Episodes
Ep. 197 | Beatles ‘64 Documentary (2024)
George Harrison's tribute to Smokey Robinson, "When Smokey Sings", isn't just Rob Sheffield's favourite solo Beatles tune. The Motown legend, arguably best known for covering "So Bad", is a huge part of "Beatles '64", the Mouse's latest entry in the world of Beatles documentaries.
1964 is THE seminal year in Beatles history, so surely this Scorcese-produced doc provides a comprehensive look at the full year? Clearly, the talking heads are relevant and used sparingly? Obviously, this release comes in concert with expanded, cleaned up footage improving on what we all really want, a reissued "The First U.S. Visit"?
Our own Medved and (Mister) Roeper explore the highs and lows of yet another Beatles holiday gift, and along the way they ask:
📆 If Leonard Bernstein discusses "She Said She Said" in "Beatles '64", should Dave Grohl and Questlove discuss "Now And Then" in "Beatles '67"?
💿 Why did director David Tedeschi opt to open with a whispery YouTube cover of "All My Loving" over one of Tears for Fears' celebrated Depeche Mode covers?
📓 If this doc was trying to attract a younger audience, how come it didn’t include an interview with Matt Gaetz?
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Ep. 189 | “Daytime Revolution” Documentary (2024)
In 2003, The Redwalls, a really good band hailing from Chicago suburb Deerfield, IL kicked off their album “Universal Blues” by encouraging a “Colorful Revolution”; in a most Beatle-esque Banger fashion.
By coincidence (?), a mere 31 years earlier, there was a colorful “Daytime Revolution” as John, Yoko, and friends took over a week’s worth of “The Mike Douglas Show” - a.k.a. the guy all of us, if we’re being honest, initially confused/conflated with “The Dick Cavett Show”.
This new, soon-to-stream documentary examines these historic episodes, and had a brief in-theaters showing on what would’ve been John’s 84th birthday. Tony saw the film solo in Chicago suburb Glenview, IL, as T.J. handled the un-related, un-paid improv rehearsal many miles from his home - and even further from #GlenviewsFamousDawgPark. The result is a new-ish phase Beatles podcast, reproduced for streaming by Producer Casey. Roll up for this special UBP field trip, an aural journey (cue: “Faithfully”) of Tony documenting a documentary, as documentary commentary from T.J. documents Tony’s documentary commentary of the documentary's documentary commentary.
ALSO: The UBP’s Medved + (Helen) Roeper ask:
🔥🏡 Does a movie with too many talking heads stop making sense? Or does it get nothing but flowers? Is Wings Wild Life > Wild Wild Life? Sick Byrne, qu’est-ce que c'est?
⚾️📻 (Chicago guy - a Sox fan, but he doesn’t hate the Cubs; only Wrigleyville and their fans, and maybe he has a point): “How come the unique single mix of Steve Goodman’s “Go Cubs Go” - pressed, my friendt, on WGN Records! - ain’t been made available anywhere else since the original 45? Maybe Dean Richards will return one of my many handwritten letters and tell me what exactly woke WGN is trying to hide?
🥪 Would former American Idol Reuben Studard have been more successful if he’d been slathered in extra 1000 Island and better swiss?
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Ep. 187 | “One Hand Clapping” Film Screening
As Marla Gibbs (look her up, Boomer. Did I get that right?) once said, “there’s no place like home!” And she was obviously singing about Skokie, Illinois - home of a cookie cutter AMC Movie Palace so glorious, it rivals only Chicago’s famous Esquire Theater, now home to a shuttered Dallas-based steak chain. (#Progress)
Usually, Tony and T.J. only go on post-Bears game movie dates when it involves seeing the latest Marvel sequel to a Marvel sequel. (Turn up the volume on those explosions, projector man!) But a special field trip was made after a SEASON-TURNING BEARS WIN, to go see the limited, first ever theatrical release of Paul McCartney’s “One Hand Clapping”. Is the film better on the big screen than tucked away on the “Band On The Run” Archive Collection DVD? Does the music rock even harder in the theater? What’s the deal with popcorn prices these days, Obama? Tony and T.J. ask these salient and Soily questions, and also ponder from the backyard (of the theater):
📚😭 Is the Half Price Books in Skokie, IL this generation’s Tower Records? And if it is, is society in more trouble than we previously ever imagined?
🍿💩 Did “The Popcorn Kid”, the 1987 CBS flop about teens working in a movie theater, that T.J. used to videotape for some weirdo reason, ever have an episode about cleaning human feces from an exterior wall?
🍔🤮 (Angry Chicago Guy): “How come woke Tony don’t ever get no Ohio-based Red Robin Gourmet Burgers on Hulu/FX’s “The Bear”? Some Chicagoan, NOT!” (He laughs a little too hard at his own use of “NOT”, and begins to cough up Old Style from acid reflux. He vomits on his worn shoes. It’s quite sad, actually. His son doesn’t even call him anymore on Christmas; and after the hell he went through as a kid, damn right he doesn’t. And yet, this man needs help - especially after this White Sox season - and y’all laugh? Like your life is perfect? What do you get out of this abject cruelty? Maybe that’s a better question.)
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Ep. 178 | “A Hard Day’s Night” Film (1964) Part 3
The Untitled Beatles Podcast 60th anniversary celebration of A Hard Day’s Night is in full swing, all thanks to Producer Casey’s decision to have an open bar. It is a classic film after all and… oh great. Tony just shaved his head to resemble Gene Siskel and now T.J. is trying to squish into his childhood Q-bert costume. Cheeky! And while these pie-eyed faboons intercept every drink (and jam butty) intended for the Fabs, they ponder:
💿 Which agency would you trust to protect your 1984 mint condition Criterion AHDN Laserdisc: Paw Patrol, Moon Patrol, or Snow Patrol?
👃🏻Is John’s nose very?
🔕 If 10-year-old David Janson’s pal Ding Dong is in fact “a bigot”, does that mean we need to cancel George Harrison’s holiday nut rocker of the same name?
Today’s episode is also a public service announcement, brought to you by Mothers Against Drunk Podcasting.
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Ep. 177 | “A Hard Day’s Night” Film (1970) Part 2
All right, cool, so a lot of y'all like "Head", whether giving it, or getting it, on DVD. Fine! But without question, A Hard Days Night - like Jets Detroit pizza - is better. Because it has to be. #PizzaMarketingTruths
Tony and T.J. continue to explore this still-vital film and its unbreakable impact on pop culture, and also ask:
🌇 Why were The Jeffersons always movin' on up in such a Rush?
🎬 Is "A Hard Day's Night" to the 60's what "From Justin To Kelly" is to the 00's?
🧸 Is it time for poor Paddington to start a Hims subscription?
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Ep. 176 | “A Hard Day’s Night” Film (1970)
Head. Some would argue it's not just a married birthday treat, but also the greatest rock film ever made. Others, like the UBP, contend that the 🐐 is 1964's "A Hard Day's Night", now in color, only on TBS.
This incredible film has lived on at Beatlefest, every imaginable home video incarnation, and a few important theatrical rereleases. It remains the cultural pilar of the Fabs early worldwide domination. Sixty years later, It holds up impeccably well as a musical, a social comment, a madcap comedy, a damn-near documentary, and a fun excuse to hear pitched-down versions of Beatles standards and wonder if you're losing your mind.
Tony and T.J. are more mad about this film than Paul Reiser was about Helen Hunt. (And who says our references aren't topical and 💯 Beatley? YOKO freaking guest starred, fellow Beatle weirdos!)But they have a few other queries, tight a$:
🍺 Is the Heineken Beatles cassette from 1986 a good thing, or a dangerous prelude to U2 hate-gifting that bad U2 album to everyone with an iPhone?
📼 Is MPI Home Video a good thing, or a dangerous prelude to Calderstone, a corporate Beatles entity neither Tony nor T.J. fully understand?
🐖 Is Jewel merging with Mariano's a good thing, or a dangerous prelude to Sarah McLachlan merging with Piggly Wiggly?
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Ep. 169 | INSTANT REACTIONS: "Let It Be" Restored and Re-Released (1970 / 2024)
As Apple (and Etta James) promised, "At Last"; the original cut of "Let It Be" is available! Only streaming, no LaserDisc, you wackers Radio Shackers.
Speaking of LASIK, Apple's marketing team would have you believe the last time this film was seen was "54 years ago today". #WhenIm64Minus12Plus2
In reality, the last time this core, historically vital film was available was in 1981, but it struggled to compete with season 2 of "Bosom Buddies" and quickly fell out of print.
Tony and T.J., who played John and Paul in VH1's "Two Of Us", instantly react to the greatest this film has ever looked or sounded, and also, dig these ponies:
🦠 Does “Microbes”, from a forgotten/bad George album we all obligatorily own, make more sense on $40 Zoetrope vinyl?
💊 When Mal Evans plays the anvil, does George Martin take some Advil?
👮♂️👮♂️(Our sad, drunk Chicago friend, at the bar. It's 11:05 am in Bridgeport) "How come woke Michael Lindsey Boss Hogg didn't make the Beatles play the Benny Hill theme when the cops came in? And why don't Hawk Harrelson do games no more on SportsChannel?"
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Ep. 166 | The Birth of the Beatles (1979) Part 2
The Untitled Beatles Podcast is going to the top! What top? (Spoilers) THE TOP!
...The top of the podcast charts, bay-beeeee! Because it's time to review and dish deep 1979's lost-in-the-sands-of-time TV docudrama, "Birth Of The Beatles".
What makes this ridiculous, dated, Pete Best-biased movie such a fun watch? Is it gangster John? The music by Rain? The commercials by Mitsubishi? And speaking of really important Beatle stuff:
🌸🚊 Is the real tragedy of Stu Sutcliffe that he never lived to ride the CTA's Pink Line?
🧑🦰 Is the best Hall & Oates fantasy parody about the actor who played Cousin Oliver on the final season of The Brady Bunch, "Your Kiss Is On My Rist"?
🛳️ In Chicago improv parlance, is John to the Annoyance what Paul is to The Second City? (Angry Chicago Guy, from the other side of the bar, with Malort-stained eyes:) "And how come Tina Pohler don't accept my friend request on MySpace dont she remember me from the Improv Olympics alley? She too good for me now?"
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Ep. 165 | “The Birth of the Beatles” (1979)
1979. It was the Pete best of times, it was the Pete worst of times. In the 9 long years since the break up, there'd yet to be a major bio-pic about the Fabs, not counting than the rather obviously "Magical Mystery Tour"-influenced, "Jaws".
Enter Dick Clark, long before he was regenerated into Ryan Seacrest. Dick, with a little help from Pete Best, and a director who'd later work with Jabba The Hutt, created "Birth Of The Beatles"; basically the "Tune In" of its time. (Related: please don't sue us, Mr. Lewishon!)
The film aired repeatedly on American television for many years. T.J. grew up with it, via a VHS tape from ABC's Summer, 1980 airing. Tony discovered a different edit altogether, one which played in U.K. cinemas. Which begs the question: is this movie any bloody good?? We just might answer that, and also:
🥁 What's the best technical drumming in a film: the last scene of "Whiplash", or Pete Best's Cavern solo in "Birth Of The Beatles"?
💰 Which is the more controversial TV performance: Sinead O'Connor on SNL, or Eddie Money on "Fridays"?
🍻 (Angry Chicago Guy:) How come Channel 9 don't play "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" weekdays at 2 no more? And how come woke WGN let Tom Skilling retire when he's all I got left?
The drama, the humor, the excitement of (the great Wilco album) "Being There"; it's the #Untitled #Beatles #Podcast.
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Ep. 88 | Get Back - The Rooftop Concert IMAX Experience (A Very Special Untitled Beatles Field Trip)
This is a new phase Untitled Beatles Podcast...essential to the content of seeing the film, Get Back in IMAX was that Tony & T.J. each recorded their experiences driving to the theater; in comes the warmth and general nonsense of discussing the film together in a live bar performance, as reproduced for mp4 by Producer Casey. Also in this very special episode:
📻 Baby, if you’ve ever wondered, does T.J. wax nostalgic when his favorite sitcom actor leaves the material world?
📷 Which better suits the George Martin Orchestra’s “This Boy”: Sad Ringo (not living in a van) down by the river, or Tony’s musings on the Sgt. Pepper costumes?
🤦♂️ Do the Gab (and/or Abacab) Two know if one of the most influential figures in Beatles history is alive or dead? (Spoilers: Nope.)
Take that plastic flap off your mouth holes, slam an I-talian beef or two, and enjoy this inside look at a joyous, Tony & T.J. field trip to see this remarkable film together.
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