Speaker 1: Weird media.
Speaker 2: Ni, mister.
Speaker 1: You see that guy with it now?
Speaker 2: He's an actor at the phone.
Speaker 1: I'm a driver and the only camp driver in his place.
Speaker 2: Good evening and welcome to night, mister Walters the Taxi Podcast.
Speaker 2: I'm HP your co host and with me as always
Speaker 2: is my co host, Father Malone. Father Malone, How are
Speaker 2: you this evening, HP.
Speaker 1: I'm a huge fan of Foo.
Speaker 2: Foo Naughty Naughty? Wasn't that a John Parr song? Naughty naughty?
Speaker 2: The guy who did say it? Almost fire?
Speaker 1: Please me? No? Yeah, now.
Speaker 2: We're talking taxis. In three, episode fifteen, Bobby's roommate, ooh mystery.
Speaker 2: Who's going to be the roommate? This is written by
Speaker 2: Earl Pomerants. I wish that that sweet basement apartment he's got.
Speaker 1: Man, Yeah, man, I would squat in there. I'd lie
Speaker 1: change the locks. When he was gone. It would be mine.
Speaker 1: It's say here, here's your stupid Gemini poster.
Speaker 2: So it's written by Earl Pomerants and directed, of course
Speaker 2: by James Burrows. Reminder, we're doing these shows in broadcast
Speaker 2: order and not in order of filming. By the way,
Speaker 2: this is this episode. Fatherlone is one of the earliest
Speaker 2: produced for this season right this This episode was produced
Speaker 2: before the episode even with Tony's Sister, which I believe
Speaker 2: was the second broadcast episode of this season, but it
Speaker 2: wasn't broadcast until much later in the season.
Speaker 1: What were they hoping that they didn't have to air
Speaker 1: this one?
Speaker 2: Again? I get people, certain people saying to me, why
Speaker 2: do you have to always talk about the broadcast order?
Speaker 2: This is why this was one of the earlier episodes,
Speaker 2: yet it came very late in the sea. So there
Speaker 2: you go. We cut inside the garage as Tony and
Speaker 2: Alex and Elaine are pouring over newspapers. Jim ambles over
Speaker 2: asks what's going on In the typical Jim fashion. Elaine
Speaker 2: tells Jim that she can't find the apartment, that she's
Speaker 2: lost her apartment. This leads to a very predictable joke
Speaker 2: about how Jim sometimes can find his apartment for days.
Speaker 1: You look in Brooklyn because that's usually where mine turns up.
Speaker 1: It's a good joke.
Speaker 2: Actually, as usual, I can't do these jokes.
Speaker 1: Apartment is in Brooklyn. Again.
Speaker 2: I don't want to make it sound like Christopher Lloyd
Speaker 2: doesn't kick ass as always as Jim, because he does.
Speaker 1: For him here because this is the best part of
Speaker 1: this episode.
Speaker 2: I disagree. We'll proceed here. Elaine and Alex correct him
Speaker 2: that they're apparently turning Elaine's apartment into a co op,
Speaker 2: which she can't afford, so she's looking for a new apartment.
Speaker 1: It's crazy. Has she lost her apartment and her kids?
Speaker 2: Yeah, because they never come up at all. I guess
Speaker 2: we just one time. It's a little odd, like we
Speaker 2: have to presume that maybe because of this issue, maybe
Speaker 2: they went to live with her ex husband. I would assume.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: I assumed that as well, but shame on the show
Speaker 1: that I had to.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And here's the thing. It's not as if you
Speaker 2: can make the excuse that this is summer vacation and
Speaker 2: the kids are are not around, because it's made very
Speaker 2: clear that this is happening in the winter because there's
Speaker 2: snow and ice involved. So you're right, I don't know
Speaker 2: what happened to the kids this episode.
Speaker 1: Maybe they're at boarding school because Elaine can afford that, right,
Speaker 1: I think their kids are her kids are hanging out
Speaker 1: with that kid from the Bad News Banners who shut up.
Speaker 1: In season one, when Louis was bragging about how we
Speaker 1: put one over on that kid. Remember Tanner showed up.
Speaker 2: In one episode, Alex tells Elane, don't worry. If you need,
Speaker 2: you can crash on my couch for a couple of nights.
Speaker 2: She says, thanks, but the couch isn't that comfortable, And
Speaker 2: eventually it comes out that both Tony and Elaine fell
Speaker 2: asleep on Alex's couch while he was showing slides of
Speaker 2: his ski trip. Now side note here father alone. Remember
Speaker 2: when slides were a thing? Did you ever have to
Speaker 2: sit through a bad slide show of like a family
Speaker 2: member on a trip?
Speaker 1: I did. I don't think a family member ever did,
Speaker 1: but I'm friends and neighbors slide shows. I certainly had
Speaker 1: to sit there. The funny thing is it's always portrayed
Speaker 1: in every movie and television show as this, as this
Speaker 1: sort of put upon moment of you know, I met
Speaker 1: with a huge sigh. Oh my god, we're gonna have
Speaker 1: to sit through their goddamn vacation photos. I loved it.
Speaker 1: I couldn't get enough of it. Oh my god, we're
Speaker 1: gonna turn off the lights, We're gonna draw down this screen,
Speaker 1: We're gonna turn on this fucking machine that whirrs and
Speaker 1: it's gonna drop in and look. I eventually became a projectionist,
Speaker 1: so maybe this is just me.
Speaker 2: They were kind of like the original PowerPoint when you
Speaker 2: think about it, right, because you'd be projecting the sequence
Speaker 2: of slide. I mean, that's why they call them slides
Speaker 2: in a PowerPoint presentation. But I can, like you, I
Speaker 2: can still smell the light bulb, the smell of a
Speaker 2: light bulb morning God, yes, right, the hum of the machine,
Speaker 2: the carousel of slides that you'd see go around.
Speaker 1: It was.
Speaker 2: This is something that has gone and will never come back.
Speaker 2: But something was lost, I think, and it not being
Speaker 2: being around anymore.
Speaker 1: And if you haven't seen the final episode of season
Speaker 1: one of Madmen called the Carousel, which is about the
Speaker 1: very first carousel slide machine, you shall check that out.
Speaker 2: I didn't know that. Okay, that's interesting.
Speaker 1: It's not a slide machine, HP, it's a time machine.
Speaker 1: You can go back and forth in time.
Speaker 2: Tony also offers his couch to a Lane, but she
Speaker 2: refuses to impose on either of them. Another side note
Speaker 2: for the this to me is peak a lane right here.
Speaker 2: Not only does she look great in a maroon blouse
Speaker 2: and dark slacks, but her hair is styled as beautifully
Speaker 2: as it ever has been.
Speaker 1: Look, she's just a beautiful creature. I can't I can't
Speaker 1: judge one look over another. I just know that you
Speaker 1: shouldn't dress her in red, that's all.
Speaker 2: Well, no, but she looks good here. She's got this
Speaker 2: maroon dark blouse.
Speaker 1: She looks maroon.
Speaker 2: She looks good.
Speaker 1: They worked out their problems with the Red with Elaine
Speaker 1: over the seasons. They figured out what didn't work and
Speaker 1: what does they did?
Speaker 2: They did so. Tony asks Elaine if she could just
Speaker 2: sleep on her latest boyfriend, Steve's couch. She says it's
Speaker 2: a little too early in the relationship and she doesn't
Speaker 2: want to scare Steve off. Of course, this leads to
Speaker 2: Tony making a joke about how bad she must look
Speaker 2: in the morning. I'm not going to rehash it, but
Speaker 2: it's kind of a lame joke. Just then, an excited
Speaker 2: Bobby runs into the garage.
Speaker 1: Which can be only one thing.
Speaker 2: What is it? What does it mean? He's got a role,
Speaker 2: He's got the job, That's what he keeps saying. He's
Speaker 2: going to be performing a whole month on tour, performing
Speaker 2: in the play under the Yum Yum Tree, which I
Speaker 2: told you before this episode was recorded. I said, I
Speaker 2: thought that was just a silly play on desire under
Speaker 2: the Elms, which they make a joke about, but apparently
Speaker 2: Father Malone. Under the Yum Young Tree is an actual
Speaker 2: Broadway play.
Speaker 1: And a feature film with Jack Lemon.
Speaker 2: It was described by Wikipedia as a quote American sex comedy.
Speaker 1: It was.
Speaker 2: It was a play in nineteen sixty was adapted as
Speaker 2: a film in nineteen sixty three.
Speaker 1: Like you saipeaking of mad Men, this is prime Madmen
Speaker 1: territory because this type of First of all, Robert I'm
Speaker 1: surprised Robert Morse isn't in the film. Okay, mister how
Speaker 1: to Get Ahead and Advocate has an advertising how to
Speaker 1: get ahead in business without really trying to go ahead
Speaker 1: in Advertising US with Richard E. Grant, and it's a
Speaker 1: very bitter, cynical take advertising. Anyway. Yeah, I watched Under
Speaker 1: the Tree just it just so happened to come on
Speaker 1: after I watched this episode, I went, this is what
Speaker 1: it is because the title made it seem like it
Speaker 1: was going to be something at least very serious or
Speaker 1: not what it is, which is are you professor women
Speaker 1: lack sex too. It's like one of these situations. Like
Speaker 1: it's like Carol Linley moves into into a building that's
Speaker 1: like a swinger's pad that like the landlord is Jack Lemon,
Speaker 1: who's like the king of the swingers, and but swingers
Speaker 1: by the way, meaning nineteen sixty three's version of it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're all listening to, you know, Dean Martin on the
Speaker 1: turntable and drinking martiniz and shit together.
Speaker 2: Wearing Nehru jackets. Probably in some some capacity.
Speaker 1: Man, it seems like such hell, to be honest with you.
Speaker 2: But he Jack Lemon's like a little Thario in this right,
Speaker 2: He's he's on the make. He wants to sleep with
Speaker 2: the tenants in his building. I think that's that's the plot, right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a play set in Hugh Hefner's world. You know,
Speaker 1: the playboy revolution that was occurring is the direct forebear
Speaker 1: of Under Them Young Dream.
Speaker 2: Sure. So this is the play that Bobby's going to
Speaker 2: be acting in. And because Bobby's going to be on
Speaker 2: tour for an entire month, this means that Elaine can
Speaker 2: crash in his apartment while he's away. So everybody, everybody wins.
Speaker 2: Tony asks what Bobby's going to do to celebrate, and
Speaker 2: without even thinking, Bobby says He's going to rub Louie's
Speaker 2: nose in it. And this I liked because this is
Speaker 2: again prime Louie. Here. Bobby goes over very smugly and
Speaker 2: tells Louie that he just got a real acting job.
Speaker 2: But Louie, Louie's so perceptive, he knows where this is
Speaker 2: going to go, so he says, like Bobby, that's great.
Speaker 2: He seems very happy. He says, I would have announce
Speaker 2: it over the PA.
Speaker 1: I owe it to you for.
Speaker 2: Giving you all hard time all those years. So he
Speaker 2: takes the microphone down and he announces. Bobby, of course,
Speaker 2: is trying to keep him from doing that because he
Speaker 2: knows this isn't a big deal, but Louie insists he's
Speaker 2: going to make up for all the times he stuck
Speaker 2: it to Bobby. Louis makes a long speech where he
Speaker 2: paints Bobby as having the lead in a major Broadway production.
Speaker 2: Bobby corrects him that it's just a tour, so Louis
Speaker 2: corrects his announcement to say that it's a major part
Speaker 2: in one of the greatest tours in theatrical history. Like
Speaker 2: I said, Louis obviously knows Bobby's part is Penny Ante,
Speaker 2: and it's awesome to see him patronize Bobby like this. Eventually,
Speaker 2: Bobby sheepishly corrects him again, and Louie's final correction mentions
Speaker 2: that he's got a tiny part and a sleazy production
Speaker 2: in three trailer parks, which is awesome. And then that
Speaker 2: infuriates Bobby and he starts reaching through the cage and
Speaker 2: what have you. As we cut to Bobby, you were
Speaker 2: talking about slanky bachelor pads. We cut to Bobby's basement apartment,
Speaker 2: which we've seen before, and Tony, Alex, and Elaine are
Speaker 2: living the sweet life. They're all sipping wine. They're talking
Speaker 2: about what a great job Elaine has done fixing the
Speaker 2: apartment up side. Note Elaine, here, father Malone. I don't
Speaker 2: know if you notice. She is dressed like a sexy ghostbuster.
Speaker 2: She's got an olive jumpsuit with red sleeve accents. Only
Speaker 2: thing missing is a proton pack.
Speaker 1: And that is a very good description of what she's wearing.
Speaker 1: Here's how I would describe it. What the fuck is
Speaker 1: she wearing? Oh wait, she's cleaning, so maybe this is
Speaker 1: just her cleaning jumpsuit. Oh no, this is actually what
Speaker 1: she would walk out of the house wearing. This is
Speaker 1: what they think that she would wear. That's what I thought.
Speaker 2: The jumpsuit is almost like something kind of New Wavy.
Speaker 2: If you put Blondie or Debbie Harry in this same jumpsuit,
Speaker 2: it's a party. It totally fits. But it is a
Speaker 2: little weird that she's just trumping around the apartment in
Speaker 2: this very exaggerated looking jumpsuit with red sleeves.
Speaker 1: Elaine's not hanging out at the mud club.
Speaker 2: Alex Is, like I said, very impressed with how nice
Speaker 2: Bobby's apartment looks after she's been there a week. It's
Speaker 2: been a week. I have to that bear mentioning. As
Speaker 2: she's puttering around, who walks in but Bobby. He's toting
Speaker 2: a suitcase. And by the way, Bobby is wearing a
Speaker 2: fleece jacket with the highest collar I've ever seen in
Speaker 2: my life. When it's zipped up all the way, it
Speaker 2: completely covers his neck, it's all the way up to
Speaker 2: his chin.
Speaker 1: It's Blade Runner twenty forty nine.
Speaker 2: And what was his name, Ryan Gosling was a k
Speaker 2: Was that his name?
Speaker 1: In that movie?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's something that comes right out of the future.
Speaker 2: It's very odd. They're all like, Bobby, what are you
Speaker 2: doing home? I thought you were going to be out
Speaker 2: a month. And Bobby initially tries to play off his
Speaker 2: early return, but it turns out that he was kicked
Speaker 2: off the tour in Florida because he was messing around
Speaker 2: with the costume girl on the bus ride down to Florida.
Speaker 1: And that's the director's daughter.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's very much in character with Bobby, and
Speaker 2: I kind of like the fact that this is a
Speaker 2: return to the lothario, the ne'er do well Bobby. The
Speaker 2: only thing missing is the mane of hair that he
Speaker 2: used to have. This is the loveman leaving Bobby and
Speaker 2: I'm here for it. Turns out he was only in
Speaker 2: Florida for a day, but it took him three more
Speaker 2: days to get home, so he basically just he was
Speaker 2: three days down, got kicked off the three days back.
Speaker 2: That's why he was gone only a week. Elane brings
Speaker 2: up the fact that she still doesn't found an apartment,
Speaker 2: so it might be a little problematic, but Bobby is
Speaker 2: totally cool. He says, you know what, you can have
Speaker 2: the bedroom and I'll take the sofa, no problem. But
Speaker 2: then Tony and Alex looked very askants at this arrangement,
Speaker 2: suspecting that Bobby, being the hound dog that he is,
Speaker 2: might take advantage of a lane, which is not truthfully,
Speaker 2: not out of character for Bobby.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, yeah, okay, you're not buying this.
Speaker 2: I can already tell father alone. I'm a little bothered
Speaker 2: by your reaction.
Speaker 1: Here we go. This is fucking flipped a switch as
Speaker 1: soon as he as soon as Bobby walked in, he
Speaker 1: should have said, it's gonna be a sitcom from here
Speaker 1: on out. Everybody, I think you're.
Speaker 2: Being too hard, but we'll get into it. Bobby does
Speaker 2: his best to convince both Tony and Alex that, hey,
Speaker 2: you know, Elaine's my friend. She's going to stay here.
Speaker 2: But and even Elaine is a little annoyed at the
Speaker 2: inference that something might happen between the two of them.
Speaker 2: Tony and Alex leave, but they keep talking outside of
Speaker 2: the apartment, just behind like a shade, and Bobby goes
Speaker 2: over and kind of flips it. It's awesome physical comedy.
Speaker 2: He flips the shade up and it goes up perfectly
Speaker 2: like it, you know, goes all the way up, exposing
Speaker 2: Tony and Alex, who smile and look in and they're like,
Speaker 2: do you think they hurt us? Hell yeah? As we
Speaker 2: fade the commercial, see I do. Here's the thing. I
Speaker 2: know where you're going with this, father Malone. I know
Speaker 2: you're you're Your main gripe is going to be the
Speaker 2: tired premise of you know, oh, something's going to happen,
Speaker 2: like like a Three's Company episode.
Speaker 1: For lack of a better term, This isn't threes Company.
Speaker 1: These are adults on taxi on season three, and they're
Speaker 1: what worried about her virginity. Here's here's how this episode
Speaker 1: happens in the real world. I don't know, leaving you
Speaker 1: two alone the way you are, Bobby, Oh, give me
Speaker 1: a fucking break. Yeah, give us a fucking break, you two,
Speaker 1: And what happens if we do? Fuck? What are you
Speaker 1: gonna do about it? Who gives a shit? Shut the
Speaker 1: fuck up and go back to the garage. Thanks guys.
Speaker 2: When it comes time to grade this episode, fall and
Speaker 2: you and I are going to have very different opinions.
Speaker 2: But again, let's let's let's soldier forward. Here we fade
Speaker 2: in on the same wintry. We've seen this b roll before.
Speaker 1: We saw this in a in a fucking Randall Carver episode.
Speaker 2: That's right, it was. It was from season one where
Speaker 2: there's like a plow taking snow off the sidewalk.
Speaker 1: It's ange and I remember saying to you, then it's
Speaker 1: nice to see a winter bit of b roll not
Speaker 1: connected to a Christmas episode, like because there is there
Speaker 1: inclement what there in New York. That's a nice touch.
Speaker 1: It's no longer a nice touch.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So anyway, this is our clue that winter is
Speaker 2: returned to Sunshine Cab. We cut inside the garage where
Speaker 2: Jim and Tony are hanging out. They're hanging around that
Speaker 2: center cement pole where the phone is. Tony is still yes,
Speaker 2: I'm actually gonna I'm absolutely gonna mention it. There they're
Speaker 2: still grousing about Tony's grousing about how he doesn't trust Bobby.
Speaker 2: Jim starts in on a lament about the changing times,
Speaker 2: how he talks about orgies, naked people in public places,
Speaker 2: but in vaudeville fashion. He's actually wistful for the sixties
Speaker 2: and not describing how soulless, you know, society has become nowadays.
Speaker 2: Whatever side. Note, this is what you're talking about. Tony
Speaker 2: gets from gets up from his seat he's sitting on,
Speaker 2: like a trash barrel or something.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's doing a tough guy Tony bullshit move here
Speaker 1: he is, but he's sitting sitting every Wherever there's a
Speaker 1: flat surface, Tony's ass will eventually land.
Speaker 2: So he gets up from whatever he's sitting on, an
Speaker 2: oil can or something. And the thing is, it took
Speaker 2: me years to notice this, but I'm now I can't
Speaker 2: unsee it. He he bumps the cement pole, the supposedly
Speaker 2: cement pole, as he's walking over to Alex. The thing shakes,
Speaker 2: Father Malone. Is that what you're talking about?
Speaker 1: Oh? Absolutely? And you know what, speaking of things pointed
Speaker 1: out in previous episodes, if any of you want to
Speaker 1: go back to the pilot episode and listen to my
Speaker 1: description of how awesome this set is, I point out
Speaker 1: that fucking column and specifically and how fucking realistic it
Speaker 1: looks and how it grounds the entire set. Leave it
Speaker 1: to Tony Danza to fuck that shit up. VERI similitude, no,
Speaker 1: thank you.
Speaker 2: It instantly takes you from the garage to this is
Speaker 2: just the this is this may as well be a
Speaker 2: play that you're watching in a theater somewhere, because it's
Speaker 2: so jarring. It's almost like a glitch in the matrix
Speaker 2: when you see because it still looks to all observers
Speaker 2: like a cement pole with graffiti all over it and
Speaker 2: a fucking phone attached to it. But no, Tony's gonna
Speaker 2: shatter that, that illusion that we've grown so accustomed to.
Speaker 1: So although let's really blame James Burrows, who should have
Speaker 1: known better to cut away right, yeah, maybe cut to anything.
Speaker 2: It basically destroyed the whole illusion. But what are you
Speaker 2: gonna do? Alex tries to talk to Tony and give
Speaker 2: Bobby the benefit of the doubt, and just then Bobby
Speaker 2: hustles in from from outside into the garage. He I
Speaker 2: talked about this in the last episode. He's got a
Speaker 2: newspaper over his head because it's snowing outside. And what
Speaker 2: I loved about this is that the newspaper is actually wet.
Speaker 2: When he shakes the snow off of it, it looked
Speaker 2: so realistic, like it wasn't like the you know, your
Speaker 2: typical a it's just you know, painted flakes of something
Speaker 2: that's supposed to represent snow. This looked like real snow
Speaker 2: that he's sloughing off into the garage.
Speaker 1: I love that. I did too. I was surprised Tony
Speaker 1: Banta didn't come walking in with a snow machine that
Speaker 1: was making the props backstage, just to point out that
Speaker 1: that's fake too.
Speaker 2: He's gonna ruin every illusion in the episode.
Speaker 1: I would love that actually if later on Tony just
Speaker 1: sort of like comes walking up and like moves the
Speaker 1: camera to like point it at the audience.
Speaker 2: That's right, Yeah, you see, this isn't a garage. Tony
Speaker 2: goes over to Bobby and he basically says to Bobby, look,
Speaker 2: you tell me that you're not doing anything with the
Speaker 2: Lane or you got no no intentions with Lane. I'll
Speaker 2: believe you. And Bobby assures him that I'm telling you
Speaker 2: nothing's happening, and Louis pokes some fun at Tony's gullibility.
Speaker 2: Elaine comes in and tells Alex that she and Bobby
Speaker 2: have really been bonding over the past week or so,
Speaker 2: but the sounds of it, it's ma built around her
Speaker 2: asking Bobby about himself again in typical egotistical Bobby fashion,
Speaker 2: but they're enjoying each other's company as She continues to
Speaker 2: crash there.
Speaker 1: As anyone would you know, like hanging out with somebody
Speaker 1: and never really hung out with them before you know,
Speaker 1: and you know what, Oh my god, they are adults
Speaker 1: who aren't just going to start fucking for no reason.
Speaker 2: They are they are so the phone rings, Jim goes
Speaker 2: over to answer it. It's evidently Elaine's new boyfriend, Steve.
Speaker 2: She goes over to talk to him while she's on
Speaker 2: the phone. And this is another warning signs that Laca
Speaker 2: isn't quite as sweet and innocent as you think he is.
Speaker 2: Laca relates to Alex that in his country, what Elene
Speaker 2: and Bobby are doing is actually common. He says, a
Speaker 2: man and a woman shacking up is no big deal.
Speaker 2: He says that they make love in every possible way
Speaker 2: to see if they still want to get married after that,
Speaker 2: and Alex replies, that's a very sensible tradition Latka, and
Speaker 2: Laca says, now, if we only we could get the
Speaker 2: women to buy it. This is so dark. It makes
Speaker 2: him seem like this lonely, sad, sex starved, sex obsessed,
Speaker 2: a little man working, you know, living in this odd
Speaker 2: place called New York.
Speaker 1: Well, they do say that on shows, writers tend to
Speaker 1: write to the actor.
Speaker 2: That's well. What we know of any Andy Kaufman is
Speaker 2: that he was an odd character, no question, And I'm
Speaker 2: sure he was probably delighted with this twist.
Speaker 1: I bet he loved all the weird bullshit they kept
Speaker 1: giving him this season. You know. Yeah, I'm sure if
Speaker 1: he didn't instigate it himself, it's it's great.
Speaker 2: So then Elaine hangs up the phone. She's shaken, and
Speaker 2: I think we all know where this is going to go.
Speaker 2: Alex goes over and asks her, and she replies that
Speaker 2: Steve essentially broke up with her over the phone. Alex
Speaker 2: goes into caring Alex mode, and he says, they're all
Speaker 2: going to be let's all go to Marios and we'll
Speaker 2: talk it out. But Elaine says she just wants to
Speaker 2: go home, which begs the question, by the way, why
Speaker 2: would she come in to work a shift, get this
Speaker 2: call and then just say fuck it, I'm going home?
Speaker 2: Did she not? Yeah, but she's got to work, she's
Speaker 2: got to earn money.
Speaker 1: No, she does. She doesn't have any responsibility.
Speaker 2: It's not like she has no kids, no kids anymore.
Speaker 2: Alex says he isn't sure that she should go home
Speaker 2: and be alone right now, and Elaine corrects him, I'm
Speaker 2: not going to be alone. Bobby will be there. That
Speaker 2: sets off another warning done.
Speaker 1: Dum Pole's company. Uh oh, what did mister Furley hear?
Speaker 2: Oh you're being so harsh, she says. Bobby can be
Speaker 2: really understanding about stuff like this. Bobby, now you know
Speaker 2: Alex's warning bells are going off. You can see it
Speaker 2: in his face. Bobby walks past Alex, and Alex cautions
Speaker 2: Bobby that Elaine is feeling very vulnerable after her breakup
Speaker 2: and he's concerned that she might come on to Bobby,
Speaker 2: and this alarms Bobby, who assures that he's going to
Speaker 2: be on the lookout tonight. And as a final button
Speaker 2: to the scene and a final bit of this, just
Speaker 2: when you think Laca can't get any more perverse, he
Speaker 2: goes over to Alex, and Locke says he worries that
Speaker 2: Elaine might drown her problems in a shameful night of
Speaker 2: lust and passion with the first man that she comes across,
Speaker 2: and he says, if it's not Bobby, could you give
Speaker 2: her my phone number? Wow, Loca was such a fucking
Speaker 2: creep before simca entered the picture. We fade into Bobby's
Speaker 2: apartment at night. All the lights are off.
Speaker 1: L no, no, not my turn. Like here's where she
Speaker 1: finally realizes reason.
Speaker 2: Sure, reason, calm, cool, reasoning. Yes, that's from do you
Speaker 2: remember what that that shows? Brady?
Speaker 1: Wait, I was going to say, oh, okay, there you
Speaker 1: got it.
Speaker 2: So we we fade into Bobby's apartment. It's night, it's
Speaker 2: all the lights are off, it's dark. Elaine walks in.
Speaker 1: She's wearing sexy and sexy pajamas just just you know,
Speaker 1: these shiftless real flannel jum.
Speaker 2: Yeah. She walks in. She she's asking Bobby if he's awake.
Speaker 2: Bobby kind of snaps awake and he goes, oh, and
Speaker 2: he's already on his guard about this whole situation. Elaine
Speaker 2: says that she can't sleep. She asks if there's any
Speaker 2: more wine. Boy, they're drinking a little wine in this episode.
Speaker 2: I've never seen so many people drink so much wine
Speaker 2: in the course of a sitcom episode.
Speaker 1: Anyway, Well, you qualified it with sitcom, but I was
Speaker 1: just about to say, we did watch the four seasons, that's.
Speaker 2: But there was so much more there. They were eating
Speaker 2: bread by the handful, like eating it, like it's like
Speaker 2: a piece of fruit. Just ah, just loving that bread.
Speaker 1: Sure nobody really gets drunk in that movie.
Speaker 2: I thought they got high, but I guess they really didn't.
Speaker 2: They were just high on life ultimately. But anyways, Bobby
Speaker 2: is kind of panicked a little bit. He gets up,
Speaker 2: he gets he gets fully dressed. He even tells Elane
Speaker 2: to wear robe over that neglige. I mean, it's a
Speaker 2: pair of flannel pajamas. There's nothing over at least sexual
Speaker 2: about them at all.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know. And at the same time, it's you know,
Speaker 1: it's Marilyhanna in fucking pajamas, So it's automatically sexy. But
Speaker 1: that's not because of anything she's trying to do or
Speaker 1: put out put out.
Speaker 2: Sure, it's a fair point. She's just a very attractive person.
Speaker 2: So she says to Bobby that this whole Steve thing
Speaker 2: has hit her pretty hard, and she asks if they
Speaker 2: can talk about it. Bobby, after initially trying to speed
Speaker 2: through the conversation, he tells Elaine that Steve, obviously, if
Speaker 2: he's gonna break up with her over the phone, it
Speaker 2: just proves that he didn't deserve her in the first place.
Speaker 2: And Elaine is touched and she goes over to hug Bobby,
Speaker 2: tell him how sweet he is, and I love he
Speaker 2: gets this comical revulsion on us. He recoils in horror.
Speaker 1: Simpsons fans will get this reference think on sexy thoughts.
Speaker 2: Part of the reason I love this episode so much
Speaker 2: is I feel like it's it's been forever since Jeff
Speaker 2: Conaway had anything to do on a Taxi episode except
Speaker 2: be the guy at the card table who says, yeah,
Speaker 2: go talk to Louis or something inane like, not really
Speaker 2: having any real purpose in an episode. In this, we're
Speaker 2: getting vintage Bobby here.
Speaker 1: And I love that. I totally agree he's been really
Speaker 1: absent this is and I think that's a I think
Speaker 1: that's a conscious choice by the producers at this point.
Speaker 1: But clearly, if this episode was early enough, then you
Speaker 1: know it sort of evaded capture.
Speaker 2: I love Jeff Conaway in this. It really feels like
Speaker 2: a return to form. Although even though I know that
Speaker 2: he's on his way out effectively from Taxi, Delady says
Speaker 2: that she has a special bottle of wine that she
Speaker 2: wants to share with him on this occasion. She's feeling
Speaker 2: very close to Bobby again before she disappears into the bedroom.
Speaker 2: She kind of looks lovingly at Bobby and says, I'm
Speaker 2: so glad you're here, and again he gets this look
Speaker 2: on his face like, uh, he's anything but excited about
Speaker 2: this prospect. So when she disappears, Bobby hardly calls up
Speaker 2: Alex on the phone and has enough time before she
Speaker 2: comes back to say Alex, Elaine is all over me.
Speaker 2: And then he's got to hang up because she walks
Speaker 2: back in and she asks him, you know who are
Speaker 2: you talking to? And he makes a joke about how oh,
Speaker 2: it's just my dad, and she says, this is your
Speaker 2: dad dead, and he says, well that maybe that makes
Speaker 2: up for all the times I never called him when
Speaker 2: he was alive. It's a bad joke, but he's trying
Speaker 2: to think on his feet. He's very worried about the situation,
Speaker 2: try to protect her.
Speaker 1: I think how funny this scene could have been if
Speaker 1: it was just Jeff Conaway and Marilyn Henter, where he
Speaker 1: thinks she wants to fuck him and she knows he doesn't,
Speaker 1: and then it's just comedy of manners between the two
Speaker 1: of them. Oh my god, how that could have been anyway.
Speaker 2: I still think it's funny. So finally Bobby comes clean
Speaker 2: to her and says they shouldn't do this, and she says, well,
Speaker 2: what do you mean? What do what? He says, come
Speaker 2: on now, look like he points out the wine, the
Speaker 2: soft lights, and he even says that flimsy flannel thing
Speaker 2: that you're wearing, and Elaine just scoffs at the idea.
Speaker 2: Then here's where the old Bobby really comes out. He says,
Speaker 2: almost word for word, he says, hey, babe, I've been around,
Speaker 2: I have had a lot of experience, and you and
Speaker 2: I were on the road to naughty naughty. Elaine is
Speaker 2: like naughty naughty, and he says, look, you and I
Speaker 2: were that close to doing fu fu, Which it's funny.
Speaker 2: I mean, you could admit that it's funny that he's
Speaker 2: he's trying to It would be easy for him to say, look,
Speaker 2: we were this close to fucking.
Speaker 1: But you know, this part of the episode I enjoyed.
Speaker 2: It's funny that he's coming up with these euphemisms for sex.
Speaker 1: Try to this scenario where he thinks she wants to
Speaker 1: fuck him, and she's just like, are you nuts? I'm
Speaker 1: just it's appreciating you as a friend here you dummy.
Speaker 2: So she yeah, So she gets angry and she says
Speaker 2: to Bobby, look, we've had a great relationship these past
Speaker 2: few weeks, and then when I come to you for
Speaker 2: a little bit of friendship and a little sympathy, you
Speaker 2: give me this. And he finally he apologizes and he says, oh, man,
Speaker 2: I lay, I feel like a jerk. And he basically
Speaker 2: asks her, look, can we just forget this all happened?
Speaker 2: And she says all right. She kind of lightens up,
Speaker 2: and she says, all right, well, where's that wine? And
Speaker 2: then with a laugh, they agree, and just as she
Speaker 2: starts opening the wine, Alex comes barrowing down those steps.
Speaker 2: You can see that it's snowing outside. By the way,
Speaker 2: it's no longer a dribble dribble draft situation. It actually
Speaker 2: is coming down steadily right, So it looked great. So
Speaker 2: Alex bursts in and literally breaks the whole door down
Speaker 2: as he's great stunt. It is an awesome stunt, and apparently,
Speaker 2: according to the Lovey's book, it wasn't supposed to break
Speaker 2: the way it did. He was just supposed to open
Speaker 2: the door. And you know, he literally breaks the door
Speaker 2: off of the hinges or off the gym. You can
Speaker 2: see it.
Speaker 1: Looks like the chain lock splinters off the doors. What
Speaker 1: it looks like.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a great stunt. And the audience loves it.
Speaker 2: They're they're they're laughing like crazy. Alex comes in, he's
Speaker 2: he's wearing he's in pajamas. He's got no shoes, no socks,
Speaker 2: no slippers, nothing, He's in bare feet and he just
Speaker 2: has he clearly had just enough time to throw on
Speaker 2: like a big wool coat and just over his pajamas,
Speaker 2: and his hair's all wet because it's been snowing.
Speaker 1: It's a great Yeah, you're correct. Throughout this entire episode,
Speaker 1: whoever's work in physical effects is doing a fucking fantastic job,
Speaker 1: because everything looks great except when Banta kicked that fucking Columny.
Speaker 2: That's the one thing that kind of they lost. It's true.
Speaker 2: He basically ran twenty six blocks to Bobby's apartment. He
Speaker 2: lost his slippers in a snow bank, and he keeps
Speaker 2: him playing that he's got frostbite. He say ask Bobby
Speaker 2: do you have anything in your medicine cabinet for frostbite?
Speaker 2: And he goes, oh, I got some socks school, so
Speaker 2: he goes off to get some socks for Alex. Elaine
Speaker 2: figures out that the phone call that Bobby made just
Speaker 2: a few moments ago was to Alex, and Alex and
Speaker 2: Bobby both say they're only looking out for a lane,
Speaker 2: which makes her even more mad, and justifiably so.
Speaker 1: I love this.
Speaker 2: You can't really call it like a monologue, but what
Speaker 2: she says back to them really encapsulates everything that's wrong
Speaker 2: with what they've been doing. She points out the double
Speaker 2: standard to them that she resents, the implication that, you know,
Speaker 2: she's an emotional female, so of course, in their eyes,
Speaker 2: she's going to lose control, but men are always on
Speaker 2: top of things. She really lets them have it deservedly so,
Speaker 2: and all they can do is sit there, sheepishly and
Speaker 2: take it.
Speaker 1: She should have thrown them out at this point, by the.
Speaker 2: Way, Well she's not heartless.
Speaker 1: I just think it would have been funny that it's
Speaker 1: not her apartment and she throws them out.
Speaker 2: That would have been funny, but it wouldn't have been
Speaker 2: in character, because, as we'll see, she's aware of how
Speaker 2: how heartless that would be. Alex points out that he
Speaker 2: wouldn't have even come if not for the call that
Speaker 2: Bobby made. And Bobby says, I wouldn't have called if
Speaker 2: you didn't tell me that she was going to come
Speaker 2: on to me like a mack truck in the garage.
Speaker 2: That's right. I never said anything about truck. So there's
Speaker 2: more arguing back and forth between Alex and Bobby, and
Speaker 2: Elaine finally just says, look, Alex, why don't you just
Speaker 2: stay Because Alex finally says, I guess I'm gonna go.
Speaker 2: I should go, and she says, no, don't go out.
Speaker 2: Stay here. It's ridiculous. You're not dressed for the weather
Speaker 2: and spend the night.
Speaker 1: You know, could give him a ride back to his apartment.
Speaker 2: Well, I don't think they don't. I don't think they
Speaker 2: have cars. I mean maybe Elaine does.
Speaker 1: No, if only they knew somebody who worked it it.
Speaker 2: A taxi service.
Speaker 1: Suit wasn't like that. That would be weird.
Speaker 2: He's complaining a lot about how cold his feet are
Speaker 2: and how much he doesn't want to go back. I
Speaker 2: think she's just like, look, it's late, it's three in
Speaker 2: the morning, for God's sake, Like that's it's ridiculous. Don't
Speaker 2: go out, stay here. Whatever, Alex finally just says, look, Elaine,
Speaker 2: the only reason we would have done any of this
Speaker 2: is because we care about you, and they all three
Speaker 2: of them sit down for a glass of wine. She
Speaker 2: opens the bottle of line up and they all agree
Speaker 2: to each other that they've had a really rough week.
Speaker 2: Elaine says she lost the boyfriend, Bobby says he lost
Speaker 2: the job, and Alex says he lost feeling in eight
Speaker 2: of his toes. End of episode. That is Bobby's roommate.
Speaker 2: Now we're going to talk about yellow lights.
Speaker 1: What does a yellow light meant?
Speaker 2: Reminder, we're scoring on a scale of one to five
Speaker 2: yellow lights. One is the worst a taxi episode can be.
Speaker 2: In five is the best that it can be. And
Speaker 2: as further as is our custom father alone, we're going
Speaker 2: to kick it to you. What do you give Bobby's
Speaker 2: roommate two yellow lights? Two?
Speaker 1: It's not the worst, but god damn it, it's bordering.
Speaker 1: It's only saved by the performances here and the amazing
Speaker 1: practical effects. If we had half lights, it would get
Speaker 1: a half light, maybe a turn signal or something. But
Speaker 1: this episode, everyone's motivations here is super fucking Season one.
Speaker 1: I don't know their relationships are well beyond this kind
Speaker 1: of nonsense. This absolute fucking sitcomery usually fallom alone.
Speaker 2: It seems like lately you'll give a score and I'll
Speaker 2: say something like, oh, we're not that far off, you know,
Speaker 2: two and between two and three yellow lights. In this case,
Speaker 2: we could not be more diametrically opposed. I gave this
Speaker 2: five yellow lights. Father alone proudly gave it five yellow lights.
Speaker 1: I'm red, I'm giving this one yellow light.
Speaker 2: Well, that's unfortunate, because to me, this is a stellar
Speaker 2: ensemble episode. Everybody has laughs in this Everybody has something
Speaker 2: to do. Even Louis has few good jabs that he
Speaker 2: gives it. Some of the Caves locup, pops up doing
Speaker 2: his weird perverse thing that he's into these days. The
Speaker 2: thing of it is, ultimately, I hear what you're saying
Speaker 2: that this is a bit cliched of a sitcom plot,
Speaker 2: But what I took from this is that this episode
Speaker 2: has a lot of great things to say about this
Speaker 2: paternalism that the Caves obviously feel towards a Lane, and
Speaker 2: how unwarranted it is, and how it makes them ultimately
Speaker 2: act foolishly in the face of all of this because
Speaker 2: you're right. They should have known better. They should have
Speaker 2: trusted a Lane to not be this crazy emotional being
Speaker 2: that they paint her out to be, and they should
Speaker 2: have trusted Bobby. Maybe he would have grown a little
Speaker 2: bit of a conscience and not taken advantage of a
Speaker 2: Lane or assumed that he would. To me, this is
Speaker 2: as good. This is one of the episodes that I
Speaker 2: returned to fairly often because it's got great laughs. Not
Speaker 2: every episode has to be to have some sort of
Speaker 2: heaviness attached to it has to be some groundbreaking piece
Speaker 2: of television writing it. Sometimes you just want a burger
Speaker 2: from McDonald's and you don't need a steak from Ruth's, Chris.
Speaker 2: Sometimes I just want something fun that's going to make
Speaker 2: me laugh and that I can appreciate on that level.
Speaker 2: And that's this episode for me, Five yellow lights for me.
Speaker 1: So what you're saying is you've had occasion where you've
Speaker 1: had a hamburger from McDonald's that you would say that
Speaker 1: was a perfect hamburger. No burger could be better than
Speaker 1: that hamburger I just received at the drive through at McDonald's.
Speaker 2: Not at all. I'm saying that sometimes that's what you're
Speaker 2: in the mood for and that is the best thing
Speaker 2: that you could have at that moment. It doesn't make
Speaker 2: it the best meal I've ever had. It means I
Speaker 2: was in the mood for a McDonald's hamburger, and fuck yeah,
Speaker 2: that thing was the best thing I ate that day.
Speaker 2: I loved it. Yes, if i'd gone.
Speaker 1: To Danza kicked a column in this episode and we
Speaker 1: had a conversation about it that was as long as
Speaker 1: the episode itself, tell me it's a perfect episode. Again, Look, that's.
Speaker 2: That's regrettable, and I wish I could unsee that, but
Speaker 2: I can't.
Speaker 1: HB is giving four yellow lights for this one, everybody.
Speaker 2: From HP, I'm sticking with five. Someone hopefully got reprimanded
Speaker 2: for that because it was a It was a shame
Speaker 2: on that episode. But again, sometimes you just want something
Speaker 2: nice and easy and fun. This episode gave it to
Speaker 2: me in spades, Father Malone. Five yellow lights for me,
Speaker 2: one yellow light from you. I rarely do we have
Speaker 2: such a gulf between our scores, Father Malone. It's been
Speaker 2: a long time since this has happened.
Speaker 1: Well, it's been a long time since we've had an
Speaker 1: episode this bad that you're so wrong about.
Speaker 2: Five yellow lights for myself, one yellow light from Father Malone.
Speaker 2: This is gonna do it for this episode of Night
Speaker 2: Mister Walter's Father Alone. We're can folks find you when
Speaker 2: you're not clocked into the garage?
Speaker 1: Check out my show Midnight Viewing. It's on twice a
Speaker 1: week Mondays and Fridays. Maybe sometimes it's Sundays and Thursdays.
Speaker 1: It's whenever I finish it. Or go check out my
Speaker 1: Patreon channel where you can get everything Wicked Early. That's right,
Speaker 1: I said Wicked Early for myself.
Speaker 2: You can find me elsewhere in the weirding Way Network.
Speaker 2: I am in the midst of one of Father Malone's
Speaker 2: patented fests. I'm talking about Yaucha Fest. This is a
Speaker 2: festival of critiquing the Predator film franchise. I also host
Speaker 2: the Noise Junkies music podcast, and I'm an occasional guest
Speaker 2: on The Culture Cast with Chris Dastute. Last, but not least,
Speaker 2: I have a bandcamsitehpmusicplace dot bandcamp dot com. Thanks again
Speaker 2: for listening. Please feel free to subscribe to this podcast,
Speaker 2: write a review, rate us. We'd love to hear from you,
Speaker 2: and in fact, my email address is HP Music Place
Speaker 2: at gmail dot com. Please drop us a line for
Speaker 2: myself and father Malone. Thanks again for listening and we'll
Speaker 2: see you all next time. Thank mister Walders