LJ (7:45)

About Passion Play, I believe the, the.

Paul Scheer (7:48)

Reason why she had wings and they were like bird wings is because he.

LJ (7:51)

Saw that bird right before he died.

Paul Scheer (7:53)

Oh, my God, lj. It was there all along. That is. Wow. Every now and then, y'all blow my mind. And lj, you just did it. All right, well, now everything's gonna pale in comparison. Am I right? Let's see. Oh, next caller from New Mexico. What do you got?

Tano (8:16)

Hello, Carl John Scheer. This is. My name's Tano. Tano, longtime listener, first time caller. I have a tiny bit of insight on the location shooting for. For this ridiculous movie, Passion Play. So I recognized the place in the scene where they sort of, they sort of set up a reveal for Happy to see that the angel actually has wings. And they're in this, like, theater, and they open up these doors and he can see through the binoculars. That is the Santa Fe Opera. I recognize it. It's an outdoor opera theater that only performs in the summer. So that explains why you could see when they look through, there's snow on the ground everywhere. Clearly it was the off season. And that's how they got, you know, this rinky ding production must have gotten hold of the Opera House. So the opening of the doors, that is a thing at the Opera House. It's an outdoor theater, and they can open up the back of the theater. So during a performance, you can sometimes see through all the way into the distance.

Paul Scheer (9:17)

Love the show.

Tano (9:19)

See you later.

Paul Scheer (9:20)

You know what? When I said I shouldn't even play another call because, you know, LJ kind of knocked it out of the park, that was actually a perfect call because it was good information. It wasn't mind blowing, nor was it trying to be. It was just information. And I give it an A for info. And finally, let's go to Liz.

LJ (9:42)

Hey, Paul, Jen and Jason. My name is Liz. I was listening to a recent episode about Passion Play. About eight minutes in, you mentioned if someone is a physics professor, they could examine what you were talking about in that particular scene. And I thought, my time has come because I teach physics in Wisconsin. And you were talking about the unlikeliness of Megan Fox flying around with Mickey Rourke held in her arms. You mentioned the force of gravity along with her weight or his weight. So the force of gravity actually is weight. That's what we, when we talk about an object's weight or a person's weight. We could say force of gravity interchangeably. Our weight is how hard the Earth is pulling down on us. So those aren't really two separate things. So what we'd have to look at is if she is flying at a constant height or, like, not accelerating, her wings would need to support both her weight and Mickey Rourke's weight. I'm a physicist, I'm not a bird expert, but I did some quick bird wing research. The wing strength doesn't actually seem impossible. I was looking up, like, some birds of prey, like certain types of eagles, apparently have been seen carrying prey that's up to like, 30 or 40 pounds, and those birds themselves are no more than 15 pounds. So wing strength actually. Okay, there. Now she had to accelerate to get into the air. That is going to mean she does need more force because she needs the wings need to not just keep her at a constant height or keep her going at a constant velocity, but change her velocity to speed her up. So, yeah, so she's going to need more force there from her wings still. So would the eagle if it's picking something up. So that actually seems okay. What gets brought up about the eagles and why they're able to carry so much is their talon strength really? It's her arm strength and her hand strength in holding Mickey Rohr, because that is the most ridiculous part. I did also briefly look up, like, women's records for curls in lifting competitions, and I couldn't get anything definitive really quickly, but it still seems pretty unrealistic and unlikely there. So I just thought I would share that. If you ever need any physical, I am always here to help. All right, thanks so much for all you do. Your podcast is fantastic. Makes my day to listen to new ones. And I'll see you in Denver.

Paul Scheer (11:55)

Thank you, Liz, for taking the call. Yes, physicists, we need you. Thank you for doing the research on the bird wings and the talent strength and female bodybuilding arm strength. Okay. Wow. Basically, so we are right, but man, oh, man, I guess what you're saying is possible but not likely. And you know what? I like absolutely not better than anything, but I love our physicists. So thank you, Liz, for giving us a call. All right, let's go back to the discord. Pete the S man Skadoosh writes, I have a friend who worked on this movie in craft services. She said every day, Mickey Rourke would ask for a canteen filled with milk. He would drink the milk through the day without refrigerating it. And they were worried it was spoiled by, like, hour eight when he was still drinking it. My friend assumed Mickey was off the wagon and secretly hiding liquor in it. But at the end of the day, when she inspected the canteen by smelling the inside, it reeked of spoiled milk, not alcohol. Not sure how he kept it down. Pete, I don't get. I don't get it. I need more. Oh, maybe that's why you had such a sour face. Oh, boy. IQ Weinhut writes in Charles Bukowski's book Hollywood about his experience during the filming of Barbet Schroeder's 1987 Barfly, starring Mickey Rourke as Bukowski's alter ego, Hank. He writes that the lead actor, Jack Bledsoe, AKA Mickey Rourke, was insistent that he wear novelty palm tree sunglasses in a particular scene against the wishes of both Bukowski and Schroeder. Rourke can be seen in the film wearing the exact pair of novelty palm tree sunglasses mentioned in the novel. So it looks like he got away with it at least once. Well, there it is. I mean, we know he's a. He's a eyeglass fiend where they. The wrestler, they prevented it, but not this movie. Wow. So many great corrections and omissions this week. And I gotta say, you know, look, Liz the physicist calling us. I wanted to give it to her, but. Lj, I think this week you are the winner because you blew my damn mind and you get nothing. But you do get this amazing song from Hominin. Hit it. You win nothing. If you want me to judge how smart you are, no, that's not what we're doing. If you want to chime in with your own thoughts about the latest episode, hit up the discord at discord gg hdtgm or call me at 619-Paulask. All right, coming up after the break, Jason will stop by to chat about Jason's upcoming season of Taskmaster. Also, if you're not watching Invincible on Amazon prime, you're missing out really good season. We're going to also talk about our new favorite improv podcast. I can't get enough of it. Oh, man, it's so good. But first, take a listen to this bonus deleted scene from our Passion Play episode where we talk about June's interest in the tattooed woman from Passion Play and her new love of Ink Master.

June (15:14)

I what do I want to look up is that woman with the tattoos. I'm so taken with those tattoos.

Paul Scheer (15:19)

It was really beautiful. And all I could think of is after we've been watching Ink Master. Wow, that must have hurt.

June (15:24)

If they're real, like the nipple Tattoos.

Jason (15:27)

Now that we've been watching. What do you mean, now we've been watching?

Paul Scheer (15:31)

June, Go ahead.

Jason (15:32)

Don't. You can't drop that. At the very. Now that we've been watching Ink Master.

Paul Scheer (15:36)

Oh, yeah. Ink Master is. It's big on a lot in our house. Like, and I. First I didn't start watching it, but now I can't avoid watching it. June. And our son is, like, in. It's our favorite show do seasons, and they're talking about. I. I walk in on them talking about David Navaro and. And what's going on with this team?

Jason (15:57)

Is this Kat Von D?

June (15:58)

Yeah. No, it is not, but we're not.

Paul Scheer (16:01)

We're.

June (16:02)

We're later on. We're exploring the later work.

Jason (16:04)

Okay. Is it still on? Is it. Does it exist now or are you watching? I think so.

June (16:09)

I think there are. Yeah, I think so.

Jason (16:10)

Okay. Okay.

Paul Scheer (16:11)

I mean, it just popped up on Paramount plus, and these two, they are like, what, What?

Jason (16:16)

I'm curious, what precipitated it? Like, what led it to be, like, chosen? Or was it just on in the background and you guys got into.

June (16:24)

I think that. I actually don't know. I think Gus just asked, what's Ink Master? And I was like, oh, I think it's a show about tattoo artists. And. And then there. There you have it. I mean, there's some language that's simply inappropriate for children, but that hasn't stopped us.

Paul Scheer (16:41)

It's been on for 16. 16. And currently the host is Joel Madden, right? Joel Madden, yes.

June (16:49)

So I love that you called him David Navarro.

Paul Scheer (16:52)

I give the proper respect to his name, Mr. David. David Navarro. Well, yes.

June (16:59)

Yeah. So I couldn't. Yes, obviously I love tattoos and I really want to understand that woman's tattoos.

Paul Scheer (17:09)

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Jason (20:33)

Great. I've got a bunch of other stuff to talk about this time.

Paul Scheer (20:37)

Jason, let's start off with the biggest piece of pop culture news on this show.

Jason (20:42)

You, Shoresy Season 4 coming in March.

Paul Scheer (20:47)

Jason, you are on taskmaster. People are freaking out. You don't have an air date yet?

Jason (20:53)

I don't have an air date. I don't know. But it'll be either late March or early April, I believe.

Paul Scheer (20:58)

Give us some. Just. We'll talk about it as it comes up. But maybe even we might have to turn this into like a watch along and get your take.

Jason (21:06)

Oh, funny. That would be hilarious.

Paul Scheer (21:07)

Yeah, I would love to do that.

Jason (21:08)

And it's interesting because this is something that I have been just genuinely keeping a secret at their request.

Paul Scheer (21:16)

Yeah.

Jason (21:16)

Until a week ago, or not even a week ago.

Paul Scheer (21:19)

And it's tricky because they do in front of a live studio audience. So people knew?

Jason (21:23)

Yes, hundreds of people knew because they came to the live shows that we recorded in London at the studio, at the Taskmaster studio. When was I there? In October? Was that the last time I was there? August. It started.

Paul Scheer (21:38)

Right.

Jason (21:39)

So the craziest part of this has been I've had to go to London three different trips, one of which thankfully coincided with our UK tour.

Paul Scheer (21:49)

Well, that was so interesting because I remember you're like, oh, I'm away. And I'm like, what are you working on then? You know, like this.

Jason (21:55)

Yeah.

Paul Scheer (21:55)

Because it was, it was very scattershot when you were going and when you, when you were here and away.

Jason (22:01)

And I also couldn't tell people what I was doing. I could just say I was working on a job. And that was weird. But, yeah, so I, I, I. And the way they do that show is in distinct chunks. You know, it's a week of tasks here, it's a week of tasks there that you're doing alone. And then, you know, many months later, it's a week of the studio show. And so it is these distinct pieces of the show that all get kind of cobbled together. Paul and I talk about how much we love this show. It was every bit as absolutely stupidly fun as I thought it was going to be. It was. And it's absolutely dynamite.

Paul Scheer (22:42)

Okay, just before we move on, because I want to ask one more question. Just tell me who you're on with, because we saw the promo and again, these might be people that we may or may not know. But just Give us again a little bit more taste because people do want to hear you talking about it.

Jason (22:56)

And, you know, I'll give you. I'll, you know, and I'll also like. Because this is an opportunity because I feel like people. There's going to be a tremendous amount of people who are listening to this who have no idea what Taskmaster is.

Paul Scheer (23:06)

Right.

Jason (23:06)

Who have no idea what we're even talking about and may have even not even noticed it when we mentioned it in episodes past. So Taskmaster is a British panel show, kind of like a game show type of a show, except that all the contestants are comedians, the hosts are comedians. And so really, it feels a lot more like a bits show, like a comedic. A show where people are funny and teasing each other, but there is like a. An overarching kind of everybody gets given the same tasks they need to accomplish, and how they accomplish them are usually very funny, very stupid, very silly, and sometimes very embarrassing. And then everybody gets to make fun of each other for that. And that's kind of. It's. It's. Every season is 10 episodes. It's the same five comedians for those 10 episodes. And so my cast is myself and then a tremendous British. A couple of great British standups, Stevie Martin and Fatiha El Gori, who are absolutely hilarious. I can't recommend enough people should check them out, look their stuff up on YouTube. Very, very funny standups. A. A podcaster, Rosie Ramsey, who's super funny, and she's also a. Like, she has a live show that she does then and tours. And then Matt Bangton, who people might know as the creator and one of the stars of the British version of the show Ghosts. He was also in Wonka. He's been in a bunch of stuff. He's in. He's in Horrible Histories, which is a big show there that people have seen that I wasn't aware of. Anyway. That's the five of us, by the way.

Paul Scheer (24:43)

I want. I just want. I know they have Britbox. I get it, but I want, like, I know you can get it, and I'm not asking for people to tell me where I can get it. I can get it, but there should just be an app that just streams British television. Like, give me what you got.

Jason (24:58)

Oh, well, there's. The thing is there's multiple apps that do it. Acorn TV does it. Britbox does. What is it? I4TV player. All this.

Paul Scheer (25:08)

But a lot of these, A lot of these. These shows. Taskmaster has its own app, which is great. You can subscribe monthly Yearly, whatever you want to do.

Jason (25:17)

Taskmaster, also the entirety of Taskmaster, every season, every clip show, everything they've done is on YouTube for free. So if you want to watch Taskmaster Junior, if you want to watch Taskmaster last season or the first season, really, it's all on YouTube.

Paul Scheer (25:33)

All right. I've been watching it on the app. The app goes right to Apple.

Jason (25:35)

Oh, the app goes right to the app.

Paul Scheer (25:36)

The Apple tv.

Jason (25:37)

The app is great, you know, and both are. And both are you're going to pay for a commercial, free version of this thing. Right? You know what I mean? So I guess what I'm saying is.

Paul Scheer (25:46)

A lot of these, like, not chat shows, but these, like, game shows, those are the ones that are harder to find. Like, I can find a British comedy, I can find a British drama trying to find these.

Jason (25:56)

Like, it's very hard to find. Would I lie to you? Or Celebrity Mastermind or any of. So there is, and this is, and forgive me if this is boring for some people, but there's a category of show that exists in the UK called a panel show that we simply don't have here. The closest you can come here is a little bit what Dropout TV is doing, or maybe After Midnight, sort of. There's a whole category of shows in the UK that are comedians, late night comedic talk shows in which everybody's on stage together. There's ostensibly some sort of game element, but really it's an opportunity for comedians to riff, be funny and showcase themselves. And so, like, for a lot of younger comedians in the uk, the way that they come up there isn't, you know, like, whereas here I feel like we had like Adult Swim and Comedy Central, these, these networks and these people that were fostering younger voices or up and coming voices, rather. In the uk, that's panel shows.

Paul Scheer (26:56)

What I think is so crazy is it's podcasts, right? These are podcasts. These are podcasts on television in a great way. And it seems like America is holding off from engaging that which is clearly what we want. We love podcasts. We love all this sort of stuff. We want funny people that you may or may not know in a format that you like.

Jason (27:14)

That's the vibe. You're absolutely right. The vibe of Taskmaster especially and all these other shows, a lot of them that are so comedy forward. The vibe is the same vibe you get from, from listening to our show, listening to Comedy Bang Bang, listening to comedy podcasts, which is. This is a group of funny people riffing off of each other, playing off of each Other. These shows are not scripted. They're shaggy, they're funny, they're outrageous, they're crazy. And what you are watching is the same sense of surprise and discovery that you get from podcasting or from unscripted shows.

Paul Scheer (27:47)

Right. Because it kind of. It can exist in a, you know, anytime. This is what people don't know. But a lot of times when you do these shows in America, it's very tightly scripted. As far as, here's how long your segment's gonna be. We're gonna talk about this. We're gonna do this. And one of the best things. And we were talking about this the other day, like, Taskmaster is an hour. When they brought it to America, they shrunk it down to 30 minutes. And I do think that that was one of the biggest factors that made the show less enjoyable.

Jason (28:12)

Catastrophic.

Paul Scheer (28:12)

Because it act. Yeah. Cause it really didn't allow it to breathe. It's not about, like, just get. I think always here, we're like, what's the next thing? What's the next thing? What's the next thing?

Jason (28:20)

Well, I think here we are. More interest competition. Who's going to win, who got the most points, blah, blah, blah. And it's like, competition is so paramount here and there. Again, the points don't matter. The winner doesn't matter. The, like. It's all arbitrary. The point system is dictated by Greg Davis, the host of the show, the taskmaster himself, who is. It's arbitrary. It's just. It's just. It's around. And that's what's fun about it. The show that I would compare it to, that you and I have talked about a million times that you and I were in or a couple of shows. The best version I can say for what it is to be on a British panel show that our audience might have seen is your and mine episode of Chris Gethard show. Yes. What's in the dumpster episode? Another man's trash is what it's called.

Paul Scheer (29:10)

Yeah. And it's such a. That show was so fun because they would do a live version that would stream so you could actually watch a fat version of the show, and then they would cut it down. But it was just like, little inner jokes, people having fun. There was a relaxed nature to it that I think I always really respond to, because I love Howard Stern, and Howard Stern would have long conversations, long bits, interrupting a bit to talk about something, then go back into the bit.

Jason (29:37)

Well, it's not prescribed. It's not like the show is gonna unfold like this Beat, beat, beat, beat, beat. You really don't know, like, that gethard show. You don't know what's gonna happen. Like, the other thing that I will say as an example for people is because you and I have also done this is like doing those episodes of Nicole Byers. Nailed It.

Paul Scheer (29:56)

Oh, so much fun.

Jason (29:58)

A baking show that looks like a competitive baking show for amateurs, but is really all about celebrating the failures and the discoveries and the surprises of how poorly or how well it can go.

Paul Scheer (30:12)

I don't want to pat myself on the back, but I'm going to do it twice because, well, same reason why I went on Nailed It. I was like, I want to be a contestant on Nailed it. Which they had never done before. Now imagine four comedians or, you know, cooking on Nailed It. It's a way funnier show in my opinion. Right? I mean, I love Nailed it too.

Jason (30:31)

Oh, and a bunch of comedians just roasting them the whole time, right?

Paul Scheer (30:35)

Which is kind of like the Great British Bake Off. They'll do like a Red Nose Day special. Casey June is gonna be on a Great American Bake off, which is great. Rob Riggle was on one.

Jason (30:46)

And if you want to see past guest James A Caster Past past Taskmaster guest, pass. How did this get made? Guess he has one of the most incredible breakdowns on an episode of Celebrity Great British Bake.

Paul Scheer (30:58)

And by the way, that was very hard to find, but I did find it. It's a lot of Googling. The other thing is, when I went on Family Feud, that was the other thing. They wanted my family on there. And I was like, no, I want to bring my friends who love the Family Feud on. And then it became way more fun. Now, granted, I've talked to those producers like, oh, we didn't even know what to. It was hard for us to run the actual game through it because it was so full of bits and dumb shit.

Jason (31:27)

When you see the episodes of Taskmaster that we did, you are going to watch a. I can't remember, 45 to 50 minute version of a show, like a network one hour TV show. But we shot those episodes for over three hours and in some cases longer still because they were our. Our cast was absolutely delighting in finding tangents and going sideways and pursuing conversations that Greg Davis would consistently say to the audience and to us, there's absolutely no way this will make the cut, but we're going to keep going.

Paul Scheer (32:04)

I love it. I love it. I mean, so we have a lot to talk about when that comes back up in March And April, we will dig into it more, but I just wanted to make sure that people got their, their taste of you talking about it because it has been.

Jason (32:17)

Oh yeah.

Paul Scheer (32:18)

I felt like people were coming to me and their excitement for you said.

Jason (32:23)

You said when people were like you.

Paul Scheer (32:24)

Were getting 8am in the morning, my phone was blowing up as if that's the only way to get to you.

Jason (32:31)

I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry.

Paul Scheer (32:33)

By the way, I took it in pride. I was like very. It's like you're like an Olympian. You got to go do the, you know, you're representing all of us.

Jason (32:41)

It was, it was crazy. I will say it was an absolute blast. And to do it all in secrecy was hilarious.

Paul Scheer (32:48)

Oh, I love it. I love it, I love it.

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Paul Scheer (34:24)

I wanted to talk about something else because I realized you need to talk to Jason about this podcast.

Jason (34:30)

The. This is for the comedy nerds. This is for the improv nerds. Susie Barrett's podcast called yes. Also, I cannot shut up about this podcast.

Paul Scheer (34:39)

I'm so excited about this.

Jason (34:40)

I forgive me if you have talked to me in person in the last few weeks, because all I have done is talk your ear off about Susie Barrett's fantastic podcast. Yes. Also, it is an interview podcast with improvisers about improv, about their journey in improv, how they started, what, what's. What schools and teachers they came up in. And then it's really just about the impactful lessons that you learned while coming up in improv. And then also how that. How those lessons impact your life. But then also just on a. This is where it gets really nerdy on a very process level to be given access to very smart, thoughtful discussions between incredible improvisers. Susie Barrett talking to, you know, Will Hines or Mary Holland or Lauren Lapkis or Craig Kakowski, Carl Tart, Phil Jackson. They just released an episode with our friend Chris Gethard, who we just mentioned part one. Part one, which is incredible, which is a great discussion. So, you know, it's a. It's a deep dive podcast. It's very niche in its. In what it's talking about. What I love about it is it is a very inside baseball and I mean that in the best way conversation. It is. It is. It is incredible conversations about a thing that I feel very much has been how I've. What I've almost dedicated my life in pursuit of, you know.

Paul Scheer (36:05)

Yeah, Well, I think that people like. It's such an interesting thing because I always feel like there are improv books and I've. I read them, actually. I've read Will Hines book. I think the trick is reading an improv book is interesting. I'm doing it already. I've gone through things, but there's nothing that I've ever found that speaks to me as a performer who does it. It's not about. And I think it's a conversation that we don't often have. We just do. And yeah, since you recommended to me, it's a fasc. It's just like, oh, yeah, this is what I want.

Jason (36:35)

It's interesting. I think of it the way that it's when I hear really good or watch really good interviews with musicians, you know, yes. You know, yes, we all are doing the same thing, improvising. We're all making comedy out of nothing. Right. And on a. On a. From the audience's point of view they are receiving, just performing, you know, comedians performing characters and making clever jokes or whatever, eliciting different emotional responses from the audience, whatever. But the how we do it is all different. And that's what this show gives us access to. It's not just that we do these things. It's not. Remember this show? Remember that show? It's like, are you. And this is where it gets really, where you drill down when someone like Will Hines or somebody will say, do you trust. Do you trust a. A premise based initiation?

Paul Scheer (37:31)

Right, right.

Jason (37:32)

And I'm like, okay, let's go. Because that's a great question, you know, and stuff like that.

Paul Scheer (37:37)

And so I don't even know how I would answer that. How would you answer that?

Jason (37:41)

I would trust it. But not inherently. Like, I feel like, I feel like premise based initiations are more often than not thin.

Paul Scheer (37:50)

It's.

Jason (37:50)

I have a clever premise. Okay, we can play that for a minute, but without an emotional point of view on that premise. Without knowing how I feel about that. Right. Or how you feel about it. If you just gave me a premise, boy, would I wish you would tell me how you felt about that premise. Unless that's baked in, you know, like I'm.

Paul Scheer (38:08)

Yeah, that's an interesting point.

Jason (38:09)

For me, I can always play against somebody that I know how they feel, but I can't always play against somebody that, I mean, I can't always know how to play the next move. If someone's giving me like, like, like an equation, like a, like an idea that I can tell they've got something. I'm like, well, how do you. If I don't know yet how you feel about it, like, how do I come in?

Paul Scheer (38:30)

You know, I always think it's an interesting idea. When you, like. I was taught so strongly at UCB to be like, to come in with something. And I think that like, you know, we often were. I think where improv can sometimes go really bad is when it is like, I like an initiation. I like a premise based initiation as a kickstart to a scene that then can be kind of jettisoned. Like, it's just sort of like, it gives us a place, it kind of sets some tones. Cause a lot of the times you're working so quickly. Like, I love a slower improv, but that's so rare nowadays where you can find it. Like McBrayer and I used to do slower where you just like find it.

Jason (39:11)

But it's hard to find it.

Paul Scheer (39:12)

You still do.

Jason (39:13)

I do a monthly show called Manzuka sand, that's just me and one other person do one scene for over an hour.

Paul Scheer (39:19)

See, that's. That's exciting to kind of very slow.

Jason (39:22)

You know, very slow, very quiet at times. You know, there's nobody gonna come in and tag you out. There's no rush and, you know, so the scenes become oftentimes slow and quiet at times, like real moments of silence and emotional investigation. And I think that's what it is. There's nothing wrong with a premise based initiation and the premise can oftentimes be like the substructure or the foundational elements of a good scene. But I'm saying I just want to know, how do you feel about it? Because a lot of times, a lot of times what people won't quite grasp is that it's not just to have. It's not just enough to have a clever thought or idea that could be funny, but it's, it would, it would help a lot more point of view.

Paul Scheer (40:01)

On it too, right?

Jason (40:02)

It would help a lot more if you had a point of view. Yes. Anyway, it's interesting and while we're, while we're talking so nerdily about improv and Suzy Barrett's wonderful podcast. Yes. Also, I will also shout out our friend Will Hines's substack.

Paul Scheer (40:17)

Love that.

Jason (40:18)

That is also a, I think once a week, deep dive article about improv and improvisation and the, the theater that he's started here in Los Angeles called Wegis. We just w g I s, we just. Thanks. Thanks, Matt. Yeah, Will Hines, he, you know, we mentioned his book, you mentioned his book.

Paul Scheer (40:37)

Earlier, how to be the Greatest Improviser on Earth.

Jason (40:39)

Yep. He's got, he's, I think one of the first, if not the first episode of Susie Barrett's podcast. And his substack is fantastic. And if you are interested in comedy, if you're interested in improv, if you're interested in what we do, how we came up and all that kind of stuff and the stuff we talk about, his substack would be something that I think would be great to check out.

Paul Scheer (40:59)

Yeah. Nonsense is what the sub stack is called. Yes.

Jason (41:02)

If you're an improviser out there, if you're a young person who wants to be getting into comedy, these are all resources, these are all things that. Boy, do I wish they existed when I was, I'd be, you know, in the 90s when I was a up and coming improv kid.

Paul Scheer (41:15)

Yeah. I mean it really is, it is a important, I don't know, like, I think what I Found when I came up doing improv was there were two texts that were pretty much it. It was like you got like an impro, which is a very old text that was not capturing much of anything in the Johnstone. Right. And then Truth and Comedy, which was a lot more alive, you know, and modern, but that was really it. And.

Jason (41:40)

Oh, and they were like, I don't know about you, but for me they were not. Not impro necessarily, but truth in comedy. Rodney Rothman, who I went to college with, brought Truth in comedy back to college from a summer. After a summer break. He'd found it and he'd been given it and he brought it back to us and we devoured it. We'd never seen long form improv. We were just a short form improv team doing short form games. And we read that book and we started doing the Herald in the coffee shop and it was terrible. But like, I've never been. I've never felt more excited and more alive.

Paul Scheer (42:13)

Yeah, no. And now you're getting people like McNapier or Billy Merritt, all these people who actually have a lot of performing experience write these books. And honestly, I. Well, I mean, this is my own opinion. I wish that the UCB's improvisation manual was a little bit more user friendly. It's very much a test.

Jason (42:34)

It is a. Yes, it's dense. It's dense. I also wish it had a little. I wish it was a little more playful.

Paul Scheer (42:41)

Yes. And I think it's like. And maybe in that sense that you were saying, it's good to. If you are nowhere near improv and you can't see improv, although now you can watch a lot of these shows streaming online. It's a great way to be like, okay, this is something. It's giving me a lot of examples really, but it's not a fun read. Whereas, like Truth and Comedy, like, I felt like I was alive in these scenes and I was there and I remember all those details to this day.

Jason (43:06)

Yeah. Truth and Comedy feels like it's for hobbyists. And the UCB's book feels like it is from a college course. And I mean that in a good way. It is thorough.

Paul Scheer (43:15)

Yes.

Jason (43:15)

But it doesn't have the lightness or the. It doesn't. It's not as. I don't know, it just isn't as. Yeah, I guess just that there's. It could use a little more like the joyful discovery of improv.

Paul Scheer (43:28)

I would argue it lacks a voice because it isn't really. It's more of theory than a point of view. You know, in many respects it shares the similarities with the premise based improv. It's very much like here are the. The.

Jason (43:44)

This is structure, it's institutional. It's an institution's point of view. It is not a person's point of view. So, yes, you know, and again, and each their own.

Paul Scheer (43:53)

By the way, good book to have.

Jason (43:54)

And Will Hines is one of the authors of it. I think Chris Gethard contributed to that, to the curriculum, you know.

Paul Scheer (44:00)

Yeah, there's so much. I mean. All right, that's all for this time. We'll see you next time on Just Chat. All right, everybody. Thank you, Jason. Remember, Invincible's on Amazon prime right now. I have since that conversation. Devoured. Yes. Also love it. Can't get enough of it. It's really, really good. And make sure you're checking out the dark web, which is on YouTube every single Thursday. All right, enough of my fumperin. It is time for me to announce our next movie. We're going from a winged woman to an invisible man. No rhyme, but it worked anyway. That's right. Next week we are watching a movie voted on by you. The how did this get made? Listener slash discord listener. It's the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen starring Sean Connery. I'm not gonna even attempt that again. Here's a short breakdown of the plot. A team of extraordinary figures culled from great American adventure fiction, including Alan Quartermain. Vampires. Mina Harker from Dracula, The Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde, Captain Nemo and Dorian Gray are called in to stop a villain intent on turning the nations of the world against one another. Rotten Tomatoes gives this film a 16% on tomato meter. And Jamie Russell from the BBC says the movie is destined to go down in the history books as the heaven's gate of superhero flicks. This is nothing more and nothing less than an extraordinary waste of time and money. And honestly, I can't agree more. This is a. How did this get made? Don't watch, just listen, but also listen to the trailer.

Jason (45:38)

Their powers are legendary. Their origins are unknown. Their methods are extreme.

OnDeck (45:49)

But when our future's at stake.

Jason (45:54)

They'Ll.

OnDeck (45:55)

Be the world's last hope.

Paul Scheer (46:02)

And the game is on.

Jason (46:03)

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Paul Scheer (46:06)

You can watch this on Amazon Prime, Apple tv, Fandango home. And here's the thing, people. Check out Hoopla, Canopy and Libby. Those are digital media services provided by your local public library that allow you to access movies, TV, music, audiobooks, eBooks, and comics for free. And before we wrap up, today's episode. We have a brief return to Mailbag. That's right, Cody is back in the producer's chair and she is bringing us Mailbag to listeners Brianna and Reid, who sent us an invitation to their wedding. Jason, June and I cannot attend. No. We will be recovering from our spring tour, but we wish you all the best. That's it everybody. Thank you for listening to Last Looks. Make sure you buy our tickets to see how did this get made on the road. That's right, we're going to be on the road and coming to towns maybe near you, I don't know. Go to HDTGM for tickets. If you listen to us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, please rate and review us and make sure you are following us and have automatic downloads turned on. It helps the show and we really appreciate it. Visit us on social media at HDTGM and the conversation on our Discord continues at Discord GG hdtgm. A big thank you to our producers Cody Fisher, Molly Reynolds and our Movie Picking producer Avril Halley and our associate producer Jess Cisneros and our engineer Casey Holford. We'll see you next week for the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Katie Nolan (47:39)

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