#47 – I'M GEORGE LUCAS: Documenting The George Lucas Talk Show (w/ Patrick Cotnoir)

[00:00:00] Hello and welcome to Trash Compactor. I'm Josh. You may have noticed over these last 40 something episodes that we have a certain fixation with George Lucas. What he thinks, what makes him tick, why he does the things that he does.

[00:00:14] But there is someone whose obsession with George Lucas rivals ours. He's an actor and comedian named Conor Ratliff who pretends to be George Lucas as host of The George Lucas Talk Show, a live comedy show that imagines a retired George Lucas as the host of an actual honest to God talk show, which is equal parts hilarious, irreverent, and charming, and the show has built a serious following over the years.

[00:00:34] And joining us today is Patrick Cotnoir, producer of The George Lucas Talk Show, to talk about the new documentary film, I'm George Lucas, A Conner Ratliff Story, which chronicles a year in the life of the George Lucas talk show and turns into an insightful meditation on creativity, failure, and what it means to be successful.

[00:00:52] So without further ado, I'm pleased to welcome Patrick Cotnoir to Trash Compactor. Thanks for doing this, Patrick.

[00:00:57] Thank you for having me. I'm psyched to be here.

[00:01:00] So, uh, first I want to talk a little bit about The George Lucas Talk Show itself and then we'll move on to the doc. Um, I tried to very Briefly summarize it in the intro, but for our listeners who may not be familiar with The George Lucas Talk Show, how do you explain what it is to people?

[00:01:15] Yeah, I mean, this is the question we've been trying to figure out for 10 years, right? This is the, this is the hard thing to, uh, uh, get it down into an elevator pitch. But it's, you know, it's a talk show. That is hosted by George Lucas. That is the, the most boiled down, you know, uh, when you, when you turn wood into paper, that's what it is, uh, in the end.

[00:01:35] But Conor Ratliff plays George Lucas, uh, his sidekick is Watto, played by comedian Griffin Newman from Blank Check and, and The Tick and so many other things. and he hosts a talk show just like any other talk show. It's as if George Lucas took over for James Corden when he left CBS. Same thing, you know, we have real guests as themselves.

[00:01:54] George and Watto and, and now myself, uh, ask them questions, you know, um, about either projects that they're currently promoting or projects from their past, uh, and, and that's kind of it. I mean, it devolves into madness, usually, but, um, the general, starting off point is it's a talk show and that's it and and If you know anything about star wars, that's great.

[00:02:17] And if you don't know anything about Star Wars, that's also fine It'll work for anyone. We we hope

[00:02:23] yeah, so, um, and I know you cover this in the doc, but, um, just briefly, how did you get involved as producer of the show?

[00:02:30] Yeah, so I was, um, I went to college in New York City. I went to Pace University and I was going to the UCB theater a lot in New York, seeing a bunch of different shows. I eventually started going to, um, the show called The Chris Gethard Show, which was a talk show, live talk show on, uh, New York City public access.

[00:02:49] Um, you know, people would call in. It was very weird, very alt comedy kind of thing. And one of the people who did a lot of stuff there was Conor Ratliff, a comedian who was on a bunch of different teams at UCB. You know, he was acting and stuff. He was on TV, stuff like that. But he was always the guy where I was like, Oh, this guy's really funny.

[00:03:10] I can tell that. I should go to everything that he does, you know? Like, it's easy when you're like, that's the guy, I like that guy, I'm gonna, you know, try to go to every show that he puts up. Um, and he had put up a few things at UCB that, like, weren't, they were funny, but they weren't clicking with audiences, you know, people weren't showing up so they didn't get longer runs, and then He sort of realized, Oh, I need a hook for my show, I can't just do like, the Conor Ratliff talk show, because nobody knows who I am.

[00:03:41] So, I like Star Wars, this is Conor talking in my voice. I like Star Wars, I like talk shows. Let me try to combine those two things, because people like Star Wars. People will show up if there is trouble. Something Star Wars y in the title, um, and he had been doing a George Lucas impression for his friends for years just to make his friends laugh.

[00:03:59] Um, so I went to the first show and, uh, like 20 minutes before the show I got a text from him saying, you know, so and so who was supposed to do warm up for the show just bailed, I need you to do it. And I, uh, you know, was not an actor, not a performer. I had acted in high school and sort of like got it out of my system, but, uh, was done with it and wasn't really looking to do any more of it.

[00:04:22] So I said, no, absolutely not. I'm not doing that. And he said, no, I really need you. I don't know who else is coming. Can you just do this? And I'd gone to enough, like, you know, real, quote unquote, real TV talk shows to, like, know the general, you know, Cadence of a warm up comic, you know, who's here from out of town, who likes Star Wars, what's your favorite Star Wars movie, that kind of stuff.

[00:04:41] And I sorta just, uh, you know, stretched until I felt like I'd done enough time and he could come out. Um, and I, I went to the show for a few months after that and started, you know, helping him set up just because I was his friend, you know, like set up the chairs before the show and like, I would film the shows in the front row with the, like, my cell phone up against my chest, which you see a lot of it in the doc.

[00:05:05] Um, all the old footage from the old shows is mostly, like, me shooting that just for posterity's sake. Um, and then a few months in, we were talking to someone in, in the, the bar at the UCB in the East Village. And he introduced me as Patrick, my producer, and I was like, what are you talking about? Like, that's not, we've never talked about that.

[00:05:23] I'm just the guy who shows up and like, sometimes helps you set up chairs. And he goes, no, I've always considered you my producer, and now we're, you know, ten years into it, and I'm, I'm still, uh, I'm still doing it. So, that's the, that's the short version of the story, which is also pretty long.

[00:05:38] well, that's interesting because actually you kind of answered this already, but one of my questions was, you know, why George Lucas? Why not like the Steven Spielberg talk show or something along those lines?

[00:05:45] But it seems like it really came out of Connors existing love and perhaps passion. Obsession or preoccupation, how about that, with Star Wars and George Lucas. And I guess I'm wondering, like, were you a Star Wars fan? And if not, have you become one in the last 10 years?

[00:06:05] Yeah, no, I definitely was, um, The first thing I remember for Star Like, it's always been there, but the first time I remember seeing it was the Special Editions in the theaters. Um, I don't know if I saw them before that, or they were just around before that, and no one in my family seems to really remember, you know, when it got introduced.

[00:06:27] My aunt, uh, had a lot of Star Wars stuff because she was, you know, growing up when the original trilogy was coming out, so she had left a lot of Star Wars stuff at my grandparents house. Um, and I obviously was over there a lot and, and would, you know, read the books and stuff like that. But I remember going to the theaters for the, the special editions, going to Taco Bell, getting all the toys, stuff like that.

[00:06:50] And then, you know, I was like, it was seven when Phantom Menace came out, which is kind of like the perfect age for that. And I was fully Prequels pilled, you know, I was like all in on the prequels. The first two especially, you know, Phantom S and Attack of the Clones were like huge for me, and then I was sort of out a little bit by Revenge of the Sith, and I only know that because I don't have any toys from it, you know, and I feel like that's like a good indicator of like, Are you still in or are you out if, if the toys were still being purchased?

[00:07:19] Um, but my friend, Sean, who lived down the street from me, um, my best friend at the time, his mother worked at Lego because the Lego North American headquarters was my hometown. So we had a lot of family and family friends and friends parents and stuff like that who were, you know, working at Lego. And we got to go to an early screening of Revenge of the Sith.

[00:07:40] And I remember being like really psyched for that, you know, like a week early or something like that. It was really exciting. Um, but then after that it sort of died down for a little bit. I was still like into it, you know, but I think I bought into the narrative of these, these prequels are bad, you know, and that wasn't, I don't think that was really what I thought, but I think it was just like that was the pervasive attitude at the time, so it felt like Well, this is how I need to feel too, you know?

[00:08:10] So I sort of, like, took a backseat a little bit, um, would still duck in every so often, but I was not, like, watching Clone Wars every week. I was not, you know, doing all that stuff. And then when this started up is sort of when it re revamped itself, you know? It was a little over a, what would it be? It'd be like a year and a half before Force Awakens, I think it started?

[00:08:30] Something like that. Um, and, you know, now I'm fully back and there's no getting out of it, for better or for worse.

[00:08:38] that's interesting. Yeah. No, and you're right. Like around that time, you know, Star Wars was kind of, the interest in Star Wars was kind of rekindled in the lead up to Force Awakens in a big way. Um, You know, I was gonna ask you, but you kind of answered it a little bit, why you think, you know, as a Star Wars fan, as a George Lucas fan, or, or, or appreciator, or whatever you want to say, like, I never really thought that, George Lucas was, would resonate with larger, non Star Wars nerd audience in the way that it seems to have, with your show.

[00:09:16] But, I'm wondering if you, if you have any thoughts about how that works or why it works?

[00:09:22] Yeah. I mean, that's a great question. I think, um, you know, our George, and I have to distinguish this, our George is, he is very similar to actual George, but at the same time, it's sort of like a Back to the Future alternate reality, you know, like he veers off and becomes Yeah. Yeah. A lot goofier, a lot sillier, a lot, you know, he has knowledge on different topics just because that's how Conor works.

[00:09:49] So I think a lot of people who watch our show, I don't think a lot of people, I know a lot of people who watch our show, pardon my French, don't give a shit about Star Wars. You know? And, like, they like our show but they don't care about Star Wars, and especially, you know, the discourse around Star Wars, it's, uh, as you know, exhausting, a lot of the times.

[00:10:07] but they like George, and they like Watto, and even though they don't care about Star Wars, our version of George and Watto seems to have, like, endeared those two characters Characters, quote unquote, to a lot of people online, and I don't totally know why that is beyond the fact that Connor and Griffin are very charismatic, you know?

[00:10:26] And, and they can tell that they care about George and Star Wars and also each other, and I think that that really helps the show. There's a lot of people who, you know, we, we have talked about for years. We've been talking about this museum that George is building here in LA. He's building the, you know, George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, and people watch the show and think that we're making it up, you know, because it sounds so crazy that they think, oh, that's another bit that they're doing, and then they'll hear something about the real museum and be like, Wait, that's real?

[00:10:58] That's a real thing? Uh, which I find so funny. Um, but, you know, I, I think, I don't know why it, it is, you know, so impactful for people, um, who don't really care about George. I think it's, you know, people realize that he's a guy, it's a fascinating story because he's a guy who, like, has done so much for the world, the entertainment industry, the film industry, you know, the art industry.

[00:11:28] And, and just, like, also, uh, charities, you know, he gives so much money to charities, like. Such an interesting guy that he's impacted everyone's life whether you like Star Wars or not. So it is like a fascinating person to be like, what's this guy like? What's this guy's deal? And I guess you can sort of get a feel for that even if you're not watching the real guy and you're watching, you know, a hair sprayed Conor Ratliff do it for four hours at a time or whatever it is.

[00:11:56] I don't know. I don't know if that answered your question, but

[00:11:59] no, you definitely answered my question. Um, you know, a part of it, I guess, is just like, Weird magical alchemy of like why anything works or why anything connects with an audience. But um, think you're right. I find when I encounter someone who clearly has a ton of enthusiasm and love for something, even if it's not something I am necessarily that interested in, the enthusiasm for it is infectious.

[00:12:23] Like I can, I can tell This is something worth caring about, and then I can sort of experience it vicariously through them, so maybe that's a part of it. And there's also something to, I think, I think Connor said this in the, the doc, but he was talking about how George Lucas is such an interesting figure because, By basically any metric, he's like, one of the most successful

[00:12:45] creative figures that has ever lived, uh, but on the other hand, he's also had a string of enormous failures, and there are, and there are some who would, maybe think of him that way as like a, as like a failure in certain respects, and the idea that You know, you have this figure who's like, enormously successful, enormously impactful, as you've said.

[00:13:08] but also has, has this like, weird group of haters that think he's responsible for destroying their childhoods and like, ruining. Um, I mean, there's something compelling in that. It's like a figure who's successful and is like, Kind of equal parts beloved and reviled, and I guess it's also, there's also something kind of like, safe and charming about it, because we're not, we're not talking about like, the President of the United States, or like, or like Elon Musk.

[00:13:34] It's like a guy who made a movie that a lot of people like

[00:13:37] But also the interesting thing is, you know, with all of. Those quote unquote failures, you know, you're your, Howard the Ducks, your More American Graffitis, you're whatever Strange Magics, you can still find five or six things in each of those movies where you're like, yeah, but that like changed how things were made.

[00:13:52] You know, attack the clones. Now movies are shot digitally, you know, uh uh, whatever Young Indiana, Jones Chronicles, whatever you think of, young Indiana Jones Chronicles. They did so many things. They shot that TV show in so many different countries and locations and also used, you know, CG for a lot of stuff in that which was not being done on TV.

[00:14:11] Like, you can find things in all of these that, like, Truly changed the world. So like, even though it's a failure, ultimately it's a success because it did help a lot of people out down the road.

[00:14:24] completely, 100%. And that's, you know, one of the things when Connor said that in the movie, I was like, wow, that's really true. Like, what is the measure of success or failure? Who gets to judge? And like, when is it enough for people on the outside looking in, but also for yourself? And I was really, um I was talking about this at the top, but I was really unexpectedly, you know, moved a little bit because I didn't realize, I guess I should have guessed from the subtitle.

[00:14:52] It's called I'm George Lucas, A Conner Ratliff Story. Um, but I was really, taken in by the sort of musings on, what it means to be successful and like how failures impact us. And I thought, you know, I found the journey Connor has been on, his reflecting about it, and also, where he has come to now to be very compelling.

[00:15:14] And I was like, wow, like he made me, As someone who's also in a creative field, who's like, you know, what is success even look like? You know, maybe sometimes you have to redefine what it is, just for your own, contentment and peace of mind. It's like, um, yeah, like the idea that, you know, even George Lucas, like what, what more can you do?

[00:15:37] Mm

[00:15:37] And, I don't know, I think there's something sort of inherently comedic about the notion of him, in retirement, and the idea that he would choose to spend his time, doing this show, I think is, is pretty funny, just in and of itself, um, just out of curiosity, like, uh, so you've been doing this for ten years now, what's the, the, What's the arc of your career like? Like, how do you see yourself?

[00:16:04] Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's definitely changed, uh, since that show started, you know, I'm, I'm, when I started working there, I was living in, uh, New York. I was, Fairly fresh out of college, you know, like pretty within the a couple years of being out of college Um and still like trying to figure out what I wanted to do in The industry in that city in my life, you know that kind of thing and you know now i'm a talent booker and a casting person and a producer and just kind of like Um, bopping around for whatever seems interesting.

[00:16:40] I think there's so many jobs in this industry that are, um, boring, to be, to be blunt about it, you know? Boring and, like, not exciting for me, and I had to go through a lot of those jobs to figure out what I liked and what I didn't like. And now at this point, I've done enough of those things to, like, narrow it down to be like, those things are fun, you know?

[00:17:03] Casting and talent, talent wrangling and talent booking, all that stuff. That's fun to me and I really enjoy that. Um, but also at the same time if something else popped up, you know, I would do it. So I'm not, you know, putting in stone that this is what I want to do. It's just like, this is what I'm doing right now that I'm enjoying and if something else pops up I'm happy to change that and happy to figure out, oh, oh actually this is the thing I like, you know.

[00:17:25] So I always tell people, you know, producer, talent booker, casting director, because that's been the day job for, for 10 years. It's just been, you know, talent booking pretty much. I haven't had a non talent booking job since. I couldn't even tell you, like 2016 probably, something like that. Um, so it's cool to be like working in the field of the thing that you're enjoying, you know?

[00:17:50] And it is, uh, it's an interesting job, every day is different, every job is different. Um, it can be exhausting, but it can also be, you know, getting to do some of the things that I've gotten to do over the last 10 years is like, Mind boggling to me. And the people that I've met and the people that I'm friendly with and friends with now, you know, would blow my mind if you told me when I was growing up.

[00:18:11] Um, and that's really cool for me. And, you know, that's part of the reason why I like this show is like, especially during COVID, like, we were doing a four plus hour show every single week. And needed like three to four guests every single week probably. Um, and it was truly like, oh, who do I just want to hang out with?

[00:18:30] You know, who do I want to like meet? That's who I'm going to book on this show. Uh, so that is, you know, that's kind of how I define myself as like a producer and talent person who's working on things that he enjoys and uh, kind of avoiding the boring fallings of a lot of gigs here in, you know, here in this industry.

[00:18:53] I think that's, that's a pretty good summation of it.

[00:18:56] that actually kind of dovetails nicely into my next question, like, um, how you approach guests, or how you, come up with who to approach, you spoke a little about that, but, for example, do you, and it's probably changed from when you started the show to where you are now, but, like, do you try to think of someone who might, appreciate the gag, or is it, like, someone who is completely blank to Star Wars and George Lucas and is, totally bewildered by the whole thing?

[00:19:23] Heh.

[00:19:24] I think it's a case by case basis. I think I can basically tell who's gonna go for it and who's not at this point. Um, there haven't been many people who have not, you know, there's, I could count on one hand, like, the people who have been problems, I guess is the best, you know, where you're like in the middle of the show being like, come on, man.

[00:19:44] Just, like, play along for an hour. That's all we need, you know? Uh, but it rarely happens, though. So I think it truly depends on, like, does this person seem fun? Do you, do I think that they would have a good time? Because I don't want to book someone if I don't think they're gonna have a good time, you know?

[00:19:59] Why are we wasting anyone's time if that's the case? And I don't want, uh, I don't want someone to do the show and then look back and be like, oh yeah, I'm, I'm not happy I did that, you know? Uh, that's not exciting for me as I, that feels like pretty obvious, but I also think, you know, a lot of people get stuck.

[00:20:19] Doing shows or interviews or whatever where they're like, this isn't fun. This isn't exciting. Why am I doing this? Um, and I don't want that. I want someone, I want to run into someone three years from now and be like, oh, you did this thing, and they're like, yes, that was crazy. Like, I want them to remember it positively.

[00:20:35] Um, and I, I, I think it really, you know, during lockdown, we would do a lot of fundraisers where we would, um, watch like a season of a, a canceled TV show, like a show that only lasted one season, you know. Studio 60, or, or, or, Josh Gad's White House Comedy, 1600 Penn, things like that. And we would have casting crew from the show on while we were watching it, raising money for charity.

[00:20:59] And it sort of became this, like, weird retrospective for a lot of people because they're like, I've never talked about this show because it was only on for eight episodes and then it got cancelled. Like, no one has ever asked me about this. So we would have, you know, like, costume people on, or writers on, or like, Uh, you know, the, the animal wrangler, like weird, weird people.

[00:21:20] Uh, not weird people, but, you know, people who you would not expect to be on this show. And that was very exciting for me because these people, A, never got to talk about these things, B, never get to go on talk shows to talk about these things, and C, now have to play along like they are speaking to a Toydarian. So that, that is exciting for me, where like, you're getting this like 70 year old character actor who doesn't know anything about Star Wars, and he has to be like, Well yeah, Watto, of course, that's true. And it makes me laugh every single time. And those are the people that I'm the most excited for. We had, um, we had Julian Glover on, uh, general Veers himself.

[00:21:59] Uh, you know, Walter Donovan from Last Crusade

[00:22:03] wow. I must have missed that one. That's amazing. He's like a hundred and six years old.

[00:22:07] he is like 106 years old. And it was on a show that we did where we only had guests on who had worked with Harrison Ford. Uh, it was, it was like a 18 hour long show. It was in, we did it for a charity that Harrison's not like on the board of.

[00:22:23] That, um, like, pilots donate their time to, like, fly kids to get medical care different places around the country if they, like, aren't near a hospital or whatever. Uh, and it was, it was in the month of February, so he called it Ford v. Febrari, which was a terrible pun. But he was on, he obviously has no idea who the character Watto is.

[00:22:46] You know? And, and Griffin was not there at the beginning of the interview when he did it. He popped in like midway through and he just, 90 year old Julian Glover just goes, oh there's a man with a nose here now. And I thought it was so funny that from that point on he just had to buy into whatever the hell was going on in this interview.

[00:23:05] And he did it and it ruled, you know? So stuff like that is what I like the most when I'm looking for a guest, is like, who do I just have a weird gut feeling that they will enjoy this?

[00:23:16] No, I like that. Um, is that episode or segments of that episode available on like your YouTube

[00:23:25] Oh yeah. It's all, it's all on YouTube. Yeah.

[00:23:27] Everything we have, everything we have done since May, uh, May, 2020 is on YouTube, so it's like there's probably 500 hours of stuff on YouTube.

[00:23:36] That's amazing. That's fantastic. Yeah, I was going through and I like you can spend a lot of time on your YouTube channel. Like there's a lot of stuff.

[00:23:45] 500 hours on it.

[00:23:46] yeah. I also, I really enjoyed, The Naboo Movie, show. that you guys did. could you talk a little about, where the idea for that came from and, like, how it was put together?

[00:23:57] yeah. So the Naboo movie was something we did in, May 2024, we did a, staged reading for the 25th anniversary of The Phantom Menace, and I fully cast it, uh, with, you know, like, Haley Joel Osment was Anakin, and Tony Hale was Qui Gon, and Bobby Moynihan was Darth Maul and Yoda.

[00:24:15] It was truly, like, an insane, insane cast of these people reading this movie. And it started because we're friends with the guys who do the Star Wars Minute podcast, um, which is a podcast where they go minute by minute through every Star Wars movie. And they came to me and said, hey, we have this idea. It feels like you would be the right person to help us do this.

[00:24:33] and they were right. They were right. It was like, you know, it was combining everything I wanted to do. You know, casting and, you know, Star Wars and live, you know, uh, live shows in LA and stuff like that. And it was one of the most fun things I've ever done. It was one of the things I'm the most proud of.

[00:24:50] you know, we didn't do any rehearsal. We got people who loved Star Wars and we got people who like, I don't think had ever seen the movie. I didn't ask anyone who's seen the movie, who hadn't seen the movie, but like, There are some people up there where I'm like, I don't think you've seen this, but it rules because you're getting a completely fresh take on, on this script.

[00:25:07] And there's like, you know, there's lines in that movie, I love that movie so much, it's one of my favorites, but there's lines in that movie where you're like, I don't know how someone can read this and make it sound good. And then someone would say it on the stage and you'd be like, Oh, that's how you say it and make it sound good.

[00:25:22] They did it. Like, I never expected that line to work and it just worked right there. Um, so yeah, I mean, we did it at this place called Dynasty Typewriter in LA. It's up on YouTube now. Uh, doing, we're doing more soon. Episode 2 will be, episode 2 will be happening very soon. It went very well.

[00:25:42] yeah, I saw the promotion about it. I unfortunately wasn't able to make it because I'm a, I'm a, I'm a dad now. I have, I have certain obligations in the evenings and weekends. But um, I was so glad you guys put it up on YouTube. And I watched it last week. And I was like, this is hilarious.

[00:26:00] And I think you're exactly right. It was such a great mix you could tell like, this person knows the movie, or they know Star Wars. This person,

[00:26:07] yeah,

[00:26:08] like I said, I think they're reading this for the first time, and encountering it for the first time. But the combination of the two was so great, because they're each funny for different reasons.

[00:26:19] totally,

[00:26:20] totally.

[00:26:21] And there's multiple performances in that that are now, like, my definitive version of this character. You know what I mean, where I'm like, oh, that's great, you know, uh, love Jar Jar, love everything Ahmed did, big Jar Jar guy right here, but Eric Bauza did it in the reading, who is the, he does all the Looney Tunes voices, or a lot of the Looney Tunes voices, and he did Jar Jar as Daffy Duck, like, as if Daffy Duck was reading the script for Jar Jar, and it was truly amazing, just like, being like, oh yeah, Jar Jar is kind of a Looney Tune, and like, hearing it actually done like a Looney Tune, you're like, wow, this also works, this is a different way to do this character, but it also works very well, um, which is, you know, Very cool, you know?

[00:27:06] no, that was one of the standout performances. I mean, everyone was great. Everyone brought something. Like, it was a really, really wonderful show. I can't emphasize that enough. So well done. Um, let's talk about the documentary a little bit. first of all, what did you think when you saw it the first time?

[00:27:24] Was it what you expected? Or was it sort of a surprise? Like, oh, I didn't, I didn't know it was gonna

[00:27:30] Yeah, I mean, I was a, I was a co producer on it, and I was a co producer because I was sort of the, conduit between the show and the doc, you know, so whenever they needed something from the show, I would be that guy. so I saw it. Fairly early, you know, we didn't make it because you're not supposed to make a documentary about yourself, you know Uh, so these filmmakers came in they made it but I I saw a fairly early cut And, you know, I was around for a lot of the filming, but there's also a lot of stuff in it that I had never seen before.

[00:28:00] you know, all the, all the interviews with Connor and, and, you know, him going to his parents was new for me. And also, the thing that I'm the happiest that it exists is there's a point, uh, mild spoilers for a documentary about a Star Wars talk show incoming. Um, there's a point, uh, Where COVID happens. I don't know if you heard there was a worldwide pandemic, it all shut down.

[00:28:26] Anyways, and a friend of mine goes to the UCB theater to go pick up all of our stuff and like driving through New York and getting all this and bringing it back to my house in Queens. And it, it was, that was the most interesting thing for me just because, like, none of us were there, none of us knew what that theater looked like once everything was shut down.

[00:28:46] It's also, like, the last time any of us will probably ever see that theater, you know what I mean? Like, we're not gonna go back, probably. So it's like this weird, like, coda on our lives that didn't really feel like it had closure, you know? None of us knew when we went to that theater that it was the last time we were going to be going to that theater.

[00:29:03] Uh, so being able to see that in the movie I think was interesting. Um, and I think, you know, they, they captured a really, uh, cool portrait of like, kind of the last moments of what it was like to produce a live film. Comedy show without any famous people, you know, on the, on the staff or, you know, on stage, um, in New York City.

[00:29:26] And it's different now, you know, New York comedy changed post COVID, and that world is gone, and that world's not probably coming back. So, like, getting to, like, Show this to people to be like, well, this is what it was like, you know, in those years, pre COVID, uh, is, is exciting for me. So it's cool for me.

[00:29:46] I've seen it so many times. I, I would love to never see it again because I've seen it so many times, you know, once you see a movie nine times about yourself and about your friends, like, you're like, I got it, you know? Uh, but at the same time, I, this movie was made for fans of the show, but also like a 15 year old kid in Iowa who like, loves comedy and never gets to go to these kind of things because they don't have theaters like this in Iowa or whatever, you know, wherever.

[00:30:13] Uh, it's made for them and it's made for, you know, when Connor and I were teenagers hearing about comedy shows in L. A. or New York. And being like, man, I wish I could go to that, I wish I knew what that looked like, I'm only reading about it, you know, on a, on a website or whatever, um, you can kind of see what that was like.

[00:30:32] Now, you know, most of this doc was made before almost all of our show was streaming, so the original intent of this doc was like, this is what this weird show is, you'll probably never see it. And now that has changed, uh, so it is interesting to like see what they went through having to adjust and having to change, you know, what the original intent of that doc was.

[00:30:56] No, completely, because so, um, so the doc was shot in 2019, which is now five years ago. And it's funny because there's a moment in the doc where they ask Connor, they say, you've been doing this for five years. Do you see yourself doing this in another five years? And I think, I mean, I don't think the intention was to wait five

[00:31:14] No.

[00:31:15] to release it.

[00:31:15] So it's just sort of a happy accident. Um, and it is funny because like, you do get a sense. It's sort of a last glimpse of that, pre Covid world where, like, there was a funny moment, I noticed when Connor was, like, video chatting with his childhood friend, and he says something like, Oh, I've, never used this, like, video chat software before, and I'm like, bro, you just wait.

[00:31:37] You just wait another six months. like, you

[00:31:41] There's like three or four things that you're just like, oh, we're doing like when we go to Comic Con and we spray the perfume. It's like this weird like airborne comedy thing where everyone's like covering their mouth so they don't like breathe in the weird toxins. Like there's a few things where you're just like, oh, you could never do that.

[00:32:00] You know, you can't do that now because it's, it, it feels too reminiscent of whatever, you know.

[00:32:05] No, you're right. I'm I missed that one, but you're exactly right. It's also a very effective demonstration of like how, how an airborne, uh, something can, transmit. Yeah. Um, oh, wow. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, it's almost like, uh,

[00:32:21] It's almost like we

[00:32:22] knew.

[00:32:23] almost like you knew. What did you know? No.

[00:32:26] boy, I don't want to get into it.

[00:32:28] yeah, that's for another podcast.

[00:32:30] But, Yes. yeah, but as you alluded to 2020 and the pandemic, um, had a, a big impact on, on the the George Lucas talk show. I mean, it had an impact on everything. Um, but, could you talk about how the pandemic transformed what the George Lucas talk show was and what it is now

[00:32:49] Yeah, I mean, pre COVID, it was a hour long monthly show at UCB. in New York. And no one saw it. It was for, it was for the people in the room and that was it. You know, we, he would very occasionally do a touring show. I never went on a touring show. But he did, he did one in London. He did one in like South by Southwest, but in a few in LA.

[00:33:10] But like, it wasn't that many things. And then Covid happened and he, He being Connor sort of, uh, decided, well, that's it. It's done. I guess that's it. We're never going to do the show again. And we were coming up on May 4th and UCB had closed down unceremoniously, uh, and didn't, um, didn't really treat the people who were working there the right way.

[00:33:34] You know, they didn't, they didn't get pay once everything closed. Like, it was sort of just like, okay, today's your last day. This is your last check. Bye. You know, Which is sad, I understand why it happened, it was sad, it was difficult, whatever, it wasn't handled right. So, we were coming up on May the 4th, and Griffin and I were like, we should really like, do something, because it would make people feel a lot better, we can use our platform, you know, however small it was at that point, we can use our platform to, help some people out, And, I think Connor was skeptical because he was like, if this is the first time people see this show and it doesn't work in a video format, then, you know, it's gonna turn people off of it forever.

[00:34:15] Whatever. But we were like, let's just try it. Like, the worst thing that happens is a hundred people see it and, and that's the end of the, you know, that's the end of it. Whatever. And we come back post lockdown, if there is a post lockdown, and do the show normally again, and that's fine. And it went really well, and we raised a lot of money, and we helped out, you know, uh, we, we were able to give money to help out a lot of people, which was very cool and exciting for us, because it was a lot of our friends that were, you know, struggling at that point.

[00:34:41] And then it became a weekly show, and it turned into something where our shortest shows were something we called the Irishman Plus, which meant every single show of ours was at least one minute longer than the Irishman. So every week was at least three and a half hours normally longer. We hit a point where it morphed from Irishman Plus into Snyder Cut Plus, which meant it was at least four hours and four minutes long.

[00:35:06] Uh, so it was a lot, you know, and it was, it was a lot. For all of us and some shows of ours were our first show that made the fourth show was 33 hours long We watched every single live action star wars back to back to back Some of them were 18 hours long. Some of them were six hours long You know, we like really changed week to week and we never knew how long it was gonna be Because it was kind of those well when we're not having fun anymore.

[00:35:30] We'll just say okay. Good night That's it. And sometimes that would be oh, we've done nine hours I guess we should probably stop, you know that kind of thing So we morphed in a lot of ways because within the first month You know, we had done 70 live shows, say, at UCB pre Covid, but within the first month we had already done more time physically of the show live streaming than we ever did on stage.

[00:35:54] So that pre COVID show is like, that's in the minority now of what that show was like. Now it's more like what it is in the live stream, which is different and looser and sillier and, and, you know, weirder, I think, than it ever was, uh, which is good, which is good. You know, it's different and things have to evolve naturally.

[00:36:15] After lockdown ended, we sort of, We took a little bit of a break, you know, uh, people were having health issues, we had to take a, you know, time off, period, step away for a second, because this was being too much, and the world was opening back up, so it was one of those, like, you know, let's, let's step away for a minute and figure it out.

[00:36:34] And we just sort of decided, like, we don't have to do this show on a schedule anymore, and we don't have to do every Sunday, we can do it Six times a year, we can do it 18 times a year, we can do it one time a year. Like, it's truly like whatever we feel like and whether that's a live stream or whether that's, you know, a live show in Detroit and then a live show in Atlanta or whatever, you know, whoever wants us to go somewhere.

[00:36:55] If, if, if it covers our flight and, and we get a little bit of money out of it, we'll probably go, you know, like it's fun going to different cities and like. We just went to Seattle and Portland and like people came up to us being like, I truly never thought you would come here. Like, this is so cool. And that's a very exciting feeling, you know?

[00:37:12] Um, so the show is, it's very different now and it's evolved into whatever we want it to be. And that I think is the most, it makes the most sense for us and it's the most exciting for us right now because we don't have to feel like we're locked into that rigid structure that it was pre COVID, you know?

[00:37:30] Completely, yeah, like, , the fact that you've been able to arrive at this place where it's, It's sort of flexible to allow you to just do it when you have the inspiration or the motivation or the energy or the opportunity to do it is great.

[00:37:45] I mean, that's awesome.

[00:37:46] Yeah. I miss doing it. As much as we were doing it, you know, I, there are times where I'm like, I wish we did one this month, or I wish we did more than we've done in the last six months, but at the same time, it is nice to, you know, work on other projects and take time off and stuff, but it is weird, like, going from talking to those guys so much, you know, and like, you know, seeing them every week and talking to them for six hours, even if it is I'm talking to Watto, like, they are two different people in my brain, Watto and Griffin are two different people, but at the same time, like, you know, It's a change going from 400 hours during lockdown to like, seeing them once every two months or something like that.

[00:38:25] No, that makes complete sense. Um, do you think, Now that you're primarily a livestream show, do you think that's allowed you to, get, more well known guests on the show because it's, because it's remote? That's

[00:38:38] For sure. For sure. I mean, there's, it's such a, you know, it's an easier ask to be like, you can do this from your bedroom. Like, we've had guests call in from bed, you know, and that's totally fine. I don't care where you are. You can be in the pool on a floaty, and that's totally okay. Rather than being like, can you come to Brooklyn at 9pm and stay for two hours and we probably can't cover your car home.

[00:39:03] You know, like, there's a big difference between those two things. Uh, so it is, it is definitely nice. And, you know, like, Julian Glover lives in London, you know, or lives outside of London. Probably would never have him. We've done London shows, but like, asking him to come to a comedy club is like, probably not feasible.

[00:39:22] So it definitely has gotten us into different people, and it also has gotten us, you know, like Weird Al was on, for example, right? And he stayed for like four hours, and that would not happen if this was a live show, you know? Us hanging out with Weird Al for four hours, and like really getting to ask him the stupidest questions we can ask him about his career, and like the weirdest, most esoteric, like, Tell us about this one thing that you did in 1986, like, that we wouldn't have time to do that if it was a live show.

[00:39:53] And, like, the nice thing about the live streams, and I, I don't know if they feel like this too, but this is how I feel, is I don't really care if everyone watching is having a good time. Does that make sense?

[00:40:05] Yeah, yeah, because they haven't, like, left their houses and paid Money to like, show up at a live show. It's like you feel some kind of an obligation.

[00:40:14] Yes. And I know if I have a question that I want to ask this guy, or whoever it is, like, I know that there's at least four other people who were like, that's an amazing question, I've always wanted to know that, you know? Whereas if you're in a live show and there's a hundred people in the audience, maybe no one cares, but if nine hundred people are watching at, you know, live, like, you might get that reaction that you want.

[00:40:35] So I personally prefer the live streams for that reason, but I also You know, getting that rush of, like, an audience reaction is also nice and I know that Griffin and Conner like that because they are primarily live performers, you know?

[00:40:48] that makes sense. Um, is there a guest, like, do you have like a white whale of a guest who you would love to get on the show but you either can't find them or just haven't been able to make it work yet?

[00:41:00] Yeah, I mean, um, my,

[00:41:03] And if you don't want to say it, that's fine too.

[00:41:04] no, no, no, I do, I do, I'm trying to think of the, I want to give you the list of people. There's some people, look, I want Frank Oz, he's never gonna do it, you know? It's never gonna happen. I just, I know, I know that in my heart of hearts that it's never gonna happen. But I would like to book Frank Oz for something that I work on.

[00:41:23] My, my top ones that I want are, are weird and interesting. I want Carole Kane, the actress Carole Kane. I want Michael Emerson from Lost. Uh, and I want Michael McKean. Those are my top, uh, four, I guess. Because they would, they would all be interesting and weird, and they're all different types of people. But I think they would all click in in different ways on the show.

[00:41:48] I love that

[00:41:49] and they're all people, yeah, they're all people I've never been able to book. For one reason or another.

[00:41:54] those names were definitely not what I was expecting, but that makes, but that makes total sense, because, I mean, like you were saying, you just have like a gut feeling about who would do well on this show, I hope you get all three of them. I mean,

[00:42:08] Thank you so much. Yeah. Someday. We'll find out,

[00:42:11] I mean, now that you've, you've put it out there, like, now I want to see them on the show.

[00:42:16] Like, that's super

[00:42:17] intriguing. That's, that's what I'm saying. Tell your, if, if anyone is friends with any of them, Please let us know. We've been close on Carole Kane. We have, we have an in with Carole Kane, and I think it will happen eventually, but the other two have been very difficult to lock down and I, I, you know, Hopefully someday.

[00:42:33] the other three, I guess, if we're adding Oz in.

[00:42:35] Yeah, Frank Oz, He, yeah. I don't know if it's a, I wouldn't say it's a, it's a complete, definite, 100 percent

[00:42:43] yeah, yeah.

[00:42:45] but he's just a guy where he is friends with George and I think it would take a lot of convincing to him that we are not making fun of George. You know what I mean?

[00:42:55] That's a good point. Well, along those lines, um, yeah. I know, I think someone asked this in the movie, but I'm wondering if you've had any, uh, developments since. Do you have any idea? Has it ever gotten back to you? Like, is George Lucas himself aware that this exists?

[00:43:10] and if not, like, what do you hope he would think about the show?

[00:43:14] Yeah. Uh, so, him directly, I have not gotten word that him directly. Knows about the show, okay? But enough people in his orbit know about it and have said, I will bring it up to him next time I see him. And also, we've done a few shows at, uh, San Francisco SketchFest, um, which is a comedy festival that happens every year in San Francisco.

[00:43:38] And he's not in San Francisco, All the time now, you know, he lives, he's got a couple different places that he spends most of his time, but every year that we do it, we're like, we're gonna send the ask, you know, it's gonna go to his publicist or whatever, and, and it's gonna be a no, but we're gonna send it, and we've, we've gone twice, three times now, I think, and every single time, we've gotten, we've gone twice, we've gone twice, but one got cancelled because of Omicron, that's what it was, so we were scheduled to go three times, we've asked three times, that's, that's the thing.

[00:44:09] Uh, I have gone to his publicist and every single time we've gotten a response back that is like, Listen, we want you to know that we talked about this. This was a real conversation that we had. He can't do it this time, but please keep asking. And we hope that you and Connor and Griffin and everyone else have a great time at the show.

[00:44:28] It's very specific and it's very much like not closing the door. Do I think it's ever going to happen? Probably not. Do I want it to happen? Yes, but at the same time, uh, I would be intrigued to see how it goes. I think the thing that intrigues us about that interview is that we probably wouldn't ask him Star Wars questions.

[00:44:54] You know what I mean? I don't, I don't care how he came up with Bib Fortuna. It doesn't matter to me, you know? I've heard him talk about that stuff. Who cares? But, like, Conor's thing that he wants to talk to him about is, like, Do you know the Rolling Stones documentary Gimme Shelter?

[00:45:08] Yes. He worked on that, right?

[00:45:11] so here's the thing.

[00:45:12] He was an assistant cameraman. It was one of his first jobs. Assistant cameraman on Gimme Shelter. Which happened at Altamont where like a guy was murdered by, by the Hell's Angels or something like that. His camera jammed, so none of his footage is in the movie. But we've never heard him talk about it, and we're just like, what was that like?

[00:45:30] What, what were your feelings going through that? Like, did you think, oh no, I'm screwed, this is my last job, I'm never gonna get hired again, my camera broke, like. What happened? You know, what do you think about that day? Have you seen the documentary? That kind of stuff. Things like that are what we're interested in.

[00:45:44] And I think getting that point across to him is the important thing of like, we're not going to ask you, you know, uh, uh, why did you make Jar Jar Binks or whatever, you know, because we're interested in the things that like aren't documented anywhere, you know? We want to talk to you about the, you know, the, The, you know, the TV shows or movies you tried to make that didn't happen, or like, what would your personal movies be that you said you were always gonna make, you know, when you retired and never show anybody?

[00:46:13] Have those happened? Are you just holding out on them? Like, what's the deal? Like, stuff like that is just like, he's such an interesting guy and there's so many levels and facets to that guy that I think are unexplored or un talked about when people talk to him because people get so excited to be like, I love Indiana Jones, you know?

[00:46:29] And, which is great, yeah, I love Indiana Jones too, but like, Uh, tell me about these other things that are, are, maybe you consider a lesser thing on your career but we're fascinated by and not in a ironic way, you know? Um,

[00:46:44] Now I'm, like, my life isn't going to be complete until I see this interview that you do where you ask him about his experience working on Gimme Shelter, like, I'm going to be thinking about this until yes,

[00:46:57] Totally. And I, look, I hope it, the last time that we did Sketchfest was in January and they got back to us and they were like, he's unfortunately not in town, uh, you know, all that stuff, thank you so much for asking, blah blah blah blah blah. And then the next day we, uh, we read in the newspaper, it was like George Lucas hosts a Biden fundraiser at his house with President in attendance.

[00:47:22] And we're like, that's the best, that's the best reason anyone has ever had for not doing the show. You know?

[00:47:27] Yeah.

[00:47:28] So,

[00:47:29] Yeah. For sure.

[00:47:31] I hope, I hope he likes it though. I hope he would like it. I think he knows that, or I think he would figure out that we're not dunking on him like a bunch of other dude bros on the internet, you know?

[00:47:42] We're doing it out of love and like, I think there's a difference between poking fun and making fun. And I don't think we're ever making fun, I think we are poking fun sometimes at some of the things, but we do that with the acknowledgement of, yeah, but this thing is important. You know, I

[00:47:59] completely. and you know, he seems like a guy that has a sense of humor, like, he, he pokes fun at himself.

[00:48:04] Um,

[00:48:05] so I think he would get it. You know, maybe the documentary might be something more accessible to him that might reach him.

[00:48:14] And look, was that something that we were thinking about going into it? Absolutely it was. Absolutely it was, yeah. I mean, he's the guy, he's the guy. Sometimes we will get people who either worked with him or are nervous about upsetting him being like, I don't think he would like this because I, I think maybe he would think, you know, you're making fun of him or whatever.

[00:48:34] And we say, Well, remember, in 1977, Mad Magazine did a parody of Star Wars when the movie came out, and they got a call from Lucasfilm's lawyers saying, you know, cease and desist, you can't make this anymore, stop the presses, don't print out any more of these. And they said, oh, that's so funny, because two days ago, we got a call from George direct saying he wanted to buy the artwork.

[00:48:57] So, I think that, I think people get nervous. about upsetting a person like him when in reality they're just trying to save their own skin, which I completely understand, but at the same time you have to remember, like, this guy's got a sense of humor, like, you don't make, the Family Guy Star Wars, the Robot Chicken Star Wars, you don't have the level of involvement in those, or even Star Wars Detours, which is the unreleased animated show that he made 39 episodes of and then never got released, you know?

[00:49:23] You don't make those things and not You're not able to like laugh at this stuff a little bit, you know?

[00:49:30] Exactly. Yeah. Um, well, yeah, I'm telling you, I'm gonna be thinking about the possibilities for this, George Lucas talk show interviews George Lucas interview for a long, long time, so I really hope it happens. Um, if people want to check out either the documentary or The George Lucas Talk Show itself, where can they go to find them?

[00:49:50] Yeah, so if you want to watch the documentary, it's on VOD right now. We just signed a distribution deal, so it's going to be on VOD in more places soon. I won't say where because I don't know exactly what has been finalized, but if you go to ImGeorgeLucas.com anytime, no matter when, you know, where the thing ends up, you'll be able to have All the links to go find it there.

[00:50:10] We're also hoping to get that Blu ray out by the end of the year. Really pushing for that Blu ray. Really want it. Uh, so hopefully by the end of the year that'll be out. Um, you can watch The Naboo Movie at NabooMovie.com. That'll redirect you to YouTube. Uh, all the George Lucas talk show stuff is on YouTube.

[00:50:25] Just go to our channel. I recommend if you've never seen the show, to just like find a guest that you like and go from it from there. 'cause you'll probably be able to get into it if you like the guest who's on. Um, it's an easier way to get into it. And then I'm on Instagram @Coitner, on Twitter @PatrickCoitner and my website's PatrickCoitner.com, which has got everything that I'm working on.

[00:50:44] I think that's everything.

[00:50:47] No, yeah, fantastic. I was, I was going to ask if there was anything else you wanted to plug or any upcoming projects, but it seems like if people go to your website, uh, they can see, see what you're working on,

[00:50:57] stay tuned for Episode Two. The episode two live read. It's coming,

[00:51:00] am going to, I am going to do whatever I have to do to be at that, reading, because that shit was hilarious.

[00:51:08] That was, it.

[00:51:09] was hilarious. so Patrick, I really appreciate the work that you do and that you continue to do and thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me.

[00:51:15] transcripts of this episode and all our other episodes are available at TrashComPod. com. You can view the video version of this podcast at YouTube. com slash at TrashComPod slash at is a hard thing to

[00:51:27] say. that's tough. Yeah.

[00:51:28] And please follow TrashComPod on TikTok and Instagram, and we will see you on the next one.