'80s Movie Montage

A Christmas Story

• Anna Keizer & Derek Dehanke • Season 5 • Episode 26

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During the season five finale, Anna and Derek chat about just how annoying Randy is, why Ralphie's parents aren't as oblivious as once assumed, and much more during their discussion of the holiday classic A Christmas Story (1983).

Connect with '80s Movie Montage on Facebook, Twitter/X or Instagram! It's the same handle for all three... @80smontagepod.

Anna Keizer and Derek Dehanke are the co-hosts of ‘80s Movie Montage. The idea for the podcast came when they realized just how much they talk – a lot – when watching films from their favorite cinematic era. Their wedding theme was “a light nod to the ‘80s,” so there’s that, too. Both hail from the Midwest but have called Los Angeles home for several years now. Anna is a writer who received her B.A. in Film/Video from Columbia College Chicago and M.A. in Film Studies from Chapman University. Her dark comedy short She Had It Coming was an Official Selection of 25 film festivals with several awards won for it among them. Derek is an attorney who also likes movies. It is a point of pride that most of their podcast episodes are longer than the movies they cover.

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SPEAKER_04:

There we

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go. For one brief moment, I saw the bolts silhouetted against the lights of the traffic and then they were gone.

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Oh,

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fuck.

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Hello and welcome to 80s Movie Montage. This is Derek.

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And this is Anna.

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And that was Peter Billingsley as Ralphie Parker, not actually saying, oh fudge, after that gibberish profanity from Darren McGavin as the old man Parker. Oh

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my gosh, you're really going for it.

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In 1983's A Christmas Story.

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Oh my gosh, I'm kind of scared for next season and these intros that you're giving. I can

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make them longer if that... If I'm cutting too short.

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That's the goal. That's

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the goal. All right. I'll work on it. I'll work on it.

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Which, by the way, season five finale. Yeah.

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This episode. That's what this is. This is what this is. Yes.

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Yes. Yeah. That's one of my favorite parts. Oh, fudge. But we did talk about when we were watching it for the podcast, the fact that neither parent even seems to consider the possibility that Ralphie learned that language from the dad is kind of ridiculous.

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That is the joke.

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Yeah, I guess so.

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He actually he did make a point of just saying like he actually had to put effort into all the gibberish that you hear when the dad is swearing in order to preserve the PG rating.

SPEAKER_03:

That makes a lot of sense. That's actually exactly what what's his name did in Home Alone as well.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, really? Joe Pesci. Yeah. Just,

SPEAKER_03:

yes. Which, that's actually so funny. I wonder if he, like... It's kind of like an homage in a weird way to this performance because it's exactly the same in terms of the gibberish swearing.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

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Yeah. What was the one you said that you liked? Something platypus or no?

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Platypus snot.

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Platypus

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snot. That's when he's working on the furnace in the earlier part of the movie and we had closed captions on and I'm like, hmm, I wonder if it'll actually give us anything. It was mostly just like unintelligible shouting, but for platypus snot.

SPEAKER_03:

So much more when you have subtitles on.

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Or

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closed captions. Yeah. So A Christmas Story, 1983, like you said. And let's dive in. So a couple interesting things here about the writing credits. The first person that I'm going to name is Gene Shepard. And I did not know this before I was doing the research for this movie. Gene Shepard. Yeah. Not only– is the author of the novel on which the screenplay is based.

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Okay.

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He is the narrator. Which is... And we'll get to that more in depth, but he's adult Ralphie.

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Which is super impressive because that is one of the standout... He's a great voice. Yeah, it's perfect.

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He's a great voiceover actor. Yeah. So he hasn't been with us for a while. He passed away in 1999. But when you look through... Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't even say the novel. So I love the title of the novel, In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash. Okay. And I get the sense that maybe some of this was based on his childhood. That's kind of where... the inspiration came from some of these stories. And when you look through his IMDb writing credits, there are some like TV movies that he's credited for, The Phantom of the Open Hearth, The Great American Road Racing Festival, and Ollie Hop Noodle's Haven of Bliss.

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I love it.

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There's also a Christmas Story Live TV movie. Is that the one that had Maya Rudolph in it maybe? Yeah. Possibly. Possibly. And then some of his other credits. So he did like My Summer Story. Oh,

SPEAKER_01:

yeah. That was like the first sequel. And they were like going on a summer vacation or something. I never saw it. I think. Yeah. Is

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it still Ralphie Parker? It

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is. Yeah.

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Yeah. So I think he follows this character quite a bit. Then there's A Christmas Story 2. And then most recently, although he had been passed at the point of this happening, he has a credit for A Christmas Story Christmas.

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What if I told you that the dad in The Summer Story is Charles Grodin?

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Now I know what you're talking

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about. That's the old man. Interesting.

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Okay. All right. But yeah.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

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Great writer, obviously, to come up with these stories. And wow, what a voice he had. He does a great job in this film. So we have a couple other screenplay credits. One is Lee Brown. So same credit for My Summer Story as well. And A Christmas Story Live, the TV movie. And then lastly, we have Bob Clark, who we'll talk about him a little bit because he's also the director of this film. So... Such an interesting filmography for this guy. In theory, we can bring him up again. I

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don't

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know if we

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will, but... Well, it's probably like some other family comedy or something, right?

SPEAKER_03:

Well, that's just it. So strictly speaking, because I'm going to have a couple directing credits that don't also fall under writing credits, but strictly speaking, his writing credits include... I feel like I've brought this up before for some reason. Children shouldn't play with dead things. Okay. was a movie. So here we go. He wrote Porky's. I

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didn't know that anyone wrote Porky's, honestly. Yeah,

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I know. It's a real triumph of cinematic writing, huh?

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It is. It is.

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So he has credits for Porky's, Porky's 2, The Next Day, and then character credit for Porky's Revenge.

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So we've joked about it so many times. It comes up With any movie where there's just some egregious nudity, the first thing you think of is Porky's from that era of movies. I don't know what it's even supposed to be about.

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Okay. Is there an actual thing? So here's the thing.

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Okay.

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From my recollection, Porky's was on cable quite a bit. There wasn't a ton of helicopter parenting when I was younger. So... Unfortunately, I was exposed to Porky's at kind of a young age.

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Do you want the synopsis?

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I think it's like college kids.

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Yeah.

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It's like Revenge of the... It's not Revenge of the Nerds, but it's like really along those lines, right? In

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1954, a group of Florida high school guys try to help their buddy lose his virginity, which leads them to seek revenge on a sleazy nightclub owner and his redneck sheriff brother for harassing them.

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I mean, I don't remember any of that. There's just a lot of boobs. But... I mean, the 80s were such an interesting time for this. Well, I guess it has carried on. It's not just the 80s, but the 80s, I feel, began this trend of movies where it's like, gotta lose your virginity. Gotta lose your virginity. Like, it's weird. It's weird that that was a focus of so many movies.

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It was a huge thing in the 80s. It is

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bizarre to me. Like, you know what movie we should do about a kid trying to get laid? Like, I don't know. It's just... No.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, I thought you really wanted to make that movie. I'm like, yeah, we could probably make that movie.

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I mean, it certainly isn't just the 80s because obviously like American Pie is a huge example of that. But

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it's because of those. Yes, it

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is because of

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those.

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Or like Superbad, things like that, like

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that kind of thing. Yeah, yeah.

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Anyway, so... Anyway,

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that's the guy that made A Christmas

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Story. Yeah, and I'm almost in with his writing filmography. So, Loose Cannons also has a credit for My Summer Story. And then, like, he's all over the place. He wrote Baby Geniuses. Of course. Like, wild. And then he has a credit as well for A Christmas Story Life. Okay, so we're going to stay on Bob Clark for his direction of this film. So... A lot of what he wrote he did direct, but he also kind of was a doctor for hire on some stuff. So he did direct Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things. Okay. And then here's what's even more bizarre about this guy's filmography in terms of like range of genre. He is the director of the original Black Christmas.

SPEAKER_01:

That's crazy. Right? That's really... So he has like

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horror, family fare.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, boobs. Boobs.

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It's

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impressive range.

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Right? It kind of is.

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Yeah.

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But yeah, he directed that. He did direct the first two Porky films. He did Rhinestone. Sure. With Stallone and Dolly Parton. Yeah. Loose Cannons. So he wrote and directed that. My Summer Story as well. So he comes back to... Oh, Ralphie Parker. And then he did direct Baby Geniuses as well. It's its sequel, Super Babies. Baby Geniuses 2. Jesus Christ. His final– this is interesting. I feel like I don't see this a ton. His final credit was an uncredited credit for a film called Blonde and Blonder.

SPEAKER_01:

That can't be very common for the director to be– to have an uncredited credit, right?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. I thought that was interesting. So, okay. Moving on to cinematography, Reginald H. Smythe. Thank you so much. As of, I don't think it would have changed in the time that I did my research. So he had 92 cinematography credits. 53 of those were short films.

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Okay.

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So I did not name, but that seemed to be kind of his bread and butter. I didn't really get into the nature of what the short films were, but did a lot of short films. But some of his other credits include, so these are features, A Name for Evil.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh. What was it? What was the name? I don't know.

SPEAKER_03:

I don't know. No. He shot Black Christmas.

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Okay.

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So that was kind of their first collaboration. He also shot Porky's and Porky's 2.

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I've always heard of those movies as being groundbreaking in terms of cinematography.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes, exactly. It is a really interesting... I'm trying to put myself in the head of a cinematographer who has to frame up a boob shot. I mean, it's very technical. I'm sure. Yeah, it's just bizarre. He shot a TV series. So I'm guessing this is based off the film The Hitchhiker. And then his final credit was the Bob Clark film Loose Cannons.

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Fun fact about Reggie Morris. I don't know if he went by Reggie ever. Reggie. Born on the 4th of July. Oh,

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interesting. That is always interesting.

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In the UK, so it wouldn't have mattered.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, that's very funny. They're like, yeah. Yeah. So, July 4, any ordinary day. Okay, so we are moving on to two gentlemen that we have talked about not too long ago. So, we're talking about the composers of this film. Paul Zaza. Zaza. I love saying that name. Paul Zaza and Carl Zitrer. Okay. Zitrer. Really? No, you say

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it. What? Zitrer. Zitrer. Yeah, no.

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Yeah, okay.

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It just comes out that way.

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It comes out that way. So they collaborated on this film, and they weren't– I don't know how you put it. They weren't exclusive to each other in terms of collaboration, but they did collaborate on like a couple films.

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Okay.

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Zaza has

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– They had an open relationship. Yes,

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exactly. Zaza has a little bit of a longer filmography, at least of– projects that I was familiar with. Some of his films, I think I have almost all films for him. Stone Cold Dead. So... Super

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dead.

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This is the most recent time we've talked about both of them. Prom Night. Okay. So they scored Prom Night, and he actually has credits for the entire franchise. So there is a Prom Night franchise that... Hello, Mary Lou, Prom Night 2, Prom Night 3, The Last Kiss, and Prom Night 4, Deliver Us from Evil. So

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you did all of them. It sure felt like things were wrapped up in the first one, but we know. We talked about that in that episode.

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I haven't really actually watched the other ones. I've heard they're actually not terrible. And... I think it's like kind of maybe an anthology in terms of like they're continuing on with maybe a general theme of high school kids getting murdered, but I don't think it involves the same characters.

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Oh, okay. So I think

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we also talked about him for My Bloody Valentine, which was earlier this year. He did score Porky's. There's music in that movie? Yeah, I know, right? He did a film called Melanie. Meatballs 3, Summer Job. He also scored Clark's Loose Cannons. A lot of guys coming together multiple times collaborate. This– I feel like I brought this up not too long ago. Maybe it was from Prom Night. Flesh Gordon meets the Cosmic Cheerleaders.

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Okay. That– I

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feel like IMDb is getting a little bit relaxed on because we'll we'll get to it. We'll get to it in a second with one of our main characters. They, I think, have now allowed mention of like a more adult type films.

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Yeah.

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So and in any case, Zaza also scored the TV series Renton 10, Canine Cop, The Rage. And then he also did Baby Geniuses as well as Superbabies. Baby Geniuses 2. Okay. His partner on this film, a little bit of a shorter filmography, although this is interesting because he did collaborate with Clark on Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things. This is Carl now, right? This is Carl. I'm not going to say his last name again. It's Carl. Carl! I feel bad about butchering it. He also did, love this one, Blood Orgy of the She-Devils.

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Okay. Okay. Okay. That sounds intense.

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It definitely seems like there was like an early, like in both of their earlier careers, focus on horror because he scored Black Christmas. And he also, again, like I mentioned, collaborated with Zaza on Prom Night. And then he also scored where they worked together again on Porky's. And he also has a credit for Porky's 2 the next day.

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Okay.

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Okay, film editing. Can

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I, I have two more for him, I'm sorry.

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Oh, go

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for it. These are just related. So they're not like, he was an additional music editor and a supervising music editor on Prancer and Moonstruck, respectively.

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Oh, nice.

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Two movies that we covered and really enjoyed.

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Yeah, we love those movies. Okay, Stan Cole. So he cut this film. And let's see. I have mostly film, a little bit of TV for him. So he was the editor on Black Christmas. He did a film, My Pleasure is My Business.

UNKNOWN:

Nice.

SPEAKER_03:

I think that's a great title. King Solomon's Treasure. He was the editor on Porky's and Porky's 2.

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I see a sense of theme here. Look, I'm always kind of surprised at whatever pops up. There's always something where there's like this common thread through a movie. The last fucking thing that I would have ever imagined. Like all

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these guys working on fucking Porky's.

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All Porky's all the time. All

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Porky's all the time. These guys must have really liked working together.

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Yeah.

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Because now there is like a common refrain for multiple films already.

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Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

He was the editor on Rhinestone. He also did cut the TV series The Hitchhiker. He did also cut Lou's Cannons. He... Kind of a weird connection with Zaza. So he comes back for Prom Night 4, Deliver Us From Evil. So he does that one. He cuts Baby Geniuses and Super Baby's Baby Geniuses 2. Are

SPEAKER_01:

there only two of those? I can't believe there are only two Super Genius Baby Geniuses. I feel like there was

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probably other properties related to that. Got to be. But I didn't put them down. He was the editor on Blonde and Blonder. So that was the last credit for Clark that was uncredited. And then he did some... TV movies, specifically Murder, She Wrote. He did four of those. Okay. So, okay. Moving on to the stars of this film. I am not ordering them the way that IMDb ordered them.

SPEAKER_01:

I think that I get the top two billing being Old Man and Mom, Mother Parker. But Peter Billingsley is like criminally low down on this list. We're starting with him. We should, right? We're

SPEAKER_03:

starting with Ralphie. I mean, come on. What? Yeah.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

So Peter Billingsley, he is Ralphie, Ralphie Parker. And he does a great job in this movie. I'm always very impressed by good kid

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actors.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. So he's the star of this film. He's the main character of this film. And he was like a pretty... I don't know, prolific is probably a little hyperbolic, but he did a lot of acting when he was a kid. Now as an adult, every once in a while you see him in something, but for the most part, he's like a producer now. That's more so what he does. But strictly speaking, acting credits, these are all when he was still fairly young. Honky Tonk Freeway. Okay. I think I have, yes, I have all films for him. The Dirt Bike Kid. Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

The Dirt Bike Kid, that sounds familiar. I

SPEAKER_03:

think I said this wrong the last time, and I don't remember why I brought it up, but I said, I think, Ruskies, but you, I think, corrected me, and you were like, no, it should be Ruskies.

SPEAKER_01:

It's for sure Ruskies, yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

But it's R-U-S-S. Isn't that Russ? Ruskies?

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, I think the pronunciation is a long U for... You're right,

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you're

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right.

SPEAKER_03:

It's Ruskies. Ruskies. Beverly Hills Brats. So here we go. As an adult, some of his credits, this one's fun. I think it's literally, blink and you'll miss him, but he is in the movie Elf.

SPEAKER_01:

Amazing.

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Do you know who he is? I

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do. Yes.

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But that's because I'm...

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Who is Ming Ming? That's what he has listed. That's his credit in

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elf. Oh, well, then that's the elf.

SPEAKER_01:

That's, I guess, his elf name. His elf name? Okay. Okay. There were two others that I wanted to mention.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, I'm not done yet.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. But I was waiting for you to explain which elf he is in elf.

SPEAKER_01:

I don't know.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, okay. So when Buddy... It's early in the film.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

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And Buddy clearly is showing he does not have the elf capabilities to make toys the way that elves usually make toys.

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He doesn't. He's still really good, though.

SPEAKER_03:

He's still really good. So he comes up to the elf that's kind of supervising everybody to give him his daily total. He

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did have glasses on.

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That's Peter Billingsley.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

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That's the elf.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay. I don't know. I honestly am surprised I didn't recognize him.

SPEAKER_03:

It's the blue eyes.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

uh well the other the other ones i'm gonna say really quickly you can bring up if i miss some he's in the breakup iron man for christmas's spider-man far from home and of course he is the star he comes back as ralphie adult ralphie for a christmas story christmas

SPEAKER_01:

is he he's in iron man

SPEAKER_03:

that's what there's a it might be a blank and you miss it role i don't remember him he

SPEAKER_01:

had a producer credit on iron man too

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, he's done well for himself as a producer.

SPEAKER_01:

He was also in two episodes of The Wonder Years, which was created in part- Of the nostalgia. Not based on, but yeah. Yeah, I don't think The Wonder Years would have happened if not for A Christmas Story. I

SPEAKER_03:

could see that.

SPEAKER_01:

And then he also was in 11 episodes of a TV show called Sherman Oaks.

SPEAKER_03:

You know what? I saw that.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Yeah.

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And I didn't put it in because I was like, nobody's going to.

SPEAKER_01:

I found that interesting. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Moving on. So adult Ralphie in this film. So we don't see adult Ralphie. We just hear adult Ralphie. As I mentioned, is Gene Shepard. So of the IMDb credits for him where it's like narration, voice work, it's mostly is like Ralphie Parker. So it's not like he broke out to do other stuff. Like he kind of stayed within the properties that he had created himself.

SPEAKER_01:

I can only assume it wasn't for a lack of opportunity. Like he just wanted to do that because, again, he was a great voice performance.

SPEAKER_03:

Very much so, yeah. And it might have been something where it's like, well, I know these-

SPEAKER_01:

It would have fallen flat without it.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. I know these properties. I made these properties. I love these properties. That's why I want to do it specifically to tell these stories.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

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But-

SPEAKER_01:

I'm sure you can find someone who wrote something who is absolute garbage at narrating it.

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Yeah.

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So just because he knows it and he wrote it?

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Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

He knows

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intonation. He knows where to put emphasis. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, moving on to– it's wild to me, but I guess Ralphie's parents never referred to each other by a first name. They sure don't. So we don't know first names. Melinda Dillon, we just know as Mother Parker, which is kind of a wild way

SPEAKER_01:

to– It's really weird. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

But– That's how she's credited. So, yeah, I don't think old man Parker, who is the dad, ever says her first name. She never says his first name.

SPEAKER_01:

Fair is fair. Neither one of them have a name. We've covered several movies now where the mom is just mother.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, yeah. I guess it's fair play that both of them have no name. She's a super familiar actress. She passed away not too long ago. She passed away in 2023. She had stopped acting, I believe, like well before that. Her last credit, I think, was in 2007. So it had been a while by the time she had passed away that she had acted. Really? And also, Oscar-nominated actress. Really? Okay. Yes, multiple times over. So she also is kind of all over the place with her credits. Gosh, did I even see this? I might have even seen this movie before Christmas Story. I personally... I think my first memory of her is from Slapshot.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah,

SPEAKER_03:

I knew you were going to say that. And they're just kind of having a conversation in bed.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

And the entirety of the scene, she is topless just talking to him, which I guess that is maybe a more realistic depiction of how a scene like that would go. But yeah, she's just sitting there and having a conversation with him. Okay. So that's her in that. My guess is that when you think of Melinda Dillon, you probably first think of...

SPEAKER_01:

Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

SPEAKER_03:

Correct.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. No topless scenes. Just a really good movie.

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For which she got a Best Supporting Actress nomination.

SPEAKER_01:

That's cool. Yeah. Yeah. I can see that.

SPEAKER_03:

Yep. Yeah. She's very good in that. What was her kid's name?

SPEAKER_01:

Barry.

SPEAKER_03:

Barry.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. I only remember it because it's like.

SPEAKER_03:

What a name. Barry. I mean, it's a perfectly fine name. Sorry to anybody named Barry out there. It

SPEAKER_01:

was a good first season of one show.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, yeah. Yeah. So she gets another Best Supporting Actress nomination for yet another film that she co-stars with Paul Newman, Absence of Malice. So I don't know that movie. I don't either. We could cover it. We could cover it. She also was in Harry and the Hendersons, the 1990 Captain America. Oh,

SPEAKER_01:

okay.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

She also was in Prince of Tides. I have all– well, she did do a ton of TV work. I just featured films that she was in.

SPEAKER_01:

Got it.

SPEAKER_03:

To Wong Fu, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar. I need to just finally see that movie. Never saw it. How to Make an American Quilt, Magnolia, and Reign Over Me. Okay. Yeah. Okay, moving on to, yes, we have already referred to him, Old Man Parker, which there is a little bit of an age difference between him and his wife.

SPEAKER_01:

There is. I don't know. We've certainly seen worse.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes, we have. Darren McGavin. One thing that's interesting, though, really quickly now that I'm thinking about it, when Ralphie has this like throwaway line about how his mom hasn't had a hot meal in 15 years, I'm like, well, why would that be? Because Ralphie is the elder son. He's only nine. So are you telling me that even before they had kids, she was like slaving over her husband? Probably. But that made me sad. Anyway, or maybe he's being hyperbolic. Kids are hyperbolic. Darren McGavin. So he had an amazing career, largely in television. He had a phenomenal TV career.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it's crazy how many things he was in.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes. And the things that I'm actually listing by name are just some of the shows where he had like extended runs. He... was on a ton of shows where he was on one time, two times. And so I picked the ones where he had kind of like an ongoing role.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

So he was on a TV show called Crime Photographer.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay. I

SPEAKER_03:

do have a couple films for him that are sprinkled throughout. He was in The Man with the Golden Arm.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, my God. I thought you were like one word away from a James Bond title. The man with the golden gun.

SPEAKER_03:

I thought so. Yeah. I thought so. He is Mike Hammer in the TV show Mike Hammer. That's

SPEAKER_01:

pretty cool.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. He headlined a TV show. I think more than once, too. He was on a TV show called Riverboat. So this was interesting. He was in a TV movie called The Outsider. And then I guess maybe it was popular enough that they just then turned it into a TV series. I have heard of things like that. Like, that happens. Oh, yeah. So then he comes back for the TV series. He was also on a TV series called, I'm going to say, Kolchak, colon, The Night Stalker.

SPEAKER_01:

Not Kojak. Kolchak. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes, correct. Not Kojak.

SPEAKER_01:

Kolchak.

SPEAKER_03:

It's crazy. Okay. Anyway, it's like fraud alert, frog alert. Frog alert. Frog alert. Frog alert. We're on the same page. We're on the same page. He was in the film Airport 77. He also, this is crazy to me, he also was in the 1990 Captain America. Wow. Isn't that funny? So he kind of reteams with her.

SPEAKER_01:

Because Mother Parker was Mrs. Rogers.

SPEAKER_03:

I don't know what his role was. Sorry. He also was in a different movie. Adam Sandler film. He was in Billy Madison. And yeah, just had a very extensive,

SPEAKER_01:

wonderful, full career. He's uncredited, but he is in The Natural. Oh,

SPEAKER_03:

okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. And I recognize him. I recognize seeing him in that movie.

SPEAKER_03:

So now we're moving on to... Oh, well, there's one outlier. But for the most part, all the kids, besides Ralphie, in the film. Starting with Randy Parker. I feel bad because... I don't know if this is a hot take or not. Randy is so annoying to me. He

SPEAKER_01:

did his job very well. I

SPEAKER_03:

guess so. Yeah. Yeah. As like a little brother. But it wasn't even him being annoying as little brother. He's just constantly whining. Yeah. Oh, Randy's annoying. Played by Ian Petrella. Not an extensive filmography. We have some TV appearances, specifically when he was still really little. So he was on Different Strokes, Who's the Boss, Highway to Heaven, like kind of a what's what of 80s shows. Yeah, that's amazing. My Sister Sam. And then also, this was early 90s, I think, Beverly Hills 90210. Like, I think it started in 1980. I don't think it ever... Blood into the 80s.

SPEAKER_01:

He's played such characters as kid, big kid, trick-or-treater. I

SPEAKER_03:

love that. And then he comes back, and this is going to be a common refrain for these younger actors, he comes back for A Christmas Story Christmas. That's cool. Yeah. Yeah. Moving on to, now the next two people I'm mentioning are Ralphie's friends. So the first is Flick.

UNKNOWN:

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03:

And Flick is the one that does actually get his tongue stuck to the pole.

SPEAKER_01:

So that's that friend. Like a suction cup, a suction device in the pole to give the appearance of it being stuck.

SPEAKER_03:

That makes sense because I was like, even if you're a great kid actor, given the way his body, like what he was doing with his body, it would have been really hard for him to keep that position.

SPEAKER_01:

Because you see the tongue kind of like stretching a little bit. Yeah, they had like a suction cup on it.

SPEAKER_03:

Which I'm like, they should hopefully have had like... People on set to make sure that that kid... I don't know. I don't know if you can do that today. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm sure it's fine.

SPEAKER_03:

I'm sure it's fine. Scott Schwartz, which is funny because his real last name is the name of another character's name. So he has continued to act. Oh, great. And also produce. Okay, that's super cool. So... What's he been doing? Okay, so here's the thing. Some of his... Credits shortly after A Christmas Story, he was in the toy Raiders of the Living Dead.

SPEAKER_01:

Sounds interesting, but okay.

SPEAKER_03:

Then he pivots.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, interesting.

SPEAKER_03:

Into Adult Fair.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm sorry, what?

SPEAKER_03:

So, for instance, he was in a video called Scotty's X-Rated Adventure. Okay. As well as Dirty Bob's X-Rated Adventure. Like the letter X, Solent, Adventures, 36 and 35. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01:

Are there 34 others? I don't

SPEAKER_03:

know. I don't know. But he was in those. Yeah. Not too long ago, he was in The Quarantine Bunch. And then he actually does also come back for A Story

SPEAKER_01:

Christmas. Amazing.

SPEAKER_03:

So I did... Because when I was going through his filmography, I was like, what is going on? So he pivots into adult film. And then I think at some point he wanted to not be part of it anymore. And that's a hard thing to do.

SPEAKER_01:

For sure.

SPEAKER_03:

For a lot of reasons. Yeah.

UNKNOWN:

So...

SPEAKER_03:

I can appreciate that for Christmas Story Christmas, he was asked to return for that. I think that was probably a pretty big deal.

SPEAKER_01:

I find it interesting. I haven't seen this before. I haven't seen a credit for being on a podcast series. Yeah. But he is credited as being on one episode of a podcast series called Bitching with Bitchy the Clown.

SPEAKER_03:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Very cool. Bitching.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay. Moving on to R.D. Robb. So he is Schwartz. He's the other friend. He's the one that Ralphie falsely accuses of being the friend from whom he learns the word that's not fudge. And Schwartz gets the shit beat out of him by his mother because of it. At

SPEAKER_01:

least we can hear it happening on the phone. Yeah. That

SPEAKER_03:

was fun.

UNKNOWN:

So...

SPEAKER_03:

Some of his credits include the Brady Bunch movie, Matilda, Eight Days a Week. He was on the TV series for a little bit, The Goldbergs. Okay. And then Samesies. He comes back for A Christmas Story Christmas.

SPEAKER_01:

That Christmas Story Christmas movie was like the best thing that happened to a few people here.

SPEAKER_03:

Exactly. That's

SPEAKER_01:

cool.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay, so moving on to Zach Ward. So he plays the main bully, Scott Farkas.

SPEAKER_01:

Scott Farkas? He had green eyes. No, they were yellow eyes. His toady friend had green teeth.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes, you're correct on

SPEAKER_01:

that.

SPEAKER_03:

This was his first acting credit, and man, he is not... portrayed in a positive way at all like he's just kind of the worst and and I don't even know if the actual physical bullying is the worst part of it like just the way he laughs and the way he looks it's all just like and actually from what I can tell he's grown up to be a very successful actor he's done a ton of stuff that's great he's uh yes it's kind of wild so and I guess his maybe his full name is Zacharias because he has a credit in a film I don't think it's is it Ed? Ed with Matthew McConaughey. I don't know. But he's credited as Zacharias Ward. That is distinguished. Which is like, keep that name, man. Zacharias, that's an amazing name. Love that. So he also– I have most– well, mostly films, but then some TV. Wild America, Anne of Green Gables, colon, The Continuing Story,

SPEAKER_01:

which

SPEAKER_03:

should have never been made.

SPEAKER_01:

It's like the next generation.

SPEAKER_03:

It's still Anne and Gilbert, but– It didn't need to be told, I feel. You are an expert. I'm not. But I did have a very intense love of the early Anna Green Gables. Yeah. Like PBS series. Loved it. He was, I guess, an almost famous. I think... I don't know if this is who he was. It's possible. Like, you can't really suss him out because he has like a beard and long hair, like kind of the 70s kind of look.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, OK.

SPEAKER_03:

And so. I don't know if this isn't the one where he's like, hey, man, like anyway, that's there's a lot of guys in that movie. They go, hey, man, but

SPEAKER_01:

I'm going to need a little more.

SPEAKER_03:

Sorry. Anyways, in that movie, the TV series Titus, some of these are fun. He's in Freddy versus Jason, Resident Evil 4. colon apocalypse, the original transformers. Hmm. This one's a whole way. I mean, the,

SPEAKER_01:

the original live action with Shia LaBeouf.

SPEAKER_03:

I believe so. Okay. Yeah. These, uh, films always just have the best names. He's in Sharknado colon heart of sharkness. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

That's so good. I

SPEAKER_03:

mean, I hope who's ever coming up with these titles will get paid because they are so fun. They're so fun. And then he really leads into, I think, his, what would I call it, the legacy of A Christmas Story. Because, yes, he does come back for A Christmas Story Christmas. However, he also does A Christmas in Vermont, Second Chance for Christmas. So he does some of these Hallmark-esque type things. He also was in the TV series Zee nation which was that about zombies

SPEAKER_01:

i i don't know

SPEAKER_03:

and he's just done a ton of tv work like he's just been busy very busy

SPEAKER_01:

i mean he's been in an episode of party of five

SPEAKER_03:

well there you go

SPEAKER_01:

and it's always sunny so he's like a ton of yeah i got i got more wanting more american horror story sure that's all i got actually

SPEAKER_03:

well all i got our last credit is I had to include Miss Shields.

SPEAKER_01:

I feel bad for the person who played Miss Shields.

SPEAKER_03:

You do?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, she was pregnant.

SPEAKER_03:

She was. I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_01:

And so they had to just bulk her up overall because they couldn't have someone appearing to be a single pregnant woman. person in the movie in that time. They could

SPEAKER_03:

have just called her Mrs. Shields if they're going to have a problem with it. I mean,

SPEAKER_01:

good lord. They could either call you Mrs. Shields or we're going to load you up with a bunch of stuff to make you just look stout is what it says.

SPEAKER_03:

They did a good job because I had no idea. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

I

SPEAKER_03:

had no idea. And also like...

SPEAKER_01:

That would have been a much more elegant fix.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, just call her Mrs. Shields. This is very weird. Very weird. Played by Teddy Moore and... You know, not an extensive filmography, but some of her credits, a couple films. We have Rolling Vengeance. She is also in My Summer Story. She has done some voice work. She did voice in a TV series. I like the name of it. Roly Poly Oly. I like it. Fun. Yeah. She was in the TV miniseries The Kennedys. And then she also has leaned into kind of the– The name she got from this film. So she's in Mistletoe over Manhattan and Magical Christmas Ornaments. And she's also just done multiple TV movies. Okay. Moving on to film synopsis. Yeah. In the 1940s, a young boy named Ralphie Parker attempts to convince his parents, teacher, and Santa Claus that a Red Ryder Range 200 shot BB gun really is the perfect Christmas gift. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. You know, one thing that I thought was interesting when you are watching it, I think sometimes you get these really clear reminders that it's the 1940s. And sometimes it doesn't seem like it's the 1940s at all. Like, for instance, in the opening scene, especially when they're kind of giving you just like a little bit of a montage of the town. Specifically, there's a scene with carolers.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

They look like they were straight out of the 1970s, to be honest, with their attire.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah. When I think back on when I first became aware of this, I don't think it's not a movie that I remember ever seeing in the movie theater. It's just always been around. I think my dad introduced me or wanted to watch it, so we saw it. And I never really thought about even that, like, in my mind, it was just like old timey.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So to the extent that, like, even the Carolers at the beginning looked like they were from, like, not the same generation. I never really thought about it much.

SPEAKER_03:

They didn't look like they were from 83. That would have been amazing. It didn't look quite in line with everything else. But I think overall... It is– you know, there's always a– I mean, it's funny to say nostalgia because, like, we're not from the 1940s. We don't really know the 1940s. But when you

SPEAKER_01:

see– Yeah, it's weird. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

When you see films set back in eras before our time,

SPEAKER_01:

you

SPEAKER_03:

just immediately kind of get a nostalgic kind of whatever. Yeah. But it is also really funny– I can understand why, although I don't think she behaved in the best way with the lamp, why Mother Parker was so appalled by the lamp. Because I would think that there was kind of a propriety of the 1940s in most areas of suburban America, especially the Midwest.

SPEAKER_01:

To not have a sexy lug lamp in your front window. Yes,

SPEAKER_03:

exactly, with like fishnet stockings.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

You know, it's like, use your words, talk to him about how you feel instead of just, like, sabotaging it and breaking it. Because, like, I did kind of feel bad for him. He was so happy about it.

SPEAKER_01:

Their relationship is, like, actually more interesting the more, like, I was kind of following the movie in a way that I normally wouldn't because I've seen it so many times now and it's just on on Christmas and I've had it on for, like... years and years and years at Christmas, but they had like a really interesting relationship and it felt like there was more going on between them. Like little subtle things. Yeah. Just like looks when Ralphie got in the fight.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

Or like, cause they, they present the dad or old man Parker as not really being present, but he's obviously way more aware of everything going on in the house than, than he lets on all the time.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, even I was surprised. I mean, and we'll to your point, you make an excellent point. And we'll get to like the main example of that, which is like kind of the climax of the movie. But I was actually surprised that he kind of ratted out Ralphie when Ralphie swore because there was actually a look he has when he tells Ralphie to get back in the car where it almost looks like a smirk to me yeah and I was like oh he thinks it's kind of funny

SPEAKER_01:

he still might

SPEAKER_03:

he still might but he just like threw his kid under the bus anyway but and so I thought that was kind of interesting and Yeah, you're right. They do have– and just little things like where they're like, oh, I think I hear Santa. And then like the kids go upstairs and they're like, okay, let's go. Like they just have like– they act with each other in a very different way alone than they do also with the kids.

SPEAKER_01:

At the very end when they're just like watching the snow. Yeah,

SPEAKER_03:

yeah. It was really nice. But yeah, to your point, at the end where he knows all along– Although, were you being serious about what you thought was the inception point for the dad?

SPEAKER_01:

I don't know. I thought that at the very beginning, when he slips in the ad, I guess, or something for the Red Ryder BB gun into his mom's magazine, I thought, yeah, it's possible that she'd open that, see it, say something, the dad sees it. I think it's possible. Sure. Yeah. I think he may have planted ever since then, or he knew ever since that moment.

SPEAKER_03:

Possibly. And I mean, just like little things like when, you know, before he clues Ralphie into where the gun is hiding. Yeah. You know, where he knows all along. He's like, so did you have a good Christmas? Did you get everything you wanted? Like, he knows. He knows. Yeah. I do like that. And also... He

SPEAKER_01:

heard him and he knew what he wanted and he is aware of what's going on in his kid's life in a way that the whole movie makes you think is not happening.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes. And I think I want to give credit to both parents because I think both parents are a little bit more clued in than sometimes they are shown to be. Like when Rami beats the shit out of Scud and... The mom comes and grabs him and he's upset and she kind of gets it like she doesn't she doesn't throw him under. She does

SPEAKER_01:

not.

SPEAKER_03:

She he could have gotten. I mean, he's in presumably so much trouble that Randy literally thinks their dad is going to kill him. Yeah. And she understands in that moment that him getting in trouble is not going to help anything. And so she doesn't. Obscure what happened. She does tell her husband, yep, he was in a fight.

SPEAKER_01:

And there's this look between them.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Right. And it felt like that was like kind of a cool moment that I don't think I'd really like thought about before. Because we're not

SPEAKER_03:

looking at the parents when you're watching this when you're younger.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Yeah. So it was kind of like this look that was like, I handled it. Yes. It's fine. And

SPEAKER_03:

he's like, OK, I trust that you handled it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

You know, and she does have a throwaway line where she's like, yeah, I gave him a talking to. Mm hmm. And that's it. So I think both parents, like, at times they come across– like, I got to be honest. The scene where she's encouraging Randy to be a piggy, I'm like, this has gone on two minutes too long. Like, I didn't necessarily need this. And, you know, the dad also has kind of his more, like, heightened reality type moments. But I do like the parents overall. I think they're good parents. It's an interesting setup, too. I think that, like, considering the– Yeah. I didn't see her fixing

SPEAKER_01:

the furnace.

SPEAKER_03:

True. That's true. But...

SPEAKER_01:

Platypus knot.

SPEAKER_03:

I do think that there is like a respect between the two of them and like a partnership between them, which I liked seeing. Yeah. So, I mean, overall, we've talked about this where I can't really claim A Christmas Story is like one of my favorite Christmas movies, but it's a very... It's a comfort film.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

And... We mentioned this. This is probably why a lot of people feel this way about this film because you can literally sit down at any point and you haven't really missed anything and you'll get something enjoyable out of the next couple minutes if like all you do is sit down for two or three minutes and then you have to get up again. It

SPEAKER_01:

works good as having it as a movie that is just on in like a repeat loop for hours and hours because you could start the movie from the middle, watch it through the end, watch the next– like presentations beginning and it feels like, yeah, this still works. This still like kind of fits together. It's fine.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. And I mean, that's probably look, I haven't read the book where in God, we trust all all others pay cash. It sounds like it's probably maybe a bunch of short stories, which is why the film feels the way it does.

SPEAKER_01:

The story of Ralphie and his gun is from the story in God, we trust all others pay. So, yeah, that's possible. And the fun thing about that is that the gun that he actually talks about in the story that then is in the movie never actually existed. Like he misremembered certain features in terms of. like the compass or this thing which tells time, which I think was a sundial. Oh, yeah. Which would be a weird thing to have on a gun. Yes. So, like, when they realized that they actually had to get a prop, they had to get something for the movie, they reached out to the Daisy Rifle Company and they made a custom one for the movie.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, that's cool. Yeah. I mean... I'm not going to go down a rabbit hole in terms of like.

SPEAKER_01:

Too late. We're like now we're into this almost.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, meaning the fact that this kid is like obsessed with the gun. It's a BB gun. And, you know, just the way that you would look at it through.

SPEAKER_01:

The 40s Westerns like. Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

It meant an entirely kind of different thing.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm not going to feel any certain way about the way in which guns are essentially fetishized in the movie. Like, yeah, you could go down. You could go down that. like um that rabbit hole but i think it's like an imperfect way of analyzing the movie and you're like trying to apply a 2024 lens to a movie made in the 80s about the 40s

SPEAKER_03:

exactly i mean i do think it's hilarious when he finally gets the gun and he goes outside and he's like i did shoot my eye out like i mean it's actually oh my god i did shoot it's Pretty funny. And I will say this about BB guns. So I never had a BB gun. I didn't ever think to want a BB gun. But I did know someone who– so a young– like a boy and he had brothers. And one of them had a BB gun. Mm-hmm. And they were not.

SPEAKER_04:

And

SPEAKER_03:

I remember this guy got shot by one of his brothers and he got shot in the forearm. And they were so scared of telling their parents that he had gotten hurt. They never said anything. And so the kid, I swear to you, you could see the skin grew over because the BB gun was embedded in his arm. And you could kind of move it a little bit under the skin. It was disgusting. And I'm like, that seems like nasty. Pretty

SPEAKER_01:

lucky you didn't get, like, an infection or something. Yes!

SPEAKER_03:

And I'm like, and you have metal,

SPEAKER_01:

right? I don't think that's, like, surgical

SPEAKER_03:

grade. Yeah, the BB is, like, in your body

SPEAKER_01:

now. Oh, well. It's probably, like, grown around. It's like a cyst now in his arm. They're not

SPEAKER_03:

harmless. Like, they can actually really hurt you. So... Be careful. I don't know. Do they still sell BB guns? Is that like a thing? I'm sure.

SPEAKER_01:

I don't know. They probably they're probably like crazy BB guns now.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, unfortunately. So in any case, I mean, it's an enjoyable film and it's a bunch of and like so much of the film has nothing to do with. the main through line of Ralphie wanting this gun.

SPEAKER_01:

No, yeah, that's fair. It's like all these like kind of separate but interconnected experiences over Christmas time.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, like Flick getting his tongue stuck has nothing to do with the gun. Ralphie beating up Scott, unless I guess his parents were going to maybe use that as like a warning or like a, you know, Now you're not going to get the gun because you beat this kid up.

SPEAKER_01:

It's so wild. I just want to, like, you've been saying his name correctly the whole time, but it is wild that his name is Scutt.

SPEAKER_03:

Scutt. Yeah. Not Scott. Scutt.

SPEAKER_01:

S-C-U-T. Yes. Farkas. Yes. Just in case anyone was like, why is she saying it that way? Why is she

SPEAKER_03:

saying it? I'm saying it right. For once. For once on this podcast, I am saying something correctly. Scutt. Scutt. So, yeah, it's a fun film, and I'm glad that we did finally cover it. Yeah.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Because it's beloved by a lot of people. It

SPEAKER_01:

is beloved by me. You

SPEAKER_03:

probably love it more than I do. But that doesn't mean I dislike it in

SPEAKER_01:

any way. I'm sure I do. And I resent how much you hate it. I

SPEAKER_03:

mean, I'm very curious if like a newer generation also really loves this film much in the same way that like in the 80s and 90s– It's a Wonderful Life was on TV all the time. I think

SPEAKER_01:

that's right.

SPEAKER_03:

Different reasoning. It's because the copyright had expired. So he could play it for no fee. And that might be the reason why I love that movie so much because I saw it all the time. And now, to your point, TBS and even, I think, Disney and TNT as well. Don't both of them at different times just play it on a 24-hour loop or something? I

SPEAKER_01:

mean, they always do it for Christmas. I don't know if it's both networks because one of them might have– like the basketball on Christmas. I don't know. Maybe at one point in

SPEAKER_03:

the past they did. But in any case, so a great way to wrap up the season. Yeah. And call to action. Hmm.

SPEAKER_01:

What? I guess the equivalent, like what was the equivalent of the Red Ryder BB gun? What was that one? Oh, yeah. What was that one gift that you always

SPEAKER_03:

wanted? Hmm. Okay. I don't know if I ever... I had like one toy where I was like, I have to have this thing. But growing up, like Barbies. Okay. Barbies were a really big deal.

SPEAKER_01:

You won't be shocked at mine.

SPEAKER_03:

Like Transformers or something?

SPEAKER_01:

No, like a Nintendo Entertainment System. Oh,

SPEAKER_03:

sure. Nintendo. Okay, that's fair. I do remember... I don't remember. I mean, I got a Nintendo. I don't know how like...

SPEAKER_01:

Came with like Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt. Yeah. I don't

SPEAKER_03:

know how much of an argument I made to my father about getting it. I just, this sounds incredibly spoiled. I just got it. But I don't remember being like, please, please, please, you know. But anyway.

SPEAKER_01:

I think I probably had like the equivalent of like a PowerPoint presentation showing how much, look at how much we'll save by having a home video game system versus going to the arcade. Yeah. It was about saving money.

SPEAKER_03:

And also, I mean, I think that kids nowadays, there's just so much. And the funny thing is, is like kids nowadays can still get the things that we wanted when we were children ourselves because now everything's out there. Yeah. Like you can– whether it's because they've like rebooted a toy line or eBay or whatever, you can probably find– maybe at a cost, but you could probably find anything you want nowadays for the most part. At a cost. At a cost. Yes. So– Okay, so you didn't specifically ask a question, but I think I know where you're going with this. No,

SPEAKER_01:

that was my call. My call to action was like, what is that one thing? Oh, I thought you were

SPEAKER_03:

asking me. Sorry. I was asking you and everyone. Sorry. My apologies. That's a great question, though. So if you want to reach out, we would love to hear from you. You can do so through Facebook, Instagram, or Axe. Same handle at all three, at 80s Montage Pod, and 80s is 80S. It is. Sneak peek.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

There is no sneak peek because this is the season finale.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, okay, okay. So we're

SPEAKER_03:

going to leave this a little bit of

SPEAKER_01:

a surprise. I have no idea. What will we start the new year off with? I don't know. Yeah,

SPEAKER_03:

we don't know.

SPEAKER_01:

Will we start the new year? We will. We will.

SPEAKER_03:

But we haven't yet decided yet. We haven't firmed up the list.

SPEAKER_01:

We have talked about several different things.

SPEAKER_03:

We have talked about several films.

SPEAKER_01:

I think you have a list. I think you already have. Okay,

SPEAKER_03:

so I didn't say I didn't have a list. I said I didn't firm up the list. I always have a list. So yes, very excited about that. And also we don't do this often, but because it is the finale, I just wanted to, first of all, again, as we do always do, thank everyone out there for taking the time to listen to our podcast. Smash that like button. Well, you're on the right track. Lots of options out there. So we do really appreciate you taking the time to listen to ours. And if you feel so inclined to, All those things out there, like Apple reviews and other kinds of reviews, it does help with kind of algorithms and getting us seen by more people.

SPEAKER_01:

We should start off the episode with this. A lot of people

SPEAKER_03:

do.

SPEAKER_01:

Hey.

SPEAKER_03:

I just don't want to be obnoxious about

SPEAKER_01:

it. Hey, everyone. Have you made it this far? Thank

SPEAKER_03:

you. Have you made it 30 seconds in? Give us a review. So, obviously, good reviews would be appreciated. Hopefully not. But

SPEAKER_01:

honestly, if you've listened this far and you hear this request and you just... I hate this show. That's the straw. Go for it. Hey, let it all out. It's fine. I

SPEAKER_03:

mean, I have no control over people's actions.

SPEAKER_01:

Anyway.

SPEAKER_03:

Thank you again. We are wishing you all out there a very merry end to your 2024. However you choose to celebrate, stay safe. And we are super excited to ring in 2025 with you in two weeks time.