Ep. #441 - Spice World, LIVE

[0:00] Hi, floppers, before we start this episode,

[0:02] I just wanted to remind you,

[0:03] we are in the middle of Flop TV season two.

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[0:08] Flop House TV show is here for you

[0:11] the first Saturday of every month through February.

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[0:17] and get your tickets or season pass

[0:19] for this all new Flop House TV stuff.

[0:22] We're covering movies we've never covered before.

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[0:27] Just go to theflophouse.simpletics.com

[0:29] for Flop TV season two.

[0:31] This time, it's personal.

[0:33] On this episode, we discuss Spice World.

[0:38] Live from Oxford, England.

[0:40] Cheers.

[0:41] Yes.

[1:07] Yes.

[1:09] Yes.

[1:11] Yes.

[1:12] Yeah.

[1:13] Yeah.

[1:14] Yeah.

[1:15] Yeah.

[1:16] No.

[1:17] Oh, no.

[1:17] Wrong audience.

[1:18] There is—you can talk to the most liberal, progressive audience in the United States.

[1:20] If you start chanting USA, it's like a switch flips in their brain, and they can't stop

[1:24] it.

[1:24] That's the beauty of having three initials in your country name, like—

[1:29] Yeah.

[1:30] —you know, there's many wonderful things about the UK, but it doesn't have the same

[1:34] rhythm.

[1:35] OK.

[1:36] Calm down, sir.

[1:38] This is an interesting hobby horse for Dan that I was not aware of ahead of time.

[1:43] I've got to take a heel turn in the second show.

[1:46] And now it's time—now at the end of local news, a local citizen will have a chance to

[1:51] express his editorial.

[1:52] How come countries all have three initials?

[1:56] Won't somebody step in and stop this?

[1:59] Hey, everyone, and welcome to the Flophouse.

[2:03] I'm Dan McCoy.

[2:04] I'm Stuart Wellington.

[2:05] I'm Elliot Kalin.

[2:06] Thank you.

[2:07] You got them back.

[2:11] This is a podcast where normally we watch a bad movie and then we talk about it.

[2:16] Tonight, however, we watch Spice World.

[2:20] And we're about to talk about it.

[2:21] We're about to talk about it.

[2:22] Stuart, I believe you have the reins for this one.

[2:25] Now, before we get into the plot of Spice World, which is dense and layered—

[2:31] Did you guys see this movie when—

[2:32] Yeah, I think Tom Stopper did a rewrite on this one.

[2:34] Yeah.

[2:35] Did you guys see this movie when it first came out?

[2:38] I didn't see it in the theater.

[2:39] I definitely watched it on home video because I liked the Spice Girls.

[2:46] Some movies Dan pervert to watch alone at home with no one else in the room.

[2:53] And you know, yes, I did.

[2:55] I saw it at the time.

[2:56] Elliot, though, I believe saw it for the first time yesterday.

[2:58] No, my first viewing of it was last night when we watched it en masse as a group.

[3:03] That's Latin for with mass.

[3:06] We all have physical being.

[3:08] And yeah, I'd never seen—

[3:10] When it first came out, I was not a Spice Girls fan.

[3:12] I just wasn't into that stuff.

[3:13] As I said to Dan's wife last night, when I was a teenager, my girl group was Elastica.

[3:20] And she said, who?

[3:21] No, I, yeah, I loved Elastica.

[3:22] Yeah, they're great.

[3:23] But, I mean, they stole that one song.

[3:24] But what are you going to do?

[3:25] Anyway, so I had not seen it before.

[3:26] The Spice Girls were to me a gimmick, nay, a joke.

[3:27] But now the scales have fallen through.

[3:28] And I finally see, not through a glass darkly, but through a spice clearly.

[3:43] It's almost as if I can now see through space and time, thanks to a totally different spice

[3:48] on a totally different Spice World.

[3:51] So you're saying you spiced up your life?

[3:54] I did spice up my life.

[3:57] They commanded every boy and every girl to spice up their lives.

[4:00] And I said, I'm a boy.

[4:02] I've got to do it.

[4:03] Yeah.

[4:04] You're no longer a wannabe.

[4:05] OK, that was labored, I admit.

[4:06] So I, yeah, I didn't see this at the time, either.

[4:07] I wasn't a, like, you know, I was a teenager.

[4:08] I wasn't a big Spice Girls fan at the time.

[4:09] I think part of it is that, like, watching it, I feel like it's a movie that works better

[4:10] now, almost.

[4:11] Yes, I agree.

[4:12] And I would say that, you know, I'm not a big Spice Girls fan.

[4:14] now, almost.

[4:16] spice girls.

[4:23] now, almost.

[4:26] And I would say that, like, at the time I didn't realize it, but, like, I feel like

[4:30] the Spice Girls are, were not, like, they were not male gazey in the way that I think

[4:34] I had expected, like, pop stars to be.

[4:37] Hmm.

[4:38] I mean, their boobs are falling out of their shirt a lot.

[4:40] I, but I don't know.

[4:41] Like, I feel like they, like, I feel like they're sexy.

[4:44] My, as my wife was describing it, sexy more for, like, a teenage girl than for a.

[4:49] They're like aspirationally sexy.

[4:51] Yeah.

[4:52] Like, you want to be a Spice Girl rather than be with a Spice Girl.

[4:54] Eminem can't decide which one he wants to impregnate, but, but for most guys, yeah.

[4:59] But I think there's a, the controversial thing I'll say about this movie, I think this movie,

[5:05] comedy wise, is about 10 years ahead of its time.

[5:09] Like, that's the time, when this movie came out, what was the hit comedy?

[5:12] It was, like, something about Mary, you know, which is, it's like, oh, gross, oh, embarrassing.

[5:17] Oh, whereas this movie is like random, random, non sequitur, non sequitur.

[5:22] You like that joke?

[5:23] Forget about it.

[5:24] It's gone on to the next one.

[5:25] Yeah.

[5:26] Which is like, that's comedy now.

[5:27] You know, they saw it way ahead of time.

[5:28] I mean, it's also comedy, like, 30 years earlier, too, so.

[5:32] And I also think, well, you're saying it plays better now.

[5:35] Part of that, too, is at the time, critics, at least, were probably like, oh, this is

[5:40] a package thing that is, like, they're trying to shove this down, like, why do the Spice

[5:43] Girls have a movie?

[5:46] Whereas now, it's just like, yeah, I remember the Spice Girls.

[5:48] I like them.

[5:49] You know, you have, there's, like, a little more perspective on it, where it's not, like,

[5:53] clouded by this idea of, like, weird authenticity, you know?

[5:56] I mean, and also the fact that, when you turn on the radio now, one, what do you do?

[6:01] And nobody listens to the radio anymore.

[6:02] But two, you don't hear the Spice Girls.

[6:04] So when this came out, it was like, the world, we were living in a Spice World.

[6:07] It was everywhere.

[6:08] I do like your cranking voice opens with a, ugh.

[6:11] That's some shorthand for, like, don't, whatever I say, just discount it.

[6:16] Yeah.

[6:17] Okay, so Spice World, the movie, opens with, we get some credits, and what a cast.

[6:22] In addition to the Fab Five, that's right, the Spice Girls, we have, man, everybody's

[6:28] in this movie.

[6:29] Everybody in the world is in this movie.

[6:31] You got Richard E. Grant, you got Alan Cumming, you got Roger Moore, you got George Wendt.

[6:36] Yes.

[6:37] Mark McKinney, Barry Humphries, consider, this is a, so, this is a Spice Girls movie.

[6:43] It does not need to have one of the kids in the hall, Dame Edna, not as Dame Edna, and

[6:48] Riff Raff from Rocky Horror in it, but they're all in it.

[6:51] Yes.

[6:52] Okay.

[6:53] And Richard E. Grant has so much screen time.

[6:56] It's fantastic.

[6:57] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[6:58] He's great.

[6:59] And so the movie opens with a performance by the Spice Girls.

[7:01] There's many of them.

[7:02] Who are they?

[7:04] Well, we have Mel C, Mel B, Emma, Jerry, and Victoria.

[7:11] Okay.

[7:12] Oh, you did it.

[7:14] Okay.

[7:15] And their personas.

[7:16] I think I can rest.

[7:17] Now, their personas, Stuart.

[7:19] We got Baby, Posh, Scary, Sporty, and Ginger, thank God.

[7:27] You did it.

[7:28] You did it.

[7:29] Sorry I got distracted.

[7:30] Sporty's my favorite.

[7:31] I've said this before, but Sporty's my favorite.

[7:33] It's hard not to have Sporty as your favorite, I think.

[7:36] I do think that this movie best serves the Spice Girls who have a clear bit.

[7:42] You know, where it's like, Sporty or Baby, there's a thing to hang your hat on.

[7:47] I feel like Jerry struggles more because it's like, well, her bit is she has red hair.

[7:53] So they give her the characteristic of she's always spewing trivia, like factual trivia,

[7:59] and it's a weird thing for them to do.

[8:01] I guess she's supposed to be like the brainy Spice, but also at least one of her trivia facts is wrong,

[8:06] and I'm not sure if that's supposed to be a joke or not.

[8:09] So it got me so mad.

[8:11] Almost as mad as I was during Stuart's erroneous dinosaur presentation was when I was watching it.

[8:17] And she's like, you know, the manta ray is the biggest fish.

[8:19] And I'm like, the whale shark is the biggest fish, Jerry.

[8:22] Ginger Spice, what are you teaching the girls of the world?

[8:25] LA was squirming in a seat.

[8:27] Okay.

[8:28] Not for the same reason Dan was squirming in his seat.

[8:31] So in the credits it does say based on an idea by the Spice Girls, which is great.

[8:38] Fuck yeah, everything.

[8:39] The idea seems to be we're the Spice Girls.

[8:42] Yeah.

[8:43] Okay.

[8:44] So it opens with like a performance in like a dinner club or a supper club.

[8:49] They got a band.

[8:50] They play one of their songs.

[8:51] We get a little bit of a taste of who they are.

[8:54] Sporty has some amazing solos.

[8:56] I love it.

[8:57] And then afterwards the girls are rushing to their tour bus through the halls.

[9:01] They're accompanied by their manager, Richard E. Grant Clifford,

[9:04] who wears a lot of really great colorful like monochromatic suits.

[9:08] And he has a soul patch that does a lot of acting.

[9:13] There was a period of time I was attempting to get an outfit to dress like Richard E. Grant for the show.

[9:20] You should get it just for normal life, Dan.

[9:23] There's a cheap green suit that I was having delivered to me because that was like the most doable one.

[9:30] Because like the first Richard E. Grant, I'm like, what did he wear?

[9:32] And the first picture that came up was like a leather jacket with a leather tie.

[9:38] And I'm like, I don't think that's a look I could do.

[9:41] A powerful but smelly outfit.

[9:43] Yeah.

[9:45] Okay.

[9:46] The girls all, you know, they say hi to Elton John.

[9:49] They rush past a documentary crew that is following them, led by Alan Cumming.

[9:54] Yeah.

[9:56] This is one of the few things that I feel like the movie is missing.

[10:00] he fails to reach the potential of is that

[10:03] Richard E. Grant and Alan Cumming on the screen together,

[10:06] it never achieves the sparks and the high-intensity acting

[10:11] that I want it to, of two indelible personalities

[10:14] slamming against each other.

[10:16] I think because Alan Cumming, his character is a character

[10:18] who keeps getting pies in the face, metaphorically.

[10:23] I want to see the two of them argue at some point.

[10:24] Maybe dance, didn't happen.

[10:26] Yeah, so he's like-

[10:27] And also, he has superpowers.

[10:28] I don't know why he's not just teleporting

[10:30] all over the place.

[10:30] That's the thing, yeah.

[10:33] Yeah, so throughout the movie, he and his film crew

[10:36] are chasing the Spice Girls around,

[10:37] trying to get footage, and it doesn't really matter,

[10:41] nor is it really jokey.

[10:43] No, yeah.

[10:45] It's kind of weak, it's too bad.

[10:46] I feel like there's a waste of potential, but that's fine.

[10:48] So I feel like, like a lot of things,

[10:50] it's like, no, don't worry about it, just keep going.

[10:53] Just like when Elton John wanders in,

[10:54] and they're like, he has two seconds to film,

[10:57] so kiss him and get the fuck out of there.

[10:59] What's so funny about it is they have the real Elton John,

[11:01] and most of the scene is with his back to the camera,

[11:04] and I don't think it's because they used a stand-in.

[11:06] I think they were like, we'll get the Spice Girls first,

[11:08] then we'll get the reverse shot with Elton,

[11:09] and halfway through the Elton shot,

[11:10] he was like, gotta go.

[11:14] Okay, so they board their bus.

[11:15] They're in a double-decker Union Jack-draped bus

[11:20] that is larger on the inside than the outside,

[11:23] and a phenomenon that's never been explored

[11:25] in British entertainment before.

[11:28] And we get an idea of their personalities and their quirks.

[11:32] Sporty is on a bike or kicking a soccer ball,

[11:36] football, sorry, shit.

[11:39] They're talking about astrology,

[11:40] and I'm like, what sign is each girl?

[11:43] You unmasked yourself as an American.

[11:46] Oh, I know.

[11:47] You could get arrested for doing that.

[11:49] I know.

[11:50] Okay, and we learn at this point

[11:52] the ticking clock of the movie,

[11:55] and that's that they have a show coming up at Albert Hall,

[11:58] which I think I am inferring is a big deal.

[12:03] Well, yep, you are, it is a major venue, yes.

[12:06] I know that it takes a lot of holes to fill it.

[12:10] Not as many as you think.

[12:11] They know how many.

[12:13] And how do you get there?

[12:16] Practice, practice, practice, come on.

[12:18] Yes, it's the same directions to get to Carnegie Hall

[12:20] as Albert Hall, or all halls, really.

[12:23] The halls of medicine, yeah.

[12:25] They built them on the same Indian burial ground.

[12:27] That's the practice, practice, practice.

[12:28] Dan, I don't know if you know about the history of England,

[12:31] but there's not a lot of Native Americans.

[12:35] Yeah.

[12:37] Okay, so now we cut over to George Wendt and Mark McKinney,

[12:42] who are, I guess, film producers

[12:44] who see them performing on TV,

[12:46] or see them doing an interview preparing for their show,

[12:50] and they realize, you know what, there's something here.

[12:52] These girls have got it.

[12:53] Let's come up with a movie pitch.

[12:55] We can sell a movie with the Spice Girls,

[12:57] and Mark McKinney is, I think, the writer of the two,

[12:59] and he's wearing a Harvard shirt,

[13:01] which is a very funny touch.

[13:04] I feel like that's someone who knows screenwriters.

[13:06] They all went to Harvard,

[13:07] and they all want to tell you about it all the time.

[13:10] Okay, so the Spice Girls are practicing for their show.

[13:14] They're doing a rehearsal,

[13:16] and it is interrupted by the arrival

[13:18] of their pregnant friend, Nicola,

[13:20] who is not a Spice Girl,

[13:22] and I was not familiar with her before this,

[13:24] but she seems like she's part of the gang

[13:26] who has gotten kind of pushed out of it

[13:28] due to life or having a baby.

[13:30] So the girls kind of cluster around her.

[13:32] They talk about it.

[13:33] Then they have a dream sequence

[13:35] where they imagine what they'd be like if they were mums.

[13:39] And there's a couple of these sequences

[13:41] throughout the movie where the camera gets all swirly,

[13:44] and that's basically your cue to see a really good bit.

[13:48] Yeah, whenever something like this happens,

[13:51] I'm like, ooh, great,

[13:52] because the whole movie is padding,

[13:55] but in the best way possible.

[13:57] Nothing is relevant, so everything is beautiful.

[14:00] It's essentially a sketch movie.

[14:03] I think at a certain point, they were like,

[14:05] people really care about the plot of a Spice Girls movie.

[14:08] And the people who, the director, I know, at least, of this

[14:11] was a long-time television comedy director.

[14:14] He did the second series of Fawlty Towers,

[14:16] and he did most of Absolutely Fabulous.

[14:18] So it's like, I think there,

[14:19] and he did a lot of comic strip also.

[14:21] And so it's like, look, let's just do jokes.

[14:24] This is what we know we're doing.

[14:25] And so I really like that they embrace that sketch aspect.

[14:28] I also think, again, it's not something

[14:30] that is presented as a joke,

[14:32] but it is very funny, the idea that a band has a best friend.

[14:37] Well, and she's like their collective best friend.

[14:39] They're all her best friends,

[14:41] and she treats them like one undifferentiated mass

[14:44] that is all her best friends.

[14:49] And she walks in pregnant, and they're like, hi,

[14:51] and they break up rehearsal.

[14:52] And I remember, I'm like,

[14:53] I don't know the Spice Girls mythology,

[14:54] but is this like a character?

[14:56] Like, is she mentioned in the albums?

[14:58] Like, what is?

[14:59] It's great.

[15:00] Yeah, if you get the action figures,

[15:01] it's like, oh, this is the accessory,

[15:03] the Spice Girls' best friend.

[15:05] Yeah.

[15:06] Yeah, which is the pregnant Barbie?

[15:10] Thank you, it's Midge.

[15:11] Um, okay, so, and we learned that there's an element

[15:17] of like the Spice Girls worrying

[15:19] that they're losing touch with their pregnant friend

[15:20] who has also been abandoned by the baby's father.

[15:24] They don't go too deeply into that,

[15:26] which is probably the right choice

[15:27] for a Spice Girls movie.

[15:29] Okay, so back on the tour bus,

[15:30] the girls are starting to kind of push back

[15:33] against the roles that they've been assigned

[15:35] by their names and interests.

[15:37] They want to be known as more than just the sporty one,

[15:40] because sporty also likes other things.

[15:43] So that carries on to a photo shoot

[15:46] where they are being photographed by a photographer

[15:49] played by Dominic West from The Wire,

[15:51] which was really cool.

[15:53] And they decide to change it up

[15:55] and then they dress like each other.

[15:57] I thought this was pretty fun,

[15:59] and not as racist as I was expecting it to get.

[16:02] I also enjoyed, you see this in a lot of movies,

[16:06] but I felt like it was especially underlined here

[16:09] that every time they did a freeze frame,

[16:11] it's like, that would have been a terrible photo.

[16:13] That's the one they picked?

[16:16] I don't know much about the real life Spice Girls,

[16:19] but the impression I get from the movie

[16:21] is they either are very good at faking

[16:23] enjoying being around each other,

[16:25] or they do like being around each other.

[16:27] I don't know which it is.

[16:28] I don't want to know which it is.

[16:29] It's like Schrodinger's Cat.

[16:31] I don't need to know if it's alive or dead.

[16:34] But I think that it almost doesn't matter at this point.

[16:36] Like, it feels like it's sold.

[16:39] Afterwards, they go to a press party

[16:41] with a few more British celebrities.

[16:45] Big celebrity cameos.

[16:47] Should we talk about the cameos

[16:48] that didn't make it into the film?

[16:49] Because there are a lot of cameos in the movie,

[16:50] but there are a few cameos

[16:51] that were cut from the film before release.

[16:53] Should we talk about those now?

[16:54] Yeah, why not?

[16:55] Sure.

[16:56] Two big ones.

[16:57] There was apparently at least one scene

[16:59] with Gianni Versace, who unfortunately was murdered

[17:01] between the filming and the release.

[17:03] And so they cut his scene.

[17:04] Unrelated to the movie.

[17:05] Unrelated, not because he was in Spice Girls.

[17:07] That was not the case of the Spice Girls killing.

[17:09] Baby tracked him down.

[17:11] Yeah.

[17:12] And of course, there was a cameo by Gary Glitter,

[17:14] who was brought up on charges between filming and release.

[17:18] And that was cut from the release of the film, yeah.

[17:21] So this, when you put a lot of cameos in your movie,

[17:24] you are dancing on a knife edge.

[17:27] You don't know what's gonna happen.

[17:30] Okay, so at this press party,

[17:33] their friend Nicola shows up,

[17:34] their collective best friend Nicola shows up.

[17:36] Still pregnant.

[17:37] They're a little bit too busy to spend time with her.

[17:40] So she ends up leaving and they feel bad.

[17:43] I feel like I've missed a very important thing.

[17:45] The Spice Girls at this point have become so popular

[17:48] that they've drawn the negative attention

[17:50] of the local trade, what the magazine,

[17:54] the daily newspaper has.

[17:55] The tabloid.

[17:56] It's a tabloid newspaper, yeah.

[17:57] Where the evil tabloid owner enlists his,

[18:02] what, number one fixer, played by Jason Fleming,

[18:05] and they bring in the ultimate paparazzo,

[18:08] played by, named Damien, played by Richard O'Brien

[18:11] from the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

[18:13] And the editor is Barry Humphreys.

[18:14] Let me explain that.

[18:15] Wait, who plays the editor?

[18:17] The editor is Barry Humphreys, better known as Day Medna,

[18:19] but not being Day Medna in this.

[18:20] Oh, okay, okay.

[18:22] So.

[18:23] Who's Australian?

[18:23] They have decided they need to ruin the Spice Girls

[18:26] and they'll stop at nothing to do it,

[18:28] and all of a sudden it starts raining in the office.

[18:30] It's kind of great.

[18:31] I also love how capricious this is,

[18:33] because it doesn't seem like

[18:34] there's any particular reason

[18:36] they want to ruin the Spice Girls,

[18:37] other than there's a spinning newspaper

[18:40] where the headline's just, Spice Girls.

[18:42] He has as much reason to destroy the Spice Girls

[18:45] as J. Jonah Jameson has to destroy Spider-Man.

[18:48] Although he brings a certain.

[18:49] Wait, Spice Girls, Spider-Man.

[18:54] Sometimes words sound alike.

[18:57] One thing I love about the editor's performance

[18:59] is how much he spits all the time.

[19:02] It's like he's fucking Denethor chomping on cherry tomatoes.

[19:05] I love it.

[19:06] Okay, so that's all kind of going on in the background,

[19:09] and at this press party, they get lured,

[19:12] Alan Cumming lures them into some questions

[19:15] for his documentary, one of which involves the Pope,

[19:19] and Jerry makes a comment about, is the Pope Catholic,

[19:21] and that leads to some bad press,

[19:24] where they publish a headline

[19:25] that the Spice Girls are questioning

[19:27] whether or not the Pope is Catholic,

[19:28] and obviously there's a minor uproar

[19:31] that doesn't seem to affect anyone

[19:33] other than Richard E. Grant.

[19:34] Yeah.

[19:35] Just makes him very stressed out.

[19:37] Yeah.

[19:38] Richard E. Grant, yeah, is very stressed

[19:40] through the entire movie,

[19:41] and I love the fact that he seems to be taking license

[19:44] of like, okay, I'm in Spice World.

[19:47] This means I can fulfill my dream

[19:50] of acting as hard as I ever have.

[19:54] Like, he is going for it in a beautiful way.

[19:57] Yeah, would you say this is a small performance?

[20:00] His name is Richard Enormous Grant.

[20:03] I, you know, I read this article where Richard E. Grant was reminiscing about it that I sent to you guys as well and he has so much affection for doing this and I was so charmed by how much affection and I was thinking about like, like, I love a thing that I think is very characteristic of British actors where it's like, we think of England, like, having, actors having so much training, so much theatre,

[20:29] in their background, but they also just love being like, yeah, it's a job, you're going to pay me, I'll do it, yeah, and I love that, like, it's so beautiful, me, Dame Judi Dench, I'll be an elemental or whatever in your Riddick movie, yeah, yeah, I'll tell Riddick how cool he is, yeah, sure, fuck it, I'll give it 110%, and also I do want to point out that Richard E. Grant is feeling stressed out because he's receiving both pressure and kind of strange advice, cryptic aphorisms, yeah,

[20:58] from his boss, played by Roger Moore, who is stroking a different farm animal in every scene, there's a scene later on where Roger Moore is giving this cryptic, very calm advice while he bottle feeds a pig and the pig starts squirming in his hands and he does not let on for a moment that this is going to bother him, that he has a squirming pig in his hands, that's a pro, and it's a pro, and it's also one of those roles where you're like, I know they shot all of this in one day on one set,

[21:26] and Roger Moore, like, you know, he probably just walked in, was like, what am I doing, carrying a rabbit and then feeding a pig, sure, whatever, they're like, you have to wear a silk robe, oh, you're already wearing one, okay, and at the very end of the day, you brought your one from home, and then it's just, cheers, fellas, and then back to his life, yeah.

[21:45] Okay, so after this snafu about the Pope, they end up flying to Milan to participate in a photo shoot, where they bring in a group of scantily clad men, and the girls object to it, so then they put on different outfits on those men, and Richard E. Grant gets to have a good argument with the Italian director, it's fun.

[22:04] It's a borderline offensive depiction of an Italian.

[22:09] I don't think it's offensive to do that.

[22:12] But it pays off with men dancing in buttless pants, so everyone's happy.

[22:17] Yeah, international male catalog quality outfits.

[22:21] Okay, so they fly back.

[22:23] Apparently, as soon as they land, they end up boarding their tour bus, and the bathrooms on the bus break down.

[22:30] So the Milan thing is not related to the Pope thing, right?

[22:33] It has nothing to do, but it feels weird to happen right after.

[22:36] I wonder if at any point they were like, should we make it explicit that they're doing this show in Milan in order to get back in with the Italian audience after offending people about the Pope?

[22:44] And they were just like, do we give a shit?

[22:47] Just get them over there, come on.

[22:50] So speaking of scenes that I think don't make the most sense, but I still love, so the bathroom on their bus breaks down.

[22:58] Bus driver, played by Meat Loaf, will not, he loves the girls, but he won't fix the bathrooms for them.

[23:05] I will do anything for them, but I won't do that.

[23:08] Huge applause break in the theater when he delivers that line.

[23:13] People are like running around, high-fiving each other.

[23:16] And if I'm correct, this was not the first time Meat Loaf played a bus driver in a movie, because he played a bus driver in Leap of Faith with Steve Martin, right?

[23:24] I think that was Meat Loaf.

[23:25] So Meat Loaf, he's either a musician who loves to play bus drivers or the most talented bus driver in the world.

[23:34] Don't look up his politics.

[23:37] So the bathrooms break down.

[23:39] The girls go running off into the dark woods to use the bathroom.

[23:42] Of course, at this point, they run into an alien spaceship, which lands.

[23:49] Three aliens get out.

[23:51] They are clearly there to see the Spice Girls.

[23:54] Huge Spice Girl fans.

[23:55] They're huge Spice Girl fans.

[23:56] They speak an alien language that the Spice Girls don't understand at first and then do understand perfectly.

[24:01] How would you describe the appearance of these aliens, Dan?

[24:04] They're little hunched-over men, and then they've got a tiny little rubber face in the middle.

[24:11] There's something kind of Space Ghoulies about them.

[24:14] I would say they're slightly aggressive as far as fans go.

[24:19] Considering they squeeze Scary Spice's boob and then demand Ginger kiss one of them on the lips.

[24:25] I think it's aggressive fan behavior.

[24:27] Yeah, but the Spice Girls handle it with aplomb.

[24:30] Yeah, they're pros.

[24:32] Okay, so Clifford, their manager, is a little concerned about them talking about these aliens they met.

[24:40] But despite his misgivings, he still has to cancel their morning off.

[24:45] And at this point, you think there's going to be a big fight, that the girls are going to be fighting with Clifford.

[24:49] But nope, they turn around.

[24:50] They're like, no, we'll go back to work.

[24:52] We don't care.

[24:55] The movie is clearly following the pattern of A Hard Day's Night, where it's like the Beatles are having adventures.

[25:01] They're on the road.

[25:02] They're trying to get away from having to do Beatles stuff.

[25:06] So there's this band.

[25:07] They were insects that through surgery were turned into men.

[25:12] And people were so astounded by the science.

[25:14] They had mop tops.

[25:15] They were used to clean up floors.

[25:18] They kind of sound like the monkeys.

[25:20] Are they like the monkeys?

[25:21] They were the British monkeys.

[25:22] That's what they were known as.

[25:23] So when America invented the monkeys, Britain was like, we've got to get in on that.

[25:27] And they started with the Beatles.

[25:28] And then the prototype was a bunch of hermits led by a herman.

[25:32] But in that one, they're always trying to get away.

[25:37] And it's as if the Beatles would try to go away for a couple seconds and then be like, no, at heart we're just rule followers.

[25:43] We're not troublemakers.

[25:45] Because the Spice Girls always give in.

[25:47] Except for one time.

[25:49] We'll get to it, Stuart.

[25:50] So despite their disappointment in their day being canceled, they still go to dance instruction with a special drill sergeant dance instructor, Mr. Step, played by Michael Barrymore.

[26:03] It's interesting.

[26:04] Another instance of the Spice World curse hitting a real celebrity.

[26:10] And it's also interesting to see a screening of this in England where there are a lot of these stars who are huge that we're familiar with.

[26:22] This was very specifically British.

[26:24] There was a huge reaction from the crowd.

[26:27] And I'm like, I don't know what's happening.

[26:29] I don't know what this is.

[26:30] I don't know if it's a famous person, famous character, if it's a reference to a real thing that happened in politics.

[26:36] I don't know.

[26:38] Let's pull up his Wikipedia page.

[26:40] Oh, wow.

[26:41] There's a long section on controversy.

[26:45] Reminds me of Norm Macdonald's podcast bit where he's learning who Hitler was on the air in real time.

[26:51] He's like, oh, decorated veteran of the First World War.

[26:55] Ooh, I don't like this.

[26:56] Oh, no, I don't like that.

[27:00] Okay, so after their dance instruction.

[27:02] It feels like this happens.

[27:04] It's like my wife and I watching a Marvel movie and Star Fox shows up.

[27:08] And I'm like, what?

[27:09] They put Star Fox in a movie?

[27:10] And she's like, I don't know what you're talking about.

[27:15] So after their dance instruction, they have to spend the night in a spooky house.

[27:22] While they're in bed, the paparazzo, played by Richard O'Brien, sneaks inside, which would be scary, I admit.

[27:29] Sneaks in through the toilet, right?

[27:30] Sneaks in through the toilet like an aforementioned ghoulie.

[27:33] Like a ghoulie.

[27:34] Yeah, if Richard O'Brien snuck through my toilet, I'd be scared.

[27:37] I would fathom to go as far as, if any human being snuck into my house through the toilet, I'd be at the very least surprised.

[27:45] Yeah.

[27:46] And probably scared.

[27:47] After being scared, I'd be like, you know, I love your work, you know.

[27:51] Yet follow-up was really underrated, you know, the Rocky Horror follow-up.

[27:55] And he'd be like, thank you, thank you very much.

[27:57] Anyway, I think I came up through the wrong toilet.

[28:01] So the spooky house scares the girls.

[28:03] They all end up in the same bed, talking about things they're frightened of.

[28:06] And they're all sharing some concerns about the upcoming big show.

[28:10] And at this point, Richard O'Brien, like, records what they say.

[28:15] They have some more bad press that they're scared of their upcoming gig.

[28:21] George Wendt and Mark McKinney then...

[28:24] The movie is interspersed with the scenes where George Wendt and Mark McKinney are pitching the Spice Girls as movie stars to Clifford, who is never interested.

[28:33] And this time they pitch Spice Force 5, which is another dream sequence where we get to see what the Spice Girls would be like if they were like secret agents, right?

[28:42] And they all kind of have their own little superpowers.

[28:45] There's some bits.

[28:46] A personal favorite is when Ginger Spice goes into a telephone box and transforms into Bob Hoskins.

[28:54] She gets in the telephone box.

[28:55] She spins around, Wonder Woman changing costume styles, and turns into Bob Hoskins.

[28:59] And Bob Hoskins, because he is a consummate thespian, acts dizzy as he walks out of the telephone box.

[29:06] He's like, tell me.

[29:07] Okay, my character was just spinning around.

[29:09] You got it.

[29:10] I know how to play this.

[29:11] Okay.

[29:12] And when that happens, of course, I'm like, so her superpower is becoming sexier?

[29:19] Bob Hoskins.

[29:20] Okay.

[29:22] So then they have a little visit with some contest-winning kids who ride around on their bus for a little bit.

[29:28] They're a little sick of their situation, so they sneak off the bus with these kids, board a nearby speedboat.

[29:36] This is very funny to me, because it was like, I didn't quite see what was so terrible about the situation.

[29:41] The kids were in there, like, there was a bunch of candy for the kids.

[29:43] And they're like, this sucks.

[29:45] We're going to rush off and get on a speedboat and sing the song, like,

[29:50] My little lollipop, bup, bup, bup.

[29:54] I don't know the lyrics.

[29:55] You sound just like the Spice Girls.

[29:57] I sound exactly like the Spice Girls.

[30:00] scary spice she looks out the window and sees the water and she's like this is it when i say go go

[30:04] and i thought they were going to escape out the window and they just get off the bus the regular

[30:08] just out the door past meatloaf who's like is this the scene oh no it's later on later on they

[30:13] take the bus and meatloaf goes my bus after getting up off the ground for some reason

[30:18] i don't know was he camping out next to the bus his body at night time his body dissolves into the

[30:24] ground okay so uh the uh so they escape with the kids there there's like kind of a boat chase as

[30:34] they sing lollipop over and over and then uh they have to dodge a piece of driftwood and some kids

[30:41] and some of the girls get in the water it's a little bit of a little bit of drama where they're

[30:46] concerned they might have accidentally drowned some kids posh is mad that her dress got wet

[30:52] posh is upset yeah if this movie really had guts those kids would have drowned

[30:59] and then it would have spinning headline would have said spice girls kill two kids

[31:03] and then it would move on to the next scene

[31:08] the movie lost me when they killed kids world chickened out

[31:13] uh yeah have the courage of your convictions uh so of course this is more bad press because

[31:18] richard o'brien catches them in the act of almost killing kids uh all this stress is really

[31:24] getting to clifford and at rehearsal he yells at them and that leads to the spice girls breaking up

[31:30] for kind of reasons i'm not a hundred percent unclear why they break up rather than just going

[31:36] on strike like they're not mad at each other they're mad at him but he goes i think i just

[31:40] broke up the spice girls and it's like at worst they've you've lost your job like that's the spice

[31:46] the special still like each other you know yeah so this leads to a sequence this is you know this

[31:50] is where you'd expect what the beginning of the third act or whatever where yeah yeah the girls

[31:55] are upset they're in their separate homes like staring out the window holding a soccer a football

[32:02] lying in the bath uh being scary whatever they're doing um and they have a collective baby spices

[32:09] just wedding or diapers they have a collective flashback to when they were newly uh they were

[32:17] not yet stars and they're at their friend's coffee shop their friend who is an actor who i recognize

[32:23] but i don't remember he's in a lot of stuff he's in a lot of tv a lot of movies well i also thought

[32:26] it was funny that like this character they're like i wonder whatever happened to him and there's no

[32:31] payoff no never he's he's introduced as if he's a character who is vitally important to their past

[32:37] and then he is discarded and he it's not like he i expected him to come back at albert hall

[32:42] no that doesn't happen but what i like here's what i like about the sequence okay other than

[32:46] the fact that i love the idea that they're just like five young ladies trying to make it big

[32:50] and you know in the music biz like they came up at school together the they have different accents

[32:56] but that's okay i guess they grew up the same the uh they're all having this flashback together and

[33:00] the movie is like they're all remembering the same thing i like to believe they have merged on a

[33:05] psychic level they now share one pan-conscious spice mind and they can call to each other that

[33:13] way because they do call to each other that way stew what happens next well i also before you get

[33:18] it i also love this flashback because it shows what good sports they all are like how tongue

[33:24] in cheek the thing is yeah because it posits this world where they were all friends when they were

[33:30] young and they all had their bits when they were young she's like let they're like let's show you

[33:34] our new song and they sing what wannabe well their their friend nicola who was there pre-pregnancy

[33:40] and she pops on and dressed like a big madonna fan like an 80s style madonna fan fingerless

[33:46] lace gloves big bow in the hair all that stuff and yeah they sing they perform wannabe it's great

[33:52] uh one thing that one thing that i found very charming in all the performances is how generally

[33:58] unchoreographed all the dance yes the the choreography is light yeah and it was well

[34:06] i don't spend a lot of time usually listening to spice girls music i apologize it's not a judgment

[34:11] not a quality judgment it's literally that look like i said my my women's group at the time was

[34:16] elastica my women's group now is adorashi gakko i only have time for one ladies group at a time

[34:21] but they are it's my choice i'm not saying don't listen i'm not saying they don't not good but

[34:27] so i haven't really listened to the spice girls lyrics much before this and i love it's like the

[34:32] music is so catchy and the lyrics have just enough meaning to convince you that something is being

[34:37] said in the song and there are times when i'm like wait a minute this verse it doesn't really

[34:41] make sense of the last verse and it almost feels like it was written each verse was written by

[34:46] someone else and they folded the paper over and then handed the next person or like someone with

[34:50] dementia who forgot what they said in the song before that i really like that that's poetry

[34:55] your brain fills in the gaps in meaning wow so you're saying the spice girls are britain's

[35:02] greatest poet i'm saying easy don't come for free she's a real lady and as for me oh you'll see

[35:15] slam your body down was that really what you were saying that's that's the best part of the

[35:20] breakdown to want to be yeah oh i see i see yeah so uh so dan what's zig-a-zig eyeing

[35:28] if i if you have to ask you'll never understand i mean i just assumed

[35:31] i just assumed it was masturbating like this most things are uh so back to present day

[35:39] so flashback over we saw them in their early times yeah yeah yeah so uh back to present day

[35:44] the girls meet up outside of the coffee shop now closed and they're like i wonder what happened

[35:49] that guy again we'll never know wonder what happened to that old but ponytail to jazz man

[35:56] who used to serve us coffee um okay so they go off to eat uh chips uh by the river yeah

[36:06] okay meanwhile that is what they call rivers here yeah meanwhile clifford is drinking his

[36:13] sorrows away he has basically lost his job uh and then his assistant who up to this point i

[36:18] have not mentioned deborah who is kind of like the uh the grounding agent in this situation

[36:25] uh they get drunk together and presumably hook up right yeah that's the implication okay well i get

[36:31] i mean richard e grant is super charming i guess she says something about hooking up to forget

[36:35] their troubles and he gives her the creepiest smile and they hit like richard e grant briefly

[36:41] becomes a lizard person and then it just cuts the next scene so my guess was that they didn't hook

[36:46] up but maybe they did i don't know uh so they make the decision the girls make the decision to

[36:52] reach out to their friend nicola who's over a week uh past due and they all go to a club

[36:58] uh they're like let's hang out together nicola let's go down and dance and she's like no i'll

[37:05] just watch the five of you dance that's fine whatever it's not quality time but i'm not gonna

[37:11] you know um i mean if she i mean if as the thing is if she had danced it might have caused trouble

[37:17] because the little bit of kind of bobbing that she does it shakes a baby out of her yeah so she

[37:23] goes into labor so the girls bundle her onto the spice bus forgetting meatloaf entirely and drive

[37:30] to the hospital so meat so the bus was outside the club meatloaf seemingly is lying on the ground

[37:36] outside the club yeah that's no that's later on they steal the bus oh that's from outside the

[37:40] hospital so meatloaf's just not i forget where it was me i think meatloaf drives them to the hospital

[37:45] oh yeah that's right that's right later on later okay i got this i it's the mood i'm having trouble

[37:51] remembering all the pieces of the intricate puzzle in his spice world so while at the hospital they're

[37:56] waiting for nicola to have the baby uh they don't want to leave even though it means giving up some

[38:02] of their rehearsal time at one point they get interrupted by a couple whose child is in a coma

[38:08] so they uh this is this scene did not turn the way i thought it was going to turn

[38:14] let's let i want to i want to wait let's crowdsource this for a moment you see a movie

[38:18] the spice girls are in a hospital they're told there's a child in a coma can you please help us

[38:22] in some way you expect they're going to sing this kid out of their coma right much as in the movie

[38:28] break into electric boogaloo where the power of break dancing brings someone back to life in a

[38:33] hospital but stewart what happens so they go over there and victoria's like cherry get your boobs

[38:40] out and she's like his no and his eyes aren't even open kid immediately wakes up from his coma

[38:48] she's got resurrection boobs yeah i get it uh just the just the promise wakes the kid up

[38:55] um so nicola has the baby they of course say now that's real girl power everyone gives high fives

[39:01] i mean i do like because it literally is that that is the power that that women have is that

[39:05] that no one else has yeah so meanwhile of life whereas men all men can do is hang around waiting

[39:12] for something to happen and every now and then someone goes like you're fine you're okay right

[39:16] anyway it doesn't matter guys you've never been there when your your loved one is having a child

[39:20] that feeling of but i'm supposed to be the star of the show what hold on a second where's my

[39:27] spotlight and then you're trying to make a baby come out of you and it's not happening you know

[39:31] no i have two cats yeah ellie you were you were at the bar passing out cigars right when your kids

[39:40] were being born yeah yeah i was i mean it was in the bar passing out cigars but that was just

[39:46] because that was my job at the time i was just i was a cigarette girl at a club yeah i had a tray

[39:51] and i was like cigars cigarettes and this was hey hey elliot your old ladies giving birth to the

[39:57] baby and i took off my little round hat and my

[40:00] I said, gotta go, fellas, and then I ran off.

[40:03] That's the thing, American health care's so bad,

[40:05] he needed to work an extra job.

[40:06] So, around now, Clifford is getting pitched

[40:12] a Spice Girls movie, which is also strange,

[40:14] because at this point, he has to assume he lost his job.

[40:19] At this point, Mark McKinney is pitching

[40:21] what is happening on screen.

[40:22] Yes.

[40:23] So we see the Spice Girls catch Richard O'Brien

[40:26] in the act of trying to take paparazzi photos.

[40:29] He gets bonked on the head, and he changes his evil ways.

[40:33] It's actually pretty fun.

[40:35] I really enjoy this performance.

[40:36] Another scene where you expect him to be changed

[40:38] by the power of music, the thing that Spice Girls do,

[40:42] but instead, it's a short chase

[40:43] through the hall of a hospital,

[40:44] and then he's like, you know what?

[40:45] I shouldn't do this anymore.

[40:48] And then we learn that he goes on to turn around

[40:50] and betray his former employers.

[40:54] Yes.

[40:55] They then take the Spice Bus to race to Albert Hall

[40:58] so they can make it in time for their performance.

[41:00] We get some thrills and chills.

[41:02] The girls end up on top of the bus, victorious driving,

[41:04] having abandoned meatloaf on the side of the road.

[41:07] Chills?

[41:08] Yeah, that's chilling.

[41:09] They find a bomb under the bus.

[41:11] There's a very good stunt where the bus

[41:14] flies over an opening bridge.

[41:17] That is a very funny joke, where he's like,

[41:19] the bridge is opening.

[41:20] The bus is gonna go over, jump over it.

[41:22] And Richie Grimes goes, or George Wendt goes,

[41:24] that sounds expensive.

[41:25] And then they cut to it,

[41:26] and there's a toy bus going, stop motion,

[41:28] going over a toy bridge.

[41:31] And this all leads up to perhaps the best joke in the movie,

[41:35] where the fantasy that is being spun

[41:39] of this possible Spice Girls movie

[41:41] that happens to coincide with the actual reality,

[41:43] like fully coincides, where he's like,

[41:47] and then they burst through the door.

[41:49] And they all turn to the door

[41:51] as if they expect the Spice Girls to burst through.

[41:54] And Richard E. Grant, after a moment's pause,

[41:57] grabs Mark McKinney by the throat and goes,

[41:58] you lied to me!

[42:01] Yeah, he straight arms him in like a Marvel villain way.

[42:06] So they're in despair.

[42:08] The girls haven't shown up yet.

[42:10] Richard E. Grant spins a fantasy

[42:12] where he will then have the band start up,

[42:14] go out on stage, and then hang himself from the crowd.

[42:19] After, the movie at this point is so like,

[42:22] they'll do anything.

[42:23] So the choking moment is really funny.

[42:25] And then he goes, he's talking to Alan Cumming, right?

[42:27] And he goes, I'll simply go out there

[42:30] and have the band start up, and I will come out on stage.

[42:34] And then he pulls out a noose and goes, and kill myself.

[42:37] And it's so, it's so funny.

[42:40] He's talking about how much he hates the Spice Girls.

[42:42] Of course, at this point, they burst in

[42:44] and he's like, I love them!

[42:46] That is, and that is a, I was gonna say,

[42:48] that joke is a rough joke.

[42:50] That's like a hard-edged joke for a movie

[42:52] that is just exploiting the existence of a pop group

[42:55] that young girls particularly like.

[42:57] But the movie still didn't have the guts

[42:59] to kill those two kids, really.

[43:02] So.

[43:03] They'll have to dock you two demerits, Spice World.

[43:05] On your deathbed, Ellie will be like,

[43:07] oh, Spice World should have killed those two children.

[43:10] And then I'll be like, so much fried chicken

[43:11] I didn't get to eat.

[43:14] So the girls get there in time.

[43:16] They come out, they perform, what, Spice Up Your Life.

[43:19] It's great, everybody's loving it.

[43:21] Everybody's, you know, the world is a better place.

[43:24] And the movie.

[43:25] The world is noticeably more spiced up.

[43:27] And then we have some post-credit stuff

[43:29] where they're like, it's like filming

[43:32] the Spice Girls movie, the Spice World movie.

[43:34] It's kind of like behind-the-scenes footage.

[43:37] And you see the Spice Girls are talking to people,

[43:39] Richard E. Grant is on the phone with his agent

[43:40] asking if his career is gonna survive this movie.

[43:43] And they're just playing.

[43:45] They're like staring at the audience through the camera,

[43:48] calling out people, it's great.

[43:49] They're doing the same bit that Daffy Duck does

[43:52] in the credits of Gremlins 2, where they're like,

[43:54] why are you still around?

[43:55] The movie's over, get out of here.

[43:59] From that Richard E. Grant article that I cited before,

[44:01] the other thing I really loved was the interviewers like,

[44:04] in the end of the movie, you're shown on the phone

[44:07] with your agent saying, will this kill my career?

[44:09] Like, what did your agent think of you

[44:11] being in the Spice World movie?

[44:12] And he said, well, my agent was very money-focused.

[44:16] So when he saw how much money I was being paid,

[44:20] he was like, you were all very happy.

[44:22] And, but the movie is not really over yet because, right?

[44:24] They say, what is the audience waiting for?

[44:26] Uh-oh, maybe that bomb that we found

[44:29] and then it explodes off camera, right?

[44:31] Yeah, it's great.

[44:32] End of movie.

[44:33] End of movie, the crowd goes crazy.

[44:37] The screening we were at, they were tearing the seats out.

[44:40] They ripped the screen down.

[44:42] It was amazing.

[44:43] Bottles were being thrown through the air.

[44:45] That movie gave us everything, all the joy it bring.

[44:48] This I swear.

[44:51] So that was the summary of the movie, Dan.

[44:53] Can we do, what's the next part, final judgments?

[44:56] Yeah, final judgments.

[44:57] I think we tipped our hand, but we talk about

[44:59] whether it was a good, bad movie, a bad, bad movie,

[45:01] or a movie kind of like, I shouldn't,

[45:04] like, I liked the movie okay before.

[45:06] I thought it was kind of, I did a total 180.

[45:08] I'm like, this movie plays, like, especially in a crowd.

[45:12] It was so much fun to watch it.

[45:14] Like, so many laughs, applause, breaks.

[45:17] Yeah, two thumbs up, this is a movie I like.

[45:19] No kind involved, I liked it.

[45:21] Movie I liked also, but I'm glad I saw it the first,

[45:23] the way I saw it, like Dan says,

[45:25] with an audience that is super into it.

[45:27] But it's, it makes me, I genuinely, watching it,

[45:30] I was like, oh, so the reviewers didn't realize

[45:33] this is a funny movie?

[45:36] Because it's a very funny movie.

[45:37] It's really funny, yeah.

[45:38] It is much funnier than you expect

[45:39] from the screenwriter of From Justin to Kelly, so, you know.

[45:47] If you need a laugh and you're on the go,

[45:50] try S-T-O-P-P-O-D-C-A-S-T-I, ah.

[45:53] Hmm, were you trying to put the name of the podcast there?

[45:55] Yeah, I'm trying to spell it, but it's tricky.

[45:57] Let me give it a try.

[45:59] Okay.

[46:02] call S-T-O-P-P-P-A-D, ah, it'll never fit.

[46:06] No, it will, let me try.

[46:11] try S-T-O-P-P-P-D-C-O-O, ah, we are so close.

[46:17] Stop podcasting yourself.

[46:18] A podcast from MaximumFun.org.

[46:22] If you need a laugh and you're on the go.

[46:25] You can't really know if your own show is any good.

[46:28] So, I asked my kids about ours.

[46:31] Is Jordan Jesse Coe a good show?

[46:32] No, definitely not, it's really bad.

[46:35] I would say out of 10, maybe like a four out of 10.

[46:40] It's just really boring.

[46:42] Yeah, zero.

[46:44] Yeah.

[46:45] Subscribe to Jordan Jesse Coe,

[46:47] a comedy show for grownups.

[46:50] Hey, Dan here, breaking in for some quick plugs tonight.

[46:54] On this episode's day of release, January the 4th,

[46:56] we will be discussing Ski School 2 on Flop TV,

[47:01] which airs, of course, at 6 p.m. Pacific, 9 Eastern.

[47:05] That's live when it airs, if you wanna see us

[47:08] and chat along with other viewers.

[47:11] Tickets at theflophouse.simpletics.com.

[47:14] I'll be handling the summary for this episode.

[47:17] I believe Stuart will be doing the presentation

[47:20] and Elliot will handle the special report.

[47:23] And of course, this movie, Ski School 2,

[47:27] after Hot Dog, the movie last year,

[47:29] will fill the important ski-based sex comedy slot

[47:34] in our rundown.

[47:36] We hope to see you there.

[47:37] And remember that season pass holders for Flop TV

[47:40] can watch all of the shows on demand

[47:43] until the end of February.

[47:45] Tickets again at theflophouse.simpletics.com.

[47:48] $7 per show or get a season pass

[47:51] and pay only $35 for six shows.

[47:56] Also, in a mere 15 days, we'll be back in San Francisco

[48:00] at San Francisco Sketch Fest.

[48:03] On Sunday, January 19, we'll be at Cobb's Comedy Club

[48:07] at 7 p.m. discussing Cutthroat Island.

[48:11] I am recording this ad break a little ahead of time

[48:13] because of the holidays,

[48:14] but there are probably still tickets available

[48:17] if you wanna come see us in person.

[48:20] Go to sfsketchfest.com for tickets.

[48:23] And while I've got you here,

[48:25] please go to fluffhousepodcast.com

[48:28] and sign up for our newsletter, Fluff Secrets,

[48:31] which is the best way to keep up on all of our appearances,

[48:34] side projects, whatever,

[48:36] and to get some extra content just for fun.

[48:39] I drew a little holiday,

[48:42] a Floppy Holidays card for all the listeners.

[48:47] That's art straight from me to you.

[48:49] I thank you for listening to us.

[48:51] Just plug your email into the newsletter field

[48:55] on our website at fluffhousepodcast.com

[48:58] and you'll get all of the updates every other week.

[49:01] And now, back to our Oxford Spice World show.

[49:07] Checking the time.

[49:08] Ooh!

[49:09] Okay, yeah, we were-

[49:12] Dan, don't start checking your mail.

[49:14] We're running a little late,

[49:16] so yet again, I'm gonna cap the number of questions.

[49:20] Dan, you're just looking at your texts now.

[49:22] What are you doing?

[49:23] The first five people-

[49:24] Dan, don't start playing Candy Crush.

[49:26] What are you doing?

[49:27] To run to the center, we're gonna ask some questions.

[49:29] Okay, yeah, we're gonna ask some questions.

[49:32] There's only a limited amount of time

[49:33] because there's a bomb under the bus.

[49:36] Just kidding, there isn't really.

[49:38] Hello.

[49:39] Hello.

[49:39] Hey, Daniel Lesnar with Held.

[49:42] So when the movie came out, I was like seven,

[49:44] eight years old, and I distinctly remember that-

[49:47] Must be nice.

[49:49] Yeah, flaunting his youth in front of us.

[49:52] Sorry.

[49:53] Everyone had to pick a spice persona.

[49:55] My sister was, I think, Sporty Spice,

[49:57] just because she kind of looked like it.

[50:00] So I'm wondering have you ever have you given this any thought you know who's who?

[50:04] Which of us which yeah, which spice? What's our spice?

[50:08] Yeah, the problem is so this is this was a big topic of conversation backstage

[50:12] It was who is what spice the problem is Stuart absorbs a lot of the spice personalities

[50:19] He's the baby. He's sporty. He's a little scary

[50:24] No ginger seems

[50:26] Seems to be really interested in like inane facts and things I feel like

[50:33] It doesn't feel natural

[50:35] I'll take it

[50:38] Elliot often calls me baby boy Dan McCoy so

[50:42] Call you that which I find adorable

[50:45] I'm a little bit posh a little bit sporty. You know I'm kind of all things a little bit country a little bit rock and roll

[50:50] Okay, I guess that doesn't answer your question

[50:56] So ginger spice was originally meant to be sexy spice, but they changed it, so I guess you also have that covered. Oh

[51:03] Bless your heart

[51:09] Well when they were just encouraging him when they have a spice girl who knows her shit about dinosaurs

[51:14] I'll be that one is that something Stewart showed to us before this show. He does not know

[51:20] Thank you. Thank you

[51:22] Yeah, I can be dinosaur spice. That'd be pretty fun

[51:25] That sounds delicious

[51:27] It does I've always wondered dinosaurs are they red meat because they're big or are they white meat because they're chickens. Yeah

[51:33] We'll never know never know unfortunately is that a question for me

[51:38] Yeah, this is the part where we ask you question. Yeah

[51:42] I'm six three in the single

[51:45] You said something to start about mushrooms. Can we talk later?

[51:48] I

[51:50] Mean I have a connection, but they live in you know

[51:54] Mike last name withheld I was actually gonna ask about what your spice names would be as well, but I'll pivot

[52:00] I completely forgot Richard O'Brien. I'm Michael Barrymore in this film

[52:05] when I

[52:07] Some strike it lucky fans at the back

[52:10] When I was growing up they were both like really big game show hosts before I knew about Rocky Horror anything else

[52:15] Apart from them and Bob Barker are there any of the game show hosts in films that have done really well that you enjoy

[52:22] Show hosts and films. I mean are there cases we want to see in films. What's that? We want rumbling for something

[52:30] Okay, so that's yeah, that was a good pivot. That was a solid pivot. Okay game shows

[52:34] I want to say I don't know of any other game show host. I think I feel like the gong show movie

[52:40] Yeah, but that's about a game show host

[52:42] You know so that the but I wonder if no, but you know what so Alex Trebek was in the video

[52:49] For I lost on Jeopardy right that the Weird Al song. Is that a movie?

[52:53] It's not a movie and also the X-Files episode. He showed up in is not a movie

[52:57] No, that's not a movie either, but Drew Carey

[52:59] He was on he's the host of prices right now, and he was also on whose line is it anyway is that a movie?

[53:04] No, none of these are movies Stewart Steve Harvey was in the Steve Harvey show

[53:09] Is that a movie is in the original kings of comedy which is a movie?

[53:13] I mean, I feel like Steve Harvey is such like a big crazy personality

[53:17] Yeah, like his life that like was it Miss America or Miss Universe contest that he misread like I love that

[53:24] He's crazy. He must have been in a movie at some point. There's got to be one. Yeah, Harvey the movie Harvey

[53:29] Yeah, it was a movie Harvey this got Jimmy Jimmy Stewart thinks that Steve Harvey is walking around with him all the time

[53:34] That's gonna put definitely gonna be a movie made about was it Dana Carey's experience of fish a couple of weeks ago

[53:40] Was it and if you saw anything about that wait say again? What's what's it? What's his name the price is right host?

[53:46] To caring to carry. Yeah. Yeah, he went to see fish at the sphere a couple of weeks ago

[53:54] I won't hear anything against Drew Carey

[53:56] You know why because when our union was on strike last year, he spent a lot of money on food for us

[54:01] Which was amazing. He was it was great. He was he was like these he said these two restaurants

[54:07] I'll cover any Writers Guild members bill and then afterwards he was like, I didn't think it was gonna be that expensive

[54:12] Very nice. So yeah, hey floppers number one dinosaurs cool

[54:19] Sorry, hey floppers high peaches. Sorry. So the Spice Girls were a massively influential girl band a

[54:26] Massively influential boy band was one direction when they split up Harry Styles had a fantastic career as man in boat

[54:33] son of Thanos

[54:35] If the Spice Girls split up brother of Thanos, sorry

[54:40] Let's okay, you know

[54:44] Okay, there's a Lars also no

[54:47] Elliot we got to get out of here

[54:48] Baby Thomas if the Spice Girls split up which of those do you think will be an effective Marvel character and who would they play?

[54:56] Yeah, let's see

[54:58] Who would be a good one for them?

[55:01] Try not to be

[55:04] I feel like posh could be like an Emma Frost like aloof. Yeah for sure. She can be Emma Frost

[55:12] Ginger spice is kind of a rogue type. Yeah, see you're being rogue. Let's think of some non x-men characters. Okay, everybody

[55:17] They're not making those movies right now. That's a cartoon show

[55:21] What are the other Spice Girls? Let's see, baby Spice

[55:24] Donner Blitzen Blitzen Spice

[55:29] Sporty Spice I would I gotta say this is not related

[55:32] But when they're dressing up as each other and sporty is dressing up as posh. I'm like, she looks a lot like Lady Gaga

[55:39] Who is not a Marvel character?

[55:42] But if she was Lady Gaga is a DC character. She's in the new Joker movie. Oh, yeah, you're right. I think

[55:49] Yeah, that's a good question because I know I wish I knew the Spice Girls as well as I know the Marvel characters

[55:54] Obviously, I don't really wish that that's it

[55:56] This is a wish I just for this question

[55:58] Because the Marvel characters live inside my brain all the time and I think if the Spice Girls lived inside my brain all the time

[56:03] I'd never stop dancing, you know, I

[56:06] Wouldn't get any work done. I think that answers the question

[56:11] Thank you, I'll think about this for a long time now

[56:14] I

[56:16] Danny last name with nail not really

[56:20] My last name is I

[56:23] He told us the secret now we have control over him

[56:29] So this is probably an obvious comparison but but

[56:33] looking at like baby spices hairdo and the kind of

[56:38] Anarchic feminine energy of the movie and the explosion at the end. I was reminded of

[56:44] very kitty lovers

[56:46] Check new wave film daisies

[56:48] Not not the first person at on this trip to to talk to me about it being like days

[56:54] My wife said this

[56:57] So, I guess what other

[57:00] sort of

[57:01] Arty serious films have that that kind of shit posting energy

[57:06] Interesting, I mean like if you look at the two movies Dolly and been well-made together

[57:12] One Shannon Deleu and large door. It's very similar where it's like this is art. By the way, fuck you

[57:18] but like we're gonna do crazy things and

[57:21] Let's see. There's there must be other ones like that where it's just like

[57:25] They are there's a I mean

[57:27] There's a lot of movie a lot of artsy movies where they're like assaulting you and I feel like the Spice Girls is not assaulting

[57:31] You and I feel like the Spice Girls is not assaulting you so much

[57:34] It's like grabbing your hand and being like let's run away somewhere together, you know

[57:37] Yeah, I'm spice girl like as it's like it's like us

[57:42] It's like a slumber party was turned into a movie kind of it's like if at the end of

[57:47] The Spice Girls like summer at summer camp. They did a skit show about big Spice Girls

[57:53] It's just part of what's charming about it, but it's something that you do

[57:56] It's it's interesting that there's like there's like a not it's not a pull-to-pull thing

[58:00] But a continuous circle we're on one side is art and another side is trash

[58:04] And if you go in either direction far enough you go back around to the other one. And so the what?

[58:10] yeah, exactly and a movie like this which is like

[58:13] let's be honest with ourselves a

[58:15] Spice Girls movie made at the height of their fame with a script that seems let's charitably say thrown together

[58:21] Like it should be like it should be kind of trivial throwaway stuff the same way that like other

[58:26] Movies are based on bands or what trying to trying to exploit a band's brief popularity usually are but instead they like

[58:34] They're like I'm like like say cool as ice or something that still manages to be ours

[58:38] I wouldn't hear anything bad against cool as I see there, but uh the the one David Lynch movie David Lynch didn't direct

[58:44] But it's it's like if you put if you it's so this I'll get personal for a second

[58:50] My son recently had a video assignment for school, and I and he was like I don't want to do this

[58:54] I hate doing work blah blah blah. I'm gonna be a professional baseball player anyway, so why do I have to do this and

[59:00] At the end I was like well hopefully kids don't want to be professional athletes

[59:04] I thought they just wanted to be like youtubers well if you could be a professional athlete with a podcast or a YouTube channel

[59:09] I think that's a sweet spot

[59:10] But I was like what you need to do is have fun with this like make this something

[59:15] That's fun, and then you're gonna do something really good

[59:18] And it's gonna be better than if you just do this time, and I feel like the spice world

[59:21] They were like let's have fun with this like let's not do the minimum

[59:23] But let's have fun and any whether it's an art movie or a junk movie if the people making it are not

[59:29] Not one of those things where it's like we had a blast on the set and you watch the movie

[59:32] You're like what the hell is this, but if they're like in the creation of this thing

[59:36] Let's have fun judging ourselves what we're doing. We didn't even talk about the like fantasy sequence where Hugh Laurie plays Poirot

[59:44] Baby Spice been murdering people

[59:47] And she's got bullet bandoliers all over her and she's holding an axe in her hand or like with Stephen Fry as the judge who

[59:53] Sentences them to be to being at the bottom of the charts because their new song isn't very good like everyone's having fun in a

[1:00:00] a good way because they're having fun in that way of like if i'm doing this thing i'm gonna do it

[1:00:03] to the utmost and like that's when art comes out guys that's when you make art i i have to be you

[1:00:09] know bad spice right now and move us okay bad cop spice bad cop spice yeah hi yeah uh my name is

[1:00:15] colin uh i hope you don't mind like a very short uh 1.5 question uh just the first bit is um

[1:00:22] like the two movies we we you guys talked about uh spice world and uh the avengers the credit

[1:00:28] sequence really like emphatically represented the movies of like avengers being like an absolutely

[1:00:32] horrendous trip uh of like spirals and upsetting imagery and then a spice world you know the the

[1:00:38] title sequence really setting up you know who the girls are uh i was wondering if there's any

[1:00:42] credit sequences that you guys really love and like really set the movie into a good spin

[1:00:47] and second part this is just for dan i'm really sorry to stalk you but you've got a list on

[1:00:52] letterbox that is 291 movies and the title is asploitation and it features

[1:01:00] and it features some classics of cruising and uh and female trouble but what's up with that my

[1:01:04] dude i have an excellent let's the first question let's set it aside we don't need to talk about

[1:01:09] credit sequence yeah we don't well yeah i don't think the first question was uh was to get in the

[1:01:16] door let's go where the money is i have an explanation that is not necessarily you mean

[1:01:23] an asplanation an exploit an explanation that's not necessarily an excuse which is i follow an

[1:01:31] instagram account called ask one station yeah that posts funny ass related movie yeah yeah

[1:01:41] okay yeah and they have a letterbox list that i cloned so it's not i didn't compile it i'm just

[1:01:51] an appreciator of it i love that dan's explanation was basically yes yes thank you

[1:02:00] dan i didn't i i need to spend more time on letterbox so i can learn your secrets

[1:02:04] yeah hello uh tobias last name of health um so this was a perfect uh movie that really

[1:02:12] represented what it actually means to be in a uh you know in a band uh really accurately

[1:02:18] perfectly i just wondered if there were any similarly accurate depictions of like your

[1:02:22] own professional careers that you can think of in film this we were dan and i were talking yesterday

[1:02:27] about an american tv show called studio 60 on the sunset strip this is a show as as dan's wife

[1:02:34] audrey said if you only know comedy writers you would think this was the most popular television

[1:02:38] show in the history of the united states it for one season it is about a saturday night live tv

[1:02:42] show and it is so incredibly inaccurate in every detail you know no it yeah we've been talking

[1:02:47] about it for years comedy writers love this show because it's so bad it gets every single thing

[1:02:55] wrong so it's the precise opposite of the question i don't know you're asking so you you buy the

[1:03:00] premise that spite the spice world is a great read it really shows you what it's like to be in

[1:03:04] a band i well sure sure but the weird thing is like as silly as spice world is i watched it

[1:03:11] thinking like this kind of reminds me of being in a podcast with my friends because we do travel

[1:03:17] together we're a lot like the spice girls and we have to we did meatloaf drives our bus his ghosts

[1:03:23] yeah it it captures like like we'd be friends anyway but it captures the enforced closeness

[1:03:31] of touring together in a way that i enjoyed so my answer is spice i would say the movie cocktail

[1:03:40] starring tom cruise and brian brown is not very accurate uh to being a bartender i would say the

[1:03:46] most accurate movie to being a bartender is still darren aronofsky's mother the movie where where

[1:03:52] she's like in this house and like people just keep coming in they're like sitting on things

[1:03:57] and breaking shit and you're like god damn that that scene where she's like please don't sit on

[1:04:02] the sink it's fragile and they get off and every time she turns around they hop back on it that's

[1:04:05] the scariest scene in the history of filmmaking that is what being a bartender is like that is

[1:04:10] my bartending stress dreams yeah so that's that thank you thank you i believe that the name of

[1:04:16] that that movie is mother uh hi my name is alex uh last well uh last name with health and this

[1:04:25] isn't spice girl related but it is a question i wanted to ask you guys for ages because you are

[1:04:30] muppet experts and dan is yeah sure um and i love all the muppets but one of my favorite types of

[1:04:38] muppets is one that i would describe as and i want to make this term official a goober and a goober

[1:04:45] is something that is not one of the human type muppets is not one of the discernible like yeah

[1:04:51] animal types i would put like gonzo in that as well as like the little guy in muppets christmas

[1:04:56] carol where it's on the screen for like two seconds and i pause every single time watch that

[1:05:00] bill that's like a little but if you were to say what your favorite goober was that wasn't a muppet

[1:05:08] what would you say i don't know if it's my favorite but the one that immediately comes to

[1:05:13] mind is like they're like those muppets they're kind of like pink slinkies basically uh-huh and

[1:05:19] then at the end of the scenario as happens with a lot of muppet things uh the the the it blasts

[1:05:27] the other one off the screen like so many muppet sketches end in an explosion they're like well

[1:05:32] it's done now something will blow up i remember like twice reading an interview like so is it

[1:05:37] remembering any interview with with frank oz i think where he's like yeah pretty much if we didn't

[1:05:41] know to end the thing then they either blew up or one of them ate the other one that's i'm gonna

[1:05:45] i'm gonna stretch the rules because it's not an official question on a government document or

[1:05:48] something like that but jim henson was involved in developing these at some point i'm gonna say

[1:05:53] in return of the jedi there's that little guy who zaps his tongue out and eats another thing and

[1:05:57] then burps and it's such a funny that guy rules what yeah he rules he's a great i mean he's the

[1:06:02] second best character in turn of the jedi after salacious crumb of course he is a goober he's a

[1:06:10] superstar goober yeah but uh but i love that they that they took the time to do it because it's one

[1:06:14] of those things like a lot of work went into that and it's on screen for just a moment it doesn't

[1:06:17] matter to the plot it's just a silly thing to have happen but it makes you feel like you are

[1:06:21] on a world where silly things happen yeah i just love how that burp echoes it's like damn what's

[1:06:28] that guy been drinking uh thank you thank you thank you these are good questions this is a

[1:06:35] great audience and good questions we really appreciate you coming out tonight when you

[1:06:38] could be doing other stuff i guess england you know england it's a lot of late night towns places

[1:06:44] people hang out really late at night and do stuff at night yeah like that man just uh

[1:06:50] is batman we got one more question

[1:06:54] it's all right you can let him go i don't want to anger the venue so kolchak the night

[1:06:59] stalker that was an england thing right yeah okay yes what's the question i'm just irritating dan now

[1:07:04] yeah i had james last name withheld uh before we came out i read the wikipedia article on spice

[1:07:11] world which is surprisingly long mostly because of the cast list and it did say on there that

[1:07:16] there is plans to do a sequel which is going to be animated and they're all going to be superheroes

[1:07:22] so my question is if this does happen what powers do you think they'll have and will you be

[1:07:28] disappointed if one of them isn't turning into bob hoskins i mean i would definitely be

[1:07:34] disappointed if if ginger's power was not turning into bob hoskins yeah i love it uh man so scary

[1:07:43] spices so scary spice she's got like a scary she's like the shadow she's got like a voice that can

[1:07:51] strike fear into people's hearts uh-huh no that's good because the instinct is to go physical she

[1:07:55] beats people up no it's all mental it's all vocal uh and baby's power is she can hide inside

[1:08:01] of people's stomachs yeah for up to nine months at a time not technically a stomach you know but

[1:08:10] and uh let's see wait really the baby's not in the mother's stomach no no well we'll talk about

[1:08:18] this later stewart they should have taught you this in school but okay let's see uh posh spice

[1:08:23] i mean she you could go the batman route she's super rich she buys herself all sorts of fancy

[1:08:28] stuff iron man suit or something yeah yeah yeah ginger can combine with honey and lemon to soothe

[1:08:33] people's throats that's true i just need sporty who i guess i don't know telepathy can fly

[1:08:43] no sporty spice has fire powers stewart fire powers because then she can do flips and then

[1:08:50] and leave fire footprints behind i know i said we got to get out of here but why does fire powers

[1:08:55] lead to flip no no the fire powers don't lead to flip she can do the flips already she's sporty

[1:08:59] spice and she leaves fire footprints behind and she flips and kicks the guys in the fake guy in

[1:09:03] the face and his face catches on fire it all checks out i can't argue with that no actually

[1:09:07] that's pretty well thought out i like it okay thank you so much i just want to say one last thing

[1:09:13] thank you i won't even say it forget it so much for having us thank you

[1:09:18] it's been this has been a dream we've always wanted to come over here and you guys have been

[1:09:23] so lovely we will we hope to come back someday but until then i have been dan mccoy i've been

[1:09:30] stewart wellington and i will always be elliott caylan no matter how hard i try

[1:09:34] thank you very much

[1:09:47] thank you so much for coming out and not going to see furious at the night i know that's a

[1:09:52] sacrifice that we're all making does that open the same night here as it does in the united states

[1:09:57] uh i think i don't know

[1:10:00] For the assumption of my joke, just go along with it.

[1:10:02] I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

[1:10:03] Yes, and me for a change.

[1:10:07] That's not what we do, Stuart!

Ep. #441 - Spice World, LIVE

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