Blank Check with Griffin & David: Judging The Judge

Published 2015-06-08; 1:24:43 by the feed.

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

The extraction calls the show “Blank Check with Griffin & David” and the episode “Judging The Judge”.

Hosts: Griffin Newman, David Sims. Guests: none.

Subject films: The Judge (2014).

On the transcript: No speaker labels and heavy name mangling (especially Downey Jr. and Duvall). The $5000000 budget is probably $50 million and 'Chaplin first nomination at 24' is the transcript's claim. Ads for Audible, Video Game Town, and MUBI were skipped. Producer Ben is on mic briefly at the end.

Added from the extractor's memory, not said

Identified 'makes the scene, detective' as The Singing Detective (2003) because Gibson's company backed it; speakers did not name the film.
Corrected 'Joaquin Fiance' to Joaquin Phoenix and 'Cooney' to Clooney by sound; 'Ansel Elgort' guessed from 'so Elgort'.
Assigned Meet the Fockers to 'little fokker seat' from sound only.

Films that came up

Claims (57)

unmapped (family): Robert Downey Sr. → Pound. Downey Jr.'s first screen role was in his father's Pound at age four or five.
“His 1st onscreen performance, I think, was in Robert Diney Sr.'s pound when he was like 4 or five.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:09:21 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
people (director-style): Chaplin → Richard Attenborough. Chaplin is called a bland, mediocre Attenborough-style biopic despite Downey's physical performance.
“Yeah, I mean, it's Richard Attenburg kind of, yeah. It's super bland.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:11:07 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (intervention): Jodie Foster → Robert Downey Jr.. On Home for the Holidays Foster confronted Downey about his behavior even though he still delivered.
“Jody Foster would come in and be like, I know that no one calls you out on this because you're still able to deliver, but I will not let you behave this way.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:11:37 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
people (director): Two Girls and a Guy → James Toback. Toback directed it and said it was his most purely Tobackian film.
“I think it's probably the most purely Tobacian of my films.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:12:08 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career-detour): Robert Downey Jr. → Ally McBeal. Downey went from lost movie star to TV in Ally McBeal season four, won a Golden Globe, and was fired.
“Very nice job. And he's fired by the end of that season.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:13:34 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
people (collaboration): Air America → Mel Gibson. Gibson and Downey had made Air America together, which is why Gibson went to bat for him.
“They had done Air America together, and he said, no one else will hire you.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:17:17 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (backing): Mel Gibson → Robert Downey Jr.. After Air America together, Gibson put up the insurance bond so Downey could be hired when no one else would insure him.
“Mel Gibson puts up the insurance bond because he believes this guy needs a chance, but the movie doesn't do very well.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:17:49 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career-turning-point): Gothika → Robert Downey Jr.. Gothika, though a bad film, was his first big-studio return on the straight and narrow, and led to Susan.
“Gothica's weirdly the turning point, okay?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:18:03 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
people (producer): Susan Downey → Gothika. Downey met his future wife Susan, then a producer on Gothika, on the set where he had a small part.
“On that film, there was a woman. producing it whose last name I don't remember. Susan something.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:18:20 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
people (producer): Susan Downey → The Judge. Susan Downey, who became his wife, is a producer credit on The Judge.
“She becomes Susan Downey, which is why we don't remember her last name. Susan Downey, PGA. She's in the credit to the judge.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:19:24 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
people (producer): Joel Silver → Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Silver produced Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, written by his Lethal Weapon writer Shane Black, which became Downey's leading-man calling card.
“which was produced by Joel Silver, one of by Shane Black, who wrote some of Joel Silver's biggest hits.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:19:37 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
people (writer): Shane Black → Lethal Weapon (films). Black wrote Lethal Weapon, one of Silver's biggest hits.
“Lethal weapon, although...”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:19:42 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career-turning-point): Kiss Kiss Bang Bang → Robert Downey Jr.. As a critical hit with Downey leading, it worked as a calling card to prove he could carry a movie.
“It is a critical hit and it is, yeah, it's basically a calling card.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:19:52 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career-pattern): Kiss Kiss Bang Bang → Zodiac. Roles like Good Night and Good Luck, A Scanner Darkly and Zodiac cast Downey as weathered men clinging on.
“these roles of slightly weathered guys who, like, are kind of clinging on a little bit, you know, like rather than sort of breezing through things.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:20:21 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
people (casting-alternative): Sam Rockwell → Iron Man. Rockwell was reportedly seriously considered for Tony Stark, hence his part in the second film.
“I know Sam Rockwell was very seriously talked about.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:21:33 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (champion): Jon Favreau → Iron Man. Favreau sold Marvel hard on Downey with about 20 screen tests; Marvel relented.
“Favreau goes to bathroom, sells them really hard because this is the only guy, he does like 20 screen tests, and Marvel finally relents.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:22:42 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (salary-dispute): Terrence Howard → Iron Man 2. Howard earned triple Downey on the first film, and the raise-for-Downey dispute explains the recast.
“He gets paid less than any other actor in the film. Terrence Howard got 3 times as much as him.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:22:49 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
industry (release-timing): The Soloist → Iron Man. The Soloist was shot before Iron Man and was pushed back to ride the bump.
“That was originally supposed to come out before Iron Man. pushed it back so it could receive the bump of him being figured out.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:23:40 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
people (producer): Sherlock Holmes → Susan Downey. The Silver Company and Downey's wife built Sherlock Holmes as a franchise for him once he was a proven box-office star.
“The Silver Company and his wife, they said, now that you're a proven box office start, Let's make a franchise for you where we can benefit from it.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:23:52 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career-pattern): Due Date → The Judge. After Iron Man the only non-franchise outliers Downey signed on to were Due Date and The Judge.
“and the 2 exceptions, the outliers are due date and the judge.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:24:46 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
people (director-experiment): Due Date → Todd Phillips. Phillips, fresh off The Hangover, wanted to test how far he could push Downey's prickliness and still be liked.
“I want to try to experiment with how far I can push Danny Jr. in a film and still have audiences like him.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:25:09 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
people (producer): Robert Downey Jr. → The Judge. The Judge was Downey's first film as a producer, under his new banner at Warner Bros.
“This is his 1st film as a producer. He sets up a 1st look deal at Warner Brothers to bring them properties.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:27:27 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
career (dropped-projects): The Judge → Gravity. Downey dropped out of Gravity, Oz the Great and Powerful and Inherent Vice while pursuing The Judge.
“He was going to be the Cooney part in gravity. And he was going to be the Franco Partonas the Great and Powerful.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:27:33 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
career (dropped-projects): The Judge → Inherent Vice. Downey had been going to play Joaquin Phoenix's role in Inherent Vice before dropping out.
“He was going to play Joaquin Fiance's role in Inherit Vice.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:27:38 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (box-office-context): Dracula Untold → The Judge. The Judge opened behind Annabelle's second weekend, mentioned beside the flop Dracula Untold.
“You know, behind the 2nd weekend of Annabelle, this movie opened.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:30:10 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
theme (comparison): The Judge → Men, Women & Children. Both were overly earnest star-driven dramas that flopped, though The Judge made far more.
“I'm saying judge is a similar level of overly earnest big stars doing...”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:30:57 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
people (cinematographer): Janusz Kaminski → The Judge. Kaminski, Spielberg's regular, shot The Judge beautifully but too seriously for the tone.
“It's shot by Yanush Kaminsky, who's a great director of photographer. Steven Spielberg's regular, has shot every Steven Spielberg.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:34:31 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
people (writer-link): David Dobkin → Gran Torino. Dobkin had the idea from his father's elder years and pitched it to the writer of Gran Torino, who wrote it.
“picture basically to the writer of Grand Torino.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:36:07 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
lineage (sequel): Shanghai Knights → Shanghai Noon. Dobkin directed Knights, a catastrophe next to the masterpiece Noon.
“The sequel to Shanghai Nune, which is a masterpiece.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:36:35 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
people (same-director): Shanghai Noon → Marmaduke. Noon's director later made Failure to Launch and Marmaduke, a comedown from a good start.
“Shanghai Nune for perspective is from the director who then went on to direct failure to launch and Marmaduke.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:36:48 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
people (director): Wedding Crashers → David Dobkin. Dobkin directed this monster hit, which they say is misogynistic and unfunny but well shot.
“It is very well shot, though. I will say it looks nice.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:37:36 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
people (director): Fred Claus → David Dobkin. Dobkin's Fred Claus is a catastrophe with Vince Vaughn as Santa's brother and Ludacris's head on a filmed little person.
“Yeah, they filmed a little person and then superimposed Ludacris's head so his neck never moves properly.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:38:10 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
people (same-director-motif): The Change-Up → The Judge. Both Dobkin films open or turn on peeing, bodily-fluid humor leaking into the prestige drama.
“Another movie about peeing, where Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds pee into a fountain and lightning hits it and they change bodies.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:38:31 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
career (filmography-contrast): David Dobkin → Wedding Crashers. His pre-Judge filmography is ugly, misjudged comedies with regressive politics, which makes a serious drama odd.
“his filmography is mostly ugly, misjudged comedies that have regressive social politics.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:38:44 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
people (prior-collaboration): The Gingerbread Man → The Judge. Downey and Duvall had worked together before in The Gingerbread Man and Lucky You, which fed the casting.
“It was the gingerbread man. And lucky you. the Curtis Hanson poker movie.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 1:01:00 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
people (director): Lucky You → Curtis Hanson. Lucky You is the Curtis Hanson poker movie, with Bana, Barrymore, Duvall, and Downey in a bit credit.
“It's Eric Banner, Drew Barrymore, and Robert Duvall, and Diamond Jr.'s on credit.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 1:01:14 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
theme (comparison): The Judge → Meet the Fockers. The naked-together bathtub gay-panic beat in the shower scene feels like a Fockers-style gag.
“Like it almost turns into like a fucking little fokker seat where like they're naked together in a bathtub”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 1:04:56 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
theme (comparison): The Judge → Big Daddy. The Judge's climactic testimony scene recalls Sandler's courtroom speech in Big Daddy, which works only because that film is a ribald comedy.
“the scene in Big Daddy, where Adam Sandler tells his dad how much he loved him on the stand during...”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 1:08:29 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
theme (comparison): The Judge → Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. The Judge's characters announce their motivations in dialogue, which David says is worse than the Phantom Menace.
“I just want to say this movie is a lot worse than Star Wars episode one of the Phantom Menace.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 1:09:46 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
contrast (awards-contrast): The Judge → No Country for Old Men. Recent Best Picture winners like The Artist, The Hurt Locker, and No Country are not like The Judge, which is the old kind of Oscar bait.
“the best picture winners of the last whatever years are like the artist and the hurt locker and like no country for all men”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 1:14:05 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
contrast (awards-contrast): The Judge → The King's Speech. King's Speech and A Beautiful Mind are the nearest recent mannered Oscar winners, but they are British or biopic.
“But that's the British Tony thing. You know? And Beautiful Mind is like biopic.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 1:14:24 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (visual-comparison): The Judge → A Civil Action. The Judge looks like A Civil Action, a stately legal drama Duvall was Oscar-nominated for.
“the movie kind of looks like a civil action, which Robert Delwell was nominated for”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 1:14:57 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
theme (genre-aspiration): The Judge → Steve Zaillian. Dobkin seems to want to make an Ed Zwick or Steve Zaillian-style prestige drama.
“I want to make an Ed Zwick or Steve Zaleen or like a... What is the problem with this movie?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 1:15:12 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (awards-rival): Robert Duvall → Birdman. Duvall's Supporting Actor nomination sat beside stronger work from Norton in Birdman, Hawke in Boyhood, Ruffalo in Foxcatcher and Simmons in Whiplash.
“he's nominated with Edward Norton for Birdman. one of his finest performances in a movie.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 1:16:15 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
people (great-performance): Robert Duvall → Open Range. Cited as better recent Duvall work than The Judge.
“You know what he's fantastic in his open range?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 1:17:16 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
people (actor-director): Robert Duvall → The Apostle. Duvall directed The Apostle, a terrific film he is superb in that nobody talks about now.
“He directed that film. That's a terrific film.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 1:17:32 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career-comparison): Robert Duvall → Robert De Niro. Duvall phoning it in beats De Niro sleepwalking or Pacino just yelling.
“De Niro, when he's phoning it in, really is sleepwalking. Chino, when he's phoning it in, is just yelling.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 1:18:10 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
people (great-performance): Robert Duvall → The Godfather. Duvall's restrained Tom Hagen is held up as proof Oscars do not simply nominate him for everything.
“Oh, Tom Hagen is one of my favorite characters ever.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 1:18:26 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career-comparison): Robert Duvall → Jack Reacher. If he deserves a nomination for The Judge he deserves one for every film of the last 20 years, since he is no better than in Jack Reacher.
“he is no better or worse in the judge than he is in Jack Reacher.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 1:19:23 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
lineage (homage): The Judge → Man of Steel. The tornado father-son fight echoes the father-son tornado scene in Man of Steel, another Warner Bros. film.
“an homage to everyone's favorite father son scene from Man of Steel.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 1:20:04 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
theme (quality-comparison): Entourage → The Judge. David says the Entourage movie, which he watched the same day, is better than The Judge.
“I had to watch it the same day I watched Entourage the movie, which is a better movie than the judge.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 1:20:27 · David Sims (0.60 sure it was them)
industry (awards-theory): Robert Downey Jr. → Rain Man. Best case for Downey was playing Tom Cruise to Duvall's Dustin Hoffman, supporting the Oscar-bait part.
“Best case scenario, he's the Tom Cruise to the Dustin Hoffman and Rainman.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 1:24:25 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (suggested-biopic): Robert Downey Jr. → Chaplin. He should do another physical biopic like Chaplin, such as sad old Buster Keaton.
“Biopic, you know, like you did with Chaplin, something where you're really physically testing yourself as an actor.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 1:24:39 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
people (snubbed-performance): Iron Man → Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Downey deserved nominations for the magnetic performances in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Iron Man.
“Robert Downey Jr. should have been nominated for Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang. He should have been nominated for Iron Man.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 1:25:50 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
industry (awards-theory): Robert Downey Jr. → Meryl Streep. Streep keeps getting nominated because she visibly changes things up; Downey should surprise audiences similarly.
“I'm not saying she's always good, but she is always at least changing it up.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 1:27:01 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
people (suggested-collaboration): Robert Downey Jr. → Paul Thomas Anderson. To get an Oscar he needs a director who will push him out of his zone, such as PTA or Sam Raimi, not Dobkin.
“But someone like Paul Thomas Anderson. You know who's not going to let him close.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 1:27:31 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
people (missed-casting): Robert Downey Jr. → Oz the Great and Powerful. Downey would have improved Raimi's Oz, though still not made it good.
“He actually would have been great and I was the great and powerful.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 1:27:38 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

Fun items (22)

fun, about Robert Downey Jr.: His first on-screen line in his father's film Pound, at four or five, was a crude one about body hair, which says a lot about the household.
“And his 1st line is, what, you don't think I got hair on my balls?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:09:22 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Robert Downey Jr.: On Inside the Actors Studio, Downey called Home for the Holidays the most relaxed performance in film history because of the heroin, and said Jodie Foster once confronted him.
“Yeah, home for holidays, which on that episode of Inside the Actor Studio, he refers to as the most relaxed performance in the history of film because of how much heroin he was on.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:11:26 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Ally McBeal: Downey's fourth-season arrival was hailed as the best television performance ever; he won a Golden Globe, got an Emmy nomination, then was fired for not showing up.
“Yeah, he doesn't show up or whatever, and yeah, they fire him.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:13:36 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Susan Downey: The legend: on the Gothika set Susan asked Downey why he was not the biggest star in the world, and made it her life's mission to make him one.
“Why aren't you the biggest star in the world?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:19:02 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Iron Man: A host recalls his father's reaction to Downey being cast as Iron Man: scraping the bottom of the barrel, the movie is a predetermined flop.
“they're really scraping the bottom of the barrel, huh?”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:22:09 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Iron Man: Downey made the least money of any actor on the first film (Terrence Howard got three times as much), then wanted a proportionate raise for the second.
“Terrence Howard got 3 times as much as him.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:22:50 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Due Date: Todd Phillips said he made Due Date to see how far he could push Downey's oddness and prickliness before audiences stopped liking him. One host calls the film a secret masterpiece.
“I think is a secret masterpiece”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:24:14 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about The Judge: Three minutes in, a supposedly serious drama opens with Downey peeing on David Krumholtz at a urinal, complete with an insert shot of urine on polished shoes. The hosts treat this as the first sign the director cannot stop being a Dobkin comedy director.
“Minute 3 of the movie, it's a drama. Rardine Jr., an adult male is peeing on another adult male”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:35:10 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Janusz Kaminski: The Judge is gorgeously shot with pools of light through windows, which clashes with everything else the film does.
“It's always these pools of light coming through the window.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:35:43 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Fred Claus: For David Dobkin's Fred Claus they filmed a little person and superimposed Ludacris's head, so the neck never moves right.
“Yeah, they filmed a little person and then superimposed Ludacris's head so his neck never moves properly.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:38:10 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about The Judge (trailer): The trailer bills Downey, Duvall, Farmiga and D'Onofrio as Academy Award nominees or winners, leaving Billy Bob Thornton the only name with an empty title card.
“There are 5 names and he's the only one who gets nothing. His title card looks so naked.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:44:22 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Dax Shepard: His Judge character is so afraid of cross-examining in court that he vomits before each appearance, and one host calls him the best character in the film.
“He's a man with such intense stage fight when it comes to performing in chlorate that he vomits extensively every time before.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:50:51 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Robert Duvall: Duvall is such a classic Duvall that the hosts would rather see a movie of him as a Judge Judy-style town judge, even a reality show.
“I would go show up to watch him, dude. I would watch the reality show.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:55:30 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about David Dobkin: Bar mitzvah analogy: Dobkin plays it solemn like a 13-year-old reading from the Torah to prove he is a man, then slips back into pee jokes at the party.
“It feels like the way that 13 year old boys have to act during their bar mitzvah, during the actual service in the Torah portion where they really have to put on the ears that they are now a man.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 0:56:38 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about The Judge: Duvall is 82, hairless, and in chemo, but they dye the few wisps on his head deep brown to make him look 70 instead of 80.
“It's like, oh, you're right. That makes him look 70 instead of 80.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 1:00:41 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about The Judge: The shower scene: Downey hoses a soiled Duvall down with a handheld shower head, and the only shot they can't forget is the stained legs and the drain.
“you just see shit running down his legs down the drain.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 1:04:15 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about The Judge: The judge's tell is that he forgets his bailiff's name; the hosts say it is set up in the first scene and is open and shut at trial, yet they convict him anyway.
“The bailiff who he's had at his side for like 30 years.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 1:09:17 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about The Judge: David would take a dumb spaceship movie over a dumb adult drama, and notes The Judge has no spaceships.
“I'd rather take a dumb spaceship movie than a dumb adult drama.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 1:10:26 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Warner Bros.: The Judge's tornado father-son fight is a Man of Steel homage, so Warner Bros. is the go-to studio for father-and-son tornado fights.
“Warner Brothers has become the go to studios for tornado fights.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 1:20:09 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about The Judge: The Judge was Griffin's SAG screener and David's last Oscar-year completism watch; a 'Judging the Judge' sequel joke runs through the intro and outro.
“I forgot to vote this, you idiot.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 1:21:46 · Griffin Newman (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Robert Downey Jr.: Pitch to Downey for an Oscar: play Buster Keaton, whose voice was a gravelly surprise after MGM made him do talkies with Jimmy Durante.
“He'd be great old, sad Buster Keaton.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 1:24:49 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Oz the Great and Powerful: Griffin claims Zach Braff is funny in it as a porcelain monkey in a bellhop uniform; David refuses to give him that one.
“He plays like a monkey in a bellhop uniform.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · Judging The Judge · 1:28:08 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

Who's talking

Griffin Newman (host): An actor and comedian who loves Robert Downey Jr. (Ally McBeal, Bowfinger) and loves cataloguing credits, billing, and who produced what. Can't stand hacky, symbolic drama like The Judge or misjudged comedies like Wedding Crashers and Fred Claus. A sucker for Shanghai Noon, Due Date, and Dax Shepard's character.
David Sims (host): The Atlantic film and television critic who adores RDJ's charm and will watch anything out of Oscar completism. Hates showy awards bait and the Dobkin comedy style. Fond of The Godfather, The Apostle, Sam Raimi, and spaceship movies, and says he'd take a dumb spaceship movie over a dumb adult drama.

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

Allie McBeal / Alan McBeal → Ally McBeal
Bofinger / both finger → Bowfinger
Gothka / Gothica → Gothika
Diney Sr. → Downey Sr.
Donny Jr. / Dion Jr. / Danny Jr. / Diane Junior / Dime Jr. → Downey Jr.
Cooney (in gravity) → Clooney
Franco Partonas the Great and Powerful → Oz the Great and Powerful
Inherit Vice → Inherent Vice; Joaquin Fiance -> Joaquin Phoenix
Grand Torino → Gran Torino
Yanush / Giannis Kaminsky → Janusz Kaminski
Dobkins / Dopkin → Dobkin
Dak / Deck Shepard → Dax Shepard
Vera Fermiga / Vera for me / Vera amigo → Vera Farmiga
Leighton Measter / late in Easter → Leighton Meester
Krumholz / Grumbler → Krumholtz
Dinofrio / De Nofri / Dnofrio → D'Onofrio
Deval / Duval → Duvall
Shanghai Nune / Newton / Nights → Shanghai Noon / Knights
Tobak / Tobacian → Toback / Tobackian
Con (Godfather) → Caan
Ed Zwick or Steve Zaleen → Edward Zwick or Steven Zaillian
Eric Banner → Eric Bana
Rardine Jr. → Downey Jr.
little fokker seat → Meet the Fockers
Ansel 'so Elgort' → Ansel Elgort
Telephone Jackie → unclear (likely a role Downey played in Lucky You)
TC 14 of the Jets → unclear
the guy's recognizing your saints → unclear Downey film title
product of a Batman and a French ingenue → likely 'a beatnik'
Sedan Ted Laka / Future Gas → ad names; not content

Blank Check with Griffin & David: Judging The Judge

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

Added from the extractor's memory, not said

Films that came up

subject (1)

compared (10)

passing (51)

anecdote (14)

recommended (7)

dismissed (5)

Claims (57)

Fun items (22)

Who's talking

The show's recurring bits

Names the transcriber got wrong