S2 Ep.24 Comfort Watch

Comfort Watch - Transcript

[JAMIE] If I had a nickel for every time I rewatched a show or movie for comfort, I would be rich. [Karli chuckles] Or as Andy Dwyer might say, like, fill my gas tank all the way up rich.

[KARLI] Ooo, that's big stuff these days.

[JAMIE] I'm like, I'm not thinking I would be wealthy, but I would definitely have some jacket money. [chuckles] We'd all be a little richer if we just would get a nickel every time.

[KARLI] For sure.

[JAMIE] Percentage wise from what you watch to what you comfort watch. Do you feel like it's more comfort?

[KARLI] More comfort than like new stuff?

[JAMIE] Yeah.

[KARLI] Oh, absolutely. [both chuckle] I feel like it's probably like a 95 to 5% ratio.

[JAMIE] That sounds like a good ratio to me.

[KARLI] I—I'm happy with it. It's working well.

[INTRODUCTION MUSIC PLAYS]

[JAMIE] Welcome to The Act Break, where we're talking about all things story.

[KARLI] Take a break from your creative endeavors and hang out with us.

[JAMIE] Have a little simulated human interaction.

[KARLI] Because internet friends totally count.

[INTRO MUSIC FADES]

[JAMIE] Welcome back to your favorite comfort podcast where we talk about a little bit of everything story and a whole lot of nothing anything else. I'm Jamie Redact. I've been binge watching shows since way back in the day where you actually had to get up and change out the DVD in order to do so. And this is my co-host.

[KARLI] I'm K.C. Ash, Karli. And I remember being anxious for my comfort watch to finish rewinding in the VCR.

[JAMIE] Again, give it to me again.

[KARLI] Give it to me again.

[JAMIE] Be Kind, Rewind.

[KARLI] That's right.

[JAMIE] What started out as an idea to talk about the history and evolution of sitcom as wisely developed into a discussion on comfort watching. I still might do a history of sitcom thing someday, maybe at TEDx, whatever.

[KARLI] Yeah, yeah.

[JAMIE] Sometime, sometime, I'll do that.

[KARLI] For sure I'll go, I'll go to that TED talk. I show up to your TED Talks every week. [laughs]

[JAMIE] Just keeps coming back. Mostly because they're free.

[KARLI] I like that free sh*t. Sitcoms usually, for a lot of people, are part of their comfort watch. But I also think that there are lots of different kinds of comfort watches, especially for those of us who didn't grow up with sitcoms. [chuckles]

[JAMIE] I know I was gonna ask, because I know that you didn't grow up with television, television, and you didn't know about episodic television until later in life, I assume that a lot of your like, formative years comfort watches will be movies. Like you said that whatever VHS tape that was. [both chuckle]

[KARLI] It depends on the period in my life, because I feel like my comfort watches have also evolved over time.

[JAMIE] Yeah.

[KARLI] When I was a kid, it was Land Before Time. As an adult, I'm like, that is depressing. [laughing] What is wrong with me?

[JAMIE] Yeah, I haven't seen that in so long. But I remember watching it dozens of times when it was over and over and over again. What do we mean by comfort watch, because here at The Act Break, we like to give definitions and explain things, even though they kind of already explained themselves.

[KARLI] You're welcome. We're so helpful.

[JAMIE] What's a comfort watch, Karli?

[KARLI] Comfort watch is that thing that you go to, when you feel in your feels—whatever those feels might be—to comfort you to make you feel better. It's something that you return to over and over again, you don't get tired of the story or the themes, it gives you a sense of satisfaction, knowing it's going to deliver something.

[JAMIE] You're gonna enjoy your experience your time while you're there.

[KARLI] You're gonna enjoy your experience. Whatever it is that you're going for, you're gonna get that and you know it, and it's great.

[JAMIE] It's just like, something you watch. That's comforting. You're welcome, everybody. [Karli laughs] Like you said, your comfort watch will evolve throughout your life. Formative years ones that are probably comfort watches, because you were a certain age, you were at a certain point in your life, and then that's when you saw them and they kind of stick to you. For some of our generation—and I will say that that's the millennial, elder millennial, if you want to be specific, but especially Gen X—that would be like Star Wars, Back to the Future, Hook. Those are—

[KARLI] Stop reading my list, okay?

[JAMIE] Sorry. [chuckles] But especially like, I know for my brother, who's a little older and—even though Star Wars is like one of those formative things for around our age—it's kind of a little older than us, that's like really when it hit for those people.

[KARLI] Yeah, especially when it launched it was really big for a lot of people on that was it before we were around.

[JAMIE] I feel like the equivalent for our generation is Harry Potter. Because when Harry Potter came out, I was the exact same age as Harry Potter. And then I got to watch those, one every year, we were always the same age.

[KARLI] You grew up with him. Yeah.

[JAMIE] So you grow up with them. It's like imprinting. [both laugh]

[KARLI] Like a little duck.

[JAMIE] When it comes to like the ones you watch at a certain age, if you had like a friend who'd never seen that, watch it now as an adult. It's just it doesn't it's not the same.

[KARLI] Like the kids comfort ones, you mean?

[JAMIE] Really anything that like I would say like younger years, like pre-14, Back to the Future was a big one, just because it was playing so often in our house.

[KARLI] I mean, I don't know, though, because I didn't watch Back to the Future until I was an adult. And I love it. And it's a comfort watch for me. So I think it depends.

[JAMIE] It stands up pretty well to not being just for kids or just for adults.

[KARLI] Right. I don't know. But like, I still enjoy animated movies like Hercules, I can watch over and over again, even as an adult and not get tired of it. Like that one, I think holds up really well. I mean, I don't really think that even things that are made for kids are necessarily out of the running. For standing up or holding up even if an adult sees it for the first time. I think it just depends on where you're at in your life when you watch it.

[JAMIE] And it also depends on the person.

[KARLI] Absolutely.

[JAMIE] I had a friend who had never seen The Lord of the Rings. But she knew how big it was. And we watched it. And she was like, well, now I'm glad I've watched it. But it didn't—it didn't impact her the way it impacted. So many of us, like, stayed up until midnight to be at the first screening and like watched it on the big screen and became like a whole part of it. Those sorts of things is what I'm thinking about.

[KARLI] That's the thing with comfort watches, is a lot of times it's tied to emotions or experiences that you had at the time of watching them originally, that you want to recreate and repeat, and by watching them again, it brings those things back up for us. And so that—it tracks.

[JAMIE] That's really a facet of the comfort watch is that nostalgia comfort watch. Those things that evoke those emotions that are directly tied to it. Yeah.

[KARLI] Mhmm. I am curious what if you had some other like childhood ones.

[JAMIE] When it comes to the childhood one time to remember what I watched as a kid and what I watched a lot, and it was funny that I'm like, I haven't seen some of them in years. So it's like they're not comfort watches anymore. Like The Chipmunk Adventure where they are on a hot air balloon race around the world. And I'm like, I haven't seen that for years. Like I don't even remember things about that. But I remember watching it a lot of times when I was a kid.

[KARLI] A lot of times.

[JAMIE] Land Before Time.

[KARLI] Mine was Darkwing Duck and Rescue Rangers. Those were big for me. DuckTales. [Jamie makes the intro sound to Duck Tales theme] Yeah. It's been really fun with the boys introducing them to some of my childhood like comfort watches, and some of them have gone off like gangbusters, they love them. And then some of them they're like, eh. And I'm like, how dare you not like that as much as I thought you would?! [laughs]

[JAMIE] My I remember it wasn't for me, but for my brother was Ghostbusters and Ninja Turtles.

[KARLI] Oh yep, I was majorly into Ninja Turtles, especially Michelangelo. I had a Michelangelo—I mean, it was Ninja Turtles—but it was a Michelangelo birthday party. I think I was eight. My mom made me a cake and everything. It was awesome.

[JAMIE] Formative years.

[KARLI] Yeah.

[JAMIE] And then there's less... exactly nostalgia evoking, but more like the familiarity and the comfort of satisfaction. And to me those are like rom-coms, comedies and adventures, where you're gonna be like, I want to laugh a little bit. And then to know everybody is going to be happy in the end. These are the types of movies you could put on when you're sad. But then you could also put on like, just when you want to do housework, but you don't want to feel like you're alone. I want to do this and that, but I also want something comforting.

[KARLI] Right. Yeah, I don't watch rom-coms for that, actually. Like, I'll watch a rom-com from time to time. But I really want it to be more comedy than romance and like I just... but yeah, I definitely have movies that evoke that like everybody's going to be fine in the end thing.

[JAMIE] Yeah. Yeah, I wanted to just cover a couple because I feel like depending on your preferences, different things will fall into this category for you. For me, like the romcom that come to mind are like kind of older ones. While You Were Sleeping, You've Got Mail, Sabrina. Those are ones that I'm like, oh, yeah, I could watch that, have that in the background, say the one liners when they're saying them. All of that.

[KARLI] Right, Sabrina is the exception to the rule on that one. Both the older one and the newer one. Those ones I can quote verbatim [chuckles] the whole way through. So yeah.

[JAMIE] It's a good one.

[KARLI] If I'm going to watch them usually it's an older one. But yeah.

[JAMIE] With that one, it becomes that being with those characters starts feeling like being with a familiar old friend. You know, what you're getting into. That can be comforting.

[KARLI] Yeah, my actual—the rom-com that I do play, which it's, I don't know, it's it is rom—rom-com, but it's also like, I don't know—it's Stranger Than Fiction. So that, that's one that's a comfort for me, Princess Bride, you know, those things. Yeah, I can watch those on a loop for sure.

[JAMIE] This is probably where sitcoms slot in for me, because I have a bunch of sitcoms that like me and my husband will just watch. When we finish one, we watch the next one, and then the next one, and then we start again from the beginning. I didn't look up the statistic, but like in the year 2020, The Office was the most streamed show on Netflix before it was—before Netflix lost it.

[KARLI] Ripped the rug out from underneath you.

[JAMIE] Like we got to blame Peacock for that, but it just kind of showed like, everybody wanted—everybody wants to laugh. Everybody wants to have that familiar feeling sometimes, and sitcoms lend themselves to that very, very much so. But I won't wax poetic about sitcoms for long.

[JAMIE] I like that you brought it up though, because it is definitely a facet. And for me, it's Parks and Rec.

[JAMIE] Yeah, I have a whole list I'll talk about a little later. [chuckles]

[KARLI] Oh, that's fine.

[JAMIE] I have nothing if not dozens of comfort watches. I think that your percentage was probably close to what my percentage is. [laughs]

[KARLI] Yeah, that's that tracks, based on all of the conversations we have about, what are you watching right now? Mmm, same stuff different day. [chuckles]

[JAMIE] Yep. So with that category of like the familiar and the satisfying be where Grey's Anatomy falls for you?

[KARLI] Not anymore. You know it's really funny like I—there are shows that I used to watch on repeat that now I'm struggling to rewatch that I don't know, something has shifted for me where Grey's Anatomy used to be a comfort watch for me, now it makes me anxious. [both chuckle]

[JAMIE] Even though you know what's gonna happen? Yeah, you're like, nope, nope, nope.

[KARLI] No more. No more trauma.

[JAMIE] And there are bears everywhere. And the bears have knives. My favorite quote.

[KARLI] Ah, Callie. There—I feel like there's comfort watches but then there's also like comfort characters within.

[JAMIE] Oh, yeah, for sure.

[KARLI] And I feel like Callie is a comfort character for me. Like Calliope Torres. Comfort character.

[JAMIE] Yeah, that makes perfect sense. Because I'm like, I would never consider Supernatural a comfort watch by any means. [Karli laughs] But I would definitely consider Dean Winchester, a comfort character. [laughs]

[KARLI] Absolutely. And that tracks. Comfort watches can also include things that leave you with a certain emotion or like a sense of hope, especially I think at the end, where you walk away going like "yeah, positivity."

[JAMIE] It's a feel good movie and inspirationing. [laughs] Inspirationing. [Karli laughs] Yeah, it's inspirationing, folks. I love to be inspirationed.

[KARLI] [laugh] I have been inspirationed by Secret Life of Walter Mitty. And I was trying to think of other ones like that, because I know I have some, but my brain just like drew a big blank with that one. Do you have others that kind of have that like feeling for you?

[JAMIE] Secret Life of Walter Mitty is like the ultimate example I think of this. But some of the other ones. I feel like they don't have to be as as inspirational as that or as transcendent. Because one of them is, that I think of as Couples Retreat.

[KARLI] Oh my god. Yes!

[JAMIE] And it's a rom-com. But at the end, you feel so good. And so part of what I think it takes to be like that inspirational feeling is it's that the characters have come through like a bunch of hard or difficult things. And they've come out the other side with hope. And you can do that in any type of story.

[KARLI] Yes, absolutely. I do agree with that. And I—and I love Couple's Retreat, so.

[JAMIE] Couples Retreat is one of the weird like random movies that's one of our comfort watches. We've watched it dozens of times. Another one that's like a deeper existential movie, but has a sense of hope is Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind.

[KARLI] I could—I couldn't—couldn't do it. It was too it was too much for me. [laughs]

[JAMIE] What? In what way? Elaborate on that.

[KARLI] Emotionally overwhelming.

[JAMIE] Oh okay. Well, I feel like that makes sense. But it's like it's very much one of those stories where it's like they go through a lot. But at the end, it ends on a note of hope, even though it is a little bit ambiguous.

[KARLI] That tracks.

[JAMIE] Yeah, just any movie that leaves you with a sense that like the world is not only a dark place, that change and transformation are possible.

[KARLI] Fantasia gives me that feeling. Like watching Fan—like there's not really like a story arc—it's just animated stuff happening to music and, like, it leaves me with a feeling of like inspiration.

[JAMIE] Yeah, I feel like that's—a word I've been using a lot lately is like a feeling of transcendence. Art makes you feel like some sort of way. More is possible. There's more out there than like, our own personal crap.

[KARLI] Yes. And I think that that's why I thought of Fantasia when you said all of that, so yes.

[JAMIE] Yeah. As far as things that I would have that I would put in, like that category. If I look at my little list thing here of things I wrote down, I kind of feel like Make Happy. This comedy special by Bo Burnham is that for me. Where it's a I mean, obviously, there are stories in it. But it makes you feel like things are bigger than just me. And, and art exists and is doing good things.

[KARLI] Cool and interesting things for sure. Do you have comfort actors or filmmakers? Where like, you know, if you watch a movie of theirs, you're going to enjoy it. And so you look for movies with them in it or movies that they've made.

[JAMIE] Yes. Yeah, I do. I do have the the top one I thought of was Steve Martin, if there was like a Steve Martin movie, and we're like, hey, we've never seen this, but it has Steve Martin in it. We're like, okay, we'll try it. Another one would be Tom Hanks. There are a few movies that I didn't care for that he was in, but it was more about the movies than him. And if I think about it, I'm pretty sure they were all David Edgar's books that were translated to movies and I didn't cared for the books to begin with. So I'm not blaming Tom Hanks. I would never blame America's dad.

[KARLI] Never. You never blame Tom Hanks.

[JAMIE] Oh, and Jackie Chan. I watch anything with Jackie Chan in it. So there are definitely a few where I'm like, oh, that's like it's just nice to see that person because I've grown up watching them my whole life. And it's very much like an old friend. Even though that sounds kind of crazy. And like, they're real people. I would never accost them in real life. But, but they are definitely comfort actors.

[KARLI] Right. I feel that way about Harrison Ford, Brendan Fraser, Morgan Freeman. Rachel Weiss. [dramatic whispers] Oded Fehr. [normal voice] The Mummy. The Mummy is a major comfort watch for me.

[JAMIE] I don't see her—she's not—doesn't work as much. Minnie Driver. I really like Minnie.

[KARLI] Oh, I love Minnie Driver. I loved, what was the one? "Grace got Bob's dead wife's heart!"

[JAMIE] Oh, Return to Me. That is also a comfort watch.

[KARLI] Yes, Return to Me.

[JAMIE] It's so good.

[KARLI] I haven't seen that in forever. But as soon as you said Minnie Driver, that is the one that I love her in the most

[JAMIE] David Duchovny and Minnie Driver. I want to watch that movie now.

[KARLI] Oh, it's time to watch that again. It's so funny. I—there are certain rom-coms for sure that are staples for me and you keep bringing up some that I have completely forgotten about because I don't watch them very often.

[JAMIE] It blew your, I don't watch rom-coms for comfort, out of the water. [laughs]

[KARLI] I know but I like it. It's good. It's good to remind me of stuff that I don't remember. But most of the ones that I thought of aren't necessarily like feel good happy, like they're adventure or action or whatever. And I—like those ones are my major go to comfort watches like Men in Black, and The Mummy, and Indiana Jones and those sorts of things are major comfort watches for me. Like Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark we had on LaserDisc. And I remember the exact moment in the movie where we had to flip the LaserDisc. [laughs] Like it's just it's one of those things that it's like even if I'm watching it, streaming it or whatever. I'm like, and here's where we flipped the LaserDisc.

[JAMIE] Forever ingrained in my memory. Yeah, there's um, when me and my husband want a comfort watch, we always use the term where you go, a funny one. We watch probably 90% comedy And a lot of them aren't even, they don't even necessarily have to be like amazing movies. It just has to be something that's funny.

[KARLI] Yeah, it just stuffed that—Clue with Tim Curry, nothing wildly...

[JAMIE] Wildly good. I would definitely put that in the good category. [laughs]

[KARLI] I didn't mean it wasn't wildly good. I was just saying that there's nothing like it doesn't leave you with like a transcending feeling but it makes you feel good. And it's great. And it's a good time. Yeah, absolutely. I was going to ask you, if there's any movies that put you in a particularly creative mood, like you watch it, and you go, I want to go write something or I want to draw or they just make you feel like re-inspired to do something. And I'm curious if there's one in particular or couple that you go back to for that feeling when you're feeling creatively stifled?

[JAMIE] For sure there are those. I will sound like a broken record. But um, Edgar Wright. So Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Avatar The Last Airbender. Those are the first three that come to mind where it's like, you feel inspired because they're done so well. They're just so good. If you ask me for like, I just I can give you a million things. I have—sh—like shows I can do movies. I could do sitcoms I could do—

[KARLI] There's lots of examples, and it's tough. I just wanted to give us the space to like talk about as many things as possible. [Jamie chuckles]

[JAMIE] Yeah, we definitely have that.

[KARLI] I get that I—Guy Ritchie films for me.

[JAMIE] The Man from U.N.C.L.E. The new the Guy Ritchie, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is—I love that.

[KARLI] Yeah, any of them. For me. I love how fast paced and like engaging the story and the way he does storytelling. It's just—it always makes me feel inspired, and excited. Also creatively two really kind of out there movies that you're like, why does that inspire you creatively? I don't know. I like them. Van Helsing and Warcraft. They make me want to write stuff.

[JAMIE] Van Helsing is a good movie.

[KARLI] And not necessarily in that category. But like, they make me want to go write stuff and actually be a creator.

[JAMIE] Yeah. And that's what the point of art, isn't it? Is to inspire and like evoke emotions. It's a beautiful, beautiful thing we're talking about. Yeah, I mean, I just want to make sure we just really beat a dead horse and tell people all the things that they should be watching and that we're watching. Anything else that you haven't mentioned?

[KARLI] I mean, like comfort watches, that wouldn't be comfort watches for anybody else maybe? [laughs] You know, like Deadpool, things like that.

[JAMIE] If that's, if that's what you're into. I have some like newer ones. Always Be My Maybe with Ali Wong and Randall Park.

[KARLI] Oh, I loved that one.

[JAMIE] I have watched that like four times since it's been out. As well as Set It Up, which is with Taye Diggs and Lucy Liu and I'm like these are just like rom-coms but they're so good.

[KARLI] I have recommended Always Be My Maybe to like everybody that I talked to. Even with like, there's no segue like just immediately like have you watched Always Be My Maybe? You need to.

[JAMIE] And the other Netflix thing that has become a comfort watch that I never would have seen coming and I just keep on watching it is Bridgerton Season Two.

[KARLI] Oh snap.

[JAMIE] I don't know why. I've watched it like three or four times.

[KARLI] That one surprised me. I mean, I figured you would enjoy the show overall.

[JAMIE] It's funny because I'm like I have not rewatched season one at all so it's very character based and I think that that's what—

[KARLI] It's all about that slow burn.

[JAMIE] Anthony Bridgerton is a comfort character for me and then also, Sharma. So it's like the double.

[KARLI] She has become a comfort character for me too. She is phenomenal.

[JAMIE] I don't even know if I'm going to keep watching the show. But it's that [laughing] one seaon. So comforting.

[KARLI] You know what another one just popped in my head. Clueless.

[JAMIE] [sighs] A young Paul Rudd, beautiful Alicia Silverstone. So many jokes.

[KARLI] Do know what time it is young lady? A watch really didn't go with my outfit, daddy.

[JAMIE] Think about Clueless. It's more of an intellectual comedy than people give it credit for because it's self aware. Like they're literally using a whole trope against itself. It's so good. But you still get character growth.

[KARLI] And a retelling all in one.

[JAMIE] Exactly. That's a good one. I haven't watched it for a while.

[KARLI] You could just keep going and going and going and I feel like we could go for another fifteen minutes just listing more of our favorites and recommendations and just keep...

[JAMIE] Pick one show, I will say show [Karli mildly hyperventilates] that you're trapped on an island, this will be the only thing you have to watch. For the rest of your time on the island.

[KARLI] You didn't prepare me for this.

[JAMIE] I didn't. I didn't, I didn't prepare myself for this. If it makes you feel any better.

[KARLI] Popped in your head. Okay.

[JAMIE] I am looking at my list.

[KARLI] What's yours?

[JAMIE] It's very difficult to choose off this list. And it's also like, how long the show goes for will give you more. Ultimately, I would have to say The Office because it has the most episodes of anything on my list. [Karli chuckles]

[KARLI] Because if you're trapped on an island, you need more.

[JAMIE] Exactly. You don't want to pick a show that only has two seasons. Because then you it's like really on a loop. You want to have like a journey. But I want to say Community, but The Office is longer.

[KARLI] Yeah, I can see that. Now. I feel like there's all of all of the all of the shows that I have ever watched have left my brain. My current fixation is Battlestar Galactica. So I'm gonna go with that one.

[JAMIE] That's a good one because it's pretty long.

[KARLI] It's got en—several seasons, I enjoy it as a whole. I'm happy with how it ended. So I don't feel like I would end up rewatching it over and over and over again and get mad because I hate the ending.

[JAMIE] Yeah, yeah, that's another part of it. You never would want to pick something that as an ending that you're not happy with.

[KARLI] Right.

[JAMIE] [coughs] Supernatural. [both laugh] That show has a sh*t-ton of seasons, but also I fast forward half of every episode.

[KARLI] Ohhh.

[JAMIE] Because I don't care— All right. Do you have a recommendation for today? I mean, it was all recommendation but, but let's do it anyway.

[KARLI] I mean, this was a recommendation strong episode, but I’m, I'm gonna give you another one. This is a childhood favorite of mine that I think stands up still. It's ridiculous, and goofy, and off the wall, but it's got some fantastic people in it. And that would be Space Jam. The original.

[JAMIE] Oh, I haven't seen Space Jam in a long time. Cool. What a great episode where we just mentioned everything that we love over and over again like we do with every other episode. [Karli chuckles] The thing I want to leave people with the most is never feel bad for just comfort watching stuff you've already watched.

[KARLI] Mhmm. You need the serotonin in your life. Exactly. And if anybody tells you you don't you don't need that in your life. [Jamie laughs]

[JAMIE] Immediately cut them out, change your number, or your locks, [Karli chuckles] whichever applies. Watch something comforting this week. Just be—be do something that brings you joy.

[KARLI] Comfort watch, and then tag us so we can see what your comfort watching.

[JAMIE] Hashtag comfort watch.

[KARLI] That's right. Tag us at @theactbreak_podcast, which is where you can find us on Instagram. And you can go to our website scifiohmy.com/podcast. All of the links for everything is in the description of this episode. Take you to all the places for the newsletter and the social media, Ko-fi. If you got a minute, you could leave us a review. Follow us so that you get notifications when we drop new episodes, which is every Thursday. Thank you so much for listening, guys.

[JAMIE] Have a good one.

[KARLI] Bye.