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Hello.
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You're about to drift into an episode of the Nightly, a podcast designed to help you unwind and relax. For the full phone free immersive light experience, visit Hatch Co. Enjoy.
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Hey, hey, hey. I'm Jack East.
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And I'm Josh. Welcome to the Nightly from Hatch, a slumber party for pop culture lovers.
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What's up, buddy?
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Hey. It's so good to see you.
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Good to see you. How you feeling?
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I'm feeling all right. It's nice to be here in the pillow fort.
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Yes. Right in the pillow fort. Feeling good. Feeling warm. Last night when I was sleeping, I realized I got a new thermostat where my temperature gauge was off on my old one.
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Yeah.
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So tonight I'm looking forward to a beautiful, calm, perfect temperature.
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That's really nice to be like, all right, we've set the levels.
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Yes.
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Now it's smooth sailing.
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We've set the levels at smooth sailing. And also since I've been doing, like, sleep podcasts, we've been doing this. Like, my insults are starting to also be sleep based now, where I be like, man, I hope your pillow ain't never cool. Like, that's how I'm starting to roast people.
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That's hurtful. That's very hurtful.
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I hope your pillow is always hot. I hope you toss and turn, toss and turn.
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I hope you have a nocturnal bird in your neighborhood.
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Yes. Hope you have a loud eagle just outside your door.
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And that eagle has insomnia.
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That eagle never sleeps. That eagle is up all night defending the honor of the country. All night.
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That eagle is bald as hell and wants you to know about it all day long.
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Yes.
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That's amazing. And it's like we're both going. We're traveling in the same place. This weekend.
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We are gonna be in San Francisco together, which is dope. I love San Francisco. Yeah. If anybody who's listening has ever been and my take on it, there's parts of it that feel very la. There are parts of it that feel like a little East Coast. There are parts of it to me, being from Chicago or Midwest that have some Midwest vibes while feeling very California and still feeling like San Francisco all in the same.
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It really has. I love going to any place that kind of feels like its own thing. And so I do really like it. What are the parts to you that feel the most like Chicago, Midwest?
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I like some of the more walkable areas. Kind of feel like a little north side Chicago to me, where like a lot of restaurants or a lot of bar. Like, there's A lot of bars in Chicago. Chicago's a boozy city and New York also has very walkable places. But the energy is different.
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Totally.
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So the energy and the walkability of San Francisco, sans the hills feel a little bit more Midwestern to me.
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The hills are so intense.
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It's great. I be wearing my Apple watch and like, I'll be just walking and be like, feels like you're working out. Like, nah, man, I'm just out of shape. When these San Francisco hills.
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It is so embarrassing to walk like four blocks and just like hands on knees.
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Yeah, yeah.
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I do that every time. Or like, this is. I did this once. I took the train from the airport to as close to my hotel as I could get. And then it was like, oh, it's a 10 minute walk. And I went, well, that's easy. I can walk for 10 minutes. And it was just straight up a hill and I was like huffing and puffing, showing up to the desk all sweaty.
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Yeah, that's too much. Them hills. Why do you need to shave them streets? Shave them streets. Shave them down. Shave them streets.
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Flatten them out. Smush them.
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Yeah, we need to lower the degrees.
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Smush the streets. Joshua Jenkins.
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Smush the streets.
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To smush the streets.
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When I become the mayor of San Francisco, we smush in the streets and Lombard. We straightening that thing out.
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That's right.
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That's right.
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Or have it straight up and put an elevator.
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Yes, yes. That's what we should do.
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Do we meet for the first time in person there last year.
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Could that be true at my show?
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Yeah, I think so.
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Yeah. Yeah, yeah. That possibly is the first time we met. I. It's so hard to remember.
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Well, because everybody's kind of in the world and knows each other.
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Exactly. So you know of people before you actually meet them and things like that. But I think that was the first time.
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So fun. I had such a great time.
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It's always fun, man.
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Yeah.
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I love a game show. Love a game show.
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So great. You're such a great host.
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Oh, thank you.
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And the festival is so nice.
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Yeah. So there are a lot of comedy festivals all through the world.
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Yeah.
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And especially in the country, even in like smaller towns or near towns that may not be, you know, the coastal places. But if you are ever on the coast, west coast, there's a festival that we're going to be. It's called San Francisco Sketch Fest, which is just all comedy.
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Yeah.
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Based and a lot of great comedians and celebrities and up and comers and just kind of a. It's a three weekend like festival, which is always.
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It's so much fun. And I'm always like so delighted to get invited back. And I know that I'm gonna see great people that I love and probably haven't seen sometimes for a year or more. And it's just really fun. And people. Maybe I'm jinxing myself, but people really do come out and support the shows, which is so cool.
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Listen, here's what I'm pitching for us. It's not a festival, but hatch. There's a lot of people all over the country that just need to hear our voices. But live. And we set up like cots.
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Yeah, that's right.
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And we just. And we talk to them and they go to sleep together. Live sleep. 100C theater. Live. Sleep. Live show.
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One of those movie theaters where the
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seats today's seat recline all the way
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back and we just sit in the front like we're doing a Q and A.
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We're just doing. Yes, yes. And then at the. And then after it's over, we put on the hatch and we put on the music and then everybody sleep.
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I love this. Sleep. Live.
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There you go. Sleep, live. Sleep live.
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Coming to a slumber party near you.
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Yes. Yes.
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I love it.
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Okay, so tonight I would like to lead us in a round of do you remember.
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Okay.
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Where I am going to try to remember the plot of a movie that I've seen in the past. That maybe my grasp of it is good, maybe it's not so good. I've been thinking about it. I've been kind of percolating on this all day. And so I know what movie I want to talk about, but I didn't look anything up. So there will be gaps. Okay. Maybe you can help, maybe you can't. Who knows?
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We'll see. It depends on the movie.
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The movie I am going to try to recount is Bradley Cooper's directorial debut. Let's say A star is born.
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A star is born. You know what? As far as helping you goes, I 100% absolutely cannot help you with that.
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Okay. So I'll be flying fellowship.
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I've never seen that, but I do know it. I do know.
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What do you know about it before
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we start Life is a better like that. I know that. I know that part. I know Lady Gaga was in. I know it was like nominated for some awards.
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Yeah. A bunch of awards.
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And it looked so sad and boring.
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Yeah.
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But apparently people really liked it.
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So I. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it.
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Yes.
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I thought it was I was really impressed by Lady Gaga's performance. I thought Bradley Cooper was very good. There was like. It was one of the movies to me where stuff keeps happening and you're like, I guess. And so I think it could have maybe wound down a little sooner. There were kind of parts like end of the second act, beginning of the third act that I was like, we could have cut to the chase a little bit. Like, to me, the. And this movie shares an actor with the one we're talking about. But the ultimate stuff Keeps Happening movie is Con Air.
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Oh, and Nicolas Cage. And Dave Chappelle.
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And Dave Chappelle, yeah.
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Cause he's in this one.
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He was in A Star Is Born as well.
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That's right.
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Even to people who have seen A Star Is Born, you go, oh, Dave
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Chappelle was in that Vega.
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Was he?
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Yeah.
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Cause he's kind of in the doldrums of the movie. Nothing about the performance, but like, it's at the part where like SideQuest now.
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Yeah, yeah. Is he Dave Chappelle in the movie or is he. No, no, no, he's a character.
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He's like acting. Acting. He's not acting.
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I think people forgot Dave Chappelle used to act.
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Right.
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Like, he was in a lot of movies in the early, late 90s, early 2000s.
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He would be like a very fun, kind of unique presence in movies where he was in Robin Hood, man of Tights and Con Air and you've got Mail.
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Yeah, yeah.
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He was just like a comedian and actor like so many people are.
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Yeah, that's fun. Anyway.
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Okay. Yeah. Okay. So Star is Born. Bradley Cooper plays Jackson, Maine. He's a big time country artist. And his songs, they're authentic. They're from the heart.
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They're from the heart.
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He's doing country the right way.
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Okay.
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But he's not fulfilled.
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Of course.
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He's searching for something still. He's maybe drinking a little too much. He has his driver take him to a little bar. There's a woman performing. Her name is Lady Gaga. But not in this movie. It's just Ally. A L, L Y. There is to jump forward for a moment. There is a moment where there is a billboard of her face and her name and it looks like it just says Ally. Like she's down for the cause. Of course. It's very funny.
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I did that on purpose.
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Yeah. Okay. So she's singing and he's like, this lady has got the goods. Later we're home at Lady Gaga's house. Ally's house. She lives with her father, Andrew Dice Clay.
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For real.
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He's also acting. He's not like, hey, little Lady Gaga, that's my daughter.
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Oh.
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Smoking around his head.
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But he is. He's talking like a regular person.
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It's more regular, but it's still, like, a little. But it's still.
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He's still kind of still a blowhard.
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A little bit.
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Yeah. Yeah.
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Okay.
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He's actually pretty good. Like, it's a pretty good performance as, like, overprotective Italian dad.
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Okay.
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And Bradley Cooper, who they meet. They're like, oh, this is exciting. And he's like, why don't you come on the road with me? And her dad, of course, is like, no, you can't do that. Oh, hey.
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You can't do that. Hey, who's gonna cook my Salisbury steak?
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That's right. Exactly right. He's like, if my daughter's not here to take care of me, how will I not die?
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Yeah. I can't open sardines on my own.
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I think he's also a chauffeur. So he's like, chauffeur's code. And he comes by, and then he's leaving in his car. This is the meme right. Where she's about to say goodbye. And he's like, hey. And she's like, what? And he's like, I just wanted to take another look at you or whatever. And drives away. They start working together musically. There's a romance. They're in love with each other.
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Of course.
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Yeah.
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And her career starts taking off. People.
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Oh.
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And they have the big. The big song together. See, you know the song. Well, it is. I think this is the configuration. When I. This movie came out, I was working at Desus and Mero and Desus, and I believe it was Zway, did the duet at an office party, which was very fun. We did a lot of karaoke together as a staff, which is really fun. Shallow.
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Shallow. Yes.
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Tell me something, girl. And big hit people are loving it. She's taken off independently. And he's like, yeah, of course. I want that for you.
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So this movie spans years.
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Yeah, like a few years.
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Okay.
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Yeah. It's not like an epic where they start off and she's 28 and it ends and she's like, 55. Right, right. It's a pretty. Cause he's so big that he can kind of put, like, when she's on his song, she's now a household name. You know what I mean? Got you. So he has. Jackson, Maine. Has that power.
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Okay.
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And again, this is so crucial to the movie that we're like, this is the guy. I forget the song he sings at the beginning, but we're to understand, like, this is the guy that sings his heart out. He's really giving you the raw stuff. He's not Morgan Wallen playing for party music. This is like. You listen and you're like, I respect the artist.
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I respect the artist. Yeah, let me go drink a bottle of whiskey.
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That's exactly what it's like. He keeps getting more famous. And they do this duet together. She takes off independently. There's a schism between the two of them. So now she's doing stuff on her own. She books Saturday Night Live. She's on Saturday Night Live.
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I had no idea.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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That they got so big within this movie. Okay.
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This is just like a story of, like, oh, now they're on tour together and they started selling out clubs.
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Like, she's big enough to pick snl.
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This is big. Big. Yeah. This is when the ally Billboard comes into play. Interesting. He's sol.
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Okay, so a star is born.
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A star is born.
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Okay.
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And she's doing this song on SNL about, like, something, something, something with an ass like that. It's like kind of Fergie coated. Like, it feels a little fergalish.
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She starts going more popular, more pop,
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and he can't handle it. He's devastated at the artistic direction she's taken. Meanwhile, Josh, at watchingome things like kind of slaps.
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Yeah, probably. Probably. But this whole time, they're still clapping pillow forts. They're still together.
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I can't remember if this is before or after they break up.
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Oh, they break up during it.
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They break up. And his drinking has become a problem. Her pop music has driven him to drink more, and her ascent and leaving him kind of behind artistically or, you know, professionally? Maybe not artistically, but certainly professionally. Okay. She's taken off. He's left in the dust. He's. You know, the wound that's in him in the beginning has not been healed. It was just them being together made him feel alive.
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Alive. And does his star start to descend?
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Yeah, yeah, yeah. A star is born. And then a star gets kind of put on life support. That's the other thing that happens to a star in this movie. He's trying to figure himself out. He goes out to a small town to see his old friend Dave Chappelle. Don't remember his name. Don't remember what his deal is other than their old friends. I think, gosh, people trying to sleep are now furious at how scant my memory of this. Cause this is the part of the movie where I'm kind of like, that's okay.
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Make it. Listen. We can make. Anything can happen. She was on snl.
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She was on snl. And I think it is snl. You know how sometimes in a movie
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you have to be like, it's like wwe. Tr.
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Exactly.
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Weekend. Totally. Right now.
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Exactly. I think they're like, no, this is real snl. We can afford to say that they get back together. He cleans up his life enough that they get back together. I think they get married on Dave Chappelle's farm, let's say.
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Does he marry him?
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I think he does. Let's say that he does.
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Yes.
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It's a really sweet moment. But again, this can't heal what's broken in Jackson, man.
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Cause he don't even know what's broken.
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He doesn't know it's broken. He's been drinking and singing so long, he doesn't even know. You know, the irony is he thinks he's making authentic art about his feelings. He's not dealing with his feelings in his car.
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He's not dealing with his feelings in his real life. You know, it's tough being a rich country singer.
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It's really hard. This is gonna knock you on your butt. She's nominated for a Grammy, of course.
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Of course. I love that. Lady Gaga did a movie that was like. But in the movie, I have to be just as big as I am outside of the movie.
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There's no world. People won't believe it. I'm not famous in this movie.
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If I'm not famous.
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And she is, she's very famous. She's a real star.
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She's nominated for a Grammy.
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She's at the Grammy also. Did you ever see House of Gucci?
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No. I saw clips from it. Again, not a movie that's usually on my radar. Sure.
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I thought it was pretty fun. It's not great, but I had a good time. I think some people found it mostly boring. I did enjoy the silly accents. And that was one. I think Star is born. She's kind of like right in the pocket. She's doing a great job. You really believe her as this up and coming starlet? I imagine she's drawing on some life experiences. House of Gucci. All the interviews were about how many years she prepared or how long she spent preparing to do the accent. And it is truly the quality level is like, it's a me Mario level accent work.
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It's me. I have My Gucci back.
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Truly, that is what she sounds like. Back to Star is Born. She's at the Grammys. She goes up to accept her. She wants him there. She's like, I want Jackson Main there. It's important that my man is there with me.
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Yeah, of course.
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He's a mess. He's hammered. She is not pleased.
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Why is he upset that she got nominated? I think he's jealous and he's never been or something. Maybe.
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I don't know if he's never been.
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If he's the biggest star. I'm sure he got a Grammy.
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He's the biggest star. I think he's that Grammy.
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Yeah. He got Grammys. What you mad for, bruh?
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I know. He should be happy for her. They can both have Grammys.
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You can both have Grammys. Dave Chappelle married. You got Grammys or you got bigger shows?
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Yeah. And he's playing huge venues again. He goes into a club and it's like at the beginning, when he goes into the little bar where she's singing, and it's like, he hasn't even been in a room with that few people in it in like a decade. He's like, was there a hundred people here? I can't even count that low. I start counting at 10,000.
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Is there. Is there a balcony somewhere? I don't see.
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Yeah, yeah. Maybe there's a bunch of people simulcast again, like, in a plaza.
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Right. This would be.
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This being live streamed, right? This is live streamed.
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This is the soundstage.
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Oh, let me say life is shallow.
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She. She wins the Grammy.
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She wins the Grammy.
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She wins the Grammy. She's a bus.
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Country artist, you know?
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Yeah. Best. Best Gaga.
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Best Gaga.
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He stumbles on stage while.
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At the Grammy.
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At the Grammys and pees his pants on stage at the Grammys. Yeah, it's tough. It is. It's tough. This is it for them. She's humiliating.
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I wonder. Jada. Listen, Jada. Husband will slap somebody.
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This is it. She's humiliated. And this is a big story.
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Of course it is.
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This is on stage at the Grammys. He's a big star. She's a big star. Bad times.
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Yeah.
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As she continues to ascend to the levels of music royalty, he meets an untimely demise.
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That's all I'll say about that. What does Gaga do?
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I feel like I might be fully inventing this scene.
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Please do.
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I feel like she kind of attends the funeral as a gracious widow.
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Okay.
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You know, and she's like, oh, I'm sorry. Sad that our Love couldn't help heal him and that he couldn't. Nothing could ease this pain. But then, you know, she's not like, now I quit.
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Yeah.
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I don't think.
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Interesting.
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Yeah.
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Wow. You know, I've never seen this movie before and I feel like I never have to now especially.
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Yeah, you got it. I think I really nailed it.
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You did. And also, just the implication of all of this also makes me so upset. Just his character. I don't even. I've never even seen this character and I hate him.
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You would not like him. Yeah, he would be like, I don't like this guy.
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You gotta shake him so much.
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You gotta stop messing around.
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Yeah. But then also, like Lady Gaga becoming famous in the movie is also very funny to me. It's very funny to me.
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And there was this is, I think the third iteration of this movie. Like Barbra Streisand did one.
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Oh, really?
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Yeah, yeah, yeah. So this was like Bradley Cooper. This is the first movie he directed. And it was like a take on this movie that I think has famously been like, you know, he was like, let me do my version of this.
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I get you. And do you know if the other movies kind of like, does the singer become famous? Does the other singer.
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I think it's fairly similar. Like, I think it is like the student has become the master and his ego can't handle it. It's. Yeah, it's. You know, we've been having a good time. I think it was pretty good. It's so far interesting.
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Yes.
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And I was thinking about this because Bradley Cooper's newest movie is out. Is this thing on, which I have not seen yet either. And it was bringing me back to A Star is Born.
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Okay.
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And then in between, he's done Maestro.
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Yes, he did that. Which I also did not see apparently anything he directs. I don't want to watch.
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You're out of bread.
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But did he direct Silver Lining Spring Playbook? I liked that.
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That was David o'.
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Ross. That was David. Jennifer Lawrence dated him after that. You're right. I liked that. That's like the amount of like self loathing character from Bradley Cooper that I can take.
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I like him as like kind of an unlovable chaos guy. Like, have you seen licorice pizza?
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No.
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There's like a sequence with him as a star that is just a real kind of annoying bully. And he's very funny doing that.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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I like getting him out of the kind of like tragic leading man role.
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Yeah, I like him. I like him. He was a douchebag in Wedding Crashers.
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Yes.
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I also love when he plays a little furry raccoon.
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Yep. He's a very good furry raccoon.
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He's a very good furry raccoon.
C
My dog hates that.
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Does he?
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He will jump at the tv.
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That's so funny.
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One of my favorite.
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This is so just a random thought, but in Avengers Endgame, when Robert Downey junior's character, Iron man, spoiler alert. He comes back and, like, they're all talking. He hasn't seen them in, like, months or whatever. And then Rock is there and he starts talking. He was like, this entire time, I thought you were a build a bear. And, like, that cracks me up so
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much every time he says, good joke, Bradley Cooper. He's got the range.
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It's so funny.
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I thought he's great. White Hot American Summer, his first.
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He was great in that. Yeah, I liked him in that, too. All right, well, listen. A Star is born. Thank you so much for recounting that movie. Yeah. And I truly will never watch it now. And I feel okay about that.
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I think. I think we got there together. Yeah. Thanks for listening.
A
This was. This was great.
C
Good night, Jackies.
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Good night, Josh.
C
Sam.
B
To learn more about our phone free light and audio experience, head to Hatch Co. You can also follow us at Hatch Podcasts.
Podcast: The Nightly
Host: Hatch Podcasts
Episode: A Star Is Born (Josh's Version)
Date: February 24, 2026
In this episode, hosts Jack East and Josh cozy up in the Hatch Pillow Fort for a whimsical, soothing late-night conversation designed to help listeners wind down before bed. The evening’s main feature is a playful, reconstructed retelling of the film A Star Is Born—Josh-style—with plenty of digressions, jokes, and pop culture observations. Expect easy camaraderie, movie reflections, and the warm, inviting banter that's become the show’s signature.
Josh embarks on recalling A Star Is Born without notes, while Jack admits he hasn’t seen it.
Plot Points as Recalled by Josh:
Notable Quotes:
Josh notes this version is just one of several adaptations.
For more on The Nightly and immersive, phone-free bedtime experiences, visit hatch.co or follow @hatchpodcasts.