Trading Places ('83) or Coming to America ('88): Which Eddie Murphy and John Landis movie is the Best? Part 2!

<v Speaker 1>I'm bouncing around. We're bouncing around all over them. This
<v Speaker 1>is our scattershot show.
<v Speaker 2>All right, Hello everybody, and welcome to the Surely Can't
<v Speaker 2>Be Serious Podcast, discussing and debating the iconic and the
<v Speaker 2>forgotten of eighties and nineties pop culture.
<v Speaker 1>With your co hosts James D. Graves and Jason Colban.
<v Speaker 3>All Right, everybody, welcome back to part two of the
<v Speaker 3>Surely You Can't Be Serious Podcast, coming to America versus
<v Speaker 3>Trading Places debate.
<v Speaker 1>I am here with my friend Jason Colvin.
<v Speaker 4>How's everybody doing?
<v Speaker 1>Good to see it? Thanks for joining us.
<v Speaker 4>We're so glad to listen.
<v Speaker 3>And just as an intro to this, we normally keep
<v Speaker 3>things family friendly, and we will in this episode as well,
<v Speaker 3>but these two movies are chocked full of wonderful quotes
<v Speaker 3>which we go over today, and many of which are
<v Speaker 3>filled with non family friendly language. We will cont you
<v Speaker 3>to keep it family friendly, but you might consider this
<v Speaker 3>a PG episode, nothing worse than you're going to see
<v Speaker 3>on television these days. But without further ado, here we go.
<v Speaker 1>Okay.
<v Speaker 4>One of the things I wanted to bring up is
<v Speaker 4>similarly in both of these movies, Eddie Murphy breaks the
<v Speaker 4>fourth wall.
<v Speaker 1>Oh my gosh.
<v Speaker 3>And I don't know how many of his movies that
<v Speaker 3>he does it in, but he does it a lot.
<v Speaker 3>Certainly in the two movies that we're looking at, we
<v Speaker 3>know that he does it. So he does it after
<v Speaker 3>he gets arrested for you know, bumping into dan Aykroyd
<v Speaker 3>and trying to give him his briefcase. Back as the
<v Speaker 3>police car's about to pull away. It gives the camera
<v Speaker 3>a look that's the breaking of the fourth wall in
<v Speaker 3>case you didn't know that term. But he gives he
<v Speaker 3>looks directly into the camera.
<v Speaker 4>My favorite, one of my favorite moments in the whole
<v Speaker 4>movie where the Duke brothers sit Billy Ray Valentine down
<v Speaker 4>at the table and they're explaining what they do right, commodities, Right,
<v Speaker 4>they're like.
<v Speaker 5>Pork bellies, which is used to make bacon, what you
<v Speaker 5>might find in a bacon and let us a tomato sandwich.
<v Speaker 1>And anviews of the game.
<v Speaker 4>We're like these guys, they come a complete idiot.
<v Speaker 3>It happens again in Coming to America and our favorite scene,
<v Speaker 3>whatever you.
<v Speaker 1>Like, and she's park like a dog. He turned to
<v Speaker 1>looks right at us.
<v Speaker 4>This is really happening right now, That is such a
<v Speaker 4>great way of bringing the audience sing down the joke.
<v Speaker 1>You know, it's fantastic. A big dog. How would we
<v Speaker 1>like Stalden Blood? What's it saying?
<v Speaker 4>See you next Wednesday? Okay, John Landis has a thing
<v Speaker 4>where he mentions this phrase called see you next Wednesday.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, you hear it come up?
<v Speaker 3>You know in our thriller episode absolutely in the movie
<v Speaker 3>scene that is in the Thriller video.
<v Speaker 1>That's the last little bit of dialogue. You hear it
<v Speaker 1>says see you.
<v Speaker 4>Next wednesdayday right before our girl Ola Ray walks out.
<v Speaker 1>Michael Jackson. Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>But then again you see it in American Werewolf in
<v Speaker 3>London advertised is one of the poorn movies. You would
<v Speaker 3>have seen it in the Blues Brothers on a big
<v Speaker 3>billboard that has like a big gorilla on it.
<v Speaker 1>Deal with gorillas. I don't know what.
<v Speaker 3>Well Orlandis has another thing with gorillas. But then of
<v Speaker 3>course it comes up in trading places.
<v Speaker 4>It's on a poster in Ophelia's Wall.
<v Speaker 3>Right yeah, and it says directed by William Wyler and
<v Speaker 3>starring Lawrence Olivier. So then again it comes up coming
<v Speaker 3>to America.
<v Speaker 4>It's a big poster on the subway wall.
<v Speaker 3>Right, So he chases Lisa down to apologize for not
<v Speaker 3>telling her the truth. She's frustrated at him. And as
<v Speaker 3>the train car comes to a stop, you see this
<v Speaker 3>giant poster on the wall. It's got this kind of
<v Speaker 3>space looking woman on it, kind of a Barberilla type
<v Speaker 3>of throwback. And then the name of the movie is
<v Speaker 3>See You Next Wednesday, starring Jamie Lee Curtis. That's cool, yeah,
<v Speaker 3>and dan Aykroyd.
<v Speaker 4>So I saw him talk about this, right, So to
<v Speaker 4>see You Next Wednesday thing, it's not just thrown into
<v Speaker 4>any movie rarely. What he talked about was when he
<v Speaker 4>was a young guy, he wrote a script called see
<v Speaker 4>You Next Wednesday. Anytime he cannibalizes anything from that script, yes,
<v Speaker 4>he gives a nod to it.
<v Speaker 3>And that script, as I understand a guy in quite
<v Speaker 3>a few writing jobs, he struggled quite a while as
<v Speaker 3>a fledgling director. He actually has an interesting story. He
<v Speaker 3>decides he wants to be a director at eight years
<v Speaker 3>old after seeing the Seventh Voyage of Sinbad and it's
<v Speaker 3>just amazed at the graphics on it, loves the movie,
<v Speaker 3>goes home and says to his mom, who makes movies.
<v Speaker 3>How does that work? You know, he's just a little kid,
<v Speaker 3>and she's like, well, that's the director. From that moment on,
<v Speaker 3>he decides he wants to be a director, and so
<v Speaker 3>at sixteen, instead of going to work at McDonald's like
<v Speaker 3>most kids do, he goes to work in the mailroom
<v Speaker 3>at twenties Century Fox and is just fascinated by it
<v Speaker 3>and meets some people, and then at some point a
<v Speaker 3>couple of years later, he gets a call from a
<v Speaker 3>guy who's making the movie Kelly's Heroes, which starts Clint Eastwood.
<v Speaker 3>He says, if you can get out to Yugoslavia, I
<v Speaker 3>might be able to get you a job on this movie.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, how promising is that. He's in California, he's seventeen,
<v Speaker 3>eighteen years old something like that. And then if you
<v Speaker 3>can get out to Yugoslavia, yeah, I might have a
<v Speaker 3>job for you.
<v Speaker 1>Right, So what does he do?
<v Speaker 3>He goes and gets his life savings, which that points
<v Speaker 3>about twelve hundred bucks. The tickets are eight hundred, and
<v Speaker 3>he buys his own ticket. But then he takes to
<v Speaker 3>his mom and says, hey, the studio has offered me
<v Speaker 3>a job and is paying my way out to Yugoslavia
<v Speaker 3>and shows her the ticket that he bought, and so
<v Speaker 3>she lets him go, and so he goes out there.
<v Speaker 3>He works on Kelly's Heroes, meets all these people, and
<v Speaker 3>he does a wide array of things stuntman work, writing work,
<v Speaker 3>grunt work for about twenty thirty movies out there over
<v Speaker 3>the course of a couple of years before he comes back.
<v Speaker 1>And then he sits down for the.
<v Speaker 3>To be a part of the Director's Guild, you had
<v Speaker 3>to have a test that you've got to take, and
<v Speaker 3>he kills it. He aises the test, but then they
<v Speaker 3>call him in they're like, I'm sorry, you didn't graduate
<v Speaker 3>from high school. We can't allow you to be a
<v Speaker 3>part of the director skilled Wow. And this is all
<v Speaker 3>before Schlock comes out. So yeah, his road was a
<v Speaker 3>hard road to get to where he was.
<v Speaker 1>That's interesting.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, okay, and one more thing I wanted to mention
<v Speaker 4>before we move on. That subway station, yes with the
<v Speaker 4>see you Next Wednesday poster. Yes, as a cheam is
<v Speaker 4>chasing Li said, you know that subway station and I'm
<v Speaker 4>going to mispronounce it, but it's the Hoyt sure Horn
<v Speaker 4>subway station.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, we're from Oklahoma, not New York. Sorry, that's right.
<v Speaker 4>Sorry, that is where the Michael Jackson Bad video was
<v Speaker 4>filmed right there as well.
<v Speaker 3>Right, so we got a connection with Michael Jackson's bad video,
<v Speaker 3>connection with Michael Jackson's thriller video. And then in another
<v Speaker 3>video that John Landers directed, that Michael Jackson video Black
<v Speaker 3>or White, See You Next Wednesday is shown on the
<v Speaker 3>window which Michael Jackson throws the garbage can through.
<v Speaker 4>And in case you missed it, episode one and two
<v Speaker 4>of the Shirley Can Be Series podcast, Michael Jackson.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, bad versus Thriller.
<v Speaker 3>And just as a side note on the coming to America,
<v Speaker 3>the other stars in addition to dan Aykroyd and Jamie La,
<v Speaker 3>Curtis mo Howard and James Brown nice.
<v Speaker 6>Yes, it's one head of a day in the neighborhood.
<v Speaker 3>So I don't know, should we talk about Eddie Murphy's
<v Speaker 3>the characters that he did on Saturday Night Live because
<v Speaker 3>they were fantastic.
<v Speaker 1>He of course did Buck Wheat, Yes, Who's hilarious.
<v Speaker 6>Woe play?
<v Speaker 3>And he was then of course mister Robinson and then
<v Speaker 3>he was Gummy, Gummy dammit. So here's something I learned.
<v Speaker 3>There was an idea for a movie that they had
<v Speaker 3>called Purple Wheat, which was which was the movie Purple Rain,
<v Speaker 3>except it was buck Wheat.
<v Speaker 1>The Prince part.
<v Speaker 4>Now that I guess he is a really funny skit.
<v Speaker 3>I don't know about the movie, but yeah, i'd watched
<v Speaker 3>the whole movie. And so he's doing Saturday Night Live.
<v Speaker 3>He's done forty eight hours. It becomes a big hit,
<v Speaker 3>and then Nick, he's like, Nick, you should come host
<v Speaker 3>the show. We have shows at the time. Nick shows up,
<v Speaker 3>and the story that they give the people is Nick
<v Speaker 3>was sick, like he had the flu. The fact is
<v Speaker 3>Nick Nolty was drunk out of his mind, like he
<v Speaker 3>could not perform. And so what ended up happening is
<v Speaker 3>they had Eddie Murphy be the host of the show.
<v Speaker 3>It's the only time that a cast member has been
<v Speaker 3>a host as well. He starts off the show with
<v Speaker 3>Live from New York, It's the Eddie Murphy Show, and
<v Speaker 3>everybody's like, WHOA, what did he just do? Because that
<v Speaker 3>was not scripted that he'd say it like that.
<v Speaker 1>And it's live.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, let's talk just a moment before we move on
<v Speaker 4>too much. But so Billy Ray Valentine funny, but it
<v Speaker 4>is a version of Eddie Murphy. That character is basically
<v Speaker 4>a smart.
<v Speaker 1>Leg version of Eddie Murphy.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.
<v Speaker 4>I saw Eddie Murphy talking about it. When he wanted
<v Speaker 4>to do Coming to America. He wanted to play a
<v Speaker 4>character that wasn't himself, right, So Prince Akim is not
<v Speaker 4>really Eddie Murphy. I mean, you know all your parts time,
<v Speaker 4>but Prince Akim is like my favorite Eddie Murphy character.
<v Speaker 3>He's well, he's genuine, he's real, he's honest, he's a
<v Speaker 3>good he's got good morals. And we talked about Prince
<v Speaker 3>and the Popper and Pygmalion being kind of the underlying
<v Speaker 3>stories for trading places. John landis is Coming to America
<v Speaker 3>is a Cinderella story, which I completely disagree with. It's
<v Speaker 3>not remotely Cinderella at all. We got a prince who's
<v Speaker 3>being poor. It's still the Prince in the Popper story.
<v Speaker 3>But it's not Lisa's story. It's not her story. I mean,
<v Speaker 3>it's not called I Met a Prince. It's a different
<v Speaker 3>perspective on it. But the the story actually was something
<v Speaker 3>that they say was Eddie Murphy's. Like Arsenio Hall said, Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>Eddie Murphy wrote this on a pad But actually when
<v Speaker 3>the movie came out, there was some litigation that happened too.
<v Speaker 3>A guy named Art Buckwald, who was a humorist, had
<v Speaker 3>proposed a script several years earlier, eighty two or eighty three.
<v Speaker 3>I think that was connected with John Landis, connected with
<v Speaker 3>Eddie Murphy, and was the idea of a prince from
<v Speaker 3>Africa coming to America.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and he sued and he won.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, he won nine hundred thousand dollars was the verdict.
<v Speaker 3>Nine hundred thousand dollars. He got one hundred and fifty
<v Speaker 3>thousand dollars and the attorney's got seven hundred and fifty
<v Speaker 3>Oh my gosh, that's terrible. They actually lawyers. Yeah, don't
<v Speaker 3>trust him. They ended up, you know, there was going
<v Speaker 3>to be an appeal, but they ended up settling before
<v Speaker 3>the appeal was finalized. So I don't know if that
<v Speaker 3>was what the final amount was, but that was what
<v Speaker 3>the original verdict was.
<v Speaker 4>Wow. Was one of the characters that Aidemaricy plays in
<v Speaker 4>coming to America, the barber. There's a couple of things
<v Speaker 4>I want to mention about the barber.
<v Speaker 1>I'm bouncing around.
<v Speaker 3>That's that's we're bouncing around all over the this is
<v Speaker 3>our scattershot show.
<v Speaker 4>All right, So he plays the barber, kind of the
<v Speaker 4>older barber. Number one. Every piece of advice that this
<v Speaker 4>guy gives is spot on good advice. So he tells
<v Speaker 4>him number one. He's like, I'm interested in meeting women. Right,
<v Speaker 4>Where can I meet women?
<v Speaker 1>We've been We've been to every bar in the Yeah.
<v Speaker 4>He said, oh, man, you don't want to go there.
<v Speaker 4>You want to go where's a good place? Community events? Church?
<v Speaker 4>And then he says, hey, there's something going on called
<v Speaker 4>the Black Awareness thing down here at the community center
<v Speaker 4>at the church.
<v Speaker 1>Right.
<v Speaker 4>Well, it turns out that's where Hakim meets Lisa. Then
<v Speaker 4>later Hikeem comes back and he wants to get his
<v Speaker 4>soul glow on, right, and the guy said, man, no,
<v Speaker 4>you don't want to do that. He does, that's ridiculous.
<v Speaker 4>You don't want to do that. Just you know, leave
<v Speaker 4>your normal hair that nobody likes.
<v Speaker 1>That's just.
<v Speaker 4>Later he comes back and asks him. He says, well,
<v Speaker 4>how do I get in with a woman? And the
<v Speaker 4>barber says, if you want to get in with the lady,
<v Speaker 4>how do you do it? You get in good with
<v Speaker 4>her father? And that's why he ends up going to McDowell.
<v Speaker 4>So every piece of advice it gets from him is solid.
<v Speaker 2>Right.
<v Speaker 4>He also this barber. Actually, when he's arguing with the
<v Speaker 4>different barbers and the different people in his his barbershop,
<v Speaker 4>they're talking about the greatest boxers of all time, right,
<v Speaker 4>and Saul, the old Jewish man played by Eddy Murphy,
<v Speaker 4>says what about Rocky Marciano? And he says, there you go,
<v Speaker 4>there you go. Every time I bring out boxers, there
<v Speaker 4>there one white guy in the room brings up Rocky
<v Speaker 4>mars noun he.
<v Speaker 5>Beat Joe Louis's ass, that fright he did?
<v Speaker 4>Whoop?
<v Speaker 1>You'll know what ass?
<v Speaker 2>Joe Lord was.
<v Speaker 1>Theventy five you know when it fought Frank s came in.
<v Speaker 1>It's a Frank how Zoe Luis?
<v Speaker 4>Well, you had never met Frank Sinatcha. But Rocky Marciano
<v Speaker 4>was twenty eight when he fought Joe Louis, and Joe
<v Speaker 4>Louis was thirty seven.
<v Speaker 5>You know.
<v Speaker 6>Frank told me, he said, hey, ye.
<v Speaker 3>Know, those guys are hilarious. Okay, so let me just
<v Speaker 3>I'll sidetrack on that. Coming to America, the beginning in
<v Speaker 3>Africa in Zimunda is hilarious from the get go.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, you've got white brows.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, from that moment on, it's funny, funny, funny,
<v Speaker 3>it's NonStop funny thing. As soon as they get into York,
<v Speaker 3>you've got this ridiculousness that happens with Jake the Body.
<v Speaker 1>You remember that, Yeah, Jake's biddy. Yeah you dumb? Yeap
<v Speaker 1>what the dumb?
<v Speaker 4>Yeah? Body by Jake was big for about five minutes.
<v Speaker 3>It's hard to talk about these movies with keeping it clean.
<v Speaker 3>We can't cuss all the best lines. And so then
<v Speaker 3>of course they go into the barbershop after they've found
<v Speaker 3>their place to stay, and.
<v Speaker 4>You you who, let's talk about who's in the barber chair?
<v Speaker 3>Oh okay, yeah, So in coming to America, you've got
<v Speaker 3>a guy, a Oscar winning actor who has no lines
<v Speaker 3>and no action.
<v Speaker 1>He's just sitting there smiling. His name is he was
<v Speaker 1>getting jor Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>Apparently there was a scene that they filmed where, you know,
<v Speaker 3>he's just a kid in the movie and he's he says,
<v Speaker 3>he tells the barber, hey, I'm sorry, I don't have
<v Speaker 3>any money to pay for my haircut, and then the
<v Speaker 3>barber like cuts him. That's a big chunk out of
<v Speaker 3>his hair. And if you look, you can tell it's
<v Speaker 3>fake hair that he's got on.
<v Speaker 1>Right. Yeah, I would have liked to see that scene
<v Speaker 1>in that movie too. That would have been That would
<v Speaker 1>have been funny.
<v Speaker 4>Did we talk about the bag Handlers from Trading Places?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah?
<v Speaker 3>The Baghandlers were the comedy writing team from SNL Franken
<v Speaker 3>and Davis.
<v Speaker 1>It was Al Franken and Tom Davis and.
<v Speaker 3>They they did a lot of comedy bits, but they
<v Speaker 3>weren't the original guys who were supposed to play this part.
<v Speaker 3>The original guys were Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis as
<v Speaker 3>the McKenzie brothers, right, Doug and Bob mackenzie tick off?
<v Speaker 4>Hey, yeah, poser, how many times are we gonna say that?
<v Speaker 2>I get?
<v Speaker 3>I hope every single both from sc TV Fame. Dave
<v Speaker 3>Thomas was also one of the co writers with Dan
<v Speaker 3>Aykroyd for Spies Like Us.
<v Speaker 1>Right, John Lands movie, That's cool. I didn't know that.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, I don't know if we mentioned this or not,
<v Speaker 4>but Steven Stucker is the gorilla Handler. He's also Johnny
<v Speaker 4>from Airplane.
<v Speaker 3>The funniest guy in Airplane, I mean the whole movie, right,
<v Speaker 3>you know, we love it, right, But gosh, that guy's
<v Speaker 3>lines Rapunzel speak, pretty, playing wheels, picked stripe, roach or paradactyl.
<v Speaker 4>We were about ready to talk about I have.
<v Speaker 3>No idea where we are. This is the scattershot let
<v Speaker 3>go in. Yeah, you you start with Trading Places since
<v Speaker 3>it was first. Okay, so here are my first moments.
<v Speaker 4>When Eddie Murphy is in the bathtub and Coleman turns
<v Speaker 4>on the jacuzzie.
<v Speaker 1>For him, say, man, when I was growing up, we
<v Speaker 1>want to go. We had to fought in the tongue. Okay.
<v Speaker 3>So I'll shoot back with the other pub line from
<v Speaker 3>Coming to America.
<v Speaker 5>Father. It is not just that.
<v Speaker 6>It's everything, the cooking, the pampering, the dressing, the bathing.
<v Speaker 1>Actually I'd rather enjoy the bathing. But that's funny.
<v Speaker 4>My fifth favorite line and Coming to America.
<v Speaker 1>Oh it is my twenty first birthday.
<v Speaker 5>Do you think perhaps, just once I might use the
<v Speaker 5>bathroom by myself?
<v Speaker 1>Most of music?
<v Speaker 2>Sir? Why b so?
<v Speaker 4>My fourth favorite line from Trading Places? Yes, when the
<v Speaker 4>Duke brothers give the guy his Christmas bonus, uh huh,
<v Speaker 4>and he.
<v Speaker 1>Says, here you go.
<v Speaker 4>I bet you thought we forgot about you. Here's your
<v Speaker 4>Christmas bonus. He hands me a five dollar bill, five dollars,
<v Speaker 4>maybe I'll go to the movies by myself, and then
<v Speaker 4>Bornver goes Hey, half of that.
<v Speaker 1>Was from me, Thank you, sir.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>I love how they established at the beginning of those
<v Speaker 3>guys are jerks right off the bat. Yes, you know,
<v Speaker 3>they're leaving their mansion and everybody is like, hello, mister Duke,
<v Speaker 3>thank you, mister Duke, Hello, mister Duke, and they're just
<v Speaker 3>not anybody just it's all beneath them, right, And you
<v Speaker 3>kind of get the same thing with dan Akroyd. He's
<v Speaker 3>just but he responds to people, but he's very much
<v Speaker 3>not looking at them. By the way, the first when
<v Speaker 3>he walks into Duke and Duke for the first time
<v Speaker 3>and hands his coat and his tie and gloves to
<v Speaker 3>the gentleman, he's says hello, mister Winthorpe, Hello folsy, and
<v Speaker 3>then hands them and stuff.
<v Speaker 1>That's actually the producer of the movie. Here's a real name,
<v Speaker 1>is holding.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, that's awesome.
<v Speaker 3>So Trading Place's first funny part for me is whatever
<v Speaker 3>Eddie Murphy is having the party at his house and
<v Speaker 3>you have the of course absurd people taking women taking
<v Speaker 3>off their clothes and dancing around naked and Dunham Elliott
<v Speaker 3>he's looking around and he's like, no, he's looking at me.
<v Speaker 3>Now I'm drinking. He's drinking the drinks. He's having a
<v Speaker 3>good time. He's kind of checking out.
<v Speaker 4>It's hilarious that party scene at the very end, when
<v Speaker 4>Eddie Murphy gets sick of everybody free load and he
<v Speaker 4>comes up to the two guys that are going to
<v Speaker 4>beat him up in the cell, he's like, he's like,
<v Speaker 4>let's go, you know, and the guy's like, man, you
<v Speaker 4>are the most righteous and Eddie Murphy's like, yeah, right,
<v Speaker 4>just get the out of here.
<v Speaker 3>So whenever, whenever Eddie Murphy is in the car for
<v Speaker 3>the first time, that whole scene is hilarious.
<v Speaker 1>We're going to start you with eighty thousand dollars a.
<v Speaker 2>Year, excupid.
<v Speaker 1>It's a practical joke, right, bright These guys are a
<v Speaker 1>couple of It's not appropriate, but it's funny, Right, what's
<v Speaker 1>my next move? Man?
<v Speaker 3>The chauffeur doesn't say anything, thank you've been, but he's
<v Speaker 3>he's talking to When he's getting introduced to Randall and Mortimer,
<v Speaker 3>he's like, Morte all right. Randy Ay Jackson from the
<v Speaker 3>Jackson vibe.
<v Speaker 1>That's okay. So the other laugh out loud moment.
<v Speaker 3>I can't tell you who the actor is, but whenever
<v Speaker 3>after dan Aykroyd has been arrested, after Winthorpe has been arrested,
<v Speaker 3>and he's getting bailed out and his girlfriend is waiting
<v Speaker 3>for him, and the guy like move.
<v Speaker 1>The ladies follow asleep and she's trying to put you off,
<v Speaker 1>and that comes his dad next to hers. Is that
<v Speaker 1>your prayer? That's a nice I don't know who the
<v Speaker 1>actor is. I try to figure out how that it was.
<v Speaker 1>I can't. I can't tell you.
<v Speaker 4>Just the smelly guy on the bench, and Clarence speaks, funny, funny, funny.
<v Speaker 1>Paul Gleeson as the jerk.
<v Speaker 4>He plays the jerk beautifully, I mean in the best.
<v Speaker 3>Movies, Like he's the jerk guy in Breakfast Club, he's
<v Speaker 3>the jerk guy in Dieard, he's the jerk guy in
<v Speaker 3>this movie.
<v Speaker 1>I mean, he's awesome, awesome. Here's an interesting another you know,
<v Speaker 1>let's go let's scattershot baby.
<v Speaker 3>All right, So Clarence beaks that part was originally supposed
<v Speaker 3>to go to see Gordon Liddy, which historically.
<v Speaker 1>Is an interesting kind of guy he was.
<v Speaker 3>I don't want to take away from everything he's done,
<v Speaker 3>but the interesting things about him are he was a
<v Speaker 3>part of the Richard Nixon campaign, managed that campaign, and
<v Speaker 3>then ultimately got caught up in the Watergate scandal and
<v Speaker 3>got sentenced to twenty years for that. And I found
<v Speaker 3>out later on he served like one hundred and two
<v Speaker 3>days in solitary confinement.
<v Speaker 1>I can't even wow, I can't. I don't know how
<v Speaker 1>that works. But he was an.
<v Speaker 3>Amazing guy, whatever the politics are, an incredible human being
<v Speaker 3>accomplishing things obviously. But then Jimmy Carter lets him out
<v Speaker 3>after five years in the interest of justice, and you know,
<v Speaker 3>land Is, it's obvious, number one, It's obvious that Landis
<v Speaker 3>is about a scattershot as this episode is, right, he
<v Speaker 3>just goes all over the place. I mean, I've had
<v Speaker 3>clients who talk like that who've been deemed incompetence. Okay,
<v Speaker 3>But anyway, he's obviously a very liberal guy. See Gordon
<v Speaker 3>Lyddy is this very conservative guy, and so Landis wants
<v Speaker 3>him to play the part of Clarence Beaks, the ultimate.
<v Speaker 1>Jerk guy in the movie, right, right, right, So he
<v Speaker 1>ends up not being able to do it, but they
<v Speaker 1>still managed to get him in.
<v Speaker 3>As Paul Gleeson is sitting in the train car before
<v Speaker 3>the other people getting on come in. He's reading a
<v Speaker 3>book and the book is Will the Autobiography of se
<v Speaker 3>Gordon Liddy.
<v Speaker 1>That's interesting.
<v Speaker 4>You know when you mentioned Paul Gleeson, they wanted him
<v Speaker 4>to reprise the part of Clarence Beaks in Coming to America,
<v Speaker 4>but he was busy shooting this little film.
<v Speaker 3>You know.
<v Speaker 4>I don't know if you've ever heard of this called Dieharden.
<v Speaker 1>Oh you to remember something about that agent Dwayne Johnson.
<v Speaker 1>Now what is it? Dwayne Dwayne T.
<v Speaker 4>Robinson.
<v Speaker 1>I can't remember his name in that. I think that
<v Speaker 1>may be right, if only we had tell us.
<v Speaker 3>I'm just thinking of the line, oh, you're in charge
<v Speaker 3>from up here to look like you're in charge of check.
<v Speaker 1>I'm not the guy who just got.
<v Speaker 4>TV.
<v Speaker 1>Dwayne T. Robinson for the wind? Hey where to go? Yes,
<v Speaker 1>you're gonna have to get some new FB I got.
<v Speaker 4>All right. My second favorite line in Trading Place is
<v Speaker 4>Danna Ackroyd has tried to commit suicide and anyway, they
<v Speaker 4>rescue him, bringing back to his house, and he is
<v Speaker 4>in his original house and of course Coleman's there helping
<v Speaker 4>nursing back to health. When he comes to, he's like, oh, Coleman,
<v Speaker 4>it's just this terrible dream. It was all because of
<v Speaker 4>this terrible, awful negro and Eddie Murphy is standing there
<v Speaker 4>and he's like, hey, wait at what enemy sees me.
<v Speaker 4>He jumps out of bed and starts choking him, and
<v Speaker 4>he's holding down his chair and baking his head on
<v Speaker 4>the floor.
<v Speaker 3>Blast does get dope. Okay, I like the I like
<v Speaker 3>it when they're looking at Clarence peaks inside of the
<v Speaker 3>ape suit.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, you know, let him it's Christmas. Let him have
<v Speaker 1>their fun.
<v Speaker 4>The best line in Trading Places is at the very last.
<v Speaker 5>Scene, looking good, Billy Ray, really good? It all right?
<v Speaker 3>So coming to America. Best lines, This one is a
<v Speaker 3>good one. James Earld Jones delivers the line after the
<v Speaker 3>Queen's speech. Delivers the line of there's a very fine line.
<v Speaker 1>Between love and nausea.
<v Speaker 3>And it's not necessarily funny because of his delivery, but
<v Speaker 3>because of her reaction.
<v Speaker 1>She's got a bunch of great reactions throughout this movie.
<v Speaker 1>He's funny. James O.
<v Speaker 4>Jones has some hilarious lines in there. I'm gonna jump
<v Speaker 4>up to my number two. But Eddie Murphy says, I'm
<v Speaker 4>a man who has never tied his own shoes.
<v Speaker 1>He's like, wrong, you're a prince who.
<v Speaker 4>Has never tied your own shoes. And he says, I
<v Speaker 4>tied my own shoes once. It is an overrated experience.
<v Speaker 1>So funny.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah. My fourth favorite line from Coming to America is
<v Speaker 4>the bonus scene at the very end of the movie
<v Speaker 4>where the Jewish guy Saw is telling his joke.
<v Speaker 1>Right, Oh, my gosh, can I tell the joke?
<v Speaker 4>Go?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, okay. Man walks into as he listen, he listen. No,
<v Speaker 1>we'll just play that joke because I can't do juice right.
<v Speaker 5>And stop right there, listen, stop right there.
<v Speaker 4>Man.
<v Speaker 5>Man goes into a restaurant. You're listening. And man goes
<v Speaker 5>into a restaurant.
<v Speaker 4>He's down.
<v Speaker 5>He's having a bowl of soup. He says to the
<v Speaker 5>Vada Vada, come taste of soup. Says, there's something wrong
<v Speaker 5>with the soup. Just tys of soup. There's something wrong
<v Speaker 5>with the soap. So well, your tasted soap is wrong
<v Speaker 5>with the soap too. Call well, you're just tasted soap.
<v Speaker 5>All right, I'll taste the soup. Where's the spoon? Aha?
<v Speaker 1>Aha?
<v Speaker 4>I still caute that.
<v Speaker 5>Why are you know? From funny up bash.
<v Speaker 3>Next favorite part is whenever he comes out and he
<v Speaker 3>starts singing, sheeez yr.
<v Speaker 6>Queer to me.
<v Speaker 1>Oh my gosh, number one, it's just hilarious. That is happening.
<v Speaker 1>But then you get some of those lines in there
<v Speaker 1>free from infection? I need more?
<v Speaker 4>What are you talking about when he's singing.
<v Speaker 1>So yeah, when the guy when he's singing sheees your queen,
<v Speaker 1>she's perfection, she's free from infection.
<v Speaker 4>That that was improved by that guy.
<v Speaker 1>Really? Yes, oh he killed it. Oh my gosh, it's hilarious.
<v Speaker 4>My wife's birthday the other day, and when we lit
<v Speaker 4>the candles, I was singing cheese.
<v Speaker 3>There's some great I mean there, it's funny, funny throughout,
<v Speaker 3>and there's some real laugh out loud moments. Okay, So
<v Speaker 3>when the landlord is taking them up to the apartment
<v Speaker 3>telling him about you know, it's only got one window
<v Speaker 3>that faces a brick wall and rented it out to
<v Speaker 3>a blind man. They open it up and the tapes
<v Speaker 3>on the floor and he goes, damn shame.
<v Speaker 4>When they walk by the bathroom, he's like, here's the
<v Speaker 4>bathroom you gotta share. Not an insect problem, but you
<v Speaker 4>boss Mafka, you're used to that.
<v Speaker 1>Then it comes out of the window, good morning my neighbors.
<v Speaker 4>Yes, yeah, you don't. Oh. And then and the other
<v Speaker 4>scene in the barbershop when he's talking about me, Martin
<v Speaker 4>Luther King.
<v Speaker 6>I walking out through out of my own benagit walt
<v Speaker 6>no feeling good. I walk around the corner. Man will
<v Speaker 6>up hit me in my chest right, I'm falling on
<v Speaker 6>the ground. And doctor Martin said, doctor King, somebody else.
<v Speaker 4>Man, you ain't never met King.
<v Speaker 3>And then you've got the whole scene where they're in
<v Speaker 3>the bar and all of the women that come in
<v Speaker 3>and the first one that they meet and she's so smiley,
<v Speaker 3>and then I have a secret.
<v Speaker 4>I worshiped the devil. Oh, my name is Jesus, and
<v Speaker 4>I'm the best.
<v Speaker 6>All the DJs want to feel my brus.
<v Speaker 4>The worst one of all is that one lady who's like,
<v Speaker 4>I need a man satisfying me shot. Some guys do
<v Speaker 4>an our hour and a half shot.
<v Speaker 1>I need more.
<v Speaker 4>That's it.
<v Speaker 3>And then Arsenio Hall playing the preacher with the girls
<v Speaker 3>is it's bordering on that is it too inappropriate?
<v Speaker 1>Funny? But man, is it funny.
<v Speaker 4>His dad was actually a preacher, so that's why he
<v Speaker 4>did that character so well.
<v Speaker 1>He nailed it. Man, it's perfect.
<v Speaker 3>Chocolate you remember him as Joe the policeman from What's
<v Speaker 3>Going Down episode of That's My Mama.
<v Speaker 1>Mister Randall Wawson.
<v Speaker 3>And then that whole bit it's so awkward, It's so
<v Speaker 3>wonderfully awkward and hilarious at the same time. And then
<v Speaker 3>sexy Chocolate, stomp, stomp, Sexy Chocolate drops the mic does
<v Speaker 3>the point, walks.
<v Speaker 1>Off stage and he comes up.
<v Speaker 4>He has he has to pick up the microphone from
<v Speaker 4>the ground.
<v Speaker 1>Let's give it again another random of blause. Mister Randy
<v Speaker 1>was good and terrible.
<v Speaker 4>Actually, when when Randy Watson performs the Greatest Love of
<v Speaker 4>All you have to be like an eighties music fan
<v Speaker 4>to really get this. But he mixes up the lyrics.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, he screws up the lines. Oh yeah, I think
<v Speaker 1>that's only you getting that kind of joke. Yeah, I
<v Speaker 1>missed that one completely.
<v Speaker 4>My favorite scene in the entire movie, though, is the
<v Speaker 4>Duke's brother scene, and it's it's so satisfying to see
<v Speaker 4>that come full circle. There are bums on the street
<v Speaker 4>after what happened in Trading Places. I think it's interesting
<v Speaker 4>that these movies sort of live in the same universe.
<v Speaker 2>We're back.
<v Speaker 1>So when Prince a Kiem starts, I have recently been
<v Speaker 1>placed in charge of garbage. This is flirtation. When you
<v Speaker 1>think of Garva, think of Akim. So this is interesting.
<v Speaker 3>So Coming to America is the first time that Eddie
<v Speaker 3>Murphy is playing a romantic lead part. You know, this
<v Speaker 3>is all of the movies that he's done. This is
<v Speaker 3>the first time that he's got a love interest in
<v Speaker 3>the movie. And I think he nails it. I mean,
<v Speaker 3>he's he's charming, he's lovable. You know, he's goofy at
<v Speaker 3>the beginning, which creates a sympathy for him.
<v Speaker 1>He does pull it off. I'm totally agreeing with you.
<v Speaker 4>Are we moving into now the comments and criticisms on
<v Speaker 4>how we feel about the movies?
<v Speaker 1>Sure? U, let's you get more funny lines.
<v Speaker 4>From Coming I mean I can do this all day.
<v Speaker 4>But yeah, so Coming to America does a great job.
<v Speaker 4>It is actually, in my opinion, is very very funny
<v Speaker 4>the first half and then it kind of moves into
<v Speaker 4>this romance and I'm not critical of it because he
<v Speaker 4>pulls it off.
<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely balls off the scene on the swing.
<v Speaker 3>And by the way, we're about to leave funny lines
<v Speaker 3>and moving into something else, but you just made remember
<v Speaker 3>the part that is also hilarious, which is.
<v Speaker 1>King or not I'll break my foot off?
<v Speaker 3>And apparently John Amos had lived that line, you know,
<v Speaker 3>was it was not quite so you know rough you
<v Speaker 3>thought it needed more punch.
<v Speaker 4>Cleo McDowell is awesome. He's one of my favorite characters
<v Speaker 4>in that movie.
<v Speaker 1>Just real quick, let's catch on Darryl too, because Darryl
<v Speaker 1>is such a good jerk.
<v Speaker 3>You know, we talked about knowing that the Dukes are
<v Speaker 3>bad guys from the beginning with because they refuse to
<v Speaker 3>to talk to anybody that's beneath them. The exact same
<v Speaker 3>thing is happening with Daryl, who walks in and you know,
<v Speaker 3>Cleo's kissing his butt and grasps the shake that's supposed
<v Speaker 3>to go on to a little kid strawberry, right, and
<v Speaker 3>then he's I mean, he just jerk. You know, wearing
<v Speaker 3>clothes must be a new experience. Bet you guys played
<v Speaker 3>games like Chase the Monkey.
<v Speaker 4>So coming to America I think is A is a
<v Speaker 4>great comedy. I don't have anything bad to say about
<v Speaker 4>this man. I enjoy this movie. I told you before
<v Speaker 4>that the character of Prince A Kim is my favorite
<v Speaker 4>Eddie Murphy character, maybe between that and Shrek or that
<v Speaker 4>in Donkey. He's a gentleman, he's noble. He he gets
<v Speaker 4>mad at Samuel L. Jackson for using obscenities, which is
<v Speaker 4>kind of funny, but it turns into a romantic comedy
<v Speaker 4>that that I think works. I think it's got heart.
<v Speaker 4>I think it you want to see them end up together.
<v Speaker 4>I think as a movie it works.
<v Speaker 3>The bit at the end where he's chasing her down
<v Speaker 3>and the people on the subway are watching them go
<v Speaker 3>back and forth is a classic John Lander's bit, and
<v Speaker 3>he had done it just a bit before with the Dog.
<v Speaker 3>He's O the dog watching back and forth between the
<v Speaker 3>events unfolding between Cleo and the King and Queen, and
<v Speaker 3>it's just it's a neat it's a neat bit that
<v Speaker 3>he does. But I love that kind of romantic where
<v Speaker 3>they're like, what's gonna happen? They're they're, they're, they're the audience.
<v Speaker 3>It's a great, great little bit. What I just there's
<v Speaker 3>so many funny lines, like I when Simmy has had
<v Speaker 3>his money come and taken down and he goes to
<v Speaker 3>send the telegram.
<v Speaker 1>That lady who's at the telegram office is hilarious. I
<v Speaker 1>need to look her up, okay, because she's she's hysterical.
<v Speaker 1>And then she's like, you sure three hundred thousand, and
<v Speaker 1>he's like, you think I should ask for more? Why not?
<v Speaker 6>As long as you're asking, why don't we go for
<v Speaker 6>a cool million?
<v Speaker 1>You do not think that would be too much?
<v Speaker 4>Nah?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it's hilarious.
<v Speaker 4>Let's go opinion now, Okay, are we ready to do opinion?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah? Sure, go okay.
<v Speaker 4>In my opinion, I enjoy I enjoy Trading Places more.
<v Speaker 1>Okay.
<v Speaker 4>I think it's a little more absurd, it's a little
<v Speaker 4>more lighthearted. It's funny from beginning to end. I think
<v Speaker 4>Coming to America is brilliantly funny at the beginning and
<v Speaker 4>then sort of fades into this romance. But it works,
<v Speaker 4>and so I enjoy the movie a lot.
<v Speaker 1>So if I put him on the.
<v Speaker 4>Scales, I'm tipping a little more towards Trading Places.
<v Speaker 3>I see you now, it's kind of interesting because I
<v Speaker 3>have like the reverse perception of your thing. I don't
<v Speaker 3>think that Trading Places is funny from beginning to end.
<v Speaker 3>I like, you love both movies, love watching them both,
<v Speaker 3>but you've got a lot of build up that happens
<v Speaker 3>on Trading Places. Like I didn't realize how long the
<v Speaker 3>build up was. I think, you know, my memory was
<v Speaker 3>just of Jamie Lee Curtis's naked movies, and so.
<v Speaker 1>I had forgotten. I mean, it's an hour into the movie.
<v Speaker 3>Before that happens, and so you've got this kind of
<v Speaker 3>long build up that's not funny. It's just a setup.
<v Speaker 3>And so the difference I think is with Coming to America. Yes,
<v Speaker 3>it is funny from beginning to end. I mean even
<v Speaker 3>I mean even.
<v Speaker 1>At the point that the that the King and Queen
<v Speaker 1>are showing up, it's still funny. A little late for
<v Speaker 1>the Christmas Path. This is beautiful? Is that velvet? I
<v Speaker 1>mean it just never it.
<v Speaker 3>Never stops being funny throughout the movie. Now, Trading Places,
<v Speaker 3>I just it's not quite as funny. It's a good story,
<v Speaker 3>and I like the way it plays out, but I
<v Speaker 3>think it's just kind of a little absurd. It is
<v Speaker 3>supposed to be more realistic, but it's a little absurd
<v Speaker 3>Number one. First absurd thing is Clarence peaks in as
<v Speaker 3>the security expert, saying, you know, put your hand on
<v Speaker 3>the guy's right shoulder, put your other hand in his
<v Speaker 3>left pocket. I mean, how dumb. I mean, would anybody
<v Speaker 3>actually believe that? That's kind of ridiculous?
<v Speaker 4>This giant red X is on the dollars.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, and then after that, like Eddie Murphy is instantly
<v Speaker 3>possessive and angry about his possessions, and then he's instantly
<v Speaker 3>on the cover of the Wall Street Journal. I mean,
<v Speaker 3>it's just I mean, that's just this is happening in
<v Speaker 3>the course of a couple of days. I mean, it's
<v Speaker 3>just a little bit too crazy.
<v Speaker 4>It's absurd.
<v Speaker 3>John Landis needed a little more like of a montage
<v Speaker 3>scene where we're sitting, Oh, okay, these are the things
<v Speaker 3>that are happening as time passes. But instead it's just
<v Speaker 3>like boom it happens, Boom it happens, and you're just like,
<v Speaker 3>I can't believe this has happened to that fast.
<v Speaker 1>That's where I am on the tipping of the scales.
<v Speaker 1>I gotta go with.
<v Speaker 3>Coming to America, because funny from beginning in it, I
<v Speaker 3>still Love Trading Places is going to be a close
<v Speaker 3>call anytime. But because coming to America, it's NonStop comedy
<v Speaker 3>from beginning to end and still manages to give you
<v Speaker 3>a compelling romantic story, It's got to be the winner
<v Speaker 3>in my book.
<v Speaker 4>Okay, that sounds good. I love both movies. Like you said,
<v Speaker 4>I don't know how much more we could say. I
<v Speaker 4>laugh out loud when I watch both of these movies.
<v Speaker 1>If you haven't seen one of these movies, yeah, you
<v Speaker 1>need to correct that. Well, yeah, you probably should have
<v Speaker 1>not listened to this.
<v Speaker 4>Ye, this episode makes absolutely no sense to you.
<v Speaker 3>Oh spoiler alert, the last hour has been a spoiler
<v Speaker 3>for both movies.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, exactly, sorry about that.
<v Speaker 3>So thank you everybody for hearing us all out on
<v Speaker 3>this crazy, all over the place kind of episode. If
<v Speaker 3>you've got an opinion that's different than ours on this one,
<v Speaker 3>I mean, I don't know how because Jason's got one
<v Speaker 3>and I got the other.
<v Speaker 1>But yeah, come tell us what your opinions are. We'd
<v Speaker 1>love to hear from you.
<v Speaker 4>Look us up on social media Twitter at Shirley Podcast,
<v Speaker 4>Facebook on Shirley Podcast.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, let's hear from Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>You can check out some of the videos that we've
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<v Speaker 3>Serious podcast channel, and please tell your friends and acquaintances
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<v Speaker 4>any of the episodes as to come out.
<v Speaker 1>Thank y'all so much. We'll see you next week. You
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<v Speaker 3>All music, images and movie clips are used for the
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