WEBVTT 1 00:00:06.879 --> 00:00:23.000 Weird media nis. You see that guy with it now he's an actor phone 2 00:00:26.199 --> 00:00:31.000 and I only can't driver in his place. Good evening and welcome tonight, 3 00:00:31.039 --> 00:00:35.119 mister Walter is a taxi podcast. I'm HP, you'r co host and with 4 00:00:35.240 --> 00:00:38.399 me as always as my co host, Father Malone, Father Malone, how 5 00:00:38.439 --> 00:00:43.600 are you HP? I'm excited for this episode because there is a return of 6 00:00:44.479 --> 00:00:47.880 Leggy Blonde in pantsuit. Really I didn't notice that. I can't wait to 7 00:00:47.960 --> 00:00:52.920 dig into the details. We are going over episode two of season two, 8 00:00:53.119 --> 00:00:57.719 called Honor Thy Father. This was written by Les Charles and Glenn Charles, 9 00:00:57.719 --> 00:01:03.679 the Charles Boys, not the Charles Boys, indeed, and it's directed by 10 00:01:03.719 --> 00:01:07.920 the one and only what was the name he gave himself, the master director, 11 00:01:07.920 --> 00:01:12.439 what was it? The director in residence resident, the resident director himself 12 00:01:12.879 --> 00:01:18.439 James Burrows. Now reminder, we are doing these shows in broadcast order and 13 00:01:18.480 --> 00:01:22.400 not in order of filming. We begin inside the garage. Louis is angrily 14 00:01:22.480 --> 00:01:26.760 yelling on the phone to somebody who's apparently stranded somewhere, that he's going to 15 00:01:26.840 --> 00:01:30.560 send somebody to pick him up. He tells Jeff to go to forty fifth 16 00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:36.480 in Lexington, to pick up jimbal Jimbalvo is the person's which I love that 17 00:01:36.640 --> 00:01:40.719 they're so good at picking. It's got to be like somebody in craft services 18 00:01:40.799 --> 00:01:46.920 or an editor. But apparently this person, Jimbalvo is stranded somewhere and Louis 19 00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:52.519 hustles over to yell at, oh my god, it's Laka. Laca is 20 00:01:52.680 --> 00:01:57.599 back. It feels like we haven't seen Laca in the garage for probably five 21 00:01:57.680 --> 00:02:00.560 or six episodes, going back to the first season, and there he is 22 00:02:00.799 --> 00:02:09.560 Laca's back father alone with a haircut. And that haircut emphasizes how deeply blue 23 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:15.719 Andy Kaufman's eyes are, which is all I could watch for this entire scene. 24 00:02:15.800 --> 00:02:19.159 I did notice something different. I didn't think of it in terms of 25 00:02:19.159 --> 00:02:21.960 a haircut. That You're right, everybun he got a haircut on this show, 26 00:02:23.800 --> 00:02:27.159 except Nardo, who got more hair. And of course, as we 27 00:02:27.199 --> 00:02:30.759 mentioned in the last episode, Wheeler's hair has its own ecosystem. At this 28 00:02:30.840 --> 00:02:35.639 point, Wheeler's hair is like a chia pet. It just keeps growing and 29 00:02:35.680 --> 00:02:40.319 growing and growing. It's so thick and lustrous, right, and I wanted 30 00:02:40.360 --> 00:02:46.360 to turn into like a coat that he wears like a Peltz. Louis hustles 31 00:02:46.400 --> 00:02:51.719 over to yell at Laca. Like I said, he upbraids Laca for sending 32 00:02:51.719 --> 00:02:58.120 out Jimbalvo with a broken gas gauge, and Louis incenses Laca so much that 33 00:02:58.400 --> 00:03:00.479 this is one of my favorite parts of the episode, by the because it's 34 00:03:00.520 --> 00:03:06.120 a callback to the Hollywood Calling episode. Laka demands to file a grievance and 35 00:03:06.599 --> 00:03:09.599 in a simple and I wrote this in a simply delightful carryover from last season, 36 00:03:09.680 --> 00:03:15.960 Louis tells Laka that the shop steward is none other than Ben Gerretzky. 37 00:03:16.759 --> 00:03:23.680 Longtime listeners of Night Mister Walters or viewers of Taxi will remember that Alex in 38 00:03:23.759 --> 00:03:27.560 Hollywood Calling demanded to talk to the shop steward. He was told that it's 39 00:03:27.560 --> 00:03:30.199 Ben Gerretzky. You find out after some business that Ben has actually been dead 40 00:03:30.240 --> 00:03:35.680 for two years. If any of our listeners are named Ben Gerretzky, could 41 00:03:35.719 --> 00:03:38.080 you please get in touch with us, because we will have you on the 42 00:03:38.159 --> 00:03:43.479 show. We will be giggling the entire time we're talking to you, But 43 00:03:43.680 --> 00:03:46.479 please get in touch with us. Ben. I need to talk to Ben 44 00:03:46.479 --> 00:03:52.319 Gerretzky since Laka is clearly not around. Like I said, for the Hollywood 45 00:03:52.360 --> 00:03:55.560 Calling episode from season one, he's got no idea that Ben Garretzky is in 46 00:03:55.560 --> 00:04:01.400 fact dead, So he wanders the cab full calling in vain, over and 47 00:04:01.479 --> 00:04:05.840 over for Ben Garretsky, Ben Gerretsky, Ben Garretzky, Ben. This is 48 00:04:05.919 --> 00:04:12.560 kind of odd. Louie insists that Gerretsky is off today. Did you pick 49 00:04:12.639 --> 00:04:15.680 up on that? Do you think that was Louie misinforming Laka that Ben Garretsk 50 00:04:15.800 --> 00:04:21.399 is off? Or do you think maybe in this parallel universe Ben Gretzky is 51 00:04:21.480 --> 00:04:27.240 actually in fact alive for season two? That I thought was odd? Who 52 00:04:27.279 --> 00:04:31.120 told us that Ben Gretsky was dead to begin with in Hollywood Calling? Yeah, 53 00:04:31.279 --> 00:04:33.600 I think it might have been Bobby. I'd have to go back and 54 00:04:33.680 --> 00:04:36.480 check my notes. Hell does Bobby? No? You know what, if 55 00:04:36.519 --> 00:04:40.720 you're to say any character's name, my response was going to be, what 56 00:04:40.759 --> 00:04:44.199 the hell does Blank know? So well, there you go. We'll leave 57 00:04:44.199 --> 00:04:46.560 it up to the viewer. Maybe Ben is alive, maybe he's still dead, 58 00:04:46.600 --> 00:04:50.839 who knows. But nevertheless, because the shop Steward isn't around, Louie 59 00:04:51.120 --> 00:04:55.240 and we know where this is going. Louie tells Laka that he has to 60 00:04:55.279 --> 00:05:00.360 report his grievance to the shift supervisor, and conveniently this turns out to be 61 00:05:00.439 --> 00:05:05.040 Louis as well. Lack events to Louis about how mean and cruel Louis is 62 00:05:05.879 --> 00:05:10.079 to Louie, who insists that he did the right thing by telling him, 63 00:05:10.240 --> 00:05:14.439 but not before telling him to get his butt back to work. So it's 64 00:05:14.480 --> 00:05:18.319 a fairly inconsequential bit of comedy business, but it gets bonus points for me 65 00:05:18.560 --> 00:05:25.439 for resurrecting the character of Ben Geretzky. I love it just then A now, 66 00:05:25.480 --> 00:05:30.279 I had trouble describing her. I alternately described this person as a matronly 67 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:38.319 now or classy sleek sleek that's a good. An elegant woman comes into the 68 00:05:38.360 --> 00:05:42.879 garage asking for the person in charge, and of course Louie pops out of 69 00:05:42.879 --> 00:05:46.839 his cage. The woman asks for Alex Riager, and oddly, I don't 70 00:05:46.879 --> 00:05:50.319 know if you picked up on this as well for them at Oddly, Louis 71 00:05:50.360 --> 00:05:56.519 somehow jumps to the conclusion that Alex has harassed this woman, like he broke 72 00:05:56.600 --> 00:05:59.160 bricks into this thing. Like, oh, I tell you these cabbs, 73 00:05:59.279 --> 00:06:02.600 I don't want them. I thought It was weird because Alex is widely considered 74 00:06:02.680 --> 00:06:05.480 to be the most trustworthy of all the cabbies. I don't know why, 75 00:06:05.720 --> 00:06:10.600 oh is he? Or? Do you know? We only get so many 76 00:06:10.639 --> 00:06:14.800 episodes and so many glimpses into their lives. Perhaps this is not the first 77 00:06:14.800 --> 00:06:17.759 woman who's wandered in with a complaint. And what happened while she was riding 78 00:06:17.759 --> 00:06:23.399 with Alex Rieger. Do you think Alex was maybe going to those poorhouses with 79 00:06:23.519 --> 00:06:26.959 Louis when Louis was still a driver. No, because those women wouldn't be 80 00:06:27.000 --> 00:06:30.920 complaining. I'm saying Alice is harassing as passengers. It could be. I 81 00:06:31.000 --> 00:06:35.600 have trouble believing it, but who knows. Oh, I don't believe it. 82 00:06:35.639 --> 00:06:40.160 For one instance, Alex Riger is a decent guy. This woman tells 83 00:06:40.199 --> 00:06:45.079 Louis that Alex is in fact her brother. This prompts Banta to jump up 84 00:06:45.600 --> 00:06:49.480 and say, you must be Alex's sister. What are we doing this? 85 00:06:49.639 --> 00:06:56.399 They got rid of burns now, Banta is double the stupid. Now Banta's 86 00:06:57.199 --> 00:07:00.720 double the dummy. There's no one else to give these dummy linew so they 87 00:07:00.759 --> 00:07:08.639 give him the Banta And I've always I've always been the dummy. Lane says 88 00:07:08.639 --> 00:07:12.680 that they didn't know that Alex had a sister, and the woman who will 89 00:07:12.680 --> 00:07:15.399 find out her name is Charlotte. Charlotte Reager. She says that Alex never 90 00:07:15.480 --> 00:07:20.759 really talked about his family, and uh. At that point, Bobby stumbles 91 00:07:21.399 --> 00:07:26.800 We're told that Bobby was in the can and he stumbles out and Tony introduces 92 00:07:26.839 --> 00:07:30.240 him to Charlotte. Now a side note on this. I don't know if 93 00:07:30.279 --> 00:07:34.240 you picked up on this sartorial choice of Bobby's, but he's wearing a black 94 00:07:34.319 --> 00:07:40.920 satin jacket, a black shirt, and dark jeans, and to me, 95 00:07:41.639 --> 00:07:45.680 he just he looked like Michael Knight from Night Rider because he's got the Hasslehoff 96 00:07:45.759 --> 00:07:48.759 hair, you know, like the flowing kind of long hair. Oh Bobby, 97 00:07:49.279 --> 00:07:54.720 Yeah yeah, Bobby, Oh yeah, he looks ridiculous here. Absolutely, 98 00:07:56.160 --> 00:07:57.920 what did you think I was talking about, Tom? I thought you 99 00:07:57.959 --> 00:08:01.120 were talking about Banta for a second, because I noticed Banta is prominently displaying 100 00:08:01.160 --> 00:08:07.879 his fucking keep on trucking tattoo in this episode. It's like so prominently there, 101 00:08:09.279 --> 00:08:11.079 and it just makes me wonder. Okay, first of all, that's 102 00:08:11.120 --> 00:08:13.800 got to be Tony Dan's actual tattoo, right, he's got to keep on 103 00:08:13.839 --> 00:08:18.560 Trucking tattoo. But let's for imagine for a minute that Tony Banta is the 104 00:08:18.600 --> 00:08:22.120 one who went and got to keep on trucking tattoo. Now does that mean 105 00:08:22.120 --> 00:08:24.480 that he likes the Grateful Dead, or he's an R. Crumb fan, 106 00:08:26.279 --> 00:08:30.040 or does it mean that he was just swept up in that moment when the 107 00:08:30.079 --> 00:08:33.120 whole nation wanted us just keep on trucking, baby, because the Eagles are 108 00:08:33.159 --> 00:08:39.960 on the radio. I've got my Blue Jeans Society official outfit on the Canadian 109 00:08:41.000 --> 00:08:43.960 tuxedo. Yeah. I think that was probably a Vietnam tattoo. He wandered 110 00:08:45.000 --> 00:08:50.159 into some tattoo parlor in Saigon or somewhere, and in the book of Designs 111 00:08:50.279 --> 00:08:54.200 he saw the keep on Trucking tattoo. Maybe he doesn't know he had no 112 00:08:54.200 --> 00:08:56.639 connection to the Grateful Dead, but he's like, oh, it looks pretty 113 00:08:56.639 --> 00:09:00.879 funny. Give you that tattoo. That's kind of how I imagine it. 114 00:09:00.960 --> 00:09:05.799 Maybe I'm going to continue with this scenario your painting and say that Banta was 115 00:09:05.919 --> 00:09:15.080 on leave in Honolulu and was drunk and a bunch of Navy boys and he 116 00:09:15.360 --> 00:09:20.240 beat up a hippie on the Island like it was some sort of flower child, 117 00:09:20.320 --> 00:09:24.679 Like they just kicked a shit out of him. And then Banta couldn't 118 00:09:24.679 --> 00:09:28.840 stop talking about how much he hated psychedelic music. And when he passed out, 119 00:09:28.919 --> 00:09:33.080 they brought him to a tattoo parlor and they got to keep on trucking 120 00:09:33.120 --> 00:09:37.440 on him because they knew that the grateful dead were the real keep on trucking 121 00:09:37.519 --> 00:09:45.600 people. I like this imaginary scenario of him on leave in Honolulu, and 122 00:09:45.879 --> 00:09:48.639 look, they meant it as a joke, like, Haha, now you 123 00:09:48.679 --> 00:09:50.720 have to have this hippie tattoo on you for the rest of time. But 124 00:09:50.879 --> 00:09:56.000 now Banta, because he's a boxer, he uses that tattoo to punch his 125 00:09:56.039 --> 00:10:00.679 opponent, like the fury of the tattoo works its way through through his arm. 126 00:10:00.960 --> 00:10:07.399 Okay, I'm done. Laka is introduced to Charlotte and proceeds to lay 127 00:10:07.840 --> 00:10:11.440 some kind of aphorism on her about pretty ladies in his native tongue. I 128 00:10:11.480 --> 00:10:16.519 really wish, I really wish we knew what his nationality was, because I 129 00:10:16.519 --> 00:10:20.159 get annoyed with myself for having to say his native tongue. Whatever it is 130 00:10:20.240 --> 00:10:24.200 he's talking to her is gibberish. How about that, and Locke is but 131 00:10:24.360 --> 00:10:30.399 yeah in his gibberish tongue, and to his shock, though to Laca's shock, 132 00:10:30.960 --> 00:10:35.840 she responds in kind with the same language and carries on a conversation with 133 00:10:35.960 --> 00:10:41.000 him in his gibberish. I like that she does it in an aerodype manner, 134 00:10:41.320 --> 00:10:45.799 like she doesn't resort to the usual sort of parroting of Andy Kaufman, 135 00:10:45.919 --> 00:10:48.559 the sort of highs and lows of it. She just kind of speaks the 136 00:10:48.559 --> 00:10:52.840 words, which I thought was in character. Yeah, she's very smooth in 137 00:10:52.919 --> 00:10:56.960 her conversation with him, and she then explains to Elaine that she spent several 138 00:10:58.080 --> 00:11:03.600 years in Europe and his multi lingual and after lack of leaves, Charlotte says, 139 00:11:03.639 --> 00:11:07.159 talking about him, she says, he's an interesting person, but it's 140 00:11:07.200 --> 00:11:11.320 too bad his grammar is so poor, which is further selling this idea that 141 00:11:11.360 --> 00:11:16.120 she's like you said, she's she's high class, she's intelligent, she's multi 142 00:11:16.159 --> 00:11:20.159 lingual, she's a lot of things. You know what she is HP. 143 00:11:20.960 --> 00:11:26.320 Yeah, she's a polyglot, which is something who is multi lingual would actually 144 00:11:26.320 --> 00:11:33.039 call themselves. Hmm, that's an interesting word. So she uh, the 145 00:11:33.080 --> 00:11:37.000 day everybody go ahead and look at up polygon. Lie got that's just another 146 00:11:37.039 --> 00:11:41.399 word for multi lingual. Then, yeah, but much more concise. Okay, 147 00:11:41.679 --> 00:11:48.159 that's fair multi lingual. I don't know whatever yet you spoke his language. 148 00:11:48.159 --> 00:11:50.879 We know you can speak different languages. Yes, I'm multi lingual, 149 00:11:52.480 --> 00:11:56.639 like you said. She's very erudite. She has this air of superiority. 150 00:11:56.320 --> 00:12:00.840 She explains to the Caves that she no longer lives in New York. She 151 00:12:00.919 --> 00:12:03.879 lives in the Hamptons, which is in New York. By the way, 152 00:12:03.320 --> 00:12:07.559 I guess maybe New York's, you know, Manhattan. I guess she don't. 153 00:12:07.879 --> 00:12:09.519 It's just funny because she counters with yeah, now, you know when 154 00:12:09.559 --> 00:12:13.000 I come to Manhattan, and I'm like, why didn't they just say Manhattan 155 00:12:13.039 --> 00:12:15.200 from the beginning, like you live in New York? Like, yeah, 156 00:12:15.200 --> 00:12:18.080 you all live in New York. She's gotten away from Manhattan and she's there 157 00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:26.120 for a fundraiser and gets called away by something and she has to leave but 158 00:12:26.519 --> 00:12:28.399 Elaine, and Elaine offers to take a message. She's looking for Alex. 159 00:12:28.440 --> 00:12:33.080 She's desperate to find Alex. So, lady, what was the fundraiser for? 160 00:12:33.960 --> 00:12:37.919 Oh? The fundraiser for? She says, it's for starving something. 161 00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:43.679 But she doesn't even know. She just she's very delivery. Is great. 162 00:12:43.200 --> 00:12:46.679 Yeah, she's above it all. I The actress's name is Joan Hackett, 163 00:12:46.879 --> 00:12:52.039 who plays Charlotte Rieger. And there wasn't a ton of information I found in 164 00:12:52.039 --> 00:12:56.519 her. But she was nominated for an Oscar for a movie called Only When 165 00:12:56.519 --> 00:13:01.039 I Laugh, which was Simon I picked. Sure. I think Marsha Mason 166 00:13:01.120 --> 00:13:05.039 was in it. Absolutely. I saw that in the theater. Did you 167 00:13:05.120 --> 00:13:11.320 really wow? Yeah, my grandmother strikes again. Oh interesting. I didn't 168 00:13:11.320 --> 00:13:13.919 see that, but I did see Brighton Beach Memoirs in the theater. But 169 00:13:15.080 --> 00:13:18.519 Jonathan, I also saw Brighton Beach Memoirs in the theater. But uh and 170 00:13:18.960 --> 00:13:22.000 Biloxi Blues I did too. That was a good movie. Matthew Broderick. 171 00:13:22.240 --> 00:13:28.679 I also saw not foul play. It seems like old time, old times. 172 00:13:28.759 --> 00:13:31.080 Yeah, I saw that. I did not see that, but I 173 00:13:31.120 --> 00:13:35.919 did see foul play in the theater. I was probably far too young. 174 00:13:35.240 --> 00:13:41.399 The thing I remember being so freaked out about was the the albino killer in 175 00:13:41.440 --> 00:13:46.080 that they gave him these contacts, you know, a very spooky guy and 176 00:13:46.120 --> 00:13:50.679 at the very end, during the climax at the Mercado. Yeah, he 177 00:13:50.759 --> 00:13:56.240 gets shop and he's falling and he falls through like the rigging ropes and he 178 00:13:56.360 --> 00:14:01.120 kind of like gets caught and he's dead, but he's hanging like I'm Marryingnette. 179 00:14:01.480 --> 00:14:05.840 Yeah. Yeah, And it's freaky this dead guy who's kind of hanging 180 00:14:05.879 --> 00:14:09.440 there limply that made an impact on his child. Doesn't the Pope love it? 181 00:14:09.519 --> 00:14:13.519 Like he starts applouding like this is he does cycle? Ever? And 182 00:14:13.759 --> 00:14:16.519 you know what, I agree with the Pope for once. We're getting off 183 00:14:16.559 --> 00:14:20.919 topic. But this was Chevy Chase's starmaking vehicle. He was fantastic in it. 184 00:14:20.279 --> 00:14:24.559 He's so charismatic and he and Goldie Haunt had chemistry for days. It 185 00:14:24.639 --> 00:14:28.759 was wonderful. There's a fun fact. Next time you watch the movie. 186 00:14:28.759 --> 00:14:31.519 Goldiehan goes to the movies at one point, even though this movie takes place 187 00:14:31.559 --> 00:14:35.559 in San Francisco, But when she goes to that movie theater, I used 188 00:14:35.600 --> 00:14:37.879 to work at that movie theater. Was it the New Wilshire. No, 189 00:14:39.080 --> 00:14:43.639 the New Wilshire has a sister theater, the much more famous New Art Theater 190 00:14:43.879 --> 00:14:50.720 over Santa Monica Boulevard where I projected off and on during the nineteen nineties. 191 00:14:50.039 --> 00:14:54.879 It's a great movie. I loved follow play. But anyway, getting back 192 00:14:54.120 --> 00:15:01.279 to the episode at hand, we must Charlotte tells Elaine and the rest of 193 00:15:01.279 --> 00:15:05.360 the cabby's that her and Alex's father had a heart attack. He's stable at 194 00:15:05.399 --> 00:15:11.679 New York hospital, but she desperately wants Alex to have the opportunity to go 195 00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:16.240 visit his father in the hospital, and Elaine insists that, oh, we'll 196 00:15:16.240 --> 00:15:20.279 get him. He'll go over there right away, and Charlotte rather ominously kind 197 00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:24.720 of laughs and makes her way out of the garage. All the cabbys are 198 00:15:24.759 --> 00:15:28.320 fretting about telling Alex this awful news about his father having a heart attack. 199 00:15:30.039 --> 00:15:33.080 Alex, now this is I thought this was odd. Alex kind of cheerfully 200 00:15:33.159 --> 00:15:37.639 bops his way into the garage, ready to get his cab assignment. But 201 00:15:37.720 --> 00:15:43.559 what's interesting is normally when the cabbys come in from the outside, they come 202 00:15:43.919 --> 00:15:50.480 from a door that is basically like stage left from behind the cage, right 203 00:15:50.279 --> 00:15:54.679 right towards the street. That it's the customers come wandering in there too, 204 00:15:54.759 --> 00:15:58.320 so we got to figure that's the way to the street. Yeah, But 205 00:15:58.559 --> 00:16:03.080 when al Bus comes in rubbing his hands, ready to start his day. 206 00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:08.960 He emerges from right by where the payphone is on the far left of the 207 00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:14.159 garage proper, almost as if he's coming from the bathroom or the tool room. 208 00:16:14.759 --> 00:16:18.000 Right here. Is that giant sliding door there that to me says that 209 00:16:18.039 --> 00:16:22.120 there's an even more sort of mechanic space and stuff back there, because when 210 00:16:22.159 --> 00:16:26.440 you look at the building from the outside, there are definitely two levels because 211 00:16:26.639 --> 00:16:30.240 or three maybe because we see cams going up and down a ramp. Yeah, 212 00:16:30.679 --> 00:16:34.039 I just thought it was weird because I'm so conditioned. Like you said, 213 00:16:34.279 --> 00:16:37.279 when customers kind of come in, they come in through that front, 214 00:16:37.559 --> 00:16:41.559 I would call it the front door, but I don't know what the architecture 215 00:16:41.600 --> 00:16:45.639 actually is. He comes from the far left of the garage for whatever reason, 216 00:16:45.639 --> 00:16:48.600 maybe he's emerging from the bathroom too. He comes in, he's excitedly 217 00:16:49.360 --> 00:16:52.799 asking Louis for his assignment so he can hit the road, and Nardo and 218 00:16:52.799 --> 00:16:59.519 Wheeler come over and give Alex the bad news about his dad and Charlotte coming, 219 00:17:00.200 --> 00:17:04.880 and Elaine gives him a note that Charlotte has written the father's room number 220 00:17:06.039 --> 00:17:08.759 at the hospital, and Alex, not missing a beat, takes the paper, 221 00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:11.720 crumples it up and throws it away. Oh my god, he's being 222 00:17:11.759 --> 00:17:17.039 so heartless. There's a tale to tell here. So now the caddies are 223 00:17:17.119 --> 00:17:18.920 trying to get him to say what's going on because this is very out of 224 00:17:18.960 --> 00:17:22.440 character, absolutely, and it might they might. They're a little confused too, 225 00:17:22.440 --> 00:17:26.240 because he looks a lot like an action figure here for some reason. 226 00:17:26.799 --> 00:17:30.359 Is he wearing the red turtleneck with something over it like a jacket? What 227 00:17:30.400 --> 00:17:34.240 was he wearing? Not yet, he's wearing this sort of open jacket and 228 00:17:34.319 --> 00:17:37.119 the shirt. Oh yeah, I think there's a turtle neck underneath that, 229 00:17:37.240 --> 00:17:41.079 right, Yeah, it's weird. Man, he looks plastic in this scene. 230 00:17:41.119 --> 00:17:45.960 It's like they just opened up the box for Reager. He's all about 231 00:17:45.039 --> 00:17:49.160 layers, right, He's rarely just like the last episode we saw he was 232 00:17:49.160 --> 00:17:53.839 wearing the sort of a eyes od polo shirt. But he's always got like 233 00:17:53.839 --> 00:18:00.400 a like a turtleneck under a sport code or a sport code under this, 234 00:18:00.519 --> 00:18:03.559 or you know, he players Alex. The puffy vest he's always wearing. 235 00:18:03.720 --> 00:18:08.960 He has a low body temperature that he gets belligerent when the cabbies continue to 236 00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:14.440 press him for more info on his dad, and he explains that he basically 237 00:18:14.480 --> 00:18:18.799 hasn't talked to his father in almost thirty years. Let me ask you follow 238 00:18:18.839 --> 00:18:22.720 him alone. How old do you figure Alex Reger is in nineteen seventy five? 239 00:18:22.839 --> 00:18:26.480 During this episode? I pegged him at around thirty seven years old. 240 00:18:27.400 --> 00:18:32.680 Forty two? You think he's a little older, okay two. He's certainly 241 00:18:32.720 --> 00:18:37.359 in his late thirties early forties, right, yeah, which means he probably 242 00:18:37.799 --> 00:18:41.319 hasn't talked to his dad since he maybe he left home when he was seventeen 243 00:18:41.440 --> 00:18:45.319 or eighteen years old. That tracks right, well, it doesn't he He 244 00:18:45.359 --> 00:18:47.920 says it right, that I haven't talked to him in thirty years or something 245 00:18:47.960 --> 00:18:51.359 like that. That's what I'm saying. But I'm imagining the circumstance behind that 246 00:18:51.359 --> 00:18:53.599 that maybe he had just graduated, he got out of the house, he 247 00:18:53.680 --> 00:18:59.480 left, maybe didn't go to college after that, Maybe that's when he started 248 00:18:59.519 --> 00:19:02.319 driving a cap who knows, Well, we know for certain that he didn't 249 00:19:02.359 --> 00:19:04.480 go to college. In this episode he says so yeah, which I found 250 00:19:04.559 --> 00:19:10.519 shocking honestly, because Eager to me seems like the guy who in the early 251 00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:17.119 sixties was on a campus and was the total good student and went to philosophy 252 00:19:17.200 --> 00:19:22.279 class and smoked reefer with Donald Sutherland. But just as possible in my mind 253 00:19:22.000 --> 00:19:26.680 is that he thought, at that age, I'm smarter than these guys. 254 00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:29.000 What do I need to go to college to prove how smart I am? 255 00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:32.720 For? And I don't need that. So I can see him being, 256 00:19:33.480 --> 00:19:37.200 for lack of a better comparison, maybe something like a Cliff Claven, somebody 257 00:19:37.240 --> 00:19:41.839 who thought he knew, you know, he was an intellectual, but he's 258 00:19:41.880 --> 00:19:45.640 really not. Maybe he read a lot and that's kind of where he picked 259 00:19:45.720 --> 00:19:48.200 up this air of intelligence. Well, we're certainly seeing that he didn't go 260 00:19:48.240 --> 00:19:53.359 to college, but the conversation we're jumping ahead, but why not the conversation 261 00:19:53.480 --> 00:19:56.920 he has with Charlotte, he seems to say it ruefully, like, no, 262 00:19:57.119 --> 00:20:00.640 you got to go to college. I did. Didn't like they paid 263 00:20:00.640 --> 00:20:04.720 for your college. He fade commercial. Now we're back and it's another day 264 00:20:04.759 --> 00:20:07.960 at the garage. This was kind of unexpected, and I wasn't sure whether 265 00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:11.079 we're going to go at this. We cut inside. Now we see for 266 00:20:11.119 --> 00:20:15.799 the first time, I think, a second mechanic on the garage floor. 267 00:20:15.880 --> 00:20:22.279 It's this this Puerto Rican guy who's kind of bopping around. He's singing very 268 00:20:22.319 --> 00:20:27.039 loud and exuberant in the garage, and Loaca takes offense to this and starts 269 00:20:27.079 --> 00:20:33.039 to jabber at him and his gibberish, And eventually these two guys are kind 270 00:20:33.039 --> 00:20:37.160 of arguing loudly with each other, both in languages that the other one cannot 271 00:20:37.160 --> 00:20:41.200 possibly understand, and then Louis comes in and he breaks it up, and 272 00:20:41.240 --> 00:20:45.119 that's all we see of this second mechanic until the bumper. Here's what I 273 00:20:45.119 --> 00:20:48.920 have to say about that. Yeah, I thought, good for you, 274 00:20:48.039 --> 00:20:59.000 Charles Brothers. You figured out a new angle for Latka's gibberish, because we've 275 00:20:59.079 --> 00:21:03.839 kind of seen everything. We can see whatever joy we get out of the 276 00:21:03.920 --> 00:21:08.000 gibberish now is the way it's being performed by Andy Kaufman. But the scenarios 277 00:21:08.039 --> 00:21:11.920 are always the same. It's the same sort of setup where he says something 278 00:21:11.920 --> 00:21:15.480 in his language, or people don't understand him but they kind of laugh about 279 00:21:15.480 --> 00:21:19.480 it, or you know, like he says something and then anyway, I 280 00:21:19.480 --> 00:21:23.480 thought this was a clever way to set up a new scenario for him to 281 00:21:23.519 --> 00:21:27.119 do this. I don't disagree, and I actually kind of liked how it's 282 00:21:27.119 --> 00:21:30.400 wrapped up in the bumper. It made me think of something, and we'll 283 00:21:30.400 --> 00:21:34.599 talk about that. Alex comes in and the cabves all kind of rush over 284 00:21:34.880 --> 00:21:40.759 to apologize for when they got into it over his father and why isn't he 285 00:21:40.759 --> 00:21:45.839 going to go visit them? Another sartorial side note. In this scene, 286 00:21:45.839 --> 00:21:51.400 Elaine is wearing a blue blouse with red suspenders. Did you catch this outfit? 287 00:21:51.519 --> 00:21:56.160 And I catch it. It's the greatest outfit I've ever seen Elaine. 288 00:21:56.720 --> 00:22:02.400 Jesus Christ. She's like a superhero. You put a pair of rollerskates on 289 00:22:02.440 --> 00:22:04.680 her and she would fit right in in Santa Monica, just going up and 290 00:22:04.720 --> 00:22:10.160 down the boardwalk, Love in life, maybe a headset on her head listening 291 00:22:10.200 --> 00:22:14.079 to that needs to Go west Man looking like that? Oh yeah, she's 292 00:22:14.119 --> 00:22:18.119 gorgeous. But the other thing I noted. We talked about Bobby in the 293 00:22:18.160 --> 00:22:23.119 last episode, and in this one, Bobby is wearing a black western style 294 00:22:23.359 --> 00:22:29.839 jersey. Did you notice this with white piping? Piping piping, Yeah, 295 00:22:29.880 --> 00:22:33.200 yeah, yeah, And it's like it's baggy, and the piping seems like 296 00:22:33.240 --> 00:22:38.039 it's droopy, like somebody stitched it while they were really tired or drunk or 297 00:22:38.079 --> 00:22:45.119 something. It's off putting. It's like I'm cashing in on this current cowboy 298 00:22:45.240 --> 00:22:48.880 craze that's going on in America, but not really. You put some frills 299 00:22:49.119 --> 00:22:52.480 on that shirt and a cowboy hat and maybe he could be in the Good 300 00:22:52.480 --> 00:22:56.599 Old Boys or something. I don't know, but it did seem I mean, 301 00:22:56.640 --> 00:23:02.440 he went basically every single episode of season one with the classic Bobby outfit, 302 00:23:02.559 --> 00:23:07.680 the leather jacket, the shirt unbuttoned down to his navel, and pair 303 00:23:07.720 --> 00:23:11.240 of jeans. They're changing it up a little bit in this second season, 304 00:23:11.240 --> 00:23:12.880 and I'm not sure I like it. I think it's a little off putting. 305 00:23:14.200 --> 00:23:18.680 Alex is resisting all attempts at talking through the situation about his father, 306 00:23:18.880 --> 00:23:23.799 even Louis tries in his own way to break through and have a conversation with 307 00:23:23.839 --> 00:23:29.720 with Alex about this. Then Loka comes over. This is I think Loca 308 00:23:29.759 --> 00:23:32.960 has had a few speeches like this in the last season. But I love 309 00:23:33.039 --> 00:23:37.400 this bit with Lotka because I know what's coming. But it's all in the 310 00:23:37.440 --> 00:23:41.359 performance of Andy Kaufman, exactly what I said, right. How many times 311 00:23:41.359 --> 00:23:48.000 have we seen this exact fucking joke a dozen times now? But it never 312 00:23:48.039 --> 00:23:51.559 gets old as long as he's committed to it, and it ever gets old, 313 00:23:51.920 --> 00:23:55.400 he's always so committed to it. We've seen this. He comes over 314 00:23:56.400 --> 00:24:00.240 and he says, in my country, we have a saying your father up. 315 00:24:00.519 --> 00:24:03.880 He may beat you your father, he may curse you your father, 316 00:24:04.400 --> 00:24:10.079 he may take your last bit of meat, and he just lets it hang. 317 00:24:10.240 --> 00:24:14.519 There's nothing after that, and Alex asks him to go on, to 318 00:24:14.559 --> 00:24:18.839 which Laka kind of instantly replies, that's it. We know it's coming, 319 00:24:18.880 --> 00:24:22.920 we know that. The punchline, it's an anti punchline. There is no 320 00:24:22.039 --> 00:24:26.039 punchline. The whole point of it is how awful the men are in his 321 00:24:26.079 --> 00:24:32.160 country, worse that you're supposed to accept it. Here's like a here's a 322 00:24:32.160 --> 00:24:34.720 little rhyme to remind you that that's going to happen and you should just deal 323 00:24:34.759 --> 00:24:40.519 with it. So good, the way his timing, the way he lets 324 00:24:40.519 --> 00:24:45.119 it hang out there without any resolution until Alex speaks up, it's great. 325 00:24:45.079 --> 00:24:52.240 So at this point Charlotte comes back to the garage and again she's asking Alex 326 00:24:52.279 --> 00:24:57.000 can they go back to the hospital this afternoon. He refuses, but Charlotte 327 00:24:57.000 --> 00:25:02.400 says she'll change his mind, and she insists that she's not going to leave 328 00:25:02.440 --> 00:25:07.519 the garage unless he agrees. At that point, she suggests that they go 329 00:25:07.599 --> 00:25:12.240 chat somewhere private, to which Elaine volunteers. Loaca's tool room, which we 330 00:25:12.319 --> 00:25:15.960 saw in the Mama Gravis episode. Right, we were wondering what this odd 331 00:25:17.039 --> 00:25:19.160 anti chamber was. I think you're the one who said it was a toolroom, 332 00:25:19.200 --> 00:25:23.200 so you're right. So they cut inside. It's a strange tableau when 333 00:25:23.240 --> 00:25:27.759 they come in, because Loca has fallen asleep. We get the impression maybe 334 00:25:27.880 --> 00:25:32.359 he takes cat naps back there. Oh yeah, of course he does. 335 00:25:32.599 --> 00:25:34.119 You had to deal with Louis de Palma, you'd find a nice place to 336 00:25:34.200 --> 00:25:38.000 curl up. And it has the benefit. And it's born out here where 337 00:25:38.960 --> 00:25:42.559 if you can manage to sleep in a position where you almost look like you're 338 00:25:42.599 --> 00:25:45.559 working when you startle away, get it look like it just was messing up 339 00:25:45.599 --> 00:25:51.920 something. That's a good point. Loaca wakes up and he chatters with Charlotte 340 00:25:51.960 --> 00:25:56.720 and his gibberish, and she even corrects his pronunciation. She asks Loca to 341 00:25:56.799 --> 00:26:00.599 leave and he says he'll grab his things. This is another great little bit. 342 00:26:00.640 --> 00:26:03.200 This says no. This signifies nothing in the episode, but he says 343 00:26:03.200 --> 00:26:07.119 he's gonna pick up his things. So he goes over to the locker, 344 00:26:07.200 --> 00:26:10.759 which has Gravis in tape on the front. You think, oh, he's 345 00:26:10.759 --> 00:26:12.640 gonna grab his lunch, maybe a thermus, and he's gonna leave. But 346 00:26:12.680 --> 00:26:15.519 he goes in there, he picks up a few things. He goes to 347 00:26:15.599 --> 00:26:19.079 the desk, he picks up a few odds and ends some tools. He 348 00:26:19.160 --> 00:26:23.039 stops before he even leaves the room to pick up like a paint can and 349 00:26:23.079 --> 00:26:26.240 something else. Like by the time, he's like the climax of the Jerk 350 00:26:26.319 --> 00:26:30.279 with Steve Martin, Oh I need this. He just keeps accumulating things. 351 00:26:30.279 --> 00:26:34.039 He's like that little woman in Labyrinth, the one who has all the possessions 352 00:26:34.079 --> 00:26:37.359 on her back. That's what he's doing here. He's saying nothing. He's 353 00:26:37.400 --> 00:26:41.400 just grabbing all of this stuff. And he just has a ridiculous number of 354 00:26:41.480 --> 00:26:45.319 items that he's accrued and he leaves the room. We've been missing Locket this 355 00:26:45.359 --> 00:26:48.680 whole time. This only underscores how wonderful he is. And yeah, let's 356 00:26:48.680 --> 00:26:55.640 get an episode too. Sweet. Charlotte basically ends up begging Alex to go 357 00:26:55.759 --> 00:26:59.200 see his father. She relates this story, I thought this was a kind 358 00:26:59.200 --> 00:27:03.640 of a funny analogy. She tells this anecdote about their cat growing up, 359 00:27:03.119 --> 00:27:08.799 whose name was, of all things, Shharra'sadrazad. What's funny about that is 360 00:27:08.960 --> 00:27:12.960 she mentioned Shahrazad and then Alex has to remember that he has a cat named 361 00:27:12.960 --> 00:27:18.079 Shaharason. Would you forget whenever you heard the word Shaharrazon, which, by 362 00:27:18.119 --> 00:27:21.079 the way, when do you hear that name? Ever, if you heard 363 00:27:21.160 --> 00:27:23.359 that word, you would immediately think, oh, my cat. You would 364 00:27:23.400 --> 00:27:27.279 never hear that in casual conversation. The point of her story is that while 365 00:27:27.839 --> 00:27:33.759 Alex was away at camp, this cat got run over, and when he 366 00:27:33.799 --> 00:27:37.640 got home, he was distraught because this happened while he was gone, and 367 00:27:37.680 --> 00:27:41.839 he never had a chance to say goodbye to Shaharrazad. She's trying to make 368 00:27:41.880 --> 00:27:47.279 this point of, well, if your father dies, you don't want to 369 00:27:47.319 --> 00:27:49.759 be regretting the fact that you didn't see him in the hospital. Alex should 370 00:27:49.799 --> 00:27:56.000 have countered you noticed when you said Shaharazad, I didn't remember what you were 371 00:27:56.039 --> 00:27:59.720 talking about. What's kind of cool about the scene is that you're learning a 372 00:27:59.720 --> 00:28:03.319 lot of interesting little details about Alex's life that we haven't been privy to, 373 00:28:03.400 --> 00:28:07.079 and she asks Alex what their father could have done to make him so bitter, 374 00:28:07.880 --> 00:28:14.799 and Alex reveals that it sounds like the father left the family, left, 375 00:28:14.839 --> 00:28:18.599 his wife, left his kids to start a new one, to start 376 00:28:18.640 --> 00:28:23.440 a new family. But Alex basically says that when he left, the family 377 00:28:23.640 --> 00:28:29.960 was on welfare while their father was making three hundred and fifty dollars a week. 378 00:28:30.039 --> 00:28:36.200 Here's another side note. Uh oh, what's it translate to tell me 379 00:28:36.279 --> 00:28:41.279 the modern numb? So this took a little while. So let's assume Alex 380 00:28:41.319 --> 00:28:45.480 was about thirty seven years old in this episode in nineteen seventy nine. So 381 00:28:45.559 --> 00:28:52.200 let's say the father left when he was about eleven years old. So he's 382 00:28:52.240 --> 00:28:56.920 old enough to remember the trauma of this happening, but he's not so old 383 00:28:57.240 --> 00:29:00.279 that he could do something about it. So he's about eleven years old. 384 00:29:00.319 --> 00:29:06.359 So that means when the father left, the family was around nineteen fifty three. 385 00:29:06.920 --> 00:29:12.920 Okay, okay, So according to the website amortization dot org, adjusting 386 00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:18.359 for inflation, how much do you think three hundred and fifty dollars would be 387 00:29:18.400 --> 00:29:22.599 worth in twenty twenty four? Follom alone, Oh you're going for now, 388 00:29:22.720 --> 00:29:23.920 I thought you were going to go for what it would have been worth in 389 00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:32.559 nineteen seventy nine. Three hundred and fifty dollars of nineteen fifty what money, 390 00:29:32.920 --> 00:29:37.039 three hundred and fifty dollars of nineteen fifty three money, nineteen fifty three money. 391 00:29:37.519 --> 00:29:40.839 Yeah, how much is it worth? How much would it be worth 392 00:29:41.000 --> 00:29:45.400 in today's dollars? Seven thousand dollars? Not quite so much, but it 393 00:29:45.480 --> 00:29:52.400 is a lot. Today it would be worth four thousand and twenty one dollars 394 00:29:52.440 --> 00:29:56.160 in one cent. That's a lot for a week, it is. And 395 00:29:56.200 --> 00:30:00.480 if we work the math out even further, his father, oh is his 396 00:30:00.559 --> 00:30:04.519 name, and today's money, would be making the equivalent of one hundred and 397 00:30:04.599 --> 00:30:11.680 ninety three thousand dollars a year in today's money back then. So it's no 398 00:30:11.799 --> 00:30:18.400 wonder that Alex is so bitter because this guy was rich by any measure in 399 00:30:18.519 --> 00:30:22.319 nineteen fifty three. Yeah, and he left the family in high and dry 400 00:30:22.400 --> 00:30:26.839 and left the mother to raise her two kids alone. That's a very sad 401 00:30:26.880 --> 00:30:30.839 thing that we're learning. Alex goes on further. He talks about times when 402 00:30:30.880 --> 00:30:34.319 he would come home from school, his mother was of course working and finding 403 00:30:34.319 --> 00:30:40.799 his father in the house with another woman, and Charlotte admits that she knew 404 00:30:40.799 --> 00:30:42.720 about this, and she was about eleven years old, and she says it's 405 00:30:42.880 --> 00:30:49.680 it's not easy to forget the indiscretions, but Alex counters it's easier for Charlotte 406 00:30:49.720 --> 00:30:55.880 because he goes on to make the case that she was his favorite, and 407 00:30:55.920 --> 00:31:00.119 this goes to what you were kind of saying, yes, it's exactly he 408 00:31:00.200 --> 00:31:03.359 kept taking care of her and neglecting him and his mother. Alex makes a 409 00:31:03.359 --> 00:31:07.000 good point, that's easy for you to say you didn't have to deal with 410 00:31:07.599 --> 00:31:11.559 as harsh a reality as me because he was taking care of you. He 411 00:31:11.599 --> 00:31:14.559 sent you to college. He took care of you in a way that he 412 00:31:14.559 --> 00:31:18.960 didn't take care of me or a mother. He even says that his father 413 00:31:18.200 --> 00:31:23.240 brought a date to their mother's funeral. But the weird detail of that is 414 00:31:23.519 --> 00:31:30.039 he's very upset because the woman came in something called Torrio door pants sariodor pants. 415 00:31:30.200 --> 00:31:33.200 It's so are they like Capriz? What are they? And they're like 416 00:31:33.200 --> 00:31:37.079 Caprice, but they're kind of like the like they're split a little more up 417 00:31:37.119 --> 00:31:41.759 the side and they're a little more hug hugging and you know they're a little 418 00:31:41.759 --> 00:31:45.680 more racy. They're not they're a little sexier. They shouldn't be worn to 419 00:31:45.720 --> 00:31:51.039 a funeral. It's very disrespectful. I'd be okay with it, but I 420 00:31:51.119 --> 00:31:53.599 took his word for it. But I tried looking up Tory door pants and 421 00:31:53.720 --> 00:31:57.000 I didn't really see what the big deal was. But unless they're talking about 422 00:31:57.039 --> 00:32:00.359 actual Torrio door pants from you know, like what you would do, like 423 00:32:00.400 --> 00:32:06.200 bullfighting, put on a bullfighter. Yeah, I mean even still probably not 424 00:32:06.319 --> 00:32:10.960 the best look when ashes are being given to ashes and dust to dust. 425 00:32:12.640 --> 00:32:15.240 It's sad situation. And like I said, we've learned a lot about Alex 426 00:32:15.319 --> 00:32:19.319 and all of this, like he did not have a good childhood. Can 427 00:32:19.359 --> 00:32:22.160 I just before we move on to the next scene, you mentioned Joan Hackett 428 00:32:22.160 --> 00:32:27.079 being in that only when I laugh. Yep, Neil Simon things, that's 429 00:32:27.119 --> 00:32:30.880 an okay movie. If you want to see Joan Hackett in a fucking great 430 00:32:30.039 --> 00:32:36.559 movie, check out The Last of Sheila. It's a murder mystery from the 431 00:32:36.599 --> 00:32:40.200 mid nineteen seventies with James Coburn and Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss. I think 432 00:32:40.200 --> 00:32:49.079 paul Apprentice, isn't it written by Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins. This is 433 00:32:49.119 --> 00:32:52.680 not a musical Anthony Perkins. Yes, Norman Bates, he was a fine 434 00:32:52.720 --> 00:32:55.200 director. I didn't know he was a writer, but he was a good 435 00:32:55.240 --> 00:33:00.480 director. Oh you should see if you have not seen at HPA, Last 436 00:33:00.559 --> 00:33:04.559 of Sheila. I went on in the sound of my voice, check this 437 00:33:04.640 --> 00:33:06.880 movie out, okay, and I will see it. In it, she's 438 00:33:06.960 --> 00:33:09.359 great in it. You know who's in it, Ian McShane. You know, 439 00:33:09.640 --> 00:33:15.039 mister mister Continental, mister John Wick. He must have been like like 440 00:33:15.160 --> 00:33:19.240 twelve years old. Oh my god. Yes, he's like twenty something. 441 00:33:19.599 --> 00:33:23.799 He's so unlined and but still tan like. He's amazing in it. Oh 442 00:33:23.839 --> 00:33:27.920 my god, what a great movie. Last Is Sheila. So it's like 443 00:33:27.960 --> 00:33:31.119 an Edward Albion play. They just they keep going back and forth. You 444 00:33:31.160 --> 00:33:35.160 know that I you'll go, I'm not gonna go. I'm not gonna let 445 00:33:35.200 --> 00:33:37.599 you not go. Well, here's all the bad, you know, it's 446 00:33:37.640 --> 00:33:40.559 the It's they're back and forth between Charlotte and Alex, and he gets kind 447 00:33:40.559 --> 00:33:45.640 of tiresome. Finally, Alex can't argue with her anymore, and he decides 448 00:33:45.680 --> 00:33:50.119 to go to the hospital for the good of everything, he's going to finally 449 00:33:50.200 --> 00:33:52.960 go. And when they arrive at the hospital, they run into a woman 450 00:33:53.400 --> 00:33:58.680 who is there at the scene of Joe Rieger's heart attack. Her name and 451 00:33:58.759 --> 00:34:01.960 the show is Stalwart. Do you get a good look at this woman? 452 00:34:04.079 --> 00:34:07.279 Oh? Wow, yeah? What about her? Well? To me, 453 00:34:07.519 --> 00:34:10.800 she looked like she walked right out of the show three's company. She could 454 00:34:10.840 --> 00:34:15.599 have been like Jack Tripper's date of the week or whatever. She's weird. 455 00:34:15.679 --> 00:34:20.280 Absolutely, who are you? I'm waiting for Jack right? It's and it's 456 00:34:20.320 --> 00:34:24.920 because they have her dressed in it's all earth tones. She has like a 457 00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:30.360 rust colored blouse with kind of a brownish skirt. She just looked to me, 458 00:34:30.519 --> 00:34:35.960 she just looked right out of you know, the Roper's apartment complex. 459 00:34:36.440 --> 00:34:38.880 There's something about her. She's sort of ditzy too, you know. The 460 00:34:38.920 --> 00:34:45.719 word is that Miss Stalwart administered mouth to mouth on the father after he had 461 00:34:45.719 --> 00:34:50.360 his heart attack. Alex is pressing Miss Stalwart for details, and it turns 462 00:34:50.400 --> 00:34:54.440 out, if we didn't already hate this guy Joe Rieger enough at this point, 463 00:34:54.800 --> 00:35:00.760 turns out that this dirty old man was goosing her a train station. 464 00:35:00.559 --> 00:35:06.400 They're waiting for the train. The older mister Reager gooster. She screamed, 465 00:35:06.920 --> 00:35:10.960 and that scream caused him to It shocked him and caused the heart attack. 466 00:35:12.079 --> 00:35:15.039 He collapsed at that point. HP. In the last episode of Night Mister 467 00:35:15.079 --> 00:35:22.320 Walters, we discussed trench coats and the trope that is the masher, and 468 00:35:22.360 --> 00:35:28.039 I was reminded of that again in this episode, knowing that the elder Riager 469 00:35:28.599 --> 00:35:30.920 is a masher. Basically he's the kind of guy who would grocal woman in 470 00:35:30.960 --> 00:35:35.679 public because that's what he's doing, right. You know what's funny about that 471 00:35:36.079 --> 00:35:40.519 character when you think about it, Like I remember like cartoons where women going 472 00:35:42.000 --> 00:35:47.079 a mesher, Like at one point, this was just a hilarious like person 473 00:35:47.199 --> 00:35:51.840 like there's the milkman, and there's the you know, the grocery store guy. 474 00:35:52.159 --> 00:35:55.239 Oh in the masher. Sure, as a society, we just accepted 475 00:35:55.239 --> 00:36:00.760 that there's going to be this random gross man out there, like over sexualizing 476 00:36:00.880 --> 00:36:06.440 himself and voicing himself on people like that's cool. Yeah, it's played for 477 00:36:06.559 --> 00:36:09.920 laughs, but it would not play for laughs nowadays for sure. To me, 478 00:36:10.119 --> 00:36:15.239 like a trench coat in a sitcom is like Chekhov's gun. If it 479 00:36:15.280 --> 00:36:19.719 makes an appearance, it will become crucial to the plot in some way shape 480 00:36:19.800 --> 00:36:22.719 or forming. Certainly here on Taxi that is the Chekhov's trench. Go. 481 00:36:23.000 --> 00:36:29.159 We're learning way too much about how despicable Alex and Charlotte's father is. They're 482 00:36:29.159 --> 00:36:32.199 really making a case for what a dirtbag this guy is. After they have 483 00:36:32.320 --> 00:36:38.119 this conversation, Alex insists that he wants to go in alone to confront his 484 00:36:38.159 --> 00:36:44.119 father and talk to his father, And reluctantly he pads his way into the 485 00:36:44.599 --> 00:36:49.199 hospital room and he sees an old man there who's resting, and Alex proceeds 486 00:36:49.239 --> 00:36:52.400 to pour his heart out to this man who just listens without any interruption. 487 00:36:52.840 --> 00:36:55.360 By the way, the old man, I don't know if you know who 488 00:36:55.400 --> 00:37:00.000 this guy is. He's played by a man named Ian Wolfe. Where you 489 00:37:00.119 --> 00:37:02.719 familiar with him at all? Fatherom alone, he seemed very familiar. I'm 490 00:37:04.119 --> 00:37:07.920 more familiar with mister Rieger, but this guy did seem familiar to Yeah, 491 00:37:08.079 --> 00:37:15.280 this gentleman was a character actor who has roles that go back to nineteen thirty 492 00:37:15.320 --> 00:37:19.800 four. That's insane, like you know, but in this episode, he 493 00:37:19.880 --> 00:37:23.480 was probably already in his seventies and he would go on I think one of 494 00:37:23.519 --> 00:37:28.360 His last things he ever did was with Dick Tracy, the Warren Baty movie 495 00:37:28.360 --> 00:37:30.800 in nineteen ninety. He was in that. So this guy, I think 496 00:37:30.880 --> 00:37:35.559 worked until he was in his nineties. Incredible. He was also in Witness 497 00:37:35.599 --> 00:37:38.760 for the Prosecution and he was in THHX one one three eight, although I 498 00:37:38.760 --> 00:37:43.039 couldn't remember what he was or who he was in that. Alex pries to 499 00:37:43.079 --> 00:37:46.119 tell him about all the good things that he did as a father, but 500 00:37:46.159 --> 00:37:52.400 he can only come up with one ridiculous incident where Alex was so so thirsty 501 00:37:53.000 --> 00:37:58.119 and the father brought him a glass of water with ice. He relates a 502 00:37:58.519 --> 00:38:01.559 time when his father forgot what grade he was in in school. It just 503 00:38:01.599 --> 00:38:07.519 sounds this is so depressing. Ultimately, Alex starts to break down, says, 504 00:38:07.599 --> 00:38:09.880 you know, just having regardless of all the bad stuff, just having 505 00:38:10.360 --> 00:38:15.880 his father in the world made all the difference to him. He breaks down 506 00:38:15.079 --> 00:38:20.519 finally and crying and goes to hug his father and he says, damn it, 507 00:38:20.519 --> 00:38:22.679 you're my father, and he hugs this man. The man doesn't say 508 00:38:22.679 --> 00:38:25.280 anything or do anything, he just accepts the hug. And at that point, 509 00:38:25.679 --> 00:38:30.880 another old man in a hospital, Johnny, opens the door and kind 510 00:38:30.880 --> 00:38:34.599 of pads into the room. Alex kind of casually looks up and says, 511 00:38:34.639 --> 00:38:39.400 oh, hi, Dad. Vaudeville. Fucking vaudeville. But at least it 512 00:38:39.519 --> 00:38:45.440 wasn't a quick verbal Vaudeville. I think what I'm finding in this episode it 513 00:38:45.440 --> 00:38:51.119 feels like the Charles brothers have recognized their own vonvillian ness and they're working against 514 00:38:51.119 --> 00:38:54.119 it. In this particular episode, they had their cake and ate it too. 515 00:38:54.400 --> 00:38:59.400 This preamble to the real father walking in and seeing this play out was 516 00:38:59.639 --> 00:39:01.800 a little bit of a bait and switch. This is supposed to be the 517 00:39:01.840 --> 00:39:06.920 big emotional climax of Alex and all the problems he's having with his father, 518 00:39:07.000 --> 00:39:12.280 but really all it is is just a precursor to the joke of him having 519 00:39:12.360 --> 00:39:16.679 mistaken the wrong man as his father love it. The father is played by 520 00:39:16.679 --> 00:39:22.840 the amazing Jack Guilford, who is a veteran comic actor. He's got credits 521 00:39:22.599 --> 00:39:29.679 stretching back again to the nineteen thirties. Nineteen thirty six, Yeah, Midnight 522 00:39:29.760 --> 00:39:34.920 Melodies. It's available on YouTube right now. Midnight Melodies nineteen thirty six. 523 00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:37.599 You can see that Jack Guilford was an impressionist. Was he really, I'll 524 00:39:37.599 --> 00:39:40.440 have to watch that video. Yeah, he does a good Rudy Valley. 525 00:39:40.599 --> 00:39:45.239 He's such a familiar face. I'm sure he did. I have a memory 526 00:39:45.239 --> 00:39:49.480 of him doing maybe some commercials around that time. Even as a kid watching 527 00:39:49.519 --> 00:39:53.559 this show, I recognized Jack Guildford, not having watched Save the Tiger or 528 00:39:53.599 --> 00:39:58.039 Catch twenty two, which he was in. He was also in Caveman with 529 00:39:58.119 --> 00:40:01.159 Ringo Star. I know him from cave It was on a loop on Home 530 00:40:01.199 --> 00:40:06.360 Box Office when we were kids, and so I mainly know him. Unfortunately 531 00:40:06.400 --> 00:40:09.760 from cave Man, I gotta say, vying for that title around the same 532 00:40:09.840 --> 00:40:17.840 time as Holy Moses Dudley Moore. That is a terrihilarious comic terrible. The 533 00:40:17.920 --> 00:40:23.000 thing about Jack Guildford, anybody who's seen him in anything, is he maybe 534 00:40:23.119 --> 00:40:30.360 has the most affable, friendly, sweetest old man disposition that you will ever 535 00:40:30.840 --> 00:40:37.400 run into in any form of entertainment. And now we're supposed to reconcile that 536 00:40:37.519 --> 00:40:42.519 with the fact that he's been an absentee father, neglectful at best. But 537 00:40:42.639 --> 00:40:45.400 yet he when he walks in and you see him and the two of them, 538 00:40:45.480 --> 00:40:50.920 Alex and his father's touch a talk, you can't help but kind of 539 00:40:51.199 --> 00:40:54.239 fall for this guy a little bit, right. Yeah, Okay, here's 540 00:40:54.360 --> 00:41:01.039 where I like this episode overall. But when you introduce Jack Guildford here late 541 00:41:01.320 --> 00:41:07.119 in the third act, it says to me that we've now been cheated of 542 00:41:07.159 --> 00:41:14.840 an entire episode of seeing lovable Jack Guildford be a dick and get to see 543 00:41:15.320 --> 00:41:19.480 how he treats his son. Instead, we've gotten Charlotte, the sister we've 544 00:41:19.480 --> 00:41:23.800 never heard of, who occupies the majority of the episode when it should have 545 00:41:23.840 --> 00:41:30.599 been Jack Guilford charming everybody but still maintaining what a cocksucker he is to Alex. 546 00:41:30.920 --> 00:41:35.840 Now, it's remarkable. Within two minutes of seeing this gentleman walk in, 547 00:41:36.119 --> 00:41:39.760 you see exactly why his father would be easy to forgive ultimately, because 548 00:41:39.800 --> 00:41:46.559 it's Jack Guildford. The man exudes geniality and humor and all of this at 549 00:41:46.599 --> 00:41:52.800 once. It really disarms Alex when he finally realizes that it's his father there. 550 00:41:52.760 --> 00:42:00.000 But here's where I said earlier that the writers have their cake in their 551 00:42:00.079 --> 00:42:06.280 eating it too. In this is we've seen this sort of schmaltzy embrace, 552 00:42:07.039 --> 00:42:12.039 tears flowing, and the histrionics when Alex is talking to this guy that he 553 00:42:12.079 --> 00:42:15.599 believes as his father, but now he's actually faced with his actual father, 554 00:42:15.800 --> 00:42:22.519 the man. He's right there, but there's nothing tearful, there's no hasty 555 00:42:22.599 --> 00:42:27.119 embrace at the end of it all. After a few words spoken to each 556 00:42:27.159 --> 00:42:34.639 other civilly, they each kind of have a solemn so long and that's it. 557 00:42:35.039 --> 00:42:39.320 I thought that was so brilliant. The button on it is as Alex 558 00:42:39.400 --> 00:42:44.599 is leaving the room, the fake dad actually reaches out his arms like, 559 00:42:44.599 --> 00:42:47.440 hey, can he give me alec before you go? Because I think as 560 00:42:47.480 --> 00:42:54.360 a viewer you're conditioned to hoping for the happy, schmaltzy ending, and they 561 00:42:54.440 --> 00:43:00.679 give you that, but in actuality, it's all like a faint to the 562 00:43:00.840 --> 00:43:06.639 real climax to their particular story, which is there's nothing easy about it, 563 00:43:07.000 --> 00:43:08.159 but they can at least be civil with each other, and they're not going 564 00:43:08.199 --> 00:43:13.400 to adore each other immediately, even in the circumstance of having had a heart 565 00:43:13.400 --> 00:43:16.199 attack. Not that I didn't like the episode all that much. The episode's 566 00:43:16.239 --> 00:43:22.719 fine, but that to me elevated it the writing to a level that I 567 00:43:22.079 --> 00:43:28.000 hadn't really thought about until I rewatched it. This could have been a leftover 568 00:43:28.079 --> 00:43:31.199 episode of last season, given the premise, but the Charles brothers have sort 569 00:43:31.239 --> 00:43:36.320 of dragged us actually into the second season here with this ending. For the 570 00:43:36.360 --> 00:43:39.440 first time in several episodes, we actually get a bumper for the end of 571 00:43:39.480 --> 00:43:45.320 this episode, which is it's a return of the Puerto Rican mechanic that Laka 572 00:43:45.400 --> 00:43:50.199 got into it with. They have another sort of conflict. They're starting to 573 00:43:50.280 --> 00:43:54.360 yell at each other in each other's language, and at this point Tony rushes 574 00:43:54.400 --> 00:43:57.360 in, I think at this point to try and break it up. But 575 00:43:58.280 --> 00:44:02.519 our man Jeff comes over the PA and this I thought was funny. He 576 00:44:02.960 --> 00:44:07.599 yells into the PA, it's quittin time. Do you think there's something that 577 00:44:07.639 --> 00:44:10.480 they do in this garage like they have It's like it's like Fred flint It's 578 00:44:10.480 --> 00:44:15.280 like Fred Flintstone mister Rockwell like saying, yeah, that's quittin time, and 579 00:44:15.320 --> 00:44:19.639 everybody slides off the Bronosaurus. It's ridiculous. Yeah, I know that that 580 00:44:19.679 --> 00:44:22.079 would not be happening, that the old people would be leaving and the new 581 00:44:22.079 --> 00:44:25.559 people would be arriving. There would be no need to announce anything. Ever, 582 00:44:25.800 --> 00:44:30.960 Like by the way, everyone has a watch and they're all watching it. 583 00:44:30.960 --> 00:44:32.599 It's a garage with an early and late shift, or do they are 584 00:44:32.599 --> 00:44:37.320 they ever closed? There's always going to be someone leaving and coming. Right, 585 00:44:37.719 --> 00:44:43.400 Yeah, I'm gonna chalk this up to they couldn't resist they they were 586 00:44:43.480 --> 00:44:47.559 so restrained with their vaudeville or at the entire episode there's like fucking hit him 587 00:44:47.559 --> 00:44:52.480 hard at the end here, this is so vievillion. As soon as he 588 00:44:52.559 --> 00:44:59.880 goes over the pa and says it's quittin time, immediately Laka and this se 589 00:45:00.079 --> 00:45:02.800 and dairy mechanic kind of very cordially say okay, we'll see you tomorrow. 590 00:45:02.840 --> 00:45:07.079 And they shake hands and that's it. And that's that's the thing. Like 591 00:45:07.119 --> 00:45:10.320 the whole ie. To me, what it reminded me of was that cartoon 592 00:45:10.400 --> 00:45:15.800 about the sheep dog and the and the coyote who punch in every day, 593 00:45:15.840 --> 00:45:19.079 Hey Fred, hey Ralph, beating each other up, and then the whistle 594 00:45:19.079 --> 00:45:22.000 blows and like all right, yeah, they're like, okay, let's pick 595 00:45:22.000 --> 00:45:23.880 this back up tomorrow. I thought that was I mean, it is very 596 00:45:24.119 --> 00:45:28.599 sticky and vaudevillian, but it was funny. I thought it was funny. 597 00:45:28.679 --> 00:45:30.960 Yeah, you just brought up a joke from the fifties that they're they're passing 598 00:45:30.960 --> 00:45:35.800 off here in late nineteen seventy nine. So yeah, it's a little bit 599 00:45:35.880 --> 00:45:39.119 much. It's a little much a joke from a cartoon, I should add. 600 00:45:39.280 --> 00:45:44.079 I think it's an app comparison. Oh, it's definitely an a comparison 601 00:45:44.119 --> 00:45:47.360 a little too app because this is Taxi we're talking about here. Yeah, 602 00:45:47.519 --> 00:45:52.800 yeah, that's the episode that is honor thy father, And as is our 603 00:45:52.920 --> 00:45:55.920 custom, we're going to rate this in terms of yellow lights. What does 604 00:45:57.000 --> 00:46:01.440 he know light meant a reminder, we have a scale of one to five 605 00:46:01.559 --> 00:46:08.320 yellow lights. Five yellow lights is the quintessential perfect episode of Taxi, and 606 00:46:08.440 --> 00:46:15.519 conversely, one yellow light is this is just an unmitigated disaster of an episode 607 00:46:15.559 --> 00:46:19.960 that I will never watch again. So, Father Malone, I'm gonna throw 608 00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:22.119 it to you as I usually do. What do you give, honor thy 609 00:46:22.159 --> 00:46:29.159 father? This might be a reaction to the previous episode, but I'm giving 610 00:46:29.199 --> 00:46:36.519 it to three yellow lights. I think the writing in this episode was superior. 611 00:46:37.079 --> 00:46:40.920 All the performance is really good. I liked Joan Hackett as Riger's sister. 612 00:46:42.440 --> 00:46:46.280 I like that dynamic of working class guy and his sister who's like a 613 00:46:46.400 --> 00:46:53.320 social lighte. And I just love the ending. I love that there's no 614 00:46:53.480 --> 00:46:55.920 reconciliation. Like you said, I mean, it is a bit of cake 615 00:46:55.960 --> 00:46:59.639 and eat it too. But you know, sometimes that happens in life, 616 00:46:59.719 --> 00:47:05.920 and that that sort of catharsis that Rieger has about the dad he would have 617 00:47:05.960 --> 00:47:09.320 had on his own anyway, it didn't the dad needn't have been there, 618 00:47:09.880 --> 00:47:13.760 and that's only confirmed when he sees his dad on his feet. I don't 619 00:47:13.760 --> 00:47:16.599 know. It's a lot of complex television for a twenty two minute sitcom and 620 00:47:17.000 --> 00:47:21.719 Bravo, maybe I should give it four yellow lights. Jesus Christ, I'm 621 00:47:21.719 --> 00:47:23.280 talking myself into a higher rating now, I'm going to stay with three. 622 00:47:23.559 --> 00:47:29.840 Three yellow lights is no disgrace. That is a by definition, it better 623 00:47:29.880 --> 00:47:32.840 than average episode of Taxi. There's nothing to be ashamed of there. You 624 00:47:32.880 --> 00:47:37.960 know what, It can't have four yellow lights because it's two not only Riager 625 00:47:38.039 --> 00:47:42.639 centric, but riger centric, with a bunch of peripheral characters who were basically 626 00:47:42.679 --> 00:47:45.239 never going to see it again. I was conflicted coming into this as well, 627 00:47:45.440 --> 00:47:47.800 trying to think of how I was going to rate this, and I 628 00:47:50.199 --> 00:47:55.199 was also leaning towards two yellow lights. It just felt right. But then 629 00:47:55.400 --> 00:47:59.159 the more I thought about it, and like I said, I gave a 630 00:47:59.159 --> 00:48:02.360 lot of thought to that final scene with Rieger and his father and all of 631 00:48:02.400 --> 00:48:07.599 the complexity around that, which is, as you said, was kind of 632 00:48:07.639 --> 00:48:14.880 surprisingly deep for a vaudevillian thirty minutes. But the more I thought about it, 633 00:48:14.880 --> 00:48:19.519 the more I really appreciated the depth there, and that was enough for 634 00:48:19.559 --> 00:48:22.239 me to give it three yellow lights. I went up a grade, and 635 00:48:22.320 --> 00:48:29.119 I think this is a three feels much more apt. It's got some nice 636 00:48:29.760 --> 00:48:35.199 character shading of Riager. It may be lacking a little bit in overall Cabby 637 00:48:35.280 --> 00:48:40.320 chemistry because they don't really feature all that much. But again, the final 638 00:48:40.360 --> 00:48:45.199 meeting between Alex and his father Joe is just written and played so well, 639 00:48:45.519 --> 00:48:51.159 and I applaud the fact that it is a little bit like a bait and 640 00:48:51.199 --> 00:48:54.280 switch, like you think you've gotten the tiery, schmaltzy ending, but you 641 00:48:54.320 --> 00:49:00.880 really haven't. Jack Guildford is obviously, he's so good that spoiler alert, 642 00:49:00.920 --> 00:49:05.199 he does come back to play Alex's father in a future episode, so there's 643 00:49:05.239 --> 00:49:08.000 some nice chemistry there too, I think between him and jud Hirsh Three yellow 644 00:49:08.039 --> 00:49:13.280 lights from Father malone three from myself. That will do it for this episode 645 00:49:13.360 --> 00:49:16.920 of Night mister Walters, Father Malone. When you aren't clocked into the garage, 646 00:49:16.960 --> 00:49:21.840 Where can folks find you? You can find me over at Weirdingwaynmedia dot 647 00:49:21.880 --> 00:49:24.719 com. I've got a couple of podcasts over there that you might enjoy, 648 00:49:25.119 --> 00:49:31.320 like Midnight Viewing, the Horror Anthology podcast Review Horror Anthology Television, right now 649 00:49:31.320 --> 00:49:35.320 working our way through Tales from the Dark Side, and this season we've got 650 00:49:35.360 --> 00:49:38.679 lots of interviews with cast and creators of the show, so you should check 651 00:49:38.719 --> 00:49:43.760 that out. I also do a a half hour well it's a little longer 652 00:49:43.760 --> 00:49:45.519 than a half hour now. It's a radio drama that I write and produce 653 00:49:45.599 --> 00:49:50.639 called Dark Destinations. I just check that out, and I also have a 654 00:49:50.679 --> 00:49:53.800 Patreon, so just go to patreon dot com slash Father Malone. Go to 655 00:49:53.800 --> 00:49:59.519 any of those places, but especially the last one, you can find myself 656 00:50:00.079 --> 00:50:02.679 and a lot of the same places as Father Malone. I'm also on the 657 00:50:02.679 --> 00:50:09.320 weirding Way network. You can also hear me in addition to doing some helping 658 00:50:09.320 --> 00:50:14.679 out a little bit on Dark Destinations, which I again encourage everybody. If 659 00:50:14.719 --> 00:50:19.199 you love audio drama and great storytelling, please check it out. I also 660 00:50:19.320 --> 00:50:24.239 do a music podcast called Noise Junkies with myself, Father Alone and Mondo Heather's 661 00:50:24.280 --> 00:50:29.719 Heather Drain. So if you are a music nerd like we are, please 662 00:50:29.800 --> 00:50:35.760 check it out as well. Additionally, I have a band campsite call Hpmusicplace 663 00:50:35.800 --> 00:50:40.039 dot bandcamp dot com. Check that out if you so desire. Thank you 664 00:50:40.079 --> 00:50:45.079 so much for listening, Please feel free to subscribe to the podcast, write 665 00:50:45.079 --> 00:50:49.079 a review, rate us. We'd love to hear from you so for myself 666 00:50:49.159 --> 00:51:00.000 and for Father Malone, thank you again and we'll see you guys next time.