Bonus #129 - Kush Brothers Vol. 19 w/ Anthony Devito (4/20 Easter Edition) [PATREON PREVIEW]

Summary

Stavvy's World - Episode Bonus #129: Kush Brothers Vol. 19 with Anthony Devito (4/20 Easter Edition) [Patreon Preview]

Release Date: May 22, 2025

In this bonus episode of Stavvy's World, host Stavros Halkias engages in a lively and in-depth discussion with his friends, delving into their shared experiences and passionate critiques of the Rush Hour movie series. The conversation is punctuated with humor, insightful observations, and candid commentary, making it both entertaining and thought-provoking for listeners.

---

Episode Highlights

1. Easter Movie Marathon and Personal Anecdotes

The episode kicks off with the friends reminiscing about their Easter movie marathon, where they watched Rush Hour 2 followed by the original Rush Hour movie. This back-to-back viewing set the stage for their ensuing discussion.

• Friend 1 shares, “We are gonna watch Rush Hour 2, have dinner and watch Rush Hour. That's what we're gonna do. Highest shit on Easter. It was awesome.” ([00:15])

2. Observations on Modern Grocery Stores

Shifting gears, the conversation takes a humorous turn as they recount a peculiar grocery store experience, highlighting the absence of familiar products like Gatorade and Powerade.

• Friend 1 notes, “Some off brand chocolate waiting for. I went to a weird thing, man.” ([01:00])
• They discuss the evolution of electrolyte drinks, pointing out, “Some of these kids don't even know about a world where it was just Gatorade and Powerade.” ([01:48])

3. Deep Dive into the Rush Hour Franchise

The core of the episode revolves around an extensive analysis of the Rush Hour movies. The friends dissect various elements, from plot convenience to character development, offering both praise and criticism.

• Friend 1 passionately states, “That movie's so fucking good.” ([03:01])
• They explore the simplicity of Detective Carter’s character, with Friend 1 criticizing, “Detective Carter... has no depth or range whatsoever.” ([03:14])

4. Character Dynamics and Plot Mechanics

A significant portion of the discussion focuses on the dynamics between Detective Carter and Lee, the cultural intersections, and the sometimes unrealistic plot developments.

• Friend 1 elaborates on Carter's behavior, “He's horny. Like you have a gun to his head and he'll be like asking the lady to suck his dick.” ([03:38])
• The friends analyze plot conveniences, questioning the plausibility of rapid case resolutions, saying, “It is like a detective story with zero mystery.” ([06:14])

5. Humorous Insights and Personal Experiences

Interspersed with their critique are moments of levity as they share personal anecdotes about watching the movies in unconventional settings, such as a flawed Airbnb.

• Friend 1 humorously recounts, “We were in a shitty. This is a very uncomfortable Airbnb with, like, cardboard furniture.” ([10:07])
• They joke about their sitting arrangements, enhancing the episode's relatable and humorous tone.

6. Reflections on Racial Humor and Cultural Depictions

The conversation touches upon the racial humor present in the Rush Hour series, acknowledging its context within the time of release while critiquing its acceptability today.

• Friend 2 remarks, “The audacity of the racist jokes in it are so much better as time goes on.” ([11:27])
• Friend 1 adds, “They're so. Because the characters, again, they're cartoons.” ([11:50])

---

Notable Quotes

• Friend 1 on the simplicity of Carter's character: “Bugs Bunny has more range than Detective Carter.” ([03:14])
• Friend 3 on the family's love for the movie: “My whole family love that movie.” ([05:40])
• Friend 1 on the effectiveness of police procedures in the film: “Their police work is incredibly sloppy.” ([08:07])
• Friend 2 on the universal appeal of the movie: “Every time I watch it, too, I just love their friendship so much.” ([06:08])

---

Concluding Thoughts

The episode wraps up with the friends acknowledging the enduring appeal of the Rush Hour franchise despite its flaws. They appreciate the films for their entertainment value, memorable characters, and the unique chemistry between the leads. While critiquing the lack of depth and occasional plot implausibilities, they celebrate the movies as a staple of modern action-comedy.

Friend 2 concludes, “So the further you get away from it, the better it gets, 100%.” ([11:27])

This bonus episode offers a blend of humor, nostalgia, and critical analysis, providing listeners with a comprehensive look at the Rush Hour series through the lens of genuine friendship and candid conversation.

---

Interested in more in-depth discussions and exclusive content? Join the conversation by calling 904-800-STAV and leaving a voicemail for personalized advice!

Transcript

[Expedia Ad]

Trip Planner by Expedia. You were made to have strong opinions about sand. We were made to help you and your friends find a place on the beach with a pool and a marina and a waterfall and a soaking tub. Expedia made to travel.

[Friend 1]

The whole time I was cooking, you guys were kind of in and out of Rush Hour 2. Oh, yeah. So while we're eating, Rush Hour 2 ends. It's the second we're done, we sit down on the couch. Rush Hour just auto plays. We had just watched Rush Hour 2 and Rush Hour comes on and everyone's like, yep, that's it, brother. We're gonna. We are gonna watch Rush Hour 2, have dinner and watch Rush Hour. That's what we're gonna do. Highest shit on Easter. It was awesome.

[Friend 2]

It's like a day if, like I was going to prison tomorrow, this is the day I'd want. Exactly. This is the exact day.

[Friend 1]

Oh, man.

[Friend 2]

Perfect.

[Friend 1]

Oh, my God, dude. Now beautiful.

[Friend 2]

Some off brand chocolate waiting for. I went to a weird thing, man.

[Friend 1]

It was labeled as a grocery store, but you get there, it's just like the biggest bodega you've ever seen in your life. And it was like this. It was full service grocery and certain things. But if. If it had a lot of one thing, it was going to have just. It was just going to be missing swathes of things, you know what I mean? Like, spices weren't like. There was a spice rack completely empty. Like, there was like literally like half of the aisle is just pick and choose. And then there's like produce. They had like a lot of onions, but they like. They had. They had like crazy weird specific drinks. But then no Gatorade. They had no Gatorade product at all.

[Friend 3]

That's crazy.

[Friend 1]

It's insane. They had that vitamin water.

[Friend 2]

Crazy.

[Friend 1]

They didn't have Powerade. Yeah, it was insane.

[Friend 2]

It was like people supposed to get their electrolytes to this town.

[Friend 1]

They're pushing. It's a different world, man, that we're living in, you know? Yeah. Some of these kids don't even know about a world where it was just Gatorade and Powerade.

[Friend 2]

Yeah, man.

[Friend 1]

There was no electrolyte drink without the aid suffix.

[Friend 2]

Yeah. It was all going through big A. You went to an aid.

[Friend 1]

You had to go to an aid or something. And Gatorade was very clearly Coke. And Powerade was one of the clearest Pepsi's of all time. I think now they're actually owned by those companies. But yeah, just a little history here on 420 push Easter, everyone. Just some. This is the kind of show where you're gonna learn a little thing or something. Yeah, a thing or two. Yeah.

[Friend 2]

This is, it's like a TEDX episode so far.

[Friend 1]

So anyway, that's what I. And you know, that's. That was. And then, you know, we're here now. Yeah. I walked into some scary movie. Can't wait to finish that.

[Friend 3]

Scary Movie 3 is a great one.

[Friend 1]

Yeah. Rush Hour is so good, man.

[Friend 3]

I know.

[Friend 1]

That movie's so fucking good.

[Friend 3]

They're all awesome. I mean, you know, I, I said it earlier, but we literally just watched Rush Hour like a month ago in the first half of the tour.

[Friend 1]

Yeah, we watched it in la.

[Friend 2]

I say, I mean, I see it three times a year. It's three times a year.

[Friend 1]

So good. It's literally vaudeville. It's like a. It's a movie from like the 30s.

[Friend 3]

Yeah.

[Friend 1]

The characters are so one dimensional.

[Friend 3]

Yeah.

[Friend 1]

Like, you know, fucking Carter is like just the firebrand and he always behaves the same, no matter how serious. Yeah. Like he's like a flirt. Like he has no depth or range whatsoever. Like literally like Bugs Bunny has more range than Detective Carter. The character. Like he's horny. Like you have a gun to his head and he'll be like asking the lady to suck his dick. And he's just like dancing and like that. And he's behaving the same way whether he's interacting with a baby or he's interacting with a murderer.

[Friend 3]

Yeah.

[Friend 1]

It's fascinating.

[Friend 3]

I love, I love in Rush Hour 3, the second they see the little girl from Rush Hour one grown up, he's like. I mean, his eyes might as well pop out of his head because she's just like a sexy adult grown up woman now. And he's like, you know, he's just instantly thinking about fucking her, this girl that. Like he's helped his now by Rush Hour 3. Like one of his best friends, right.

[Friend 1]

A man he met late in life, but who has come to define his life. Like they are so inseparable by the third movie. They mean so much to each other and it's like essentially his adopted daughter who he also helped save. That's how it all started.

[Friend 2]

Totally.

[Friend 1]

It's incredible that he would immediately get horny because it's like he's just like just a 24 year old Chinese girl.

[Friend 2]

But that's the curse of Carter.

[Friend 1]

Yeah. Right. That's what Carter is.

[Friend 2]

Overcome himself, unfortunately.

[Friend 1]

And that's what's beautiful about these movies. There's no thinking or nuance. It is like watching a cartoon. Carter's Carter. Yep. You know, Lee is. Lee just doesn't say much.

[Friend 3]

Yeah.

[Friend 1]

You know, it's. It's slapstick. It's like Buster Keaton. Yeah. It's just like, stupid. It's like ad libs, all energy. It's low. It's just like. It's honestly like a movie designed to entertain stupid people.

[Friend 2]

Yeah.

[Friend 1]

It's loud. It's loud. It's stupid. It's horny.

[Friend 3]

Babies can understand it and.

[Friend 1]

Old Bible. You don't even need to watch it with the audio.

[Friend 3]

Yeah.

[Friend 1]

You could watch that movie. That would be a great silent movie.

[Friend 2]

Yeah, true, man.

[Friend 1]

You know, if you just put the dialogue cards and you just. And you just pick the absolute most necessary dialogue, I bet you it would be really good.

[Friend 3]

Yeah, probably.

[Friend 1]

Like, Carter's face doesn't need, like. It's just like.

[Friend 2]

It's just his eyes.

[Friend 1]

Incredible in that movie.

[Friend 3]

Oh, man, it's awesome. My mom. My. I mean, my whole family love that movie.

[Friend 1]

Exactly. Like Die Hard, our families did. Not everyone spoke all the languages. We literally had language barriers within our own families. Rush Hour was perfect. No matter how off the boat you.

[Friend 2]

Were, everyone speaks Rush out, man.

[Friend 1]

Everybody's fluent, dude. It's an international language.

[Friend 3]

Yeah.

[Friend 2]

Oh, man. Yeah. Every time I watch it, too, I just. I just love their friendship so much.

[Friend 1]

Yeah. You know? God damn. It's also like every plot point, anytime they're up against it, it's just. Something convenient happens. Like, it's just not. It's a detective. It's a detective story with zero mystery. They ask one question, and the first person they ask gives them the answer. There's never, like. The case never runs cold. There's never a problem. It's just bureaucracy stopping. It's very credible. They can immediately, with no resources, find it out. It's so fucking.

[Friend 3]

He got Chris Penn to say the villain at the top of the organization's name by just showing him a picture of the kidnapped girl for, like, one second.

[Friend 1]

Yeah. Carter's like, fudge. He's just talking. Carter's like, fuck you, Carter. It doesn't matter. I'm going to fudgeing kill you. And then Jackie Chan does not know him. Not an effective communicator in English. Like, just not, you know. I mean, great martial artists. Like, that's part of his charm. The accent plays into him. But, like, if he's trying to convey any, like, really specific emotional feeling to someone, it's not going to go good. And he's trying to guilt a hardened criminal. And he's like, do it for her. And the guy doesn't give a fuck. It's just some girl. He's a guy in jail. He sells explosives. He was selling C4. You think he hasn't helped children die? And it wasn't even like they didn't really lean on him. He just did it for like 10 seconds. He's like, all right, his name is Jintao. And I was like, okay, what do you do with his fucking name? He's half his name.

[Friend 3]

Well, you go to a random Chinese restaurant in Chinatown and you bust in there and ask to talk to Jintao.

[Friend 2]

That's pretty much it.

[Friend 1]

Yeah, man. You discover and Jin Chow tries to kill you. So you find Jintao immediately. You're. You're okay. That's maybe. That's not a cold. That's a stumble in how they. That's what they do. Their instincts are perfect, but their procedure, like their co. Their police work is incredibly sloppy. Like. Oh, they just barge in like they are there. The only obstacle is how quickly they are to just like barge in place.

[Friend 3]

Yeah.

[Friend 1]

God, I love that fucking movie. Yeah. You find Jintao, she tries to shoot you.

[Friend 3]

It is hilarious. Because I've. Before this moment, I've never really in my mind, like thought out the plot points of Rush Hour. It's so ridiculous.

[Friend 1]

I know, I know. That's what I've loved, dude. We've gotten to like analyze, like truly sit with Rush Hour and think about it. We watched 3 and 1 in LA three weeks ago and tonight we watched 2 and 1. We have to watch 3 and 2 at some point to really kind of get it.

[Friend 3]

I'd love to watch two then three. That's interesting. That'd be an interesting progression right there. They were so far apart. So that's an interesting compare contrast.

[Friend 1]

Right? Actually, I'm with you. I would like to watch it two, three. You're right.

[Friend 3]

Yeah. Watching them out of order. I mean, watching three out of order is almost like you appreciate it more.

[Friend 1]

Absolutely.

[Friend 3]

Cuz it could only pale if you like.

[Friend 1]

And that's exactly crush it.

[Friend 3]

After 1 and 2 on its own, it's like this is on its own.

[Friend 1]

It was pretty good. It has some glaring problems.

[Friend 2]

I mean, look, they're ceiling. Carter and Le. Ceiling is always so high and it can just go higher. So it's like the bar is just. You're getting great. No matter.

[Friend 1]

Matter what. It's incredible.

[Friend 2]

So it doesn't matter.

[Friend 1]

No, you're so right. It's like, and three makes you. Except, like, because we had watched it without. It had been a while since we watched any Rush Hour and we were so sure we were gonna hate it, and we're just laughing at it. We were in.

[Friend 2]

We.

[Friend 1]

We literally. We just stayed in a shitty. This is a very uncomfortable Airbnb with, like, cardboard furniture. Like, the couch and the chair. They. I guarantee you cost like, like, altogether $48. Like, dude, you could adjust the back of the couch. Like it was a folding chair. Like, it was a lawn chair where you could bring it up or. Or lean it back by just like. It was bizarre. It didn't make any sense. I thought I broke it. They're like, oh, no, that's. That's how it is. It sucked. It was crazy.

[Friend 3]

The back of the couch snapped multiple times in these two days that we were there. Yes, I was. I was like, leaning on a couple times, like, and I just, like, jolted back.

[Friend 1]

And the thing is, like, we know we're right. But imagine me and Eldest, of course, file a complaint.

[Friend 2]

Horse.

[Friend 1]

Yeah. Really, fellas.

[Friend 3]

You were like, you guys, your couch is a piece of. And you look at us and it's me and stuff. These are the guys.

[Friend 1]

It was too flimsy. It broke while I was sitting on it. While me and my buddy took turns sitting on it.

[Friend 2]

The guy with a knife in front of his wife's dead body. Like, I know this looks, but.

[Friend 1]

Yeah, it was the fugitive.

[Friend 3]

Dude.

[Friend 1]

We were. We would have been the fat fugitives.

[Friend 2]

You know what's great too about Rush Hour is the further you get away from it, the better it gets, 100%. Because the audacity of the racist jokes in it are so much better as time goes on.

[Friend 1]

I fully agree. And it. It reminds you. It reminds you of how hilar. Like, that was just totally acceptable. Yeah. But then also, you're not.

[Friend 3]

It's not offensive because it's just.

[Friend 1]

They're so. Because the characters, again, they're cartoons. Right. Carter is so fucking stupid. And it's like. There is something to it being like. It's like an American black guy and a foreign Chinese guy. Like, there's enough. They're very different. But there's. There's no. Like, the cultural hang ups just don't exist. Right. So that. It is pretty fucking. I mean, Jack Shane literally says the N word.

[Friend 3]

Yeah.

[Friend 1]

First Russia. He says it twice, and then he beats up five blocks black guys.