Batman The JLA and Santa Silent Knight pt 2

Once upon a time in the DC Universe, Santa Claus wasn’t just slipping down chimneys… he was training Batman and battling monsters with the world’s greatest heroes. And now in Jeff Parker’s wild 2024 yuletide epic, Santa Claus isn’t just on the nice list — he’s in the Justice League’s corner as the entire DCU faces supernatural threats and a mysterious new enemy in the holiday season’s coolest crossover. 

 In this episode, Jeff returns to chat about his latest Santa-and-Justice-League mashup — where the Caped Crusader, magic-wielders like Zatanna, Damian Wayne, and even the House of El join forces with St. Nick himself to save the season when the Justice League winds up stranded in a dark realm and heroes are hunted by chilling forces led by the enigmatic Silent Knight. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome back everybody time again for Word Balloon the Comic
Book Conversation show, John Suntras with you. You know, in
the last couple of years, DC did some really fun
Christmas specials involving a very Norse mythology Santa heading to
the DC Universe. Back in twenty twenty three, it was
Santa and Batman, and then in twenty twenty four it

(00:21):
was Santa and the Justice League. All of that written
by Jeff Parker. I presented the Silent Night story yesterday
and today I'm presenting my conversation with Jeff back in
twenty twenty four about part two of this story. They're
taking this season off, but they say that they know
that this is something they may revisit in the future,

(00:42):
which is great, and enjoy this wonderful conversation for the holidays.
Jeff Parker and I Santa Invades the DC Universe Part
two on today's Word Balloon.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
His paintings redefined comic book heroes. His vision inspired a generation.
The Legend of Kingdom Come is the definitive documentary on
Alex Ross, known as the Norman Rockwell of comics.

Speaker 3 (01:03):
It almost looks like run a sunk paintings, except for
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Speaker 2 (01:09):
We go behind the scenes of his definitive graphic novel
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Speaker 1 (01:21):
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(01:45):
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(02:06):
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(02:29):
Welcome back, everybody. It's time again for word Balloon the
Coumpoot Conversation Show. John stuntris here one of my oldest
guests and good friends in the podcast world. Jeff Parker.
Everybody back on word Balloon. Good to see him.

Speaker 3 (02:42):
Man, hey man, it's been uddly long. Yeah, it's good
to be back.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
I think Zoro that when we did the Sea Missing,
Zora's probably the last time you were on, man.

Speaker 3 (02:52):
And what that sad like. As soon as we did that,
the French actor what's his name, di.

Speaker 1 (02:58):
Ellin DIONI iaea, he's not.

Speaker 3 (03:00):
Right after that, we were just talking about how great
he is.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's interesting you they it feels on
Turner Classic Movies is showing a lot more of his movies,
are they in the last couple of years. Yeah, yeah,
and he was. He really was a good actor. I mean,
I love his Zoro. I think it's a lot of fun.

Speaker 3 (03:18):
I thought it was good. He's a charming guy.

Speaker 1 (03:20):
He is a charming guy. But now he did a
lot of crime movies and espionage and you know, yeah,
great great French league man.

Speaker 3 (03:26):
Absolutely Man, as Matt Praction said, he's freakish, really good looking.
So it's like, for a little bit, you think, why
am I watching this movie where a rock star is
running around playing Zoro or whatever he's playing at the time.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
But he's good. He's also a good actor, right, yeah,
he was, No, Absolutely Man. Well, and I'm sure we
will go in more tangents and things. In fact, you
were telling me that's all we do. Yeah, oh yeah, yeah,
Well it's a good it's good at least a good
seventy or eighty percent of what we do. But we'll
get into your fantastic U turn to Santa Invading the

(04:02):
DC Universe. Uh, Batman, did you? I'm thrilled. I'm glad
that it did well enough that they're doing it again, Batman,
Santa Claus Silent Night Returns and we went on. First
of all, it were real fast. Actually, I wanted to say,
you're coming from a party, and you and Lieber were
hanging out at uh.

Speaker 3 (04:23):
Having a birthday party down at a place called quarter World,
And it's like a bunch of vintage pinball machines and
recent pinball machines and anyway, you load up your little
app and everything so you can go around. You don't
have to get a bunch of quarters. Oddly enough, considering
the name. Yeah, I was playing the new Stern Jaws pinball,

(04:45):
which I was really excited to play.

Speaker 1 (04:47):
Haven't seen it.

Speaker 3 (04:48):
It's just as good as I thought it would be.
I was getting my ass handed to me on the
classic Adams Family from the nineties pinball.

Speaker 1 (04:56):
Hilarious.

Speaker 3 (04:58):
That's a really good machine though, Like there's a reason
pinball enthusiast are so big on that machine.

Speaker 1 (05:04):
Interesting.

Speaker 3 (05:06):
The nineties was kind of this pinnacle for pinball, like
it really like they they focused on the feel of
everything and the action and then had a little extra
on the board.

Speaker 1 (05:18):
Now, of course they.

Speaker 3 (05:19):
Have like the Jaws thing. You're just watching Robert Shaw
and everybody and you're watching whole scenes, you know, with
the mayor saying, you know you just like I'll strap
you up by your Buster Browns and all that stuff.
But it's kind of actually distracting from the game play,
you know, because you're like, wait, am I watching the movie?

(05:41):
Am I playing? What am I doing here?

Speaker 1 (05:43):
You know? It's kind of interesting, no, you know. I was,
of course in the arcade era, massively a fan, going
back to the seventies and eighties, and in the nineties
there was an arcade not too fir for me. I
had a bit of a depression issue late. I'm trying
to think of the time frame it was. Was it

(06:03):
still technically when it was two thousand and one? And
thank god the psychologist that I saw, it's like, do
something that makes you happy. And I lived down the
street from this mall that had an arcade in it,
and I remember dumping literally like in the token dispenser,
like on one shot, twenty bucks just funk, and it's like,

(06:23):
you know, it's like a payout from a from a
from a ju from a slot machine. And this kid
watched me. He's like, did you just put twenty dollars
in the thing? And and I I mean literally, I
mean again, this is like twenty years ago. See I'm
like forty, and I'm like, yes I did. And I said,
don't grow up to me, me a kid. I'm like,
this is this is not good behavior.

Speaker 3 (06:45):
Just a few weeks ago, I went to a I
went to this library show in Las Vegas, Okay, and
then acclaimed manga translator Zach and Davison wanted us all
to go to this uh section in Old Vegas where
they still had uh the little mechanical horse racing. Oh yes, yes,

(07:10):
like you see in Popeye Robert Altman nineteen eighty. So
we all went out there and Zach was so into it,
and I was, and this is kind of annoying thing
with me. And I understand people getting tired of my ship,
but I was like, I was just staring at the
machine and I'm looking all around and I'm trying to

(07:32):
figure out, like, Okay, there's got to be so many
uh certain years. Yeah, there there's got to be so
many revolutions and so many outcomes before it repeats.

Speaker 1 (07:46):
And I was, oh, it's you. I was trying to
figure out how to game the machine and you're doing
the equivalent of you're doing the equivalent of counting cards
at the at the black pers horses that shake our
down and two in at a time, and if you
pick the right to.

Speaker 3 (08:03):
It's actually a very rewarding game because you pumped in quarters,
but then you get a ton of quarters back and
you never really spend that much, but you get the
feel of somebody who's over in the next casino making
thousands of dollars. And I was just thinking about that,
because it's like that twenty dollars you put in was
nothing compared to what I saw some people just randomly,

(08:27):
and as I'm walking down there, they're just shoving giant
towers of chips and I'm like, oh my god.

Speaker 1 (08:34):
You could have just bought a car, dude.

Speaker 3 (08:37):
It's like and then you remember, like, oh, these people
have a problem.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
Yes, indeed, this has a problem.

Speaker 3 (08:47):
Yeah, I'm watching people's life destroying problems.

Speaker 1 (08:51):
Right in front of me, and I'm acting like it's fun,
and I like me and I could get out of here.
Me and my first cousins, all the guys we took
Avegas trip and my one cousin John, another John in
the family loves Old Vegas. And there was one free
standing casino that he took us to, and I want
to say it was called the Hitching Post. And in

(09:12):
addition to it just being this freestanding casino wasn't near anything.
It had a bunch of saddles of rodeo stars that
had big competition down in Vegas. But the crazy thing was,
as you said about the disease gamblers, there was they
had roulette and there was a lady that was chain smoking,

(09:34):
and man, she just looked like your classic disease gambler.
I mean, I'd go into further physical attributes. Remind me
to tell you off the air, because I'm sure people
that's terrible and that's like, yeah, I don't mean to
make fun of the one, but Jesus.

Speaker 3 (09:46):
Christ, I used to go work for I used to
work for Westwood Video Games. Okay, like back when I
first moved out west and so I would drive from
La to Las Vegas and I would work on stuff
like Doune and uh so and like they're One night,

(10:08):
me and one of the other designers went out to
the Blaggio and I'm just watching people for a minute,
and then you know, I finally did the math and
realized how much people were just shoving at the croupier
and like what they were losing. And I got physically ill.
I was like, I got to get out of this place.

(10:30):
This is making me sick. How are these people just
literally burning money right in front of me? Like now,
the old Vegas it is a lot of again, it
is a lot of chainsmokers sitting at slot machines and
they're just doing that. And they got no clocks and
they got no windows, so they can't tell what time
it is. For all they know, it's three in the afternoon,
and they're just like doing that and they're just pumping

(10:53):
it in and it's all sunk cost fallacy driving everything.

Speaker 1 (10:58):
You know.

Speaker 3 (10:58):
They're all like, my luck's gonna turn around, right maybe
this one, Yeah, this is gonna hit, But if I stop,
it never will turn around. And because that's the way
they think the world works, I feel like we're into
something bigger here. But anyway, like.

Speaker 1 (11:15):
And I was just like, this is so depressing. And
when I was in the.

Speaker 3 (11:19):
Little Horsey thing was Zach and everybody, and uh, like
it was killing me because it wasn't like the modern
casinos where they have the super turbo air suckers so
people can smoke and you can't breathe it. It was
just an old style casino. And I'm like and I'm like, okay,
I was around in the seventies as a kid, but uh,

(11:41):
I guess I was tougher then or something like I
can't breathe this.

Speaker 1 (11:45):
Oh wow wow. Yeah. Yeah, like my.

Speaker 3 (11:48):
Asthma is kicking. I got to get out of here.

Speaker 1 (11:51):
No, I get it, Yeah, I get good. Lord. I well, sadly,
I grew up with you know, parents that were smoking.

Speaker 3 (11:56):
Grew up in Chicago.

Speaker 1 (11:58):
Yeah, sixty you know, born at sixty for and every exactly.

Speaker 3 (12:01):
So they're smoking right there in the steak restaurant and
uh and then putting their.

Speaker 1 (12:07):
Right the cook. The cook's smoking exactly, what's the problem.

Speaker 3 (12:10):
Yeah, and they're out in their tray and oh it's
just gross. I guess one of the things we should
do on this show. We should because the timing, we
should figure out what the Illinois flag is going to be,
because uh, they put up some tark just horrible uh sentence.

Speaker 1 (12:32):
Yeah, I'm like, what is this? What's this silhouette of Lincoln?

Speaker 3 (12:37):
They always go to Lincoln when they can't think anything,
and come on, man.

Speaker 1 (12:40):
That's our big land of Lincoln. Come on, man, we're
the only We're the only state where you could throw
pennies in the toll booth because again Lincoln, just make a.

Speaker 3 (12:49):
Flag with a top hat on it, or a top
hat and a.

Speaker 1 (12:53):
PAROCHI I was, I was with a nice and you
and you should put a silhouette of Kashmir Pulaski, who
was this Polish guy that fought in the Revolutionary War.
And we have so many Polish people in Illinois and
especially in Chicago that they made there is a state
holiday Casmir because Pulaski day rightfully. So he's a great

(13:17):
he's a great contributor to the cause of the Revolutionary warns.
So that's cool. That's I'm for it. Yeah, you're right,
that's hilarious.

Speaker 3 (13:26):
Yeah, a little kill bossies everywhere, that would be amazing
on a flag.

Speaker 1 (13:29):
I think before we straight too far from the horse
game at the casinos, I wonder if it's the same machine.
I remember seeing an episode of Pawn Stars where one
of the casinos was selling one of the bigger casinos
was selling the game and trying to sell it to
the guys, and they didn't buy it. Yeah, I wonder
if it went to this smaller casino and everything, which
would make a lot of money, because uh, Zach believes

(13:52):
it was.

Speaker 3 (13:53):
It's very rare in one of the last in the country,
and the guy who owns the casinos just into it. Sure,
so he runs around and if he finds any other
machine still even sorted together, he buys them up so
he has parts and stuff like that. You know, even
though like, Okay, I know, we don't make anything in
America anymore. That comes up a lot, but there are

(14:17):
still machinists who can replicate things and you can show
them how things work and they know how to do this,
like you know.

Speaker 1 (14:24):
Yeah, but I bet it would be cheaper to buy
a bunch of you know, distressed or disused machines and
just harvest all the parts.

Speaker 3 (14:32):
Yeah, well, definitely, once again the Vegas logic, it would
make it more rare. So you still have to go
to this one casino just play this one game. And
everybody was really into it. It was pretty funny.

Speaker 1 (14:45):
No, it's a fun It really is a fun game.
I've seen it, you know. I used to go to
Vegas a lot in the nineties to cover boxing and stuff.
So I'm sure you know. And in fact, I was
going to say, you're right about the gambling and stuff. Luckily,
because I would go for boxing, not only the main
event and fight day itself, but you know, you'd hang
out in the press room and there was always people

(15:06):
to interview, so I really didn't spent a lot of
time at the gaming tables. I didn't need to. There
were other distractions. And then also in the late nineties,
as things were going, I would take a taxi to
the Las Vegas Hilton and spend an afternoon at the
Star Trek the Experience well of course, Combination Museum and
one of those great motion rides where you're not really

(15:28):
moving but the hydraulics makes it feel like you're pitching
around and you get a big screen. Pretty cool, Oh
my god. Oh and then you eat lunch at at
Quarks because they have like a replica of the Deep
Space nine restaurant and everything, and it's like, oh, are
you kidding me? I was a pig, and shit, I
was happy as well. This is that you were unbelievably fun. Yes.

Speaker 3 (15:46):
The thing I wish I had done this time that
I didn't I was flying back too fast. Some friends
of mine, Cat Ferris and some others went to Mega Mart.
The thing duror George R. R. Martin is behind where
it's like it looks like some kind of weird alternate universe, uh,

(16:07):
you know, marketplace store. But there's a story behind it
as you get further in, and you know, I won't
spoil any of it, but uh, she showed me pictures
and I was like, Okay, this is really cool.

Speaker 1 (16:18):
I need to do this next time, like a fantasy.
It's like a shopping area, but it's like setting up
the theme is like a fantasy kind.

Speaker 3 (16:25):
Of Yeah cool, Well that sounds great. Alternate timeline. It's like,
oh that Vegas. Does this make sense?

Speaker 1 (16:35):
We know it sucks and I saw I forget where
I saw it, but on a YouTube video or something.
Good portions of the Star Trek experience are there behind
walls and they haven't done anything with the space. Uh
but yeah, that like because beyond the ride and the
gift shop and and the restaurant and everything, there was

(16:59):
a whole wing of the casino that was sci fi theme.
And it really wasn't even Star Trek per se theme,
just sci fi in general. That's all walled up. They
just kind of shut it down, which is too bad,
because yeah, I'm like, god, man, make it, you know,
make it there tomorrow land essentially of the vain whatever,
but that would be cool.

Speaker 3 (17:19):
I bet they've got one of the Robbies there and
the Lost in Space robot and stuff like that.

Speaker 1 (17:25):
How much of a quantity? I forget what Robbie says
to Earl Holloman when he makes the booze for him,
seventy two gallons enough, sir, seventy thousand gallons enough, sir.
It's a little fifths of booze and everything for Earl Holloman.
I love that. I love I'm sorry everybody been. Yeah,
if you haven't seen Forbidden Planet, it is so great

(17:45):
because it literally is a fifties sci fi paperback come
to life, and it is. The designs are still really
interesting and great.

Speaker 3 (17:54):
It's got Hard Herman music. If you like Hitchcock, you know,
it's it's got everything.

Speaker 1 (17:59):
Amazing seeing cast up and down, Leslie Nielsen and Shanner's
straight role. But you've also got Walter Pigeon as the
mad doctor, and you got the great Richard Anderson Oscar
Goldman from the Bionic TV shows. And stuff. He's one
of the I believe he's the doctor. I want to
say he's the doctor, but uh, it's so it's so
prototype Star Trek. It's clearly rotten Berry's like, hey, that's

(18:22):
a good idea. Yeah, let yeah figure something like this out. Man.

Speaker 3 (18:27):
They they used the creature from the ID repeatedly in
Star Trek. I mean that's it's just working from well.

Speaker 1 (18:34):
And also, my god, the Time Tunnel that Irwin Allen
Time Travel Show uses a lot of the stock footage
of the alien structures and everything.

Speaker 3 (18:44):
Oh yeah, and.

Speaker 1 (18:45):
It's like, my god, that was literally like twelve years
earlier and it still worked. It still looked amazing. So yeah,
pretty pretty shit. Well, anyway, let's get into your ended.

Speaker 3 (18:54):
Up on the Titanic. If you remember the.

Speaker 1 (18:59):
They knew it was gonna happened to him? Uh's that's
a classic. And again the great Jimmy Darren and Robert
Colbert really cool too. You know, I prefer Robert Colbert
in Time Tunnel. Then when they tried to limp along
with Maverick and he was like, you know, the fourth
Brother or whatever, and it's like, all right, maybe it's
time to go.

Speaker 3 (19:19):
You know, you can't keep bringing him brothers on anything
that does that. It's always it's always a bad scene.

Speaker 1 (19:25):
Oh yeah, oh yeah, but listen back to and then,
as I said, i've been comic books.

Speaker 3 (19:30):
Yeah, we just talk about comic books.

Speaker 1 (19:31):
Well, what I like about this story, I mean is
that you've expanded beyond Sanna with the Bat family, and
there were guest stars in the first series, but this
really is Santa and the Justice League taking care of
the problem. So talk and also right now in the
stantus quo of the Justice League Unlimited that Wade is
set up. It's the biggest Justice League ever, much like

(19:54):
the cartoon. But we're seeing you know, and we're gonna
get into this in specific characters that you're using as well.
But yeah, tell me a bound, like, were the parameters
that they gave you beyond what was in the first story?
How how was it laid out to you to do
another one of these?

Speaker 3 (20:08):
It was they just invited me back because that first
one did so well, and uh and I was like
finally and uh so I just literally came at him
with what my first ideas were and everybody was liking it.
And I didn't even know about the whole all in
uh d C movement that they were going to do.

(20:30):
I just wrote the whole thing, like I just assumed
that the Justice League could call on anybody anyway, Like
I I, I kind of dovetailed right into what they
were doing. And uh, you know, because I wanted to
bring like Mara Flacaman into it and Nubia and and
uh Flash's daughter Irie and and everybody like oh you
see right there, those didn't nail them.

Speaker 1 (20:54):
And of course indeed UH also that she is uh
and uh and I wanted another in there.

Speaker 3 (21:00):
That was the other thing, Like Damien was the Christmas
kid last year, and I was like, we need another kid,
and Wally West's daughter was perfect for the role, and
that was who the Flash office volunteered, Like would you
guys like to use her? And we were yes, that
would be great and Flash and so yeah, so we

(21:21):
pulled both of them in. But I really wanted her
in there because I wanted another kid, because I felt
like you kind of have to anchor a Christmas story
to a kid. And the other uh arbitrary rule I've
applied to these series is they're the old tradition of
telling ghost stories at Christmas, which most people don't know

(21:42):
is a thing. But if you ever listened to the
famous song that says, you know you tell scary ghost
stories and tales of the glory of Christmas is long
long ago, I.

Speaker 1 (21:53):
Don't know that it's because it was a thing.

Speaker 3 (21:56):
And like Robertson Davies, scholar and teacher in Canada, used
to do this when he uh now I'm forgetting which
college he taught at, but uh, where's the d net?

Speaker 2 (22:10):
Uh?

Speaker 3 (22:10):
He would always do a Christmas tradition where he would
get out and he would write new ghost stories and
tell everybody in person, which must have been amazing if
you were going there.

Speaker 1 (22:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (22:21):
Uh, And I just liked the idea, like because last
year was also a ghost story, like Crampis was possessed
by these spirits from the Phantom Zone. It was like, yeah,
it's a very DC type of growth story. And uh
so this time I was like, oh, we can make
the name really work by using the actual Silent Night

(22:43):
from the old braven Bolds of the fifties, and so
we bring him in as a real heavy And then
I realized by sticking with his name Silent Night and
having him just not talk, it really kind of put
him ahead of a lot of villains, because the typical
villain thing is to spill your guts about what you
want to do, and Silent Knight doesn't tell you what

(23:05):
he what he wants or what he's doing, which is
confounding to the heroes. And they're like, we're so used
to them telling us what would they want? You know, like,
so we can stop it. This guy just keeps doing
things and and it was kind of fun letting the
characters kind of run the show like that once. I
sort of let him do the things, you know, like

(23:27):
and I was doing different stuff like that, like I uh,
I noticed some people in reviews were talking about, Oh,
I thought this whole thing with the Fury Road type
gang was going to go on longer, and I thought
it was too, which happened, which kind of wraps up
number three, number two, and uh, but I actually thought about, well,

(23:49):
how would Santa deal with this? Like what's the Sanda
way to fight these guys? And then when I realized, oh,
eas spread his magical dust that puts everybody to sleep.
He's not gonna waste a lot of time, and uh,
that's what just got over And that's a that's a
plotting thing I like to do.

Speaker 1 (24:05):
I like to I don't like to.

Speaker 3 (24:07):
Force characters through a plot. I like to set up
a plot and nothing, let the characters do what they're
going to do, and then if it changes what I
was gonna do, then it changes it.

Speaker 1 (24:15):
You know.

Speaker 3 (24:16):
That's it makes the story more interesting, less predictable, and
just gives a life to it. That's that's my recommendation
for writers who if anybody cares.

Speaker 1 (24:27):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (24:28):
You know, it's like I can really tell when characters
are being forced through a plot it is not fun.
And that's when you get the complaints that so and
so is acting out a character and blah blah blah.
You've got to just be open to the fact that
they would change your plan and and go with it.

Speaker 1 (24:46):
And uh.

Speaker 3 (24:47):
And I've really zenmed my way through this trying to
embrace this, and I've had great partners in this.

Speaker 1 (24:55):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (24:55):
Rob Levin, the main bad editor, has been incredibly helpful.
Lucas Kettner, the main artist, has just like gone above
and beyond and putting in idea time like he keeps
coming up with stuff, like he'll fill the backgrounds with
interesting details I didn't call for, but they weren't amazing.

(25:17):
Lucas has really like stepped up his game with this.
I feel like everybody's going to be all over him now.

Speaker 1 (25:23):
He's great. No, it looks amazing. Absolutely, he's really good.
You know. It's funny You've pointed out so many powers
that Santa has in your stories. I almost expect a
future edition of Who's Who in the DC Universe to
have a power scale and description. Were there in your
research for the stories? Did you discover Santa powers that

(25:45):
you didn't realize but you found them? And I'm like, oh,
wait a minute, we can use that.

Speaker 3 (25:49):
I kind of I kind of just worked, I sort
of reverse engineered from the things that everybody except Santa
can do. Sure, you know, yeah, I was just kind
of going like, okay, what's the one thing everybody agrees
on with this guy? And also, you know, like my
thing has been treating him like he's a Norse demigod.

Speaker 1 (26:10):
Yes, he's very much so he's much more like thor. Yeah,
he's elemental while still being a person. But yeah, no, no, no,
there's definitely god like powers happening. And he makes a.

Speaker 3 (26:22):
Point in the story and I think in the latest
one that's out I think he does talk. They do
talk a little bit about the fact that as we
get closer to the winter solstice, this is actually the
time he's the most powerful.

Speaker 1 (26:35):
Sure, and.

Speaker 3 (26:37):
So if you have someone helping you, now it's him,
is a good place to have it. He's kind of
on his home turf. This is when he has all
the magic and energy at his disposal. You get the
sense that he's not completely immortal, but at the same
time he's you know, like he's not as strong as Superman,

(27:00):
but also in a way he may be more enduring,
you know. There there's we try to like not nail
everything down, sure, but at the same time, like you know,
just and we're not trying to just straight up like
Santa's a badass.

Speaker 1 (27:15):
And I was about to say that exactly, that is
a badass.

Speaker 3 (27:19):
Yeah, he is a badass.

Speaker 1 (27:21):
No, he is, and he's there to take care of business.
But he is still Santa. I mean in the first
series when you had him rattling off Dick Grayson's address
and stuff, but it's like, yeah, I know, man, I
used to get the letters. I know, I know where
you live. It's just or his first his first entrance
in the new volume that he comes he comes through
the fireplace. He's like, yeah, I mean I haven't I

(27:43):
haven't made an entrance like this in a while and stuff.
But it's like, yeah, there's Sanna coming down the chimney.

Speaker 3 (27:47):
Man, I'm going to come through the fireplace. What'd you think?
And we established in the first series that like the
way he used to hear children's uh wishes was if
they spoke in front of the tree in their home.
And yes, that actually built out of a thing I
used to tell my kids. And here's where the personal

(28:10):
element comes in, Like when they would ask me like, well,
how sant is supposed to know, It's like this tree
works like an antenna. Like, yeah, that's why you're supposed
to have the Christmas tree. You say something in front
of it and he might be able to hear you.

Speaker 1 (28:23):
That's fantastic And I just.

Speaker 3 (28:24):
Worked that right into the story. Yeah, so there's some
dad stuff coming at you.

Speaker 1 (28:30):
But hey, Kyle Fegley's watching us, and I want to
get his comment in, and I.

Speaker 3 (28:35):
Oh, I definitely want to hear what Kyle has said.

Speaker 1 (28:37):
There you go. Robertson Davis Cornish Trilogy Whips, got to
check those Christmas stories. Also, I've watched Magaret Maverick back
to front maybe four times on Heroes an Icon since COVID,
so y'all can talk about it all day.

Speaker 3 (28:54):
We'll do a special Kyle episode where we just like,
you know, we should.

Speaker 1 (28:58):
Do a scene missing of about Maverick and have Fegle on.
I think that'd be great. I'm fascinated by that handful
of episodes that Roger Moore made, and do you know
the whole backstory of that, you know, and how he
became bo Maverick. He owed time and I guess either
movie slash TV to Warner Brothers here in the States

(29:20):
and he's like, put me on this and I'll look
up the research. Maybe Fegley knows if I'm getting it wrong,
but essentially, hey, I'll do this show for half a
season or whatever to close out my contract. Because right
after this he got involved doing the same right in
England and ITV, and that obviously was a massive not

(29:42):
only starring success for him, but he was also a
producer on the show. So that's where Roger Moore made
a lot of his money well before Bond was being
such an important part of the same TV series. But
I am fat because again he's this you know, I mean,
it's a classic Western strope of the trope of the
the British, uh, you know, guys showing I.

Speaker 3 (30:02):
Don't know what that dandy comes in. Yes, and here's
how he well, what was the one he and Tony
Curtis did for like just a few episodes.

Speaker 1 (30:12):
It's a season. It's a whole season. The Persuaders, the Persuaders.

Speaker 3 (30:16):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (30:17):
It TV. The all of ITV's output in the sixties
and seventies fascinates, the all onto me because Lou Grad,
who was like the Walt Disney of it TV. Everybody
you know, the guy's name, Lord Lou Grad. He was
made a British you know lord. But his thing was
to sell these shows internationally. We need at least one
American and as as a lead. So Robert Vaughan did

(30:41):
a show with them. I think it was the professionals.
I can't remember every A lot of the sixties and
seventies leading men would do like one season and they're
these tight little action shows and yeah, Tony Curtis and
Roger Moore and it's right before he did Bond and then.

Speaker 3 (30:57):
Minutes before he did Live and let die.

Speaker 1 (30:59):
Yeah, yep, he's got long hair in it, which is crazy.
And you got Tony Tony Curtis, Hey, Roger, let's uh,
let's find some broods and do something exciting with them.
All right, they're very good Tony.

Speaker 3 (31:11):
Yeah, they're telling Tony go extra, go extra New York
with this.

Speaker 1 (31:14):
Oh yeah. And he's and he's like he's the comedy
relief of the show at everything, and it's it's weird
because it's just after his great sixties leading man period,
so he's he doesn't look too old, but he doesn't
look young either, and he's kind of goofy looking at it.

Speaker 3 (31:29):
That's the tough part. It's the it's the thing before
Sean Connery becomes Beard Sean Connery where it's like what
quite do I do? And and uh yes, yeah, and
you feel for everybody. You can see when actors are
going through that. It's like it's almost better to just
go to a hobby for like five years and then
come back in as the elder statesman sort of figure whatever.

(31:53):
It's tough.

Speaker 1 (31:54):
Not everybody or you do, like Brad Pitt, just never
look different, I guess, and well mentioned in Connery and
Bond I you know, now, I watch Ever Say Never Again,
and all I could think of is, man, he looks great.
He they gave him the right hair piece. They it's
the right level of middle aged Bond or senior citizen

(32:17):
Bond if you want. But yeah, he just it was
and it's like, oh, there he is. And I loved
Moore and I always I'm the father Flanagain of Boystown
when it comes to James Bond. There's no such thing
as a bad Bond in my opinion metaphor, thank you,
including Lazenby. I mean, I love Lazenby, and it's like, no,
he's not the actor that the rest of them are.

(32:38):
That's the That's one of the best movies though.

Speaker 3 (32:40):
Hands yeah, arguably it's the best. It's the best or
second best after Casino Royale. It's yes, it's a great
it's the most beautiful looking Bond movie.

Speaker 1 (32:49):
Maybe.

Speaker 3 (32:50):
Uh, like, I can just get I can leave the
sound off and just watch Majesty's Secret Service all day.

Speaker 1 (32:58):
It's just so good. It's incredible. Uh oh, Paul Chadwick, everybody,
geez hey, Paul Man, Paul, I am such a fan.
I love that you're watching and I would love. Yeah.
The one Lou Great story I know is that Patrick
McGowin gave him the pilot script for the Prisoner and said,
I have no idea what I just read. How much
will it cost? Yeah? Yeah, again, that's why Lou Gray

(33:20):
just he you'd give him a pitch and it's like,
all right, I don't get it, but you know you're bankable.
Let's go.

Speaker 3 (33:27):
That's important to like, well.

Speaker 1 (33:28):
People are recognized there's something here. I don't get it.
It doesn't matter if I get it, We're gonna do it.
And he had a broad He had a broad taste
as well, because as we all know, he's the guy
who green lit them up at show after Jim Henson
was banging his head on the wall with all the
American networks going on, I don't see it, and Lou
Griggs like sounds great.

Speaker 3 (33:49):
Complain that you wouldn't go with the Muppet Show. In
looking back, you know, it's like this is the most
this had to happen. You know, it's so perfect.

Speaker 1 (33:58):
Yeah yeah, so yeah, no, hats off, hats off to
Lou Great. Chadwick. I'm telling you, man, I'm really thrilled
that you're watching Longtime Concrete all you get, Paul, be
on this show so I can watch you on it.
Please please, man, listen listen to our please yeah, you
know me, and I'll connect you with John. That'd be great, absolutely, man.
I think I follow him to one h well and

(34:22):
and Facebook or whatever. So yeah, no, thank you. It
really it means a lot that you're watching.

Speaker 3 (34:26):
Paul's got some amazing stories, man, It's like, and none
of them are stuff he couldn't tell on the air,
So okay, they're they're they're so good. I always hearing
what he's got to tell you.

Speaker 1 (34:38):
Uh oh, there you go. Yeah, I would like to
flag my next concrete many hell yeah, man, good lord,
I one of my favorite getting somewhere tonight. This is good.
I'm thrilled. Honestly. One of my favorite prints, one of
my favorite prints that I bought for the comic book
Legal Defense Fund was this great Chadwick uh with with
blue blue ink, just this series of panels of concrete

(34:58):
and stuff, and it's like, oh man, and yeah, concrete,
just what a great source. Yea'd be an honor to
talk to you, Paul, truly. Well, Paul, you.

Speaker 3 (35:06):
Should just negotiate with Richardson or whoever have they given
you that the big concrete figure that used to be
always in the front hall when you went into dark Horse,
because I would go in there every time to see
friends or whatever and get greeted by concrete. And I
always thought Paul.

Speaker 1 (35:24):
Should just have this at his house, like the Rocky statue.
That's fantastic, Like that's great.

Speaker 3 (35:29):
Because it was really nicely made. It was a beautiful piece.

Speaker 1 (35:32):
Absolutely, absolutely, you're killing me. Well back to this, this
great mini series. And you know you said that you
went to the flash office and they gave you iri.
Did you have to go to the individual offices and say,
all right, I got this thing, who can I use?

Speaker 3 (35:47):
And did it for us? You know, he put out everybody.
He's the bad editor, so he's got a little bit
of sway. You know, sure if they want to come
to him for a cup of sugar later, they got
to come and play nice. So uh but you know
they were being pretty cool. Actually, Like I'm trying to think,
did I ask for anybody I didn't get?

Speaker 1 (36:06):
And actually I did. I asked for Supergirl and I
didn't get Supergirl.

Speaker 3 (36:10):
Surprising, okay, And I well, I think it was because
of whatever they had her doing at the moment or sure,
so you know it happens if we make this a
trilogy and do three, Supergirl's got to show up in it,
because you know, come on, got But I did get
Mary Marvel, which I'm very excited about.

Speaker 1 (36:30):
Very happy, Yes, indeed. Yeah. And also a lot of
the villains that you put in the thing too, which
is great to say because it really is. And again
this is what makes it more of a whole DC
universe story that it's even impacting the other villains and everything.

Speaker 3 (36:47):
Yeah, and I like, like, I got h Felix Faust
in there, and uh and we did our kind of
own spin on him where he's very pretty much Russell Brand.

Speaker 1 (36:58):
But uh, you know, I didn't pick up on that,
but I really like that now back in the look that's.

Speaker 3 (37:06):
Uh, DC is not responsible for any bullshit, I say,
And yes.

Speaker 1 (37:11):
But uh you know, like.

Speaker 3 (37:14):
Yeah we would. We got away with stretching things, because
like that's always the danger when you suddenly give a
small team like control over several characters that they haven't
depicted in their new uh you know version yet, and
like what if we start running with it and then
you're obligated to do the way we did it. Uh,

(37:35):
and they don't have to, Like, no one cared about
this thirty years ago, right right?

Speaker 1 (37:42):
Isn't interest?

Speaker 2 (37:43):
You know?

Speaker 1 (37:43):
I love again. I kind of love that they figured
out a way to make Santa an action hero. And again,
I don't know if that was your device you pitch
to them, or did they come to you and say
we want Santa to be they.

Speaker 3 (37:57):
Came, They came to me. It was a discussion between
j Evans and Ben Abernathy, who was in charge of
Batman Family at the time, and somehow they arrived at
the thing of like, hey, it'd be fun to do
a story where instead of the usual kind of Santa
as like did it happen or not and blah blah
blar or whatever, what if we just bring him in

(38:20):
kick an ass with everybody else. And Ben ran it
by me and then I thought, well, yeah, actually, if
you think about it, Santa would be the prototype for
a lot of these heroes and he could fill that
role of a hero that like they look up to,
which I really leaned into a Superman like Superman's.

Speaker 1 (38:40):
Great exchanges between him and Superman.

Speaker 3 (38:42):
You're excited to see Santa even when things are going
terrible in the story. The fact that Sanna shows up.
Superman's like, yes, and that fits yeah, And I love
to do that characterization with him. I was like, of course,
it's like who else would Superman be more excited than

(39:04):
anybody to meet?

Speaker 1 (39:05):
Well, And and it's so great because of course Batman
is the opposite where it's just like, yeah, right, fine,
you're here, help us out.

Speaker 3 (39:11):
Yeah, Like Batman's like, yes, very I respect him very.

Speaker 1 (39:13):
Much, like necessary evil, all right, we need your help,
come on, Yeah, it's in this all right.

Speaker 3 (39:21):
And we did do that one moment, and that was
one of the main things I wanted to do in
the early series was have that whole thing where when
Superman realizes the words gotten out that say exists and
Batman already knew him and he's his friend and didn't
tell him about it, like just the greatest betrayal of

(39:42):
the world's finest team, Like, how.

Speaker 1 (39:44):
Did you do that to me? That's great, that's wonder.

Speaker 3 (39:48):
Maybe Superman's going to kill Batman. I don't know what's
going to happen here.

Speaker 1 (39:51):
You know, but he doesn't. No. By the way, I
more more Nubia, please. I've been a fan of Nubia
since the seventies is great, and I'm really glad that
she has the agency that she has these days. And rightfully,
so she's a great, great character. Great Again.

Speaker 3 (40:08):
I was just kind of going with characters I wanted
to see, and then after the fact, I sort of realized, Oh,
they're starting to like put a little spotlight on some
of these characters, like Zatanna is having a big moment now,
and uh, you know, and it's like so good because
to me, I in my mind, Zatanna just Robin just
treats her like his aunt.

Speaker 1 (40:32):
Yeah, like the way a kid has this really hot.

Speaker 3 (40:35):
Aunt who's very capable, and they don't think about them
that way. They just think that's that's my aunt, whether
she is or actually is or not. And but she's
the first one Damien thinks of that can help, and
so he goes over there and bangs on her window
and everything to get her back in the action. And
so and we made her sit out a lot of

(40:58):
the first series, so she gets a lot of time
in this one. You know, she's like she's crucial to
the story.

Speaker 1 (41:04):
Yeah, no, honestly, man, it's a great story. And then, really,
like I said, I'm really glad the first one did
so well because it's another fun story and it's like
this mini event that you know, started on Thanksgiving week
or the week before, I forget which, but yeah.

Speaker 3 (41:16):
They gave us an extra issue so we were able
to start in November this time, so and every week
this month, and you had one in November, and it's
like great. Now five is a great number for me,
Like one hundred pages I can really roll with.

Speaker 1 (41:33):
Sure. Christmas Day, everybody, that's when the issue five comes out.
Issues just my deer family.

Speaker 3 (41:39):
You walk down to the comic shop, demand the open.

Speaker 2 (41:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (41:43):
I don't know that's going to work for everybody, but
it's great that day.

Speaker 3 (41:48):
Look out your window if you see some boy in
the street, say you there, boy, it's like, is that
comic shop down the street open?

Speaker 1 (41:56):
And then throw him a big coin and make him.

Speaker 3 (41:58):
Differ book sovereign exactly rot a sovereign and send them
down there to buy the largest comic you can find.

Speaker 1 (42:06):
Big as me? Suh? But what as big as me?
All right? Where are you? And that's good. It's a
good transition for some other stuff I wanted to talk
about with you, because it is the Christmas season and
we're inundated with the Christmas, the old Christmas specials, the
Christmas movies. Personally, all right, let me get this out
of the way. I don't know about everybody else watching
and listening, and feel free to chime in. I can't

(42:29):
watch Hallmark or the other channel that goes falls to
the wall Christmas movies.

Speaker 3 (42:34):
You know my daughter does that because she's that's great. No,
she's into the whole cynicle making fun of it thing
or what. Okay, well, I'm like I did that when
I was younger too, and I can't. Like, no, I
just won't watch a bad movie. It's sorry, I don't
have time to watch a terrible Hallmark movie. I'm glad
people are enjoying them. It's not my thing.

Speaker 1 (42:57):
No, no, But as far as rerunning some of the
old stuff, do you have a favorite Christmas movie of
the old movies? I mean it's well, you had a couple.

Speaker 3 (43:08):
It's super cliche to say wonderful life, and and of
course people say, like that's a New Year's movie. It's like, well,
it's it's the whole season, really and and it's everything
and it's Frank Capra, so you should just watch it anyway.

Speaker 1 (43:21):
Uh uh, let me think what else?

Speaker 3 (43:25):
You know what? The one in recent years I really
like and wash an influence on this series is the
Clause animated movie.

Speaker 1 (43:34):
Have you watched that yet? I have not? Tell me.
It's really good. It's uh, it's shockingly good.

Speaker 3 (43:40):
And it came it only came out about four five
years ago, and it's uh, oh crap, I'm forgetting the
name of the studio and the people behind it and works. No, no, no,
it's not them at all.

Speaker 1 (43:56):
It's a it's a it's a left field animation company.

Speaker 3 (44:00):
Oh yeah, it's uh part somebody will chime in, where's
Fabily come?

Speaker 1 (44:05):
Only? You know, somebody will get in on this.

Speaker 3 (44:09):
But uh yeah, look at Claws and uh there's a
little bit in there you can go, oh yeah, clearly
they they watched this.

Speaker 1 (44:16):
But uh, it's got so much good stuff.

Speaker 3 (44:19):
It's totally different story, but it's a it's a really
great Santa origin too. Mine is particularly tailored for the
DC universe, but that one is one I would be
happy as uh if I were a parent letting a
kid watch a thing like with me. When I was
a kid, I was uh, you know, I was watching

(44:40):
ranking bass.

Speaker 1 (44:41):
Uh, we're going to get into that going.

Speaker 3 (44:44):
You know some of in some of the weirder Santa
Origin stuff they would do, which is yeah, and I
would take it just the way I took comic books. Like,
if I liked that part of the Origin, I'd like,
I'd save it. If I didn't, I'd forget about it.

Speaker 1 (45:00):
I had forgotten about one Rank invests, in particular The
Little Drummer Boy, which I guess I don't know if
they show it anymore or not, because it, first of all,
it's incredibly violent. Everything that happens the Little Drummer Boys,
kids or parents are killed. Yeah, and they're and they're
killed by these desert bandits, which you could, I guess

(45:20):
argue might be because they're not Christian, that they might
be Muslim.

Speaker 3 (45:24):
I mean, so it's kind of they touch on some
things that we might not be crazy about seeing right now.

Speaker 1 (45:31):
U Fegley's got our answer about Klaus A Spanish Company,
SPA Studios. Yes, but Jason Schwartzman plays the lead. It
is indeed great, thank you, thank you. He always comes
through that guy.

Speaker 2 (45:43):
Yea.

Speaker 1 (45:44):
But yeah, no, the.

Speaker 3 (45:46):
Yeah, I had forgotten about the Little Drummer Boy.

Speaker 1 (45:49):
Yeah, and it is. It's it's it's a downer. It's
a downer, man. So that's another reason why I'm not surprised.
I always love to claim because it's true. The Rudolph
Spy oh sure, premiered the day I was born, really
sixty years ago, yes, sir, sixty years December.

Speaker 3 (46:06):
Second, crazy, how well that special holds up.

Speaker 1 (46:09):
I love that special well, and also I love how
and I don't listen. I love it, and I and
forgive me everybody. I don't mean to say it's in
a sort of pejorative way. I love that the gay
community has embraced Hermie and it's like Hermie, Oh yeah, Hermie,
Hermie's gay. I just want to fit in and it's
like I don't fit in with everybody else. So it's like,
that's fantastic, man. I love that.

Speaker 3 (46:30):
And people always think these are like, oh, this is
a later thing that works. I'm pretty sure they ment
it at the time too.

Speaker 1 (46:36):
Maybe yeah, you know, maybe it's like when it's like when.

Speaker 3 (46:40):
You, me and Gabe were watching that Studs Tircle thing
and the guy brings his friend home from college and
it was the whole skit about it and he's like
embarrassed for by met his friend, and like we all
kind of forgot we were watching something from the fifties
and we're all thinking, Loy, yeah, he's brought his boyfriend home,
and like we're like and then we suddenly remembered, Oh no,

(47:00):
they wouldn't have done back then, but it but it
works so perfectly. It's like, well, the writers did mean that,
you know, They're they're yeah, they're just assuming you're not
going to bring that to it, but it absolutely means that.
And yes, sure's gay.

Speaker 1 (47:16):
Of course he is. No. I love it and a
lot of mentioning Santa Claus, Yes, did you have another
thought about Rudolf because I was gonna mention Santa Claus, Well, like,
I never get.

Speaker 3 (47:26):
Tired of Rudolph. It's so good.

Speaker 1 (47:28):
Yeah. Uh.

Speaker 3 (47:29):
And and even when like they get on the whole
misfit toys thing and the whole weird uh side plot
with King Moon Racer, I'm like.

Speaker 1 (47:38):
The lion with the wings. Yes, is this some other like.

Speaker 3 (47:42):
Little alternate universe thing they wanted to explore, But it doesn't.
It just sort of connects. I don't quite give to it.
And then loved it and you're back to Yukon Cornelius
and the bumble and all that stuff. And oh yeah,
by the way, that does influence because, uh, I believe
editor in chief Marie was thinking of that, because she

(48:07):
suggested something like the bumble show up in the story hilarious,
might happen later in our series.

Speaker 1 (48:14):
Understood. That's cool, very nice.

Speaker 3 (48:16):
When editors over me suggests something, I take it pretty seriously.

Speaker 1 (48:20):
John, I respect that. If I can, I respect that, Mark,
I absolutely shoot it down. Yeah. People who might be
podcasts hunting for something great to listen to. Last was
it Monday? I guess it was Monday. This week Gilbert
Godfried's old podcast, he did a series of Christmas episodes

(48:40):
with Mario Canton, who's just balls out funny in that show,
and they talk in depth about the various rank in
bass shows, and I got Mario. Mario brings up some
incredibly hilarious like oh, give me a break, give Frosty
and the little girl in the greenhouse. Come on, that's
a predator right there. It's the terrible, terrible observations but

(49:02):
funny as hell adults observation had Gilbert laughed, Oh, it
was fantastic, and I love the two of them. Do
Baby it's cold outside as Betty nineteen eighties Betty Davis
and Tony Curtis and poort. Betty Davis suffered a stroke
in her later years but still would come out in public.
And he sings as a post stroke Betty Davis, and

(49:27):
it's pretty it's a great I mean, you could find
old Tonight shows with Johnny and Betty Davis and stuff,
and he's pretty much nailed Betty Davis of the late eighties,
early nineties and stuff. It's pretty cool.

Speaker 3 (49:38):
Those guys are fearless.

Speaker 1 (49:40):
Yeah, oh yeah, great show, great show. But now lots
of great old Christmas memories on these episodes, and yeah, yeah,
I'll admit I get sentimental about the ranking bass stuff.
And also, by the way, and I want to know
your opinion, Gilbert loves the mister McGough Christmas Carol. Oh,
I I too love that Mark hates it and can't

(50:03):
believe he's like Jules Stein must have been hungover when
he wrote all those songs, so the worst songs. And
I can appreciate what he's saying because little tiny Tim
is a little annoying in in that.

Speaker 3 (50:14):
But the little tiny Tim is annoying from day one
from Dickens work, it's like that's his deal. No one
likes tiny Tim with his his weird ailment that can
be cured with money.

Speaker 1 (50:29):
Who knows.

Speaker 3 (50:32):
It's like, get enough money in a large turkey in
this kid and he won't need these crutches.

Speaker 1 (50:37):
What does he have? Like, you know, it's I don't know.
That's fantastic.

Speaker 3 (50:42):
Dickens was ahead of writers in movies and TV years
later who would also do the same thing where it's like,
can you guys just please research some condition? Can you
just can you just not make it some magical ailment
that needs money? You know.

Speaker 1 (50:59):
It's like, did you watch I'm sure you did back
in the day the Henry Winkler American Christmas Carol.

Speaker 3 (51:07):
No, I never saw that.

Speaker 1 (51:08):
Oh man, I don't know if it's on YouTube everybody,
but you should absolutely watch it. That And then also
Marlo Thomas did a reverse gender It's a Wonderful Life
where it's about Mary, the Donna Reid character from the
original movie, but it's Mary Bailey and she's the one
that wish is she was never born. And Chris Leachman
plays the angel and Orson Wells plays mister Potter, what

(51:32):
was this on? Oh, it was a TV movie. It
was an ABC TV movie. Marlo Thomas like post that
Girl obviously like seventies, early eighties. I mean, you know,
definitely if it's Race Leachman and orson, wells, I come
on and and I believe Wayne Rogers plays George, and yeah,

(51:53):
and it's it's really it's interesting. Again, it's really from
from Mary's and it's not like they just gave all
of George's plot to Mary in this thing, which is fine,
you know, it's still worked. It was interesting, But no,
that in the Winkler America Christmas Carol absolutely hilarious.

Speaker 3 (52:10):
If there's a weakness in Capra's wonderful life, it's the
fact that we're supposed to believe the most horrible outcome
is that Mary.

Speaker 1 (52:19):
You know, was that she became an old maid. George
Spinster's great word. I love the word spinster. That's not
used anymore.

Speaker 3 (52:28):
I'm sorry Donna Reed didn't. But like, have no options,
that's not a thing. Like you guys are really really
especially believe a lot of stuff here.

Speaker 1 (52:39):
Especially earlier when they're when they're flirting with each other,
and it's after they were in the pool, and I
was going to say, you get the legs, you get
the legs. Shut of down Reed. It's like, man, Donna Reed,
you forget how hot Donner Reed was if you're not
watching from here to return her, she calls.

Speaker 3 (52:55):
Back up there and goes, he's down here making mad
love to me. Mother, She well, tell him.

Speaker 1 (52:59):
To get out here. Why don't you kiss it? The guy,
the guy in the porch, why don't you, Why don't
you slip in the tongue? Youth has wasted all the
wrong people. Oh, hold on a second, I'll show you something.
Hold on a minute, back up, Mary.

Speaker 3 (53:14):
I mean people who have never watched it. This is
great cinema and you should come on all the time.

Speaker 1 (53:21):
I feel bad. I feel bad that. On the one hand, fine,
you know whatever. Maybe you know they've reclaimed the rights
in now NBC bought it, But I mean back when
we were kids, it was in public domain, so pretty
much any UHF channel and public testation. I would non
stop from Thanksgiving through Christmas. Absolutely, man, And that's great

(53:44):
because it really I mean I remember on Cheers, I'm
making fun of that and going, oh yeah, the local
station is doing it's a Wonderful Week where they're just
for seven days showing nothing but uh, it's a wonderful life.

Speaker 3 (53:55):
But also the Saturday Night Live thing where they did the.

Speaker 1 (53:59):
The alternated yeah, the alternate ending yes.

Speaker 3 (54:02):
Or whatever, where Uncle Billy suddenly remembers that he left
his money in the paper he gave old Man Potter
and they all go over there and they just start
beating Potter and throwing him around, and Dana Carve he's
like doing like all.

Speaker 1 (54:15):
The rest, like shrestling moves out of him. Yes. And
then and then Potter gets out of his wheelchairs starts crawling.
Hey he can walk. He can walk. That's those things
they've ever done. Oh yeah, that's that is That is
a classic SNL schedule. Absolutely, man, that you know, I
never and I really did put the math together. But

(54:35):
this was like one of, if not the very first
movie Jimmy Stewart made after World War Two. And that scene,
that scene in the bar when he's crying and stuff.
They say he really did kind of channel his own
post traumatic stress and everything that he was kind of
dealing with, and you really do see him kind of
fall apart in you know, in that movie, and in

(54:58):
ways that even like mister Smith or some of his
other more dramatic and emotional moments like oh my god
that and also when when Clarence is telling him and
I can't remember exactly what moment, but they have that
great close up of his face and he looks borderline insane.
He can't believe all this is happening. You see, George,
you had a wonderful life.

Speaker 3 (55:16):
Yeah, no, he's he's coming apart. It's like Stuart could
really act. God, yeah, he didn't always get the chance.
But like I mean, obviously we've gone into a whole
episode where we talk about man a Shot, Liberty Balance,
come on, how great it is and it is one
of the greatest movies of all times.

Speaker 1 (55:35):
You know, Jeff, I got to tell you. It is
a every month Liberty Balance does quite well and people
steep coming back to our review of Liberty Balance, which
really makes me happy. And that in my Nightstalker episode
are like the two non comic book things that like
I continue to live on.

Speaker 3 (55:55):
I think because it's the one time instead of all
of us acting like a bunch of know it all assholes,
like a bunch of fan boys. Yeah, because we just
cannot believe how we're getting to talk about something we
like so much and we're just so into it that
you can't help it, like, go watch it.

Speaker 1 (56:11):
Come on. You know again, I'm making other podcast recommendations
for everybody, but you must remember this, the great old
Hollywood podcasts that couldtrink along with does. They're about to
go into a new season and it's all about the
filmmakers that were in their senior years in the sixties
and seventies and their final years trying to make movies.

(56:33):
And it's called the Old Man is Still Alive, right,
And that was a reference to Yeah, and they already
said like George Kukor is going to be in there,
and Orson Wells and Hitchcock and John Ford. That's why
I mentioned I was talking about Ford movies and stuff. No,
it is, and it is interesting because it really was
that period, especially from the mid sixties through the early seventies,

(56:56):
when the new filmmakers, the easy rider guys in everything,
We're coming on the scene and the studio system was
crumbling and yeah, these guys, you know, their last movies weren't,
as you know, well received or in some cases not
obviously as good as their earlier out but we went
like a guy like Kitchcock with family plot in you know,
the early seventies, and it's like, it's such a shame

(57:17):
because he was coming off of literally two decades of
him being the man in the way that Spielberg became
the man, and it's just, you know, go ahead that long.

Speaker 3 (57:29):
It was like only a few years ago that you know, like, im,
I finally got the rest of my family to watch
The Birds, and I'm like, I'm sorry.

Speaker 1 (57:38):
I think The Birds is just an amazing achievement.

Speaker 3 (57:41):
I love that movie. It's like that's one of the classics,
and I feel like people misinterpret it wildly all the time.
But uh, you know, well I hope she uh definitely
goes into references us talking about Skado.

Speaker 1 (57:57):
You know, she said it's gonna be like fourteen filmmakers.
I would imagine Premmenger's got to be it's gotta be
in there.

Speaker 3 (58:05):
Yeah, well, because with uh, you would definitely have with
Jimmy Stewart, you would obviously have uh which mccallach uh.

Speaker 1 (58:17):
The one with uh not Anthony Mann obviously.

Speaker 3 (58:21):
No, no, no, no, just a few years ago, like
what year is it. I wasn't prepared. I was only
prepared to talk about Santa Claus and now.

Speaker 1 (58:29):
Sorry, man, but we always do this. Yeah, exactly, you
got to mess around a little bit. What, Jimmy, what
a year or what do you remember the plot? What
are you trying to think of a director or murder
anatomy of Oh yeah, that's Premenger. Yeah so that was
sixty or sixty two something like that, maybe early, well
it might have been fifty eight or fifty nine. You

(58:50):
might be right about that, actually, because then there's advising consent,
which was after Anatomy of a Murder another premig great
classic film with Henry Fonda, instead of Jimmy's. But no,
i'm a, i'm a.

Speaker 2 (59:01):
You know.

Speaker 3 (59:02):
My idea is that those guys feel like they have
to change, and actually there was nothing they really had
to change, no.

Speaker 1 (59:09):
And they were you know, they were the they were
the agents of change in their hot periods, both Hitchcock
and Premature, where it's like, oh my god, look at
this guy and what he's doing. Oh my god. You know, yeah,
you know it's interesting.

Speaker 3 (59:22):
Primeger is the one you can tell really worried about it,
like he's the one going on Batman as mister Freeze.

Speaker 1 (59:29):
He's the one, you know, like he's trying to like stay.

Speaker 3 (59:33):
Relevant, and there's nothing that makes you less relevant than
trying to stay relevant. You know, it's like, no, just go,
just go with your thing, like there's understanding.

Speaker 1 (59:43):
There's a local Uh. There was a local TV show
in the seventies and into the early eighties called Cups Show,
and it was IRV Cups and and Earth Cups and
it was a big entertainment columnist from the forties till
his death and was a very important part of Chicago.
And he would have these amazing talk shows where we'd

(01:00:03):
have a circle of people and on one episode he
has auto premeger David Mammont I know was David Mannett.
I'm assuming it's playwright years of David mammontt and straight
out of college or something. Well, when Sexual Sexual Perversity
of Chicago before it became about Last Night the movie,
but this is very early, like eighty or eighty one.

(01:00:25):
Lucille Ball is in it in this group and Elizabeth
Ashley and they are having this fascinating talk about how
movie trends are changing. And Lucy's talking about and it
was a few years after, but she talked about how
you know with her Mame movie, you know, she tried
to make a G movie and she's just like, you know,

(01:00:46):
well the people saw I liked it, but you know
a lot of people just didn't want a G movie
at that period. What are you gonna do? And yeah,
premit Premeger is very outspoken to Mammont and Ashley Elizabeth Ashley.
In fact, she says BS but doesn't leave as B. Yes,
she says the words, which amazed me. But this show
was on at such late night TV that technically the

(01:01:07):
FCC would allow language. And also it had no time limit,
so if couple wanted to go three hours hours, they'd
let him go three hours. It's crazy, but you can
find it. I'll send you the link on YouTube and everything.
Original podcasts, you know. Well, yeah, yeah, in that way
that we Benison and I always say that Will Eisner
kind of had his own podcast with all those great
cassette interviews that he did to transcribe into the interviews

(01:01:31):
he did for the Spirit quarterly and stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:01:33):
You guys, are you going to tell Will to stop? No,
You're just going to keep going with it as long
as he's willing to talk.

Speaker 1 (01:01:40):
Great stuff, man, great stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:01:42):
Chicago and they've given us so much.

Speaker 1 (01:01:45):
Well again, this is back in the era when all
the big cities were important media players in their cities
and had good original programming. Have you no, I always
you know, listen, La is La New York is New
York and God bless him. But no, there wasn't. There
was a minute. There was a minute where Philadelphia and
Chicago we're actually very important Detroit in the Golden Age

(01:02:05):
of radio, creating the Green Hornet and the Lone Ranger,
for example, that those are purely Detroit products. That's interesting.
It is interesting.

Speaker 3 (01:02:14):
Shoulders, Yes, sir?

Speaker 1 (01:02:16):
Yes, sir? Have you? Uh? Have you? I mentioned Star
Trek earlier? Are you watching Lower Decks? Are you? Are
you watching that right now? No?

Speaker 3 (01:02:23):
But I'm going to I know what hard. I'll just
sit there and do a big fest where I watch
it like in a week.

Speaker 1 (01:02:31):
So, okay, it's almost done. It's almost done with its
ten episodes. What have I been watching? Uh? Yeah, what
have you been watching?

Speaker 3 (01:02:38):
I've been watching What We Do in the Shadows.

Speaker 1 (01:02:39):
I love that nice nicelst season, so I definitely want
to watch that. Cool. I watched the.

Speaker 3 (01:02:45):
Apple TV Bad Monkey Show with Vince Vaughan, which is
them trying to essentially do a Rockford Interesting.

Speaker 1 (01:02:54):
Oh that makes me want to watch it even more cool. Yeah, yeah,
I want to.

Speaker 3 (01:02:57):
I want to talk to you about it after you're done.
While it's good, I don't think they pull off all
the Rockford yan things that they want to do. But uh,
but it's worth your time and you'll look it's based
on a Hyasin novel.

Speaker 1 (01:03:13):
It's good. Oh, there you go. Carl Hiason's amazing. Yeah,
that's cool.

Speaker 3 (01:03:18):
It's all that sort of thing Florida crime, like Elinor
Elmore Leonard and stuff like that.

Speaker 1 (01:03:22):
Sure. Diplomat with Kerrie Russell and Russell Sewell. I love
Rufus Szoule. He is transformative and I honestly I never
really I was indifferent to Rufus Sewell until both seasons
of The Diplomat, and really the surprise was the first season.
But he's still nailing it in the second season, and

(01:03:42):
and he's got an American accent and I didn't even
initially recognize him. I'm like, oh, wait a minute, I
know who that is. That's the guy for the Man
in the High Castle. That's a guy from a Knight's Tale.

Speaker 3 (01:03:53):
In Man in the High Castle, you can tell like
he didn't know how long the show was going to
go on, so he just does an al Patino imitation
and uh. And then by the second season, Sewell clearly realizes, like,
I better really figure this out because I can't just
keep winging it with al Facino isms or whatever. So

(01:04:13):
he does do the do the research because he's a
good actor, and he does do the research and the
work and and really puts it in. And like Hi
Castle had a whole lot of scenes with characters you
don't care about, and not enough with the ones that
we were really into a great but it's a great
show and it's really interesting because you you see like

(01:04:36):
you can do your own kind of personal edit to
it and make it a better show. And then in
the later seasons they start to get into what really works,
Like they did a thing where for people who don't
know it's it's based on Philip K. Dick and it's uh,
it's a whole thing where where the Nazis and Japan
won World War two and they divide up America. Uh

(01:05:00):
So everything west of the Rockies is uh Japanese and
everything else is Nazi Germany. And Rufus Suhle is kind
of in charge of the American Nazis and stuff like that,
and uh, and they've got some great actors, uh working
the Japanese actors are amazing.

Speaker 1 (01:05:21):
Yes, everybody's really good.

Speaker 3 (01:05:24):
And it except for the two good looking leads that
they want to be the leads of the show.

Speaker 1 (01:05:28):
You couldn't care less about them.

Speaker 3 (01:05:30):
They're they're like, but they they they start to get
into a thing where they realize they're they're seeing videos.
They're they're I mean, well in that videos, there's they're
finding Yeah, they're finding film and it's just straight up like, uh,
the the bits you would see in the theaters that
say D Day Poe comes off amazing blah blah blah,

(01:05:52):
you know. And so they're seeing the alternate universe where
our universe are tapping and where the Allies win, and
they're like, someone's making this this propaganda and everything, and
you start to find out it's actually there's a connection
between split timelines. It's good science fiction in parts and

(01:06:14):
where it's most effective, like they do one where that
one character she shows up in like what would be
our timeline and you've just seen Rufus Sule being a
pretty evil and Nazi and then you see him as
an American dad going out to get hot dogs and
cokes with his son, like when they join up with him,

(01:06:36):
and it's such a stark contrast. Like, Man, it's like,
this is what you should have been pushing during the
election to show people the difference between the options that
they're looking at, Like this was actually a really well done.

Speaker 1 (01:06:52):
Highlight of that sort of thing.

Speaker 3 (01:06:54):
And you're like, oh my god, they're just listening to
the Beast Boys and getting cokes and it feels like heaven. Yeah,
it's like because you've just been with them in the
Nazi occupied timeline for so long or whatever, and it's
like that stuff was really effective to me.

Speaker 1 (01:07:13):
More. I'm with you. I absolutely agree man, well as
always been. I think fun conversation and I love the
tangents as always. But we'll remind people Rufus Sul, Santa
Claus and uh yes, Jimmy Jimmy Stewart as the Night
Yes Yes, Batman, Santa Claus. Silent Night Returns is the

(01:07:37):
mini series. It is underway. Issue three dropped on Wednesday today.
As we're recording this and two more parts leading right
up to Christmas with this fantastic story of Santa and
the DC universe really like again this all in Justice
League Unlimited that has been set up by the new
status quo facing the Silent Night and what does it represent?

(01:08:00):
And uh, it's it's a great story. It's a great event.
Penned by Jeff Parker as always man. Great to talk
to you, Thanks so much. Please come back you know
that tomorrow night. Speaking of alternate universes, I'm gonna have
Tom Pyre and Jamal I go talk about The Wrong Earth,
one of my favorite series that that's really good stuff

(01:08:20):
came from Ahoy. If you don't know the series, I was.

Speaker 3 (01:08:23):
Doing so many good books. Everybody, please don't sleep on
that company. They are putting their best foot forward on everything.
It's so good.

Speaker 1 (01:08:31):
It's so great to see a company that hits comic
book humor and and does it well. Yeah, and and
does it in different genres and all the writers get it.
And I give all those guys heart and doing amazing
stuff there. Absolutely. Stuart Moore is doing great stuff there too.

Speaker 3 (01:08:51):
Always good. Pire has always been good.

Speaker 1 (01:08:55):
Is always great. Yes. So if you don't know the
if you don't know the premise of the Wrong Earth.
Essentially imagine the switch through of different Batman, where the
Frank Miller Dark Knight Batman winds up in the Adam
West sixty six universe and the Adam West Batman winds
up in the Dark Knight universe, and how each of
them handles their new universes and stuff. It's great, it's

(01:09:17):
excellent and it's really good.

Speaker 3 (01:09:21):
I can't say enough good things about the whole line
one because I'm if I may editorialize for a second place,
I feel like too many other comics I'm seeing today
are just pitches for properties, and I'm just seeing stuff
that's like, Okay, you literally explained your premise in a

(01:09:44):
way like you might do it when you're pitching to
a producer. Sure here, and I'm like, I'm sorry, Like
let it be a comic book, please, amen, And ahoy
is doing that. They are just they all they care
about is doing books.

Speaker 1 (01:09:57):
They like.

Speaker 3 (01:09:58):
The publisher hearts he just wants to do what he
likes and uh, and that's what they're doing and it
makes the experience, uh, just a good reading experience. I'm
with you, You're I haven't seen a dud yet from him.

Speaker 1 (01:10:13):
No, and and Jamal and and Uh Tom I'm bringing
his a game. Oh yeah. And I'm sure though they'll
be willing to talk about other books that they've done
over the years, Pyre with things like Our Man and
jam all with Supergirl, among other great books and stuff.
So you know, no comfort your d C with your
DC questions. Tomorrow night with Uh with Tom and Jamal.
That's happening tomorrow and we're balloon Life's so until then,

(01:10:36):
thanks a lot for watching. Everybody. Stay safe, stay happy,
stay healthy.