Home
Creators
Search Recent Missing Random
Posts
Search DMs Popular Hash Lookup Tags Random
Importer
Import FAQ
Register Favorites Keys Review DMs Logout
Community
Telegram ThePornDude
Home Creators Posts Import Register Favorites Logout

069 - The Birdcage (EXCEPTION - Turbulent Brilliance) (Patreon)

Published:
2026-06-05 07:00:08
Edited:
2026-06-18 21:39:15
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:
⚑ Flagged

Downloads

  • THOB_TB_EP_068_The_Birdcage.mp3

Some files exceed the archive size limit and weren't saved: 1 file. Please note these limits are in place to keep this site running long term, without costing a fortune. You can favorite the creator though, certain milestones increase the limit.

Content

Happy Pride month!! What better time than to do a long-promised Exception, Mike Nichols' comedy masterpiece The Birdcage! We talk about many of the film's beloved moments, Nathan Lane's currently cementing status as one of the living greats, whether this is Robin Williams' best performance, gay resentment towards Val, extras in g-strings, GLAAD Media Awards, Bessie Jackson being an insensitive cow, and more!!

Comments

Alfred Soto

Miamian here. South Beach isn't Miami! Speaking as the child and grandchild of Cuban-Americans, Miami retiree scene consists of MAGA Cubans.

Erin Hardy

I've been waiting forever for this episode!

Dre

When is your Philadelphia episode dropping on … like it’s the 2000s?

Rob

“Happy Pride!” [blasts EVITA] 😳😱

Chauncey Telese

I really wish they had a better Val. It wouldnt change his behavior but a better performance wouldve helped.

Jenny Maurer

I just wish Nathan lane wasn’t working in a Scott Rudin production nowadays. Dude is. A good actor and seeing him make ill judged career decisions sucks

The Deadly Bulb

Love y’all to death but there’s a lot of nostalgia-glasses old men shouting at clouds in this one. Perfectly reasonable for newer audiences to be a little off-put by the Val thing, or the 17-year old thing, or the Hank Azaria thing imo!

Laura Kitchings

Happy Pride! Great episode! An episode where you just point out the best parts of a queer movie (with some nods to the problematic parts) would not be unwelcome. Also living in a community where as a late Gen Xer I am on the younger side, an early bird drag show feels normal.

Dorothy B

I despised Val from the jump, thinking he was an ungrateful POS. Of course, he’s supposed to be young and the adolescent brain is capable of staggering self-absorption (mine certainly was), and we now know that the brain isn’t fully developed until one’s mid-20s, so my problem now is the canonical age of the couple getting married.

Elliott Sainsbury

The way I cackled at the ‘Joker making two gay tribes fight each other with a broken pool stick’ Globes actress lineup

Liesl

The Day of the Dolphin also came up on a recent episode of Last Week Tonight and now I feel obligated to seek out this insanity.

Dorothy B

Yes, yes, yes for Elaine May’s screenplay. The line, “I made you short?” is one of my all-time favorites, arguably sharing the top spot with the perfectly delivered, “I can’t help you with that,” from Carol.

Big Fat W0RLD

I would pick option Z, where Dianne Wiest is a 3 time Oscar winner for Hannah and Her Sisters, Bullets Over Broadway, I Care A Lot, and a nominee for Little Man Tate.

L S

Chris really hates Adam McKay, in a way that feels weirdly personal. I really liked the Big Short, but I’m a big dummy who’s still kind of unclear on exactly what happened in 2008, and appreciated having Margot Robbie explain derivatives to me while she soaked in a bubble bath.

Churesa Teruck Schulbron

“Mother Coleman Ensemble” might be the single greatest turn of phrase ever uttered on THOB, and there’s a lot of competition! Happy Pride y’all! 🏳️‍🌈

L Strwbrry

not only did sondheim write “you are the dream and i the dreamer”, williams’ and byranski’s duet is to “love is in the air” (the opening of forum that was cut in previews) and starina in her leopard ensemble sings “can that boy f…oxtrot” (cut from follies)

hansen9j

This was a GD delight

Rachel Pepe

Telling Lies in America is surprisingly good and non-sleazy, it’s semi autobiographical of Joe’s memories growing up

Michelle Brosius

I rewatched this movie after listening to the podcast! And I love it so much more. I also think Dianne Wiest should be considered for her work in Parenthood. She's terrific in that movie and a more complex mom. Side note: Unless this was dubbed after the movie came to streaming, they say very clearly that Barbara is 18. At first, Louise says, "But you're not yet 19!" and later, at the dinner with Armand & Albert/Mrs. Coleman, when Armand asks what they think about these kids getting married, Senator Keeley says, "Well, she is only 18". Granted, Barbara does say they've been sleeping together for a year. So she was 17 and Val 19 when they started their relationship... Not saying that they still aren't way too young to get married, but 18, almost 19, is more palatable. Honestly, I was 17 and dating a boyfriend who was a freshman in college. My parents said nothing... I think because it was just a two-year difference and statutory rape didn't occur to them at the time, because our relationship was consensual and there was no power dynamics issue (like, he wasn't a teacher, which happened to a girl I went to high school with).

Harry WS

the IKWYDLS25 queer representation is chase sui wonders makes out with gabriette in a bus station bathroom. that’s literally it.

Derek Bowman

Fun episode for Pride month! Saw this in theaters yesterday, finally Fathom events did a Pride movie. I appreciated Chris' mature take on the material that hasn't aged well. I think it's perfectly reasonable to both find Azaria hilarious and say that in 2026 he shouldn't have played that role. I think shutting down the conversation and saying you won't even entertain that line of thinking is unhelpful and immature.

Seth

great episode!! the last novelty song was “Thrift Shop”

Jamesconrad

Loving the episode (not finished yet!.)l But I kinda wanted more to the conversation about Val. Joe was pretty passionate about not wanting to hear people criticize the character to the degree we do, going so far as to compare it to people present day unable to tolerate people with different politics. I'm not sure that comparison is correct. I was an out gay 30 year old in NYC when the movie came out (in fact I was art director at Out Magazine, and we featured Williams and Lane on our March cover! ha ha). We were just barely starting to come out of the plague of HIV and we all personally knew people who were murdered by it. I say murdered because of the policies and lack of funding by the actual Republican Party and we had finally started to turn that tide with the election of Clinton a few years before. Val is nothing less than the privileged straight white male who may or may not have been our school yard bully, but certainly could be believed to vote republican, the very party allowing a virus to wipe out communities they just didn't care about.So I can understand the triggers for myself and a lot of others with his character. Did the Fockers have to completely hide their differences to their future daughter in law's family? Again, I'm not trying to rattle anyone, just believed it deserved more conversation. Happy Pride!

No Way

I saw this movie for the first time yesterday. I didn’t like it for all the reasons Joe bitched about people not liking it for, sorry. The Goldmans were also annoying and it just wasn’t very funny.

German Munoz

Loved the episode and how much you guys enjoy the film, but I have to say when I rewatched it after listening to the podcast, I found a lot of it upsetting. I guess I'm part of the people that Chris mentions might be triggered by this film, because of my own past and my own baggage. I just found the way the gay couple were treated by everyone to be appalling and especially how Nathan Lane's character Albert is treated. Being effeminate is seen as being kind of freakish and all the comedy at his expense just felt really uncomfortable for me personally. I think this is still a great film, I remember enjoying it a lot in the 90's, but seeing it now has shown me how much I've changed since then.