EP. 324.5 — Last Looks: Absolution

Paul Scheer [00:00:00] Arctic death. Harlem crime. And sunsets. All this and more on today’s How Did This Get Made? Last Looks. Hit the theme.

Music [00:00:09] [Intro Song]

Paul Scheer [00:00:25] For the love of Pete. Hello, my extra long boxer brief buddies. I’m your host, Paul Scheer, and welcome to How Did This Get Made Last Looks where you, the listener, get to voice your issues on Absolution, a.k.a. the journey: Absolution. Jason and I chat about some books and podcasts we’re currently loving, and I will reveal next week’s movie at the end of the show. I will also share an exclusive bonus scene from our last episode, something that we couldn’t keep in, but it’s still damn good. But first things first. A big shout out to Quinn for that amazing theme song. Thank you, Quinn. We love these songs. They’re fantastic. And if you have a Last Looks theme song, send it to me at HowDidThisGetMade@Earwolf.com. Keep them short. 15 to 20 seconds is best. Now, How Did This Get Made is going on the road. I need you to be prepared. Are you coming out with second opinion songs? Because we need them. New Jersey, I want to see you there for New York Ninja. I want to see New Jersey ask questions about New York. That’s really the hope. We have two shows in Boston, one with a very special How Did This Get Made All star. We also have some great stuff lined up for DC and Philly and of course New York. If you want tickets, if you need information, go to HDTGM.com, get your tickets. I think we’re almost sold out everywhere, but there are still a few available, so get in there. Go do it. And I want to let you know that I’m also involved in this organization. It’s called TUSC, The Union Solidarity Coalition and if you go check out our website, TUSC, that’s TUSCTogether.com, you can click on an auction page. And I will talk about that in a little bit with Jason, but we are raising money for IATSE and Teamster members who are out of work due to the AMPTP work stoppage. And we’re just trying to raise money and you’re going to get some cool ass shit if you bid on an auction. You ever want to have me pick your fantasy football draft? I’ll do it. But anyway, go there, look at it, Get your bids in and let’s get into Absolution. Because Absolution is an interesting film. I mean, I wouldn’t even really call it a movie. I would call it like a telemovie. But Danny the Wall on Discord thought the film should have been titled “A Few Good Himbos.” Damn Danny! Coming at us with the Himbos. I haven’t heard that since the eighties. And oddly enough, Himbo sounds more aggressive then the word it’s replacing. Anyway, we had questions about Absolution, but we didn’t hear all of your questions. We might have even missed a few things. Here is your chance to set us straight. Fact check us, if you will. It is now time for corrections and omissions. Hit the theme.

Music [00:03:20] [Corrections and Omissions Theme]

Paul Scheer [00:03:34] Oh, great song by the great Frances Rizzo. And, you know, if you’ve been listening to this show, you know that Francis has sent in so many great themes over the years. And before we get into corrections and omissions, I just wanted to relay a message that Francis left for us on the help line. See, Francis called in to say that he unfortunately has end stage kidney failure and he is doing everything he can to try to find a match for a kidney transplant. And the more potential donors he can reach, the greater chance he has to find a match. So if there are any potential donors out there listening right now, you can go to kidneyregistry.org or call 516-562-0550 or email transplantsurgery@northwell.edu and mention the name Francis Rizzo. Francis, thank you for all the great themes and we all hear it. How Did This Get Made are pulling for you and we hope that you find a donor and we just we’re sending you prayers. Now, I recognize that making a transition in this moment might be tough, but I’m just going to have to lean into it and say, let’s go to the discord. Sean McBee writes, “I’m pretty surprised that no one mentioned at the end, our protagonists are left stranded outside in the Arctic while wearing essentially tank tops, with the only shelter having just blown up and with no indication that any sort of rescue is coming, they will absolutely freeze to death before the day is out.” Sean. Holy shit. How did we not pick up on that? Our heroes are left for dead. I mean, at least at the end of the thing. At least he was wearing a jacket. Oh, brother. Wow. Wow. No one questioned that they should just put in the sound of a chopper or something. All right, good eyes, Sean McBee. Danny the Wall writes, “Was there actually a journey somewhere? I mean, was anything to be absolved? The obvious question remains unanswered. Why is this titled The Journey: absolution?” Danny, These are the simple questions that we missed. I can’t believe that we missed these. All right, let’s let. Let’s break it down. Absolution. What does Absolution mean? A release from guilt, Obligation or punishment. I mean, I guess they got released from being under the tyranny of Richard Grieco. But for Mario Lopez, he just got there. But journey. Now there is something. Journey is the act of traveling from one place to another. So Mario Lopez did journey to a place where he then freed himself from the tyranny of Richard Grieco. Anyway, I’m going to go with that. So I think the title makes perfect sense. GT75 writes, I think part of why it’s so hard to figure out the plot of this film is because the protagonist, Mario Lopez, fails every step of the way. His attempt to find his friend/fellow agent consists of just name dropping him a couple of times. So it’s just kind of sheer luck that he gets imprisoned with him. He’s reliant fully on Liles, telling him what Richard Rico’s plan is. Then he can’t escape without Jaime Presley randomly showing up. So even when he has to save the world from aliens, he doesn’t because Greco’s efforts seem to be thwarted by just shoddy craftsmanship in building the portal.” Guys. It really is amazing. Like it takes so much hard work to make a movie and then you see these and you wonder, like when I get notes on something, I’m like, Oh yeah, it’s a good note or Oh, that they’re overthinking it or whatever. These movies got made. These are not scripts. Like how, how, how? Let’s go to the phones. Rachel from Chicago.

Listener [00:07:27] Hi, Paul. This is Rachel from Chicago. I’m calling about Absolution. I want to talk about the timer at the end of the movie where Richard Grieco is wrestling with Jamie Presley or something, and they keep cutting between a wide shot where you can see the countdown timer and then a close up shot of it, and they’re never the same time. At one point at the wide shot for 8 seconds left, and they show a close up of the timer and then it’s 13 seconds and they go back to the wide shot and it’s 8 seconds. So it’s just, you know, I don’t know what was going on, maybe that alien technology, but I feel like someone should have caught that. Anyway. Love the show. Thanks Paul.

Paul Scheer [00:08:11] They couldn’t even fix it. That’s something that you can actually do in post. They probably just have a close up of the stopwatch, the watch, whatever, they can do that in post. You have to do that live. Why is that so dumb? That’s an editor mistake there. I bet the editors are mad for this person. Kick him out of the editing guild, whoever this person is. All right. Let’s go to Sam from Tennessee.

Listener [00:08:32] Hi, Paul. This is Sam. Listened to the episode about Absolution. The only thing that comes to mind when y’all was describing that big thing and the underwear is the Mormon Church. They’re not moving because they’re just soaking. They have their their big dumpy underwear on because that’s the magic underwear. So there you go. They’re just soaking. They needed somebody to rock the bed for so they can move.

Paul Scheer [00:08:58] Please don’t. I don’t want to talk about soaking. I don’t like soaking. One of my favorite. I listen to the the Pat Bev podcast with Roan. I love Pat Bev and Roan explaining Soaking to Pat Bev is pretty amazing here, actually. Take a listen to him tell you what soaking is because I don’t even want to get into it.

Roan [00:09:19] You know what’s soaking is?

Pat Bev [00:09:21] Soaking?

Roan [00:09:22] Yeah.

Pat Bev [00:09:22] Like, if I was to say…

Roan [00:09:26] Dude, I don’t think you do know what it is.

Pat Bev [00:09:27] Can I guess?

Roan [00:09:28] Do you want to?

Pat Bev [00:09:29] I don’t have a problem embarrassing myself.

Roan [00:09:32] Okay, guess. Guess

Pat Bev [00:09:33] If I’m smoking, like, in the bathtub, soaking in my own tears.

Roan [00:09:38] Dude, it’s a thing that specific to Utah, and it’s a thing that goes on at, like, BYU and Mormon schools where they’re not allowed to have premarital sex. And so what they do is the guy kind of takes the car and parks it in the garage and just lets it idle there and it just sits there.

Pat Bev [00:09:58] I don’t understand what you mean. Can you kind of tell it to me like I’m a three year old?

Roan [00:10:03] A guy, a guy puts his you know what I mean? His his dick in there and just leaves it there and it just soaks. You just leave it there to soak. And it’s the thing that goes on in Utah and

Pat Bev [00:10:14] I didn’t know that.

Roan [00:10:16] Yeah, dude, that’s a real thing, dude. I did a video on it.

Pat Bev [00:10:19] Soaking.

Roan [00:10:19] Soaking.

Pat Bev [00:10:20] So you meet a nice young lady. Hey, I like you. Let’s soak?

Roan [00:10:23] Yeah.

Pat Bev [00:10:23] You, like, move around or like,

Roan [00:10:25] They’ll have their friends either jump up and down on the bed or I talked to people who said that they’ll have to mattresses standing up and their friends will wave them back and forth. But they’re not doing the action movement. Right. So they’re they’re they’re they’re the ones that are just soaking there.

Pat Bev [00:10:41] Has anyone ever got pregnant?

Roan [00:10:42] I’m sure they have. Oh, I’m sure they have.

Pat Bev [00:10:45] While they didn’t have sex?

Roan [00:10:47] Yeah, exactly. They can be like in the eyes of God, I’m still a virgin.

Paul Scheer [00:10:51] Thank you, Ron. Think, Pat, Bev. And there you go. All right. Finally, Morgan from Chicago. What have we got? Morgan?

Roan [00:10:59] Hey, Paul, this is Morgan in Chicago. I was just calling with a little say about Absolution or I guess the journey Absolution. So at a minute or an hour and 29 minutes and 40 seconds, about that time, the scene where Mario Lopez and Jamie Presley, they are running away from the explosion. If you look at the very bottom of the screen, you’ll notice that the track marks in the snow are already laid down. And then as they’re running on the snow, it fills in the track marks, almost like they had reversed the footage. But they’re very clearly running towards towards us. So really not too sure what’s happening there. I just wanted to get your thoughts and see if you had any idea what was going on there. All right. Cool. Thanks Paul, Bye.

Paul Scheer [00:11:54] So here’s the thing. We did delete a portion of the show where we did talk about the snow. I thought it was like potato in a box kind of shavings. But Scott, our producer, he thinks the footprints were already there due to earlier takes in the shot them. And you’re kind of too lazy to smooth over the footprints after every take. And honestly, it’s not like they’re, like, disappearing as they run over them. It’s just like the clouds of dust, of, like, whatever that is, if it’s flour or something. Look, shoddy filmmaking is the answer. That’s that’s all. I mean, if you were to tie all these questions together, the answer would be, Oh, because of shoddy filmmaking. Back to the Discord Rocket Wesker writes, “During the final showdown, Greico activated the teleporter to escape from Earth? Why didn’t he just use the teleporter to send his people to Earth? Overwhelming Mario Lopez with the alien army and starting the invasion. I mean, that would solve all of Greico’s problems. But by doing the opposite, he would have taken Jamie Presley to his dying home planet and left the only device that can transport the alien army to earth for the humans to destroy?” Oh, my God. First of all, Rocket Wesker again. Good eyes. I didn’t even get that his planet was dying. And, yes, they should be coming through. I thought maybe it was a transference. Like he needs some human DNA to go back. There is, like, E.T. needed to bring a plant. Did ET need to bring a plant back to his planet? It was a planet. I think his planet was doing fine. I think in the book or like a sequel, his planet was dying. But that’s just that. I mean, technically, it’s fan fiction. Why do I know about E.T. fanfiction? I don’t even think it’s E.T. fan fiction. I think I read a book that Steven Spielberg said was officially an E.T. Sequel. Why do I know so much about E.T.? I mean, because it’s a great movie. It’s a solid movie. I’ll tell you, E.T.. Don’t knock it. I didn’t watch it for years. I rewatched. It’s like it’s fucking good. I mean, everything Steven Spielberg makes is like, the worst Spielberg is really good. Like, I rewatched Crystal Skull, and maybe it’s just years of being battered by these, you know, new sequels and new people and bad CGI that it didn’t hit me as hard this time. I mean, the first 40 minutes are pretty good. There are some things that are bad. I talk about this a little bit on my letterbox, but Shia LaBeouf, justice for Shia. He’s good in that. He is actually good. The CGI is terrible. Like, why would they take an Indiana Jones movie and then, like, really just put it on green screens? It’s so schlocky. And I think that that’s what they were going for anyway in that movie, which is bad, but not as bad as I remember it. It’s still really good. Spielberg on the movies that you don’t love still have a great sequences, and I would say the first 40 minutes is pretty flawless in that one. Okay, Spoonrise writes, “Just a brief correction to the Olive Garden guerilla marketing team. Contrary to Sinclair shouting out, ‘You can’t get that dressing. It’s a secret.’ In what was no doubt a yes and an heightening fugue state. You actually can buy the Olive Garden salad dressing at Costco.” Okay. Wow. Hashtag make salads unhealthy somehow. Hashtag MSUS. Yes to Olive Garden, sneaking in here ad free. Oh, my gosh. Well, I’m going to go to I’m a Costco member. And to go there and buy that salad dressing, it’s good. Okay. And lastly, this is something that was important in our last corrections, our missions. I told Dr. Guts 1003 he was incorrect for suggesting that there still should have been sunlight out when Jane Lynch leaves her house around nine 9:30 p.m.. And I said, Fact check me, people. Make sure I’m right. And by the way, I’ve been actually watching this. I was on vacation. I was watching this. But anyway, Corgi herders stepped up to the plate with actual real facts Corgi Herder writes, “So this is for Paul in a sunlight question. Your latitude or how close you are to the equator changes when the sun sets. This is due to the axial tilt. The earth doesn’t spin perfectly up and down. It’s tilted. So sometimes the North Pole is pointed at the sun and sometimes away. So Paul was correct in saying that sunlight depends on where you live. Yes. That’s why the Poles get endless nights in the winter. The sun set for the summer solstice in L.A. is listed at 8:08 p.m.. By contrast, for Seattle, it’s an hour later.” There we go. Now, look. So many great corrections and omissions. Do I want to give it to you here too, for proving me right? Of course I do. I want to say you’re the winner this week, but technically, it’s not a correction omission for this week’s movie. But let me tell you, you have my vote. Then I want to go to Spoonrise because you snuck in a little ad for Costco and Olive Garden. But the truth is the real truth is there are so many great questions here, so many things going on. But to me. I really believe that Sean McBee asked the question that was the most obvious question that no one answered. How are these people going to survive in the Arctic? And you know what, Sean McBee, you are the winner and you get this amazing song from Francis Day. Hit it.

Music [00:16:51] [Winner’s Song]

Paul Scheer [00:17:00] All right, If you want to submit an alt movie tagline or maybe a new title for a movie that we do every week, we’re going to pull one of those from the Discord. You can go to our discord at Discord.gg/HTDGM or call us at 619-PAUL-ASK. Now. Coming up, Jason I going to chat about all the things that we are currently into. We’re going to reveal next week’s movie and at the end of the show I will share an exclusive deleted scene from our Absolution episode. So stick around. People, every Monday we are rereleasing older episodes back into the rotation because Stitcher premium is no longer. We don’t have a place you can access our back catalog. We are working on a fix. It’s not going to be soon, but we’re figuring it out. And in the meantime we’re going to be doing is asking you for suggestions about what to rerelease on Mondays, matinee Mondays. But the next two weeks we got it covered because The Meg is out and we rereleased the Meg one with All Stars, Nicole Byer and Adam Scott. And next week because another. How Did This Get Made? All star Seth Rogen has made a genius, amazing teenage mutant Ninja turtles movie. We’re going to go back to talk about teenage mutant ninja turtles 2, with Adam Pally. So keep on checking out these replays of classic episodes every Monday. And let’s get into just chat. We’re going to just chat a little bit differently. We do want you guys to be calling us at 619-PAUL-ASK, Because as long as the strike goes on, we’re not going to be talking about streamers. We’re not going to be promoting different things. We’re going to try to keep it off center. So we want to hear your questions. We want to get into your piece of advice. So, Jason, I will be diving into that a little bit more. Just want to give you a heads up. The phone lines are open. They’re always open. But now with that out of the way, let’s get into just chatting. Seth Chatfield Take it away.

Music [00:18:45] [Just Chat Song]

Paul Scheer [00:19:02] Jason, I saw you recently just got back from Washington, D.C., doing some improv.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:19:07] Yes, well, I was at the Kennedy Center where I was doing an improv show. I was meant to do a week’s worth of shows. And on night three, I got COVID again on the road and was again, once again stuck in a hotel with COVID for a week, just out of my entire mind.

Paul Scheer [00:19:28] Now, wait. Let me ask you a question about this. Were there any babies in that Kennedy Center audience?

Jason Mantzoukas [00:19:34] Only the baby that is Anthony Atamanuik, who fully gave me COVID. I know it. I know. Because he was sick. He was sick. And then the next day he was out with COVID. Then the next day, Neil Casey was out with COVID. And then the next day I got COVID. So between the two of those guys who I was doing shows with. That’s got to be how I got it, or we were all exposed at the same time. And I just was the last person who developed the symptomatic case of it.

Paul Scheer [00:20:04] Well, I have to say that I’m glad that you got COVID before we go out on the road for How Did This Get Made? I feel like.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:20:12] I that was the only silver lining, you know, is that I can now be pretty carefree on this tour.

Paul Scheer [00:20:19] Just to be a little it’s a quick tour, we’ll be out there next week. Make sure you get your tickets. Tickets are still available. We’re almost sold out everywhere. We have a surprise coming to you the first night in Boston, which we won’t tell you yet. And we also have a surprise coming to you in New Jersey. We think. We think, but.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:20:36] That’s a maybe. We’ll see.

Paul Scheer [00:20:37] Maybe that’s a maybe. I will say, though, when you talk about Anthony Atamanuik, I think about his brand new podcast, which I don’t know if you’ve heard it yet.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:20:46] I have. I’ve only heard one episode. I heard the John Gemberling episode, which is fantastic.

Paul Scheer [00:20:50] I did an episode, too. I did his first episode we recorded a while ago, and the whole idea is how would you survive something insane.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:21:02] Something you fear, Something that you fear. What if it came true? Right.

Paul Scheer [00:21:06] Right. Ours was. Well, mine was not positioned to me like that I was given. What would you do if your car, I think, get it off into the road and into like a river or a body of water. What would you do? And we. And he was testing me on what I thought I would do. And we had a great conversation about it. So much so that after our conversation, I did buy one of those window breakers, which I have already in my car. I already have one in my car, but this one goes around my visor because I was realizing, Oh, my window breaker is low, I have to go dig for it. This would be really smart. I would want one to cut my seatbelt and break the window right by my head.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:21:48] I now travel with one. So I have one in my little kit that has, like, a little tiny roll of duct tape. A little like I’ve got one of those now, just so if I’m in a rental car, I’ll have one of those things that’s.

Paul Scheer [00:22:01] Probably even smarter.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:22:03] Yes, because I don’t know when this shit’s going to go down. So I know I’ll bring you one because I have accessories. I bought like five, but.

Paul Scheer [00:22:10] That gets through airport security?

Jason Mantzoukas [00:22:13] Yeah.

Paul Scheer [00:22:13] Wow. Yeah. I mean, I tried to bring some hot sauce back.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:22:15] I mean.

Paul Scheer [00:22:15] Bring some hot sauce back. I was so bummed, Jason, I got to tell you, I. Oh, I went on this. I went on this trip with, I think you know her, June, my wife, and we were on this small island in the West Indies. It was an amazing trip. The hotel that we were staying at is known for their hot sauce. This chef at the hotel makes her own hot sauce. And you can order it. Whatever. It’s. It’s. It is become a bigger thing. Yeah, but it’s a I was there. The hot sauce is great. I bought a small bottle of her hot sauce. So happy to have it. Now coming back from the West Indies, you have to go through Miami or we did and then get another flight to go to wherever you’re going. What happened was our flight got delayed. So I got it after I went through security. I you know, so I bought the hot sauce at the Duty-free shop. Yeah. Because like, I’m gonna get this, this is great. But then I had to go back through security and they confiscated my fucking hot sauce. I was so bummed, that was halfway there that it was really in a fury. And they did it in the place where you have to reenter the airport via like when you go through customs, you go get your bags and then you have like exit to the outside world or exit back to the airport to get a connecting flight. And when you go back to the airport, you can still go through the security machines. So I had not left an airport, but yet it was confiscated. It was, and I was trying to explain to them, but I was like, but I bought it at the Duty-free shop. That’s the whole idea. In the airport. I’m still in the airport.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:23:54] Airport. Yeah.

Paul Scheer [00:23:55] No. It was really frustrating. It was really frustrating and maddening.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:24:00] I hate when the when they basically don’t play by the rules. You know what I mean? It’s like, listen, I’m doing this the way you want, right? Everybody doing the duty free. After at the end, you’re telling me that your system now can strip this away for me? That’s a that seems like some sort of racketeering. You know, like, that Seems like you want that. It’s like you’re getting. You’re getting.

Paul Scheer [00:24:23] It was hilarious though because I couldn’t you know, I’m a I’m a pretty good traveler and I couldn’t figure out why my bag was being stopped. And like, you have liquid in there. Yeah. And I was like, it’s hot sauce. And to tell someone I have hot sauce in my bag. I mean, I know Hillary Clinton says it all the time and so does Beyonce. But besides, do it. It was it did feel like the best thing to say that. No, no, no. That’s hot sauce.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:24:48] Guys. No, don’t worry, guys.

Paul Scheer [00:24:50] And I’ll tell you one other thing that I hated about this travel day that was so upsetting, our connecting flight to get us from Miami back to where we needed to go, sat on the tarmac for 2 hours without air conditioning.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:25:03] Yeah, that happened to me trying to leave.

Paul Scheer [00:25:06] And the woman next to me ate three hot dogs.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:25:12] No.

Paul Scheer [00:25:14] Three Nathan Hot dogs.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:25:14] No, Paul.

Paul Scheer [00:25:15] It was an older lady who was like, No, no, no, no. And I was just trying to be kind because she was older and I wanted to just be sweet, but three.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:25:26] So for the rest of the plane.

Paul Scheer [00:25:28] And it was it was it never went away. The smell never dissipated. And then here is insult to injury. I was like, at least I’ll be home soon. After 2 hours of being on the tarmac and we get this voice over the intercom. Attention, ladies and gentlemen. So due to FAA regulations, we’ve reached our 12 hour shift. So we have to go back to the airport now and we’re going to delay this flight. We were on the tarmac. I was interested. I said, Oh, is there a travel voucher for food or something? They said, No flights not canceled. It’s just delayed. So. So my 8:00 flight, which now it’s 1230 at night, is delayed until seven in the morning. So for like again, though, you only get a food voucher if it’s canceled. So it’s like so I got to fend for myself for this next 7 hours. And then that flight was then pushed from 9:30 then to 12:30.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:26:32] Did you have to stay in the airport that whole time?

Paul Scheer [00:26:33] Oh, no, no. I’m with my wife. Who my wife was like, I said, oh, we can manage 7 hours. I mean, it’s not going to be that big because if we get to the hotel, by the time we check in, it’s going be like one 1:30. Then we’re going have to leave it like five. Like, yeah, we should just stay in the airport. And she’s like, I want a hotel. Yeah. And I was like, okay, you know, I can’t argue with that. And she was right. She was right. It was better to be in a hotel for a few hours, then just be uncomfortably laying somewhere in the Miami Airport.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:26:59] Oh, yeah.

Paul Scheer [00:27:01] Oh, boy. Anyway, I did get to do some good reading on my trip and.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:27:06] I would dream.

Paul Scheer [00:27:07] Oh my gosh. I read this book called Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:27:12] Okay.

Paul Scheer [00:27:13] He won the Pulitzer for the Underground Railroad, and this is his crime novel. I think you would actually love it. It’s it is a fact based fiction. It’s about a small furniture dealer in Harlem in the fifties and sixties. And he kind of has a toe in crime, not that he commits crimes, but he interacts with elements or like, sure, it’s a little shady. It’s but it’s the book is three short stories of capers that this guy is involved in. And the new book just came out this week. It’s about him trying to get Jackson five tickets for his daughter.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:27:50] The same character. It’s another installment. Oh, cool. Okay, great. Yeah.

Paul Scheer [00:27:55] So and he’s written a ton of books. Colson Whitehead, this is the first time I believe he’s revisited a character like this. It’s like, That’s great. This is his Bosch.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:28:04] This is his Bosch. Yes. Yes, exactly.

Paul Scheer [00:28:06] And the new one is called Crook Manifesto.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:28:10] Great.

Paul Scheer [00:28:10] I just got.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:28:11] I’ll get both of these. Oh, that’s a good rec.

Paul Scheer [00:28:13] Harlem Shuffle is very akin to this we talk about with Brubaker and stuff. It’s a it’s a real.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:28:18] Yeah.

Paul Scheer [00:28:19] I don’t know. I just love the tone and the style of it. He’s a great writer, and.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:28:22] Oh, that’s great. Oh, I like that. I was going to recommend a book to you that I was listening to and really enjoying, only to look at it and see that you had blurbed it. Ooh. Which is the last Action Heroes book.

Paul Scheer [00:28:38] This is the book I’ve been loving.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:28:40] Yes, you are blurbed on the book, right?

Paul Scheer [00:28:43] Yes, I am.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:28:44] I because I was like, oh, I got to tell Paul about this book because I’ve been listening to the audiobook and I looked at it, looked it up on Audible to get make sure I knew all the information. And your first up on like the quotes list. And I was like, Oh, Scheer already knows about this. I heard about it from. Yup. Great. So they’ve been. They’ve been listening to it and talking about it on their podcast. So I started listening to it and it is a fantastic peek behind the curtain of the eighties and nineties.

Paul Scheer [00:29:15] Starts with Stallone.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:29:16] Hollywood action boom.

Paul Scheer [00:29:19] Schwarzenegger.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:29:20] Yes, exactly.

Paul Scheer [00:29:21] Like the end of Seagal. The stories are so fucking funny and it’s written in such a conversational way. Like I actually found myself slowing down reading it because I just enjoyed it so much. I was like, Oh, these are fun. I just want to like. But like listening to Chuck Norris and I bought I bought a Chuck Norris movie about Code of Silence because I wanted to like because.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:29:46] Because of that. Oh, that’s funny. It’s great. You know, I’m really enjoying it’s a it’s also a very good audio book. Bronson Pinchot reads the audio book. It’s so it’s and it’s very digestible. Great. You know, behind the scenes stories of the makings of a movies that we’ve talked about on this podcast. Well but they also like all these movies that are so baked into like our life. You know, all these is from the Jean-Claude Van Damme’s to, like we said, Schwarzenegger and Dolph Lundgren and Seagal and Chuck Norris.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:30:17] It really is interesting because you get like, I actually have such a appreciation for Lundgren now. I mean, I’ve always I think he is I don’t know. I think the people have no ego about it besides Stallone. Surprise, surprise. Yeah, everyone talks pretty openly. I will tell you that another kind of behind the scenes podcast like that’s that I think you and I both love, which now has kind of become a little bit more ensconced as an official podcast is the Light the Fuze podcast, which is the two. These two guys, great guys, basically tackle all the Mission Impossible movies and well, they go, Oh, you. Oh, Jason, let me open your mind to this. They’ve done like 300 episodes on the Mission Impossible movies and oh.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:31:01] Light the fuze?

Paul Scheer [00:31:03] Like the Fuze. They’ve now become the official podcast of mission.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:31:06] Oh, okay.

Paul Scheer [00:31:07] But it is basically these two guys who love love Mission Impossible. It’s Drew Taylor, who is a reporter for The Wrap. He wrote for New York Times, Vulture, Vanity Fair, The Playlist. Collider. So we know him, Charles Hood, who is a writer director who co-wrote Night Owls. You know, a great writer, too. Two guys who just love these movies. Yeah, they go in exacting detail. They will interview everybody from special effects coordinators to people who wrote scripts who weren’t credited on the movie. Yeah, they go deep on every one and you hear these amazing stories and they they get Chris McQuarrie on there, which by the way if your fan Empire podcast is really.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:31:51] Yeah those I’ve listened to the Empire podcast.

Paul Scheer [00:31:53] Did you listen to the brand new one?

Jason Mantzoukas [00:31:55] No, I haven’t because I still haven’t seen the movie.

Paul Scheer [00:31:57] Oh, okay. Okay. Well then.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:31:58] But, but I will.

Paul Scheer [00:31:59] I, I will just say if you are a Mission Impossible fan, I just recently watched them. These guys are fantastic. They’re a little independent podcast. They have that now is kind of getting a lot more attention. But they they go deep in a way that just because they are critics and filmmakers, they uncover things in such a great way. I love it. You have to dig for some of the old episodes now, but you can. They’re still out.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:32:24] I’ll check that out. Oh, that sounds great. Excellent. I’ll throw in a couple of other podcasts. Just since we’re talking about podcasts, I’ve been listening to a bunch of pretty good music podcasts, like I Love Dissect and Song Exploder. Yeah, Cocaine and Rhinestones. But couple of and I’ve mentioned Object of Sound before, which is great, but there’s one called One by Willie that every episode is about is people talking about Willie Nelson songs one or other other songs that are impactful. But through the through a a Willie Nelson Lens also and a podcast called Strong Songs is a guy who, like breaks down all of the kind of theory and lyrics behind behind a single song and talks about it and deconstructs it and it’s and it’s so far great. I’ve only listened to a handful of episodes, one of which was about Joni Mitchell’s helped me so great to hear. He talks about all the musicians who were on it, and then he himself is a musician, so he’ll break down like the guitar line. Or the why this interesting drumbeat is why, you know, it’s very it’s both a technical but also like really interesting examination of an entire song for an episode. And they’re a blast.

Paul Scheer [00:33:39] Oh, I love that. And, you know, we talk about Joni Mitchell for a long time, one of the last Last Looks we did. And that album from the Newport Festival finally has been released like a remastered or just a a mastered version. So you don’t have to watch it on YouTube. Yeah. Which I am excited about. But as you and I shared more excited to see the one that we went to.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:33:58] Oh my God, I’m so excited for that. I will also shout out you were also on a podcast that I’ve been listening to a lot lately, which is the Rodge Tapes, which is Ben Rodgers is Ben Rodgers from the Action Boys Lower Decks writer, old UCB guy, really funny, super funny dude has a great podcast, a really great podcast where it is a it’s a guy is, is a he.

Paul Scheer [00:34:20] He drives around with a van full of movies that you’ve never really seen that you can’t get anywhere.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:34:26] Yeah, like make one of a kind of movies.

Paul Scheer [00:34:29] Yes. And you hand.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:34:30] Invite people to come and talk to you and it’s a movie. It’s if you like this show, I think you will love the Rodge tapes. And that’s RODGE tapes.

Paul Scheer [00:34:40] And it’s he’s got great guests, but he also it’s funny, but it’s also like in the inside baseball world of like the Quentin Tarantino podcast, you know, video archives that these are movies that you don’t know about. And I, I think it will make you just be searching eBay up at night to try to find Yeah.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:34:56] He’s turning you on to stuff that’s really good. I’ll also throw out Drifting off with Joe Pera. Joe Pera’s podcast is absolutely stunning. So far only six episodes, but every one of them a home run, can’t recommend it enough.

Paul Scheer [00:35:12] What I was going to ask you about as well was, you know, obviously we are on strike right now as actors, writers. I’ve been involved with this organization that I helped found called Tusc, which is the Union Solidarity Coalition. And we have done some events. We raise $195,000 and one of our events and now we’re doing this celebrity auction, which is really fun. We have two. We’re wrapping up one and we’re going off and doing another one as well. But you can do really fun stuff like I will pick your fantasy draft order. Brett Gelman will eat corn dogs with you.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:35:48] Oh my God.

Paul Scheer [00:35:49] June will take a hike with you just to take a hike.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:35:52] Incredible.

Paul Scheer [00:35:52] You can have lunch with Justin Halpern, who is the showrunner of Abbott Elementary and the co-creator of Harley Quinn. There are just great packages in there, but the one that is really fun, if you are Woody Harrelson fan and you like to smoke, you can just smoke weed with Woody.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:36:07] Ha! Amazing.

Paul Scheer [00:36:09] You can hang out at his dispensary for an hour and just, you know, get it done. Also, Broad City’s dress and stuff. If you go to Tusc together, that’s TUSCTogether.com You just go to the auction, you can see all we got going on. And like I said, that auctions ending and a little bit and then we’re starting a even a bigger auction with I mean Jason, Mag Gyllenhaal is going to be doing a zoom with somebody. Wow, that’s just chill. And I’ve been talking with her. She’ll talk to you about anything. And you got like Weird Al Yankovic and Daniel Radcliffe signing shirts. So we got exposure to Weird. Al’s the two, my two.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:36:44] My two favorite. They can call me Al’s.

Paul Scheer [00:36:46] Oh, my gosh. They got to remake that video.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:36:50] That would be funny.

Paul Scheer [00:36:52] And oddly late. So. Yeah, but I mean, that’s. That’s what I’ve been up to. I mean.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:37:00] That’s incredible. Yeah. I want to bid on some of these things.

Paul Scheer [00:37:03] Yeah, there’s some cool stuff. The one that I help put together that I love is I’m a big fan of Chelsea Devante’s celebrity book club where she only talks about celebrity autobiographies. It’s a great it’s a great podcast because I read a lot of those and what I did was I reached out to so many of our friends, from Tig Notaro to Danny Pellegrino, John Bowie, Whitney Cummings, Mindy Kaling, Jessi Klein, Sarah Silverman, Betty Gilpin Brian Lee O’Malley, so many people, Casey Wilson and had them autograph their books. So you’re gonna get like 12 autograph books and you’re going to get a year subscription to her podcast, which is I just love it. I think it’s a great great yeah. Start your little celebrity library.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:37:47] I love that. That’s incredible.

Paul Scheer [00:37:48] It’s a fun stuff all around.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:37:49] And you signed all of them?

Paul Scheer [00:37:52] I signed all of them. The funniest thing is like I asked, I, I asked Judy Greer, Judy, can you sign a book? And she’s like, Sure. And then she wrote back to me. She’s like, Paul, I don’t I can’t find my book.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:38:04] Okay. So funny.

Paul Scheer [00:38:05] So what I did was she got a copy of Kathleen Turner’s book, signed it, and put a $20 gift card in there from Starbucks.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:38:15] Oh, that’s really funny. That’s very funny. Yeah. I love.

Paul Scheer [00:38:18] Really great. I really love it. And I’m going to just shout out as this trip was a hellish nightmare, I will be so happy. And I was so happy to have my Tom Bean bag, my big bag, my like the one that doesn’t have the.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:38:31] One you cynic. Oh, no.

Paul Scheer [00:38:34] This is like it only has pockets at the top. I don’t know. It’s a.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:38:38] Shadow guide pack is my guess. Okay. Yeah, It’s a bucket with a lid at the top.

Paul Scheer [00:38:43] Yes, Yes.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:38:45] Shadow Guide Pack.

Paul Scheer [00:38:46] Okay. And that’s where I forget the names of these things. But I got to tell you, that thing came in so handy.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:38:52] That’s my main backpack when I’m travelling.

Paul Scheer [00:38:56] Because it’s. It holds a lot. I miss the pockets. But then doing your job, which is I get the pouches and then you get in.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:39:04] Oh, yeah. Got to get your pouches going. You got to get your pouch game going.

Paul Scheer [00:39:07] I use the thing that you gave me for my birthday, a little mini packer, and I put all my. My electronics fit in there. Perfect. Oh, yeah, that’s great.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:39:15] That’s perfect. Oh, nothing makes me happier.

Paul Scheer [00:39:17] Thank goodness to Tom Bean for that, because I felt like I never was overwhelmed because I was trying to travel light. June made fun of me my entire trip because I travel with too small of a carry-on like she travels with this monster beast. And I’m always like, I can’t fit anything in my carry-on.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:39:31] You mean the roller bag or your backpack?

Paul Scheer [00:39:32] My roller bag. And. And she and when she finally saw it, she’s like, That’s way too small, though. It’s regulation. She’s like, You don’t have to do regulation. Oh, and yeah, So, yeah. So I’m learning. I’m learning how to get a roller bag, but that I have a small version of an away bag that was not it was very tough.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:39:50] Oh yeah. That’s the small version of those which is basically the regular in like Europe and some other countries. Like the only size. Right. Is the small bag. That’s all you can take on a plane. Yeah. It’s only really here domestically that you can, that you can have like the cabin plus or whatever it’s called, you know, it’s a little bit bigger. Yeah. Otherwise they’re going to make you check it.

Paul Scheer [00:40:14] Her bag is so big.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:40:16] Hahaha!

Paul Scheer [00:40:17] She’s, she’s all excited about it. I can fit everything in this bag. I’m like, Yeah, because it’s a fucking full suitcase.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:40:23] Too much too heavy.

Paul Scheer [00:40:25] Well, Jason, great to chat with you. We’ll be back. We’re going to be on tour. Head out to HDTGM.com to see the movies that we’re doing. Come see us. We’re we’re going we’re traveling around on the East Coast. We’re not going far. You could go see two shows in Boston, Get on a train, go see two shows in New York, get on another train, go see us in Philly. We’re we’re a train tour.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:40:49] These are these you could you could travel with us like you are following Phish because these shows are close to each other. So, you know, get tickets. Get tickets for multiple cities. Check them out. Come on, everybody. Come see us.

Paul Scheer [00:41:06] Yes, I am aware that people might do that. So I am actually trying to keep it a little bit different things that the people can see different things every night.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:41:12] So and I have heard and have it on good authority that the air conditioning at the chevalier is now working.

Paul Scheer [00:41:20] That that’s what we needed to hear. All right.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:41:23] That’s the info that I’ve been waiting to hear.

Paul Scheer [00:41:27] Alright, everybody, we will see you next time. Thanks for joining me, Jason. This is just chat. Now that we got Absolution out of the way, let’s talk about next week’s movie. Oh, boy, this is great. We’re going from a sci fi flop to an Al Pacino cop. That’s right. Next week, we are watching the 2017 crime mystery Hangman, starring Al Pacino, Karl Urban and Brittany Snow. Boy, you’re in for a treat. A short breakdown of the plot is simply this: a homicide detective brings his partner out of retirement to help catch a serial killer whose crimes are based on, you guessed it, the children’s game Hangman. Rotten Tomatoes gives this film a 4% score on Tomatometer. And Craig Dee Lindsay from The Village Voice says “You may not take a single frame of this movie seriously, especially whenever Pacino is shuffling around, waving a gun and talking like he’s desperately in need of a mint julep.” Oh, people, listen to this trailer. We’re not going to let you down.

Trailer Audio [00:42:23] We got a serial killer. Have you noticed anything out of the ordinary? There that come, you know, just came of. He’s killed four people. One every 24 hours. He doesn’t stop. That’s part of the game. Judging by the game board, he’s going to kill seven more people. Because of me, this whole game has taken place. We’re going to find this guy.

Paul Scheer [00:42:51] All right. We are almost to the end of this episode. But before we go check out this bonus scene from our Absolution show where we answer a couple of extra audience questions.

Paul Scheer [00:43:01] All right. So your name it, for best Pete’s sake, in your question.

Audience Member [00:43:04] Okay. My name is Christie, for Pete’s sake.

Paul Scheer [00:43:07] Oh, I like it.

Audience Member [00:43:09] I’m surprised that you guys didn’t clock that. And maybe it’s only listed on IMDB. It’s not actually in the movie that Mario Lopez’s character’s full name is Ryan Murphy.

Paul Scheer [00:43:18] Yes, I actually have a picture of that. His name is Ryan Murphy when he signs in. It’s Ryan Murphy.

June Diane Raphael [00:43:30] I did I did clock at. Actually, I just haven’t shared it.

Paul Scheer [00:43:35] Yeah, I thought we did. We really left her out in the cold for that one. I thought that was.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:43:41] I thought it was Ryan Murphy.

Paul Scheer [00:43:45] Ah. Your name and your best, for Pete’s sake. And your question.

Audience Member [00:43:49] My name’s Mike. For the love of Pete.

Paul Scheer [00:43:51] Great.

Audience Member [00:43:53] My question is, do you think that the casting director thought that the Christian from Clueless would be a would be a perfect military man?

Paul Scheer [00:44:03] You know, I was wondering where he was from and I didn’t Google it. But yes Christian from Clueless and.

June Diane Raphael [00:44:08] Christian from Clueless. Who does he play in clueless?

Jason Mantzoukas [00:44:11] Oh, that’s Dallas. Okay.

Paul Scheer [00:44:13] Yeah. The one who, like he loves. Yeah.

June Diane Raphael [00:44:16] Oh, of course. So he’s gay in clueless, and she initially has that her crush on him, right? He’s wonderful, you know? He’s great. He’s great.

Paul Scheer [00:44:27] I did like him in this.

June Diane Raphael [00:44:28] I liked him a lot.

Paul Scheer [00:44:29] I mean, I don’t think he’s Z team material.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:44:33] Well, he dies on the wheel? I mean.

Paul Scheer [00:44:35] What I will say about this movie, too, and I always feel this as someone who is not a cut, you know, Ab centric person.

June Diane Raphael [00:44:44] Don’t talk about yourself.

Jessica St. Clair [00:44:45] Come on Paul, you take care of me.

June Diane Raphael [00:44:47] You take care. You take great care of my friends. What are you talking about?

Paul Scheer [00:44:52] Don’t get me wrong.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:44:53] What is the nature of this relationship?

June Diane Raphael [00:44:55] Come on. You take such good care of her.

Paul Scheer [00:44:58] I take care of my body. I enjoy my body. But I’ll tell you this. I, I, I always feel for the two or three people who are a little bit more deep background, who aren’t as cut. And it’s always like, cut, cut, cut. There’s this one guy is like, Hi, like that. Even even if that person’s in good shape, you don’t look like you just. Yeah, it’s upsetting. It’s like there’s this one guy who really, like, in that standing room, his belly is out a little bit more belly.

June Diane Raphael [00:45:30] I did notice.

Jessica St. Clair [00:45:31] Well, he also had kind of a farmer’s tan.

June Diane Raphael [00:45:33] Yeah, You know, I’d love to give him a little spray tan.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:45:34] Then think about it. Yeah. How? They make a point to say the sun doesn’t come out. What?

June Diane Raphael [00:45:46] Okay, so what I what Jessica and I said we are. This movie put us in bad moods. I really think it was also because there’s not any natural light. Yes, Yes, you bend. I started to feel crazy. I was like the overheads, all fluorescent light. It gave me a headache.

Jessica St. Clair [00:46:04] Me too.

Paul Scheer [00:46:05] Maybe Also just the fact that shot on videotape.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:46:08] Yeah.

Jessica St. Clair [00:46:08] Yeah.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:46:09] Well, you know, I feel like it was shot, like on the stages next door to Saved by the Bell. I felt like Mario was like, shit, I got to go do a sex scene. I’ll be right back.

Jessica St. Clair [00:46:19] Yeah, Yeah.

Paul Scheer [00:46:27] He was like doing Mr. Miyagi. Wax on, wax off his style.

Paul Scheer [00:46:31] So good. Thank you for coming out to Largo. We’ll see you on the. How Did This Get Made? A summer tour. It’s this week. People come out. Come out with your second opinions. Come out with your questions. We cannot wait. Come out in costume. Come out in costume. All right. Anyway, remember, if you like the show rate, review it. Tell your friends about it. If you listen on Apple Podcasts, make sure you are following us. I don’t mean to shout, but I am. Visit us on social media  @HDTGM. A big thank you to our producers, Scott Sonne and Molly Reynolds, our movie picking producer, Avril Halley, our engineers Casey Holford and Rich Garcia, and Jess Cisneros, who makes our amazing social media videos. We will see you next week for Hangman!