Q: The Winged Serpent LIVE!

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Q: The Winged Serpent LIVE!" | How Did This Get Made?
Release Date: November 15, 2024
Hosts: Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, Jason Mantzoukas
Guests: N/A

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1. Introduction to "Q: The Winged Serpent"

In this lively episode of How Did This Get Made?, hosts Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, and Jason Mantzoukas dive deep into the 1982 cult classic Q: The Winged Serpent. Known for celebrating the quirkiest and often most baffling films, the trio brings their signature humor and sharp critique to dissect this unique monster movie.

2. Movie Overview

Q: The Winged Serpent centers around two detectives investigating a series of gruesome murders in New York City. The plot thickens when a petty thief becomes entangled in a robbery gone awry, all while a gigantic flying lizard terrorizes the city by decapitating its victims. With stars like David Carradine and Richard Roundtree, the film promises a blend of action, horror, and unhinged performances.

Notable Quote:
Paul Scheer (00:00): "It's about a petty thief, a driver if you will, who gets caught up in a robbery gone wrong. Oh yeah, and the big thing is there's a giant fucking flying lizard in New York that are eating people's heads right off."

3. Performances and Character Analysis

The hosts commend Michael Moriarty's performance, highlighting his intense and unhinged portrayal. Jason Mantzoukas draws parallels between Moriarty's voice and comedian Bill Burr, sparking laughter and curiosity about the casting choices.

Notable Quote:
Jason Mantzoukas (05:12): "This movie has a dinosaur in it, but it is much more focused on interrogating the absolutely unhinged performance by Michael Moriarty."

June Diane Raphael discusses the lack of development for Moriarty's character, expressing frustration over his brutal dispatch and limited screen time.

Notable Quote:
June Diane Raphael (07:05): "One of the wildest parts of this movie is the fact that we don't meet the man responsible for it all until the last four minutes."

4. Memorable Scenes and Directorial Choices

One standout scene involves a window washer sexually harassing a woman, only to have his head gruesomely removed by the winged serpent. The hosts critique the scene's execution, questioning the logical inconsistencies and special effects quality.

Notable Quote:
Paul Scheer (16:38): "The opening scene of this movie is one of my favorite scenes of all time. It's a window washer who is sexually harassing a woman."

Another discussed moment is the surreal portrayal of the NYPD, with officers exhibiting bizarre behaviors and impractical tactics in the face of the serpent's havoc.

Notable Quote:
Jason Mantzoukas (27:08): "They seem to all have crazy wigs. I feel like they could be part-time strippers and part-time cops."

5. Plot Holes and Logical Flaws

The hosts vehemently point out numerous plot holes, such as the existence of two identical high-rise buildings and the nonsensical actions of the police department. They debate the creature's mechanics, questioning how the serpent can swoop through skyscrapers without being detected.

Notable Quote:
Paul Scheer (20:15): "You can't have two buildings that look just like each other ten blocks apart. This is too much."

June Diane Raphael raises concerns about the lack of continuity in character motivations, especially regarding the thief's sudden descent into violence.

Notable Quote:
June Diane Raphael (40:47): "The amount of focus that's given to his negotiating what he wants is just baffling."

6. Theoretical Insights and Fan Theories

Exploring the depths of the film, the hosts speculate whether Moriarty's character might be connected to the winged serpent, pondering if he transforms into the creature itself. This theory adds an intriguing layer to the already convoluted narrative.

Notable Quote:
Jason Mantzoukas (46:52): "Is he turning into Q, the winged serpent? And I was like, cool move. Nope. Never answered."

7. Reception and Legacy

Despite its numerous flaws, Q: The Winged Serpent has garnered a cult following for its unintentional humor and bizarre storytelling. The hosts discuss its place in the pantheon of "so bad it's good" movies, acknowledging its enduring appeal among fans of unconventional cinema.

Notable Quote:
Paul Scheer (75:20): "This movie was a hit. This movie was a hit. And it's a scary movie and we learned a lot."

8. Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Wrapping up the episode, the hosts share their final impressions, with a mix of bewilderment and appreciation for the film's audacious attempt at combining horror and action. They encourage listeners to watch the movie for its unique charm, despite its many shortcomings.

Notable Quote:
Jason Mantzoukas (80:00): "I highly recommend everybody watch Q, the winged. Do you all agree? Okay, great."

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Key Takeaways:

• Michael Moriarty's Performance: Praised for its intensity but criticized for hampering the film's coherence.
• Plot Inconsistencies: Multiple logical flaws undermine the movie's storytelling.
• Memorable Yet Flawed Scenes: Despite questionable special effects, certain scenes stand out for their unintentional humor.
• Cult Classic Status: The film remains a beloved oddity among fans of the unconventional and absurd.

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For fans who enjoy dissecting the most perplexing films, this episode offers a thorough and entertaining examination of Q: The Winged Serpent, highlighting both its unintended humor and genuine curiosities.

Transcript

[Paul Scheer]

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[Jason Mantzoukas]

Nick Crow and take a bubble speed.

[Paul Scheer]

To hitting cruise control.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

J L Big Paul in the beautiful.

[Paul Scheer]

Jewel going to take you from the groove all the way to the road Rain against the street fighter help to blow off steam just a sucker punch the eyelight for Timothy green bird Demic how you staying alive? They call me in a badass and he's on the line cranking 88 minutes cause they cool as ice cause they bad gym funny looking kind and nice rolling sh getting literal Jason is getting.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Laid Jul is making sure all the.

[Paul Scheer]

Monkey shots in the pain. They catch 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 and hello people of Los Angeles. We are live at Largo, our LA home, talking about Q, the winged Serpent. The year 1982. And what is this movie about? A lot. It's about two detectives who work Homicide and robbery who are trying to find out who this killer is who's doing some pretty evil shit. But meanwhile, it's also about a petty thief, a driver if you will, who gets caught up in a robbery gone wrong. Oh yeah, and the big thing is there's a giant fucking flying lizard in New York that are eating people's heads right off. That's about all the things that you need to know. And I'll tell you this much. This movie is worth it in every single way. David Carradine, Richard Roundtree. Oh, the list goes on and on. A acting, Academy Award winning performances here. As the title of the movie says, you won't even have time to scream. Ladies and gentlemen, we're gonna break down this entire movie for you. But first, let me introduce my co host. Please welcome Jason Manzoukas.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

What's up, jerks? That's right. That's right. Here we go.

[Paul Scheer]

Largo.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, boy. Wow. I wish they could all be this good. I wish I could spend every afternoon before a show just basking in the glory of a movie like Q the winged. Oh, I would say Q the winged.

[Paul Scheer]

Got it.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I would. But I don't know.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, you know, look, they don't say it in the film.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, they don't. They don't. And I'm. And it was like it. Yeah, we'll get into it.

[Paul Scheer]

I wouldn't even know if I would call him a serpent.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes. Oh, no. This is a dinosaur, this movie. Let me be clear. This movie has a dinosaur in it, but it is much more focused on interrogating the absolutely unhinged performance by Michael Moriarty, who is stone cold out of his mind from top to bottom. T2B nuts. Not only that sounds just like Bill Burr the whole time.

[Paul Scheer]

That's it. That. So right before we came here, right before we came here, I was. I was like, I know that voice. What is that voice? And I couldn't put it.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It's Bill Burr the whole time. Bill Burr.

[Paul Scheer]

You're right.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And I know it.

[Paul Scheer]

You're right.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I know it. Because I walked away and I wasn't watching it, but I was listening to it for a Minute I was like, oh, shit, that's Bill Burr. So much so that I looked up. Is it possible they're from the same place? No.

[Paul Scheer]

Wow. Well, we'll play you a clip of Michael Moriarty, who does give an A performance in this film. But before we do, let's bring out my other co host. Please welcome June Diane Rayfield. How are you, June?

[June Diane Raphael]

I'm okay.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, I'm glad to hear that.

[June Diane Raphael]

I'm happy to be here. I am so happy to be here. I'm so happy to be here.

[Paul Scheer]

Another tagline of Q is Q is here. So you're here. Q is here.

[June Diane Raphael]

By the way, when you first played the trailer, I thought, oh, no, I didn't watch a movie called Q. I watched the wrong movie. I didn't. I watched this movie. I watched this movie. But I never heard him referred to as Q.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

No, of course not. Oh, they don't. They don't ever call him Q. Yeah, this is the. I feel like this probably was made under the title of the name of the winged. Yes, the winged serpent.

[Paul Scheer]

Or I think it was probably Quetzalcoatl. And then they were like, you can't really call it Quetzalcoatl.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

How about Q, the winged serpent?

[June Diane Raphael]

One of the wildest parts. I mean, we're gonna get into it, but one of the wildest parts of this movie is the fact that we don't meet the man responsible for it all until the last four minutes.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yep.

[June Diane Raphael]

Maybe three.

[Paul Scheer]

And he is so brutally dispatched. I have never seen a more brutal killing.

[June Diane Raphael]

I just couldn't understand why. Arguably, he has the most interesting story.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

We should be obsessed with him. Obsessed with him. We should be obsessed with him. We need a monologue. Everything he's up to. And instead, where the movie is, the movie is following a two bit crook.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yes.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Who has no information on cue, the winged serpent. Except for pure happenstance.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yep.

[Paul Scheer]

I mean, this movie is all over the place. But Jason, I wanted to respect you and ask, how was it to watch a movie all about eggs?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Ugh. Boy, oh, boy. I'll be honest, I didn't like it at all.

[Paul Scheer]

I was like, jason might be allergic to this movie.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I did get hives. I did break out into hives during that section where he goes, ooh, that's a big omelet. I absolutely am certain 90% of this movie was improvised. When David Carradine said, I'm gonna take my birth control, I was like, what? What is.

[June Diane Raphael]

What's that mean?

[Paul Scheer]

I wrote that down. What's that mean? I Wrote that down, too. And I was like, all this is, is a slight insight on how David Carradine flirts and fucks. And I didn't like it.

[June Diane Raphael]

What does that mean?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

What does it mean? I'm hung up on it.

[June Diane Raphael]

What does it mean?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I'm gonna take my birth control pill. I'm sorry.

[June Diane Raphael]

I wrote it down at one point. I was like, did he take Viagra? And is that. That's sort of the funny joke he's making?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

This is how the pill works. The guy takes it.

[June Diane Raphael]

I don't know.

[Paul Scheer]

I think he was just being like. I think sometimes when you get to be very famous, people laugh at everything that you do. And then you don't realize, like, what's funny or what's not. And he's like, I said this to plenty of women and they thought it was hilarious.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I do think. I do think, because we would have people come on the league who were like, bigger actors who weren't comfortable with improvisation, and then they would get excited to do improv with us, and then they would say, insane shit.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

That had the cadence of a joke. Something like, I'm gonna go take my birth control pill. Flippantly said as you leave the table.

[Paul Scheer]

And it's like, you know, and then. But no one. Yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

Here's the thing, though. He's not on camera for that. Lie.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It's a lie. It's an adr.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah. So that's what I. Again, I know the filmmakers thought about. Know that they sat. They slept on it. They. They watched many cuts and thought, that's what this moment needs.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, what they were a little levity.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I feel like what they were like was, you know what? Because of the edit now there's a bit of, like a dead air.

[June Diane Raphael]

We need to cover this moment.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

We need a button for this scene now. And David carried. He was like, I got just the thing, man. Roll the tape, Roll the tape. I'll drop it right in. I'm going to go take my birth control pillow. All right, I'll see you guys later. Wait, what?

[Paul Scheer]

But doesn't he also come back in and then just, like, nuzzle her?

[June Diane Raphael]

He does.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

And so it wasn't even the button. It's a sort of like a mid scene.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Everything.

[June Diane Raphael]

ADR'd it because nothing's happening. He just leaves Freeman, then comes back. And so they. Yeah, they snuck that line in. But why?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

There's so many instances where I feel like he's doing shit like that, where he's not giving them opportunities to not use it like when he's drawing the picture of the bird in the board meeting.

[June Diane Raphael]

I forgot about that, by the way.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

They didn't get any coverage where he's not drawing the bird he made them use.

[June Diane Raphael]

And you know what? I have worked with actors who do that. I always tip my hat. I always tip my hat.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Unreal move. I was like, this is a fucking.

[June Diane Raphael]

To handicap a film that way. It is like a terrorist.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, there's no lines for this scene. Okay, I'll just do this.

[Paul Scheer]

But here is the joke of it. His drawing looks better than the actual winged serpent.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

What our eyes have seen.

[Paul Scheer]

Yes, we have seen this claymation fucking dinosaur. I mean, this movie has ripped off Godzilla 19, whatever it was with Matthew Broderick. I mean, it's the same plot, but this is just a dinosaur movie. And he drew, I would say, a pretty fair representation of Q.

[June Diane Raphael]

You know what's interesting about the Q? The winged serpent.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Boy, would I love it if because of this episode, Q, the winged serpent, became the most searched for Q in existence.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, I felt very bad. Our producer Molly said that now her Internet is fucked because all she was doing was typing in Q.

[June Diane Raphael]

Well, here's the interesting thing, though.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It's called Q drains the swamp.

[June Diane Raphael]

The interesting thing about Q is that.

[Paul Scheer]

The Q, the winged serpent from the.

[June Diane Raphael]

Swamp, Q, only I think, attacks when people are on high rises or hanging off of them. Like, I don't know why Q, the winged serpent, can't swoop down to ground level, not at.

[Paul Scheer]

Because he's trying to be invisible.

[June Diane Raphael]

Wait, what?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

Yes.

[June Diane Raphael]

I didn't. No. First of all, I don't believe that. I know the characters give us that justification that Q is trying to stay within the sun's rays perfectly so that people can't see him, but. But other people can.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, there's Q. Anybody? Anybody? Anybody? Yeah, give it up. Anybody above floor 30 can see Q, the winged serpent, like, right there. I mean, like you can see anything in the city alleyway in the.

[Paul Scheer]

That's the indictment of this movie. Yes. We work in the high rises, but we don't pay attention. Look right outside our window.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

No, we got now on the phone.

[June Diane Raphael]

As Eat the Rich.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, I mean, this is it.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Thank God. Thank God Al Qaeda didn't get. Didn't get hold of. Cue the winged serpents.

[Paul Scheer]

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[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh.

[Paul Scheer]

Who is sexually harassing a woman who I guess works in shoe manufacturing.

[June Diane Raphael]

I don't know, but I wish the whole movie was about her and her job in fashion.

[Paul Scheer]

And the way that he's like, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, gorgeous. And she's like, oh, he's cleaning the window again. As if he. Like, by the way, he's not cleaning that window.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

You love me. And she's like, oh, this fucking creep. And it's like. It's like a. It's like a. It's like the opening of Grease, you know, just bouncing back and forth.

[June Diane Raphael]

But why are those windows, like, completely sound? Yes, they are both. They're sound.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I think they are experiencing.

[June Diane Raphael]

Because. Because you would be able to hear something. It would be.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, he's muted.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, yeah. She complains about the squeaking.

[June Diane Raphael]

She can hear the squeaking, but it seems like they can't hear each other speak.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, because she's ignoring him like a normal, sane human being. She's like, oh, this guy, he's still washing the windows. He's like, hi. And it seems like he's just lowering to her floor. And the amount of soap he's put on there, he's never making any headway. It's just more and more soap. He's never. He's never doing the other side of the squeegee. It's just the soapy side.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Well, today's his job review. And cue the winged serpent says, you're fired because his head gets chomped.

[Paul Scheer]

Now, fun fact.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

Real Empire State Building squeegee man.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh. Oh, wow.

[Paul Scheer]

Wow.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

They got a real guy to.

[Paul Scheer]

They got a real guy to act out that part, and they killed him. Now, I would love it if you.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Were like, they hired an actor, but he just couldn't do it correctly. They needed the authenticity of that guy.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, they definitely had. I mean, look, there's something about this movie that I found fascinating, which was they had access to a lot of places I've never seen in New York. Mainly a lot of these up top of building, like, pools and outdoor spaces. I lived in New York for a long time. No one ever invited me.

[June Diane Raphael]

I've never seen a pool this.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

This movie has access to. And shows us how to get to more rooftops in midtown Manhattan than I was ever on in 13 years of living there.

[Paul Scheer]

It was not an option. Like, the rooftops I was on was.

[June Diane Raphael]

Like, there was no door that opened up into a rooftop.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, yeah. I don't think I ever climbed a ladder on floor 86 in New York City in my life.

[Paul Scheer]

Now, here's the thing that pissed me off about this movie. The first killing is this squeegee man who gets his head. And by the way, if you're a bird, take the whole body. The head is not going to be fulfilling enough. That's like Eminem.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Here's the thing. If he's doing this right. And listen, Q is a winged serpent. And I'm certain. And is seemingly immortal. I'm not sure.

[Paul Scheer]

But find out what a serpent is.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

To have the ability to swoop in. Like having that much momentum.

[June Diane Raphael]

Wingspan too.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes. That much momentum, that much weight to come in, bite just his head off. Make no impression on the building. She doesn't see. There's no shadow cast on her. She sees nothing. It's just. Bloop.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It is so delicate.

[June Diane Raphael]

It's surgical.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It is so delicate.

[Paul Scheer]

Cue.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

The winged serpent isn't interested in eating your whole body.

[June Diane Raphael]

No. Although there are times where he'll just pick a motherfucker up.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

I was so excited when he finally grabbed somebody in his claw. I'm like, you got the claws. Use them.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, it's the guy in the pool. It's the guy in the pool. I think is the first claw grab.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, I will say this. So these detectives are investigating a murder at the Empire State Building. Now, what's the other main building, the one that looks identical to the Empire State? I was like, is this. I was like, this is not the Empire State Building.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It's the Chrysler Building.

[Paul Scheer]

But it's like, you can't have an inciting incident at the building that looks just like the other building.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

You can't have two things, like, 10 blocks away from each other like this. This is too much.

[Paul Scheer]

I. I just thought, like, visually, I was so confused. Like, oh, wait, is he in the. Cause he goes, I gotta go see my lawyer. Then he ran in. I think they showed the exterior of the Empire State Building, but then he's in the.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I think the whole movie also is stolen.

[Paul Scheer]

You know what I mean?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Like, they don't have permits to be on anything. I think most of the shots where blood is dripping on people. Real people, real shots.

[Paul Scheer]

Okay, can I. Can I.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Can I give you real.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, I mean, the first scene when Richard Roundtree and David Carradine are out talking about what they just saw, the man with the head being bitten off, they have, like. They've roped off the bystanders who are just watching two actors act in a movie.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

Because the ambulance is pulled away, and they're just like. I wonder what they're saying. What are they talking about? They're staring at them and smiling like, look at this. It's a movie. It's a movie. It is. And they're all, hey, Kung Fu.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Hey, Kung Fu. Hey.

[June Diane Raphael]

But the other issue I had with that ambulance, like, hurrying away like, that man is so. That man has no head, okay? That man has no head, and they don't know where the head is. And they throw. They wheel him out and put him in there. And the sirens go on. It's like, what are you.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

They're outside the building like this. He's like, what are you doing? Looking for the head.

[June Diane Raphael]

And then David Carradine says at one point, well, I mean, it's going to show up somewhere. Here's what they always do.

[Paul Scheer]

I just want to. I want to underline it. June. Even if they did have the head, that ambulance has no reason to run away. No one's getting their head reattached once that's off.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I would have loved. There was a tag at the very end of that scene where the ambulance is pulling away and the woman from. Is like, I did always love him. Like, you just get a little insight to like, it would have been love.

[June Diane Raphael]

One thing I really didn't ever get to the bottom of, you know, our gentleman at the very end. Again, we saw the last three minutes of the movie. The man who caused all of this, he has convinced a number of people to men. A number of men to sell, to sacrifice their bodies. And by the way, they're awake for their own skinning.

[Paul Scheer]

Yes.

[June Diane Raphael]

Okay.

[Paul Scheer]

The way that they skin. Can I show a clip of it?

[June Diane Raphael]

No, no, no. I would love it if you went through too much. We went through too much.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I would love it if you did.

[Paul Scheer]

When we first meet the first skinned person, they're in a host meat. Okay. Yes. When we are first introduced to the first skinned person, they're on white bedding. There's no blood anywhere in the room. And every piece of skin.

[June Diane Raphael]

Okay, all right. It's enough. It's enough, Paul. But I was fascinated by the people who wanted to do. Who are those people?

[Paul Scheer]

This guy and why?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

This man who gets on the table and says, it's cold. What's cold? Don't worry, you'll get heated up in a second when I start peeling your flesh off your body.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Now, normally, a movie like this would have like two, like, opposing forces. Right? The people who are trying to bring about. Cue the winged serpent, their God. Right. Who's gonna. Whatever, whatever. And the person who realizes this plan and is like, I must stop them from doing this. I must stop the Nazis from opening the Ark of the Covenant or whatever. Right.

[Paul Scheer]

Which came out the same year as this movie.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Insane. But in this movie, it's. We are following none of the people that are involved with the interesting thing that's happening. So those people are off maybe making a better movie somewhere.

[June Diane Raphael]

Well, it's true. Because what I kept on wondering about the gentleman who was making all this happen is like, what an interesting position he's in where he doesn't have to get skinned.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

He just gets to see his God alive and well, and other people have to sacrifice.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

What about the guy that makes those hats? It makes the cue the winged serpent hat.

[Paul Scheer]

I mean, yeah, he's wearing a big head piece.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I also want to know about that. Wait a minute. Sorry. Yeah, I also want to know why the altar for the sacrifices is in the storage room of like somebody's lawyer's office. Like the altar, the stone altar is in a room covered in shelves and document boxes.

[June Diane Raphael]

And I also wanted to know where was his lawyer? Why wasn't he working?

[Paul Scheer]

Well, his lawyer did eventually come in.

[June Diane Raphael]

Because his lawyer at the very end with no explanation of where he was.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, sometimes he takes a lunch break. You know, he's a successful lawyer. The idea that these cops are not good cops. And I want to make sure that I'm on record that. Because when they do find that first delayed person, they're like, oh, gross, gross. And then one of the cops just picks up a pillow and is like, throws it on the body, AKA the evidence.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yes, you're right, Pa. I noticed that too. And it's not, it's not for those of you who haven't seen the movie, it's not like, oh, I'm gonna cover their face for their own dignity. It is not respectable.

[Paul Scheer]

It's the way that you throw a pillow at someone like, oh, you scared me, you son of a bitch. You know, it's like that.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And if you're, if you're playing. How did this get made? Bingo. That was a pillow. That was a full throated pillow.

[Paul Scheer]

How do you pronounce a pillow?

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah, we're both from Long Island. We both say that word. It's hard.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

The police are, I agree, very bad in this. So much so that when they find the guys actively performing the sacrifice where the man Is cut open. Right. And then the cops come in. The naked guy jumps off the table, comes at him and the cop shoots him immediately. And then looks around, is like, he was coming for me. He was coming for me.

[June Diane Raphael]

I have that moment. I was like, that moment.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

This movie. I wouldn't have been surprised if this movie followed an internal affairs investigation. That's how tertiary to important events the characters in this movie are.

[June Diane Raphael]

Well, because also, why does that. Why is that police department so threatened by this report and on this like human sacrifice. Wigs.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

They seem to all have crazy wigs. I feel like.

[June Diane Raphael]

Do you think the actors have wigs or the characters just are wearing wigs now?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

That's interesting.

[Paul Scheer]

I didn't notice the wigs as much as I noticed that all of them. If you told me they were part time strippers and part time cops because they all had like slightly unbuttoned blue shirts, hair was wild. And at one point the guy before he's going to kill this winged serpent is just chugging a beer. Like, I'm like, these are.

[June Diane Raphael]

Oh, this police department. The nypd. When their major sting at the end to get the winged. To get. Cue the winged serpent. There are police officers just sitting outside in baskets.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

Hanging from the building in baskets.

[Paul Scheer]

Machine guns. Yes.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Nobody is like, you know what? These did not work for King Kong. Why are we doing this? Paul, can I ask you just a super quick question? Yes. Do you have any evidence available that Michael Moriarty plays the piano?

[Paul Scheer]

Yes, I have.

[June Diane Raphael]

That's.

[Paul Scheer]

I can blow your mind with three quick facts. Michael Moriarty was not written to play the piano. But when the director found out that he did, he was like, let's make it a whole subplot.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Wow.

[Paul Scheer]

So that is to the improvised part of it. I also want to speak to this part of it too. Which is, yes, there were actors on the top of the Chrysler Building firing machine guns that were unloading blanks that were falling on New York City citizens. Thankfully, there is a net that protects like debris from falling. So it didn't hit anyone. And the director's response to that was we were upset because we wanted to see people reacting to getting hot shell casings dropping on their heads.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Incredible stuff.

[Paul Scheer]

And because of this movie, you are not allowed to fire live rounds.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Really.

[Paul Scheer]

Because on the top of buildings like that anymore.

[June Diane Raphael]

If the movie did anything, it's so funny because the scene, that bar scene, I'll never stop thinking about that bar scene.

[Paul Scheer]

Can I play it for the rest of my days?

[June Diane Raphael]

It was haunting.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Incredible. This is And I really mean this when I say this movie is in our, like, you know, pantheon of movies. Fantastic for just such scenes as this. Go away Evil dreams Leave my baby.

[Paul Scheer]

Alone.

[June Diane Raphael]

I couldn't understand that. I couldn't understand that.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Go away now.

[June Diane Raphael]

Okay.

[Paul Scheer]

She wakes up crying every night. I. I will just say as I pause it for a second, some people seem into it, some people seem out of it. I don't know what the movie is trying.

[June Diane Raphael]

I couldn't tell if people loved it. I couldn't tell if people hated it. I couldn't tell if we were supposed to like it. I couldn't tell if we were supposed to hate it.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I couldn't understand what he was trying to do, full stop. He walks into the bar where his girlfriend works. He says to the bar, which.

[June Diane Raphael]

But we don't know at that point.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, we know.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

We know.

[Paul Scheer]

They have that eye contact.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

He's making meaningful eye contact with her.

[June Diane Raphael]

But regardless, I thought he was flirting.

[Paul Scheer]

No. The bar bartender's like, how did you know we had an opening for a piano player? And he's like. And she's like, well, but to me, it seemed.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah, to me it seemed like the guy, the owner, did not want a musician.

[June Diane Raphael]

That's what I was confounded by.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

So Michael Moriarty. To me, it felt like he was staking out a place to rob or this was part of the job.

[June Diane Raphael]

Had that.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Also, David Carradine shows up in this scene. Truly inexplicable.

[Paul Scheer]

David Carradine. A beverage. David Carradine likes a beverage. Multiple times we see him when he's off duty. He's just getting a drink. Coffee, beer, whatever it may be.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

This stays hydrated top to bottom, like absolute nuts.

[June Diane Raphael]

And the crazy part about this scene is I think that this scene is supposed to endear us to Michael Moriarty's character. I think we are. I think we are supposed to root for him. At one point, he thinks we're supposed to. Okay, he is a racist. He's also admitted to, like, kicking the shit out of his girlfriend.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

No, he hasn't.

[Paul Scheer]

She has. She's like, well, at least you didn't punch me this time.

[June Diane Raphael]

I go, jesus, alcoholic. I'm like, this man is so. And he's not well.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, no. There were periods where I was like, is his performance meant to be like. Like, really nuts? Like, what is.

[Paul Scheer]

He's a nervous eater who. I'm afraid of everything, but I'm not afraid of hungry.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

When he says when he says, when he goes. When he comes back from the attic Full of skeletons to his girlfriend. And he's like, I just. I want to cry. I haven't cried since I was a little kid, but I just want to cry. What I saw, he's doing so much.

[June Diane Raphael]

He's doing the most.

[Paul Scheer]

And this is like, what this scene is to me. What's so odd about it is it starts off.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I'm like, no, I'm so sorry. I just want to cry. But I'm supposed to be a man.

[Paul Scheer]

When he says. When he sits down at this piano, there's a. This is. I'll just give you my point of view of the emotions that I went through.

[June Diane Raphael]

Please, please.

[Paul Scheer]

I was like, okay, we're gonna now see that this criminal has actually got.

[June Diane Raphael]

A real talent, a wonderful pianist.

[Paul Scheer]

That's gonna be great. Then he starts playing, and I'm like, okay, maybe this is like kind of that moment in Back to the Future where Marty McFly and his band is playing, and then Huey Lewis is like, I'm afraid you're just too darn loud. I'm like, okay, maybe he's like, it's. They're not ready for that.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

And then he's playing in such an aggressive way. Like, is he in here because he wants to start a fight with the bartender? Because the bartender's been hitting on his girlfriend and he wants to be like, fuck you. Like, you know, it's like the way.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

He'S playing, first of all, clearly, because in many instances, you can see his fingers. So he is clearly playing. He can play the piano, sort of. That being said, I mean, it's not.

[Paul Scheer]

Barely. Barely. No.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

But what he's doing is not anything that would get him a job.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, yeah.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Let me be clear.

[Paul Scheer]

Anyone would listen to.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

So that makes me feel like he. Again, he mustn't want this. This must not be real. He's here for some other reason.

[June Diane Raphael]

But yet they think that he was going in there to impress his girlfriend.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I think. I think the movie logic is he wants to be a piano guy instead of being a crooked. And now he's got. This is his chance. He doesn't get it, so now he has to take. So because he doesn't get this job, he has to take the job robbing the diamond store.

[Paul Scheer]

Wow.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

That's what the movie was. I don't think it's successful, but I.

[June Diane Raphael]

Think that's the plot as I'm hearing it.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I do think that's what it is.

[June Diane Raphael]

Because there were so many looks and so many weird. I couldn't agree.

[Paul Scheer]

But just play a Normal fucking song, if you want. He's playing a song, and I'm going to say this. I'm okay with all of this until I hear how he learned to play this song at the end, which is the weirdest racist rant I've ever heard, where I'm like, ooh. I'm like, this is making me uncomfortable. Like, I'm like, you shouldn't be sharing this. And then. And then what I've come to realize is that that man who taught him hated him.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

And. And knew he was a racist. Like, yeah, I'll show you how to play piano. This is what we call jazz. And then he's like, thanks, buddy. And then he's gone on his entire life, like, don't worry. This famous guy taught me this, and it was a giant fuck you. So that's. That's my movie logic is that he has been an asshole his entire life, and this guy is sabotaged.

[June Diane Raphael]

What an unpleasant man.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

At this point, I have to think his girlfriend is a fool, because she should be like, I gotta dump this guy.

[Paul Scheer]

She should have dumped him a long time ago.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I mean, he is a garbage person.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

But makes this movie one of the best films I've ever seen. Now, when he's up in this robbery, I rewound this scene a handful of times because it's a robbery in which we don't see the interior of the place that they're robbing. They walk. And then, very mutedly, we hear, hey, put it down.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Who are those guys?

[Paul Scheer]

And then he's running out. I'm like, what happened? I don't know. And I'm like, did I miss it? He does have a gun. It looks like someone has been shot. He's got a bag full of diamonds. He gets hit by a cab. The diamonds go flying. He has no response to go get them. And then he just.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

He takes off running. Nobody's chasing him for a long time. Not at all. He's gotten away with it.

[Paul Scheer]

He's running to a phone booth to call his lawyer to say, I'm gonna be in there in a second.

[June Diane Raphael]

But also, like, don't what? Don't tell anyone. Just walk off into the night. Nobody saw you. Nothing's happening. Nobody's after you.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, yeah.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

You don't. Here's what you don't need.

[Paul Scheer]

Go get the diamonds.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

You don't need to get the diamonds. Get the diamonds and. Or go home. You don't need to climb into the roof of the Chrysler Building, okay?

[June Diane Raphael]

That journey. I want to get to that in a second I want to get to.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And the foley work. The foley work in this is nuts. When he's climbing the ladder, it sounds like he's farting every step of the way.

[Paul Scheer]

Talking Pictures, the podcast from TCM and Max is back with a new season here, host Ben Mankiewicz and 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. It's about where you were, who you were with and what you were feeling. Listen to Talking Pictures on Max or wherever you get your podcasts. This podcast is brought to you by Squarespace. Squarespace is the all in one website platform for entrepreneurs to stand out and succeed online. Whether you're starting or managing a business or growing brand, Squarespace will help make it easy for you to create a beautiful website, engage with your audience, and sell anything from products to content to time all in one place and on your terms. Right now you can get 10% off your first purchase of a website or [e-mail] Bonkers now let me tell you, Squarespace has introduced this new thing that I think is pretty cool. It's called Design Intelligence. It combines two decades of industry leading design expertise with cutting edge AI technology to help you unlock your strongest creative potential. That's right, you can create a more bespoke, personalized website tailored to what you need and what the people you are appealing to want. So check out squarespace.com for a free trial. And when you're ready to launch squarespace.combonkers to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain with big wireless providers, what you see is never what you get. Somewhere in between the store and the first month's bill, the price just magically skyrockets. What happened there? Well, with Mint Mobile, you'll never have to worry about Gotchas again. When mint mobile says 15 bucks a month. Month. When you purchase a three month plan, they mean it. Now I gotta tell you, our producer Scott recently got fed up after noticing another surprise fee from his big wireless provider. And then he made the switch to Mint Mobile. He says not only is his new plan way cheaper, but now he knows exactly how much he pays every month straight up. To get this new customer offer and a new three month premium wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month, go to mintmobile.com hdtgm that's mint mobile.com hdtgm cut your wireless bill to 15 bucks a month at mint mobile.com hdtgM $45 upfront payment fee required. Equivalent to $15 a month. New customers on first three month plan only. Speed slower above 40 gigabytes on unlimited plan. Additional taxes, fees and restrictions apply. See Mint Mobile for details.

[June Diane Raphael]

The thing that's so crazy about this robbery is there's so much made of the fact that he's just a driver. He doesn't go in and do the dirty work. And he's not risking of himself to do the dirty work. Which is so fascinating, knowing what happens to him later on. Like, I think the movie wants us to believe that this is a guy initially who is not, like, willing to take major risks in his life, but then at the end, he's willing to let people die so that he can make so $2 million off city.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Like, the amount of focus that's given to his negotiating what he wants.

[June Diane Raphael]

By the way, which, by the way, all improvised.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I want a fleet of helicopters.

[Paul Scheer]

What?

[June Diane Raphael]

Okay. When he starts talking about how he's going to own the copyright to all photographs, I was like, I want him in the room at the next W. Holy shit. This guy knows what's up.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Send him to the DNC immediately. I need this motherfucker choosing what's up.

[Paul Scheer]

Because he was, by the way, he was right. I want a million dollars. I want to have. No. For whatever crimes I do commit in the future. You can't get me on that either.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Next.

[Paul Scheer]

My record in the past and the future, Minority Report style. Which would mean that he could go off on a killing spree. He could be a robber. Like, he's. He's not saying, I won't commit any more crimes. He's like, now you've given me carte blanche.

[June Diane Raphael]

But, Paul. Okay, so this is what I don't understand about the other criminals that he's with. If he doesn't want to go in there, I don't know why they give him a gun. But I believe someone died in there.

[Paul Scheer]

I think two people got shot.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Who are those guys?

[Paul Scheer]

When I.

[June Diane Raphael]

Here's my question, though. In that moment, does he. Does Michael Moriarty decide, I see shits going down. I'm going to grab the diamonds? How do you think.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

He's a piece of shit.

[June Diane Raphael]

Okay.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

But even if he grabbed it, I think he, like, left. I think he saw an opportunity, grab the diamonds and left.

[Paul Scheer]

But then he doesn't even seem like he wants those diamonds.

[June Diane Raphael]

No.

[Paul Scheer]

And then there's also no one who finds it, like a little kid should have been like, hey, look, diamonds.

[June Diane Raphael]

I thought serpent was gonna get. I thought, hey, look, diamonds.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Let's ADR that. Can somebody ADR that into the movie?

[Paul Scheer]

Or as I like to call him, my birth control.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I'd love it to take care of. I'm gonna go take my birth control pill. And just popped a diamond into his.

[Paul Scheer]

Mouth, by the way. Also in that scene with David Garrity. And again with the birth control. I forgot the best part in a kimono.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, yeah. Oh. Incredible stuff. Reading about the cue the winged serpent.

[June Diane Raphael]

But let's just go back to how we end up in the nest.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, yeah, please.

[June Diane Raphael]

In the top of the Chrysler Building. So he goes in that building to meet with his lawyer to confess to a Chrysler crime that nobody has seen him do.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Nobody knows.

[Paul Scheer]

Seems like everyone's dead.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And then the security guard for the building, having no concept that Michael Moriarty is related to a crime that has just happened, just is like, hey. And he's like, oh. And Moriarty starts ascending to the rafters.

[Paul Scheer]

And no one's chasing him again. No one's chasing him.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

He's always acting suspicious. He's never not suspicious.

[June Diane Raphael]

At a certain point, though, didn't you get the feeling that he's not even worried about the security guard watching him or coming after him? He's just continuing to walk up. Yeah, up, up.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I feel like. Do you feel like also that maybe these were just Michael Moriarty choices? And the director was like, mike, I don't think we can follow you up there. Well, come on, get a camera up here. Come on, come on.

[Paul Scheer]

All right, so here's my. Again. If we're going to go backwards and reinvent the spring, the very easy fix would be he runs out of the Julia store with the diamonds. I don't know where to hide these. Knock, knock, knock on my lawyer's door. Hey, can I put these in the safe? He's not there. Shit.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Love it.

[Paul Scheer]

I'll hide it up in the top of the building.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Great.

[Paul Scheer]

I go up there, up a nest. And then maybe he does. Oh, they'll never see it here. And he hides it there. Whatever it is, that at least imagine if.

[June Diane Raphael]

That's great, Paul. That's.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Imagine if there's diamonds, by the way. You know how else that helps? You know what else helps? There is if. Then he is to the guys, I know where the diamonds are.

[Paul Scheer]

Yes.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And he does bring them to the nest because, in fact, the diamonds are there. We don't know where the diamonds are.

[Paul Scheer]

The fact that he goes up there unprompted, with nothing to hide for no reason. And when the reason was so easy, he had the bag in his hands.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Why does he have to lose the diamond? Why?

[June Diane Raphael]

I don't know. And then also, it's. It's very confusing why those two other thugs are willing to go on that ladder, are willing to ascend it in front of him.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes.

[Paul Scheer]

By the way, the cops do the same thing.

[June Diane Raphael]

It's really.

[Paul Scheer]

Hey, man, there's a giant winged serpent up there. Let's all go up on the ladder because we'll have more power. All like, basically, like dominoes.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Also, remember, chomp, chomp, chomp.

[Paul Scheer]

It's like Pac Man.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Remember when the cops were like, I don't want you to go in there unarmed and try and give him a gun.

[June Diane Raphael]

They do give him a gun.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I don't think so, man. What, don't trust me?

[Paul Scheer]

What? What are we doing? Don't trust me? I'm a scumbag.

[June Diane Raphael]

That's crazy. Everybody wants to give him a gun.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I loved. I genuinely loved. Again, I know this. A lot of the stuff I'm saying is repetitive just because I do feel like Michael Moriarty is improvising a lot. I can see it. And it's really funny to me what he's choosing to fixate on. One of which is the giant canvas tent on top of the Chrysler Building. He says, you're not listening to me. You gotta get the big canvas tent. He says it, I'm gonna say, 30 times in the course of seven minutes. You can tell it's an idea he's obsessed with. And they had to put it in again. They had to put it in.

[June Diane Raphael]

But he's also, like. He's seen, I think, multiple dead bodies up there and remains.

[Paul Scheer]

Can I just say the other thing that he says in this scene? You're talking about his improv when he comes back and we'll play a clip of the scene with his girlfriend. He's upset, she's worried. Where have you been? And he says he fell asleep under a staircase. And my thought was, when?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah, when? Up in the Chrysler, in the nest. Did he fall asleep in the nest area?

[Paul Scheer]

I don't know, but that would have.

[June Diane Raphael]

Here's a question that's never answered, or if it was a mess, but at one point he says, cue the winged serpent. Hasn't attacked him. And he's been up there twice.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

Why?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes, why? Why? It's so much so that I was like, I hadn't Thought of it until then.

[June Diane Raphael]

Is he part serpent?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

He brings up an interesting choice. And I thought to myself, is it possible he is cue the winged serpent?

[June Diane Raphael]

I had the same thought.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Is he turning into cue the winged serpent? And I was like, cool move. Nope. Nope. Never answered.

[Paul Scheer]

I want to just. Just talk about the one thing that you'll never see, because it was in the original theatrical print. The final.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Not that is what I watched on Peacock.

[Paul Scheer]

Not that it is. They said it was not on any of the other airings. It's just the original. At the end of the movie, we see the other egg. Sorry, Jason. We see the other egg, and it.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Cuts right to Cat, get me my EpiPen.

[Paul Scheer]

It cuts right to credits. But in the original theatrical movie, you see the other egg, it cracks open. And then a title card comes up that says, michael Moriarty's character did sue the city and got a million dollars tax free.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

This is the kind of thing that I would believe if. I would believe if you told me actually the writing and directing names are fake. Michael Murray already made this whole movie, including all the miniatures of Cue the winged star.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, can I. I was gonna say this for the end, but I'll just say it to you now. So the director of this movie, he's known for films like Maniac Cop. He's done a lot of, like, schlocky movies. Started off doing, like, blaxploitation movies and kind of moved into cop movies. He was fired off of a very big budget film, and he was like, fuck it. I already have this hotel room for a couple more days. Wrote the script in seven days and kept the cast from the other movie and just pushed them into this. And, like. And whoever could do it did it. And that was it. And they called in all of it. Like, well, maybe I should say this. I don't know if it's the same cast. He just basically wrote the movie. And seven days is like, I've already been in location scouting. Let's go. And then shot the movie.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Well, that makes sense. That actually now helps me understand what the fuck this was. Yeah, this was a cocaine nightmare.

[June Diane Raphael]

There is a point. Just. I just want to point out one crowd scene. I don't know if anyone else saw this, but I can't remember if it's when Q is sort of falling off the building or if it's when, you know, people are bleeding on people. But there's one crowd scene where it's like, oh, New York City streets mayhem. Like, people don't know where to Go. And don't know where to hide. And there's one man who simply is in the middle of the street. It's almost like seeing a carpet rolled up. He just, he just rolls. Just nothing, nothing is happening to him. There's no danger here. He just rolled across the street at aisle. I was crying, laughing. Oh, so it did feel like it did.

[Paul Scheer]

There.

[June Diane Raphael]

There are certain moments in this film where it's just like everybody's on drugs. Like, everybody.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

What they're trying to tell us, what they're trying. What the movie's trying to tell me is a normal thing is for like four hot bodied young people to be on the rooftop pool of a high rise in midtown Manhattan so that one of of the women can do 60 pushups.

[Paul Scheer]

Okay?

[June Diane Raphael]

Oh my.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Everybody just watches, okay? And the guy's like, so wait, you just called me over here to watch this?

[June Diane Raphael]

Okay?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And they're just like 56, 57. What the. And they're like, yeah, like normal New Yorkers. Hey.

[Paul Scheer]

Just a regular Wednesday.

[June Diane Raphael]

So I had so many questions about that scene. And again, I'll never stop thinking about it because I do think, you know, the movie, it's located at a time where women are, you know, the opening scene, that woman is not a secretary. She is some sort of high powered CEO and in running her own business in that moment. And then so I clocked that based on when the movie's made. And then that scene on the rooftop, I really am trying to contextualize and frame in terms of just like what's happening with women.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah, he thought he was coming over to three women.

[June Diane Raphael]

Okay? But she did call him. She did call him.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It said, get over here, get over.

[June Diane Raphael]

Here and watch me work out.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And then he was like. And then they. She did 60 push ups, kept going. He was like, is this why you called me over here? This is so, so much. He was like, fine, I'll just get in the pool, cue the winged serpent, grabs him, takes him and chucks him off.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, now here's the thing. Now here's the thing about this winged serpent. Normally in movies like this, you see people behaving badly and they're the ones who get killed. So the first guy, he, you know, he's a flirt, but he's not that bad.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

But no, he's a creep. He's not a flirt. What are you talking about? He's a flirt. This is a predator.

[Paul Scheer]

Hey. Hey, lady. Hey, lady. Hey, lady. No. So, yes, okay, you're right.

[June Diane Raphael]

He's hanging outside her window.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, that's his job.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And he was. He's like a.

[Paul Scheer]

To be fair, that is his job.

[June Diane Raphael]

He has nothing to clean.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Didn't she say that he'd done it three days in a row? Like, the window is clean now.

[Paul Scheer]

Guys, that's what people say about the Empire State Building. The cleanest windows in New York. So, all right. First person, creep. Second person, just a woman sunbathing with things over her eyes. She can't see the winged serpent yet screams as if she looks right in his face. All right, so she's innocent.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

She's.

[June Diane Raphael]

Well, no, she's not innocent because she has her boobs out.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes. She has the sin of titties.

[June Diane Raphael]

In the world of this movie, she needs to be punished.

[Paul Scheer]

Okay, all right, all right. Well, then. Well, then let's. Well, now my theory is falling apart. But then let's go to.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

But you know who doesn't die? The creep on the rooftop adjacent.

[Paul Scheer]

That's what I'm talking about.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Seems to be the creep who you think is looking. He's looking at her through a telescope, except it's not. It's like a surveyor's equipment. He's. He's looking at her through a sextant. I'm pretty sure it's a sextant.

[Paul Scheer]

It's. What?

[June Diane Raphael]

It's so funny. Like, so much, really.

[Paul Scheer]

Adam Driver's character uses a megalopolis.

[June Diane Raphael]

So much is happening on the rooftop. It's like where all the singles go.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, my God. It's a whole other New York.

[Paul Scheer]

But this is what I'm gonna say. So, all right, so, okay, sunbather, she gets killed. Construction worker. He seems like they're abusing him. Cause at first he's like, hey, where'd my sandwich go? Hey, you guys steal my sandwich? And you think, oh, Q, the winged serpent stole a sandwich.

[June Diane Raphael]

Oh, yeah, yeah, that was.

[Paul Scheer]

And then it's revealed. No, those guys actually did steal his sandwich.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, yeah. And the one guy's like, his wife. Does Ms. Make a good sandwich. I might have to pay her a visit soon and tell her so, because I'm a fucking rapist. What?

[June Diane Raphael]

I didn't know what those guys.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Why would he say that?

[Paul Scheer]

Those guys live, but this poor, hungry man who's just trying to do a job and married to a beautiful woman who makes a great sample.

[June Diane Raphael]

I truly did not understand. Again, this. The whole experience of watching this movie, I was like, the wrong people win.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

I don't get people.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

The wrong people win all the time.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, I mean.

[June Diane Raphael]

And then you ask, why were they Taking a sandwich. You seemed like a nice guy.

[Paul Scheer]

They seemed like they were friends. And then you have the best death in the entire film. This is my favorite one, which is our other cop. We haven't really mentioned him that much, but Richard Roundtree, who's up on the roof looking for someone with his partner, a mime.

[June Diane Raphael]

Okay, okay, this.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Okay, this was not.

[June Diane Raphael]

So before you play this pod, I just want to talk about that mime first. I had to stop the movie. I had to stop the movie and really make sure what I was seeing was correct, which is that the NYPD has placed an undercover cop out in the streets in front of the museum to see the comings and goings and that they have disguised him. His cover is a mime.

[Paul Scheer]

A mime in an Amadeus shirt. Not the movie, but the Broadway production. So this mime is also bucking conventional trends by not by wearing, like a patterned shirt. Like, he's not wearing a traditional mime shirt.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Well, there's also. When they're done and they're like, oh, we gotta go to the next location, they all bundle into the car and he says to them, how did I do?

[June Diane Raphael]

Okay, I heard that.

[Paul Scheer]

I can't.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, no, no. Someone says to him, how did you do? Money wise? And he says, oh, not that good, or.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah, that's right.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Like, it's up for grabs whether he was a good mime or not.

[June Diane Raphael]

Well, but it made me wonder, like, again, another movie. In this movie that I'd like to watch, just, like, do all the undercover cops have to list their talents or interests?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Special skills.

[Paul Scheer]

Special skills. I'm going to ask you a question because I think I know the answer, but I want to see if I'm right.

[June Diane Raphael]

What was he doing as a mime?

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah, what was he watching for?

[June Diane Raphael]

He was. I thought he was watching for.

[Paul Scheer]

The.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Two people who were going to perform the ceremony.

[Paul Scheer]

How would you ever find those two people? That's like saying, I saw two people in New York City. That must be them. Like, there's no. They have no clue about this man.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

For most of the movie, no one has seen Cue the winged serpent. No, most of the movie, only an hour, hour and 10 minutes in. Does the police chief say 70 people have seen the winged serpent? Only just now have we gotten reports in that people have seen the winged.

[Paul Scheer]

Serpent, but no one has ever seen this man. So you're just saying, hey, you hang out in front of the museum and wait to see two men talking. Chances are it's them. It's so wild. So this Is my favorite scene. So Richard Roundtree, looking around.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, the mime.

[Paul Scheer]

Mime with a gun. Who is still moving like a mime. Or maybe it's impossible to stop moving like a mime when you are dressed like a mime. I don't know.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

By the way, look at the smog of New York City. All adr check the element. June. June.

[Paul Scheer]

June just got.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

June. June, are you okay?

[Paul Scheer]

June just got jump scared by the movie. She's already seen.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

June.

[Paul Scheer]

And this is why. This is why I. What is. I can walk in and out of a room in our house and June will have the same jump scare.

[June Diane Raphael]

I'm really on edge these days. I'm really on edge.

[Paul Scheer]

I'm going to say this has nothing to do with anything. This is.

[June Diane Raphael]

I forgot. It was a kite, wasn't it? It was a kite.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Holy shit. That's funny. That was.

[Paul Scheer]

Wait.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I want people to understand. So in the movie, Richard Roundtree's on the rooftop, and there's a tense moment. We think, Q, the winged serpent might arrive, and instead a kite flies into his head. When the kite flew into his head, June hit the deck as if the kite had hit her head.

[Paul Scheer]

It really was.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It was a sympathetic reaction.

[Paul Scheer]

I've judged your own head. Jump. Something is that June grabbed her own head.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Like, I need to. There must be more. There must be more kites coming.

[Paul Scheer]

There's like, all of a sudden, this show became a 3D show where, like, then the kites will hit you in the audience as well.

[June Diane Raphael]

I'm so embarrassed. That's actually. This is very vulnerable, what just happened. I really just showed myself. I. That showed my whole ass.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

That's how good this movie is.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, my gosh. And that's why I can't stop scaring her. And in our wedding vows, I had to promise her I would never put her on scare tactics. All right, so thank you. All right, here we go. The mime. The mime sees the winged serpent and does not at first say anything like a mime.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, yeah. Oh, no. He's. And his reactions are gigantic. His facial reactions are gigantic. And they're smiling, laughing. He's excited, but he does by the. I will say what I thought was very smart was the only reason the winged serpent doesn't get him is because he is in a box.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, that's smart.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

He is in a protective box box. See ya.

[Paul Scheer]

Now the winged serpent there seems to just drop him. Drop him.

[June Diane Raphael]

There are times. There are a couple times in the movie, like, yes, he.

[Paul Scheer]

Look at that winged serpent. By the way.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh. In all of its glory.

[June Diane Raphael]

I really don't like seeing that big muscle.

[Paul Scheer]

It looks like.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I'll be honest, a thin dick.

[Paul Scheer]

I was going to say it looks like. It looks like someone. It. Look, the winged serpent looks like someone who ate a Tootsie Roll and then tried to make it like a dick. And it's like. But it's like, I wish you were a little bit more talented. You may have been able to do. Oh, it's so upsetting.

[June Diane Raphael]

Neck is way too long.

[Paul Scheer]

I. There's so much to get into here. I want to go to the crowd before it gets too late here. So if you have a question. If you have a question about this, if you know anything about history, if you know anything about working on top of tall buildings, do they give you any protection from Quetzalcoatls? Let us know, all right? Yes. Okay. Hi, how are you? What's your name?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Alex.

[Paul Scheer]

Alex. Okay, Alex, what's your question?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

So, first of all, I'd like to say that I was born two months before the first episode.

[Paul Scheer]

Wow.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Of this show.

[Paul Scheer]

Alex, have I ever talked to you before? No. Okay.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

What the fuck?

[Paul Scheer]

14 years.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

14 years. 14 years. Get fucked. Are you serious? Unfortunately. God damn it.

[Paul Scheer]

Amazing. Amazing. Okay. You might be the youngest person we've ever had here. I mean, the youngest person. Well, I don't know what it is. It's something. It's good. And I'm not gonna take it away from you.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

All right, so in the first construction scene, the construction worker says to the other guys, I'm gonna shove the thermos up your asses one at a time.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, yeah, I remember this.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Does that mean he's gonna shove the thermos up their ass? Shake it, shake it out. Take it out, shove it out. Go to the next guy in line. Exactly. Get him to bend over, shove it up his ass. Alec, I don't like that we're having this conversation. I wish we weren't having this conversation, but we are.

[June Diane Raphael]

And you know what?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And we're in agreement.

[Paul Scheer]

Jason and a 14 year old are talking about how to shove thermoses up construction workers.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I'm so sorry. I'm just distracted by. I'm just so sorry. The FBI is here. What's that?

[Paul Scheer]

Yes. Okay. Your name? Tim. Tim. Hey, R. How you doing, Tim? What's your question? So a bunch of people in this movie have access to secret information until the end. David Carradinen says, when those guys were trying to get to your apartment, you.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Didn'T even use your gun.

[Paul Scheer]

And his girlfriend's saying, you killed those two guys. The cops are saying, you killed those guys on purpose. And then the crooks say the diamond company told the insurance company that a guy left with a bag and it was worth $77,000. Right? And then also, the reason why they arrest Michael Moriarty is because those two gangsters went to the cops and said, hey, by the way, go to the. Like this. Like, they.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

They ratted him out. He got them killed by Q.

[Paul Scheer]

Right. So before they went to go kill him, they're like, they like a lot of maneuvering around. So everyone knows everything until this scene. And David Carradine says, well, I mean.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

You know, I just kind of figured that the Quetzalcoatl sacrificer would locate you.

[Paul Scheer]

And get you to confess all of your sins for forgiveness. So. And then he goes canvassed every fleabag motel in the city for hours, which is. Every fleabag motel.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

We.

[Paul Scheer]

Guys check every room of every hotel. Should take you about 35 minutes, and we'll figure it out.

[June Diane Raphael]

By the way, I thought the whole thing with the sacrifice was that it had to be like, you had to consent to it.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, that's what. He won't say the prayer.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah, right.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I think you're right.

[June Diane Raphael]

But even if you force someone to say the prayer, David Carradine doesn't know that. No, I know David Carradine doesn't know that. I'm just saying, in the world of the movie, would that even work for the winged creature?

[Paul Scheer]

Well, I mean, here's the other thing. But that's the other.

[June Diane Raphael]

But here's my genuine. Here's my genuine question. They keep on saying that these sacrifices will bring Q, the winged serpent, to life. He's. To life.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, yeah, right.

[June Diane Raphael]

He's risen.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

That's what I don't.

[Paul Scheer]

Here's my thought. Here's my thought. I think it makes a.

[June Diane Raphael]

Hang on, wait.

[Paul Scheer]

Hear me out.

[June Diane Raphael]

Oh, so you're saying the eggs have poison?

[Paul Scheer]

Every sacrifice creates an egg.

[June Diane Raphael]

How do you know that?

[Paul Scheer]

Because there's multiple. Right.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

We know this as an idea, right?

[Paul Scheer]

So we know that there are at least three sacrifices, which would be. Three. We have the dino and the two eggs.

[June Diane Raphael]

I only saw one egg.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, and the final.

[June Diane Raphael]

Oh, that final egg.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, by the way, great little fact about that, that they couldn't put the egg in the Chrysler Building because it was too narrow in the top. So they put it in a regular building, and then they forgot to take it away. And then all these scientists found this nest and they're. Oh, my God, we found this crazy nest.

[June Diane Raphael]

Wait, is this real?

[Paul Scheer]

This is real.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

What?

[June Diane Raphael]

No.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Paul, how long after, do you know?

[Paul Scheer]

Like years after the movie was great because they did it in an abandoned police precinct and they're like, whoa, look at this nest. It's gigantic. What could it have possibly have been? And it was in the papers that all these ornithologists and scientists were studying this nest. All right. Yeah. What's your name? What's your question?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

David.

[Paul Scheer]

So the robbery takes place at Neil Diamonds and it's a flying creature. Is this just a sequel to Jonathan Living Siegel?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

That is really called Neil Diamond? Yes, it is. That's fucking great.

[Paul Scheer]

I love it.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Incredible.

[Paul Scheer]

I was going to say it's a sequel to the Jazz Singer. All right, so because we got him playing jazz, we got Neil Diamond. There it is. All right. Oh, yes, yes.

[June Diane Raphael]

Hi, my name's Nikita. So I saw that one of the people that designed Q went on to design on Aliens. Do you think having this on his CV is like what got him that job?

[Paul Scheer]

Like, they were so impressed with his work. They're like, wow, that doesn't look. It does look otherworldly. No creature we've ever seen. Yes.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

When I look at Cue the winged serpent, I'm like, ooh, that's a face hugger.

[Paul Scheer]

You know, this movie was actually kind of successful. As a matter of fact, the movie that this guy was fired off of, that. Then he decided to write this script in six days. It outgrossed that movie. So this movie was a hit. This movie was a hit. And it's a scary movie and we learned a lot. I do want. I know, I just want to like, just get a moment of Michael Moriarty's acting just for the hell of it.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And if you want to take a moment, close your eyes and think, is this Bill Burr?

[June Diane Raphael]

Why do I stay with a dumb ex junkie?

[Paul Scheer]

I don't know. Why? Because I think there's a lot of good in you somewhere. Yeah. Where? I'm looking, I'm looking.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I get all this evil dream, you.

[Paul Scheer]

Know, Evil dream, go away.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I walk upside up top of this building and I see dead things and.

[Paul Scheer]

A nest, you know, a rat's nest. No, well, no, it couldn't have been rats nest.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It was bigger than that. It was. It was big in there with something that looked like an egg. But it couldn't have been an egg. There aren't any eggs, honey. There's no egg that big.

[Paul Scheer]

Jesus. And then there's a hole in the roof.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

So. So it can get in and get.

[June Diane Raphael]

Out of them so it could get in and out.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah. I just want to sleep. There you go. There you go.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

All right.

[Paul Scheer]

Obviously.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Are we supposed to be rooting for them? That's what I don't know. Are we supposed to be like, I hope these kids work it out?

[June Diane Raphael]

I couldn't believe she went back to him at the end. It was very distressing.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I would love to know who has those diamonds. Me.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Like, wouldn't it have been great if there was a post credit scene where there was like a quick scene about who picked up those diamonds and what they did with seventy some odd thousand dollars worth of.

[June Diane Raphael]

Or if like in one shot, the winged creature's just like wearing chains.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I love it. I love it. Is that the Met Gala?

[Paul Scheer]

What are you wearing? Just something from Neil. Diamonds.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

What's the story of what you're wearing, Q? The winged serpent.

[Paul Scheer]

I found it under a truck. All right, so obviously we had opinions about this, but there are people out there with a different opinion. It is now time for second opinions.

[June Diane Raphael]

Hi.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

My name's Adaeze. I know Jimmy's just a driver. He won't carry a gun and he sings random jazz songs. But I heard that there's an Aztec.

[Paul Scheer]

Monster who's flying around the towers and.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Chomping all the people.

[Paul Scheer]

This film's a fever dream with David Carradine. And Shaft is also there, but he's killed pointlessly.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes. There's an ancient beast. Only gets two scenes. I want to love this film, but it just makes me scream.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, what have you done?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

You're a winged serpent. Killing all in random O cue.

[Paul Scheer]

Oh, you're just having fun.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And now so am I. So I'm giving it five stars. It's called Winged Serpent. Hard to follow story. It's a winged serpent.

[Paul Scheer]

Getting kind of gory.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It's a winged serpent.

[Paul Scheer]

At least it had some boobies.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

It's a winged serpent.

[Paul Scheer]

Wow.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Wow. Wow. Yes.

[Paul Scheer]

Great job. Yes. Great job. 488 total reviews. All of them five stars, 73%. Five stars. And I'm gonna do one that's a little bit different than normal. But I'll redo this first one from Darcy drink wine in 2013. Darcy drink wine writes all in caps. By the way, I've always liked creature movies ever since I was little. They are my number one favorite, right next to stalker movies and movies in the woods.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh.

[Paul Scheer]

P.S. i live in Johnstown, Vermont. 05656.

[June Diane Raphael]

No, don't say this.

[Paul Scheer]

And I had Cable in the USA. Network. And that's where I saw this for the first time when I was only 11 years old and I fell in love with the USA Saturday Night Nightmares every Saturday night at 8pm 5 stars so wow.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

So most of the review is in the PS.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah, the P. The fact that she.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

The PS had most of it.

[Paul Scheer]

Belle in 2021 titles her review the Disney Princess. I think so scary and terrific plot is her title also all in caps. Main character is dishonest but courageous. If you love creepy monsters, this movie's for you. Five stars.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Now, like, do you think they're saying that Michael Moriarty is courageous? Or cue the winged serpent who's the main character?

[Paul Scheer]

It's a hard one to say. I would say that it's I think that you don't leave thinking Michael Moriarty is courageous.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Well, I do think he's supposed to be the protagonist of the movie, but.

[June Diane Raphael]

He should have killed. That's crazy.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Absolutely.

[Paul Scheer]

100%.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

He should have met a grisly end.

[Paul Scheer]

I am going to read this review which is a little longer than normal because I can't make heads or tails of it. All right.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Do you want to do it in a spotlight?

[Paul Scheer]

No, I don't think we have it.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Okay then. Done.

[Paul Scheer]

AG writes in 2015 the title of the review is the most life affirming monster movie ever made. The most life affirming monster movie ever made. Cohen understands his characters as people, not cannon fodder, and so his focus is on their amusingly mundane foibles which evoke a sense of actual life that renders irrelevant the B movie special effects and implausibility of the premise. It's a wonderfully funny and deceptively complex analysis of crisis as the catalyst to a deeper engagement with community. The city pulses with selfishness, but Jimmy's eventual rebirth as a decent person is a representative.

[June Diane Raphael]

It never happens.

[Paul Scheer]

His rebirth is as a decent person is representative of our better instincts prevailing when matters of life and death jar us from abstraction. Cohen stuffs ha ha ha. The film full of unpretentious tossed off human details that read as both specifically New York and totally universal. The cop furtively sipping a Budweiser before resuming his crisis post. The amiable pervert cheering as the girl takes off her top. The waitress shifting from smile to irritation the second the customer isn't looking. It reminds us we're watching human beings, however stylized in their story is of us all who toil anonymously until fate intervenes to test our metal, showing us a 911 aftermath mentality a decade before 9, 11, 2 decades. As a matter of fact, Cohen reminds us that even in our worst circumstances, yes, even in a movie, we can tap into our reservoir of goodwill without losing the idiosyncrasies that make us uniquely prickly human. Five stars.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Wow, that is a real like. Mike, I read your honors thesis and we're not going to pass you. I read your honors thesis about. Cue the winged serpent and you're going to have to. We're going to fail you.

[Paul Scheer]

I'm going to do a rare third opinion because this is great. This is from Siskel and Ebert when they reviewed the film, and it's a worthy discussion. Why am I laughing at Crunch, Crunch. I didn't recommend this movie, but it's far from being the worst flying lizard movie I've ever seen. In fact, there are a lot of moments in Q that I kind of enjoyed, especially when the people are sunbathing on a rooftop and the lizard suddenly swoops down and grabs them. It serves you right, right, for sunbathing in Manhattan. But you have to admit it's a rather elementary level of entertainment in a movie. Q is a goofy movie. Maybe even makes a mistake by trying for good performances from Michael Moriarty and other good actors like David Carradine. So I voted thumbs down on Q because I thought the movie was too ambitious for its own good. If it's going to be trash, it has to be willing to be great trash instead of having pretentious. Well, I don't think there was any.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Pretentious about Michael Moriarty. What is pretentious, if you will, about the dialogue? Eat them.

[Paul Scheer]

Eat him. I would love to eat, but you're not being fair because you're forgetting some of the other scenes where we get kind of the method acting introspection, and he's thinking about why he's a loser. I thought there was a lot of.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Fun enjoying his performance. I think it's one of the unexpected good performance. I think it makes this just from.

[Paul Scheer]

Being trash to good trash really do well. Don't you think, though, that sometimes a movie like this actually needs to have scenes in it that we can laugh at in terms of its awkwardness? Because isn't there a strange juxtaposition between a good performance and really weird kind of special effects like that?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Then let's put it this way.

[Paul Scheer]

You saw a performance that was surprising to you and you thought it hurt the movie.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I saw a movie that was surprisingly good and I thought it elevated it and made it.

[Paul Scheer]

Well, there's a surprise.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

There Nonetheless.

[Paul Scheer]

Wow.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Is that us? Is that. Is that what we're doing, like, currently?

[Paul Scheer]

I just love that they were able to get into Michael. He's like, yeah, Michael Moriarty sucks. I think Michael Moriarty is a Met. Like, it's like a greedy decision.

[June Diane Raphael]

I don't remember them. Why are they sitting so close to each other like that?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, and they appear to be getting closer and closer as it goes. The next cut. Siskel is on Ebert's lap.

[Paul Scheer]

Ebert, a little pervy. Like, I like the topless lady in the movie.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Oh, my God. Serves you right for sunbathing in Manhattan.

[Paul Scheer]

This came out the same year as E.T. as I mentioned, Razor to Lost, Ark, and Rocky 3. It also came out the same year as Megaforce, Halloween 3, Grease 2, and yes, Giorgio. When first announced, they said Q would star James Coburn and Yaffa Kodo. Then they fell out then for the Young. For the part of Michael Moriarty, Eddie Murphy was the director's choice. But the investors didn't think an unknown would do well overseas. So not Eddie Murphy. Then it went to a young actor named Bruce Willis to play the David Carradine part. So this could have been David. This could have been Bruce Willis and Eddie Murphy. Wow. And Hugh, the winged serpent.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

And we would still be covering it on this show.

[Paul Scheer]

But, yeah, they both. But basically, Bruce Willis and Eddie Murphy were not well known overseas, so they cut them out, and that's how it became David Carradine and Richard Rountry, which are people that he worked with in the past. As a matter of fact, Larry Cohen and David Carradine served in the army together. Wow. Yeah. So that's. I mean, it's. They were old friends. They were part of the army transportation.

[June Diane Raphael]

Eddie Murphy was supposed to play the Richard Roundtree part.

[Paul Scheer]

No, Eddie Murphy was supposed to play the Michael Moriarty part. Okay, so Richard Roundtree, unknown. I guess it was originally James Coburn and Yafikoto. They dropped out. Then it went to Bruce Willis, and then it went to David Carradine. Michael Moriarty. It was originally just supposed to be Eddie Murphy.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I believe wholeheartedly that anybody else could have landed. I'm gonna go take my birth control pill. I think anybody could have landed that plane successfully. Carradine struggled.

[Paul Scheer]

Would you recommend this film?

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Fuck, yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

Definitely.

[Paul Scheer]

Yeah.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah.

[Paul Scheer]

This is one of those rare. Great.

[June Diane Raphael]

This was fine.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

I wish they could all, like I said at the beginning, I wish they could all be this good. This was a delight.

[Paul Scheer]

True delight, really.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Never once did I press the button to pause to look how much Longer is left. No, I was soaking it in.

[Paul Scheer]

It really just gets you and keeps on going. I highly recommend everybody watch Q, the winged. Do you all agree? Okay, great. There it is. Any final thoughts?

[June Diane Raphael]

I guess my only thought to close with is, like, There are roughly 15 other movies within this movie that I'd also like to see.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Yes, I would love to see the cue the Winged Serpent universe.

[Paul Scheer]

Yes. All I want to see is this scene, which is the maid showing up at the fleabag motel to find a man shot so many times.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Well, I did feel like that was another improvised line that we saw when he said, like, this guy just won't die or whatever. It feels like all of this is. This guy does not die easily is what it is.

[June Diane Raphael]

Yeah, but nypd, you don't want to collect any evidence. You don't want. You don't want to take that guy's wallet, see who he is.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

You don't call it in and be like, great, get crime scene investigation's over here.

[June Diane Raphael]

That's why when the movie ends with one of the eggs cracking and another winged serpent arriving, I'm like, well, yeah, they didn't do any. Any follow up.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Do you think that that baby is our. The winged serpent.

[June Diane Raphael]

Oh. Oh.

[Paul Scheer]

Thank you, everybody. Good night. I could have talked about winged serpent all night long. What a great show. Great to be back at Largo. What a crowd. Thank you to everybody who showed up to our live shows. We got more live shows coming. That's right. We're going to go on a big spring tour. But if you're listening right now, November 15th. Tomorrow, November 16th, we will be in Philadelphia. So get your tickets for that. We also have a virtual live show that anyone can watch anywhere in the world. That's right, anywhere in the world. Get your tickets now before the price goes up. Because it goes up a little bit on the day of the show, which is 1212. And you can watch this show for seven days after we do it live. It's great. You can get all this and more and information about all the shows that we have coming up, including Jason and I traveling all around the country doing our dinosaur improv with great guests like Edie Patterson from the Righteous Gemstones and of course, Lisa Gilroy from Interior Chinatown. And jury duty, Rob Hubel from Human Giant. Na. How did this get made all star? So get [e-mail] but if you're still stuck with the winged serpent, so are we. We got a great shirt coming out of this one. That's right. We have a Winged serpent with the title the Winged Serpent underneath it. Because we need to get the word out people didn't see this winged serpent in the actual film. We need to have people out there spotting this creature. So what a great stocking stuffer for the Q worshiping fan in your life. We also have great new coffee mugs in the store called how did this coffee get made? But definitely check out Podswag where we have all new Christmas merch. I'm talking about team sanity tumblers that are great. We've been using them here in our house. Plus I have hand signed a bunch of books. You'll get random how did this get made Messages in my book. But if you want something a little bit more personal, go to my website and I'll be signing and personalizing books books for you through Chevaliers. Just click on a link paulshear.com we got so much stuff coming but I know that you probably want to say, Paul, what about my opinions on Q the Winged serpent? Well, don't worry, you'll get plenty of time to voice those if you log on to our discord at Discord gghdtgm. You write it up. We read the best ones on Last Looks. But if you're like paul, I don't want to do that, then give us a call at 619p a u l a s k plus Jason and I are going to talk about music, especially Star wars jizz music. Yes, that's what they call music in the Star wars world. Or I guess jazz music jizz. And it's canonical. So don't, don't question me on this. Jason and I will break it all down next week on Last Looks. A big Last Looks coming up for you. So people, we got Christmas gifts, we got shows, and we got you. That's right. We have so many fun shows coming up. I can't wait for this next month or so. Until then, bye for now.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

The kind of burgers you get today.

[Paul Scheer]

Tells you a lot about yourself. You're either someone who settles for sad.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Same old same old burgers or you're at a car. Carl's Jr obsessed with a tangy OG Western bacon cheeseburger demanding a house made guacamole, loaded guac bacon fired up for the insanely hot El Diablo or craving a classic charbroiled famous star. Give into your flavor cravings. Get your mouth to Carl's Jr. Big Burger.

[Paul Scheer]

Good burger. Hey friends, Ted Danson here and I want to let you know about my new podcast podcast. It's called where everybody Knows yous Name with me, Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson. Sometimes doing this podcast is a chance for me and my good bud Woody to reconnect after Cheers wrap 30 years ago. Plus, we're introducing each other to the friends we've met since, like Jane Fonda.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Conan O'Brien, Eric Andre, Mary Steenbergen, my.

[Paul Scheer]

Wife, and Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. And trust me, it's always a great.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Hang when Woodies there. So why wait?

[Paul Scheer]

Listen to where everybody knows your name.

[Jason Mantzoukas]

Wherever you get your podcasts.