May 2, 2024
EP. 344 — The Beekeeper LIVE!
Paul, Jason, & June travel to Jason Statham’s home turf of London to tackle 2024’s The Beekeeper—a “top 5 HDTGM movie” that’s basically Death Wish meets an AARP commercial. They discuss Jason Statham and Phylicia Rashad’s sexual chemistry, the gas station mini-gun fight, Jeremy Irons’ monologue, the phishing scam call center/night club, the leaky FBI office ceiling, and so much more. Protect the hive #BEOSWAAAAARM
Go to hdtgm.com for tour dates, merch, and more.
Pre-Order Paul’s book about his childhood, Joyful Recollections of Trauma, wherever books are sold
For extra Matinee Monday content, visit Paul’s YouTube page: youtube.com/paulscheer
HDTGM Discord: discord.gg/hdtgm
Paul’s Discord: discord.gg/paulscheer
Follow Paul on Letterboxd: letterboxd.com/paulscheer/
Check out Paul and Rob Huebel live on Twitch (www.twitch.tv/friendzone) every Thursday 8-10pm EST
Subscribe to Unspooled with Paul and Amy Nicholson here: listen.earwolf.com/unspooled
Subscribe to The Deep Dive with Jessica St. Clair and June Diane Raphael here: www.thedeepdiveacademy.com/podcast
Check out The Jane Club over at www.janeclub.com
Check out new HDTGM merch over at https://www.teepublic.com/stores/hdtgm
Where to find Jason, June & Paul:
@PaulScheer on Instagram & Twitter
@Junediane on IG and @MsJuneDiane on Twitter
Jason is not on Twitter
Transcript
Paul Scheer [00:00:01] Protect the hive at all costs. And protect your motherfucking fingertips from Jason Statham. We saw The Beekeeper! So you know what that means.
Music [00:00:11] [Intro Song]
Paul Scheer [00:01:06] Hello people of Earth! And hello people of London! We are live at the Hackney Empire for our very first show in the UK and boy oh boy, this crowd is ready because this is a movie that takes place in the UK. You may think it doesn’t. But when they pull out of the gas station, it says petrol and the prices are listed in pounds. Jason did not want to leave home, and I don’t doubt him. But you know what? This movie is fucking awesome. How would I describe it? Well, simple. You have the CIA, you have the Secret Service, and then you have The Beekeepers. How many beekeepers? I don’t know. One? And The Beekeeper’s job is to protect the hive. The hive being the United States or the president. There’s a lot of rules. There seems that there’s a lot of beekeeping. All I know is don’t piss this man off. Don’t machine gun his honey bees. And most importantly, don’t trick his old lady friend. This is an AARP commercial meets Death Wish. Statham is avenging a phishing scam. That’s the movie! That’s all you need to know. And now you need to know my co-host. Please welcome to the stage for the first time in London, Jason Mantzoukas!
Jason Mantzoukas [00:03:07] What’s up, jerks!? How are we doing, London? That’s right. We’re here. I’ve been in your city for ten days. You didn’t even know. I saw The Smile at Ali Pally. I saw Mary Latimer at Scala. Nobody else? Not cool. But it’s been a great time. Love this town. Eat shit.
Paul Scheer [00:03:41] Jason.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:03:42] Paul.
Paul Scheer [00:03:44] It couldn’t have been better timed that The Beekeeper and our London shows came out, because, seriously, this might be one of my favorite movies.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:03:53] Honest to God, you’re welcome. You’re welcome. Do you know how bad this could have gone for you? If you don’t, just check out tomorrow night’s movie. You got. I’m going to say a top five How Did This Get Made movie ever. This. This movie is the best movie of the year? Better than Oppenheimer? Beepenheimer?
Paul Scheer [00:04:22] I honestly. I mean. I was going to try to do Barbie, but that’s been Beeber.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:04:34] Barbee.
Paul Scheer [00:04:34] Either way. You do the math. And that’s the shirt. This movie came out January 10th, 2024.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:04:42] The best day of my life.
Paul Scheer [00:04:45] One of the first How Did This Get Made movies I watched without even thinking it was ever going to be on the show.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:04:49] Oh, watched the minute it was up. I watched every goddamn second of it. And I was like, this is the best movie I’ve ever seen.
Paul Scheer [00:04:57] And while watching this movie was great, it was especially great to watch our next host watch this movie for the first time her jaw dropped. Her laughter exploded on the Eurostar. Please welcome. Also, for the first time in London, June Diane Raphael! How are you, June?
June Diane Raphael [00:05:40] I’m okay? Question mark? So, yeah. And I don’t think we told you this, Jason, I watched this movie to like 40 minutes after Paul and I left Paris.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:05:55] So romantic.
June Diane Raphael [00:05:56] We had been there for days and had such a beautiful time. And then I settled in for Beekeeper.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:06:03] And you were like, is it possible this is better than Paris?
June Diane Raphael [00:06:07] It was so shocking. And it was also like, go back to America, June, where you belong.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:06:16] Hey, trash, watch this.
June Diane Raphael [00:06:17] Where you belong trash person.
Paul Scheer [00:06:20] You know what’s so funny? I knew I was in store for a great film when the opening credits are rolling, and I caught this. And I want to see if you both caught it because he’s speaking about, like, going back to America. This was in the final moment of the credit montage of bees. I believe this is a bee American flag.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:06:42] Oh, yeah.
June Diane Raphael [00:06:43] Oh, wow.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:06:44] Although, although how many more states. Many more than 50 states.
Paul Scheer [00:06:50] Yes. Yeah, there are a couple more states, but I feel like that was like, this is like, Holy shit, if we make the honeycomb only a quarter of it, that’s the American fucking flag.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:06:59] Oh, shit. But, we got all these bees on there.
June Diane Raphael [00:07:03] I truly don’t know where to begin talking about this. It’s like it’s it’s. We could we could go so many different directions, but I have so much to say, but I just want to start with.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:07:14] Buckle up, assholes.
June Diane Raphael [00:07:15] Yeah. We’re going to be here for nine hours.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:07:19] Oh yeah. We’re shutting this place down.
Paul Scheer [00:07:22] And we have four beekeepers backstage in case they do try to shut us down. Oh yeah, they’ll be eliminated immediately.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:07:27] But they are regular beekeepers.
June Diane Raphael [00:07:31] Here’s my question. First of all, are our tax dollars supporting The Beekeepers?
Jason Mantzoukas [00:07:36] Great question. Great question. Because it seems to be off the books. And my question is are The Beekeepers an international organization or is the single beekeeper responsible for the world?
Paul Scheer [00:07:49] No, just the hive.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:07:52] What hive?
Paul Scheer [00:07:53] The hive is the United States.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:07:53] It’s just the United States?
Paul Scheer [00:07:55] Yes.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:07:55] So but we have this gentleman and one of the characters says, I’m sensing a little bit of the British Isles in that accent. Yeah. You’re hiding. You like you’re hiding a little bit of British accent. I was like, he’s not hiding nothing. Oh, this is straight up Statham. This is full blown Statham.
Paul Scheer [00:08:14] How could you put that and say that with a straight face? Because that makes me go you are you horrible detective. If you.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:08:23] It took forever.
Paul Scheer [00:08:25] Are you British?
Jason Mantzoukas [00:08:26] Oh, yeah. I keep bees.
June Diane Raphael [00:08:28] No doi.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:08:29] I keep bees and people are like, now hang on. You sound like you maybe aren’t exactly from here.
June Diane Raphael [00:08:36] But here’s my question. So if The Beekeepers are responsible and I don’t know how many are working at one time, I don’t know. I have so many questions about the infrastructure of the beekeeping organization, but if their entire mission is to keep like the social fabric of the United States together, I want to say you’re doing a horrible job. This they should shut them down immediately because like that collapsed many, many years ago.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:09:06] So keep in mind he is retired. The person who is the current beekeeper.
June Diane Raphael [00:09:11] That lady?
Jason Mantzoukas [00:09:13] Is the lunatic with the mini gun, the one that rolls into a gas station and just starts assassinating civilians and law enforcement.
Paul Scheer [00:09:23] First of all, she looks like she stepped out of Blade Runner or that.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:09:26] She looks like Jubilee. There are multiple characters in this movie that appear as though they are from X-Men comics. You can’t tell me the guy at the end named Lazarus isn’t a Rob Liefeld character come to life.
June Diane Raphael [00:09:42] See, I thought when those guys. And here’s what I really want, I want a flowchart that takes me through. And maybe this is the T-shirt. That takes me through just like there’s the president, there’s there’s Secret Service, CIA, Navy Seals, like, who do we call? And then like the the Insane Clown Posse that showed up.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:10:03] Well, that’s the thing. They are, get this, the best of the best because Jeremy Iron’s doing the absolute Lord’s work.
June Diane Raphael [00:10:12] Yes he is, God bless him.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:10:14] Constantly being handed absolute insanity, grounding it and making it look effortless.
Paul Scheer [00:10:21] I mean this I want to get ready to play clip six, this exposition dump that Jeremy Irons does so effortlessly after we first meet him with like a tennis racket over his shoulder, like working at an office. But like, he is amazing. I do have a question that you. Yes. Jason Statham, obviously British, and Jeremy Irons, British running the CIA. I had some questions. Seems like odd choices.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:10:48] We live. That’s the world. This. That’s the world The Beekeeper lives in, man. Nobody. They’re all Americans.
Paul Scheer [00:10:55] Now, this exposition dump right here, I just want I. I think we just need to watch it. And if you’re an acting, student, maybe this is a monologue that you might want to prepare, for any auditioning. Here we go. Clip six.
Movie Audio [00:11:09] You disturbed The Beekeeper.
Movie Audio [00:11:12] Oh. Oh, okay. So fucking what? What I care if the guy keeps bees?
Movie Audio [00:11:16] If a beekeeper says you’re going to die, you’re going to die. There’s nothing I can do or anybody else to stop it.
Movie Audio [00:11:25] So, like, what do you even do here then?
Movie Audio [00:11:29] What good are you?
Movie Audio [00:11:31] Yeah. I did 35 years of loyal government service, culminating as director of the world’s premier intelligence agency. I could have done anything, but I chose this job as a favor to your mother, I. Keep Danforth Enterprises safe. Keep her reputation safe. Her name safe.
Movie Audio [00:11:57] My fucking name too, all right. Oh, sit down..
Jason Mantzoukas [00:12:03] Incredible.
June Diane Raphael [00:12:04] So good.
Paul Scheer [00:12:05] Now, I will say this. If you’re just listening at home, he’s doing that entire scene with a plastic water bottle in the straw in front of him. Next to a decanter of, like, Scotch.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:12:17] Clearly left from, like, Last Looks.
Paul Scheer [00:12:20] Yes.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:12:20] Clearly left from, like when he was just waiting for the shot to be set up and he’s like, put my water over here.
Paul Scheer [00:12:25] Yeah. Like, yeah. Like, oh no, it’s in the shot.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:12:27] The backgrounds of this movie, the stuff that’s happening in the backgrounds of this movie are electric to watch. Especially the president’s party has a cast of characters that I can’t even begin to understand, including a gentleman who is prominently placed throughout wearing a green version of the giant Pharrell hat.
June Diane Raphael [00:12:50] Okay, okay. Wait. Jason. Jason, I don’t think. Are you talking about the final party that takes place where everything goes down in the United States, which is Boston apparently?
Jason Mantzoukas [00:13:02] Yes. Everything happens in Boston.
June Diane Raphael [00:13:03] Everything happens in Boston.
Paul Scheer [00:13:05] Is that the weird Camp David?
Jason Mantzoukas [00:13:07] That’s the beach house. She says I’ll be at the beach house.
June Diane Raphael [00:13:10] That’s the son’s party.
Paul Scheer [00:13:12] No, it’s the president’s party.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:13:13] He’s visiting her.
June Diane Raphael [00:13:15] No, but I think all of those people that he brought are his people.
Paul Scheer [00:13:19] Okay.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:13:19] Because they’re dressed like clowns.
June Diane Raphael [00:13:21] They are the insane clown posse.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:13:24] A goofball parade just, like, exploded into the party.
Paul Scheer [00:13:27] I love Josh Hutcherson. Josh Hutcherson makes the best entrance of all time in any bit of cinema. Move over Orson Welles, because this guy comes in on a skateboard, orders a flat white.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:13:40] Wow. Move over Orson Welles. Savage. Savage take.
Paul Scheer [00:13:45] A lot of people think in The Third Man, you know, he comes in pretty strong. But I’m saying move over because.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:13:50] Carol reads The Third Man? Is this Unspooled?
June Diane Raphael [00:13:53] God I hope not.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:13:53] Booooooo.
Paul Scheer [00:13:59] You would appreciate it. Comes in on a skateboard, orders a flat white. Then ask questions about very obscure pieces of sushi. Gets a massage and then.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:14:10] Meditation bowls too
Paul Scheer [00:14:12] And then examines and comments on meditation bowls. It is a perfect scenic entrance. And he says to his mom, I’m going to bring some of my tech bros to the beach house.
June Diane Raphael [00:14:23] In Boston. Yeah. He’s also. Josh Hutcherson is also giving. Hutcherson.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:14:31] Really? Josh Hutcherson. Would could just call him Peeta.
June Diane Raphael [00:14:32] I always have to think. He’s giving an another amazing performance.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:14:40] Incredible.
June Diane Raphael [00:14:40] Now, I did question I question so many different security agencies.
Paul Scheer [00:14:47] Did you question the fact that Secret Service wears a badge that says Secret Service on it?
June Diane Raphael [00:14:51] Yeah. I was like.
Paul Scheer [00:14:53] Not too secret.
June Diane Raphael [00:14:54] Where I know we’re jumping to the end of the movie, but where are they?
Jason Mantzoukas [00:14:58] Where is?
June Diane Raphael [00:14:59] Why aren’t they disguised as some of the party goers? Where are they?
Jason Mantzoukas [00:15:04] Listen, I’ve learned a lot about the Secret Service from the West Wing, and my understanding is they are embedded with these people. They. They are not wearing the uniform they are in and amongst. But in this movie, they don’t seem to be at all.
Paul Scheer [00:15:18] They’re labeled. They literally are labeled.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:15:20] They might as well have targets on them.
June Diane Raphael [00:15:22] They have t shirts.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:15:23] There’s also like competing special forces organizations, all of whom are dressed in similar but different colored versions of the same outfits. And that’s also quite confusing, because I believe Statham is trying to only wound the military but kill the baddies.
Paul Scheer [00:15:43] Right. If you do bad, he wants you dead.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:15:47] Yes.
June Diane Raphael [00:15:47] Which is so hard, though, because I’m like, you’re you’re killing Navy Seals. Like I’m having a little bit of a hard time with this.
Paul Scheer [00:15:54] The guy at the gas station who he takes his keys. That guy died. That gas station. I mean, there’s.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:16:01] So everything blows up. Every building, everything he steps inside of when he’s outside of it. Kaboom. And he leaves people in there. Sometimes he’s like, hey, you should tell everybody in the building to get out of here, because I’m going to burn it to the ground. Innit.
June Diane Raphael [00:16:19] When he first takes out that call center and he does such a, weak job of evacuating. We find out later on that, like, yeah, United Organization Corporation is there, but there I have to imagine there are other offices with other businesses there.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:16:39] There’s probably doctor’s offices.
Paul Scheer [00:16:41] It seems like a quarter of the floor is this little thing that looks like a fashion company, like when he walks in.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:16:48] Oh, I think my dermatologist is in that building. I hope she’s okay.
June Diane Raphael [00:16:53] I know my accountant is definitely there.
Paul Scheer [00:16:56] I, I drew a little drawing of how many people were in that room. He blows up an entire building to what I think. I paused it a few times. I say conservatively, he is taking out, 26 people and he is blowing up that entire building.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:17:14] He kills, I’m gonna say upwards of 200 people in what I believe is 30 hours.
Paul Scheer [00:17:21] The movie’s timeline is so fucked. It’s crazy.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:17:26] Every time someone’s on the phone, they’re like, well, he’s killed seven people today, and then later he’s killed 14 people. It’s constantly going up, but it’s the same day?
Paul Scheer [00:17:36] Minnie Minnie Driver walks from one side of a room to.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:17:39] Give it up for Minnie Driver.
Paul Scheer [00:17:41] Another another amazing performance. Minnie Driver walks from one side of the room to the next, and he is blowing up a gas station. He’s killed a bunch more people and he’s traveled across state lines.
June Diane Raphael [00:17:53] But Paul. Here’s what I said to Jason backstage. The scene that I couldn’t believe we didn’t see because so many explosives were used, so many guns, so many different weapons. I could not believe that we never saw him unleash a swarm of bees.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:18:09] I agree, I agree I was.I was so delighted when he used the honey. The of course very explosive and flammable honey, which I was like yes, yes.
June Diane Raphael [00:18:25] Finally, use your skills.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:18:26] Use your skills. And I loved and I, I was also heartbroken that he has this very tailored, padded, beekeeper’s uniform.
Paul Scheer [00:18:36] Which is a fencing suits.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:18:39] Why, yes. Why doesn’t he wear this through out? I want. Is it too much of, like, a superhero’s uniform? Did he not want that? He’s like, no, I just want jeans and a t shirt.
Paul Scheer [00:18:53] I have a lot of questions and I. I was like, when should I bring this up? Because I feel like if I say this, it unravels the entire show, but I’ll do it now.
June Diane Raphael [00:19:02] Oh, wow.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:19:04] You know, the Bees.
Paul Scheer [00:19:06] Well, I met a couple of bees. They talked very positive about Jason, said he was great. Had issues with Minnie Driver. Weird. Is he a hornet?
Jason Mantzoukas [00:19:18] I’m so sorry. What do you mean? You looked me dead in the eyes when you said that. Like you know the answer, Jason. And I was like, whoa, guy, I don’t know what we’re up to right now. Is he a hornet?
Paul Scheer [00:19:33] Well, okay.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:19:33] He’s a beekeeper.
Paul Scheer [00:19:34] Well, but the organization is called The Beekeeper. But he’s acting like a hornet because.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:19:39] I think he’s acting like a queen slayer.
Paul Scheer [00:19:42] Well, this is the thing. At one point, Jeremy Irons says don’t kick a hornet’s nest. He’s the hornet. That’s his nest. But then also they talk about bees as being very peaceful multiple times. And it feels like.
June Diane Raphael [00:19:57] Honeybees.
Paul Scheer [00:19:58] He’s a beekeeper. Like that’s his Zen.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:20:01] But he has to protect. I don’t know if you know this. He, you know because it’s it’s subtle in the movie.
June Diane Raphael [00:20:08] Yeah.
Paul Scheer [00:20:08] Okay.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:20:09] He has to protect the hive. Which he says, but just in passing.
June Diane Raphael [00:20:14] I know, and you might not have heard this part, Paul. I imagine you didn’t. But they do mention once, offhandedly, that he takes care of bees.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:20:23] Yeah.
Paul Scheer [00:20:23] Okay, well, this is interesting. You bring this up.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:20:25] I have it here as well. The Beekeeper is protecting the hive.
Paul Scheer [00:20:29] Okay, well, this is this is interesting you bring this up. I don’t know if I remember that, but we might have a little montage to help us with that. Beth?
Movie Audio [00:20:38] Bees. I told you, I take care of bees. I’m a beekeeper.
Movie Audio [00:20:41] I guess he’s, like a bee lover.
Movie Audio [00:20:45] The Beekeeper.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:20:45] Beth, can you pause it for one second? Imagine you had a drinking game that was every time bee is spoken, you would be dead by now. Okay, sorry. You keep going.
Movie Audio [00:20:57] He said he’s a beekeeper. You’ve disturbed The Beekeeper.
Movie Audio [00:21:01] Oh, okay. So fucking what? I don’t care if the guy keeps bees.
Movie Audio [00:21:04] If a beekeeper says you’re going to die, you’re going to die. You’re a beekeeper? I’m a beekeeper.
Movie Audio [00:21:10] A beekeeper, beekeeper? Can’t act a beekeeper.
Movie Audio [00:21:13] The current active beekeeper.
Movie Audio [00:21:15] Beekeeping for beekeepers, beekeepers.
Movie Audio [00:21:18] Beekeepers, beekeeper. Beekeepers not unlike bees themselves. Beekeepers.
Movie Audio [00:21:23] Beekeeper. It’s what beekeepers do. That beekeeper.
Movie Audio [00:21:27] Beekeeper. Some fucking beekeeper.
Movie Audio [00:21:28] Beekeeper. It’s just a beekeeper. Yes. Not that beekeepers exist, but Mr. Clay does keep honey bees.
Movie Audio [00:21:35] This is a fucking beekeeper.
Movie Audio [00:21:37] Beekeeper, huh?
Movie Audio [00:21:39] It’s gone far enough. You proved the point, beekeepers.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:21:44] Holy shit.
June Diane Raphael [00:21:45] Oh my God.
[00:21:47] Thank you Avril, for that amazing montage.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:21:49] Incredible. That is. That’s the shit right there. And honest to god, ten out of ten. No notes. Put more in, I love it.
Paul Scheer [00:21:58] Let’s go back to where it all starts. Phylicia Rashad finds out her husband’s a weird, creepy sex pervert, Bill Cosby. She moves out to the farm.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:22:08] She leaves Philly.
June Diane Raphael [00:22:09] Okay, I’m glad you said that actually, because the opening scene between the two of them and by the way, she gives another remarkable performance. Oh, yeah, I mean, she is so fucking good and I could not take my eyes off of her now, in watching her decide to press that button was. It’s one of the most riveting pieces of cinema I’ve ever seen. I was screaming, so she really is so wonderful. But. And, Paul, you wouldn’t know this because I know you watch all of our movies on 1.75 speed.
Paul Scheer [00:22:43] Not true. 1.5.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:22:44] Which is for the insane.
June Diane Raphael [00:22:47] Yeah.
[00:22:48] All I’m gonna say is you can listen to my book on 1.5 speed. You’ll get through it very quickly. It’ll be a lot of fun.
June Diane Raphael [00:22:53] But I watch it as the director intended. At one point zero.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:22:58] I slow it down because I’m like, this is so good, I don’t want it to end.
June Diane Raphael [00:23:03] So I watched this opening scene between the two of them outside in the yard in real time. And I thought, oh, they’re going to make out.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:23:15] Let them fuck.
June Diane Raphael [00:23:19] I really did. I was like, I was thinking, okay. Honestly, there was an energy between the two of them that I could. First of all, this is the problem, by the way, this movie tackles elder abuse as an inciting incident which I tip my hat to. We don’t see it every day. Usually we see like a young white woman being kidnaped and someone having.
Paul Scheer [00:23:39] Yeah, we have to wait for Tom Sellack commercials to understand what’s going on to old people.
June Diane Raphael [00:23:43] I tip my hat, to the, the inciting incident up here. But I was watching the two of them, and I was like, I don’t know what’s gone on between them.
Paul Scheer [00:23:56] Well, this is my issue. I wrote this down because.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:23:59] Ooh, in rural Massachusetts.
June Diane Raphael [00:24:02] But she looks so beautiful in a crisp white shirt, and he looks great in his beekeeper outfit. And I was like, whatever this is, I’m into it and I want to watch more.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:24:12] She’s his queen. And then she is ripped from this world. Balcony’s on board. Balcony’s wasted. Sorry, sorry. The balcony’s pissed. But please don’t piss.
Paul Scheer [00:24:32] This is the moment that I really. I knew I was in store for a great movie because he’s gotten rid of her bee. I have a question about this in a second, but he’s gotten rid of her bees and she goes, what are you going to do with him? And he goes, It’s between me and the bees. And then she goes. I understand. Why is this so serious? He’s the fucking exterminator.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:25:00] It’s so loaded.
June Diane Raphael [00:25:03] But I will say. And this is where I don’t know what kind of research the movie did and the director did, but you and I did have an encounter with a Beekeeper once.
Paul Scheer [00:25:11] Yeah, twice.
June Diane Raphael [00:25:12] Twice, actually. And they’re odd as hell.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:25:15] Yeah. I would argue that that that Adam Clay and Phylicia Rashad character in this movie, for the brief amount of time that they share the screen, have more chemistry than Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson. You know, all three 50 Shades of Gray movies.
June Diane Raphael [00:25:35] 1000%
Jason Mantzoukas [00:25:37] You’re telling me there’s not a red room in that barn?
June Diane Raphael [00:25:40] Something has happened between the two of them.
Paul Scheer [00:25:43] We know there’s a bedroom in that barn because her daughter says, I lost my virginity in there. Yeah, in the red room.
June Diane Raphael [00:25:48] Something has happened between the two of them.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:25:52] Threesom or beesome?
Paul Scheer [00:25:54] Beesome. Is a good shirt.
June Diane Raphael [00:25:58] But here’s the thing, Paul. If you remember one of the conversations we had with our beekeeper.
Paul Scheer [00:26:05] I don’t.
June Diane Raphael [00:26:05] You actually deeply offended him, if you remember correctly, because we had a bunch of hives at our house and Paul said, can you just take those down? And he said, no, I’m going to rehome them. And Paul was like, okay. Again, it was the conversation between the first.
Paul Scheer [00:26:28] This is the first time you’ve ever said that I have engaged too much with a person who works at our house. You are like, get them out of here. Go, go go. Don’t talk to them.
June Diane Raphael [00:26:38] I like a quiet home. I like a quiet home.
Paul Scheer [00:26:42] I have to prepare June for doorbell ring. I’m like, there might be someone dropping off a package if that happens. Will you get the door? And she’ll say, I don’t know.
June Diane Raphael [00:26:54] I’m so scared all the time. I like a quiet house. Anyway. But but anyway, he took it very seriously that he was absolutely not going to kill those bees. He was going to bring those bees to a better place.
Paul Scheer [00:27:07] Well, weren’t those bees that might attack his bees or something like?
June Diane Raphael [00:27:12] I don’t know.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:27:13] They were hornets. Are they? I think those were bad hornets that were going to attack his bees.
June Diane Raphael [00:27:18] Tasered were hornets.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:27:19] Correct.
Paul Scheer [00:27:20] Wait, so this is really just a beautiful articulation of what’s going on. He’s protecting the hive from evil hornets.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:27:28] From invaders.
Paul Scheer [00:27:29] Wow.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:27:30] So the opening scene is a microcosm of the entire movie. Best picture 2024. The Beekeeper. And I loved it because he’s like, I just wanted to say thank you for putting up with me and my bees when he says to her, and every time he is so grateful that this has that this, this generosity has been bestowed upon him, that he has to avenge it by killing so many people.
Paul Scheer [00:28:05] He literally says to her, no one has ever taken care of me. Now.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:28:11] He says that to multiple people about her. He needs therapy bad.
Paul Scheer [00:28:17] He’s a beekeeper now. But this is my question. He tell me if I’m wrong here. Besides the beekeeping of it all. She lives in a farmhouse. He rents a room in the barn or a part of the barn on property. And when the daughter comes in after Phylicia Rashad commits a beautiful suicide. So classy. Red wine, gun on the floor. How did the gun get on the floor? Throws it.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:28:46] With the with the casing, with the bullet casing standing upright next to the gun. Both of them fell perfectly so they could be placed in one shot.
Paul Scheer [00:28:57] The daughter comes in. It’s first of all, he comes in. The scene of the daughter is already there. She’s like, freeze, motherfucker! And it’s like you saw him walk in. Do you think he murdered? And then came back and me like, oh, turn off the stove now and I’ll like.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:29:13] Also, she’s dead from a gunshot wound and he’s carrying a butcher’s knife because he thinks something’s wrong. So at that point, two, must you be like, well, wait a minute. If you shot her, why are you now cautiously carrying a knife?
Paul Scheer [00:29:26] And and it seemed to me like he watched that. She watched him take the butcher knife out.
June Diane Raphael [00:29:32] Listen, I did not question that reaction on her part. I did question her wearing her Harvard t shirt. I was so stunned. Because someone who goes to Harvard and wears the t shirt, that says a lot about that person. But then. But then actually, as the movie was progressing, I was like, oh, she’s actually insane. She has not processed her mother’s death at all. I mean, she was laughing about these reading funny facts about bees that a pamphlet, I’m like, your mother died and you found her two days ago.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:30:10] You don’t see her grieve at all. The movie takes place in the 30 hours since she saw her mother’s corpse, and she has not an ounce of grief.
Paul Scheer [00:30:21] And as a matter of fact, she’s like, I’m going to solve my mom’s murder ring, ring. Hey I don’t work on weekends. I’m sorry. I thought you were going to solve this. She’s showing up to Statham’s house early in the next morning to apologize. So I guess it is the next day. Going to apologize for her behavior the night before. He’s pouring, I don’t know, six gallons of fresh squeezed orange juice out?
June Diane Raphael [00:30:46] I couldn’t understand that.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:30:48] Where is this? Where’s this, where is this coming from?
June Diane Raphael [00:30:53] I couldn’t understand that.
Paul Scheer [00:30:54] I mean, there’s so many things here because.
June Diane Raphael [00:30:57] Can we go back to the suicide, though? Because I do have some questions about her relationship to technology. Because she keeps she keeps saying that she’s not a computer person. I’m not a computer person. I don’t know, I don’t know. And she’s looking at the keys and the cursor and trying to figure it all out, but then it becomes clear. All of her banking is done online. She has a master password to every single account. And like I get it, your daughter set it up. But there is some backend work that she.
Paul Scheer [00:31:31] Million dollar account that she’s running.
June Diane Raphael [00:31:35] Running.
Paul Scheer [00:31:37] To do a little, but you have to have a smidge of good.
June Diane Raphael [00:31:41] And at one point I thought maybe I didn’t see this correctly, but I thought I saw her pull up an Excel document. With tons of different information.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:31:51] I’m pretty sure it showed that she was on the finishing screen of Myst, which is a computer game 20 years ago.
Paul Scheer [00:32:00] More 40 years ago.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:32:02] 40 years ago?
Paul Scheer [00:32:03] Yeah, that was not out in 2000.
June Diane Raphael [00:32:05] Like she’s an elder who has like a jitterbug. Like one of those phones. Remember the jitterbug? It had three number. You could.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:32:13] Remember it? It still exists.
June Diane Raphael [00:32:15] I’m actually very interested in purchasing a jitterbug.
Paul Scheer [00:32:18] Explained the jitterbug, June.
June Diane Raphael [00:32:19] What’s that?
Paul Scheer [00:32:20] Explain the jitterbug.
June Diane Raphael [00:32:21] The jitterbug, I think, has, like, three buttons on it.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:32:23] It’s like a phone for old people that has, like, it’s reduced to the simplest of things.
June Diane Raphael [00:32:28] Yes.
Paul Scheer [00:32:28] I’m the jitterbug. And I’ll make sure you press the right fucking buttons.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:32:32] Wait, you’re saying Jason Statham is the jitterbug?
Paul Scheer [00:32:36] And he cuts off everybody’s ear.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:32:37] Because I feel like the jitterbug would fight The Beekeeper.
Paul Scheer [00:32:41] Well, I will say this. Phylicia Rashad keeps on saying, oh, but all my kids photos are on there. Like, that’s why she didn’t want to, like, spend a couple days going to, like, the tech store, like, oh, how will I access my kids photos? But then it seems like her son’s dead and she doesn’t talk to her daughter. What photos are on there?
Jason Mantzoukas [00:33:00] Okay. Very callous, very callous.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:33:05] Jesus, Paul.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:33:07] She is dead, Paul.
June Diane Raphael [00:33:09] Can she not look at past photos of her dead son?
Paul Scheer [00:33:13] She doesn’t even care about her daughter.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:33:14] Let her live in better times.
June Diane Raphael [00:33:16] She does care about her daughter. She does in her own way.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:33:20] You know what? She wouldn’t have committed suicide if she was getting railed by Statham.
June Diane Raphael [00:33:26] That’s true.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:33:27] So I think that disproves.
June Diane Raphael [00:33:29] Honestly, Jason, that’s very true.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:33:31] In that sense, she would have something to, someone to live for.
June Diane Raphael [00:33:35] I just wish she had called the bank, you know, because. Yeah, just. And I have to say, though, where these schemes are very sophisticated is that they do put money in your account. Let this movie serve as a public service announcement.
Paul Scheer [00:33:52] This should be shown at most old age homes. Now, I will say it’s probably the reason she fell for it is because it was so damn convincing. Clip one. Now in this moment.
June Diane Raphael [00:34:02] This guy is amazing.
Paul Scheer [00:34:04] This guy is Jordan Belfort, Wolf of Wall Street level. Like, I don’t understand what the fuck is going on because he’s only one part. Like he’s one honeycomb because it seems.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:34:15] Oh, one honeycomb?
Paul Scheer [00:34:18] Right? Because cause isn’t like the person in Boston has like a link to his.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:34:24] Except that they’re all in Massachusetts. All of these are.
June Diane Raphael [00:34:29] All the call centers.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:34:29] Are all the call centers appear to be in Massachussetts, the ones that they visit in the movie. Yeah, there I’m certain are other ones, but they are owned. They never leave Massachusetts state border in this movie. This movie posits that Massachusetts is the most important state in the United States, which as someone who was born and raised there, I have to contest. It is not. Oh, can I say one thing while you get it up and running? The movie because I know a lot of you are thinking it. The movie looks suspiciously a lot like the architecture of John Wick one. Yes. Okay. Where in Josh Hutcherson is the Alfie Allen analog, and, you know, he pisses off the wrong person. The retired hitman, the retired beekeeper. You don’t want to mess with this, blah, blah, blah. But in the end.
Paul Scheer [00:35:26] Phylicia Rashad is the dog?
Jason Mantzoukas [00:35:27] I guess so. Or the. Or the wife. Or the wife. Okay, you know it because one has the wife’s death as the.
Paul Scheer [00:35:33] By the way, I do apologize to my wife. I made her visit multiple John Wick sites when we were in Paris.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:35:38] Did you do the stairs? Did you fall down the stairs?
Paul Scheer [00:35:41] Fuck yeah.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:35:42] Excellent. But the movie, the John Wick movies are full of Russian gangsters going into nightclubs. And I feel like in this they were like, you know what? All we have is call centers. And the set deck was like, I’m going to make the call center look like a nightclub.
June Diane Raphael [00:35:58] There were runways.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:35:59] No, no, watch this.
Paul Scheer [00:36:01] Nightclub meets like a very high end, like game show.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:36:05] It’s like it’s a douchey nightclub game show.
Paul Scheer [00:36:08] I don’t have a clip of it, but I do want to just call it that. The second guy that we meet who he staples has had multiple times, is wearing a jacket that says goat on it like he’s the goat. I’m like, fuck yeah.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:36:18] Incredible.
Paul Scheer [00:36:18] Where can I buy that? Here we go.
Movie Audio [00:36:20] Everything I have is on the computer.
Movie Audio [00:36:22] Okay. There is actually a software package that you can download that would allow me to bring.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:36:27] Nightclub.
Movie Audio [00:36:28] All right. Tell me what to do.
Paul Scheer [00:36:31] She’s so good.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:36:31] Incredible.
Movie Audio [00:36:32] Hey, can you, can you type this? Friendly friend dot net.
Paul Scheer [00:36:36] Friendly friend dot net. Click hang up. Bye bye. That’s a prank. Friendly friend.
Movie Audio [00:36:45] Oh, my computer’s going crazy.
Movie Audio [00:36:47] Totally normal. Just do not touch your keyboard. Miss Parker, I think I made a terrible mistake. I was supposed to credit you 500. I know I got a stuck key here.
Movie Audio [00:36:57] She’s so pissed at him.
Movie Audio [00:36:59] I will lose my job here. I got kids.
Movie Audio [00:37:03] I ain’t got fucking kids.
Movie Audio [00:37:06] Oh, I don’t want you to get in trouble.
Paul Scheer [00:37:07] I like that he has to justify that to the people.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:37:10] And he has a whole second scene where he’s just talking to the guys in the room.
Movie Audio [00:37:14] Different passwords for one second.
Movie Audio [00:37:18] This is the master password for all her accounts. Okay, so the second we get it, we zero out everything.
Movie Audio [00:37:26] You know, I, I think I should call the bank.
Movie Audio [00:37:33] You know what? You’re probably right. But there goes my job, and there goes all your data.
Movie Audio [00:37:42] My kids pictures are on this computer.
Paul Scheer [00:37:46] Kids pictures. Excel Documents. Amazon orders.
Movie Audio [00:37:54] Boom! Yes, that is what I am talking about. Come on.
Paul Scheer [00:38:04] Let me just tell you this much. This show is pretty low tech. But to do all this projection, we have Beth, our amazing stage manager.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:38:11] Give it up for Beth!
Paul Scheer [00:38:14] Can you imagine how many people run that? There’s fucking screens up there. The sound effects. That’s a whole team. That’s a Broadway show that’s going on.
June Diane Raphael [00:38:24] And my favorite part of the call center is that they have a not during this scene, but in other scenes at other call centers in Massachusetts.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:38:33] I know exactly what you’re going to say.
June Diane Raphael [00:38:35] They have webcam footage.
Paul Scheer [00:38:37] Yes.
June Diane Raphael [00:38:38] Of elderly people, like.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:38:40] Dozens, dozens of little, little thumbnails of all the old people that they’re actively scamming, like. This movie is this movie is this movie like for the elderly? Because honestly, it’s a revenge story for the elderly. Yes, the Beekeeper is protecting the hive, which is just the elderly, which are the the people that are discarded that he’s constantly speaking up for and advocating on behalf.
June Diane Raphael [00:39:08] That is what I found so fascinating about this movie, because the elderly are discarded and once they don’t serve capitalism, you know, they we don’t care about them. They are not usually.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:39:19] Well, June, you’re saying exactly what he said so brilliantly where he compares old people to children.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:39:29] Oh, yeah, yeah. I’m sorry. He puts. He puts old people above children.
Paul Scheer [00:39:35] I thought this is a pretty damning monologue.
June Diane Raphael [00:39:38] Yeah of course, he absolutely infantilized his elders. But I do think that elder abuse is real. And we’ve seen examples of upon our own lives. Elder abuse is real.
Paul Scheer [00:39:50] First of all, not guilty.
June Diane Raphael [00:39:50] And I was.
Paul Scheer [00:39:51] You say it like she deserved it.
June Diane Raphael [00:39:56] I’m not saying you’ve abused the elderly.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:40:02] How old were The Beekeepers that came to your house?
Paul Scheer [00:40:08] I do think that, the director let people say whatever they wanted to say because multiple times, like the her partner, the cop’s partner, he’s like, I was just thrown through a window. No, that was somebody else. He goes, I was just thrown through a window. She’s like, I lost my virginity in there. And then it felt like everyone had carte blanche in this movie to do whatever they wanted. And I want to just play a scene that Avril found that I noticed, but it didn’t really take it in. It. Scene seven. Don’t worry about the dialog here, and this is not going to be great for the podcast audience. So maybe it’s just for you. The live audience.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:40:40] Is this is this a scene about something that takes place in the background?
Music [00:40:44] Yes.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:40:45] I’m obsessed with this exact moment.
Paul Scheer [00:40:47] Okay, so I don’t know if I should set it up or you should just watch it.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:40:52] Just watch it.
Paul Scheer [00:40:52] Here we go.
Movie Audio [00:40:53] Dude, I think United Data Group is one of several call centers, so there’s got to be like a central office that’s controlling all of them. And that’s what we got to find. Hello. Did you hear.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:41:04] And the two balloons? Don’t forget the two balloons.
Paul Scheer [00:41:08] The roof is leaking and there are two clown balloons.
Movie Audio [00:41:13] Getting more yardage on this thing. And the whole squad has two years.
Movie Audio [00:41:17] Yeah, well.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:41:18] Her mother is dead. Her mother’s blood is on her hands currently. She’s not showered yet.
Movie Audio [00:41:27] But, yeah, all I have is a birth certificate and social. You guys never even had a bank account. Credit card? Never been on a plane. I ran his prints through every database I can think of. No hits. Okay. Let’s go.
Movie Audio [00:41:49] What?
Movie Audio [00:41:50] They found the guy.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:41:51] It’s never not golden. It’s the gift that keeps giving. Here’s the thing.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:42:00] Oh my God.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:42:03] In this scene, I’m more drawn to the drama of the roof leak than everything they’re talking about.
June Diane Raphael [00:42:11] Because here’s the thing I did. First of all, I did not see it. I’m seeing for the first time right now, I. I am overwhelmed.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:42:19] Is that not incredible? It’s center frame.
June Diane Raphael [00:42:22] But what? All right, so what are you thinking?
Jason Mantzoukas [00:42:25] I have a theory.
June Diane Raphael [00:42:26] Okay, so my theory. Just see. Whatever sort of birthday celebration was happening. And it was an agent’s birthday. And the whole team, the whole team got them balloons and a cake and all that jazz. And it got totally out of hand.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:43:02] Because there’s a story there. The balloons, the leak. Here’s what I think it is. Genuinely. Here’s what I think it is. We have to shoot right now. There’s a leak in the ceiling. I don’t care. It’ll be in the shot. We’re shooting right now. Put a guy under it. It’s part of the scene now. Who wants to be on camera? Jimmy, you want to be on camera? Great. Hold a bucket under the leak and action. That’s it. I think.
Paul Scheer [00:43:30] I agree.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:43:31] I think that’s what we got here because that is so dramatic. Well, before the leak of the roofie is the most dramatic scene.
Paul Scheer [00:43:41] You see. So that was my that was my original thought.
June Diane Raphael [00:43:44] Did you notice when you watched it?
Paul Scheer [00:43:45] Yes. And now what I now believe is like one of the extras came up to the director said, hey, wouldn’t be fun if, like, there was a leak in the ceiling and I was like, cleaning up. And he’s like, great idea. Get this guy a janitors thing right now.
June Diane Raphael [00:44:02] So here. Yeah. Yes. That’s possible. My back story is possible. And then there’s another narrative that. Oh and yours is too.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:44:12] Thank you for validating mine. Immediately validated Paul’s, validated your own. Zero for me. Zero.
Paul Scheer [00:44:22] Yours lacks a certaint magic to it. Like I feel like yours may be too true. I want to see what magical thing happen.
June Diane Raphael [00:44:26] Well, because there’s another narrative that’s possible. And it’s considering this is like, such a thoughtful choice, such a thoughtful choice, which is that the FBI is underfunded. And that they are a bunch of yahoos.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:44:45] Yes. With a leaky roof while he eats a wrap.
June Diane Raphael [00:44:48] Because there are several. The other thing that’s happening in frame is they’re several, like Twinkies and like, yeah.
Paul Scheer [00:44:55] They’re always eating and drinking coffee. They’re never nothing. And they’re like the Brad Pitt.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:45:00] That’s an appropriate read of let’s make them seem ramshackle, and not up to the task. So that Statham and The Beekeepers are the only. He is the only element that is able to get control of this.
Paul Scheer [00:45:12] Or like the first scene, another reading of it is. There’s a leak and someone’s got to plug it up. Whether it’s The Beekeeper or the janitor. We don’t make distinctions. That janitors jobs just.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:45:25] You think the janitor is The Beekeeper of the building?
Paul Scheer [00:45:27] Yep.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:45:29] He’s protecting the hive?
Paul Scheer [00:45:30] Yep. The hive is the FBI. Let’s go out to the audience here.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:45:34] Really? Already? I feel like I still have more to say. I mean, I’m just out of curiosity. Beth, can you play ten for me? Just to see? Because I was obsessed with this guy. This guy. Tell me this isn’t an X-Man character. Let this guy play Wolverine.
Paul Scheer [00:45:58] What is going on with the.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:45:59] Come on, Bru, come on. This guy is incredible. Yes, I know he’s missing a leg, asshole.
Movie Audio [00:46:09] How was any of this? My fault?
Movie Audio [00:46:11] Wasn’t your super secret CIA data mining software supposed to filter out unfucking stoppable. Killing me? Don’t you fuck with me, young man. Any other life would be in jail.
Movie Audio [00:46:21] Like this fucking beekeeper.
Movie Audio [00:46:27] Yeah. You know I killed one once.
Movie Audio [00:46:29] Oh. You see? Yeah. Only because I was lucky. Unfucking lucky.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:46:37] Love it.
Movie Audio [00:46:38] Yeah. Don’t piss your pants blue. My team will be out shortly. If anyone can knock this guy’s dick in the dirt, it’s them.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:46:46] Loved it. This. The arrival of this guy breathes life into the movie. Loved it.
Paul Scheer [00:46:53] I only wish that he used his bionic leg to, like, punch Jason Statham through a wall. All right, let’s see if you have a question. You have a thought. You have anything at all you’d like to add? Okay. Yes. Your name?
Audience Member [00:47:05] My name is Jessica.
Paul Scheer [00:47:07] Jessica has two questions. I said if the first one’s good, we might allow a second. Here we go.
Audience Member [00:47:13] The first one was on the point of exposition. As he said, Jeremy Irons does a beautiful exposition jump. And as someone who works in scripted, I’m very appreciative of a quick exposition. However, Josh goes from what do I care if he keeps bees to immediately oh, this is an a secret assassin who may kill me. Just based on Jeremy Irons saying, if a beekeeper wants you dead, you’re dead.
Paul Scheer [00:47:43] That is, first of all, a great question because there’s no other. It’s like saying, if a plumber wants you dead, you’re dead. Like he’s not saying no, that’s a.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:47:54] He doesn’t say that’s a secret or organization that I know about. He doesn’t say that exposition dump until he’s with the mercenaries.
Paul Scheer [00:48:01] Okay, so you did pass. Second question.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:48:03] Wow.
Paul Scheer [00:48:05] The second question, Jessica, thank you.
Audience Member [00:48:08] The second question is very minor. I feel bad now that I ask you to. With the background.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:48:13] You feel bad now? This is the most British thing that’s happening. Yeah. If you if this was happening in America, you would be grabbing Paul’s hand to be, like I say, more now.
Paul Scheer [00:48:26] Did did you ever notice? Did you ever notice the movie is called The Beekeeper?
Jason Mantzoukas [00:48:33] Paul, Paul Paul. Don’t feel bad Jessica.
Paul Scheer [00:48:37] Your second question.
Audience Member [00:48:38] With the leak in the background, which I had not noticed until now. Is it not possible that they were like, it’s fine, you’re not going to see it. It’s in the background and then realized you can’t see it and had to construct a whole thing around it. Also, those balloons look CGI, so I think something else is happening?
Paul Scheer [00:48:57] Wow. This is from scripty.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:49:00] If the balloons are CGI, then that’s wild because they were like, this scene needs something more. They had the people talking, they had the leak in the roof, and they were like, there’s just something missing. What about a light blue and a yellow balloon? Maybe the person whose birthday it was is from Denmark. Are those. That. Is that the flag’s colors? I don’t know, no. What is it? Sweden? Fuck you, europe.
Paul Scheer [00:49:32] You guys are too smart.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:49:33] Fuck you, europe. I say let’s get out of the EU. Boo?! Not another referendum? Boo?! I’ve misunderstood this whole thing.
Paul Scheer [00:49:50] Okay. Your name and your question.
Audience Member [00:49:53] Yeah. Anthony. And this movie kind of posits after his replacement has sent and killed, that The Beekeepers stand down, and when he goes into the hideout, loads of hive logos come up on the map, which implies has other beekeepers in place. And we said earlier the sequel that we’re all waiting for. Who would you like to see of other beekeepers in the next movie? We’ll kickstart it. We said we want some retiree beekeepers to pop up, aka Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Paul Scheer [00:50:23] Oh, I like a young Claude. I would like an Anthony Hopkins. And you CGI his limbs to do crazy like you make him like Zohan from the Adam Sandler movie.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:50:35] All The Beekeepers are British, but they all are American. I would love if. I mean, there’s absolutely going to be a second movie. I would love it if we get to meet more beekeepers, be they retired or present beekeepers. And that we get into them without being dispatched as quickly as The Beekeeper in this one was. Whose I loved her entrance. I love that scene, but she just goes away so quick, you know?
June Diane Raphael [00:51:03] And also I was like, wow, I was so interested in her sort of, anonymity in the world dressed like that. I was like, wow, that’s really interesting. You know, to be a beekeeper that looks like that. That’s interesting to me. This is and I want to obviously to go to the audience in here, other questions. But this is another question I had, which was I follow a few beekeepers on TikTok.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:51:31] Oh my God. Wait do you follow the woman in Texas who is like the bees. Yeah, I was called to get these bees out of a toilet. I found the queen and I put her in a clip.
June Diane Raphael [00:51:45] I’m obsessed with her. I’m absolutely obsessed with her. But all of The Beekeepers I follow.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:51:52] Great. That’s the t shirt. Of all The Beekeepers I follow.
June Diane Raphael [00:51:57] Oh, they all take care of bees without the protective suits on. They are all intimately relating to bees, and I found it really interesting that Jason Statham, as a beekeeper like, doesn’t isn’t comfortable enough with bees, actually.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:52:19] A lot of beekeepers who say that those people are wrong and that they’re prioritizing being on camera more than they are the safety.
June Diane Raphael [00:52:28] Which side of TikTok are you on? Whoa.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:52:32] There is a whole there’s a whole part of that community that is like, these people are being irresponsible because they’re prioritizing themselves on camera, being better for TikTok because that is deeply irresponsible.
Paul Scheer [00:52:46] Well it’s a traditional question. To bee or, not beekeeper. You know, it’s like.
June Diane Raphael [00:52:51] I’m learning.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:52:52] To bee or not to bee was incredible. Amazing.
Paul Scheer [00:52:56] Your name, your question?
Audience Member [00:52:57] My name is Jana. And first of all, I want to thank you guys for this podcast because it got my husband and I through the pandemic. So thank you for the laughs.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:53:05] That’s right. What part of Britain are you from?
Audience Member [00:53:12] Yeah, Ohio. Haha. Can we talk about how quickly Phylicia Rashad actually killed herself?
Music [00:53:20] That’s a great question.
Audience Member [00:53:21] FBI. And she has a beekeeper. Like she went from 30 minutes from being hacked to killing herself.
June Diane Raphael [00:53:29] Why didn’t she call her daughter?
Jason Mantzoukas [00:53:30] So estranged, must they be that she does not reach out to her Harvard educated FBI agent daughter to be like, I think I just got computer scammed.
June Diane Raphael [00:53:42] And also you have to think through like, no note.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:53:47] No note.
June Diane Raphael [00:53:48] By the way, that’s what is so interesting is like, she knew that Statham was going to find her, and so she’s leaving him to like.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:53:57] She must know. She must know that he’s going to go on a murderous rampage that will end with the president, who here show of hands, predicted that that woman who is going to be the president? Incredible stuff. The rest of you fucking idiots. Honestly, I don’t mind telling you you’re fucking stupid if you didn’t see that coming, because that was tipped hard.
Paul Scheer [00:54:23] I am in the first balcony.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:54:26] My gosh, be careful, Paul.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:54:29] I will say now that the lights are on. Paul be careful. That probably is the mezzanine. Now that the lights are on, there are four balconies. This room, Hackney Empire. Fucking gorgeous. Gorgeous.
Paul Scheer [00:54:43] Now, I appreciate this gentleman. He’s wearing an I’ll hold the mic shirt. I was gonna bring my hat, but you know the rules. Your name and your question.
Audience Member [00:54:51] My name is Simon. The question is about nominative determinism.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:54:58] Repeat it again.
Audience Member [00:55:00] Nominative determinism.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:55:02] Nominative determinism, of course.
Audience Member [00:55:04] To bring a an English question into the room. I mean, we appreciate out Ohio cousins, but, let’s have let’s have some fucking hackney out here, you know what I’m saying? Represent the Stath. So, for example, the The Bourne Identity, the program is the Bourne program, this is The Beekeeper program, and he decides to become a beekeeper.
Paul Scheer [00:55:29] Right. But now here’s what I’ll say.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:55:32] They seems to all be beekeepers, because in her truck is the beekeeping for beekeepers book. Terrible title. Beekeeping for beekeepers. So they must that must be an integral part.
June Diane Raphael [00:55:43] And by the way, just so you know, I did ask Jason that before we came on stage. I said, why must they actually be beekeepers?
Paul Scheer [00:55:51] I feel like we have an answer.
Audience Member [00:55:52] But by extension, the hope is that if, for example, he was a Navy Seal, he would then become a Seal.
Paul Scheer [00:56:03] I agree with this gentleman because.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:56:06] I see.
Paul Scheer [00:56:07] I don’t understand because it seems like he retired into beekeeping. Not. He was a beekeeper who was an assassin. He’s like, all right, I’m retiring from assassinating.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:56:17] I do think it muddies the story that he both keeps beehives that are sadly destroyed and never to be seen again, because to June’s point earlier, boy, would it have been great if he had been able to summon a bee swarm to come and to come into the call center or whatever, and attack the Terminators skeleton or something that’s in the call center.Later in the movie?
Paul Scheer [00:56:43] Somebody did just yell out a great T-shirt idea. Beeostorm.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:56:52] Wait, Beeoswarm? I don’t mind punching it up. BEEOSWARM!
Paul Scheer [00:56:57] That’s pretty good.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:57:01] Pretty fucking good. And if anybody asks you, I invented it, so shut up.
Paul Scheer [00:57:06] Who invented that? Who? Oh, you did say your name.
Audience Member [00:57:10] Victoria.
Music [00:57:11] Thank you, Victoria. Okay.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:57:13] Well done, Victoria a hero.
Paul Scheer [00:57:18] All right. So what’s your name of your question?
Audience Member [00:57:20] All right. My name is Aaron. And, this is when the FBI, after debrief the director of I don’t know, the fucking CIA, whatever the fuck he is. He goes, what can you tell me about this guy murdering all these people? And their answer is, he’s a beekeeper. That’s what he does. And he’s on turns around and says, that’s enough for me. I can go and tell the president now.
Paul Scheer [00:57:41] Right? Like it’s there isn’t much. It seems like a this very secret organization. Everyone knows about them and knows exactly what they do.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:57:51] Well, also like Statham is able to take The Beekeepers finger go drive directly to her also Massachusetts based safehouse. Use her finger to get access and do a full on reload. The movie is also very video gaming like find this warehouse, you get to have all these things. Here’s your go bag. By the way, great bags. The movie is top to bottom, full of great bags.
June Diane Raphael [00:58:18] But here’s my only complaint about the last bag we see. So I was so excited that he got away. I was so excited that he had that moment with our FBI agent, and she let him go and he jumped off. And I was so horrified to see him put on a set of flippers. I was like, what?
Jason Mantzoukas [00:58:40] I don’t need to see this.
June Diane Raphael [00:58:41] I don’t need to watch a grown ass man put on a set of flippers, struggle.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:58:47] Struggle to get flippers on, and someone who has been effortless and graceful.
June Diane Raphael [00:58:51] Cool.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:58:51] Gene Kelly in the movie.
June Diane Raphael [00:58:54] Watch that man put on. And then what do you know if you are, if you have ever gone scuba diving is you can’t walk forward in flippers. So he was absolutely walking backwards into the ocean. Yeah. And to watch that happen and I just thought you’re going to end my movie this way?
Paul Scheer [00:59:19] Well, June, I think that’s the moment that we realize that he becomes a Navy Seal. I am in the upper balcony.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:59:32] Whoa!
June Diane Raphael [00:59:33] Be careful, Paul.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:59:35] Be careful, Paul. Those are the worst of the worst. The balcony monster of London.
Paul Scheer [00:59:43] It is humid up here.
June Diane Raphael [00:59:43] I bet.
Paul Scheer [00:59:44] Now, my question is this. Who should I go to? It’s very steep. Okay. Over there. This is a person literally in the back row. She’s higher than the people who are sitting on the seats.
Jason Mantzoukas [00:59:55] Well, we don’t know if she’s higher or not. We don’t know what people are doing before the show.
Audience Member [00:59:59] I’m very well. How are you?
Paul Scheer [01:00:01] Good. What’s your question?
Audience Member [01:00:02] Well, I’m only sad that we. There’s so much in this film that we haven’t touched on. But we haven’t talked about the relationship between the FBI agent and her partner.
Paul Scheer [01:00:14] Oh, yeah, the FBI agent and her partner.
Jason Mantzoukas [01:00:16] Well, you know what was a bummer? What was a true bummer was. And I mean this because I’ve said it already, we do not see her accept or really engage with her mother’s death in a way that we repeatedly see Statham do. He has her picture at the ready. He’s like this woman right here. You killed this woman. She was the only woman who ever cared about me. And he has a picture of her, and her daughter has not even a mention of her mother and her mother’s death when her partner says, yeah, we got to go. Your mother’s house is on fire. Your mother’s house is on fire?! There is urgency to this.
June Diane Raphael [01:00:59] Also, it is the house that I’m pretty sure she grew up in.
Jason Mantzoukas [01:01:02] Yes, she lost her virginity already there. And she doesn’t seem to care at all about this death. It is. It is heartbreaking. I loved it.
June Diane Raphael [01:01:15] I mean, listen, this is what I couldn’t get, and I was fascinated by it. How did Phylicia Rashad and Jason Statham get together in the first place? Is there a Craigslist ad?
Jason Mantzoukas [01:01:26] On the computer screens as they’re going. One of the things is a membership to Tinder. They met on Tinder.
Paul Scheer [01:01:39] On Bumble. Yeah. Now, that’s how you end a show.
Jason Mantzoukas [01:01:45] Take care, London.
Paul Scheer [01:01:48] That’s how you end an audience Q&A. They met on Bumble.
Jason Mantzoukas [01:01:53] Home run. Who said that? Who was it?
June Diane Raphael [01:01:57] Second balcony. Middle.
Jason Mantzoukas [01:02:00] All right. Great work. I want to give you credit, but you’re in the, in the dark now.
Paul Scheer [01:02:05] I was thinking about this as I was running down the ten flights of stairs to get here. For a beekeeper, he starts a lot of fires, which, through my knowledge of bees, is not something that bees ever do.
[01:02:17] But you do use smoke to get to pacify the bees or get them out of a place. Or you do use. I agree with you. You do not use smoke. But he does. But he is constantly saying I’m going to burn it down? Right?
Paul Scheer [01:02:30] He at one point says, you got to smoke them out and then just goes in there and shoots everybody in the head like he doesn’t smoke. I like, oh, he’s going to smoke them out. No. Shoot them in the head just like every other time. We obviously have an opinion about this movie. We think this movie is amazing. And you know what? There are people out there that might not think it’s as good. Or maybe they think it’s even better. It is now time for second opinions.
Audience Member [01:02:56] Seriously, you guys have made my worst times better and my good times great. So right now I’m going to kill a song like not not kill it. I’m gonna literally murder it.
Paul Scheer [01:03:12] Like a beekeeper.
Audience Member [01:03:13] So let’s at least help. So it’s really easy. This is the right hand. This is the left hand. We pull them up, everybody, and we start clapping like this. Everybody. Let’s go. Everybody clap. Let’s go. Yeah! Once more, everybody let’s go. Everybody. Second opinions. Everybody has one like assholes. Jesus. They thumbsason Statham’s their beekeeper. And I love honey. So I gave it five stars. Yeah sometimes it’s bad. Sometimes it’s worse stuff. But I still gave it five stars.
Music [01:04:02] Oh, wow. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Jason Mantzoukas [01:04:09] What’s your name?
Audience Member [01:04:11] I’ll be here tomorrow, guys as well. Oh, God, I will. I just came for these two days. My name is Petros, but I, I am known as Master Temple in Greece. I am a singer so fairly fairly well known singer, songwriter and producer.
Jason Mantzoukas [01:04:32] Get out of here. Wow, you guys turned on him quick. This audience. Yeah. Wow.
Audience Member [01:04:37] I got to say one last thing. Just one last thing.
Jason Mantzoukas [01:04:39] One last thing?
Music [01:04:40] Petros! You had them!
Jason Mantzoukas [01:04:42] You’re coming tomorrow!
Audience Member [01:04:45] I got to say this from the bottom of my heart. I’ve sang for the Greek people in five continents. But this. But this thing I did today is going to be my fondest memory.
Paul Scheer [01:04:57] Thank you, Petro.
Jason Mantzoukas [01:04:58] Bravo!
June Diane Raphael [01:04:59] Thank you.
Paul Scheer [01:05:01] Thank you. Look, I feel like you had them. Then you lost them. I don’t know if you got them back.
Jason Mantzoukas [01:05:08] That was. That was a roller coaster. You all got on board so hard and then you were like, no. You like you fattened him up and then devoured him.
June Diane Raphael [01:05:20] They were protecting the hive. They were protecting the hive.
Jason Mantzoukas [01:05:26] Yeah, that’s a Beeoswarm right there.
Paul Scheer [01:05:30] Beeoswarm!
Jason Mantzoukas [01:05:35] This is a home run. Great show.
Paul Scheer [01:05:36] So I do want to read every single five star review. But there weren’t many of them, honestly.
Jason Mantzoukas [01:05:44] That’s impossible because I wrote a number.
Paul Scheer [01:05:48] Well, actually, I mean, I guess there are 4000 reviews. It’s a pretty new film. 81% are five stars. And these are all pretty amazing. I just want to read a selection of them. This one triggered something in me from Evan Thompson. The review title is “Great Movie. I love this movie so much. I watched it four times. I would watch it again. I had a similar incident happened to me. Five stars.” June, this might be an elderly person. He wishes that he had a beekeeper in his life.
June Diane Raphael [01:06:27] I bet.
Paul Scheer [01:06:29] It would be great to have a beekeeper service. All people could call and then have them go fucking murdered people.
June Diane Raphael [01:06:36] I mean, this is a great startup idea for anyone who’s.
Paul Scheer [01:06:41] Beekeeper, I’d call him. Yeah. Biker Larry. Biker Larry wrote titled “Great movie. Stratham is great strength. Great movie. Jason Stratham shows no one is above the law. Hope it’s true in real life. Five stars.” Hope it’s true in real life. And then finally, Jim Hill writes “Great movie The Beekeeper is a baaaaad boy. If he says your days are numbered, your days are numbered. Five stars.” I don’t know if that’s a review as much as it is just a character description of Adam Klay. I do want to share a couple of things here. The movie’s budget $40 million. It made 66 million in the United States and made 153 million worldwide.
June Diane Raphael [01:07:52] You love to see it.
Paul Scheer [01:07:53] You love to see it. This is something that was really interesting. Jason Statham learned all the beekeeping techniques. He never got stung once. He learned how to pull out the comb, how to smoke the hive. And, he did all of that himself. He’s the only person on set who didn’t get stung. Which proves that bees are smart. They don’t fuck with Jason Statham. Another interesting fact about this movie. This was one of five films that Jason Statham released within a one year period.
June Diane Raphael [01:08:32] Good for him.
Paul Scheer [01:08:34] Expendables four, Meg two, fast ten, and Operation Fortune are the others.
Jason Mantzoukas [01:08:39] Wow. Bangers.
Paul Scheer [01:08:44] And then, the only other thing here is that no explanation for the old tech, especially the CRT computer monitors, are seen in the film, nor is one ever offered. This is because the story was originally set in 2003. That idea was then abandoned. However, the art department had already started sourcing the hardware and they decided to keep what they had purchased.
Jason Mantzoukas [01:09:11] And originally the original script takes place in a leaky building. And they kept that.
Paul Scheer [01:09:18] Wow. Oh, wow. The tagline “Expose the corruption. Protect the hive.”
Jason Mantzoukas [01:09:25] Why even put expose corruption? Just protect the hive.
Paul Scheer [01:09:30] Now I will say one other thing here, which is really interesting cause I’ve never seen this before. 71% on Tomatometer, which is high. That’s, you know, rotten Tomatometer, 92% audience score.
Jason Mantzoukas [01:09:45] Whoa!
Paul Scheer [01:09:46] People love it.
Jason Mantzoukas [01:09:47] The audience fucking gets it.
Paul Scheer [01:09:51] I would say that we all recommend this movie. There’s no doubt about it.
Jason Mantzoukas [01:09:53] 100%.
June Diane Raphael [01:09:55] I, after watching it, wanted to go back and rewatch it, which has never happened in the history of this podcast.
Jason Mantzoukas [01:10:04] As someone who has now seen this movie twice. I cannot recommend it enough.
Paul Scheer [01:10:10] I love this movie. It’s great. We could do two nights on this movie, but I will say that there was a moment I was enjoying the movie so much that when they mistakenly, found that Jason Statham clone at the party, I thought it was me. I was like, oh, is that me? I was like, no, you’re not in this movie.
Jason Mantzoukas [01:10:27] Am I? Am I in this movie?
Paul Scheer [01:10:29] But when he turned around, it looks enough like me that I was like.
Jason Mantzoukas [01:10:33] He’s also dressed just like Statham. So much so that you would think Statham had seen that guy and been like, oh, I got to wear one of I got away that outfit just to confuse everybody. But no, he’s just rocking around.
Paul Scheer [01:10:45] In a little suit in a black, you know? Look, he looks like he was the transporter again.
Jason Mantzoukas [01:10:48] And he’s easily and effortlessly walking around, having changed nothing about his appearance. He never shaves.
June Diane Raphael [01:10:55] Barely puts on a hat.
Jason Mantzoukas [01:11:01] I want to go home and watch it right now.
Paul Scheer [01:11:08] London. This has been or I should say Hackney, this has been a wonderful night. We could not be more excited for being here. Jason Mantzoukas. June Diane Raphael.
Jason Mantzoukas [01:11:22] Paul Scheer, everybody!
Paul Scheer [01:11:23] That was amazing.
June Diane Raphael [01:11:24] Thank you!
Music [01:11:24] Good night! We’ll see you tomorrow.
Jason Mantzoukas [01:11:27] Eat shit, London.
Paul Scheer [01:11:34] Thank you, London. What a way to kick off our UK tour. Thank you to the staff at the Hackney Empire. And thank you to everyone who came out. What an amazing way to kick off this European expedition. I also want to give a shout out to our tour manager, Beth Thomas, our recording engineer Matt Rice, and our super talented engineer, Casey Holford, who made that very special UK tour theme for us that you heard at the top of the episode. We’re pulling out all the stops for you. Now, before I give you some plugs, I have a quick favorite to ask. If you enjoy the show, please go to Apple Podcasts or Spotify and make sure you click on follow, then turn on Automatic Downloads. Not only will this help the podcast, but it will guarantee that you have the best listening experience possible because when you download, you avoid all those audio glitches that tend to happen when you stream episodes. Oh, and by the way, we do have a t shirt for this. The t shirt is amazing. It is BEEOSWARM, and you can get that as a t shirt. You can get that a sticker, a magnet, a mug, whatever you want. Even a tote bag. Just go to teepublic.com/stores/HDTGM. My book is coming. Oh my god. We are days away from my book and my book tour. I’m going to be in Brooklyn with the editor of The New Yorker. That’s right. David Remnick and I are doing a show together in conversation. There’ll be reading, there’ll be a signing. I’m also doing a show with Busy Philipps and Adam Pally and even Adam Savage, the Mythbuster himself. That’s right. You can check that show out. That’s free in San Francisco. And you can also see us in Seattle and Portland doing improv. That’s Jason and I. Go to my website or go to HowDidThisGetMade.com. All the information is right there. Oh my gosh, so much going on. But you know what, back to you. If you have a correction or omission from this episode, leave me a voicemail at 619-PAUL-ASK or write me a comment on our discord at discord.gg/HDTGM, and then make sure that you tune in next week for our Last Looks follow up episode on The Beekeeper to hear me respond to your messages, announce our next movie, and chat with Jason about all sorts of fun stuff. Anyway, people, what a show, but I can’t end it. Before I thank our entire team who make this show possible. That’s right, I’m talking about our producer, Scott Sonne, Molly Reynolds, our movie picking producer Avril Halley, our engineer Cassie Holford, and our associate producer, Jess Cisneros. That’s all I got. I will see you next week on Last Looks. Until then, Beeoswarm!
Jason and Paul [01:14:10] BEEOSWARM!
Jason Mantzoukas [01:14:14] This is a home run. Great show.
Recent Episodes
See AllSeptember 1, 2024
EP. 352.9 — Matinee Monday: Striptease LIVE!
Paul, Jason, & June break down 1996’s Striptease starring Demi Moore, Burt Reynolds, Ving Rhames, and Robert Patrick.
August 29, 2024
EP. 352.5 — Last Looks: Beautiful Wedding (w/ Greg Fitzsimmons)
Guest Greg Fitzsimmons
Comedian Greg Fitzsimmons chats with Jason & Paul, and even an earthquake can’t stop them from talking about their comedy influences, the weirdness of guys’ nights, and Greg’s new standup special “You Know Me.”