Höre Blank Check with Griffin & David

He’s the nicest bad guy in town. His last name is an adverb. And he’s got some pretty wacky bits! Sweetie pie comedian Josh Gondelman joins us to talk about 1984’s Johnny Dangerously, Amy Heckerling’s loving homage to 1930’s gangster pictures. Things we attempt to understand in this episode: the cultural legacy of Joe Piscopo; the actual joke that’s being told in the “Your Testicles and You” animated reel / is there one?; Marilu Henner’s insane memory thing; if the Danny DeVito bull scene is a parody of anything; why does Richie Rich have cent signs in his name if he’s so rich?; and most crucially - why is this movie so damned hard to see in 2025?!?! Real fans know that Blank Check started off as an investigative podcast. Maybe it’s time to bring that element back! Subscribe to Josh's newsletter [https://joshgondelman.substack.com/] If you haven't been able to find the movie maybe watch the Internet Archive version [https://archive.org/details/johnny-dangerously]. Buy Mattie Lubchansky's Book Simplicity [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/739012/simplicity-by-mattie-lubchansky/] Listen to Griffin on The Michael Keaton Movie Mount Rushmore episode of The Big Picture [https://open.spotify.com/episode/2mGouPiErnMYXsOewjyLmo] Read Coolio's Obituary [https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/28/arts/music/coolio-rapper-dead.html] Watch the end of Disaster Movie [https://youtu.be/54ymp9TqDbw?si=lGux4sNdFNmMIfxz] Sign up for Check Book [https://blankcheckpod.substack.com/welcome], the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your  pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on. Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes. [http://www.patreon.com/blankcheck] Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter [https://x.com/blankcheckpod?lang=en], Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/blankcheckpod/?hl=en], Threads [https://www.threads.net/@blankcheckpod?xmt=AQGzctAh4mbWTwYzCV1pzNT6AMV9o99EOfymi8TLR5mTde0] and Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/blankcheckpodcast/]!  Buy some real nerdy merch [https://kinshipgoods.com/blankcheck] Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit [https://www.reddit.com/r/blankies/s/gpcOkQr8Sv] or Discord [https://discord.gg/Q6YGSR3JrA] For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com [https://BlankCheckPod.com] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

We’re grabbing our Vans slip ons and heading to the mall as we kick off our Amy Heckerling series - Pod Times at Ridgemont Cast - with Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Fresh off her appearance in Sinners, actual high school friend of Griffin Newman Lola Kirke returns to the pod and things get pretty bogus. Like, David Lynch was supposed to direct this movie!!! David Sims has three performances from this on his 1982 Oscar Ballot! We develop sympathy for Mr. Hand! Griffin used to own a pair of fully black Converse sneakers! And, of course - Ben orders a pizza. Listen to An Evening with Belafonte/Makeba [https://open.spotify.com/album/27SMV8TOEzD5NvCI6dK7Xc?si=g4PwhZQyRmadAX4DwHgBNw] See Lola in Sinner and check out her other projects [https://l.instagram.com/?u=https%3A%2F%2Flinktr.ee%2Flolakirke%3Ffbclid%3DPAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAadZwWb4LYeHbYsSacPdH8Gs3qIS6OtLTBWdota6JYV5in-zjWqHWYJtTbGqUQ_aem_TCUvOk74ckqmGwfaYbNyGA&e=AT0W8KSR-nTBj7d6iLqXV88MBsqf6xoswpo7y2djug_JD0FHHLhDCD3qOvHZuRLoSjG5sPYrIgT4mZaltoY_zV-qxvNR1wQwOkQECemdHQTrHf7OI2qP] Sign up for Check Book [https://blankcheckpod.substack.com/welcome], the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your  pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on. Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes. [http://www.patreon.com/blankcheck] Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter [https://x.com/blankcheckpod?lang=en], Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/blankcheckpod/?hl=en], Threads [https://www.threads.net/@blankcheckpod?xmt=AQGzctAh4mbWTwYzCV1pzNT6AMV9o99EOfymi8TLR5mTde0] and Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/blankcheckpodcast/]!  Buy some real nerdy merch [https://kinshipgoods.com/blankcheck] Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit [https://www.reddit.com/r/blankies/s/gpcOkQr8Sv] or Discord [https://discord.gg/Q6YGSR3JrA] For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com [https://www.blankcheckpod.com/] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Our Early Spielberg series concludes with a movie that is a super fun time and not at all distressing to watch in our current political climate! David Ehrlich joins us to discuss 1993’s Schindler’s List, the film that defined the visual language of the Holocaust and finally got Spielberg his Oscar. We’re getting into the critical debates about this film’s “watchability,” the fact that this was only Ralph Fiennes’ second screen performance, and our (likely controversial) definitive ranking of Spielberg’s full filmography.   Sign up for Check Book [https://blankcheckpod.substack.com/welcome], the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your  pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on. Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes. [http://www.patreon.com/blankcheck] Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter [https://x.com/blankcheckpod?lang=en], Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/blankcheckpod/?hl=en], Threads [https://www.threads.net/@blankcheckpod?xmt=AQGzctAh4mbWTwYzCV1pzNT6AMV9o99EOfymi8TLR5mTde0] and Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/blankcheckpodcast/]!  Buy some real nerdy merch [https://kinshipgoods.com/blankcheck] Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit [https://www.reddit.com/r/blankies/s/gpcOkQr8Sv] or Discord [https://discord.gg/Q6YGSR3JrA] For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com [https://www.blankcheckpod.com/] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

God creates dinosaurs. God destroys dinosaurs. God creates Steven Spielberg. Steven Spielberg makes 1993’s Jurassic Park and changes movie history. The Big Picture’s Sean Fennessey joins us to talk about this totemic blockbuster, and we’re spending three hours talking about the bad boys of the Jurassic era (velociraptors), the bad boys of ILM (Steve ‘Spaz’ Williams and Mark Dippe), and the bad boy of movie scientists (Dr. Ian Malcolm). Note: this episode was recorded last fall, so some of the takes you’ll hear are a bit…frozen in amber. Yup, you guessed it. Hawk Tuah Talk again. Sign up for Check Book [https://blankcheckpod.substack.com/welcome], the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your  pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on. Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes. [http://www.patreon.com/blankcheck] Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter [https://x.com/blankcheckpod?lang=en], Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/blankcheckpod/?hl=en], Threads [https://www.threads.net/@blankcheckpod?xmt=AQGzctAh4mbWTwYzCV1pzNT6AMV9o99EOfymi8TLR5mTde0] and Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/blankcheckpodcast/]!  Buy some real nerdy merch [https://kinshipgoods.com/blankcheck] Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit [https://www.reddit.com/r/blankies/s/gpcOkQr8Sv] or Discord [https://discord.gg/Q6YGSR3JrA] For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com [https://www.blankcheckpod.com/]  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Everyone knows Captain Hook got swallowed by the crocodile at the end of Peter Pan. But what this movie presupposes is…maybe he didn’t? Let us go back to a time when the coolest thing a kid could have was a clubhouse that looked like a skatepark…when the worst thing a dad could do was own a cell phone…and when the craziest thing a filmmaker could do was agree to make a movie that started off as a child’s drawing. Lin-Manuel Miranda - most famous for starring as Captain Hook in his sixth grade production of Peter Pan - joins us on a trip to Neverland as we unpack Spielberg’s 1991 fantasia Hook. Bangarang, Blankies! And RIP Rufio. Check out Lin's Warriors Album [https://www.warriorsalbum.com/] and the Hook Ultimate Edition Soundtrack Sign up for Check Book [https://blankcheckpod.substack.com/welcome], the Blank Check newsletter featuring even more “real nerdy shit” to feed your  pop culture obsession. Dossier excerpts, film biz AND burger reports, and even more exclusive content you won’t want to miss out on. Join our Patreon for franchise commentaries and bonus episodes. [http://www.patreon.com/blankcheck] Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter [https://x.com/blankcheckpod?lang=en], Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/blankcheckpod/?hl=en], Threads [https://www.threads.net/@blankcheckpod?xmt=AQGzctAh4mbWTwYzCV1pzNT6AMV9o99EOfymi8TLR5mTde0] and Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/blankcheckpodcast/]!  Buy some real nerdy merch [https://kinshipgoods.com/blankcheck] Connect with other Blankies on our Reddit [https://www.reddit.com/r/blankies/s/gpcOkQr8Sv] or Discord [https://discord.gg/Q6YGSR3JrA] For anything else, check out BlankCheckPod.com [https://www.blankcheckpod.com/]  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]