Circus Island LIVE!

Summary

How Did This Get Made?

Episode: Circus Island LIVE!
Date: June 19, 2026
Hosts: Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, Jason Mantzoukas

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Episode Overview

In this milestone 400th episode of "How Did This Get Made?" the trio of Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, and Jason Mantzoukas gather live at Largo to break down the unhinged 2005 family circus drama “Circus Island.” The panel dives into the film’s baffling plot, amateur production, and the inexplicable choices made by its creators—the Landers family. Together, they try to untangle the twisted family dynamics, questionable on-screen decisions, recurring montages, and the film’s utter disregard for logic or filmmaking conventions. It’s a celebration of bad movie insanity as only HDTGM can deliver.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Celebrating 400 Episodes

• [07:22] Paul: Announces the 400th episode, marking it as a surreal milestone.
  Quote:

  "Before we continue on with the show, I want to say congratulations. This is our 400th episode that we've ever done." – Paul Scheer (07:22)
  This milestone leads to some playful banter and questioning if they should keep going.

2. First Reactions to Circus Island

• All three hosts emphasize the movie’s sheer strangeness and home-movie vibes.
• [05:04] Jason:

  "Movies this, straight up bananas don't come around... You guys got a good one."

• The movie feels like an ‘80s relic, despite being made in 2005.

3. Basic Plot and Setting Confusion

• The setting is “Circus Island” in the Florida Keys but the film feels geographically and aesthetically ambiguous.
• The circus is housed in a tent that looks more like a medical waste or FEMA shelter than a circus (“it felt like a covenant” – June, 10:07).
• Easy bus and boat access makes the ‘island’ status confusing.
  [12:00] Paul:

  “It seems like Circus island, you get there by car, or you get very close...”

4. Family Dynamics & Who’s Who

• The plot centers on two sisters (Lena and Jenny/Mariposa—played by real-life sisters), an absentee trapeze-artist dad, step-siblings, and the motherly role-shifting between sisters.
• The entire principal cast and crew are related (the Landers family).
• [24:04] Paul:

  “Written and directed by Audrey Landers. Written and directed by Judy Landers. So they wrote and directed it together. And it was produced by their mother, Ruth Landers. And the daughter is actually their daughter, another Landers.”

5. Carlos: The Absentee Trapeze Artist Dad

• Carlos, the dad, is a dreamer stuck in the past.
• He’s considered too old for his aspirations, with “gray chest hair” and a refusal to get a regular job.
• His relationship with the sisters is heavily scrutinized for its weirdness and problematic life decisions.
• [20:11] Jason:

  "Red flag, sir. Sir... respectfully, you have gray chest hair... I’m not out in these streets being like, you know what I need to do? Perform in the circus at an elite level in Mexico."

6. Plot Absurdities

• Sailor Circus backstory: The island supposedly used to be a haven for sailors to learn circus skills.
• The loose geography and logic leave the hosts theorizing about how the island actually functions.
• The police jurisdiction and logistics of bringing kids from New Jersey to Florida are called out.

7. Ashley: The Real Villain

• Ashley is the camp’s “mean girl”/bully, and perhaps the most complex character.
• Compared to a villain in a Poison Ivy movie; her motivation and backstory are weirdly compelling.
• She has a disturbing plotline involving a faked assault, attempted murder (cutting the trapeze net), and an ultimate crisis-of-conscience.
• [43:28] Jason:

  "She is by far the most complex character in the entire movie... she’s, in my opinion, the most important person in the movie."

• [80:00] Jason:

  "Ashley is wearing pink pumps at Circus Camp. Ashley is an absolute psycho. And I love it. I would rather be watching the movie that is about Ashley slowly killing everybody who won’t engage in her dad drama. Ashley is relentless. I respect her game..."

8. Montages, Music, and Bizarre Creative Choices

• Repetitive training montages, with the same tricks and full songs repeated.
• Much of the soundtrack is written and performed by the Landers sisters themselves.
• Endless wildlife and B-roll pads out the runtime.
• Notable songs: "Island Fever," "Boom Chugga Latte," and "No Problem, Be Happy."
• [38:06] Jason:

  "There is a film full song training montage, a 30 second scene and a full song identical training montage afterwards... I thought I was having a panic attack."

9. Logistics & Economics of Circus Camp

• The panel tries (and fails) to make sense of the camp’s finances, staff, and safety.
• Questions arise about the size, funding (is it foster-care money?), and insurance liabilities.

10. The Ghost/Angel Plotline

• Carlos’s father/grandfather is a ghost or “angel” who appears at pivotal moments for minimal effect.
• This is tenuously explained and never really pays off, leading to a running joke about "beach Jesus."
• [54:01] Paul:

  "So for 50 years while his son has been here, while everything has happened, (the ghost is) like, 'I won’t use this trick yet.'"

• The movie thanks "Jesus" in the credits—literally.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

“I started dictating my notes, but I just left it on, so it’s just stream of consciousness. The ramblings of a stoned lunatic.”

– Jason Mantzoukas [06:52]

“Watching this was like someone control-alt-deleting my brain.”

– Jason Mantzoukas [09:10]

"Can we make How Did This Get Made shirts that say ‘Jesus motorboated me on Circus Island’?"

– Jason Mantzoukas [29:56]

"Carlos learns nothing. And he is the villain of every person’s life in the movie, full stop. His children should be taken away from him. He should be put in jail."

– Jason Mantzoukas [51:26]

“Every woman looks like a lizard” (on the early 2000s ‘juicy’ velour sweatsuit trend in the movie)

– June Diane Raphael [47:10]

“Ashley is an alpha. I wish this was Ashley’s movie. Holy shit. Ashley’s doing straight-up sabotage...She’s a fucking boss.”

– Jason Mantzoukas [80:00]

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Important Segment Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment Description | |----------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 05:04 | The hosts’ immediate reactions to “Circus Island” and what makes it “straight-up bananas.” | | 07:22 | Announcement and celebration of the 400th episode milestone | | 09:22 | June begins her breakdown of the “lore” and geography of Circus Island | | 20:11 | Deep dive on Carlos as the “remorseless deadbeat dad” | | 24:04 | Discovery that the film is a family affair – written/produced/starring Landers family | | 38:06 | Montages and musical numbers take over the film | | 43:28 | The team analyzes Ashley’s psychological makeup and status as film’s best character | | 54:01 | The ghost/angel subplot and its logical gaps; “beach Jesus” running joke | | 80:00 | Jason delivers his hilarious Ashley-focused notepad rundown | | 81:11 | “Second Opinions” segment – live audience songs (with no Amazon reviews) |

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Crowd Q&A (Selected Highlights)

• Billy’s tuition: Is the camp funded by foster care money? The panel speculates it’s dubious; maybe the public school provides field trips.
• Ashley’s wedding ring: A sharp-eyed audience member noticed Ashley wears a wedding ring in the climax—a choice that goes unexplained.
• Jamaica Joe: Debate over the problematic portrayal, his real role, and whether he serves as “Uber boat driver” or party mascot.
• Sailor Circus origins: International audience member floats the theory that circus skills could originate from shipwrecked sailors; panel agrees it’s a better story than the actual film.

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Memorable Running Jokes

• “Jesus motorboated me on Circus Island” – A meta reference (and eventual actual shirt) born of a joke about the movie’s uncanny beach scenes and ghost/angel logic.
• Ashley as anti-heroine: Multiple references to a better, darker film centering Ashley.
• Family tree confusion: Names, real-life relationships, and casting overlap between the Landers family.

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Tone & Style

The episode is quintessential HDTGM—energetic, irreverent, and joyfully bewildered. As always, the hosts use improvisational banter, escalate each other’s gags, and bounce between genuine film commentary and comedic absurdity. The live audience’s laughter and questions amplify the chaos, especially as everyone realizes just how little about “Circus Island” actually makes sense.

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Conclusion & Final Thoughts

Enthusiastic Endorsement:
All three hosts agree “Circus Island” is a new high-water mark in bonkers filmmaking—a film that’s both “special and horrifying” (June, 08:38), truly in the HDTGM tradition.

Aspirational Takeaway:
Multiple times, June and Jason float the idea of making a movie about the making of “Circus Island” and the Landers sisters’ legacy.

Final Reflection:

“I can't recommend a movie more highly...I loved every minute of it. This is why I’m still watching nonsense in the middle of the day out of my mind racing here to talk about it.”
— Jason Mantzoukas [86:32]

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For Listeners

This episode is for fans of offbeat, overlooked cinema and anyone who loves hearing world-class comedians gleefully untangle impossible movie logic. The Circus Island episode stands as a perfect sampler of what makes HDTGM beloved: outrageously bad movies, whip-smart and wild analysis, and infectious laughter from both hosts and fans.

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Listen to this episode for:

• Peak HDTGM energy and milestone celebration
• The wildest family-movie plot dissection imaginable
• Live audience call-outs and songs
• A new lexicon: “Circus logic,” “Jesus beach,” and the gospel of Ashley, queen of camp villains

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(Note: Ads, intros, outros, and non-content sections omitted per guidelines.)

Transcript

[Paul Scheer]

FX is the Bear. The Emmy Award winning series returns for its final season. With no money, the threat of a sale and a torrential storm in their way, the team bands together to achieve one last service. Can they earn that coveted Michelin star? I love this show. I cannot wait to see how it ends. I don't want it to end, but we're gonna have a great ride. Getting There FX's the Bear the Final Season premieres June 25th on FX on all episodes streaming on Hulu Festival Season is here and Apple Cash is an easy and secure way to split the bill. Just send or request money right in your group chat in the Messages app. Once you're settled up, you can spend the money you receive anywhere Apple pay is accepted. Open your wallet app and set up Apple Cash today. Apple Cash services are provided by Green Dot bank member fdic. Let me tell you something people. When you have a bad hire at your job, it wrecks everything. Okay? It costs you time, it costs you money, it costs you momentum. And when you're a small business, you can't afford that. You need a good hire and you need it right away. But finding great talent isn't easy, so that's where LinkedIn's new hiring pro can screen candidates for you. So instead of sorting through applicants, you spend time talking to the right ones. Get by posting your job for [e-mail] valuable terms and conditions apply. Famed English historian Christopher Booker once said there are seven basic plots this film fits into none of them. We saw Circus island so you know what that means. In his belly like a Rostov vest while ripping Justin the Kelly a baby See a burlesque show with a crow and take a bubble speed to hitting cruise control J Man Big Paul and the beautiful Jewel gonna take you from the grove all the way to the road rap and help to blow off steam Just a sucker punch the eyelight for Tiffany Green birdemic how we staying alive they call me when they're badass and he's on the line cranking 88 niggers cause they cool as ice cause the bad gym funny looking kind tonight all his junior inlet getting laid Julie's making sure all the monkey shots getting paid and just a bunch of movies while they making the grave Here's a real question for you. How did this get made? Hello people of Earth and hello people of Largo. Welcome to how did this get Made? Today we are talking about and believe me, I checked this multiple times. The 2005 film Circus Island. A movie that is hard to find on IMDb. On IMDb. People call it Island Fever. Also Circus Camp. But tonight we will be calling it by its God given name, Circus Island. Rated pg. Tagline, danger, tears, love and laughter. It all happens under the big top. If you've not seen Circus island when it came out, probably because you weren't watching terrestrial television because that's where it aired. It did not come out in the theaters. But I'll tell you about this movie. It is about two sisters separated because one has a fear of water and the other one does not. It's about long lost daughters, it's about ghosts, it's about the circus. And it's about a girl who's really mean. But more importantly, it's about a pervy kid with a video camera. And I will tell you, this movie defies everything I thought it was gonna be and continued to surprise me until the very last scene. It is very unique in the fact that everyone in this movie is related pretty much. And we'll get into all that. But I don't want to say too much more than to say, buckle up, get ready because I want you to meet our co host for the night. Please welcome Jason Mantzoukas.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

What's up jerks? Let's go, let's go. Come on, Largo.

[June Diane Raphael]

Wow.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

These don't come along that often. Movies this, straight up bananas don't come around. Oh, just every once in a while. You guys got a good one.

[Paul Scheer]

Truly.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Wow. This. And I feel bad because I think I watched the wrong movie. Cause the one I watched was 100% filmed in the 1980s. You said. When you said 2000, did you say yes, 2000.

[Paul Scheer]

Five. Five.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I was like, no way.

[Paul Scheer]

It is shocking. Cause I also had the thought, is this someone's home movie?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I mean everything we gotta. Let's just do it. Do it. Get her out here.

[Paul Scheer]

We will do it all.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Get her out of here. Let's go. Let's go.

[Paul Scheer]

Ladies and gentleme. Please welcome back to the stage, June Diane Raphio.

[June Diane Raphael]

Wow, wow, wow, wow. I honestly, I was back there buzzing buzzard.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

We simply don't have enough time.

[June Diane Raphael]

I wanna start now. I wanna start now.

[Paul Scheer]

I wanted this. I literally had a thought on the plane. Said, would it be crazy if we just called tonight?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I get it. You Circus island part way.

[Paul Scheer]

And we devote plenty of time to part one and then we come back for part two. Because there is too much, too many.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I know I've said this before, but the amount of notes I took on a movie called Circus island that I believe I now own or perhaps owns me. I don't know.

[June Diane Raphael]

What is this, Jason? My hand never stopped moving. Never stopped moving.

[Paul Scheer]

There are more notes.

[June Diane Raphael]

Heard it hurt.

[Paul Scheer]

After a while, I wrote a Tom Clancy novel.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Here's the thing. At a certain point, I started dictating my notes, but I just left it on, so it's just stream of consciousness. The ramblings of a stoned lunatic.

[June Diane Raphael]

Okay, here's where I actually want to start. I want to start. I want to start.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, you know what?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I don't.

[Paul Scheer]

I don't.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I don't want. Wow.

[Paul Scheer]

Sorry. No, because. Wait.

[June Diane Raphael]

Sorry.

[Paul Scheer]

You'll understand. You'll understand. You know why I'm going to say. I want to say one. I want to say one thing before. Before we start tonight.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Hey. I just want to say, June, I'm sorry this is happening.

[June Diane Raphael]

I know. I'm so used to it.

[Paul Scheer]

You'll understand why in one second. You'll all come on my side. One second. Before we continue on with the show, I want to say congratulations. This is our 400th episode that we've ever done.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

What?

[Paul Scheer]

400th episode. Proper episode. It just happened to be this live show. I wanted to celebrate that moment with you all.

[June Diane Raphael]

And how many times have you interrupted me over the course of the podcast? Is it also 400 just.

[Paul Scheer]

I wanted to say it before the top of the show, but I wanted you both to be out here.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

No, no.

[June Diane Raphael]

I wish I was happier to enjoy it.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Zip it. Listen, June. Zip it. I need to talk.

[June Diane Raphael]

I wish I was in the mental state.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

So sorry, June. So sorry, June. I need you to zip it. Because here's the thing. We said when we do 400, we'd stop.

[Paul Scheer]

That's it. Bye. And that's why I needed to get it off our chest early. We would have gone through this whole show after we already said 400 was the end. No. So I just want to say congratulations to US and 400 shows.

[June Diane Raphael]

That's very special.

[Paul Scheer]

It's a special moment. We're happy to be here.

[June Diane Raphael]

Here's the thing, though. It's, like, special and horrifying and, you know, I'm really proud of it. I'm really upset by it, too. It's a lot of different feelings.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And I know we've said this a million times, but the fact that 400 episodes in, we still have.

[June Diane Raphael]

That's true.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Like Circus Island, Our work is not done.

[June Diane Raphael]

No, I know you think we want to be here.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

We don't.

[Paul Scheer]

Circus Island World breached the radar of us in person. 400.

[June Diane Raphael]

This was a timeline reset. This was just like this.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

We went back.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I felt like watching this was like someone control all deleting my brain.

[Paul Scheer]

This is before CI bci.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yes, exactly. Is it a good time for me to speak?

[Paul Scheer]

Yes, go for it.

[June Diane Raphael]

So. I want to start with just the lore of Circus Island. I want to start there because over the course of the movie. Well, we see a tent. We see a circus tent in the beginning. We never go in there until you. I think you said this in the intro. About 45 minutes into the movie, that's the first time we see a trapeze, which is, by the way, on the beach, not in the tent. So we don't go in there for a long time. And all you see from the water is there's a giant, big. There's a tent.

[Paul Scheer]

Now it looks like it could also be, like, a medical waste plant or something. It doesn't have the colors.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It is not a.

[June Diane Raphael]

It doesn't look fun.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Classic circus tent.

[Paul Scheer]

No, no, it's a dome.

[June Diane Raphael]

During COVID when a lot of those weird tents popped up, like, on riverside in Los Feliz, and you were like, what's going on there? It felt like a covenant.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It's some sort of FEMA tent.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yes, absolutely.

[Paul Scheer]

It feels like a giant house is being fumigated or they're storing dead bodies inside of it.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yes. But I believe one of our leads, Carlos. And we'll get into him.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I can't hear you. Carlos who?

[June Diane Raphael]

Carlos.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Carlos. Oh, of course we're gonna get into him.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yes. Ed Marinara and a current, believe it or not, a current trapeze artist, by the way.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, I'm sorry. Let me be clear, June. In this movie, his dreams come true because he's accepted into Circus Mexicana. What is it, guys? We have too much to talk about.

[June Diane Raphael]

But at one point he says. So we. We find out that his father, who's a ghost in the movie.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, that he also. Ghosts are real.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

That his father was a trapeze artist and ran this. Ran Circus island, which at that point was, I think, called Sailor Circus.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Don't know.

[Paul Scheer]

There was. He talks about Sailor Circus, that the sailors used to come to this island and they were taught circus. Like, there's.

[June Diane Raphael]

Okay, so what I thought. That's interesting, Paul. Because what I heard was that this was an island, and this was interesting to me, almost like mermaid lore. This was an island where the sailors could get some respite for a bit, watch some circus.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yep.

[June Diane Raphael]

And continue on with their journey.

[Paul Scheer]

I love it.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I think in a pirate kind of way. Well, let me ask you this. Do you guys know where Circus island is? This was going to be a guest.

[June Diane Raphael]

Circus Island, Florida Keys. Yes.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, because here's the other thing. It seems like Circus island, you get there by car or you get very close to Circus Island.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

By car very much. Or by bus.

[Paul Scheer]

Right? Yes. Like, and it seems like to get to Circus island, you may just have to, like, get on a boat for about five to 10 minutes.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And I believe Gabby takes the bus from Patterson, New Jersey.

[Paul Scheer]

Yes.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

To Florida, and then is a quick boat ride to Circus Island. Well, can you imagine? Circus island is a place you are dared to go and stay overnight.

[June Diane Raphael]

Listen, though, if it's going to be anywhere, it's going to be in Florida. So that lined up perfectly for me, 100%.

[Paul Scheer]

But. But why does Jamaican Joe.

[June Diane Raphael]

Well, take them there?

[Paul Scheer]

Because Jamaican Joe, by the way, I'd

[June Diane Raphael]

love to hear someone sing his song.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, Jamaica.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

The challenge is out.

[Paul Scheer]

Jamaica Joe. And I will say that the movie even opens with the steel drum sounds. So it made me think, we're deep in the Caribbean. We're in Jamaica, we're somewhere. Yet we're not.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

No, we're in Jimmy Buffett land. We're like, We're a hop, skip and a drum from Margaritaville.

[Paul Scheer]

Now, I do want. Just from the geography standpoint, I'll tell you what I think. You tell me where I might be wrong. This island is deserted. This island has no one on it but a house and a circus tent.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yes, that's right.

[Paul Scheer]

Okay. But yet it does have a functioning police.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Wait, what do you mean?

[June Diane Raphael]

I think those cops came from the mainland.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

Okay.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

Okay.

[June Diane Raphael]

I also get a three minute ferry.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

There's a big edit.

[Paul Scheer]

Right.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

So he had to come by boat.

[Paul Scheer]

Okay, got it. Okay. So he came by.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I have a bigger.

[Paul Scheer]

Is that his jurisdiction?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Here's a bigger question. What the fuck is Ashley doing at Circus Camp? Why is Gabby's bully from Patterson, New Jersey, at Circus Camp in Florida? Her parents are going to Parising. I wish the movie was about Ashley.

[Paul Scheer]

I like.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

If you're not gonna tell me that this isn't a Poison Ivy movie for the ages starring Ashley. The minute Ashley arrived, I was like, fuck, yes. Now we're. Now we're cooking Ashley. What is she doing? And Ashley show up at Circus Camp?

[Paul Scheer]

Well, Ashley had to, because there's that moment in school where they all talk about the great summer field trip. You know the thing that we all do when schools go on field trips. In the summer, when school's out, when they have access to all the faculty to supervise students. So the summer field trip, some people call it just camp is why she is there.

[June Diane Raphael]

Now, wait, but wait. Where were they originally going to go?

[Paul Scheer]

They? Because I believe that one of the sisters is the principal of the school. She's like, I'll just make it up. Like. Cause she says so you think she brought Ashley?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

You think Gabby's mom brought Ashley?

[Paul Scheer]

She definitely did.

[June Diane Raphael]

She definitely did, Jason. Because I remember thinking, this woman. Yeah, Lena, the principal, is running a crazy scam.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Imagine school was out.

[Paul Scheer]

School was out. And they came up with the idea of circus camp. She's like, I'll get it back to. I'll get the word back that that's our summer.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Imagine a world in which you are Gabby, your mom is a nightmare who doesn't seek to know or understand you. She invites your bully to camp to attempted murder you. Your father, who maybe we're supposed to be rooting for, is a deadbeat dad who left without saying goodbye and has not been in touch in 12 years. Gabby is cooked.

[Paul Scheer]

Wait, wait, wait, wait. But you didn't bring up my favorite part about Lena, which is she also offers to adopt sight unseen. Her boyfriend or Billy, who's foster kid.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

She's so much of a better mother to Billy.

[June Diane Raphael]

She doesn't offer Paul.

[Paul Scheer]

She saw Billy once in a shed. And she's like, I'm going to adopt this guy.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah, yeah. And meanwhile, she's not.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Where's my daughter? Who cares?

[June Diane Raphael]

Who cares? She's not really offering. She tells him, like, I'm working on becoming your legal guardian.

[Paul Scheer]

Right. It seems like a very loosey goosey thing. So, okay, I just want to make sure. I want to make sure that we are just on the same page, that this is an island, that there is no one on it.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Right?

[June Diane Raphael]

But now I'm going back to sailor Circus, and I am thinking it's so close to the mainland that we can't be for sailors. Like, that's crazy. Maybe you're right. Maybe it's a place for sailors to learn circus.

[Paul Scheer]

Like, sailors are like, you know what?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Well, it doesn't seem like teaching wow. That. I mean, like, let's imagine a world in which sailors are also doing circus

[Paul Scheer]

to blow off steam. Today's podcast is brought to you by our friends over at Squarespace. You know, I love Squarespace because with Squarespace, everything that you need to succeed online is in one spot. From claiming your domain to building a beautiful website promoting your work. And taking payments. It's all there. Whether you're just starting out or ready to grow easily. Create a sticky standout site using designer templates or AI with drag and drop editing. It makes everything so easy. I have so many sites. The dinosaur site, the how did this get made site, the Paulshear.com, it's all there. And they're all completely different because Squarespace allows me to adapt my style for each one of those sites into a format that they make look good. Does that make sense? I make sense to me. Look, whatever you want to do, offer services, book clients, get paid. It's all in one place with Squarespace. Right? You can even do scheduling invoices and they have email tools built in people. It's great. I love Squarespace. Go to squarespace.com bonkers for a free trial and when you're ready to launch, use the offer code bonkers to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. FX is the bear. The Emmy award winning series returns for its final season. With no money, the threat of a sale, and a torrential storm in their way, the team bands together to achieve one. One last service. Can they earn that coveted Michelin star? I love this show. I cannot wait to see how it ends. I don't want it to end, but we're gonna have a great ride getting there. FX's the Bear. The final season premieres June 25th on FX. All episodes streaming on Hulu. Summer always changes how you get dressed. You want pieces that feel lighter and more breathable. Things that are easy but still put together. That's where Quints comes in. They focus on high quality essentials that feel and look amaz. Think breathable linen and soft organic cotton. And Quint goes way beyond clothing, people. You're gonna get your mind blown. I mean, they got sofas, cookware, premium bedding and more. I actually got a pair of amazing sneakers on Quint. Now, let me tell you, Quint and Summer go together. Have you checked out their cashmere waffle short sleeve polo sweaters? They are unbelievable and they are priced perfectly. And I've actually been able to put together a much more stylish summer wardrobe than what I normally wear at summer, which is a little bit more ragtaggy. Like I look like I'm still in high school, you know. So elevate your summer wardrobe. Go to quint.combonkers for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns now available in Canada too. That's Q u I n c e.com bonkers for free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com bonkers I. I also am just fascinated because when we meet Ed Marinara, and obviously we know him by his before. That's his stage name. His first name was Ed Pasta Primavera. Now, so when we met. When we meet him, he's a deadbeat dad. Who the. The leanest.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

He's a remorseless deadbeat dad. Well, like.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, Lena, his wife at the time, basically says, like, can you just please look for a job? He's like, the only job I care to look for is as a trapeze artist.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Absolutely true. And I'm like, red flag, sir. Sir, sir, it's over.

[June Diane Raphael]

Sir.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Respectively, you have gray chest hair.

[June Diane Raphael]

It's been over.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And as someone who also has gray chest hair, I'm not out in these streets being like, you know what I need to do? Perform in the circus at an elite level in Mexico.

[June Diane Raphael]

He says to her, I wrote this down. Mariposa.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, yes.

[June Diane Raphael]

Oh, that's what he calls Lena.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Do not sleep on this. Her name is Lena.

[June Diane Raphael]

It's not easy getting a job as a trapeze artist. And that is what I do.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I wrote, he's a trapeze flyer by trade, question mark.

[June Diane Raphael]

There's no way. And this is not to shame his body. You know, this is not. This is not. He's too old.

[Paul Scheer]

Can't shame it.

[June Diane Raphael]

I guess I'm gonna be ageist. But there is something. He looks great for the age he is 20. For the position in life he's in, which is retirement.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes.

[June Diane Raphael]

There's no world in which another trapeze artist, another male trapeze artist in the prime of his artistry. There's no world in which he's going to get on a trapeze and grab Carlos.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

No, no, he's Carlos. Gabby.

[June Diane Raphael]

No, I'm saying another man. He can't work as a trapeze artist.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Well, the only evidence you need is the scene in which we're meant to believe that Carlos is doing an entire trapeze routine. Wow. Now it is so jarring because I watched the entirety of the routine, assuming it was one of the circus kids, because it's very clearly a 16 year old doing the entire routine. Then he flips himself off of the net onto the ground and like, Ed Marinara plops off the net and is like, I'm here. It's me, Carlos. And I'm like, that was supposed to be him.

[Paul Scheer]

The.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Thank you.

[Paul Scheer]

They try so hard to obscure the faces Whenever real circus is used, that they're shooting underneath through a net. And you can tell that these circus performers are, like, trying to tuck their head in as hard as they can. Like, we don't see any facial features on anyone.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

What's crazy is at the beginning of the movie when Carlos and Lena, AKA Mariposa, are together and they have baby Gabby. They come back from vacation, she's like, I want you to get a job. He's like, I'm a circus. I'm a trapeze flyer. She's like, then I want a divorce. It's over. He just leaves.

[June Diane Raphael]

He's doesn't say cry.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

He's like, literally done.

[Paul Scheer]

But by the way, they keep on cutting to this young girl who will meet older because it does do a time jump. And the parents are having a conversation like this, look, you need to get a job. I can't get a job. Well, then we should get a divorce. They cut to the girl sobbing, tears. Like, you are hearing the biggest fight that has ever happened. And it's almost so polite that I'm like, did they just get divorced? They are so. She's like, well, you have to get divorced. All right? He just walks out with the same bag he walked in with he did.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And at which point, it's 10 years later. Cuts to 10 years later. So I'm going to assume it's been about five years that he hasn't worked. It's. It's 15 years since he has done trapeze professionally.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, he's been doing.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

What the fuck On Circus Island. He's 10.

[June Diane Raphael]

He's doing what he's doing.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I'll you tell his raw dog and

[June Diane Raphael]

his wife he's not doing well. He's not doing well. Lena's sister. Can't remember her name. Not Mariposa.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Do you wanna know? Can I explain to you how I decided to tell them apart?

[June Diane Raphael]

Sure.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

In one scene, Mariposa is wearing a cowboy hat and the sister is wearing a trucker hat. So I just started referring to them as trucker hat or cowboy hat.

[June Diane Raphael]

Got it.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, I know it as straight hair, curly hair.

[June Diane Raphael]

Straight hair, curly hair, curly hair, curly hair.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And we're both. We're all aware they are actual sisters.

[June Diane Raphael]

I assumed they were.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, I mean, I'll just say it right here too, you know. Written and directed by Audrey Landers. Written and directed by Judy Landers. So they wrote and directed it together. And it was produced by their mother, Ruth Landers. And the daughter is actually their daughter, another Landers.

[June Diane Raphael]

We're gonna get into Gabrielle.

[Paul Scheer]

Gabrielle. Yes.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

We're gonna get into Anne.

[June Diane Raphael]

That's so much to process. But yeah, Ann Landers. But I'll tell you, by the way, I'll tell you how Carlos has been living on that island. When Curly Hair shows up, Curly Landers shows up. He's like, I'll take you out for some sushi and whatever.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait.

[June Diane Raphael]

She's like. And she's like, oh, I. Well, first of all, she says, I brought a granola bar that's. I couldn't make. I rewound that three times. I couldn't make heads or tails of what was happening. But I believe from that point forward, he's living off of her dolphin training salary.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, for sure.

[June Diane Raphael]

That's crazy.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I mean, we are meant to be rooting for him. He's the villain. Until Ashley shows up. And then she's like, hold my beer.

[Paul Scheer]

Now. I just. The way that you just painted that Meet cute. It's way weirder because she has to go to that island that is told to her is haunted to wait out a storm. And he's like, let's go have dinner. Cut to. It seems like maybe an hour has passed. And he's like, it's too late now. We're in love. And we find, like, they find. He first of all, finds out that this is his wife's twin sister.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

They find that out immediately.

[Paul Scheer]

And he goes, too late for me to change because I'm already in love with you. He just met her an hour ago.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

He offers her sushi. And a surprise is what he offers her, which I thought was not cool at all.

[June Diane Raphael]

But here's what's so crazy, though, because she says.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

She says it's moving so fast.

[June Diane Raphael]

She says Curly Lender says that her sister Mariposa has stopped speaking to her because she got into bed with a man who stole all of her money from, like, a bad business venture or something like that. And it's so wild. Cause as the movie's going on, I'm like, oh, wait, is she doing that all over again? And then. But then, here's what's so crazy about the Landers sisters and their body of work. Here's what's so crazy, because then, as the movie goes on, we see Mariposa apologize for that and say that she's sorry she judged Carlos. She's sorry. And I'm like, no, Everything you thought, every warning you gave her was appropriate. Yes. He's been living off of you and your dolphin work.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes.

[June Diane Raphael]

And by the way what's happening out there? That they stopped dolphin works.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And then for sure, like when she loses her dolphin job and they're gonna lose the island, the kids write to the aunt. The aunt comes in, she has the camp idea, she's gonna save the day. And he's still like, no, I gotta go to Mexico and wrestle. I'm Ed. I'm Ed Marinara. My name's Carlos.

[Paul Scheer]

I do wanna just say that Lena, the straight haired, more serious sister, does just suggest a camp that can fit 10. She's like, you can open up a can here for 10 people. That's not gonna save anybody.

[June Diane Raphael]

10 people. How much did they charge?

[Paul Scheer]

Why even open the doors at that point?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Here's the other thing I'm gonna say, and maybe you guys didn't notice this. There were a couple of training montages in the movie. Did you notice?

[Paul Scheer]

I don't think I remember.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Did you notice there were. There were a couple of montages set to music.

[Paul Scheer]

Were the whole songs played? I don't know.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Whole songs were played and they usually went in this order. Jumping springboard, balancing on globes that are the earth climbing a rope. All set to be. No, I'm no improvement.

[Paul Scheer]

Every time we saw them, right?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

There are four complete song training montages in which all of the people are doing all of the circus training. There are, I'm going to say, conservatively, 40 people in those scenes.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, there are real circus.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

There are real circus people.

[Paul Scheer]

Now let me ask you this. I just want to get. I want to get one more thing straight, because we are. There's a lot we're laying out here,

[June Diane Raphael]

and we haven't even really.

[Paul Scheer]

We haven't even cracked it. We just have to get the baseline.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I get it, but I just want to say that in the scene by the fireside, Ed Mariner does say, your eyes are so much like my ex wife's before he figures out that there's sisters. What the fuck is this movie?

[Paul Scheer]

And then he's like, well, what do you want me to say? They do look like my ex wives. He at that point, that's a signal that she should leave, even in a thunderstorm. There's also, before any of this happens, when she does crash on the beach or not crash, when she sets her boat gently on the beach, there are footprints in the sand happening. And we're like, ooh, ghost or Jesus? Because I was thinking about that famous poem, like, when you know what, why are there two footprints now? But one footprint, Jesus is like, cause I was carrying you and I'm like, oh, all right. Is this the Jesus beach? I didn't know, but they really let that go.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

This is the Jesus beach.

[June Diane Raphael]

So, Paul, you think that just happens on one particular beach?

[Paul Scheer]

I thought that that's the beach where it happened.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And you think just for. I'm just. I just want to drill down into this for a second. Do you think that Jesus has been to Florida?

[Paul Scheer]

I think.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Never mind Circus island, because if so, it disqualifies him as the son of God.

[Paul Scheer]

I think that Jesus has the most work to do in Florida, so he's spending a lot of time there.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Can we make out of this get made shirts that say, Jesus motorboated me on Circus Island.

[Paul Scheer]

Like, I wanna.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

The little kid with the rat tail motorboats everybody in the movie. Spoiler alert. He hugs everybody all the time.

[Paul Scheer]

All right, quickly. Well, you'll see why I'm asking. A second. When we do the time jump, how old is the daughter? The daughter, that is Ed Marinara's daughter, Gabrielle.

[June Diane Raphael]

When she's young, four or five.

[Paul Scheer]

No, no, no. Sorry, sorry. When we see her in High School, 10 years later. Oh, so 15, right?

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah, 15.

[Paul Scheer]

Okay, great. So. So that would say that he left the house for about 10 years.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It says 10 years later.

[Paul Scheer]

Okay, 10 years. I'm just. I'm just running. Hit these numbers.

[June Diane Raphael]

Go ahead.

[Paul Scheer]

And then when we meet his new family.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

He seems to have kids that are, I thought about 10 years old or older.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes. If you don't think that the daughter of him and Trucker Hat was conceived at that fireside the second they met. She says, I'm so sorry. Oh, gosh, I'm falling for my sister's ex husband. It's over. It's done. But you think she's so fertile.

[Paul Scheer]

So you think that. You think that they basically had three kids in three years and then they gone, boom, boom. Got it. All right. That's all I really wanted.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Let me hear you say, hey. Oh, hey. Oh.

[Paul Scheer]

Cause I was like, that's.

[June Diane Raphael]

No, I thought about it too. It didn't seem like there was any time for pregnancy.

[Paul Scheer]

Right?

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah. But again, it's a magical Jesus speech. So who knows?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And not for nothing, these kids look. Nothing.

[June Diane Raphael]

Nothing.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

So I've got questions. Rat tails are real. Mischief maker. And the videographer, I don't know what he's doing, but it's not cool at all.

[Paul Scheer]

Not cool to just go up and down a woman?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Not just a woman. Your sister. Cousin. He's looking at her like Roger Rabbit looks at Jessica Rabbit. What's going on.

[Paul Scheer]

So I guess these kids are creeps. I wanted to pull up.

[June Diane Raphael]

Oh, my God.

[Paul Scheer]

I wanted to pull up our family tree because now we've identified everybody. Carlos is at the center of our family tree, married to Jenny and Lena.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Did we miss this or did someone make.

[Paul Scheer]

No, this is our producer, Scott made this amazing family tree that we can kind of check in.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I did not know Mandy, Tyler, and Tucker's names at all.

[June Diane Raphael]

Wow. I love it. Because right now it looks like Bobo's the mom.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah. Cause I called them in my notes. Rat tail, videographer and the girl.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, I guess the question here is. And again, this is why I'm leading to this moment to say that is Ed Marinara a homeschool teacher? Because are they going to school?

[June Diane Raphael]

That's why. Again, the moral of the story is they stay on the island and like. And Lena realizes, like, this is what her daughter wants, and this is the right decision for her daughter. And I want to say, no, it's not. This is a terrible decision now.

[Paul Scheer]

But it's not a beach town. It is a deserted.

[June Diane Raphael]

No infrastructure. They don't have a grocery store. There's nothing on this island. Everything's on the mainland.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Barely.

[Paul Scheer]

There's power on the island. And it seems to me that for 11 years or 10 years, the one piece of infrastructure they have, they have never touched. Like, that circus tent has been cobwebbed up.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

I love that we're calling the circus tent infrastructure.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

I just want to say, like, so the only. They have. They have not even touched it.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I wish I knew their day to day.

[June Diane Raphael]

You know, I was working with anything I had. At one point, Carlos does say to his daughter, when Gabrielle comes into the picture before her, her sand bottle falls. And he realizes because that music plays. This is my daughter. Before that, he says to the other daughter, Jennifer, or whatever her name is.

[Paul Scheer]

Mandy.

[June Diane Raphael]

Mandy. Mandy.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Like, you couldn't be farther away from Mandy than Jennifer.

[June Diane Raphael]

He says to her, is this one of your friends from school? And I thought, school, yes.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Where? Where? Well, I think they go to school on the main boat right away.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, so they're on that boat every. So people are.

[June Diane Raphael]

The kids are driving the boat. They must.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, yeah, they must. But at one point, when Mandy and

[Paul Scheer]

Gabrielle are heading towards the island, they seem to be in the backseat of a boat and no one is driving. Like, they seem to just be like the goat. The ghost is driving that boat to the island. There's a lot of questions I have about the ghost, how they're getting there.

[June Diane Raphael]

Oh, yes. Well, I have a lot of questions about also the economics of the camp. Because there are. We watch so many training montages. There are. You never see Carlos train anyone, by the way, he's not spotting.

[Paul Scheer]

He's not good.

[June Diane Raphael]

He's not nothing.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Well, person saying that, I don't know who that is.

[June Diane Raphael]

Who is that?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

There's also, there's two trainers, people who are doing well. It's like an old gray haired man with a mustache to me.

[Paul Scheer]

I was like, they decided to make a circus movie. And then insurance is like, well, you need to have a professional on set.

[June Diane Raphael]

But in the world of the movie, those two people have to be paid. Yes, Right. So it's like, well, okay, all these kids need three meals a day. They need some sort. They're living in tents. That's fine. But they have. We have two at least trainers. But we gotta buy all those balls.

[Paul Scheer]

But by the way, they're not living. They're not.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

You gotta buy the paint to make them look like Earth, June.

[Paul Scheer]

They're not living in tents. They're living in full structures. Because when the evil girl comes to

[Jason Mantzoukas]

trick the boy, Ashley goes to get Billy.

[Paul Scheer]

When Ashley goes get Billy. Billy, who by the way, is the main love interest in Russian Doll the first season.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, cool.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

By the way, I thought he might be a real trapeze artist. No, there's one shot at the very end where he hops off. You know, they all do that very specific role off the net. And it. He seemed. It was very good.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, you know who's not? You know who's not good is Carlos, who seemingly only hangs from a bar, swings back and forth and then triumphantly jumps off like he just basically is doing the basic swing technique of a child.

[June Diane Raphael]

Now, Paul, in your introduction, you said that one of the sisters was scared of water and one of them wasn't.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah, you said that.

[June Diane Raphael]

You said that. That's something you said, Jason. I heard it. You said it.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I did.

[Paul Scheer]

I did.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Prove it.

[Paul Scheer]

I did.

[June Diane Raphael]

When did you find that out?

[Paul Scheer]

Well, because when they're on the beach having their romantic wine and talking about

[Jason Mantzoukas]

falling in love and they have like big glass glasses.

[Paul Scheer]

Yes. He says, my wife hated the water. And she goes, I know somebody like that. And then the first time that Lena gets on the boat, she's like. And then that plot line drops aggressively. But she could not. Like she was so freaked out on the boat. She hates the water. And the other one loves the water. Another way to tell them apart, Cowboy hat trucker hat.

[June Diane Raphael]

Okay. Did you wish, did you wish that trucker hat, her profession, her work with manatees, her dolphins, did you wish that tied in at the end somehow somewhere?

[Paul Scheer]

We see so much nature footage of manatees and, and dolphins.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I think there's only like, like I'm going to say 35 to 45 minutes of actual like movie.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And the rest of it is montages and B roll of wildlife.

[June Diane Raphael]

I honestly, as I'm looking back on it, I'm rolling it back right now. I don't think Gabrielle, who I think is the star of the movie, question mark. I don't think she has more than five lines in this film.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

There's a moment in the movie where there is a film full song training montage, a 30 second scene and a full song identical training montage afterwards that I was like, what's. I thought I was having a panic attack.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I was like very disturbing. Watch all of this. Ha. Like, is this possibly happening again?

[Paul Scheer]

Are you talking about the song Tabula Rasa?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Guys,

[Paul Scheer]

I could tell Tabula Rasa song. That makes no sense.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I'm talking about both Tabula Rasa and if I'm honest, also Island Fever. Okay, well, which you might remember from its. I'm going to say eight times being played in the movie.

[Paul Scheer]

I'm going to let you know that Island Fever. No problem. Boom Chugga Latte and Down by the Bay. Not only Boom Chuga Latte. Yep. Our are written and performed by Audrey and Judy Landers. They wrote most of all of this. They also for Boom Chugga Latte. They did team up with Vito and Alberto Manifresco.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Hang on. I have a real question to ask. And we'll cut this out of the episode if it turns out to be true. Did the mafia make this movie, Jason?

[Paul Scheer]

They did not. I can give you some details that are insane. I mean there's.

[June Diane Raphael]

I would love to see a movie about the Lander sisters making this movie like that. I would love it. I do love them. Like here's the thing. Like this movie has as wild as it was, it has a very special place in my heart. No. And it did before I knew about Judy and what's the other one's name? Jennifer.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah. Do you mean. Do you guys not remember these people?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, I do.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh yeah. I was going to say.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah. I feel like they are a part of my age, TV and stuff like that. So I feel like they are young people would not know.

[June Diane Raphael]

I don't know them. I'm young. Okay, well, I don't know them.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Do you remember when they sang the song no Problems, Be Happy?

[June Diane Raphael]

That's what I want to hear for second opinions.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

No problem.

[Paul Scheer]

No problem. Be happy.

[June Diane Raphael]

And you kind of wanted to sing it, you know, be happy, but you couldn't.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It almost feels like wow.

[June Diane Raphael]

But. But it's so not. But it's so that's problems.

[Paul Scheer]

That's a definite Alberto Manifresco original.

[June Diane Raphael]

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[Paul Scheer]

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[June Diane Raphael]

I would love Paul to talk about the psychological makeup of Ashley. I couldn't. I really would.

[Paul Scheer]

Please.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

She is by far the most complex character in the entire movie. And the fact that she's not in the family tree.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Is a shame because she's, in my opinion, the most important person in the movie.

[Paul Scheer]

Yes.

[June Diane Raphael]

So here's the things we know about her, and I think really, like, the only thing we know about her home life is that her parents are in

[Paul Scheer]

Paris now and they're rich and he's a lawyer and he'll get her out of anything.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

She's giving me Paris from Gilmore girls energy.

[Paul Scheer]

She also is being driven to a public school in a private chauffeured limo. And her first line is, I don't talk to the help.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

I don't talk to the help. So she. But why does she have it out for Gabrielle so bad when no one at the time. Same school, seems to care about Gabrielle?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Gabrielle is no shining star.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

She seems shy and like, she's not.

[June Diane Raphael]

She doesn't seem to be or anything like.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah. Why? But the. The other thing that surprised me, and this might just be because of the small scope of the movie, but Ashley didn't have, like, a group around her. Mean girl style. She didn't have, like, cronies who were, like, backing her up. She was alone, which was strange.

[June Diane Raphael]

So she had. She had two girls at school, but by the time they didn't seem to make it to. To circus camp.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Apparently not.

[June Diane Raphael]

I don't know what happened.

[Paul Scheer]

They were lost at sea.

[June Diane Raphael]

Okay.

[Paul Scheer]

They were killed by a manatee in another scene.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It's very funny because when the boat arrives carrying the people from circus camp, Ashley I'm assuming this was a choice that was made or was just part of the real experience. Ashley looks seasick. Very genuinely seasick.

[June Diane Raphael]

These are the things we know about Ashley.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes. Or she's an incredible actor, but she looks very seasonal.

[June Diane Raphael]

Very, very. Everybody else is having the time of their lives. It's like spring break.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

She's also during circus camp wearing pink high heel pumps, which I was like, what's happening with Ashley?

[June Diane Raphael]

I too thought this movie was set in 1984 and made then, but for Ashley's wardrobe and specifically that like juicy coated sweatsuit. And it really brought me back because I was like, oh, okay, now we are in 2004. There are references where it's like, oh, I want a Starbucks. Starbucks. There's things. But none of them felt right on this island, truly. And it felt like, wow, are they in the past? Seeing into the future? Like, I couldn't accept that this.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah, I didn't like them talking about Starbucks.

[June Diane Raphael]

Starbucks. Not like them talking about Starbucks.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Is there a star? They're on a deserted island. Is there a Starbucks here? I'm dying for a latte. I was like, are you insane?

[Paul Scheer]

And then her sister's like, I'll get you a margarita. They go to a bar where everyone is drinking and she's like, I'll have a latte with almond milk. And the bartender's like,

[Jason Mantzoukas]

that scene in the bar. Every single background actor is doing level 20 stuff.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yes, yes.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Everybody's going to bananas in the background. It's so good.

[June Diane Raphael]

But Ashley's just to go back to Ashley's velour sweatsuit, the juicy sweatsuit. Because those that look to me at that time in my life was everything. I was like, there's nothing better. This is the most. I've never looked better than I do in this. It was so. That look was so important to me. And now I look at it and I'm like. And it's not just her body, it's any woman's body. At that time, they were so low waisted and then they were cropped and boy, does it make the proportions of a body look strange. And every woman looks like a lizard.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Well, it hits.

[June Diane Raphael]

I did too. I did too.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It makes lines where there shouldn't be. It's by feet. It's so strange.

[June Diane Raphael]

It's like you find the waist and then you think you're at the waist. That's the hip and then you're going around.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

No, they create adada esque bodies, which

[Paul Scheer]

works perfectly for this movie because it's Full of clowns. And so they're also warping our perception.

[June Diane Raphael]

By the way, I was so upset that there was no real clown work.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Zero.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, there's a lot of clown paintings in the house. Sometimes the same clown painting in different rooms. It seems like they had run out of enough stuff. They had to make sure the house felt circusy.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

One of my favorite moments in the entire movie is in the scene where Ashley is seasick and all the kids are arriving for circus camp. They're all getting off the boat, and there's the last kid. They have to ADR a line of someone saying, watch out for the seaweed. It's slippery. Or something like that. Because the kid walking wipes out so hard and then looks directly into lens.

[June Diane Raphael]

Like, I gotta say, I was like,

[Jason Mantzoukas]

you know, they wanted to use that, so they had to adr. They're like, watch out for the seaweed. It's slippery.

[June Diane Raphael]

So I question this because our.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Our boom.

[June Diane Raphael]

Lena Mariposa also slips on the seaweed when she arrives. And her slip and. And fall. Pratt. Fall is also amazing. Yeah, it's so well done.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, but then can I also say that the final scene of the movie is a kid covered in. We don't see the slip and fall. We just see the seaweed on his body. And he is the one who sees the ghost at the end. I'll show you. He is covered in seaweed.

[June Diane Raphael]

Oh, my God. I didn't know that.

[Paul Scheer]

So the falling on the seaweed is a gag that this movie has adopted because also, the dock is full of seaweed. So I do. I do. I don't know what that is. It seems like the dock would be seaweed free.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

Because it doesn't feel like seaweed coming

[Paul Scheer]

on the top of the dock unless they built it very low.

[June Diane Raphael]

Now, here's my question about the ghosts of the island.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, wow.

[Paul Scheer]

Ghosts.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

You're really. You're really going there, huh?

[June Diane Raphael]

Okay, I am. Because I would think that what we are building toward in this motion picture is that Carlos would man up and realize at point, a pivotal moment, that Gabrielle needs him. First of all, she shouldn't be up there. She doesn't. Hasn't been trained correctly. There's no. There's no.

[Paul Scheer]

Are you saying that the circus camp isn't training their professional kids for the big.

[June Diane Raphael]

She's not ready. He should have had a moment pressuring

[Jason Mantzoukas]

her in a way that I'm like, dude, you're not part of her life.

[June Diane Raphael]

You have no.

[Paul Scheer]

Stand up. Who's coming to this show? By the way, that was a packed house.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Also, not to jump back too soon. But before even that happens, where did that country western band come from on the beach?

[June Diane Raphael]

They seemed like they were campers.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

His microphone not plugged in.

[June Diane Raphael]

They seemed like they were campers who were just.

[Paul Scheer]

What are they up to?

[June Diane Raphael]

Singing? I don't know. I couldn't figure out at all.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Where did the full country western band come from?

[June Diane Raphael]

Don't know. But my question is. Or I think there's a better movie in here in which Carlos has a Come to Jesus. Jesus on the beach. Come to Jesus. As he's pulling away in the boat toward the mainland to circus Mexicale and realize he's left this daughter he's just reunited with and he's put her in a position where she can't succeed and he should come back. And maybe that's the ghost telling him that maybe that's his father who's also jumped on the boat. And maybe he's sort of turning. He's holding onto his hands on the wheel and he's turning him back.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

He.

[Paul Scheer]

But can I.

[June Diane Raphael]

But that's not what happens.

[Paul Scheer]

June. She could handle it. She was sabotaged. She only failed because the net was cut.

[June Diane Raphael]

That's fine, Paul. But the story is she doesn't. That's fine. But the story is not about, like, can she handle it or not? It's like, are you a father?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Here's the thing. Carlos learns nothing.

[June Diane Raphael]

Nothing.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Carlos learns nothing. And he is the villain of every person's life in the movie, full stop. His children should be taken away from him. He should be put in jail.

[Paul Scheer]

Now that's it. Now I will say I have more empathy and respect for Carlos's grandfather. The ghost who decides now.

[June Diane Raphael]

Is that Carlos's grandfather?

[Paul Scheer]

I believe it was his grandfather.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I think it's Carlos father.

[Paul Scheer]

Was it his father? I thought it was his grandfather.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, I apologize.

[Paul Scheer]

So you guys said father before. I didn't want to correct you. I did check the text of the script, and I really was getting into it. Now, the grandfather, because he had the old timey mustache, that's how we know he's got one of those whip mustaches. So. And he's also wearing one of those.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Here's the thing. If you really drill down into it for how old Ed Marinara actually is, the father figure that they're calling grandfather would have had to have been the age of Ed Marinara's actual father in that era. Also because he's Ed Marinara at the age of I'm going to say conservatively, 57 is playing his grandfather from the past at. I'm going to say 57 now if

[Paul Scheer]

we're just saying the grandfather is dead. Right.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Well we are saying that.

[Paul Scheer]

Right. Okay.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I think this is not up for debate.

[June Diane Raphael]

But he's dead. But he has, hasn't fully passed over. He still has work to do.

[Paul Scheer]

He's been dead for, let's just say conservatively at least 10 to 15 years.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

At least the grandfather.

[Paul Scheer]

Yes. You want to say longer?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, I think the great.

[Paul Scheer]

You're telling me.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Okay, you tell me Ed Marinera's grandfather has only been dead 10 years.

[June Diane Raphael]

I'm.

[Paul Scheer]

I'm.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

What are you?

[June Diane Raphael]

Well, because what Paul's saying is I driving the actor's age, he's assuming that Ed Marin. That Carlos, not Ed Marinera.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

Carlos is a 30 year old man.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Okay, well, but wait, no, no, no.

[Paul Scheer]

What I'm trying to get to is this. Conservatively tell me how many years the grandfather has been dead.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

50.

[Paul Scheer]

Great. If we can all agree on 50. So this grandfather waits 50 years to fucking show up like fucking Yoda. And the end of the Star wars movies where he's. Now the ghost is fully, fully sitting in a chair having full on conversations

[Jason Mantzoukas]

like he's fully corporeal.

[Paul Scheer]

So for 50 years while his son has been here, while everything has happened, he's like that won't use this trick yet.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Do you think, and this is a real question, do you think the grandfather hasn't moved on because he's there to save Gabby's life in this moment? Like that his unfinished business is Gabby's fall in 2005.

[Paul Scheer]

He does say that some. You call me ghost. I say I'm an angel. Right? Cause that's like here we go.

[June Diane Raphael]

How could you be here if you're dead?

[Paul Scheer]

Who knows? And that's the best writing you're gonna get. But continue.

[June Diane Raphael]

Who knows?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Take the note M Night. How does it work? Who knows? Who knows? Don't go too deep at it.

[June Diane Raphael]

You're a ghost.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Some call us ghosts and some call us angels. I came because you needed me.

[June Diane Raphael]

I wish daddy was here.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

He will be. So now here's my question.

[Paul Scheer]

So he also can see the future.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

What's his name?

[June Diane Raphael]

Joseph.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Joseph. Where's Joseph from?

[Paul Scheer]

Italy. Baby.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, I almost got you. I almost got you. Wow, that was close. But real talk. Where's Joseph from? Cause this guy's got an accent.

[Paul Scheer]

I can't believe that we have not even talked about the boy who's being abused. Billy is Being abused by this man who looks like a like, by the way, best performance in the movie.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Incredible stuff.

[June Diane Raphael]

Incredible. Incredible. Now, okay, so when we see Billy in his foster home, what a indictment of the foster care system. I did appreciate that when we, the

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Landers just really took it to task.

[June Diane Raphael]

When we see him in that home, he's in the shed. And then when he goes to the main house, he knocks on the front door. And I wanted to say, Billy, you live there, don't you? Are we to believe that he lives in the shed with the tools? He lives there. He stays there. Wow.

[Paul Scheer]

Somebody in the audience is very adamant that he does live there. I didn't get that. I just thought he got like, you don't fucking enter the house unless you knock and say that. I could be busy in here. Like, I feel like it's a sock on the door kind of house.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Wait a minute, wait a minute. A sock. A sock on the door kind of house. I don't think you can put a sock on the door of a whole house.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, I mean.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I mean, that's. That's a baller move to be like, don't come into the whole house because I don't know where we are. And it's up. I don't want you to see. So don't even come into the whole ass house.

[Paul Scheer]

I. I believe that that guy is up.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Imagine walking up to a house and seeing a sock on the door, being like, you know what? Why don't we take a walk? Why don't we find a diner?

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, my. A sock on the door kind of house. What are you talking about? One of those socks in the doorhouses. That's. By the way, anybody who has been through that program knows that. Let's program foster care program.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Now we're getting somewhere.

[June Diane Raphael]

Have you been putting socks on the door of our home?

[Paul Scheer]

You know what? I got my business. They got their business.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

June, when you get home, check your shed.

[June Diane Raphael]

Oh, my God.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Holy shit. There's so much back and forth. Lena and Gabby do so much back and forth between Florida and Patterson, New Jersey, for no reason. They go back and forth and back and forth. I'm like, just get. Just give us Circus Island.

[Paul Scheer]

I mean, well, I don't think the audience can handle that much Circus Island.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Holy shit. The use of. Can we talk about the use of slow motion?

[Paul Scheer]

Sure.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

In another, I'm assuming, bid to make the movie longer, they just inexplicably at times do slow mo on scenes that are. Do not warrant slow motion. It is like someone like bouncing off of the net. It's just slow mo of people barely in frame, falling out of frame. It's so weird.

[Paul Scheer]

The thing that strikes me as weird. We've talked about a lot of weird things. What bothered me the most was Billy. When they were sleeping in the living room, he's like, I can't sleep here. Bobo, come with me. Bobo's the bird. And him and Bobo leave. So is he treating Bobo like a dog? Like he.

[June Diane Raphael]

Like.

[Paul Scheer]

Him and Bobo sleep in the same room?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Here's the thing. And I wrote this in my notes. The bird freaked me out.

[June Diane Raphael]

Me, too.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And I. And Paul, I apologize. I know you were raised with birds.

[Paul Scheer]

Yes.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I don't like it when birds are in the house. I don't think they should be. They should be in the sky, period.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah. Paul was raised with birds, but he didn't like them.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

No, no, no, I know. I'm just saying, I really. The bird's presence concerned me.

[June Diane Raphael]

Very upsetting.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And I felt like the bird was a better father than Billy's foster father and possibly Lena as a mother. I'm not sure.

[Paul Scheer]

Let me break down a little bit about this.

[June Diane Raphael]

Can I just say one thing, Paul, before your stats.

[Paul Scheer]

No stats.

[June Diane Raphael]

So. Oh, okay. So, Ashley. I just want to ask, when Ashley, you know, lies about being sexually assaulted and raped, so that happens, but can

[Paul Scheer]

we watch that scene for one second?

[June Diane Raphael]

Oh, let me ask my question. First of all, so Billy rejects her. She immediately changes course and jumps in the water. Now I'm not sure. Looking back, I'm like, was she being pulled out by the riptide?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I don't know. It felt like either she really was being affected by a riptide, perhaps. But more, it felt like, if you're not gonna give me the attention that I want this way, here's another way to force you to give me your attention. But then there was the storm, which confused it as well.

[June Diane Raphael]

That's the thing.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

So I couldn't quite tell.

[June Diane Raphael]

Why are you. It was so difficult because I was working with the reality that she actually was struggling in the water, that she did almost die.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, let's assume that.

[June Diane Raphael]

And that Billy saved her and she still did what she did.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

Which is really wild, Ashley. Really troubled stuff.

[Paul Scheer]

So this is her splashing around.

[June Diane Raphael]

Let's get out of here.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, yeah. And that these creeps are filming the whole thing.

[June Diane Raphael]

Filming the whole thing.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

But also do anything with the footage

[June Diane Raphael]

and leave her for dead.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes. But also, let's get out of here so we don't get grounded why don't they admit it?

[Paul Scheer]

They're afraid. Like, they're letting Billy get kicked out of camp. He's being kicked off Circus Island. They're letting it happen.

[June Diane Raphael]

I. I would believe that if. Well, here's. I honestly, the story I told myself because the movie didn't give this to me, but it was also. It was also there somehow, some way. My story was that Carlos,

[Jason Mantzoukas]

this. Carlos, this is a man at the top of his game, top of his game, vis a vis trapeze. This is a man that is Olympic

[June Diane Raphael]

level athlete, elite, elite trapeze artist. My story was that he has such an anger issue and such a rage problem that to tell this dad that they went outside at night and got out of that tent. By the way, why were they sleeping in the tent when their bedrooms are inside?

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

Anyway.

[Paul Scheer]

And the campers had their own huts.

[June Diane Raphael]

He was really terrified of him.

[Paul Scheer]

Yes, right.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I think so. Well, he also, like, he. He abandons everybody all the time. He abandons Gabby when she's a baby. He abandons them on the. They're like, oh, tomorrow is going to be the big show. Your friends and family are coming. All this stuff's happening. He's like, but I won't be here. I'm gone.

[June Diane Raphael]

Can't make it.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I'm out.

[June Diane Raphael]

I wish I could, but I won't be.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I have to go achieve my dream, which is not you family or not you other family.

[Paul Scheer]

You know what it is?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Neither of these families of the sisters I fought. I just want to drill down into that like Carlos did. He's fucking these sisters. And he's like, but I still gotta go do the circus in Mexico.

[Paul Scheer]

By the way. He says that whole thing, you have the same eyes as my sister and face and nose and body. These are twins that look identical. And he's like, wow, the eyes. It's everything, buddy. Now, I'm just going to give you a quick rundown because I'm sure this will come up as we go out to the crowd. Three generations of Landers women and boys collaborated on this made for TV movie. Ruth Landers, okay? She escaped Germany in 1938. And Audrey, she was born in 1956. She plays Lena, the one with the straight hair. She married Donald Berkowitz, an executive of some sort of packaging company. They had twins, Adam and Daniel, who appear in this movie. Daniel plays Tucker, the kid with the rat tail. And he continues to act.

[June Diane Raphael]

Was Rattail the one that. The sort of circus, not video camera. Yeah. Ringmaster. What are they called?

[Paul Scheer]

Yes. Yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yes. I thought he did a great job in that role.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

And I could see even up here that he's got something.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, Adam. Adam, who plays Tyler, the camera kid, took his father's last name and is not involved in entertainment. Now, Judy, born two years after Audrey. She plays Jenny, the one with the curly hair. She's married to a Dodger. They have daughters, Lindsey, who plays Gabrielle, and Christy, who plays Mandy.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, wow.

[Paul Scheer]

Okay. Now they are also on my super sweet 16. Yes. Christie's birthday was on my super sweet 16, where. And this is where it all comes together. She had it at the Ringling Museum, because the Sweet sixteen, that MTV show, My Sweet Sixteen. Now, she added the Ringling Museum because. And this will tie the whole thing together. The family is from Sarasota, where Ringling Brothers in Barnum and Bailey Circus do their winter training. Hence the circus tent. And that is probably with the genesis of the idea. And we all go backwards from that, by the way.

[June Diane Raphael]

Here's the thing. I think that the idea of a training of a circus training movie, that's really interesting. I'd love to see that. Right.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Like, how does that start at minute 50?

[June Diane Raphael]

Don't know. But also, why on an island?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes. But even still, I'm like, okay, I'm willing to be, like, weird island, haunted circus. Okay, but why is everybody so old?

[June Diane Raphael]

Yes. And why is there an attempted murder?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Here's the thing. Everybody in this movie is somehow both too old and too young. They're too old to be vibrant, thriving athletes. And the kids are too young to be, like, sexualized in the way they're being sexualized, if you don't mind me saying.

[Paul Scheer]

It's Sarasota, so rules are different there.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

But that's it. You're right. It's Florida, baby. This movie's playing by Florida rules.

[June Diane Raphael]

True. Like, Ed Marinero is, like, hot to go. Like, he's like, you know? So I can see how in the retirement community, in the 55 and over community, he is an elite athlete.

[Paul Scheer]

I also see how when he's like.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Because they say she even. She begs him. His wife begs him. She says, the camp is doing great. We're no longer in debt. You don't need to go to Circus Mexico, you know? And he's like, this is my dream. This is my. He says the phrase, I hold the world in my hands vis a vis how big he's gonna become after performing trapeze.

[June Diane Raphael]

I really wanted to know, though, how much do you get paid? Like, this is a professional road to nowhere. For him.

[Paul Scheer]

And by the way, he also talks about learning a special maneuver, like a special triple flip, which we never see executed. Nor does he ever train for what

[Jason Mantzoukas]

a great, like, little bit of a thing you could put in the movie to be like, to watch him getting better and better and succeeding. You know he's gonna do it.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, it would be more fulfilling to be like, oh, he'd learned how to do this thing.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

The movie would be better if he died.

[Paul Scheer]

I mentioned earlier, everybody would be better

[Jason Mantzoukas]

off if he died, period. I bet he has a life insurance policy.

[June Diane Raphael]

Honestly, it would be so wonderful for these sisters to raise a family together on an island that's like a dream come true.

[Paul Scheer]

Have the ghost take the corporeal shape of the guy and then have the.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

So you think the sisters should fuck the ghost.

[Paul Scheer]

I smell a sequel. All right, let's go to the crowd. We've talked, and there's a lot more on the bone here. Hi, what's your name? What's your question?

[June Diane Raphael]

Hi, my name is Nathan.

[Paul Scheer]

So, assuming this camp is for profit, given that Billy 100%, I don't think

[June Diane Raphael]

they got, like, the 401C application done.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Doing forensic accounting on Circus Island.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah, no, no, no.

[June Diane Raphael]

Likely.

[Paul Scheer]

But how did Billy make it there? And is the camp funded from foster care money?

[June Diane Raphael]

Like.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, I think that's a great question.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

You're right. Billy should get kicked out.

[Paul Scheer]

I think that the public school provides them field trips. Like, you don't have to pay extra to go.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I also think Lena is trying to take care of Billy. So I think she kind of ensured that he got there so that I guess he could drill her. Daughter,

[Paul Scheer]

what's your name? What's your question? Hi, Jesse. I just have a quick theory. I actually got the vibe that they made this movie because Mandy, the younger daughter, she was the only one they actually showed do all the tricks that

[June Diane Raphael]

she said she could do.

[Paul Scheer]

I think that she was actually part of the ringling or whatever and they decided they were going to make the movie for her.

[June Diane Raphael]

I wondered about that, too.

[Paul Scheer]

That makes sense.

[June Diane Raphael]

Tough thing about Mandy's actual skill level is she had one trick and she did it. Oh, we saw that one 15 times.

[Paul Scheer]

Bench. She did the flip at the picnic bench. Yeah, but.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Sorry, sir, do you rep Mandy? We get it. You love anything. What? She should get more.

[June Diane Raphael]

Here's my question, though. What we know that Mandy's been training for circus since she was 5. Why didn't Carlos train his sons?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah, well, I will say Rat Tail. Rat tail is training like he's doing in the montages, rat tails very present. But the other kid just does video.

[June Diane Raphael]

Just. Yeah, he's just recording.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Just peeping and creeping.

[June Diane Raphael]

But why hadn't they been starting their training process?

[Paul Scheer]

Because, by the way, they didn't know that they were gonna get video evidence of a faked sexual assault. Yeah, they were just straight up and creeping. Well, I mean, I guess they saw there was a little bit of manipulation, but they're just taping. I mean, they got stuff on there. They definitely have Ed there and Eric, honestly.

[June Diane Raphael]

Release the tape.

[Paul Scheer]

Release the tape.

[June Diane Raphael]

Release the tapes.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Please. Release the tapes.

[Paul Scheer]

Wait a second. Is this Epstein's Island?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Is this. This is. Yes. Circus island is little St. James. You're right.

[Paul Scheer]

Ed Marinara hung himself. I don't believe it. All right. Yes, your question. Hi. What's your name?

[June Diane Raphael]

Linia.

[Paul Scheer]

Hi, Linia.

[June Diane Raphael]

So Jesus is actually credited in the IMDb credits. And apparently it just says Jesus and then self as who he is. And apparently there is a special thanks in the credits of the film to Jesus. So someone from the production specifically made a Jesus IMDb account to be able to credit Jesus.

[Paul Scheer]

I will say. And now look, you say like, he wasn't there. I do think that those were his footprints. Going back to my beach theory. Right. That's what he does. He's known for the footprint footprints on the beach thing. You get Jesus. I tried to get him a couple times. He's hard to get because he. You got to fly him from Florida. He won't.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

He was in the dictator with me.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah, he'll do. He'll do local hire stuff. Won't travel.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

All right.

[Paul Scheer]

Hi. What's your name? What's your question? My name is Jason, and this is a question.

[June Diane Raphael]

Cool.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

This guy gets it.

[Paul Scheer]

And I think you're going to like this question.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It's been a while since we've had

[Paul Scheer]

climax when Ashley is, like, behind the pole and, like, being like, no, you know, she's concerned about the net. There is a shot of her, she's wearing a wedding ring, which adds an entire dynamic to her character that is not developed at all. So I think Ashley's married.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes, I saw that as well. And I was like, what the fuck is this? But what I thought was, because she's in that scene, she's stealing from the house. She snuck into the house and is stealing money and stealing stuff. So I was like, oh, did she steal that ring and put it on? And maybe they cut the scene in which they show her putting. I was like, is because I also was like, is Ashley married? Because I was, like, heartbroken, because that's my girl.

[Paul Scheer]

I did. I did do a little research on Ashley and where she is now, and she's a life coach now.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I love. I love. And I just want to be clear, Paul. You mean the character?

[Paul Scheer]

Yes. Hi. What's your name? What's your question? Hi, my name is Van Duncan, and my question is about Jamaica Joe. We haven't been talking about the most

[Jason Mantzoukas]

interesting character, Jamaica Joe, with his fake dreads. We're obviously not in Jamaica. Is this.

[Paul Scheer]

His only job is transporting children to

[Jason Mantzoukas]

and from this little St. James. Because where is he getting this? Paid for this? And also, he enjoys it too much. Yeah. Like, what is that, by the way?

[Paul Scheer]

It does feel like that was an actor choice. Like, oh, I have this. Like. Like, it's like, well, you get like. Like a hat with dreads in it. Like, yeah. And he's like, I'll wear that. And. No, I know.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Paul, I disagree with you. I feel like the Lander sisters showed up and said, you're wearing this. Your character's name is now Jamaica Joe.

[June Diane Raphael]

I did wonder about Jamaica Jo, though, because also, because the trip from the mainland seems to be five minutes.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

So for real, like, you're giving everything you have. Jamaica Joe, in the hopes of, I think, a tip. But this has been such a short trip that, like, you're not getting much.

[Paul Scheer]

Like, bringing Jamaica Joe is, like, an Uber boat driver.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Sorry.

[Paul Scheer]

I think Jamaica Joe is, like, an Uber boat driver. Right. I mean, that's where he's supposed to be, like, right? He's like.

[June Diane Raphael]

But he's like. But he's also, I think, responsible for the party vibe. Like, when they show up, like, it's spring break, I believe it's not because they're excited for Circus Camp. That's because it's Jamaica Jo.

[Paul Scheer]

Okay, so then that brings me back to my first question early on, which is like, we know it's Florida, but this movie, I don't think posits it's Florida. I think this movie goes, it's Jamaica or it's an island. It's an. I think they're going, it's an island.

[June Diane Raphael]

I think you might be right. It's an island somewhere. I mean, the other crazy thing you have to remember about Jamaica Jo is that he's such a good time that when Lena, who has a fear of the water, according to you, Paul.

[Paul Scheer]

She does. Well, Mike, I'm right about that.

[June Diane Raphael]

Right. She gets off the boat, she's singing yeah, that's true. That's the power of Jamaica, Joe.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes.

[Paul Scheer]

What's her name?

[June Diane Raphael]

Christina. And on that, when she's out and the storm hits, she's like, oh, land is two hours away. I guess I have to go to that island. And then the island becomes a five minute shuttle every time anyone else wants to go.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

True. Yes.

[Paul Scheer]

How many boats are coming to fill that circus tent? Because it looked like hundreds of people. What's she to see a student show? I remember what she's doing with the dolphins.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, real question. Yeah. What is she doing?

[June Diane Raphael]

Okay, so that's a great question.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I, I, she gives them names.

[June Diane Raphael]

I think she's researching them. How?

[Paul Scheer]

Well, that's when they shut down.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

That's when they shut it down.

[Paul Scheer]

They're like, you didn't do much.

[June Diane Raphael]

I mean, you just, just named them lady.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes, that's what I like. I, when she got fired, I was like, that's fair.

[Paul Scheer]

At one point they go, you haven't met our other sister. She's a dolphin.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

To which point I'm like, oh, that will come in later. No, no.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I mean, wouldn't it have been cool if the dolphin had saved.

[Paul Scheer]

That's what I was hoping for, you

[Jason Mantzoukas]

know, or killed her. But no. Yes, or killed her. Oh, if the dolphin killed Ashley, that would have been cool as hell.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah. Your name and your question.

[June Diane Raphael]

My name is Susan. I just want to know how long is this camp? How much money are they making at the camp and how good are they getting within the timeframe these circus acts. I don't understand how quickly this is happening. It makes no sense.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, mine very dangerous stuff.

[June Diane Raphael]

Very quickly, while watching. She says all our bills are paid.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

One of the.

[Paul Scheer]

She says all our bills are paid.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

If you don't mind. What I love about this question is you asked the question about the financials of the camp and someone over here went, yes, like my question is being answered. Show me the spreadsheet.

[June Diane Raphael]

Well, listen, I think what they're hoping for is that even if they're not, this could be sort of like a beta test of it all. And I think they're hoping because, you know, Lena has that whole conversation about teach someone, give someone a fish feed themselves for a day, teach someone how to fish feed themselves for a lifetime. So I think what they're hoping is this is sustainable, but it does seem pretty seasonal as a camp.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, yeah, because they said you don't have to go back to your school. It's like, yeah, you do, because. Yeah, I don't. Where Are you going to get the influx of children for the camp? They are. Unless they are.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I mean, if they really scale it up, they can be getting kids from more than just the Patterson New Jersey high school. How about that?

[June Diane Raphael]

How about Patterson Pipeline?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

How about kids that want to do circus camp, not fucking Ashley. Who's here to do murder? What are we talking about?

[June Diane Raphael]

And by the way, they really could open up and franchise this because it doesn't need to be on an island, by the way.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It's worse. And insurance would never let this exist.

[Paul Scheer]

Do you think that. Wait, this is the beginning? Is this the beginning of the Ringling Brothers Circus? This is an origin story of it in 2005. Well, there was no elephants. They really got rid of that. There's going to be.

[June Diane Raphael]

There were no animals.

[Paul Scheer]

Yes. You're your. Your name and your question.

[June Diane Raphael]

My name is Victoria. And my question is why was Carlos so anti telephone yet he had like high speed Internet.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Loved it.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh yeah. He didn't have a telephone.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Who knows why?

[Paul Scheer]

And how did the kid.

[June Diane Raphael]

I honestly think something like there were collectors calling him or something. Someone was coming after him.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Why have you telephone then? Someone can call and offer you a job.

[Paul Scheer]

Our friend from Australia. Where are you? Where's our friend? Do you have a question I want to give you? You traveled so far. You don't have to have a question, but I wanted to give you a chance.

[June Diane Raphael]

Okay, just to June's point, about Sailor Circus, Is it possible that the circus is like a shipwreck because they have nets and they have a crow's nest and they have ropes? Maybe this movie's trying to tell us something about the origins of circus.

[Paul Scheer]

So circus was started by sailors.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Wow.

[Paul Scheer]

Who crashed on the shore and had to entertain themselves.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Boy, are you envisioning a version of this movie that is so much more interesting than the movie?

[Paul Scheer]

Wow. Yeah.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

That would be awesome.

[June Diane Raphael]

I love that.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

That would be awesome. You're right. So many of the elemental circus components can be found on a tall ship. Like it's as if master and commander shipwrecked and they became. If the surprise went down and they were like, I guess we'll tumble. So much bad tumbling in this movie.

[June Diane Raphael]

So much bad tumbling.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

So much bad tumbling. So many unsure footed landings of flips.

[June Diane Raphael]

The problem with the, the montage, aside from it being the whole movie. Yeah. Was that when we get to the last one, like, well, even the show, like, our team's ready. We did it. We watched all this. We watched them work. We watched them persevere. Watch Them fall, fall, fall. But we never see them excel. We just never see them excel.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And we never see them. We also never see them get better. We're not charting. We're not charting growth.

[Paul Scheer]

I just realized something. When she cut the net like that, Ashley wouldn't. People have died.

[June Diane Raphael]

I'm so glad you brought this up, Paul, before.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Well, they show.

[June Diane Raphael]

They show that. But. But this is another crazy fucking thing about the way Ashley's mind works is

[Jason Mantzoukas]

it seems the Ashley mind virus, it

[June Diane Raphael]

seems that she cut it in a way where she knew when Gabby was going to come up, she knew other people were going to fall and that the force of them was going to open it a little bit, a little bit further than the next person. And then she knew, and Gabby, big old volleyball playing Gabby, six footer, that she was gonna bust that thing open.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

Right. So she really was duplicitous.

[June Diane Raphael]

Well, I mean, she's a genius. She's a genius.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

She's an evil. She is an evil genius.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I'm just gonna read some notes that I made in order.

[Paul Scheer]

Okay.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Ashley is wearing pink pumps at Circus Camp. Ashley is an absolute psycho. And I love it. I would rather be watching the movie that is about Ashley slowly killing everybody who won't engage. Who won't engage in her dad drama. Ashley is relentless. I respect her game. She gets caught every single time, but still persists in being awful. Ashley is unreal. She's a fucking boss. Ashley is an alpha. I wish this was Ashley's movie. Holy shit. Ashley's doing straight up sabotage. By the way, Ashley is this movie's villain. Question mark.

[June Diane Raphael]

Now, Ashley, Ashley does have one moment of regret and humanity.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, my God.

[June Diane Raphael]

She tries. She tries to stop.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Every time she's hanging on the pole and being like, loser or whatever. Whatever she's saying, it's so funny. This character is so good. And I'm only angry that there's like 40 minutes of the movie. She's not present.

[June Diane Raphael]

I know.

[Paul Scheer]

Now, obviously we have opinions about this movie. The people out there with a different opinion. It is now time for second opinions.

[June Diane Raphael]

Hi, my name is Harley. This is gonna be bad. So sorry.

[Paul Scheer]

No, it's gonna be great. Here we go.

[June Diane Raphael]

Here's a little song I wrote in the last 30 minutes of the show.

[Paul Scheer]

No problem.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Be happy.

[June Diane Raphael]

It's about an island off the coast of Sarasota, Florida, and ghosts. It's Circus Island. It was overstimulating to me, but I guess it made some other folks happy. It's second opinions.

[Paul Scheer]

Yes. Amazing. Amazing. Just Know everybody who is singing a Second Opinion song tonight just came up with it right now. All right, so here we go. It's now time for second opinions. All right. Hi, I'm Kevin, and I just want to preface this by saying that scene before the show where they had a bunch of yellow balloons, this is what inspired this song. Great circuses just need yellow balloons. Yellow balloons, yellow balloons. Someone only bought yellow balloons. Yellow balloons, yellow balloons. Please don't talk about all the yellow balloons. Yellow balloons, yellow balloons. I'll stop singing about the yellow balloons. Yellow balloons, yellow balloons. Amazing. Thank you. Thank you. Now, for all of you who have not been in attendance tonight, I said to everybody, I said, who has a Second Opinion song? No one had it. So these two people came up and they delivered second opinion songs. But guess what? We didn't need them because there are no second opinions. Yes, there are no second opinions. For the first time ever, in 400 episodes, there is not a single review on Amazon. No five star reviews. No one star review. Okay? There are no reviews.

[June Diane Raphael]

I'd like us to fix that. Yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

The job here tonight is go home and write some reviews for Circus Island. Cannot have this continue. I can't believe that. But 400 episodes?

[June Diane Raphael]

I am surprised there's not more Amazon reviews, because I do think this.

[Paul Scheer]

There are none, right?

[June Diane Raphael]

None more than zero.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Why are you so mad at us?

[Paul Scheer]

I just think in 400 episodes, there's

[Jason Mantzoukas]

been zero we love.

[June Diane Raphael]

Here's the thing. I do think that this movie has an opportunity to be a real class. I'm serious. Like, there's things about this movie that are so great.

[Paul Scheer]

I can't recommend a movie more high.

[June Diane Raphael]

I feel the same.

[Paul Scheer]

It was a joy in every way. It's confusing in the most wonderful ways, but yet it all makes sense. I want these people to never retire. And there are things. There are literally pages and pages of notes. Because I wrote down at certain points, the boy who just says belly flop and jumps in an inch and a half of water. They break.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

They bring.

[Paul Scheer]

They bring in a strange girl to this island and she's like, give me a minute. And they go, okay, see you later. They immediately leave her just alone in the house. There's no. There's nothing. And that joke about swimming, swinging, which doesn't even seem to make sense, but yet they just commit to it. And. Yeah, I just love it. I love this movie.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And I'm also like, you know, again, not to repeat myself from earlier in the show, but like, the idea that we've never known about this nor have known about the entire Lander sisters oeuvre. That sounds like we have many more movies to cover.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah, I do. I think I need to write a movie about the Landers sisters. Oh, by the way, I do feel very inspired by them.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I love this.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah. All right, I'll get on.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Is it set in Florida?

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, a movie about the making of Circus Island.

[June Diane Raphael]

And just how did they get Marinara? You got it.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I've got the gray chest hair.

[Paul Scheer]

I'll get the rat tail. Let's get this.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I want Jason Mantzoukas as Ed Marinara as Carlos Carrera in Circus Island.

[Paul Scheer]

We will make our Jesus shirt. We'll make a Circus island cruise shirt so you can get the word out. Jason, June, any final thoughts?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I mean, fucking hell.

[June Diane Raphael]

This was really honestly. And I didn't know it was our 400th episode.

[Paul Scheer]

And sorry to interrupt you about that.

[June Diane Raphael]

That's okay. But honestly, it feels so right that it was because it feels like we're gonna make 400 more. Oh, you know, it just, you know.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I agree.

[June Diane Raphael]

Just feels like.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I agree.

[June Diane Raphael]

It's honestly like a real reset.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Cut to show is over announcement. No, I agree. This was exceptional. I was cackling with laughter today watching it. This was an absolute treat in every single way. In a way that I was like, this is why I'm still watching nonsense in the middle of the day out of my mind racing here to talk about it. I loved every minute of it. And here's the thing. This is just one of two exceptional island based pieces of media that I'm consuming. I'd also love to shout out Widow's Bay right here.

[Paul Scheer]

Amazing.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, friend of the podcast, Katie Dippold. Incredible show. Absolute show on screen. Unreal. Another show. Another show about a haunted island. Which is better? You tell me.

[June Diane Raphael]

That's right.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Widow's Bay or Circus Island? Are they the same?

[June Diane Raphael]

Oh, God. That's right.

[Paul Scheer]

And why aren't the Landers sisters on Widow's Bay? And they can be.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes.

[Paul Scheer]

And that's the important.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Let's get a Landers on Widow's Bay.

[Paul Scheer]

Thank you for being here tonight with us. I know this is a freewheeling show. You have all been an amazing crowd.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Not all of them.

[Paul Scheer]

And handful of these.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

A couple of duds.

[Paul Scheer]

Thank you, everybody. Thank you for coming out. 400 episodes. You have been amazing. Thank you to everybody up in our booth. Thank you to Largo. We love being here. We'll let you know when we do another show.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Bye bye. Eat shit, la.

[Paul Scheer]

I Hope you all enjoyed that magical voyage to Circus Island. And for those of you going to summer camp there this year, I hope that you are learning so many special skills. Thank you as always to our pals at Largo. I'm talking about Flanny, Griffey and Skillz in the booth. And yes, we did make the shirt Jesus motorboated me on Circus Island. It is now [e-mail] that's right, a brand new T shirt, sticker, iPhone case, place to get your merch from the show. I mean it still is teepublic but now it's just how did this get made.dashery.com you can also just go to hdtgm.com to just have a cleaner path there. I want you to know that the show's not over. No. We give you now a chance to add your thoughts and you can do that by going to speakpipe.com hdtgm what's great about this is so many people are leaving us more messages. Cause you don't have to call it. You can use your phone or your computer and just record a message. We've been loving these messages but if you wanna, you know, back in the old school and just type in your message, you can always do that on our discord at Discord GG hdtgm and then we will judge a handful of those worthy enough to play on Last Looks and make you all compete for the best. Correction and omission. Let me tell you next week you are going to want to be listening to Last Looks because we are sitting down with Abbott elementary showrunner Justin Halpern. He will be talking about his brand new book but Justin is one of the funniest guys. The creator of Shit my dad says the original Twitter account. He's simply the best. We had a great time chatting with him. And just so you know, we will be back at Largo on July 31 and August 1. Jason, June and myself, we will all be there. Movies will be announced soon and if you can't wait then why don't you go see June and I now I'm only in it for just a couple seconds in the brand new RuPaul movie Stop that Train which is very very funn. Go check out support some independent cinema. It's so so good. And June will be in the Legally Blonde prequel series L on prime video premiering on July 1st. Oh it's so good. You are going to love it. Make sure you following us on our Instagram because we have video clips coming up from this very episode. And in our last looks next week we will also have a deleted scene that we didn't even play in this episode. How about that? And like I always say to you, every week, make sure you are subscribed to our feed and have automatic downloads turned on in the show settings. It helps us especially when contract negotiations are coming up. And we also just simply appreciate it a lot. A big shout out to our behind the scenes team. I'm talking about our producer Scott Sonny and Molly Reynolds, our engineer Casey Holford and our social media manager, Zoe Applebaum. And of course our man in the booth with the camera. That's right. I'm talking about Wes taping that footage for you. We will also forever be thankful to the one and only Avril Halle. That's all I got, people. I want to know more about these sisters. So please come correct next week and give me some details. All right, we'll see you next week. Bye for now.

[June Diane Raphael]

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