Top Secret! (with Ed Helms)
5/21/20261 hr 16 min
Paul welcomes Ed Helms into the Unspooled booth for a deep dive into Top Secret!, the gloriously absurd 1984 comedy from ZAZ while Amy is away. Between stories about Meet Dave, Ed’s lost role as “Lieutenant Buttocks,” and a celebration of his history podcast SNAFU, the two make the case that Top Secret! may be even funnier than Airplane! or The Naked Gun — just harder to categorize. Listen to Ed’s podcast SNAFU here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/snafu-with-ed-helms/id1635374692 You can join the Unspooled conversation on Paul’s Discord at https://discord.gg/ZwtygZGTa6 Follow Paul and Amy on Letterboxd for more of their movie hot takes! https://letterboxd.com/paulscheer/ https://letterboxd.com/theamynicholson/ Paul’s book Joyful Recollections of Trauma is out now! Find it at https://www.harpercollins.com/products/joyful-recollections-of-trauma-paul-scheer Check out more of Paul's writing on his Substack https://substack.com/@paulscheer Episodic Art by Kim Troxall: https://www.unspooledart.com/ Learn more about the show at Unspooledpod.com, follow us on Twitter @unspooled and on Instagram @unspooledpod, and don’t forget to rate, review & subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or where you listen to podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsPaul Scheer· Host0:01
The year: 1984 But then one night the secret police broke into my house.
Speaker 2· Soundbite0:06
They tore me from my family, ransacked my laboratory, and brought me to this dungeon.
Speaker 30:11
That sucks.
Paul Scheer· Host0:13
The movie: Top Secret! [upbeat music] Hey, everybody. Welcome to Unspooled. This is a podcast about good movies, critical hits, fan favorites, must-sees, and in case you missed 'ems. We have covered the AFI Top 100. Now we are checking off movies from three major lists: Letterboxd Top 250 Films with the Most Fans, the IMDb Top 250, and The New York Times 1000 Essential Films. And we'll also be chasing our own curiosity as well. But while Amy's away in Cannes, I have invited a very dear friend to come and talk about a movie that's number one on his list. Uh, you might know our guest today. Oh my gosh, one of the best. He has been in hit shows like The Office and the Hangover series. We were in a movie together, uh, called Family Switch. But you should really get to know his podcast, SNAFU, where he unpacks stories of epic screw-ups throughout history and how these failures shaped our modern world. Please welcome Ed Helms. Ed, how are you?
Ed Helms· Guest1:23
I am so good, and I am so dang delighted to be here, and thank you for that beautiful, lovely, flattering introduction.