#320. 'Spinal Tap'
Listen to this episode ↗on Substack, where the show lives now
With the unnecessary sequel Spinal Tap II: The End Continues hitting theaters, the crew revisits the 1984 original, and it's a near-unanimous rave: Sonny calls it "kind of a perfect movie," singling out the Stonehenge sequence as the funniest thing he's ever seen and marveling at the immaculate casting (Fred Willard, Billy Crystal and Dana Carvey as waiters, Ed Begley Jr.); JVL, who was baffled by the movie's cult status as a kid, now finds it "unbelievably funny," especially the Memphis hotel-clerk scene; and Mike praises how precisely it captures real rock-and-roll experiences (the "can't find the stage" bit, the malfunctioning pod) and crowns Harry Shearer's Derek Smalls the MVP performance on this rewatch. The conversation sprawls into a ranking of Christopher Guest's other mockumentaries (Sonny prefers For Your Consideration and Best in Show; JVL and Mike favor Best in Show, with JVL arguing A Mighty Wind is too mean-spirited to its characters), a long detour on Michael McKean's oddball career (his unbeaten Jeopardy! celebrity record, Daryl, Short Circuit 2, Better Call Saul), and a Fred Willard tangent via Larry Miller's claim that he was the funniest man in any room. Before the movie talk, the trio opens with Sonny's story of winning a Tom Cruise/Nicole Kidman-gifted Eyes Wide Shut crew bomber jacket at auction for a mere $76 (much to JVL's horror after guessing it would fetch thousands), Mike's saga of driving two and a half hours round-trip to score a used left-handed first-base mitt for his son's birthday (with JVL relentlessly needling him about the value of his time), and a box-office rundown covering The Conjuring: Last Rites' huge Hispanic-audience overperformance, the sprawling and confusing Conjuring/Annabelle/Nun cinematic universe, Weapons' controversial early VOD release, and the Hamilton theatrical re-release.
From the show notes
I swear to God I lost it when the Stonehenge came down from the ceiling.
Full transcript
Guest00:00:00I do not for one think that the problem was that the band was down. I think that the problem may have been that there was a Stonehenge monument on the stage that was in danger of being crushed by a dwarf. All right? That tended to understate the hugeness of the object. I really think you're just making a much too bigger thing out of it. Making a big thing out of it would have been a good idea.
Mike00:00:29Welcome to the Sub-Beacon podcast. I'm your co-host, Mike Warren. Joining me as always are my two co-hosts who are two totally distinct types of visionaries like fire and ice. And my role on this podcast is really to kind of be in the middle of that, like kind of like lukewarm water, Jonathan V. Last and Sonny Bunch. Join us over at subbeacon.com. Tell your friends and family to listen to the show on subbeacon.com. Become a patron. Join the conversation in the comments. We're going to be talking about this is Spinal Tap later on in the show. But first, guys, what's happening? Anything, Sonny? Tell us what's what's new with you.
Sonny00:01:09I, uh, I did something. I did something a little silly this week. I did a silly thing. I did a silly thing. Uh, I, uh, silly. So there was a, there was a, there was an auction. There was an auction. There was a prop auction.
JVL00:01:26There was a prop auction. Silly things that involve spending money impulsively. Sign me up.
Sonny00:01:31There was a prop auction, uh, for, uh, it's, uh, this new, this new auction house, newish auction house. They, they started up, they had this whole, whole thing. And there was, uh, there was a, there was a bunch of kind of interesting stuff in it, but like, I'm not, I'm not really a prop guy. Except theoretically, like the, the sort of props I like are like poster or, uh, you know, like things I could frame and put on the wall. Like, I don't have much use for like, I don't have much use for an animatronic RoboCop head, for instance.
Mike00:02:03I see.
Sonny00:02:04It's not a thing.
JVL00:02:05Or the red letter media guys have like a naked Sylvester Stallone dummy.
Sonny00:02:10Yes. The red letter media guys have a naked, which they have a whole warehouse full of props.
JVL00:02:15They've basically used the pro their YouTube channel turned into a business by accident and made them rich. And so they, they seem to have decided to spend their money. On prop auctions and purchasing a warehouse in which to store everything.
Sonny00:02:30Well, they, it's funny. I was watching a video from those guys the other day and they were talking about how they have, they have like run into weird demonetization problems. And they think that in one of the videos, the AI flagged them because they had the naked Sylvester Stallone.
JVL00:02:44Yeah.
Sonny00:02:45So they, they were like, we got, we got restricted and we got demonetized. We don't know what, what the problem is. They won't tell us.
Mike00:02:51But this like gets like the, the prop thing can get into really.
JVL00:02:56Like psychotic or like, you know, things like even the watch collector says, yeah, those prop dudes.
Mike00:03:05It's like, oh, the, the Pepsi can that was on, uh, in the background of the one scene in the goodies. It's like, I got that one.
Sonny00:03:14Well, they, they, there were, there was one item in this, there was one item in this, uh, in this, um, auction that was, I believe it was charcoal briquettes from the Titanic.
?00:03:26Hmm.
Sonny00:03:28Not, not the actual Titanic. Mind you, the, the, from the movie Titanic in the background, there was charcoal being shoveled into a furnace and there are pieces of boiler room.
Mike00:03:39Yeah.
Sonny00:03:40There are pieces of, I think fake. I don't think real, but maybe real. I don't know. I didn't, I didn't look that closely charcoal that like what you're actually buying is a certificate of authenticity that says this charcoal was used on the set of Titanic.
JVL00:03:55I think I may be wrong. This may be wrong, but I feel like Darth Vader's lightsaber from episode four just sold in the last couple of weeks as like the most expensive movie prop ever. I mean, you tell your story. That's, that's, that's what Sonny bought.
Mike00:04:07That's his silliness that he bought. He's, he's the one.
Sonny00:04:10Yeah, that was actually me. That was, uh, I got, I've got news. I'm starting a GoFundMe.
Mike00:04:15All right, go ahead.
Sonny00:04:15No, uh, I, uh, no, it was, um, I, and, and like the, the red slippers from the wizard of Oz, like one of the pairs of the red slippers from the wizard of Oz sold for, I don't like millions of dollars. Not too long ago, last couple of years here. Anyway, prop auctions. I enjoy prop auctions because I like seeing the things I like seeing the props. I like seeing like the RoboCop gun and the, you know, the, the phase rifles and the, and the, uh, I don't know, the like set pieces from alien and temple of doom or whatever. Right. So like, I, I just, I just kind of enjoy watching these things. And, and again, the amount of money that gets thrown around in these auctions is insane. It's an insane. Amount of money.
JVL00:04:57Like just people, people throwing tens of thousands of dollars after some of this stuff, unless it's the lightsaber from empire strikes back, which is what's sold this week for $3,654,000.
Sonny00:05:09That's steel.
JVL00:05:11There you go. Sorry.
Sonny00:05:13If I had, if I had, uh, if I had billionaire money, this is how I would be wasting it. Anyway. Um, neither here nor there. All right. So anyway, uh, this auction is going on and there. There was one item. There was one item in it that I, I saw and I was like, I bet this will go for an, uh, I bet this will go for an appropriate price, like a, like a reasonable price. And I have, I have occasionally, I have occasionally bid on these, these sorts of, uh, these sorts of things. Right. Like I, uh, there was, there was one.
JVL00:05:46Describe the item. We will guess the price.
Sonny00:05:48I'll, I'll, I'll get, I'll get there in one second. So the last time I bid on something, uh, for, for in one of these, one of these auctions was like, uh, it was. It was a, it was a Batman returns, like a, a screen used Batman returns, Oswald, Oswald couple pot for mayor poster. And I was like, that's actually like, I would put, I would like hang that up. That would be a fun little thing. Right. And I, and, and like the, the suggested, you know, the, the theoretical price was like between $100 and $200 or something like that. Cause there's a lot of them. There's, it's not like, it's not a particularly rare artifact. It's well, but.
JVL00:06:26Screen used as opposed to only prop manufacturers.
Sonny00:06:29Screen used. So anyway. That makes it a big difference. Yeah. It ended up selling for like $300. I wasn't going to spend $300 on that, but this here's, here's the item. Here's the item that I had.
Mike00:06:41Tease this enough Sonny.
Sonny00:06:42Here's the item I had my eye on. It was a, it's a gift, a crew gift. So, you know, you go to them, you do what you shoot. You're in a movie and you're shooting the movie and the, the, the people in the movie, the stars or the director or the studio or whatever will, will. Create little gifts and they give them to the crew as like a little token of appreciation. This item, this, this, this token of appreciation was a crew, a gift bomber jacket, bomber style jacket, not leather or anything. It's not leather, but like kind of like bomber style jacket from Eyes Wide Shut. It's got eyes, the eyes, the final Stanley, the final Stanley Kubrick film Eyes Wide Shut. It's got like little. Eyes Wide Shut logo on, on the lapel. It's very tasteful, really. It's that's like, it's not, there's not like a big orgy on the back of it, you know, screen printed orgy or anything. It's just very tasteful, like little Eyes Wide Shut thing. But here was, here was the thing that I, that caught my eye and made me actually interested in buying it. Attached to it in just a regular, just a little printed out card, not, not handwritten or anything, but just a little printed out card was a note. I want to, I want to pull up the note. I'm going to read it to you. I'm going to read you the note. It is said, all right. And this is, again, it's like a little, it's like, it's like attached by a piece of plastic, you know, like, you know, like a tag, like a store tag.
JVL00:08:06Sure.
Sonny00:08:06Yeah. Just going, going right through the circle there. We wish you a very Merry Christmas with thanks, Nicole and Tom.
Mike00:08:16Oh, intriguing.
Sonny00:08:19So, so I, I see this thing.
Mike00:08:21Eyes Wide Shut is a Christmas movie if we.
Sonny00:08:23Eyes Wide Shut is a Christmas movie. Eyes Wide Shut is. Eyes Wide Shut is a, it's, it's kind of, it's like a cult classic now that, you know, people have come around on it. It's, you know, people are, people are into it. I was like, I'm going to try and get this. I'm going to try. The, the, there was no reserve price on it. Zero. So no reserve. And a lot of these things had reserves of like, you know, either 50 or a hundred or like It's got to start. It's got to start at that level. There's a floor. There's a floor.
JVL00:08:47Before you, before you start, I need to ask some questions.
Sonny00:08:51Yes. Okay.
JVL00:08:51Okay. JVL has questions. First of all, what size is it?
Sonny00:08:54It's large. It's, it, well. There was no, there was no, in the listing, it said there's no size, uh, tag, but it appears to be about a large.
JVL00:09:04Okay.
Sonny00:09:04So large, let's say.
JVL00:09:06Two, would you wear this piece of, if, if, as you were looking at it, were you thinking to yourself, if I acquired this item, this is a thing I would wear out to say the kid's soccer practice during the fall when it gets chilly.
Sonny00:09:22I would wear it theoretically, but only in version. Very certain circumstances, but also maybe not because maybe I don't want to take that tag off.
JVL00:09:31You know, maybe I just wear it with the tag on or would you take the tag off or leave it on even if you were wearing it? Because as a conversation piece, as a conversation piece, could you imagine, could you imagine
Sonny00:09:44having to getting, not having, getting to explain to people that your good friends, Tom and Nicole gave you this jacket from the set of their movie for Christmas. Think about it.
JVL00:09:56All right, now, now continue. Now I know where your head was at as you go into the bidding process.
Sonny00:10:00So no reserve, no reserves. Floor starts at zero on this. What do, what would you guys, how much would you pay for this item? What would you pay for this? What would I, Mike Warren pay for this? What would you, all right, two, two different questions. What would you, Mike Warren pay for this? And also like, what do you think it would go for JBL? Same question. Think about it. What would you, what would you pay for this? What do you think it would go for?
Mike00:10:24I wouldn't pay for it, but I wouldn't. I wouldn't pay anything for this.
Sonny00:10:26Cause you'd pay $0.
Mike00:10:27I have no interest in this. Uh, I would bet a hundred dollars.
?00:10:32Okay.
Sonny00:10:33JBL.
JVL00:10:36All right. So I would not bid on this item because it does not appeal to me. But in the question of like, what could I pay for it? And still think like, yeah, okay, that's fine. 500 bucks. It would probably be about my ceiling. How much would I expect it to go for? I don't know. 20 grand.
?00:10:56What?
Sonny00:10:58No, it's not.
JVL00:10:59I would say somewhere between five grand and 20 grand.
Sonny00:11:01No, no, quite. That's ridiculous. All right. No, it was a, so I, I, I, I like log on, I'm watching and the bidding starts and there's a couple of like automatic bids that come in, you know, people who had, who had, but it, it only goes to, it only goes to $50 with the, with the automatic bids. So I just click, I click bid 60 and win it. $60.
JVL00:11:24Oh my goodness.
Sonny00:11:26We got, I, including, including the buyer's premium, the seller's premium, whatever from I, the whole thing out of pocket, $76 or something like that.
JVL00:11:36That's amazing.
Sonny00:11:37It's the steel of the century, folks. It's the steel of the century.
JVL00:11:42All right. So here's the question for next question. Do you get the card laminated so that you can wear it out without worrying about it becoming damaged? Or do you get like a protective sleeve where you don't want to laminate it? Is that my, maybe a protective sleeve for the card so that you can wear it? So the way, you know, the lanyard things that people will use to put their like office IDs in there, that sort of thing.
Sonny00:12:10Right. I don't know. I honestly don't. I honestly don't know.
JVL00:12:14I honestly don't know if I want to like, if I, I think you have to keep the tag on and I think you have to wear it with the tag to show people. Absolutely. 100%.
Sonny00:12:24But if you keep the tag on. If you keep the tag on, you can't really wear it out. I like, I feel like.
Mike00:12:29Sure you can.
Sonny00:12:31Are you kidding? Here's my, here's my alternate idea, which is to, to remove the tag, but have it like, have it like maybe sewn into the, the inside of the jacket so I can like pull it open like a badge, like an FBI badge. I guess for my good friends, Tom and Nicole.
JVL00:12:49Oh, I like that quite a lot.
Sonny00:12:51Tom, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman sent that to me.
Mike00:12:54No, but you can't. I don't know. By the way. You have to start the conversation by saying Tom and Nicole.
Sonny00:13:01Oh yeah. I wouldn't, I wouldn't, I wouldn't use last names.
Mike00:13:05Right. Exactly. Exactly. It's Tom and Nikki.
Sonny00:13:07It's not like I say, oh, I'm hanging out here with my friends, Jonathan Last and Mike Warren.
Mike00:13:12You know, they're your buddies. They're your buddies. So Tom and Nicole, there you go.
Sonny00:13:17So anyway, that's, theoretically that will be coming at some point in the next, I don't know, a month or two here. Who knows?
JVL00:13:23Who knows how long it will take them to ship everything out? I can't believe I got a great deal. I mean, that really is astonishing.
Sonny00:13:29I got, I gotten a fantastic deal on this.
JVL00:13:32Stanley Kubrick, one of the greatest directors in the history of film.
Sonny00:13:35One of the greats.
JVL00:13:36Tom Cruise, the movie star of his generation.
Sonny00:13:39I'm going to wear, I'm going to wear, I'm going to wear that jacket into the Criterion closet and get my, my Criterion, my Criterion 4K of Eyes Wide Shut, which is coming out in November. That's what I'm going to do.
Mike00:13:50You forgot to mention JVL, Nicole Kidman, the star of the AMC commercial. You know, that's, that's her legacy. Anyway.
Sonny00:14:01All right. Anyway, that's what's, that's what's going on in my room. JVL, what's going on with you?
JVL00:14:06Nothing. I, uh, I got nothing. We're going to, uh, we're going to a college visit for Flash this weekend. Uh, I, there's nothing.
Mike00:14:17The world is a terrible place. There's nothing in my life.
JVL00:14:19How are you?
Mike00:14:20Well, great, great segue. Uh, well, I kind of feel like a chump after. After Sonny's story, because I, you feel like a chump. I said, I'd pay $500 for this jacket that I didn't want.
JVL00:14:32And Sonny got it for 70. You said it. You didn't do it. JVL.
Sonny00:14:35You didn't do it. See, it's a good thing you didn't know about this. We would have been beating against each other. I would have, I mean, I would have got my ceiling on this thing was like a hundred dollars. I was not going to go. I was not going to go very high on this because again, it's not like it would have been one thing if I could have worn it around all the, like everywhere, then I would have gone higher. But because it's kind of a, I'm still not a hundred percent sure what to do with it. Sort of thing. It, it, my, my ceiling was very low. My ceiling was very low on this.
JVL00:15:00You know, I, I blame the lightsaber sale that really anchored my price expectation further North than they need it to be.
Sonny00:15:08There's always, there's always deals to be found in these auctions. You just gotta know, you know, you gotta, you gotta, I, you know, I just do think like
Mike00:15:14a prop from one of the most iconic characters in one of the most iconic movies of all time. It's you gotta scale that when you're talking about it. A crew gift from, from, I mean, it was never seen on screen, right? It's not, it didn't have on screen.
JVL00:15:33It's not an onscreen to recalibrate Gmail.
Mike00:15:36No, but I feel like a chump because I just spent about what Sonny spent on, you know, on this, on this artifact, I guess, of a movie. I just spent that on, on a used baseball glove for my kid, which makes me feel like, like, I feel like I could have spent this money on something like cooler.
JVL00:16:01I can't believe you didn't consult me. What's that? I can't believe you didn't consult me.
Mike00:16:05I know, but it was, it was, it was an issue of needing to get it quickly because this is a birthday present and various things fell through. And, uh, but the, the, the long and short of it is that, uh, so this is, this is for my almost, uh, about to turn 11 year old. Um, and it's a second glove for him because he has a perfectly fine glove, but his, uh, his coach this season said, maybe you should think about getting a, uh, a first base glove as well.
JVL00:16:40Ooh, first base gloves are really cool.
Mike00:16:43Yes. First base gloves are really cool, but a couple of factors here because the easiest thing to do, right, is to go to Dick's or wherever and buy a brand new first base. But, I'm not doing that.
JVL00:16:59I mean, first of all, only suckers do that. That's what I, okay.
Sonny00:17:02You want one that's broken in. That's, exactly.
JVL00:17:04And, and also like. I was going to say you want to order the custom A2K from Wilson. Oh my gosh. Okay. You don't, you don't want to take it off the, you don't want a Pret-a-Mange glove from Dick's. Okay. I went, I clearly went in the opposite direction that you did. But go ahead. Tell me more.
Mike00:17:21Okay.
JVL00:17:21Sorry. So. Not Pret-a-Mange. Pret-a-Porter. Pret-a-Porter.
Mike00:17:24Okay. Sure.
Sonny00:17:26God bless you.
JVL00:17:26Pret-a-Mange is ready to eat. Pret-a-Porter. Yeah.
Sonny00:17:29Isn't Pret-a-Mange a sandwich shop? Didn't those all close?
JVL00:17:32They did, but it's just whatever. In fashion, they call it Pret-a-Porter. Go ahead.
Mike00:17:36Anyway, it's a fast fashion or something. So I, no, I went in the opposite direction and here was my thinking. One, we're getting to the point where like every season, it's not going to be the last season necessarily. But we could. Every season, I think we could be two seasons away from this being the last season of baseball for him. Like he's more interested in basketball. He's pretty good at baseball, but he's not like, he's not going to do travel or anything like that. Like it's just, you know, he just enjoys playing, enjoys playing with friends and people he knows. And he's also growing very quickly, right? So like these gloves are, you know. They can, the good thing is that both he and my middle son are lefties. So as long as I can pass that one lefty glove down to the next one, unfortunately, the, the, the toddler is, is a righty, um, just a normie. You can change that. Um, I could condition, recondition him.
JVL00:18:44I mean, you just take that right hand and tie it behind his back for a year. He'll be a lefty.
Sonny00:18:50There you go. I was going to say, I was going to say you go full Annie Wilkes in, uh, misery. There you go. You can make. You can make anybody do anything.
Mike00:18:58It's got dark real quick. Um, and so dark times, dark times call for a dark jokes. Uh, so, uh, so I knew I wanted to get something that was used and that was like, if, if he grew out of it or if he stopped playing next season, like I wouldn't feel like I was out, you know, I was out too much. Um, but also something that like, I was thinking Sonny, like something that was like worn in, like something that he. He wouldn't have to, because he's not going to be using this all of the time. He doesn't play first base all the time, but he's going to play first base quite a bit. Uh, and so, uh, my frustration on all this comes from the fact that for whatever reason, where I live in Northern Virginia, there is not a market or much of a market for used sporting goods.
JVL00:19:47On Facebook marketplace.
Mike00:19:50You can maybe find stuff there, but it's really hit or miss when I was growing up, there was a store and the store still exists. It's a chain, uh, played against, played against sports.
JVL00:20:00Yeah, I know. Played against sports.
Mike00:20:02And it was in the next town over from me. And we got like 90% of my sporting equipment.
JVL00:20:10And my brother's, uh, I think they have a big eBay storefront.
Mike00:20:15Uh, I don't know about that.
JVL00:20:16I never, I've never, I never, I think you can go to, I think you can go to eBay and play it against sports has like a large storefront there.
Mike00:20:23Well, that's not what was on their website or. Or that was not pointed to the website. Um, but, uh, there's only one in Northern Virginia and it's like an hour and 15 minutes away from me. Um, I've done it before. I've like taken when it's like, okay, we need to get a lot of stuff. Let's go out there on a Saturday, you know, a couple of weeks before the, before the season starts and go get the, the new bat that we need or the batting gloves or whatever. Um, and so, um, but I, I didn't really have the time to do that. So it was like, okay, I need this glove. I need to get it kind of quickly. Um, and of course it's a left-handed first base club. Now, a lot of lefties play first base. It's not as rare as you would think. It's not as rare as you think, but it's rare than I had wanted it to be. And, um, and then it's gotta be the right size. And so he's like, it's like a 12 to 13 inches, somewhere between 12 inches, 13, maybe 12 and a half. Um, and the frustration I have is like, if you look into other. Areas, other Metro areas, they have like multiple played against in there, even like down in, um, uh, in like the Hampton roads region of Virginia or up in Maryland, like around Baltimore or other places across the country. They have, but there's only one in Northern Virginia. And again, it's a pain to get to. So then it's a question of, do I make the purchase online and have them ship it? Yes. So that's its own problem because this is a network of franchise stores. Right? Like, this is not like a, there's no central hub of play it again, sports, uh, warehouse somewhere where they can find it and ship it to me like Amazon. Um, so I'm looking around and I place an order, actually an order at a store that's in Virginia. So it can't take too long. And like, worse comes to worse, it's three and a half hours away, you know, like, like they can, I could just call them and be like, I will pay for the shipping, like here's a, here's what I've paid for the shipping already. Just put it in this box and go. Um, but I ran into this issue where I placed the order. I don't hear anything and I'm thinking, okay, I've, I've, I've got a window here. So I call the store directly. I said, I haven't gotten any confirmation. I mean, you've taken my money already, but like, I haven't gotten any confirmation that this mitt has been shipped and the very nice guy at the Chesapeake, Virginia store says, hold on, let me, let me check something and call you back. So he, he checks, he calls him back 20 minutes later and he says, I'm sorry, this, this mitt that you bought has already been shipped to another store and sold to somebody else. So like something is wrong with this system where like, like it's all online. Right. But, but yet like it takes like a me calling a person.
JVL00:23:21Inventory management system, not updating in real time. They're not caching that. Inventory, you know, every five minutes.
Sonny00:23:28Right. Well, this is, this is, this is a, this is Amazon's great strategy, great like success, right? Is it actually a logistics company? It's not a, it's not a shipping. Totally.
Mike00:23:37And I think that like that's conditioned us to expect that. And like a lot of stores, I think places like Target and Walmart, big box stores, like they have like gotten with the program over the last 15 years on that sort of thing. But play it against sports. Unfortunately, I enjoy it. It's, you know, I enjoy shopping there, but, but not great on this front. So then I had to figure out what I was going to do. So then it's like a race to like, okay, what is, what is out of like, what is too far for me to drive to go like find? Because I have five minutes.
JVL00:24:12No, no, no, no, no. Michael, your time is worth so much more. Like I honestly, at this point, just go to Dick's. No. Dick's 10 minutes away from me.
Sonny00:24:20I refuse to go to Dick's. We need it. We need it. We need a, I need a, this is a, I would pay $500.
JVL00:24:25$500 for that stupid bomber jacket. And you should pay $500 for Dick's because it saves you time. How much, Michael, you're a father with a job and a number of small children. You don't have time to drive round trip four hours. Okay. I'm not driving four hours. I'm not driving four hours.
Sonny00:24:41What does, if it's an hour and a half away, that's three hours.
JVL00:24:44That's three hours, Michael.
Sonny00:24:45That's all right. Wait, I need to know the actual numbers because you said, you said the used glove costs about the same as the Jack. So like 75 bucks. What is like a new first base glove cost?
Mike00:24:55At base level, $175.
JVL00:24:59Okay. Your time is worth a hundred dollars, Michael. No, it's not.
Mike00:25:02You are worth $25 an hour.
JVL00:25:05Whatever you think, I'm worth less. Whatever you think I'm worth, I'm worth much less. Imagine what level of tradesman you could hire to do a job in your house for $25 an hour, Michael.
Mike00:25:17Anyway, but the thing is-
JVL00:25:19Pizza delivery guys make $25 an hour, Michael.
Mike00:25:21The thing is the drive, the drive is not like wasted time. Because I do things like make phone calls and do, like, there is work I can do, things that I can do-
Sonny00:25:33I'm writing my newsletters while I'm driving. God, I'm just imagining Mike Warren with his laptop on his lap driving- No, I make phone calls. I call sources. I do stuff like that. Come on.
Mike00:25:46Anyway, no, it only ended up being like an hour, 15 minute drive one way and back to find one in Maryland.
Sonny00:25:53I'm sorry, an hour and 50? Is that what you said?
Mike00:25:5515. 15, 15.
Sonny00:25:56Oh, an hour and 15. Oh, so that's two and a half hours.
JVL00:25:58Yeah, two and a half hours. $50 an hour. What tradesman could you get to hire? Could you get a handyman for $50 an hour?
Mike00:26:04No, and the thing is, I got- A plumber? Nope. I got the glove, and when you factor in gas, like, I spent about $75 on this glove, and he's going to love it. It's going to be his favorite gift, so-
Sonny00:26:19Now, I do think there's something to be said for buying a used broken-in glove in on principle, to be like, hey, this is the thing that's-
JVL00:26:28I am just zealously trying to guard Michael's time for him. I am not- I feel like it's a good use of my time, and also, you know-
Sonny00:26:39Do you make your kid come with you?
Mike00:26:40No, no, no, no, no. No, because it's his present. It's a brick-in present. Oh, it's a gift, that's right. It's a gift, it's a surprise.
Sonny00:26:44Did you make another kid come with you? Somebody, you have to share, you have to spread the punishment around here. No, no, no, no. You can't just do, it can't just be you. Wait a second, wait a second.
Mike00:26:51Well, how's he going to do work in the car, Sonny? Also, I'm sorry. You're telling me, given the opportunity, you wouldn't spend two and a half hours in the car alone? You make a good point.
Sonny00:27:01Actually, that's a great point. You make a good point.
Mike00:27:03Okay.
Sonny00:27:03I can just sit there and I can listen to whatever I want?
Mike00:27:05Yeah, yeah. In the car?
Sonny00:27:07Exactly. For two and a half hours? Exactly. All right. Exactly.
Mike00:27:10I might even-
Sonny00:27:11No traffic? Oh, man, this is great.
Mike00:27:13Fortunately, there was some traffic, but otherwise, it was fine. Anyway, so I will update everyone on how this hard-earned gift was received, but there we go.
JVL00:27:24Well, let me just say to you- Let me just say to you guys that like Ferris Bueller describing driving the Ferrari 280 California Edition, if you ever have the opportunity to get yourself a custom Wilson A2K, it is choice. Holy shit, it's so good. All right. It is one of those luxuries. Remember, we talked about like AirPod Pros, and we're like- Oh, it's worth, it's so much worth the money. Sure. The custom A2K, handmade in Japan from like steers that are getting constantly jerked off by geishas while being read haiku poetry, it's worth it. Okay, but you're not playing with it. What are you talking about? I'm out playing with it all the time. Playing catch with my kid.
Mike00:28:26Oh, so this, okay. So, okay, I got it. So this was your glove that you play with.
JVL00:28:32Yeah. And we're going to get Flash.
Sonny00:28:35I still have my glove from high school.
JVL00:28:36We're going to get Flash one of these once he commits in a couple of weeks. Got it. And so that's his non-custom, his off-the-shelf A2000, which has served him really well, is actually falling apart, you know, just from, because he's had that now for like five years. And just like the level of use he gets from it is intense. All right. Treat yourself sometime, Michael. You've got all these kids. You've got a decade of catch in front of you with your various sons. Yeah. Don't you?
Mike00:29:12Ten years of your life.
JVL00:29:14How many hours are you going to spend over the next decade playing catch? Hundreds, right?
Mike00:29:19Yeah, but I don't treat myself. I have no interest in treating myself on that. I'll just take my... My old off-the-shelf glove and play catch with that and it'll be fine.
JVL00:29:31Eh, eh, whatever. I'm sure it's fine.
Mike00:29:35All right, so... Good show. Good show. Let's talk about... Let's move on then and talk about the box office. Box office. Yeah.
Sonny00:29:44There's always money in the horror stand.
Mike00:29:46I was going to say. The Conjuring Last Rites, number one at the box office. $84 million. $84 million? $84 million.
Sonny00:30:03And that number kept going up all week and all weekend, too.
Mike00:30:07For a movie that... What's the budget on this flick?
Sonny00:30:13Probably $40 to $50 million. Something like that.
Mike00:30:17So it's basically doubled.
Sonny00:30:18It's not just $84 million domestic. It has also done... So far, it's done $97 million domestic and $129 million worldwide, or international for $226 worldwide. A lot of horror underperforms in the rest of the world. The Conjuring series has always been very strong, particularly in Latin American markets. Because of La Llorona? That's why they made La Llorona. That's why they made The Curse of La Llorona. Because this series has always overperformed with Hispanic audiences. It's a very explicit Catholic horror. The Warrens are hucksters, just like Michael Warren, frankly. Runs in the name. The Warrens are explicitly very Catholic. All the movies deal with the church and etc. They made The Curse of La Llorona, which is not Spanish language, but there's a lot of Spanish in it. Because the movie performs so well. Somebody released a list of the top ten theaters for The Conjuring Last Rites this weekend. And two of them are in Dallas. The number two and the number six movie theater in the country are in Dallas. And one of them is a theater that I go to occasionally. It's not the closest AMC, but it is a theater I go to occasionally. And I always notice when I'm buying tickets there that they have multiple Spanish language showings for lots of movies. Not every movie, but lots of movies have Spanish language showings. I'm sure The Conjuring Last Rites had a bunch of Spanish language showings, and they probably all sold out because it was one of the few theaters in the area that was playing it. But yeah, that was like the number two or number three theater in the country was the AMC Mesquite 30, which I go to occasionally. That's why. It's because this movie drastically this whole series drastically overperforms with Hispanic audiences. I think the I actually saw a demographic breakdown, and I think it was like 30% white, 30% Hispanic, like 19% like 10% Asian, 7% black, something like that. I don't know. So it was a quick
JVL00:32:41question. Yeah, it's only 77%.
Sonny00:32:43I know I'm not getting the numbers right. I they're there. I'm missing some, you know, some some non determined. I
JVL00:32:50have. I'm sorry. You have your question first, Michael. I just have a question about the the
Mike00:32:56franchise here, because I understand there's the conjuring movies, and this is what the third fourth one, fourth, fourth one. Then there are the Annabelle movies, which are about three of those. There's three of those. Yeah. And then there's this Rona movie. I don't
Sonny00:33:14never. Oh, you're missing a whole different sub franchise, Mike. You're missing. You're missing the none the none. What is the none? The none is so the none. I have only actually seen conjuring the conjuring last rights, which I reviewed and the original The Conjuring, which I also reviewed. I reviewed and those are the only movies in this franchise that I have seen. Theoretically, the first and the last. I have a very strong suspicion that this will not be the last conjuring movie after this after this weekend. But the but no, it's it's funny. I had not realized that Annabelle. So in the first movie, Annabelle, the doll like the movie starts with a prologue where the Warrens are talking about one of their famous cases. And it turns out to be this story about this haunted doll, Annabelle, like that. That's like the first five minutes of the movie. But that's all that's in the first movie. That's all the Annabelle action. There is just like a five minute story about like and there was a cursed doll and she was killing people and it was bad. Now she lives in our basement because that's where we keep all of our cursed items as one does. And but I had not realized I kind of knew just off the from being aware of these things that Annabelle had become its own thing. But throughout The Conjuring Last Rites Annabelle keeps getting name checked. They keep like you keep seeing her like in the corner of their spooky basement. Like at one point when there's a big monster that comes after one of the characters who is Annabelle and like I don't know why I don't know why Annabelle is here in any of this stuff. But she has become like a central figure in the franchise. No, the nun there there are there are multiple demons. Of course, the N.U.N. Correct? The nun. Yes. The N.U.N. There's the nun. And then there was a there was a sequel to the nun.
Mike00:35:01The nun to Electric Boogaloo or something.
Sonny00:35:03The nun to more nunning. And and yeah. So like there are two separate demons. There's like one is called Varric. One is I don't know. They have names. There are demon names. But no, there's like there's like 13 movies in this franchise. There's like between this
Mike00:35:20and then the La Llorona is something else is
Sonny00:35:25entirely the curse of La Llorona takes place within the Conjuring universe, but is not actually related to any of the Conjuring films like there's no there's no I don't believe there are any. I don't believe there are any characters who share. It's just like it's by the same produce. It's basically they were just trying to like you know, kind of leech off the the Conjuring name. It's by the same producer, etc. Got it.
JVL00:35:49Here's my question. Yeah. So the Elias Sports Bureau is the organization which keeps like detailed metrics on everything related to sports. Is there a body within your world of Hollywood stuff that could tell us what the top grossing franchises are by return on investment. So in other words, dollars taken in relative to dollars spent which fits which is like so the MCU movies would be way out now not done in this might be like Blair, which I assume it has to be a horror franchise. It has to be like Blair Witch or the Exorcist movies or maybe the Conjuring movies. The Paranormal
Sonny00:36:37Activity series would probably be Paranormal
JVL00:36:39Activity. Yeah, I don't know. It
Sonny00:36:41would it would almost certainly be a horror franchise and it would be one of the cheaper ones like Paranormal Activity or Halloween or or the Conjuring Blair Witch
JVL00:36:53grossed like $130 million on a $300,000 budget.
Sonny00:36:57It wasn't even that like they spent like 26 grand on that movie. That was like
JVL00:37:01the multiple on that thing. Holy shit. Yeah, I mean, this is
Sonny00:37:07this is the thing, right? Is that like the multiples on all these horror films are or the return on the return on investment on all these films is enormous. It is if you hit if you make if you make a horror movie for $100,000 and it gets it hits that viral vein. That's you're you're looking at a you're looking at an enormous amount of money. And it's funny because it's always a surprise like nobody ever nobody nobody was like, oh, the Texas the Texas Chainsaw Massacre which is being distributed by this porn outfit up in New York City is going to be an enormous hit on the drive-in theater circuit like nobody
JVL00:37:43ever sees it coming. As you always say, all you need to know is character design. Do they have one iconic character design in it? Well, and that's and you'll make your right and you'll
Sonny00:37:51make well, so that's that is and it's funny. I was joking with I was joking with some friends who are in the horror community. Like I was like, I didn't realize that there were like I saw the movie and I I text them. I was like, why is there so much Annabelle in this film? She's not she has nothing to do with this this movie. I haven't watched any of the Annabelle movies. Why is she in this and constantly getting name checked and they're like, well, you can't sell Funko dolls of the Warren's
JVL00:38:15you can't sell
Sonny00:38:16a Patrick Wilson can't sell Patrick Wilson Funko doll. Nobody wants that they want to they want a creepy they want a creepy, you know, I know Raggedy Ann doll, whatever
Mike00:38:27whatever. Is that what Annabelle is a Raggedy
Sonny00:38:29Ann? I don't know. It's like a puppet. I think it's like one of the it's like a ventriloquist doll. I don't let me isn't she like the sexy
JVL00:38:35child evil doll or is that a different one that was Megan? No, that's Megan. Sorry. I know enough to know
Sonny00:38:41that's Megan. I mean, my bad.
Mike00:38:43I've heard all
Sonny00:38:44I don't know what the
Mike00:38:47it's like. Well, I feel I feel
Sonny00:38:48like we've already it's like a Raggedy. It's like a Raggedy Ann doll is what it is. I think. All right.
Mike00:38:54All right. Well, besides that Hamilton got a re-release you went to see Hamilton
Sonny00:39:01didn't you? Oh, that's right. I forgot. Yeah. Yeah. How was
JVL00:39:04it? I mean, I mean, I so you know, like I've seen Hamilton in all of the in all the formats that exists. I've seen it on Broadway. I own it on 4k. No, but like you can stream it on Disney right? And I would say seeing it on a big screen. Is a is a a difference. It makes it an entirely different experience from the other two formats and so makes it like a just a separate scene. Christopher Jackson 30 feet tall singing that George Washington's going home number. It's just it's just different, you know, and it does hit different and it's tremendous and I really encourage people to go see it while you can because this isn't a thing that's going to happen very often. So well, it was number
Mike00:39:56two. It was number two at the box office
JVL00:39:58this week. So go figure.
Mike00:40:01Yeah. Any any other box office thoughts?
Sonny00:40:06No. I mean, the only other thing that's kind of interesting is that weapons is still the number three movie in the country.
Mike00:40:13Almost $143 million hundred and it's gone over that. I think 140 almost $144 million so far. Yeah, it's
Sonny00:40:20a hundred. It's at 144 almost plus another 110 international. So it's 250 million dollars worldwide and Warner Brothers put it out on VOD this week. They put it out on VOD this week and I have complicated feelings about this because I am largely I largely agree with the idea that the VOD and theatrical audiences are separate at the same time. This movie was number one in the country last weekend. It's number three this weekend. You got it. You have to milk it, but you have to you have to milk it not because you need to make more and more money in theatrical because again, I do think I agree kind of that the VOD and theatrical audiences are separate, but like you do not want to train the theatrical audience that still exists that like, well, you don't actually have to see it in that fifth weekend because it's going to be in going to be at home. You can watch it at home. You know, I like I might my feelings on VOD are complicated and not I don't want to get into that really right now, but I do think it's worth thinking about how this movie should have been theatrical exclusive for like another two or three weeks, even though they knew it wouldn't be the number one even though they've got Warner Brothers itself has a competing movie. That's number one conjuring last rights. I just feel like like stop. Don't do that. My my big my big take.
Mike00:41:48All right. Well, shall we move on and discuss?
JVL00:41:52Yeah, I really want to I really want to do the main
Mike00:41:54show. Yeah, let's let's talk about this is Spinal Tap, which is the original movie that came out in 1984 and this weekend the long awaited not awaited at all sequel Spinal Tap 2. I don't know what it's called. It's coming out, but we thought we would watch the original Sonny. You want to give us a big boy review of this
Sonny00:42:16is Spinal Tap Spinal Tap 2 the end continues. That's what it is.
Mike00:42:20Yeah, it's funny.
Sonny00:42:22No Spinal Tap Spinal Tap directed by Rob Reiner written by Christopher Guest Michael McKean Harry Shearer and also Rob Reiner is is kind of a perfect movie and I don't mean it like it's not it's not the tightest movie you've ever seen. It's not the funniest movie you've ever seen but it is only at 82 minutes at 82 minutes of like gags and bits. It is it is kind of a perfect movie. It is it is like just it is so you know, everybody knows what the deal is here. It's like a it's like a fake mockumentary not technically the first mockumentary
Mike00:43:01but it's a real mockumentary. It's a fake
Sonny00:43:02documentary, right? It's a it's a real mockumentary. It's fake documentary. It's a it's a mockumentary. It's a mockumentary not technically the first mockumentary. They they existed before this but it is I feel like this is like the the first it's I don't know. I maybe this is just again recency bias, but I feel like it's like the kind of defining one from my childhood. Anyway, it's like the one people think of when they think of mockumentaries and it is obviously the kind of progenitor of the whole Christopher Guest thing with you know, that would would would culminate and stuff like best best in show and a mighty wind. But it is so it's the story of a British rock and roll band that comes to America and they're kind of past their prime. They're trying to they're trying to book gigs in America and it's just like a series of humiliating failures. A series of humiliating failures and this is this is what the movie really excels at is self delusion. The self delusion these guys have and the the ability of their various handlers to kind of keep them going until they can't anymore until it kind of all all falls apart and then comes back together in a nice little nice little coda. I don't know if we want like do we want to do favorite bits here because like I I it's so funny. It's so funny because I've seen the trailer for the sequel the unnecessary sequel three or four times now and every time I see it like the Stonehenge image is all over that trailer. It's like in it's like in the title in the logo. It's in the logo of the show and I kept thinking to myself that's they're really overplaying that they are they are you know, come on. I like we all remember Stonehenge. Yes. Yes. Yes. It's funny. And then I was watching the movie again last night for the first time and I don't know probably five or six years not last night a couple nights ago and when the Stonehenge thing started I was rolling I was laughing as I
JVL00:45:06point I raise a practical question
Sonny00:45:09like the like where they're where they're discussing where it's like it's not just where she's like no, this is the thing I made it to your specifications. It's 18 inches and and their managers like what the fuck but then the actual performance where they're all watching this thing come down onto the stage and the little person is dancing around it and they're all looking like it's it's such good face acting from guest and McKean and sure in this role, particularly particularly sure as as the kind of like he's got the handlebar mustache like the like everything about this is so God damn funny. I was dying. I was dying in my living room, which I like I don't often laugh out loud at comedies and even through most of this movie. I'm not laughing out loud. I like I'm not a laugh out loud guy, but it's just I was losing it and I was like, all right, I take it back. They should have the Stonehenge thing on every piece of marketing for the for the next movie because it's the funniest fucking thing I've ever seen. Yeah, I don't know the whole thing. It's it's it's not just that the movie is funny and has great bits. It is that it is one of the most immaculately casted films of the last 50 years. Like it's not just McKean and Gaston Shearer, of course, not just Rob Reiner as the director, but like Tony Hendra is great. Ed Begley Jr. shows up for for a bit. He's the drummer, right?
JVL00:46:42Isn't he the first drummer? Yeah.
Sonny00:46:44Yeah. Yeah. He shows up and oh, what's his name? From oh, from all the Christopher Guest movies. Well, there's like a lot of Fred Willard Fred Willard has Fred Willard. Fred Willard. That's something of Fred Willard is like the Air Force Lieutenant, right? Who is who is explaining to them that he's that they're there for like the weekend. You know, the weekend leave show
Mike00:47:06but I'm I gotta watch my hair. People might think I'm a part of the band. It's getting but the
Sonny00:47:12but but the but the and and oh, what's her name? The nanny Fran Drescher, right? Like all these
Mike00:47:18crystal has him, but no, but so
Sonny00:47:20here's there in in one scene in one scene and it's barely even a scene. It's barely even commented on. They're not the focus of this thing. Billy Crystal and Dana Carvey are both in a scene as my waiters and it's just it's just hilarious. It's like it's perfect. All of these roles are cast so perfectly. It is so funny. And again, like usually it's kind of like chuckle. Ha ha funny. It's not always like bust a gut laughing funny, but I was I like it is and it's funny in a different way than the naked gun, right? Remember when we talked about the naked gun? Like I find I find I find all those style movies like slightly overwhelming just because there's so many gags per minute. This is not like this. This is this is like there's one gag and then they let it play out for like two minutes. It's like and I kind of prefer that, but I don't know. I what did you guys have? When's the last time you guys watch Spinal Tap?
JVL00:48:19So I've got this weird relationship with Spinal Tap. Spinal Tap got big. I guess I was like 10 years old and the like the kids in my neighborhood who were like 10, 11, 12 were obsessed with it and I just didn't understand. Like I like I literally didn't. I was like, wait a minute. So it's a movie about a band like no, it's a documentary about a band but the band is real. No, the band is fake right, but they sell they play real records. You can buy the soundtrack. Yeah, so there's a real the fake band has an actual album that we listen to and like, you know, my 10 year old mind just like none of this computed and so I didn't see it as a kid. I don't think I saw it till after college. I was like 25 when I first saw it and at that point like it had built up into my mind that when I saw it I was fairly disappointed and then I watched again maybe like 10 years later and I was like yeah, it's okay. It's okay. You know, it's funny. It's not a lot in this time. I just thought this thing is unbelievably funny but not only is it unbelievably funny it was I just don't understand how the 10 11 and 12 year olds in my neighborhood found anything funny in it.
Mike00:49:34It's a good point. Yeah, I mean
JVL00:49:36I literally I sat there just mystified over what did the 1984 South Jersey kids with their Huffy BMX bikes find funny about this because I know what they found funny about it. Is it like Fat Bottom Girl? Yes.
Mike00:49:52What it is. Fat Bottom Girls sex farm like that's what that's what's funny to the songs 12 years. Because they
JVL00:49:58they were the actual kids in the audience for right when he's like I've noticed you notice your audience mostly young boys, right? So and I I mean the so the funny stuff I don't know for me now like the funniest scene in the movie is probably when they're showing up to the hotel in Kansas City. Maybe maybe it's Memphis. It's Memphis. It's Memphis. It's Memphis. They show up to the hotel in Memphis and there's this super silliest clerk who's like, you know, instead of seven suites on the first floor we have one suite on the seventh floor and I'm sorry there's nothing we can do and the manager says you know, uh, what how am I supposed to put 14 people in a king-size leisure bed and the clerk is like, oh, count me in and and which then leads to like so this is the first time you realize he's gay. And he's, you know, kind of kidding on the square about maybe he'd like to get in and then the manager's like, you know, this, here's to somebody else and like this pofter here and the clerk under his breath says, I'm just as God
Sonny00:51:06made me. Yeah, just as God made me sir. And I just
JVL00:51:09I was just fucking dying. I was dying. It was so funny. And again, I don't understand how the 10, 11 and 12 year olds in my neighborhood watched that scene and maybe they were all just much more sophisticated than I'm giving them credit for being. No, but it's, it's great. It's really great. It is.
Sonny00:51:30I do think Mike's right that it is the songs like if you're, if you listen to the album and listen to the songs, they are all sublimely ridiculous. Like I'm like I'm flesh. Talk about
Mike00:51:40mud flaps. My girl's got a pink
Sonny00:51:44torpedo, etc.
JVL00:51:46Torpedo flesh tuxedo.
Sonny00:51:48I love that. I get it. It's very, it's, it's, it's very funny, but it is like that, that that, that layer of the humor has kind of always escaped me just because I, I, we've discussed this before. Like I can't do musicals because I, I can't, I don't listen to the lyrics. I don't parse lyrics as dialogue. So like it just kind of like washes over me, which is why my favorite song again is the Stonehenge one because it's just like when they start, like when they they're doing the kind of like, oh, what, what, what, what style is that? The, the kind of Celtic yeah, like the spoken, like, yeah, the
Mike00:52:26spoken style. Yeah. And, and then
Sonny00:52:28and then it goes into the like rock. I'm like, yeah like this is what I could, I would own this album. I would own the album.
Mike00:52:34Nobody knows where they were or what they were doing.
Sonny00:52:40So great. The terrible British accents, the terrible, the like the Americans doing terrible British accents is just like the perfect and like, like Shears keeps like coming in and out. Like, yes.
JVL00:52:52I'm sorry. So when Rob Reiner is interviewing their manager and he's asking him about the cricket bat, he's like, why do you have the cricket bat? The manager is like stuttering and stammering or stammering. Rob Reiner says to him, so it's like an affectation. And the manager says, yes, yes. It's like, it's totemic. I just like, I'm sorry. They're like three different levels of joke
Mike00:53:16in that four sentences. Would you know that that scene, like almost every scene in this movie is improvised, right? Yeah. And it's very clear the camera's running. And Reiner has asked Ian Faith this question, the actor, and the actor is like, you can see it. And he's literally trying to figure out what to say. And then Reiner gives him this, like gives
JVL00:53:40him something. Improv, right? Yes, and. You hand somebody something. And then he
Mike00:53:44takes it off and he's like, yes, totemic. Yes, you know. And then he's sort of like, but it's also come in handy. And then it's got that like montage of him just like smacking the TV smacking the table
JVL00:53:56of drugs.
Mike00:53:57That's pretty bad. So I think what I appreciate every time I watch this, and I've seen this movie a gazillion times and I rewatched it this week. The thing that I come keep coming back to is, so there's one thing I keep coming back to. One thing I learned or appreciated more on this latest watch. So the thing I keep coming back to is how it captures. Some very specific rock and roll or music things, either like specific references or specific experiences. And if you talk to professional rock and roll bands, they will say that's what they appreciated about this movie. So the whole thing toward the end where they're walking backstage trying to go out to the stage and find it, and they keep getting lost. And they're just walking around and trying to, you know, rock and roll, you know, hello Cleveland! And then they turn a corner and they're still backstage. They can't find it. Then they find like the old black janitor and he's like giving them like directions that nobody could follow and he's like, you're gonna go down that way, take a little jog. That whole thing is like bands will say like we've done that. That has been our experience. And so I love that they sort of like got that experience. The thing's not working, right? Like when the little egg doesn't open up for Derek Smalls and he's like banging, they've got like the hammer and the blowtorch to try to open it up. And even some of the things that are like, so there's a part where he's interviewing David St. Hubbins and Nigel Tufnel and he's like, what was the first song you wrote together? And the song that they come up with is All the Way Home, right? And it's like they're talking about this song and it's a great improvisation, but it's also very specifically like a reference to the early, one of the earliest McCartney Lennon songs which ends up on Let It Be on their last released album One After 909. It's like, it is like, it is like a parody song of One After 909 but like written in time and it's like so impressive to me that they were able to like, to just, do that and strike gold and who knows how many just like screw ups and you know, the camera was just rolling and they were just improv-ing but it's great and I love, I love all those little moments. The thing that I noticed this time around and I wonder if you guys appreciated this as well is to me the lines that I was laughing out loud at to the most or the, who kind of hits every time is Harry Shearer's character. Like, Harry Shearer's sort of the third of the two. Like, right, he's the bass player but he also, he actually has the fewest of the three, like, in terms of lines but all of his lines like are freaking home runs in my view. Like, he's the one who does the, you know, when they're arguing about Stonehenge and Ian, it's like you know, I think you're making too much of a big thing of it and Derek Smalls just says making a big thing out of it would have been a good idea, you know? Like, just like, he gets the best written lines and he delivers, he delivers all of it so, like, just, he's, he's my, he became my favorite on this particular watch. Like, when they're doing the, when they're in their, their kind of 60s, late 60s phase, you know? Yeah, the flower. The flower. Listen to what the flower people say and just his like, you know, listen and he's the one who goes, you know, and then, or like mouths, like as they're playing this sitar solo, he amounts, I love you, you know, like out to the crowd that's watching. It's so perfect. Like, his, his, uh, hits, his hit to line ratio is, uh, is out of this world. So, it's close to one.
JVL00:58:04Uh, anyway. So, I went and looked this up because I was thinking, I am a, I'm a huge Michael McKeon fan. Like, in that he is one of these rare talents, but he's an oddball talent. Like, they're, you know, like, they're, you just look at him and like, he's a genius, but there isn't an obvious, uh, slot in entertainment for him. You know, like, well, how do you take somebody with his very, very particular gifts and fit them in? And so, he, he works really, really well here, right? I never understood him as, uh, Lenny on Levern and Shirley, right? Like, I just, that didn't work for me. I was like, this guy isn't built to be on a sitcom. That's not where he can be funny. Um, but one of the first times I, I remember seeing him outside of, because, again, all pre-me-seeing Spinal Tap was on Jeopardy. And I, I remember watching on Jeopardy and just thinking, like, holy shit, this guy is very smart. Yes. He, uh, so I, I went and did some digging on his Jeopardy run. He has done three stints on Jeopardy. Not, not like single episodes, but like full runs on Jeopardy. And he remains the only contestant in the history of Jeopardy who has never lost. Wow. Even Ken Jennings has lost a match. Yes, yes. Yeah, yeah. And Michael McKeon never lost. And so, like, you know, I think he went to Carnegie Mellon. Like, he's just, he is a, again, he's just very clearly an incredibly smart guy
Sonny00:59:30who has... Well, to be fair, I mean, McKeon was doing like the celebrity one, right? It's, you know, he would do like the five, he would do like the celebrity runs. But he would... The celebrity tournament. I mean, he
JVL00:59:38would shut people out. Like, you'd watch him all, like, on the thing and, you know, he'd finish with $85,000 and the other, Sean Connery would have 10. And, I mean, it was almost like the SNL skit.
Sonny00:59:48Yeah, yeah. Yeah. No, McKeon, McKeon is like a weirdly important figure for my own cinematic, because I, like, when I was younger, you know, I would... There were a handful of movies that I would get over and over again, or that we own, that we had, like, VHS copies of, right? And one of them was Daryl. Have you guys ever seen Daryl? D-A-R-Y-L? It's... So, it's this... It's not a particularly good movie. It's like a young... It's like a kid's movie. But, basically, the premise is a kid who's played by the kid from the Never Ending Story is he's actually got a robot brain. Oh, I was gonna say, yeah. And he escapes... He escapes from the... He escapes from the United States Air Force and, like, he's living with Michael McKean. Anyway, but, like, Michael McKean was just, like, dad. He was just, like, the dad. And the second... The second movie that has, like, profoundly scarred me in weird ways, Short Circuit 2. So, Short Circuit... In Short Circuit 2, he's, like... He's... In Short Circuit 2, he's, like, the... He's, like, kind of a con artist type figure. And he's always wearing, like, silk shirts. And, like, he's, like, don't touch the shirt. Don't touch the shirt. But he, like, he falls in with Johnny Five. Johnny Five is alive. And, like, they're running scams and stuff. And then Johnny Five gets in trouble with a gang. A gang of criminals. And they beat... They beat Johnny Five to death with a fucking crowbar. They, like, they just massacre him on... They're, like, ripping off limbs and they're... And he's, like, no! Don't kill Johnny Five! And they fucking ruin him. They just... They bust him all up. But Michael McKeon, who is, again, like, kind of a con artist, but is, like, getting his heart of gold through his interactions with Johnny Five. Johnny Five comes to him and he's leaking all of his battery fluid and he tears his silk shirt apart! Tears his silk shirt apart and fixes him! It was one of the most touching things I've ever seen as a child. I was moved greatly by Michael McKeon's performance in Short Circuit 2. This is also, by the way, unrelated. This is why I love the movie Chappie. Very similar thing happens in that movie, but that's neither here nor there.
Mike01:02:06Chappie. Yeah, McKeon's an interesting guy because he's got, like... He has an odd career, right? He's on Laverne and Shirley. Then he's, like... He's with... He's with Christopher Guest and and... and the other one with This is Spinal Tap. And then he's, like... He's, like, doing movies and then he joins Saturday Night Live for, like, a season and a half.
Sonny01:02:35He was on SNL for, like, two seasons, right?
Mike01:02:38Two seasons, I think. Yeah. And he was supposed to be sort of, like... He was supposed to be the fill-in for Phil Hartman. Like, Phil Hartman's, like, leaving. Michael McKeon comes in. And it's... It's a disaster. It's really not Michael McKeon's fault, but it's, like, he's, like, older than everybody. Yeah. Yeah. That whole...
Sonny01:02:52That whole era is... You know, real hit and miss. Yes.
Mike01:02:56And then, like, then he sort of... Then the Christopher Guest movies kind of come back and kind of bring him back. He's, like, working throughout all this. But... A lot of voice work. Yeah. I think a lot of voice work and just, like, bit parts and comedies and stuff. But then he starts to... You know, then he does, like, Best in Show. Was he in... I don't think he was in Waiting for Guffman. Was he in Waiting for... I don't think he was. But he was in Best of Show, Best in Show and all the ones that follow after that. And then he has this other turn on Better Call Saul, the Breaking Bad sequel where he is Saul Goodman's... Well, he's on Jimmy's brother, which is fantastic. Sonny, I don't know if you've watched Better Call Saul, but he's terrific in that. And it's very much a dramatic role. And it's just... It's interesting that he's sort of had this long unusual career. Maybe that speaks to what you guys are talking about. He doesn't quite fit in anywhere, but he's been able to find a place for himself.
Sonny01:03:57I forgot another key VHS rental classic. Coneheads? He's in Clue. Oh, yes, he's in Clue, yes. He's Mr. Green in Clue. And he was also a key part of the constant HBO rotation of Airheads. Yes, he's in Airheads. He's like the scummy radio station owner in Airheads or the record exec, whatever he is, in Airheads. Again, Michael McKean, very important, like weirdly important to my personal career as a cinephile. He keeps showing up again and again.
Mike01:04:28Question. What is your, what are you guys' favorite, what is the best Christopher Guest movie? Of the mockumentary style. This is Spinal Tap, Waiting for Gutman, Best in Show, For Your Consideration, I'm forgetting, Mighty Wind. It's kind of
Sonny01:04:52a hard one for me. My favorite of them, the one, I don't know, the two I enjoy the most are For Your Consideration and Best in Show. And I probably slightly prefer For Your Consideration, but it's That's on brand for you.
Mike01:05:09That's on brand for you.
JVL01:05:12JVL. So I prefer Best in Show, but the I wanted to love A Mighty Wind because that is the music I grew up with in my hippie Quaker school. The auto harp, that's like me first through sixth grade. That was the music that we did at school. And it's so, you know, every woman, child, and man come together hand in hand like, oh yeah. You know, if I had a hammer, I would hammer in the morning. But ultimately
?01:05:49ultimately
JVL01:05:49a Mighty Wind becomes a very mean-spirited movie toward its characters at the end. He has them, he holds them in a little more contempt than I like. Where in Best in Show there are villains in Best in Show. We are happy that what's her name? Parker Posey. Parker Posey and her husband get their comeuppance. We're happy about that. But Eugene Levy is a sweetie and Jane Lynch and her lesbian partner are very funny and fun. It doesn't hate the characters, I think. It enjoys them, I think. I think it enjoys the characters in Best in Show. In a mockumentary like this, you have to walk that line, I think, between poking fun at them, but ultimately loving them. Just as the director and the writer, right? If it's mean-spirited pointing and laughing at them, that's I think just less fulfilling as an audience member. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it's just me.
Mike01:07:02There's something to that because while I love Waiting for Guffman as a kind of like, this is like the kind of precursor to the run of the next few movies, it is pretty mean-spirited towards this small town in a way that's it's funny in the moment, but does kind of leave a bad taste in your mouth. I tend to agree with you that Best in Show is the best and my favorite. I really like A Mighty Wind. I don't necessarily agree with you, JVL, that it's mean-spirited. Maybe I'm missing something, but I just think the devotion to the songs and the music, like the songs are really well done. Not surprising. It's probably the funniest of them.
JVL01:07:46In terms of the jokes. It is a very funny movie. Fred Willard's whole
Mike01:07:51thing, his whole character is fan-tested. What happened?
JVL01:08:00He's amazing in that movie.
Mike01:08:01Back in 1970, I was on a show. It's like every beat of that. But Best in Show has to me, I would say those are the scenes that I go back and watch the most.
Sonny01:08:13Best in Show also just innately humanizes them by having them be friendly with dogs the whole time. JVL, I know you have different feelings.
JVL01:08:23I understand that.
Sonny01:08:25I do think I just don't enjoy A Mighty Win because I hate that music. I can't listen to that music.
JVL01:08:32Oh, I hate it too, but it's funny because it's all the parody stuff is so on point.
Mike01:08:37Never did no wandering after
Sonny01:08:40all. I mean, this all goes to my theory that you could only really love a thing like this if you really like the thing it's parodying. Or at least are very familiar with it.
JVL01:08:49Or at least are very familiar with it. Yes. I just want to repeat. A story that I have I have told on this show before, but it was probably many, many years ago. So my my buddy whom I haven't spoken to in years, Larry Miller. Once upon a time, we were talking about and I was just asking about like the Christopher Guest stuff and what it was like. And I said to him, so I got to know because everybody who's in that is funny. But when you guys are together. Who's the funny guy? Like who's the funniest? Right. And he did not hesitate a second. He just goes, Fred Willard. Fred Willard is the one that when there's seven of us in an elevator and it's quiet for five seconds, he says something that makes the rest of us just gut bust. And that he's like that all the time. He is just naturally his his timing is so good. And he's the one who in real IRL makes all the comics around him last.
Mike01:09:53Yeah. All right. Interesting, because
JVL01:09:55I wouldn't have guessed that.
Mike01:09:57No, I yeah, I just think he's got I don't know what it is, but you'll notice that, by the way, like he up until like his he was in I think he yeah, he's in like season one of I think you should leave like he was like everybody wanted him to be in their project for that reason. JVL, which is like he's everybody knows he's the funniest. So all right. Any other thoughts on this is Spinal Tap or
JVL01:10:25you know, I'm just trying to say one other thought. Yeah, this has nothing to do about anything. So we had Jane Lynch on one of the one of the shows that we do over the bulwark as like a few years ago. Now it was during COVID and she was just sort of in a zoom with us, you know, like this close and like, you know, her kitchen light sure, you know, leaning into the camera the way like in the most unprofessional way ever and was one of the most strikingly beautiful women I've ever seen in a way that doesn't really come across in it. Like I think they don't let her be pretty in the Christopher Guest movies like they really lean into the, you know, towering lesbian and I think on Glee that was part of it too. They let her be pretty in the fugitive like in the fugitive and it's funny like Elaine Bennis, Elaine Bennis, Julia Louis Dreyfus talks about about like being allowed to be pretty and like how on Seinfeld they went to great great lengths to make her to try to like make her a little more dowdy because Julia Louis Dreyfus is just fucking gorgeous, you know, and they didn't want that to get in the way of her funny and I think many roles do the same thing with Jane Lynch but just as a normal person like on your computer screen having a FaceTime conversation with her again like just shockingly beautiful woman newsflash. People in Hollywood are good. Yes. Well, that's exactly the thing, right? Right. It's the people who are presented as the dowdy. Yeah, you know, whatever it's like are in real life just shockingly beautiful. No, that's
Sonny01:12:05that is that is like this. I mean, that's just my experience. Anytime I go out to Los Angeles, frankly, just walking around like, oh, this is where
Mike01:12:13they keep all the pretty people. Yeah.
Sonny01:12:15Interesting. Yeah, she's
Mike01:12:17she's great on only murders in the building
Sonny01:12:19by the way, and she was it. Have you watched? There's a new season. I have a
Mike01:12:23we haven't watched. We haven't caught up that far, but the one where the one where she spoil or the one where she is killed and they were investigating her her murder. That's that's the one
Sonny01:12:33I watched. Yeah, she she's in. She is very briefly in the I think the second episode of the new season like just it's funny, but she shows up for like 10 seconds. It's like, oh,
Mike01:12:45I love Jane Lynch. Yeah, she's great. She's great. All right. That is all the time we're going to give to this episode. Join us over at something.com. Tell your friends and family and we'll talk to you next time.
Sonny01:13:01Run along anything.
JVL01:13:03Yeah, I got it. Or you or you know, one of the things we talked with Jane Lynch about was she did Frosted Flakes commercials that were directed by Christopher Guest. Do you guys know that this was the thing that happened in the early 2000s? Christopher Kellogg's hired Christopher Guest to direct some Frosted Flakes commercial. Sure. And they were hysterical. Like this is the thing where I remember as a not as a kid, but like as a 20 year old seeing these commercials and thinking these are like some of the funniest ads I've ever seen on TV and having no idea, not until years later learning. Oh, Christopher Guest directed them. That's why. Anyway, but Jane talked about how one of the things she learned about acting from Guest was that she's like he said it's not about acting. It's about behaving. Don't think you're acting. Just behave. And I just took that away as somebody who doesn't do acting for a living. That seemed profound to me.
Mike01:13:59Acting with without acting.
Sonny01:14:02Mike, what did you have?
Mike01:14:03That's I don't know anything.
Sonny01:14:05That's it. No, it's nothing. I'm sure
Mike01:14:07it's fine. Okay.
?01:14:10No.
Spot something wrong in this episode? Suggest a correction →
Comments
Loading…