
Guest:WTFpod.com.
Guest:Just go to the search bar and look at our guest list and find whoever you want.
Guest:Just throw a dart and pick a random WTF person who you can dress as for Halloween.
Marc:And has anyone ever dressed up as Mark from WTF?
Marc:Are they a podcast or something?
Marc:I would love to see pictures.
Guest:I'm not sure, but I would be surprised if someone hasn't.
Guest:If you could dress up like Mark from Glow, it's probably much easier to just dress up like him and put a headset on and walk around with a microphone if you're at a costume party.
Guest:Totally.
Guest:Totally.
Guest:All right.
Guest:Well, listen, we're going to get back to some Halloween stuff in a couple of weeks right before the holiday.
Guest:So if anyone wants to send in their suggestions about costumes, about music, about movies, throw it into the comments.
Guest:Just go to your episode description, click on the link and send it to us on the form.
Guest:We will add it into what we're doing.
Guest:I'm looking at the time, Chris, and I know you have to catch a plane.
Guest:You're going out to sunny California.
Guest:I am going to have to run to pick up my son.
Guest:So if our listeners don't mind us taking a mulligan on the best thing in wrestling this week, I'm going to take a pass and float it over to next week.
Guest:Is that cool with you, Chris?
Guest:Yeah, absolutely.
Guest:Very grateful to everyone who's hanging out with us here on the Friday show.
Guest:Very grateful that it's, you know, most everyone who has subscribed to the full Marin because that is not what we expected.
Guest:That was frankly not why we were doing this on the Friday show.
Guest:We thought it was a good supplement to people who joined for a very specific reason.
Guest:And it seems like now it's just kind of part of the week and we're happy to do it for you as long as you're here.
Guest:So, you know, hang out with us.
Guest:Let us know what the kind of stuff you want us to be talking about here.
Guest:And we'll keep doing it for you.
Guest:And until the next time we do it, I'm Brendan and that's Chris.
Guest:Peace.
Peace.