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Speaker 1: Pushkin. I'm looking out out my window. I'm looking at

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Speaker 1: the clouds, and I could tell you about the things

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Speaker 1: that I see, and you could tell me about the

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Speaker 1: things that you see I see.

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Speaker 2: Whispered to me.

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Speaker 3: She doesn't know where this is going. This is going?

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Speaker 4: Wait? What?

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Speaker 2: What?

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Speaker 5: No?

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Speaker 1: This is two friends sharing their you know, what they

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Speaker 1: see in the clouds. Nothing wrong with that. Why does

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Speaker 1: it have to go somewhere? Okay? Now what I see

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Speaker 1: is a wheelbarrow full of what looks like Teddy Bears.

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Speaker 1: What do you see?

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Speaker 4: Cloud?

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Speaker 1: Oh that's that's not good at all, very bad. Sign.

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Speaker 1: I come. I come from Lithuanian stock and we're cloud readers.

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Speaker 1: We see prophetic visions in the clouds. Did you know that?

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Speaker 1: That's why I wanted to trick you into looking at

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Speaker 1: the cloud so that I could tell you your future. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I should have seen that. Coming from Gimblet Media, I'm

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Speaker 1: Jonathan Goldstein and this is Heavyweight Today's episode. Bobby, right

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Speaker 1: after the break, I have it, Thanks Bobby. Bobby Lord

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Speaker 1: is my music composer and sound engineer. Each word I

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Speaker 1: lay down goes through Bobby's complex network of accelerometers and

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Speaker 1: acorn tubes.

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Speaker 4: Jovin.

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Speaker 1: I don't think a cord tubes have been use of.

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Speaker 4: Four War two?

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Speaker 1: Can I get a schmear of music here? Bob As

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Speaker 1: a sound engineer, Bobby normally has to keep his yap shut.

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Speaker 1: Should he feel compelled to sneeze or say, have a

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Speaker 1: heart attack, he cannot do so until the on air

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Speaker 1: light is safely extinguished. But today we turn the microphone

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Speaker 1: around and aim it back towards one two often shrouded

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Speaker 1: in darkness and obscurity, today we tell Bobby's story, the

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Speaker 1: story of the greatest public embarrassment of Bobby's entire musical career.

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Speaker 4: I think that's a little traumatic.

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Speaker 1: I would say not dramatic enough. Don't be stingy with

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Speaker 1: the music, Bob more acorns a little bit of trouble,

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Speaker 1: give me a full bank. Bobby joins me in the

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Speaker 1: studio and tells me how his love of music first

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Speaker 1: blossomed back in middle school, around the time he met

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Speaker 1: a boy named Jake.

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Speaker 2: He sat in the back of the bus where the

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Speaker 2: cool kids sat, and I think he was wearing like

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Speaker 2: the leather jacket, a punk band T shirt, and he

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Speaker 2: had blue hair.

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Speaker 1: Bobby's hair was a nerdy brown he played nerdy sacks

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Speaker 1: in the nerdy school band, and here was Jake, who

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Speaker 1: played punk rock electric guitar. Bobby was starstruck. He started

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Speaker 1: dressing like Jake in band t shirts and tight punky

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Speaker 1: jeans he found in the girls section at Coole's. He

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Speaker 1: even begged his parents for a drum kit so he

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Speaker 1: and Jake could form a band.

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Speaker 2: That credit Jake with teaching me everything about like being

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Speaker 2: in a band and punk music, and then he taught

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Speaker 2: me everything.

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Speaker 6: You know.

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Speaker 2: There were a lot of times would be sitting together

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Speaker 2: and both with our own CD players and headphones on,

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Speaker 2: like in different worlds and listening to different records, but

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Speaker 2: just together, you.

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Speaker 1: Know, Bobby listening to Jimmy Eat World, Jake to No Effects,

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Speaker 1: both of them eating gummy sharks and dreaming about the

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Speaker 1: music they wanted to make. With a couple more friends,

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Speaker 1: they formed a band, and even though they were so young,

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Speaker 1: it wasn't long before they were booking shows. Their first

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Speaker 1: gig was at a local record store.

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Speaker 2: I was super, super nervous and I was kind of

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Speaker 2: just trying to hide behind my drums. But Jake just

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Speaker 2: kind of has this like British punk rock sneered singing

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Speaker 2: in this snotty little kind of punk singing voice and

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Speaker 2: like looking very cool with a bass.

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Speaker 1: This is a song of theirs called None Divided. Bobby,

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Speaker 1: age thirteen, is on drums and Jake, age twelve, is singing.

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Speaker 7: As well.

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Speaker 1: Now I don't know how old the guys in Green

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Speaker 1: Day are, and I don't particularly like Green Day, but

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Speaker 1: if you told me this was Green Day, I'd say, hey,

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Speaker 1: Green Day is not as bad as I thought they were.

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Speaker 1: That's how good Bobby and Jake were even as children

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Speaker 1: and through their teens, Bobby and Jake continued booking gigs.

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Speaker 1: The dream was to live off their music, but after

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Speaker 1: college it became clear they need day jobs, so Bobby

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Speaker 1: found one as an audio engineer at a Chicago advertising agency.

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Speaker 1: Bobby was company man by day, punk by night until

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Speaker 1: one morning in the spring of twenty fourteen, when his

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Speaker 1: worlds collided.

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Speaker 2: I came into work and my boss said, we have

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Speaker 2: an ad that I need you to sing.

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Speaker 1: And I said, sing, sing, but not like Sid Vicious

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Speaker 1: or Joey Ramone or that guy who screams in that

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Speaker 1: song at the beginning of CSI Miami, because those guys

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Speaker 1: never sang advertising jingles for McDonald's, which was exactly what

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Speaker 1: Bobby was being asked to do. The creative in charge,

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Speaker 1: a guy named Tim knew that Bobby was a musician,

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Speaker 1: so he asked Bobby to record the demo track for

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Speaker 1: an ad he was working on.

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Speaker 2: He wrote a song called random Red Couch, and they

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Speaker 2: had shot all this footage of hipstery looking models holding

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Speaker 2: like McDonald's bags of food and kind of like dancing

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Speaker 2: on this couch, this red couch. Tim was in his

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Speaker 2: like fifties and is trying to write like a comedy

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Speaker 2: thing for younger people, and he I think he thought

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Speaker 2: that at the time, like a comedic sensibility amongst young

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Speaker 2: people was like randomness, like absurd randomness.

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Speaker 1: By twenty fourteen, the word random had served the youth

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Speaker 1: of America well and was ready for the retirement home

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Speaker 1: where it could play shuffle board with chill pill and

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Speaker 1: boo yeah. But this didn't stop Tim.

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Speaker 2: I remember, I remember it by heart. How it goes.

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Speaker 2: It starts like we got a random red couch. Don't

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Speaker 2: ask me why people eating burgers with a girl or

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Speaker 2: a guy.

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Speaker 1: On the weekends. Bobby was a mother freaking antichrist, hanging

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Speaker 1: with punk rockers who'd sooner sell the nose rings infecting

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Speaker 1: their noses than sell out. And here he was crooning

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Speaker 1: about ninety nine cent chicken cutlets sold by a clown.

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Speaker 1: But lucky for Bobby, no one would ever hear it.

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Speaker 1: Random Red Couch was just a demo, one of many

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Speaker 1: ideas circulated internally that never got green lit.

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Speaker 2: Things got killed all the time, so I never thought

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Speaker 2: that the thing would get made. But every step of

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Speaker 2: the way, we just kept hearing that it's not getting killed,

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Speaker 2: it's not getting killed, it's still going.

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Speaker 1: And going and going. Random Red Couch was like this unstoppable,

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Speaker 1: unkillable monster. For whatever reason, Bobby's bosses were butt up

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Speaker 1: ba ba ba loving it, and so Random Red Couch

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Speaker 1: was suddenly green lit. Bobby Lord was now the voice

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Speaker 1: of a national advertising campaign for McDonald's.

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Speaker 2: And this is where it became not fun because it

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Speaker 2: starts to air and like it played a lot.

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Speaker 1: McDonald's bought so much airtime that during the twenty fourteen

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Speaker 1: NHL Playoffs, Bobby says he couldn't walk into a bar

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Speaker 1: without seeing the ad. It was everywhere, and from the

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Speaker 1: moment it started airing, Random Red Couch was immediately and

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Speaker 1: universally and passionately reviled.

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Speaker 2: A good illustration of how hated this ad was is

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Speaker 2: that it was on McDonald's official YouTube channel and it

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Speaker 2: got so extremely ratioed with thumbs downs and negative comments

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Speaker 2: that they took it off their own page. Like the

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Speaker 2: hatred and the vitriol on Twitter about this ad was,

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Speaker 2: I've never seen anything quite like it, Like.

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Speaker 1: Can can you read some of those tweets?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? One second? Okay, that McDonald's random red couch commercial

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Speaker 2: is annoying as hell. There better not be a random

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Speaker 2: red couch in jail after I stab the writers of

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Speaker 2: that horrendous commercial. Hey, McDonald's, if I see the random

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Speaker 2: red couch commercial one more time, I'm going to kill

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Speaker 2: someone and the blood will be on your hands. I

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Speaker 2: want to kill the random red couch. Fuck your random

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Speaker 2: red couch. Everyone involved with the writing, performing, and recording

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Speaker 2: of this random red couch McDonald's jingle should be rounded

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Speaker 2: up and executed.

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Speaker 1: Wow, that's really harsh. People on the internet are mean.

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Speaker 8: I know.

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Speaker 2: I know.

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Speaker 1: At this point, I'm so amped up on all the

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Speaker 1: reviews slash death threats. I can't wait to experience the

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Speaker 1: ad for myself. I don't think I've ever wanted to

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Speaker 1: click on a link more in my entire life.

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Speaker 2: Oh man, I'm so excited.

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Speaker 1: Okay, here we go.

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Speaker 2: Shit, Okay, we got a random red couch.

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Speaker 9: Don't ask me why keep your favorites with your good art.

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Speaker 8: Guy, gotta random med couch. Pull up a seed. You

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Speaker 8: don't want to be the one with nothing to eat.

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Speaker 8: We got a band of cows, ast you friends with them.

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Speaker 8: McDonald's bag, never hands ic.

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Speaker 9: Chu gate, McDonald beef and cheese, helone that's the flavor.

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Speaker 8: Of dyla menu and more on a random read couch.

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Speaker 1: The ad features a group of young actors, each of

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Speaker 1: them looking like one of those kids who would have

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Speaker 1: smoked a pipe in college. They dance about with the

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Speaker 1: desperate energy of hostages in a hostage video, who, instead

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Speaker 1: of being forced to recite from que cards, are being

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Speaker 1: forced to eat, laugh, and gaze flirtatiously at cheeseburgers. It

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Speaker 1: looks like something a spambot would generate if you typed

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Speaker 1: in keywords like mustache, bacon, and KAMBOUCHA pandering, yet clueless,

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Speaker 1: chummy yet dead eyed random red couch is a paradox

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Speaker 1: wrapped in a sofa point of fact, I hate it,

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Speaker 1: and yet can I listen to it again?

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Speaker 4: Yeah?

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Speaker 8: Sure, we gotta random red couch.

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Speaker 10: You don't ask me why.

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Speaker 8: Guy gotta random red couch pulled up.

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Speaker 2: A seat, which, by the way, a couch is a seat.

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Speaker 2: You don't need to pull up a seatuch.

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Speaker 1: And this guy's wearing a pork pie.

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Speaker 9: Hat never ends, chicken mcdouble, beef and cheese.

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Speaker 2: Oh, this is like my personal health, A random red couch. Like,

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Speaker 2: what is it?

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Speaker 4: What is it?

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Speaker 1: There's nothing random about this couch, Like it's I know.

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Speaker 2: There's nothing random. It's the only set piece. There's nothing.

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Speaker 1: It's very pointed. Despite years of practice, years of playing

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Speaker 1: gigs and paying his dues, Bobby's most widely played song

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Speaker 1: was his worst. Bobby was mortified.

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Speaker 2: This horrible, annoying commercial will come on a lot all

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Speaker 2: the time, and you didn't want to be like that's me.

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Speaker 2: It was like really embarrassing.

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Speaker 1: You just wouldn't say anything. You'd be with people.

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Speaker 2: I tell anyone, I.

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Speaker 5: Knew it was his voice instantaneously.

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Speaker 1: This is Bobby's oldest, coolest, bluest haired friend Jake. As

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Speaker 1: embarrassed as Bobby was about the ad, he was especially

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Speaker 1: embarrassed that Jake might hear it. Then he not only

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Speaker 1: loses punk Red, but also the respect of the person

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Speaker 1: who taught him everything about music in the first place.

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Speaker 1: So even though Jake and Bobby spoke every day, had

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Speaker 1: practice each week, Bobby never said a thing about the ad.

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Speaker 1: But then one day, Jake was hanging out with Billy,

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Speaker 1: a third member of Jake and Bobby's band.

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Speaker 5: We're watching The Black Hot and then all of a sudden,

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Speaker 5: we hear this song come on and we started like

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Speaker 5: kind of like giggling at the song and then and

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Speaker 5: then I was like, holy shit. I was like, that's Bobby.

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Speaker 5: And he goes, no, no, no, it's not and I go, dude,

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Speaker 5: that is Bobby. I know Bobby's voice. There's no one

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Speaker 5: else that sounds like that's Bobby.

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Speaker 6: We had a TV that we had the access to

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Speaker 6: rewind it, so we rewinded and rewatch, this is Billy

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Speaker 6: and then the tagline at the very end he speaks

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Speaker 6: it on a random redcouch, so it's clearly him, Billy, and.

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Speaker 5: He's like, oh my god, it is Bobby, and we

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Speaker 5: started laughing and freaking out.

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Speaker 1: Later that day they saw Bobby Jake asked him about

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Speaker 1: the ad.

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Speaker 5: And his face just drops, just drops, and he's like,

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Speaker 5: oh my god. He's like, don't tell anyone about this.

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Speaker 1: And until this moment, have you kept the promise that

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Speaker 1: you made to Bobby? Have you never told anybody?

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Speaker 5: Oh? No, I told people.

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Speaker 1: Of course, Bobby's best friend and bandmate was going to

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Speaker 1: dine out on Bobby's humiliation, and so group text were sent,

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Speaker 1: links were forwarded, and everyone laughed for Bobby. It was

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Speaker 1: a huge embarrassment. But the thing that's outlived that embarrassment

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Speaker 1: is a lingering question what the hell happened?

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Speaker 2: If you were to see this on TV, you would

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Speaker 2: just be like, how did this happen? How did this

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Speaker 2: get into my TV? How did this get through?

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Speaker 1: At the time, Bobby was a kid in his early twenties,

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Speaker 1: the lowest on the ladder, with no visibility into how

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Speaker 1: the ad got greenlit. But now, as an adult, he

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Speaker 1: wonders who ultimately greenlit the ad and at what cost?

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Speaker 2: Like I heard a rumor that like Tim, the maker

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Speaker 2: of the ad, had been seen like in the office

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Speaker 2: of the Big Guy. Then he was like all red

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Speaker 2: faced and like screaming, and like maybe like I started

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Speaker 2: to feel like if you had worked on this commercial,

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Speaker 2: like you were like a rayah that started to become

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Speaker 2: like a thing, like you would hear people like you

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Speaker 2: guys worked on random red couch.

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Speaker 1: How's Tim's career doing.

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Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't know. I would like to

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Speaker 2: know who's a super super nice guy. He would always

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Speaker 2: wear like a low baseball hat in classes, and he

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Speaker 2: talked like this, like real quiet, kind of like a stoner.

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Speaker 11: Random red couch.

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Speaker 1: Right, this is Tim.

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Speaker 11: It's all coming back to me now.

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Speaker 1: Unfortunately Tim's now retired, but he was in advertising for

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Speaker 1: over two decades, from Office Max to Budweiser. Tim's worked

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Speaker 1: on tons of successful campaigns, but I'm calling to talk

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Speaker 1: about his least successful one. I asked if he would

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Speaker 1: rewatch the ad with me while offering a running director's commentary,

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Speaker 1: and Tim says, yes, he is a super super nice guy.

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Speaker 8: We got a random red cows.

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Speaker 9: Don't ask me why people favorites with dark got a

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Speaker 9: random red couch.

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Speaker 8: Pull up a seat. You don't want to be the

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Speaker 8: one with nothing to eat. We got a random red couch.

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Speaker 8: Cat friend.

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Speaker 9: Never had mc chicken, McDougall beef and cheese.

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Speaker 12: Hello now, that's the flavor of Dalla menu and more

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Speaker 12: on a random red couch.

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Speaker 11: It is the worst commercial ever made. Like Joe Cocker

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Speaker 11: wouldn't have made that good.

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Speaker 1: Random red Couch is pretty bad? But is it The

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Speaker 1: worst McDonald's commercial ever made? Is that McDonald's burger Delicia?

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Speaker 1: Is it worse than this McDonald's add from the nineteen

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Speaker 1: sixties in which Ronald McDonald leaps out from behind a

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Speaker 1: bush to accost a child on the street.

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Speaker 9: Mom told me never to talk.

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Speaker 4: To strangers, But I'm Ronald, you're all proven.

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Speaker 1: I'll give you three more hamburgers. I'm not even sure

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Speaker 1: Random red couch, which is the worst McDonald's jingle ever?

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00:17:11,410 --> 00:17:14,170
Speaker 1: Can it be worse than this one for chicken McNuggets?

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Speaker 5: I'm into nuggets, y'all. I'm into nuggets, y'all.

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Speaker 1: I'm into nuggets, y'all. Can it be worse than a

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Speaker 1: pre George Costanza Jason Alexander prancing down the street in

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Speaker 1: pastel colors singing about the virtues of the McDLT.

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Speaker 8: What about the.

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Speaker 1: People on the hot side ho DLT the McDLT. No

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Speaker 1: more would beef and lettuce have to commingle through the

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Speaker 1: miracle of a double styrofoam clamshelltris put it together?

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Speaker 8: You can't.

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Speaker 1: Is Random Red Couch really worse than all that we got?

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Speaker 9: A random red Chiles, don't ask me why.

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00:18:00,330 --> 00:18:04,529
Speaker 1: Yes, yes it is. All those other ads might be

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Speaker 1: forgiven due to their moment in cultural history, the pre

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Speaker 1: stranger danger atmsphere of the sixties, the delight in styrofoam

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Speaker 1: and sherbet colored blazers of the eighties. But Random Red

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Speaker 1: Couch is free from cultural excuses, a monolith of bad

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Speaker 1: taste that rejects any context.

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Speaker 11: I didn't actually think what I had written was ever

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Speaker 11: going to see the light of day, but I was

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00:18:28,330 --> 00:18:31,010
Speaker 11: trying to get an assignment off my plate.

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Speaker 1: It turns out that just like Bobby Tim also thought

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Speaker 1: Random Red Couch would be killed, He never written a

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00:18:38,090 --> 00:18:41,169
Speaker 1: jingle before and was confused about why he was asked

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Speaker 1: to write one.

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Speaker 11: Now.

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Speaker 1: Nonetheless, I think I might have been let go because

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00:18:46,490 --> 00:18:49,009
Speaker 1: of that commercion. Are you kidding?

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Speaker 7: It wasn't explicit like that, but it was a thing

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00:18:53,169 --> 00:18:57,210
Speaker 7: where I had just heard through a couple of friends

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Speaker 7: there that it had to have some influence of the decision.

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Speaker 1: How long after the Random Red Couch did where you

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Speaker 1: let go?

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Speaker 11: I would say, within lunths. Huh, yeah, that was the

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Speaker 11: end of a chapter for sure.

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Speaker 1: After twenty five years at the agency, Tim was fired,

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Speaker 1: perhaps for something that wasn't even his idea in the

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Speaker 1: first place. But if random Red Couch wasn't Tim's idea,

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Speaker 1: whose was it who ultimately gave random red Couch the

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Speaker 1: green light? Super super nice. To the end, Tim hesitates

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Speaker 1: to name names, but it's not long before he's singing

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Speaker 1: like a young Jason Alexander. Kathy Kathy.

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Speaker 11: I had become good friends with Kathy, who I was

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Speaker 11: working with on it, and she was the creative director,

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Speaker 11: and there wasn't a lot of oversight, and she kind

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Speaker 11: of pushed it through.

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Speaker 1: While Tim was above Bobby, Kathy apparently was above Tim

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Speaker 1: rung By Rung, I was climbing a ladder, a ladder

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Speaker 1: of blame to find out who bore responsible ability for

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Speaker 1: the abominable and random Red Couch boy. All this talk

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Speaker 1: about ads sure is making me thirsty for ads, and

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Speaker 1: lucky for me, here comes a big, fat, thirst quenching

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Speaker 1: tub of them.

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Speaker 3: I would say it was probably the biggest plunker that

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Speaker 3: I had ever done in my career.

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Speaker 1: This is Kathy, the creative director for Random Red Couch

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Speaker 1: and the person Tim worked under.

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Speaker 3: Tim's an excellent writer. Oh my god, he's an extremely

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Speaker 3: talented guy.

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Speaker 1: Like Tim. Kathy retired from advertising some years ago, but

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Speaker 1: says Random Red Couch is stuck with her. I ask

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Speaker 1: if she recalls any of the lyrics? Yeah, which ones

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Speaker 1: do you remember?

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Speaker 13: Well?

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Speaker 4: What is it?

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00:21:05,250 --> 00:21:07,009
Speaker 3: I got a Random Red Couch.

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Speaker 13: Maybe I have a bigger mental block against this spot

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Speaker 13: than I thought.

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Speaker 1: According to Tim, Kathy had approved the Random Red Couch.

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Speaker 1: But according to Kathy, it wasn't as simple as that.

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Speaker 13: As a creative director, you have a handful of bosses

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Speaker 13: and people reviewing the work.

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Speaker 1: Just when I think I've reached the top step of

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Speaker 1: the blame ladder, Kathy tells me that she never had

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Speaker 1: the authority to greenlight. That level of decision making came

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Speaker 1: from her bosses, and.

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Speaker 5: These guys like absolutely loved it.

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Speaker 1: One boss in particular, So at that.

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Speaker 13: Time, our group creative director, Tony Malcolm was a brit

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Speaker 13: and he really wanted to use a song. You know,

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Speaker 13: he had a lot of success with that in the

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Speaker 13: London market and he wanted to do it.

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Speaker 3: Like the ants come merching home, and I'm like, Tony,

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Speaker 3: we can't do a song with ant for a McDonald's commercial.

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Speaker 3: That's you know, they definitely have their list of nogos

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Speaker 3: and insects of any kind as a nogo with McDonald's, right,

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00:22:16,369 --> 00:22:19,090
Speaker 3: he definitely wanted to shake things up. You know what,

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00:22:19,129 --> 00:22:21,889
Speaker 3: you should try reaching out to Tony and he's.

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Speaker 13: A super nice guy, really super nice.

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Speaker 4: I did a commercial that was called just passing By

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Speaker 4: in the UK.

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00:22:29,290 --> 00:22:33,409
Speaker 1: This is Tony Kathy's boss and just passing by was

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00:22:33,449 --> 00:22:37,249
Speaker 1: a poem Tony wrote for McDonald's in England. After it aired,

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Speaker 1: actual sales went up five hundred percent and so Tony

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Speaker 1: was offered the job in Chicago.

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00:22:43,369 --> 00:22:48,049
Speaker 4: The whole poem started saying the laborers and cablers and

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Speaker 4: council motion tablers were just passing by. Then the coffee

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00:22:52,090 --> 00:22:55,530
Speaker 4: type and coffee types and like their coffee swaffy types

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Speaker 4: were just passing by. Those on their own whilst on

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Speaker 4: the phone, douncan McNuggets and having a moan were just

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Speaker 4: passing by it.

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Speaker 14: They're driving through with hungry crew.

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Speaker 1: Who just pulled off the A three to two were

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Speaker 1: just passing by it.

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Speaker 6: On the it Boary.

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Speaker 1: So how did happen? How did Tony go from crafting

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Speaker 1: odes to rival Wordsworth to.

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00:23:15,369 --> 00:23:17,249
Speaker 4: Wig Random Red Couch.

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00:23:19,290 --> 00:23:23,050
Speaker 1: Tony explains the genesis of Random Red Couch. He'd wanted

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00:23:23,090 --> 00:23:25,850
Speaker 1: a song that was funny, but funny in a uniquely

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Speaker 1: American way.

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Speaker 4: I think there's a brashness to American humor. There's there's

401
00:23:31,570 --> 00:23:35,329
Speaker 4: no subtlety in it, and there's no intellectualism in it.

402
00:23:35,330 --> 00:23:38,769
Speaker 4: It's just very body and very funny. I think it

403
00:23:38,850 --> 00:23:42,330
Speaker 4: is probably, you know, a British psyche thing. We're very

404
00:23:42,689 --> 00:23:48,209
Speaker 4: reserved and less likely to shout. And when I first

405
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Speaker 4: came to Chicago, what I realized is culturally we're very different,

406
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Speaker 4: especially in humor terms. You know, the improv scene, Second

407
00:23:57,649 --> 00:24:00,369
Speaker 4: City and and I remember Kathy was a big fan

408
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Speaker 4: of a program called Between Two Ferns.

409
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Speaker 1: So instead of two ferns, Tony thought, one couch. What

410
00:24:08,689 --> 00:24:12,489
Speaker 1: could be more American than sitting on a couch? Tony

411
00:24:12,570 --> 00:24:15,090
Speaker 1: hoped to achieve the so bad it's good aesthetic of

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00:24:15,129 --> 00:24:18,689
Speaker 1: Between two Ferns, but Random Red Couch stalled ats so

413
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Speaker 1: bad It's bad in general, though Tony is right about

414
00:24:23,770 --> 00:24:28,489
Speaker 1: British and American comedy they're nothing alike. Whereas British humor

415
00:24:28,530 --> 00:24:31,409
Speaker 1: has a you in it, American humor has no U.

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00:24:32,090 --> 00:24:36,689
Speaker 1: And whereas the American office is funny, the British office,

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00:24:36,929 --> 00:24:40,409
Speaker 1: I don't know what they're saying. Having not been raised

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00:24:40,409 --> 00:24:44,929
Speaker 1: with American comedy the way Americans and Canadians are, Tony

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00:24:44,970 --> 00:24:48,090
Speaker 1: made a leap of faith. Random red couch seemed to

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00:24:48,129 --> 00:24:51,450
Speaker 1: have all the hallmarks of American comedy. It was shouty,

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00:24:51,530 --> 00:24:55,010
Speaker 1: stupid and in your face. Tony might just have missed

422
00:24:55,050 --> 00:24:58,529
Speaker 1: some of the subtleties. And to be honest, as Tony

423
00:24:58,570 --> 00:25:01,609
Speaker 1: performs a post mortem, it still feels like something might

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Speaker 1: be getting lost in translation.

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Speaker 4: If you take the music out, I just put a

426
00:25:06,209 --> 00:25:10,810
Speaker 4: great voice in there. Morgan Freeman French would have been ideal.

427
00:25:11,010 --> 00:25:14,090
Speaker 4: And he'd have just invited you to join him in

428
00:25:14,129 --> 00:25:19,970
Speaker 4: a a beast burger or some very very tasty offerings.

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00:25:20,810 --> 00:25:23,249
Speaker 4: He's got that sort of gravitas. They would have been

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Speaker 4: a random made couch, pull up a chair.

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Speaker 1: You know when you're climbing a ladder, not just the

432
00:25:35,290 --> 00:25:38,969
Speaker 1: blame kind, but any kind. Really, there's that step at

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Speaker 1: the tippy top, the one that reads this is not

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Speaker 1: a step Tony. As it turns out, is that not

435
00:25:45,850 --> 00:25:49,490
Speaker 1: a step step, which is to say, there's no one

436
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Speaker 1: higher than Tony.

437
00:25:51,050 --> 00:25:54,010
Speaker 4: I did have to rub a stamp. Everything that went

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Speaker 4: out as an AD.

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Speaker 1: Like it all kind of came down to you.

440
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Speaker 4: Yes, I'm to blame it for it. There in that respect,

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Speaker 4: I didn't want to say that. You know, I'm the

442
00:26:04,290 --> 00:26:07,570
Speaker 4: one who passed it. I'm the one who said, yep,

443
00:26:07,649 --> 00:26:08,290
Speaker 4: let's go with that.

444
00:26:09,409 --> 00:26:12,090
Speaker 1: Within a year of the AD's release, Tony was sent

445
00:26:12,209 --> 00:26:12,850
Speaker 1: back to the UK.

446
00:26:15,770 --> 00:26:20,209
Speaker 4: I moved my family to Chicago to try and be successful,

447
00:26:20,490 --> 00:26:24,010
Speaker 4: and I would be living there now still had things

448
00:26:24,570 --> 00:26:26,850
Speaker 4: gone the right way, but they don't. Sometimes.

449
00:26:28,609 --> 00:26:31,169
Speaker 1: Although Tim and Cathy are no longer in the ad business,

450
00:26:31,689 --> 00:26:35,850
Speaker 1: Tony is and in general it's been pretty good to him.

451
00:26:36,649 --> 00:26:39,689
Speaker 1: For one thing, it's allowed him to buy a thirteenth

452
00:26:39,810 --> 00:26:42,930
Speaker 1: century chateau, which is French.

453
00:26:42,730 --> 00:26:46,289
Speaker 4: For castle, but this is a quite modest chateau.

454
00:26:49,050 --> 00:26:51,689
Speaker 1: Tony's been learning all about the history of his humble

455
00:26:51,810 --> 00:26:54,729
Speaker 1: fortress and is even writing a book about it, filled

456
00:26:54,770 --> 00:26:57,929
Speaker 1: with fun facts like this one about the stairway in

457
00:26:58,050 --> 00:26:58,570
Speaker 1: his turret.

458
00:26:59,369 --> 00:27:01,969
Speaker 4: If you're going up up it, it goes anti clockwise,

459
00:27:02,449 --> 00:27:06,850
Speaker 4: so if the people attack your castle, your chateau, and

460
00:27:06,970 --> 00:27:09,970
Speaker 4: they start to come up the turret, then will struggle

461
00:27:10,050 --> 00:27:12,770
Speaker 4: to swing their sword in their right hand. You're coming

462
00:27:12,850 --> 00:27:16,209
Speaker 4: down clockwise and you can have a full swing, and

463
00:27:16,369 --> 00:27:18,969
Speaker 4: these people of the swing is being restricted by the

464
00:27:19,050 --> 00:27:20,929
Speaker 4: fact the stairs go up anti.

465
00:27:20,689 --> 00:27:25,609
Speaker 1: Clockwise, anti clockwise. That's what we hear in the US

466
00:27:25,730 --> 00:27:30,970
Speaker 1: of a call counterclockwise. And what goes up counterclockwise must

467
00:27:31,010 --> 00:27:35,010
Speaker 1: come down anti counterclockwise. And it was time to go

468
00:27:35,169 --> 00:27:39,129
Speaker 1: back down to where this whole thing got started. Bobby.

469
00:27:39,810 --> 00:27:40,090
Speaker 4: Helloo.

470
00:27:40,970 --> 00:27:43,850
Speaker 1: I asked Bobby if he's available to talk, and Bobby

471
00:27:43,929 --> 00:27:46,889
Speaker 1: says why, And I say, don't ask me why.

472
00:27:47,929 --> 00:27:48,810
Speaker 5: So I.

473
00:27:50,290 --> 00:27:54,810
Speaker 1: Went back to Chicago, as it were, Okay, spoke to

474
00:27:54,850 --> 00:27:59,129
Speaker 1: all kinds of people, Okay. I filled Bobby in on

475
00:27:59,290 --> 00:28:02,009
Speaker 1: how the random red couch came to be greenlit, as

476
00:28:02,090 --> 00:28:05,930
Speaker 1: well as the arcane distinctions between British and American stair climbing.

477
00:28:06,570 --> 00:28:09,489
Speaker 1: To Bobby's greater concern, I break the news about the

478
00:28:09,530 --> 00:28:12,570
Speaker 1: fate of his coworkers. It does seem like they probably

479
00:28:12,689 --> 00:28:16,369
Speaker 1: lost their jobs because of this thing. Really that's true,

480
00:28:16,850 --> 00:28:19,489
Speaker 1: but wow, all of them seem to be like happy

481
00:28:20,209 --> 00:28:23,449
Speaker 1: and happier in some ways. Tim told me that since

482
00:28:23,530 --> 00:28:26,730
Speaker 1: leaving advertising, he finally has the time to write poems

483
00:28:26,770 --> 00:28:29,369
Speaker 1: and short stories, the thing he's always wanted to do.

484
00:28:30,209 --> 00:28:33,649
Speaker 1: And Kathy has returned to her first passion, fine art.

485
00:28:34,129 --> 00:28:38,530
Speaker 1: She spends her days happily painting. As for Tony, he's

486
00:28:38,570 --> 00:28:43,730
Speaker 1: got a castle, a quiet, modest shadow, sorry, a modest castle.

487
00:28:43,930 --> 00:28:46,810
Speaker 2: That is that is genuinely nice to hear. That is

488
00:28:46,890 --> 00:28:51,690
Speaker 2: really cool that they have moved on from that world.

489
00:28:52,850 --> 00:28:55,570
Speaker 1: For Tim, Kathy and Tony, all the campaigns are now

490
00:28:55,650 --> 00:28:59,050
Speaker 1: a blur. There's one thing though, that they do hold onto.

491
00:28:59,890 --> 00:29:01,810
Speaker 4: Tim used to come in and we'd sit there and

492
00:29:01,930 --> 00:29:03,050
Speaker 4: chew the fat and laugh.

493
00:29:03,650 --> 00:29:03,810
Speaker 2: You know.

494
00:29:03,970 --> 00:29:07,490
Speaker 11: We became good friends, all these guys, and we'd had

495
00:29:07,650 --> 00:29:08,890
Speaker 11: some fun, you know.

496
00:29:09,130 --> 00:29:11,050
Speaker 13: I mean, the people that we worked with were all great,

497
00:29:11,370 --> 00:29:12,570
Speaker 13: and Tim's just hilarious.

498
00:29:12,730 --> 00:29:15,890
Speaker 4: I remember very formerly Cassi and Tim, he had a

499
00:29:15,930 --> 00:29:16,410
Speaker 4: little fun.

500
00:29:18,010 --> 00:29:20,890
Speaker 1: Their happiest memories, it turns out, are not so much

501
00:29:20,930 --> 00:29:23,010
Speaker 1: of the work, but of the people they made the

502
00:29:23,050 --> 00:29:29,890
Speaker 1: work with. It's the same for Bobby. He remembers hanging

503
00:29:29,930 --> 00:29:32,690
Speaker 1: out in practice bases with his friends a lot more

504
00:29:32,770 --> 00:29:35,249
Speaker 1: than he does the actual gigs they were practicing for

505
00:29:36,330 --> 00:29:39,170
Speaker 1: In fact, Bobby says he never really got past feeling

506
00:29:39,290 --> 00:29:41,930
Speaker 1: like that kid in the record store hiding behind his

507
00:29:42,050 --> 00:29:43,810
Speaker 1: drum kit at the back of the stage.

508
00:29:44,570 --> 00:29:47,489
Speaker 2: I didn't like playing live, even though I did it

509
00:29:47,610 --> 00:29:50,250
Speaker 2: a lot for many years, because I kind of felt

510
00:29:50,330 --> 00:29:52,370
Speaker 2: like I was supposed to and that I would eventually

511
00:29:52,610 --> 00:29:55,370
Speaker 2: grow into it. And it took many years to realize.

512
00:29:55,370 --> 00:29:56,330
Speaker 2: I was like, I don't like this.

513
00:29:57,490 --> 00:30:00,690
Speaker 1: What Bobby really liked, what he still misses is hanging

514
00:30:00,730 --> 00:30:01,850
Speaker 1: out with his best friends.

515
00:30:02,570 --> 00:30:04,570
Speaker 2: Jake still lives in Chicago, and I miss him, you know,

516
00:30:04,690 --> 00:30:09,610
Speaker 2: every day. Billy moved to New York, but pandemic started

517
00:30:09,690 --> 00:30:13,770
Speaker 2: and now he's gonna leave, so like, oh, I didn't

518
00:30:13,770 --> 00:30:15,410
Speaker 2: even really get to see him that much in New York.

519
00:30:16,090 --> 00:30:20,010
Speaker 2: I missed that built in friendship of being in a band.

520
00:30:20,330 --> 00:30:22,610
Speaker 2: I liked just spending time with them and just having

521
00:30:22,690 --> 00:30:24,890
Speaker 2: like this like built in reason almost like well, we

522
00:30:25,090 --> 00:30:27,249
Speaker 2: have to hang out Tuesday night because that's what we do.

523
00:30:28,410 --> 00:30:30,330
Speaker 2: You were just in each other's lives in a real way.

524
00:30:31,130 --> 00:30:33,330
Speaker 2: I missed out a lot playing together.

525
00:30:33,410 --> 00:30:35,090
Speaker 6: We had an amazing tam.

526
00:30:35,850 --> 00:30:39,170
Speaker 1: Jake and Billy miss playing with Bobby. Also, yeah, he

527
00:30:39,250 --> 00:30:41,729
Speaker 1: stole them from me. Yeah, sorry for that.

528
00:30:43,050 --> 00:30:46,249
Speaker 5: I mean he was always a prodigy growing up, like

529
00:30:46,450 --> 00:30:50,250
Speaker 5: on any instrument that he touched. Yeah, he's He's probably

530
00:30:50,290 --> 00:30:51,290
Speaker 5: the best songwriter I know.

531
00:30:52,610 --> 00:30:55,010
Speaker 1: And for all of Bobby's worry. When I ask Jake

532
00:30:55,050 --> 00:30:57,530
Speaker 1: and Billy if they judge Bobby for random Red Couch,

533
00:30:58,050 --> 00:31:00,530
Speaker 1: they say, of course they don't. They never did.

534
00:31:01,330 --> 00:31:04,529
Speaker 5: I think if anyone else had done that song, they

535
00:31:04,570 --> 00:31:07,209
Speaker 5: wouldn't be as embarrassed as Bobby, because Bobby can make

536
00:31:07,370 --> 00:31:11,490
Speaker 5: really good music. I think with what he was given,

537
00:31:11,570 --> 00:31:12,610
Speaker 5: he did the best he could.

538
00:31:15,370 --> 00:31:18,130
Speaker 2: Ah, that's that is so sweet, but.

539
00:31:19,330 --> 00:31:21,209
Speaker 5: It's still turned into pile of crap.

540
00:31:24,090 --> 00:31:27,809
Speaker 1: A pile of crap then infuriated a nation. What can

541
00:31:27,890 --> 00:31:32,209
Speaker 1: be more punk than that? If we weren't in the

542
00:31:32,250 --> 00:31:35,010
Speaker 1: middle of a pandemic, I would spare no expense in

543
00:31:35,090 --> 00:31:38,329
Speaker 1: assembling the old Gang to play together. I'd fly them

544
00:31:38,370 --> 00:31:41,930
Speaker 1: all back to Chicago to Jake's parents unfinished basement, and

545
00:31:42,050 --> 00:31:45,130
Speaker 1: I'd play the role of the sound engineer, keeping quiet,

546
00:31:45,490 --> 00:31:49,850
Speaker 1: handing out complimentary coconut water and contractually obligated gummy sharks.

547
00:31:51,410 --> 00:31:53,250
Speaker 4: How do you guys doing so good?

548
00:31:54,450 --> 00:31:57,850
Speaker 1: But we are in a pandemic, So instead I spend

549
00:31:57,930 --> 00:31:59,850
Speaker 1: thirty seconds creating a zoom link.

550
00:32:00,250 --> 00:32:03,729
Speaker 5: You get glasses, Yeah, they're pretty new. That is.

551
00:32:03,930 --> 00:32:06,650
Speaker 1: I offer to spend thirty seconds creating a zoom link,

552
00:32:07,010 --> 00:32:09,329
Speaker 1: but Bobby says it'd be easier if he just does

553
00:32:09,370 --> 00:32:09,930
Speaker 1: it himself.

554
00:32:10,490 --> 00:32:11,130
Speaker 5: What are we doing?

555
00:32:16,050 --> 00:32:18,249
Speaker 1: The thing I want to give Bobby, after all the

556
00:32:18,330 --> 00:32:21,290
Speaker 1: acorns he's given me, is a chance to play with

557
00:32:21,370 --> 00:32:23,450
Speaker 1: his friends the way he used to as a kid,

558
00:32:24,209 --> 00:32:26,770
Speaker 1: when it didn't matter what they were playing, only that

559
00:32:26,850 --> 00:32:28,769
Speaker 1: they were all playing it together.

560
00:32:31,450 --> 00:32:36,890
Speaker 12: We got me, Gosh, don't ask me why people believe

561
00:32:37,010 --> 00:32:41,489
Speaker 12: and favorites with the guy gotta ran a red couch

562
00:32:41,650 --> 00:32:43,810
Speaker 12: flab gust friends.

563
00:32:43,490 --> 00:32:51,210
Speaker 14: With Themmie Donald beadle and she double but she's alow.

564
00:32:51,970 --> 00:32:55,250
Speaker 10: Now that's the flavor of dollar menue and home.

565
00:32:56,930 --> 00:33:02,969
Speaker 2: Yeah that was that was I could tell that horns

566
00:33:03,010 --> 00:33:03,969
Speaker 2: really got Jesus.

567
00:33:05,490 --> 00:33:05,890
Speaker 5: All right.

568
00:33:09,330 --> 00:33:10,050
Speaker 4: A moon.

569
00:33:10,410 --> 00:33:11,209
Speaker 5: See.

570
00:33:11,610 --> 00:33:32,209
Speaker 15: So, now that the Fernitus return into it's good will

571
00:33:32,450 --> 00:33:41,730
Speaker 15: home dishes the last we explained both numbers and elections

572
00:33:41,890 --> 00:33:44,650
Speaker 15: across as an ending war.

573
00:33:45,610 --> 00:33:49,930
Speaker 10: The black end of Fame gives me the prints on

574
00:33:50,209 --> 00:33:57,170
Speaker 10: every dog blood show. Now that the last.

575
00:33:57,090 --> 00:34:02,489
Speaker 14: Months round, just skin with the damage deposit. Take this

576
00:34:02,730 --> 00:34:08,370
Speaker 14: moment to decide if fermented if we.

577
00:34:08,730 --> 00:34:17,930
Speaker 10: Try feltzer up, prefer to thanks accidently.

578
00:34:23,730 --> 00:34:26,650
Speaker 1: This episode of Heavyweight was produced by Stevie Lane, along

579
00:34:26,690 --> 00:34:30,049
Speaker 1: with me Jonathan Goldstein. Our senior producer is Khalila Holt.

580
00:34:30,290 --> 00:34:34,050
Speaker 1: Special thanks to Emily Condon, Alex Bloomberg, Chris Neary, nazin

581
00:34:34,130 --> 00:34:38,290
Speaker 1: In Rosson, Johnny Phoebe, Flanagan, Nebielle, Cholienpot, Jake Anderson, Billy Klein,

582
00:34:38,850 --> 00:34:42,250
Speaker 1: and Jackie Cohen. The titular Bobby Lord mixed the episode

583
00:34:42,330 --> 00:34:45,610
Speaker 1: with original music by Christine Fellows, John K. Sampson, Michael Hurst,

584
00:34:45,930 --> 00:34:50,370
Speaker 1: and he himself, the eponymous Bobby Lord. Additional music credits

585
00:34:50,370 --> 00:34:53,690
Speaker 1: can be found on our website, Gimletmedia dot com slash Heavyweight.

586
00:34:54,210 --> 00:34:56,250
Speaker 1: Our theme song is by The Weaker Thans courtesy of

587
00:34:56,330 --> 00:35:00,050
Speaker 1: Epitaph Records. Follow us on Twitter at Heavyweight or email

588
00:35:00,130 --> 00:35:03,410
Speaker 1: us at Heavyweight at gimletmedia dot com. We'll see you

589
00:35:03,490 --> 00:35:05,850
Speaker 1: next week already.

590
00:35:09,170 --> 00:35:14,490
Speaker 10: The Girl and the Grandson, sod and an empty Also

591
00:35:14,650 --> 00:35:27,050
Speaker 10: we repainted by Sun and an empty room, Son and

592
00:35:27,170 --> 00:35:36,690
Speaker 10: an empty room, Son and an empty room, Son and

593
00:35:36,810 --> 00:35:40,489
Speaker 10: an empty take eight minute sting us.

594
00:35:43,010 --> 00:35:44,970
Speaker 8: Ninety million millions.

595
00:35:45,290 --> 00:35:51,690
Speaker 10: Spies and watched a shot across so and empty.

596
00:35:52,530 --> 00:35:55,250
Speaker 8: We don't need you any song.

597
00:36:12,810 --> 00:36:14,010
Speaker 4: All the Company

598
00:36:18,890 --> 00:36:19,890
Speaker 14: Compo