The Duck Factory - Jim Carrey’s First Major Role!

[00:00:00] Coming up on another exciting edition of, That Was a Show. The Duck Factory was a show. The year was 1984 and NBC was entering their sitcom Golden Age. A young cartoonist from the Midwest moves to LA to take a job at a decaying old animation

[00:00:22] studio, mainly known for their show Dippy Duck, that young cartoonist's name is Skip Tarkington, and he was played by none other than Jim Carrey in his first major role. Brynn, Aaron, and Barry attempt to illustrate why this show may have been erased.

[00:00:42] They also go off on a lengthy tangent exploring something of iconic significance from the era The Water Bed. We grew up during peak sitcom, sign-felt, friends, the fresh prince, but those shows were diamonds in the rough. This podcast is not about those diamonds. It's about the rough.

[00:01:03] Some sitcoms were briefly popular in their time, some were canceled almost immediately. You probably won't recognize most of these and you'll ask, that was a show? That Was A Show. The podcast about failed or forgotten sitcoms from the 80s and 90s starring...

[00:01:28] Aaron Yager and Andrew Helmer as Barry. A radio-kiss-mobile production. So we are off to the races episode 72. That's the big one, that's really... It's a baby boomer. That's when Spotify writes the check, I think. It's Joe Rogan and then us. Yeah, we get a million dollar deal soon.

[00:02:09] I wish that he only got a million dollars. I know, I know. I know. I know. When you release 72 episodes, they buy you a Porsche. Oh, yeah. I thought that was... I thought I remembered that. I thought I did. Yeah, yeah. Well, welcome everyone.

[00:02:30] Welcome wonderful listeners to another terrific episode of That Was A Show. That's presumptive. Well, I think this is going to be a terrific episode if for no other reason then the archaeological discovery that is the star of this show.

[00:02:49] I mean, the show itself, I think was a pretty cool find. Mm-hmm. Having been into him as a younger fella, I didn't know about this show. Like this does not get talked about a lot. No. One of his first roles. Yeah, by him we mean...

[00:03:12] Well, let's get into it. Because I'm kind of built a bit of a wealth not going to be a surprise because you've clicked on this. You've clicked... There's... There's always a preamble. Yeah, we start talking. So you know, but I'm still for dramatic effect.

[00:03:31] Going to build this into my intro. The duck factory aired on NBC from April to July 1984. Lasting a total of 13 episodes. It's about skip, Tarquinton, an eager young artist who moves from Minnesota to Hollywood to pursue a career as a cartoonist.

[00:03:50] Having been recently offered a job at a small studio responsible for a Saturday morning cartoon called the Dippy Duck Show. The studio is called the Duck Factory and that eager young man was played by 22-year-old Jim Carrey.

[00:04:06] With life imitating art in real time, it was his first lead role in a Hollywood production. So in episode 1, skip arrives in Hollywood and walks up to the studio only to discover that the boss, Buddy Winkler, has just passed away and they're actually in the midst

[00:04:24] of his funeral. It also turns out that the company is in shambles with low morale and on the verge of their show getting canceled by the network. The other main characters include Aggie Ailsworth, Buddy's business manager who's attempting to take over operations.

[00:04:39] Shari Winkler, Buddy is much, much younger widow to whom he was only married for a few weeks but who has now inherited ownership of the studio. Wally Wooster, who voices all the cartoon characters and is played by real-life legendary

[00:04:55] cartoon voice actor Don Messick, a cynical comedy writer named Marty, a veteran animator named Brooks, who skipped rope worshiping, a storyboard artist named Roland and an editor named Andrea so it's a pretty big ensemble cast.

[00:05:10] The show features little peaks at the animation they work on and overall has the sort of production values that would have been quite cutting edge for the time. The first episode ends on a cliffhanger. After seeing Skip's portfolio and realizing that he's actually very talented and ambitious,

[00:05:26] Aggie hangs the responsibility for retooling the show and saving the whole studio on skip. Boom, boom, there it is, summarized. Yeah, so very fun find here. It's definitely one of those things where we've talked about this before but sometimes you

[00:05:49] just watch something and you're like, yeah, this guy is going to be a star. Took him a little bit longer. I mean, the first thing I had ever seen, Carián was right after this. It was once bitten.

[00:06:03] That was like his first lead feature role and so it was really interesting to see something even earlier than that. And one that really trades on his like earnestness and like not so much his manic comedic timing which you could come known for. Yeah.

[00:06:23] That was the surprising thing to me. He was the straight man. And the straight man, he's like the least zanean funny character. It's not that he's not funny at all but he's definitely like the straight man at least

[00:06:36] in the first episode, comparing to the other characters around him who have much like zaneer more like traditionally silly performances. But you're right, like his earnestness comes through in the right way and his charisma, his body language.

[00:06:54] It is one of those examples like when we see like early Jennifer Aniston roles or whatever where you're just like, yeah, clearly that's a star in the making like, yeah, like he like this show or not.

[00:07:04] He's going to be a star clear like you're so much better than everybody else on screen you know, not and nobody's bad in this either but like you're just like there's a glimmer in you. Yeah, that's there. A twinkle. A twinkle. Yeah.

[00:07:20] In your intro, you said he was offered a job. He wasn't actually even offered a job. He showed up based on a conversation about perhaps getting offered a job by buddy, like basically he had sent buddy his drawings in some of his portfolio and buddy was like

[00:07:39] yeah, he was taking a slide in there and then he shows up and buddy is dead and I thought that was kind of a funny reveal like seeing them actually carrying the casket out like it was kind of so I have a note.

[00:07:52] So it was weird that it was coming out of the studio. Maybe no sense, but but I was right then they did some like they were just fitting in because it's more interesting for this to be at the studio. Exactly.

[00:08:07] What's weird is that I mean, I often write notes in real time just sort of you know, train of thoughts sort of things as I'm watching one of these shows and in this particular

[00:08:18] case I'd write a note with like a question or something that I think is weird and then like 30 seconds later the show would address it. So I write the note, it's like the carrying the casket bit is weird.

[00:08:29] Why would the owner of the studio have a funeral at the office? And then like a minute later they address that in the dialogue. So it's there are a lot of like mad cap zany choices in this in this show that reminds

[00:08:45] me of like you know very much of that early to mid 80s like Mel Brooks, Zabra Brothers, sort of zanyness that worked a lot in movies at the time. I have never seen a TV series that has successfully pulled it off and like stood the test of time.

[00:09:04] I mean in a sense maybe they're trying to be cartoonish like the cartoons their the studio is making. Oh totally. I just thought it was a fun world to explore. I've never seen a show about behind the scenes of an animated series like that that

[00:09:21] was like fun and it was fun that everybody was so kind of like downtrodden like they're making this show for kids. Yeah. And it was just grumpy cynical like drinking themselves into oblivion at the local

[00:09:35] dive bar after and like yeah it was a it was like a fun world. I like enjoyed. Yeah, I did too. Like that bit more they're like we're one of the cars won't start.

[00:09:46] So the guy asks for a push and the other car just rams that car all the way to the cemetery. Yeah. And yeah, Larry cartoony. Very cartoonish. Got a laugh. I honestly think if anything they could have pushed that slightly further if they were

[00:10:04] trying to make it cartoonish but like overall I agree. Like I was on board for it. Like I was like okay cool let's see how let's see where you go with this. Yeah, yep. I mean it's also like it's nice to see like it's not overly mean spirited.

[00:10:19] It's you know that the characters they they're they're they're there a rasny each other a little bit for the most part you know outside of like you know a villainous type character. Everybody's pretty much on the same side and like you know it's fun to see them like

[00:10:36] kind of get together and succeed at something. And yeah, I did enjoy I did enjoy this. You know very easily I could have been a movie. Yeah, yeah. But you know maybe because the two part are up so we saw you know maybe we just missed

[00:10:57] the sitcom aspect of it because you know this one's very story heavy they're doing something maybe we didn't get to see the episodes where they are doing the sitcom thing the back and forth the entry things right that very well could have been in there.

[00:11:14] Um yeah the other show the last time we did a show that felt like it was trying to do something this is trying to do net house was a long time ago with the net house which

[00:11:26] actually was Mel Brooks and this reminded me of that but I liked this a lot better than that show. I know I remember that episode we were debating vigorously all of the ins and outs

[00:11:38] of that particular show because we went I think that not house took more swings but not house took bigger more and bigger swings but I I liked this premise we've all seen movies in this style that I've seen movies yet have worked very well.

[00:11:55] And I agree with your instinct that it almost feels like this was trying to be a movie the way it was for the lighting the camera work there is a laugh track there is I couldn't tell if

[00:12:06] it's a real studio audience or not but well no is a single camera. But like it's a single camera show it was actually like pretty well lit for a 1984 sitcom. Yeah um yeah felt like you know what like not that long after this show was like a

[00:12:24] string of movies that do that sort of mix of live action and animation like obviously. Oh yeah that's true. Who framed Roger Rabbit being the most famous and most successful probably and then Howard the duck being the like Leslie didn't have animation or just have a duck.

[00:12:43] Yeah Howard was a puppet Howard was a puppet you're right but it was a duck but it was a duck. Yes that's the only thing that ties it to this. Yes there have been other duck related

[00:12:54] entertainment pieces here. Maybe a lot of duck things in the 80s and 90s. Maybe more duck tails you're doing duck maybe more broadly speaking just the idea of like people interacting with animated characters or like all of it this attempt at like this type of zaniness was

[00:13:14] definitely like very hot in the mid 80s and so I don't blame them for trying to do it in a TV show. Yeah no me neither. I don't like you know again it could have been a better show then it was

[00:13:28] is tough to know exactly what went wrong on this one. I mean you know ultimately people went on the other things bigger and better things I think you want a couple Emmys. I mean it didn't

[00:13:41] pick up enough audience obviously like it didn't get enough traction but it's the kind of show where like maybe if it had been given more runway it would have worked out. I don't know I was

[00:13:51] just thinking of Chris Farley that I want some awards right. I don't know not really. Honestly my biggest complaint with the first episode of this has nothing to do with the concept or the story

[00:14:10] but it's more actually like the pacing felt too slow for what they were trying to do. Yeah but that's 1984 TV I mean that's just how things were moving then you know is very slow the scenes were

[00:14:26] long um. Tony loves Chachi was kind of like that which is a similar area. Right. Yeah it's just too yeah it's just a style right. And like you know even think about like old episodes of MASH even the

[00:14:39] ones that aren't somewhat dramatic it can move slower. It's just you know we're used to a snappier you know but I'm gonna show this to the TikTok generation and see what they think about but even like

[00:14:54] the movies with this style of humor from the time were we're past faster. Oh for sure for sure. Me like okay so you mentioned the lighting but wasn't it very dark like there's just like a look

[00:15:07] to like early 80s stuff. You know we're just like it seems like like they're all about to go to a disco or something at all times. I really using very cheap stock for one. Yeah yeah it might have

[00:15:23] been partly technical limitations like that. There are certain shows that you think of that our brightly lit like that we're like popular back then like like what's it called like you

[00:15:34] you like the facts of life like that was brightly lit like different strokes but like you you see this and you see like Joni loves Chachi again not to bring up another yeah but it just like looks like everything

[00:15:48] looks kind of dim. I think they were going for something more cinematic and it was like more of an yeah and it was hard to hit that nuanced middle ground between two bright and two dark. Like

[00:16:00] it is something like that and maybe there were technical limitations but also like I don't know to me it felt like between the sort of old timey Hollywood aspect of like this studio and the

[00:16:12] people who are working there and the cars and the way the story comes together it felt almost like a neo noir like it felt almost like it was deliberately trying to put us in a more like

[00:16:30] we're both laughing at you for calling it a neo noir. You're looking like I'm nuts. Alright buddy like I'm let's calm down. Let's just go with this looks like a cheaply

[00:16:43] shot that we're filing. No but you mean like it it felt like they were trying to push some moodiness into it. That like the fair point there was an old car yeah like the the Jim

[00:16:56] Kary character is like in addition to being the straight man and very earnest he's like this aweshocks guy who who just moved there from Minnesota. Like they literally show him coming off

[00:17:08] the bus coming off the bus and he's like owing and eyeing and all of the stuff in Hollywood and all of the like lack of people that he sees there. Well he keeps everything he's seeing is all like

[00:17:19] the sexual related. All the things that he was passing were all sexists. So they're trying to do some sort of fish out of water thing with his character and heighten our caricature what

[00:17:32] Hollywood is so it's like you know what I'm okay remember the sign fell up a soda where it's actually a two-parter where Kramer moves to LA. I do very well of course you do and do you remember how

[00:17:46] I only think of that music video he was in when he was head banging and that and that two part episode those LA scenes had a little bit of a different aesthetic from the rest of the series

[00:18:00] and especially that like weird, di-v apartment building where Kramer's staying and he encounters the woman who had like one bit part in the three stuages and she's like like it was it was

[00:18:12] pretty deep some pretty dark episode. The whole blow with the chie, well with the murders and all exactly like she's like a take off of like you know like glorious swans and yeah and

[00:18:25] sunset. So I guess what I'm getting at is it felt like this was trying to do that like they were like hey can you like make it a sitcom but dial in like 20% sunset boulevard. Like yeah all right

[00:18:37] it felt like they told the DP like give me a little bit of that give me a little bit of that sizzle. I never trust any of these things that we look at because most of these things have been

[00:18:47] unrestored for years and we're just seeing the worst possible copy of them and nobody's ever going to restore this or put it in a remotely idle re-astered in HD all the team episodes I will agree with you

[00:19:04] the versions of this we saw were dank and poorly lit and I am unconcert all right I'm unconvinced whether or not that was stylistic for just like just the nature of digging up these that's fair maybe

[00:19:21] wrap around a TV show maybe I'm reading too much into it I will say the aesthetic worked very well for the bar scene it was one of the most authentic looking dive bars since I have seen

[00:19:33] in a sitcom possibly ever but I may never been in a dive bar I would know what you mean. Between the lighting that the sound design of how noisy it was how chaotic it looked the way

[00:19:45] that it actually felt busy like it actually seemed like a proper bar scene and not what sitcoms tell you is like hey these are people in a bar but actually they're all just like really open to

[00:19:57] camera and for some reason everyone else's conversations are really quiet yeah everybody yeah everybody's just served just a low murmur like they're watching golf but this felt like a real

[00:20:09] bar scene like from a movie I'll give you that I'll give you that my favorite bit was like I made a note where I was like oh Jim carries character is supposed to breathe new life into this company

[00:20:20] and moments later one of the other characters has a line about him breathing new life into the company like it you channeling the duck factory yeah yeah um i was such an extreme ending like that

[00:20:34] cliffhanger that sitcom logic of he was just hired as like an intern for their training program and then she decides well it's all up to you kid like saving the studios all on you and if you

[00:20:47] don't succeed I will see to it that you never work in this town again yeah that was very heavy hand that you never work anywhere it's like why threatening him he just hired him yeah that character

[00:21:01] can smell his naivete like she can smell his vulnerability and she's jumping on it right yeah yeah that that character didn't really work for me no i don't know like cartoonish in a bad way

[00:21:13] yeah she was like seen by scene I didn't know where she was coming from i know they made her into such a like villain and it didn't even make sense why she's like working against him yeah like do you

[00:21:24] not want to keep your company you're not gonna get anything out of this yeah you fail and and that problem with the show gets expanded in the other episode that we like you made you put him in charge

[00:21:37] yeah you put him in charge and now you're trying to tear him down from from pitching you ideas what it would have made more sense if she were just steam rolling the whole thing and then he was trying

[00:21:50] yeah to give her ideas like if he was the the the conflict was that she wasn't listening to him and he had all these great ideas and then maybe everyone else was saying he's got great ideas and

[00:22:02] you're right and then she finally listens to him and then it'd be yeah it solved 100% it would have been better 100% it would have made so much more sense if she had some ideas or she was like

[00:22:13] actually taking the reins and he was fighting to try to get his ideas heard i mean there was definitely things that she said and did that were brought up that i thought we were like relevant to today

[00:22:25] like you know that is like someone who just cares about the the dollars on the you know like she you know she's talking about outsourcing the animation yeah like basically exploiting workers and india to animate the show for very little yeah ways to cut money and yeah so

[00:22:47] like like the character had which basically just became the norm after this yeah sadly but yeah like everything she was saying was like cartoony evil villain but it was like relevant like it was

[00:23:01] you know how someone like that would think like it wasn't yeah and if and if she was going to be a cartoony evil villain they should have actually dialed that up more and made it more obvious

[00:23:12] that she was supposed to be cartoony because they they still kept her seemingly like a rational person but it's like why are you making her the bad yeah guy here yeah definitely wanted to have

[00:23:25] it's like reality cake any and you know and cartoony cake and eat them both at the same time i really well set up yeah i really messed up trying to make that i know a metaphor but yeah i i think

[00:23:37] you stuck the landing enough for that to make sense i want to two pieces of cake yeah oh i want cake now yeah i can go for some cake it's okay um we might should we talk about the other

[00:23:50] episode yeah i mean i think we sort of jumped in it we would have to take some of the stuff we've been talking about our out of the second episode anyway like that dive bars in the second episode

[00:24:04] it's it's the beginning right so let me intro the other episode and we'll just continue where we left off um okay so the first thing i need to say about episode 13 is that it's actually

[00:24:17] episode two so they wrote it and shot it to come after episode one and it follows up on the cliff hanger introduced at the end of the first episode it was absolutely episode two but for whatever

[00:24:30] reason the network decided to hold off on airing this episode and it was released as episode 13 which is also the final one that they released and that doesn't necessarily make sense and i

[00:24:41] don't know why they did that but i mean that's firefly that's what firefly did yeah but we had aired the first episode uh as the last thing they ever had after they canceled yeah so the

[00:24:52] episode we're about to talk about comes the story wise comes immediately after the first episode but was aired as the end of as basically aired as the series finale and in some ways

[00:25:05] caps off the series with like a triumphant success i guess but anyway now i want to know what comes in between i'm confused like how did any of it make any sense who knows well i again i'll

[00:25:19] point to firefly this is what networks do they that all the second episode didn't work for them so we don't want to air that next we're gonna lose the audience so they just skipped right to the third

[00:25:29] episode uh that's so stupid i can't even firefly they they had this premiere that has the whole set up of the show introduces all the characters it's and then the network at the last minute was like

[00:25:42] no we don't want that we're gonna air another episode as the first episode uh we'll get to that one eventually and then canceled the show like down the line and then they just burned that one

[00:25:53] off as the last episode so the last episode of the show that aired was basically introducing everybody okay weird weird okay well i'll give a quick a quick description of what happens in

[00:26:05] this episode for the benefit of anyone who hasn't seen it um okay so skip which again is jim carries character skip rallies the team to come up with new ideas to pitch to the network

[00:26:17] he butts heads bit with agi who wants to be seen as in control they decide to kill off one of the main characters from the show as part of their proposed retooling but it turns out that

[00:26:27] that character is a favorite of the network executive this executive also seems very young for his role i don't know if that's intentional skip notices that this guy's decorating his office entirely with star trek and star wars artwork and quickly pivots to suggest that the show now

[00:26:45] be set in space cut to their triumphant return to the office cheers and hugs are shared by all and he has saved the day so there you go that was the episode that was the episode it really

[00:26:59] just like picks up where the first one leaves off like it is it is so the second episode i mean you know they were nice enough to it has a recap at the very beginning of the episode where

[00:27:10] he calls his parents and explains to them the events of the first episode yeah which you know back in the days of not being able to you know catch up on things would have been a nice thing to

[00:27:22] start the second episode with creative way to do it sure sure absolutely you know going back on to the like holding it back from the network think i get it the second episode is nowhere near

[00:27:35] his funny is the first um and it really sort of like kind of i found myself losing a little interest during the second episode yeah yeah yeah i was like this it wasn't as uh tightly

[00:27:51] plotted as the first yeah and i kind of felt like we just kind of kept seeing the same scene over and over it really yeah in in that scenario it should grab you like their decision the light bulb

[00:28:03] moment where he decides to kill off the character and explain i could barely even follow what was going on it because i was like losing interest but that should have been the most important thing

[00:28:15] that should have been the thing where we're like oh this guy has got some moxie he's out you know but it just really fell flat you're right and the flat part of it well was the can you guys

[00:28:26] even remember what the idea was was something about the night character had some little character inside him and was working him like a machine it was a dippy duck working inside of that character

[00:28:39] the whole time like that's like the big reveal that's what they were gonna do it was there was way let it a reminder me i know i've used this example before but i'll use it again it reminds me of

[00:28:52] studio 60 on the sunset strip or even or even 30 rock right yeah neither of those shows work when you show me the output of the creators because then you're a meat like 30 rock kind of

[00:29:06] disappointed yeah 30 rock kind of works because you know they're not good at what they do but on the other hand the show sort of suggests that they are yeah so don't i don't need to see the

[00:29:17] business of the of the product you're putting out right like that's not what anybody's here for yeah and the amount of time in this episode spent on telling me what the ideas were on this

[00:29:32] and then my favorite is that they don't even go with the idea that they spent five minutes leading up to and they don't even show like the pitch that actually saved them yeah they just he just says like

[00:29:46] oh yeah i changed it i i changed it and i pivoted and it's gonna take place in space now yeah and and that's it it was a weirdly structured episode yeah it was very hard to follow all of their discussions

[00:29:59] over the actual work that they were doing hard to follow seemed like nonsense i you know i did like the bar scene i did like getting to finally see a little bit of physical uh and ticks from

[00:30:13] Jim Carrier when he was it was a total non-secretor made no sense but he was trying to shave while standing on a water bed and and that's a that's a carry bit yeah total carry bit and so it's fun

[00:30:27] to see that even though it added absolutely nothing to the plot of this episode but i was like yes you use him like you've got this talented guy like use that using for something purposeful but like

[00:30:39] notice how he has this great knack for physical comedy maybe use that more but yeah it was a weird plot can we just talk about water beds for a minute yes absolutely because that is something that

[00:30:55] didn't survive the like 90's like i remember you know they could come back i have no idea i don't think so i think they're like a liability they started in the 70's still kind of a thing in the 80's

[00:31:09] my grandparents had water in the 90's but that's when they started trailing off yeah yeah but like i i remember it was such a thing it was like it was like not everyone had one there was

[00:31:22] such a specific thing but when people did have them it was always like whoa you have a water bed that's so unique or whatever you're so it's like this thing like my grandparents had one for a few

[00:31:33] years and i used to go over there and just go like roll around and I was gonna say everyone knows them only adults owned them yes yeah yeah well actually i met two kids that had twin beds that were

[00:31:47] waterbed before what they were like this is a random memory that's like stored in my brain have you ever tried lying on a water bed it's weird but like the it was like this these these kids these

[00:31:59] sons of my mom's co-worker from the early 90's and i remember going over there and like playing with their kids and being like oh you guys have waterbed and they were like twit i maybe i'm making

[00:32:14] this up maybe this is like i've inserted this or whatever like that but i just have this vivid memory of this these kids rooms these boys rooms where they had these like water beds was the bedfrey

[00:32:27] my race car no but i think they had like star wars sheets or something like it was definitely an accessory he's like coolest kids yeah well anyway it's it's great memory they have memory they're not living my brain anymore but they have they both have mysterious backgrounds

[00:32:46] their whole life yeah it's kid with waterbed followed by kid with ping pong table you know there's the ranking of cool there's that scene in libertrish pizza with the waterbed like that was like

[00:33:01] i was like whoa like waterbed so like forgot about waterbed until i watched that movie and now to give a little to give a little to give every one of it's very good point to give a little added

[00:33:11] context because we never took it. did jense even know about waterbed's? probably not because we never talked about this because in the first episode they introduced the house that belonged to the the

[00:33:24] now deceased like studio boss and everyone and everyone who works there is seeing his house for the first time and i guess part of the whole backstory because they have grievances against him and he's not

[00:33:35] liked and apparently he would like be very cheap and like i guess he pretended to them that he lived if he was in dire sea yeah he lived in a much more modest home and the company was always in dire

[00:33:47] financial straits and then and then his like his widow who's like 20 she invites them back to the house after the funeral and they're all seeing the home for the first time and it's like a huge

[00:34:00] Hollywood Hills mansion and it's exactly like the 1970s fuck pad that you're picturing. well because not only that but the waterbed room that Jim Carriens of staying in. is specifically said to be his his fuck room yeah like his like his pleasure room that's

[00:34:19] there's a thing that where he is clearly yeah that's exactly pretty sure they say his pleasure. harder to have sex on a waterbed you know uh nobody who's ever tried it has lived to tell the

[00:34:31] you have to get extra insurance on your like can you have a waterbed will renters insurance cover that because i mean i feel like anything could happen. anything could happen it would be a disaster

[00:34:48] if you had an epic leak that no one caught like say you like went out of town and you had a leak in your waterbed and you had a unit of other apartments below like it would be a freaking disaster.

[00:35:02] how much cocaine did people have to be on to not only like come up with the idea but get this all the way to production you know what I get these out on the store okay that's what it is so

[00:35:16] the waterbed there's cocaine involved at every stage from from in vent from designing and inventing the waterbed to the person who sells it because you can picture the salesman in the store

[00:35:29] pacing frantically back and forth telling you how amazing this is going to be and how it's going to change your life. i got 38 of these things i got to get out of here. then then there's the person

[00:35:40] who buys the waterbed who's who's on coke when they buy it and then you need to be using coke like minutes before lying down on this thing for the my grandparents my sweet grandparents we're

[00:35:53] a lot of things they were not coke ads so well they're all there exceptions to every rule obviously. i'm not necessarily saying the people buying them i just mean like there is a lot of checks and balances that have that that's supposed to prevent the market from having

[00:36:12] product yeah i think this waterbed conversation is more entertaining than the conversation we've been having about this. can you imagine the i'm going to throw this whole podcast out and just start a waterbed podcast how how does how does you you brought up insurance could you imagine

[00:36:30] it's the late seventies you're talking to an insurance like like an i guess an actuary trying to put together a policy for your home and they're like describe the stuff you have while i got

[00:36:41] a waterbed i also change smoke indoors. you change smoke near the waterbed of course. you could just just spot it and mop it. of course. i've got a roaring fire with no glass doors

[00:36:57] in front of it and i only light it when i'm drunk. candles everywhere. oh my god. what is the carpet made out of? it's everywhere. it's everywhere and it's made out of the most flammable material you can fix. everyone's clothes. we're compalling yesterday. everything's polyester. there's

[00:37:21] not a natural fiber to be found within miles. and there's the wood trim. the walls are covered in wood. for everybody listing right now. i'm just going to save you like about 30 seconds. yes. i just googled and there are people still very much actively selling waterbed.

[00:37:51] because i know you're thinking that you're you're you're you're you're you're going between two things. you go on why am I still listening to this? is this just going to be about waterbeds for

[00:38:00] the rest? i don't know maybe. let me ask you. where does one get what? oh what? yeah. you're going to want to know that. let me ask you this. have you ever slept on an inflatable

[00:38:12] mattress? yeah everyone has. it's so highly. now follow up question. have you ever slept on an inflatable mattress that doesn't leak at least a little bit? no. no. okay. so these will leak.

[00:38:26] like feels like that though. yeah. it kind of feels like that like that feeling of when you're like from what i remember about laying on a waterbed, it kind of feels like when you're on a

[00:38:41] an air mattress that's deflated by like 30% or something. so it's basically like the feeling of being on an air mattress but getting to live on the edge knowing that if it leaks in the middle

[00:38:53] of the night, you're like 30,000 dollars in the whole end-damages. also, you know, when you wake up in the middle and I really confused have you ever just had that feeling of oh shit? somebody threw

[00:39:06] my mattress down a hill and it's just rolling up and down and you're like am I going to make it? maybe a waterbeds for you? haven't had that experience? now you can? yep. yep. okay well

[00:39:21] to I guess I guess to cap off our discussion of uh uh waterbeds um uh i will say more broadly speaking the production design in this show was a journey. it was yeah. there was a lot of variety

[00:39:37] there was a lot to this show was it did not make me laugh much for a comedy but it was a feast for the yeah. there was a lot to take in even like someptuous. someptuous, even the Star Trek artwork

[00:39:52] I'm like how are they licensing that? Star Trek Star Wars and like what? Star Trek felt off-licensed Star Wars was a poster. Star Wars was a poster like that enterprise painting. I was like I feel like

[00:40:07] maybe this wasn't kosher but the Star Wars poster was just a poster but mind you you know we're in the downtime of Star Wars yeah. I guess we're in the downtime of Star Trek too actually. well you know

[00:40:21] yeah. yeah. the Star Wars was did they have a relationship with ABC because of the no I guess not at the time. not at the time yeah but it neither to Star Trek that's seen me yet but again

[00:40:37] Star Trek was between things so maybe uh I don't know I don't know maybe nobody cared. yeah maybe nobody cared. but like you ever been on a film set and like you point out like

[00:40:48] hey we shouldn't have that label uh showing uh because you shouldn't and then somebody goes let him sue us and you're like it would be a lot easier if we just turned it around but okay cool.

[00:41:00] yeah. yeah that might have been the attitude here but yeah so I will give Kudos to this show for showing all the things that they wanted to show like pulling out all the stops we got lots

[00:41:13] of glimpses of like the animation and like the the rooms where they were working felt like real animation studios with like you know those light benches and and film cutters and all the stuff like

[00:41:28] it was like a properly populated set design sort of thing going on so you know big cast did not seem like a cheaply done show there was a lot put into this um I just wish I found it funnier. yeah I would assume that the network agreed.

[00:41:47] uh yeah ABC. oh and bc. oh I thought it was ABC. now this was ABC ABC. none of that doesn't help me at all. this was NBC and this would have been like around the time

[00:42:06] when was dead cheers come out yet I think so. yeah cheers would have come out. yeah so this was like early cheers era NBC. interesting so yeah I don't know it's an interesting show.

[00:42:22] it was I'm glad we watched it. yeah it was very interesting to like dissect this one there's a lot going on. I'll remember it. yeah this is this is a memorable one for sure. if for nothing but the water beds.

[00:42:35] absolutely absolutely yeah yeah yeah yeah I mean again even the bar scene had smoked in the air. yeah and not like fog like fog machine fog I mean like cigarette smoke. I mean I have to assume it's 1984 that entire crew would have asked to put their cigarettes out

[00:42:57] while they were filming and they said no. no so. how do we make this bar look smokey? I don't know just let the crew hack darts the whole time. try try try to tell them not to.

[00:43:14] good. it was a union rule back then. yeah I got you gotta have at least 12 cigarettes every every shift. oh by the way I mean I'm sure you'll well this will probably come up later when you talk

[00:43:28] about the cast but it was the dawn-messic thing like so his we didn't really talk about this but like so there's an actor Don Messic he's known for cartoon voices. he has not done many on camera

[00:43:43] live action appearances. this is one of the few and basically the whole time he's like putting on it seems like he's putting on like a cartoony voice even when he's just like talking to his co-workers.

[00:43:57] I assume that that's put on and that's not his like real voice but it's kind of like a daffy ducky sort of in that sort of realm cartoony voice. so I had to look him up and like

[00:44:07] yeah he's legit. yeah he's legit. I mean Scooby-do. the voice of Scooby-do is probably the biggest but like-oo bear and yeah. like on yogi bear. yeah like a lot of the like Hannah Barbarra stuff I guess

[00:44:23] and like he was bam bam on the flint stones and whole whole list at like hundreds of credits. tons of stuff back in life. well you've basically done the spin off for me so. well to be fair

[00:44:39] most of that came before this was maybe- but continue to have anyway. let's do it. yeah I'm stealing your job like the way that they outsource the job. okay so that said I'll throw to you for six degrees

[00:44:58] of friends. okay I mean I was a- I don't know if I- you know sometimes I always give the pre-amble of like I was lazy with this one. I don't know if I'll say I was lazy with this one but I kind of

[00:45:10] stuck in one direction so I've mainly focused on Jim Carrey's connections to make friends. but I'll just throw one other random one I found. so there's a two degree connection with one

[00:45:25] of the directors so Harry Lobel was one of the directors of the Duck Factory. he also directed episodes of the short lived Ferris Bueller sitcom which starred Jennifer Aniston and Jennifer Aniston played Rachel Green on friends is everyone knows sweet so that's a two degree connection.

[00:45:46] so I've got a few different connections through Jim Carrey. so the first one that I- I thought of immediately was um his role in Aspen Turra Pet Detective where he co-starred with Courtney Cox

[00:46:01] and yeah yeah what if we're like only early movie roles like it's kind of funny. I just went and saw Masters of the universe at the review. she's she's in that. yeah um yeah so basically

[00:46:18] they co-starred an Aspen Turra Pet Detective and she played Monica Geller on friends. so that's a two degree connection. next connection is a three degree connection so um Jim Carrey was also in the film The Yes Man and one of his co-stars was John Michael Higgins.

[00:46:37] John Michael Higgins had a re-recurring role on Joey. the friends spin off starring Matt Lobelock, Matt Lobelock of course first played Joey Tribionian friends so that's a three degree connection. and then we have another two degree connection um through the dumb and dumber sequel so

[00:46:59] dumb and dumber too uh one of his co-stars was Kathleen Turner and Kathleen Turner had a recurring role on friends. nice what was the Aniston connection? um it was through a director because she was in the

[00:47:14] show Ferris Bueller and this guy directed the Duck Factory and Ferris Bueller. there's probably other connections as just- Bruce Elmitey she's she's the wife. oh shoot okay well there you go.

[00:47:27] it took me you all took my job there. that's all right man. you guys are just stealing my thunder. we're all just we're all just trying to get through this Wednesday night. this Wednesday night podcast.

[00:47:40] all right. how did everybody do after this what was there uh let's talk about it yeah I mean everyone had very long and good careers before and after the show um the only person that kind of

[00:48:00] for whatever reason has sort of like dropped off out of show business um was Nancy Lane who played Andrea the uh the editor which is unfortunate she was good in the episode that we watched too.

[00:48:15] so she didn't really do much after this she just kind of appeared in a few shows throughout the 80s but who knows right like that's the one thing I'm always curious about and I can never quite

[00:48:27] get any info on especially these earlier shows is when someone kind of abruptly lives the industry like what is the reason sometimes if it's a more reason show you can kind of figure it out

[00:48:37] you can find them on social media you can kind of sus it out but I was like oh man why did she leave the biz like what happened to like so but at any rate you know she was quite good in this show

[00:48:49] so uh Julie Pan who played our cartoon villain Aggie so she um had a very long career as well so I will just throw out one disambiguation so there are quite a few actresses around the same age

[00:49:07] with the exact same name you know two two notable ones had passed away already so she is still alive but um you have to make sure that you know if you look her up that it's it's this Julie Pan

[00:49:22] who was in the depth factory so she had a very long uh career on in both TV and film and as a voice actor so similar to Don Messec she also had a long career as a voice actor so she performed

[00:49:37] many of the female voice roles on the Garfield animated series and all the like spin offs and all of the like little you know like the specials and the so Garfield you know I don't know

[00:49:49] but you guys by watching so much Garfield growing up like Garfield and friends is one of my favorite cartoons so I thought that was kind of fun and again it's kind of neat to see people who are in this

[00:50:01] sitcom also were in the cartoon world um so she was in not only the original that ran from 1984 but she was also in a reboot that aired from like 2008 to 2013 which was like a 3D animation

[00:50:16] which is like I don't want to see that that sounds kind of weird say she was like if you are doing like that kind of a cartoony villain character she was good for the role so yeah they could have made it

[00:50:29] even bigger she also appeared in a couple of twaz shows so she was in get a life and good advice and then as well as some actual successful shows including Murphy Brown perfect stranger

[00:50:43] is in the Wonder Years um and one recent, more recent credit that's that you'll find fun airing is she actually played Cheryl's mom on curbion thusiasm oh yeah I can picture that now oh that's so

[00:51:00] interesting yeah okay because I just rewatched some early season one episodes of curb with Cheryl's mom and I can pick okay that's interesting I'll say for the rest of the cast with the exception of Nancy

[00:51:15] Lane who I already mentioned everyone had kind of like a very defining role in their career so we also have Clarence Gillierred who played Roland he appeared in like a few other TV shows randomly

[00:51:31] in the 80s following his time on this show um he was also in top gun he played one of the other like trainees he his name was sundown so he was the one called sundown um he also was in die hard

[00:51:47] he played the character called Theo and I can't quite place what character that is right now it's he's most well known for his run on both uh Matlock as conrad McMaster's and Walker Texas Ranger as James Trivet and so he was on the Walker Texas Ranger like

[00:52:10] series as well as all the like spin-off movies so he and Chuck Norris were out there you know doing their thing um yeah and he appeared in tons of stuff up right up until his death in 2022

[00:52:26] um and then we have Jay Tarsis who played Marty and he had a very interesting career as well because he was also a writer and so although this is the spin-off I really have to like shout out

[00:52:40] some of the stuff he worked on before this because it's kind of wild so he was like a very successful comedy writer so he um before he was on the duck factory he wrote for the Carol Burnett show the Bob

[00:52:55] Newhart show and a couple shows he created um one called open all night and he also acted in that one he also created the show Buffalo Bill and co-starred in that he also wrote and bear you're going to

[00:53:08] lose it he wrote the great muppet caper and muppets take Manhattan whoa okay two very formative muppet movies in my childhood the great muppet caper has this scene that was like forever

[00:53:26] is it piggy doing karate? No it's piggy when she's like there's like that whole scene that's like an Esther Williams throwback where it's like the synchronized swimming thing yeah that scene is

[00:53:40] forever burned in my brain and that's when basically muppet caper came my like glamour and style icon as a young girl anyway I was like I was like all those are both like really adorable and hilarious movies

[00:53:56] like people if you wrote those um he also wrote and created another series called days and nights of Molly Dodd yeah so Jay Tarsis as far as I can see he's still alive but yeah he had a long career

[00:54:11] and he basically worked up till the 90s and then we have Don Messick who Aaron has already talked about he has a total of 295 IMDB credits there's probably more that are you know I have to be we use it as a

[00:54:27] source like I don't really source all my research because it's basically IMDB and then some of it some of it's pulled out of my brain and then confirmed with IMDB but I will just say in general IMDB is

[00:54:40] generally a good source but there's always a few things that especially with older projects that are maybe not 100% correct but as of today on this IMDB search he has 295 IMDB credits as I said

[00:54:57] he's a voice of Scooby-Doo he was also many characters in the Flintstones um Booboobair as I already mentioned so he he had a very extensive career so he was like the voice actor and so it's kind of cute again

[00:55:12] they cast him in the show and yeah you know it's very um it's kind of like a like a weird like love letter to the animation industry even though there's dark themes and these people are all miserable it is kind of

[00:55:27] this interesting love letter um yeah well it is it is a very 80 style of love letter because maybe this is the vibe I was feeling in this show is it felt like um okay so here's a reference

[00:55:46] to L'Enjoy you know how on Detroiters they've taken over this ad agency that is like basically almost shut down yeah because it was like the dance ad agency and the building looks

[00:55:59] like it sort of from the madman era and has just never been updated yeah so there's something about this show where it feels like okay it's the 80s but this is an animation studio doing a style

[00:56:10] of animation that is of the 60s with a lot of staff who have probably been there since the 60s and so there is like this golden age Hollywood thing that is now like dying basically and that's

[00:56:29] part of the commentary of the show is that this studio is struggling and the network's going to cancel it and they're like just hanging in there by a thread and the 80s was a time of like outsourcing

[00:56:42] and cost cutting and austerity and things like that so it did feel like there was like a real comment it was like a love letter and like a cynical comment. Yeah there's a genuineness to

[00:56:55] there's a scene where Jim Carrey's character is really going on about how much these characters mean and it's so true to life you can see it's coming right out of Jim Carrey in the performance

[00:57:09] yeah he's praising the the older animator there and you know he's talking about like you know that actor or melblanc or like you know he's really exactly it feels very earnest ingenuine

[00:57:22] like it really didn't seem like it even it could have been improvised that's how real it felt yeah well I mean and then on the topic of that animator that he admired that's the character

[00:57:35] Brooks he's played by Jack Gilford who was already a very established actor at the time you would have been a bit of a get for this he had been nominated for an Oscar in 1974 for a best supporting

[00:57:49] actor in the film Save the Tiger which I have no idea what that film is but anyway yeah I mean after his time on the death factory he continued to work here and there in films in television

[00:58:06] notable roles include cocoon he was in the cast of cocoon as well as the sequel cocoon the return he appeared in other hit television shows including the golden girls head of the class and more

[00:58:20] and then finally we have Theresa Gensel who played Shuri Winfler so she also I found her very charming like it wasn't the typical gold digger role in my opinion like I thought she was kind of like

[00:58:35] did see but she was very sweet at the same time um so I liked her performance in this show but she didn't do a ton after like she was kind of like you know peered in you know lots of

[00:58:50] 80s television shows including nightcourt she was actually in the Charmings out of the world so two-twest shows Alph Mama's family right she also appeared in married with children she's you know done all of the like main hits back then she did some boy s acting as well

[00:59:09] which makes sense because she had like a very cute voice she didn't she did a voice in the goof troop TV series fish police do you guys remember that show star queen duck i've been

[00:59:23] wondering whether we should one day do fish police it's not totally canon for us but still so I would say her later credits are mostly voice acting credits and she's still kind of around today she's

[00:59:39] still doing stuff today but it's mostly popping up here and there as guest stars and again lots of voice work so i think it's very cool that like three people in the main cast were actual legit

[00:59:52] voice actors um and yeah and then of course we have mr. Jim carry yeah how did things work out for him well i think we all know i don't really need to go through a whole list of that but i suspect the following

[01:00:07] this like come some of his like main you know some of his films that he starred in as Barry mentioned once bitten and then he was in other films like earth girls are easy and then over time he just kind

[01:00:20] of built this resume and it's like i think i know him best for his 90s work in air and and i were tired this earlier just you know it made me kind of want to revisit some of them like i

[01:00:32] know a lot of his 90s comedies are not gonna hold up um but we were both saying we want to watch the mask because it was so wild such a weird movie like yeah yeah if there's any one of

[01:00:44] those movies that i'd like to revisit it's the mask i'm looking at his his credits here and what's interesting is from this sitcom which was 84 yeah until yes he did some other movies until this

[01:00:57] his kids are old but his what you would call his huge splash yeah where we all learned that this is like a person who exists and he became the star that he became was as fenture a pet detective

[01:01:11] ten years after so it was a slow burn for him like he did a lot of stuff like he did um in living color juggas remember that well that's where he really actually i think i kind of became

[01:01:25] unleashed based on right i take it back where he really in living color would be that's where it really became known for his physicality and his wild overly animated like facial expressions

[01:01:38] like that's where he became known for being very zinny and that's so i i can remember now like just saying promos of him on that show that our marshal bill yeah exactly fire marshal bill and then

[01:01:52] from there he kind of like blew up again in the 90s so so this is i so that's partly my mistake for well yeah i see and they built the asfenture is a movie built around yes i i um i blame i mdb

[01:02:07] for this thing that they do where they put a tv show in the chronicle chronological order based on when it finished not when it started so in living color comes after asfenture a even

[01:02:22] though that's not actually true when he was on yeah so um yes in living color he did 1204 episodes of in living color starting in 1990 and went straight from that into asfenture and then

[01:02:36] the mask was the same year as asfenture so that's like oh wait a second it's just a mask wait asfenture the mask and dumb and dumber are all 1994 yes there yeah it was wild

[01:02:54] he did all three of them one year is such a classic that's crazy yeah like dumb and dumber is like just just a classic and then okay and so then he was in Batman forever in the next year asfenturo

[01:03:11] when nature calls the next year 96 he was in cable guy my personal favorite cable guy yeah 97 he was in liar liar 98 the true man show so every year basically he had a huge year 94 was like his

[01:03:27] year and then after that he had like be basically like a movie or two a year and then you know i loved when he kind of turned to the more serious roles like it's always eternal sunshine of the

[01:03:40] spotless minds yeah incredible masterpiece um yeah but i i have to say like cable guy one of the most underrated movies that one wasn't big for me no no it really never was

[01:03:58] I uh it's a big swing I was a big care I was a big carry guy though but yeah cable guy wasn't one of the ones for me well i i but you know i like all the ones that i mentioned but that's

[01:04:12] amazing that in one year those three huge movies come out back to back to back and he was basically set up for life you know pretty much yeah he has mostly retired um yeah he said about a couple years

[01:04:27] ago that he was retiring but he apparently seems to like playing the role of Dr Robotnik in those sonic movies so i guess he's he's come out of retirement to do it again um whether he'll stay

[01:04:44] in retirement uh i i i think he's just probably somebody he'll take take a year off every now and then and show up yeah back on our screens i mean that's a lot of them a lot of them they just need to be

[01:04:56] they just need to be given the right amount of money and the right amount of like control and like it's gonna be an easy job will give you twenty million dollars like all right i'll come out of

[01:05:08] retirement i'll have either of you i've not seen this but have either of you seen this show this brief series cup kidding i never watched any video yeah i did it's good it's dark um he's really

[01:05:20] good on it yeah it's a good uh it's a good use of his talent sure i i love him as a dramatic actor i think honestly like he is you know he's one of the funniest comedic performers that you can get but i do

[01:05:36] think that he's such an honest uh dramatic actor that i i love like you know i love true and show it's one of my absolute favorite movies same with the channel sunshine in this

[01:05:47] spot was mine you know i mean i love shit like the majestic i think is a lot better than people ever gave a credit for oh the majestic i like always forget about the majestic yeah it's really good

[01:05:59] it was really trash when it came out yeah thank you i want to know something i've always like this i don't know if i ever saw it oh we're gonna have to watch it Aaron uh i can see you really

[01:06:09] liking it it's very uh it's a it's a great love letter to the old Hollywood interesting um yeah i mean and he's he's a local guy he's from mark a monetary market or new market new market on teria baby yeah near where i grew up

[01:06:29] nowhere near where we grew up i spent a lot of time you were we live now yeah i spent a lot of time in new market as a kid yeah i spent a spent a

[01:06:39] spent a week in there one night so i feel like we need to check in with mr producer because this show feels like it's exploring a world that he would have some intimate knowledge of

[01:06:55] so yeah do you have to i'd like to i'd like to get his views on this oh hello okay uh i was going you know just uh kind of rushing around over in a bit of a it a bit of a hurry today oh

[01:07:14] hopefully the good kind of busy a lot of meetings oh no you know i just gotta get joddy over to as taekwondo dojo oh well okay so today we were talking about the duck factory the duck factory

[01:07:29] ah that brings me back you know that one was just burst in with talent that Jim carry guy he really seemed like he was gonna be huge he sure was i mean such a shame you know uh for him you

[01:07:42] know i really real big shame big shame what do you mean i mean here go guy knocks it out of a park with a complete winner like that you know not to mention he's a huge hit on the stand-up scene

[01:07:55] you think Hollywood would be all over the guy well i mean he he's one of the biggest comedic actors of the 90s you know in living color ace Ventura the mask Ventura Vitch what you really

[01:08:12] don't remember any of those kid i i can't say any of those are really ringing a bill no i mean even just glancing at his IMDB page in the old is what do you beat about i m d b kid i i got to tell

[01:08:29] you were talking a lot of nonsense today you've never heard of any of these things uh she's kid i mean you know the it's a tough industry i mean you know i can't keep up with every little

[01:08:40] thing that comes out you know maybe there's a website every now and then i that i don't see maybe a movie what all this joddy is joy you know he's honking the horn he's been sitting in

[01:08:51] their front seat for like 30 minutes get excited oh he's getting his yellow belt today well you know not the whole belt you know it's like the white one with the little yolo strike bob i soon enough

[01:09:02] he's gonna get that yellow belt oh sure i gotta go i'll talk to you next time how did that guy work for so long without knowing what IMDB was or any of the box office

[01:09:16] results between 1993 and 1990 yeah this is so strange it's strange jim carry was i believe for a long time the highest like paid actor in Hollywood i am i am pretty sure he was yeah that that

[01:09:33] seems right that seems right i think uh yeah the luck to joddy on is uh yeah yeah yeah that's fun well do we either of you have any leftovers uh the only leftovers i want are the ones that i'm

[01:09:51] gonna eat in about four and a half minutes hmm well i have one tiny left over okay you have to have it at the very end of the second episode we watched when they're all celebrating their big wind

[01:10:08] this who was the woman who plants a huge kiss on him and i was like that's out of nowhere and weird die one of you got you got me is it chariou she seemed like him no Andrea maybe the dark hair

[01:10:24] dark hair yeah it's Andrea i was not paying attention at that point i was not paying attention at them so she plants one on him she plants a huge kiss on him which seems like the way he reacts to it

[01:10:39] feels like he was her initiation of it and it felt to me like oh if this was intended to be episode two they're trying to set up some sort of okay we'll never want to yeah just a note to

[01:10:53] networks just the leave episode two where it was it's probably more important than you think yeah they saved their show and then this show got canceled so a little twist of irony there at the end

[01:11:10] i don't know if they knew that at the time but anyway speaking of ends of shows that wraps things up for us bye everyone thanks remember waterbed's never forget yeah waterbed's that was a show is created and hosted by Bryn Bernie Andrew Barry Helmer and myself Aaron Yager

[01:11:44] it's a production of radio gizmo in Toronto Canada subscribe rate review and share follow us on Instagram and tell your friends about it that was a show radio gizmo