Transcript
JT Spangler: on me and three
Jeff: June 14th.
JT Spangler: Cable
Jeff: June 14th. um I like when they put the date in there for the old TV spots.
JT Spangler: Yeah, dude. That's important. I don't know why, but it is.
Jeff: Cable guy.
JT Spangler: I haven't watched this in, might, I maybe have not watched this since it came out because I didn't own it in any kind of way and I never really liked it all that much. So it's been a minute.
Jeff: Yeah, it's been a minute for me too, closer than you, but it's been a minute. um I definitely own this because that's the only reason I saw it is because i was like, Jim Carrey, Matthew Broderick. I like both of those guys. Let's get this one. But I didn't see it in the theater. So like, not in my top.
JT Spangler: I rented it. i remember renting it because I was like, oh, jim the new Jim Carrey movie's out. Let's check this out. And I was like, what the hell? Which I think is what happened to a lot of people and is why the movie didn't make as much money. Because it opened it opened a huge, like beat The Rock.
Jeff: Yeah, yeah.
JT Spangler: And then people were like, i thought it going to be funny. It wasn't funny. I'm not going to tell you anybody about that.
Jeff: So wait, you're telling me this is paper?
JT Spangler: yeah
Jeff: Because paper beats rock every time.
JT Spangler: Cable beats Rock. Yeah, so...
Jeff: Cable beats rock. Dude, it's a black comedy. There's not a lot of ah black comedies that do well. Dark humor is not what everybody likes all the ways.
JT Spangler: Well, yeah, well, I was thinking, so I did my, like, impression of the movie since it came out a million years ago, and I didn't see it. I was like, oh, I think it just didn't do well because everybody thought it was going to be, like, another Ace Ventura, and then it was, like, a dark comedy.
Jeff: Right.
JT Spangler: um But I think it probably, but it's, like, got a cult following. It's probably actually really good. It's probably, like, so I married an axe murderer, and then I watched it, and I was like, I don't give a shit about this movie. This is weird.
JT Spangler: There's nothing happening here that can.
Jeff: but You thought it was going to be so I married an ex murderer and it turns out it was Captain Ron.
JT Spangler: The huge melon. It's like an orange and a toothpick. Yeah.
Jeff: Uh, yeah, dude, I think you're actually right though. When you were like, I think people thought it was going to be one thing and ended up being a dark comedy. Uh, I thought the same thing. I was like, at least I remember him having a lisp and like, I remember the jokes.
Jeff: Uh, maybe, maybe they're still funny. Um, it just didn't hit. Like I wanted it to hit there.
JT Spangler: Which ones were the jokes? I didn't see any.
Jeff: There's there. So there was some in there. There's some in there.
JT Spangler: There's a couple, but it like Ben Stiller directs, Matthew Broderick and Jim Carrey are the leads.
Jeff: Yeah. Yeah.
JT Spangler: Frickin' Jack Black is in there. Janine Garofalo's in there. David Cross is in there.
Jeff: Dude, everybody.
JT Spangler: Judd Apatow like writes and produces this. He didn't get a writing credit, but he was just some. How is it not funny?
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: How did all the those people, if you just had them over for dinner, I feel sure you would laugh until you peed yourself. How did this movie not get more comedy in it?
Jeff: Right.
JT Spangler: I don't understand.
Jeff: Yeah. i don't I think maybe they were trying to not be funny because they succeeded.
JT Spangler: Yeah, friggin' score. They nailed that one.
Jeff: They nailed it. Nailed it.
JT Spangler: Yeah, so this was this was an interesting experience to me because I haven't seen it in a really long time and it didn't match my perception. um So, yeah. I don't know. Give us a synopsis.
Jeff: ah Synopsis. um A lonely cable installer forces a friendship on a reluctant customer that won't take any won't take no for an answer.
JT Spangler: Yeah. This is why Gen Z doesn't want to talk to anyone.
Jeff: Dude, I saw tweet the other day where somebody was like, yep, I clicked on the number for this restaurant and it pulled up FaceTime and I don't want to tell you how bad I don't want that to happen ever.
JT Spangler: yeah Yeah, never, never. Yeah, my wife will sometimes say to her colleagues, if they call her phone, she'll go, why did you call my texting machine?
Jeff: Yes. Meanwhile, my kid gets on FaceTime with like six other people. The phone is laying on the desk pointing straight at the ceiling. He's talking and playing games with the same people that he's talking to on the Xbox headset.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: And they're all just connected, just using bandwidth that I could be stealing movies with.
JT Spangler: Dude, which just just flushing bandwidth down the toilet. I don't understand why the youths will turn on FaceTime and then set the phone down and be across the room yelling at it.
JT Spangler: You know, there's a phone function that doesn't stream video for that.
Jeff: Dude, there's so many things I don't understand.
JT Spangler: act to
Jeff: When they all take pictures of their feet in Mr. Horn's class to keep the Snapchat streak alive, I'm like, all right, just put your phone up. You're not.
JT Spangler: Spaghetti again? I'll be right back.
Jeff: Yeah, I don't, dude, I don't i don't get it. Yeah.
JT Spangler: $47 million dollars budget, $101 million dollar gross.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: So this thing just kind of barely, it' a 2X multiplier means just kind of barely breaks even. But it ended up at number 19 on the year, at least domestically, right behind Jerry Maguire, which is a strong, I mean, it's just, that's just the strength of Jim Carrey in 96.
Jeff: Yeah, that's what i was going to say. It's Jim Carrey. He's freaking carrying this.
JT Spangler: Because we did Jim Carrey Month in 1994 when he did Dumb and Dumber, The Mask, and Ace Ventura all in the same year, which is ludicrous to do that many like huge comedies in one year.
Jeff: Yeah. Ace Ventura. Yeah. Yeah.
JT Spangler: And then 1995, he does Ace Ventura 2. And then this is his 96th release. But I guess, i mean, he said he has said, or maybe he hasn't said, but other people have said, like this this particular like dark and weird turn did give him...
JT Spangler: like the cachet to be able to do stuff like Truman Show, which I do really like, or Eternal Sunshine, which is frigging great.
Jeff: Yeah. Yeah.
JT Spangler: So like it does, it works.
Jeff: Or 23 or whatever movie that was with the numbers.
JT Spangler: Yeah, it works out. but um But at the time, everyone's like, this isn't the funny guy. This is weird.
Jeff: Yeah. I did read that um half of the $47 million dollars went to Jim Carrey's salary.
JT Spangler: That sounds about right.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: So he's he's, you know, he's carrying it. a do But again, i think this is, it confused people. They got out there and they were like, cool, he's going to push himself out of a rhino's butt.
Jeff: And then they get there and he's got a lisp and he's singing Jefferson Airplane.
JT Spangler: Right.
Jeff: So it's weird. um For awards, there was no major Oscar nominations for this one. um But he did get ah an jimt MTV Awards for Jim Carrey, Best Comedic Performance, and Best Villain.
JT Spangler: nice
JT Spangler: yeah
Jeff: Is he the villain? He's the villain, right?
JT Spangler: I, yeah, I guess. I mean, i guess he's the, I was going I guess he's the antagonist.
Jeff: Villain's a strong word, I think.
JT Spangler: Like he drives the movie, but he's not supposed to be villainous.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: He's supposed to be like a sympathetic, like messed up weirdo who doesn't know personal space and who at the end kind kidnaps people.
Jeff: Right.
JT Spangler: He never tried to kill me though.
Jeff: Well, so like... yeah he iing at me ah So like... when I was watching this the whole time I was thinking, and I don't know why i was thinking of fight club is fight club, a dark comedy.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: What is fight club? Like, I don't know why, like it had the same feeling for me. Like it's got stuff that's supposed to be jokes, but they're like, I don't know. i don't know how to explain it, but the whole time I was like, Oh, there's parts of a fight club that I laughed at, but it's also weird and dark and,
Jeff: talks about stuff people don't want to talk about.
JT Spangler: Fight Club doesn't talk. and If you look at the Fight Club description, just says like 1999 American film by David Fincher. It doesn't say like a genre.
Jeff: yeah.
JT Spangler: But I mean, you know, like The West Wing is a dramatic one hour long series, but there's jokes in there.
Jeff: Yeah,
JT Spangler: People do funny stuff.
Jeff: yeah, yeah.
JT Spangler: Like you can, like you yeah you don't have to be one thing or another, but I think if you say like the new film coming in this summer from Jim Carrey and Ben Stiller, you go like, that's going to hilarious.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: Like, oh shit.
Jeff: Written by Judd Apatow. What the? Featuring Jack Black.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: Oh my God.
JT Spangler: I can see the Fight Club, it's a little, because it's dark, obviously, like it's dark tonally and it's also a lot of it is nighttime shoots intentionally.
Jeff: Yeah. Yeah. yeah
JT Spangler: like The film is dark. It's also kind of a little maybe nihilistic like ah Fight Club It's not as dark as Fight Club. It's also not nearly as good as Fight Club. The
Jeff: Yeah. I can't wait to do that one. we Probably shouldn't talk about it. That's the first rule.
JT Spangler: first rule, yeah, we got three years.
Jeff: And the second rule.
JT Spangler: Three more years of not talking about it until we're forced to talk about it for the podcast.
Jeff: force
JT Spangler: We should release the Fight Club episode in 2029. That's just one hour of blank silence.
JT Spangler: Just play the intro, an hour of dead air, and then play the outro.
Jeff: How many people would sit through and actually listen just to see if we say anything eventually?
JT Spangler: No one. Everyone would get really mad and like three people would get the joke and two of them would be us.
Jeff: man. Totally should do that.
JT Spangler: yeah ah No sequels, no spinoffs. Although they, couple, like, I think Jim Carrey has said this is one of his favorite roles and one of his favorite movies and he thinks that, like, Ben Stiller did a great job.
Jeff: um Yeah, what he said.
JT Spangler: But nobody said, like, we should do another one of those.
Jeff: Well, nobody wants to lose money. um
JT Spangler: No.
Jeff: And they barely made their money back. um Do you remember where you saw this first? Like you rented it?
JT Spangler: I rented it.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: Yeah, remember, i don't remember where I rented it from. We usually, we were a Blockbuster family. We had that Blockbuster money. We weren't doing that alfalfa shit or going into Albertsons. We put it in my plastic bag. We were in Blockbuster making it rains.
Jeff: Oh, dude.
JT Spangler: 50, 50, 100. Dude. good hundred
Jeff: Let me guess, you guys got snacks at Blockbuster too, like buying your snacks from SkyMall.
JT Spangler: du
Jeff: I need that sharper image, Mike and Ikes. I can't go with regular...
JT Spangler: I mean, I get i get the Brookstone popcorn.
Jeff: hu
JT Spangler: the I don't remember where, I don't think we were big. I think we had snacks at home. I think it was one of those. We already have popcorn at the house. was like not this boy scout popcorn.
Jeff: yeah
JT Spangler: I want the good shit. But, uh,
Jeff: Dude, speaking of which, if you don't get whirly pop, you should ask your people for that for like one of your presents. I'm telling you, it's the best thing ever. It makes, no, no, it's the kind that like sits on the stove and you got a crank the handle and it spins around and it makes it taste.
JT Spangler: is it just one of the air popper things?
Jeff: I use that and some flavor call and dude, it tastes like the the movies. It's great.
JT Spangler: But was I've seen these before because it have it has the little metal arms at the bottom that just like spin.
Jeff: Right, right. That spins just like the ones at the movie.
JT Spangler: But when I do it on the stovetop with the cast iron, I just put oil in there and then I just shake it back and forth.
Jeff: Just jiggle it. Yeah, yeah.
JT Spangler: I just shake it like a Polaroid picture and that works fine too.
Jeff: What do you put, what kind of oil are you you in
JT Spangler: I think I use canola oil usually.
Jeff: i'm gonna send you using?
JT Spangler: I haven't done in a while. All right, great.
Jeff: I'm going to send you some links to some good stuff.
JT Spangler: I can hear my arteries clogging right now.
Jeff: which There's really good. um no. no it's it's It's actually coconut oil. and worked Dude, it's great. You're going to love it. You're to love it.
JT Spangler: Grease it for the exit run. That's fine. Yeah, so we we rent I rented it at Blockbuster because my brother would not have been able to watch this.
Jeff: Yeah. Yeah.
JT Spangler: And that's that's all I remember about that. How about you?
Jeff: yeah i Yeah, no, I bought it.
JT Spangler: You bought it.
Jeff: Yeah, I bought it at the 550 bin or something like that with Biggin.
JT Spangler: Speaking of making it rain. Yes.
Jeff: but That's different though, right? I own it forever. i don't have to bring it back in 23 hours.
JT Spangler: Yes. Yeah, so what I paid $350 to rent it and I watched it one time and you paid $550 to own it you watched it one time.
Jeff: I watched it
JT Spangler: perfect
Jeff: Oh man, did I come out big on that deal. Yeah.
JT Spangler: You pulled ahead just last week on the on the per unit pricing.
Jeff: yeah
Jeff: Yeah, just barely pulled ahead. ah So where'd you rate it? One to ten, no sevens.
JT Spangler: Yeah, I was thinking, ah i feel like I give a lot of movies like a six or a half. And I was like, I give this a five and a half. I don't think it's there. i don't think it made a six.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: There was not one memorable line or joke or so i mean there's stuff that I remembered. But there's not one was like, oh, yeah, i do.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: so I say that sometimes. Like, I remember people that's been parodied in pop culture. Like sometimes my friends and will reference and i none of this. this
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: You can delete this from my life and you I wouldn't miss it at all.
Jeff: Yeah. That's a, definitely a thing. um Every time people were like, what's your next movie you're doing? I'm like, oh I'm doing the cable guy. And every single one of them was like cable guy.
Jeff: And that's, that's the only thing they say.
JT Spangler: That's it. That's it. I do. that To be honest, I think my favorite part of the entire movie is when they go to medieval times and Janine Garofalo is their server. Cause she's so over it.
JT Spangler: And I thought that was fantastic.
Jeff: She's so good at that too.
JT Spangler: Yeah. Like
Jeff: Wait, they didn't have forks where they have Pepsi. Come on, dude. I got a lot of tables.
JT Spangler: if I had to tell people to watch one bit of this movie, it would be that just watch the Janine Garofalo. I mean, the fight scene was fine too, but yeah.
Jeff: Yeah. The Star Trek thing.
JT Spangler: So I gave it five a half.
Jeff: ah Yeah. Dude. I gave it a six because I, um, I'm not going to say I'll never watch it again, um but I'm going to have to be forced.
Jeff: Somebody else is going to be watching it in the room that I'm in I don't think I'll ever pull it up and watch it again. um
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: i see what they were trying to do, but man, it just, it didn't work for me. i don't know why that I didn't.
JT Spangler: Yeah. I don't, I mean, yeah, i was trying to think about that too. Cause mean, i I'm like, you have a 13 year old and an eight year old. I have a four year old. So i'm thinking like, man, a couple of, when like I'm already showing my kids some stuff, like I got them to watch Mulan, uh, this weekend, which is frigging.
Jeff: Yeah,
JT Spangler: I just, want I just, I've been playing the songs for him to get him just to like cook him, drug dealer.
Jeff: yeah. yeah
JT Spangler: And then we watched the movie, but he's too young to get the humor, even though it's G rated. He doesn't think Mushu is hilarious. He just like, when's the next song?
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: i was like, just hang on a second. Um, But I'm thinking, like, dude, I can't wait to show Wolf all these movies. I'll never show him this. He doesn't need this.
Jeff: Yeah, that's that that's the thing. Like if Jake's like, well, I want to see it. If this is Jim Carrey, I like Jim Carrey. Yeah, dude, this isn't like Ace Ventura though. It's more like his serious roles like Truman Show.
Jeff: Oh, I like that too.
JT Spangler: Right.
Jeff: Let's watch it. And then we're going watch it and he's going to be sad.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: So yeah, I don't know.
JT Spangler: Yeah, man.
Jeff: I mean, this one's better than the mask or no.
JT Spangler: It was.
JT Spangler: That's a good question. i feel like I liked the mask better, but I'd have to go back and look at my ratings because I remember we watched Dumb and Dumber, of course, is a 10 out of 10.
JT Spangler: And Ace Ventura was way funnier than I thought it was going to be on a rewatch. It was like in the nines.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: And the mask, was like, that's the worst of the bunch by a mile.
Jeff: Yeah.
Jeff: Right.
JT Spangler: But i don't I don't know if it was this worse.
Jeff: Until this one. Yeah. Again, I, dude, I don't, I don't know. I want, I like when movies have a darker tone and I'm cool with him not being funny.
Jeff: But it just, dude, it wasn't funny and it wasn't dark enough. I don't know. Like, I don't know how to, like it tried to do both, I think.
JT Spangler: I'm not sure.
Jeff: And that's why I didn't like it
JT Spangler: I think they did too. I'm not sure where they lost the plot either. Cause they said the original script was much lighter and like slapstickier. And i'm like, why? That seems like that could have worked.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: Like if – because it's like – I don't know. I have a problem because the ones they were – the movies they were saying they might they were trying to be like were like the psychological thrillers. I'm like those aren't like a comedy front man with a lisp like being like overacting.
JT Spangler: Like that's like – those movies the protagonist or whoever, the bad guy, the antagonist is freaking terrifying.
Jeff: Yeah.
Jeff: Right. that's That's what I'm saying. Like, I think they were trying to do both.
JT Spangler: Or like you know Judd Apatow's –
Jeff: Not that funny people can't be scary, but.
JT Spangler: Right. Well, Judd Apatow said it was going to be kind of like a what about Bob. i was like, what about Bob? Perfect example. Friggin, he's hilarious in that movie.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: He's like creepy, but funny creepy.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: Not scary creepy.
Jeff: this
JT Spangler: Not like hurling himself at your door, kidnapping your girlfriend. Creepy.
Jeff: Right. And also like that whole bit where he has the contacts in and it's the, why they even throw that in there?
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: What the hell was that?
JT Spangler: don't know.
Jeff: I wasn't paying attention for his bit. And I, I look up and I was like, what the hell's going on? Forgot about that. So yeah, dude, I don't know. I just felt like it was trying to do both and it didn't hit either of them perfectly.
JT Spangler: Yeah, I kind of think so too. And I saw Ben Stiller said they shot ah multiple versions of each scene. And he said they shot like the light version and the dark version. And he's like, in the studio kind of always was okay with the dark version.
JT Spangler: So that's the one we went with. I was like, man, I'd like to see the light version cut. Are there alternate?
Jeff: Yeah, let's let's get ah let's get a director's cut of nothing but the light version, where it's all him dunking and breaking the backboard and stuff like that.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: For Elliot Richards spitting glass of jazz.
JT Spangler: And Skinny Jack Black is in there.
JT Spangler: what ah What's your first scene?
Jeff: ah Dude, the medieval times ah time part that dude, like the Janine Garofalo part, then he shows up and starts fighting like the Star Trek and like, it's got the AMOC time, like song that he's like,
JT Spangler: Yeah. Me too.
JT Spangler: Yep. He's like doing the own, he's doing his own soundtrack like Kronk.
Jeff: And then, dude, I hate me some Andy Dick, but he was great in this, like as the the king or the lord or whoever was hosting the whole thing. um When he's like rushing him onto the horses, like get on the horse, man, hurry up. I don't think he's joking.
Jeff: Like he was... um And how he's like mouthing the words of what the guy's saying. and What Andy Dick is saying, how Jim Carrey's mouthing it.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: um Like all of that. That's the part that I like the the best out of all of them.
JT Spangler: That Janine Garofalo was great. She cracked me up in like 30 seconds of screen time.
Jeff: Yeah. Yeah.
JT Spangler: All the medieval people, like, yeah, Andy Dick did a great job. And like the freaking so star war ah Star Trek like fight scene, that shit was all... Like he's wearing the... They're wearing like spray-painted Burger King paper crowns, let's say medieval times.
Jeff: Yeah. Dude, medieval times is actually kind of fun.
JT Spangler: I was trying to remember if I've ever been. I don't think I have.
Jeff: ah I mean, it's been a while since I've been, it's, I was like 11, but I remember liking it, but I liked a lot of things when I was 11 that I don't know. So um what's your first, well, it was, you had medieval times thing down for you too.
JT Spangler: Yeah, my first one was also Medieval Times. if if i That was one of the scenes that I remembered. And I was like, this is a lot of parts that I like.
Jeff: yeah yeah yeah um
JT Spangler: And then my second one is is the answer machine. He comes home from out doing something. He's got, it's like 11 new messages.
JT Spangler: And it's like one of them is from his parents and one's from one of his buddies. And it's nine from Chip, the cable guy. And it's, dude, it's the only reason I liked it. Number one, it shows how creepy.
JT Spangler: And he's getting, and number two, it reminds me of the all time best answer machine scene ever committed to film, your so which will be later this year.
Jeff: yeah
Jeff: swingers dude that's what i thought of when he was listening to it i thought of swingers and i thought of office space those two where he's just like flipping through all of them i just washing my hair and thought maybe he called i thought i heard the phone ring maybe not all right bye like dude
JT Spangler: yeah
JT Spangler: He's like, man, we're really playing phone tag. Call me back later.
Jeff: i got a g robbie left me a g
JT Spangler: I got the six too close. I can't shoot me the one in there now.
Jeff: You got to have number rhythm. It's ba-ba-ba, ba-ba, ba-ba. Oh, man. Freaking. Yes, I like that part, too, because I actually chuckled. Let me rephrase that. I didn't laugh, but I breathed hard out of my nose.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: heard that part about him washing the air and maybe hearing.
JT Spangler: Count it.
Jeff: Yeah. Um, my second one was, uh, when they go to the, um, basketball game, uh, only for, uh, the part where he walks in, he's like, y'all need another one.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: um'm I'm ready to play. I didn't know y'all played here. It's like, I don't want to pull a hammy and he warms up and he just takes off running and starts do suicides. Um,
JT Spangler: He's like wearing like a frigging wrestling singlet and converses and like a headband. And it's all so tight. And if you played ball in the 90s, as Jeff and I did, shit was not tight back then.
JT Spangler: You were wearing Allen Iverson shorts that went down to your ankles.
Jeff: Yeah, everything was like Jinko jean shorts that were made baskets.
JT Spangler: And then he's sprinting up and down the gym and his converses are squeaking.
Jeff: that's
JT Spangler: That part was great. I forgot about that.
Jeff: And he puts the mouthpiece in. Here's the problem though. And I wanted to laugh and I may have later in the part where they're playing. Had I not just seen a clip of a along came Polly when Philip Seymour Hoffman is like rainbow make it rain.
JT Spangler: Yeah. Rainbow.
Jeff: And he's like tea tea. My lungs are burning. Uh, that was so funny that this basketball game was less funny. Um, but there was dude, who did I see? Wait, I wrote it down. There was, um, somebody at the basketball game that wait for it.
Jeff: Oh, Joel Murray, Bill Murray's brother, Joel Murray was one of the basketball players.
JT Spangler: Mm-hmm. Joel Murray. Yeah.
Jeff: And I was like, Oh snap. I recognize that guy. He didn't have any lines just running around playing basketball. Um, So that dude, um he is ah an idiot and over the top with all the things um and how it switches from goofy to scary in just a few seconds um shows how, how crazy this movie is.
JT Spangler: Yeah, man. Like, ah tonally, it was really inconsistent for me, and I don't think they could decide if they wanted to be funny or scary, and they kept trying to do both, and I don't think you can do both, really.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: think you've got to pick funny or scary.
Jeff: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, they tried though.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: They tried though, man.
JT Spangler: And i I do think, we learned, like, from other movies later that Jim Carrey can just be not funny at all and just be dark and weird as shit, and it totally works.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: But maybe at this point in time, people don't know that.
Jeff: Right.
Jeff: Yeah. I don't think the people that showed up that first week, uh,
JT Spangler: No.
Jeff: they didn't know because they were like, hell yeah, this is going to be a Jim Carrey movie. It's going to be hilarious. And then turns out. Yeah.
JT Spangler: Not so much. My third one is the ah satellite dish. The first time, like Jim Carrey's, like he's this c if he's the cable guy and freaking Matthew Broderick is the straight man. he He's Jack Black. His friend's like, dude, if you give him 50 bucks, he'll give you all the movie channels.
JT Spangler: And so like Matthew Broderick's like awkward guy.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: institute he's like, dude, he's like, hey man, he's like, my because have you ever heard of this thing where it's like you give somebody money and like they give him movie channels and Jim Carrey's all over his face. You offer me a bribe. That's a felony. That has minimum whatever.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: And Jim Carrey's like, just keep playing with You should see your face right now. And then Jim Carrey's like, so we're best friends now.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: Get in the van. in And Matthew Broders just is like, I don't, I guess.
Jeff: yeah
JT Spangler: All right, well, sure, I guess. But they go out to the giant satellite dish, but they're like laying in the satellite dish, looking up at the stars, talking. And that part of the movie, for whatever reason, I really liked.
Jeff: yeah Yeah. That's because it's awesome. Um, what,
JT Spangler: They're like getting to know each They're talking about their childhood. And it's like beautifully started.
Jeff: One of my quotes is from that part because I think it's fantastic. Dude, I'm totally with you. But see, that was not creepy or funny.
JT Spangler: No.
Jeff: So they're doing a third thing there.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: you know what I'm saying? Like it feels.
JT Spangler: That was just regular drama.
Jeff: Yeah, it feels too all over the place. My third one to prove that they were trying to be. They were trying to be funny. um was when they played the password game and it was all just, um it's super hyper-sexualized and deeply uncomfortable.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
JT Spangler: Yeah. Yeah.
Jeff: And it's a nightmare for them because it's all like filthy words.
JT Spangler: It was porno password.
Jeff: Right, right. um
JT Spangler: Horrible.
Jeff: And the fact that like he gets all upset and then he punches him and then everybody gets mad at him and chips turning everybody against him just shows like, man, that switched from being goofy and making him say penis all the way to now everybody's mad at him and he's going to end up losing his job and stuff like that. Like all of that.
Jeff: I did. It's, this is a weird movie.
JT Spangler: it's super weird. The crazy thing is that that scene, I mean, the casting is frigging is crazy how good it is. Like Matthew Broderick is the straight guy.
Jeff: yeah
JT Spangler: Jim Carrey's the lead. Leslie Mann is his romantic, you know, ex-fiance he's trying to get back together with.
Jeff: X right.
JT Spangler: Jack Black is his best friend.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: George Stegall is his dad from frigging Just Shoot Me. I love that guy.
Jeff: Yeah. Good.
JT Spangler: And from, ah and, uh, Look Who's Talking.
Jeff: Goldberg's yeah. Yeah.
JT Spangler: And, uh, Jean Garofalo, Andy Dick, David Cross, Owen Wilson. um Who was his freaking brother?
Jeff: Bravo and Kirk.
JT Spangler: Bob Odenkirk's his brother. Yeah,
Jeff: Did you see the guy who picked up the book at the end? That was Kyle Gass from Tenacious D.
JT Spangler: yeah, from Phenacious D.
Jeff: um Dude, Odenkirk's wife, that's the chick, I'm convinced. I'm going to pull it up. That's the chick from Dinner and a Movie, or what was the show on TBS where they would teach you how to cook stuff?
JT Spangler: in a movie.
Jeff: Is that her? Hold on, going to pull it up.
Jeff: Dude, that I'm like convinced. I want to say her name was Anna or something. Hang on. I'm pulling it up.
JT Spangler: is named Naomi.
Jeff: No, no, no. The wife in the movie, his ah Broderick's Matthew Broderick's brother's wife.
JT Spangler: Oh, yeah, yeah.
JT Spangler: Annabelle Gerwitch.
Jeff: There she is.
JT Spangler: Dinner and in a movie. Most recognizable from her.
Jeff: Dinner and a movie.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: I knew that was her. Some face she made at that party. I was just like, oh man, I recognize her. I used to love dinner a movie.
JT Spangler: Dude, I was going to say, used to love that TV show. And that seems like that's such an artifact that I would have a hard time explaining it to a kid now.
JT Spangler: Like, so see you'd watch a movie. Like, yeah. Like, did you rent it? and Like, no, no, it'd be on TV. But then during the commercials, that instead of running regular commercials, they would do regular commercials, but then they would talk to you about how to make like chicken piccata.
JT Spangler: Like, what?
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: How did, was it, but how did that work?
Jeff: Oh, man. I like that. And it was always like a ah drink and a ah meal that went with the movie.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: They bring that back. What are we doing?
JT Spangler: Also, speaking of the cast, did you catch who was ah Jim Carrey's character's mom in the flashback scenes? they They never showed her face. You only heard her voice.
Jeff: Oh, I heard it. Yeah, it was the red haired chick.
JT Spangler: Yeah, Kathy Griffin.
Jeff: Griffin. Yeah, I heard it when she was telling him that's why mommy's going out.
JT Spangler: cast this cast is lu Yeah, to get you a little brother. Super weird.
Jeff: yeah um yeah that seems reminding me there used to be a show on um speaking of just shoot me who was the tall dark-haired lady that was always talking about being hot on that remember that chick the older lady that uh that worked there
JT Spangler: Yes. Yeah. Laura Sanjian Como, but the, uh, the other one.
Jeff: Not her. The other one. She was in a show where in the very beginning it was on HBO and it was one of those ones where it's like, all right, I'm going to put MTV on this channel and then I'm goingnna jump to HBO so I can be able to skip back in case my parents walk out.
Jeff: And I'm going to watch this show because they show boobs every once in a while. And it's a show Malik and she's in the show too.
JT Spangler: Her name, the her name is a Wendy Malick.
Jeff: And it's about a kid who gets raised by TV. So the whole time he's going through his life, he's remembering old TV scenes. God, oh man.
JT Spangler: Is it, and man.
Jeff: Oh crap. That's crazy. um
JT Spangler: Dude, I'm not.
Jeff: That's what it reminded me of when that kid was just sitting there.
JT Spangler: Frasier, she was in Jimmy Neutron.
Jeff: No, dude, this was like early nineties, I think.
JT Spangler: Let's see, just shoot me.
JT Spangler: Dude, another stuff that I'm seeing in the early 90s would have been that.
Jeff: Oh God. God, I don't know.
JT Spangler: Like she was in forget MacGyver and Dynasty and all kind of shit.
Jeff: no not that. oh
Jeff: Oh.
JT Spangler: Dream On.
Jeff: Dream on. That's the one.
JT Spangler: So, dude, Dream On 90 to 96.
Jeff: When did that come on?
JT Spangler: But the amazing thing about Dream On is that it's created by Marta Kaufman and David Crane, who are two of the people who went on to create Friends.
Jeff: Friends. Yeah. yeah Oh, my gosh.
JT Spangler: oh That was the deepest, dumbest rabbit hole dive we've ever done. And we've done some pretty deep, dumb ones.
Jeff: ah She's in that show though, right? Yeah.
JT Spangler: Yeah. Yeah, she is. She's definitely in the chat.
Jeff: Oh man. Golly, that's crazy. I'm going to download that show. Cause I remember there being boobs and I remember it being funny. I'm getting it. I'm going to find it.
JT Spangler: I think it was on a a network. i don't I can't imagine there boobs on that.
Jeff: No, no, it was on HBO. I totally remembered because, and they would always jump back to like old black and white things. Yeah.
JT Spangler: They did. oh yeah, it was on HBO. You're right.
Jeff: Dude, it definitely was. You know, i for some reason, would always remember the names of the shows that had boobs on them that I could watch in the middle of the night.
JT Spangler: Well, see, we never had HBO. We didn't roll like that, so I did not.
Jeff: Yeah. Y'all had blockbuster money, but y'all didn't have HBO money.
JT Spangler: We had that blockbuster money. we didn't have the HBO money.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: We were talking about, Jim Carrey was saying one of the reasons why he likes this movie is that like we were kind of all raised by TV. And so the flashback is like, Kathy Griffin is his mom. And she's literally, going he's like eight.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: And she's like, you just hang out here. Just have fun with the babysitter. And the babysitter is the television. and And it's funny because I was just talking to my wife about this a couple days ago.
Jeff: TV. Yeah.
JT Spangler: I wasn't like... My parents didn't go out like clubbing and leave us with the TV on, but they did during the summer, just like I would be like 12 and my brother would be like eight and they would just let us get on our bikes or get in the golf cart and go to the country club and go to swim practice and then just freaking push each other in the pool and order sandwiches.
Jeff: Right.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: And like it was, we left at breakfast time and they were just like, see you when it's dark.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: Like they had no idea.
Jeff: Right. Dude. dude And we, my sister and I talk about that all the time. We'd get on our bikes and ride over to the Hammond square mall. And then we would just leave our bikes outside of the mall and go in there to corndog seven and get an icy and walk around and enjoy the Hammond square mall.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: And then we would be back like six hours later. And my mom's like, you can't be in here. I'm watching tennis. Like Boris Becker's about to beat Yvonne Lindell.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: You can't be in here. Like,
JT Spangler: And the wildest thing about that is that, like, my parents, like, they didn't have to do, that wasn't a secret. That's what everyone did. Like, we'd be, them my they if they they didn't even ask, so like, do you guys go to country clubs?
Jeff: yeah
JT Spangler: and They were like, yeah. and like, I could have been in the woods lighting fires and, like, throwing glass bottles at my buddies. They, and I, we did do that sometimes. They didn't know. They didn't care about
Jeff: I was just about to say that sounded way too specific.
JT Spangler: No, that wasn't that wasn't a hypothetical. That was a thing that we did. but like But my friends now that have kids in that age range are like, oh, they got we got to book summer camp shit that every day. They got to go to an activity. I'm like, what about just ah go outside, see when it's dark?
JT Spangler: like We don't do that anymore.
Jeff: Yeah. Just go outside and come back in when the streetlights come on.
JT Spangler: like There's going to be so so many less unexplained fires in your neighborhood with the way you're doing it than the way that we did it.
Jeff: Yeah. Yeah. yeah Yeah. Um,
JT Spangler: Let's do quotes. Quotes.
Jeff: Uh-oh.
JT Spangler: My first one is, Gable Guy.
Jeff: Yeah, I didn't put that because I knew you were gonna.
JT Spangler: Well, only because that would be like, if we do Terminator, going to put, I'll be back in there. Because everyone knows. Like you said, everybody you you were doing this movie.
Jeff: He'll be back. Yeah.
JT Spangler: They said, Gable Guy.
Jeff: Right, right, right.
JT Spangler: i threw that in there.
Jeff: I... i am
Jeff: the The one I picked is from when they were in the satellite dish and he's standing there and he's trying to explain why it's so cool.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: And the reason I picked it is because this is 1996 and he is pretty prophetic with how he does all the things. He's like, the future is now soon.
JT Spangler: He nailed The writer is Lou Holtz Jr., who is the son of a very famous, not that Lou Holtz.
Jeff: Every American home will integrate their television, phone and computer. You can do shopping at home or play mortal combat with a friend in Vietnam. There's no end to the possibilities. Yeah. I think that's cool that he was, that whoever wrote this, Lou Holtz Jr.
Jeff: Not that Lou Holtz.
JT Spangler: Nothing you think of.
Jeff: Lou Holtz, I can't believe it. I just need some dentures that fit my mouth.
JT Spangler: He's not Lou Holtz, the football coach. Lou Holtz, the vaudeville actor. ah But yeah, Lou Holtz Jr.
Jeff: Yes.
JT Spangler: wrote the script and then he rewrote it a whole bunch times and then Judd Apatow rewrote it a bunch of times and then Judd Apatow sued the Writers Guild to try to get a writing credit and lost. um
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: But he did get the producer credit. But yeah, totally nailed that, du which is exactly how it is now.
Jeff: Exactly how it is. Yeah. What's your second one?
JT Spangler: My second one is the password. It's nipple.
JT Spangler: They're playing frigging porno password. He's got Matthew Broderick partnering up with his mom. has to say the word associations to try to have her guess the body parts.
Jeff: On purpose. Yeah.
JT Spangler: And his whole family is like, come on, she's a grown woman. It's fine. He's like I don't want to do this. I hate this.
Jeff: He's like, sinner center, center. And dude, the dad is dying laughing and he's just like, I want to say schlong. That would be so uncomfortable.
JT Spangler: I love George Stegall.
Jeff: Yeah, he is great. um My second one is I learned the facts of life from watching the facts of life.
JT Spangler: From the Facts of Life.
Jeff: um Cause he was raised by TV, man. That's how he got all this things.
JT Spangler: Didn't leon didn' Leonardo DiCaprio start on Facts of Life?
Jeff: ah No, I think that was family ties.
JT Spangler: Oh, Family Ties.
Jeff: But hey, you take the good, you take the bad, you take them all.
JT Spangler: Take a ball and then you have... the
Jeff: So what's what's your third one?
JT Spangler: My third one is one we've already said, which is Jeannie and Garofalo's deadpan. are no utensils in medieval times. Hence, there are no utensils add medieval times. They have Pepsi, but they don't utensils.
Jeff: Yeah, that was mine. That's my quote is the second part.
JT Spangler: Give me a break.
Jeff: The part that Matthew Brodick's like, wait a second. They don't have forks, but they have, ah but they have Pepsi. Come on, dude. ah
JT Spangler: Hmm.
Jeff: God, Jane Garofalo is awesome.
JT Spangler: She is. Speaking of ah the cable guy thing, I actually did that at one point in the late 90s, early 2000s, late 90s. I was living in Mobile for a summer and I had the cable guy come and hook up my cable. And I was like, hey, man, can I give you some cash and then you can like do the thing where I get the movie channels? And he was like, yeah, I don't care. it' was like, sweet, here you go.
JT Spangler: And it was like 40 bucks and he just frigging hooked it up.
Jeff: I always i always went with, a we paid for it, or I just stole them from the internet, um which is not the right way.
JT Spangler: Well, dude, you in the like you in the late 90s, you could not, like, you couldn't download TV shows.
Jeff: yeah yeah Yeah, you're not stealing it then.
JT Spangler: Like, it took it took one entire night when I was at LSU to download via an FTP server the one Pearl Jam song on a freaking dial-up phone line.
Jeff: When...
JT Spangler: So for 14 hours, no one could call the house. I was downloading At the end of it, I had one song.
Jeff: And it turns out it wasn't even the right one. Somebody mislabeled it and it was something else.
JT Spangler: Yeah. it was meant it was my It was actually Dave Matthews' band.
Jeff: Oh my God. Let's get it on by Al Green. I think this is going to be, wait a second. um Dude, ah when was the timeframe where Kyle had the card for the satellite dish that unscrambled everything?
Jeff: So it was like, Hey, yeah, we just leave this channel on. It plays a varsity blues over and over ah just all day, all night, just over and over.
JT Spangler: That must have been that around the same time.
Jeff: That's like when he's at Will's house.
JT Spangler: like Yeah, that was like the same, like 99, 2000, 2001. Because I was in Montana at that time in college. And because it was an engineering school, i had a bunch of buddies who could do that. And like they bought the freaking thing that would – because the satellite cards look like like credit cards.
Jeff: Right.
JT Spangler: And you would like to chunk it in there and he could reprogram it to be like, give me all the free stuff. And so everybody on the football team had, and just you give him like 20 bucks and he would just program your card and you would sign up for DirecTV.
Jeff: Yeah, that's what was.
JT Spangler: It's dude, you sign up for DirecTV, get the $39 package, put the dish up and then you can just cancel it and then just use the card and get everything for free.
Jeff: Done and done.
JT Spangler: I was like, sweet.
Jeff: That was when it was, everything was easier.
JT Spangler: Yeah. and then And then streaming killed cable TV and then streaming became cable TV. And people were like, you know, we could just do this illegally if you're going to charge us that much money.
Jeff: Yeah. God, I don't. Jake was wondering why there's commercials. He's like, i don't understand. Don't we pay for, for YouTube TV? I was like, yeah, we do. Well, why are they showing us commercials? i was like, cause they need more money.
Jeff: So I don't like any of this. i was like, all right, well, don't get angry.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: You're only 13. Calm down.
JT Spangler: Dude, we were we were like 25 before there was even a world where you could possibly not have commercials. Like these kids are freaking soft.
Jeff: Yeah. Yeah.
JT Spangler: Soft as it gets. Let's do characters.
Jeff: That's what that dude fast forwarding through commercials is so much fun. It makes me feel like I'm stealing it. Uh, yeah. My first character is Matthew Broderick.
JT Spangler: Yeah. He's a perfect straight man.
Jeff: He, yeah, he, he kills it. Um, I, uh, I like how he's not, ah I mean, he's innocent and he doesn't do all the things, but, and he plays the victim perfectly, but like, um, I feel like, um,
Jeff: He's still kind of, he I think he's not the best dude ever.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: You know what I'm saying? Like, I think there's a reason that Leslie Mann left him.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: Not just because he asked her to marry him.
JT Spangler: Yeah, man, I like i like his, i mean, this is this is such an easy role for an actor of his caliber because it's just the straight guy who's reacting to the situations that people are putting him in, but he's he's perfect for it.
Jeff: Yeah, it's Ferris Bueller. It's it's easy. It's easy for him.
JT Spangler: He's my first one. My second one is Jack Black.
Jeff: You skipped over Jim Carrey for real. You put him third.
JT Spangler: I put him third.
Jeff: You didn't even put him. Did you?
JT Spangler: and No, I put him third. I don't like anything that he's doing, but I don't blame him for that.
Jeff: Nice.
JT Spangler: And I, you couldn't, they couldn't have probably made the movie without him. They offered it to Chris ah Farley. Farley couldn't do it. They offered Sandler. Sandler couldn't do it, thankfully.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: And, um, So like, I don't, ah ah this movie wouldn't exist in this form without Jim Carrey. You see, he played a big role with Ben Stiller and with Judd Apatow creating all the like scenes and set pieces and figuring out the characterization and shape in the story.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: So I didn't, I don't, I didn't like it that much, but like i have to give him credit.
Jeff: Yeah. So do you think we have eternal sunshine or Truman show or man on the moon or any of those darker roles? If we don't have this one.
JT Spangler: Yeah, I mean, those are I think those are really valid questions. Like, that's if if I had to sit through this, which I didn't hate, i just didn't it was that good, to be able get Truman Show and freaking Eternal self internal Sunshine, totally worth it.
Jeff: Right. It's worth it. Yeah. Yeah, those are both awesome.
JT Spangler: Happy to pay that price.
Jeff: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. um What do you think about his lisp? Did you like his lisp? I thought the lisp was good.
JT Spangler: No. I mean, he did a good job, but what was the point of even having...
Jeff: Yeah, that's what i meant. Because
JT Spangler: that's a really that's really distracting character choice to not really play it.
Jeff: it's funny.
Jeff: What about when it goes away and then he gets hit again and it comes back?
JT Spangler: did not really play a big part in the story.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: Oh man. Yeah. but else But I really liked Jack Black in this. a
Jeff: Oh, yeah, he did good.
JT Spangler: I had him there. Who's your other character?
Jeff: No, Jack Black's my other character too. um I like how he's super shallow, but sees right through Chip's facade right away. And he's just like, no way, buddy. This guy's trash. I can tell.
JT Spangler: Yeah, and, like, Jack Black has been in other stuff because, like, he had tiny parts in Demolition Man and in Waterworld, both of which we did.
Jeff: Frigging my three sons.
Jeff: Yeah. Yeah.
JT Spangler: But, like, we don't—he just, like, does bit parts. Like, he's in The Fan. He's in Mars Attacks. He's in friggin' Enemy the State.
Jeff: God, Mars attacks.
JT Spangler: But, like, we're just we're just waiting for him to get to High Fidelity. That's when Jack Black starts to happen.
Jeff: I think he, isn't he in, um what's the one with Gene Hackman and Will Smith?
JT Spangler: Yeah, yeah.
Jeff: Whatever that is.
JT Spangler: Enemy of State.
Jeff: Enemy of the State. Yeah, you said that. Yeah, that's a good one. um What's the one with ah Jason Biggs and Lenny?
JT Spangler: Saving Silverman. Steve Zahn.
Jeff: Saving silver.
JT Spangler: 2001.
Jeff: Steve's on.
JT Spangler: We just talked about it.
Jeff: Oh, we're never going to make it. Ooh.
JT Spangler: 2001, Saving Silverman, Shallow Howl. 2002, Orange County.
Jeff: It's shallow. Oh, nice.
JT Spangler: School of Rock, 2003. But it doesn't, like, Jack Black, has been he's not Jack Black until we get to High Fidelity, and then he's the most Jack Black that he ever is.
Jeff: Oh, man.
Jeff: You know, fucking sock your nose. um
JT Spangler: a costume sweater
Jeff: ah Sub question. you even know your daughter? Yeah. yeah I can't wait for that.
JT Spangler: writer director we said Ben Stiller directs ah Judd Apatow when he was producing this um wanted to direct and the studio was like nothing we're good but like you worked with Ben Stiller why don't you have him direct and he was like sure that's fine and dude like Ben Stiller
Jeff: Yeah.
Jeff: Yeah. He, he did a good job. I think he did a good job directing this. I just don't, think what he was trying to go for is what everybody wanted.
Jeff: What's the one?
JT Spangler: No.
Jeff: Reality Bites is the one that he directed that we did.
JT Spangler: but Reality bites.
Jeff: Yeah, yeah.
JT Spangler: Yeah. But dude, I think that was, I was going to say, liked Ben Stiller because his movies are like pretty kind of broad comedy, like something about Mary Zoolander, meet the parents.
Jeff: Right.
Jeff: Right.
JT Spangler: They're doing another freaking meet the parents like this year.
Jeff: Right.
JT Spangler: I think so. um
Jeff: Are they? Wait, what's the one with ah ah Jenna Elfman where he's a ah rabbi?
JT Spangler: Yes.
Jeff: When's that one? When is that one?
JT Spangler: That was, that's going to be in few thousand keeping the faith.
Jeff: faith Keeping the Faith. Oh, man, what a freaking jam. That movie's, it's probably got such crap reviews.
JT Spangler: I love that one. It's in 2000, so we'll do that with ah with High Fidelity.
Jeff: I'm looking up what the reviews are on that.
JT Spangler: I don't think it's great. but um But yeah, yeah i like but so his movies where he stars are pretty broad comedy, um like four-quadrant comedy.
Jeff: sixty nine percent 69%. Oh, man, that's better than I thought.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: But the stuff that hes that he directs, including the Ben Stiller show, is i think really... It's a lot more experimental and I like that he, when he has more creative control, like like just takes chances and does a weird shit. I think more people should do that.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: And sometimes you might get one of these where it's like that fucking thing was weird, but like, who cares, dude?
Jeff: i
Jeff: But sometimes you get a Zoolander or you get a...
JT Spangler: Tropic Thunder.
Jeff: What do yeah what do you mean, you people? That frigging movie, that he killed it on that.
JT Spangler: Right. So like, just take some chances, man. i think that's awesome.
Jeff: Yeah. I agree. Oh,
JT Spangler: And written by Lou Holtz, not that Lou Holtz. And then also a written but uncredited Judd Apatow, who's one of the producers, now wrote wrote a couple of dramas.
Jeff: man.
JT Spangler: At one point, Lou Holtz was like, this movie's too weird for me. Just freaking do whatever you want. I'm im going to my be in my trailer. And then Judd Apatow.
Jeff: Okay, so it's going to be a buddy comedy that's like a stalker thriller that's like Cape Fear. I'm sorry, what now?
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: I'm not doing that.
JT Spangler: well like it it's see Well, this – Lou Holtz, when he wrote the script, he there was like a bidding war for it. They paid like $500,000, $750,000.
JT Spangler: So Columbia wins the bid at $750,000, and they gave him a $250,000 bonus if the movie got made.
Jeff: Jesus
JT Spangler: So it gets a million dollars for the script. But then Ben Stiller and Jim Carrey – Right, and Judd Apatow.
Jeff: No wonder we don't know about Lou Holtz. He took his million dollars and went home.
JT Spangler: Well, i'm just thinking like they I'm just thinking like they paid him a million dollars for a script and they just kept making him rewrite it and they kept making it darker.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: And I just keep thinking like if i was if that was me and the money was already in my account, and i're like, would you do that work again? One more time I'd be like, you know what? You just take it from here. I'm going on vacation.
Jeff: Yeah. Oh, man.
JT Spangler: Yeah, that's yeah that's the writer that's the writer and the director.
Jeff: Could have done better. We could have done all this better.
JT Spangler: You got anybody else?
Jeff: um No, I don't.
JT Spangler: What about the freaking, I can't believe you don't have anything about the AV setup at his house with the karaoke machine and the THX.
Jeff: i um it was It was old and shitty. The only thing I wrote down is that the video where they were all singing was definitely the same Laserdisc videos that they use at Cat's Meow.
Jeff: Because it was the same font and the same type of background.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: I like the karaoke scene version too, when he's singing the the thing. Cause he's like shaking.
JT Spangler: Jefferson Airplane.
Jeff: Yeah. He's like shaking his neck and doing the thing.
JT Spangler: that His performance of that Jefferson Airplane song um also made it on the soundtrack.
Jeff: um
Jeff: Did it really nice.
JT Spangler: Yeah. This could be the earliest appearance of karaoke in any, like, American film. Because I feel like it was pretty under the radar in, like,
Jeff: Yeah, I don't think a lot of people were doing karaoke, but maybe. I don't know. 96, I was so young. I wasn't going to clubs and going to bars where they had karaoke.
JT Spangler: Yeah, you're going to you're going to bars like the brown door where your feet stuck to the ground. All right, dude, let's do the worst unless you got any more good.
Jeff: I don't. By the way, ka karaoke gained popularity in the U.S. s in the mid-1980s.
JT Spangler: Hey, i don't know.
Jeff: Mainstream growth throughout the 90s. So it's getting there.
JT Spangler: I was going to say, I think I missed a good bit of that.
Jeff: Yeah, we did. we were We were throwing bottles at each other and lighting things on fire in the forest. I mean, we were at the club.
JT Spangler: Yet.
Jeff: um
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: yeah Dude, I just wrote that the slapstick gags were kind of crappy um and that I don't like the his psychopath also trying to be funny. That whiplash was was brutal, trying to go from one tone to the next.
JT Spangler: The weird thing to me, it's not worse really, but I was looking at old tech, our category for old tech.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: Every piece of technology in this movie is gone. Except cable.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: There's still freaking cable everywhere and you can still plug it in to the router and get internet. Like how did that shit survive? It's so crazy.
Jeff: I don't know. Do they have analog ah T like um he had rabbit ears when he was waiting for the cable guy. So like, that's not, I mean, that's a thing, but it's not a thing that a lot of people.
JT Spangler: I mean, they they still broadcast over the air news, but it's all digital now. yeah and Like the rabbit ears now are digital antennas.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: But you can still, like in a city like Nashville, i can still, I had one a few years ago.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: Like I freaking plug it into my TV and I get the news. But it's digital.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: It's not analog.
Jeff: What about um the, how they kept going back to the, the Ben Stiller in court. and He killed his twin, that whole courtroom culture.
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: That was really big in the nineties too. Like, yeah.
JT Spangler: Yeah, thanks to OJ. I don't, I didn't understand the point of that.
Jeff: Why they kept doing it just because I've been stiller. Is that the only only reason?
JT Spangler: I think that, I think it was supposed to, it was supposed to be a meta commentary on how addicted everyone was to TV because the very end he falls on the satellite and the TV goes out and then it then there's like cuts to everybody that's like, what?
Jeff: It cuts it off, yeah.
JT Spangler: I was we' we're about to get the verdict. I was watching that.
Jeff: And I'm reading the book.
JT Spangler: But it's like a, it's a really long setup for not that much payoff to me.
Jeff: Yeah, agreed. um But that, yeah, I didn't have any other. ah Don't make fun of people with lisps.
JT Spangler: Right.
Jeff: Political correctness, I don't know.
JT Spangler: They really didn't make fun of the list. I thought they they did a pretty good job of that.
Jeff: No. Yeah, and he gave them the tape. Lose your lip in 30 days?
JT Spangler: All right.
Jeff: um Okay.
JT Spangler: What's the... Two, five questions. Is it okay for kids?
Jeff: It's kind of stocky, isn't it?
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: I would say it's PG-13. I think that's probably a little, maybe 11 or 12, but I'd per say probably keep it at 13. I would let Jake watch it, although he wouldn't like it.
Jeff: But we watched it and also didn't like it.
JT Spangler: i was going to say, and I don't think it like it's it's creepy. It's not like scary. It's just weird.
Jeff: Right. Yeah, it's just weird. So would it get made if it was pitched now?
JT Spangler: I think it would, would honestly, i think because it's not an expensive movie to make, and you can put anybody into it, and it there's no nobody's expecting it to be great. It seems like the perfect thing to reboot because no one gives a shit.
Jeff: I think what's the ah a twenty four company where it's like they do those weird like
JT Spangler: Yeah.
Jeff: psychological thrillers about frigging parasocial relationships. I think that would be great
JT Spangler: Yeah. Yeah, this wouldn't be a cable guy. This would be like someone who like fake runs into someone they know from TikTok or YouTube and then just like, and just crams into their life that way. It's like, you don't know me, get away.
Jeff: I don't like that. That makes me feel uncomfortable. I don't want to i don't want any part of that. Now, now that my, now that all my students are like, Mr.
JT Spangler: Yeah. Sounds like a good movie though. They should do that.
Jeff: Horn, you're on Tik TOK.
JT Spangler: Yeah. Yeah.
Jeff: ah So it's got to be a movie though, right? Not a TV show.
JT Spangler: I think so.
Jeff: Yeah. Did you recast it?
JT Spangler: No. No, I couldn't think. did you Did you come up with anybody?
Jeff: I, I, well, I did. um i think ah Bill Hader could play chip.
JT Spangler: He absolutely could.
Jeff: I think he could play.
JT Spangler: I think you'd want to ask somebody younger if you wanted to make it about social media, but Bill Hader could for sure do this.
Jeff: I think.
Jeff: Yeah. Yeah. I think he's that's the only person I had, but I think he could do it.
JT Spangler: I'm into that. i like that.
Jeff: um So could you watch and enjoy this one now in 2026.
JT Spangler: um yeah I mean, you can watch it.
Jeff: Can you where's the streaming.
JT Spangler: Yeah, dude, it's it's fine. It's not bad. It's just weird. It doesn't make a ton of sense. doesn't have a lot of like, doesn't really have a through line.
Jeff: Yeah.
JT Spangler: doesn't have like a consistent tone.
Jeff: it's not It's not a quote Jim Carrey movie either, is is what most people think of when they think of Jim Carrey.
JT Spangler: Right.
JT Spangler: Yeah, for sure. But it it is still available. It's out there. You can rent it.
Jeff: Yeah. I didn't rent it. I watched it without renting it.
JT Spangler: ah Yeah. um Cool, man. Anything else?
Jeff: No, I don't think so.
JT Spangler: we didn't ah We didn't talk about what's next, but I was kind of feeling like a little palate cleanser.
Jeff: What's next?
JT Spangler: ah How you feel about the birdcage?
Jeff: Yeah.
Jeff: How do I? I freaking love the birdcage. I cannot wait.
JT Spangler: Yeah, me too, man. I'm umm ah ah down for just like a regular old comedy. And then we got a ton of, we had like 35 movies we wanted to do for this year and we only get to 26. So we got some tough choices, but I think that's a good one to go to next.
Jeff: Yeah.
Jeff: Yeah, we can maybe skip over chain reaction.
JT Spangler: Yeah, maybe we might not need to do that one. Who knows? Yeah. right, man. Sounds good.
Jeff: Yeah. Bye, Candias.
JT Spangler: Vaya con Dios.
