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FH Mini 148 - Stand-Up Movies, with Matt Koff
Transcript
[0:00]
Hey!
Stuart Wellington
[0:08]
Welcome to another Flophouse Mini.
[0:14]
That's an episode of the Flophouse that is shorter than a regular episode.
[0:18]
It's what we release on the off weeks.
[0:20]
Normally we watch a bad movie and talk about it,
[0:22]
but this week we're going to be doing something a little bit different.
[0:25]
Today, I'm your host, Stuart Wellington, and joining me are...
[0:29]
Dan McCoy.
[0:30]
Elliot Kalin.
[0:34]
And Elliot Kalin.
[0:36]
That's right.
[0:36]
We are joined by our stand-up comedy expert, Matt Koff.
[0:43]
Friend of the podcast.
[0:44]
You've been on the show before, right?
[0:45]
I have.
[0:46]
I think you filled in for me, which those are big shoes.
[0:49]
Yeah, it was not easy.
[0:50]
Okay.
[0:50]
Well, I think you did a lovely job.
[0:52]
So our stand-up comedy expert is perfect because we're not here in the Flophouse.
[0:56]
We are in the L-M-A-O-H-O-U-S-E.
[1:00]
That's right.
[1:01]
And we are talking about stand-up comedy.
[1:04]
I don't know why you had to spell out house.
[1:07]
Well, I was already spelling out L-M-A-O, right?
[1:10]
That's true.
[1:10]
That's a good point.
[1:11]
Might as well just keep going.
[1:12]
Spelling out the word L-M-A-O.
[1:13]
There's some logic in there, right?
Elliott Kalan
[1:14]
Yeah, that makes sense.
[1:15]
Yeah.
Stuart Wellington
[1:15]
So we're going to be talking about stand-up comedy in the movies.
[1:20]
The first part of today's show, we're going to be talking about movies about stand-up comedy.
[1:25]
And after that, we're going to talk a little bit about stand-up comedians who become movie stars.
[1:32]
Now, for this first part, we're talking about stand-up comedy in the movies.
[1:36]
I'm going to talk about it.
[1:37]
I'm going to mention the names of movies.
[1:39]
And you are going to weigh in.
[1:41]
I'm going to especially be leaning heavily on Matt here.
[1:44]
Lean in, weigh in on whether or not this is an accurate depiction of stand-up comedy and whether or not this is a good movie or not.
[1:54]
Obviously, my two co-hosts, Dan Nellie, can also chime in.
[1:57]
You don't just have to sit there twiddling your thumbs like Elliot's doing right now.
Dan McCoy
[2:02]
And this is predicated on us remembering these movies.
Stuart Wellington
[2:08]
I sent you the movie list ahead of time.
[2:11]
I sent you to watch them all.
[2:12]
Sorry.
[2:12]
Sorry.
Elliott Kalan
[2:13]
I didn't do the homework.
[2:14]
Dan is just saying the subtext that every episode of The Flophouse is predicated on the idea that we remember the movie that we're talking about.
[2:20]
Yes.
Stuart Wellington
[2:21]
Okay.
[2:21]
So, obviously.
Elliott Kalan
[2:22]
Ever since that time when we were covering Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Dan got hit on the head with a coconut right before recording.
[2:28]
Mm-hmm.
Stuart Wellington
[2:30]
We all remember that.
[2:32]
Yeah.
[2:32]
Except for Dan.
[2:32]
Except for Dan, obviously.
[2:34]
What?
[2:34]
So, obviously, if you have not seen this movie, like, to be honest, I haven't seen half the movies I'm going to ask you guys about.
[2:41]
You can gloss over it or make it up.
[2:42]
That's why we're doing a podcast.
[2:43]
Okay.
[2:44]
Okay.
[2:44]
So, first one is...
[2:45]
There's nothing in the rulebook that says a podcast has to be accurate.
[2:48]
Thank you.
[2:49]
Mm-hmm.
[2:50]
First up is Mr. Saturday Night.
[2:53]
Have you guys seen Mr. Saturday Night?
[2:54]
This is...
[2:54]
Okay.
Dan McCoy
[2:55]
So, this is Billy Crystal.
[2:56]
William Crystal.
[2:56]
William Crystal.
[2:57]
Yeah.
[2:57]
Playing sort of a Borscht Belt comic.
[2:59]
Uh-huh.
[2:59]
It's a period piece.
[3:01]
You know, it covers a whole life.
[3:02]
I have not seen it.
Elliott Kalan
[3:05]
I also have...
[3:06]
It's a diner scene.
[3:07]
Oh, yeah.
[3:07]
I also have not seen it.
[3:09]
All I remember is from the...
[3:11]
You know, I've seen one scene, which is when he's an old man and he's been relegated to doing a commercial for an adult diaper.
[3:18]
I remember seeing that scene and he finds it beneath him.
[3:20]
Uh-huh.
[3:21]
And I remember the line from the...
[3:22]
Literally.
[3:22]
The line from the commercial where someone asks...
[3:25]
He's like talking about the table.
[3:27]
He got a restaurant.
[3:27]
He goes, oh, it's the best...
[3:28]
Would you...
[3:29]
Is there somewhere else you'd like to eat?
[3:31]
Oh, Madonna's breasts, but there's too long a line or something like that.
[3:34]
The kind of joke that's not really funny, but it's delivered as if it's funny, you know.
Dan McCoy
[3:38]
And you have to think about that one.
[3:40]
Now, in this movie, I believe he was like either in a comedy team...
[3:45]
Yes, David Pamer is also in it and plays his brother.
[3:46]
Yes, yeah.
[3:47]
Oh, yeah.
[3:47]
Okay.
[3:48]
So, it is his brother.
[3:49]
I thought...
[3:49]
I was like, I think it's his brother and like they're either in a comedy team together and Pamer gets left behind or like Pamer's like kind of his agent or something.
[3:56]
I think he's like his agent or his manager, but I've never seen the whole movie.
[3:59]
You guys are pretty good.
[4:00]
We know a lot about this movie we've never seen.
S4
[4:02]
This movie that we haven't seen.
[4:03]
I remember a trailer.
[4:05]
I remember thinking it's a bad stand-up comedy, but it doesn't seem like a fun movie.
[4:09]
No.
[4:10]
Yeah.
[4:10]
It's kind of counterintuitive.
Elliott Kalan
[4:12]
I remember wanting to see it because I thought it was going to be a comedy and my parents telling me, no, that's not going to be a funny movie.
[4:17]
It's not really a funny movie.
[4:18]
But the trailer, the commercials made it seem like it was about, it was a funny movie about a comedian.
Stuart Wellington
[4:23]
This was around the City Slickers era, right?
[4:26]
It's a little bit after City Slickers, I think.
Elliott Kalan
[4:28]
When Billy Crystal had a blank check to make whatever he wanted.
Stuart Wellington
[4:31]
Yeah, that was what it was.
Elliott Kalan
[4:32]
It was pre-Curley's Gold, I imagine.
Stuart Wellington
[4:34]
Maybe.
[4:35]
Well, after we learned about it.
[4:37]
That's how he got the blank check is he paid for it with Curley's Gold.
Dan McCoy
[4:39]
Curley's Gold, everything changed after that, of course.
Elliott Kalan
[4:42]
You know, and I'm going to look up Billy Crystal.
[4:43]
These are questions that we have the answers to.
[4:45]
So let me just see.
[4:46]
You guys keep talking.
[4:47]
How come there's no Fernando movie?
Dan McCoy
[4:49]
How come there is no Fernando movie?
S4
[4:50]
You look marvelous.
[4:52]
I was watching.
Elliott Kalan
[4:53]
Wait, was that his character on?
[4:55]
SNL.
[4:55]
That was one of his characters on SNL.
[4:57]
Of course, the movie I think he would prefer to make is the one where he plays Sammy Davis Jr.,
[5:03]
a part that he did in Blackface on SNL for a long time.
S4
[5:08]
And it will be directed by Spike Lee.
Elliott Kalan
[5:11]
There you go.
[5:12]
So City Slickers is 91.
[5:14]
Mr. Saturday Night is 92.
[5:15]
City Slickers 2 is 94.
[5:17]
So yeah, Mr. Saturday Night is nestled right between the two City Slickers.
Stuart Wellington
[5:20]
It's a little one for them, one for me situation.
Elliott Kalan
[5:23]
I have this bad movie I want to make.
[5:26]
Now's the time.
[5:27]
And then according to his Wikipedia filmography, it goes 1995, Forget Paris, which he also wrote and directed.
[5:31]
1996, Hamlet.
[5:33]
That's Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet.
[5:34]
Right.
[5:34]
Which he's played the Gravedigger.
[5:36]
Yeah.
[5:36]
And then Father's Day.
[5:38]
Yeah.
[5:39]
Wow.
Stuart Wellington
[5:40]
Okay.
[5:40]
So we got a lot of these to go through.
[5:41]
So I think we came to a conclusion on that one.
S4
[5:43]
Do you want me to keep reading you Billy Crystal's filmography?
[5:46]
Do The Princess Bride.
[5:48]
The Princess Bride was earlier than that.
[5:49]
Just do it, though.
[5:50]
Okay.
[5:51]
But I still like that one.
[5:51]
Yeah.
Stuart Wellington
[5:53]
The King of Comedy.
[5:55]
King of Comedy.
[5:56]
I just watched that.
[5:57]
Okay.
[5:58]
Yeah.
[5:59]
I'll tell you all about it.
[6:00]
So what I meant, whether it's accurate or not?
[6:02]
Is it accurate and is it a good movie?
S4
[6:03]
It is accurate and it's depicted of mental illness.
[6:07]
A hundred percent.
[6:08]
I would say that's mild compared to what I see today at the average comedy club.
[6:13]
That's how you got your special is you took Jerry Lewis hostage, right?
[6:18]
Exactly.
[6:19]
I was like, give me $15,000.
Dan McCoy
[6:22]
I also think it's accurate to some degree in that it shows that attitude is more important
[6:28]
than material.
[6:30]
Yeah.
[6:31]
He delivers things as if he is a comedian and then actually gets some actual laughs when
[6:35]
he gets his chance.
[6:37]
And the material's not good.
S4
[6:38]
You should come to a comedy club because that's mostly it.
[6:41]
Yeah.
[6:42]
But yeah, no, it is funny.
Stuart Wellington
[6:44]
It's a little bit scary as most comedy clubs.
[6:46]
Mm-hmm.
S4
[6:47]
He's like the antagonist for most of the movie.
[6:50]
Yeah.
[6:50]
Antihero.
[6:51]
Antihero.
[6:52]
Sure.
[6:52]
Yeah.
[6:53]
But then you're like, oh, people love him.
[6:55]
And I'm like, this is a very good depiction of stand-up comedy.
Elliott Kalan
[6:59]
I like to believe that Joker is a sequel to King of Comedy and it's the same Robert De Niro character.
[7:04]
And so when Joker pulls out the gun, right, he's like, well, what goes around comes around.
Stuart Wellington
[7:09]
You know, this is, can't say I didn't earn this.
[7:12]
Joker is later in this list of questions.
[7:14]
But I guess we can talk about that one too.
[7:16]
How's that, how accurate is Joker?
Elliott Kalan
[7:18]
I think Joker is accurate in some ways in that if you have bad material, people will not want to hear it.
[7:25]
And you're also bad at performing it.
[7:27]
There's that part in Joker where Robert De Niro's character goes out of his way to show footage of an amateur comedian at an open mic night bombing so that he can make fun of it on TV.
[7:37]
And I was like, I assume this is like a dream that the character is having because it doesn't make sense why the host of a late night talk show would show amateur stand-up and then make fun of it as if anyone cares.
[7:49]
But then he's a guest on the show later on.
[7:51]
So I guess it's, and he kills him.
[7:53]
So I guess it, it just, it's hard for me to imagine them doing that.
[7:56]
You know, that seems like more of a Tosh type thing to do.
[8:00]
Okay.
Stuart Wellington
[8:01]
And good movie.
[8:02]
Good movie, King of Comedy.
[8:04]
King of Comedy, yeah.
[8:05]
King of Comedy is a real good movie.
[8:06]
Love a movie.
[8:08]
Funny People.
[8:10]
How accurate to real life is the movie Funny People starring Adam Sandler?
[8:15]
Well, life is long and so is that movie.
Elliott Kalan
[8:18]
That's true.
[8:19]
Now, I only watched the first half of that movie.
[8:21]
I checked out, I think, during the scene where Seth Rogen and I think Ray Romano are heckling Adam Sandler and Eminem as they have dinner.
[8:30]
And I said, this movie is not for me.
[8:32]
This was made for a different type of, a different status of person than I am.
[8:36]
But is it, so I didn't see the rest of the movie.
[8:38]
Is it, is it accurate?
[8:39]
I know the part, the only part that struck me as really inaccurate was when Jonah Hill realizes that Seth Rogen deliberately left him out of a major professional career boost.
[8:49]
And he seems to forgive him very quickly, like, in the next scene.
[8:52]
I'm like, oh, they're not friends anymore.
[8:54]
This is not, that friendship is over, you know.
Dan McCoy
[8:57]
I mean, I will say that, like, let's stipulate up front that I don't know that I've seen a movie about stand-up where I found any of the stand-up particularly funny.
[9:06]
Like, that is across the board.
[9:08]
It's just like, well, apparently we can't do this.
[9:11]
Even though stand-up is a thing that gets filmed all the time and is funny often.
[9:15]
But we can't put it in a movie.
[9:18]
But funny people at least comes close.
[9:20]
Like, it's got actual stand-ups.
[9:23]
It's got comic actors who have dabbled in doing that kind of thing.
[9:27]
And they're performing material that is better than other fake stand-up in movies.
[9:34]
So, I guess good on it for that.
S4
[9:38]
Yeah, who's in the – I don't remember who the stand-ups were.
[9:40]
I know Aziz is in there, right?
[9:42]
Yeah, yeah.
Elliott Kalan
[9:43]
I can't remember who else.
[9:44]
I mean, I feel like the only good fake stand-up I've seen is not every episode, but in several of the episodes of Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
[9:52]
She'll be doing stand-up.
[9:53]
And I'm like, yeah, that's a funny – like, that's a funny bit.
[9:55]
And she's selling it pretty well, you know.
Stuart Wellington
[9:56]
Those were probably all the jokes a friend of the podcast, Josh Gondelman, wrote.
Dan McCoy
[9:59]
But even that, like that – I mean, maybe it doesn't matter because it's a period piece, but it is like older style stand-up where I'm like, well, it's not a lot of jokes necessarily.
[10:11]
She's talking about stuff.
Elliott Kalan
[10:13]
I don't know about that, but maybe you didn't see the right episodes.
[10:16]
She's doing like prop work, right?
Stuart Wellington
[10:17]
I haven't seen it, but she's doing like smashing shit.
[10:20]
She takes out a guitar and does a lot of novelty songs.
Elliott Kalan
[10:22]
Yeah, that kind of stuff.
[10:23]
Oh, that's cool.
[10:23]
But I think part of the issue is that in real life stand-up jokes, there's like different variations of laughter that you get.
[10:31]
But in movies, often any joke a stand-up tells, unless they are bombing, and that's the point for the story, the audience is just loving it and falling all over themselves laughing.
[10:40]
And it's as much laughter as you can get.
[10:42]
And I think it's very hard.
[10:43]
No stand-up act, I think, lives up to the idea that every single joke is just a nonstop, you know, gut buster.
[10:50]
Well, my stand-up special does.
S4
[10:52]
Oh, I mean, except for my roles of other than that.
Stuart Wellington
[10:54]
This is a lovely segue for Matt to promote his upcoming stand-up special.
S4
[10:59]
But you bring up a very good point, which is that so much of stand-up in general is medium laughter.
[11:06]
Yeah.
Stuart Wellington
[11:06]
Or pity laughter.
S4
[11:08]
I don't know if there's ever been a movie where it's kind of like the audience doesn't find it that funny, but they acknowledge that a joke has been told, so they kind of give a courtesy laugh.
[11:18]
Yeah.
Dan McCoy
[11:18]
What's the Will Arnett movie that just came out?
S4
[11:20]
Oh, is this thing on?
[11:22]
Yeah.
[11:22]
Later on in the movie.
[11:23]
There's some pity laughter in there.
Dan McCoy
[11:24]
I haven't seen that one.
[11:25]
Did you like that?
[11:27]
I liked it okay.
[11:27]
I liked it better as like a movie about marriage than a movie about comedy, but.
Stuart Wellington
[11:31]
I find it kind of fascinating that Bradley Cooper continues to make movies about people in other artistic fields.
Elliott Kalan
[11:38]
I think he's really fascinated by, yeah, creative people in that way.
Stuart Wellington
[11:42]
He's curious.
[11:43]
He's curious about it.
[11:43]
I like that, my filmmakers.
Elliott Kalan
[11:45]
Yeah, whether it's a movie about comedy, a movie about conducting, a movie about a bad boy chef.
[11:50]
I don't think he directed that one, but he was in it, right?
Stuart Wellington
[11:52]
Or a drunk musician.
[11:56]
Yeah.
[11:57]
Specifically a drunk musician.
[11:58]
He's curious about how drunk music works.
[12:02]
And then he opened up a cheesesteak place.
[12:04]
That's crazy.
Dan McCoy
[12:06]
It is crazy.
Stuart Wellington
[12:07]
It's kind of crazy.
[12:08]
Have you been to that place?
[12:09]
I hear it's good.
[12:10]
Like Coop and Buddies or something?
[12:11]
Buddies and Coops or something?
[12:12]
Coop and Coop.
[12:13]
It's something like that.
[12:14]
I don't know.
[12:16]
Sounds more like a chicken place today.
[12:17]
It does.
[12:18]
It does sound like that, yeah.
[12:20]
Okay, so we've covered a couple of things.
[12:22]
But wait, did you see, you've seen, is this thing on?
[12:26]
Yeah.
[12:27]
Yeah.
[12:27]
I was.
[12:28]
Was it on?
Dan McCoy
[12:29]
Is it a spoiler?
[12:30]
Oh, boy.
[12:31]
It was on.
[12:33]
You know, like it was one of the few movies I went out to see in the theater because there was a guild screening.
Stuart Wellington
[12:39]
Because you wanted the 4D experience?
Dan McCoy
[12:41]
Yeah.
[12:42]
No, I'm just like, you know, like plenty of this stuff comes to you via screener.
[12:46]
But I'm like, oh, you know, I'll actually go to a theater and watch a movie that the guild is putting out.
[12:51]
I did not stay around for the Q&A, even though I was asked to.
Stuart Wellington
[12:55]
Who was the Q&A with?
[12:57]
Was Laura Dern there?
[12:58]
I have no idea.
[12:59]
If Laura Dern was there, I would have stayed.
S4
[13:00]
Did they personally ask you?
[13:02]
Or did they just ask the, Dan, you're going to need to be here for the Q&A?
[13:05]
You know.
Dan McCoy
[13:07]
Dan, we told Mr. Cooper that you would be here.
S4
[13:11]
There's going to be cheese sticks.
Dan McCoy
[13:14]
No, you know, you guys know.
[13:16]
When you get those emails, they're like, please, out of courtesy, stick around for the Q&A.
Elliott Kalan
[13:20]
Yeah, because it's very dispiriting to, I imagine, to show your movie and then you come out for the Q&A and the audience is often in the middle of leaving as the Q&A is starting.
[13:31]
Wait, is that my coat?
[13:33]
Is that my coat?
Dan McCoy
[13:34]
But they need to understand that Q&As are almost always bad and there's a reason why we leave.
Elliott Kalan
[13:39]
Every now and then, there's a reason to stay at one of those Q&As.
[13:43]
And I stay at them now if only because I remember seeing a guild screening of Frost Nixon, which a movie I think is fine.
[13:50]
You know, it's okay.
[13:51]
And Ron Howard and the screenwriter were going to talk afterwards with the moderator.
[13:55]
And I'm like, I'll stay.
[13:57]
And John Waters was in the audience.
[13:58]
And he goes, I love that you had the girl from The Bad Seed play Pat Nixon.
[14:03]
That was a great touch.
[14:05]
And you could tell Ron Howard, I think, had either forgotten or didn't know that this actress had been the girl in the bed.
[14:09]
He's like, oh, oh, yeah, yeah, of course.
[14:11]
Yeah, sure.
[14:12]
And I just, I would love being there for the moment where I'm like, this is what John Waters specifically zeroed in on in this movie.
[14:18]
No, that's great.
Dan McCoy
[14:19]
I saw if I had legs, I'd kick you.
[14:22]
And Mary Braunstein was there and did a Q&A.
[14:24]
And I really enjoyed the Q&A.
[14:26]
I don't always fail.
[14:28]
But I want the option.
Stuart Wellington
[14:30]
I don't always fail.
[14:31]
But when I do, it's, is this thing on?
[14:33]
If you're the person responsible for sending out fancy screening Q&A invites, Dan doesn't automatically storm off.
Dan McCoy
[14:43]
Yeah, it's so fucking fancy.
[14:45]
You go up to a person who's sitting at a folding table.
[14:49]
Ooh.
[14:50]
Oh, they can afford table.
[14:51]
They look for your name.
[14:52]
And they're like, uh, what guild are you in?
[14:56]
It's so fancy, man.
Elliott Kalan
[14:57]
Dan doesn't always get up when the credits are rolling and go, what is this shit?
[15:01]
And then walk out of the theater.
Stuart Wellington
[15:04]
I'm disappointed in you, Bradley Cooper.
[15:08]
And you show up, I'm assuming, in Ugg boots and sweatpants.
[15:13]
Well, Dan showed up in limitless cosplay.
Elliott Kalan
[15:16]
He thought Bradley Cooper was going to sign his limitless costume.
Dan McCoy
[15:19]
Yeah.
[15:19]
Oh, yeah.
[15:20]
That's why I was mad.
[15:21]
Yeah.
[15:21]
Okay.
Stuart Wellington
[15:21]
So on to our next movie, Punchline.
[15:25]
Punchline.
Elliott Kalan
[15:25]
So this is with Tom Hanks, right?
[15:27]
Uh-huh.
[15:27]
And Sally Field.
[15:28]
Yeah.
[15:28]
And I've never seen this movie.
[15:30]
The only thing I know is our fellow former Daily Show colleague, Rory Albanese, would
[15:35]
always point out how the characters have a, there's a dressing room with lockers for all the
[15:39]
comedians backstage.
[15:40]
And he'd be like, when do I get my locker?
[15:42]
I don't understand.
[15:43]
I love hanging out around the lockers after a stand-up show.
[15:46]
That really stuck out to him.
[15:48]
What do you put in there?
Stuart Wellington
[15:50]
You're like, props and shit?
[15:51]
Your notebook.
[15:52]
Rubber chicken.
[15:53]
Consulting.
[15:53]
Yeah.
[15:54]
Yeah.
S4
[15:55]
All your rubber chickens.
[15:57]
You know.
[15:58]
Don't you guys know about stand-up?
Elliott Kalan
[15:59]
Well, when you show up at a club, you're lucky if they have a loaner rubber chicken, if you
[16:03]
forgot yours.
[16:04]
But often you have to bring your own.
S4
[16:06]
You have to desanitize it, obviously.
[16:09]
There's usually a bucket.
Elliott Kalan
[16:12]
Yeah.
[16:12]
Just like at a strip club where they have to wipe the bowl down.
[16:15]
Yeah, exactly.
[16:15]
You've got to take handy wipes and wipe down the chicken.
[16:18]
But yeah, I've never seen it.
[16:19]
I remember the commercials for it again, but I was just a wee kid.
[16:22]
I never saw it.
[16:22]
Do you guys see it?
Dan McCoy
[16:23]
I've seen it because it was – I've said before on the podcast, for whatever reason, my parents
[16:31]
would not go out to see movies.
[16:33]
We're very frugal in all these other ways.
[16:36]
But they were a very early adopter of HBO.
[16:38]
So I saw all of these movies over and over again.
[16:42]
And Punchline was one that was on HBO a lot.
[16:46]
And yeah, it's not – it is the classic bad movie about stand-up, I think.
[16:52]
It's like – I didn't know at the time.
[16:55]
I was like, yeah, I guess this is what stand-up's like.
[16:57]
You get these little lockers in the back.
[16:59]
You'll hang out.
[17:01]
It's the same like six people at the show every night at the same theater.
[17:07]
I guess that's –
Stuart Wellington
[17:07]
Yeah, it's kind of like Flashdance.
Dan McCoy
[17:09]
But yeah, in retrospect, it is nutty.
[17:13]
That movie does not seem to know anything about what it's about.
Stuart Wellington
[17:17]
Okay, moving on.
[17:19]
We have Top 5 starring Chris Rock.
[17:22]
Have you seen this?
[17:23]
Oh, I forgot about that movie.
[17:24]
I have not seen it.
S4
[17:25]
Matt looks like he is trying to remember whether he has seen it or not.
[17:29]
I have seen it, but I don't remember actually anyone doing stand-up in it.
Stuart Wellington
[17:34]
I think he is a stand-up and he wants to do a comeback maybe.
[17:39]
Oh, okay.
[17:40]
Or maybe he wants to be an actor.
[17:41]
I don't remember exactly.
[17:42]
Yeah, I definitely remember leaving thinking this is okay, this movie.
[17:47]
I feel like I remember Leslie Jones giving a stand-out performance and that's kind of it.
[17:51]
Right, yeah, yeah.
[17:53]
Okay, then – and then we've already covered is this thing on in Joker.
[17:59]
So the last one is Dolomite is my name.
[18:03]
Dolomite is my name.
Elliott Kalan
[18:04]
Well, from my time in the black clubs of the 1970s –
[18:08]
I mean, I've seen that movie.
[18:11]
That's a good movie.
[18:12]
It's a good movie.
[18:13]
Yeah.
S4
[18:14]
I think it really captures my experience as a stand-up.
[18:19]
Most accurately of any movie on this list.
[18:23]
Yeah.
[18:23]
Matt Coff is my name, sure, but everything else matches up.
Dan McCoy
[18:27]
The way you released those sort of like – those obscene vinyls and then you managed to turn that into being the lead in some sort of kung fu movies.
Elliott Kalan
[18:39]
I like turned that into being the lead as if he didn't produce and direct those movies.
[18:43]
I rolled into it, yeah.
[18:44]
I just had a maneuver.
S4
[18:49]
I don't know what is –
[18:50]
I'm a Hollywood mover and shaker.
Dan McCoy
[18:52]
I don't know what's odd about that framing of it.
[18:54]
You took his success as doing this one thing and he moved into a different area.
Elliott Kalan
[18:59]
He made it sound like he was seen by the studios and they were like, Rudy Ray Moore, we got to make a movie with you.
[19:04]
But it was really him saying, I need to be in a movie.
[19:06]
I have to make this movie, you know.
Dan McCoy
[19:09]
But he took the money from the LPs to do that.
[19:12]
Yeah.
Elliott Kalan
[19:12]
I don't know how accurate it is to his rise, but I don't know.
Stuart Wellington
[19:18]
It's a good movie.
[19:18]
Now, it is a good movie.
[19:20]
Now, Matt, you were saying that you would like to take your stand-up comedy career and turn it into a kung fu movie acting career.
[19:29]
Yeah.
S4
[19:29]
How is that going so far?
[19:31]
I wouldn't say it's going bad.
[19:35]
Huh.
[19:39]
Is there work to be done?
[19:41]
Maybe.
[19:44]
I guess that's a good way –
Dan McCoy
[19:45]
You're not there yet.
[19:46]
I guess that's a good way to look at any sort of – any number of things.
[19:49]
It's like, you know, my efforts to, like, break back into writing aren't going bad.
[19:54]
And, like, I still have all my limbs, you know.
[19:56]
Exactly.
[19:57]
I'm alive.
[19:59]
Yeah.
[19:59]
I have a house.
[20:00]
Well, I don't have a house.
[20:01]
You don't have a house at all.
Elliott Kalan
[20:02]
You live in an apartment, you know.
[20:04]
You live in a hotel and locked and loaded.
[20:07]
I hate to be the fact checker on this one, Dan, to be the literally –
[20:10]
I'm in a shelter.
Stuart Wellington
[20:12]
Dan just got some Pinocchios over here.
S4
[20:15]
I want to point out I also have shelter.
[20:17]
So, I think I'm doing pretty good in that kung fu thing.
[20:20]
In your kung fu movie career.
Stuart Wellington
[20:21]
This is a perfect chance for us to do a little bit of a segue and talk –
[20:26]
since we're talking about Matt's acting career,
[20:29]
there have been a number of stand-up comedians over the years
[20:31]
who have tried to make the pivot from one stage to the big screen.
[20:37]
Like Jeremy Pivot, the actor, yeah.
[20:38]
Jeremy Pivot, yeah.
[20:40]
So, I'm going to go down a list of –
[20:42]
Nobody turns like Jeremy Pivot.
[20:46]
Yeah, no.
[20:47]
No, that's good.
Elliott Kalan
[20:48]
I like this.
[20:49]
So, am I ready for my one-hour special?
Stuart Wellington
[20:51]
Yeah, I mean, that's your opening joke.
[20:53]
So, where do you go with that?
[20:55]
And the closer.
[20:55]
Yeah, and the closer as well.
[20:56]
Most of the middle.
S4
[20:59]
You also drink a glass of water very slowly.
[21:02]
Oh, extremely slowly.
[21:02]
Anyway, Jeremy Pivot, yeah.
[21:03]
Yeah, and you pivot in different directions.
[21:06]
What else?
[21:06]
Yeah, oddly, you don't pivot in that whole –
Stuart Wellington
[21:08]
And by the end of it, you're just turning –
[21:10]
you're not even saying a joke,
[21:12]
and the audience is going apeshit.
[21:13]
They're like, that's that thing.
[21:15]
He's doing it again.
[21:16]
He's doing it.
[21:18]
Okay, so I'm going to go down a list of various stand-up comedians
[21:21]
or comedians in general,
[21:22]
and we're going to talk about whether or not
[21:24]
they've been in any good movies
[21:26]
and if they were acting in those movies
[21:30]
or if they were just kind of doing their regular material.
[21:34]
Okay.
[21:34]
Okay.
[21:35]
Now, there may be some people –
[21:37]
I tried to weed out the majority of concerning performers in here,
[21:41]
but you never know.
[21:42]
And there's no way of knowing what we're going to learn
Elliott Kalan
[21:44]
after this episode is recorded.
Stuart Wellington
[21:45]
Yes, after this episode airs.
[21:46]
So, first one, I think this is going to be an easy one.
[21:50]
Eddie Murphy.
[21:51]
Oh.
[21:51]
Eddie Murphy.
[21:52]
Has he been in any good movies and is he an actor?
[21:55]
Name one.
[21:56]
Well, there's Norbit.
[21:58]
That's true.
[21:59]
Yep.
Dan McCoy
[22:00]
Certainly, he's had his periods in the wilderness
[22:04]
where he's not doing such great work,
[22:07]
but one of the most –
[22:08]
Well, when he did that remake of Jeremiah Johnson,
Elliott Kalan
[22:10]
he was in the wilderness the whole movie.
[22:12]
Yeah.
Dan McCoy
[22:12]
One of the most naturally charismatic performers
[22:15]
and, yeah, can certainly give a performance that's not just Eddie Murphy.
Stuart Wellington
[22:21]
Yeah.
[22:22]
I feel like maybe early on he was kind of doing his thing
[22:25]
but has obviously proved that he can do more, if anything,
[22:29]
because we mentioned My Name is Dolomite or Dolomite is My Name.
[22:32]
Dolomite, he's great in that.
Elliott Kalan
[22:33]
He's great in Dreamgirls.
[22:34]
You know, he's great.
[22:35]
I mean, I watched Coming to America so many times when I was a kid
[22:39]
that I associated Eddie Murphy with that character
[22:42]
more than with kind of like fast-talking Eddie Murphy.
[22:45]
Like I thought of him as the Prince of Zamunda character.
[22:49]
So, yeah, I'd say he could definitely act.
[22:50]
So when you watch Delirious, you're like, what?
Stuart Wellington
[22:52]
I was like, why is he doing this American accent?
[22:55]
I don't understand.
S4
[22:56]
He's also always been talented.
[22:58]
He was on SNL at 18.
[23:00]
Yeah.
[23:00]
He just had these fully formed characters.
[23:03]
It's like he is a child prodigy.
[23:06]
Well, 18, he's legally not a child.
[23:08]
Yeah, it's just fast.
[23:10]
Wow.
[23:10]
That's like splitting hairs over.
[23:11]
I guess you could be and not be a child.
Elliott Kalan
[23:13]
Speaking of splitting hairs over.
[23:15]
I have some legal issues coming up that kind of hinge on the definition
[23:18]
of whether childhood continues at 18.
[23:20]
You lean into the skid.
Stuart Wellington
[23:22]
Speaking of Elliot's joke, next one's Jerry Seinfeld.
[23:25]
Oh, boy.
[23:26]
Yeah.
Elliott Kalan
[23:26]
Oh, so he was someone who had trouble recognizing
[23:29]
when childhood ended and 18 being more for that.
Dan McCoy
[23:33]
So is he a movie star?
[23:34]
I mean, he pivoted to the small screen pretty successfully.
[23:38]
We're not talking that.
[23:39]
We're talking the big screen.
[23:40]
The big screen.
[23:40]
So, B movie?
Stuart Wellington
[23:42]
No.
[23:42]
I mean, he's only made two movies, right?
Dan McCoy
[23:45]
B movie and the pop star movie.
[23:48]
Oh, yeah.
[23:48]
The pop star movie.
[23:49]
Well, I mean, he's got to have been in other things, right?
[23:52]
Like in some way.
[23:53]
I'm not sure about that.
[23:54]
Take a look, Dan.
[23:54]
Jerry Seinfeld is not an actor.
[23:56]
I'll look it up.
[23:56]
He's not an actor.
[23:57]
No, he's not an actor.
[23:58]
No, no.
[23:58]
Even on Seinfeld, he's not an actor.
[24:00]
Yeah.
S4
[24:01]
He has this amazing support cast in Seinfeld.
[24:05]
That's not an accident.
[24:06]
They got really strong actors because he's just kind of himself.
Elliott Kalan
[24:10]
Yes.
[24:10]
Yes.
S4
[24:11]
I think he's a great writer.
[24:12]
I think he's a great stand-up.
[24:13]
I mean, I think there was –
Elliott Kalan
[24:14]
I remember I had a professor in –
[24:16]
oh, he's in a couple other movies,
[24:20]
but he doesn't –
[24:20]
mostly playing himself.
Dan McCoy
[24:21]
Top five uncredited.
[24:23]
As himself.
[24:24]
Well.
[24:25]
And unremembered.
[24:26]
Probably not a thing about my folks.
[24:30]
Ah, yes.
[24:31]
Classic.
[24:31]
What is this?
[24:32]
I don't know.
[24:33]
I don't know.
[24:34]
It seems to have –
[24:35]
Well, remember the thing about his folks.
[24:36]
Paul Reiser and Peter Falk.
[24:38]
He seems –
Elliott Kalan
[24:39]
But again, it seems like he's playing himself in that.
[24:42]
Oh, okay.
[24:42]
He plays himself, it seems, in the movie Eddie with Whoopi Goldberg.
[24:45]
This is according to Wikipedia.
[24:47]
So there's a movie called Pros and Cons where he plays prisoner number two.
[24:51]
Oh, okay.
[24:52]
But the –
[24:53]
so I think the thing with –
[24:55]
I always thought it was funny with Seinfeld was I had a professor in college
[24:58]
who was like,
[25:00]
your main character is going to be the one who's –
[25:02]
you're going to have the most trouble making interesting.
[25:05]
And that's why on Seinfeld,
[25:07]
there's all these other characters around
[25:09]
because the main character is the one who's not –
[25:11]
who doesn't get to be as crazy as the others.
[25:12]
And you also want to establish your character early on.
[25:16]
That's why they show him showing stand-up at the beginning
[25:18]
so the audience knows he's not good at stand-up and he's bad at it
[25:21]
and he's not actually a funny stand-up.
Stuart Wellington
[25:23]
And I was like,
[25:23]
oh, I don't think that's –
[25:24]
I actually don't think that's what's happening.
[25:26]
Oh, that's so funny.
[25:29]
Oh, that's a good line.
[25:31]
Okay, so I think we're in consensus with Mr. Jerry Seinfeld.
[25:34]
What about Robin Williams?
[25:36]
Great actor.
[25:37]
Yeah.
[25:37]
Probably the acting is maybe better than the stand-up.
[25:39]
I would agree with that.
Elliott Kalan
[25:41]
I think as a stand-up he was often –
[25:42]
it felt like he was an actor playing a stand-up comedian in his stand-up.
[25:46]
But yeah, I think a better actor than stand-up.
Stuart Wellington
[25:48]
The stand-up –
[25:49]
and he's been in a couple of good movies.
[25:52]
Bicentennial Man.
[25:53]
Jack.
[25:54]
He's been in –
[25:54]
Mrs. Doubtfire.
[25:56]
Popeye.
[25:57]
Popeye.
Dan McCoy
[25:58]
Popeye, yeah.
[25:58]
I don't want to be too hard on a beloved deceased figure,
[26:01]
but the stand-up did rely on like a lot of energy,
[26:04]
a lot of like sort of repeated like voice –
[26:08]
like stock characters he would go back to.
[26:10]
A lot of booger sugar.
S4
[26:11]
Right, fellas?
[26:12]
Oh, wow.
[26:13]
Oh, wow.
Dan McCoy
[26:16]
This is the part where we point out that Matt Coff
[26:18]
originated the cocaine bit
[26:19]
before it somehow migrated to Josh Connell.
[26:22]
It's okay.
S4
[26:23]
I've talked about it in therapy.
[26:24]
I'm over it.
[26:25]
It doesn't sound like it.
[26:26]
It does sound like this.
Dan McCoy
[26:27]
Yeah, but I –
[26:30]
yeah, I think he's a –
[26:31]
he was a brilliant actor.
[26:32]
Yeah.
Stuart Wellington
[26:33]
Yeah, I think that's an easy one.
[26:36]
Ricky Gervais.
[26:41]
Now, do we –
[26:42]
Big screen.
[26:42]
We're talking big screen.
[26:43]
Big screen only.
Dan McCoy
[26:44]
I would say that he was a guy who did other things
[26:46]
that migrated into stand-up
[26:48]
and wasn't that great.
Elliott Kalan
[26:49]
I will say,
[26:51]
years before he became a problematic person,
[26:54]
he was probably already a difficult person,
[26:56]
but I saw him do stand-up at a relatively small show
[26:59]
and he was very funny,
[27:00]
but it was not what you would call like
[27:01]
fully professional stand-up.
[27:03]
He was very funny talking about things,
[27:05]
but it was not like,
[27:06]
here's my act
[27:07]
and it's, you know,
[27:08]
it's really funny and written.
[27:10]
But when it comes to movies,
[27:11]
I think I don't –
[27:12]
it's hard for me to think of any of them.
[27:13]
But I haven't seen a bunch of them.
[27:14]
I never saw like The Invention of Lying, you know?
Dan McCoy
[27:16]
I like The Invention of Lying, okay.
[27:18]
What was that one with ghosts in it?
[27:19]
It wasn't that good.
[27:20]
Ghost Town was better than The Invention of Lying.
[27:22]
The Invention of Lying was not very good.
[27:23]
Ghost Town was okay.
[27:25]
Kind of a blur to be honest with you.
S4
[27:27]
What about Derek
[27:28]
where he plays that mentally challenged person?
[27:31]
That's a TV show.
[27:32]
That's a TV show.
[27:33]
That's a TV show that my in-laws really wanted me to watch
Elliott Kalan
[27:37]
and I refused to watch it.
[27:39]
But I think he's a better actor than stand-up.
[27:40]
It's a tough ask.
[27:41]
Yeah, yeah.
[27:42]
Or he asked it of himself.
[27:45]
Yeah.
[27:45]
He's like, I think I can handle this.
Dan McCoy
[27:48]
With taste and sensitivity.
[27:50]
I got this.
Elliott Kalan
[27:51]
I think it feels like Ricky Gervais in some ways
[27:53]
is a real, the kind of cautionary example
[27:56]
we should all take so that we can stay humble
[27:58]
is that like his, the office is still,
[28:01]
I mean, that was the cutting edge of comedy
[28:03]
or television comedy at one point.
[28:04]
And then it's like, I feel like the plummet was so far
[28:08]
and so relatively fast with his other work.
[28:11]
And we can all take lesson from that.
[28:13]
Look, don't take anything for granted.
[28:16]
Because at a certain point, you start with The Office
[28:17]
and eventually you're doing Derek or whatever it's called.
Stuart Wellington
[28:19]
There's some stuff in extras that's funny.
[28:22]
Extra is funny.
[28:22]
It does it somewhat.
[28:23]
I like extras.
[28:23]
I mean, I think it helps that they got very good cameos
[28:27]
from people like, or guest appearances
[28:29]
by like David Bowie and Patrick Stewart.
Dan McCoy
[28:31]
The cameos and Stephen Merchant
[28:33]
are what you're going to extras for, I feel like.
[28:36]
Yes.
Elliott Kalan
[28:36]
And extras, it was, I feel like we had not yet seen
[28:39]
an overload of you bring in a famous person
[28:41]
so they can play a bad version of them.
[28:43]
Like play a not a good person version of themselves.
[28:46]
Yeah.
[28:47]
And I feel like we've seen a lot of that.
S4
[28:49]
Do you feel like Ricky Gervais maybe plummeted
[28:52]
after working with Stephen Merchant?
[28:55]
Maybe that was the partnership that was holding them afloat.
[28:58]
That's possible.
[29:00]
That's possible.
Dan McCoy
[29:00]
I mean, I certainly have found Stephen Merchant
[29:02]
funnier in his subsequent work than I've had Ricky Gervais.
Stuart Wellington
[29:07]
He's so tall.
[29:08]
And they were podcast pioneers, those guys.
[29:12]
Oh, yeah.
[29:13]
Early podcasts.
[29:13]
That's who they were.
[29:14]
Kirkington.
Elliott Kalan
[29:14]
Okay, moving on.
[29:15]
They're a podcast where they made fun of a person
[29:18]
every episode, the same person over and over again.
Stuart Wellington
[29:21]
Felt gross when it was happening,
[29:22]
but people seemed to like it a lot,
[29:24]
so I didn't know how to react.
[29:26]
Yeah.
[29:27]
Yeah.
[29:28]
Okay.
[29:29]
Up next is Mr. Bill Burr.
[29:32]
Bill Burr.
[29:33]
I thought you were going to say,
[29:34]
up next is Mr. B.
Dan McCoy
[29:35]
I don't know if he counts.
Elliott Kalan
[29:40]
Now we'll see Mr. Bean do so.
[29:41]
Oh.
[29:43]
What else?
Dan McCoy
[29:46]
I mean,
[29:46]
I know Burr's extremely talented.
[29:49]
I just,
[29:50]
I prefer him as an actor
[29:52]
just because I find his,
[29:54]
like,
[29:54]
sort of
[29:56]
centrist
[29:57]
schtick
[29:58]
kind of distasteful,
[30:00]
like,
[30:00]
and that's my personal feeling about it.
[30:01]
You're too woke to enjoy his work,
Elliott Kalan
[30:03]
you know?
[30:03]
That's okay.
[30:04]
You know,
[30:04]
you can admit it.
[30:05]
Yeah,
[30:05]
you have woke mind virus.
Dan McCoy
[30:08]
No,
[30:08]
it's true.
[30:09]
It's true.
[30:09]
It's infected me.
[30:10]
It's all over my brain.
[30:13]
Deep in there.
[30:13]
All over.
Elliott Kalan
[30:14]
Deep in there.
[30:14]
Yeah,
[30:15]
you're riddled with it.
Stuart Wellington
[30:15]
But I think,
[30:16]
I mean,
[30:17]
you're putting a spotlight on his acting.
[30:19]
Do you,
[30:19]
do you prefer his acting work
[30:21]
because you dislike his stand-up so much
[30:23]
that you think his acting works also middling?
Dan McCoy
[30:25]
I think he's a genuinely very talented actor
[30:28]
and I would rather see him do that
[30:29]
than see him,
[30:30]
like,
[30:31]
be like,
[30:32]
I'm just,
[30:32]
I'm just,
[30:33]
you know,
[30:33]
I'm just coming up right up to the edge
[30:36]
and making you think about the edge
[30:37]
and,
[30:38]
but no,
[30:38]
no,
[30:38]
no,
[30:38]
no,
[30:38]
no,
[30:39]
I'm not,
[30:39]
I'm on the edge.
[30:41]
I don't like that stuff.
S4
[30:42]
I don't like that in lovemaking.
[30:44]
Yeah.
Dan McCoy
[30:46]
But not my comedy.
S4
[30:48]
You're calling it,
[30:49]
Matt.
[30:50]
Yes.
Stuart Wellington
[30:52]
Ladies.
[30:54]
So you're saying,
[30:55]
uh,
[30:55]
Bill Burr's doing some kind of stand-up gooning.
[30:58]
Mm-hmm.
S4
[30:59]
Yeah,
[31:00]
what are his,
[31:01]
I saw him in Glengarry Glen Ross.
[31:03]
He was great,
[31:03]
but I'm trying to,
[31:04]
what are some other Bill Burr roles?
[31:07]
I've seen,
Elliott Kalan
[31:07]
I've mostly seen him acting in TV shows
[31:09]
rather than movies,
[31:10]
but I mean,
[31:10]
he's acting.
[31:11]
Yeah,
Stuart Wellington
[31:11]
he was on Breaking Bad,
[31:12]
right?
[31:12]
Yeah.
[31:13]
He was in Breaking Bad.
[31:14]
He was in the Pete Davidson movie.
[31:16]
Which one?
[31:17]
He was in the Pete Davidson movie.
[31:19]
I did.
[31:19]
How was that?
[31:20]
I didn't see that one.
[31:21]
It was okay.
[31:22]
You actually saw it?
[31:23]
I did actually see it.
[31:24]
Wow.
[31:24]
And Bill Burr's good in it.
Elliott Kalan
[31:26]
I mean,
[31:26]
he's a good actor.
[31:27]
I think,
[31:28]
I don't always,
[31:29]
like,
[31:29]
I don't always agree with the sentiments of his stand-up,
[31:31]
but he's a good stand-up too.
[31:32]
Like,
[31:32]
he's a really good stand-up.
[31:33]
I can,
[31:34]
I can see the quality in it without it being my thing,
[31:37]
you know.
Dan McCoy
[31:38]
Yeah,
[31:38]
I mean,
[31:38]
that's what I say too.
[31:40]
I'm not saying,
[31:41]
he's like very talented at what he does.
[31:43]
I just don't like the thing he does that much.
Elliott Kalan
[31:45]
And you're,
[31:47]
because his last name is Burr.
[31:48]
Oh, yeah.
[31:49]
Oh, yeah.
[31:50]
You don't like how he's always,
[31:51]
he always sticks to your socks
[31:53]
after you walk through the woods, right?
[31:54]
Because his name is Burr.
[31:55]
Oh.
[31:56]
Yeah.
[31:56]
Yeah.
[31:57]
Did you not,
[31:57]
you really,
[31:58]
you already knew I was making a joke about his last name
[32:00]
and you couldn't make the connection?
[32:01]
You changed the type of,
Dan McCoy
[32:03]
you changed the word,
[32:05]
like,
[32:05]
it was a homophone.
[32:06]
Yeah, it's called a synonym.
[32:06]
Oh, no,
[32:07]
it's called a homophone,
[32:07]
not a synonym.
[32:08]
It's a homophone, man.
S4
[32:09]
Yeah.
[32:09]
They do that in Harold Openings a lot.
[32:11]
I think that's,
[32:12]
you were like,
[32:13]
learning all the different kinds of,
[32:15]
yeah,
[32:15]
anyway.
Stuart Wellington
[32:16]
So,
[32:16]
another,
[32:17]
another stand-up comedian
[32:19]
turned movie star.
[32:21]
Our next stand-up comedian
[32:23]
turned movie star,
[32:24]
Rodney Dangerfield.
[32:25]
Okay.
Dan McCoy
[32:25]
I think he was very talented
[32:28]
at playing what I would call
[32:29]
the Rodney Dangerfield role.
[32:30]
I don't know what you would call it acting,
Elliott Kalan
[32:32]
necessarily.
[32:33]
I mean,
[32:33]
he makes you believe he's in that situation,
[32:35]
which is a form of acting.
[32:36]
He's not losing himself in a character.
Stuart Wellington
[32:39]
I mean,
[32:39]
yeah.
[32:39]
I,
[32:39]
you know,
[32:40]
I mean,
[32:40]
like,
[32:40]
I'm,
Dan McCoy
[32:41]
I'm unironically going to back.
[32:42]
I really thought he was back to school.
[32:44]
I'm going to unironically back Elliot up here,
[32:47]
where,
[32:47]
like,
[32:47]
there are different types of acting
[32:48]
and some of it is
[32:49]
just being a persona,
[32:52]
but
[32:52]
realistically within
[32:54]
a story.
[32:55]
that is perfectly valid.
[32:56]
Like,
[32:56]
he's a good actor
[32:57]
at being Rodney Dangerfield
[32:59]
in movies.
Elliott Kalan
[33:00]
that is,
[33:01]
you could call that star acting
[33:03]
as opposed to
[33:04]
actor acting,
[33:05]
which is,
[33:06]
I'm going to become this character.
[33:07]
Star acting is,
[33:08]
I'm being myself,
[33:09]
but you're going to believe
[33:09]
that I'm myself
[33:11]
or a version of myself
[33:11]
in this predicament,
[33:13]
you know.
S4
[33:13]
Yeah.
[33:14]
Like Groucho Marx.
[33:15]
Is Groucho Marx
[33:16]
like a good actor?
Elliott Kalan
[33:18]
Yeah.
[33:19]
He's Groucho Marx.
[33:20]
Yeah.
[33:20]
He's a star,
[33:21]
right.
[33:21]
But when he's performing,
[33:22]
when he's performing
[33:23]
in a Marx Brothers movie,
[33:24]
you're not like,
[33:24]
I don't really,
[33:25]
believe that
[33:26]
he's having this conversation
[33:27]
with Mrs. Teasdale.
[33:29]
You know,
[33:29]
like he sells it,
[33:30]
you know.
S4
[33:31]
I saw some old interview
[33:33]
for Caddyshack
[33:35]
where Chevy Chase
[33:36]
got into a fight
[33:37]
with the reporter.
[33:38]
That's a surprise.
[33:39]
And,
[33:39]
what did that reporter do
[33:41]
to get on the bad side
[33:42]
of a famously gentle man?
[33:45]
But Ronnie Dangerfield
[33:47]
was really,
[33:48]
he was playing it cool.
[33:50]
So he didn't do anything.
[33:50]
It was nice
[33:51]
to see him
[33:52]
like pretend
[33:52]
like everything was okay.
Elliott Kalan
[33:55]
Yeah.
[33:55]
Ronnie Dangerfield
[33:55]
has dealt with worse
[33:56]
probably,
[33:57]
you know.
[33:57]
Oh, definitely.
[33:58]
Either in his stand-up comedy career
[33:59]
or as a,
[34:00]
or as in his years
[34:01]
as like a vinyl siding salesman
[34:02]
or whatever it was
[34:03]
that he was doing
[34:04]
before stand-up.
[34:04]
Oh, yeah.
[34:05]
Yeah, that was.
[34:05]
And I will say that,
[34:06]
you know,
Dan McCoy
[34:07]
Rodney Dangerfield's persona
[34:09]
is something that he came on
[34:10]
kind of late in life.
[34:12]
So like that's a form
[34:13]
of acting in and of itself.
[34:14]
Like he's not,
[34:15]
he's not exactly that man.
[34:17]
I still thought
Elliott Kalan
[34:18]
it was a weird choice
[34:19]
for Ingmar Bergman
[34:20]
to cast him in persona.
[34:25]
Okay.
[34:26]
Oh, I don't,
[34:27]
I get no respect.
[34:28]
Oh boy,
[34:28]
my psychology is melding
[34:29]
with that of the woman
[34:30]
that I'm taking care of
[34:31]
on this island.
[34:32]
Oh, no respect.
Dan McCoy
[34:33]
No respect at all.
[34:34]
Yeah, that's the ultimate form
[34:35]
of no respect.
[34:38]
The dissolution
[34:39]
of your psyche.
[34:40]
Yeah.
S5
[34:45]
Hey, what's up, everybody?
[34:47]
My name is Mark Gagliardi
[34:48]
and I host
[34:49]
We Got This
[34:50]
with Mark and Hal
[34:51]
on the Maximum Fun Network.
[34:53]
Would you like to
[34:54]
introduce yourself as well?
S6
[34:56]
My name is Jessie
[34:57]
and I am from
[34:59]
Minneapolis, Minnesota.
S5
[35:00]
Hi, Jessie
[35:00]
from Minneapolis, Minnesota.
[35:02]
Jessie,
[35:03]
you are our
[35:04]
Maximum Fun
[35:05]
member of the month.
S6
[35:06]
I'm so delighted
[35:07]
to hear that
[35:08]
I'm the member
[35:09]
of the month.
[35:09]
Thank you.
S5
[35:10]
Is there a first episode
[35:11]
that you remember?
S6
[35:13]
The pretzel shape episode.
[35:15]
Yeah.
[35:15]
That's pretty classic.
S5
[35:17]
Both of us
[35:18]
just killed off
[35:19]
each other's answers
[35:20]
and went with
[35:21]
pretzel rod,
[35:22]
which is clearly
[35:22]
not the best.
S6
[35:23]
No.
[35:24]
That is a terrible pretzel.
S5
[35:26]
As our
[35:26]
member of the month,
[35:28]
you have
[35:29]
a parking spot
[35:30]
at Maximum Fun
[35:31]
headquarters,
[35:32]
as well as
[35:33]
a $25 gift card
[35:34]
to the Maximum Fun
[35:35]
store.
[35:36]
We said at the end
[35:37]
of the episode
[35:37]
we wouldn't do it
[35:38]
without you
[35:38]
and we couldn't
[35:39]
do it without you,
[35:39]
so thank you for that.
Dan McCoy
[35:41]
You're welcome.
[35:42]
Become a MaxFun
[35:43]
member now
[35:43]
at MaximumFun.org
[35:45]
slash join.
Stuart Wellington
[35:49]
Hello.
[35:49]
Hello.
[35:50]
I'm calling on behalf
[35:50]
of the Beef and Dairy
[35:51]
Network podcast.
S7
[35:52]
No, no, I'm sorry.
[35:53]
No sales calls.
[35:54]
Goodbye.
Stuart Wellington
[35:54]
It's a multi-award
[35:55]
winning podcast
[35:56]
featuring guests
[35:56]
such as Ted Danson,
[35:58]
Nick Offerman,
[35:59]
Josie Long.
S7
[35:59]
I don't know
[36:00]
what a Josie Long
[36:00]
is and anyway,
[36:01]
I'm about to take
[36:01]
my mother into town
[36:03]
to see Phantom
[36:03]
of the Opera
[36:04]
at last.
[36:05]
You are wasting
[36:05]
my time and even
[36:06]
worse, my mother's
[36:07]
time.
[36:08]
She only has so
[36:08]
much time left.
[36:09]
She's 98 years old.
[36:10]
She's only expected
[36:11]
to live for another
[36:12]
20 or 30 years.
[36:13]
Mother, get your
[36:13]
shoes on.
[36:14]
Yes, the orthopedic
[36:15]
ones.
[36:15]
I don't want to
[36:16]
have to carry you
[36:16]
home again, do I?
Stuart Wellington
[36:18]
Right, well, if you
[36:18]
were looking for a
[36:19]
podcast.
S7
[36:19]
Mother, you're not
[36:19]
wearing that, are you?
[36:21]
It's very revealing,
[36:22]
mother.
[36:22]
This is a musical
[36:23]
theater, not a
[36:24]
Parisian bordello.
Stuart Wellington
[36:25]
Simply go to
[36:26]
MaximumFun.org.
S7
[36:27]
I'm reaching for my
[36:28]
Samsung Galaxy 4 as
[36:29]
we speak.
[36:30]
Mother!
[36:30]
Mother, not that hat!
Elliott Kalan
[36:32]
Today's episode of
[36:33]
the Flophouse has a
[36:35]
sponsor and there's a
[36:35]
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Stuart Wellington
[39:06]
Next up is Bert Kreischer.
[39:09]
Bert Kreischer.
[39:10]
So, he's the star of
[39:10]
The Machine, right?
[39:11]
Yes.
[39:12]
He's the guy whose
[39:13]
routine.
[39:14]
Yeah, and I think he's
[39:15]
always shirtless.
[39:17]
His thing is he's always
[39:18]
shirtless.
[39:18]
He's shirtless a lot.
[39:19]
Yeah, yeah.
[39:19]
He's convincingly
[39:20]
shirtless.
Elliott Kalan
[39:21]
I have to admit I'm not
[39:22]
really that familiar with
[39:23]
his stand-up or his
[39:24]
acting.
[39:25]
Okay.
[39:25]
And he's one of these
[39:26]
this shows you how far
Stuart Wellington
[39:27]
It seemed like your
[39:28]
sort of thing.
[39:29]
That's why I put him on
[39:30]
the list.
Elliott Kalan
[39:30]
Yeah, it shows you how
[39:31]
far out of the mainstream
[39:32]
of comedy I am.
[39:34]
I used to feel like when
[39:34]
I was younger I really
[39:35]
knew what was going on
[39:36]
in comedy more that I
[39:37]
saw I was somewhere and
[39:38]
I saw a commercial for
[39:39]
like Bert Kreischer's
[39:40]
performing at this
[39:41]
casino and it's just
[39:43]
clips of him shirtless
[39:44]
going like,
[39:44]
and I was like,
[39:47]
I have no idea who
[39:48]
this is.
[39:48]
I don't know what
[39:49]
he's doing.
[39:50]
What's his act?
[39:51]
Apparently famous.
[39:52]
It reminds me like when
[39:53]
when I think when
[39:55]
Sebastian Miniscalco was
[39:56]
famous but not so
[39:57]
famous.
[39:58]
My wife's second
[39:58]
favorite comedian.
[39:58]
But not so famous that
[40:00]
everybody in America knew
[40:02]
him.
[40:02]
I remember a friend of
[40:03]
mine going,
[40:04]
yeah, so I'm working on
[40:05]
the show with this
[40:06]
comedian.
[40:06]
You've never heard of
[40:07]
him.
[40:07]
He's the biggest
[40:08]
comedian in America
[40:09]
and he sells out
[40:09]
stadiums.
[40:10]
You've never heard of
[40:11]
him.
[40:11]
And I was like,
[40:12]
you're right.
[40:13]
This is I don't
[40:13]
understand how this is
[40:14]
possible, but that's
[40:15]
the world we live in
[40:16]
now.
[40:16]
So I remember seeing a
[40:17]
commercial for the
[40:18]
movie for the
[40:19]
machine and they're
[40:20]
like based on the
[40:20]
hit standup routine.
[40:22]
And I'm like, I don't
[40:22]
know this routine.
[40:24]
I don't know this guy.
[40:25]
The commercial's acting
[40:26]
like I know it.
Stuart Wellington
[40:28]
This Burt Kreischer's
[40:29]
name came up in
[40:30]
conversation last night
[40:32]
and my friend
[40:33]
dropped the...
[40:34]
Because you were out to
[40:35]
dinner with his
[40:35]
parents, the Kreischer's.
[40:36]
My friend dropped the
[40:37]
trivia, which may be
[40:39]
true or false, is that
[40:40]
he was the inspiration
[40:42]
for the character Van
[40:43]
Wilder.
[40:44]
Oh.
[40:45]
From the film of the
[40:47]
same name, Van
[40:48]
Wilder.
[40:48]
National Anthropocene
[40:49]
Van Wilder?
Elliott Kalan
[40:49]
That was my question.
[40:53]
Was that the first
[40:54]
rise sequel?
[40:56]
The Rise of Taj?
[40:57]
Yeah.
[40:57]
Was that the first one
[40:58]
that he's...
[40:58]
That was the absolute
Stuart Wellington
[40:59]
first one.
[41:00]
It's never been done
[41:00]
before that.
Elliott Kalan
[41:02]
Well, first...
[41:02]
Oh, okay.
[41:03]
I don't know.
Dan McCoy
[41:04]
I feel like the
[41:04]
Planet of the Apes
[41:05]
probably rose, but I
[41:07]
can't remember whether
[41:07]
it was before or
[41:08]
after.
[41:09]
Let's see.
[41:09]
What else rose?
Elliott Kalan
[41:09]
Rise of Taj was in
[41:10]
2006.
[41:12]
First...
[41:12]
I'm looking up.
[41:13]
First movie with
[41:14]
rise in subtitle.
[41:17]
Hmm.
[41:17]
Let's see.
[41:18]
Well, this is the full
[41:20]
title.
[41:20]
The Rise of
[41:20]
Castle in the Great
[41:21]
was from 1934.
[41:22]
That's not what I'm
[41:22]
looking for.
[41:23]
Hold on.
[41:23]
Keep moving.
[41:24]
I'm going to do
[41:24]
some research on
[41:25]
this.
[41:25]
Yeah, yeah.
Stuart Wellington
[41:26]
Okay, next up we
[41:27]
got another fave of
[41:30]
the podcast, Larry
[41:31]
the Cable Guy.
Dan McCoy
[41:34]
You know what?
[41:34]
He's good in those
[41:35]
Cars movies.
[41:36]
I don't like the
[41:36]
Cars movies, but
[41:37]
he's given a good
[41:38]
voice performance in
[41:39]
those movies.
[41:41]
Who does he play?
[41:42]
One of the
[41:42]
vehicles?
[41:43]
Mater.
[41:43]
Mater?
S4
[41:44]
Toe Mater?
[41:45]
The Toe Tone?
[41:45]
He plays Larry the
[41:46]
Cable Car.
Elliott Kalan
[41:49]
That's what they
[41:49]
should have done.
[41:50]
He should have
[41:50]
been like a disused
[41:52]
cable car that's
[41:53]
in the middle of
[41:54]
Radiator Springs for
[41:55]
some reason.
[41:55]
Yeah, that's
[41:56]
retiring.
[41:56]
That would have
[41:57]
been better.
[41:57]
Yeah.
Stuart Wellington
[41:58]
I just realized
[41:59]
Jeff Foxworthy
[42:00]
made a movie,
[42:01]
right?
[42:02]
Yeah, it's a
[42:02]
blue collar comedy
[42:03]
tour.
[42:03]
Yeah.
[42:04]
No, but not
[42:04]
that.
[42:06]
He probably made
[42:06]
a movie.
[42:07]
Oh, yeah.
[42:07]
He was in that.
Elliott Kalan
[42:07]
What's that
[42:08]
wrestling movie?
[42:09]
Fox?
[42:09]
What was it?
Stuart Wellington
[42:11]
The Fox and the
[42:12]
Hound?
[42:12]
No, no.
[42:12]
The one about the
Elliott Kalan
[42:13]
Fox Glove or
[42:14]
whatever?
[42:14]
Yeah, yeah.
[42:15]
Yeah, that's him,
[42:16]
right?
[42:17]
Yeah.
Stuart Wellington
[42:18]
Okay, here's
[42:19]
another one.
[42:20]
So no real
[42:21]
opinions on Larry
[42:22]
the Cable Guy
[42:22]
outside of his...
[42:23]
That's what it was.
Elliott Kalan
[42:24]
Foxcatcher was
[42:24]
originally called
[42:25]
Foxworthy.
[42:26]
And it was about
[42:26]
him being as an
[42:27]
Olympic wrestler.
[42:28]
Yeah.
Dan McCoy
[42:28]
I am totally
[42:29]
unfamiliar with
[42:30]
Mr. The Cable
[42:31]
Guy's stand-up.
[42:32]
Stand-up?
[42:33]
I mean, I have
[42:34]
seen it and don't
Elliott Kalan
[42:36]
really remember it
[42:36]
that well.
[42:37]
But I know that
[42:38]
he's like...
[42:38]
He's get her done,
[42:39]
right?
[42:39]
Yeah.
[42:40]
There's a lot of
Dan McCoy
[42:41]
done-getting going
[42:42]
on.
[42:42]
I think that's
[42:43]
basically...
[42:44]
Er is definitely
[42:44]
done-getting.
[42:45]
I think you basically
[42:45]
get it.
Stuart Wellington
[42:47]
Yeah.
[42:48]
I guess so.
[42:48]
He's got like a
[42:49]
catchphrase and it
[42:50]
works, you know?
[42:51]
Yeah.
[42:52]
It does most of the
[42:53]
heavy lifting.
[42:53]
Was he ever on WTF?
Dan McCoy
[42:55]
Did he ever have...
Elliott Kalan
[42:56]
I don't know.
[42:57]
Did Mark Maron ever
[42:57]
have one?
[42:57]
I feel like maybe.
[42:59]
I don't know.
[43:00]
I would imagine.
[43:00]
But every big comedian
[43:02]
has a catchphrase.
[43:03]
This is get her done.
[43:04]
Ronnie Dangerfield
[43:04]
is get no respect.
[43:07]
Jerry Seinfeld's was
[43:09]
I'll pick you up
[43:09]
after high school.
[43:12]
Sorry.
[43:13]
I derailed your
[43:14]
very good joke.
[43:15]
Thank you.
[43:15]
And Matt,
[43:15]
what's your catchphrase?
[43:16]
You have a catchphrase,
[43:17]
right?
S4
[43:17]
Yeah.
[43:18]
I'll pick you up
[43:18]
after graduate school.
Dan McCoy
[43:20]
Very respectful.
[43:22]
Yeah.
[43:22]
No, I mean,
[43:23]
but like another guy
[43:24]
who's doing a persona
[43:25]
that is apparently
[43:27]
very different
[43:28]
than who he actually
[43:29]
is.
[43:29]
Yeah.
[43:30]
Larry the Cable Guy.
[43:31]
Okay.
Elliott Kalan
[43:32]
Not actually a cable guy.
[43:34]
He's not really
[43:34]
a cable guy.
[43:35]
No.
Dan McCoy
[43:35]
Doesn't know anything
[43:36]
about picture of your cable.
[43:37]
Next up we have
Stuart Wellington
[43:38]
Steve Martin.
[43:39]
Steve Martin.
[43:40]
Steve Martin.
[43:41]
I don't know
[43:42]
if you've ever heard of him.
[43:43]
He was in a movie
[43:44]
called The Jerk.
[43:45]
He was on a show
[43:46]
called Only Murders
[43:47]
in the Building.
[43:48]
Yeah.
[43:48]
That's it.
[43:49]
Still.
[43:49]
That's all I say.
[43:50]
Still?
Dan McCoy
[43:51]
In between nothing.
[43:54]
I mean,
[43:55]
come on.
[43:55]
He's maybe
[43:56]
the greatest stand-up
[43:57]
and he's
[43:58]
quite a good actor
[43:59]
as well.
Elliott Kalan
[44:00]
Yeah.
[44:00]
I think I'm going
[44:01]
to put him,
[44:03]
I think he's great
[44:03]
at both.
[44:04]
I'm going to put
[44:04]
his stand-up
[44:05]
slightly ahead
[44:06]
of his acting
[44:07]
even though he's
[44:08]
great at both
[44:08]
because I feel
[44:10]
like he's a very
[44:11]
good actor
[44:11]
but his stand-up
[44:12]
is genius stand-up.
[44:15]
I think it's just
[44:16]
so amazing.
[44:17]
Well, he invented
S4
[44:18]
a type of stand-up.
[44:19]
He didn't invent
[44:20]
the Steve Martin
[44:21]
method of acting
[44:22]
but the revolution
[44:24]
of stand-up
[44:25]
I would say.
[44:25]
That's one of those
[44:26]
things where I feel
Dan McCoy
[44:27]
like, yeah,
[44:28]
there are probably
[44:28]
younger people
[44:29]
listening to our show.
[44:30]
They're like,
[44:30]
yeah, Steve Martin,
[44:31]
I don't understand
[44:32]
why they're saying
[44:34]
such amazing things
[44:35]
about a stand-up
[44:36]
but it really was
[44:37]
a wildly different
[44:39]
thing that he figured out.
[44:40]
What was his catchphrase?
Elliott Kalan
[44:43]
Excuse me.
Dan McCoy
[44:44]
Excuse me.
[44:45]
Yeah, excuse me.
Elliott Kalan
[44:46]
But he didn't do it
[44:46]
that much.
[44:47]
But also,
[44:48]
he's playing a character
[44:49]
when he does stand-up too.
[44:50]
He's playing this character
[44:51]
of kind of idiot,
[44:53]
showbiz,
[44:53]
obsessive,
[44:54]
or professional
[44:55]
Steve Martin.
[44:56]
But even when I was a kid,
[44:59]
I had to discover
[45:00]
his earlier stuff
[45:01]
because when I was a kid,
[45:02]
it was when he was
[45:03]
in parenthood
[45:04]
and stuff like that.
[45:05]
He was not making stuff
[45:07]
that was incredibly,
[45:09]
hugely funny.
[45:10]
Although My Blue Heaven
[45:10]
came out
[45:11]
when I was a kid.
[45:12]
And that's a really good picture.
Dan McCoy
[45:13]
That was an HBO movie.
[45:14]
That's an underrated.
[45:15]
I love that movie.
S4
[45:16]
I haven't had a rugle
[45:18]
in six weeks.
Dan McCoy
[45:20]
The shoes, right?
[45:21]
The shoes are tragic.
Elliott Kalan
[45:23]
Because you're going to melt
[45:25]
all the stuff in there.
[45:28]
Like, he's so funny in it.
[45:30]
Barney Coopersmith,
Dan McCoy
[45:32]
what a coincidence.
Stuart Wellington
[45:36]
And I love that
[45:37]
that came out
[45:38]
of the same interviews
[45:39]
with Henry Hill
[45:40]
that also led the kids
[45:41]
to tell us.
[45:42]
I think that's crazy.
[45:44]
I think it's crazy.
[45:45]
Okay.
Elliott Kalan
[45:46]
Now,
[45:47]
how about Norm MacDonald?
[45:48]
It just goes to show you
[45:49]
the same story
[45:49]
with a tweak
[45:50]
can be either comedy
[45:50]
or tragedy.
[45:51]
The premise
[45:52]
of the Woody Allen movie,
[45:53]
Melinda and Melinda,
[45:53]
which is not good.
Dan McCoy
[45:56]
Missed that one.
[45:57]
Manages to take that
[45:59]
and make it seem
[46:00]
like the most
[46:00]
banal observation.
Stuart Wellington
[46:04]
So, Norm MacDonald.
[46:07]
What about Norm MacDonald?
S4
[46:08]
R.I.P.
[46:09]
I mean, he's my favorite stand-up.
[46:11]
I mean, I think it's kind of
[46:12]
like the Rodney Dangerfield thing
[46:13]
where, I mean,
[46:14]
he didn't do a lot of movies,
[46:15]
right?
[46:15]
But he was in Dirty Work.
[46:17]
Yeah.
[46:17]
I think he wrote.
[46:18]
He starred in Dirty Work.
[46:19]
And, you know,
[46:19]
he was himself, right?
[46:20]
It was great.
Elliott Kalan
[46:22]
Yeah.
[46:22]
I think.
[46:23]
And I'd say on SNL,
[46:24]
which is not a movie,
[46:25]
but on SNL,
[46:26]
he would play different characters.
[46:27]
You know,
[46:28]
his Burt Reynolds
[46:28]
is so funny,
[46:29]
you know?
[46:29]
Yeah.
[46:30]
But he has a stand-up.
[46:31]
He's, again, amazing.
[46:32]
Another person who
[46:33]
was revolutionizing the form
[46:35]
while doing it.
[46:36]
Yeah.
S4
[46:37]
And his David Letterman,
[46:38]
huh?
[46:39]
And his David Letterman.
[46:39]
Do you like the Arliss, Paul?
Elliott Kalan
[46:42]
I used to,
[46:43]
my brother and I
[46:44]
would do that so much.
[46:44]
Give me one of these.
[46:45]
Gotting gum?
[46:46]
Gotting gum,
[46:46]
and then,
[46:47]
oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
[46:48]
Yeah, gum, yeah, gum.
[46:51]
Arliss.
[46:53]
It's so funny
[46:54]
because it's taking
[46:55]
David Letterman
[46:56]
and it's just boiling him down
[46:57]
to just,
[46:58]
like, two mannerisms,
[46:59]
three mannerisms,
[47:00]
you know?
[47:01]
So,
Stuart Wellington
[47:02]
we've talked a lot about
[47:04]
actors.
Elliott Kalan
[47:05]
I will say,
[47:05]
I'll say this,
[47:06]
I'll say this.
[47:06]
I've been watching a lot.
[47:07]
They put up a lot of
[47:08]
old Letterman
[47:08]
from before I was watching him
[47:10]
on YouTube.
[47:11]
That was a really funny show.
[47:13]
Yeah.
[47:13]
It's really good.
[47:15]
It's really funny.
[47:15]
I mean,
[47:16]
speaking of people who
Dan McCoy
[47:17]
revolutionized things.
[47:18]
Yeah,
Elliott Kalan
[47:19]
say what you will
[47:19]
about his employee
[47:20]
management techniques,
[47:21]
which I do not approve of
[47:22]
or condone.
[47:24]
That's a good show.
[47:26]
Yeah,
Dan McCoy
[47:26]
his early stuff really
[47:27]
was a whole new way
[47:29]
of doing that kind of show.
Elliott Kalan
[47:31]
When he wasn't tired
[47:32]
of doing that show.
[47:33]
It was a very funny show.
S4
[47:34]
I actually read
[47:36]
that Letterman book
[47:37]
that came out
[47:40]
and he was not really
[47:42]
the driving force
[47:43]
behind the absurdity.
[47:45]
It was like
[47:45]
Merrill Marco, right?
[47:46]
It was Merrill Marco.
[47:47]
He just wanted to be
[47:47]
more of a traditional
[47:48]
Johnny Carson style host,
[47:51]
which I was like,
[47:52]
oh,
[47:52]
I didn't know that.
[47:53]
Yeah,
[47:53]
yeah,
Elliott Kalan
[47:53]
it is very much a,
[47:55]
like,
[47:55]
Merrill Marco
[47:56]
was such an important factor
[47:57]
in that show.
[47:58]
Yeah.
[47:59]
She's so funny.
[48:00]
Yeah.
Stuart Wellington
[48:00]
She's great.
[48:01]
And he,
[48:01]
I mean,
[48:02]
I feel like he always
[48:02]
had this kind of air
[48:04]
of, like,
[48:05]
not buying into
[48:06]
the absurd stuff
[48:08]
a little bit.
[48:09]
Right.
[48:09]
And that worked great.
[48:10]
Yeah,
[48:10]
a little bit like
[48:11]
looking at the audience.
[48:12]
Maybe that's the obvious thing.
Elliott Kalan
[48:14]
No,
[48:14]
no,
[48:14]
but I think,
[48:15]
but no,
[48:15]
but it's true
[48:15]
that to a,
[48:16]
to do a show
[48:17]
where the show
[48:18]
is doing crazy things,
[48:21]
but he is like,
[48:22]
all right,
[48:23]
let's see if this is going to work.
[48:24]
I don't know if it's going to,
[48:25]
he has that wry,
[48:26]
ironic kind of distance
[48:27]
to his own show.
[48:28]
When It Works is really funny,
[48:29]
you know.
Dan McCoy
[48:30]
Yeah,
[48:30]
as if,
[48:30]
as if he hadn't planned it himself.
[48:32]
As if he didn't know
[48:33]
what was going to happen.
[48:34]
Yeah,
[48:34]
exactly.
S4
[48:35]
By the way,
[48:35]
David Letterman,
[48:37]
I can only think of one acting role,
[48:39]
but it was great,
[48:40]
in Cabin Boy.
[48:41]
I think that's the only one
[48:42]
I can think of also.
[48:43]
Yeah,
[48:43]
yeah.
[48:43]
But it was really good.
[48:45]
I mean,
[48:45]
again,
[48:46]
he's just kind of,
[48:46]
he made a meal of it.
Dan McCoy
[48:47]
He did,
[48:47]
I guess.
[48:47]
He's doing his thing,
[48:48]
but he's doing it,
[48:49]
it's funny.
S4
[48:49]
It's one of the funniest parts
[48:50]
of Cabin Boy.
[48:51]
Oh,
[48:51]
definitely.
[48:52]
I couldn't actually finish it,
[48:54]
but yeah,
[48:55]
they front loaded it
[48:56]
with that great performance.
Elliott Kalan
[48:57]
I have some affection
[48:58]
for Cabin Boy.
[48:58]
I think there's some funny stuff in there,
[48:59]
but I love Chris Elliott,
[49:01]
so I think that's great.
Stuart Wellington
[49:01]
I was so like,
[49:02]
I was so like,
[49:03]
get a life pilled at that point.
[49:05]
Oh,
[49:05]
yeah,
[49:05]
that was amazing.
[49:06]
Like,
[49:07]
I was at my local video store
[49:09]
waiting for Cabin Boy
[49:10]
to arrive in VHS.
Dan McCoy
[49:12]
I've been watching some
[49:13]
of Get a Life
[49:14]
because it just showed up
[49:15]
on Tubi recently,
[49:16]
and like,
[49:18]
I still find it funny
[49:20]
because I remember
[49:20]
how I found it funny
[49:21]
the first time,
[49:22]
but it is also really weird
[49:24]
to think like,
[49:24]
okay,
[49:25]
this was like,
[49:26]
so revolutionary at the time,
[49:28]
so strange,
[49:29]
and now it's like,
[49:30]
any number of things
[49:31]
that's on TV,
[49:32]
only a lot slower.
[49:34]
Yeah,
[49:34]
that's true.
[49:35]
But at the time,
Elliott Kalan
[49:37]
amazing.
[49:37]
At the time,
[49:38]
no one was making
[49:38]
a show like that,
[49:39]
yeah.
Stuart Wellington
[49:40]
It feels like one of those things
[49:41]
that came out
[49:42]
and the amount of people
[49:44]
who actually watched it
[49:45]
compared to the actual
[49:47]
footprint it had
[49:48]
in the creative community
[49:50]
is pretty different
[49:51]
because the,
[49:52]
not that many people
[49:52]
watched it,
[49:53]
but the people who watched it
[49:54]
are like,
[49:54]
you know,
[49:55]
like,
[49:55]
went on to be like.
Elliott Kalan
[49:56]
It's the Sex Pistols concert
[49:57]
or Velvet Underground,
[49:58]
you know,
Stuart Wellington
[49:59]
album of television comedy.
[50:01]
Yeah,
[50:01]
in that way.
[50:03]
So,
[50:04]
we've talked a little bit
[50:05]
about movies
[50:05]
and we've talked
[50:06]
a little bit
[50:06]
about stand-up comedy.
[50:08]
Do you guys have
[50:08]
any movies
[50:09]
about stand-up comedy
[50:10]
or stand-up comedy
[50:12]
performances
[50:12]
that are viewable
[50:14]
on the internet
[50:14]
that you would recommend
[50:15]
to our listeners
[50:16]
that represents
[50:18]
an example
[50:19]
of good stand-up comedy
[50:20]
or some of your fates?
[50:21]
Hmm.
Elliott Kalan
[50:23]
Well,
[50:23]
I hear Matt Coff
[50:24]
has a special.
[50:26]
What?
[50:26]
Well,
[50:26]
obviously,
S4
[50:27]
this is a great opportunity
[50:27]
for us to plug Matt's special.
[50:28]
Oh,
[50:30]
I forgot about that.
[50:32]
I've heard a lot of buzz
[50:33]
about him.
[50:34]
Yeah.
Dan McCoy
[50:35]
Funniest comic
[50:36]
in New York,
[50:37]
he was called.
[50:37]
So,
Elliott Kalan
[50:38]
I think I'm only missing two,
[50:39]
I think our audience
[50:39]
only needs two pieces
[50:40]
of information.
[50:41]
What is the special called
[50:42]
and where can they watch it?
[50:43]
Yeah.
[50:44]
Great question, Elliot.
S4
[50:46]
Well,
[50:47]
it's called Cat Man.
[50:49]
I'm the Cat Man.
[50:50]
Okay.
[50:50]
And it's going to be
[50:51]
premiering on the X.
[50:52]
He's the Cat Man.
[50:54]
We have stepped on
[50:56]
part of the information.
[50:57]
Yeah,
Elliott Kalan
[50:57]
but he shouldn't have mentioned
[50:58]
the Cat.
[50:59]
He shouldn't have said
[50:59]
I'm the Cat Man.
[51:00]
Of course,
[51:01]
I'm going to launch
[51:01]
into the novelty hit
[51:02]
I'm the Cat Man.
S4
[51:04]
Meow, meow, meow, meow.
[51:05]
That was the risk
[51:07]
I was willing to take.
[51:08]
Yeah.
[51:08]
Yeah,
[51:09]
it's available on Veeps,
[51:11]
the Veeps service.
[51:12]
It's an app.
[51:12]
I think that's just
Dan McCoy
[51:13]
for vice presidents,
[51:14]
though.
[51:14]
I don't know
[51:14]
I can watch that.
[51:15]
Yeah, yeah.
[51:16]
So,
S4
[51:16]
what is Veeps?
[51:16]
Well,
[51:17]
I believe that you have a chance
[51:18]
being the vice president
[51:20]
someday.
Elliott Kalan
[51:21]
I believe I'm going to need
[51:22]
more information about
[51:23]
how to find it
[51:24]
than I thought I was going to.
[51:25]
Veeps, is this an app
[51:25]
you downloaded?
[51:26]
Is it a website?
S4
[51:27]
It's like a live music app
[51:29]
primarily,
[51:30]
but they have great acts.
[51:32]
They have Eugene Merman
[51:33]
just doing his special,
[51:36]
Eddie Pepito,
[51:37]
and a lot of funny folks.
[51:39]
So, yeah,
[51:40]
it's going to be
[51:40]
premiering on there
[51:41]
and you can get
[51:42]
a ticket.
[51:43]
They call it a ticket.
[51:44]
It debuts on March 10th
[51:46]
at 8 p.m.
[51:47]
And it's $10.
[51:48]
It's a very artist-friendly
[51:49]
platform,
[51:50]
so most of the money
[51:51]
actually goes to me,
[51:53]
which is great
[51:53]
because I self-produced
[51:55]
the special.
Elliott Kalan
[51:56]
I mean,
[51:56]
I don't like that aspect of it.
[51:57]
I was hoping most of the money
[51:58]
would go to Veeps.
[51:59]
Yeah.
[52:00]
I mean,
[52:00]
if you want me to Venmo them,
[52:02]
that would be wonderful.
[52:03]
That would be great, yeah.
[52:04]
$10.
[52:04]
Just for my ticket specifically.
Stuart Wellington
[52:07]
Just for my, yeah.
[52:07]
Just in the memo,
[52:08]
write Elliot's ticket, yeah.
[52:09]
Dan,
[52:10]
you were at the live taping.
[52:11]
I was at the taping.
[52:12]
So,
[52:13]
there's a chance
[52:13]
you'll hear Dan
[52:14]
doing his biggest
[52:15]
classic guffaw
S4
[52:16]
in the background.
[52:16]
Oh,
[52:16]
you will.
[52:17]
You will hear Dan
[52:17]
guffaw.
[52:18]
I'm the world's biggest
[52:18]
Matt Clough stand-up fan.
[52:20]
Yes.
[52:20]
He's been a loyal supporter
[52:22]
all the way
[52:23]
from my album
[52:24]
pre-COVID.
[52:26]
Mm-hmm.
[52:27]
He was there
[52:27]
in the audience.
[52:28]
Pre-COVID?
[52:28]
Yeah.
[52:30]
Ladies and gentlemen.
[52:31]
Yeah,
[52:32]
you can hear my laugh
[52:32]
on that too.
[52:34]
Yeah,
[52:34]
very pronounced laugh.
[52:35]
But yeah,
[52:36]
it was a lot of fun.
[52:38]
It was a great,
[52:39]
great time.
[52:40]
I shot it
[52:40]
at the Village Underground
[52:41]
Comedy Cellar.
[52:42]
Yeah,
[52:42]
the link
[52:43]
that everyone should remember
[52:44]
to actually see it
[52:45]
is
[52:46]
veeps.events
[52:48]
slash
[52:48]
Matt Koff.
[52:50]
M-A-T-T-K-O-F
[52:52]
F.
[52:54]
Yeah,
Stuart Wellington
[52:54]
two Fs.
[52:55]
And that'll be,
[52:55]
yeah,
[52:56]
that'll be in the show notes
Dan McCoy
[52:57]
I'm sure.
[52:58]
What if we both
[52:59]
had said F
[53:00]
when you pointed at us?
[53:01]
Then there would be
[53:02]
one extra F.
[53:02]
Too many Fs.
[53:03]
Too many Fs.
S4
[53:04]
That's it for my career.
[53:06]
I'll never be
[53:07]
a Kung Fu star now.
[53:08]
Yeah,
[53:08]
that's it.
[53:09]
Your name will never
[53:10]
be Dolomite,
[53:11]
yeah.
[53:12]
Yeah,
[53:13]
but it's very,
[53:14]
I'm very proud of it.
[53:15]
A lot of
[53:16]
Daily Show people
[53:17]
worked on it
[53:18]
for a very affordable rate.
[53:22]
That's what the listeners
[53:23]
are looking for.
[53:24]
You guys like bargains.
[53:25]
You're going to love
[53:26]
this comedy special.
[53:28]
No,
[53:29]
yeah,
[53:29]
a lot of talent
[53:30]
went into this thing.
[53:31]
Looks great,
[53:32]
sounds great,
[53:33]
I think it's funny.
Dan McCoy
[53:35]
There was a lot of,
[53:36]
as someone who has seen
[53:37]
Matt perform several times,
[53:39]
there was a lot of material
[53:39]
I had never seen before,
[53:42]
which is,
[53:43]
I'm always happy to see
[53:44]
that like,
[53:45]
someone's working
[53:46]
and like,
[53:47]
turning over their stuff
[53:48]
and always like,
[53:49]
grinding.
[53:50]
Matt is very devoted
[53:51]
to,
[53:52]
I think,
[53:53]
always writing.
[53:54]
He's always on Grindr,
[53:55]
yeah.
[53:56]
Yeah.
S4
[53:56]
I never miss a moment
[53:57]
to be on Grindr.
Dan McCoy
[54:00]
Oh man,
[54:01]
he's just full of catchphrases.
[54:02]
You can also find me
S4
[54:02]
on Grindr.
[54:04]
Yeah.
[54:04]
Yeah,
[54:05]
how much do you,
[54:05]
how much is your special cost there?
[54:08]
It's free.
[54:09]
Okay.
[54:10]
But there is
[54:11]
a suggested donation.
[54:13]
I'm super excited about it.
[54:14]
A hand job.
[54:15]
What?
[54:15]
Oh.
Elliott Kalan
[54:16]
Matt Coff is a,
[54:18]
if you've never seen
[54:18]
his comic before,
[54:19]
he's hilarious
[54:20]
and you should go
[54:22]
to get Veeps
[54:23]
and then buy a ticket
[54:24]
for it
[54:25]
and then you should watch it.
S4
[54:26]
Get Veeps.
[54:26]
Yeah,
[54:27]
it's,
[54:28]
I think you should.
[54:30]
Thanks guys.
[54:31]
I appreciate it.
[54:31]
Thanks for having me on.
[54:32]
Wow.
[54:33]
And if you make a mistake
Dan McCoy
[54:34]
and watch Veep,
[54:35]
that's also a good show,
[54:36]
but it won't help Matt Coff.
Stuart Wellington
[54:38]
Yeah.
[54:38]
So,
[54:39]
you know,
Dan McCoy
[54:39]
try and rectify it.
[54:40]
Although,
[54:40]
I'm a big fan of Veep.
Stuart Wellington
[54:42]
Yeah,
[54:42]
you can go back in time
[54:43]
and work on Veep.
[54:44]
Yeah.
[54:45]
You could do that.
[54:46]
That's true.
[54:46]
You could do that.
Dan McCoy
[54:47]
You could do that.
[54:48]
You could do that.
[54:48]
I like to keep my options open.
[54:49]
Well,
[54:49]
except for you can't go back in time.
[54:51]
But if you could,
[54:52]
you could do that.
Stuart Wellington
[54:53]
But if you could,
[54:54]
you could.
[54:54]
Yeah,
[54:54]
exactly.
[54:55]
In a couple of days,
[54:56]
we'll ask Matt
[54:57]
how's going back,
[54:58]
you're planning to go back
[54:58]
in time going.
[54:59]
Yeah,
[54:59]
exactly.
Elliott Kalan
[55:00]
It's not going bad.
[55:01]
Yeah.
Stuart Wellington
[55:02]
Still got all my limbs.
[55:03]
Yeah.
Elliott Kalan
[55:04]
Still got shelter.
[55:06]
To paraphrase,
[55:07]
to paraphrase that,
[55:08]
that famous philosopher,
[55:09]
the poster for Cool World,
[55:10]
if Matt Coff could,
[55:11]
Matt Coff would.
[55:12]
Yeah.
[55:14]
Well.
[55:15]
Before we go,
[55:15]
I don't want to take away
[55:16]
from sponsoring Matt,
[55:18]
but I came up with a question.
[55:19]
I came up with an answer
[55:20]
to your question,
[55:21]
Stuart,
[55:21]
about another comedian performance.
[55:23]
I mentioned one of my favorite
[55:24]
all-time stand-up comedians,
[55:25]
Stephen Wright.
[55:26]
His voiceover performance
[55:28]
as the radio announcer
[55:30]
in Reservoir Dogs,
[55:31]
I think,
[55:31]
adds immensely to that movie.
[55:33]
and he's just kind of doing
[55:35]
what he does,
[55:36]
but I believe in that movie
[55:37]
that he's a radio DJ.
[55:39]
So,
[55:39]
you know,
[55:39]
I guess that works as acting.
[55:41]
Yeah.
Stuart Wellington
[55:42]
Yeah.
[55:42]
Perfect.
[55:43]
And obviously,
[55:43]
I'm going to say George Carlin
[55:45]
and Bill and Ted's
[55:46]
excellent adventure.
[55:46]
Yes.
[55:47]
Oh, yeah.
[55:47]
Rufus.
S4
[55:48]
I thought Rodney Dangerfield
[55:50]
was very convincing
[55:51]
in Rover Dangerfield.
[55:53]
He looks like a dog, right?
[55:55]
Yeah.
[55:55]
He looks like a dog
[55:56]
the whole time.
[55:57]
He shits on the sidewalk.
[55:59]
Does he?
[56:00]
That's his thing, right?
[56:02]
Rodney Dangerfield.
[56:02]
Am I thinking of the right
[56:03]
Rodney Dangerfield?
Dan McCoy
[56:04]
Maybe that's why
[56:04]
he gets no respect.
[56:06]
Yeah.
[56:07]
Use a toilet.
[56:08]
That's some self-respect first.
[56:09]
Yeah.
[56:10]
That's how you get respect.
Stuart Wellington
[56:12]
Well,
[56:12]
this has been a treat.
[56:13]
Thank you so much
[56:14]
for talking stand-up comedy
[56:16]
and movies with me.
[56:17]
I've been Stuart Wellington.
[56:19]
Joining me are
[56:20]
Dan McCoy.
Elliott Kalan
[56:22]
I was going to say my name,
[56:23]
but I thought Matt
[56:23]
was going to jump in
[56:24]
and snake the opportunity
[56:25]
from me again.
[56:26]
I'm L.E.K.
[56:27]
Matt.
[56:27]
Cough.
[56:28]
Okay.
[56:28]
Yes.
Stuart Wellington
[56:29]
And this is a mini episode
[56:31]
of the Flophouse.
[56:32]
We're part of the MaxFun Network.
[56:33]
A lot of great shows there.
[56:35]
And we are produced
[56:35]
by producer Alexander Smith,
[56:37]
who goes by Howell Doughty
[56:38]
on the internet.
[56:40]
He does great work.
[56:41]
So thank you so much
[56:42]
for joining us.
[56:43]
Bye.
[56:45]
Bye.
[56:52]
Maximum Fun.
Dan McCoy
[56:52]
A worker-owned network
[56:54]
of artist-owned shows
[56:56]
supported
[56:56]
directly
[56:57]
by you.
Description
Stuart leads a discussion of stand-up comedy in the movies, with the help of our special guest: acclaimed comic and longtime pal, Matt Koff.
Matt Koff’s comedy special, CAT MAN, is now available for purchase at Veeps.events/mattkoff
Subscribe to our NEWSLETTER, “Flop Secrets! It’s the best way to keep up on all things Flop House!
Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinflop