
Neil Casey (Big Mouth) and Emily Heller (Barry) join Paul and Jason to discuss the 1992 sci-fi horror film The Lawnmower Man starring Jeff Fahey and Pierce Brosnan. LIVE from Largo in LA, they talk about the Stephen King short story that the movie is based on, virtual reality sex, smart chimps, and so much more. (Originally Released 11/25/2016)
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Ben Mankiewicz
You know, when you go get your car serviced, it feels like everything is wrong, right? Oh, you need to fix this. You need to get that done. And it just feels like, am I getting taken for a ride? Well, with Midas, you don't have to deal with upsells, intimidation, or unnecessary stress from oil changes to tires. Midas provides the services that you need and doesn't pressure you into services that you don't. Midas believes in honest, straightforward auto care that you could Trust. Welcome to AutoCare without bad service. Visit Midas.com for a location near you. Talking Pictures the podcast from TCM and.
Jason Mantzoukas
Max is back with a new season.
Ben Mankiewicz
Here host Ben Mankiewicz in intimate conversations with the people who live to make us laugh. Carol Burnett, Bill Murray, Paul Scheer, Henry Winkler, and more all join Ben to talk about the movies that made them. Talking Pictures isn't just about film. It's about the powerful role movies play in our lives.
Jason Mantzoukas
It's about where you were, who you were with, and what you were feeling.
Ben Mankiewicz
Listen to Talking Pictures on Max or.
Jason Mantzoukas
Wherever you get your podcasts.
Ben Mankiewicz
Every memorable gift starts with a story. And what better gift to give this holiday season than giving something that represents pure power?
Jason Mantzoukas
Nature's power.
Ben Mankiewicz
I'm talking about Jefferson's Ocean Bourbon and Jefferson's Ocean Rye.
Jason Mantzoukas
They are aged at sea.
Ben Mankiewicz
They have dealt with elements that you could only dream of. You'll taste the journey in every sip.
Jason Mantzoukas
It's darkened by the pound waves, it's kissed by ocean air and it's caramelized by equatorial heat.
Ben Mankiewicz
Give the gift of adventure. Give Jefferson's Ocean Bourbon and Jefferson's Ocean Rye. Please sip responsibly.
Jason Mantzoukas
Copyright 2023 Jefferson's Bourbon Co. Crestwood, Kentucky. It's like my mama always told me, don't pick on the simple handyman because one day he'll become the Internet and pixelate your ass. We saw the lawnmower man so you know what that remain how did sports a naked grow a baby in his belly Rock a rhinestone vest while ripping just into Kelly or maybe see a burlesque show Wouldn't it crow and take a boat with speed to hit and cruise control J man Big Paul in the beautiful June gonna take you from the goo all the way to the room Random games of street Fighter Hope to blow off steam Just a sucker punch the odd life of Timothy Green shark Niggle the bird Demic how we staying alive they call it in the badass and he's on the line cr 88 minutes cause they cool as ice Cause the bad Jim Barney looking kind of nice. Paul and June getting literal. Jason is getting laid. June is making sure all the monkey shots getting paid. They judge a bunch of movies while they making the grade. Here's a real question for you. How did this get made? Hello, people of Earth. Good luck and hello, people of Largo. We are live here in Los Angeles at the Largo Theater, our home. We love this. We are very excited to talk about a movie that predicted the future. It's a movie that talks about the dangers of VR and what better antidote to what we're going through in this society than this film? I am so excited to talk about it tonight with you, but let me be first joined by my co host. Please welcome Jason Manzoukas.
Paul Scheer
What's up, jerks?
Jason Mantzoukas
What's up?
Paul Scheer
How we doing, Los Angeles? Paul. How are you, Jason?
Jason Mantzoukas
I am great. I love hearing that theme song. And when you come see a live show, there's a video that accompanies it.
Paul Scheer
Yep.
Jason Mantzoukas
And I feel like I catch something from it every time, but I love it. And I want the guy who recorded that Maru to kind of do an updated version.
Paul Scheer
I agree. That's so funny. As I was watching it, I was like, so much new has happened. There are so many new verses he could write. And I think everybody would agree this song needs to be longer, longer updated.
Jason Mantzoukas
Let's get it going.
Paul Scheer
By the way, I'll also say this. The gauntlet has been thrown. Anybody can record a theme song, 100%. We will likely put it on the show.
Jason Mantzoukas
90% of the times we're putting the show right away.
Paul Scheer
I have no quality control.
Jason Mantzoukas
Very little filtering is going on. If you can get it. If I get it, it's going in a file.
Paul Scheer
Some of you bands are out there, you're on the road, you're in stupid vans. You're listening to our show. So pull over, write a theme song, send it in.
Jason Mantzoukas
Vampire Academy rhymes with so many things.
Paul Scheer
Yes. Come on, you guys. Give back.
Jason Mantzoukas
And then we need a talented person to cut together a theme song for it that has a video component. Anyway, don't worry about it.
Paul Scheer
Free work for us.
Jason Mantzoukas
We need more free work. Well, Jason, we are not joined tonight by June Diane Rayfield. Sadly, she is not here, but we have two amazing guests. Two amazing guests that are going to blow your mind.
Paul Scheer
Oh, me? I thought you were talking to the audience. I was and I. I know who it is. I promise my mind's not gonna be blown. Only because I was standing over there with the mic.
Jason Mantzoukas
Why? Just as I was looking for you to be like, sorry, sorry. I wasn't backing up. You know.
Paul Scheer
You know what? Let's do it again. Let's do it again. Take two. Let's take it back. We're gonna edit this part out.
Jason Mantzoukas
No, we gotta keep it in for, you know, for reality's sake. I mean.
Paul Scheer
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jason Mantzoukas
You know. Yeah, exactly.
June Diane Raphael
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jason Mantzoukas
This show is all about keeping the.
Paul Scheer
Show is about the truth.
Jason Mantzoukas
Amen.
Paul Scheer
Transparency.
Jason Mantzoukas
Transparent.
Paul Scheer
The show, season two.
Jason Mantzoukas
Love it. Cast a transparent. Next week on the show, the entire. It's gonna be a very. It's a lot of talking.
Paul Scheer
Yep.
Jason Mantzoukas
But we will finally do the Phantom Menace. Cast a trans.
Paul Scheer
We are not doing the Phantom Menace. Full transparency. It's not gonna happen. Cause I say, as I've said many times before, it's the best Star wars movie that's ever been made. Jk. It's a nightmare. I wept. I saw it on my 30th birthday. Wept openly in front of the woman that I was in love with. I believe that to be the beginning of the end of our relationship. I think she saw true weakness within me.
Jason Mantzoukas
I was right there with you. Saw it opening day. Had to see it twice in the same day to admit to myself that it wasn't good.
Paul Scheer
Wow. Thought to myself, the pod racing sequence wasn't bad.
Jason Mantzoukas
No, that was not bad. That was bad. It looked pretty cool and the opening was cool. I mean, it looked really cool. When I left the theater, I was like, oh, I was too excited to enjoy it. That's why I didn't like it. Then it went, that's adorable. Yeah, that's how I.
Paul Scheer
That's adorable that you really, like, lied to yourself.
Jason Mantzoukas
That I was.
Paul Scheer
I cried at the end of the movie and my girlfriend at the time was like, what's wrong? And I like, it was terrible.
Jason Mantzoukas
I remember.
Paul Scheer
And it was my birthday.
Jason Mantzoukas
That was rough.
Paul Scheer
But I was an adult. It's not like it was like my 11th birthday, three hours. I was a grown man.
Jason Mantzoukas
I remember that our good friend Rob Riggle was coming back from.
Paul Scheer
One of our greatest of friends was.
Jason Mantzoukas
Coming back from Iraq at that point or Afghanistan. And we were like. He was like, I can't wait to come back and see Star Wars. Like, ah, maybe we hold off on that. Was he jackass instead?
Paul Scheer
Oh.
Jason Mantzoukas
All right. So we have two amazing guests tonight. Please welcome our first guest. You can see him in a brand new Fox show called Making History. But you also just saw him as the villain in Ghostbusters. Please welcome Neil Casey.
Paul Scheer
Yeah. Hello, Neil. Hi.
Jason Mantzoukas
Hello, Neil. When did you see the Phantom Menace and what was your opinion of it?
June Diane Raphael
I saw the Phantom Menace. I was a senior in high school.
Jason Mantzoukas
Wow.
June Diane Raphael
And I went to go see it at midnight when it came out.
Paul Scheer
Cool.
June Diane Raphael
And the same thing. I needed to see it. I saw it three or four more times to make sure.
Jason Mantzoukas
Oh, I definitely saw it four times in the theater. Yeah.
June Diane Raphael
Yeah, I saw it a number more times to just make sure that I wasn't missing something good. You know, it was as if it.
Jason Mantzoukas
Was like some sort of decoded message that was there that I.
June Diane Raphael
It was sort of like, I'm insane. I must be insane.
Jason Mantzoukas
There was. Didn't even occur to me that it could be bad. Like, that was never even the thought.
Paul Scheer
Yeah, well, that's like. It's like we lived in a different time then. Yeah, we lived in a different time where people didn't betray us like that. We lived in a pretty kingdom of a crystal skull universe.
Jason Mantzoukas
I literally went to a movie theater that was playing the Brad Pitt movie Meet Joe Black to watch the trailer.
Paul Scheer
Also a movie we should do.
Jason Mantzoukas
Oh, yes, they played the Star wars trailer before it. But then to keep you watching the whole movie, they also played it at the end of Meet Joe Black. So I watched Meet Joe Black, which was like two and a half hours.
June Diane Raphael
It's over three.
Jason Mantzoukas
Yeah, it's over three hours. But this trailer is amazing.
June Diane Raphael
And then after the Star wars trailer, at the end, they show the Brad Pitt getting hit by the car again.
Jason Mantzoukas
Which made it all worth it.
June Diane Raphael
After, after.
Paul Scheer
Do you remember when you couldn't just watch trailers?
Ben Mankiewicz
Yeah.
Paul Scheer
Like, half of my life is spent just on Apple movies. Trailers, my favorite. Just watching them all. Boom.
Jason Mantzoukas
I woke up the other morning, watched Rogue One. I was thrilled on my phone. So good.
Paul Scheer
Our lives are awesome.
Jason Mantzoukas
Really quickly though, before we get into our next guest, Neil. So making history. Brand new show on Fox. It's Lord Mill. It's a Lord Miller show.
June Diane Raphael
Yes, Lord Miller Show. Adam Pally is the star with Leighton Meester. And yes, for Lester. It's really funny.
Jason Mantzoukas
Yeah. So it's a time travel show. And you are. Are you a person in the past or future? Where are you at?
June Diane Raphael
I am a guy from the past. I'm a founding father.
Jason Mantzoukas
Oh, very interesting.
Paul Scheer
Hamilton. Hamilton, Are you in the room where it happens?
Jason Mantzoukas
Do you rap? Rap, rap, rap, rap.
Paul Scheer
Hamilton. Hamilton. Hamilton.
Jason Mantzoukas
Megan. Hey, Terry.
Paul Scheer
Hamilton. Hamilton. Hamilton.
Jason Mantzoukas
I'm in there.
Paul Scheer
Hamilton. Hamilton. Hamilton.
Jason Mantzoukas
Hey, hey, hey. I hate you, George.
Paul Scheer
General Washington.
Jason Mantzoukas
You disobey me?
Paul Scheer
Now get there.
Jason Mantzoukas
Over here. Over there.
Paul Scheer
It's a duel. Aaron Burr. Aaron Burr. That's right. Lin Manuel Marin. Screw you, pal.
Jason Mantzoukas
Not that high.
Paul Scheer
We just took him down a peg.
June Diane Raphael
Our.
Jason Mantzoukas
Our next guest is a super funny comedian, and she has a podcast called Baby Geniuses. Please welcome Emily Heller. Your mic is right there.
Emily Heller
Thank you, Emily.
Jason Mantzoukas
Any feel about Star Wars Phantom Menace?
Emily Heller
I haven't seen Star Wars.
Jason Mantzoukas
Really?
Paul Scheer
What?
Emily Heller
I was hoping to not have that be the first thing I said on your podcast.
Jason Mantzoukas
But you know what? You joined the rank of my wife, June, who's a girl.
Paul Scheer
Yeah, my wife.
Jason Mantzoukas
My wife, who also has not seen it, but she feels like she might have.
Emily Heller
Well, okay, I saw her.
Paul Scheer
That was a great June. That's a perfect June concept.
Jason Mantzoukas
I definitely haven't seen it, but I feel like I might have.
Emily Heller
I've seen the first one that was ever made, and it was boring, so I didn't watch anymore.
Jason Mantzoukas
Wow.
Emily Heller
Should I leave?
Jason Mantzoukas
You know what?
Paul Scheer
Wrong audience, Emily. Wrong audience.
Jason Mantzoukas
It's a room where we can all share an opinion. You know, half of these people are.
Paul Scheer
Building Doctor who cosplay copies, and the other half thinks those are the nerds.
Emily Heller
I wanted to just backtrack a little and say, Campfire Anatomy rhymes with Vampire Academy.
Jason Mantzoukas
Ooh, I like that.
Emily Heller
I thought of that, and I've been waiting to come out to say.
Jason Mantzoukas
And by the way, Campfire Anatomy would go perfectly with sleepaway camp because it's campfire, and there's a very big anatomy thing in that movie. Oh, yeah, she's got a penis. Cause she does.
Paul Scheer
And also, how about this? Take the remix version of the song and remix that. A remix of a remix?
Jason Mantzoukas
Guys, we're open to ideas. You have a podcast. It's called Baby Geniuses. Tell us the pitch for Baby Geniuses. What happens on Baby Geniuses?
Emily Heller
Baby Geniuses is a podcast where me and my friend Lisa Hanawalt, who is the production designer of BoJack Horseman, she's a cartoonist.
Paul Scheer
Yeah, I just watched all of the episodes of BoJack Horseman in, like, two weeks.
Jason Mantzoukas
It's funny.
Emily Heller
It's so good.
Paul Scheer
It's terrific.
Emily Heller
It's very terrific. She designs all the characters on that show. She and I talk about, like, dumb Wikipedia pages, and we do a different Wikipedia page every week, and then we have people on and have them talk about something weird that they know too much about. Like, Emily Gordon talked about the Harlem Globetrotters, which she's, like, really into things like that.
Paul Scheer
Did she talk about their visit to Gilligan's Island?
Jason Mantzoukas
What oh, this is one of the best episodes of Gilligan's island of all time. Yeah, they come, they get stranded, but then they, of course, get rested. But Gilgan's people stay.
June Diane Raphael
Exactly. Enough seats for 20 guys.
Jason Mantzoukas
But they play a great game of basketball in it. Oh, my God.
June Diane Raphael
Generals drown.
Paul Scheer
This is a real episode of real television.
Jason Mantzoukas
I believe it was a movie. Like a movie event. It wasn't even a half hour.
Paul Scheer
It was like a TV movie.
Jason Mantzoukas
It was sort of like, you know what? We can't cram this into 22 minutes. We got to give it a full 90.
Emily Heller
I just want to know, was there a fight in the writers room of Gilligan's island about whether or not they could do that? Was there someone in the writers room being like, you guys, we can't do this?
Paul Scheer
No. You know why there wasn't? Because almost every other week, someone else crashed. Crashed into the island, visited for a while, and then found a way off. Except for the people who arrived on the SS Minnow.
Jason Mantzoukas
In a way. In a way, I think the production designers are like, great. We get to build a coconut basketball court. Yeah, I'm in. Well, I am so excited that you're both here to talk about this film, which is. I think you could probably make a lot of fun about the Lawnmower man in the sense that, oh, it's dated and the graphics are dated. But.
Paul Scheer
No, I think I am. I am pitching, currently a movie. Lawn Mower Man 2. Oculus Drift.
Emily Heller
Wait, but they made a Lawnmower Man.
Jason Mantzoukas
They did make a Lawnmower Man 2. What? Yeah.
Paul Scheer
The joke didn't land, and it was Illumina. Things are not going well for me.
Jason Mantzoukas
I mean, yes, we will talk about the graphics, but this movie is bonkers from start to finish. To sum up the plot, if you've not seen the movie.
Paul Scheer
Yes, please, Paul, sum up the plot.
Emily Heller
This will be helpful for me.
Jason Mantzoukas
Also, I have a hard time doing these, so they never quite come out simple. But here's what I would say. So everyone kind of takes advantage or makes fun of this simple minded lawnmower man. And then a local scientist says, well, why don't you be my VR guinea pig? And the experiment goes too far. And then he becomes the Internet.
Paul Scheer
He also becomes like an X Man.
Jason Mantzoukas
Yeah, he does.
Paul Scheer
He gets like, as all, like, Stephen King kind of people that get powers. He gets, like, telekinesis and telepathy.
Jason Mantzoukas
Well, let me.
Emily Heller
But it's also like, she's all that. Cause he gets sexy, too.
Jason Mantzoukas
Yes, his hair. His hair goes Gets more coif. Yeah, yeah.
June Diane Raphael
And he stops wearing his cartoon costume of a simple minded person with a yellow shirt and overalls.
Paul Scheer
Starts wearing a tasteful button down beginning. He's basically dressed like Stewie Griffin from Family Guy.
Jason Mantzoukas
Well, I'll even. I'll even go one further and go. Is the lawnmower man inspiration for Simple Jack from Tropic Thunder?
Paul Scheer
They both, I think, yes.
Emily Heller
Oh, my God.
Jason Mantzoukas
They both wear the same exact outfit. We're looking at a picture of Simple Jack and Jobe together. And then also they could also just be part of the dumb and dumber family as he looks a little bit like Jeff Daniel.
Emily Heller
Oh, my God. They definitely based Jeff Daniel's hair on him. That's definitely the joke job is to.
Jason Mantzoukas
Say he's a cartoonish portrayal of a simple minded person is being very kind.
June Diane Raphael
To simple minded cartoons.
Emily Heller
Well, he's also dressed like a scarecrow who I notorious for wanting brains.
Ben Mankiewicz
You know, when you go get your car serviced, it feels like everything is wrong, right? Oh, you need to fix this. You need to get that done. And it just feels like, am I getting taken for a ride? Well, with Midas, you don't have to deal with upsells, intimidation, or unnecessary stress from oil changes to tires. Midas provides the services that you need and doesn't pressure you into services that you don't. Midas believes in honest, straightforward auto care that you can Trust. Welcome to AutoCare without bad service. Visit Midas.com for a location near you. Talking Pictures, the podcast from TCM and.
Jason Mantzoukas
Max is back with a new season.
Ben Mankiewicz
Here host Ben Mankiewicz in intimate conversations with the people who live to make us laugh. Carol Burnett, Bill Murray, Paul Scheer, Henry Winkler, and more all join Ben to talk about the movies that made them. Talking pictures isn't just about film. It's about the powerful role movies play in our lives.
Jason Mantzoukas
It's about where you were, who you were with, and what you were feeling.
Ben Mankiewicz
Listen to Talking Pictures on Max or.
Jason Mantzoukas
Wherever you get your podcasts.
Ben Mankiewicz
You already love DoorDash. And now there's even more to love with the new DoorDash Dash Pass annual plan benefit.
Jason Mantzoukas
All right, here it is.
Ben Mankiewicz
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Paul Scheer
When did, like, there was a point in the movie where, like, too late in the game where I was like, whoa, Pierce Brosnan has an earring in this movie. What is this? That's like when you watch the after videos of Game of Thrones on HBO Go. And DB Weiss has an earring. A cartilage ring up here. One of the showrunners of Game of Thrones, I was like, what's going on right now?
Jason Mantzoukas
I also like the trope of Pierce Brosnan. Like, he's a scientist, top of the field, VR scientist. And he's like, super sexy. Like, this is the height of Pierce Brosnan being sexy. So they gotta give him glasses. It's like the thing that they do is throw in these glasses, man, it'll make you look a real nerd.
Paul Scheer
But tons of shirtless scenes for him.
Jason Mantzoukas
Yeah, he's shirtless and glass. I don't want to see that combo.
Emily Heller
Well, there was one shirtless scene. I was counting.
Paul Scheer
No, there's more than one.
Emily Heller
Is there more than one with. Well, there's more shirtless scenes with Job.
Paul Scheer
Job is shirtless.
Emily Heller
Job is shirtless. But Pierce Brosnan, I feel like only once.
Paul Scheer
No, there's a couple others. Really get in business.
Emily Heller
All right.
Paul Scheer
Pierce Brosnan in this movie is named Larry. Never felt right. Yeah, never felt right.
Jason Mantzoukas
Larry the VR scientist.
Paul Scheer
Larry. Larry. Larry. What are you saying, Lar? I was like, who are they talking to? And there's no way that the handsomest man, the man who would be Bond, Remington Steele, is named Larry.
June Diane Raphael
And it's clearly written for another actor. All the stuff with his wife. Cause from minute one, she's like, fuck you.
Paul Scheer
I'm outta here.
Jason Mantzoukas
She's an excuse.
Paul Scheer
She never comes back. Yeah, his wife leaves him and he's like, okay.
Emily Heller
She.
Jason Mantzoukas
Well, by the way, I felt like he would.
Paul Scheer
Because he wouldn't take her to the city. The city. What?
Emily Heller
Well, it Was. It was like, I feel like they maybe shot more scenes with her and then cut them out because they adr her saying, I give up at the end of that scene.
Jason Mantzoukas
You are right. The wife is around in the, in the director's room.
Paul Scheer
That's the extra 30 minutes.
Jason Mantzoukas
Yes.
June Diane Raphael
He has lunch with her in Washington.
Paul Scheer
Before he speeds back, he's like, finally, here we are in the city.
Jason Mantzoukas
But my question about her. They showed his life with her as if he was a petulant child living with his parents. Is he living with her?
Paul Scheer
He's like, I don't want to be around people right now.
Jason Mantzoukas
I'm going to the basement to smoke and play video games. Girlfriend.
Paul Scheer
She's like, I'm going to put on a tank top and very blousy pleated pants. Tight on top, very large on the bottom.
Jason Mantzoukas
I would say. Well, I just want to tell you the tagline of the movie. This is the tagline of the movie. God made him simple. Science made him a God.
Paul Scheer
By the way, I'm on board for that.
Jason Mantzoukas
God made him simple. Now, how many people here believe this is a Stephen King movie? What with boo? It shouldn't be a boo.
Emily Heller
Yeah.
Jason Mantzoukas
Oh yeah. What the. No one believes it's a Stephen King movie.
Paul Scheer
What do you mean? No? It says Stephen King's the Lawnmower Man.
Jason Mantzoukas
Well, well, well.
Paul Scheer
There's a possessive s on it.
June Diane Raphael
What?
Jason Mantzoukas
Stephen King sued.
Paul Scheer
What?
Jason Mantzoukas
To get his name removed from this movie. It is not a Stephen King movie.
Paul Scheer
Really? He wanted it to be Alan Smithies. The Lawnmower Man.
Jason Mantzoukas
Well, I can kind of give you the idea of what basically happened. So Stephen King wrote a seven page story called the Lawnmower man where as if I understand it correctly and someone maybe can describe it better, a guy's lawnmower is broken. He calls the lawnmower company to come over. They come over. The lawnmower man controls the lawnmower sentiently and kills a weasel in his backyard. The guy sees the weasel get killed. He's like, oh. And he passes out.
Paul Scheer
Is the weasel Pauly Shore totally baddie weasel? It's a real episode episode, but it's a short story.
Emily Heller
So it's just in parentheses. It's Polly Shore.
Jason Mantzoukas
He sees the weasel get killed. He passes out.
Paul Scheer
A lawnmower man does.
Jason Mantzoukas
Or the homeowner hires a lawnmower man and then he wakes up and the guy's like, hey, my boss teaches me how to control things with my mind. You want to get on board with this? The guy's like, no, and the Lawnmower man kills him. That's the story.
Paul Scheer
Oh, in other words, it's the movie we just watched.
Jason Mantzoukas
Okay, so to help us unpack the.
Ben Mankiewicz
Stephen King short story this movie is.
Jason Mantzoukas
Based on, let's go to Tim, our.
Ben Mankiewicz
MVP from the audience who sang the.
Jason Mantzoukas
Second Opinion theme in the Gamer episode. Tim, take it away.
Paul Scheer
So I've got more information about the Larry King. Larry King. The Stephen King short story.
Jason Mantzoukas
Yes. So he hires the lawnmower man, and.
Paul Scheer
Then the guy loves lawnmowers or something and hears the lawnmower and goes, now that's a lawnmower. So he runs out to see what's going on. The lawnmower is mowing the lawn by itself. The overweight lawnmower man has taken off every stitch of clothing, and he's crawling behind the lawnmower, eating all the grass clippings.
Jason Mantzoukas
So then the lawnmower.
Paul Scheer
Cool, cool, cool.
Emily Heller
Veers off. That tracks.
Paul Scheer
The lawnmower veers off and kills a mole. So the guy skitters over there and eats the mole. The mole? Yeah. Earlier I told you it was a weasel.
Jason Mantzoukas
Sorry. I was trying to compact it, because I did know some of these facts, but as I hear them, as I read them, it didn't make sense. And as I hear it, I'm like, what the fuck was a seven page story?
Paul Scheer
So after he passes out and gets woken up, he notices the naked man, the naked man's feet that appear to be cloven, and he's revealed to be a Seder that worships Pan. And then he ritualistically sacrifices him, and.
June Diane Raphael
Then there's six more pages.
Jason Mantzoukas
So basically what happened was the studio had the rights to the Lawnmower man, but this movie was written already.
Paul Scheer
Oh, wow.
Jason Mantzoukas
And the script was already done, and it was called Cyber God had nothing to do with the Stephen King story.
June Diane Raphael
Job must have worked at the fucking gas station.
Jason Mantzoukas
Yeah, yeah, right.
June Diane Raphael
In the original script, I bet you. I bet you in the original script, Job worked at the goddamn gas station.
Jason Mantzoukas
Makes way more sense they needed to.
June Diane Raphael
Redo the whole thing to have him.
Jason Mantzoukas
Mo lost, because I think that's the only connection to. So they said that the early versions of the film claimed to be Stephen King's, but they just put a couple elements in to make it the Lawnmower man, which was a title that they owned. And so Stephen King sued the movie to remove it. And New line's like, nah, we're not gonna do it. And then the court's like, no, you have to. And they're like, no, we're not. And then. And they left his name on it. And the court's like, no, no, seriously, you have to. And they're like, no. And then. And then they finally.
Paul Scheer
Of New Line.
Jason Mantzoukas
They finally did it.
Paul Scheer
It's like, real coquettish because New Line is such a flirt.
June Diane Raphael
New Line's picking up her princess phone, ankles up on the bed.
Paul Scheer
Who's this?
Jason Mantzoukas
The only reason that they got them to take it off is because they said, we'll charge you $10,000 a day for every time that this. That you don't take it off. And then they. All right, we'll take it off. And then when they release it on home video, they're like, Stephen King's a lawnmower. He's like, hey, no. So this is not technically. Not a. It's not even as, like, things that are interpreted for the screen. This is so far away from a Stephen King. This is about a murderous. And I think the Lawnmower man reveals himself to be part animal, part man. And that thing, like, he's a Greek God. Yeah. I mean, the book is crazy, but yeah. So whatever. And then they made a sequel called Beyond Cyberspace. And then they just changed it to Job's War, but I don't think Job was in it. So that's some stuff for you to know as we talk about.
Paul Scheer
I wish that had clarified anything. Cause it doesn't.
Emily Heller
No.
Paul Scheer
Well, one of the major disappointments for me was that none of the monkeys lasted longer in the movie. I was. And I also. The minute we started the movie and there was, like, lab monkeys, I was like, ooh, June's gonna have thoughts on this. So I hope at some future date we get to hear June's thoughts on the chimps that were in this movie. Whether they were paid how much.
Jason Mantzoukas
Well. And how to wear that costume, the RoboCop costume. I would like to show you the original. The director's cut of the movie is a little bit worse. The monkey isn't killed in the beginning. The monkey escapes and teams up with Job.
Paul Scheer
Fuck. Yeah. And so into this now.
Jason Mantzoukas
So this is when the monkey and Job first meet. So just take a look. I got some strawberries. Somebody in that tree. The monkey is scanning him. VR Monkey has a dog.
June Diane Raphael
Man, what are you doing here?
Jason Mantzoukas
Monkey has a gun in the room.
Paul Scheer
Very tense.
Jason Mantzoukas
Non threat. Monkey determines he's not a threat, puts on the gun, his VR glasses open.
Paul Scheer
What the is happening?
June Diane Raphael
It's the priest of the chopper.
Emily Heller
What's this?
Jason Mantzoukas
You could hide in my shed. Sh.
Paul Scheer
Man.
June Diane Raphael
Nobody could find you there.
Jason Mantzoukas
Yeah. So basically, Job adopts the monkey.
Paul Scheer
Whoa. The monkey is wearing way more stuff in this.
Jason Mantzoukas
The monkey is in full RoboCop costume. And then from. I guess what happens is as the scientists break into Job's little apartment and murder the monkey in front of Job's. Murder him in front of.
Emily Heller
Oh, my God.
Paul Scheer
That's amazing.
Jason Mantzoukas
That happened.
Emily Heller
I would have such a hard time isolating that as the problem with the movie that you need to cut out. Like, which executive was like, cut that part. And then the rest of it is fine.
Jason Mantzoukas
Just make the monkey. We'll make the monkey get killed in his dream, by the way. When they reveal that the monkey is escaping and shooting the security guard. Then they cut to, like, Pierce Brosnan waking up from a nightmare. Yes. And you're like, oh, was that a dream? And it wasn't.
Emily Heller
It wasn't. Then they call him to tell him. Him that that happened.
Paul Scheer
So is he psychic?
Emily Heller
Is he psychic?
Jason Mantzoukas
Or is he having another nightmare and it just happens?
Emily Heller
Another nightmare we don't get to know about?
Jason Mantzoukas
I'm naked, and I don't know the lines of the school play. What? What the monkeys did. Oh, what a bummer.
Paul Scheer
We also get the monkey in these shots in the beginning. We get monkey point of view. The movie begins inside the cave. Like, the monkey looking back and forth between Pierce Brosnan and his other guy.
Emily Heller
Cause they didn't want to have to shoot a monkey.
Paul Scheer
Yeah. Oh, for sure.
Emily Heller
There's a bunch of parts where it's just, like, the top of the monkey helmet. Just, like, where it's like.
Paul Scheer
Or fake monkey hands on the bars.
June Diane Raphael
The camera's too high.
Jason Mantzoukas
Brian. It's a monkey. The first thing that we're understanding is they're testing VR on monkeys. Okay, sure. It was a long time ago. Okay. Like, I remember that movie with Matthew Broderick, Project X where they were, like, teaching monkeys to be, like, pilots, and there's nuclear radiation and stuff like that. Makes more sense. VR a little confused about why you'd need to test it on a monkey.
Paul Scheer
How would you know what was happening?
Emily Heller
You would get no feedback.
Paul Scheer
Like, the virtual world that they've created means nothing to a monkey. And how would you measure what the monkey's reaction was?
Jason Mantzoukas
And I guess they were training the monkey to be a soldier. But when you see the virtual world, it looks nothing like anything that a soldier would encounter.
June Diane Raphael
And even in the monkey's point of view, it's telling the monkey facts. In English. Threat.
Paul Scheer
Yes.
June Diane Raphael
Not a threat, Mother.
Paul Scheer
But also. Also the monkey's antagonists are animated monkeys.
June Diane Raphael
To make it make sense to the monkeys.
Paul Scheer
So the monkeys shooting other monkeys. But, like, I don't think that this VR is preparing the monkey for a impending monkey war. Now, I don't think that's what's happening.
June Diane Raphael
But neither is the Windows 95 tile magic game.
Emily Heller
Yeah.
Jason Mantzoukas
Oh, my God. Well, let's just add one other level to the VR here. And all of this is happening while the monkey's in a centrifuge of some kind. The monkey is in arms.
Paul Scheer
One of those circular.
Emily Heller
Circular like Westworld gyroscopes.
Paul Scheer
Shadow Da Vinci.
Jason Mantzoukas
No reason for anyone in VR to be in a full gyroscope.
Paul Scheer
Nope.
Jason Mantzoukas
Like they. They are splayed out. Like David. Or not David with the man.
Emily Heller
Origin of man.
Paul Scheer
It's like that nonsense. What? Shut the fuck up. You fell for it, dummies. Who cares?
Jason Mantzoukas
But yeah, it's like, why would you ever need to be weightless in VR?
Paul Scheer
Why would you need to be moved around, like, in chaos? Like that?
Jason Mantzoukas
But I gotta tell you, four minutes in, the monkey was murdering somebody. I was like, I'm in.
Paul Scheer
Before the monkey murders someone, the monkey picks a lock. They were like, click, click, click, click. And I was like, what?
Jason Mantzoukas
How.
Paul Scheer
How does a monkey know how to pick a lock?
Ben Mankiewicz
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Jason Mantzoukas
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I've used this for a long time. Right now my son and I are watching the Steph Curry masterclass where we are learning. Well, he is learning. I'm watching how to be a better shooter. There are so many great deep dives in here. David Sedaris Before I wrote my book, I listened to his Masterclass and watched how he edited and worked through all of his pieces. I love it. I have given it to people and they have thanked me. Masterclass always has great offers during the holidays and sometimes up to as much as 50% off. So head over to masterclass.com hdtgm for the current offer that's up to 50% off at masterclass.com hdtgmmasterclass.com hdtgm I want.
Jason Mantzoukas
To talk about the way that people treat Jobe, the simple lawnmower man. Now, there are two types of reactions to Job. Well, three maybe. One, he's simple. Let's treat him sweetly. Probably the normal one. Two, I want to fuck that guy. Yeah, a little off center. And then the. And then the third and the most upsetting is fuck you simple man. You piece of shit garbage pumping gas.
June Diane Raphael
At my gas station. Fuck you.
Paul Scheer
But what's interesting is one of the people that shares that last view is a priest. Yeah, no, like that's another. Like everybody in this everybody in the movie is either abused or being abused in all in a myriad ways. Like there's the priest is abusing Job. There's the father is abusing the son and the wife The Next Door Neighbors. This movie exists at a time when, like, Abuse was, like, cool.
Emily Heller
Yeah.
Paul Scheer
Where people would see the guy. They're all watching Pierce Brosnan.
Emily Heller
That's the first thing we see of Pierce Brosnan is he's looking out the window. He sees that guy beating his wife and his child. And he just goes, yep.
Paul Scheer
He's like, wait. And he's like, guess I'll light a cigarette and try and fuck my wife.
Jason Mantzoukas
Wait.
June Diane Raphael
Yeah.
Paul Scheer
And then later, they're all outside and they see the guy I pull up, smack the kid around some more and be like, get in the house. And they're all like, all right.
Jason Mantzoukas
But they need to talk about, oh.
Paul Scheer
I guess it's 1992, when this is cool.
June Diane Raphael
They needed the real beating at the top because you'd be on the dad's side if he just pulled up. He's like, did I tell you not to put the fucking bike here? Don't hang out with that asshole. It's dinner time. Like, I'm on that dad's side if I didn't see him smacking him around before.
Jason Mantzoukas
My favorite part of the dad coming home getting mad is that he was still wearing his construction hard hat, a yellow construction hard hat out of the fucking Village People. Like, oh, God, if I'm gonna work.
Paul Scheer
12 hours on the site.
Emily Heller
He drove home wearing it.
Jason Mantzoukas
It's not a comfortable hat. I was saying, like, that, like the determining thing so far that we've noticed in the Stephen King films that we've done Monkey pov, that was in Monkey Shines, everybody's an asshole. That's a big thing. And I said sentient lawnmowers. And we'll get to that in a little bit. But so far, these are three things that have been in Stephen King movies in the past. Maximum Overdrive also had a sentient lawnmower. Really?
Paul Scheer
Oh, all the machines were sentient, sure.
Jason Mantzoukas
But I'm saying a lawnmower is in there, so. Yeah. I don't understand why they're so mean to this guy who can't even buckle his overalls. He seems to be really productive.
Emily Heller
Always off of his overalls. He also, like, walks funny. Like, he was like. That was a character choice that he was like, well, this guy also doesn't know how to walk.
Jason Mantzoukas
Jeff Fahey made some choices.
Emily Heller
He made a lot of choices.
Paul Scheer
Like, the billing is Jeff Fahey and Pierce Brosnan, like, together.
Jason Mantzoukas
Finally.
Paul Scheer
Wait, what was Jeff Fahey's character on Lost? Frank?
Jason Mantzoukas
Oh, yeah, the pilot.
Paul Scheer
Thank you.
Jason Mantzoukas
But that's it. What do you think the relationship between like, okay, like the Irish guy, the priest, Harry. Yeah, the Irish guy, the priest and jobar and anything.
Emily Heller
So there's the priest. He lives in the. In the church, I guess, in like the attic of the church. And the priest beats him and then.
June Diane Raphael
But he does pay rent.
Paul Scheer
But he pays rent to live in the shed.
Emily Heller
And then also the shed seems to.
Jason Mantzoukas
Be in the woods sometimes too.
Emily Heller
And then there's another Irish guy who. His main relationship is like, I guess he drives him to moans and then tries to tell him to fuck ladies.
June Diane Raphael
He's always hovered around saying, go for.
Emily Heller
It, go for it.
Jason Mantzoukas
You eat the priest, you walk.
Paul Scheer
The priest also comes around and beats Job with a belt. It's like, take your shirt off so I can beat you with a belt, you animal.
Jason Mantzoukas
And then Terry too sees it.
June Diane Raphael
He's like, oh, is father making you do penance last night? Yeah, well.
Paul Scheer
And then Terry's like, go on, talk to that lady. And the lady's like, I guess we have sex now. I don't know what's up in this.
Jason Mantzoukas
That lady raped him, by the way. I want to talk about that. But just to clarify this, the priest and the lawnmower boss. Brothers. What brothers?
Emily Heller
Wait, did the priest also have an Irish accent?
Jason Mantzoukas
Nope. What? Here, I'll play a scene. Another. Another scene with the brothers.
Paul Scheer
This is blowing my mind.
Jason Mantzoukas
So this is the three of them. Out, out and about.
June Diane Raphael
A picture of Mom.
Jason Mantzoukas
Dr. Angelo, that you're here to work and not to read books. No wonder you've been so difficult, Lady. Let the boy have his book, Francis. It's not going to hurt anything. You're such a pious. Great effort has kept him on the straight and narrow. I'll not have it undone.
Paul Scheer
Well, at least he's trying to use his mind.
Jason Mantzoukas
Let him be a man.
Paul Scheer
He is one.
Jason Mantzoukas
You know, first of all, the accents. Insane. You could not be brothers and have. Unless you didn't live together ever.
Emily Heller
Yeah.
Jason Mantzoukas
And one was taken to America. The other one was left in Ireland in a stereotypical Ireland that. Where leprechauns are also running around.
Emily Heller
It's also like, they clearly don't like each other. Why would they move to the same town in America from Ireland?
Jason Mantzoukas
And also why would the brother. Why would Job need to have two jobs? I think just cleaning the church would be enough to keep this guy pretty busy.
Paul Scheer
I feel like Job and I don't know if Job's getting paid by either of the brothers, but like, both of them seem to just be like using him for like, whatever.
Jason Mantzoukas
They both have their own little slave that they can, like, enact, kind of. Cause I never saw that other guy, the Irish guy mow any lawns.
Paul Scheer
Nope.
June Diane Raphael
He just. He gets out of his car to drink. Like, he's driven a long way that he gets out of the car. He's like, you know what? I just have a nip here.
Jason Mantzoukas
Then let him mow along with that giant exhaust with. With a. With a lawnmower that looks like it could have come out of Fast and Furious. It has, like, dual exhaust, and the kid loves it.
June Diane Raphael
The kid goes crazy.
Jason Mantzoukas
Lawnmower.
June Diane Raphael
We all remember back in the. He's like, going to your neighbor's house, just, like, drooling over that lawnmower like a hot rod.
Paul Scheer
Whoa. What is that?
June Diane Raphael
And I should also say, job just slaughters these lawns. Did you see, like, he's mowing that lawn? It's this nice, tall grass, and he has it down to just the rag dirt. Just killing this grass.
Emily Heller
I want to say I saw the Irish guy trimming a hedge, but he might have just been sitting in it.
Jason Mantzoukas
I think he was hiding behind it, drinking.
Emily Heller
Yeah.
Jason Mantzoukas
Oh, my gosh. So basically, this monkey dies, and now Pierce Brosnan's like, well, I need another monkey, but they won't let me get a monkey. So I guess I'll use this simple guy.
Paul Scheer
Well, he has a real crisis, you know, at a certain point because he's not sure what to do.
Emily Heller
He got suspended from work.
Paul Scheer
He's depressed, and that's what. Why his wife is mad that he won't take her to the city. And then he decides, like, to go rogue and start treating Job on his own in his house because it takes him a while to bring him to the facility.
Jason Mantzoukas
Yeah. Well, I feel like he doesn't have an office at the facility.
Paul Scheer
No.
Jason Mantzoukas
I think he's like, you know, I'll work from home. I'll do all my VR research from my basement. My unsanitary basement, in which we're like a refrigerator kid.
Paul Scheer
Peter's like, you've got the best games. I'm like, don't.
Jason Mantzoukas
No.
Paul Scheer
Like, that little kid shouldn't be, like, going to the basement of the neighbor's house. Whose name is Larry.
June Diane Raphael
Yeah, Larry. Who records his journal by leaning against a huge television, shirtless, like, just a blinking red record light.
Paul Scheer
Like, this is. Yeah, this is creepo.
Jason Mantzoukas
So he's, like, hovering over him. This is. If you just took all the specifics of VR here.
Paul Scheer
I have other different games.
Jason Mantzoukas
I even have one that could Help make you smarter. I was born dumb. Can you keep a secret?
Paul Scheer
Like, I mean, right.
Jason Mantzoukas
I'll tell you one.
Paul Scheer
My dick makes you smarter.
Jason Mantzoukas
I can make you smarter, but only if you want. And you must never tell anyone. You mean a secret for just you and me, too?
June Diane Raphael
You see, my wife left.
Jason Mantzoukas
That's right.
Paul Scheer
This movie is a molestation allegory. This is all the creepiest stuff.
Emily Heller
But, like, it's also like a weird religious. Like, his name is Joe.
Paul Scheer
Oh, yeah.
Emily Heller
And his name is Angelo. Like angel.
Paul Scheer
Like an angel.
June Diane Raphael
Oh, yeah.
Emily Heller
And then also Larry. But okay, I mean, well, you know.
Paul Scheer
Larry Angelo.
Emily Heller
Larry Angelo.
Paul Scheer
Upper crust British guy.
Jason Mantzoukas
He don't work in his basement.
Emily Heller
Yeah.
Jason Mantzoukas
Oh, man.
Paul Scheer
Great news. We've got Pierce Brosnan starring in a phenomenal movie. It's called Larry Angelo.
Jason Mantzoukas
All right, well. Oh, man, there's so much to get into.
Paul Scheer
There's so much. There's so many times. I wrote his name is Larry question mark.
Jason Mantzoukas
You.
Paul Scheer
Every time somebody said it, I was like, what?
Jason Mantzoukas
So, Neil, you brought up, like, they're doing tests with Job to kind of see if you can match certain things. Like, can you match the circle with the circle? This is one of the images that came up that Avril saw that I feel like, can you guys match the missing image here, take a look at it. Because I don't think there isn't one that matches. Like, if I'm Job, I'm failing this test. Cause I don't know what goes in that question mark from the bottom row.
Emily Heller
Yeah.
Jason Mantzoukas
At all. That's the first test he gives.
Paul Scheer
Oh, Q or P are my options.
Jason Mantzoukas
No, this is what we're looking at. That's the top row.
Paul Scheer
Oh, oh, oh, I see. I see. You're choosing from second row.
Jason Mantzoukas
That's what he shows. I don't know. There's nothing that matches. All these symbols are different.
Paul Scheer
Wait, wait, wait. No, no. Here's the thing. Here's the thing. I feel like we're trying to do something that's impossible. Right. Because we're not smart enough because we haven't been juiced up with the drug.
Jason Mantzoukas
This is the first thing that Job did. Really.
Emily Heller
This is the first test pre any sort of intelligence in the Director's cut.
June Diane Raphael
He just keeps hitting refresh until they're all swastikas.
Jason Mantzoukas
Yeah. That is an imposs. The matching game does not match. Oh, man. And talking about mistakes, you can check out this. They spelled millennium wrong in the. In the beginning of the movie, the opening text by the turn of the millennium, a technology known as Virtual reality will be widespread. But they spell millennium wrong.
Emily Heller
Wait.
Jason Mantzoukas
Oh, wait. Is that right? It looks right or. No, is it wrong?
Paul Scheer
Is it right?
June Diane Raphael
Vesuvian.
Jason Mantzoukas
It's wrong, right? Yeah, it's wrong.
Emily Heller
How is it spelled now? I don't know.
Jason Mantzoukas
Two ends. Two ends.
Emily Heller
Oh, okay.
Paul Scheer
Two m's, two n's.
Jason Mantzoukas
But, you see, we. But again, that should have been spell checked. Somebody should have spelled check that early on.
Paul Scheer
Why? Why? Why? When Job puts on the VR glasses and Pierce Brosnan is making him smarter by showing him images. Are the images, like, what look to me to be, like, occult?
Emily Heller
They look like runes.
Paul Scheer
They look like runes or, like, random things that are, like, part of, like, the Hellboy comic book series. I feel like they were training him to be, like, almost like Satan or something.
Jason Mantzoukas
Well, they kind of. Kind of worked.
Paul Scheer
Yeah, it's true. But I couldn't understand why they were treat. Why the images were not, like, scientific images or math or whatever.
Jason Mantzoukas
I mean, it's a. It's a real shit science. I mean, like, they're literally shooting images into his brain, and he's making. He's like, oh, it hurts. It's like, here's the thing.
Emily Heller
I feel like I was. Here's the problem with the science. Here's one of the problems with the science.
Paul Scheer
Here's the one problem.
Emily Heller
Here's the one problem with this whole movie.
Paul Scheer
Everything else adds up.
Emily Heller
Everything else adds up. Am I watching a movie about VR or smartness drugs?
Paul Scheer
Because a little bit Limitless or Lucy.
Jason Mantzoukas
Yeah.
Emily Heller
They also inject him with smartness drugs. And then it's unclear to me which of those things is making him smarter.
June Diane Raphael
Well, you're talking just like the guy who doesn't know how to use FaceTime. Because, like, through the whole thing, they're like, can we just keep shooting him up with the drugs and just fuck this VR guy? Just fire Larry and just shoot him up with the drugs.
Jason Mantzoukas
By the way, maybe what's crazy about.
Paul Scheer
That is you're referencing Larry, and I was genuinely like, who is Larry? That's how much Pierce Brosnan is not a Larry.
Jason Mantzoukas
Just so you know, Nate did some research here, and he said that the stimulation of his brain, Those symbols are trying to figure out how to pronounce this. But Kabbalistic mystical symbols with ancient Hebrew.
Emily Heller
Writing around, like, Kabbalah, like what Madonna does.
Jason Mantzoukas
So he's basically teaching him Kabbalah.
Paul Scheer
That explains why he had a thin, red, red bracelet. For the latter part of the movie.
Jason Mantzoukas
He'S drinking special bottled water. The guy who doesn't use FaceTime is Dean Norris from Breaking Bad with oddly, a British accent. I think towards when you see him in real life, but when he's face.
Emily Heller
Front, he's like Fae. I said to my boyfriend when we were watching it, he was like, it's weird that he's playing this kind of effeminate. And I was like, it's like Hank from Breaking Bad doing an imitation of what he thinks a gay guy sounds like.
Jason Mantzoukas
Yeah, like one of these nerds. Hey, I'll do it for you. You got it? Yeah, yeah, Walt, I'll do it.
Emily Heller
I'll do your play. I'll do your play.
Jason Mantzoukas
We'll do your kids short film. Ooh, I'm sorry, man. All right, well, then also, Pierce Brosnan has to answer. We. We've barely gotten into this movie and we are so deep into this.
Paul Scheer
I'll tell you the plot of this movie.
Emily Heller
We are in the cold open of this movie.
Paul Scheer
I don't know why what was happening happened. I lost interest an hour in. I was like, I don't know what's going on. I couldn't figure out what they were setting up.
Jason Mantzoukas
I kept on being obsessed with the fact that the guy, the bald guy that he was answering to look like Ike Barinholtz, but a bald Ike Barinholtz, he really does, like, look at.
Emily Heller
There's also the scene where the Baldyke Barinholtz comes in when Pierce Brosnan is shirtless and they start having this tense thing, and I'm like, are they gonna fuck right now.
Jason Mantzoukas
He walks into his bedroom. He walks into his bedroom, which is like a hotel, but it's like, how did he get in there? And it was like very.
Emily Heller
Yeah, yeah.
Jason Mantzoukas
I would have liked that.
Emily Heller
Yeah.
Paul Scheer
There's something about Jeff Fahey getting smarter. That part of that also makes him more vain.
Jason Mantzoukas
Yes.
Paul Scheer
He's like, smarter he gets the more he's, like looking at himself in the mirror and then, like, tight jeans.
Emily Heller
Yeah. Oh, my God. Can we talk about the scene at the gas station with that widow where. So there's the horny widow, who is my favorite character in the movie.
Jason Mantzoukas
She's amazing.
Emily Heller
Is Marnie is sitting in her car and she looks in her side view mirror and there's just a round butt in jeans and she's just like, ooh. And she turns and it's Job bending over, doing nothing for no reason.
Jason Mantzoukas
He also. I will say this is the second time that she's kind of really turned on by him. The first time he was full early.
Emily Heller
Job.
Jason Mantzoukas
Like, One suspender job and she's like eating a peach. Like, aw, yeah.
Paul Scheer
He's eating like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Like having like in the middle of mowing a lawn.
Emily Heller
See, I thought she was eating an apple and it was just the most heavy handed thing of all time. Of just like tree of not. He was literally sitting under a tree and she was eating an apple.
Paul Scheer
Yep.
Emily Heller
Oh, and his name is Job. I don't know the Bible, but this feels like.
Jason Mantzoukas
I wish we all knew a job.
Emily Heller
It feels like a comedy of something.
June Diane Raphael
This was speaking of her, like looking at his ass. This was, this is like a time capsule of that moment in American history in the early 90s when women were really into buns. Remember when like it was like when girl. When women were sort of like coke, personal, don't be great buns.
Paul Scheer
Remember that? We've covered buns on this.
Jason Mantzoukas
We talk a lot about the buns. But yeah, but I also found that, that like it just, it didn't seem like to me, why do you even have to have the bun scene? She's like, why don't you come on over and mow my lawn?
Paul Scheer
Yeah, well, she said to the, to the. What's the guy's name who's the bully at the gas station?
June Diane Raphael
My fluids, Jake.
Paul Scheer
She said, check my fluids.
June Diane Raphael
Check my fluids. And then he defends her.
Jason Mantzoukas
Yeah.
June Diane Raphael
Like Terry comes out and sort of like she's fucking a lot of guys in town.
Jason Mantzoukas
And he's like, you shut up.
Emily Heller
This was like a very progressive scene in a way because the guy called her a whore. And he was like, hey, whores take money. She's got money. She doesn't do it for the money. She does it because she likes it. What's so wrong with that? And I'm like, okay. Yeah.
Jason Mantzoukas
By the way, the most open minded guy in the movie, like he is so sweet. He's like, I'll take care of this guy. He's a great guy. And then has the most unceremonious, like the worst death in the whole movie. Like basically Jobe goes around and kills everyone who's wrong him violently.
Emily Heller
Yeah.
Jason Mantzoukas
And then this guy's like, I'll take you to go get in the Internet. Don't worry, I'll drive you there in my car. And then. And a sniper just takes out Larry. Like, no, like Larry is not even.
Emily Heller
Not Larry.
Jason Mantzoukas
Oh, sorry.
Emily Heller
But he's more of a Larry. Yeah.
Paul Scheer
You just proved my point. That guy's a Larry. His name is Terry.
Jason Mantzoukas
Terry. Yeah.
Paul Scheer
He kills Terry also. Not Right. For him.
June Diane Raphael
Yeah.
Paul Scheer
He's not a Terry.
Jason Mantzoukas
Oh, Terry. It's like, let. Let. I mean, shouldn't the moral be, like, the one guy who treated him nicely like lives or like, you know. Nope, they all die.
Emily Heller
Can we also. I know we're jumping around a lot here, but can we talk about. In that scene where Terry goes to drive him to the Internet, Job uses his telepathy to tell Terry to come pick him up. And so we just see Terry sitting in his truck silently. And then he says out loud, okay, Job, I'll come get you. And you're like, if he's using telepathy, why is he talking out loud? I know this is, again, a very small problem to have with this movie that has very big problems, but the.
Jason Mantzoukas
Movie does Pop posit a superhero that gets created, and sometimes he's super powerful, and then sometimes he's got to be back in that Internet, like. Like, he's like. He. He's like, yeah, it doesn't make sense. Like, why. Why go back in? You're soup. You can basically do everything.
Emily Heller
Yeah. At a certain point, he just starts talking about this, like, weird mythology that we're not let in on about. Like, well, I have to go back to the mainframe. And you're like, what mainframe? What are you talking about?
Jason Mantzoukas
Yeah, we weren't. We don't know what you're doing. Yeah, let us in. We just see you straight up, murdering your enemies.
June Diane Raphael
The keys to the universe are in this 486 DX 66, top of the line, Packard Bell, 16 megs of RAM.
Emily Heller
And I'm just like, can we talk about what it meant when I saw an animated lawnmower going over that guy's brain? Like, what?
Paul Scheer
No, an animated. An animated man with. With a lover mouth. That's what I. I was like, what the. Okay, one of the things we. This is a movie that exists in a world in which virtual reality is a world in which we could disappear into.
Emily Heller
Yeah.
Paul Scheer
Their version of virtual reality is like, might as well be a screensaver. Like flying toasters level screensaver.
Jason Mantzoukas
Yeah, well, we. We should. Well, basically, you know, once the. I would argue the best scene in the movie is like, once Joe becomes super powerful, he's like, well, now I only want a fucking virtual reality.
Paul Scheer
No, the best scene of the movie is the first sex scene where she teaches him how to kiss.
June Diane Raphael
Oh, yeah.
Emily Heller
Oh, God.
Paul Scheer
And all they do is super rapey. It felt like all they do is Marnie.
Emily Heller
It was like, okay. You know how disturbing that scene in Big was. Let's make it work. Let's make it make him less able to consent to what's happening in the room.
Jason Mantzoukas
Just felt it was awesome.
Emily Heller
And then she's got, like, satin, pink satin sheets where you're like, this is. Yeah. If it was like a. If the genders were reversed in this movie, we would be, like, turning it.
Jason Mantzoukas
Off immediately because, like, he's like Simple Jack over there. Just like, all right. But then he figures it out. It seems like he figures it out one, too.
Paul Scheer
Yeah, well, he gets. Yeah, he's also getting smarter.
Jason Mantzoukas
Well, I would download fucking first, right?
Paul Scheer
Well, that's the thing. That's the thing that Larry's wife says. She's, like, flying, floating, falling. What's next? Fucking.
June Diane Raphael
I give up.
Paul Scheer
You didn't take me to the city.
Jason Mantzoukas
I like.
Paul Scheer
I know I'm not. Got it. But, like, is that what it's about? You didn't take me to this.
Jason Mantzoukas
I gotta. I gotta. I think this all can be summed up with this clip from Pierce Brosnan on the Tonight show, where he tries to describe virtual reality.
Paul Scheer
Not that everybody feels bad for him.
Jason Mantzoukas
Pierce Brosnan tries to describe virtual reality and some other things. We'll see. And they just took this kind of.
Paul Scheer
Short story by Stephen King, which was.
Jason Mantzoukas
Only seven pages long and had nothing.
Paul Scheer
To do with virtual reality, and they.
Jason Mantzoukas
Took this short story by Mr. King.
Paul Scheer
And they wrapped it in this, you.
Jason Mantzoukas
Know, this film about virtual reality.
June Diane Raphael
Now, this virtual reality, see this. I haven't had a chance to see.
Paul Scheer
The picture yet, so. And. But I've heard about this virtual reality.
Jason Mantzoukas
A game where you're in it, right? Yeah. It's like a computer. You get in, you. You can enter inside the computer. When you play this with a partner, wouldn't sex be just a little easier? Gosh, it seems so complicated. He makes a sex joke. He said, wouldn't sex be so much easier? But I love that and the publicity for it. You get inside a computer. Is the man who's now working. Worked, I would argue, the most closely with virtual reality. Out of anyone probably at that point is still describing virtual reality as getting inside.
June Diane Raphael
And it's very dark.
Emily Heller
Computer. Oh, my God. Can we also. I mean, on the topic of the sex scenes, too, there's a part where he. So at a certain point, Job learns how to read minds, because I guess that's part of it. And he's at the horny widow's house, and he goes like, ooh, you've got dirty fantasies. Because he's reading her mind. And then he's like, well, let's do something about it or something. And I'm like, oh, cool. He's about to find the clit. And then like, this is about to be the best part of the movie. Cause a dude who can read a woman's mind and then fuck her based up. But then.
Paul Scheer
But Emily, hang on. That posits a world. This is science fiction, but, like, that posits a world in which the clit is a real thing. But wait a minute.
Emily Heller
And then you think they're about to go have crazy cool sex and then they go somehow break into the lab and get in those gyroscopes and do VR sex. And their genitals aren't hooked up to anything that would make them feel.
Paul Scheer
She, like, has, like. She's never the same. Yeah, she like, he.
Jason Mantzoukas
She literally he her brains out.
Emily Heller
Yeah, like.
Jason Mantzoukas
Like, like on a level. Because she is fried. Like, like lsd. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She's just on the bed like, like, just like moaning and ex.
June Diane Raphael
That's because he had to put her in the whirly gig. That was for the monkey. There's not two one. There's not two for human. Put her in the monkey one. She's little.
Jason Mantzoukas
Oh, my God. And by the way, their virtual reality sex is the most disturbing thing ever. She becomes like a flower. And he becomes this like, monster with a pussy mouth.
Emily Heller
The monster has a straight up mouth.
Paul Scheer
And she becomes. Becomes like, trapped in, like, the fluids of their lovemaking. She can't. It's like she's stuck.
Emily Heller
She gets stuck in like a pile of cum.
June Diane Raphael
And he's like. He's like, hold on, it's fine.
Emily Heller
And she's like, help, I'm stuck. And he's like, no, you just stay there.
June Diane Raphael
Yeah, it's fine. It's fine.
Emily Heller
Who are we going to watch?
Jason Mantzoukas
You know, we could watch it. But then I was also thinking that maybe we should watch this epk about people discussing about what's so cool about virtual reality sex, which doesn't exist. So this is. This is. And we can watch them both. But here we go. Beautiful as imagined in the film, virtual reality sex is an experience of indescribable passion.
Paul Scheer
As a cinematic special effect, it's an indescribable achievement.
Jason Mantzoukas
Just what the director was hoping for. It's a little scary because you're going.
Paul Scheer
Uncharted ground, but it gives the audience something they've never seen before. And when I go see a science.
Jason Mantzoukas
Fiction movie, that's what I want to see. Something I'VE never seen before.
June Diane Raphael
And it gives them a new ride.
Jason Mantzoukas
It's a new. A new roller coaster ride. So that. And then you get to see them because you want to be a butterfly together.
Emily Heller
Yeah.
Jason Mantzoukas
And then, Mel, it was all, like, birds and bees level shit in virtual reality.
Emily Heller
But the fact that it immediately followed a conversation of, like, you've got some dirty fantasies. I felt like the implications was, this was her fantasy and he made it happen.
Jason Mantzoukas
And then, like a pistol. And then it, like. Like to be, like, sucked by a beer. Yeah.
Emily Heller
To just twist into a liquid metal dragonfly with my lover.
Jason Mantzoukas
To melt like the T2 in Terminator.
Paul Scheer
By the way, I'm into all that.
Jason Mantzoukas
I know we have a lot more to talk about, but also, we've been talking up here for quite some time, so I want to get to our audience to see what their questions are. So this is one of those movies.
Paul Scheer
You guys are going to have to get on board for. We're just not going to get to huge parts of it because there's so, so much insanity.
Jason Mantzoukas
Or, you know, I can come to you. Here we go. Your name. Let's see your name. And what would you, like? Who would you like to have seen in this? Oh, what's a better name for Pierce Brosnan's character? Okay, and. And your question. Better name would be James.
Emily Heller
Yeah.
Jason Mantzoukas
Like it.
Paul Scheer
What's your name?
Jason Mantzoukas
My name's Rob.
Paul Scheer
Oh.
June Diane Raphael
Or.
Jason Mantzoukas
Or as Paul called me last time, Tim Curry guy. All right, look at that. So one thing I have to say, there's a lot of. How did this get made Connections, this movie? Because the job is actually west coast from.
Paul Scheer
Yeah, that guy knows.
Jason Mantzoukas
But is this a sequel to Monkey Shines?
Paul Scheer
No, because they're building.
Jason Mantzoukas
They're building smarter monkeys in Monkey Shines. And then the director's cut was the monkeys all get taken off in a vans that get taken to Larry to get them smarter.
Paul Scheer
Hmm.
Jason Mantzoukas
Interesting.
Paul Scheer
I mean, interesting.
Emily Heller
Did people, like, just learn about evolution in the 90s? Cause I feel like there were so many make monkeys smarter movies.
Paul Scheer
That's very true.
Emily Heller
And it felt like a response to them being like, this sounds fake. You know what I mean?
Jason Mantzoukas
I feel like this is in the 90s. They were like, did you know they test shampoo on monkeys? And then, like, someone's like, what else do they test? Virtual reality. Click, click, click, click, click. Control. S. Save. Here's the script. See you later. All right, your name for Pierce Brosnan and your question. Come to me. All right, here we go.
Ben Mankiewicz
Hold the mic.
Emily Heller
Okay, I'm Valerie Lawrence. Let's just give him the full name.
Jason Mantzoukas
All right.
Paul Scheer
Valerie Lawrence. Nice to meet you.
Emily Heller
It's pretty close, actually. So my question is, we were talking about how Pierce Brosnan. Pierce Brosnan sees the family and the dad's abusing them, and he's like, okay. And then he ends up with them at the end, like, that's his new wife.
Paul Scheer
And. Oh, yeah. No, he full on. He full on takes on that family as his own. And that's fucking Peter's mom. Like, immediately during the credits.
Emily Heller
I didn't even know. Like, they embrace at that one point. Like, after her husband's been murdered violently by the lawnmower, which is direct.
June Diane Raphael
He's directly responsible for.
Emily Heller
Yeah. And they embraced. I'm like, when did that happen? Well, I think it makes.
Paul Scheer
No remorse.
Emily Heller
It makes sense because he's like, as long as I don't beat the kid, she'll be fine. I don't have to take her into the city at all.
Jason Mantzoukas
Her mom. I want to talk about that mom, too. Because the mom and the kid, they're like, hey, wait here in the car. And then. Then the mom just falls asleep.
June Diane Raphael
Yeah.
Jason Mantzoukas
It seems. It seems like Larry has been gone for four to five minutes also.
Paul Scheer
Stuff is so stressful. Is she just like, I can't take it.
June Diane Raphael
Yeah, yeah. That whole scene was lifted from an abused wife's implausible testimony about her husband's mysterious death.
Jason Mantzoukas
Then I fell asleep. I didn't see anything. I was asleep. You couldn't. Awake. All right. Yes, sir. Your name? Your name for Pierce Brosnan? Your question? I'm Brandon. I think probably McGonagall. I like that. Thank you. So the thing that I noticed that was the most surprising to me was the way that people died.
Paul Scheer
You would give him the first name McGonagall.
Jason Mantzoukas
Yeah, McGonagall. Angelo. Because he's supposed to be Irish. He was drinking Bushmills. He had an Irish flag, even though he's very clearly Welsh.
Paul Scheer
It's very strange.
Jason Mantzoukas
You also had that classic Irish beer Coors lightness for.
Emily Heller
Why were there so many Irish people in this town?
Jason Mantzoukas
Not actually Irish. Nobody was actually Irish. And they're all just speaking with Irish accents. But it's a bad movie, so who cares?
Emily Heller
Yeah, well, shouldn't have pierced.
Jason Mantzoukas
Shouldn't Pierce have been, like, the priest's brother? Like, then that would have been a little bit of a connection, too, or just make it simpler. But the thing I was interested. It's like so many of the deaths occurred. Was it actually virtual reality where like, priest burns or something. I don't actually know.
Paul Scheer
Or the guy that was like, digital fire.
Emily Heller
Yeah. But also his body turned transparent.
Jason Mantzoukas
He turns people into, like, that Adam Sandler movie pixels. Like that. Like, he turns people into pixels, and then the end, then they. Yeah, they just, like, bubble up and go away. First time I ever saw After Effects, it seems like, was like this movie. Like, oh, we got all these cool after effects things we're gonna use on these guys dying. And then they just. I mean, they are dead in the real world. They're definitely dead in the real world.
Paul Scheer
That's what I couldn't figure out. He's like a. Applying technological kind of, like, traumas to them. He's, like, lighting that guy on fire, but it was, like, digital fire, and the priest turns into, like, a computer character. But they're not in VR at that point.
Jason Mantzoukas
No.
Paul Scheer
I don't know, man.
Jason Mantzoukas
Or are they, like. Are they being, like, sucked?
Paul Scheer
Surprisingly, I couldn't crack it in the director's cup.
June Diane Raphael
They're all fine. Like, the gas station guy wakes up the next day. He's like, oh, I don't know.
Paul Scheer
I'm all right.
June Diane Raphael
There's that lawnmower man in my brain.
Jason Mantzoukas
He wakes up with that same nightmare that Pierce Brosnan. Oh, okay. Oh, jeez.
June Diane Raphael
That's how a monkey escapes.
Jason Mantzoukas
The father wakes up, what the hell? And then beats his kid. But the father was killed brutally by a lawnmower. So.
June Diane Raphael
I told you to stay out of my dreams.
Paul Scheer
Oh, that lawnmower chased him around the house. Nobody woke up.
Jason Mantzoukas
Well, didn't he put a spell on them to be asleep?
Paul Scheer
That's right.
Jason Mantzoukas
Sorry. My bad, everybody. And they put a spell on those cops, too. Real convenient. Yes, sir.
Paul Scheer
Remember when the cops were like, hold on, hold on. The cop is just standing out in front of the house where the lawnmower has just killed the guy. Half the guy's in the bird bath, and the guy goes, hell of a hell of a thing. And I was like, okay, cool. Talking to nobody also.
Emily Heller
And then. And then Pierce Brosnan is there, and they give him all the details. He is not related to that family at all.
Paul Scheer
He's like, I'm the neighbor. And he's like, well, here's everything I got.
Jason Mantzoukas
Let's see if you can crack it.
Paul Scheer
I'm surprised nobody heard anything.
Jason Mantzoukas
All right, so your name. Your name for Pierce Bros. In your question.
June Diane Raphael
My name is Tyler. Clearly, Sinjin Smythe would be the only name.
Paul Scheer
I like that.
June Diane Raphael
One really quick thing.
Jason Mantzoukas
Is just that the partner at the Lab. The other mysteriously bold man that's not Dean Norris is just named Tims. And they just keep yelling Tims over and over again. But the main thing is that every way he kills someone, it's with lawnmowers. Or the one time there's a bee.
June Diane Raphael
On top of a cocktail, so he.
Jason Mantzoukas
Makes CGIBs, and he's just seeing things that he's seen in real life, and.
June Diane Raphael
That'S the only thing he can come up with. It's insane.
Jason Mantzoukas
So if for a man who can create anything in virtual reality, he is simplistic in how he chooses to kill people. He's like, I got a lawn mower. I'll kill him with a lawnmower. Bees, tires, rocks. But meanwhile, when he gets it on in sex, it's crazy. Yes, sir.
Paul Scheer
My name is Brad.
Jason Mantzoukas
My name for Larry would be Dr. Nigel Applewhite III. And at the end of the movie, the Oculus Rift sucks up Job's physical being and mummifies him while he goes.
Paul Scheer
Into the computer totally normal.
Emily Heller
Yeah.
Jason Mantzoukas
Yeah. It sucks him dry like a vacuum cleaner.
Paul Scheer
Like, it's as if, like, by going into the digital world, his corporeal form would be affected.
Emily Heller
Yeah. But only like. But, like dehydrated and everything else is still there.
Paul Scheer
Yeah.
Jason Mantzoukas
That is a bizarre moment.
Emily Heller
That was so weird.
Jason Mantzoukas
Like, why would the computer. Why would the computer need his guts and blood and stuff? Like, because, by the way, there's no direct line to it, so that shit would just fall out on the floor, I think. Yeah. Okay, back. Harry. Yes. Your name. Your name for Pierce. And your question?
Emily Heller
My name's Allison. My name for Pierce would be Henry. Solid British. And my question is at the very, very end of the movie, it's all about high tech, futuristic stuff. And then they just kind to get all these calls around the world, and it seems like backtracking.
Paul Scheer
You're.
Jason Mantzoukas
You're right.
Paul Scheer
He says, well, that's because. Yeah, go ahead.
Jason Mantzoukas
He wants to make a million phone calls, Right. That was a lie.
Emily Heller
He says, like, once he's in the mainframe, that he's going to call people. And I'm like, what?
June Diane Raphael
Yeah, but the whole point of phones is you don't have to be in.
Paul Scheer
It to do that.
Emily Heller
Yeah.
Paul Scheer
He says he has.
Jason Mantzoukas
I can make a million calls at the same time.
June Diane Raphael
You could do it from your house with just a phone?
Paul Scheer
Yep. He says, I have things to do, people to see, a billion calls to make.
Emily Heller
Yeah, well. Cause he also said that, like, once he's in the computer or something, it's like, then he'll be everywhere, and you'll know it because all the phones will ring at once or something. It's like they just. They were like, what's a way to have a signifier that he's, like, infiltrated the computers that we can do with just a sound effect and some stock footage. And that's what they landed on. Because there are a bunch of other takes of him saying alt versions that they just couldn't figure out how to do.
June Diane Raphael
The lights will go on in Chicago.
Emily Heller
Yeah.
Jason Mantzoukas
Too expensive.
Emily Heller
We can't get it.
Jason Mantzoukas
The sun will rise. But, yeah, there's. So if you humor him and go, all right, well, then I pick up the phone. Are you just hearing that old, like, DSL dial up.
Paul Scheer
Kang Klang Klang.
Jason Mantzoukas
Or is it just, like, really bad small talk? Like, do you have a lawnmower? Yeah. Yeah. He did. All to get his business going. Yeah.
Paul Scheer
He's like, is your lawn overgrown? Why not call me the lawnmower man?
June Diane Raphael
Maybe I will.
Paul Scheer
I'll send a sentient lawnmower to your house.
June Diane Raphael
Okay.
Emily Heller
Like, is your refrigerator running?
Jason Mantzoukas
Yeah, I like that. All right, so your question, your name and your. Go ahead.
Emily Heller
My name is Stephanie, and I think that his name should be Hewlett Packard.
Jason Mantzoukas
Ooh, I like that. That's great.
Emily Heller
I wanted to know if anybody noticed the connections between this story and Flowers for Algernon, the story that everybody had to read into.
Jason Mantzoukas
Yeah, it's like this. And, like, Flowers for Algernon. Also, like, Charlie, was that another one? And, like. And there's a few, like. There's a few of these, like, Frankenstein, I would guess, would be the main one. Yeah, Frankenstein, probably. Frankenstein would probably be the clearest one.
Emily Heller
Pinocchio, a little bit.
Jason Mantzoukas
Ooh, yeah. All right, well, that's. Good call. Good call. Any other question?
Paul Scheer
These folks over here got super psyched for that. There's a real nerds book club going on over here.
Jason Mantzoukas
That's our Flowers for Algernon fan club that come to every show. All right. Yeah. So you have a good question. All right, here we go. Come on over here. Your name, your question. Your name for Pierce. And your question. Hi. So my name is Jed, and I would name him to go with the theme of Mr. Director, Mr. Scientist. All right. And so there's a scene when it all kind of culminates and the llama man makes the chair levitate. And then Pierce doesn't lose his shit at all. He just kind of calmly watches this happen, actually.
Paul Scheer
Totally normal.
Jason Mantzoukas
And then lawnmower man kind of tells this whole thing about the power and what he wants to do. And then the next scene, he's just back at his audio recording, like, leaning against being like, I feel like I should be concerned about, you know, what the lawnmower man said. And then he just starts killing people. Like, how did that conversation end? Did they just kind of, like, shake hands and go part ways? Bad lawnmower man. Bad. All right, I figured it out, like, and he walks away.
June Diane Raphael
But my favorite thing with him recording his durdle is the one time where he turns it on. It's like, start recording. And it takes a beat. Then he goes, ah, Jesus Christ.
Emily Heller
Yeah, he's like.
June Diane Raphael
He's like. He's. Wait. His sigh of sort of relief.
Emily Heller
Like, it's like, why did you start recording? You haven't gathered your thoughts yet?
Jason Mantzoukas
Who has a really good question? The last one. Last one. Yes. Okay, I'll come to you. I come from behind here. Your name and your name for him and your question.
Emily Heller
My name is Nicole. I just thought Isaac would be kind.
Paul Scheer
Of a good name.
Emily Heller
Philosopher.
Jason Mantzoukas
I like it. Good.
Emily Heller
So I thought that the movie was.
Jason Mantzoukas
Kind of like Job's revenge from the book of Job in the Bible. Because in the book of Job, Satan.
Emily Heller
Does a lot of bad stuff to Job. And so Job doesn't do anything. He just still prays to God, which.
Jason Mantzoukas
Okay, anyways, so in the beginning, a lot of bad stuff happens to him. And then after he.
Emily Heller
When he sees God, that's when he becomes super smart.
Jason Mantzoukas
And then he just starts killing everyone that wronged him. So I just kind of saw a big relationship. Well, that's like. That's. You actually knew the one thing that we did not know. That seems like, very. That does seem exactly right. That seems exactly right.
June Diane Raphael
My favorite thing about that is that they. For this movie, they needed to make his name spelled J, O, B, E so that people would pronounce it correctly. Otherwise, every piece of paper about it, it would have to say Job. And then in parentheses, like, spelled like in the Bible.
Emily Heller
Was that so people would pronounce it correctly or was it. So they were like, this is going to be a really subtle reference that not a lot of people are going to pick up on Job.
Jason Mantzoukas
Let's give them a real softball. This audience just adding a vowel. They.
June Diane Raphael
They add E to Job. They add O to Angel. They just tack a vowel on to just slip their little subtle.
Jason Mantzoukas
My script cyber God's going to be great, actually. He's going to be Stephen King's Law Mormon?
Paul Scheer
What?
Jason Mantzoukas
No. But Al Pacino will still play the scientist, right? No.
Paul Scheer
Brosnan is Remington.
Jason Mantzoukas
Quentin Steele playing Angelo playing Larry.
Paul Scheer
Not my Larry.
Jason Mantzoukas
I wanted we should get into second opinions, but the one thing I also want to talk about was, like, when he invites the lawnmower man over to play the video game for the first time. It is the most complex video game I have ever seen. And the kid, the five year old kid is doing really well. But it's just like jaws opening and closing and like they're flying. There's no rhyme or reason to that game whatsoever.
Emily Heller
Not a game. Yeah. And they don't have like players or tools or anything. It's just like razor blades come shooting down.
Jason Mantzoukas
It's like Avoid razor Blades, the flying game. Which also just shows you how shitty the VR is. Like, they have to get on a special flying, like, VR thing to get on that. Like, it's like a motorcycle.
Paul Scheer
Need to approximate weightlessness in some way, shape or form in order for VR to work.
Jason Mantzoukas
Man, we've come so far. When this movie came out.
Paul Scheer
Here we are. VR is what we're living in right now.
Jason Mantzoukas
Well, obviously we had an opinion about this movie, but there are other people out there with a different opinion. It is now time for second opinions. Second opinion.
Emily Heller
What do they do to show a different view? They get a second opinion.
Paul Scheer
Amazon review.
Emily Heller
It's a five star review. And for someone like you, it's a second opinion.
Paul Scheer
Hamilton. Hamilton. Hamilton. All right, hamilton.
Jason Mantzoukas
These are five star review views from Amazon.com. all right, so there's a lot of great ones in here. We'll start off with this one from Roxy Gone. This was written recently. May 8, 2015. Wow. The Lawnmower man has two great actors in it. Jeff Fahey. Yum.
June Diane Raphael
I fly upside down.
Jason Mantzoukas
Pierce Brosnan. Yum. You cannot go wrong with two great actors who are also dreamy to look at and a great script.
June Diane Raphael
Yum.
Jason Mantzoukas
Five stars.
Paul Scheer
Wait, the script was also yum?
Jason Mantzoukas
Yes. The script was like kind of a soft yum.
Emily Heller
Yeah.
Jason Mantzoukas
Okay.
Emily Heller
It's so funny when people complain. Compliment the script on a movie like this where I'm like, I'm not sure they used the script when they were filming it.
Jason Mantzoukas
The five star reviews here are a little bit tough. This from Laura DiGiorno.
Paul Scheer
Are you sure she. It isn't Laura Delivery.
Jason Mantzoukas
It's definitely DiGiorno.
Paul Scheer
That's great, guys. Don't. Don't reward that.
June Diane Raphael
This movie may have let me imagine what the city was like.
Jason Mantzoukas
My delight and fascination with this movie revolves around the Elements related to accelerated learning. Yeah, I have a certain fascination with mind stuff, so this movie was right up my alley. Five stars.
June Diane Raphael
That is a suicide note.
Jason Mantzoukas
And the final one is written by Pavel Peeve. Pavel Peeve?
Paul Scheer
Isn't that the guy that came up with the quiz at the end of Inside the Actor's Studio?
Jason Mantzoukas
What are your favorite curse words? Okay, so the title of this one is Virtual Reality Empowered the Lawnmower Man. And it can help you as well. The plot is about a guy who's not very smart, but he plugs into virtual reality and becomes intelligent. He tries all possible ways to gain access and finds a back door that allows him to ring all the phones in the world. In a way, you can do the same thing with the Internet. You can find all information about all things in a life that interests you. And you become empowered, more intelligent and successful. I strongly Recommend this movie. 5 stars.
June Diane Raphael
Thanks for reading. The priest says we have to leave the library now.
Jason Mantzoukas
I am the Lawnmower Man.
Emily Heller
That makes it sound like his goal the whole movie was to ring all the telephones in the world.
Paul Scheer
Mission accomplished.
Emily Heller
And he persevered. It's like an uplifting story about following your dreams.
Paul Scheer
It's about a guy who's a landscaper who wants to ring every phone in.
Emily Heller
The world.
Jason Mantzoukas
To see if he could do it. There must be a back door to ring these phones.
Emily Heller
I've tried the front door. It's locked.
Paul Scheer
Access denied.
Emily Heller
Oh, my God. That access denied scene. What was that?
Jason Mantzoukas
I don't even know what he was trying to do.
Emily Heller
I don't know.
Jason Mantzoukas
If you'd have to guess, how many video games were there made of this movie? Like, this movie was spawned. X amount of video games?
Emily Heller
I was hoping for zero.
Jason Mantzoukas
That could be a possibility.
Paul Scheer
Like, the question being how many video Games means multiple? 4.
Jason Mantzoukas
4, 3.
Emily Heller
Was this movie a hit? Like, did people. No, no.
Jason Mantzoukas
I believe those things are put into production before they realize, oh, my gosh, the first two, it was. Oh, well. Oh, actually it was a hit. Wow. It was a hit. Budget. 10 million opening week weekend. 7 million domestic gross. 32 million.
Paul Scheer
Wow.
Emily Heller
Does that make it a hit just because it's, like, sort of profitable?
Jason Mantzoukas
Yeah, for sure it was.
Paul Scheer
I mean, it's not like a hit like Star Wars Mega, but, like, that's successful.
Emily Heller
That's like, fine. Okay.
Jason Mantzoukas
It was the same year that Aladdin, Home Alone 2, lost in New York, and Batman Returns came out. So those are 1, 2, and 3. This came in number 42.
June Diane Raphael
It opened the same weekend as Wayne's World.
Jason Mantzoukas
Oh, it did.
June Diane Raphael
It opened the same weekend as Wayne's World. I read that today.
Jason Mantzoukas
See?
Emily Heller
Oh, my God.
Jason Mantzoukas
I wonder. That's put the audience.
Paul Scheer
Imagine that double feature. If you, like, went to the movies and saw both those movies, you'd be like, wait, what?
June Diane Raphael
You get it confused. You think it's just, like, about Garth.
Emily Heller
Yeah.
Paul Scheer
It'S the continuing saga of Garth.
Emily Heller
It's the Garth prequel, the Garth origin story.
Jason Mantzoukas
You know, the director of this also directed that Peter Gabriel video. Like the Cyber. The. You know, the one that looks like a virtual reality one.
June Diane Raphael
Oh.
Emily Heller
Oh, yeah.
Jason Mantzoukas
All right. And then. Oh, then what else did I want to tell you guys? Oh, I don't know. That's it. That's all I have for here. I guess my question is, is there anything that we haven't talked about that you guys would like to bring up before we. Before we close up shop here?
Emily Heller
Oh, God.
Paul Scheer
At 12:11? There's so many things.
Emily Heller
Just one thing. The part where he is driving in the car with the kid and he has a boombox sitting next to him, and he keeps putting CDs in and listening to the first five seconds of a song and then taking the CD out and putting another CD and being.
Paul Scheer
Like, this is country music. This is classical music.
Emily Heller
Yeah.
June Diane Raphael
His IQ is off the charts.
Jason Mantzoukas
By the way. When did he turn in his truck for that Mercedes? And where did he get that Mercedes from? Did he buy that?
Paul Scheer
Great question.
June Diane Raphael
It was the widows.
Jason Mantzoukas
Drove her in and then took her car. My favorite moment. And it's visual, so you in the theater will see it. It's like, Pierce Brosnan's gonna go in after he's collected all of his bombs, and he's like, running in. He's like, huh. Looks at it, and he's like, all right, I'll take this gun. But it's like the gun is left on the side of the road. Like a video game gun would be left there. He was like, yeah, bullets.
Paul Scheer
Oh.
Jason Mantzoukas
Oh.
Paul Scheer
And it's like, oh, an ammo and a health kit and $100. Who used that to buy body armor?
Jason Mantzoukas
Well, let's go around the thing. Would you recommend this movie? I would recommend this movie. I found it to be highly enjoyable, even though I didn't understand what was going on. It was great. And like we said, we didn't even touch upon the final CGI battle scene.
Paul Scheer
Turning everybody into bubbles.
Emily Heller
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fuck, yeah. I'd recommend this movie.
Jason Mantzoukas
Great, Neil.
June Diane Raphael
Yeah, I'd recommend it. I remember seeing, like, ads for it in comics when I was a kid and then, like, seeing it on VHS and being like, yeah, I was satisfied with that.
Jason Mantzoukas
Jason.
Paul Scheer
I mean, it's as relevant now as it was then. Here we are on the precipice of. Of the advancements of virtual reality. They are at our doorstep. No, I mean, this was terrible. I would watch it. The caveat being fast forward. Like, there's stuff in here that is just garbage, you know, but, like, fast forward. But, yes, I would watch it.
Jason Mantzoukas
I would remake it and just be curious what.
Paul Scheer
You would? Yeah, because that should be a new question.
Jason Mantzoukas
Would you remake this?
Paul Scheer
Would you remake. Make this movie?
Jason Mantzoukas
All right, well, I would.
Emily Heller
Would you, like, as the director or.
Jason Mantzoukas
No, no. Like, with the new, like, knowing now we know about VR, would it be more interesting to see it that way?
June Diane Raphael
I'd read. I'd reboot it and tell it from the point of view of the wife. Just a real female empowerment story.
Paul Scheer
It's really her story.
Emily Heller
Yeah.
Paul Scheer
Remember when she was like, oh, don't smoke in bed.
Emily Heller
Yeah, I'd like to see. It's just like her day out in the city alone.
Jason Mantzoukas
Yeah.
Emily Heller
Just like a single, like, how Stella got her groove back. And then she comes back and she's like, oh, no, the town is ruined.
Paul Scheer
She.
June Diane Raphael
She passes that classic wall of TVs of the city, and it's like her husband's place of work blows up.
Paul Scheer
She's like, I would like a sequel that's about her only.
Jason Mantzoukas
But wouldn't it be great if it was all going on in the background of her movie? Her Stella got the group back. Just seeing, like, little things on the tv. Like, town blew up last night. Like I would.
Emily Heller
And she's just having, like, a shopping montage. I'm walking outside.
June Diane Raphael
It ends with her just picking up a payphone.
Jason Mantzoukas
Hello. All right, well, thank you all for coming up, but let's talk making his is on Fox. Starting when?
June Diane Raphael
January.
Jason Mantzoukas
January on Fox. And we can follow you on the social media.
June Diane Raphael
Please follow me on Twitter. It's otneilCasey.
Ben Mankiewicz
All right, great.
Jason Mantzoukas
And, Emily, we're baby geniuses. You can get that wherever podcasts are downloaded or streamed, I imagine, right?
Emily Heller
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jason Mantzoukas
And can people follow you? They can follow you too.
Emily Heller
R. Emily Heller.
Jason Mantzoukas
Ooh, I like that. All right, great. Jason, you want to plug anything?
Paul Scheer
Not really.
Jason Mantzoukas
All right, great. Well, I will plug this. You can follow us on Twitter @HDTGM. And also, if you have any comments, questions, anything at all, you can call us at 619-Paul-Ask. That's P. A U L A S K619 Paul-Ask and you can leave questions and comments. And a big thank you to everybody who makes this show possible. And I have that. I'm going to do that after the show. But give it up for Avril Halle who puts all of our clips. Nate Kiley does all of our research. Marissa Zeitz, who does everything, organizes the show. July Diaz up in the booth. Everybody here at Earwolf, everybody at Largo, thank you so much. Good night.
Emily Heller
Norwegian Cruise Line's Black Friday Preview sale is finally here. Enjoy huge savings with 50% off all cruises and NCL's all new Moritz Sea.
Jason Mantzoukas
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Emily Heller
Visit ncl.com, call your travel advisor or 1-888-NCL cruise offer end soon.
Paul Scheer
Norwegian Cruise Line ships registry the Bahamas.
Ben Mankiewicz
And USA restrictions apply.
Jason Mantzoukas
T mobile 5G Internet keeps getting better. Boost your connection to harder to reach places with Home Internet plus and get.
Ben Mankiewicz
Internet right where you want it with.
Emily Heller
Wifi that reaches the attic.
Jason Mantzoukas
I finally have a home. Get a free upgrade to T Mobile Home Internet plus while supplies last. Home Internet plus starts at 50 bucks a month with autopay and any voice line. Check availability@t mobile.com home Internet during congestion. Customers on this plan may notice speeds lower than other customers and further reduction of using greater than 1.2 terabytes per month due to data prioritization. After 20 bill credit plus $5 per month without auto pay debit bank account required regulatory fees included for qualifying accounts. 35 connection charge applies.
Podcast Summary: "Matinee Monday: The Lawnmower Man LIVE!"
Podcast Information:
The episode kicks off with a humorous advertising segment parodying car service ads, quickly transitioning to the show's main content. Paul Scheer, Jason Mantzoukas, and June Diane Raphael set the stage for an in-depth analysis of "The Lawnmower Man," a film notorious for its dated special effects and convoluted plot.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:35]: "Max is back with a new season."
Paul Scheer [03:34]: "What's up, jerks?"
The hosts engage in witty banter about updating the show's theme song, reflecting their playful dynamic. They express a desire for fans to contribute creative versions, emphasizing the show's interactive and inclusive nature.
Paul Scheer [04:13]: "The gauntlet has been thrown. Anybody can record a theme song, 100%."
Neil Casey and Emily Heller are introduced as guests. The conversation shifts to "The Lawnmower Man," with the hosts attempting to summarize the plot. They highlight the film's central premise: a simple-minded lawnmower man undergoing a virtual reality experiment that grants him superintelligence, ultimately leading to chaotic consequences.
Paul Scheer [15:02]: "This movie is bonkers from start to finish. To sum up the plot, if you've not seen the movie..."
Jason Mantzoukas [15:18]: "He becomes the Internet."
The hosts and guests dissect various elements of the film, pointing out inconsistencies and questionable creative choices:
Character Development: They critique Pierce Brosnan's character, Larry Angelo, for his lack of depth and unrealistic transformation from a VR scientist to a villain with superpowers.
Paul Scheer [20:27]: "He also becomes like an X Man."
Special Effects and CGI: The outdated graphics and CGI are mocked, with comparisons to other poorly executed special effects in cinema.
June Diane Raphael [34:07]: "It's like that nonsense."
Plot and Logic Flaws: The group highlights the illogical aspects of the virtual reality experiments, such as their application and the inconsistent portrayal of technological advancements.
Jason Mantzoukas [32:47]: "Why would you need to be weightless in VR?"
Thematic Elements: Themes of abuse and power dynamics are examined, particularly how the film intertwines personal abuse with the overarching narrative of technological empowerment gone wrong.
Paul Scheer [38:42]: "This movie is a molestation allegory. This is all the creepiest stuff."
Comparisons to Other Works: "The Lawnmower Man" is compared to "Flowers for Algernon" and "Frankenstein," emphasizing its attempt to explore intelligence enhancement but falling short in execution.
Emily Heller [78:03]: "I thought the movie was kind of like Job's revenge from the book of Job in the Bible."
Notable Quotes:
June Diane Raphael [45:01]: "He just slaughters these lawns. Did you see, like, he's mowing that lawn? It's this nice, tall grass, and he has it down to just the rag dirt. Just killing this grass."
Paul Scheer [49:36]: "Because we're not smart enough because we haven't been juiced up with the drug."
Listeners' questions are featured, where they suggest alternative names for Pierce Brosnan's character and draw parallels between the movie and literary works. Suggestions like "James," "Rob," "Allison," and "Hewlett Packard" reflect the audience's creative attempts to reimagine the character's identity.
Emily Heller [77:52]: "I think his name should be Hewlett Packard."
The podcast humorously presents fabricated five-star reviews of "The Lawnmower Man," satirizing overly positive critiques that ignore the film's flaws. These mocked reviews highlight the dissonance between genuine viewer experiences and exaggerated praise.
June Diane Raphael [84:29]: "Five stars."
Paul Scheer [84:35]: "You can't go wrong with two great actors who are also dreamy to look at and a great script."
As the episode wraps up, the hosts offer their concluding opinions. Despite acknowledging the movie's numerous shortcomings, they recommend it for a cult classic experience, suggesting that its flawed execution provides ample material for comedic analysis.
Jason Mantzoukas [91:23]: "I would recommend this movie. I found it to be highly enjoyable, even though I didn't understand what was going on."
The hosts thank their audience and guests, promote upcoming projects, and sign off with customary humor and acknowledgments. Final advertisements are seamlessly integrated, maintaining the episode's comedic tone.
Paul Scheer [93:42]: "Thank you all for coming up, but let's talk making this is on Fox. Starting when?"
Jason Mantzoukas [94:03]: "You can follow us on Twitter @HDTGM..."
Key Takeaways:
Notable Quotes with Timestamps:
This comprehensive examination of "The Lawnmower Man" not only highlights the film's myriad issues but also exemplifies the show's commitment to humorously celebrating and critiquing cinematic missteps.