Bringing Honesty To Billy Joel: And So It Goes

Clip: [00:00] I don't want to be in any lounge or club that you're a part of, sir, you dirty old bitch, for good measure. Cause I'm from Long Island. I'll take the railroad, L I R R. New York Long Island, Billy Joel. Dave: [00:21] This is the Extra Hot Great Podcast, episode 572 for the week of July 21st, 2025. I am Mr. Cachatoris down on Sullivan Street, David T. Cole, and I'm here with The Down Easter, Sarah D. Bunting. Sarah: [00:39] Tell your mom I am trolling Atlantis. Dave: [00:42] Scene from an Italian restaurant, Tara Ariano. Tara: [00:44] Bottle of Real Wait. Dave: [00:46] And Junkie and Closet Queen, Dan Blau Rogge. Dan: [00:50] Oh my god, what the hell, Dave? Dave: [00:54] Hello, everybody, and welcome to another episode of Extra Hot Great before we get into the festivities this week A little bit of pod business. We are now available on Apple Podcasts. Wait, you've always been available on Apple Podcasts. Yes, but this is Apple Podcast Subscriptions basically, it's the club content that you can buy directly from Apple if you never really wanted to deal with Patreon. So, if you go to our listing on Apple. Podcasts, there's a banner or some link you can click. It's the same price, $5 a month. The only difference is because we don't know who you are if you sign up through Apple because it's very privacy focused. We can't tie anything in with Discord or stuff like that. So it's basically just the audio stuff from the club, which is basically what you hear for, anyways. If you want to sign up there, go to our listing on Apple Podcasts and sign up there. Proceeds from that do count towards the club goals. So if that puts us over the next goal, then that happens. I gotta get drunk. Sarah: [01:54] Woo Finally. Tara: [01:56] Yeah. Thank you, Dave. Let's talk about today's episode Joining us. He is a musical theater librettist and a five-time Emmy nominee. You've heard with us many times before. It's Daniel Blairogi. Dave: [02:10] Dan, welcome back. Sarah: [02:11] Woo! Tara: [02:11] Dan. Dave: [02:13] And thank you for having good internet today. Dan: [02:17] Anytime except for yesterday. Sarah: [02:19] Don't bring the Maloic, Dave. Dave: [02:21] Sorry, my bad. Sarah: [02:21] Come on. You know better than that. Dan: [02:23] But it doesn't matter because, as the deep cut fans will understand, tomorrow is today. Tara: [02:28] Hey, yes, we are in fact talking about Billy Joel and so it goes. Billy Joel. Is a singer-songwriter from Hicksville, Long Island. Over the past five decades or so, he worked his way up to becoming one of the most successful touring musicians ever including one hundred consecutive sold-out shows during his ten year residency at Madison Square Garden. Along the way, he got royally fucked over in his first record deal, got married four times Including to his bandmates ex, he had millions embezzled by his manager, also his brother-in-law during that first marriage He went to rehab several times, and he is now raising two teeny tiny children with wife number four. In other words, he's lived enough life to fill a two-part, five-hour documentary series on HBO. It was directed by Susan Lacey and Jessica Levin, who previously collaborated on Jane Fonda in Five Acts and The Janes. Part one of Billy Joel and So It Goes aired on HBO last Friday. The second airs this Friday night. We got access to both parts, but spoiler warnings, I'm going to say, don't really apply since the major story points are facts in the public record. Let's do the Chen check-in. Dan, should our listeners watch Billy Joel and so it goes. Dan: [03:40] It's the best episode of Lifetime's Intimate Portrait I've Seen Since Tracy Gold, so yes. Tara: [03:46] Sarah. Sarah: [03:47] For sure. It is surprisingly sticky, even if you either are on the fence or you're like, I know everything there is to know about Billy Joel. After 40 minutes, you'll be just. Sitting there riveted, so for sure, watch it. Dave: [04:01] Yeah, there's a ton here. I had no idea happened to Billy Joel or around Billy Joel. So I found it very interesting. The first episode is the crowd pleaser, and the second one is like, oh, Billy, what are you doing? Sarah: [04:11] Yeah, really. Tara: [04:12] Yeah, that is true. Dan: [04:12] So true. Sarah: [04:14] Yeah Oh God, yeah. Tara: [04:15] Yes, for me as well. And Dan, as soon as this was announced, I got a text from you. Pitching yourself as a guest on a hypothetical extra hot grade episode about it. I know why, but tell the listener why you were so passionate. Dan: [04:27] Well, the number one reason is I don't have a dad to text 'cause I am the dad that you text I, as I believe everyone knows, am from Long Island, have been a lifelong Billy Joel fan because when you are from Massapequa on the sunny South Shore, you don't really get a choice. It is given to you by birthright. The first concert I ever went to was in December of 1982 at Nassau Coliseum, which I later found out was filmed as a concert video, Billie Joel Live from Uniondale. So if you would like to have one of your earliest core memories captured by a professional video crew, highly recommended. Five hours was the perfect length for me. Your mileage may vary. I agree with Dave that it does kind of get deeper and stickier as it Goes along, he seems to get more comfortable in interviews as things approach the present, or maybe as he spent more time with them sitting in that chair. Because I'll tell you. The first thing you did right if you're going to make a project like this, if you're going to make a documentary about one of the most famous Long Islanders of the 80s and 90s, best believe it's going to work if the name of your two filmmakers are Stacey and Jessica. Two names it's almost impossible to pronounce without a Long Island accent. It's like you needed like cinematographer Jennifer M and catering by Zebby. Anyway, that's it. Tara: [05:50] Uh-huh. Dan: [05:51] So that's what I thought. Tara: [05:52] Yeah, I feel like the film did a good job conveying how important Billy Joel is as an ambassador of Long Island, but like, tell us about that a little more as only a Long Islander can. Dan: [06:02] The way that Springsteen, by his own admission in it, is identified with New Jersey, there is no one as much of an ambassador for the material as Billy is to Long Island. I always even say, like, there are certain albums. Like, if you go through even the, you know, I think that this conversation will be more focused on kind of like the documentary, his life, and then the musical part of it, I can get into with Sarah later. He is so in the DNA of the East Coast and spent so much more time in those early days, really just famous to his East Coast audience. from a touring POV that the album that finally hit the big time with him was The Stranger, which is the first time he had been back in New York airspace since he Started recording after he left for LA. So it was always like Turnstiles was this album that made you feel like you were looking outwardly at New York. Being like, wow, what a gauzy, beautiful place where there are leaves upstate in the fall. And then he released the stranger, which was like, yeah, fucking Anthony, this guy lives next to us. So granular and so interior that it really made people connect with the Long Islandiness, and from there, he just sort of got more confident by some respects, more obnoxious by other people's He just went from there. Tara: [07:07] Uh-huh. Dan: [07:19] So, yeah, it was given to us. I've seen him at every stage of his career, hair-wise, also from that show. Sarah: [07:28] Each one worse than the last. He finally figured it out and was like, Yep, bick it. Dan: [07:32] It's nothing. Yep, exactly. Sarah: [07:34] Nope. Dan: [07:34] Exactly. I swear, if I had gone from 1982 the first time I saw him to 20 last summer, the last time I saw him, I would not even recognize him as the same person. Tara: [07:45] Dan already brought him up. Sarah, you're a homestead hero. Of course, Bruce Springsteen is the equivalent for you. He was also interviewed here Was I the only one who felt like he was being a little bit shady about Billy Joel and how political his songs aren't? Or did you feel that as well? Sarah: [08:02] I think that Bruce Springsteen has gotten much as Don Henley sort of got, and then he kind of got over it in the last five years, very used to being considered this like. A lyrical and political elder statesman. And I feel like he thinks that he has earned the right to tell blue collar and Tom Joe tales in a way that Billy Joel hasn't. And one of the things that, bringing it back to the documentary, I thought that it did really well. Was illustrating that he actually does have, you know, it wasn't just like this sort of middle class, two parents and two station wagons upbringing. It was a lot sort of closer to, you know, one wheel on the shoulder for his childhood than I think a lot of people might have known. Are some of the appropriations of Lived Experience appropriate? Good Night Ziggler? No, probably not, but I think he. Could be taken as seriously as Bruce Springsteen in terms of the quote-unquote blue collar stuff. But I think Bruce Springsteen also thinks that. It's part of his job to be superior in this regard. So I don't know. It didn't bother me. I just think this is like, you know, they don't hang out, but they're used to this dialogue. Tara: [09:17] Mhm. To that point, I was sort of waiting, especially at the end, for an interview with Elton John, but it seems like they had Some real bad blood when they tour it together because he is not in this other than being quoted from a Rolling Stone article being like, Yeah, Billy needs to get his shit together. Dan: [09:28] Yeah. Tara: [09:34] Like, oh, okay. Dan: [09:35] And I remember when that ran too, because they actually said I learned from interviews, the press that our ladies have been doing coming out of this, that he was the only person, right, who they requested, who passed on appearing in the documentary. Which I actually think would have been a nice moment to put that up in a card during the actual part two. Tara: [09:53] Yeah, yeah, totally. Dan: [09:56] You have like one bite from Crystal where she's just like it was like summer camp. We had the best 16 years of our lives. And I went to the Giant Stadium one when they first started doing it in 1994. It was a fun fucking show. It took a long time for it to nosedive in that way to get to the point where he was just like, everyone besides me and wife number three are willing to call his alcohol abuse problem what it is. And I don't understand why he is sort of like coasting outside of that. Definitely, it seemed like things turned real toxic. Tara: [10:27] Yeah. Dave, you already said there you learned a lot from this. What was the most surprising thing you learned? And did was there an interview subject since we're on this that you thought was especially interesting? Dave: [10:38] There's a lot of little things in the first episode that I enjoyed a lot. One of them is all the Pre-solo efforts he had, the band's the hassled. Attila, the keyboard-based heavy metal band And the album cover where they're in some sort of rocky-esque giant size of beef punching room complete with viscera and blood everywhere. Sarah: [10:48] Oh my god, with the sides of beef. Tara: [10:49] Yes. Mm-hmm. Dave: [11:00] And Billy Joel in a, I don't know, kind of Viking-esque medieval castle defender outfit. Fantastic. The fact that in, I guess it was his first major release, was at Cold Spring Harbor, where they fucked up the Master and they basically Turned him into a chipmunk. Tara: [11:13] Yes. Sarah: [11:15] Yeah, he's still mad about it, too. Dave: [11:16] Unbelievable. How do you not just go completely bazoo? Tara: [11:17] Crazy. Sarah: [11:20] Amazing. Dave: [11:20] Like that was amazing. When he was going from New York to LA, and there's a lot of sort of the agent at the time, he has a lot of fuckery there. So we had to basically take a job playing piano at bars. And his alias was Bill Martin, which was fantastic. And at the time he had this Billy the Kid sweater. It was like all about Billy the Kid dying. Sarah: [11:42] Oh my god, that sweater. I want it. Dave: [11:44] Fantastic. So, a lot of little things like that. A lot of like great archive pictures. The one where Billy Joel is standing in front of graffiti, somebody put on A wall somewhere that says Billy Joel sucks my dick. I mean, who wouldn't stop for a photo if somebody said your name sucks my dick? Tara: [11:58] Of course. Sarah: [11:58] I know Uhhuh. Tara: [12:01] Mm-hmm. Dave: [12:01] So a lot of like little things like that, while you learn about how he navigated the music industry, which sounds absolutely terrible. For an upcoming artist until you get enough power to say no, which sounds like for most people they never get to. And it sounds like a lot of his early success is because of his wife. You know, it's sort of like that the George Lucas thing. Like, we never would have heard of Star Wars, would have been a failure if it wasn't for the wife actually making the projects work you know, she turned into his manager, and she, in a boy's world, really made shit happen for him. So I thought she was the revelation of the first episode for me. Dan: [12:41] Definitely. You got to give him credit when it comes to the ladies. He did kind of know how to pick them. Like, even if he needed to keep picking and picking and picking and picking them. But Elizabeth is really that narrator and kind of most important voice in part one. And then I think Christy does an incredible job filling in that role in part two. You learn so much about her and the emotion that she speaks to. Also, having like Produce the first Joel offspring from that relationship gives so much sort of like depth and rooting value to the two of them. And I think that is incredibly valuable because. Look, it's not that he isn't a deep thinker in his interviews, but you can even hear it through his songwriting: most of his interviews now are like, What? It's happening to me, but I'm from Hicksville. And again, Part of it is that it's like he's been telling some of these stories on speaking tours for 30 years. Tara: [13:27] Yeah. Mm-hmm. Dan: [13:33] So by his own admission, a lot of the ideas are already ex Expressed in his songs. So, for somebody like this unpretentious and Long Island D, by his own admission, some of the revelations are like: well, it was during a time when I was feeling a lot of pressure, and I wanted to put that into a song, so it was like, Pressure. I was like, okay. Sarah: [13:53] Yeah. Dan: [13:53] I got it. So it makes you have to kind of boil down five hours to be like, all right, got it. The equation is easy and it's not just confined to him or his talents. Misery produces great songs. Happiness and contentment produce bad songs. An impotent rage at having to keep touring produces We Didn't Start the Fire. Done and done. Tara: [14:11] Yeah. Dan: [14:11] And I feel like you can really frame out the different eras from there. Tara: [14:15] Mm-hmm. But it's also interesting when he talks about like, well, when I started playing arenas, I had to change my sound because you can't do like a sensitive just piano number to fill that space. I also think the film did a good job explicating the dark times that he went through with both of his parents, which we've Sarah touched on, or with his guilt about falling in love with Elizabeth when she was married to his Hassel's bandmate, John Smalls. But Maybe he just wanted to make music people liked and made them feel good and that's okay. Like they they do talk about the critical consensus of him at at the time like being seen as like soft Getting more of his backstory sort of fills that in of like, well, maybe that's a reaction to some of this shit, you know? Sarah: [14:58] How did people feel about how deep it sort of was willing to go into his struggles with? Substances because I was kind of on the fence at first. I was like, I understand that because he's sitting for all these interviews, there's only so hard that they can push him. But I kind of felt like things were like, they'll talk in the first episode about the fact that he like literally drank Lemon Pledge, trying to end his life. But then when it comes to like exactly why he's out all night and exactly what is going on. But as the documentary wore on, I started to respect more their choice to just let The people who were affected by it have the testimony that Christy Brinkley is still so upset, remembering how bad he was. Tara: [15:43] Yeah Somewhere, yeah. Sarah: [15:44] And that story she tells where she's like calling all the bars around. And she's like, I was just glad that he was somewhere. Like, I paused it and was just really struck by that, they still have this very strong bond of friendship and partnership, and that she is still, she will still get emotional and overwhelmed talking about some of this darkness I thought that was a good decision, but did anyone else feel like they were kid-gloving him too much? Dave: [16:12] There is one instance in the first episode that I felt they buried in the second episode, so just I'm probably going to get some names wrong here because my memory is terrible. But there was one point where he's looking for a producer, and he actually has the producer of the Beatles, whose name is Something Martin. Dan: [16:27] George Martin. Dave: [16:28] George Martin. He's saying, Yeah, I'll produce your next album. And he's like, Whoa. And then George Martin says, But I want to bring in my own musicians, so you're going to have to kick all your guys to the curb. And Billy Joel thinks about it. And then he says, I reject that. And then George Martin goes on his way. And all the band members are like, he really had our back. He was really there for us. And we really appreciate and respect him for that. Fast forward to later in his career where another producer says exactly the same thing, but only about his drummer. And Billy Joel's like, well, I guess you're out And then, like, there's just a little code of well, they made up. They don't really say, like, okay, what was different between these two things? What changed your attitude? Why were you so Loyal back then, but not now. And they just really gloss over it. And I got the impression that when it came to actually pinning Billy Joel to the wall and some of this stuff. It did seem like, well, there was that access journalism sort of thing. Like, how far can we push before he just leaves the room? And then we don't get any more material. What can we say for the end where it doesn't matter too much anymore? So there's little things like that, but that instance I thought was the most obvious. Sarah: [17:46] Yeah. And that he, I think, had also just fired his longtime producer, but kind of in a way that was like, I'm just going to hire a different producer and not call the current guy anymore. And he'll read about it in Billboard. Someone needs a little work on that eighth step, maybe. Dan: [18:03] Right. Yeah. But when it's a trade magazine about Billy, it's called Billy Board. Close. Anyway. Tara: [18:12] The opening montage, we got a lot of quick cycling through snippets of different songs in a way that I was very worried about because it was so unsatisfying. But I felt like they ultimately did a good j Making me feel while watching it, that like you ne obviously never hear a whole song from start to finish because that would be bizarre. But I felt like I heard enough of enough songs that it made it worthwhile. Did everyone else agree or not? Dan: [18:35] Yes, my lifetime goal has been to push back on the three songs that you think you know, if that's where you're coming at it from. And I think that there is like No question that you are confronted with the sheer breadth of it. As we've Sarah and I have talked about, you can have one of his best. Ballads and one of his worst ballads on the same album together. It's not even a career trajectory of how it like thought, you know, that one of them can be she's always a woman, and then The other one digging into just the way you are from a story POV, which I absolutely loved, of him being like, I didn't fucking like it either. Um, which I believe, and that part I believe. Sarah: [19:16] Mm-hmm. He's like, this is a wedding song. Dan: [19:18] Yeah, exactly. Sarah: [19:19] Fuck off. Yeah. Dan: [19:20] Exactly. And so there are two songs that I'll recommend that weren't part of they're such deep cuts that their stories We're not included in the doc, even though they speak perfectly to how they were framed as snapshots of where he was in his life. The first one is Laura from the Nylon Curtain, which is the album that they lingered on it a lot. It was. Speaking mostly though to his evolution as a songwriter as he sort of like turned his gaze to the plight of the Pennsylvania steel worker or the Vietnam veteran But this album works best in the context of the documentary as coming in between The Breakup of Elizabeth and Before Meeting Christy, which is It's the kind of material that, you know, David Reese, the comedian, once referred to a generic Billy Joel album title as Divorce Fantasies Volume 6. And I was like, that is exactly this. And so Laura is one of it's this really great well it's like one of the meanest songs ever written. And it's like if we're getting Wife number three in there for her five minutes of interview. I want to know everything about Laura and where the hell was her interview. That's one. And then the other one is a really underrated song from a really underrated album. It's the last song on the bridge. Which is called Getting Closer, which is, I'm not afraid to call it what it is. It's a jaunty diddy. And conversely, to the meanest love song, yeah, I'll go there. Conversely, to the meanest love song you've ever heard, this is the friendliest revenge song you've ever heard, which is basically like him looking at the early fallout and wreckage of what we assume to be the ex-brother-in-law's betrayal and being like, I am talented and fine, and you are going to get railed by karma, you dumb bitch, but in a nice way with a bunch of organ solos So, other than that, those were my if of the hundreds of songs that have entered into the Great American Songbook, those are the only two omissions that I had. So, that felt like a win. Dave: [21:12] Sonically, I was struck by the Nylon Curtain as being Billy Joel's Gene Belcher album. He had his Casio Synthesizer with all the samples, and he's like put jingt, put jingt, put jingt. Sarah: [21:20] Yeah. Dan: [21:25] Yes, yes, yes. Dave: [21:25] This is great. I love it. Dan: [21:28] It's the best John Lennon solo album that never got written. Dave: [21:31] Yeah. Mm-hmm. Dan: [21:33] And I mean that in the best way. Dave: [21:34] Yeah. Tara: [21:35] I was kind of bummed that they didn't even touch on the viral Zanzibar moment that it had on TikTok. Like whenever that was last year, the year before, it was so big and well, and such a good song too. Anyway. Dave: [21:48] Yeah, but I mean, you put something like that in the dock, it immediately ages it immediately. Tara: [21:52] That's true. Dave: [21:53] So I think that might have been a good decision. Tara: [21:54] Mhm. Dave: [21:55] Same with like Vienna. Didn't Vienna have a moment a couple of years ago? Tara: [21:58] Yeah. Dave: [21:58] Yeah. Dan: [21:59] Though I do wonder if some of the hundred shows at the garden could have used a Tiny bit more Olivia Rodrigo, a little bit more Miley Cyrus. Like it did feel very kind of like insular in the I mean, again, it's like the touring band and the lighting guys and all those people who have all been working together for a half a century, which you have to love. But the way that it has like the way that those shows gave him that artistic redemption to just be like, Aren't you glad he stayed alive? would have been even cooler if it had like a couple of sprinkles of like True musical modernity, like to see how much he continues to impact the current top forty. Tara: [22:40] Yeah, that's true. Yeah, we do get the montage of different artists doing New York State of Mind Which was fun, especially seeing, oh, you chose that key. Got it. I feel like we sort of dug into this enough, but I'll just close on this. If we were to have a Billy Joel karaoke night, and by the way, I think we should. What are you singing, Dan? Dan: [23:01] I've said this exact sentence on Mark and Sarah talk about songs, which is my Billy Joel karaoke song from Glasshouses is all of glasshouses. Tara: [23:10] Sarah Mhm. Sarah: [23:11] Down easter, Alexa, but I realized to my dismay, but also kind of delight. I can give you all of Leningrad without even like a tuning fork. Dave: [23:23] Wow Wow, You arrive with your own tape recorder of the backing track. Sarah: [23:23] Nothing. Tara: [23:23] Wow. Sarah: [23:24] Leningrad. Absolutely like the bottom three least defensible Billy Joel songs, but it's just like Victor was born. Dan: [23:30] For real? Tara: [23:33] Mm-hmm. Sarah: [23:35] Like, where? Why does this live? In my brain grape still. But, um, like, no karaoke will have it, so I'll just uh be out on the sidewalk doing it myself. Dave: [23:46] Maura, we're doing this. Sarah: [23:47] Mm-hmm. Dave: [23:47] Lennon Grad, go. Sarah: [23:48] My own bottle of vodka, everything. Dave: [23:50] I am not a weirdo. Tara: [23:52] Dave Mm. Sarah: [23:52] No. Dave: [23:53] Well, this is not my favorite song, but if we're picking one for karaoke, I would probably, because I can't sing, probably go with moving out because it's a lot of screaming and not a lot of singing. Sarah: [24:00] Hm Sure Oh, fabulous choice. Tara: [24:01] Mm-hmm. Yeah. I think you're a better singer than you give yourself credit for. Dave: [24:05] No, I'm not, Tara. What's your choice? Tara: [24:07] My actual favorite is Everybody Loves You Now, but I don't think they'll have that either. So I'm going to go with Don't Ask Me Why. Right in my range. Dan: [24:14] Yes, Sarah's favorite song. Dave: [24:15] Good one. Before we go, just a little tease for episode two, which, by the way. Dan: [24:16] Mm-hmm. Dave: [24:21] Starts out so over the top and unnecessarily so with like Gershwind or something like that, playing like, yeah, it was like Oh, that's okay. Sarah: [24:25] Oh my Oh no, it's the theme from the natural, guys. Tara: [24:31] Oh, God. Dan: [24:31] Alright. Dave: [24:32] Thank you. Tara: [24:32] Okay. Dave: [24:34] But my favorite parts is when they're talking about Billy Joel's alcoholism and like when it got really bad, and he's like, I'm going to drive around Long Island. And he gets into all these car accidents. Two headlines from magazines they show. One, another smash hit for Billy Joel. Perfect. Sarah: [24:51] I remember that one. Dave: [24:52] And Non-fan meets Billy Joel the hard way. Sarah: [24:58] Oh well. Dave: [24:58] I would like to shake the hand of that editor. Fantastic. No nuts. Clip: [25:07] We've got a lot of shows. It's a great time for shows. Dave: [25:12] It is time to go around the dial talking about stuff we've been watching recently. Our first stop is Tara. What do you got? Tara: [25:18] Did you, listener, know that Comedy Central has original programming that's not the daily show for now? And South Park, believe it or not, it's true. This week, the third show comes back. Digman with an exclamation mark premiered in 2023. If you didn't still have cable, then you probably would never know. I knew because they would air the promos all the time during Friends on Nick at night, but they look So bad, I was never even curious about the show, and then I got assigned to cover it for cracked and had to watch from the beginning. And shame on the marketing department because it is good. The titular Rip Digman is voiced by Andy Sandberg, who co-created the show with Neil Campbell. Campbell was a writer on Brooklyn Nine Nine. Rip sounds like Nicholas Cage's character from the National Treasurer mov He is depressed and insecure because he used to be the top archaeologist in the world. The rankings are regularly reported on Arky TV. Arky is the abbreviation for the job that's apparently a huge obsession for everyone in the world of the show. Rip fell from grace after his evil assistant Zane, Guzkan, double-crossed him and got Rip's arky wife, Bella, Melissa Fumero, killed. Now, Rip is stuck teaching at Garfield Community College, and his keenest student, Salteen, Mitra Juhari, convinces him to get back in the game by entering a contest put on by tech billionaire Quayle Egan, Tim Meadows, sidebar. Is there an actual Hollywood Sicko named Egan the rest of us don't know about? Because it's also the name of the evil genius family in severance, but anyway. The promos made it look like it was junky and dumb, like Brickleberry or Fairview. Those are real past animated Comedy Central shows. You can look them up. But it is. Sincerely nerdy, gets weirder as it goes on. There's a runner in the second season about Digman, like compulsively drawing Garfields and wanting to show them to people to tell them they're good. Like saying how hard it is to get the stripes right. Dave: [27:07] That, wait a second, hang on one second. That is absolutely something Andy Sandberg brought in from his youth because I remembered that exact period in my school life where everybody was trying to draw Garfield correctly because it's achievable. Tara: [27:13] For sure. Yes. Sarah: [27:18] Yes, oh my God, yes. Tara: [27:21] Uh-huh. Dave: [27:21] But still, like, slightly out of reach. It's like one of those addictive, like, just on the lines, like, you know, you can work real hard on it, you get so good. Tara: [27:23] Yeah. Uh-huh. Dave: [27:27] But there's that last 10% where you really get into the Jim Davis zone and you can't quite get there. Tara: [27:29] Mhm. Yeah. Dave: [27:32] I remember trying to draw Garfield myself. Tara: [27:34] Yes. Dan: [27:34] It took Jim Davis four different books to get into the Jim Davis zone. Sarah: [27:36] I was just gonna say, does it really hit the round stride into like book five? Dave: [27:37] Right. Dan: [27:39] We remember. It's true. Tara: [27:43] Mhm. Dave: [27:43] There was a Garfield strip that I thought lived in myth that I had a really hard time tracking down because it's one of those early when Garfield looked like Bill the Cat. Parts of the run, and it was John sitting on his lounger smoking a cigar or something like that, and he lights it. Sarah: [27:52] Or cliban, yep. Dave: [28:02] And they throw the match behind him, behind the recliner, and then there's this like foomp thing because Garfield is drinking vodka behind it Recliner or something like that. And then the last frame is just like Garfield's charred, you know, cartoon body. Tara: [28:14] Okay. Sarah: [28:15] Sure. Dan: [28:17] Nice. Tara: [28:18] Mm-hmm. Dave: [28:18] Weird shit from Jim Davis, considering where it went to with normal and all that kind of stuff later. Sarah: [28:20] Wow Oh, normal Oh my god. Tara: [28:23] Right No, that's fine. Dave: [28:23] Anyway, sorry. Tangent. Tara: [28:25] Another runner is whenever psychiatry comes up, Rip will say the industry of death, and everyone else just groans because that's a Scientology reference. This comes up in a Full episode about Freud's original couch coming to life and eating people. Kate Winslet is a voice performer in that one as well. Dave: [28:41] Wow. Do I need to watch this? This sounds like it's up my alley. Tara: [28:47] Yes, I told you that when I was watching it, that it was good. Anyway, it's not as good as Clone High or Futurama, but if you like the specificity of Clone High or the good seasons of Futurama for the nerdiness, you might like this too. The first season's on Paramount Plus. I assume the second will be as well. Premieres as we're recording this tonight, July 23rd. But I went into a little more detail about how to determine if it's right for you. And you can find that at Cracked. We'll link it in the show notes. Dave: [29:15] All right, Dan, what do you have for us? Dan: [29:17] Late at night, we have recently been watching some unaired or burned off network pilots As you do, there's one I can't believe I'd actually never encountered from 1990 called Shangri-La Plaza. I might make you. Dave: [29:29] Oh, damn, we all know about that one. Tara: [29:29] We talked about that on the podcast. Dan: [29:31] Oh my god, I'm so sorry. Sarah: [29:31] Sure did Shangri-La. Tara: [29:32] Yes. Dan: [29:32] To assume that I would be the first person to bring this to you is humiliating for Holy Mboly Mole. Dave: [29:37] What a ride that one was. Tara: [29:38] Mm-hmm. Crazy. Dave: [29:41] We'll put our episode in the show notes. Tara: [29:43] It was an extra, extra hot grade. It was a force inning by me, I believe. Dave: [29:46] Another reason to join the club, people. Dan: [29:48] And a Patreon member, such as myself, my goodness, well, a few days back we stumbled across An actual aired half-season wonder called Action from 1999, which I'm positive you all remember because Eric was like. Tara: [29:59] Mhm. Jmore, mhm. Dan: [30:02] Jay Moore, Iliana Douglas, and I knew them the second because we were so I was like, we obviously covered it, and it was whatever Fox is Too edgy by half Hollywood satire that was trying to be network entourage and presage the studio by a quarter century. But this around the dial. It's not about action, nor is it about the studio. But first I have to ask, what am I missing about the studio? I like to like things that other people like, and there are themes I tend to love on T V. Self-referential Hollywood satires like hacks or the comeback. High caliber cringe comedy like Veep or the comeback. And okay, just watch the comeback. I was like, is the studio getting all of the accolades now? Because it's just, I was like, is it the comeback for straight people? Let's dig in. My personal life and my professional life are so separate these days that my morning and evenings are full of school drop-offs and pickups in my work days and travel schedule are full of drag queens and elderly homosexuals who produce their work. So the latter cohort of whom know everything about the comeback. But much to my surprise, there is a rank and file group of people in the world who have never heard of Valerie Cherish or Lisa Koudreau as her Clearly none of the people listening right now. I guess it makes sense for a show that aired on premium cable once in 2005 and once. . In 2014. But for the love of God, if you want dark Hollywood cringe with Seth Rogan in it, as he does appear in the second season. for crying out loud go watch it before its recently announced third season premieres in 2026 the fact that i should even have to say this out loud is Infuriating. Sarah: [31:36] Oh yeah. Dan: [31:45] So I'm launching America's last ever DEI initiative, a retail politics outreach called Find a Straight Person and tell them about the comeback. Next time, don't make me waste everyone's time with this intro to TV 101 shit. I don't mean to yell. It's not because you're bad. It's because you're good For my plug, I have been making the continued rounds of the extra hot grate extended cinematic universe, having recently guested on a few episodes of Listen to Sassy. Playing Substitute Pam, the role I was born to play, baby. And speaking of William Hop Hog Joel, I did a special episode of Mark and Sarah talk about songs in what Sarah called a one-off maybe, and which I call the future of all recorded podcast media. Where Mark and Sarah and Dan talk about the delightfully hook-filled and self-consciously obnoxious classic glass houses Yeah, we do. Sarah: [32:37] We've got another one coming up this fall. Dan: [32:41] Other than that, I'm on Blue Sky, I think. You can also find me on my personal website, danielblowerrogy. com. Reach out. Let's do something fun with the tattered remains of the TV industry we love so well. Dave: [32:55] All right, Sarah, what do you got first? Sarah: [32:57] I have the Billionaire Boys Club in all of its many iterations. CNN is this week wrapping up a three-part docuseries on the Billionaire Boys Club. That's one of those true crime cases that Really only persists in the old brain grapes based on a catchy name. But most people have completely forgotten in the interim 40 years what the case actually was. Here's the thumbnail: a striver, as Wharton would have called him. named Joe Hunt, nay Joe Gamsky, spun getting kicked off the Chicago Mercantile Exchange for fraud into The Merc couldn't handle my big ideas, man came back to LA, pinched a bunch of his fail son classmates at the Harvard Westlake School in Los Angeles on joining his commodities trading concern And created a convincingly flashy Ponzi situation for himself involving secondhand Mercedes's He had me, then he lost me. Nothing really unique about this, sad to say, except that, like most Ponzi schemers, Hunt was convinced he could make his fictions a reality if he could just land that one big whale investor In his case, Ron Levin, who himself was a notorious fraudster and who made a big show of giving Hunt and the BBC a multi-million dollar trading account. Oopsie, that account was a dummy account that Levin was using to pitch another whole set of investors in another Ponzi scheme of his own And when Hunt realized that Levin's money was basically the monopoly stuff, he home invaded Levin for the purposes of getting Levin to cut him a check, and then killed Levin so he couldn't cancel the check. But the check bounced anyway because that's what Levin does. And then Hunt left a literal detailed first tie him up Then kill the dog to-do list for Levin's murder in Levin's house next to the wastebasket. Not in it, next to it. But wait, there's more. Hunt, long convicted of this murder and probably guilty of a manslaughter involving the father of one of the Boys' Club's other members, insists that he didn't do it and that Ron Levin is in fact alive because Levin's body has never been found. This case has unsurprisingly been tabloid newsmag nip for decades. American Greed Dominic Done, and of course, the ill-starred feature film starring Problematics Ansel Elgort and Kevin Spacey. Probably forgot all about it because the studio buried it I am trying to sample most of these and put them in a lineup at best evidence, as it were. And I have watched the late 80s miniseries starring Judd Nelson as Joe Hunt and Ron Silver as Ron Levin, and while Nelson's whole acting by The pound thing is not always what you want. His nostril flaring intensity is absolutely perfect here. The thing is much too long. Certain sequences are taffy pulled because it has to fit the four hours over two sweeps nights on NBC brie But it's pretty well constructed. It uses testimony and flashbacks to illustrate the process of Joe Hunt's con and that you actually can bullshit a bullshitter. And for the first hour, hour and a half, it's a really solid primer on the case and a gallery of mid-century Hey, It's That Guys from Crime Stories It's way faster to just look up Dominic Dunn's Vanity Fair notes on the case, unless you are a Jon Stockwell stan from the quarterback Princess era, in which case you should just find this on YouTube, and we can link that in the show notes. Speaking of things that disappear, support for public broadcasting. Hat tip to Molly Jongfast on Blue Sky for hipping me to this one, but you can support your local PBS station or. If you live in the cashman area of a big one that doesn't need help, you can adopt one at adoptastation. org We will link that in the show notes as well. But some of these littler stations, like in the far western reaches of Alaska Have lost nearly all their funding thanks to the big bullshit budget bill. So if your local station is in okay shape, but you just ditched Paramount Plus and you've got some ducats hanging around and you don't have any more to send us. First of all, thank you very much. And second of all, go to adoptastation. org and see if, say, WGVV in Rock Island, Illinois doesn't need your help. Dave: [37:22] All right, coming up on extra, extra heart Great. This Friday, we're going to be talking about Match Game is Brought Back again, this time starring Martin Short. We haven't watched it yet, but I just gotta say, I'm not getting good vibes from how big the set seems to be. Match game should be filled in a match box Everybody should be crammed together, barely room to move their shoulders. So we'll see. That is available to club members. Go to extrahotgreat. com/slash club. Or you can also sign up on Apple Podcast directly to get. The episodes only, no extra Discord access and stuff like that. And come back here next week for EHG Prime. We're going to welcome back Mark Blankenship and the Blankenship chair to talk about the Netflix musical series Hitmakers. It is time for the extra Hot Great Cannon. Presenting this week is Dan Blauroge. Dan: [38:23] This canon entry has been rated TVMA by the Motion Podcast Association. It is intended for mature audiences. Only. If you listen to this podcast, and I suspect that you do, you are probably aware of the television program hacks The Emmy winning Best Comedy Hollywood/slash Vegas satire starring Gene Smart and Hannah Einbinder. The recent fourth season of the show in which Smarts Aging, acerbic stand-up comic, Deborah Vance becomes the host of her own late night talk show, was great and perfect. Suck it, haters But looking back on the best of the show's first three seasons, the earlier seasons have aged even better when you've realized how well the groundwork for where the series was headed was being laid brick by brick with great deliberation all the while super serving the characters who populate Debra's world. And throughout this series we are treated to vivid portrayals of the scores of people in Deborah's orbit. Beyond the show's core relationship between Deborah and Ava, we meet and invest in everyone from her daughter to the mayor to the brains behind her QVC empire to her former blackjack deal all of whom share in common the trait that they only exist in Deborah's world in how well, how fast, and how much they can help Ms. Vance achieve her insatiable career goals. And when we join the cast in season three, episode three, The Roast of Deborah Vance, her single-minded aspiration is to land the coveted job as the host of her own late-night talk show. a job for which she was last passed over four decades ago. To help her achieve this goal, she has allowed herself to be made the subject of a televised old school Hollywood roast in order to prove her relevance in today's comedic landscape. There are many superlative episodes of hacks, but I believe this episode deserves its rightful place in the canon for several critical reasons Case number one, the Deborah and Ava relationship, which doesn't seem at first blush to be the central driving force of this episode until you remember that their relationship is so foundational to the show's DNA, it is the central force of every episode. And let's not forget this episode kicks off with the fallout of Ava breaking up with her girlfriend and leaving LA to return to Vegas and back into Toxic Manor with Debra so that when we first join her, Ava is trying to meditate and center herself after the breakup, but does so in Deborah's mansion surrounded by framed posters, programs and old photos of Deborah with luminaries including Saddam Hussein and Dick Cheney, all of which makes it a little hard for her to find her G in Clip One. Clip: [40:59] Exhale negativity. Mario Cantone is so gay that when he was born, the doctor spanked him. And he said, Can you knock? Why would he knock on a baby's butt? No, I mean, can you knock on the door before you barge into my room? Oh, well, first of all, this is my room in my house, and this isn't just any room. I mean, this is the 1987 to 92 guest suite. I know, and it's disturbing. I'm surrounded by photos of you shaking hands with literal war criminals. Can I hide some of these pictures? No. Okay, back to the roast joke. Mario Cantone is so gay that when he was born, the doctor spanked him and he said Now spin around, it's my turn. Ha! That's good, that's good. Okay, I'm gonna leave the door open. I'm gonna air this room out. Dan: [41:46] Could I hide some of these pictures? No. Canon case number two, where we really get to dig down into the canon worthiness of this episode, the Deborah and DJ relationship And yes, for those who do not watch the show, DJ stands for Deborah Jr. Let's stop down for a sec and talk about Caitlin Olson. Caitlin Olson. Beating heart of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the unlikely star of her own ABC procedural. Let's say that she could have also been on the bear playing Carmy's sister, but no, that's not her. She could have been on running point. Sorry, Kate Hudson. That's also true. The girl has range. DJ is a recurring character who does not appear in every episode of the show. So in this one, if we have to forego Jimmy and Kayla's story, who are in the episode for literally nine very funny seconds. It is worth the omission to replace them with the level of development and storytelling to be found whenever Deborah and DJ are together And DJ has been through a lot with Deborah as her mom. She is a recovering addict who sees an opportunity to bond with her mother transactionally when Deborah asks her to perform at the roast clip too. Clip: [42:58] Sweetie, please, elbows off the table, the self-tanner stains Put your napkin in your lap. Mom, I'm an adult. Here's your plain pasta with butter. Ooh, thank you. Okay. My roast. The producers want to know if you'll perform. Now I know that sounds a little scary, but think of all the de jewelry you can promote and might be a nice bonding experience for the two of us. Oh. Right. Yeah, what better way to bond than let you insult me in front of tens of millions of people? Tens of millions. That'd be great. Honey, sit up straight. Your posture's atrocious. Okay, yeah, I'm gonna pass. Oh, come on. No, that sounds like a lose-lose situation for me, and I just don't need that kind of stress in my life right now. I I I get it, I get it. But did Sally, this is such a big deal for me. Is there anything I can do to convince you? Yes. Come to my recovery meeting with me tomorrow. I'll write you a check for $25,000. Mom, come on. You've never come to one of these with me before. And tomorrow's a really big deal. It's my five-year anniversary. Please, it would really mean a lot to me. Sure. Really? Yeah, okay. Oh, awesome. Thank you. You know what? I think you're actually going to enjoy yourself. There are women there who are 20 years younger than you, but look 30 years older. Ooh, that sounds fun. Right? Dan: [44:27] She does mean that sounds fun. Case number three: jokes, jokes, jokes. Jokes, tons and tons of jokes, and far be it from me, a simple Emmy voter humble brag, to reignite a tired argument about what constitutes a comedy this deep into the streaming era. But even at its most serious, there are still more jokes per seen on Hacks than you will find in an entire season of the Bear, at least according to a recent article, Incorrect. DJ pulls off the quid pro quo of getting Deborah to attend the meeting, where she is screamingly immediately referred to by DJ's therapist as Deborah Sr. Ava, meanwhile, is trying to assert her autonomy from Deborah by hanging out with Kiki, the perfect Poppy Lou, who is really missing from the cast whenever the show is in LA. DJ asks Deborah to speak at her recovery meeting, and in true Deborah forms, she immediately calls Ava for her material. Clip three. Clip: [45:24] Hello? Hi, I need you to write a few words for me about how proud I am of DJ for being five years clean. Short, sweet, nothing too modeling. Okay. When do you need it by? ASAP, I'm here now. Just text it to me. Alright, I'll send you something in a minute. Who's that? Deborah, she wants me to write something for DJ's recovery group. That's messed up. Isn't that like personal stuff? What? She wants you to write her diary entries for her too? I did once write her food journal for Women's Day magazine. It's pretty good. Eva, look at yourself in the mirror. You're a. Bad bitch, in-demand, executive producer now. Co-producer, it's a couple levels below. You know that Deborah used to treat me the same? Expecting me to deal blackjack at her house on a moment's notice. But then I had Luna, and I said, Deborah, look. My daughter is my number one priority right now. If you want me to be somewhere, you got to give me at least 24 hours' notice to get a babysitter. And that worked? No, but she did offer to payload a school tuition here instead. They have amazing after-school care, so I can't go. Whenever. But the point is, I did set that boundary. And now, Luna can play the French horn. Dan: [46:37] I won't even get into the setting in which they are having that conversation. You'll have to watch it for yourself. I'm running out of cliff runway here. And I also want to stop. Because this is a universe where Deborah has an on-retainer blackjack dealer who can show up at her house in the middle of the night when called. And not only is that not funny to anyone else in Deborah's inner circle, it's a form of entitle that is so mundane, it just complete Completely passes without comment. And honestly, no one deserves it more than Luna. I can't, her French horn concert is going to be a thing of beauty So true to form, though, Debra does the one thing DJ fears most. She takes what is supposed to be an intimate mother-daughter bonding moment and makes it all about her, turning her few nice words into the roast of DJ Vance I didn't even clip that part. It's mostly just mean jokes about her daughter that Deborah has clearly been telling in her stand-up routine for years. Instead, we went for the painful aftermath where DJ once again finds herself having her narcissistic mother make it all about herself. Clip four. Clip: [47:42] All you had to do was focus on me for just a few minutes, but no, you had to go telling your shitty jokes. Shitty? Mom! I have been begging you to come to these meetings with me for years. This place is important to me and to my healing. But of course, the first time you show up, you just make it all about yourself. Well, to be fair, all the jokes were about you. Oh my god! You can't even stop telling jokes now! I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't do therapy good. You know, but at least I showed up. Well, I really wish you hadn't. You know, I don't need this. I came, even though this is a very important time for me. Well, it's a very important time for me, too, Mom. I'm pregnant. Well, I wish I wasn't finding out like this. I wasn't supposed to tell anybody until after the anatomy scan because technically it's a It's a geriatric pregnancy. Don't you dare say a goddamn word! Dan: [48:36] Hey, let's linger another hot second on Caitlin Olson, who is so in control of her performance in this scene You can literally see her register that she's going to have to say the words geriatric pregnancy to Deborah before the words come. You see her anticipate it, anticipate what her mob's joke will be, anticipate how she'll have to get mad at it. So she just sort of short circuits the entire thing by going right into scream mode. And instead. DJ takes her rage back to Ava. The dynamic between these two, sort of like canon case number four, is that those two together, Deborah's real daughter. And her chosen daughter, it's a relationship that really continues to evolve in season four once DJ has the baby. Spoiler, DJ has the baby. Turns out Deborah's performance at the meeting has lit a fire in DJ to roast her mom right back. After all, that's what Deborah wanted, right? So let's just rip off the band-aid and hit clip five. Clip: [49:31] So, this is what I'm thinking. Are you ready? What a cunt! Oh, wow. That is strong. Yeah. Dan: [49:43] Things go on like this for some time. Ava strenuously recommending against this approach for DJ, mostly as we discover when she takes her concerns to Deborah. That Ava is really just trying to protect DJ in her usual extremely awkward way. Despite Deborah making one more personal appeal to DJ and getting the door slammed in her face. Which is another great scene that makes you say, wow, Dan, why not just go ahead and clip the entire episode? Don't mind if I do. Well, strap in because in Instead, after comedy luminaries Mario Cantone, Patton Oswald, Naomi Ec Perrigan, and a host of others roast Deborah in pretty brief Roast appropriate ways. Deborah is old. Deborah has cheap QVC products, etc. , etc. We get to DJ's turn, and well, we've come this far. So let's strap in for two minutes. Clip six: DJ's roast of Deborah Vance. Clip: [50:35] Hi, I'm DJ Vance. My mom is here tonight. Is something I could never say at a ballet recital. A lot of people think my mom was a negligent, inattentive mother. No, I'm just kidding. My mom gave me everything I have: a house. an education, crippling anxiety, bipolar disorder, multiple subpoenas. What a cunt. You know, a lot of people don't know this, but I was a C-section birth. Yeah, not for any medical reasons, but because my mom says, and I quote, I'm known for my grip. What a cunt. Wow. Okay, I was wrong. You know, some of you may know this, but my mom is always collecting antiques. I'm like, bitch, you are an antique. What a cut. Anyway, before I go, I do just want to say one last thing. To you, Mom, and I have to apologize. I know you don't like when I get all sappy and sentimental, but we've been through a hell of a lot together. And I know that we don't always say this to each other, but it's important to me that you know that written on my heart will always be those three little words. What a cut. Dan: [52:05] And besides the catchphrase and the completely novel delivery of it each and every time. The entire performance is this like hall of mirrors of nervousness and apprehension whereby a brilliant seasoned comedic actor has to pretend that she's a nervous newbie in the presence of many real life comedy peers. where you feel genuinely terrified when Mario the MC introduces her as Deborah's biggest mistake of all. I also love the moment Ava realizes from the audience that DJ's routine is working and resolves her own resistance to it with her simple, I was wrong, really wrong, normal human conversation. A standing ovation from everyone, including Deborah, follows. And again, from a canon-worthy POV you almost forget after watching this episode so many tim That when you first watch it, you literally have no idea where things are going, where this scene starts. Everything from will the celebrities go too far in their roast. No. Will DJ crash and burn so badly she ends up spiraling down a hole of humiliation and falling off the wagon? Also no. But the show would go there, and it's cooler that it could be so surprising as to kind of like undercut any expectation that you had for it and not go there. Instead, DJ comes to the conclusion that her mom is also an addict, but for jokes instead of drugs, and hugs a confused Deborah at having inadvertently found this common ground. The episode ends with Ava returning to Deborah with a list of demands, which Deborah turns into a roast of her own, because if this is Deborah getting roasted and the roast of Deborah Vance, so the hell is everybody else On a macro level, it tells a huge season and series story arc, Deborah's push towards conquering late night, and we haven't even touched on Jack Danby and the actual cruel twist at the end of the episode that propels us forward on a macro level. But by showcasing its strongest cast dynamics, plus an intimate personal family story that somehow still manages to play hilariously despite its serious subject matter, I can't imagine a more deserving choice for the canon than Hack's Season three, episode three: The Roast of Deborah Vance. And with all of this in mind, there is really only one question left to ask. Final clip. Clip: [54:19] Can you sprinkle some of this glitter on the top of my ass crack? Dan: [54:23] Yes, yes I can. Thank you so much, team, and over to you. Tara: [54:28] Thank you, Dan. I feel like we should start with Sarah because I know she was the only person who watched it this week that did not know where it was going to end up. So start us off, Sarah. Sarah: [54:37] Yeah, that is correct. I did not know, and I'm glad I didn't know, and I'm glad that it ended up where it did. even if this were only being nominated on the basis of clip six, which is Caitlin Olson realizing that or DJ realizing that The room has chosen to side with her and like gaining confidence. It's such a pitch-perfect. Rendition of that, right down to like at first, like she's just a little too close to the mic and it pops a little. It's absolutely measured in the way that it's built. That scene, and then also watching Deborah Sr. deciding that she's gonna side with DJ also. And then it's like, this is the like, this is to the manner-born, like an understanding of how these rhythms work. And how to work this room. But they don't underline it too hard, which I thought was good. At no point does the episode sort of pull back on or blunt what a cunt Deborah is. But it also doesn't go too far with it so that you're like, you know, somebody would have slapped her in the mouth by now. Like, you know, we've all seen a lot of, you know, showbiz about showbiz. shows and movies, and it's a fine line, and this episode does stay up on it. And that last scene where her workaround of having boundaries about commenting on Ava's personal appearance and but like while Ava is Setting this boundary. Deborah's texting, and you're like, rude. And then the housekeeper comes in and starts reading off of her phone. And like, Deborah is so pleased with herself, and even Ava has to be like. Okay, fine. Like this workaround is bullshit, but I see you. There's so many moments like that where you can tell how much effort went into making this balance seem really effortless that the jokes are always sort of like hit with just the right amount of punch or the punch is hit with the just the right amount of punch as a certain purple t-shirted Comedy instructor used to tell me and Dan, Yeah, you thought you'd get away without a reference to that guy. Dan: [56:51] Never. Sarah: [56:51] Forget it. Dan: [56:52] He knows every Billy Joel song. Sarah: [56:54] Yeah. This was definitely proof that I should start this show really soon. It's been on the list for a while, but it's been moving up for a while too. And I think it needs to be close to the top Again, I really can't say enough about Caitlin Olson. I actually watch and love high potential, and I think that her ability to Thread certain needles depending on what kind of show or scene she's in is perhaps undersung. Hopefully, not for long or anymore, because she's really good and she can really wear a tall boot. Thank you for this presentation. I laughed many times, and we'll happily sprinkle glitter on the top of this ass crack. Who's next? Tara: [57:37] I'll go next. There was so much more in this episode than I remembered. Obviously, the payoff of DJ's roast is incredible. And I'm not even having watched it, this is probably my third time through. I think it's sort of ambiguous whether DJ really is that nervous at the beginning or whether that's part of the act and that she's just so She knows what she's doing so much that that has to be how she sort of creeps into it before she ramps up. Sarah: [57:57] Hmm. Dan: [57:58] Mm-hmm. Sarah: [57:58] Yeah, that could be. Dan: [57:59] Yeah. Tara: [58:06] And also, that she's wearing a very Phyllis Diller-y, feathery dress. Sarah: [58:10] Yes, she is. Tara: [58:11] Is so great to love that look. She's the thumbnail in that dress on the HBO Max, and it looks incredible. But the other stuff is also good too, you know, figuring out that she's not a narcissist, she's an addict, which also continues to, I think, reverberate through How Ava and Deborah are in their relationship, that they're like addicted to each other in this weird sick way that sort of yaws between healthy and not healthy, and setting boundaries and breaking boundaries through all of the seasons, really. But the Kiki scene also is so good in what she gets to. And now Luna can play the French horn. It's one of those moments where I wish I could have been in the writer's room when they were deciding what's the funniest instrument for Luna to play. Sarah: [58:55] What's the instrument? Yeah. Dan: [58:57] Yeah. Tara: [58:57] Is it the oboe? And now Luna can play the bassoon, I think, also would have worked. Sarah: [58:59] Yeah. Dan: [59:01] It's good. Tara: [59:02] Like, there's, I just want to know, like, how, what, what cases were made. Sarah: [59:03] Mhm. But it's like the Sousaphone too much, totally, totally. Tara: [59:07] Right, right, right. Dave: [59:09] Honestly, I think it's because it's two birds. Tara: [59:11] Yeah. Dave: [59:12] It adds a level of complexity over normal instruments. Tara: [59:14] Mhm. Dave: [59:15] And the French horn is sort of an inscrutable looking thing as well. Tara: [59:16] Yes. Dan: [59:18] Yes. Dave: [59:19] So, yeah. Tara: [59:19] Yes. Anyway. Yeah, you touched on so much of what I would have called out in this episode. I might have clipped the montage of the other comics doing their jokes because. So often in a show about comedy, like the actual stand-up comedy is bad, including Deborah's sometimes. Sarah: [59:36] It's bad, yeah. Tara: [59:37] Sorry, it's not always great. But these, like, I'm sure these writers, these actual comics, like, were not asked to Write their own material, but it feels like they did. Like it did they're obviously pros and they know what they're doing, but all of their jokes are really strong, funny roast jokes, too. And the episode would not have worked without that, and would not have worked without Deborah loving every single second of it. Like, she's so here for all of it. She, you, you know, you can't be an insult comic like Deborah without being able to take it, and she can, and that's like. Almost the most fun part of the episode, like how much fun she has. So, great presentation, amazing episode, Dave. Dave: [1:00:14] All right. Well, in the interest of getting us out of here within an hour and a half, I will make this short because we are running along because of Dan talking about Billy Joel forever. Jesus Christ, Dan. Dan: [1:00:23] Obvious. Dave: [1:00:25] Two things that I really loved about this episode. One is the line about butter on your pasta right after wanting to be treated like an adult. Dan: [1:00:33] So uh I mean uh And doesn't she like apolog isn't she like say I'm sorry? Sarah: [1:00:33] So good. Tara: [1:00:34] I'm an adult. Yep. Sarah: [1:00:35] So good. Tara: [1:00:36] Mm-hmm. Dave: [1:00:36] It's really so good. Tara: [1:00:38] Yep. Dave: [1:00:38] And the other one was when Eva is blowing glitter on Kiki's ass crack. Kiki turns around and says, Dang, why is your breath so hot? Sarah: [1:00:47] Brezoa. It's like, I don't know. Tara: [1:00:51] Yes. Dave: [1:00:52] Yeah. Tara: [1:00:53] Yes. Dave: [1:00:53] I thought that was really great. Really strong episode for all the reasons Dan said it. And of course, you know, the actual what a cut part is the capper on it. Tara: [1:01:01] Mm-hmm. Dave: [1:01:02] Yeah, great episode. Tara: [1:01:02] Yep. Dave: [1:01:03] All right, let's put this a vote. Sarah D. Bunting, what say you? Sarah: [1:01:06] Yes. Dave: [1:01:07] Tara Ariano. Tara: [1:01:08] Yes, of course. Dave: [1:01:08] Me too. So. All right, that means Hacks Season 3, Episode 3, The Roast of Debra Vance. You are hereby inducted into the extra hot great cannon. Clip: [1:01:28] Americans love a winner. Yeah and will not tolerate a loser. Nope. Dave: [1:01:33] Oh, it is time to discover who is the winner and who is the loser of the week. Tara has this week's winner. Tara: [1:01:39] Well, in an era where we've got Love is Blind, we've got the Ultimatum, Love Island. Thousands of different ways of slicing the dating show tomato. I don't know what the end of that idiom is. Two more high-concept dating shows are walking into the fray, and so we're going to talk about those very briefly. Nick Vile, former bachelor star multiple times, is going to be hosting an age gap dating show at Netflix. I don't know who wants this. I guess someone. And more bachelor alums: Colton Underwood, the one who ended up being gay, and Caitlin Bristow are co-hosting Are You My First? A dating show featuring, quote, an all-virgin cast who are definitely virgins and not just faking it to be on TV. I obviously don't know anything. I'm just saying, come on. So congratulations to all these Bachelor Nation folks because it's truly amazing how much they make out of the little they do on that show. And I mean that sincerely. Dave: [1:02:41] All right, Sarah, who's our loser threat? Sarah: [1:02:43] Yeah, the loser of the week is Happy Face, canceled at Paramount Plus after one season, I guess. But then I think we all are winners as a culture. This was a true crime series. This is the one starring Dennis Quaid as Keith Jesperson. It was fine. It was too long. It was probably somewhat underrated. But the idea that a second season was even a possibility is like. What is the show then at that point? Like, it already was kind of a quote reimagining of actual events and relationships. So, once you're in season two. And the guy that Keith Jesperson was supposedly letting swing for crimes that Jesperson committed has been avenged. What? It's like the Black List or Silence of the Quaid or something? And he's just like helping crack cases from behind bars. This is in fact the correct outcome. So for once, thank you, Paramount Plus, for doing a thing, even though I'm calling it a loser. Dave: [1:03:41] Well, speaking about winners as a culture, do you know what time it is? Sarah: [1:03:46] Oh, escape time. Dave: [1:03:47] It's good. Welcome back to Game Time, everybody. This is the tenth game time of the season. The scores are Tara with four. Win today with clinch it for her. Sarah right behind her with three. Value Guest right behind Sarah with two. Today we are playing Notable Residents of Seattle from Mike, who earns himself an extra credit. Topic of his choosing plus something from the EHG store at throughmethods. com. Here's how it works today. I will play you a clip of a Fraser call-in celebrity. You name the celebrity. If you don't get it from the clip, I'll give you up to two more hints about the actor heard in the clip. Three points, two points, one point. As we drill down on the hints, you get to guess at each level, but please make those guesses relatively quick I need the steel meal situation, please. Tart. Tara: [1:04:50] Thank you. Sarah has two, I have six. Value guests have five plus one for a total of six. Dave: [1:04:55] Ooh, that's a lot. Tara: [1:04:57] That one, of course, is Eric's meal. Dave: [1:04:58] All right, Eric's meal rolls over, so no harm in using it, Dan. You won't be screwing out future value guests. You can only use a steel meal after they incorrectly guessed at the one-point level today because of the format. All right, let's throw it to Picky to see who's going first. Clip: [1:05:15] We will start with Terra. Dave: [1:05:16] All right, we're going to go Tara, Dan, Sarah, 27 questions today. No Gross Worth Equalizer Challenge Zones. Are we ready to play notable residents of Seattle? Dan: [1:05:27] Let's do it. Dave: [1:05:29] All right, Tara from the year 1993. This actor was Frasier's very first caller in the series. In a later episode, he appeared on screen as a wheelchair-bound man who tries to befriend Frazier. Clip: [1:05:43] Well, I have been feeling sort of um, you know, depressed lately. My life's not going anywhere. It's not that bad. It's just. . Same old apartment, same old job. Dave: [1:05:59] All right. Griffin Dunn is correct. Yes, that is worth three points. Clip: [1:06:03] Couldn't bring that ball. Dan: [1:06:04] I'm screwed. Dave: [1:06:04] Dan is either surprised or angry. Can't quite tell. Dan: [1:06:09] Why can't it be both? Dave: [1:06:10] All right, Dan, 1993 again. This actress, best known for playing tough as nails characters, is having trouble dealing with a breakup when she calls in. Clip: [1:06:21] Hello, Claire. I'm listening. I'm uh Well, I'm a mess. Eight months ago, my boyfriend and I broke up, and I just can't get over it. The pain isn't going away. It's almost like I'm in mourning or something. Dave: [1:06:41] All right, Dan, who is that actress? Clip: [1:06:41] I'm the bar. Dan: [1:06:43] I will take one hint. Clip: [1:06:44] I'm a good boy. Dave: [1:06:45] She had a starring role on Beauty and the Beast as well as recurring roles on Chuck and Resident Alien. Clip: [1:06:51] Like I want to take a rock a rock There's a man to override. Dan: [1:06:54] And I get one more hint, right? Dave: [1:06:55] There's one more hint in the offering. Dan: [1:06:58] I'll take one more hint in the offering. Dave: [1:06:59] All right. That was your TV career hint. Here is your best known for hint: the Terminator franchise. Clip: [1:07:05] I'm going to make it a man. Dan: [1:07:06] Linda Hamilton. Dave: [1:07:07] Linda Hamilton is correct for one point. Yes. All right, Sarah D. Bunting, are you ready for your first question? Clip: [1:07:13] I'm on the light, I'm a ticker rock. Sarah: [1:07:13] Sure. Dave: [1:07:14] All right, we're still in 1993. This actress is best known for her work on Broadway, but called into KACL in the first season of the show and appeared on screen later in the series. Clip: [1:07:22] I'm a ticker rock. Hi, it's my in-laws. It's just that, well, they drop over all the time without calling first, and they expect us to stop what we're doing and entertain them. Well, they're your husband's parents. What does he suggest? The other day he had us drop to the floor and stay quiet until they drove away. Dave: [1:07:45] All right. Any idea there, Sarah? I feel like Dan might know this one. Dan: [1:07:50] Spin me out. Dave: [1:07:50] Oh, he does. Sarah: [1:07:51] Yeah, yeah. Dave: [1:07:51] Oh, he's so angry. Sarah: [1:07:54] Um, could I hear the clip again? I'm so sorry. Clip: [1:07:56] Hi, it's my in-laws. It's just that, well, they drop over all the time without calling first, and they expect us to stop what we're doing and entertain them. Well, they're your husband's parents. What does he suggest? The other day he had us drop to the floor and stay quiet until they drove away. Tara: [1:08:14] I got it that time. Dave: [1:08:15] Keep in mind that Dan was really angry when he heard it. Don't discount that this might be Billy Joel. Sarah: [1:08:25] It's not, but she could probably do a pretty good Long Island accent. That's a Ms. Patty Lapone. Dave: [1:08:30] It is three-point anister. Nicely done. Back to Tara. We're still in 1993. This actor plays a newspaper columnist who gets into a feud with Fraser. Clip: [1:08:42] Look, nobody calls me half a man, especially some Ivy League twit. So, what do you say we settle this? Like men? Tara: [1:08:51] Joe Montagna Summer School Director Carl Reiner. Dave: [1:08:52] It is correct. Another three-point answer for Tara. Back to Dan, still in 93. This actor from the early days of television called into the station in season one Any idea It is Karl Reiner. Clip: [1:09:03] Well, I had a really good year. I decided, hey, why not reward myself? So I bought what I really wanted, a 48-foot cabin cruiser. Now how much it cost me? I'll tell you how much it cost me. 300 grand, not to mention the 20,000 for the custom tea decking. Dan: [1:09:21] Is the car rider With a great hat. Dave: [1:09:24] Yes, three-point answer. Sarah: [1:09:24] Nice. Dave: [1:09:25] Nicely done. Sarah: [1:09:28] Yeah Ask me that question again, Daniel. Dave: [1:09:29] Nice. All right. Back to Sarah. 93. This T V personality played a character calling in from a car phone, perhaps an allusion to his well known hobby. Clip: [1:09:44] It's a screws thing, Doc. I eat healthy, I work out, but no matter what I do, I can't lose a pound. It's very depressing. Dave: [1:09:51] Who is that caller, Sarah? Sarah: [1:09:54] It's very depressing. Could I hear it again, please? Clip: [1:09:57] It's a screwiest thing, Doc. I eat healthy, I work out. But no matter what I do, I can't lose a pound. It's very depressing. Sarah: [1:10:06] Oh my god, I'm going to be so mad, but a hint, please. Dave: [1:10:10] All right, TV career hint. From 2015 to 2022, he hosted a reality show about cars on CNBC. That's a great hit, Mike. Tara: [1:10:23] Yep. Sarah: [1:10:24] Oh, Jesus. Ew, Jay Leno. Dave: [1:10:26] Day Leno is correct for two points. Yes. All right, back to Tara, still a 93. This actor called in on Frasier's first Christmas episode and seemed a bit depressed. Clip: [1:10:38] I'm sorry. That was the last time. I'm okay now. I'm really okay. No, I'm not. Barry, listen, I've got to put you on hold for a bit while you pull yourself together, but please, please stay on the line. I I'd really like to help you. It's all right. I think I've got to hold it myself. Tara: [1:11:01] Is that Hacks guest star Tony Goldwyn? Shit. Sarah: [1:11:06] It does sound like a Brackets terrible. Dave: [1:11:07] Here is your T V career hint. Clip: [1:11:07] Is me coming to the book. Dave: [1:11:09] His early career included a few appearances on Saturday Night Live and hosting a short lived sketch comedy show. Clip: [1:11:15] It's a me coming to the book. Tara: [1:11:19] Oh hosting a sketch show. Clip: [1:11:20] Like the one that you can rock to make a move like the one that you can rock to the mag It still traumatizes me, Dr. Dave: [1:11:26] I would say he's the lead more than the host, you know. Tara: [1:11:27] Okay, it doesn't help. Oh, wait, yes, it does. It's it, Ben Stiller. Dave: [1:11:32] It is Ben Siller. Yes, two point answer. Back to Dan, our final 93 question. This actor also calls in for Frasier's first Christmas episode with a sad story. Clip: [1:11:47] Crane. I wake up nights and I remember that Christmas morning. I walked into my mother's bedroom, tears running down my face, and I said, Mommy, mommy. The puppy Santa gave me won't wake up. Dan: [1:12:02] I think I'm in the the hundred plus comedian zone. That sounds like Mel Brooks. Dave: [1:12:07] It is Mel Brooks. Another three-point answer from Dan. Back to Sarah. We're in 94 now, going roughly in chronological order. Clip: [1:12:16] Can you bully me up? Dave: [1:12:16] Actually, this might be directly chronological order. I think maybe it was organized by episode as well, since we just had our Christmas episode. So well done, Mike. Sarah, ninety-four. Clip: [1:12:25] I'm getting out Well, I'm having a lot of problems with the other kids at school. Dave: [1:12:25] This actor who was twelve when this episode aired played a kid who was being bullied at school. Clip: [1:12:34] They're always beating me up. Why do you think that's so? Probably because I'm smart. I have a 160 IQ. I'm in the astronomy club and I hate sports. Can you book and ball? Dave: [1:12:48] He starred in Wilfred and Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency brackets. Terrible. Clip: [1:12:56] I won't let them rock out Is a week old to the book and we don't turn the book I want to make a rock. Sarah: [1:13:00] Ah, it's a fucking hobbit boy. What is his name? I want to say Toefer Grace because it's obviously not him. I could picture him in the ice storm. I can't pull the name, so why don't you give me another hint while I'm stalling? Dave: [1:13:18] Best known for his starring role in Lord of the Rings franchise. Sarah: [1:13:23] Mm-hmm. It's, you know, that kid with the ears was also in the ice storm. Dave: [1:13:26] Yep. Yeah, I think everything you said so far is correct. Clip: [1:13:29] It'll be coming to the book. Sarah: [1:13:32] Yeah, and he was also in at Cider House Rules and oh no, that was someone else. Dave: [1:13:32] Just one task you have to do. Sarah: [1:13:36] Uh yeah, I can't pull it. Clip: [1:13:37] It's a meeting to the world. Dave: [1:13:37] Oh, all right. Sarah: [1:13:38] I'm shalubing! Dan: [1:13:39] Steel meal Eliza Wood. Dave: [1:13:41] Oh, steel mill opportunity. Here we go. It is. Elijah Wood good for a one-point steal. Sarah: [1:13:46] Yes, there it is. Dave: [1:13:48] Heartbreaker. Tar. Tara: [1:13:49] I'm shalubing, yes. Dave: [1:13:52] 94. Sarah: [1:13:52] Well Oh, that's good. Tara: [1:13:53] Mm-hmm. Dave: [1:13:54] This actress calls in, wondering whether she can make it in an office setting after all. Clip: [1:13:59] Hi, Dr. Crane. This is Marjorie. You see, I'm I'm having a problem with my boss. He doesn't seem to respect me, and I don't have the courage to confront him. Tara: [1:14:12] Oh, God, I'm so close. Okay. Is it m m Mary Tyler Moore? Dave: [1:14:17] Whether she can make it in an office setting after all is right in the hint. Tara: [1:14:19] Oh, okay. Dave: [1:14:21] Yes, that's Mary Tyler Moore. Dan: [1:14:22] Nice, nice, nice. Dave: [1:14:23] Nicely done. Sarah: [1:14:24] I didn't even notice that. Dave: [1:14:26] Good hints, Mike. All right, back to Dan 94. When this actor called into the station, he was primarily doing movies. Only later did he start taking T V jobs. Clip: [1:14:37] Well you see Dr. Crane, my wife Tracy and I are having a baby and I know we're getting a little ahead of ourselves but there seems to be a lot of different advice about whether it's okay to let your kid climb into bed with you in the morning. Stop right there, Stephen. Dave: [1:14:50] All right, who's that? Celebrity Dan. He had one major arc in one season of The Office, America. Any idea there, Dan? Dan: [1:15:03] I'll need one more hint, please. Dave: [1:15:05] Thank you, Dan. Best known for I mean, hmm. But I'm going to say most notable for starring in two hundred eighteen episodes of the blacklist. Dan: [1:15:17] James Spader Oh, sure. Dave: [1:15:18] James Spader is your one-point answer. What would you say James Spader is actually best known for? Dan: [1:15:23] I would say he's best known for um uh old stuff. Sarah: [1:15:26] Tough turf, just kidding. Dave: [1:15:28] Was he was he was he in Masquerade? Dan: [1:15:28] What'd you wait, what'd you say? Clip: [1:15:29] Is a big up to the boat. Dave: [1:15:30] Is that that? No, that's the that's the other one. Bad influence. Dan: [1:15:33] Oh, I would say like I would say like sex lies and videotape, like he's from the past. Clip: [1:15:36] It's a big up to the boat. Sarah: [1:15:38] Yes. Dave: [1:15:38] All right, one point answer for you there, Dan. Back to Sarah, still in ninety four, our last ninety four. Question. This actress called into the station feeling overwhelmed about her kids. Clip: [1:15:50] Yeah, Dr. Crane. Oh, Dr. Crane, I'm um thank you for taking my call. I I I tell you, I I um I am about to lose my mind. I am raising four kids by myself. The oldest one is not even seven, and the other three are all under five. Dave: [1:16:09] There's a clip. Tara: [1:16:11] Sarah, you've seen this person so many times. Dave: [1:16:11] Yep. Dan: [1:16:14] So many times. Sarah: [1:16:15] I know, I know, I know. I'm so can I hear it again? Part of it at least? Clip: [1:16:19] Yeah, Dr. Clane. Oh, Dr. Clane, I'm um thank you for taking my call. I I I tell you, I I um I am about to lose my mind. I am raising four kids by myself. The oldest one is not even seven, and the other three are all under five. Sarah: [1:16:38] Oh my god, I'm so close. Can't pull it. Hint, please. Dave: [1:16:41] T V Career Hint This appearance on Frazier, and I dunno, I'm Frazier. predates her best known voice acting role on The Magic School Bus. Sarah: [1:16:53] The magic school bus. Nope, that's not going to do it either. Hint. Dave: [1:16:58] Best known for, and I'm going to add one in here for you because I think it's actually what she's best known for: many TV series from Laugh In to Grace and Frankie and for playing a switchboard operator. Sarah: [1:17:08] Oh, fuck Lily Tomlin. Dan: [1:17:12] There you go. Dave: [1:17:12] That is correct for one point. Tara: [1:17:14] The Critic, yes. Dave: [1:17:16] All right, Tara, ninety-five. Tara: [1:17:17] Yep. Mm-hmm. Dave: [1:17:19] This actress called into the station just a few episodes before her future husband made a special guest appearance on the show. Clip: [1:17:27] And I just want to thank you, Dr. Crane. Because of your advice, I've conquered my fear of height I took it slowly, gradually going higher and higher until here I am right now having lunch at the top of the space needle. Tara: [1:17:43] Oh, my God, hint. Clip: [1:17:44] Can you borrow it? Dave: [1:17:45] TV Career Hint: She had major roles on Joan of Arcadia and Last Man on Earth. Tara: [1:17:55] Mary Steenbergen. Dave: [1:17:56] You are correct for two points. Dan: [1:17:57] Wow. Dave: [1:17:59] All right, Dan, 95. This actor played a character who maybe shouldn't have. This actor played a character who maybe shouldn't have tried to get help. From a call-in show. Clip: [1:18:09] Hello, Dr. Crane. I have a terrible fear of talking on the phone to people I do not know. I freeze up. It is a severe handicap in today's fast-paced, highly competitive world. Dan: [1:18:28] I have no idea, but I like it. Clip: [1:18:29] Can't move after Like a rock. Dan: [1:18:30] Hint. Dave: [1:18:30] T V Career Hint, it's not his best-known TV role, but he did appear in season four of Thirteen Reasons Why. Dan: [1:18:39] Uh-huh. Hint again. Dave: [1:18:42] Best known for a starring role on CSI New York and a big supporting role in Forest Gump. Clip: [1:18:43] Cause I can't move back to work. Tara: [1:18:49] Oscar nominee, Oscar nominated role. Clip: [1:18:50] It's a big up to the boat. Dan: [1:18:51] Oh, skeleton Well, Dentara gave me the hint, I'm sorry to say. Gary Sneeze. Dave: [1:18:55] Gary Sinise Tara just giving out free hints all willy-nilly. Dan: [1:18:56] Yeah. Tara: [1:18:57] I don't think that's much of a hint. Clip: [1:18:58] It's a big up to the boat. Tara: [1:18:59] Sorry. Dave: [1:19:01] In an effort to sabotage Sarah. Clip: [1:19:03] Like I want to take a rock and make a rock and make Business is down. Tara: [1:19:04] Sorry, Sarah. Dave: [1:19:05] I'm trying to start a fight. All right, Sarah, 95. This will take us into our score break. So get ready with them scores This actor plays a car salesman who claims to be depressed but may have an ulterior motive for calling in. Clip: [1:19:21] I don't know why. I slashed prices this week. Right now I got an 88 old cutlass on the lot in rare turquoise metallic, cord of a roof, leather, factory air. Man man. Yeah, and that's nothing compared to the six brand new supers I got in. They're priced well with a 20% discount to all your listeners. Sarah: [1:19:40] Is that Prime Minister John let go? Dave: [1:19:42] It is three points. Nicely done. Sarah: [1:19:44] Oh Whew Hmm, it's pretty dumb. Dave: [1:19:45] All right, it is time to learn the current scores. Tara: [1:19:48] Okay, Sarah has nine, Dan has ten, thanks to me apparently, and I have thirteen. Dave: [1:19:55] All right, everybody. Pretty close. Still plenty of game to go to. We are back to Tara. We're still in nineteen ninety five. Ironically, Frazier is distracted by a commotion in the hall when this actress calls in T V Career Hint Her most recent T V appearances include Tara Fave, Pom Royale, and Big Little Eyes. Clip: [1:20:09] Your lack of interest makes your husband feel invisible. Imagine what it must be like to sit. Across from someone who's constantly scanning, searching, craning their neck to see just what the hell is going on out there. Oh, gosh, you're right. I've been insensitive It's just common decency to stay focused on the other person. Huh? What? Oh, well, good for you, Jane. June. Oh, yeah, well, whatever. Uh, this is Dr. Frederick Crane, KACL. Have a night. There's a big old candle. Tara: [1:20:53] Laura Dern for you Oh no. Dave: [1:20:54] Laura Dern is correct for two points. This is question seventeen. Clip: [1:20:57] There's a big old cut of the bar. Dave: [1:20:59] It's for Dan. Thank you. We're in nineteen ninety six, Dan. This actress played a woman who couldn't find the privacy she and her husband needed. Clip: [1:21:08] Lucky, lucky, get down. George, get the dog. Oh my god, this is so exciting. Honey, how do you get the baby? George, get your son. Okay. Okay, here it is, Dr. Crane. If my husband and I don't find some time to have sex soon, I think I'm gonna burst. I may even have to go to a department store and pick up a stranger. Oh, pot! Let's get here without calling first. None on pop-pop. I'll call you back. Dan: [1:21:33] Wow, that's the familiar voice. Dave: [1:21:34] All right, who is that on the call? Dan: [1:21:36] Let's do hint number one Jody Foster. Dave: [1:21:38] TV career hint: other than a season of true detective, she has very few TV credits as an adult. Jodie Foster is correct for two. Back to Sarah, 96. After Frazier gets into a fight with a jerk at Cafe Nervosa he finds that the people of Seattle are emulating him like this guest caller. Clip: [1:22:01] This idiot next door had his leaf blower going at 7 a. m. again. Oh, that's very inconsiderate. Yeah, I'll say. That's why I decided to give him an etiquette lesson. I grabbed that leaf blower and smashed it against a tree. Dave: [1:22:17] Who is that celebrity? Celebrity TV career hint? Sarah: [1:22:22] Full already. Clip: [1:22:23] I won't do that. Sarah: [1:22:23] Uh, I don't know, but I'll guess Lewis Black, 'cause why not? Clip: [1:22:25] I wouldn't take away. Sarah: [1:22:27] Remember that guy? Dave: [1:22:30] While it's definitely not his best-known TV appearance, he did star in the one-season Murder She Wrote spin-off, The Law and Harry McGraw. Clip: [1:22:30] I won't go like I'm a dummy. Sarah: [1:22:42] Tom Bosley. Dave: [1:22:45] By the way, you're going to be so angry, Sarah, just so you know. Clip: [1:22:47] I want to give a rock 'cause I make a moment. Dave: [1:22:49] Best known for appearing in 274 episodes of the original Lott and Order and Somebody Else Having His Eye. Sarah: [1:22:49] Oh, good. Clip: [1:22:55] I want to give a rock 'cause I'm back Go ahead, Tom. Sarah: [1:23:00] Oh, Tony Shalou, just kidding. Jerry Arbuck. Dave: [1:23:06] Jerry Arbach good for one. Sarah: [1:23:07] Wow, I was like, Letty Briscoe. No, that's not right. Dave: [1:23:10] All right, for Tara 96, this is question 19. Sarah: [1:23:11] Oh, God. Dave: [1:23:15] This actor calls in to ask a question about his sex life with his girlfriend. Clip: [1:23:20] I'm listening. Hi, Dr. Crane. It's about my girlfriend. My problem is, I don't know if I love her for herself or because things are so great between us physically. Dave: [1:23:31] All right, any guesses who that person is? Tara: [1:23:31] Oh, no None. Next hint, please. Dave: [1:23:36] TV career hint? Before his breakout TV role, this non-brobotic actor had a recurring role on the original run of Twin Peaks. Tara: [1:23:46] David DeGaffey. Clip: [1:23:47] I was all of history's great acting robots. Acting Unit 0. 8, Thespo Matt, David Dukovny. Dave: [1:23:55] You are correct for two points. Back to Dan, ninety-six. When Frazier fills in for Bulldog on short notice, he predictably can't answer a question from this TV personality. Clip: [1:24:07] You're on the air. Yeah, you think it was a good idea for the Sonics to give up those draft choices so they could free up some money under the cap, you know, to go after a wide body to help them in the paint? Yes. Dave: [1:24:24] All right, who is that celebrity, Dan? Dan: [1:24:26] It's one I remember I literally remember this episode because there were other sports calls that came in also. But oh, is it Costas? Clip: [1:24:35] Come over and all come over. Dave: [1:24:37] It is three-point answer. Tara: [1:24:38] Hey Nice. Dave: [1:24:39] Nicely done. All right, ninety-six server debunting. Two seasons after his then better known brother was a guest caller, this actor played a guest caller as Will. Clip: [1:24:52] So it's my parents. I don't know. They're just like really stupid. May I ask how old you are? Fourteen. Well, hang on, Jimmy. Your parents are gonna be stupid for another seven years. Whoa, seven years? That's like longer than I'll be in high school. I salute your optimism. Dave: [1:25:12] Any idea In addition to a well known live action T V role, he has done voice work for Solar Opposites and Scott Pilgrim Takes Off. Sarah: [1:25:15] Oh um oh, Jesus. Uh I thought I did, but um all names have just fallen out of my brain. Hint, please. No, I'm gonna need another hint. Dave: [1:25:41] Best known for winning an Emmy for his acting on Succession. Tara: [1:25:46] And also an Oscar winner this year. Sarah: [1:25:46] Yeah, I yeah. Can't pull the name. Clip: [1:25:48] Cause I don't know where you're going. Sarah: [1:25:49] Oh, yeah. Good for that family whose name I am shalubing right now. Buzz me, I can't pull it. Dave: [1:25:56] Oh, all right, Stumble, opportunity. Dan: [1:25:58] Steelmail Kirin Calket. Dave: [1:26:00] Yes, another point for Dan. Sarah: [1:26:01] There we go, Culkin. Dave: [1:26:03] All right, we are now skipping three years into the year nineteen ninety nine, Tara This actor calls into the station when Frazier is covering a late night slot. Clip: [1:26:13] Go ahead, Callie. You're on the air. I think I'm losing my mind, Dr. Crane. People are talking to me through my radio. Why do you think that? There it is again. Turn your radio down. Now it's giving me orders. Tara: [1:26:34] I need a hint, please. Dave: [1:26:36] While he had prominent TV roles in the 60s and 70s, his biggest TV role after that was one in which he rarely appeared on screen. Clip: [1:26:44] I want your lag, I want to get a record. Tara: [1:26:46] William Forsyth. Dave: [1:26:49] Best known for The Andy Griffith Show and Happy Days, as well as his work directing and producing movies. Clip: [1:26:52] I want your lag, I want to get a record. There's a big old turn of the bar. Tara: [1:26:57] Ron Howard. Dave: [1:26:58] Ron Howard, yes, the narrator from Arrested Development. Clip: [1:26:59] There's a moment to make up to the boat. Dave: [1:27:02] Dan, nineteen ninety nine again This character calls the station to complain after Fraser helps him change attire. Clip: [1:27:10] Dr. Crane, I was just wondering, do you wear cufflinks? Well, yes, as a matter of fact, I do, but there's no need to buy me a gift. A gift? You scratched the hell out of my paint job with those things. You owe me money! Dan: [1:27:24] Okay. Dave: [1:27:25] T V Career Hint Before his breakout film role, he had a recurring role on the first few seasons of ER. Dan: [1:27:33] Okay, hint again. Dave: [1:27:35] Best known for the movie Fargo and one hundred thirty four episodes of Shameless. Dan: [1:27:42] Oh, let's got a Bill Bill Macy. Dave: [1:27:44] Bill Macy, yes, as he prefers to be called. Dan: [1:27:48] That's right. Dave: [1:27:48] That's William H. Macy for one point Sarah D. Bunting, 1999, or last of this year. Clip: [1:27:55] Cause I'm back, I'm back. Dave: [1:27:55] When a Doctor Laura like psychologist was filling in for Fraser, this actress called in with an unexpected accent. Clip: [1:28:02] Cause I'm back. Hello, Jenny. I'm Dr. Nora and I'm here to help. Hi, Dr. Nora. My boyfriend and I have been living together for about two years. Are you having sex? Well, our sex life's not the problem. It's it's great. But but whenever I mention marriage, he changes the subject. Do you think that he's afraid of commitment? Dave: [1:28:21] That's a tough one, not hearing your natural voice, one hopes. Sarah: [1:28:26] Uh Jilliad Anderson I knew she was on the list. Dave: [1:28:27] You're correct. Tara: [1:28:29] What amazing. Oh, my God. Sarah: [1:28:34] I couldn't remember where, and it was like, all right, let's burn it. Dave: [1:28:36] Fantastic poll. Tara: [1:28:37] Great, great pull. Sarah: [1:28:37] Yeah. Dan: [1:28:38] So amazing. Clip: [1:28:43] Impossible. Dave: [1:28:44] All right, nicely done. Three points. Let's hear the scores here before everybody gets to our last question. Tara: [1:28:49] Things have tightened up. Sarah D. Bunting has thirteen. Dan has seventeen. I have eighteen. Dave: [1:28:56] All right getting down to it every All right, let's get back to it. Sarah: [1:28:59] It's everybody else's game. Good luck. Dave: [1:29:04] Tara Ariana, we are in the year 2001 for your last question of the game After Frazier complains on air about a recording he has lost, this actress calls in with a lost item of her own. Clip: [1:29:10] Cause I'm a little bit more than a little bit of a man My cat ran away last Wednesday. She's orange with a white chest and one white tall. Phillips, Phillips, all right, hold on, hold on a minute. Tara: [1:29:29] Alice and Janie. Dave: [1:29:30] Alison Jani is correct for the full three. Dan: [1:29:30] Yeah, crack it. Dave: [1:29:33] Dan, two thousand two. This actor calls in to ask Frazier about his commitment issues. Clip: [1:29:40] I've been dating my girlfriend for six years, and she keeps bugging me about moving in. But I know as soon as she does, my freedom is gone. Everything's got to be in the hamper. I can't eat over the sink. I can't just go out whenever my buddies call. It's a lot to give up. Dan: [1:29:56] That sounds like West Wing co-star Bradley Whipard. Dave: [1:29:58] You are correct. Did you see that guy's balls? They were weird. Clip: [1:30:03] Coming to the book, and the ball is a moment. Dave: [1:30:03] That's what he's best known for. Tara: [1:30:05] Yes. Dan: [1:30:05] Yeah. Dave: [1:30:07] Last question for you, Sarah. We're in 2003. When Frazier criticizes this caller, he replies with an accusation of his own. Clip: [1:30:16] Kevin, the truth is you're just not being honest, are you? I guess I'm not, but it's not like you're so honest about everything in your life I beg your pardon. Well, you've never told your audience you're gay. Excuse me? I saw you in a gay bar last night. Dave: [1:30:37] Before you guess, Sarah, I just want to say you're going to be angry about this one, too. Clip: [1:30:38] I wanna kill me, don't get it. Sarah: [1:30:41] Okay she might, she doesn't. Dave: [1:30:42] Go! Tara: [1:30:43] What if she knows it? She might. Clip: [1:30:45] I wanna kill you, don't get me wrong. Sarah: [1:30:46] Martin Sheen, what got John Carlo Esposito Still had imposes So, Michael Boriarty is a Chris Snowth. Dave: [1:30:49] His recent T V appearances include recurring roles on Andor and PokerFace. Tara: [1:30:57] Right. Dave: [1:31:02] All right, here we go, Sarah. Best known for four seasons of the original Law and Order. And miscongeniality. Let's throw that in there. Tara: [1:31:11] Where he still has both his eyes, though, unlike his partner. Dave: [1:31:13] Yeah, he still got both the size. It's not giving those up. Tara: [1:31:17] Mm-mm. Clip: [1:31:17] It's a makeup to the makeup I won't do what you are. Dave: [1:31:18] And traffic. And dating a celebrity recently featured in a Canon submission. Tara: [1:31:25] By you with him. Dave: [1:31:25] By you. Clip: [1:31:31] It's a big old man. I won't be the one to Is a big old candle. Sarah: [1:31:37] I don't I can't remember the clip now, so I don't know. Dave: [1:31:40] It is. Anybody want to steal this? Tara: [1:31:42] I'm not going to steal it, but it's Benjamin Brad. Sarah: [1:31:45] Oh, yeah. Clip: [1:31:46] It's a big old candle. Sarah: [1:31:47] Hey, buddy. Dave: [1:31:48] All right, that's regulation scores, please. Tara: [1:31:51] Okie dokie. Sarah: [1:31:52] So close to the city of the city, I'm going to go to the next step. Tara: [1:31:53] Sarah finished with thirteen. Dan, twenty. I had twenty-one. Dave: [1:31:57] Ooh, okay. Well, before we do the festivities, let's play the tiebreaker for a future steel meal. This will be the only steel meal to carry over to the next season. So we're wiping them out, and this one will be the first. All right. 1999. This married in real life couple, so there's two people in the answer. calls into the station to get Fraser to settle a dispute about a Super Bowl party. Clip: [1:32:25] Hi, Dr. Crane. My husband's having some of his friends over to watch the game on Sunday, and I think it'd be nice if some of my girlfriends could come over, too. Tara: [1:32:30] Marla Thomas and Phil Donahue. Dave: [1:32:31] You are weirdly correct. Dan: [1:32:32] Wow. Sarah: [1:32:33] Oh, I thought it was still in Mira. Clip: [1:32:34] Sounds reasonable? Exactly. I mean, it's just flickable. Dave: [1:32:36] That was Marlowe Thomas and Phil Donahue. Sarah: [1:32:39] Well done. Dave: [1:32:40] I thought that one was going to go on forever, and I'm kind of glad it didn't. All right, Tara, you win the extra point steel meal, and you win the day. And that is the season clinched. Clip: [1:32:58] History repeats itself. Try and you succeed. You're the best for now. Dave: [1:33:02] You're the best around Movie gonna keep it down. Clip: [1:33:05] Nothing's gonna ever keep you down. Dan: [1:33:05] Nothing ever gonna bend it down in the best. Clip: [1:33:07] You're the best around. Dave: [1:33:07] You're the best around. Nothing's over gonna keep it down. Clip: [1:33:10] Nothing's gonna ever keep you down. Keep me down. I'll be blessed. Oh God, nothing's gonna ever keep me down. Dave: [1:33:20] All right, that is another season in the bag. Sarah: [1:33:21] Ooh. Dave: [1:33:24] Thank you, Mike. Fantastic game. Tara: [1:33:26] Thank you, Mike. Dave: [1:33:26] Everybody loved that one. Sarah: [1:33:27] Yeah, that was really fun. Tara: [1:33:27] Yeah, that was great. Dan: [1:33:27] Very fun. Dave: [1:33:29] And that is it for another episode of Extra Hot Great. We learned to pace ourselves when talking about Billy Joel's dock, and so it goes. And we're just like everybody else with our around the dial stops, where you will come to Digman, where the only thing you feel is the comeback and the billionaire boys' club's loaded guns in your face You used to call us paranoid, but even you cannot avoid hacks the roast of Deborah Vance in the canon. Our winner of the week is all grown up, and the loser has no place to go. And Tara was the winner of this week's Psych I, Psych II caller Game Time from Mike. Next up, we'll have some cosmic rationale for Match Game. Remember I am David T. Cole, and here is Tara Ariano with her Peter Pan advice. Tara: [1:34:24] PRESSURE! Dave: [1:34:26] Sarah D. Bunting with no scars on her face. Sarah: [1:34:30] Pressure, and the music is a very important thing. Dave: [1:34:31] And you cannot handle Dan Blau Rogge. Dan: [1:34:35] I'll tell you what it means. PRESHAAAAA! Dave: [1:34:38] Thanks for listening. Okay, all together now. One, two, three, four. Sarah: [1:34:42] PRESSURE Tara: [1:34:42] PRESSURE. Dave: [1:34:44] We'll see you next time right here at Next Track Great. Clip: [1:34:51] We're listening by Nassau County Billy Joel one more time. Piano man. Good night, Saigon. That's a sad one. Cry about that, you dirty old bitch.