Live From The 405 Podcast · Luke Allen, Stand Up Comic & Comedy Writer

Live From The 405, Episode 540

·1 hr 23 min·5 clips

Luke cites several recent box-office flops to argue studios keep making movies nobody wants.

1. Live From The 405 Podcast episode 540 centers on Luke Allen’s mix of standup anxiety, movie-business complaints, and sketch-shoot logistics. 2. Luke Allen is the host, and Joe Manente, Mr. Donald, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Ted Sarandos, Dave Ellison, Danny Trejo, and Milla Jovovich all matter to the episode’s arguments. 3. The episode asks whether Luke wants to keep doing mic nights, whether Hollywood should keep making politically loaded films, and whether his sketch production can keep moving fast. 4. Luke starts by apologizing for missing the previous week and says he did not have enough material because politics had crowded out his usual complaints. 5. He says he has been doing standup again at the Fourth Wall cafe in East Hollywood, hosted by Joe Manente, whom he calls the “Mitzi shore of the off-Broadway standup comedy scene.” 6. He describes the 20-mile motorcycle commute from Marina Del Rey to East Hollywood as taking nearly an hour in five o’clock traffic. 7. Luke says he has been more relaxed on stage lately, but he still has not had a full set that “knocked them dead.” 8. The central standup story is Joe Manente offering him a three-minute cold open at a Friday-night show starting at 7:30. 9. Luke says he declined because he was not ready, did not have enough material, and still felt pressure whenever a show was involved. 10. He says the refusal made him feel like a “pussy” and that he spent the rest of the night beating himself up over it. 11. Luke then moves to movie news and says Netflix will not buy Warner Brothers after all, which he frames as a relief for theaters. 12. He argues that Ted Sarandos does not want movie theaters and compares him to Judge Doom from Who Framed Roger Rabbit. 13. Luke says Paramount, with Dave Ellison and Skydance, would be less threatening to theatrical release because those deals still leave room for movies in theaters. 14. He then turns to World War Z 2 and says he has seen signs of a renewed push to get a sequel made. 15. Luke recalls that David Fincher was attached around 2018 and says China and North Korea hurt the first film’s prospects by limiting supernatural content and overseas profit. 16. He next discusses Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride, saying the movie opened with a review embargo and then landed around 36% on Rotten Tomatoes. 17. Luke says Gyllenhaal promoted the film as a feminist statement about toxic masculinity and women’s oppression, and he says her voice now sounds like Hillary Clinton’s. 18. He argues that studios keep alienating audiences with political promotion, citing Snow White, Ms. Marvel, Billy Eichner’s gay rom-com, Top Gun 2, and The Protector. 19. The tone is a loose solo rant that jumps from self-doubt to industry grievance to practical behind-the-scenes filmmaking details. 20. Listeners who like ranty Hollywood commentary and behind-the-scenes indie production will get the most out of it; listeners wanting calm, concise structure probably will not.

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