How Did This Get Made?: 134 Can't Stop the Music: LIVE! (w/ Pete Holmes, Cameron Esposito)

April 27, 2016 12:10 PM

Three straight dudes and a lesbian extol the zany, accidental virtues of the Village People's 1980 vanity project/gay milk ad/"PG movie with dicks in it," with extended philosophical detours into the utility of the penis and just who "We Are the Champions" was intended to speak to. Caution: yelling.
posted by psoas (11 comments total)

Fun fact: CSTM was filmed nearly adjacent to (the much less flattering) Cruising and gay rights protesters occasionally interrupted production.
posted by psoas at 12:15 PM on April 27, 2016

There is a big argument on the Earwolf forums about this episode. Interested in seeing what Mefi thinks.

I really liked this episode and was glad Cameron didn't let the bits slow down her train of actual thoughts. I love the show but sometimes they squander the chance to have real insight by not letting guests speak and playing to the audience.
posted by kittensofthenight at 12:20 PM on April 27, 2016

Huh. I've never read the Earwolf forums, and now I see why: there seems to be the same kneejerk disgust with Esposito that always tagged the comments on her column for the A.V. Club. This may be as close as I get to the manosphere.
posted by psoas at 12:42 PM on April 27, 2016

I love Cameron Esposito but I find Pete Holmes completely and totally unbearable otherwise I would definitely check this out.
posted by Tevin at 1:18 PM on April 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

I'm not super familiar with this podcast, but I couldn't stop from laughing for the first 20mn - I'm glad they let Esposito follow up on her thoughts - I found the whole interaction hilarious (in a good way)
posted by motdiem2 at 2:15 PM on April 27, 2016

Yeah its there in the Earwolf forums, and shows how poisonous that kind of thinking/commenting can be to even an active and engaged (and pretty positive!) community like the HDTGM board.

Anyway. I dislike Pete Holmes too, but I didn't bother complaining about it on the Earwolf boards or here, I just focus on what I like about the episode, which I thought was better than normal live eps especially because of the deeper insight into the movie that Cameron brought. In the end I even liked Pete Holmes, especially when Zouks is shutting him down.

Did anyone watch the movie? I watched some clips and it seems like the perfect movie to put on a projector at a party or a club. Don't you think the Village People would approve of that?
posted by kittensofthenight at 3:08 PM on April 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

Cameron Esposito is just the best.
posted by Rock Steady at 8:28 PM on April 27, 2016 [3 favorites]

I watched this movie with some friends. I'm not sure it's supposed to be a comedy, exactly, but I think it's supposed to be funnier than it is, with exactly one genuinely funny line.

While we were watching the movie, my friend Tracie alternated between saying it was the best movie she had ever seen, and asking what the hell was going on, which was great.
posted by jwgh at 6:46 AM on April 29, 2016

That Earwolf thread is just disheartening. Esposito does a great job in the difficult position of being the only gay panelist discussing a freakin' Village People movie! Also, she was fitting the June role of taking the movie somewhat seriously, but doing it in her own way.

Pretty good for a non-June, live episode.
posted by He Is Only The Imposter at 7:11 AM on April 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

If there are any trans people here willing to educate me: was their answer on "What do we call Caitlyn Jenner in the context of this movie?" (i.e., "Bruce") acceptable?
posted by Etrigan at 7:58 AM on April 29, 2016

I was actually just thinking about that, Etrigan. I'm not trans, but my understanding is you would call the actor who appeared in the movie Caitlyn and use the pronouns they prefer (I think "she" in Caitlyn's case). You might, as IMdB does, note that she appeared in this movie as Bruce Jenner. However, it would be OK to refer to the character as "he" to avoid confusion when talking about the actual plot. This is, I think, the same thing you would do, for example, if you were discussing Allison Williams playing Peter Pan ("She wasn't a great singer, but did a great job when he went up against Captain Hook, etc etc.") .
posted by Rock Steady at 8:11 AM on April 29, 2016