S4 E9: Escape From Planet Klongo (Part 1)

Summary

Only Murders in the Building Official Podcast

S4 E9: Escape From Planet Klongo (Part 1)

Released: October 23, 2024
Host: Michael Cyril Creighton (Howard), with Ryan Tillotson & Maggie Bowles
Guests: John Hoffman (Showrunner), Alex Bigelow & Ben Smith (Writers)

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Episode Overview

This episode dives deep behind the scenes of "Escape from Planet Klongo," the penultimate episode of Only Murders in the Building Season 4. The hosts are joined by showrunner John Hoffman and writers Alex Bigelow ("Biggs") and Ben Smith to unpack the comedic, emotional, and meta layers of an installment that toys with sci-fi movie tropes, prop comedy, and the show's signature blend of friendship and murder-mystery. The hosts explore the origin of "Planet Klongo," the show’s imaginary sci-fi epic, Ron Howard's cameo, the trio's friendship dynamics, and Molly Shannon’s unforgettable, protein-packed smoothie scene.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Episode Recap & Major Plot Beats

(01:12–03:01)

• The episode opens with a Charles voiceover flashback to Saz accidentally helping a guy into a stuntman career.
• The trio tries to wake Glenn Stubbins from a coma, only for him to be murdered before revealing crucial information.
• Charles, Oliver, and Mabel attempt to track down director Ron Howard by auditioning as extras for "Escape from Planet Klongo," getting fired after a hilariously doomed spandex suit fight.
• Mabel discovers Marshall in her apartment—who may be Saz's mysterious protege Rex Bailey—with the screenplay for "Only Murders in the Building: The Movie," written by Saz.
• Cliffhanger: the trio realizes Marshall could be involved in the case, echoing classic Only Murders intrigue.

Notable Quote:

“Marshall, why does this script say it was written by Saz Pataki?”
– Maggie Bowles (03:21)

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2. The Genesis & Meaning of “Escape from Planet Klongo”

(04:02–08:27)

• John Hoffman reveals the writers’ playful choice to use a fake movie title—the only non-existent movie in the line-up of Season 4 episode titles.
• "Klongo" became a catch-all nonsense word in the writers' room, similar to Philly’s "jawn":

“Klongo can mean anything. Really.” – Alex Bigelow (06:04)

• The term originated spontaneously:

“Why are we in like the green screen suits and she's not? … Because I'm just a girl and you two are clongos… It made no sense, but it made complete sense.”
– Ben Smith (07:10)

• Writers relished the opportunity to see Steve Martin and Martin Short in sci-fi spandex suits; the absurdity fed both comedy and genuine character moments.

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3. Ron Howard’s Passion Project: Casting & On-Set Highlights

(16:21–21:34)

• The writers initially didn’t plan for Ron Howard, but the idea solidified with the gag of his eyebrows being singed off during a stunt.
• John Hoffman details how Howard lovingly juggled a packed schedule to appear, and that the show leaned into the possibility he wouldn’t show up, creating suspense for the audience.
• Scene humor: Ron and Oliver’s "soup slurping" pays off a longstanding Oliver yarn.

“I mean, it kind of is just what was in the script about them having a crazy night at that restaurant... As soon as we did like that slurping sound, that was like immediately where like, yeah, slurping soup. That like, that was their meet cute.”
– Alex Bigelow (18:00)

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4. Charles & Oliver’s Friendship: Comedy in Spandex

(09:10–16:06)

• Writers detail the emotional arc between Charles and Oliver, grappling with Loretta and Oliver's engagement while wearing "insane" blue screen suits.
• The blue suits—a practical joke that became an iconic visual—help undercut and amplify sincere moments.

“It’s just fun when you can both be very sincere on the show ... but to have that very sweet, vulnerable conversation in green, in blue screen, green screen suits was like, oh, great.”
– Ben Smith (09:27)

• Both Martin and Short embraced the outfits (“wanting bigger cod pieces”), with Dana Covarrubias (costume designer) facilitating the comedic vibe.

"They’re just wanting bigger cod pieces and, like, throwing, like, everything at this... but we were going to do the black ones... they're like, yeah, but they’re not funny."
– John Hoffman (12:24)

Memorable Moment:

[13:39] “I should just post pictures up when it comes up... Marty and Steve having, like, a serious conversation ... and they’re sitting in those blue things with the balls all over them. There’s nothing better.”
– John Hoffman

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5. Audition Shenanigans: Screaming & Sci-Fi Chaos

(21:43–22:31)

• Comic gold: The trio auditioning for "Klongo," each actor’s unique approach to “screaming for their lives.”
• Hoffman reveals there were “12 different versions” of Oliver’s scream, and that Selena (Mabel) delivered perfect terror.
• The serious commitment to the absurdity highlights the blend of tone Only Murders is known for.

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6. Bev Mellon’s "Girlboss" Smoothie & The Penthouse

(23:07–28:27)

• The hosts and writers delight in the scene where Molly Shannon’s Bev blends “protein” (actually dates shaped as Slim Jims and Red Bull) for her chaotic smoothie.

“That concoction was way more than what is in the cut. Because truthfully, like, we could have made an entire episode out of that blender.”
– John Hoffman (24:39)

• Molly Shannon actually drank the prop smoothie—“She ate it. She drank it... That is disgusting.”

– John Hoffman (25:23)

• Set designers decorated the penthouse "CB2 meets Burning Man" style.
• The writing for Bev’s character taps into real-life industry energy:

“I always envision those people, like, never having a real diet and just like truly having such odd ways to think about energy...”
– Alex Bigelow (26:32)

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7. Final Reveal: The Double Identity Cliffhanger

(28:37–34:31)

• Writers discuss the episode’s structural evolution: The cliffhanger revealing Marshall is Saz’s protege, Rex Bailey, who may be central to the murder plot.

“We do a lot of doubles in here. You know, we do a lot of doubles and twins. I’m not 100% convinced that it actually is him. Could be his twin brother.”
– Maggie Bowles (32:24)

• John Hoffman teases big twists ahead:

“There are twists, many twists and story to come all around this, obviously. So I can’t say too much other than ... there’s something inside that thing that’s been sitting in Oliver’s refrigerator ever since that night.”
– John Hoffman (32:35)

• Emotional stakes for Mabel: alone with Marshall and possibly with a murderer.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Are we witnessing the end of Ron Howard's career?” – Steve Martin/John Hoffman paraphrasing, on Ron’s fictional sci-fi project (05:21)
• “He definitely was the more comfortable in [the spandex suit] because he was really hamming it up on set. Like, it was the best thing ever.” – Alex Bigelow on Martin Short (11:48)
• "Paul Rudd dying too many times in our show is how we live." – John Hoffman, on recurring on-screen deaths (31:24)
• [13:39] “There’s nothing better [than] Marty and Steve having a serious conversation ... sitting in those blue things with the balls all over them.” – John Hoffman

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Important Timestamps

• 01:12 – Episode 9 recap
• 04:02 – Origin of "Escape from Planet Klongo"
• 06:04–08:27 – Writers break down the meaning of "Klongo"
• 09:10–16:06 – Crafting Charles & Oliver's emotional beats in spandex suits
• 16:21–21:34 – Bringing in Ron Howard, eyebrow gag, and “soup slurping”
• 21:43–22:31 – Trio’s sci-fi movie screams and audition chaos
• 23:07–28:27 – Bev Mellon’s smoothie and penthouse set design
• 28:37–34:31 – Episode’s final confrontation and reveal of Rex Bailey

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Fun Behind-the-Scenes Details

• The word “Klongo” originated as a writers’ room inside joke and became infectious on set.
• Steve Martin and Martin Short embraced their blue spandex suit scenes, adding physical comedy and improvisation.
• Molly Shannon drank her own on-screen “girlboss smoothie”—with prop food, thankfully!
• Set design for Bev Mellon's penthouse fused CB2 chic with Burning Man inspiration.
• The staff “faked” Slim Jims out of dates for blender stunt safety and taste reasons.

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Cliffhanger for Next Episode

The episode leaves off with Mabel alone in her apartment with the mysterious Marshall—who may be the elusive Rex Bailey and thus a key to the murder mystery. The hosts and interviewees tease an especially explosive and twist-laden season finale to come.

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For fans and newcomers alike, this podcast episode exposes the creative zaniness underpinning Only Murders in the Building—unpacking everything from imaginary movie titles and costumes to meta storytelling and classic prop comedy.

Transcript

[Maggie Bowles]

Straw Hut Media.

[John Hoffman]

I watched Molly finish the scene and make that drink, pour it in her cup and drink it to finish.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Hello and welcome to the Only Murders in the Building podcast. I'm Ryan Tillotson.

[Maggie Bowles]

And I'm Maggie Bowles and we are looking behind the scenes and mining for clues as we meet the cast and creators of the Hulu original series Only Murders in the Building.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Today on the show we're talking all about season four, Episode nine, Escape from Planet Clongo.

[Maggie Bowles]

We'll hear from showrunner and co creator John Hoffman and the writers of the episode, Alex Bigelow and Ben Smith.

[Ryan Tillotson]

We'll talk all about Ron Howard's passion project, what a Klango is exactly, and Bev Melon's protein packed smoothie.

[Maggie Bowles]

But first a quick recap and listeners, there are spoilers for episode nine so if you haven't watched, hit pause, go back, watch it and then come back.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Episode 9 Escape from Planet Clungo we

[Maggie Bowles]

open with Charles narrating. Two years ago, Sass accidentally backed her car into a guy and she decided to help him become a stuntman.

[Ryan Tillotson]

The trio goes to visit Glenn Stubbins in the hospital to try and lure him out of his coma with corned beef and a case of beer. It's the same beer that Szazz had brought to Charles's the night she died.

[Maggie Bowles]

But the nurse won't let him in and they run into the bartender from Concussions. He tells them that Glenn was not Saz's protege that screwed up on the movie project Ronkonkoma and they'll need to find the director to learn what happened.

[Ryan Tillotson]

So Ryan the search for Ron Howard begins. We see another Sass flashback. She's talking to her protege and coaching him on his first fire stunt.

[Maggie Bowles]

Oliver says he's friends with Ron Howard. They had an unforgettable night at a Chinese restaurant.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Oliver also requests an epic bachelor party from Charles, one with W A N s whiskey, a list, celebrities and a naughty secret wands.

[Maggie Bowles]

Mabel goes to visit Bev to ask her if she knows how to find Ron Howard. Of course she does, and Bev agrees to tell her if Mabel will help Marshall with his terrible rewrites.

[Ryan Tillotson]

The trio goes to the set of Ron Howard's new movie Escape from Planet Clone. Go and have to audition as extras in order to get in. Charles and Oliver put on blue screen spandex suits and have a big fight. They end up getting fired before they can even meet Ron Howard.

[Maggie Bowles]

The nurse calls Mabel to tell her that Glenn Stubbins is awake. But before she gets there, someone sneaks into his room and smothers him with a pillow. Poor Glen Stubbins.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Charles and Oliver make up and decide to go to the famed dumpling spot to celebrate his bachelor party. They have a sweet heart to heart moment. And then Ron Howard walks in. Oliver does know him. He sits down and tells him the story of Project Ronkonkoma.

[Maggie Bowles]

Meanwhile, Mabel goes back to her apartment where Marshall is waiting for her so that she can help him with the rewrites. And she lets him in.

[Ryan Tillotson]

We learn that on the set of Project Ronkonkoma, Rex Bailey, Saz's protege, reignited after his fire stunt and burned off Ron Howard's eyebrows.

[Maggie Bowles]

And he stole his shoes.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Ron shows Charles and Oliver a picture of Rex. It looks exactly like Marshall, except with long blonde hair. They immediately text Mabel to tell her,

[Maggie Bowles]

but Mabel is in her apartment with them and she opens the case of beer and finds the script for Only Murders in the Building. The movie, except it's written by Saz Pataky. Marshall, why does this script say it was written by Saz Pataki? It did take us a while to catch on to the titles of the episodes, all being movies. But this episode, Episode nine, is the first title that is not a real movie. It's an imaginary movie, but a movie that exists only inside the Only Murderers universe. John Hoffman tells us the story.

[John Hoffman]

Yes, that was one that I was in New York. The writers were finishing up that script, and Biggs, we call Alex Bigelow Biggs. I love her so much. And Ben Smith, I've loved since day one with the show. They just sent it to me and said, all right, so we have titled it. There are other titles. There are other titles that are real for movies, but we've titled it the title. We want it to be titled, so. But we leave it to you. If you want to change it back, please feel free. Va va. And when I saw the title, I thought, no, I'm not going to call this that. That is so annoying. And like, I love them all and they're just playing a joke on me. And then I read the script and I was like, okay, it's got to be Escape from Planet Klungo. It has to be. So I think there are times when I'm so happy to sort of like reach back out to the writer's room and say, guess what, guys? It's called Escape From. And they, like, cheer and they like, oh, they're so happ. So it was really nice. And then all the people in the productions Were like, oh, my God, this clongo thing. And what is a clongo? And my favorite part of Escape from Planet Clongo, truthfully, in this episode, the whole thing is the moment when Steve Martin says, are we witnessing the end of Ron Howard's career? Like when he's talking about Escape from Planet Kalongo. What is this movie?

[Maggie Bowles]

It's deeply personal. Yeah, that for me, autobiographical, justified.

[John Hoffman]

Anything we wanted to do with Escape

[Ryan Tillotson]

from Planet Kongo, it really does.

[Maggie Bowles]

Very small, with a budget of 20 million. I think you guys are a bunch of clongos and I'm just a girl.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Right, Clongos. I mean, I'm sorry, but what is this movie? Are we witnessing the end of Ron Howard's career? No, no, no. What I learned about Ron over soup is you gotta just trust him. I told him, I said, ron, Ron, you're the beautiful mime. And he loved that. And he just plunked down the credit card and paid for the whole soup.

[Alex Bigelow]

The word clongo is one of our favorite things to say last season during the writers room.

[Maggie Bowles]

This is Alex Bigelow, or Biggs as people call her, one of the co writers of the episode.

[Alex Bigelow]

Klongo can mean anything. Really?

[Ben Smith]

Yeah. It's kind of like in Philly when they say John and John means anything. We just kept using klongo to describe anything in the room.

[Maggie Bowles]

And this is Ben Smith, the other co writer of the episode.

[Ryan Tillotson]

I'm not familiar with this John thing. John can be anything.

[Ben Smith]

In Philly, they use John as like a noun. Just like this John. That John.

[Maggie Bowles]

Huh? Can you use clongo in a sentence to help us understand?

[Ben Smith]

The one example I don't want to

[Alex Bigelow]

use, like, something can be like, kind of like very clungo or like, we kept. Our biggest joke, too, is like putting it in phrases. Like we were much like last year when Hillary Clinton said, pokemon, go to the polls. We always like clongo to the poles.

[Maggie Bowles]

Oh, okay.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Love that.

[Maggie Bowles]

Maybe we'll use that. We need that.

[Alex Bigelow]

You can really use it to describe anything. It's just an addictive word to say. Like when we were on set filming, I feel like everyone just can't help but repeat clongo.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Yeah, it feels good in the mouth.

[Maggie Bowles]

It does, yeah.

[Alex Bigelow]

It's very satisfying.

[Ben Smith]

I think very often on this show, people will, like, be pitching names or details and like, you kind of know collectively when something lands. And so people will kind of keep pitching until you hear something and then everyone kind of stops pitching. And one of our script coordinators last year McKenna just like pitched a line of dialogue. It's, I think that scene, like, why is. Why are we in like the green screen suits and she's not? And McKenna just said, because I'm just a girl and you two are clongos or something like that with no setup. That was the first time clongo had ever been said. And it just like, somehow it made no sense, but it made complete sense. All of us are like, it made

[Alex Bigelow]

all the sense in the world.

[Ben Smith]

Yeah.

[Alex Bigelow]

It all was based around finding out, like, what kind of movie we wanted to put Steve and Marty into. And like, we had. We went through a million ideas and basically it was like, okay, well, what's the funniest and what's like, the easiest to produce? And obviously it's like, in my wildest dreams, could I have asked to see Steven Marty in skin tight spandex suits? And so as soon as we landed on that, we're like, it's a hi fi movie. And then our dear McKenna came up with Clonko and the rest is history.

[Maggie Bowles]

I also just realized that you guys are both wearing Escape from Planet Klongo hats.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Oh, my gosh.

[Maggie Bowles]

I mean, I realized it and I was like, what the. How did I miss this?

[Alex Bigelow]

This is our unofficial merch. I got made because I was like, we have to have it. And hopefully maybe us just wearing around these hats, which we do to the office all the time, I'm like, maybe they'll actually make these for everyone. El the art department did amazing. The logo is so fun. I was able to like, keep a chair back from set that day because it was fun because they had all the fake, like, they had it dressed like a fake movie set. So this logo was like, all over that day.

[Maggie Bowles]

I love that. It's a great hat.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Yeah. The suits are. They're so great.

[Maggie Bowles]

And they also kind of have, like, they have kind of a heart to heart, like a very emotional scene while wearing these blue spandex. I feel like that's very special. I don't know. Do you have anything to say about the Charles and Oliver relationship that we get this episode?

[Ben Smith]

Yeah, I mean, we. We're kind of mapping. I don't know, it just kind of like naturally happened. I feel like we were mapping out this relationship story for Oliver and it was like, you know, a little bit of a production tricky thing. We didn't have Marilyn every episode, but we were still trying to tell the story with an off screen character. And one of the natural steps along the way is like, if they Just got engaged last episode. What's a version of an Oliver relationship, his Loretta relationship story that we could tell with the characters we have? And it's like, oh, what about a bachelor party best man story? Being at the worst opportune time amidst an investigation, but that it kind of, like, involved Charles as opposed to involving Loretta. And I don't know. I think it's just fun when you can both be very sincere on the show and the show does go sincere, but to have a way to undercut it. So, like, to have that very sweet, vulnerable conversation in green, in blue screen, green screen suits was like. As soon as that was pitched, it was like, oh, great. That's very. That's very easy to write now.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Were you guys worried that they weren't gonna wear those? Was that ever a concern?

[Alex Bigelow]

I actually don't think so. If it was, I don't remember. I feel like they usually. They've been down for so much, and we were just so thrilled by the idea that hopefully, in our minds, we assume they would be on the same wavelength to, like, see the vision and, like, how funny it would be. And I feel like we pictured it almost exactly like, how it turned out, which is always like a dream when you're like, oh, yeah, this actually looks exactly like it did in my head when we were writing out the scenes.

[Ben Smith]

Totally. And I think Steve and Marty, to their credit, and this goes to Selina as well, but just Steve and Marty because of this scene, like, they know comedy so well, and, like, they understand if something's gonna be funny, and they understand, you know, that they can embarrass themselves to achieve that. And I think also, I do remember talking about it a little, because in their stage show, Marty has a bit where he's, like, in spandex and he's, like, rolling around on the ground and. And, like, Steve isn't doing that, but we're like, oh, Marty will 100. He's. He's made a career out of that.

[Alex Bigelow]

You could tell he definitely was the more comfortable in it because he was really hamming it up on. On set in that suit. Like, it was the best thing ever.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Well, the placement of the one dot was very funny.

[Alex Bigelow]

That was, I believe, from on set. I believe that was Marty's idea that he wanted to put one there.

[Maggie Bowles]

Yeah, checks out. That feels great.

[John Hoffman]

They're honestly always game that it was. It's Dana Covarrubias that was so brilliant in the way she dealt with that.

[Ryan Tillotson]

This is John Hoffman again and Dana Covarrubias. Is the costume designer also an Emmy winner for her work on the show?

[John Hoffman]

You know? Yeah. It's a question, you know, what. What are they going to be comfortable in? What do they feel like they want to be seen in all of those things? And then these guys come in and they're just wanting bigger cod pieces and, like, throwing, like, everything at this. And so he's like, you know, but we were going to do the black one. I said I thought they would pick the black ones because they looked actually great in them. They're like, yeah, but they're not funny.

[Ben Smith]

Yeah.

[John Hoffman]

So I'm like, okay, good. Fantastic. Go there.

[Ryan Tillotson]

I mean, I thought it was great. I loved the little dot tracker dot on Marty's crotch that someone who grabbed Steve Charles grabs.

[Maggie Bowles]

Grabs it off of Oliver's crotch.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Very funny.

[John Hoffman]

There were a couple of lines that were trimmed out after that, but I bet Marty had a good couple of retorts after that.

[Maggie Bowles]

I'll bet. Yeah. So funny.

[John Hoffman]

And they go so gamely with it. There are the moments, and I should just post pictures up when it comes up and stuff, but those moments of sitting in the, like, chairs behind the monitors and Marty and Steve having, like, a serious conversation about something and, like, talking like, no, no. I saw on. On the news the other day that what's happening in the Ukraine and blah, blah, blah, and they're sitting in those blue things with the balls all over them. There's nothing better.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Funny. It's so funny.

[Maggie Bowles]

A big part of this episode I feel like that I loved is we get so many really, really good moments between Charles and Oliver. Got, like, them having the big fight in the suits, and then again in the suits where sort of Charles gets honest and admits to sort of, like, you know, feeling like maybe he's gonna be a third wheel. And then you also get the beautiful moments with them in the restaurant.

[Ryan Tillotson]

You know, we're gonna be friends till the end.

[John Hoffman]

Oh, God, I'm fine. You don't have to say anything nice to me. Especially not while making eye contact.

[Ryan Tillotson]

What if we went behind our menus?

[Ben Smith]

That could work.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Yeah.

[John Hoffman]

Yeah. I love that you're bringing this up, because those two guys and those characters and how much they, on the surface, drive each other insane is, like the great comedy fodder of all time. But just to be able to sort of have a moment with them where Oliver is in full flourish of Oliver being wildly frustrating and annoying and over the sort of. Not over the top, but it's very much like nothing is good enough, as Charles says. And insufferable, he really says in that moment. But it's everything about Charles that has been shut down, closed off. Would never express anything like that to anybody. And is so careful not to let himself cut loose. But that idea that it opens up the real underneath of it all, which is I find to be surprising in some way because it's almost like there's so many threads in our stories that you kind of forget Charles's reaction to Oliver getting married. And so having that moment be what's underneath all of it is what does this mean? And to reach this sweet spot of, it's okay, I'm happy, I love Loretta and I love the two of you, but it just means a new construct for us. And I didn't realize it would feel that way, but I've gotten used to it feeling a certain way. And now I'm going to feel a different way. All of that and then that opening up Oliver into a sweetness that we've always seen from him, where it's like, oh, God, love him. He's never said anything like that to me before. I don't know. It was a beautiful friendship story put together by the writers.

[Ryan Tillotson]

It is.

[Maggie Bowles]

After the break, Bev Mellon's girlboss smoothie and the third murder of Paul Ruddy.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Welcome back. In this episode, the trio has the task of finding Ron Howard, the director of both Project Ronkonkoma, where Saz's protege screwed up big Time, and Escape from Planet Clongo. We asked the writers, Alex Bigelow and Ben Smith, if they had always pictured Ron Howard for this role.

[Alex Bigelow]

No, we did it. We knew it was going to be a director, and it all really centered around the eyebrows coming off. That was something that was that a you, Ben, or one of our friends. But someone did the miming of the eyebrows. And that was another one of those things that sticks with you right away. We're like, well, yeah, he gotta peel his eyebrows off.

[Ben Smith]

Yeah, I think that was the moment. I don't know if I came up with it, but I definitely did a lot of eyebrow removal and stuff of taking off glasses and the eyebrows and a full beard coming off. Also that just once we had the giggles about it. It was kind of like, great, let's do that. But, yeah, we knew we wanted to be a director. We knew we wanted to be a real director. Playing themselves. And I think it helped. It turned out that, like, Ron Howard is an actor, so he was able to, like, really be funny in those scenes.

[Ryan Tillotson]

I did not think that Oliver and Ron Howard actually like really knew each other. I thought it was like a heightened story that Oliver told. So it was really great. When Ron Howard does the soup thing or whatever. Can you tell us about their story in their meeting? Do you know how much do you know about that?

[Alex Bigelow]

I mean, it kind of is just what was in the script about them having a crazy night at that restaurant. And like, that was another thing. You just, you really. There's certain things that when they are said, they kind of stick. And like as soon as I guess, like, what is this episode all about? Like prop comedy. I'm realizing like this little like as soon as we did like that like slurping sound, like that was like immediately where like, yeah, slurping soup. That like, that was their meet cute. And they both like never forgot that like crazy night they had together.

[Maggie Bowles]

I loved seeing Martin short do it so many times throughout the episode. He really, he really had it down to a science.

[Ben Smith]

Well, he had it last season. He did that whole thing of like pretending to be a horse eating oats in episode seven last year with Charles. And I think he's just like, he nails that type of food consumption noise comedy, which is very niche. But he's very good at it.

[Ryan Tillotson]

He is very good at it.

[Maggie Bowles]

He definitely is. And then Ron Howard did it back to him.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Oh, my God, it's you, Ollie.

[Maggie Bowles]

It's Ron.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Ron. Ron Ron. That's when I was like, oh, this is adorable. He does know Ron Howard.

[Maggie Bowles]

He does Ron Ron.

[Ben Smith]

And to your thing, Ryan. We, we were conscious of that expectation that we think it might all be a story that's not real, because all the stories aren't real. And so there were moments in the episode where we purposely tried to hide him on set. Did the show really get Ron Howard to be on Planet Klongo or they just doing a stand in? So we wanted to tease that idea that he doesn't really know him or that we didn't actually get Ron Howard to do the episode.

[Maggie Bowles]

Took us long enough, but we finally are on the right track. Only question is, how the hell do we get to Ron Howard?

[Ryan Tillotson]

Well, I've been waiting to tell you this for maximum impact, but Ron Ron and I are close personal friends. You know it's true because he called him Ron Ron. I'll have you know our headshots are hung right next to each other at my favorite Chinese restaurant. Well, next to each other in an across and down sort of way. My face is covered by a plant, but my pompadour is pomp.

[John Hoffman]

I hope people watched this episode thinking, oh, they didn't get Ron Howard.

[Maggie Bowles]

This is John Hoffman again.

[Ryan Tillotson]

That's what I thought.

[John Hoffman]

I know, right? Because he's just hidden back there and all that stuff, and he's had a breath.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Oh, they just. They could only get his voice, you know, because that was definitely his voice.

[John Hoffman]

Yeah, well, you know, he's a busy guy. Talk about the greatest, too, by the way. I just loved him so much. He had a lot to do that week, and he rearranged his schedule. And just the greatest guy. I know. Everyone says it. There are people in this business, Paul Rudd, Ron Howard, like, they're kind of unscathed personalities for very good reason. Because you call Ron Howard up. I did, and it was Steve and Marty, and he loves them. And Selena, he loves. And he loves the show. He's all sweet. And I'm working with Ron on something else right now. But beyond all of that, he was very busy. He had a crazy week. And he said, you know what? I want to try and make this work. I'm going to move some things. And I said, well, we can make it one day if you do it. He said, no, no, keep it at two. I want to do two days. I'm like, I just love the guy. And he came and again, just schooled us all in how to be the best.

[Maggie Bowles]

So do you call him Ron Ron then?

[John Hoffman]

I call him Ron Ron now.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Yeah, you should. Wow. Ron Ron.

[Maggie Bowles]

I want to know about when Mabel, Charles, and Oliver have to do their screams for Ron Howard's movie. What do I do?

[Ben Smith]

I think big. I think we go big.

[Ryan Tillotson]

I was hoping for big.

[John Hoffman]

You're out.

[Maggie Bowles]

Damn.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Final answer.

[Ben Smith]

Small.

[Ryan Tillotson]

We're going small. Small is sophisticated. Small is for the silver screen. You're really keeping us on our toes here.

[Ben Smith]

You.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Thought we said small. That was my small. You're in.

[Ben Smith]

Oh, thank you.

[Maggie Bowles]

I'm just curious what it was like, what that experience was like shooting that.

[John Hoffman]

Yeah. Okay. So that one, I was watching it thinking, oh, God, this is. This is going to be. But each one was so defined. I loved Mabel's terror. And that actually is what got her cast. And she was perfect in it, of course.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Yeah.

[John Hoffman]

And then Oliver, we had about 12 different versions of the screen, so it was really a matter of size and scale and fulfilling everything we needed fulfilling that thing. And then Charles being recognized as Brazos was sort of like my. It just felt like a perfect again, a trio's, like, dream. But then I felt bad for everyone else around them who had to Scream and do those takes over and over again and lose their voices and stuff like that. But they were all amazing. Yeah.

[Maggie Bowles]

Yeah. I would have cast them all, too.

[John Hoffman]

Background players.

[Maggie Bowles]

Yeah.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Yeah. In order to find Ron Howard, Mabel heads to the penthouse to ask Bev Mellon for help. And we learned that the penthouse was actually one of the production designer Patrick Howe's favorite sets. It was somehow more fun than usual to redo the penthouse in a new look. And may, you know, because I. I didn't embrace that as well. You know, the concept of, like, oh, really? We're always going to be a. In this penthouse. And then a different. I mean, I like the different look part because I'd done that my whole career of. Usually it's trying to, like, use the same scenery and have people not know it's the same place.

[Maggie Bowles]

Yeah.

[Ryan Tillotson]

In this case, you're. In this case, it's a slightly opposite. Where you're honoring that it is the same place and trying to give it different looks, but. But not really alter it too much so that you can justify that it really is the same footprint, you know, so. But the fact that we had the description and the script was for that penthouse was simply that CB2, as in the crate and barrel to retail. CB2 meets Burning Man. So. And. And once I read Burning man, it was, like, wide open to interpretation of so. So it's like Burning man, but like. But like functional Burning man production office.

[Maggie Bowles]

In that functional Burning man meets CB2 production office, we see Bev Mellon, played by Molly Shannon, make herself a smoothie, you could call it. Even though it looks like she's got her pick of kale, ginger, lemons. She goes for Slim Jims and Red Bull. Here's John Hoffman again.

[John Hoffman]

That concoction was way more than what is in the cut. Because truthfully, like, we could have made an entire episode out of that blender. And what Molly was doing with it. She had some pharmaceuticals in there. Oh, like, yeah, there were a couple of. Like, there were. There were many other things in there. And my favorite take is there's a moment in our blooper reel. Not blooper reel, but our gag reel that was put together for the show. And I watched Molly finish the scene and make that drink, pour it in her cup and drink it to finish the scene. And she was like, all smiles, like, oh, like that. Then they said, cut. And she was. That is disgusting.

[Maggie Bowles]

Was it the Slim Jim Red Bull drink?

[Ryan Tillotson]

Oh, my God.

[Maggie Bowles]

She ate it. She drank it. I wish I had known that so

[Ben Smith]

I could have Asked.

[John Hoffman]

I love that scene so much. And that was one of those things, like, Molly's my friend for years, and to watch her working with props like that and to work that out and time it out and like, then I love that beat where she's just holding and blending and there's just like holding and blending and holding for so long.

[Ben Smith]

Wow.

[Ryan Tillotson]

I can't believe she drank that. Yeah, she is a superstar.

[Maggie Bowles]

She's a superstar for sure. Well, I just. I came by because I'm trying to track down Ron Howard. Do you by chance know where he is?

[Ryan Tillotson]

Of course I know where that fucker is.

[Maggie Bowles]

Wait, you do?

[Ryan Tillotson]

Oh, yes.

[Alex Bigelow]

Mabel, you're nobody in this town if you ain't keeping track of Ron Howard.

[Maggie Bowles]

He's actually in New York right now shooting a movie.

[Alex Bigelow]

No one knows what it's about or who's in it.

[Ryan Tillotson]

But I did hear that it's very

[Alex Bigelow]

autobiographical and very personal and very small.

[Ryan Tillotson]

And the budget is $200 million.

[Alex Bigelow]

I wrote and hyper fixated on Slim Jims and energy drinks.

[Ryan Tillotson]

And here's Biggs and Ben Smith again.

[Alex Bigelow]

I like, adore Molly Shannon so much. Like one of my all time favorites, obviously. Incredible. We had her in the show. And that, like, kind of crazy producer type, like, girl boss, too close to the sun energy. I'm like, I always envision those people, like, never having a real diet and just like truly having such odd ways to think about energy. So, like, in her mind, it's like, I haven't slept for days. I need to stay hyped up and I need a little protein, too. So let's just get a Slim Jim in there.

[Ben Smith]

Yeah. I think this shooting script of that was almost identical to what Biggs wrote in the first draft. She, like, tapped into that character and

[Maggie Bowles]

how long she, like, blends that smooth the blender for. It was very funny. Very funny scene.

[Alex Bigelow]

It's very delightful.

[Ryan Tillotson]

And then John told us that she took a sip at least once on set.

[Alex Bigelow]

Okay. I did not note that. And that makes me horrified. But also that was another one of those scenes where like, okay, yeah, product meetings to light someone else on fire. Of course. Extensive. And it's so cool to hear behind the scenes, but also the production meeting for them. So seriously, hearing a group of people be like, okay, so how are we going to make this work? We're going to press dates into the shape of a Slim Jim so they're easily blendable and X, Y and Z. Like, seeing a group of people figure out how to blend like a Slim Jim was something I won't forget.

[Maggie Bowles]

So they weren't real Slim Jims. They were dates.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Wow.

[Alex Bigelow]

They did because they practiced it and they're like the Slim Jims weren't blending clean enough. We gotta fake a Slim Jim.

[Maggie Bowles]

Well, that makes actually me feel better about you'd like. I would drink having a sip of Red Bull.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Red Bull dates.

[Maggie Bowles]

Red Bull dates is not as bad as Red Bull Slim Jims.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Since you guys were on set also, I guess I'm curious your each of you, your favorite part of this episode. Maybe not shooting. Maybe it was a writing process thing.

[Ben Smith]

There's so much I loved about this episode and I loved them auditioning and doing the screams I thought turned out so well. That was a favorite of mine. And then also in watching the final product, something that I loved, loved, loved was the very end of the episode, the reveal of Marshall P. Pope as Rex Bailey. And actually the way it was scripted was that it ended a little earlier than what's in the cut. And the top of episode 10 was like the final beat of them talking to each other. Like, why does this have Saz's name on it? But in the edit they like moved that, you know, two lines up and I thought, I don't know at the end. I loved how it turned out. But in terms of like, favorite scene of just like the comedy of it and the execution of it, I loved them auditioning for their. Their fake scared.

[Alex Bigelow]

Yeah, that one was very fun. I will have to say probably at the end of the day when like they are actually on set and like about to film the scene and they're with all the other clongo like background people. And then when Charles like blows up it all over. I mean, seeing them do that over and over again, like there was a whole. All the other background people in this spandex. I just love that blow up scene because it felt very emotional and real. But also because they're in the suits and the specifics that Charles was yelling about about like what Oliver would want and these like crazy fake bachelor party ideas. It was like the perfect combo of what our show I feel like is, which is like emotional but obviously very great funny.

[Ryan Tillotson]

I shall buy you time. Don't let my death be in vain.

[John Hoffman]

Monster.

[Maggie Bowles]

What the hell's with him?

[Ryan Tillotson]

Charles, a little effort, please. Or is this gonna be my bachelor party all over again?

[John Hoffman]

Oh, your bachelor party. Oh, you're right.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Yes. I should pitch in. How about a sunset cigar cruise up the Gowanus Canal? Or maybe a dining and spa?

[John Hoffman]

Get experience where we get fish pedicures. And afterwards we eat the fish omakaze style.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Oh, wait. Ice luges poured by professional ice losers. Is this getting good enough for you? Mine too.

[Maggie Bowles]

A very sad thing that happens in episode nine is Glenn Stubbins is murdered. That means that Paul Rudd has died three times on only murders.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Can we expect to see him again next season?

[Maggie Bowles]

When will we see him again next?

[John Hoffman]

I hope you're wanting it. That's all I can say.

[Ryan Tillotson]

This is John Hoffman again. You know that, right?

[Ben Smith]

Yep.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Because I am.

[John Hoffman]

Yeah. And he is. But no, I think that was one of the both. Bittersweet. Poor little Glenn Stubbins in the middle of everything there. Paul Rudd dying too many times in our show is how we live.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Yeah, that's good.

[John Hoffman]

It's you.

[Maggie Bowles]

What?

[Ryan Tillotson]

No, no, no, no. Go, go, go, go, go, go.

[Maggie Bowles]

The last question, obviously, the big reveal.

[Ryan Tillotson]

This is a big one, actually.

[Maggie Bowles]

It's a huge reveal. At the end of episode nine, we discover that Saz wrote the screen, at least wrote a screenplay of the only murders in the building movie, and that her protege was Rex Bailey, who looks exactly like Marshall P. Pope. I don't know. We do a lot of doubles in here. You know, we do a lot of doubles and twins.

[Ryan Tillotson]

It's a very good point.

[Maggie Bowles]

I'm not 100% convinced that it actually is him. Could be his twin brother. I don't know. Tell us about this big reveal, I guess at the end of nine.

[John Hoffman]

I know I have to be so careful because there are twists, many twists and story to come all around this, obviously. So I can't say too much other than I remember, particularly the notion that that script was found in the cold case that we saw Szasz arrive at the end of episode 10 in the previous season with. And they all cheer her. Who wants a cold case? And that it comes around that there's something inside that thing that's been sitting in Oliver's refrigerator ever since that night she was there and he's not a beer drinker and that it moves out of there, you know, And I just found it like, oh, that there's something left that holds the key to something big. I don't know. I really like that. I like the reveal of that. I can't say more. But yeah, that was. That was a. I liked the way it was constructed. We really got into talking about how the end of episode nine looked and felt, where everyone was and what would feel like confusing, shocking and scary.

[Maggie Bowles]

Well, it is scary. He's alone in an apartment with Mabel and if he's a murderer, she's in grave danger.

[John Hoffman]

Not looking good, guys.

[Maggie Bowles]

So we can't wait for episode 10.

[John Hoffman]

I hope you like it. It's one of my favorites we've done. I love the finale for this season. I really hope you guys like it, but it's got a lot going on in it. There's really funny, insane stuff in it. There's big swings and just the performance is beautiful.

[Maggie Bowles]

Well, I can't wait to see it. Marshall, why does this script say it was written by Saz Pataki?

[Ben Smith]

Foreign.

[Ryan Tillotson]

That's it for today. Thank you so much for listening. We'll be back in a few days with more from John Hoffman, Alex Bigelow, Ben Smith, and stunt coordinator Chris Barnes.

[Maggie Bowles]

We have to talk about the fire.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Definitely.

[Maggie Bowles]

Please send your thoughts and theories to [e-mail] Take a minute to subscribe. Rate the show. Follow us Leave us a review if you enjoy listening.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Only Murders in the Building podcast is a production of Straw Hut Media, hosted and produced by Ryan Tillotson and Maggie Bowles. Associate producer is Steven Markley. Original music by Kyle Merritt. Only Murders in the Building theme music by Siddhartha Khosla. Assistant editor is Daniel Ferreira. Production assistant is Caroline Mendoza.

[Maggie Bowles]

Thanks to Alex Bigelow, Ben Smith, and Patrick Howe for talking to us this week.

[Ryan Tillotson]

And a big, big thanks, as always, to John Hoffman and the entire Hulu team.

[Maggie Bowles]

See you soon.

[Ryan Tillotson]

I got this cat hair on my. On my flush.

[John Hoffman]

Oh, that's exciting. Are you looking it up right now?

[Ryan Tillotson]

Yeah. I spell it wrong.

[Maggie Bowles]

He opened up a. I know.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Incognito, not images.

[Maggie Bowles]

Ryan, just say bologna loaf. Urban Dictionary.

[John Hoffman]

That's very good in the moment. This is very exciting to see. You realize what.

[Maggie Bowles]

Not the images again. Ryan, what are you hoping to see?

[Ryan Tillotson]

I'm looking.

[Maggie Bowles]

Spell baloney. Not in the in the Italian way, but in the. In the, like, Oscar Meyer way. You know, Bla o N. Yeah.

[John Hoffman]

E, Y. Oh.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Oh, E. Was it. Yeah. Yeah.

[John Hoffman]

Is that right? I can't remember.

[Maggie Bowles]

Yeah, this is it. Oh, suck baloney. I see baloney loaf.

[John Hoffman]

Is that right?

[Ryan Tillotson]

I don't.

[John Hoffman]

I don't.

[Ryan Tillotson]

We don't have any pictures right now, but I'm gonna see.

[John Hoffman]

No, you don't need pictures.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Oh, I thought it was.

[Maggie Bowles]

You know what? It's not coming up.

[Ryan Tillotson]

Maybe you need to get rid of Urban Dictionary.

[Maggie Bowles]

Yeah, maybe.