EP. 318.5 — Last Looks: Torque

Paul Scheer [00:00:00] How to promote your small business? How much is the price of meth? And Jason and Paul, that’s me. Help solve your problems. All of this and more on today’s Last Looks. Hit the theme. 

Music [00:00:28] [Intro Song] 

Paul Scheer [00:00:34] Carpe diem. To all you shoulder to shoulder, urinators. I’m your biker gang leader, Paul Scheer And welcome to How Did This Get Made Last Looks where you, the listener, get to voice your issues on Torque? Jason and I answer phone calls on the help line and we reveal next week’s movie. Plus, I’ll share an exclusive bonus scene from our last episode at the end of this episode. But first things first, a big shout out to Dan from Rochester for that amazing theme song. Dan I hope that’s Rochester, New York. And if it is, man, I’ve been there. I’m glad you’re keeping the people of Rochester warm with your lyrics and your soul. If you’re not from Rochester, who cares? You know what? I still love you, Dan. Anyway, we love these songs. If you have a Last Look’s theme song, you can send it to HowDidThisGetMade@Earwolf.com. Keep em short. 15 to 20 seconds is best. You know it. You listen to the show. You don’t want to make them long. No one wants that. All right, let’s get into it. Last week, we talked at length about Torque, a movie that according to Discord user Grayest Hound had “all the fumes, but none of the family.” I love these taglines. And you know what? I really love a good tagline in general. And this week, when I saw the poster for Meg 2. Yes, Meg 2. Statham is back, motherfuckers. We did this movie on this show when it came out. I loved it so much. We’ll do the sequel when it comes out this summer. But the tagline for Meg 2 is awesome. New Meg. Old chum. That’s. That’s fucking great. More Meg movies, please. I think the movie’s called The Trench: Back for seconds. And I believe this. The Meg eats a dinosaur. Anyway, you had more questions about Torque than we had time to answer, so we figured we’d give a chance for you to ask those questions. Right now, you can fact check, if you will, because this is time for corrections and omissions. 

Music [00:02:53] [Corrections and Omissions Song] 

Paul Scheer [00:02:56] Thank you, Francis Rizzo, for that great theme. Let’s go to the Discord, starting off with Johnny Unusual, “So the bald dude that Ford beats up at the beginning is supposed to be a Dom Toretto parody, right? I mean, the movie already took a lot of shots at Fast and Furious. So this seems like they’re opening the film saying if Dom and Ford got into a fight, Ford could take him easily.” Now, I did not recognize that because the movie just kind of begins and that character is seen really quickly. But I’m looking at him here. He is a bald dude. He has a similar body to Dom. He is in a similar undershirt to Dom. No cross. I mean, it’s subtle, if that’s what they’re going for, it’s subtle. But again, this whole movie is subtly taking shots at a movie that the producer already made. So God bless you. I agree with you, Johnny Unusual. That probably is Dom. But then who is the other guy? It’s not Paul Walker. Ginger writes, “Somehow this movie is trying to pay homage to old Westerns and real life outlaw culture slash history. Look at the characters names. Ford, who famously shot Jesse James and whose alleged grandson, West Coast Chopper founder Jesse James is an extra. Whoa! Dalton. The Dalton Gang was a famous group of Old West Outlaws. Shane. Some consider Shane the greatest Western film ever made. I don’t. Sonny. Sonny Barger was the founder of Hells Angels.” All right. Ginger. Yeah, I guess that’s a good mix and match. I would love if it was like all Old West or all like, outlaw culture, but the mix and match. Yeah. I love it. Makes sense. That’s a writerly thing to do. Cameron H writes this. “Maybe I missed something, but was there significance to them going to Mexico at the end, or was it just like within easy driving distance? I mean, the entire movie, he gushes on and on about the people and cuisine of Thailand. He tells Shane of that coastal highway that was so beautiful that it made him think of her every time he rode it. How does the movie not end with Ford and Shane driving on that stretch of highway together to the dulcet melodies of Nickelback of course.” Cameron H. 100%, yeah. Why aren’t they going back to Thailand? It seems like Mexico is too close. Seems like everyone that that is after them could easily get to Mexico. All right, I’m loving these points. Let’s go to Hobo bot and hobo bot has brought up something that I’m so excited about. The word wear-gasm, which Paul pointed out was graffitied on a bathroom wall and it was trademarked as a clothing brand name. In September of 2003, less than four months before Torque was released, an Internet search revealed the logo resembles the bathroom graffiti, and the trademark was filed by Lee Ross, who is listed in the Torque credits on IMDB as paint foreman on the movie. Whoa, No doubt. Lee tagged his own small business logo for some street cred with the hog writers. Holy shit. Also this from Scott “Lee Ross is credited as the lead scenic painter on 65 episodes of Grace and Frankie.” We got to ask June about this. Oh my God. We need to start wearing some wear-gasm. This is already one of the best things that we’ve uncovered in the history of the podcast. Let’s go to the phones. Ana from L.A.. 

Listener [00:06:25] Hi, Jason, Paul and June. This is Ana from Los Angeles. I was very fortunate that I was able to attend the show at Largo for Torque, thinking about this movie and the would be Torque-verse. I’m so very curious how they landed on Martin Henderson. It really made me think about the casting and if they had cast someone who was more known for maybe action movies, I guess Ford was cast because he was in The Ring. But it just it just felt like it could have been better if there was someone like, I don’t know, Jason Statham with his, like, infamous Los Angeles accent or another sort of up and coming action star of the time. I would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks. 

Paul Scheer [00:07:10] If you’re asking me, would Jason Statham make this movie better? The answer is, of course, yes. But I kind of disagree with your thesis because at this point in the early 2000s, I think Hollywood studios were trying to find new leading men for these cheap action movies. And if somebody popped, it would be a great big success. Case in point, we’ve already mentioned it once here before, Vin Diesel. He was not a known commodity, but then he came in, exploded on the scene. I think they wanted to try to find the next big thing. And there’s a lot of movies out there that did not find the next big thing. Doesn’t mean that they’re bad. It just didn’t connect. And maybe the movie was better. Maybe Martin Henderson would have become the next Vin Diesel. I don’t know. But yes, if Jason Statham was available, I put him in here. But I also feel like he would represent, like California outlaw culture as much as we would like, because then it would be a little bit more like that dumb Brit. Like, I feel like there would be like an energy there, and I don’t think that the movie could take on yet another level of social commentary. All right. Cheryl from Utah. 

Listener [00:08:20] Hey, Paul. Cheryl from Utah. I was lucky enough to attend actually the last taping of Torque. That’s a delight. And I wanted to ask you a small about a small moment in the film. When Ice Cube you first lands on top of the train. He’s left his already clear visor up to, I assume, make even more direct eye contact with Ford and then ends up putting a right back down. Why do you think he made the choice to lift that visor? Adore the show. And you, thank you for all you do. Bye. 

Paul Scheer [00:08:48] Oh, wow. Cheryl, thank you for coming out. And by the way, thank you, Anna, for coming out to our Largo shows. We have new Largo shows. We just announced them today. They are on sale right now. Right now, another residency in June, three nights, three different movies, at least two guests that are already booked and they’re awesome. Hopefully tickets are still available. As you listen to this. I know they go quickly, but Cheryl from Utah, look, that was a good thing. You realize that Ice Cube. Ice Cube is doing a lot of work here. I remember watching Tron and the lead actor in the movie Tron, not the new one, but the old one had a pair of glasses. And he took those glasses on. He took them off. He barely was wearing these glasses. And I feel like Ice Cube. I know he rides a hog. I know he is a real motorcycle ride or whatever. He was doing a lot of business in this movie, whether it was sticking that magnet cell phone to his head, reading a map, this guy was doing business. And I feel like, you know, maybe he wanted to make sure his like, actual eyes, is that him? Okay. It is. Boom. Now I can go off. You know, the idea being me, maybe there is another man, another white dude running around this train car. It was about him being a professional. He doesn’t want to kick the ass, is somebody he is not sure is his enemy. So I give it to Ice Cube for, you know, not making his eyes be deceived by the wonderful shade that that visor provides. All right, Back to the discord, Dr. Guts writes, “Torque’s inconsistent tone seems as if it was a result of the director and the studio having conflicting visions of the movie. Director Joseph Kahn has been quoted as saying, I wanted to do with Fast and Furious movies what Evil Dead 2 did to horror films, a piss take version of it. These are stupid ass movies. What if I made one that was really fuckin stupid? So Khan wanted to do a parody of the Fast and Furious movies. Producer Neil Moritz in the studio wanted a more serious film that was simply fast and furious but on motorcycles. It appears that they met somewhere in the middle. And this is what we got. Also, Torque was filmed in 2002 and meant to be released in 2003. But a similar movie called Biker Boyz came out around then at the same time, and they pushed the release back to 2004.” Let’s break this down. I had read this as well. I wonder how much of this is like retroactive history, because when Joseph Kahn is saying I wanted to do with the Fast and Furious movies what Evil Dead 2 did to horror films, at that point, there had only been one Fast and Furious film and Biker Boyz wasn’t out. So this was a new idea. Now I understand that he wanted to take the piss out of Fast and Furious. Great. But I also feel what Evil Dead does is A: it doesn’t take the piss out of a horror movie. It is a horror movie that’s incredibly inventive and cool and interesting. But more importantly, it has an amazing lead actor who is hilarious, and that is Bruce Campbell. So could you find a Bruce Campbell for a movie like this? Then maybe it could work because Martin Henderson ain’t that. Adam Scott? Sure. But Adam Scott is not the lead character. So I do think there’s a little bit of like retroactive history going on here because I get that. But I also feel like there are ways to have made that movie and still given the producers of this movie what they wanted. Anyway, that’s me on my high horse about how to make Evil dead 2. And I only know so much about Evil Dead 2 because I recently did an Unspooled about it. We had Bruce Campbell on Unspooled and then we went and did Evil Dead 2. It was great. All right. I was actually curious after hearing this was about Biker Boyz. I remember Biker Boyz actually remember Biker Boyz because it was just a silly name. And then SNL did a really hilarious parody of Biker Boyz and take a listen to the Biker Boyz trailer.  

Trailer Audio [00:12:56] For the speed. I think you’re crazy. Some people like crazy. For the thrill. For the win. Laurence Fishburne. Derrick Luke, Orlando Jones and Kid Rock. Do you know what we call bikers in the E.R.? Organ donors. Biker Boyz rated PG 13. 

Paul Scheer [00:13:21] This may be something we have to do in the show. I got to tell Avril about this because you can’t see it. And this is what is the problem with this medium. When some of the things that we do on this show but Orlando Jones is wearing a cross necklace like Dom. All right. And Kid Rock is in this? I mean, this is. This could be a next one. So, Scott, thank you for pulling that trailer. Dr. Guts, thanks for bringing this to my attention. Biker Boyz, activate. Danny the Wall writes, “How much was the meth actually worth? Adam Scott was baking his entire career and waiting nearby for six months to get a couple of gas tanks worth. And he talked like it was going to make him millions of dollars.” And Adam C. Driggers replies, “Well, the largest motorcycle gas tank holds six gallons. That’s about enough space to hold about 22,000 grams of meth as a gram of meth is about a size of a cubic centimeter, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, a gram of meth in 2004 could sell in the U.S. for up to 500 bucks each. Bike could have contained $11.3 million in meth or a total value of $22.6 million.” So, Danny the wall. Bam! Adam C Driggers just dropped the hammer on you. I mean, I am amazed and I’m amazed that Adam, you were not on this movie because we needed that. I would have loved to have that fact just drop it down. Anyway. Jay XL writes, “I have a theory about the shoulder to shoulder peeing thing. In the Tour de France. The system they settled on is that the yellow jersey holder communicates with their team. The peloton, when it’s time to pull over and take a break. The announcers in the camera respect that and take a commercial break now. And then you’ll see photos of the backs of a group of men taking a collective piss break like they do in the movie. It could be that they have the same sort of system for a longer motorcycle races. Or it could be that the makers just like that imagery from cycling.” By the way. Wow. I did not know that about the Tour de France. People. You’ve blown my mind this week with these corrections omissions. I thought there was one easy one to give, but right now I’m looking at Adam, who’s going deep in drug research. I’m talking about Tour de France peeing, which I didn’t even know. Dr. Guts opening my eyes to the Biker Boyz. But you know what? Hobo bot. You got my heart wear-gasm was a beautiful play by a scenic painter trying to sell his fashion brand. And you know what? For that research, you are the winner. And you get this amazing song from Ryan. Emory Adkins. Hit it. 

Music [00:16:08] [Winner’s Song] 

Paul Scheer [00:16:39] All right. If you want to submit an alt tagline for the movie or chime in with your own thoughts about the latest episode. Hit us up on the discord at Discord.gg/HDTGM. Or call us at 619-PAULASK. Coming up. Jason and I tag team a some help line phone calls. We reveal next week’s movie and at the end of the episode, I will share an exclusive deleted scene from our Torque show. So stick around. 

Paul Scheer [00:17:04] All right, people. Just a heads up, Matinee Monday. Every Monday, we’re pulling episodes out of the vault, rereleasing them back into the rotation. And to get ready for Fast Ten, we have rereleased the Fate of the Furious with Adam Scott. And then after that, we will be finishing up our prep work with Fast Nine. So every week we’re getting you ready to go to the cinema to get ready for Fast ten. All right. This week on Just Chat. Jason, I decided to open up the help line and offer our expert opinions to a few listeners reaching out for advice. Hilary Gay, play us in. 

Music [00:17:55] [Help Line Song] 

Paul Scheer [00:17:57] All right, Jason, last time on Last Looks, we didn’t really talk about what we liked or what we were watching, but we did talk a lot about travel and we gave some advice. We helped people out. I got some more phone calls. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:18:08] Yeah. We blew. We blew people’s minds. We’ve revolutionized the way the audience travels with luggage, backpacks and packing cubes. 

Paul Scheer [00:18:16] This is actually going to be another, I think, really good question. This is going to be Trevor from Rhode Island. And the title of this is well, I’ll let him kind of set up his own question. Well, you know, we’ll know. Okay, here we go. 

Listener [00:18:28] Yeah. Hey, Paul, this is Trevor from Rhode Island, not Long Island, where I think you’re from. I got my girlfriend a lot for Christmas. So what’s that? Three months ago, it was expensive for me. You know, we’re talking a 1500 dollar watch, which is definitely more than is was in the budget. So I get her this watch and she claims to love it, but not the, like color. No problem. We exchange the watch for the same watch, but in like a gold instead of a rose gold. Get the watch. Says she loves it. It’s a gold and diamond watch. It’s beautiful. You know, I think she should love it. She’s had the opportunity to wear the watch a lot and she’s worn the watch, I think twice in, you know, a few months. And it’s always she’s always saying she forgot to wear it. I think she doesn’t like the watch. And I just want to know, is it appropriate for me to reclaim the watch and do something else with the watch? I’m calling you for help. Help me. Thanks. Love the show. I was in front row for Geostorm. Geostorm!

Paul Scheer [00:19:56] I love it, Trevor. Great call from Trevor from Rhode Island. Not Long Island. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:20:00]  Great question. 

Paul Scheer [00:20:01] This is actually a phenomenal question. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:20:05] Trevor from Massapequa? 

Paul Scheer [00:20:07] Massapequa, New York, trying to find out our good friend Mike Rosenstein, great guy, a producer of The Eric Andre Show and many other things. He is from Rhode Island and he has a shirt. I think of this guy, buddy, like everyone. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:20:22] Buddy Cianci. 

Paul Scheer [00:20:22] Yes, Buddy Cianci. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:20:24] Oh, yeah. Noted. Oh, like I’m not even going to get into it. Just Google Buddy Cianci. Or even better, listen to the Crime Town podcast. This is going back a number of years Crime Town podcast. It is an absolutely fascinating look into the organized crime. You know, all the organized crime in New England, specifically around crime boss Raymond Patriarca in Rhode Island, in Providence, Rhode Island. And then Buddy Cianci, who is a political figure who also gets bogged down and mired in all of this organized crime nonsense, and then also makes and sells his own pasta sauce. 

Paul Scheer [00:21:11] I got to listen to this because I know a little bit about this, this guy. And it’s so funny because Rhode Island to me seems so small and it seems like this is a very big operation going on. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:21:25] Oh, yeah. Oh, no. Raymond Patriarca was one of the biggest like crime, you know, mob figures in the second half of the 20th century, like a hugely powerful, you know, basically for a while, Providence was. I believe this is true. And somebody is going to correct me if I’m wrong. Providence was like you had the five families in New York and then you had, you know, the New England mob that was related. But Patriarca and then up in in Boston, you had like Whitey Bulger and all those folks. But Patriarca, was like the head of New England crime. 

Paul Scheer [00:21:59] Well, and this and just so you know, if you want to find this podcast, it is called Divine Providence. And that’s that is the crime town that I think they packaged it.

Jason Mantzoukas [00:22:11] Sorry, I get it. They’ve retitled it. 

Paul Scheer [00:22:15] They retitled it this like series. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:22:17] And I’m glad you said that. 

Paul Scheer [00:22:19] Divine providence you can find, I just typed in I’ve typed in crime down and that and that’s what came up So it’s Divine Providence and that’s like the series of this. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:22:26] It’s fantastic podcast and it’s one season. It’s really interesting. Great. If you like mob stories, this one is so funny and so surprising and super interesting. 

Paul Scheer [00:22:37] I love it. All right. So this is a good question. Trevor has bought an expensive gift for his girlfriend and not worried about it. Like he’s like, I’m going to buy her an expensive gift. This is a tricky thing because he buys her something that he thinks that she’s going to like. She returns it to get something that she likes even a bit more. But now she’s not wearing the expensive gift and he’s worried that she doesn’t really like it. And if she doesn’t really like it, can he take it back? And this is a complicated this is complicated because. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:23:09] I mean, I don’t think it’s that complicated. But but again, who knows? Like, you know, these are, you know, to me. And let me know what you think. I think, Trevor, what a great, great job. You know, going out, getting your girlfriend something that’s fantastic. Now. And his girlfriend seems to also be trying to do. Both of them seem to be doing their best. Right. He’s he’s made this generous offer. It does. I agree with you, Paul. Seem like she does not like the watch. And is in and in exchanging it for a slightly different version of the watch was trying to make it a little bit better but she I think is. It sounds like he bought her something. He even says I thought I think she should like it. He thinks she should like it. That’s not up to you, Trevor. It’s not up to you to decide what you think she she would like. What you should do is say, Hey, I think, go to her and say, hey, I, you know, I loved getting you this gift. It was wonderful. But based on the fact that you’re not wearing it, I think you might not like it, which is fine. I took a chance. Trevor, correct me if I’m wrong, but you didn’t buy a watch she saw in on a website or something in a window and said, I like that you went and got it. You. You decided what it was. Now she’s trying to make it work. But. But doesn’t have to. She doesn’t have to like your taste or what you think should be her taste. And so I would go to her and say, Can we return the watch and why don’t we shop together for something you would like and you would wear? I think you will be you will be happy that she’s wearing whatever you got her. And I think it’s hurting your feelings now that she’s not. 

Paul Scheer [00:24:51] Yeah. And I will say a couple of things too. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:24:55] I’m not married. 

Paul Scheer [00:24:55] No, but I think they know. But I think that you’re approaching this in the right way. I think that it’s hard to buy anyone. I have a big theory on stuff, which is I don’t think you should buy art for anyone. I don’t think that you should buy very expensive things for people unless you know exactly that they want that. Like, you know, like, for example, I know that June has mentioned at a certain point, like she wants a tennis bracelet like that kind of, you know, like that. You know that in my mind at one point, if I have the means, that’s something that I know I could probably nail to a certain degree. But I but I would put a lot of thought into it. I wouldn’t buy I wouldn’t just go out and buy her something willy nilly. I’ve bought June a really nice watch, an antique watch, because I knew that she liked something from that thing. So I really whenever I do spend money, I really think about that. But it’s very hard to buy art and jewelry, things like that. Anything personal, like a personal. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:25:58] I was just going to say anything that’s personal or that that feeling, that person might have a personal feeling about it and how it how they pay it, how it reflects on their personal asthetic or their like their what they perceive of as their style or whatever, anything that you’re buying that someone else has to wear every day or someone else has to say, “This is my taste.” I think that’s dangerous until you really are dialed in to their taste and even then you can make a mistake. And I just want to say to Trevor, you’re like, I feel like Trevor is almost mad about it, right? Maybe I’m mischaracterizing it. 

Paul Scheer [00:26:37] I think you’re right. I think he’s upset about it. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:26:40] You cannot be mad, Trevor. She has done nothing wrong just because she’s not received your gift the way you wanted it to be received. That’s not the that’s not the game, right? 

Paul Scheer [00:26:52] I think that when you do these purchases and this is how I kind of I’m going around, I’m going in a roundabout way when I do a purchase that I’m unsure about, the one thing that I make sure that I know is that I can return it. Right. I get myself an out and I give them an out like. And I say to them very matter of factly, like, I’m going to like, I’ve done this in the past where I will give a nice gift and I will let them, I say them. Because I think this is this is universal to a certain degree. If you’re spending money on something, even a good friend or whatever, like I want like have the moment, enjoy the gift. Oh my gosh, I love this watch. This is so great. Blah, blah, blah. And then what I’ll do on the sly as I’ll say, “Hey, by the way, here’s the gift receipt in case you want to return it.” It’s sort of like you can leave me out of it. Leave me out of it like. Not that I want, but it may make it easier for some people. Some people may not want to, like tell you. And that June could go off and return something I gave her. And then God bless. Like like I don’t have to know. It’s not a big deal that she got, you know, whatever. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:28:00] Well, I want somebody to have a thing that they’re going to be excited to have. 

Paul Scheer [00:28:05] Yes. Me too. That’s the thing. I want them to have something nice. Yeah. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:28:08] And that’s, you know, and you want you want that feeling. And I think Trevor, be careful of trying to chase the feeling of, like, a victory for you. The gift is for her. You know what I mean? It’s not so you can have a win. It’s so that she can have something she loves, Right? And you’re not always going to nail it. And that’s okay. You know, like. Like I remember when I was a kid, this almost reminds me of when I was a little kid. I got my mom a necklace for Christmas. That was C-3PO. And then, like, months later, I said, like, tears in my eyes. I only know this because it’s been told to me one of those stories. With tears in my eyes so upset, asking because I would ask my mom if she was going out or if we were going somewhere, if if she was going to wear it. 

Paul Scheer [00:29:02] Oh, I love that. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:29:04] And then I was upset because she wasn’t wearing it. She wasn’t wearing the C-3PO necklace. So then she she would she told me she would wear it out of the door, out the house to me, like I’m leaving. Goodbye. And then take it off. 

Paul Scheer [00:29:17] Oh, what a cute thing. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:29:19] Very cute. And then that C-3PO was turned into a Christmas tree ornament, which is pretty great. 

Paul Scheer [00:29:23] I love that. Now also we’ll put into the mix that the truth is, watches don’t go with everything. Like a guy. Like a guy may have like a couple of watches, unless you’re John Mayer or something like that, you know, like, Yeah. And then you got, like, a whole fucking, you know, closet full. But like. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:29:48] Watch closet. 

Paul Scheer [00:29:49] Watch closet. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:29:50] It’s like a that’s a that’s a Bob Duca list. Watch closet. 

Paul Scheer [00:29:53] I got a Rolex. Potemkin The but like, the. But I also would say like this, this Cartier watch that I got June, this, this, like, antique thing that I got her. She doesn’t wear that all the time. I see it occasionally because it just doesn’t go with everything that she does. There’s also sometimes where you get something that’s really nice and I know that like there are things that June doesn’t feel comfortable wearing every day or like jewelry is also like, it’s not like, “Well, I have it. I got to wear it.” Like, it may just. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:30:28] It’s an accessory. Yes. I think for for for I will say for women, I think watches and all that stuff is more in line with jewelry, stuff that can be changed out every day, stuff that goes, you know, different things go with different looks or different events or different things or that one versus a guy. Yeah, yeah. A guy throws a watch on and it doesn’t come off for like the next. I mean, I don’t wear a watch like a lot of guys just put a watch on it. It’s done, it’s there. 

Paul Scheer [00:30:53] Yeah, you got a watch and it’s like you. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:30:55] I wear that watch every day. See you later. It tells my time it’s right. It’s a tool. You know, it’s not necessarily the or unless you’re John Mayer and in which case I’m sure you swapping watches. 

Paul Scheer [00:31:04] You got a lot of watches and you got articles written about your watches. I mean, look, June got a beautiful gift. Someone gave her an Apple Watch. Now, I knew that she really was interested in this Apple Watch because she thought you could do all this stuff on it. But I also know that that’s not June’s aesthetic. She got like these, a nicer band for it. It looks good, but I would say 90% of the time, that Apple Watch is sitting, doesn’t move, doesn’t go anywhere. It just sits there and there’s there’s a and I know that she likes that she has it. I didn’t give her this Apple Watch. I have no guilt about it. But it’s like but she did get it. But that’s it and it just and that but she like. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:31:47] Also I feel very similar. I feel similarly. I have an Apple Watch and I feel I, I similarly, I don’t wear it all the time. It’s not like I don’t, it both because I don’t love the aesthetic and also because I don’t love having something there. Yes, I don’t love something like tight on my wrist. It that I don’t like my own feeling. 

Paul Scheer [00:32:06] Yes, I, I agree with you. I would go watchless. The thing that I love about my watch for the most part is I’m often away from my phone. And so now it’s been really great because it’s like just in the dad world of it all. Oh shit, Who’s calling me? Okay. Oh, June texted me like, there is something where I can’t afford to be checked out, so. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:32:27] And because I don’t have. Exactly. And because I don’t have any workflow. Parts of my life that need that, I don’t use it as much. And I feel like probably June feels the same way. If there was a way that it suddenly became integral to my day to have that watch. And to your point, boy, it would be great if I could get the watch going so that I could not have my phone out and in front of me as often. I think that’s a great goal that maybe to use the watch as a as a way to lessen the amount of time I’m looking at the phone. 

Paul Scheer [00:32:59] And that really has helped me because I’m never worried about like checking my phone for text because I can get it right here. Yeah. And then I’m like, and then I keep my phone away. Anyway, I think that this could be a moment that you should tread lightly for, because I think it’s not like I’m taking this gift back in the way that he kind of. Trevor. I don’t want to label you were saying, but it seemed like you were like, I want to repurpose it. Like, you don’t. Well, now I’ll give it to somebody else or like. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:33:25] No, I think, Trevor, I think if I’m not, Trevor, if you do, you can please call back and tell me I’m wrong. But I feel like Trevor sounds a little bit like his feelings are hurt. Yes, And he wants to a little bit, like, say, like, can I take it back? Can I do something else with it? And the answer is, of course you can. But I think you can do it in a way that is it’s both of you making that choice, that you can choose to take it back and be petty about it. Or you can lean into this as this relationship and say, let’s do this together and make it something that is for both of you. And then whatever you get for her with her is going to be that much more special verses if you get into an acrimonious thing about the watch because you’re butthurt that she doesn’t wear it enough the watch that you decided she should like, I don’t think you’re, that’s not going to be a great starting point. 

Paul Scheer [00:34:19] I will also say this. In a relationship, you owe it to your partner. On both sides, to be honest, when you know something is expensive and has changed hands. Like if I get a shirt I don’t love, I’m not going to go stand on circumstance and try to like I don’t really like it. I’ll return it. Like sometimes I’ll just eat shit, like as anything. Like, okay, it’s not my favorite thing, but I’ll wear it and I’ll wear it for you and whatever. But. When, if you know, money has been spent and this is an expensive gift, I also think that you owe it to your partner to be honest. And if you didn’t want that rose gold thing or or I don’t know where she stands on this. I think that that is also an important step of the relationship because a gift will never break a relationship. And if it does that, you shouldn’t be in that relationship because I think we all understand this idea like, Oh, it’s not my thing. I don’t really love it. I love the thought, I love the sentiment. I love that you thought of me and thought this is great. It’s just not my blank, it’s not my style. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:35:23] So here’s here’s the thing. I think that right now, not to belabor this, but right now, Trevor, both you and your girlfriend are experiencing a sense of anxiety or unease around this watch, and you’re experiencing it separately and as individuals, this is an opportunity for you to come together to solve this problem together and make this a both of you problem. Trust me. She will be happy to be brought into this conversation and you will be happy to be having it with her because both of you feel individually weird about the watch right now. She doesn’t love it. You want her to love it. That’s okay that she doesn’t love it. That’s not a rejection of you. 

Paul Scheer [00:36:09] The thought is what matters. And the truth is this is going to make your relationship better. If that’s the case. By the way, I also buy that there’s maybe a world in which she says actually I do like it. I just don’t wear it all the time. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:36:18] I feel like and I don’t know Paul if you I feel like this happens a lot with guys in engagement rings. 

Paul Scheer [00:36:24] That was my, that was really hard for me. I bought an engagement ring without knowing if June was going to like it. That was traumatic. And I feel like engagement rings should come with like a, like a little tag of like, you can return it. Like, I didn’t want to do the thing where I brought I wanted to propose to June with a ring. I think maybe I’m old fashioned in that way or and like I know this some people go shopping before and so like that. And I really debated it took me about three months to kind of find the ring and look and find that and I got something that I like that I could afford and I was really happy with it. And June really loved it. She’s since lost two of them. But, but and now we don’t have any of them. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:37:07] Well, she loves them so much that she’s turned it into a bit of a game. A scavenger hunt, if you will. 

Paul Scheer [00:37:14] I did say to her, I said I will. I said, I’m not going to buy you a third engagement ring. I, I because I know that she does love it and she’s lost. I think she lost it in our San Francisco show. I’m not quite sure. We were. Yes, she was. She had like a little she was moisturizing her hand that she thinks she took off in the dressing room and it’s forever lost. And the other time she lost it, she was she was shooting Long Shot. She was getting on a boat and someone was helping her on the boat and they just ripped it out of her hand. I know it’s didn’t even make the safe door, but yeah, so I mean, but anyway, that was a really traumatic thing, but I really tried to make sure, not traumatic but daunting. I wanted to make sure she liked and I did want to make sure that she felt like okay to say I don’t like it because I had a return window. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:38:02] Yeah, but that’s the thing is I feel like it causes a lot of anxiety, I think especially for younger couples who are, who do have a lot of like a lot of themselves put into things so that when it doesn’t go well, it seems like, Oh no, are you, are you rejecting me versus oh, no, you know, this might not be my aesthetic or this might not be what I want to wear every day. And that’s okay. It’s not a rejection of you. 

Paul Scheer [00:38:27] 100%. All right. Let’s take one more call and let’s see what we got here. This is our next call. I don’t even know this one’s about. All right? This one just titled Niece. And it’s from Ryan in Tarzana. Here we go. 

Listener [00:38:35] Hi, Paul. This is Ryan from Tarzana. My wife and I have a problem with our nine year old niece and her parents. My brother in law and his wife got divorced when my niece about a year ago. And they get divorced over parenting styles. And when I hang out with my niece, when it’s just me and my wife or with the brother in law, she acts like a normal nine year old, like she you know, she talks to school and all that stuff. But when we hang out with her mom, she regresses into a toddler state where she throws fit. She interrupts conversations. She doesn’t sit right, doesn’t eat your food. Then the worst of it, she’ll grab her mom’s sweater to try and pull her boobs out like she’s milking or nursing or something. And it’s just really embarrassing. So my wife and I are are wondering. We’re in a unique perspective. Should we give that feedback to the mom or should we just stay out of it? It’s really difficult to hang out with them and spend time with them. It’s kind of embarrassing seeing my niece behave this way. Anyway, let me know your thoughts. Thanks. Bye. 

Paul Scheer [00:39:43] All right. This is an interesting question. Wow. This is this is a lot to take in. Now, I know you you do a lot of work with your nieces. I mean, you have a great relationship with your nieces. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:39:52] Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. They are older. How old did he say this this niece is? 

Paul Scheer [00:39:56] She seems young. I mean, for the behavior that she’s displaying. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:39:58] It’s close enough to breastfeeding. 

Paul Scheer [00:40:01] Nine.  

Jason Mantzoukas [00:40:01] Nine? Wow. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Okay, hang on. Aye! Aye, Aye! 

Paul Scheer [00:40:09] Eeeh. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:40:09] Huh? This is interesting, you know? Wow. 

Paul Scheer [00:40:13] It’s complicated, right? 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:40:14] I didn’t love that he said the word milking. Didn’t. Didn’t. It shows. Ryan, I don’t. I don’t think it’s called milking, but okay. Yeah. This is a nine years old. That’s a shock. 

Paul Scheer [00:40:28] I will say this right off the gate. Like right out of the gate. I sometimes think. You have, even if you have a unique perspective, you’ve got to keep your mouth shut. I just, you know, I just don’t think you can get it. I don’t. Unless you’re willing to really upset everything. Sometimes you have to back out. I think. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:40:49]  I think yes. Oh, yes, I agree. And I also think, Ryan, you have to acknowledge and understand that you might be causing problems, further problems, for their co-parenting style if you start to inject or insert yourself into the mix. Yeah. And your point of view. Now, if you think real harm is being done, of course that’s a different story, to be clear. But this doesn’t necessarily sound like that. So I think that I mean, part of it is as uncomfortable as it is. I think you’re going to have to ride it out. Oh and try and maybe engage with your niece. Hmm. Even when she is being, you know, more of acting, more infantilized or acting like that, try and engage with your niece as a as a nine year old, as appealing to the older side or the more mature side that you deal with when she’s with her father, you know? 

Paul Scheer [00:41:50] Yeah, I believe that kids all deal with divorce in a very different way, right? And they all are as a as a child of somebody of parents who are divorced, you know, and I think it’s important. To have someone for the kid to talk to, like if there is a therapist to help make those transitions. Now, if you want to help facilitate that conversation without specifics. That might help. You know, I think that I always find. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:42:19] You’re you’re saying basically I think just so I’m clear, what you’re, you’re saying basically one way to approach this would be to not to talk about the parenting styles or anything like that, but to say macro. You know, the divorce can be so hard, you know. Do you think you know, I don’t know. Do you think the niece should be in therapy or are you guys in group therapy or family therapy? 

Paul Scheer [00:42:45] Yeah. I saw my my friend is also going through something similar and their kid really benefited from therapy, like, you know, like, like planting an idea or a seed or something.  

Jason Mantzoukas [00:42:58] With the acknowledgment that divorce itself can be difficult. Not blaming either parent or not saying something here is wrong. But just the idea of divorce can be so upsetting and uprooting to a family. Is there value in in therapy? Yes, absolutely. 

Paul Scheer [00:43:13] I do think that, you know, when you come direct at people, especially family, but people, their instinct is to get defensive. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:43:20] And especially about parenting. 

Paul Scheer [00:43:23] Oh my God. And I think that, you know, the best way to do this is continue to have conversations with them. You can maybe lead a conversation to a direction. Let them be the person who brings it up and and then try to find this way to kind of offload them to an idea that that may even like implant an idea in their head that they may think, oh, that’s my idea. That was a good idea. And now I’m feel like I want to do this. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:43:48] In that sense too where and I don’t know what their story is, obviously, Ryan. But like, does everybody need therapy? Yeah, like could. And I mean, the answer writ large is yes, everybody, everybody needs therapy. Not just these people here, but like, everybody could benefit from therapy. And if it’s if you are able to or if it’s accessible, that’s the if you can get people feeling like we might all benefit from talking to someone a few times or something like that, that could be invaluable. 

Paul Scheer [00:44:18] Especially kids who clearly there’s something going on here and we’re not child therapists, obviously. And and neither are you. And, you know, I think that the route here is like you’re trying to help the kid and you’re trying to help the kid without blaming the parents and also not letting the parents feel judged. And that’s important, too, because if they feel judged, they may not want to go for help because they don’t want to be judged by somebody else, too. And yeah, so, I mean, wow, we’ve really covered it all. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:44:44] That’s a tough one. That is a really tough one. And that’s a really tough one because you really it’s hard to, it’s family. It’s parenting styles, it’s children, you know, all this stuff that are real triggers for people. So yeah, while your your heart is in the right place, just tread lightly. 

Paul Scheer [00:45:00] And and I think and most importantly to, you know, be an ally to this young girl and make sure that, you know, like the most important thing and and this is what I think I feel about this which is I know we’re saying like don’t address the parents directly. But I think the important the reason why I say that is because then you will be able to remain in this kid’s life. And that may be more beneficial in the long run than saying something that doesn’t get you anywhere with the parents and then also eliminates you from seeing your niece and that and that and that. And even the stable is. You being stable is important for these kids to have. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:45:38] What does it sound like? You know, instability is probably one of the main reasons that this is going on. The divorce and the confusion or the changes and the transitions surrounding. So if you can be a stable force, say a a present adult in this in this young person’s life, that’s invaluable. 

Paul Scheer [00:46:02] Absolutely. Well, man, we’ve done it, Jason. We’ve really covered the whole, we’ve covered the whole gamut here. I mean, we really. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:46:07] Oh, really? And now we’re going to talk about The Mandalorian. No, I’m just kidding. 

Paul Scheer [00:46:12] Oh, man. Oh, man. All right. So people, you know, keep on letting us know. This is a very quick transition here to say, well, we’re gonna probably go back on the road in the summer. Where do you want us to go? I think, Jason, we were talking about hitting the East Coast a little bit. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:46:29] Yeah, we did the we did the Midwest. Yeah. In the fall. So I think yeah, East Coast. We’ve done some West Coast dates. I’d love to still do some more West Coast. 

Paul Scheer [00:46:37] But yeah, we’ve got some stuff to do so let us know in the Discord where you want us to go. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:46:42] And especially, I’d love to hear from people if we’ve never been to your city. Yes. You know, there’s cities that we’ve never done that I would that I’d love to do. And then, of course, there’s the places that we’ve been many times, like, you know, New York or Boston or whatever that I’d love to return to. 

Paul Scheer [00:46:57] But yeah, but also like and knowing that, like, we may not know that there’s a city that’s like, Oh no, we have like giant comedy shows that come through here, you know, But it’s, it’s Gary, Indiana, or something. We don’t know, like, you know, because oftentimes what we try to do is build in stops where you could drive like, okay, well, you can get there. You can get you know, and that’s why, you know, our Midwest tour I think covered a lot of area of like it may be a little bit of a drive but you can at least come. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:47:21] It’s very heartwarming when people are like, we drove 6 hours to get here. Yeah, you know, it’s very sweet and I love that. But, you know, we want people to be able to, especially people who never get to see us, except for like, the livestreams. We want you to come and see a live show. It’s fucking fun. 

Paul Scheer [00:47:37] Absolutely. So we’re looking forward to planning that. Get everything ready. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:47:40] Nashville. We’ve never been to Nashville. I’m throwing it out there. I want to play the Ryman. 

Paul Scheer [00:47:46] Oh, my gosh. That would be a blast. I think Mike has talked to us about that. That’d be great. All right. Well, we got so much to do here. Jason. Pleasure as always. And we’ll talk soon. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:47:54] Yeah. 

Paul Scheer [00:47:55] Thank you again to Jason and our callers for asking for our advice. Okay. In place of Paul’s help line, Jason and I will continue to answer listener calls from time to time. So please give us a call at 619-PAULASK. And to all of you singer songwriters out there once again, please send us your songs at HowDidThisGetMade@Earwolf.com. But don’t send us like your song. Send us songs for this episode. That would be what we’re looking for. I mean, God bless your songs. I’m happy for you, but I don’t need them. I’ll listen to him. Send me a link. All right, You know what? I’ll be on the cover of any of your albums. Don’t worry about it. Now that we got to Torque out of the way, let’s talk about next week’s movie. We’re going from two wheels to four wheels. That’s right. Next week we are going back to where the Fast Saga first started with 2001’s the Fast and the Furious. All right. I cannot wait. We finally have done the first one of these. And I know you’re thinking, Paul, is this too much Fast and Furious content? Well, you know what? Suck it up. Because we have been waiting for this. We’re building to a moment. This is our New Year’s Eve in the middle of summer. And if you’ve not seen Fast and Furious one, all you’ve got to know is this. The new guy shows up. His name is Brian O’Conner. Is he cool? Is he not? Anyway, he’s trying to find out some information about this L.A. Street racing gang who uses souped up cars and harpoon guns to steal DVD players from moving trucks. When Brian becomes enamored with the street racing world, he must decide where his loyalties lie as a cop or a bad guy. Now, by the way, I tried to take out the reference to the fact that Brian O’Conner is a cop because that is a spoiler. But I guess, you know, at at this point, you all know that. Rotten Tomatoes gives this film a 54% score on the tomato meter. And Andrew Anthony from the Guardian Observer says “Not point break so much as pointless.” Oh, slam. All right, let’s do the trailer. 

Trailer Audio [00:49:54] I live my life a quarter mile at a time for those 10 seconds or less I’m free. In this world, the only thing more dangerous than the risks they take. Whatever it is you’re in on. I want in on it too. Is the truth. You a cop? Fast and the furious. Drive safe. Rate PG-13. 

Trailer Audio [00:50:19] You can stream the Fast and Furious on TNT, Direct TV apps, and you can rent it on Apple TV, prime video, YouTube or Google Play and of course, Hoopla your library source for all things free from your local library. Now, we have a deleted scene coming up. But first, let me remind you to rate and review the show. It helps. And if you listen on Apple Podcasts, make sure you’re following us. Visit us on social media and for commercial free access to How Did This Get Made in our entire archive and so much more. Sign up for Stitcher Premium for a one month free trial. Use the code BONKERS. A big thank you to our producers, Scott Sonne and Molly Reynolds, our movie picking producer Avril Halley, our engineer Alex Gonzales, our publisher July Diaz, and Jess Cisneros, who makes our amazing social media videos. All right. I promised you a deleted scene. And here we go. I wanted to call attention to a corrections and omissions submission from a Discord user named Jabba Joe, who wrote in to say that we forgot to talk about the scene where Adam Scott uses a giant prop key to start his car. Well, Jabba Joe, we did forget to discuss that during the show, but an audience member did bring it up during the Q&A. So take a listen to this bonus deleted scene from our Torque show where we talk about Adam Scott’s Giant key and a whole lot more. 

Paul Scheer [00:51:34] Okay, sir, your name, your gang name and your question. 

Audience Member [00:51:38] My name is Tom. My gang name is the Torquelsons. 

Paul Scheer [00:51:41] Love it. 

Audience Member [00:51:42] My question was anybody else known as Adam Scott’s Giant Key? 

Paul Scheer [00:51:46] Oh, yeah. When he starts the car, it almost looks like he puts a hard drive. Like an old school, like g tech, external hard drive into. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:51:55] It’s another one of those. Like, there’s a lot of music video shots in this where it’s hyper close up. You also have a number of shots that appear to suggest that the interior of a motorcycle has a nervous system like a human body. Like they move through the motorcycle’s interior. But what’s in there seems to be veins and heart and like like body parts. 

Jon Gabrus [00:52:22] That’s the bodywork that they’re referring to. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:52:24] I was like, Please let David Cronenberg direct Torque 2. 

Jon Gabrus [00:52:32] On that giant key. We see a P.O.V. of Underneath the Train tracks. This gives us the P.O.V. of a keyhole in a car, in a Hummer receiving a key. It’s very phallic and exciting. 

Paul Scheer [00:52:43] I also think that Adam Scott’s character was equipped with the rig that they used to put on that MTV show called Scared. Remember that? It was like a show where there were, like teenagers in a haunted house. Oh, fear. Fear. Yeah. The camera is like, right here. So you’re just watching people go Ah! Ah! Ah!. And because there’s shots when his car flips, it’s like, Ahhh! 

Jon Gabrus [00:53:09] That’s that’s the best part of the movie is when he floors it. She’s like, What are you doing? He’s like, Those two motorcycles made it. The Hummer does like a perfect corkscrew, like 12 fucking times. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:53:19] Lands lands on top of another car. 

Jon Gabrus [00:53:21] Yeah. And then he goes. He goes, Yeah, Shut up. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:53:27] There’s a bunch of bad ADR. 

June Diane Raphael [00:53:29] That made me laugh. I literally laughed out loud. I was crying. Shut up. So funny. 

Paul Scheer [00:53:37] But I also like. And they feel like what that moment really brought out to me was how much we don’t scream in movies. Like he was in a death defying moment. He’s like, Ahhhh! Like. Like I feel like movies would be so much better if, like, everyone’s like, Ahhhhh! 

Jon Gabrus [00:53:56] Every movie should be 4 hours long and have 20 minute sequences where every character is like, What the fuck, dude? We were on top of the fucking train. Are you kidding me? 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:54:06] Ford. The movie takes place in what I’m going to say, 7 hours. The number of things that happened to Ford in those seven hours. 

Jon Gabrus [00:54:16] We’re supposed to believe he landed from Thailand that morning. 

June Diane Raphael [00:54:20] Wow, the jet lag. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:54:21] Just the end of the movie. At the end of the movie, he rides the the motorcycle that breaks the sound barrier through the city streets and it double spirals, lands on top of the bad guys motorcycle. It explodes. He’s rocketed forward, a bus, almost runs his head over the tire, goes right here. 

Jon Gabrus [00:54:43] And he shrugs. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:54:45] Shane’s like, should we get out there? And he’s like, All right, I’m cool. 

Paul Scheer [00:54:51] Torque. 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:54:52] Oh, can I just interrupt for one second? I’m so sorry. But just before the line, which you guys said where the car flips over and he goes, Shut up. He says, ADR’d line, thank God for air bags. 

Jon Gabrus [00:55:02] Right. Right. Because some executive was like, How do they live? 

Jason Mantzoukas [00:55:06] Can we put a joke in there?