#that one clip of patrick looking under his house yelling WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE

[spr0utsies]

[wild-aloof-rebel]

y’all asked for a recap of the austin up close and personal shows, so i’m gonna do my best to give that to you. it was pretty similar to the other shows (which already are similar to things you can find in other interviews) so there isn’t a ton of new info here, but here it is anyway. under a cut because it’s gonna be long (and my immense apologies to people on mobile for whom we all know this won’t actually include a cut):

the show begins with the recap clip package from before s5 aired. i was a little sad to see they hadn’t updated it to include any new stuff, but it’s understandable i guess. even though i’d seen it before, did i start crying as soon as it started playing anyway? absolutely. was it amazing to be in a room full of people cheering for david and patrick’s first kiss? fuck yes.

dan and eugene come out on stage first for some father and son shenanigans. eugene jokes that dan is a big longhorns fan, to which dan replies that he doesn’t know what that is. they laugh at both shows about various sections of empty seats, even though the theater is supposed to be sold out. eugene jokes that he came up with the idea for the show while dan makes Dan Faces at him. dan says that they’ve been drinking frosé at the hotel all afternoon. eugene talks briefly about how proud he is of dan, and during one of the two shows you can basically see dan trying to shrink back into his leather jacket and hide--it’s so fucking cute how badly he takes compliments. (also, inserted side note that dan looks incredible, as usual, and i have to commend his commitment to his aesthetic for wearing a leather jacket in 80+ degree weather). and then they introduce the cast--noah, emily, annie, and finally catherine, who for good and obvious reasons gets a standing ovation at both shows.

the discussion starts with eugene and catherine talking about filming waiting for guffman because it was filmed in lockhart, texas, which is part of the austin metro area. they talk about eating a lot of barbecue during filming, and catherine says that that restaurant had a huge mural of like, bloody butchers on the wall, which was of course horribly unappetizing. from there they move into talking about all the couples they’ve played. dan asks if they have a favorite aside from johnny and moira, and they both agree it’s gerry and cookie from best in show. during one show, eugene tells the story of how he and christopher guest came up with the two left feet gag, and catherine jokes that moira’s backstory is similar to cookie’s, in that she has a trail of ex-lovers who consider their time with her to be the best sex of their lives. then they sing “god loves a terrier”

next they move into audition stories from annie, emily, and noah. annie talks about the bad spot she was in before the audition (during which emily cracked up, as is tradition for telling this story)--house burned down, $500 in the bank, blown her first screen test, and considering changing careers--how she read and tested for both alexis and stevie, and how it took 2 1/2 weeks for dan to call her back after her screen test, during which time she of course came to the conclusion she didn’t get either part. and dan when he called, of course was... well, dan, and left her hanging for as long as possible before asking finally asking if she wanted to play his sister. (he defends himself by saying punk’d was popular at the time, and he thought it would be funny.) emily talks about her similarly bad spot before her audition--divorce, no jobs, $800 in the bank--and the rumor that she took her top off during it. dan jumps in to clarify that in reality, she had a great audition and instead of saying thanks and leaving the room at the end, she sat down on the sofa, pulled the collar of her sweatshirt up over her head, and began rocking back and forth saying “that was awful, that was so bad, oh god...” dan also points out that her taking her top off would have done absolutely nothing for him, lmao, which then leads to noah joking that the first thing he did in his audition was take his top off. (I LOVE THEM) dan says noah was “underprepared” for his audition, to which noah argues that he prepared a lot--learned his lines, thought a lot about the character, etc.--but he didn’t watch any of the show, for which dan apparently still holds a grudge against him. he says dan also gives him shit for not having seen paddington 2, and dan reveals the ultimate travesty that noah has also not seen pretty woman.

for the next segment, each actor talks about their character. eugene talks about playing the straight man for once and how that differs from all the other roles he’s played. emily, during the second show, feels the need to clarify what he means by “straight man” since there are other connotations to that phrase, lol. 

there’s a brief moira clip package, and catherine talks about the origins of moira’s voice/pronunciation/vocabulary, dropping into the voice to refer to it as “mementos of her world travels” that she “bestows as a gift on the less travelled and less educated [which has about sixteen syllables in it]” as “an amuse bouche of what it’s like to walk in her givenchy shoes.” she also jokes during the second show that it’s a good thing dan didn’t make her audition to play moira because if she had come in with that voice/inflection, they would have thought she was having a stroke. dan asks her if she has a favorite wig--she doesn’t because it would be like asking her to choose her favorite “bébé”--but she does talk about how much fun it is to wear them in ways they weren’t intended, including as a hat, a look she refers to as her “director’s beret.”

annie talks about the influences of the kardashians, lindsay lohan, and the olsen twins on alexis’s speech and mannerisms. she talks about her vocal fry and how it’s essentially such a “lazy fucking way” of talking, as well as the origin of the alexis hands and how it came from the way they all hold their handbags. (her thought process: what if there was no handbag? and what if i turned my hand over? and what if i added another hand?) she also mentions that someone recently contacted her on instagram very concerned for her health because apparently her wrists being like that could be a symptom of some terrible disease. (she clarified that she doesn’t have any of the other symptoms lol). dan says it looks more like she was in a horrific accident, broke both wrists, and just decided not to get them fixed. annie insists that it’s actually very relaxing and that we should all try it before we fall asleep at night, lol. then there’s a whole conversation about the popularity of “ew david” and all the places it’s popped up--lapel pins, doormats, needlepoint, license plates--and annie says someone pointed out on twitter recently that she only actually says it twice in the show. [that’s actually wrong, she says it three times plus an “ew, no, david,” but the point still stands that she says it far less than people think she does.] dan jokes about how he didn’t realize when they wrote that line that people would someday be yelling “ew” at him when he walks by on the street.

emily talks about her similarities to stevie, starting with how they dress, and how much she loves just getting to sit behind the desk playing sudoku and solitaire all day. she says sometimes directors will be like, what if stevie was dusting in this scene? “why?!” maybe she wants to make coffee. “not that coffee!” and so emily stays happy and comfy behind the desk all the time, calling it the best job she’s ever had, and eugene confirms that hanging out behind the desk is indeed pretty nice.

dan asks noah about what it’s like to play basically the only sane person on the show. he talks about how interacting with the roses is a bit like watching a tv show or a family of aliens--it’s entertaining and you’re always waiting for what reference is gonna pop up next to what celebrity they did what with. he says that the day david walked into ray’s, for patrick it was like “discovering a unicorn.” he also mentions that one of his all-time favorite lines from the show is “it’s a general store, but it’s also a very specific store.”

they cover some fan creations, including the taxidermied rats that dan talked about on james corden, a couple of dogs dressed up like the roses, a planter with eugene’s face drawn on it, a little crocheted david and patrick, and a romance novel cover-style manip of david and stevie “behind the scenes” of the turkey shoot.

they talk a bit about cabaret, which is the only part of s5 that really gets discussed anywhere. noah and emily talk about how difficult the dancing was for the “money” scene (dan jokes that it was particularly difficult for emily since it didn’t consist of sitting behind a desk), how they both watched the video of the professionals doing it and thought it looked easy but that it was not. they talk about dan sending them for vitamin drips, and noah demonstrates a bit of the dance that they had particular trouble getting and that led to the choreographer trying to get emily even to just walk rather than doing the move and she still struggled. (here’s a brief video of that bit.) annie also joins in the discussion to talk about “willkommen” and how the choreographer was always so upset that they weren’t nailing the moves the way he wanted them to (her kick toward the end of the routine gets a special mention there), and they would just use the excuse of “well my character wouldn’t be a great dancer” to cover up for the fact that they couldn’t really do it lol. dan laughs about the fact that he wrote himself out of alla that mess.

dan asks noah to talk about his version of “the best.” noah says he knew how much the song meant to dan (they joke in one show about how dan is the kind of person who would hear the original in a club somewhere and beg everyone around him like “okay, but actually listen to the lyrics...”) and how difficult it was to figure out how to take something that’s so poppy and far from his usual style and transform it into something that would work for him. he talks about how dan finally texted him to ask if he could hear it, and he played it in his bedroom 17 or 18 times before finally sending dan one run of it and then didn’t hear anything back for like 4 hours. he jokes that at that point he basically is assuming he’s been fired. and dan jumps in to say that in reality he’d just been sobbing alone in the dark after listening to it and that you shouldn’t just spring that song on someone when they’re sitting at home alone marathoning downton abbey. noah says that what he thinks makes the scene particularly great on the show, however, is dan’s performance as david reacting to the song. dan then talks about the moment when moira reaches out to touch david’s arm and how that wasn’t scripted but was such a beautiful and important moment of support from a parent for their queer child. eugene then jokes that the scene would have been even more poignant if johnny had been included in it, and they argue over why he couldn’t have been there (he was back at the motel with stevie. eugene: “he could have slipped out for ten minutes.”)

dan asks everyone about their most memorable day on set. emily (along with contributions from noah and annie) talks in both shows about filming the cabaret scenes and how it was so great because it was the last day of shooting for s5 and they were in an actual theater with a whole audience to watch them and so it felt like a real, actual theater performance. they were rehearsing it up until the last possible minute, and they only got three takes at it.

in both shows, they talk about the junebugs from the filming of “surprise party” and dan a) not initially knowing what a junebug actually was and b) having a fear of flying bugs. (per dan, “so does nicole kidman. sue us both.”) they talk about all the takes that were ruined because there were so many flying around and how eventually one flew down dan’s shirt and he freaked out, which leads to eugene doing a reenactment of dan freaking out, complete with “fuck this fucking shit!” (the actual version of which you can of course watch in the s1 bloopers) eugene says he wanted to get t-shirts made that said fuck this fucking shit.

in the first show, eugene brings up the golf scene with johnny and roland and talks about the director yelling at them because they couldn’t stop laughing, take after take (which you can watch in the s3 bloopers). he jokes about how it ultimately didn’t even matter because “it’s my show.”

in the second show, catherine brings up the scene of moira and david trying to sell the allez vous products to everyone and how she couldn’t stop laughing because dan looked “insane” with all his tanner and his [intentionally] bad acting (again, s1 bloopers are your friend).

after all that, they play the multi-season blooper reel (which is great because i do always enjoy watching dan say “i never said i was bright, guys, just really fucking pretty” lmao). during both shows, annie and emily sit on the floor to watch it, which is super cute.

then there’s the audience vs cast trivia game. annie picks five audience members to come on stage and compete against the cast. i don’t remember all the questions dan asked, but between the two shows there was at least what’s alexis’s middle name? what does alexis call the mennonites who they get the peanut butter things from on the way to heather’s farm? what was the gift that patrick gave david on their first date? who was the person moira decided to perform a show about for asbestos fest (and a bonus point for the actual name of the show)? what does twyla put in glasses of champagne? what was moira’s character’s name on sunrise bay? and my personal favorite since i got the acknowledgement from dan for knowing the answer, what was the name of alexis and david’s nanny when they were kids? emily hands out t-shirts to the five audience members who played, and the prize for the audience “winning” is of course noah playing “simply the best” and he jokes beforehand that he’s been working on an acoustic arrangement of “a little bit alexis,” which noah, please, actually do the thing. (here’s a tiny video of him performing.)

the show ends with just a few quick words of thanks from dan. in the first show, he mentions that they’re filming the “sixth and final season,” which uhhhhhhhh does not get the warmest of reactions, which is probably why he doesn’t really mention it in the second show.

aside from the discussion of cabaret, there was very little discussion of s5. i think they’re basically still running the script from the shows they were doing at the start of the season, so i guess that makes sense, but it would have been nice to see a little more talk about it. in one of the shows, dan does briefly bring up annie having done both the song and the choreography for “a little bit alexis” herself, and he says they have more footage of her dancing and that maybe they might release some of it as a treat. and then he kind of realizes what he said and goes, “well i guess now that i said it we actually are gonna have to do it...” so maybe we have that to look forward to?

also since there was no discussion of the engagement in the first show, i submitted a few questions for the second show to try to get them to talk about it (some questions more direct than others), and dan did somehow manage to pick one of mine to read, which was asking noah what it was like having dan carry him up a mountain repeatedly. (i know we’ve heard him talk about it already in some of the bts videos, but like i said, some questions were more direct than others, and that was my indirect way of being like, binch let’s talk about what happened on that mountain lolol.) i actually missed the first several seconds of noah’s response because i was too busy dying about dan reading my question (if someone else who was there wants to fill me in, please do, lmao), but i think he made a joke about dan actually carrying him allllll the way up the mountain, and then more seriously he did specifically say that it was impressive for dan to do it take after take because “i’m not a light man.” he also talked about how they got up there and started filming them looking out at the scenery, and that turkey vulture just swooped so nicely right into the shot and circled back out again and how auspicious that seemed. (there you go, @jcams88, confirmation just for you, straight from noah’s mouth, that that they did not edit in the turkey vulture flying around back there.) unfortunately there was no further discussion of the proposal from there, but hey it’s at least a bit more s5 talk than we would have had if i hadn’t asked lol. all the thanks to dan for picking my question and at least giving us this much.

one other random thing that happens throughout the show and made me laugh a lot is that when annie or noah talks about something dan has said to them, they say it in their best impersonation of dan’s voice, and after they’re done, dan’s immediate response is, “okay, first of all, i don’t sound like that,” in the exact same tone of voice they were impersonating. as a running gag, it was solidly funny every single time. i love them all SO much.

[nr0r]

     Y’all I have no idea how to do this, so bear with me on this cause imma just ramble. Also, long post is long, so here’s a readmore (and a gentle reminder I need to CHANGE THE THEME ON BOTH OF MY BLOGS CAUSE OF WHAT IT DOES TO PICTURES UGGHHHHH)(I’ll do that after this)

     First off, can I just say Spongebob’s house is so adorable? Especially the curtains, since when did he get those?! It’s odd seeing him so tiny however... 

... and then normal:

               Yes folks, I’m that one binch who nitpicks at tiny animation crap.                       Prepare yourselves.

    I find it interesting that Squidward, of all people, the fucking drama queen that he is, is whining about Spongebob being a crybaby. Like, really dude? Really? Also look at how fabulous he is with his CRoiSsanT. God I love him. But realy quick tho... This episode has a LOT of fucking... tweening. My girlfriend @zeldamaysanartist told me that’s an issue in this season overall, and I’m not really surprised. They’re new to digital still, and won’t be used to it nor have the big fat budget they use and, well, abuse to an extent til like Season 9b I believe? I might be wrong. Yell at me if I’m wrong. But tl;dr: The tweening is so bad. Squid is just being pushed across screen, while being bopped up and down. Like, what gives man? We also see some awful tweening later in the episode, where you can TELL they’re animated in place... and then moved along screen. GROSS!!!

     Anyway, next scene is probably the worst in the episode to me??? I don’t know, I don’t like how Squidward yells at Spongebob like that. I mean, I get it, he’s a dick. Usually I’m the guy to convince some folks that he’s an asshole and all sorts of other negative traits that tend to get tossed away conveniently, but nah this made me fucking uncomfortable and I write this guy. Sorry not sorry, but I’m not a fan of this scene. Thankfully, like ripping off a strong band-aid, it’s over quick and the rest of the episode moves right along.

                        Coulda made a 42 joke here, but ya didn’t binch.

ALSO I wanna know why/how Squid got a hold of that montage. Like, what the fuck dude, are you stalking him? Ok ok I’m joking. But. Yeah. Also surprised Spongebob didn’t cry during the montage. He could have. He would have. You know he had the potential to.

       WHIP CRACK DETECTED Y’ALL. OH MAN.

     Also this has to be the cutest interaction in the episode. I just... love when these two display how damn close they are. They didn’t want to get off the phone, aw!!! I live for positive interacts between Spongebob and Patrick, and I can’t stand it when they make an antagonist outta Patrick, ESPECIALLY an antagonist outta Patrick for Spongebob. Bring back the wholesomeness that was season 1 Spongebob and Patrick, cause that was hands down the best version of Patrick in the series so far. I miss that positive relationship. I miss Patrick always looking out for Spongebob and actually meaningfully supporting him despite his shortcomings. I miss when the comedy centered around Patrick was due to his goof ups from his low intelligence, not from him being an outright douchenozzle. See, that was actually funny because you know he didn’t mean it, you know he meant well and, unfortunately, he gets both himself and Spongebob (and sometimes others) into a big fat mess that they have to overcome.

     That was funny, genuine, interesting and free of cringe and resentment from the audience. Thanks for coming to my TedTalk.

Also everytime Squid smiles like this I. Die. Gonna happen a lot in this episode though. God damn it Spongebob, that sleepover sounds fun! Too bad Squid’s a freakin’ wet blanket.

     NOT EVEN TWO SECONDS. WOULD YOU RELAX? YOU FUCKIN WEAPON.

            LITERALLY TRYING TO TALK ABOUT THE EPISODE OVER HERE. WOULD YOU RE-LAX?

     I’m not even gonna comment on this anymore. I’m literally just going to dump screenshots of this without commentary. The end.

     ANYWAY, moving right along. Now we’re at the part where. Squidward’s just. Casually in Spongebob’s house. I love this. My girlfriend loves this. We both agreed we need more of this. 

     It is literally cuter than this, which is pretty damn cute as is.

     Nitpick: Yo why is your tent not wrapped around his shoulder? Bad Squidward.

     Nitpick: JUST RE-WINDED THIS LIKE 5 TIMES. Squidward walks, and basically clips into his standing position. Like. WHAT. No I’m so serious, I swear, it just... skips to his standing pose when he gets from point A to point B. I... wowie. Digital animation has so much potential, but man the hiccups are real.

     Nitpick: AND AGAIN LMAO.

     This is adorable.

     Also, was that Bill?

     I KNEW IT.

This fish is actually him tho.

I can’t handle them...

     Sponge has got such a CUTE lil tea set, and dude Squid. C’mon. You pride yourself as a musician, but you forgot to BREATHE!? Sure he’s probably under pressure and comedy, but c’mon bud. Surprised he didn’t snap poor Clarey again, which explains why it sounds so damn bad.

     I live for times when he holds his tentacles like this. Live.

    I ain’t gonna say shit. I ain’t gonna say shit. I ain’t gonna say shit. I ain’t gonna say shit.

     Squidward’s such a bad liar guys. Damn wow. Damn.

     I AIN’T GONNA SAY SHIT.

     LET IT ALL OU- 

I AIN’T. GONNA. SAY. SHIIIIIT.

I dunno if I wanna joke about how defeated he looks or say...

     Art imitates art.

     My heart, but also

What a drama queen cry baby.

     Yeah ok this episode was great in my opinion compared to the rest of Season 7. Lots of good Squidbob TBH, Squid’s in Sponge’s home just casually and I love that. Spongebob’s such a cutie, Spongebob and Patrick have great chemistry on the phone. It’s great. Nothing’s too outrageously cruel except for that one tiny scene, and the only real downside is the delicious early digital animation errors and blatant tweening. Otherwise, this is one of the better episodes for sure out of this season and it gets a nice 8.5/10 would watch again.