The SWAMP
The SWAMP
Muppets from Space
How could we do an ensemble cast theme without honoring THEE ensemble cast: The Muppets. Thanks to Marcella and Morgan who suggested this 1999 gem for us this week!
Resources mentioned in the episode regarding immigration and how to support those in your community:
National Lawyers Guild Resources
Massachusetts Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy Coalition
Also, I was pissed when the Atlantic article about the Yemen bombing text thread was behind a paywall (ew) so here is a link to a twitter thread that has all of it screenshotted because FUCK everything that's happening right now and access to information is KEY, not that it's super relevant to anything we spoke of but... leaving that here
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The SWAMP (00:00.364)
HURRY UP! HURRY
Could you tell that that was my impression of Miss Piggy doing karate? No, honestly, that was pretty solid. Thank you. Henry and I do that often. do... No, that was honestly spot on. I was thinking a lot about this movie, about how different people have had to take on the roles and responsibilities of voicing these Muppets over the years as people have died and things like that, and how impressive it is that a person can...
I mean, you really have to figure out all of the nuances of how they did the voice acting. Like the amount of material you must have to go through to even figure out, what does it sound like when Miss Piggy kicks instead of karate chops, you know what I mean? Or some shit like that. Not that specifically. It's a hi-ya rather than a hi-ya. Exactly. But you know what I mean?
think deep, deep in the Muppet community, the people who are really into it, I think have preferences of like, this person was the best Elmo, and then they got replaced by this person who didn't do, know, different, like how the replacements stack up. feel similarly like cartoon voice acting, right? But the director of this movie is one of the principal writers of SpongeBob, like from the beginning up to today, I believe. His name's Tim something.
I should have written this down. But because I was looking into what else he had done, the director of this, because it wasn't he wasn't a he hadn't done a muffin movie previously. I think his other his other credits, you know, post have included the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie and then that Easter movie hop about the bunnies, which is just like nothing. OK. Then I was like, what's your real like, what's your real game? And then I was like, oh, writer of Spongebob.
The SWAMP (01:50.03)
like that checks to me. And that makes a lot of sense to me also. You, before we got on, you let me know that this probably ranks quote unquote bottom of the barrel in the Muppet circles. I heart disagree. I thought this was fabulous. I had a blast. I had never seen this movie before. I giggled through the whole thing. Oh, and if you didn't know, we're gonna talk about Muppets from Space today, 1999. Thank you.
Huge shout out to Marcella and Morgan who both have suggested that we cover this. I think every movie has probably been, every Muppet movie has been requested at one point or another, but this one had two, so stacks up. So we went for, we're doing ensemble casts this month and I cannot think of a more iconic ensemble cast than the Of course. They are the ensemble. They actually...
Yeah, anyways. And this is the Swamp. It's our podcast. It's an acronym. It says some wack ass movie podcasting. And yeah, when I was looking into it, so this was pretty much a financial failure. Like, maybe broke even. Like, it was not successful. And then this was the last Muppet theatrical film that they made before being acquired by Disney. So this was 1999. And then in 2004, I believe, Disney acquires the Muppets.
and then doesn't do a theatrical film until 2011 with The Muppets. They did other like TV movies, I think, like The Muppets, Wizard of Oz one, and there's like some TV movies and stuff that they did in the interim. But as far as like theatrical release, actual Muppet movies, this was the last one before the Disney acquisition. And that makes so much sense actually, because thinking, I mean, what came after this Muppet wise in the timeline?
So Disney gets it and then they do The Muppets, which was the 2011 one with Am I a Man or Am I a Muppet of a Man? And then they did Muppets Most Wanted and that's the most recent Muppet movie we've gotten. That was the one with Tina Fey and it's like a spy movie. What year was that? Sometime between 2011 and now. I don't know, I want to say like in the 20 teens sometime. Yeah, probably 2014 if I had to guess.
The SWAMP (04:00.814)
Interesting, yeah. I haven't seen that one. mean, that does make so much sense though, I guess, that the Muppet movie in 2011 was the Disney, like, now that you say that, I'm like, yes, it was definitely Disney-fied, I guess, because this, to me, felt like very, I don't know, Muppets at its core, I guess. Yeah. Like, really down to its roots.
Yeah, because before this, so to canonically go through the theatrical Muppets movies, the first one in the 70s was the Muppet movie. Then we get The Great Muppet Caper, then Muppets Take Manhattan, and those were all like the Muppets being Muppets. Then we kind of shift and get A Christmas Carol and Treasure Island, which are both the Muppets doing productions. So like the Muppets playing characters beyond themselves, you know what I mean? Yeah.
But so in here, then we return to the source. This is again, just Muppets being Muppets. This isn't, we're not doing like a parody or anything. Sure, sure. Which I feel like I haven't personally seen a lot of the Muppets being Muppets stuff. mean, obviously Muppets Christmas Carol, I think is one of the best movies ever made. I don't Yeah.
But so this felt really refreshing, I guess, to honestly like the whole setup of like seeing the Muppet house and how everyone lives. Like, it's my brain so hard, dude. Give me an entire reality series about the Muppet frat house that they all live in and just the day to day happenings of the Muppets. Give it to me. I want it. Actually, Disney, I would like to ask you, please. I know you're listening. I would like to formally ask Disney to relinquish your rights to the Muppets.
and give them to me, please. I'm just asking because I imagine we could revive the Muppet TV show, the Muppet Hour or whatever it was. So many celebrities now are really leaning into like camp humor, physical humor. Sure. Sabrina Carpenter, Ariana Grande, Chappell Rhone. mean, those are just the girlies in my corner. Dochi would be great on a Muppet's physical.
The SWAMP (06:09.186)
physical comedy music specials too. Like I just don't see why this isn't a thing. Also, I feel like kids need educational media too, which again, getting publicly funded Muppets kids media is obviously difficult because all of it hasn't been fucking cut. But I'm like, something that is for adults and kids for everyone, but it has like at its core Muppet values, but it's just fun. Why don't we have?
It's which I'm asking this movie. I was. Well, it's also today like the talk show interview bullshit is dead. Everyone is either going on chicken shop date or having to host SNL or doing fucking hot ones. Like if you're going to if you're going to make it a big or big production to promote your shit, why not making them up? It's to make it a fun time for the whole family. Exactly.
Because you know what all of those are? All of the successful talk shows? It's a gimmick. They're doing a gimmick. So have the gimmick see the Muppets. Yes. And we can revive this nearly dead IP. And we can revive, yeah, the late night talk show. Doesn't even, even, yeah. I mean, put it on a streaming. Put it, Netflix, who, what's the least shitty streaming service? Hulu, maybe? Hulu, you wanna talk to me about the Muppets? Cause I'm ready. Bye.
Honestly, if HBO picked it up, would be, yeah, it'd be fucking set, like just a success and a heartbeat, obviously. Yeah, man, I don't know. And I think what you said also is like, obviously it's very fun for the whole family. This movie felt like so, like the perfect balance of that for me.
Cause I was, I'm watching this as a 25 year old girl and it doesn't feel too childish for me in a way that I can't enjoy. Like it's childish in the way that like I'm still an adult and I can like relate and like feel like a kid watching it. But also like Miss Piggy coming back after like on screen after she was just hyping up her win of getting the story and coming back and being like.
The SWAMP (08:15.478)
what you think so and so reporter never gets excited and then walking back up like so stupid like so dumb like even went over my head because I wasn't alive at that point but I get the idea like it just like gives me like the hardest giggles all around dude I don't know and I feel like this I had an equal like a good experience like in tandem doing my Wikipedia googling while I was watching it because this came out in 1999 so a ton of the celebrity cameos I didn't quite pick up on
But who exactly was who? I knew Andy McDowell as the news reporter who Piggy then usurps. So funny. every little, the guy who Miss Piggy beats up and the guy who runs the security at Area 51 or whatever, all of those were funny adult famous people who then if you put them in this role, it's just hilarious.
So I was like trying to track. was like, that's who that person is. that's, you know, I Jeffrey Tambor obviously from Arrested Development. He was so funny. He did a great job as like the straight man who was actually kind of a muppet at his core. Yeah. 100%. I don't think I recognized him though. I knew he was someone, but I was like, not quite a Michael Caine. Of course. No, it was less subtle.
Michael Caine like put his whole, I mean, his whole career behind that performance. Yeah, he was leaning into like actually being silly alongside the Muppets, which I love at the end. They're like, you're so hilarious. You have to be our ambassador. But it's really just because he's trying to shoot a gun that won't work. Like, I love that. Which that feels like not that you would ever be in a situation where you would be against any Muppets, but that does feel like a very daring thing to happen.
They're like, No, but like that you end up there and they're just like, hey, we think you're a good time. Let's bring you with us. And I was like, damn, I was trying to take your asses down. But yeah, I get the plot. The plot of this movie is very thin. Fast and loose, Gonzo doesn't know who his family is. We get this sort of intro scene of all the Muppets in the Muppet House. Love it. But that, you know, he's looking at... No, first we get the intro scene of...
The SWAMP (10:29.806)
Gonzo with Noah on the arc. That was the first thing that I started my morning off with and I was howling. Hilarious and they're like, there's not two of you. We don't know what you are. You can't come on the arc. And that sort of sets our precedent. then of course it's a dream. It's Gonzo's recurring dream that he doesn't know what animal species he is. Just like all the other Muppets we get, he's looking at all their family portraits and it's like, Fozzie has a family of bears.
Piggy has a family of pigs. Kermit has Robin, but he's like who, and the picture they show of Gonzo on a beach alone, like out of focus, off in the horizon. I'm like, why would that make me laugh and sob at the same time for 45 straight minutes? So funny. the comedy of tiny Gonzo on a beach by himself. That's better comedy writing than almost anything today.
SNL take notes. But so then Gonzo of course is like, what am I? I'm a whatever. He doesn't feel like he has his place. His breakfast cereal starts sending him messages to look up to the sky. And so he goes and gets struck by lightning. What are they called? The cosmic knowledge fish? The cosmic knowledge fish.
That's who I want to be. That's actually who we are in this situation. That would be a hilarious niche Halloween costume for you and your bestie. Stop. the cosmic knowledge fish from space. Wait! Tara! That'd be so funny. You just wear like, country fish outfits and tell people their destinies. Maybe if we do a Halloween special, that'll have to be our outfits. That'd be hilarious.
But the cosmic knowledge fish tell him that he's an alien, he's from space, and that the aliens are coming, and he has to mow a message into the lawn to let them know where to land. And that basically spurs this whole media frenzy of the government knows that aliens are coming, or the alien intelligence unit, basically, which is disguised as a cement factory, which is run by Jeffrey Tambor. What is going on?
The SWAMP (12:42.126)
and they pick up on this because Miss Piggy wants to be a news reporter, but she's really just the coffee girl, but then Andy McDowell's the show pig, thank you. Coffee pig. I'm gonna start using that as like a slur, coffee pig. No, because the way it did sound like so harsh. But so Miss Piggy is like breaking the story and her gonzo go on the news and talk about this. So all these like alien fanatics come to the Bump It house and
It just stirs up this whole big frenzy of like, when are the aliens gonna come? And then the alien intelligence unit kidnaps Gonzo and Rizzo and puts them into like CIA holding and then Rizzo goes to like the rat lab rat. Oh my God, which was also just.
hilarious in and of itself, this whole side quest of Rizzo doing a jailbreak with the other rats. Right, I felt that. And obviously, like, it's just like, ugh, the cultural references that are just like, you're bombarded with them in this movie. And as someone who's like such a fucking nuisance and has IMDB logged in her brain, like, it makes me so happy seeing the Shawshank reveal.
my God, but just like the mice girls, they do the Spice Girls parody, mice girl poster, they set that up in the very beginning because Gonzo and Rizzo are roommates and you get the mice girls and he's doing pushups on a mouse trap.
Hilarious. I'm like Sabrina Carpenter should do that. She should get a giant mousetrap and she should do like arm presses with that. That'd be so funny. Yeah. Because her whole thing is like that she's so small. So little. Yeah, that'd be so funny, girl. Have you ever tried this one and it's her stuck under a mousetrap?
The SWAMP (14:36.298)
No, I do think she is. mean, everyone has sort of started pitching who they think their their person for reviving the Muppets would be. And I do stand firm with the Sabrina Carpenter Brigade. Yeah, or or Chapel, because just like anyone who's really into that over the top. Kiki Palmer. Right, co-host alongside Kermit Girl. She has Kermit the Frog energy. easily, easily. Yeah, her and Miss Piggy would end up like doing a whole like martial arts fight.
They, like WWE wrestling, Kiki Palmer versus Miss Peggy. I'd love to see it. my God. Please, please. Like boxing, like Muppet boxing. my God. Yeah. They both do their walk-ups and everything like that. In like the like decked out outfits, like the spandex and your face masks and stuff. please. Kiki Palmer, Kiki Palmer's agent. know you're listening. my God. Disney, again. I know you've stayed tuned in.
No, if Disney was listening, we would have been copyright infringed or some fucking shit for like decades ago. Actually, if any one of Note had ever been listening at any point to this podcast, we definitely would have received several season desist. Then the rest of the Muppets kind of team up to then do break Gonzo and Rizzo out of the...
CIA or whatever and they like spray themselves with invisible spray and they go in and Kathy Griffin is a guard who gets like seduced by an animal. Yeah, seduced by animals. This whole weird again, like I felt like the middle third of this movie. I was like, I'm having a stroke. I'm loving it. The nurses are treating me great, but I'm just like, what is going on? The fruit cups are popping off here, but I'm simply I don't know where I am.
Exactly, exactly. But they do end up being able to break them out. Yeah, because like the surgeon is going to remove Gonzo's brain, then Rizzo intercepts and then the rest of them up its intercept and it's this whole thing. But at one point, Gonzo's sandwich tells him that the aliens are going to land and that they need a place to land. And he tells them Cape Doom, which is this beach.
The SWAMP (16:51.234)
So once they get out, they're all like, okay, the aliens are gonna land on Cape Doom. So they all, along with all of the alien fanatic people who had gathered around them up at house, they all basically migrate out to this beach. And then it sort of seems like nothing is gonna happen and everyone's like, hey, fuck you, this is fake. Then they land. And it's just a bunch of gonzos and they do a wonderful music number to celebrate. what song do they play? What is it?
Celebrate. Oh, celebrate. Yeah, yeah, Come on, was that cool in the gang or something? Probably. this was notably one of the first Muppet movies that didn't have original music numbers. Well, I thought- All the previous ones did like each Muppet sings and has an original song. But this was just like sort of a funk backtrack. Yeah. Yeah, jukebox, funk backtrack. I didn't mind. I thought it was great. I thought they had fantastic songs.
I mean, like, yeah, whoever was the music supervisor on this movie, props to you because I thought it was fantastic. I was groovin'. we got a lot of, like now that's what I call funk 57. Exactly. I couldn't ask for more. Exactly, exactly. Yeah, and that's kind of where the movie ends. mean, Gonzo basically is like, this is my family. I'm gonna stay with my Muppet friends. Which is beautiful. And then they just take Jeffrey Tambor to be an ambassador and they leave. And it's beautiful, you know?
Your real family was the people who were your family the whole time. it's giving very like Paddington. It's giving very exactly. Exactly. We see that message throughout a lot of kids media. but I feel like where this movie so where this movie like maybe has a little bit of a pitfall where it could have been improved was I guess that there was like a ton of script revisions to this because you would think Muppets from Space.
They're going to space. That was the thing that did throw me. Because the concept of the Muppets in a spaceship in space is awesome and hilarious. Exactly. I thought it was Muppets in space until I logged it this morning on letterbox and it's Muppets from space.
The SWAMP (19:03.65)
And the Muppets who are from space are just the gonzos. Yes. So it's not like, and we don't even see the ones from space until the very end. Exactly, which is fine, but it's just not the group of Muppets that I thought would be the title Muppets, you know? I'm thinking the Muppets are the Muppets in the title, you know? But the Muppets from space just makes me, okay, it's the gonzos. And I guess originally it was them in space and it was gonna be a lot more parody focused about sci-fi movies. like Alien.
doing an alien parody, a contact, just doing a bit more of the parody stuff that the Muppets are more known for. And then they shifted it. They're like, oh, we're gonna do this more original story beat, which I'm like, I feel like we could have done the parody in space and it could have hit harder. Yeah, cause watching probably Pepe burst out of someone's chest would have been hysterical. Would we have maintained the G rating?
That's the thing. That's the tough thing. Also having the references be too niche for kids, you definitely have to still keep it vague enough that it's just probably that anyone can laugh at and then if you get it, it's another added layer. But I also guessed that originally it was supposed to be that the aliens abduct Kermit because he's little and green and they want him to be their new leader. Stop! And then it's them in space. Stop!
That also, like to me, like, that's funny. And then also an iteration was that the aliens were not gonzo aliens. They were just aliens, but they had seen gonzo on the Muppet show on TV and they had like intercepted the signal and they watched the Muppet show in space and they loved gonzo shooting out of the cannon so much that that's why they come down in contractions.
Which again, having the aliens be non-gonzo but still loving and wanting to accept gonzo is like a different sort of fun message we could have gone with. That's so funny. But just having them be a bunch of gonzos and him realizing like, is where I come from, but where my family is is here. It's like, it's the obvious thing. It's kind of an easy whatever, but I wasn't mad at it. No. I did just reading about what could have been.
The SWAMP (21:17.746)
started to sort of damper my opinion of this movie, because I was like, damn, it could have, but while I was watching it, was still having a great time. I don't see why people tend to dunk on this one as being one of the more bottom of the barrel Muppet selections. Which I do believe Muppet fans will still say, it's a perfect 10 out of 10 movie. I'm just going to place it last under Yeah, in my tier list. Yeah. Yeah, well, it's just the fact, I think that for me, this movie, I think still...
Like as much as I feel like we got kind of robbed of the Muppets considering that like Disney took over around our childhood. And basically killed them. Basically killed them. I don't feel like I personally, like I wish I grew up with the Muppets more, I guess, but like watching this back, I do see like, okay, this comedy style has had like such an effect on me because why is like Pepe saying, I have some loose jello. Why is that sending me into a sp-
Viral. Pepe the Prawn in this movie was sending My favorite. Easily my favorite. This was the first time they let him have a big speaking part. He usually was just very much a background Muppet. He gave me more Pepe the Prawn. I also loved, there was a ton of Muppetry going on in this movie and so many Muppet characters, really niche ones, getting more of a spotlight than we usually see because this wasn't just focused on
Kermit and Piggy, was about specifically Gonzo, but then so many Muppets. didn't know Clifford the pink catfish. Ooh, you can call me anytime my guy. Why was I loving Clifford the catfish? I love his whiskers, dude. my And Bobo the bear who was the assistant. Loved Bobo. He was really good. I also have the, in my notes,
that I love seeing all of them muppeting, I guess. And that I think that was in reference to like Gonzo on the lawnmower, kind of, because I feel like we got to see them be a lot more physical in this movie, at least than I've seen in the past. And just doing some of the funniest shit you've ever like Gonzo flying through space to go talk to the extraterrestrial knowledge fish. Like it just actually brilliant. And then another, you know.
The SWAMP (23:37.55)
comedy has layers much like onions, much like ogres, and the layers of comedy that happened in The Muppets is that you always get also that layer of that you know that they're puppets and that they're being practically moved. So when they move, it's even funnier because you get to think, how are they doing that? Where are the sticks? Where are the hands? When Carter scrunches his face up? Knowing that it's a human hand pulling his frog lips back? It makes it even funnier. And it makes you think about like, oh, how did they practically set this shot up? I was
Gonzo riding the lawnmower in his tinfoil outfit across the town to the news station. Howling. I was thinking about that for like 10 minutes. I'm like, my God, and how would you set it up? And you'd have the person inside of the lawnmower and have their hands come up through the, you know, just so good. I wish we could get them back and see more Muppetry. I loved Sesame Street as a kid. I always thought that the kids on the TV,
were real kids who crawled into their TV and got to go to Sesame Street. So I would like bang on the TV screen because I thought we could get in there. like the kids who get to talk to Cookie Monster climbed in.
So I'm trying to climb in and get there. Let me in. to get to Sesame Street. let me in. man, this is making me just think about how we've got a tentative, well, not tentative, we've got a New York trip in like a month or so, and I'm just thinking about how we should probably go to the Museum of Moving Image and see the Jim Henson exhibition.
That'd be awesome. also always wanted to go to, there's like a puppet museum in Connecticut at yeah, at the University of Connecticut, because they have the only master's program in puppetry, I think, in country. So they also have like a puppet museum exhibit or like, you something that's part of the school. I'm like, oh damn, I should get my done.
The SWAMP (25:32.206)
Yeah, I think it's a pretty good one from what I've seen or at least certainly interesting. yeah, shouts out Yukon. That is really dope that they actually have that program. Like the fact like it's like to contact Disney. You can't contact Disney and see if you could acquire the Muppets. The Yukon puppetry program. I think you should have control over the Muppets. Honestly, someone, anyone, anyone but the rat Rizzo Queen in this movie. Love. my God.
love that we got so much, especially the gonzo-riszo dynamic of like that they're roommates and they're best friends and just like we got to flesh out that relationship a little bit more. Which is I feel like I've always seen them of course paired up and definitely in like the Muppets Christmas Carol, but yeah, no, I'm glad that I got this lore between them. I feel more, I feel better enriched personally.
What? Can we talk about Miss Piggy's sexual tension between every human man she encounters? I love it. And then the one time it doesn't work out, she drugs him. I feel like it's always been the thing and like very much like obviously like this is Miss Piggy's sort of game and over the years you you know through various muppet media you get it. This was the most overt.
like bold, like a piggy is like trying to smash. Piggy doing, like has sexually charged karate with the CIA agent. my God. That awoke something me. The whole where have you been all my life as he's punching her in the face. And then she kicks him in the balls and you see in his eyes, he kind of likes it a little bit. He's like,
You really was there, girl. And then she ties him up. just, yeah, I don't know. Of course it's all going above like kids' heads, but like for the adult audience. quite, nothing quite sparks joy for me like Miss Piggy do in Karate. Just, I love that that's an integral part of her character, is that she's a hot pig and she also is a black belt. Like. Exactly, exactly. Or what did she say? Platinum. She's a platinum She's platinum.
The SWAMP (27:48.046)
Yeah, no. That's my queen. I feel like every time I watch one of these, I don't know. I loved how they made also Miss Piggy not like flop at the beginning, I guess, because I feel like you see Miss Piggy all the time. Like she's feeling herself, but I like feeling like seeing the down to earth Miss Piggy where she's like running coffee and she- She's the coffee pig. It's the coffee pig. I loved her freezing on air.
Cackling so funny screaming anytime anytime a Muppet opens its mouth and disbelief is funny or anything that they could say like like an agape Muppet hilarious You just can't top it truly and also if we're pitching if we're pitching our new Muppet hour
Please. If we're pitching the Muppet Show, I feel like a fashion, like a fashion hour, because Miss Piggy's always got that shit on. But Gonzo also, Gonzo could be like for the bisexuals, like fashion hour with Piggy and Gonzo, right? And we get like the high glamour from Piggy. But then like the low brow powder mashing from Gonzo, that's a segment I would love to see. Right? get- Love. We get the girlies who are really wearing that shit. We get Chappell out there and she does a collection with Miss Piggy.
I will say, think one of the things about this movie that I really enjoyed, I feel like I got a lot of like close-ups on the Muppets in this one, I guess. And at least for like seeing Gonzo and seeing like the actual like texture and design of like his character like did make me really realize like, of course, like the amount of artistry that goes into making these puppets.
is amazing. And the fact that like, I don't know, it's just character design shit. And it's like actually like thinking about how much, my God, stop. Sorry, Dara's cat just came into the frame. I don't know, it just made me think a lot more about how like it truly is obviously a lost art. no one's making, not no one's making puppets these days. I've seen a lot of great people at like bazaars and different,
The SWAMP (29:55.864)
Comic cons and things like that, like selling puppets. Fucking more power to you, let's keep it up. Yeah, not that it's a lost art, but it's definitely like an underappreciated art, because I feel like, I definitely see people on TikTok all the time making fire puppets and Muppets, and there are definitely a lot of creative people out there who definitely could do an up close shot of a Muppet. I loved Gonzo's eyelids specifically, getting to see like his, those.
things above his eyes would move at certain points. And I'm like, damn, you don't even think that there's probably a button in there to articulate his individual eyelids and eyebrows and give them different expressions. And I think so much goes into it. The thing for me was there was this, it's after Gonzo gets struck by lightning, basically, and you can tell that they had to make a wonky Gonzo. You know what I mean? But like his eye, it's like his beak was all twisted different ways, but his eyes were lighting up.
and everything like that. And it's just so cool to think about the engineering that goes into it. But cultural zeitgeist-wise, mean, obviously the Muppets are very important, but I would love to pivot for a hot second and just say the new Hunger Games book came out this week. you heard about it? Have you read it yet? I got my copy. I was just got my copy. I was like...
I was like number 1,000 in a list of so many people who wanted it, but then my brother-in-law, who's an English teacher, he got a copy and he cranked through it in like a weekend and he was like, do you want my copy? And I was like, hell yeah. So I just got it. I haven't cracked into it yet. We actually, we got a message of somebody being like thoughts and I was like, we'll report back. So not done yet, but I'm really excited to dig into it. Cause I didn't read the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
And I wish I had, like when I saw the movie, like the discussion around that I was like, damn, I wish, cause I don't know, I maybe just wasn't back in my Hunger Games bag, but then the movie really, I was like, wait, I forgot how fucking fire and important these books are. So it's like, gotta get, jump back on it while I can. And even like the discourse, I'm like, I don't wanna see it yet. I'm like, I gotta get back into it first. Right, yeah, no. Shouts out Stephanie Meyer for like being a writer who.
The SWAMP (32:11.374)
I know she's talking about she won't write. Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck. This is I already did this this week. Oh, oh, I'm so sorry, Suzanne Collins. I'm so fucking disrespectful of me now. All right. Sorry. Oh, my honest. Why a mistake. Why a mistake? I have I have two clouds in my brain and one Stephanie Meyer and the other Suzanne Collins. But shout out to Suzanne Collins. only two women I she's talked publicly.
Yeah, exactly. Name a woman. Susan Collins has talked about how she will only write when she feels like there's like real need to, or at least for these books and everything like that. And obviously, unless you've been living under a rock, the world is going to dog shit. But she's this the whole theme of this one is all about propaganda. So I'm so thrilled that like young kids are going to be able to get that.
out of this during such an important time. So I don't know. I think that's just really fucking awesome. And again, just making important kids media is huge. And to sort of pivot, but in the same sort of vein, definitely like shit is so scary and having a central theme of this Muppet movie being Gonzo feeling alien or, and then getting taken into.
government custody, you know, it's all very played up for laughs, but that's like putting that theme on children is that otherness is punished and that we need to help people. Like that's really important. And I just continue to see people posting about their neighbors getting taken in the night. People getting pulled over from routine traffic stops who have been legally here in this country for decades, getting, they won't tell their families where they are.
Ice raids on schools and hospitals. I just read this morning that there was an ice raid in Boston and 370 people have been removed from their homes. We don't know where they're being detained. So scary. know Trump is planning on building detention facilities and turning military bases into what will essentially be concentration camps.
The SWAMP (34:23.726)
So we spoke about this a little bit on our Knives Out episode with my cousin Aaron who's an immigration lawyer But I'll drop the same resources in the description below that I did there just about like the bare minimum of what you can do just because it's so scary just like Knowing your rights having those red cards printed out so you know what to say to ICE agents if they come to your workplace It's just like yeah again not to get so serious, but we were just talking before we hopped on this call about
One of the directors of No Other Land, the Oscar-winning documentary, got taken and beaten and was, I presumed, him to be dead for a minute until you told me that he had been released. And that's happening in Gaza, but stuff in America too, just everywhere. So scary, so fucked. Yeah, so, I mean, again, not to bring it back to this silly movie while things are- The Muppets! they're so bad.
But again, But Kermit would want you to protect your neighbors, okay? Community is all we have. People are all we have. Like, I don't know. It's just, please be safe. Protect your family, your friends, the people around you. Even the people that you don't know around you, you know? It's time to band together. It's what Kermit would want. And educate yourself too. Like, I was pretty late to jump on the Brittany Broski criticism train.
Because for a while I did understand her perspective of like not feeling like she was qualified to speak on issues and I'm not saying we have nearly the platform that she does but often feeling like oh we do a silly movie podcast. Why would we bring stuff like that up that you know if it feels out of left field but it's fucking important to say this shit especially when they're trying to censor language say words like genocide and kill and murder like it
use real fucking words. Yes. And if I hear one more bitch say, I'm alive in like in real life. girl. But I don't know why it was her cover of a Harry Styles song that was the tipping point for me. Can we talk about it, please? But I just I was like, OK, first of all, girl, why? And then I think it was everyone kind of dogpiling and making good points. That really made me realize because I guess the.
The SWAMP (36:40.482)
the talent agency she signed with, the Super Zionist, so I'm like, okay, fuck you for skirting around talking about it and saying that you can't be a political person yet when you talk about women's rights and stuff. If you're gonna talk about it, you have to talk about it. So yeah, just being- Have a fucking spine. And once you get that level of, once you have something to lose, you're afraid to stand on fucking business, like, hate that shit. But the thing that it was for me, again, I hate this, but-
Somebody said we don't need a female Bo Burnham. And I was like, so real. That's it. I'm over her. I'm over it. Yeah. Well, it's also the it's it's the whole. of all, the cover was bad. I don't know.
If you I didn't listen to the whole thing. I've listened to maybe like the 30s. Poorly mixed. Poorly, poorly mixed, overproduced. And she doesn't sing from her chest. She's singing from her face, which is like rule number really have too much criticisms about her singing because I've heard her sing on her lives and stuff. And it's not like she can't sing. She's a fine singer. But it was like weird song choice. Why are we doing this huge production? Also doing so fucking much for a cover girl. Why are we?
Why are we doing this high level production for a YouTube video? Let's get back to our roots. Play a piano in your bedroom and sing. We don't need this. It's okay that you just interview people on the red carpet. You can stay in your lane, wear a funny costume, interview the hot boys on the red carpet. And that's that. I get being like- No, not even that. Because influencers permeating into journalism- Already bad enough. a huge fucking red flag.
Right now, I'm like, are we letting, it has been a big criticism as of late, letting influencers, and they ask just like the most vapid questions about trends and just- Like, disrespectful. Empty, and these celebrities don't know how to respond. It's just weird. You can be a funny internet personality and make a fuck ton of money, and you can do that. And you don't have to, yeah. We don't need to be journalists. We don't need to be musicians.
The SWAMP (38:47.47)
Again, you do do what you want, but it just again, I can't say we don't need more annoying white women in media because here are the two of us fucking yelling in our corner. So I can't really say shit. But if somebody were to be like, would you like to do a formal interview with Pedro Pascal right now? I'd be like, I'm not qualified for that. I didn't go to journalism school. I like Pedro Pascal wanted to come on this podcast and tell me which muppets he wants to fuck.
then of course we're- That's another story! Exactly! But yeah, no, she, And if we want to pivot to how terrible white women can be, have you seen anything about the Emerald Fennel Wuthering Heights? The new screenshot of Margot Robbie and her white modern... Also-
I haven't read Wuthering Heights, but I've seen enough tweets to kind of get the picture of that she's supposed to be like a 19 year old. Yeah, what the fuck? A 34 year old veneered Barbie? Margot, Margot, know your spot, okay? Again, we don't need to be doing everything. We don't need to be in the Wuthering Heights. Also, isn't Heathcliff is not supposed to be white? And I'm sorry, Jacob Elordi is a-
is looking pretty white to me. Yeah, I did just see a tweet that I guess there's this new show called Adolescence that has been like really taking by storm. Yes, I meant to talk about this last week when we were talking about incel culture a little bit in the zombie line movie. I haven't watched it, but my Twitter was going blown up. Crazy.
because for some reason now, because ever since it became X, I get like weirdly conservative shit on my timeline. I'm like, okay, so this is no longer algorithmic. It's definitely just like conservative propaganda being pushed out to everyone's All the time, all the time. But I was seeing a lot of discourse about it because they specifically name drop Andrew Tate.
The SWAMP (40:46.926)
as a negative influence on young men and people for some reason want to push back on that which is absolutely wild. Well it's also my god well you're also on on twitter so ish still but have you seen obviously all the the grindset shit this week with that guy in the video and the- Donking his face in the ice and eating the banana the not gay way and then rubbing the peel on his face and I love all the commentary about like
the faceless woman who does the cooking for three seconds. Yeah, hilarious. It's so sick. But anyways, no, I'm so glad to hear that they've actually, someone has called out Andrew Tate in big platform media like that, I suppose. But I've heard that the show is phenomenal. Yeah, I need to watch it because it's all taken, each episode is one continuous shot.
which I think is an incredible filmmaking. Like I would love to see more and more of that. Cause we got 1917 and notably my favorite episode of It's Always Sunny Charlie work. would maybe put the new top 10 television episodes to date. No, no fucking lie. I love a one take. I love a one take moment. But yeah, I guess it's a four episode mini series. Each episode is about an hour long and it's
all one shot, so that in itself is like a production marvel that I definitely just need to see. But it's a British show that got put out on Netflix, or mini-series, I guess, that's all about a 13-year-old boy who murders his female classmate because she rejects some advances from him. And I guess not to spoil, but I'm pretty sure that's like what the first fucking episode reveals. then I didn't even realize. He comes from this good family, so it's sort of erasing the notion.
that boys like that come from toxic environments or like that you were a product. like it shows that his parents are great and supportive, financially stable, like all of the makings to have a well-rounded healthy child. And it's solely the influence of social media, toxic masculinity culture right now that turns this boy to...
The SWAMP (43:05.806)
in self psychopath basically. And it's sort of unpacking all of that about like what the influences on young men are today and why they're so angry and just saying it very cleanly and plainly and displaying and it's based on true events. So you like can't say, but I guess a lot of the discourse that I was reading about was having issues with the fact that he is white and they were like, oh, 97 % of shootings happen in
you know, communities of color and blah, blah, blah, people, know, British people pushing back that this isn't, and it's like, no, but it literally is based on something that racist. Yeah, yeah. So, so a lot of racial pushback and then a lot of also like men saying that, you know, contributing to man hating culture and, you know, misandry and all of that too.
So was getting like both sides on my feed and I was like really, I actually had notes about it talk about it last week. Cause we, on our zombie land episode, we sort of talked about like toxic masculinity and in cell culture a little bit. But yeah, I think I'm gonna have to check it out. But I guess it's very upsetting from what I've observed. Yeah, it was recommended to me, but they were told like, if you're trying to have a nice night, don't watch it. But apparently that kid that put the lead actor.
in that show has been cast in the Wuthering Heights adaptation and doing God knows what, I don't know. I haven't read the book. I don't know who's playing. But the fact that Jacob Elordi is about to be out acted by a 15 year old, love it. Real, so real. Yeah, I also saw a lot of praise for him, especially because these were, I think that was his first big acting job and these one shot takes where he's having to deliver these.
really intense and upsetting monologues and to play this fucked up kid. I've seen nothing but praise for that young actor. So that's another reason why I'm sort of excited to check it out. Casting, not Nepo babies, basically. Casting young unknown actors who wanna put in the work and wanna do a good job, which then to cycle back to the ballad of songbirds and snakes. No, just kidding. What's it called? Sunrise on the Reaping? I'm like, cast me an unknown for Hey Mitch.
The SWAMP (45:22.082)
Please. Unfortunately, I do think that is the way to do it. And I mean, that's essentially what they did. I mean, not entirely with the ballad of songbirds and snakes, you know, we still know who knew who. yeah, Tom Blythe, I didn't know him. you know what? I felt a little crazy about him. Yeah. To get me that worked up over a blonde man. Takes a lot.
takes a lot, they're gonna have to do a lot of work with Haymitch, I'm sure. So we'll see if he passes the Dara test. I feel like also just get out there and find a young man who is Woody Harrelson. Like I'm sorry to say that they should be doing the casting for that, but find someone who has his Riz. Find someone who has just like an uncluckable Woody aura about him and get him in there and you know, tailor it to that because...
That's what we wanna see. That's at least what I wanna see. It seems like no casting directors wanna put in the work these days. Oh, except do you know who the casting director who just I wanna give a big old smooch to? The TV show Yellow Jackets. Oh yeah, you've been watching. Are you all caught up? I just got caught up. I'm now watching them as they release weekly, which is...
painting me because I was cranking through it. So now that I'm back on the sketch with everyone else, I'm like in the depths of Twitter reading the fan theories, which I haven't been this into a show in a minute. So I'm like happy to be on the Reddit threads reading the theories and stuff. But it's all about younger and older. So they do like flashbacks and stuff. And just the casting, my God. Every time they do like a dissolve or like a fade from the young to old version, I'm like, you weren't that one because it's unblockable.
Yeah, yeah, fair enough. I mean, hey, I've been telling you for weeks though, if you need a new binge show, The White Lotus is still in her heyday and Mike White is I I love Walton Gardens. I actually, so I did decide to pivot to another prestige TV show that everyone was telling me was so good and that I was like making excuses because Severance, I...
The SWAMP (47:33.774)
yes! Have you finally taken out from the library? the point where it was pissing me the fuck off, I was like, stop telling me that this show is so good. Because if it's only gonna be available on Apple +, okay, Ben Stiller, fuck you and your commentary on the workplace. I don't wanna fucking hear it. But then I was at the library and they had a DVD copy and I was like, well, thank God that Apple is, cause they notably did not do this for Killers of the Flower Moon, which was an Apple.
production that they didn't make DVDs of it. So I was like, thank God they are making DVDs of this TV show. So I snatched it from the library and I got my ass a little DVD player from my parents' basement. yeah, think Henry and I watched, the episodes are like 45 minutes to an hour. I think we watched like four or five episodes the first night we got it. It just could not stop. is better than Yellowjack. I would say it's like the best, best new show I've watched in a long fucking time. Everything everyone says about it is-
Correct. It's amazing. It's amazing. Yeah. So good. All right. Well, maybe I'm going to have to go fucking take it out from the library. But if anyone wants to slide into swamp DMs and talk to me about Severance, Yellow Jackets, Survivor, RuPaul's, I just, have been digging in the depths of social media for these communities just because I love to yap about that kind of shit. nobody like Henry and I are watching Severance together. So at least I have that, but like, I don't have any friends who are watching these. So I'm like,
Survivor's different. I've forced everyone in my life to become Survivor heads. Sure. But yeah, love TV talk. tell, suggest shows too. Suggest what you want us to watch. You know, to stray from the muppet. I've gone back in time and I'm finally watching Girls for the first time. So that's a really big undertaking.
I always get TikToks of this podcast that they are a girls discussion podcast and they have guests on and they say, which girl are you girl? And then you have to like justify which girl you're most like. Which girl are you, would you say? I would hope Shosh, I guess, probably in just in the way that my anxiety manifests, but I don't.
The SWAMP (49:48.042)
I don't, yeah, I don't know, because I don't feel like I outwardly project anything that she is, but I feel her in my soul sometimes. Yeah, I don't know. Have you watched it? No, I've only ever seen clips of Adam Driver. Yeah, yeah. When that was really happening. When Adam Driver was really popping off in the culture. Which to be fair, rightfully so. I do. He is my favorite character in the show. As I think most people would agree. Yeah.
Absolutely, and he's just a fabulous actor on top of it all. But speaking of fabulous actors, these Muppets. These Muppets, wait, which Muppet do you think you're most like? Which Muppet speaks to you on like a, like which Muppet are you? Honestly, I felt very akin to Pepe this movie. I don't know if that's just because I got more of him, but like as a small little dude with a bit of like, I don't know.
I feel like he's got a little zest for life that I'm starting to grab at. So I would say Pepe. What about you? Yeah, Pepe was really speaking to me this movie in particular. I personally, I feel like I'm a little bit fuzzy as in like I'm telling the joke and no one's laughing but me kind of energy.
You don't give me Fawzi energy, honestly. No, I think we're both a little stupid, but not stupid in the Fawzi way. Like Fawzi is like... Yeah, right. I don't know if you can say that on air, but... I strive to be... Well, he's a muppet. We can diss on him. He's not real person, you know? Yeah, fair enough, fair enough. I always feel like I strive to be like Janet.
from Dr. Teeth male electric mayhem, right? Like cool fucking Janet. Like that's what I strive for. But unfortunately I'm not quite landing there. Definitely have a Waldorf and Stadler energy that I wanna sit in the corner with my girl and shit on everyone. Again, more for like what I'm striving for. I would say you honestly, if I had to say for you, I would say Gonzo a little bit. Thank you. That's a huge compliment.
The SWAMP (52:07.308)
I like he's doing his own thing unbothered. yeah. I'd like to think I'm unbothered. I'm actually so bothered. I'm like, who is the most anxious Muppet? Like, probably, fucking Beaker. Beaker, yeah. Yeah. Love I know I've said this. I know. We talk about the Muppets all the time on this podcast, so I know for sure I've said this before. But my husband Henry is very much like a Swedish chef energy, but also he's a touch of Sam the Eagle.
He's like the soul of the Swedish chef contained in Sam the Eagle, is what I fear. then, notably, the only other boyfriend I ever had, everyone was like, that's Beaker. Like, he looks like Beaker. He literally looked just like Beaker, dude. I was like, and I couldn't deny it. Like, when my friends were like, girl, who's Beaker? I was like, well, you're not wrong. I upgraded from Beaker to the Swedish chef.
So I think that's a dub for me. Which I think is a big win, big win. Was he even in this one, the Swedish Chef? Did they put him? Yeah, I couldn't remember if he had some screen breakfast at the very beginning in the breakfast that's what it was. And then the oven explodes. Absolutely. Yeah, very briefly. yes, yes, yes. Okay, but yeah, so getting into- Okay, so obviously since we're on this tangent, yeah, which, yeah, since you've obviously ran through Beaker and the Swedish Chef.
Who are you landing on? So if we're doing from the whole cast, from the whole cast, feel like- because I don't think we can, I don't think we can, well- Clifford? Yeah, okay. Yeah, yeah, there's, I would say like the main three are probably Gonzo, Kermit, and Peggy, but then even, I'm like Rizzo literally probably has more screen time than Kermit maybe even. Pepe. feel like, I feel like if I had to pick, I would say if we want to give ourselves a real challenge, I think Gonzo, Pepe, and Rizzo.
In which case I fear I'll have to be marrying Gonzo, gotta share that closet. Just an overall well-rounded man and like you said, similar souls, more vibes. I'm shooting myself out of a cannon, I'm not bothered. I'm definitely gonna, I'm gonna have to fuck Peppy the Pround and I'm gonna have to kill Rizzo the Rat, sorry. And that's fair, that's so fair. Unfortunately I do think,
The SWAMP (54:30.318)
Gonzo vibrates at too high of a frequency for me. So I will, don't get me wrong. I love him. I love him to death. I just don't think I could marry him and I wanna fuck Pepe. So I'm gonna fuck Pepe. I'm gonna kill Gonzo and I'm gonna marry Rizzo. I love that. And then out of all the muppets, I was especially charmed by Clifford the catfish. So I think I'm gonna fuck Clifford the catfish because he just was really full mustache. Were you not turned off by?
by his him hitting on a minor
There's like one scene where it's like, questionable.
He's like, hey baby, if you need to find me later. And I'm like, brother, she's 16, please. But yeah, I understand where you're coming from with that. So I'm gonna fuck him. And then out of all the Muppets, I do just canonically have to stick with that I'm gonna marry the Swedish chef. Cause that's where I need a man who can cook. That's really important to me, especially breakfast.
Dish it out for the whole, I want to live in the whole Muppet house. Of course. Be getting in on that breakfast. Yeah. And then out of all the Muppets, who am I going to kill? Who's the most dark-sided Muppet? Or I guess in the whole movie, we can just kill, we can just kill one of the humans because I'm not limiting guess so, but I feel like, I feel like if we want to make it- to pick a Muppet. I feel like you should pick a Muppet. I guess I'll kill Bobo the bear because although his comedic elements were really great in this movie, he is working for the enemy. That's true.
The SWAMP (56:07.566)
He's a sellout. Yeah, yeah, it's very true. I'm gonna, I think I'm actually gonna marry Pepe. I think I think he, him and I would have a very fun life together. I'm gonna fuck Animal because I want to see what I want to see what Kathy Griffin was talking about. gonna Eiffel Tower Animal with Kathy. Yes, please.
All I could ever want. And then, God, who am I gonna kill? I think I'm gonna put Beaker out of his misery because I feel like he kind of, he's too anxious to be alive and I'm not sure. Actually, you know who I'm gonna kill? The big Muppet who was trying to do brain surgery on Gonza. Yeah, that's real. That's At least Bobo was cracking jokes, this guy. Yeah, no.
I don't even know his name. Brain surgeon. Yeah, brain surgeon Muppet. I will still stick with Beaker though. I think he needs to find some peace in the afterlife. And the resemblance to my dark-sided ex. I will be harboring some biases against you, Beaker. Absolutely, absolutely. Even though he literally talks and beeps and boops. I wish all men take notes.
And okay, food and drink. This is a big, this is a big segment right now. Yeah. So it's a very breakfast centered movie at you know, at its start. So I had to go from there because I feel like we differ on this. I love breakfast. You're not really a breakfast.
Enjoy your- I think it's just I don't wake up hungry enough so by the time that I'm actually like ready to like have a real meal it's like lunchtime but like when I have a slow day and I can make myself like brunch or some shit like that, I'm all over it. Yeah I love the contents because I love eggs I think so like any breakfast- Yeah see- I will eat at any point in the day breakfast for lunch, breakfast for dinner, I love a breakfast food, a pancake, a waffle, yeah an egg sandwich-
The SWAMP (58:14.862)
If I could eat breakfast food for every meal, I probably would. But I feel like for this one, we got this really good breakfast intro. So you could do anything breakfast themed really. And I was thinking like, like waffle bar, if you could get like a waffle maker, like that would go so hard. But I feel like fundamentally in accordance with the film, the most plot relevant breakfast food is the cereal.
the cereal that sends Gonzo the message. So I feel like if you're hosting your Muppet party, if everyone just brings a box of cereal, then you could have a dope and you just grab a couple of gallons of milk, do like a cereal bar, you know, so you can like go up for your Reese's puffs and then go back for the mini wheats. then, you know, so if we could do like a big cereal spread or even then if we want to desertify it, I'm a huge proponent, proponent, I'm a huge advocate for.
Anything can be a Rice Krispie treat. Any cereal, you can just melt marshmallows and turn, like I love golden grams. You do golden grams with the marshmallows and then you do chocolate and it's like s'mores. But any breakfast cereal, you can mix and make bars with them and it's fucking flyer. Yeah. Maybe not like, you gotta think practically, like maybe a frosted flake won't quite work, but honestly, it out. I feel like
had that actually before. That's definitely something that like your college makes and like you grab as a fucked up snack. Yeah. Yeah. Nice. So what are you drinking? And so then I was also thinking about cereal and I feel like there was this big trend that has definitely died down a little bit where like bougie coffee places were really into cereal milk and like the cereal milk in the latte. Sure. Which I never really quite got into because I was like, that's fucking stupid. Like fruity pebble milk.
We just soaked the fruity pebbles in the milk and then strained it out. We're use the milk in the coffee. I was like, that's kind of stupid. But then I guess I was reminiscing back on it. don't ever think I really even tried that shit. So I feel like could also do like a fun cereal cocktail or like a fruit loop, fruit loop cocktail, but it doesn't even need to be a cocktail. Cause then I feel like mixing milk and alcohol is kind of gross. you're a bar, you want to do like an iced coffee bar again, like.
The SWAMP (01:00:34.306)
That'd be hot. I like that. I like the sound of that. We're doing breakfast. Nice. Nice. What about you? I did not go breakfast. I felt like this movie was, here, what did I say? Indulgent, but also childish, of course, and silly. And I think for me, that meant a loaded mac and cheese. Ooh.
Yeah, like I for some reason really got it in my head. Trader Joe's does this like hatch chili mac and cheese, which I think instead, I think you do like a sort of, at least for me, I think you do whatever a loaded mac and cheese means for you and you put your own spin on it. For me, what I was thinking and what I would want to watch and eat or eat with this while I watch.
would be like a jalapeno popper style mac and cheese with like, yeah, with some bacon and some jalapenos and everything like that and chives and obviously fucking- Like a white cheese sauce. Yeah, yeah, globbed up cream cheese and I mean, obviously that's how you make a good mac and cheese, but. And I feel like if you wanted to use a boxed mac and cheese as the base for that- Absolutely. I rock heavy with the Cabot, Cabot brand pepper jack.
They have like a pepper jack mac and cheese that's so fucking fire. That would be a good base for a jalapeno popper mac and cheese. Yeah, I think you're right. Pretty similarly, while I watched this last night, I did the, what did you say, childish and- Silly. Like a silly childish, is that I, when you have a bunch of freezer snacks, but there's only like not a lot left, know, there's like only a little bit of french fries. So you throw them all together?
So you put all of them in the air fryer at once just to clean out the fridge. So I had like two taquitos, six pizza rolls, three dinosaur chicken nuggets. Like I just had like a Mod Podge short board of like the back of the freezer. Your freezer buffet. We freezer buffet and you get the sauces. Oh. you like go ham on a bunch of sauces. I like that. I think that's actually a great idea considering like there's so many different Muppets in here. There's so many different freezer foods.
The SWAMP (01:02:43.052)
all your different combinations. You get to see Muppets paired up with other Muppets that you've never seen before. It's fucking awesome. And suddenly you're like, wait, why do I want to dip this pierogi into the salsa? Exactly. why is that working for me? Exactly. Yeah, I like that. like that. I don't have a coffee drink. I did grow for a cocktail for this one. It's called a Saturn. It sounds really good.
and really fruity, which is what this movie is to me. But it's essentially, I don't have the measurements, but it's gin, falernum, lemon juice, ogreat syrup, and passion fruit syrup. And it just sounds like a really nice drink, honestly. Yeah, it sounds like bog standard tiki, but then you swap the rum with gin. Exactly. sounds kinda nice. Yeah, I was intrigued by that. Passion fruit and gin sounded neat.
But I also do think that you have to do a jello shot when they say well, I've got some loose jello Very very on theme. Yeah And then what are you following this up with? think this one is kind of a cop-out, but this movie came out in 1999 great year for film And I just think you should watch one of the best movies that came out that year, which is the Phantom Menace Excellent. Excellent. Yeah, I think what about you?
Which also, I don't know if you've seen this, not that this is Phantom Menace, but they are re-releasing, what is it, Revenge of the Sith in AMC's for its 20 year anniversary. I will be there. They did it with the Phantom Menace and me and some of my friends all went and it was amazing to see it. It was just so fun to see it in theater. So I'm so excited. We were like, when they do this for the next one and the next one, on the...
whatever year. We'll be there. Yeah. So I'm so excited to get that. I was glad I caught it, you know, when it was the Phantom Menace and now I'm hoping to catch it again for the following two as well. It's like the... Anything you can catch on the big screen. It's just, I just love the theater experience. Yeah. It's like the end of April, I think is when it's coming. So we'll mark our calendars. But I think you follow this up easily with Space Jam.
The SWAMP (01:04:55.278)
Oh, that's a great pick. It seems like the natural jump. 1996, a little earlier, it's animation, so it's chunky. But it's also, you know, it's a fucking it's the iconic group of Looney Tunes, dog. We're going from one ensemble cast to another.
And much like how the Muppets are an underappreciated art form, the Looney Tunes are fucking grasping at straws right now to stay alive. It's wild. So there's this Invaders from Space, whatever it's called. It's like Daffy Duck and what's the pig's name? I don't know, but I know who you're talking about, Porky or something? It's Porky the Pig and Daffy Duck. it's a space Invaders theme and zero marketing.
zero trailer releases, zero press, and it's doing poor financially, obviously, and they're just blaming it because people don't like the Looney Tunes anymore. I'm like, it's because no one even knows this movie is out. And then there's the whole Wile E. Coyote Acme movie, which has been in the vault because they won't release it because they're using it just as a reason to do tax write-offs, basically. Because the longer they don't release it, the more they get to, like, it's just this whole, it's a fucked financial thing. And there are people who worked on this movie,
who would like to see it fucking appreciated. I like, I think there was a lawsuit at one point. It's this whole thing to get this movie just out. honestly, I'm sure when they actually do put it out, they're not gonna advertise for it. They're not gonna tell people about it. So it's bullshit. And it's like these corporations are like neutering these franchises on purpose. And it's fucking stupid.
It's just fucking selfish, honestly, at the end of the day, because you do obviously have fans, like beloved fans of these things and watching it get fucking massacred is probably heart-wrenching. And like I said, the people who worked on the films, like that is just devastating to me. Yeah. And the concept of lost media too, stuff that people worked hard on movies and TV programs that are now just fully inaccessible from any
The SWAMP (01:07:06.138)
streaming platform is wild. Why do you have a content library if it is not also an archive for everything you've ever made? Netflix, HBO, all of it. Why are you removing shows when I know there's no reason why you can't have all of it? You're not running out of space. You're not running out of cloud space on the Netflix. That's not how that works. You guys made this show. What do you mean we can't watch it anymore? It's not like it's going to another network.
or anything like that. It's just not, you can't watch it anymore. Yeah, I don't know about you, but I have since in the last, since the start of the year started like buying DVDs and collecting like actual like physical media because who the fuck knows? Yeah, yeah. I actually maybe, so I've been so off our social media game just because it just feels so like dire and also like, I don't know.
in accordance with, I mean, I am such a hypocrite, because I still use it all like personally. Sure. But just like, I don't know, just engaging so much on social media platforms just feels like weird and icky and I just hate it. And it's like, you're putting stuff out and it's like probably not even making it onto people's fucking feeds. Like it's just frustrating and stupid. yeah. And obnoxious. But maybe I posted on our Instagram story for the
first time in like, I think Thanksgiving was the last time I posted anything on our Instagram. But I came out of the woodwork to my friend from a thrift store, found a collectible Barbie of four from Divergent. So fucking funny. was like, I need to post this, but maybe I'll post a little, just.
copped bunch of all my old DVD collections from my parents' house, because I stole their DVD player, because they were like, we don't care. My old DVD booklet that has all my DVD collections, maybe I'll do like a little tour video or something, because they're so funny. It's like Project Runway, season five, through 12, like, obsessed. But yeah, I just got my DVD player. feel like I want to invest in like a Blu-ray player or something, because you can go to your library, and you can also take out.
The SWAMP (01:09:11.788)
movies from there and and just like any thrift store you can go and find just a bajillion dvds for like 50 cents a piece that's exactly what i did i i have like that's it now i've got like a stack of 15 i paid maybe 10 bucks for because at what point is the current administration or whoever's in power are gonna decide that they can just pay off those corporations netflix all the media distribution that they don't like what this movie has to say so wipe it yeah and then
people won't have access to it unless you have the physical copy. yeah, physical media is pretty important right now. I mean, we're already banning books, of course. So just- We're already deleting archival things that are related to DEI. my God, did you see all that about the Enola Gay? That they got rid of all the archival photos of the Enola Gay because the word gay was in it. And it was like, are you fucking stupid? Oh yeah, all the shit about like the Tuskegee Airmen and shit. Gone. Yeah, really fucked.
Yeah, not to end the podcast on a downer note, but yeah, do what you can, collect what you can.
Go buy some woke DVDs before the art is lost. Before they really take the Muppets for real this time. Exactly. Exactly. I don't know what we're doing next month yet, but stick around and we'll figure it out. Well, yes, yes, we do. Yes, we do. We're doing period What are we next month? We're doing all historical. Oh, you're right. Yes.
my god, yes, yes, are so correct. period piece specifically because you want me to watch Anna Karenina. So that is definitely on the docket. That was the sort of catalyst for the theme. if you have a favorite historical movie period piece, doesn't necessarily need to be like a true story or anything. But just, very, very broad history period piece movies. Drop that in our DMs. Let's cleanse our palate before Emerald. yeah, decimates the genre for real.
The SWAMP (01:11:12.334)
Yeah, But yeah, just because we're seen inactive doesn't mean I still don't check that shit. Like, I still read all the DMs, and we try our best to respond and stuff. But you can also just, if you're listening on Spotify, there's a little Q &A. You can just drop it right in there. We also have an email if you want to do it the old way, shoot us an email. But any movies, too, beyond theme, beyond the concept of theme, we love to keep our running list. Because who's to say? When we said which Muppet movie should we cover, I was like, well, let me check the archives. Which one has been?
requested the most and it turns out two is the most so get your suggestions in there. No and thank god for the people that suggested this one because I was very happy with this watch. Yeah once again Marcella and Morgan two M names for the Muppets, shouts out to you. thank you all for listening. Yeah sorry for the chaotic nonsensical topic switching but you know what you're getting when you're here at the Swamp.
We love y'all, thank you for listening and have a lovely rest of your day.