Last Looks: The Christmas Tree

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 5:00: How Did This Get Made, Lamb Man, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas
2. 10:00 – 15:00: Lamb Man
3. 15:00 – 20:00: How Did This Get Made
4. 25:00 – 30:00: 21 Jump Street, Taskmaster, Grit, Spit, and Never Quit
5. 30:00 – 35:00: Taskmaster
6. 35:00 – 40:00: How Did This Get Made, Taskmaster
7. 40:00 – 45:00: Band Camp
8. 45:00 – 50:00: Band Camp, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Doris Roberts
9. 50:00 – 51:20: Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas

Notable quotes from "Last Looks: The Christmas Tree"

• Your eyes need to see it. Your eyes need to see it. How did this get? Hello all you gamblers with chainsaws and kids named Papy. It's me, Paul Shear, aka Mr.

  about How Did This Get Made · at 0:41

• Didn't know where it was from, but they had seen it. This movie is important to be seen. Not since Peanut Butter Solution have we untapped something that has disturbed us all…

  about Peanut Butter Solution · at 2:20

• The entire holiday season. And let me tell you people, I want to talk to somebody about Lamb Man. I watched the entire run of Lamb Man. season one and most of season two. I'm…

  about Lamb Man · at 3:43

• And, you can watch both shows whenever you damn well please. also I want to tell you all the movie that we'll be watching for the How Did This Get Made Christmas special. It is…

  about Merry Christmas · at 4:45

• Also say this. I want to shout out our friend who's never actually been on the podcast, but Rob Wgle. Rob Wgle has a book and an audio book as well.

  about Grit, Spit, and Never Quit · at 25:30

• Often revisit comedies, so I'm Oh, yeah, it was really funny. I really liked it. And I don't ever go back. I rewatched that movie and I was This movie is kind of perfect. It just is so funny.

  about 21 Jump Street · at 26:41

• I've got some music stuff. Let's just blast it through. Taskmaster season 20 just wrapped up on YouTube. I can't recommend it enough. Better than fantastic season. It is in no way, shape, or form better than my season.

  about Taskmaster · at 29:42

• And when if you are lucky enough to be a Band Camp regular, B if you buy the album on Band Camp Friday, that means Band Camp does not take its percentage. All of the money goes to the artist. So there should be a Band Camp.

  about Band Camp · at 43:25

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Doris Roberts — Person · Referenced actor (cast of next film) · 1 mention · first at 48:32
  Mentioned as part of the cast of the next HDTGM movie ('Merry Christmas' (2015)), highlighted as 'the late great' Doris Roberts.
  2015's Merry Christmas, starring Cararissa Staples, Brent Doherty, and the late great Doris Roberts. Like I mentioned, this is the movie that we are covering on our holiday…

Books & papers

• Merry Christmas — Book · Holiday event · 5 mentions · first at 4:59
  Mentioned in the context of the holiday season and the podcast's live stream event
  It's going to be around the world. You have seven days to watch it. So, you can watch it live or watch it later. It's me, Jess, June, and Jason. we're all going to be in studio, so it's not over.
• Grit, Spit, and Never Quit — Book · Referenced work · 1 mention · first at 25:34
  Mentioned as a new book by Rob Wgle, a friend of the hosts

Companies & orgs

• Band Camp — Company · Platform for music distribution · 4 mentions · first at 43:17
  Mentioned as a platform where Devon Bryant's album is available

Places & events

• Merry Christmas — Event · Holiday event · 5 mentions · first at 4:59
  Mentioned in the context of the holiday season and the podcast's live stream event

Media & podcasts

• How Did This Get Made — Media · Hosted podcast · 7 mentions · first at 0:55
  Primary podcast being discussed, featuring hosts Paul Shear and Jason
• 21 Jump Street — Media · Movie · 4 mentions · first at 26:04
  Discussed as a comedy movie that Paul revisited and found perfect
• Taskmaster — Media · TV show · 3 mentions · first at 29:44
  Mentioned as a show that Jason and Paul enjoy, with a specific season discussed
• Lamb Man — Media · TV show · 2 mentions · first at 3:48
  Mentioned as a show Paul watched and wants to discuss
• Peanut Butter Solution — Media · Movie · 1 mention · first at 2:24
  Mentioned as a movie that disturbed people deeply, similar to the discussed movie

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 Miss Milda's first name, Devin Bryant returns, and Jason has got a recommendation that's going to knock your socks off. All this and more on today's Last Looks. Hit the theme. Your eyes need to see it. Your eyes need to see it. Your eyes need to see it. And your ears need to hear it. Your eyes need to see it. Your eyes need to see it. Your eyes need to see it. How did this get me?

0:31 Your eyes need to see it. Your eyes need to see it. Your eyes need to see it. And your ears need to hear it. Your eyes need to see it. Your eyes need to see it. Your eyes need to see it. How did this get? Hello all you gamblers with chainsaws and kids named Papy. It's me, Paul Shear, aka Mr. Milda, and welcome to How Did This Get Made? Last looks, where you, the listener, get to voice your issues on the Christmas tree. A movie that PNW Paloma thinks should have had the tagline, "A Christmas tree. Joyless recollections of childhood drama."

1:12 I love it. Oh man, I'm wondering if you could morph my book cover and the Christmas tree poster together. I don't know. Now, we'll save that for late night when I'm playing with Canva because I love to get all freaky late at night with my Canva. Uh, big shout out to our pal Rob from Long Island. Uh, great opening theme song. Rob killed it live in New York. You're going to hear that in a couple episodes. Uh, I just got to say we had such a great time on tour. Thank you for coming out. We had some special guests because uh you know the government shutdown prevented June from actually being there. But guess what? You got some good special guests coming up. And I want to just take a moment to say that at the end of the last episode I said everyone should see this film. And that was met with a lot of disdain from uh Jason and June. But here's what I'm going to tell you. In the past week or so, I've been talking

2:09 to people out in the streets because I'm out there talking to the listeners. And uh I feel like this movie unlocked a quorum memory that people had. They didn't know where it was from, but they had seen it. This movie is important to be seen. Not since Peanut Butter Solution have we untapped something that has disturbed us all so deeply. So, for that reason and that reason alone, I still demand that you see the Christmas tree. By the way, people, if you want to be a part of the show, you can be. You can submit an alt movie tagline by going to our Discord. You can also upload a song for this very episode. Just go to hdtg.com. There's a button right on the front page. It says submit a song.

2:52 That's what you do. You hit that button, you upload your song. If it's 15 to 20 seconds, we're going to love it and we'll play it here on the show. Now, we have a big show, okay? We're going to be hearing all your corrections and omissions on the Christmas tree, and there are good ones in this week's episode. Not that there aren't always good ones, but this week in particular, there are some really good ones. Then, Jason and I, we're going to chat. We haven't chatted for a very long time, just about movies, TV, what we're into.

3:24 And we're going to be joined by our former audio engineer, Devin Tory Bryant. We love Devon. He is going to talk about his new album called Blame It on My Zodiac, which is great. So, a little walk down memory lane, plus things you can be watching throughout the entire holiday season. And let me tell you people, I want to talk to somebody about Lamb Man. I watched the entire run of Lamb Man. Uh season one and most of season two. I mean, I'm caught up uh in the course of 72 hours and uh I need to discuss it. Should I just do a land man podcast? I might have to. Anyway, uh what else do I want to tell you? Oh, guess what? Um very big news. We are doing a live stream show.

4:14 It's going to be around the world. You have seven days to watch it. So, you can watch it live or watch it later. It's me, Jess, June, and Jason. Uh, we're all going to be in studio, so it's not over Zoom. So, high quality stuff there. And if you love the live streaming Christmas events, you got to check out the deep dive. The deep dive, by the time you're hearing this, will have already recorded their episode on December 5th, but it is also available after the fact. So, check out veps.com. And, uh, you can watch both shows whenever you damn well please. Um, also I want to uh tell you all the movie that we'll be watching for the How Did This Get Made Christmas special. It is the 2015 romcom Merry Christmas. Uh, and wow, it's available around the world.

5:07 And by around the world, I mean Canada and the UK because that's where a majority of our international audience uh comes from. Uh, so you can definitely make sure that you can watch this uh before the show. Merry Christmas. And people, that's all I got. Those are all the plugs that we have because now we are getting into the Christmas tree. We had questions. You have answers. And you know what? We might have even missed a few things. And you're going to make us all smarter by proving that you saw something that we didn't. So now it's time for corrections and omissions.

5:45 You said everything you think that needs to be said. But all the things that you forgot have got me seeing red. So open up the discord and the telephone line. It's corrections and omissions time. Rob from Long Island two for two. That's like a earworm. I love it. Want to go back to that. Okay. Old man Papy writes, "The crew wondered a couple times why the orphans never look towards each other for community or support. And the clear answer is they share one consciousness. They look at how they're constantly standing in a grouping or acting in unison. The orphans are a part of a single hive mind and see themselves as one entity. Are they aliens possessed under some sort of hypnosis? All possible. But I think the key to their strange connection is Miss Hopewell. I believe the tree is the matriarch of this hive and through parasitic spores or some ancient magic has turned the orphans into thraws. Well, I love that

6:48 you've casually just dropped thraws. Ironically, Miss Mavilda cutting down the tree would have been the only thing that freed the kids from its hold on them. Whoa. Old man Py ain't [ __ ] around. You came in hot. And this is possibly the best theory I've ever heard on any movie that we have ever done. The kids are Borg. And I love it. I'm just going to say they're Borg because I would love that how the Borg came to Earth originally. Maybe they're here. Peard, get them Borgs. Joe Tangelo writes, "It was really weird that Mrs.

7:29 Milda specifically said, "Go get your electric chainsaw, but then the guy had a gas powered chainsaw." Why was she so specific and so wrong? Here's what I think about that. Miss Milda is not into specifics, you know? Or that guy's kind of a drunk, you know? She's like, "Go get your electric one." And he's like, "I'll get my gas powered one. It's worse for the environment." Right? I kind of feel like that's what he was doing. Some people may say, "Oh, the animators weren't communicated to. They didn't do ADR." No, no, no, no. That's a choice of a drunken person and Miss Milda not really paying attention to stuff that doesn't involve her. I mean, how would you even know that he has a specific chainsaw? I mean, I have neighbors. I see that they have tools. I don't know if it's gas powered. I don't know if it's like I don't know. I'm not I'm not asking those questions. Anyway, Shawn McB uh puts an image an image up of the

8:18 home that Judy was being sent to so she could be framed for theft. Now, the man is sitting amongst empty beer cans with his stained area rug and his cracked plaster wall. Uh, so if he was to slip something valuable into Judy's purse, I think I might just see a few small flaws in Miss Milda's plan. Yeah. I mean, look, I guess you could say the cops are on Milda's side. She's going to frame her. This guy's got friends on the force. We know it doesn't always have to make, you know, sense. But you know what Shawn McB goes on to say? Another example of even more egregious animation choices is in the shot of Judy when the camera rig appears to have been knocked off kilter. So you can see the top of the animation cell and some of the stand is revealed. It seems to be like no one involved in this movie gave half a [ __ ] about it. You know, I did notice that and I thought that was just something

9:17 like an artifact on YouTube. I didn't realize that that the animation was truly off. And this still is cracking me up. You can see the stand. It's like that new 4K thing that they did for Madman where you see the guy pumping uh the oyster rig or like like when Roger Sterling vomits oysters. There's a guy off camera like with the rig. Oh man. But this this is not about 4K upgrade. No, no, no. This is just about You know what? I actually believe that the guy whose house that uh Judy was supposed to go to uh probably ran the animation rig. Anyway, uh Frosted Nebula writes, "Regarding June asking if Mrs. Milda is having to report what's happening with the money, as far as reporting requirements go for publicly funded service organizations, dear God, I am a nerd. If the orphanage is in the US, they would presumably be receiving some sort of community development block grant funding, which is a CDBG, which has very specific

10:16 reporting metrics. So theoretically, if the bags of money from the mayor are CDBG grant funds, Miss Mavilda would be required to follow specific reporting metrics about how the money is being used, and those reports would be reviewed by the city or county and the federal government. Many people not doing their jobs here. Well, here's the thing, Frosted Nebula. I appreciate your specificity, but I don't think this is an American uh tale. This is no fal. Uh no, no, no. This is this is somewhere where you can walk to to Alaska, which I guess I mean it might be well Alaska. North Pole, not Alaska.

11:01 Huh. Maybe it is Alaska. Doesn't feel like Alaska. Not sure. All right, Frostadilla, you're right. All right, let's go to the phones. Ben from Virginia, what do you got?

11:12 Hi, everybody. This is Ben and my buddy Paul and I love to uh watch these movies in advance. We we caught something that I think uh made us laugh so hard that we had to stop the movie, go back and even record uh a clip of it um from the movie. A line you didn't point out. There's so many things from the Christmas tree that um that are worth discussing, but our favorite line is after the uh the little girl uh prays to I guess Santa um to change her wish a second time and uh the little boy behind her says uh let me see if I can get this right. Um Santa's not going to hear you.

11:48 Nobody's going to hear you. Miracles don't happen. Um thank you for bringing this uh ridiculous movie to our attention. It was it was a challenge to watch like an actual physical pain. All of the little cells and eyes and things jotting and buffing around. Uh but uh what a what a joy to know that this exists. Uh thank you all for all you do. Saw the Dinosaur Show in DC. Fantastic. Cheers.

12:11 First of all, Ben, thank you so much for coming out to DC. That was a blast. I love going out with Dinosaur. Uh we have such a killer group of people out there. It's the best. It's the absolute best. Um if you're ever in LA, come see Dinosaur. will be live at Largo on the 24th of January. I know that's far away. Uh but yes, that line, Santa's not going to hear you. Nobody's going to hear you. Miracles don't happen. Uh sounds to me like the sentiments of a very depressed animator who forgot to center the animation cells while transferring it to Betamax. Uh wow, Ben, thank you for that. Um, this is a movie where you should have your phone out so you can tape moments and show them to people like I have been doing with Land Man. Oh man, there's some lines in Land Man.

13:01 Some lines in Lamb Man that will just knock your [ __ ] teeth out. Is that a phrase? No, it's not. All right, let's go to the phone now and hear from Steve.

13:11 Hi, Paul. This is Steve with an omission for the Christmas tree or maybe an explanation for the cryptic ending. The way that it ends with that line that Mrs. Malda learned that you only win if you're good. What does this mean? Well, I think that it means it is a refer reference back to her gambling addiction. Dune pointed out that the movie doesn't end actually saying that she has stopped gambling. Perhaps she has. But of course, we also know that she was terrible at gambling. She was always losing. So maybe through, I don't know, Santa's Christmas magic or whatever, Mrs. Mald have found a loophole and learned that if you are good or or fame being good that you can start winning. So maybe the movie actually ends kind of ambiguously uh with her laying in weight and growing in power and so on until she can finally unmask herself and her evil upon the world. I don't know.

14:03 Okay. I like it. I like it that you are a a Christmas tree truther. Like you believe it all makes sense and you have a beautiful perspective on this. And you know what? I actually believe that that is the spirit of the film to find the truth, whatever truth is true to you. Uh so thank you. Thank you, Steve, for showing us that this is a metaphor about gambling. All right, back to the Discord. Uh Dove uh writes something that we knew when recording. This episode is nearly twice the length of the movie they're discussing with the movie lasting 42 minutes, the episode being about 80. How many episodes have they done that were longer than the source movie itself, let alone twice as long? I'm betting it's none. Now, our producer, Scott, always on target, always up for a challenge, says we've never had another episode be almost twice as long as the movie. Uh that this isn't the first episode that is longer than the movie in

15:06 general. to name a couple. Our episodes on Superman 4: The Quest for Peace and uh two two were both longer than the films. Now, here's the thing. Our discussions frequently go much longer than the movie, but we edit them down. For example, the Morbius live show was 3 hours long, unedited, but we know that that's a special thing for the audience. So, whenever you come see How Did This Get Made Live, you're going to get a longer, more special show. And also, we understand no one wants to hear three hours of MorbiiUs. And I know you're like, "Yes, we do." No, you don't. SS Lizard writes, "I don't think the mayor's a good guy." He sees one kid dressed in the same clothes every time he drops off money and that's it. He doesn't look around or talk to the kids or ask for any receipts. He just drops off money like, "Yep, I've done my job.

15:53 I'm such a good mayor." Here's the thing, SS Lizard. Hire good people and then let them do their job. And I think the mayor was doing that. And yes, he got a little complacent, but there seems to be a lot of things this mayor is responsible for. Primarily employing every individual person in this town. He has to size them up, find them uh not only a job, but then take care of their lodging as well. This mayor is doing the Lord's work. And yes, he may get confused. He may have thought there's different kids coming in and out. And sure, you can attack them all you want, but this guy is doing more than most mayors. Okay. Uh, John Steel writes, "Hey Paul, my wife and I watched this movie with our kids and we all had a good laugh at this bizarre movie. We had a thought on Mrs. Mavilda. We noticed that during the first card game, some of the other degenerates were calling her Beilda." So, we thought maybe her full

16:46 name is Beildilda Milda. John Steel. This is the logic. This is the logic that we need. And you know what? I'm doing it two last looks in a row. You are our winner. That's right. John Steel for naming Mrs. Mavilda Belilda. Mava. Yeah, you're going to win. And you get this amazing song from Homonym.

17:08 You win. [singing] Yes. Great job to everyone who came correct. Uh, and you did. You came very correct. By the way, how did this get made merch? We have re-released our original shirts. The first two designs we ever made are now up in our merch store. You could just go to hdtgm.com and get a link to go right there. You can also get our shirts for our Philadelphia and New York shows. They're great holiday gifts. You can make them into coffee mugs. You can make them into stickers. You can make them into hoodies. You can make them into onesies.

17:45 People give How did this get made for the holidays? And if you want those amazing hats, that's available, too. You just have to go to our Pod Swag store. Okay. Now, if you want to chime in with your thoughts about what we're always talking about here on the show, you can. It's very easy. You listen to the show, you go to our Discord, or you call me at 619 P A L A SK. Then I'll read your thing. I'll determine if you have what it takes to be like John Steel. And you know what? Most of you do. I believe in you. Like Tony Robbins, you can do anything you set your mind to. Take it from me, Paul Robbins. Um, all right.

18:22 Coming up next, you don't want to miss my chat with Jason where we recap our recent New York and Philadelphia live shows and talk movies, TV, music, and more. So stick around after the break. People, I hope you're checking out our amazing matinea episodes. That's right. Every Tuesday we re-release an old episode into the feed and we are talking Christmas movies. This year we are talking about Ben Affleck in the holiday crime flick reindeer games with Howard Kramer. We had some very big revelations on this one. And next week we're going to go not just fully down a Christmas path. We're going to go a little adjacent by talking about the 1991 Robin Williams surreal comedy Toys. Cuz Christmas and toys, you see how we made that connection. Anyway, keep on checking out all of our replays of classic episodes every Tuesday. And now without any further ado, it is time to welcome Jason to last looks for a little

19:17 just chat at Noisium. Play us in. Five days away, Jason from our live event streaming around the world. I'm in training now. I'm I'm I'm working I'm working out two two times a day. I'm doing cardio just to get ready for the live stream.

19:48 We are going to do it uh in a different and fun way this year, which is we're all in the same location, which will be fun because that will mean Jess won't have to do any uh tech, but she will have to arrive there, which will be a whole other uh maybe tell her maybe tell her it's going a little bit early.

20:06 You should give her a different time. And I fully expect simply her presence will somehow cause tech problems. Do I uh this story that I heard and I won't reveal all the the facts, but I think it's a good one, which was uh there was a a table read that was going on uh for a project and they wanted to make sure that every actor got there uh on time. So they told all the actors like 2 hours ahead of time to get there because a giant movie star was going to be at this table read and the giant movie star got there 2 hours early as well just because the giant movie star was like I just want to be there. I want to make sure that I am there. So then they had this this wait cuz not everyone

20:54 everybody was there. Oh. Oh. So just not every just not quite everybody. Not quite everyone because the one person that they were also trying to like gauge against didn't show up until 2 hours and 30 minutes. So we it came 30 minutes late, but they had to entertain like the biggest star and I was like, "Oh, this is really like no one knew what to do when

21:14 I love that. I can't wait to hear who it is." Yeah, it's a good one. Um, all right. So Jason, we have been on tour. We've been moving around. We've been grooving around. We had some great shows in Philly. We had some great filling guests. You and I.

21:26 Morgan was in Philly. Shouts to Morgan who came who moved away from Philly but came back just for the show.

21:33 And I feel like we didn't give him enough due out there. But you know what it was?

21:36 I'm giving it to him now. Great work Morgan. Great work Morgan. Now I will say I mean are how many people Sorry. No.

21:42 How many people genuinely in the 15 years of this podcast from the audience can you name single name? You know can you count it on refer to by name? You know what I mean? Tim Largo, there's Morgan. Like Morgan was like an absolute superstar. Yeah.

22:02 You know. Yeah. There I mean there there's only uh the the Pete the Sman. You know, there's a couple of people uh that come to mind.

22:09 Ben Cannon. I think of Ben Cannon. What a great name. Jafar. Leah from Chicago.

22:14 Oh, Leah from Chicago. We had some fun um we had some fun times in New York because we actually got to lay down a very long episode of Blank Check which I've been loving watching people's reactions to. We did the ballot of Buster Scrugs. People were like

22:29 By the way, Geek Squad came up in it. Yes, they did. And as you know, we are waging this war with Vanity Fair and and and Hollywood at large.

22:37 We're now we're waging war. I'm just going to say it. We are waging war. Wait a minute.

22:41 But um we're bringing we're bringing back wars. We're bringing back like when Howard Stern would go to war with a like a radio DJ,

22:48 like the Philadelphia dudes. Yeah, exactly. Um, here's what I will say. Uh, some people lamented that 3 hours and 41 minutes not enough time for us to break down.

23:00 I mean, I could have kept going. Me, too. We had a show. We could have kept going, you know, and I'm I'm not surprised that people wanted more. You know who didn't want more? David Sims.

23:10 Oh my gosh. There is nothing more fun. I will say especially especially this time when the four of us got to be in the room.

23:17 I love being in the room. Then watching David get more and more agitated and frustrated in a such delightfully fun and funny way. He is what a great uh what a great presence inside of the absolute chaos that is Yumi and Griffin. Oh, and here's what I love about it is it seems like that anger is misplaced because the show has started, but he does treat it as if the show has not begun, right? Like not hit record yet,

23:47 as if everything the the whole conversation we've been having about the movie, but simply because nobody has said this is the blank checkpot and nobody's done the intro line. He's getting more and oh, it was so funny. more and more frustrated, you know, because, you know, that's David is, you know, has three kids, I think, under four. The

24:08 Yeah, he's got he's in [clears throat] it. He's in it. He's drowning in children. Um, and it is he boy and so I think for him, the three of us were just like three unruly kids. I mean, it was so funny because uh we should have started at 10:00 a.m. to finish uh at 6 like you know um it was really like I to me I loved being in there. I love their space. Uh I love talking to them. I and so if you have not listened to that episode, do yourself a favor if you got about four hours uh

24:39 you know, and and it's the kind of thing that that you can listen to in chunks. And I will say I if you are a Cohen Brothers fan, if you're a Blank Check fan, if you're a movie podcast fan, if you like our show, you should be listening to Blank Check. Absolutely. A lot of our guests are guests on that show. Listen to Gabris or us. Paul and I have been on it a bunch. Listen to the Doughboys on there if you're looking for an entry point, but then also listen to Ari on there, listen to Seth Rogan on there, listen to the, you know, all the great um all the great past and future guests. It's a fantastic show. Um and I can't recommend it enough. And this series about the Cohen brothers is maybe pound-for-pound one of the greatest um series they've ever done.

25:24 The best run that they've had. I mean, in that in a series in a a show that has tremendous runs all the time. Um, I will also say this. I want to shout out our our friend who's never actually been on the podcast, but Rob Wgle. Uh, Rob Wgle has a book and an audio book as well. Uh, it's the same book. It's, you know, it's not only he has two, but it's called, uh, Grit, Spit, and Never Quit. Um, it's it's his, uh, story about being a Marine and doing comedy. And there are some great great stories in there. Wiggles Marine stories are always hilarious. And uh and this book is really really fun. A really

26:01 uh if you like Rob Wle and you know him obviously from you know everything from like 21 Jump Street. Yeah. Daily Show, SNL.

26:10 Uh great dude. Incredible. Great great dude. Uh so anyway, just wanted to shout out our friend and his uh brand new book. But Jason, I've been watching stuff and I wanted to get you read I you're going to have more interesting stuff. So I'm going to just throw one thing at you.

26:23 What do you What do you want? What do you got? I went back and watched 21 Jump Street and I was like this

26:29 TV the entire TV series. No, I wish I watched the TV. Oh my, by the way, I do own it. The entire TV series. You really

26:35 Oh, I do. I loved it. Um, I watched that 21 Jump Street movie and it was like, you know, it's funny. I don't often revisit comedies, so I'm like, "Oh, yeah, it was really funny. I really liked it." And I don't ever go back. I rewatched that movie and I was like, "This movie is kind of perfect." It just is

26:51 so funny. So funny. a great cast across the board. I just was like blown away by I think it's fun to sit back and watch comedies after a long time of not seeing them because it's uh

27:03 because then you're surprised by the jokes again. Yeah, I really cuz that's why it works because it's like it's so surprising and funny and again we just don't do these anymore. Wouldn't it be great to make movies with funny people that are funny, you know, that are just non-stop funny with funny people? I would love that. But we don't seem to be interested in that or the the business doesn't seem to be interested in that.

27:27 And it's such a shame because that's a movie that really you could show is like oh well it's done it all. I mean you and I think also have a soft spot for action comedy especially cop stuff and funny stuff like I mean but I just want to give a shout out to Dave Franco who I think is so good in that movie. He's so [ __ ] funny. Every I I just really like

27:43 and that's a run too where you've got 21 Jump Street. You've got like the Seth and Evans stuff like this is the end happening around that same time. You've got Neighbors happening right around that. Like you've got a run of movies that is kind of the end of the they and many of these are not even action comedies. These are just comedies and that run is kind of the end of studio comedies really. I mean we don't

28:06 and they're all successful like like I mean it's so crazy to look at like uh you know like it's an 85 on Rotten Tomatoes 21 Jump Street. These are not failures. These aren't even like niche movies. These were ones that really really worked.

28:19 These are These are movies that connected. I still wish I think we talked about this recently. I wish they would do the 21 Jump Street 3 Men in Black four.

28:28 Channing was talking about it recently again. Okay, good. And I think that there's some rights issues where they're now able to maneuver it.

28:37 But that's the kind of fun that I wish we were doing. I wish we were making movies that had that fun to that that level of fun and surprise because I think we'd have hits on our hands, you know, comedically, you know, we'd have people being interested to be like, I got to go see that instead of like it's Baywatch or, you know, whatever nonsense.

28:58 We make these things that like I don't know, it's a bummer. It's just a bummer. Sometimes it's a bummer. But I will tell you, uh, the trailer for Project Hail Mary looks amazing. That's Lord Miller's new movie. Uh, and

29:10 based on the Andy Weir book, I did see it. I will tell you that much. I saw it months ago and before the uh the effects were done. I think maybe they cut out about 10 15 minutes and I will tell you, you are in store for I I saw it

29:24 almost not effectsless, but with minimal effects and I was blown away by it like and I just I'm so excited for that movie. I'm so excited for people to see that movie uh and get pumped for it. What have you been up to?

29:38 Um, I'm watching a bunch of stuff. I've got a bunch of stuff to shout out. TV. I've got some music stuff. Let's just blast it through. Taskmaster season 20 just wrapped up on YouTube. I can't recommend it enough. Better than fantastic season. It is in no way, shape, or form better than my season. I've been boycotting it because

29:58 I'm I'm and actively telling people don't want it's not as good. They didn't bring back Jason. And they said, well, they don't ever really bring back people. You know, it's that magic trick that Taskmaster always does, especially for I think if you are not fully dialed into British comedy where I don't know these people or maybe I've seen them in passing here or there and then I immediately become obsessed with them and become so invested in the show. Um, this season was fantastic.

30:24 I really became a fan of Stevie Martin because of uh because of your season. Stevie Martin sent me a picture recently of um I'll find it and send it and maybe we can post it. Uh somebody sent her a picture of people on Halloween dressed as her and I in our te in our outfits from Task. Oh, I wish I

30:43 which was very cute. Like it was like a couple's costume I think. Oh, I think that that's amazing. By the way, somebody did something uh that I want to send you. It is a clip of someone hitting the pause button on Teen Wolf and finding the nudity in it. So, now there is uh we have a great

31:00 Now there's proof. There's proof. Now that somebody was able to uh give me the proof that I so desperately needed from the Teen Wolf episode.

31:07 Oh, that's so funny. There's a show on I think HBO. It's a It's an adult swim show called Haha You Clowns.

31:18 Oh, I um animated show. Uh 15minute episodes. I have not laughed this hard in I don't know how long. This is very funny. Like absurd nonsense funny [ __ ] This uh there's only a handful of episodes are up so far that I've seen.

31:35 Joe Kappa is the creator. Okay. Yeah. Um I just happened on this show and it is killing me how funny it is. It's absolutely bananas level funny.

31:45 Um Land Man is back. Diplomat is back. Oh yes. Love Land Man. Um uh The Last Frontier on Apple is basically what if Conair was a TV series.

31:58 I and I started watching it and I'm loving it. It's a blast. It's it's a blast. Um if you are looking for it's it's getting to be that holiday season period where I feel like everybody watches um Gilmore Girls.

32:11 Yes. If you are looking for a Gilmore Girlsesque thing to watch, maybe you've already watched Gilmore Girls enough or whatever. I can't recommend enough the um follow-up show that Amy Sherman Paladino did one season of called Bunheads. Um all of which is now on Prime and I've just rewatched all of Bunheads and it's incredible. It is so fantastic. Sutton Foster is the star of the show. Every She's a She and Kelly Bishop have a dance studio. Every episode has a like long single take dance performance. Um, which the Paladinos then later did on a Twall as well, the now cancelled Prime show, but I cannot recommend Bunheads enough. It's on Prime. It's been hard to watch for a while. So, that's a good one. Jason, have you watched or I we haven't talked about yet, but The Chair Company?

33:07 Chair Company. I am I've only watched the first couple. I think it's amazing. And now that I'm back at home, I'm going to watch the rest of it. I'm very excited.

33:14 I really This is a show and like Plurbus as well. I like to I haven't started that.

33:19 I haven't started it either because I like to build up a handful because I know I I want to watch more than one

33:25 and I also don't want to watch stuff on hotel TVs. No, exactly. I want to watch it the right way. I don't want to watch it on my like fold up iPad. But I will tell you this.

33:35 Um I'm calling for the Lou Diamond Phillips Renaissance. I feel like he is great in chair company.

33:42 Just so good. And I just saw him be great in a season, an older season of um the Billy I was so desiring Land Man to come back that I've watched almost all of Goliath,

33:53 Billy Bob Thornton's Amazon Prime lawyer show and one season Lou Diamond Phillips is in and it's fantastic.

33:59 I uh that Goliath, I remember watching that. My gosh, yeah, he's been really really good. And by the way, uh Jim Downey in Chair Company is fantastic. If you watch one battle after another, he's also fantastic in that. like he's having this renaissance

34:11 and there's a Jim Downey documentary out as well which is called Downey wrote that it's on Peacock and uh there's a great interview with Letterman and Downey together on YouTube. It's one of his YouTube interview shows which he's doing and it's great cuz Downey was the headwriter of Letterman for a little bit after he left SNL in the early days. So they are they talk about bits that were it was making me laugh so hard because it was just like the craziest Letterman bits but it's the headwriter and Letterman talking about like bits that no one talks about. Uh really really fun.

34:43 One last show that I want to give some real love to cuz I think it's maybe my favorite show of the year so far and that's uh Sterling Hard Joe's The Lowdown the Ethan Hawk show that is set in uh Oklahoma that is absolutely phenomenal. They're calling it like a Tulsa noir, I think, or something like that. And it's very much that it is a very noir story that's being told uh with, you know, Ethan Hawk as the protagonist. And it is a funny, shaggy, detectiveish hangout show. The cast is incredible. The music is incredible. I specifically want to shout out, they are using the musician Ken Pomemeoy. She's an incredible singer, songwriter, and she's an actor on the show. her album from last year called Cruel Joke I think is one of my favorite albums of the year. Um, Flannel Cowboy may be one of my most listened to songs of the year.

35:37 Um, the show is incredible and I think deserves everybody's attention. Like top of the list for me for 2025, the lowdown. Oh, I I love this. And you know, you shouted out one thing that I want to just call out. We I've talked about them before on the show. The Wolves of Glendale. They are a really funny band. Uh, and I know when sometimes if you say, "Oh, a funny band, people like you could feel their buttholes tightened." But here's what I tell you. They are legitimately very funny. But they're doing a brand new series, which I love. It's like Iron Chef for songwriting.

36:08 So, what they do is they get these ingredients that they have to do and then make a song. So, every episode Oh, wow. is them making a song on a very unique topic. The first episode was they have to make a song about Shrek. Um, I I just love the format. It's it's it's Iron Chef with music. Check it out. It's on YouTube. It's free. It's Wolves of Glendale. You will love it. And the Shrek Shrek song is very funny. Uh,

36:34 let me just I want to shout out a couple things. I just saw I was in New York. This is really for people if you are in New York or going to New York. I saw Natalie Pales's show Weird at the Cherry Lane and

36:46 it was astonishing. I thought it was an absolutely incredible show that everybody needs to see. Um, Natalie Palmdius did the show Nate that is available on Netflix, but this show we is an incredible incredible show. I couldn't believe the I don't want to say what the kind of trick of it is or the the what the what the what the hook of it is, but it's it's so incredible and so [ __ ] funny. Um, I haven't laughed that hard in a while. Some of my favorite comedians are on tour. If you can see Nishkumar's show, uh, Nish Don't Kill My Vibe. Incredible. James Aer is touring and is touring the US with new material that I've seen and it is fantastic. James Acastaster, of course, from the James Projector episode. Um, phenomenal. Um, Stevie Martin is on tour. We mentioned her earlier. My Taskmaster, um, JV Martzukas uh, uh, teammate. Please see her new um stuff.

37:47 Uh is fantastic. But a bunch of people have put out specials recently that I want to shout out. Ian Edwards put out a special on YouTube that is absolutely hilarious.

37:57 Earthquake special, Jokeetelling Business is so funny. Um Alli Wong directed Frankie Kones's special, Damn, that's scary. And that's very funny. Um all of these are worth tracking down and worth checking out. Great specials all around. like trying to get into more like finding more people that are putting out specials and not just like big slick nonsense but like really funny shows, you know?

38:25 Patton was on something recently. Patton just put out an audio only special. Oh, wow. I was like, I love this. Great. More of this.

38:31 Okay. And also the Jeff Buckley documentary is absolutely heartbreaking and fantastic.

38:37 Well, Jason, here's something you're gonna want to put on your list. uh a brand new musical uh performer uh a talent here from our show of years past. Our former engineer uh Devon Bryant has something to share with us. Devin, welcome back to How Did This Get Made?

38:56 Gentlemen, hello. Left, get this, left us for smart lists. Left us to do more [snorts] and be more creative. Bo, how dare you?

39:06 I know. I'm so sorry. left us for, as my cousins in Massachusetts would say, smileless.

39:13 That's absolutely right. Um, and I've seen both of you guys as you've come through on a couple shows we've had over there. Both of you were on Staying Alive, the show I work on with Gabri Pal, which is a fantastic show. Great episode. You both were on too. If people haven't heard them, please check them out.

39:26 Do you think those were the two highest rated episodes of that show? Yes. Now, here's what I'll say. Um, you know, for people who don't know, Devon uh is the best. We love Devon. Devon uh produced here on How Did This Get Made? Created songs for us. Uh was instrumental on Unspooled as well. Uh but Devon, in your own right, you are a great musician. We talked about your your last big release uh under the moniker of uh Painkiller the Pigeon. Right.

39:54 That's right. Painkiller the Pigeon is what I call uh this kind of music because I I do some experimental stuff and but this is where I put kind of like, you know, uh pop songs. I mean, for lack of a better term, this these are these are guitars, these are drums, these are bass, these are lyrics, you know, it's it's it's Beatles type pop songs. I mean, rather than say a Sabrina Carpenter or something like that. Yeah.

40:12 Yeah. Well, now the new album is called Blame It on the Zodiac, right? And My Zodiac.

40:18 Oh, my Zodiac. There you go. Okay. There. Now, I like that. Is that is the album So, it's all songs that are about the failure of your Zodiac boat. the the inflatable the inflatable boat that

40:31 look don't Jason we cannot [ __ ] on the sponsor please [ __ ] are we sponsored by Zodiac

40:36 yeah we get a lot of money from the Zodiac a big discount code no one uses it cuz it's still very expensive but uh but yeah so tell us about this album

40:45 well it's it's a very vintagey thing I mean the the the inspiration the things I was listening to as I was writing these songs are sort of all things that ended up being released sort of 1968 to 1972 and I don't really know Why? It's just it was all the, you know, kind of the second, third, fourth CCR record, the like second, third, fourth Janie Mitchell record, you know, the like the the Peter Gabriel Genesis era, the, you know, King Crimson kind of before the first breakup, you know, it's it's all this stuff that I was listening to.

41:13 Wait, like Adrien Belaloo era King Crimson or I I certainly was listening to a ton of that. Yes. Um, absolutely. But

41:19 I mean, are we talking three of a perfect pair here? What are we what are we talking and Jack and me? Like what are we talking about?

41:28 That's a good record by the way. That's an underrated one. The second one beat people people are like discipline is the one. But beat is fantastic.

41:34 Beat is I loved Beat. And that whole run you said Lark's Tongue, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Lark's tongue is fantastic and Red the one that comes after it which is just brutal.

41:44 Brutal record. None of that exactly leaks through to the record um King Crimson Wise. But Robert Frip's uh kind of attitude is in the back of my head the whole time which is keep going, keep pushing. you're you're you're not doing it well enough, which is mostly him talking to himself, you know, being furious that he would have missed like whatever, like a 30 secondond note in an arpeggio. It was off by a quaver last night. He's like, "The show sucked, you know, and you're like, it's I wasn't going for quite that kind of thing, but there was just this voice in my head of like, keep pushing on it, right?" And so it became that most vintage of things, a double album, a crazy thing to make.

42:19 Uh it it went if I'm ever able to make it on vinyl, right, which is which is the goal. But at the moment, it's just going to be on CD, which is a nice glossy limited edition package that I made with a big poster and with a lyric booklet and all this kind of stuff. It's meant to be kind of a a vintagey thing, you know? That's that's the idea of it. A physical object that you can

42:36 physical media, baby. That's the point of it. Yeah. So, now uh where can we get it? What can we do? How can we support it? We're going to play a little clip. Uh cuz I think we can do that. Uh you know, uh we can talk to your company.

42:47 Oh, you better not You better not take force us to take it down. I'm issuing a takedown. I love this. Always issuing a takedown.

42:57 Uh like Yeah. Like uh where where can we find it? Because I know that you have you have an account on Spotify. You could type in Pink Killer the Pigeon, but that's not every you know that that's not everything. I mean

43:06 streaming absolutely everywhere that people prefer to listen to it. Even the naughty places like Spotify that I wish you wouldn't use, but you know, title and Apple Music anywhere use it.

43:14 Would Would you prefer it if we for example bought it digitally on Band Camp? I certainly would. Bandamp my my bandampiller pigeon.bandamp.com bandamp.com is the place to go, I would say.

43:25 And when if you are lucky enough to um to be a Band Camp regular, B if you buy the album on Band Camp Friday, that means Band Camp does not take its percentage. All of the money goes to the artist. So there should be a Band Camp Friday coming up soon,

43:43 I believe. December, the first December Friday, maybe. I believe it's the first Friday in December, which I believe is the day this comes out, the 5th.

43:50 All right, we go. Okay, there we go. Hey, as people are hearing this is Band Camp.

43:54 So, if you're hearing this and it's Band Camp Friday, go and buy Devon's album.

43:59 Exactly. Um, blame it on my Zodiac. Absolutely. Will you tour the record? [snorts]

44:06 I don't know how I could. This is a record I made entirely on my own. I play every single every single instrument top to bottom um on on a double album with four EPs that come out after it. There's 42 tracks that I did from TB. So, it's it's kind of an insane project, but I had to make that much to get to the to boil it down to what the record was supposed to be. I had to make way too much and then lots of it was good. So, it'll all be out on kind of supplementary EPs for people that are interested, but the main record is the thing for sure.

44:33 I love this. The album is available in full for 15, right? Yeah. For digital. And if you want to get the CD Yeah. with the special limited edition poster and booklet, that's 20 bucks.

44:44 That's This is nothing. This is nothing in the grand scheme of things. I'll get that. I can't bring myself to charge like honestly what it should be. You know, if I were trying to make money on this thing, it would be like it would be $35. But I just I reject that. I'm a kid from the '9s. A record should be 15 bucks or less. You know what I mean?

45:00 I agree. I agree. I agree. I remember when CDs went up to $17 and I was like, "This is insane."

45:06 By the way, I've been dealing this with my book. You know, my book came out in in uh in paperback and it's only $3 cheaper than the hard cover. I'm like, "What what is going on here?" Like the hard cover is like 21 and the book is like $15.99. It's like it's like it's too close. Um but anyway, we love you Devon. Thank you for coming back. Buy this album. Support Devon. Go to Band Camp today. Support all the artists.

45:29 Seriously, you don't have to buy from me. Buy from people on Band Camp every Band Camp Friday. Just buy something from somebody.

45:34 Buy How about this Devon? Are there any artists that you want to shout out that you feel like in I mean you already have a little bit informed this album that are that people could also be looking at on Band Campam?

45:46 Well, that's it's tough because right so much of the stuff I was listening to was was older music so they don't necessarily have things, you know, to to promote right now. But but I will say the Joanie Mitchell archive and reissue series.

45:57 Don't get me started. I can talk about this for years. I got a Jonie Mitchell cover on the record, my friend. It's I don't know where I stand from clouds. It's one all time favorites that I just had this dream. I was I was listening to it on a plane actually and I was like this needs to be done as if the birds had covered this in 1968 with big uh electric 12 strings, big like harmonies, big drifty dreamy version of that song and it's one of my favorite on the record.

46:22 Oh, that's great. Love this. All right, tell us the song that you are going to play for us. We'll listen to it and then uh Yeah.

46:27 Uh the the song I wanted to play is actually going to be the second single from the record which on the day you're listening will be out next week. It's called Mistaken. Um, and it's kind of a orchestral chamber poppy thing, uh, with a little bit of a groove. So, yeah.

46:41 All right. Well, thank you, Devin, and enjoy this song. Heat. Heat. Heat up here.

48:02 All right. Thank you so much to Jason and Devin for stopping by. If you want to check out Devon's album, Blame It on My Zodiac, go to the link in this episode's show notes, which will point you towards the album on Band Camp and all streaming services. Now, it is finally time to announce our next movie. Next week, we'll be going from dry mushing to some wet smooching. Yeah. Well, I've already kind of teased this in the beginning, but we're watching 2015's Merry Christmas, starring Cararissa Staples, Brent Doherty, and the late great Doris Roberts. Like I mentioned, this is the movie that we are covering on our holiday live stream on December 10th. So, if you want to watch the episode live and completely unedited before the podcast comes out, make sure to get yourself a ticket by going to hdtgm.com or my website. Now, if you want to know what this movie is about, well, first of all, I'm going to tell

48:53 you Scott says you should watch it. And if you're still not sold on that, here's a summary. A magical kiss and an elevator leaves a woman torn between two men at Christmas time. Ooh. Okay. This movie doesn't have enough Rotten Tomatoes reviews, so we can't give you that tomato score. Instead, we turn to Letterbox, where user Marissa Karpio writes, "You got a problem. When the characters with the most chemistry play cousins, you know, I got to tell you, this happens a lot on these Lifetime Hallmark films. There seems to be a sexual tension uh for the characters who can't get together, like that post office movie. remember that the brother and sister that they we wanted them to [ __ ] Anyway, uh if you're still not sold, listen to the trailer from Merry Christmas.

49:35 All Kayla wants for Christmas. True love is always a worthy wish. I thought that wish came true 2 years ago, but now I'm not so sure

49:45 is the happily ever after she's always dreamed about. We decided to hold off on the wedding until after the new year. Now she'll have to choose between the perfect life.

49:54 Wait, or the perfect guy, Cararissa Staples, Brad Dardy, and Doris Roberts. Like magic and romance ignite a relationship, but it's the friendship that makes it endure

50:07 in a U tide story about how it's never too late to find the perfect one for you. You know,

50:13 it's the friendship that turns that happily ever after into the beginning of a love story and not the ending. Merry Christmas. You excited? I am. You can stream Merry Christmas on Hoopla, Tubi, Amazon Prime Video, Pluto TV, Fawsome, and Fandango at home. Or you can rent it on YouTube, Apple TV, or Google Play. In addition to Hoopla, where you can find this movie, Canopy and Libby are two more digital media services offered by your local public library that allow you to consume movies TV music audiobooks ebooks and comics for free. That is it for Last Looks. If you listen to us on Apple Podcast or Spotify, please rate and review us. And please also make sure that you are following us and have automatic downloads turned on. It helps us, it helps the show, and we appreciate it. Visit us on social media at HDTGM.

51:00 And a big thank you to our producer Scott Sonni, Molly Reynolds, our engineer Casey Halford, our social media manager Zoe Applebomb, and our intern Quinn Jennings. And as always, we have the one and only Averil Halley in our hearts. We'll see you next week for Merry Christmas.

Questions about this episode

What is discussed in "Last Looks: The Christmas Tree"?

In order: 0:00 How Did This Get Made, Lamb Man, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas; 10:00 Lamb Man; 15:00 How Did This Get Made; 25:00 21 Jump Street, Taskmaster, Grit, Spit, and Never Quit; 30:00 Taskmaster; 35:00 How Did This Get Made, Taskmaster; 40:00 Band Camp; 45:00 Band Camp, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Doris Roberts; 50:00 Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas.

What is mentioned in this How Did This Get Made? episode?

10 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including How Did This Get Made, 21 Jump Street, Taskmaster, Band Camp, Lamb Man, Merry Christmas. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Last Looks: The Christmas Tree"?

The episode runs 51 min; the transcript is about 9,757 words in 142 timestamped sections.

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