Stuart Smalley Saves More Than His Family: A Deep Dive into ‘Stuart Saves His Family

[00:00:07] It's the Ten to One Podcast with your host Brad Omen featuring Ben Conowitz and Nate Loutz and Here's the podcast I love this new episode of SNL. This was a great episode You know the great host hosted by Harrison Ford Musical guest Led Zeppelin. I

[00:00:33] Could not believe it every original member of Led Zeppelin even some of the dead ones I get spot by Bruce philance Unbelievable Bruce Willis on the harmonica Wait, are you wait? You think that you didn't see it. Oh It's because

[00:00:56] You know, but what we are gonna do today is we're gonna have a great episode I'm gonna talk about something even better. We're gonna have a great episode, you know I'm gonna put on it. I'm gonna do a good episode today

[00:01:05] You know why because I'm good enough. I'm smart enough and dog on it people like me. I mean I Don't know that third parts that super accurate, but like okay Like that you I like that that's good that you said that I like the confidence

[00:01:20] That's good that you said listen. I'm not honest with myself and that's okay, and that's okay. I Love you. I love that piece of shit And that's okay. I I have to deal with my own issues and my imperfection and and that's okay Stewart saves his family. Yes

[00:01:38] This was the next movie in our roster of Saturday Night Live. I've never seen this movie I had neither actually Are you serious? Yeah, and I had seen it when I was a boy and now I'm a man

[00:01:50] I don't remember which VHS it was but one of the movies that I watched repeatedly as a kid had this trailer on it because I

[00:01:58] The quote that I have ingrained in my head from seeing the trailer so many times is the I remember when you were this tall and That wide And so yeah, so I was always aware of it Of course, I knew Stewart Smalley from Saturday Night Live. Sure

[00:02:12] But yeah, I had never actually sat down to watch the movie and we haven't done one of these SNL movie podcasts in quite a while So if you want to know like what we're doing here, you can listen to some of our previous episodes

[00:02:23] Yeah, they're basically there essentially bonus episodes that we do sometimes if there's an extended break Typically will do the bulk of them in between seasons of Saturday Night Live And right now we've been chronologically going through the movies that have come from Saturday Night Live sketches

[00:02:38] So we did Blues Brothers. We did Wainsville. We did Coneheads. We did It's Pat We did Wainsville to Wainsville to and now we have Stewart saves his family. We also did night at the Roxbury No, yeah, not yet. No yet. No

[00:02:52] 98 movie 1998 this was made in 1995. Oh, no, that's just me. Sorry. That's just I watch it once a week The same there's a lot of people actually love that movie I love the same year that Tommy boy was made this movie was made indeed

[00:03:05] Actually, I will once we start digging into the movie itself I'm gonna talk about some things that are kind of interesting just a an entirely different movie landscape That happened in 1995 but before we get to that

[00:03:16] Let's start with the history of Stuart Smalley on Saturday Night Live. Very important. Yes. This is very important So do you do you happen to remember or Nate? Did you look up when Stuart Smalley debuted on Saturday Night Live?

[00:03:30] I did I didn't do a ton of background for this But I did want to know a little bit more about the character because it's such an interesting character and Al Franken Is an institution on SNL, right? Al Franken was at the beginning of the show and

[00:03:42] This was a character in 1991 and Al Franken was still on SNL, right? He was he became a performer as well. Yeah, but he wrote for them for a long time but he wrote for them from the beginning he

[00:03:53] was a on the first team of writers for SNL with his Writing partner who was his writing partner? I forget Andy no, it was one of the the famous early he Tom Davis time Davis was one of it

[00:04:09] Yeah, and him and Tom Davis were friends in like middle school And so if you know anything about Tom Davis another one of the great sketch writers of comedy and really in SNL history

[00:04:18] So him and Al Franken were friends in middle school and then you know went to college went to LA Starving essentially just starving had no work and they got hired at SNL and split the salary

[00:04:33] They were like, you know what we we it was like listen. Yeah, no and that was what it was We've been together for years right? I mean literally best friends from from middle school

[00:04:42] We'll just starve together and at least we're getting one salary and we're both getting in through the door So amazing. Yeah, that is kind of amazing So especially when Tom Davis was so good at drawing Garfield

[00:04:56] But anyway 1991 I did look that up was Tom Tom Davis created the dog cartoon What was it? Oh Sucker Jim Davis that created Garfield for those confused listening Yeah, if you're confused confused little little butt dork So Stuart Smalley debuted with the the framework of daily affirmations

[00:05:26] Which is basically this like self-help, you know inspirational program That's on public access and debuted in the February 9th 1991 episode that was hosted by Kevin Bacon However, Kevin Bacon did not appear in this sketch the very first iteration of the sketch was merely Stuart Smalley

[00:05:45] Doing daily affirmations telling himself that he was good enough smart enough and don't wanna people like him and having the show Where he was trying to help people and in this particular episode he basically talks about how?

[00:05:57] He wanted to to wing it and do something off the cuff to talk to people And then the entire sketch basically is that he doesn't come up with anything to talk about

[00:06:06] And he starts giving himself a pep talk about how it's okay that he hasn't come up with anything to talk about yet And so which is there's an element in the movie. Yeah, yeah, 100 but let me say this about

[00:06:19] That I didn't know that I didn't watch the first the first Stuart Smalley sketch on SNL I didn't rewatch it before this but what I love about Stuart Smalley is I looked it up the first three

[00:06:30] Stuart Smalley sketches were just Al Franken and you don't see a lot of sketches Where there's just one person? That's a lot of pressure on one person to lead a sketch and to make people laugh

[00:06:43] Kudos to Franken for being ballsy enough to do that. Yeah, because that is a lot of pressure huge Yeah, to do so and he did it well no for sure. And so the as it followed there was another Stuart Smalley on

[00:06:57] March 16th, 1991 Michael J Fox hosted another one April 13th 1991 Katharine O'Hara and then strangely enough Stuart Smalley appeared in a completely different sketch that was not a daily affirmation sketch that Al Franken did himself instead in the episode that Delta Burke from Designing Women hosted classic

[00:07:16] Classic come on now. We know what Delta Burke. Oh, yeah, you don't need to tell me what Delta Burke was on May 11th 1991 Stuart Smalley appears in a weight-watcher sketch because one of the signature traits of Stuart Smalley is that he was part of

[00:07:31] Anonymous again part of the film. Yeah, and so he appears in this weight-watcher sketch in with Chris Farley and Victoria Jackson's like that Julia Sweeney who's in the film? Yeah, exactly not the same character though

[00:07:41] Julie Sweeney is just leading a weight-watchers meeting and kind of gets frustrated with Stuart because he keeps talking about how different things are done in overeaters anonymous And so and it's pretty funny He fits into the sketch really well

[00:07:51] and I kind of wish that they would have figured out how to incorporate him into similar sketches because One of the other traits that Stuart Smalley has is he has several different anonymous groups that he's a part of Because he has a lot of problems

[00:08:04] And so so it was really interesting to see that facet and then what's what is strange is that None of those first three versions or that weight-watcher sketch are available on YouTube This one was actually

[00:08:17] Kind of tricky to track down like all of the Stuart Smalley sketches and figured out And it took me some work to find out how just how many there were and which episodes were so because there are a total of 17 appearances that Stuart Smalley did

[00:08:32] In sketch in daily affirmations alone plus the weight-watcher sketch plus a return when Al Gore hosted in 2002 Seven years after Al Franken left SNL and did the final Stuart Smalley plus I don't know if you got this one too in April 17th 1993

[00:08:48] He's in the cold open recurring Christmas recurring characters for unity So about 20 times then I think I remen I actually think I remember the Al Gore thing live according to the boy

[00:09:03] Didn't didn't Al Gore turned to the mirrors and he was one of those a very big one Yeah, I heard the SNL archives net He's got like he brought this character SNL like you said in multiple different formats

[00:09:14] Right not just in the Stuart Smalley, but he brought Stuart Smalley as a character to 20 different sketches That's a well, but Brad to your point though What's really unique in this is from February 1991 to May 1991 That's not it for sketches with Stuart Smalley

[00:09:34] That is a small time or that is a brief period to bring this sketch back and for time I think that was a little bit more Sign of the times they did that quite often with characters back in the early 90s a couple times

[00:09:49] Yeah, so if you head when Harry probably came back, you know three times in a season It's like nowadays. It's rare if you get it to recurrence. Oh for sure We sometimes want it like the next season to bring this character

[00:10:00] We talk about this right we would love for them to bring this character back But fix a couple things the 90s were packed with characters. Yeah recurring character We're Rob Schneider the copy guy, right?

[00:10:12] No, well, so you finally yeah finally enough around the same this same time that like I think just before Stuart Smalley debuted the Rob Schneider's, you know Copy guy had had just debuted Hans and France had recently just debuted

[00:10:27] I mean unfrozen caveman lawyer must have been read around that time. Maybe you know because that's Phil Hartman and that's the 90s Speaking of which Phil Hartman is the one who does the voice over who introduces daily affirmations every time and you also hear him in the movie

[00:10:39] His voice so funnily enough After those first four sketches featuring Stuart Smalley popped up the fifth one is the most famous one that we get the one

[00:10:49] I remember is the one this it's the one everybody remembers and that's of course is the one with Ben. Who is it? Al Gore no, it's my favorite basketball player your least favorite That's how dare you well constantly you're always like Jordan's not

[00:11:05] Bronz better and I'm like I think actually You know that you're doing this on purpose Michael George the goat we all know that Yeah, so Michael Jordan appeared when he hosted the show on September September 28th, 1991

[00:11:18] And this was an iteration of the sketch that they would repeat several times and in my opinion It's the best formula because Frank is funny on his own But it's it's really funny when you can get very famous people to talk as if they were insecure about themselves

[00:11:34] And in this case it's having someone like Michael Jordan do it is like unbelievable Maybe the most competitive man that's ever lived one of the most confident people that's ever lived and the fact that Stuart Smalley, I believe is where it's it's it's Michael J

[00:11:48] Yeah, what that's everybody is always like their first name and the last initial all way that's perfect Right that's comedy gold right there and because that my the best line of course is I don't have to dribble the ball fast

[00:12:01] Or put the ball in the basket to feel good about myself. I don't have to dribble the ball Commits, you know, it's great. Can I talk briefly about that episode on a September 28th, 1991 It started off with a Wayne's World coat cold open, right?

[00:12:16] So you already got a Wayne's World in there goes to the commercial you guys will remember called Schmitz gay Do you guys? Forget it's an all-time top 10 then I don't know if you remember this one that I actually remember this

[00:12:34] The first black Harlem globe try to round if you remember that I remember this actually and then it went to a Bill Swarovski Super fans with Michael Jordan super fans was the other one that had only just recently taken off to gotcha then Then daily affirmations

[00:12:49] And then the dark side that was a Chris Rock He did a TV show called the dark with net X net X. Yeah and then tails from the barbecue which is they did it a couple times and then That's it. That was the episode

[00:13:06] Strong episode. That's I'm saying like I was looking at the sketch list of that I'm like those are some freaking sketches right there So so like I mentioned, you know this this kind of format would return when Charles Barkley hosted

[00:13:20] They did a similar thing and they also had mugsy bogs come on as a guest They had that they would also have the host appear as like a character who was part of Stuart Smalley's family sometimes too

[00:13:32] Macaulay Culkin appeared in a sketch where he played Stuart's nephew Kyle Kyle Smalley Yeah, and but what Macaulay Culkin's character kept doing was he kept going and you know what and Stuart We like what and we go chicken butt

[00:13:44] And he kept doing it, you know, which reminds me the chicken butt might be the worst childhood joke It really is I don't know where that came from. You know what chicken butt fuck you Yeah, you know what if I ever hear a kid saying that these days

[00:13:59] I'm telling them fuck chicken butt is these nuts the 2000s version of chicken but no because these nuts is vulgar Oh, chicken butts not no not in the same way that these nuts are well Stuart Smalley might disagree I'm not sure that he cares about

[00:14:17] Anonymous well, it's Bulgaria But yeah, so and then you have They eventually worked into an area where they started to have Topical guests on daily affirmation. So like one of the ones they had

[00:14:32] They had Rosie O'Donnell hosted and she played Lorraine Bobbitt and Mike Myers played her husband John I remember that actually And so they started doing more topical things and then sometimes al-franquil was still appear on his own There's a politics one where he talks about Bill Clinton

[00:14:46] there's another one where like he talks about like Saddam Hussein and George Bush and all these things and then You go forward a little bit more and once you get into like the mid 90s

[00:14:55] There's one where Martin Lawrence appears as himself and like just totally lays in to Stuart Smalley And basically just like makes fun of him and whatnot. Was that after Martin Lawrence's like breakdown that he had?

[00:15:06] Don't remember the timing actually, I didn't know if they brought if that was part of it You know essentially it could have been that would that would make sense And then Marissa Tomae when she hosted in October 94

[00:15:16] She appeared and Tim Meadows appeared as Michael Jackson and she played Latoya no Presley. Oh at least Murray Presley. Yeah, I couldn't remember her first two names And so then the the last one that al-franquil appeared on was in May 6 1995 Bob Saget hosted

[00:15:35] He's not in the sketch though. The entire sketch is Stuart Smalley reacting to the fact that Stuart says his family Bombed at the box. Oh my god. That's such a good meta joke. Yeah, and so he's like he's talking about

[00:15:48] He's basically eating a bunch of Milano cookies. Usually he eats fig newtons, but he's been mixing it up And he talks about how disappointing he's like apparently you all wanted to see jury duty And so he just kind of has a break a breakdown on his show

[00:16:02] And it's such so great because that was this this was the last regular Stuart Smalley they did because al-frankin the movie bum. No, well al-frankin left the show and he didn't leave because of the

[00:16:12] Movie bumps some people some people thought that that might have been a contributing factor The actual reason he left for those of you that don't know is al-frankin was in contention to take over the weekend update desk

[00:16:23] But norm mcdonald got it instead and al-frankin was kind of pissed off about that Um, it's since not a problem like it. Yeah, al-frankin could have done a good job with that Of course he could have. No for sure. But al-frankin went on to do okay

[00:16:36] Yeah, he's he's led by guns began guns. He never really like held a grudge against norm mcdonald You know, he was just pissed because he wanted that job, you know, and he was a loyal soldier, right? He did he put in the work with this show

[00:16:46] And then when when um, I read that when loren left the show right 1980 Al-frankin protested and went with him. Yeah, said I'm not saying and so when the dick ever saw yours

[00:16:58] Boo, so steward says his family as a movie comes along at a time when there's this big boom in snl movies Wayne's world was a big hit. So loren michael's thought all right. Well, let's start turning out snl movies

[00:17:10] Um, unfortunately, none of the other movies ever really hit in the same way that wanes world did cone heads was Was not a financial success Obviously its pat was a disaster

[00:17:20] Um, its pat is still the worst snl movie debut steward says his family was not nearly as bad Um, but it also was not anywhere near as good as wanes world and steward says his family was kind of

[00:17:31] The nail in the coffin of this era of saturday night live movies. Um What's interesting about this movie though is now having watched it is this does not feel like your typical saturday night live movie it leans into

[00:17:47] Stuart Somali as a character and his traits and whatnot, but it's not something that where it's like it's consistently goofy or trying to be overly funny if anything the movie itself is much more earnest and somewhat serious and leans into like the the the charm and like

[00:18:07] What the actual like struggles that families who have like alcoholics in them do is so Strange. Yeah, I actually liked this movie quite a bit. It's I didn't expect the weirdest Attempt at a movie. It's so strange to me. This is this is a this is a comedy

[00:18:27] Kind of you know, but it's kind of almost a dramedy a little bit But like it in some ways if if this character Hadn't come from saturday night live This would have felt like uh an indie comedy from sundance. That's what I was gonna say

[00:18:40] This needs like this needs redone this character. There's something here actually I really really Enjoyed this film more than I thought I was going to and I'd never seen it right

[00:18:50] If you go into this film like bregg just said if you go into this film and you tell people hey Don't think of it as a comedy don't think of it as a character for us and all think of this as a real family with

[00:19:00] Real problems. Yeah, and the weirdest thing when we get into all this but the weirdest thing was kind of the soundtrack Uh try it try it like there's this Yeah, thing and it's like this movie is not that it's so

[00:19:14] In congress. Yeah, well and this also is a very real character very real Like an element to al franken who? um Fell in love with 12 step programs when he his wife franny who he's still married to was battling alcoholism

[00:19:29] And so he started going to al-anah. Yeah, and he started kind of meeting people through this and realizing How messed up life is for so many people but for being a bring an snl Comedy sketch they turn into a movie that there's

[00:19:44] They don't play it for laughs. No, which is so I was okay with that. No, I am but again But this the movie doesn't know what it wants to but that's why you can understand why

[00:19:52] If people went into it thinking it's wanes world or cone heads or something like that You set yourself up for failure. This is not that at all But but this has so much more heart than most of the films we've watched so far

[00:20:05] Yeah, it's it's way more earnest than I had ever anticipated it would be that's what i'm saying It was this movie is just miss me. There was parts of it where I don't even think the movie is miss me

[00:20:13] I actually think what it is is I think that Paramount tried to push it as an snl movie when it's not an snl movie and al franken actually said something in this effect too I'm gonna read something that um so a friend of mine named eric snider

[00:20:26] He's a writer online. He actually did a like an anniversary retrospective on steward's He's his family for vanity fair and he talked to al franken and some other people who worked on the movie

[00:20:34] And uh, this is what al franken said so he said somebody wrote a review that said something like Watching steward saves his family going to the multiplexes is like watching a platoon of rookie soldiers head into an ambush

[00:20:45] The people who will like this movie won't go to it and the people who will go to it won't like it Exactly And that's 100 percent the biggest problem because if you like Saturday night live You're gonna go to this movie and it's not a Saturday night live movie

[00:20:56] And if you like Saturday night live, you're just not going to see it because you didn't really care about steward's molly as a character And I guess herald ramus said that again classic director

[00:21:06] So in title said that he actually connected the steward's molly character because he found him so earnest And that like he actually did want to help right and much of what steward's molly or sorry Steward's molly says Is real therapy. Oh my god The character is wonderful

[00:21:23] His family is fucked up Which is and they're all horrible people and there are so many good people in horrible families And then there's The I think that my favorite dynamic here is There's a scene where they try to they have an intervention for the father

[00:21:38] And the father is a hardcore alcoholic who has just shot his son accidentally And the interventionist is asked by vinson dauffering who does oh vinson dauffering was fantastic But the uh, the interventionist is asking the mom

[00:21:51] Well, does he drink in the morning? Well, of course he drinks in the morning. Well, does he does he drink alone? Well, of course you drink and it's it's a real scene. Yeah of watching her. I kept on waiting for the the the silly or the

[00:22:02] I kept there was nothing in there. I kept waiting for that. There was nothing in there. That was silly It was when that scene hit. I was kind of leaning forward Like I I'm no longer Interested in laughing

[00:22:15] I'm I'm hoping they keep it real now because I see her change and we realize my husband's an alcoholic This is a terrible life and then she spills it at the end there where she says

[00:22:26] Uh, well if I go along with this he'll make my life a living hell. Yes, and then he says what? He says How is it now? Yeah God, no, it's very I almost teared up like this is crazy

[00:22:40] Appoignancy. Yep. Yep, exactly. You know fucking snl 90s bomb. This was this what it you know how it felt like It felt like a bill lorenz sitcom Yeah, oh, yeah, right? Yeah, this is a scrubs episode come to life. This was a oh my word

[00:22:55] I'm getting emotional about this and this is steward smalley But there there was that element to it. I thought it's remarkably moving at times Let's talk about the the relationship he's got with his best friend well before before that I want to point out

[00:23:07] There's so much to talk about one of the there by the way, um things. I never thought I would say there's so much to talk about I was so not looking forward to it We were mocking like dreading getting to this movie

[00:23:17] But like fair to say that we all like this film better than we thought. Oh, yeah for sure Um, because it's it's still kind of messy and whatnot, but I was fascinated to like see what it turned out to be That's a good word. I was fascinating

[00:23:27] Yeah, it's um, so but so you talked about the intervention and the one thing that's really bold about this movie and like and feels Makes it even more real is the intervention is not successful

[00:23:36] No at all like he walks out and he's like he's basically just like fuck off you guys, you know and like that's that's it Welcome to interventions and therapy. Yeah 100% So and why did the intervention fail because because they all weren't a unit mom

[00:23:49] Faulted right, you know and so then it all fell apart and then because he knew he still had one person exactly That's all and and you've done these you've done interventions You I've had three attempted on me. They don't work. It doesn't that's your problem

[00:24:01] Uh, but it only takes one person to to be the the jango piece that doesn't fit right and then it all kind of collapses Let's connect this to snl right? John Mulaney talks about his intervention that he has very very comically he talks about it

[00:24:14] But how all of his dear friends people we all know connected snl right showed up And he kept on looking for an out right you kept on come on Come on now

[00:24:24] He is the funniest fucking people in the world and nobody's doing a bit nobody's doing a bit every wincest And that means solidarity and that means they they did it right? Yeah, and john is healthy now

[00:24:35] Yeah, exactly. So and and that doesn't even always work when you're all on the same page But you give it the best chance to it was a great scene that seems amazing that scene is amazing

[00:24:45] It really is and and how you know the the family has this weird connection and how um each member You can see each member of the family. So if you've not seen this there's a older brother

[00:24:58] There's stewart and there's a younger sister. I think that's the the the right isn't the sister the youngest older brother younger sister mom and dad and stewart and so but you can see how each of them

[00:25:09] Have their issues that are unfolding and they don't even say it really like this is this is why the sister does this But you get as you watch the film

[00:25:18] Why they all have the issues that they have yeah, right? And like I said, the older brothers yelling is this I'm I'm fucked up. I'm I'm messed up man Like you this is not right and so he's taking his own thing to the sister that's a over-eater, right?

[00:25:31] She's you make me sad dad. You you make me want to eat the mom is crippled with anxiety You can just tell who's that actress to play the mom? She's she's just fantastic

[00:25:40] Truly night who you might you might recognize because she's also in as good as it gets She plays helen haunt's mom and yeah, yeah, she's wonder the whole the whole cast was great Yeah, harris eulen is the one who plays uh the father

[00:25:50] You might recognize him from ghost busters to clear and present danger. He's a he's a character Characters too. Yes, that's character actor But a but a ball always always kind of a blow hard always kind of that gruff demeanor guy

[00:26:01] Of course, we mentioned Vincent D'Onofrio who this that's such a surprising role for him and like really His casting you might remember him from what red? Uh men in black and do it do it

[00:26:11] Do it played edger who gets taken over by an alien because he uh, and he's very do it wants Bring me sugar And water sugar sugar water You ever pull the wings off a fly? Yeah

[00:26:25] Just currency to fly get even yes. Yes. That's what I was waiting for Um, so that's that's the older brother in this film. Yeah, and like it's uh, it's I really think that like Vincent D'Onofrio is a fascinating actor because he takes such like

[00:26:39] Interesting roles and like hasn't has a subtly unique approach then like if you go watch the breakup With vince von and jennifer aniston vince d'Onofrio is not like the star of that movie. He's not even like I forgot he's in

[00:26:51] Yeah, he plays vince von's brother and like he he has a weird like Ex-intricity about him where he's kind of awkward and like the way he plays it is just slightly off kilter

[00:27:00] But not to be comedic or anything like that. It's like it's just a choice. It's the choice. Yeah Um, you know and you see him you seem to do stuff like kingpin You seem to do like men in black which is you know

[00:27:09] It's not a performance that necessarily intended to be funny, but he like leans into it 100% You're absolutely right. He's thought of very highly in the acting world

[00:27:17] But I don't know if I'm highly enough right? Yeah, because he is so good is so many things. Yeah, he disappears into I never think oh, that's Vincent D'Onofrio. Yeah, exactly. I'm watching the character

[00:27:26] Even take it to the marvel universe. I can't imagine anybody else doing kingpin better than oh, no Yeah, he's really great. So yeah, he's he's great in this movie and so and I think the casting of people like D'Onofrio and Trillian Knight

[00:27:37] And and Harris Eulen is like a testament to like the fact that it makes it feel less like an SNM Because you're not getting a bunch of cast members appearing and making cameo. Sure you get Julia Sweeney popping up in a small role

[00:27:48] But it's not it's not overwhelmed. But but ross is not played by some cartoonish villain, right? She's really a bitch Yeah, you know and it just it's not played for comedy. It's played because it's real and it's mean

[00:28:00] And so to circle back because you want to talk about uh, Stuart's friend in this movie Julia who's played by laura san jacomo who you might remember from pretty woman and just tons of things over the years

[00:28:09] She's done a ton of things that you'd see um, yeah, their their relationship is an interesting one because it's not Really romantic. It's not but it's but it's a very caring friendship, which I loved they did they didn't bring any romance

[00:28:20] So that's what I wanted to talk about it wasn't he's trying to get the girl There's no quote-unquote point to this movie There's no there's this movie is a is a about the family and it's about steward dealing with them and trying to figure it out

[00:28:33] But there isn't a boy meets girl boy loses your boy It's not that movie and in it and there's another serious layer that comes from their dynamic too because That conversation they have at the coffee shop where she talks about meeting her real father

[00:28:46] And yeah, her father like making a passer. It's like by the way, I paused it. Yeah That's a bomb drop. Yeah, and there's nothing funny about it. Like it's a genuinely serious like shitty moment That was probably halfway through the film

[00:28:58] Maybe a little more and so that was when I paused it honestly for the first time I went Okay, I I don't know how to feel about this movie anymore because I was still kind of waiting for it to turn into the

[00:29:08] Comedy that I thought I was gonna get not that that's a bad thing but that line is That's oh my god. That's so tremendous You're waiting for the Mike Myers kind of like okay, do a silly bit now based on if you haven't seen this

[00:29:21] If you haven't seen this movie which a lot of you have not in that scene They're their best friends there. It's platonic they have Dinner and she tells him

[00:29:31] A long story about how she wrote to her birth father and he actually responded and said i'm gonna be in town I'd love to meet you so they go to dinner and have a great dinner

[00:29:40] We have a such a good time together and it's impactful and meaningful and we we left and we went into the parking lot And we're saying our guys and he made a pass at me

[00:29:49] Yeah, well because she sets it up where it's like oh good everything's good everything's good And then she drops that bomb and you're going what the fuck that I just watched like and he's he's like

[00:29:58] Oh my god. I'm so sorry that happened to you and it's it's just a real moment It's and so this movie is that and and there's there there's actually as a student of therapy that like I love my therapist. I go to therapy

[00:30:10] There's some actually good therapy in this as well about like, you know, essentially it's okay. Yeah It's all right And i'm like, you know what? I wonder if because we're so much more tuned to therapy now in 2024 than we were in 1995

[00:30:25] That I wonder if it would do better a little bit now because you know that there I think I think brad's right Uh, and I'll say that for the first time ever Careful careful

[00:30:35] I know but if this movie would have been marketed and and just done differently from from not the movie maker's perspective But from the marketing and the design of this intention in the first place

[00:30:46] Yeah, this movie could have been a very subtle hit for an indie style movie Like you're saying this could have gone to Sundance with a little bit more of a rewrite because if they could have leaned into

[00:30:54] Some of the stuff that maybe actually al franken and harrell reyms wanted to do But the studio notes wouldn't let them because it needed to still be a comedy

[00:31:00] Well, and that's and and again like that's the that's the biggest problem is like the fact that this movie is squared Around stewart smalley a saturday night life character is it's perhaps its biggest fault Exactly Because if you didn't have that baggage

[00:31:12] You didn't have to like lean into like using that character in this way Then you would have a pretty straightforward Dramity that like really hits hard and like does some authentic portrayal of like what it's like to be in a dysfunctional family

[00:31:25] With functional alcoholics and you go home because your aunt died And now you're dealing with your dysfunctional family that you don't really talk to yeah And there's a lawsuit and there's an there's a literally a a fucking land dispute. Yeah, this is a cohen brothers movie

[00:31:40] Yeah, yeah, that that is that is true There's there's so much now That could be done with this film because we allow films to do absolutely think about what this could be in in the hands of And again not that they're they were incapable hands

[00:31:55] But in the right framework these days it could just I think I think better Many because we were young when this came out But uh and I didn't see it obviously and there was nothing about this film because I also didn't

[00:32:07] I thought the sketches were funny, but they weren't my favorite sketches on s&l when I was watching Well, the michael jordan one. I think is an all-time it is it is the only one exactly like I would ever think

[00:32:16] Oh, yeah, that's a great sketch and I never knew if I loved that sketch because of stewart smalley Or just because at the time in 1995 or 1991 Michael jordan was my hero right

[00:32:26] It's a mix of both honestly because like it's like we talked about it's the it's seeing someone like jordan in that position And someone like uh stewart smalley interacting with him and treating him like just a normal person because he clearly doesn't understand

[00:32:39] How great jordan is, you know, so like that's it works on so many different levels What's interesting is roger ebert got it. I don't know if you guys read his review of this

[00:32:46] But he gave it a very high review and he says I'll actually yeah, do you have? I have it. Oh, did you both look it up? We did our research So yeah, roger ebert and gene syscl actually like this and they're one of the things that

[00:33:00] stewart talks about in his episode where he has a breakdown about the movie not doing well He just shows the newspaper where it says syscl and ebert two thumbs up Um, but so yeah, roger ebert says stewart says his family is a genuine surprise

[00:33:12] A movie as funny as the s&l stuff and yet with convincing characters a compelling story and a sunny sweet sincerity shining down on the humor the beauty of stewart saves his family

[00:33:21] Written by franken and directed by held ramus is that it's somehow true to stewart at the same time It sees the humor in him You'd think he might become obnoxious at feature length, but he becomes more likable especially because of his unforgiving self criticism

[00:33:33] Uh, the movie is also unobtrusively wise about the real nature of the problems in stewart's family And doesn't offer easy solutions or a phony half-anding. I not only enjoyed stewart smalley donk on it I liked him and that attitude of gratitude ain't just a platitude. Oh, wow

[00:33:47] And he's right. He he got it right. Yeah kudos to roger ebert It was a smart man And so and one of the things that al franken said in that article that uh, eric snider wrote for vanity fair

[00:33:57] Was one of the things that they wished that maybe paramount had done Was shown the movie to alanon groups and other addiction groups because they found they found over the years They do use that

[00:34:08] Yeah, they found that the movie really resonated with people who did have alcoholic families have gone to programs like this and they really enjoyed it Because it it rang true to like to their experience

[00:34:18] It they didn't they didn't again. They didn't pull any punches. Yeah, you know, they left it real enough And not had a happy ending and like this is what we're really going through

[00:34:27] I love that. Um, it just over and over. I also want to give kudos to al franken I thought he acted very well on this. I thought I thought he brought the character to life He made it emotional

[00:34:38] Um, you just see the scenes where he's acting against somebody and they say something in his face changes It's because he's actually listening to the dialogue Yeah, there's just somebody's really saying it and that is obviously a hallmark of a decent actor

[00:34:47] But you don't expect that from stewart smalley and an snl, you know, I read that after Obviously after it flopped he went into a pretty big depression about it because he was very You got a great director, right? You've got a you got a great cast

[00:35:01] You've got I think a a script. They're very proud about and it it It didn't just not do well it bomb people did not see this film Yeah, and he was very proud of it and he you know, and so it's hard when you're very proud of something

[00:35:14] Well, it's a good thing and nobody nobody's 1995 You've been doing this character for four years if people watch snl They know you as stewart smalley. They don't know you as anything else really and so your identity is really wrapped up in this

[00:35:26] So they're not just saying that the movie sucks. They're saying you suck. Yeah, that hurts There's that extra element again where this character is born out of a real life experience He has in 12 step a lot of personal connections

[00:35:37] And so this this for him is a very kind of it's a very real character, right? So as we said, this was a box office bomb I'm going to read an excerpt from eric's vanity for article

[00:35:48] It says a court first of all according to rotten tomatoes at the time the article was written anyway, which I believe was 2017 Just 30% of critics gave stewart positive marks It might not have made any difference because it opened the same weekend as paul's jury duty

[00:36:01] Which has a rotten tomato score of zero percent Played on five times as many screens as stewart says his family a much better This is a much better and still had a per screen box office average more than twice as high

[00:36:15] So like people just weren't going to see stewart says his family in theaters And now and now I mentioned earlier I wanted to talk about the the movie landscape back in 1995 because In the past Five to seven years even even the past decade

[00:36:30] Comedies have taken a dive in theaters. We're not seeing nearly as many as there there used to be gone are the days when Seth rogan and will ferrell and jut apatow and adam a k are dominating getting big summer movie

[00:36:42] They're going to be the number one film the the week or two You're not going to get you're not going to get a forgetting sarah marshall or role models these days in 1995 These are just the comedies that we got in theaters Billy madison the brady bunch movie

[00:36:58] heavyweights major pain tommy boy jury duty friday french kiss clueless get shorty mall rats Ace ventura when nature calls father the bride part two Dracula dead and loving it grumpy or old men all big studio comedies

[00:37:17] Big stars in them many of them huge hits some of them cultural touchstones that we still love today All of those movies came out in 1995 Name a comedy that's a cultural touchstone from last year That's like anywhere near as big as any of those movies

[00:37:34] No, no, it's insane. Yeah, and so like it's like and so for like stewart's Save this family had like an uphill battle You know, you saw like because that's a rough year and I haven't even included any of like the big movies

[00:37:45] They came out that year like batman forever toy apollo 13 toy story jumanji 1995 was an insane year at the box office and it used to be like that all the time, you know And it's not like that anymore. Right. Um, so like honestly to to its credit like stewart's

[00:38:02] Save this family probably could have gone a lot worse and like But you know, it's the fact that we're still talking about it today You know, I'm so glad we watched this just it's it's just better than I thought

[00:38:13] I want other people to watch this film. It's I really would recommend it I just would especially when you if you're listening to this first and now you have the right mindset going in

[00:38:21] You'll probably enjoy it. Yeah, thank you said think of it in in more the cohen brothers or think of it in that more More like it's a serious movie serious with comedy. There's definitely a couple, you know

[00:38:33] Asides to comedy in it, but yeah, there's still some silliness in it for sure It's not don't think of it as a slapstick snl comedy. No, no, no You give it as a situational comedy that has some really funny scenes

[00:38:47] The first laugh I got in this movie was the opening scene where he's talking talking about his Show and he's like in this this sweater came from Margaret J and we're gonna say it for anonymity

[00:39:03] Who is a recovering sex addict because this crocheted sweater gave her something to do with her hands That's a really fucking funny joke. I laughed hard. Okay. Maybe that's what maybe this is gonna be better

[00:39:16] I thought of course that's that's just a joke and then you get the rest of the movie Which is not like that necessarily they're not doing those little wink winks jokes like that, but still Totally we're seeing yeah, it's um

[00:39:29] It's much better than I thought it's it's not always nice to have Your mind, you know change or your perspective altered We know and maybe it's because we are now, you know, you're approaching 40 bread We're in our 40s

[00:39:40] We've had some time to actually age into some real problems in our lives So you can see what there is, you know, we've had family disagreements We've had people will struggle with addiction and things like that

[00:39:51] Your perspective as a viewer changes over time as well. I don't know what I would have done with this movie when I was 13 It's a matter of timing too

[00:39:58] Like we're looking at a three or much different lens than you we would have been if we like went to go see it In 1995 in seriously, I was 14 Yeah, we're like, I don't know what Alan on I don't even know what that is

[00:40:08] We look at films a little more critically too because we look at the way they're made We look at the direction and this is actually a very well made film. Well here. Remus is a great fucking dream

[00:40:17] It's it's a well made film and alfrank even even said that like uh, herald remus was the one who wanted to do it He he actually um, there's there's a book that alfrankin did in in character as steward smalley

[00:40:28] That's like a self-help book and herald remus read it and liked it and thought that you could do something with The character and do a movie and so like he was the one who like went to lauren

[00:40:36] I was like, hey, I want to do this and alfrank said it was kind of herald remus's baby Because it wasn't alfrankin who like wanted to turn steward, you know into a movie character So yeah, it really was herald remus making that push

[00:40:48] I also learned that the book that alfrankin wrote there's there's also an audio version But the audio version is does not have the same material as the book And it kind of works in a different way because the audiobook finds steward

[00:41:01] Slowly like crumbling under the like the weight and the pressure of having to write a book And and like and trying to like come up with stuff to put it and everything

[00:41:09] So I need to go I want to buy the book first of all just to have like in my collection It's a good book to have in your and then and I wanted to see if the audiobook is out there

[00:41:16] That's really because I'll bet you'd be fun to listen to all right So let's talk a little bit about the comparison we compare We rank where we're at in these films that we've seen so far

[00:41:25] So the choices that we have are the blues brothers wanes world cone heads wanes world 2 It's pat and now we add to steward saves his family Let's talk about where would you put number one right is it wanes world?

[00:41:37] Wainsville still my number one. Yeah wanes world is number one. What's number two? I mean, I think that previously I'd said blue the blues brothers. I think didn't I yeah, I actually don't even

[00:41:47] I don't either but you can change it. What do you what do you guys feel? How am I feeling today? So uh, I'm gonna I'll give my ranking right now. So, uh wanes world Uh, blue world two blues brothers wanes world 2

[00:42:01] Cone heads steward saves his family. It's pat But steward saves his family space space space space space space space. Yes Yes 100% because you sorry jules me to be fair

[00:42:12] You don't think steward saves his family is a bad movie. I don't I think it's I think it's a bit messy And I it definitely has some problems, but I was it's not a perfect film

[00:42:20] Yeah, I was I was much more enchanted by this movie than I thought that I would be I liked it more than I didn't like it. Right? Yeah, I just I I'm just gonna mimic what brad said there That is my ranking as well. I mean

[00:42:31] It's hard to argue that that yeah that I could say maybe I like cone heads maybe better than wanes world 2 I actually like this. I don't know. I actually like this better than cone heads. I actually oh really

[00:42:41] I did but you guys know I didn't love cone heads But but see that's for me because I don't think the cone head sketches are all that great to be honest When you go back and look at them, it's it's a different decade

[00:42:50] It's a different vibe of comedy But I feel like the movie does a great job of bringing them into a 90s family adventure, you know But but also you guys know I like heavier movies. I like sad movies

[00:43:01] Yeah, sure save his family. How sad is this was meaningful to me like there was a lot of meaning to this I thought he was gonna go steward saves his family Wayne's world no, but but this film

[00:43:10] I think is I liked it better than I thought I would a lot better than I thought I would I have a feeling that as we continue to make our way through the rest of the snl movies that a lot of what's left with the exception of one

[00:43:22] Well one or two Are probably going to end up Mostly below cone heads Potentially above steward saves his family in some cases. I know there's one movie for me that like will definitely rank it Well, I'm sure it's his family

[00:43:38] I know which film you're talking about but the but otherwise the ones we have coming up is like We'll we'll get into basically the late 90s era of Saturday Night Live when they're making copies

[00:43:49] Had a resurgence of snl movies for a brief run as Harry and the Hedgeson's and the head wound I would love to see that Harry and the Henderson's It's just Sasquatch eating. Yeah We've got it one two three four five six films left six films. Yes

[00:44:08] All right. Well, it's a good summer and you you might not maybe you don't realize it But there's one snl movie that's much more recent than you would think and you're probably forgetting about it Macroober and nope. That's not the one

[00:44:21] Because that was made in 2010. Yep. So but we will we will get there. I thought that was really recent I mean, it's it's one of the more recent ones, but there's one that is only two since 2000

[00:44:31] So you want to say what they are? Yeah, I'm gonna do it right now So the next one that we'll be covering is blues brothers 2000 sequel that everyone was asked. Oh, I can't wait

[00:44:40] And then we'll we'll work our way through a night of the Roxbury and superstar and the ladies man That's that late air we're talking about and then Macroober in 2010 And then last year the big release of please don't destroy the treasure of foggy mountain Okay Yeah

[00:44:57] Another film that I'll say it now didn't Wasn't reviewed all that great that I loved. Yeah, and the the critics were wrong in this case Yeah, no, they weren't there were very I was one of the critics and I was right because I love this

[00:45:11] But yeah, so we're gonna dig into that blues brothers 2000 will be the next movie That we venture into for this little snl excursion and then like we teased before at some point we'll probably be doing mixing it up and step away from the movie Um

[00:45:26] Retrospective and do something with the lonely islands digital shorts and that era of snl We're gonna really do something that digs into that. We're gonna have to we're gonna do some watching. Yes. Yeah, we're gonna So we're gonna spend like that's gonna be a research

[00:45:39] A few hours. Yeah, and then and then really like breaking down some Could you imagine we got paid to do this? I get paid in friendship Well, you get paid to kind of do this so Nick

[00:45:49] Could you imagine if it'd be so great just like watch digital shorts and Here's a here's a and people pass it for our thoughts on them and Brad always gets mad because he's like this is what I get paid

[00:45:58] To do. Why aren't you guys doing this more? I don't know why you didn't watch that movie So well, you're getting paid to watch it and we're not well I'm not really paid to watch it

[00:46:04] But it's kind of like well kind of because it's like you need to keep up on everything It just hurts my feelings. It just hurts my feelings. You guys can do this too and be just as poor as I am

[00:46:14] All right, so we'll be back in my tours every week Yeah, I think probably a couple weeks. Yeah, we're let's try to do this bi-weekly. That's yeah, that's the goal Yeah, that's our summer approach. We always have goals though

[00:46:26] See you labor day men make plans and god laughs But yeah, we will we should be back in a couple weeks with another SNL episode about blues brothers 2000 we want you to watch this film too and let us know what you think

[00:46:37] I would love to get I want to see if anybody liked this film because I'm gonna guess You're like us you had not seen this film if you liked it more than you thought It's it's this movie is so surprising. Yeah, it is

[00:46:50] Like I said not perfect but better than I thought yeah better than the 37 on rotten tomatoes that it is right now 30 I think 30 30 percent as of 2017. It is better than 30. So yeah, look at it right now I think we just did it was 30 percent, but yeah

[00:47:06] Stewart saves his family is 30 with a 54 hasn't been reviewed much 2017 People are clamoring to put their review down well and now that we're publishing this episode you're gonna see that number change

[00:47:19] There you go. We're gonna change the little uptick. Yep tick up. Well, hey, thanks so much for finding this podcast Uh, if you are new with us if you're a regular listener, we appreciate you so much

[00:47:29] Please if you've not if you listen to this podcast regularly and you've not rated us It helps us out a lot to give us a rating Um, we actually genuinely love when you write something about this if you review it

[00:47:41] We share it like giddy school girls. We get we get paid in good feelings. Yep. Yep And so we we love it if you like this We recently heard from a listener that said, um, you know, they listen every every new episode because they love SNL

[00:47:55] But they don't have a lot of friends that do and so for for them We are their friends that love SNL like they do and so that that means a lot to us

[00:48:03] We we love that and that's because you're good enough and you're smart enough and dog on it people like you Well, thanks so much for listening. Be good to yourself. Be good others. Bye. Bye