Top Secret! (with Ed Helms)

The Year 1984. Well then, one night, a secret police broke into my house, they tore me from my family, ransacked my laboratory, and brought me to this dungeon. That sucks. The Movie Top Secret. MUSIC Hey, everybody. Welcome to Unspooled. This is a podcast about good movies, critical hits, fan favorites, must-sees, and in case you missed them. We have covered the AFI Top 100. Now we are checking off movies from three major lists, Letterbox Top 250 films with the most fans, the IMDb Top 250, and the New York Times 1000 Essential Films. And we'll also be chasing our own curiosity as well. But while Amy is away and can, I have invited a very dear friend to come and talk about a movie that's number one on his list. You might know our guest today. Oh my gosh, one of the best. He has been in hit shows like The Office and The Hangover series. We were in a movie together called Family Switch. But you should really get to know his podcast, Snaffy, where he unpacks stories of epic screw ups throughout history and how these failures shaped our modern world. Please welcome Ed Helms. Ed, how are you? I am so good. And I am so dang delighted to be here. Thank you for that beautiful, lovely, flattering introduction. But I have one quibble. Yeah, what? You left out another movie that we did together. Oh my gosh, Black Bald? Well, no. Oh wait, that's an even deeper cut. What other movie have we done now? I'm sure we've done a few. Weren't you in Meet Dave? Oh, yeah. Ed, my favorite story of all time, where I was fired, rehired, and then ultimately cut out of the film as Lieutenant Buttocks. I don't know if I've ever told you that story. It was one of the craziest stories that I was fired. And I didn't know why. I couldn't quite figure out. And this is a much more compacted version of the story. And then when I talked to Brian Robbins, he goes, hey, man, you know, when I saw you audition, just thought you were a big old fat guy. And I was like, oh, he goes, yeah, I need to see Ascrack on that first scene. He's like, I needed Ascrack. You didn't have Ascrack. I couldn't open up Lieutenant Buttocks without a big fat ass. And what? And that is why I got fired and why the wonderful sound mixer was cast in my role moments after I was fired in the film. Whoa, that is random. It is. I had a great time and met Eddie Murphy, which was a true thrill. I know that you also are a big Eddie Murphy fan. Yeah, big time. Yeah, that was huge. And then Eddie, I guess, had a falling out with the studio when they released the movie because I think they said that you could. I remember I went on one of my first talk show appearances ever to promote that movie and they said, you can't talk about space. So the premise of the movie is that Eddie Murphy is a spaceship and he's full of tiny aliens controlling him. And you and I were little aliens inside of Eddie Murphy. You were in main command. You were in the head command. I was in the head. Yeah, I was in the butt. I was in the butt. And Husky was in a joint, like a shoulder or an elbow or something. And then they told us because what was that other one that he did? Jupiter. Oh, the Mars one, right? It was like Pluto Nash. Pluto Nash. Yeah, Pluto Nash had tanked. And so they said, you can't talk about like sci-fi or space. Even though the premise of the movie is that he's a spaceship and we're all aliens. And so they were so scared of that movie having tanked. And I think that really, I don't know what it was that pissed off Eddie, but he wound up not even attending the premiere. Oh, my god. And the movie just didn't do anything. It's a charming movie. It is. It was a wonderful premise. I loved the script so much. I did too. I remember reading that script on a plane and going like, this is going to be a giant hit. It's Eddie Murphy in Eddie Murphy. Everybody's really funny. Kevin Hart's in that movie, I think too, right? Kevin was in the head. I think so. It was a crazy great cast. Elizabeth Banks. But we were, again, we were all separate because the aliens never leave the ship ultimately or if they do, they're in very miniaturized versions of themselves. I don't know. Yeah, I just remember, like you said, we got to meet Eddie Murphy and work with Eddie Murphy, and that was like the coolest thing ever. Hey, everybody, one of my favorite podcasts, Talking Pictures is back for another season. You know this. It's from TCM and HBO Max. It's a podcast all about movies and memories hosted by Ben Manquitz. And he gets to sit down with some of Hollywood's most influential actors and filmmakers to discuss the movies that inspired them. I've been on the show. It was the most fun. And this season, he is talking to people like Edgar Wright about pacing and montages in film and Rosie Perez about her acting career and how it kind of just began on accident. He's also talking to Pat Nozwald, Susan Sarandon, Hira Marai, who is a director who did a lot of Atlanta and the great new show Widows Bay, Sally Field, Tony Goldman and so much more. This season, Ben and his guests are on camera so you can also watch Talking Pictures on HBO Max and Spotify or listen wherever you get your podcast. Guys, if you find yourself throwing on a hat because you are, I don't know, frustrated about that thinning hair, it might be time for a real comeback instead of another workaround. There are so many internal factors that affect what you see on the outside. Hormone, stress, nutrition, lifestyle, it can all play a part, which is why NutriFall supports healthier hair from within, giving you a proactive physician formulated and clinically tested approach to improved hair growth. 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The year is 1983 and the filmmaking trio of Jim Abrams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker are coming off the surprise success of Airplane, a movie that basically rewired American comedy with its rapid fire, deadpan absurdity. And the studio says we want you to make another but instead of repeating themselves, they start thinking bigger. What if they mashed up two completely different genres, an Elvis Presley rock musical and a Cold War thriller and that collision becomes top secret. And this is a movie that's not a parody of just one thing, but an entire era of pop culture into itself. I have to tell you when I reached out to you to do this, I was like, give me a list of a couple of movies that you would like to talk about. And you sent over a list that I absolutely loved. And at the top of that list is a movie that we're talking about today. Top Secret, which is a film that I feel does not get much love in the world of like spoof and parody. We talk about Airplane all the time done by the same team. Yeah, but Top Secret kind of falls in this weird middle ground because Naked Gun is also like not a full follow up, but a lot of the people involved creatively went on to make Naked Gun. But Top Secret kind of falls in this like weird middle ground. I agree with you. And I wanted to know, like, why is that movie number one on your list? Well, you know, it's funny. I was going back and trying. I was thinking about why is Top Secret just not why doesn't it have the status of those other movies? And because it's it's arguably funnier. Like, I agree, one of the the funniest Zucker Abrams movies of all time. And and I think it's because it's not as identifiable. Like it like airplane is such a specific parody of a airplane disaster movie. Right. And and then Naked Gun is such a specific parody of the cop genre of both TV and movies, of course, it started as Police Squad, which was a parody of TV shows. And then and and so that those were known parodies. They were things that people sort of instantly gotten understood. But Top Secret is this wild mashup of World War Two movies, Elvis movies, beach party movies. It's like all these these funny kind of things mashed up together. There's a there's a Western saloon. There's a saloon fight randomly in the middle of it, like underwater, of course. We'll get to that, I'm sure. But it's it's just one of those movies that's kind of hard to pin down. And I I have always felt like it never got the attention it deserved. Yeah, because I think, you know, we we actually talked about this on our airplane episode, the movie that they based airplane on airplane is like a shot for shot recreation of it. They just made funny. Right. And I feel like when they attack this, they just brought in all the things that they had been making fun of their entire life because they started off, you know, with this kind of sketch group that was making these really funny videos like the you know, so they they really, I think, go deep here. But for whatever reason, and I'm going to say that one of the biggest reasons why this movie doesn't hit is because it comes out the same weekend as Ghostbusters. And I think well, no, wait, did it come out this I think I thought there was some story where they pushed the release. Oh, and maybe like it was it was scheduled to come out the same weekend as Gremlins and Ghostbusters and they they then pushed the release, which which pissed off a lot of exhibitors. But and maybe that's why it kind of it missed its marketing window or something. And maybe that's part of what I guess I'm sort of speculating here. Here's what I will tell you. The the week that it come. Oh, yeah. OK, so you are right. The week that it comes out is June 22, 1984. At that point, Ghostbusters has been number one for 17 days. Grimlins has been out there for 17 days. Indiana Jones in the Temple of Doom, Rhinestone, the Karate Kid, Star Trek 3, The Search for Spock and then Top Secret. So it opened against Rhinestone and the Karate Kid. And also in the Top 15 is Police Academy and Romancing the Stone as far as comedy. So the the multiplex is packed with classics. And yeah, it's kind of crazy that Rhinestone with Dolly Parton and Sylvester Stallone opens above it. Right, which is but this is also Val Kilmer wasn't a big star at all in this moment, like he was I don't even know what he'd done prior to this. But he was pretty much an unknown, right? They kind of found somebody, you know, that could do it all. He was a very trained actor. And I think they were going on that same path that they went on for Airplane, which is like, let's just cast people who look straight. Omar Sharif is the biggest person in this movie, which again, which again, I don't think that's going to be bringing people out in 1984. I don't know if like, you know, Omar Sharif is is going to is going to get those box office dollars. I do also want to talk about the poster. It's pretty terrible. It is a yellow poster with a cow in work boots. Right. They put a lot behind this cow and work boots. And it just says top secret on it. There's not even a picture of Val Kilmer, not that that would have made a difference. And it just says from the makers of the original airplane, I will tell you that there is nothing funny about this poster or I catching. And the title, it's unclear. Like it's just sort of what does that mean? And then the cow is sort of like it's just one part of the movie and it doesn't really sell the the Hume like what the movie is about or even the tone of the movie. You're right, I hadn't thought about that. But a lot of the the graphic art for the movie was just a little off. They really didn't serve the movie very well. They bet everything on a cow wearing boots would be the thing that would bring people to the theater because it really was like a yellow poster with cow wearing boots, a top secret stamped on it. I think there might have been a mini Val Kilmer on it. But I do think like from a directing point of view, this is a movie that is beautifully shot and they do some sequences here that are so much more interesting and visual than they did in airplane and I and even make a gun. I don't think they agree. And the scale of the jokes, like the commitment to the production design and the prop building and all the things that that went into some of these physical gags are so intense and elaborate and they're just like three second visual gags. Like, for example, when they're pulling out of the train station, there's like three distinct visual jokes when they're pulling out of the train station in the first act of the movie where first the train platform, you know, you're looking through it through the train car out the window and the train platform, of course, sort of disappears as they drive away. But then you realize that what the set you're on is stationary and the train platform is the thing rolling away. Exactly. And then cut to a wide shot and you see it on a flatbed rolling away. Then there's a guy suddenly there. The train is now moving and you're seeing outside the trees sort of whooshing by. But all of a sudden, one tree is keeping up with the train for no reason. This is the most insane joke. Why? Who thought of this and why and how and and they built clearly they built some complex long dolly track to put a tree on and then chase the train set. And then a guy is running after the tree and he jumps on and holds on to it like he's going for like he's a commuter. Yes, he's trying to catch the tree. And and that is and it's just these little jokes. They don't really comment on them. They're always happening. It could be as small as when they're making a plan. They do this like very simple. We're going to put an X in the dirt to kind of show you what our positioning might be. And then it just keeps on building that not only are they putting an X in the dirt, but they have built a full on life-size replica model of the places they're breaking into. So wonderful. Then you're like, oh, that's funny. And that gets funnier because the model is more intense. And then a like a motorized train goes around it. Yeah, like it's it and they just keep on moving the joke density here. Right. And the high. I mean, what you're speaking to is the is the the the joke math. Right. Yes. The heightening of the jokes just keeps going and going and going. But like to your earlier point about the scale of the jokes, just from a physical production standpoint, so many giant practical executions of these jokes are happening. For example, the you know, they have that there's a they there's this giant electromagnet. Right. And the and they turn it on and it it it attracts a submarine that bursts through the wall. And this is a very realistic looking. I was watching that and I'm figuring how did they do this? How did they do this? And because it is practical, it comes through the wall. Yeah, giant. And then someone comes out of it also raising their hand because the guards have found out that they were doing something wrong in the prison cell. It really is like a precision. And a lot of the the way that this crew directs is it plays in one shot. So it right. It's not very cuddly. And there are just little jokes. I was watching with my kids last night. And there's a moment where there's, you know, this dramatic scene where Val Kilmer is talking to his love interest in the film and they're at a pizza place in Germany and behind them, the kids are trying to get like slices of pizza off. But the pizza cheese is gotten too long stringy. And everyone in the restaurant is like trapped in this stringy cheese. And and then we cut away from it and then it's gone. And and I think I was watching it going. I think that their true secret here was never winking at it, never. I mean, that most they look to the camera at one point when they say it's almost like we're in a bad movie and they stare at the camera. But, you know, Val Kilmer is playing it really straight. Val Kilmer is doing. He's amazing. He's amazing. Amazing. And by the way, his Elvis dancing in the in the that that big restaurant scene in the beginning is his well, actually the numerous musical numbers. Yes, Elvis dancing is spot on. Well, it like apparently that's what won him the role. So they were looking for actors. And again, their school of thought is they want to go the Leslie Nielsen route. This idea of someone who can just deliver it straight. They can't find anyone. I also think the success of airplane, people probably coming in trying to be a little bit funnier, not actually understanding what they wanted. And they can't find them. And they hear about this play called Slab Boys and Slab Boys was an off Broadway play with Kevin Bacon, Sean Penn and Val Kilmer. Man, I would kill to see that. Right. And they're in. In what 1983, 2003. Exactly. And they're like, let's bring that guy in and they bring him in for an audition. And he reads it as if he's auditioning for, you know, an Elvis movie and then breaks into this Elvis Turn Me Loose song. Right. And they're like, wait, hold on, you can sing and dance to. We got our guy. And that was it. Like he, you know, he came to this as if he was embodying Elvis and part of it caused a lot of friction between, you know, the creators and him because he, you know, he didn't want to do the gags always because he was like, oh, it's undercutting my Elvis. And they're like, no, no, no, no, you have to play it straight. We have to do the gags. I think that that tension though creates a great performance because yes, he treats that character with gravitas. Yes. I mean, he's a Juilliard trained, right? So he is like, you know, and and there's just something about it, you know. And and even in his biography, I'm not your or I'm your Huckleberry. He's like, I don't really know what that movie was about. Like he's still not quite sure. Yeah, but he just committed. There are a lot of there are a lot of aspects to that movie where you're kind of like these you're just looking at these great actors. And there's so many character actors in the movie that are they give phenomenal straight performances in the service of just absurd silliness. And you're like, these people just really trusted this these directors. They really put them in the director's hands because the things they're saying and doing are so ridiculous and insane. But the the and the direction that they got, presumably, was to do everything with all of that gravitas and seriousness and the World War Two kind of intensity of a World War Two movie. And it's just all the sillier for it. And I think what's really interesting is to your point, they don't stay anywhere too long, right? Like you said, they are parodying like the Elvis movies, the Beach movies, prison movies and you know, they and they even do the blue lagoon. Lagoon. Yeah. And that was to me, I was like, oh, wow, the movie kind of just breaks off at any given point. Yeah. You know, it has that Kentucky Fried movie sensibility where they're just cutting from genre to genre to genre. But it does hold together as a movie. Well, you're you're so right. It's like Kentucky Fried movie with a plot sort of overlaid on top of it. One right. And it's like but enough that you can follow it and you care about it because they are they are essentially creating enough thread that you can follow. And the love story at the center is nice. I like it. Through them, by the way, that really fantastic. Yeah. Gut Guttridge. What's your name? Lucy Gut. Lucy Gutridge. Really great. But yeah, you look at this list and it's it is a lot of European actors. This movie was shot in Sheperton Studios, you know, in London. And I think they just got great, great actors. Yeah, for sure. And it's I I really like how you you brought up that cheese, that pizza cheese joke earlier because that that speaks to and and this it's it's kind of fitting into this Kentucky Fried movie comparison too, because this this movie, even though it has a coherent plot and if you watch the movie paying attention to the plot, it's actually very coherent. Yes. And there's a and there's because there's so many lines that you miss because you're watching the physical gags. But the lines are actually supporting a straight plot. But it's almost as if they they just had so many silly ideas for scenes and just created this pastiche and glued it together. Right. Well, I guess like when you're no rules, when you're looking at these movies that they're parroting. And again, they're Elvis movies are not finely scripted affairs. Neither are beach party movies, right? Even like the low tier World War Two movies. So it it's not hard to put like a script that's up to the the status of the others. Right. Yes. There are some great ones in there. But this it is it's easy because there's so many of these being made. I think what I really love is the way that this movie opens. You have this great scene with Omar Sharif, finding this hulky man on a train and you think, oh, this man is going to get killed by like a passing bridge, but he's so big that the bridge actually breaks. You know, all right, great. We have that. But then when they when they cut into Skeet surfing, which is this Beach Boys number that Valcom is not even in. That is to me, this movie lives in my brain so much that like that is one of the funniest openings in a music video parody that I've ever seen that that really. It we're there for four or five minutes and it doesn't really have to do that much with anything else, like because it's like everything is about people having guns. You see the top three songs on the chart are all songs about Skeet by Nick River. You're Skeet and Heart with with Lucinda Williams or something or Tammy Wynette, a duet with Tammy Wynette and he's posing on the cover of like Rolling Stone with like a shotgun and it's such a fun way. And again, we don't introduce him in that scene. I was kind of shocked at that when we were watching it. He's like, oh, they just shot this independently of Val Kilmer. Like and yet it's the whole movie is about him. And we really kind of first meet him in that train sequence. And and let's also not forget that that we're, you know, as 10, eleven, twelve year old boys at that time, we are the target audience. And there's a lot of bikinis in that first five minutes. I mean, again, that's yeah, it's just like the way 80s movies drew in like young boys. I mean, I think I thought the most sexual shot I've ever seen. Well, this movie does and I want to talk about this. It does have a lot of horniness in it. But that opening scene where like a woman in a bikini is sunbathing and she gets up and you realize that her breasts have been indented into the sand. Yeah, I was like, oh my god, I've never seen it. And and that's the thing about it. The movie has this kind of body sense of humor. And to a point where I wanted to watch it with my kids, but I'm like, oh, there's certain things I can't watch like the ballet scene where they're doing it. This, you know, beautiful like Swan Lake and all the male you know, dancers have erections and the woman is like kind of dancing on their erections on top of their erections. Yeah, using them as like foot as like pedestals to dance on top of. And then it's like there's this great middle storyline of this guy. You can't get his wife to orgasm and he's gotten this like insane like vibrator. And as a kid, I remember watching that and not really understanding what it was. But I knew it was something I didn't quite understand. You knew it was Todry. Yes. And then and it's revealed later that he's just impaled himself on his own vibrator. Yeah. It's like, you know, it took us hours to get the smile off of his face. But yeah, I was I was really interested in how like, like dirty, like or horny, horny is a better term because horny. Like it's not like dirty where there is there's no nudity, but it just feels like a young boy and it does feel like it it it captures that sensibility. Like it's more like kids poking each other and saying boobs. Then it is then, you know, which I guess is a tremendous amount of restraint too. Because I guess at that point they could have done whatever they wanted. And they definitely did in Kentucky Fried movie. But but yeah, I was I was surprised at that. And and and in watching it just being like, oh, I have to be careful to show all of this to my kids because it's just like, you know, when she goes down when when the love interest when she goes down on the guy from the blue lagoon with a measuring tape to measure his penis, like that's another just a side joke that's just going on in the background. A lot of dialogue is happening. And my kid of my son walked in on that moment. He's like, what was she measuring? I'm like, all muscles, all these muscles just getting all the muscles. Yeah. Ready to launch your business. Get started with the commerce platform made for entrepreneurs. Shopify is specially designed to help you start, run and grow your business with easy customizable themes that let you build your brand. Marketing tools that get your products out there. Integrated shipping solutions that actually save you time from startups to scale ups online in person and on the go. Shopify is made for entrepreneurs like you. Sign up for your one dollar a month trial at Shopify.com. Set up. The war is over and both sides lost. Kingdoms were reduced to cinders and armies scattered like bones in the dust. Now the survivors claw to what's left of a broken world. Praying the darkness chooses someone else tonight. But in the shadow dark, the darkness always wins. This is old school adventuring at its most cruel. Your torch ticks down in real time. And when that flame dies, something else rises to finish the job. This is a brutal rules light nightmare with a story that emerges organically based on the decisions that the characters make. This is what it felt like to play RPGs in the 80s. And man, it is so good to be back. Join the Glass Cannon podcast as we plunge into the shadow dark every Thursday night at 8 p.m. Eastern on YouTube.com slash the Glass Cannon with the podcast version dropping the next day. See what everybody's talking about and join us in the dark. But I got a chance to interviews as and play this movie at the San Francisco Sketch Fest. Really? And we did it at like the Castro Theater, beautiful theater, you know, it was completely sold out. And they had never really experienced the film in that way where it was just nonstop laughter. And it was really with a big live audience, a big live audience that love the movie. They think that they had seen it a handful of times, but it was. And I think it does feel to them a rejection of what they were trying to do. Because this was a this was a bigger swing. It's like, well, we'll make our own thing. And then they go and make make a gun, which is incredibly funny. But make a gun like to your point is very much straight down the line. We're doing cops. Right. And I wish if this got received better, we could have probably gotten a much bigger world where they are continually spoofing so many things. Right. But yet I think they kind of started to stick in their own lane after this. Like it it's a bummer because they were right. But they, you know, they they were wrong, too. Or they felt wrong. Yeah. Yeah. Just I I. The narrative I like is that it wasn't marketed properly. It wasn't released properly. It was up against too many too many blockbusters. And and it just didn't get the exposure it deserved. And if it had and this, of course, this is the story. This is the counterfactual that I that I like to tell myself that if it had, it would have absolutely crushed. And and yes, I agree with you. Maybe it would have opened the door for a lot more of this kind of exploration from them and a lot more because there's a there's a there's a silliness. I mean, there's a of course, all their movies are silly, but there's a there's a kind of like chaoticness to this to this movie in particular, because it's so unpredictable. You just don't know where they're going to go next. And there's so many tiny like the joke density is absolutely mind blowing. I noticed a joke recently that I'd never seen before, which is in the very beginning of the movie, a messenger comes into the German generals and he's he he hands a message. To a general and and but before he does so, he takes his helmet off and sort of puts it under his arm officially. And it takes a second to realize it, but his chin strap is still on his head. So he's taken his helmet off, but he still has a chin strap on. And this is fully background. This character has no lines or anything, but it's just such a wonderful example of of all the ways that they were just like really attacking every frame with discipline. How do we how can we insert another joke into this? And again, like I said, there's sort of this chaotic unpredictability to that that's so fun. And I think it keeps you on the edge of your seat as a comedy fan. You're just like, what's next? What's next? What's it going to be? And I don't think that that really came back in moviemaking until I mean, I think, you know, there was another sort of wave with the scary movies. Right. And they started to they started to become multiple. I think the first one was a pretty dedicated scary screen. Like a pretty screen parody. And then the subsequent ones became like lots and lots of movies. Or maybe I'm wrong about that. Well, no, I always felt like the scary movie because they were, I think, Zucker was a consultant on that or part of that. You know, definitely had much more of a plot. And I think it's the reason why you love Regina Hall and Anna Ferris, because they actually were characters. And then you had these other movies that started to be like not another teen movie or these movies that were just a set up of everything, but it just felt like nothing. Right. And, you know, the one that I always think of that I feel like is so influenced by like the Zazz sensibility is like, I'm going to get you, Sucka, like the Keenan Ivory Wayne's movie, like, you know, because they're like parroting so much black exploitation and it was so just rich and dense with jokes. And I love that these guys come from the point of view of jokes. And we talked about, you know, Mel Brooks here on the show a bunch of times, you know, how do you make a movie like this? And I think you have to create a movie like this in a writer's room, because it is not just about telling a story. It is about one upping each other and adding. And you feel like that. That's what you feel like when you're saying like this battle of jokes. And what they did was, you know, the studio obviously wants them to make airplane to and they go, well, we don't want to make airplane to because we just did that like you and I appreciate them understanding that you couldn't make a parody of a parody. So they want to move away from it. The studio does make airplane to they're not involved with it. Sure. But what they start with is they said a document of 500 jokes that they didn't have room for an airplane. And that was the basis for Top Secret. It was like, how do we get these 500 jokes into a movie? And I love that that's, you know, oftentimes the starting point is, oh, here's the idea, but it's like, here are the jokes. How do we build? Love that. You know, so that's how they wrote this. And, you know, and that to me is really interesting because they really, I think to your point, wanted to show everybody not only can we do jokes, but we can do different types of jokes. And we should talk about the underwater fight scene because the underwater fight scene is conceptually hilarious, is a bar fight underwater. And so now when you're watching it, you're like, oh, this is wild. There's a full bar underwater. But then you're watching it from a technical point of view and you're like, how did they do this? Yeah. Because it is it is a full fist fight. And we have, you know, everybody, people are acting in it, but it is all underwater. And it is technically, I think one of the most impressive sequences I've ever seen in any comedy in the sense that it's it's our actors. It's not stuntmen doing a very hard thing. Yeah. You know, yeah, it's it's worth pointing out. They're deep underwater. Like you can't see the surface of the water over their heads. No, right? Like they're they're on the I don't know. They're all being fed with oxygen or what? But but I read somewhere that that whole sequence was done in basically like three to four second increments. But but that also that that scene is an incredible example of the joke heightening math that I was talking about before where that it starts with with Val Kilmer and the other actor whose name I don't know. The the attractive British guy. Yeah. Yeah. They're fighting on a truck and it's a conventional fight scene. The truck goes over a bridge and they fly off the truck into a river. Now, OK, so then you start to see them punch each other underwater. Funny, that's funny. Like the fight is continuing underwater. And then they just gradually start to introduce additional elements. Like, right? That's when you start to see like suddenly there's a stool, I think, is the first prop that appears. And he just grabs a stool and breaks it over the other guys. Right. And and you're like, OK, that's funny. There was a stool underwater that they just and then they widen out and they reveal. Oh, now there's a bar. It's a saloon. It's a traditional Western saloon. And and it just keeps going. And then they reveal there's actually a table with a bunch of guys playing poker sitting in this underwater and they run for cover because and and and then my favorite joke that is at the very end after the fight has gone off the rails and a gun has been fired, a chandelier falls from the ceiling and we don't see the ceiling, right? So it's like it's just another joke just coming in from the top. And it's so impressive. Val Kimber became a certified scuba diver after that. And they were running out of air because they were actually laughing underwater. Like they were. Oh, my God. It is. And it's it. It's also shot in a way that an old school bar fight would be. It's very big swings. Right. And, you know, in heightened kind of characters, like when the bartender pops up and breaks the bottle over the guy's head, it's like it is they nail it so perfectly and they don't have to do that. They could have just gone into a bar and done that. But I think to me, they are trying to also play with the audience's expectations. Like they're they are heightening everything, but also taking you in all these different directions that one other scene that I think people talk about in this film is the backwards scene. The book, the Swedish bookstore. Yes. So you said this perfectly a minute ago. Like these are jokes that they're they're kind of they're amazing because they're not necessarily funny. They're just they're so conceptual and they're so creative. And the execution is so committed that I think as an as a comedy fan watching this, you're just like you're not even necessarily laughing at it as much as you're just in awe of it. And and and yes, the that the underwater bar fight and then the Swedish bookstore scene, which do you want to explain? Yeah, I mean how it works. Yeah. Well, so they at one point, they say that we have to go to this bookstore to get a little clue and they go inside and everything is in this like garbled. Well, actually play this clip. I'll play a clip here. And like, you know, and everything is in this kind of garbled language. And as you're watching it, you know, there's presumably speaking Swedish and then and all their movements are just kind of awkward and strange looking. And there's a few other physical jokes in there, like the magnifying glass and the giant eye. Like, right, we're but you and the books are. Yeah, the book is flying off the show at one point like he catches a book and he throws it back up on the shelf and it fits perfectly on the top shelf. And as you're watching it the first time, I'm like, wait, what what's going on? Because it does appear to be normal. Right. And what you realize is they shot this entire scene, you know, backwards, you know, so they and so they're and they reverse the playing of it. So it plays and again, playing out in like one shot so it feels very fluid. Yeah, it's good. Cutty. Oh, for hell, yeah. Non-lawful. What's your thought? Non-lawful. What's that? Oh, it's here. It's me. I'm not sure. I don't know. I don't know. And you're like, this is a bizarre again, a bizarre choice that they are they're trying to top themselves and what they're doing. There's no reason to do that besides like we can. And this is such a funny way to do something. Anytime there's any exposition in this movie, they trump themselves in such major, major ways. I think this is exactly what I'm talking about where and I think it's really what makes them transcendent comedy writers and directors. This is not an idea that is inherently funny. Right. Right. And yet it fits so well. It's just it's an idea that you see in the movie and you're like, that's so cool. That's so insane that they did that. And it's it's almost like the the audacity of the production of it is what's funny. Well, is the thing that you're so excited by as a fan. And I think that that's what helps this movie on a rewatch, right? Because you're looking for these things. It makes me never get old. And and I think that that's a lesson that probably so many people could learn when you're making a big comedy like this. It's like you have to just pack it with so much that it makes it worth revisiting. And also like you're in on the joke now because the first time you watch it through, it does work. You know, you get like you said, the the magnifying glass, like he has a magnifying glass up to his eye, takes it down and his eye is actually distorted like that without the magnifying glass. And it's like, oh, you're getting those simple jokes. But I think when you get to go back and think about it, especially at a time where, you know, people would go back and watch a movie twice or three times, you know, you couldn't just rewind it. You're at the theater. You know, we got to watch that scene again. How was that done? People weren't going online and figuring this stuff out. So I think it's it also becomes a fun thing to bring your friends to or show to other people. I think that that's and you're right. It's not funny, but it is hilarious. It's like the songs aren't funny, but they are like, you know, the way that the girls are reacting to him doing his Elvis song, the Elvis song is really well done. It's, you know, it's tootie fruity and and it's just people losing their minds, you know, or shake their rug or shake the rug or the song there. It's a it's actually a well executed song. It's not full of jokes. Yes, but then totally behind him, like people are just swinging bodies. Like you have this like classic swing dancing and then you start to realize it becomes so violent and insane. And I'm going to I'm going to say something very controversial, sure, which is that I I love Mel Brooks. I worship at the altar of Mel Brooks and I love, you know, Christopher Guest and all of those kinds of comp, those kinds of movies. And I love Eddie Murphy and I love Mike Meyers and the Austin Powers movies. I'm going to say that this kind of movie is the hardest to do well of all of those kinds of comedy, because even when Mel Brooks is at his best, you still can feel Mel Brooks kind of like elbowing you in the ribs. Right. He's like kind of telling you this is funny and this is where to laugh. And it's it's a really fun ride and it's amazing. But what's incredible, what's just that just one notch next level about this kind of comedy is that they're never elbowing you. Right. They're they're always everyone. Like you're just saying like it's all so straight. And and no one is thirsty, thirsty. Right. No, there's no sort of like like no one's overacting or trying to like make you giggle by the just craziness of their character. If you get it, you get it. Right. And I think that that's part of the fun of it. Right. Is that you have to like it's like a cool kid thing. Like if you're you're on our side, you're on our side. If you miss it entirely, that's on you. Right. And it's yeah. And I think that that that's an energy that is so pervasive. But I also think to your point, you can get away with. And again, we are both very big comedy fans. We have done comedy, but the we do comedy. But the this is about a level of perfection. And I put this closer to and I don't this is going to be lofty to say. But like the precision that you would put into like a movie like Project Hail Mary. But on jokes, right? You're just saying like because it's no scene is done until there are like five or six jokes in the frame and those jokes can't take away from the plot. And you have to it it is so hard to accomplish that. And most movies, it's like, here's two people, they're being really funny. I could, you know, moments in Step Brothers. I'm like, this is the hardest I've ever laughed. They're doing that. And they're doing five other jokes in the same shot. And I think that there's a thing. I don't know how you feel about this, but, you know, comedy sometimes when you play it out in a one or you can see so much more stuff. It actually, I think allows the audience to get on board because you're it actually gets a pace that you can't necessarily get cuts. Sometimes will help punch a joke. Yes. But when you actually see something playing out, it's so it's almost like a bigger magic trick. It's like a one or in an action movie. For sure. And I mean, most of multi Python movies that Terry Gilliam directed. Yeah, the great comedy sequences are one shot. It's like a locked off camera, you know, it'll just be like a long bit of dialogue and performance and you're right. Those are it's it's it's a kind of discipline and it and it really is it respects the material because it's like we don't need we don't need any cinematic tricks to make this funny. It's just good. It's just gold. And, you know, it's interesting because I think that what you are also hoping for. And I think the hardest thing when you're making a comedy is, you know, not everybody's sense of humor is the same. But I would argue that Mel Brooks and Zazz have the track record of being able to bridge the gap more than anyone else. Right. Like that thing where, oh, the parents are loving it, the kids are loving it. And that's why I watch this movie so much when I was a kid. My dad loved this movie. Yeah, I love this movie. I was watching it last night with my kid. He's laughing hysterically, you know, meeting the French resistance and everyone is like, his name is deja vu today. I already meet you. This is weird or chocolate mousse. And, you know, it's not enough. Like, yeah, there are these like jokes in it where it's like, oh, chocolate mousse. And, you know, it's this bigger black man. But then when you cut him, he eats his own cigar. Right. So it's like everything is this like, OK, we're not we're not just even allowing ourselves to be in this one level. We're going here, here, here. And there's something really amazing about that. Because I can watch something like Nathan for you with, you know, my parents. And they're not going to get it necessarily as much as anything else. My parents didn't get the office. Really? Oh, my gosh. I mean, this part is kind of a cultural thing. Like, yeah, as as old Southerners, they're like, this is an uncomfortable show. But I think to that kind of acting style, everyone in the office is just playing it real. It's not it's not chewing you with laughs. It's just like, oh, this is observed behavior. And I get the why the laugh track was important. It's like that that's a joke. Yeah, that's a joke. Yeah, that's a joke. And when you take it away and shows like arrested development, I mean, I remember talking to people and they were angry at arrested development. Well, what is what? What am I watching? Like, oh, no, it's hilarious. There's so many things happening here, but it's not ever calling out. Actually, in a weird way, I think arrested development probably also owes a little bit of like, you know, like a little bit to these guys because that's a show where a million things are happening in background shots and things like that. And it's so fine tuned and everyone is playing it incredibly straight. Yeah. But yeah, I like that. And I just I'm always amazed at what comedies can get everybody on the same page because it seems like it's getting harder and harder to find something that can bridge the gap and be genuinely funny or allow it to be funny. I know that I'm sure you've gotten this too. You get notes on comedy and it's the trickiest thing because you're getting notes from people and depending on where you, you know, where they are, they may not always get the joke and then they give you a note about the joke. I remember we did a sketch on Human Giant, told the story a million times, but it's kind of the perfect encapsulation of it. We were hot air balloon cops and we did police chases and hot air balloons and and obviously we'd always lose. We always lose the person because we're not fast enough. And one of our executives at MTV is like, yeah, but it doesn't make any sense. You would never be able to catch them. Why would you use a hot air balloon? Oh, my God. But that's so funny. Oh, Conan has an amazing story about this. How I think he was rehearsing his opening number for the Emmys. Right. And the whole bit was that it was like a wind up to this giant Busby Berkeley, you know, huge production with like a big set comes out and Conan's in a white tuxedo with white tap shoes and a top hat and everything. And it's like the dancers are all taking their places and all this stuff. And the music is swelling. And then some for some reason it like the there's some technical glitch. Right. And they can't. And the joke is that they can't actually do the number. And so now Conan and and they're sort of like it's dead quiet. And Conan's like footsteps in the tap shoes is sort of this really funny, echoey thing. And they're so they're rehearsing this. And somebody somebody either like a producer or something. Like, you know, we went to all this trouble to get all these this production here. There's like a, you know, there's a there's a tiger. There's all these things. And what can we just do some kind of musical number or something? It's like you're saying and I'm butchering that story. Obviously, it's Conan's story. But yeah, but it's that same thing where where it's the it's not the premise is not understood. Right. And I feel like I don't know if you've ever been in a situation where, you know, I think a lot of the times you are on certain shows, maybe a director will come in or there'll be something and there'll be another voice in there and they'll push you to make to push the joke harder. Oh, for sure. Yeah. And it's like and it's a very delicate bounce because of what I found is, you know, someone says, oh, we want to seem to feel more dramatic or we want you to feel, you know, it's that's an easier note to deal with then. Like, no, no, I'm actually making a choice by not pushing. And it's and it's and it's and when you the minute you tell somebody that you're not going to do it, there, I find people are very upset because you're saying, oh, I'm not funny and everyone thinks that they're funny. And it's it's a different vibe. And it's it's hard to walk that line because you don't want to give. You don't want to give anyone access or a P. The option to use something, you know, like, it's that's such a funny predicament that I think comedians in particular struggle with. But all actors are confronted with that. Sometimes it's like, you know, cry harder or push this hard or whatever, even in dramatic scenes. I am now at the point where I will generally give like if if a director or a producer is like really asking for something and I can tell like they think it's a brilliant request, right? I'll generally do it. And my because I've I just trust that in the edit, the cream will rise to the top like that the best version that or that they'll see that that was actually a bad note and that the previous take the previous take was better or whatever. I know. And it's but it's a gamble. No, it is. You're right. Because I and by the way, James Spader on the office, he would never, you know, it was very, very common on the office to be like, OK, let's get on its feet. Is it can we just shoot the rehearsal? Everyone's like, yeah, sure, let's shoot the rehearsal just in case we get something great. And James, when he joined the cast, he would always say, no, can't don't shoot the rehearsal. Oh, and everyone was and I remember everyone was kind of like, that's weird. And I eventually just pulled him aside and was like, hey, so what's up with that? You don't let us you don't let us shoot the rehearsals. I'm just curious like what why that is. And he goes because they'll use it. And it's that exact. Right. It's this exact point, which is that he's like, I'm not ready. When I'm ready, I will give you I will I will give you the performance that I want to give you. And that's what you can have in your cameras before that. I don't want you shooting on anything. I it's so it's really I mean, as somebody who's been in it edit and I know you've been in there too, like you start to sneak around and look for stuff. Oh, I got like I've used moments where I've cut to a reaction shot of somebody listening to, you know, something where the cameras are still rolling after a ticket ended or go, great, we got that shot. We have that listening. Right. So it becomes those little moments. Yeah. Yeah. But it's hard. And I think that that's why you want to always work with people that you trust. And it's and for the most part, you get it. We have I I've dealt with that mostly on shows where a new director has come in. But luckily in television, you have the backstop of the creators that are like, well, we are keeping the tone and you can kind of write it in. I will say that there was one person who told Val Kilmer throughout the entire movie that he was playing it wrong and it wasn't good. And that person was Cher, who Val Kilmer was dating at the time. No way. She kept on visiting set and being like, this is terrible. That you you are in an awful movie. This is not working. You know, this is going to wreck your career. So Cher was in his ear the entire time. Not getting heartbreaking. Getting the jokes. I love Val Kilmer and I love Cher and I love that they dated. And I also love here's this is a crazy little Easter egg in the movie is that in the when you first go to the prison cell that that where Val Kilmer is being kept, there is a headshot on the wall. And it's you can't really see it. Right. You can see that it's a that it's a woman with black hair, but you can't really tell. But it is Cher. It's Cher's headshot. Cher's headshot is on the wall in the prison cell. And I love that little detail. But oh, I didn't know that I didn't know that she was against the movie. She's against the movie. Oh, man. Welcome to the realms of peril and glory. Explore the mechanically magical vistas of Vale. 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I also talking about like another beautiful like physical bit is that jail cell where he's trying to get out and he's trying to open up different like little vents and stuff and he keeps on kind of flying out and watching that I was watching it last night and going, how did they do this? They elevate that stage and just because his head pops up out of the toilet. You know, there's no CGI here. They're doing all this stuff practically, even the underwater sequence. Like everything is done in camera for the most part. You know, I mean, like we talked about the giant submarine. Well, this is what I'm talking about. They built so much these sets and it was not a big budget movie. It was like what eight million? Yeah, so like airplane was like three or four. Yeah. But they're building these incredible sets. I mean, the production the production designers got the joke, which I love the production designers and the prop builders and the construction workers. Like they all got the joke in such a great way and and committed to the reality of these things and that set is phenomenal. Obviously, they're cutting between, you know, where his head's popping in and out. But it is a locked off camera on a set where he's able to make those crazy entrances and the other the other example of of just an absurd amount of work going into the most ridiculous, tiny background joke. And this is one of my favorite jokes in the history of cinema. Oh, I love this is they're sitting on the park bench having a intense conversation. And in the background is a statue in the deep background. Yeah, very large statue of a pigeon. OK. It's kind of random, kind of a random like OK. But then all of a sudden human beings start to fly down and land on the pigeon and urinate on the statue. Right. Because why? I don't know why just because they're inverting the idea that pigeons poop on people's statues, like which is so random. And they built this huge statue and they put people in harnesses and lowered them down and these are the things that you can't get anymore. Like no one would build that just for again, for a background joke. Right. And and also like if you try to do that joke now, your producers would be like, yeah, we'll just see G the pigeon. Yeah. And we'll see G the people coming down and pooping. And it's like that won't look funny. Like what looks funny is how awkwardly these people are dangling from harnesses. Yeah. And trying to pretend like they're peeing on a statue. And then. Like apropos of nothing and almost undermining the joke in a weird way. The people fly away and keep in mind this is all in the background of a scene. The people fly away and then. The pigeon statue poops. Like why that right? What? Well, it's a huge. It's like a 20 foot tall pigeon and it has a huge, like garbage bag sized poop come out of it. And it's just priceless. I think the thing that I always get offended by is when people say stuff like, oh, what were you smoking when you did that one? Right. Like I know Bob and David have talked about this a lot. And that that joke right there is a perfect example of they weren't coming up with that on the day, right? So they're writing that scene and they're going, OK, we need a giant pigeon. Then we need to have people fly in on that pigeon. Then we're going to have like there's so much production in this movie. Like you can say like, oh, maybe on a Judd movie or, you know, on an Adam McKay movie, like, oh, they're improvising. And, and, you know, Christopher Guest and they found this great little improv and that becomes something. But these are not improvised moments. Nothing in here is like. But, you know, by chance and that, I think, also to your point, makes it way more interesting, right? Because it is it's so it is is choreographed comedy in every single way. And so many departments have to be working simultaneously to execute that. And I think that that's why they've gotten this reputation, you know, where they're constantly just lecturing like we got to do it like this because people are going to lean into the funny and do different things. Right. And the crew, all the production crew, however, however they got there, they all got the joke. Like you can tell in the execution of of these props and of these sets and of the way the ways that the props operate and and the sets kind of move and do what they need to do. Like you can tell everyone got the joke. And I think that's a that's a testament to the direction of the movie also, which is to say like the director's job to communicate what's needed in a way that that crew that department heads can understand and can capture. And then you have also just it's one thing to write these jokes. It's another thing to direct them in a way that that the timing and the visual, the camera movements and the visuals pay off. Like you were talking about that wonderful joke that starts off as sort of a crude diagram in the dirt. And then as as they widen out, you start to see, oh, oh, this is actually an elaborate diorama. Oh, this is extremely elaborate diorama. And it's and and they're just sort of it's but they're in the middle of the woods. Like how did this come out of nowhere? And then all of a sudden there's an electric train going through. Like that's incredible joke, joke heightening, but it's also execution at such a precise level and the reveal, the camera movements that the director photographer in that moment was like getting the joke, like getting. Yes, how this needs to be told and how what's when the laugh is going to come in the visual movement of this. And that's incredible. Like truly is magic. I will just call it one of my other favorite jokes, which is where they go to the French Resistance and the door is open and that the top part of the door. It's a little like a peephole or like a face kind of pops out. And you know, he is like, what's the password? And they close it and when the door opens, you realize the man is very, very short. Yeah, like he like, but he's very, very tall. Like it's like even like like nothing was left for chance. And I think that that level of discovery is so interesting. I I'm excited that right now we're in a moment where we just had Naked Gun with Liam Neeson, who I think did a great job. And I thought that movie seemed to be reviewed, you know, reviewed well. And and people want to go see it. And Spaceballs 2 is coming out. And this new scary movie where Anna Ferris and Regina Hall are coming back. It's interesting that in this moment, this might be the type of comedy that brings us back to the theater because it is it's fun to watch this with each other. It's fun to see and even hear people go, oh, did you see that? You're almost whispering like pointing out stuff. It's like you're in this mode. It feels like I am a big believer and I know you are too. Like it's great to see comedy with people in a theater. It makes the entire experience that much better. But it feels like this might be the type of comedy that studios double down on for a little bit, which is so odd that now so many years later, we're going back to something that I think was never broken. We just got out of style or lazily done. Yeah, I think that that, you know, the not another team movies and no offense to those or or the multiple scary movies were all the creative people that were in the original ones were gone. Just kind of everything just kind of dropped out. And I feel like it I want to go back to really talented writer directors making this thing, it's it's it's exciting in a way. I I love everything you're saying. And I from from your lips to God's ears, I hope you're right. And and I applaud these movies and the the studios and entities behind them. And I hope that they crush and absolutely capture the audience again. And there's something else about these movies. When when a movie is when its entire reason for being is silliness, right? Just silliness. There is an unbridled joy to that that is completely. Nonpartisan. Yeah, well, yeah, it's like it has no connection to politics. I mean, you can you can make the a movie like this have political commentary, but like it it doesn't need it at its best. It is pure silliness and that is such a a universal. Gathering point, it's something we can all latch on to and gather around and we can all laugh at. And when we're laughing together, you know what? We're not fighting. Well, and I also think this people don't want to feel dumb. And I feel like a smart comedy makes people feel dumb sometimes because they didn't get it or they or and other people are getting it. And what's kind of great about this. And I think as we've been talking about this this entire time, what I've realized is every level of joke that you want, you'll get in here. You want a Pac-Man joke, you get in a pack. You want like a Tic Tac Toe joke happening during a shootout, you know, and then you're getting these let me so you can kind of walk away going like my 10 favorite jokes are these. You can walk away with 10 different favorite jokes because the movie isn't just 10 jokes, it's 500 jokes and you guess to pick your favorite ones. And I feel like that is important to like is in building a comedy. I think it's I'm always trying to like learn lessons from stuff like that. And I'm like, yeah, this is just it's hitting you on every level. So everyone's walking away with their their thing. Yeah. No one's no one's in creating these movies and creating these jokes. No one's trying to think like, how am I going to like get the upper hand on this group of people or this way of thinking? No one's no one's trying to like snark about an idea, you know, of a political disposition or or, you know, some it's it's just how do we do some how do we upend our experience of reality in the most silly way to. Get the deepest laughs. Well, now I want to ask you something just to take a brief detour for a second as we wrap it up here. I mentioned your podcast, Snaffoo. Now, we on this show talk about great movies. And I love the episode that you did recently. You had John Badham and Matthew Broderick on talking about like war games, right? Like this is like, oh, yeah, that's actually from season one of Snaffoo. That was a we replayed that recently. But yeah. So I remember I had found that and I was like, this is so interesting. I love I love the show and I got a chance to be on it. And I talk about that episode that I was on because I felt like I learned. I learned stuff about history. It was so fun to have you on and I got to have you back on, Paul. It was great. But I but if you're a fan of this show and you like this, I think you that's it's right if you go into I'm looking at right here. You go into Spotify. You can find it's not that far down. But the Matthew Broderick John Badham one is really fun because it does just talk about I think it's a nice crossover for both of our audiences in a good way. So definitely check that out. Anything that you can tease coming up about Snaffoo that we could you can tell us about we got the book out there as well, which I think is great. Yeah, thank you. So yeah, the Snaffoo podcast just for for people who are unfamiliar. It's it's essentially a history podcast, but I have fabulous guests on like Paul and and I basically walk them through an historical Snaffoo like some crazy incident, accident or mishap from history. What did we talk about in ours? We talked about this flood that happened. Oh, right. The Johnstown flood. Of course. Yeah, that was that was insane. And and yeah, that was it's so these are fascinating stories. And we bring some levity to the to it. And but with real hopefully some real scholarship mixed in there. So it's a it's a compelling narrative. You have great guests on the show. The handler was on. We did the Hindenburg disaster. You had a Boeing on there. Yang was just on. He was fantastic. We dig Rory Scoville. You know, yeah. Oh, and and again, a movie that we talked about on this show. We talked about E.T. because obviously E.T. is a classic. And you talk about one of my favorite things about the E.T. Atari video game that they buried in the desert, right? Because it was so bad, right? Like it was like the yeah, that. Yeah. Was it was that the safari game? The the cartridges? Yes, the cartridges. Yes. Yeah, it was like so. But it's really just I would say jump in with whoever you like from Adam Scott to Jake Johnson, so many great people on the show. And there's so many fun topics. I am I am such a fan. I think it's a great way to kind of learn. I'm a big fan of learning about history, too. I was going to say the only other show that I've ever been able to kind of bring people to that kind of unites the old and young has been drunk history because drunk history has that thing where it's like there's big comedy, but you're also learning. And I feel it's real. It's real. Real history. Yeah. And what I love about this is that you get to you get to go away and you know, you get to listen to the show and then you walk away and you have a little story you could tell people as you spend the weekend at dinner table conversation. But did you know about the Jonestown flood? Exactly. Yeah, you get you get some you get a highly entertaining podcast with with some vegetables. Right. Yeah. And you get to and you get to benefit from it in real life. It's a pleasure getting a chance to talk about Top Secret. I'm so glad that we got to talk about this on this episode because I do feel like we have covered Naked Gun. We have covered Airplane here. But Top Secret to me is I think the height of the Zazz powers. I think it's the best cast movie. And it's interesting because a lot of these people, you know, Peter Cushing and Val Kilmer obviously are legends, but it is a bunch of great character actors. No one's popping out of this. It's just I think it's cast the way that you probably would have cast a film in the 1950s or 60s just with a bunch of good faces. And yeah, I'm so happy. If you've not watched this film, definitely go check it out at Holmes. We will be listening to Sneff who will be following you on social media. And thank you so much. Thank you, Paul. This was an absolute delight. Well, it's still working on him. We've all break. They've tried everything. Do you want me to bring out the Leeroy Neiman paintings? No, we cannot risk violating the Geneva Convention. Thank you so much, Ed. And I hope you all enjoy his podcast, Sneff who I know I do. Now we have some very big unspooled news. That's right. We have brand new t-shirts and merch. It's been a long time coming. And guess what? The reason why it took so long is because I didn't want to just make an unspooled shirt. We wanted to make something that felt like it captured the show in a way that kind of embodied what we do, but not just be a quote from the show or an inside reference. And what we've come up with is the first of the new unspooled line. This one is just in the Brazil font and it spells out Terrigilho. I really like it. It looks great. And we also have another one that says my letterbox top five is better than yours. You could check those out by going to our store on tpublic.com slash unspooled. You can also go to our website to get a direct link right there. And speaking of getting extra unspooled stuff, are you subscribed to our YouTube channel? It's YouTube dot com at get unspooled. We are launching a brand new video series. It's not the podcast. It's something different and you should subscribe right now. It's free. It's easy. And jump on our sub stack. Our sub stack is for you. It's a longer conversations about all the movies that we love and it's completely free. Boy, we're doing a lot of fun stuff. And guess what? It's not stopping anytime soon because, yes, Amy is away. And next week, I continue to play with some of the best guests in the game. We are going to be talking to a fan of a little 1995 film called The Babysitter's Club. That's right. Rob Anderson is joining us next week. You know him as the New York Times bestselling author of Gates Science. And he's currently on his Are You Afraid of the 90s tour? He will be sitting down with me to dissect a movie that he feels is absolutely perfect. Now, make sure you watch Baby Sitter's Club, but if you feel like you don't want to, maybe our conversation might sway you. So anyway, next week, The Baby Sitter's Club with Rob Anderson. Unspooled is produced by Amy Nicholson, Paul Shear, Molly Reynolds and Harry Nelson. Sound engineered by Corey Barton, music by Devon Bryant. Episode art by Kim Troxall. Show art by Lee Jamison and social media production by Zoe Applebaum. This is a Rome production. See you next week. Bye for now. Explore the mechanically magical vistas of Vale. The paranormal mysteries of liminal London. And the cyberpunk chaos of cyborg. Fall in love with our core cast or be awed by our incredible guests from familiar shows like Ox Venture, Three Black Halflings and No Rolls Bard. Ignite your imagination and discover the realms of Feral and Glory today. Go to realmspod.com or search realms of Feral and Glory wherever you listen to podcasts. The world of Sonic the Hedgehog has been thrust into a not so dark, not so stormy, hardboiled detective story that probably nobody saw coming. Follow Sonic and the Intrepid Chaotix Detective Agency as they take on their biggest case yet this high flying action packed adventure will take them across the world fighting for every clue they can find. It's one heck of a tale, which is good because this story might be the only thing that can save their lives. Well, if that's all I can just dispose of you. Wait, what? All will be revealed in Sonic the Hedgehog presents the Chaotix case files. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts.