Speaker 1: On the Bechdel Cast. The questions asked if movies have
Speaker 1: women and them, are all their discussions just boyfriends and husbands,
Speaker 1: or do they have individualism? It's the patriarchy, Zephyn Beast
Speaker 1: start changing with the Bechdel Cast.
Speaker 2: Jamie, a drum roll please? Okay, here we are at
Speaker 2: the Bechdel Cast episode of Wait, the lights are not
Speaker 2: the lights are not? Shoot? Oh no, I guess I
Speaker 2: don't understand electricity.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Bechdel Cast. My name is Jamie Loftus.
Speaker 2: My name is Caitlin Dante, and this is our show
Speaker 2: where we examine movies through an intersectional feminist lens, using
Speaker 2: the Bechdel test simply as a jumping off point for
Speaker 2: a larger discussion about representation and stuff.
Speaker 1: Ain't that the freaking truth? And here we are at
Speaker 1: the end of the holiday season. I'll say it, we're
Speaker 1: scraping the bottom of the barrel in terms of holiday
Speaker 1: classics at this point. I think next year we're gonna
Speaker 1: have to really figure out something something.
Speaker 2: Okay, I feel like every year we kind of come
Speaker 2: up on this, but I thought of a whole new
Speaker 2: list of things that we haven't covered. We haven't done
Speaker 2: the Last Holiday with Queen Latifah. Oh true.
Speaker 1: True.
Speaker 2: The thing is that there's a bunch of like eighties
Speaker 2: and nineties movies that you might not be like as
Speaker 2: familiar with, but they were like pretty big, like cultural
Speaker 2: moments of like Scrooged.
Speaker 1: I feel like we've almost done Scrooged, like for eight
Speaker 1: years in a row. Yeah, listeners, if there is a
Speaker 1: holiday movie that we haven't covered, I would absolutely love
Speaker 1: to know, because Netflix is just not churning out the
Speaker 1: slop like they used to.
Speaker 2: They're just not and it's a damn shame.
Speaker 1: I hate to see that.
Speaker 2: We did a poll recently for matrons to kind of
Speaker 2: vote on what other holiday movie we would do this month,
Speaker 2: and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation one, which is why we're
Speaker 2: doing that today. But then there's also movies like Ghosts
Speaker 2: of Girlfriends Past that is a I think vague Christmas
Speaker 2: Carol adaptation something like that.
Speaker 1: I confuse it with my super ex Girlfriends, so I
Speaker 1: actually don't know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I have seen Ghost of Girlfriends Past and retained
Speaker 2: very little of it, but that is a Christmas time movie.
Speaker 2: Then you've got Black Christmas. There's the original from the seventies,
Speaker 2: as well as the remake. There's in Bruges, which is
Speaker 2: a Christmas time we forget.
Speaker 1: That that is technically yes.
Speaker 2: And then we've also got The Long Kiss good Night,
Speaker 2: which not enough people voted for, but it's a fun
Speaker 2: action romp starring Geena Davis forgetting like she like doesn't
Speaker 2: remember that she used to be a spy, like an assassin.
Speaker 1: See this sounds good, it's awesome. I have not seen
Speaker 1: but yeah, I was like you had me at Gena
Speaker 1: Davis like say no more exactly.
Speaker 2: And Samuel L. Jackson is in it, like hello, say.
Speaker 1: No more again?
Speaker 2: Like this rocks. So there's more. There's more movies to cover. Well,
Speaker 2: there's no shortage.
Speaker 1: There's more, but you know what I mean. Sometimes it's
Speaker 1: just like what, Okay, what we're saying is this is
Speaker 1: the Bechdel cast. Yeah, you know, I would say, don't
Speaker 1: worry too much about the Bechdel test when it comes
Speaker 1: to this movie. Oh, it doesn't technically pass in a
Speaker 1: few passing moments. However, spiritually you know it doesn't. And
Speaker 1: that's the episode. But if in case you're wondering. The
Speaker 1: Bechdel test is a media metric created by queer cartoonist
Speaker 1: Alison Bechdel often called the Bechdel Wallace Test because it
Speaker 1: was in fact co created with Alison Bechdel and her
Speaker 1: friend Liz Wallace. It was originally created as a joke,
Speaker 1: one off joke, in Bechdel's iconic comic collection Dikes To
Speaker 1: Watch Out For. It was originally centered specifically on why
Speaker 1: there was no representation of queer women, but it was
Speaker 1: later sort of straightify for the mainstream. And the version
Speaker 1: of the test that we use requires that two characters
Speaker 1: of a marginalized gender with names speak to each other
Speaker 1: about something other than a man for more than two
Speaker 1: lines of dialogue. And today we are covering a movie
Speaker 1: that it's so interesting. I feel like it sort of
Speaker 1: straddles worlds we've covered before, but I don't think we've
Speaker 1: ever This is the first thing we've covered in the
Speaker 1: National Lampoon EU, right, the nl EU, because there's like
Speaker 1: twelve of these movies that range like forty years, which
Speaker 1: I kind of did not remember.
Speaker 2: Right, because there's a bunch of movies specifically in this
Speaker 2: like vacation series where the Griswold family goes on some
Speaker 2: kind of vacation and then you've got like National Lampoons,
Speaker 2: Animal House.
Speaker 1: They were making these things as late as twenty fifteen.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, yeah, I've got I've got some nl
Speaker 1: EU lore to share. It's not particularly interesting, but it
Speaker 1: just is like it's historically they were making these movies
Speaker 1: for nearly forty years. But I think these are sort
Speaker 1: of outside of Animal House. The vacation movies appear to
Speaker 1: be the more famous ones, but we're covering of course,
Speaker 1: it's that time of the year, Christmas vacation. Yeah, even
Speaker 1: though I feel like vacation is a bit of a stretch.
Speaker 2: They're at home, it's a staycation.
Speaker 1: It's a staycation, and it's a movie.
Speaker 2: And we watched it.
Speaker 1: But caven, what's your history with this?
Speaker 2: So I have seen this before, probably one time as
Speaker 2: a young person, and remembered very little. I remembered vague
Speaker 2: moments of like they get stuck under the log truck.
Speaker 1: That was kind of thrilling. I have to say, the
Speaker 1: log truck. It was like movies from the eighties and nineties.
Speaker 1: I was like, damn, they were just destroying cars. It's
Speaker 1: kind of fun. They really did do that a lot. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is also a stunt that happens in the first
Speaker 1: Fest and the Furious movie where they're like little Hondas
Speaker 1: drive under a big rig. Wow, brave of you to say,
Speaker 1: and very true.
Speaker 2: I mean, I call it like I see it. I
Speaker 2: remember that. It's not even that I like had that memory.
Speaker 2: But as soon as I was watching this movie, I
Speaker 2: was like, oh, that is familiar to me. I have
Speaker 2: seen this before. Other moments, like when he staples his
Speaker 2: sleeve to the roof, I was like, oh, yeah, that
Speaker 2: is familiar. But there was a moment that I thought
Speaker 2: was in this movie that I very distinctly remembered, which
Speaker 2: was there's a scene where they're driving in the car
Speaker 2: and an elderly relative is with them in the back seat,
Speaker 2: and then the kids realize that she's dead and they're
Speaker 2: like kind of flopping her body back and forth. So
Speaker 2: that does not take.
Speaker 1: Place in this It was like, excuse me, well.
Speaker 2: I thought this was in this movie, but this is
Speaker 2: another National Lampoon Vacation movie that I was confusing it with.
Speaker 2: I think that one that I'm referring to, I think
Speaker 2: it's just called National Lampoon's Vacation. Okay, listeners, If I'm
Speaker 2: incorrect about this, let me know, but I had this memory.
Speaker 2: I was like, Oh, I can't wait for the part
Speaker 2: where the dead relative is in the back of the car,
Speaker 2: and then it never happened in Christmas Vacation, so I
Speaker 2: was like, oh, guess it's a different movie. So wow, Gaslighting.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I basically remembered nothing about this movie. I'm
Speaker 2: not a big National lampoon head, not a big chevy
Speaker 2: Chase head. He's my least favorite character from Community. I
Speaker 2: was about to.
Speaker 1: Say, my entry point for chevy Chase was community, and therefore.
Speaker 2: I'm you're so young.
Speaker 1: I'm very youthful. But I just I feel like people
Speaker 1: whose entry point for chevy Chasse was community have been
Speaker 1: socially conditioned to hate him, and it seems like kind
Speaker 1: of rightfully.
Speaker 2: So yeah, he doesn't seem like a I mean, I
Speaker 2: don't know how he is as a person. I don't
Speaker 2: know his politics or anything like that.
Speaker 1: I don't know what his politics are. I just know
Speaker 1: that he's like a famously a monster to his coworkers.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, well then fuck him.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I believe he is a freakin lib He goes
Speaker 1: blue no matter who. So it's not his politics. I
Speaker 1: have quite as much issue with as much as just like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure if I'm remembering correctly, I'm gonna check
Speaker 1: this really quick. But he like had beef with every
Speaker 1: single person on the set of Community, which is why
Speaker 1: he wasn't on the show the whole time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think they kill him off. I want to
Speaker 2: say at some point, yes.
Speaker 1: Oh so okay, sorry this is unpleasant, but so chevy
Speaker 1: Chase was fired from Community after he said a racial
Speaker 1: slur on set. So he is a confirmed bad person.
Speaker 2: Okay, well yeah, fuck him straight to hell.
Speaker 1: Donald Glover has spoken about I'm pulling from a Variety
Speaker 1: article from last year, from twenty twenty three. Yeah, that
Speaker 1: chevy Chase was removed from the show for literally the
Speaker 1: safety and like comfort of the cast. Didn't remember the
Speaker 1: extent to which he's a wants, but he is.
Speaker 2: He sucks. So yeah, this movie wasn't really going to
Speaker 2: appeal to me, and so when I rewatched it to
Speaker 2: prep for this episode, I was like, Yep, this movie
Speaker 2: is not for me. Maybe if I had more of
Speaker 2: a nostalgic attachment to it or something. And I get
Speaker 2: that a lot of people do, and you'll just have
Speaker 2: to be ready for us to dunk on it. But
Speaker 2: that's our job. There you go, Jamie. What's your history
Speaker 2: with the movie.
Speaker 1: I haven't seen this damn thing. I remember the second
Speaker 1: wave of national lampoon movies. I remember, you know, hearing
Speaker 1: titles like Van Wilder. You know, Circulary that is a
Speaker 1: national lampoon thing, right, It's like it made it all
Speaker 1: the way to young Ryan Reynolds. Here is some more
Speaker 1: recent titles, more recent, I mean last twenty or so years,
Speaker 1: Van Wilder, Van Wilder, The Rise of Taj, which is
Speaker 1: a cal Pen character. I guess, okay, let's see what else.
Speaker 1: And then yeah, for some reason, there was another one
Speaker 1: in twenty fifteen, which stars Ed Helms as a grown
Speaker 1: up Russ, which is interesting because Russ is played by.
Speaker 2: Johnny GLUCKI, who is a working actor.
Speaker 1: Like a MULTIHI millionaire. It's Leonard for crying out loud,
Speaker 1: So I don't know why Leonard did. I mean, honestly,
Speaker 1: it would be interesting if Johnny Glucky's like, here's where
Speaker 1: I draw the line, and not the Big Bang theory
Speaker 1: whatever these movies were coming out for. And then there
Speaker 1: was another Randy Quaid one in two thousand and three
Speaker 1: Christmas Vacation two cousin Eddie's Island Adventure.
Speaker 2: Who wants that?
Speaker 1: I don't think anyone, because I certainly have never heard
Speaker 1: of it. At least I heard of Van Wilder. I
Speaker 1: think that was successful. Anyways, this is a whole eu. Yeah. No,
Speaker 1: but I had not seen any of these movies. They
Speaker 1: were not shown in my household. We just like weren't
Speaker 1: a big like John Hughes's Household.
Speaker 2: No.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Chevy Chase is a piece of shit, Randy Quaid,
Speaker 1: don't even get me started. However, I do think that
Speaker 1: this is like an interesting piece of kind of like
Speaker 1: moment in time cultural stuff. This movie feels so eighties
Speaker 1: in its presentation of like an upper middle class that
Speaker 1: no longer exists. Yeah, it's interesting. I'm excited to talk
Speaker 1: about that sort of aspect of it. Yeah, and it's
Speaker 1: a very John Hughes. It is weird that, like, once
Speaker 1: I read that this was based on a story that
Speaker 1: John Hughes had written about the late fifties, it made
Speaker 1: much more sense to me because I don't think that
Speaker 1: this world even existed in the eighties. This is like
Speaker 1: post World War two middle class sort of politics. It's weird.
Speaker 2: I couldn't even place it. I was like, maybe that's
Speaker 2: just what Chicago suburbs were like back then, growing up
Speaker 2: in a very small rural town. I'm just like, I
Speaker 2: don't know what suburbs are like. I would never go
Speaker 2: to one. Is this what it is? I have no idea,
Speaker 2: so I don't even I don't even know.
Speaker 1: I'm unclear on that as well, like because this is
Speaker 1: like a class that neither of us were ever a
Speaker 1: part of, and I know that there's so much movie
Speaker 1: fed versions of it. Also, I mean, we had a
Speaker 1: more detailed version of this conversation in our Matreon Ferris
Speaker 1: Bueller episode. But John Hughes also kind of like a
Speaker 1: right wing kind of guy. This movie does feel conservative coded,
Speaker 1: I would say yes. Anyways, there were a few things
Speaker 1: that got me. I liked that Julia Louis Dreyfuss is
Speaker 1: in this movie, for example, I like kind of the
Speaker 1: like it's very low hanging fruit, but the kind of
Speaker 1: like wasp criticism like bits with that couple is kind
Speaker 1: of funny. My mom introduced me to a term over
Speaker 1: the summer that like my brother and I kept laughing
Speaker 1: because we thought she was like she was unwell, have
Speaker 1: you heard of the phrase dinks No, oh my god.
Speaker 1: So I also hadn't, and my brother and I were laughing,
Speaker 1: were like, Mom, what's wrong with you? Dink is I
Speaker 1: guess like coated with this sort of yuppy culture of
Speaker 1: the ragged era. It's an acronym that stands for double
Speaker 1: income no kids dnk oh.
Speaker 2: I've heard that full expression, but I haven't heard it
Speaker 2: abbreviated as dink.
Speaker 1: Well, of course, because it sounds ridiculous. But yeah, my
Speaker 1: mom was like, oh, those dinks. I was like, what
Speaker 1: do you say? So that's what's going on with Julia
Speaker 1: Louis Dreyfus.
Speaker 2: She's a dance yes, yes.
Speaker 1: As is her right. Anyways, this movie was like, I
Speaker 1: don't know, it felt longer than it was. I will say,
Speaker 1: if you grew up with this movie, I understand why
Speaker 1: it might feel like a warm blanket in the same
Speaker 1: way that like a Christmas Story isn't my favorite, but
Speaker 1: I get why people like it. It's a series of
Speaker 1: like you can leave the room for twenty minutes and
Speaker 1: comeback and be able to understand what's going on. Every scene.
Speaker 1: Chevy Chase is either like oie or I'm horny and
Speaker 1: that's the whole movie. That's like, you know, if you're
Speaker 1: drunk on eggnog, then live, laugh, love. I thought it
Speaker 1: was interesting. Angela Battlamente did this score for this.
Speaker 2: Oh I'm not familiar.
Speaker 1: He most famously worked with David Lynch. He did like
Speaker 1: the whole theme for Twin Peaks. He's like a very
Speaker 1: oh yeah, like blue velvet like. He did very iconic
Speaker 1: scores and then he also did the xylophone when Chevy
Speaker 1: Chase gets bunked on the head.
Speaker 2: All right, yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1: This movie was like, maybe it won't make for a
Speaker 1: great episode because I struggle to conjure a strong feeling
Speaker 1: about this movie. I didn't like it. I get what
Speaker 1: others do, and I probably won't watch it ever again.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I was hanging out with our mutual friend Brian
Speaker 2: last night and we were like what movie should we watch?
Speaker 2: And I was like, well, I have to watch National
Speaker 2: Lampoon's Christmas Vacation for work and he's like no, thanks,
Speaker 2: So instead we were like, okay, well, what's another maybe
Speaker 2: like Christmasy movie or what should we watch instead? And
Speaker 2: Gremlins came up, not as something we really wanted to watch,
Speaker 2: but We're like, oh, that's another Christmas movie, And then
Speaker 2: we both realized we had never seen Gremlins two, and
Speaker 2: then we watched that.
Speaker 1: We should have covered that.
Speaker 2: It is my new favorite movie I love, and I've
Speaker 2: already been a longtime fan of the Key and Peel
Speaker 2: Gremlins two sketch.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's a classic, even if you don't know
Speaker 1: what they're talking about, which I don't.
Speaker 2: Which I never did, but it was still so funny.
Speaker 2: And now that I have seen Gremlins two and it's
Speaker 2: like further contextualized, I love it even more. I love
Speaker 2: the sketch even more. But now I also love the
Speaker 2: movie Gremlins too. It rocks so hard. I don't care
Speaker 2: what anyone says. It's awesome. It should have swept the
Speaker 2: Oscars that year. It's the best movie I've ever seen anyway,
Speaker 2: So let's cover it a different time. Okay, So, yeah,
Speaker 2: we're not a fan of this movie. Shall we take
Speaker 2: a break and then come back for the recap?
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's do it all right, and we're freaking back.
Speaker 1: I guess we should have said really quickly. So this movie, yeah,
Speaker 1: movie written by John Hughes, directed by a guy named
Speaker 1: Jeremiah s Checchik, who I gotta say, not much to
Speaker 1: say about him, not much is known, hopefully he's a
Speaker 1: nice guy. And it's connected to obviously National Lampoon Magazine,
Speaker 1: which I have more on in the contact section, but
Speaker 1: that's where we're coming into.
Speaker 2: Yes, and as you hinted at, it's a movie with
Speaker 2: just not exactly sketches, but it's just like little moments,
Speaker 2: little vignettes of like the things that the family is
Speaker 2: getting up to, except it's mostly just what Clark Griswold
Speaker 2: is getting up to.
Speaker 1: And what he's getting up to is aUI or Boner Corny.
Speaker 1: Those are his two settings, aUI and Boner huh. And
Speaker 1: we love that he's the last family man, as is
Speaker 1: a line of dialogue.
Speaker 2: Sure, okay, So we open on an animated sequence featuring
Speaker 2: Santa Claus Ever heard of him? He is visiting the
Speaker 2: home of the Griswold family on Christmas Eve and then
Speaker 2: chaos ensues.
Speaker 1: I kind of miss this is something I miss? Is
Speaker 1: the animated intro?
Speaker 2: Oh sure, yeah, whatever happened to them anyway? Then we
Speaker 2: meet the Griswold family who are in the car on
Speaker 2: their way to get a Christmas tree. The dad is
Speaker 2: Clark played by Chevy Chase. The mom is Ellen played
Speaker 2: by Beverly DiAngelo. They have a teen daughter named Audrey
Speaker 2: played by Juliet Lewis, and a like I don't know,
Speaker 2: twelve ish year old son, Russ, played by a young
Speaker 2: Johnny Glecky. As we mentioned, there's this whole thing with
Speaker 2: like a pickup truck that's like driving like an asshole,
Speaker 2: and then a huge logging truck that Clark gets stuck
Speaker 2: under in their car. A lot of high jinks, a
Speaker 2: lot of road high jinks, and then they end up
Speaker 2: in the wilderness where they take an enormous tree that
Speaker 2: looks like it's like three stories tall from the forest
Speaker 2: and then they put it up in their living room somehow. Sure,
Speaker 2: so there's that. Then Ellen tells Clark that her parents
Speaker 2: are coming to visit for the holidays. Clark's parents are
Speaker 2: also planning to come, and these two sides of the
Speaker 2: family don't really get along, so Ellen wonders if they
Speaker 2: should change their plans and do something else, but Clark
Speaker 2: is like, no, it's my dream to have a big
Speaker 2: family gathering for Christmas.
Speaker 1: But don't worry, he won't be doing very much.
Speaker 2: To make it happen, he will be stapling lights on
Speaker 2: the roof.
Speaker 1: Yes, he does the lights, but he'll do it one
Speaker 1: very complixent This actually does feel kind of I'm painting
Speaker 1: with a broadbrush hair. But this is kind of like
Speaker 1: father coded behavior to me to do one incredibly complicated
Speaker 1: thing that no one asked for or wants, while the
Speaker 1: mother is tasked with all of the childcare and doing
Speaker 1: the things that people both want and need, such as.
Speaker 2: Eating food yeah yeah, correct.
Speaker 1: And wrapping gifts and you know, all of the things
Speaker 1: that are required versus the thing.
Speaker 2: That nobody wantss at all. Yeah. Yeah, That is the
Speaker 2: whole narrative of this movie. Okay, so then we see
Speaker 2: Clark at work. He is counting on his holiday bonus
Speaker 2: because he wants to install a pool and he's already
Speaker 2: put down a seventy five hundred dollars deposit on the
Speaker 2: like installation of a swimming pool, but his asshole boss
Speaker 2: played by Brian Doyle Murray has not sent out the
Speaker 2: holiday bonus checks yet, so Clark is kind of panicking.
Speaker 1: It must really suck being the simil looking sibling of
Speaker 1: a famous person, because they do just look like Brian
Speaker 1: Doyle Murray to me just looks like uncanny Valley Bill Murray.
Speaker 1: I wonder if like he and I mean is he.
Speaker 1: I feel like he's probably dead, right, he was old
Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty nine.
Speaker 2: I don't know if he's still living.
Speaker 1: Let's see. Oh no, he's alive. He's alive. He's alive
Speaker 1: and he's seventy nine years old. He should meet up
Speaker 1: with like Haley Duff and like Elle Fanning, and they
Speaker 1: said all like sort of have a kekey about this
Speaker 1: because it has to be like a very disorienting experience. See.
Speaker 2: I think Elle Fanning is now the more I don't
Speaker 2: know if she's the more famous, but she's getting.
Speaker 1: Like more work. That's true. Okay, well then maybe Elle
Speaker 1: Elle's out Haley Duff is it. I'm trying to think
Speaker 1: of a third example of this phenomenon.
Speaker 2: There's Kevin Dylon, who is an Entourage and he's the
Speaker 2: brother of Matt Dlon. Matt Dylan. I was like, what's
Speaker 2: the more famous one's name? Can't remember?
Speaker 1: Wow, good for Kevin Dylan for having the Caitlin Toronte recall.
Speaker 2: It's just because I've seen all those seasons.
Speaker 1: Of Entourage, same with what's the other Oh, there's.
Speaker 2: The Wahlberg's the Donnie Wahlberg.
Speaker 1: Donnie is invited to the last famous sibling party. This
Speaker 1: all sounds like a bad robot check and sketch I
Speaker 1: would have written, like five years ago. You know, that's
Speaker 1: a free idea for whoever whatever hack comedy writers listening
Speaker 1: to this free idea there you don't have that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, anyway, So there's the whole thing with his boss
Speaker 2: and Clark hasn't received the bonus yet, and then he
Speaker 2: goes to a department store for some Christmas shopping, except
Speaker 2: what he does instead is just ogle at the hot
Speaker 2: saleswoman and he's like, uh woo ga hubba hubba.
Speaker 1: And of course the hot sales lady, I don't think
Speaker 1: we get a name, no, And of course she's behaving
Speaker 1: completely apathetical to the way that a human woman who's
Speaker 1: being actively sexually harassed would. She's like, lift her skirt
Speaker 1: up in the middle. This is all very connected to obviously,
Speaker 1: just like garden variety misogyny, but also national lampoon, specifically
Speaker 1: a pin in that.
Speaker 2: Okay, yes, that's okay. So then all of the grandparents
Speaker 2: show up at the Griswold home, and it's chaos. Clark
Speaker 2: starts decorating for Christmas. He's stapling twenty five thousand lights
Speaker 2: onto his house. It looks like shit, if I'm being honest.
Speaker 2: And then with this decorating process, there's all kinds of
Speaker 2: high jinks with the ladder and the stapler, and then
Speaker 2: when he turns the lights on, they don't work, and
Speaker 2: so Clark is so disappointed.
Speaker 1: Oh no.
Speaker 2: And then there's also this running gag with the neighbors,
Speaker 2: and that's the Julia Louis Dreyfus character. And what a
Speaker 2: dank guy is The danks, right, They are very like
Speaker 2: pretentious and they think Clark is a loser. And there's
Speaker 2: this part where while Clark is decorating, a large shard
Speaker 2: of ice goes flying out of his gutter and then
Speaker 2: smashes through the neighbor's window and destroys their stereo.
Speaker 1: Wait, sorry, yeah, I just I didn't. I was not
Speaker 1: familiar with this character. Actor who plays the other Dink,
Speaker 1: the non Julia Lawie drives dank. He's a member of
Speaker 1: the Last Famous Sibling Club. He's Christopher Guest's brother, whoa
Speaker 1: look at that, look at that.
Speaker 2: And that just reminds us that we haven't covered a
Speaker 2: Christopher Guest movie on the podcast, which.
Speaker 1: Makes oh my god, yes, which is wild because I
Speaker 1: think he like might be my favorite comedy director of
Speaker 1: all time.
Speaker 2: Why the hell haven't we done best in show waiting
Speaker 2: for Guffman spinal Tap?
Speaker 1: So look, I mean that's a Matrean theme waiting to happen.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that's I love that man. Anyways, Yes, so
Speaker 1: he's he's joining my Royal Society of lest famous Siblings.
Speaker 2: I can't wait for the first meeting.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be a bummer.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, So then I think it's the next day.
Speaker 2: Clark goes into the attic to hide some gifts, but
Speaker 2: then Ellen's mom closes the attic door, not realizing that
Speaker 2: he's in there, so he's trapped there while the family
Speaker 2: leaves and goes Christmas shopping, And so he passes the
Speaker 2: time watching old reels of family Christmases, which I.
Speaker 1: Guess is a reference to the source material, which is
Speaker 1: a short story about Christmas nineteen fifty nine. So that's
Speaker 1: a fun Easter rag for boring people.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry. Yeah, So he watches that and he's feeling
Speaker 2: very sentimental because this guy freaking loves Christmas. Then the
Speaker 2: decorative Christmas lights thing comes back, where there's this whole
Speaker 2: thing where the lights still won't turn on, but then
Speaker 2: someone finds a light switch and then they do turn on,
Speaker 2: but there's all this confusion because no, no one really
Speaker 2: knows the source of what's making the lights turn on. Also,
Speaker 2: these bright lights going on and off are making the
Speaker 2: mean dinky neighbors pratfall all over their house.
Speaker 1: These dinks, these freaking dinks. I have nothing to say
Speaker 1: about the dinks, I don't think. I just think that
Speaker 1: you're like, oh, they're like, yeah, they're low hanging eighties
Speaker 1: comedy fruit. And I guess they are kind of making
Speaker 1: fun of married couples with no kids, but I feel
Speaker 1: like they're more making fun of the class.
Speaker 2: Like the snobbiness them not having kids, I think is
Speaker 2: commentary on like what selfish adults they are for not,
Speaker 2: you know, pro creating and having a nuclear family the
Speaker 2: way that you're supposed to in America kind of thing.
Speaker 1: I agree, But I also think it's like they're coded
Speaker 1: as so like snobby, wealthy that I feel like it
Speaker 1: almost like I don't know, for me, at least, it
Speaker 1: like kind of leveled out in terms of like it's
Speaker 1: ultimately saying not very much.
Speaker 2: Right, Well, this movie has an interesting approach to class
Speaker 2: where the movie does not like rich people, which we
Speaker 2: see with the Neighbors and with the Boss, but the
Speaker 2: movie also hates poor people, and it deems the middle
Speaker 2: class is the only acceptable socioeconomic class.
Speaker 1: To be in, which is very jarring watching in a
Speaker 1: modern context because I think to most people, the Griswolds,
Speaker 1: they are like living what is now considered to be
Speaker 1: a wealthy lifestyle. Their homeowners they have a ton that
Speaker 1: they have room to host like ten people at their house.
Speaker 1: You're like, they're living in what would be a multi
Speaker 1: million dollar house.
Speaker 2: Now they're about to have a swimming pool maybe like
Speaker 2: there is he already put down the down payment, he.
Speaker 1: Had the money for the down payment. Where I fit
Speaker 1: now in you know, like we're not living in flush
Speaker 1: times and so, you know, I'm sure this was unrealistic
Speaker 1: for the time as well, but it's like, you know,
Speaker 1: thirty almost thirty years on, like or more than thirty
Speaker 1: years on, all the more unrealistic because you're like, well,
Speaker 1: what second, you guys are rich, but they're sort of yeah,
Speaker 1: presented as these middle class heroes in a way that
Speaker 1: I'm sure was more realistic at the time, but I'm
Speaker 1: not totally assold that it would have been totally realistic
Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty nine to be like, I'm just a
Speaker 1: normal guy, and meanwhile, you have like a three floorhouse
Speaker 1: that you own. Come on, come on, But yes, the
Speaker 1: hatred of the poor is brutal.
Speaker 2: You will talk more about it. Yeah, I just did
Speaker 2: an inflation calculation for seventy five hundred dollars, which is
Speaker 2: what he did for the down payment on the swimming pool.
Speaker 2: So adjusted for inflation, seventy five hundred dollars in eighty
Speaker 2: nine is almost twenty thousand dollars in twenty twenty four money.
Speaker 2: So he just had twenty thousand lying around dollars.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but he's a working class hero, like you know.
Speaker 1: And the thing that's frustrating is like, yes, this should
Speaker 1: be a lifestyle that is accessible with the far more
Speaker 1: people than it is, like you know, and even the
Speaker 1: whole like I felt myself being mad at tiv Chase,
Speaker 1: which it was so bisguy was like he wants this
Speaker 1: bonus for this pool, and you're like, fuck you man,
Speaker 1: Like it's hard not But then you're also like, well,
Speaker 1: everyone deserves a holiday bonus. I feel like we're also
Speaker 1: like modern times pilled with like, I don't know, like
Speaker 1: I just feel inherently resentful looking at people from the
Speaker 1: past having more than we will ever have in our lives.
Speaker 1: But that's just modernity, baby.
Speaker 2: That's late stage capitalism.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I hope everyone I've never gotten a
Speaker 1: holiday bons my damn life. I think Grant got a
Speaker 1: thirty five dollars best Buy gift certificate last year. Oh
Speaker 1: my god. Wow, night on the town. Let's go.
Speaker 2: You can buy one DVD with that? Are DVD is
Speaker 2: still a thing? Or kidding? What blu ray? All right? Anyway,
Speaker 2: so there's the whole Christmas lights thing again. Then cousin
Speaker 2: Eddie played by Randy Quaid and his family show up
Speaker 2: in their RV and everyone's like, oh wow, what a
Speaker 2: nice surprise. Sure you can stay here, there's plenty of room.
Speaker 2: And again, what's happening here is that this movie hates
Speaker 2: poor people and thinks they are a joke. Yes, Then
Speaker 2: the family goes sledding at night. Okay, yeah, right, what
Speaker 2: sledding at night?
Speaker 1: I've been sledding at night. It's not really patrarian. Yes,
Speaker 1: I've been slutting at night.
Speaker 2: It seems very dangerous.
Speaker 1: Well, we were doing it at I did at my
Speaker 1: cousins with my cousins, but it was like at like
Speaker 1: a designated area, Like it wasn't just like, yeah, that
Speaker 1: would have been scary, but there was like I don't
Speaker 1: know where this would have been, but there was like
Speaker 1: a designated area for late night sliding where they had
Speaker 1: like big floodlights and stuff, so you couldn't just like
Speaker 1: soar into the abyss or whatever.
Speaker 2: Okay, there's doesn't seem to be lights at wherever they
Speaker 2: are or not significant ones. So and then Clark greases
Speaker 2: up his sled because he works for some It reminded
Speaker 2: me of Eddie Murphy's job in Daddy Don's Care.
Speaker 1: I wrote that down too, where I was like, why
Speaker 1: so many cereal jobs?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Men, these like comedy dads had like a food
Speaker 2: processing breakfast cereal job.
Speaker 1: He's making like corn flake lube or something like. It
Speaker 1: was really weird. And he makes six figures at this
Speaker 1: breakfast job. Wow. Okay, okay, thank you Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2: Anyway, so he greases up his sled with some weird
Speaker 2: food product, and then he goes really really fast down
Speaker 2: the hill and crashes, and that's just another one of
Speaker 2: the little comedy bit that happens in the movie. Then Clark,
Speaker 2: despite him not receiving his Christmas bonus, still he fantasizes
Speaker 2: about the swimming pool that he's planning to buy. And
Speaker 2: this fantasy includes the hot saleswoman from the store from
Speaker 2: earlier taking off her swimsuit and diving into the pool.
Speaker 2: And he's horny, horny, horny, so exhausting.
Speaker 1: I have to say, I was getting really scared. I
Speaker 1: was getting fearful watching that scene that he was going
Speaker 1: because his niece disturbs him, and I thought there was
Speaker 1: gonna be some like horrible bonder do same because he
Speaker 1: turns around because I was like, am I perverse for
Speaker 1: having this anxiety? But I thought he's gonna be like covering,
Speaker 1: Like I didn't think that they were gonna show, you know,
Speaker 1: but like I thought he's gonna be like cut, which
Speaker 1: would have been really gross. They don't. He's flaccid as
Speaker 1: he's having this sexual fancy and so whatever like that.
Speaker 1: That's what I would prefer I guess I would prefer
Speaker 1: to it if not happened at all. But again, that's
Speaker 1: a very National lampooon. I feel like that is almost
Speaker 1: a weird like wink and knot to like what National
Speaker 1: Lampoon was famous for, which was misogynist jokes. Yeah right, yeah,
Speaker 1: so she's just a nameless almost naked but not naked
Speaker 1: enough to make it so that kids couldn't see the movie.
Speaker 1: National Lampoon model essentially.
Speaker 2: Also reminded me there's a similar swimming pool fantasy sequence
Speaker 2: in Is It Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
Speaker 1: Yes, I don't think that's Is that a fantasy though,
Speaker 1: because I think that that.
Speaker 2: Was just like there's a part where and Phoebe Kate's, Yeah,
Speaker 2: Phoebe Kate's, And then I think it's Judge Reinholder. I
Speaker 2: forget which character is having the fantasy, but he's fantasizing
Speaker 2: about her like being really sexy and like doing like
Speaker 2: very like male gaze choreography. But then it cuts to
Speaker 2: what she's actually doing, which is like choking on the
Speaker 2: pool water or something.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Oh right, yes, you see, like the the two
Speaker 1: different versions of it. God, if I was Phoebe Kate's
Speaker 1: I would have gotten the fuck out of Hollywood too.
Speaker 2: Like Phoebe Kase who is one of the stars of
Speaker 2: Gremlins too, my kid.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I didn't well, I just didn't think she would
Speaker 1: come back. Look at that. Wow, I love I love
Speaker 1: that expanded family. I like Kevin Klein, I like her,
Speaker 1: and I love their NEPO daughter. I think I probably
Speaker 1: brought this up when we covered Gremlins, but their neto
Speaker 1: daughter was one of my favorite indie musicians in college.
Speaker 1: Frankie Cosmos.
Speaker 2: Okay, wait, is Phoebe Kate's married to Kevin Klein.
Speaker 1: Yeah, she has been since the eighties. What.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I had no idea.
Speaker 1: So hopefully that means they like each other. It's a
Speaker 1: long time angers, but cross you know many such cases. Anyways, Yes,
Speaker 1: I was reminded of that scene as well. It was
Speaker 1: like if Phoebe Kate's didn't even have a character to
Speaker 1: snap back to, that's what they're doing.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yes, So he's having the day dream, which is
Speaker 2: interrupted by cousin Eddie's young daughter named Ruby Sue, who
Speaker 2: tells Clark that she is skeptical that Santa exists because
Speaker 2: she didn't get any presents last year. And we know
Speaker 2: this is probably because her parents are poor and they
Speaker 2: couldn't afford to buy gifts, so Clark is determined to
Speaker 2: prove to her that Santa does exist aka, presumably he
Speaker 2: and Ellen will give gifts to cousin Eddie's two kids,
Speaker 2: and a big moment is made of this, and yet
Speaker 2: it never pays off. We never see those kids getting gifts. Nope,
Speaker 2: we don't see Clark shopping for the gifts. Nothing.
Speaker 1: We're just told I feel like again, like this, Vivie
Speaker 1: tells us that Clark is a good guy a lot
Speaker 1: and never really shows us.
Speaker 2: There's no evidence on screen.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So cousin Eddie meanwhile is dumping his sewage from
Speaker 2: his RV into the storm drain and that's going to
Speaker 2: pay off. Weird, just unfunny way, but that's happening day.
Speaker 2: Then some more relatives show up. This is Aunt Bethany
Speaker 2: and Uncle Lewis, and there's a lot of jokes to
Speaker 2: the effect of old people are so.
Speaker 1: Clueless, and I'm laughing.
Speaker 2: And that's those characters.
Speaker 1: I'm laughing already, yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. And now it's Christmas Eve and everyone sits
Speaker 2: down for a big family dinner, but it's a disaster.
Speaker 2: The turkey is disgusting. Aunt Bethany's cat and the Christmas
Speaker 2: tree get burnt to a crisp because oh yeah, this
Speaker 2: movie thinks that animal abuse is hilarious as well.
Speaker 1: And even more to the point, I mean, because we
Speaker 1: were just talking about this in our eight Crazy Nights episode.
Speaker 1: Like then, old people are ridiculous, which is really frustrating
Speaker 1: given the like prestige of.
Speaker 2: The actors they have.
Speaker 1: Cassidy's roles, I did a little digging there. Like Aunt
Speaker 1: Bethany is played by actress named May Questelle. This is
Speaker 1: her last film appearance. She's the original voice of Betty
Speaker 1: Boop in Olive Oil. She's a bit of a legend.
Speaker 1: Doris Roberts, who most people will know from Everybody Loves Raymond,
Speaker 1: isn't it. Diane Ladd, who's literally in Chinatown. She has
Speaker 1: like won a shitload of awards, like famous prestige actor,
Speaker 1: like just all of these famous actors, and then they're like, okay,
Speaker 1: so here's the assignment. You're old, and you're annoying, and
Speaker 1: you're just like no respect, no respect, particularly because like
Speaker 1: Diane Ladd is like in her early fifties when this
Speaker 1: movie comes out, and they're already treating her like she's
Speaker 1: a thousand years old.
Speaker 2: Does she play one of the grandparents?
Speaker 1: She plays chevy Chase's mother. Oh okay, while being let's see,
Speaker 1: while being less than ten years older eight years older
Speaker 1: than chevy Chase playing his mother. I just like the
Speaker 1: hatred for women knows no bounds anyways.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay. So all this chaos ensues at the family dinner,
Speaker 2: and then things seem like they're going to turn around
Speaker 2: when Clark finally receives what he thinks is his holiday
Speaker 2: bonus check, but instead it's like a Jelly of the
Speaker 2: Month club. So he throws a fit because now he
Speaker 2: can't afford the swimming pool, and he says that all
Speaker 2: he wants for Christmas is for someone to bring him
Speaker 2: his boss so he can punch him or something. I
Speaker 2: don't know. I was like tuning out during this long
Speaker 2: tirade he's going on.
Speaker 1: Cousin Eddie is like, I'm poor, so I can't detect nuance.
Speaker 2: So seriously, so he leaves and goes to kidnap the boss. Meanwhile, Clark,
Speaker 2: who is still acting berserk, goes outside and cuts down
Speaker 2: a new tree from the yard of their dinky neighbors.
Speaker 2: But oh no, there's a squirrel in the tree and
Speaker 2: it's running around the house and terrorizing the family.
Speaker 1: There's a snake in my boot, more like there's a
Speaker 1: squirrel in my tree exactly. I think this squirrel part
Speaker 1: kind of woke me back up a little bit. I
Speaker 1: do like a good Rodent chase, uh huh. And then
Speaker 1: they lost me again. But for a second, I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: squirrel fun.
Speaker 2: That reminded me of the scene in Monty Python The
Speaker 2: Holy Grail where that like killer Bunny is just sort
Speaker 2: of like flying horizontally across space.
Speaker 1: Like furious Rodent. I'm laughing. I'm laughing.
Speaker 2: It's funny.
Speaker 1: It's good.
Speaker 2: I like Rodent movies, Rattatui, Ratchatowing.
Speaker 1: I guess what I'm saying is I like Rattatui and Rattatowing.
Speaker 1: Those are movies that I like. And so the squirrel
Speaker 1: worked for me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker 1: There is a great wait. I feel like we've talked
Speaker 1: about you continue I need I'm thinking about Rodents for
Speaker 1: a second.
Speaker 2: Okay, we should do Rodent tober Well.
Speaker 1: Okay, because I was looking for I know, I bring
Speaker 1: him up all the time. But Mike's Mike, one of
Speaker 1: my favorite YouTubers. Who made an iconic video called the
Speaker 1: Animated Rodent Agenda of two thousand and six and two
Speaker 1: thousand and seven because there was flushed away over the Hedge,
Speaker 1: Alvin and the Chipmunks and Ratatui back to back to
Speaker 1: back to back, all Rodent centric movies that all did
Speaker 1: well in the space of two years.
Speaker 2: Wild and why is that? It makes you think?
Speaker 1: Anyways, Rodent tober is well within our reach. Does anyone
Speaker 1: want that?
Speaker 2: Thoughts too bad? We're doing it anyway.
Speaker 1: Okay, we're doing it. Cut print done anyway.
Speaker 2: Okay. So there's the squirrel and Clark eventually gets the
Speaker 2: squirrel out of the house, but everyone is just like
Speaker 2: freaked out, mostly by Clark's behavior and the various tie
Speaker 2: raids he's gone on. Yeah, so they try to leave,
Speaker 2: but Clark demands that they all stay, and then cousin
Speaker 2: Eddie shows back up with Clark's boss, who Eddie has
Speaker 2: kidnapped as per Clark's wish earlier, and Clark calls out
Speaker 2: his boss for withholding bonus checks and being a greedy prick,
Speaker 2: and his boss is like, oh, damn, you're right. I
Speaker 2: guess capitalism is bad, and he like has this weird
Speaker 2: redemption and then a bunch of cops show up because
Speaker 2: of this abduction, but the boss is like, no, no, no,
Speaker 2: it's fine, everything's fine. I learned my lesson.
Speaker 1: Classic rich guy, classic rich guy.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, rich people are always regretting exploiting the labor
Speaker 2: famously of people in the classes below them.
Speaker 1: And then he tells his wife, who shows up, who
Speaker 1: I was, Like, I recognize her from something. And what
Speaker 1: I recognize her from is she was on a Star
Speaker 1: Truk show and she's own Star Trek tng in a
Speaker 1: small part a few times.
Speaker 2: Very nice. Yeah, Okay, So then they go outside because
Speaker 2: they spot a shooting star and Clark is like, it's
Speaker 2: the Christmas Star, except it's actually something to do with
Speaker 2: the gas that was created by the raw sewage that
Speaker 2: cousin Eddie dumped down the storm drain and then there's
Speaker 2: a big explosion and the family's like, ha ha ha,
Speaker 2: what a wacky Christmas.
Speaker 1: Now this is like the second sewage plot point in
Speaker 1: a holiday movie we've covered this week on the show
Speaker 1: beauh Yeah. Crazy Nights also has a big sewage Like, guys, come.
Speaker 2: On, let's not have shit.
Speaker 1: I mean, poo poo joke. Can be funny, but neither
Speaker 1: of these are.
Speaker 2: No.
Speaker 1: But thankfully that's the end of the movie.
Speaker 2: That is the end. So let's take a quick break
Speaker 2: and we'll come back to discuss.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're back. I think I kind of said everything
Speaker 1: I already had to about National Lampoon magazine, but I
Speaker 1: did just want to touch on, like if you're not
Speaker 1: familiar with now Lampoon or why it's called these. It
Speaker 1: was a humor humor magazine that existed from nineteen seventy
Speaker 1: to nineteen ninety eight. It was very popular. I think
Speaker 1: it like kind of peaked in the late seventies into
Speaker 1: the eighties when these movies were coming out. I remember
Speaker 1: that my dad had a copy of it. I think
Speaker 1: one of the funny I mean, but all of the
Speaker 1: you know, have you ever seen that if you don't
Speaker 1: buy this magazine, will kill this dog cover of National Lampoo.
Speaker 2: I don't think so.
Speaker 1: I do think it is quite funny. My dad used
Speaker 1: to have a copy of the Yeah it is you know,
Speaker 1: it's edge lord shit. You know, it's late twentieth century
Speaker 1: edge lordism, and it is a dog with a gun
Speaker 1: to its head. It's photoshopped. If you don't buy this
Speaker 1: magazine will kill this dog and I'm laughing. However, most
Speaker 1: of the things in National Lampoon, I would not be laughing.
Speaker 1: I think it's whatever an extremely mixed bag. But there
Speaker 1: were some like famous comedy writers that did more surreal, funny,
Speaker 1: actually funny stuff that was in there, but there was
Speaker 1: plenty of stuff that wasn't. It was pretty notorious for
Speaker 1: having a lot of casual racism, and it was all
Speaker 1: but branded as being like overtly misogynist, where many of
Speaker 1: the covers are like there's like popless women on the covers.
Speaker 1: The jokes are often exploitative and fucked up. So that's
Speaker 1: the legacy of the magazine, and so that's very much
Speaker 1: obviously the playbook that the NLU is pulling from, And
Speaker 1: I would guess that this movie is probably on the
Speaker 1: lower end of that as opposed to I mean, I
Speaker 1: haven't seen Animal House. I'm sure we'll have to get
Speaker 1: around to it someday, someday, but I think that like
Speaker 1: these are sort of like less leaning into that, and
Speaker 1: it's still pretty bad. So I just wanted to say.
Speaker 2: That, Yeah, Yeah, my guess is that they wanted to
Speaker 2: appeal to a wider demographic and so they had to
Speaker 2: make it like more family friendly.
Speaker 1: Yeah no, I think this is just like their family
Speaker 1: the family branding of a very dirty magazine. And then
Speaker 1: they are like, or you know, if you.
Speaker 2: Just want a night out with the books, you can
Speaker 2: go see you.
Speaker 1: Know what, Animal House or Van Wilder whatever the fuck?
Speaker 1: Yeah right, but yeah, this one is like a little
Speaker 1: more tame, but it's still there's still plenty, plenty plenty
Speaker 1: to talk about. Where would you like to start, kay them?
Speaker 2: I mean, I would just say that the opening sequence
Speaker 2: of this movie pretty well sets the tone for all
Speaker 2: the things we're going to see throughout the movie, because
Speaker 2: it's a father who is dragging his family into this
Speaker 2: bad idea that he has. Like you said, it's like
Speaker 2: he's doing the thing that no one wants and no
Speaker 2: one asked for. But he's like, well, I'm the man
Speaker 2: of the family, so everyone needs to listen to me,
Speaker 2: and I'm in control, and what I say goes. So
Speaker 2: he's taking his family to go into the wilderness to
Speaker 2: dig up an enormous, comically large Christmas tree. On the way,
Speaker 2: he gets into a like road rage dick measuring contest
Speaker 2: with people who are like very poverty coded, and it's
Speaker 2: another like, look at these poor people, aren't they horrible?
Speaker 1: They're out to get him? Yeah, yeah, it is very
Speaker 1: like you're saying a masculine dick measuring contest. I mean,
Speaker 1: most of the setups here and I know this is
Speaker 1: very intentionally done, is like, look at how ridiculous Clark is.
Speaker 1: Mm hmm, like look how misguided. Like the thing that's
Speaker 1: tricky is like I don't think we're supposed to think
Speaker 1: he's right much of the time, but we are supposed
Speaker 1: to always like him and write what would make this
Speaker 1: whole situation so much easier to swallow? And it wouldn't
Speaker 1: resolve every problem with the movie certainly, But if like
Speaker 1: it was a married couple doing this, like if it
Speaker 1: was a clueless married couple as opposed to it's just
Speaker 1: like so clear that Beverly DiAngelo, who again is way
Speaker 1: too talented to be in these movies, like, is never
Speaker 1: going to get a laugh line. She's going to be
Speaker 1: the straight person in every single scene. She's going to
Speaker 1: be heavily gender coded. Like it sucks because you get
Speaker 1: I think it's honestly probably just because Julia Louis Drivius
Speaker 1: is cast in that role, but like that's the only
Speaker 1: straight couple where you really see the woman in the
Speaker 1: couple get precedence in terms of getting the jokes and
Speaker 1: getting the laughlines, because the movie is just like it's
Speaker 1: Beverly D'Angelo is just a like reflection board to prioritize
Speaker 1: Clark's feelings. You know, whatever Clark wants, she has to
Speaker 1: rise to the occasion to do, even to the point
Speaker 1: that like at the end it really bummed me out
Speaker 1: and felt very again telling of like how conservative a
Speaker 1: household this is that when you know, first of all,
Speaker 1: we're not really it's not indicated that Ellen works. It
Speaker 1: seems like she's a day at home mom, which certainly
Speaker 1: happened in the eighties, but does feel more late fifties
Speaker 1: than late eighties. But that like when she finds out
Speaker 1: that Clark has put down the equivalent of twenty thousand
Speaker 1: dollars today on something without talking to her, right, like
Speaker 1: she has no reaction to that, and like it's just
Speaker 1: like goes to show how clearly unequal this like household
Speaker 1: is where it's like, oh my god, like my mom
Speaker 1: would have just, i don't.
Speaker 2: Know, blew a gasket, Like yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, she would have run over him with the car,
Speaker 1: like if one parent. But I feel like it's implied like, well,
Speaker 1: he's the breadwinner, so he gets to make all financial decisions,
Speaker 1: and you know, like work in the home, it has
Speaker 1: no value, and you know, homemakers just have to get
Speaker 1: in line. You know, just all these very like traditional
Speaker 1: conservative values that these movies sort of embody.
Speaker 2: Right, So she has no reaction to learning that her
Speaker 2: husband just spent an enormous sum of money without consulting her.
Speaker 2: She does have other reactions throughout the movie, but it's
Speaker 2: always just like Clark, Oh, come on, stop that, stop it.
Speaker 2: And yeah, like her whole character is just like, oh my,
Speaker 2: that's my husband. He's annoying and I hate him, but
Speaker 2: I love him, but he's always doing something and I'm
Speaker 2: always nagging him.
Speaker 1: Right, I mean it's like and thankfully she's not like
Speaker 1: hyper like she's certainly not even in the top fifty
Speaker 1: percentile of naggiest mother characters. True scene, she is, like,
Speaker 1: she's a very likable character. It's just that we don't
Speaker 1: get anything for her. She doesn't really get to be funny.
Speaker 1: She does, like you're saying, like push against Clark very lightly.
Speaker 1: Every once in a while, but he always overrides her
Speaker 1: where She's like, I don't know, do we really want
Speaker 1: to have like our entire family stay here? And he's
Speaker 1: like yes, and then does nothing to contribute. It's also
Speaker 1: heavily implied that, like it's okay that Clark is having
Speaker 1: these horny fantasies about the woman who plays in the
Speaker 1: store clerk. I guess her name is Mary, and she's
Speaker 1: played by a model named Nicolette Scorsese, but not related
Speaker 1: to Wow, not of those scarseces Because I was gonna
Speaker 1: say that would be a wild I.
Speaker 2: Was gonna say, is she the less famous sibling? And
Speaker 2: then she could join the club your club if she
Speaker 2: was the less famous sibling of Martin.
Speaker 1: No, have you seen Caitlyn Martin Scorsese's like TikTok collaborations
Speaker 1: with his gen Z daughter. No, Oh my god, Martin
Speaker 1: Scarcese has like a twenty five year old daughter named Francesca,
Speaker 1: and she has like I'll send them to you, this
Speaker 1: like series of very funny, very sweet tiktoks of her
Speaker 1: just like talking to her dad about like she had
Speaker 1: him like live comment on her doing a like makeup
Speaker 1: get Ready with Me video and he's like trying to
Speaker 1: keep up. He's like, okay, frand Tusks putting on some
Speaker 1: rouge and like he's trying to narrate it, and it's
Speaker 1: so Yeah, Francesca Scorsese is my my NEPO baby of choice.
Speaker 1: She's very funny.
Speaker 2: That's great. I love the And I don't think we've
Speaker 2: brought this up on the podcast before, but there's that
Speaker 2: clip that's been circulating around the internet. Ever heard of
Speaker 2: it of al Pacino doing an interview and his phone
Speaker 2: has a Shrek case on it.
Speaker 1: Jendsey's daughter too, Yeah, and.
Speaker 2: The interviewers like, why do you have Shrek on your phone?
Speaker 2: And like al Pacino tells this like very weirdly constructed
Speaker 2: story about how his daughter like took his phone, put
Speaker 2: a Shrek case on his phone and then gave it back.
Speaker 2: And then the interviewers like, oh, so that's why you
Speaker 2: shrek it or something like that. He uses Shrek as
Speaker 2: a verb. It's incredible.
Speaker 1: He al Pacino is cracking up too. He's like he
Speaker 1: loves it. He noticed who would be Okay, I watched it,
Speaker 1: who would be expecting Shrek? Who that's mine? He's so
Speaker 1: protective of his Shrek Phone case. Who would be extracting?
Speaker 2: Who would be extracting?
Speaker 1: Oh that's mine. We have to show that at the
Speaker 1: Shrek Tannex shows.
Speaker 2: Another reason to come to our shows. Listeners.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, she came back and she had this
Speaker 1: on it. She said it's Shrek Dad. I said, Shrek.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: Okay, babe, I'll hold on to it. That's all story
Speaker 1: I got.
Speaker 2: Awesome.
Speaker 1: It must be so weird having a very old dad.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: But anyways, good for them for supporting their gen Z
Speaker 1: daughters and their various pranks. Anyways, Nicolet Scorsese, I just
Speaker 1: wanted to like shout her out because I feel.
Speaker 2: Like she's just done no justice in this for sure.
Speaker 1: Anyways, we were talking about we were talking about Ellen's
Speaker 1: yes before we got distracted by the Shrek Phone case.
Speaker 2: It's a part of a longer conversation about just the
Speaker 2: way that Clark interacts with women in general, because I
Speaker 2: kind of just made a list of all the women
Speaker 2: he interacts with and what that looks like hit me.
Speaker 2: And with Ellen, his wife, it's her you know, quote
Speaker 2: unquote nagging, Although to be fair, the movie doesn't super
Speaker 2: frame it that way. It is more just that she
Speaker 2: is calling him out for his ridiculous behavior. But it
Speaker 2: also means like, yeah, she's not having any fun. None
Speaker 2: of the comedy is anything that she generates. Yeah, and
Speaker 2: she doesn't get to be you know, quirky or eccentric
Speaker 2: the way that Clark.
Speaker 1: Is, which sucks because I feel like it would you know, again,
Speaker 1: it would still be a boring movie, but it would
Speaker 1: resolve a lot of the more obvious misogyny of this
Speaker 1: movie if she was simply allowed to participate instead of
Speaker 1: being relegated to reacting. Right.
Speaker 2: For sure. Then you have his daughter, Audrey Juliette Lewis,
Speaker 2: who I don't think Clark ever interacts with one on one.
Speaker 2: There are several scenes where he interacts with his son.
Speaker 2: He's having rusty you know, help him with something or
Speaker 2: just like talking to him about something, But Clark and
Speaker 2: Audrey never have like a one on one scene.
Speaker 1: Again, it's this very conservative thing where I think we
Speaker 1: see Audrey helping her mom cook. We see they have
Speaker 1: a brief interaction in the kitchen, and then Russ is
Speaker 1: outside helping his dad. It's again that like very rigid
Speaker 1: gender family unit.
Speaker 2: Staff for sure. Yeah, Now with Clark and his mom,
Speaker 2: I think he also does not ever interact with her.
Speaker 2: There are a few scenes where Clark will have like
Speaker 2: a pretty significant emotional moment with his dad, especially there's
Speaker 2: one toward the end where Clark's dad comes in to say, like, yeah,
Speaker 2: the holidays are hard, but you're handling this terribly, so
Speaker 2: get your head on straight. Son.
Speaker 1: Fathers and sons. Fathers and sons.
Speaker 2: For sure. But Clark and his mom don't say a
Speaker 2: word to each other, or if they do, it's not
Speaker 2: memorable enough that you'd notice.
Speaker 1: Which is it's fucking Diane lad And yeah, I think
Speaker 1: the most we get from her is like there's three
Speaker 1: different women who come again, it's just like the very
Speaker 1: gendered reactions. Right when when Clark, you know, the house
Speaker 1: doesn't light up the way he wanted it to, I
Speaker 1: think it's Ellen Audrey and his mom all comfort him
Speaker 1: and are like it's okay, dad, it's all good. I
Speaker 1: think Russ sort of does. But the like older men
Speaker 1: are like Clark, you suck, You're alert, like there's just
Speaker 1: no one is stepping outside of stock gender roles according
Speaker 1: to their age and relationship to him, and yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's just so it's irritating, but it's also just so boring.
Speaker 2: It's so boring.
Speaker 1: There's no interesting choices made in the.
Speaker 2: Entire movie, not a single one. Yeah. Similarly, he interacts
Speaker 2: with cousin Eddie a lot, but he bears acknowledges Eddie's
Speaker 2: wife Catherine.
Speaker 1: She has to have like two lines of dialogue like, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's ridiculous. And the thing is they still go out
Speaker 1: of their way because she's not a woman, she's a
Speaker 1: poor woman, so they still go out of the way
Speaker 1: to be like, to be clear, she's gross, she's gross,
Speaker 1: and we don't like her, but also you will not
Speaker 1: hear her speaking. I think, like, honestly, the character, the
Speaker 1: poor character that gets the most characterization is his niece
Speaker 1: Ruby Sue. So yeah, she has the longest i think
Speaker 1: interaction with him that a woman has in the whole movie.
Speaker 2: Possibly, yeah, because there's that long scene where she's like,
Speaker 2: she's questioning the existence of Santa Claus because he didn't
Speaker 2: bring her any gifts aka, her family can't afford to
Speaker 2: buy them Christmas gifts, and it's implied that Clark will
Speaker 2: be like, oh gosh, how tragic. I'll get her gifts.
Speaker 2: I'll prove to her that the magic of Christmas is real.
Speaker 2: But then again, as we mentioned, this is never paid
Speaker 2: off on. It's just a loose end. And it's like, well,
Speaker 2: then why spend that like five minute scene setting all
Speaker 2: of that up if you're not gonna pay it off
Speaker 2: John Hughes.
Speaker 1: I know, like because the to that like that actor
Speaker 1: Ellen Hamilton Latson, she's adorable, and she also gets a
Speaker 1: couple of jokes in too, where she's like swearing and
Speaker 1: shouldn't be swearing, which I do think is like poverty
Speaker 1: coded of like these kids are like lash key kids,
Speaker 1: they're not well behaved.
Speaker 2: Well. The other grammar too, like she's speaking in quote
Speaker 2: unquote improper English, and it's right implied that like, oh yeah,
Speaker 2: poor people don't know how to use proper grammar.
Speaker 1: It's interesting. I feel like the only women that are
Speaker 1: or women or girls that are allowed to have any
Speaker 1: laugh lines because she does deliver it in a funny way.
Speaker 1: The child actor the only two women that have laugh lines.
Speaker 1: It's either because of their class status or their age,
Speaker 1: where like bethany clear example of just ageous tropes top
Speaker 1: to bottom right with Ruby Sue classest tropes about the
Speaker 1: lower class, and then Julia.
Speaker 2: Louis Dink whoa Dinks.
Speaker 1: Is like another like upper class coated like that's what's
Speaker 1: generating the comedy. Like none of them are just funny
Speaker 1: because you can be. It's all like connected to some
Speaker 1: other aspect of their personhood that it comes from. Totally,
Speaker 1: it's just again boring.
Speaker 2: Boring, right, So his interactions with Aunt Bethany, for example,
Speaker 2: are him basically just like berating her for ageis reasons,
Speaker 2: and she's characterized in a way that is extremely ageis
Speaker 2: where she's oh so confused. Oh no, she wrapped up
Speaker 2: her cat and a jello mold as if they're Christmas gifts.
Speaker 2: Oh she says the Pledge of Allegiance instead of saying
Speaker 2: grace at dinner. So just all these things and then
Speaker 2: her husban and similarly is like played for ageist jokes
Speaker 2: where he like doesn't know that he's on fire.
Speaker 1: Or like he doesn't know how fire works. A classic
Speaker 1: ageis trope of forgetting how fire works.
Speaker 2: He doesn't notice that his tupe fell off, that kind
Speaker 2: of stuff. So yeah, but yeah, back to the point
Speaker 2: of how Clark interacts with women. It seems especially egregious
Speaker 2: with Aunt Bethany, where he's just like, oh, look at
Speaker 2: this old broad so annoying and.
Speaker 1: Also very national lampoon coned. I think that with both
Speaker 1: of the elder fathers, there's when they're cutting through, like
Speaker 1: where is everyone staying in the bed, both of the
Speaker 1: fathers are like one is like looking at like a
Speaker 1: teen magazine, implied to be horny. The other is looking
Speaker 1: at the ceiling at like a scantily clad poster of
Speaker 1: a woman in Russ's room, implied to be horny. So like,
Speaker 1: even though quiet moments with them, they're like the same
Speaker 1: way that Chevy Chase's character is like I'm horny behind
Speaker 1: my wife's back, and like a horny woman that is
Speaker 1: like real does not appear in the entire movie. Because
Speaker 1: even with that moment with Mary the sales clerk, yes,
Speaker 1: at the beginning, she is sort of uncomfortable with him,
Speaker 1: but then as the scene goes on, it almost feels
Speaker 1: like the movie buys into Clark's delusional read of the scene,
Speaker 1: and by the end, she's like pulling her skirt up
Speaker 1: and she's like, look, there's no lines on my brepa
Speaker 1: B And You're like, well, so it just doesn't matter,
Speaker 1: Like and I know we've talked about this with John
Speaker 1: Hughes before, but it's like under duress. He has written
Speaker 1: women semi competently, but there's just entire movies, years decades
Speaker 1: where he just is like I don't feel like it.
Speaker 2: Not this time.
Speaker 1: Oh okay.
Speaker 2: Also to the to marry the sales clerk, he tells
Speaker 2: her first that his wife is dead, and then he's like,
Speaker 2: oh no, she's alive, but we're divorced and she's long gone.
Speaker 2: Just the idea that like this lazy Joe man has
Speaker 2: a wife who's a ball in chain keeping him from
Speaker 2: being able to flirt with and kiss on hot younger women.
Speaker 1: Right, which is like I know the trope this is referencing,
Speaker 1: but like it's just not doing anything. Meanwhile, his wife
Speaker 1: isn't even allowed to be interesting for forty five seconds,
Speaker 1: like it's just it's it's a bummer again, you get
Speaker 1: like with it, just to go back to Audrey for
Speaker 1: a second, you get like a suggestion of a character
Speaker 1: from her, like where you get yeah, where she's like,
Speaker 1: I don't know, it's again a stock character, but she's
Speaker 1: like a moody, like eighties teen girl that like screw
Speaker 1: my family. Like okay, that's a starting point. But it's
Speaker 1: also a finishing point for this and it also kind
Speaker 1: of goes away after a while because she goes away
Speaker 1: after a while because I guess we just don't care
Speaker 1: about her, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2: And then the final person my list was his mother
Speaker 2: in law, Ellen's mom, and it's said that Ellen's parents
Speaker 2: don't like Clark. Clark doesn't really like them if he
Speaker 2: does have any interactions with his mother in law, who
Speaker 2: I forgot to look up who she's played by. Also,
Speaker 2: I was having a hard time. It took me, like
Speaker 2: by the end of the second watch to be like, Oh,
Speaker 2: this is who his parents are versus this is who
Speaker 2: Ellen's parents are, because I could not really tell who
Speaker 2: is who because they're so like kind of just just
Speaker 2: like a blob of grandparents. To me, I was just like, yeah,
Speaker 2: do any of them have any distinguishing qualities besides one
Speaker 2: of them having like orange hair. Oh, Doris Roberts plays
Speaker 2: his mother in law.
Speaker 1: Right, who's so iconic, And yeah, she was also fading
Speaker 1: into the background for me, which you're like, that's certainly
Speaker 1: not her fault, Like she's awesome.
Speaker 2: Yeah, she just wasn't given anything in the script yet.
Speaker 2: So yeah, if he does have an interaction with her.
Speaker 2: It's again brief and unmemorable, and I don't really know,
Speaker 2: but they do have a pretty like antagonistic relationship because
Speaker 2: in laws are so horrible. Another boring cliche choice.
Speaker 1: I will say not to like give the movie any
Speaker 1: unnecessary credit, but there is there is a little bit
Speaker 1: of a button on the like Santa Israel thing, because
Speaker 1: Ruby su does think that the little like the shooting
Speaker 1: star is. He's like, that's the Christmas Star. So I
Speaker 1: think that there is a little bit of a button
Speaker 1: on that. Not enough, I no, no, I just there
Speaker 1: was an attempt. But again it was like going back
Speaker 1: to the discussion of class. I mean cousin ed right,
Speaker 1: that's his name, Eddie, Eddie whatever. It's implied that they
Speaker 1: are poor through a fault of their own, which I
Speaker 1: think is a very very common trope with these kinds
Speaker 1: of characters. Yeah, they're present essentially like Hillbilly's the mother
Speaker 1: has no sense of autonomy or character. We get a
Speaker 1: little bit of information from cousin Eddie where it's implied
Speaker 1: that he made some bad decisions that led to their
Speaker 1: living in an RV as opposed to poverty is a
Speaker 1: systemic issue they're implied to not smell good, They're implied
Speaker 1: to like somehow not have an awareness of social cues.
Speaker 1: They're implied to be entitled to be like freeloading off
Speaker 1: of others. And even in that scene at Walmart with Clark,
Speaker 1: Clark is clearly presented to be the better person, and
Speaker 1: it's also implied that cousin Eddie was expecting him to
Speaker 1: do this and is going to take advantage of him
Speaker 1: for sure, when he suggests like, well, could I maybe
Speaker 1: get the kids some gifts? And Cousin Eddie's like, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I guess, I guess I have the whole list right here,
Speaker 1: and also I want this, and my wife was says,
Speaker 1: so it's just like presenting, you know, poor people as
Speaker 1: freeloaders who are poor as a result of their own carelessness.
Speaker 1: And it's just like some of the most pernicious UH
Speaker 1: tropes around poverty that exist, and they're all in this movie,
Speaker 1: and that they're violent as well, with cousin Eddie kidnapping
Speaker 1: the boss.
Speaker 2: They're delusional because there's a moment where Ellen and Clark
Speaker 2: are talking about cousin Eddie being out of work and
Speaker 2: she says something like, oh yeah, it's been seven years
Speaker 2: since he's had a job. It's because he's holding out
Speaker 2: for a management position, presumably one he wouldn't be able
Speaker 2: to get. But he's like so delusional to be holding
Speaker 2: out for that for so.
Speaker 1: Long, and again to like just heap misogyity on top
Speaker 1: of that. It's not implied that they had even considered
Speaker 1: that she would possibly work, because this movie weirdly takes
Speaker 1: place in the late fifties. And yeah, I mean it's
Speaker 1: just like the way that they're costumed, the way that
Speaker 1: they talk, the way that they have is all just
Speaker 1: like so heavy laid in with the recognizable stereotypes. They're
Speaker 1: also like I think that there is like ableism encoded
Speaker 1: within the ageism of the grandparent character. Yeah, but there's
Speaker 1: also ableism towards the poor characters too, where there's like
Speaker 1: this one off joke about how Ruby Sue used to
Speaker 1: be cross eyed but then she had an accident, now
Speaker 1: she's not, and just like lazy, shitty nonsense. It's just
Speaker 1: this is like some of the most like lazy bottom
Speaker 1: of the barrel, clearly written by a white guy who's
Speaker 1: never experienced.
Speaker 2: Poverty, for sure.
Speaker 1: I just I don't know, I like it less and less.
Speaker 1: I mean I didn't even like it. I was just like,
Speaker 1: I'm completely neutral, and now I'm just like the sucks.
Speaker 2: The more you interrogate it, the more you realize it's bad.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And again, as we said, the movie has criticisms of
Speaker 2: rich people, but the Boss has this weird redemption arc
Speaker 2: at the end where he magically realizes that capitalism is
Speaker 2: bad and he shouldn't have withheld the bonus checks from
Speaker 2: what seems like an already pretty cushy salary.
Speaker 1: For Clark, right, which I get. It's like I don't
Speaker 1: want to like be like, oh, he doesn't like I
Speaker 1: don't know. I guess the question of like who deserves
Speaker 1: what is like always that's not an easy question to answer, Like, yes,
Speaker 1: they should have given out Christmas bonuses to their entire
Speaker 1: but like you're saying, like there is a clear cutoff
Speaker 1: for where justice should be served in terms of like
Speaker 1: redistributing money. Certainly we wouldn't want that for cousin Eddie
Speaker 1: or his family.
Speaker 2: M mmm no, And the rich capitalist boss is like, oh, fooey,
Speaker 2: I was wrong about withholding that, and I'm nice now
Speaker 2: because again, rich capitalists always see the error of their
Speaker 2: ways JK, JK.
Speaker 1: I mean it's a very neat solution. But yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean it's just it's ridiculous. Yeah, it's ridiculous. And you're like, okay,
Speaker 1: so the lesson we learned is nothing, and now they
Speaker 1: have an expensive in ground pool and this is the
Speaker 1: last movie from this like particular family unit. Oh so
Speaker 1: this is effectively where their story ends. Is they get
Speaker 1: a pool?
Speaker 2: Wow? Good for them. There are other National Lampoon vacation movies.
Speaker 2: It's just focusing on a different family after this.
Speaker 1: I guess, yes, this is the last, or at least
Speaker 1: my understanding is that this is the last one that
Speaker 1: Oh no, wait, there is no that's not true. There's
Speaker 1: one in there's Vegas. Yeah, vacause like ten years after that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and okay, so no, there's there's there's one more there.
Speaker 1: Don't worry. It doesn't end at pool.
Speaker 2: I don't really have that much else to say about
Speaker 2: this movie. Do you have anything else?
Speaker 1: I really don't either. I would say, like, this is,
Speaker 1: if anything, a movie to like fall asleep to at
Speaker 1: your aunt's house. I guess, but I don't know. It
Speaker 1: is just like I think, very dated and uh, for
Speaker 1: my money at least profoundly boring.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm already yawning about it.
Speaker 1: And it's just a waste of so many talented actors
Speaker 1: of this day and spotlights. I think the two worst
Speaker 1: people in the movie personally Chevy Chase and Randy Quaid.
Speaker 1: And you're like, we're just shoving all of these very
Speaker 1: talented women out of the way to make way for
Speaker 1: like two famously horrible men and live laugh love. This
Speaker 1: movie does paradoxically pass the back to Little test a
Speaker 1: couple of times. Yeah, but spiritually it doesn't. Like how
Speaker 1: many nipples do you even like one one?
Speaker 2: I wouldn't even give it that I really truly. It's
Speaker 2: weird because it's not the most hateful movie we've seen
Speaker 2: and not the most problematic, but it is still doing
Speaker 2: a lot of very problematic things, and I don't really
Speaker 2: have anything nice to say about it. I did like
Speaker 2: the scene where the cute fluffy cat is released from
Speaker 2: the box, not before it's violently shaken around by Chevy Chase,
Speaker 2: who knows there's a cat inside and still shakes the
Speaker 2: box several times.
Speaker 1: That was a little bad, Like I don't mind a
Speaker 1: cartoonish death in that way, but the box shaking bothered
Speaker 1: me more than the cat launching through the floor. I
Speaker 1: did think that was a little bit funny, but I
Speaker 1: also thought the National Lampoon, if you don't buy this magazine,
Speaker 1: will kill this dog with a little funny too.
Speaker 2: I guess they don't mind killing animals, because, yeah, the
Speaker 2: cat burns to a crisp, it gets electrocuted and then
Speaker 2: fries and burns up.
Speaker 1: Something like that.
Speaker 2: Sad. So I'll get the movie zo point five nipples
Speaker 2: for I don't even know what, because what little we
Speaker 2: get from the women in the movie, I don't know.
Speaker 2: I enjoy watching them on screen. That's the best I
Speaker 2: can say for it. And I like the cat, so
Speaker 2: half a nipple to all of them.
Speaker 1: In the giving Christmas spirit, I'm gonna give it one
Speaker 1: nipple because we do get some at least some physical
Speaker 1: comedy from Julia Luis Dreyfuss. I love oh and it's
Speaker 1: just nice to know that she went on to actually
Speaker 1: get to play real roles. I'll give it one nipple,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna give it to miss Julia. And with that, folks,
Speaker 1: that's a year. That's a year of the buzzle cast.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yes it is. You can follow us on Instagram
Speaker 2: and join our Matreon at patreon dot com Slash Bechdel Cast,
Speaker 2: and we want to tell you about the upcoming live
Speaker 2: shows we have in La San Francisco and Portland. In
Speaker 2: kind of the back half of January, we're doing a
Speaker 2: fun LA show where we're just celebrating the Bechtel Cast
Speaker 2: and we have all these special guests and it's a
Speaker 2: variety show, lots of fun little segments and stand up
Speaker 2: sets and everything. And then we're doing Shrek Tannic in
Speaker 2: San Francisco for a Titanic show and in Portland for
Speaker 2: a Shrek show. So all the dates and details and
Speaker 2: tickets are on our link tree link Tree Slash Bechtel Cast,
Speaker 2: and the shows for LA and Portland are being live streamed,
Speaker 2: so even if you don't live in any of those places,
Speaker 2: you can still access the live streams.
Speaker 1: We're so excited. We love our annual tours and I'm
Speaker 1: excited to do Shrek Tanic. And in the meantime, if
Speaker 1: you want to join our community where we've teased Slash
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Speaker 1: The Bechdel Cast and with that, let's just never talk
Speaker 1: about National Lampoon again.
Speaker 2: Fine, Bye me, Bye bye bye. The Bechdel Cast is
Speaker 2: a production of iHeartMedia, hosted by Caitlin Derante and Jamie Loftus,
Speaker 2: produced by Sophie Lichterman, edited by Moe Laborde. Our theme
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