Yi’s stoned improvisations are considered excessive and unfunny, though giving another female character no dialogue would create a different problem; more development was needed. — Bill Simmons
Jeong’s aggressive doctor is also considered overacted and an unpleasant presence. — Craig Horlbeck
Justin Bartha and Ed Helms doing The Office at the same time are offered first and answered 'two for two'; Cooper is a no; Galifianakis is weighed against Due Date.
One host votes Galifianakis and is once again confused by the category; Todd Phillips is a hundred percent yes, six years removed from Old School with School for Scoundrels a miss in between and everything after this a big deal, especially when you make 70 million on one movie; Galifianakis probably too, at the peak of success and creative cachet.
Rob Riggle is a yes, having had a CBS sitcom; the Dan Band is not, since Wedding Crashers is preferred and this repeats it; Ken Jeong is a yes, or Community, and one host does not care about him.
Whether Vegas itself hit Apex Mountain in 2009, more than Sinatra at the Sands, splits the room one to one: one host says no but wants the conversation and would take Casino over this, noting Vegas makes more money than ever; this was right after the housing crisis started but before it demolished casino projects, and another says yes because Vegas is like pop music, ever replenishing for young people, though it was in trouble five years ago; Vegas is therefore not listed as a yes.
Seven names are on the list; Jeffrey Tambor as the father-in-law is not a heater, a subdued performance but always knowing Vegas will go badly, which sets off a bit about a host insisting he would be at his daughter's fiance's bachelor party; Rachel Harris; the doctor who has only one C, with 'get lost and buy a fucking map'; Brian Cowan (as transcribed), Heather Graham, Rob Riggle and Mike Tyson.
One personal vote goes to Rob Riggle; the award is defined as the biggest heat check, doing the most with the least playing time, like hitting five threes in ten minutes, and whether to take Riggle here or in Step Brothers is floated.
Ken Jeong should win even though the speaker does not like the performance, because he is doing a lot and really going over the top. — Sean Fennessey
The pushback that the award acknowledges something they like and that the integrity of the Dion Waiters Award is being undermined on the 103rd pod, answered with 'it's just good to examine what we're really doing here', gives way to agreement: Ken Jeong goes out like a Tasmanian devil taking shots and grabbing rebounds, almost Brandon Jennings-esque, and Dion Waiters would agree; Riggle is more Montrezl Harrell, the energy off the bench you really need, not Austin Rivers, and the movie vaulted him to another level.
The end-credits photo reveal now that everyone knows it is coming; the sequels; the surprise of the Mike Tyson cameo; the mystique of Vegas; Who Let the Dogs Out; Justin Bartha not becoming famous; Ken Jeong's crazy Asian stereotype; Ed Helms' glasses frames; Mike Tyson's potbelly
The end credits are argued as aged worst: ten years later it is hard to capture how funny the photo reveal was in the theater, with Wayne Newton, Carrot Top and Galifianakis getting blown ratcheting it up 17 notches; comedies are hard to end and this one sent people out saying it was the funniest movie they had ever seen, but now everybody knows it is coming.
The sequels have aged terribly and one host would rather pretend two and three did not happen; the makers more or less disavowed three as done for the money; two has moments, is pretty dark and is set in Thailand.
The surprise Mike Tyson cameo was a massive surprise and a marketing draw in 2009 and now carries no surprise; Tyson has acknowledged battling drugs during the shoot.
The mystique of Vegas has turned into something else, so commercialized that a movie like this now would feel like branded content and a partial money grab with strategically placed things.
Who Let the Dogs Out feels like ten years ago, a very literal case of aging badly, though they were already making it a joke, with the 'who brought this guy along' exchange recited.
Justin Bartha because he did not come out of this famous; Sudeikis or Gyllenhaal in the part would not have mattered since Doug is barely in the movie.
One host saw Bartha in the wild at a wine tasting around 2012, dating one of the Olsen twins, seeming really happy and thriving.
Another host and his wife saw him at dinner at the SLS hotel one table over with both Olsen twins, and then Galifianakis showed up, which made LA feel very weird six months after the movie; the four obviously became real friends, which may belong in what aged best.
The final one is called probably the winner: Ken Jeong playing up the tiny-dick crazy Asian stereotype, funny in the moment but not great, which Donnie Quack (as transcribed) wrote about on the Ringer last year; the fiancée accepting an extra night is held for nitpicks.
The homophobia is raised and shrugged off; there are a couple of lines you would be surprised to hear in a movie again.
An early aside proposes tabling the category because it would ruin what is fun about the movie, then offers Ed Helms' little rectangular glasses frames and a fat Mike Tyson whose potbelly could be fixed with CGI.
First nominee is the drive to Vegas, a fantastic five and a half minutes from the gas station stop through Galifianakis in the car to checking in at the hotel; Phil starts drinking as soon as he gets in the car, like the two guys at every bachelor party who get wrecked on the way there, and the others realize in the car that Galifianakis has 17 screws loose.
Waking up in the hotel room not knowing what happened is phenomenal: a nice camera move that follows a disoriented Ed Helms looking around, Galifianakis naked pissing next to a tiger he does not register for ten seconds, a chicken from nowhere, everybody sleeping on the floor and the woman sneaking out; a smart scene that sets up everything.
Brunch with Carlos the baby: Cooper's 'not at the table, Carlos' and the bit where he pretends to jerk off the baby hits one host's funny bone every time, so inappropriate it would never happen now; the hosts like that the baby is named Carlos and seeing him in the Bjorn.
From the Hollywood Reporter oral history: Galifianakis did the bit first with a doll while the shot was set up, Todd Phillips waited for the baby's mom to go upstairs and asked the dad, who answered that his wife would be gone for half an hour and asked them to do it in that window; it belongs in the conversation of all-time inappropriate throwaway laughs alongside Stripes and Caddyshack.
Further nominees: the stun gun scene, Tyson reviewing the security footage, getting the tiger out of the car with Bradley Cooper pretending to hump it from behind while calling it a beautiful majestic animal, the blackjack scene with the calculus floating in front of Galifianakis's face, and the wedding reception with the Dan Band and Ed Helms breaking up with his girlfriend, about ten minutes one host had forgotten the movie still had.
One host goes for the entire police precinct sequence, not just the stun gun but the payphone call, the kid taking a cell phone picture and the phone kicked out of his hands; it is called the funniest thing Rob Riggle has ever done, with 'in the face' recited.
Brian Callen's wedding chapel scene is added as an amendment to how he was treated on the Old School episode: the same character and Greek accent, greeting them as the craziest bastard he ever met, the first clue in putting the puzzle back together, plus the baby goat while he is on the phone pretending to be in Napa; the hosts think he never found the right role and that the Greek grifter should have his own series.
One vote goes to brunch with Carlos the baby together with the Bjorn elevator ride to the brunch, the speaker's favorite part of the movie.
About four weeks ago the speaker and his son were flipping channels when the movie came on during the drive, not as a planned viewing; the son did not see the closing credits, was dying laughing at everything Zach Galifianakis did, and also liked Ken Jeong's character. — Bill Simmons
