Speaker 1: Hi. I'm Vanessa Beyor and this is my brother Jonah.
Speaker 2: We're two siblings who love to talk about our childhood
Speaker 2: and nostalgia and how shaped this into the people we
Speaker 2: are today.
Speaker 3: Who do not recommend listening to this episode after midnight.
Speaker 2: Welcome to How Did We Get Weird?
Speaker 3: So Jonah, before we get started in our usual story,
Speaker 3: I just want to do a little bit of housekeeping
Speaker 3: for our listeners. And I've heard other podcasts called this
Speaker 3: housekeeping before, which is why.
Speaker 2: I picked up. Yeah, it was interesting. Not a term. Yeah,
Speaker 2: don't take this the wrong way. Not a term I
Speaker 2: really associate with you. Housekeeping.
Speaker 3: Yeah, kind of. I would say I'm kind of a
Speaker 3: messy person, and I understand that. But anyways, here comes
Speaker 3: some housekeeping. Does it sound natural?
Speaker 2: Like it doesn't sound It's one of the most natural
Speaker 2: thing you've ever heard. Just a house to housekeeping.
Speaker 1: We're going to do some housekeeping.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that sounds better. Beta gets better.
Speaker 3: So we are off for the next two weeks for
Speaker 3: the holidays, but in lieu of our regular episodes, we
Speaker 3: will be airing some absolutely incredible appearances that.
Speaker 1: We made on some other hilarious podcasts.
Speaker 3: Next week, we will be airing the episode of Stradio
Speaker 3: Lab who we had Sam and George on our podcast
Speaker 3: to talk about eminem We will be airing an episode
Speaker 3: that I did on their podcast of Stradio Lab where
Speaker 3: we talk about first day of school outfits okay, And
Speaker 3: then the following week, we will be airing an appearance
Speaker 3: that Jonah and I did on the Amber and Lacy
Speaker 3: Lacy and Amber show, who you may remember from when
Speaker 3: they did our podcast and we talked about rolling down
Speaker 3: a hill in a barrel?
Speaker 2: Who could forget it?
Speaker 1: Who could forget it?
Speaker 3: Now, next week George and Sam will be airing the
Speaker 3: episode that they did on our podcast, and the following
Speaker 3: week Amber and Lacy will be airing the episode that
Speaker 3: they did on our podcast again rolling down a Hill
Speaker 3: in a Barrel. But first we're doing our holiday episode
Speaker 3: right now where we would like to talk about the
Speaker 3: film Gremlins.
Speaker 2: So you might be wondering why we're talking about Gremlins, Well,
Speaker 2: this is an extension of last week's episode we had
Speaker 2: on the hilarious Andy Samberg and he was talking about
Speaker 2: movie theme serials. We spent a lot of time focusing
Speaker 2: on the Gremlin serial and then afterwards Vanessa and I
Speaker 2: were looking for a Christmas movie to discuss, or a
Speaker 2: holiday movie, and Gremlins nineteen eighty four classic Christmas film.
Speaker 2: So this is kind of an extension of last week's
Speaker 2: episode in a way.
Speaker 3: Yes, but we have a lot to say because we're
Speaker 3: really excited to talk about Grenlin, Grenlins, Gremlins.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So, Vanessa, do you remember watching this movie? Did
Speaker 2: we watch this as a kid? I mean I think
Speaker 2: it was a TV and stuff, right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So it came out in nineteen eighty four, so
Speaker 3: I was three years old and you were five years old.
Speaker 3: So I don't think that either of us, like neither
Speaker 3: of us saw it in the theater. That would have
Speaker 3: been absolutely responsible of our parents.
Speaker 2: Right, I'm not really talking about in the theater. I'm
Speaker 2: talking about on TV, like TBS, the edited version.
Speaker 3: Right, right, I remember exactly. I think, like what you're saying,
Speaker 3: it was always on TV. But when I watched it yesterday,
Speaker 3: I realized I've never seen it the whole way through before.
Speaker 2: Same same I realized that too, and I had never
Speaker 2: watched it on purpose. I feel like I had only
Speaker 2: kind of seen it on TV wall like channel search.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and Jonah, I think you and I talked about.
Speaker 3: We both had a similar feeling about it, which is
Speaker 3: that it even as kids, it felt very scary to us.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's considered, you know, we can get into
Speaker 2: a comedy horror film. It's directed by Joe Dante. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's basically this kind of weird amalgam of movies where
Speaker 2: it's like a horror movie but it's kind of for kids,
Speaker 2: and there's kind of like cute funny parts, but then
Speaker 2: parts of it are like legit horror movie scary like people.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, totally, so let's get into it. As you said, Jonah.
Speaker 1: Gremlins is a nineteen eighty four American comedy horror film
Speaker 1: directed by Joe Dante, written by Chris Columbus, and starring
Speaker 1: Zach Gallaghan, Phoebe Kates, and a bunch of other people,
Speaker 1: including Howie Mandel providing the voice of Gizmo, which I
Speaker 1: did not know.
Speaker 2: I'd never in a million years would have guessed that
Speaker 2: that was. Howie Mandel is Gizmo.
Speaker 3: Who is the main Maguai character, and basically the story
Speaker 3: follows a young man who receives a strange creature as
Speaker 3: a pet, which is Gizmo. The Maguay which then spawns
Speaker 3: other creatures who transform into small, destructive, mischievous monsters that
Speaker 3: I'll reek havoc on a hold town on Christmas Eve.
Speaker 2: Yes, And so that's what Wikipedia has to say about it.
Speaker 2: You know, for us, me and Vanessa kind of watched
Speaker 2: it both last night separately. We haven't talked, we haven't
Speaker 2: discussed it yet. But no, if you haven't seen it
Speaker 2: in a while, we can kind of break it down
Speaker 2: for you. And basically it starts out opening scene. The
Speaker 2: dad is in some kind of eastern sort of Chinatown
Speaker 2: type neighborhood.
Speaker 3: Yes, he's in Chinatown, and he is an inventor.
Speaker 2: He's an inventor, and he's got this thing in the
Speaker 2: bathroom buddy.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and he's sort of in the Chinatown sort of
Speaker 3: buy a Christmas gift for his son, but also to
Speaker 3: kind of like try and sell the owner of the
Speaker 3: store on his bathroom buddy.
Speaker 2: Right. So he's he's there and he's looking for, you know,
Speaker 2: the perfect gift. He's been looking everywhere, you know. This
Speaker 2: kid takes him down to his grandfather's store. He's looking around,
Speaker 2: and so he hears this This sound gives the most singing. Basically,
Speaker 2: it's like, oh, this is like the perfect gift for
Speaker 2: my kid, which is like so weird because it's like
Speaker 2: you're gonna ship this, You're gonna take this as luggage
Speaker 2: across the whole country, Like right, well, doesn't seem like
Speaker 2: the best gift to fly with.
Speaker 3: Well, do you think he's out You think he's out
Speaker 3: of town. You don't think they just like live in
Speaker 3: a suburb of New York and he's like in China.
Speaker 1: That's maybe I took it.
Speaker 2: I got the sense he was on like a business trip.
Speaker 1: Interesting, like he tried, right, he does travel for work
Speaker 1: to sell his own I get.
Speaker 2: The sense he was like somewhere far away looking for
Speaker 2: a special gift.
Speaker 3: I see, I see what you're saying, because I guess
Speaker 3: it really does look like they're in the suburbs where
Speaker 3: they live.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, But anyways, wherever he is, he gets he
Speaker 2: wants this and the owner says, no, you know, it's
Speaker 2: you have to be really responsible, and basically the grandson
Speaker 2: kind of sells it to him on the side.
Speaker 3: Yeah, No, here's this is where this sort of starts.
Speaker 3: And I guess this is a theme that's throughout the movie,
Speaker 3: and I guess it's on purpose. But the guy sees
Speaker 3: the little gizmo the little Magway, which is I guess
Speaker 3: it's like a cute little creature as a magway, but anyway,
Speaker 3: but it's like a new species of thing, and the
Speaker 3: guy is like, not that, Like wouldn't you be like,
Speaker 3: oh my god, what is this? And wouldn't you also
Speaker 3: not be like I should go take take this thing
Speaker 3: home and have it as my pet, like this new
Speaker 3: species that's never been I just feel like there's not
Speaker 3: a ton of shop. And I think the reason he
Speaker 3: discovers him is because and this is something I forgot
Speaker 3: about Gizmo, which is very cute, is that Gizmo sings
Speaker 3: a lot the moxing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're right. It's there's a vibe in this movie
Speaker 2: where finding a new species of animal is just like
Speaker 2: kind of a normal thing. Like it's not like it
Speaker 2: doesn't happen every day, but it's it could happen. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's like yeah, yeah, like you could go to store
Speaker 2: and like it might not be just a bunch of
Speaker 2: old like color me bad CDs at like when these stores.
Speaker 2: It would be like a new species of animal and
Speaker 2: that would be cool, but not out of the Yeah,
Speaker 2: not that weird.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it just feels like the dad is sort of
Speaker 3: like he's so not weird about that. He's like, I'm
Speaker 3: ready to take this home and take care of it
Speaker 3: and live with it forever.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And so he gets a Magua comes home. The
Speaker 2: sun is Billy, So Billy's Billy's having some isshes with
Speaker 2: his car and his neighbor. So this neighbor character like
Speaker 2: hates anything foreign is sort of the vibe you get
Speaker 2: because he keeps being like, oh, right.
Speaker 3: A neighbor who's who's like he's he's just like senaphobic neighbor.
Speaker 2: And the guy's like, oh, this car is And it's
Speaker 2: almost like there is this like I almost got a
Speaker 2: sense like there was some kind of like social commentary
Speaker 2: happening about almost like xenophobia or like I don't know,
Speaker 2: maybe I was just a reading too into it, but
Speaker 2: like how the maybe like you know, I don't know
Speaker 2: exactly what the Gremlins represent, but it was sort of
Speaker 2: showing how like there was this kind of I don't know,
Speaker 2: xenophobic kind of like small town suburban attitude and this
Speaker 2: guy was kind of like the representing it, and I'm
Speaker 2: exactly sure how it fits together, but I think there
Speaker 2: was a reason I would think.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so this kid can't go to work because his
Speaker 3: car isn't starting so and the neighbor's like it because
Speaker 3: it's a foreign car. And then he eventually decides to
Speaker 3: walk to work, but he has to take his dog
Speaker 3: with him, and he's he works at a bank, and.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and hold on, hold on, because this is the
Speaker 2: most incredible fire. It's a dog owner. He just takes
Speaker 2: his dog to work off leash, like, yeah, I would
Speaker 2: be terrified to do. So they're going through intersections and
Speaker 2: this dog, to me, the dog's name is Barney. I believe. Yes,
Speaker 2: I gotta say, this dog is so cute, and we
Speaker 2: can get to Gizmo later, but I think the cutest
Speaker 2: animal in the movie is Barney.
Speaker 3: Well, I think you and I both had like this memory,
Speaker 3: as do probably most people familiar with this movie of
Speaker 3: Gizmo being like the cutest thing in the world. But
Speaker 3: I just think that technology has come so far since
Speaker 3: nineteen eighty four that Gizmo.
Speaker 1: To me was cute but looked so robotic.
Speaker 2: Because basically, basically it looks like et like a baby et.
Speaker 3: Well, yes, and there's and Steven Spielberg produced both of
Speaker 3: these movies.
Speaker 1: And I do think and as we read, well, i'm
Speaker 1: telling you her listeners.
Speaker 2: Okay, sorry, because if you're telling me, I know, Silber
Speaker 2: gotta go.
Speaker 3: But I do think we did read that there's some inspiration,
Speaker 3: like some of this movie was made because of the
Speaker 3: success of ET.
Speaker 1: So anyways, he takes this incredib cute.
Speaker 3: Dog to work and then and Phoebe Kate's was so
Speaker 3: popular then, wasn't she.
Speaker 2: Yes, I believe this is post Fast Times at Ridgemond High,
Speaker 2: which was obviously like a huge movie. And so yeah,
Speaker 2: I think she was popular. And I said somewhere that
Speaker 2: this guy, Billy I think was not a big actor.
Speaker 2: And it read somewhere that they were cast by Spieger
Speaker 2: because of their on screen chemistry.
Speaker 3: I did think they had a lot of chemistry, I
Speaker 3: have to say. And I forgot how beautiful she is.
Speaker 3: She's just like such a she's like stunning. I just
Speaker 3: want to say that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And so she also works at the bank.
Speaker 3: She also works at the bank, but she also works
Speaker 3: at her dad's bar, which we'll get to or her
Speaker 3: family's restaurant slash bar. Okay, So they're at the bank
Speaker 3: and he's working at the counter and this woman comes
Speaker 3: in who has wicked Witch of the West vibes like
Speaker 3: she's Screwge Scrooge kind of scrooge.
Speaker 1: Kind of vibes. Yeah, and she's exactly. She is a
Speaker 1: real Scrooge type.
Speaker 2: She's there the bank, owns a bank, or.
Speaker 1: She's she owns the bank.
Speaker 3: Later they say, like she her husband, she owns all
Speaker 3: this real estate. She's like a landlord and all of
Speaker 3: these like people like sort of poor people include or
Speaker 3: people who can't afford their houses, including maybe Billy's family
Speaker 3: leader are like, can we get an extension on our Yeah, Like.
Speaker 2: She's very you know, she's very Yeah, she's like she
Speaker 2: talks down to them. She's like your dad's a you know,
Speaker 2: like your parents are joke, you know. And then the
Speaker 2: crazy part is like then she keeps like threatening to
Speaker 2: hurt his dog.
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, it's like she's such a she's such a
Speaker 3: huge bitch and she's like evil. Like she comes in
Speaker 3: the bank and she has this where Billy's working, and
Speaker 3: she has this Santa Claus like head from this big
Speaker 3: ceramic Santa Claus and she's like, your dog jumped into
Speaker 3: my lawn and broke my ceramics Santa Claus, and so
Speaker 3: now I'm going to fucking kill him, basically, that's what
Speaker 3: she says. And Billy's like, I don't kill my dog,
Speaker 3: and she's like, I'm going to kill your dog. And
Speaker 3: she's like, when you're not looking, I'm gonna take him
Speaker 3: and I'm gonna like I'm gonna like hang him up
Speaker 3: and kill him. And it's like that is insane. It's
Speaker 3: also like, yeah, that's like not cool.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And it also seems like a huge overreaction because
Speaker 2: he broke your ceramics.
Speaker 3: Sand It's also like, don't have like a ceramic Santa outside.
Speaker 1: Put it inside your house.
Speaker 2: If you want it to be yeah, or it's a snowman.
Speaker 2: But also like you don't seem into Christmas at Also
Speaker 2: who has a ceramic snowman outside their house? Anyways?
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's such a bad it's such a bad way
Speaker 1: to display your art. Yeah, so to put it outside
Speaker 1: if it's so fred By the way, I also want
Speaker 1: to say, on her way into the bank, somebody is
Speaker 1: asking for an extension to pay there this woman with
Speaker 1: her son. They're like, we just got new jobs, but
Speaker 1: we can't afford to pick can we just have one
Speaker 1: more month? We asked your husband and she's like, no,
Speaker 1: you have to pay or whatever.
Speaker 3: And I think they do that to paint her as
Speaker 3: a bad guy, even before she's into the bank. But
Speaker 3: it's sort of like her threatening to kill a dog.
Speaker 3: I think that's all you need.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I think that's true. I think you're right.
Speaker 3: Then he gets home from work and that's when he's
Speaker 3: presented with oh, right, the gremlin, I mean, excuse me,
Speaker 3: the Maguay.
Speaker 1: The mob. So he gets ay and again like not that,
Speaker 1: he's like, oh, it's so cute, Like he's not like,
Speaker 1: what the hell is this?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 3: Right, why does it saying? Why is it a totally
Speaker 3: different species? Why does it look like a robotic puppet?
Speaker 1: Sorry?
Speaker 3: But he's again, I'm not being critical of the movie,
Speaker 3: because I do think that at the time this probably
Speaker 3: looked cool.
Speaker 1: I remember it looking cool. But he's just not that
Speaker 1: shocked about it.
Speaker 3: Right, And then Corey Feldman comes over, who's his little neighbor,
Speaker 3: and he shows it to Corey Feldman not playing himself,
Speaker 3: he's playing a neighbor character. And then Corey accidentally spills
Speaker 3: water on it, and all of a sudden these little
Speaker 3: fur balls start coming out of its back and they
Speaker 3: hatch in to more little mog Wise. But these mog
Speaker 3: Wise are sort of more mischievous.
Speaker 1: I would say.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. Corey Feldman, by the way, just announced he's
Speaker 2: going on tour with Limp Biscuit. I believe this summer.
Speaker 3: So whoa, Okay, yeah, this is making me feel like,
Speaker 3: are we gonna get some could he play like the
Speaker 3: dad in a new Grandmo's or something? Okay, I don't
Speaker 3: really have that many thoughts about it. Yeah, but it's
Speaker 3: other than good for Corey Feldman, really happy for him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I will not be there because not my kind
Speaker 2: of music.
Speaker 1: But okay, okay. Anyways, Billy multiplies.
Speaker 3: There's a ton of Mogwise in his house now, not
Speaker 3: just Gizmo.
Speaker 1: He tells his dad.
Speaker 3: His dad, who's the inventor, is like, oh my god,
Speaker 3: this is something we should sell, Like this is awesome,
Speaker 3: Like we should probably sell these as you know, a
Speaker 3: new product, which is like, again, nobody's scar nobody's like,
Speaker 3: this is a new species.
Speaker 1: It might be an endangered.
Speaker 2: Spe this is a new species that that reproduces in
Speaker 2: a completely new way in the world.
Speaker 3: Well, Billy actually does think about that. I think because
Speaker 3: he takes Gizmo into his Oh no, he takes a
Speaker 3: different Maguay into his science class to his science teacher,
Speaker 3: and the science teacher is like, cool, I'm going to
Speaker 3: do a bunch of experiments on this, and you're like okay.
Speaker 2: He's like, I'm going to do a blood test on it.
Speaker 1: I'm going to do a blood test, like call.
Speaker 2: The government or something that, Like a high school.
Speaker 1: Blood Something I would do is call the government.
Speaker 2: I think, where where are you sending this Maguay blood to?
Speaker 1: Like what lab?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 3: Oh, yes, amateur science teacher is the right person to
Speaker 3: address such a serious news species. So anyways, basically what
Speaker 3: happens is the mischievous Magways at Billy's house they kind
Speaker 3: of eat through the cord that connects the clock to
Speaker 3: the like they eat through the wire, so the clock
Speaker 3: is no longer connected, it's no longer ticking, and so
Speaker 3: the Magways are acting really hungry and he's like, okay,
Speaker 3: it's not midnight yet. Oh we left a really important part,
Speaker 3: which is when the dad gets Gizmo from the store
Speaker 3: in Chinatown, sort of illegally from the grandson who agrees
Speaker 3: to sell it to him without his grandpa's knowledge.
Speaker 1: The grandson says, there's three worlds.
Speaker 3: One is he doesn't like light, the second one is
Speaker 3: don't get him wet, and the third one is don't
Speaker 3: feed him after midnight. Right, so obviously we know why
Speaker 3: you can't get them wet, which is that they multiply
Speaker 3: into more magways, but we don't know why you can't
Speaker 3: feed them after midnight yet. But what happens is the
Speaker 3: magways mess with the clocks. Billy feeds them after midnight. Simultaneously,
Speaker 3: the professor who just did this blood we watched him
Speaker 3: do this like sort of blood test, take blood from
Speaker 3: the Magwai.
Speaker 1: He leaves his like who's.
Speaker 2: A sandwich out? All the all the Maguays eat. They
Speaker 2: all yeah, yeah, manamore. The all metamorphosize into these slimy
Speaker 2: pod things, and then they all become evil gremlins that
Speaker 2: try to destroy the whole town.
Speaker 3: It's kind of trying to give a little more excitement,
Speaker 3: but yes, exactly, exactly. Yeah, So they turn into gremlins
Speaker 3: and then they.
Speaker 2: Start terrorizing everyone.
Speaker 3: The first like really terrible brutal thing that happens is
Speaker 3: at the school, the professor goes to like get something
Speaker 3: like he puts his hand in some sort of area
Speaker 3: to try and find the magua with his hand, and
Speaker 3: he doesn't know that it's turned into it.
Speaker 1: He can't find the gremlin or something. It's turned into
Speaker 1: a gremlin. And then you.
Speaker 3: See that He's like there's like a lot of people
Speaker 3: putting their hands in places not knowing what's behind, like
Speaker 3: you know, or in a mailbox or something, and then
Speaker 3: not being able to get their hands out. And then
Speaker 3: with this professor Billy discovers him later and he's like
Speaker 3: on the ground completely dead.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so the magwas. Yeah, they're like the gremlins now
Speaker 2: driving cars into people's that gremlins. Excuse me, they're driving
Speaker 2: cars into people'sses. They're attacking Billie's mom. Yeah, basically, they're
Speaker 2: just going all over the town wreaking havoc, including the
Speaker 2: local bar.
Speaker 1: Including the local bar.
Speaker 3: Now here's the thing that was interesting about the choice
Speaker 3: they made with the Grumlins. It's not like they're in
Speaker 3: other movies where you just have monsters that are just
Speaker 3: like they're not like zombies. They're not just trying to
Speaker 3: like get you and eat you or whatever. What they
Speaker 3: do is like they're really into like kind of being
Speaker 3: prank like pranksters.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So at one point the real.
Speaker 3: Estate kind of wicked Witch of the West woman, she's
Speaker 3: coming down the stairs in one of those seats that
Speaker 3: slides down the stairs, and instead of them coming up
Speaker 3: to her and just attacking her, they rewire her chair
Speaker 3: so that it's at like double triple speed, and then
Speaker 3: she just flies she flies up. When she goes to
Speaker 3: go up, she flies up and she flies out the
Speaker 3: window and dies.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, so, yeah, they're mischievous. They're pulling all kinds
Speaker 2: of preys.
Speaker 3: They're doing a lot of human things, which leads us
Speaker 3: to the Barjon't I think the bar is kind of the.
Speaker 2: And they're basically just getting drunk and partying, and Phoebe
Speaker 2: Kates is like like sort of like trying to give
Speaker 2: them drinks and get away.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: It's sort of weird because with all other humans, they're
Speaker 3: sort of partying, partying and doing pranks, but at the
Speaker 3: same time trying to kill the humans, whereas with Phoebe
Speaker 3: Kates there she's i think because she's the bartender and
Speaker 3: she has access to like you know, the taps and
Speaker 3: all that stuff, and she like knows how to use
Speaker 3: all that stuff. They're sort of just accepting drinks from her,
Speaker 3: and whenever they come up to her, she gives them
Speaker 3: a cigarette light or a drink, and it sort of
Speaker 3: breaks from the logic of gremlins. But then at a
Speaker 3: certain point she does sneak out of the bar.
Speaker 1: But it is funny.
Speaker 3: I noticed, like there's a you know, there's a gremlin.
Speaker 3: All of a sudden, they have all of this sort
Speaker 3: of human like clothing and character sort of outfits, Like
Speaker 3: there's a gremlin that has a top hat on, there's
Speaker 3: some women gremlins with like a lot of lipstick on.
Speaker 1: There's gremlins, you know. They they sort of take on
Speaker 1: all of these flashy like sort of human I don't know,
Speaker 1: it's funny, and I guess that's the comedy of it,
Speaker 1: is that they're sort of they're evil killer creatures, but
Speaker 1: they also are sort of funny because they take on
Speaker 1: these human personas.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then speaking of logic, Phoebe Kate's explains why
Speaker 2: she gets depressed around Christmas, and this I think is
Speaker 2: one of the most bizarre choices they make. So yeah,
Speaker 2: so I read like they weren't sure if they were
Speaker 2: going to keep this part in but yeah, at one point,
Speaker 2: you know, Billy keeps asking her why she doesn't like Christmas?
Speaker 2: How if you're not like Christmas? Then eventually she's like, well,
Speaker 2: you know, my father disappeared on Christmas Eve and then
Speaker 2: we couldn't find him. And then I was by the
Speaker 2: chimney and the smell really hit me and we found
Speaker 2: out my dad had been stuck in the chimney for
Speaker 2: five days pretending to be Santa Claus and he died.
Speaker 1: But it doesn't make sense because they say that he
Speaker 1: had all these gifts and he was on the roof
Speaker 1: and he slipped, But like, how do you slip into
Speaker 1: a chimney?
Speaker 2: Is my It's like it's and you think he would
Speaker 2: be kind of like yelling or like trying to get help.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And also the only way to slip into a
Speaker 3: chimney is to already be standing on the chimney, So
Speaker 3: I think he I don't think he was trying to
Speaker 3: get into the chimney. She made it sound like he
Speaker 3: had all these gifts and he's on the roof because
Speaker 3: and then he slipped and he fell in the chimney.
Speaker 1: It's like, is was the chimney. That's not how architecture works.
Speaker 2: Right, So now we understand why Phoebe k It's doesn't
Speaker 2: just which is pretty, which is pretty understandable.
Speaker 3: I would say, but couldn't you have just said my
Speaker 3: dad left on Christmas and you'd be like, okay.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean so yeah, I don't know. I mean
Speaker 2: he keeps asking, so it's like, you know, he finally
Speaker 2: gets his answer.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he gets his answer. That's what happens when you're nosy. Yep.
Speaker 2: And then so yeah, just to wrap things up, because
Speaker 2: it feels like, you know, we can get through a
Speaker 2: lot to get through here. Basically, they take over the town.
Speaker 2: They all go into the movie theater and watch snow
Speaker 2: White and the Gremlins dollar watching snow White. They apparently
Speaker 2: love snow White. I don't know what kind of cross
Speaker 2: promotional thing this was with Walt Disney.
Speaker 3: They're showing the actual snow White movie in it, which
Speaker 3: I was shocked by.
Speaker 2: But yeah, good luck trying that these days. They're gonna
Speaker 2: pay Walt Disney twenty five billion dollars. Your movie's not
Speaker 2: going to get off the cutting room floor. But so
Speaker 2: they rig this thing up. They blow up the movie
Speaker 2: theater and kill all the gremlins, except.
Speaker 3: So there's one more gremlin that got away, and it's Stripe.
Speaker 3: It's the leader of the group and he's in this mall,
Speaker 3: and so they go in there to kill him, and
Speaker 3: basically he almost kills them.
Speaker 1: It's really scary.
Speaker 3: At one point, Stripe is coming at Billy with a chainsaw, yeah,
Speaker 3: which I thought was.
Speaker 2: He's got a chainsaw, Billy's got a baseball bat, and
Speaker 2: he's sawing through the bat and Billy's just holding it up.
Speaker 3: And then luckily you go really weak chainsaw that it
Speaker 3: takes such a long time for him to get through
Speaker 3: a wood in baseball man.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's taken a long time. And then you
Speaker 2: got Gizmo in a little Barbie car driving around and
Speaker 2: Gizmo eventually is the one that pulls the light open
Speaker 2: and it gets spike, and Gizmo's the one kind of
Speaker 2: that saves a day.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, they're back at the house.
Speaker 3: Everyone's okay, and the original owner of the store in
Speaker 3: Chinatown takes Gizmo back and he tells Billy maybe someday
Speaker 3: he'll be ready to own him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he says the dad wasn't ready, but he says
Speaker 2: maybe someday you will, because Gizmo wants to say goodbye
Speaker 2: to Billy. He's like, yeah, bye Billy because they can
Speaker 2: kind of speak, but like soil, it's kind of unclear exactly.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and then Gizmo wants to say something to Billy.
Speaker 3: Did you understand what Gizmo was saying, because it's just
Speaker 3: like he says.
Speaker 2: By Billy. I think he says by Billy.
Speaker 1: Oh I didn't.
Speaker 2: I had the captions on, so I think.
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh gotcha, Okay.
Speaker 2: Ansley, Yeah, mag why.
Speaker 3: I thought he maybe said I love you, but he
Speaker 3: said bye Billy. He wanted to make sure he said
Speaker 3: bye Billy.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Sweet.
Speaker 3: And then there's like this voiceover that's like, you know,
Speaker 3: next Christmas or whatever, be careful, check all your cupboards,
Speaker 3: check under your bed, check in your bathroom, blah blah blah.
Speaker 1: And it says because there just might be a gremlin
Speaker 1: in your house. And that's the last line of the film.
Speaker 2: Ye pretty free. Yeah. Well, so that's Gremlins basically from
Speaker 2: start to finish. Yeah, you haven't seen it. You probably
Speaker 2: don't even need to see it now because you basically
Speaker 2: just hearted the whole movie. But we're gonna take a
Speaker 2: quick break and we'll be back with some fun facts
Speaker 2: about Gremlins.
Speaker 3: So we're back, and so Jonah, now should we talk
Speaker 3: about some of the research we did on this, on
Speaker 3: this incredible yes?
Speaker 2: So yes. So this was a big hit film. It
Speaker 2: was the third highest grossing film of nineteen eighty four,
Speaker 2: which is a big one. And so, you know, Warner
Speaker 2: Brothers really wanted to follow up, you know how these
Speaker 2: studios are something gets big, they want to follow it up.
Speaker 2: And finally it took six years, which is a long time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because the director didn't want to.
Speaker 2: Do it right, Yeah, he didn't want to do it.
Speaker 2: And then so nineteen ninety Gremlins two, the new batch
Speaker 2: came out, not as popular as a first one. I
Speaker 2: don't remember actually seeing this one. I thought about actually
Speaker 2: watching it last night too, but I just felt like
Speaker 2: too much Gremlins. But yeah, and apparently there's been rumors
Speaker 2: for basically the last thirty plus years about a Gremlins three.
Speaker 2: There was last year Max has an animated series, Gremlin
Speaker 2: Secret of the Magua, so they came up this cartoon.
Speaker 2: But yeah, there still has not been a Gremlins three.
Speaker 3: Yeah, basically, yeah, yeah, I think I read something that
Speaker 3: said if this HBO Max Animated show does well that
Speaker 3: maybe that would help them kind of have more of
Speaker 3: a reason to do a Gremlins three.
Speaker 1: But yeah, it hasn't happened yet, and I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know if it will.
Speaker 2: I found an article from Collider and it says that
Speaker 2: it says there's been some other stuff. You know, there's
Speaker 2: a Mountain Dew commercial that reunited Billy and Gizmo. And
Speaker 2: then there was a talk with Zach Alligan in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty one where he said, I swear to god, if
Speaker 2: I had a dollar for every time anybody asked me
Speaker 2: about Gremlins three, I'd make Bill Gates look like a popper. Okay,
Speaker 2: it's okay. You know, there's a speculation about what it
Speaker 2: could be like if they make it. I guess every
Speaker 2: few years there's sort of this rumor that they're gonna
Speaker 2: make it. I guess Warner Brothers back Gremlins three dot
Speaker 2: com at one point. So I think they've been trying
Speaker 2: to do it, but it just has not come together. Personally,
Speaker 2: I think we're good, right, I don't think. I don't
Speaker 2: think we need a Gremlins three. I don't, you know,
Speaker 2: like right think about it. If you're like, I mean,
Speaker 2: we were so young when this movie came out, if
Speaker 2: you were born, if you're under thirty, I don't know.
Speaker 2: I just don't think kit and millennials are going to
Speaker 2: be like, oh, we gotta listee the new Gremlins movie.
Speaker 2: It's like, you know, Billie Eilish is on the soundtrack,
Speaker 2: It's going to be so cool.
Speaker 3: Billy Eilish really your go to gen Z person. I
Speaker 3: do think if they did another one it would be interesting.
Speaker 1: It would probably be so scary because it would probably
Speaker 1: they'd probably do such a good job with the like
Speaker 1: CGI stuff of making the Gremlins puppets look really real,
Speaker 1: and it would probably be really scary.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I think that also you'd have to want
Speaker 2: to make it like for kids, but then you want
Speaker 2: like adult who grew up with the movies to be
Speaker 2: I feel like it's got to be too many things
Speaker 2: for two to many different types of people, and that's
Speaker 2: probably why they haven't been able to nail it well.
Speaker 3: You actually bring up an interesting fun fact about this movie,
Speaker 3: which which I read in some of the research you did,
Speaker 3: which was that this movie is partially responsible for the
Speaker 3: creation of the PG thirteen rating, and that basically, Steven
Speaker 3: Spielberg had this movie and Indiana Jones and The Temple
Speaker 3: of Doom, and those were both rated PG at their release,
Speaker 3: and people were sort of mad. They were like, these
Speaker 3: are too violent, they're too scary to be PG movies.
Speaker 3: And he sort of he didn't want them to be
Speaker 3: our movies because less people would be able to see them,
Speaker 3: so he sort of, it says.
Speaker 1: In these both of these articles suggested to.
Speaker 3: A friend he knew or something that there'd be a
Speaker 3: new rating that's between PG and R and that and
Speaker 3: therefore the PG thirteen rating was born.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so this is an article from Mental Flaw. Some
Speaker 2: other fun facts. The original Gremlin script, written by Chris Columbus,
Speaker 2: was much much darker. Yeah, this says. Earlier scenes included
Speaker 2: the Gremlins eating Billy's dog, then decapitating his mom and
Speaker 2: throwing her head down the stairs. Spiel I'm so happy
Speaker 2: that didn't. Yeah, that's really good. I mean, it's already
Speaker 2: pushing the envelope. But Spielberg, director Joe Dantean, Warreer brothers
Speaker 2: were all in agreement they should tone down the gore
Speaker 2: in order to make the movie more family friendly. Yes, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean that seems way too much.
Speaker 1: It seems like it would have turned the movie in
Speaker 1: a way that like any kind of like comedy they did,
Speaker 1: with having them dress up as club owner club kind
Speaker 1: of people, or any kind of fun pranks they pulled,
Speaker 1: it would take kind of it would kind of sour
Speaker 1: all of that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so you got that. We already talked about Howie
Speaker 2: Mendel's a voice of Gizmo.
Speaker 1: It just so funny. It's so funny to because he
Speaker 1: never really Yes, but yeah, interesting, interesting, Yes. Yeah.
Speaker 2: The film was originally scheduled for a Christmas release, but
Speaker 2: then Warner Brothers realized they didn't have a summer movie
Speaker 2: to put up against Indiana Jones and The Temple of
Speaker 2: Doom or Ghostbusters, so it moved up the release date.
Speaker 2: And yes, Grummins performed well, just behind Beverly Hills Cop,
Speaker 2: Ghostbusters and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. So wow,
Speaker 2: nineteen eighty four, big year for movies.
Speaker 1: Big year for movies.
Speaker 3: And another article that you showed me, Jonah was saying
Speaker 3: how a lot of parents took their kids to see
Speaker 3: it because the way that the trailer was initially made
Speaker 3: for it. They showed the Gremlins, and the magwas doing
Speaker 3: cute things and funny things, right, but they didn't show
Speaker 3: any of the violence in the trailer apparently. Yeah, maybe
Speaker 3: that's because it was initially rated PG. And so then
Speaker 3: all these families were like so mad because they were
Speaker 3: people were taking their kids to see the movie and
Speaker 3: they were like, there's so much violence in this movie.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's a violent movie for sure. This I
Speaker 2: thought this is a thing that would happen. You know,
Speaker 2: Mom did she She bought me that book when I
Speaker 2: was a kid, the Jim Carroll book, The Basketball Diaries, right,
Speaker 2: which is like actually like a book like mostly about
Speaker 2: drugs and stuff. Okay, but I think Mom was like, oh,
Speaker 2: Jonah likes basketball, right, and I remember writing it. It's
Speaker 2: his classic book. Great book, but uh, I probably shouldn't.
Speaker 2: I don't think Mom bought it for me knowing. I
Speaker 2: think she just saw the word basketball, so I.
Speaker 3: Think, right, well, if you also Basketball Diaries, sounds like
Speaker 3: he wrote like I did pretty good at basketball practic today, right,
Speaker 3: but tomorrow I'm hoping to get so many hoops.
Speaker 2: Like sure probably, sure, sure, But now it's like people
Speaker 2: do so much research that. I feel like it's harder
Speaker 2: for that. Like now people are like on trip Advisor
Speaker 2: being like, are the ribs at this place good? Like
Speaker 2: someone someone thought that ribs have too much sauce, we
Speaker 2: shouldn't go. It's like, okay, dude, just just try to
Speaker 2: go out and eat a rib and we don't need
Speaker 2: you know, you don't need to researcher for two weeks.
Speaker 1: Right right?
Speaker 3: I hear you, I hear you now, Jonah, do you
Speaker 3: have any other thoughts about Gremlins. I'm trying to think
Speaker 3: if we have any other fun facts other than TBD
Speaker 3: on whether there's going to be a Gremlins three.
Speaker 1: Keep your eyes open for that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean, I guess it's just I feel
Speaker 2: that it's just such an interesting movie to me watching
Speaker 2: it now, just from a genre perspective, right, because it's
Speaker 2: so many different genres, it's so hard to figure out
Speaker 2: who this movie's for. And then you know, like we
Speaker 2: talked about with Andy, I think it birthed all these
Speaker 2: other movies like Critters and like Chucky and all these
Speaker 2: movies that or kind of like these few things that
Speaker 2: are actually really evil and scary. Yeah, yeah, And all
Speaker 2: those movies were terrifying to me, and I, as an adult,
Speaker 2: still don't want to watch any of them. Oh.
Speaker 3: I never saw any of those movies and still like
Speaker 3: the chucky stuff. Whenever I would see those commercials, I'd
Speaker 3: be so hard like I didn't. Yeah, I'm very not
Speaker 3: into scary stuff. But it is it's a mix of genres,
Speaker 3: and I would say that I enjoyed it, like I do.
Speaker 3: Think it was kind of fun to watch it, but
Speaker 3: it just is so odd. Yeah, it's like it's almost
Speaker 3: a movie you should watch when you're hire.
Speaker 2: Well, it's like it is you know. So the movie
Speaker 2: is almost like forty years old. It's easy to sit
Speaker 2: here now and be like, uh like actually it's not
Speaker 2: really that scary or like the special effects are so bad.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: It's like okay, yeah, but it's forty years old, you know,
Speaker 2: so it's like, uh, for the time and the period,
Speaker 2: I think it was good. I mean the acting okay,
Speaker 2: but yeah, to me, I guess my two takeaways are
Speaker 2: like a gizmo NAIs cues I thought it would be
Speaker 2: and be this movie is wasayte kind of more gory
Speaker 2: and scary than I remember it. I always thought of it.
Speaker 2: It's kind of more of like a cute see kids movie,
Speaker 2: and I didn't realize it was more of like kind
Speaker 2: of a legit horror movie in a lot of ways too. Yeah,
Speaker 2: what about you? What are your takeaways, Vanessa?
Speaker 1: My takeaways are similar.
Speaker 3: I remember thinking it would be scary when I was
Speaker 3: a kid, sort of because I was scared of any
Speaker 3: kind of monster type thing in anything, right, And it
Speaker 3: lived up to that expectation that I did find it
Speaker 3: to be scary. I also thought it was kind of
Speaker 3: an interesting swing that the Gremlins do so much human
Speaker 3: like stuff and that they really tried to like push
Speaker 3: the comedy of the Gremlins personalities.
Speaker 1: I kind of appreciated that. I just felt like, what
Speaker 1: is going on? Yeah, but yeah, enjoyed it.
Speaker 2: I would be interested, Okay, but this is such a
Speaker 2: Hollywood thing for the eighties and like nineties, because it's like,
Speaker 2: can you imagine, like you have a movie like Barbie
Speaker 2: or something, and then they're like, all right, we're gonna
Speaker 2: do Barbie two, but it's gonna come out in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty nine. It's like, right, come on.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Never, you never would wait six years to do a
Speaker 2: sequel to a movie that was a big hit like this.
Speaker 3: But to be fair, and nowadays every movie is like
Speaker 3: a remake of something from that's twenty years ago or
Speaker 3: three years ago.
Speaker 2: That's true.
Speaker 1: There's not a ton of new ideas.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, tell me about it.
Speaker 3: Okay, right now, Jonah, do you have a favorite Christmas
Speaker 3: or holiday movie?
Speaker 1: Hanika movie?
Speaker 2: Maybe not really, I was thinking about this. You know,
Speaker 2: Christmas Story was partially filmed in Cleveland, so that's I know,
Speaker 2: I know, have you ever seen it? I've seen on TV.
Speaker 2: And then I feel like I feel the house was
Speaker 2: in like Tremont or like Ohio City. Yeah, I feel
Speaker 2: like people have pointed the house out to me maybe
Speaker 2: or something right, but no, and then like die Hard
Speaker 2: is like every year, like like people think it's like
Speaker 2: really clever to be like, actually die Hard a Christmas movie,
Speaker 2: and like it kind of is. I mean I would
Speaker 2: say it probably is, you know, about as much as
Speaker 2: Gremlins is, So I think it's valid. But it's also like, yeah,
Speaker 2: we get we get it. But I actually watched die
Speaker 2: Hard recently, like a month or two ago, not for Christmas,
Speaker 2: just just because I hadn't seen it in a while,
Speaker 2: And so you can watch it year Round.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a cool about Diehard. But I don't really
Speaker 2: have a favorite one. I don't know. My wife Vicky
Speaker 2: really likes a Souf Jin Stevens Christmas album, so we
Speaker 2: listen to that. That's got some good Christmas covers on it.
Speaker 2: But I don't really That's about as far as I
Speaker 2: get into it, other than other than being decorating the
Speaker 2: tree and that kind of stuff. Vanessa, what about you?
Speaker 2: You have any Christmas or holiday movies that you're a
Speaker 2: fan of.
Speaker 3: Well, I really like The Holiday, the rom Com, The Holiday.
Speaker 3: I think that's probably I was trying to think of
Speaker 3: what is my favorite. I was in a Christmas month
Speaker 3: office Christmas party. I guess it would have been nice
Speaker 3: if you would have said.
Speaker 2: That that was a great I remember I went to
Speaker 2: the premiere that or a screening of it in New
Speaker 2: York that was that was a really funny movie. I
Speaker 2: actually kind of forgot about that. That's my favorite Christmas movie.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Jonah, Yeah, that's so nice.
Speaker 2: And there was something like there's a photo of us
Speaker 2: on your desk in the movie or something. Oh yeah.
Speaker 3: My character plays this sort of frustrated woman who's a
Speaker 3: mom and she has a picture.
Speaker 1: Of her kids. I forgot about that. She has a
Speaker 1: picture of.
Speaker 3: Her kids on her desk, and I used a picture
Speaker 3: it might be the picture that we use for our podcast,
Speaker 3: and I put that picture on my desk. I don't
Speaker 3: know if it ever got on camera because a lot
Speaker 3: of the camera angles are facing.
Speaker 2: The Yeah, I think it did. I think it did.
Speaker 2: If you freeze frame it, maybe you can get it.
Speaker 3: Okay, you'll see a picture of you and me in
Speaker 3: the what a What a Fun Easter Egg about a
Speaker 3: Christmas movie?
Speaker 2: Jonah, Yeah, that's a good one. So that's my yeah,
Speaker 2: for sure.
Speaker 3: Okay, Okay, thank you so much. And you know what,
Speaker 3: I'll say it's my favorite too because I love getting
Speaker 3: to do it and honestly, it's where I got to
Speaker 3: meet Jennifer Aniston.
Speaker 2: So right, and Jason Bateman.
Speaker 1: Bateman it was.
Speaker 3: And I also got to do that with Kate McKinnon
Speaker 3: and we were both on SNL at the time, so
Speaker 3: we got to go together from SNL to film that
Speaker 3: movie in Atlanta.
Speaker 1: It was really fun.
Speaker 2: We just had to really stick around because you know,
Speaker 2: next year's holiday episode we might get even more in
Speaker 2: depth about Office Christmas Party.
Speaker 1: Yep, Yes, we might we might get Randall Parks like
Speaker 1: so many fun people.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I can't believe we're almost through this episode, Vanessa.
Speaker 1: It's so sad because once we're done, it means we'll
Speaker 1: be on a little hiatus.
Speaker 2: Yes, that's true. So right now, we're going to do
Speaker 2: a little segment called change dot Door, Change dot Door,
Speaker 2: where we comb change dot org looking for various petitions
Speaker 2: and then we vote on the one that we would
Speaker 2: sign the most. I can kick us off if you love, Okay, sure.
Speaker 2: This first one is called Share the Wealth Santa. This
Speaker 2: is a holiday edition of the game. In case I
Speaker 2: even guess that this one is made out to Saint
Speaker 2: Nicholas ak Santa Claus, and it says Santa gets to
Speaker 2: use magic to deliver presents to good boys and girls
Speaker 2: all over the world every year. Yeah that's great, now,
Speaker 2: but why don't we get some magic huh? I mean,
Speaker 2: I don't have an army of elves to make me toys,
Speaker 2: so I probably won't be doing that. But I could
Speaker 2: use some Santa magic too. I think if Santa was
Speaker 2: a real saint, he would give all of us a
Speaker 2: little bit of magic for Christmas for me to use
Speaker 2: in my daily life. Also, what's up with that army
Speaker 2: of elves he has in the North Pole. Santa's running
Speaker 2: a business over there completely unsupervised. I think we need
Speaker 2: a few inspectors to head over there to make sure
Speaker 2: the elves are getting paid their fair share and the
Speaker 2: workplace is up to proper code. This one's got fourteen signatures. Vanessa,
Speaker 2: what do you think about Santa sharing the weld?
Speaker 1: I think it sounds like it was written by vivek Ramswami.
Speaker 3: Wow, Okay, we need to send someone up to ruin
Speaker 3: Santa's workshop and make sure everything's up to code.
Speaker 1: Sorry that I just don't you know, Yeah, I get it.
Speaker 1: I don't quite understand. I think this is you know,
Speaker 1: obviously I go.
Speaker 3: I get really mad at these petitions where I think
Speaker 3: people trying out their stand up, but especially this is
Speaker 3: so unclear, Like, I guess what this person is asking
Speaker 3: for is they're saying Santa uses magic to deliver presents, right,
Speaker 3: which I guess the magic like this year, like flying
Speaker 3: in the sleigh and all that kind of.
Speaker 2: Doing, giving everyone presence on the same night.
Speaker 3: Sure that's magic, right when it's every kid in the world. Okay,
Speaker 3: And this person said that's great, now, but why don't
Speaker 3: we get some magic. I don't have an army of
Speaker 3: L's to make me toys, but I could use the Santa.
Speaker 3: But then they don't say what they would use the
Speaker 3: Santa magic for. So it's like, I would love it
Speaker 3: if this person would specify what are they saying, what
Speaker 3: are they specifically saying by Santa's magic, r what abilities
Speaker 3: fall under Santa's Magic specifically that they are into, and
Speaker 3: if they had those abilities, what would they use them for?
Speaker 1: Otherwise, why am I going to sign your petition?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I'm with you, Like, if you want magic to
Speaker 2: like pass your history test, yes, exactly, try opening your
Speaker 2: history book and doing some studying too, you know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, and maybe maybe this person obviously hasn't been
Speaker 3: a great student, because if they were, they would know
Speaker 3: what they should put in a petition.
Speaker 2: I think, Yeah, so it's unclear what they want and
Speaker 2: then you know, wanting to go in. I get what
Speaker 2: they're saying about making sure that that's the elves, you know,
Speaker 2: the workshops up to code. Uh, you know, I don't know.
Speaker 2: This feels even for change dot org, even as like
Speaker 2: a joke, this feels like it's a stretch. It's a stretch.
Speaker 2: It's a stretch, it's a it's a little too much
Speaker 2: like you're already presenting an unclear, totally unrealistic argument and
Speaker 2: then you're like trying to put weird like labor laws
Speaker 2: into it for the North Pole, and it's just I
Speaker 2: think it's yeah, it's.
Speaker 1: Not not yeah, yeah, it's not landing.
Speaker 2: It's not landing.
Speaker 1: I agree.
Speaker 2: One thing that is cool though, that I've noticed for
Speaker 2: all these petitions and every petition now don't change dot
Speaker 2: organ is that they have a QR code so you
Speaker 2: can no.
Speaker 1: I see that.
Speaker 2: I see that you can now download a QR code
Speaker 2: to help people find the petition. So that's that's great.
Speaker 2: This one's at fourteen. He's trying to get to twenty five.
Speaker 2: We'll see, we'll see. I'm not saying this one. I'll
Speaker 2: tell you that much. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah again I I you know, I've said it before.
Speaker 1: I'll say it again. Go up on stage. Try it out,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Try out some of these
Speaker 1: jokes right where.
Speaker 2: Stop stop using your material at the Republican debates, right
Speaker 2: and yeah, stop.
Speaker 3: Trying to become you know, the VP with all your
Speaker 3: burns exactly This next one is called I want a
Speaker 3: Honka bush in parentheses aka Christmas tree. So this person said,
Speaker 3: I think that we should have a Hanuka bush because
Speaker 3: it's pretty and we all like it. And even though
Speaker 3: a lot of us are hashtag Jewish, we aren't a
Speaker 3: Jewish house. We are just based on Jewish values smiley face.
Speaker 2: So I think what this person is saying is they
Speaker 2: want to have a Hanikah bush, which is, you know,
Speaker 2: they just like it and they think it's nice. And
Speaker 2: I get that because I feel like, as a kid,
Speaker 2: you always heard this stuff about Hankah bushes and like Hanukkah.
Speaker 1: Harry or like yes, which was an SNL's guest, was it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there was always being of this talk. I think
Speaker 2: of like when you're Jewish, like wanting to kind of
Speaker 2: have and I know we have Hanukkah, but it doesn't
Speaker 2: have the tree. It doesn't have the same kind of
Speaker 2: like symbolism, the same kind of stuff. And I will say,
Speaker 2: even for me, I never had a tree growing up,
Speaker 2: and I've had one from maybe the last like five
Speaker 2: or six years, and it is kind of cool to
Speaker 2: have a tree in the house. Yeah, you know, there's
Speaker 2: a whole debate versus like a synthetic versus real tree,
Speaker 2: what's better? You know, the real tree can decompose. The
Speaker 2: synthetic ones you can use year after year, but they're
Speaker 2: going to landfill, you know, So it's you know, wherever
Speaker 2: you land on what kind of tree. It is nice
Speaker 2: having a tree. I get it. You know, you can
Speaker 2: sometimes feel kind of left out if everyone's got a
Speaker 2: tree and don't. But I also think just Hanika, bushes
Speaker 2: just aren't a thing, and it's just too late to
Speaker 2: make it into a thing.
Speaker 3: Well, Jonah, do you remember when we were little we
Speaker 3: had Christmas stockings? Yep, and they were in like that
Speaker 3: living room area. Yeah, and then I remember one year
Speaker 3: Mom stopped doing it and she said, you know it
Speaker 3: was because Santa's not real and we're not Christian.
Speaker 2: Do you know the follow up to that? What I did?
Speaker 1: I know what I did, but I'd like to hear
Speaker 1: what you did first after you heard.
Speaker 2: That, Okay, No, I want to hear what you did.
Speaker 1: What I did was I.
Speaker 3: Immediately started crying, and Mom sort of tried to take
Speaker 3: it back, and she said because she could tell I
Speaker 3: was just heartbroken that she was telling me Santa wasn't real,
Speaker 3: et cetera. And so then she said, you know, like
Speaker 3: in the Polar Express that book, she was like, we're
Speaker 3: at the end they say, you know, it's real if
Speaker 3: you believe in it.
Speaker 1: And she was like, so it's real if you believe
Speaker 1: in it. And I was like, hey, Mom, too little,
Speaker 1: too late. Now what did you do.
Speaker 2: I have a fairly clear memory of this. I said, okay,
Speaker 2: and then I snuck down the middle of the night
Speaker 2: and put some socks in there, I remember, and came
Speaker 2: down the next morning and surprised there was no candy
Speaker 2: in my socks.
Speaker 1: That's so cute.
Speaker 2: And the other thing I remember was we always had
Speaker 2: to make cookies for Santa aka Dad. We always have
Speaker 2: to leave so many cookies in there. But yeah, I
Speaker 2: snuck down and I was like, I'm gonna put my
Speaker 2: my stocking down there and Santa's gonna fill it up,
Speaker 2: Like I don't care what mom and dad say. And
Speaker 2: then I came down. I was like, Santa's not real.
Speaker 2: And that was the day I became you know, that
Speaker 2: was that was Yeah, that was a day I grew up. Yep.
Speaker 1: It's so funny, Jonah that mom and dad were like Okay,
Speaker 1: there's Santa's not real.
Speaker 3: We're not doing sackings this year. And you're like you're
Speaker 3: like you're like yeah, yeah, yeah, cool, cool cool. You
Speaker 3: were like, he's obviously real. I'm gonna put my own
Speaker 3: sock down there, and he's always gonna put stuff in it.
Speaker 3: Like this is kind of like when we made a
Speaker 3: fake tooth out of paper and trying to get money
Speaker 3: from the tooth Fairy.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, I mean it's weird when you're in that
Speaker 2: in between age where you're like, I'm pretty sure this
Speaker 2: this like I'm not sure. This could go either way,
Speaker 2: like this could be real or it could be totally
Speaker 2: not real. This could be mom and dad, but it
Speaker 2: could be real. I don't know. I'm not exactly sure.
Speaker 1: I just jonah. I will never forget us putting that
Speaker 1: fake fluorescent paper, huge tooth and saying this is a
Speaker 1: dinosaur tooth. It's worth a lot of money, and putting
Speaker 1: it under your pillow and then getting this note the
Speaker 1: next day and us I remember us looking at the
Speaker 1: note but that was clearly from Mom from the tooth
Speaker 1: Fairy that was like nice, try, but you didn't get me,
Speaker 1: and us trying to be like wait, who's handwriting is that?
Speaker 1: Is that mom's handwriting, and then us being like, I
Speaker 1: actually think it's the tooth fairy's handwriting. That doesn't look
Speaker 1: like mom's handwriting.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a it's a it's an interesting time.
Speaker 3: So yeah, so okay, I want to tell one more story,
Speaker 3: which is that one time I came home from school
Speaker 3: and mom was like, we're gonna make honka decorations. She
Speaker 3: was like, I feel bad that you don't get to decorate.
Speaker 3: We don't have a tree and you don't get to decorate,
Speaker 3: so we're gonna makeknica decorations. And that to me really
Speaker 3: made a difference. I I want to say, I don't
Speaker 3: think you necessarily need a hanukkah bush. You could just
Speaker 3: make signs with glitter, which I know parents out there
Speaker 3: going don't get you, don't don't get. My kids started
Speaker 3: with glitter. We're gonna have glitter gets everywhere. But okay,
Speaker 3: I like the spirit of this one. I just think
Speaker 3: this person could not have put less effort into This
Speaker 3: is two sentences long, and she says, even though a
Speaker 3: lot of us aren't hashtag.
Speaker 1: Jewish, we have a Jewish like.
Speaker 3: It just is a little bit like, could this person's
Speaker 3: spell out their case a little more clearly?
Speaker 1: I would appreciate that.
Speaker 2: I get that. Okay, So our last one is we
Speaker 2: need a candy cane emoji. Yes, this one has one
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty five signatures, so not bad. This one's
Speaker 2: to Apple and it says candy canes are great. They're
Speaker 2: an amazing way to spread Holliday chair and get a
Speaker 2: very important message across. Candy canes are meaningful to everyone
Speaker 2: who celebrates Christmas, and even people who don't celebrate can
Speaker 2: have them as a great snack. Without a candy cane
Speaker 2: emoj what's the point of even owning a phone. The
Speaker 2: whole reason I bought my Apple phone was to send
Speaker 2: the candy cane emoji to my friends. I refuse to
Speaker 2: buy another Apple product until this has changed. Candy canes
Speaker 2: also look cool, They're fun. I want to send to
Speaker 2: my friends please. So, Vanessa, what do you think about
Speaker 2: this petition for a candy cane emoji? There are multiple
Speaker 2: petitions on here about that really.
Speaker 1: Well, first of all, I'm shocked that that doesn't exist.
Speaker 2: Yeah, me too, me too, I'm shocked.
Speaker 1: I would say that I see this person's point.
Speaker 3: I do not totally agree that people who don't celebrate
Speaker 3: Christmas would have candy canes as a great snack. I
Speaker 3: don't think most people eat them as a snack. I
Speaker 3: think they eat them as a sweet candy dessert to
Speaker 3: celebrate the holiday. But I don't celebrate, you know, I
Speaker 3: don't celebrate Christmas really, and I love getting a candy cane,
Speaker 3: so I would say I see this person's point. I
Speaker 3: also like that this person gave it stakes like they
Speaker 3: weren't just trying to be funny, and they also said like,
Speaker 3: I'm not buying another Apple product until there's a candy
Speaker 3: cane emoji.
Speaker 1: And do I think Apple's gonna given any kind of
Speaker 1: a crap about that. No.
Speaker 3: But at the same time, I like how this person
Speaker 3: was very genuine and made a good case for it
Speaker 3: and also said, you know what they're going to do
Speaker 3: if it doesn't happen.
Speaker 1: So I'm on board for this one. What about you, Jonah, I.
Speaker 2: Think candy canes are disgusting. I hear you.
Speaker 3: I actually kind of think they're disgusting too. I don't
Speaker 3: know why I said, I really like them.
Speaker 1: I like candy canes in like, have you had the
Speaker 1: Trader Joe's Peppermint Bark.
Speaker 2: No, but that sounds good. But that's a totally different thing.
Speaker 1: But it has candy cane pieces in Oh it does. Okay,
Speaker 1: sorry I didn't make exactly. I like peppermint flavored stuff,
Speaker 1: but I don't like candy can. Candy can's always seem
Speaker 1: like a good idea and then you get like two
Speaker 1: seconds into it and you're like, oh, this is just
Speaker 1: like yeahs, I don't want to do this. I don't
Speaker 1: want to do this. I started.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's got too much toothpaste vibes for me.
Speaker 2: My wife last night we were talking about candy canes.
Speaker 2: She said, the blue ones are good. I think they're
Speaker 2: more of like a raspberry.
Speaker 1: Ooh that's fun.
Speaker 2: So that sounds good. But yeah, as far as your
Speaker 2: traditional candy cane, yeah, I mean callin this a great snack.
Speaker 2: That's tough.
Speaker 1: Tough.
Speaker 2: Yeah, anyone who's like, hey, can you want a snack,
Speaker 2: here's a candy can, I'd be like, uh, this is
Speaker 2: na snack. And then yeah, the idea of like this
Speaker 2: being the only reason you on a phone, I don't know.
Speaker 2: It's just like maybe you're not ready for this yet. Yeah,
Speaker 2: like maybe you're not ready to have a phone, if
Speaker 2: this is your number one criteria.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I hear you.
Speaker 3: And you know, I just checked my phone because I
Speaker 3: still was in disbelief that it hasn't happened yet and
Speaker 3: there still is no candy cane emoji.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I don't know. I mean, to your point,
Speaker 2: Vanessa and to this this person's point, yeah, it is surprising.
Speaker 2: I mean, there's so many emojis, Yeah, that you would
Speaker 2: think that it would just it's such a such a
Speaker 2: part of the holiday season that you would think they
Speaker 2: would have it in there. But you know, it's you know,
Speaker 2: I don't feel really strong about this one. If someone had, Hey, Jonah,
Speaker 2: do you want a candy can? Say no? Thanks? I
Speaker 2: mean I guess I was like super hungry because it's
Speaker 2: like it's just too sweet, it's too toothpaste y. It's
Speaker 2: just it's just not not sound like the Grinch here,
Speaker 2: but it's just not my my thing. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Also, yeah, i'd go, I'd go, excuse me, I'm a chocoholic.
Speaker 1: That's what I want.
Speaker 3: I want, all right, I'll take some chocolate over candy
Speaker 3: cane any day.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: But to this person's point, would be kind of a
Speaker 1: cute emoji.
Speaker 3: Okay, So, Jonah, now we're going to vote on which
Speaker 3: petition we would sign if we had to sign one.
Speaker 3: The first one is share the Wealth Santa, which is
Speaker 3: concerning sharing Santa's magic unclear. The second one is I
Speaker 3: want a Hanuka Bush again unclear. Like this person's trying
Speaker 3: to say we should all.
Speaker 1: Oh.
Speaker 3: This person, I think is just talking about in her
Speaker 3: own house. It's almost like a petition to her family,
Speaker 3: I think. But I'm wish she had clarified. And then
Speaker 3: the last one is we need a candy cane emoji.
Speaker 1: Now, my opinion of the second one just changed.
Speaker 3: Okay, that's fair because it's it's so specific, and I
Speaker 3: feel like this person might be able to get done
Speaker 3: with a petition what they wanted.
Speaker 1: Now, Jonah, which one would you vote for?
Speaker 2: And this is actually really tough because I have no
Speaker 2: real strong feelings about any of these. I guess it's
Speaker 2: I'm going to go with a candy cane emoji, not
Speaker 2: because I'm a fan of candy canes, but just because
Speaker 2: it seems the most rooted in reality, and it's I
Speaker 2: get you know, if you're into candy canes, sure you
Speaker 2: should have this you can text it to your friend.
Speaker 2: You know, that's if that makes but to smile on
Speaker 2: your face. Sure, who am I to say no? But
Speaker 2: but you know I wouldn't sign this one, per se.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't stand the to pick one. Yeah, I wouldn't
Speaker 2: scan the QR code for this one to tell you
Speaker 2: that much. Vanessa, what about you? Which one are you?
Speaker 1: I was going to say the same one.
Speaker 3: And then when I was sort of looking at this
Speaker 3: one again, just now I realized this clearly gen Z
Speaker 3: person is she just wants it in her house. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it's just I want a Hanuka bush, and she's sort
Speaker 3: of it's almost like the petition.
Speaker 1: Is it made out to her parents? I just want
Speaker 1: to look really quickly and see it's made out to Oh,
Speaker 1: it's made out to her sorority.
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, okay, that changes it. That changes it once again.
Speaker 3: I appreciate you know what, and I think she wants
Speaker 3: you know, they probably have a Christmas tree in her
Speaker 3: sorority house.
Speaker 1: She probably wants a Honka bush.
Speaker 3: I think it has seventy seven supporters, probably all of
Speaker 3: her sorority sisters.
Speaker 1: So that's very nice. I'm going to go with this one.
Speaker 3: I'm going to go with this, okay, so yeah, believe
Speaker 3: it or not, do I wish she again she had
Speaker 3: done a better job of sort of writing a more
Speaker 3: clear petition.
Speaker 1: Sure, but that's not what we're deciding, so right. Wow Jonah,
Speaker 1: Happy holidays to you, yes and yours?
Speaker 2: Yea yeah, send happy holidays to you and yours as well.
Speaker 2: Thank you everyone for listening to that. We hope you
Speaker 2: learned something about Gremlins, you learn something about us, and
Speaker 2: maybe learned a little something about yourself in the process. Wow.
Speaker 1: Beautiful, really beautiful.
Speaker 3: Well that was really fun, Jonah, as you wrote, Thanks
Speaker 3: so much to both of us for putting together such
Speaker 3: an incredible episode. If you enjoyed this, please subscribe to
Speaker 3: the podcast and keep an eye out for next week's episode. Again,
Speaker 3: we will be off for the next two weeks, but
Speaker 3: we will be playing some really incredible episodes when we
Speaker 3: were guests on other really fun podcasts, and then when
Speaker 3: we're back we will discuss more stories from our childhood,
Speaker 3: like the Holidays, Gremlins, etc. Happy holidays everyone, have a
Speaker 3: great new Year, and we'll see you soon.
Speaker 2: Before the
Speaker 1: Hurri