Today's Guest: Scott Shuffitt and Will Russell, co-founders, Lebowski Fest, co-authors, I'm a Lebowski, You're a Lebowski: Life, The Big Lebowski, and What Have You Order 'I'm a Lebowski, You're a Lebowski: Life, The Big Lebowski, and What Have You' by Scott Shuffitt and Will Russell, available from Amazon.com by clicking on the book cover above! There are a lot of famous uses of the word dude in pop culture. Sean Penn, as Spicoli, in Fast Times at Ridgemont High comes to mind. Or Keanu Reeves in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Party on, dude, indeed. Or there’s the landscape guy I saw this morning parked at the Quickmart who had Palm Dude sloppily stenciled on the side of his pick-up truck. But none of those three rises to the level of the Dude, Jeff Bridges, star of one of the craziest, most-layered Coen Brothers films ever, The Big Lebowski. If you’re not already a fan of the 1998 movie, you want to go out and rent it when we’re done with this edition of Mr. Media. And if you’re already a Lebowski dude yourself, you’re gonna enjoy today’s guests, Will Russell and Scott Shuffitt, founders of Lebowski Fest and authors of the new book, I’m a Lebowski, You’re a Lebowski. Lebowski Fest Website • Facebook • Twitter • Instagram • Pinterest • Google+ • Order I'm A Lebowski, You're A Lebowski from Amazon.com BOB ANDELMAN/Mr. MEDIA: So I’m a late-comer to the whole Lebowski thing. A buddy of mine, Jim Doten, college friend for almost thirty years is going to call in and have some questions for you, but he’s been after me for years to see the movie and get into this. I don’t know. It just never grabbed me, but then he told me about the book. I went out. I watched the movie. I think I sort of get it, but I’m really hoping you guys can tell me how in the hell did I become a Lebowski? WILL RUSSELL: How many times have you seen it? ANDELMAN: One and a half. RUSSELL: Oh, so you need an additional one and a half times. For me, it took three. SCOTT SHUFFITT: Maybe a White Russian in there, too would help. ANDELMAN: For people who might be listening who don’t get how this became a whole big cult and a movement, what’s the basic plot to the movie? RUSSELL: It’s basically a case of mistaken identity. The main character, played by Jeff Bridges, he calls himself “The Dude,” he basically gets confused for a millionaire, and some thugs come to his house, and they urinate on his rug. And then they realize that they have the wrong guy, and all sorts of madness ensues when The Dude tries to get compensated for his rug. He runs into a band of roving nihilists, some porn stars, a kidnapping, a ransom hand-off, and he basically drinks nine or ten white Russians throughout the film to try to keep his mind limber to solve the crime. It’s basically like a Raymond Chandler-type mystery except they’ve got, instead of like the sure-footed detective, they’ve got kind of this bumbling stoner played by Jeff Bridges, and then John Goodman is his hot-headed Vietnam vet buddy. And it’s just a really funny movie. ANDELMAN: How did it become this mythological movie? It’s gone way beyond your average whodunit or comedy or even a buddy film. SHUFFITT: Man, that’s a good question. I don’t even know that I know. To the best of my knowledge, it’s just a film that a lot of people enjoy, and I think that a lot of people can relate to the characters. And I think that a lot of people want to be Dude-esque and just take it easy. It was written very, very well. It’s a really good comedy. It’s shot really well. The imagery is beautiful. So I guess you add all those things together, and we end up with what we have now, which is… Order 'The Big Lebowski' [Blu-ray], available from Amazon.com by clicking on the DVD cover above! RUSSELL: …out of control. SHUFFITT: Exactly. ANDELMAN: And Scott, how do you define “Dude-esque”? SHUFFITT: Just wanting to take it easy and relax and have a bubble bath and have a Caucasian every once in a while and enjoy the simple things in life...