Home Artists Posts Import Register

Downloads

Content

We took the bait and went to see CATS!

Help us exorcise this experience by tuning in to our special show on the madness!

Comments

Anonymous

...Well *this* is a surprise.

Anonymous

I greatly appreciate the frequency with which people challenge you to cover something while calling you cowards. I can only hope I inspired this trend.

Anonymous

I am about to listen, but my predictions on your reactions to this unholy abomination of cinematography are that Chad curled up and cried, and Chris fell gibbering to the floor, his sanity ripped from his poor, mortal body. Let's see if I'm right!

Steve

By all that is squamous, why?! I guess you are the Marty McFlys.

Steve

Eliot was also massively antisemitic. "Eliot was not a typical anti-semite. He was instead an extraordinary anti-semite. He did not reflect the anti-semitism of his times, he contributed to it, even enlarged it. And with these poems he exhausted anti-semitism's (very modest) poetry-making reserves. So he did not persist in his anti-semitism as a poet. He did not repeat himself in this way." https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/jun/07/poetry.thomasstearnseliot

Steve

I do kind of wonder whether this might turn into a Rocky Horror style element. But perhaps it's too horrid. I'm certainly never going to watch this. When I saw the recent Star Wars film, also disappointing, there was a trailer for Cats. It created quite a ripple of hilarity in the crowd.

Steve

“I remember when my agent rang up and said, ‘They want to see you for a stage show called Cats.’ And I said, ‘Cats? Fucking gorillas maybe! Bears!’” https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2020/jan/13/brian-blessed-rosalind-blessed-interview-cats-astronaut

Steve

Well if you like tap and trains, it's got to be Starlight Express next in your exploration of the horror of ALW.

Steve

This is one of my favourite shows of yours.

The Screaming Moist

I made it a minute into Jellicle Cats before my brain turned it into the old Gummi Bears cartoon theme, which is a far superior song by comparison. If people want to watch random performances in a movie with no plot they’d be better off getting on tubi and watching Orgy of the Dead. At least that had Ed Wood’s fingers in it.

Anonymous

So, as always, thank you both for braving what many of us would dare not. Just the thumbnail images I've seen have made me absolutely sure that I will never ever subject myself to that unnameable unknowable thing. On the other hand, we now all know that Rachel and Chris' kids will scream bloody murder whenever mom and dad suggest movie night. And Chad had his first fridge horror trope moment while in his happy place. Well, at least Catwoman has something to keep it company on worst of worst lists. By this point you guys should be able to do a "Would you rather" topic on your theme shows. So, would you rather rewatch Cats or reread Lair of the White Worm?

Anonymous

My daughter and her boyfriend went to see this last weekend. Based on her report back, it was pretty good. So that's the review I'm sticking with. It's possible she was not paying attention to the movie at all, but I refuse to consider that option. So as far as I am concerned, for now and forever. CATS. WAS. PRETTY. GOOD.

Anonymous

I have two friends that saw it and said it was amazing. They said they were not lying, or trying to trick anyone else into seeing it. They said they enjoyed it immensely. But there was a strange gleam in their eyes... Could it be that the thing in the universe more strange and horrible than CATS! are the people that honestly and truly enjoyed CATS!?

Anonymous

Would you rather see a movie with amazing writing and direction, but horrible wrench-you-out-of-the-movie special effects; or a movie with fantastic special effects but horrible writing and direction?

Ben Gilbert

I enjoyed the theatrical production but I’m sure there’s a difference between seeing it from the balcony or with cinematic closeups. It’s a revue so the lack of plot didn’t bother me. “Jellicle” is supposed to be baby talk for “dear little” cat just as “Pollicle” is “poor little” dog.

Ben Gilbert

Does anyone remember the disco version of Memory? (There was a disco “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina” too.)

Darth Pseudonym

You might be interested to know that the "Heaviside layer" is an actual thing. It's one of the layers of the ionosphere, named for electrical scientist Oliver Heaviside. The Heaviside layer is the part of the atmosphere that shortwave signals bounce off of, and due to the solar wind, it moves away from the surface at night and closer during the day, which is why shortwave can reach around the world after dark. I have no idea why that particular term was used in the context of CATS but that's where the name comes from, at least.

Anonymous

It is obviously something cats jump through when they leap to the moon...

Anonymous

My Husband (Snack-o-dae-MAN-iacal) says "Cat's is like an early version of the Jukebox Musical that is popular now--where they stitch together an artist's songs and come up with some b*ll sh*t story to stitch them all together with-- Like "Jersey Boys," "Mama Mia," and "Escape to Margaritaville." He takes kooky source material and build a show around it. Which is how we got "Starland Express." The lack of a cohesive plot is something that has kept me from watching the musical, but it's just what Andrew Lloyd Weber does. It's the EXTRAVAGANZA (jazz hands) that is more important to him.

Anonymous

I really did not expect to find out that Chad had such disgust towards the "Cats" music itself. Granted, this version of the musical is... not the best, to say the least... the music as it is performed in more traditional settings is very good, in my opinion. Outside of seeing any live performances, the 1998 film version of the musical is the best, in my opinion. You can tell that each cast member is a professional in that field, and the costumes do not come across in some weird... uncanny... wtf-is-this... kind of way. Though the lyrics and subject matter may be silly to some, the musicality is really in the same vein as Webber's Phantom, Jesus Christ Superstar, and others.... It has Webber written all over it, musically speaking. I find it hard to believe that someone who likes one will not find much to like in the others. A small thing that irks me is that they opt to combine characters like Demeter and Bombalurina or Jemima and Victoria down into single roles... Also, like many, as a newcomer to the internet in the late 90's, CATS was probably the catalyst for the earliest fan fiction sites... alongside Star Trek, of course.

Anonymous

According to Webber, Disney had approached Elliot wanting to do an animated movie based on his book. He did not want his cats portrayed by them, though. Instead, Disney went on to create the Aristocats movie. After Elliot's death, his widow was approached by Webber and she echoed her late husbands sentiment. However, when Webber said that he wanted to portray them more in a "Hot Gossip" style (just google it), she said that her husband would've loved that, and she agreed.

Anonymous

This sums up ALW's works perfectly. Musical extravaganzas are my least favorite type of extravaganza.

Anonymous

Again, you've seen a movie so that we wouldn't have to. Your sacrifice won't be forgotten.

Anonymous

I totally agree that after the shock value wears off, the film is ultimately boring. My friend pointed out it feels exactly like one of those bad family movies from the late 90s. I'm glad Idris Elba at least got to chew the scenery. A joke: I told this cat she should stop being such a rumpleteazer and more of a rum tum tugger. She kneed me in the jellicles.

Anonymous

I kinda wish that Lovecraft and Eliot had been mutual fans and corresponded; who knows, perhaps then we might have got another addition to the ranks of the Jellicle cats! A STRANGE CAT approaches, with small, round glasses and an oddly distant stare OLD DEUTERONOMY: Who is this, who now approaches? CATS CHORUS: Who is this? Who is this? OLD DEUTERONOMY: Who is this, who now encroaches? CATS CHORUS: Who is this? Who is this? STRANGE CAT: I am that cat from between the angles, the cat from the Necronomicon and the Book of Dyzan, CATS CHORUS: Who is this? Who is this? STRANGE CAT: I am the cat who sanity mangles, I'm the cat that is called [BLEEEEP]-Man! The CATS all gasp OLD DEUTERONOMY: ...I'm sorry, what did you say? STRANGE CAT: I'm the cat that is called [BLEEEEP]-Man! OLD DEUTERONOMY looks at the camera with a panicked expression and starts making urgent "cut" gestures with his hand

Anonymous

My high school team name was the Panthers. Our marching band would perform a medley of songs from "Cats." They would rehearse this medley all year, badly.

Anonymous

My takeaway is that Rachel once appeared on stage with Brian Blessed and got an ovation. That’s burying the lede, guys.

Anonymous

I saw the tweet that instigated this and chuckled. Then the show popped up and I almost thought it was a joke. I'm so sorry that you had to watch it but I had a good time listening to the review.

Anonymous

Is Chad's hilarious pronunciation of bonmots a reference to an earlier episode, and if so, which one? I have a gnawing feeling that it is, but I can't put my finger on it.

Anonymous

Don't go giving them any ideas Rafe. They'd probably try to do this with Elba's Macavity punctuating Strange Cat's proclamation of his name with "Oh no you didn't" followed by some idiotic wire worked dance.

Ben Gilbert

Two Lloyd-Weber musicals in the last couple of months. Next up - Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Quest.

Anonymous

I went to Cats in London when I was really young. My grandparents took me as they loved the show. I hated it, was so bored. The worst part though is that I was sat next to this incredibly ancient and frail woman who obviously went a lot, and she sat there swaying and singing and repeating word for word all of the dialogue in this shrill, wavering voice. I just wanted the Cats to go full Ulthar and devour her in front of everyone.

Anonymous

For a future topic show you guys should review "Underwater". I won't spoil anything, but the director has apparently confirmed the first thing I thought when I saw something in the film. Was that statement opaque enough?

Anonymous

This has sat in my feed for a week. Just sat there and stared at me. Whispered in my ear as I tried to sleep. Teased me. I wanted nothing to do with Cats. Nothing to do with Cats even if my boon companions were the to do. But I caved. I did. I thought surely there must be there there. It isn't Oakland, for goodness' sake. At 17 minutes in, I paused the podcast. I never pause the podcast. I closed my computer and did something else for a while. It didn't really matter what so long as it was not about Cats. It wasn't. Damn my completionist eyes, I listened through. Guys, I thank you for trying. But whoo-boy. I mean, just... Let's not do that again soon, all right?

Anonymous

So I have this .... friend, who paid to rent and watch Cats last night...? Nah, I admit it was me, but only because my 9-year old daughter wanted to watch it (again) because she *shudddddderrrrrsssss* enjoyed it. I confess, this is probably because I allowed her to hold and flip through "House of Leaves" when she was three and couldn't read yet. Hey, don't judge me, it made for a cute picture! Anyway, I had already watched the OG "Cats" musical on video a few months prior, again due to the Weird influence of Daughter. At the very least, I was relieved, thanks to subtitles, to realize they were "Jellicle" cats and not "Genital" cats... but that relief minimized when it steadily sank in that they were, indeed, "Jellicle" cats. A nightmare. I had already listened to this Boner episode but just had to listen to it again having finally seen this ........ film. Lastly, yes I am aware of the typo in the previous sentence. Browsing through previous episodes, I just had to pay tribute to the first time the title of a Podcast made me, in fact, laugh out loud like a lunatic. "Boner of a Lonely Heart" ... Well done. Well done.