The Unmade Podcast - 1: Groundhog Day

Episode Date: August 22, 2017

Today's ideas for a podcast focus on coin tossing, podcastology, cheating at book club, smell of the week, and the movie Groundhog Day. Support our new podcast on Patreon. https://www.patreon.com/unmadeFM Share your thoughts (and ideas) on our subreddit https://redd.it/6vd1vy USEFUL LINKS Coin Tossing https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLt5AfwLFPxWI3lHAuhLicLxvse1H21lvm Ologies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_words_ending_in_ology The Shroud of Turin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shroud_of_Turin Celine Dion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celine_Dion Middlemarch http://amzn.to/2wjLlYC Odor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odor Groundhog Day https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog_Day_(film)

I'm going to toss a coin to decide who gets to pitch their podcast idea first. Heads or tails? Tails never fails. Alright. Except this time. Except this time. It's amazing how often that happens to me, you know. Hey, that would be a good idea for a podcast anyway, wouldn't it?

You could just have like two people like just tossing a coin, like heads or tails. Ching. Heads. No, it's tails. Oh, I was wrong. This would appeal over the long term to your statistical mind, I can tell. Yeah, yeah.

Okay, ladies and gentlemen, we're going to do another 500 coin tosses today. Just a reminder of the running total. We have 9,478 heads, 9,421 tails. What's going to happen today? There's only one way to find out. Welcome to Coin Toss Challenge. Coin Toss Challenge. Oh, wow. That's a more... I was going to go heads or tails. Heads or tails is what English people would call it. Coin Toss Challenge is what Americans would call it. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's true. If it really caught is what English people would call it. Coin toss challenge is what Americans would call it.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's true. If it really caught on globally, that would be an issue. You mean when we franchise, that's how to be it now. Here's the Japanese version of coin toss challenge. Konnichiwa. Here's a challenge. Can you actually think of a podcast idea with a more inane or predictable content?

It's early days, man. Give me time. Give me time. Give me time. One of mine tonight may come close to that. All right. Well, as I won the coin toss challenge today, I have to put my idea first. We do feasible ideas first before ridiculous ideas second.

So my feasible idea is a podcast called i'm going to call it podcastology and every week or fortnight or month or however often it is made the podcast presents a new ology so one week it could be biology next week it could be biology. Next week it could be psychology. It could be astrobiology. It could be proctology, cosmology. You never know what ology it's going to be. And every week we explore a new one. That's a great idea. Yeah, I think this will appeal to you more than me, to be honest.

Right. How about I note it as my idea for a future podcast? That is a great idea. Expand on the idea. I've got a webpage open in front of me. And suffice to say, we would never run out of ologies. Really? No.

My next question was going to be, what happens when you get past the eight that come immediately to mind? Well, then you could do the 200, 000 that i have sitting in front of me like nidology the study of birds nests or oceanology odonatology the study of dragonflies onology which is the study of wines paleontology would be one i'd really look forward to obviously yeah pepper Yeah. Peperology, the study of papyrus. There is no shortage of options. And I thought because you've got physics and chemistry, I might not be able to get into some of my beloved subjects. But then you can do things like cosmocronology, which is the study of the age of stars.

There are so many ologies. And then, of course, there are... And then occasionally you could have like a curveball episode where you study an ology that's not what you expect. That you could talk about tautologies or famous apologies or chronology or eulogies. Or you could talk about your favorite anthologies. So, they would be like your curveball episodes. But I think your bread and butter episodes would be your studies of study.

And you could, I don't know if it would just be like a people talking podcast like like you and i are or it could be one where you have an expert each week come in in that area and they could be like your interview subject and tell you more about it because i mean you know if it was you and i doing this podcast what could what do we know about palology the study of mud as therapy not. But we could have a mud therapist come on and we could ask them questions and things like that. So, I don't know. Phorology, the study of lighthouses.

This is fantastic. I think this is a great idea. Yeah. I'm struggling to see the limits of it. I do agree with you, though. That's right. The discussion would involve essentially research. You'd just be doing what others would do on the time

if it was only going to be a podcast where two idiots like you and I discussed it. But that's right. You could have an expert. And the more precise the expert in the rarer the area, in some ways the more fascinating. I remember having dinner once at a couple's house that I didn't know. So we were getting to know each other right from the start, right from the beginning of the evening.

This gentleman was a specialist in a particular bug. So I jumped on that and asked him all the things I could about this particular bug. It was several years ago and I can't even remember so many of these things. You don't remember the name of the bug? Not even the name of the bug. Do you remember what it did?

Was it found in Australia or was it found in Africa? It was relatively rare, but it was found on several different continents. The overall point that he was making while he was enthusing about this particular bug, because he's self-aware enough to realise I was not necessarily interested in this bug, but I was interested in the fact that he was consumed and he was a world authority on this one bug. And he was talking about the idea that essentially you find something precise that you can become a world authority on and you can travel the world. And he says, I've got friends who are equally passionate about this bug on different continents

and we just travel the world and talk about this bug. And I found it fascinating over dinner to talk to this person for a couple of hours, even though I don't remember the essence of it. You know how it's like a really obscure bug, right? And he said, you know, you choose one niche subject and you can become like the world expert. Yeah. But you said there was someone else like in another country who was also an expert. Yes.

I wonder if even though there's only like two or three people who are the experts on the bug, they like lie awake at night thinking, am I really the world expert? Or is that guy over in Brazil? Does he know just a little bit more than me? And there's just one person in the world who's your rival. You're sitting there at dinner going, wow, you must be the guy that knows the most in the world about the Brazilian dragon bug. And he's like, damn it, no.

There's one other guy and he knows just a bit more than me. He's my nemesis. That's right. There's one other guy, and he knows just a bit more than me. He's my nemesis. That's right. And there's two camps. So there's three or four people worldwide, but they're in two camps of belief around a particular detail to do with the bug. And they write serious academic articles refuting the other person. There's this massive, massive, really acrimonious debate,

but they're the only two people reading the papers. I think ology is going to be a winner. Podcast ology. I mean, we'll have a few logistical problems, I guess, because, you know, you've got to interview people and how you're going to sort that out. But I guess we're not really here to talk about the technical challenges of making a podcast.

It's more the ideas. So we'll leave that to our it team there is another challenge with podcastology in dealing not just not with the obscure which would be interesting but with the obvious i think this podcast would need to find an angle on how to talk about biology, you just don't do that one. It's too boring. Just avoid it. Yeah. I mean, why are you thinking how we can make an episode about biology when one week you could make an episode about syndology,

which is the study of shrouds, and the next week you could do syndonology, which is just the study of the Turin Shroud. Wow. That's two episodes in the bag. Just on shrouds. Yeah. And people are going, why aren't they talking about the Turin Shroud, for goodness sake?

And it's like, why would we talk about that? That's our whole next episode. I feel like you're looking for an excuse to read more of these out, and I'd like to hear a few more. There could be a podcast where you just read out all the ologies without even going into them just naming them is fascinating i would listen to a whole podcast like multiple episodes just about the turin shroud though i'm obsessed with the turin shroud so any any excuse to talk about that i'm very excited to see that on the list of ologies

let me give you an inch and say it wasn't the shroud of turin discredited oh yeah of course yeah right but it's still awesome that's that's part of its legendary story right i went to the turin shroud but it wasn't out on display it was in its box right they just keep it in a box yeah quite a big box i mean i knew it wasn't going to be on display so it's not like i was disappointed but it was a little bit frustrating to be right near it and not have it out on display like you know how they used to like not display it for like 100 years and then they'd say all right let's get it out and put it on display for two weeks and all pilgrims would come and there'll be another 100 years or something but now they just get it out more and more often because i think they need the tourist bucks so i was a bit disappointed that it wasn't out but they lock it up too much

this is potentially a very embarrassing question. Where is it? It's in Turin. It is? Yeah. Good. Well, I don't know if it was moved to Oxford and, you know, put in a specialist display or for scientific study if it was moved somewhere else. Yeah, it's the MGM Grand in Vegas.

That's right. Just pull it out for two weeks. Yeah. When Celine Dion goes on holiday. There must be the study of Celine Dion. Let me give you a few more then. Dionology. I'll tell you something interesting about Celine Dion.

I read the other day. It's a short fact, but I think it's a fascinating fact. One of the most lucrative songs of all time is My Heart Will Go On. The heart would go on it it was recorded once the depth the recording and the song has made a billion dollars so i read this in in the biography of a particular producer tommy mottola and he was a producer of son he was the head of sony records she walks in and they give her the song she listens listens to the melody. She does a guide vocal, a test vocal. That's kept.

That's released. And it makes a billion dollars. Isn't that unbelievable? Well, maybe one of our test drafts of this podcast one day will be released and make a billion dollars. There we go. So I see you're a shroud of Turin and I raise you a Celine Dion fact. Yeah, well, that's right. For every ology I give you, you have to give me another celine dion fact

i mean seriously how good would an episode be on toxicology like people dying and stuff like that yeah very good urology vaccinology ludology the study of games zoology xenobiology the study of extraterrestrial life i mean i'm just like reading out words now we may as well so anyway we think this is a good podcast idea you're giving you i mean you're giving a big thumbs up by the sounds of it i am i'm giving it two thumbs up i think it's all right and it's an immediately obvious and interesting idea and also like not to sound too lazy like easy yes like it's not it's not good like you're never going to run out of material. It's always going to be interesting and everything's going to be different. All right, there we go.

Podcastology, what have you got? What have you got? You got nothing. Shall we flip the coin again just to see if I really do have to go next? You have to go next no matter what. But let's do another coin toss challenge just for the fun of it. Heads or tails? Tails never fail.

It's tails. You're up. My idea, I haven't thought of a cute title for it yet. And I have to admit, this is a podcast idea that has been inspired by a television program. The name of my podcast idea is Classic Novel in 15 Minutes. Right. Classic Novel in 15 Minutes. Yep.

This idea comes from an episode of Seinfeld. Cast your mind back. George Costanza. It's an episode called The Couch. And George is under pressure with a reading group to have read a book that he hasn't read. It's Breakfast at Tiffany's. Yep. And so he's immediately under

pressure and the embarrassment that comes with it and so he needs and the suggestions given to him watch the film so he watches he watches the film yeah tries to get away with it but the whole the the idea is that he's it's for a person not just who's under pressure with a book club and i've found myself in that situation before who would then listen to a podcast who would give all the salient points in the plot and a bunch of perceptive comments and insights into the nature of the story and a couple of particular characters in 15 minutes. It could be 30 minutes, but I'm just saying in a particular period of time.

It could be 12 and a half minutes. It could be 30 minutes, but I'm just saying in a particular period of time. It could be 12 and a half minutes. It could be. You're right. It doesn't just have to be 15 or 30. No, that's right. It could be just, you get it. But what I'm trying to, I'm trying to emphasize the fact that- It should be nine.

So it should be a novel in nine minutes. So you've got the, you know, alliteration happening. A novel in nine. That's a good marketing point. The point, the reason I think the time needs to be mentioned is obviously you could say a novel in 12 and a half hours and all it is is an audio book of the actual novel, which is not helpful. Maybe some copyright issues. I think you just invented audio books.

What if people, instead of reading, could have it read to them? That guy's a genius. The other reason why I think this is helpful, I think there are several uses for this, not just for the, you know, the social faux pas of the laziness of George Costanza. I think it's also, it would be useful for people to get a handle on a book before they actually genuinely read it.

Oh, what? Just completely spoil the book, you mean? Well, I think there's some people that actually want to know what's going on before they read it, particularly if they feel they have to read it. And this goes to a particular thing, I think, with novels and some films, but particularly novels, that there are a bunch of novels that people feel like they need to have read because the world expects them to have read and so this would help them get their head around something that may feel like an intimidating wall of reading but are people just going to listen to the podcast not read it and you're

just contributing to like the dumbing down of the world where no one even reads novels anymore because they can just get a nine-minute summary on the podcast. Yes. Yes, I am. Right. Just checking. Just so we're clear. Yeah. That's your legacy.

Yeah. I love that you've shaved a bunch of... I mean, mine was going to be a 15-minute podcast, which is serious podcasting. Yeah. You've just dumbed it down to nine minutes, which is basically just the tabloid version. What I was hoping would happen would be

you would release your 15-minute summaries and then I would release a podcast with eight-minute summaries of your 15-minute summaries for people that haven't got time for the 15-minute summaries. 15 minutes to summarise a book? I'm listening to Brady's. He does it in three. It's for a person walking into the book club,

literally ordering a beer and needing just 30 seconds of, okay, the main character's son is gay or something, and he sits down, well, I thought it was a surprise, and then they can sit there quietly for the rest of the night everyone nodding people just get so lazy there they're going oh I can't listen to a podcast summarising it can you somehow sum up it with

like a hand gesture is there a symbol yeah just a little wink oh I get it I get it I get it now just the way you winked. I understand everything. I find it hard to believe this doesn't exist already, of course,

but that's probably going to happen with most of the ideas we discuss. But I think it could be fun if the summaries are a little bit more... Like, I don't want to listen to, like, a serious summary, but if someone, like, is joking around a bit, I'd have a listen, maybe. What's a big novel that you feel like you should have read that you haven't read? I've got, next to my bed, I've had for about a bit, I'd have a listen maybe. What's a big novel that you feel like you should have read that you haven't read? I've got next to my bed, I've had for about a year, I have a pile next to my bed of about six or seven books

and one that's been consistently there is Middlemarch by George Eliot. So I like to read it. I like the cover. I like the idea that it's next to my bed, but I've not actually read it. I'll tell you the other big problem with your idea for the host, and I'm imagining us as the host because that's kind of what we imagine. I don't want to have to read the book to do the summary.

There needs to be a podcast for people like us that we can listen to so we know what the book was about so we can come up with our pithy summary that is a troubling insight right there because you're just creating a whole boatload of work for us so we can save other people work do you think it's a goer or do you think there are it's there are obstacles or the idea isn't strong enough it's a good idea the thing is i don't imagine it's something that i would listen to every week maybe personally i would only listen to the ones i need it's like those youtube videos that teach you how to tie a bow tie it's not like you're going to subscribe to a youtube channel because you want to see all the different ways to do a tie it's something you just go to in times of need look i think it's a

good idea but it's probably not for me like i probably won, I don't want to do it, but I don't want to make that podcast, but I think it's a good idea for probably for you who likes books more than me, maybe, but I think you're going to have to find another co-host because I'm not going to read like a book every week, like a classic big boring book, just so that I can summarize it in 15 minutes. If I'm going to read a big, if I'm going to read war and peace,

I want some return on my investment and I'm going to talk about it for hours anyway there we go all right classic novel in nine minutes novel in nine minutes i like that that that sounds novel in nine minutes there novel in nine something like that i don't know so back to you man oh let's toss the coin okay so this is like the second half where we do more... They don't have to be, like, funny, but more flippant ideas, yeah? Yes. Heads or tails? Hmm. Tails never fails.

Did this time. Hmm. There we go. That means I have to go. This is interesting. The coin has chosen our usual route, so that's good. We probably could have done away with the coin. We probably could have done away with the coin. We probably could have.

My idea. It's not so much funny. I quite like coming up with ideas that shouldn't be a podcast. Yes. Because I like just to be a bit contrary and defiant. So my podcast is called Smell of the Week. And every week you discuss in a little bit more detail than is comfortable a different smell okay so the yes yes have you not figured out how it works for me i say

the idea and then you kind of just talk about it do all the hard work limitations to this idea are springing to mind but i'm holding myself back. I want to hear more. So you could attack it in different ways. You could just talk about, so say you were going to talk about the smell of roses and it would be, all right, so today's smell of the week is a bit of a classic. What person doesn't like getting a bunch of roses and that, and that fragrance smell we're all so familiar with. Let me, and then you tell a few stories like Shakespeare wrote this about the smell of roses or you could say the smell of roses was very famously used in the novel A Rose Before Bedtime.

And this is how they used it. Or you could talk about personal anecdotes like I'll never forget the first time I smelt roses or what the smell means to you personally. Or you could bring in like experts like You could have chemical experts talk about, well, actually, the reason roses have that smell is so pleasant is because it has oxymotiuratoron, which is actually the thing that attracts bees. So you could have all these different ways of attacking the smell.

But I quite like sort of the personal stories and anecdote side of things. I would imagine they've been quite short episodes. It's not going to be like, you know, a meandering three hours, but they're just going to be short little nuggets that you might listen to on your 15-minute walk to work and things like that. I'm warming to this idea.

Smell of the week. You're warming to it? I am. I am warming to it. What's a smell that you like? What's your favourite smell? I have sitting next to me a bag of coffee beans. I have them here because i go over to the coffee machine and make coffee out of them quite obviously but i have them next to me

and they're unground like they're actual beans and every now and then i'm i'm just sitting here i open them and i sniff them just because i love the smell of coffee why what does it make you think or feel or does that set off some chemical reaction in you. Interestingly, it does. It's something different than making me just simply want to drink coffee. I enjoy it for its own sake. And it smells warm and reassuring, and it smells deeply familiar and very strong and very attractive. It feels homely. See?

Yeah. See, what a genius. My idea is genius. Or just asking you about one smell and you're telling stories and you could ask all other people what smells they like. What's a smell you don't like? Oh, that's a good question. I don't like, I don't mind the taste of it,

but I don't like it when people peel oranges around me. Oh, yeah. Like if they're in my car and they start peeling an orange or next to me on the train. If there's something about that I find offensive. It releases something, doesn't it? Like not offensive like they shouldn't do it just like it just it offends my senses i don't like the smell of something off my wife has a legendary nose and she's forever sniffing out things a legend and i mean a legendary nose for sniffing things so

she's the person who as we're walking down the street, will say, I smell gas. And I'll say, that's ridiculous. She'll say, I smell gas. It's somewhere here. And then we'll read in the paper two weeks later about a dangerous gas leak, you know, two blocks away or something like that. In China. In China. It's, oh, it's so, firstly, I find it frustrating because, because I can't smell it and I couldn't be bothered being worried about something that you can't sense yourself. That's just a couple thing. But she is forever smelling things out, but she's forever going around part of the house and going, hmm, hmm, something. And there's, you know, something in the kid's school bag or something ridiculous, but something off in a part, you know, of, of, of a room or the car or something. I don't like the smell of that.

know of of of a room or the car or something i don't like the smell of that milk i once had a neighbor who bought some milk forgot about it amongst the groceries and it went under their seat and then later in this in the sun you know sort of burst or or spilt no and the car was hot and the car their car smelled of milk for months and that was hideous by the way man just so you know all wives can smell everything. Their ability to smell when you've been to McDonald's is famous. You went to McDonald's, didn't you? No, no, no. Oh, damn it.

They can smell it on you. And they can smell the fear of you walking in having been to McDonald's. I tell you what else that I find wives are different to husbands, and that is the way they worry about sounds. Like, they don't accept that houses just make sounds. Yes. Like, sometimes something just makes a banging noise downstairs because, like, that's just what houses do.

They make noise. But it's not a burglar. Nothing's broken. It's just what houses do. They make noise. But it's not a burglar. Nothing's broken. It's just noise. Just something just, you know, moved or expanded. Are you invited to give a token look? Do you have to go and check it out and you just walk to the stairs and stand at the stairs for a few seconds, come back and go,

no, there's nothing. No, there's nothing there. The next day you go down and your TV's gone. Yeah. Yeah, smells and things that don't matter. The world makes smells. The world makes noises. We don't have to investigate all of them.

They come, they go. Like, just accept that and move on. I think people can relate to smells And they bring back If you know the smell They bring back a lot of very kind of vivid memories And I think people will quite relate to that Yes if that's true

Yes if they're able to relate to it And that's the thing They're very hard to describe But you don't have to successfully describe the smell To talk about the smell No In fact I think maybe that could increase the intrigue If you listen smell to talk about the smell. No. In fact, I think maybe that could increase the intrigue. If you listen to someone talk about the smell of a rose for half an hour

and tell you all these stories from culture and from science and personal anecdotes, and you don't know what a rose smells like, by the end of the podcast, you're going to be dying to smell a rose. And I think that will create a real kind of suspense and interest and intrigue. That's true. Well, I mean, smell of the week could have other aspects to it as well. I mean, you could have smell in the news. So when there's been some, you know, some issue involving smell,

some pong that has spread over a city because of some problem. So they would be like special episodes where we've got big news in the world of smell this week, people. Or there could be like the release of new fragrances. You could do like perfume reviews. There is a lot to this. Smells are important. They're everywhere, but you don't often give them thought. Yeah.

So it would be intriguing to discuss them. Man, this is a good idea. This belongs in the first half of our show. This idea has some intrigue. Well, I didn't know. I thought when I suggested it, we might end up just going down some stupid path and be talking about farts and stuff.

But we're serious guys, and serious guys talk about serious stuff. I should have known that would happen. You should have. Yes, you should have. Smellology. Jerry Seinfeld makes the point that it's an injustice in nature that sweat smells bad.

He says you do something good, like exercise, and you sweat, but it smells bad. Why is that? It's an injustice. Why does sweat smell bad? I actually don't see an evolutionary reason for that. Well, I mean, some people think it doesn't smell bad, and it has chemicals in it that make you a little bit sexier, so maybe in some ways it doesn't smell bad. it has chemicals in it that make you a little bit sexier. So maybe in some ways it doesn't smell bad. Actually, maybe sweat only smells...

In fact, this is true, isn't it? Sweat doesn't smell bad when you're sweating. It smells bad later on. On clothes from the day before. So maybe the evolutionary thing is it's sending a message to people that this person doesn't clean themselves after they've exercised so avoid them so maybe sweat is nice but old sweat is bad and that does serve a purpose it signals uncleanliness you know who we need to ask we need to ask an expert in olfactology

which is the study of smells fantastic anyway now we've finished smell of the week what's your uh what's your final contribution well i think we're peaking late tonight because my idea is is it's a unique idea and we'll see where it goes it's called um actually i don't have a name i have a name here which is boring name. But the premise of my idea is to watch the film Groundhog Day every day. Yeah. And record a podcast about the film afterwards every day. Continuously. That's genius.

So it's just podcast after podcast discussing the film groundhog day absolutely and like you don't have to worry about oh did we talk about this yesterday because that's half of the fun that's exactly right but i and i could talk about that film almost every day too i love that film oh it's such a great film it's such a great film so there are several there are several options about it because because you could the people could actually they could watch the film i mean you record a podcast about groundhog day every day yeah but you could you could if you were really committed you could watch the film every day yeah and then and then

discuss it immediately afterward some new little thing you found or some new little detail or background thing or well that's right that's right and first off i thought oh maybe that's a betrayal of the idea because it will be different every day. Yeah. And then I realised, actually, no, that's what happens in Groundhog Day. He doesn't live the same day over and over. He tweaks it each time. He improves every day. So I kind of feel that it's the potential, actually. It may be the way to create the ultimate perfect podcast

because you get to improve the podcast every day. Maybe if the perfect podcast about groundhog day is made at the end like after 10 years of trying every copy of the film in the world automatically deletes itself and it can't be watched again that's right it finally can never be watched again yeah you finally get out of groundhog day i i don't think it would have a long shelf life i think people like in terms of like commercial viability i think people would stop listening to your podcast pretty quickly but i love the idea but by definition it will never end it could i mean these new listeners would come along well well by definition it would never end but in reality it probably would in reality i know people like there are websites dedicated

to this and people debate it and even the writer of the film has answered the question but how long do you think he how many groundhog days do you think he goes through in the film not how many are shown but how many in like in the reality if it was real I wonder it every time I watch the film and I never go away and calculate it I've never looked it up so I don't know but it's a it is a fair time it could be one year or it could be more than that he does actually become quite proficient on the piano i think the writer had said something i think it was like a thousand years or ten thousand years when the writer was asked about it oh really or hang on here we go or the original plan it was going to be ten thousand years and

the the rate ramus the writer the director is the writer the director once said that phil was trapped in groundhog Day for 10 years, even though the original plan was to have him trapped for 10,000 years, according to the internet. Apparently Tom Hanks was going to play the lead at one stage. No, I can see that working, although he doesn't have the same... He's too likeable, perhaps, because he's got to be quite unlikable at the beginning. Yeah, Tom Hanks is so likeable. The other day, I think we were about to watch a Tom Hanks movie

and my wife just said in the most pure way any person could ever say anything, she just said, I love Tom Hanks. He's so perfect. And then she said, if I was going to have anyone play me in a film, I'd want it to be Tom Hanks.

And it did make me remark that if you're a real person and Tom Hanks is cast to play you, you can feel pretty good about yourself. Like when they said to Sullenberg, the pilot, Tom Hanks is going to play you in Sully, he must have thought, oh, thank goodness. They're obviously not going to shaft me. That's right.

Because Tom Hanks is so lovely. Obviously, I'm going to come out of this looking good because I'm Tom Hanks. Another actor who I think falls into the same category is Denzel Washington. And he's... No, he he can be bad he can be edgy and bad tom hanks can't be bad that's true yeah from training day he can be bad but what i'm saying is most of the time when he plays righteous he's incredibly righteous you know what i mean he is righteous yeah very righteous and he has something about he just needs to do that thing

where he doesn't blink and stares at you and then makes a speech about justice and, you know, nothing can stop him. Nothing can stop him. Man, just hearing you talk about Denzel Washington, talk about justice, just makes me feel better about the world. It's inspiring, isn't it? That's a good podcast.

Denzel Washington talks about justice. Just ten minutes of him talking about how we all need to be free. It's like he was born to play a lawyer doing the final closing of their case. You know what I mean? That just summary thing where it seems like in many American films and often in Law & Order, all evidence over weeks and weeks is totally irrelevant. It all comes down to how compelling and interesting you can sum up.

Yeah, those last four sentences. That's right, yeah, and the pause and how long before you walk back to the table and sit down. Yeah. You kind of know that when Denzel Washington's time comes and he's on his deathbed, his last words are going to be like worth hearing. He's not just going to be like, can you pass me that glass of water? No, that's right.

He's going to be like, yeah, he's going to say something you need to hear. So getting back to your Groundhog Day idea, because I love it. I don't know if you can record one every day. Like, does it need to, does it have to be daily? It kind of does, doesn't it? I was thinking you could release it once a week, but that kind of defeats the purpose. It's Groundhog Day.

So you do need... Of course, you could record them and then release them every day for, you know, six months' worth or something, and it could be a self-contained well. But you lose a bit of the adventure in that, I guess. It does sound more like an art installation than a podcast. Like, it's more like a performance piece. Yes.

It's something no one actually ever listens to, but they just like that it exists. I like that those guys did that. Like, so to be like, oh, Tim and Brady, do you know what they did? They did like 365 episodes of a podcast talking about Groundhog Day and everyone. And they're like, oh man, those guys are geniuses. Did you ever listen to it? No. That's a great idea.

That's right. Of course not. Who's going to listen to that? Well, I tell you, see, that guys are geniuses. Did you ever listen to it? No. That's a great idea. That's right. Of course not. Who's going to listen to that? Well, I tell you, see, that could be an out. Because if that's the case, maybe you don't actually have to record them. So you could just begin each one. And they're there. You have to also do an ending.

So if anyone ever checks up on us and they check the start and end of each episode, there's a bit of talking. That's right. But in between, there's just like blank space. It's also another great example of Andy McDowell's incredible ability to be an actress who I can't stand yet constantly be in films I love. I know. Four Weddings and a a funeral is the other great example of that she's like a it's a jedi power she has she's like i'm gonna perform terribly in this film and you know what you're still gonna like it she's a terrible actress well either that

or she's just like a complete genius and we don't realize it because we always like her films and yet we don't like her yeah you're right're right. She's like a piece of cardboard. Her things come out wrong. Her words come out wrong. She just, I don't know. In isolation, I tell you what would be interesting to do is to edit a film and so everyone else is darkened and their voices are silent and so it's just a solo performance of andy mcdowell

through groundhog day or through four weddings and a funeral or that other western movie she made with someone where it's just her acting so it's a solo and it could stand out you know like they do with bands sometimes like i remember seeing there's a band like whole and they isolate the audio just from the singer and they make everything else go quiet. So it all sounds good together. But with all the musicians gone, it's horrendous. She would stand out. She would be exposed. I'll tell you what else would be good.

You know how like in the latest Star Wars film, Rogue One, they like recreated Grand Moff Tarkin using all this new super CGI they have. They could re-release Groundhog Day with like a good actress playing Andy McDowell's character. Oh, so who would be your pick? I don't know. Meryl Streep. Meryl Streep. Overrated. Or maybe, maybe I've already said who it should be.

It should be Peter Cushing, Grand Moff Tarkin playing Andy McDowell's character. Now, there's thought. Okay, Phil, you may fire when ready. That unpacks all sorts of reasons as to why Murray is trying so hard, Bill Murray's character, whose name I forget. Why don't I know that name? It's Phil, isn't it? Phil, of course it is, yeah.

Why Phil is trying so hard to impress. Because it suddenly is like perhaps it's no longer just for love. It's now he's trying to impress for a secret Star Wars related reason. Basically, he's stuck in Groundhog Day until he gets the plans to the Death Star. That's right. Do you have a good name? Well, I think it has to be called Groundhog Day or the Groundhog Day podcast. That's the Groundhog Day podcast, I think.

Yeah, I think that's true. I think that's true. Actually, that's good. Yeah. It can't be anything but that. The one premise. Yeah, you had one job. Make sure people know what you're doing.

That's right. I think that's right i uh i think i think i think that's i think that's definitely a super idea and if it wasn't so time consuming i would start it today i i i want to do it that's right i won't do it but i want to do it there would have to be a rule that you could never refer to previous episodes so every episode you're doing fresh that's a good idea welcome to the podcast today we're talking about Groundhog Day. Yes. And you never say, like, we spoke about this last week or following up on.

Like, every time it has to be like you've been wiped clean. Do you know what? I'm writing that down as an idea. As if I'm going to do it. Like, I've got to always start fresh. You know what I would suggest we do if we were going to do this yes is like make like 10 of them and that's all you ever make but never never refer to the fact there's 10 of them never refer to it ending or this being the last one you just make 10 of them

and that's like our art installation that is a good idea i'm up up for it. I'd do it. I have energy for it too. You don't sound like it. I have energy for it. I'm saving my energy for the podcast. Coming back to our book deal, I think it has to be a 10 book deal and you write 10 different books about Groundhog Day. Yes. Each one analysing the film like you've never analysed it before. No reference to the previous book.

And as part of the marketing campaign, your book company would send out press releases and make a big deal about the launch of the book on Monday. And then the next Monday, they do the exact same thing about the new book and not reference that it happened before. And then the next Monday, all the journalists and the book press and stuff would that it happened before. And then the next Monday and like all the journalists and like the book press and stuff would be scratching their heads going, didn't you release this book about Groundhog Day last week?

Like what the hell's going on here? It's a whole other book. It's a whole other book. Yeah, this is a different book. Another book. I don't know what you're talking about. Man, those guys churn out the books on Groundhog Day. Now that's a lot of work, but geez, that would be worth it, wouldn't it?

Imagine if it was really successful too And like you took all ten slots on the top ten best-selling books So people would open the paper and go Oh, what are the best-selling books? And every line just says Groundhog Day The book Groundhog Day

The book Well, there we go. Already we're into the detail of it. Obviously, it has strength. Well, I mean, you're signing book deals. I didn't even know that was going on. So, I mean, you're way ahead of the game. I've literally written here books on my list.

I like it. You just wrote books. That's your plan. Books. Become millionaire. Just books. There we go. Groundhog Day.

Well, before this conversation becomes Groundhog Day. I've got one more idea. It's about Groundhog Day. No. So our ideas for today, we have podcastology, where we talk about different ologies. Then we had your next idea, which I've already forgotten. Which was

novel in nine minutes. No, you wanted 15 minutes, and then I undercut you with my rival podcast for nine minutes. We're building on each other's strengths, man. I'd better. Classic novel in nine minutes, or something like that. Team effort. All right. Novel summaries. Great works of literature for dummies,

basically. And then we had for dummies, basically. And then we had Smell of the Week. Oh, no. What's it called? No, didn't I call it Olfactology or something after that? What's the word for smell? I've forgotten already. I've forgotten it too.

Yeah, it's Olfactology. It sounds like Olfactology had a farm. That's right. That's very good. Olfactology or Sm of the week. And then definitely idea of the day was Tim's The Groundhog Day podcast, which is a daily podcast discussing the film Groundhog Day. That's right. Which runs 365 days a year for the next 50 years.