WEBVTT - A Treat for the Die-Hards 0:00:15.356 --> 0:00:36.636 Pushkin. Hello, Hello, Hello, thank you for coming. My name 0:00:36.676 --> 0:00:44.316 is Malcolm Baba. I am the most history baught to 0:00:44.356 --> 0:00:46.436 you by pushing the industries. I think there's a whole 0:00:46.876 --> 0:00:50.756 Not long ago, in a probably illogized experiment, all of 0:00:50.836 --> 0:00:54.316 us at Revision's History decided to do two live shows, 0:00:54.916 --> 0:00:57.796 one in New York and one in Philadelphia. All kinds 0:00:57.796 --> 0:01:00.796 of people came to watch a little treat for the diehards, 0:01:01.396 --> 0:01:03.836 and in the spirit of the experimentation, we thought we'd 0:01:03.836 --> 0:01:06.596 share a few excerpts from those shows with all of you, 0:01:07.036 --> 0:01:10.876 the real audience. And what hearing is me standing up 0:01:10.916 --> 0:01:13.596 in front of the crowd confessing I have no idea 0:01:14.116 --> 0:01:17.116 what's about to have. They tried to get me to 0:01:17.156 --> 0:01:22.196 rehearse tonight. Didn't want to do it, so you're all 0:01:22.276 --> 0:01:26.476 kind of guinea pigs, for which I apologize, but I'm 0:01:26.556 --> 0:01:33.996 very excited. I broke out snazzy Adidas, Adidas seersucker, the 0:01:34.036 --> 0:01:37.396 whole thing. This is. I rarely dress up, so this 0:01:37.436 --> 0:01:40.876 is a very very big occasion for me. So what 0:01:40.876 --> 0:01:43.596 we're gonna do is we At the time, I was 0:01:43.596 --> 0:01:46.196 working on an episode of Revisionist History about a very 0:01:46.236 --> 0:01:50.076 well known movie, almost a perfect movie, except the writers 0:01:50.076 --> 0:01:52.516 had screwed up the ending. If you want to listen 0:01:52.596 --> 0:01:55.836 to that episode, it's called Starstruck. You can check it 0:01:55.836 --> 0:01:58.276 out in the feed. It goes in a million directions, 0:01:58.476 --> 0:02:01.396 Gone with the Wind, Star was Born, Samuel Goldman Car 0:02:01.396 --> 0:02:04.556 Accidents Atlanta. We hung out in graveyards and took a 0:02:04.556 --> 0:02:07.876 group road trip to Margaret Mitchell's archives of the University 0:02:07.876 --> 0:02:12.196 of Georgia, very revisionist history in mash up. But at 0:02:12.196 --> 0:02:14.676 the live show, I just wanted to zero in on 0:02:14.796 --> 0:02:18.636 the core question raised by the episode, which is what 0:02:18.796 --> 0:02:23.916 makes an ending work? Because the truth is, most endings 0:02:23.916 --> 0:02:26.316 don't work right. You sit in the movie theater and 0:02:26.396 --> 0:02:29.436 at hour three of the Blockbuster, you think, did no 0:02:29.516 --> 0:02:32.116 one at the studio give any thought about how to 0:02:32.116 --> 0:02:35.396 wrap this thing up? That's what I wanted to get at. 0:02:36.116 --> 0:02:41.956 Why are endings so hard? So in our New York 0:02:41.956 --> 0:02:44.516 show at the town Hall, I invited the comedian Mike 0:02:44.556 --> 0:02:49.916 Birbiglia up to the stage to join me in the discussion. Brilliant, 0:02:51.436 --> 0:02:55.556 brilliant comedian, a member of the famous Georgetown University comedy Mafia, 0:02:55.636 --> 0:02:57.756 which we can talk about with Mike if we want. 0:02:57.756 --> 0:03:01.716 It's basically every indie comic worth their salt went to Georgetown. 0:03:01.716 --> 0:03:05.236 I don't know why, what we do with frustrated Catholicism. 0:03:05.516 --> 0:03:06.196 I'm not sure. 0:03:07.276 --> 0:03:10.796 He's about to go on tour with his show Old 0:03:10.836 --> 0:03:13.036 Man in the Pool, The Old Man in the Pool. 0:03:13.836 --> 0:03:17.756 It's a brilliant, brilliant title, and so he we can 0:03:17.836 --> 0:03:19.956 start with Mike, Mike, come on out. 0:03:20.476 --> 0:03:33.276 I hope you back there. 0:03:35.876 --> 0:03:36.156 Thanks. 0:03:37.396 --> 0:03:38.676 This is my favorite podcast. 0:03:38.716 --> 0:03:42.716 So it's a very strange sensation to be inside of 0:03:42.756 --> 0:03:43.956 my favorite podcast. 0:03:44.036 --> 0:03:44.916 I don't know how it is. 0:03:44.996 --> 0:03:48.636 Go that man of mine. By the way, you weren't 0:03:48.636 --> 0:03:50.476 offended when I said you were part of the Georgetown 0:03:50.556 --> 0:03:55.636 University comedy move the legit. No, it's a description. 0:03:55.716 --> 0:03:59.756 I mean, gosh, it's John mulaney and uh nik Krol, 0:03:59.876 --> 0:04:03.156 Gavin Nick Krawl, Jackman Novak. 0:04:03.316 --> 0:04:06.716 Yeah, there's just a whole bunch of them. Marling, Britt Marling, 0:04:06.796 --> 0:04:08.196 There's just there's so many. 0:04:08.276 --> 0:04:12.116 And by the way, Cooper, it's kind of unbelievable, you 0:04:12.156 --> 0:04:12.716 remember that. 0:04:12.876 --> 0:04:14.716 I'll tell you a funny thing about when I was 0:04:14.916 --> 0:04:17.756 I intersected with Bradley Cooper. I never knew him except 0:04:17.796 --> 0:04:19.796 that we were in theater at Georgia at the same time, 0:04:20.676 --> 0:04:22.476 I may think maybe one year as a little older 0:04:22.556 --> 0:04:26.356 than me, and he was most famous on campus for 0:04:26.436 --> 0:04:29.796 being the most attractive person anyone had ever seen that. 0:04:30.996 --> 0:04:33.436 I'm not even kidding. I'm literally a People would say, 0:04:33.476 --> 0:04:38.556 have you seen Bradley Cooper? I swear to God, not 0:04:38.676 --> 0:04:41.996 in a play? Have you seen him? 0:04:42.436 --> 0:04:43.796 Yeah? That's gotta be hard. 0:04:45.396 --> 0:04:49.276 My life could be really hard sometimes, Mike. 0:04:49.356 --> 0:04:51.876 Okay. So, and the reason I wanted to talk to 0:04:51.876 --> 0:04:54.556 you with endings because I feel like I've often felt 0:04:54.556 --> 0:04:56.236 that no one's more obsessed with endings than I am. 0:04:56.276 --> 0:04:58.836 And I'll tell you why. But and I say this 0:04:58.916 --> 0:05:01.236 also to say that I think you might be as 0:05:01.276 --> 0:05:05.036 obsessed as I am. I am someone who I will 0:05:05.156 --> 0:05:08.796 very often read a thriller and stop five pages before 0:05:08.836 --> 0:05:12.756 the end because I'm concerned that the author isn't going 0:05:12.836 --> 0:05:16.236 to pull it off, and I I just don't want 0:05:16.236 --> 0:05:17.716 to be there for that. I was like, all right, 0:05:18.356 --> 0:05:20.236 it doesn't matter that I've spent three days getting to 0:05:20.236 --> 0:05:23.236 page three hundred and ninety five. Yeah, I just I 0:05:23.236 --> 0:05:24.236 can No. 0:05:24.236 --> 0:05:27.196 No, I'm similarly obsessed, you know, but I go through 0:05:27.236 --> 0:05:30.556 four or five endings before I land on an ending. 0:05:31.276 --> 0:05:32.916 You don't start with the ende of of them. 0:05:33.196 --> 0:05:33.436 No. 0:05:33.436 --> 0:05:34.836 No, As a matter of fact, the old man in 0:05:34.876 --> 0:05:38.396 the pool, I'm deliberating right now between two different, distinctly 0:05:38.396 --> 0:05:39.596 different endings. 0:05:39.276 --> 0:05:43.636 And what we describe the two options simply describe them emotionally. 0:05:43.756 --> 0:05:45.636 Is there a difference in the emotional. 0:05:46.116 --> 0:05:50.156 It's I can't give away what the ending is. It's 0:05:50.196 --> 0:05:52.636 a little fundamentally, but you know what I'm kidding, But 0:05:52.716 --> 0:05:54.236 you know what I'll do. I can tell you that 0:05:54.316 --> 0:05:56.556 the two different endings for my last show, which is 0:05:56.596 --> 0:06:00.836 called The New One and uh and one of them 0:06:01.036 --> 0:06:04.436 is me and my wife and my daughter sort of 0:06:04.516 --> 0:06:08.156 laughing together on the couch together in our house, and 0:06:08.716 --> 0:06:09.716 I early you're in the show. 0:06:09.716 --> 0:06:11.516 I talked about how the premise. 0:06:11.196 --> 0:06:13.236 Of the show is I never want to have a child, 0:06:13.636 --> 0:06:15.436 and the show is about and it's all the reasons 0:06:15.476 --> 0:06:17.196 why I never want to have a child, and then 0:06:17.356 --> 0:06:19.916 it's about how we had a child and how I 0:06:19.996 --> 0:06:24.636 was right, uh and then and then and then the 0:06:24.636 --> 0:06:27.996 emotional turn of it is that I was wrong and 0:06:27.996 --> 0:06:31.996 and uh and and and and there. But there were 0:06:32.316 --> 0:06:36.396 two different endings that we had along the way that 0:06:36.476 --> 0:06:39.116 we're uh and and one of them is the one 0:06:39.116 --> 0:06:40.876 that it is, which is my wife and daughter and 0:06:40.876 --> 0:06:43.396 I are laughing together on the couch and I basically 0:06:43.516 --> 0:06:45.396 I don't say this, but I say I basically become 0:06:45.436 --> 0:06:50.476 all the cliches that of parents who I find so annoying, 0:06:50.596 --> 0:06:52.396 which is like, I just want to see the world 0:06:52.436 --> 0:06:53.836 through babies eyes. 0:06:54.076 --> 0:06:56.716 You know, wait, we have that. Yeah, we actually show them, 0:06:56.836 --> 0:06:58.796 we show oh yeah please, yeah, okay, okay, let's show this. 0:06:58.916 --> 0:06:59.476 Let's just show this. 0:07:01.516 --> 0:07:02.836 Who loved the couch? 0:07:02.876 --> 0:07:11.516 She goes couchs wog ow, Wow. 0:07:12.436 --> 0:07:13.356 She's a genius. 0:07:18.236 --> 0:07:21.556 Three of us sit on the couchs in the department store. 0:07:23.276 --> 0:07:25.636 None is hiding behind each of us, and we could where' zuona? 0:07:25.676 --> 0:07:26.276 Where's Zuona? 0:07:26.316 --> 0:07:28.236 She's clinging into my back because I spend The more 0:07:28.276 --> 0:07:29.956 she clings, the more I'm committed. 0:07:29.676 --> 0:07:32.236 Like where is Oh? Where is it? 0:07:33.676 --> 0:07:36.036 And she starts laughing so hard, like the hardest I've 0:07:36.036 --> 0:07:37.836 ever seen anyone laugh my whole life. 0:07:37.916 --> 0:07:40.636 And I'm in the joke's business. 0:07:41.956 --> 0:07:46.076 At this idea that she's tricking us, the people in power, 0:07:46.156 --> 0:07:49.516 the people who know everything. She's fooled us completely at 0:07:49.596 --> 0:07:52.196 least this once. And look, I know she's gonna grow 0:07:52.236 --> 0:07:53.996 up and find out that the earth is singing in 0:07:54.036 --> 0:07:56.196 the ocean. We might have to live in an almond 0:07:56.236 --> 0:08:00.676 milk jug in Pennsylvania, and people can be horrible. But 0:08:00.716 --> 0:08:03.996 as I'm staring at this monkey on a couch, I 0:08:04.076 --> 0:08:05.836 feel like she might be one of the people who 0:08:05.996 --> 0:08:10.636 changes that trajectory. She's laughing so hard that I start 0:08:10.716 --> 0:08:14.876 laughing in a new way from my perspective and Jen's 0:08:14.876 --> 0:08:17.156 perspective and Owner's perspective all at once, we're. 0:08:17.076 --> 0:08:29.476 Laughing as one. And in that moment, I feel full. 0:08:33.076 --> 0:08:47.196 I'm seeing the world through babies. 0:08:51.476 --> 0:08:54.636 So what what's the work that ending's doing? 0:08:55.636 --> 0:08:55.796 Oh? 0:08:55.876 --> 0:09:01.196 So that ending is cheering up, cheering, cheering up, you 0:09:01.276 --> 0:09:02.556 cheering up, watching yourself? 0:09:04.196 --> 0:09:05.196 How dare you, sir? 0:09:06.276 --> 0:09:07.436 At the town hall? 0:09:08.756 --> 0:09:10.996 You call me out where we have our town meetings 0:09:11.036 --> 0:09:13.316 every week? We're all at them right. 0:09:15.196 --> 0:09:18.196 The uh, No. 0:09:18.156 --> 0:09:18.396 It is. 0:09:18.476 --> 0:09:21.076 It's emotional because it's it's about when my daughter was 0:09:21.716 --> 0:09:25.956 eighteen months older and and she said, you know, seven 0:09:26.036 --> 0:09:27.916 years old now, So it's a yeah, so that part 0:09:27.916 --> 0:09:30.996 of its emotional. But yeah, So the goal of this 0:09:31.236 --> 0:09:36.916 ending is the show really mocks to the point it 0:09:37.076 --> 0:09:42.036 mocks people with children so mercilessly. If you never want 0:09:42.036 --> 0:09:45.596 to have children and want to mock people who have children. 0:09:45.676 --> 0:09:47.836 You're gonna love the first half. 0:09:47.596 --> 0:09:48.396 Of this special. 0:09:49.636 --> 0:09:52.036 For example, like when I like a year after this 0:09:52.076 --> 0:09:53.236 came out. This came out a few. 0:09:53.156 --> 0:09:59.876 Years ago, I was sent a Reddit thread that was 0:09:59.876 --> 0:10:04.916 from like a child free community on Reddit, and I 0:10:04.956 --> 0:10:09.436 have never seen a group of people more excited about 0:10:09.476 --> 0:10:13.076 the first half of a comedy special because they don't 0:10:13.196 --> 0:10:16.996 know it turns to me having a child, and then 0:10:16.996 --> 0:10:21.636 they feel completely betrayed when I have then they hate it. 0:10:21.876 --> 0:10:24.756 It's you know, that's one of my definitions of a story. 0:10:24.796 --> 0:10:27.236 The definition of a story and an anecdote is a 0:10:27.276 --> 0:10:32.156 story is a narrative that betrays through the listener's expectations. Right, 0:10:32.276 --> 0:10:34.036 there must be an act of betrayal for the story 0:10:34.036 --> 0:10:37.476 to work. Oh interesting, that's but. 0:10:37.476 --> 0:10:39.636 Wait, so there's a bit, so there is a betrayal, 0:10:39.676 --> 0:10:43.996 and then but then ultimately, with this ending, the goal 0:10:45.156 --> 0:10:48.236 is to point out after all the cliches of like 0:10:48.316 --> 0:10:50.876 seeing the world through baby's eyes and all this stuff, 0:10:51.156 --> 0:10:53.716 and it's the most joy I've ever experienced, all these 0:10:53.716 --> 0:10:55.196 things that you hear these. 0:10:56.716 --> 0:11:02.716 Annoying parents say all the time. I concede that. 0:11:03.996 --> 0:11:07.796 I have a moment of that, Yeah, a moment where 0:11:07.836 --> 0:11:10.876 I'm seeing the world through of his eyes and and 0:11:10.876 --> 0:11:13.716 and and to me, that's the essence of an the 0:11:13.756 --> 0:11:17.316 type of ending I enjoy, not everybody enjoys. I enjoy 0:11:17.356 --> 0:11:22.996 an ending where there's a hint of we understand that 0:11:23.076 --> 0:11:28.036 the that the emotional journey of the story is this big, 0:11:28.596 --> 0:11:33.316 we've we've swun to ball over the pendulum, but ultimately 0:11:33.396 --> 0:11:37.796 the person, the character who we invest in changes this much. 0:11:38.316 --> 0:11:40.156 So like one of my favorite endings of all time 0:11:40.236 --> 0:11:41.156 is from the movie Big. 0:11:41.196 --> 0:11:42.516 You know, Penny Marshall move with. 0:11:42.596 --> 0:11:46.716 Tom Hanks and I wish I was big, And then 0:11:46.796 --> 0:11:48.476 he goes to the carnival and then he's like. 0:11:48.476 --> 0:11:50.476 A grown up and he has a girlfriend and a 0:11:50.596 --> 0:11:52.756 job and all these things, and he literally and he 0:11:52.836 --> 0:11:53.796 does the whole thing. 0:11:53.996 --> 0:11:55.476 And then he gets to choose at the end, and 0:11:55.516 --> 0:11:58.276 he's gonna he's gonna be big, he's gonna be small again, 0:11:58.836 --> 0:12:02.196 and he chooses small, and there's this devastating moment where 0:12:02.196 --> 0:12:05.916 she looks back at him and it's his child self 0:12:06.156 --> 0:12:10.436 in a suit, and it's the visual metaph for of 0:12:10.436 --> 0:12:14.156 what we've experienced. Because he's both he's both of those things, 0:12:14.876 --> 0:12:21.676 and the change in him is imperceptible, but we know he's. 0:12:21.556 --> 0:12:26.316 Changed probably this much. I'm going to go back to 0:12:26.556 --> 0:12:29.396 your show for a moment. When you were doing that show, 0:12:29.476 --> 0:12:31.916 did you have that turn in mind to that idea 0:12:31.916 --> 0:12:34.236 that you were going to be moving just a little? 0:12:34.956 --> 0:12:35.276 Was that in? 0:12:36.156 --> 0:12:36.956 Did you start with that? 0:12:37.516 --> 0:12:37.796 Yeah? 0:12:37.876 --> 0:12:41.396 I think yeah, we because the alternate ending. I've literally 0:12:41.436 --> 0:12:45.116 never spoken about this. We I performed an alternate ending 0:12:45.116 --> 0:12:47.436 because I tore these shows for like numbers of years, 0:12:47.436 --> 0:12:49.636 like Old Man in the Pool, the Joe i'mtarn Now. 0:12:50.116 --> 0:12:53.996 I've toured for you know, for probably three plus years, 0:12:53.996 --> 0:12:56.036 probably three and a half years, have been workshopping it, 0:12:56.556 --> 0:13:00.956 and so this one was called the New One. I 0:13:00.996 --> 0:13:04.396 had another ending where this true story where my wife 0:13:04.436 --> 0:13:07.716 and daughter and I are on we go on a 0:13:07.796 --> 0:13:11.436 vacation together to the beach in California and we're on 0:13:11.476 --> 0:13:14.036 the beach and we're having this beautiful moment on the 0:13:14.036 --> 0:13:16.196 beach and UNA's like, it's similar to this. 0:13:16.276 --> 0:13:19.196 It's like it's like sand you know, like. 0:13:19.636 --> 0:13:24.676 Osha waa, you know, it's similar as like she's a genius. 0:13:24.916 --> 0:13:26.516 It's the same. It's sort of the same joke. 0:13:27.156 --> 0:13:30.316 But then she picks up like a piece of plastic 0:13:30.436 --> 0:13:34.076 from the beach and she's the spice garbage and it 0:13:34.236 --> 0:13:37.196 invokes it evokes all of those feelings I have about 0:13:37.236 --> 0:13:41.876 like we're just living in the dystopia and why are 0:13:41.916 --> 0:13:43.636 we having children? 0:13:43.676 --> 0:13:44.676 This is insane? 0:13:44.956 --> 0:13:47.316 Right, I could see why you didn't go that. 0:13:47.396 --> 0:13:52.356 End, Malcolm, how dare you in the location of our 0:13:52.356 --> 0:13:53.276 weekly meetings? 0:13:55.196 --> 0:13:58.236 You no, I know it was it was too sad, 0:13:58.556 --> 0:13:59.076 too sad. 0:13:59.276 --> 0:14:02.156 Yeah, it's too much movement. You wanted a little movie? Yes, 0:14:02.356 --> 0:14:02.876 you don't want to. 0:14:03.516 --> 0:14:06.196 So that's why that ending went away because ultimately people 0:14:06.236 --> 0:14:08.076 would leave the theater and they would go like. 0:14:08.876 --> 0:14:12.836 That made me feel sort of bad about stuff. But 0:14:12.956 --> 0:14:15.916 the ending that but the ending that we went with. 0:14:16.596 --> 0:14:19.236 Just to be clear, I mean, endings are very personal 0:14:19.276 --> 0:14:23.436 for people. Like some people, I don't in that ending. 0:14:23.516 --> 0:14:26.796 You just watch some people left the theater and said, 0:14:27.956 --> 0:14:32.156 you're still kind of a jerk, you know what I mean. 0:14:32.196 --> 0:14:35.916 Like I would get very personal responses where people are like, yeah. 0:14:35.556 --> 0:14:38.836 You're like an ungrateful dad, You're a bad dad. 0:14:38.676 --> 0:14:41.116 All this stuff, and I'm like, no, no, I'm being 0:14:41.196 --> 0:14:43.036 honest with my experience. 0:14:43.276 --> 0:14:45.236 And this is pretty close. 0:14:50.356 --> 0:14:53.116 This is exactly what we're talking about, which is that 0:14:53.356 --> 0:14:58.036 endings carry massive disproportionate weight. You don't go to a 0:14:58.076 --> 0:15:00.356 show or a movie or read a book and decide 0:15:00.396 --> 0:15:03.196 after the first ten pages that you love it. That's it. 0:15:03.516 --> 0:15:07.356 I mean, you might say that, but it's a contingent conclusion. 0:15:08.116 --> 0:15:11.196 You will rescind that opinion in a heartbeat if the 0:15:11.276 --> 0:15:14.196 last five pages or the last five minutes don't work. 0:15:15.036 --> 0:15:17.676 And what's weird about this, of course, is that it's 0:15:17.716 --> 0:15:21.276 the opposite of the way we evaluate human beings. There's 0:15:21.276 --> 0:15:24.316 a famous set of studies about college professors where they 0:15:24.316 --> 0:15:27.836 take student evaluations of their teachers that are generated over 0:15:27.836 --> 0:15:31.596 an entire semester and compare them to teacher evaluations made 0:15:31.596 --> 0:15:35.116 by students who've only seen a tiny video clip of 0:15:35.196 --> 0:15:39.116 the professor, like ten seconds. What do you find that 0:15:39.196 --> 0:15:43.796 the two sets of evaluations are the same. In other words, 0:15:43.876 --> 0:15:46.356 you're sitting in a class, you listen to your teacher 0:15:46.596 --> 0:15:49.836 for the shortest moment, and you decide I like them, 0:15:50.116 --> 0:15:54.236 I don't like them, and you never revisit that conclusion. 0:15:54.796 --> 0:15:57.876 The ending doesn't matter. If you have thirty classes with 0:15:57.956 --> 0:16:01.396 your history professor, your experience in the final class, or 0:16:01.396 --> 0:16:04.436 the final five classes, or even the final twenty nine 0:16:04.476 --> 0:16:07.996 point nine to nine classes does not alter your impression 0:16:08.156 --> 0:16:12.796 about the teacher. Our evaluations of other people are front loaded. 0:16:13.356 --> 0:16:16.436 That's why, correctly, our parents told us again and again 0:16:16.716 --> 0:16:19.796 about the value of making a good first impression. But 0:16:19.876 --> 0:16:24.796 our evaluation of stories is the opposite. It's backloaded. What 0:16:24.916 --> 0:16:28.236 happens in the last five minutes colors every conclusion we 0:16:28.356 --> 0:16:31.196 drew in the first two hours. Now, why is this? 0:16:31.596 --> 0:16:34.356 I have no idea, but I will guarantee you that 0:16:34.436 --> 0:16:38.916 every screenwriter and author and podcaster frets endlessly about how 0:16:38.956 --> 0:16:43.516 their stories begin, rewrites the beginning a million times, but 0:16:43.596 --> 0:16:47.796 aren't nearly as fastidious about the ending, which is nuts. 0:16:48.396 --> 0:16:52.956 We're all idiots, with the exception, of course, of micro biglail. 0:16:55.676 --> 0:17:09.996 When we come back endings Part two, a week after 0:17:10.036 --> 0:17:12.356 we did our town hall show, we took the train 0:17:12.436 --> 0:17:16.316 down to Philadelphia, rented out the Filmore Theater, eight cheese steaks, 0:17:16.476 --> 0:17:19.196 got into the mood, and for the opening of the 0:17:19.196 --> 0:17:22.396 Philly show, I decided to reflect back on some of 0:17:22.476 --> 0:17:28.236 revisionist history's most and least successful endings. What we're talking 0:17:28.276 --> 0:17:32.916 about tonight is endings, because I happen to be obsessed 0:17:32.916 --> 0:17:36.636 with endings. If I'm watching a movie and you know, 0:17:36.716 --> 0:17:39.036 three quarters the way through there's just too many balls 0:17:39.036 --> 0:17:39.836 in the air, I'm. 0:17:41.396 --> 0:17:41.556 Out. 0:17:42.516 --> 0:17:44.556 I'm not going to be party to that kind of 0:17:45.116 --> 0:17:50.716 destruction of the narrative form. You know, I can go 0:17:50.756 --> 0:17:53.196 on forever about this, and we will, actually this evening 0:17:53.236 --> 0:17:56.556 be going on forever about this. But you know, the 0:17:56.836 --> 0:17:59.236 crucial distinction in my mind is a distinction between an 0:17:59.236 --> 0:18:03.156 anecdote and a story. An anecdote is a narrative that 0:18:03.836 --> 0:18:10.436 conforms with your expectations. So the braasiest thing happened to 0:18:10.476 --> 0:18:12.836 me last night I found one hundred dollars bill on 0:18:12.876 --> 0:18:15.636 the street. That is not a story. That is an anecdote. 0:18:15.956 --> 0:18:19.436 The first sentence, craziest thing happened is the equal of 0:18:19.476 --> 0:18:23.956 the second sentence, one hundred dollar bill on the street. Right. 0:18:25.516 --> 0:18:30.276 A story, by contrast, is a narrative that betrays the 0:18:30.356 --> 0:18:35.916 audience's expectations. So a story would be the craziest thing 0:18:36.676 --> 0:18:38.836 happened to me last night. I found one hundred dollars 0:18:38.916 --> 0:18:41.956 bill on the street. I gave it to a tried 0:18:41.956 --> 0:18:44.316 to give it to a homeless man, and he said, 0:18:44.476 --> 0:18:48.596 I don't want your effing money. That's a story, right. 0:18:48.836 --> 0:18:52.516 It betrayed your expectation. That's not how you expected it 0:18:52.556 --> 0:18:56.876 to end. And the challenge of Revision's history is we 0:18:56.916 --> 0:18:59.436 always want to tell a story. We always wanted some 0:18:59.476 --> 0:19:04.236 way to betray our audience's expectations. So I wanted to 0:19:04.236 --> 0:19:06.876 give you a couple of examples of how we approach 0:19:06.996 --> 0:19:09.036 that at Revision's History. You know, a couple years of 0:19:09.396 --> 0:19:12.916 seasons ago, we did an episode called Free Brian Williams, 0:19:13.276 --> 0:19:14.796 which some of you will remember. 0:19:15.596 --> 0:19:15.996 And. 0:19:17.436 --> 0:19:19.716 You'll remember Brian Williams was the NBC anchor who was 0:19:19.716 --> 0:19:22.716 fired from his job because he went on Letterman one 0:19:22.796 --> 0:19:24.796 night and he told a story about being in a 0:19:24.836 --> 0:19:28.396 helicopter during the Gulf War, flying low over the desert 0:19:28.436 --> 0:19:30.556 and he was fired upon by the enemy and he 0:19:30.636 --> 0:19:34.596 was terrified, And then turns out he wasn't fired on, 0:19:35.396 --> 0:19:38.516 And so all kinds of people brought this up and 0:19:38.756 --> 0:19:41.556 called him a liar and a self aggrandizing and he 0:19:41.716 --> 0:19:44.956 was for he was forced out of his job. And 0:19:45.756 --> 0:19:47.756 if you've listened to it, the whole episode of the 0:19:47.796 --> 0:19:50.316 Defense of Brian Williams, it's a sort of argument about 0:19:50.356 --> 0:19:53.636 memory that says that our memory, particularly in high stakes 0:19:53.676 --> 0:19:57.316 moments like that, is profoundly flawed, and all of us 0:19:57.436 --> 0:20:00.956 make mistakes of memory along the lines of Brian Williams. 0:20:01.036 --> 0:20:03.676 So he wasn't a self a grand advertising liar, he 0:20:03.756 --> 0:20:07.836 was just a human being. And now none of that, 0:20:07.916 --> 0:20:10.996 of course, trace the expectations of the audience. 0:20:11.036 --> 0:20:11.196 Right. 0:20:11.276 --> 0:20:13.556 The show's called Free Williams. Brian Williams. You know I'm 0:20:13.556 --> 0:20:17.716 going to defend Brian Williams. But here's how it ended. 0:20:17.796 --> 0:20:20.796 It's a clip of the very end of the show. 0:20:21.116 --> 0:20:26.036 It's a clip of Brian Williams apologizing for his mistake 0:20:27.356 --> 0:20:28.076 looking back. 0:20:28.356 --> 0:20:32.276 It had to have been ego that made me think 0:20:32.316 --> 0:20:40.316 I had to be sharper, funnier, quicker than anybody else, 0:20:41.116 --> 0:20:45.436 put myself closer to the action, having been at the 0:20:45.476 --> 0:20:46.916 action in the beginning. 0:20:48.636 --> 0:20:53.276 Oh, please stop apologizing for a crime you didn't commit. 0:20:54.636 --> 0:20:59.996 Free Brian Williams. Yeah, do you see the betrayal there? 0:21:00.676 --> 0:21:03.036 You thought this was a defense of Brian Williams. But 0:21:03.116 --> 0:21:04.996 the last thing I do in the entire episode is 0:21:05.036 --> 0:21:10.836 attack Brian Williams for not defending himself. He's not a liar, 0:21:10.916 --> 0:21:12.716 but he's a coward. 0:21:12.836 --> 0:21:13.796 You didn't do anything wrong. 0:21:14.276 --> 0:21:18.516 Stand up for yourself, big man. Stop all right. Now, 0:21:20.076 --> 0:21:21.956 we don't always pull this out. There are times when 0:21:22.036 --> 0:21:25.636 the endings don't work. And a really good example of 0:21:25.676 --> 0:21:27.476 this is we did an episode last season called I 0:21:27.476 --> 0:21:32.396 Love You. Weimo which was you know. Weimo is a 0:21:32.396 --> 0:21:34.836 division of Google that makes autonomous cars, the kind that 0:21:34.956 --> 0:21:39.396 drive themselves, and they have them in Phoenix. You can 0:21:39.436 --> 0:21:41.236 go to Phoenix and you can order a Weimo and 0:21:41.276 --> 0:21:43.916 it just shows up the snow driver and you hop in. 0:21:44.396 --> 0:21:46.836 And so we went there, many of my producer, Jacob, 0:21:46.876 --> 0:21:50.676 and we drove around these Wemos, and our whole point 0:21:50.676 --> 0:21:52.996 was that people worry about autonomous cars because they think 0:21:53.036 --> 0:21:54.756 that they are will make a mistake, you know, and 0:21:54.836 --> 0:21:58.636 run over pedestrians. They think they're imperfect, but that's actually 0:21:58.836 --> 0:22:03.436 completely wrong. The problem with autonomous cars is that they're perfect. 0:22:03.916 --> 0:22:06.276 They don't make mistakes. I mean, they got twenty cameras 0:22:06.316 --> 0:22:09.836 and light ar and radar. They're so perfect that they 0:22:09.876 --> 0:22:14.236 allow everyone else to misbehave so that if you're if 0:22:14.236 --> 0:22:17.796 you see it, if you're a jaywalk, you want to 0:22:17.996 --> 0:22:20.116 you want to cross the street, and you see a 0:22:20.116 --> 0:22:24.676 Weimo coming, you just jaywalk. Because you know it will stop, right, 0:22:25.156 --> 0:22:27.716 It's perfect. And if you're a kid and you're playing 0:22:27.796 --> 0:22:29.596 soccer in the middle of the street with your friends 0:22:29.596 --> 0:22:34.036 and a Weimo comes, you keep playing soccer. You don't move. 0:22:34.236 --> 0:22:37.676 And if you're a cyclist and you want to cycle 0:22:37.676 --> 0:22:40.956 to work down, I'm ninety five. You cycle to work 0:22:40.956 --> 0:22:44.356 Down ninety five because the Weimo will drive very patiently 0:22:44.556 --> 0:22:48.796 behind you. It's not ever. So it's been sold to 0:22:48.876 --> 0:22:53.476 us by Silicon Valley as this kind of epical technological breakthrough. 0:22:53.756 --> 0:22:57.036 It's not. It's it's a complete non starter. You can't 0:22:57.116 --> 0:23:01.316 drive a Weimo through any urban area because people are 0:23:01.356 --> 0:23:04.076 just gonna go nuts when they see the Weimo. So 0:23:04.676 --> 0:23:07.316 we thought the Weimo was the I Love you Weimo 0:23:07.516 --> 0:23:12.716 was sarcastic. Right, So here's how it ends. Jacob and 0:23:12.756 --> 0:23:15.196 I we order a Weimo to this park, to this 0:23:15.316 --> 0:23:20.156 parking lot of uh the Almo Steakhouse in Tempe, Arizona, 0:23:20.316 --> 0:23:23.556 and it comes and then we just start forget my language, 0:23:23.876 --> 0:23:28.516 fucking with the weymow and we throw beach balls at it, 0:23:28.596 --> 0:23:31.036 and it like a four dollars beach ball, and it 0:23:31.116 --> 0:23:34.476 just stops because it's Weymo. It's like super polite, not 0:23:34.636 --> 0:23:38.396