Blank Check with Griffin & David: Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer

Published 2019-03-03; 1:49:45 by the feed.

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

The extraction calls the show “Blank Check with Griffin & David” and the episode “Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer”.

Hosts: Griffin Newman, David Sims. Guests: Matt Singer.

Subject films: Planet of the Apes (2001).

On the transcript: Unlabeled auto-transcript with frequent name errors and broken sentences; speaker attributions are mostly low confidence. Ads (Video Game Town, Audible Dracula, MUBI, Ad Council, SlashFilmcast) were skipped. Confirmed it is Burton's 2001 Planet of the Apes; the 1968 original is discussed throughout.

Films that came up

Claims (56)

industry (Oscar timing): Michael Clarke Duncan → The Whole Nine Yards. Apes was Duncan's first big post-Oscar-nomination choice.
“This is like his 1st post- Oscar performance.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:01:21 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (hated pair): Tim Burton → Alice in Wonderland. Alice in Wonderland and Apes are the only two Burton films the speaker hates; Alice has too much burden and no center.
“Because even like Alice in Wonderland, which is the other movie of his that I hate.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:02:10 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
theme (tonal echo): Planet of the Apes → Beetlejuice. The ape dinner-party scene is the one moment that feels like Burton, like Beetlejuice with apes.
“the scene with all the apes sitting around the dinner table, which is like the Beetlejuice scene with apes.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:02:31 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (defensibility): Tim Burton → Sleepy Hollow. Sleepy Hollow is a defensible Burton film; Apes marks the transition from good to bad.
“Like Sleepy Hollow is a fully defensible movie.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:03:56 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
people (performance comparison): Paul Giamatti → Tim Roth. Giamatti's Limbo beats Roth's Thade by leaps and bounds.
“Oh, I think Giamati Bike leaps and bounds.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:05:03 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Planet of the Apes → Planet of the Apes. The 2001 makeup is expressive and distinct per actor, where the original franchise used one application piece, effectively a painted mask.
“Those movies, there's literally like one application piece and it doesn't have a lot of range or flexibility.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:08:01 · Matt Singer (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Rick Baker → Tim Roth. Baker has said in interviews that he approached casting by face: Roth's big nose would make him a nightmare to make up.
“Rick Baker does all these interviews where he talked about like getting the cast and he's like, Tim Roth is going to be a nightmare because his nose is so big.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:08:19 · Matt Singer (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career endpoint): Rick Baker → Men in Black 3. Baker's last major film before retiring, after practical suits barely appeared on screen.
“I think Men in Black 3 is like his last major movie and he was just like, no one wants to do makeup anymore.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:09:29 · unknown (0.45 sure it was them)
unmapped (makeup quality vs film): Rick Baker → The Wolfman. The movie was crappy but the makeup was the only good thing; Baker won his last Oscar for it.
“He won for the wolf in, though.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:10:15 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (Oscar rival): Planet of the Apes → The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Fellowship won Best Makeup over Apes, with a joke about Gimli.
“Fucking Gimli. over Planet of the Apes.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:11:34 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (Oscar snub): Planet of the Apes → Moulin Rouge!. Apes was not nominated for makeup while Moulin Rouge, In the Bedroom and A Beautiful Mind were.
“Now, another nominee was Moulin Rouge, which has incredible makeup and hair.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:11:38 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (Oscar snub): Planet of the Apes → A Beautiful Mind. A Beautiful Mind's old-age makeup was nominated over Apes and looks like a wax statue.
“Yeah, nominating that for best makeup over this movie is... I feel like when people cite bad old age makeup, that's the example of like, you don't want to do...”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:12:20 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (viewing experience): Planet of the Apes → The Last Airbender. The last time a movie felt this soulless and hard to stay awake through on the show was The Last Airbender.
“the last time I remember feeling this way watching a movie forward, this podcast was Last Airbender.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:13:20 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (expectations): Planet of the Apes → Toy Story 2. Griffin was as excited for Apes as for Toy Story 2, which exceeded his expectations while Apes crushed them.
“And the only other movie I was ever this excited for was Toy Story 2, which became my favorite movie of all time.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:17:07 · Griffin Newman (0.90 sure it was them)
unmapped (Burton romance): Lisa Marie → Helena Bonham Carter. Burton met Helena Bonham Carter on Apes, and Lisa Marie, who appears in the film and has her last Burton role, was the Burton partner Griffin was invested in; paparazzi caught him with Bonham Carter in Paris.
“Because Lisa Marie is in this movie.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:26:28 · Griffin Newman (0.70 sure it was them)
unmapped (hype letdown): Planet of the Apes → Godzilla. Both were hyped blockbusters whose letdown taught a young fan that advertising lied; Godzilla at least is structured like a movie.
“This is one of those movies where it's like, this is the beginning of studio filmmaking at this level lacking basic story competency.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:31:38 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
people (bad performance): Mark Wahlberg → The Happening. Wahlberg's contempt for the material here is called The Happening syndrome times a thousand.
“He's the happening syndrome times a thousand.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:33:40 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
theme (character mold): Mark Wahlberg → Charlton Heston. Wahlberg's Leo Davidson is written like Heston's angry, arrogant astronaut, but without the reason behind the rage.
“The thing is, to me, the character is clearly written sort of in the Heston character mold.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:34:06 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (mentor): Mark Wahlberg → Penny Marshall. Wahlberg said Penny Marshall hired him, told him he couldn't act, and taught him on Renaissance Man.
“Petty Marshall discovers him.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:35:11 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career turn): Mark Wahlberg → Paul Thomas Anderson. PTA found Wahlberg's angry chip-on-the-shoulder star quality in Boogie Nights, which later directors reused.
“I think PTA latched onto something sooner than everyone else that Marky Mark himself didn't figure out for a while”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:37:32 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (status mismatch): Mark Wahlberg → All the Money in the World. Wahlberg is better at low-status roles; playing a high-status intellect fails, as in Apes, The Gambler and All the Money in the World.
“He's better at playing low status.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:37:58 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
verdict (best performance): Mark Wahlberg → I Heart Huckabees. Called Wahlberg's best performance, deserving an Oscar.
“I would give him the Oscar for that.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:40:10 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
verdict (favorite Wahlberg): Mark Wahlberg → Deepwater Horizon. Wahlberg's loud I-know-this-is-going-to-blow persona is what the speaker wants from him.
“I like Deepwater Horizon.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:40:38 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
people (frequent collaborator): Mark Wahlberg → Peter Berg. Berg is described as Wahlberg's only adult friend and director of his recent films.
“It says it's like the, you know, the only friend he's made in his adult life.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:42:03 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (pitch): Adam Rifkin → Planet of the Apes. Rifkin pitched Return to the Planet of the Apes as a continuation, wanting Cruise or Sheen.
“Right, Adam fucking Rifkin.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:45:02 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career moment): Peter Jackson → Heavenly Creatures. After the Renaissance Apes pitch failed (an executive did not know Roddy McDowall), Jackson went back to Heavenly Creatures.
“So he went back to the heavenly creatures.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:46:31 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (unmade script): Oliver Stone → Planet of the Apes. Stone wrote a script about frozen apes holding the Bible's secret numeric codes and was paid a million dollars.
“Jesus, Oliver Stone said, it has the discovery of chronologically frozen Vedic apes who hold the secret numeric codes to the Bible that foretold the end of civilizations.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:46:42 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (development timing): James Cameron → Titanic. Cameron considered Apes before Titanic and lost interest when Titanic succeeded.
“But it was one of those things where, like, Cameron was thinking about doing it before Titanic than when he thought Titanic was going to bomb.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:47:37 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (studio instinct): Planet of the Apes → Ed. A Fox executive pitched apes playing baseball, which led someone to joke that this is how we got Ed.
“we wound up with Ed.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:48:06 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)
career (cursed project): Chris Columbus → Jingle All the Way. Columbus tested ape skiing and then left to make Jingle All the Way.
“It's like Columbus drops out to make jingle all the way.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:49:47 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career move): Arnold Schwarzenegger → Eraser. Schwarzenegger left the Apes project to make Eraser.
“I mean, this is a true monkey. Schwarzenegger goes to make Eraser.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:49:54 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
theme (personal trilogy): Tim Burton → Ed Wood. One commenter argued Ed Wood, Edward Scissorhands and Batman Returns say everything Burton has to say; after that he took what was offered.
“Ed Wood, Edward Scissorhands, and Batman Returns, or like this perfect triptych of everything that guy sort of has to say in his heart”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:51:03 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
people (casting): Tim Burton → Mark Wahlberg. Wahlberg skipped the script and agreed to work with Burton after five minutes, trusting a strong director.
“And Mark Wahlberg pointedly didn't read the script, went to a meeting with Tim Burton.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:51:55 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
contrast (inversion): Planet of the Apes → Planet of the Apes. The remake opens on a loud, leafy backlot set while the original opens in an empty desert with no apes for a long stretch.
“They totally invert the original movie where the original movie starts in the middle of nowhere.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:53:06 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
theme (genre shape): Planet of the Apes → Robinson Crusoe. The 1968 film's first act is a castaway survival movie before apes appear.
“like Robinson Caruso on Mars, like Survivor movie until the apes come in.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:54:11 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (outsider perspective): Tim Burton → Dark Shadows. Even in lesser films like Dark Shadows he comes from a perspective of not understanding behavior, which is missing from Apes.
“even like Dark Shadows, it's like, well, he still is coming from that perspective of, like, I don't understand behavior.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:55:39 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (Burton muse): Tim Burton → Helena Bonham Carter. Burton meets Bonham Carter on Apes and the speaker thinks he relates to her ape character more than the hero.
“I think he's kind of relating more to the Hell on the Bottom Carter character.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:59:52 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (useless hero): Planet of the Apes → Big Trouble in Little China. Hard to find a hero as ineffective as Wahlberg here, outside Big Trouble in Little China where that is the joke.
“I was trying to think of, find another, like, hero in an action movie who, that's not, like, Big Trouble, Little China, where that's part of the joke.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 1:06:27 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (battle stops): Planet of the Apes → Braveheart. Pericles' arrival halts the climactic battle like a Braveheart scene.
“It's like a brave heart, full on battle scene, and it all just instantly stops.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 1:09:16 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
theme (line echo): Planet of the Apes → Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. The apes' chanting of a word makes one speaker think of Temple of Doom.
“Um, I can't not think of Temple of Doom every time they say it in this movie.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 1:11:47 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (studio instinct): Planet of the Apes → Dogville shorts (1930s-40s live-action dog shorts). Fox just wanted apes doing human things, like the old Dogville shorts with dogs at restaurant tables.
“And it feels like Fox just wanted to make that.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 1:12:43 · unknown (0.45 sure it was them)
theme (ending parallel): Planet of the Apes → Planet of the Apes. Alex Ross Perry texted that the original book ends in a way very similar to the 2001 film.
“the original book ends in a way that's very similar to this.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 1:18:41 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (time-travel logic): Planet of the Apes → Back to the Future Part II. The ending's unexplained time loop is like stopping Back to the Future II at evil 1985 with no explanation.
“it is sort of evocative of like the part of Back to the Future too, where he shows up in evil 1985.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 1:22:22 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (parody): Planet of the Apes → Bear City (SNL digital short). An SNL short riffs on Apes with bears who just wear human clothes and mimic humans, like the apes keeping the Lincoln Memorial.
“they were riff on Plan of the Apes, where the bears got smart and they decided to kill all the humans.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 1:24:42 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
verdict (better reboot): Rise of the Planet of the Apes → Planet of the Apes. A decade later Fox rebooted with a nobody director and it got great reviews, unlike Burton's.
“They picked a nobody director for it.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 1:27:57 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (franchise bet): Batman Begins → Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Studios double down on a so-so first film (Batman Begins, Rise) when they see something.
“But they just knew, like, we're onto something here, double down, and then like Dark Knight explodes.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 1:29:13 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
lineage (unneeded sequel): Suicide Squad → Planet of the Apes. Studios sometimes force sequels no one asked for; Apes was a rare time they didn't.
“Again, it's like, you got out of suicide squad alive.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 1:29:37 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
lineage (inspiration): Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom → Bridge of Spies. The Fallen Kingdom filmmaker said he structured it as two movies, like Bridge of Spies.
“He said that he liked that Bridge of Spies was like 2 different movies.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 1:33:57 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (Oscar year): Legally Blonde → Iris. Reese Witherspoon should have won the 2001 Best Actress Oscar over a stacked field.
“Reese, with this bull should have won best actress.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 1:37:36 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
theme (star comparison): Dwayne Johnson → Arnold Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger gives himself over to directors, the Rock does not.
“It's a big difference between the rock and Schwarzenegger.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 1:43:30 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career caution): Dwayne Johnson → Southland Tales. The Rock was spooked by Southland Tales flopping and avoids risky films.
“I think also, and The Rock has talked so much about how much he was spooked by Southland Tales, flopping”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 1:43:43 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (possible disappointment): Jungle Cruise → Planet of the Apes. Jungle Cruise could be the Planet of the Apes of African Queen-style movies, an action movie version of a classic.
“But it's going to be like the planet of the apes of this kind of movie because it's going to be all, it's not going to be the African.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 1:46:56 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)
contrast (tie-in contrast): Planet of the Apes → Aquaman. Apes had Reebok, geocaching and no food tie-ins, unlike today's Denny's or IHOP deals.
“They had Reebok ads.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 1:49:05 · Matt Singer (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (tie-in): Independence Day: Resurgence → Denny's. The Denny's tie-in menu had about 100 items and centered on bacon.
“They were like, the theme of this movie is and how it connects to us is bacon.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 1:50:06 · Matt Singer (0.50 sure it was them)
craft (score): Danny Elfman → Planet of the Apes. Elfman's opening theme is exciting but the rest of the score is boring.
“The Elfman score.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 1:51:44 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
craft (visual comparison): Planet of the Apes → Saul Bass. The opening title shots of helmets feel like Saul Bass.
“feels very salt bass to me.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 1:52:28 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Fun items (25)

fun, about Charlton Heston: The gun scene: Heston, a gun advocate, plays a dying ape giving an anti-gun speech; Tim Roth read it as pro-gun. A gun sits inside a vase that couldn't physically hold it.
“They literally had to make the vase around that gun to get it inside it.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:06:44 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Planet of the Apes: Rick Baker's makeup is the one great thing in the movie, but it was not even nominated for the Oscar; the nominees included A Beautiful Mind and In the Bedroom.
“The makeup in this is incredible.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:07:34 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Rick Baker: Baker thought about each actor's face; Roth's big nose made him a nightmare, and Giamatti would be great.
“Rick Baker does all these interviews where he talked about like getting the cast”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:08:19 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Griffin Newman: At sleepaway camp he taped newspaper Apes ads to his bunk wall, then learned from counselors the night before his dad signed him out that it was awful.
“Every day I would confiscate the newspapers from the counselors and cut out the ads for Plan of the Apes and tape them to my bunk wall.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:17:34 · Griffin Newman (0.90 sure it was them)
fun, about Planet of the Apes: Apes action figures: Griffin owned all of them except Estella Warren; Pericles reportedly had one.
“I literally think I had every action figure other than a Stella Warren.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:18:29 · Griffin Newman (0.90 sure it was them)
fun, about Griffin Newman: Counselors who saw it the night before acted hungover; one said it was ridiculous, with an ape smoking a hookah.
“There's like an ape smoking a hookah.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:25:20 · Griffin Newman (0.80 sure it was them)
fun, about Planet of the Apes: Marketing: giant New York billboards of apes wearing Reeboks and a geocaching scavenger hunt with a $100 GPS device.
“giant New York City billboards that were the apes wearing Reeboks.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:28:36 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Tim Burton: Burton had the idea of a love story between ape and human; the studio said no, so Ari became a princess subtext.
“Well, so that's the only other thing the idea I think that Tim Burton had very strongly was he wants to make a love story between ape and a human.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:30:18 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Mark Wahlberg: Wahlberg is the worst action hero: he causes the Planet of the Apes, goes in to save the ape he's mean to, then leaves him behind.
“He is the worst action hero.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:31:06 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Mark Wahlberg: Penny Marshall hired him and told him he couldn't act; he claims he went to the Penny Marshall School of Acting.
“He on his episode of Inside the Actor Studio says, I went to the Penny Marshall School of Acting.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:35:12 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Mark Wahlberg: Famous for a third nipple, which the speaker says he corrected shortly after this film.
“He's one of the most famous 3rd nipple havers in American history.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:44:21 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Dylan Sellers: The Fox executive who pushed the Apes development pitched apes playing baseball without a pitcher and later went to jail after a fatal drunk-driving crash.
“Killed another man in a drunk driving accident.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:48:20 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Planet of the Apes: Fox had been trying to make an Apes movie for ten years: Schwarzenegger, Stone, Cameron, Ridley Scott, Jackson; executives kept asking for apes doing ballet or hosting talk shows.
“What if the ape hosted a talk show?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:49:13 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Planet of the Apes: Rick Baker played the hookah ape.
“There's Rick Baker plays that hookah ape.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:55:57 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Planet of the Apes: Wirework: characters get a glancing blow and fly 40 feet; Roth mounts a horse the same jump every time.
“like people like glance giving someone a glancing blow and they fly 40 feet into the air.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 0:57:29 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Mark Wahlberg: He refused to go shirtless because he'd done too many shirtless ads, so his spacesuit lining looks like an Urban Outfitters raglan.
“which looks like a fucking urban outfitter's raglan.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 1:01:35 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Pericles (the chimpanzee): Pericles pilots the spaceship and lands it perfectly, the only joke that works; his arrival ends the climactic battle.
“When he lands, literally the sight of him heals all tensions between man and ape on the planet of the apes.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 1:08:55 · unknown (0.45 sure it was them)
fun, about Paul Giamatti: Giamatti makes the strongest choice, playing Limbo as unrepentant; he and Burton agreed he shouldn't become good, and he should sell kids aspirin. The aspirin joke is the only good one.
“He should sell kids aspirin.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 1:10:53 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Paul Giamatti: He was the only cast member who said he wanted to do a sequel, imagining apes in an office meeting.
“He was the only person with the cast who said he wanted to do a sequel.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 1:11:28 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Planet of the Apes: The ending: Wahlberg lands at the Lincoln Memorial, now the Thade Memorial, with apes in charge; the original ending explains everything while this one just confuses.
“He literally lands at the at the Lincoln Memorial, which is now the Fade Memorial.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 1:20:09 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Planet of the Apes: The DVD came with a paper insert explaining the time paradox: time does not travel in a straight line through an electromagnetic storm.
“time does not travel in a straight line through an electromagnetic storm.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 1:22:42 · unknown (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Marlon Brando: On The Score, De Niro directed Brando via an earpiece, and Brando did scenes pantless to force Frank Oz to use close-ups.
“And when Marlon Brando also did scenes pantless because you want to force Frank Oz to use close up.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 1:38:01 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Dwayne Johnson (The Rock): His Instagram caption for Rampage was a 5000-word Ulysses about trusting animals; his tequila posts are mechanical.
“it was like a fucking, like, fucking Ulysses, he wrote as like his Instagram comment.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 1:44:59 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Independence Day: Resurgence: The worst tie-in meal: Denny's bacon theme.
“The I think the Independence Day one.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 1:49:52 · Matt Singer (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Danny Elfman: The opening theme and credit sequence are great; he seems to have run out of energy afterward.
“I think he just worked so hard on that.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer · 1:52:02 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Who's talking

Griffin Newman (host): Loves the original Planet of the Apes franchise and Tim Burton, and was a fan of the 2001 hype as a kid. Can't stand empty studio filmmaking with no point of view. A sucker for childhood fandom and memorabilia (action figures, Lisa Marie).
David Sims (host): Likes the Apes franchise but has only seen the first two; cares about filmography and box-office context. Hard on bloated, calculated star vehicles. Attributions to David are low confidence because the transcript is unlabeled.
Matt Singer (guest): Likes the good apes and the Apes franchise and is willing to revisit the movie. A connoisseur of movie tie-in meals. Dislikes Wahlberg's performance here and the film's lack of commentary. Attribution to Matt is low confidence beyond his direct address.

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

Michael Clark Duncan → Michael Clarke Duncan
Kilawog → Kilowog
Colonel Attar / Atar → Attar
Parakeles / Pericles → Pericles
Giamati → Giamatti
General Fade / Thade / Adam → Thade
Helma Bottom Carter / Hell on the Bottom Carter / Hell and Bottom Carter → Helena Bonham Carter
Estella Warren / Stella Warren → Estella Warren
Chris Christopherson / Christofferson → Kris Kristofferson
Dr. Zeus → Dr. Zaius
Philip Noise / Philip Norris → Phillip Noyce
Ramy and Stone → Oliver Stone
Roland Emirand → Roland Emmerich
William Broils Jr. → William Broyles Jr.
Conor and Rosenthal → Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal
Peterburg → Peter Berg
Alec Ross Perry → Alex Ross Perry
Eric Avari → Erick Avari
Janet Coletsera / Jean-Colo, Sarah → Jaume Collet-Serra
David Lee → David Leitch
Rasta Marshall Thurber → Rawson Marshall Thurber
Brad Payton → Brad Peyton
Hung School Island → Kong: Skull Island
salt bass → Saul Bass
Le Montgomery, Andrew Grudo, Joe Bonifett Reynolds → credit names garbled
Petty Marshall → Penny Marshall
Plan of the Apes → Planet of the Apes
Dogville (the Lars Van Trier thing) → Dogville

Blank Check with Griffin & David: Planet of the Apes with Matt Singer

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

Films that came up

passing (58)

compared (29)

subject (1)

anecdote (8)

dismissed (6)

recommended (3)

Claims (56)

Fun items (25)

Who's talking

The show's recurring bits

Names the transcriber got wrong