Hasan Minhaj (Off With His Head / Patriot Act / The Daily Show) • #329

Published Dec 11, 2024, 12:05 AM

LOOK OUT! It’s only Films To Be Buried With!

Join your host Brett Goldstein as he talks life, death, love and the universe with the hilarious and awesome comic, actor and writer HASAN MINHAJ!

A lovely episode featuring someone big in the game, from a good handful of comedy specials to appearances in films like the recent hit 'It Ends WIth Us' - you can expect a proper goody right here. You can also expect talk upon crafting a comedy special and the mechanics of the whole damn thing, tour feels, to crowd work or not crowd work, the opposite of Toy Story, the current lack of moustache mischief, physical media collections, overwatched films, and so much more. A paintcan to the head, you kiddin' me? ENJOY!

Video and extra audio available on Brett's Patreon!

IMDB

OFF WITH HIS HEAD

PATRIOT ACT

IT ENDS WITH US

BRETT • X

BRETT • INSTAGRAM

TED LASSO

SHRINKING

SOULMATES

SUPERBOB

 

Look how it's only films to be buried with. Hello, and welcome to films to be buried with. My name is Brett Goldstein. I'm a comedian and actor, writer, a director at Postcard Artist, and I love films. As Claudia Rankin once said, the world is wrong, you can't put the past behind you. I was just telling my friend Charliekorman that, and then he went off and write in Turn of Sunshine Out the Spotless Mind.

It makes you think, doesn't it? Well, yes, Claudia. Yes.

Every week i'wnbute a special guest over. I tell them they've died, then I get them to discuss their life through the films that meant the most of them. Previous guests include Barry Jenkins, Kevin Smith, Sharon Stone, and even Radbots. But this week we have the brilliant comedian mister Hassen Minaj. Head over to the Patreon at patreon dot com forward slash Brett Goldstein, where you'll get an extra fifteen minutes of chat with Hassen where we talk beginnings and endings. He tells me a secret, you get the whole episode uncut adfree and does a video. Check it out Patrin in dot com forward slash Brett Goldstein. Episode ten of Shrinking Season two is now available on Apple TV. Get caught up on all episodes. You'll fucking love it. So Has Minaj is a two time Peabody Award winning comedian. You might know him from The Daily Show or his show Patriot Act. You might know him from his many Netflix specials. He's got a brand new Netflix special off with his Head and it is excellent.

You should all watch it.

We never met before, but we recorded this on Zoom a few weeks ago. He was an absolute joy and I really think you're going to love this one. So that is it for now. I hope you're all well, and I very much hope you enjoy episode three hundred and twenty nine of Films to be Buried With.

Hello, and welcome to Films to be Buried With.

It is me Brett Goldstein, and I am joined today by an actor, a writer, a Daily shower, a and a podcaster. I hear a legend and a brand new Netflix special this week.

He's here.

Can you believe it? He's right in front of me. Please welcome to the show. It's the brilliant I said, been nice thank you.

How are you?

I'm doing great, man, Thanks for having me. This is gonna be so fun. This is how we this is how we meet. This is how we meet. Now, this is how we meet people, isn't it?

This is how we meet people just the any way, Yeah, let's talk about your special, shall we? Since I watched it today and it's excellent. How long were you making? How long were you touring that? How long did it take?

You know what I was working on it. I've been working on it for about two years.

But it takes me about.

Year year and a half to kind of get it where I think it needs to be. And then and then I'll go on tour for about yeah, nine months to a year. Okay, there's like a touring year for me. I love finishing. Finishing a tour is the best. You love the end? I love the end. I love There's just there's this beautiful moment where if you go to you know, Brett's website, and he goes, I'm on tour and you're always adding you're adding a second, third, and fourth show. But if I were a fan of yours and getting a ticket on the road, may I recommend if you see an act. About a third of the way into their tour, there is, in my opinion, this beautiful alchemy where the set it's almost like a relationship. It's still new enough, but there are these moments that have like really calcified in a very beautiful sort of way. So and it's that perfect combination of the new, the exciting new, and unknown and the like.

This is not an acoustic B sides album.

This is this is gonna be something really really special.

Yeah, how much did you change in the last say three months, if any, it.

Changed a lot, you know, getting getting ready for Netflix. There's a feeling of you gotta know that. And this is the toughest thing about stand up, which you know, is trying to translate something that happened there that night. Yeah, and then watching what is essentially a certain film. Yeah, there's a difference. You know, if I go up in London, if I go up at the comedy seller, the comedy store, there's just an energy that night. Yeah, I was the fourth spot at the eight o'clock show.

Someone had heckled the comedian before.

There is all these like little subtle nuances that go into the show that you can great comics, some of my favorites. I don't know if you've ever seen someone named Godfrey. Godfrey in New York City is a master. No, I've never seen seeing something like strange happen in the room, and he can literally turn that into a fifteen minute stet Ian bag. Another legend at doing that. That's a that's a live skill set. But when you shoot the special, one of the things that you kind of have to be mindful of, this is my third is just knowing that it's going to be seen by people at home on their phone, And it's really just about the ideas connecting from one idea to the next, to the next to the next, and being a little bit judicious about that.

That's pretty interesting, So you kind of like get rid of the elements of that night that made it specific to that night.

Well, for this special, we took all one show, so for Off with his Head one of the things that I wanted to do and you may know this knowing comics in the UK, I took a ton of inspiration from you guys with Homecoming King and The King's Jesture. I took all this inspiration from like the great storytelling comics in the UK, where you build an hour, but it's you know, a show, and there's long it's longer form stories, and there's stage.

Design and lighting design.

And in this special, the stage design that we built kind of put me in the middle of the crowd, so you know, we built bleachers around me. So it was kind of like there was a thrust and I'm just in this kind of public execution. And I did that on purpose, like I left, you know that there was there's moments in the special where I like, I wipe sweat off my head with the towel, I take a sip of water, I moved the mic stand these things with that would get lifted normally. What I wanted to kind of show is like, hey, this is what it was like, you know, that night in the bay, and it was all just kind of one take. And for that we just wanted to really dial in coverage to make sure no matter where we were shooting from. And I remember talking to the cinematographer Cameron. He was like, you know, there're gonna be people on the shot and I go, that's exactly That's exactly what I'm going for. And he's like, do you want us to you know, lower the light on the crowd. I'm like, no, keep them lit.

Oh yeah, I definitely not is that the crowd were very brightly lit, and I thought that was interesting. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I thought that's stressful for the crowd. I wonder if they're like the light stuff at a little bit.

But there was also a part of me that's like, you're you're part of this.

Yeah, And I think stand up specifically Stand Up Specials went through a moment. I think, you know, twenty fifteen, twenty sixteen, twenty seventeen, at least I felt when I was watching them they were really cool in the way they were being presented, big beautiful stage design, and then they would black out the audience completely.

Yeah.

And so if I look at my first two specials, unless it's a reverse shot, it really feels like it's almost like a presentation, like, yeah, here's the show. But the thing that makes stand up so beautiful is it's the little It's the nooks and crannies of it. It's the hearing the cackle of the person's laugh and you know that row f to the left of you, or hearing you know, this guy kind of chortle at something.

Right here in roe b to the right of you.

And so in a world where every we're kind of voyeurs to everything, the thing that I wanted to capture was like, no, let everyone, Let the audience be a part of the show, right, yeah, don't hide the ball.

So the special is one is one show? How many did you record? We did three? They did three?

We did three? Yeah, we did one on Friday and two on Saturday. Yeah, And why do you pick that take? Or it was just simply the best one.

I just felt dropped in, Like I just felt dropped into the set in a way.

What number was it of the three? Which which one is it? It was kind of two, It was either two or three. Yeah, but we took one. But I just remember this moment where you're dropped in. Yeah, and it's not even about the audience per se. It was one of those performance where I just felt dialed into every beat of the show.

I love it.

Yeah, because that must be a part of you thinking when a big guy's big must be a part of you thinking fuck, I'm glad that film in this one.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But a thing that I tried to do and be mindful of this time was just like just be and you must know this as an actor too, just be in it. And so that's sometimes been challenging for me as someone who you know, you write it, you perform it, you produce it. You want to be in control of everything, and there is a little bit of like the no, there's beauty and the smudges.

It's okay, Yeah, sure, it's okay.

And and like I remember, even my director told me he was like with the second and third show, he was like, hey, do some CrowdWork.

Just do some crowd work.

Yeah, before you transitioned into a bit, he's like, settle the room in it's so bright, everybody can see each other. Just connect everyone in the audience. And those that crowd work stuff all made it into the show, you know, like the guys with the chains and the uncle to the left and Ian this guy over here to my right, Like they were all in that show. And I was just like, yeah, you're part of the show. So there's no need to go to show one or show three year show too. We don't have to Franken edit.

This what happens to you now? So you finished this tour and you were like relieved it's done. Are you already starting the next or do you take a break?

What do you do?

This is the fun part.

I'm starting to write the next one. But you know, I'm married, I got two kids, so we went to you know, we went to Disneyland.

Yeah. Man, I got a six year old. I got a four year old. I gotta yeah, bro like that love.

Yeah, I got I got children who know who I am, who know that I'm missing you know that. Yeah.

I was gonna say, they know who I am, they know that I'm not there, That's what I was trying to say. So it's like, I'm glad that I got it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So it's it's that dude, I'm in, I'm in drop off and pick up and taking them to soccer practice and you know, we's go to Lego Land and that that type of vibe, and then I'm just it's the early stages of the next show where it's just writing little bits and getting on stage. And this is a really fun part too. But I already have the next show in my mind. Do you that's exciting?

Yeah?

Yeah, yeah, I think I've having just finished my tour. I'm very excited to get back to doing new material and also very like fuck. When you think about how much the show has changed over the eighteen months I've been touring, and how much better it's got every add on, every yeah, new material, like well, this is a long way from that, you know what I mean?

Like, yeah stuff? Who opens for you?

Well?

Yes, yeah, oh, I love most She's so great, She's fucking brilliant. I love her so much. Who happens for you? It's a whole grab bag mix. It's a mix. Sometimes I'll do a local person.

Sometimes I'll have a person regionally, like, hey, do these four cities with me?

Because there's just something I like. I like mixing it up.

I like it's just that feeling of, you know, they can push me in a certain way. Yeah, or it just changes yeah, yeah, I especially when i'm you know, I'm doing maybe sixty cities or something, or ninety shows, you know, with doubles, just like I kind of want to. I want it to feel a little fresh and new and different every night.

You know, I love it.

I've forgotten to tell you something. I should have said it earlier, so that I didn't let me just check. Now I just say, I say you've died. You're dead. Oh fuck, how did you die. So sorry.

Lawnmower accident what Madman style? Well, I just went it just went haywire. I just went haywire. That that's not They don't build them the way they used to.

You know what, you were pushing or you were sat on it, or you were just walking.

I was pushing it. Just it was yeah.

And then and then my wife called me from inside and was like hey, and I turned and it just went haywire. So my my, my, my family, you know, my love, my my beloved, my beloved wife got to see me.

Just ripped the shress. Your children, you know who you are.

We're like, oh god, yeah, they go He's definitely not going to pick us up now.

Youmaining His limbs.

Turned, the little mouth came out of your hands, spun around, and then ran away.

There.

Yes, yes, Ocky powerful Jesus. Yeah, and your children and wife covered in just just my wife. The kids are It's okay.

But they'll find out. They'll find out later. Yeah, Oh they'll fucking find out. Oh they'll find out for sure. Do you worry about death? Yeah?

Yeah I do every day, not every day, but I'm thirty nine and I know that I'm at that age where I am starting to lose things, and I have friends that have lost parents. I'm at that age where many of my friends we you know, there's there's breakups and divorces and it's just you know, we're at you know, so much of I don't know if you felt this way your early years, and even in just the creative arts, those first kind of ten years for me was just about pursuing competence.

Am I even? Am I even good at this? Am I am I good at anything?

Like?

Do I have.

Any skill sets to for the world? Then like there's the second part where you go, oh shit, I can make money. I'm making money doing this, you know. And then there's the third part, which is like, I guess this is my career because I have no other skill sets to offer the world. But I'm also at that phase, that that next phase where my parents are older. Many of my friends parents are getting older. I have to take care of them. I'm the parent. I have friends that have you know, been diagnosed with illnesses and those sort of things and funerals and death is like a thing that now exists. That's not an intellectual exercise, it's just a real it's a real thing.

I think it makes I think it makes me funnier. Yeah, you know what I mean, like because because there is like truly like what what what? What does it matter?

Then?

What does it even matter? Like?

What am I worried about? It doesn't matter, you know, which I think is great for comedy. I think for people that aren't comedians, they're not cool with the morbid humor.

But I find I find it to be quite quite funny.

What you I haven't asked this in a long time. What are your thoughts on legacy?

Do you feel artistically like I just want to make stuff, make stuff, make stuff, and then die and you don't think about beyond your death? Or do you think about making stuff? Is it ever a thing you think about? Of what will you leave artistically when you die? And does any of it matter?

I mean the beautiful thing about my children and you know, having my wife who has supported me for just my whole fucking career. Those things like burgeoning and happening simultaneously with the rise of the I would call it the Internet and social media. Those two things running in parallel got me to see that one of these is clearly very important and real.

It's the real thing, and one of.

These is just this ineffable and articulated scroll of you know, endless content.

And that thing is your family.

Yeah, it's just a photo reel of it's just nonsense. It's just bullshit, just me eating with them and changing clothes and standing at a doorstep and holding holding an idiotic just chalkboard that said first grade. Yeah, what a waste of time toilets meaningless meaningless? Yeah, you know what happened, man? Do you remember this might date this a little bit, but about a month or two ago, James Earl Jones passed away? All right, beat the legend, the legend. Now, now what what a career and what a life he had. But the day he died, some politician also did something idiotic. And I just remember his passing and I go, holy shit, Mufasa died. Yeah, fucking Darth Vader died. And they didn't stop my daughter's elementary school. They didn't They didn't break to a commercial break like on local news. Instagram didn't stop and go hey, just just for a moment, you know, before we see a new Kaisanat video, can we just acknowledge that James fucking Earl Jones passed away there, Brett.

I'm going to say this, with all due respect.

You can combine my career and your career combined, it will not measure up to Darth fucking Vader.

Yeah yeah, I mean stage, screen, everything.

And I realized I was like, oh, the speed and rapids of modernity has turned legacy into something that is effectively worthless because because you can't beat now, you can't.

Beat right now, Like, what what about right right now? You know? And it sucks because we know how much work we put into everything that we do. Yeah, when people are like so what about.

The next season of Shrinking, You're like this, this fucking season just came out.

What are you talking about? Can you you haven't even enjoyed every episode.

Yeah, it's like I can't. I cannot beat the rate of the scroll. But in a weird way, man, what it made me realize is that, well, if nothing matters, if what I've done yesterday or ten years ago doesn't matter, then the only thing matters is just what we're doing right now.

Okay? Is that weird? Is that weird? Is that weird?

You brought me back from the brink. I was close, but then you brought me back.

Well, there's a lot of stuff that's happening right now politically where people are like, well, nothing matters. And what's weird is if you were to see nihilism as the circle and you really go down in his comics, you know that we will we can get super dark. Yeah, but the snake will eat its own tail. Where it's like if well, if nothing truly matters, then kind of everything the next everything matters. Yeah, every little action you take matters. Then if you were to take it to it's yeah, I agree. I do think everything matters and nothing matters. What do you think it happens when you die? Man?

I don't know, but I'm but I have faith. I believe. I believe in something bigger than myself. You have a do you have a visual for we? Oh? Like, is there a heaven? Is there? I just believe.

I just I can't even articulate. I just think there is. I'll say this. I was I was having a conversation with my dad and my dad was telling me. He goes, uh, you know the thing I think that's extremely strange about your generation is your your generation is obsessed with this idea of justice, And he goes, I don't think you guys will ever understand that absolute justice will not be possible in this world. It's only possible in the hereafter. And that really resonated with me because the world that we are living in has so much context and is so highly variable. Each of our lived experiences is loaded with all of this historical context. There's no way any one person can do the long division on your life for my life, for you know, the history of a country or whatever. And I love that idea of just like I don't think we'll be able to pull out the advocus of justice here. It'll all make sense somewhere else. And that kind of that made sense to me.

Yeah, does that mean that there's punishment on the other side for people and rewards?

And maybe it's just not that at that crul, but I just believe that, like, if you got short changed, you'll God's gonna come with I don't know, there's gonna be a receipt, right, You're gonna have a receipt and just be like, hey, hey, someone owes me twenty five dollars.

And like you like you will be made.

I don't know why, I just I just don't have to give you twenty five dollars night.

Hey man, sorry about that, you know what I mean?

And then you and then you're like really in once you know, you know, like my bad.

Do you think do you think God has a sense of humor? Yes? Do you same? Yeah? Yeah, for sure, for sure, for sure.

I got news for you, buddy. There is a heaven and you'll go into it amazing and it is filled with your favorite thing. What's your favorite thing?

Probably playing basketball on a summer night.

Well, there's a summer basketball court. It's a perfect temperature, and all your friends and legends are playing, and you play basketball as long as you want. However, everyone there they want to talk to you about your life, but they want to talk about your life through film. And the first thing they ask him is what's the first film you remember seeing?

Hassan mint Oh, man, I don't know if we're the same age, but Tim Burton's Batman.

Fuck Yeah?

The second one, the best one, the best super of memorable time returns?

Is it? Batman Returns? Batman Turns?

Yeah, was the first movie that I got to see in theaters, and it's the first memory that I had of like watching a feature film, and specifically the scene where Michelle Pfeiffer starts to act and behave like a cat.

A lot was happening in my in my mind.

I was seven at the time, and where was this visit in Davis, California at the Holiday Cinema. It was the theater was called the Holiday Cinema. And I remember going to see that film and being you know, it's it was the first time that I felt art can move you in many different ways, like you can be enthralled, you can be terrified, kind of aroused. Yeah, yeah, all of this is happening at once, and it was the first time, you know, like I got to really feel what like, uh, you know, Tim Burton was dare I say in his bag during that era?

Yeah? Fuck, I love the film. The film was great.

It kind of got at the time like it wasn't wildly loved or revered, you know it was.

It kind of got mixed reviews.

But I just remember the thing that I remember about that that I still chase to this day is like, make them feel something. Yeah, just make them feel something, you know, through your art. And I remember being somewhat disturbed watching it.

That's great, that's great.

Yeah, what's the film that scared you the most? And do you like being scared? I hate being scared? Do you hate being scared? I remember what they used to be.

You know, we didn't have cable television growing up, but Return of the Living Dead was a film that was playing just on TV one weekend in the afternoon, and it was the first time, like I was maybe eight or nine years old. But just the zombies eating, the eating, the eating of the brain was the thing.

That's just like not a fan of the brain eating. No, No, And also did you ever have this?

Were you the are you the oldest, older sibling or the younger sibling youngest? So sometimes i'd go to a friend's house to like, you know, just play and they would have an older brother. But there was always this like my older brother, my older sister, they're renting a movie and they're watching it downstairs. And I remember Child's Play was really popular, the Chucky movies. Yeah, And I remember we walked downstairs while one of my buddies, his older sister, was watching Child's Play and she's like.

Don't get it, get out of here. You guys can't be here.

And I was like, no, we can, we can, we can watch like you're gonna get freaked out. And I just remember it was it was the scene where Chucky, you know, comes to life and was chasing this little kid in the apartment, and it just I just remember just being fucking horrified and being like, yeah I had I had like stuffed animals and I chucked them out of my room and yeah, I hated I hated the genre said, yeah, man, yeah, I.

Had like all toys. It's like the opposite.

Yeah right, yeah, I had all these like action figures and whatever. And I remember I just I lifted them and I just chucked them like I put them in the My Mom's like, what's what is going on? And I just I couldn't. It freaked me out. It freaked me the fuck out. It made me so scared of just the nights as a concept.

Do you still even if you see clips of Chucky, does it still give you a PTSD?

You Know what's weird is I revisit it on YouTube now.

It's like a as like a cognitive behavioral therapy exercise to be like you won't you won't spook on me, you can't get me.

Yeah, I didn't even have toys anymore.

Chucky yeah, yeah, fuck you Yeah, fuck you Chucky, Fuck you Chucky.

What about crying? What's the film that made you cry the most? Are you a crier?

I'm a big crier, bro, Oh yeah, I cry all the time in movies.

I cried.

Yeah, I cried at the Big There's a Pixar movie where I was watching with my wife. Oh, any pixel movie, Inside Out too. No, it was The Good Dinosaur, The Good Dinosaur. Yeah, it was the It was the movie.

With the case.

Yeah, a little cave Boy, Yeah, with the dinosaur and uh, the little cave Boy has to describe how he lost his family and he draws it in the dirt, and I just started.

Crying and the yeah, I started. I started crying in the in the movie theater. But I cry all the time.

You know. My my soft spot is generally kind of like these like father Son. Yeah, movies Catch Me If you Can't makes me cry.

Right exactly. The saddest film everybody, Catch Me if you Can? Yeah, if you if you haven't seen the film.

Christopher Watkins's character the way Frank I think is his name is Frank Appingdale apping Gail.

Yeah, and uh, there's.

Just something about this father figure having to carry a lie with such confidence, and he asked. He kind of tells, you know, Leonardo DiCaprio, his son, like everything's gonna be okay. Me and your mom are all right, you know, and his his mom leaves his father, you know. And it's that like trauma that makes him go commit wire fraud apparently.

What if that was an excuse with the SEC And you're like, why did you do this? Why did you commit security fraud? And you're like, do you have any idea who my mom's fucking right now? I'll tell you what. It's not my dad. You ever heard a divorce?

Yeah?

Yeah, Yeah, that's a fucking depressing film. Yeah.

But it's just there was moments where there's the scene where basically Frank is with his son and he knows Leonardo DiCaprio's up to something shady, and he's kind of like smiling and accepting it.

Oh, where you're going? Where you off to?

Where are you taking your trip to? And I'm just kind of balling. I don't know why, man, Yeah, where you're going?

Yeah? And I'm just like crying. Yeah. That film is a real BAMA.

I've talked about it before on this but that film is the most like miss marketed film, the biggest lie.

That film looks like it's like do do oh? Totally yeah, yeah.

Yeah they make it.

They marketed it like it was like mad Men meets Disneyland, just kind of like do you want to be a pilot? Even the credits like yeah, totally, totally he's got the pilot had and oh yeah, yeah totally. Speaking of a film that makes me cry though, is if I'm in heaven and it's a beautiful summer night, and may I say, since we're in heaven? Yeah, when you play summertime basketball in a city that's notoriously hot summer, it makes summer nights so much sweeter. So like a Scottsdale, Arizona night playing outdoor basketball or a Sacramento night, like it's one hundred and three degrees fahrenheight during the day, but at night it's like seventy one sixty nine degrees for and it's just beautiful. But the film that also made me cry, that's one of my all time favorites. Did you ever see the movie He Got Game by Spike Lee? It directed by Spending Yes, So there's the scene where Denzel Washington gets out of jail, and he goes back to his wife's tombstone, and Spike just holds on Denzel as he kisses the tombstone and hugs it, and they just pull out. They see him at the cemetery and it's just this powerful scene.

Yeah, man, I'll be a full full tears. Man.

What is the film that you love? It is not critically acclaimed, but you love it unconditionally. You don't care what anyone says. She's the man. You think she's the man with Amanda Bynes. Yeah, yeah, that is a great shot. That is the perfect hard set to this.

Yes, I'm telling them, but by the way, Brett, you reckon, you say this publicly. It's an all time classics sees the man.

It's a great Oh my god.

Like people you know, oftentimes bring up missus doubtfire of like it was so funny Robin Williams, he dresses what no, no, no, Amanda Bynes pretending to be a male soccer player is and she woos Channing Tatum.

It's it's it's Channing Tatum. Yeah. Yeah, it's an incredible movie. Yeah.

Yeah, there's not enough. There's not enough. I would even say in the present there's not enough mustache work. There's not enough kind of let me put on a wig and trick people.

There's enough trickery going on with no no, no, no no.

When was the last time I'm in tricks to with astache? It's been ages.

There was this Man on the Street segment that that was on Jimmy Kimmel where Drake dressed up.

Drake is actually very good at comedy.

Drake dressed up as not Drake, as like a civilian and he went on the street and he asked.

People what they what they thought of Drake. It was very very funny. And then you I'm Drake.

You know, yeah, mustache, you know, fake mustache is in mischief. We don't have enough of that. We have real mischief in society. We don't have enough of this, Like do you know what I mean? This kind of naughtiness, not just a little naughtiness, a.

Little bit enough? Yeah? Yeah?

Is that corny in the UK? Like is the Nutty Professor? Was that a thing for me? It was the Nutty Professor coming to America. But I saw I saw them as like real kind of comedic performances that were I truly didn't care what the critic had to say about it, I was like, I cannot believe Eddie Murphy's playing twelve different people in this movie.

Yeah, I mean it's incredible. He's one of the greats. He is such a good actor.

And to do that without the other person in the room because it's him, it's amazing. His timing with himself is incredible. You think about how long it must take for him to put on the makeup, yes, get out of the makeup, put on different makeup, and then time your responses and no, how he does it.

Fantastic, unbelievable.

What is the film that you used to love but you've watched it recently and you've gone, I don't like this anymore.

Scarface? Scarface? Why what happened? Yeah? It was.

You know, there was this like teenage of my cheesemo to it that I thought was so great, and I kind of was like, Scarface kills Manolo's piece of shit.

You know, this isn't like even this idea that it was an aspirational thing. I was like, what are we talking about here?

So you were like, Scotface is a really bad guy.

Yeah, he's an outright piece of ship.

And then a movie that I've changed my tune on that. I go, you know, it's actually like it really is quite beautiful. Is Donny Brasco, Well, you know, al Pacino is kind of you know, this down and out mobster and you know it's really about like his friendship and insecurity.

Yeah, that's a really moving film there.

I also like that it's like low low end mobsters, like they're just getting money out of parking meters and ship and it's.

Like ship like that. Yeah.

Yeah, my favorite scene, My favorite scene is like when he when he shows Johnny Depp the newspaper and he goes, just you like you part of this and he goes, do you know what that makes me look like?

You know?

And if if this is you, I'm fucking and he holds he does the gun thing does that. It was just it was just like there's something so moving about seeing a person whose back is truly against the wall. Yeah, and they don't they don't have another move, there's nowhere else for them to go, and it's just really there's just yeah, you know what I mean, it's just heartbreaking.

Yeah.

Yeah, what what's the film that means the most to you? Not necessarily the film itself is good, but the experience you had around seeing it will always make it special to you.

Man, this is gonna sound corny, I would say, Mean Girls. I fucking love that film, guy for it. I love Mean Girls.

So there was a period of time, I think it's around two thousand and five where having a DVD collection Slash Blue Rick was a real kind of indicator of.

It was your personality. Yeah, it was our record collection at the time. Yeah. But Mean Girls to me.

Was always I had the fondest memories of because at the time when I was dating my now wife. There are certain movies that are deemed kind of quote unquote classics that can be gendered at times, and I remember, you know, like having my DVD collection of like The Minority Report. There's you know, just certain certain movies, The godfa whatever, Jurassic par Chappelle Show Season one or whatever. But Mean Girl, Mean Girls in Easy A were these two films that I felt like perfectly crossed over both ways and like in the best way where I was like and if you look at just the writing, the timing, even the like the comedic interstitials in that film were just incredible.

It's like one of my all time favorite. Have you watched the music? I haven't seen the musical. How is it? I haven't seen it yet. Oh okay.

It was also a huge inspiration to me too, in the sense that, like, the comedy is so good without it being needlessly grass or vulgar or blue or not to say that I have a problem with that type of comedy, but its resonance was just like, oh, I could watch this, my girlfriend can watch this, and I can watch this with my parents.

Yeah, it's very good.

It's a very beautiful, like a beautiful thing, and so it's like one of my all time favorites. It's also just like put it on whenever and scene for scene, you're just everybody is really firing at a very high level. Amy Poehler is fucking hilarious in it, and she's doing a full on character as like a quote unquote cool mom. Tina's great in it, Lindsay Lohan is in her back.

It's just like the whole cast is like just spectacular. It's really hard up as well.

It's in the area a school of rocket films, which I think look easy on paper, but it's so rarely pulled off as perfectly as that one.

And I would. I mean, how many Edge of seventeen.

There's only like a handful of films since then that have kind of worked it somewhat on that level. It's very difficult to pull off coming of age, high school, early college.

It's so hard to do.

Yeah, what is the film that you think is the sexiest one of all time?

I mean, I would say, Man, if we're going to get back to it, I think I think Batman Returns is probably.

Yeah. Yeah, hard to be.

There was a lot moving, you know, there's a lot of zimes and the chemical reactions happening.

Man, there was something something was stirring within me. Yeah. God, she's marvelous. She really is.

Yeah, Michelle Feiffer, she really is all the way through the film. I just think she's so brilliant in that. I think it's sort of everyone tells how sexy she is, but it's underrated, like it's a great performance.

I remember when I was in undergrad, I took a film class and we learned about what a fe fetal was, and I just I remember pitching the professor. I go, oh, so you mean, like like Michelle Fiffer and Batman Returns, and my professor, my college professor looked at me like he wanted to kill me.

He's like, what the fuck are you talking about?

You know, this is one of those classes where they talk about me on sin and this and that.

I was like, what are you talking about? She's woman's quite literally she said, you were right. Yeah, goddamn it. All right.

There's a sub category to this traveling bone is worrying. Why don't film you found a rousing that you weren't sure you should?

I mean, I would Saynalla in the Lion King, you wouldn't be the first. Yeah, it's the it's the rolling around in it.

It's the rolling around, rolling, the rolling around, it's the rolling around. Yeah, in the pinning, the look the pinning and then she looks hello. Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of the shoulder movements too. It was like, whoa lovely shoulders on it?

Yeah, yeah, so I would yeah something like that.

Yeah, that is the loveliest shop quite seductive.

Yeah, what is objectively, objectively the greatest film of all time?

Might not be your favorite, but it's the greatest.

The way I would classify this because I got you sent over a PDF before when I thought about it. The way I interpret that question is I think this is maybe by all means take take it.

You can reframe it this way.

Everybody has a movie they make other people watch when they come over to be like, you have to watch. Yeah, buddy has the prestige. He's like, you gotta watch. You want to understand, you gotta watch the prestige. For me, I would say a Bronx Tail. A Bronx Tail is so fucking good. It's a great movie. De Niro is so good in it was its chas commentary.

I mean, it's like, probably is great. It won't be his greatest performance of his career.

The kid is great, but it also it unfolds like a play in that one where just every scene you know, upstairs their apartment, stoop. It really is like that and do the right thing. But what I loved about both of those is just it's really like a play.

Yeah, yeah, fucking great chat that has not been put in this category, And I think you're right.

I think you're right too. Nobody's ever brought up a Bronx Tail, not in greatest and they should have. Okay, what is the film you could or have watched? The mist Ivan Iver again, Bad Boys, Michael Bey Yeah. Directed by Mike Og the Og nineteen ninety five Bad Boys Michael Bay fucking hell, bro. I mean, my god, dude, you were watching Martin Lawrence at the peak of his superpowers. Yeah, you were watching Will Smith at the beginning of what would be his his tear and takeover of Hollywood. The two of them combined. Holy shit. I mean when I tell people it's one of my favorite comedies, They're like, what are you what are you talking about? And I'm like, just let's just watch, just watch the scene of the two of any scene of them in the Porsche, in that iconic Porsche get Yeah, they're timing their rapport. You know this directing too, Yeah, Bad.

Boys Too is one of the best coming, one of my favorite codes. I love. Yeah. It's just funny, it's just spectacular.

And it's also one of those things where you can put this on paper the same premise a million times.

It's it's not gonna work.

I feel the same way about Rush Hour, Like rush Hour is so fucking hilarious, But if you were if you were to actually pay the premise, like go into a studio and pitch it, they'd be like, are you racist?

I'm telling you. I'm telling you.

I'm telling you this, I promise, and this dude and he's gonna repeatedly accuse him of not being able to speak the language properly. But I'm telling you it's gonna work. And they but they love each other, Carter and him, they love each other. They'd be like, this is not this is the most insane. This is an insane idea.

This is not gonna work.

And what happens at the end one it's gonna jump down a very big ribbon. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, and it's all gonna work. It's it's totally gonna work. Yeah, great shout. We don't like to be negative.

Hassen. What the West film You've ever say?

You know, I've I haven't seen it, but I remember when you're traveling, do you ever do this where you don't watch a movie on the plane, but you're watching somebody else watch a movie on the plane.

Yes, I have done.

Okay, so I'm I'm technical. I don't know if I'm right or wrong, but I watched another person watch Fantastic Four on.

The reach one with the one with just yes, Chris have it. I think Chris, he's the one.

He gets on fire. Yeah, he's a torch. But man, oh man, was this guy? Was this guy sitting next to Michael Chickliss was Yeah, the rock Man thing, the Rockman the thing. But the guy I was sitting next to was fucking livid. Watching him watch Fantastic Four was just spectacular. It's up it's It's one of my favorite memories. It's up there with if you live in if you live in New York City watching people break up in public. Oh yeah, that's Watching this man watch Fantastic Four as we flew to Charlotte.

Was like an all time, all time memory because he was living. He was so angry and he didn't stop though, he didn't stop it. I have to finish this. Yeah, that's fun. That's fun.

Tell me this. You're in comedy. You're very funny. You've had three specials for goodness sakes. So what's the film that made you love the.

This has been said, right, they've they've I mean home alone.

Alone, No, I don't think what's the funniest I think this has been the greatest.

Brett.

You're on like episode number three seventies, I mean, yeah, man, so my son is four and a half. Yeah, I'll forward the movie just to when they break in, Oh my god, a paint can to the head?

Are you kidding me? Dying? Yeah? Are you kidding me? Bb gun to the balls? Are you fucking kidding?

I mean these are just yeah, timeless, timeless, Yeah, all.

The time, all time movie. Yeah. Yeah.

Do you want to continue to ignore the related to question? Or have you got an answer? You don't have to ever answer it, but if you do have one, you know what it is. I'll tell you right now. Yeah, go ahead, right now. I'd love that. I'd love it if you would.

Yeah. Did you ever see the movie Carlito's Way cutage? Way is in my top ten.

With the opportunity Okay, So when I was coming up and stand up, the character played by John Leguizamo Benny Blanco from The Bronx h so reminded me of like what it's like to be a comedian coming up in New York City.

Table sitting at the table, yeah, sitting at the table, yeah yeah, or whoever you know what I mean?

And they go, why won't you wyon't you? You know?

Like whatever that used to be you oz, that was never me? And it just so reminded me of like the the struggle and the come up of being like a young comic, you know, trying trying, trying to impress the upper classmen. Yeah, Benny, Benny Blanco from The Bronx, shout out to John Leguizamo, one of the great, one of the great comedic, one of the great dramatic actors. Yeah, medic actors, dramatic actors.

Bro, you went from not having an answer to having an incredible answer on that one. Yeah, I fucking love That's one of my favorite opportunities. Is Cully's great.

Oh he's incredible. Yeah.

When he pulls out he's coked out of his mind, he pulls out the gun. He thinks it's so funny. Just reminded me. It reminded me of comedy in that way. Yeah, of just like the comedy scene is just this kind of like group. It is the mafia. There are rules, but there are simultaneously no rules and.

Yeah, yeah, and there's tables, always tables. There's always a table. Can I sit at the table?

Yeah?

And then also it was like to me, the whole thing at the end when he finally gets out of the game and then he goes you remember me and Spenny Blanco from the from the Bronx and he shoots them. Is also the thing of like anger, hatred and revenge in and of itself can't be the thing that drives you.

You know, it ends in tragedy in that way.

You can't be a headliner if you kill people, if you literally kill people.

If you literally kill people. Yeah, yeah, you're not good.

Hasten. You have been amazing. However, what's up when you were maying you alone because you're trying to be handy, you were trying to impress your wife. Yes, frankly yes, because she's not in your long time. She's used to your com she's used to all your achievements. What she isn't used to is you taking care of some jewels and you're like, I'm going to load this more, load this morn.

You're gonna load this one. Yeah.

Of course, as they say in America, they say differently, I'm going to load this morn.

Yeah, let's participate in domestic labor. I'm going to load them on. I'm going to load them on. So you're lowering the.

Yeah, your wife pops outside and she waves and she says, has I've never felt so aroused just watching you do this, and you go, oh really, and you turn to her and as you do your hands let go of the law man. It spins in a circle and at your feet it catches you and you're like, and she goes, yea, ages you're going.

And then find you and as you do, it goes and it ribbons all the way up. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, she covered in blood. Oh god, Jesus got yeah, blood guts everywhere. Yeah.

I'm walking past with a coffin. You know, I'm like, I, guys, I signed around. She goes, is he around? He's fucking all over me? And I go, yeah, Jesus, night, look and I go ship and I go when your kids come home, and she goes, yeah, the kids.

Know who he is? I go fuck.

So anyway, I go, well, let's clear him up before they get here. So we're having to dig you up. And by the way, I've had to shoot the law mower because it's just going.

I just had to shoot it repeatedly. Anyway, me and your wife we get so we're.

Having to sort of use a spade dig up fucking bits of the field is just so embedded in it. Anyway, we put all of you in the coffin. There's more more of you than I was expecting. Coffin is absolutely round. There's only enough room for me to slide one DVD into the coffin for you to take to the other side. And on the other side, it's movie night every night. What film are you taking to show the basketball players in heaven when it is your movie night on the other side.

Blue Streak starring markin Lawren to David.

I love Marks, I love yeah, love.

Has And thank you so much for doing this. Would you like to tell anyone to look look, look for watch things with you coming up?

Hey, please watch Off with his Head streaming now on Netflix. And you know, just enjoy your enjoy your family, enjoy your loved ones. And yeah, man, nothing matters, nothing matters, So everything matters.

I appreciate you being here. Thanks so much, man, it was really nice to meet you. Thanks for doing this. Thank you man. Yeah, thank you, dud. Good day to you, sir. Cheers.

So that was episode three hundred and twenty nine. Head over to the Patreon at patreon dot com forward slash Brett Goldstein for the extra fifty minutes of Chat Secrets video with Hassan go to Apple Podcast, give us a five star rating and write about the film that means divice to you and why it's a lovely thing to read and it helps numbers, et cetera.

It's really appreciate it.

My name bit Moreen loves here. Thank you very much. Thank you too, Hassen for giving me his time. Thanks to Scruby's PIP and the distraction pieces of Network. Thanks to Buddy Peace for producing it. Thanks to iHeartMedia and Wilfaw's big money players Neby posting it. Thanks Adam Richardson for the graphics, at least land them for the photography. So come and join me next week for another incredible get Thank you all for listening. That is it for now. In the meantime, have a lovely week, and please, now more than ever, be excellent to each other.

Films To Be Buried With with Brett Goldstein

We are born. We die. In between we watch a lot of films. And some of these films shape the people we 
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