7 Days of Underhill - DAY 3 "TED POP CULTURE"

EPISODE 17: 7 Days of Underhill - DAY 3

Its Humpday... the third consecutive day of Underhill in all his glory. Today we explore our favorite Ted Underhill Pop Culture reference in the Kevin Smith flick "Jay & Silent Bob Reboot." Ralph Garman brings Ted's spirit to life in this hysterical homage to the Underhill legacy. The FletchCast crew also bring up a connection to the Lord of the Rings and a familiar Fletch-like Alias for Frodo Baggins.

Join us every day this week for a new Underhill episode! Never before has an extravaganza dedicated to the character brought to life by William Traylor encompassed 168 consecutive hours.

So head out for your urinalysis and we'll be back again tomorrow!

NOTE: This week of episodes are inspired by the amazing "Blast Points Podcast." Blast Points is a Star Wars podcast that deep dives into the weird, wacky, and  "outside the box" topics of a Galaxy Far Far away. They did "7 Days of Dengar" that was out of this world. Jason & Gabe, thank you for being our muse!
https://blastpointspodcast.com/

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FletchCast is Your Ultimate source for everything Fletch: the books, the movies, & the latest news about our favorite journalistic reporter, Irwin M. Fletcher.

Host: James "Laker Jim" Kanowitz (@webguy911)
Co-Host: Jake Parrish (@jakelparrish)
Co-Host: Bob West


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P.S. Have a nice day. 

Fletch  & Fletch Lives are Copyright 1985, 1989 Universal Studios and distributed by MCA/Universal Pictures.  The Fletch Soundtrack is Copyright MCA Records. 
All images and sounds are the intellectual property of Universal Studios. They are used only with the intent of public appreciation of a great film and possible 
publicity for its place

FletchCast is Your Ultimate source for everything Fletch: the books, the movies, & the latest news about our favorite journalistic reporter, Irwin M. Fletcher.

... making sure Fletch Lives forever!

Host: James "Laker Jim" Kanowitz (@webguy911)
Co-Host: Jake Parrish (@jakelparrish)
Co-Host: Robert "Big Bob" West


Follow Us on Social Media:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imfletchcast/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/imfletchcast
Twitter: https://twitter.com/imfletchcast


P.S. Have a nice day. 

Fletch  & Fletch Lives are Copyright 1985, 1989 Universal Studios and distributed by MCA/Universal Pictures.  The Fletch Soundtrack is Copyright MCA Records. Confess, Fletch is Copyright of Miramax with Paramount distribution. All images and sounds are the intellectual property of Universal Studios. They are used only with the intent of public appreciation of a great film and possible publicity for its place among the great comedies of our time. We imply no rights to the characters or intellectual property created by Gregory McDonald, Universal or Miramax and is used for educational purposes only. 

Transcript

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 0:00

There's a need to fear. The underhills are here.

FletchCast Intro 0:12

Broadcasting fly live and around the world. Around the world from Cabana One. The only podcast that's all ball bearings. Your ultimate source for everything flat.

SPEAKER_04 0:27

River.

FletchCast Intro 0:29

Thank you, Doc. Never start to live. Lakers Gym and its beat reporters will stop at nothing to make sure Flex lives forever. Forever. They don't shower much. This is Fletchcast.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 0:52

Thank you, Sammy, and welcome to day three. I'm your host, Laker Jim, and this is Ted Talk. Ted. Ideas with spreading. Nah, I'm just kidding. It's seven days of Underhill. Jake, Bob, it's hump day. The new day. I I didn't expect this to be so so exhausting. I literally slept under a hill last night. I mean, I was trying to figure out where I could go to just become one with Underhill's spirit.

Jake Parrish 1:25

I I had a uh a nice meal, but I think I I did take the last bite. You did, you did. Yes. And and at my age, I was up half the night with indigestion because of that last bite. But you know what? Damn it, it was worth it.

"Big Bob" West 1:38

Did you tip your waiter?

Jake Parrish 1:39

Of course. Oh I'm not that I'm not a Ted Underhill. I'm not that bad. All right. Well, I always tip my waiter.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 1:45

And listen, and and and we're not saying Ted Underhill never tipped. He didn't tip that guy.

Jake Parrish 1:52

Well, it's true. We don't know his tipping history. You know, if anything, he could have been a very generous tipper. I think I think he was to be honest. Yeah, if you hover over him waiting for him to eat or you know to finish, maybe not so much.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 2:08

Exactly. Instead of knocking the waiter out, what does he say? Maybe next time. Hey, say la vie. Tomorrow's another day. He gives second chances.

"Big Bob" West 2:24

I don't think it's very likely he was uh a good tipper. But here's the other thing. I think that there are so many factors, as you mentioned on day one, so many factors that went into him having issues with that goddamn racket club, you know, people constantly charging meals to his account, you know, people pretending that they're letting people in that claim that he's with his party when they're not, you know, he's he's got his own set of issues that he's gonna have to talk to somebody about there. You know, you can't totally blame him for everything bad going on around him, especially when you know Fletch is Fletcher's manipulating the situation and making him lose his mind.

Jake Parrish 3:04

Well, you're right. I mean, that's true too. Yeah, it's a good point. We don't know what happened to him that day. He could have, you know, he he could have got a bad diagnosis at the dermatologist as we were talking about. He could have chafing issues. I mean, there's a million different things that could, you know, maybe his shorts were too tight. Yeah, exactly. Maybe he just played around and now he's irritated. I don't know why I keep coming back to skin conditions, but I mean, yeah.

"Big Bob" West 3:33

To make his day even worse, he came out, found his car as a huge vent in it from a tennis racket, you know.

Jake Parrish 3:38

So that's true. That could have been his car. You're exactly right. We don't know that either.

"Big Bob" West 3:42

Oh, I think at this point, I think at this point we know it was his car. We made it so. What are we getting into today?

FletchCast Intro 3:50

Well, I'm glad I asked that question.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 3:52

Originally I had planned the uh background of William trailer today, but again, that's a very dark story. So, want to keep things light, want to keep the momentum going. Downloads are insane, the feedback is coming in. Everyone loves seven days of underhill. We're in day three, we want to kick it off with something fun. I want to talk today about the pop culture phenomenon that is the underhills. As we've done this segment in the past, and Bob's done uh uh an amazing job with it, tracking down the different references to Fletch all over the world and across television, film, theater, everything, YouTube, and we find a similar theme among references, Underhill. Underhill, underhill. So, Bob, why don't you pick one of your favorite Ted Underhill pop culture references and let's talk about that today?

"Big Bob" West 4:55

Fletch pop culture. Yeah, I mean, you know, it I think that the most common one is that something we've spoken about before, we're gonna talk about again is the Jane Silent Bob reboot.

SPEAKER_04 5:09

What do you guys think about this reboot? It sucks. There, I said it. And who's directing this shit anyway? Kevin fucking Smith?

"Big Bob" West 5:17

Smells like this reboot ran up in smoke. We have uh a situation where just like in in the world of Fletch, when you're finding yourself in trouble, you have to really find a way to cover your ass and get out of there. And Ralph Garmin, who is an actor in many of Kevin Smith's later movies, not his earlier stuff, but his later movies has become kind of a staple. He was in red state, he was in this movie. He's having a bit of a uh argument with uh the two main characters, Jay and Silent Bob, I believe. Is that correct?

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 5:52

Yeah, so same basic premise as the first movie. They're trying to get across country Jay and Silent Bob to stop a movie from being made.

"Big Bob" West 5:58

Right.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 5:59

But of course, they have no money, so they gotta come up with a plan. And they overhear this guy talking very loudly on the phone named Ted Underhill. Wow. It's one of the best Fletch references I've ever heard. Take a listen to this, then we'll come back and talk about it. Sound good?

Jake Parrish 6:14

Yeah, I've never heard it.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 6:16

Good old Kevin Smith, up to his old tricks. Take a listen.

SPEAKER_04 6:19

All right, I'm gonna give you the credit card number. Again, I'm gonna read it so slowly and out loud in public so that you will understand. All right, the name is Ted Underhill. Not Ed. Ted! And the number is nine, five, eight, four.

Jake Parrish 6:50

Ted Underhill?

SPEAKER_04 6:51

Yo! I'm Ted Motherfucking Underhill!

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 6:56

That is so funny. So, I mean, could there be a greater Ted Underhill reference than that?

"Big Bob" West 7:03

No, that's that's as good as it gets for Ted Underhill.

Jake Parrish 7:07

Yeah, and it's not and it's not discreet either. I mean, there's no it's pretty obvious.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 7:15

Hats off to Kevin, who listen, he could be so jaded, you know, after what he went through with Fletch. And and listen, the movie not happening was not entirely Kevin Smith's fault.

Jake Parrish 7:25

No, no, no, no, no.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 7:26

So but he could very much have a bad taste in his mouth from his meeting with Chevy, from his you know, undertaking of writing a script and it never happening and all this kind of stuff. But yet he continues to put Fletch references in his films, and and that's awesome.

"Big Bob" West 7:40

The way the uh actor uh goes over the top with I'm Ted Underhill, and the way he screams the credit card number just to facilitate the needs of the of them even to steal a credit card is such a brilliantly planned you know uh scene, too. But it's just so great, too, that Jay walks out being so Jay for lack of a better explanation. I I imagine if the actual Ted Underhill were there, he'd be furious about that situation. But again, it wouldn't be the first time it happened to him. And I wonder how many people pick up on that. Um guys our age definitely do. Oh, I mean, yeah, if you if you don't pick up on that, then you know you're you're not front, you're you're you're younger. There's no way you could be there's no way you could be 40 or older and not understand that reference.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 8:25

Yes, there's just no way the Uber driver that pulls up and says Ted Underhill, that's Fred Armison, who's so great in everything.

"Big Bob" West 8:32

Fred Armison, yeah, yeah. He had a nice role in that movie, too. That's worth a that's worth a watch for any for any Fletch fan, not only for the uh Ted Underhill references, uh, but also just the movie itself. You know, you it's one of Kevin Smith's better later projects that he's done.

Jake Parrish 8:46

Yeah, I liked it. I liked it. Yeah, and we had just that Ted Lasso reference uh a few weeks ago on the show, and that's a that's a new show, too. So yeah, so the references keep coming and coming, absolutely, absolutely, yeah.

"Big Bob" West 9:01

We talked about it earlier in the week, and we're gonna talk about it again. Underhill will always live on an empty, just being the person whose credit card you put it on.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 9:10

Yep, and and and the reference isn't the first and it won't be the last for sure.

"Big Bob" West 9:14

No, not if we have anything to say about it.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 9:16

Are any of you guys Lord of the Rings fans or or or token fans?

"Big Bob" West 9:20

No, no, no, I'm not, but I think I know what no one was.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 9:23

I am not either. So I I was hoping you guys were gonna jump in and say you are. One thing I did discover is that in one of the Lord of the Rings films, and forgive me for not knowing, Mr. Underhill is the name that Gandalf gives Frodo during one of the movies, so he wouldn't be able to be identified.

"Big Bob" West 9:45

How crazy is that that's a movie recording? Mr. Underhill. I thought that was from I thought that was from the books. I didn't realize that was a book.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 9:51

I could I could be wrong. I could be wrong.

Jake Parrish 9:54

Yeah, I don't know either. I don't know if that's probably not coincidence or yeah.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 9:59

I saw in several places that Mr. Underhill is I guess during his travels to to use the name, he's he's advised to use the name Mr. Underhill. It's an alias, I guess. It's it's it's exactly Turtle Baggins' alias is Mr. Underhill. Huh.

FletchCast Intro 10:16

Oh, he's proud to cater to little folk, Mr.

Jake Parrish 10:22

Underhill. My name's Underhill.

SPEAKER_04 10:25

Underhill.

Jake Parrish 10:26

We're friends of Gandalf the Grey. Can you tell him we've arrived?

"Big Bob" West 10:34

You draw far too much attention to yourself, Mr. Underhill. Wow. I would love to know. I'd love to look, I'd love to know more about that. If anybody, any of our listeners knows anything about that, please call in, let us know. I'd love to know which movie and in what context this line comes through.

Jake Parrish 10:54

Oh, well, listen to this. Listen to this. So um in the Tolkien Gateway, the Underhill family had branches in the Shire and in Brie. When Frodo Baggins made the decision to leave the Shire with the ring, Gandalf said that he must leave the name of Baggins behind and gave him the traveling name of Underhill.

"Big Bob" West 11:16

Wow.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 11:18

So interesting. I know Hobbit fans will be angered at this, but clearly stolen from the movie Fletch.

"Big Bob" West 11:34

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You want to keep these kind of Easter eggs vague.

"Laker Jim" James Kanowitz 11:41

Uh is it JRR token? Yeah. Now you would think Gregory McDonald would slap a underhill lawsuit on tokens so fast his little hobbit head would spin off. But even a puny, wimpy, balding lawyer who can't get it up will tell you that there we're in kind of a gray area. Alright, all gray. Charcoal. And you're gonna find out why on tomorrow's episode. So don't miss day four of Seven Days of Underhill. For Jake and Bob, I'm Laker Jim. If you know a pop culture reference out there, please let us know. We'd love to hear from you. But for today, stay the same wonderful people you are, and we will talk to you tomorrow. See ya.