Mt. Rushmore Podcast

When you're an above the line type comedy star, it takes a whole lot to set aside one's ego to play a smaller role. But when the cast is made up of other stars, some opportunities just can't be missed.

Look, we don't believe any of that crap. Each one of us would sabotage the other two to get our own popular podcast. And so would every comedian in Hollywood. But on this episode we debate the Mt. Rushmore of Ensemble Comedic Movies, so we play nice with each other for one more week.

Richard, Michael and Jeff open their kimonos and let in an expert, Club WAKA events guru Sa Dao, to discuss the thing that has brought them all together in friendship: Kickball. Well, adult kickball. It's the same as children's kickball, but with more taxes, heart attacks and identity crises.

SHOW NOTES

2:05 - Team Names (Sa's Choice/Michael's Choice)

6:47 - Breakups/Team Breakups (Richard's Choice)

12:00 - Bunting (Michael's Choice)

15:30 - Flip Cup (Sa's Choice)

20:52 - Making Friends/Making Enemies (Richard's Choice)

26:00 - Don't Be That Guy Guy (Michael's Choice)

31:38 - Theme Night Games (Sa's Choice)

36:55 - First Good Kick (Richard's Choice)

46:12 - WAKA Reps Running Things (Sa's Choice)

42:45 - Moving? Join Kickball (Michael's Choice)

53:43 - Injuries (Richard's Choice)

We all expect actors to do well when they guest host Saturday Night Live. Performing is literally their job. And while it's a different kind of performing, you can make the same case for musicians, who have to tell a story with their songs. But athletes? Meatheads? Jocks? They are going to bomb, right?

Well, not always. Some of the best SNL skits of all time feature athletes stepping outside of their comfort zone and showing off comedic chops we didn't know they had. Here's our Rushmore of the most impressive and downright hilarious SNL sketches to involve athletes.

SHOW NOTES

3:25 - Peyton Manning, "United Way" (Joint Choice)

7:30 - Joe Montana, "Sincere Guy Stu" (Joint Choice)

17:58 - Kerri Strug, "Kerri and Kippy Strug (Michael's Choice)

22:44 - Michael Jordan, "Daily Affirmation with Stuart Smalley" (Richard's Choice)

30:58 - Shaquille "Shaq" O'Neal, "Bernard Gets a Spanking" (Michael's Choice)

33:41 - Connie Hawkins, "One-on-One: Connie Hawkins vs. Paul Simon" (Richard's Choice)

This week's we're discussing the movie oeuvre of Tim Burton, one of Hollywood's biggest iconoclasts and a man who never met a dark castle he couldn't make darker, a part that Johnny Depp couldn't play, or a comb. From his earliest work to upcoming projects (and we're trying to wrap our heads around what Tim Burton's Dumbo will be like), we're celebrating the work of American cinema's cool but kinda creepy uncle. It's Showtime!

SHOW NOTES

3:20 – Beetlejuice (Joint Choice)

8:13 – The Nightmare Before Christmas (Michael's Choice)

13:19 – Corpse Bride (Richard's Choice)

18:08 – Ed Wood (Joint Choice)

24:19 – Superman Lives (Richard's Choice)

31:08 – Alice in Wonderland (Michael's Choice)

Maybe the butler didn't always do it, but we've gone and done it - a whole episode about fictional butlers. They might be stuffy, sassy or undead, but they always have one thing in common: they are WAY smarter than the people they work for.

Michael, Richard and Jeff are at your service with a platter of hors d'oeuvre, champagne flutes and another great podcast.

SHOW NOTES

2:30 – Alfred from "Batman" (Michael's Choice)

8:23 – Rochester from "The Jack Benny Show" (Richard's Choice)

12:42 – Wadsworth from "Clue" (Joint Choice)

18:06 – Benson DuBois from "Soap" and "Benson" (Richard's Choice)

22:09 – Lynn Belvedere from "Mr. Belvedere" (Joint Choice)

29:30 – Lurch from "The Addams Family" (Michael's Choice)

I would imagine that there's nothing more frustrating than being a struggling actor, training to perfect you craft and struggling for years to get a big break – only to see someone get a role THAT YOU COULD HAVE KILLED who isn't even an actor. It would be like a medical student watching a janitor perform an emergency appendectomy. Or a baseball player who sees someone who hadn't played baseball in a decade get signed just because he was popular at another sport.

But I digress.

Fortunately, not making acting your first choice doesn't mean you can't be a great actor. This week we look at musicians, dancers and regular people who have gone on to become accomplished thespians. And also Shaq.

Remember to get your free 30-day trial of Audible by going to www.audible.com/rushmore. You can browse through their massive selection of audio books that are relevant to today's podcast, such as "Sinatra: The Life".

SHOW NOTES

3:00 – Alexander Gudunov (Michael's Choice)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wykwob6IL-Y

7:37 – Frank Sinatra (Richard's Choice)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h1B186hrHA

14:05 – Carrie Brownstein (Michael's Choice)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kcIy9XGmwI

18:56 – Cher (Richard's Choice)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLgMFwStTHc

27:24 – Shaquille O'Neal (Michael's Choice)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIjNk7tgjJM

35:32 – The Rock (Richard's Choice)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swo423cXQuE

41:10 – Arnold Schwarzenegger (Michael's Choice)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q7QijJPxOE

46:34 – R. Lee Ermey (Richard's Choice)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TNhS81w4bM

Research has shown that the average person spends 78% of their waking lives in business meetings. Fortunately, the vast majority of these meetings are productive, useful and pleasant.

Just kidding. We all know that business meetings are nightmarish, hellscapes designed to break down the spirit of any worker. If Kafka was alive today, all of his characters would be involved in setting up monitors for video presentations.

We've been tasked with creating a three-person committee to review the potential resources available for building a Mt. Rushmore of Business Meetings, empowering the listeners to be entertained at our selections, and a lot of other buzzword garbage.

But the good news: free lunch!

SHOW NOTES

2:30 – AV Problems (Joint Pick)

8:33 – Ordering Lunch (Richard's Pick)

11:41 – Lunch with Clients/Vendors (Michael's Pick)

18:00 – Why Am I In This Meeting (Richard's Pick)

21:28 – The Meeting Agenda Going Out the Window (Michael's Pick)

26:48 – Co-workers "Contributing" for No Reason (Richard's Pick)

29:55 – Meetings as Survival of the Fittest (Michael's Pick)

This week we take a look at the songs that define our podcast's hometown. (Well, technically we record in Burbank, but close enough.) Our choices run the gamut to sing along songs you hear after a win by our local sportsball teams to laments about the crushed spirits of dreamers who came here and became broken by the quest for fame. Also: Frank Zappa really hates the way girls from the Valley talked in the 1980s!

SHOW NOTES:

2:25 - "Straight Outta Compton" by N.W.A. (Joint Choice)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMZi25Pq3T8

7:15 - "Screenwriter's Blue" by Soul Coughing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mR9WJSX9pnU

10:19 - "Los Angeles" by X

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUiZHt6sqg4

14:18 - Get a free 30-day trial at Audible.com by going to www.audible.com/rushmore. This week's audiobook pick: "Under the Big Black Sun" by John Doe and Tom DeSavia.

16:00 - "Valley Girl" by Frank and Moon Zappa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb21lsCQ3EM

20:16 - "Celluloid Heroes" by the Kinks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTJVclgwS5g

24:03 - "I Love LA" - by Randy Newman

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcADqxnQA_4

29:20 - "Desperados Under the Eaves" by Warren Zevon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0J3ossUzhU

This week we take a look at Ad Campaign Villains - the Goofuses to the Gallants for whatever brand created them. Fear is a powerful selling point, and if hideous troll-beasts drilling into your teeth is enough to get you to worry about the quality of your toothpaste, then the ad wizards have done their job.

SHOW NOTES

1:55 - Barney Rubble from Fruity Pebbles (Michael's Choice)

5:00 - Kids from Trix Cereal (Richard's Choice)

7:59 - Mayhem from Allstate (Michael's Choice)

10:12 - The Hamburglar from McDonald's (Joint Choice)

15:44 - Get a free 30-trial of Audible, the world's leading audiobook provider, by going to www.audibletrial.com/rushmore.

16:12 - Cavity Creeps from Crest (Richard's Choice)

19:40 - The Bully from Charles Atlas Bodybuilding Ads (Michael's Choice)

23:25 - The Frito Bandito from Fritos (Richard's Choice)

This week we delve into everything Simpsons...except the episodes. Whether it's branded promotional items or causing a moral panic, the Simpsons are everywhere and will still be everywhere long after we are all gone.

SHOW NOTES

2:35 - The Simpsons As the End of Family Values (Richard and Michael's Choice)

7:03 - Simpsons Bootleg T-Shirts (Richard and Michael's Choice)

13:53 - Simpsons Porn (Richard's Choice)

19:43 - "The Simpsons Sing the Blues" (Michael's Choice)

24:44 - Simpsons Pinball

30:23 - 7/11 Turning Into Kwik-E-Marts to promote "The Simpsons Movie"