Blank Check with Griffin & David: As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard

Published 2018-04-15; 2:03:11 by the feed.

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

The extraction calls the show “Blank Check with Griffin & David” and the episode “As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard”.

Hosts: Griffin Newman, David Sims, Ben Hosley (producer, in the room, speaks briefly). Guests: Chris Gethard.

Subject films: As Good as It Gets (1997).

On the transcript: No speaker labels; a three-way conversation with Ben Hosley chiming in, so many attributions between Griffin and David are guesses, while Chris's lines are easy to identify from his biography (born 1980, northern NJ, Adirondacks). The recording is mostly digressive talk and the actual film discussion starts around 0:32:00.

Added from the extractor's memory, not said

'Domhnall Gleeson' and 'A Futile and Stupid Gesture' are guesses from memory about the National Lampoon movie with glasses; only 'the National Lampoon movie' and David Wain were said.
'Max von Sydow' for 'Max Fonsito' is a guess from memory.
Cuba Gooding Jr. is said to have won the Oscar for Boys in the Hood (as the speaker says); in reality the Oscar was for Jerry Maguire. Recorded as spoken.
'Kerry Washington' as the transcript's 'Carrie Washington', 'Mena Suvari', 'Rian Johnson', 'Sydney Pollack' etc. are spelling corrections from memory.

Films that came up

Claims (63)

theme (theme): Rogue One: A Star Wars Story → Admiral Raddus. A host's reading of Rogue One is that it is really about Raddus.
“It was a vanity piece for General Radis.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 0:09:53 · Griffin Newman (0.30 sure it was them)
theme (theme): Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens → Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi. Chris jokes both films are secretly about Nien Nunb.
“Force Awakens and Last Jedi have both secretly been about Nee and Nub.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 0:14:49 · Chris Gethard (0.50 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens → Wedge Antilles. The Max Fonsito character was meant to be Wedge, but the actor held out for a bigger part.
“The Max Fonsito character in Force Awakens was supposed to be Wedge as like a handshake.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 0:15:42 · Chris Gethard (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career): John Ratzenberger → Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. Ratzenberger is the king of residuals: Empire, every Pixar movie, Cheers.
“Oh, the king of residuals is John Ratzenberger.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 0:16:50 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi → Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. Chris hates Poe's mutiny; a host says it sounds like he wants a Kit Fisto, who broke rules without risking lives.
“It sounds like you want like a Fisto there.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 0:26:03 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Jennifer Grey → Dirty Dancing. Grey became a star in Ferris Bueller and Dirty Dancing and her career died after a nose job.
“becomes a big star is in Ferris Bueller's in Dirty Dancing.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 0:29:27 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): As Good as It Gets → Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Chris ranks Nicholson's unapologetic jerk alongside Steve Martin in Planes, Trains and Automobiles among the best comedic performances.
“Steve Martin in Plains Trains and Audible.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 0:33:09 · Chris Gethard (0.80 sure it was them)
craft (craft): As Good as It Gets → Jerry Maguire. Both are classic 90s movies that start a whole second movie mid-film.
“It's one of those classic 90s like Jerry Maguire, where it's just like, let's just do like a whole other movie in the middle of the movie.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 0:34:34 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
theme (theme): Say Anything... → As Good as It Gets. Say Anything is the top example of a 'but I like her' genre in which a refused man persists until the woman caves, a genre the hosts apply to romcoms like this one.
“Obviously say anything's a huge one.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 0:36:40 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
theme (theme): The Graduate → Say Anything.... Also fits the 'but I like her' genre, and rewatched it reads as stalking.
“Well, the graduate is insane.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 0:36:58 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): As Good as It Gets → Groundhog Day. A host argues Groundhog Day's redemption of a jerk is more commendable than Melvin's.
“but look at Groundhog Day, another one, but in a way that I think actually is more commendable.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 0:37:56 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict): As Good as It Gets → Groundhog Day. Doubts Melvin's growth compared with Phil Connors's growth.
“I don't know that I buy Melvin's growth.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 0:39:25 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (industry): As Good as It Gets → Will & Grace. Kinnear's gay character came a year before Will & Grace changed depictions on TV.
“To give you some perspective, this is a year before the TV show Will and Grace debuts.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 0:43:07 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Greg Kinnear → Sabrina. Kinnear went from Talk Soup to Sabrina, a disappointing prestige remake.
“Sidney Pollock, Academy Award winner plucks him to start on a remake of Sabrina”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 0:45:09 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Greg Kinnear → Dear God. A second disappointing Kinnear vehicle that followed Sabrina.
“Yes, and then there's also Dear God, a Gary Marshall movie.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 0:45:38 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict): As Good as It Gets → Greg Kinnear. Chris asks if the film is Kinnear's career peak.
“as good as it gets, is it peak Kaneer?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 0:45:55 · Chris Gethard (0.80 sure it was them)
career (career): Greg Kinnear → You've Got Mail. After the film Kinnear keeps being the obstacle in someone else's romance.
“He plays the Baxter in that.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 0:46:45 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Greg Kinnear → Nurse Betty. Kinnear is again the unwanted man, here scalped.
“He gets his head, his scalp cut off.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 0:46:58 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Greg Kinnear → Loser. Cast as a creepy professor sleeping with a student.
“Loser, he plays creepy college professor.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 0:47:06 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Greg Kinnear → Auto Focus. In 2002 he made an Oscar-style movie about a porn-filming Hogan's Heroes actor.
“he makes autofocus, which everyone's like, oh, here's an Oscar, Oscar movie”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 0:47:27 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Cuba Gooding Jr. → Boys in the Hood. Chris notes Gooding won his Oscar for Boys in the Hood (as said), making this his first film after being an Oscar winner.
“I mean, he won the Oscar for Boys in the Hood, right?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 0:57:32 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
people (people): As Good as It Gets → Chill Factor. Gooding and Skeet Ulrich supposedly bonded on this set and made Chill Factor together.
“They clearly just hit it off so hard at the craft service table on as good as it gets that they said, we got to find a vehicle for the 2 of us”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 0:58:48 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Cuba Gooding Jr. → Radio. Boat Trip, Radio and Snow Dogs within 18 months; career downfall.
“Boat trip radio snow dogs all within 18 months?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:00:58 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Cuba Gooding Jr. → Norbit. Gooding plays the other boyfriend that the heroine has to leave.
“Like he plays the other boyfriend that Candy Newton has to lead.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:01:09 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Joaquin Phoenix → Joker. Breaking news that Phoenix is in talks to play the Joker in Todd Phillips's standalone film.
“guess who's in talks to play the Joker in Todd Phillips's standalone Joker movie?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:03:35 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Joker → Batman. A new Joker ties right into Nicholson's Joker.
“Wow, topical ties right into the jack.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:03:44 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Joaquin Phoenix → Gladiator. Chris likes Phoenix's Gladiator performance.
“I'll say, I really appreciated his performance in Gladiator.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:05:43 · Chris Gethard (0.60 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Joaquin Phoenix → 8mm. Phoenix gives a really good performance in a bad movie.
“Oh, Joaquin Phoenix an 8 millimeter, by the way.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:06:20 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
people (people): Joel Schumacher → 8mm. Roberts named Flatliners and Gandolfini named 8mm as their regrets; both are Schumacher films.
“And then Julie Roberts said, oh, we both said Joel Schumacher movies.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:07:33 · Chris Gethard (0.50 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Cuba Gooding Jr. → Jerry Maguire. His strength was more energy than any actor alive, as in Jerry Maguire, but it is too hot for this film.
“This was a moment where I think Cuba's greatest strength was he had more energy than any other actor alive.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:10:01 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Cuba Gooding Jr. → Greg Kinnear. Gooding is big; Kinnear plays a sensitive shrinking violet.
“Because Kuneer can, he's so good at playing such like a sensitive shrinking violet.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:10:28 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Cuba Gooding Jr. → The Wrestler. His O.J. role is like Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler: the character fits his own narrative.
“I think the OJ thing is kind of like Mickey Rourke and the wrestler”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:11:12 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): James L. Brooks → Cameron Crowe. Crowe is described as Brooks's protégé, and the two share a tone.
“And Cameron Crowe was like his protégé.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:14:06 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): As Good as It Gets → Jerry Maguire. Brooks and Crowe share a very similar tone and mix of emotions.
“But they have a very similar tone and sort of like touch and mix of emotions and all that.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:14:23 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): Cameron Crowe → Billy Wilder. Crowe worships Billy Wilder, whose versatility Brooks also has.
“Cameron Crowe worships at the feet of Billy Wilder, of course”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:14:32 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): James L. Brooks → Broadcast News. Brooks moved from sitcoms to films and had a big success with Terms of Endearment, then Broadcast News, argued to be even better.
“makes huge success in terms of endearment, then broadcast news, which we argue is even better.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:14:43 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): I'll Do Anything → As Good as It Gets. After the disaster of I'll Do Anything, Brooks needed to get his groove back, and As Good as It Gets did it.
“And then makes, I'll do anything, which is like a disaster.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:15:06 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
people (people): Jack Nicholson → Terms of Endearment. Brooks had already worked with Nicholson on Terms of Endearment, where he won an Oscar.
“he'd work with Nicholson on terms of endearment, he wins an Oscar.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:16:16 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
people (people): Jack Nicholson → Broadcast News. Nicholson also pops off in Broadcast News, another Brooks film.
“Nicholson also pops off in broadcast news.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:16:21 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (industry): As Good as It Gets → Mars Attacks!. Released the same year; a host loved Mars Attacks for Nicholson's double performance.
“This is the same year as Mars Attacks, and I was all fucking about Mars Attacks, in both Jack Nicholson performances, blows the roof off.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:16:39 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (industry): As Good as It Gets → Batman. As Good as It Gets is Nicholson's second-highest grosser, behind Batman.
“This is his 2nd highest grossing film ever only behind Batman.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:17:45 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): As Good as It Gets → Wolf. Nicholson's earlier 90s films had a harder edge; this is the softest, cheeriest Nicholson movie.
“But Jack Nicholson, usually the movies he's in have a harder edge.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:18:15 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
programming (programming): Wolf → Bram Stoker's Dracula. Wolf is grouped with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Bram Stoker's Dracula as a loose 90s trilogy of monsters who fuck.
“That was part of that loose, unofficial 90s trilogy of monsters who fuck, which was Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Bram Stroker's Dracula, and Wolf.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:18:53 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
people (people): Mike Nichols → Judd Apatow. Chris could have met Nichols through Apatow to talk about early improv.
“and he mentioned that he had just met Mike Nichols.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:19:52 · Chris Gethard (0.80 sure it was them)
career (career): Mike Nichols → Wolf. Nichols had a smooth career with Wolf as the weird hiccup, to hosts' amusement.
“Motherfucker made wolf.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:20:43 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Helen Hunt → As Good as It Gets. Hunt was the first to win an Emmy and an Oscar in the same year (Mad About You and this film).
“win the Emmy and the Oscar in the same year.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:21:08 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): Jack Nicholson → As Good as It Gets. A host says Nicholson designed his own character's wardrobe, aiming for a downtown look, then jokes he sewed it himself like Daniel Day-Lewis.
“Jack Nicholson designed the wardrobe for this character.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:28:16 · Griffin Newman or David Sims (unclear) (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft): As Good as It Gets → Titanic. Unlike Titanic's Jack, the drawings here are actually impressive because they are by a real artist.
“more so than Titanic this same year where they want you to be like aghast with Jack's drawings.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:32:42 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (industry): As Good as It Gets → Titanic. Asks if this thoughtful character piece broke out in a year of Titanic and Men in Black.
“in a year where it was like Titanic, Men in Black, all of a sudden, here's this like, thoughtful character piece.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:32:58 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (industry): Terms of Endearment → Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. Terms of Endearment was the second-biggest film of its year, behind Return of the Jedi (corrected from Empire).
“No, Return of the Jedi.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:33:20 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Lawrence Kasdan → Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. Kasdan, a cameo in As Good as It Gets, is introduced as the screenwriter of Empire Strikes Back.
“as the screenwriter of Empire Strikes Back.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:36:11 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Shane Black → Iron Man 3. Shane Black (cameo here) directed Iron Man 3, which cut Chris.
“Director of Fireman 3, who later cut me from his film.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:36:26 · Chris Gethard (0.80 sure it was them)
career (career): Todd Solondz → Welcome to the Dollhouse. The man on the bus is Welcome to the Dollhouse's director.
“welcome to the dollhouse director, Todd Solins, just sitting there awkwardly.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:36:51 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): Maya Rudolph → As Good as It Gets. Her first film role, before SNL in 2000.
“but this is her 1st film role.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:37:33 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career): Lisa Edelstein → House M.D.. Edelstein and Peter Jacobson play the restaurant's Jewish targets 15 years before House.
“Yeah, to Lisa Edelstein and Pete Jacobson, both from house.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:43:19 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
craft (craft): As Good as It Gets → Planes, Trains and Automobiles. The audience sides with the nuisance (Candy / Simon) against the clear jerk, the same dynamic Kinnear sustains against Nicholson.
“even though Steve Barnes clearly a dick are like, yeah, but fucking John Candy, this guy is a nuisance.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:45:16 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict): As Good as It Gets → Good Will Hunting. A host would have given the Oscar to Damon; another recalls Nicholson more.
“I love Matt Damon, but I remember Jack Nicholson's performance a lot more.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:48:09 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if): Greg Kinnear → Breaking Away. A host quips Greg Kinnear (from Indiana) could have been in Breaking Away.
“Greg Kinnear could have been in that.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:49:49 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
programming (programming): Breaking Away → The Outsiders. Chris watched both for the first time back to back on planes.
“Yeah, I watched that and the outsiders back to back on planes.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:50:00 · Chris Gethard (0.80 sure it was them)
lineage (lineage): As Good as It Gets → Spanglish. Spanglish is the bad version of As Good as It Gets: no plot, lots of monologues.
“you watch Spanglish after this and you're like, wow, like, this is the bad version of as good as it gets.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:54:28 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
career (career): James L. Brooks → Spanglish. After Broadcast News Brooks took the wrong lessons from each film about what he used to do well.
“from broadcast news on, he takes the wrong lessons from each movie about what he used to do well.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:54:44 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
programming (programming): As Good as It Gets → Tomorrow Never Dies. It opened at number three on Dec. 26, 1997 behind Titanic and Tomorrow Never Dies.
“It opened at number three.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:57:39 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
programming (programming): As Good as It Gets → Jackie Brown. Jackie Brown opened the same Christmas weekend and bombed while As Good as It Gets took off.
“It's his best film, though, and it's called Jackie Brown.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:59:34 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Fun items (24)

fun, about Al Roker / The Chris Gethard Show: Roker turned Chris down on Christmas Eve 2009, so Chris went bigger and tweeted at Diddy, launching his career.
“You could say that a lot of my career took off because Al Roker rejected me.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 0:05:13 · Chris Gethard (0.80 sure it was them)
fun, about Star Wars: The Last Jedi / Poe Dameron: Chris's rant that Poe is a mutineer and war criminal responsible for most of the rebels' deaths.
“This guy, by the standards of any military outfit, should be they should behead him on TV for treason and mutiny.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 0:10:17 · Chris Gethard (0.80 sure it was them)
fun, about Star Wars: The Force Awakens / Wedge Antilles: Chris tells the story that Wedge's actor held out for a bigger part and the studio shrugged.
“Or we'll just fucking draw this in a computer, dick.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 0:16:00 · Chris Gethard (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Chris Gethard: He still gets residual checks for three movies he was cut out of, including Iron Man 3.
“I get residuals from 3 movies I was cut out of, which is insane.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 0:16:34 · Chris Gethard (0.80 sure it was them)
fun, about Star Wars: The Last Jedi / Leia in space: The director's reply to critics of Leia's space-flight scene.
“She doesn't have any air, she's in space, and he's like, moving in space is very easy.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 0:19:06 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Nien Nunb: Rumor that his gibberish was real Kenyan dialect and audiences there roared in 1983.
“Audiences roar and laughter because he says, what are you doing over there?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 0:22:28 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Drew Carey: After LASIK and weight loss nobody accepted his look, so he now wears fake glasses.
“So he now wears fake glasses.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 0:31:02 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Jack Nicholson: Chris puts Melvin Udall in his top three unapologetic dickhead performances.
“I think Jack Nicholson and this might be in my top three.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 0:32:43 · Chris Gethard (0.80 sure it was them)
fun, about As Good as It Gets: Sixth biggest movie of 1997 despite Titanic and Men in Black.
“It was the 6th biggest movie of the year.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 0:35:17 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Chill Factor: The trailer is a rare misdirect that works until it cuts to Cuba and Skeet Ulrich hamming it up.
“Chill Factor is one of the only trailers I've seen that pulls that off successfully”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 0:59:27 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about 8mm: Chris describes the needle-reset-on-a-record scare as a terrifying moment.
“and there's a vinyl record playing, and it runs out, and then you hear the needle get reset from another room”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:06:49 · Chris Gethard (0.70 sure it was them)
fun, about Julia Roberts and James Gandolfini: In an interview they named Flatliners and 8mm as their regrets, both Joel Schumacher films.
“And then Julie Roberts said, oh, we both said Joel Schumacher movies.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:07:33 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Cuba Gooding Jr.: A boxing-match metaphor for his career arc.
“This is his career is like a boxing match where he comes out in the 1st round and knocks his opponent down 3 times”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:11:38 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about As Good as It Gets: Helen Hunt said it was not meant as a romcom; Brooks only asked for a kiss on the final scene.
“And then when they filmed the final scene, James L. Brooks was like, Try kissing her.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:12:31 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about As Good as It Gets: Brooks did not originate the script, unlike every other movie he made; he punched up the dialogue.
“And this script wasn't originated by him, which every other movie he's done.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:15:19 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Mike Nichols: Chris missed a chance to talk early improv with Nichols via Judd Apatow.
“I could have sat with Mike Nichols and just talked about the earliest days of improv.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:20:29 · Chris Gethard (0.70 sure it was them)
fun, about As Good as It Gets: Opening scene has Melvin throwing a dog down a garbage chute and berating Kinnear; the hosts note it is the opposite of save the cat.
“It's also like, it's pretty audacious of Brooks to be like, I'm literally going to do the opposite of save the cat in the 1st shot of my movie.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:25:54 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about As Good as It Gets: The dog looks like a muffin; the poster featured smiling Jack holding the dog.
“This dog that literally just looks like a muffin with 2 eyes on it.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:26:07 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about As Good as It Gets: Trivia: Nicholson designed his own downtown wardrobe, though the hosts debate whether it reads downtown.
“Jack Nicholson designed the wardrobe for this character.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:28:16 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about As Good as It Gets: Six directors cameo in the film: Ramis, Kasdan, Black, Ratner, Solondz and more.
“6 directors who are not usually actors all appear in this film.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:35:46 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about As Good as It Gets: Maya Rudolph appears as a cop in her first film role.
“but this is her 1st film role.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:37:33 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about As Good as It Gets / John Updike: The line about writing women by taking away reason and accountability is a real Updike line used as a troll.
“if you want to get angry that James L. Brooks stole your line, you then have to take credit for that offer.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:38:40 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about The Wolfman: Chris walked out and the crowd applauded his timing.
“I popped out of my seat and walked out with such good timing that the crowd applauded my walkout.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 2:03:08 · Chris Gethard (0.70 sure it was them)
fun, about Soul Plane: Chris took a date to see it; audience was mostly Hasidic Jews and one uncomfortable black man.
“I took a lady on a date in high school to see Soul Plane”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 2:05:09 · Chris Gethard (0.50 sure it was them)

Who's talking

Chris Gethard (guest): Loves an unapologetic dickhead performance and Star Wars minutiae (memorized the encyclopedia in high school); a sucker for Helen Hunt and for underdog films like Breaking Away. Can't stand Poe Dameron's mutiny, bad-movie-in-theaters stories, or romances where a straight man and woman can't just respect each other.
Griffin Newman (host): Appears to love specific film trivia and the New York of the film; teases about being downtown. Lines identified with him are low-confidence because the transcript has no speaker labels.
David Sims (host): Fact-checks on a laptop, pulling dates and biographical trivia (Kinnear's Indiana roots, box office facts); lines individually attributed to him are low-confidence.

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

'General Radis' = Admiral Raddus (Rogue One)
'Nyenum/Neon Num/Nee and Nub' = Nien Nunb
'Solaston/Soleston' = Sullustan; 'Goody and Tev' = a Sullustan name (unclear)
'Max Fonsito' = probably Max von Sydow (Force Awakens)
'Kaneer/Canear/Kuneer' = Kinnear
'Harold Ray Mess' = Harold Ramis
'Lawrence Kastin/Kazden' = Lawrence Kasdan
'Sidney Pollock' = Sydney Pollack
'Fireman 3' = Iron Man 3
'Todd Solens/Solins' = Todd Solondz
'Gandalfini' = Gandolfini; 'Teturo' = Turturro
'Judd Appita' = Judd Apatow
'Mina Savari' = Mena Suvari
'Gorvinsky' = Gore Verbinski
'Ryan Johnson' = Rian Johnson; 'Kathy Candy' = Kathleen Kennedy
'Carrie Washington' = Kerry Washington
'Thumbnall Gleason/Paul Gleason' = probably Domhnall Gleeson; 'David Wayne' = David Wain
'Katie Kirk/Kurrick' = Katie Couric
'Kafa' = probably Hoffa; 'Pretty Fre' = unclear
'Yardley Smith' = Yeardley Smith
'Steve Barnes' (Planes, Trains and Automobiles) = Steve Martin
Opening 'Black Jack, Griffin and David' = show intro cold-open, garbled
Ads for Video Game Town, Audible's Dracula and Mubi's Camp Miasma are spliced into the transcript (the latter two postdate 2018); ignored

Blank Check with Griffin & David: As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard

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

Added from the extractor's memory, not said

Films that came up

passing (58)

anecdote (36)

subject (1)

compared (19)

recommended (7)

dismissed (6)

Claims (63)

Fun items (24)

Who's talking

The show's recurring bits

Names the transcriber got wrong