This week on the Frotcast, we’re discussing the classic 1986 blackface comedy, Soul Man, starring C. Thomas Howell. Did this film “predict Obama’s rise,” as Armond White believes? Comedians Matt Lieb and Allison Mick join Brendan and me (Vince Mancini) in the studio. Soul Man’s assertion that the 80s were “the Cosby decade” also lead us into a discussion of Cosby and 80s movies. We finish off with NPR corner and “The Royalty Freestyle,” in which we force Matt Lieb to improvise lyrics to royalty-free music. This week’s offerings include a song about SIDS. Enjoy, and Frot on.

Intro – Soul Man, and Armond White’s assertion that it predicted Obama

45:42 – Tales From NPR

57:00 – Matt Lieb imagines Hailee Steinfeld’s slap bass album, leading to this week’s Brendan Uncontrollably Laughing segment.

1:08:00 – Soul Man’s assertion that the 80s are “the Cosby decade” leads to a Cosby discussion.

1:15:20 – The Royalty Freestyle, including a very special song about SIDS, and “I’m Gonna Bring A Gun To School”

1:33:08 – Matt Lieb is angry about California’s marijuana-legalization proposition.

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This week on the Frotcast, we decided to talk about Ken Bone. His story seems emblematic of some of the worst of the internet, where we decide you’re a certain thing one day and celebrate you for it, and then the next day try to destroy for not being that thing we decided you were good enough. This leads us into So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed, Justine Sacco, and Melissa Villaseñor. After that we talk some Westworld, diverge into “grab that pussy”-gate, and finish off discussing the Amanda Knox documentary on Netflix. This week’s Frotcrew includes Brendan, Flophouse comedian Matt Lieb, and Joe Sinclitico from Adam Devine’s House Party. Enjoy, and Frot responsibly. 

Intro – Be warned, Matt brought his slide guitar this week. 
23:00 – Talking Jon Ronson’s ‘So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed’ and Justine Sacco.
41:40 – Justine Sacco gets us to talking about Melissa Villaseñor’s “problematic tweets” controversy.
54:50 – Brendan has some fire takes about Westworld 
1:10:21 – Talking “Grab That Pussy”-gate and whether we have some kind of grab that pussy moment. 
1:29:00 – Discussing the Amanda Knox Netflix doc and wanting to punch Nick Pisa.

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Comedians Joey Avery and Jane Harrison join Vince Mancini in the Frotquarters with Flophouse’s LA Matt (Matt Lieb) blooping in through Skype. This week, we’re talking the season premiere of Westworld on HBO. Yeah or nah? What’s up with Ed Harris’s character? Is Anthony Hopkins a great actor or is he just great at playing Anthony Hopkins? Also, the big Salesforce circle jerk, Dreamforce is in San Francisco this week, and Joey even had a comedy gig during an afterparty. So we rip on Salesforce and tech for a while. We also get into the VP debate, introduce a brand new segment of Crystal Corner, and answer your emails. Enjoy! Patreon.com/Frotcast

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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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