Blank Check with Griffin & David: Dune with John Hodgman

Published 2024-09-08; 2:58:02 by the feed.

As extracted (engineer-sonnet-2026-10-13)

The extraction calls the show “Blank Check with Griffin & David” and the episode “Dune with John Hodgman”.

Hosts: Griffin Newman, David Sims. Guests: John Hodgman.

Subject films: Dune (1984).

On the transcript: No speaker labels and hosts frequently interject, so host attributions to Griffin versus David are mostly low-confidence; Hodgman's first-person anecdotes are the most reliable. Proper nouns are heavily mangled (Villeneuve, Harkonnen, Jodorowsky, Von Sydow).

Added from the extractor's memory, not said

Film title 'Dune: Prophecy' for the HBO series (transcript says only HBO Max series)
Guesses for mangled titles (Starman, Camp Miasma, Cybill) come from recognition, not from the transcript

Films that came up

Claims (119)

industry (industry): Dune → Waterworld. Studios padded odd-length movies with unfinished deleted scenes to fill TV slots, as discussed in the Waterworld episode.
“We talked about this, Waterworld episode behind the paywall”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 0:07:48 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Jason Momoa → Richard Jordan. Momoa suits the name Duncan Idaho in a way Richard Jordan did not.
“And he's not a guy I like all the time, but Jason Momoa, if he had any other name in the world, it would be Duncan Idaho.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 0:17:28 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Richard Jordan → The Friends of Eddie Coyle. Hodgman-side host praises Jordan as an actor from Eddie Coyle despite his flat Duncan Idaho.
“He's amazing in what's it called?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 0:17:48 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Dune → Dune. The episode cannot be done without comparing Lynch's film to the Villeneuve movies.
“We can't do this episode without comparing this movie to the Villanova films”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 0:19:09 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Javier Bardem → Dune. Villeneuve uses comforting faces like Bardem as shortcut casting.
“Javier Burden walks in and people are like, I get what this is.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 0:19:38 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): David Lynch → Denis Villeneuve. Lynch cast the weirdest character actors he could, Villeneuve cast shorthand faces audiences trust.
“As opposed to the David Lynch approach to casting, which is, let's find the weirdest looking character actors we can. and then put boils on them.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 0:19:53 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict): Dune → Dune. Lynch's film plays better now because Villeneuve's adaptation exists and takes the pressure off.
“There is a pressure off of this movie.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 0:20:20 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Dune → Dune. Villeneuve's film makes the plot easier to follow when watching Lynch's.
“it's easier for me to track what's going on in the plot of this movie because I can keep relating it back to the movie that is more narratively functional.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 0:20:27 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Sting → Dune: Part Two. Sting's very brief Feyd-Rautha is the character Part Two is built around.
“Sting is great in this movie, but I always forget that he is in this movie for 5 minutes.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 0:20:47 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Dune → Dune: Part Two. Part Two is built around Feyd-Rautha, who gets a couple of scenes in Lynch's film.
“And especially when part 2 of the Villeneuve is all built around that character.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 0:20:53 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
programming (programming): Dune → Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Dune was positioned and released as the studio's answer to Star Wars, the next big space epic.
“Uh, this movie is released with the energy of, here you go, here's the new Star Wars.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 0:22:17 · John Hodgman (0.85 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Dune → Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. The Dune book's messaging is credited as one of the things that inspired Star Wars.
“And not only that, the messaging of this is one of the things that inspired Star Wars.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 0:22:22 · John Hodgman (0.70 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Dune → Ghostbusters. Dune was dropped into a summer and year of pure-pleasure blockbusters like Ghostbusters.
“Set it aside and I'm like, dad, take me to go see Ghostbusters, which came out that summer.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 0:23:09 · John Hodgman (0.80 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Dune → Dune. Lynch's film reaches the end of Villeneuve's Part One in about 90 minutes, then crams the rest into 45.
“Everything that he made the 2nd film is contained within 45 minutes.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 0:28:46 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Dune → Dune: Part Two. Lynch compresses all of Part Two's story into a yada-yada summary.
“It has the most insane yada, yada, yada, I have ever seen in a movie”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 0:29:11 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Alicia Witt → Sybil (TV). Witt played Sybil Shepherd's uptight daughter in Sybil.
“Sybil Shepherd, right?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 0:30:24 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Dune → Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Lynch's Dune looks as good as the original Star Wars films from a design standpoint.
“I think this film looks as good as any of the original Star Wars films.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 0:40:48 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Dune → Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. The sandworm-riding finale fails as an effects climax where Star Wars' Death Star trench run succeeds.
“Like, you know how Star Wars ends with the Death Star trench run?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 0:41:20 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Dune → Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Star Wars reuses sets cleverly while Dune builds a custom set for almost every scene.
“You think about, like, Star Wars from 1977 and part of the great, like, filmmaking magic of that movie is how strategic they are in reusing certain elements.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 0:42:47 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Dune → Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi. Movement-heavy effects like the Jedi speeder chase are what Lucas pioneered and Lynch's film fails at.
“And the movement stuff is the stuff that he specifically fails on that is the thing that Lucas was so good at.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 0:43:56 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Carlo Rambaldi → Dune. Rambaldi's Guild Navigator design is the grotesque, sexual image the speaker calls the moment the whole film began to unpack for him.
“That Carlo Rimbaldi design.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 0:50:07 · John Hodgman (0.80 sure it was them)
career (career): Dune → The Straight Story. Elephant Man and The Straight Story are Lynch's two most conventional narratives.
“And his 2 most quote unquote conventional sort of straightforward narrative films are the straight story and elephant man”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 0:51:41 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict): David Lynch → Dune. Lynch's visual weirdness survived even if the narrative is lost; the movie is an object of love.
“And I do, I now have gotten to a place where I love it as an object.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 0:57:24 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)
career (career): Dune → Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi. Lynch chose Dune over Return of the Jedi.
“that he makes Dune after being like, Dune is the right choice for me over return of the Jedi.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 0:59:44 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Dune → The Elephant Man. Elephant Man's hit status and Best Picture nomination made Lynch a director studios wanted.
“David Lynch made the elephant man.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:00:20 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Francis Ford Coppola → Ronnie Rocket. Lynch came close to making Ronnie Rocket at Zoetrope.
“He actually comes close now because he has real clout, Zoatrope, Francis Ford Coppola's, you know, House of Madness.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:00:35 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
people (people): George Lucas → David Lynch. Lucas pitched Return of the Jedi to Lynch, who found Star Wars not his cup of tea.
“Unfortunately, Star Wars wasn't my cup of tea.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:02:05 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): David Lynch → Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi. Lynch would have gone wild on Jabba's Palace.
“The whole 1st 30 minutes, you're like, Lynch would go fucking hog wild on that.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:04:23 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): David Lynch → Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi. Lynch could have handled the Luke, Emperor and Vader climax but not Endor.
“I actually think he would probably do a good job with the final chunk with Luke and the Emperor and Vader.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:04:27 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): David Lynch → Red Dragon / Manhunter. Roth approached Lynch to direct Red Dragon, which Michael Mann later made as Manhunter.
“Richard Roth approached him to direct Red Dragon, which, of course, eventually Michael Mann makes as Manhunter.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:05:31 · Griffin Newman (0.60 sure it was them)
career (career): David Lynch → Blue Velvet. Lynch pitched Blue Velvet to Roth in the same meeting.
“That is when he pitches Roth on Blue Velvet.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:05:38 · Griffin Newman (0.60 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Tender Mercies → The Straight Story. Tender Mercies was a quiet drama offered to Lynch, a sensibility that foreshadows The Straight Story.
“but somebody like the straight story speaks to him.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:05:58 · Griffin Newman (0.60 sure it was them)
career (career): David Lynch → Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Cameron Crowe approached Lynch to direct Fast Times.
“He was also approached by Cameron Crowe to direct Fast Times at Ridgemont High.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:06:16 · Griffin Newman (0.60 sure it was them)
craft (craft): The Elephant Man → Eraserhead. Both are movies about sensitive weirdos in arch black and white.
“he's made two, like, movies about sensitive weirdos and the pain of existing in society that are shot in like very arch black and white.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:07:04 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)
people (people): Dino De Laurentiis → Federico Fellini. Raffaella says her father thought Lynch was as good as Fellini.
“My father loved directors and he thought David was as good as Fellini, she says.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:08:14 · Griffin Newman (0.60 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Eraserhead → The Elephant Man. Dino wanted Elephant Man Lynch, not Eraserhead Lynch, though they share a lot.
“But he's sort of saying like, I want the elephant man lynch, not eraser head lynch.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:08:39 · Griffin Newman (0.55 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Dino De Laurentiis → Conan the Barbarian. Conan had already happened by the time of Dune.
“Conan had happened at this point, Barbarellas.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:10:31 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Dino De Laurentiis → King Kong. King Kong is cited as one of Dino's big genre films.
“Um, King Kong, the, uh, you know, the, that's a big one.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:10:41 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Dino De Laurentiis → Barbarella. Dino's producing history includes Barbarella, big genre films, Conan.
“But if I'm David Lynch and I see these 2 charismatic Italian people, one of whom is, you know, made Barbarella.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:11:15 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Dino De Laurentiis → Serpico. Dino also produced Serpico, part of a strange range.
“Just like he did Serpico.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:11:28 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope → Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Star Trek the Motion Picture happened because Star Wars scooped the studio.
“Like Star Wars scooped our ass.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:12:22 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): 2001: A Space Odyssey → Silent Running. 2001 spawned heady, serious, clean sci-fi like Silent Running.
“2001 leads to a spat of things like silent running, you know, these movies that are like very heady.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:12:45 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope → Alien. In Star Wars' wake came Alien and Blade Runner rather than more 4-color space operas.
“the Star Wars Halo effect are like alien.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:13:21 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope → Blade Runner. Blade Runner stars a Star Wars actor but is a weird sci-fi noir.
“We got one of the stars of Star Wars, but it's doing a weird sci-fi noir.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:13:35 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope → Flash Gordon. Flash Gordon and The Last Starfighter are a grounded-in-reality category of post-Star Wars space movies.
“Flash Gordon, I want to put as this category of things like Last Starfighter, like the Masters.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:13:54 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope → Battlestar Galactica. Star Wars' direct influence landed more on television, e.g. Battlestar Galactica.
“And of course, on television, you had Battlestar Galactic.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:14:15 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope → Jaws. Star Wars and Jaws legitimized the B movie as high-quality filmmaking.
“Star Wars and Jaws in 75 and 77.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:15:05 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)
theme (theme): Dune → Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Dune's Fremen/revolution material is the denser source that Star Wars abstracts; the Force is Dune without the drugs.
“the Force in Star Wars is like doom without the drugs.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:17:01 · David Sims (0.30 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Dune → Dune (Sci-Fi Channel miniseries). The 2000 miniseries is a hyper-faithful script-on-screen adaptation versus Lynch's art object.
“That thing is basically just someone being like, what if I just wrote down Dune as a screenplay.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:18:52 · John Hodgman (0.55 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Dune (Sci-Fi Channel miniseries) → Children of Dune (miniseries). The miniseries team also did Children of Dune with the same just write-it-down approach.
“But it really is, and they do children of June as well, where they're just like, let's just fucking write it down, man.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:19:11 · John Hodgman (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career): Matt Keeslar → Dune (Sci-Fi Channel miniseries). Matt Keeslar played Feyd-Rautha in the miniseries and is a favorite from Guffman and Last Days of Disco.
“The last days of disco.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:19:27 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Larry David → Clear History. Hodgman watched both Larry David movies while sick.
“I saw that you watched clear history as well.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:20:15 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Matt Keeslar → Sour Grapes. Keeslar plays a Matt LeBlanc stand-in in Larry David's Sour Grapes.
“Matt Keesler plays Matt LeBlanc in sour grapes.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:20:28 · Griffin Newman (0.45 sure it was them)
career (career): Larry David → Sour Grapes. Sour Grapes was made right after Larry David left Seinfeld and mocks Friends.
“Because it was made right after he left Seinfeld.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:20:38 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Peter Berg → Friday Night Lights. Berg was positioned as a serious director after Friday Night Lights.
“I feel like particularly after Friday night lights, he was positioned as like, this guy might be a serious director in the making.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:23:06 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Peter Berg → Hancock. Hodgman guesses Berg was working on Hancock at the time of their flight.
“And I believe in the context of our conversation, he was probably working on Hancock at that time.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:23:11 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Peter Berg → Late for Dinner. Hodgman recognized Berg from the indie Late for Dinner.
“It's called late for dinner.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:23:31 · John Hodgman (0.60 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Peter Berg → Dune. Berg planned a Dune for normies, emphasizing boy's adventure over the weird stuff.
“basically, he was going to, like, make Dune for normies.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:26:32 · John Hodgman (0.80 sure it was them)
career (career): Pierre Morel → Taken. After Berg dropped out, the Dune script went to Pierre Morel, the Taken director.
“and the script was taken to Pierre Morel, who is the guy who made taken.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:26:38 · John Hodgman (0.50 sure it was them)
people (people): W.D. Richter → Late for Dinner. Late for Dinner was directed by W.D. Richter, who also did Buckaroo Banzai.
“The film you referenced was, in fact, directed by W.D. Richter, the only other film directed by the man who did Buck Rubons.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:29:32 · Griffin Newman (0.60 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): David Lean → Dune. David Lean was approached by the original rights holder and passed.
“Martha P. Jacobs at one point wanted David Lean to make Dune.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:29:46 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Dalton Trumbo → Dune. Trumbo was brought in at one point to write a script.
“Dalton Trumbo was brought in”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:29:57 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Alejandro Jodorowsky → Alien. Jodorowsky's Dune gathered Giger, Moebius and O'Bannon before Alien.
“Like before Alien, before anything else.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:33:21 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Jodorowsky's Dune → Dune. Studios later used Jodorowsky's concept book as a menu for science fiction development.
“They used it as a menu for science fiction film development for a generation.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:33:37 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Alejandro Jodorowsky → Salvador Dali. Jodorowsky planned to cast Dali as the Emperor at a huge hourly rate.
“Obviously, famously, he was going to have Salvador Dali play the emperor at like 10% of the budget going straight to him.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:35:08 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Alejandro Jodorowsky → Mick Jagger. Jagger was to be Feyd-Rautha in Jodorowsky's version.
“Mick Jagger was going to be Fade Ralph.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:35:32 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
people (people): Alejandro Jodorowsky → Brontis Jodorowsky. Jodorowsky cast his own son as Paul and had him train in kung fu for two years.
“And of course, his own son, Brontes, was going to be Paul”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:35:40 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): George Miller → Dune. Miller, off The Road Warrior, was the one obvious choice in 1984 to direct Dune.
“there's the one obvious answer who in 1984 would have made sense to do Dune.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:36:11 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Mad Max 2 → The Elephant Man. Road Warrior makes more sense as a second film leading to Dune than the Elephant Man did.
“Road Warrior makes a lot more sense than Elephant.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:36:48 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft): George Miller → Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. Miller conveys lore and structure without explaining it, which Lynch could not do.
“Miller incredibly good at the just like giving you a sense of lore and history and connections and how structures work without needing to have it actually explained.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:37:38 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Dune → Superman. Realizing a novel's iconography on screen risks looking dumb, like early superhero costumes before Reeve.
“Only Christopher Reeve could really do it.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:39:19 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Ridley Scott → Dune. Ridley Scott flirted with Dune but found it too similar to his earlier work.
“Ridley Scott's the most obvious person who flirted with making this movie”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:42:03 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Val Kilmer → Dune. Val Kilmer was reportedly first choice for Paul and makes sense but was notoriously difficult.
“Now, Val Kilmer, I believe, was the 1st choice to play Paulitrates, and makes so much sense.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:43:30 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Peter Weller → Dune. Peter Weller was also considered for Paul.
“Peter Weller?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:43:56 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Tom Cruise → Dune. Tom Cruise was mentioned for Paul but feared too charismatic.
“Obviously, Tom Cruise is also mentioned.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:44:35 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
theme (theme): Kyle MacLachlan → The Three Musketeers. MacLachlan said he preferred movies like The Three Musketeers to Eraserhead.
“I more liked movies like The Three Musketeers.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:45:09 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
people (people): David Lynch → Kyle MacLachlan. Lynch cast MacLachlan without an audition after talk about the Northwest and red wine.
“They talk about red wine and and Lynch is like, I like your vibe, read this script.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:45:16 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career): Kyle MacLachlan → Twin Peaks. MacLachlan becomes Lynch's analog for himself in Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks.
“Obviously, blue velvet and twin peaks.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:46:23 · unknown (0.45 sure it was them)
people (people): Kyle MacLachlan → David Lynch. Lynch handled Dale Cooper's words, which sounded like how Lynch himself talks.
“Mark Frost did lots of stuff, obviously, but Lynch handled Dale Cooper.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:46:46 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Orson Welles → Dune. Welles was considered for the Baron; Divine too but had health issues.
“Orson Wells, obviously, is considered for the Baron.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:47:10 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Glenn Close → Dune. Glenn Close was the first pick for Jessica but passed over a damsel scene.
“Glenn closed his number one pick for Lady Jessica.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:47:51 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Francesca Annis → Macbeth. Annis is remembered as Lady Macbeth in Polanski's film.
“I think of her and she's in the Polanski Macbeth, I think.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:48:21 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Rebecca Ferguson → Francesca Annis. Villeneuve builds emotional weight around the Jessica relationship that Lynch's film cannot support.
“Beyond just Ferguson being fucking phenomenal.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:48:32 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)
career (career): Jurgen Prochnow → Das Boot. Prochnow came to Dune off Das Boot, prompting a joke about missing the ocean.
“He'd been in Das boot.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:49:36 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
people (people): Aldo Ray → Joanna Ray. Aldo Ray, fired from Dune, was ex-husband of Lynch's casting director Joanna Ray.
“Aldo Ray is cast as Gurney Hallick, who is, of course, his ex-wife is Joanna Ray, who ends up casting all the Lynch movies.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:50:03 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Joanna Ray → David Lynch. Joanna Ray, Aldo Ray's ex-wife and Dune's casting director, goes on to cast all of Lynch's movies.
“his ex-wife is Joanna Ray, who ends up casting all the Lynch movies.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:50:03 · David Sims (0.60 sure it was them)
career (career): Freddie Jones → The Elephant Man. Freddie Jones is the one actor carried over from Elephant Man.
“You have Freddie Jones, of course, from Elephant Man is the one actor he does bring over from that movie.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:51:01 · Griffin Newman (0.45 sure it was them)
career (career): Brad Dourif → Blue Velvet. Brad Dourif's Dune role pairs with his Blue Velvet appearance.
“Brad Turf also has the big eyebrows, and he's also in blue velvet later.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:51:27 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)
career (career): Paul Smith → Popeye. Paul Smith, Dune's Beast Rabban, played Bluto in Altman's Popeye.
“who, of course, plays Pluto and Robert Altman's Popeye.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:52:31 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Everett McGill → Brubaker. McGill had been in Brubaker and mostly played heavies.
“He'd been in like Brubaker, the Redford movie.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:53:10 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Max von Sydow → Dune. Max von Sydow delivers the still-suit exposition without making anyone giggle.
“He somehow delivers it in a way that doesn't make you giggle.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:53:36 · John Hodgman (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career): Patrick Stewart → Dune. Stewart's Gurney replaced Aldo Ray; this might be the performance that got him Picard.
“clearly shows himself fast enough with this kind of shit that, like, you have to imagine this is the performance that gets him Picard.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:54:40 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Dune → Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Dune is counterintuitive science fiction while Star Wars is fantasy.
“It's all this sort of counterintuitive science fiction stuff, which is why Dune is science fiction.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:57:44 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Star Wars prequels → Dune. The prequels' senate-and-grand-halls vibe resembles Dune's gilded, hermetic sci-fi, and audiences reacted badly.
“Now, mind you, even though it is still fantasy, the prequels get into a lot more of this vibe and people largely react with boring.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:57:52 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)
theme (theme): Jupiter Ascending → Dune. Jupiter Ascending shares the palace-intrigue, gilded sci-fi mode.
“I think it's a goofier movie, but Jupiter ascending has the same thing of like palace intrigue.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:58:13 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Timothee Chalamet → Kyle MacLachlan. Chalamet's Paul has to be scary and looks 15; MacLachlan is earnest but lacks flair later.
“but it's like the Chalamet performance is that you need to be scared of this person.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:59:51 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Barry Nolan → John Dykstra. Nolan's lower-budget effects shop took over the film after Dykstra's Apogee left early.
“leaves the movie early and in comes Barry Nolan, who works at a lower budget.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 2:07:52 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Dune → Blue Velvet. Lynch's next movie after Dune was with Dino De Laurentiis.
“This makes it all the crazier that the next movie David Lynch makes is with Dino DeLorentis.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 2:10:25 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft): David Lynch → The Elephant Man. Lynch planned to do the Elephant Man makeup effects himself, as he had on Eraserhead, until the production insisted on a professional.
“Like his plan was to do the makeup effects entirely himself because he was used to working that way on Elephant Man, or not Elephant Man, Eraserhead.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 2:10:50 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career): Dune → Twin Peaks. Twin Peaks: The Return is the only other Lynch project that cost lots, because it was 16 hours long.
“Yeah, Twin Peaks of Return is the only other thing he made that cost lots and lots of money, I feel like.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 2:12:06 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Toto → Dune. Toto composed the Dune score; the hosts praise it.
“I love Toto score.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 2:14:27 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Brian Eno → Dune. Eno contributed one piece, credited for the main theme, which Toto resented.
“Brian Eno contributed one piece of music.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 2:14:30 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
people (people): Brian Eno → Toto. The speaker likens the Eno-credited, Toto-scored split on Dune to the Danny Elfman and Alf Clausen relationship.
“So it's like the Danny Elfman Alf Clausen relationship.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 2:14:38 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career): Toto → Steely Dan. Toto's members are called big session musicians for Steely Dan and bands like that.
“They were big sesame musicians for stealing Dan in bands like that.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 2:15:53 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Dune → Metropolis. Dune is one of the few films that fully achieves the awe of a completely realized world, like Metropolis.
“this is one of the few, like, movies to fully kind of achieve for me the power of metropolis”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 2:16:25 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)
people (people): Jack Nance → Eraserhead. Eraserhead's lead Jack Nance appears in the Harkonnen scenes eating a hard-boiled egg.
“for the 1st time ever, I noticed Jack Nance, Eraser hit himself as in the background, eating a hard-boiled egg for some reason.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 2:18:01 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
people (people): David Lowery → Dune. A later series guest, David Lowery, called Dune a very big film for him as a child.
“we have an episode coming later in the series with David Lowry, who talked about Dune being a very big film for him”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 2:33:25 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Ed Naha → Ghostbusters II. The Making of Dune author Ed Naha also novelized Ghostbusters II.
“Uh, novelizer of Ghostbusters 2?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 2:36:12 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Eraserhead → The Elephant Man. Both films carry a sound designer credit for David Lynch.
“It is sound designed by David Lynch. Which makes sense.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 2:39:02 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Dune → Eraserhead. Lynch is credited as sound designer on Eraserhead and The Elephant Man but not on Dune.
“Not Dune.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 2:39:15 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Bob Ringwood → Dune. Ringwood's costume designs are singled out as incredible, down to the 1000 Fremen hats made for a scene that was cut.
“I think Bob Ringwood did the costume designs.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 2:46:29 · John Hodgman (0.80 sure it was them)
programming (programming): Dune → Dune: Prophecy. An HBO Max Dune series is coming, which the hosts are excited for.
“10 hours at the HBO Max series coming?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 2:50:47 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Dune → Beverly Hills Cop. Dune opened number 2 behind Beverly Hills Cop its opening weekend.
“It is called Beverly Hills Cop.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 2:51:29 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): 2010: The Year We Make Contact → 2001: A Space Odyssey. 2010 was made because the novel sequel existed, a movie made just because they had to.
“Because Arthur C. Clark had come out with a 2010 novel.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 2:54:20 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Dune → The Cotton Club. Cotton Club and Dune are both mega flops of the era from great directors.
“Number 5 at the box office is another mega flop of the era from a great director.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 2:55:08 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Francis Ford Coppola → One from the Heart. Coppola has re-cut his maligned films, with some redux versions worse.
“The one from the heart redux, I would argue, actually makes the film worse.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 2:56:18 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Francis Ford Coppola → Megalopolis. Coppola seems to be closing the book on his career with recuts, then Megalopolis.
“The last, like, 10 years in the next movie. to Megalopolis when his field, like, felt like Francis Coppola is trying to sort of close the book on his whole career.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 2:56:40 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Starman → Dune. Starman is political and rooted in reality, an interesting analog for where sci-fi was.
“Yeah. But another interesting analog to like where sci-fi filmmaking is at where like carpenter's very political and is very rooted in reality.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 2:57:26 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
programming (programming): Dune → Blue Velvet. Next week's episode is Blue Velvet with Jamie Loftus.
“Tune in next week for Blue Velvet with Jamie Loftus?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 3:02:27 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

Fun items (25)

fun, about David Lynch: Lynch's famous quote about Dune is that he died on that movie and has never fully recovered.
“I died on that movie, and I don't think I've ever fully recovered.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 0:06:42 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Dune: The extended TV version was padded with outtakes by the studio, and Lynch had his name removed.
“And Lynch hated them doing that so much that he demanded his name be taken off the TV version.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 0:08:25 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Dune: The sleeper must awaken line is Lynch's invention, not in the book, and ties to his transcendental meditation.
“Not in there. That's Lynch.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 0:09:39 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Duncan Idaho: Duncan Idaho keeps returning from a clone tank in every Dune book.
“If there is a Dune book, Duncan Idaho is coming out of a clone tank being like, what is it now?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 0:15:08 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Dune: Hodgman tried to read Dune before the movie at 13, gave up after two chapters, and begged to see Ghostbusters instead.
“And I put Dune aside, having read maybe 2 chapters, barely being able to understand what was going on.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 0:23:30 · John Hodgman (0.90 sure it was them)
fun, about Dune: Hodgman's reading of Dune chapter one aloud in a thick Maine accent is behind his Substack paywall.
“There is a 37 minute recording of me reading the 1st chapter of Dune out loud in a thick main accent.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 0:24:45 · John Hodgman (0.90 sure it was them)
fun, about Alicia Witt: Footage exists of young Alicia Witt on the Dune set with a Boston accent that was dubbed over.
“She has a little Boston accent that they dubbed over.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 0:29:46 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Dune: Dune opened number 2 behind Beverly Hills Cop at $6 million, finishing at $27 million domestic, below Teachers and Cannonball Run 2.
“Below teachers and Cannonball Run 2.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 0:32:34 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Dune: At the 1984 Brookline screening, a theater staffer handed out the studio's printed glossary of terms, and 13-year-old Hodgman read it so he would not have to talk to the girl next to him.
“He ripped our tickets and then he handed me and Tim the famous glossary.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 0:33:34 · John Hodgman (0.90 sure it was them)
fun, about Dune: The girl and her mom beside Hodgman discussed the novel and the mom's favorite character was the sandworms.
“and the mom said, I think my favorite character is the sandworms.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 0:35:28 · John Hodgman (0.90 sure it was them)
fun, about Dune: The Guild Navigator scene: a 20-foot tank holding a creature with a vagina mouth and T-Rex arms spitting orange drugs, Rambaldi's design, which Hodgman calls the linchpin of how he fell for the film.
“that is like 20 feet high that is full of this phallus with a vagina mouth and T-Rex arms, with blue eyes that's spitting out orange drugs”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 0:48:49 · John Hodgman (0.75 sure it was them)
fun, about Matt Keeslar: In Larry David's Sour Grapes the Keeslar character gets a Mickey Mouse voice after a botched surgery.
“and Matt Keesler now sounds like Mickey Mouse.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:21:27 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Peter Berg: On a first-class flight, Peter Berg pulled out two copies of Dune and offered Hodgman one, saying he was thinking about turning it into a movie.
“And he pulls out a copy of Dune.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:24:12 · John Hodgman (0.90 sure it was them)
fun, about Peter Berg: Berg showed Hodgman spreadsheets of the most popular movies: young men's coming-of-age stories, his algorithm to crack Dune.
“He had come up with the algorithm.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:25:50 · John Hodgman (0.80 sure it was them)
fun, about Alejandro Jodorowsky: Jodorowsky pulled a $1,000 bill out of his pocket to illustrate money ruining his Dune.
“He reaches in his pocket and he pulls out somebody and goes, this, this awful stuff.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:34:26 · John Hodgman (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Dune: Merch: the toy sandworm was hidden behind a top-secret bar on the packaging cross-sell.
“And then they put like a fucking bar over it that said top secret.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:41:30 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Jurgen Prochnow: Das Boot joke: Prochnow's line about missing the ocean as a nod to his submarine film.
“Do you think when they're standing over the ocean in Caladan at the beginning of the movie and he says to Paul, I'm really going to miss the ocean.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:49:38 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Dune: See the cat-and-rat milking scene: Thufir must milk a cat taped to a rat for the antidote; pure Lynch, not in the book, and Thufir is never seen again.
“Inside a space cat carrier, and you're going to have to milk this cat for the antidote to the poison.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 2:03:24 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Dune: As the studio cut Lynch down, he focused on small scenes like the cat-rat to leave his fingerprint.
“he would focus in on certain little scenes like the cat rat and be like, this is where I'm going to leave my fingerprint for this.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 2:06:32 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Jack Nance: Eraserhead's Jack Nance appears in the Harkonnen scenes eating a hard-boiled egg, a part invented to give him work.
“made up the character for Jack Mans to give him to give him work.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 2:18:28 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Dune: Griffin shows an on-mic reveal: a Dune coloring and activity book, bought after David Lowery mentioned it.
“I've been keeping this under my fucking laptop for the on mic reveal.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 2:33:11 · Griffin Newman (0.70 sure it was them)
fun, about Ed Naha: The Making of Dune book is dedicated to the ticket buyers, prompting a ticket buyers must awaken joke.
“The dedication at the top of the book is for the ticket buyers.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 2:36:16 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Dune: A creator friend told Hodgman not to take a Dune job: sci-fi people should make new things, not reboots. The lesson of Dune is the sleeper must awaken.
“But as people who are involved in science fiction, our job is to think of the new.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 2:42:51 · John Hodgman (0.85 sure it was them)
fun, about Dune: A milliner made 1,000 Fremen hats for a scene that was cut down to 200 extras and then 12, and the hats were burned.
“And then they had to cut the extras down to 200, and they ended up only seeing 12, and the 1000 hats were burned.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 2:46:40 · Griffin Newman (0.45 sure it was them)
fun, about Dune: The weirding way is replaced by weirding modules, boxes that go shush, because Lynch thought desert kung fu was too weird.
“So instead they have boxes that go, shush.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 2:58:45 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Who's talking

John Hodgman (guest): A lifelong, deeply invested Dune devotee who loves the 1984 film as a flawed, weird object and recites the Litany Against Fear. He loves practical oddities, reference-book nerdery, merch and the Guild Navigator, and is a sucker for specific personal anecdotes. He cannot stand the idea of adapting Dune just for money and prizes making something new over reboots.
Griffin Newman (host): Reads the show's research dossier aloud and loves film-history trivia, particularly how directors get hired and what the studios did to them. Identified from lines addressed to him and dossier reads; many individual attributions with David are uncertain. Enjoys the Dune film as a design and sound object.
David Sims (host): Treats Dune '84 as a David Lynch movie through and through and loves it as a strange object, with a particular fondness for Lynch's signature fingerprints in the margins. Is the one who flags the sleeper must awaken line as Lynch's invention. Loves Furiosa and has real affection for Alicia Witt.
Ben Hosley (host): Producer in the room; mostly a presence who triggers bits (sunglasses indoors, Hot Ones birthday plan, grindset mindset). Was a band kid.

The show's recurring bits

The box office game: Guessing the film's opening weekend and what it was up against.
The sung theme: "Blank Check with Griffin and David", sung; the transcriber garbles it.

Names the transcriber got wrong

Blackjack / Blank check = Blank Check
Twin Pods Fire cast with me = Twinpods: Fire Cast with Me (series pun on Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me)
Villanova / Villanook / Villenev / Villain / Vilenev / Bielnuv / Denny / Denise / Vonneuve = Denis Villeneuve
Doom / June / Doon = Dune; Harkening / Harkonan / Harkinans = Harkonnen
Dino DeLorentis / Dean Laurent = Dino De Laurentiis; Rafael de Laurentis = Raffaella De Laurentiis
Peterburg / Peterberg = Peter Berg
Hodorovski / Yodorowski / Harowski / Hodorowski = Alejandro Jodorowsky; Brontes = Brontis Jodorowsky
Kyle McLaughlin / Col McLaughlin / Comic block went = Kyle MacLachlan
Rimbaldi = Carlo Rambaldi; Zoatrope = American Zoetrope
Jurgen Prok now / Prochnow, Max Von Cito / Max on Saido = Jurgen Prochnow, Max von Sydow
Fade Routha / Fade Ralph = Feyd-Rautha; Matt Kisler / Keesler / Kaysler / Keith Larr = Matt Keeslar
Storman = Starman; De Niro Street = De Niro and Streep; Peterheims film = Peter Hyams' film
Sibyl Shepard = Cybill Shepherd (show is Cybill, transcribed Sybil/Sibyl)
Judy Carl = Judy Garland; Kure Kramlik = likely a person named Kier/Kira Kramlich
Max Every = Max Evry; Christopher DeVoren = Christopher De Vore; Eric Bergrenn = Eric Bergren
Martha P. Jacobs = Arthur P. Jacobs (later said correctly)
Camp My Asthma = Camp Miasma; Pluto = Bluto; Lynch's Lido = unclear
Dr. UA = Dr. Yueh; Ducletos = Duke Leto; Mobius = Moebius; Geeger = Giger; JC / PC = PC (Mac ad) context
Judge Sean Hodgman = Judge John Hodgman

Blank Check with Griffin & David: Dune with John Hodgman

As extracted (engineer-sonnet-2026-10-13)

Added from the extractor's memory, not said

Films that came up

subject (1)

passing (83)

compared (24)

anecdote (7)

recommended (1)

Claims (119)

Fun items (25)

Who's talking

The show's recurring bits

Names the transcriber got wrong