National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

In this season six finale, Anna and Derek discuss the absurdity of getting an in-ground pool in Illinois, if maybe Cousin Eddie is better in smaller doses, and much more during their chat of the holiday classic National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989).

Connect with '80s Movie Montage on Facebook, Bluesky or Instagram! It's the same handle for all three... @80smontagepod.

Anna Keizer and Derek Dehanke are the co-hosts of ‘80s Movie Montage. The idea for the podcast came when they realized just how much they talk – a lot – when watching films from their favorite cinematic era. Their wedding theme was “a light nod to the ‘80s,” so there’s that, too. Both hail from the Midwest but have called Los Angeles home for several years now. Anna is a writer who received her B.A. in Film/Video from Columbia College Chicago and M.A. in Film Studies from Chapman University. Her dark comedy short She Had It Coming was an Official Selection of 25 film festivals with several awards won for it among them. Derek is an attorney who also likes movies. It is a point of pride that most of their podcast episodes are longer than the movies they cover.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:08):
And I want to look him straight in the eye.
I don't want to tell them what acheap lying, no good, rotten,
four-flushing, low-life,snake-licking, dirt-eating,
inbred, overstuffed, ignorant,blood sucking, dog-kissing,
brainless, dickless, hopeless,heartless, fat-ass, bug-eyed,
stiff-legged, spotty lip,worm-headed stack of monkey shit

(00:29):
he is.
Hallelujah! Holy shit! Where'sthe title?

SPEAKER_03 (00:35):
Hello, and welcome to 80s movie montage.
This is Derek.

SPEAKER_01 (00:38):
And this is Anna.

SPEAKER_03 (00:39):
And that was Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold having a
very Merry Christmas in NationalLampoons Christmas Vacation from
1989.

SPEAKER_01 (00:49):
And our season six finale movie.
Yeah, it is.

unknown (00:53):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (00:54):
Last show of the year.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
And what's kind of uh funny isthat, I mean, we didn't really
plan it out this way, but uhvacation.
I don't plan anything.
You don't you don't plan any ofit.
Yeah.
Um, that's okay.
You don't have to.
Um our mid-season episode, Iwouldn't say finale, but our

(01:20):
mid-season episode was just vacNational Lampoons Vacation.

SPEAKER_03 (01:23):
And that inspired the uh intro to this episode.
I figured like, you know, itmakes sense to have him just
Clark's rant.

SPEAKER_01 (01:30):
Doing the Clark rants.
Yeah.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (01:31):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (01:32):
And so I mean, we are already in season six and
we've never done Christmasvacation.
So it felt appropriate to itthere are far.
No one ever asked.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Uh but we are getting down tolike there aren't that there's a

(01:52):
like okay amount of Christmasmovies from the 80s, but not a
ton.
So like this was one of the lastlike heavy hitters that we just
hadn't covered yet.
So here we are.

SPEAKER_03 (02:01):
Yeah.
After that, we'll just startdoing more horror movies.

SPEAKER_01 (02:06):
Silent Night, Dead Light Night.

SPEAKER_03 (02:07):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (02:08):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Why not?
Okay.
So, like you said, uh ChristmasVacation, season six finale, and
comes in in the last year of thedecade, 1989.
Uh a lot of familiar names, um,especially in front of the
camera.
But as far as writing isconcerned, we have Mr.

(02:30):
John Hughes.

SPEAKER_03 (02:32):
That's right.
Yeah.
He wrote this.
Um didn't didn't wasn't it likeuh if if it seemed like a story
was right, then he would dosomething and he had like
something called like Christmas59.

SPEAKER_01 (02:45):
Yeah.
Uh yeah, I think uh some ofthese stories are based on like
I don't know if I'd say shortstories that he wrote, but just
like ideas that he had.

SPEAKER_04 (02:55):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (02:55):
And this is one of them.
And then of course, like this isat this point, we have not
covered European vacation justyet, but this is the third
installment of the vacationmovies with the Grosswealth
family.

SPEAKER_03 (03:08):
I always forget that this is the third one because I
always try to forget that theEuropean vacation happened.

SPEAKER_01 (03:16):
I'm not sure when we're gonna cover European
vacation.
I feel like in a weird way italmost was the one I saw the
most as a kid.
Uh I don't know if it's becauselike on TV or something a lot.

SPEAKER_03 (03:27):
I don't think I was seeking it out, but the best
part about it is that uh Johnnyfrom Karate Kid is in it.
Yeah.
And he's not in it that much.

SPEAKER_01 (03:35):
He's not in it that much.
Uh so yeah, at this point we'relike familiar with the
Griswolds, except for the factthat like they all change.
The kids.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The kids get swapped out inevery movie.
And as far as Hughes isconcerned, I mean, we've covered
him quite a bit over the courseof the show.
Many times.
Many times.
Uh, you know, in retrospect,things that could most certainly

(04:00):
be called out about his work,but there is a lot of nostalgia
around the films that he wasbehind, whether as just a writer
or writer-director,writer-producer.
Um, he is the reason for a lotof movies that we love.
So he strictly speaking, 53writing credits, and he's

(04:20):
already been passed for it'scrazy, more than 15 years.
He passed in 2009.
Uh, also, just a heads up,because of um the fact that the
cast has a lot of uh senioractors.

SPEAKER_03 (04:33):
Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (04:34):
There's gonna be quite a few people that we
discuss.
It's a huge ensemble cast.
I tried to narrow it down asmuch as I could, but um yeah,
like Betty Boop was in her 80s.
Yes.
Yeah, she's in the 80s.
She's one of the people we'llcover, but I like kind of
condensed her filmography alittle bit.
Um, but yeah, Hughes obviouslybehind the camera, but we will

(04:54):
have quite a few people thathave passed in this episode.
As far as Hughes is concerned, Imean, I feel like at this point,
you know, the films that we'vecovered and the films that we
have yet to cover, there areprobably very few films that he
was a part of in some regardthat people aren't familiar
with.
We have Mr.

(05:14):
Mom, which we have covered and alot of these movies we've
covered.
So Mr.
Mom, go check that one out.
That's that's one of myfavorites.
I mean, that for that he hadsolely writing credit.
He didn't direct or any, hewasn't a director yet.

SPEAKER_02 (05:26):
Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 (05:27):
But love that film as mentioned.
He was the writer behindNational Lampoons Vacation.
Uh you brought this up a longtime ago, and I really like the
suggestion.
So it probably will be whathappens.
We started this show withBreakfast Club.
We are not planning on quittingthe podcast anytime soon, but

(05:47):
probably whenever that daycomes, I bet our final episode
will probably be 16 candles.

SPEAKER_03 (05:52):
Oh, yeah.
I didn't realize that was myidea, but I like it.

SPEAKER_01 (05:54):
That was that was your idea.
Okay.
Yeah.
But as mentioned, we didBreakfast Club was our very
first episode.

SPEAKER_04 (06:00):
Please don't listen to it.

SPEAKER_01 (06:03):
We were just babies.
Um, yeah.
National Lampoons Europeanvacation.
We have yet to do weird science.
That will probably come up atsome point.
I'm kind of shocked.
I'm I'm gonna put this on fornext season.
I'm just gonna say it right now.
Yeah, yeah.
We gotta do pretty and pink.
We have done Ferris Bieler's DayOff.
That was with Julia.
Go check that one out.

(06:23):
We did some kind of wonderful aswell.
Love that one.
That I don't know, I kind oflike switch off between the teen
films, which one's my favorite,but I feel like I come back to
some kind of wonderful quite abit.
I love that movie.

SPEAKER_03 (06:35):
West Coast.

SPEAKER_01 (06:36):
West Coast, Pretty and Pink.
Uh, except with the ending thatwe were supposed to get.
We just last season did Planes,Trains, and Automobiles.
Go check that one out as well.
Uh, She's Having a Baby, TheGreat Outdoors, Uncle Buck.
I mean, just movie after movie.

SPEAKER_03 (06:51):
Uncle Buck is kind of a Christmas-ish.
It's winter.

SPEAKER_01 (06:55):
It's winter.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Close enough.
Definitely do it.
Uh, and now we're getting intothe 90s.
1990 to be exact, Home Alone.
Uh, he wrote that one.
That was a Chris Columbus film.
And then he has the writingcredit on the sequel, Home Alone
2, Lost in New York.

SPEAKER_03 (07:10):
So Home Alone was just the year after Christmas
Vacation came out.

SPEAKER_04 (07:15):
Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 (07:16):
I wonder what would have happened if he was supposed
to have directed Vacation andthen decided not to for reasons,
and then ended up directing anarguably more successful movie.
Because that happened.

SPEAKER_01 (07:32):
Wait, who are we talking about?
Oh, Christopher Columbus.
Okay.
Or I should just say ChrisColumbus.
I don't think he calls himselfChristopher Columbus.

SPEAKER_03 (07:39):
No.
No one wants to be associatedwith that.

SPEAKER_01 (07:41):
Oh, okay.
So Chris Columbus was supposedto direct Christmas vacation?

SPEAKER_03 (07:45):
He was, and a couple meetings with Chase convinced
him that he could not do itbecause they were just um
bizarre encounters where he feltlike Chase either just wasn't
like engaged or was just actingkind of like to to whatever
happened, he just was like, Iwould rather just not work or

(08:07):
just go back to writing than tryto direct this movie.
So he didn't, and he ended updirecting Home Alone, which
turned out to be wildlysuccessful.

SPEAKER_01 (08:18):
And now that you're bringing that up, I have vague
recollections of hearing aboutthat.

SPEAKER_03 (08:22):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (08:23):
So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (08:24):
Like he had a he had this like the first meeting, he
was talking to him for a while,and then Chase was like, Wait,
you're directing this?
I thought you were the drummer.
And Columbus was like, What?

SPEAKER_01 (08:34):
Drummer for what?

SPEAKER_03 (08:35):
There there was like a drummer with that same name,
but it was just like oh.
It was it was uh an odd, oddencounter.

SPEAKER_01 (08:44):
I'll say.
Uh more writing credits for JohnHughes.
We he goes into kind of his likefamily uh Fast and Furious?

unknown (08:54):
No, no.

SPEAKER_01 (08:55):
Oh but just as I mean, like, look, in some ways a
lot of these are family films,but like maybe for younger
audiences.
He does Dutch, Curly Sue,Beethoven with the pseudonym
Edmund Dantes, Dennis theMenace, Baby Stay Out, 101
Dalmatians, Flubber, and amongsome of his final credits, Mate
in Manhattan.

(09:16):
So okay, well, speaking ofdirectors, we have up next
Jeremiah.
Uh I just missed his name.
Jeremiah asked Churchick?

SPEAKER_03 (09:28):
Yeah, that's that's the best guess I have too.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (09:33):
This was, I mean, it's kind of funny given the
story you just said.
This was his uh film directorialdebut.
So he was a newbie.
I don't know if that was likewholly intentional because they
needed somebody who maybe wouldbe more uh is the right word
amenable to Chevy Chase'swhatever.

SPEAKER_03 (09:56):
They needed someone to do it, and Hughes considered
it, but he was still doing poststuff for Uncle Buck, I think.

SPEAKER_01 (10:03):
Oh, interesting.
Yeah.
So here we go.
I mean, he's had a great career,and I mean, still very much
working.
Earlier in his career, he waslike firmly in film, but I think
for most of his latter career,firmly in television.
Okay.
So a couple of the other filmsthat he's directed, Benny and
June and the 1998 The Avengers,very different.

SPEAKER_03 (10:29):
Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (10:29):
Yeah.
Based off of that like Britishfranchise.

SPEAKER_03 (10:33):
It was very, very different.
No, we're not talking aboutMarvel people.

SPEAKER_01 (10:38):
Okay, so as far as TV goes, he directed on a TV
mini-series called The Bronx isBurning, but some pretty
well-known shows that hedirected on Gossip Girl, Burn
Notice, Chuck.
I haven't heard of this one,Things You Shouldn't Say Past
Midnight.
Intriguing title.

SPEAKER_03 (10:55):
Yeah, I never heard of that.

SPEAKER_01 (10:56):
Rogue, and then more recently, Reginald the Vampire.

SPEAKER_03 (11:00):
Reginald the Vampire Okay.

SPEAKER_01 (11:02):
I think that's the kid from Spider-Man, the best
friend.

SPEAKER_03 (11:08):
The best friend from Oh.

SPEAKER_01 (11:10):
The um Tom Holland best friend.

SPEAKER_03 (11:13):
Okay.

SPEAKER_01 (11:14):
I think he is Reginald.
Okay.
Oh, yeah.
I think I think you're right.

SPEAKER_03 (11:17):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (11:18):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (11:18):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (11:19):
So there we go.
Okay.
Cinematography.
Thomas E.
Ackerman.
We have a lot of middleinitials.
And not the first time we havebrought him up.
I'm wondering, um, yeah, yeah,yeah, yeah.
There might be another, anotherinstance of us bringing him up
in the future because I knowyou've kind of wanted to do back

(11:39):
to school.

SPEAKER_03 (11:40):
Yeah, I think we'll we'll have to do that at some
point.
I mean.

SPEAKER_01 (11:43):
And that happens to be one of the films that he
shot.

SPEAKER_03 (11:45):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (11:46):
We also, uh, Girls Just Want to Have Fun.

SPEAKER_03 (11:49):
Amazing cinematography.

SPEAKER_01 (11:51):
Go check that one out.
He covered that film.
As well as this long time ago,Beetlejuice.
Yeah.
That is good cinematography.
It is.
So go check that one out.
He also shot Moonwalker.
Uh, so a couple of thesefamiliar titles we just brought
up.
I don't know.
I mean, he's a DP, and I don'tknow how much of a relationship

(12:13):
he had with Hughes, but maybeit's a coincidence that he shot
Dennis the Menace and he shotBaby Stay Out.
I don't know.
Um, he also did Jumunji, Georgeof the Jungle, Snowdogs,
Anchorman, Cullen, The Legend ofRon Burgundy, Balls of Fury, and
I put this one in becausesomebody that I work with is one

(12:33):
of the writers on this movie.
He shot the film Night of theLiving Deb.

SPEAKER_03 (12:38):
Night of the Living.
Nice.
I like it.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (12:40):
So I was like, oh my God, I'm including that one.
It's fun.
Yeah, fun.
Okay, we're flying through.
Sorry, we kind of have to flythrough a lot of these people
because we have a huge cast totalk about.
So apologies.
Trying to give due diligence toeveryone, but music.
Angelo.

SPEAKER_03 (13:01):
Badalamente.

SPEAKER_01 (13:03):
Thank you.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
That was really well done.
Uh, he composed on this film.
He has passed.
He passed away in 2022.
And he had quite a career.
He very much could come up inthe future.
Looks like he had uh definitelysome kind of like creative
collaboration with David Lynch.

(13:25):
He was the composer on BlueVelvet.
I'm skipping around, so I'm notsaying this is a David Lynch
film.
Although it'd be fascinating ifhe did direct a nightmare on Elm
Street 3 Dream Dream Warriors.

SPEAKER_03 (13:34):
That would have been, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (13:35):
That would have been, I mean, it's already a
good movie, but that would havebeen interesting as a David
Lynch film.
And uh Angelo, he composed onthat.
He composed on Cousins.
Another Lynch film, Wild atHeart.
Uh, of course, I mean, this isiconic music.
He was the composer on the TVseries Twin Peaks.

SPEAKER_02 (13:55):
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (13:57):
As well as the film Twin Peaks Fire Fire Walk With
Me.

SPEAKER_03 (14:01):
Do they is there like a one where it's like Twin
Peaks, Colin We Explain it?
Because I'd be interested inwatching that.

SPEAKER_01 (14:09):
To my knowledge, no.
God damn it.
Go on YouTube.
I bet you there are a millionvideos on YouTube explaining
Twin Peaks.

SPEAKER_03 (14:18):
Probably.

SPEAKER_01 (14:19):
He composed on a TV series called On the Air, mostly
movies though.
Lost Highway, Arlington Road,The Straight Story, Holy Smoke,
another David Lynch, the TVmovie of Moholland Drive, as
well as the film MulhollandDrive, The Beach with Leonardo
DiCaprio, uh Secretary.
I think two episodes in a rowthat Secretary has come up.

SPEAKER_03 (14:41):
Yeah, that's weird.

SPEAKER_01 (14:42):
Cabin Fever, the 2006 The Wicker Man, and then he
composed again on that return ofTwin Peaks to television.
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (14:51):
So he and then That's the one where they so
they've explained it all, right?
When it came back.
Okay, moving on.
I don't know.
I don't think they didn't.

SPEAKER_01 (14:59):
I have no idea.
This I thought was reallyinteresting though.
So I don't know if I didn't Idon't know if I could say I
really watched it, but that showinside the actor studio.
Oh yeah.
So he was the composer on that.
So that's interesting.
I didn't realize that show wason for holy cow, um, from 94 to
2019.

SPEAKER_03 (15:17):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (15:18):
That show was on for like 25 years.

SPEAKER_03 (15:20):
And only 274 episodes.

SPEAKER_01 (15:23):
That's what I was just gonna say.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So uh there you go.
Okay, film editing.
We have actually two people totalk about as far as editing
goes.
The first of which, Gerald,another initial Gerald B.
Greenberg.
He has passed as well.
He passed in 2017.

(15:43):
And it's kind of crazy that hewas one of the editors on this
film when you look at hisfilmography.
No disrespect to ChristmasVacation, but he kind of the
same with the music.

SPEAKER_03 (15:57):
Like you look at that filmography and you're
like, oh, and ChristmasVacation.
Okay.

SPEAKER_01 (16:01):
Yeah, yeah.
And I mean, Greenberg, he was anOscar-winning editor.
So very early in his career, uh,and yeah, I have I have all
films for him.
Bye-bye, Braverman.
We brought up this movie a lot,but I still don't really know
what it's about.
They might be giants.

SPEAKER_03 (16:17):
I'm not gonna say it.

SPEAKER_01 (16:18):
Your joke?

SPEAKER_03 (16:19):
No, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (16:20):
About the band?

SPEAKER_03 (16:21):
No, I'm not gonna do it.

SPEAKER_01 (16:22):
You're not gonna do it.
Okay.
He got his so first of hisnominations, and he got the win
for the French Connection.

SPEAKER_03 (16:30):
Yeah, I figured, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (16:32):
Probably deservedly so.
I it's been a really long timesince I've watched that movie.
He cut the 1974 The Taking ofPelum 123.
He cut the Missouri Breaks.
He gets another, I mean, Godbless him.
He got uh Oscar nomination filmediting for Apocalypse Now.
That was probably a monster,monster job.

(16:52):
Yeah.
He also got an Oscar nominationfor Kramer versus Kramer.
I think, I think maybe the sameyear.
He might have gotten doublenominations.
Dress to Kill, Heaven's Gate,Scarface.

SPEAKER_03 (17:05):
So he's all these movies and then Christmas
Vacation.

SPEAKER_01 (17:08):
Right.
Um, which also shows you uh, itseems like he had a relationship
with De Palma because these area lot of De Palma films.

SPEAKER_03 (17:16):
Yeah, Untouchable, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (17:17):
Yeah.
So so he has come up because wedid cover the Untouchables, so
go check that one out.
But we probably will bring himup again.
We should do Scarface soon.
So he cut Scarface, Body Double,as mentioned, The Untouchables,
The Accused, not gonna probablycover that film anytime soon.

SPEAKER_03 (17:33):
That's a rough, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (17:34):
That is a very tough film to get through.
Awakenings, School Ties, anothertough film to get through.
American History X.
Fortunately, that's a 98, so90s, so we're not covering that
ever.
Duets, and then um one of hisfinal films was the 2015 point
break.

SPEAKER_03 (17:52):
Is duets the one where I'm supposed to believe
that Huey Lewis is a singer,like a struggling singer or
something?

SPEAKER_01 (17:57):
A struggling singer, and then it has um Gwyneth
Powtron in it as well.
I do like the rendition of umCruisin.
Is it Cruzin Together orCruisin?
The name of the song.

unknown (18:07):
I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 (18:07):
It's a good rendition of the song.
Because isn't the originalSmokey Robinson?

SPEAKER_03 (18:12):
Is it?

SPEAKER_01 (18:13):
I think.
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (18:15):
I believe you.

SPEAKER_01 (18:16):
I'm convincing.

SPEAKER_03 (18:18):
Okay.

SPEAKER_01 (18:18):
The other editor, Michael A.
Stevenson, another middleinitial.
Uh, he has come up before,although I think when we brought
him up, it might have been likean uncredited credit.
He cut Annie, but he might havebeen uncredited for that one.
He also, uh, or maybe it was theother person on Annie who was

(18:39):
uncredited.
He cut the toy.
This is, see, the films thathe's done feel much more aligned
with Christmas Vacation.
He cut three men and a baby, aswell as he did a couple sequels.
Three men and a little lady.
He cut Honey I Shrunk the Kids,as well as Honey I Blew Up the
Kid.
He cut The Sandbot, Look Who'sTalking Now, Flubber.

(19:00):
So this all feels very much inthe world of what yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (19:03):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (19:04):
Uh not like Apocalypse Now and Christmas
Vacation.

SPEAKER_03 (19:07):
It's tough to go from like Scarface to Christmas
Vacation.

SPEAKER_01 (19:11):
Yeah, uh Muppets from Space and then Garfield
Cullen, the movie.
Okay, Buckle Up, stars of themovie.
We got a lot of them.
Starting with Chevy Chase.

SPEAKER_02 (19:25):
That guy.

SPEAKER_01 (19:26):
That guy, Clark Griswold.
Now, because about six monthsago we covered a couple of these
people, we will probably gothrough them a little quick.
Um, I mean, you brought upearlier, you know, like look,
we've all, I think, heardstories about Chevy Chase and

(19:46):
how agreeable or not agreeablethat he is with, is, has been,
was, whatever, um, on hisprojects.
We have.
Yeah, we sure have.
We brought it up.
We have, but we have.
Because it's like I don't tendto go down those rabbit holes
too deeply, but it's the storiesare out there.
It's fine, whatever.

(20:07):
We're just gonna cover hisfilmography.
Um, I think I brought this upwhen we covered vacation.
I mean, he had an incrediblystrong 1980s.
He was like in every other moviethat came out.
Yeah.
So uh, I mean, this is earlierthan that, but he was very early
in his career in Oh HeavenlyDog.
Then it's shocking to me, andwe'll have to do Caddyshack.

(20:29):
Although I can't say it's one ofmy favorite films from the
decade.

SPEAKER_03 (20:34):
But Well, it's certainly better than Caddyshack
2.

SPEAKER_01 (20:38):
Which he's also in.
Yeah.
Thank you for teeing that up.
Haha.
Get it?

unknown (20:44):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (20:46):
That was a hole in one.

SPEAKER_01 (20:49):
So he's in both of those.
Of course, like you can't have avacation movie without him.
I can't imagine that they wouldever uh recast the role in any
regard.
So he is they did.

SPEAKER_03 (21:01):
Well, but like decades later.

SPEAKER_01 (21:04):
Yeah, I mean, it's Rusty.
Rusty is the just the maincharacter in the Helms is like
the new Rusty.
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (21:11):
Was Chase in that make?

SPEAKER_01 (21:13):
Yeah, okay.
Yeah, he is still he's stillClark Griswold.
Yeah.
It's just the story is followingRusty.
So he is in vacation, which wecovered, European vacation,
Vegas vacation, and the one thatyou were just alluding to, which
is just called Vacation.

SPEAKER_03 (21:29):
Yeah, the the one that we I don't know if we'll
cover it.
Maybe if we do this long enough,we'll cover 1981's modern
problems.

SPEAKER_01 (21:37):
Oh, I'm sorry.
I think I skip that every singletime.

SPEAKER_03 (21:40):
It is the most feverish fever dream of fever
dreams that have ever been feverdreamed.
Okay.
It's like if you just watch atrailer for it, you're gonna be
like, that's not a movie.
It's just interesting.
Yeah.
I mean, the most normal thingabout it is him getting psychic
powers from driving behind atruck with toxic chemicals.

SPEAKER_01 (21:58):
I feel like a lot of old trailers that we see were
always like, that's not atrailer.
It's like before trailers werereally trailers.
Sometimes it's just like a clipfrom the movie.

SPEAKER_03 (22:07):
It's it's super weird.
I remember seeing it, and thenit was so strange that I thought
like maybe like I just hadimagined this movie existing,
but as we've been like coveringmore movies with him in, we look
at the it is like photography.
I'm like, I think that might beit.
And I watched a trailer and I'mlike, holy shit, it's real.
It's a real movie.

SPEAKER_01 (22:27):
It really happened.

SPEAKER_03 (22:28):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (22:29):
Also, what really happened is that we covered
Fletch.

SPEAKER_02 (22:32):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (22:33):
That smooth segue uh that I just made.
So um, please go check that oneout.
We covered that one with Steve,and he is a big Fletch fan.
It's very fun to cover films,I've said before, with people
who are just have a a lot oflove for the movie that we're
covering.
So go check that out.
He also, of course, returns forFletch lives.

(22:54):
Probably sooner than later.
Because I think you've said thesame thing.
I would rather cover Spies LikeUs than Three Amingos.

SPEAKER_03 (23:01):
Yes.

SPEAKER_01 (23:01):
Yeah.
So we'd probably do that onesooner.
He was in Funny Farm, NothingBut Trouble, Man of the House,
Orange County.
He a little bit later now in hiscareer, he turns to television.
He's on Chuck for a little bit.
I mean, also early, I shouldkind of bookended.
Um, early in his career, ofcourse, he was on Saturday Night
Live.
The reason why that credit comesmuch later is because as far as

(23:24):
IMDB is concerned, if you makeany like appearances down the
road, it shifts the timelineback to like the most current.
Yes, exactly.
But of course, he and I think Isaid this the last time we
brought him up that like youknow, maybe one of his more
famous um roles on SNL was likehim as Gerald Ford and just like

(23:44):
the physical comedy.
Although to my knowledge, Fordwas not clumsy at all.

SPEAKER_03 (23:50):
I think he like slipped once and it just became
it just became its a thing.

SPEAKER_01 (23:54):
So uh also community that ties into what we were
saying earlier.
So there's like a lot of storiesaround how he has been as a
collaborator collaborator, Ishould say, on projects.

SPEAKER_03 (24:07):
Whether like people didn't talk about that kind of
thing before, they sure do now.
Like more modernly, there's likeit feels like there are
different expectations on peoplecollaborating and being able to
work together.
Yeah.
So like I I feel like a lot ofthe people that were on that
show have all had things to sayabout challenges and making that

(24:29):
show with him.

SPEAKER_01 (24:29):
And even earlier, I don't want to turn away, turn
around my face from the mic.
You totally did.
I'm like, what's happening?
Behind me is a book about a lotof comedians from the 70s and
80s.
Yeah.
And there's a lot of stories inthat book about Chase and like
specifically Bill Murray.
The two of them did not get on.
And just anyway.
Anyway.

(24:50):
Um, more recently, one of hisletter credits, The Christmas
Letter.
Yeah.
Okay.
I bring that up because we havea couple other people who are in
that movie as well.
Beverly D'Angelo, she plays, inmy estimation, the
long-suffering Ellen Griswold.

SPEAKER_03 (25:07):
Yes.

SPEAKER_01 (25:08):
I mean, she why the fuck she put up with his shit.

SPEAKER_03 (25:10):
Like, why you mean Chevy Chase or Clark Griswold?

SPEAKER_01 (25:15):
Both.
I mean, especially in thismovie.
I mean she she does it, I think,in all the movies where she's
like trying to kind of be thevoice of reason, trying to bring
him back from his kind of maniathat he has at times.

SPEAKER_03 (25:31):
Right, the fucking very beginning when he when
they're like driving out in themiddle of nowhere, which was not
Illinois.
I don't know where they were,but that was not Illinois.

SPEAKER_01 (25:38):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (25:39):
Um, yeah, he he um consistently does like really
ridiculous things.

SPEAKER_01 (25:45):
And she's constantly trying to be like, You sure you
really want to do that?
Don't you want to, you know,like trying to steer him back,
and usually he disregards her.
You know what?
That's why look, you're gonnahave an affair with Wayne Newton
in Vegas vacation.

SPEAKER_03 (25:57):
Go for it.

SPEAKER_01 (25:58):
Go for it, Ellen.
Okay.
So D'Angelo, as far as hercredits go, I mean, to me, she
is most well known as EllenEllen Griswold, but she's
definitely had a career outsideof this franchise.
Earlier, preceding vacation, shewas in bit part, Annie Hall,
Every Witch Way But Loose.
Oh, yeah.
Hair, the coal miner's daughter.

(26:20):
So then she cements her role inthe first National Lampoons
vacation as Ellen Griswold.
She is part of all the movies aswell.
So she has been in Europeanvacation, Vegas Vacation,
Vacation.
She's also been in, do I havewell later on I have some TV
work, but the film's Made toOrder, High Spirits, Man
Trouble, Eye for an Eye.

(26:40):
She is in American History Acts.

SPEAKER_03 (26:43):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (26:44):
I'm pretty sure she's Ed Norton's mom.

SPEAKER_03 (26:48):
Yes.

SPEAKER_01 (26:48):
Yeah.
And um T2 Kid.

SPEAKER_03 (26:53):
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (26:54):
Him too.

SPEAKER_03 (26:55):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (26:55):
Fur Furlong?
Oh, thank you, Edward Furlong.
She was in Sugartown, Harold andKumar Escape from Quantal and
Moby.
The House Bunny.
Well, yeah, you were in that.
My my movie.
Yeah.
The House Bunny.
She's in.
And then a lot of TV work.
She for a while was onEntourage, Shooter, the TV

(27:17):
series of True Lies.
And then more recently, she wasin the movie Summer Camp, which
I think in our last episode Ihad said was Diane Keaton's last
film.
I think that that's it.

SPEAKER_03 (27:29):
Okay.
And uh it wasn't just her inthis film.
Her cat was also.
That's her cat?
And Snotz was her dog.

SPEAKER_01 (27:39):
No way!

SPEAKER_03 (27:40):
Yeah.
Yeah.

unknown (27:41):
Oh.

SPEAKER_01 (27:42):
Snotz, I hate the name, but that was a good dog.
It was.
That was a good dog, eighty.
Okay.
I'm so happy that we finally getto cover Juliet Lewis because I
don't know if there's gonna beanother time where we'll be able
to.
Um she is Audrey Griswold inChristmas Vacation.

SPEAKER_03 (28:03):
She is in this one.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (28:04):
She's in this, yeah.
In this one, she's AudreyGriswold.
And I love Juliet Lewis.
I think she's a phenomenalactress.
She's done some reallyinteresting work.
Uh, I think she's I don't know.
Maybe this sounds silly to somepeople, but I think she's a
really fearless actress.
Like she takes on a lot of roleswhere it's just a very unique

(28:27):
kind of character that maybeeven is not um a character that
would come across in a positivelight, but she takes on the role
anyway.
Like, that's even who she wasmost recently.

SPEAKER_03 (28:40):
In uh yellow jackets.

SPEAKER_01 (28:41):
Yeah, in yellow jackets.
So she she does really greatwork, and but she had a really
strong 90s.
Like she's still very, veryyoung in this movie.
Yeah.
So she doesn't have a lot in the80s.
Very early in her career, shewas on the TV series called I
Married Dora.
I guess possibly she might comeup if we cover my stepmother as

(29:02):
an alien.

SPEAKER_03 (29:03):
Yeah, that's uh Akroyd and Kim Basinger.

SPEAKER_01 (29:06):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (29:07):
So we could that movie is I don't know if we'll
be doing it anytime soon.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (29:14):
We don't do TV movies, otherwise, we could do
Too Young to Die question mark.
And I think Is it a question?
It is a question mark.
Okay.
Um, I think when I was goingover her filmography, and I
think that came up recently.
Somehow we were talking aboutBrad Pitt, and I don't know if
you remember that, like, whenthey both were super young, they

(29:35):
were a couple.
My guess is that they met onthat project because they're
both in it.
Really?
Yeah.
Okay.
So she is an Oscar nominatedactress, very young.
She got a best supportingactress nom for Cape Fear.
So here we go.
Like, these are some of theroles where I'm like, I think it
was brave that she took on thiswork, especially as a young
actress.

(29:55):
California.

SPEAKER_02 (29:56):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (29:56):
That was a good movie.
Yeah.
With a K.
California with a K.
Yeah.
Romeo is bleeding.
I think she's sublime.
I know that's but I I can'tthink of a better word.
And what's eating Gilbert Grape.
She's great in that movie.
Another, I would say, I mean,I'm sure this film elicits
strong reactions from people,but Natural Born Killers.

(30:18):
I don't care for it, but I knowthat some people really like it.
I'm not saying I like the film,but I think that like Yeah it
was like a interesting role totake on for her.
Yeah.
Mix Nuts, that's a Christmasmovie.

SPEAKER_03 (30:32):
Okay.
94 though.

SPEAKER_01 (30:33):
Yeah.
The Basketball Diaries, StrangeDays From Dusk Till Dawn.

SPEAKER_03 (30:38):
Yeah, she's good in that.
She's um she kind of likebecomes a badass in that.

SPEAKER_01 (30:43):
The Evening Star.
She so we brought this up in thelast episode because of Diane
Keaton.
She is the lead in The OtherSister.
Oh yeah.
So very different kind of rolefor her.
Uh, The Way of the Gun.
She's so funny.
It's a very small role, butshe's hilarious and old school.

SPEAKER_03 (31:02):
Yeah.
She's right at the beginning,right?
Yes.

SPEAKER_01 (31:04):
And at the very end.
Yes.
She runs into Will Farrell, Ithink, in the grocery store.
Right, yeah.
She's in Starske and Hutch, WhipIt, The Switch, Due Date.
Uh I think this came up in ourin Baby Boom as well.
She's in August Colin OsageOsage County.

SPEAKER_04 (31:23):
Sure.

SPEAKER_01 (31:24):
And then uh oh, she's also in the film A Million
Little Pieces, but a lot of TVwork later on.
She was in the TV series of thefirm, TV series Secrets and
Lies, TV series Camping, TVseries Queer as Folk.
Um another film in there, Ma,the horror film.

SPEAKER_02 (31:42):
Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (31:43):
And then you mentioned it a couple minutes
ago.
So she was, I believe hercharacter, sorry, spoiler, dies,
but she was in the first coupleseasons of Yellow Jackets.

SPEAKER_03 (31:52):
Yeah, I wanted to get into that show.
I watched I did too.
I watched the first season forsure.
And then in the second season,it was just, you know, is there
some supernatural component tothis?
Like what what what's happening?
Um, yeah, it it lost me.
And and like looking up commentson like the most current

(32:16):
seasons, it doesn't really looklike it has a like good,
satisfying conclusion.

SPEAKER_01 (32:22):
For me, I'm fine with complicated characters.
I don't need there to be theselike clear demarcations of like
you're a good guy or you're abad guy.
Yeah.
Like I like characters that havecomplexity, but I just did not
fucking like except for JulietLuce's character.
That's maybe why I stoppedwatching it.
Except for her, I just didn'tcare, didn't fucking like

(32:43):
anybody.
I just like did not care aboutany of these people.
So that's why I dropped offbecause I just it really had
like a ton of momentum.

SPEAKER_03 (32:53):
Yeah, momentum, me mentioning it has killed all of
momentum getting through thelist of this huge cast.

SPEAKER_01 (32:59):
That's okay.
That's my segue.
Sorry.
All right, let's move on.
Johnny Kalucki.
So he's rusty in this one.
And he too was very early in hiscareer at the time, but he's
gone on to have an amazingcareer.
I mean, he was part of the oneone of the biggest shows of the
last, what, 25 years?

SPEAKER_03 (33:17):
Um I mean, it is it is absolutely lost on me.

SPEAKER_01 (33:22):
Not my show, it's I can't deny that it was hugely
popular.

SPEAKER_03 (33:26):
Yeah, it kept the lights on at CBS.

SPEAKER_01 (33:27):
So yeah, exactly.
So very early in his career, hewas in A Night in the Life of
Jimmy Reardon.
We probably brought him upbecause he does have a little
bit Part and Prancer.

SPEAKER_03 (33:38):
Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (33:39):
We did that one with Casey and Laura.
Go check out that.
Uh, some TV work, AmericanDreamer, Billy.
So we have some films.
I know what you did, and nowhe's like kind of an adult
actor, still young, but adultactor.
He's not like a kid anymore.
Yeah.
I know what you did last summer,The Opposite of Sex, playing
Mona Lisa, Bounce, Vanilla Sky,Rings.

(34:02):
So his first big TV series whenhe was still a kid, although he
came back later on, so that'swhy again the credit gets
shifted down.
Roseanne.

SPEAKER_03 (34:11):
Yeah.
David?

SPEAKER_01 (34:13):
Yes.
I think this is his character.

SPEAKER_03 (34:15):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (34:15):
Yeah.
Darlene's like on again, offagain little boyfriend.
Yeah.
And he also, he's uncredited,which I thought was interesting,
but it sounds like we neverreally watched the Connors, but
it sounds like he came back tomake a couple appearances on the
Connors.

SPEAKER_03 (34:32):
We started watching it, and then Roseanne did some
shit, and I'm like, I'm just notwatching this.
And then they killed her off,anyways, but the momentum was
gone.
I'm like, I don't care.

SPEAKER_01 (34:42):
Yeah, I have nothing to say that's like rah-rah for
Roseanne.
Um, but the fact that she didstep away from the show to allow
the show to continue to allowjobs to continue.
Yeah, I can appreciate thatgesture.
Um, so that's about as much as Ican say about that.

SPEAKER_03 (35:00):
This is the the strangest credit, but I'm gonna
give it for Mr.
Golecki.
He was quote, a young dater inthe music video by Bob Seeger
and the Silver Bullet Band fornight moves.

SPEAKER_01 (35:13):
Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_03 (35:13):
So there you go.
Night moves.

SPEAKER_01 (35:15):
And then the TV show that we I don't know why we're
being so coy about it, but wewere talking about the Big Bang
Theory.

SPEAKER_03 (35:20):
Yeah, I mean, I feel like everyone, it just in case.

SPEAKER_01 (35:23):
Yeah, and I mean he's made so much fucking money
off that he can do or not dowhatever he wants for the rest
of his life.

SPEAKER_03 (35:29):
You know what's a really horrifying experience is
to watch scenes from the BigBang Theory without the laugh
track.

SPEAKER_01 (35:35):
Oof.

SPEAKER_03 (35:36):
It's it's really difficult.

SPEAKER_01 (35:39):
But he good for him, made his bank and probably
living his best life.
So, okay.
So now we're moving on to do Ihave them all in a row?
Yeah, I do.
All the all the grandparents.
So first we're gonna cover thetwo actors that play Clark's
parents.
The first is John Randolph.

(36:01):
So he is Clark Griswold Sr.
He passed in 2004.
And apologies, we're gonna aboutto go through a bunch of people
who have all passed on.
Uh all these people though, hugecareers before this movie came
along.
Yeah.
So I one of the okay, when I wasgoing through his filmography, I
was like, ooh, I heard aboutthis movie recently.

(36:23):
I really want to watch it.
It's called Seconds.
It's kind of like a horror-ishfilm.
Uh, it also I believe has RockHudson in it.
It sounded fascinating.
I really want to watch that atsome point.
Okay.
He was in Sweet Love, CommaBitter.
What wait, what's it called?
Sweet Love, Comma Bitter.

SPEAKER_03 (36:40):
Oh, comma.
Okay.

SPEAKER_01 (36:42):
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes.

SPEAKER_03 (36:45):
I don't know which one that is.

SPEAKER_01 (36:46):
Cerbico.
Cerbico! Earthquake.
He was on a TV series.
Okay, first of all, all thesepeople too, a ton of TV work,
like sprinkled in there.
As far as like series where hewas on for a little bit of a
longer stint, Lucas Tanner wasone of them.
He was, I'm guessing this waslike, what, the 76 King Kong?

(37:07):
If I have this in chronologicalorder.

SPEAKER_02 (37:09):
Okay.

SPEAKER_01 (37:10):
He was on a TV series called Richie Brockleman,
comma, private eye.

unknown (37:15):
Okay.

SPEAKER_01 (37:16):
The movie Heaven Can Wait, the TV series Lucan.
Am I saying that right?

SPEAKER_03 (37:22):
Yeah, probably.

SPEAKER_01 (37:24):
Uh Angie, another TV series.
Dynasty, another TV series.
He was in the film Pritzy'sHonor, which will come back
again for another actor.
He was in the TV series AnnieMcGuire, the film You've Got
Male, and then his final credit,Numb.
Was film Numb.
I mean, look, he does a greatjob in this film.

(37:47):
I think the way that he playsthe role, it's very clear that
he's Clark's dad.
Like he's just this very jovial,sweet, um old dude.

SPEAKER_03 (37:58):
He's got a bit more wisdom than Clark.

SPEAKER_01 (38:00):
He does.

SPEAKER_03 (38:01):
Which he tries to uh pass on after the rant that
started this episode.

SPEAKER_01 (38:06):
Yes.
I mean okay, so as we're goingthrough some of these older
actors, like there are two thatthe it's cool to have them in
the film because they're theselike storied actors who have had
really interesting careers.
I think we could have kept it tothe grandparents because then
they maybe would have had moreto do.

(38:27):
But it's like it's so spreadout.

SPEAKER_03 (38:30):
Started packing more people in and there wasn't
enough time for it to do.

SPEAKER_01 (38:34):
Exactly.
And also I think that like youknow, I was thinking about it
when I was prepping my notes forthis episode.
There's not there's not a strongthrough line as far as the plot
is concerned.
It's just it's Christmas time,family's coming over.
The one the one thing that Ithink is the through line is

(38:54):
like Harks waiting on his bonus.

SPEAKER_03 (38:56):
That's a shitty through line.

SPEAKER_01 (38:57):
Yeah.
But that's kind of it, right?

SPEAKER_03 (38:59):
I can't really think of anything stronger than that.
It kind of is because what didhe he's he like overextended his
bank account.

SPEAKER_01 (39:06):
So he didn't even have$7,500 in his bank account.

SPEAKER_03 (39:10):
That would be the equivalent of about$20,000
today.
Just under$20,000, but still.

SPEAKER_01 (39:14):
Still.

SPEAKER_03 (39:14):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (39:15):
I mean, it's pretty reckless in my I mean, where are
the kids' college funds?

SPEAKER_03 (39:20):
No idea.
Those kids aren't going tocollege.

SPEAKER_01 (39:24):
So I'll just say, like, I think he is like a sweet
character.
And you're right, I do reallylike the moment he has with
Clark after his outburst, butthat's about it as far as that
character is concerned.
You know, like he's like very umoptimistic, like when Clark's
getting really frustrated withthe lights and all that kind of
stuff.

(39:44):
Like this movie's made up ofbits.

SPEAKER_03 (39:45):
I yeah, I don't think they wanted, I don't think
there was any interest in likereally fleshing out these
characters.
They just it was like thesupportive parents and then the
not supportive in laws.
Right.
For for Clark.

SPEAKER_01 (39:58):
Exactly.
Right, yeah.
Exactly.
So there you go.
Okay, so moving on to Clark'smother, played by Diane Ladd, uh
Nora Griswold is her name, andshe just passed away.
Um, as of this recording thismonth.
She passed away on November 3rd.
Uh she was Laura Dern's mother.

(40:20):
She was, I don't think they weretogether when she passed Bruce
Dern's former partner.
Um yeah, she had an amazingcareer.
Multi-Oscar nominated actress.
And over the course of hercareer, we have Chinatown.
I think you brought that up atsome point, right?

SPEAKER_03 (40:39):
Well, I mentioned it because she's in Chinatown, and
there's another name that you'llbring up that was the voice of
Betty Boob.

SPEAKER_01 (40:49):
Oh, sure.

SPEAKER_03 (40:49):
In Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which was described as a
parody of Chinatown.
I think there are some commonthemes, but I wouldn't call it a
parody.

SPEAKER_01 (40:57):
I could see that it was like there was some
inspiration drawn fromChinatown.
But she got her first, so all ofher Oscar noms are for Best
Supporting Actress.
She got her first nomination forAlice Doesn't Live Here Anymore.
Then she was on the TV seriesAlice.
She was in the film SomethingWicked This Way Comes, which I
think we could cover.
I think that's an 80s film.

SPEAKER_03 (41:17):
Yeah, I've I've that's a um Ray Bradbury story
turned movie.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (41:23):
She starred with her daughter, Laura Durin, a few
times because she got BestSupporting Actress for or the
nomination for Wild at Heart.
She got another Oscar nom forRambling Rose.
She um most I have, I mean, shedid do a lot of TV work, but I
have mostly films that I wrotedown for her.
The Cemetery Club, Ghosts ofMississippi, Primary Colors, 28

(41:45):
Days.
Not the horror film, 20 DaysLater.
Oh.
But the one with Sandra Bullock.
Son of a, okay.
Umniest things I ever saw,though, was somebody putting
together 28 days, 28 days later,and I think like, what was it,
28 weeks later or something?
And like, this is the weirdesttrilogy ever.

(42:08):
I thought that was so funny.
She was in the TV series KingdomHospital, and then her final
credit was a film called Isle ofHope.
Okay.
So those were Clark's parents,and then we have, as you
mentioned, his in-laws.
So Ellen's parents.
Uh Ellen, apparently, her maidenname is Smith.

(42:29):
Her father is Art Smith, playedby E.G.
Marshall.
He passed in 1998.
Again, these people, they hadtremendous careers before this
film came along.
I have mostly movies for him.
The Cain Mutiny, The SilverChalice, The Left Hand of God,
Twelve Angry Men.

SPEAKER_03 (42:50):
The Left Hand of God.
Is God left-handed?

SPEAKER_01 (42:54):
No, but they always I thought that so I put that one
in because they always talkabout like standing at the right
hand of God.
Oh.
Like left hand, like the lefthand is always gets the shaft.

SPEAKER_02 (43:04):
Rude.

SPEAKER_01 (43:05):
Yeah, rude.
So I thought it was interestingto have a film called The Left
Hand of God.
Man on Fire, Torah Torah Torah.
He was on the TV series The BoldOnes, Colin, The New Doctors.
Okay.
He was in the film Interiors,Superman 2, Creep Show.
Oh.
Which maybe we'll do nextseason.

(43:27):
The TV series Chicago Hope andthe film Nixon.
I mean, as far as his charactergoes, we just get a lot of like
stank face from him.

SPEAKER_03 (43:36):
Very classic uh father-in-law kind of stuff.
Yeah.
Like when the lights don't work,he's kind of like giving him
grief about that.
When they do work, he mentionsthat some of them aren't
blinking.

SPEAKER_01 (43:46):
He's like, they're not twinkling.

SPEAKER_03 (43:47):
They're not twinkling, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (43:49):
Which is funny.
Yeah.
But he I mean, I guess Iappreciate that he took the
role, but there's not a lot thathe does in the movie.
It's good work if you can findit.
Sure, sure.
I mean, same thing even with umDiane Ladd, that she like she's
just like a sweet, sweet mom.
And but she there's not a lotthat she does.

(44:10):
Um, which again, like the castis so huge that I think if it
was a little bit more contained,I know that that cuts down on
like the chaos of having so manypeople over for Christmas, but
then there'd be more for them todo.

SPEAKER_03 (44:22):
I think we've spent more time talking about their
filmographies than they spenttime doing anything in the
movie.

SPEAKER_01 (44:28):
Yes, exactly.
That's yep, that's exactly mypoint.
Okay, moving on to DorisRoberts.
She plays Frances Smith, soshe's Ellen's mother.
She has passed as well as shepassed in 2016.
And actually, really similar toJohn Nikoluckey, like she had an
amazing career, but there's likeone role in particular that I
think probably most people knowher from.

(44:49):
Before we get to that, she andalso one thing I should note.

SPEAKER_03 (44:53):
I think we're about to hit a commercial or
something.
Before we get to that, a wordfrom our sponsor.

SPEAKER_01 (44:58):
I just wanted to say that I think she did a lot of
stage work before shetransitioned into like film and
television.
Oh, okay.
So she had, and none of thatstuff's really represented in on
IMDb.
So I'll just say, um, I havelike a more contained
filmography for her, but thatdoesn't mean that she did less.
She just did less that isn'treflected on IMDB.

(45:19):
So she was in The LittleMurders, The Heartbreak Kid, The
Rose.
She also was on the TV seriesAngie.
She was on the TV seriesRemington Steel.
Wow.
Fun.
I always think that's a funname.
She was in the film Used People,the TV series Dream On, the film
My Giant.
So over the course of hercareer, she did do a lot of TV

(45:39):
work, but one role that I thinkeverybody knows her from is the
mom slash grandma in EverybodyLoves Raymond.

SPEAKER_03 (45:47):
Yeah, I never even watched the show, but I remember
her from just commercials of theshow.

SPEAKER_01 (45:53):
Yes.

SPEAKER_03 (45:53):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (45:54):
So she is Raymond's mother.
She plays a really similarcharacter, to be honest.

SPEAKER_02 (45:59):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (45:59):
Where she's just like can never really be
satisfied.
She's always a little grumpy.
Um yeah, and that's kind of whatshe is in this film, too.
And again, doesn't get a lot todo.
So those are the grandparents.

SPEAKER_02 (46:16):
There you go.

SPEAKER_01 (46:17):
Okay, moving on to the cousins.
Starting with Randy Quaid, hereturns.
So, to my knowledge, thosegrandparents, that's the first
time we've seen the grandparentsin this franchise.

SPEAKER_03 (46:28):
Yeah, I think so.

SPEAKER_01 (46:29):
But we have seen cousin Eddie before.
So he's in the first film, hereturns for this cuddy cousin
Eddie Johnson.

SPEAKER_03 (46:37):
And he was um his absence was like Hughes thought
maybe the reason that Europeanvacation didn't do as well was
because that character wasn't init.
So he's like, we'll have himback in for Christmas vacation,
but it's gotta be this guy.
It's gotta be Quaid.
And he was like, Yeah, sure.

SPEAKER_01 (46:56):
Yeah, I mean But was that was that the reason?
No, no, it wasn't.
I mean, in my humble opinion,like, look, he's he was an
interesting character in thefirst film.
He has too much in this movie.

SPEAKER_03 (47:10):
Yes.

SPEAKER_01 (47:11):
There's too much cousin Eddie.
It's it's a joke that playsitself out far too quickly.
I agree.

SPEAKER_03 (47:17):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (47:17):
Uh, but that's neither here nor there, because
it is what it is.
Uh Randy Quaid's career, he'shad uh, I mean, he's an Oscar
nominated actor.
Won't go down the rabbit hole.
He's had kind of an interestinglater part of his life.
Uh so I don't know, although hewas in something quite recently.

(47:41):
Among his credits, we have TheLast Picture Show, What's Up
Doc.
So he He was in The Last PictureShow?
Yeah, I don't remember who hewould have been.
Oh.
But he certainly seemed to havea relationship with Peter
Bogdanovich because he's in likeall his early movies.

SPEAKER_02 (47:57):
Okay.

SPEAKER_01 (47:58):
So he's in What's Up, Doc, Paper Moon.
He gets his best supportingOscar, not uh it's a lot to say,
best supporting actor Oscarnomination for The Last Detail.
He is in the Missouri Breaks,Midnight Express.

SPEAKER_04 (48:12):
Oof.

SPEAKER_01 (48:12):
Yeah.
He is, like I said, in the firstvacation movie.
He also returns for Vegasvacation.
He's in the Wraith, which wecould do.
Yeah.
He's in Kevy Shack 2.
Parents, Days of Thunder.
Uh, he has had a couple stintson SNL.
He was on a TV show called DavisRules, but I mostly have films

(48:35):
for him.
The Paper, Independence Day.
That's probably besides thisrole, this character, I would
say what most people know himfrom.

SPEAKER_03 (48:43):
Yeah, I remember him from flying a jet up into an
alien spaceship.

SPEAKER_01 (48:49):
Or maybe King Penn.

SPEAKER_03 (48:50):
I mean, maybe some people King Pen's interesting
because he had like as much of aleading role in that as any as
any movie I can think of himbeing in.

SPEAKER_01 (48:59):
Yeah.
So that one too.
Yeah.
Not another teen movie.
He's in Brokeback Mountain.
And then more recently hereteams with Chase for The
Christmas Letter.
Alright.
Okay, moving on to CousinCatherine Johnson, played by
Miriam Flynn.
We brought her up, not well, webrought her up for vac for

(49:20):
vacation, but I like her moresubdued role in Mr.
Mom.
She's one of the neighbors.
She's really fun in that.
Very early in her career, shewas, and I think I said this
last time, she was on a TV showcalled Maggie.
I think she was the titularcharacter of Maggie.
She too returns for VegasVacation.
She's in for keeps, StealingHome.

(49:43):
She's done a lot of voice work.
Uh, we'll get to the like queenof voice work in a minute, but
she voiced on a TV series calledTasmania, as well as the
spectacular new adventures ofCasper, as well as Chalk Zone.
So that's all voice work.
She was in the film Waiting forGuffman, Evolution, the TV

(50:03):
series Grounded for Life, CallMe Cat, and then just beyond
these roles, just a lot of TVappearances.
Okay.
So okay.
So we are stepping outside ofthe Griswold family for just a
moment to talk about theirneighbors.

unknown (50:21):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (50:21):
Talk about long suffering.

SPEAKER_03 (50:23):
Yes.

SPEAKER_01 (50:24):
They make them seem intolerable, but honestly, I'm
fully on their side.

SPEAKER_03 (50:30):
They they may be assholes, but they're just
living their lives.

SPEAKER_01 (50:33):
They're just living their lives.
Trying to live in their home.
I'm sorry, Clark's a terribleneighbor.
He really is.
He's a fucking terribleneighbor.
Like.

SPEAKER_03 (50:43):
What a sigh.

SPEAKER_01 (50:45):
Yeah, because like when they come home and the
guy's like, you know, what areyou gonna do with that tree?
And he's like, Why don't youbend over and I'll show you?
And he's like, How dare you saythat to me?
He's like, I wasn't talking toyou.
I mean, like, that's that's areally fucking aggressive thing
to say.

SPEAKER_03 (50:59):
It really is.

SPEAKER_01 (51:01):
And she hadn't even done anything.
She was just literally standingthere and he makes that
statement towards her.
Yeah.
Um, we'll get to her in asecond.
But Nicholas Guest is the guy inthe couple, Todd Chester is the
character name.
This is his uh two first names.
What?

SPEAKER_03 (51:20):
Two first names.

SPEAKER_01 (51:21):
Two first names.
I don't think I've ever metanybody named Chester before,
though.

SPEAKER_03 (51:26):
I haven't, but I I recognize it as likely a first
name.

SPEAKER_01 (51:30):
Sure.
So he he's still working, hedoes a lot of voice work as
well.
Um, a lot of TV work, but hevery early in his career, he
actually was in Star Trek 2, TheRatha Khan.

SPEAKER_03 (51:43):
Yeah, he was a cadet.

SPEAKER_01 (51:44):
Yeah, so we probably didn't bring him up.
But go check out that episode.

SPEAKER_03 (51:47):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (51:48):
We did that one with Owen.
He, same thing, probably didn'tcome up, but he was in Trading
Places.
He was in a couple films thatwe've covered.
Cloak and Dagger.
Oh shit.
He's the taxi driver.
Okay.
Yeah.
So he did that one just thisseason.
Yeah, isn't that fun?
He was in the Joy Luck Club, aTV series called USA High,

(52:08):
another TV series, uh,Roughnecks, Cone, the Starship
Troopers Chronicles.
Oh.
I guess this was my guess is aspin-off of the 1999 film.
He's in the TV series The Mummy.

SPEAKER_02 (52:21):
Hmm.

SPEAKER_01 (52:22):
As well as Sons of Anarchy.
And like I said, uh, besidesbeing in front of the camera, he
does a lot of voice work.

SPEAKER_03 (52:30):
That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 (52:31):
I I was gonna say behind the camera, it's not
really behind the camera, butit's not really in front of the
camera.
Anyway.
Yeah.
In front of the mic, I don'tknow.
In front of the mic.
Okay.
Moving on to uh, I'm so glad wefinally get to talk about her.
Cause this is well, maybethere's one more chance.
Julia Louis Dreyfus.

(52:52):
That's right.
She is Margot.
Yeah.
Margot Chester in this movie.
Love, love, love her so much.
Um, very similar to DorisRoberts and Johnny Galecki.
She's known for a lot, butthere's one role in particular
that probably most people knowher from.
Uh as far as her filmographygoes, I mean, mostly TV, to be

(53:15):
quite honest.
But very early on.
So I was gonna say maybe at somepoint we'll do Hannah and her
sisters.

SPEAKER_03 (53:21):
I was gonna say, we're absolutely not doing Soul
Man.

unknown (53:23):
No.

SPEAKER_03 (53:24):
No.

SPEAKER_01 (53:25):
But that is one of her credits.
Sure is.
Day by day, the TV series,Deconstructing Harry.
So, uh, while she's done a tonof work past Seinfeld, probably
still to this day.
My guess is that most peopleknow her as Elaine from
Seinfeld.

SPEAKER_02 (53:42):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (53:43):
So she was also on the TV series watching Ellie.
She's she was early in hercareer on SNL.
So we have a lot of SNL alums umin this film.
The I I did watch this for aminute and liked it.
The New Adventures of OldChristine.

SPEAKER_03 (53:57):
88 episodes.

SPEAKER_01 (53:58):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (53:58):
Yeah, I was on for for a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 (54:00):
She is phenomenal in Veep.

SPEAKER_03 (54:03):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (54:04):
She's so fucking good.
I was never really a Seinfeldperson, but I love her in Veeep.

SPEAKER_03 (54:10):
I mean, she's very different.
It's a very different.

SPEAKER_01 (54:13):
Yeah.
But I just love her.
I'll just say, like, most peopleassociate her with Seinfeld.
I more so associate her withVeep.

SPEAKER_03 (54:20):
Her her character in the Marvel movies.

SPEAKER_01 (54:23):
And that was my last set of credits for her.

SPEAKER_03 (54:25):
It feels a lot more like Veep.

SPEAKER_01 (54:27):
Yeah.
Like because she's like kind ofa baddie, right?

SPEAKER_03 (54:29):
In a yeah, in this government role.
So it just feels like uh what'sher name?
Selena Myers.
Yeah.
Gone bad.

SPEAKER_01 (54:37):
Gone bad.

SPEAKER_03 (54:39):
Um Selina Meyer, no, no S.
Meyer.

SPEAKER_01 (54:42):
Okay.
So yes, to your point, she wasin Black Widow, Black Panther,
Colin Wakanda Forever, andThunderbolts.
Yeah.
Same character.

SPEAKER_03 (54:49):
I mean, she had a pretty, pretty big role in
Thunderbolts, yeah.
Okay.

SPEAKER_01 (54:53):
All right.
Moving on to uh Clark's boss,Frank Shirley, played by Brian
Doyle Murray, so of the Murrayfamily, of which Bill is
probably the most famous.
And I mean, his career, if youlook at his filmography, it's
kind of funny.
I mean, he's very much in theworld of like he's had roles in

(55:14):
like his brother's movies, likemostly comedy, whether or not
Bill Murray was part of it.
Um, with some some notableexceptions.
He was in Caddyshack.
He was uh bit parts, um,National Lampoons Vacation.

SPEAKER_03 (55:28):
He uh was at the um one of the like motel or hotels
that they stopped by.
Yes.
So it's funny that like hereally like moved up in the
world by getting whateverpromotion or switching careers
to become like the the CEO orlike bot big boss at Clark's
company.

SPEAKER_01 (55:47):
That is funny that they brought him back for the
same franchise as a differentcharacter.
Yeah, yeah.
He was in Sixteen Candles, TheRazor's Edge, so that's a very
different kind of movie.
Legal Eagles, Scrooged, yeah,Ghostbusters 2, another
different kind of movie outsideof his comedy work, JFK, Wayne's
World.
He was on the TV show Get aLife.

SPEAKER_03 (56:08):
Yeah, he was he He's done a ton.
That show was so weird.
It was like Chris Elliott livingwith his parents as like an
adult paper delivery boy, and Ithink Murray was his dad.

SPEAKER_01 (56:20):
Oh, okay.
Okay.
He's in the film Groundhog Day,TV series Bakersfield PD.
Wow.
The film Waiting for Guffman, aswell as the film As Good as It
Gets.
He was on the TV series YesDear.
The TV series The MarvelousMisadventures of Flapjack.

unknown (56:39):
Okay.

SPEAKER_01 (56:40):
I put this in for you.

SPEAKER_03 (56:41):
Oh, I know what it is.

SPEAKER_01 (56:43):
What is it?

SPEAKER_03 (56:44):
He was in one episode of Supernatural.

SPEAKER_01 (56:45):
There you go.

SPEAKER_03 (56:46):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (56:46):
Nice.
Do you know which episode?

SPEAKER_03 (56:48):
Uh I don't.

unknown (56:49):
Okay.

SPEAKER_01 (56:50):
No.
I don't expect you to know bymemory all 15 years worth of
episodes.
Yeah, there's a lot.
There's a lot.
But you know a lot.
Uh Sullivan and Son, that's TVshow, The Middle, Lodge 49, and
then he too is in the film TheChristmas Letter.
So he reteams with Quaid and umChase.

(57:10):
Okay.
Okay, last two people.
Sorry.
Huge cast.
I think I have 15 people who arewho are credited or that we are
talking about in this episode.
William Hickey.
So what what exactly is therelationship of these two
people?
Are they like the great aunt andgreat uncle?

(57:32):
I don't know.
I think I think that's what theywere going for.
Okay.
Yeah.
Because they're even older thanthe grandparents.

SPEAKER_03 (57:39):
Yes.

SPEAKER_01 (57:40):
Yeah.
So I'm not.
Although trying to think.
So it would probably be onClark's side of the family.
Maybe.
I don't know.
I don't anyway.
So Lewis is the gentleman.
He passed in 97.
And he's the one, I mean, he hasa very distinctive voice.

(58:00):
And there's this one role inparticular that everybody's
like, oh my God, that's him.

SPEAKER_03 (58:04):
Yes.
I agree.
I know which one it is.
Not gonna say it, but yes.

SPEAKER_01 (58:08):
So very distinctive voice.
He's real craggly in this film.
He's just mostly towards hiswife, I presume, Bethany, is the
character.

SPEAKER_03 (58:21):
Because she's like kind of this, like not really
aware, barely aware of what'sgoing on around him.

SPEAKER_01 (58:26):
Barely lucid.
Yeah.
It's played as a joke.
I don't know if it's really thatfunny.
Um, but he's he's very like justsnippy with everybody, but
especially her.
Uh as far as his career goes, Imean, he had a career long
before this film, but I actuallyhave a ton of films from like
very much later in his career.

(58:47):
He gets a best supporting actorOscar nomination for Pritzzy's
Honor.
So he's in that film.

SPEAKER_03 (58:52):
We could we could cover that.
We could at least one othermovie that I'm sure we will
cover at one point.

SPEAKER_01 (58:58):
Yeah, there are a couple.
Yeah.
Um, I mean, I know that RemoWilliams, The Adventure Begins,
has come up a couple times.

SPEAKER_03 (59:04):
It's a movie where I feel in my in my soul that when
I watch it, I'm gonna realizehow poorly it's aged, and yet
I'm still gonna do it.

SPEAKER_01 (59:12):
Okay.
I'm guessing the film you'rereferring to is One Crazy
Summer.

SPEAKER_03 (59:16):
No, it was Rema Williams.

SPEAKER_01 (59:17):
It was really okay.
There you go.
Uh, as well as the name of theRose.
So there's a couple films thatwe could do.
Pink Cadillac, My Blue Heaven.
Here we go.
So for an entire generation ofpeople, he will forever be known
as Dr.
Finkelstein.

SPEAKER_03 (59:31):
Yeah.
From Nightmare Before Christmas.
There you go.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (59:36):
Yes, that's him.
Uh, he was in the Jerky Boys andMajor Pain.

SPEAKER_03 (59:40):
He was in the Jerky Boys.
Yeah.
Was that a movie?

SPEAKER_01 (59:44):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (59:44):
They did a jerky boys movie?
Yes.

SPEAKER_01 (59:46):
What the fuck?

SPEAKER_03 (59:47):
Okay.

SPEAKER_01 (59:48):
Okay, final credit.
Final credit that we'recovering.

SPEAKER_03 (59:51):
Oh, yeah.
I know who we got.

SPEAKER_01 (59:52):
Bethany.
So Lewis's wife played by MaeQuestel.
Do you think I'm saying thatright?
Questel?
Just Questel.

SPEAKER_03 (01:00:00):
I wish I knew for sure, but let's go with that.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:04):
She should be remembered.
Like, the only reason why I waslike, okay, I don't want to cut
these people.
I was very close to, but I waslike, I want to bring up the
fact that he was Dr.
Finkelstein.
And then I wanted to bring upfor her, first of all, go to her
filmography.
414 acting credits.

SPEAKER_03 (01:00:24):
That's incredible.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:24):
She has passed as well.
She passed a year after WilliamHinky.
Um, she passed in 1998.
But if you go through hercredits in part the reason why
okay, so much voice work.
Yes, almost entirely.

SPEAKER_03 (01:00:39):
Yeah, it and just like it's it's insane.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:43):
And also just the type of entertainment back then.
In a weird way, we've kind ofcircled back because a lot of
shorts, shorts as primarilyBetty Boop.

SPEAKER_02 (01:00:52):
Yep.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:52):
And olive oil.

SPEAKER_02 (01:00:54):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:54):
So she was the original voice of these two
iconic characters.
And if you go through, likeprobably a good, I don't know,
probably more than 350 creditsbelong to these two characters.
And her credits date back tolike 1930.
Yes.
Yes.

SPEAKER_03 (01:01:13):
So it almost a hundred years.

SPEAKER_01 (01:01:15):
Yes.

SPEAKER_03 (01:01:16):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (01:01:16):
Isn't that amazing?
So that is an amazing claim tofame for her.
She and you can hear it.
You can hear it in thischaracter.
Absolutely.
Oh, that's Betty Boop.
More so than I would say OliveOil, but for sure Betty Boop.
Um, but beyond her being thesetwo iconic characters for most

(01:01:36):
of her career, um, she also infront of the camera was in the
film It's Only Money, FunnyGirl, and the TV series
Somerset.
Okay.
Whew.
That's a lot.
That might be the record for thenumber of people we've covered.
Uh film synopsis.

SPEAKER_03 (01:01:56):
Clark Griswold wants a pool.

SPEAKER_01 (01:02:00):
Also, the Griswall family's plans for a big family
Christmas predictably turn intoa big disaster.

SPEAKER_03 (01:02:08):
Sure.
There's there's really no story,so it's fine if the synopsis
offers no story.

SPEAKER_01 (01:02:13):
Right.

SPEAKER_03 (01:02:14):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (01:02:14):
And like, look, it's fine, but it I was thinking
about that a lot coming intothis recording.
Just like, what is the storyhere?
And in a way, like it was thefirst time I kind of put it
together.
We were talking about it, Iguess while we were watching it.
I was like, oh, I can see a lotof similarities with vacation,
and that there's this likeexpectation that Clark has.

(01:02:35):
So in vacation, it's likethey're gonna go to Wally World.
And in this film, is he's gonnaget this huge bonus so he can
have a pool for his family.

SPEAKER_03 (01:02:42):
It's also like the the um the pool and the bonus is
something to get us to anending.
Yeah.
Because he also just wants tohave like the Griswold family
Christmas.
And so in the same way that hehad this like idealized picture
of what the vacation would be,he also had this like
unrealistic expectation forChristmas.

SPEAKER_01 (01:03:03):
Yeah, and that is definitely a through line with
this character of justunrealistic expectations.

SPEAKER_03 (01:03:08):
But with like the vacation movie, the first
vacation movie, well, cool.
We'll just not even have thepark open.

SPEAKER_04 (01:03:14):
Right.

SPEAKER_03 (01:03:15):
And so for this, like the whole bonus thing, I
feel like they they focused onit maybe a bit too much at
times, although it gave us itgave us like an opportunity to
see his coworker, who's like theone guy that we didn't mention,
but was like the really scummyguy in Raising Arizona.

SPEAKER_01 (01:03:32):
But he's actually a good guy in this nice.

SPEAKER_03 (01:03:34):
Yeah, he was a decent guy.
He's like, I'm sure you'll getit.

SPEAKER_01 (01:03:37):
Yeah, he's it's kind of a throwaway role for him.
He I wish he had he that again,if they if we had just like kind
of cut down overall on the cast,the people who stayed around
could have done more.

SPEAKER_03 (01:03:49):
You know, if we had just taken the uh sledding scene
and maybe shaved like 10 minutesoff of that.

SPEAKER_01 (01:03:54):
Because I didn't even bring up the kids, Eddie
and um what's her faces, likethe kids in the film.
Like I had to make some cutssomewhere.
Um, otherwise it'd be going onforever.
But um, yeah, I mean, the onlything that I actually kind of
got out of the whole bonusstoryline is when Eddie kidnaps

(01:04:16):
Shirley and brings him to thehouse.
First of all, the one redeemingthing that Eddie does in its own
weird, twisted way.

SPEAKER_03 (01:04:23):
And at the end of the clip that we started the
episode with, it cuts to Eddiewith this look on his face.
We were like, oh yeah, we kindof know what he's gonna do now.
Yes.

SPEAKER_01 (01:04:32):
So I do appreciate that he tried to do something in
his own weird warped head, hewanted to do something nice for
Clark.
Yeah.
So he kidnaps his boss.
Um, but I do appreciate that atthe end of the film, I mean,
it's very timely to this day,you know, Clark is saying to
him, like, look, if you don'twant to give bonuses, that's

(01:04:54):
fine.
But if you have run a companywhere people have come to rely
on their bonus as a significantpart of their uh income, and
then you cut that, like that'sthat's shitty.
Yeah.
So I actually appreciated thatone moment in the film.
I'm not saying that I hate thismovie, it's just that I wish

(01:05:14):
that there was something thatlike kind of anchored it a
little bit better.

SPEAKER_03 (01:05:17):
I like how his wife was like, you piece of shit when
she found out that that's whathe had done with the bonuses.

SPEAKER_01 (01:05:21):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I like that his wife called themout too.
Yeah.
Um, so I did appreciate that alot.
I mean, Clark is still extremelyreckless with his money.
I mean, it seems like he makes agood living.
So I'm like, why do you have nomoney in the bank?
Like, why did you uh overextendyourself to put down a deposit
on this pool?
And for and also don't don't getan in-ground pool in Illinois.

(01:05:43):
Yeah, what?
Don't do it.

SPEAKER_03 (01:05:46):
That that seems that seems uh like just looking for
problems.

SPEAKER_01 (01:05:50):
But that does take me to the um I was gonna say
hallucination, but the fantasyscene where he's fantasizing
about that chick that he saw atthe mall.

SPEAKER_02 (01:06:01):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (01:06:01):
And that is like seems to be a direct rip-off of
Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Iwould guess.

SPEAKER_02 (01:06:07):
It had to have been.

SPEAKER_01 (01:06:08):
Even with the same color bathing suit.

SPEAKER_02 (01:06:11):
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (01:06:13):
So I thought that was kind of interesting that
they ripped that off.
Um, but yeah, it, you know, it'sthe series of, like I said,
little bits, whether it's likethe cat getting electrocuted or
um you know, Lewis burning downthe tree with his cigar, or

(01:06:34):
Eddie pumping out human wasteinto the story, you know, like
it's all these like little bits,but they're not really a story
that come together.
So as far as like this filmgoes, like I can't say that it's
one of my like favorite holidayfilms, but there is a

(01:06:55):
familiarity and a nostalgiaabout it that like it's always
gonna be on at some point overthe holidays.

SPEAKER_03 (01:07:03):
Nice thing about the story that you mentioned is that
you can literally turn it on atany point.
Yes, yeah, and it's like, allright, you don't you're I
haven't missed anything.

SPEAKER_01 (01:07:11):
Yeah, actually, this is a weird um comparison, but
somebody, because I don't know,every it's so stupid when they
do this stuff.
Like people rating the Macy'sThanksgiving Day parade, which
was just on They rate it, or youknow, like, oh, it was a good
parade or it was a terribleparade.
Who cares?

SPEAKER_03 (01:07:27):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (01:07:27):
Um, I I've never it never even occurred to me to
like give my two cents on what Ithought of the parade, but
people do it.

SPEAKER_03 (01:07:33):
And I had the tension on this year's parade
because of the uh K-pop DemonHunter's performance.

SPEAKER_01 (01:07:40):
Oh, interesting.
That's that's I think in largepart why the ratings were
through the roof for um but I Isaw a comment on some article
where somebody was saying, like,who who the fuck sits down and
just watches the parade fromstart to finish?
They're like, it's one of thoseshows where it's like you have
it on in the background asyou're like getting your
Thanksgiving meal together oryou're doing stuff with family,
or you're doing other things.

(01:08:01):
I was like, and that's exactlywhat this movie is.

SPEAKER_03 (01:08:04):
Yeah.
Yeah, no, I couldn't, I couldn'timagine putting on the parade
and just like sitting down andwatching the whole thing.

SPEAKER_01 (01:08:11):
Yeah, like it makes me so happy because look, I love
Thanksgiving Day, and I'm sorryto take this away from
Christmas, but like it is notsomething that I'm just like
sitting down and putting my fullattention towards.
And if I'm being really honest,that's how I feel about this
movie as well.
Like, this was the first time inages that I sat down and tried
to just keep my focus on thefilm.

SPEAKER_03 (01:08:32):
I mean, it it really has no like, like you said, like
no through line or story.
It's just kind of like watchingthese individual like comedy
bits, but it actually movedquicker than I expected.

SPEAKER_01 (01:08:46):
Like it's a tight film.
Yeah.
I mean, I know a lot of peoplewho love this film, and this is
one of their top holiday films.
I'm not trying to talk anybodyout of that.
Um the comedy, this type ofcomedy has never been like what
I gravitate towards, but whocares?
Like, if other people love it,that's great.

SPEAKER_03 (01:09:08):
I have nothing to say to that.

SPEAKER_01 (01:09:10):
I mean, where do you fall on it as far as like your
holiday films?

SPEAKER_03 (01:09:15):
The the beginning like really annoys me, but once
they actually get past the himdriving under the semi the
logging truck, um, and havingthe altercation with like the
rednecks and the old beat uptruck, from that point forward,
I'm like, okay, it's not like Ican have it on and just kind of

(01:09:36):
like have it in the background.
That's but yeah.
It's like my favorite vacationmovie is probably Vegas Vacation
because it just is crazy.
You do seem to really like thatone.
Yeah, and it's not because it'sa fantastic, amazing movie, it's
just my favorite of the bunch.
Like I can't imagine a moviethat would replace the uh

(01:09:59):
European vacation on my bottomof the list.

SPEAKER_01 (01:10:01):
Yeah.
One thing that this is such arandom thing to call out, but
one thing that I do reallyappreciate about this movie is
um when Audrey's in the kitchenwith Ellen, and Audrey's like
complaining about having tosleep in the same bedroom as
Rusty, and Ellen is trying tofind a pack of cigarettes.

SPEAKER_02 (01:10:18):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (01:10:19):
And she does, but literally the second she lights
up a cigarette, I think it mightbe her own mother who calls out
and she's like, Are you smokingagain?
And she's like, No.
And to alleviate herfrustration, she just like puts
a knife through a head oflettuce.
And the head of lettuce isiceberg lettuce.
I was like, Oh, that's veryMidwestern.
That they're preparing a saladwith like iceberg lettuce.

(01:10:39):
That felt very appropriate tothe Midwest.
So I thought that was kind offunny.

SPEAKER_03 (01:10:46):
They so just going back real quick to uh Clark and
the pool and the not rip-off,but homage, we'll say to Fast
Times.
That um that individual that wasNicolette Scorsese.
No way.
And I think they had thoughtabout getting Christine Brink,
Christy Brinkley.

SPEAKER_01 (01:11:05):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (01:11:05):
But they they didn't for whatever reason, so they got
Nicolette Scorsese.
No relation.
No relation to Martin Scorsese.

SPEAKER_01 (01:11:12):
That's so funny.

SPEAKER_03 (01:11:13):
But but yeah, that that's the name.

SPEAKER_01 (01:11:14):
That's really funny.
Is she she looked a littledifferent?
Is it the same person that is inthe mall?
Is it that she just looked alittle different in a bathing
suit?
I guess.
I think it's the same.

SPEAKER_03 (01:11:26):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (01:11:26):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (01:11:27):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (01:11:27):
So call to action.
I mean, I'm very curious.

SPEAKER_03 (01:11:32):
Do you love this movie as much as we do?

SPEAKER_01 (01:11:37):
I I do want to know where it ranks for people as far
as like their holiday movies.
I lean a little bit more intothe classics, like It's
Wonderful Life and WhiteChristmas.
Those aren't perfect movieseither.
But I I'm really curious wherepeople stand with this film.
I think you really have to wantto enjoy the Chevy Chase brand

(01:11:57):
of humor to have this be abeloved movie for you.

SPEAKER_03 (01:12:01):
Yeah, that that's fair, because that's what it is.
And that's even like what JohnHughes said at one point is that
the vacation movies are justlike a vehicle for Chevy Chase.

SPEAKER_01 (01:12:08):
Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 (01:12:09):
So if you like his style of humor and and you like
him as a performer, then you'reprobably gonna like this.
Or if you just like grew up withthese movies and there's that
nostalgia factor.
Yep.
I mean, that probably weighs infor me.
Why like I don't mind having onin the background.
I laugh at certain moments and Iask why certain other moments

(01:12:31):
even happen in the first becauseit seems like very like w why?
Why is this even happening?

SPEAKER_01 (01:12:36):
Oh, you know what?
One thing I want to bring uptoo, probably my favorite scene
is when Clark is talking to thelittle girl.

SPEAKER_03 (01:12:46):
Oh, yeah.
And she's like talking about howthey don't get presents.

SPEAKER_01 (01:12:49):
Yeah.
I actually do like that, ifthere's any moment in this
entire movie that moves meemotionally, it's that that
scene where she's talking abouthow they don't get presents and
they're afraid that they're notgonna get presents again this
year, and she kind of thinksthat Clark might be Santa, and
he keeps telling her that he'snot.
Like it's it's a very sweetscene.
Like, I like when Chase isactually playing it kind of

(01:13:12):
straight.

SPEAKER_03 (01:13:13):
It's a complicated movie.

SPEAKER_01 (01:13:14):
Yeah.
But I like I like the way heengages with her.
Yeah.
Um, and like, because what didshe say?
She swears, and he's like, he'slike, hey, be careful what you
say.
And she like still says fucking,but instead of like sticks, she
said stones or something likethat.
It's very funny.
And he's just like, okay.
Um, so so there are there aresome very heartwarming moments

(01:13:37):
in the film.
I'm not, I'm not at all anasayer on this movie.
But if you want to get in touchwith us, we'd love to hear from
you.
You can reach out throughFacebook, Instagram, or Blue
Sky.
It's the same handle at allthree.
It is at 80smontage pod and 80sis 80S.
Well, this was the seasonfinale, season six.

SPEAKER_03 (01:14:00):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (01:14:01):
So there is no sneak peek for now.

SPEAKER_03 (01:14:03):
No, we gotta figure it out.

SPEAKER_01 (01:14:04):
We gotta figure it we gotta figure that out.
You already know, I bet, butwe're gonna I don't know if I
have a set list, but you know,it's percolating.
Remo Williams coming up next.
Coming up next.
What I will say, because I onlydo this a couple times a year,
is just first of all, thank youto everybody uh for making the
choice to want to sit down andlisten to us when you have so

(01:14:26):
many choices out there.
And if you do enjoy listening tothe show, if you would like to
give us a complimentary rating,we'd really appreciate it.
It does help with algorithms andall that good stuff to help
other people find the show.
But regardless, just thank youso much to everybody out there.
I hope that everybody's having agreat holiday season.

(01:14:46):
Wishing you all a fantastic,healthy, joyful 2026 ahead.
And we will talk to you again intwo weeks' time with the opening
of season seven.

SPEAKER_03 (01:14:57):
Yeah, you got like really intense.

SPEAKER_01 (01:15:00):
Bye, everybody, happy holidays.