Episode 2 - Season 1

Hey guys! In this episode Ramsey and Caleb talk a bit about the first season of On Cinema, but mostly talk about other things, including Joe Pera, the wonderful product Dude Wipes, and how Nathan Fielder is the devil.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:04

Hey, hey, hey, this is the other on cinema podcast in which myself, Ramsey, an on-cinema freak, as Greg Turkington would say, watches On Cinema with someone who has never seen On Cinema, which is my co-host Caleb. Caleb, how are you doing today?

SPEAKER_01 0:24

I'm doing quite well. How are you, co-host or main host, uh Ramsey?

SPEAKER_02 0:29

Uh I'm doing good. I'm doing good. We we we had a good hang this weekend during our friend's birthday. It was a fun time. It was a fun time. So we're gonna be covering season one of On Cinema at the Cinema. Last week we did the podcast. Before we got into that though, I kind of wanted to go over our relationship to comedy. I realized we didn't really explain that um in the last episode, and I think that would be like an interesting conversation to have. So kind of first things I wanted to ask you about is one, like, what do you find funny in comedy? What do you find compelling about certain comedies, and what are your favorite pieces of comedy?

SPEAKER_01 1:22

There's a million different things that I find funny in comedy. Um and I was looking back and uh realized that the impetus for anything I found funny could be traced back to watching Almost Live in the 90s growing up. I don't know if you're familiar with I'm not. What is that? Almost Live? So Almost Live was a mostly pre-taped uh sketch comedy show local. It was a bunch of Seattle writers, uh comedians, and film people, and uh Pat Cashman, who's like just like uh essentially like a radio guy and a voice actor. Um so it was just like this huge group of uh of just kind of just random people uh in Seattle just doing their best to make a sketch comedy show like every week. Um, and we would tape the episodes and then I would through the week I would just replay them until they melted. And so I realized that that is where my like love of comedy uh started, um, which was weird to reflect on. Um, and then also that that led to me absolutely despising Saturday at night live because it seemed so trash in comparison, but nowadays looking at So how how old were you when you were watching this?

SPEAKER_02 2:56

I didn't grow up in the Seattle area, so I'm not familiar with this.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

Yeah, um I I wasn't sure if you would be. Um, it is I was watching this, it it's the show started in like the late 80s, um, most likely as a kind of inspired by Serena Nightlife, but uh I was watching this, you know, basically ever since we got television, that was when we were or since we got cable, that was when I was like three years old. So so when I was three years old, that's when I started watching this show. And uh yeah, it's since it's a pre-recorded show, it's uh they're able to get the pacing really, really tight. Whereas on something like Saturday Night Live, the sketches are live, there's a lot of dead air, jokes that don't work, and they have to scramble together to put together like an hour and a half or something. I understand now why the format I was able to enjoy a lot more of Almost Live versus Saturday Night Live, but yes, lots of lots of local humor, lots of jokes that only really work if you know the area. Um, and lots of like parodies of other like whatever the famous movie is around the time, they're making a pair like Fugitive in Seattle. I remember that's a that was one of the sketches, and uh they're just all they're basically it's just a haul of different like Seattle tropes that this character has happened to encounter and deal with. Um, so yeah, that that's like the impetus for what I f found funny and continue to find funny, but obviously there's a lot more. Um I made like a list and I cannot I'm trying to find like a kernel of like, you know, uh everyone talks about like uh Schoidenfreud or Schadenfreud or whatever, um, like laughing because something that's difficult, you can understand why it sucks to deal with, but seeing someone else deal with it uh as opposed to being the one having to deal with it makes it funny. Um, like that's definitely an element, but there's so much more going on uh that I think makes things funny. And and uh I'm I'm trying to pin it down when you you you asked me that earlier today, and I was like listing it out to try to like figure it out, like figure out comedy, but could not. I just have like a list of things that I find funny.

SPEAKER_02 5:30

So what types of comedy do you find specifically compelling? Because like for me, there's a difference between just kind of stuff that I find purely funny versus like compelling comedy.

SPEAKER_01 5:48

Can could you uh tell me like uh kind of where you're coming from on that like an example?

SPEAKER_02 5:54

No, uh totally. So for me, like stuff I find funny, I I you know, I I love very silly what I would call ambitiously stupid comedy that's just fun. I wouldn't necessarily call that compelling, but for an example, like Wet Hot American Summer, the movie. There's nothing particularly super compelling or moving about that movie, but it's I always find joy in watching that movie just because it's just so stupid. It's absurd. I I love absurdism. Um, but compelling comedy to me is when that's sort of married with pain. Pathos. Yeah, pathos, pathos, pathos, which is why I mean my favorite comedy is on cinema. Um, and since the format of our show, you haven't seen it, I can't talk too much about that. But I think a little microcosm of an episode of what I'm trying to explain in season one is just the episode where Tim breaks down crying throughout the episode and Greg is just sitting there looking very uncomfortable. I find that endlessly entertaining. Um, but some other examples of it. I really love Maria Bamford's stand-up. I don't know if you're familiar with it. Um but she has very absurdist tendencies, but she talks a lot about her, you know, intense struggles with mental illness and stuff and like, you know, issues with her family. And it's it it's really, really funny. And uh I I think there's only two other comedians that kind of get close to what on cinema does for me, which is uh Joe Perra and Connor O'Malley. Oh, I love Connor O'Malley. Yeah, uh Joe Perra and Connor O'Malley. Uh Joe Para talks with you specifically. I I think is a really, really great. It it doesn't make me laugh out loud, but it really is just such a silly show that is very sincere and does go to some painful places. And it's the only comedy that I've ever watched that manages to be funny while also wholesome. I think that's very, very hard to do. Connor O'Malley is a completely different thing. Um yeah, his like I I love his stand-up. He does a very similar thing that Tim Heideker does, which is kind of aping, like disaffected, sort of right-leaning sorts of men, but in a very, very different way. It in a way I would actually argue is more interesting. His YouTube video, The Mask, uh, I think is like it's fucking hilarious, but I think it's like a piece of art. Um, his his stand-up specials are uh nothing like I've seen before. Have you seen his video short Coreys?

SPEAKER_01 9:28

Um, I I did. I I mean I'm I watch everything Connor O'Malley does the moment the before you know uh the second it is released, uh, because I cannot wait. Um and so I watched the quarries when it came out, forgot about it, and then it came up in some some GIF meme online, and I was like, okay, I have to go back and watch this again. Uh it's uh gorgeous, uh beautifully disgusting and haunting. It's not even funny, really.

SPEAKER_02 10:01

Like it, it like he, I think, as a modern like content creator, has gotten the c closest to doing anything David Lynch has done, which is a high bar.

SPEAKER_01 10:16

Like I think have you seen um uh Tim Robinson's latest work, The Chair Company.

SPEAKER_02 10:23

Yeah, I did. Uh I'm still kind of processing the chair company, but that it's in a similar vein to me as that. Uh I I man, I didn't even really view the chair company as a comedy. Like it is, but it is like reads to me much more like almost like a David Blinch sort of mystery.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

Yeah, it's like a surreal, yeah. Like a surreal mystery, yeah, very similar to oddly similar to um Twin Peaks, um, but obviously with a less the lowest of stakes possible. Uh yeah, I think when it comes to comedy, and I I you know I'm older now, but when I was younger, I was of the mind that comedy should mostly be separate from uh like pathos and like emotions, and any time that like emotions were it felt like contrived or obligatory, and like, well, of course you need a structure and you need characters that care about things and they need to take it seriously for the comedy to work, but it always felt like an obligation. And then um uh, you know, as I've grown older now, I do appreciate um, I do appreciate kind of you know having having comedy that's more quote unquote compelling. Because like I think about something like Arrested Development, and it's like that's just pure, you know, uh concentrated comedy, and I love that, but at the same time, um, I think the show that kind of that kind of started me on actually being interested in like compelling comedy was um Documentary Now because that show has moments that are just like it's like kind of stops being comedy and just starts being its own like art form in its own kind of genre. And it uh at first I was annoyed by that, but then after I don't know if you experience this, I think everyone does who's interested in art that like challenges them, is that you experience something that you haven't quite experienced before, you don't have the taste for it, and you're open to that kind of person, that experience, then you're like, okay, well, at least for me, I I'm like, I'm gonna take a step back, I'm gonna go do my own thing elsewhere and then come back to this, and I'll probably appreciate it more after I've been able to sit on it. And I experienced that with Documentary Now, some moment in one of the shows where um they're like doing like chicken races or something, and it's like shot in like black and white, slow motion, and it's like actually kind of beautiful and touching, like ironically. Um, and that sort of was like the moment where I'm like, okay, I've got to open myself up to more um like more compelling quote unquote comedy. Um, and then I think the next big thing that I kind of was able to experience that with was the show community. Um, because the show community, uh, like when I first watched it, I watched it as it was coming out because a lot of people I I was a big fan of. Like uh Joel Joel McHale in that show. He's actually from the show Almost Live. Um and so I didn't know that. Yeah. So uh Joel McHale, uh Bill Nye, the science guy, they're the two like biggest uh names that came from that show. And then uh Pat Cashman, he's uh he was the announcer on Super Smash Bros. Brawl. I'm guessing just because he lived in the area and uh Nintendo of America's in Redmond. Um but but yeah, so I had I always was watching everything. This is maybe this sounds dorky now, but uh I was watching I was following everything Joel McHale was doing. I was a big fan of Donald Glover, and um so I I basically I had to watch that show as it came out, and I remember watching it. I'm like, yeah, it's funny. It definitely has like these these very because right, I was still looking after just is this funny, is this funny? Like I'd cut it was like I had a ticker, you know, and I was checking like it has to meet the the beats per the the last per minute jokes per minute of Arrest Development or 30 Rock. Um and then after the show uh either after it ended or the fourth season, I remember going back and watching it again and like laughing so much harder than I did the first time I watched it, because I was able to open myself up to like, hey, like the emotional beats are actually necessary because your familiarity with these characters and understanding how they operate and seeing how that leads to these quote unquote humorous uh situations. It's like this is what makes it funny on like an even deeper level than you could do with just doing, you know, jokes per minute, basically. Um, and so yeah, I mean I was I was crying laughing uh when I went back to watch community, and that was like almost every episode. I'd just there would always be these crazy situations that only make sense when you understand the characters and where they're coming from on a deeper level. Um trying to think of other other examples of that, but um yeah, I think Documentary Now and then Community kind of opened me up to more of like humor that is willing is is willing to go in directions that aren't conventionally funny to either actually explore uh you know deeper deeper emotional themes, or to just then come back around and use that to be even funnier than it could be by uh focusing on just comedy for comedy's sake.

SPEAKER_02 16:30

Yeah, right on. I I got really heavy into stand-up comedy when I was about 16 years old, and I I like worshipped like Pat Noswalt and David Cross and Louis CK and all those guys. Um just because it it it it it really married those things of like I I didn't realize you could turn things that you're processing or you know, painful things into comedy. Um as I've gotten older, I've gotten a little disenfranchised with stand-up comedy as a medium just because a lot of reasons uh I I I don't think I need to get into. Um I I still like some of those comedians, but yeah, the the Louis C.K. thing was uh that that was a little that was an interesting moment in my life when that all happened because I was like, oh there's all this stuff in his comedy I was not picking up on at all that was really gross and bad. Uh yeah. Anyway, I am probably gonna edit this part out, but you should you should just keep buttering up Lucy.

SPEAKER_01 17:54

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:55

No. Well, I was gonna say I I wanted to use an example of from his early stand-up of like just the type of absurdism that I find funny is he has this whole bit where he's talking about making up like phrases of speech because he finds phrases of speech to be annoying, you know, like the term when in Rome. Um so he made one up that said, When in Rome, grab the hand of a badger's dad, which I still find very funny. Uh pretty good. I'm assuming that never led to him masturbating in front of anyone, but who knows?

SPEAKER_01 18:39

Who knows? I'm sure he could figure out a way. He seemed pretty uh seemed good at it.

SPEAKER_02 18:44

Pretty resilient from what I from what I could tell. Yeah, pretty relentless. His biggest skill was that.

SPEAKER_01 18:53

Yeah, I mean, people called him a genius. Little did they know. He was multi-hyphenid.

SPEAKER_02 19:04

Yeah, he was a genius at multiple things, yeah. Yeah, you can be genius to comedy and making women uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

Yeah. You know, I mean, he's not allowed there to skill a lot of people out. Unfortunately, I'm sorry that I'm driving the conversation. No, this is okay. This is okay. Uh I think it kind of shook. Uh what what what uh at least I find uh darkly humorous.

SPEAKER_02 19:38

Uh no, I I I I I had a conversation with my partner about reflecting on how much I liked Louis C.K. And I kind of joked, I'm like, you know, I think the most embarrassing thing about me now that I'm in my 30s is how much I was into Louis C.K.

SPEAKER_01 19:57

I don't know. I I think I mean, yeah, sure. I I was I was really into Rick and Morty when that show was coming out. So you know what?

SPEAKER_02 20:08

Different thing. We don't have to get into that. Yeah. I I I also was pretty into Rick and Morty the first couple of seasons, but yeah, I never really stayed on it.

SPEAKER_01 20:19

Just list all of the problematic uh people that we enjoyed before we knew. Before we knew. Before we knew. Yeah, I'm I'm a huge fan of Joe Perra as well. I find it's interesting. There's there's kind of a different kinds of like K-fabe that goes into like for instance, Joe Perra, he's playing a character. But he's playing a character for the sake of not just raw comedy, but to explore, I guess, for lack of a better word, like wholesomeness, I guess uh, you know, being a part of community, um, genuinely caring about the place that you're in and um and what's around you and appreciating what you have. Um there's a lot of very pure themes to his work. Um, but to be as effective at it as he is, he is playing this character. Um and it's interesting that there's I think of someone like Nord MacDonald, and he kind of is playing a character when he's um either doing a stand-up or doing like uh doing interviews, because and for him it's almost it's almost like in pursuit of comedy for comedy's sake. Um and it's I guess it's interesting to me that there's like different kinds of um I think I think com comedians, people in comedy that are really, really talented. tend to kind of play a character um at some level like in situations that kind of sell a reality and um I think like yeah for instance like with Tim and Greg like they are playing characters but in these like imagined realities as opposed to just in like a raw television program. Um but yeah it's it's interesting that there's different characters and like realities these people can play that serve different um different either emotional uh you know themes to process or uh I guess different kinds of comedy that are different kinds of compelling because I know even with like Norm McDonald who's really going after the comedy he's he was probably thinking kind of similar like appreciating similar to me when I was younger where it's like no get that pathos out of here pathos pathos I'm gonna mispronounce that one way or another but get that out of here we don't need emotions here we just need comedy um uh I think I think he was kind of chasing that a bit with his comedy but then almost accidentally uh uh coming to some amount of like compelling themes like when he would discuss death and stuff but he's like making jokes making these like dark jokes and it's like that almost is its own kind of um I guess sort of emotional processing um in in a way and that's almost its own it's almost like you can't escape uh even if you try to be as just raw funny as possible you can't I mean everyone's human it's like you can't escape um it being compelling on like an emotional level to some degree yeah totally I I I kind of wanted to loop back to what you were talking about with Joe Perra playing a character because I do think that is very interesting with him because he is playing a character but it's different than most comedians when they're playing like a fictional version of themselves because I think when a lot of comedians you know for example Tim Heideker or Connor O'Malley they're they're playing a fictional version of themselves to kind of remove themselves a little bit from reality to analyze kind of stuff going on with them.

SPEAKER_02 24:41

Where when Joe Perrot does it it seems to be like he's doing it to get closer to his community and that's what that that's what's so interesting about his comedy is it's so focused on connections with other people and like meaningful connections with other people and so much comedy is really kind of hateful in a lot of ways. I don't think that's necessarily bad but Joe Perro's comedy is the opposite of that and he's really the only comedian I've experienced who's been able to do that in a way that's funny. You know? Yeah yeah I think uh I think you know I'm a huge fan of I don't hate me if you want uh uh I am a huge fan of Nathan Fielder and don't get me wrong so uh the the reason Caleb said that um is because I've gone on many a rance in our friend groups about how I think Nathan Fielder is a sociopathic monster. Uh don't get me wrong his shit is hilarious. I I'm a hypocrite when I say that because I've watched all of his stuff and I find it very funny. I also think that he is the devil. But anyway uh I have to say that that's a conversation for a different time.

SPEAKER_01 26:08

Well um I do have a quote from an interview that okay okay huge fan of Nathan Fielder also a huge fan of uh Matt Johnson and uh Nirvana the band the show and um Matt Johnson does similar uh hidden camera uh kind of stunts in his uh in his work but they Matt Johnson and his crew they try to have the people on the street that they encounter not come off as the you know terrible they don't seem to be exclusively taking advantage of uh people with seriously troubling mental problems or they don't speak English as first language anyway I I'm not gonna they're not going out to find the most media illiterate people they possibly can to take advantage of um but yeah uh uh Matt Johnson was talking with Joel Haver um who does sketch comedy on YouTube they were and has made some movies uh and they were talking about you know that kind of uh uh random people in the street being part of the the show and sort of the approach and Matt was talking about how he doesn't want people to like look bad he doesn't he wants uh the people that he runs into and interacts with to look you know um sympathetic and he wants the humor to more come from you know uh uh sort of how ridiculous his character's is um but Joel was like what do you think about Nathan Fielder? I think that he does the polar opposite makes people look absolutely terrible takes advantage of them and um but it's from such a smart lens that it ends up still being really effective comedy and kind of genius and uh Matt Johnson says uh let me see oh no question it's totally forgivable yeah but we're in the hands of Satan yeah no you're right I mean like I said I'm a I'm a fucking hypocrite because I I I've been criticizing Nathan Fielder's work for I don't know almost a decade for being exploitative um and no one ever seems to talk about how fucking exploitative his work is but it is very compelling and very funny like I consume it so I'm not one to talk but yeah like the the Nathan Fielder episode when they do the um the rebate like he's like a troll basically guiding them through this uh camping like maze of challenges to try to earn this rebate uh for their gas for their gas and um it just turns into them all hanging out and having a great time and sharing you know vulnerable moments and stories together and and uh kind of just you know everyone just kind of gets closer in this group and it's literally all in service of just trying to get a a gas rebate.

SPEAKER_02 29:24

See that that's a fun episode that that's a good episode. However there's also the whole thing where he gets that Bill Gates impersonator who is clearly not mentally well to he basically helps facilitate him stalking this woman and it's fascinating though because in real time on the show you can see Nathan Fielder be like I probably shouldn't be doing well yeah and then did you watch the rehearsal? I haven't watched season two uh I I watched the first season I actually found the first season to be very upsetting um with the kid with the kid yeah uh the I I the the the thing is like I I was frustrated with the rehearsal because I thought the initial concept of it was really interesting um and ever like with the way it was formatted everybody was kind of in on the joke more or less um but then they changed it up and they're basically he's basically emotionally abusing a child towards the end of it. Yeah I when I watched that I I thought the show I was like oh like this I realized afterwards I was like well no that wouldn't have worked but when when the kid's like just wanting to hang out with Nathan I'm like yeah he should just become become the stepdad of this child for the rest of the show all I want is them riding roller coasters and steal my sunshine's plane and uh you know they're he's he's winning the kid the the big stuffed animal and they're wrestling and they're having fun I'm like that would be so great and then it's just like the sad just the sad so for anyone who has not watched the rehearsal what we're talking about there is a sequence in the show where Nathan Fielder is simulating being like married to this woman with a kid but the kid is a child actor and the child actor is like four and thinks Nathan Fielder is his actual dad and there's this sequence in the show where Nathan Fielder goes to this four-year-old child's you know home and has to explain to him that he's not his dad and this kid is like having a meltdown over it because it's really fucking confusing. I found it just unethical that they aired that at all. Like I can understand him doing that in private you know to help the kid to understand what was going on. The fact that they filmed it and aired it on television I I think that is so much more unethical than any reality like trashy reality television I've ever watched like but it's compelling because it's interesting. But it's fucked up like I said Nathan Fielder is the devil don't fight me on this I'm not fighting him on that I I'm not saying that to you I brought receipts for it to support that.

SPEAKER_01 32:41

But I still can't look away and I have to see everything that he does. Unfortunately I hate to admit that yeah I thought I thought that was just absolutely messed up and tragic which makes it very very compelling at the same time yeah it's great television. Yeah we're we're we're all horrible it's okay yeah I guess we should jump into actually talking about on cinema at this point yeah sure um so yeah off the top compared to the podcast going into the first season of the show what what are your thoughts well you know the format's uh not that much different it's a little different they're they're covering movies I mean they're not covering movies let's be honest they're referencing movies briefly um uh that are coming out uh their current movies uh as opposed to old movies which they were covering in the podcast um and it's it's funny to watch because oh yeah the production's better they have actual production there's a visual component they're on a some some degree of a set uh they're sitting in real chairs uh but the rest of everything behind them might be fully green screened there's one episode that we talked about where Tim is sobbing uncontrollably through the entire episode and it's never it's never brought up or addressed the whole rest of the season um which I don't remember anything like that happening in the podcast.

SPEAKER_02 34:28

Did that did I miss no nothing like that happened in the podcast. You know something I should address real quick is there's an inherent limitation to the format of our show since Caleb hasn't watched all of the show I can't really go too far into things that happen in the future so I think in these first episodes we're not going to be saying too much about the show until we get into the meat of it.

SPEAKER_01 34:59

Can I can I be honest? Yeah yeah uh I'm not a big fan not a big fan of this season that's that's great I watched it as it came out when it was like when it was being released and I remember that episode happening and being like oh like getting excited you know like oh man I can't wait for this to turn into something and uh you know I watched the first season as it was coming out nothing it did it led to nothing at that time.

SPEAKER_02 35:32

Yeah it's a it's a slow burn with on the cinema but it it it really does pay off. Um something I will say watching the first season I haven't like sat down and concertedly like paid attention to it in a a while because like I'll throw on like YouTube compilation clips of on cinema when I'm like doing housework and stuff because I you know that's what you do.

SPEAKER_01 35:58

Oh um I'm guessing that's kind of similar to my experience with community where once you see where everything goes and you understand the characters and uh you know the show a lot better when you go back it probably is a much uh more enjoyable experience.

SPEAKER_02 36:16

That's interesting that you've said that because I've had so many people recommend community to me and I've tried to watch the first season so many times and I'm just like I don't like this.

SPEAKER_01 36:30

Yeah yeah I it in that show I mean again going back and watching it it's great but the second season is where it kind of lights up you know where it comes to life because they've spent you know a year establishing these characters and figuring out the show.

SPEAKER_02 36:47

Yeah. But yeah the the first thing I noted when I was watching it is that when you're listening to the podcast you it's kind of hard to tell if Tim is actually annoyed by Greg but just immediately from the first episode you can see Tim is visibly annoyed by Greg. And he gets more and more annoyed by him through the season too. Yeah it's really great because like he he gets a lot more explosive and verbally abusive towards Greg as the show goes on. So it it it's interesting in the early season seeing Tim be more reserved.

SPEAKER_01 37:30

I see a lot of myself and Greg uh I hate to admit what do you mean by that um I can be quite stubborn and um and also like for instance like the episode with Tim sobbing and Greg uh not addressing it at all sometimes that can be I feel like I can do similar things um where it's like yeah I'm just gonna I'm just enjoying my day and someone else is really not having a good time and I have a hard time meeting them on that level and like being vulnerable with them. And then the other thing too is like the episode when they're having their uh spat about Star Trek and and Greg is so stubborn about being right about it. I don't think I've gone to quite the degree that he does where he tells Tim that he should go to jail for uh buying a bootleg tape or whatever. I don't think I've gone to that degree but I have certainly stuck to my guns probably more than I should have um it definitely it definitely I have one friend and particular I have a few friends that it's bothered before and so I see some of myself and like Greg is Greg looks very like comfortable yet he is being this annoying person like butting in um and interrupting Tim and the flow of his show and I feel like I can kind of do the similar where it's like I can do those things and not feel bad and and and I so I see so I see like I see parts of myself and Greg both admirable and uh less admirable qualities and so the fact that you're saying that Tim gets more uh verbally abusive to him I feel bad for him yeah I'm interested to see how you're gonna feel about Greg in the future okay I'm looking looking forward to it again limitation of our podcast for uh uh format but Greg will never be as awful as a person as Tim in the show but he gets close well I yeah I I uh if bad things happen to Greg I hope that um I hope that he has done bad things so that I don't feel so bad.

SPEAKER_02 40:00

Uh yeah I just wanted to go over some stuff that I thought was funny. Uh the first episode when they're talking about the man with the iron fists and Tim says it's so impressive he was able to get so much footage. I wrote that down to thought that was really great. Yeah something that's really interesting so the first two seasons of the show they actually have a different director who uh they have a different director than who ends up directing the show with them the the rest of the time um and the editing style is a lot different in the first two seasons which I like uh it going forward it has kind of a more naturalistic approach but I noticed there was a lot of like close up shots and weird angles of both Tim and Greg's faces like specifically the first uh popcorn classics segment when Greg brings on multiplicity and Greg or sorry Tim is looking at the back of the box and is like has these huge bug eyes which I I thought that was so fucking funny. Yes uh that doesn't really happen so much later in the show um but yeah we we we get the start of Tim not being able to say actors or directors' names my favorite one is that it was directed by Bill Condom also the man with the iron fist directed by RZA RZA that was a little more reasonable like if yeah if you're not a Wu Tang fan you don't know it's the Ruza. I one thing that I I like from the season was them calling Life of Pi weird with a philosophical touch yeah I I I I made a similar note because Greg after that says I've seen a lot of weird movies. One of my favorites is Napoleon dynamite which I I found that very funny.

SPEAKER_01 42:08

A lot of people they they thought that movie was the weirdest movie they did so quirky so quirky so indie I watched it a few years ago and it's like this is just just really good did you not see it when it came out I saw it the Saturday it came out.

SPEAKER_02 42:23

Yeah I did too well because I we we must have been what like in middle school when that movie came out yes this was for me I was between seventh and eighth grade it came out uh towards the end of August because um yeah and and I really wanted to see it looked weird quote unquote no I mean it was a weird movie when it came out but it was one of those movies where everybody saw it and it like became so saturated in the culture at the time where if you were just like two years later if you were just like yeah I'm so quirky I love Napoleon dynamite it just like would make your eyes roll back in your head um you know so I I I found that to be a very funny line that Greg's favorite weird movie is Napoleon Dynamite.

SPEAKER_01 43:10

I mean but yeah I saw I saw that movie a few years ago and it's just hilarious bit after hilarious bit just stacked in a row with a underlying story just kind of in the background. It's like I don't know it is it is quote unquote weird but it's pretty much just hilarious the whole time. No I mean I I loved it when I was younger it was just like it got so overplayed I guess you would say yeah yeah um Roger Roger what is it Rog Siskel and Ebert they uh they reviewed Eraserhead like years after it came out and not as bad as Tim and Eric but the I think the format of their show is kind of oddly similar to to not Tim and Eric. Greg. But the format of Siskel and Ebert's kind of similar to the format of On Cinema at the cinema, where they really only have like a few minutes to talk about a movie. And so they can't like get in depth. And so when they talked about Eraserhead, not a whole lot of depth that they could get into. They're just like, yeah, what a weird movie. It just reminded me of Tim and Greg talking about Life of Pi, where they're all they say really is they sound weird. That baby made me feel gross. Yeah. That weird lizard baby, just gross, man. Yeah. But yeah, oh, you're talking about the editing style, and I was wondering. I mean, obviously, there's editing in the sense that, like, you know, shot on Tim, shot on Greg, and then like they got stingers for different quote unquote segments. But yeah, I was curious in the beginning, I was like, are they even editing these? Like, are they cutting stuff out? Because it's so dry.

SPEAKER_02 45:01

Yeah, they are. So I I I have watched interviews with Tim where he does go into kind of how they record the seasons. Uh basically they'll sit down and write out some they'll they'll have like plot points for like the seasons and certain episodes, and like certain things are pre-written, but it's all largely improvised. And they even the modern seasons, they record them in like a weekend, basically. Oh, okay. Yeah. All the episodes. So there's probably yeah, it's very no, Tim Tim has said like he he has basically said that much of the quality and humor of the show comes down to the quality of the editing.

SPEAKER_01 45:46

Yeah. That's also very uh very Nirvana the band as well. They uh they'll film a lot in the course of like a few days, and then the they're like, oh, we got nothing, and then uh they'll go through and edit it and make a show out of it and find a lot of humor there. Um yeah, and I and I did notice I knew that they were actually editing it when um I forget the exact moment, but you know, Greg did something that clearly made Tim break, but you only can tell that because he's laughing the next uh when the next shot that's on him. Like not laughing, he's like smirking a little bit. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:30

Yeah, it's funny you say that because um Tim clearly breaks a lot during the show, and it's almost always Greg doing something to make him break. And I think that's the only time I've caught Greg breaking is in that first season. Oh, really? Yeah, he never breaks after that. Wow, but Tim Tim breaks all the time.

SPEAKER_01 46:49

Did you watch Atlanta?

SPEAKER_02 46:51

Sorry to get off topic, but um, I I've seen a few episodes here and there, but I no, I've never like really sat down and I just want to call I want to call this out since I'm on a freaking podcast right now.

SPEAKER_01 47:03

Anyone listening? Uh Donald Glover just a hundred percent breaks with like a close-up on his face in the middle of a scene in Atlanta. It's like season three or four, I think, where um they have like a fake D'Angelo and uh that does this like whole speech and it's like one long shot. And like Donald, oh my god, dude, you're dying.

SPEAKER_00 47:33

I can't. I can't.

SPEAKER_02 47:36

My my my very flatulent elderly uh Boston Terrier is hanging out with us, and he has nuclear farts sometimes. Um, in the middle of Caleb's impassioned speech about that, he let one rip. Um I lost a good amount of my sense of smell after the first time I got COVID, so it doesn't bother me that bad. Um but yeah, that's like my uh do you want to start that over though?

SPEAKER_01 48:07

Oh, I'm just gonna uh we can keep that in if you feel it's good.

SPEAKER_02 48:10

I'll keep some of it in.

SPEAKER_01 48:11

Um but I just want to say the the scene where uh Donald Glover comes face to face with uh fake old D'Angelo, um and fake old D'Angelo does his rant about how we are all D'Angelo. Um uh Donald Glover just like when he has to respond to that, he just absolutely cracks the fuck up for like a split second, looks at camera, you're gonna see him laughing, and then goes back to normal and has to like say his lines and stuff. They just left that shot in because they probably filmed that for so long, did so many setups, and that was just the best performance of either of them that they had. Interesting. And it's just like I mean, that's how you end up seeing like Tim Break and stuff even in edited clips, because it's like, well, it has to make sense, and this is the best we got. But yeah, sorry, I just want to call that out because it was so weird to be watching that show, and like I'm like, they just left that shot in? It's like a serious kind of show.

SPEAKER_02 49:15

No, that's interesting, yeah. Um, I definitely have to watch Atlanta. I've had people scream at me at the top of their lungs to watch Atlanta for the last decade. Um, I I'm gonna say I I haven't watched it. I find Donald Donald Glover's personality to be very grating, which is why I've not watched that show, but everyone tells me it's good, so maybe I should watch it.

SPEAKER_01 49:40

That's canon to the show. Um just his his him being kind of shitty of a person is like part of the show.

SPEAKER_02 49:48

It's not that I think Donald Glover comes across as a shitty person. He just he he's he he comes across to be like an annoying theater kid that I well, you know, I I was a so I was a theater major game.

SPEAKER_01 50:02

Um yeah, anyway. Um but I I mean he's probably the the least it feels weird to say because uh he's obviously busting ass for that show too, a big part of it, but he's probably the least like part of the show. Uh it's everything else that really makes it. There's other factors to it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 50:24

Okay. Yeah. Okay. Um, yeah, I guess we can wrap this up a little bit. I I just wanted to bring up this one line from Greg because I forgot about it and I forgot how fucking funny it was when they were talking about the Hobbit, and Greg says, Bilbo is a personal hero of mine. I laughed so fucking hard, I forgot about that. Um The Hobbit, just so you know, Caleb is gonna be a recurring thing that comes up in the show.

SPEAKER_01 51:00

I'm I'm looking forward to it because uh it is not a recurring uh thing for the movie The Hobbit. Uh not a recurring thing for I think anyone else on the planet. I think people just saw that saw those movies and then stopped thinking about them as as soon as they stepped out of the theater.

SPEAKER_02 51:17

So which I think is um a little bit of the point. But yeah, I think we can we can wrap it up there. Uh yeah, just uh I I think as the show I should say our podcast progresses, we're gonna have more to say about the actual show. I like I said, I think there is a limitation to the format of this podcast with Caleb not having seen the whole thing.

SPEAKER_01 51:43

I'm uh sorry to interrupt, Ramsey. I am curious, um, because you've been a part of this for a lot longer and you know a lot more about like what are the fans thinking?

SPEAKER_02 51:55

Do the fans have a whole lot to say about season one of uh Tim and Well, no, that yeah, no, that's what's hard about it is that if you've seen the whole thing, you can go back and look at like, oh, like they placed all this groundwork for the characters in which they become, but yeah, it's the the first couple of seasons, it's just kind of a sort of funny parody movie review show. And if you don't have any other context, it's not that interesting.

SPEAKER_01 52:28

Well, and and it's crazy too, coming from like because the thing that I saw before that I the thing I can remember that I saw before this show with Tim was Tim and Eric, and Tim and Eric's very broad and you know, kind of similar to other things I was talking about. It's like joke, joke, joke, joke, joke. It's just all ridiculous and uh very bright. Um, and so to come from that to like the driest fucking shit ever uh is so.

SPEAKER_02 52:59

I mean, just to jump it, it's yeah, like I said, on cinema, I think it's one of the most interesting pieces of media ever created, and it's almost impossible to recommend to anybody because you have to stick with it through the end. I mean, just to give an example, there is a very throwaway piece of information that comes up. I I can't remember, maybe season two or three, that they just recently brought back up. Hell yeah. In the latest season. I like that. Like, yeah, so it's it's a very rewarding show. Um, you know, I'm obligated to fill airtime for our sponsors. Um, yeah, we I I did get a sponsor.

SPEAKER_01 53:46

Who's our sponsor then? Dude Wipes.

SPEAKER_02 53:50

Is that uh like baby wipes for well, so I don't know about you, Caleb, but I for about a decade I've been wanting to clean my ass. But there hasn't been a non-gay way to do it. Yeah, bidet's gonna be a big one. But now we have no, bidet that's so gay.

SPEAKER_01 54:14

They're the gayest.

SPEAKER_02 54:15

They're it's oh but now we have dude wipes. And they were happy to sponsor our show because they knew that about me. So they reached out.

SPEAKER_01 54:27

They say dude on the box, so I'm just you know, you just wipe it.

SPEAKER_02 54:33

If you need to wash shit off of your ass, use dude wipes. It's not gay.

SPEAKER_01 54:40

Is that the is that the catcher phrase? Is that the tagline for the product? Is that on the copy that we're reading? It's not.

SPEAKER_02 54:52

But it's true. And I believe it. And listeners, I mean I implore you, wash your ass.

SPEAKER_01 55:05

Having an ass in the first place is gay enough. Why why does cleaning it have to be?

SPEAKER_02 55:13

Yeah. Dude wipes. Having an ass is gay. Why does cleaning it also have to be gay? Use dude wipes.

SPEAKER_01 55:23

When you when you got movies like Tom Cruise in them, you can't lose.

SPEAKER_02 55:26

When you got movies like Tom Cruise in them, you can't lose. I that I that runs through my head every single day. Me too. It's it it's really great. But yeah, thanks for listening. Just to, you know, end out the episode. When you got movies with Tom Cruise in them. Well, like Tom Cruise in them. He can't lose. Also, dude wipes. The non-gay way to wipe your ass. Wipe the gay away. I'm sorry. We'll catch you next week.