Ep.#427 - Disclosure, with Meredith Scardino

[0:00] Hey listeners, please don't skip ahead. This is an important message

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[0:29] Listen to the show. It's a great episode. We have a great guest. We have Meredith Scardino

[0:34] Creator of girls 5 of a very funny. She fit right in

[0:39] You know, don't let this dissuade you from listening I apologize that this

[0:44] Happened we're taking steps to make sure that the audio will always be of a higher quality in the future

[0:51] But I just want to let you know up top. Thank you. Um this episode we discuss

[0:57] Disclosure this movie's got everything from the 1990s mentions of Prozac Nordic trap hardcopy

[1:04] building fax modems very animated email menus

[1:08] Stairmaster that Barbie question mark sock monkeys and Dennis Miller

[1:26] Oh

[1:36] Hey everyone, welcome to the flophouse, I'm Dan McCoy. I'm Stuart Wellington. I'm Elliot Kalin and today we have a very special guest

[1:45] the creator of

[1:47] girls 5 of a

[1:50] One of the funniest shows going right now. It's on Netflix. People should watch it so I can watch more of it

[1:57] Meredith Scardino. Hello

[2:08] Yeah, great

[2:09] Yeah

[2:10] One of the two cats that lives here was kind enough to come out and say hello the other one Dan admit the other one

[2:15] Is it is a man in a cat costume that you pretend is a cat? Yeah, but it's shy

[2:20] Yeah, it's very shy the shy the shyer of the two cats

[2:24] Get away with that if you just have that shy cat be a guy in a cat costume

[2:30] Yeah, where would he live though that's the there's so little sleeping room anyway

[2:35] Oh, I imagine you have your bed up on blocks so he can fit under the bed a little bit more comfortably

[2:42] Because you've taken the wheels off the bed so it has to be up on blocks in your front yard, I guess

[2:47] Yeah, and we're in the middle of a New York heat wave. So you got to keep that guy in a cat suit hydrated

[2:53] Yeah

[3:01] This episode is brought to you by froze cat man the frozen bottle of water specifically designed for a man in a cat costume

[3:07] Who's pretending to be a cat?

[3:10] That's a good sponsor. Well, you know, we did our usual weird cat man fits

[3:17] And

[3:19] Dan Dan the man is named cat man brothers the guy who lives in your house and pretends to be a cat, right?

[3:25] I I can only hope that I was clever enough to name that. Um, so

[3:30] Yeah

[3:32] You see a cat joke, but you also made a cat joke about Claudia Schiffer's cat being named Claw

[3:37] Dia Schiffer. Mm-hmm, and I feel like it's actually claw

[3:42] claw

[3:43] D and then it's Italian a Schiffer. I

[3:48] Like that or it's a quality comma a Schiffer like labeling her labeling it as a Schiffer

[3:59] I mean if that cat is one of those cats that has like the markings to make it look like it has a mustache

[4:04] That would be perfect because all Italian cats have mustaches. They all do what we've been needing

[4:09] Meredith just a punch up on her. Yeah, she's brilliant. She's a great

[4:22] Thanks for coming and helping us talk about how the woke media is

[4:25] Destroyed

[4:36] Just anyone just grab someone

[4:40] Shake them. Yeah, tell them yeah, they need to know people need to know this you run to the New York Times offices and you're

[4:46] banging on the windows

[4:48] in addition, of course

[4:50] Girls five of a we met Meredith because she wrote for the full bearer for

[4:56] Our show. Yeah, the Daily Show. Yeah, we stole your mascot all that stuff

[5:02] all the pranks

[5:04] Franks and I have always like

[5:08] As someone with a big inferiority complex

[5:11] I've always been

[5:12] Very I've looked at Meredith from afar very fondly because she remembers who I am when we run into each other every once

[5:19] Despite being much more successful than you exactly. That's that's all I look for

[5:23] Many writers that are like white guys with beard. I know who wear a lot of plaid

[5:31] Around so many comedy writers that I'm very good at telling subtle differences

[5:38] Pedestrian I can see detail beard is a little more. Yeah. Yeah, this guy is a little quiet around people

[5:47] He doesn't know

[5:49] He listens to talking heads

[5:52] Wilko

[5:54] Anyway, but now that we've

[5:57] Roasted me

[5:59] Whether diehard is a Christmas movie. Yeah. Yeah. That's how I that's how you can tell me apart though. I don't I bet this guy likes

[6:06] IPA

[6:09] You know that it's a me Mario backwards is

[6:19] I don't know like that's that's that's the video game generations put a boobless in a calculator upside down

[6:32] List I didn't know there was a variant though that that also is new so Dan

[6:37] upside-down calculators represent

[6:41] Like how there's like a big hole in your youth like you had an Amish year or something and you just well

[6:47] Yeah

[6:52] I knew the part which is the part that would like, you know, make one titter to oneself

[6:58] As a kid like boob less, you know, like you're removing the dirty part of it, you know, so yeah

[7:05] I think that's I guess that's right. Okay, you knew boobs, but you're like we can stop there. We can stop there

[7:09] I

[7:12] Saw the word boobs he got nervous his parents

[7:26] I have to remember where I hid this calculator in the woods so I can come back for it

[7:31] So Dan, what are we doing this podcast besides a podcast where we watch a bad movie and we talked about it and

[7:37] You know when we're guests when we're guests when we're

[7:42] Away from our first cigarettes to our last day in day

[7:46] Yeah, when we have a guest, you know, we like to get their input on what we talked about

[7:52] I gave a list of possibles and we settled on

[7:56] disclosure

[7:59] 1994 yeah the the movie based on the Michael Crichton book that dared to ask

[8:05] What it's sexual harassment, but a lady a lady that her in her arrestment, yeah

[8:12] Except for then it pivots from that. It's not really

[8:23] There's about two seconds where I'm like, maybe I'll be like do a bit where I'm like a hard-line weird men's rights guy

[8:29] I'm just upset

[8:35] Like finally a movie is the courage

[8:38] Except it does except that's the thing. It doesn't mean it's a real base

[8:41] It's as if Jurassic Park was like here's a movie about dinosaurs. Uh-uh. It's about tax dodging

[8:48] The IRS is gonna shut down this amusement park because they hid these files, you know

[8:51] It's also super muddled in a way that like we'll talk about it

[8:55] I'm sure but I get the feeling that maybe Barry Levinson the director like got the book. He's like we can't do that

[9:03] So he like tried to sort of complicate the thing a little bit, but it just makes it really muddy with the movie maybe

[9:10] Scary dinosaur is woman

[9:20] I mean as a kid my introduction to Michael Crichton stuff was Jurassic Park, of course

[9:23] And so I was shocked a lot of the other movies based on his work

[9:28] Had like sexy stuff in it like this one and what Rising Sun

[9:34] With those hot gorillas, yeah

[9:37] Yeah, I mean he got into his more reactionary period. I think he got like sexier, too

[9:42] I like I read a lot of the earlier like andromeda strain is not particularly

[9:47] erotic

[9:49] Fear has one moment of eroticism in it, but otherwise not much

[9:52] I think and I think it's true that he probably did go through this period where his stuff was pretty straightforward science-fiction

[9:57] I mean Westworld has barely any

[10:00] Sex stuff in it. There's that there is a sex scene between a man and a robot

[10:03] But the implication is that this is not great and the HBO show was like we'll fix that

[10:08] and

[10:10] The but then I think you're right because this later books are very like anti

[10:14] Climate change science and things like that like he's there was a anti evolution

[10:19] Like he's became very reactionary in a weird way

[10:22] But I guess so many of his books the message of it is don't try to change anything or invent anything

[10:28] Because it's gonna go bad keep things exactly the way they are right now, which is the most reactionary

[10:34] Conservative message possible or it was until

[10:37] Conservatism became about trying to turn America into like a Christian feudal state based on Bitcoin

[10:46] Yeah, well, let's steer away from that and then steer back into it when we have to

[10:51] But some Meredith why why disclosure?

[10:55] Well, I had watched it not that long ago, okay, which was one of things that I so this was a labor-saving measure for you

[11:03] Well, I did rewatch it, but I had always known

[11:08] So there's a lot but first of all

[11:10] So I had heard about it. Well one the protagonist name is

[11:15] Meredith so in a selfish way. I just watch things

[11:25] I love the idea that that blockbuster video would have a Meredith cut of movies where they just dubbed your name in over the characters

[11:31] Names that you would come and rent it. You also have a lot of Megadeth albums because you're like, it's close enough

[11:37] But I had known actually I was tipped off by Sam means daily show writer about the the the VR tech

[11:48] In this film of

[11:50] 1994 and it's just

[11:52] Amazing it's like this the the main character

[11:59] Michael Douglas's character works at this VR company in Seattle

[12:05] And so they put on VR headsets. They do a demo and all the they do is then enter a virtual file

[12:12] Yeah, yeah

[12:14] Take out files. It's like the least imaginative

[12:19] Type of techno

[12:25] Effort than looking up a file on a computer, but it will get to it

[12:29] But I love the moment when he's in that virtual space and Demi Moore's character

[12:33] Appears in it and it looks like they took the wire frame

[12:37] From those experiments with chimps where they tried to see if they could make a chimp

[12:41] Treat a wire frame with a nipple on it as a mother

[12:44] It's like they took that wire frame and just stuck a headshot of Demi Moore on it

[12:48] Yeah, what hovering through this space it looks like lurching around like it's in the money-for-nothing video

[13:01] When a user

[13:03] Accesses that from a computer

[13:05] Not the VR set and but she seems to have no idea that he's in there

[13:09] Yeah, that she he is very aware when he's in there. We can get yeah, there's no

[13:14] We'll get to it also in in Roger Ebert's review

[13:16] He points out how would any company keep all of its most secure files in a demo of their new products that they're gonna show

[13:29] There's all of so-and-so's financial records, it's like hey watch it watch it just use this as the

[13:36] Yeah, I feel like there is a disclaimer as soon as you log in to the VR rig

[13:40] They're like, this is all just for fun use

[13:44] Actual information, so please don't use this real confidential information to save your job

[13:50] I just I like I find the the lack of imagination about the technology super funny

[13:56] Like I mean, I feel like sometimes people are do really interesting things like minority report

[14:01] I feel like did future tech very interesting

[14:04] But I feel like just to be like how do files work in the future? Oh more files

[14:09] It just feels like if you were like during horse times thinking of like what a flying

[14:15] Vehicle would be and then you'd think it still needed to be a horse a horse

[14:21] It's like the only way your brain could could imagine the future

[14:25] But to get to give credit to the people behind disclosure when Mark Zuckerberg was like in the future

[14:31] You'll be able to use meta to have a meeting for work

[14:34] You're just in a boardroom sitting at chairs next to people who are in the meeting with you in a virtual space

[14:39] It was like really this is the best we can do with it is there's still a table like this. Yeah

[14:44] Yeah, I'm still next to somebody but okay, I do but that well

[14:49] I will say another thing that drew me to this movie

[14:52] well, once I started watching it because I was why I was there for the

[14:57] Like I wanted to see that that virtual scene. Yeah, you're there for the high

[15:01] High-tech shenanigans. Yeah, but then I I got there and I was watching the movie and first of all, it also has this like, you know

[15:10] this like warm

[15:12] like

[15:14] 1990s Seattle loft

[15:17] Office look a lot of woods and very like yeah, like there's something very comfort

[15:21] Comforting about seeing that kind of stuff that kind of movie. Yeah, but then you're like, okay. This is a movie about if

[15:29] Sexual harassment happened to a man and I was like, but wait, did we ever get the one for women?

[15:43] That was all we got like, yeah, it's not they just jumped like jumped to like the horror

[15:51] Imagine it being terrible if it happens. Yeah

[15:54] Thing about this movie is like am I gonna say that like it's never happened this way, of course not but

[16:00] Like the percentages are way on the other side, but we're like, let's do this one. Yeah, that's how it's what's uh,

[16:07] And so they talk about it as sexual harassment, but it is a full sexual assault scene

[16:12] Like yeah, it is not sexual harassment like come on sit on my lap or whatever

[16:23] The one scene in the movie that I felt like was starting to get under

[16:27] What this movie could have been is when Michael Douglas is being in he's there

[16:32] He's you know being interviewed for as part of their arbitration or whatever and the guys like by the

[16:37] easiest lawyer

[16:40] He's like you didn't want it at all because you were there you didn't have to be there and it was like oh if this

[16:45] Was a good movie

[16:45] It would be a man being subjected to all the shit that a woman is subjected to and she when she and but it's it

[16:51] Only happens in that one scene and otherwise, he's a superhero who can sneak in and out of hotel rooms and things like that

[16:56] You know, it's a Michael Douglas. This is like peak

[16:58] This is file this movie in the category of Michael Douglas is the coolest dude and he drives women insane with love. Yeah. Yes

[17:08] Michael Douglas where he is every woman wants him so bad. Yeah, and he's also like

[17:13] He's a meaty. He's he's the victim. He's very much the victim. Mm-hmm

[17:18] And and then he wins in the end, I also think can I jump I mean in the end, well, whatever we don't

[17:24] Jump wherever you want, but I do have something to say about the end

[17:30] Unfortunately, we have a no spoilers policy we never talked about

[17:36] Check it out your local library

[17:42] Disclosure is broken up into five days the first day

[17:47] Tom Tom our hero played by Michael Douglas receives an email as I mentioned before all the emails in this movie

[17:54] This is 1994 emails. Can you imagine they're all super animated when you close an email?

[17:59] It crumples up like somebody when you open it and unfolds a piece of paper America online existed at this point

[18:05] Like it also starts with his daughter. Yeah saying daddy. You got an email like it's a big event, you know

[18:14] Because they they're just aren't there was the most inbox counts are so low at this whenever there's emails

[18:19] It's like you get one at a time. Yeah, I'm like take me back to that time

[18:23] Yeah, that was the biggest fantasy in the whole movie for me was not Demi Moore wanting to have sex with me

[18:29] But was seeing my email count be zero. I was like, oh man amazing. If only can you imagine?

[18:35] So I was just I was just too aroused by that my zero my unread emails. I'm just looking

[18:43] Roughly the same number and my kids love to update me on what it is

[18:46] They'll look over my shoulder and they're like and they're like 11,000

[18:49] It's gone up a lot since last time and I'm like, all right, you live like this

[18:55] Children I have time to just sit and answer emails all day 99 plus

[19:08] I'll find myself subscribing to newsletters. I don't remember subscribing to

[19:11] Yeah

[19:13] Newsletters. Also the funny thing to me about this email though is like the daughter

[19:17] prints it immediately and I'm like

[19:20] This has to be like a plot point later that they have a printout of this email because otherwise why would any?

[19:26] Person even in this time of in history, why would this happen this way? It's right doesn't doesn't have an ology the high-tech

[19:32] Yeah, I did

[19:32] I do remember though when email was first becoming a thing and we were trying to get my mom on board

[19:39] And she was resistant and she just goes ah

[19:49] I can't believe your mom just came up with her own cool catchphrase

[19:55] Okay, so he gets an email we have an opening credit sequence where we get a tour of their life

[20:00] just outside of Seattle home we're hearing voiceover where his daughter

[20:04] mentions the email she also is curious about what her dad is wearing around his

[20:08] neck it's a tie I guess he doesn't wear ties although he wears a tie every

[20:12] single other scene of this movie so I think he's in he's so in in he's so in

[20:18] fear of losing his job that the rest of movie he's like gotta gotta dress up

[20:21] gotta go see it I can't wear my he's in tech so I assume he's usually wearing

[20:25] like a stained rush t-shirt to work well he does like he does also like in

[20:30] these early scenes he is the most like sloppy dad version of Michael Douglas

[20:35] and then he starts putting on you know tailored suits as things go on and I you

[20:41] know Audrey was like what is is Michael Douglas sexy why is he always supposed

[20:45] to be sexy in these movies I'm like I don't know like he has like he's normally

[20:50] like he's a he's a attractive man I think it's his voice a lot yeah great

[20:55] voice get gravitas yeah I think there's also an element of he is a pro I think

[21:01] they're like he's been in a bunch of sexy movies just put him in this one too

[21:04] well that's my mom for years and years had a big crush on like Richard Gere and

[21:08] I never understood it until I finally saw American Gigolo yeah it's like oh

[21:12] it's incredibly serious also during like like Pat Riley is sort of in the

[21:21] same category the basketball coach okay I can see that like Michael Douglas and

[21:26] I feel like he was a sex symbol of the time a bit like there's like a certain

[21:29] look he's also super tall that time yeah there's a there's a couple of guys at my

[21:35] gym who only call me Richard gear which I'm like I don't think I look like him

[21:41] but thank you that's a huge compliment well it's also it's I think now it's a

[21:45] little bit harder partly because our idea of sexy man in mainstream culture

[21:50] has not it's not quite at the same level of that it has gotten closer to the

[21:55] long-running idea of sexy woman which is young and incredibly fit as opposed to

[21:59] Michael Douglas who is a mature man who is in good shape but he's not buff and

[22:03] now it feels like he's got that sick mullet our six signals are what like

[22:07] Channy Tatum and guys like that who are at it who are unrealistic for a man the

[22:11] same way that female sex symbols have always been unrealistic for women well

[22:14] also he got he got stuck in this lane where he's very good at and someone

[22:18] needs to be this guy where he's like the kind of sleazy guy who his dick gets him

[22:24] into trouble like but that was his thing that he can't control yeah then can't

[22:29] like there's also that element of this where it's like the body does with the

[22:33] couldn't resist this is amazing because it's like he's fighting as if the devil

[22:39] is tempting him and he's going no no but his but his penis is is just it's so

[22:43] pulling all the blood from his brain he just can't resist it but what if this

[22:47] movie was called Dick's closure and his penis could talk to him and his penis is

[22:51] like he's like you're getting into trouble stop we can't do this anymore it

[22:56] would be a green a green net like netted looking penis with like a picture of a

[23:02] man who is the voice of this penis 1994 I mean Matt Frewer is it could be a

[23:11] choice or would be perfect I mean there's also a version of it where it's

[23:20] Bobcat Goldthwaiter Gilbert Godfrey it's almost like both names could be used as

[23:30] a euphemism for a penis I gotta say though Dick's closure sounds like you

[23:35] know like a movie about a guy named Richard who's like wife dies and he's

[23:39] seeking closure on yeah Dick's sporting goods that's yeah yeah Alexander Payne

[23:44] movie okay so we are still in mind so we're through the opening credits

[23:48] that's okay okay so we learned that he gets some toothpaste on his tie do and

[23:53] everyone has to comment super important I'm glad why is he late in that first

[23:56] scene he's a terrible time manager all the time I think he has he's with his

[24:03] kids but he's not really doing that much to help with kids this whole family has

[24:07] issues with time management and balancing parenting and work I'll just

[24:10] say that right off the bat as someone who is quickly dying because I'm doing

[24:15] too good a job at it they are better balancing it yeah so we learned that he

[24:19] is up for a promotion and that his company I think digicom is the name they

[24:24] are they are about to have a merger with another company a combination of

[24:30] digital and communism oh interesting that's better than comedy is what I

[24:35] thought you're in comedy to the internet it'll never work Tom also has a cell

[24:42] phone that was pretty fancy technology for back then right he also he has to

[24:47] take a ferry to work he bumps into this he bumps into this like old older guy

[24:51] who got laid off and that guy is kind of the specter of potential unemployment

[24:56] that he he compares him so this guy sucks too he's like everything about him

[25:00] is retrograde and horrible and resentful and bitter and yeah it's a he's he's the

[25:04] villain of the movie as far as I'm concerned so it's hard to be that sad on

[25:08] a boat yeah I mean yeah you're on a ferry it's it's beautiful yeah firing I

[25:15] was just thinking that I'm like what can I do in my life so that I can take a

[25:19] ferry to work every day and then I realized I used to take the water taxi

[25:27] when I worked at Kimmy Schmidt in Greenpoint uh-huh and I would bring my

[25:30] dog on it and I just felt I would just hear the let the river run and sometimes

[25:36] I would even listen to it I can't believe this life I'm living right now

[25:46] blowing in my dog's ears I imagine getting off getting off the water taxi

[25:50] and like Mary Tyler Moore instead of throwing her hat in the air you throw

[25:53] the dog in the air and just freeze frames you smiling yeah okay so we see

[25:59] the digicom office where he works which is very like open plan it's very

[26:03] progressive there are plenty of glass brick walls which I love I thought those

[26:09] were the height of making it man that's I need to redo a run you are if you have

[26:14] glass brick walls you are either in a successful billion-dollar company or a

[26:18] successful New Jersey hair salon that's the two places yeah in both case very

[26:23] classy so Michael Douglas Tom as a zoom call with the plant manager in Malaysia

[26:30] because there seems to be some kind of issue with the production this has to do

[26:34] with microchips or some shit they're making very important so it's very

[26:38] important as they have two products this company is making virtual reality file

[26:41] storage and a new CD-ROM drive that's supposed to move much faster than normal

[26:46] CD-ROM drives and there's some kind of problem with what's coming the quality

[26:50] control is bad and the ROM drives are not working properly some something has

[26:54] gotten into the assembly and there and quality control is just down the toilet

[26:58] and this is so much more important for the ultimate story of the movie than the

[27:02] sexual harassment it's bonkers how much this movie eventually twists on product

[27:07] manufacturing chain decisions in a CD-ROM company it's it's it's it makes

[27:13] the movie more exciting right if it's not well the sex and power is about

[27:16] manufacturing yeah is that the is that the sweetener is that the the dessert

[27:22] for the vegetables of the sexual harass like I'll sit through I'll sit through

[27:26] Demi Moore's shirt being torn open but only if I can hear about what pitfalls

[27:30] there could be in trying to cheap out on CD-ROM manufacturing yeah it's sort of

[27:35] like in the firm when he got him on mail fraud yeah so there's a lot of rumors

[27:42] around the office about the merger Tom was hoping that he was going to be

[27:46] promoted vice president but it looks like he might not get it and that he

[27:49] might even lose his job at one point he slaps his assistant Cindy on the ass and

[27:53] they do a close-up of it you're like what what is this guy doing it goes boom

[28:00] boom boom and closes up and it's slower each time and louder each time so there's

[28:05] a it turns out that yes he is indeed passed over for promotion for Meredith

[28:11] an ex-lover of his who helped negotiate this merger and that he if he wants to

[28:18] keep his job he kind of has to he has to placate her right is that kind of the

[28:22] impression I'll just say it right here at this point I already felt Michael

[28:26] Douglas did not deserve this promotion and it was it was a fantasy that he was

[28:30] ever gonna be in line everyone's like oh you didn't get it huh and I'm like he

[28:33] seems to not be very good at his job he's and he's well he can't even be

[28:37] counted on to get to work on time he's also had head has like the first thing

[28:43] we see of him in the office is him like smiling to himself admiring a set of

[28:49] legs walking up a stair yes and like he's that and then he pats yeah he

[28:53] pats his assistant on the butt with a file folder like he just doesn't well

[28:57] and I think that this is the movie's clumsy attempt at like being like you

[29:01] know even though he's you know in the right in the law in this larger

[29:06] situation he is like gotta learn part of this yeah we're all it's institutional

[29:12] misogyny and he'll get his he'll learn later he'll have his lesson yeah right

[29:16] but it does sort of like make the movies seem weird like you're supposed to

[29:21] sympathize with this guy right now well I think that's the thing is I think the

[29:24] movie does expect you to sympathize with him right from the start because he's

[29:27] Michael Douglas and he's a cool dude but he's trying hard you really want to get

[29:31] Disneyland tickets for his for this colleague of his and it's but he's not

[29:37] likable and and but Dennis Miller is way worse

[29:47] about her having nipples like a racer pencil eraser yeah he leaned into saying

[29:58] the limbic

[30:00] There was a period of time when, in the 90s, when people were like, let's put Dennis Miller

[30:05] in supporting roles in everything.

[30:08] Was this before the net or after?

[30:10] This was a year before the net, right?

[30:11] This is 94, the net was 95.

[30:12] Okay, so he probably got the net because they're like, he knows high tech shit, right?

[30:15] Yeah, he knows computers.

[30:16] I don't remember how this lines up with Murder at 1600, though, which he's also in.

[30:22] Like, yeah, Dennis Miller, I think he was making a big push.

[30:24] Bordello of Blood.

[30:25] Mm, good question.

[30:26] That, I think, was after this, but I don't remember by how much.

[30:30] I mean, by then, he'd moved his way up to starring roles.

[30:32] So we're really running through this plot here, but I do want to take a second to point

[30:36] out that Michael Michael's character-

[30:38] So you think Dennis Miller comes from a line of Millers?

[30:42] I mean, I can only assume.

[30:44] Do you think when they put out the movie, We Are the Millers, he was like, what the

[30:48] fuck?

[30:49] I'm right here.

[30:50] I gotta sue them, and his lawyer's like, you can't, no, you can't own the name Miller.

[30:55] That long gestating adaptation of the Millers tale, Chaucer's The Millers Tale, it makes

[31:00] it to the screen.

[31:01] Yeah, he's all over it.

[31:02] Finally, someone's telling my story.

[31:05] He opens up the book and reads it.

[31:06] He's like, what the fuck is this?

[31:07] This isn't English.

[31:09] So it's implied that Michael, well, it's not implied, it's said that Michael Douglas and

[31:15] Demi Moore's characters were former lovers.

[31:18] His children in the movie are like, what, like six, eight?

[31:22] And there's a 20-year age difference between the two actors.

[31:26] So they refer to her as being 33, which is only one year older than her age at the time

[31:32] of filming it.

[31:33] I think we're supposed to assume Michael Douglas is a slightly younger man, not much younger,

[31:38] but a slightly younger man than he is in real life in this one.

[31:43] If anything, if she's 33, they would probably have been together about 10 years before this.

[31:50] I don't know.

[31:51] She could have been in her early 20s and he's in his 40s, you know, it's gross, but that

[31:55] happens.

[31:56] But he also doesn't have that look of stress that comes from building CD-ROM.

[31:58] It ages you.

[31:59] Yeah, a lot of hard years.

[32:00] It's like a presidency.

[32:01] Oh, he's aged terribly.

[32:02] Yeah, he's actually 25 years old in the movie.

[32:08] Okay, so she approaches him and suggests that they have a meeting after it's announced that

[32:15] she's the new VP, a meeting in her office at 7 p.m., what?

[32:21] They might have some drinks.

[32:22] This doesn't feel very professional.

[32:23] No, not at all.

[32:24] His co-workers all make weird sexual harassment jokes.

[32:29] It is not funny.

[32:32] He meets her in her office, which is, you know, like partially renovated.

[32:37] They share a bottle of wine that she picked out that's his favorite, starts with chatting.

[32:44] It then leads to a back rub and her assistant locking the door.

[32:51] There's a lot of weird comments about his family and his wife.

[32:55] He has the weirdest comment here where he shows her a picture of his family and he said

[33:00] she says, oh, she looks like she keeps the fridge stocked, which I took to mean, as she

[33:04] intends it, that looks like a domestic person.

[33:06] You're no longer with a wild girl like me with a domestic person.

[33:09] But he goes, yeah, she didn't lose all the baby weight after the after the last kid.

[33:13] It's like, one, she's thin, like she's not she's she has no extra weight.

[33:17] But also it's such a weird it's that they were trying.

[33:21] Oh, go ahead.

[33:22] Well, I say if this was a better movie, I feel like that would be a character as it

[33:26] is. It's meant to be, I guess, him revealing an anxiety.

[33:28] He feels that he's not with a woman that he is as attractive as she used to be or

[33:31] something. But the movie doesn't support that.

[33:33] And it comes out of nowhere and it's a bad movie.

[33:35] So it just comes off as like a weird thing for him to say.

[33:38] It's like they were you could feel them doing the math of what would sound bad in the

[33:41] deposition when it was later.

[33:43] Yes, it's like but it could have just been like, you know, a picture of her at the

[33:46] beach and he she just goes like, huh, one piece, huh?

[33:49] You know, like like just like to kind of be like, OK, she's had kids like like, you

[33:54] know, you're not remember when we used to go to the beach and I wore one piece, just

[33:57] the bottoms. And he's like, oh, I remember when we were so sexy together.

[34:01] Yeah, you are missing your calling for writing erotic thrillers.

[34:06] Yeah. Remember when you remember, remember when when I just wore the bottoms and you

[34:09] Coppertone to me? That's when he uses he he bites the back of it and she runs around.

[34:13] Yeah, yeah. Love it.

[34:15] And they're cartoons.

[34:17] Oh, man. Oh, and he's in a dog costume.

[34:19] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[34:20] Oh, man. Oh, I should have a man in a cat.

[34:26] OK, so at some point she gets distracted.

[34:28] So he goes to make a call on his cellular phone.

[34:31] He thinks he's calling his friend, but she immediately attacks him.

[34:34] She begins assaulting him.

[34:35] He keeps saying no.

[34:37] She keeps pushing him.

[34:39] Eventually, he turns it around and kind of seems into it.

[34:44] And they are about to have some violent sex.

[34:46] And then he sees their reflection in a picture and he's like, I can't do this.

[34:51] He runs away and she threatens him.

[34:53] Yeah. And this is another instance of the movie.

[34:58] A better movie, maybe this would be a good choice, like it's trying to muddy the

[35:03] waters a little bit in a way that like.

[35:06] The work of muddy water, so just a complicated, like

[35:10] a complicated encounter, it's complicated, there's no perfect victim,

[35:14] there's no you know, like that, exactly.

[35:17] And like the fact that he seems into it at one point and then says no later,

[35:21] like that should be like the no should stand.

[35:25] And I think it's putting up against like if the genders were flipped.

[35:29] But in a movie that stars Michael Douglas, a man known for like being in like

[35:35] sleazy, erotic thrillers, I do think it makes you weirdly less sympathetic to him

[35:41] here that like, I don't know.

[35:43] I feel like what they were trying to do with his turn a little bit is like to be

[35:47] like the man can't control himself around the siren.

[35:52] Yeah. And like whereas like the version of women, it's like, you know, more like

[35:57] disassociating or whatever.

[35:58] Right. So he but he became the aggressor briefly because it was like she is just

[36:04] far too sexy, maybe.

[36:06] I don't know. Yeah, I think that he's if again, if it was a better movie, I could

[36:11] see it that like he doesn't want to do this, but he is feeling he feels that like

[36:18] he's because he used to be this this sex machine with her.

[36:21] And now he lives a pretty domestic kind of dull everyday life.

[36:25] And there's a little bit of he can recapture a moment of when he was younger and

[36:30] more exciting, but also that he is possibly seeing an opportunity to reassert

[36:34] control over the woman who has stolen the job he thought was rightfully his that like

[36:38] but he knows he really shouldn't do it, that he could have like again, it's a

[36:41] better movie. He would be a more complicated character.

[36:43] And these different drives could be going on all at the same time.

[36:46] But instead, it comes off as it feels like a superhero being hit with a power

[36:51] dampening beam and going like, I must resist, but can't.

[36:55] Oh, God, no, no.

[36:57] Like that, it feels so or there's something kind of like like she has a magical

[37:01] hold over him that he can't that he's giving into and then can't quite because she

[37:04] made him drink a potion or something like it's it's a it comes off.

[37:08] I found the scene. It should be it should be a really like terrifying scene if it's

[37:12] done right. But I find it very funny because also because there are times to be

[37:16] sexy and also so over the top, you know, the initial the initial massage.

[37:20] I feel like we watch with twenty twenty four eyes is like this is all this is oh,

[37:25] God, gross. The minute she says rub my shoulders and he starts doing it like no,

[37:29] no, no, no. Like like he's just like, all right, he's not really alarmed at that

[37:35] point. It's like you got to play the game.

[37:37] I rub I rub Donald Sutherland shoulders all the time.

[37:40] That's how I got my job. I feel like the movie also so much taller than Michael

[37:44] Douglas falters a little bit here because it's like, OK, we want to make this a

[37:48] horrifying experience that Michael Douglas goes through.

[37:50] But also like. This is a an ironic thriller with Demi Moore, so we want to make it

[37:56] sexy first. Yeah, well, we also want the audience to be able to come and like

[38:01] fantasize that they are with what if I got that harassed by Demi Moore?

[38:04] Oh, man. Amazing. Like there's yeah, I think the movie is the fact is I think you

[38:08] put it put your put hit it right in that like it's a sleazy movie.

[38:11] Yeah. So so he wants to have it both ways and like have a message to also get the

[38:16] audience aroused. You know, I did find a really great I was just like Googling

[38:19] Disclosure at the time and I found Roger.

[38:22] This is how Roger Ebert's review of Disclosure starts.

[38:27] Disclosure contains an inspiring, terrific shot of Demi Moore's cleavage in a

[38:32] wonder bra surrounded by one hundred and twenty five minutes of pure goofiness.

[38:38] Whatever. But I just like to sound like Roger Ebert, like her, her cleavage.

[38:44] Yeah. So like Roger Ebert, that's the best part.

[38:47] I think one of the things that maybe doesn't age as well about his work, but

[38:50] which I actually in some ways admire for its honesty is he's totally open to when

[38:54] he's a perv. And it's like, yeah, like I like this movie because these ladies were

[38:58] naked in it. You know, like he's like that's a value, too.

[39:01] And maybe he was a horny man who wrote a movie for Russ Meyer.

[39:05] But also, yes, that's a weird lead for a movie.

[39:09] That's true. Like the best, the best part of the film.

[39:12] Yeah. I mean, I also wonder if that's him.

[39:15] That's him trying to take the classy way out of answering the audience's question

[39:18] of is Demi Moore naked in this movie, which at this point was, I think, the

[39:21] question every every male audience member was asking about every movie that Demi

[39:25] Moore put out basically at this point was was she naked in it?

[39:29] And he could be like, well, I'll mention that she's in a wonder bra and that'll be

[39:32] telling my perv audience that she's not fully naked.

[39:35] My perv followers that I've cultivated.

[39:37] Yeah. So it's a dog with a little of the perv.

[39:41] So speaking of dogs, Michael Douglas goes, Michael Douglas.

[39:46] Yeah. He has no dog. That would be a calculator.

[39:49] That's the Rover Dogger Field or whatever the fuck.

[39:53] Michael Douglas, Rover Dangerfield had been a hit.

[39:55] And then they're like the sequel, Michael Douglas.

[39:58] Yeah.

[40:00] I love it.

[40:00] Okay, so he goes home,

[40:02] he has very noticeable scratches on his chest,

[40:05] and he has to hide them from his-

[40:06] It looks like he was attacked by a jaguar.

[40:09] Yes.

[40:10] So my wife and I watched this movie together,

[40:12] and we both suggested ways that he could explain

[40:16] why his 50-year-old man chest is slowly healing

[40:19] from scratches on his chest.

[40:22] Okay, I'm not gonna say who proposed which suggestion,

[40:25] but I want you guys to vote

[40:26] on which one you think works the best.

[40:28] The first is, the next morning,

[40:29] he immediately wakes up and goes to the animal shelter,

[40:31] and he buys a cat, okay?

[40:34] Or, he initiates sex with his wife,

[40:37] and very early on, he's like,

[40:38] ow, babe, what'd you do to my chest?

[40:40] Again, I like that.

[40:42] Okay, so which one do you think is the better,

[40:44] more peaceful option?

[40:44] I mean, I don't think either of them

[40:46] particularly would be convincing,

[40:48] but I would have to go with the second one,

[40:51] simply by virtue of the size of the claws.

[40:55] Distance between scratches is too small.

[40:58] Yeah, you would have to get a very large cat.

[41:00] You'd have to get a jaguar.

[41:01] I adopted this jaguar.

[41:03] By the way, I adopted this stray jaguar.

[41:06] I brought it back.

[41:07] What, you have small children in the house?

[41:09] Oh, they're gonna love it.

[41:10] They can ride it, it'll be fantastic.

[41:11] And then the rest of the movie

[41:12] is actually a family-in-peril movie

[41:14] about a jaguar that's loose in the house.

[41:16] Honey, your favorite movie's Bringing Up Baby, right?

[41:19] Well, guess what?

[41:22] Had Roar been made at this point?

[41:24] Yes, Roar had been made at this point.

[41:26] But he does, I thought this scene was so funny

[41:29] for like he's constantly not talking to her head on

[41:34] while he's having this conversation while in the shower.

[41:36] And then when he puts the towel on,

[41:37] he's draping it in a way that no person

[41:39] has ever put a towel around himself

[41:41] to cover up the scratches.

[41:44] And yo, he comes home late and he's like,

[41:46] the first thing he says is,

[41:48] honey, can you get me a beer right now?

[41:50] That was, it does not come off well.

[41:53] To drink in the shower?

[41:54] And it's not like she's in the kitchen.

[41:56] I think that's if shower beers are amazing.

[41:57] She's in bed doing work and he's like,

[42:00] can you get me a beer?

[42:01] Which means just to get up and go downstairs.

[42:02] Like you just came from there.

[42:03] It's just a plug in his cellular as well.

[42:06] Yeah, Meredith, this is, have you had a shower beer?

[42:09] I had this sold to me, I'm curious about.

[42:12] I drank it like in high school, once or twice.

[42:16] I drank whatever alcohol I found,

[42:19] like if they're in a water bottle in the shower.

[42:22] Yeah, as a long time night bartender,

[42:25] they'll like get home from work and drink a tall boy of,

[42:29] I don't know, whatever gross cheap beer I can drink

[42:31] while taking a shower before bed

[42:33] was like the best thing ever.

[42:34] Yeah, so I had this, okay, go on.

[42:37] Sold to me is like a great experience.

[42:40] Like, oh, you gotta get a cold beer,

[42:41] you go into the shower.

[42:43] And you know, I gotta admit, I just, I kept too much work.

[42:47] All I could think about was how much water was getting into,

[42:50] like hot water was getting into the beer I was having.

[42:52] Drinking shower water.

[42:54] That's because you gotta chug it.

[42:55] The thing you need in a shower,

[42:57] which is a time limit that you need to really get done with,

[43:01] but just chug that beer fast.

[43:02] Or you need like a plastic, very big beer helmet

[43:07] that you can put on that keeps you,

[43:10] like an umbrella thing that you can put on your head

[43:11] so you can drink.

[43:13] Like a shower cap.

[43:14] It's a shower cap with beers on it, yeah.

[43:18] So this guy's, we gotta stop this podcast right now,

[43:20] this is our new ones.

[43:22] I do wanna point out that this whole time,

[43:24] his wife is being very understanding

[43:26] and she's being very supportive,

[43:27] especially when dealing with the fact that he is,

[43:30] you know, he's visibly disappointed

[43:33] about not getting the promotion.

[43:34] She's like, you should just quit, we'll figure it out.

[43:36] And he's like, quit?

[43:38] But every wife he's ever had in every movie is wonderful.

[43:42] Yeah.

[43:43] And Archer in Basic Instinct,

[43:46] like they're all the greatest women

[43:51] that are stunningly beautiful,

[43:52] but not considered the hot ones a little bit.

[43:55] Like, anyway.

[43:57] Yeah, that's Michael Douglas, I guess as a type.

[44:02] There's specifically a message,

[44:03] he gets a message that the next morning's meeting

[44:06] is being pushed back.

[44:08] This message was relayed to him by his wife

[44:10] who received a phone call from Meredith

[44:12] and he just accepts this.

[44:14] He's like, oh great, I get to sleep in.

[44:17] Now I would think pushed forward.

[44:19] Pushed back makes me think that it is,

[44:21] that the meeting is happening earlier,

[44:22] which is actually what happens.

[44:24] Pushed up.

[44:25] I would say push up.

[44:26] Wait, you think push back means earlier?

[44:29] Yeah, back in time.

[44:30] The meeting's been pushed back.

[44:31] Gotta go back in time.

[44:32] But no, that doesn't make any sense at all.

[44:35] Yeah, pushed up means it's earlier.

[44:37] Back is later, always.

[44:39] Well.

[44:40] The meeting's been thrown forward.

[44:41] This is good for me to know

[44:42] before I get into the high stakes world

[44:43] of CD-ROM manufacturing that I know.

[44:45] So this is why your CD-ROM career has stalled out, Elliot.

[44:49] You've been missing all these meetings.

[44:50] This could be it.

[44:51] Also, I do think that the CD-ROM stands for

[44:53] cats, dogs, rhinos, other mammals,

[44:57] which is apparently not what it stands for.

[45:00] And then he has a nightmare about Donald Sutherland

[45:03] making a move on him.

[45:05] That was great, great scene.

[45:08] Very, very telling.

[45:10] Now we're onto Tuesday.

[45:13] Hey guys, what a week, right?

[45:16] It's only Tuesday.

[45:18] He shows up late to the meeting.

[45:20] There's a VR demo.

[45:21] Now we've talked about this VR.

[45:23] It's pretty cool, right?

[45:24] It's pretty cool.

[45:25] You're in a hallway of files.

[45:26] There's an angel that looks like the lead programmer

[45:28] who is not very good at helping you

[45:30] with the things that you need with the software.

[45:32] It is incredibly underwhelming,

[45:34] but everyone acts as if this is

[45:36] the coolest thing they've ever seen

[45:38] in the history of science.

[45:39] I don't want to insult this actor.

[45:42] He's kind of an unusual looking fellow.

[45:47] And then they put his face on an angel,

[45:49] which makes it look all the weirder.

[45:52] And it's like, this is like,

[45:54] they decided to like, I don't know.

[45:56] I feel like if I turned around and I saw this angel,

[45:58] like, can I help you?

[45:59] They're like, ah!

[46:02] Bring Clippy back.

[46:03] Yeah, you're like, I don't know.

[46:04] I was playing Doom.

[46:07] What?

[46:09] I feel like they were trying to play that part

[46:10] for comic relief.

[46:12] Yeah.

[46:12] I think they were.

[46:13] I think that was supposed to be a joke.

[46:15] That was not a great face for an angel.

[46:16] You keep putting your face on things.

[46:19] Like, it's the only face we have right now.

[46:21] Like, I feel like it was supposed to be sleight of hand

[46:23] so you're not noticing the plot points that come after.

[46:26] Yeah.

[46:27] I'll distract you enough.

[46:28] Or the fact that like,

[46:29] Donner Sutherland's full financial details

[46:32] are in the demo for entertainment purposes only.

[46:35] I'm listening to his fears, his full schedule.

[46:38] His psychiatric report.

[46:39] His call sheet for the movie.

[46:41] Pictures of him in blackface when he was in college.

[46:44] All that stuff's there.

[46:44] You know he has those.

[46:47] So-

[46:48] That character, not Donald Sutherland's the real actor.

[46:49] Yeah, of course.

[46:50] So Michael Douglas is under fire

[46:53] for showing up late to the meeting.

[46:55] And he's also under fire

[46:56] because Meredith has spilled all the beans

[46:58] for the various production issues they're having in Malaysia.

[47:02] And he is not prepared to answer some of these questions.

[47:05] But partially because he brings up the issues to her

[47:09] during their initial meeting where the sexual assault

[47:12] happened and she tells him the best thing to do

[47:15] is to say nothing.

[47:16] It is-

[47:17] And then she, during the meeting, brings it all up

[47:20] and he sticks to that story of the advice she gave him.

[47:25] It's so funny.

[47:26] Yeah, that he's like, well, she assaulted me

[47:28] and she lied about when the meeting is

[47:30] but I better stick with her strategy

[47:32] and not throw things off.

[47:35] He's like quoting things she said to him

[47:36] and it's like, dude, she's obviously not your friend.

[47:39] Like, why are you doing this?

[47:41] But also, yeah, he could be like, yeah, no,

[47:43] because I brought these up to you last night

[47:46] and you told me not to say anything.

[47:48] Yeah.

[47:49] Could have maybe, and then the credits roll.

[47:53] Yeah, like one of the best bits

[47:54] is when he like repeats one of her talking points verbatim

[47:57] and a guy's like, oh, that doesn't mean

[47:58] what you think it means.

[48:00] She like totally turns it off, it's so funny.

[48:03] So he-

[48:04] He's a moron, he should not have been promoted

[48:05] to vice president, let's just say that right there, yeah.

[48:08] Yeah, he goes to talk to Phil,

[48:10] who's what, the guy from Happiness,

[48:12] what other stuff's he doing?

[48:13] Oh, Dylan, what's his name?

[48:15] He's Kurt Connors in the Sam Raimi's Spider-Man movie.

[48:18] Right, right.

[48:19] Who has like bad guy hair gel.

[48:22] Yeah.

[48:23] His hair is very precise.

[48:25] Why am I looking at his name?

[48:26] In a way that you're like, he's bad.

[48:27] Yeah, I keep thinking, yeah, well, I am,

[48:28] I also can't remember, I keep hearing-

[48:30] Dylan Bailey.

[48:31] Sorry, he's married to someone.

[48:32] Thomas is not his name, that's a poet.

[48:34] Is he married to Jennifer Grey?

[48:37] Wow.

[48:38] Is that right?

[48:38] It could be possible.

[48:40] We're gonna, we'll get to the bottom of this one.

[48:41] So that actor's Dylan Baker, who's also,

[48:44] he's in a lot of good stuff, yeah.

[48:45] Yeah.

[48:46] He's great, he's a great actor.

[48:47] He's kind of, he's Michael Douglas's boss, I guess,

[48:51] and like a liaison between him and Donald Sutherland,

[48:55] who's the head of the company.

[48:56] Well, also, yeah, and he is the one who pretends to be

[49:01] Michael Douglas's friend at the beginning,

[49:02] but it's like plotting against him,

[49:04] and it is one of these situations where you're like,

[49:07] don't you understand, that's Dylan Baker.

[49:09] Like, he's, and he's Dylan Baker with like round glasses

[49:13] and his hair slicked back.

[49:14] And slicked back hair.

[49:15] This guy's not your buddy.

[49:16] Yep, he's got the bad guy hair chillin'.

[49:19] That's still popular in the 80s and 90s, right?

[49:21] Nope, he's not married to Jennifer Grey.

[49:25] But who is married to Jennifer Grey?

[49:27] There's only one way to find out, call her up.

[49:29] Clark Gregg.

[49:30] Oh, oh, right, right, right, right.

[49:33] Oh, that's right, he's married to Becky Ann Baker.

[49:34] Becky Ann Baker, who's on Freaks and Geeks.

[49:38] Yeah, she's great, and girls, yeah.

[49:40] I knew he was married to someone awesome.

[49:41] They're a very talented couple, the two of them.

[49:43] And actor.

[49:44] Okay, so he goes to Phil and he's like,

[49:48] wants to make a claim against Meredith,

[49:52] but it turns out she's beating him to the punch.

[49:54] She's already made a sexual harassment claim against him.

[49:57] What?

[49:58] And he's like, that's not what happened.

[50:00] says he lays out the plot of the movie goes a woman harassing a man which

[50:05] should have been on the poster there's another with an interrobang after it so

[50:10] he starts getting mysterious emails he's been getting a number of mysterious

[50:13] emails at this point all emails are mysterious because how many emails were

[50:17] you guys getting in 1994 I was getting like none and these are ones that have

[50:22] no senders address on them and they're just saying like cryptic messages it

[50:26] kind of matters later it doesn't I was I this this made me scratch up my face

[50:34] and be like is that a thing that was possible did that happen like because he

[50:38] kept going to the to see who was sending it and it's like no sender available I'm

[50:42] like I don't think that I bet there was a way to hide the identity to hot you

[50:47] know the same way you could you can you can use like an email address you

[50:53] wouldn't just be like the email program wouldn't tell you like yeah but the

[50:59] twist still like you could have had an email address yeah based on the twist

[51:06] yes that comes later about it that it being from a friend yeah I think they're

[51:11] just trying to create suspense you know that's a good movie just trying to make

[51:14] the audience ask questions yeah so one of the this email hey we're talking

[51:19] about it right so this email gives up there's a link to a news story about a

[51:24] sexual harassment claim that has information about the lawyers who helped

[51:28] that claim go through so he reaches out to those lawyers and meets with them

[51:33] those lawyers of course are played by longtime character actress Roma mafia and

[51:39] Donald Logue a very young Donald Logue played a face on a log I love this name

[51:45] chance gear like dude can I have a name I'm just called other lawyer what about

[52:01] chance gear and they're like all right just let him have chance gear sure it's

[52:06] his own name is Donald Logue so he's used to strange names so let's just give

[52:10] him this one yeah yeah they're like hey Michael Crichton you know high-tech

[52:13] stuff what's a cool name but she's basically supposed to be Gloria all red

[52:18] right like yes yeah that's that's her who she's supposed to be yeah so Michael

[52:23] Douglas just wants to settle he doesn't want his wife to find out about it which

[52:27] is fucked up dude like he should have told his wife a long time ago yeah he

[52:31] should have told her the night it happened which is hard sometimes you

[52:33] feel ashamed you don't know like that that happens but also that he didn't

[52:37] mention what but yeah but also the idea I just got D I just got a message your

[52:41] wife real quick that sometimes this happens to me I don't know how to tell

[52:46] her but the fact that he can have a legal settlement with his employer over

[52:50] a sexual harassment charge and his wife is never gonna know about it is a very

[52:54] strange it's a big thing to hide again this is like a clumsy attempts to like

[53:01] parallel like you know like women get a hard time because like oh you didn't

[53:07] document this you didn't like do the perfect you weren't perfect right

[53:10] afterwards you know but it is frustrating as a viewer to watch it and

[53:15] be like man like you are really making it hard on yourself right now Michael

[53:21] Douglas she does the wife had no idea that she was even a former lover yes

[53:26] yeah I mean if they wanted to lean into more about why he didn't say anything

[53:32] like they could have laid in a scene where she's feeling insecure about being

[53:36] you know like something that you were he's just like all this is not the time

[53:39] like I don't want to that would be treating her more like a human being and

[53:44] less like a prop that exists to either support or cause trouble for Michael

[53:48] Douglas right I do think it's very funny that I she becomes nicer as the movie

[53:54] goes along the wife I think for very like cynical like screenwriting reasons

[54:00] of you know we want to be less sympathetic to her at the beginning so

[54:05] we sort of understand Michael Douglas and then later on she's like the good

[54:08] wife he can go back to you but like she's introduced being like complaining

[54:12] about how he's nice to people who are lower on the totem pole than him like

[54:16] you're the only one who sucks up to subordinates and it's like wow you're an

[54:20] asshole and then later on she becomes extremely understanding she does drive

[54:25] him to the ferry though that's always nice and he is asking her for a favor to

[54:30] arrange for Disney tickets for his for his co-worker so it is putting her out a

[54:36] little bit but as someone who has a Disney worker in the family and is

[54:41] constantly asking him for tickets I get both sides of the situation I get why

[54:45] you want that favor and also why you'd be annoyed by doing it yeah so look

[54:49] Michael Douglas's access to the computer mainframe is reduced it's gonna

[54:53] play an important role later in a very exciting VR scene he goes to a he goes

[55:00] to a charity event where Dennis Miller blabs to his wife that Tom's sexual

[55:06] harassment claim might have something to mess up with the mess up the merger his

[55:11] wife immediately defends Tom and is you know show solidarity when when Michael

[55:20] Douglas then explains to his wife what happened he does it in the worst way

[55:23] possible he's like uh she started kissing me I guess and then maybe took

[55:28] my pants down blow me and then I was like oh yeah I got a wife anyway I got

[55:33] to get out of here it's also I feel like the that hinge so much on did you have

[55:38] sex as if nothing else matters well this doesn't cap baby I mean this was

[55:45] the in the 90s I feel like that was the debate like when Bill Clinton oh yeah

[55:49] cheat on his wife everyone was like well it wasn't really sex and it's like well

[55:53] the idea that if your penis was inside a body part of another woman that wasn't

[55:57] your wife it didn't count as sex and therefore wasn't an affair right it was

[56:00] like kite was an open question in the night it is sort of like I didn't inhale

[56:05] kind of the same argument of like I didn't smoke pot it's also like a super

[56:10] early job heteronormative way of looking at it because then it's like okay well I

[56:14] guess then gay people never have sex if one kind of intercourse is the yeah

[56:21] that's what that that's what that club the loophole is all about yeah that's

[56:25] what you do there in their argument there is a scene where his wife asks how

[56:30] attractive on a scale of one to ten and Michael Douglas grudgingly gives Demi

[56:34] more a nine okay that's not bad right he starts with eight and then he and then

[56:38] when he sees his wife doesn't believe that he upgrades her to nine and then and

[56:44] then she says a line which again should be on the poster she says nothing

[56:48] happens until it happens to you and that's like kind of the message of the

[56:51] movie right is that maybe yeah men can't understand sexual harassment until they

[56:56] themselves have been well and I do think that it's also the part of the movie it

[57:00] could happen to you right let me double check you're right that is like sort of

[57:05] like the most charitable viewing of this movie where it's just like okay we

[57:13] understand that you lack empathy so like let's put you in this situation I mean

[57:18] it's like it's like all of the old like science fiction II of anti-racism things

[57:23] where it's like oh no a white person is black for a day which is you know an

[57:28] offensive weird like science fiction blackface thing that we had to sort of

[57:32] get through so we could not do it anymore or like or like Tootsie or

[57:35] something where it's like until I dressed up as a woman and pretend to be

[57:38] a woman I didn't realize that women have problems you know the only way to show

[57:42] it is to see a guy going through it yes you have to take animal testing we have

[57:47] to do that for animal testing you have to take the default human being a

[57:53] straight white male the original that God started with and is therefore the

[57:57] basis of our basis and just put them through it yeah not one of the variants

[58:01] you know setting God's like let me get back to factory settings on this I want

[58:08] I want like a regular but God would an Italian do I said a regular to follow

[58:14] no not a macaroni rascal is there macaroni rascals merch to be to be found

[58:32] anywhere that's no I can make some I make things all the time I made divorce

[58:39] dead sweetlets hats but you know that yeah the macaroni rascals is what they

[58:43] called the Jersey Shore it's a better title in some ways in some way the real

[58:50] life adventures of the macaroni rascals is how it translates I didn't know about

[58:55] the real life that makes it sound like a 1960s Disney live-action comedy yeah

[59:01] yeah anyway okay so enough about macaroni rascals we are on Wednesday I

[59:08] gotta say flying by this like cut to Wednesday made me laugh so much because

[59:13] like it had like this dramatic sting like it felt like like it was like a

[59:19] shining like cut to like a Chiron it was so it went and it is they are it was by

[59:26] that point the movie they had forgotten they were naming the days as it was like

[59:30] so we have the start of mediation this is not a trial it's just mediation we

[59:43] get Tom's side of the story he is being grilled by this evil lawyer character

[59:50] and this is probably my favorite scene in the movie where the lawyer keeps

[59:53] specify he he very clearly lays out the definition of boner which I found very

[1:00:00] He's like, you talked to your colleagues about how she gave you a boner, and in that scene Dennis Miller is doing all the boner talk.

[1:00:07] Like Michael Douglas is just kind of like, come on guys, come on.

[1:00:10] I definitely have liftoff, is what he said.

[1:00:13] All he had to say is like, no I didn't, the other guys were, and I was trying to get them to stop.

[1:00:17] But instead he's like, you know how guys talk to each other, you know how it is, which is the sleaziest thing you could say.

[1:00:23] Well, well, can you please clue me in, but isn't a boner a term for an erection?

[1:00:30] Well, the only thing that was kind of good, like the one thing was like, yeah, but you laughed.

[1:00:35] But he should have said, yeah, because I was trying to get out of the conversation.

[1:00:38] It was a defense mechanism or something, because that's an argument people use.

[1:00:41] Your Honor, I mentioned like the Joker and that panel that gets put around on the internet sometimes.

[1:00:46] Dan, they knew what they were doing when they wrote that Batman comic.

[1:00:49] They knew exactly what they were doing.

[1:00:50] You think so?

[1:00:51] He uses the word boner like 15 times throughout the story.

[1:00:54] We were talking about the character from Growing Pains.

[1:00:58] But isn't the character from Growing Pains named, is his name a reference to that?

[1:01:03] Oh, you got me. I don't even watch Growing Pains.

[1:01:05] I don't even, my story's falling apart.

[1:01:08] We get her side of the story.

[1:01:11] I can't show you that smile again.

[1:01:13] You know, like in the song.

[1:01:16] We get her side of the story and it feels like everything that happened, every bit of that interaction was, feels like it was all part of a setup for her to catch him and to turn the tables on him.

[1:01:29] She's woven quite a web and she's caught her fly.

[1:01:32] Thank you.

[1:01:34] And his lawyer manages to, when cross examining, I guess, points out that the bottle of wine they were drinking was specifically a favorite bottle of wine of his and that she had sought it out previously.

[1:01:47] She acted like it was just a bottle of wine she had lying around.

[1:01:50] But no, no, no.

[1:01:51] This shows like premeditated behavior.

[1:01:55] But one random question.

[1:01:57] Yep.

[1:01:59] How did he not know she was working in operations for that company when she had worked there for months?

[1:02:04] Another reason why he is not good.

[1:02:07] You should know kind of the top brass of the infrastructure of the company that you're in.

[1:02:13] I think if they made it seem like a bigger, if the company felt bigger, it's supposed to be, I think, a huge company.

[1:02:18] And so it's like he's in charge of manufacturing and he doesn't know who does the other stuff.

[1:02:23] But the company never feels that big.

[1:02:26] The idea that his ex-lover is now in a very high position at the company, you'd think he would hear about the name at least.

[1:02:32] I agree.

[1:02:33] Even if she was at a different, like, yeah, they mentioned that there might be other branches.

[1:02:38] There's a branch in Austin that's closing.

[1:02:40] Can't get assigned to that.

[1:02:42] He can't take that off.

[1:02:43] But also that felt also very Catholic churchy where they're like, well, if you've sexually harassed, what we're going to offer you is to move you to Austin.

[1:02:51] But if you truly believe that guy was a horrible sexual assaulter, sexual harasser, you would fire him, not move him to Austin.

[1:03:01] Well, they have this big merger and they don't want to jeopardize it by being seen to properly deal with a sexual harassment problem.

[1:03:08] So it's better to pretend it didn't exist.

[1:03:10] There's no HR.

[1:03:12] I haven't seen HR.

[1:03:14] Is transferring to Austin their version of saying go live on a farm upstate?

[1:03:19] Yeah, I think so.

[1:03:20] There is a there is a there are a couple lines I liked in it.

[1:03:23] And there's one where Donald Sutherland they go.

[1:03:25] We offered him the the the lateral move to Austin, but he wouldn't take it.

[1:03:28] And so it's like lateral move to Austin.

[1:03:30] That's like a lateral move from duck to LaRange.

[1:03:32] And I was like, oh, pretty good line.

[1:03:34] That's good.

[1:03:35] What was the name of the lawyer?

[1:03:38] He also had a hilarious line about her.

[1:03:42] Yeah.

[1:03:43] It's like Claudia Alvarez.

[1:03:46] What is that?

[1:03:47] Oh, yeah.

[1:03:48] Oh, yeah.

[1:03:49] Yeah.

[1:03:50] Yeah.

[1:03:51] You say you say you say no, no.

[1:03:53] He goes, Catherine Alvarez.

[1:03:54] She changed her name to TV listings if she thought it would get her in the paper more.

[1:03:58] Yeah.

[1:03:59] And it's like a TV listing.

[1:04:01] That's that's when we have to you have to annotate it for the young people.

[1:04:06] Now you're like back in the day.

[1:04:08] Yeah.

[1:04:09] Choose what you watched on TV.

[1:04:10] It just aired at time.

[1:04:11] You'd want to know when it was in the newspaper would tell you when the TV shows were.

[1:04:15] Yeah.

[1:04:16] For an evil boss.

[1:04:17] Donald Sutherland seems like a fun guy.

[1:04:18] He's got he's got some good shows to face.

[1:04:20] No consequences.

[1:04:21] Yeah.

[1:04:22] Yeah.

[1:04:23] That's true.

[1:04:24] I mean, he is.

[1:04:25] He really he's he skates by on a lot of Donald Sutherland charm, but I'm a big fan of Donald

[1:04:27] Sutherland.

[1:04:28] So maybe that's maybe that's why he works for me.

[1:04:30] I don't know.

[1:04:31] Uh huh.

[1:04:32] Also, we find out that that Demi Moore has gone through at least 10 assistants.

[1:04:37] Male assistants have all quit in the last few years.

[1:04:40] That is a red flag.

[1:04:42] Although that doesn't really make sense with the later.

[1:04:45] No, it doesn't.

[1:04:47] I mean, she could be both a predator and someone who is maneuvering Michael Douglas to become

[1:04:51] the scapegoat for the manufacturing problems.

[1:04:53] I mean, she's like, I've got just a move.

[1:04:56] Yeah.

[1:04:57] I've been practicing for this all my life.

[1:04:58] Yeah.

[1:04:59] I've been training.

[1:05:00] We don't know how far back this goes.

[1:05:01] They say that luck is when opportunity meets preparation.

[1:05:02] Yeah.

[1:05:03] There's a scene where the his lawyer, Catherine Alvarez, takes his wife for food at the Pike

[1:05:11] Place Market, which looks great.

[1:05:12] I love the Pike Place Market.

[1:05:15] But there's a weird moment where his lawyer says something like, my husband asked me out

[1:05:19] many times.

[1:05:20] These days, he would be too frightened of getting charged with sexual harassment to

[1:05:24] ask me out at all.

[1:05:25] Or he would get once and have to move on and that would be it.

[1:05:28] So her whole life would have not happened.

[1:05:30] Yeah.

[1:05:31] Yeah.

[1:05:32] That's her sliding doors moment.

[1:05:33] But like, yeah, there's it was this weird moment of like, why are we why are we doing

[1:05:38] this?

[1:05:40] It's not even not it does not want to take any but the most basic stand because it doesn't

[1:05:46] want to piss people off or because it wants to seem maybe it's trying to go for complexity,

[1:05:50] but it's failing really badly.

[1:05:51] But it feels like the movie is like sexual harassment is obviously wrong.

[1:05:55] But you know, sometimes when it's romantic, maybe.

[1:06:01] But it also it's also this is it's not a friendly environment to say you were sex like at that

[1:06:08] time.

[1:06:09] It's there.

[1:06:10] There weren't a lot of like places to go where you would be supported and say, hey, I have

[1:06:14] that.

[1:06:15] So I was sexually harassed at work like for that on Demi Moore's first day to be her move

[1:06:21] and everyone accepts it internally as like this is a normal thing that a woman might

[1:06:26] do.

[1:06:28] So it feels more like it's more like a male fear than it is like at all how anything works

[1:06:35] at that time.

[1:06:36] Yeah.

[1:06:37] Yeah.

[1:06:38] No, this this movie, the engine of this movie is male fear.

[1:06:41] Yeah.

[1:06:42] I mean, it really is like Demi Moore.

[1:06:44] Demi Moore is she gives that speech about like now you need you need it signed in triplicate

[1:06:50] before you have sex or something like that.

[1:06:52] Like that the UN has to.

[1:06:53] Yeah.

[1:06:54] Yeah.

[1:06:55] That's right.

[1:06:57] That's the movie stating its case in a way like that's the movie.

[1:06:59] Yeah.

[1:07:00] Honestly, which sucks.

[1:07:01] And the it reminds me of what's on.

[1:07:03] You must be the member of this.

[1:07:04] I mean, it doesn't suck for me because I'm super into the UN being aware of all my sexual

[1:07:08] activity.

[1:07:09] Either way, part of my kink.

[1:07:10] You send those letters to them all about it.

[1:07:13] Yeah.

[1:07:14] No one takes my delegation.

[1:07:15] You said it to.

[1:07:16] Yeah.

[1:07:17] Yeah.

[1:07:18] Make a little drawing of all everything.

[1:07:19] But I think it was on and you must remember this.

[1:07:21] They're talking about how with basic instinct Sharon Stone is basically playing her character

[1:07:26] like a man acting sexually, you know, she's a woman, but she's doing the things that men

[1:07:29] do.

[1:07:30] And the reviewers at the time were like, what is this monster?

[1:07:32] Like, what is this mutant demon?

[1:07:34] Yes.

[1:07:35] You know.

[1:07:36] Okay.

[1:07:37] Absolutely.

[1:07:38] Other than murdering people.

[1:07:39] Most men do not end up murdering their partners.

[1:07:40] Back at work.

[1:07:41] Donald Sutherland seems to want to settle and they're like, why would you want to do

[1:07:44] that?

[1:07:45] Then they bring Michael Douglas's assistant Cindy in to do some testimony.

[1:07:50] She reveals a pattern of behavior that is unsettling on the part of Michael Douglas

[1:07:55] involving back rubs and touching her tushy and all kinds of bad.

[1:07:59] She doesn't say touching.

[1:08:00] I know that's that's a stewardess.

[1:08:02] I'm sorry.

[1:08:03] Yeah.

[1:08:04] There are a couple of scenes in here that like the one that you were talking about earlier

[1:08:08] Elliott where like he gets grilled or there's a scene where the lawyer lays out to Michael

[1:08:14] Douglas like how painful this is going to be to like try and fight this.

[1:08:18] Yeah.

[1:08:20] There are like better scenes of a better version of this movie.

[1:08:23] And I like this scene where the assistant like Michael Douglas who has thought of himself

[1:08:28] as a good guy has to face up to like his assistant being like, yeah, I felt uncomfortable sometimes.

[1:08:34] And then later on, like there's a scene where he apologizes and then it's immediately undercut

[1:08:40] by like her whacking him on the butt to be like, ah, now what's sauce for the goose brain?

[1:08:48] This is what an equal world looks like.

[1:08:50] It's not nobody getting sexually harassed, but everyone's free to sexually harass.

[1:08:54] We're all honking each other.

[1:08:56] Oh, hi.

[1:08:57] See, everybody.

[1:08:58] Yeah.

[1:08:59] It's Thursdays when we live in a free use office, then we'll all be equals.

[1:09:03] And it's like, I don't like this.

[1:09:05] Yeah.

[1:09:06] Honking.

[1:09:07] There's.

[1:09:08] OK.

[1:09:09] And then we get a big we get a big twist at the end here at the end of Wednesday.

[1:09:14] Wait.

[1:09:15] Is it still Wednesday?

[1:09:16] It's still Wednesday.

[1:09:17] It's a long Wednesday.

[1:09:18] Yeah.

[1:09:19] A long week.

[1:09:20] OK.

[1:09:21] It wraps up quick.

[1:09:22] So Michael Douglas realizes that when he made a phone call right before being assaulted,

[1:09:26] that he must have dialed the wrong number.

[1:09:29] And he uses some mental math and figures out whose phone number and answering machine he

[1:09:34] left his message on.

[1:09:35] And he realizes that he must have just let that phone run.

[1:09:38] So the whole encounter must be caught on that answering machine tape.

[1:09:42] What's an answering machine tape?

[1:09:43] You ask.

[1:09:44] Well, young and that was a thing that was from the 1990s.

[1:09:48] So and he reaches out to the guy who he believes he called.

[1:09:51] And that guy has the answering machine tape and gives it to him in exchange after making

[1:09:56] a couple of jokes.

[1:09:57] And he has evidence.

[1:10:00] But did we see missed calls from that guy?

[1:10:03] I don't know.

[1:10:04] He's like, I've been trying to find you everywhere.

[1:10:07] And it's like, I don't think we did.

[1:10:09] I don't think we did.

[1:10:10] You have.

[1:10:11] Yeah, it would have been so easy to just be like, I don't have time for this right now.

[1:10:15] I'm unless they're unless they're trying to make it a red herring that he's the secretive

[1:10:20] friend who is emailing him suggestions.

[1:10:22] Yeah.

[1:10:23] A friend.

[1:10:24] So Thursday at the at the mediation, they play the tape.

[1:10:29] It is damning.

[1:10:30] At one point, the evil lawyer refers to his lawyer as young lady.

[1:10:36] Although they cut the tape off before, like, I don't know whether the idea is like this

[1:10:40] part wasn't recorded, but they cut it off before, like, the most damning part where

[1:10:44] like she's literally like, if you don't come back here and finish what you started, like

[1:10:50] you're out.

[1:10:51] You know, like, which is like the most direct admission of harassment, you know, from a

[1:10:57] boss.

[1:10:58] It's like, I need sexual favors or else you lose your job.

[1:11:01] But they cut it off for that.

[1:11:02] I mean, it might be.

[1:11:03] It's as if they were like, oh, we all heard it.

[1:11:05] We know what we're talking about.

[1:11:06] Assume you heard the whole thing.

[1:11:07] I mean, that's that's the thing.

[1:11:08] I think they're just trying to save time in the movie more than anything else.

[1:11:11] I know.

[1:11:12] But it's funny to me because, like, the next thing that happens in the scene is like, all

[1:11:15] we heard here is two consensual consenting adults having a consensual sexual encounter.

[1:11:20] And it's like, well, but then later on.

[1:11:21] Right.

[1:11:22] So maybe it didn't work.

[1:11:23] Yeah.

[1:11:24] For that scene.

[1:11:25] If they played it through.

[1:11:26] Yeah.

[1:11:27] And they were like, OK, just don't play that part.

[1:11:28] Just don't do it.

[1:11:31] We'll cover our tracks.

[1:11:33] OK, we really appreciate it.

[1:11:35] If you could not play the whole tape, just play enough to make your case, but not enough

[1:11:38] to make it really bad.

[1:11:39] Yeah, of course.

[1:11:40] Yeah.

[1:11:41] We're co-workers.

[1:11:42] Yeah, of course.

[1:11:43] Well, I have to see you tomorrow.

[1:11:44] Sure.

[1:11:45] So, hey, everybody.

[1:11:46] Michael Douglas wins.

[1:11:47] He wins everything he wants.

[1:11:48] He gets a bonus for pain and suffering.

[1:11:50] His lawyer is getting paid.

[1:11:52] He gets to keep working at this really cool company.

[1:11:56] He doesn't have to go to Austin.

[1:11:57] Disgusting Austin.

[1:11:58] Hasn't gotten cool yet.

[1:12:01] Yeah.

[1:12:02] He hates delicious breakfast tacos.

[1:12:04] It's the worst thing in the world.

[1:12:06] You have to.

[1:12:07] This is 1994.

[1:12:08] Seattle is the coolest city in the entire United States of America.

[1:12:11] Like people just have a bridge where there are bats underneath it.

[1:12:14] Huh?

[1:12:15] I don't know.

[1:12:16] I don't know.

[1:12:17] Probably.

[1:12:18] No, that's Austin.

[1:12:19] Austin.

[1:12:20] No, no, no.

[1:12:21] I know Austin has it.

[1:12:22] I don't know if Seattle has a bat.

[1:12:23] Seattle has so much cool stuff.

[1:12:24] They have it.

[1:12:25] They don't even talk about it.

[1:12:26] Austin has moon towers, but Seattle has a space needle.

[1:12:29] So, I don't know which is better.

[1:12:31] Seattle has a little thing called coffee.

[1:12:33] Ever heard of it?

[1:12:34] Austin doesn't have it.

[1:12:35] Yeah.

[1:12:36] No.

[1:12:37] Okay.

[1:12:38] So, everything.

[1:12:39] Seattle doesn't have barbecue.

[1:12:40] What kind of food do they have there?

[1:12:42] I heard about a Seattle slew.

[1:12:44] Dungeonous crabs and shit.

[1:12:46] Dungeonous crabs and shit.

[1:12:47] You throw fish.

[1:12:48] Oh, yeah.

[1:12:49] They throw fish around.

[1:12:50] They don't do that in Austin.

[1:12:51] They probably cook up a Douglas fir for you.

[1:12:52] I don't know.

[1:12:53] A Michael Douglas fir.

[1:12:54] So, he's going to win everything.

[1:12:55] Michael Douglas probably has some fir.

[1:12:56] Yeah.

[1:12:57] He does.

[1:12:58] He's going to win everything.

[1:12:59] Meredith is going to be out.

[1:13:00] Hooray.

[1:13:01] However, there's still like 20 minutes left in the movie.

[1:13:02] So, we know things are just getting good.

[1:13:03] So, unless the rest of it is just Michael Douglas changing his ways and making up with

[1:13:04] his wife.

[1:13:05] It's not, yeah.

[1:13:06] Okay.

[1:13:07] So, he gets another mysterious email that's like, it's not over.

[1:13:08] Follow the problem.

[1:13:09] And he realizes there's a loophole in his contract.

[1:13:10] He could be fired for incompetence.

[1:13:11] And I'm like, yeah, he should have been fired.

[1:13:12] I'm like, yeah, he should have been fired.

[1:13:14] and he realizes there's a loophole in his contract.

[1:13:16] Follow the problem.

[1:13:17] And he realizes there's a loophole in his contract.

[1:13:18] That he could be fired for incompetence.

[1:13:20] And I'm like, yeah, he should have been fired for incompetence.

[1:13:23] He's like, wait, they can't fire me for this but they can fire me for incompetence.

[1:13:27] Just like any employee anywhere.

[1:13:28] Job.

[1:13:29] Yeah.

[1:13:30] So, of course, what he has to do.

[1:13:31] Oh, this is a job?

[1:13:32] Wait a minute.

[1:13:33] Hold on.

[1:13:34] Oh, no, I didn't know.

[1:13:35] Oh, I thought I had double jeopardy immunity now.

[1:13:38] I couldn't get fired for anything.

[1:13:40] Yeah, he was like, when I was raised, I was promised a job that I could work at and then

[1:13:44] retire from.

[1:13:46] So his only option at this point, he has now been locked out of the computer network.

[1:13:52] He has to sneak into the Four Seasons and break into the room of the guys that are buying

[1:13:59] the company.

[1:14:00] And he has to hook up the VR rig that they have borrowed for some reason because they

[1:14:05] think it's neat.

[1:14:06] To play with.

[1:14:07] Yeah, to play with.

[1:14:08] There's like so many people that could have access to it, like housekeeping and it's got

[1:14:12] all these secrets on it.

[1:14:14] I love, yeah, I love you pointed out earlier, Meredith, but I love that it has this thing

[1:14:18] when he logs in being like, this is just for entertainment purposes.

[1:14:22] You like don't look at all of our secret files that this is linked to for some reason, even

[1:14:27] though it's a demo.

[1:14:28] But it's it's wild.

[1:14:30] Yeah.

[1:14:31] And so he, of course, logs in and this is where we are treated to some high tech visuals.

[1:14:36] We get to see a digitized Michael Douglas digital through the corridors of it's very

[1:14:41] much like what the halls of medicine commercials.

[1:14:43] Yes.

[1:14:44] And he's also like in the room.

[1:14:46] He's like standing on a mini trampoline.

[1:14:47] Yeah.

[1:14:48] Yeah.

[1:14:49] He's on this little platform wearing a helmet.

[1:14:51] There's a moment where walking through these corridors of file filing cabinets, he almost

[1:14:56] walks off an edge and he's like, whoa, I'm going to fall.

[1:15:00] And they cut to him on the pad just to make sure, you know, he's safe.

[1:15:03] I guess they cut to him in the hotel room.

[1:15:05] And he looks like anyone playing a VR game.

[1:15:08] Stupid.

[1:15:09] Like, look.

[1:15:10] Yeah.

[1:15:11] I mean, this is a funny moment of like, I think the movie itself undercutting, you know,

[1:15:14] it's like, OK, but we know that, you know, like this is what Michael Douglas actually

[1:15:18] looks like right now.

[1:15:19] He's safe.

[1:15:20] He's not going to fall down or anything.

[1:15:21] But I love that this is like this is like the vaporwave aesthetic in a nutshell of like

[1:15:25] early like CD-ROM where it's like, let's put a bunch of like columns everywhere and make

[1:15:31] it all vaguely Grecian.

[1:15:32] It's got to look like mist.

[1:15:33] Yeah.

[1:15:35] Why do they why do they put like a bottomless pit in there?

[1:15:38] That's a good question.

[1:15:39] Why in their demo of a new filing system in online space, they have a bottomless pit?

[1:15:42] Because it's beta.

[1:15:43] It's beta.

[1:15:44] It's like now it's done rendering the floor.

[1:15:47] They put too much into angel wings.

[1:15:48] I will.

[1:15:49] I'm not sure if I would have liked it more or less if they had built in something where

[1:15:52] it's like if you're in the system when it gets shut off, then you die.

[1:15:56] Like so he has to like get out in time before someone turns it off.

[1:16:00] But they don't have that.

[1:16:02] So he he is going through the filing cabinets about the the virtual filing cabinets focusing

[1:16:08] on the business in Malaysia because he has a suspicion.

[1:16:12] There's some evidence there, which while he's looking at it, he's finding evidence that

[1:16:15] Meredith was involved in the production problems in Malaysia.

[1:16:21] He finds a video call recording between the guy running the factory and her.

[1:16:27] It seems like this is something that's been going on for a while.

[1:16:30] All of a sudden, we get a digital Demi Moore coming and lasering away evidence because

[1:16:36] she's at her.

[1:16:37] She's at her desktop computer deleting files so that this evidence disappears.

[1:16:41] Their master.

[1:16:42] Yeah.

[1:16:43] Yeah.

[1:16:44] Oh, yeah.

[1:16:45] That's right.

[1:16:46] We missed the scene where he Demi Moore is at the office.

[1:16:47] Who's your stairmaster explaining to Dylan Baker all the bad stuff they're doing?

[1:16:50] And Michael Douglas happens to walk by and overhear it.

[1:16:53] And it was like this is that she's working out at the office after hours with Dylan Baker

[1:16:57] is strange that Michael Douglas just happens to be there to hear.

[1:17:00] It's like the movie got so lazy for a moment, which is like the first thing you should do

[1:17:04] is delete the Malaysian files.

[1:17:06] Yeah.

[1:17:07] We're just in the hotel hanging out.

[1:17:09] He and while he's spying on them, his cell phone, his cell phone rings loudly and he's

[1:17:15] like, oh, shit.

[1:17:16] And he answers.

[1:17:17] He answers.

[1:17:18] And they do not pay any attention.

[1:17:20] They just start whispering.

[1:17:21] That's what they do.

[1:17:22] That's how they internalize it.

[1:17:23] Yeah.

[1:17:24] So funny.

[1:17:25] OK.

[1:17:27] So there's a little bit of a ticking clock in this scene because Donald Sutherland and

[1:17:30] these like businessmen who were drinking in the lobby of the Four Seasons are like, hey,

[1:17:34] let's go back up to your room and play that VR rig.

[1:17:36] Let's go to that hallway again.

[1:17:38] I'll look up some files.

[1:17:39] Funny to watch these guys like hustling down a hallway so they can be the first one on

[1:17:43] the VR.

[1:17:44] It's also like the worst acting I've ever seen from Donald Sutherland, because it's

[1:17:48] like he keeps doing this like, I can't wait, Pam.

[1:17:52] I can't get my hands on those virtual files.

[1:17:55] Like they're like they needed to intercut that hallway walk so many times.

[1:17:59] Yeah.

[1:18:00] And then like they're having trouble with the key card.

[1:18:02] He's like, oh, these things they never like technology, technology, you know?

[1:18:07] OK.

[1:18:08] So he and he manages to get some he manages to find the evidence he needs.

[1:18:12] And he also realized that he should if he reaches out to Malaysia, they might have more

[1:18:17] hard copy information that they don't have on this.

[1:18:20] I mean, we really learn that the key piece of evidence is that all of the prototypes

[1:18:25] of the drive that he was in charge of were working great.

[1:18:29] But in Malaysia, they took they made a bunch of shortcuts in the in the manufacturing process

[1:18:35] that he did not suggest or approve.

[1:18:38] And we find out in that moment in the virtual, you know, in the corridor that it was Demi

[1:18:45] Moore who is the one who authorized the shortcuts that led to this drive being terrible.

[1:18:51] Which is like the guy who's always offering macadamia nuts to Michael Douglas would have

[1:18:56] like talked to Michael Douglas about this as like a possible source of the problem earlier

[1:19:01] in the film.

[1:19:02] My guess is that he I mean, he's not going to do that because he doesn't want to get

[1:19:04] in trouble.

[1:19:05] And he's been he doesn't want he doesn't want Demi Moore's character.

[1:19:08] I'm so glad that you guys can explain the ins and outs of this because it was a little

[1:19:11] too high tech for me.

[1:19:15] My favorite part of this scene is when those guys walk into the room and they find that

[1:19:20] and it pans over Michael Douglas isn't there and they all go to the VR.

[1:19:24] And then around the corner, Michael Douglas just kind of slips out of the room like he's

[1:19:27] a fucking cat burglar now.

[1:19:29] Like what is what is it that he knew is the exact moment, I guess, that he needed to be

[1:19:33] done with the VR system before they got there.

[1:19:35] It's all this was a time where Michael Douglas would have been in like a wizard magazine

[1:19:39] for a Solid Snake Metal Gear Solid.

[1:19:43] They turn on the lights, which I think changes even with the VR headset changes the ambient

[1:19:50] light enough that he's like, oh, and that's why he's able to slip out.

[1:19:53] I think he's also at the point in the movie where he's the hero up against everything

[1:19:58] and he's smarter than everyone.

[1:20:00] Yeah, he gets special powers. He's been self-actualized by the hardship he's had to go through.

[1:20:05] It reminds me of, there's like this, at the very end of...

[1:20:07] Yeah, that's true.

[1:20:08] At the end of Sneakers, when the bad guy gets defeated because one of the other guys just happens to be right above him in the drop ceiling,

[1:20:14] and jumps out and gets him, and it's like, huh, so, he was just waiting in that spot in case the bad guy came,

[1:20:20] or Rambo in First Blood, how he's like, camouflaged against that tree, and the guy comes across and he kills him,

[1:20:25] it's like, so he was, how long was he standing at that tree, waiting for someone to wander by that he happened to need to kill?

[1:20:31] Or when he covers himself in mud and hides in like a riverbank.

[1:20:34] Yeah, yeah.

[1:20:35] There's a lot of things that don't make sense.

[1:20:37] Like, my one, my favorite line, I think, in the whole movie is when Becky M. Baker's husband...

[1:20:45] Uh-huh, Dylan Baker.

[1:20:45] Dylan Baker, sees that Michael Douglas is stressed out, and he goes,

[1:20:51] he looks stressed, do you need a Prozac?

[1:20:54] Which does not work immediately.

[1:20:57] That's not how it works.

[1:20:58] In six weeks, you feel better?

[1:21:00] Yeah, exactly.

[1:21:00] After incrementally taking it?

[1:21:02] He should have said, you seem stressed, do you need a Zima?

[1:21:04] Do you need a Zima?

[1:21:06] Well, you can have like a Xanax or a Klonopin, like a tranquilizer, not like, anyway.

[1:21:13] Anyway.

[1:21:13] No, but it's like, Prozac's a thing from the 90s, it's just like...

[1:21:17] It's 90s stuff.

[1:21:18] There's like a sock, sock mumpy in my...

[1:21:20] Sock mumpy?

[1:21:21] Well, 90s kids remember, sock mumpy?

[1:21:24] Yeah, whatever.

[1:21:26] Okay.

[1:21:26] I mean, are sock monkeys a 90s thing?

[1:21:29] I feel like they're, sock monkeys are like an 1890s thing.

[1:21:32] I don't know, I think it's...

[1:21:34] He thinks we're talking about the 1890s.

[1:21:36] Oh, okay.

[1:21:37] Yeah, that's why I thought it was so high-tech, the 1890s.

[1:21:40] Where he gets all those muscles, working on the railway.

[1:21:42] Yep.

[1:21:43] So we have, so it's Friday, baby, TGIF.

[1:21:48] So, Michael Douglas apologizes to Cindy, she slaps his ass.

[1:21:52] We have a, we have like a big shareholders presentation to talk about the merger.

[1:21:58] This is where they were going to reveal Michael Douglas' incompetence.

[1:22:02] But no, no, no, he has already prepared it.

[1:22:04] He turns the tables on them and plays video evidence of Demi Moore.

[1:22:09] He plays video evidence that Demi Moore was at the Malaysian plant, which is from a Malaysian news story.

[1:22:15] I'm like, this is Monday in Malaysia, American executive visits factory.

[1:22:19] But it's also like, you also learn, and maybe you already mentioned this, but like,

[1:22:25] you learn that the whole thing in her office, where she was going to frame him for sexual harassment later,

[1:22:34] was a large plan by everyone to oust him so he could be the fall guy.

[1:22:40] And then we would blame him for the manufacturing changes, and everybody was in on it, right?

[1:22:45] Yeah, because Donald Sutherland seems to be in on it.

[1:22:47] That's what it seems like.

[1:22:48] I don't think Donald Sutherland was in on it, but I think Dylan Baker.

[1:22:51] They pivot when it doesn't work, and then they go, well, we'll get him on incompetence.

[1:22:55] But it feels like you could have just done that from day one, like just trying to get him on incompetence.

[1:23:00] The sexual harassment aspect of the plan, yeah, seems like the unnecessary complication that causes more trouble than it's worth.

[1:23:06] And also she never needed to be, do any of it if she was just going to make all of it up anyway.

[1:23:13] Like she didn't need to, but maybe she also wanted to because of her last 10.

[1:23:18] It's muddy.

[1:23:21] The weirdest part is after, OK, so she blows up, she's out, she's fired.

[1:23:26] He goes to her office, and they have a little bit of verbal sparring,

[1:23:31] and he suggests that maybe it was his plan all along to trick her into like this situation.

[1:23:37] Like he makes this inference, and I'm like, wait, what?

[1:23:41] There's nothing in the movie.

[1:23:44] He did not have that plan.

[1:23:46] Yeah, I think he's just trying to like leave her on a disquieting note.

[1:23:49] Yeah, like she has to be worried about it.

[1:23:52] And she does say a line where she's like, I've already had like five offers since the meeting.

[1:23:57] Headhunters have been calling.

[1:23:58] Yeah, and I'm like, what is this, like the sequel?

[1:24:01] Like this is like Jason Voorhees isn't dead.

[1:24:03] Yeah, to closure, the sequel.

[1:24:05] But yeah, so she's out.

[1:24:07] Yep, maybe he set her up.

[1:24:09] I don't think so.

[1:24:10] It turns out Michael Douglas doesn't even get the VP job.

[1:24:14] That goes to Stephanie, who has been the mastermind all along.

[1:24:18] She's been sending the mysterious e-mails.

[1:24:20] A friend.

[1:24:21] From Arthur Friend's e-mail account, which I don't know why that had to be part of it.

[1:24:27] That's why I was saying like it could have easily been like a friend at whatever,

[1:24:32] and then it would still work.

[1:24:35] Like you don't need to say a friend if it comes from an unknown sender.

[1:24:38] They didn't need to play that game.

[1:24:40] And it's like earlier on he had tried to track the e-mails and be like, oh, they're coming from this professor's computer.

[1:24:44] But he's away in Nepal, and you find out that Stephanie's son, who is a student at that college,

[1:24:50] a friend is his mentor, and so he was the one using that computer.

[1:24:54] And it's like it made me so mad.

[1:24:56] Everything in this movie that gets mentioned, except for maybe two things, has to play into this whole plot.

[1:25:00] So like he's trying to get these Disneyland tickets for his coworker.

[1:25:04] It turns out that's the coworker who can get him the video he needs from Malaysia.

[1:25:07] And she mentions earlier that her son is at college.

[1:25:11] Well, that has to play into her scheme to help him through the situation.

[1:25:14] It's just like movie.

[1:25:16] But also why was he at that all-hands-on-deck meeting?

[1:25:18] Why was that son there?

[1:25:20] Well, I mean I guess he knows that she's going to be promoter and he wants to be there for her.

[1:25:24] But did he know?

[1:25:25] Because it was like in 10 minutes Donald Sutherland is going to announce the thing.

[1:25:30] She was like I'm about to get promoted.

[1:25:31] You need to teleport down here.

[1:25:34] Mommy's Mastermind Scheme has come to fruition.

[1:25:37] That is a much better title for this movie.

[1:25:42] Mommy's Mastermind Macaroni Rascals.

[1:25:45] Donald Sutherland says like I was trying so hard to break the glass ceiling to hire someone who was a woman that I overlooked and didn't hire who was the best person.

[1:25:56] So he's saying like Demi Moore was the woman who he was just hired for being a woman.

[1:26:00] But I didn't see that there was the best person for the job and then he picks Stephanie.

[1:26:06] And so you're supposed to realize that a woman is a person, could be a person too.

[1:26:10] Stephanie is not just a woman.

[1:26:13] She's also a person.

[1:26:14] This is an example of well throughout the movie.

[1:26:16] The movie thinks that it's a very smart movie when it's actually a very dumb movie.

[1:26:20] And so it keeps doing things like that where it's like this will be an intricate little reveal or this will be a lesson but it's stupid.

[1:26:27] And there's a – the thing that I – the one thing I'll give the movie credit for is having seen the way tech companies operate publicly.

[1:26:35] I do believe that someone like Demi Moore's character who can talk a good game and cannot back it up could get to that level of power as we've seen in so many tech companies now.

[1:26:45] And then eventually they'll be going, oh, this person is less flashy but more competent.

[1:26:50] I guess we'll bring them in now to clean up the mess.

[1:26:52] But it is a – the whole glass ceiling speech is just the final make-you-think-that-Michael-Douglas-is-going-to-get-the-job moment when like he's been – proved his incompetence throughout the movie.

[1:27:03] Like the idea that he would ever get this job is insulting to the audience.

[1:27:07] Also like why would they promote him?

[1:27:09] He's like got a chip on his shoulder.

[1:27:11] Like there's – like he just went through this whole disclosure nonsense.

[1:27:14] I'm surprised he wants to stay at the company at this point.

[1:27:18] I mean like now that his friend is his boss, maybe it's better.

[1:27:24] But it seems like it's been a terrible experience for him.

[1:27:28] He can take the ferry to work.

[1:27:30] It also just feels like nobody – the only person who went down was Demi Moore's character.

[1:27:35] And I feel like there were a lot of people that seemed to know what was going on and how they were setting this guy up to fall.

[1:27:40] But it felt like there should be a couple more heads that rolled.

[1:27:44] The movie clumsily tries to make that point to like turn around and like not be sexist at the end and be like, see?

[1:27:52] It's only the woman that takes the fall for this.

[1:27:54] But it feels so disingenuous at that point in disclosure.

[1:27:58] This is also – I wanted to say it's a small point.

[1:28:01] I don't want to be too hard on like a young actor who's probably directed to act this way.

[1:28:05] But the kid —

[1:28:06] Dan hates young, inexperienced actors.

[1:28:08] He's always raggedy.

[1:28:10] I mean he's like college-age.

[1:28:11] The kid, specifically minors, who sent the afriend emails, like seems so smug in that scene.

[1:28:21] He is very smug, yeah.

[1:28:22] Like I immediately – I'm like I don't like this guy.

[1:28:25] His smug smile.

[1:28:27] He does come off as very unlikable.

[1:28:30] Okay, and then Michael Douglas what?

[1:28:32] Gets a voicemail from his family that his kids miss him.

[1:28:35] Hooray, he wins the day.

[1:28:37] End of the movie.

[1:28:39] And then there's the mid-cut sequence where Samuel L. Jackson goes,

[1:28:42] have you heard of the disclosure protocol?

[1:28:44] And he goes, huh?

[1:28:45] And then we're assembling a team of sexual harassment victims to stop crimes.

[1:28:51] Yeah, they did that after all the bloopers from the – and outtakes from the sex scene, right?

[1:28:56] That's not a sex scene story.

[1:28:58] That's an assault scene.

[1:29:00] All right, let's give our final judgments on this movie, whether it's a good, bad movie, a bad, bad movie,

[1:29:05] or a movie we kind of like.

[1:29:07] I think those are clear categories, but Meredith, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

[1:29:14] I am going to say that it has some politics in it that may be a stumbling block for enjoyment of it.

[1:29:26] But if you can look at those as relics of the time or – I mean, unfortunately not so much.

[1:29:34] But if there are things that you can laugh at because they're so poorly handled,

[1:29:39] if you can get past that part to the deliciously dumb VR thriller that then lies beneath,

[1:29:48] I would say that this is a good, bad movie because I think it is sort of easy to watch

[1:29:54] in that it's got, like, good actors and, like, slick –

[1:30:00] And that 90s vibe of dumb thriller that is is fun

[1:30:05] But you know, I can understand if you can't get pets the other stuff, but I would say good bad

[1:30:10] Stuart what you say? Yeah, I think I'm with you. I I kind of like I wish it leaned more into a sleazy

[1:30:18] erotic thriller

[1:30:20] but on the other hand, I do love all the

[1:30:25] VR and email

[1:30:27] Animations and all that stuff. So I don't know maybe maybe I'm just nostalgic as nostalgic for a simpler age

[1:30:34] But yeah, I'll say it's a good bad movie. I'm gonna say it's a bad bad movie

[1:30:38] I found it kind of boring and and dull to sit through through much of it

[1:30:42] But I think it's certainly worth if you there's on YouTube if you can look up like disclosure

[1:30:47] old

[1:30:48] old technology supercut like that would certainly be worth watching because the VR stuff is genuinely very funny because it is

[1:30:56] And how it how bad it looks but how amazing all the characters think it looks

[1:31:01] Meredith, what do you think? I agree about the VR stuff the particularly the first demo

[1:31:08] That the demo plays the angel I think is demo more is is just

[1:31:15] Gold like when I when I when I was trying to look it up

[1:31:18] online, I kept finding the part where he goes and breaks into the hotel room which and

[1:31:25] Seymour appears behind him, which is funny, but I think the first initial demo is the funniest

[1:31:31] Demonstration of how stupid this technology is in a file room

[1:31:36] There's also a lot of great mumbo-jumbo and she's making a presentation about like using

[1:31:41] You know harnessing CD-ROMs PDA devices and fax facsimile machine. You're like, what are you it's his garbage gobbledygook

[1:31:49] I would call this a good bad movie because I found it very watchable

[1:31:57] the just the score the whole the the

[1:32:01] the pacing

[1:32:02] The actors there is sort of a certain familiarity to that time period that feels like a warm sweater

[1:32:08] But then you watch it with 2024 eyes and you're like, oh my god

[1:32:11] This is fucked up like and like where was that? I still am like, where is the lady section?

[1:32:18] Why did it have to like be like but what if it happened to a man that's a scary part like where

[1:32:24] Yes, we got she said at least a couple years ago about the Harvey stuff

[1:32:30] but which was shot in

[1:32:32] What the Capitol Grill down on Water Street that I and were scenes were shot at the same table. I ate at once

[1:32:40] Wow

[1:32:46] The stew shooting locations walking tour

[1:32:49] Yeah celebrating and we had a great steak dinner and the server like clocked us as being industry folks

[1:32:54] so she did it up and then she ended up taking us on a walk through the

[1:32:58] Like through the kitchen and we got to go into the like steak aging room

[1:33:02] They're like sticking steaks in our face and shit. We get home and Charlene's like I don't feel so well

[1:33:07] She takes a kovat test immediately has kovat. We're like, oh no all those

[1:33:12] You'd get it from steak. But um that how did they clock you as industry folk? What exactly we were?

[1:33:19] What was the signal? Well, we were you holding?

[1:33:24] Like at like

[1:33:26] His wife own a few bars and we're with our business partner who we also own bars with you mean the restaurant industry

[1:33:38] Don't know me assume that I thought you meant the aerospace industry. That's that's what I

[1:33:52] Will say going back to not not to jump back to the more germane conversation

[1:34:00] But I think the most damning thing about this movie more than any the other stuff is is like you're saying Meredith that like

[1:34:07] Sexual harassment of women I guess was considered so

[1:34:11] like just assumed to be so commonplace and so widespread so normal and would never change that the idea of making a movie about it did

[1:34:18] Not occur to anyone really except for nine-to-five, which is a comedy again until until

[1:34:24] Just until they could say well, okay

[1:34:26] What if it happened to a man then it's an interesting enough story to make a movie of it

[1:34:30] Whereas if it happens to a woman, what do you do?

[1:34:33] That's just what we all know we're gonna make a movie about how people get wet when it rains like come on

[1:34:37] What are we doing here? But that's what it feels like which is gross. Yeah

[1:34:45] Hello sleepyheads

[1:34:47] Sleeping with celebrities is your podcast pillow pal

[1:34:51] We talked remarkable people about unremarkable topics all to help you slow down your brain and drift off to sleep

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[1:35:19] You can't really know if your own show is any good. So I asked my kids about ours

[1:35:24] He's Jordan. Yes, he go a good show. No, definitely not. It's really bad. I would say out of ten

[1:35:31] Maybe like a four out of ten

[1:35:34] It's just really boy

[1:35:39] Subscribe to Jordan Jesse go a comedy show for grown-ups

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[1:37:23] This message is for Nick. It is from Emily and it goes as follows

[1:37:29] Happy birthday Nick aka John buddy big guy

[1:37:35] You're a good good movie

[1:37:38] His name is Nick, ah

[1:37:41] Finally

[1:37:43] Wait, finally what I remembered his name's Nick. He drinks at my bar. Okay, great

[1:37:49] Now is the part of the episode where I Elliot Kalin tell you about our upcoming live shows and I do it at the same

[1:37:55] Time we record the rest of the episode. It's certainly not a

[1:37:58] Message that was recorded later using information. We didn't have at the time. We were recording the episode

[1:38:04] We're all right here in the room together just like normal recording all episode right Dan. Yeah, right Stu. Oh, yeah, dude

[1:38:10] So, let me tell you about it in this perfectly real-time

[1:38:14] explanation on July 26th

[1:38:16] we will be in Boston, Massachusetts doing a live show courtesy of WB you are at WB you are city space now as

[1:38:23] We know and certainly didn't learn after recording the rest of the episode that show is sold out right now

[1:38:29] You can no longer buy tickets to see it in person

[1:38:31] But WB you are has opened up the ability for you to live stream it

[1:38:36] So go to flop house podcast comm slash events and click on the info and ticks button for that show

[1:38:42] It'll take you to the page where you can buy a live streaming ticket now. I should warn you

[1:38:46] This is just gonna be a pretty basic straightforward in the moment live stream

[1:38:51] It's not gonna be the kind of beautifully polished

[1:38:53] Beautifully edited immaculately shot show that we've been doing with stage pilot lately

[1:38:57] If you saw our speed to show you saw how good gorgeous that looked how well put together

[1:39:01] It was that's thanks to the fine people at stage pilot. This is not gonna be as

[1:39:05] Polished as that this can be a little more rag tag

[1:39:07] So don't expect the level of production that you've come to expect from the flop house stage pilot collaboration

[1:39:14] This is just us and WB you are live streaming a show that otherwise you wouldn't be able to see because it's sold out

[1:39:18] So please go to flop house podcast comm slash events click on the info and ticks button for Boston

[1:39:24] it'll take you that page if you would like to live stream the episode because you can't make it there in person or

[1:39:31] you couldn't get a ticket or

[1:39:33] You said maybe you want to watch it both ways and you'll be sitting in the audience with a computer in your lap

[1:39:38] Live-streaming the show as it happens in order to do it do a lag test. I guess maybe

[1:39:45] Anyway, that's what you can do. So we'll be in Boston July 26. That show is sold out, but you can live stream it

[1:39:51] Just go to flop house podcast comm slash events for more information

[1:39:55] And now back to the episode that is being recorded right now and certainly

[1:40:00] not days earlier before we found out the show was sold out.

[1:40:04] Let's move on to letters from listeners.

[1:40:06] This first one is from Paul, last name withheld, who writes, hey peaches, it was so wonderful

[1:40:12] to see you all in Oxford.

[1:40:13] I was there for both shows and loved every minute, especially watching Elliot get angrier

[1:40:18] and angrier during Stu's dinosaurs presentation.

[1:40:21] It made me so genuinely mad.

[1:40:24] I really felt that a lot of lies about dinos.

[1:40:27] I didn't get to speak to Stu or Elliot, but I did bump into Dan as he was navigating to

[1:40:32] the venue.

[1:40:33] I told all my friends and family about my exciting encounter, but for some reason they

[1:40:37] seemed uninterested.

[1:40:41] I lost my nerve to ask a question during the shows, so I was hoping you could answer them

[1:40:45] via the good old movie mailbag.

[1:40:47] Dan, what's the status on the Miss That Movie Ghoulies sequel special we were promised?

[1:40:52] Stuart, did you take a pilgrimage to Warhammer World while you were in the UK?

[1:40:57] Did you drag Dan and Elliot along?

[1:41:00] Elliot, not a question, but I was listening to your 99% visible Power Broker episode on

[1:41:06] which you were the last to talk as the episode ended.

[1:41:09] My podcatcher then switched to partway through a Flophouse episode of Sonic 2, just as you

[1:41:15] were describing Sonic snowboarding amongst some rings.

[1:41:18] The difference in excitement in your voice made me laugh out loud, causing most of the

[1:41:22] train carriage to stare at me.

[1:41:24] Love you all.

[1:41:25] Paul, last name withheld.

[1:41:26] Can I interject one thing about Elliot?

[1:41:29] Yeah.

[1:41:30] I think you have a fantastically listenable to podcasting voice.

[1:41:36] Oh, thank you very much.

[1:41:37] I appreciate that.

[1:41:38] It's incredibly crystal clear.

[1:41:39] Really?

[1:41:40] Yeah.

[1:41:41] I find like it's like so succinct and crystal clear.

[1:41:44] I don't know.

[1:41:45] I think it works really well.

[1:41:49] I really appreciate that.

[1:41:50] That's very nice.

[1:41:51] There was a early days in the podcast.

[1:41:52] There'd be a lot of comments online about I can't listen to that guy with the shitty

[1:41:54] voice.

[1:41:55] That's rough.

[1:41:56] But then even just I was at a children's birthday party on Saturday and I was talking to one

[1:42:02] of the birthday kids and she goes, why do you have such a squeaky voice?

[1:42:06] Why is your voice so squeaky?

[1:42:08] And I was like, good question.

[1:42:09] And I was like, I guess it's just my voice.

[1:42:11] But I really walked away from it with a real with a real that kid did a whammy on my head.

[1:42:15] So I appreciate it.

[1:42:17] True.

[1:42:18] Some non fans have a problem.

[1:42:19] I've never I've never understood it because like I feel like like even on The Daily Show

[1:42:23] you used to do all the voice over for those decider cartoons.

[1:42:26] Like I think that you have a very clear, very expressive voice.

[1:42:32] And specific, which I think makes you special.

[1:42:35] Yeah.

[1:42:36] Thanks.

[1:42:37] Let's talk more about me and how good I am about that stuff.

[1:42:40] No, we can do it after the show.

[1:42:43] We can pump you up.

[1:42:44] But it doesn't really it doesn't really work unless other people hear it.

[1:42:48] The way external validation works, you need to be able to show off in front of other people.

[1:42:53] Well, I think you're I think you're just great.

[1:42:55] You're you're you're a friend and you're an inspiration.

[1:42:59] But let's go on to confidant.

[1:43:02] Dan, if you threw a party and invited everyone, you know, if I threw the party, invite everyone

[1:43:06] new.

[1:43:07] Who would I see?

[1:43:08] The biggest gift would be from.

[1:43:09] Well, I don't know.

[1:43:11] We're not we don't we have exchanged gifts, but we're not so much.

[1:43:15] Probably my spouse would give me a bigger gift than you would or vice versa.

[1:43:19] That's fair.

[1:43:21] Miss that movie's ghoulie sequel special.

[1:43:23] I don't know if we'll actually do a special, but I did finally catch up with ghoulies,

[1:43:27] too, which I liked better than ghoulies.

[1:43:30] It gives you more of what you want, which is ghoulies running around.

[1:43:33] It finally makes good on the promise of a ghoulie on a toilet biting someone.

[1:43:38] It has some great like 80s sort of lighting and low budget, like fun sets at a carnival,

[1:43:46] which is more fun than, you know, sort of like someone's house.

[1:43:51] So yeah, I recommend to ghoulies, too.

[1:43:52] And of course, ghoulies go to college.

[1:43:54] How can you go wrong?

[1:43:55] They go to college.

[1:43:56] You know, they're finally getting a degree.

[1:43:58] Good on you, ghoulies.

[1:44:00] Stuart, did you take a pilgrimage to Warhammer World while you're in the UK?

[1:44:03] Yeah, I know everybody here is really interested in my whether or not I went up to Nottingham

[1:44:08] to visit Warhammer World while I was in England.

[1:44:13] This trip I did not.

[1:44:14] So I did not.

[1:44:15] I wasn't able to drag Elliot and Dan with me to learn all about Space Marines and Warhammer

[1:44:20] stuff and all kinds of crap like that.

[1:44:22] I did go to a number of shops, including one of my favorite hobby shops in London called

[1:44:27] the Orcs Nest.

[1:44:29] And in Barcelona, I went to Goblin Trader, which is, I guess, as good as I can get on

[1:44:35] this one.

[1:44:36] OK, I mean, if it helps, if it helps, Stuart didn't go to Warhammer World, but I did my

[1:44:41] equivalent of that my last day in England, which is I went to go finally see the Crystal

[1:44:45] Park Palace, Crystal Palace Park dinosaur statues that I've wanted to see since I was

[1:44:49] a wee boy.

[1:44:50] So that's kind of similar, right?

[1:44:51] Making a kind of pilgrimage.

[1:44:53] It's pretty similar.

[1:44:54] Yeah.

[1:44:55] A second letter goes like this, Dear Peaches, congratulations on the recent cameo of the

[1:45:02] Peach Pit in Furiosa, a Mad Max saga.

[1:45:06] It's always a delightful surprise when it appears in the Flophouse podcast feed.

[1:45:09] But you can imagine my shock to see it take up such a prominent position in a big blockbuster

[1:45:14] film.

[1:45:15] I had the twin delights of learning the origins of the iconic Imperator of Furiosa and my

[1:45:22] favorite podcast within a podcast at the same time.

[1:45:24] How long has our favorite Flophouse after show been planned to be a symbol of Furiosa's

[1:45:29] lost home?

[1:45:30] What was it like filming a podcast within a podcast within a movie?

[1:45:34] What clues did we miss in previous Peach Pit episodes that foreshadowed the shocking

[1:45:38] reveal?

[1:45:39] I look forward to seeing how the Peach Pit lore expands in the future.

[1:45:43] Best wishes.

[1:45:44] C.M.

[1:45:45] Last name with health.

[1:45:46] I think I see the mistake that this letter writer is making, but I want to make sure

[1:45:49] you guys see the same mistake before I point it out.

[1:45:52] What error is that?

[1:45:53] That would be confusing that the Peach Pit, a podcast with a physical object from inside

[1:46:00] of Peach.

[1:46:01] That makes sense.

[1:46:02] Yeah.

[1:46:03] I mean, I think, yeah, it was all inevitable.

[1:46:04] Yeah, I did.

[1:46:05] I like that.

[1:46:06] George Miller.

[1:46:07] I like that Furiosa movie, though.

[1:46:08] Yeah.

[1:46:09] Yeah.

[1:46:10] So we do have we do have a professional connection in that my first comic book work for Marvel,

[1:46:11] the art was done by Brendan McCarthy, who was who did the storyboards for Fury Road

[1:46:12] and his credit is one of the screenwriters for story for Fury Road.

[1:46:13] So that's kind of a that's kind of a George Miller Flophouse connection.

[1:46:14] A little bit of a connection.

[1:46:15] Sure.

[1:46:16] Yeah.

[1:46:17] Yeah.

[1:46:18] Yeah.

[1:46:19] Yeah.

[1:46:20] Yeah.

[1:46:21] Yeah.

[1:46:22] Yeah.

[1:46:23] Yeah.

[1:46:24] Yeah.

[1:46:25] Yeah.

[1:46:26] Yeah.

[1:46:27] Yeah.

[1:46:28] Yeah.

[1:46:29] Yeah.

[1:46:30] Yeah.

[1:46:31] Yeah.

[1:46:32] Yeah.

[1:46:33] Yeah.

[1:46:34] Gotcha.

[1:46:35] Gotcha.

[1:46:36] Gotcha.

[1:46:37] Yeah.

[1:46:38] Well, let us move on to our final segment, which is recommendations of movies that we

[1:46:39] enjoyed that maybe would be a better use of your time than, in my case, a maybe seeing

[1:46:43] disclosure for, I think, the third time in my life.

[1:46:45] Oh, really?

[1:46:47] Maybe four.

[1:46:48] More than the people who made it.

[1:46:51] Yeah, you know, the accumulation of years, you know, anyway, it's not an excuse.

[1:46:58] I'm going to recommend no it's not an animated short.

[1:47:01] It's an animated short, a long animated short.

[1:47:04] It's 20 minutes.

[1:47:05] It's on the Criterion channel.

[1:47:08] It's called Asparagus.

[1:47:10] It's a very sort of non-linear, sort of non-narrative collection of images.

[1:47:21] Many of them phallic, the asparagus of the title, and others more feminine.

[1:47:30] The animator, whose name I really should look up, and I will have for you in a second.

[1:47:38] I looked it up.

[1:47:39] Dan, you want me to tell you?

[1:47:40] Yeah, tell me.

[1:47:41] It's Susan Pitts.

[1:47:42] Susan Pitts.

[1:47:43] Yeah.

[1:47:44] Oh, Susan Pitt.

[1:47:45] I'm sorry.

[1:47:46] Susan Pitt.

[1:47:47] Susan Pitt.

[1:47:48] Pitts was the possessive form of her name.

[1:47:49] Yeah.

[1:47:50] Wait, did you say there's phallic-ness to the penile ones?

[1:47:55] And then there's also some, you know, there's also like vaginal imagery.

[1:48:00] It's all very like, you know, it's like a phantasmagoria of imagery.

[1:48:09] And I've read stuff that suggests sort of a deeper sort of feminist meaning that I,

[1:48:16] you know, have to be honest, I could not derive myself from viewing it, but I am recommending

[1:48:22] it because simply as a piece of animation, it's one of the most gorgeous like hand-drawn

[1:48:28] things I've ever seen, and it's very sort of stream of consciousness, just images sort

[1:48:34] of floating up from the nether reaches of the brain kind of feel to it, that it's just

[1:48:41] beautiful, and it's short, so.

[1:48:44] I was trying to figure out yesterday in Italian, if like penile-like fruit and vegetables,

[1:48:53] tended to be more masculine, because everything's masculine and feminine in Italian, and like,

[1:48:59] or, and if vaginal or like lady part, like fruits and vegetables looking things tended

[1:49:08] to be more like end in an A and O for boys, like, I was like trying to figure out if they

[1:49:14] actually went along those lines a little bit, like, and it didn't really pan out.

[1:49:19] I'm gonna jump on the grenade here, guys.

[1:49:21] What's a vaginal fruit or vegetable?

[1:49:24] Well, I think a peach tradition, I mean, it's become to learn, like, come to be more but,

[1:49:32] you know, associated through emoji, but I think a peach would be one.

[1:49:35] But I would even say like, an apple feels more like a female than male, like banana,

[1:49:42] or I mean, this is different, but like clams and oyster, you know, that's whatever.

[1:49:49] The fruit of the sea?

[1:49:51] Fruit of the sea, but.

[1:49:54] You cut open a papaya, it seems more vaginal.

[1:49:57] Oh, also the vagina fruit.

[1:49:58] Breast things.

[1:49:59] The.

[1:50:00] Chameleon vagina fruit looks great.

[1:50:01] Cantaloupes, especially, you know, things like that.

[1:50:04] So I guess we've really cracked it

[1:50:07] here on the Flop House today.

[1:50:08] I think much as men have positioned themselves

[1:50:11] as the default, I feel like it's like long, thin things

[1:50:14] are penile, and so anything else that's not long or thin

[1:50:17] becomes branded as vaginal,

[1:50:19] because it doesn't look like a penis.

[1:50:21] That's kind of my understanding of it.

[1:50:24] Yeah.

[1:50:24] Oh, I was also looking at snakes.

[1:50:26] I know that you're like, wait, I know from your Instagram

[1:50:34] that you're a very busy person,

[1:50:37] but then still put like, what a rich, full life.

[1:50:39] Oh no, that was Monday.

[1:50:41] That was Monday.

[1:50:42] Yeah.

[1:50:43] Gotta start the week off.

[1:50:44] Yeah.

[1:50:46] Okay, I guess you wanna recommend a movie.

[1:50:50] I'm gonna recommend a movie from a couple of years ago

[1:50:54] by a Japanese director, I'm probably gonna mess this up,

[1:50:57] Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy.

[1:51:02] It's a triptych of three short films,

[1:51:05] kind of loosely related,

[1:51:06] all dealing with love and relationships.

[1:51:11] They're all about two or three character-like short stories,

[1:51:15] and they're all kind of really interesting.

[1:51:17] The second one in particular,

[1:51:20] dealing with a college professor,

[1:51:24] I found to be really moving and memorable,

[1:51:27] but all three of them are really great.

[1:51:30] This came out the same year as Drive My Car,

[1:51:33] his three-hour epic.

[1:51:36] And I think it's nice to see a director

[1:51:40] making like short stories that have a similar level

[1:51:43] of impact, at least for me,

[1:51:45] as something so long as Drive My Car.

[1:51:48] So Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy was really great.

[1:51:50] Check it out.

[1:51:51] You guys both recommended things based around shorts.

[1:51:53] I probably should do the same thing, but I'm not.

[1:51:57] Instead, I'll follow Stewart's,

[1:52:00] this is a real long one,

[1:52:01] I'll follow Stewart's lead.

[1:52:02] I'm also gonna recommend a Japanese movie

[1:52:03] from a couple of years ago by a couple,

[1:52:05] I mean, 27 years ago, 1997.

[1:52:08] This is Hanabi,

[1:52:10] or as it's translated in the United States, Fireworks,

[1:52:12] with a movie that kind of made Takeshi Kitano

[1:52:16] as respected a figure in film as he is today,

[1:52:21] where it's a technically a crime drama,

[1:52:24] but so much time and effort is put into the small moments

[1:52:29] that are going on in the characters' lives

[1:52:30] or their emotional kind of travails.

[1:52:34] And the crime aspects of it are abbreviated

[1:52:38] to the point almost of like being surreally

[1:52:40] kind of dreamlike in their intelligence,

[1:52:42] kind of things that punctuate scenes.

[1:52:44] And I thought it's a movie that,

[1:52:46] the ending is questionably bleak,

[1:52:50] but I think it's a really beautiful movie.

[1:52:52] And I like it as a movie that is almost daring the audience,

[1:52:59] how far are you willing to go with me

[1:53:02] in denying yourself the thrills of a crime movie

[1:53:05] and looking at instead kind of the effects

[1:53:07] that those thrills have on people?

[1:53:08] And so it's one that I had not seen in a long, long time.

[1:53:12] And I found that as a grownup,

[1:53:15] I enjoyed it more than as a young person

[1:53:17] who was expecting more of a straightforward crime movie,

[1:53:21] but it's really good.

[1:53:22] So that's Fireworks.

[1:53:23] I feel like that's a movie where the moments of violence

[1:53:25] are so extreme that everything else is filled

[1:53:28] with this like tension and dread.

[1:53:30] Yes, yes, but also kind of like a hopefulness too.

[1:53:34] Like you see a character kind of learning

[1:53:36] how to express themselves through art

[1:53:38] in a way that they never thought was possible,

[1:53:40] but it's right.

[1:53:41] The violent scenes when they happen are very violent,

[1:53:43] you know, and they happen quick.

[1:53:45] So you're like, what, what'd I just see?

[1:53:47] Meredith, would you like to recommend something?

[1:53:48] Would you like to join us in the world of recommendation?

[1:53:50] Sure, I will.

[1:53:53] It has to be a Japanese movie or a short,

[1:53:55] that's the only thing.

[1:53:56] No, no, no.

[1:53:57] All right, all right, all right.

[1:53:59] Well, the movie I most recently saw

[1:54:02] was Renee Elise Goldsberry,

[1:54:05] who plays Wiki in Girls 5eva,

[1:54:08] made a documentary about her life during,

[1:54:13] before Hamilton, getting Hamilton,

[1:54:15] and when it was like the biggest phenomenon in the world.

[1:54:19] And so if you're interested in Hamilton

[1:54:22] and even just like a diary of an actor's life

[1:54:25] and also the struggles of like starting a family

[1:54:31] and also being part of this like massive juggernaut

[1:54:35] that's like where you're going to the White House

[1:54:36] every other day and all that stuff.

[1:54:38] It's quite interesting.

[1:54:41] There's a lot of amazing footage and it's really moving.

[1:54:45] Like I definitely found myself like tearing up many times

[1:54:48] during this thing.

[1:54:49] And also like Renee is just such a wonderful human

[1:54:53] and such a powerhouse talent.

[1:54:55] Like it's just interesting to watch her, period.

[1:55:00] So I would recommend that.

[1:55:02] I don't know what the distro-buter will be,

[1:55:06] because it was just at the film festival,

[1:55:07] but I assume it'll somebody-

[1:55:08] What's the title of it?

[1:55:09] Keep it in your-

[1:55:10] It's called Satisfied.

[1:55:11] Satisfied.

[1:55:12] Oh, like the song.

[1:55:13] Keep it in your brain's listeners

[1:55:15] and watch for it when you can.

[1:55:18] And this dovetails nicely into the next thing,

[1:55:20] which was me, I was going to ask you to plug your show.

[1:55:24] And I wanted to say with her,

[1:55:28] you know, like I'd seen her in Hamilton,

[1:55:31] but you have a lot of people on the show

[1:55:34] who I've seen be funny before, you know?

[1:55:37] So like, and they're tremendously funny,

[1:55:40] but it didn't like, it wasn't like the shock of the new,

[1:55:42] like she's so funny on the show.

[1:55:43] And I hadn't seen her get a chance to do that before.

[1:55:46] Same with Sara Bareilles,

[1:55:46] like people didn't know she was funny.

[1:55:48] So it's like real delight when you're like,

[1:55:51] oh, I didn't know they could do that too.

[1:55:54] I thought they could do that one thing really well.

[1:55:57] They can do two things?

[1:55:59] It just makes me mad.

[1:55:59] It's truly not.

[1:56:00] They can do two things?

[1:56:01] I can only do one thing.

[1:56:03] They can do two?

[1:56:04] Talent level's gross.

[1:56:06] Like I'd only seen Dean Winter in Oz,

[1:56:08] and then I see him in this and I'm like, wait, he's funny?

[1:56:12] So yeah, I mean, the whole show is on Netflix now?

[1:56:16] It is, three seasons on Netflix.

[1:56:19] And if you love rapid fire, hard jokes,

[1:56:24] I feel like you'll,

[1:56:25] in the vein of like Kimmy Schmidt or 30 Rock,

[1:56:28] I think that you'll enjoy the show.

[1:56:31] Yeah, it's such a funny show.

[1:56:32] It's so funny.

[1:56:33] Joke density is so intense.

[1:56:36] You wanna re-watch episodes,

[1:56:37] because you missed out.

[1:56:39] That's one of the levels I wanted to sell it on,

[1:56:42] because I know that Elliot being,

[1:56:44] especially being like a comedy,

[1:56:47] professional and a comedy snob,

[1:56:48] sometimes rails against like,

[1:56:50] it's like, yeah, that show's okay,

[1:56:52] but like I want jokes.

[1:56:53] I want jokes.

[1:56:54] And like, Ghost 5 Ever.

[1:56:55] Yes, that's what I like about Ghost 5 Ever.

[1:56:56] Yes, it's super joke dense.

[1:56:58] And you're watching it,

[1:56:59] and you're like, why am I watching this show?

[1:57:00] I'm watching because it's really funny.

[1:57:02] Like I know I'm gonna laugh when I watch this show,

[1:57:04] as opposed to when people are like,

[1:57:05] you should watch this comedy.

[1:57:06] It's really good, and I watch it,

[1:57:07] and I don't laugh a single time.

[1:57:08] And it's not just because I'm a hardened snob,

[1:57:11] but also I'll be like,

[1:57:12] there weren't very many jokes in that comedy,

[1:57:14] like that everybody seems to love.

[1:57:16] But this is a show that people love,

[1:57:17] because it's funny, and it deserves to be.

[1:57:19] Oh, thank you.

[1:57:20] Thank you very much.

[1:57:22] I, and I, you're all so funny,

[1:57:24] so I appreciate the fact that you like this show.

[1:57:27] We all have to know how,

[1:57:28] that we all think we're funny.

[1:57:30] Yeah.

[1:57:32] High praise coming from you.

[1:57:34] Yeah.

[1:57:35] Yeah, and our listeners get to hear you call us funny,

[1:57:38] so we get that thing Elliot was talking about,

[1:57:40] so thank you.

[1:57:41] Yeah.

[1:57:41] We've all got validation externally.

[1:57:45] Yeah, so we should sign off there.

[1:57:48] Thank you so much for not only being on the show,

[1:57:51] but trucking out to Flathouse Studios,

[1:57:54] aka my office, to record it.

[1:57:57] What neighborhood is this?

[1:57:58] We're in Kensington.

[1:58:00] Oh, Kensington.

[1:58:02] We're on the edge of Kensington.

[1:58:03] Yep.

[1:58:03] We're in Windsor Terrace.

[1:58:04] Windsor Terrace.

[1:58:05] I thought we were in Windsor Terrace.

[1:58:06] Yeah, you're street address.

[1:58:07] No.

[1:58:08] And what's the pin?

[1:58:09] What's our list of your weaknesses, Anne?

[1:58:10] Yeah, which windows don't lock?

[1:58:14] Just sort of like, you know,

[1:58:15] like make me feel like maybe you don't like me.

[1:58:19] That'll probably destroy me pretty quickly.

[1:58:21] Yeah, yeah.

[1:58:23] That's, yeah.

[1:58:25] Anyway.

[1:58:27] Yeah, make me feel like I have done something wrong,

[1:58:30] and that you won't accept my attempts to make it good.

[1:58:34] Then allow Dan's brain to devour itself.

[1:58:37] Yeah.

[1:58:38] I feel guilty about this,

[1:58:39] but my favorite part of our whole England trip,

[1:58:41] I think, was when we were hosting

[1:58:42] that screening of Spice World,

[1:58:43] and you were bending over backwards to be complimentary,

[1:58:46] and then in complimenting the Spice Girls,

[1:58:48] you referred to them as manufactured,

[1:58:49] and the audience all booed you.

[1:58:51] What?

[1:58:52] They were.

[1:58:53] And the house of the scene crumbled so quickly.

[1:58:54] Oh my God, I would have,

[1:58:55] can I just say, if it were ever on the table,

[1:58:59] I would have flown myself to London

[1:59:01] to be part of that episode.

[1:59:03] Now we know for next time.

[1:59:04] Yeah, for next time, they do a sequel.

[1:59:06] Yeah, it was in the context of me being like,

[1:59:08] I don't care whether they're manufactured.

[1:59:09] No, but they were manufactured.

[1:59:10] They were literally assembled.

[1:59:13] Oh, I just got a message, boo.

[1:59:15] Oh no.

[1:59:16] England is booing, it's from England.

[1:59:18] No, but it's not a, it's not like a,

[1:59:20] it's not a diss, it's just the truth.

[1:59:23] They didn't form themselves.

[1:59:24] You know.

[1:59:25] Well, that was the funniest thing.

[1:59:26] The organizer came up to me afterwards and said,

[1:59:29] I'm sorry for booing you, Dan.

[1:59:30] I agree with you, but it's just so much fun.

[1:59:33] Yeah.

[1:59:33] It is fun to boo.

[1:59:35] Yeah.

[1:59:36] Dan got to be booed by people.

[1:59:37] I got to fix a toilet right before we went on stage.

[1:59:40] It was great.

[1:59:41] We did it all.

[1:59:42] Sounds amazing.

[1:59:44] Anyway, thank you for being here.

[1:59:45] Thank you to our network, Maximum Fun.

[1:59:47] Go over to MaximumFun.org to check out other great shows.

[1:59:50] Thank you to our producer, Alex Smith.

[1:59:53] He goes by the name HowlDotty.

[1:59:54] He just dropped an album.

[1:59:56] It's great.

[1:59:58] You should check that out.

[2:00:00] What's the name of that album, Stuart?

[2:00:02] I Need Help.

[2:00:05] I listened to it, but I could not remember the title.

[2:00:08] It's a very funny album that's also good music.

[2:00:12] But that's it for this episode.

[2:00:14] So for The Flop House, I have been Dan McCoy.

[2:00:17] I'm Stuart Wellington.

[2:00:18] I'm Elliot Kalin.

[2:00:20] And I'm Meredith Scardino.

[2:00:22] Bye.

[2:00:23] Bye.

[2:00:24] Bye.

[2:00:25] We've been disclosed.

[2:00:26] So this is, I was doing Kermit's press conference where he's announcing that they have fired

[2:00:40] Sam the Eagle for his involvement with January 6th.

[2:00:44] Can I hear some?

[2:00:46] We all hoped that it would turn out not to be our former colleague, but after reviewing

[2:00:51] the videotape, it seems very clear.

[2:00:54] And we will not be taking questions at this further time.

[2:00:57] That is my full announcement.

[2:01:01] All the other Muppets are starting to doubt.

[2:01:03] They're starting to buy into the conspiracies of it.

[2:01:05] Elmo say Elmo didn't know.

[2:01:12] Maximum fun.

[2:01:13] A worker-owned network.

[2:01:15] Of artist-owned shows.

[2:01:16] Supported directly by you.

Ep.#427 - Disclosure, with Meredith Scardino

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