Justin McElroy on Withnail and I

Justin McElroy is one of the three brothers of the McElroy podcasting dynasty. He pops in today to talk about his crush, Withnail and I.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Movie Crush, a production of I Heart Radio.

(00:29):
Hey everybody, welcome to Movie Crush Friday Interview edition with
Justin McElroy, one of the uh, one of the McElroy brothers.
And if you're a fan of podcasting, that's probably all
I need to say. But if you don't know the
McElroy brothers, I'm talking about Justin, the eldest, Travis McElroy,
who's right there in the middle, and then little baby

(00:49):
brother Griffin. Griffin has been on the show. You remember
him from Groundhog Day kind of early on in Movie Crush.
And these guys are great. They're friends of mine. Uh.
They do my brother, my brother and me. They do
uh the Adventure Zone. Um, Justin and his his lovely
wonderful wife, Sydney, who was a medical doctor, do saw Bones,
which is a great podcast about kind of weird medical history. Um,

(01:13):
it's the family business. They do Adventure Zone with their dad,
who's also a great guy. I've at dinner with him
with him once and they're they're good dudes. I met
them through um, like I've met so many people at
max Fun Con through the Max Fun Network with my
buddy Jesse Thorne. So many great things have come my
way because of that. And we hung out at Max

(01:34):
fun Con quite a few times. They've been there a
few times with me, sometimes with the wives, sometimes without,
and I've gotten another families and I just couldn't speak
more highly of Justin and the gang. They're they're good
people and they do great work. My brother, My Brother
and Me is a dare I say, a legendary comedy
podcast at this point here, at ten years in, they've

(01:55):
got a great following. Check it out. It's technically an
advice show, but it's really much more than that. It's
just good comedy from three very very funny brothers, and
here we go. His pick was With Nail and I,
the seven comedy indie comedy out of England from writer
and director Bruce Robinson. If you haven't seen this movie,

(02:16):
and I say this in the episode, you can stream it,
I believe, only on the Criterion channel, which you can
get a two week free trial of and then cancel
if you want. But I would keep it because Criterion
does great stuff. But if you haven't seen With Nail
and I, please please seek it out. It is um
great in every way, one of my favorite movies and
this was Justin's pick. So here we go with the

(02:38):
great Justin McElroy on with Nail and I. How you doing? Yeah?
Good good? You look well? Well thanks, I feel well,
feel great. We couldn't be better? Is everyone? Is everyone healthy? How?
How are the kids? How's Sydney? How's that? No? One
of the kids got Okay? Is this the show? Are

(03:01):
we just talking? This is the show? This is going
to be I never felt like the show. It felt
like Show Chuck, you know what I mean, They're very different.
It's very different vibe. You don't get so inquisitive. Regular
Chuck doesn't remember that I have children. He's like show
Chuck is like all dad, like now, um, so okay,

(03:22):
this is really weird. But uh, one of the kids,
the little one, Cooper, she's too and she started throwing
up and it's like, wait, like how I mean, that's
been the wildest thing about when you have two kids,
like or any kids. I guess they're just sick constantly.
It's like every month or just six six six six,

(03:43):
But they haven't been getting sick, like there's no germs
for to get them, right, so they're being sick. Sorry,
how does she get sick? Then we start to look
around get a tick on her, and then we think, yeah,
so I think she got some sort of weird like
tickborn illness like Rocky Mountains out of fever or something
wild like that. Not that claimed uh like half of

(04:05):
my brother's peripheral vision Griffin that when he was a kid,
and he lost some sight his eye. So we're pretty
worried about it. So we started treating her right away,
and we got to indulge. This kid hates taking medicine
so much that I have started to wonder like maybe
she should just go a little bit blind, you know
what I mean, Like maybe just a little bit of

(04:26):
vision loss. And then we would be like, Okay, well,
I guess nature. Nature takes its course. No, it's a serious,
serious illness, and of course I won't but it's a
it's a struggle. Other than that, you know, they's fine.
They're going like pretty buck wild, I would say, like
just staying at home, constantly constantly asking us if we
can if they can go, like to the playground or

(04:50):
to Great Wolf Floods or Disney World or anyway all
the bad places you can't go. Uh So they're pretty
sure crazy, but them that you know, hanging in there,
which are you? I'm good man, We're fine. We're healthy.
No one's gotten COVID yet, although quite a few people
in my circle have and that's always a little scary. Um,

(05:13):
But yeah, we're fine. I mean, I think, like everyone,
we sort of settled into things, uh, and this is
the new normal for now. We're trying to figure out school,
like all parents are, what do you guys do? Do
you know? I haven't really decided. We're still waiting to
see kind of what the plan for the local school

(05:34):
board is going to be, to see what they because
Charlie was in pre K last year and would be
going into kindergarten. Now, we're just now in that area
where like if you don't send your kids to school,
the government's like, you do have to send up the school.
You actually do have to do that. So we're gotta
forgot something. So even for kindergarten, is that like a

(05:54):
that counts as its like counts as like attendance and
you know, yeah, I think what we're looking at right
now is a potentially doing a little micro school with
her and through four other families, maybe go school for ants.
A movie movie called Zoo landerd as long as we're

(06:15):
talking about films so bright here Chuck hold on, Oh
there he goes. He's bringing in the mood lighting very nice. Yeah,
it's intimate. Oh wow, justin after dark. Yeah. Uh, you
know what I was just thinking today of when you
and Uh in Sydney and Charlie came to town. This
is before Cooper and we all went to the zoo

(06:37):
and on the way into the zoo, it's a good zoo.
But I made the joke. I was like, you know,
if we recorded this zoo outing, we could probably release
it as a podcast and make ten dollars easy Casper
with sponsor that just like a one a one off
McElroy and Bryant zoo outing, and now we'll get our

(06:59):
ten thousand dollars. Because advertisers are like so excited to
spend money right now. They're just going wild with the stuff,
spreading it out like making a rain, like master p
in the club, just like dumping out buckets of cash.
How are things with their brothers? I haven't I haven't
checked in with those guys lately. You know, like, um,

(07:24):
we have seen uh, Travis and Teresa. We saw once
after we had all like I mean we've all been
you know, quarantining and we're all healthy, so we we
we we did do that at one point. Uh Graff,
I have not seen since. You know, they're doing fine.

(07:45):
Griffin keeps like taking on projects around his house. He
got really he loves in Austin. He got really mad
about the bamboo around his house. So apparently he bought
a chainsaw and just started cutting down bamboo and throwing
it into a wood chipper. Like that's how he's spending
his time. It sucks, man. Like we were we were uh,
you know, we had a pretty good rhythm there because
we were touring like once a month for a weekend,

(08:09):
and our kids were hanging out. We were getting to
hang out. You know. It's just sort of and it's
by by no means the the worst, not even the
top one million of worse things about COVID, but like
it's been a bummer for like for not getting to
see each other, I mean business things aside, because that

(08:31):
was like a pretty when it first happened, we were like,
we had shows booked basically for the rest of the year.
We had our whole tour lined up, and when it
first happened, we were all like, well, I hate to
do it, but I think we're gonna have to cancel
these shows in late March. And you know what, maybe
I'm a little worried about the ones in early April.

(08:53):
Late April will be fine, but like early April, I'm
pretty worried about Now. It's like, well, see everybody in
one Yeah, maybe hopefully right. I mean I don't know
that will be the lesson, you know, as big events
like that, unless it's a fucking Trump rally, And we
are in no no rush to be the vanguard of that,

(09:17):
as much as we miss each other and our fans, like,
we're in no rush to be the first on the
on the scene there. No, I mean, who who would
want to have the responsibility of bringing, you know, a
couple of thousand people together in a room and having
two percent of those people get sick. Well with our listeners,
they nasty, So it's going to be twenty to thirty.

(09:39):
I mean it will be a blood bath. Uh. Speaking
of that home projects, I want to talk a little
bit about your woodworking. Oh, thank god, finally something I
really care about. Dude, wol did you learn to do
this stuff? Have you always had these skills or tell
everyone what have you been doing. I've had a um.
Wood working has been my lifelong obsession since late May.
I uh I got a Sydney said she wanted to

(10:03):
because she wanted to get into gardening. She wanted a
garden box, like an elevated garden box, because our dirt
here is um bad bad dirt. Didn't know till it
became a homeowner you could have bad dirt and good dirt,
bad dart. It doesn't do anything. So she was like,
I want a garden box. I was like, well, my bunny, Amazon,
get your garden box real quick. I'm looking and look

(10:23):
at I'm looking at It's like there's nothing, there's nothing.
That was how we wanted. And she said, she said,
let the record show. She said, I bet you could
maybe build one. And I was like, yeah, right, it's
made out of wood and there's no absolutely no way.
And then I went and got I started looking up
stuff and I was like, okay, I could do this.

(10:44):
I could get like I got a circular saw, and
I got some plywood or some some uh boards and
and went to go make this garden box. And I
made this garden box. It's like eight ft by eight
foot looks like crap and it's terrible. And I was
as I was looking at I was like, this is
all I care about, this is all I want to do.

(11:04):
There's just something about I have been someone who has
been working in like in words, in ephemeral content. For
I mean since I was fifteen years old, been writing
on the Internet, so either writing on the Internet or
talking into the internet, um, all very ephemeral stuff. Uh.

(11:27):
And then seeing something that I had made, like physically made. Uh,
just especially in these these times when like progress on
things seems to be so hard to come by. Um,
it's just like I like I was like basically high
off of it, like the idea of like making something
and seeing it. Uh. And so I just got really obsessed.
There's a guy, Steve Ramsey, does a course called, of course,

(11:51):
it's called the Weekend Woodworker, and it's basically like a
project a week kind of deal. So I've been chucking
my way through those in addition to like other projects
X that I've been wanting that I wanted, like we
wanted a table for this banquette that we have, uh,
thank you. It was like very intimidated to make it.
It's an interesting thing about woodworking though, is like I

(12:12):
made that in the same week as I made a
paper tray for my father in law. Um, and the
paper tray was so much harder, and no one appreciates that.
They look at a big thing and they're like, WHOA,
that's big. That must have been really hard. That's not hard.
There's lots of places. There's lots of places to hid
your screw ups there, Like I can. I can mess

(12:34):
up there all day. I just put a little uh
fix on it. It's harder to do them the smaller stuff.
It's also fun as I've been using these for like
gifts for people, because like I don't want to keep
all this wood stuff around my house that I make,
uh So I like, yeah, right, there's no What I've
learned is that there's no when you make something yourself

(12:55):
like that, there is no reaction that you can get
from the recipient that will begin to fill the labor
gap of like you know what I mean. Like, I
handed it to my father in law who's not expecting it,
and to his credit, he was like, oh, thanks, that's
that's really nice to you to do. And I'm like,
sit down, let me show you this hand stippling. Yeah,

(13:17):
this took me three hours. I gave myself carpal tunnel syndrome.
I've to sleep in a brace like like, let me
walk you through all the different minor cuts I made.
Look at this one. Look how clean these angles are?
Three great sand paper I did. Thank you for Dude,
we are the same person. I got into woodworking probably
like ten years ago with just uh sort of big

(13:39):
I'm decent at big, chunky things because like you said,
it's a lot easier. So I built some tables. I
built like potters and planners, benches and just little things
here and there never any kind of fine woodworking at all.
But uh, I cannot just say here, Emily, I'm done.
There has to be a big fucking presentation. Oh yeah, yeah,
yeah I have. I have literally went went like hidden stuff.

(14:02):
When I know she's gonna be downstairs where my workshop is,
I'll like go hide stuff in the workshop so she
doesn't see anything like like ready, And then she was
always like, what do you want me to do? Like
I build a yellow, yellow patio table that looks like
I kind of bought it at Walmart for thirty bucks, right,
And I built him like, tont what do you think
it's yellow h T D Generation, which it's all about

(14:22):
the reveal. Yeah, exactly, exactly. Oh man, that's great. Maybe
i'll h with your permission, I'll throw a couple of
your pieces up on my Instagram. Yes, goes out so
people know what the hell we're talking about. Um, how
are all the shows doing? And for the benefit of
the listener that I mean, like the two or three
people that don't know who you are. You're flattering here.

(14:43):
You're one of the three McElroy brothers along with Griffin,
now we know of that's true, along with Griffin who
did Groundhog Day very early on. Travis has not been
on yet. Um, and I was waiting to see how
you guys in person, but now it's just this is
what's going on. So I figured why not. Uh, and
guys have my brother, my brother and me. You have
Adventure Zone. You and your wife Sidney, who is a

(15:05):
medical doctor, have Sawbones. Uh. Just tell everyone a little
bit about all those so they can go from you.
That's basically, I mean, those are the three biggest ones
that we make the My brother, My brother made an
advice show, sort of a bad advice show that we've
been doing for ten years now. It's sort of like
our I guess if you want to say flagship product, Yeah,
for sure. It's basically just the three of us sitting

(15:26):
around telling bone or jokes about gusts. Um the best.
Thank You. The Adventure Zone is a actual play role
playing podcast we do with our dad, who was great.
Thank you. Um, I don't know why I thank you.
I have nothing to do with my dad being great. Uh.
And well, actually, I mean we've we said a lot
of rough edges off not to get too deep in

(15:47):
the woodworking slide profit of a little. Um. The The
Adventure Zone we turned into a so my brother, my
brother me we did a six episode I'm going to
call it a mini series on the now failed comedy
streaming service See So that NBC trying to get going. Uh.
The Adventure Zone we turned into a graphic novel uh

(16:09):
series that releases like one with the newest one of
those is coming up, is the third one is coming out?
And here in uh like July think um and a
board game uh and stuff like that. And then saw
Bones is a medical history show that I do with
my wife who's a position and she's one very smart
and too like is really into medical history stuff like

(16:31):
weird medical history, leeches and like that. So every week
we'd take a new um very much inspired as so
many of us are. I think by the stuff you
should know format um take it, take a topic and
and do a deep dive on it with one of
with her sort of educating me on it um And
we did a book based on that show in October.

(16:53):
I think that looked terrific. Yeah, thank you, it was.
I was proud of how it came out. And did
some smaller joff I do I do the Empty Bowl,
which is a meditative serial podcast with my friend Dan
Gilbert who runs a serial website called seriallesly dot Net.
I do us and the guys who run the Worst

(17:16):
Idea of All Time do an annual Paul Blart Mall
cop two reviewed cast till till Death Do us Blart.
It's it's so fun to do. It's actually weird to
have something that we're releases annually because it's just like
we have to keep the premise of the show is.
In addition to this recording of it, we have each

(17:38):
pick successors who, in the event of one of our
deaths will take our place in the show. So it
is the world's very first eternal podcast. Um, who's your success? Um,
who's my Oh it's my daughter Charlie, so she has um. Uh.

(18:02):
Travis is Stewart Wellington from the flophouse who frequently sends
Travis like emergency and different immunos boosting uh drugs just
to keep him alive. Um. And I think that we
used to do one called the Macary Brothers will be
Introls World Tour and then we were so we don't
have to do that podcast anymore because we were in

(18:23):
the Controls World Tour. That so funny, I mean, and
that that literally came about because you guys did that
show right, Yeah, it was. It was very much a visualization,
you know, the secret law of attraction as the universe
and let the universe provide. Um, is there gonna be
a follow up? What's your next thing you want to
try and materialize? Um, we haven't had that. We haven't

(18:47):
put the time into it. We tried to get on
the tonight show. That probably a lot easier now, wouldn't it. Uh,
try to go with Nigea for a while. I've never
really worked out Um, and I don't know. We're busy
with actual like stuff. Weirdly at this point, um when
I was many like pie in this Guy, and it's
mainly about like we can make our own podcasts. We

(19:07):
can't get into TV and movies, but I was making
those anymore. Right, We're trying, you know, it's it's it's tough,
but but we have the last laugh because we can
just be in our basement and do our thing. Yes,
so suckers, I have been for a better part of years. Well,
I'm finally in the basement. Um, you know, Josh, and
I've been recording remotely during this whole time. I go,

(19:29):
I do Movie Crush down here, but I actually have
been going into the office, my completely empty office, to
do stuff you should know, just because we had I've
had a couple of audio issues here in the basement,
and for Movie Crush it's passable, but you know stuff
you should know. You gotta gotta keep that ship, like
sound proofing kind of issues or just like no, uh,
we lost one episode because of the unit that I

(19:52):
was recording into had a hardware failure. And then the
last couple of shows, I've had some like crackling and
I think I have like a bad Mike cable, but
I don't know that because I'm not listening to it live, right,
But stuff, you should know. You can't look around like that.
You gotta make that ship perfect profession. That's right. Uh. Well,
I'm glad everything is cruising along with you guys. I

(20:13):
figured everyone was. I was doing well. But yeah, we're
hanging in there. It's good to see you man, Good
to see you too. Check. Well, this has been great.
All right, let me know if you ever want me
to be on your podcast movie Crush. Uh. So, let's

(20:33):
dive into with Nail. Well, actually, before we dive into Dad,
I want to talk a little bit about movies in
your youth. I'd talked to Griffin about sort of what
it was like growing up in the Mcarroy household movie wise,
and he that was so long ago, though, I think
people would love to hear a little bit about just
sort of the culture that was coming your way and
where it was coming from and that kind of thing.

(20:54):
I mean, it was very much dictated by our dad.
I think our dad was like an old school like
one of those real like comedy fans, you know what
I mean. Like he was a morning DJ for forty
years who did a lot of like all comedy work there.
But like Dad was the one who got us deep
into like, um, Kids in the Hall and melt Brooks

(21:16):
and m St. Three K and stuff like that. So
there was a lot of like old comic like Marx
Brothers and you know that that sort of vibe. Um,
as much as we would tolerate in our young age,
you know, we didn't appreciate things that didn't have a
lot of fart jokes in them back then. Um. But
then like yeah, right right exactly. And then like I

(21:39):
don't know, we would get fixated on movie like bad
movies sometimes that we would just rewatch. Not bad, but
just like this is movie Meet the Deals about two
brothers that were park Rangers, and was like yeah, uh,
we would watch that a hunter times watched The Stupids
starring Tom Arnold like a ba jillion times. Um. I
don't know why. They would just be certain movies that

(22:00):
like delighted us and we would watch I know, Griffin
and Travis watched Kung Pao Enter the Fist like I
mean literally a hundred times in our in our youth, um,
and I think that that was like rewatching stuff was
a big thing. We weren't allowed to see our rated
movies until we were adults, so like there was very
little sort of like horror or I mean one time

(22:23):
I was at a kid's sleepover and they were watching
I'll Never Forget Sleepaway Camp three, I want to say
two or three, and I actually called my mom to
come pick me up because I was so scared. Both
of like both of like the movie, but just like
it felt just like it felt like watching my friends
play with a loaded gun. Right, guys, we are not

(22:45):
we are not supposed to be doing this. This is terrifying.
That was the same way, man I was. I've told
the story before, but my first R rated movie was
Escaped from New York and there was a little church
youth group kid together and that movie was coming on
and I went out of the room and I called
my mom and asked if I could watch it, and
she said, because you called, you can watch it. And
I really appreciate that. And you know, she didn't know

(23:07):
she had the best son in the world at the time.
I went. The first one I saw the theater, first
saw the theater was Terminator to Judgment Day Um, but
I told my mom that I was going to see
a showing of The American President, which should have been
up big fucking tip off. I mean, come on, I

(23:30):
was absolutely not, and I did so I went, I
actually did buy the ticket get for both, really so
you can have I would have the American President tickets.
Don't know what, sort of like Colombo bullshit. I thought
my mom was about to pull on me, but like
it did have the ticket stuff for American President. Did

(23:51):
like read a synopsis of the movie, being such an actor,
it was a really you know what I am? I
asked someone who had seen the movie, I think it
was okay, my friends, I think I want to see
with my friend Tommy Red and I think his mom
had actually seen The American President, and I asked her, like,

(24:13):
what should I say, and she said, um, the tell
her that you really liked Aaron Sorkin's dialogue. Yeah, I
think I probably didn't tell my mom that, which like
she I bet I bet. She immediately was like, so,
how did Eddie for Along do in the movie Terminator
du Judgment Day? But I know that you definitely went
the song because I know exactly your whole thing, and

(24:35):
that just happened to be playing at the same theater,
and your mom was like, come on, give me a break,
Come on kids. Um. Griffin's movie, you know, was of
course Groundhog Day. Yeah, that was that a big one
for you too. Oh yeah, yeah, that's one of those
that still hold. I mean, you can watch that now
still like brilliant, fantastic. It's a shame they don't make

(24:56):
comedies for adults anymore because see another one of this.
But uh, I think I think Griffin's quote on that
one was, um, it is not only my favorite movie,
but it's the best movie. Fair. Fair Sure, that's fine.
I'll let you guys tackle that at your next Thanksgiving. Yeah, um,

(25:18):
all right, so obvious type yeah, Jesus man, how depressing. Yeah. Yeah.
And you're still in West Virginia too, right, you didn't move. Yeah,
I love that you stayed there. Man, that's that's great.
I like it here. I know where all the restaurants are. Yeah,
and you know, everyone sort of moved away a little bit.

(25:38):
But aside from Travis's brief stint in l A, no
one saw sort of you know, the bright lights of
the big city. Yeah, travited HeLa for a while. It
wasn't really his his thing, and I think, uh, when
the podcast first started to catch on, I think we
all had delusions that it was going to catapult us too,

(26:01):
you know, super stardom, which obviously has not has not
materialized at least not in the world of cinema or
a television. But um, yeah, I think that it agree
it's better. I think it has made as more relatable,
like it's certainly you know, to to to not. I
think I love the like l A podcasts seen. I

(26:24):
think there's a lot of great shows that come out
of it. But um, it's very sort of um, I
think it can feel sort of hermetic, if that is
the right word, you know what I mean. It's like
sort of uh insular and very much seems of a
like universe there. And I feel like having a little

(26:45):
bit more diverse backgrounds and locations and stuff like that
has helped helpful for three of us, I think. So,
I mean this is the same with us man, we
stayed in Atlanta and never even considered going anywhere else.
And then the industry sort I mean, you guys have
been around for a long time too, but we're a
couple of years ahead of you. Guys. But the industry
grew up so much around us. You know, who who

(27:07):
needs I mean we did our brief failed stint in
TV too, but it's kind of like, who who needs
that stuff? That we got the best allies? You have
to leave you just shoot that? Or did they shoot
that in Atlanta? Shot it in Atlanta? Yeah? Actual film
production resources there I forgot. Yeah, it was it was good. Um.
But and and the thing I missed when it didn't
get renewed was just it was just so much fun.

(27:29):
I didn't really hear about being on TV. But I
love being on because I was a I worked on
Film Cruise for years and years before that is like
a p A and art department, and like, I just
like being on a film set. It's fun. Uh the
uh you know what I've This is gonna sound so dumb.
But the thing that I actually like, besides like hanging
out with my brothers and stuff, the thing that I

(27:51):
really liked about, um making a TV show was having
co workers. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed that.
And like I grew up in newsrooms, Um not grew
up I was. I didn't have like a little bunk bed,
but like I got my start doing like newsroom journalism,

(28:11):
and uh, I realized, but then I left it to
do freelance video game stuff and uh oh seven, I
think so since then I had not had like people
that I see every day at the office or whatever.
And it's really nice having like a big group of
people that I like totally saw and and hung out with.
Um So that was cool, but I'm back to isolation now,

(28:33):
as are we all welcome to my health um and yeah,
also just realizing that where we are both in podcasting
is is great and like it's it's a it's a
great life and it is. I don't think I would
want to be famous famous. I've seen enough of it.

(28:57):
Uh I've I've I've in around people who are famous
to enough to know that, like I'm I'm sure it
obviously has this huge, huge upsides, but for who I
am as a person, I do not think it would
it would agree to it with me. It's funny when
you're when you're trying to break into stuff, it seems

(29:17):
like and you're just trying to get somebody, anybody to
like notice you. I would I said so many letters
and applications to different video game websites like just please
hire me, please give me a a chance. Uh. When you
start getting noticed, it seems to you like more and
more and more of that you definitely want, and then

(29:40):
you realize that there's like a tipping point where it's like,
I actually don't want more of this. I have. I
have enough of this. Uh, this is good. I don't
want this to be more. And I've seen people who
have more, and I think it would kind of freak
me out a little bit. I'm with you, man, It's
it's nice. Uh once a month for want to walk

(30:01):
up to you in a grocery store and tell you
they love what you do. And that's great. That's that's
all I need. Yeah, perfect is validation because nobody listens
to podcasts. I'm basically anonymous here. It's Van Das. Oh
there's people there that are fans of yours. I'm sure no, right, yes, Uh,
I mean for sure. Like we have a college here,
it's a college ounce. There's from time to time be

(30:22):
people who but I'm not like harolded as sort of
the local hero that I would like to be. That's
my deal A little bit is I finally got called
by the University of George and my alma mater to
do to like come back and speak to students, like, uh,
six or eight months ago. And she was like, well,
what do you say to this? And I said, where
have you been? Like, I've been waiting. I just want

(30:42):
to go back to my school and be kind of
a big deal. That's it. I've been offering to like
my high school journalism teacher, like, you know, podcasting sort
of a big deal if you want me to come right, Yeah,
shery embarrassing. All right, Well, let's dive into with Nail
and I the seven film written to by Bruce Robinson.
I know you actually put forth Wayne's World is your

(31:05):
favorite movie, and you were kind enough. I've just I've
done enough of those kind of silly comedies to where
there it's not the best conversation for this show. Uh
would have I would have done it, and of course
we would have had a good conversation no matter what.
But they're not the best for this medium. Well, you

(31:26):
know it's so funny about this chuck that that I
did not realize until I mean literally moments before we
started recording. I know about this movie because of Wayne's World.
Oh from from Danny Yes, Wayne's World two features a character.
It's very strange. It's like one of it's like a
very weird cinema thing that like I don't know of

(31:49):
a lot of examples of this, but in Wayne's World two,
there which I feel like people are probably more aware of,
which I watched almost as much as I watched Wine
World one, I mean a jillion times. There's this character
who's a roading named Dell, and he's very um, you know,
he's obviously like kind of drugged out and very weirdly serene,

(32:12):
but also a little bit scary and intimidating, and like
he's a great it seems like this great, amazing, like
one off character. Uh. And then I was reading something
about Wayne's World. It's like, this is a character called
Danny who is a drug dealer in a movie called
with Dan I And it's not like it's similar. It

(32:34):
is the same character named something different in a completely
unrelated cinematic universe. It is so strange. But yes, the
Danny and this was also filmed you know, a good
fifteen ish ten fifteen years before Wayne's World, so like

(32:55):
it's just the same guy again in the movie, which
I'm sure like Mike meres Uh saw that movie and
was like, hey, can you just or somebody saw that
movie and was like, hey, can you just do this again?
You can just do that character. They should have named
him Danny Um. And so the other little easter egg
that I'm sure you probably know about is Alien three.

(33:18):
Did you know about this? I don't think all right.
So Alien three was Fincher's run at Alien and he
wanted a reunion of this cast and he couldn't get
Richard E. Grant, but Paul McGann and Richard Griffiths, I'm sorry,
and Ralph Brown who played Danny or both in Alien three,

(33:38):
and Richard E. Grant turned it down and he was
There was also another homage because this movie is one
of those that, I mean, they call it a cult film,
but it's it's I think more than that. It's sort
of this cultural touchstone to so many English people for sure,
but even Americans and other filmmakers and writers. It's, uh,

(33:58):
it's okay, So things I like it without getting getting
more into trivia, because it's like whatever things I like
about with Nilan, I'm are my wife and I watched
it as a result of this and talk about like
a movie that you can like vibe on to you
like it. It has such a distinct uh vibe this

(34:21):
movie that is, it feels weird. It feels out of
time sort of. It's maybe filming in the mid eighties
that set in at the very end of the sixties. Um,
but it doesn't even feel like the late sixties that much. No,
it's very well, it's very low budget, so there's not
like a lot of like set decoration and stuff like that.

(34:41):
Um that that that they've done to make it feel
you know, of a period. Um. It it is very subdued.
There's not a lot going on in it, um from
my life, from a from a story perspective, like there's
not much plot. It's about two unemployed actors that go

(35:03):
on holiday by mistake. I mean that is literally the
entire bed um, And there's not much story to be told.
It's just very much about the vibe that that of
their of the world that they're at. It's bizarre. Yeah,
and what hit me um watching this last night was

(35:24):
And first of all, I saw this in college when
I worked at the cool video store that had all
the cool indie movies. Um. Then I've seen it twice
since before last night. Um, each time with one of
my good friends from England, UM, one of my oldest
friends from college still one of my best friends, Justin
we watched it together. And then when I lived in
l A, I had a very good friend named Guy

(35:45):
four Guard and it was one of his favorite movies
and we watched it together. Um. But watching it last night,
it really hit me of what what a corny, hokey
movie this could have been? Like like two unemployed actors
go on a a mistake in vacation to the English
countryside inzaneanists ensues, which is exactly what happens. But there's

(36:08):
nothing about this that's hokey, your corny. It's so real. Well,
it's very grounded. It's like if you look at these guys.
So these guys start off in absolutely deplorable circumstances with Nail,
who is like very overly dramatic and cruel and cowardly
and crappy. Uh. And then there's I who doesn't get named.

(36:32):
Who's Paul McGann who was the eighth doctor? Uh? And um,
the just them living in deplorable circumstances. They're drugging out
of their minds they are living in like it feels claustrophobic.
It's so fully realized that like you feel like I
want you guys to get out to this seems miserable. Um.

(36:53):
But when they go to their to this, one of
their friends, Uh with Nail has an uncle Auntie who
has a house in the countryside. The two of them
go there and like from the moment they get there,
it's so ground. It's like the whole movie is like this.
But like like, for example, when they show up at

(37:14):
the cottage, they don't have um fire, they didn't bring
anything to start a fire. Wish they have. They have
no food, they don't have boots, so they have wrapped
their feet in plastic to protect from the weather. And
it's like that is not something that a comedy like
this would normally concern itself with. But those small, even

(37:37):
the small details like that their desperation and ineptitude, like
each thing becomes feels momentous. They at one point are
at a bar and they see a poacher come in
who has um takes and has it eels that he
takes out in his pants that he whacks the head

(37:59):
of the eel on the bar til it dies, and
he puts the eel down his pants, and then they
come over and there's a scene of them like trying
to talk him out of giving them the eel he
has down his pants, And like every scene is like
that of like these very small but bal circumstances being
elevated just by their like absolute ineptitude at navigating uh life. Um.

(38:25):
I think, like a lot of great comedies, it is
also undercut with a real sadness, um that it is
very much about the end of this era. It is
very much about the end of the sixties, and like

(38:46):
the reckoning that would come, it is very much about
the hangar the I think they even talk about like
how the seventies are gonna be a massive hangover from
the sixties, and that is very much what you you
see buildings, Like as they're driving out to the countryside,
there's a couple of shots of buildings being like demolished. Um,
it's all very gray and washed out, and like it

(39:07):
feels that way. It feels like, um, they're eulogizing the
sixties in a sense, like and these guys are kind
of got caught at the end of the party and
they're they're a couple of the last guys still there,
and there's a real like sadness about the whole thing
that I think actually makes it work better than it

(39:29):
would without it. Oh. Absolutely. Um. And you know, seeing
this movie in my twenties and thirties, which was I
think the last time I saw this was when I
was in l a probably fifteen sixteen years ago. Uh,
and then seeing it here at forty nine, I had
the this wave wash over me where I was like,
oh my god, with Nail is a desperate alcoholic Yeah,

(39:54):
and that is the sadness I think seeing it through
older eyes, Um, it's it's very funny, and the alcohol
is played as a as a gag so much through
the movie, but when you see it as a as
a grown adult like this, you can't help but think,
oh my god, this guy is going to die young
of of liver disease, you know. Um, yes, which is

(40:18):
hard to separate from how funny them talking about the
meeting hit, one of his best lines is, uh, the
movie is like infinitely quota if you've seen it. My
wife and I have have been doing it for years.
But at one point, with Nail is standing, he has
covered his body in what appears to be icy hot

(40:40):
to keep him warm because they have no heat. He's
covered his entire body and icy hot. It's a fantastic
gag because he has slathered every inch of himself and
icy hot. And then he says to I, he says,
there wasn't much in the tube. There's left for you there,
which obviously he had, like he had bathed himself with

(41:01):
it and already. But he's standing there and he's shouting
about how badly he needs a drake, and he just screams,
I demand to have some booze. And it's my wife
and I've been doing that to each other, like when
when life demands it, like just out of nowhere, Sydney,
I demand to have some booze. Well. And there's the
other great line in the end about the finest wines.

(41:23):
We we all have the finest wine known humanity. I
demand it whom here. We want them to know that
he there God. I mean, we'll definitely go through some
of these lines. One of them is when early on
in the film is when they're you know, there are
these two outwork actors, and one of the things they
do is go down to the labor exchange when they're
not working, and I guess that's they're filing for unemployment

(41:44):
or whatever between jobs, and he says, he says that
everyone's doing it, and with Nail goes, I haven't seen
gilgad down at the labor exchange, and then he takes
his brief beat and very desperately he says, why doesn't
he retire? And Richard E. Grant is so great in
this it's his first movie, and it's just like I

(42:07):
mean to to to make for this to be your
first role. It's just like Revelatory. You know, it's just
performed so iconic. Um, it's so yeah, it's so iconic. Um.
The I was trying to think of the other you
were talking about. Um, it's like Greenland in here. Uh

(42:31):
where did you get super he's eating? Um? So we
mentioned Uncle Monty and I did want to talk about
that all bit because it is an interesting I mean,
talk about things you don't realize um as like tastes
and awareness of things continues to evolve. We see there's

(42:54):
a big plot point that and and basically, um, the
what you come to learn is that Uncle Monty is gay,
and it is very heavily implied that with nail has
promised that if he lets them use his cabin that uh.

(43:14):
I who's apparently as googling, I found his name is Peter.
I'm going to prefer to miss Peters. I think in
the script he's Marwood Marwood, Yeah, Peter Marwood. Um. And
Peter's uh is also secretly gay and would you know
have a romp with you? Um? And there is a

(43:36):
and and basically this time period much more closeted, much
more tabbook um. And Uncle Monty comes up. Who's Richard Griffiths,
who you'll know is uh Mr Dursley Harry Potter has
adopted dad, you know the uncle um that and he's fantastic.

(43:56):
And there's a scene where Uncle Monty Uh, well he
he has come to the cottage and he is helping
them to get a little bit more settled. He's been
very kindly but also kind of obviously has designs on Peter. Uh.
And there's a scene where, against Peter's wishes, um, Uncle

(44:18):
Monty like comes upstairs and basically like attempts to force
himself on to Peter. And it is like a very
it's a very troubling scene. It's a very disturbing scene.
UM's play like a horror movie on it is it is,
but it and obviously I'm a straight guy. I I

(44:40):
my read on this may be completely wrong. This is
just as I've watched it repeatedly and through different lenses
that I've gotten older. My most recent take on it
is like in a lesser movie, it would be a comedy.
In a lesser movie, it would be I mean, and
a lesser movie from like now, I mean, you know,
like this time period. The idea of a closeted uh,

(45:07):
gay dude attempting to you know, have his way with
a straight guy. It's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, good, yeah,
that's a really good comparison. Right, But this movie, I think,
both through like direction and writing, but also through Richard

(45:29):
Griffith's performance is absolutely, like, astonishingly good in this movie.
He is out of control good. Um. He abused it
with a sadness and a desperation of somebody who basically
lived a lie his entire life and is just now
sort of, you know, realizing that that's not gonna be

(45:52):
his life. Um, and Monty is not given a chance
to We're not seeing him forgiven. In terms of the movie,
we don't see him. He doesn't like make it up
to anybody, but the movie doesn't also try to excuse
his behavior. He just disappears from the movie at this point. Um.
But it's really like, it feels more like a commentary

(46:16):
and maybe this is overly generous again, but it feels
more like a commentary on what society did to gay
people at that point by making them hide their existence.
I think it totally was. Um. I mean, this was
said in nineteen nine and the character of Monte is
in his sixties. Easy, So this is a gay man
in England who grew up from the turn of the

(46:38):
century where it was literally illegal and you could be
chemically castrated. Uh. In that letter that he leaves the
next day when he's out of there is just so
sad and tragic. You know. Yeah, it's very it's very sad. Um. Uh,
fun trivia for you. Richard Griffith said, more credit to
his performance. He was forty years old when this movie

(47:01):
was cut up. Really yeah, yeah, here's yeah. While meanwhile, yeah,
I mean, and you're absolutely that's the read though he
does he has not meant to read. It's a forty
year old dude. I don't think so. And here's another
bit of trivia. I don't know if you knew, but um.
The writer and director Bruce Robinson based that character on

(47:23):
Zepharelli because he, as a young, very handsome actor, was
in Zepharelli's Romeo and Juliet and apparently was very much
hit on and come onto by Zepharelli. Uh, he thought
inappropriately as a much older man, and even took some
of the lines directly from Zepharelli, like are you a

(47:44):
spongerous stone? Apparently was something Zepharelli actually said to him. Wow. Um, yeah,
it's it's it's a it's tough. I mean, I don't
know how a smarter person or a gay person would
would feel about watching that scene. That is just sort
of my read on it. Um yeah, I'm with it.

(48:04):
It's a very it's it's but but I mean, I
think it definitely feels progressive in terms of the mid
to late eighties. You know, he is not sort of
like othered or made to be a monster because of
his sexual orientation. It is because you know, of the
the attempted assault of of Peter. But um, yeah, and

(48:26):
that's sort of a through line through the movie. You know,
there's a couple of times where there's the one time
in the bar earlier on in the pub when the
guy calls him a ponce, U calls Marwood a ponce
and he's just terrified of getting beat up. And I
think I think he and with Nail are it seems
like they're constantly being mistaken for a gay couple. Yeah,

(48:48):
And actually, you know, seeing it again and having not
seen it in a while, I couldn't really remember. I
kind of thought they were a gay couple. And then
it's sort of jogged my memory as the movie went
along that they weren't. But they do sort of read
that way, I think to the locals in Camden Town.
It's a very interesting relationship the two of them have,

(49:08):
and it's really the cornerstone of the whole movie because
they're basically a unit. It's a love story, you know,
it really is, and it's and it's interesting because Peter
obviously very much cares about with nail Um and cares
about his constantly like frets about his well being, his safety,

(49:29):
attempts to like look out for him in a lot
of different ways, and I think there is an implication
that um, Peter has a job offer, um that he
has is maybe feeling guilty about because with Nail does
not also have work. Um. And it's interesting because Peter

(49:50):
very much cares about with Nail. With Nail does not
seem to have the capacity to care about Peter in
the same way or anyone or even yeah, anyone other
than himself. Very self obsessed. And I think what you
do see, what he lets show through is sort of
a a dependence on Peter um that that he needs

(50:15):
and it's very much lost without um. How deep do
you get, like plot wise on this show in terms
of like trying to avoid talking about like the ending
of movies and no, no, it's all it's all fair game. Um.
It's interesting in the in the very we're talking about
the elegy for the eulogy for the sixties, um, the

(50:36):
very last scenes of the movie, Peter gets his job
offer and cuts his hair to which is a very
it doesn't seem like a big thing, but it's a
very big deal. Yeah, very symbolic. He's leaving with Nail behind,
who I think is sort of the if you if
you want to get overthink it is like very symbolic
of the self indulgence of the sixties. Then, uh, Peter

(50:58):
is sort of like moving on from that and and
letting himself be sort of absorbed into the working world
or the more traditional world. While yeah, that and and
with Nail is kind of left by himself. And it
was very sad, very sad final scene where he's sort
of like mourning the loss of Peter. Um. But like

(51:21):
that sadness doesn't come out of nowhere. It's like present
from the beginning of the beginning of this Okay, interesting trivia.
The beginning of this movie was funded by George Harrison,
so they have killer music in this movie. The soundtrack
of this movie is excellent of and the very opening

(51:42):
scene is this instrumental version of Whiter Shade of Pale.
It is in front of a live audience. It's like
such a strange vibe, but so clearly like says, this
is what the movie is, like, this is gonna be
this kind of movie. Um uh so that but that
sadness is more present than the comedy like for like

(52:04):
it is is both the beginning and ending of this
is it is a sad story. Um, but I don't
does it feel you did it? Does it make you
sad to watch it now, like especially as you were
talking about, you know, watching as an older dude. No, Um,
it doesn't make me sad, uh, because it's so goddamn funny.

(52:28):
It's really funny. I mean really really really funny. The
script is so good. Um. I mean there's a melancholy
I think that watching it over you. Uh, and you
do wonder especially now, like I said, watching as an
as an older guy, Uh, like what happens after Marwood leaves,

(52:50):
like what happens to with Nail, I don't think anything good,
which is that it was the character was based on
and this is somewhat hearsay, but there is based on
diet throat cancer in the mid nineties, and there was
a it is perhaps due to his actually drinking lighter

(53:10):
fluid like with now does that's rough? Rough? Chuckles? That
was tough. Um. Yeah, But I mean there's so so
many funny moments. So like the Danny stuff, there's you
get too great Danny sequences. That first one where he's
first introduced and just that guy's voice. Man, like that

(53:31):
guy can't say a line without me laughing. It's so good. Yeah,
he's fantastic. And then the last one where they come
back and he's basically been squatting with presuming Ed, one
of the great character names of all time. Presuming Ed,
who Danny is, is getting out of the drug business
to start a doll company with presuming Ed because presuming

(53:52):
Ed's niece has a doll that peas and Danny and
presuming Ed are going to make a doll that and
that's like there, that's his business. That's his business. Uh plan. Yeah,
And yet it doesn't come across as some way. I mean,
if this was some Hollywood version, it would just that

(54:12):
would be such a dumb joke. But it works in
this movie. Um, the the oh my god. Uh this
Danny line from the very end of the movie, this
last scene really like he this character is very out there,
but he also some because he is sort of unhinged

(54:35):
a little bit. He's able to talk about thematic elements
of this movie with having to ground. This is a
line that I mean here, Um, if you're hanging onto
a rising balloon, you're presented with a difficult decision let
go before it's too late, or hang on and keep
getting higher, posing the question how long can you keep
a grip on the rope? They're selling hippie wigs and

(54:56):
Woolworth's Man. The greatest decade in history of man, mine
is over. And as presuming ed here has so consistently
pointed out, we have failed to paint a black It's like, oh, dude,
that is so great. They're selling hippie wigs and wool warp.
It's like that's a whole movie. Like like that's literally
the whole movie. Like that's the whole movie. And in

(55:17):
a single line, Uh, it's an It's wildly well written.
There's not a line out of place in this entire movie. Yeah.
And and they he has that that carrot joint and
they they and earlier they challenge each other to a
drug off. Basically that's such a good scene when he
brings out that pill and Richard brands like, give it

(55:38):
to me, I'll run a mile. He's like, I can
do ten times the drugs that you can. But it works.
It never comes across as like some silly, sort of
juvenile movie. I think because of that tragic undercurrent and
like you were talking about the the passage of time

(55:58):
and that the sixties dawning into the seventies, there's there's
just so much more substance, so much more meat on
the bone in this movie. Yeah, it's it's We could
honestly like repeat, like it would be a more entertaining
podcast if we just read the script up with talent
I because that's literally the entire film is like that.
I feel so jealous of people that have not watched
this movie because it is I mean, you get to

(56:20):
see it for the first time. It's so good and
you really do a lot of the transfer and sound
stuff is like not so great. I watched it on
a Oh my god, it drove me crazy. Have my
big TV there. Put a put in the Criterion Collection
DVD within on I, which is one of the very
few places you can like track it down. It's in

(56:42):
four three letter boxed for three right four three here
and then letter box top and box is wild there
and that is like, that's the Criterion he told me.
It was in the Criterion Service, right, you can get
you can watch it on the Criterion Channel and if
you're a listener, you can sign up and get two

(57:02):
weeks of that for free. If I mean, I would
recommend just paying for the Criterion Channel because it's great,
but you can get two weeks free, watch a bunch
of movies and cancel if you want, Yeah, if you
want um still yeah, still free Country. There's something else
too about a movie with two guys on the take,

(57:22):
Like every time, every time they can, they're trying to
scam booze, whether it's using the money for the Wellies
when they're supposed to go buy boots. And he goes
in and he has that great scene in the bar
where he goes, we'll have to work quickly a couple
of quadruple whiskeys in another point, please, Or every time

(57:43):
Monty leaves the room or turns his head, Richard E.
Grant or with nail grabs that bottle of sherry sherry
and just chugs as much as he can before he
comes back into the room. It's just so funny. It's
very yeah, it's very yeah. The obsession with he has
a he has a m Danny has invented a device

(58:07):
that you's a child's you're the child urine and then
drunk drive, you demand you're ine tested when you're arrested
and you fill it with the child yes, which of
course there's a fantastic payoff for later the movie. But
oh yeah, absolutely it's really really really good. Um again,

(58:31):
talking about like adult comedies sad, there's not They don't
let h let people make these anymore. Another one of
my favorite parts is, you know when they are at
the cottage and they just they have no food and
they're trying to get food. He goes to the neighbor
of this old lady who's basically just like, fuck off,
get out of here, asking for eggs, and they eventually

(58:53):
get some food through her son who was the farmer.
With the farmer the polythene wrapped around his leg and
he has whats happened to his leg and he has
called a Randy bullop the gave me one in the knee.
Um it. Oh man, this is a very good movie.
If you haven't seen it, make sure you track it down.

(59:15):
I recommend subtitles too. This is the first. Yeah, I
watched it with subtitles last night for the first time,
and there's just so much more that you get. And
then there's still a lot that as an American, flies
right over my head because so much as colloquial um.
And that was apparently when when Robinson was getting the
movie made, they really wanted him to change the script

(59:37):
to make it more broad I think not comedy broad,
but just they're like, you have all these sayings in
here that people are not going to get because it's
sixties Camden Town, London specific. And he was like, no,
this is the movie like uh, and he couldn't get
it made. Uh, And so they got money to do
it himself from George Harrison. From George Harrison. Yeah, weird,

(59:59):
Like do you know what it actually is? Funny? It
reminds me of is The Princess Bride in that regard,
because that's another movie exact same you know, time period.
Is this where it's like did not have a bit,
did not make a splash in theaters, but was really
was released in the exact right time period where VHS

(01:00:22):
was starting to become so commonplace that everybody could like
buy movies on VHS right and rewatch them, and we
watched them. And there's this this period of like right
around this like mid late eighties period where like movies
like this start to be able to develop a cult following.
You release this movie five years earlier maybe and no
one's ever maybe no one's ever heard of it because

(01:00:42):
like it doesn't have the you know, if it flops
the one time in theaters like that, that might be
it for for the movie. You know, you don't have
the vhs released there or rental options. Yeah, for sure.
I never really thought about that, but I think you're
totally right. The other thing is stood out at me
too last night was the narration in this movie. Narration

(01:01:03):
could be so tricky, um, but it works so well
in this movie because it's not. I think narration at
its worst is so overly sentimental and instructive. But this
is this is his more of his sort of inner monologue,
and like it informs the character, but it doesn't telegraph
like what's going to happen next, which is the worst
kind of narration. Yeah, it's much more about um uh

(01:01:29):
thematic some yeah, laying out the thematic bounds of the
movie much more than it is about like his own
motivations or um and anything like that. It's much more
about talking the you know, talking around the edges of
the movie than something that sort of dictates this is
how this character is feeling. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, before we

(01:01:58):
get to the very end, because we should dissect that
scene a little bit. The two more big standout laughs
for me, where the when he sets that when he
sets that fucking chicken on the log in the smoker, Yes,
just sits him up right, the chicken that they killed somehow. Uh.
Peter says, uh that when they're looking at the chicken,

(01:02:22):
it's got dreadful beady eyes. They stare at you. Best
kill it quick before it tries to make friends with us.
It's so good and he's so he's such a good
actor too. I think he it's easy to think about
Richard E. Grant's performance, Um yeah, as such a bravura performance,
But Paul McGann is so great in this. His desperation

(01:02:44):
and fragility really sells it. Like, yeah, he's so desperate.
There's a scene that you were talking about, the guy
insulting him for being a puce in the bathroom. He's terrified.
He's terrified. He's like peeing in the urnal with this
he by the guy doesn't even register facially when the
guys like punts doesn't register, keeps a smile on his face,

(01:03:07):
goes into the bathroom, absolutely has a breakdown, kind of
figure out what he did wrong to this guy, and
it walks back out of the bathroom with the exact
sing especially just like face it on and just informs
with Nail that they need to leave the bar right then, yea,
And of course with Nail with all his you know
which fucking guy said that to me? And you know,

(01:03:28):
he turns around like he's going to fight the guy,
of course, and then they bail because he's not gonna
fight anybody. No, yeah, he said. He suggests that they
take it outside, handle it like gentlemen. He Oh. There's
actually a beautiful line reading there where Richard Grant sees
the size of the guy and says, um, what my
friend acquaintance here was trying to get like almost says

(01:03:50):
friend stops changes to acquaintance with my acquaintance here. He's
constantly selling him down the river, like all through the
whole movie. It's it's hysterical out and I think that
that's like, it's very uh seeing the end of that relationship,
I think says a lot about both of them. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Um.

(01:04:10):
The other big standout scene for me comedy wise is
the tea room scene when they go to buy the Wellies.
They get loaded at the pub and then go to
get some cake and tea, and that stuffy tea room
is such a good scene. It looks so good. Also,
it makes me hungry every time I see it, because
I know that feeling of like I got too drunk
in the middle of the day and I need to

(01:04:31):
do something right now or I'm headed for disaster. Well,
and just how proper the Brits are with everything. Uh,
it's so great, what a great with Nail announces that
they are millionaires, are going to make a movie. I
want to fill a scene there. Yeah, Peter says, we're
not drunks, were multimillionaires. And then that with the else

(01:04:52):
says he wants to film a scene there, and that
they might film a scene there and the locations. Yeah
all right, so that last that last sequence, you know,
like you mentioned earlier, Uh, Marwood gets a job. Like
there's only one way this movie can end, and that
is this way, Like they have to part um. Yeah,

(01:05:13):
they have to break up in a certain sense, and
Marwood has to be the one that grows up and
gets the work and with Nail has to be the
one that is left behind. It's the only way this
movie can go. And he gets that haircut and the
the physical transformation is just so striking against with Nail's

(01:05:33):
sameness in that same ill fitting suit with his sort
of greasy hair and still trying to have that last
drink and get drunk with him one last time, and
he won't. He won't do it. You know. That's so
like symbolic of this parting of ways and so sad,
which they do without hanging a hat on it. Yeah,

(01:05:55):
which is so smart, Like they don't they don't like
make a big You've always loved Boost. We drink so
much Boost together. How could you you've really changed? Like
are you just reading the script? I'm so jealous. Yeah,
that uh uh the last thing Okay, so the last
shot of the movie. You want to talk about like

(01:06:16):
having faith in yourself as like one a screenwriter to
a director three an actor. The last bit of the
movie with nail by himself and reciting the in the rain,
reciting the what a piece of work is man? Speech
from from Hamlet. It's like so fucking good. It's so good.

(01:06:37):
But also like, so you're gonna in the movie with Hamlet,
like you're gonna take a bit from Hamlet, Richard I
Grant is gonna fucking I mean absolutely sell it. I
don't know the dude ever played Hamlet, but he should have.
He's absolutely brilliant, these twenty seconds of Hamlet that he
does at the end of the movie. And then that's it.
It's just hit with nail by himself. Um. It's it's

(01:07:00):
really really the courage of that, like the the the
bravado of that, Like, well, we're just gonna crip from
Hamlet real quick at this part, and you know it's
it deserves to be in our movie and we should
be in the same brother the Samlet. Um, it's it's
genius and his his performances is perfect, like everybody's performances,
uh in the movie, because there's not really a lot

(01:07:21):
of characters, but every I think every one of them
is does a fantastic job. Yeah. And there's also that
one line that kind of foreshadows earlier. I will never
play the Dane. That's true. Yeah, Uncle Monty. What is it?
Such a sad moment in a young man's life and
he likes someone warn't realizes I will never play the Dane. Yeah.

(01:07:43):
And I mean this movie, I can't. I just can't
say enough about it. It's uh. And and actually and
that maybe that's him really, Oh man, So I had
never connected those two. But like that's the moment for
with now realizing that will never play the Dane, so
he plays him in the rain. Yeah, by the zoo

(01:08:04):
with those wolves behind them behind the fence. It's just
such a powerhouse I've seen and I looked up the
what a piece of work is Man, just to get
sort of Wikipedia stake, and it says this, and it's
just theatrical Scholaria dr Wicki and dr Wicky said, uh.

(01:08:26):
In this passage, Hamlet is expressing his melancholy to his
old friends. In this case, I guess the wolves over
the difference between the best that men aspire to be
and how they actually behave and the great and the
great divide that depresses him. And that's it, man, And
that's the movie. Yeah, that's the movie. God, what a
good flick. So great. I feel like still not, as

(01:08:47):
you know, you said, it's not quite a cult hit.
I think that's fair. I think it has a bigger
impact on people. I still don't feel it's like I
feel like it could be a lot more well known.
I think Harold is like one of the greats. Like
it is, it deserves to be in the same breath
as pretty much every other comedy classic, but I feel
like did never made like the American impact. Um that

(01:09:11):
that you know a lot of other movies didn't. Yeah,
it's on some lists in England, is like a top
twenty all time film from England and stuff like that.
So I mean it's definitely has its do as a
cult hit in certain circles. Though it ain't easy to
watch either. I mean, like, thank goodness for Criterion. Like
I've been making do with with like bad vhs and

(01:09:35):
DVD transfers to this movie since we started watching it,
like and there is If you went to try to
buy this right now, I think you're gonna pay like
d dollars DVD of it. It's like impossible to to find. Yeah,
well check it out on Criterion. Um, I got a
question for you too, Do you say chin chin when

(01:09:55):
you toast? Okay, this is interesting. Wow, that's so funny
that you say that. My wife and I wanted to
start saying it. We couldn't figure out if it was
racist or not. We have spent many because there's so
many things to sneak up wine every If you have
not wondered if something as racist, it probably is. And

(01:10:16):
that we're like chinching, Is that like a racist thing?
We googled and googled and googled, could not find it,
but couldn't find enough that said it's definitely not. It's
one of those weird things like the origin I guess
is not super super clear. We have not found definitive
evidence that it is, but it was still nerve were
nervous enough people, uh that we just have sticked to

(01:10:37):
prost now, I oh, boy, prost is super racist, dude,
dang kidding. Um, I didn't know if this was the
origin or not, or if that was a common you
think it's a common I've heard other British people saying,
I don't know if there it's from from this movie,
but I never knew. I've had certainly had plenty of

(01:10:58):
friends that said it over the years. Yeah, And I
always think it's a nice little shorthand for being It's
sort of like being in a little club like if
you love this movie, you know, yeah, it says a
lot about who you was. Definitely would put it on
the map if it was not the originator of it.
It's definitely what made it more common. Totally all right, dude,

(01:11:18):
you got anything else on with nail. If not, we'll
finish with a quick five questions. Wrap it up, all right, dude,
what was the first movie you saw in a theater?
Are you thinking? I mean, I am trying to I
you would think I would know that offhand. Um, but

(01:11:39):
it I'm pretty sure. Et okay, that's that is the
great first movie. Let me see when did that come out?
Let me double check my memory there? That was two.
As long as movies stayed in theaters, then that is possible.
All right, Yes, I'm gonna go to et okay. Uh,
what is your first R rated movie? Uh? Well, that's

(01:12:04):
funny that we've covered. My first home all rated movie
was like Who We Can't Part two? Possibly I didn't
know if you fully watched it. Well, I didn't get
through it, so I guess no. We will go. We
will give it to t tail. Okay, we will give
the honor of fully completing. Yeah, because you don't watch
ten minutes of a movie from between your fingers and
say yeah, I saw it. I saw that. Some people do. Uh.

(01:12:25):
Let me see number three. I'm trying to find my
list because I don't do these as much anymore. Um,
all right, here it is number three and people listeners
are like dumbing, you know, the your questions, will you
walk out of a bad movie or do you stick
it out? I have walked out of one movie, Beverly

(01:12:48):
Hills Ninja. I'll talk you about to say cop no
Beverly Hills Ninja. I walked out of. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Beverly Hills Ninja walked out of. But that is the
only that is the by and large, No, uh nowadays,
like it is so absolutely rare. Well I mean not

(01:13:09):
nowadays in the coronavirus times, but since I've had kids,
it's so rare that I'll like be able to get
to go to a movie theater that I would probably
just no matter what, like show static, I don't care
now I'm with you. Well and uh, And I talked
about this a lot with other parents. Is like you
don't you don't take flyers on bad movies anymore. You
go when you know it's a great movie. I saw

(01:13:29):
the last time I went to the movie theater, I
saw someone looking at posters and then talking with someone
about what to go see. And I almost had like
I melt like are you you just showed up? You're
like what starting? So people, that's a thing. I've heard.
What a luxury that must be. You're either independently wealthy?

(01:13:51):
Are you very sad? I've planned it. It's like weeks
of planning, and I've built my schedule around going to
see this fun um. Number four are I used to
ask a guilty pleasure, but now I'm more akin to
ask um if you could be how about this? If
you and your brothers could be in any classic comedy,

(01:14:14):
what movie would that be? You don't have to be
the leads, but you could place yourself in any classic comedy. You, Travi,
and Griffin. I think I would love if we were
in a Marx Brothers movie. But the Marx Brothers were
still in it, and it was just kind of us.
We were the three three people were just like this

(01:14:35):
is wild, Like we're just staying out the side. Lease,
guys are nuts. Has everybody seen this? This is hilarious.
Check these guys out. There are three less funny brothers
that are just started watching from the sidelines, encouraging them,
putting them up to different things. I love it. Uh.
And then finally number five movie going one oh one?
What is your when when you could go to movies?

(01:14:56):
What was your routine. Where do you like to sit?
What do you like to eat? Okay, so I buy
I will buy too many snacks because but the movie
is like, I'll get the big drink. I'll get some
candy too, and some popcorn. Gonna do the whole thing.
I go with my kid a lot now to go
see like kids type movies. So you get like a

(01:15:17):
booster seat. Uh if the theater is available, I'd like
to be. I'le like sort of center, like if you
enter on the left house left, I'll be like center
of the house, but like far left on the aisle.
Because I like to use the bathroom at least once

(01:15:38):
in every movie I've ever been. I can't hold it
that long, especially with this huge soda IM pounding now,
So I'll use the run p app to time it out.
Oh yeah, with every movie. Yeah, obsessively. I've never used that.
I've heard about it. I should check that out. It's perfect.
It's you know what you can do now. They updated
it to where you can press a button when the

(01:16:00):
movie starts, and then you'll get a little buzz in
your pocket when it's like, hey, it's a good time,
a good peek. You don't even have to take your
fun out of your pockets. She's like, oh wow, I'm
gonna go pee right now, and then while you're peeing,
you read the synopsis of the bit that you're missing,
and then you go back here and people. Every time
I've been married to my wife for fourteen years a

(01:16:21):
week ago. Every time I'll come back, she'll try to
tell me when I miss I say, you do not
need to come of the run. PS informed me. I
am fully caught up. Awesome. I gotta check that out,
all right, Thanks buddy, This is great, no problem, Chuck.
Thanks for having me on your program. Of course, it's
good to see you and glad everyone's doing well and
hanging in there, and um let's let's stay in better

(01:16:44):
touch about it. That would be great, Chuck. I don't
have any friends anymore because because I just sit in
my house all the time. What are your social social channels?
Oh at Justin McElroy on Twitter. That's it our McElroy
dot family as our websites. You can go there and
check out the watch shows. All right, fantastic, Thank you
Justine McElroy. Thank you. Shut for more podcasts for my

(01:17:19):
heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.