Ep. 103 Ted Lasso the Christmas Episode, Old Men Fawning Over Younger Women is So Gross and The Fear of Getting Old

Ep. 103 Ted Lasso the Christmas Episode, Old Men Fawning Over Younger Women is So Gross and The Fear of Getting Old

Welcome to the Modern Moron where we take a brief break from the shitstorm that is our civilization and spend some time taling about the hugely popular Ted Lasso, some of the characters and it’s co-creator Jason Sudeikis.  Part of the show’s attraction is that despite the aforementioned shitstorm this planet seems to be currently embroiled in, Sudeikis and Ted Lasso seem bound and determined to find a bright spot, grab ahold of it and refuses to let go.  All in the midst of their endearing character’s challenges and flaws.  

The show is so determined to give us the warm and fuzzies that they even released a Christmas special in August that had all the trimmings of the romantic comedy or rom-com … Love Actually.

For the most part, I didn’t care for the Christmas episode.  I didn’t really care for Love Actually either for the same reason.  Too sugar coated for me.  I seem to remember being nauseated by Keira Knightley in particular.  

However I may need to revisit the film, if for no other reason than for Bill Nighey’s washed up old rocker trying to make a comeback selling one of his revamped hits as a Christmas song.  THAT is my  kind of Christmas character.  I also love, love Alan Rickman who is in that film as well with Emma Thompson who is also fantastic.  Hmmm, I am talking about a film I don’t like, right?  Where were we?

Ted Lasso!  The Christmas episode.  A number of homages to Love Actually in the episode and that’s why I didn’t like it.  Okay moving on… we then begin to talk about our favorite characters in the show. 

First off, we can’t remember the name of Roy Kent, who is played by Brett Goldstein.  He’s probably my favorite character because, well he’s old - at least by professional soccer standards - and he’s angry.  What more could I ask for?  He also has a podcast, yuk, and I hear it’s very good.  It’s called “Films To Be Buried With With Brett Goldstein”.  He has a guest every episode and finds out about films that stand out at different points in their lives.  Hmm?  A focused podcast with a point.  What a concept.  

Regarding Brett Goldstein, there are two articles in the bottom of the description from Vulture, which is sort of a website covering entertainment and is an off-shoot of New York Magazine.  

Here is an excerpt from one of the articles where Brett talks about how he got the role of Roy Kent.  I REALLY want to try to read this as Roy Kent but my daughter thinks I do embarrassingly lousy impressions, which means I might do it anyway… Brett says:

“So what happened was — and I still can’t believe it worked out, and I also can’t believe that I did it — basically, as we were writing it, I just started to think I could play Roy; I really get it. I really get this part. But I also knew it was not the sort of part I would usually play. I usually play a softer character. It’s probably my typecast up to that point. So I didn’t want to say anything because I thought, No one’s thinking of me for this role. And I didn’t want to embarrass anyone and make it awkward.

So on my last day in the writers’ room, the night before, I [recorded a tape], five scenes as Roy, without telling anyone, and then I sent an email to Bill [Lawrence] and said, ‘I’ve been thinking I could play Roy … but if this is embarrassing, you can pretend you never got this email, and I will never ask you about it.’ Then I got a message from him at like three in the morning, going, ‘Oh! This is good. Let’s see.’ And then very luckily it all went ahead.”

Regarding Hannah Waddingham who plays the owner of the futbol club, I’m embarrassed to say I get a little too exuberant in describing her statuesqueness.  And having to stomach listening to myself is making me more aware that nobody wants to hear an old man talk about the opposite sex in any sort of desirous way except maybe… MAYBE other old men.  It’s gross.  That time has passed, show some class and keep that shit to yourself.  It’s where the term dirty old man comes from.  I wanted to leave it out, but then I thought… fuck it.  Just expose the disgustingness of it, but try to learn from it and keep your mouth shut next time.  

We also get all tied up looking for a photo of Ms. Waddingham and I try to send the Senator to imdb.com which stands for  Internet Movie Database and it’s great for looking up that guy who was on that show, you know, I can’t think of her name but she did a movie with Tom Cruise.  So you look up Tom Cruise and then you see all of his movies and then you recognize the one you saw “that person” and you click on it and find the actor.  That goes for writers, directors and producers as well.   

Okay, Ms. Waddinghams incredible voice… she has performed for many years in London’s West End which is our version of Broadway.  In fact, she’s performed on our version of Broadway as well where she played The Lady of the Lake in Spamalot.

Finally, the co-creator of Ted Lasso, Jason Sudeikis.  There is a GREAT, thoughtful interview with him, link at the bottom, from Indiewire.com, which is a film industry and review website that focuses on independent film.  It’s about a 20 minute interview and I’m going to play a clip from it that focuses on the one time where Coach Lasso calls out Jamie Tart in front of the entire team.  He tries to do it once before when they were alone, but if you remember, Lasso’s son comes running in which interrupts what he was about to say to Tart.  Tart ends up signing his son’s jersey for him and the moment is gone.

But when Lasso does call out Tart in front of his teammates in the locker room, he keeps repeating the word “practice”.  Jamie Tart skipped practice because he said he had an injury which he clearly didn’t and was passive aggressively acting out in protest.  But Sudeikis using the word “practice” over and over again is an homage to former NBA star Alan Iverson.  Fortunately, you didn’t need to know that to see the message that was being delivered in the scene.  But if you did catch that connection, there’s a lot more going on.  

Alan Iverson was a firebrand of a basketball player.  He was only 6 feet tall, which really isn’t that tall for a player who dominated the way he did.  He did an infamous press conference where he was asked about missing practice.  He uttered the word practice 26 times…

Almost word for word right?... Even though most people have only heard that part of the press conference, it was at least a half hour long and I listened to all of it so I could find more context.  The context that Jason Sudeikis provides…

So here we have the same message about practice, but it’s not coming from a cocky soccer player or an young League MVP… now, that same message is coming from a coach.  Sudeikis turned it on its head… and it was also the first time we see Ted get fired up in a tough love, stick versus the carrot type of coaching.  But it was what Jamie Tart needed.  By the way when I mention the character Jamie Tart the Senator says he thinks she’s a cutie… I think he was thinking of the character Keeley Jones played by Juno Temple.

So, we have a nice light and breezy episode talking about Ted Lasso… until… I bring up the topic of getting old.  Like moving to a senior living facility old.  “Senior Living Facility” that is definitely not what they call it.  I think it’s Senior Living Community.  I took a tour of a facility a couple of weeks ago as my 80 year old sister is ready… yes, ready on her own… to move into such a community.  It’s really nice, but it’s also really scary.  Actually, I think I’m the one that’s scared because I know that’s going to be me soon.  Sooner than I think or realize… So I make sure and squelch out the good Lasso vibes by brining that up.  You’re welcome.

CLOSE - I guarantee you this topic will be discussed many more times on this program because it’s hugely popular with adults 25 to 49 and males 18 to 34.  Wait, that’s not our demographic.  You know who you are.

There is so much more trivia I could unload on you regarding Ted Lasso but there’s not enough time.  Isn’t there?  There’s no time limit… it’s just the two or three of us.  For example, you may already know that Hannah Waddingham played the character Septa Unella on Game of Thrones, which I have never seen, and in one episode she underwent about 10 hours of water torture on set to get approximately 90 seconds of usable takes.  True story.  I read it on the internet so it has to be true.

A quick COVID note about our friends in this country who are not getting vaccinated.  Apparently the states where the COVID variant is spiking happen to be red states, which are also states where vaccinations are severely lagging, can you imagine?  Well, here is the Governor of West Virginia, Jim Justice… great name, telling his citizens to put down their conspiracy theories and get vaccinated…

Red state, Republican Governor.  God sakes a livin’, that’s a good ol’ boy right there.

Also, as of this recording, The San Francisco Giants are the first team in baseball to clinch a playoff berth!  

Okay, that’s it for realsies… thank you for listening, please forward this to a few people you think might enjoy it or as a practical joke to some people you think will hate it.  Just forward it and we’ll see you next time.

Ted Lasso - Apple TV  

Ted Lasso's Christmas Episode Made Everyone Lose Their Mind - Vulture | New York Magazine

Ted Lasso's Brett Goldstein on Finding Roy Kent's Soft Side - Vulture | New York Magazine  

Ted Lasso Theme - YouTube 

Jason Sudeikis on the Hidden Truths Behind Ted Lasso’s Allen Iverson Tribute - IndieWire.com 

Analysis: This Republican governor NAILS it on anti-vaxxers - CNN

Love Actually, Bill Nighy, Festering Turd of a Record  

Jason Sudeikis And Brendan Hunt Talk 'Ted Lasso' Season 2 - NBC Today Show | YouTube

Music:  Deliberate Thought by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/?keywords=deliberate+thought 

Artist: http://incompetech.com/