September 14, 2025 • 22 mins
In this week's Roundup, Father Malone and Ms. Ripley Jean provides an in-depth review of 'Spinal Tap 2', examining its strengths and weaknesses compared to the original.
00:00 Welcome to Father Malone's Weekly Roundup
01:13 TV Show Reviews: Digman and The Paper
06:04 Alien Earth Predictions and Speculations
09:45 Spinal Tap 2: The End Continues
20:59 Final Thoughts and Upcoming Episodes
Father Malone
fathermalone71@gmail.com
patreon.com/fathermalone
@Midnight_Viewing
00:00 Welcome to Father Malone's Weekly Roundup
01:13 TV Show Reviews: Digman and The Paper
06:04 Alien Earth Predictions and Speculations
09:45 Spinal Tap 2: The End Continues
20:59 Final Thoughts and Upcoming Episodes
Father Malone
fathermalone71@gmail.com
patreon.com/fathermalone
@Midnight_Viewing
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Weary. We welcome back midnight viewers to Father Malone's weekly roundup.
(01:02):
I am Father Malone with me as always is one
of the little people of Downenge Miss Ripley Gen say
hi to everyone. Rip, What's new? What's good? Are you watching? Digman?
Exclamation Point? It's an animated show if You're Unaware, created
by Andy Samberg and Neil Campbell about a world where
archaeologists are basically rock stars. They're called archies. It features
(01:27):
all of your favorite comedians as voices, including Samberg doing
his Nicholas Cage impression as the lead Rip Digman. It
is a joke machine on the level of Season five
of The Simpsons. I don't know that I can praise
anything higher than that. Also new is NBC's desperate attempt
at remplicating The Office with The Paper. I knew you
(01:48):
all love The Office, and I liked it for a
few seasons, but I gotta admit I think John Krazinsky
is really smug. I don't get the appeal. Maybe he's
a good guy. I don't care. Life short and watching
a show with someone you detest is not any way
to live. But The Paper has Donald Gleeson in the
lead and you've heard me about mister Gleeson in the
(02:08):
past in our episode about a futile in stupid gesture,
and he's great here too. The show overall is really good.
Probably a little late if they're hoping to slack the
thirst of the office crowd, because it is a very
close to it. But now that it's streaming they can say, fuck,
I watched all of season one. I really liked it.
Probably not going to follow it to season two, which
(02:30):
it's already been renewed for. As desperate as the idea
of capitalizing on the office might be in concept, the
actual attempt at making another Sophia Vargara character happen is sad.
It's so fucking sitcom it hurts anytime any real emotion
starts coming in. Here comes this loud in appearance and
loud and attitude foreigner from Central Casting to tacky it
(02:52):
up and introduce some tired trope that felt old back
on happy days. You guys like werewolf stuff, spooky seasons.
Here got to start thinking about monsters all the time now.
So just a reminder that Paul Waller from A Year
in Horror podcast and I are collaborating on a new
show all about our lichanthrope friends, our Children of the Moon.
(03:13):
That's going to be over on his channel. It starts
up in October. That's called Little Old Lady Got Mutilated
Late last Night. It is a cinematic odyssey from Larry
Talbot all the way up to the New Eggers Werewolf
movie next year. Also new shows also starting in October.
It's another fest, folks. It's Books of Blood Fest. I
(03:33):
was so inspired by the recent episode of Tales from
the Dark Side we looked at that was an adaptation
of Barker's short story The Yattering and Jack, that I
went back and dusted off my old volumes of the
Books of Blood, and I've been delighting and revisiting these
tales and Barker's work in general. But like Stephen King's
Night Shift or Skeleton Crew, there have been at least
a dozen movie and or TV episodes that drew their
(03:55):
inspiration from the Books of Blood. So we're gonna be
looking at those films if you want to to jump
on it. Here are the titles Rawhead, Rex candy Man,
Lord of Illusions, Quicksilver Highway, The Midnight Meat Train, Dread
Book of Blood, Books of Blood, and those are just
the movies to that end. If any of you have
easy access to the film Dread from two thousand and nine,
(04:17):
please hit me up. The email address is in the notes.
I'm having a devil of a time tracking it down. HB,
who is not really a horror guy. It's his only
true defect is sitting out the books of Bloodfest instead.
I'll be joined by a different guest for every episode,
including Paul Waller and appearing separately, though from their same
show We Belong Dead podcast will have Lono and his
(04:39):
partner Ian Wednesday. Season two is on Netflix. I haven't
watched a frame. Turns out whatever number of episodes we
got last year was the perfect amount of Tim Burton's
vision of the Adams Family for me, I'd be willing
to give it a go if I was promised more Fester.
I really liked Fred Armison's Jackie Coogan throwback to when
Fester was a dangerous goof my annual rant. Fester is
(05:02):
Mortish's uncle, not an Atoms at all, not Gomez's long
lost brother or whatever the fuck. The original series is
always going to be the superior version of the Atoms Klan.
You want to know why I'm gonna tell you anyway,
the budgetary nature of television kept it ninety eight percent
of the time in and around that house. Am I
crazy for wanting to spend time with them in their environment?
(05:24):
The normal world sucks and if it has to intrude,
let it come to them. There's this perverse, really obvious
tendency among writers to jump directly to can you picture
them in the real world? Yes, anyone in the eighties
wearing a fucking Bad Brain shirt or an Iron Maiden
shirt for that matter, no doubt. At one point heard
(05:44):
here comes the Atoms family. I don't want to watch
more Tisha at the market or Fester interacting with street lights.
Who cares that? Impulse the let's see them out in
These outlandish real world scenarios kept me from Wednesday, And
I gotta say, is a huge stumbling blo with today's
topic spinal tap too, but we'll get there. Oh my god,
Alien Earth. I have a prediction. Fuck I hope I'm right.
(06:08):
This is speculation, not spoiler. There are five corporations on
Earth in this series. I believe at the end of
the show, one of those corporations is going to end
up being run by a tiny invasive species. If that
eyeball can move past grunting and get into our speech patterns,
Oh my god, it's so tantalizing. But before that, is
(06:30):
there any doubt we're getting a xenomorph versus a xenomorph
fight coming up? I think not. I never want this
series to end. Sigourney Weaver got interviewed recently and she's
fully on board with the show, watches it every week.
You know, she's just about the age Amanda Ripley was
just before her mom was found floating out there in
deep space. That's a free idea I'm sending out into
(06:52):
the alien verse. Let's talk tartans for a moment, shall we.
It's no secret I'm a fan of the kilt. I'm
literally wearing one right now now. The kilt, in case
you're unaware, is the bit of apparel, the pattern on
the fabric that's the tartan, and each pattern is specific
to the family that wears it. There's a registry my
family's tartan. I guarantee every fucking one of you knows.
(07:13):
Because Scotch Tape decided at some point that the Wallace
Tartan makes a pretty good brand signifier. And get this,
Every tartan has variations, So you've got the main design
everyone knows. In that case it's red with black and
yellow overlaid. But there's a hunting tartan which swaps the
redout for forrest Green. Scotch Tape used the fucking hunting
tartan as well. I'm not mad. I just don't understand
(07:36):
how a company can grab something so personal and just
claim it. Also, I think there ought to be compensation.
I grew up in the seventies and eighties in suburban America.
To you and me and everyone we knew, a kilt
was a skirt, and it was heaped with all the
bullshit gay panic that seemed to dominate in those days
and still does apparently. And then one day a man
(07:58):
arrived of villain, a heel, funny and smart and charming
and fucking capable, mister Roderick George Toombs, a man wearing
a kilt and who adopted a stage name. My God,
have I patterned my whole life on rowdy Roddy Piper.
Remember when he boxed mister t and then he was
disqualified because in the middle of a boxing match he
(08:19):
body slammed him. Oh, those were the days. Rowdy roddy
Piper wearing the kilt and being a villain was so
much more powerful to me than had he been a hero.
I knew, knew that those same kids who were slagging
him off for wearing a dress would have been praising
him and his unique apparel had he been friends with
Hulk Hogan instead of his enemy. Who was right in
(08:42):
that case, motherfuckers, These were fair weather fucks. I knew
the way they actually felt. So did Piper. And instead
of cowering or switching to a sash or a beret
or some other signifier, Piper used his kilt like a
fucking rallying cry a shield and a cudgel. Even his
initial action figures had that kilt, and I fucking loved it.
(09:02):
It was like spotting someone in a Bad Brain shirt
or that Iron Maiden shirt. That's what it was like,
seeing someone else in a kilt enjoying the breeze. Piper's
tartan is now registered, and it's the simple wine red
with gray lines through it. But he seemed to wear
whatever was available, whenever it was available. And I would
like to point out a highlight in my life round
about two thousand and five or so when Piper started
(09:25):
wearing the leather jacket over his hot rod shirt. That
fucking biker leather jacket. The kilt he was wearing more
often than not is the Wallace Tartan. You can google it?
Yeah baby? Wait? Why am I talking about Kilton Tartans?
Oh yeah, Nigel Tough Noel lead guitar. Hi, I'm Marty
de Burge. Forty years ago I was honored to direct
(09:47):
a film called This is Spinal Tap. The numbers or
go to eleven? One lot? Why don't you just make
ten louder and make ten be the top number and
make that all alone? These go to eleven? I like
to think pink torpedo. That's literature. Yeah, yeah, really, A
(10:14):
lot has happened since the last time I saw you, Cripto.
Have you been playing music at all? I playing music
at a pub. This is the site of Spinal Taps
reunion concert? Why New Orleans? There was a cancelation. Who
was supposed to be there? An evening with Stormy Daniels.
(10:36):
Obviously there'll be the regular merch and Hope has had
a rather brilliant says artisan, we're still shorter drummer? What
happened to him. He sneezed himself into a Bolivian Is
thatmatically possible? So you think he might fill the bill.
I don't want to die. We've only lost eleven or
twelve eleven eleven drummers. The thing that you guys had
(11:01):
as kids is that still there on a band. The
constantly is breaking apart and coming back together. But the
more we retreat into the music, the nicer things become,
not to be profound or anything. And it would be
a first time for me Stonehead, imagine l Weather Dragon,
(11:27):
so were quite a tail go back in the time
to that method. Lad. What we need to do is
secure your legacy. If during the gig at least one,
but ideally no more than two of you were to die,
would you settle for a coma. Oh no, that's interesting. Yeah,
(11:49):
that's a great bit of thinking outside well little box,
I suppose. Yeah. Actually, way back in nineteen eighty four,
during an interview segment in This is Spinal Tap, Nigel
is sporting it. It's a Stewart Tartan. That's the Royal
Family of England's tartan, which technically you're not allowed to
wear without their permission, which makes it hilarious that it
has become the generic go to Tartan you're most likely
(12:11):
to find Nigel wearing it. Is the most subtle rock
star excess in a film about rock star excess, so
most folks probably didn't notice. If you ask anyone to
describe how he dresses, you're probably gonna hear about his
exact skeleton T shirt. But for me, around nineteen eighty five,
which is when most of us were turned on to
spinal Tap as it hit video and HBO, more specifically,
(12:32):
seeing someone as fucking cool as Nigel in tandem with
rowdy Ronnie Piper wearing Kilts Hoo boy, my Scottish soul
was well fed. There are other charms to be had
from this is spinal Tap, obviously, and if you want
to hear me wax rapsotic about it, I'd head over
to HP's show Noise Junkies. He had me on to
discuss the film, and I'd be doing a poor job
(12:53):
of rehashing my feelings about it here, so go there.
I don't know if I mentioned this, but HP bought
me twenty five years ago these eight eighteen inch incredibly
detailed spinal tap action figures with instruments and tons of
little doodads. No killed. That was a little disappointing, But anyway,
Spinal Tap two, the end continues. This is a legacy sequel. Right,
(13:14):
Sequels as we know them tend to follow in rather
rapid succession within a decade. Let's say, anything else is legacy, right,
like Color of Money to the Hustle dropping back in
later in their lives, Trained Spotting two, Bill and Ted
Face the music Fuck. I wish I hadn't mentioned Color
of Money. That's the pinnacle, probably way better than the
others I mentioned, But Spinal Tap two is at least
(13:35):
better than any recent legacy sequels does Naked Gun count.
I didn't review it here because I'm mad at Paramount,
but I thoroughly enjoyed that movie. Of the comedy legacy sequels,
that one is definitely the best, way better than Spinal
Tap two. I'm sad to say, let me just dispense
with the problems with the film. You can't spoil it.
By the way, everything I'm saying is in the trailer.
The basic setup is taps manager Ian is dead, his
(13:58):
daughter has inherited their contract. The band split after Glastonbury
in two thousand and nine and no longer talk their
contract owes one more show. She reunites them in New Orleans.
They play a show, and once again Marty de Berghey
is back to document it in nearly identical ways to
the first film. The first film works as well as
it does because, had you not known any better, that
(14:20):
could very easily just be a real documentary about a
bunch of dummies on the road trying to keep their
flagging career going. Everything that happens supports that they're on
a tour that keeps falling apart. If anything is happening
from without, it has to come to them. Spinal Tap, too,
spends as much time seemingly away from the band as
a whole, and away from the purpose of rehearsing and
(14:42):
working through whatever problems they have to tell us side
stories about them in some cases, but just as often
about newer frankly not as interesting characters, and those moments
with the band while de Berghey is trying to convince
them to reunite are painful. Man I believed that Spinal
Tap would be booked on to an Air Force base
by an inexperienced manager. I don't believe David Saint Hubbins
(15:04):
plays in a mariachi band to support his income. It's
a funny visual kind of but really, and there's the problem.
Time after time they go for the joke, which would
be great if the jokes were funny, but they're not,
so it all feels like time wasted. That's unfair. These
are comedy giants. Nobody comes off bad. But the humor
(15:25):
now is like reading a New Yorker cartoon as opposed
to watching an episode of SNL in its heyday. It's funny. Yeah,
you might even show it to a coworker, but is
it worth a forty year weight? Was Beetlejuice? It does
everything we expected to do except make us laugh, although
I did laugh a lot. Actually, during the end credits,
they throw out all these seemingly throwaway lines while the
(15:48):
credits are rolling, and they're bangers, and they're all Nigel.
In fact, that's something that remains consistent from the original
to sequel. No one can put a button on a
scene like Christopher Guest. If you enjoy a trans position
in this movie, it's because he said something genuinely amusing
to get you there. This movie is operating under the
notion that the original film exists, it came out, and
(16:09):
everyone knows them now. They even make reference to and
include footage from their shows in ninety two when they
were on tour to support Break Like the Wind and
then the aforementioned Glastonbury Festival. It's not crazy to think
that a few celebrities might have become fans. But Paul
McCartney and Elton John and Questlove and Lars Ulrich wait
actually Lars makes sense. Remember that Spinal Tap is a
(16:32):
metal band, right, I do, some of us do. I
don't think the band does. I don't think they've thought
in metal terms since nineteen eighty four. Every piece of
music since then has been barely hard rock. Even the
first movie soundtrack is just dancing on the edge of metal,
at least what metal was at that moment. Now I
can forgive the band that Christopher Guest came up impersonating
(16:53):
James Taylor in National Lampoon's Lemmings. The whole of them
seem way closer to the folksmen. There are other alters
that were featured in A Mighty Wind in real life
than they would ever be Spinal Tap. But still, where
was Bruce Dickinson or Dave Mustaine or Corey Taylor or
lead A Ford or Alice Cooper. If you're going to
have a gay music icon show up, how about Rob
(17:15):
Halford instead of Sir Elton. I would kill to see
a scene where he and Derreck Small's discuss fashion choices.
Admittedly McCartney comes off the best. His scene is genuinely funny,
but there's so much stuff, so much outside bullshit that
keeps creeping in that we never really settle down with
these guys and their problems, which is a total drag,
because that is when the movie works. Whatever slight amusement
(17:37):
you're getting from the various gags leading up to their
first scene together, it's all e femera once they do.
Watching these old men try to get back into some
sort of semblance of normalcy, the kind that they exist
in is magic. Their interactions seem genuine and heartfelt and
achieve that level of slight amusement. The rest of the
film is trafficking in but in a sincere way. These
(18:00):
guys have been living these characters for so long that
they basically are them now, so their instincts are always
great with each other, and because they've played them so consistently.
They never veer into the awful land of Dan Aykroyd
coming back to Elwood Blues after nearly two decades, and
suddenly he's the most Chicago guy whoever chicagoed am I right?
Give me two Italian beefs and a dog that's been
(18:21):
dragged through the garden. My favorite moments in the entire
film are in no way funny. They involved Nigel and
his wife Moira. Nigel owns a cheese and guitar shop,
That stuff is all pretty funny. In fact, all of
Christopher Guest's stuff is really funny, and his wife is
holding down the fort while he's away. Their FaceTime calls
to each other are sweet in a way even the
(18:41):
first film couldn't touch. Let me keep praising Christopher Guest.
Remember the moment in the first film where Janine is
complaining about doubly and Nigel jumps on that, and what
we'd consider to be a total dolt in life shows
wit and knowledge. That's Nigel through this whole movie, always
pushing back, always a bit smarter than he lets on. Which,
(19:02):
don't get me wrong, they're all still monumentally stupid. But
if there's a reason to watch this movie. It's Nigel Toughnel.
Returning cameos are mercifully brief, with Artie Fuckin and Bobby
Fleckman showing up to remind us they were in the
first film. They missed a chance to have Dana Carvey return.
He's a mime in that tour launch sequence in the
Tap into America scene. Come on, mime is money. That's
(19:24):
Billy Crystal. Where was he? Let's not forget Marty de
Berghy is close friends with him, having directed his HBO
special back in the day. De Berghey, by the way,
is a little too present in this film, which leads
me to the real problem here. In trying to replicate
the first film as much as possible, I think they'll
cut their legs out from under themselves. The fact is
the mockumentary format was created by Spinal Tap and then
(19:46):
given full form by Christopher Guest in films like Waiting
for Guffman or Best in Show and Now It's just
the norm the office, the paper, Curb your enthusiasm, actually
curb is where they should have leaned. Dispense with the
documentary altogether and just tell us the story of Spinal Tap.
In their later years, just them and their rehearsal, just
(20:06):
them working their shit out, but with the new drummer,
DeeDee Crockett played by Valerie Franco is the only lively
thing in this entire movie. Yeah, Christopher Guest is still
killing it, but any new fun energy it's coming from
the drum kit. She's got a Neil Perk clobbering style
that knocks me out, and her enthusiasm is fucking everything
(20:28):
she should have been in every scene. The movie's worth
a watch overall. If you're a fan, you're gonna see
it anyway. If I could recommend anything to you, though,
if you haven't seen that show from nineteen ninety two,
it's called alternately the Return of Spinal Tap and a
Spinal Tap Reunion. The twenty fifth anniversary London sellout see
that they are at the top of their game musically.
(20:51):
The comedy bits sprinkled throughout the concert are funny. The
comedy bits sprinkled out through the interstitials are funny. Even
get Artie Fufkin again. That's gonna do it this week,
No rips pick. I'm afraid we were gonna take a
look at that final conjuring film and then I realized
that I'm so fucking tired of that entire universe. Then
I treat myself to not seeing it. How about that
(21:11):
tune in Friday it's the return of Tales from the
dark Side. The week after is at yahoucha FS where
we're looking at predators. That's Adrian Brody fighting a predator. Well,
he talks like a badass. Tune in a week from
Friday to hear that, or head on over to Patreon
and hear it right now. In fact, you can hear
that dark Side and on the next dark Side after that.
Everything's at patreon dot com. Follow them Alone, doc, whatever
(21:34):
is it fucking worth it? Yes it is. Write to
me if you recognize that quote. Father them Alone seven
to one at gmail dot com for Ripley, Gene and myself.
Here's some spinal tap I didn't mention eleven one time.
One looks like a wedge of cheese. No, it's a pizza.
(21:55):
But now m h it's not. Someman's singing through a
duck
Weary. We welcome back midnight viewers to Father Malone's weekly roundup.
(01:02):
I am Father Malone with me as always is one
of the little people of Downenge Miss Ripley Gen say
hi to everyone. Rip, What's new? What's good? Are you watching? Digman?
Exclamation Point? It's an animated show if You're Unaware, created
by Andy Samberg and Neil Campbell about a world where
archaeologists are basically rock stars. They're called archies. It features
(01:27):
all of your favorite comedians as voices, including Samberg doing
his Nicholas Cage impression as the lead Rip Digman. It
is a joke machine on the level of Season five
of The Simpsons. I don't know that I can praise
anything higher than that. Also new is NBC's desperate attempt
at remplicating The Office with The Paper. I knew you
(01:48):
all love The Office, and I liked it for a
few seasons, but I gotta admit I think John Krazinsky
is really smug. I don't get the appeal. Maybe he's
a good guy. I don't care. Life short and watching
a show with someone you detest is not any way
to live. But The Paper has Donald Gleeson in the
lead and you've heard me about mister Gleeson in the
(02:08):
past in our episode about a futile in stupid gesture,
and he's great here too. The show overall is really good.
Probably a little late if they're hoping to slack the
thirst of the office crowd, because it is a very
close to it. But now that it's streaming they can say, fuck,
I watched all of season one. I really liked it.
Probably not going to follow it to season two, which
(02:30):
it's already been renewed for. As desperate as the idea
of capitalizing on the office might be in concept, the
actual attempt at making another Sophia Vargara character happen is sad.
It's so fucking sitcom it hurts anytime any real emotion
starts coming in. Here comes this loud in appearance and
loud and attitude foreigner from Central Casting to tacky it
(02:52):
up and introduce some tired trope that felt old back
on happy days. You guys like werewolf stuff, spooky seasons.
Here got to start thinking about monsters all the time now.
So just a reminder that Paul Waller from A Year
in Horror podcast and I are collaborating on a new
show all about our lichanthrope friends, our Children of the Moon.
(03:13):
That's going to be over on his channel. It starts
up in October. That's called Little Old Lady Got Mutilated
Late last Night. It is a cinematic odyssey from Larry
Talbot all the way up to the New Eggers Werewolf
movie next year. Also new shows also starting in October.
It's another fest, folks. It's Books of Blood Fest. I
(03:33):
was so inspired by the recent episode of Tales from
the Dark Side we looked at that was an adaptation
of Barker's short story The Yattering and Jack, that I
went back and dusted off my old volumes of the
Books of Blood, and I've been delighting and revisiting these
tales and Barker's work in general. But like Stephen King's
Night Shift or Skeleton Crew, there have been at least
a dozen movie and or TV episodes that drew their
(03:55):
inspiration from the Books of Blood. So we're gonna be
looking at those films if you want to to jump
on it. Here are the titles Rawhead, Rex candy Man,
Lord of Illusions, Quicksilver Highway, The Midnight Meat Train, Dread
Book of Blood, Books of Blood, and those are just
the movies to that end. If any of you have
easy access to the film Dread from two thousand and nine,
(04:17):
please hit me up. The email address is in the notes.
I'm having a devil of a time tracking it down. HB,
who is not really a horror guy. It's his only
true defect is sitting out the books of Bloodfest instead.
I'll be joined by a different guest for every episode,
including Paul Waller and appearing separately, though from their same
show We Belong Dead podcast will have Lono and his
(04:39):
partner Ian Wednesday. Season two is on Netflix. I haven't
watched a frame. Turns out whatever number of episodes we
got last year was the perfect amount of Tim Burton's
vision of the Adams Family for me, I'd be willing
to give it a go if I was promised more Fester.
I really liked Fred Armison's Jackie Coogan throwback to when
Fester was a dangerous goof my annual rant. Fester is
(05:02):
Mortish's uncle, not an Atoms at all, not Gomez's long
lost brother or whatever the fuck. The original series is
always going to be the superior version of the Atoms Klan.
You want to know why I'm gonna tell you anyway,
the budgetary nature of television kept it ninety eight percent
of the time in and around that house. Am I
crazy for wanting to spend time with them in their environment?
(05:24):
The normal world sucks and if it has to intrude,
let it come to them. There's this perverse, really obvious
tendency among writers to jump directly to can you picture
them in the real world? Yes, anyone in the eighties
wearing a fucking Bad Brain shirt or an Iron Maiden
shirt for that matter, no doubt. At one point heard
(05:44):
here comes the Atoms family. I don't want to watch
more Tisha at the market or Fester interacting with street lights.
Who cares that? Impulse the let's see them out in
These outlandish real world scenarios kept me from Wednesday, And
I gotta say, is a huge stumbling blo with today's
topic spinal tap too, but we'll get there. Oh my god,
Alien Earth. I have a prediction. Fuck I hope I'm right.
(06:08):
This is speculation, not spoiler. There are five corporations on
Earth in this series. I believe at the end of
the show, one of those corporations is going to end
up being run by a tiny invasive species. If that
eyeball can move past grunting and get into our speech patterns,
Oh my god, it's so tantalizing. But before that, is
(06:30):
there any doubt we're getting a xenomorph versus a xenomorph
fight coming up? I think not. I never want this
series to end. Sigourney Weaver got interviewed recently and she's
fully on board with the show, watches it every week.
You know, she's just about the age Amanda Ripley was
just before her mom was found floating out there in
deep space. That's a free idea I'm sending out into
(06:52):
the alien verse. Let's talk tartans for a moment, shall we.
It's no secret I'm a fan of the kilt. I'm
literally wearing one right now now. The kilt, in case
you're unaware, is the bit of apparel, the pattern on
the fabric that's the tartan, and each pattern is specific
to the family that wears it. There's a registry my
family's tartan. I guarantee every fucking one of you knows.
(07:13):
Because Scotch Tape decided at some point that the Wallace
Tartan makes a pretty good brand signifier. And get this,
Every tartan has variations, So you've got the main design
everyone knows. In that case it's red with black and
yellow overlaid. But there's a hunting tartan which swaps the
redout for forrest Green. Scotch Tape used the fucking hunting
tartan as well. I'm not mad. I just don't understand
(07:36):
how a company can grab something so personal and just
claim it. Also, I think there ought to be compensation.
I grew up in the seventies and eighties in suburban America.
To you and me and everyone we knew, a kilt
was a skirt, and it was heaped with all the
bullshit gay panic that seemed to dominate in those days
and still does apparently. And then one day a man
(07:58):
arrived of villain, a heel, funny and smart and charming
and fucking capable, mister Roderick George Toombs, a man wearing
a kilt and who adopted a stage name. My God,
have I patterned my whole life on rowdy Roddy Piper.
Remember when he boxed mister t and then he was
disqualified because in the middle of a boxing match he
(08:19):
body slammed him. Oh, those were the days. Rowdy roddy
Piper wearing the kilt and being a villain was so
much more powerful to me than had he been a hero.
I knew, knew that those same kids who were slagging
him off for wearing a dress would have been praising
him and his unique apparel had he been friends with
Hulk Hogan instead of his enemy. Who was right in
(08:42):
that case, motherfuckers, These were fair weather fucks. I knew
the way they actually felt. So did Piper. And instead
of cowering or switching to a sash or a beret
or some other signifier, Piper used his kilt like a
fucking rallying cry a shield and a cudgel. Even his
initial action figures had that kilt, and I fucking loved it.
(09:02):
It was like spotting someone in a Bad Brain shirt
or that Iron Maiden shirt. That's what it was like,
seeing someone else in a kilt enjoying the breeze. Piper's
tartan is now registered, and it's the simple wine red
with gray lines through it. But he seemed to wear
whatever was available, whenever it was available. And I would
like to point out a highlight in my life round
about two thousand and five or so when Piper started
(09:25):
wearing the leather jacket over his hot rod shirt. That
fucking biker leather jacket. The kilt he was wearing more
often than not is the Wallace Tartan. You can google it?
Yeah baby? Wait? Why am I talking about Kilton Tartans?
Oh yeah, Nigel Tough Noel lead guitar. Hi, I'm Marty
de Burge. Forty years ago I was honored to direct
(09:47):
a film called This is Spinal Tap. The numbers or
go to eleven? One lot? Why don't you just make
ten louder and make ten be the top number and
make that all alone? These go to eleven? I like
to think pink torpedo. That's literature. Yeah, yeah, really, A
(10:14):
lot has happened since the last time I saw you, Cripto.
Have you been playing music at all? I playing music
at a pub. This is the site of Spinal Taps
reunion concert? Why New Orleans? There was a cancelation. Who
was supposed to be there? An evening with Stormy Daniels.
(10:36):
Obviously there'll be the regular merch and Hope has had
a rather brilliant says artisan, we're still shorter drummer? What
happened to him. He sneezed himself into a Bolivian Is
thatmatically possible? So you think he might fill the bill.
I don't want to die. We've only lost eleven or
twelve eleven eleven drummers. The thing that you guys had
(11:01):
as kids is that still there on a band. The
constantly is breaking apart and coming back together. But the
more we retreat into the music, the nicer things become,
not to be profound or anything. And it would be
a first time for me Stonehead, imagine l Weather Dragon,
(11:27):
so were quite a tail go back in the time
to that method. Lad. What we need to do is
secure your legacy. If during the gig at least one,
but ideally no more than two of you were to die,
would you settle for a coma. Oh no, that's interesting. Yeah,
(11:49):
that's a great bit of thinking outside well little box,
I suppose. Yeah. Actually, way back in nineteen eighty four,
during an interview segment in This is Spinal Tap, Nigel
is sporting it. It's a Stewart Tartan. That's the Royal
Family of England's tartan, which technically you're not allowed to
wear without their permission, which makes it hilarious that it
has become the generic go to Tartan you're most likely
(12:11):
to find Nigel wearing it. Is the most subtle rock
star excess in a film about rock star excess, so
most folks probably didn't notice. If you ask anyone to
describe how he dresses, you're probably gonna hear about his
exact skeleton T shirt. But for me, around nineteen eighty five,
which is when most of us were turned on to
spinal Tap as it hit video and HBO, more specifically,
(12:32):
seeing someone as fucking cool as Nigel in tandem with
rowdy Ronnie Piper wearing Kilts Hoo boy, my Scottish soul
was well fed. There are other charms to be had
from this is spinal Tap, obviously, and if you want
to hear me wax rapsotic about it, I'd head over
to HP's show Noise Junkies. He had me on to
discuss the film, and I'd be doing a poor job
(12:53):
of rehashing my feelings about it here, so go there.
I don't know if I mentioned this, but HP bought
me twenty five years ago these eight eighteen inch incredibly
detailed spinal tap action figures with instruments and tons of
little doodads. No killed. That was a little disappointing, But anyway,
Spinal Tap two, the end continues. This is a legacy sequel. Right,
(13:14):
Sequels as we know them tend to follow in rather
rapid succession within a decade. Let's say, anything else is legacy, right,
like Color of Money to the Hustle dropping back in
later in their lives, Trained Spotting two, Bill and Ted
Face the music Fuck. I wish I hadn't mentioned Color
of Money. That's the pinnacle, probably way better than the
others I mentioned, But Spinal Tap two is at least
(13:35):
better than any recent legacy sequels does Naked Gun count.
I didn't review it here because I'm mad at Paramount,
but I thoroughly enjoyed that movie. Of the comedy legacy sequels,
that one is definitely the best, way better than Spinal
Tap two. I'm sad to say, let me just dispense
with the problems with the film. You can't spoil it.
By the way, everything I'm saying is in the trailer.
The basic setup is taps manager Ian is dead, his
(13:58):
daughter has inherited their contract. The band split after Glastonbury
in two thousand and nine and no longer talk their
contract owes one more show. She reunites them in New Orleans.
They play a show, and once again Marty de Berghey
is back to document it in nearly identical ways to
the first film. The first film works as well as
it does because, had you not known any better, that
(14:20):
could very easily just be a real documentary about a
bunch of dummies on the road trying to keep their
flagging career going. Everything that happens supports that they're on
a tour that keeps falling apart. If anything is happening
from without, it has to come to them. Spinal Tap, too,
spends as much time seemingly away from the band as
a whole, and away from the purpose of rehearsing and
(14:42):
working through whatever problems they have to tell us side
stories about them in some cases, but just as often
about newer frankly not as interesting characters, and those moments
with the band while de Berghey is trying to convince
them to reunite are painful. Man I believed that Spinal
Tap would be booked on to an Air Force base
by an inexperienced manager. I don't believe David Saint Hubbins
(15:04):
plays in a mariachi band to support his income. It's
a funny visual kind of but really, and there's the problem.
Time after time they go for the joke, which would
be great if the jokes were funny, but they're not,
so it all feels like time wasted. That's unfair. These
are comedy giants. Nobody comes off bad. But the humor
(15:25):
now is like reading a New Yorker cartoon as opposed
to watching an episode of SNL in its heyday. It's funny. Yeah,
you might even show it to a coworker, but is
it worth a forty year weight? Was Beetlejuice? It does
everything we expected to do except make us laugh, although
I did laugh a lot. Actually, during the end credits,
they throw out all these seemingly throwaway lines while the
(15:48):
credits are rolling, and they're bangers, and they're all Nigel.
In fact, that's something that remains consistent from the original
to sequel. No one can put a button on a
scene like Christopher Guest. If you enjoy a trans position
in this movie, it's because he said something genuinely amusing
to get you there. This movie is operating under the
notion that the original film exists, it came out, and
(16:09):
everyone knows them now. They even make reference to and
include footage from their shows in ninety two when they
were on tour to support Break Like the Wind and
then the aforementioned Glastonbury Festival. It's not crazy to think
that a few celebrities might have become fans. But Paul
McCartney and Elton John and Questlove and Lars Ulrich wait
actually Lars makes sense. Remember that Spinal Tap is a
(16:32):
metal band, right, I do, some of us do. I
don't think the band does. I don't think they've thought
in metal terms since nineteen eighty four. Every piece of
music since then has been barely hard rock. Even the
first movie soundtrack is just dancing on the edge of metal,
at least what metal was at that moment. Now I
can forgive the band that Christopher Guest came up impersonating
(16:53):
James Taylor in National Lampoon's Lemmings. The whole of them
seem way closer to the folksmen. There are other alters
that were featured in A Mighty Wind in real life
than they would ever be Spinal Tap. But still, where
was Bruce Dickinson or Dave Mustaine or Corey Taylor or
lead A Ford or Alice Cooper. If you're going to
have a gay music icon show up, how about Rob
(17:15):
Halford instead of Sir Elton. I would kill to see
a scene where he and Derreck Small's discuss fashion choices.
Admittedly McCartney comes off the best. His scene is genuinely funny,
but there's so much stuff, so much outside bullshit that
keeps creeping in that we never really settle down with
these guys and their problems, which is a total drag,
because that is when the movie works. Whatever slight amusement
(17:37):
you're getting from the various gags leading up to their
first scene together, it's all e femera once they do.
Watching these old men try to get back into some
sort of semblance of normalcy, the kind that they exist
in is magic. Their interactions seem genuine and heartfelt and
achieve that level of slight amusement. The rest of the
film is trafficking in but in a sincere way. These
(18:00):
guys have been living these characters for so long that
they basically are them now, so their instincts are always
great with each other, and because they've played them so consistently.
They never veer into the awful land of Dan Aykroyd
coming back to Elwood Blues after nearly two decades, and
suddenly he's the most Chicago guy whoever chicagoed am I right?
Give me two Italian beefs and a dog that's been
(18:21):
dragged through the garden. My favorite moments in the entire
film are in no way funny. They involved Nigel and
his wife Moira. Nigel owns a cheese and guitar shop,
That stuff is all pretty funny. In fact, all of
Christopher Guest's stuff is really funny, and his wife is
holding down the fort while he's away. Their FaceTime calls
to each other are sweet in a way even the
(18:41):
first film couldn't touch. Let me keep praising Christopher Guest.
Remember the moment in the first film where Janine is
complaining about doubly and Nigel jumps on that, and what
we'd consider to be a total dolt in life shows
wit and knowledge. That's Nigel through this whole movie, always
pushing back, always a bit smarter than he lets on. Which,
(19:02):
don't get me wrong, they're all still monumentally stupid. But
if there's a reason to watch this movie. It's Nigel Toughnel.
Returning cameos are mercifully brief, with Artie Fuckin and Bobby
Fleckman showing up to remind us they were in the
first film. They missed a chance to have Dana Carvey return.
He's a mime in that tour launch sequence in the
Tap into America scene. Come on, mime is money. That's
(19:24):
Billy Crystal. Where was he? Let's not forget Marty de
Berghy is close friends with him, having directed his HBO
special back in the day. De Berghey, by the way,
is a little too present in this film, which leads
me to the real problem here. In trying to replicate
the first film as much as possible, I think they'll
cut their legs out from under themselves. The fact is
the mockumentary format was created by Spinal Tap and then
(19:46):
given full form by Christopher Guest in films like Waiting
for Guffman or Best in Show and Now It's just
the norm the office, the paper, Curb your enthusiasm, actually
curb is where they should have leaned. Dispense with the
documentary altogether and just tell us the story of Spinal Tap.
In their later years, just them and their rehearsal, just
(20:06):
them working their shit out, but with the new drummer,
DeeDee Crockett played by Valerie Franco is the only lively
thing in this entire movie. Yeah, Christopher Guest is still
killing it, but any new fun energy it's coming from
the drum kit. She's got a Neil Perk clobbering style
that knocks me out, and her enthusiasm is fucking everything
(20:28):
she should have been in every scene. The movie's worth
a watch overall. If you're a fan, you're gonna see
it anyway. If I could recommend anything to you, though,
if you haven't seen that show from nineteen ninety two,
it's called alternately the Return of Spinal Tap and a
Spinal Tap Reunion. The twenty fifth anniversary London sellout see
that they are at the top of their game musically.
(20:51):
The comedy bits sprinkled throughout the concert are funny. The
comedy bits sprinkled out through the interstitials are funny. Even
get Artie Fufkin again. That's gonna do it this week,
No rips pick. I'm afraid we were gonna take a
look at that final conjuring film and then I realized
that I'm so fucking tired of that entire universe. Then
I treat myself to not seeing it. How about that
(21:11):
tune in Friday it's the return of Tales from the
dark Side. The week after is at yahoucha FS where
we're looking at predators. That's Adrian Brody fighting a predator. Well,
he talks like a badass. Tune in a week from
Friday to hear that, or head on over to Patreon
and hear it right now. In fact, you can hear
that dark Side and on the next dark Side after that.
Everything's at patreon dot com. Follow them Alone, doc, whatever
(21:34):
is it fucking worth it? Yes it is. Write to
me if you recognize that quote. Father them Alone seven
to one at gmail dot com for Ripley, Gene and myself.
Here's some spinal tap I didn't mention eleven one time.
One looks like a wedge of cheese. No, it's a pizza.
(21:55):
But now m h it's not. Someman's singing through a
duck
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.