Matt Wolf (The Stroll) got unprecedented access to Paul Reubens, generally better known as his alter ego, Pee-wee Herman; Will Hines joins us to talk about what resulted from their 40 hours of interviews. Around The Dial takes us through Big Mouth‘s eighth and final season; The Comeback: 2004 Boston Red Sox, and Magic & Bird: A Courtship Of Rivals. Sean makes his pitch for the “Long, Long Time” episode of The Last Of Us to be inducted into The Canon. Then, after naming the week’s Winner and Loser, it’s on to a Game Time that really knows the score. Put on your reddest bow tie and join us!

ehg 564
Published on
May 28, 2025 Getting In The Big Top With Pee-wee As Himself
Will Hines returns to discuss HBO’s new documentary miniseries!
Episode Rundown
Lead Topic
Around The Dial
The Canon
Winner & Loser
Game Time
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Episode Notes
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Episode Transcript
Episode Transcription
Sarah:
[0:00] Rolling.
Dave:
[0:00] Oh, sorry. I got a game time thing. Tara, can you take off your headphones just for one second? All right. It's not about game time. So here's the deal. The secret show of the day a la Pee-wee's Playhouse is Pee-wee as himself. So as soon as Tara says Pee-wee as himself, you have to go crazy like the show. Okay. My mother would sometimes say to me, that's right, Paul. Everyone must.
Tara:
[0:38] No, I don't really think that. All right, maybe I do think that a little bit. No, I don't. I'm kidding. Or am I? I don't know. I don't know.
Sarah:
[0:53] But you don't.
Dave:
[0:59] This is the extra hot great podcast episode 564 for the week of may 26 2025, i am predator vision mermaid david t cole and i'm here with dating game disruptor sarah d bunting my.
Sarah:
[1:19] Name's bachelor number three what's yours.
Dave:
[1:20] A little tiny paul giamatti tara ariano And luckiest boy in the world, Will Hines.
Will:
[1:28] Wait, so I'm not allowed to direct this?
Tara:
[1:34] Welcome to Extra Hot Great for another week. Joining us, he is an actor and a podcaster you've heard with us many times before. It's Will Hines.
Dave:
[1:43] Welcome back, Will.
Sarah:
[1:44] Will.
Will:
[1:45] Greetings, everybody. Greetings. I'm coming in low energy today because I'm Hollywood. I'm Hollywood chill.
Sarah:
[1:52] Okay.
Tara:
[1:53] Noted. We are here to talk about Pee-wee as himself. Toward the end of his life, while being treated for cancer mostly in secret, Paul Rubens sat for 40 hours worth of interviews for a documentary about himself, including his family, his creative inspirations, his sexuality, the creation of his alter ego Pee-wee Herman, the big arrest that ended his career as a children's entertainer, his comeback, and the subsequent and arrests that cast a pall over his final years. The two-part documentary series was directed by Matt Wolfe, whose previous credits include The Stroll and Teenage. Both episodes of this aired on HBO and dropped on Mac's May 23rd. We may refer to events from either half. Let's do the Chen check-in. Will, should our listeners watch Pee-wee as himself?
Dave:
[2:43] Yeah! Ooh!
Sarah:
[2:45] Ooh!
Will:
[2:48] Um, yes, I, I loved it. Huge, big thumbs up for me. I was, I was blown away by how moving it was and how great it was. I have a moderate, I like Pee Wee, but I'm not like someone who's, he was never like a huge part of my comedic identity. And I was completely moved and fascinated by every second of this. So that's where I'm at.
Tara:
[3:09] Okay, Sarah.
Sarah:
[3:10] Yeah, I thought it was excellent. Good storytelling.
Tara:
[3:13] Dave.
Dave:
[3:14] You should give it a watch.
Tara:
[3:15] I agree as well. Well, let's get into it. As the title, which I will not repeat, indicates, this is largely the story of an actor taking on a comic character and living in it basically the whole time he's on public display. Will, you're the only one of us who might ever be in this situation, considering the strain. Was Paul Rubens actually pretty well adjusted?
Will:
[3:36] I think, yes, you know, I am theoretically a comedic actor, although given whatever year of my life you're talking about, that sometimes seems more or less true than other years. But I was kind of thinking about what it might be like to be that talented, that famous, and that locked into a persona and what that might do to your brain. And I actually do think he was pretty well adjusted. I mean, I think it actually weirdly suited him to have like to compartmentalize his public life and his private life. I mean, he was a closeted gay man at a very intolerant time. And he could just kind of in his head be like, well, Pee-wee's doing that and Paul's doing this. I had never really seen a lot of footage of Paul Rubens just as Paul Rubens. And I guess this sounds dumb. I was blown away by how funny he is. He was just when he would play with the director, like in that clip that David has. And a lot of this is just like very simple to the camera interviews. He's so entertaining as that, that I was like, wow, he must have just blown people away his whole career. like high school drama teacher, college acting classes, groundlings, teachers, audiences in LA. He was good at it. I don't know. I was really sort of fascinated by it.
Dave:
[4:53] Yeah. A lot of the first episode talks, he talks and the documentary talks about his like singular drive. He knew he wanted to do this and he was absolutely confident in his ability to get there and he just sort of did it. And I think that comes across and what you're saying, Will, it's just like he knew what his purpose was going to be and he kind of went there. He didn't know exactly what form it would take. You know, Pee Wee Herman sort of happened semi-organically, and he went through that college discovery period. But you never lost the sense that there was a singular drive that he wanted to be in front of people doing his work. And that was going to happen. And it informed so much about his personality.
Tara:
[5:31] For sure. And I thought it was interesting, too, that he admitted, like, I never wanted anyone to see that careerist side of me because he sort of felt like it was gauche to seem like he wanted it. but he really did. And it was also interesting when he said he auditioned for SNL the same year as Gilbert Gottfried and he knew they wouldn't both get it because they were both the same type. And I thought, I mean, he said both the same kind of nerdy type, which that's part of it. But it's also like they're both guys who are doing one bit all the time. So they have that in common as well. But speaking of college, Sarah, after learning that Paul Rubens and David Hasselhoff did theater together at CalArts, were you able to hear anything else that happened after that?
Sarah:
[6:09] I am actually dead after that. I had to watch the remainder of the documentary From Beyond the Grave, Avenge Me. Yeah, that was fantastic. I did not know anything really about his life before Pee Wee, that he had gone to CalArts and was really into every kind of medium, and that he kept coming back over the course of certainly the first episode that he felt that this was a conceptual piece and that his living as these two people, it's conceptual art and that let him tell himself certain things about careerism, but also it allowed him to separate some of the... I think if they're not integrated for the artist, that that could feel really weird for the audience, especially given what we know about his conduct with criminal justice, let's say, but I think that knowing all of that gave so much good context. This is one of those losses that you feel even more watching this documentary, because it's like, I would have loved to interview him and just pick his brain about conceptual art pieces, how that got put together in the 70s, what he thought his life might have been like if he had completed that move to San Francisco. But that's one of the great things about this documentary is that there's all this stuff that you don't know. And you're like, why are we spending all this time in 1972?
Sarah:
[7:36] And then by the time you get to 1982 and Pee Wee is on Letterman, it's like, oh, this is a much more, not rational, but like, this is a much more sort of like legible, sensible progression for this artist.
Tara:
[7:51] Absolutely. It's also so bittersweet seeing all the flyers and the video of like the late 70s, early 80s stage stuff that he did in LA because it feels like the time when weirdos could just show up in town and experiment that way. It's over because it's just...
Dave:
[8:05] Will Hines, weirdo. What do you think about that one?
Tara:
[8:08] Yes, please.
Will:
[8:09] Speak to that. I am somebody who moved to LA to do comedic acting, and I do a lot of stuff at the Uprice Citizens Brigade Theater, which is sort of like a sibling community to the Groundlings. And I've seen a lot of shows at the Groundlings. The Groundlings today is like a huge, obvious pipeline to SNL. And everybody who goes there kind of feels that pressure. The people who are in the Groundlings who have to pick the next cast feel that pressure. Pee-wee was there kind of at the last innocent time, I think, when it probably was like, hey, you'll be funny on our stage this Friday, therefore you're good. And 10 years later, after Phil Hartman's success, Lisa Kudrow, Will Ferrell The Groundlings Could never again Just be like Hey this is for us Right So to see that Innocent time Of that community Was really interesting And I also did relate To the friendship They must all feel Like I came up At UCB While like Aubrey Plaza was just like a student at NYU and Zach Woods was just like high school kid jazz trumpeter who thought improv was fun. And Bobby Moynihan, you know, I saw Bobby Moynihan's level three grad show because people were like, hey, there's this funny guy in this improv class we should go watch, you know, and like Nick Kroll directed my first sketch group when nobody was famous. And yet everybody was aware of the power that all these folks had like on stage and then seeing them get famous, right?
Will:
[9:38] Deservedly like people who so i watching that part of the documentary i was like oh i i think i know what this felt like to have a paul rubens be a friend of yours and and the career element like ben schwartz was like a friend is is a friend of mine but like he's become so famous i see him like every two years walking down hollywood boulevard and he's sweet as pie but i'm sort of like, what's it like being a world-famous improv star? That's wild. And like, I really related to that. I think I know what it might be like to feel sort of left behind, but also to feel happy for your friend getting something they're good at. Like, Paul Rubens was good at being famous and a brilliant comedic presence. He deserved his success. And also, it must have been incredibly wild to watch it explode the way it did. I was, you know, I was really taken by it.
Dave:
[10:30] One of the things I thought the documentary sort of let me down on was, and they approach it, but I didn't think they dug into it enough. But there's a sense that when Pee Wee was doing the embryonic Pee Wee Herman show, when that was sort of like in progress being formed at the Groundlings, he was collecting people in that show's wake, you know, Phil Hartman and other performers. And then as that became more and more successful, there was a sense that it was him at the head, but it was a group effort. But then that sense sort of dropped off the further we got. It didn't feel like perhaps Paul Rubin was giving everybody their due when his when that show's success became apparent and was climbing up the ladder of venue and, you know, who was looking at it, what eyeballs are on it. I got the sense that he was still hesitant to talk about that in the context of this documentary, and that it really felt like he left a lot of people behind that deserve more credit for that show's popularity.
Tara:
[11:30] Yeah, well, that comes out in the, we see a clip of an interview that Howard Stern does with Phil Hartman, where they're talking about him, how they fell out. And the way that Paul Rubens tells the story, it's like, well, I didn't really talk to him after he got SNL, because he was jealous, and that was something he wanted as well. but then phil hartman's side of it is like well i co-wrote the movie i sort of co-developed what turned into peewee's playhouse.
Dave:
[11:53] And i never.
Tara:
[11:53] Got money or credit and i was like oh man don't make me choose between you i love you.
Dave:
[11:58] Right but not only peewee's playhouse but like the peewee hermit persona was informed by by him as well and not to say it was like a 50 50 kind of thing obviously paul rubens you know had so many childhood spheres of influence rolling around in his brain that seemed a very singular creation but obviously a lot went into the transformation of that character while he was at the groundlings. And it didn't feel like it was being carried forward.
Will:
[12:20] Yeah, I can. I'm sympathetic, though, because to dive into that is a lot of just like there's no clear answer.
Dave:
[12:26] No, no, absolutely.
Will:
[12:28] It's it's such a stew and an alchemy of a moment and personalities. There's not going to be a final verdict on that. And to whatever degree that was like a sin of Paul Rubens, you know, leaving behind friends. The bigger issue is like these crimes that he got accused of that ended his his career was never ended for being a cold fish to Phil Hartman after Phil Radisson L.
Tara:
[12:49] Right, right.
Will:
[12:50] So I can see why. Well, I got limited number of hours for this documentary. I'm going to pick my battle. And the battle is these hugely public crimes. But yeah, I was wondering about the credit stuff too.
Tara:
[13:01] Yeah. But it seems like in a situation like that, part of it is like, and this goes back to the careerism, like someone has to take charge of that. Someone has to have the will to like drive it forward to where it needs to go. And that's never going to be, you know, you're never going to get consensus on that from seven people or however many people were on stage at the end. Like someone has to be in charge.
Will:
[13:22] I was sympathetic to Paul Rubens on this because I remember when Broad City, when Alana Glaser and Abby Jacobson were at UCB, nobody helped them, really. I mean, people liked them and were friends to them, but nobody was picking them as they're going to be a success. And they made this web series on their own. And they got help from a lot of people, directing, editing, acting, and then they became famous. And once they got famous, suddenly everybody wanted credit for helping Abby and Alana. And I'm like, I don't know, like they did it. They also did get help. There were people who helped along the way, but there's always a lot of grousers. And there's way more grousers than I think are actually people who helped. Certainly Phil Hartman helped Paul Rubens. But he's credited on the movie. He's the first writer. Pee-wee's, you know, Big Adventure, first name on the writing credit, Phil Hartman, then Paul Reubens, and then the third guy who did it. And I don't know, I was on Pee-wee's side. I was like, step on more people. You did it. You are the magic. Like, it doesn't happen without you.
Tara:
[14:24] No, it's true. I don't know. Well, since we've arrived at the movie, one of my all-time favorites, Peavy's Big Adventure, if it had been all Paul Rubens or Tim Burton ever did, it would have been enough for both of their careers, in my opinion. It's so good. And I loved how he described the scene when Large Marge's truck wipes the screen as he puts it and reveals the cabazon, is that it?
Dave:
[14:43] Yeah.
Tara:
[14:43] Dinosaurs behind. And how Rubens never thought he would work with someone who could translate his vision like that. And that was part of what was most exciting. He says that the studio wanted to assign another director to the project. He doesn't say who it was, but he was like, I just knew it wasn't right. And then Shelley Duvall said, you should watch Frank and Weenie. And he did was like, oh, this is the guy. And it's like, I don't know why they never continued working together. I mean, I assume that Tim Burton didn't do Big Top Peewee because he was working on Batman probably by that point. But it's a real shame because it seems like he could have used a stronger hand on that one.
Will:
[15:14] Well, I'm going to say it. Peewee's Big Adventure is so influential that there's a whole generation of comedians who I think, are basically having Pee Wee Herman is in their head as they make all of their comedy. Tim Robinson, when he's doing I Think You Should Leave, is basically like a little kid in a man's body dealing with the world. It doesn't feel like Pee Wee Herman, but I have to believe that you first discover how do I apply a little kid's viewpoint to an adult world is you learn it from watching Pee Wee. Being campy about the genre you're in and a little bit like making fun of it while also earnestly liking it, I think that's Pee Wee. I think like when Mr. Show does something like, when David Cross goes like, gosh, maybe 24 is the highest number boss. And he's sort of adopting a weird fake sitcom voice. And that's part of the, that's, Pee Wee is what opened that up for everybody. I mean, I think like he defined a whole generation of like comedy writers.
Tara:
[16:11] Yeah, for sure. I agree. I mean, we were just talking about this on our Patreon episode because Sarah forced us to watch the first episode of The Weird Al Show.
Sarah:
[16:20] I was going to bring that up.
Tara:
[16:22] Such a shameless knockoff of Pee-Wee's Playhouse. And even just the clips of Pee-Wee's Playhouse that we see here, it just highlights the gap between them. So Sarah, you were going to bring this up. What were you going to say?
Sarah:
[16:33] I think that a big part of Pee-wee's appeal, at least for me and my sort of entree into the world of Pee-wee was I had a sibling that was enough younger than me, but also it was one of those like HBO afternoon movies that they had the rights to it and they just played it three times a day for two months. So we saw it a lot of times. My brother could recite the whole thing and everyone's parts and paint the sets if you needed him to. He's seen it even more than I have. I think part of the appeal is that Pee Wee is successfully projecting a childlike curiosity and enthusiasm without over-indexing the innocence in it. Like there is an innocence, but there's also like, wah, wah, like winky jokes and it can get PG-13. And there's the sense that this is like, you know, not an adult cosplaying a kid in an adult's body, but an understanding that children are not actually all that innocent versus under-informed, let's say.
Sarah:
[17:33] And I was saying in the Patreon episode that like Weird Al actually seems like it's on a parallel, like what he does is on a parallel track because it's appealing. And I'm talking about his parody, like the music, what he actually does. It is appealing to kids because they can feel smart and like they get the joke. But it's not for kids in that like candy colored cynical, this is for kids TM way. But whatever network executives were in charge of the Weird Al show took all the exactly wrong things from Pee Wee and other shows like it that it's like if we just put him in a tree house and have everybody fucking yelling everything, that's the same as being childlike. And it isn't. It's just having everything be neon and yelling. and doors that are not rectangles like that's no that's not that's not the elan that you're looking for so.
Dave:
[18:29] Speaking of that i also really enjoyed the artistic direction part of the documentary where you know they're talking to.
Dave:
[18:37] The street artists that were brought in by paul rubens to inform what this world is going to look like and i thought that was fascinating the thought process yeah behind all that that's that was a great discovery in the show so i won't get into the nuts and bolts of it, but I really enjoyed that part, too. There's a lot of little surprises in this documentary. They went places that I just never really considered they would go to, and that was one of them. I like that.
Tara:
[19:00] Well, we've already talked around it, so they go places we would expect them to as well, including Paul Rubin's arrest for indecent exposure in the early 90s. And I was once again reminded of what it was like to live in the pre-internet monoculture when a story like that could linger for months. Like, for months and months, it'd be a thing that everybody knew about. It just is shocking to think about.
Dave:
[19:22] And would last so long.
Tara:
[19:24] Yeah.
Dave:
[19:24] Like the news cycle on it went on forever. Like if that happened today, it would be like a week at most instead of three months or whatever it was where it was like always on.
Tara:
[19:34] Right. And I'm sure if you asked anyone who was alive at that time, like, what do you remember about that story? Do you remember he was only ultimately fined $50 is like the craziest kicker for all the damage it did to his career and life. It's insane.
Dave:
[19:47] You remember the first time you heard what was going on, and you remember the mugshot that looked nothing like Pee Wee again.
Will:
[19:54] Yeah, I mean, he was in such a weird situation of trying not to talk about being gay, and so that almost prevents him from defending himself. They're basically low-key accusing him of being a danger to children, which is one of the most horrific things you can accuse somebody of, in particular for somebody who's famous for being a children's TV host. And he sort of can't tell the whole story without saying, I'm a gay man who was watching a gay movie, you know, and in my hometown, because I'm stressed about my family life and I'm not hurting anybody.
Tara:
[20:29] Yes.
Will:
[20:30] But to say that would open up a whole other can of worms in the, you know, pre-Ellen DeGeneres coming out in her sitcom era. He was trapped. It's like, I'm trying not to talk about this stuff. You guys are sort of forcing, you know, I don't know. It was such a strange thing to see happen. And I remember at the time being like 21 years old and being like, what's he being accused of? Why are people so mad about this? And I don't know. It was nasty to have to relate that.
Sarah:
[20:58] And then, yeah, just like late night, just like got that bit in its teeth, freezing, sorry. And then there was just no, it was never going to die down.
Will:
[21:07] Yeah. And I also remember the MTV Video Music Awards when Pee Wee came out, when Paul Rubens came out as Pee Wee and said, heard any good jokes lately it was like yeah.
Tara:
[21:16] I wrote it in my.
Will:
[21:17] Notes before.
Tara:
[21:17] He said it because i remembered it too.
Will:
[21:20] It was like one of the highlights of mtv it was like such a perfect joke that that network was like so well delivered to do i mean like to be subversive and young and be in on it on his side without having to talk about it it was genius it was like monica.
Dave:
[21:37] Winski doing a like dry cleaning ad the.
Will:
[21:39] Next year or something like that yes yes, I just felt so bad for him.
Dave:
[21:44] I also liked his note that he, when he got cast on Buffy the Vampire Slayer as his first real role after all this happened, his directive was, make me look as much like my mugshot as you can. I thought that was great.
Sarah:
[21:58] That was really smart.
Tara:
[21:59] Yeah.
Sarah:
[22:00] Yeah.
Tara:
[22:00] I mean, I'll say he definitely had a better team in place at the time of the second arrest, which was for alleged possession of child pornography, because I barely remembered that had even happened.
Dave:
[22:10] I don't think the documentary went hard enough on how obvious of a moving the needle for politicians that whole thing was.
Tara:
[22:18] Completely.
Dave:
[22:19] You get a sense of it a little bit, but it was so obvious. I mean, maybe they're just letting you make your own conclusions and that's the way the documentary is doing it. Yeah. But the fact that there was a DA of Los Angeles or he was trying to move up the chain.
Tara:
[22:32] He's the city attorney.
Will:
[22:33] Infuriating.
Tara:
[22:34] Yes. And if you look him up, he was also investigated years later on like ethics charges. He was also a scumbag.
Dave:
[22:39] Sure. And that they do the raid on like Pee Wee Herman's gigantic warehouse collection of stuff, which includes a lot of like 50s. What do you call it?
Tara:
[22:52] Bodybuilding magazines. Yeah, that kind of stud magazines. Gay coded gay porn.
Dave:
[22:57] Yeah. And they do that and they find nothing. Like basically that's the story. Right. They find nothing except then they go through it with a fine tooth comb to find one picture that maybe was on like maybe subject matter was underage type of thing.
Will:
[23:10] It might be like a 16 year old model in one photo.
Tara:
[23:14] But they don't even confirm that. Yes.
Dave:
[23:16] You don't get a sense in me talking how big this guy's collection of stuff was. Like, they show scenes of it. It looks like the warehouse in Red Is the Lost Ark at the end. He's got so much stuff.
Sarah:
[23:27] Tori Spelling-esque, if I may.
Dave:
[23:29] It's obvious he's not keeping child pornography.
Tara:
[23:32] Right.
Will:
[23:33] Yes.
Dave:
[23:33] But they find one photo in, I'm going to guess, 10, 20 million photos in that collection that they thought maybe could fit the bill. Technically, obviously not. That that wasn't sort of highlighted and triple stamped. I feel like Paul Rubens would have said that in the interview. I'm kind of surprised he didn't say like, here's this asshole is just gunning for a promotion or gunning for something to put in the public eye that he was tough on X. Felt they didn't do enough there.
Tara:
[24:02] Yeah.
Will:
[24:03] It was so infuriating to have to see that. I also did not remember that second charge nearly as much as the first incident.
Dave:
[24:09] Me either.
Tara:
[24:10] Absolutely.
Will:
[24:10] And I'm glad, glad for that because it's complete BS. I mean, the first one at least was a thing that happened. I mean, the fact that anybody was demonizing him for it was stupid, but okay. He did go into an adult movie theater and masturbate. So get as mad as you think is appropriate.
Tara:
[24:27] Well, he denied it. He may not have even.
Will:
[24:30] He might not even have done that.
Dave:
[24:31] Yeah, but even if he did, who cares?
Will:
[24:33] Even if he did, who cares? The second one is completely made up. Yeah. And that seemed to be weighing on him until he died, that there were people out there who thought he might be a pedophile. That was destroying him to some degree, this completely made-up unfair thing. I don't know.
Dave:
[24:51] That's the capital E evil thing about that whole thing is that's a genie in the bottle situation. You can't put that back in. Once you're accused, that's sort of it for you.
Sarah:
[24:59] Yeah.
Will:
[25:00] I mean, I'm glad he got some sort of comeback. I mean, I was glad there was another β I forgot there was another Pee Wee movie that happened in 2015.
Tara:
[25:07] And a Broadway show before that. But going back to his collection, seeing the warehouse full of all his stuff, it really made me hope whoever inherited it opens a museum.
Dave:
[25:18] Yeah.
Tara:
[25:18] Because it was so much cool shit. Like, it just looked like a dream.
Will:
[25:23] Give it to Amy Sedaris and let her, like, cure it. Yeah, she was like.
Sarah:
[25:28] Oh my gosh. Yes, brilliant idea.
Tara:
[25:30] Give it to his assistant who worked for him for 40 years.
Will:
[25:33] Yeah.
Tara:
[25:33] She looked like she had a good handle on what to do with all that stuff.
Will:
[25:37] Yeah.
Tara:
[25:38] Anyway, great film. We miss him.
Sarah:
[25:40] Mm-hmm.
Tara:
[25:51] It
Dave:
[25:51] Is time to go around the dial our first stop is tara.
Tara:
[25:54] Yeah speaking of nick kroll big mouth is back on netflix for its eighth and final season previous season finale gave us a huge tease by showing us all the kids on their first day of high school and we're ending with a season of high school problems nick finally starts puberty and his new look attracts new attention which he handles badly by lying that he hooked up with a girl in his class andrew gets jealous of missy's new love interests and sets out on a scheme to lure him away from her that doesn't go at all the way he expected. Jay and Lola become friends with benefits, even though they are barely friends. And despite Nick and Andrew being based on, and in one case voiced by co-creators of the show, what I thought were the best stories this season have gone to Jessie, who's voiced by Jessie Klein. The previous season finale established that her new high school friend group was going to be the Stoners. And as someone who grew up in the 80s and more importantly watching 80s sitcoms, I'm kind of astonished that a show about kids is so matter-of-fact about weed now. I mean, I understand the whole world is, including me, for the record, but even though the show's on Netflix, the propaganda I grew up with still makes me feel like, oh my, when the show doesn't really show any adverse effects of Jessie smoking other than she screws up at a bait meet because she's too high and then decides, maybe I should cool it a little on this because it's making me kind of depressed, as opposed to she smokes weed once and then dies of a heroin overdose the next day.
Sarah:
[27:13] Don't know what you mean.
Tara:
[27:14] Big Mouse is a show that's definitely your shit or definitely not your shit. There's really no middle ground on it. And if you've liked it over the years, I think it ends well. The creators, all four of them have another animated show coming soon-ish called Mating Season. So there's that to look forward to. And speaking of the creators, I talked to three of the four. Nick Kroll was not available, but the other three talked to me for Cracked. So you can read that interview and also my review of the season at Cracked. Links are in the show notes.
Dave:
[27:42] Will Hines, what have you been watching recently?
Will:
[27:45] So the comeback story of the 2004 Boston Red Sox is a baseball story about the 2004 Red Sox who came back and beat the Yankees and won the World Series and broke the curse. The Red Sox had not won a World Series since they had traded Babe Ruth away in 1918. And the legend was they were cursed by the ghost of Babe Ruth for daring to trade him.
Dave:
[28:07] So does that mean that Babe Ruth is now at a purgatory and in hell?
Will:
[28:11] Yeah, that's right. Following the logic, he's been released down to hell. But it was one of those dumb baseball myths that unfortunately kept being true as the Red Sox would blow it late in the season year after year. And when they overcame it, I was watching every game that year. And yes, you do have to like baseball, I think, to like this documentary. It's not going to win over a non-fan. But it's a pretty short, very fun documentary that interviews most of the principals who are involved in it. And it does a lot of just sort of like on-screen graphics and things to like make the more boring parts of baseball into like a story. Like they'll show Pedro Martinez's crazy pitch speeds and pitch movement to make pitching as exciting an activity as it could possibly be shown on TV.
Dave:
[28:58] So it was winning time for documentaries.
Will:
[29:01] Yeah. And I was captivated. And the people who are interviewed are mostly very candid. There's a lot of people who end up sort of betraying each other and losing friendships over this. And they're all pretty straight shooters when they talk about it. And my favorite moment is when they, the moment they win the World Series, the filmmakers show all of them just like silently remembering and smiling. And it's really just good to see them reliving their triumph. I thought it was great. Yeah. Lovely.
Dave:
[29:31] Nice. Will Hines, where can people follow you online, get more Will Hines in their lives?
Will:
[29:38] Okay, you should go to my Instagram account, Willie B. Hines, and that's where I promote shows and make false claims about my career, which people then believe, and is really fun. And come in on the joke with me and follow me there. That's the easiest place. I also have a million podcasts that I do. I'm on Comedy Bang Bang a lot, and that's really fun. Glad that I got swept up. Truly, I'm a terrible character actor who gets to hang out with the most brilliant character actors in Los Angeles.
Dave:
[30:07] I don't know. Your stuff's pretty good.
Tara:
[30:09] It's pretty good.
Will:
[30:09] I guess so.
Dave:
[30:11] You're being modest.
Will:
[30:11] I found some way to make it work. And I have a podcast called Screw It. We're just going to talk about the Beatles, which if you're a middle-aged man who has the incredibly not hot take of liking the Beatles, middle-aged adult, you'll like the show. Thank you.
Dave:
[30:25] Nice.
Tara:
[30:26] Fantastic. Fantastic.
Dave:
[30:28] All right, Sarah D. Bunting, what do you got here? And keep in mind, we have to keep the sports to TV ratio low. But let's find out what we got.
Sarah:
[30:36] Well, I mean, technically, this is like winning time adjacent because it involves Magic Johnson. Yes, I watched Magic and Bird, colon, A Courtship of Rivals. I actually set out to watch a different basketball documentary completely. Then HBO Max was like, wouldn't you rather watch this one first? And I was like, well, yeah, maybe. This one is 15 years old, but I love the 30 for 30 Celtics Lakers one. Like it's a family member. This is a good story. It's NBA final season. And Magic and Bird is narrated by Liev Schreiber and directed by Ezra Edelman, the genius behind OJ Made in America.
Will:
[31:12] Oh, wow.
Sarah:
[31:13] And it is a solid sit. Lots of amazing archival assets and footage. So many very tiny shorts.
Sarah:
[31:20] Magic with an afro which is like I'm sure I had seen a picture of that before but it was just so glorious that I like paused it I was like oh it's amazing yeah and then there was enough info that I didn't know but also enough information that I just sort of like put aside or hadn't thought about in a while like when Magic Johnson's HIV diagnosis was made public like I always sort of think in my head, like I know that he, that was a long time ago, but I thought it was later in the nineties. It was in 1991 and just sort of returning to that time and how, and someone says this like explicitly in a talking head interview that he's giving this press conference and he's like, I'm going to eat right and go forward and everything's going to be cool. I'm going to beat this thing. And like, literally everybody in the room is like, he'll be dead in a year. and that was what everybody thought and how wonderful that that was not true. But there is so much about the rivalry in the 80s too and the way it was received by basketball fans and the way the sporting press was content to frame it, which was the same way Beverly Hills 90210 framed it. Black versus white, Hollywood versus blue collar, selfish individualist play, which was code for black versus scrappy blue collar, blah, blah, blah.
Sarah:
[32:37] I imagine that if Edelman had this feature to do again, he might reframe it from a different angle so that it's not just about this rivalry between two guys, but about how it allegedly saved pro basketball from a marketing standpoint.
Sarah:
[32:53] And then in turn, why pro basketball was in need of saving or was seen as in need of saving after the merger with the ABA, how the ABA seemed to be a conduit for people to try to talk about race and step on their own dicks in the pages of Newsday. Maybe this is just the documentary I want to see. There are a few ABA adjacent docs out there, but Prime Video made some like ballyhoo deal in 2022 to make a docuseries about this merger is not extant yet. So folks, team, get on that. In the meantime, Magic and Bird is very good and watchable. It's maybe not crucial if you saw that 30 for 30, but it is not a waste of your time.
Dave:
[33:35] Magic and Bird, a courtship of rivals, sounds like it could be the sequel series to Game of Thrones. It's really got a fantasy vibe to it.
Sarah:
[33:46] Maybe. Magic Johnson plays the throne. That is on HBO Max as well. And, you know, I watch a lot of documentaries. Some of them are sportsy. Some of them are true crimey. Some of them are both. That's Most Untold episodes. I've talked about some of them before on here, but the one on Brett Favre is both. Whether he's fixing to admit it or not, I will be looking at that this week for my true crime review blog, Best Evidence. That link will be in the show notes. BestEvidence.FYI for the true crime that is or is not worth your time.
Dave:
[34:25] All right, here's what's coming up on our shows for the following week. This Friday, an extra, extra hot great available to our club members. We'll be talking about the, is it a sitcom or is it more of a comedy, Tara? It's a sitcom. All right, the sitcom adults. Go to extrahotgreat.com slash club to join and ingest that into your system. And then next week, right here on EHG Prime, we're going to be talking about the new show, Department Q. And welcome back my son, Taylor Cole. All right.
Tara:
[35:01] You should be so lucky.
Dave:
[35:07] It is time for the Extra Hot Great Cannon. Presenting this week is listener Sean. Take it away, Sean.
Tara:
[36:25] The food in the idyllic settings of Bill's home do it for me. The first time jump is four, And this is not an Arby's. Well, Arby's didn't have free lunch, it was a restaurant. Thank you, Sean. Will, you chose this. Please start us off. What did you think of the episode and of Sean's argument?
Will:
[42:27] Yeah, that was a great presentation. I was a fan of the video game, and I watched the show sort of, you know, with those, you know, having already liked the material and was kind of judging it based on when it would vary from the game, whether it was successful or, you know, made it better or worse. This episode was a really big departure from the game. The game does have a same-sex couple, but they have a really toxic and mean relationship. You only meet Bill. And he's Nick Offerman-ish, but in the game, he's a far more cantankerous and sort of violent persona, which suits combat shooty video game stuff. But when the video game came out in 2015, this is a low bar, but just the acknowledgement of a same-sex couple that is not ridiculed or persecuted for that, that is allowed to be a toxic couple, was in a way like this progressive decision. Again, low bar. But it was. It was like, oh, wow. So that was a β this cantankerous loudmouth had a boyfriend who was killed by things. And so the show, in making them kind of a much more loving and gentle and full story, they're given way more real estate in the show than they are in the video game. It's a deviation from the game, but it was worthy. It was like, well, we're going to be kind of as progressive now in whatever year this was, 2023, than as the game was for its medium in 2015.
Will:
[43:49] So even though it's different, it still kind of fulfilled the same function for the TV show as that moment did in the game. And I remember just sort of being impressed at, wow, they did a lot of masterful television that was necessary to sort of have to make your eyebrows go up in the same like, wow, that was that's really something. I was really struck by the episode just for what it was in and of itself and how it functioned within the show. So I was really glad to see that somebody was going to make a case for it. And I thought this was a really good case.
Tara:
[44:19] Fantastic. Sarah.
Sarah:
[44:19] I could have sworn that we covered this on the podcast, and we did, but I was out that week, which would explain why I have no memory of this show. This episode was so beautiful and poetical and just destroyed me by the end. Wonderful presentation, Sean. Thank you. I had a poetry professor. He was my thesis advisor. His name is Paul Muldoon. And I had this one poem that was in my thesis that it was like a page and a half, two pages. And he's just looking at it and then just like slashes his pen over both pages. And it wound up just being the first two lines.
Sarah:
[44:59] I had that in mind looking at this episode, which is like, I mean, it's long. It's like an hour and 12, an hour and 15, but you don't really feel it. And I kept being struck by how various moments between the acting and the writing and the extreme care that is taken with the production design throughout to sort of let you fill things in. The poet doesn't have to write everything out. You can just get it from background. It was just poetry in so many places, like that scene at the piano, like Frank's single tear after they kiss and then he asks, what's your name? There was just something so like elliptical and beautiful about that and about many of the other scenes, like the way that when you do the final jump forward, many of the paintings from the past are in the background.
Sarah:
[45:55] And because you've seen the one that Frank is working on, you can kind of fill in the devolution of his motor skills from that. Offerman in particular is really able to convey the sort of awkward and lovely moments of this relationship that we happen to be seeing as part of the story without overdoing it in either the awkward direction or the lovely direction. He just is so good at giving you, I have not spoken to another person in four years, neither of these men has probably touched another person out of fear or in, you know, unavailability of-
Sarah:
[46:38] Who are not fungi in a very long time. And to see how that is negotiated with these two, I just thought Offerman in particular was very good. And they were cast perfectly as a pair as well. And that last shot, when you're watching Joel and Ellie leave town in their inherited truck, and then you track slowly back through this window in the room where their bodies are, where you're not, they're not going to give you that like a Rose for Emily moment where you see anything. And I think that's very smart. And also brings me back to Professor Muldoon just being like, nope, don't show all this. Don't show all this. Don't tell them. Just like, here's your poem. It was two lines, which were about a dog's toenails of all fucking things. But anyway, I just was knocked out by this. I wanted to keep watching. And I was like, but I guess I got to go back to the beginning because I don't remember watching it. So I did go back to the start and, ah, Mason. I mean, we both went to Princeton. I don't know if he ever had a class with Muldoon, but he survived rooming with Ted Cruz and we're all so glad for that. That's some of his best work is his tweets ranking on old Raphael. So yeah, this was a wonderful presentation.
Sarah:
[47:56] I cried off all my eyeliner watching this. I've gone back to the beginning of the series. And I'm super excited that I have all of this storytelling ahead of me. And yeah, I thought it was very beautiful. And you know, I hope Paul will do as well. Tara.
Tara:
[48:11] Yeah, I wanted to talk just briefly about the frame story around Bill and Frank, because Sean doesn't really touch on it much. But I thought it's very elegant how the show incorporates moments that you can tell were meaningful or would have been in the video game. Like when they, Joel and Ellie, get to a store and it's like, you can tell what the goals are, you know, get in this room, open this hatch, figure out how to get down, see what's in there, if there's anything worth scavenging.
Sarah:
[48:39] Yeah, like when she's turning the garbage can, it was like, oh, yeah, this is gameplay shit. Love it.
Dave:
[48:43] Xbox achievement, tampons found. Oh, sorry, PlayStation achievement.
Tara:
[48:51] Exactly. And same thing at the end when she's just, you know, she's kind of waiting and then she opens a drawer and finds a gun. And we know that's going to be important later. That all was interesting. But I appreciate that Sean called out, you know, the important moment of Frank being shirtless in bed. because this is what you get when you hire a gay director to do this. You get the gay gaze, which is equally as important, in my opinion, as all of the romance. Like the horniness is part of the story and that is not skimped on. And I appreciated that as a viewer. And I also appreciated that this episode does what I always am annoyed when shows like this don't, which is show the day-to-day of what it's like to not just survive, but actually live. It makes a case for doing all this prepping because bill is living i'm gonna say it better than i am oh yeah i appreciate that you know we see the process of like what was important to him to gather and and some funny stuff too like when they have their uh alfresco lunch with joel and tess and frank is just casually like can we not and then we see bill is holding a gun pointed at joel Well, they're all just like eating salad. It's so funny. So yeah, I appreciate it that this episode fired on all cylinders. We did not continue watching The Last of Us, but this episode is certainly a standout. I can't argue with it. Dave?
Dave:
[50:10] Are you still watching, Will, second season now that it's on?
Will:
[50:14] No, because the second video game was so bleak that I found it tipped into unpleasantness. Even though it was sort of masterfully done game, I just was like, I don't want to live in this masterfully done bleak world. The first game was enough of a balance for me. So I've avoided the second season just out of fear of pain. But my friends who watch it say it's great. I might have to go back and catch it at some point.
Dave:
[50:38] Let's see. What can I add that nobody said anymore? Some of the framing device I did like, there was a whole discussion about flying in an airplane because they walk and there's a crashed airplane on the hillside 10 miles west of Boston, you know, with the big giant mountains all around it, that Boston. He's explaining, I was like, oh, you got to wait. And there's like all the security. And she's like, dude, you got to go up in the sky. And I was like, oh, that's like such a post-apocalyptic fairy tale thing that somebody got to do. And I thought that was a great line.
Tara:
[51:10] Yeah, I meant to say that, too, that the contrast between Bill trying to preserve as much as he can of like the elegant parts of life versus Ellie, like just sort of mythologizing all the stuff she didn't get to do because she was born too late.
Dave:
[51:24] Yeah.
Sarah:
[51:24] And not knowing what a seatbelt is.
Tara:
[51:26] Yeah, that was cute.
Sarah:
[51:27] So he has to like physically do it.
Tara:
[51:28] Mm-hmm.
Dave:
[51:29] Mm-hmm. Really enjoyed the Arby's criticism. He's absolutely correct. It's not a restaurant. It made no sense.
Sarah:
[51:34] Mm-hmm.
Dave:
[51:35] There is one moment that Sean, you know, just for time, couldn't get to that I thought was great for the relationship where Frank grows a little mini strawberry field for Bill.
Sarah:
[51:45] Oh, yeah. That was so sweet.
Dave:
[51:47] And there's a moment where Nick Offerman tastes the strawberry and just like can't help but put this high-pitched squealy laugh.
Tara:
[51:53] This giggle.
Dave:
[51:54] Yeah, this little giggle just because it's so delicious and so heartfelt that I thought that was a great little moment, too. And then he tries to have sex on the strawberries and Frank is like not on the strawberries.
Sarah:
[52:05] I've worked too hard.
Tara:
[52:06] And he's right.
Dave:
[52:08] And just about the very last shot, the camera pans back into a little bit of the bedroom where the window has been left open. That means they're good people. Don't stink up the house if you don't have to. That's a very considerate move. So anybody out there, if you're going to be in the apocalypse in a few years and you're thinking that things are just too hard, take a moment.
Tara:
[52:28] Yeah.
Dave:
[52:29] Put up your windows.
Sarah:
[52:29] Open a window. Little Febreze plug in.
Dave:
[52:33] Exactly. Anything else before we put this to the vote? All right. Will Hines, what say you? Cannonworthy or not?
Will:
[52:39] Yes, Cannonworthy.
Dave:
[52:40] Sarah D. Bundy.
Sarah:
[52:41] Yes, Cannonworthy. Well done, Sean.
Dave:
[52:43] Tari Ariello.
Tara:
[52:44] Certainly, yes.
Dave:
[52:45] Yeah, me too. So. The Last of Us, Season 1, Episode 3. Long, long time. You are hereby inducted into the Extra. I'll break in.
Dave:
[53:05] love a winner. Yep. And will not tolerate a loser. Nope. It is time to discover who is the winner and loser of the week. Tara has this week's winner.
Tara:
[53:15] Winner of the week is, I'm going to say, Taron Killam. He's just been added to the cast of the cheerleading sitcom Stumble. I hope this will not take him away entirely from High Potential. I know season two is going to have more episodes over there, but hopefully he can find time to do both. And as someone who loves Bring It On very, very much, I hope this show is good. I think they've tried before with cheerleading shows. Dare was more of a drama. Wildcats was a comedy on the CW, and we all know they don't know how to do those and never have. So I'm hoping Stumble breaks the curse and that this is the good one. But we'll see.
Dave:
[53:51] All right, Sarah, who's our loser?
Sarah:
[53:53] Oh, God. Well, our sports to TV ratio is wackadoodles today. today but yes my loser is Charles Barkley I don't think he's a loser for this I am shocked that this never happened before but he dropped a fuck into a hot mic on TNT he was talking about I think all defensive team voting and said that those people don't know what the fuck
Sarah:
[54:15] they're talking about and honestly when he's right he's right speaking.
Dave:
[54:20] About when you're right you're right do you know what time it is presently.
Sarah:
[54:24] Game time.
Dave:
[54:37] Welcome back to Game Time. Before we get into it, we have a correction from last week. We made a little boo-boo. Oh, no.
Dave:
[54:49] In our Beverly Hills 90210 question, the count was off. Luke Perry was in the mix for being in the first and last episode of that show. That is not correct. He was started in the second episode of the show. So it didn't affect the overall winner, but thankfully it will not affect the season. So moving on. This is the third game time of this season. The scores are Tara with one from last week. Sarah also with one value guests looking to get on the board. Today we are playing Stay Tuned from Amy Allen Spock rhymes with Spock, who earns herself an extra credit topic of her choosing, plus a free shirt from our store at throughmethods.com. Are you tired of paying too much money for expensive Tube Tunes branded TV song trivia games? Well, the free market and Amy have provided with Stay Tuned, but with clue innovations that seem certain to shake up the marketplace. In Stay Tuned, you'll hear a clip from an original song from a television show. Name the show for two points. If you guess incorrectly, you'll get a second guess after I give you some info about the show. They debut year and network, plus the genre of the show. That's pretty much it. Let's get the steel mill situation. Please, Tara.
Tara:
[56:10] Thank you so much, Dave. Sarah has three. I have three. Valued guests have one.
Dave:
[56:15] All right. Let's throw it to the person in control choosing initiative. Picky to see who's going first. All right, that means Will is in the hot seat. Then we'll go to Tara, then to Sarah. 21 questions in total today. Just after the halfway mark, we will do one Grossworth Equalizer Challenge Zone. Are we ready to play? Stay tuned.
Tara:
[56:38] Yes.
Sarah:
[56:38] Yes.
Dave:
[56:39] Will Hines, are you ready for your first original song from a TV show? Listen to the clip. Name the show, if you can, for two points.
Will:
[56:48] Okay. Points becoming men. Men becoming wolves.
Dave:
[56:54] Short clip there for you. Do you want to hear it again?
Will:
[56:57] Yeah, I'm sure you guys know I have no idea, but go ahead, let's hear it again.
Sarah:
[57:00] Boys becoming men, men becoming wolves.
Dave:
[57:04] Boys becoming men, men becoming wolves is the lyrics there. Any guesses what show we're talking about?
Will:
[57:12] I'm just going to guess what we do in the shadows.
Dave:
[57:14] What we do in the shadows is incorrect.
Will:
[57:18] Great.
Dave:
[57:19] Here you go. Some more information about the show for you. You get another guess, Will. This show debuted in 2006 on NBC, and it is a sitcom.
Will:
[57:29] Great. Great. NBC. Great network. In 2006, awesome year. Great year. I don't know. I don't know.
Dave:
[57:40] Anybody want to steal mail that? No? All right. Anybody know it?
Tara:
[57:43] 30 Rock.
Dave:
[57:44] 30 Rock. That is Werewolf Bar Mitzvah from 30 Rock. All right.
Will:
[57:49] It's an easy one.
Dave:
[57:50] Tara, are you ready?
Tara:
[57:51] Yes. I'm an open book. I'm a little bit cray-cray. If you steal my look. Schitt's Creek.
Dave:
[57:59] Schitt's Creek is correct. A little bit Alexis.
Tara:
[58:02] Two points.
Dave:
[58:03] Two points. Sarah D. Bunting, are you ready?
Sarah:
[58:06] Mm-hmm.
Dave:
[58:15] What show is that from?
Sarah:
[58:17] The Partridge Family.
Dave:
[58:19] Partridge Family is correct. 1970s, I Think I Love You. Back to Will Hines. Here you go.
Will:
[58:26] Yes. We know you're up there in heaven's hay. But here's the part that hurts the most. Humans cannot ride a ghost Alright.
Dave:
[58:48] What show is that from?
Will:
[58:50] I don't know.
Dave:
[58:51] No idea? Want to put a guess out there?
Will:
[58:56] No, I can't even, no, I don't even know. The Ben Stiller show. I have no idea.
Dave:
[58:59] Ben Stiller show is not correct. Alright, this show is from 2009. This is from your favorite network, NBC. And it is a sitcom. And just to, you know.
Will:
[59:11] Give you a little more.
Dave:
[59:11] I'm going to tell you the name of the song without the parenthetical after it is 5,000 Candles in the Wind.
Will:
[59:21] So good. Well, I don't know. I'm going to, I don't know. My name is Earl. I have no idea.
Dave:
[59:29] That was Parks and Recreation by Bye Little Sebastian.
Will:
[59:34] So good.
Dave:
[59:35] Little miniature horse. So great.
Tara:
[59:38] Yes.
Dave:
[59:39] Here you go. You're so beautiful, In the.
Tara:
[59:52] Fast, She's fast Hint.
Dave:
[59:58] This show debuted 2015 on Fox. It is a music drama.
Tara:
[1:00:03] I should have just guessed. That's Empire.
Dave:
[1:00:05] You always put out a guess if you're not going to get penalized for it. That is worth one point. Sarah debunting. Here is your next clip. can i hear it again please yeah you sure can oh fighter of the night man oh champion, master of karate and friendship for everyone who lines has no idea what's going on right now no i know this oh you do know this one okay you had a bewildered face i've heard that somewhere i'm not sure.
Sarah:
[1:00:53] Where um is this what we do in the shadows.
Dave:
[1:00:54] It is not hint please this show debuted 2005 on fx it is a sitcom and i will let you know it's still on the air it.
Sarah:
[1:01:06] Can't be where i heard it uh it's always sunny.
Dave:
[1:01:08] It's always sunny is correct yes that is uh day man back to will hines here you go.
Will:
[1:01:20] Two tablespoons of cinnamon and two or three egg whites a half a stick of butter, melted.
Dave:
[1:01:36] There's the clip what's the show I.
Will:
[1:01:38] Don't know Big Mouth that's my guess they have a bunch of songs in that.
Dave:
[1:01:41] Show Big Mouth is not correct this show started in 1997 on Comedy Central it is an animated sitcom and it will also give you the hint it is still on South Park South Park is correct for one point that is chocolate salty balls yes.
Tara:
[1:02:18] Hint?
Dave:
[1:02:19] Sure you don't want to put a guess out there?
Tara:
[1:02:21] Yeah, I have no idea.
Dave:
[1:02:22] All right. 1987 on ABC. It is a sitcom.
Tara:
[1:02:29] Dookie Hauser, MD?
Dave:
[1:02:32] Nope. Steel Mill for anybody?
Will:
[1:02:33] I'll Steel Mill.
Dave:
[1:02:34] All right. Steel Mill, Will Hines.
Will:
[1:02:35] I mean, I really don't know, but 30-something I'll discuss. It's ABC. It's ABC.
Sarah:
[1:02:42] Pretty sure it's Full House, no?
Dave:
[1:02:45] Is that a Steel Mill, Sarah?
Sarah:
[1:02:47] Sure.
Dave:
[1:02:47] Steel bill from Sarah. Yes, correct. One point for Full House.
Will:
[1:02:51] Oh, nice. Nice.
Sarah:
[1:02:53] Stables!
Dave:
[1:02:54] I mean, I guess it kind of sounds jingly enough. I guess it could be a montage from 30 Rock.
Will:
[1:02:58] Sure. I don't know why that would be so weird.
Dave:
[1:02:59] Maybe less.
Will:
[1:03:00] 30 something. Yeah.
Sarah:
[1:03:01] 30 something is much better.
Dave:
[1:03:02] Did I say 30 Rock? Yes, 30 something.
Will:
[1:03:04] Yeah, yeah.
Dave:
[1:03:05] All right. We're all making mistakes. Sarah D. Bunting, here you go. Next clip. Girl, it's freaky.
Will:
[1:03:13] My heart is weak. My teeth are extra sharp.
Sarah:
[1:03:26] Much It's scary Oh, yes, scary It's scary Oh, I love it. This is not correct, but Teen Wolf?
Dave:
[1:03:38] Decent guess, I guess. I think it's more of a drama, though, isn't it?
Tara:
[1:03:42] Who knows what they did over there at MTV?
Dave:
[1:03:44] Yeah, crazy guys. 2011 this show debuted on fox it is an animated sitcom how.
Sarah:
[1:03:51] Nice for it and it is, bob's burgers.
Dave:
[1:03:59] Yes bob's burgers correct nice all right will hines are you ready for your next show song super ready fully ready all right we're all ready here we go yeah.
Will:
[1:04:32] I don't know. I have no idea. Silver spoons.
Dave:
[1:04:36] All right. Will Hines. 2009, this show debuted on your favorite network, NBC. It is a sitcom.
Will:
[1:04:44] Really?
Dave:
[1:04:44] Wait, one more hint. It is a show that you have personally brought to this program before.
Tara:
[1:04:49] That's true.
Will:
[1:04:50] I have?
Dave:
[1:04:51] Yes, you have.
Sarah:
[1:04:52] Oh, yeah.
Tara:
[1:04:52] When we still lived in New York.
Dave:
[1:04:54] Yeah. Long time ago.
Will:
[1:04:55] Oh, really?
Dave:
[1:04:56] A show from, an episode from this show up for the canon.
Will:
[1:05:01] Why can't I not remember that why am I such a dummy, a show I've watched you put this in here just so that I would feel included which is so sweet of you and I am rejecting my graciousness by being stupid I can't remember I don't remember what shows I like then alright.
Dave:
[1:05:21] I want to put a guess NBC sitcom.
Will:
[1:05:23] 2009 Louis it's not NBC can you imagine.
Dave:
[1:05:30] Community community is the correct answer.
Will:
[1:05:32] Oh right the paintball episode yes yes all.
Dave:
[1:05:36] Right tara are you.
Tara:
[1:05:38] Yes Are my days too tight? Yeah Do I laugh too.
Will:
[1:05:44] Yeah You say I'm more polite I say, fuck you very much Yeah.
Dave:
[1:05:51] All right tara what's that show we.
Tara:
[1:05:53] Are lady parts.
Dave:
[1:05:54] You're correct for two Bashir with the Good Beard is the name of that song. This will take us into our score break. Are you ready, Sarah?
Sarah:
[1:06:03] Sort of. Caviar, Myanmar, mid-sized car. You don't have to be popular.
Dave:
[1:06:09] Find out who your true friends are. There's the song. What's the show?
Sarah:
[1:06:16] I mean, I'm not sure this is right, but it sounds like him. So Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt?
Dave:
[1:06:22] Two-point answer. Correct.
Will:
[1:06:24] Yes.
Dave:
[1:06:25] All right.
Will:
[1:06:25] Thank you.
Dave:
[1:06:26] Nicely done. That will take us into our score break. Let's get them scores.
Tara:
[1:06:30] Okay. Sarah has seven. I have five. Will has one.
Dave:
[1:06:36] All right. Will Hines, that means you are in the Grossworth Equalizer Challenge Zone.
Will:
[1:06:41] Great.
Dave:
[1:06:48] All right. So, Will, since you're so far behind, I'm not going to do the very cruel thing of making you pick a number. I'm going to let you choose which Trivia Pursuit box question you want to answer. We've got 90s, 80s, the original one, which is like from the early 80s, contemporarily created. So a lot of really old shows in that one. We've got pop culture, DVD set, and some others. But which one of those?
Will:
[1:07:13] And I pick one of those.
Dave:
[1:07:14] You pick one of those. Or Star Trek, the original series, super hard trivia box set.
Will:
[1:07:21] Let's do that one. Let's do Star Trek, the original series, super hard box set.
Sarah:
[1:07:25] Wow.
Dave:
[1:07:25] I'm going to make it worth your while if you answer questions.
Sarah:
[1:07:28] Facers fired.
Will:
[1:07:29] Okay, yeah. Let's give it a shot. I mean, this is really going to be something.
Dave:
[1:07:34] This one comes from Golden Trivia Cards. They saw the success of True Pursuit and said, let's make some questions for it.
Will:
[1:07:42] Yeah, let's rip off two pre-existing fandoms at once.
Dave:
[1:07:47] The cards are divided into things. So I'm going to give you a choice of questions about the ship's crew or Starfleet.
Will:
[1:07:54] Let's do Starfleet. Starfleet.
Dave:
[1:07:56] All right.
Will:
[1:07:56] I love organizations.
Tara:
[1:07:59] Good luck.
Dave:
[1:07:59] There's also generalized Trek trivia if you want to hedge your bets. Are you going to go Starfleet?
Will:
[1:08:05] No, let's hedge our bets. Let's do generalized Trek trivia.
Dave:
[1:08:08] All right, here you go. I warned you. You got to know your Star Trek, sir. But for every question you get right, I'm going to give you two points. You don't even need to sweep it. Wow. So you can get a shitload of points here. Here we go.
Will:
[1:08:20] Very generous.
Dave:
[1:08:21] Name two of the four animals seen or heard in the episode Shore Leave. There's four animals. You only have to name two.
Will:
[1:08:30] Okay, sure leave. No idea. I'm going to say a Tribble and a, okay, great, and a Horse.
Dave:
[1:08:39] Okay, you got Horse. There is a Horse, the Black Knight's Horse. So just keep going. You got two more guesses.
Will:
[1:08:46] Okay. Dragon.
Dave:
[1:08:48] One more.
Will:
[1:08:50] And a, what would be an easy thing that a cheap Hollywood show could get? Cat.
Dave:
[1:08:57] All right. The answers were the Black Knight's horse, White Rabbit, Bengal Tiger, which I guess is a kind of a cat, but I don't think they're the kind that you were talking about.
Will:
[1:09:06] No, I agree that I did not get that.
Dave:
[1:09:08] Yeah. And a flock of birds. All right.
Will:
[1:09:11] Okay.
Dave:
[1:09:11] Still got five more questions. In what star system is Vulcan located?
Will:
[1:09:17] Great question.
Dave:
[1:09:18] Wait, hang on. This is such a stupid answer. Okay.
Will:
[1:09:22] I'm going to say it's in the Vulcan star system.
Dave:
[1:09:24] You know, I'm going to give you that point, even though it's wrong, because the answer is never determined in series or movies. You can't ask a question with an answer like that.
Sarah:
[1:09:32] Don't put it in the.
Dave:
[1:09:33] So we're just going to give you those two points for an impossible question.
Tara:
[1:09:35] Fair.
Sarah:
[1:09:36] Yep. OK.
Dave:
[1:09:37] That was on you, golden trivia.
Tara:
[1:09:41] Getting a little tarnished, in my opinion.
Dave:
[1:09:42] Question three, what was the ship's alert status when the ion pod supposedly containing Lieutenant Commander Ben Feeney was jettisoned? What was the alert status?
Will:
[1:09:56] Red.
Dave:
[1:09:57] You are correct. It is red alert, two points.
Will:
[1:10:01] It's my favorite alert.
Dave:
[1:10:02] It's everybody's favorite alert.
Will:
[1:10:04] Of all the alert statuses, it's my favorite one. Yeah.
Dave:
[1:10:07] Which bridge, position, or station, if any, see, now they're doing it, did Chekhov routinely take over in the absence of the crewmen normally in charge? So where was Chekhov going in the bridge when it was left?
Will:
[1:10:21] Science officer.
Dave:
[1:10:22] Yes, you are correct. Another two points.
Will:
[1:10:23] Yes. He went over to Spock's station. Yeah.
Dave:
[1:10:28] All right. Here's another one. Which bridge position or station, if any, did Sulu occasionally take over in the absence of the crewmen normally in charge?
Will:
[1:10:37] Communications.
Dave:
[1:10:39] The captain's post.
Will:
[1:10:42] You should have gone.
Dave:
[1:10:43] All right. Last question.
Will:
[1:10:44] Okay.
Dave:
[1:10:45] A binary answer. Oh, no, it's not. Did McCoy ever man the bridge science officer's station? If so, in what film or episode?
Will:
[1:10:59] I'm going to say yes.
Dave:
[1:11:00] Yeah you're correct on that one so we're going to split this that was worth one point if you get the other half you're being so.
Will:
[1:11:05] Nice and it is noted I'm going to say didn't Wrath have con.
Dave:
[1:11:10] Oh you're so close I was going to say search for Spock but you did pretty well there how many points did he get he.
Tara:
[1:11:17] Got seven points.
Dave:
[1:11:19] He's now in the lead he's now in the lead.
Will:
[1:11:23] That's so not fair yes fortune favors.
Sarah:
[1:11:26] The brave Dave. Well done.
Dave:
[1:11:29] That was great. All right.
Sarah:
[1:11:30] What does this do? What does this make? Nothing.
Dave:
[1:11:35] Callback. Silent callback to a joke nobody knows about. All right, let's carry on. It is back to Will for our next audio. It is an original song from a TV show. You have the name to show. Here is the song. Who is it kissing? Wish I knew. Who is it kissing?
Will:
[1:11:57] Kissing when he looks into my eyes? Ooh, good song. You know, for a TV original, I'm going to say Medium. I have no idea.
Dave:
[1:12:11] Medium, not well done. 1985, the show debuted in syndication. It is an animated musical TV show.
Will:
[1:12:21] Oh, really?
Dave:
[1:12:22] Yes. animated.
Will:
[1:12:24] Musical show 1985.
Dave:
[1:12:26] Yeah um.
Will:
[1:12:27] Wow that's fascinating.
Tara:
[1:12:29] I think i know this only because i just read something about its 40th anniversary.
Dave:
[1:12:34] That is true today on our discord i'm.
Will:
[1:12:37] Gonna say jem.
Dave:
[1:12:38] You're correct that showed it is jem yes there you go who is he kissing original song from jem yeah all right tara are you ready it's.
Tara:
[1:12:48] Hard to see this world without you, Is this Saved by the Bell?
Dave:
[1:13:16] Which one?
Tara:
[1:13:17] The original one.
Dave:
[1:13:18] Yes. 1989. Saved by the Bell. Did we ever have a chance? Sarah D. Bunting, are you ready?
Sarah:
[1:13:25] Mm-hmm. Stepping up and playing it small. Digging over.
Dave:
[1:13:33] Going up like a cannonball. I believe also in the cannon.
Tara:
[1:13:39] Sure is.
Sarah:
[1:13:41] Can I hear it again? I'm sorry.
Dave:
[1:13:43] Yep, no problem. Steppin' up and playin' it small. Diggin'.
Sarah:
[1:13:51] Goin' up like a cannonball. Ugh, shit. Ah, I just do not know. The Carpenter is the animated series.
Dave:
[1:14:06] This show is from 2021 on Peacock. It is a sitcom.
Sarah:
[1:14:14] Girls five ever.
Dave:
[1:14:15] Yes girls five ever that is b wow yes all right back to will this is your second to last clip okay.
Will:
[1:14:24] There's this boy i like met him at the food court he's got hair like redski and he does drums on his skateboard oh sounds like 87 but i have no idea i'm gonna guess la law.
Dave:
[1:14:41] You're kind of right the show is from 2005 on cbs it is a sitcom it is a throwback to a 80 late 80s early 90s sort of thing is that right yeah do you want to hear it 2005 you said yeah 2005 is the show is from yeah okay.
Will:
[1:14:56] Big bang theory.
Dave:
[1:14:57] Big bang theory incorrect okay show we're looking for is how i met your mother that's robin she used to be a canadian teen singer singing about going to the mall let's go to the mall name of that song this is question 17. it is for tarred eagle.
Tara:
[1:15:12] Yes I paid my dues, but it's a debt I'm done paying. heart again. Nashville?
Dave:
[1:15:36] Correct. Two-point answer.
Will:
[1:15:38] Nice.
Dave:
[1:15:39] 2012 Nashville Nothing in this world will ever break my heart Again 2012.
Sarah:
[1:15:45] That show was They.
Dave:
[1:15:47] Turn into dust Alright Sarah D. Bunting Here is your next show's Song.
Sarah:
[1:16:10] The Brady Bunch?
Tara:
[1:16:11] Of course.
Dave:
[1:16:12] Correct. 1969's It's a Sunshine Day.
Will:
[1:16:17] Incredible.
Sarah:
[1:16:18] Not for the sound engineer, it wasn't.
Dave:
[1:16:21] Yeah, that was pretty muddy. Last question coming up for everybody, so let's get the scores, please.
Tara:
[1:16:26] It's so close. Will and I are tied with nine points each. Sarah in the lead with ten.
Dave:
[1:16:31] All right. Anybody's game still mathematically, anybody could still take it. Will, here is your last question. It is question. That's not the song. That's not the song. Here's the song.
Will:
[1:16:45] Right. Okay. The way that he acts, the way that he talks.
Tara:
[1:16:51] The way that he laughs, and the way that he walks.
Will:
[1:16:58] You guys seem to know it. I do not know it. I'm going to say Glee. I have no idea.
Dave:
[1:17:03] Incorrect. This show is from 2019. It debuted on Comedy Central. It is a sitcom.
Will:
[1:17:10] 2019 Comedy Central. I'm sure they debuted. They were doing shows in 2019? No. Oh, no, I don't know. I don't know. Sorry.
Sarah:
[1:17:25] Can I steal meals?
Dave:
[1:17:26] You can if you have steal meals left. Yep.
Tara:
[1:17:28] You sure can.
Sarah:
[1:17:29] I do, right?
Tara:
[1:17:30] Yep.
Sarah:
[1:17:31] Okay. The other two?
Dave:
[1:17:33] The other two is correct. My brother's gay and that's okay.
Will:
[1:17:38] Of course. And it is an HBO show But it started as Comedy Central That's right Tara Yes.
Dave:
[1:18:07] All right, Picky really wants a tie here at the end.
Sarah:
[1:18:10] Here, what's that show.
Dave:
[1:18:11] Tara?
Tara:
[1:18:12] Smash.
Dave:
[1:18:13] Smash is correct. Let me be your star, which means you're one ahead of Sarah right now.
Tara:
[1:18:17] Correct? Nope, we're tied.
Dave:
[1:18:18] Oh, we're tied. So Sarah needs to get anything, anything here for the victory. Sarah, are you ready for the last regulation clip of the game?
Tara:
[1:18:26] Sarah, I believe.
Sarah:
[1:18:26] Not really, but let's do it anyway.
Dave:
[1:18:29] Here we go. You need us, like a clan. Need to share, I'll put Sarah's face right now. What?
Sarah:
[1:18:50] What? I mean, the Addams Family. I don't know.
Dave:
[1:18:58] All right. I can kind of see it. This show debuted in 1964 on CBS. It is a sitcom. um gotta guess that here if you get it right you win if you don't we're on to a tiebreaker.
Sarah:
[1:19:13] 1964 may i hear the clip again or am i too late.
Dave:
[1:19:16] You absolutely can you need us like a clan needs a shell.
Sarah:
[1:19:29] Needs a bell, I just, I don't really know. So I'm going to say Gilligan's Island.
Dave:
[1:19:40] Gilligan's Island, throwing it out there.
Tara:
[1:19:44] Correct! Gilligan's Island for the win!
Sarah:
[1:19:49] That's the Schwartz looking over me from the great beyond.
Tara:
[1:19:53] Oh my God, incredible.
Sarah:
[1:19:55] That was a great clincher.
Dave:
[1:19:57] All right, we've got the tiebreaker.
Tara:
[1:19:59] We'd love to hear it.
Dave:
[1:20:00] I'm going to play the tiebreaker. First person to shout out the correct show will win a future Steel Meal opportunity for yourself or will you're playing for future value guests. Are you ready to hear the last clip, everybody? Shout it out when you think you know.
Will:
[1:20:12] 100%.
Dave:
[1:20:12] Here we go.
Tara:
[1:20:18] Frasier.
Dave:
[1:20:22] Tara is correct with Frasier. She's such a groovy lady.
Sarah:
[1:20:27] She should know. She's Frasier.
Dave:
[1:20:29] She's Frasier. All right. Nicely done, everybody. Sarah. Sarah.
Sarah:
[1:20:37] Sarah.
Dave:
[1:20:38] Well, guys, that is it for another episode of Extra Hot Great. We discussed the HBO doc Pee-wee as himself. We'll do that. We'll do that again. We discussed the HBO doc Pee-wee as himself. Magic and Bird. And I guess we are a sports podcast now. Thanks to Sean, the last of us long, long time found lasting happiness in the canon. We crowned winners and losers of the week. and Sarah was the winner of this week's Game Time from Amy. Next up, it's adults plus a ton more on Friday's Extra Extra Hot Great and return here to EHG Prime in a week's time for Department Q. Remember!
Will:
[1:21:28] We're listening.
Dave:
[1:21:31] I am David T. Cole and on behalf of Tara Ariano.
Tara:
[1:21:35] Not today, you New World Order jackboot fucks.
Dave:
[1:21:38] Sarah D. Bunting.
Sarah:
[1:21:40] I actually do have sex for lunches, FYI.
Dave:
[1:21:44] And Will Hines.
Will:
[1:21:45] Not on the strawberries.
Sarah:
[1:21:48] Thanks for listening.
Dave:
[1:21:49] We'll see you next time, right here on Extra Hot Great. We were talking about your childhood bedroom.
Will:
[1:22:06] HBO wants a lot of fucking tits and ass in this stock so I can only.