National Lampoon's European Vacation with Jon Gabrus

Summary

Blank Check with Griffin & David
Episode: National Lampoon's European Vacation with Jon Gabrus
Release Date: May 11, 2025

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Summary

In this episode of Blank Check with Griffin & David, hosts Griffin Newman and David Sims, along with producer Ben Hosley, embark on an in-depth exploration of National Lampoon's European Vacation. Featuring guest Jon Gabrus, the discussion navigates through the film's intricacies, its place within Chevy Chase's illustrious career, and the broader impact on the National Lampoon franchise.

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1. Introduction to European Vacation

The episode kicks off with a humorous examination of the movie's tagline and poster, setting the tone for a detailed analysis.

• Ben Hosley ([00:48]): "This movie has a great kind of golden age of poster taglines."
• Griffin Newman ([00:56]): "For over 2000 years, Europe has survived many great disasters. Now for the real test. Chevy Chase and his family are coming from America."

The trio discusses the playful yet descriptive nature of the tagline, emphasizing its role in encapsulating the film's essence.

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2. Chevy Chase: Star Power and Character Dynamics

A significant portion of the episode delves into Chevy Chase's dual portrayal of characters and his unique star persona.

• Griffin Newman ([01:08]): "And using Chevy and not Clark Griswold is… is of the time."
• David Sims ([15:10]): "To me, it's a toss-up. It's difficult to choose between Fletch and Christmas Vacation."

They explore how Chevy Chase's versatility allows him to oscillate between the smarmy, wise-cracking Fletch and the hapless, well-intentioned Clark Griswold. This duality is highlighted as a cornerstone of his enduring appeal.

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3. Production Insights and Director's Challenges

Ben Hosley provides behind-the-scenes insights, particularly focusing on director Amy Heckerling's experiences and challenges during production.

• Amy Heckerling ([56:35]): "I was extremely miserable working on it. It was a train wreck. It was impossible."
• Griffin Newman ([56:45]): "I think she is the archetype that most of those videos are riffing on."

Heckerling's candid remarks reveal the tumultuous environment on set, especially her strained relationship with Chevy Chase, which ultimately affected the film's outcome.

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4. Box Office Performance and Reception

The hosts analyze the movie's financial performance and its reception compared to its predecessors.

• Ben Hosley ([147:36]): "It ends up at a domestic total of $49 million. Not bad."
• Griffin Newman ([141:41]): "And it's still a poster, but it's him being electrocuted."

While European Vacation did achieve moderate box office success, it didn't quite match the acclaim or financial triumph of the original National Lampoon's Vacation. The discussion touches on factors like changing audience tastes and the film's attempt to replicate the original's magic.

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5. Cultural Impact and Stereotypes

A critical examination of how the film portrays European cultures through the lens of American tourists forms a central theme.

• Ben Hosley ([93:00]): "He's so excited about reconnecting with his heritage, but he ends up causing chaos."
• David Sims ([93:46]): "It's an anti-American and anti-European satire."

The conversation highlights the movie's use of exaggerated stereotypes, balancing humor with subtle critiques of American cultural imperialism during vacations abroad.

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6. Personal Anecdotes and Reflections

Griffin and David share personal stories related to family vacations, drawing parallels between their experiences and the film's narrative.

• Griffin Newman ([26:12]): "Bringing kids on vacation is a huge hassle. You don't have any fun so far is my experience."
• David Sims ([26:28]): "Yes. And they get not much out of it, right?"

These reflections add a relatable dimension to the discussion, emphasizing the universal challenges and comedic mishaps that come with family vacations.

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7. Legacy and Future of the Franchise

The episode concludes with a contemplation of the National Lampoon franchise's legacy and future installments.

• Ben Hosley ([149:08]): "He likes how angry this movie is. I like that this movie is the most invested in the hell of the trip."
• Griffin Newman ([142:29]): "Vacation didn't do well. And I was like, huh?"

The hosts discuss the enduring legacy of the Vacation series, pondering the potential for future sequels and spin-offs amidst the franchise's fluctuating reputation.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Griffin Newman ([00:56]): "We love a good multi sentence tagline."
• Ben Hosley ([07:03]): "It's produced by Ben Hosley."
• David Sims ([15:10]): "It's difficult to choose between Fletch and Christmas Vacation."
• Amy Heckerling ([56:35]): "I do think he's an asshole."
• David Sims ([93:46]): "It's an anti-American and anti-European satire."
• Griffin Newman ([26:12]): "I don't give a. I have to do. I gotta go."
• Ben Hosley ([147:36]): "It ends up at a domestic total of $49 million. Not bad."

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Conclusion

National Lampoon's European Vacation serves as a fascinating case study in franchise evolution, star dynamics, and cultural satire. Through their engaging and humorous discussion, Griffin and David offer listeners a comprehensive understanding of the film's place in cinema history and Chevy Chase's career trajectory. The episode underscores the delicate balance between maintaining franchise integrity and adapting to changing audience expectations.

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Additional Resources:

• Podcast Website: blankcheckpod.com
• Patreon: Blank Check Special Features
• Newsletter: Checkbook on Substack
• Social Media: @checkpod

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Note: All timestamps are approximate and correspond to the excerpts included in the summary.

Transcript

[Griffin Newman]

Blank check with Griffin and David. Blank check with Griffin and David.

[David Sims]

Don't know what to say or to expect. All you need to know is that the name of the shadow is Black Jack.

[Ben Hosley]

Hey, look, kids, there's Big Ben. There's a podcast again. It's going in circles. He's in the Roundabout podcast. Here's the thing. This movie has a great. A great kind of golden age of poster taglines. Tagline. But there was no way to do justice to it without using the exact words they use. So I want to just read the tagline.

[Griffin Newman]

Go ahead.

[Ben Hosley]

We love a good multi sentence tagline.

[Griffin Newman]

I mean, I saw it and I was just like, this tagline is appropriate. It describes the film. It's not that funny.

[Ben Hosley]

For over 2000 years. Years, Europe has survived many great disasters. Now for the real test. Chevy Chase and his family are coming from America.

[Griffin Newman]

Oh, I mean, you know, just.

[David Sims]

And using Chevy and not Clark Griswold is. Is of the time.

[Griffin Newman]

I do think that's a little rude.

[Ben Hosley]

We noticed this as well on. Spoiler alert. Next week's episode. Next week's talking.

[Griffin Newman]

Next week's episode of it's about. Look who's Talking.

[Ben Hosley]

That poster similarly has a tagline that name checks Travolta and Kirstiale with rather than putting them above the title as like star billing, not characters. But it's like this was an era of like.

[Griffin Newman]

This is weirder. Because don't you think it's much weirder? Isn't Clark Gris.

[David Sims]

He's established as well. He's totally.

[Griffin Newman]

But you know what the tagline for the first vacation is? Every summer, Chevy Chase takes his family on a little trip. This year he went too far. So they're going with the same format.

[Ben Hosley]

And the poster's very similar. Let's say it's a flipped mirror image of him in a sort of Conan the Barbarian.

[Griffin Newman]

Right.

[Ben Hosley]

Him and the Frazetta stars.

[David Sims]

Familiar.

[Griffin Newman]

Yes.

[David Sims]

My Frank Frazetta calendar that I have actually. Do you really? Yes.

[Griffin Newman]

Which they abandon it for Christmas vacation. They abandon the.

[Ben Hosley]

It's still a poster, but it's him being electrocuted. It's still a painting.

[Griffin Newman]

It's a famous.

[David Sims]

I can close my eyes and see all four. Even Vegas.

[Ben Hosley]

And then Vegas is kind of riffing on the Christmas one where he's in a similar kind of exposition. Right. A Christ pose in a way, but on the. On the roulette.

[Griffin Newman]

On a roulette, yeah. And to me, actually, the. The Vegas vacation poster is iconic because it looks so exciting.

[Ben Hosley]

It does it looks, you know, you're.

[Griffin Newman]

Like, my God, what is. This is. He's in Vegas. He's doing this. Ah, there's money everywhere.

[Ben Hosley]

And yet you're like, there's something missing. There's some weird absence. What's the void on this poster? Oh, National Lampoon has removed their name from this movie.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah, they. Sure.

[Ben Hosley]

In, like, 1998.

[Griffin Newman]

Seven.

[Ben Hosley]

That's. That's a rough year for National Lampoon to be starting to go. Like, we actually don't think this is up to our standards. This might damage. No, I agree with you. Like, in a modern era, right. If, like, the first Vacation's a hit, which it was, and you're making vacation 2, the tagline would be. Now for the real test. The Griswolds are coming from America. And then right below that, Chevy Chase and the biggest fucking letters you've ever seen.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

And they're flexing like you now know both the name of our star and the name of the fictional family.

[David Sims]

Right? And the Griswolds is like, they. They say that shit. They say it so much.

[Ben Hosley]

They're not the Johnsons, Right? Like, they get to be like, we are the definitive Griswolds in cinema history. There's no mistaking them. The name is constantly a good name.

[David Sims]

It is.

[Ben Hosley]

I'm. Throw it on the fudgeing poster.

[David Sims]

Clark Griswold is a Fudgeing. It's amazing name. Yeah, it's. I mean, Chevy Chase is an insane name.

[Ben Hosley]

That's another thing. It's just like Chevy Chase for. For a fake movie star name.

[David Sims]

When was the first time you drove through Maryland as a kid and saw that there was Chevy Chase, Maryland, and.

[Griffin Newman]

Had a. I definitely had that realization, and I was like, it's not.

[David Sims]

What the.

[Griffin Newman]

It's not named for him.

[Ben Hosley]

No.

[Griffin Newman]

Right. No, no, I know. Griff. I know it's not named for him. As a kid, I'm like, he's. I know he was famous, but he wasn't getting big cities named after.

[David Sims]

And then I was like, oh, was he named after the city? And I had no. And I was just.

[Griffin Newman]

I think the answer is. And no.

[Ben Hosley]

Well, the infamous.

[Griffin Newman]

It's sort of a joke.

[Ben Hosley]

Right at the peak of his, like, immediate rocket ship fame. Right. Like, five episodes into, his name is Cornelius Chase. Cornelius Crane Chase. Like the fourth, the third.

[Griffin Newman]

I'm not seeing. I'm not seeing an addendum.

[David Sims]

That's a moneyed name. That's a Plymouth Rock.

[Ben Hosley]

He's from a real Plymouth Rock. Like Ivory Tower.

[Griffin Newman]

Right. His grandfather was Rear Admiral Miles Browning of the United States Navy.

[Ben Hosley]

Like, his family is the exact parody, the worst version of what you think.

[David Sims]

They call me the Rear Admiral Sweetheart.

[Griffin Newman]

He's nicknamed for his adoptive grandfather Cornelius, while the nickname Chevy was bestowed by his grandmother from the medieval English ballad the Ballad of Chevy Chase, which is an English ballad from long ago.

[Ben Hosley]

So is that town named after the ballad?

[Griffin Newman]

It must be.

[Ben Hosley]

I was going to say.

[David Sims]

That's awesome.

[Ben Hosley]

Season one of snl.

[David Sims]

The ballad Chevy Chase, by the way, is the documentary about his downfall. And that's for sure.

[Griffin Newman]

Seriously. Yes.

[David Sims]

We are producing.

[Griffin Newman]

Yes. The affluent. The affluent area in Maryland is indeed also named for this ballad. Okay.

[Ben Hosley]

Season one of the show when he's blowing up. And I think there's like a very early Time magazine cover that's like, this is the new face of comedy.

[David Sims]

Understandable.

[Ben Hosley]

Chevy Chase looking handsome as shit, wearing a T shirt that says, yes, it's my real name.

[Griffin Newman]

Right.

[Ben Hosley]

And he was like. From the moment he got famous, we learned right from the moment he got famous, he was playing this bit of like, I'm tired of answering this question. I know it's unbelievable. But, yes, it's my real name. Which he maintained for, like, 15 years, which maybe tells us a lot about Chevy Chase.

[Griffin Newman]

But here's my question. So, as you may or may not know, a landmark decision of the Supreme Court in 1965 is called Griswold vs Connecticut, which protected the liberty of married people to use contraception.

[Ben Hosley]

Interesting.

[Griffin Newman]

It's a. It's a classic right to privacy about birth control. You know, a liberal Supreme Court decision.

[Ben Hosley]

67. You said 65. 65.

[Griffin Newman]

So are the Griswolds. Is that a Clever John? 100% right. You know about that?

[David Sims]

That is.

[Ben Hosley]

That is absolutely the kind of thing Ras and Hughes would do intentionally. Yes. Okay.

[Griffin Newman]

I. I couldn't. I can't find. But I bet you that's true.

[Ben Hosley]

I think. Has to be. Yeah.

[Griffin Newman]

Wow. We really covered a lot of ground about preppy New England or Northeastern Chevy.

[David Sims]

Imagine trying to talk about a. One of these vacation movies without getting into Chevy. Like, it's.

[Griffin Newman]

Oh, if we don't. We don't acknowledge him at all. We're like, yeah, the actor's good. I don't know. He seems to have a hand. The role. We.

[Ben Hosley]

We've talked Chevy a couple times on this.

[Griffin Newman]

So we've talked about Chevy. Ch. So who's our. Who's our? Who's the show and who's our.

[Ben Hosley]

This is blank. Check with Griffin and David. I'm Griffin.

[Griffin Newman]

I'm David.

[Ben Hosley]

It's a podcast about filmographies, directors who have massive success early on in their careers and given a series of blank checks to make whatever crazy passion projects they want. Sometimes those checks clear, and sometimes they bounce to Europe, baby. This is a miniseries on the checks. Travelers checks. Sometimes travelers checks clear, and sometimes they're actually part of some complicated heist involving a guy in a trunk.

[Griffin Newman]

Not. Not the cleanest plot element of this film.

[David Sims]

Yes. Well, Ben, if you want to just clip that, we can drop that in about 25 more times. When we talk about this movie, there's so many plot elements that are not the clearest.

[Ben Hosley]

I like that this movie just kind of feels like watching, like, four random Three Stooges shorts tied together.

[Griffin Newman]

That's. That. That's. Yes.

[Ben Hosley]

Like, I've heard people throw this out as a complaint about this movie, and I actually think it's kind of the movie's secret sauce is like it just doesn't even care about, like, every 20 minutes, we're gonna go to a different country, and there'll be internal conflicts.

[Griffin Newman]

Eric Idol will be our three line.

[Ben Hosley]

And apart from that and Rusty being so horny.

[Griffin Newman]

Who's our.

[Ben Hosley]

Well, it's a miniseries on the films of Amy Heckerling.

[Griffin Newman]

That's right.

[Ben Hosley]

Called Pod Times at Ridgemont. Cast. I love this. Today we're talking about her third film meant as sort of a rebound move after the failure of Johnny Dangerously. Why don't I sign on to a big Hollywood sequel? This is can't miss proposition, but one could argue it actually kind of. You can't dinged her career further. I think it stuck to her where they were like. She's the person who up the Vacation franchise. That was always the legacy I had heard.

[Griffin Newman]

Okay.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah. Also, she made a terrible mistake, which was choosing to work with Chevy Chase for months.

[Griffin Newman]

Oops.

[Ben Hosley]

Something that always causes damage on people's psyches. Today we're talking about national.

[Griffin Newman]

Jesus Christ.

[Ben Hosley]

National Lampoons. European Vacation.

[Griffin Newman]

That's right.

[Ben Hosley]

With our dear friend returning to the show. Sixth time. Holy Sean Gabris. I cut him off.

[David Sims]

I believe so.

[Griffin Newman]

Sounds right.

[David Sims]

But Heat.

[Ben Hosley]

Heat.

[David Sims]

Full Metal Jacket.

[Ben Hosley]

Ding.

[David Sims]

Oh, yeah. Mad Max. I forget which one.

[Ben Hosley]

Road Warrior.

[David Sims]

Road Warrior.

[Ben Hosley]

Too fast.

[David Sims]

Too fast. And Predator.

[Griffin Newman]

Wow. You've had. You've had a bit of a. With us.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

This is new for you, but it's such vibes.

[Ben Hosley]

It's perfect.

[Griffin Newman]

It is perfect.

[David Sims]

Yeah, but you've.

[Griffin Newman]

That would be what I do.

[David Sims]

That's what I'd grab From the Criterion closet. Those exact five. Well, I. I wanted to give, like, a little front porch that so frequently. And, you know, we've had a couple of very long episodes together. And you guys are. Yes, you guys are. Well, Griffin, most of all is a length queen.

[Ben Hosley]

I.

[David Sims]

You know, he's constantly talking about how long his Doughboys episodes are. And then we get, hey, we got Adam Perry in here letting it rip, you know, like, you guys. And I've. But I. Heat. Of course. You could talk about heat for four hours. Of course I could talk justifiably long.

[Griffin Newman]

Yes.

[David Sims]

But this is the first time I ever felt, like, when, you know, like, David's like, I have a heart out. I'm like, I think we'll be fine.

[Ben Hosley]

I think we'll be fine.

[Griffin Newman]

This is one of these. I'm like, I think if we went. If. We'll see what happened. But if we went long on this, it still wouldn't be that long. Here's another thing that happened only so much here.

[Ben Hosley]

Us to push back.

[Griffin Newman]

Right. Yeah, yeah. Like, until a little later in the day.

[Ben Hosley]

Right. David was like, I have a heart out. We're fine starting at 2, as long as we're done by this time. Right, Right. And then you've responded, need time to talk about breasts. And David responded, let's make it 1:30. Actually, the one push was we might need the extra half an hour if.

[David Sims]

We'Re committing to, I mean, 10 minutes per rack.

[Ben Hosley]

It's one sequence, so.

[Griffin Newman]

Wait to follow Griff. Yes, we've discussed Fletch, obviously, a choice by Ben Benjamin Hosley, our producer.

[David Sims]

Every once in a while, the dude shows up with good taste, 100%.

[Griffin Newman]

We've discussed the film Memoirs of an Invisible Man.

[Ben Hosley]

Yes.

[Griffin Newman]

A low point for all.

[Ben Hosley]

Sure.

[Griffin Newman]

Not really. Yeah. No one's covering themselves in Glory.

[Ben Hosley]

Aren't those the only two we've done?

[Griffin Newman]

I believe that's it.

[Ben Hosley]

I feel like on that episode in particular, we talked a lot about. Because Carpenter cites that as, like, a moment that kind of, like, killed his spirits. There is kind of a before and after in his career of, like, post memoirs. He seems a little heartbroken in a way that happens to a lot of popular artists. Right. Like, there's some failure or setback they experience. They never totally get over. And some of our very kind, very normal Redditors, I saw in the comments of that episode being like, what is their source for this? What is all this weird negativity they're throwing at Chevy Chase? And I just want to say our source for this is everyone who has.

[Griffin Newman]

Ever had any interaction with Chevy Chase, any written reporting.

[Ben Hosley]

He is basically Chevy Chase, a famous before and after person in people's careers when they work with him and he breaks people. He does. And we were talking about this, David, as we were prepping to do this episode a couple of days ago, you were like, here's a question. Has anyone ever stepped away and gone, you know what? I actually had a really good experience.

[Griffin Newman]

Who's the guy who has the anecdote? My, my point was like, of like, you know, when my daughter got married, Chevy called me and was like, I'm so happy to hear about. You know what I mean?

[David Sims]

Like the guy who's like, you know.

[Griffin Newman]

Chevy's always been a mensch to me.

[Ben Hosley]

And my counterpoint to you was in one of like a vodka fueled Harmontown 7 hour run ons where Dan Harmon played voicemails of Chevy saying the N word. He also was like, and by the way, here are three very nice things that Chevy's done right in the framework of. It was genuinely nice. And it's hard for me to like make sense of that.

[David Sims]

Yeah, it doesn't fit into the fucking.

[Ben Hosley]

But there's like no one in a way that's even like, well, who. Bill Murray can be temperamental, but like Wes Anderson, Sophia Copeland know how to work with him. And they're like, he's always great with me. There's no one who's like Chevy and I.

[Griffin Newman]

That's my question. Okay, so Landis. Well, Landis, John Landis. Hate to bring him up early, but he worked with him multiple times. Spies like us, three amigos. There might be more. Right, Right. I'm trying to think like who's worked with Chevy multiple.

[David Sims]

Who's come multiple movies with. We can do some besides an entity of National Lampoon 1.

[Ben Hosley]

Ramis did it twice. Ramos did it twice.

[Griffin Newman]

But like even Shit Vacation, four different directors. Caddyshack, the sequel had a different director. You know what I mean? Like Fletch Lives. Different direct.

[Ben Hosley]

But even then. And we can do some digging here and I invite our listeners to do some digging. I don't remember ever seeing a quote from Ramis or take it back.

[Griffin Newman]

Fletch Lives had the same director.

[Ben Hosley]

Okay. Richie? Both did both. Yeah. I don't remember ever seeing a quote from any director who's like, I know he's had trouble with other people, but we get on really well. I think the best scenario is people being like, I'm fairly good at handling him well. Also he like, I'M good at. Like, my house is storm proofed.

[David Sims]

Not like he ends up not being worth it either. You know what I mean? Like, well, that's the other thing. There are people who are equally pricky but insane, you know, levels above talented. And so you're like, fuck. All right, strap in. We're doing this.

[Griffin Newman]

You know what, man? Richie worked with him three times. Cops and Robersons with Jack Palance.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah.

[Griffin Newman]

So maybe Richie's the guy who's like, I always. I always had a fine time with Chevy. Like, I get Chevy, but also maybe.

[David Sims]

Could be also a guy that Chevy dominates and gets hired.

[Griffin Newman]

Possibly.

[David Sims]

Well, I tell you. I tell you how.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

Okay, I just found a Guardian article that says that Sylvester Stallone and Chevy Chase are good friends.

[Griffin Newman]

Oh, those two guys, those normal guys, small personalities. We call those small little.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

But in Philly, they opened a Rocky memorabilia shop and Chevy Chase showed up for the opening with Sly.

[Griffin Newman]

Great.

[David Sims]

Well, Sly is my ambassador to Hollywood. So for. I'm able to deal with, like, I'm an inter. Interacting with him a lot.

[Ben Hosley]

I'm really. I gotta say, I'm now disappointed that Chevy never made it into an Expendables. I.

[Griffin Newman]

That would have been fun. That would have been fun. He's tall.

[Ben Hosley]

He's very tall. He's good at falling down.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah, exactly.

[David Sims]

It's a bum. It's a bummer that he was such an. Because he really can carry a comedy.

[Griffin Newman]

This is what we're going to talk about because this is. All right. So, Fletch. All right. Okay. Number one question. I'm posing it to everybody. What is the best Chevy Chase movie? Movie? Is it Fletch? Is it Caddyshack? Is it Vacation? Christmas vacation?

[David Sims]

To me, it's a. It's a toss up. It's difficult to choose between Fletch and Christmas vacation.

[Griffin Newman]

Those are the two sides of Chevy. Smarm versus affable.

[Ben Hosley]

Now, I want to unpack this a little bit right off the bat.

[Griffin Newman]

No, that's why I'm putting it out there.

[Ben Hosley]

Because in our Memoirs of Invisible man episode, I talked about how he basically has this unbreakable Persona of smartest guy in the room. Like smarming circles around everyone, making the jokes under his breath, kind of being gross with women. But everyone's sort of charmed by it, right?

[David Sims]

Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

And then people responded like, you're excluding Clark Griswold, which is his kind of. Which is not your thing, low status role. It's his, like, hapless. This guy kind of gets made to look A fool over and over again.

[David Sims]

I think he gets to play both sides as Clark Griswold, which is the best part, is that he gets to be like a smarmy wise ass.

[Ben Hosley]

Totally.

[David Sims]

Who then is the butt of the joke and then is also randomly the heartfelt dad.

[Ben Hosley]

It is the balance. But Quentino, who is like the biggest fan of the cinema of Chevy Chase and is always talking, that's a guy.

[David Sims]

I can't believe hasn't brought Chevy into him.

[Ben Hosley]

Insane.

[David Sims]

Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

Right. But even he is.

[Griffin Newman]

That's the thing. Tarantino, Psycho.

[David Sims]

And I don't want to work with him.

[Griffin Newman]

He's savvy. Exactly.

[Ben Hosley]

He's savvy.

[Griffin Newman]

He's savvy.

[Ben Hosley]

But Tarantino loves Chevy and has talked about him at length and is like the thing I love about Chevy movies. And he'll go to bat by like, Funny Farm is a flat out five star masterpiece. I like Funny Farm. The whole canon of Chevy farm through like 99. He's like, all in the tank for. Right. His big defense is like, in that era of the sort of like, postmodern version of the Groucho Marx, cool wise guy, like, snob versus slob comedy that comes out nationally input and SNL and whatever. All the other guys needed to go soft at some point and learn a lesson or show they really cared or that they were tender. And like Chevy movies, he never stops being an asshole.

[David Sims]

Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

He would. Like, Quentin Tarantino really stands for the commitment to the smarm from Chevy. Whereas, like, the. The vacation movies are the only ones where there's a bit of balance without it feeling like he's selling out. Which is an interesting tension. It is like, just through quantity, you have to say, his definitive movie character.

[David Sims]

Right.

[Ben Hosley]

It is his one franchise. But, like, outside of that, every other Chevy performance is. This is Griswold without any balance.

[David Sims]

Right.

[Ben Hosley]

Kind of winning more often.

[Griffin Newman]

But. Ben, what's your. Is your answer, Fletch? It was your OG pick.

[David Sims]

Yeah.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

And I love. I adore Fletch. I can. It's so rewatchable. I feel like, though, I have such a soft spot for Christmas.

[David Sims]

Yes.

[Griffin Newman]

Right. Which is just such a family classic for many. Not for me.

[Ben Hosley]

Not for me either.

[Griffin Newman]

I.

[David Sims]

Had you mentioned this off mic earlier.

[Griffin Newman]

What did I say?

[David Sims]

You said you were Jewish.

[Griffin Newman]

I did say that. And Gabrius threatened to leave immediately. I said, let's get that on, Mike.

[David Sims]

I asked Griffin before I came in here. I'm like, you don't have any Jewish people recording. You're like, we actually have several I.

[Ben Hosley]

Have to make them out. I have to make a confession. Gabriel. No, no, I. I, too, am Jewish.

[David Sims]

Come on. I'm trying to do comedy in New York, and I'm finding all these Jewish guys.

[Ben Hosley]

Button in the wall.

[David Sims]

But obviously there are movie fans and movie critics. Are all these intellectual, funny Jewish guys?

[Griffin Newman]

There are many Jews who grew up with the beloved Christmas comedies.

[Ben Hosley]

I mean, we.

[Griffin Newman]

I just did not grow up with the vacation movies at all.

[Ben Hosley]

We were. We were a big Christmas movie family, despite being a Jewish New York family. And yet my parents had a real allergy to Chevy Chase. We were a Bill Murray household. That was the flavor of smarm that was accepted in our household.

[Griffin Newman]

Were you watching Scrooged?

[Ben Hosley]

Not as much.

[David Sims]

Great movie, right? Great fucking.

[Ben Hosley]

We were like, certainly. We were watching, like, Christmas Story every year on. On TNT and never seen Famous. Ye. A very good film. But, yeah, I remember one year, family friends gifting us a DVD of Christmas vacation, and my parents being like, really? And their friends who were adults. The woman was like, yeah, we watched it all the time when I was growing up. And they were like, really? You watched this? We had it in the house. And they were just kind of, like, kind of hate. We have a Chevy movie on the shelf.

[David Sims]

Christmas vacation is enormous in my family. It looms insanely large. I have an uncle, Uncle Mike. He has no idea how podcasts work at all, so. But he'll appreciate the shout out. He's one of the most generous laughers in my life. And he always said, like, I. And he looked. He looks a little bit like Michael McDonald. He was a postal worker. He's a mailman. He had, like, tinted glasses and gray long hair. And he would always be like, I want to be your sidekick when you're a talk show host, because I'll just cackle because he thought I was so funny. He. He would. It would be like the summer would be a Fourth of July barbecue, and we'd be standing around. Yeah. No, he would say shit like, don't worry, just yakking on a bone. Or, like, got a little bit of that Mississippi leghound in him. You gotta let him finish. Like, he knew the whole movie by heart. Yeah, he was obsessed with it. He would laugh so hard just talking to us about it. He would have tears pouring down his face just remembering scenes. My aunt instilled a rule that he wasn't allowed to start watching Christmas Vacation.

[Ben Hosley]

Until Thanksgiving because otherwise he'd be watching it every week.

[David Sims]

He'd watch it every weekend. Yeah, it. And he was he also famously. There's a famous family story that they almost had to. They threatened to turn a plane around. He was on because he was laughing so loud. He was ruining everyone's time. And when I said, uncle Mike, why are you laughing so loud? He's like, my buddy was telling me about Monty Python's the Holy Grail. He was just hearing about the movie and cackling. I'm like, oh, it's awesome.

[Ben Hosley]

I just think there's basically a, like, a grouping of, like, A Christmas Story, Christmas Vacation, Elf.

[Griffin Newman]

We're talking about cable classics.

[Ben Hosley]

Right.

[Griffin Newman]

But especially the first. You know, like, it's just like cable TV is invented. And they're like, when. What shall we put on it? And they're like, well, Christmas Story and Christmas Vacation.

[Ben Hosley]

Right.

[David Sims]

Well, we know in a month that this will play well. But those vacation movies in general, I felt like, were on cable all the time.

[Ben Hosley]

Yes.

[Griffin Newman]

They're. They're just. They're just what America wanted in the 80s. This kind of, like, just ribbled enough. Right. Like family friendly, but also, like, a little spicy.

[Ben Hosley]

Here's a confession that might surprise you. Gabris and David and I have been comparing notes on this. I had seen Nashville Lampoon's Vacation and Christmas Vacation. I feel like Cloverfield style, as I like to call it.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah. Like, bits and pieces. Over the years.

[Ben Hosley]

I, in the last 36 hours, watched both of them intentionally sitting down from beginning to end for the first time in my life.

[David Sims]

Whoa.

[Ben Hosley]

But I was like, yeah, I've seen every scene of this.

[David Sims]

Yes.

[Ben Hosley]

But just in, like, jumping in, popping in here and out.

[David Sims]

Poor guy probably kept up for the first few miles.

[Ben Hosley]

Yes.

[Griffin Newman]

Did you go European?

[Ben Hosley]

I basically, I put on. I was like, I don't think I've seen any of this.

[Griffin Newman]

Did you go to Vegas?

[Ben Hosley]

Have I in my life? Oh, I haven't yet in my watch through. You did all five?

[Griffin Newman]

I did all of them. I even watched the. Right. The remake or continuation?

[Ben Hosley]

The continuation. The Legacy.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

I've never seen that one. How is it?

[Griffin Newman]

Have you seen it? The John Francis Daly, Jonathan Goldstein.

[David Sims]

Is it homes. Yeah.

[Griffin Newman]

I haven't watched the first 20 minutes of it. You're like, this is cooking. This is funny. And then it. I don't know, its biggest set pieces did nothing for me. But also it has a little bit of stuff.

[Ben Hosley]

Goldstein and Daly, right after that, go on to do date night and Dungeons and Dragons. So it's. I'm sorry, game night. They didn't do date night, mercifully.

[David Sims]

Yeah, no, they did the Better Night.

[Ben Hosley]

They did Game Night and Dungeons and Dragons. So you want to go back and be like, was this a secret masterpiece? Because these guys seem to be on the.

[Griffin Newman]

But it's got a couple clever, like, things. Sure. It's okay.

[David Sims]

The era that it came out in is, like. I mean, it was the beginning of the dearth of comedy, I was thinking.

[Griffin Newman]

And it's so of that peak. It's peak, like the Hangover era. It's so nasty and, like, just kind of puerile and gross in a way where you're kind of like, it's kind of funny, and then again, you just kind of get sick of it after you.

[Ben Hosley]

I have a very distinct memory of that movie, if not bombing, at least significantly. Underperforming.

[Griffin Newman]

Sure.

[Ben Hosley]

And thinking, feeling a shiver in my body and going, oh, fucking theatrical comedies. Might be a little doomed. Because I was like, well, it's gonna do well.

[David Sims]

Well, you were wrong.

[Griffin Newman]

Right.

[David Sims]

Bigger and better than ever.

[Ben Hosley]

I remember logicing out that movie came out in August and, like, one or two other big comedies had flopped already that year. And I was like, that's gonna do well. Just because there has to be one comedy hit every summer.

[David Sims]

Right. Something. Something's Gotta Get.

[Ben Hosley]

And we're the Millers was kind of an example of, like, a couple other things that underperformed and then that weirdly overperformed in August because people are just like, I want to laugh one time.

[Griffin Newman]

Right. Your horrible bosses are doing well for this reason.

[David Sims]

Right.

[Ben Hosley]

And it was like, Vacation didn't do well. And I was like, huh? There were no comedy hits this year. What does that mean? Yeah.

[Griffin Newman]

Wait, what was the biggest comedy hit of 2015? I'm about to find out. I'm going, it's perfect. Two doesn't count.

[Ben Hosley]

Daddy's Home comes out that Christmas.

[Griffin Newman]

O.

[Ben Hosley]

That's the one.

[Griffin Newman]

Wait, you're saying Daddy's home. That's 30th. We can't do better than that. Spy is above it. Do we count Spy?

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah.

[David Sims]

Okay, well, I like Spy.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah.

[David Sims]

Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

Spy is quite good.

[David Sims]

Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah.

[Griffin Newman]

It looks like Spy is the top comedy on this list. That isn't like a cartoon and no.

[David Sims]

One'S talking about it. But it. I enjoyed it. It was good. But no one's like, oh, and you know what? Let's get. Let's rip the bomb.

[Griffin Newman]

Train Wreck is above.

[Ben Hosley]

Oh, sure.

[Griffin Newman]

Those movies, okay.

[Ben Hosley]

But Daddy's Home does come out in Christmas.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah, sure. You know what?

[Ben Hosley]

There had been comedy hits that year. I don't know what the fuck I Was talking about certainly vacation.

[Griffin Newman]

And comedy's doing fine.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah. I'm sorry.

[Griffin Newman]

I mean, the things that did badly that maybe are legal again.

[Ben Hosley]

Comedy is legal.

[David Sims]

I have made comedy legal again.

[Griffin Newman]

By the. When they say they make comedy legal again, they mean it. Made it not funny at all. That seems to be what they mean.

[David Sims]

Yeah. They mean slurs are legal.

[Griffin Newman]

Right, Ted?

[David Sims]

And slurs are comedy also.

[Ben Hosley]

And some people are laughing.

[David Sims]

Three things at once.

[Ben Hosley]

Some very specific people are laughing in specific rooms.

[Griffin Newman]

Ted, two pixels.

[Ben Hosley]

Okay.

[Griffin Newman]

You know, like, there's movies on this.

[Ben Hosley]

Those are a couple.

[Griffin Newman]

Mall Cop too. All movies where I defend pixels, but movies where it's like, what are we doing?

[Ben Hosley]

I defend as well.

[David Sims]

I defend.

[Ben Hosley]

But those are.

[David Sims]

Whatever what you said, I defend in whatever movie you chose. After those three, I was gonna give you this same look of dispense, but.

[Griffin Newman]

Like, like, you know, there's nothing wrong with doing Paul blart. Mall Cop 2. The first one did well. We make sequels to successful movies, but at the same time, I think America's like, guys, we gave you a pass on Paul.

[David Sims]

It was all kind of went. That was like a proto meme where it's like, wouldn't be funny if we just saw this movie.

[Ben Hosley]

Sure. But Also, Pablo Malcop 2. In my memory was a bit of an. Another stakeout where I'm like, you waited six years.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah, they waited a little too long.

[Ben Hosley]

He hit the, like, iron a couple times, had a couple other hits, then bombs. Then was like, I guess I got to go back to the safety net of blurt. And people were like, okay, we miss blurt.

[David Sims]

Stop doing mma guys. And guys who work in shoes.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah. Yeah. That was what it was. It was Kevin James going, like, final.

[David Sims]

So the king of Queens bought a zoo, right?

[Ben Hosley]

Yes.

[Griffin Newman]

I had never seen any of these movies. When Heckerling got picked, I was like, all right, I'm gonna watch.

[David Sims]

Good excuse. Are you a fan of vacation as a concept? You don't. You don't have, like, a lot of vacation.

[Ben Hosley]

Vibes is a rich conversational thread. Thank you for opening the store.

[Griffin Newman]

I'll say this.

[Ben Hosley]

You don't like traveling.

[Griffin Newman]

Not right now. Because I have all these children.

[David Sims]

Yes.

[Griffin Newman]

And there are some people who I know with young children who are just like, I don't give a. I have to do. I gotta go.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah.

[Griffin Newman]

You know, for some people, obviously, they gotta go see their family.

[David Sims]

Right.

[Griffin Newman]

You know, I get that. Very much so. But, like, some people just like, I gotta go on vacation. I'll just bring the kids. You tough out the hard parts, you do the easy part. Whatever. I'm just like, no, man. Bringing kids on vacation is a huge hassle. You don't have any fun so far is my experience.

[David Sims]

Yeah. And they get not much out of it, right?

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah. And so I think, you know, we're getting close to now. My daughter would probably enjoy a vacation, but now I have two extra kids.

[Ben Hosley]

Sure.

[Griffin Newman]

Great trip.

[Ben Hosley]

I mean, famously.

[David Sims]

That's a great way to phrase that.

[Ben Hosley]

An anecdote I love to repeat.

[David Sims]

Buy one, get two free.

[Ben Hosley]

That's what happened in early 2020. We were planning to go to Orlando to do an episode about Galaxy's Edge when that was about to open and there were two windows where it made sense to do it. February 2020 or June 2020.

[Griffin Newman]

I'm so worked up about that.

[Ben Hosley]

And we were close to pulling the trigger on February. And then I was like, fuck, the Ratatouille ride doesn't open until June. Let's wait for June. And then the world ends. Right. And David and his wife have their first child. And then like, when things reopened, we sort of like started the conversation again about, like, is it worth trying to talk about doing this? And David's response was, I can't go to Disney World. Now I have.

[Griffin Newman]

Correct.

[David Sims]

Which is a very funny phrase because that's when you're supposed to go. Not. Not when you have a zero year old, obviously, but not wait for them. I'm just, I'm not calling out, I'm so sorry. I'm just not one of these guys. I hate Disney.

[Ben Hosley]

Yes.

[Griffin Newman]

Someone says it.

[David Sims]

Disney. Like almost everything else I like in life is ruined by the other people who like it. And I go to Disney. Everyone there drives me.

[Ben Hosley]

I don't disagree with this. I don't disagree with this even.

[Griffin Newman]

This is what I hear from everyone where everyone who likes Disney World and is like, like it's kind of getting ruined both by the super fans and by the evil company that runs it, you know, squeezing every last drop of money out of it.

[Ben Hosley]

But I think a lot of your frustration with traveling as a concept, which has obviously gotten more complicated as you now have 1 million children, is the, like, hell is other people part of it. Like, you don't like dealing with the systems and crowds.

[Griffin Newman]

I don't know if that's true. That's part of.

[David Sims]

You are in one of the weirdest postures I've ever seen in my entire life.

[Griffin Newman]

Gabris is pointing out.

[David Sims]

How do I explain it?

[Griffin Newman]

I am double jointed.

[David Sims]

Yes, you are.

[Griffin Newman]

I can Bend my arms behind my back.

[David Sims]

In a really weird way, he created his own. I could describe it. He created his own gargoyle wings using his arms.

[Griffin Newman]

That is right. I do it sometimes and it alarms people.

[David Sims]

I'm sorry, but it helps you get out of handcuffs frequently.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah.

[Griffin Newman]

When I was nine years old, we moved. Yes, we moved to England. It's just a known fact on this podcast.

[David Sims]

Been listening to the pod for a long time. Wish you guys did some bits.

[Griffin Newman]

My mom, yeah, my mom did not want to move to England. Like, my dad got a job and it was, you know, we had to move. But my mom was very. But she was like, look, if we're going to fucking move to Europe, we are going like on vacation to Europe, right? Like, if I'm going to take advantage.

[David Sims]

Of being a train ride away from 11 countries.

[Griffin Newman]

And so we went on vacation, like.

[David Sims]

And you're a train boy.

[Ben Hosley]

We know that you love trains.

[David Sims]

We have that.

[Ben Hosley]

But your mom was kind of the Audrey Griswold of the family. Yeah, she's a. Didn't want to go to Europe. Wait, oh, Audrey wants to stay home, kiss boyfriends and eat food.

[Griffin Newman]

Oh, oh, she's the daughter. I'm sorry. To me, they're just dad, mom, daughter, son.

[Ben Hosley]

To me they're Chase, Beverly, daughter, son, blank, blank.

[David Sims]

You can't name them by the actors because they're different every time.

[Ben Hosley]

No, and we'll talk about it. But it's funny how much the ages change.

[Griffin Newman]

They just morph. Like it's. Anyway, by Vegas Vacation. It's weird because Chevy's getting a little old and like they haven't really aged.

[Ben Hosley]

But like G is younger than Rusty. In this, the following movie, when Chase is like four years older.

[Griffin Newman]

I don't know, you guys, hear me out. Griffin might hasn't seen it, but Vegas. Ethan Embry is funny in Vegas.

[David Sims]

He's the best part. Nick, Papa, Georgie, he's really.

[Griffin Newman]

That whole plot is. Have you seen Vegas Vacation?

[Ben Hosley]

Ben seen Vegas Vacation?

[Griffin Newman]

That was really funny. I was laughing.

[Ben Hosley]

I got.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

It's all funny.

[David Sims]

I really.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

David.

[Griffin Newman]

I didn't hate Vegas Vacation. I was sort of surprised, but I was like, this is confident. It's okay.

[Ben Hosley]

Cuz it has a bad reputation.

[David Sims]

It's the third best.

[Griffin Newman]

So you think it's better than European?

[David Sims]

Yes.

[Griffin Newman]

Wow.

[David Sims]

I think European is the worst. I think.

[Griffin Newman]

But I agree. I'll hear it out. I'll hear it out.

[Ben Hosley]

I feel like that's a consensus.

[Griffin Newman]

Vegas Vacation just has this vibe of like, like the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce. Paid for a movie, you know, a little bit. Like, it's got the most like, look at all this you could do in Las Vegas.

[David Sims]

Yeah. There's also a desert. Yeah.

[Griffin Newman]

Like, it's got a little bit more of that going on.

[Ben Hosley]

But wait, when you lived in Britain, your family would do European.

[Griffin Newman]

I had like some of the happiest I ever did was all those vacations.

[Ben Hosley]

Like, but you were rusty in that situation. The pressure wasn't on you.

[Griffin Newman]

Pressure wasn't on me. But I. I mean like, I went backpacking in Europe with my friends. I was. I was the. The Clark there.

[Ben Hosley]

Well, that sounds like American Werewolf in London and that.

[Griffin Newman]

Great. And I like vacation. I like my. I'm more of a. Let me go to a place and sit on a beat. I like to relax.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah, yeah, we know that.

[Griffin Newman]

Whereas like, I feel like a lot of the vacations that went on. When you're a kid, these is the kind of vacations you go on. Or it's like, all right, kids, we're, you know, going every Sunday museum, we're going to every church we can find.

[David Sims]

This movie, this movie captures that pretty well. So. Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

That's what I like about it, is enriching. Yeah.

[Griffin Newman]

Like, I like, like I. It's good that I did that.

[Ben Hosley]

I need to watch Vegas. And the. Much to my surprise, knowing this movie's reputation. This is kind of my favorite of the first three. I would never argue it's the best. And I think a lot of it that seems like Ben looks concerned my weird sensibility. But like, I like how angry this movie is. I like that this movie is like the most invested in the like the hell of the trip.

[David Sims]

Yes.

[Ben Hosley]

Where it's like the multi leg that it's like kind of almost every character in this movie seems a little bit like cosmically tortured and rotten. And I like that they're ugly Americans.

[David Sims]

But also that's what I like about the movie. That it's anti American and anti European.

[Griffin Newman]

At the same time. I do think it finds that balance. Well. Right. Yeah. Everyone is a fool, which I feel.

[Ben Hosley]

Like to a lot of people they're just like, this movie is just like kind of like toxic from the beginning. Like, it just seems sort of mean in a way that's a little like extreme on the dial.

[David Sims]

It's just a touch more boring than you want it to be.

[Griffin Newman]

Sure.

[Ben Hosley]

It's also, I mean, it's like highly episodic.

[David Sims]

Yes.

[Ben Hosley]

It's like it has like no drive.

[David Sims]

No. And you. And you do not give a About anything?

[Ben Hosley]

No, no.

[David Sims]

Like, it's hard to care about anything in the movie.

[Ben Hosley]

It is chaos and it's. It feels.

[David Sims]

On this viewing, the only thing I cared about was Rusty getting. For some reason, like, I got into it a little.

[Ben Hosley]

I mean, he cares a lot about that.

[David Sims]

He's such a strange looking actor. I'm so sorry to the kid.

[Ben Hosley]

You know who he is?

[Griffin Newman]

Is.

[David Sims]

No.

[Ben Hosley]

He is Blake Lively's brother.

[Griffin Newman]

What?

[David Sims]

Wow.

[Ben Hosley]

They come from like an acting dynasty family where there are.

[David Sims]

He's not bad at all.

[Ben Hosley]

No. I think there are like eight kids and he's oldest, the youngest. Like, there's a big gap between them and age.

[Griffin Newman]

Certainly he was born in 68 and Blake Lively was born in 87.

[David Sims]

Year age difference.

[Ben Hosley]

Like, it's fun. Funny to think about this movie in 86. What year this movie come out?

[Griffin Newman]

This movie came out in 1985.

[Ben Hosley]

85. And then like 20 years later, his sister is playing a high schooler on tv.

[David Sims]

Oh, that's great, right?

[Griffin Newman]

Crazy.

[Ben Hosley]

His sister.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

Can I say this about Chevy Chase in this movie?

[Griffin Newman]

Yes, he can.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

When the business is good, like the situational fiscal comedy stuff. When it's good, it's so good.

[Ben Hosley]

When Chevy is good, he's so good that it's frustrating. Yes.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

This movie, it just falls so flat.

[David Sims]

Yeah. You're pretty much. You only see like a flash of it, but you're like, you know, he can do better.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

Totally.

[David Sims]

And he's just not given the opportunity also.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah.

[David Sims]

I'll go as far to say, why pack tubes? What's in tubes that you need to bring with you on vacation? I do not understand. I get it. It's for the physical gag of hitting the guy in the nuts. But why is that in the car? What they brought posters from America. Would they intend to bring home canvas art? Like. Like, what do they those little tubes for? Is he doing architecture work? Like drafting? Like, no, it's crazy.

[Ben Hosley]

Well, here's like, David's getting ready to clap his hands. I feel like you had a thing to say.

[Griffin Newman]

You make a point. And then I want to circle back to your.

[Ben Hosley]

Like, what's the best Chevy? Right. For me, the revelation of Fletch and a movie that I've grown to appreciate more and more on repeat viewings, being educated properly to its importance by Ben Hosley. Yeah, right. I'd seen it once before. Ben helped me place it in a context text. I revisit it now. I like it a lot. I think that's the only movie that gets at that starts to gnaw at the core of Chevy Chase, is clearly really unhappy. Right?

[David Sims]

Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

There's some element of, like, the whole weird. Like, Fletch just lives under the docks and, like, hangs out with drug dealers, but it feels like that's where he's most comfortable.

[David Sims]

Fletch is one of the most aspirational movies in my life.

[Griffin Newman]

Right, right.

[David Sims]

Like, I watch Fletch and I'm like that.

[Griffin Newman]

I want to be this swab.

[David Sims]

I want to be this suave. I want to live like this specifically because I love, like, the beach bum lifestyle and all that. Speaking of which, Beach Bum, another aspirational movie. Shout out. When you guys do Harmony K. I call dibs on that.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

I love that you're. You're throwing that in the mix.

[Ben Hosley]

Yes, yes, yes, yes.

[David Sims]

When Harmony Corinne wins next year's March.

[Ben Hosley]

Man, I want to say he's definitely.

[Griffin Newman]

Building up the case with his recent outfit. Yeah. Yes.

[Ben Hosley]

I want to say Agro.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

You don't like. You don't like how that looks?

[David Sims]

Steven, we got. We got David Lowry doing Agro Drift.

[Griffin Newman]

I love to have a migraine.

[Ben Hosley]

Well, there's the new one. Baby Invasion. Have you seen this one?

[David Sims]

It's, like, in a first person shooter game.

[Ben Hosley]

But the new one is, it's like a first person shooter game where everyone has, like, AI baby heads.

[David Sims]

I can't wait.

[Ben Hosley]

It's follow up.

[David Sims]

I've even seen Agro Drift. No, no, I don't want to.

[Ben Hosley]

He hasn't seen Acro Drift.

[David Sims]

It's only playing at the shop strip club on Sunset.

[Ben Hosley]

Like, again, I think, like, the Michael Ritchie who was more of a, like, dramedy filmmaker, right. And made these films that had, like, an interesting mash of tones and could capture some, like, actual darkness and pathos in a broader comedy. There's just like, the subtle, like, some of the scenes, the way he captures just, like, Chevy walking through spaces. It's not, like, textually overstated, but you're like, there's some darkness going on in this guy.

[David Sims]

Also, Chevy knows how to walk through a room and be funny, but not too much. Like, he could just. He just makes funny physical choices. The way he moves or looks or, like, reacts like.

[Ben Hosley]

Yes.

[David Sims]

And that's like a superpower.

[Griffin Newman]

Right.

[Ben Hosley]

But there's, like, a little bit, like, there's something behind this guy's defensive armor of, like, the witty one liner.

[David Sims]

Because he's funny and good looking, tan and rich. He should be, like, happy.

[Ben Hosley]

Right?

[David Sims]

And he just can't be.

[Ben Hosley]

Right. And I feel like Fletch interrogates that a little bit. Right. And then the first three vacation movies are kind of interesting prismatic views of like. Like, what is Chevy's power as a movie star? Cause I was sort of watching the first one and trying to contextualize, like, huh. It feels like Natural Lampoon's vacation is early for Chevy to try to make the I'm a dad right Switch. Right. Like, it feels like he was doing that.

[David Sims]

It's not a new dad comedy. It's like I'm a full blown family. I'm a suburban. Totally.

[Ben Hosley]

And I think there's now more of a pipeline of like that being a stage that like comedy stars need to have in their career, at least when comedy movies still existed. Of like you make the family comedy switch really quickly. Whereas back then I think it was like family comedies are like fudgeing like Million Dollar Duck.

[David Sims]

Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

Or you make like cool R rated transgressive comedies and Chevy's like straddling this line. What's interesting about the vacation franchise is that it's like kind of for grownups and kids at the same time. They're weirdly horny and angry.

[David Sims]

Yeah. It's the. It's like the four four quadrant movie of our. Now they are. Now the four quadrant movies are like American Bollywood films, more or less, where it's like it's got a dance number, it's got a fight, it' romance, it's got a, you know, it's got a song, it's ip. It's like all this.

[Ben Hosley]

Right.

[David Sims]

And back then a four quadrant movie was like, there's some stuff for kids. And if I can quote the great Andy Daily, a little something for daddy.

[Griffin Newman]

Yes.

[Ben Hosley]

He. He was the oldest. Or. Or he wasn't the oldest. GM was the oldest, but he was older going into SNL than a lot of the other guys were in the early twenties. He is like in his late thirties by the time of the third of the first vacation, which like in the 1980s in America isn't.

[David Sims]

You have a twelve year old that. Right.

[Ben Hosley]

It's like totally possible. Maybe not Hollywood stars do.

[David Sims]

Right. Like it's not a majority of Americans. Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

Yes. But his Persona had still so recently been this guy is cool and gets chicks. And I was astonished in watching the movie straight through for the first time how much the first vacation plays like a proto American beauty where it's like this guy having some early crisis.

[Griffin Newman]

Yes.

[Ben Hosley]

Of like I have an incredibly comfortable middle class ex existence with a beautiful wife and children and I seem so angry and unhappy and All I do is fantasize about other women that's lost in this movie. Totally.

[David Sims]

There's not. There's not, there's no. The Christine Brinkley role is not in this movie.

[Ben Hosley]

So the first movie has like a lot of hapless dad stuff. And it obviously builds to the idea of, like, he's gonna hit a breaking point. And what we really want to see is Chevy getting so angry that he's holding John Candy at gunpoint.

[David Sims]

Right.

[Ben Hosley]

But you also have this running thread of just like, like, this guy seems frustrated with his, like, very idyllic little life.

[Griffin Newman]

That's why. So I. Yeah, it's a. It's perfect, like Reagan era movie. It's so good, but for exactly the reason. I was very impressed with it. Remus is a good director.

[Ben Hosley]

I was like. But, like, thematically there's something interesting going on here in terms of, like, what it's saying about the culture.

[Griffin Newman]

The goal of the movie is nothing.

[Ben Hosley]

Nothing.

[Griffin Newman]

His goal is to get his family to an amusement park. You know what I mean? Like, that's it.

[Ben Hosley]

And it basically the goal is him over and over again saying, we're going to have fun. And the more he insists upon it, the more everyone has more difficult it is. And he's like, I want you to think back to your childhood fondly. I'm forcing good memories, which this movie.

[Griffin Newman]

European Vacation, has that too, I suppose.

[Ben Hosley]

David.

[Griffin Newman]

Yes.

[Ben Hosley]

Spring has sprung. And you know what I hate about it?

[Griffin Newman]

What?

[Ben Hosley]

Allergies. Stuffing up my nose, preventing me from being able to smell the fresh, good food.

[Griffin Newman]

Ah, it's true. That darn population. Pollen.

[Ben Hosley]

Right. Sometimes, you know, ad copy might suggest that you focus on spring, fresh air and sunshine. For me, it's a complete collapse of my system, which means I largely stay home. And it's good to have HelloFresh delivered so I can make my own meals.

[Griffin Newman]

That's fair. Yeah, that's fair.

[Ben Hosley]

You know, the thing about HelloFresh is it makes it easier to fit quick home cooked meals into your schedule every week by curating delicious recipes like pasta primavera, chicken Dijon and pecan crusted trout, as well as over 100 seasonal snacks, sides and treats. You can stay home with the AC running, take a bunch of allergy medication and make yourself a nice meal.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah, I liked recently the honey butter glazed pork chops.

[Ben Hosley]

Oh, did you?

[Griffin Newman]

With smoky potato salad and roasted broccoli.

[Ben Hosley]

In 2025, HelloFresh has been evolving to fit every lifestyle. I'll say that again. Every. Every single lifestyle. By bringing customers even more Convenience without compromising on taste, health or homemade quality. Their new ready made meals offer chef crafted flavorful dishes that are ready in just three minutes. Less than a quibi so you can dig in.

[Griffin Newman]

True.

[Ben Hosley]

Get outside. I won't be doing that. That's your choice. I'm trying to stay out of the pollen zone. Get work done or just get some meat time.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah. Look.

[Ben Hosley]

Every hellofresh meal uses high quality ingredients, including seasonal fresh produce and proteins that travel from the farm to your doorstep. Flexible deliveries that you can pause or skip when you need.

[Griffin Newman]

Look, you can feel great with meals that fit your spring schedule and make this season even more delicious. If you go to hellofresh.com check10fm. That's check10fm now to get 10 free meals with a free item for less. Life life one per box with active subscription free meals applied as Discount on the first box. New subscribers only. Varies by plan. Check 10fm hellofresh.com Check 10fm it's very, very good. It's very easy. But yeah. And so I think what's good about these movies is that his relationship with Beverly d' Angelo though has a spark of realism to it.

[Ben Hosley]

Yes.

[Griffin Newman]

Their chemistry is existent.

[David Sims]

Forget that Richie guy. I think Beverly d' Angelo is the Chevy Whisper.

[Ben Hosley]

I was gonna say she is the one person who always talks fondly about working with him. Still does like conventions and screenings with him.

[Griffin Newman]

That's a good point. Good for her.

[Ben Hosley]

Ten years ago, ABC did a pilot for a new show with the two of them. Like, she seems to have only ever had good experiences with jokes. Chevy.

[Griffin Newman]

So I, I thought Vacation was funny. The Randy Quaid stuff is, is interesting.

[David Sims]

It's interesting in Christmas. You know, in the first one, Christmas, I think he's singing.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah. In Christmas.

[Ben Hosley]

He's.

[Griffin Newman]

That's true. Because they, they make him even more ridiculous. The more they dial him up, the less it's like, let's make fun of this poor guy.

[David Sims]

Yeah. He's not just white trash.

[Griffin Newman]

Vacation.

[David Sims]

He's just white trash in the vacation.

[Griffin Newman]

Right? Vacation. It's not that, that over the top, the first one.

[Ben Hosley]

They also make the incest joke where you're like, now this is too dark.

[Griffin Newman]

Right?

[Ben Hosley]

Too dark for me to find this funny. He's actually doing with his daughter.

[David Sims]

Right.

[Ben Hosley]

Versus the second one. He seems very well intentioned and loves his kids and everything.

[David Sims]

Well, that's just a great, great writing, great casting. In that second one, when you put, when you put a big bulging man in a leisure suit, you know, like all those specifics and that Characterization of like. And there's my brother emptying his. You know, like, all that stuff just hits.

[Ben Hosley]

It's good.

[David Sims]

And they make them get all these amazing big choices. And you're so happy to have that character because you're. You're trying not to hate Chevy Chase watching Christmas Vacation. Then Randy Quaid comes in and you love him, but then you can ride with Chevy in hating him.

[Griffin Newman]

Yes. It's the classic. It's a great way to bond with people. We all hate this guy.

[David Sims]

Right?

[Griffin Newman]

Right.

[Ben Hosley]

But it's so funny that one of those SNL50 documentaries on Peacock, the one about the weird year.

[Griffin Newman]

Yes.

[Ben Hosley]

Where it was so strange that Randy Quaid is part of that cast because he was already an Academy Award nominated actor. And for the Last detail, where you're like, this guy was framed as, like, a serious actor. Like, he was playing, like, funny, ish parts in, like, the Last Detail and Last Picture show and, like, legit movies. And it was like, why was he part of this cast? And one of the talking heads just says, lauren just thought he was so good in Vacation, which is, I mean, good call.

[David Sims]

Wow. A flash of Lauren having good taste. You see it every once in a while.

[Griffin Newman]

I mean, the thing that's interesting about season 11 of SNL that that thing points out out is that Lauren's instincts on who he hired were broadly right. It's very, very.

[Ben Hosley]

Almost everyone cast.

[David Sims]

Right.

[Griffin Newman]

They all worked out. But he learns the lesson of, like, no. The way I do. SNL kind of has to be. I create chemistry with a bunch of unknowns.

[David Sims]

Not ready for prime time players.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah. Because then they're all better together. Instead, I just had a bunch of guys who had no connection to each other. So there's no chemistry, even if they're individually.

[Ben Hosley]

Like, he was like, who are people who are funny? And it was like, that's different than doing sketch comedy.

[Griffin Newman]

So funny. Which I. Right. Did not know until I watched that. That in the final sketch where they kill everyone.

[Ben Hosley]

Yes.

[Griffin Newman]

They pretend there's like a fire and everyone's. And. And. And Lord comes. He's like, takes Lovett's. And he's like, come with me. Lovett's like, they acknowledge, like, Lovett's works everyone else.

[Ben Hosley]

And then they cut.

[David Sims]

He's Got my bag.

[Griffin Newman]

Right.

[Ben Hosley]

They cut to Smol. And he's like. I guess I didn't realize in the moment that the cast would be offended by that.

[David Sims]

Sk.

[Ben Hosley]

Like, just went to the table read and saw this sketch where it's like. And he saves lovet and no one else from the fire. You have to rehearse these final episode. When they run the cast list at the end, they all question mark their name.

[Griffin Newman]

It's a good bet.

[Ben Hosley]

Randy Quaid, who's already been in movies.

[Griffin Newman]

Randy Quaid.

[Ben Hosley]

Well, hey, not in this movie. He's not an. He's just the world's most insane man.

[David Sims]

Well, he.

[Griffin Newman]

I would say he's an asshole.

[Ben Hosley]

Maybe he's a.

[David Sims]

He put out a video of a woman doggy style with wearing like, a.

[Ben Hosley]

Rupert Murdoch mask because he said he was being deprived of Independence Day resid.

[Griffin Newman]

But he's also become a huge Trump supporter.

[David Sims]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Griffin Newman]

I'm saying, like, it's not just that he called out the Hollywood Bushwhackers, right? It wasn't just that.

[David Sims]

Well, he also, like, was like, maybe handsy as a theater. Like, he ran a theater company.

[Ben Hosley]

Part of it, too, when he was playing Falstaff.

[Griffin Newman]

I mean, I think this is.

[Ben Hosley]

And he was like. And Falstaff would do that.

[Griffin Newman]

The star whackers had a duff protest too much thing, right? Where he's like, thereaftery and I'm like, after you for what? What exactly is.

[David Sims]

Oh, it's just like pedo hunters. Like, why are you thinking about pedophiles so much?

[Ben Hosley]

You go around the camera waiting for an excuse to punch people in the face and claim that you're on the right side of the law. No, but it is like watching the. His sequence in the first Vacation, I was like, this is one of those examples of, like, a performance that kind of breaks an actor.

[David Sims]

He's missed in this movie.

[Ben Hosley]

He's missed in this.

[David Sims]

And then you could tell when they bring him back for Christmas, they know they need him.

[Ben Hosley]

But then you're also like, this becomes his Persona for the rest of time. Like, he basically becomes riffs on Cousin Eddie.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah, I. I wonder how do you get him in this movie? Obviously you could just be like, they're on vacation. Like, there's a way. But I guess I can see how they naturally were like, well, there's not room for Randy Quaid here. But where. What? Well, you know what? I'm going to open the dossier. Although the dossier begins with, well, this is going to be a short one, folks. So I don't know how much there is on the. The genesis of this film. Beyond, of course, that Vacation had been a hit.

[Ben Hosley]

Right.

[Griffin Newman]

And so we must. Vacation two has to happen.

[Ben Hosley]

He's basically coming off of all hits at this point. The Benji movie wasn't A hit. And over the Rainbow or under the Rainbow wasn't a hit, but like foul play. Seems like old times. Caddyshack is obviously smaller part. He was like pretty consistently hitting at the box office.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah. John Hughes has credit for the story and screenplay. Robert Clain, who wrote Weekend at Bernie's, Ben gets the other credit. But Hughes says he had very nothing, nothing to do with this movie.

[Ben Hosley]

He both wrote the original working on the Breakfast Club story for National Lampoon and actually wrote the first script, but basically got a like weirdly steroided story by. And script credit on this. Even though it was just.

[David Sims]

I think they pulled so much. But they pulled so much deleted from it. Yeah. And that. Or not used in the first movie kind of bits and stuff like that. So I think that he. They just had to give.

[Ben Hosley]

But basically didn't consciously do any work on this movie.

[David Sims]

Yes, obviously.

[Ben Hosley]

Yes, yes. It has a different tone.

[Griffin Newman]

So. And Hughes, of course, does have a much more Ranger role in Christmas.

[Ben Hosley]

He comes back to sort of right the ship.

[Griffin Newman]

Right. A lot of people thus see his influence as being.

[Ben Hosley]

And Christmas is based on a different unrelated National Lampoon story. Story.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

They were like, we got to get back to the Hughes. Well, so like, oh, you wrote the story about a family Christmas. Let's retro fit that into the vacation France.

[David Sims]

Now you're at a point where you can just make one of these movies a year. You know what I mean? And like, they like. It's just like, pick a location, bring them there. It's like Tin Tin in Blank. You know what I mean? Just take the family wherever. It's the idea of like, vacation, European vacation, Christmas vacation, Vegas vacation. It's like unstoppable.

[Ben Hosley]

It's almost astounding. They only made four.

[David Sims]

That's. I guess that's kind of what I'm thinking is that you would think that.

[Ben Hosley]

There'S eight of those because of Chevy problems. But like, I think the first one, Chevy's weirdly detailed Wikipedia about the ups and downs of his career that seems to have been written by maybe someone related to him. But like, they said that like the First Vacation was his highest grossing solo star movie at the time. Then like Europeans down a little bit, but not a flop, right?

[Griffin Newman]

No, it's still made 40.

[Ben Hosley]

Then Christmas vacation is his biggest, biggest movie.

[David Sims]

Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

So then like the third one's the biggest. I would just be like, let's keep pumping these.

[Griffin Newman]

Where do you want him to go? I'm just saying it's.

[Ben Hosley]

I mean, that's a good Question.

[David Sims]

Yeah, you want. It's got to be like, obviously they.

[Griffin Newman]

Settled on Vegas, but that really does have the energy of Vegas was like, hey, right. But where else could he go?

[David Sims]

Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

I don't know.

[Griffin Newman]

Because in Christmas vacation, they don't even go anywhere. It is.

[Ben Hosley]

Of course they stay home.

[Griffin Newman]

One's Christmas vacation, there's no school, they don't travel.

[David Sims]

Yeah. I guess you're just out.

[Ben Hosley]

Maybe they made a mistake.

[David Sims]

Spring break break, where they go to, like, San Padre island and don't realize that it's going to be like, that horny and rusty.

[Ben Hosley]

There might have been a franchise in biting off all of Europe in one go.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah, that's true.

[Ben Hosley]

Right.

[David Sims]

And like, Australian vacation. Yeah.

[Griffin Newman]

I don't want, like, an African surprise.

[Ben Hosley]

I was gonna say I don't want.

[David Sims]

The performance in Africa, but Australian vacation, with how much we were obsessed with Australia in the 80s and 90s, I would have done.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah, that's the move.

[David Sims]

Yeah.

[Griffin Newman]

As like, Hogan is like the Australian grizzlies. Hey, mate. Yeah. I've never met you before. Now, of course, there is a strange little irony to the fact that Vacation was directed by Harold Ramis. This is directed by Amy Herkerling. Harold Ramis and Amy Heckerling had a child together at A Secret Affair. We're going to talk about that much more on our look who's Talking episode.

[Ben Hosley]

A movie that's basically about that.

[Griffin Newman]

Yes. And she was not that enthused about this project because of Ramis. Like, you know, like, what am I following him up? But she says she liked the concept of American idiots running around destroying Europe.

[Ben Hosley]

It definitely feels like that's the part she's in on.

[David Sims]

Yes.

[Griffin Newman]

And Johnny Dangerously is clearly in trouble. It's testing poorly. So she has that sense of like, oh, boy, I need something that's, you know, reliable.

[Ben Hosley]

And she's made this very strong decision to not try to repeat Fast Times. Like, she's talked about that. She immediately got 20 scripts like that. She's at the tip of the spear of, like, the teen movie explosion of the 80s.

[David Sims]

Do you remember when you first watched Fast Times? I have a distinct memory of, like, hearing about this legendary teen comedy and then watching it and being like, was that funny? We talk about earlier than I.

[Griffin Newman]

Part of our discussion.

[David Sims]

Great movie, great movie, wonderful movie. Don't know if it's an elite comedy.

[Ben Hosley]

But when I was, like, 12, that really confused me. And when I watch it now, I'm like, this is a masterpiece. I can't believe it can hold both tones.

[David Sims]

Yes. Well, it's like you for like it's I, I said this on the Full Metal Jacket episode. You forget that arley er is only in it for like 15 minutes and then the fast times about that is McCol side guarantee.

[Ben Hosley]

But like it is funny that that movie has such a complicated balance of things that are able to coexist and then she follows it up with two movies that are just like no, this is silly chaos. Right. Like she's just making kind of like goofball madness movies.

[David Sims]

Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

Which I think part of that is her being like I'm trying to avoid the like pigeonholing that happens to women in their careers and they're so few female directors and I don't want to get stuck in like one cord or and can I make boys movies quote unquote.

[David Sims]

Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

But the other part is that like her influences are like I love the Marx Brothers and I love these things and can't I like she, she comes.

[David Sims]

Back hard after this with Clueless. Correct.

[Ben Hosley]

She does look who's Talking which is so successful.

[David Sims]

I love that movie as a kid. I, I, I I, I can't on a re. I'm curious. I can't wait to listen to your episode. But I, I'm very curious on a re watch how I'd feel about it.

[Griffin Newman]

Very fun.

[Ben Hosley]

Like she does look, she does Kirsty.

[David Sims]

Alley's purple bra is like an image that I will never forget.

[Ben Hosley]

We talk a lot lot about her hair.

[David Sims]

She's so hot.

[Ben Hosley]

She does look, she does look. Two, she doesn't direct look. Three, she does Clueless. So she does three hits in a row that are like her totally birthing something.

[David Sims]

Whereas Clue and Clueless. Recently Rogan said in an interview it's the best high school movie ever made and it could, it could easily be like that movie changed me.

[Ben Hosley]

But Johnny Dangerously in European Vacation are both her coming on to pre existing developments.

[David Sims]

Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

The difference is that Johnny Dangerously it's her being like I love gangsters. More movies. This is the kind of dream movie for me. And European Vacation is a little more like I guess that's a career move. Yeah, that makes sense.

[David Sims]

Right? Let me rinse, let me rinse this one out of my mouth. Yeah.

[Griffin Newman]

This might shock you, but Chevy Chase was not very kind about Amy Heckerling in the press after in his biography I'm Chevy Chase and you're not. He said I had problems with the director. Amy Heckerling a lovely person, but I didn't think her direction smacked of energy and humor. I Don't. He doesn't think the movie is full funny. Beverly d' Angelo also doesn't think the movie is funny. She thinks it's not saucy enough. Like, she was sort of like, the script is a little too G rated. No one has.

[Ben Hosley]

She was angry that two times in this one.

[Griffin Newman]

God bless that rack. Great rack.

[Ben Hosley]

I mean voice.

[David Sims]

The sexiest voice and an insane body. I being a kid and just being like, I Christy Brinkley. Like, I love when you're a kid and you're like siding. You're like, dude, your wife is so hot. Don't blow it.

[Ben Hosley]

I do think that is a key part of the cultural stickiness of children who grew up watching these movies is like the weird complications but family friendly. The mom is really hot and she's sexualized in it.

[Griffin Newman]

She's a sexy lady.

[Ben Hosley]

She likes agency. And their relationship is like sexually rabbit versus Right.

[Griffin Newman]

Like, there's sort of so much boring American humor about like frigid wives. That's what I was making you dinner.

[Ben Hosley]

And like, where those characters are so.

[Griffin Newman]

The stores climb clothes. Or the Rodney Dangerfield, God bless Rodney, I love him stereotype of like, my wife is everyone else in town but me.

[David Sims]

Is, is, is Beverly is Audrey Griswold. Wait, that's not her name.

[Ben Hosley]

She's no, Audrey's the dawn. Ellen.

[David Sims]

She's mom Griswold.

[Griffin Newman]

Ellen Griswold.

[David Sims]

Ellen is Ellen Griswold. The fucking tabula rasa for MILF porn.

[Ben Hosley]

I, I kind, you know what, John? John.

[Griffin Newman]

Ben, you want to le.

[David Sims]

I don't know.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

I'm gonna stick around.

[Griffin Newman]

I, I, I, I want to say.

[David Sims]

Alienware laptop is open now.

[Griffin Newman]

Ben just swung his monitor away from us. Yeah, Beverly d' Angelo just.

[Ben Hosley]

I think you're on to something.

[Griffin Newman]

This is her biography.

[Ben Hosley]

I think she is the archetype that most of those videos are riffing on.

[Griffin Newman]

Oh, no, I'm sorry. This is from the Chevy biography. Okay. This is just a quote from her. I'm going to read the quote and then I'm going to talk about about it.

[Ben Hosley]

Sure.

[Griffin Newman]

I was living in Europe with my husband, the Duke, so I'm glad the second one was in Europe, but I know Chevy missed being home. Giant Janie was pregnant. It was cold. The script wasn't that funny. At one point, my husband had a birthday party for me and Keith Richards was there. Everyone was singing all night. And Eric Idol was so hoarse that he had to adr all his scenes in the movie. Now that's, I don't know about you guys.

[David Sims]

That's a movie I want to see made 100%.

[Ben Hosley]

Beverly D' Angelo was married to an authority.

[Griffin Newman]

I was like, who's the Duke? So I looked that up. And that is of course, Don. Sorry, sorry. Don Lorenzo Salviati. One of the fucking, you know, Dukes of Sicily or whatever the hell. She also her romantic history. She dated Milos Forman around when he was directing her in the movie Hair.

[Ben Hosley]

Correct.

[Griffin Newman]

Then she marries the Duke. She's with him for a good time.

[Ben Hosley]

She leaves him for Anton first.

[Griffin Newman]

Leaves him for Anton first. The brilliant designer, Academy Award winning production.

[Ben Hosley]

Designer of the first Batman tragically died by suicide. But I believe they're together at the time of his death.

[Griffin Newman]

Yes. And then she hitched her star to Al Pacino and had a kid with.

[Ben Hosley]

Her, which I also believe she left John Patrick Shanley for Pacino.

[David Sims]

Basically.

[Griffin Newman]

Beverly d' Angelo is like the queen of all babes is what I'm saying.

[Ben Hosley]

She had twins with Pacino in her late 40s.

[Griffin Newman]

Pacino. Everyone's like, I please, my love. What can I do?

[David Sims]

How do I get you? I totally get it. She's like this weird Hollywood mutant use who's talented in her own right. But then she just dipped around to like.

[Ben Hosley]

I saw like she has one of those weird like, oh, I never considered acting. And someone was like, you should try this. And then she was naturally good at it.

[Griffin Newman]

Right.

[Ben Hosley]

She worked as an animator.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah. She worked at Hanna Barbera. Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

Painting cells.

[Griffin Newman]

She was also a backup singer for the Hawks, which were a rockabilly band that turned into the band. Oh, isn't that crazy?

[Marie Barty Salinas]

Oh, my.

[David Sims]

Crazy.

[Griffin Newman]

And then. Right. Eventually she's like some acting.

[David Sims]

And she's like a busty zillig.

[Ben Hosley]

And she invented milk porn. Unconsciously forest lumps. She's still five comedy points.

[Griffin Newman]

That was good. She's still with us.

[Ben Hosley]

She is. Thank God.

[Griffin Newman]

She most got it. It seems like. Yeah. She. You know some TV stuff. She hasn't been doing much in the last 10 years.

[David Sims]

I saw her Ryan High off Duke Money.

[Ben Hosley]

Isn't she one of the Herald? Am I wrong in thinking that she plays like a southern brothel?

[Griffin Newman]

Yes. She's in Escape from Guantanamo Bay. To me, the not the best.

[Ben Hosley]

That's my favorite.

[Griffin Newman]

Kumar.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah.

[David Sims]

Although.

[Griffin Newman]

But the Harold and Kumar franchise is also one in general where I'm like, how is that going to work for me on Rewatch? I really liked the first one a lot.

[Ben Hosley]

Sure.

[Griffin Newman]

And I've seen it many times.

[Ben Hosley]

I'm a big Guantanamo Bay defender.

[Griffin Newman]

That movie we're Talk.

[David Sims]

Sorry. We're talking about the movie Harold Kumar. No concept.

[Ben Hosley]

I've never seen the film.

[David Sims]

I like the.

[Griffin Newman]

I love America. Owning land in other countries that he uses to torture people.

[David Sims]

Enhanced interrogation.

[Ben Hosley]

Guys talk about vacation spots.

[Griffin Newman]

So Chevy and Bev both down on this movie. Anthony Michael hall, of course, who plays the son in the first film, declines, doesn't want to come back.

[Ben Hosley]

Why? Because Hughes are. He's.

[Griffin Newman]

But that's also true. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's right. He's doing Breakfast Club this year probably.

[Ben Hosley]

And I think Weird Science both are in the same year.

[Griffin Newman]

That's what it is.

[Ben Hosley]

But hu.

[Griffin Newman]

Be kids.

[Ben Hosley]

Correct.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

Right.

[Griffin Newman]

Because there's some other movie he was going to be in.

[David Sims]

The Full Metal Jacket, right.

[Ben Hosley]

Yes.

[David Sims]

That's.

[Griffin Newman]

That's.

[Ben Hosley]

He was supposed to be the Modine Roll in Full Metal Jacket.

[David Sims]

That's. But he was kind of like. He turned Kubrick off with like, I.

[Ben Hosley]

Don'T want to play like a pencil neck again.

[David Sims]

Yeah. Or he didn't read the script too, for the music. About this on the Full Metal Jacket.

[Griffin Newman]

We definitely do Dana. And so Dana Baron, who is the daughter in the first one, I think was down to come back, but Heckerling was like, if we have to lose.

[Ben Hosley]

One of the kids, let's hard reset.

[Griffin Newman]

Right? Let's just.

[Ben Hosley]

But you end up with Blake Lively's brother. And then Dana Hill is her name.

[Griffin Newman]

Y.

[Ben Hosley]

Who was an actress who had like a series of health conditions. She died weirdly young.

[Griffin Newman]

She died young, although I'm not sure she. She had like diabetes and that was what she died. But she also had conditions that made her small.

[Ben Hosley]

Correct.

[Griffin Newman]

So she's like 22 in this movie. Right.

[Ben Hosley]

And then years after, she also.

[David Sims]

I thought she.

[Ben Hosley]

She is the voice of Max Goof in Goof Troop.

[David Sims]

Oh, shit. By the way, Goof Troop and Slash, A goofy movie. I. When I first saw PJ on screen, I was like, oh, my God, that. This.

[Ben Hosley]

That looks like me representation.

[David Sims]

I was like, yeah, that cartoon character. The most recent one for me was Spike in the new Mario Brothers movie. I was like, oh, yeah, that's my new version with the fucking Aviators.

[Griffin Newman]

Can we talk about Bulk and Skull?

[Ben Hosley]

Of course, David. We've been waiting years to talk about.

[Griffin Newman]

I recently, you know, I'm sitting at work, I need to be writing for the Atlantic, which is my job. And I'm like. Shouts like a half hour super cut of every single Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and opening theme credits.

[Ben Hosley]

Burning them in.

[David Sims]

You know what I mean?

[Griffin Newman]

Where I'm like, gotta get cracking on.

[Ben Hosley]

Nothing big happening at the Atlanta.

[David Sims]

Yeah, nice. Deleting my Pete Hegseth text.

[Griffin Newman]

It is. It is hilarious to me that Jeff, like, as this was, like, came by, like, he's always. And I was like, jeff, what do you think about burrata on pizza? And he stopped. He's like, what? And I was like, I just think it's bullshit. Like, don't put burrata on pizza. Like, it doesn't belong. Like, it's just, you know, you're just eating. Like it's separate, you know, does it.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

Make it too wet?

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah, this. But this is all these fucking new pizza places where they're like. And we put a big glob of burrata on top of. And I'm like, that's just like putting a cookie on.

[Ben Hosley]

This is the conversation you're having with him while he's checking his phone. Like, nuke plants.

[Griffin Newman]

To his credit, he's like, yeah, I mean, I can see where, you know, like, do you think Prince Street Pizza is good? I'm like, no. Like, you know, start going off about that.

[Ben Hosley]

Throws that question out to the signal group guys, what do you think of burrat on pizza?

[David Sims]

Hegseth's a Stracciatelli fan.

[Griffin Newman]

Anyway? Bulk and Skull similar, you know.

[David Sims]

Yeah.

[Griffin Newman]

What's the vibe? What's.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

Why, please remind the listeners.

[Griffin Newman]

So, Power Rangers. The cast of Power Rangers are, of course, the five Power Rangers. Six once Tommy gets added. Right. They're teens with attitude who can morph into martial artists who command dinosaur robots.

[Ben Hosley]

Recut from a Japanese.

[Griffin Newman]

We don't need to get into. I don't know. We're just talking about the test.

[Ben Hosley]

But what I'm saying is that you're building a show off of this martial arts action, kids. You'll have the villains are set already and the American producer, Saban and Karl. Or like, we need to add more proprietary elements. What if we have, like, two dumb bullies who have nothing to do with.

[Griffin Newman]

The main plot line but are kind of their friends?

[Ben Hosley]

Yes.

[David Sims]

They're like in their mid-30s also, maybe. Exactly.

[Griffin Newman]

And they. It's one of those things where they're like. They cycle through Power Rangers every couple seasons. Right? We're going to. Let's get these kids out of here. They're asking for us to, like, pay them and shit. Like, they gotta go. Let's get a bunch of new teens. Bulk and Skull, always involved. Like, these new teens always know Bulk and Skull.

[Ben Hosley]

I'm just saying they're hurting.

[Griffin Newman]

Like, as a kid, I'm like, sor Forever my nostalgia. I'm like, right? D Bul and Skull, they're kind of like, are they. They're like bebop and rock study. They're bad guys. I'm like, wait, no, they're not.

[Ben Hosley]

They're kind of the bad guys.

[David Sims]

They just live in the town. They happen to live in the same town as the Power Rangers. Dress crazy. You know, they dress just crazy enough that they should be on a TV show.

[Ben Hosley]

That's why I'm bringing up the heritage, because I'm like, they can never overlap with the villains because they're inheriting villain footage that was shot in Japan 15 years earlier. Earlier, they'll sometimes shoot secondary stuff with a different actress playing Rita Repulsa. I know.

[Griffin Newman]

Well, no recast reader repulsion. She becomes American. But, like, also, they would have the kids fight the Putty Patrol in non. You know, it's a weird. It's weird they would do both. It's just weird. What do you think of Balkan Skull?

[Marie Barty Salinas]

I mean, I love that they're just basically personified fingerless gloves.

[David Sims]

Exactly. You know, they are leather vests as people.

[Griffin Newman]

But what isn't like, Tommy Oliver ever go like, hey, we're going to stop hanging out with city. We're like superheroes.

[David Sims]

I'm gonna cut your head off with a magical space sword.

[Ben Hosley]

I can command a robot or a musical instrument.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

But meanwhile, they're like, don't give me a noogie.

[David Sims]

That's what I don't understand.

[Ben Hosley]

But, David, in the later seasons, because it sounds like what you're saying is they start to occupy a Jim's dad role, which is like, what connection do they have to the current cast? Why is Jason Biggs's dad still hanging out with different high schoolers? They don't, like, start to, like. They don't buy the restaurant or anything. Right.

[Griffin Newman]

They continue to hang around, speak to that. And obviously fans weigh in. What do Bulk and Skull do later? Of course, I do love that Wikipedia specifies that they came with their own theme. A quote, fat guy, tuba sound like that is the classic B.

[Ben Hosley]

We've been calling your twin boys Bebop and Rock Day. But sure, start calling them Bulk and Skull.

[Griffin Newman]

It's kind of. Kind of works for them a little bit. I will say one's a little bulkier. I mean, all babies kind of are.

[Ben Hosley]

Most scully.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah. A lot of Skull.

[Ben Hosley]

Skull forward, anyway.

[Griffin Newman]

But they're just. It's just. It's just crazy. Anyway, that's not important. What is important, of course, is that this film was shot in England at Twickenham Film Studios. I like that they actually started off with Stonehenge. That was their first sequence.

[Ben Hosley]

But I like it's a. A major feather in the C for this movie in my opinion. You look at the end credits location, different units.

[David Sims]

Paris.

[Ben Hosley]

They actually went to the places. Obviously some of it's faked, but they made sure that they spent some time on the ground in four different countries.

[David Sims]

I've been thinking about stuff like this so much when I watch movies now. I randomly I w. We watch an episode of 21 Jump street for Action Boys. And that's all shot in like Canada and obviously. But there's a one scene where they go to an ice skating rink in this episode we watch. And I'm like, no show would say like we're not shooting one scene at an ice rink. Like, right. We will stand behind glass and pretend like we're pointing at ice or whatever. But we will. Well, I put in post Cold breath or something like that. But they would. And I was just like. You used to just go to places. You used to make a case to want to go to places.

[Ben Hosley]

Like here's just a microcosm, right? This movie has an establishing shot that they probably bought from some bulk like footage. Lot of the Eiffel Tower. Then you have a sequence at top the Eiffel Tower where they're clearly on a soundstaged Eiffel Tower balcony, right? And then I feel like the following scene after that. The Griswolds are eating outdoors at a cafe and the Eiffel Tower is in the background of the shots. And you can tell it is not rear projection, right?

[David Sims]

Or it's not been shot a scene in past, right?

[Ben Hosley]

And I'm just like, it's not even the central focus of this. They are just sort of knowing it is actually worth the production value of having a shot where the Eiffel Tower looks real and Chevy Chase is also in the frame.

[David Sims]

Like if you pitch this movie now, they'd be like, we'll shoot it at Epcot, right?

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah, right. We'll shoot. Shoot the entire thing in Bulgaria and like just be Paris. It'll be Rome. It'll be.

[David Sims]

But I heard the reason that Bulgaria is like one of the number one film locations is cuz there's. It's. The permitting process to build structures is insanely easy. So you can just like slap up houses and castles or enemy bases. Like whatever you need you could just put up. That's probably high risk.

[Griffin Newman]

Oh yeah, yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

Well Same with Hungary. They'll let Laszlo Toth build anything there.

[David Sims]

They won't let him talk in his real accent though. They have to bring the computers. Everything's computed.

[Griffin Newman]

Was way more Austrian. They had to Hungary it up.

[Ben Hosley]

Just little sliders off base.

[David Sims]

Can we up the Hungarian? Lower the luffs? I played an engineer on for a podcast for 30 episodes and I still don't know any.

[Griffin Newman]

You don't know any of the lingo.

[David Sims]

I only know luffs and I'm not even positive what it means. I just. I'm obsessed with that phrase.

[Ben Hosley]

One of the all time great characters.

[Griffin Newman]

Heck. Earling.

[Ben Hosley]

Heckling.

[Griffin Newman]

She hated making this movie great.

[Ben Hosley]

I wonder why.

[Griffin Newman]

I was extremely miserable working on it. I figured they'd may market it and put money into it and try and make it do well. Here's another quote from her. Oh, my God, I despise that movie. I felt like I never wanted to do it ever again. Heckling. Here's another quote from her. These are all different interviews. I feel like you're not supposed to badmouth your own stuff because you're the director. You should take the blame for everything. So I take the blame for Chevy Chase and everything else.

[David Sims]

Feels like she's a take the blame for Chevy Chase. It's a very. That is one of the best Hollywood answers I've ever heard. Look, I'm a director. I'm supposed to take all the. I'm supposed to, you know, take the blame. So I take the blame for Chevy Chase, my lead, who's a piece of.

[Ben Hosley]

I'll take responsibility for, I don't know how poorly Chevy Chase was raised or something.

[Griffin Newman]

Final quote. It was a train wreck. It was impossible. Some of the people I had to work with with were impossible.

[Ben Hosley]

Wonder who interesting.

[Griffin Newman]

I'd call the studio head and say, I want to come home. You should find someone else to do this. A monkey could direct this better than I could.

[Ben Hosley]

So before we dig into the meat of it, I just want to throw it as an anecdote. Christopher Columbus was hired to direct Christmas Vacation. Right. He talked about this recently when he was doing interviews. I feel like for no surprise, Christopher.

[Griffin Newman]

Columbus, who is, by the way, the most affable person in Hollywood, I feel.

[Ben Hosley]

Like is basically commonly accepted as there is no one more genuine for Columbus than Chris Columbus. Right. Like that is just a genuine mensch swee. Smart guy. And John Hughes was like one of his mentors along with Spielberg and was.

[Griffin Newman]

Like he made Home Alone.

[Ben Hosley]

I'm coming back. I'm writing the next vacation movie. I think you should direct it gets him hired for the job. He meets with Chevy Chase. He talks to him for like, this is his recounting recently for like 30 minutes through, like his vision for the film and what he wants to do. Chevy just sits there silently. And at the end of it goes, I don't get it. So you're like the director.

[Griffin Newman]

What a great guy.

[Ben Hosley]

And he calls up John Hughes and he's like, I know I'm torpedoing my career, but I need to quit this. I cannot explain the way he, like, looked through me with disdain. This guy's gonna torture me.

[David Sims]

Who directed Christmas?

[Griffin Newman]

Jeremiah?

[Ben Hosley]

Like, they got some guy like Columbus had been prepping it and everything. And he basically was like, I'm sorry, I know you put your neck out for me, but I just can't do this. And John Hughes went, not only do I totally understand, but I'm going to write another movie for you to help you get over this. And he gifts him Home Alone.

[David Sims]

Jesus Christ.

[Griffin Newman]

Which to, to be clear, Columbus knocks out of the park. It's not just because, like, Home Alone is a script. I can see someone like, really?

[Ben Hosley]

Columbus?

[Griffin Newman]

That is a. A tight tonal thing of like, this movie's about this six year old fucking laying waste to Joe Pesci and Daniel. Daniel Stern. But it has to, like, evoke the lovely spirit of Christmas, right? Like, it's got to make you feel warm and happy.

[David Sims]

We were just like spitballing Christmas movies. Like at the beginning of the episode, we didn't even bring up Home Alone.

[Ben Hosley]

But that's like a perfect example of him being like, okay, I just. Eight year old's on fire. I owe Columbus a movie. He's got a good take on Christmas. Give me six hours, I'll shit out some fucking screenplay.

[David Sims]

Yeah. What a bullet dodge for Chris Columbus. That's so fucking awesome.

[Griffin Newman]

Although, of course, maybe Christmas Vacation would have been a hit with him too. It was a hit for Jeremiah Chechek, who goes on to make Benny in June. Just sort of an interesting movie. And the. The Avengers with.

[Ben Hosley]

Right. And then his career.

[David Sims]

Oh, that is.

[Ben Hosley]

That's a real career.

[Griffin Newman]

The Avengers. Oh, with Iron Man. Oh, I don't see Iron Man's name on this one. Interesting.

[Ben Hosley]

I. I like that this movie just starts right out with the game show, which is so bizarre.

[Griffin Newman]

Pig in a Poke.

[Ben Hosley]

Pig in a Poke, hosted by John Astin playing like Richard Dawson from Family Feud times a trillion.

[Griffin Newman]

John Astin, really funny.

[David Sims]

Really funny. A little upsetting. When he kisses on, it's immediately Up. But then you feel better now that I know he's an.

[Griffin Newman]

I mean, the character.

[Ben Hosley]

You feel better when you know that the actress playing the daughter is in her 20s.

[David Sims]

Yes.

[Ben Hosley]

But you're like, right. This is a weird thing that was like, culturally going on where everyone was like, yeah, the host of Family Feud's a little handsy and loves kissing. Everyone watches this show and then this movie heightens in a way that feels menacing. And it's the opening scene.

[David Sims]

Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

You start with this weird cartoon. Them in these ridiculous costumes.

[Griffin Newman]

Well.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

And I just want to say, Gabrius, thank you for being down with wearing the pig costume. I'm a little disappointed that. It's fine. I get it.

[David Sims]

I'm glad Griffin's wearing the German. The leader hose in. But like, I thought we'd all be in the picture.

[Ben Hosley]

That was just cuz I. It's laundry day.

[Griffin Newman]

So is. Was Richard Dawson the handsy.

[Ben Hosley]

The handsy host Richard Dawson would always kiss on the lip. Family. Little kiss for me here.

[Griffin Newman]

For me. It was. It was. I grew up watching.

[Ben Hosley]

Sorry, you're going to have to say it.

[Griffin Newman]

Only Fortunes.

[David Sims]

Oh.

[Griffin Newman]

Which is the British version of Family.

[David Sims]

Feud, which was hosted by Jeffrey Epstein. And he was. He was kissing these kids.

[Griffin Newman]

Hosted by the great Les Dennis. Who's one of those guys where I'm like, any British person's like, yeah, I know Les Dennis. No American has ever heard of him.

[Ben Hosley]

But also, you had Jimmy Savile.

[Griffin Newman]

Why are you saying.

[Ben Hosley]

You're blaming you? I'm just saying there was like the ultimate creep on British television.

[Griffin Newman]

Hosting panels, saying there were creeps on British television. What are you talking about?

[Ben Hosley]

Just talking about creepy. Creepy guys.

[Griffin Newman]

What the fuck? Yes. We all know.

[David Sims]

Let's break down and talk about creeps in Hollywood. There's only a couple.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah. Ben, can you put five hours on this?

[Griffin Newman]

Here's the thing about Family Feud that's. I'm sorry that I'm taking us on tangents again.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah.

[Griffin Newman]

It's fine.

[Ben Hosley]

We're doing great.

[Griffin Newman]

Steve Harvey just kind of took that show.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah.

[Griffin Newman]

Like, and turned it into something else. And now no one remembers, like, Louie Anderson or whatever, you know?

[David Sims]

Right.

[Griffin Newman]

Like, everyone else is like, we had.

[David Sims]

Louis, you had Ray Combs, you had Richard Chicarn.

[Ben Hosley]

Didn't you have also what's his name from Seinfeld?

[Griffin Newman]

John o' Hurley, you know, Jay Peterman.

[David Sims]

Right.

[Griffin Newman]

And like, that's the thing. And that now everyone's just like, no Family Feud has been hosted by Steve Harvey since 1900.

[David Sims]

Like, what are you talking about by.

[Ben Hosley]

A baby with a mustache in 1970.

[Griffin Newman]

And, like, the answer is always, like, badonkadonk. Like, they've always, like, engineered it so.

[David Sims]

They came over with a pepper grinder full of horniness. We just like, crank, crank, crank, crank, crank. And Steve Harvey's like, what thing do you want to put on your face at night? It's like, my wife's.

[Griffin Newman]

And it's like. And he's like, man, that's crazy.

[David Sims]

Like, they're always so cute.

[Griffin Newman]

Up sells so well. Every time that he says something men.

[David Sims]

Have in the morning, and it's like, morning. Oh, you are disgusting. It's the number one answer.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

It takes about 30 seconds for him to say anything.

[David Sims]

Yes.

[Griffin Newman]

He just. He does a little walk. He'll do, like, a circle. He'll be like, I don't know what the world is coming to. He does it so well every time.

[David Sims]

He's a machine. He's so awesome to watch as long.

[Ben Hosley]

As you no Poppins. But it also feels like that show used to be, like, top five answers thing you put in your coffee, right? And they'd be like, richard, I'm gonna say sugar. And he'd be like, okay, now how about you give me a tongue kiss? And now the show is like, top five ways you love to eat.

[Griffin Newman]

Steve Harvey's like, here. We love family. Like, this is this in.

[Ben Hosley]

This to be, like, innocuous questions, horny host. Right? Right now it's horniest questions, hornier answers. And the host is like, oh, my goodness. Like, he just looks at the audience like, I can't believe questions are horny.

[David Sims]

In a way that are pretending like, like, you're a little kid, and you're like, how you get away with the.

[Ben Hosley]

Dynamic has shifted to Harvey being like, I can't believe they're saying this.

[Griffin Newman]

It's not like Harvey's. I wouldn't call him horny, but he respects a beautiful woman. You know, like, he's got kind of that vibe to him. Exactly.

[David Sims]

So your beautiful woman comes home from work, you know, like, he's that kind of guy.

[Griffin Newman]

Right. I just. I. You know, when America finds people like.

[Ben Hosley]

This calls women queen. Yeah, exactly.

[Griffin Newman]

Right. I know he wrote all the think like a man whatever books or whatever.

[Ben Hosley]

That's how a queen serves a king.

[Griffin Newman]

Exactly. And I'm sure that's a couple things in them that probably a little regressive if I had to look.

[David Sims]

That's always the interesting thing for those guys who refer to women as queens. It's like, but I am the King.

[Griffin Newman]

You know I'm the king, right?

[David Sims]

Like, I'm not your subject.

[Ben Hosley]

It's. It's the prince, Cal.

[Griffin Newman]

It is also whenever a standup comedian is like, I want to write, like, kind of a romance book. And I'm like, aren't you a club comedian? Do you know about, like, regular romance.

[David Sims]

Women out of town?

[Griffin Newman]

Right, Right.

[Ben Hosley]

His book wasn't even like, here's how you find a wife. It's like, here's how you keep a marriage fresh 40 years in.

[Griffin Newman]

Right.

[Ben Hosley]

Women do what men like.

[Griffin Newman]

Take anyway. Game show. Funny. Aston, I think, right? Has good, menacing, kind of sneery energy. The joke of them accidentally, like, beating the stupid Princeton family is funny.

[Ben Hosley]

Paul Bartel was like, one of the best.

[David Sims]

I love him.

[Griffin Newman]

One of my favorite.

[David Sims]

The game. The game of the game show. Makes no sense.

[Ben Hosley]

No.

[David Sims]

You want to go not understand it. I didn't understand, like, they don't even know that the prize is European vacation, but they're willing to give up the motorcycle and something. And then they don't do that. And then it's like, and great. We'll be bringing in the previous champions who haven't been on the show.

[Ben Hosley]

You just like, now you want to see.

[Griffin Newman]

Waiting for you to defeat them. Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

It's very bizarre. I do.

[David Sims]

I love that they all have glasses. What a shorthand for like, these are four smart people. Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

It is. My favorite running bit in the movie is Clark constantly saying to people, we are. We were the big champions on picking a poke that he starts using it when they're checking into hotels, but he starts doing it everywhere. Like, he assumes in every country they'll know them by reputation.

[David Sims]

And then only Moon Zappa does. Right. That's such a funny moment.

[Ben Hosley]

But you're like, it's such a good, like, ugly American show.

[David Sims]

Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

Where you're like, they go to Europe thinking they're such hot shit because they won this big prize.

[David Sims]

I mean, the game is literally like, do you want more money, you greedy pigs? And they're like, oink, oink, oink.

[Ben Hosley]

Dress up like a cartoon and then make sounds. Yeah.

[Griffin Newman]

Ben, any thoughts on the game show? I just feel like these movies are so important. Important to you. Yeah. I want to breeze by anything.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

I mean, I don't think I have much more to add other than. It's just, it's. It's so unclear of how it works.

[David Sims]

Well, I'll throw something your way that you might. I like. And movies used to have full blown animated opening credits. I'm happy that the in Movie game show has an animated opening. Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

Snuck it in there.

[Griffin Newman]

They leave Holiday Road for later in the movie because of this, right? Holiday Road comes over. Some car driving action.

[David Sims]

Yeah, some. I think so.

[Griffin Newman]

Holiday Road. We like Holiday.

[David Sims]

An absolute banger.

[Griffin Newman]

The Vacation song, you know Holiday Road.

[David Sims]

Yeah.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

Yeah, that's good.

[David Sims]

This movie has a couple of bangers because I love that song. And then, like, the weird America song.

[Ben Hosley]

At the end is, like, really rules and really fun.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

It's the French song when they're doing the. The Lou really fast.

[David Sims]

Yes, that's a good one.

[Griffin Newman]

I believe that.

[David Sims]

Yeah, that's a great.

[Ben Hosley]

Feels like Heckerling in influence, too, because she's.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah, it's cool. Yeah, she's got the jam on there.

[Ben Hosley]

And, like, Fast Times is one of the history.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

But I just would like to say I'm not tuning in for the songs.

[Griffin Newman]

Like, I watch I throw on National Lampoon's Vacation, and that song starts playing over the credits, and I'm like, oh, I know this song. Like, I've heard this song before. I didn't realize this is from this movie.

[Ben Hosley]

Sure.

[Griffin Newman]

Which it is, right?

[Ben Hosley]

It was made for this movie.

[Griffin Newman]

No, it's that Lindsay Buckingham just had it. And he was like, I got this song. And they were like, like, well, that's like, can we have that song? That's perfect.

[Ben Hosley]

It was just like it was left over, rattling around pile.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah.

[David Sims]

I feel like Kilgore, the crazy bloody musical we used to do at ucb.

[Ben Hosley]

Oh, yeah.

[David Sims]

Ended with that song. The whole thing is so morbid and, like, gross and violent. And then at the end, it's like we take the curtain to Holiday Halloween weekend.

[Griffin Newman]

And when Daley and Goldstein do the sequel thing, the. The things they are, like, bringing in is like the car from the first movie. Like, Chevy Chase is like, we've seen. Still got it. And the fucking song. That's all they've got.

[Ben Hosley]

Well, that's what's also interesting is, like, the Vacation franchise has spawned a bunch of, like, unofficial remakes and sequels. Like, it's such a basic template that you're like, Little Miss Sunshine is like Fox Searchlight.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah. It's kind of. It's like indie, right?

[Ben Hosley]

Then there's like, the Cedric the Entertainer Johnson family vacation.

[Griffin Newman]

Sure.

[Ben Hosley]

That very much feels like him walking in to Fox and being like, I just want to do my own vacation.

[David Sims]

Yeah. They wanted to call it National Lampoon's Black Family Vacation, but they went with Johnson instead.

[Griffin Newman]

But without a paddle.

[Ben Hosley]

Like, without.

[Griffin Newman]

Without a paddle is like Vacation meets.

[Ben Hosley]

Caddyshack But I think like, RV is like very much a vacation.

[Griffin Newman]

We're the Millers is had in rv.

[Ben Hosley]

Like a five inch summer.

[David Sims]

Okay.

[Ben Hosley]

This is one of my favorite things to reference, is in rv. Joss Hutcherson as Robin Williams son, who.

[Griffin Newman]

Is of course a borrower.

[Ben Hosley]

Yes. Is very sad that all the other kids make fun of her for being so short. And Robin Williams tells him an endearing story about how he used to be short. And then one year he had a 5 inch summer. And when he came back to school, they couldn't pick him on him anymore. And I'm like, Robin Williams is 56 on a good day.

[David Sims]

That's. Yeah, he was.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah. Robin Williams isn't exactly towering over anybody.

[Ben Hosley]

It's a five inch summer.

[David Sims]

I had, I had. I had like a three and a half, four inch summer. And it was the summer before freshman year of college. I got it in between high school.

[Griffin Newman]

And college, grew up.

[David Sims]

Really?

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah.

[David Sims]

My dad was 6 5, he said his summer. My dad was 6 5. And his spurt, he said, was when he was 19. And I was like, you know, I was like 59 or 5 10.

[Ben Hosley]

In.

[David Sims]

In junior year high school, I'm like, I would love if I got. And then all of a sudden I went away to college and I was 6 2. And I was like, yes, I remember. So I went from like short and fat to tall and not fat. And then now I have the frame to just keep adding fat. I put on the freshman every 15, every year for 20 years. I'm like, I'm sorry.

[Ben Hosley]

I just googled it in. In RV, he claims that he had a 9 inch sub.

[Griffin Newman]

So I thought it was even bigger than five.

[David Sims]

So that's what I. I had on Confess, Fletch, with John Ham. Oh, yeah.

[Griffin Newman]

Oh, yeah.

[David Sims]

He got it out.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah. You're like, come on, John, come on.

[David Sims]

Confess, Fletch. I hit a water buffalo on the ride over.

[Griffin Newman]

Great mo, David. Yep.

[Ben Hosley]

You like going out to eat?

[Griffin Newman]

Love it. I really do.

[Ben Hosley]

You're gourmand.

[Griffin Newman]

Mmm. Tasty.

[Ben Hosley]

And one of the best things about living in New York City, it's cultural melting pot. You got global options. Italian, Thai, Greek, Japanese.

[Griffin Newman]

That's true.

[Ben Hosley]

Now let me present to you a nightmarish Twilight Zonesque scenario. You got to pick one country and only get food from that one country. You're screaming.

[Griffin Newman]

Yes. I don't like that idea. I like to be able to hop from world, you know, country to country.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah, we all want that. There's no reason to limit ourselves and that's why it's so annoying using Netflix without vpn. Oh, it really grinds my gears. It steams my ghosts.

[Griffin Newman]

Oh, tasty.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah, but only you can get that kind of cuisine if you're unlimited. In terms of your range of options. I don't know. I was trying to tie that together. Listen, we often live in nightmarish hellscape, in which you only get to stream the content available for one country on every streaming Service. But with ExpressVPN. You know what that sound was?

[Griffin Newman]

No.

[Ben Hosley]

A key unlocking a door. Door to great possibilities.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah, no, ExpressVPN is great. You can basically hop between countries very easily. They have servers in over 100, so you can gain access to thousands of new shows. Never have fun to hide from you.

[Ben Hosley]

They're playing hide and seek. They're hiding things. And expect ExpressVPN is just leapfrogging over that. Let you change your location so you can control where you want Netflix to think you're located. Which also funk is kind of sneaky.

[Griffin Newman]

It's fun to be an sb. You can fire up the app and click one button to change locations. It works in all your devices. Phones, laptops, smart TVs, tablets, whatever.

[Ben Hosley]

All the streaming services. We're just focusing on Netflix because it's fun to pick on them.

[Griffin Newman]

And it's got blazing, fast speeds you can stream in hd. Zero. Easy, easy, easy. It's true. Truly.

[Ben Hosley]

A one button click. There's so many other reasons to use a vpn. We like to focus on streaming because this is a podcast about watching stuff. But it also helps to have security, privacy, and the Internet. What?

[Griffin Newman]

Alvin and the Chipmunks is found in almost every country, but that's not America right now. But on what service?

[Ben Hosley]

What a great example. You're talking about the first live action film, correct? The Tim Hill picture.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah, the Tim Hill picture.

[Ben Hosley]

Okay, so here's a great specific imagine. Imagine you are stuck in a nightmarish hellscape where you cannot watch the first live action. Alpha and the Chipmunks.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

That'S the sound of ExpressVPN opening up the door. And now you can pick which country you want to pretend you're watching it in. What?

[Griffin Newman]

No, I'm just looking around.

[Ben Hosley]

How did you land on that as the example?

[Griffin Newman]

There's a. I'm just looking around and I'm not allowed to say how. Okay, like Godfather Part 2 is on South African Netflix.

[Ben Hosley]

This is fun.

[Griffin Newman]

That's crazy.

[Ben Hosley]

This is fun. This is like streaming tourism, you know?

[Griffin Newman]

Right, Exactly. Pulp Fiction is on Canadian Netflix to.

[Ben Hosley]

Feel like you're Globe Trotting Fargo. Coming up.

[Griffin Newman]

TV show.

[Ben Hosley]

Oh.

[Griffin Newman]

Is on Canadian Netflix.

[Ben Hosley]

Listen.

[Griffin Newman]

It goes on and on.

[Ben Hosley]

ExpressVPN.

[Griffin Newman]

ExpressVPN. Be smart. Stop paying full price for streaming services and only getting access to a fraction of their content. Get your money's [e-mail] check. Don't forget to use my [e-mail] check to get an extra four months of expression VPN for free.

[Ben Hosley]

Alvin David, you know what that is?

[Griffin Newman]

The telephone.

[Ben Hosley]

It's not me introducing an ad read character. It's me doing an impression of my mother who True Facts called three times during the most recent episode record.

[Griffin Newman]

Wait, your mom was calling too?

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah, my grandmother was calling. Calling as well. Look, they all want me on the phone. And sometimes I got a busy job grinding out these movie discussion episodes, turning to big crank my calloused hand.

[Griffin Newman]

Our job is so hard.

[Ben Hosley]

Here's the thing. I love them. I love my mother and grandmother. But sometimes I'm too busy doing bits or guessing box office stats and I need another way to show them and tell them that I love them. And it has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words.

[Griffin Newman]

Who said that?

[Ben Hosley]

Many people. But what about a picture frame? A digital picture frame that can cycle through images. We're talking hundreds pictures.

[David Sims]

So many pictures.

[Griffin Newman]

No, I mean literally rather than the.

[Ben Hosley]

One get to a million words. You might. You might do it. What I'm saying is this Mother's Day, give them a call, do do, place the call. But also maybe gift them an aura picture frame for the moments when you're not able to pick up aura frame.

[Griffin Newman]

Aura Frames was named the best digital photo frame by Wirecutter. It's featured in 495 gift guides last year. That's a very specific and large number.

[Ben Hosley]

So close to 500. It's a really irked.

[Griffin Newman]

So the next time you need to call your mom, you can also send her a new pic.

[Ben Hosley]

That's what you can do.

[Griffin Newman]

You can be like, hey, guess what I did? I went to Machu Picchu Boink and put it on her frame.

[Ben Hosley]

Here's a good idea. Because I did, the folks at OR Frame were nice enough to send over a couple samples. I got one here on my desk. But I also gifted one to my grandmother. And the next time she calls during a record, I should take a selfie of myself, right?

[Griffin Newman]

Being like this is what I'm doing. This picture frame.

[Ben Hosley]

Shop it right over, ship it right over to that Aura Frame.

[Griffin Newman]

Aura has a great deal for Mother's Day. For a limited time, listeners can save on the perfect gift by visiting auraframes.com to get a $35 off plus free shipping on their bestselling Carver Mat. Frame.

[Ben Hosley]

The Carver Mat.

[Griffin Newman]

Very nice. That's auraframes.com promo code. Check. Support the show by mentioning us a checkout. Terms and conditions apply. The first chunk of it is set in jolly London.

[Ben Hosley]

Well, first we set up, of course, that Rusty is horny as hell, and the only thing he cares about is figuring out how to get laid in some capacity.

[David Sims]

And he kind of wants to be a pop star, but he doesn't want to sing. He just wants to, like, walk through music video.

[Ben Hosley]

Mtv.

[Griffin Newman]

Meanwhile, Audrey's thing is that she has a boyfriend, so she wants to stay skinny for the boyfriend. It's pretty thin.

[Ben Hosley]

And her boyfriend is the bully from Karate Kid.

[David Sims]

Yeah, sure. Or the bully from Just One of the Guys. Or the bully from Cobra Kai.

[Ben Hosley]

Yes.

[David Sims]

Or the redemptive bully from Cobra Kai.

[Ben Hosley]

Like the. The preeminent bully of the 1980s in American cinema.

[David Sims]

Great guy. Like, just, like.

[Ben Hosley]

It's like a mensch, Right?

[David Sims]

Yeah. He's a great person by all accounts.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah.

[David Sims]

But at this time, he was such a good shorthand for, like, because he's just towhead kind of smart. Yeah.

[Griffin Newman]

Like, he's gonna be true.

[David Sims]

He looks like the kind of guy you don't want your daughter kissing at dinner.

[Ben Hosley]

But I feel like a lot of guys like this would play this part one time and being like, I refuse to play it again. And this guy was like, look, I'm in movies, right? You want to keep paying me to do this, I'll do this.

[David Sims]

I look a specific way, you know, I mean, I look like a bad guy. Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

And it's had a. His, like, you know, full arc now coming back with Cobra Kai. But, yes, all she wants to do is kiss. She hates the idea of going to Europe and being away from the kissing, and everyone makes fun of her for eating too much. A very sensitive plot line.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah, exactly. Very.

[David Sims]

The actor is, like, suffering from diabetes, and they have to, like, force feeds.

[Ben Hosley]

Like, rolling cake down her mouth.

[David Sims]

I know, it's weird. I do, like, this lighter fluid gag. I think that's, like. This is, like, kind of. It's not very funny, but it is exactly like Vegas vacation. Sorry, Vacation. Movie specific.

[Ben Hosley]

Oh, you're saying with the. The grill.

[David Sims]

Yeah. They don't realize that both of them have been putting on the whole time, like, while he's looking at the instructions. She's putting it on when she's not paying attention, he's spraying it on like it's little.

[Ben Hosley]

But I love the commitment to like Chevy having to remain on screen for five minutes with the ash outline around the goggles.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah. That's look, I just like. So this movie has four sections. London, Paris, Germany, Rome. Right. Like those are the four. And it feels like they spent a good half hour on each figuring out what stereotypes they should do. Right. Like for sure. An easy like 20 minutes on like. Okay. It's just interesting to me that for London they more pick up on like dirt bags.

[Ben Hosley]

Yes.

[Griffin Newman]

Versus like it's not what you think maybe of like the most obvious stereotype of like oh like posh people drinking tea and shit. They do a queen bit.

[David Sims]

They do a queen, but they do a. People in England are weirdly nice.

[Ben Hosley]

That's interesting, Zach.

[David Sims]

Yeah. Like you expect that they'll be big.

[Ben Hosley]

Timing the Griswolds and looking their nose down at them.

[Griffin Newman]

Right. And instead they're excessive polite. Like none of them are not, you know, like they are existent stereotypes.

[Ben Hosley]

Sure.

[Griffin Newman]

They're just not quite the ones you.

[David Sims]

Would have figured, especially of the time.

[Ben Hosley]

But it might be. My favorite bit in the movie is him continually damaging people's cars and then being like, oh, don't worry about it.

[David Sims]

Take this back to New York. They give them. He gives them the bumper, they put it in the car, add it to the collection.

[Griffin Newman]

And Mel Smith.

[Ben Hosley]

Yes.

[Griffin Newman]

Who is a legendary sketch brilliant British comedian. He died a while ago. But you know, great look on him. Right. Very funny as the hotel manager. But Right. They're not doing the oh like you know, do, do behave like far too fancy thing. No. Instead he's this like cockney sort of.

[Ben Hosley]

They're not doing the. Well, I never. Which is the most obvious thing to go to, which I give them credit for doing. I'm like, they're doing pretty clear.

[Griffin Newman]

This is not sensitive or. Right.

[Ben Hosley]

They're pretty much the most overplayed version of the bit which is they walk in and they don't know how to hold the teacup and everyone's like, woo.

[Griffin Newman]

Right.

[David Sims]

I don't want to be already jumping back, but the four dreams on the plane.

[Griffin Newman]

Okay. Actually I forgot about what are the dreams. Okay, okay.

[David Sims]

They are very like. It's a very. It's a very funny, simple ham fisted way to just establish notice.

[Ben Hosley]

Like this is a runner in heckerling. She's really good at these dream sequences. You have spicoli on the beach.

[David Sims]

Right.

[Ben Hosley]

You have Lucas talking. Has incredible dream sequences, right?

[Griffin Newman]

Like projecting images, right? Yeah, yeah.

[David Sims]

And then so in this one, it's Beverly d' Angelo dreams of meeting the queen, but in her dream, Princess Di wants to fuck Jeffy J's. And that's such a funny specific. And she's into it. In. In Rusty's dream, he's a pop star on the Rusty World tour and kind of just. But walking around like sexy dancers. And it's very. This also feels like Heckerling because it's a very specific. It's almost like new wave ballroom. You know, it's very progressively seen by. And then Audrey is. Wants to be in the fucking Homer Simpson hell feeding machine kind of thing. And then. What was Chevy's dream?

[Ben Hosley]

Chevy's dream? Oh, Chevy's dream is Sound of Music.

[David Sims]

Right.

[Ben Hosley]

He wants to go back to his German family.

[Griffin Newman]

Right.

[Ben Hosley]

And he's in full lederhosen, which is maybe a joke.

[Griffin Newman]

They need to hit more.

[David Sims]

Yes.

[Ben Hosley]

It's a little.

[David Sims]

I also think Chevy's dream should have a European woman in it.

[Ben Hosley]

Yes.

[David Sims]

Right.

[Griffin Newman]

But he's not as horny.

[Ben Hosley]

No, he's only horny. And not to move backwards again for his wife. He. He makes his wife do, do.

[Griffin Newman]

Do a sex tape.

[Ben Hosley]

But what he. She does. Let's misbehave.

[Griffin Newman]

Yes. She does a whole.

[Ben Hosley]

And then he. Her on camera.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

And then it gets distributed in theaters.

[Griffin Newman]

This is a plot of the film. This is un. What I like about vacation.

[Ben Hosley]

So horny for her in this.

[Griffin Newman]

What I like about vacation is their relationship is genuinely sexual. And she's hot and he's cherry.

[Ben Hosley]

Taste is trans.

[David Sims]

You understand why they both with each other.

[Ben Hosley]

Right.

[Griffin Newman]

He's still. Yes. He still has the flirty fantasy. He has the dream of the dalliance with Christie Brinkley.

[Ben Hosley]

He takes her to the Moulin Rouge.

[Griffin Newman]

Right. Well, no, no, that's in this way. I'm just saying in the first. But then, like, his wife takes him back without too much fuss. There's just the stability to it. That actually kind of feels realistic to me.

[David Sims]

Right.

[Griffin Newman]

She's like, you fucking asshole. Like. Like, it's sort of like. Right. This one, it's a little off. Like, I think it's true. It's what Heckerling and Beverly d' Angelo in between having dinner with the Duke or whatever are saying of like, no one figured out what the formula was. They just had to do another one. And so obviously you have the general formula of like, look, funny things will happen to them on vacation. But it's been downgraded from R to PG 13. And everyone's lost a little bit of what their bit is.

[Ben Hosley]

But the first one is such a straight lineup. They're just trying to get to Wally World. It's a road trip to a theme park. And the worse things get, the more insistent he is that they need to get there and have fun.

[David Sims]

Right.

[Ben Hosley]

This. It's just like they try that with We Want a Trip, which I like that. It's like they're being given something so you're not like, how the can they authority?

[David Sims]

Well, it's also like they get to be poor.

[Ben Hosley]

They get to be poor and they get to constantly be disappointed by their treatment for a grand prize win.

[David Sims]

Right. And that's kind of. That's a fun kind of inside baseball.

[Ben Hosley]

It's like a good setup of dynamics, in my opinion, but it is a nasty one. Yeah, right. I just want to quickly call out a woman named Jeanette Trust, who is the actress who plays Queen Elizabeth in Beverly d' Angelo's fantasy sequence.

[Griffin Newman]

Yes.

[Ben Hosley]

She just left us last at the age of 96. Soon at the age of 96. And I want to list some of her credits. Right.

[Griffin Newman]

She played the queen a lot, Right.

[Ben Hosley]

In the Naked Gun from the Files of the Police Squad. She plays Queen Elizabeth ii, a big role in Austin Powers and Goldmember. She plays Queen Elizabeth II in Nancy Meyer's the Parent Trap. She played Queen Elizabeth II ii. Deleted scene. She was often referred to as, quote, the Queen's most famous lookalike. What a life we have talked about in the past. I think, especially during the Indiana Jones episodes recently, certain character actors who have the misfortune of looking like Adolf Hitler and talk about a William Zabka analog, they're like, look, you can work forever.

[David Sims]

Yeah, here's your fucking monkey's paw.

[Ben Hosley]

But your monkey's paw is you're going to be gluing on that mustache a lot.

[David Sims]

We on action boys, we all stumble across a character I director that were like, this guy is in everything. Let's look at his resume. And then when you read his IMDb it's like he plays like Big Dale, Beef chunk bar, tough bouncer, you know. And it's just like this big heavyset guy who's in like, got to be in 50 movies as assorted bikers, you know, and you're like, hell of a career.

[Ben Hosley]

What a fucking life. Jeanette Charles got to have of just like jumping into comedies and being like, oh, hello. And just like hitting Them with the sword on the shoulder.

[David Sims]

These are my favorite careers to, like, wrap my head around. Like, when you fly, find someone's like, yeah, I stand in for so and so in all their commercials. And I make. I make the residuals. And you're like, what? You're like. You make six figures a year without ever being seen on camera, and you just have to have the same haircut as the. The lady whose commercial it is.

[Ben Hosley]

Nice work if you can get it.

[David Sims]

Yeah, yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

Your fake flow.

[David Sims]

Yes, dude. Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

Your overflow.

[David Sims]

Faux flow.

[Ben Hosley]

Faux flow. We're both good. We're both good. We both got there. It's good. Alts. We have opposite options.

[David Sims]

Ben. You can use these in the edit, however you need. We'll do a little line of Rama.

[Ben Hosley]

Okay, so first proper stop. Yes. Is jolly.

[Griffin Newman]

Is England.

[David Sims]

So. Right.

[Griffin Newman]

So the gags are, as we say, there's the queen gag, which they get in via fantasy. The. That the. The hotel is shitty, which I'm sure in England in the 80s, by the way. Yes. Like, I'm sure any, like, regular ass part of that.

[David Sims]

Part of that fun gag is that the name is, like, the Westminster Arms Luxury suite Resort or whatever. And it's just, like, a hostel where they have to share a fucking hallway bathroom.

[Ben Hosley]

And you get into full cartoon shit in Christmas vacation, I feel, which, like, starts to have, like, Looney Tunes logic of, like, who can survive what level of physical electrocuted. Right. And I think, like, the first one is a little more grounded in physicality. And this one, like, Heckerling sort of building a bridge that maybe pays off better in Christmas vacation of, like, Chevy getting into the bed and the bed immediately collapsing like he's in a Looney Tune.

[David Sims]

Yeah, it's very funny moment.

[Griffin Newman]

I like Robbie Coltrane, RIP Robbie Coltrane is great. I mean, again, playing a big old galoot, you know, who's causing trouble walking.

[Ben Hosley]

In on Bev in the. In the bath. Yeah.

[Griffin Newman]

But the other gags are hard to get out of a roundabout. These feel like American impressions of England.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

Yeah.

[Griffin Newman]

Driving.

[Ben Hosley]

Driving the wrong side, Driving on the.

[Griffin Newman]

Wrong side, not getting out of the wrong.

[David Sims]

It's a crazy. Like it must have been to try to map the first movie on it so much. The fact that it's driving through Europe is, like, less of a vacation than you think. To win a prize, like, like. And you get to rent a car and drive through Europe. That's frustrating.

[Ben Hosley]

They must have locked in, like, this is one of the four cornerstones of the franchise. They have to be in a Car.

[David Sims]

Yeah. They're not a lot of shots of them in the car, though.

[Ben Hosley]

It's weird.

[David Sims]

You would think you would have like, some of those, like, Like, I love that. Like, in the Wally world one where it's like the direct on and Chevy's driving and it's like, clearly he's just trying to hold it all together. Yes. We don't get any of that. We get. We. We establish every Eric idol in this as the guy who's.

[Griffin Newman]

Who a good runner.

[Ben Hosley]

I love him at this. Yeah.

[Griffin Newman]

It's funny, right? He's like a biker they keep knocking over.

[David Sims]

He says, flesh wound. You know, he quotes his own. His own gag, which is always fun.

[Griffin Newman]

Eric Idle, I think, has always been the member of Monty Python the most. Just kind of like, you want me to do something, I'll do it. Like, you know, he's pretty ego.

[Ben Hosley]

Absolutely.

[David Sims]

Name drop time. I went to a party at Drew Carey's house as a friend of a friend, and Eric Idle was there, and I was like, man, I thought Drew Carey was going to be the most interesting famous person here at Drew Carey. So house. And it's not Eric Idle hanging by the bonfire, cracking like eight people up. Like, just truly just.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah.

[David Sims]

Bidding.

[Ben Hosley]

It is one of those things that's so fascinating within the structure of Monty Python when those guys talk about how they came together and they were like, oh, there were like a couple overlapping circles of, like, two different university sketch groups and then this and that. And then, like the time we went in to pitch the show to the people. BBC was the first time we had ever presented ourselves as, like, that specific group.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah. Jones and Terry Jones and Michael Palin are one thing. And Graham Chapman, John Cleese and. And Eric Idle are.

[Ben Hosley]

No, but the fascinating thing. Yes, correct. Yeah. But also when they talk about it, they're like, well, like, Palin and Jones would write together and Chapman and Cleese would write together.

[Griffin Newman]

Palin and Jones are Oxford, Chapman and Cleeser, Cambridge average.

[Ben Hosley]

Not to be an idol. Would just write by himself.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah, I just did stuff solo.

[David Sims]

I know this one basement psycho named Terry who I think should join us, too. I mean, honestly, he's making cutouts of feet that stomp on people.

[Ben Hosley]

We'll let him stay next to us sometimes. That's.

[Griffin Newman]

That shit's funny, though. I'll say it.

[David Sims]

I love Monty Python.

[Griffin Newman]

Still pretty good.

[David Sims]

Holy Grail is like one of the funniest movies of all time, and even the later ones are bangers. But Holy Grail is.

[Ben Hosley]

I love.

[David Sims]

I love Arthurian legend.

[Griffin Newman]

So it's like, oh, sure, yeah, I'm with you. That. I think Holy Grail is the best because I just like them more in pure joke mode than, like, I love Life of Brian, but, like, I honestly don't need any plot.

[Ben Hosley]

Sure. But Meaning of Life is like a sketch movie.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah. Meaning of Life is weird. I don't love that movie. But I love things.

[Ben Hosley]

I think I like the weirdness. It's also.

[David Sims]

I think I love it now. Completely different. Which is a true sketch movie. Well, that's right.

[Griffin Newman]

That's a pure fun Monty Python sketches. Right. What could be wrong with that, really?

[Ben Hosley]

But Idol's got. Because you've already set up the bit of. Oh, the British men are being weirdly polite and nice about their cars.

[David Sims]

So he's the third beat of that.

[Ben Hosley]

But then he's doing this really good job of, like, not being passive aggressive but seeming not okay.

[David Sims]

Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

Like, he's bleeding out of his. I'm fine. I'm fine.

[David Sims]

And when he picks his arm up and the blood comes gushing out is very funny.

[Ben Hosley]

But there's something, like, a little damaged in him. Yes, yes.

[Griffin Newman]

The big set piece is them knocking over stuff. Stonehenge. Like Domino's obvious.

[Ben Hosley]

But, like, it's right there. It's satisfying.

[Griffin Newman]

Have any of you been to Stonehenge?

[Marie Barty Salinas]

I just went last year.

[David Sims]

Did you?

[Marie Barty Salinas]

It was a little underwhelming.

[Griffin Newman]

Stonehenge is one of those things that's a little underwhelming.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

But here's the thing that was crazier is that they. When I went.

[Ben Hosley]

It was.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

It was barricaded.

[David Sims]

It was Ted Lasso's wedding.

[Griffin Newman]

Right. You. When I. So I still. I went when you still could go near it. But that's why the fact people.

[Ben Hosley]

The episode was dropped late because they had to compare it at the last second.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

Truly, though, they used to just let people drive up to the fucking thing.

[Griffin Newman]

What we did. I mean, like, and, like, hang out.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

And smoke cigarettes like, underneath the fucking Stonehenge.

[Ben Hosley]

Griswold fucking back his car and knock him down like dominoes.

[David Sims]

I would love to fudge and candy flip at Stonehenge. The others just lie in the middle on a fudgeing, heroic dose of mushrooms and fucking channel Druidic power.

[Griffin Newman]

God. As you.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

You know, the fucking sun lines up.

[David Sims]

Dude. We got time. That with the peak. Let's go. Let's go back. All right.

[Griffin Newman]

Fuck. Yeah. The thing with Stonehenge that you I'm sure, realize is like, it's like an hour and a Half from London. It feels like it should be like, you know, you have to go through an ancient portal to get there, and instead it's like in the suburbs, just.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

Off the fucking highway.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah. And so you go there and you're.

[David Sims]

Like, in England, they get Stonehenge. Here we have like, the world's largest cow or whatever.

[Ben Hosley]

I was gonna say, it's basically the distance from, like, Times Square to Medieval Times, New Jersey.

[Griffin Newman]

Like. Like, you go there and you're like, look, I get it. These are very old and it's crazy that they're here and Lord knows what they were for. That's cool. But then you're kind of like, okay, so I looked at them. I think I'm done. Like, you feel like you're communing with.

[Ben Hosley]

Let's call out. They're very old, but I think they've had some work done. It's good work. It's classy work.

[David Sims]

Yeah, it's wegovi.

[Ben Hosley]

It's all run work, but it's a little touch up here and there.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

The one thing I did learn from going there that I had never heard before is that what you're seeing on the surface there is so much more underground.

[David Sims]

Whoa.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

Like an iceberg.

[David Sims]

But that just means that they're like. That all adds layers of complication to. How did they do that?

[Marie Barty Salinas]

Exactly? Because they dragged it from fucking whales. And so what you're seeing is actually almost twice as big.

[David Sims]

That's fucking crazy. Well, that now there's like the new meme that the pyramids go down like a thousand meters below the surface now, too. People believe, like, oh, this is just.

[Griffin Newman]

Something people are saying.

[David Sims]

Yeah.

[Griffin Newman]

Talk. And people, like, must be true.

[David Sims]

Yes. Yeah. That's like a thing that will have to be debunked or someone will bring a gun to the pyramid and be like, where are the children? Yeah.

[Griffin Newman]

Kids in here?

[David Sims]

Yes.

[Ben Hosley]

God. Basement of the pyramid. Shit. It's going to be so exhausting cold.

[David Sims]

There is no basement in the pyramid.

[Ben Hosley]

That's good.

[Griffin Newman]

Actually. I think we should encourage this. I think we should get the pedo hunters to go to the pyramids because they'll just get, like, lost in there. And this is good. Yeah, no one's in there. Just put a funnel. Funnel him in there.

[David Sims]

This guy was buried with his child bride. It's time.

[Griffin Newman]

Toot in common, you are cancelled.

[Ben Hosley]

Right.

[Griffin Newman]

You had, like, 18 wives, right?

[Ben Hosley]

Was he himself a child? Yeah.

[David Sims]

We have to unpack all this.

[Griffin Newman]

So are there other London things we need to address?

[Ben Hosley]

No, I think we it's not a.

[Griffin Newman]

Lot of meat on these bones. Okay.

[Ben Hosley]

Parents.

[Griffin Newman]

Harris.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah.

[Griffin Newman]

Begins with them losing the one.

[Ben Hosley]

I like the small bit of them being like, no one helps us carry our bags. And Mel Stewart just going like, mom. I also think all of. There's. There's. I'm sorry. There's the polite people in the scumbags, as you said. Right. Every British scumbag in this section, their accent is like. When I do a British accent, and you go, what is that? No one sounds like that. When I do my, like, hey, time.

[Griffin Newman]

It's just.

[David Sims]

Your bags in it.

[Ben Hosley]

My BFG voice is it fuzzy wimbles.

[Griffin Newman]

Now, my favorite gag in Paris. Well, h. It's a good question. I like the rude waiter again. Route 1, very obvious look.

[Ben Hosley]

It's Route 1 because everyone wants to stop there.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah. Like, subtitled insults to a. Like, Chevy going like, uhhuh. Smiling. That's funny.

[David Sims]

Is that. Is it England or here that has the horny couple that is kissing?

[Griffin Newman]

That's Paris. Where Rusty is like, his hands are our boobs. Right. Like, you're like that. He's.

[David Sims]

Which is another kind of Parisian stereotype that it's.

[Griffin Newman]

Right. And Chevy's like, yeah, standards are different here.

[Ben Hosley]

He's gonna pork her.

[David Sims]

Yeah, he's not gonna pork her, Russ.

[Ben Hosley]

I like that bit of him being like, they're gonna go all the way here at the table. Chevy.

[Griffin Newman]

Chevy is always good when he's trying to even things out. Right. When he's trying to be like, well, that's just how they do it here. Like, that's usually funny.

[David Sims]

One of my. My favorite Chevy line deliveries in the vacation movies that I think is kind of like a archetype of his delivery is in Christmas vacation when the woman's like. And you see the line goes all the way up the stocking. And he's like, salivating. He's like, you see the line goes all the way up the stocking. Russ. Hi, Russ. Like. Like, he has, like, those two levels of awareness he can play with.

[Ben Hosley]

Got an interesting relationship with Rusty in terms of being like, is it time for me to, like, teach my son how to be a man? Where you have the, like, sharing a beer moment in the first one where Rusty, like, downs the beer too fast. In this one, Rusty's like, I get it. I'm a grown up. I have a job. Let me.

[David Sims]

Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

And he's like, cool it. And then GI In Christmas seems like seven years younger.

[David Sims]

Yeah. He's like a child.

[Ben Hosley]

He is definitely younger than hall and Lively, but also looks even younger than he is and is played like a little boy.

[David Sims]

Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

And it's just like, dad, don't be horny around me again.

[Griffin Newman]

In Vegas, the joke by Ethan Embry becomes mistaken for a Greek millionaire and basically, like, has his own side movie.

[David Sims]

Where he uses a fake ID to gamble and then wins a jackpot and becomes like a whale. But his name is Nick Papa Giorgio. So like Mr. Papa Georgio. The usual. And he's like, you got it. He's got like a yellow suit.

[Griffin Newman]

By far the best in the movie.

[David Sims]

Like hanging with all old guys the whole time. Time they're getting back, it's all like, he gets to have old timey Vegas.

[Ben Hosley]

It is a bit I basically always find funny, which is like, guy gets too deep into a character.

[David Sims]

Yes, right.

[Griffin Newman]

That's always funny. But then Vegas Vacation also has Beverly d' Angelo is Romance by Wayne Newton, which is deadly.

[David Sims]

Yeah. It's so bad. I. I will. I will give the Clint Howard dealer. That absolutely ruins.

[Griffin Newman]

It's Wallace Sean.

[David Sims]

It's Wallace Sean.

[Griffin Newman]

So funny.

[David Sims]

I flip those two guys so frequently. I'm so sorry to my difference between.

[Griffin Newman]

This and this being bingo. Yeah.

[David Sims]

He's like, there's a line in. There's a line in Vegas Vacation where Wallace Sean says, why don't you just give me half your money? I'll take you out back, kick you in the nuts, and we'll call it a day. Because Chevy just keeps losing money to him and they keep playing dumber and dumber games.

[Ben Hosley]

That's kind of a good line.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah. I got France. What else happens? The dog going off the Eiffel Tower is pretty funny.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah. Another like, you know, it's happen. But it still hits.

[Griffin Newman]

Ben seems a little dispirited, though. You're kind of like, yeah, the camcorders getting stolen. Like, gotta get that ball rolling right.

[Ben Hosley]

I do like the. Right. How slow the build is on. Like the French guy saying, like, take off your shoes, get in the fountain. And then running off.

[Griffin Newman]

Right.

[Ben Hosley]

Waiting like 40 minutes until you pay it off with the poster of like, this thing is in theaters already.

[David Sims]

The Wet woman or whatever. Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

You have like, Rusty getting, like, embarrassed by the. The embroidered beret.

[David Sims]

Oh, yes, yes, yes.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

I mean, anytime you would go on vacation with your parents, it was always that thing of when you hit that certain age. You're like, can I hook up with the girl on this?

[Ben Hosley]

Guys talk about this all the time. And I relate to it so hard. Is like being awkward guys, right? And then going on A vacation with your family and being like, no one knows me here. What if I catch the glance of the most beautiful woman in the world and I'm starting from nothing.

[David Sims]

Yeah. There's no baggage.

[Ben Hosley]

You know nothing about me, and we just have some, like, doomed romance over two days. Like, I. I do think it's, like, a good setup to have Rusty on the movie where they're going to be making the most stops.

[David Sims]

Yes.

[Ben Hosley]

To just be losing his mind with horn. Horniness.

[David Sims]

It's hyper realistic. Totally. Like, it's just like, you know, I mean, like, that vibe is so real.

[Ben Hosley]

Yes.

[David Sims]

It. It doesn't happen as well for. It happens better for Rusty than it ever did for me.

[Ben Hosley]

Absolutely.

[David Sims]

But I've definitely been on, like, a family vacation where another family that my mom's friends with, they come, and one of the daughters, who's kind of like a cousin to me, so we can never hook up, but she brings a friend from school. The possibility. I'm like. I'm like, okay, okay. Anything can happen. And then I just spend six days standing near her in the pool, like, not saying anything, and then going home and being, like, furiously masturbating while my parents are asleep in, like, the bathroom or something.

[Ben Hosley]

Your mind is suddenly reeling with the possibilities of how you can this up by doing nothing. Right.

[David Sims]

The frequency in which I would be like, I think I. I think I'm attracted to this girl. I think she might even be into me.

[Ben Hosley]

Right.

[David Sims]

What I should do is absolutely nothing for the entire week.

[Ben Hosley]

Two words to her over the next five.

[David Sims]

I'm, like, famously. Famously talkative. Very funny. And I am, even as a kid. And I just. A woman will come over. I'm like. And just stand there just pissing in the pool, looking at her.

[Ben Hosley]

But, like, I, like, first of all, like, Beverly d' Angelo making the big plea to, like, wouldn't it be nice if we just, like, stayed in and had, like, a private night? And Chevy's like, no, I got to show you a night out in the town. Hard cut to, like, Moulin Rouge. Show this, like, bad Flashdance riff. And he's trying to fucking frame it as, like, this is this country's legacy. The worst modern strip tease. And being like, here. This is culturally important. And then Rusty in the corner, like, being like, I have money. I can pretend to be an American playboy.

[David Sims]

Yeah. The. There's that vacation vibe of, like, when you go someplace where the. Like, when you're in your 20s, you get wasted on every vacation.

[Ben Hosley]

Sure.

[David Sims]

But then for me, like, I went To Munich. And we'll get to this when we talk about Germany. I went to Munich Oktoberfest for my bachelor party. And now getting wasted is. Is you're participating in culture. It's like going to Amsterdam. Like, yeah, I love smoking weed. It's like, what? When in Amsterdam, you know, you got to smoke weed.

[Ben Hosley]

When in Rome, you got to go to the red light, get wasted as the Romans do.

[David Sims]

Right, Exactly.

[Ben Hosley]

You've literally also made a career. I guess, like, you did a show. That is that premise.

[David Sims]

It's true. Yeah. Oh, man. Thank you.

[Griffin Newman]

Where's. Where's it now? Streaming on Max.

[David Sims]

Still on Max. We don't. We. We are not and making a we. We don't cost it off to get canceled. We can't get zazzed.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah, yeah. Let's get them successful enough that ZAZ Lab's like, get this off my platform.

[Ben Hosley]

Sell it to ketchup.

[David Sims]

Dream come true. I got Ketchup Entertainment come through Streaming on ketchup.

[Griffin Newman]

Minus some CinemaCon news.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah.

[Griffin Newman]

Number one. This will depress you a little bit. John Wick. Five.

[Ben Hosley]

I've gotten seven texts about this. I could tell that's what people were.

[Griffin Newman]

Number two, Donnie Yen will be directing a spin off about his character.

[David Sims]

Okay.

[Ben Hosley]

That was previously announced, but he's now directing it.

[David Sims]

I like that.

[Ben Hosley]

I'm like any excuse for Donnie Yen to get to make a big American.

[Griffin Newman]

Like a Hong Kong style American action movie. Number three. Now you see me three has been officially titled now you see me, now you don't.

[David Sims]

Not now you three. Me.

[Griffin Newman]

Not now you three.

[Ben Hosley]

They this up.

[Griffin Newman]

So obviously two should have been now you don't.

[David Sims]

They're scrambling to fix their mistake, but it's the same. It's the what other movie? Bad boys.

[Ben Hosley]

But in. In up last time. They're now correcting and missing a new opportunity that won't exist for the four.

[David Sims]

Now you can't be now you three. Me. Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

They can't be now you. For me.

[Griffin Newman]

Oh, anything is possible.

[Ben Hosley]

Anything. You know what? You're right. Anything is possible.

[David Sims]

I went to Italy to shoot the movie little hours that my friend R.I.P. jeff B. Directed. And while there, me, P. And Nick Offerman had a day off. BA Knew the area so well because they were shooting there for so long. He's like, you got to go to this little restaurant. It's like a more or less a deli. And it was like one of the best meals I've ever had. We were there for like three hours. We're eating. Guy. Guy comes up on a 80 year old guy, comes up on a Vespa with a piuto leg, takes it, the guy cuts it off and hands it to us. We're just eating out of his dirty hands. We're eating this pudo. It's so good. But this guy, his favorite movie was. Now you see me too. And Dave Franco is in the little hours.

[Ben Hosley]

Oh.

[David Sims]

So this guy had been. And I was like, it's so funny. And he like my favorite American movie. And he's telling. And he's in broken English talking about. Now you see me, he's like, they are magicians and thieves. And I'm like, I do actually like these movies. And I. And I go like, you know, Dave, this guy is. He's. Because he's showing me clips from the movie on his iPad like a child, like, isn't this cool? I'm like, okay. I go, you know, this guy's in this movie. He's like, I know. He came into the restaurant and I brought it up to Dave. Dave's like, yeah, no, he's a big fan. I was like, that is such a funny thing to travel overseas is. Now you see me, now you oversees me.

[Griffin Newman]

They should do that. There you go.

[Ben Hosley]

We had a little.

[David Sims]

We.

[Ben Hosley]

We did a blank check anniversary art show recently for our 10th anniversary. And we, a bunch of the people work on the show with us. We went out and got dinner and then we were like, let's come back here to the office and like, get some beer and like project on the wall and watch music videos and do karaoke and whatever. So we went to the bodega around the corner to get beer and the one on yes.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

And like a bunch of us walk in and the guy behind the counter is like, are you guys like a family or something? Because there was like, our editor's kids were with us, but it was like a weird combination of people, right? All in. And Marie was like, this isn't a.

[Griffin Newman]

Busy area at night to where we are. Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

And Marie was like, we. We work together. And he was like, oh, all in the same office. And she was like, we do a podcast. And he goes, oh, what's the podcast? He goes, it's about movies. And he goes, oh, you know what movie you should do an episode on? Do you remember what the first two were, Ben? No, I can't remember what they were, but it was like a thing.

[Griffin Newman]

This is the worst tangent of all time.

[Ben Hosley]

I'm telling you, it's going to pay off.

[Griffin Newman]

Okay.

[Ben Hosley]

It's like this. Okay. He goes like, you should do an episode on, like, Shawshank Redemption or something. Sure. And she was like, oh, yeah, we might do that someday, you know? And then he was like, you should do an episode on, like, Unforgiven. And she was like. Or he was like, have you done that? We were like, no. And he's like, come on, you haven't done Unforgiven. You haven't done Shaw Shank Redeption. You haven't done any movies.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

The Usual Suspects.

[Ben Hosley]

Usual Suspects was one, and then one of them was something like Shawshank or whatever. And he was so frustrated. He was like, what movies have you done? And they turned around, he went, oh, I know which one you should do. Tokyo Godfathers.

[Griffin Newman]

Hey, Satoshi K was.

[Ben Hosley]

And we were like, we have done this.

[David Sims]

Wow. He takes a. He goes, all right, I miss these two over the plate pitches. Let me fucking swing way the fuck out here.

[Ben Hosley]

He did, like, three IMDb top tens. And he was like, I don't understand what show could exist for this long and not cover those two movies. And then his third was Tokyo God. That's like being in a small Italian. And the guy who carries the leg.

[Griffin Newman]

Now you see me do. Right.

[Ben Hosley]

That's my number one favorite movie.

[Griffin Newman]

Speaking of. No, let's do Germany first.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah.

[Griffin Newman]

Oh, well, of course they go to the Moulin route. And there's lots of boobs, right? Boob chat is the. The table's open for boobs.

[David Sims]

I will say the. The aerobics aesthetic. I am of the age. That works for you. It still works. And whereas I.

[Griffin Newman]

It feels dated to me. It feels, like, so vintage. Yeah. Ben's making the same face, but I like that throw.

[David Sims]

I love that. And whatchamacallit. The substance. I was like, I'm back. Yeah. I'm so back.

[Ben Hosley]

Yes. It felt very.

[Griffin Newman]

The buns of steel imagery.

[David Sims]

Yeah.

[Griffin Newman]

Yes. Right.

[David Sims]

I was so into it when it came when that. I was like, the. The movie is absolutely disgusting. And. And I was, like, kind of hot, though, right? And everyone's like, really? I was like, demi Moore and Quali are beautiful women in this very fun aesthetic that I like. So it's fun to see that at Moulin Rouge. Also. It is funny because that feels so American, like that exercise tape thing. And that's like, what they're doing in Moulin Rouge. And Rusty's in the back with. Well, that's a good bit. I was a prostitute. That's what happens here.

[Ben Hosley]

That. It starts with, like, a seedier riff on, like, French Cancan girls. And then it goes to something that is so clearly, like, tacky 80s modern American. And he's still trying to claim it's, like, culturally important.

[Griffin Newman]

Okay.

[Ben Hosley]

It allows, like, seven or eight pairs of breasts to appear on screen in a PG13 movie. In a PG13 movie.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah. I thought it was whatever. But in Germany, West Germany, the Berlin wall has yet to fall. Oh, my God.

[Ben Hosley]

I just got from Marie. The two other movies were Goodfellas and Eternal Sunshine.

[David Sims]

Okay.

[Griffin Newman]

So at least Eternal Sunshine is drifting towards. Yeah, it's a good pick.

[Ben Hosley]

And Tokyo Godfathers 3 was interesting.

[Griffin Newman]

And you know what? We're never gonna do Eternal Sunshine probably.

[Ben Hosley]

Well, yeah.

[Griffin Newman]

I mean, I don't think so.

[Ben Hosley]

Country's made too much, like, irrelevant, unreleasable. Doesn't help matters.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah. I mean, it's just like the rare.

[Ben Hosley]

Film to get Zaslav by someone other than Zaslav, his Pharrell musical.

[Griffin Newman]

It's like they just.

[David Sims]

All.

[Griffin Newman]

They just made it and watch it, and we're like, never mind. Forget it.

[David Sims]

Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

And they were like, are you writing off for tax purposes? No, we're just taking a loss now.

[David Sims]

I love. I love when Chevy shows up in the lederhosen. There's such an attention to detail that he has his clothes folded up and he gives him the Beverly d' Angelo and she puts him in a bag. I'm like, that is so unnecessary in this movie, which has zero continu year old thought. And it's like they have this elaborate moment where he presses. It's like, what? The kids aren't even the same from the first movie. We don't give a. About the. What happened to his outfit, you know?

[Ben Hosley]

But, yes, it's also a funny bit that he's so excited about, like, connecting with his heritage and his family and everything. And they misread the door. This German family is just really nice.

[David Sims]

We're looking for sex.

[Ben Hosley]

Yes.

[David Sims]

Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

And then you just. He never connects with the real relatives that they clearly have been.

[Griffin Newman]

That gag is great because what's. What does the lady say on the way out where he's like. She's like, if. I know. But it's not. But it's something like that. It was.

[Ben Hosley]

They just continue to have this conversation in languages that they don't understand. And when you come to the States, you have to stay with us.

[David Sims]

And then, like, Audrey's even, like, it's just so nice to have someone who can listen, like a family member who will listen to me. And, like, she's just nodding, handing off phallic ass sausages.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

Well, I was going to say a really funny gag is when she sees the sausage, she's like, I miss my boyfriend.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah.

[David Sims]

Huge albino curved sausage. Yeah. It's like, it's so. Couldn't look more like Zabka's palace.

[Ben Hosley]

David. I've had it with this wacky weather.

[Griffin Newman]

Oh, no.

[Ben Hosley]

This planet. I can't get a handle on it anymore. One day it's cool, the next I'm sweating through my clothes. What am I supposed to wear?

[Griffin Newman]

It is genuinely annoying.

[Ben Hosley]

It is very annoying. And I realize it's time to switch things up. Quince at exactly what I was looking for. Lighter layers, brighter fabrics and prices don't make you think twice for that range. That versatility, that flexibility is swinging between the climates.

[Griffin Newman]

I have been quinced up.

[Ben Hosley]

You of late are quinced up in that.

[Griffin Newman]

And I actually, now that we're recording this ad, I'm like, it's time to load up on those polos, those merino. Australian merino polo.

[Ben Hosley]

Summertime.

[Griffin Newman]

I already have some. Summer, summer, summer, summer time. Because they are, like, versatile. Like, it's okay, you know, like, they're. They're a little formal. I can basically wear them everywhere.

[Ben Hosley]

Yes. You're actually just falling down a rabbit hole of getting excited about all the new quince products you can buy. This is real.

[Griffin Newman]

This is real.

[Ben Hosley]

This is true. We're capturing real emotions and passion.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah. So Quint obviously is lovely because they've got really, really nice, high quality stuff. But because they work directly with top artisans, they cut out the middlemen. They give you luxury prices without crazy markup.

[Ben Hosley]

To me, that's not even. Even the best parties part. Yes. And also the fact that everything with quince is priced 50 to 80% less than what you'd find at similar brands.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah, it's really good. And so I've been kind of using it a lot of late, and it's just been very reliable as the summer approaches for me to, like, go to the office looking nice, not at a crazy price point.

[Ben Hosley]

Now, you said that you're quinced up. Made me think, what if we start calling. Calling you the Quin Slur?

[Griffin Newman]

We should like the Rizzler or the Once Ler. Don't forget that guy. He's on my mind.

[Ben Hosley]

I just think there's some interesting opportunity here to really rebrand Sims as the Quin Slur.

[Griffin Newman]

The Quin Slur, Right. Yeah. So look.

[Ben Hosley]

So speak for the truffle trees.

[Griffin Newman]

Yes.

[Ben Hosley]

And just be wearing that trip yeah.

[Griffin Newman]

So elevate your closet with quince. Go to quince.com check for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's Q, I, N, C, E dot com. Check to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quint.com.

[David Sims]

I have a quick Oktoberfest story that involves breasts as well. So I think it.

[Griffin Newman]

It fits perfectly. Young, Young, rusty hooks up with a.

[Ben Hosley]

A lady at October Fest who opens her shirt. Then he hears the German police raid.

[David Sims]

Sound, and they go, someone's going to get hung. And he goes, oh, no, dad.

[Ben Hosley]

Right. Which he's correct about.

[David Sims]

Yeah, he.

[Ben Hosley]

Right. Chevy has. Has done.

[Griffin Newman]

He's caused a trouble at Oktoberfest.

[Ben Hosley]

A traditional German dance. So poorly.

[Griffin Newman]

Yes. He's knocking everything over.

[David Sims]

It got into, like, slapstick fist fight. And then it turns into like, I love them when a movie fight just escalates and it's like, we just got to punch. Someone else has got a. An arbitrary. Someone stands up and deck someone in a crowd. Like, I'm always here for that.

[Ben Hosley]

I don't say this as a criticism. It is the number one element in this movie that feels like a Chevy pitch.

[David Sims]

Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

Where he's like, here's my idea. I wear leader Hosen, do like, five minutes of comically bad dancing, and then start fist fight people.

[David Sims]

Yeah. And. And it's. His pitch was probably for 11 minutes and they had to cut it down. It's so long.

[Ben Hosley]

It's very long.

[David Sims]

And it doesn't, like height. It doesn't heighten in any interesting way.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

The game makes no sense, too. Why would they invite a bystander to participate in a complicated.

[David Sims]

And a coro. Yeah. Without teaching it to him or anything. And then kind of being mad that he's not good at it. It's like, crazy. And. And they're speaking English, too. They're like, we need volunteer from the crowd. It's like, this is getting crazy.

[Ben Hosley]

It's not like the bit is like, oh, he dances poorly and knocks over a fire pit, sets their church on fire. And that's why they're angry. They're like, you have done such disrespect to our culture by dancing poorly. And I'm like, maybe on you to invite a noob on stage.

[David Sims]

Yeah. Right. You brought this upon yourself. I. I went to Munich, Oktoberfest for my bachelor party.

[Ben Hosley]

Congrats.

[David Sims]

This was the first time me and my brothers ever went to Europe because my dad had died with only ever having gone to Germany, where His stepfather was from and did a trip with him. So we were like. When I was dad died we were like all of us have to leave the country for a bachelor party. Let's shake on this right now. That'll be a thing that will at least have three brothers trips out of the country. And my younger brother, we did Amsterdam for his bachelor party. But we go to Munich. October Fest Day 1 Six Guys by Leader Hosen. By leather. I still have it like leather straight up, real leader hose. And you wear it every single day you're there. It's awesome. My youngest brother was like 26. He's like, I can't pay €200 for this. And me and my buddy, my of my other buddies were like it. You're not going to be one. You're not going to be not in leader hose. And so we just laid out like another €200 for him.

[Ben Hosley]

Is it comfy?

[David Sims]

It is a little comfy.

[Ben Hosley]

Interesting.

[David Sims]

It is a little comfy. It's. It's airy to have like just the straps and shorts. And we go to. So you go to these tents and you party in these tents. You drink beer all day long and.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

Not just like a little mo.

[David Sims]

No. You get a liter of beer.

[Ben Hosley]

A full espresso cup.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

Yeah, exactly.

[David Sims]

You get a 40 ounces. That's a. A liter is about 36o. You get a Gian Aunt Stein. Now fest beer is a little lower alcohol content because they know people are jamming them down. So like what? In America we have Oktoberfest. It's like Marziny. Their fest beer is more like light, smashable, crushable beer. Got it. And the big thing you do in these tents is you stand up on a table with a full beer and hold it up. And the entire crowd shuts down and looks at you while you go to chin a beer. And if you chin it, everyone is happy. If you fail, they freak out. They throw pretzels shoes like you. They boo you, scream at you. So on the on day one and each tent is cuz it's like you're.

[Griffin Newman]

Wasting their time if. If you don't do it.

[Ben Hosley]

Like you demanded our attention.

[David Sims]

Yes. And based on your guys knowledge of me as a person, do you think I might. I consument performer, an insane consumer.

[Ben Hosley]

I think this is a space in which you would really excel.

[David Sims]

And I go and so each tent is like a brewery's tent. So we're in like the Augustiner tent. I stand up and do this. I chin a full beer. It's 36 ounces. It's. The crowd is going apeshit. I'm able to do it. I get off the table and my knees buckle. Like, I'm like, so. Because there's so much like adrenaline and alcohol at the same time. I was like, oh, no.

[Ben Hosley]

The cheering, the adoration.

[David Sims]

And I'm like, this is. This is better than improv. I can't believe I found something better than improv. So that. That's day one. And we're like, the rest of the time, we're just fully partition participating in this thing. We go to the hofbrau tent, which is the crazy tent. That one has the most security. It's the one where people get the most up. It's sort of for the younger, less cultural, more bachelor part. Lots of Australians who manage to travel wherever there's alcohol. And first up, a fucking J. Like a guy who looks like Jason Statham but with more blood vessels popped, stands up with two liters on the table and everyone's like, oh, my God. Oh, my God. And he chins him back to back. That's like drinking a six pack of beer in like 11 seconds. The crowd goes fucking ape shit. I could not believe it. It was insane. So I'm like, there's no way. No one to top that.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah.

[David Sims]

Next thing you know, you start hearing quiet and people start clapping. And you look over and two fat, bespectacled twins are standing up on a table with leaders. And they are identical chunky twins with little glasses and they. They look like fucking cenob. They like, they like butterballs. They cheers each other and then fucking chin it. And the crowd erupts. And then we're sitting at the table and every. You know, Justin Tyler is a good friend of mine, also a comedy nerd. We're like, what's the third beat?

[Ben Hosley]

Right, Right. How do you heighten this?

[David Sims]

How do you heighten this? Because it's heightened perfectly. So.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah.

[David Sims]

And then all of a sudden, the crowd starts getting quiet and starts chanting. And we look over and it's like a five foot ten, beautiful blonde woman in a dindle. Like the things that hoist your titties up, like, to a shelf.

[Griffin Newman]

The lady leader hosen.

[David Sims]

Yeah, the lady leader hose is called the dul. The St. Paulie girl is that famous. And she stands up there with a liter of beer and everyone is like, it's just heteronormativity as everyone's like, like Tex Avery cartoons. Like, this is going to be amaz.

[Ben Hosley]

This is whistle, right?

[David Sims]

She starts chugging it. The crowd starts going ape. But then she starts slowing down and we're like, will the crowd turn on a beautiful woman? Short answer, yes. Pretzels start flying. Everyone is like, boo. Yeah. You know, like we.

[Ben Hosley]

She just like quit and put down on the table.

[David Sims]

No, she wins. She is. She pulls her tits out and drop. Pulls her top down, breasts out. That's why this iconic scene with Moon opening her shirt is like I remembered this. She drops her wonderful big naturals out the crowd goes all the way back. She chins the finishes chin the beer, does like the curtsy and then puts her breasts away. And we're like, like the crowd like the vibe shifted everywhere.

[Ben Hosley]

This crowd is so rabid.

[Griffin Newman]

Germany's no good.

[Ben Hosley]

Guys start pretzeling her when she's slowing down. Not when she was like, I quit, I'm sorry, I give up.

[David Sims]

Yeah. No, when she, when she like maniac.

[Ben Hosley]

When she was on track to not finish, they started throwing food at her.

[David Sims]

And the crazy. The craziest thing I remember about this tape that this tend to is that the tables were for seven people. Yeah. And to get a table is like ideal because then you can like have a server. Yeah. So you got to get there super early. We were six people. One random Brazilian guy lands up at our table with us and he shows up and he has like a tucked in shirt and we have a picture of the beginning and the the end. He has like a hat that's a huge fake keg with like a tap on it. His eyes are crossed, his shirt is ripped and he has like blood and food all over himself. It's like this is what happens when you hang out with the Gabriel family.

[Ben Hosley]

For like seven hours than anyone else you've ever met in your life.

[Griffin Newman]

Just so obvious that the good European countries like where Italy, France, but you know where they like, they just know how to drink.

[David Sims]

Yes.

[Griffin Newman]

And then like all the bad ones like England and Germany, people are just.

[David Sims]

Like, they're just maniacs in England.

[Griffin Newman]

They're like only go too far, right?

[David Sims]

I only had a whole 100 beers last night. Is there a way we can make them colder and flat, warmer and flatter so they go down smoother? The first time out of Cascale, I'm like, why the does this exist? Then you drink it and you're like, oh, I could have 100. Of course, mate.

[Griffin Newman]

We're not, we're here from 4 to.

[Ben Hosley]

1Am The London thing of like almost all bars close at 10pm okay, I'm sorry. But also like please drink Outside.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

Like a recipe for people to be like, I gotta keep like loading now because the cutoff's coming earlier than I wanted. And also I'm already. But in the streets.

[Griffin Newman]

The thing about the economy of drinking in England is it's like you like, see, right, you get off work, you go to the pub, you start chugging beers, right? And like might be outside if you want to smoke especially, right? You do that until closing time. Then you are as the Brits would say, pissed.

[Ben Hosley]

Yes.

[David Sims]

On the piss, man.

[Griffin Newman]

You are fucking on the lash. And then you're like, let's get a kebab. You just stumble into the. No, Nando's is closed. You're stumbling to the only businesses that are open, which are Cabin Bab Shop. So you're like pile meat into a bowl.

[Ben Hosley]

But like 11.45pm in London is like Night of the Living Dead. Like it's. The streets are overrun with people who've been kicked out of.

[Griffin Newman]

You go to a club because clubs are allowed to be open and those, believe me, are not very cool. Like wait a second.

[Ben Hosley]

But last night in Soho made them seem really nice and trendy.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

I went out drinking in Scotland by myself on a Saturday night.

[Griffin Newman]

Sounds fun.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

I was in glass.

[Ben Hosley]

No, I'm sorry, what?

[Griffin Newman]

Carry on.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

I was in a bar and I've experienced like being in a bar with like a lot, a lot of drunk people. But it's like, you know, like a trashy bar in midtown with like a lot of underage people. I have never been in a crowded bar where every single person has been drinking since like eight in the morning.

[David Sims]

Career drink from. From like six foot five oak men to like five foot one women in like in mega mini skirts are a like cross eyed.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

There had been, you know that sport, I think it's called hurling.

[Ben Hosley]

Sure.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

They just basically whip a wood like lacrosse ball at each other.

[David Sims]

Yeah. And they use like a cane. Like it's not like they use like.

[Griffin Newman]

It's like drunk, high, alive for like, you know, Highlanders.

[David Sims]

You know, Scotland's a crazy place for that. Like when I was in Glasgow, I went to go get drinks and I was like, this is fucking terrifying.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

I truly was a little scared by the end of the night and had to get out of there.

[Griffin Newman]

I'm referencing that I famously, in Newcastle, where I went to college, which is not Scotland, but it's the English city closest to the Scottish border, got called a poof for. Which is a slur for gay people.

[David Sims]

Yeah.

[Griffin Newman]

For wearing a coat. It was like 22 degrees Fahrenheit outside, it was not warm.

[Ben Hosley]

Let's make it clear. Let's make it clear.

[Griffin Newman]

A guy I did not know was like, you know, hitting me on the show. I'm like, what? And he was like, you puff, you're wearing a coat. And I was like, should I not. What is the planning?

[Ben Hosley]

I just want to clarify. It is both a slur for gay people and the last name of a very respected long neck Jedi. Oh, of course, the Phantom.

[David Sims]

Yes.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

I'm glad we.

[Griffin Newman]

I maybe should not share. This just has two meaning.

[Ben Hosley]

Two meanings.

[Griffin Newman]

My father was a working class Englishman. I was raised in South London. And his brother, his older brother, my father was the fourth. So the third son was such a confederate alcoholic that his male was. Is delivered to the pub. Which is the thing that was one of those things that I was told as a kid. And I was like, that can't be like a grownup. I checked in, I was like, you know, I. I feel like I remember that uncle, you know, bad memory.

[Ben Hosley]

This false memory.

[Griffin Newman]

Male delivered to the pub. That's like, not true.

[Ben Hosley]

That's a family 100% like carved a mailbox.

[Griffin Newman]

No, it's true. I think it was true. Like, the postman was like, well, I know where I'll find him. Like, you know, here's your mail.

[David Sims]

The one thing I like, I mean, I like a lot of stuff about drinking culture and because, because I've played rugby my whole life and in, in America, I hang out with a lot of Brits and Aussies and stuff. But I like the pub rugby. I love rugby and I love the pub culture of loyalty to a pub.

[Griffin Newman]

Yes.

[David Sims]

That's what I like a lot too.

[Ben Hosley]

Is that it's like, like a home team.

[David Sims]

You just make a spot your public house and that's where you go. And that's like, you're like, oh, I. I can go there alone and I'll probably run it. You know, it's like McManus was for like a day decade where I'd be like, okay, I'm out. I'm getting out of something else. I bet you're someone at McManus.

[Ben Hosley]

You know, there's a community there.

[David Sims]

Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

Listeners might be noticing that we're avoiding talking about the Italy section of the movie, which becomes weirdly plotty.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah, the Italy section of the movie stinks. I really, I was losing interest in the movie.

[Ben Hosley]

I just like, don't care about. Put actual stakes on.

[Griffin Newman]

This is where the sex tape thing become like, gets resolved too. Like, and there's A lot of.

[Ben Hosley]

There's a lot of business seeing the poster storming off Clark getting stuck in the business end of this weird, complicated travelers check scam that also involves a hostage in the trunk. And then d' Angelo has to come back and save him.

[David Sims]

I I the guy who plays the thief who like tries to flirt with Beverly. This guy is doing work.

[Griffin Newman]

Victor Leno.

[David Sims]

He's very enjoyable.

[Griffin Newman]

Yes.

[David Sims]

But I, I just, I could not give a. I didn't. And again, I don't. I'm not this guy always. But like just, just like pig in a poke. What the is I. This is what I say on Action boys all the time. If the, if the robbery went well, what was the plan? Why do they need that guy?

[Ben Hosley]

Understand their scam. You don't understand.

[David Sims]

Have the money and the guy and the guy. They know who he is. They could just leave with the money, give the Griswolds five cheese on the walkout and everything is.

[Ben Hosley]

But they're basically like robbing this traveler's checks place while he walks in. But have already said it's the perfect crime if we can figure out someone else to pin it on. You're like, pin what? Leave the guy's tied up and instead they're like we're going to give him too much money so it looks like he stole everything and then put the guy who works here tied up in his trunk and give him the car so that people blame him for the crime.

[Griffin Newman]

I hate the word.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

But then they get back. They go back to try and get the car.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah, the Beetle or whatever it is.

[David Sims]

Why do the bad guys follow?

[Ben Hosley]

Because they were like go to the hotel and will get the car back from you. Because I guess they want the car back, but they're just using it to help so he can transport the body. But then they up by going shopping.

[Griffin Newman]

I will say this.

[David Sims]

That's the best part of Italy. Yes, I'm glad.

[Ben Hosley]

The one good part. The outfits are great.

[David Sims]

It's so funny.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

Incredible.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah.

[David Sims]

I love when. Because Chevy has it on the plane ride home too. He has like that like weird.

[Ben Hosley]

Oh, you know what? I like that bit too. I guess it's at the very end, but. Well, that we'll talk about that.

[David Sims]

Yikes.

[Ben Hosley]

But the, the sped up Chevy trying to have multiple meals on the plane and they keep on taking it away before he gets.

[Griffin Newman]

That's solid travel humor. Yeah. Nothing wrong with that.

[David Sims]

Oh, we we skipped over in France. But the sped up Louvre thing is a lot of fun.

[Ben Hosley]

A lot of fun. And that like, that's a. A semi relatable human element that they're putting in, which is this, like, notion of the dad, like, viewing tourism as a competitive sport. When he's like, on the young honeymooning couple and he's. We saw like 40 things today. They haven't seen anything.

[David Sims]

And dad, like, I would love to just stay in this hotel happy and we're exhausted. Yeah, yeah. Even. Even. There's that moment too when they're like, wow, dad, look. Ancient ruins. He's like, keep moving. And it's like the kids are even.

[Ben Hosley]

Enjoying sightseeing things over actually absorbing anything.

[Griffin Newman]

What was I going to say? Vacation. And these movies do not naturally have a way to end. Right. Vacation kind of cleverly builds up to Walley World is closed.

[Ben Hosley]

A destination.

[Griffin Newman]

Chevy has the nervous breakdown. It goes on a little long, in my opinion. But it's a. It's a. You know, it's a. It's a clever sequence, that movie.

[Ben Hosley]

It's helpful that they're going to one place and they come up with a kind of funny twist on what happens. They get to that place, has the.

[Griffin Newman]

Big explosion and you know, that. That again, like, they. They do a good job figuring out a punchy ending. This movie doesn't know how to do that. Apart from Statue of Liberty get getting knocked over.

[David Sims]

Yeah. I think that's what they thought their big moment was.

[Griffin Newman]

Right. Which you're like, okay.

[Ben Hosley]

But it is such a wild moment. To clarify, at the very end of this film, Clark is looking for the bathroom on the plane. He accidentally opens the door to the cockpit, gets tangled in the steering gear.

[Griffin Newman]

Yes.

[David Sims]

And then causes the plane to nose die. Right. As it's flying over Ellis island into.

[Ben Hosley]

The Statue of Liberty, which then, like, its arm gets turned upside down. And the movie basically ends with Clark's going, oopsie.

[David Sims]

Yeah. So. And then I do think the montage of photos over the credits is very funny.

[Ben Hosley]

This is the thing. Like, that ending is so insane because you're just like, well, wait a second. If that happens, he's getting dragged to Guantanamo Bay. Right, right, right. Like, he's not getting. Getting out of this. You could just have the ending of, like, Clark out the window going like, look, Statue of Liberty. Aren't you folks happy to be back in America again? And then cutting to images of, like, gross American.

[David Sims]

Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

Which I thought was funny American shit. Which is really funny. The Statue of Liberty thing happens so fast and is so extreme and is like. Feels frightening.

[Griffin Newman]

It's out of. Right. It's out of Reality with.

[David Sims]

Yeah. And it doesn't. And even the. Like this. The gag itself doesn't look great.

[Griffin Newman]

It doesn't also.

[David Sims]

Right.

[Griffin Newman]

Look that good. I just want to shout out that the. My local. My pub was the Lonsdale in. In. In Newcastle.

[David Sims]

Hell yeah.

[Griffin Newman]

And I just looked it up. And this is the fate of so many English pubs. It's something that the movie World's End. World's End is about. It's been bought by Green King, which is one of the many pub chains and I assume is still basically fine inside. But they ruin these places by kind of giving them.

[Ben Hosley]

Giving them menu and to the uk, like, it's not really a thing here.

[Griffin Newman]

Of course not. But like, in England, it's like they're pubs everywhere. Right. You know, as there have been since, like the 10th century or whatever. And like. Right. You know, like, everything else is just getting.

[Ben Hosley]

We have all these, like, tacky corporate pubs in New York.

[David Sims]

Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

That are just called, like, the. The. The point on the right or whatever.

[David Sims]

Ocean.

[Ben Hosley]

And you're like, this isn't owned by, like, real Irish people. But you're also like, it's not part of a, like, McPub chain that is like, literally like a corporate logo stomped onto 40 locations.

[Griffin Newman]

I want to look up my London local, the Pineapple. Seems to be still. Right. Still doing fine.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah.

[David Sims]

I might see you down at the Pineapple.

[Griffin Newman]

But the thing with the Pineapple. Welcome to the Pineapple and the. The Dartmouth Arms, which is my other favorite pub where I live near, is like, they got a little gastro pubby because, like, that's what happened in North London. It's like, pub started to have good food, but there wasn't really anything wrong with that because you were like, well, the food's good. Like, you know, and like, they're still serving beer and it's still a good vibe in here. It's just like they hired a shand. Like.

[David Sims]

Yeah, I'm not going to that. The food got better here.

[Griffin Newman]

Well, some people do, but. Yes.

[David Sims]

Well, in England that would, like, you know, someone might have, like, a flavor that would shut their body down.

[Griffin Newman]

What is this? Garlic. I once introduced Ben to Peter K's legendary garlic bread bit, which is one of the most famous, like, comedy routines in England, which is him making fun of his family, his parents, his Northern Bolton parents, eating garlic bread for the first time. You like garlic and bread? Garlic bread? If I do, it's not funny at all. But everyone in Britain knows it. But yeah, Britain only discovered garlic in, like, 1997 or something.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah.

[David Sims]

Yeah. It's crazy. They were, like, going all over the world killing people for spice and never got garlic right.

[Griffin Newman]

They just sold it to other people, I guess. Should we do the box office game?

[Ben Hosley]

We should, yeah. I mean, we should say this movie did okay, but it's definitely seen as, like, a disappointment.

[Griffin Newman]

Well, especially since it's going PG13. You'd think they might be, like, growing their audience. Instead, they're losing it significantly now. Now, sequels used to be more kind of expected to do worse, but, like.

[Ben Hosley]

Christmas Grows is the biggest it does of them. I do think it was seen as, like, this succeeded based on love of the first one rather than anything Heckerling did.

[Griffin Newman]

But it's also. It's July. It's July 26, 1985. There's a comedy in theaters with Chevy Chase. You're gonna get people.

[Ben Hosley]

But, like, Chase comes out of this with another win under his belt. It's almost kind of held against Heckerling that, like, she misunderstood, understood the assignment, and the movie worked in spite of her, which I just think all of it's interesting in building up, like, the psychology of her going into look who's Talking, which is like, do I want to make a talking baby movie? I do want to make something that's a hit that I own, that's undeniable.

[Griffin Newman]

I'm gonna dispute you on that. Now, Fletch is the same year, right? And so Fletch is kind of. It's a solid hit, but also well received. So a month ago, Fletch has come out. Fletches. In fact, where is it in the box stuff? It's 14. But, you know, it's been out for a couple months. Post this. Spies Like Us, which does pretty good, but, like, is not as well remembered as some Three Amigos, which is now liked, but was a bomb.

[Ben Hosley]

Was. Yes.

[Griffin Newman]

Funny Farm. You guys are sticking up for it.

[David Sims]

I love all three of these movies, right?

[Griffin Newman]

But, like, you know, and then post that you. It's Chevy starts to scramble Caddyshack 2, which is disaster.

[Ben Hosley]

Although tiny part, but yes, disaster.

[Griffin Newman]

Fletch Limbs, which is also a dis. Disaster. And then Christmas Vacation is the sequel he makes where it's like, well, that. That worked. That worked, right?

[Ben Hosley]

He's back.

[Griffin Newman]

But that's also his last hit, probably, like, ever, right?

[Ben Hosley]

And it is One of those 90s.

[Griffin Newman]

Output is obviously really terrible.

[Ben Hosley]

I. I feel like for a guy who had such a bad reputation, but a good number of hits and had flops as well, like, was up and Down. Even when I earlier said, like, all of his movies are basically hits until vacation. Look at it.

[Griffin Newman]

Under the rainbow, right?

[Ben Hosley]

Exactly, exactly. His, like, his average was strong enough that in this era of, like, he is a $6 million movie star, he doesn't command $20 million. He costs six. To make a movie that costs 20.

[Griffin Newman]

That makes 60 or.

[David Sims]

Right.

[Ben Hosley]

That's worth it. That's like, on base. And maybe he's tough to deal with, but who gives a. I do feel like when the talk show happens, right? And like, people are watching, the bubble is burst.

[Griffin Newman]

With the talk show, everyone's like, this guy wild.

[David Sims]

Well, there's something. There's something about a guy who's an.

[Ben Hosley]

That's the big.

[David Sims]

Who's always playing an. You can do as a little suspension of disbelief that, wow, Chevy's really good at playing an. You watch then when he plays himself in the Chevy Chase show and you're like, oh, no, he's not acting at all.

[Ben Hosley]

Right.

[David Sims]

He's an ass. This guy.

[Griffin Newman]

Can't hide it.

[David Sims]

Yeah. Then all a sudden you're like, oh, I. I like whatever is Ty Webb less. I like Park Griswold.

[Ben Hosley]

Two prong thing of you're watching him without the distance of a character and being like, this isn't so charming if it's real, Right.

[David Sims]

If a guy's an actual prick, it's not fun.

[Ben Hosley]

The second part of it is part of the fun of Chevy Chase's so confidently going through these things and watching the talk show. He's so quickly dying inside and unhappy that you're like, this isn't fun if he's not even having fun doing it right. And it's starting to make him look pathetic. But also the first episode is Goldie Hawn, who he had done two movies with, and it's like, great. Pair him up. His first guest, a big comedy movie star who's one of his, like, scene partners. And they just have no chemistry together. And you're like, oh, none of these people like him. None of the other people in Hollywood like him.

[Griffin Newman]

It's a forgotten thing that about Conan, when everyone zooms in on how bad, you know, Conan did in the first year, not the show, but the ratings or whatever. One reason he survived was the Chevy Chase bombed so hard that it was like, eh, maybe we need to give the youngsters a shot. You know.

[Ben Hosley]

Here's another thing that was quietly working for Conan. Guests he had on who had hosted SNL were like, you were great. Sure, I liked you when you were the writer.

[Griffin Newman]

Conan had going for him is he's like one of the great comic presences and is so funny.

[David Sims]

One of the funniest human beings genuine.

[Ben Hosley]

But it's this weird, like, imbalance of the best.

[Griffin Newman]

He's. He's the best.

[David Sims]

He's the best.

[Ben Hosley]

He's the best.

[David Sims]

I hate that he's doing a travel show that's on.

[Griffin Newman]

How dare you?

[David Sims]

That's really good.

[Griffin Newman]

But him just like windmill dunking at the oscars after, like, 30 years of, like, being available for that job is just like, great. Yeah.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

The Kennedy Center.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah.

[David Sims]

Yeah, it was.

[Griffin Newman]

Did that so perfectly.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

Genius.

[Griffin Newman]

The way he, like, threaded the needle of, like, how do I do this? In what is probably the last Mark Twain Awards?

[Ben Hosley]

But I'm like, I was, you know, before.

[Griffin Newman]

It goes to Matt R. For whatever.

[David Sims]

Jon Voight.

[Griffin Newman]

So fun.

[Ben Hosley]

He's so funny on Twitter.

[Griffin Newman]

Like, he getting it for his tweets.

[Ben Hosley]

My, like, teen years. I was like, why won't they let Conan host the Oscars?

[David Sims]

Why?

[Ben Hosley]

Why won't they let the weird guy host? It's so much better to have him host at the point in his life where he has nothing to prove and now also seemingly might just be the de facto host for the next five years.

[David Sims]

Yeah, he might have accidentally did it.

[Ben Hosley]

Like, he nailed it.

[David Sims]

Yeah, it was fantastic.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah, he kind of.

[Ben Hosley]

But I just think there's an Oscar.

[David Sims]

Presentation that the movies didn't fucking get me going. Having Conan there was a victory.

[Ben Hosley]

I just think it's an interesting flip that, like, you have Chevy and Conan at the same time, and you're like, oh, my God. Like, ABC has hired a movie star for 20 years to host a talk show. This is humongous. And NBC responded with a fucking comedy writer. Yeah. The discrepancy is so great. And then, like any celebrity who has dealt with Conan prior to him getting the show through SNL is like, I always liked you.

[David Sims]

Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

And you're like, huh. America doesn't know this guy, but people with stature are approving him. Meanwhile, Chevy is interviewing people he starred.

[David Sims]

In movies with and has zero chemistry.

[Ben Hosley]

And you're just like, huh. He's kind of just tolerated.

[Griffin Newman]

So this film opens, number one, $12 million. It got very better views. To be clear.

[Ben Hosley]

It makes 40.

[Griffin Newman]

It ends up at a domestic total of $49 million dollars. Not bad. Number two, the box office is one of the big hits of the summer.

[Ben Hosley]

We've covered it on this podcast in 1985.

[Griffin Newman]

It's been out for a month.

[Ben Hosley]

Is it Back to the Future?

[Griffin Newman]

There you Go.

[Ben Hosley]

There we go. It's the biggest hit of the year.

[Griffin Newman]

Good movie.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah. Excellent film.

[Griffin Newman]

You like it?

[David Sims]

I haven't seen it about this kid. I've only seen three.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah.

[David Sims]

I've only seen the Broadway show and Three.

[Griffin Newman]

Number three at the box office is a legendary flop. An animated film.

[Ben Hosley]

Is it the Black Cauldron?

[Griffin Newman]

Disney's the Black Cauldron.

[Ben Hosley]

Wow.

[Griffin Newman]

Have you ever seen it? I never have.

[David Sims]

I'm almost. I'm. I got to safely say I don't think I've ever even heard of it.

[Griffin Newman]

It is probably the nadir of Disney, sort of like, in terms of culture.

[Ben Hosley]

I think it's, like, inarguably. What's wild about it? Gabrius is. It is like an adaptation of a fairly recent expansive fantasy novel series that Disney bought. And we're sort of like, we're going to do our little, like, Middle Earth.

[Griffin Newman]

And we're going to try to appeal to boys, which is always the Disney thing of, like, can we get boys? You know?

[Ben Hosley]

What's the book called, though?

[Griffin Newman]

It's called the Book of Three. The. The whole group of it is called the Chronicles of Pridane.

[Ben Hosley]

I remember it's like.

[Griffin Newman]

It's like young adult high fantasy.

[Ben Hosley]

I remember seeing the movie when it. Not when it came out, but watching a VHS when I was young, being like, this doesn't work. And then years later, in my, like, school library, finding the book of three, going, this looks fun. And 60 pages in. Being like, this is the Black Cauldron. That's so weird. That's based off of this.

[David Sims]

I'm so embarrassed to say that I am such a. Any port in the storm for high fantasy that I'm going to need to watch this. I'm going to be very curious.

[Griffin Newman]

Wanted to watch it. I've always heard that it's kind of also, like, weirdly scary, right? Like, it's got kind of a little too intense for.

[Ben Hosley]

One of the famous anecdotes about it is it's the movie that they're working on at Disney when Tim Burton gets hired out of CalArts, and they're like, perfect. We got this weird, creepy guy. He can do some of the monsters, and he submits the stuff. And they were like, tim, cool.

[Griffin Newman]

Do you like what's it called? I just read it last year because Sean Clements told me to read it. The Blade itself. The first law book.

[David Sims]

Yes, yes. Clements got me into those years ago, too. That trilogy by Joe Abercrombie and then the three that take place in the same world.

[Griffin Newman]

So Standalone or whatever.

[David Sims]

And if you're an audiobook guy, the guy who reads those, reads those books. Stephen Pacey is fantastic the way he. He does Glocka, who has a speech impediment because he has his teeth pulled. But then he also has internal thought. That's better. He does, like two different versions.

[Griffin Newman]

Clever.

[David Sims]

So fucking cool.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah, I. I'm gonna try to keep this quick. I. I went down a weird rabbit hole. The man who directed the Black Cauldron, one of the two directors, I believe his name is literally Richie Rich. He is Richard Rich. And he brags about the first animation director to have no experience in animation. He was like a music guy who then became like a development executive at Disney who. And had never animated once in his life. And I think he co directed that and Fox and the Hound, which was sort of the nadir for Disney commercially. And then much like Don Bluth, he, like, spun off and was like, I don't need Disney. I can make my own thing. And he made, like, the Swan Princess for New Line, which was kind of a mess. He has largely backed into doing, like, extensive biblical animated adaptations. But I was going through his IMDb and I found that he had made a movie about the Prophet Muhammad. And I'm like, how the did he do this without being arrested? And I found a review that our friend, past and future guest Dana Stevens did of this movie, which I think came out in like 2003. He did an animated Prophet Muhammad movie that is animated from the perspective of the Prophet Muhammad who has no dialogue. It's an animated, like, Nickel Boys, where it's you seeing other characters talk about Muhammad so that he can tell the story without showing. Showing him on screen.

[David Sims]

Right. Because using his image is prohibited.

[Ben Hosley]

Just one of the weirdest movies I've ever discovered existing.

[David Sims]

Put on your 3D Muhammad glasses right now. Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

And it's like animated. Like a shitty Disney movie.

[Griffin Newman]

Number four, the box office. He also did the King and I animated.

[Ben Hosley]

Yes. Which is also a cursed film.

[Griffin Newman]

Number four at the box office is a sequel to a film that John covered on our show.

[David Sims]

This is where LA is probably getting hot, huh?

[Ben Hosley]

Is it Predator 2?

[Griffin Newman]

Nope. But that is a fun, of course, movie in which, yes, the Predator comes to LA and gets in the middle of a gang war and Danny Glover's stressed out.

[Ben Hosley]

Is it Beyond Thunderbolt?

[Griffin Newman]

It's Mad Max Beyond Thunder.

[David Sims]

That's. I love that one.

[Griffin Newman]

Very fun movie.

[Ben Hosley]

The only movie that ever had the courage to go beyond Thunder.

[Griffin Newman]

No one's done it since. Number Five at the box office is a western the lot of people really like. I saw it and was underwhelmed.

[Ben Hosley]

Silverado. I just remember you being Kazden Silverado.

[Griffin Newman]

I fired that up, being like, I'm gonna have the best time. And I was like, holler, do you like Silverado? You ever seen it?

[David Sims]

I saw it when I was a kid and I think I liked it. But I think I would want to. I want to. I'm on a Costner kick right now. We just did. We just did no Way out on action.

[Ben Hosley]

But I just watched that after Hackman Pass. I'd never seen it.

[Griffin Newman]

Not horny movie about very straightforward people.

[David Sims]

It's so. And I'm. I'm listening to the big clock Clock now. The book that no Way Out's based on. It's very interesting.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah.

[David Sims]

And it's been.

[Ben Hosley]

Because the twist. There was a previous movie adaptation as well. Right.

[David Sims]

There's two. There's an American one and a French one.

[Ben Hosley]

Unique just to that version of the story. Is that correct?

[David Sims]

The twist that he's investigating himself.

[Ben Hosley]

Yes.

[David Sims]

That's like the whole conceit of the movie. Is that he a guy.

[Ben Hosley]

Oh, no, I'm saying the very end. Twist.

[David Sims]

Oh, the very end of the twist. But yes, it's crazy. It's unearned. It's been bananas.

[Ben Hosley]

Same things I've seen a movie do in the last 90 seconds.

[David Sims]

Like, it.

[Griffin Newman]

It's.

[David Sims]

And again, I keep coming back to improv.

[Ben Hosley]

Yes.

[David Sims]

But it really is. Reminds me of like the last beat of a Herald where you're like, we were in space begging for a blackout.

[Ben Hosley]

It's like, if I do something loud enough. Well, they have to black.

[David Sims]

You just have to get out. The red light has been on for like eight minutes. The booth is not. The booth is behind the wheel. Yeah. Let's get the out of here.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah.

[David Sims]

Oh, yeah. I'm on a crazy Costner kick. I loved Horizon and of course. Course. And so I want to re. Watch Silverado.

[Ben Hosley]

You know what movie is good? Gabrius Horizon Chapter 2.

[David Sims]

I haven't seen it.

[Ben Hosley]

Saw it at Santa Barbara. They played in a film festival. Oh, I made a trip out there.

[David Sims]

I'm so jealous.

[Ben Hosley]

Really good.

[David Sims]

I'm so jealous. I. I enjoyed the first one so much.

[Ben Hosley]

I think this one's a lot better.

[David Sims]

Oh, that is. It has to be.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah.

[David Sims]

Because I will say this. A movie that is as slow and as long as Horizon that ends with to be continued is but net. It's like, what's the Miles Morales Spider man movie where I was like, when that ended with to be continued. I heard kids in the crowd boo at the amc.

[Ben Hosley]

Sean, don't worry. They announced today that the next movie is coming out in only two years long.

[Griffin Newman]

Strike, Delay. It's interesting. It was just so funny when they're like, ah, the strike means we're delaying.

[Ben Hosley]

That one would be out in six months. Our original release date, if not strike. You're like, you have a title page and nothing else.

[Griffin Newman]

Exactly. Spider Man's going to be in a. We know that.

[Ben Hosley]

We know that.

[Griffin Newman]

Also at the box office. Cocoon.

[Ben Hosley]

Sure.

[Griffin Newman]

Old guys. Rambo, First Blood Part two. I'm sure you've never covered that one.

[Ben Hosley]

That's not like, right? Not.

[David Sims]

Can we win this time? One question. Can we win this time? I love. I could. I could talk for hours about First Blood and First Blood Part two being like the dichotomy of like American art where it's like the first movie is like ptsd, right. Soldier coming home. Anti cop high drama. So good dealing with like soldiers coming home and bringing the war home with them all this intense, heavy. And the second, the second one's like, they still got soldiers of Vietnam. Go there with a bow and arrow and kill everybody. Sly.

[Ben Hosley]

Wouldn't it be great if one of us was so yoked and could take care of all of their problems?

[David Sims]

God, he is so diced into. It's insane.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

The vein poppage.

[Griffin Newman]

Oh, he's.

[Ben Hosley]

He looks like grilled chicken.

[David Sims]

He's so fucked. His hair is bananas. Like. Like, it's so crazy. Fires an M60 at at Sensei crease.

[Ben Hosley]

I guess he looks more like rotisserie chicken because he's bronze.

[David Sims]

He's pretty gl. He's pretty glazed up. Yeah, he's balsamic.

[Griffin Newman]

Have you covered. I have to go in a second. This film, a film. I really like Clint Eastwood's western, Pale Rider, which is sort of unforgiven before Unforgiven. Like it's another clever anti Western. It's just a little less seen.

[David Sims]

Is that the one where he is maybe the devil or that's something else. That's like the man in Black or something. What's that?

[Griffin Newman]

No, I. I know what you're going for. Yeah. He basically is sort of death.

[David Sims]

Yes.

[Griffin Newman]

In that movie.

[Ben Hosley]

Am I wrong in thinking. No, no. This doesn't make sense because. Is it out at the box office at this point in time?

[Griffin Newman]

What?

[Ben Hosley]

Why are you bringing up Pale Rider?

[Griffin Newman]

It's number eight.

[Ben Hosley]

Okay. That was my question. That's what I'm saying in the end credits montage they play, they show an image of some Clint Eastwood western.

[Griffin Newman]

I believe it is Pale Rider. It is. It looked like it to me. I mean, although it could. There's a lot of Clint Eastwood posters out there. No, because Josie Wales has got the two guns.

[Ben Hosley]

I don't know.

[Griffin Newman]

Number nine of the box office. St. Elmo's Fire. That's a movie that's bad in my opinion. Joel Schumacher St. Almost.

[David Sims]

Yeah.

[Griffin Newman]

That's a movie that. That's a bit of a gas leak movie. It has its fans.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah.

[David Sims]

I've never. I've never rewatched it. Fucking stupid. I've never been inspired to.

[Griffin Newman]

Number 10 is a movie. I don't know. It's a romantic comedy called the Heaven Heavenly Kid.

[Ben Hosley]

Oh.

[Griffin Newman]

Starring Lewis Smith, best known for his role in the Heavenly Kid. Wikipedia tells me about like a greaser who dies playing chicken and comes back as an angel is Teen angel, the.

[Ben Hosley]

ABC sitcom loosely adapted from the Heavenly Kid. Why do I know the Heavenly Kid?

[Griffin Newman]

I don't know.

[David Sims]

I feel like the Heavenly Kid was. It sounds so. The premise sounds so. I mean, I think it's. What's the. Why can't I think of it? The angel movie with. Yes.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah. It's kind of Jason like. Yeah. You're not going to get to go to heaven till you help this other kid by being his guardian angel. Young Jane Kazmar.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah. There was an ABC TJF sitcom with a very similar premise that maybe was just unofficially riffing on this called Teen angel that I was a fan of.

[Griffin Newman]

That was an Al Jean Mike Rice show, I believe.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah.

[Griffin Newman]

I don't think it was very good though. No offense.

[Ben Hosley]

Well, I disagree with you. I'm sure my opinion as a seven year old would hold up perfectly.

[Griffin Newman]

Looks like that one had the great Ron Glass, though. I love him.

[Ben Hosley]

He was the big floating head in the sky, I believe.

[Griffin Newman]

Oh, sort of the Zordon.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah. Kind of imagine. But in the sky.

[Griffin Newman]

Sure. Instead of a tube.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah. Have you ever seen the.

[Griffin Newman]

Just bringing it Back.

[Ben Hosley]

The semi recent big budget American Power Rangers movie, Gabrius?

[David Sims]

Of course.

[Ben Hosley]

David and I will talk about this a lot. Cranston is so good as Zordon.

[David Sims]

It's so.

[Griffin Newman]

It's that movie.

[David Sims]

Such a better movie than I expected.

[Ben Hosley]

I like that movie a lot.

[David Sims]

But like I put it on as a bit.

[Ben Hosley]

Totally.

[David Sims]

And you know, I ate an edible and I'm like, this would be funny and watch the end of it. I was like, I care a lot.

[Ben Hosley]

Like this rocks. Rolls. Yeah. But like Cranston, you're just like, oh, my God. He is playing Zordon with, like, gravity and grace.

[David Sims]

He's good, man.

[Ben Hosley]

He's good.

[David Sims]

What did I just see him in that? He really. Oh, the studio.

[Ben Hosley]

The studio, yeah.

[Griffin Newman]

Oh, he's having fun in the studio.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah.

[Griffin Newman]

I've only seen the first episode of the Studio, but I enjoy.

[David Sims]

Me too. I also love Han. She's so funny. So. And then she's doing this bit where she's a fully different style every time.

[Ben Hosley]

And walking in, she seems a little Pascal inspired. Perhaps some of the Pascal.

[Griffin Newman]

I mean, Cranston is like, so there's so many guys that Cranston's kind of doing. But I also just love, like, Rogan knows, like, Marty's a good actor. Like, you don't have to just have Marty do one scene where he's just like, you know, like, you can give him three moods, like, over the course.

[David Sims]

Of an episode when they reveal, like, Marty, he's like, Marty's crying in the background is so really funny.

[Ben Hosley]

I have said this many times. He is, you know, perhaps our finest kind of, like, major film artist within the, like, the studio system. Right. Still getting to operate at that level.

[Griffin Newman]

Right.

[Ben Hosley]

And he's getting up there in age. And I want as many Marty movies as we can get while he's still around and in good form. I also don't want him slept on as an actor. I'm like, every time he's ever acted in something, he's so good. And I'd love it if he could throw in, like, two more supporting performances.

[David Sims]

He's great in his, like, daughter's tik Tok.

[Ben Hosley]

He's always.

[Griffin Newman]

Always gets the joke. Always. Yeah, he's always like, what's the one.

[Ben Hosley]

Guilty by Association. Which is like a. A totally mediocre Dairo blacklist movie.

[Griffin Newman]

Okay.

[Ben Hosley]

In which he plays, like, a blacklisted filmmaker.

[Griffin Newman]

Guilty by Suspicion.

[Ben Hosley]

Thank you.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah, I've never seen that.

[Ben Hosley]

So.

[Griffin Newman]

He's amazing. In Quiz Show, I watched.

[Ben Hosley]

I watched a couple amazing. Taxi Driver.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah, I know.

[David Sims]

I watched a couple of Marvel stocks early. His early docs, and he's in them so much good on, like, Italian American is really good. And I forget the other one.

[Ben Hosley]

That's to.

[David Sims]

No, the guy. His friend who's crazy.

[Ben Hosley]

Oh, yes.

[David Sims]

They're just interviewing him in his house. That one is. I wish I could pull the name of it. It's awesome. Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

Marty. Marty.

[Griffin Newman]

Hang out with Marty.

[Ben Hosley]

Let's have Marty on the show.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah. By the way, next week on Blank Check. Look who's talking with Martin Scorsese.

[David Sims]

The baby talks.

[Griffin Newman]

Travolta, you know, he's something about him.

[David Sims]

Look who's talking to. Has a joke that's burned into my head. I can't. I. Is Damon Wayne's Jr going, oh, that's Mr. Toilet Man. Eat your doodles in your peepees. I've been saying that. I've been saying that for 35 years, John.

[Ben Hosley]

I am so excited for David to meet Mr. Toilet.

[David Sims]

Mr. Toilet Man.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah. Right.

[Griffin Newman]

And someone here is. Well, I've successfully potty trained a child.

[David Sims]

Hell yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

Not to this movie might take them back.

[Griffin Newman]

Yeah, but. But I witnessed the stages of potty training.

[Ben Hosley]

Yeah. If that makes sense in my memory.

[Griffin Newman]

Nobody told me that that's how it works. Sort of like, oh, they get good at one thing and then they get.

[Ben Hosley]

Good at the film I have not seen in probably 30 years, if not more in my memory. Look who's talking to is almost a potty training thriller first and foremost.

[Griffin Newman]

Well then I'm. Then it won't be triggering for me because I'll kind of be like, okay.

[Ben Hosley]

I did made it to the other side.

[Griffin Newman]

I mean, I'm gonna have to do it two more times.

[Ben Hosley]

Times.

[Griffin Newman]

Whatever.

[Ben Hosley]

I rewatched recently Martin Scorsese's American Express commercial where he's getting his photos developed.

[Griffin Newman]

Funny.

[Ben Hosley]

And he's going through them and I.

[Griffin Newman]

Just want to go back to that era of life. I'm sorry. I want back there.

[Ben Hosley]

We had it figured out.

[Griffin Newman]

We did.

[Ben Hosley]

There's a moment in it where he's. It's photos from his grandchild's birthday party. I think is the bit or his son's birthday. His nephew, whatever. And he holds it up to the guy behind the counter at like a 711 and he goes, see here he's the end antagonist. But where's the. Or he goes, see here he's the protagonist. Where's the antagonist? He's missing from the frame.

[Griffin Newman]

Oh, the whole commercial is so funny. His commercial. Wes Anderson's commercial obviously is amazing too. All those. But I just want to go back to an era of you had to walk around town to get all your done.

[Ben Hosley]

Yes.

[Griffin Newman]

I'm going to the, you know, to the photo place to get my photos that I from vacation. And then I'm going over to the dry cleaner and then I'm going over to the baker because I got to get a loaf of bread and then the butcher. You know, like, let's just do that Again.

[David Sims]

And then, oh, I have to get a candle made, right?

[Griffin Newman]

And then, where's my candlestick maker?

[Ben Hosley]

I watched a woman walk with a disposable camera in her hand to a Dwayne Reed.

[Griffin Newman]

Sure.

[Ben Hosley]

Walgreens at the desk that says photo center above this. And say, do you guys develop this? And the guy behind the counter goes, no, right?

[Griffin Newman]

He's like, you do. You don't have like a USB drive for me or whatever?

[David Sims]

That's so crazy depressing.

[Ben Hosley]

And she was just like, that's what I assumed. Thought it was worth a shot, man.

[Griffin Newman]

She didn't even make a fuss. She's like, yeah.

[Ben Hosley]

She's like, I just. I had to take the shot.

[David Sims]

Young people don't know about getting doubles.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

Oh, dude.

[Ben Hosley]

Hey, my pantry is best.

[David Sims]

You got three.

[Griffin Newman]

It was such a routine in my life that my mom's like, oh, we gotta go to. It was in Britain. The chain's called Snappy Snaps. We gotta go Snappy Snaps. And you go there and they'll be like, yeah, here are your photos. See you later.

[David Sims]

We gotta go twice. You gotta go twice. You gotta drop off and pick up.

[Ben Hosley]

Yes, look.

[David Sims]

What the hell?

[Griffin Newman]

And now we just look at bees all day. Holding up my telephone.

[David Sims]

He's holding. He's just pulled his tits out.

[Griffin Newman]

Look at these beautiful tits of mine.

[Ben Hosley]

All day we're all just holding these.

[David Sims]

Keep your eyes on Sims be with his double jointed. He's able to go around the back of his head and grab his tits in like a Janet Jackson level kind of poster.

[Ben Hosley]

It's like the Stranger, except his hands.

[Griffin Newman]

I will never forget when I was about 11 years old doing this, as I been doing all my life. And the kid sitting next to me, Nikki, I believe his name, was going the are you doing? And I was like, what? And he was like, people can't do what you're doing.

[David Sims]

When I just saw it, it was like unsettling. It was like. It was like watching when.

[Griffin Newman]

When everyone can do this.

[David Sims]

Yeah.

[Griffin Newman]

And no one can do this.

[Ben Hosley]

This is what's crazy, though. I've been sitting across from you for 10 years. Until this moment, I never considered. Oh, you're doing it a weird way. I watch you do that.

[Griffin Newman]

I can move and over. To be for the listener, I'm realizing we should describe this. I. I put my arms behind my back with my arms behind my head. And I can move them to essentially below my shoulders.

[David Sims]

And your elbows drop down, like behind you little ones.

[Griffin Newman]

And both of these are positions people can do, but they can't move between them. They would need to unclasp the rear hands, like redo their. You know what I mean?

[Ben Hosley]

One smooth movement. Hey, Gabrius, anything you want to plug?

[David Sims]

Yeah, actually, several things, if that's cool. Of course. For movie fans, I got the Action Boys podcast. Actionboys Biz. Free actionboys Biz. So you don't have to pay for patre ons. You just get a sniff and see if you get hooked. I love sniffing the aforementioned. The aforementioned ode to engineers of Gino Lombardo. I did a 30 episode series of the Gino a 310 episode series and I put it all on physical media that you could buy as a USB that looks like a cassette. Oh, so you ended up doing it out. Yeah, Hosley helped me send me down a direction, but I got to shout out Brett Morris and Josh Richmond, the two guys who helped me produce. Josh kind of was the impetus. He goes, hey, if this tariff shit hits, getting these things from China is going to cost you a fortune. Order them now. So I was not prepared, but now I got. I got the product.

[Griffin Newman]

Come get him.

[David Sims]

I come and come get [e-mail] Gino.

[Ben Hosley]

My all time favorite CBB character.

[David Sims]

Thank you. He's one of my. One of my favorite things to do ever. And he's 5% different than the real me. And. And finally, this episode's coming out late enough that I can announce Adam Pally and I are swinging the the cameras the other direction or flipping the coin. And we are hosting a wellness podcast called Staying Alive. And it's about us interviewing wellness experts and other comedians and what they do to stay alive.

[Ben Hosley]

And it's directed by Sylvester Stallone.

[David Sims]

Yes. Yeah, that's what I real.

[Ben Hosley]

He's got to hold on.

[Griffin Newman]

Hey, can we win this time?

[David Sims]

P. My daughter Sistine's got a podcast. You got to listen.

[Ben Hosley]

I'm glad this timed out. Well. We. We've been looking for a while to find a good episode.

[David Sims]

Yeah, yeah, we did in when we didn't this time. But no, I think wise this worked out great for everyone. Movie wise.

[Griffin Newman]

There's kind of a. Hey, you want to do European vacation? You're like, sure, I've seen European.

[Ben Hosley]

I'm a big fan of the vacation.

[David Sims]

I'm a Christmas vacation freak. And then weirdly enough, like, the first time I really hooked up with my now wife was during the movie Loser go off.

[Ben Hosley]

Well, wait a sec.

[David Sims]

Yeah, we were in college. We were friends for a long time.

[Ben Hosley]

You were a loser.

[David Sims]

Yeah, I was A bit of a loser.

[Ben Hosley]

Okay.

[David Sims]

We were friends for a really long time. Then we both were single one night. We have this night where we watch Almost Famous and it's a beautiful evening. We are next to each other on her bed and we're like just trying not to touch each other like Seymour.

[Ben Hosley]

Hoffman on the phone. You're getting emotional.

[David Sims]

It's so. And we're loving this movie and the movie's so rich. We do not hook up. You just kind of like it's but it's this powerful moment and the next.

[Ben Hosley]

Night we put something unspoken happens.

[David Sims]

Yes. And the next night we put on loser and hook up like craz.

[Griffin Newman]

You you see bigs and you're like let's go.

[David Sims]

And we in hindsight we like we were like should we retcon this that we just tell the story is only Almost Famous. Cuz that's a beautiful touching thing. But no, of course we to loser.

[Ben Hosley]

Wow. Wow.

[Griffin Newman]

God bless.

[David Sims]

So Heckerling's been a big part of my life and also Alicia Silverstone saying Calvin Klein and Clueless gave me like a. A teenage erection that has yet to go away.

[Ben Hosley]

Hey, we. We'll get to both of those things.

[Griffin Newman]

Calvin Klein, I mean, yes, informative crush.

[Ben Hosley]

We'll get to both of those and we'll get to Mr. Potty. But next week, first we must interrogate who is talking.

[Griffin Newman]

We must look upon.

[Ben Hosley]

We must look upon who speaks.

[David Sims]

Yes, this is back when Bruce was doing consensual movie roles. It's going to be fun.

[Griffin Newman]

Poor Bruce.

[Ben Hosley]

Thank you all for listening. Please remember to rate, review and subscribe. Tune in next week for look who's Talking. And as always, I'm so sorry. We have had Lindsey Buckingham here in the the studio waiting to do a segment talking about the creation of Holiday Road and we just don't have time. Sim said a heart out. Our apologies to Lindsay Buckingham.

[David Sims]

What's up with that?

[Ben Hosley]

I don't know.

[Marie Barty Salinas]

Blank Check with Griffin and David is hosted by Griffin Newman and David Sims. Our executive producer is Matthew Me, Ben Hosley. Our creative producer is Marie Barty Salinas. And our Associate producer is AJ McKeon. This show is mixed and edited by AJ McKeon and Alan Smithee. Research by JJ Birch. Our theme song is by Lane Montgomery in the Great American Novel with additional music by Alex Mitchell, artwork by Joe Bowen, Ollie Moss and Pat Reynolds. Our production assistant is Minick. Special thanks to David Cho, Jordan Fish and Nate Patterson for their production help. Head over to blankcheckpod.com for links to all of the real nerdy shit. Join our Patreon Blank Check special features for exclusive franchise commentaries and bonus episodes. Follow us on Social checkpod. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter Checkbook on Substack. This podcast is created and produced by Blank Check Productions.