August 29, 2025 • 49 mins
Lauren and Russ are back with a very special guest—our good friend Robert Yaniz Jr.! This week, we’re biting into Weird Al’s “Toothless People,” digging into Mick Jagger’s “Ruthless People,” AND chewing over the 1986 comedy Ruthless People.
That’s right: one conversation, three ruthless (and toothless) angles. We cover the music, the movie, and of course, the ridiculous connections only Beer’d Al can make.
If you’ve ever wondered how a Weird Al deep cut, a Mick Jagger soundtrack entry, and a Danny DeVito/Bette Midler classic all intersect—this is the episode for you.
Now, all rise for the honorable Judge Reinhold.
Beer'd Al is a member of the OddPods Media Network... And so is Crooked Table Productions!
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/beer-d-al-podcast--5439475/support.
That’s right: one conversation, three ruthless (and toothless) angles. We cover the music, the movie, and of course, the ridiculous connections only Beer’d Al can make.
If you’ve ever wondered how a Weird Al deep cut, a Mick Jagger soundtrack entry, and a Danny DeVito/Bette Midler classic all intersect—this is the episode for you.
Now, all rise for the honorable Judge Reinhold.
Beer'd Al is a member of the OddPods Media Network... And so is Crooked Table Productions!
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/beer-d-al-podcast--5439475/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Welcome to yet again get another episode of Debt Without
Podcast podcast about two of the greatest things in the world,
Beer and weird al And I'm Lauren, I am always here,
and Russ has deigned to roll his chair in from
the other room.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Hello.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
And we also have a friend of the show who's
been here and has manifested things into the universe with me,
and is you've been here before. I've been on your
shows before. And you are also part of the Odd
Pods media network along with us Robert Yannis Junior. Who
have you have so many shows and you do so
many things and I'm not gonna do anything justice to you.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
So first of all, Hello, Hi, Laren.
Speaker 5 (01:12):
Hi Rest.
Speaker 6 (01:13):
How you guys doing good? He Yeah, So I have
Cricket Table Productions and we do two shows, Close Watch,
where we get to know our guests through the movies
they love. Recently, I did a run of movie musicals.
Russ came on to talk about Moonwalker. That was a
lot of fun. Yes, And then the other show is
(01:34):
Franchise Detours, where we believe no movie series travels in
a straight line. And we actually recently speaking of zaz
which we'll get into the Zuckers and Abrams team. Lauren
helped me kick off the Naked Gun franchise coverage mega
series that we did earlier this year. So we keep
finding these bits of overlap between movies and al and
(01:56):
more recently like the Zuckers and al And so when
you said this was available, it was like, oh, absolutely,
Like you know, this was a blind spot for me,
which we'll get into and stuff with the film. But
I also host with my co host Darren Lundberg, a
show called Back to Blue where we discuss the animated
Australian series Bluey one episode of a time, and we
(02:19):
kind of look at it from a parenting perspective and
all of that. So that's yeah, you can find those
wherever you get your podcasts. And yeah, I'm on social
media at Cricket Table.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Fantastic.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Yeah, so the Bluey thing, right, I just have to
share this little anecdote with you that I'm sure you've heard,
but it's like I saw something online not even too
too long ago, of like an American woman who asked
her toddler what kind of dog Bluey is, and this
American child answered hla. Because of the accents, they didn't
(02:54):
realize it's healer in America.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
So it's just the funny little thing qula. Yeah. So yeah,
the toothless Ruthless People of it all.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Since so I'm gonna set the stage for everybody, everybody
listening here, Since since Rob is like the movie guy,
and we have had so many of these cool overlaps
of you know, movies and weird Alan all this.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
That and the other.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
I was like, yeah, exactly, you jumped on this, and
I was like, yeah, this is perfect. So we all
put ourselves through the paces of watching the nineteen eighty
six American black comedy film Ruthless People. We listened to
the Mick Jagger song Ruthless People, and we listened to
the weird Al Yankovic parody Toothless People, and now we
(03:41):
are going to have a conversation about all of them.
So first and foremost Toothless People. I like to start
these episodes with a little bit of trivia about the
song itself, but there's not much to this, right. The
only thing really floating around out there in the weird
(04:04):
al lore, I suppose you could say, is that Ruthless
People was supposed to be a much bigger hit than
it actually was.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
So weird.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Al was kind of hedging his bets against this song
and the soundtrack and the movie and things doing well,
and then it wasn't and he was like, oh no,
but he got permission from you know, Mick Jagger Al
to do the song, so he thought he would be
rude if he didn't do it, So he did it,
(04:35):
and he put it on the Polka Party album and
now we have toothless people.
Speaker 5 (04:40):
I mean, that's just another example of Al being l
in my opinion in the best way, Like yeah, like
who else on earth would be like it would be
rude if I didn't do that, you know, like anyone
else on earth would be like, well that's a terrible
marketing decision or what you know what I mean. And
he's just like, oh, I don't want to be rude,
you know.
Speaker 6 (05:00):
I don't want to let down Mick Jagger of all
people I know.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
And this is, you know, in all fairness, you know,
there has been kind of a Mick Jagger Rolling Stones
thread throughout like Al's career in the eighties, so this
kind of made sure it's it stayed that way like
Big Jagger, I think, and or the Rolling Stones appeared
on like every single polka in Weird Now's career up
(05:25):
until the Hot Rocks polka, right and uh.
Speaker 5 (05:29):
Yeah, I which there is famously no rolling stones in.
Speaker 4 (05:31):
That pole, none at all. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
So yeah, so this, this just sort of had to happen.
And you know, I had heard maybe once or twice
the song Ruthless People before, Rob, had you heard the
Ruthless People before?
Speaker 7 (05:48):
I hadn't.
Speaker 6 (05:49):
No, I hadn't heard the song. I wasn't even aware
that there was a title track to this movie. And
I was aware of the film. But you know, and
and this is what kind of, like you said, what
kind of undid Al's plan with Toothless People to an extent,
is that the film did well. The song just didn't
catch on for whatever reason. I'm curious, what what do
(06:12):
you all? What do you both think of the original
song before we like talk about Toothless People, Because if
it's if Alice sort of working from that as a template,
there's only there's only so far he can take it
beyond where that song is.
Speaker 5 (06:28):
Well. First, I'd have to say I'm not overly familiar
with the original singing as we watched the movie and
I only got to hear it. I think seven thousand
times in the movie, so you know they do cut
to it a lot. Yeah, Holy cow. I think the
only movie I've ever heard the theme song being more
than that is the original Beverly Hills Cop where they
drop axlf like three hundred times in one movie. Yeah,
(06:50):
and I'd have to even add it up like there
there might be it might be neck and neck with
these two. Yeah. But okay, So when I was a kid,
if Casey Casem didn't play it, then it didn't exist
in my world. So this song did not make the
top forty. So it didn't exist in my world because
Casey wasn't gonna play it. So when it came out.
(07:15):
Being me, I would always read the liner notes and
stuff when Pultar Party came out, so I was like, well,
now what wait, what Mick Jagger's song? Like you know
when I was looking at the liner notes on Pultar Party, right,
So I went through. I had a aunt who bought
like everything, like she had like every forty five that
came out like no matter what, like she just said
(07:35):
this like massive forty So I like went to her
house and like found the forty five for Ruthless People,
and I put it on, and the only thing about
it that I was just like was like, yeah, there's
not any better than Weirdelse's song, Like you know what
I mean, like nothing about it. Maybe be like, oh,
I want to like hear this more than weird El's song,
(07:56):
you know, right, and then and then let me let
me put it this way. I think the next time
I heard it was when we watched the movie last night.
I don't think I ever heard it ever yet. Like
there's like terrible Rolling Stone songs from I don't know,
he's seventy five through at least ninety two sure that
(08:16):
I've like heard again for one reason or another. And
I truly don't think I've ever heard with this people
since the day I played that forty five until last night.
That's fair and it's such a bummer. I was telling
Lauren I looked it up before. I was like, you know,
who wrote this supposed to be should have been a
great song, and I'm so disappointed to learn that Daryl
Hall and Dave Stewart wrote that, like that's the song
(08:39):
should be so much better than it is.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Yep, so yeah, not great, not great. I hadn't heard
it ever. I really you know because why.
Speaker 5 (08:51):
Well, I mean, like you have though, like I mean,
to those spirit it's the same thing. Like it really is,
like like the parody is not even remotely far off
in product and everything.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (09:04):
The only other thing I want to mention, and this
is just something that I read at some point today
because I was looking into this to see why the
song failed the Stones and this is also a terrible album.
But The Stones also had an album out that year
called Dirty Work, and so like that's another thing where
people could have been, like, you know, not known if
this was a Rolling Stone song or a Mick Jagger
(09:25):
song or what like yeah, you know, so that was
another thing that was brought up of like people, you know,
if like consumers would be like, I don't I'm not
putting too much work into.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
This, like you know yep. So so so there's this
that's the song.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
I mean, that's also why we have the movie to
talk about as well, because there's there's there's really not
much to oh my god, no pun intended.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
There's not much to sink your teeth into here.
Speaker 5 (09:51):
Well you're like you're like you're like, all right, next
week on the show, we're.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
Gonna Yeah, that's it okay by kay By. Yeah, so
I don't know, man, Like.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Before we get into the movie itself too, I feel
like Toruthless People is one of those weird Al songs
that like weird Al fans even go, I don't like
that song, and I used to be one of those people.
I'm not one of those people anymore because there is
(10:26):
a quiet there's a quiet brilliance to what Al has
done here, insofar as I absolutely love the way he
leans into the Mick Jagger isms vocally.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
Yeah, there's like, you know, do you ever catch yourself?
Speaker 3 (10:43):
I've I caught myself like so many times going hey,
like that's just like that's great, that's great, It's great.
But yeah, this as far as the whole intersection of
things right here, the song Toruthless People and the song
Ruthless People are kind of the low points of of
where we are here. So I feel like, let's lean
(11:06):
into Rob's sweet spot and start talking about the movie.
Speaker 6 (11:12):
I will say before we do that, I do wanted
to mention like I wonder if had this song, like
if the initial plan was maybe you know, okay, there's
this big mc jagger's song coming out, you know, attached
to this big movie with all Danny DeVito and Bette
Miller and all these stars. Like, I wonder if the
initial plan was for that to be perhaps a lead
(11:32):
single on Poka Party, because it was, according to my
very cursory Internet research, it was recorded like in the
last session. So I almost wonder if they're like, oh,
we need a big hit to kind of kick off
the album. You know, obviously most of ours discography is
led by like a big hooky parody, whether it's Fat
or Amish Paradise or what have you. And so I
(11:55):
wonder if he was sort of maybe counting on that,
and then since it didn't happen, it was downplayed. And
if if this is I'm not saying this, I'm not
making the declaration of raising the question whether the failure
of Ruthless People and by extension, Toothless People is kind
of the hinge on Poka Parties reception to a degree.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
That's absolutely like yeah, because looking at it, you're absolutely right.
The final parody recorded for Polka Party was Toothless People.
So I mean they may have said because like you
look at the parodies that exist on it, as it is, right,
Living with a Hernia was from you know, Rocky.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
You know four, Uh, we need to be clear.
Speaker 5 (12:39):
It wasn't from the first thing. I know.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
I'm sorry Rocky four addicted to Spuds. You know, Here's
Johnny is a parody of a song from from Short
Circuit and then too. There's a lot of movie, you know,
soundtrack song parodies happening here. And like we have said
before on this show, and we'll say again as many
(13:01):
times as anyone will listen, like living with a Hernia
should have been the lead single for this. It's a
much better song. But you know, no, yeah, but that
also it was, but it just didn't like it didn't
do anything for him either, you know.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
I mean maybe it wasn't. I don't know who the
heck knows, But anyway.
Speaker 6 (13:25):
We got Christmas at ground zero.
Speaker 5 (13:27):
We did.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
We got that out of it.
Speaker 6 (13:29):
That's the one that I feel like has endured the
most by a significant stretch.
Speaker 5 (13:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
That and Doggy Dog, I think among like for sure.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Yeah, those two were like classics in their own beautiful,
beautiful way. So yeah, I had never seen the movie
Ruthless People until the other day when we watched it
in preparation for this rob Had you seen it before.
Speaker 6 (13:51):
I haven't And like I said, you know, I did
the Naked Gun films recently on my podcast. I did
Airplane on my other podcast years ago. This is the
only like I actually caught up finally with Top Secret
like last year for the first time.
Speaker 5 (14:05):
Oh wow, fantastic.
Speaker 6 (14:07):
I don't know how they escaped me.
Speaker 5 (14:09):
I don't know how did you not go skeach skeech
uh surfing? As a kid? Everybody surfant.
Speaker 6 (14:17):
So this was like my last big like Zazz And
to be clear, that's Jim Zucker, David Zucker and Jim Abraham's.
Uh this was like my last big zazz blind spot.
And I was aware of the movie, but I think
in my head as a a you know, a small
child in the in the mid eighties, it got kind
of thrown together with like Big Business and Outrageous Fortune
(14:41):
and like all these other like dark comedies that Bette
Miller and Tanny Tavito were sort of doing around the
same time. Uh so this was a this was a
great excuse to go back and finally kind of clear
that off.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Yeah, right, Like it's so for sure, you know, it's
it was a blind spot for all of us here.
We had never ever seen it before. And for those
of you listening to this who you know, may not
know right ruthless people like you said, it's got uh
Danny DeVito, Bette Miller, the Honorable Judge Reinhold, Anita Morris,
(15:15):
Allan Slater, and it was Bill Pulman's film debut.
Speaker 5 (15:18):
It was the excuse me, President Went Moore?
Speaker 4 (15:23):
Sorry, President Went Moore's film debut.
Speaker 5 (15:25):
Okay, well I'm just didn't serve and get elected for
you to just refer to him as Bill Pullman.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
Apologies. Okay, I mean, I for one, this is why
I made sure to say it.
Speaker 5 (15:35):
Have you not seen the documentary.
Speaker 4 (15:37):
I've seen the documentary.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
I for one, get upset when people don't give the
Honorable Judge Reinehold is due respect proper title.
Speaker 5 (15:46):
Yeah, he was in a documentary about high school called
Fast Time as at Ridgemont High and he was going
to kick one of your ass.
Speaker 4 (15:52):
Yeah, so yeah, you got a lot without.
Speaker 5 (15:56):
Saying that line. In my mind every time he sounds screen,
I believe that, sir, if you shut up, I'm gonna
kick one hundred percent of your ass.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
Fantastic.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
So, Rob having not seen this before, what especially as
the movie guy where you know this was a blind
spot for yourself.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
What are your like initial thoughts about this?
Speaker 6 (16:21):
You can well, you could tell right off the bat
that it wasn't written by them, because it's one of
the only non parody things that they've done. I mean,
like I said, aeroplane, naked gun and all that. So
my expectations were kind of blank, I think to coming
into it, like, Okay, you know, I knew all these actors.
Obviously we're doing the Superman films on my podcast now.
So I just watched Supergirl with Helen Slater, so I
(16:43):
was like, oh, Helen Slater re enters my world right
like a week or two after I recorded the Supergirl episode.
It's random, Helen Slater's in the air. I guess that's
what I'm saying.
Speaker 5 (16:53):
There we go.
Speaker 6 (16:55):
So you know, I'm I'm not a huge dark comedy
person a lot of the time. It's just not my
particular style of humor. And you know, I watched this
with my wife, uh, and we were both sort of like, well,
who are we rooting for here? Like you, It's it's
kind of that it kind of has had a similar
(17:17):
vibe the first half at least to like some of
the Cohen's Brothers comedies where you're like, okay, so a
bunch of idiots doing we're doing stupid things. And the
turn that it takes like part of the way through
where it starts out with Danny DeVito. I don't know
how much we want to get into the plot, but we.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
Can spoil it for people a time.
Speaker 5 (17:37):
I feel like we should stop off to let people
know that every time we use the word plot, that
you should if you're if you're in the audience listening,
you should put the doctor Evil quotes up when you
hear the work plot. Though, yeah, I feel like strongly
that people should have to use air quotes every time
they hear the word plot.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
So because like the entire time we're watching it, Russ
is sitting here, like you're literally sitting there going I
have no idea what's going on.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
I don't know what's happening.
Speaker 5 (18:06):
I don't understand well I made I made two observations
about about twenty minutes in, about about fifteen minutes and
then and then I paused it again about twenty minutes in,
and the first one, fifteen minutes in was exactly what
Robert just touched on. Because I have such a massive
spectras as that I said, I said, they they do
(18:28):
one thing very well, and this isn't it right? And
then five minutes later I paused it and said, this
plot was brought to you by cocaine. And also when
you said Robert a moment ago, at one point the
film kind of changes. Can we agree that that the
(18:49):
moment the film changes is when Bette Midler just starts
working out a lot. Yeah, yeah, Like literally the movie
is just like and now this and you're like what, yeah,
like what? Oh? I don't I like and I don't
you all know, like y'all, y'all know how I do
my life, Like I don't like sitting around being like
(19:10):
this is just terrible. But like I truly the whole time,
I kept being like, any minute now, something's gonna happen,
and I'm going to be like, boy, I'm glad that happened,
because from there out it was awesome and it did
not happen like there was like not.
Speaker 7 (19:26):
I there was.
Speaker 5 (19:27):
There was like at least I can't even remember now.
There was one line that I laughed at and I
was like, that was the funniest line in the whole movie.
But other than that, there was like nothing even that
I like really laughed at, like it just I like
you said I and I remember laboring the point that
he was talking about. I kept going, what, I don't
know who I'm supposed to like, Yeah, I can't tell
if I'm supposed to like like Judge Reinhold, and like,
(19:53):
I don't know, I think I'm supposed to like them.
I don't. I guess maybe I'm supposed to be sympathetic
for Bette Midler, but maybe I know I'm supposed to
not like Danny Davito. What what I don't Maybe I'm
supposed to I don't know, Like, I don't know who
I was supposed to. And then suddenly, at least within
the last ten minutes of the movie, I was definitely
supposed to have been sympathetic toward Judge ryan Hold the
(20:15):
whole time. Yeah, I'm sorry, I don't know.
Speaker 6 (20:19):
I don't know if that's the whole time. I feel
like I feel like when it starts, everyone is sort
of the title character. Everyone is a ruthless people. Yeah,
and then as it shakes out, you're like, oh, okay,
some of them are misguided, some of them are just
really dumb and and some of them are misunderstood, and
then like the word, the one who stands is truly
(20:40):
ruthless as the Danny de Vito character. So I like
that turn that that it takes, that you see that
there's a little more to some of these characters, for
good or for ill, and I think it's kind of
an even measure of both, so that by the end
it's just it's Danny DeVito. It's like the is the
you know, the the most despicable well, you know, so.
Speaker 5 (21:02):
By the end it becomes ruthless person. Yeah, and if
we go by if we go by height, it's ruthless
half person. Oh no, but yeah, no, I just yeah,
I was just like I kept being like exactly what
you said. Just at the beginning, it's like, no, what
you don't know what anyone's up to. You don't know
(21:23):
why anyone's doing anything like I could I'm I am
you know, I'm by no mil by no means any
sort of film expert. I don't claim to be. I
am the person who thinks all comedy should be eighty
nine minutes at the most. So I am not asking
for ten, fifteen, twenty minutes more of this movie. But
(21:43):
I could have used like at least some exposition to
explain something early on of like who we should be
caring about and why? You know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (21:54):
Yeah, I get that well if you take into consideration
that this is the the screenwriter writer Dale Wanner, Right,
he also wrote My Cousin Vinnie and to.
Speaker 4 (22:09):
Be fair, sorry that it's never gonna kind of happen
in all fairness.
Speaker 5 (22:16):
Nah, it's like the big Lots version of a letter
in all.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
Fairness, like there's there's there's nobody to like in My
Cousin Vinnie either. So maybe that's this guy's thing.
Speaker 5 (22:29):
I've only seen that once ever.
Speaker 4 (22:31):
Is writing movies, because he also wrote Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
Speaker 5 (22:35):
So it's like only seen blind date once you lived.
I thought you would like that. That's Bruce Wallis, isn't it.
Speaker 4 (22:40):
I like Bruce Willis, I do like I love Bruce Willis. Oh,
I like Kim Basinger two.
Speaker 5 (22:46):
Okay, that was in the height of uh uh. If
you guys don't pay me more, I'll walk away from
Moonlighting and then the movie didn't do so well and
he was like, never mind.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
I'm back, but I digest So maybe this guy just
doesn't like people.
Speaker 5 (23:05):
He just doesn't like people.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
So he's like, you know what, everybody sucks.
Speaker 6 (23:09):
Yeah, I literally have in my notes as the title implies,
everyone in this movie sucks.
Speaker 4 (23:12):
Well, when you think about it, like there are so
many I'm this is like a mild tangent. But then
you think about, you know, what kind of happened with
a lot of of of TV not you know, five
years after.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
This, we're like, there's nobody to like on Seinfeld. There's
virtually nobody to like on friends, you know, like they're
all they all kind of suck.
Speaker 5 (23:35):
You know, you're suggesting that the multi paleontologists who won't
stand up for himself or be in any way tolerable,
is not a person that like, that's crazy.
Speaker 4 (23:45):
I have a holiday ado. Yeah, So who knows, I'm
just saying yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
And so.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
The point I guess we're all trying to make here
is that this is a difficult movie to you, again,
no pun intended, sink your teeth into, because there's not
really a clear protagonist that makes you say I care
about this for this reason. Right, You spend a good
portion of this movie kind of grappling with like the
(24:15):
like who am I supposed to care about?
Speaker 4 (24:16):
And why?
Speaker 2 (24:18):
You know, like.
Speaker 4 (24:20):
The scene where.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
Early on in the movie where where Bette Midler is,
you know, overweight and miserable and laying in the bed
and like watching the exercise videos and she's just getting
upset about it. Russ I remember you going, what is happening?
Why should I care about this? And I still don't know.
Speaker 5 (24:45):
Well, don't worry they I mean they told us like
sixteen minutes.
Speaker 4 (24:47):
Later, I guess.
Speaker 5 (24:48):
So it was just real quick.
Speaker 6 (24:51):
She just needed she just needed to lose uh what
is it, twenty pounds and get some compliments and in
what a day because her husband, by the way, basically yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (25:02):
Literally, the timeline just doesn't make sense to me.
Speaker 5 (25:06):
And then in the middle of all of this, by
the way, does anybody else find it ironic that this
here's this movie about these awful people. It's called Ruthless People,
and it's all these terrible people else And in the
middle of all of it is the only person that's
caught in this whole deal that gets a raw deal
is the nicest person. I'm weird on the planet weird
al who's the only person who gets screwed over? And
this whole deal because he's like just still went through
(25:29):
with a nice thing that he didn't have to do.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Yeah, yeah, that is kind of that is something you
know what on that kind of want want of a note,
I'm gonna take a little break for ads here while
we think about what we've done.
Speaker 5 (25:43):
And I.
Speaker 4 (25:46):
Thing that's why I love it is a good thing.
Speaker 8 (25:47):
It is a good thing.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
We we need everybody else to think about what they've done.
So meanwhile, think about what you've googled, because that's what
these ads are going to be about, and we'll see
you on either side.
Speaker 8 (25:57):
Each of us identify with one of the gold Girls.
I'm Sophia, Aaron is Dorothy, Kristen is sweet Rose. And
each week we'll have a guest sit in the blanch
spot the naughty seat. Come join us on the Lunai
for some cheesecake.
Speaker 4 (26:14):
Part of the Odd Pods Media Network.
Speaker 7 (26:16):
Hey Jeff, Yeah, Jeff, remember yesterday I was telling you
how I wished I could have seen one of Billy
Joel's sold out shows at Madison Square Garden.
Speaker 9 (26:24):
Yeah, I said you should go see Taylor Swift instead.
She's the modern day Billy Joel.
Speaker 7 (26:29):
Well, today my phone said, I should read an interview
with Billy Joel where he talks about both retirement and
Taylor Swift.
Speaker 9 (26:35):
Oh man, it's always so creepy when that happens.
Speaker 7 (26:38):
We should do a podcast about how our devices are
always listening to us.
Speaker 9 (26:42):
We already do. It's called Suggested Articles, a podcast we
talk about how technology is always spying on us and
how those tech corporations are such big buttholes.
Speaker 7 (26:50):
Dude, you can't say buttholes on a podcast promo, Dude,
we already did twice. Join us every other Monday on
Suggested Articles. The podcast on your face favorite podcast app
part of the odd Pods media Network.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
If you're into comedy, game shows and improv, you should
come check out b f y t W. We are
an adult British inspired comedy panel show. New episodes release
every Thursday through your favorite podcast player or bfytwpod dot com.
We're also a founding member of the Odd Pods Media
Network and would love for you to join us for some.
Speaker 4 (27:26):
Laughs and we're back. Wow. What an outbreak? Yeah, I laughed,
I cried. Well, it depends on what you googled, I
(27:50):
guess depends. Well done, sir, That's why I married you,
it's so yeah, I don't know. I also find this
movie very very confusing, And I just want to.
Speaker 5 (28:04):
Dial back one second and say that I have such
a respect for the directors that I was really really
really excited and then really really really not like when
when because I didn't know at all that they were
involved in like when the first like when the credits
rolled at the beginning, I was like, yes, yes, And
I should also say, by the way, as the guy
(28:26):
who never wants my artist to make the same album
over and over, like, I'm not the guy who when
like Wish You Were Hare came out, I wasn't like
I was just some dark started the moon again, like
I don't want them to continue to make the same
thing over and over. I wasn't like, oh man, I
wanted this to be airplane like, but I wanted it
to be very funny. Yeah, So I was disappointed that
(28:47):
it was that or let me say this humort subjective.
I'm saying, uh, I was disappointed that I didn't find
it funny. M hm, did you? I mean.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
Yes, some of it.
Speaker 6 (29:02):
Some of it, like the misunderstandings, the comedy of misunderstandings, obviously,
which is basically, this movie's kind of the card they
play over and over and over again, the whole thing
with the sex tape and and the way that plays
out with the chief of police, and I was like,
I know that person's going to be somebody and how
that plays out, and you know they're describing it thinking
(29:24):
she's going to get killed, and really it's a sex tape.
That all of that stuff I thought was but again
to your point, so convoluted that I'm like, I don't
remember what was funny. I just remember they were misunderstanding
each other, and that's always amusing, and that's that's the
kind of thing they would almost have in some of
their parody stuff. But to your point, Russ, I think
(29:45):
this was them trying new ground, and I think as
a result, this was also the last movie that they
directed the three of them together, because it was because
it was written by none of them, and so it
was I think they they found it, uh challenging to
direct something that wasn't the material that they had developed themselves.
(30:07):
And so right after this is when they start splitting
off into this one directs, this one, this one rights,
and then you know we kind of get the uh,
the the greater Zazz universe with not only the Naked
Gun films, but like the hot Shots films and all.
Speaker 7 (30:21):
That other stuff.
Speaker 4 (30:22):
Yeah, that's true. Huh, that's interesting.
Speaker 6 (30:27):
Beginning the beginning of the end of their partnership kind
of was this movie.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
Yeah, that's that. Yeah, that feels like it. That's interesting.
That's very interesting.
Speaker 4 (30:39):
Huh. Why do you I don't know why. I don't
know why.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
Why did they do something that somebody else wrote, like
I know you said it was like trying to break
new ground and there was like, oh no, it didn't work,
you know, Like I guess my question is why not
trust the process that had been working?
Speaker 6 (31:01):
Yeah, you know, I would assume maybe they just didn't
want to be pigeonholed and like the parody genre after
Airplane and after Top Secret.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Oh, I don't know anything about anybody being pigeonholed into
the parody genre.
Speaker 4 (31:14):
Do you know anything about that?
Speaker 6 (31:16):
No, well, one thing, I guess, Yeah, they didn't want
to stay in that lane, I suppose, but then they
would write back to it anyway.
Speaker 5 (31:24):
I mean, and I know nothing about this. I'm taking
I guess. So, you know, Airplane and obviously the sequel
to that we're direct parodies of The entire decade of
seventies was all disaster flicks like that, like the you know,
literally Airport and all the Towering Inferno and all that stuff,
(31:47):
and then to a certain extent, Top Secret was even
a parody too before that, like a lot of the
war films and whatnot. So I would argue that at
the time that they did Ruthless People, there wasn't one
down in it genre that they could have perished parody,
you know what I mean? Like there was so much
in pop culture at that time that there wasn't like
(32:08):
one dominant thing. The the most that they could have
done was was pioneered what would have become what what?
Speaker 4 (32:17):
What?
Speaker 5 (32:17):
Excuse me? What would go on to become the scary
movie formula where they parody like everything in pop culture
at the time. You know how those do that, like
the scary movie like parody every movie that's out right then.
But because I less, I'm wrong. I don't think there
was like one dominant genre of movie in like eighty
(32:39):
five eighty six that they could have done that everyone
would go, oh, yeah, you're doing that thing that's really
popular right now, do you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I mean, like I mean, it was like footloose and
dirty dancing where were around then maybe I think maybe
dirty Dancing might have even been eighty seven, it might
have been after this. But yeah, but but do you
(33:00):
know what I'm saying. I just I mean, and again
this is not even remotely bits In fact, it's just
a guess of mine that like there wasn't a clear
genre that they could have done well.
Speaker 6 (33:11):
I mean, the very next year Spaceballs comes out, so
I mean that's the route they could have gone. I
don't know how far. Melbrooks wasn't developing that at that
point and they didn't want to step on you know.
Speaker 5 (33:20):
That's right. Yeah, but that's very possible.
Speaker 6 (33:23):
But again Bill Pullman went on to do that soon
after this.
Speaker 5 (33:26):
So well they I mean they were probably already into
well into coming the desert at that point. So yeah, nice,
which I don't know if you know what they found
out there, but it wasn't much.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
Yeah, I mean, this is all this is all very
good points, you know, because like we had this discussion
on the when we talked about Spy Hard on this
very show, was like, you know, what was what the
parody movie kind of had was I guess evolving into
by the time we got into the nineties, right, not
(34:01):
anywhere near as nuanced as like what was happening before.
Speaker 4 (34:05):
And maybe, you know, the maybe maybe zazz kind of
splitting up kind of made that that turn, you know,
start to happen.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
According to the Wikipedia page, they split up for both
fiscal and creative reasons, stating that there were quote too
many guys sitting in the same chair, and they also
said that they had been treated unfairly by the studios
that produced their films, claiming that they failed to see
any profits from ruthless people.
Speaker 4 (34:36):
Sounds like ruthless people.
Speaker 5 (34:37):
Oh nice, Yeah, well, I was going to say it
sounds like they broke up for all the same reasons
everyone who ever has made arts as a team. Yeah
you know what I mean, Like because y'all start hitting
each other eventually, and you know, y'all start thinking you're
each one of you is the genius. And then on
top of that, you're all getting screwed over by everyone
who's supposed to be paying you. Yeah, which which sucks,
(35:00):
but you know that's what happens.
Speaker 4 (35:02):
That is how it goes. That do be how it
goes Sometimes to talk to some folks who used to
sing and dance for Moto.
Speaker 5 (35:08):
They have stories to share.
Speaker 4 (35:10):
Yeah, I'm sure they do. I'm sure they do.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
I feel like I'd be remiss if I didn't mention
this little tidbit that I dug up, because I do
get me a kick out of Judge Reinhold. I always
thought that that was actually his name, mm hmm. His
name is Edward, but he was nicknamed Judge because when
he was a baby he looked stern and judge, Like,
(35:36):
could you imagine being nicknamed something.
Speaker 4 (35:38):
Like that as a baby because of your face?
Speaker 6 (35:40):
Right, he had judge face.
Speaker 4 (35:43):
He did have resting judge face. Right, Yeah, oh my gosh,
that's marvelous. That's wonderful. I'm want to.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
Switch gears here a little bit, just to kind of
like sandwich the conversation in the weird now of it all.
Speaker 4 (35:57):
I want to kind of hit on.
Speaker 3 (35:59):
Toothless people just a little bit, because I feel like
we have to dig into the lyrical content just a
bit to make sure we give it it's it's sure,
you know, give.
Speaker 6 (36:07):
It it's due.
Speaker 3 (36:08):
But then also a touch on the new naked gun
before we all go and give the song a rating
on a scale of one to twenty seven, which is
becoming increasingly more meaningless as these weeks and weeks go by,
But it's still a fun thing to do at the
end of an episode.
Speaker 4 (36:23):
So Toothless People.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
At this point, right we're on Weird Al is on
his fourth album, and he's a very smart guy. This
feels lyrically, very low hanging fruit. Yes, and that's probably
part of why this doesn't stand out, Hey stand out
(36:49):
in a weird awl, you know lore or you know,
it's nobody's I don't. I would be hard pressed to
find somebody would say that Toothless People is their favorite
Weird Al song. But there are things to appreciate about
it anyway, you know. So, yeah, is there any line
(37:10):
in this song that makes you actually laugh? Or do
you all go yep yep? This is just puns about
not having teeth?
Speaker 6 (37:18):
I mean, I to your point about the song's reputation.
I think it's you know, you discover there's a song
coming out called Ruthless People. You're like a toothless oh done,
And then when you play the track, it is what
it is, what it sounds like. There's like there's no
there's not really, there's no surprises, there's no like you know,
(37:38):
it's very like you said, low hanging fruit, getting all
the humorous is on the surface there. That being said,
I did like the at the end of one of
the verses and he says, at least they don't have
to worry about cavities. Yeah, right, rhymes disease.
Speaker 4 (37:52):
That is funny.
Speaker 3 (37:53):
Yeah, he does do a good job with that. And
I would be remiss if I didn't mention the fact
that my mother's father, my grandfather, who passed away in
nineteen ninety eight, so he was around when I was
a kid. But the entire time I knew him, no teeth,
toothless person, Okay, he would eat anything like corn on
(38:18):
the cob, oh wow, with no teeth, And I just
felt like I needed to shout that out into the
universe on an episode about a song called Toothless People
talking about how they only eat soft things, and I.
Speaker 4 (38:29):
Was like, oh, no, no, no, I've seen it.
Speaker 6 (38:33):
Stereotypes don't do it.
Speaker 4 (38:34):
I saw him eat corn on the cob. He wasn't
letting anything stop him, right solid. So we've got that.
Speaker 3 (38:41):
We've got that going for us, all right, completely switching gears.
Now we've got the new Naked Gun movie that came out,
and you know, Rob, I know you and I talked
about the obviously the original Naked Gun. We have talked
about weird El's cameos in the Naked Gun films on
this very podcast as well. And when we were I believe,
(39:03):
but I believe it's when you and I were talking
about Spy Hard, there was something in the water about
the new Naked Gun thing coming out, so we kind
of we talked about it a little bit like before
we knew anything really right, So now we know things
and we've seen it.
Speaker 5 (39:24):
And.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
I'm going I'm not spoiling exactly what it is, but
those of you who may not have seen it, you
can rest easy because yeah, boy is in it, as
you should be, because I, for one would not consider
it a true Naked Gun film if weird Ow did
not have a cameo appearance.
Speaker 4 (39:40):
Ye yeah, yeah, I'm just saying.
Speaker 6 (39:45):
Not only that, I love that in the universe of
the Naked Gun franchise, and I'm gonna I'm going to,
at some point in the near future record an episode
of franchise detours on the new film. It's kind of
extension of that. I have a guest lined up and
everything for that test and that there as well. But
within the universe of the Naked Gun films, weird al
(40:07):
is is as acclaimed a musical genius as he is
to us, as he should be, because there's that, that's
the cameo in the first film, the cameo with the
third film, he's like presenting at the Oscars, and then
in this new one. It sort of keeps that reputation
in universe, reputation of Al alive.
Speaker 4 (40:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (40:29):
So's the other thing that's cool too, is that, obviously,
as we've been talking, the zazz of it all is
just a running line throughout the parody genre from you know,
Airplane going forward. We mentioned scary movies and David Ducker
directed two of those, so there's a lot of cross
(40:50):
section there. So having Al in there and then the
new Naked Gun directed by one of the members of
the Lonely Island, it's like all of these people kind
of swim in the same walk. So I love seeing
that sort of cross pollination between their fan bases.
Speaker 3 (41:05):
Yeah, I think it's absolutely wonderful. Yeah, it's this was
such a fun theatrical experience for us.
Speaker 4 (41:16):
Because we have.
Speaker 3 (41:18):
Taken to like we tend not to go to see
too many new things in the theater unless we're like
really really drawn to it.
Speaker 4 (41:29):
What we tend to go see at the movies are anniversary.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
Screenings of you know, older movies that we love that
we may not have seen on a big screen.
Speaker 4 (41:41):
So we went to see Money Python in the Holy Grail.
We just saw This is Spinal Tap.
Speaker 3 (41:47):
The forty first anniversary, and we're going to see the
new this is Spinal Tap.
Speaker 4 (41:52):
When that comes out to.
Speaker 3 (41:55):
But this was the first like new comedy that I think,
rest is my the first like new comedy that you
and I had gone to see in the theater like together,
you know, because we usually like go see concert films
or like I said, like stuff that we already know. Right,
this was so much fun because everybody in the theater
was just laughing the whole way through, you know, and
(42:20):
so I would say, like this is this is a
really fun, fun, fun movie to go see if you
just want, if you just want to laugh. I feel
like it's you know, like you said, it's very It
honors where it came from in such a great way.
But it feels fresh at the same time, and I
love that about it.
Speaker 6 (42:42):
And that's such a hard needle to thread between hitting
what you want as a longtime fan of the franchise
but also not having it feel like it like a retread. Yeah,
and I'm crossing my fingers that this is the continuation
of an upswing with the genre. You know, obviously we
(43:02):
had You and I manifested Weird the Al Yankovic story
into the world. The same director of The New Naked
Gun also did Akiva Schaeffer also did pop Star with
Nandy Sandberg and The Lonely Islands. And then now, for
better or worse, the Weighands are in control of the
Scary Movie franchise again and that's coming to theaters next year.
(43:22):
Scary Movie.
Speaker 4 (43:23):
We do Math six twenty seven.
Speaker 6 (43:26):
Yeah, yeah, right. So I'm optimistic that the comedies are
going to start kind of rearing their their head in
theaters a little bit more going forward, because you know,
horror has had a great year. Original horror has had
a great year, and so I'm hoping that that sort
of flips over to the other side because of you know,
(43:47):
obviously comedy and horror, the two extremes of emotions of
theatrical responses. So I like to see the new Naked
Gun be the continuation of a of a trend.
Speaker 4 (44:00):
Agree more, I think it's great.
Speaker 6 (44:01):
We need it.
Speaker 5 (44:02):
Yep, I'm all for it.
Speaker 3 (44:04):
Like you know again, it's you know, it's a continuation
of you know, an old franchise, the Naked Gun is.
But also, like like I said, we're super excited for
you know, this is spinal tap two.
Speaker 4 (44:18):
The end continues because like, did you see the trailer
for that?
Speaker 6 (44:26):
I haven't. No, well, no I think I did. I
think I did see the trailer for that. Yeah, I'm
excited for that.
Speaker 4 (44:29):
I'm very excited about it. I'm real, I'm real stoke.
Speaker 3 (44:32):
We are one little quick anecdote because I just think
this is a beautiful moment, and then we'll write the
song on toothless people on a scale of one to
twenty seven, and then we'll give everybody the rest of
their day back folks, because I know you're listening to
this and you're like, oh gosh, I can't wait for
the Beard Doll podcast to be over so that I can,
you know, go mow the lawn or whatever it is
that you do after you listen to this show. But
(44:55):
the forty first anniversary theatrical release of This Is Spinal Tap.
We had already made plans with another couple for that evening,
and then they announced that that was gonna be like
the only night that like we could maybe theoretically possibly
go to see it here. So I reached out to
the woman in this couple and I was like, hey,
(45:18):
so I don't want to cancel our plans, but like
we really need to go see this movie. And she
was like, okay, yeah, We're all for it. So I
got us four tickets. They are, like, you know, full
grown adult people. Neither one of them had ever seen
This Is Spinal Tap. Oh wow, And I'll tell you what,
it was really cool to have Russ to the right
(45:39):
of me, who has seen Spinal Tap what like hundreds
of times, and then two people who had never seen
it before at all, and they were just laughing and
loving it and like it was so wonderful that then
they showed after that screening, they showed a short little
teaser trailer for the new one. And as we're walking
(46:02):
out of the theater, my friend she says to me,
so we're gonna go see the new one together, right,
And I'm like, yes, So We've got tickets together, like
nine pm on the Wednesday of that week to go
see the freaking new Spinal det movie because they loved it,
and I was like, oh my gosh, we just opened
(46:22):
a window to a beautiful world for these people and
it's just makes me.
Speaker 4 (46:26):
So happy as a human. Absolutely sound cool, doutheless.
Speaker 3 (46:31):
People my rating on a scale of one to twenty seven,
just so nobody feels bad about it.
Speaker 4 (46:36):
I like the song. I think it's fun. I'm gonna
give it a fifteen.
Speaker 6 (46:41):
I was thinking. I was thinking right around the mid range,
so like I'll go, like, I'll go thirteen.
Speaker 4 (46:47):
Cool.
Speaker 5 (46:48):
Oh, this is firing away the lowest score. I'm gonna
give anything where ELL's ever done this A five? Okay,
Like I haven't listened to this and oh g'z, I
don't know twenty years and it'll probably be another twenty
before I listen to it again. I don't hate it
at all, but like I don't there's absolutely no reason
why I will put the.
Speaker 4 (47:06):
Sun I hear you, And that's we're listening to Poka Party.
Speaker 5 (47:10):
Unless we're like listening to the whole album all the
way through. Yeah, and then like, here's the thing though,
with most weird OL albums, because we don't like sweezebox,
so we would be able to have all of them
listen to on vinyl. Right, there's like most weird l albums,
there would be a reason why I would be like, oh,
I can't leave the room yet because I know like
those next song's coming. This is in a very very
(47:33):
very small number of weird eale songs where I would
be like, I don't care.
Speaker 4 (47:37):
Okay, so I hear that, No, I understand five is
generous for me. Okay. So that's where we're at with it. Yeah,
this has been a wonderful discussion, gentlemen. Thank you.
Speaker 3 (47:49):
I'm glad we watched the movie. Now that's the thing
that we can all check off our lists and uh
go on.
Speaker 4 (47:55):
With our lives. Yeah, absolutely, all right, So that was
our discussion just for the the folks listening.
Speaker 3 (48:03):
Next time on the beard Al Podcast, we're going to
be hitting the next track on Polka Party, which is
good Enough for Now, which is a lovely little country
style parody of just country music, and our friend Noah
is going to be back to talk about that song.
Speaker 4 (48:17):
And because uh we know a guy.
Speaker 3 (48:20):
Yeah yeah, so Rob from the Crooked Crooked Table Productions.
I love that part of the Odd Pods media network
sounds so official. Uh, thank you again so much for
being here with us today.
Speaker 6 (48:34):
Yeah, now, thank you for having me. We'll have to
find more weird al in the world of movies slash
the zazz universe and like little uh nooks and crannies
to cover in the future.
Speaker 3 (48:45):
Don't worry, it's a it's a. The world is a
veritable English muffin of those things, so don't worry about it,
all right, And Russ, thank you for rolling your chair here.
Speaker 4 (48:53):
I appreciate you. And all right, folks, stay weird. We'll
come at you again next time. Bye bye,
Welcome to yet again get another episode of Debt Without
Podcast podcast about two of the greatest things in the world,
Beer and weird al And I'm Lauren, I am always here,
and Russ has deigned to roll his chair in from
the other room.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Hello.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
And we also have a friend of the show who's
been here and has manifested things into the universe with me,
and is you've been here before. I've been on your
shows before. And you are also part of the Odd
Pods media network along with us Robert Yannis Junior. Who
have you have so many shows and you do so
many things and I'm not gonna do anything justice to you.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
So first of all, Hello, Hi, Laren.
Speaker 5 (01:12):
Hi Rest.
Speaker 6 (01:13):
How you guys doing good? He Yeah, So I have
Cricket Table Productions and we do two shows, Close Watch,
where we get to know our guests through the movies
they love. Recently, I did a run of movie musicals.
Russ came on to talk about Moonwalker. That was a
lot of fun. Yes, And then the other show is
(01:34):
Franchise Detours, where we believe no movie series travels in
a straight line. And we actually recently speaking of zaz
which we'll get into the Zuckers and Abrams team. Lauren
helped me kick off the Naked Gun franchise coverage mega
series that we did earlier this year. So we keep
finding these bits of overlap between movies and al and
(01:56):
more recently like the Zuckers and al And so when
you said this was available, it was like, oh, absolutely,
Like you know, this was a blind spot for me,
which we'll get into and stuff with the film. But
I also host with my co host Darren Lundberg, a
show called Back to Blue where we discuss the animated
Australian series Bluey one episode of a time, and we
(02:19):
kind of look at it from a parenting perspective and
all of that. So that's yeah, you can find those
wherever you get your podcasts. And yeah, I'm on social
media at Cricket Table.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Fantastic.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Yeah, so the Bluey thing, right, I just have to
share this little anecdote with you that I'm sure you've heard,
but it's like I saw something online not even too
too long ago, of like an American woman who asked
her toddler what kind of dog Bluey is, and this
American child answered hla. Because of the accents, they didn't
(02:54):
realize it's healer in America.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
So it's just the funny little thing qula. Yeah. So yeah,
the toothless Ruthless People of it all.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Since so I'm gonna set the stage for everybody, everybody
listening here, Since since Rob is like the movie guy,
and we have had so many of these cool overlaps
of you know, movies and weird Alan all this.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
That and the other.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
I was like, yeah, exactly, you jumped on this, and
I was like, yeah, this is perfect. So we all
put ourselves through the paces of watching the nineteen eighty
six American black comedy film Ruthless People. We listened to
the Mick Jagger song Ruthless People, and we listened to
the weird Al Yankovic parody Toothless People, and now we
(03:41):
are going to have a conversation about all of them.
So first and foremost Toothless People. I like to start
these episodes with a little bit of trivia about the
song itself, but there's not much to this, right. The
only thing really floating around out there in the weird
(04:04):
al lore, I suppose you could say, is that Ruthless
People was supposed to be a much bigger hit than
it actually was.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
So weird.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Al was kind of hedging his bets against this song
and the soundtrack and the movie and things doing well,
and then it wasn't and he was like, oh no,
but he got permission from you know, Mick Jagger Al
to do the song, so he thought he would be
rude if he didn't do it, So he did it,
(04:35):
and he put it on the Polka Party album and
now we have toothless people.
Speaker 5 (04:40):
I mean, that's just another example of Al being l
in my opinion in the best way, Like yeah, like
who else on earth would be like it would be
rude if I didn't do that, you know, like anyone
else on earth would be like, well that's a terrible
marketing decision or what you know what I mean. And
he's just like, oh, I don't want to be rude,
you know.
Speaker 6 (05:00):
I don't want to let down Mick Jagger of all
people I know.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
And this is, you know, in all fairness, you know,
there has been kind of a Mick Jagger Rolling Stones
thread throughout like Al's career in the eighties, so this
kind of made sure it's it stayed that way like
Big Jagger, I think, and or the Rolling Stones appeared
on like every single polka in Weird Now's career up
(05:25):
until the Hot Rocks polka, right and uh.
Speaker 5 (05:29):
Yeah, I which there is famously no rolling stones in.
Speaker 4 (05:31):
That pole, none at all. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
So yeah, so this, this just sort of had to happen.
And you know, I had heard maybe once or twice
the song Ruthless People before, Rob, had you heard the
Ruthless People before?
Speaker 7 (05:48):
I hadn't.
Speaker 6 (05:49):
No, I hadn't heard the song. I wasn't even aware
that there was a title track to this movie. And
I was aware of the film. But you know, and
and this is what kind of, like you said, what
kind of undid Al's plan with Toothless People to an extent,
is that the film did well. The song just didn't
catch on for whatever reason. I'm curious, what what do
(06:12):
you all? What do you both think of the original
song before we like talk about Toothless People, Because if
it's if Alice sort of working from that as a template,
there's only there's only so far he can take it
beyond where that song is.
Speaker 5 (06:28):
Well. First, I'd have to say I'm not overly familiar
with the original singing as we watched the movie and
I only got to hear it. I think seven thousand
times in the movie, so you know they do cut
to it a lot. Yeah, Holy cow. I think the
only movie I've ever heard the theme song being more
than that is the original Beverly Hills Cop where they
drop axlf like three hundred times in one movie. Yeah,
(06:50):
and I'd have to even add it up like there
there might be it might be neck and neck with
these two. Yeah. But okay, So when I was a kid,
if Casey Casem didn't play it, then it didn't exist
in my world. So this song did not make the
top forty. So it didn't exist in my world because
Casey wasn't gonna play it. So when it came out.
(07:15):
Being me, I would always read the liner notes and
stuff when Pultar Party came out, so I was like, well,
now what wait, what Mick Jagger's song? Like you know
when I was looking at the liner notes on Pultar Party, right,
So I went through. I had a aunt who bought
like everything, like she had like every forty five that
came out like no matter what, like she just said
(07:35):
this like massive forty So I like went to her
house and like found the forty five for Ruthless People,
and I put it on, and the only thing about
it that I was just like was like, yeah, there's
not any better than Weirdelse's song, Like you know what
I mean, like nothing about it. Maybe be like, oh,
I want to like hear this more than weird El's song,
(07:56):
you know, right, and then and then let me let
me put it this way. I think the next time
I heard it was when we watched the movie last night.
I don't think I ever heard it ever yet. Like
there's like terrible Rolling Stone songs from I don't know,
he's seventy five through at least ninety two sure that
(08:16):
I've like heard again for one reason or another. And
I truly don't think I've ever heard with this people
since the day I played that forty five until last night.
That's fair and it's such a bummer. I was telling
Lauren I looked it up before. I was like, you know,
who wrote this supposed to be should have been a
great song, and I'm so disappointed to learn that Daryl
Hall and Dave Stewart wrote that, like that's the song
(08:39):
should be so much better than it is.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Yep, so yeah, not great, not great. I hadn't heard
it ever. I really you know because why.
Speaker 5 (08:51):
Well, I mean, like you have though, like I mean,
to those spirit it's the same thing. Like it really is,
like like the parody is not even remotely far off
in product and everything.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (09:04):
The only other thing I want to mention, and this
is just something that I read at some point today
because I was looking into this to see why the
song failed the Stones and this is also a terrible album.
But The Stones also had an album out that year
called Dirty Work, and so like that's another thing where
people could have been, like, you know, not known if
this was a Rolling Stone song or a Mick Jagger
(09:25):
song or what like yeah, you know, so that was
another thing that was brought up of like people, you know,
if like consumers would be like, I don't I'm not
putting too much work into.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
This, like you know yep. So so so there's this
that's the song.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
I mean, that's also why we have the movie to
talk about as well, because there's there's there's really not
much to oh my god, no pun intended.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
There's not much to sink your teeth into here.
Speaker 5 (09:51):
Well you're like you're like you're like, all right, next
week on the show, we're.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
Gonna Yeah, that's it okay by kay By. Yeah, so
I don't know, man, Like.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Before we get into the movie itself too, I feel
like Toruthless People is one of those weird Al songs
that like weird Al fans even go, I don't like
that song, and I used to be one of those people.
I'm not one of those people anymore because there is
(10:26):
a quiet there's a quiet brilliance to what Al has
done here, insofar as I absolutely love the way he
leans into the Mick Jagger isms vocally.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
Yeah, there's like, you know, do you ever catch yourself?
Speaker 3 (10:43):
I've I caught myself like so many times going hey,
like that's just like that's great, that's great, It's great.
But yeah, this as far as the whole intersection of
things right here, the song Toruthless People and the song
Ruthless People are kind of the low points of of
where we are here. So I feel like, let's lean
(11:06):
into Rob's sweet spot and start talking about the movie.
Speaker 6 (11:12):
I will say before we do that, I do wanted
to mention like I wonder if had this song, like
if the initial plan was maybe you know, okay, there's
this big mc jagger's song coming out, you know, attached
to this big movie with all Danny DeVito and Bette
Miller and all these stars. Like, I wonder if the
initial plan was for that to be perhaps a lead
(11:32):
single on Poka Party, because it was, according to my
very cursory Internet research, it was recorded like in the
last session. So I almost wonder if they're like, oh,
we need a big hit to kind of kick off
the album. You know, obviously most of ours discography is
led by like a big hooky parody, whether it's Fat
or Amish Paradise or what have you. And so I
(11:55):
wonder if he was sort of maybe counting on that,
and then since it didn't happen, it was downplayed. And
if if this is I'm not saying this, I'm not
making the declaration of raising the question whether the failure
of Ruthless People and by extension, Toothless People is kind
of the hinge on Poka Parties reception to a degree.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
That's absolutely like yeah, because looking at it, you're absolutely right.
The final parody recorded for Polka Party was Toothless People.
So I mean they may have said because like you
look at the parodies that exist on it, as it is, right,
Living with a Hernia was from you know, Rocky.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
You know four, Uh, we need to be clear.
Speaker 5 (12:39):
It wasn't from the first thing. I know.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
I'm sorry Rocky four addicted to Spuds. You know, Here's
Johnny is a parody of a song from from Short
Circuit and then too. There's a lot of movie, you know,
soundtrack song parodies happening here. And like we have said
before on this show, and we'll say again as many
(13:01):
times as anyone will listen, like living with a Hernia
should have been the lead single for this. It's a
much better song. But you know, no, yeah, but that
also it was, but it just didn't like it didn't
do anything for him either, you know.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
I mean maybe it wasn't. I don't know who the
heck knows, But anyway.
Speaker 6 (13:25):
We got Christmas at ground zero.
Speaker 5 (13:27):
We did.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
We got that out of it.
Speaker 6 (13:29):
That's the one that I feel like has endured the
most by a significant stretch.
Speaker 5 (13:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
That and Doggy Dog, I think among like for sure.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Yeah, those two were like classics in their own beautiful,
beautiful way. So yeah, I had never seen the movie
Ruthless People until the other day when we watched it
in preparation for this rob Had you seen it before.
Speaker 6 (13:51):
I haven't And like I said, you know, I did
the Naked Gun films recently on my podcast. I did
Airplane on my other podcast years ago. This is the
only like I actually caught up finally with Top Secret
like last year for the first time.
Speaker 5 (14:05):
Oh wow, fantastic.
Speaker 6 (14:07):
I don't know how they escaped me.
Speaker 5 (14:09):
I don't know how did you not go skeach skeech
uh surfing? As a kid? Everybody surfant.
Speaker 6 (14:17):
So this was like my last big like Zazz And
to be clear, that's Jim Zucker, David Zucker and Jim Abraham's.
Uh this was like my last big zazz blind spot.
And I was aware of the movie, but I think
in my head as a a you know, a small
child in the in the mid eighties, it got kind
of thrown together with like Big Business and Outrageous Fortune
(14:41):
and like all these other like dark comedies that Bette
Miller and Tanny Tavito were sort of doing around the
same time. Uh so this was a this was a
great excuse to go back and finally kind of clear
that off.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Yeah, right, Like it's so for sure, you know, it's
it was a blind spot for all of us here.
We had never ever seen it before. And for those
of you listening to this who you know, may not
know right ruthless people like you said, it's got uh
Danny DeVito, Bette Miller, the Honorable Judge Reinhold, Anita Morris,
(15:15):
Allan Slater, and it was Bill Pulman's film debut.
Speaker 5 (15:18):
It was the excuse me, President Went Moore?
Speaker 4 (15:23):
Sorry, President Went Moore's film debut.
Speaker 5 (15:25):
Okay, well I'm just didn't serve and get elected for
you to just refer to him as Bill Pullman.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
Apologies. Okay, I mean, I for one, this is why
I made sure to say it.
Speaker 5 (15:35):
Have you not seen the documentary.
Speaker 4 (15:37):
I've seen the documentary.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
I for one, get upset when people don't give the
Honorable Judge Reinehold is due respect proper title.
Speaker 5 (15:46):
Yeah, he was in a documentary about high school called
Fast Time as at Ridgemont High and he was going
to kick one of your ass.
Speaker 4 (15:52):
Yeah, so yeah, you got a lot without.
Speaker 5 (15:56):
Saying that line. In my mind every time he sounds screen,
I believe that, sir, if you shut up, I'm gonna
kick one hundred percent of your ass.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
Fantastic.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
So, Rob having not seen this before, what especially as
the movie guy where you know this was a blind
spot for yourself.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
What are your like initial thoughts about this?
Speaker 6 (16:21):
You can well, you could tell right off the bat
that it wasn't written by them, because it's one of
the only non parody things that they've done. I mean,
like I said, aeroplane, naked gun and all that. So
my expectations were kind of blank, I think to coming
into it, like, Okay, you know, I knew all these actors.
Obviously we're doing the Superman films on my podcast now.
So I just watched Supergirl with Helen Slater, so I
(16:43):
was like, oh, Helen Slater re enters my world right
like a week or two after I recorded the Supergirl episode.
It's random, Helen Slater's in the air. I guess that's
what I'm saying.
Speaker 5 (16:53):
There we go.
Speaker 6 (16:55):
So you know, I'm I'm not a huge dark comedy
person a lot of the time. It's just not my
particular style of humor. And you know, I watched this
with my wife, uh, and we were both sort of like, well,
who are we rooting for here? Like you, It's it's
kind of that it kind of has had a similar
(17:17):
vibe the first half at least to like some of
the Cohen's Brothers comedies where you're like, okay, so a
bunch of idiots doing we're doing stupid things. And the
turn that it takes like part of the way through
where it starts out with Danny DeVito. I don't know
how much we want to get into the plot, but we.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
Can spoil it for people a time.
Speaker 5 (17:37):
I feel like we should stop off to let people
know that every time we use the word plot, that
you should if you're if you're in the audience listening,
you should put the doctor Evil quotes up when you
hear the work plot. Though, yeah, I feel like strongly
that people should have to use air quotes every time
they hear the word plot.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
So because like the entire time we're watching it, Russ
is sitting here, like you're literally sitting there going I
have no idea what's going on.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
I don't know what's happening.
Speaker 5 (18:06):
I don't understand well I made I made two observations
about about twenty minutes in, about about fifteen minutes and
then and then I paused it again about twenty minutes in,
and the first one, fifteen minutes in was exactly what
Robert just touched on. Because I have such a massive
spectras as that I said, I said, they they do
(18:28):
one thing very well, and this isn't it right? And
then five minutes later I paused it and said, this
plot was brought to you by cocaine. And also when
you said Robert a moment ago, at one point the
film kind of changes. Can we agree that that the
(18:49):
moment the film changes is when Bette Midler just starts
working out a lot. Yeah, yeah, Like literally the movie
is just like and now this and you're like what, yeah,
like what? Oh? I don't I like and I don't
you all know, like y'all, y'all know how I do
my life, Like I don't like sitting around being like
(19:10):
this is just terrible. But like I truly the whole time,
I kept being like, any minute now, something's gonna happen,
and I'm going to be like, boy, I'm glad that happened,
because from there out it was awesome and it did
not happen like there was like not.
Speaker 7 (19:26):
I there was.
Speaker 5 (19:27):
There was like at least I can't even remember now.
There was one line that I laughed at and I
was like, that was the funniest line in the whole movie.
But other than that, there was like nothing even that
I like really laughed at, like it just I like
you said I and I remember laboring the point that
he was talking about. I kept going, what, I don't
know who I'm supposed to like, Yeah, I can't tell
if I'm supposed to like like Judge Reinhold, and like,
(19:53):
I don't know, I think I'm supposed to like them.
I don't. I guess maybe I'm supposed to be sympathetic
for Bette Midler, but maybe I know I'm supposed to
not like Danny Davito. What what I don't Maybe I'm
supposed to I don't know, Like, I don't know who
I was supposed to. And then suddenly, at least within
the last ten minutes of the movie, I was definitely
supposed to have been sympathetic toward Judge ryan Hold the
(20:15):
whole time. Yeah, I'm sorry, I don't know.
Speaker 6 (20:19):
I don't know if that's the whole time. I feel
like I feel like when it starts, everyone is sort
of the title character. Everyone is a ruthless people. Yeah,
and then as it shakes out, you're like, oh, okay,
some of them are misguided, some of them are just
really dumb and and some of them are misunderstood, and
then like the word, the one who stands is truly
(20:40):
ruthless as the Danny de Vito character. So I like
that turn that that it takes, that you see that
there's a little more to some of these characters, for
good or for ill, and I think it's kind of
an even measure of both, so that by the end
it's just it's Danny DeVito. It's like the is the
you know, the the most despicable well, you know, so.
Speaker 5 (21:02):
By the end it becomes ruthless person. Yeah, and if
we go by if we go by height, it's ruthless
half person. Oh no, but yeah, no, I just yeah,
I was just like I kept being like exactly what
you said. Just at the beginning, it's like, no, what
you don't know what anyone's up to. You don't know
(21:23):
why anyone's doing anything like I could I'm I am
you know, I'm by no mil by no means any
sort of film expert. I don't claim to be. I
am the person who thinks all comedy should be eighty
nine minutes at the most. So I am not asking
for ten, fifteen, twenty minutes more of this movie. But
(21:43):
I could have used like at least some exposition to
explain something early on of like who we should be
caring about and why? You know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (21:54):
Yeah, I get that well if you take into consideration
that this is the the screenwriter writer Dale Wanner, Right,
he also wrote My Cousin Vinnie and to.
Speaker 4 (22:09):
Be fair, sorry that it's never gonna kind of happen
in all fairness.
Speaker 5 (22:16):
Nah, it's like the big Lots version of a letter
in all.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
Fairness, like there's there's there's nobody to like in My
Cousin Vinnie either. So maybe that's this guy's thing.
Speaker 5 (22:29):
I've only seen that once ever.
Speaker 4 (22:31):
Is writing movies, because he also wrote Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
Speaker 5 (22:35):
So it's like only seen blind date once you lived.
I thought you would like that. That's Bruce Wallis, isn't it.
Speaker 4 (22:40):
I like Bruce Willis, I do like I love Bruce Willis. Oh,
I like Kim Basinger two.
Speaker 5 (22:46):
Okay, that was in the height of uh uh. If
you guys don't pay me more, I'll walk away from
Moonlighting and then the movie didn't do so well and
he was like, never mind.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
I'm back, but I digest So maybe this guy just
doesn't like people.
Speaker 5 (23:05):
He just doesn't like people.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
So he's like, you know what, everybody sucks.
Speaker 6 (23:09):
Yeah, I literally have in my notes as the title implies,
everyone in this movie sucks.
Speaker 4 (23:12):
Well, when you think about it, like there are so
many I'm this is like a mild tangent. But then
you think about, you know, what kind of happened with
a lot of of of TV not you know, five
years after.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
This, we're like, there's nobody to like on Seinfeld. There's
virtually nobody to like on friends, you know, like they're
all they all kind of suck.
Speaker 5 (23:35):
You know, you're suggesting that the multi paleontologists who won't
stand up for himself or be in any way tolerable,
is not a person that like, that's crazy.
Speaker 4 (23:45):
I have a holiday ado. Yeah, So who knows, I'm
just saying yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
And so.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
The point I guess we're all trying to make here
is that this is a difficult movie to you, again,
no pun intended, sink your teeth into, because there's not
really a clear protagonist that makes you say I care
about this for this reason. Right, You spend a good
portion of this movie kind of grappling with like the
(24:15):
like who am I supposed to care about?
Speaker 4 (24:16):
And why?
Speaker 2 (24:18):
You know, like.
Speaker 4 (24:20):
The scene where.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
Early on in the movie where where Bette Midler is,
you know, overweight and miserable and laying in the bed
and like watching the exercise videos and she's just getting
upset about it. Russ I remember you going, what is happening?
Why should I care about this? And I still don't know.
Speaker 5 (24:45):
Well, don't worry they I mean they told us like
sixteen minutes.
Speaker 4 (24:47):
Later, I guess.
Speaker 5 (24:48):
So it was just real quick.
Speaker 6 (24:51):
She just needed she just needed to lose uh what
is it, twenty pounds and get some compliments and in
what a day because her husband, by the way, basically yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (25:02):
Literally, the timeline just doesn't make sense to me.
Speaker 5 (25:06):
And then in the middle of all of this, by
the way, does anybody else find it ironic that this
here's this movie about these awful people. It's called Ruthless People,
and it's all these terrible people else And in the
middle of all of it is the only person that's
caught in this whole deal that gets a raw deal
is the nicest person. I'm weird on the planet weird
al who's the only person who gets screwed over? And
this whole deal because he's like just still went through
(25:29):
with a nice thing that he didn't have to do.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Yeah, yeah, that is kind of that is something you
know what on that kind of want want of a note,
I'm gonna take a little break for ads here while
we think about what we've done.
Speaker 5 (25:43):
And I.
Speaker 4 (25:46):
Thing that's why I love it is a good thing.
Speaker 8 (25:47):
It is a good thing.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
We we need everybody else to think about what they've done.
So meanwhile, think about what you've googled, because that's what
these ads are going to be about, and we'll see
you on either side.
Speaker 8 (25:57):
Each of us identify with one of the gold Girls.
I'm Sophia, Aaron is Dorothy, Kristen is sweet Rose. And
each week we'll have a guest sit in the blanch
spot the naughty seat. Come join us on the Lunai
for some cheesecake.
Speaker 4 (26:14):
Part of the Odd Pods Media Network.
Speaker 7 (26:16):
Hey Jeff, Yeah, Jeff, remember yesterday I was telling you
how I wished I could have seen one of Billy
Joel's sold out shows at Madison Square Garden.
Speaker 9 (26:24):
Yeah, I said you should go see Taylor Swift instead.
She's the modern day Billy Joel.
Speaker 7 (26:29):
Well, today my phone said, I should read an interview
with Billy Joel where he talks about both retirement and
Taylor Swift.
Speaker 9 (26:35):
Oh man, it's always so creepy when that happens.
Speaker 7 (26:38):
We should do a podcast about how our devices are
always listening to us.
Speaker 9 (26:42):
We already do. It's called Suggested Articles, a podcast we
talk about how technology is always spying on us and
how those tech corporations are such big buttholes.
Speaker 7 (26:50):
Dude, you can't say buttholes on a podcast promo, Dude,
we already did twice. Join us every other Monday on
Suggested Articles. The podcast on your face favorite podcast app
part of the odd Pods media Network.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
If you're into comedy, game shows and improv, you should
come check out b f y t W. We are
an adult British inspired comedy panel show. New episodes release
every Thursday through your favorite podcast player or bfytwpod dot com.
We're also a founding member of the Odd Pods Media
Network and would love for you to join us for some.
Speaker 4 (27:26):
Laughs and we're back. Wow. What an outbreak? Yeah, I laughed,
I cried. Well, it depends on what you googled, I
(27:50):
guess depends. Well done, sir, That's why I married you,
it's so yeah, I don't know. I also find this
movie very very confusing, And I just want to.
Speaker 5 (28:04):
Dial back one second and say that I have such
a respect for the directors that I was really really
really excited and then really really really not like when
when because I didn't know at all that they were
involved in like when the first like when the credits
rolled at the beginning, I was like, yes, yes, And
I should also say, by the way, as the guy
(28:26):
who never wants my artist to make the same album
over and over, like, I'm not the guy who when
like Wish You Were Hare came out, I wasn't like
I was just some dark started the moon again, like
I don't want them to continue to make the same
thing over and over. I wasn't like, oh man, I
wanted this to be airplane like, but I wanted it
to be very funny. Yeah, So I was disappointed that
(28:47):
it was that or let me say this humort subjective.
I'm saying, uh, I was disappointed that I didn't find
it funny. M hm, did you? I mean.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
Yes, some of it.
Speaker 6 (29:02):
Some of it, like the misunderstandings, the comedy of misunderstandings, obviously,
which is basically, this movie's kind of the card they
play over and over and over again, the whole thing
with the sex tape and and the way that plays
out with the chief of police, and I was like,
I know that person's going to be somebody and how
that plays out, and you know they're describing it thinking
(29:24):
she's going to get killed, and really it's a sex tape.
That all of that stuff I thought was but again
to your point, so convoluted that I'm like, I don't
remember what was funny. I just remember they were misunderstanding
each other, and that's always amusing, and that's that's the
kind of thing they would almost have in some of
their parody stuff. But to your point, Russ, I think
(29:45):
this was them trying new ground, and I think as
a result, this was also the last movie that they
directed the three of them together, because it was because
it was written by none of them, and so it
was I think they they found it, uh challenging to
direct something that wasn't the material that they had developed themselves.
(30:07):
And so right after this is when they start splitting
off into this one directs, this one, this one rights,
and then you know we kind of get the uh,
the the greater Zazz universe with not only the Naked
Gun films, but like the hot Shots films and all.
Speaker 7 (30:21):
That other stuff.
Speaker 4 (30:22):
Yeah, that's true. Huh, that's interesting.
Speaker 6 (30:27):
Beginning the beginning of the end of their partnership kind
of was this movie.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
Yeah, that's that. Yeah, that feels like it. That's interesting.
That's very interesting.
Speaker 4 (30:39):
Huh. Why do you I don't know why. I don't
know why.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
Why did they do something that somebody else wrote, like
I know you said it was like trying to break
new ground and there was like, oh no, it didn't work,
you know, Like I guess my question is why not
trust the process that had been working?
Speaker 6 (31:01):
Yeah, you know, I would assume maybe they just didn't
want to be pigeonholed and like the parody genre after
Airplane and after Top Secret.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Oh, I don't know anything about anybody being pigeonholed into
the parody genre.
Speaker 4 (31:14):
Do you know anything about that?
Speaker 6 (31:16):
No, well, one thing, I guess, Yeah, they didn't want
to stay in that lane, I suppose, but then they
would write back to it anyway.
Speaker 5 (31:24):
I mean, and I know nothing about this. I'm taking
I guess. So, you know, Airplane and obviously the sequel
to that we're direct parodies of The entire decade of
seventies was all disaster flicks like that, like the you know,
literally Airport and all the Towering Inferno and all that stuff,
(31:47):
and then to a certain extent, Top Secret was even
a parody too before that, like a lot of the
war films and whatnot. So I would argue that at
the time that they did Ruthless People, there wasn't one
down in it genre that they could have perished parody,
you know what I mean? Like there was so much
in pop culture at that time that there wasn't like
(32:08):
one dominant thing. The the most that they could have
done was was pioneered what would have become what what?
Speaker 4 (32:17):
What?
Speaker 5 (32:17):
Excuse me? What would go on to become the scary
movie formula where they parody like everything in pop culture
at the time. You know how those do that, like
the scary movie like parody every movie that's out right then.
But because I less, I'm wrong. I don't think there
was like one dominant genre of movie in like eighty
(32:39):
five eighty six that they could have done that everyone
would go, oh, yeah, you're doing that thing that's really
popular right now, do you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I mean, like I mean, it was like footloose and
dirty dancing where were around then maybe I think maybe
dirty Dancing might have even been eighty seven, it might
have been after this. But yeah, but but do you
(33:00):
know what I'm saying. I just I mean, and again
this is not even remotely bits In fact, it's just
a guess of mine that like there wasn't a clear
genre that they could have done well.
Speaker 6 (33:11):
I mean, the very next year Spaceballs comes out, so
I mean that's the route they could have gone. I
don't know how far. Melbrooks wasn't developing that at that
point and they didn't want to step on you know.
Speaker 5 (33:20):
That's right. Yeah, but that's very possible.
Speaker 6 (33:23):
But again Bill Pullman went on to do that soon
after this.
Speaker 5 (33:26):
So well they I mean they were probably already into
well into coming the desert at that point. So yeah, nice,
which I don't know if you know what they found
out there, but it wasn't much.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
Yeah, I mean, this is all this is all very
good points, you know, because like we had this discussion
on the when we talked about Spy Hard on this
very show, was like, you know, what was what the
parody movie kind of had was I guess evolving into
by the time we got into the nineties, right, not
(34:01):
anywhere near as nuanced as like what was happening before.
Speaker 4 (34:05):
And maybe, you know, the maybe maybe zazz kind of
splitting up kind of made that that turn, you know,
start to happen.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
According to the Wikipedia page, they split up for both
fiscal and creative reasons, stating that there were quote too
many guys sitting in the same chair, and they also
said that they had been treated unfairly by the studios
that produced their films, claiming that they failed to see
any profits from ruthless people.
Speaker 4 (34:36):
Sounds like ruthless people.
Speaker 5 (34:37):
Oh nice, Yeah, well, I was going to say it
sounds like they broke up for all the same reasons
everyone who ever has made arts as a team. Yeah
you know what I mean, Like because y'all start hitting
each other eventually, and you know, y'all start thinking you're
each one of you is the genius. And then on
top of that, you're all getting screwed over by everyone
who's supposed to be paying you. Yeah, which which sucks,
(35:00):
but you know that's what happens.
Speaker 4 (35:02):
That is how it goes. That do be how it
goes Sometimes to talk to some folks who used to
sing and dance for Moto.
Speaker 5 (35:08):
They have stories to share.
Speaker 4 (35:10):
Yeah, I'm sure they do. I'm sure they do.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
I feel like I'd be remiss if I didn't mention
this little tidbit that I dug up, because I do
get me a kick out of Judge Reinhold. I always
thought that that was actually his name, mm hmm. His
name is Edward, but he was nicknamed Judge because when
he was a baby he looked stern and judge, Like,
(35:36):
could you imagine being nicknamed something.
Speaker 4 (35:38):
Like that as a baby because of your face?
Speaker 6 (35:40):
Right, he had judge face.
Speaker 4 (35:43):
He did have resting judge face. Right, Yeah, oh my gosh,
that's marvelous. That's wonderful. I'm want to.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
Switch gears here a little bit, just to kind of
like sandwich the conversation in the weird now of it all.
Speaker 4 (35:57):
I want to kind of hit on.
Speaker 3 (35:59):
Toothless people just a little bit, because I feel like
we have to dig into the lyrical content just a
bit to make sure we give it it's it's sure,
you know, give.
Speaker 6 (36:07):
It it's due.
Speaker 3 (36:08):
But then also a touch on the new naked gun
before we all go and give the song a rating
on a scale of one to twenty seven, which is
becoming increasingly more meaningless as these weeks and weeks go by,
But it's still a fun thing to do at the
end of an episode.
Speaker 4 (36:23):
So Toothless People.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
At this point, right we're on Weird Al is on
his fourth album, and he's a very smart guy. This
feels lyrically, very low hanging fruit. Yes, and that's probably
part of why this doesn't stand out, Hey stand out
(36:49):
in a weird awl, you know lore or you know,
it's nobody's I don't. I would be hard pressed to
find somebody would say that Toothless People is their favorite
Weird Al song. But there are things to appreciate about
it anyway, you know. So, yeah, is there any line
(37:10):
in this song that makes you actually laugh? Or do
you all go yep yep? This is just puns about
not having teeth?
Speaker 6 (37:18):
I mean, I to your point about the song's reputation.
I think it's you know, you discover there's a song
coming out called Ruthless People. You're like a toothless oh done,
And then when you play the track, it is what
it is, what it sounds like. There's like there's no
there's not really, there's no surprises, there's no like you know,
(37:38):
it's very like you said, low hanging fruit, getting all
the humorous is on the surface there. That being said,
I did like the at the end of one of
the verses and he says, at least they don't have
to worry about cavities. Yeah, right, rhymes disease.
Speaker 4 (37:52):
That is funny.
Speaker 3 (37:53):
Yeah, he does do a good job with that. And
I would be remiss if I didn't mention the fact
that my mother's father, my grandfather, who passed away in
nineteen ninety eight, so he was around when I was
a kid. But the entire time I knew him, no teeth,
toothless person, Okay, he would eat anything like corn on
(38:18):
the cob, oh wow, with no teeth, And I just
felt like I needed to shout that out into the
universe on an episode about a song called Toothless People
talking about how they only eat soft things, and I.
Speaker 4 (38:29):
Was like, oh, no, no, no, I've seen it.
Speaker 6 (38:33):
Stereotypes don't do it.
Speaker 4 (38:34):
I saw him eat corn on the cob. He wasn't
letting anything stop him, right solid. So we've got that.
Speaker 3 (38:41):
We've got that going for us, all right, completely switching gears.
Now we've got the new Naked Gun movie that came out,
and you know, Rob, I know you and I talked
about the obviously the original Naked Gun. We have talked
about weird El's cameos in the Naked Gun films on
this very podcast as well. And when we were I believe,
(39:03):
but I believe it's when you and I were talking
about Spy Hard, there was something in the water about
the new Naked Gun thing coming out, so we kind
of we talked about it a little bit like before
we knew anything really right, So now we know things
and we've seen it.
Speaker 5 (39:24):
And.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
I'm going I'm not spoiling exactly what it is, but
those of you who may not have seen it, you
can rest easy because yeah, boy is in it, as
you should be, because I, for one would not consider
it a true Naked Gun film if weird Ow did
not have a cameo appearance.
Speaker 4 (39:40):
Ye yeah, yeah, I'm just saying.
Speaker 6 (39:45):
Not only that, I love that in the universe of
the Naked Gun franchise, and I'm gonna I'm going to,
at some point in the near future record an episode
of franchise detours on the new film. It's kind of
extension of that. I have a guest lined up and
everything for that test and that there as well. But
within the universe of the Naked Gun films, weird al
(40:07):
is is as acclaimed a musical genius as he is
to us, as he should be, because there's that, that's
the cameo in the first film, the cameo with the
third film, he's like presenting at the Oscars, and then
in this new one. It sort of keeps that reputation
in universe, reputation of Al alive.
Speaker 4 (40:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (40:29):
So's the other thing that's cool too, is that, obviously,
as we've been talking, the zazz of it all is
just a running line throughout the parody genre from you know,
Airplane going forward. We mentioned scary movies and David Ducker
directed two of those, so there's a lot of cross
(40:50):
section there. So having Al in there and then the
new Naked Gun directed by one of the members of
the Lonely Island, it's like all of these people kind
of swim in the same walk. So I love seeing
that sort of cross pollination between their fan bases.
Speaker 3 (41:05):
Yeah, I think it's absolutely wonderful. Yeah, it's this was
such a fun theatrical experience for us.
Speaker 4 (41:16):
Because we have.
Speaker 3 (41:18):
Taken to like we tend not to go to see
too many new things in the theater unless we're like
really really drawn to it.
Speaker 4 (41:29):
What we tend to go see at the movies are anniversary.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
Screenings of you know, older movies that we love that
we may not have seen on a big screen.
Speaker 4 (41:41):
So we went to see Money Python in the Holy Grail.
We just saw This is Spinal Tap.
Speaker 3 (41:47):
The forty first anniversary, and we're going to see the
new this is Spinal Tap.
Speaker 4 (41:52):
When that comes out to.
Speaker 3 (41:55):
But this was the first like new comedy that I think,
rest is my the first like new comedy that you
and I had gone to see in the theater like together,
you know, because we usually like go see concert films
or like I said, like stuff that we already know. Right,
this was so much fun because everybody in the theater
was just laughing the whole way through, you know, and
(42:20):
so I would say, like this is this is a
really fun, fun, fun movie to go see if you
just want, if you just want to laugh. I feel
like it's you know, like you said, it's very It
honors where it came from in such a great way.
But it feels fresh at the same time, and I
love that about it.
Speaker 6 (42:42):
And that's such a hard needle to thread between hitting
what you want as a longtime fan of the franchise
but also not having it feel like it like a retread. Yeah,
and I'm crossing my fingers that this is the continuation
of an upswing with the genre. You know, obviously we
(43:02):
had You and I manifested Weird the Al Yankovic story
into the world. The same director of The New Naked
Gun also did Akiva Schaeffer also did pop Star with
Nandy Sandberg and The Lonely Islands. And then now, for
better or worse, the Weighands are in control of the
Scary Movie franchise again and that's coming to theaters next year.
(43:22):
Scary Movie.
Speaker 4 (43:23):
We do Math six twenty seven.
Speaker 6 (43:26):
Yeah, yeah, right. So I'm optimistic that the comedies are
going to start kind of rearing their their head in
theaters a little bit more going forward, because you know,
horror has had a great year. Original horror has had
a great year, and so I'm hoping that that sort
of flips over to the other side because of you know,
(43:47):
obviously comedy and horror, the two extremes of emotions of
theatrical responses. So I like to see the new Naked
Gun be the continuation of a of a trend.
Speaker 4 (44:00):
Agree more, I think it's great.
Speaker 6 (44:01):
We need it.
Speaker 5 (44:02):
Yep, I'm all for it.
Speaker 3 (44:04):
Like you know again, it's you know, it's a continuation
of you know, an old franchise, the Naked Gun is.
But also, like like I said, we're super excited for
you know, this is spinal tap two.
Speaker 4 (44:18):
The end continues because like, did you see the trailer
for that?
Speaker 6 (44:26):
I haven't. No, well, no I think I did. I
think I did see the trailer for that. Yeah, I'm
excited for that.
Speaker 4 (44:29):
I'm very excited about it. I'm real, I'm real stoke.
Speaker 3 (44:32):
We are one little quick anecdote because I just think
this is a beautiful moment, and then we'll write the
song on toothless people on a scale of one to
twenty seven, and then we'll give everybody the rest of
their day back folks, because I know you're listening to
this and you're like, oh gosh, I can't wait for
the Beard Doll podcast to be over so that I can,
you know, go mow the lawn or whatever it is
that you do after you listen to this show. But
(44:55):
the forty first anniversary theatrical release of This Is Spinal Tap.
We had already made plans with another couple for that evening,
and then they announced that that was gonna be like
the only night that like we could maybe theoretically possibly
go to see it here. So I reached out to
the woman in this couple and I was like, hey,
(45:18):
so I don't want to cancel our plans, but like
we really need to go see this movie. And she
was like, okay, yeah, We're all for it. So I
got us four tickets. They are, like, you know, full
grown adult people. Neither one of them had ever seen
This Is Spinal Tap. Oh wow, And I'll tell you what,
it was really cool to have Russ to the right
(45:39):
of me, who has seen Spinal Tap what like hundreds
of times, and then two people who had never seen
it before at all, and they were just laughing and
loving it and like it was so wonderful that then
they showed after that screening, they showed a short little
teaser trailer for the new one. And as we're walking
(46:02):
out of the theater, my friend she says to me,
so we're gonna go see the new one together, right,
And I'm like, yes, So We've got tickets together, like
nine pm on the Wednesday of that week to go
see the freaking new Spinal det movie because they loved it,
and I was like, oh my gosh, we just opened
(46:22):
a window to a beautiful world for these people and
it's just makes me.
Speaker 4 (46:26):
So happy as a human. Absolutely sound cool, doutheless.
Speaker 3 (46:31):
People my rating on a scale of one to twenty seven,
just so nobody feels bad about it.
Speaker 4 (46:36):
I like the song. I think it's fun. I'm gonna
give it a fifteen.
Speaker 6 (46:41):
I was thinking. I was thinking right around the mid range,
so like I'll go, like, I'll go thirteen.
Speaker 4 (46:47):
Cool.
Speaker 5 (46:48):
Oh, this is firing away the lowest score. I'm gonna
give anything where ELL's ever done this A five? Okay,
Like I haven't listened to this and oh g'z, I
don't know twenty years and it'll probably be another twenty
before I listen to it again. I don't hate it
at all, but like I don't there's absolutely no reason
why I will put the.
Speaker 4 (47:06):
Sun I hear you, And that's we're listening to Poka Party.
Speaker 5 (47:10):
Unless we're like listening to the whole album all the
way through. Yeah, and then like, here's the thing though,
with most weird OL albums, because we don't like sweezebox,
so we would be able to have all of them
listen to on vinyl. Right, there's like most weird l albums,
there would be a reason why I would be like, oh,
I can't leave the room yet because I know like
those next song's coming. This is in a very very
(47:33):
very small number of weird eale songs where I would
be like, I don't care.
Speaker 4 (47:37):
Okay, so I hear that, No, I understand five is
generous for me. Okay. So that's where we're at with it. Yeah,
this has been a wonderful discussion, gentlemen. Thank you.
Speaker 3 (47:49):
I'm glad we watched the movie. Now that's the thing
that we can all check off our lists and uh
go on.
Speaker 4 (47:55):
With our lives. Yeah, absolutely, all right, So that was
our discussion just for the the folks listening.
Speaker 3 (48:03):
Next time on the beard Al Podcast, we're going to
be hitting the next track on Polka Party, which is
good Enough for Now, which is a lovely little country
style parody of just country music, and our friend Noah
is going to be back to talk about that song.
Speaker 4 (48:17):
And because uh we know a guy.
Speaker 3 (48:20):
Yeah yeah, so Rob from the Crooked Crooked Table Productions.
I love that part of the Odd Pods media network
sounds so official. Uh, thank you again so much for
being here with us today.
Speaker 6 (48:34):
Yeah, now, thank you for having me. We'll have to
find more weird al in the world of movies slash
the zazz universe and like little uh nooks and crannies
to cover in the future.
Speaker 3 (48:45):
Don't worry, it's a it's a. The world is a
veritable English muffin of those things, so don't worry about it,
all right, And Russ, thank you for rolling your chair here.
Speaker 4 (48:53):
I appreciate you. And all right, folks, stay weird. We'll
come at you again next time. Bye bye,
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