Cool World (HDTGM Matinee)

Summary

How Did This Get Made? – "Cool World" (HDTGM Matinee)

Hosts: Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, Jason Mantzoukas
Episode Date: January 20, 2026
Film Discussed: Cool World (1992, dir. Ralph Bakshi)

Episode Overview

The hosts reunite to dissect Cool World, the wild 1992 animation-live-action hybrid from Ralph Bakshi, notorious for its incoherent plot, adult themes, and perplexing rules. Throughout the episode, Paul, June, and Jason wrestle with the movie’s logic, chaotic narrative structure, and baffling mythology, while exploring its differences from Who Framed Roger Rabbit and reflecting on its troubled production.

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Main Themes and Purpose

• Celebrating failure: The trio revels in the gloriously confusing mess of Cool World, trying to make sense of its story and production chaos.
• Animated chaos vs. narrative sense: They debate the movie’s inability to establish clear rules or compelling stakes, contrasting it with other animation-live-action hybrids.
• Satire, sexuality, and noir: The team discusses Cool World's overt sexuality, film noir influences, and its subversive intentions (or lack thereof).
• Is it worth a watch? Each host ultimately weighs whether its madness provides enough entertainment to recommend.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Initial Impressions & "What Did We Just Watch?" ([02:23]–[05:09])

• Paul sets the stage: “Cool World is a movie that really defies any rational explanation. Cartoons wanna get into the real world. Cartoons are called doodles, humans are called noids, and if you have sex with a cartoon, they become real. Anyway, it's a real big mess.” [02:23]
• Jason’s Confession: “I'll not lie, I got pretty horny for these cartoons.” [03:05]
• June’s Nostalgia Attack: “I was actually thinking about Who Framed Roger Rabbit… I felt like my fond memories of that movie were violated [by Cool World].” [04:41]

2. Comparing Against Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Animation for Adults ([05:16]–[06:26])

• Jason: “Ralph Bakshi…comes out of adult animation… He's made Fritz the Cat, Heavy Metal… This was not meant to be an animated kids movie.” [06:26]
• Cool World’s marketing misled audiences into expecting something more family-friendly.

3. Struggling to Make Sense of the Plot ([07:14]–[13:12])

• World and Character Logic
  • “I don't understand who means what to who. I don't understand who are the good guys and the bad guys. I don't understand the stakes of this movie. I don't understand the rules.” – Jason [07:21]
  • Why is Brad Pitt in Cool World? How does Cool World exist both before and after its supposed creation by Gabriel Byrne? [07:57–08:59]
  • Discrepancy in time and logic: Gabriel Byrne’s prison stint and the passage of time make no sense. [10:28–13:12]

4. Brad Pitt’s Character and Guilt Motif ([18:17]–[22:29])

• Stuck for 50 Years
  • “He could leave Cool World at any point. So why did he not leave Cool World?” – Paul [18:37]
  • “He doesn't want to go back to the real world because it means he has to face... killing his mother.” – Jason [18:47]
  • June: “You don't put anyone on a motorcycle without a helmet… Of course it was his fault. Anyone who gets on a motorcycle has a death wish.” [19:19]

5. Law, Order, and Lack Thereof in Cool World ([22:29]–[25:48])

• Why have law enforcement?
  • “What is a police officer doing there?” – Paul [22:06]
  • “Is he only making sure that noids don't have sex with Doodles? Because he's the only human there.” – June [22:42]

6. Kim Basinger’s Performance and Shifting Tones ([24:20]–[25:23])

• Paul notes: “In the middle of shooting, Kim Basinger decided she wanted to make this a children’s film that she could show kids in hospitals… she does feel like she’s in a different movie.”
  • June praises her: “She’s great.” [24:57]
  • Jason: “Kim Basinger’s amazing… There is. Yes, there is… you'll get no arguments from me.” [25:02]

7. The Film's Incoherent Internal Logic & Rulebooks ([25:24]–[28:37])

• Jason: “I write a rule book and someday I'll publish them all. Yep.” – discussing how you need to invent rules just to watch the film. [27:32]
• Paul: “This movie does require you to make a couple of decisions for yourself, because I wrote down a few times here, I don't even know what to write.” [27:44]

8. Animation Mechanics, References, and Dazzling Confusion ([30:25]–[35:36])

• Jason references Looney Tunes’ “animator hand” as a comparable concept.
• The hosts lament that Cool World lacks a consistent internal logic for the blending of animated and human worlds; rules are established and ignored at random.

9. Why Is Anyone Doing Anything? ([35:34]–[47:00])

• The infamous “spike” plot device that supposedly plugs the worlds together makes little sense (“I don't even really venture to go there” – Paul [36:56]).
• Hollywood’s motivations are murky at best—does she even want Gabriel Byrne, or just to be real? [46:51]
• “She’s manipulating him… To become real.” – June [46:54]
• “She wants to become a real girl.” – Jason [47:00]

10. The Rules of Doodle/Noid Sex ([42:53]–[47:17])

• “Sex makes it like a magic trick that you can then go to the real world, I guess. But I don't know.” – Jason [46:34]
• The group jokes about what Brad Pitt is and isn’t allowed to do with his doodle girlfriend.

11. Animation Style and Chaotic Tone ([54:29]–[56:43])

• Jason: “Cool World is like sexual depravity… like, it is like the world that existed in alternative comics of the 70s and 80s.”
• Paul: The “junk drawer of animation” and unstable tone is both the movie’s strength and weakness.

12. Production Chaos Behind the Scenes ([56:43]–[58:06])

• Paul gives a whirlwind history of the tumultuous production:
  • Versions switched from horror to comedy
  • Brad Pitt and Gabriel Byrne switched roles
  • Drew Barrymore dropped out; Kim Basinger rewrote her character
  • Director Bakshi punched the producer
  • "The backstory of this movie is insane and it's a mess." – Paul [58:06]

13. Interpretations & Is There A Deeper Meaning? ([65:52]–[68:26])

• Listener 5-star Amazon review: Cool World "is a complex film and it was written as a puzzle for people to figure out later on." [65:52]
• Jason: “This movie is as close to a Jacob's Ladder scenario as I've seen in a long time. Guy gets hit in the first scene... and as he's dying, this comic book or whatever, he just imagines.” [67:39]

14. Would You Recommend It? ([70:01]–[76:07])

• Jason: “I would recommend watching it for its… big swing. This is without question a failure. In no way is this a success. But there’s something about it…” [70:43, 72:02]
• June: “It's something to rest your eyeballs on, and that's kind of it… Nothing dazzled me in that world. I loved the transformation of Hollywood into a real person… but that's kind of it. It's a bunch of gobbledygook and doesn't add up to anything.” [72:26]
• Paul: “Very rarely on this show am I this confounded… it continues to turn a screw of confusion that I found to be a unique film…” [75:29]

15. Favorite Quotes & Memorable Lines

• “You really like that cigar chomping partner of Brad Pitt's? Nails.” “Oh, Nails. I'll fuck Nails.” – Jason and Paul, discussing cartoon sex appeal [03:28]
• “What is a police officer doing there? He's the only noid. So what is he protecting anyone from?” – Paul [22:06]
• “I wish we'd lived in Cool World, frankly. I wished we'd lived in and understood the rules of Cool World better.” – Jason [23:45]
• "I was just screaming uncontrollably… I never knew what was coming next. It was one of the most joyous experiences I've had in my life." – Paul on June's surprise watching experience [37:42]
• “This is a confounding jumble of nonsense… but within that, I think there is some incredible Ralph Bakshi art… really fun, weird side characters, side bits of physical comedy in the cartoon world that are fun and interesting to watch.” – Jason [72:24]

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Notable Timestamps

• [02:23] Paul’s opening summary and initial bafflement
• [03:05] Jason’s “horny for these cartoons” remark
• [04:41] June on Who Framed Roger Rabbit nostalgia
• [07:21] Jason lists his comprehension failures with the plot
• [10:28] Dissection of Gabriel Byrne’s nonsensical prison arc
• [18:47] Jason summarizes Brad Pitt’s (lack of) motivation
• [22:06] Paul and June debate the point of law enforcement in Cool World
• [24:20] Kim Basinger’s performance and children’s hospital intentions
• [27:44] “This movie does require you to make a couple of decisions for yourself… I don't even know what to write.”
• [35:34] “Why would [Brad Pitt] want to even save Cool World? What is there, just a hiding spot for him?”
• [42:53] The convoluted rule against Noid-Doodle sex
• [54:29] Discussion of alternative comic world stylings and sexuality
• [56:43] The movie’s troubled backstory (“…the director punched the producer in the mouth…”)
• [65:52] Reading of Amazon 5-star reviews and the “complex film” defense
• [67:39] “As close to a Jacob’s Ladder scenario… as I’ve seen in a very long time”
• [70:43–76:07] Final recommendations and long-form reactions

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Final Thoughts & Recommendations

Jason’s verdict:

“Yes, watch it, because I think there's a ton of... huge problems with it. Structurally, it really is a confounding jumble of nonsense. But there is some incredible Ralph Bakshi art… If your expectations are, this is going to be a mess, but there's interesting stuff in it, then I… think, watch it.” [70:43, 72:02]

June’s verdict:

“It's something to see. It's something to rest your eyeballs on, and that's kind of it… I loved the transformation of Hollywood into a real person… It's a bunch of gobbledygook and doesn't add up to anything. Watch the first 20 minutes and realize how little you understand.” [72:26, 73:46]

Paul’s verdict:

“I'm gonna put it down on my list of definitely watch it, because very rarely on this show am I this confounded or this kind of like, wait, what?” [75:29]

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Episode’s Overall Take

Cool World is a fascinating disaster, as confusing as it is boldly artistic, with rules that defy logic and storytelling that baffles even expert bad-movie connoisseurs. The episode is a giddy, laughter-filled journey through failed noir archetypes, incomprehensible mythology, and the endless question: How Did This Get Made?

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If you’ve never seen Cool World, the hosts assure you: you’re in for a stoned, confounding ride where the only rule is that nothing makes sense—and maybe that’s the fun.

Transcript

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[Jason Mantzoukas]

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[June Diane Raphael]

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[Paul Sheer]

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[Jason Mantzoukas]

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[Paul Sheer]

We're gonna have a good time celebrating failure.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Not just be a hater. Cause you've ever wondered how did this create? Let's wallow in the mediocrity of subpar art. Perhaps we'll find the answer to the question how did this get made?

[Paul Sheer]

Hello people of Earth, and welcome to how did this get Made? I am Tal John she. This is another quarantine edition of the pod. Today we are talking about Cool World. And Cool World is a movie that really defies any rational explanation. We're gonna get into it, but basically cartoons wanna get into the real world. Cartoons are called doodles, Humans are called noids, and if you have sex with a cartoon, they become real. Anyway, it's a real big mess. I don't even, I'm not even sure I understand what I saw. But to help me break it down, let me introduce my co host, Mr. Jason Mantzoukas. How are you, Jason?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

You know, Paul, having just watched this movie, I don't know if it is the quarantine or the fact that I haven't seen another person or touched a human being in two months, but I got. I'll not lie, I got pretty horny for these cartoons.

[Paul Sheer]

I mean, you really like that cigar chomping partner of Brad Pittsburgh? Nails.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, nails. I'll fuck nails.

[Paul Sheer]

Before we go any further, let me introduce someone who I think got a lot of laughs out of this movie because I heard her enjoying it quite a lot. Please welcome Ms. June Diane Rayfield. How are you, June?

[June Diane Raphael]

Hi, Paul. I'm okay. How are you?

[Paul Sheer]

I'm fine. How are you dealing in this quarantine?

[June Diane Raphael]

I'm doing, I'm, I'm doing okay. It's actually just thinking, you know, it really is, I don't know, just, just a very quick shout out to all the people who. Who are not quarantining because they have to go to work.

[Paul Sheer]

Yes.

[June Diane Raphael]

Right now I just keep on, you know, it is as hard as this is what we're doing, and it's really hard. It is just amazing to me to see so many people obviously doing the frontline work, but also just delivering and doing all of the essential work right now. I'm just very appreciative and it truly, it is a privilege to be able to shelter at home, but so I am doing okay.

[Paul Sheer]

Well, I mean, do you think it's a privilege to shelter at home and get a chance to watch Cool World? I mean, that's really the question.

[June Diane Raphael]

I mean, it's like being on vacation. Listen, I don't know what happened last night. I don't. I, you know, and I was actually thinking about who Framed Roger Rabbit, which I do think had a profound effect on me as a. A youngster, that movie. And I felt like I was. I felt like my fond memories of that movie were violated.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Because this movie is so overtly, much more sexual or. Why do you feel like this movie.

[June Diane Raphael]

Is an attack on that frame. Yes. I loved who Framed Roger Rabbit and I thought it was so great and I just enjoyed the hell out of it. And this movie to me was so terrible, so underwritten. So I mean, I will, you know, we'll get into it. But I did think Kim Basinger was a ray of light.

[Paul Sheer]

Yeah, you were getting some solid laughs off of Kim's performance.

[June Diane Raphael]

LOL'd.

[Paul Sheer]

Well, here's the thing about this movie, and I alluded to it in the beginning. This movie was pitched as a hard R film. See, original pitch, according to Ralph Bakshke was it was basically the concept was a cartoon and live action human have sex. They conceive a hybrid child who visits the real world to murder the father who abandoned her. That was the original pitch. And then we get this movie. Now that at least an understandable pitch. This movie is. It's hard to parse what's going on.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Ralph Bakshi who made this is somebody who is like, comes out of adult animation. You know, he made the Lord of the Rings animated feature in the 70s. He made Fritz the Cat. Like he's like a. He comes out of a time when adult R rated animation, like heavy metal and stuff like that exists. Like, it's not like they were trying to make an animated kids movie, you know, that was. Had all this sex in it. I think that's the mistake that, you know, like people had, which was, oh, it's an animated movie, so it's a kids movie. But this is, my understanding, began intended for adults the same way that, you know, heavy metal might be.

[June Diane Raphael]

I don't even know. I mean, the human world is grotesque. The doodle world is grotesque. It's all so uncle.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And none of them seem, seem to be. None of the, none of the major characters seem to be. With the exception of Gabriel Byrne having created Cool World, the comic and so created Hollywood and all this stuff. Nobody seems interrelated really. No. Like, I don't understand who means what to who. I don't understand who are the good guys and the bad guys. I don't understand the stakes of this movie. I don't understand the rules.

[June Diane Raphael]

I don't understand why Brad Pitt is there at all. I have no idea why he's been sent to Cool World.

[Paul Sheer]

Well, let's just walk it back and just say that there's a big problem with this movie in the sense that Cool World was created by Gabriel Byrne, but Cool World existed decades before Gabriel Byrne created it. Because that's the world that Brad Pitt was sucked into after he come home from World War II and was in a horrible motorcycle accident with his mother. So.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

So mustn't have. Mustn't Gabriel Byrne have created Cool World prior to that?

[Paul Sheer]

No way.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

He.

[Paul Sheer]

That's in 1942. Like, there's no way. And they actually say in the film, I think Doc Whiskers says, we were here way before you created us.

[June Diane Raphael]

Wait, was Doc Whiskers created by Gabriel Byrne?

[Paul Sheer]

Well, I think that Cool World is Gabriel Byrne's creation in which these characters live, but yet it seems like he's just tapped into something that's in the ether because Cool World exists.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Wait, wait, wait.

[June Diane Raphael]

So you think who made Doc Whiskers?

[Paul Sheer]

Doc Whiskers, I think, is living in an alternate reality world? That's. Yes.

[June Diane Raphael]

No, I think you're right. So the very beginning, when Doc Whiskers escorts Brad Pitt into Cool World, I don't really remember what he said, but I feel like it was something. I feel like the idea is, like, you could go here. You can go into this world. You can go into that world. Like, there's tons of doodle worlds.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

You could go into the Doodle Multiverse. I felt like. I felt like Doc Whiskers says to Brad Pitt, I was trying to go into your world. You weren't supposed to come into my world. Like Doc Whiskers, when he creates the portal, you know, between Toon World and. Or Cool World, rather. And reality in the 40s, when Brad Pitt has come home in his joyriding with his mother on the back of a motorcycle, helmetless, and gets into an accident, and he gets sucked straight into cool world. And Dr. Whiskers or Doc Whiskers, I'm not sure if he's a real doctor or if, you know, I don't know if he's an mz.

[June Diane Raphael]

Doodle Doctor.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

A doodle doctor?

[Paul Sheer]

Yeah, he's a. He's a doodle doctor.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

So. So he. He. But he says, I was trying to put. I was trying to go to your world. I wasn't trying to pull you into my world. And then. But what I couldn't figure out then is we make the time jump to the. Whatever, the 90s, and Gabriel Byrne is in prison. Right.

[Paul Sheer]

Which is not really touched on. He murdered someone. He is a murderer.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

He's a murderer.

[Paul Sheer]

He murdered a man who was sleeping with his wife. And that is so gentle. It's just mentioned we don't get any sense of that. I mean, also Gabriel Byrne, when we meet him in prison, he's released, and he goes home to his House which looks like it's been kept up fine.

[June Diane Raphael]

Okay, here is my main. While there's so many issues, how long was he sent away?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Great question.

[June Diane Raphael]

Murdering a person. Great question, Noid. Two years?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

One.

[Paul Sheer]

Yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

Okay. Because here's. Here's the timing of it. His neighbor's daughter, that girl, whoever she is, who is obsessed with him, has such a, like, intense connection with him. I couldn't really understand why. But how could she have known him? He must have been put away for, like, years or.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I tried to figure that out as well, because I was like, why do the neighbors care so much about him? You know, they come over unannounced in the middle of the night, all. Also, the mother and the daughter appear to be the exact same age, which they look like, confounded.

[June Diane Raphael]

No, it was. You know what? This was the 90s, when if you were, like, 13, you dressed like you were 37, maybe.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

But they just seemed.

[June Diane Raphael]

They.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

When she said mom, I was like, oh, I thought these were, like, roommates. Anyway, regardless. Yeah, I couldn't tell, like, was he returning to the house he'd always been in, or was he a new neighbor that they got to know and, like, that we just didn't see off camera?

[Paul Sheer]

It looked to me like he pulled his car into the driveway in the same clothes that he left prison in and got right back to work drawing Cool World. The cartoon or the comic book? Because, by the way, also, in this world, Cool World, the comic book is enormously popular. He goes to a comic book shop to buy his own work. The comic book shop only seems to sell Cool World comics and the whole wall.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And are we to believe that because of the setup in prison, because he has a full draftsman's table and lamp.

[Paul Sheer]

Yes.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And everything he would need. Has he been just continuing to draw the Cool World comic from prison? Clearly allowed, basically, profit off of his own creation while in prison for having killed someone.

[Paul Sheer]

He's buying the backlog.

[June Diane Raphael]

I mean, maybe it's like an OJ Situation where everything he makes goes back to.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Goes. Goes.

[June Diane Raphael]

You think family of the Manning?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

There's a Ron Goldman type family scenario?

[June Diane Raphael]

I don't know. Because he is living in a shack.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

He's living in. No, he's living in, like, a. He's living in, like, a nice house.

[Paul Sheer]

June.

[June Diane Raphael]

A shack. That's a shack.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Wow. That is. If you think that is a shack. That is. That. That's crazy, because he's living in a perfectly lovely ranch house in the Valley.

[Paul Sheer]

No, not the Valley. He's living on the outskirts of Vegas. The outskirts of Vegas, yeah. Chime isn't just another banking app. They unlock smarter banking for everyday people with products like MyPay giving you access to up to $500 of your paycheck anytime and getting paid up to two days early with direct deposit. Chime is not just smarter banking. It is the most rewarding way to bank. Join the millions who are already banking for free today. It just takes a minutes to sign up. Head to chime.combonkers that is chime.combonkers Chime is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking Services the secured Chime, Visa credit card and MyPay line of credit provided by the Bancorp Bank NA or Stride Bank NA. MyPay eligibility requirements apply and credit limit ranges $20 to $500. Optional services and products may have fees or charges. See chime.com advertised annual percentage yield with Chime+status only. Otherwise, 1.00% APY applies. No minimum balance required. Chime card on time payment history may have a positive impact on your credit score. Results may vary. See chime.com for details and applicable terms. Hey, hey. Guess what? Valentine's Day is just around the corner and you need to know the top secret that wins every year. You know what it is? 1-800-flowers.com and I got to tell you, they rule. They rule. I have gone to many a different florist, but I'll tell you, when these 1-800-flowers come, they are the best looking flowers. They have gotten me out of some trouble and they have gotten me a lot of brownie points for thinking ahead of time. So I am passing my knowledge to you. I don't care that they're a sponsor. And this is true. 1-800-FLowers has saved my ass and let 1-800-FLowers.com save yours. Now. Here it is. What they're going to be doing with their roses is they're getting them from these high altitude farms that produce bigger blooms, richer colors and flowers that last. This year, they're making it even better with an exclusive double bloom offer. That means you buy one dozen roses, they'll double your bouquet to two dozen for free. Twice the impact without breaking the bank. So make this Valentine's one. She'll remember to get your double blooms offer. Buy one dozen get two dozen roses free. Go to 1-800-flowers.com bonkers. That's 1-800-flowers.Com bonkers to double your roses for free. A new year, colder days. This is the moment your winter wardrobe really has to deliver. And if you're craving A winter reset Start with pieces truly made to last season after season. Quince brings together premium materials, thoughtful design and enduring quality so you can stay warm, look sharp and feel your best all day season long. Now I love their outerwear. Each piece is made from premium materials by trusted factories that meet rigorous standards for craftsmanship and ethical production. See, I got this long coat. It's fashionable, it's great. I got so many compliments when I wore it to my Christmas party. Since I've been purchasing from Quince, all of the stuff has stayed in great shape. It's not like those fly by night fashions that just fall apart after the first season. No quints is quality. And I'm going to tell you this much. It's not just clothes. It's home, bath, kitchen, travel. Refresh your winter wardrobe with quints. Go to quince.combonkers for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.combonkers free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.combonkers and by the way, that's 1992, but the movie starts in 1945. So then the movie really does take a big jump from 1945 to 1992 after the first five minutes because Frank Harris, that's Brad Pitt's character, is escorted in there after a very upsetting opening. And I know this is not a kids film, but it's a PG13 movie in which they show a motorcycle getting into a head on collision with a pair of aggressively drunk drivers. Also, I guess in the first Vegas casino, the mom and him go flying off in different directions, although the mom is not that battered for flying off a motorcycle. And he goes through a terribly upsetting bout of PTSD thinking he's back in the war. He's calling for a medic. No medics arrive. And then he's just kind of sucked into the Cool World. And then we never know what happens for or we don't see the 50 years that transpires after that.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

No, we just jump straight ahead. And we jump straight ahead to Gabriel Byrne in prison, drawing Hollywood in prison. And then we go into Cool World and Brad Pitt is still, still there. He's been there for 50 years and now he's cool world's number one detective.

[Paul Sheer]

But here's the issue that I had. He, he could leave Cool World at any point. So why did he not leave Cool World? Like because at one point when he detects the goal.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

This is kind of understood at the end. And. And it was because at the end, when he's faced with the reality of having to go back to the real world in order to get Hollywood and Gabriel and in order to get Hollywood back, he doesn't want to go back to the real world because it means he has to face the. And be accountable for the. Killing his mother.

[Paul Sheer]

I think he didn't kill her, though. He was like. It would be one thing if he was irresponsible. He was hit, Paul.

[June Diane Raphael]

He was irresponsible. You don't put anyone on a motorcycle without a helmet.

[Paul Sheer]

This is 1945, June. It's.

[June Diane Raphael]

This is a time when funny little helmets. But they have helmets.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I think in 1945 there are more little helmets. No, no, no.

[Paul Sheer]

I think they were casual rules.

[June Diane Raphael]

You don't put an aging woman like that on the back of a motorcycle just for fun. Of course it was his fault. Anyone who gets on a motorcycle has a death wish. I'm so sorry, June.

[Paul Sheer]

I'm telling you that this is 1945. He'd just come home from the war. He.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

He loves his mother so much, regardless of safety protocols. I think perhaps it is just the guilt of having encouraged his mother to encourage his mother to come out for this joyride and that it led to her death, I think.

[June Diane Raphael]

And why was he driving that fast?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

No, no, he wasn't. That was those other people. The drunk driver is that fast?

[June Diane Raphael]

He was driving. He was driving pretty fast.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

We cannot lay blame at the feet of Brad Pitt here. The drunk.

[Paul Sheer]

Thank you, Jason.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes.

[Paul Sheer]

I mean, they're so aggressively drunk.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Are you saying the drunk drivers are. Brad Pitt is not.

[June Diane Raphael]

If. If you had told me he was going out for groceries and his mother happened to be in a car, I would say, of course he should completely let this go. This is a horrible accident that happened. He got on a motorcycle with his.

[Paul Sheer]

Mother, June, in 1967.

[June Diane Raphael]

I was worried before the accident happened that she was just going to fall off and die.

[Paul Sheer]

June, in 1967. That's when the government started said that you needed to wear a helmet. 1967. This is 20 years before that.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

They are. Here's the thing.

[June Diane Raphael]

Have some comments.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I think you are looking at the. I agree with you.

[June Diane Raphael]

The fucking sense.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I agree with you. But I think they are. He and his mother are acting appro. Period. Appropriate.

[Paul Sheer]

Appropriate, yes. That's all I'm saying.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Unless you can only look at it through the lens of what would people doing in that.

[Paul Sheer]

Yes.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And they are doing that. But the drivers are truly the villains of this moment.

[Paul Sheer]

They're maniacs.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

The death of his mother at Brad Pitt's feet because of no helmets.

[June Diane Raphael]

Not alone. Not alone.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

No helmets or any. There weren't. That just didn't exist. Like, the reality is, he's particularly.

[June Diane Raphael]

Here's a great option. Don't get on a motorcycle.

[Paul Sheer]

Do you ever see the Great Escape? Do you ever see the Great Escape? The Great Escape? They're riding motorcycles with no helmets. Come on.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Coming at it from an emotional point of view, not a culpability or blame point of view. From an emotional point of view. I'm not trying to legally litigate who was wrong here. From an emotional point of view, I understand why Brad Pitt is afraid to go back to the real world and face the reality of what happened to him.

[Paul Sheer]

I understand that. But that's 50 years of dealing with that guilt. 50 years. There's a weird thing going on here. To me, it seems like. I mean, why do they even need a police officer there? They're dropping anvils on things. People are milking their own breasts. Like, cars are hitting people. What is a police officer doing there?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

He's also. His badge says 001 or 01. So he's the first Cool World police officer, which is Doc Whiskers.

[June Diane Raphael]

That's what I kept on wondering. Like, what is the letter of the law in Cool World? Like, what is he upholding? Is he only making sure that noids don't have sex with Doodles? Because he's the only human there.

[Paul Sheer]

He's the only noid. So what is he protecting anyone from?

[June Diane Raphael]

Tell himself. Yeah, that's all he has to do is.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And he's adhering to that because, correct me if I'm wrong, but he's. While Interact. While Hollywood, the Kim Basinger character is, you know, represented as like the. Jess. Is it. What's. Is it Jessica Rabbit? Like the. What's the character?

[Paul Sheer]

Hollywood is. She's a femme fatale in the world.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

She's like the bombshell of Cool World. What's the. Is it Jessica Rabbit and who Framed Roger Rabbit? Is that her name?

[Paul Sheer]

Yes, it's just Jessica Rabbit. But also, in Cool World, there's no agreed upon animation. Like, her animation is wildly different than everybody else's animation too, just FYI.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And I will say there was stuff that I liked about. I wish.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah, I like that part.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I wish we'd lived in Cool World, frankly. I wished we'd lived in and understood the rules of Cool World better. Because once they Leave Cool World and go back into Vegas. I'm like, I don't care about any of this stuff.

[June Diane Raphael]

See, I disagree. My favorite part of the movie was seeing Hollywood and seeing Kim Basinger, like, be a doodle in the real world. Like, to me, that's a movie I would watch.

[Paul Sheer]

You were having so much fun at that point.

[June Diane Raphael]

I wanted it. I wanted to see her going to so Starbucks and ordering a coffee. I just wanted to see her out and about in the real world.

[Paul Sheer]

As a beetle, she got very Southern in the real world. Like, that Southern accent was kicking in the real world. Apparently, according to some of the lore around the movie, in the middle of shooting, Kim Basinger decided that she wanted to make this a children's film that she could show kids in hospitals. And so she made a very strong move to start, like, sanding off the edges of her character a little bit. And so I do believe that she does feel like she's in a different movie. And I feel like that's an active choice of Kim Basinger just being like, I'm gonna milk comedy here.

[June Diane Raphael]

I thought, she's great.

[Paul Sheer]

She's great in my mom's Alien. My stepmom's an alien. She can play physical comedy really, really well.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I mean, let's be. Let's not mince words. Kim Basinger's amazing. I mean, like, there is. Yes, there is. You'll get no arguments from. She was great in Cellular A movie. Did. She's been. And then she's. Not to mention, like, the actual movies that are Hollywood Confidential. Movies that are truly good guys. Exceptional movies.

[Paul Sheer]

Yeah.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

She's very talented. My. The juxtaposition for. For me here was. I found the storyline when it was inside of Cool World to be easier to follow. Then outside of Cool World, you know.

[Paul Sheer]

If you found it easier to follow. I want to ask you a question. So not that it means.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Not that it made.

[Paul Sheer]

Okay.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

But that I just understood a little bit more the. The. The. Some of the rules, you know?

[Paul Sheer]

Right. And I'm not. I'm not asking it in a way of, like. I'm not asking it in a way of, like, no, Jason, you don't know what you're talking about. I'm simply asking, like, I don't know if I understand it. Can you please help me? Is it the idea that Brad Pitt's number one job is to make sure that Kim Basinger doesn't fuck annoyed? And has Kim Basinger been trying to bring other noids in? Because it seems like he says to her, like, I am checking in on you. I know what you're trying to do. And so she has some sort of magical powers, which we're not really sure about, that she's bringing in Gabriel Byrne.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

You got over here, so why couldn't.

[Paul Sheer]

He make it over there?

[June Diane Raphael]

Or for that matter, why couldn't I?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

You could help me. There'll be no crossovers while I'm around.

[June Diane Raphael]

No, I got news for you, pal.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I am not your ordinary doodle.

[June Diane Raphael]

I've been checking up on what these noid dames have got going in the real world, and I want it.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It seems like the Gabriel Byrne scenario has been going on and off, you know, like he.

[June Diane Raphael]

And where were those guys coming from? And why were they.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Why Gabriel Byrne seems to be able to. But I guess. Okay, now, again, these are rules I decided for myself because I just needed them.

[June Diane Raphael]

My book set out like a. Just a book of rules for every movie you watch.

[Paul Sheer]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I write a rule book and someday I'll publish them all. Yep.

[June Diane Raphael]

Just so you can get through the enjoyment of the movie.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah.

[Paul Sheer]

But this movie. This movie does require you to make a couple of decisions for yourself, because I wrote down a few times here, I don't even know what to write. Yeah, like, you're in a world where you're like, no one's leading me by the hand.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I rewound. There was a couple of times where it moved to a different scene and I was like, oh, wait a minute, what was I supposed to learn from that previous scene? And I would rewind it, rewatch that scene and be like, oh, I don't know. I don't know why nails getting trapped in the fountain pen is, like, dangerous. Yes.

[Paul Sheer]

What is that pen?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Somehow the existence of free floating ink is dangerous. Is like a threat.

[Paul Sheer]

Well, because to me, I always thought the idea was that they could be erased.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Paul, you're holding a pen up right now on zoom. And I don't know if that's a threat or not, but.

[Paul Sheer]

Well, are you a doodle if it is. If you're a doodle, I mean. But, like, at one point, Brad Pitt takes his pen out and goes, this is a weapon here. And then he shoots ink into Nails's, like, liquor cup and he drinks it and nothing seems to happen.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Who are you?

[June Diane Raphael]

Who are you?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I didn't create you. No shit, Sherlock. What you do with this dudes? I'm a cartoonist. I drew all this.

[Paul Sheer]

I have visions. I.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

This place exists with or without you. You believe me, right? I'm not one of your Creations not pretty. Good. One ordinary fountain, right?

[Paul Sheer]

Yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

Wrong.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Around here. Sit down. Around here. This can be a big nuisance. You thirsty?

[Paul Sheer]

Nails.

[June Diane Raphael]

Get it?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

One should be careful how they wave this thing.

[Paul Sheer]

No, I. I don't get it.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Of course you don't get it, because you're a wackadoo. And around here, everything goes. Everything except one thing.

[Paul Sheer]

Yeah?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

What? Noids do not have sex with doodles. Right? Noids do not have sex with doodles. You think she's got a thing for you, don't you? That's sweet, but don't flatter yourself. She's a witch. Waste of ink.

[Paul Sheer]

Oh, yeah.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Truth is, she's been after me and every other noid who's come through here just said no one's been insane enough.

[Paul Sheer]

To get involved with her.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

You keep your pencil in your pocket.

[Paul Sheer]

You know what I mean?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Okay. So you guys know, right? Okay. We all grew up, I'm sure, watching Looney Tunes cartoons.

[Paul Sheer]

Yes.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

You know the episodes? Every once in a while, there would be an episode where the animator. Where Bugs would talk to. Or Daffy Duck would talk to the animator, and the animator's hand would come in and erase Daffy Duck's beak so he couldn't talk anymore. Or would. Or would. The hand and the pencil would come in and fuck with the drawing. Right. And it would break the fourth wall of animation to presume someone else is controlling us. We are. We do not have free will. Right. We are not.

[Paul Sheer]

Right.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

We are not characters that exist. We are the cat. We are the mouthpieces of this godlike other hand. Right.

[Paul Sheer]

It's not a space jam world where these characters are shooting their own TV shows and acting.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes. What I. What I expected was Gabriel Byrne would be that character. That. Yes. And he even says to Hollywood at one point, can I erase you? Or I can erase you? Like, he makes a threat. Almost like, I can erase you. Which confused me because I was like, oh, is that. Because that's a story I can get on board for. You know, the creator of a world gets sucked into it and has to, you know, through his knowledge of the world he created, figure out either how to get out, how to make the world better, whatever. But Brad Pitt's presence really fucks that whole thing all up because it appears as though it's Brad Pitt's movie, not Gabriel Burns movie. And that's when I couldn't figure out who are the gangsters working for. Why is it like a classic 1940s noir with a femme fatale and the bad guys and the cops chasing after them and the dames and the lingo.

[Paul Sheer]

It felt honestly like somebody took. And I know that this is probably a hacky thing to say, but someone took the beginning part of one script and then another part of script and just kind of merged them together. Because the first 15 minutes don't mesh. You're introduced to something and then they reset the entire table again. You should just start in prison with him drawing her. She reaches out and we're in. I don't even think we really even need the Brad Pitt character. Cause even at the end of the. The Brad Pitt character doesn't serve to save the day or stop any.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Brad Pitt's character has no arc, period.

[Paul Sheer]

No arc. He is not. He is not a hero. He is just along for the ride. There is nothing that he does. The only story point that we get, and spoiler alert, is that he becomes a cartoon attendant. I mean, that's it.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It's interesting. Gabriel Byrne and Brad Pitt are redundant. Yes, redundant characters because they are both on some kind of a journey. But not. But, but, but Gabriel Byrne is the only one who has real power and agency. You know what I mean? He's the only one who can change it because he created it in a weird way. But why doesn't he know Brad Pitt is there? Is what I couldn't figure out.

[June Diane Raphael]

I mean, here's the thing. I connected more to Brad Pitt's journey because I did feel like, okay, here's this guy who's suffering from PTSD and is trying to honestly accept reality as it is, that he is both not in the war and that a terrible thing has happened. And I don't know if you get like, I know what doc, I know what doc, what's his face says in the beginning. But it did seem like the fact that he was so disoriented made him more and so unable to, like, figure out what was real and what wasn't. And still in such trauma over the war and what he had seen made him more susceptible to being, like, sucked into this doodle world. Like, there was something about his brain and the way his men was happening with his mental health which made him a prime candidate.

[Paul Sheer]

Do you think his mental health. I don't think his mental health was off until he was violently thrust off that motorcycle because he seemed to have come home from the war perfectly happy. He was wearing that brand new suit. He had gotten that new motorcycle. He seemed happy. Go lucky. Unfazed by the war that he just fought. Only in that moment did his Brain get a little bit jostled. Like, I see what you're saying, and I.

[June Diane Raphael]

Well, maybe that's true, that maybe it was just triggered by him being, you know, in this terrible accident. But either way, it did seem like there was this. That he was prime to get sucked into the doodle world. But what I did like about his journey was it did seem at the end, like, I don't know, that he didn't have a purpose. Like, I kind of thought he went back to the real world to die there, to become a doodle. Like, he knew going in, yes, I'm going to try to save the universe, but I'm ultimately going to sacrifice my body and die so that I can become a doodle.

[Paul Sheer]

Why would he want to even save Cool World? Like, what is there just a hiding spot for him?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I mean, what is the threat?

[June Diane Raphael]

What was that, lovely woman?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

What is the threat that. What is the threat that Cool World and Real World will just. Because, you know. Because what happens is, you know, once Gabriel Byrne fucks the cartoon, like, so the one rule of Cool World is noids, which is what, like, humanoid, I guess, is what it is, right? Humans cannot have sex with doodles, period. Like, that's the right. That is the one enforced rule.

[Paul Sheer]

But there's only one human in Cool World, and that's Brad Pitt, who is abiding by that law to a degree.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Now, let me ask you this.

[Paul Sheer]

Yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

I mean, that is his. That is the one thing he can do in his job description, and he's the only one that could possibly break that law.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Now, does the law. So that begs the question, why does the law exist?

[Paul Sheer]

Right?

[June Diane Raphael]

Something must have happened. I mean, there were doodles before. I think they probably got really close.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Were there noise?

[Paul Sheer]

Well, let's talk about the spike, because the spike is a children's story that they tell the doodles about a doodle that escaped to the real world and put a spike in the top of a Vegas casino. And if you take out the spike, you're essentially taking the plug out of the inkwell. I mean, this is. I don't even really venture to go there.

[June Diane Raphael]

Fucking bananas.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Isn't that Doctor. Isn't that Doc Whiskers?

[Paul Sheer]

Did Doc Whiskers.

[June Diane Raphael]

Doc Whiskers.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Is it that Whiskers who escaped to Vegas?

[Paul Sheer]

Oh. Oh, I thought it was Doc Whisker. No, because Doc Whiskers said, I tried to touch the spike, but it was too powerful for me. And then she says, get out of here, dummy. I'll do it.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

No, at the Very beginning. Doc Whiskers has the spike, right? Oh, and he's using it to open the portal to Toon World.

[Paul Sheer]

Whoa. I missed that.

[June Diane Raphael]

Jason, while that was happening, I was just screaming. Yeah, I was just screaming uncontrollably.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And I was writing, why does the spike look like sperm?

[Paul Sheer]

It does. It is an odd looking spike.

[June Diane Raphael]

When I saw those cartoons show up, I just started screaming. So I missed that whole scene.

[Paul Sheer]

Well, you thought June. What I love about this show is I get to watch many a film with June and she never knows what she's in store for. She doesn't. She. She is going in completely blind. So when June starts watching this movie, I think you're thinking it's a 1940s military man come home movie. And so for you to have that pure reaction that you didn't even understand that cartoons are in it was one of the most joyous experiences I've ever had in my life.

[June Diane Raphael]

See, Doc Whiskers. Can you even imagine? Jason, Were you aware there were cartoons in this?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I did. I was. Yeah. I knew this to be.

[June Diane Raphael]

No, I had. I didn't see any. I didn't see any artwork. All of a sudden.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

No, no. This must have been very unsettling.

[June Diane Raphael]

It was.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And I. And I've never seen this movie before. And frankly, I've never seen who Framed Roger Rabbit before.

[Paul Sheer]

Oh, really?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Which is interesting.

[Paul Sheer]

It's a great movie.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I kept, when I was watching this being like, oh, I'm annoyed that I've never seen. I'm annoyed. First of all, I just want to establish. I am annoyed, but I'm annoyed because I haven't seen who Framed Roger Rabbit And I feel like a bunch of us, conversation wise, will be drawing comparisons. And I was like, fuck, I'm going to be out on that. But I knew this to be a. A cartoon world, but that it was. I. The thing that I did remember about it was that it was dirty. Like, the story around this when it came out was that it was dirty.

[Paul Sheer]

This came out prime blockbuster time for me when I was working at Blockbuster and I never rented it, but it seemed like, ooh, this is. Yeah, like this is going to be like. Like the dirty who Framed Roger Rabbit? Although I never reached out to. To get it. I just think that we're trying to explain so much. And the simple version of the film, and I think it's actually a really great idea, is like a creator being trapped within his creation. I mean, there was a John Candy movie, I think, called Delirious that was like, that like he was a soap opera writer who gets like sucked into his own soap opera and he's gonna write his way out of it. You know, I think Stranger than Fiction has an element of that. But that's the simple way in as a comic book writer.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

The idea that not only that, but what's even so much more compelling about it, which I think is such a great start point is a man like let's maybe. And I don't again because we don't get into the murder and all the rest of it. But like a man, an imprisoned man who falls in love with the woman he's drawing. Amazing. That is. That is the only way he can escape is into this fantasy world. That's. There's something quite compelling about that. Like as we. And I will say as we sit right now, many people stuck in small places stuck in quarantining prison like conditions. It is. I can imagine a world of wish fulfillment, of wishing to be elsewhere. A world in which there are no rules. A world in which there is chaos. A world. Any of that. Like, that's. I understand that.

[Paul Sheer]

But yet when he gets there, he seemingly is like in awe of it. Not like, oh, I know that this door opens up into this thing.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes.

[Paul Sheer]

Like it seems like he's a visitor in this world. He doesn't seem like he has any.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Feels like the first time he gets sucked in is the first time he gets sucked in.

[Paul Sheer]

Right. You lose. Even the fun of the master is now in the world.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

That's what I don't get. You know, Like. Like that's why I feel like if the movie had been about Gabriel Burns character and his. His like discomfort with wanting to have this love with Hollywood, but the knowledge that to do so would potentially collapse both of their worlds. That's a movie like unrequited love.

[June Diane Raphael]

This is what I don't understand. Why imprint? Why make him a murderer? It doesn't.

[Paul Sheer]

Yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

Why? Why.

[Paul Sheer]

Why don't make his wife dead. His wife dead.

[June Diane Raphael]

And.

[Paul Sheer]

And they both dealing with grief. These two men did. The one with his wife, one with his wife, one with his mother. And they both are looking for escape. And they. And they switch spots or.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

But they're both. They're both murderers. But they were. We're coded. We're coded to tell us Brad Pitt wearing gray, which is like the hero's color scheme scheme. And Gabriel Byrne only wearing black suits. A black jumpsuit in prison and black suits on the outside. Like he is meant to be the bad guy. And what I don't understand is why they don't seem opposed. They don't. They're not at odds. They are not like, it doesn't make sense to me.

[Paul Sheer]

The only thing that they're against is Brad Pitt's like, don't fuck the person that you want to have sex with, but he doesn't abide by that rule.

[June Diane Raphael]

Paul, the doodle.

[Paul Sheer]

The doodle. Yeah. Sorry, you're right. Sorry, I didn't mean to say that. And I apologize to anyone else. Yes, the doodle doodles out there. Sorry to Doles. But I also feel like Kim Basinger is character Hollywood. And Hollywood, if she could, and she did, which I think was the tagline of the movie, is the is that when she gets into the real world, she starts acting like a child, but she's very manipulative and she's living it's seemingly a very rich life in Cool World. Like, it's not like, oh, I've never touched anything before. It's like, you're in that world.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

My stepmother is an alien. She's acting as if everything is brand new to her. Where.

[Paul Sheer]

Right.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And I understand that everything is tactical.

[June Diane Raphael]

I mean, there's a lot that's new. She was two dimensional before.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Well, yes, she was. But here's what I don't understand.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yes, she was. She was a drawing.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Of course.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah.

[Paul Sheer]

But she's in a world of drawing.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Why was she able to. For example, this is where it broke down for me, where I was really like, I don't get the rules. I understand.

[June Diane Raphael]

Did you throw your book out the window? Book went out the window.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Book went out the window. You know, guess what? I'm rewriting the rules. If it's like two dimensional world, fine. And it is characters who yearn to be real. Right? Okay. But when Gabriel Byrne falls in, or Brad Pitt, I can't remember what it is. Someone burns him with a cigarette. So there is the ability for them to have cause. There's causality in their actions and reactions. Like they are not. When he goes to touch her, he is able to physically touch her. He is able to be burned by her cigarette.

[Paul Sheer]

Right.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It's not like they exist. It's not like he is three dimensional and they are two dimensional. It is Brad Pitt cups his girlfriend's face.

[Paul Sheer]

Like he puts his arm around his girlfriend. He's in a car that's three dimensional and then sometimes two dimensional. It seems like everything is working.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Why in Cool World are some settings and cars practical? Real life cars, not drawings of cars.

[Paul Sheer]

That's again and this is, like. This is where I think the Roger Rabbit comparison is really the only one to talk about where you say the rules were very clean and clear. This is what happens. This is the world. Like, here. It's a junk drawer of animation. Everything is happening to the point that it just feels like there's just like more. Dump more shit into every frame. And it's. It's a. It's. It's a met. It's a mess of. Of things. Styles, Brad Pitt attitudes.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Can't fuck a tune, a doodle.

[Paul Sheer]

Why is he there? Like, why is.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah, how does he know that? Did his boss tell him? Has there been evidence of it before? Like, what's. Did he do it once? And it went poorly? Because here's the reality. Brad Pitt's character has a girlfriend who wants to fuck. And they can kiss and they can do other stuff, I guess, but they can't kiss. They do kiss.

[Paul Sheer]

They said they can get. They. They say they can get close to it.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah, they do. They kiss on the mouth.

[Paul Sheer]

Yeah. I thought that they, like, watch each other and masturbate or something because, like.

[June Diane Raphael]

She'S like, we can do something, do that.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

They are for sure mutual masturbating. They are for sure doing hand and mouth stuff. But, like. And probably finger stuff, you know, is. Which.

[June Diane Raphael]

I don't think they're doing that.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

But like, sex. Sex makes it like a magic trick that you can then go to the real world, I guess. But I don't know.

[Paul Sheer]

Well, no, then you become real. But, like. But. But if. But if she becomes real, like, is she manipulating Gabriel Byrne this entire time? Does she just want to become real or does she love Gabriel Byrne?

[June Diane Raphael]

Of course, Paul. She's manipulating him.

[Paul Sheer]

But why?

[June Diane Raphael]

To become real.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

To become a real. Because I think it's like a lady. I think she wants to become a.

[Paul Sheer]

Real girl, but she doesn't, like, have any feelings to this person who created her.

[June Diane Raphael]

Like, no, she's like, get me. Yeah. No, she just wants.

[Paul Sheer]

She just knows that he's a sucker that will fuck her.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

That's when she gets to the real world. She's like, men, look at all these men. And she wants to smell the men. She wants.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And is that Frank Sinatra Jr. She's like, let's make love.

[Paul Sheer]

It is.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yes, it is.

[Paul Sheer]

Yeah. She said, like. She said, like, I can have sex with any man in this room or something. But then also in that scene, she starts reverting back to her cartoon shape, but it's a different cartoon shape.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Well, they both start Having like. Like fits or spasms of cartoon of tune toon stuff. Like, they both, like, suddenly. Suddenly Gabriel Burns hands are big, giant, like, toon hands or whatever. Like they're having like.

[June Diane Raphael]

Like tune episodes.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah, like, they're having, like, tune seizures and coming.

[Paul Sheer]

But I get that. But why is she turning into a different tune? Wouldn't she just turn into her own tune again?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

That's.

[Paul Sheer]

She's in a different body?

[June Diane Raphael]

I thought I actually liked that cartoon, that doodle that she was turning into. I thought it was really funny. I just think she. It almost felt to me like whatever that doodle was, was an earlier version of Hollywood.

[Paul Sheer]

Okay.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, interesting. I thought it was just. I thought it was because they had broken this. The barrier. Like, toon shit was just, like, happening to them. Like, like freeform toon stuff. Like, it was out of control, basically. And that's why when. When more toon stuff starts happening, Las Vegas starts to become. People at slot machines start turning into Wolf Tune character. And like. And what I did, like, I like and I. And I know, like, this movie, I want to be very clear, is not good and is. It is incredibly difficult to make sense out of.

[Paul Sheer]

Yes.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

But I found a lot of the animation stuff, a lot of the animated chaos fun. Like when Las Vegas is overrun by chaotic toon characters. Like, that stuff was. I enjoyed that. Like, they did. It was like I enjoyed the kind of. But because that, to me, I was. I guess, but like, chaos. This is Toon World invading Vegas. Got it. Okay.

[Paul Sheer]

But. But my whole thought. My thought about that is if Toon World invades Vegas, then it just becomes cool world.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Right?

[Paul Sheer]

So why would you want to create another cool world?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, I don't think. I think it's like. I think it's like. I think this is akin to a multiverse story and that, you know, and that if you open a. If once you start. If you travel between multiverses and try. If you go. It's like, you know, Rick Remender's Black Science or any number of. Of. Of. Of, you know, multiverse specific comics or anything like this. When you are. When you're talking about going between things, the effects are catastrophic on both ends. Right? Like.

[Paul Sheer]

Right.

[June Diane Raphael]

So.

[Paul Sheer]

Right. So she doesn't intend to create another Toon world, but she does want to get the Spike. For what reason? Maybe just to become permanently real.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

That's maybe to destroy it so that, like, is she trying to destroy the Spike so that she can just be now so that nobody can come get her and bring her back.

[Paul Sheer]

I think part of it is I want to become real. Real. But she is real real. I don't know. And I. And it bothers me that it's so.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah, it bothers me too. It bothers me too.

[Paul Sheer]

Today's podcast is brought to you by Squarespace. Whether you're just starting out or scaling up your business, Squarespace is the all in one website platform designed to help your business stand out and succeed online. Now, I love Squarespace because it gives me everything I need. You can offer services and get paid all in one place, from consultations to events and experiences. Showcase your offerings with a customizable website designed to attract clients and grow your business. Get paid on time with professional on brand invoices and online payments. You can streamline your workflow. Keep it all in one spot. That's right. Built in appointment scheduling? Check. Email marketing tools? Check. I have been using Squarespace forever. You can see each one of my websites, whether it's the dark web, Paul Shear Unspooled, or How did this Get Made? Is completely a unique experience and I love building there because it makes me feel free and creative to offer the things that I want to offer. Now. Head to squarespace.com bonkers for a free trial and when you're ready to launch, use the offer code Bonkers. That's B O N K E R s to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain on ebay. Every find has a story. Like if you're looking for a vintage band tee, the one you wore everywhere until you lost it. Now you're on ebay. And there it is. The things you love have a way of finding their way back to you, especially on ebay. From rare collectibles and vintage cars to designer fashion, it's all there. Shop ebay for millions of finds, each with a story. EBay things people love. He's Kenny Maine, the funny guy from espn.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Formerly, he's Cooper Manning, the more intelligent and handsome of the Manning brothers.

[Paul Sheer]

And he's Brian Baumgartner. But to me, he'll always be Kevin from the Office. Yeah, you and everybody else together.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

We're the hosts of the new comedy golf podcast, we need a fourth from Smartless Media and SiriusXM.

[Paul Sheer]

It's like a cold beer after a round.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

You hear the strangest and most bizarre.

[Paul Sheer]

Golf stories from our friends, athletes, celebrities and comedians.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It's all about how much we love golf and how much we hate golf. New episodes are out every week. Listen now and subscribe wherever you get your podcast. Could Just be anywhere, just on a couch. Doesn't matter. Here's the thing about Cool World that is very true, and it's also true for alternative comics at the time. Cool World is like sexual depravity. Like, it is a world of lasciviousness. Like, like, it is like the. The world that existed in like, in the kind of. In the alt comic worlds of like the 70s and 80s. Like, like. Like, I'm talking like, you know, Crumb. And all this stuff that was beyond was. It was a lot of like, sexual lasciviousness. Creating. Creating animated and cool. Not cool, but animated. The animated cool world aesthetic. Aesthetic felt to me like those 70s, 80s, erotically charged, lascivious. Like cartoon. Like, I'm trying to think of a couple of Fritz the Cat, Heavy Metal, all have this kind of stuff as a part of it.

[Paul Sheer]

And I do like that. I like. I like that idea. Like, that is emerging of so many styles. Like, there's like a Frank Frazetta kind of images in the background, and they're like simple Looney Tune images. She's a little bit more of like a modern day, like, cartoon character. Like, there's so many different things. And then when, when Gabriel Byrne. And we haven't even talked about this, and this will be, you know, we're getting towards the end here, when Gabriel Byrne turns into a superhero that kind of looks like, like a traditional, like, Shazam.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

He looks. Shazam looks like he's, He's. He looks like he's basically got Shazam's color scheme.

[June Diane Raphael]

And he looked like Gaston from the Beauty and the Beast and.

[Paul Sheer]

But why would he transform so crazily into that character that has nothing that looks like him?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And I mean, like, is that what.

[Paul Sheer]

He'S always wanted to be?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Cool World doesn't seem to have superhero archetypes. You know what I mean? It isn't like a cool. It is like a seedy underworld. Like, it's gangsters and. And she's. She. You know, like Hollywood seems to be like a gangster's mall. And like everything. The archetypes are 30s and 40s gangster movies. They're not like superhero stories. They're not Silver Age DC superhero world. They follow them, find themselves in. They find themselves in what looks like, like a noir. It looks like a femme fatale setting up a dupe to kind of get one over on him. It's. It's more like a. It's more like a film noir in its kind of setup. She's just using Gabriel Byrne as leverage to get into the real world like that, you know, blah, blah, blah, all the kind of. And the cops are corrupt and everything. Nobody's seen. None of it seems though I'm grasping at all of the kind of little things to try and make order out of it. But they're really. There really is no goal. There's no stakes, there's no protagonist, there's no antagonist, and there are no set rules. So it's just about. Well, and I think visual stuff and hunky Brad Pitt. I think.

[Paul Sheer]

I think that they thought they could get away with. What if we just made a movie where Jessica Rabbit was more sexual and. And. And at the end of the day, that's what they decided that they would commit to, because this is a movie that I said it was. Pitches this very simple idea about basically an estranged daughter trying to kill her father that then the script is given to somebody else and they rewrite it. Then it's given to somebody else. It was supposed to be a horror film, then it became a comedy film, and then it went From R to PG 13. Brad Pitt switched roles. Brad Pitt was supposed to be the creator of Cool World, the comic book artist, and Gabriel Byrne was supposed to be the detective. And they switched. Then Drew Barrymore dropped out, and then Kim Basinger came in and Kim Basinger decided to switch. And then Frank Bashti came to set and punched the producer in the mouth. Like, this movie was plagued from start to finish. The backstory of this movie is insane and it's a mess. And I think that what we're reacting to is some editor was in a room going like, I think this kind of can make sense a little bit, because also it feels like the animation is done in a vacuum where it's like. I don't even think Kim Basinger is basing her performance on what she does in animation in a real world. I feel like that's two separate performances.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Well, that's the thing is in Cool World, she is clearly in command and in control. She is. She's playing everybody. She's the smartest person in any room. She is without a shadow of a doubt. She's also like the. The. One of the most famous people. She's this. She's this icon in. She is the iconography. She is the iconography of Cool World.

[Paul Sheer]

Really?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes, she is it. Right. So. So it's such a powerful character that when she gets to the real world and instead it becomes more like, my stepmother is an alien. As if everything is like. Like discovery, brand new. It takes away some of what I. It takes away some of her. She is so often the driving engine in Cool World because it's what she wants that we're seeking and that when we come into the real world, all that slows down and it becomes really just like, I'm not sure what's going on, you know, Like, I'm not sure what the goal is.

[June Diane Raphael]

I mean, I imagine if we had given her another week or two to just like sit in her body and just experience like the fun, the basic functions of a body, you know, she might gain some of her confidence and power back.

[Paul Sheer]

But June, what do you think? But do you think that she's. Is that different from being two dimensional and three dimensional because she's seducing him? Like, she would seduce. Like as a three dimensional character. She. She just seems so. Like, she seems like that. That scene where the neighbors come over.

[June Diane Raphael]

I think she's having a hell of a time being a real person and is just enjoying it. And I think we're seeing her kind of on vacation where she's like, got the things she's always wanted. So y. Yes, she is a bit different and she's not as. But I. I genuinely enjoyed that part of the movie because I thought it was just fun at least. And the rest of the movie was so grim to me. And so with all these doodles. Like, it was not. I did not want to be in that doodle world. I did not like it. I didn't like seeing those things flying by. Like, it was all so unsettling to me.

[Paul Sheer]

By the way, when they go to Vegas. Also disgusting. Like, it's the only time I've ever seen Vegas in a movie that looks like Vegas in real life. It just like, yeah, dark, it's dim. It was not aspirational. It was not like, wow, it was a real gross point of view of Vegas. It's not good.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

The movie itself, it has like darkness with. In within it. You know, I mean, like the movie itself is not pleasant. You know, like there's not. There are no heroes to root for there. Like everybody is. Everybody has done and behaved reprehensibly, you know, in some way shape or form or feels. They have, you know. No, and. And maybe that's part of it, but it was really. It was a. It was. I don't know, man. It was a. It was. It was tough to watch. But I will say, and again, I am just catastrophically lonely. I really was. Like, I would like to hang out with that animated Hollywood. Like, she's looking Great. This is.

[Paul Sheer]

But she's the villain, Jason. She's the villain. She wouldn't want you. She'd use you.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

She is negative villain. But that's the point of a femme fatale. You want to fall for the femme fatale. That's what. That's why the femme fatale is successful in leading the. The. The leading man down the road to disaster and ruin. That's the. That's what's great about a noir, you know, is. Is.

[Paul Sheer]

Oh, believe me, I know. As we talk about that on Unspooled all the time.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

What's that?

[Paul Sheer]

So we talk about that on Unspooled all the time.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

You know, you guys. Have you guys wrapped that up now that the COVID has hit?

[Paul Sheer]

No, it's actually going real strong. We're doing live shows. We're really getting it out there. We're really having. Having so much fun. Just kind of breaking down these archetypes.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah, it's good to know you're really.

[Paul Sheer]

A lot of fun.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Pouring a lot of energy and effort into. Into doing Unspooled. That's cool.

[Paul Sheer]

Yeah, we. Well, you know, we got to get a lot of guests. It's hard to get guests for, you know, in the quarantine, but we're just really trying to get the. We're trying to get cool guests in the show, and that's really what the.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It's hard to get. Well, I mean, June and I are right. Right here.

[Paul Sheer]

Sure. All right, let's move on. Let's move on right now and continue here. So obviously we had opinions about this movie, but there are people out there with a different opinion. It is now time for second opinions.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It tell me, what is the message? Maybe that art is subjective. I need a second opinion.

[Paul Sheer]

All right, so, guys, these are five star reviews called from Amazon.com the average rating of this movie is 4.3 out of 5 stars. There are 412 total reviews. 67% are 5 star reviews. Only 9% are 1 star reviews. Andrew Sisnell in 2019 writes, ahead of its time. I've never seen anything like it. This is why life is worth living. All men. Five stars. Don't know what that means. That all men. I guess maybe, like, this is why we'd all love to have someone like Kim Basinger. I guess that's the point, I think. All right, this one from Destoy 777 from 2015 writes this Brad Pitt is hilariously young. Five stars. Very low bar for the five stars. And there are some really interesting ones in Here, this one is a lot of these. Douglas Helvey. My daughter loves Cool World. Jeannie M. Rasmus My daughter was looking for Cool World. I forgot it existed. I bought it. It's perfect. And then I wanted to read this final one for you here. This is a little bit longer, but it's kind of great. It's from JC it was written in 2003 and it goes like this. The title Cool World is meant to be a sarcastic quotation. Holly seems to portray evil in the most appealing way. There's a lot of evil going on in the background and foreground of this film throughout. The temptation, I believe, is the main subject. But there are other subjects tackled in the movie as well. If you have only seen this movie once, it deserves a second look. And if you still don't get the message, then I can only say that Cool World is a reflection of the people who really are. And it's ironic that so many people seem to hate this film. You simply can't compare this to who Framed that movie was a typical Disney flick. Cool World is a satire of our society. Five stars. There's one line I didn't put in because I didn't know how to get it in here, but this great World, it goes this great line. Cool World is a complex film and it was written as a puzzle for people to figure out later on. Wow, five stars.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I do think you can look at Cool World, and I'm sure the writer somehow this was the writer's like, ha, ha ha. I do think Cool World slash, you know, it's not for nothing. Her name is Holly Wood. I think Cool World and, you know, Hollywood are supposed to be like, you know, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Like, I think it's supposed to be.

[Paul Sheer]

It should have been Los Angeles instead of Vegas, though.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Exactly it be should. I think it's meant to be a place of avarice and vice. Like it is where you push down all of your grossest urges and desires. Because that seems to be what the people of Cool World concern them. Everybody in Cool World is a bad guy. Everybody is a villain. Everybody is a crime boss. There are no In Cool World, you never go to, like, a light venue. You never go to, like, a pleasant place. All of Cool World is seedy and gross and dangerous and people are duplicitous and liars and nobody can be trusted. I don't get it. Like, I don't understand what the movie is trying to show me about humanity or about ourselves. I don't know what it's meant to show me about relationships. I don't know what its message or theme. I don't know what the theme of this movie is.

[Paul Sheer]

Well, I mean, do you think that we should listen to JC and like, watch it a couple more times and see if we can unpack it?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Here's something I will say, and I'm very, very reluctant to say this. I don't want to say this, but.

[Paul Sheer]

Oh, no.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

This movie is as close to a Jacob's Ladder scenario as I've seen in a very long time.

[Paul Sheer]

Time.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

You know, guy gets hit in the first scene on a motorcycle. He first goes into wartime. Flashbacks. And then as he's dying, he. This cartoon thing that he's aware of, this comic book or whatever, he just imagines.

[June Diane Raphael]

I'm so sorry. Is he dying, though? Is he dying?

[Paul Sheer]

He could have been. I mean, he was hit. I mean, he was hit head on. Studebaker.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

His mom.

[June Diane Raphael]

Mom dies. But he doesn't look like he's sustained. He's talking, he's conscious. He, like, gets over to her. He doesn't look like he is sustained. Like, devastating.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I agree, I agree. But we might.

[Paul Sheer]

But the mom only has a little bit of blood coming out. The mom only has a little bit of blood coming out.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Like, I'm also saying he's mentally fractured. You know, like, maybe this. Maybe it's not a Jacob's Ladder scenario. Maybe if they. How about this? If they pulled back at the end and he was like in a mental institution, just drooling on himself and the cool world comic book was in his lap, would you be like, ah, that's what this all was?

[Paul Sheer]

Yes. But by the way, here. Here's a better version of this story. I don't know if either of you remember. There's a TV show back when I was a kid called Amazing Stories. It just kind of came out with it again on Apple tv. But there's a great episode about, like a World War I or World War II pilot. They're in a bomber and he's an animator or an illustrator. And they're being under. They're under attack. And he starts drawing like a wheel for the plane, a cartoon wheel. And it becomes real. And he actually saves the day that the plane lands, like on this cartoon wheel. Like, he's able to, like, take his drawing into the real world. And I think the problem with this movie is we are introduced to a lead character, like that opening scene. Like, if he's been getting through the war by making these comics great, like, if he's the original Artist. If he's the Stan Lean, then Gabriel Byrne took over after he died.

[June Diane Raphael]

If we think that he read comics, sure, yes.

[Paul Sheer]

Like, let's see him connection.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Let's see him first in a foxhole. Everything's going crazy around him, and the only thing he's clutching is that comic. And then gave.

[June Diane Raphael]

Listen, if we knew his mom read comics, waiting for him to come home.

[Paul Sheer]

So many ways to go. But I guess the question that only matters is, would you recommend it? Jason, I'll let you go first. Would you recommend this film?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

You know, yeah. Yeah, I'm gonna say yes. I mean, it's a fucking weird movie. It's a weird.

[Paul Sheer]

You did a 180 there early on. You said you wouldn't, and now you've come back. I think that this movie, this conversation, maybe it is a puzzle that we're unlocking.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I would. I mean, like, this is. I think it's. It is.

[June Diane Raphael]

Hmm.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Listen, if you've listened to the podcast and you've gotten to this point and are waiting to decide whether to watch it, I think you'll know what you're in for. So I say, yes, watch it, because I think there's a ton of.

[June Diane Raphael]

And then that's on you.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes, that's on you, I think, because. Because there are huge problems with it. Structurally huge. It really is a confounding jumble of nonsense. But within that, I think there is some incredible Ralph Bakshi art. I think there is some incredible animation. I think there is really fun, weird side characters, side bits of physical comedy in the cartoon world that are fun and interesting to watch. Like, I was still drawn to watch it. It wasn't. It was annoying me because it was confusing and needlessly so. But I would recommend watching it for its. Look. Look, there are not many movies that do this, you know, There are not many movies that attempt this big swing. This is without question a failure. In no way is this a success. But there's something about it that. If your expectations are, this is going to be a mess, but there's interesting stuff in it, then I. I'm. I'm always. I always think, listen. Also, I will say wolf watch Ralph back. She's the Lord of the Rings. It. Like, it's unbelievable.

[Paul Sheer]

So interesting.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

You know, I mean, it's like. Like this is a master at work. So it's. It might not be a good movie, but there is. There is somebody incredible doing. Doing stuff in it. That being said, it's bad. It's a bad movie. It's not worth It. And if you are watching it and are like, I don't understand what Jason's talking about, I hate this, please feel free to turn it off.

[Paul Sheer]

June.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah, I agree. I mean, it's something to see. It's something to rest your eyeballs on, and that's kind of it. So for me, I don't care for animation. I don't. It doesn't. I've never connected to it. I just don't. Again, I love Two Framed Roger Rabbit, but I don't. I'm not gonna watch something for the animation. And so I just didn't really. Nothing dazzled me in that world. I loved the transformation of Hollywood into a real person, and I liked her in that and I liked her performance. And I thought there were some really fun moments when she became a human, but that's kind of it. It's a bunch of gobbledygook and doesn't add up to anything. Again, I just. I really. I can't impress upon the audience enough. Just imagine. Just watch. Watch the first. I would say watch the first 20 minutes after listening to this podcast and just think about what I went through having no context for what was about to happen.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And also watch the first 20 minutes and realize how little you understand what's going on.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yes.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

You know, like, there I was a full 40. I looked 40 minutes in and I was still like, what's going on? What's this? What story are they trying to tell?

[Paul Sheer]

Yeah, maybe we're telling you. If you watch this movie, know that it's kind of hard to wrap your head around so you can enjoy it and you can really kind of parse it out. Like, you're not dumb for not getting it.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

No, we've just wash over you, you know?

[Paul Sheer]

Yeah, let it wash over you.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Those movies, that's a good, like, stoned watch, where the visuals are delightful and funny and weird and crazy and you don't need to worry about the story because that's. I think. I don't know. That's kind of what I feel like would be the satisfying part. Is the. Is the tune is the Cool world. All the nonsense of the cool world. Like that, like, I loved, you know, like, it scratched a lot of my animation itches. Like, I don't know. That seems like a bad building. And they pan up and the building is like this huge circular tower. And I was like, yeah, I like that. I like. I like dumb jokes like this, you know, like that are. That are fun, you know?

[June Diane Raphael]

You know what I wish they had done?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah. But the movie is just like, tough stuff for Roni.

[June Diane Raphael]

You know what I wish they had done? I wish they had more fun with, like, the dimensions of people. Like, I wish Hollywood was either a lot taller than the humans or like kind of little. You know, I feel like there were opportunities to just have more fun with humans being in that world and then conversely, doodles being in the real world that those, those opportunities were missed.

[Paul Sheer]

I'm gonna put it down on my list of definitely watch it, because very rarely on this show am I this confounded or this kind of like, wait, what? And there is a joy in the. The amount that we have done this show to feel that, like, to feel it non stop for the hour and 45 minutes. It. It really continues to turn a screw of. Of confusion that I found it to be a unique film that I think is above the fray and how crazy it is, you know, so that's three across the board.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

The movies that I feel like I find that I would not recommend are movies that just do the thing and then it's all lateral moves from there. It's all just more of the same and it's like, who cares? Boring, right? This movie does not do that. It changes the game and the rules every couple of minutes so that it really keeps you engaged but infuriatingly confused.

[Paul Sheer]

I talked about how this movie had, like, very difficult, like, production issues. But the final straw was the promotion of this movie. The studio literally placed Hollywood, the character, on the Hollywood sign. Like, they built an extension on the Hollywood sign with her. And she's giant. She is as big as the D in Hollywood and she is sitting on the D. And people freaked the fuck out. Like, that has never been done before. Like, and I've seen some pictures of it. You can Google a picture of Hollywood on the Hollywood sign. People were angry. This movie angered people on every single level. I joked before about the tagline, which I did know, but I will read it to you. The tagline of the movie is, Holly would if she could, and she will. That's the tagline. And the movie, the budget was $30 million and it grossed 14 million. And I think with that, it's a perfect way to end and say, Jason, June, anything you guys want to plug?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

June, anything?

[June Diane Raphael]

No, I just, I just want to say again, thank you to all of. All of the nurses and doctors and everyone who's out there working hard at taking care of people right now, especially in the healthcare industry. I'm just so appreciative.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

That's all I Think there's a lot of great. There's a lot of great. I will echo June sentiment, especially to the medical professionals, the first responders, people who are out there on the front lines of this, you know, absolute catastrophic nightmare that we find ourselves in. Thank you. You're doing absolutely, you know, incredible work under unbelievable duress and in a scenario in which we find ourselves on a ship that appears to be leaderless and without any. Without any rules. Thank you to people who are trying to make sense of what is going on. And, you know, the more that we can provide any solace, distraction, the more that we can, through putting out podcasts or consuming things or whatever, pointing you towards things that can provide some sense of relief. You know, like, I know we've been hearing from people who are like, grateful for the ability to kind of tune out the nightmare and the world and the news and just have a bit of fun and a bit of levity with the. The. I know I feel it when I see new episodes of my favorite podcasts pop up. So hopefully we are that for you guys. We're happy to be here and I'm glad that we are still doing it. Makes me happy to see you guys on zoom and talk to you guys about dumb movies that it might seem trivial or silly in this time, but I know there's thousands and thousands of people out there who, when they see our podcast pop up in their podcast app, know that they are excited to have this time with us. And I am grateful for you guys and I hope that, you know, especially those of you out there who are working in those dangerous fields and are on the front lines of this. I hope that you guys are enjoying these episodes and know that we appreciate you.

[June Diane Raphael]

Well put, Jason.

[Paul Sheer]

And I will. And I'll just kind of continue this pass along of supporting all these amazing people. I also just want to give a shout out to all the delivery drivers, the people that are waiting in lines in supermarkets to do your supermarket shopping for you or to go to your Target or working in your favorite restaurant so it doesn't close. And you know, the people that are working on the front lines of, for lack of a better term, comfort. Like, there are so many people that are out there that are doing so much and you know, from FedEx drivers to delivery people and mail workers and everything like that, I just, I want to give a huge shout out to them and they're spending a lot of time in their cars and I've talked to so many of them about having this on with them and So I really appreciate that. I know for me, small businesses are really important. I really want to make sure that if you're in your community, we're trying to help, whether that's ordering in a meal once a week or if that's supporting your local comic book shop, which is actually something that I've been doing with my new Marvel series that Jason's going to be on. We're just talking about local comic book shops and how you can get out there and support them. These small businesses that surround us that we maybe sometimes take for granted need our help right now. So, you know, I think there's a lot of ways to get in and support our community.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And a lot of these small businesses are really operating in a very dangerous, small margin. So they are really under threat. And I think there's also too, you know, a lot of. If you are in a position where you are able to give money to places, there are places that need it. You know, like we did a big mouth table read that benefited feeding America.org the Parks and Rec episode that aired last week raised millions of dollars for a couple of different organizations. So, like, there are. And those, those things remain up on YouTube. They are. They are things you can watch an episode of Parks and Rec, a new episode. You know, there are things that you can watch for entertainment sake, but that are also giving you an opportunity to donate directly to well vetted, well sourced charities that need your money.

[Paul Sheer]

And by the way, we are also doing that here at. How did this get made? We have two shirts that are. All the proceeds go to Feeding America. That's our Quarantine Buddies shirt and our Geshe and Gert shirt. That's, you know, Annabelle Gish and Jamie Gertz on a shirt designed by Pete the S Man Skedace. And we actually saw Annabelle Gish wear a Gish and Gertz shirt. So all that money goes right to Feeding America. But thank you all for. Oh, Jason's pulling it out right there.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I've got my shirt right here. I'm wearing.

[Paul Sheer]

I love my Gish and Gertz.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I plan on wearing it when we inevitably meet Annabeth Gish and Jamie Gertz.

[Paul Sheer]

It's gonna be great. It's gonna be a great episode. And also, I wanna thank everybody here at Earwolf for all their tireless work of putting this show together. Not only the people that work on the show, like Avril and Nate and Molly every week, but the people that are literally keeping Earwolf afloat. And that is our producer Cody and our engineer Devin. Our team is absolutely amazing. July. I'm sure everyone is going through a lot of stress and the way that Earwolf has kind of jumped in and like Jason was saying, like, continue to produce these podcasts and made it easy for people to produce these podcasts has just been absolutely mind blowing. So I just want to say a thank you to all of them. Essential workers indeed. And we will see you next week on the mini episode. Make sure that you give me a call at 619Paul ask. 619Paul ask. You could talk about Cool World. You can explain what I got wrong or you could just talk about your personal life. I solve problems on that thing. So give us a call. 619 Paul ask. And that will be next week for the mini episode about Cool World. We will see you next episode. Bye for now. He's Kenny Maine, the funny guy from espn.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Formerly, he's Cooper Manning, the more intelligent and handsome of the Manning brothers.

[Paul Sheer]

And he's Brian Baumgartner. But to me, he'll always be Kevin from the in the office. Yeah, you and everybody else together.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

We're the hosts of the new comedy golf podcast. We need a fourth from Smartless Media and SiriusXM.

[Paul Sheer]

It's like a cold beer after a round.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

You hear the strangest and most bizarre.

[Paul Sheer]

Golf stories from our friends, athletes, celebrities and comedians.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It's all about how much we love golf and how much we hate golf. New episodes are out every week. Listen now and subscribe. Wherever you get your podcast could just be anywhere, just on a couch. Doesn't matter.

[Paul Sheer]

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