This week on the Frotcast, LA Matt aka Matt Lieb returns from his ban to join Vince, returning from TIFF (the Toronto International Film Festival) to talk Adrien Grenier’s NY Mag profile, Snowden and Oliver Stone, Nate Parker and Birth of a Nation, and of course perform a few segments of the “Royalty Freestyle.” Brendan joins about 30 minutes in. We’re sorry.
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This week, we discuss Shane Black’s recently-released-on-DVD stooge noir, The Nice Guys, starring Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling. Is it an action movie? A comedy? Does believability matter? Is Ryan Gosling playing Wile E. Coyote? We ponder all those questions as well as our recent news obsessions, like the cinematic rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos, Apple headphones, and The Night Of. Panel includes comedian Joe Sinclitico from Adam Devine’s House Party, and Joey Avery, fresh off his one-episode arc on Fox’s Coupled.
4:45 – Elizabeth Holmes and the incredible story of her $9 billion fake tech company
10:00 – Elizabeth Holmes’ insane voice
18:50 – Joe tries to show Joey his future in comedy
28:47 – In praise of Brooklyn, and arthouse movies that are more than what you’d imagine
36:00 – The Nice Guys
42:41 – A digression into The Night Of
50:30 – Are we bored of “big action sequences” because we’re getting old or because they’re less novel now?
58:30 – News story of the week, the USA Freedom Girls getting stiffed by the Trump campaign
1:10:35 – Abbreviated emails and Crystal Corner, including The Ballad Of Big Dick Pierre
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Is the original Point Break a classic? Is it a good-good movie, a good-bad movie, or a bad-bad movie? And what does that say for the remake? Critics didn’t like the original that much when it came out, but by the time the remake came they were calling it a masterpiece. What does that say for the remake? Will it eventually be respected? We ponder all these questions and more, with the help of guest Francesca Fiorentini from AJ+. Comedian Joey Avery is sitting in for Bret this week, with Brendan and Vince returning. We also talk the hottest Colin Kaepernick takes, Crystal Corner, and your emails.
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With Werner Herzog’s new internet documentary, Lo And Behold: Reveries Of The Connected World expanding this week, the Frotcast is all about the internet. We discuss the actual documentary as well tangents from it. The internet is one the most scalable technologies ever created, but did our humanity scale with it? In Don’t Woke Daddy, we discuss “the satire paradox,” and Malcolm Gladwell’s recent critique of SNL’s Sarah Palin sketches and Steven Colbert. Are we actually trying to change anyone’s mind or just make people laugh? After that, Crystal Corner. Apparently “mysticore” is the new normcore. Hooray for CHAOS MAGICK. Comedian Jane Harrison guests, with Irregular Regular Matt Lieb joining Vince, Bret, and Brendan via Skype.
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It’s the reboot episode, where The Frotcast becomes simply “Frotcast.” Clean, rad, powerful. Hey, remember your childhood? It’s back! This week on Frotcast, we’re talking all about nostalgia — reboots, prequels, gender swaps, and homages — starting with Stranger Things. Is it even an homage or is it just a fun show? Then, Sympathy For The Drivel, where we name our favorite prequels and try to decide what other thing could use a prequel. Regulars Vince Mancini, Bret, and Brendan are in the Frotquarters this week, with Irregular Regular Matt Lieb joining via phone (LA Matt, #Squib). Old favorite Laremy Legel even drops by with a list, and Millennial Correspondent Joey Avery pops in to explain why Millennials aren’t having the sex anymore.
6:25 – Stranger Things (no spoilers!)
16:44 – Matt Lieb’s tragic story about being left out of the “suck and blow” game in seventh grade
18:30 – Does a bland or simple narrative help world building/execution
21:12 – The Night Of (again, no real spoilers)
30:00 – Sympathy For The Drivel
37:30 – Jared Leto corner
48:00 – “Okay, Shut Up,” with Brendan’s choice, The Naked Gun
54:22 – The new bumper for Matt Lieb Improvises Lyrics To Royalty-Free Songs (followed by him actually doing a song)
1:02:00 – Email question: What music did you listen to as a youth that you still do, and what did you grow to love?
1:13:13 – Laremy Legel joins us with a brand new list
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FilmDrunk’s Vince Mancini is joined by comedian Joe Sinclitico (Adam Devine’s House Party), Matt Lieb (Flophouse), and filmmaker Bobby Hacker (Cars 1-3, not the Pixar one) for an LA edition of the Frotcast. The sound of Joe vaping throughout really ties the Frotcast together. We discuss comedy, and We Are Not Your Guru, the Netflix Tony Robbins documentary.
Joe reveals that he used to work at Trump University, and how that relates to the specific brand of dog-eat-dog masculinity that Tony Robbins promotes. Bobby Hacker reveals that he used to work in a Boiler Room situation, and we talk about the rich history of movies like Wall Street, Boiler Room, and Wolf of Wall Street, where people who love wealth porn miss the entire point of the work. Matt and Joe rap battle, we play Matt Lieb improvises lyrics to royalty-free music, and we discuss Revenge of the Nerds and American Pie as evidence of rape culture.
Intro – Matt introduces us to “LA Matt.” #Squib
7:30 – Bobby Hacker explains “digital make-up” in production.
9:19 – Blood Father, with Mel Gibson.
13:20 – Did Louis CK ruin comedy by being too good?
15:30 – Joe’s comedy rap battle. Joe and Matt rap battle for some reason
24:00 – Back to Louis CK without the rap battle distraction
40:00 – Discussion of I Am Not Your Guru, the Netflix Tony Robbins “documentary” (concert video).
38:58 – Joe’s anecdote about working for Trump University.
49:42 – Bobby Hacker worked on a cruise ship
1:02:32 – Matt Lieb improvises lyrics to royalty-free music
1:11:10 – Your emails.
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You’re either with Paul Feig’s new Ghostbusters or you’re with the misogynists, or so the internet has decreed, which is at least mildly annoying to those of us who don’t really care about a big budget reboot either way. It feels wrong to divert activism energy towards a ghost movie. I mean, where were the people crowing about proving the misogynists wrong during the release of Maggie’s Plan (insert other movie written and directed by a woman here)? But then people share pictures of smiling little girls at the premiere and you have to concede they have a point. I mean, those little girls probably weren’t going to show up to Maggie’s Plan. And Hollywood was going to make dumb reboots anyway, right? Maybe this one will at least be a “net good,” even if you don’t particularly care to argue with some dumb neckbeard? That’s my question to the Frotcrew this week (Me – Vince Mancini, Matt Lieb, Bret, and Brendan), though we also talk the most NPR thing we’ve ever heard (Tales From NPR), a 14-year-old’s woke slam poem, Crystal Corner, and of course, force Matt Lieb to sing fully-improvised royalty free songs. Enjoy and frot on.
00:00 – Ghostbusters (also Preacher, Matt’s tuna sandwich)
15:20 – Lebowski fest, and encounters with the real-life Dude, Jeff Dowd.
24:03 – Tales From NPR.
37:49 – Wokest slam poem
52:20 – Fully improvised royalty-free music jams with Matt.
1:09:31 – Crystal Corner
1:23:00 – Bret introduces us to ASMR, which is Bret’s quicksand porn, basically.
1:30:00 – Your emails.
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Matt Ufford of SB Nation joins Vince Mancini from Uproxx and the rest of the Frotcrew (Bret and Brendan) to discuss the Game of Thrones finale. After that, we discuss Charlie Kaufman’s stop-motion cunnilingus masterpiece Anomalisa. Other topics include Brexit, the world’s worst relationship column, Harambe memes, and of course, Crystal Corner.
4:55 – Harambe memes. Why so good?
7:30 – Breaking down the world’s worst relationship blog, a divorce between Burners. “This is seriously the new dark ages.” -Bret
19:00 – We crowd source our script for “Cuck to the Future”
19:40 – Matt Ufford joins for some Game of Thrones talk.
26:25 – End Game of Thrones spoilers. Aaand we’re back to the burner article again.
32:36 – Back to Game of Thrones!
47:00 – How to deal with street petitions, and #DadBrands
55:50 – How your married friends talk to you when you’re the only single one.
58:00 – Mr Robot
1:03:00 – We talk Anomalisa, which was my favorite movie of last year but Brendan did not like.
1:15:00 – CRYSTAL CORNER, with Katy Perry.
1:21:48 – I discuss my rewatch of The Fast and the Furious, and how awful everything was in 2001.
1:32:18 – Your emails. Bret’s relationship advice: “You’re not gonna meet someone and it’s gonna be okay. It’s never going to be okay.”
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Big topics this week include Primer (2004), Megan Fox in Crystal Corner, OJ: Made in America, and of course my staph infection, and also getting in a car accident on the way to the hospital to be treated for said staph infection. But of course, most of the brilliance was off-topic, including Matt Lieb’s improvised song about eczema, a collaborative Beach Boys song about Jewish conspiracies, and a return visit from El Chapo, who has become addicted to heroin. Que pena.
Intro – Matt reading mommy blogs to learn about his allergies, leading to a spirited rendition of “The Job Interview Song (Tie Sharona)”
5:30 – I talk about my staph infection, and becoming the Staph Curry of bursa infections. (Fun fact: I got in a car accident on the way to the hospital for my staph infection)
17:55 – Matt had scabies on his penis
21:10 – Brendan got crabs when he was 10.
23:50 – Beginning of “Okay, Shut Up,” with this week’s topic, Primer (2004). Or, “Bret Explains The Plot of Primer, A Movie The Rest Of Us Didn’t Understand.”
28:50 – Do we call this style of characterization “human adjacent?”
39:07 – Crystal Corner: Megan Fox
53:00 – Emails, and our new Crystal Corner theme music
56:43 – Matt Sings Songs
1:00:40 – A wonderful improvised song about eczema
1:14:00 – Brief thoughts on OJ: Made In America
1:24:25 – More of your emails
1:34:37 – An Irish listener schools us on some Irish misconceptions surrounding circumcisions.
1:46:03 – We get a visit from heroin addict El Chapo
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In his EXCLUSIVE FIRST PODCAST APPEARANCE (sort of but not really), Brian Grubb, the Uproxx writer formerly known as Danger Guerrero, sits in for an interview mostly about TV shows, but also his journey from lawyer to writer, using his disability to score restaurant tables, and more. Before that, we introduce our new segment, “Okay, Shut Up,” which the Frot members finally watch a movie one of us won’t shut up about. This week’s movie, Chappie. We also have a new Crystal Corner, with this week’s celebrity lover of magic crystals, Jenna Dewan Tatum (wife of Channing Tatum, aka C-Tates). There’s even a Royalty-Free Music Improv with Matt Lieb. Enjoy!
Time-Stamped #Content
5:34 – Matt Lieb is locked in a Facebook beef with a guy with a funny name.
10:36 – Matt explains his gig on “The Star Wars Show” and opening for Gabriel Iglesias
19:25 – The inaugural run of “Okay, Shut Up,” in which we all watch a movie one of us won’t shut up about. This week in Okay Shut Up, Chappie, a movie I (Vince Mancini) never shut up about.
30:00 – Matt Lieb, on Yolandie Visser’s sex appeal. “It’s like she could rip out your heart and eat it and you’d still have a boner somehow.”
42:35 – CRYSTAL CORNER! This week’s celebrity who loves the power of healing crystals, Jenna Dewan Tatum.
53:00 – Royalty-Free Musical Improv, with Matt Lieb
57:40 – The EXCLUSIVE first podcast interview with The Artist Formerly Known as Danger Guerrero, Brian Grubb
1:00:00 – Better Call Saul Vs. Breaking Bad, with Brian Grubb
1:38:55 – We read your emails, about Jewishness, and Matt’s beef with the anti-circumcision lobby.
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