FH Mini 5 - More Time with Griffin

[0:00] I'd love to hear more more stories of Griffin showbiz at life you know but oh

[0:09] so many stories I'm like Robert Evans it's an endless well well that is one of

[0:15] the things that got a lot of requests for on Twitter but I I don't know the

[0:19] degree to which Griffin feels comfortable sharing a lot of that stuff

[0:22] so that's up to you can ask him he's right there I mean yeah you can test well

[0:25] I feel like there's very little I'm not comfortable talking about what was it

[0:29] like when you and Allie McGraw split up mm-hmm rough real rough because you

[0:35] have to remember like we're coming off of a big hit yeah yeah oh yeah cuz I

[0:43] just I mean I know I was just making a joke about it but for context I was in a

[0:47] throuple with Robert Evans and Allie McGraw yeah Evans and I both produced

[0:52] love story yeah so it was just like all like every and I broke up with both of

[0:58] them at the same time cuz they broke up later but they first broke up with me

[1:03] and vice you also left them for their breakup yeah you because it was

[1:08] originally me and Allie and then we were like yeah we should find a third and

[1:13] then she was like what about the most powerful person at Paramount that could

[1:18] help both of us yeah yeah I mean they're that that'll fix the power dynamic right

[1:23] right and then yeah no she found him a little more valuable than me in every

[1:27] sense oh that's too bad well you got the last laugh on her this made up

[1:36] scenario yeah yeah yeah um we're there actual questions yeah do you want I feel

[1:43] like I should I'll say pass if I can't answer yeah yeah I feel like yeah I

[1:50] shouldn't answer well I'll say pass to yeah don't don't ask me about families

[1:56] of the mafia I'm not allowed I might pass on anything do you think do you

[2:02] think doing the first edition of your one-man show about wado is what caused

[2:07] the lockdown because they wanted that to be the only the Illuminati wanted that

[2:11] to be the only performance I will say this I do feel very weird about the fact

[2:16] that there were five days six maybe less than a week between when I did the first

[2:23] and probably only performance of my one-man wado show and when the UCB New

[2:27] York closed down maybe forever it was like a very short period of time between

[2:34] the two so this is gonna be one of those shows like moose murders or something

[2:38] where people are like oh yeah I was there when they weren't really there but

[2:41] they want to be right of that history a hundred percent yeah yeah in the

[2:46] neighborhood I'm I live in it's everybody claims to have gotten the very

[2:49] last steak from Denny's steak pub which is a bar and it's like dude I've talked

[2:55] I've talked to like ten guys who've had the last day impossible they didn't have

[3:00] that much seating you couldn't even have been parallel with someone having the

[3:04] last day you weren't all sharing one stick my wado thing it's weird I mean

[3:11] I've talked about this but like blank check started out as a podcast solely

[3:16] about the Phantom Menace that was the idea that David Sims and I had and then

[3:21] that evolved into a podcast where we covered all the Star Wars movies which

[3:24] then we retrofitted into oh that ended up being more about George Lucas let's

[3:29] pick different directors and go through all their movies in that way and wado

[3:35] was just the character that I was innately drawn to when the Phantom

[3:41] Menace came out he was like far and away my favorite character he was the

[3:44] character I bought merchandise of and watching the film like through vaguely

[3:49] adult eyes recognizing now in a way I did when I was a child how anti-semitic

[3:55] that character is I wonder if the reason I connected to that character so

[4:01] strongly is because he reminded me of a relative like he felt like an elderly

[4:05] relative I think that would have been my guess is that you you connected to him

[4:11] because you saw that you saw the similarities I didn't know that it was

[4:15] that it was so way over the top and that it wasn't right created by people who

[4:20] were of that same type totally I was like totally right so then we started

[4:25] re-watching the movie for the podcast it started hitting really hard I started

[4:28] doing this wado impression all the time on the podcast and then I have a buddy

[4:33] Connor Ratliff who for my money is the best improviser in New York City

[4:37] started doing this show called the George Lucas talk show where he would

[4:42] do an hour-long talk show where he would interview people as themselves as

[4:48] serious guests people who had projects to promote but he would do the whole

[4:54] thing in character as George Lucas and the bit was George Lucas is the least

[4:58] charismatic man of all time trying his hardest to succeed in a format that is

[5:03] based solely on personality and he had a guy named Sean Distin who was Jar Jar

[5:09] Binks as a sidekick for a number of years and then Sean just moved to LA so

[5:15] I asked can I start doing wado as your sidekick which over a period of time I

[5:20] did wado for like three years now we wonder if we'll ever do the show ever

[5:25] again but it culminated me doing a one-man show as wado pretending like I

[5:31] was doing wado's Las Vegas cabaret revue so I rewrote like seven songs with

[5:37] Star Wars specifics and did Broadway standards in wado's voice and that is

[5:43] apparently the thing that ended all live comedy it would just everything down

[5:47] right after that I think that was that it had reached a certain level of ironic

[5:52] singularity and yes and I think God was like okay they have had enough comedy

[5:58] it's time for a catastrophe to overwhelm everybody's lives yeah yes so

[6:02] that's my relationship with wado and how not to be self-aggrandizing but it might

[6:06] have ended all comedy forever yeah it was like the like a cosmic tragedy and

[6:11] comedy mask pairing yeah yes yeah right it ended with wado crying and chugging a

[6:16] beer on stage nothing was left to be said medium of comedy do you guys have

[6:24] any wado memories oh boy I remember as soon as a friend of mine really wanted

[6:32] to play the most recent iteration of the Star Wars role-playing game and he's

[6:35] like what kind of he's like what character do you want to play I'm like I

[6:39] want to be a wado it's like they have a they have a name like yeah I guess I'll

[6:44] be a toy Darian then I like that you're being casually racist about a racist

[6:49] caricature you know one of those wado types controls the media I think growing

[6:55] up in the Midwest I just did not have enough contact with like Jewish people

[7:03] in my life as living living amongst the Gentiles like I didn't realize to what

[7:10] degree that was a stereotype like I was very disturbed by the the traitors at

[7:15] the beginning who are so clearly Asians yes you speak up yes and that was like

[7:25] those were people that I were familiar with but yeah and you were like you're

[7:30] like I love this totally fictional like bizarre hypothetical like pushy greedy

[7:36] hook-nosed character who always has like a stubbly beard all the time and lives

[7:41] in a desert like a credible creation yeah yeah you were just like George leave

[7:46] it to George Lucas master monster maker right it's Lucas but to imagine such a

[7:50] far-out thing but it's a good point too I think there were two things that was

[7:54] connecting to me like connecting for me one is the the Jewish anti-semitism that

[8:02] I was registering as oh what what a comfortable character type that I love

[8:06] and then to that wado is like one of the only characters who feels like a city

[8:11] dweller like I was like a New York City Jew and here's this guy like haggling

[8:16] prices who seems a little bit exhausted you know like hasn't shaved and I'm like

[8:21] I get this like this guy is like I talked to this guy four or five times a

[8:26] day oh yeah he is noticeably shorter than every other character including the

[8:29] child's right everything about him right cuz I feel like most kids were

[8:34] connecting to Anakin I was like this wado guy I'm in safe hands here I feel

[8:38] like with this slave owner they established rules right away they

[8:43] explain Jedi mind tricks don't work on him that's my tricks don't yeah I

[8:48] thought the scene where he he took that Rodian child and drained its blood and

[8:52] then made matzah out of it was a bit much was a bit much yeah so I was I

[9:00] think I'm I'm a little older than you Griffin and these guys the other two

[9:04] guys are much older than you I'm just a little old so I was when I saw that I

[9:08] was when I saw it I was like oh this is not okay like this is but there was

[9:13] still part of me that uh was was like but alright it's Star Wars I'm a maybe

[9:17] I'm wrong maybe this maybe this is okay cuz it's

[9:20] yeah you're like you're saying representation matters right yeah that's

[9:24] it I was saying finally finally a Jewish verse a Jewish character in the Star

[9:27] Wars universe I've my prayers were answered I was so busy trying to force

[9:33] in my imagination Peter Parker to be a Jewish character when right right

[9:38] reality has resisted that and it was years from when people were like okay

[9:42] let's just admit that thing is Jewish and yeah he's the Jewish member of the

[9:46] Fantastic Four so you know who did I have to who did I have Portnoy was that

[9:51] the only fictional character I could call my own you know yeah yeah I mean no

[9:55] it was water we were taking what we could get at that point in time yeah

[10:00] yeah exactly it was either we could either have Watto or we could have a

[10:04] parade of kind of flight oh it was Woody Allen or Watto those are the two choices

[10:07] you know and it's a real damn it's a real coin flip on terms of which one is

[10:13] a worse role model yeah so so Dan if Watto isn't your favorite character what

[10:21] character do you connect with most in the Phantom Menace of all the audience

[10:27] surrogates in the Phantom Menace which one really felt fully developed

[10:31] personable are you gonna say Keira Knightley is one of the stand-ins yeah I

[10:39] think I could see I could see Qui-Gon being your guy Dan he's kind of like

[10:45] yeah no he's he's he's just a guy people look to for answers he doesn't

[10:49] necessarily have them and he's just kind of not much others going on for a

[10:54] personality wise but bearded quiet gravity yeah he has a Qui-Gon gravity

[11:02] yeah he admits of gravity force around well there was a one of the things that

[11:08] that I did not like about a to be unnamed internet video about the Phantom

[11:13] Menace where I thought they you know it's all about criticizing it and this

[11:15] was one criticism I thought was not fair was they were like describe the Star

[11:19] Wars characters from the old movies with you know right off the top of your

[11:22] head and then describe the new ones off the top of your head and people couldn't

[11:25] do it it was like well yeah cuz how many times you've seen the new movie like

[11:28] once come on like yeah yeah and they couldn't describe my gun but it was like

[11:32] okay Qui-Gon he's dick he's a he's a dignified kind of Honorable Jedi and he

[11:36] doesn't joke around but they couldn't do it it was like so this could this

[11:39] character be all characters I don't understand is he like a Harlem detective

[11:44] but he's also like a court jester from the 15th century like yes you can

[11:48] describe him a little bit you know no toy guy Qui-Gon in particular you can

[11:52] definitely describe like that's the character that tracks the cleanest

[11:55] throughout the movie and the performance works not to touch the the third rail of

[12:00] the internet but that's one of those things we're like I feel I would hear

[12:05] people complain about the Laura Dern character in the last Jedi and say like

[12:10] I mean what why are we supposed to just accept that this character is like an

[12:14] admiral like we don't know her we know nothing about her and I'm like you know

[12:18] nothing about Admiral Ackbar the difference is you that you've known

[12:22] nothing about him your entire life so he feels like he's earned that position

[12:26] because you have taken him as a given you don't you don't know his fucking

[12:30] credentials every Star Wars movie is about introducing a load of top rebel

[12:34] brass that you've never heard of before and you're I guess okay General Dodon

[12:38] okay great right all right okay I've been following the farm boy and the

[12:41] pirate and the princess all this time but I sure there's a general yeah like

[12:45] is Mon her first name or is that like right is that a name or as a title but

[12:50] like for people to cross their arms and go like well I mean this woman has done

[12:54] nothing to prove to me that she's worthy of that title it's like she came on

[12:58] screen two minutes ago and also the thing the fact she's played by Laura

[13:03] Dern like she already carries all the gravity and authority that I need yeah

[13:07] look at that neck I mean I loved I loved in that movie how right she was and how

[13:11] wrong Poe was like yeah like that that they that the whole point of the movie

[13:17] was like no Poe we have a hierarchy in the military for a reason like you can't

[13:21] just free boot around moron like that made me very yeah I wonder I wonder if

[13:25] that's why people don't like the character it's almost like there's

[13:27] something that they're not interrogating in terms of their automatic response to

[13:31] a woman telling a man I think that's unlikely I mean more likely they just

[13:39] didn't like the color of her hair but what a good color I mean that's just a

[13:43] bad opinion oh no so just to jump back a little bit of course the character I

[13:49] connected most with you'd think I'd say Chancellor Valorum because he's got a

[13:53] quiet dignity and he's resigned to losing I think I know who you're gonna

[13:56] say boss Nass baby I thought you're gonna say great guy what's the Jedi with

[14:01] a big tall head no he's my favorite character but you are you wish but that

[14:12] spoke to you yeah I went like that's the thing is when I growing up as you know a

[14:18] tall heavyset handsome white guy from the Midwest I was like if only I could

[14:24] be a key adding Mundi type sure well guys I think we finally did it for four

[14:32] guys on the internet talked about Star Wars so that finally it was never it

[14:37] never happened before and it'll never happen again hi I'm Allie Gertz and I'm

[14:41] Julia Prescott and we host round Springfield round Springfield is a new

[14:46] Simpsons podcast that is Simpsons adjacent in its topic we talked to

[14:51] Simpsons writers directors voiceover actors you name it about non Simpsons

[14:56] things that they've done because surprise they're all extremely talented

[15:01] absolutely for example David X Cohen worked on The Simpsons but then created

[15:05] a little show called Futurama mm-hmm that's our very first episode yeah tune

[15:09] in for stuff like that with Yardley Smith with Tim Long with different

[15:12] writers and voice actors it's gonna be so much fun and we are every other week

[15:16] on maximum fun org or wherever you get your podcasts I did for a long time the

[15:25] only thing anyone would hire me to do as an actor was play some type of computer

[15:30] expert it was it was either that or personal assistant and very often the

[15:36] two would sort of cross over they were very similar but I did two episodes on

[15:43] bluebloods testing out whether they wanted like a computer nerd character

[15:49] that I think went out the window once Donnie Wahlberg decided he didn't like

[15:54] me on set be like why why'd we hire this kid I don't get it and I'd be like oh

[16:01] cool thank you very much mr. Wahlberg but at least a card for lifetime

[16:06] Wahlberg errs he did he did yeah it was just a key to the dumpster behind any

[16:14] wall yeah it's one there was a scene I had to do where I had found the like

[16:31] smoking gun or some important piece of evidence about a missing person through

[16:35] their social media profile and the line I had to say was okay so I located her

[16:40] social gizmo profile and it was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do

[16:46] as an actor because just every time it bumped coming out of my mouth being like

[16:49] why would anyone ever sign up for a fucking website called social gizmo

[16:54] there is just no universe no matter how fantastical in which that acquires

[16:59] enough of a user base that the NYPD would be using it for evidence like

[17:05] impossible the only way I can imagine is if there was a different timeline for

[17:11] technology and social media existed when gremlins came out and backing on

[17:16] everyone's love of gizmo they created this thing where it's like you get to

[17:19] pretend to be gizmos friend as long as you follow the three rules of gizmo one

[17:25] don't feed him after midnight to do not get him drunk three don't mention his

[17:30] ex-wife but and it's like why but otherwise why wouldn't want you want to

[17:35] be friends with him so that's the only reality I can imagine where that's

[17:38] social gizmo sounds like a branded gremlins tamagotchi not like that's what

[17:45] it sounds like it doesn't sound like a Facebook equivalent which was what they

[17:49] were asking me to sell now did you work with Tom Selleck which I asked because

[17:54] even though my dad is a you know a college professor like lefty guy and

[18:03] Tom Selleck is a noted like National Review pitchman national rifle

[18:09] Association right yeah well that too but like he also he does for the National

[18:13] Review yeah yeah we do like ads for them all the time but I didn't know that and

[18:16] national lampoon he likes anything national national broadcasting

[18:21] abrasion loves it yes when I was a kid my dad loves Magnum PI that was his hero

[18:30] yeah so I'm just I'm just curious I I feel I know I know I never got to work

[18:35] with him the that show is kind of ingeniously like four plot lines that

[18:41] almost never intersect because the anti Seinfeld right it's like the four

[18:47] different members of this family who each work on a different side of New

[18:51] York City law enforcement and then they the only thing that unifies them is like

[18:57] family dinners so I was only in the Wahlberg Jennifer Esposito section it's

[19:04] too bad you didn't get if you didn't got along better with Wahlberg then you

[19:06] could have been on longer become a friend of the family on the show and get

[19:09] invited to one of those dinners and then Tom Selleck and you and you'd be like

[19:13] what was it like being mr. baseball and I'm so glad we were able to answer so

[19:21] many of those questions and prompts that people wrote in I really feel like we

[19:25] got a lot done and covered a wide breath in this little yeah yeah I think but no

[19:30] one we there's no questions left right Dan I mean well most of them were about

[19:34] mustaches so we did it okay from the ones you hand curated from Twitter I

[19:40] don't know why why like I'm getting so much hassling where it's just like you're

[19:47] like oh you put the call out on Twitter I'm like great uh I figured we were like

[19:51] sort of talk about it beforehand but if we just like rolled right into the

[19:54] episode and slapdash yeah yeah sometimes podcasting is like jazz man you know

[20:03] you just got to go with the flow and and the people who listen to it won't

[20:07] stop talking about it to other people who are not interested and go don't know

[20:11] but look I really understand this podcast it's just like jazz where it's

[20:16] like look you're gonna love this song but first you got to listen to 70 years

[20:19] of other music to get to it it's not about the jokes they're making it's

[20:23] about the jokes they don't make so do we do we we never did a intro do we do a

[20:29] sign off on these we ever even mentioned that Griffin was joining us Griffin

[20:37] Newman of the blank check podcast everyone so thank you for listening I

[20:43] was reminded it would be a good idea hey that cinephile live stream we did for

[20:49] charity if you didn't see it live it's on the film stage Facebook page and if

[20:56] you donate to the charity that they keep putting up on the screen during it

[21:01] art house America that helps independent theaters during this economic crisis

[21:07] along with a health crisis that that if you donate to it and you know just give

[21:14] them some proof that you donated I think they explain it during the cast you will

[21:19] be entered in for a prize pack that includes flap house stuff if you're

[21:22] interested to that sort of thing because I don't think we ever got a

[21:26] chance to promote it on air so it's archived over at the film stage Facebook

[21:32] sorry to hijack at the end but I think that's a good thing to remind folks of

[21:36] cool but anyway thank you Griffin for coming back a variety of nerd things

[21:46] this has been great guys great to see folks again and for the flap house I've

[21:53] been Dan McCoy I'm still Stuart Wellington I'm Elliot

[21:57] Kalin didn't mention my name at the top but I'm mentioning it now and I'm

[22:01] Griffin Newman see you guys

[22:05] Maximumfund.org comedy and culture artists owned audience supported

FH Mini 5 - More Time with Griffin

Transcript

Description