Newcomers: Scorsese, with Nicole Byer and Lauren Lapkus - Rocky (w/ Rekha Shankar)

Episode Date: July 30, 2024

Lauren and Nicole enter the world of boxing with very special guest, comedian and Philadelphia native Rekha Shankar! The group gets into the interesting social dynamics that come with Rocky��s quirky pet ownership, the cultural obsession with impersonating Sylvester Stallone, and the lasting impact of yelling “Adrian!”.Follow Rekha: Instagram, TwitterJoin us next week for our episode covering Miracle! Like the show? Rate Newcomers 5 stars on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and leave a review for Nicole and Lauren to read on the pod!Follow the podcast on Letterboxd.Advertise on Newcomers via Gumball.fmSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is a Hedgum Original. You're too good a fighter to become a good fighter. And instead of that, you became a ratebreaker. Some cheap second rate loan shark. To live it? It's a waste of life. I think if I break the guy's thumb, he gets laid off, right? Yeah, well, I'll figure it out. Let me do the figuring, okay, Rock? Come here and just let me do the figuring. Come on! Want wanna hit on me?

Come on! I'll break both your arms so they don't work for you! Rocky, do you believe that America is the land of opportunity? Yeah. Paulo Creed does. And he's gonna prove it to the whole world by giving an unknown a shot at the title.

I need your help about 10 years ago, right? 10 years ago? You never helped me. You didn't care. Well, if you wanted help, I say, if you wanted help, why didn't you ask? Why didn't you just ask me? Look, I asked but you never heard nothing.

Nobody's ever gone the distance of Crete. And if I can go that distance, seeing that bell rings and I'm still standing. I weren't just another bum from the neighborhood. I mean, who am I to get naive in a guy's league? Wish me luck, I'm gonna need it. Good luck. Don't leave town.

I don't believe it. Hey, the champ is down. Down, stay down. Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Welcome to Newcomers! Playing for the home team, it's me, Nicole Byer. And me, Lauren Lapkus. And of course we have Coach Allie watching along from the sidelines. This season, guess what?

Ten episodes! Ten episodes of sports movies that we've been told are the top cultural contenders delivering a knockout performance on the big screen. Today we'll be watching the iconic boxing film that kicked off an iconic boxing franchise, which I didn't even realize until right now. It's a boxing franchise? 1976's Rocky. And you better believe Rocky is streaming on Amazon Prime,

where you can rent it for a fee on any of the other major streamers. We're going to spoil it. So watch it first if you don't want to spoil her. Our visiting contender today, please give a warm welcome to the pride of Philadelphia, Rekha Shankar. Hello. Rekha is a writer, comedian, and actress who wrote for Grand Cru, starring Nicole,

Animaniacs, and Magic for Humans. You might also recognize her from Between Two Ferns with me, or from her many appearances on Dropout. Welcome Rekha, we're so excited to talk about Kuroki with you. Oh my god. I'm so excited to talk Kuroki with you guys. Okay, here is a question.

What is your relationship to one, the sport of boxing, two, the city of Philadelphia, and three, Rocky? And you can answer in any order. Okay, one, sport of boxing, million dollar baby the movie. When that came out, I was like, this is the best movie of all time, because it was like sad. And I think it was the saddest movie I had seen at that time when it came out. So I'm like, that's a movie. I was really sad at the end of it.

That's a movie. Philadelphia, it's where I'm from. But caveat, I'm the child of immigrants. And a lot of immigrants when they move to a place aren't like, let's give you a piece of history, kid. Look at the local cultural sites. They're just like, you live here, go to school, go to bed. So they never like took me to things or like,

we're like, here's Philadelphia touchstones you should know. Go to Valley Forge Park, let's go to the Liberty Bell. They're just like, this is where the house is and where the job is. You incidentally live in Philadelphia. Um, in the movie Rocky, I only saw kind of recently, but I did a deep dive on it. So I feel like it's like I've seen it,

you know, a thousand times for the past 10 years. So... What was the deep dive was something you wanted to do? It was something I wanted to do personally, because I did not know Rocky, and this might not be shocking to you guys, given that I know what your opinion of the movie is. I did not know it was a low budget movie before watching it.

We were just coming- Now I did, and I think I could tell that from the hat. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The hat was wild. It was just tipped to the side. That didn't look like it was cherry picked

by a costume designer. The hat and the jacket, I actually was like, why is it so cheap? I, that was. Yeah. When I watched it, it was like, okay, it makes sense that it was under a million, but also sort of a dozen to me, guys.

I don't know. I'm a believer in the movie. So I really want to talk about it with you guys. I think that, OK, it makes sense that it was under a million, but also sort of a dozen to me, guys. I don't know. I'm a believer in the movie. So I really want to talk about it with you guys. I think it's like it's such a huge movie that you think. I don't know what, Nicole. Why did he get a dog and then the dog disappears? Yes, that's an awesome question. So that is Sylvester Stallone's real dog. And I guess they just wanted production value Sylvester Stallone's real dog.

And I guess they just wanted production value to be like, those are his real turtles, Cuff and Link. Those are his real turtle and they're named Cuff and Link? And they're named Cuff and Link. In real life? In real life. And his real dog was named Butkus. This is what I read on my deep dive.

Please do not at me or at Lauren Lapkus for any complaints at Nicole Meyer. You can't at me. I don't care. I'm like shocked by come for me about Rocky. Cuff and Link. Now when he spoke about Cuff and Link, I thought this is this is so weird. There was so much he didn't even know though. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was like they weren't even. But you know, there was something about what he said when he picked up the two turtles and he said, I had to take the little mountain away because they kept falling off.

And I was like, that actually was kind of thoughtful. Like in a way that I wasn't expecting Rocky to be. Like I was like, oh, he's like, oh, noticing the turtle's behavior. I should remove this from the tank. Like stuff that I wouldn't think Rocky would be processing. But interesting. It's sort of like... Like, your save the cat moment, right?

We're like, ah, this man is nice because he likes animals. Like, Tony Soprano in the first episode likes ducks. Like, we like this man now. Very textbook, but it worked on me. He goes into that pet store and starts mumbling weird jokes. I'm like, wow, what a nice man. When he was practicing, and I do want to dissect the entire film bit by bit, but when he was practicing

what he was gonna say about the moths getting stuck in his turtle's throat, again, I was just like, not what I expected out of this film. This film had me, many surprises, but and then Adrian, when he shouted Adrian, I've heard about that my entire life. Me too. And I was, listen, I'm with you guys.

I was shocked that that's what it was. That it wasn't like she wasn't there and wasn't- I couldn't believe it. She was there and she was coming toward him. So I don't know why he keeps yelling it. Right. She is- It's because you can't see his eyeballs are shut.

Yeah. They're swollen shut. Right. They're sliced up. I couldn't believe it. Also, I thought there would be like more boxing. The beginning of the movie is no boxing. It's like he's just walking around in his weird little heels and then it's Converse's.

His heels. Okay, wait, on that tip, let's do the shot clock, okay? We're each gonna have 10 seconds to summarize the film one at a time. Ali's gonna count us down and start the clock and then she'll make a buzzing noise when we run out of time. So anybody wanna go first? Cause I feel like we all have our paper foam.

Sure, I'll go first. Okay. Ready? Three, two, one. A man who mumbles likes to box. He finds a girl, her brother is crazy. He punches meat. He doesn't win the boxing match. That was good. Thank you.

Okay. Rekha, you want to go or let me go? I can go. Okay. Three, two, one, go. An Italian man feels like a loser and he's attracted to people that also are losers. And he overcomes the odds of being a loser and boxes and becomes strong and at least ties with a man in the end. Okay. Okay. My turn.

Three, two, one. A pork pie hat went to a pet store and bought turtles and food. And then he had a girlfriend and he said, Adrian! Adrian! It was so wild. Adrian! Adrian! It was so wild. I couldn't believe it.

I thought it was gonna be like. I love you. I love you. I thought it was gonna be like in, what is that movie? Where it's like Stella, like I thought it was gonna be like, like he's calling to her.

And like, it was just like, he had no sense of like space or time actually. He was just like yelling weirdly. It was like he didn't like. Adrian! It was like a kid at a supermarket who lost his parent. That's so funny. Yes.

It's like he can see her, but he's still scared that he's lost. Like he has it like processed. Yeah, yeah, he's like, I'm in the dairy aisle, please. Ah! Well, we gotta take a time out. We'll be back with another round of Rocky

after a word from our sponsor. Okay, everyone say ready, break on three. One, two, three. Ready, break! You know when you discover a new binge-worthy show or a song that you play on repeat and you have to share it with your friends so they can experience just how awesome it is? That's kind of what it feels like when you discover that Mint Mobile offers premium wireless for $15 a month when you purchase a three-month plan.

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I didn't know he wrote this. Yes, he wrote it in three days. Okay. Okay. Well, all right then. I wouldn't go around bragging about that. It was directed by John G. Edvildsen. And yes, he wrote it in three days. I did see one of my Amazon facts that popped up,

which I'm sure we'll get into at the trivia section, but that Rocky- Three days. Or that Sylvester, he really wanted to sell this movie and they wanted to buy it from him for like a few hundred thousand dollars and he only had $106 to his name, but he said no because he wanted to star in it.

They wanted somebody else to star in it. And he said no, and he insisted. And he was right because it did lead to him having a huge career. But I'm so curious who they would have cast. Probably someone who enunciated a little bit better. Like, not to hate on Sylvester Stallone. Nice man, I'm sure. But it was wild.

I had the subtitles on. Just mumbles. I too had the subtitles on, because it also felt like maybe the sound wasn't the best. It's true. It sounded really far away. There were points where I had the captions on. I'm like, oh, that's what's being set. Like I was like, maybe if I was in that theater, I would have heard that. But I did not hear it through my tinny speakers of my laptop. I mean, maybe it's because it was the seventies and the sound wasn't mixed or it hasn't been

like remastered. I don't know. But we watched like other movies from that time. I think it might be a this movie issue. I think it might be the like under one million low budget kind of situation where like a lot of it's run and gone. I read something that like no one had trailers. Pizza was for every meal. The, you know, he's using his own clothes. Everybody's using her own clothes. Adrian's basically an under five, you know. He used his own clothes and he only had $106 to his name.

And that explains the jacket and the hat. That hat was so fucking funny. It didn't fit his head. It was just like jacket and the hat. That hat was so fucking funny. It didn't fit his head. It was just like tilted to the side. He, at times I was like, is he gonna do a jazz performance? Like it just seemed, it seemed very Fosse. Yes. Yeah, and it was, it was a leather like trench coat

or something, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, listen, you to take huge swings. That's a boxing recommendation, and that's a life recommendation. Go with an iconic outfit. At least it'll be remembered, you know?

Well, that being said, the outfits, I was like, these are all Halloween costumes. These are all amazing Halloween. If you are Adrian for Halloween with that little green hat and the glasses, I'm like, I would be that. That's a fun costume to wear. I like that.

I didn't like his gray sweatsuit. It was really upsetting to me. It was nasty. It's really ugly. And those are his clothes from what I read. I mean, ugh. Also his apartment was sick. His apartment was the dirtiest.

We don't wipe anything down. Don't you wonder? Like, so like there's so many things with like with when things are older, when people are supposed to be poor or something and the wall is like dirty. I'm like, that's a bit ridiculous. Yeah. Poor people can wipe down walls. Right. Right.

I will say something I read again at Lauren Lapis, at Nicole Byer for any complaints. But I read that, you know when the boxing manager comes to his apartment and then Sylvester Stallone, or sorry, Rocky's yelling at him off screen for like a thousand minutes and he goes, and this place stinks! Apparently, the apartment did stink. And that was a real thing he was thinking thinking because I think he was improvising that And he just couldn't help but say it because the room smelled really bad That's so funny.

Doesn't he say back like, it doesn't stink in here? There's actually kind of that's kind of the C plot Lauren it's like it doesn't stink and then he finally admits like it does actually stink here It stinks in here. It stinks, it does stink. Also, that man was the reddest man I have ever seen in my whole life. He was so red, I was concerned. That man was struck with his name. He was probably like 35 and just like the sun,

he just looked under him. He was scorched. Okay, let's jump into the plot. And of course, feel free to chime in at any point with anything you want to add. Okay, so in Philadelphia in 1975, a local boxer named Rocky Balboa, Sylvester Stallone, nicknamed the Italian Stallion, fights mostly in small gyms and works as a collector for a mafia loan shark. After winning a match against a fighter named Spider Rico, Rocky meets with promoter George Juergens,

Thayer David. Juergens tells him that the flashy heavyweight boxing world champion Apollo Creed, Karl Weathers, has selected Rocky as his opponent in an upcoming title about to mark the United States Bicentennial. I was like, why? Why does he just get chosen? I know, because he's like a failure.

And basically the guy is screaming at him that he's not successful, and he wasted his talent. And he... And also the mafia thing where he's like, he's like, you're supposed to break his thumb. And then he didn't do it. Is he because he's so nice? I think it's because he's a turtle guy. Turtle guys don't break funds, you know?

He's too gentle. And I think we're supposed to get a lot from Carl Weathers in this two sentence monologue he has that's like, I need to fight somebody. That guy's busy. Well, let's get a local guy. It's the bicentennial. Philadelphia's gonna love if it's a local guy. Italian's the bicentennial. Philadelphia is going to love if it's a local guy.

Italian style. And it doesn't get more Philadelphia than Italian. And you're like, OK, we've created all the dots. But I just don't buy that this like big bicentennial, they're just going to pick a random person. Isn't there like isn't there like a like a track, a roadway to get to boxing matches? Don't you have to like... Yeah, and there's like a gym full of guys

who are like working their asses off. But isn't it cool to think that you could be kind of bad and Carl Weathers could kind of just pick you from obscurity to fight. Isn't there something really hopeful and beautiful? There is. There is. All sports movies seem to be about.

I was like, yeah, Rudy, this man obsessed with Notre Dame. Who's like, gotta play football even though I'm so tiny. And then a league of their own is just like, women playing baseball. And now it's like an Italian boxing. It's it's almost like more on the it's like Carl Weathers is unusual for having a particular fixation with boxing like a nobody or like these people who have a fixation like women can't fuck with those shit.

Let's let's try them out so they get obliterated or whatever. That's the person. Yeah, I mean, I think it's like the kind of, what else can you do with a sports movie? And we'll find out this season, other than have an underdog who gets to get to do the thing. Right? Like it feels like it's kind of like,

otherwise it's just like a, what is it? I don't know. I wonder if there will be any stories that we watch, any movies that are not that kind of story. He's a loser in like a non-traditional, he's like actually a loser, right? Like he loses. Yeah.

He's not like, I'm good at what I do and no one sees it yet. He's like not great at what he does in any regard. I was gonna say, I think like his life, he's a loser. Like he kind of doesn't have it together. He's like the worst flirt. Yeah. He's like, you're gonna be a whore if you hang out here.

Okay, that moment with that little girl. So he's like, he takes this, he like walks on the street and there's these like annoying kids who are teenagers or something. He grabs a 12 year old who's like so rough and tumble. She has pigtails and she's 12. And he's like, you're going to be a whore if you keep hanging out with these people. And she's like, go to hell, Rocky. And we like never see her again. I was just like, who is this? Like, what is,

what inspired that? You know, he wrote it in three days. So he was like, I gotta call a child a whore. That seems like a good idea. Maybe I'll do a rewrite on day four. Nevermind, I'll turn it in. Yeah. But they wanted to make it instantly.

Let's do a little bit more of the, they did want to make it instantly. So they did it, which is, I do a rewrite, anyway, whatever. Okay, Rocky is reluctant at first, but he agrees to go to the fight or he agrees to the fight, which will pay him $150,000. That's so much money in 1970, whatever. That's more than this movie costs,

which is wild. Wait, how much did this movie cost? I think it was like $800,000. Wow. So Rocky undergoes several weeks of unorthodox training, including using sides of beef as punching bags in a meat locker where his best friend, Polly, Burt Young works. This was sick to me. You're just punching dead meat and then like his hands are all bloody. People are going to eat that.

People are going to eat that. And here's something I take issue with. Their friendship. Listen, men's friendships don't make any sense to me a lot of the time. I'm like, you don't know each other. You didn't invite your best friend to your wedding. I don't know what your whole deal is. Whatever. This friendship was crazy to me.

This was really hard for me to track. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They seem to hate each other. Polly is like- Disgusting. He's disgusting and aggressive. He just drinks all day. But also, wait, maybe this is the best meat anyone's ever had,

because it's already been tenderized. And it's not like Italian seasoning. That's true, you had a pro boxer. Okay, this is where it gets good. To me is the romance part of it. I liked that if I had to choose a part, that was my favorite. Meanwhile, Rocky pursues Adrienne, Talia Shire,

Polly's sister, a shy woman who's like so shy, who works at the pet store. She's like Boo Radley levels of shire. She's like running away. She's got scrapings on her wall. She's got rabbits in her closet. She's like hiding behind things and like, yeah. She works at the pet store where Rocky buys food

for his pet turtles and fish. Polly tries to get Rocky a date with her, saying that she's never had a boyfriend, even though she's about to turn 30. And Polly also offers- She was 30? Yes, and he's like, I'm 30. And Polly also offers to- She was 30? Yes, and he's- I didn't clock that.

She's a tough 30. She's a gotten 32. These people are not 30. Yeah, Polly also offers to work as a corner man for Rocky's fight and to work for Rocky's mob boss, but Rocky turns them down for both. Eventually he woos Adrienne and the two start dating. So I wanna talk about the romance element

and how he woos her. Cause he like tries to talk to her at the pet store and she like runs away. Then he comes to her house for it to ask her on a date. Right? Is that how he just gets it going? He just like comes over and then the brother like throws out the chicken she's cooking and like takes a full chicken out of the oven,

like throws it out the door. She's like, Oh my God. A pedantic correct correction. It was Thanksgiving turkey, which is so fucking rude. I don't eat meat anymore, but I've like, those take a really long time, right? Like more than a chicken. That takes like eight hours or something. Yeah. That takes like eight hours or something. That's so mean. That's so fucking rude. But also, Pauly's terrible. He's like hitting things and throwing out turkeys and shit.

And I don't understand why they live together, even though they seem to hate each other. He like claims... He's doing like an arranged date. He's like, come to my house and fuck my sister. She's a loser. And then he does. And then he's like, why'd you do that? Now she's a whore, like that little girl. Like...

I hate his whole brain. Like he's awful. Yeah. And then he's like, he says when he's like breaking the apartment apart with like bashing everything and he's like, I only live with her because she's too stupid to live alone or something. He like says he's like helping her

as if like living with him. And then he's like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, bashing everything and he's like, I only live with her because she's too stupid to live alone or something. He like says he's like helping her as if like living with him is so great. Yeah, that's his save the cat moment. You're supposed to. Yes. But I did like after he smashed up the apartment, Adrian's like, you want a roommate? She's so quiet in a way that I was like, I have never met anyone like this.

Who's just like scared of the world. I guess they wouldn't talk to you. I gotta say that's a rough part. That's a rough part to cast and to audition for. I don't know what the character description is. Like, terminally shy woman. If a mouse became a human. Yeah.

Maybe she was a mouse from the pet store. Yeah. I feel like, yeah, I feel like the pet store scenes felt almost like Little Shop of Horrors. Like, it was like a weird, like, energy in there. And like, he's like obsessed with... I feel like her character was kind of like from a musical. It had a little energy of like, something's happening there

and maybe you're gonna hear something energy of like, something's happening there and maybe you're gonna hear something, but we never do. I don't know. Yeah, you're kind of waiting for her to give us big speech about herself. And I guess she does when she tells her brother, like, I'm not as much of a loser as you say I am. But yeah, you don't really get the release,

or you don't really get why she likes Rocky, except for the fact that he's sort of imposed himself on her Right. Yeah, and I think that that's like that was like me kind of sad because I was like, oh she's never had a boyfriend And then this guy is saying he'll be her boyfriend But he's definitely not the right person for her like she should be with someone smarter Well, I don't know why he likes her. I don't know why he likes her either. It's really, listen, all you need from me, I just need to see two people kiss. I just want to see kissing.

So I really love her. We're the same. We're the same. I do love a kiss. I love kissing. And even that, I know I'm jumping ahead. Even their kiss was strange. Well, I did see a factoid on my Amazon pop-up

that she had the flu. Yes, I saw that too. But, oh no. I know, which is like so gross, but like also whatever. They, I don't know, that would have been terrible to have to film that way of the flu. And they're like, we're not gonna move it because we don't have any money.

We can't change the days. But like, when're not gonna move it because we don't have any money. We can't change the days. But like, when him liking her, I feel like is this thing that like, I do think this happens where like someone dumb, no offense, Rocky, like can see how amazing she is because she's smart and interesting and like unique. And so he's like, glom onto that and like kind of pull her down,

but not see that he's doing that. She doesn't see it because she's never had a boyfriend. And so she's like, yay, but it's like, you could actually be with someone better for you. Who could like have a conversation with you. I feel like they're on the same level. Do you? I feel like she talks about being smart. And so I was like, she's smart,

but I guess that's not necessarily shown in the movie. She's just like quiet and unwraps his bloody hands. And I was just like, why don't you wash your hands after hitting the meat and she's fine with it. And then when he's like, no fooling around. And she was like, oh, okay. Yeah, when she wanted to like suck his D. Yeah.

Suck his D. I think she wanted to. Quiet just suck his D. Yeah. Suck his D. I think she wanted to quietly suck his D. It was like that movie, though, that that one we watched. What was the boxing movie from the Scorsese season? Oh, Raging Bull, where he's like, no sex because I'm fighting. Like that must be some thing where like they're like, if you come. It is a thing in a lot of sports. They're like, if you come, then all the good sports juice in your body

weaves and you become low T and bad. Wait, that's so funny. I need you to come to fight. Yeah. You know, the number one priority in this business is calm. If everyone on like every sports team that we watch is like so full of cum. Wow, you're clocking in at two pounds over your mom. What's going on? That's sick. Oh, my God, that's so funny.

Just sports teams full of cum. Oh, my God. They's so funny. Just sports teams full of cum. Oh my God. They won't let it out. They won't. And neither will Rocky. That's a nice specificity. He did his research. Yeah, it's nice to know. Okay, so Rocky is later approached by Mickey Goldmille,

Burgess Meredith, who you might remember as the Penguin in 1969 Batman. I sure didn't. Oh, me too. Sure didn't. Everything about Batman has left my brain. A former Bantamweight fighter turn trainer who works at the gym, Rocky Frequence, about further training, Mickey convinces Rocky

that he needs a manager in his corner, citing it as a reason he himself never made it big as a boxer. Rocky is not willing initially, as Mickey has always given him a hard time about his wasted talent. They get into a heated argument in Rocky's apartment and eventually Mickey convinces him that he believes in him and he thinks he's got what it takes. And Rocky accepts the offer.

This was like, so I was like, men can't just be like, sorry, I'd like to help you now they have to just like scream at each other. Also his ears were so wild looking. Oh my God. Well, also I just want to say Bantam weight is, is, is a fighter who weighs between 117 and 121 pounds. Oh my God. They're like smaller guys.

Yeah. Wow. Also called featherweight or something maybe. Oh, I've heard of featherweight. Yeah. So Mickey goes like you, he, Rocky's like, why don't you ever let me do it? Also called featherweight or something maybe. Oh, I've heard of featherweight. Yeah, so Mickey goes like you, Rocky's like, why don't you ever let me do it? Why don't you ever, you always tell me I'm a loser.

And he's like, because you should have been out there, Rocky. You're really talented and you instead want to go be a hitman or something. And he was like, well, it's living. He's like, it's not living. By the way, I really understand why everyone loves to do impressions of Sebastian Sloan because it's so fun. It is very funny. You just go, you kind of don't use your tongue a little bit. I will say, Lauren, I think your speech was better than what happened

because the unsatisfying parts of this movie for me were trying to follow the threads of friendship and like who has a bone to pick with who and like, like to me, the story is no guy who didn't believe in me. You don't get to represent me now that I have a cool opportunity. But it was like, no, OK, I guess you can be rude to me as much as you want. And you still get to represent me. And like, no, I'm not going to advertise for your company. You were rude to my girlfriend. You were rude to me. It's like, no, actually, I'm going to do it. Yeah, kind of about selling out and having no self respect.

Nothing matters. Nothing truly matters. I also really liked when Pauly had the newscaster come to the meat place and he's like, why did you do that? Why? And then Pauly is just like in the background and they're like, get out of there. And then he's like, I want to say I am a girlfriend, Adrienne. Hi Adrienne. I was like, what?

I know it's like, he doesn't understand TV and then he's watching it with her and he's like, see, Adrian. Hi, Adrian. I was like, what? I know it's like he doesn't understand TV. And then he's watching it with her and he's like, see how I said it. I'm like, oh, my God. And I was like, haven't they only been dating like a week? But I think for them, yeah, yeah. I think like going from she doesn't say a word they're in an apartment together is like marriage or something.

Yes. I think you're right. Because I personally felt like I was watching it thinking, I guess a couple of months have passed, but that's not true. It was, it was pretty quick. Yeah. Because the time frame of the movie is like, what, Thanksgiving to Christmas or something. Or yeah, it's like a month. Yeah. Wow. You love to see it. Not wanting to talk to him yeah. It's like a month. Yeah. Wow. You love to see it.

She went from not wanting to talk to him to living with him in a month. That's a love story. Polly becomes jealous of Rocky's success and blows up at him and Adrian and Polly's apartments when he's bashing everything in. Eventually, Rocky agrees to advertise the meatpacking business where Polly works for sponsorship as part of the upcoming fight, and both of them reconcile. Rocky trains extensively for the championship bout.

In a now iconic training montage, we see Rocky train all around the city of Philadelphia accompanied by his new dog, ButtKiss, a surprise gift from Adrian. I loved that scene. She was like, I got you a dog. You like it? He's like, yeah, keep you company while you run. Yes, for me. And then we don't see the dog again.

No, I want to imagine because I think giving someone a dog is a gift. It's a it's a tough gift. You're kind of giving him a lot to do. Yeah. And this is a man that does it. Also, every item he listed in his fridge was like, I got cookies, I got cupcakes, I got brownies, I got frosting. I was like, why do you eat like a kid at a slumber party? An elf? Yeah. Yeah.

But also I like that he had cupcakes in the fridge. Who does that? That's psychotic. Cold cupcakes? It's a nice specific. Sounds kind of good, honestly. Like, I would have said yes. A cold cupcake? It's a character development.

But she kind of gave him a big problem. So maybe there's like a deleted scene where he... I don't know, he gives it back. He's like, I want this dog. This dog's taking up too much of my time. It's a huge dog. It's a huge dog. I got a boxed a dog.

Is this dog a boxer? I gotta say. Hey, that's funny. That was funny. Thank you. Is this dog a boxer? Wow, I said this is funny and then I got it. Boy oh boy.

It's good. I liked the training montage. It was very fun. That was the best part. Definitely what you see why it's iconic. The like the stairs and the, he's not good at the stairs. Then he is good at the stairs. Yeah.

It's so funny that he cheers for himself. Like I didn't understand the context of like pumping your fists at the top of the stairs. I was like, oh, it's because he climbed the stairs and went, I did a good job. See, I think the movie. OK, here's what's kind of cool. It's this is a real loser. This is a fake loser like in other sports movies where it's someone that's like,

damn, that person is so fucking hot. Like in Creed, I'm like Michael B. Jordan, you're going to win. You're super hot. You're incredible. There's no way you don't win. This is like he's an actual loser. He has weird relationships with everyone around him. I don't know what his job is. He's not good at all of his jobs.

He's got weird hobbies, weird interests, weird personality. Then he climbs the stairs and he goes, yeah, me. Yeah. It's cute. I mean, I could definitely see myself filming something if I were to ever be by those stairs, right? You kind of have to know. Once you've seen that, you got to do something on those stairs. I don't know if I'm not promising I would run up them

because I don't, there were a lot. There were a lot of stairs. It's too many. I would never, I would run up them because there were a lot. There were a lot of stairs. It's too many. I would never, I would walk slowly, maybe halfway up and then be like, yay, I did that. I also really liked when he was like running through town. I don't know, like a shitty street.

Everyone's like, Rocky, hello. Like, I just, I love that everyone knew this man. Yeah. I read somewhere that those are not, cause they couldn't pay for extras. Those are just like real people being like, Oh, you're filming. And so those are probably just real people being like,

Hmm? Like spike in the camera. That's so funny. It would be so cool to be in it though. Like if you just were someone who was walking on the street and then you're like in that movie, that'd be cool. Yeah. And maybe not legal. I don't really know what the deal is.

Yeah, no, no, I don't think that's right. I don't know either. I think technically, as long as you post signs, you're okay. I think. Yeah. Reality TV roles, yeah. You might be on TV. You're on Love Island, sorry. You walked in.

Is that what it is? Like, if they have like a, if a reality TV show is at like a restaurant, you kind of agree that you would be on it. Uh-huh. Just by walking in. Hmm. All right. Hmm.

Hmm. All right. Hey, if that's what they say. Okay. I don't know why we lost track of time. That was a good show. Okay, meanwhile, Apollo is unconcerned about the match and puts more effort into promotion than training.

The night before the fight, Rocky visits the gym where the match is about to take place and it shakes his confidence. I love it that they were like, go home. He's like, okay. And he comes home to Adrian and confesses that he doesn't think he could do it, but strives to go the distance against Creed,

which no other fighter has done to prove himself to everyone. I did love that he's like, I ain't doing it. And I was like, okay, then why are you gonna do it? Was this where they kissed? Or was it before this? They kissed before, I think. Before.

Like on their first date. We need to talk about that kiss. Yeah. I think it was after the ice rink, right? Yes. Okay, oh, wait, we didn't talk about the ice rink. Okay, they go ice skating on their date. We just have to talk about that kiss. Yeah. I think it was after the ice rink, right? Yes. Oh wait, we didn't talk about the ice rink. Okay, they go ice skating on their date. We just have to talk about that because he like,

He walks. Yeah, he like breaks into the ice rink and it tells the Zamboni guy like, we gotta go on the ice. She needs it for her health or like something. And then they go on the ice and she's like skating around and he's walking next to her in his little clogs and he's like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, and like,

she's just like, keeps skating ahead. And then they have the kiss where he's like, I wanna kiss you. And he's like, you don't have to kiss me back. And I'm like, that's almost romantic. And then, and then he goes into kiss her and then they do kiss and they fall to the ground. He takes off her glasses and her hat.

It's very like Clark Kent or something like, oh, now you're hot. Or like, you know, like she's all that. Like, it's very she's all that. It's like, oh, my God, under those glasses, you're cute. Yeah. She's all that inspired by this movie. She wears like cat eye glasses, doesn't she? And then she and she has like a short. Well, does Rachael Leacook talk in that movie?

If she has no lines, it could be a big agent. She has no lines. Okay, the fight takes place on New Year's Day with Creed making a big showy entrance dressed as George Washington and then Uncle Sam, which I was like, this is so silly. That was very funny to me. I said, why?

Yeah. That was, funny to me. I said, why? That was, I used to watch WWE stuff and people cover with campy things, but I'm like, he was on like a fake boat on the Delaware river, like George Washington on January 1st, not like July 4th or anything. Right. I guess cause it was the bicentennial

and that's what they're celebrating. But it still was like, it felt really silly that he's wearing that costume. It was very goofy. Rocky's normal. Rocky has the Shamrock Meat Company, inexplicably is helping Pauly. Don't know why, you don't owe this man anything,

whatever, has only been mean to you. Yeah, like, yeah, he's so mean to him. And he makes him tell him that he slept with his sister, which is like it was gross. And Rocky, which is so weird. Rocky has some morals that he's like, you shouldn't be saying that about your sister. Like, don't make me say that I slept with her. Like, you're disgusting.

Well, it is gross. Why do you want to know that about your sister? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like he's trying to hold in like a, like a whole mouth of Mountain Dew. Oh. No, no, no, no.

Taking advantage of his overconfidence, Rocky knocks him down in the first round, the first time that Creed has ever been knocked down. Humbled and worried, Creed takes Rocky more seriously for the rest of the fight, though his ego never fully fades. And the fight goes on for the full 15 rounds with both combatants sustaining various injuries. This was disgusting.

Rocky, he gets hits to his head and swollen eyes. He requires his right eyelid to be cut to restore his vision. Ugh! The blood they used was not good blood. Yeah, it was thick. It was thick paint. It was like, yes. So they cut his eye at the top.

OK, so I was looking this up. I was like, what is the theory that like, OK, my eye is so swollen. I cut it here and create. You move my lid to the bottom and then I can see. Or I would cut down here. Right. I would go home. I wouldn't cut anything. Wow. You wouldn't go the distance.

I would say I guess for that reason, I'm out. I got to go. Lauren, which part of your face are you cutting off to be? I would cut off the whole thing and I would just be a skeleton. That was so sick though. I was like, oh, why are they doing that? And his eye was so thick and it was just, it was disgusting. Yeah, it was nasty.

That's your 800,000 right there. That's it. That is the whole fight. I felt was the budget, cause I'm like, that's, it was a big set. Apollo has internal bleeding and a broken rib and he struggles to breathe. And as the fight concludes, Creed's superior skill is countered by Rocky's

apparently unlimited ability to absorb punches and his dog's refusal to go down. As the final bell sounds with both fighters embracing each other, they tell each other there will be no rematch. Aw. Aw. I, okay. Why did Rocky just kept getting hit in the head? I was like, why aren't you ducking? Why aren't you bobbing and weaving? Why are you just letting this man hit you

in the fucking head? I know. I don't, I don't know. It felt like he would, I mean, I think he was just trying to prove he would withstand anything at that point. But it was crazy. And that is ultimately an awesome message to be like, listen, every person in my life has been rude to me

and I always welcome them back. It's beautiful. Yeah, that is what it is. Yeah, he just gets punched in the head and is like, thank you so much. Thank you so much. I love it so much. Well, the fight is extremely well received

by the sportscasters and the audience. Over the commotion and the cheers of the crowd, Rocky calls out repeatedly for Adrian. Adrian! Adrian! Adrian! Adrian! Adrian! Adrian! Adrian! Adrian!

Adrian! Adrian! Adrian! Adrian! Adrian! Adrian! Adrian! Adrian!

Adrian! Adrian! Adrian! Adrian! Adrian! Adrian! Adrian! Adrian!

Adrian! Adrian! Adrian! Adrian! Adrian! Adrian! Adrian! Adrian! Adrian! Adrian! Adrian! he's screaming Adrian, because I was like, who won? So apparently Creed won, because I didn't look it up. I was like, I'll wait till the podcast. Rocky and Adrian embrace and profess their love

for each other, not caring about the outcome of the fight. She was just like, I love you. Imagine looking at that man with a bloodied fucking face, a weird eye patch, fucking eyelid that he's looking through and going, I love that, I love you. She's never had a boyfriend, Nicole. Maybe she thinks that's what boyfriend is. She thinks boyfriend, boyfriend is skin.

Boyfriend is blood. Boyfriend is skin. Oh. Boyfriend is skin. Skin. Yeah. Boyfriend is bae. Boyfriend is skin.

And I really couldn't believe that that's what that moment is that we've all been talking. And I understand why everyone's been talking about it forever and why we've been referencing it, because it is iconic. But it is so not what I thought it was gonna be. And it was just... The intonation was strange, the timing was strange, why it was happening.

All of it was like... Like, I was like, huh? Like, I just was like, oh, okay, that's what that is. I was kind of obsessed, but because I was like, I truly can't believe he's just standing there in a crowd. Ah! Hey, Gia! I thought it was going to be at the top of the stairs. Yeah, I thought it was going to be like outside of her home

or something. I thought there was going to be like a moment of like something happened in their relationship and he's trying to get her or something. But yeah. I knew it was in the ring, but I thought it was like. I think it's what you said, Nicole, the fact that a very huge plot point is happening in the background, which is that green one. I understand what that is supposed to accomplish. It's supposed to be like, I don't even care.

But what actually happens is I don't know what's happening. I did not hear. I lost the geography. I didn't hear what was happening at all. I was like, why is he doing that? Like, I just was like, I'm only watching him. Like, I don't care about anything. And I mean, I guess if that was the point Like I just was like, I'm only watching him. Like I don't care about anything. And I mean, I guess if that was the point

then it was achieved, but it was very, very distracting. Chaotic, it was so chaotic. Absolutely. Well, this movie was both a box office and critical success. It was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including best actor, best supporting actor, and best supporting actress.

Was it Pauly? It must have been, because there's not really another, unless it was Apollo Creed. Budkiss. Yeah, oh, Carl Weathers. I gotta say. Oh, Carl Weathers was nominated? I have no idea. He was good.

He was so fucking hot. My God. I didn't know he was good. So Carl Weathers was nominated? I have no idea, he was good. He was so fucking hot, my God. Yeah. I didn't know he was that jacked. I was a fool. Very, very hot. It was Burgess Meredith who was nominated, who played Mickey. Your red, the sunburn guy?

Yeah, the little guy. Oh. Oh. Interesting. Oh, and Pauly was nominated. Oh, wow. It won best picture, best director, and best film editing. And it holds a 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Now, okay. We're gonna be like, I know everyone loves it. So it's again, this is just, this is what happens to us every season. Like, except for Scorsese actually. But like, everybody loves something and we're like, what's going on? We're trying our best.

I'm glad I've seen it now. I'm just, I am intrigued that people would be like, that's one of the best movies ever. Yeah, I thought it was like a little chaotic and meandering and I thought more boxing would happen. It made a lot of money at the box office, $225 million and the budget was just under a million. Rocky is notable for its worldwide percentage return

of over 11,000%. I mean, that's insane. And also like Sylvester Stallone must've felt so vindicated by that. They didn't want him to be in it. And then he's like, this is the biggest movie in the world. Yeah.

And I got nominated for a fucking Oscar and you didn't think I could do it. Yeah, that would feel amazing. Oh my God. Now here's what I'll say. Cause I know, okay, we're seeing it meandering. This movie is different than what I thought it would be the first time I saw it.

I thought it would be like really polished. I think the behind the scenes like really informed my viewing, like I like can't separate them now where I'm like, it's a underdog story made by an underdog. He's kind of scotch taped together. I don't know. I'm having fun. I don't get the romance. I don't get the friendships. But I had a little bit of fun. I like that.

Yeah. I mean, I think there's also, I sort of enjoy with like these, there's some like 70s movies that kind of feel like a little slice of life. You like it kind of does. You're just kind of seeing his life and then he does this big thing. And I can enjoy that. I am just intrigued by the characters life. I'm like, he likes to go to the pet store.

He likes to have turtles. He likes to talk to a 12 year old. He likes to see everything he does is like so weird and like not at all what you would think this, which is, that's fun. But it's just like, I would never have guessed that Rocky had two turtles named Cuff and Link. I love that this is what you're stuck on.

Kind of like the first scene of the movie. But it's like, it's such a weird trait. stuck on. Kind of like the first scene of the movie. But it's like it's such a weird trait. Like he has turtles. Like I don't know. Not a lot of people have turtles. And then like he's obsessed with them. He's talking about their terrarium that they live in.

That did stick with me. It did. It's almost like it has like student film vibes in that way, or it's like this student is filming their project in Philadelphia and they have access to one weird looking chair. So now the movie is about the weird chair or whatever at their mom's house or something. Totally. It's like, we've got two turtles, we've got a dog. I have boxing gloves and I have a little hat that's too small for my head.

What can we make? We're gonna make a boxing movie. Yeah, I just, I liked the, like the, the back end of the movie more than the front. Sure. It was just like the, from the training montage on, I was in, also we didn't talk about why he drank his eggs funny. He drank his eggs

and got eggs all over his sweatshirt. Yes, I think it was just like he could have drank them slowly. Oh, ravenous for the eggs. Yeah. Did you ever consider Nicole that he was hungry for the eggs? No, I didn't consider he was hungry for them eggs. Have you ever eaten a raw egg? No, I'm never doing that. One, because that's sick. Two, why was his bed so small? I've moved on from eggs.

Why was that twin so small? How did they both sleep in that bed? Good question. It's rough. When you're in love though, you can sleep in any size bed. That's really beautiful. I hope to sleep with my lover in a twin bed soon. And honestly, wait, someone brought up Converse's earlier?

Incredible advertisement for Converse. Yeah. Holy crap. That's not a shoe I even walk in. They hurt my feet. So sorry. Hope they're not your sponsors. The idea that Rocky did his training montage in Converse? Get out of here. I know. I feel like in the 70s, people would wear those basketball teams

wore Converse and stuff. They're extremely unsupportive shoe, but they look cute. They do look cute. He looks really cute. That outfit was really giving. The kind of 14 sweatshirts on top of each other. Like you're trying to sneak onto an airplane without a suitcase. Oh, speaking of which, here's a good hack.

If you have a neck pillow, take the pillow part out, shove clothes in it. Yeah, exactly. Oh, that's really good. You're allowed to bring a pillow and it doesn't count as you're carrying on your personal. That's really smart. OK, I love it. My friend Poonam, it is her idea. I will not take credit, but I was like, wow, smart. That is Poonam Patel.

Mm hmm. She's so funny. She's the greatest. Sorry. She's funny. Sorry. Sorry about it. She's the greatest. Sorry. She's funny. Sorry. Sorry about it. She the best. All right. Let's hear a little trivia from the film. Stallone's managers shopped the script around to various studios, but they were repeatedly rejected

because Stallone insisted he star in the lead role. Eventually, producers Irvin Winkler and Robert Chardoff offered to produce the movie on the condition that Stallone work as a writer without a fee and as an actor for scale. They then brought the script to United Artists who were eyeing established actors like Robert Redford or James Kahn for the main role. And in order to get the film made,

they slashed the budget in half, signed agreements that they would be personally liable if the film went over budget and mortgage their houses for the last $100,000. Whoa, why old? That is a sick. That is an underdog story if there ever was one. That's amazing.

So they all got rich from that. They did. But also imagine this movie flopped and then you're homeless. Yeah, that's that's that's so crazy. You should never ever mortgage your house for a movie. And I think that's something that like that this movie as it stands now would not function in 2024. Like if someone did that, if Rocky didn't exist and you were like, I have this idea for Rocky and you tried to make it in that way and came up with that product, I think

you'd be ripped to shreds for all the reasons that we just stated. You would not make your return, I think. Yeah. No. Yeah, I think. Yeah, no. Yeah, I agree. I fully agree. People will be like, what is this? Well, there's two mistakes in the film that they couldn't afford to fix.

So Stallone wrote them into the script. When Rocky sees the poster above the ring before he fights Apollo, which hasn't been red shorts with a white stripe, there's an actual mistake made by the props department. Stallone came up with the idea for Rocky to point out the mistake himself. That was so funny.

Cause during that scene, I was like, shut up. Why are you saying? Why does he care? Why does he care that his shorts don't match the poster? I was like, it does, it actually doesn't matter. Like the poster isn't supposed to be you right now. It's you in a picture. It doesn't even look like you.

Okay. But guys, I'm a dumb little sap. And when I saw that before I knew that the spec, I was like, you can't catch a break. Damn, the poster's wrong. The stadium's against him. Wow, incredible. Yeah, it did read that way a little bit, like where it was like, this poster's not even right.

It's not what I'm wearing. But it's so funny that it's like, no, the simplest answer is correct. It's like, it's the wrong poster. Sorry. That's so funny to me. And I love that you like read into it like, oh, no, he can't win anything. I actually was like, shut up, go home. But I'm like, I'm totally tricked by like movie tropes like that sometimes I'm like, damn, wow. That's actually beautiful subtle storytelling.

Incredible. Yeah. Oh, here's another one. Likewise in the final scenes with Rocky's baggy robe, the robe delivered on the set was far too baggy for Stallone. So rather than hope people wouldn't notice the character himself simply points it out. I mean, you know, I have to I I actually do kind of respect that.

But he was because it's like there have been. Yeah, it's like there's something kind of funny about just accepting like, this is all we have, but it looks really bad. But just go like, this looks really bad. And then you're just like, OK, like, yeah, it seems like it must have. And I work it into the character. Everyone's against Rocky, the road makers, the sign makers of the world, everybody, turkeys, whatever, whoever.

I'm not gonna wear a baggy robe. Uh. Uh. Uh. Uh. Rocky's dog in the film, Butt Kiss, was Stallone's actual dog, who he had sold just before he sold the Rocky script

because he could no longer afford dog food. Aw. When he sold the script soon after, he went and bought his dog back and put him in the movie. Oh, that's cute. That was a little treat. I'm gonna come around so hard on this and be like, I love this and I love Rocky.

I can't separate it. It's so hard to. Wait, Lauren, Rocky still has, or Rocky, Stallone still has Rocky's two turtles, Cuff and Link, to this day. How long do turtles live? Maybe focusing on the turtles wasn't so crazy. I think turtles live, like tortoises live for like,

literally no one correct me, 300 years or something, psycho like that. Oh no. Yeah, so Cuff and Link could be in Rocky 100. We don't know. Turtles, lifespan, they can be into their 40s, 50s, or even 100. Okay, yeah, like what I said, 300, exactly what I said. Yeah, that's really, I mean, that's crazy. I hope he has someone who's gonna take care of them

in case they outlive him. I mean, that's really cute that he still has them. And I'm so curious what he, he's in a little selfie here with the turtles and behind him someone's holding a boom mic. So I'm curious, what is he filming with Cuff and Link today? Yeah, that's that life. Me and my girl. Rocky five, Cuff and Link, and they just box each other.

I bring Cuff and Link everywhere I go. Really cute. Okay, let's take a quick break. We have to take another time out. We'll be back with more Rocky after this. Ready? Break! And we're back.

It's the newcomers draft. We're gonna recast this movie with present day actors. Okay. Ooh, who would we pick for? Who would be Rocky? Well, it's funny, cause this has a present day actors, okay. Ooh, who would we pick for? Who would we pick for? Well, it's funny, because this has a present day counterpart, but obviously Creed is a much different movie.

Oh, so that's the other perspective of this or something? Yeah, so Creed is basically like either their son or grandson of Apollo Creed is going up against somebody and Rocky trains him. Oh. Rocky continues on in Creed. Wow. written by Aaron Covington of Grand Creed.

Wow. Oh, I don't think I knew that. Yeah, yeah. That's really cool. Oh, how fun. Crazy. Well, okay, who would you make? But we didn't have to cast him.

Who would you cast as Ra... We... Who do you want? Who do you want to see? Who's like huge and like kind of goofy? Like a... John Cena is like too self-aware, find me. I know, I was like Channing Tatum. Oh!

Okay. Channing Tatum could be good. Yeah. I feel like now it would be, who's that guy from? Anyone but you, Glenn Powell. Oh, Glenn Powell. Yeah, he's in everything. That's why it would be him. Yeah. Could he be like...

Maybe Miles Teller? Oh, yeah. I can really see that. You need like the like... I think Rocky literally calls himself like a tomato or something in the movie. He's like, what am I, a tomato? And I was like, he kinda is a tomato. You need someone that has like tomato energy.

Yeah, tomato energy. Okay, who's Adrienne? God, the plastic bag. I don't know, man. Like, she didn't have much to do in this movie. I know. Yeah. I want to say Marissa Tomei,

but if we're doing Miles Teller, that's not really a match. Mia Goth. Who's that? Oh. She's in like Maxine and- Oh yes, yes. You Can't think of another thing. But she seems... I think she would be good. Or maybe Florence Pugh.

Yeah. Whoever it is, they better wear that exact same hat. I liked that green hat. Yeah, it's a nice hat. It's kind of like a turtle. Oh, my God, is that why he liked Adrienne? Because her hat kind of looked like little berets look like turtles.

He thought, oh, this is actually huge. At the pet store, he's been flirting with her. He thought she was a big turtle. He really thought that. And he's like, I can't believe I married a woman. I got a turtle lady. Polly is like, why doesn't she have a boyfriend? She's a turtle, so she didn't. Yeah, Polly is like, why doesn't she have a boyfriend? She's a turtle, so she can't have a boyfriend.

Yeah, Polly's like, and you're dating this turtle? You're like, stop pointing it out. I mean, I just looked up the hat again. It really does kind of look like a turtle shell. And I think that's why he liked her. I like that, actually. Tortoise shell glasses. We don't know how deep this goes.

Uh-huh. Turtles all the way down is a phrase. OK. Uh-huh. Turtles all the way down. OK. You know, all of her, she had another, she had a little red beret later. That was also cute. Look at this.

And he complimented her on her clothes like a few times. Yeah. Yeah. I do love that turtle hat and the big jacket. I might be this for Halloween. I want you to be. I might own everything you need. I have a black wig. I'm good to go. Who are the other characters you would need to cast? Mickey. Do you ever cast, is it always human actors?

I feel like Mickey's like a cartoon. No, give us a cartoon. Yeah, give us a cartoon. Like Yosemite Sam or like the furry heart Looney Tune. I forget his name. Yeah. Like he's like a, just like a cartoon duck. I don't know. He's like a cartoon duck. Playing a different movie. Yeah, with like a cigar. he's like a just like a cartoon duck. I don't know. He's like a cartoon

Yeah, with like a cigar. He's like, oh my god. I would love that. It's kind of like a Roger Rabbit like experience Yeah, I'm into it. Yeah. Yeah, I love that or he's like that pig with a gun. What's his name porky? God porky is a gun With a gun that pig with a gun what Porky has a gun? Isn't there a pig with a gun? You know that pig with a gun? What's his name, Porky? Oh, Elmer Fudd. Wait, Elmer Fudd. Okay, wait, actually, kind of huge.

Porky and Elmer Fudd probably have the same body type, but just different noses. Wait, Elmer had a- Yeah, you're right. Their heads are exactly the same shape. They probably used the same cells to draw them. Yeah. Lazy, lazy, cartoonist.

Lazy, lazy, animated. Lazy, lazy, cartoonist. Lazy, lazy, animator. Lazy, lazy. Do a different thing for the pig. Come on. That seems like a great cast. I like it. This is gonna be a good movie. It's gonna be so good.

Let's do our segment called Kiss Cam. We finally have a kiss. Name the best smooch from the movie or who you wish you saw a smooch on the big screen. We obviously had a great kiss with them where she was very sick and he made her do that. I got to look that up. I'm curious about that. Wait, did they kiss at the end? No, right?

He just screamed Adrian and she was like, I love you. And there was no kiss. I think she ran up to him and hugged him, maybe kissed him on the cheek. Yeah, so, okay. So here's the factoid about this. Adrian's hesitation to kiss Rocky wasn't originally in the script.

She contract, Talia Shire contracted the flu, was worried about getting him sick. So she was very reluctant to kiss him and it ended up being better than the planned scene. So it was kept in the movie. So she would have just kissed him, which... I guess, as the viewer, I would have been like, oh, she likes him.

But in this version, I'm going like, she's not sure yet. And so that's also kind of interesting. Yeah, I think it's hotter if she likes him. I go, oh, he did kind of break through some wall and she does see something in him, but instead it read as like, if I must, if I must. Yeah, yeah. So that kiss wasn't what I wanted it to be.

So if I had to imagine a different kiss. Oh, I wanna add one more thing. Yeah. It's Sylvester Stallone's favorite scene in the entire Rocky saga. And both he and Talia Shire see the scene as a birth scene for Adrienne where she has awakened to a new life.

Oh. I guess she does warm up to it in the scene. You see her, like, finding it hot. And I guess also, again, it's all the BTS, like, the backstory informing me watching it. But I'm like, I guess that's cool for her character who's like, I've never been outside, I've never spoken to anybody.

My best friend is a bird and like, this is your first kiss and it's scary and whatever. And then you're like, actually I like it. Yeah, you could see how she gets, like, intoxicated by Rocky. But it's, yeah, it's funny that... It is funny to hear that it was just because she did it that way. He really was big on just weaving in whatever was happening in the moment. And that's improv.

That's improv, baby. There was a loose outline of improv. Improv. That's Improv, baby. There was a loose outline of Improvise. If that was true for this, it was just like a few beats per page. I mean, I would believe it. Yeah, they did it curb style. Is there anyone you wish you saw kiss?

Some of the boxers in the background. I wish Pauly kissed somebody because I feel like that might have, you know, calmed him down a bit. Yeah, that poor person. I could do with Carl Weathers having a kiss. He's so cute. If he had like a spouse or somebody that was like, you're going to win, baby. And, you know, long, long, long. Is he in the next one?

I don't know. I have not seen Rocky two, actually. How many are there? There's going to be no rematch. So maybe maybe he's not in the second one. There are a total of nine movies in the Rocky franchise. Oh, my God. Five in the main series to start it off. A one off continuation close to 30 years after the first film and three Creed films

that serve as a new storyline based off the originals. Wow, I did not realize. And they might do a prequel. In July of 2019, Stallone said in an interview there has been ongoing discussions about a prequel. How do you do a prequel? I don't understand this. For movies like, like there was talk of like a legally blonde prequel. How do you do a piece that is a prequel to the origin story? The thing that like changes the person. So it's just like what? L is in a sorority or like, like rock,

rock is the loser. That was the first movie Yeah, we already know from the first half. Yeah. What do you mean? You're totally right. Yeah, cause... He's eating hoagies? I don't know. What are you doing?

The movie is when... What makes him interesting is when he does the thing. Yeah, we don't need to see him like walking around as a teenager. What if we saw him before he was interesting? I can't believe how many Rockies there are. I know there's so many. We could have done a whole newcomer to Rocky.

It is funny to me. It's Rocky, Rocky, Rocky 2, Rocky 3, Rocky 4, Rocky 5, and then Rocky Balboa instead of Rocky 6. At that point, it's starting to sound like Fast and the Furious. Yeah, exactly. I guess you do really have to start giving them different names if you're doing that many. Yeah. And he's wearing the hat on the cover of one of them more recent.

Uh oh, sorry to say. He's got the hat and creed. Do you think he kept the hat? That's what that was! Sorry. You thought there was something just hanging off his head and you're like, it was a hat. He's got weird hair. That's so funny.

I remember him wearing a hat and I was like, interesting. And now it's all coming back. Wow. That's one of those things that's like, they love fan service. At SeaQles Incorporated, they love to be like, she, we remember the first time we... She, we know, did you like that little hat? He's got the hat on.

Just so you know who he is. Just so you know, do you like that little hat? He's got the hat on. Just so you know who he is. Just so you know, do you like it? All right, it's time for the scoreboard. It's time for our reviews. Once again, this season we will be reading reviews from a letterboxed and then we will each give the film a one sentence review ourselves and a star rating. And for anyone who doesn't know,

Letterboxd is a social platform where people can write reviews of films and you can see all of the reviews we've ever made for all of the movies we've watched on Letterboxd at Newcomers. And this review said, this is from Josh, he gave it four and a half stars. I really like the part where Rocky's at

the meat locker and he stops mid-conversation to poke some meat and quietly say, Moo, I didn't clock that part. The moo. He walks by and like pushes, he's like moo. I can't believe I missed it. He's complicated, he loves animals, he loves hitting, he loves meat, he loves Adrian, he's complicated.

Who wants to give their one sentence review first? I can go. Yeah, please. I love that it's a real loser to winner story that feels attainable to me. Yes. How many stars? How many stars? Stars? I'm going to give it the backstory.

If it was no backstory, the backstory is studio funded film. He had all the money he wants. Two and a half is. But with the backstory. Three and a half. Whoa. OK. Yeah. Big time. I'm going to give it three stars. I'm gonna give it three stars. Mmm, because, listen, I was real bored in the beginning,

and then I didn't get jazzed until the training montage. I hated the way he drank eggs. The bed was too small. I love the way he said, Adrian! Pauly, he's a bad boy, and he needs therapy. Three stars. Oh, he's a bad boy and he needs therapy. Uh, three stars. Oh, that's good. Okay.

Producer Allie, would you like to give your review? I'm going to give it three stars. And I, there's the scene where Rocky is freaking out and screaming at Mickey and is sad that he doesn't have a locker anymore. And then Mickey goes, well, anyway, made me laugh so hard.'" And that was my favorite line in the movie. That was great. Yeah, when he opens the locker and there's like pictures of a woman and he's like,

"'Where's all my stuff?' "'Where's my stuff? My locker.'" I'm going to say, here's my review. There were four stars of this film to me. Rocky, Adrian, Cuff and Link. The turtle food has too many moths. Three stars. Okay, wait, rewind to Kiss Cam.

I want to see those turtles kiss, unless they're like siblings or a father and a daughter or something. Then I don't want that. Then we don't want, we don't want turtle incest. No thank you. Don't make them sad. No thank you.

That was so fun. Rekha, thank you so much for being here and dissecting this Philadelphia film with us as a local. Is there anything you would like to plug? Yes. Yeah, check out the latest season of Dimension 20 on Dropout right now, Never Stop Blowing Up. There are new episodes every Wednesday. And then check out... Check out reruns of Grand Cru on Peacock.

RIP, come on, you gotta do that. Give us some residuals. Come on, give them the residuals, come on. Such a funny show. And check out Digman on Paramount. Thank you, it was so funny and what the hell. And Digman's also very fun. I appeared on Digman.

You did a character called Gasolina. That was so funny. Yes, thank you. It was very fun. Listeners, please write a review for newcomers on Apple podcasts and rate the podcast on Spotify. And we'll be back next week with Miracle, a movie I know nothing about.

I know nothing about. What sport is Miracle? I think it's hockey based, I think. Hockey, yes. Hockey based is a funny way to say that. I think it's hockey based. Its origin is in hockey. Okay, we'll see you then.

Now everybody say newcomers on three. One,. Now everybody say Newcomers on three. One, two, three. Newcomers! Newcomers is a Headgum original hosted by us, Nicole Byer and Lauren Lapkez. Our executive producer is Anya Kenypskaya and our producer is Ali Khan. Our theme music, editing, sound mixing, and mastering is done by Ferris Monchi.

Listen to new episodes wherever you get your podcasts every Tuesday. That was a Hidgum Original.