Ira and Louis discuss Emmy noms, Jen Shah’s guilty plea, Lea Michele in Funny Girl, Mickey Rourke versus Tom Cruise, Doja Cat DMing teenagers, and more. Plus, the absolutely iconic Isabelle Huppert joins to discuss her latest film Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, and her love of the cinema.

 

TRANSCRIPT

 

[AD]

 

Ira Madison III: Bonjour. *Speaks French* Keep It.

 

Louis Virtel: Bienvenue to hell.

 

Ira Madison III: I’m Ira Madison III

 

Louis Virtel: I’m Louis Virtel. Three disturbing things are back. That means, one, Ira’s accent. Two, Big Brother, which I did watch last night. And also Charlie Puth. We’re getting an album.

 

Ira Madison III: You know what? I’m not excited about two of those things.

 

Louis Virtel: Your accent better be one of them.

 

Ira Madison III: No, I’m excited about the album, but this is giving this but such a weird lead up to this album. Like the rollout has been giving like Katy Perry Witness.

 

Louis Virtel: Yes giving Normani coming up with her album title and then what came next was nothing.

 

Ira Madison III: My favorite was the same person tweeting at her each year. One year you’re sick, two years you’re sick, three years you’re sick. And that four years you’re sick.

 

Louis Virtel: The spirit of the I Know What You Did Last Summer killer hounding this poor girl trying to make an album.

 

Ira Madison III: I don’t know what to expect from the album. As I said before, I loved Girlfriend.

 

Louis Virtel: I love that song and it’s an eternal summer song. I love listening to it. It feels like it’s new even right now in 2022.

 

Ira Madison III: But none of the other songs sound like that.

 

Louis Virtel: Yes, I am concerned. Nonetheless that he is capable of producing an album the way like you think, that Dud Rooster or whatever can’t produce an egg. And then finally the egg happens. I’m a farmer. Did I not mention that? I’m really excited.

 

Ira Madison III: I can’t wait to read your almanac.

 

Louis Virtel: Oh, my God. It’s so good. The pictures. Yeah, me being like, Oh, the harvest. I hate it, girl.

 

Ira Madison III: Ah, I love a farmer’s almanac. Only because the wedding I’m going to in two weeks, my two friends Charlie and Gerrit, picked out their wedding date using, like, the almanac.

 

Louis Virtel: What the fuck? Are they hunting?

 

Ira Madison III: Because they want to have the weather. They wanted to see if the weather was going to be good, like a year and a half in advance.

 

Louis Virtel: And as you know, it’s 100% accurate when you look it up that way. Also, are they having it in the fucking barn? What’s the deal?

 

Ira Madison III: It’s an Oxford.

 

Louis Virtel: Okay.

 

Ira Madison III: Yeah, I don’t know.

 

Louis Virtel: Maybe it’s cute.

 

Ira Madison III:  London is notoriously wishy washy with this weather, so, you know, but good ol Apple tells me it’s going to be like, 80 degrees. So maybe we should be using Farmer’s Almanacs more

 

Louis Virtel: Okay. When I think of Almanacs, I think of how beneficial they were in the Back to The Future series. Actually that’s one of the few movies where trivia is an important plot point because he uses the information about when the Cubs win the World Series or whatever to his own advantage in the past. Anyway, I think about that kind of stuff.

 

Ira Madison III: Well, you know, my favorite movie where trivia is a major plot point.

 

Louis Virtel: Mean Girls.

 

Ira Madison III: I Still Know What You Did Last Summer.

 

Louis Virtel: Oh my God. Of course. It’s not the capital of Brazil.

 

Ira Madison III: And I’m also not excited about Big Brother being back because surprise, surprise, the house is racist again.

 

Louis Virtel: Okay. I actually don’t know the specifics of this yet because I watched the first two episodes and it was in the first few episodes of Big Brother, actually, a lot like Drag Race. It doesn’t get interesting until like seven people have been eliminated. And then there are actual social dynamics between the remaining power players that keep the game moving. But right now you’re just constantly being introduced to people and they’re nervous around each other.

 

Ira Madison III: Okay, well, the show is aggressively bad at live premieres, even though they continue to want to do them.

 

Louis Virtel: Yes.

 

Ira Madison III: Because it’s just people wandering in.

 

Louis Virtel: Taking their fucking time noticing that there’s a bed or whatever is in the house. And then Julie might go to the backyard. And by the way, it takes them minutes. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III: And I don’t want to watch someone I’ve known for 30 seconds play a competition. There’s no stakes there.

 

Louis Virtel: No.

 

Ira Madison III: I love like let us let the people move in. Give us confessionals. Like, let us know who the fuck these people are at first.

 

Louis Virtel: Right. Maybe give them, like a secret they have to keep or something. But if you’re just like literally choreographing that, they take a long walk to the backyard where they then stand there, which happened in the premiere. I don’t know what I’m supposed to be looking at. It took 40 minutes for them to stand in place to be like pieces on a chessboard.

 

Ira Madison III: So there’s this beautiful, like, black girl on there, Taylor, who is gorgeous

 

Louis Virtel: She’s literally in a pageant. She’s like a pageant contestant, right? She’s astoundingly stunning.

 

Ira Madison III: Yes. And people have chimed in online, like, who know her, like she’s like one of the sweetest people, etc.. Basically, what happens is these two, you know, flotsam and jetsam in the house like Paloma and Alyssa, I think those are their names, have decided they don’t like her, like mostly on mean girl behavior. But then that rippled into micro-aggressions from other people in the house. And it became things where it’s like, we need to backdoor her because otherwise she’s going to blow up and be angry and show her true colors. And it’s stuff like that where it’s like.

 

Louis Virtel: So you can’t hear yourself?

 

Ira Madison III: Where have you gotten this from?

 

Louis Virtel: Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III: The producers even had to release a statement to say that they have talked to the houseguests about microaggressions.

 

Louis Virtel: Wow. I mean, that Big Brother producers are stepping in to say we have consciences. Things have gotten grim.

 

Ira Madison III: I mean, I sort of remember writing an article about Big Brother years ago at MTV that was like Big Brother is Sort of the Series America Deserves. And it really does replicate real life interactions. And of course, the season after the cookout would have this.

 

Louis Virtel: Right. Right. My friend Andy, who won Big Brother about ten years ago, had a tweet where he’s saying this season really makes him cherish last season, which had, by the way, a lot of dynamic game players, which also.

 

Ira Madison III: It did.

 

Louis Virtel: Well, which was also a problem Big Brother constantly has. But they like they cast too many people that they thought looked hot at a bar or something who have no familiarity with the show. And then we watched them on air sort of like shrug, emoji, their way towards eviction in the fourth week.

 

Ira Madison III: It’s sort of disappointing, especially considering how good this recent season of Survivor was.

 

Louis Virtel: Right. Well, and of course, Survivor rarely has this problem because they attract a rabid and strategic kind of player no matter what. Whereas here, it’s just people who are good at sitting on couches.

 

Ira Madison III: There were like a couple seasons where they were casting just sort of like hot people who like to travel and those were flops. But for the most part, Survivor always gets it right.

 

Louis Virtel: Yeah. But nonetheless, Big Brother is is a problem. And we’ve talked about this for now, years on the show because it’s an addiction that is constantly fed. So three times a week, it’s on your mind. And even if you think the season is bad, you’re still getting a lot of it. So I imagine it’s what you go through as a soap fan, you know, you’re like, Oh, I hate all these storylines at the moment, but this is also just the life I live now watching this fucking show.

 

Ira Madison III: So yeah, that kind of is what happens at that, you know, Days of Our Lives, Beyond Saalem where Loretta Devine is on the show now, by the way, and she’s playing a angel in heaven. I don’t know why she took this job, but I’m sure Jacke must have been like, girl, it’s fun. It’s nonsense.

 

Louis Virtel: Right. Well, I mean, I bet Loretta Devine would like to diversify her, her Emmy nominations, she’s like, I’ve got whatever, 17 of the regular kind may as well get a daytime or two.

 

Ira Madison III: Speaking of reality, Mondays never start like this. I just want to point out. But I woke up Monday morning to the news that Jen Shaw from The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, as we’ve discussed on this show before, even you know who she is.

 

Louis Virtel: Right. Yes.

 

Ira Madison III: Pled guilty for wire fraud and like, you know, defrauding the elderly.

 

Louis Virtel: This will lead naturally into a conversation about the wonderful film I Care a Lot, which, you know, maybe it was. Is that like our network, the our oppression movie of of a generation.

 

Ira Madison III: That movie’s going to. Honestly given that it was a Netflix movie and a lot of people saw globally, I would not be shocked if like 20 years from now there’s some younger version of this show were two hosts are like, you know that movie, I Care A Lot. Iconic.

 

Louis Virtel: Because right now I actually am shocked I remembered the title. Yes.

 

Ira Madison III: Keep It. The new class will love I Care A Lot probably. I don’t know who’s hosting that show, but I don’t want to listen to it.

 

Louis Virtel: No. Right. Podcasts are hard for me. Sorry. I can just listen to music. This is.

 

Ira Madison III: Anyway.

 

Louis Virtel: This is me railing against the industry I’m a part of. Go ahead.

 

Ira Madison III: Anyway, this is just exciting news for me because this bitch has been saying that she’s innocent for like three seasons. The third season just finished where she was also proclaiming her innocence again, and now she just pled guilty, which means that when the season three drops, she’s going to be proclaiming her innocence the entire season. And then obviously the producers are going to have to flash forward to the premiere to Jen Shaw pleads guilty.

 

Louis Virtel: Right. Right. Yeah. I don’t envy the editors whenever things like this go down. I guess. Now Jen Shaw is at the bottom of our list of great celebrity Jens. And I believe if I ran VH1, there would be about 100 greatest Jens of pop culture that we could both do commentary on. And I want to say that right now, based on the memoir I just received, I am really enjoying at number one. Jennifer Gray. It’s a good memoir.

 

Ira Madison III: Okay. Okay. You know what? My fave, Jennifers, Beals.

 

Louis Virtel: Always, who, by the way, is a notoriously spiky interviewer.

 

Ira Madison III: Is she?

 

Louis Virtel: Yes. Yale’s own Jennifer Beals. I think Flashdance is not good, but I do think she is good. And I thought she was pretty good on the L-Word.

 

Ira Madison III: Mm. Well, you know what? We’ll reveal that in a second. But our guest today is also notoriously a spiky interview and surprise. She was fucking lovely.

 

Louis Virtel: I almost wish in a way we could be doing this part of the podcast before we talk to her so that you could hear how intimidated I was immediately. In fact, I was so intimidated. I said to her when we got on the zoom, I’m intimidated, which maybe placated her or annoyed her. I don’t know. You can never tell with her. But our guest today is fucking Isabelle Huppert. It’s fucking Isabelle Huppert. Imagine me getting the email. Okay? I mean, it’s. You’re okay. You’re Louis. It’s like virtual reality. No, you’re Louis. You get the email. Would you like to interview Isabelle Huppert? You spit whatever, whatever’s going on in your face, you spit it out. I’m like, it’ll never happen. Peace out. Lo and behold, they schedule it. I, I am just so intimidated. She’s in this new movie, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, starring Lesley Manville, which is sort of like a dignified British. Emily in Paris is what the movie is. Yes

 

Ira Madison III: What a description.

 

Louis Virtel: Yes, that’s what it is.

 

Ira Madison III: Is Lesley Manville the you love to play your game actress versus star. Yeah. Is Lily Collins the star version of Lesley Manville’s actress?

 

Louis Virtel: Wow. I mean, if that’s astrology, I now believe it because no, you’re right. I believe I’m a Lesley Manville stuck in a world of Leslie Mann’s. You know what I’m saying? Anyway, Isabelle is the adversary in this movie. She ends up having a past that sort of explains her behavior. But anyway, that this would be set up, like maybe the world’s greatest actress. Maybe maybe the world’s greatest movie star is just with us today. And anyway.

 

Ira Madison III: That’s, of course, why I opened this episode with my accent back. And I promise I show some restraint in talking to her. I’ll only use French twice.

 

Louis Virtel: You had some good questions. You had, I think, some of your best work.

 

Ira Madison III: Oh, thank you, Louis.

 

Louis Virtel: I know I can’t to hear a compliment come from me, it sounds all wrong, right? It’s like when I smile, it’s like Germans aren’t supposed to do that.

 

Ira Madison III: Yes, we’re overselling this, but we’re also not overselling this because she is a great fucking interview. Truly up there in our top five Keep It guests already.

 

Louis Virtel: Yeah. Had a blast with her.

 

Ira Madison III: And also I’m correcting my Jennifer to Jennifer Esposito.

 

Louis Virtel: What a notable choice, by the way. Bad day for Jennifer Aniston who did not get an Emmy nomination, but Reese Witherspoon did for The Morning Show.

 

Ira Madison III: You know what? Reese Witherspoon is just sort of weirdly omnipresent in a way that Jennifer Aniston is not anymore.

 

Louis Virtel: Right. Well, I find myself talking about Reese Witherspoon a lot because she’s, you know, one of these Jessica Alba brand people kind of, you know, so there’s this whole other sphere she connects to anyway. Will get all into all this in the show.

 

Ira Madison III: Oh, my God. Last question. What’s your favorite Jennifer Esposito role?

 

Louis Virtel: You know what I’m going to go with? A movie I haven’t seen since it came out, but Summer of Sam, which was a sensation at the time. And I remember really believing in the future of John Leguizamo.

 

Ira Madison III: That was a good movie. And, you know, I think it, um, it’s really sort of underrated in like Spike Lee’s filmography.

 

Louis Virtel: Yeah. Totally. And, and Mira Sorvino.

 

Ira Madison III: And Bebe Neuwirth.

 

Louis Virtel: Who, by the way, occasionally we’ll just fave a tweet of yours, which is the whole point of being on Twitter anymore. Like maybe Bebe Neuwirth will notice you.

 

Ira Madison III: Does she fave any of your Leah Michelle tweets?

 

Louis Virtel: I actually did not tweet about Lea Michele this week because I felt like the gay community, shall we say, handled it.

 

Ira Madison III: Okay. We’re going to start our episode because I don’t think there’s really anything else to say about the fact that Lea Michelle, I guess what is the opposite of running up that hill to make a deal with God?

 

Louis Virtel: Tumbling down that mountain to get with Satan or whatever

 

Ira Madison III: Did she shuffle down that sewer? Because the fact that this bitch went from obsessed, Barbara stan in her Glee universe and saying, like, every fucking song from Funny Girl on that show anyway. And then have the internet mocking her because Beanie Feldstein ended up playing Fanny Brice on Broadway instead of her and is now taking over that role from Beanie Feldstein. I don’t I don’t know how that happened.

 

Louis Virtel: Right. It’s one of those we’re straying from God things or towards I don’t know. But it is weird. Not only did she get the role, but it feels like there’s this new kind of collective oomph behind her. Like, Oh, you’ve you’ve waited it out, now you’ve deserved it. And it’s just, you know, it’s uncomfortable to root for Lea Michele in this way, given the, you know, alleged way she has treated people she has worked with. But

 

Ira Madison III: If only she were literate, I would want a self-help book.

 

Louis Virtel: Oh god.

 

Ira Madison III: All right. And once again, the Emmy nominations are literally rolling in as we are recording our episode. I love what it feels like we’re doing breaking news.

 

Louis Virtel: No, I feel like I’m combing the E! News ticker for the relevant information. I’m like, get past the part where, you know, Reese Witherspoon has turned 47 and get to the Emmy nominations.

 

Ira Madison III: This must be what Anderson Cooper felt like when he was watching the insurrection.

 

Louis Virtel: Right? Oh, I everything about us is exactly like him. Have I not said that?

 

Ira Madison III: Yeah. You know, my insurrection, of course, is any nomination for Inventing Anna. Anyway, we’ve got Emmy nominations and of course, Isabelle Huppert coming up on more Keep It. Imani State of Mind is the newest podcast to Crooked Media on this show. Psychiatrist and TV personality Dr. Imani Walker and co-host comedian Meg Scoop Thomas normalized the conversation about mental health through insightful and witty discussions about what’s happening in news, pop culture and our daily lives. Get real with your relationship with yourself, your parents, your friends, and so much more. Listen to new episodes of Imani State of Mind each Friday wherever you get your podcasts. Awards season looms once again. And since the television academy was so kind as to drop nominations in the literal middle of our recording session this morning, Keep It. Listeners are getting our exclusive first reactions in real time. Now, Louis.

 

Louis Virtel: Yes.

 

Ira Madison III: Have you signed up to be an Emmy voter yet?

 

Louis Virtel: Can you believe it? I haven’t. And all I do is serve at the television industry with my you know, with my rugged hands and farming equipment . I just reap and sow for them.

 

Ira Madison III: I joined the television academy this year. And I feel like you can too.

 

Louis Virtel: No. I think I’m almost sure I can. I don’t know what’s preventing me. Also, I have to say, I kind of want a little bit of distance from the awards, though I still want it to have a patina of Christmas magic to them. Once I start voting, I feel like all of us become jaded and cynical about them.

 

Ira Madison III: Mm. That’s fair. Okay, well, let’s get into the acting categories first. We have the outstanding lead actor in a comedy series, Donald Glover, Bill Hader, Nicholas Hoult, Steve Martin, Martin Short and Jason Sudeikis because of course, Ted Lasso is going to be nominated again.

 

Louis Virtel: Yes, I am psyched to see Martin Short, who I feel like is now going to be coming into his kind of Kennedy Center honors years, where we realized, oh, wait, there really was only one of you over the past 40 years, and we’ve always liked yout. We treat him with consistent reverence and admiration, but really there is truly not a second one of him. So I’m sort of happy. He’s happy and I’m very happy he’s having this renaissance alongside Steve Martin, who I think actually, is a good answer for best Oscars host ever. I think he’s exactly what you want the balance between fun but also cynical in a not overbearing way.

 

Ira Madison III: Hmm. I could go with that. I love Martin Short. Martin Short. I feel like is was more omnipresent, obviously, you know, when we were younger and then just sort of, like, filtered in and out of guest roles on, like, TV and in film. Like, I don’t know, like in the film Get Over It.

 

Louis Virtel: Certainly. Please. Yeah. You could just expect him at the movies all the time. I mean, whatever. And Father of the Bride. That movie wouldn’t be the same without him.

 

Ira Madison III: And Jungle to Jungle.

 

Louis Virtel: Jungle to Jungle. Let’s just talk about movies I accidentally rented six times. Because

 

Ira Madison III: That movie with so addictive, my sister and I used to watch that movie, I feel like, yes, from Blockbuster, like every fucking week. And I don’t know why. I don’t know what kind of choke hold this movie had on me, but Tim Allen taking in a child from, I don’t know, the, um, from Venezuela.

 

Louis Virtel: The choke hold Tim Allen had on us. Remember there was that time when he had both the number one movie in the country, which was the Santa Clause, the number one TV show, Home Improvement, and the number one book in America.

 

Ira Madison III: What was the book?

 

Louis Virtel: Don’t Stand Too Close to a Naked Man or whatever his funny book was. Tim Allen wrote a book, is the headline here and I am astounded to remember it.

 

Ira Madison III: You know so much about Tim Allen.

 

Louis Virtel: What’s going on with me?

 

Ira Madison III: Was this why is this why you didn’t see Light Year?

 

Louis Virtel: Right.

 

Ira Madison III: Where you protesting?

 

Louis Virtel: I was too. Yeah. I was too busy with Tim Allen at January 6th, or wherever the fuck we congregate anyway.

 

Ira Madison III: If you could still consider Atlanta a comedy series instead of just sort of existential musings that occasionally airs on TV every few years, I guess that’s why Donald Glover’s nominated. Also, they didn’t have any other black people nominated.

 

Louis Virtel: Yeah, it’s looking pretty white over there, though. Nicholas Hoult’s up for The Great. That’s very interesting. Once again, I think my favorite category this year is outstanding lead actress in a limited anthology series because you’ve got Toni Collette, Julia Garner in Inventing Anna, which we’ll be discussing that performance momentarily. Lily James in Pam and Tommy. Sarah Paulson in Impeachment, which I couldn’t sit through. Margaret Qualley in Made that’s a qualified and of course Amanda Seyfried in The Dropout. Who’s going to win that, Amanda?

 

Ira Madison III: I feel like Amanda. Hasn’t Sarah Paulson won already?

 

Louis Virtel: Yes. I mean, she won for People versus O.J..

 

Ira Madison III: Yeah, Sarah Paulson’s won already. Julia Gardner’s performance in Inventing Anna was the fourth worst thing about that.

 

Louis Virtel: Yeah. Besides kind of just the whole thing.

 

Ira Madison III: Yeah. I have not seen The Staircase yet, though.

 

Louis Virtel: Oh, my God. I really love Colin Firth in it. Tony, I enjoy. I sort of didn’t expect to see Tony’s head colliding with the wall so many times on this show. So you got to anticipate that. But Pam and Tommy, by the way, I guess I don’t really love the writing of Pam’s character in this, so I’m less inclined to give Lily a shot. It was just to me, it was more about the circus of them than the accuracy of them as people. So though, at the same time, regarding Julia Garner, maybe we should give her an Emmy, because if she really is going to be in this Madonna biopic, we need to soften all the trauma we can in the time we have here. Because, you know, Madonna sitting around texting her ass, being like, want to hear about how I knew Basquiat and stuff?

 

Ira Madison III: Hmm. Well, okay. I love lead actress in a comedy series because Quita is nominated for Abbott Elementary, which is the show of the year.

 

Louis Virtel: Maybe the only new show. Did we have anything else?

 

Ira Madison III: I mean, Hacks is isn’t exactly new again, here’s my problem with the Emmys too and with streaming now. I never know what season someone’s being nominated for.

 

Louis Virtel: Right. It feels like there’s a lot of stuff here that came out three years ago and things that came out 10 minutes ago. Wow. Sydney Sweeney, by the way, nominated for two different shows. Speaking of shows that came out forever ago. She’s up for the White Lotus and she’s also up for Euphoria. And also, I would just like the Internet to shut up about her a little bit. I find it drowning out my thoughts.

 

Ira Madison III: The Internet does love Sydney Sweeney.

 

Louis Virtel: Right. No, it’s it’s like a, a  convulsive like, we fucking love her. She’s so cool. It’s like we don’t have any cool celebrities anymore. Everybody’s too busy being relatable or something, so that’s what they’re latching on to.

 

Ira Madison III: I mean, there’s a lot going on here for people that I just love, you know? I mean, you’ve got Hanna Einbinder for Hacks. You’ve got Janelle James and Sheryl Lee Ralph for Abbott Elementary.

 

Louis Virtel: Of course.

 

Ira Madison III: You got Tyler James Williams nominated for Abbott Elementary and he was never nominated for Everybody Hates Chris. So this is a very exciting nomination for me.

 

Louis Virtel: Oh, and speaking of deserved nominations coming in out of the wire, finally, Rhea Seehorn for Better Call Saul. It was like Twitter’s job for three years to get the Emmy voters to notice this name. How good she is. Also seems like a rad person, so I’m really excited to see that.

 

Ira Madison III: I have not watched Better Call Saul. People keep referencing it on the new show that I’m writing and I’m like, Maybe I need to finally just sit down and watch it because I did love Breaking Bad and everything I’ve heard about Better Call. Saul tells me that I would enjoy it, but I don’t know. The process of sitting down to watch a new drama that is multiple seasons is stresses me out in the way that it didn’t used to before the pandemic.

 

Louis Virtel: Oh, well, also, just by the way, it’s like if you didn’t see the show, the Americans or something, it’s like, when will I sit down and watch hundreds of hours of really daunting but you know obviously fun entertainment but it’s just it’s it’s an extreme time commitment. You know, you’re just like you’re that you’re either give up your life to it or you move right along. You know.

 

Ira Madison III: I am excited for my boyfriend, Andrew Garfield, to be nominated for Under the Banner of Heaven, even though I have not watched it yet. Another thing that I’ve heard is great that I need to watch. And I mostly want to watch it because in high school, I was a Jon Krakauer stan.

 

Louis Virtel: Oh, I definitely had to read Into The Wild.

 

Ira Madison III: Into the Thin Air.

 

Louis Virtel: Into The Wild. Right. He did both of those. Right. I never read Into Thin Air. That’s the one about Everest.

 

Ira Madison III: Yeah. Into Thin Air was assigned for us in high school as reading. And then after that, I read Into the Wild and Under the Banner of Heaven.

 

Louis Virtel: Right. It did not inspire me to hike, I have to say. But also our girl, Marcia Gay Harden, nominated for best actress in The Morning Show. I mean, I feel like some people there should be like a coterie of readily available guest actors who have to just like Minutemen launch into a drama series when we need them. And Marcia Gay Harden is one of those. Like, if I need somebody to, you know, throw my dossier on a table, it better be fucking Marcia. By the way, I have to say, I got back from Fire Island, as you did recently. Is this a MAGA opinion? I prefer Palm Springs.

 

Ira Madison III: I think I like Fire Island more.

 

Louis Virtel: It’s not real. Mugginess is not relaxing. Nothing about me is begging for the tropics. You know what I’m saying?

 

Ira Madison III: Something about the ocean, the water, you know, like, calms me.

 

Louis Virtel: And I love the Cherished video by Madonna and the Wicked Game video by Chris Isaac. I understand the power of beaches. Otherwise, no.

 

Ira Madison III: Plus, as a person who cooks, I like Fire Island because you’re like, you’re cooking, you know, it feels like it feels more family and friend oriented than Palm Springs, which is which is similar. But I feel like it’s easier for everyone to just sort of like do their own thing in Palm Springs as opposed to at some point in Fire Island, like everyone does, like come together

 

Louis Virtel: Right. Yes. I love the chilliness and not cooking of. And I meant mental chilliness, physical warmth of of Palm Springs and the not cooking. So anyway, I won that argument.

 

Ira Madison III: Plus high tea. Low tea.

 

Louis Virtel: That’s fine.

 

Ira Madison III: Middle tea. Westworld tea. Middle earth tea.

 

Louis Virtel: North by northwest tea.

 

Ira Madison III: Tea is so much more enjoyable than hey, let’s go to Hunter’s.

 

Louis Virtel: I disagree with that. Okay. Quickly back to the nominations. I will say, it just feels this year like there are still only six TV shows in contention. The amount of people nominated for Hacks for comedy guest actress, and it includes Jane Adams, Harriet Sansom Harris, Goddess Phantom Thread. Need we say more? Laurie Metcalf In a role that I don’t know Laurie Metcalf needed to do and Kaitlin Olson I mean, that’s just that. And also like an in drama guest actor, four Succession nominations, drama, best actress, three iccession nominations. It feels like we’re a little starved for prestige. Prestige level things we want to reward right now.

 

Ira Madison III: Mm. Yeah. Um.

 

Louis Virtel: Holy shit. By the way, the amount of White Lotus nominations, there are five outstanding leads supporting outstanding supporting actress nominations and Limited Anthology. It’s Connie Britton, Jennifer Coolidge, Alexandra DADDARIO, Natasha Rothwell and Sydney Sweeney all nominated.

 

Ira Madison III: I can’t believe that Lucas didn’t get nominated for being rimmed on TV.

 

Louis Virtel: I think he taught the universe so much. This, with this and Fire Island. I believe there’s some rimming in that. Is they’re not?

 

Ira Madison III: Probably.

 

Louis Virtel: Yeah. If not, it’s on the cutting room floor and we’ll see it on the DVD. Important stuff that America needs to know.

 

Ira Madison III: Um, yeah. I mean, when you talk about prestige things, though, I’m just sort of like, whatever, you have TV meetings, right? We talked about these a couple weeks ago with Jenny Slate. You know, the generals, you go out and you’re always asked, what are you watching? Like, I feel like I used to be watching like, ah, watching Desperate Housewives or watching Mad Men, you know, like I was watching shows. Now I’m just like, well I’m watching Bravo.

 

Louis Virtel: Yeah, we’ve also.

 

Ira Madison III: Watching Better Call Saul.

 

Louis Virtel: Yeah, I wonder what that is. We’ve settled into our comfort zone.

 

Ira Madison III: Yeah, I haven’t seen Severance yet. Squid Game. I watched everyone watched Squid Game. Euphoria I watch because that is that become like that has become like a Sunday night ritual with friends. Um, Stranger Things. This is the nomination for season three of Stranger Things, which I thought was fucking great. And Succession obviously, runs in my life and I didn’t like Yellowjacket. So I guess I’ve seen enough of these, but it doesn’t feel like I’m watching enough prestige TV.

 

Louis Virtel: I think what you’re responding to is that so much, so many of these, with the exception of things like Yellow Jackets, you end up watching in a big burst or they’re released all at once. And so then the conversation about them goes away. Whereas, you know, it used to be with all of these TV shows, you watch them from September through May. And so you were on a journey with these shows, whereas now you just you you hammer them all down in one sitting and it feels less. You have to recall the moment you were obsessed with them, as opposed to continuously living in that moment. Jerrod Carmichael, nominated for a Saturday Night Live. I think that is a very qualified nomination because his monologue, the way he talked about the Will Smith slap that week. In a way.

 

Ira Madison III: Was the funniest joke about the slap.

 

Louis Virtel: Correct. He responded to a moment in a way that I’m sure felt like a pain in the ass at the time. Like, is this really going to be about this? Like what people even be talking about the slap three months from now? But he really contextualized that moment and introduced himself to America in that moment. I think that was a very tough double header.

 

Ira Madison III: Outstanding competition program is always interesting to me as I watch competition TV, but never most of these. I mean, I watched Drag Race and Top Chefs, and I think that’s about it.

 

Louis Virtel: Top Chef still going on, my god.

 

Ira Madison III: Someone is watching Lizzo’s Watch Out For The Big Grrrrls. I will not because I don’t like how girls are spelled.

 

Louis Virtel: Yes, that’s its giving riot girl. It’s giving alternative Lilith Fair era. I assume RuPaul’s Drag Race will win again. The Amazing Race. I guess that’s still on.

 

Ira Madison III: I don’t know where the fuck they’ve been racing during COVID.

 

Louis Virtel: The clinic. Stand in line.

 

Ira Madison III: Racing to the door to get DoorDash. I think maybe the other thing is that I’m just watching comedies a lot more. Like Abbott Elementary, Hacks, Only Murders in the Building, What We Do in the Shadows, Ted Lasso, which I do still watch as much as I make fun of it, I do still watch Ted Lasso. Hmm.

 

Louis Virtel: I will make one more comment. Uh, host for a reality or competition program. You can’t just be nominating all of the Queer Eye guys. Come on. They all say, like, two lines an episode, let alone all the people from Shark Tank who are also nominated. That’s not really hosting. They’re just simply on the show. RuPaul that I get. Nicole Byer. I get that. And also congrats to Nicole Byer and Padma Lakshmi that I understand.

 

Ira Madison III: Yeah, those are hosts. Okay. The others are merely hosting.

 

Louis Virtel: That’s correct.

 

Ira Madison III: All right. Well, those are those are Emmy noms, I guess. When Louis and I are back, we will be joined by an actress who I would describe as magnifique.

 

Louis Virtel: Mm. Classy.

 

Ira Madison III: Yeah. Isabelle Huppert will be right up.

 

[AD]

 

Ira Madison III: She is one of the greatest actresses working today. And if you are The New York Times the greatest, you could see her in Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris. We are thrilled to welcome to Keep It the iconic Isabelle Huppert.

 

Isabelle Huppert: Hello.

 

Ira Madison III: Hello. It’s such a joy to have you here. Louis and I are huge fans of yours, and we’ve talked about you many times on this podcast and your work. This film is really enjoyable and I just want to know what how you felt sort of, you know, working with Lesley Manville, working in the world of Dior for this film.

 

Isabelle Huppert: Well, first of all, I read the script, as you can imagine. And then I met Anthony Fabian, the director, and I thought the script was really well written, very good dialogs. I think the dialogs are always the most important when you read a script because this is really through the dialogs that that’s the first connection between the actor and the story. And and it was very witty and, and funny and. And and then I thought the character was really enjoyable because there is a whole range for the character as she goes from one point to the other. Because Leslie Manville’s character, Mrs. Harris, is really she reveals people to themselves that she reveals certain a certain situation, too. She really changes people’s lives, including mine and especially mine, I would say. So for all these reasons, I thought the script was, as you said, the film is enjoyable, it’s a comedy, but there was also a lot of depth to it, and it really says something about people’s lives in a way, through this story of the attraction between this little woman played marvelously by Lesley. And and and in a way, she yes, she changes people’s lives through her insight. Hmm. So that was good reasons to do the film.

 

Louis Virtel: When I was talking to friends about this movie, I got to use a phrase I never use, which is the adorable new Isabelle Huppert movie. I was thrilled to get to say those words all together.

 

Isabelle Huppert: Good of you.

 

Louis Virtel: Now, I would personally say there is not much that links all the characters you’ve played, but certain characters in your history have a tendency to intimidate other characters. And especially in this movie, I think that’s true. You have such a pragmatic approach to acting. It feels like you. You like all your roles the same or you connect to all your roles sort of the same. Is there any particular pleasure in playing somebody who intimidates other characters?

 

Isabelle Huppert: Oh, yes, of course. That’s that’s that’s a good way to see the character. I think she is. Yeah. She she is in this position of being very with a lot of power. A lot of authority. Of course, it’s a very, very thin power, we can finally find out by the end of the film. But she has a certain position and she is the head of your house. And and and we know we all know how fashion and, you know, has such an influence on women’s lives and people’s lives. So she really is aware of that situation for her, of that power. But of course inside she’s the reverse of this has she’s she has a lot of reasons to be to be weak and to be much more fragile. And this is how the character becomes really touching by the end of the film and really interesting, too. But, yes, it’s I think I think I like to play all sorts of characters, you know, not necessarily those who would intimidate, intimidate people, but also those who would be intimidated by people. I think I think a strong character, a very powerful character is in a way intimidating for everybody because of the strength of the emotion, the strength of in this case in particular. She has also a certain sense of humor. She’s a she’s very funny. And so, yes, it’s it’s always very nice.

 

Ira Madison III: I have a question about how you prepare for your roles, because there was an interesting interview you had in the Financial Times, I believe, with Florian Zeller, director, who you’re friends with, and you discuss how, you know, you were surprised to hear that like Anthony Hopkins, you sort of share this same ideal that your characters are sort of intuitive to you. They just sort of come to you and it’s not you don’t find acting to be a laborious process. So how do you prepare for a film when you get a script then if you don’t find that you have to, you know, torture yourself to get into it.

 

Isabelle Huppert: No, that’s not my, my, my, my speciaty to be tortured by my work or by my roles. And I remember just reading this interview by Anthony Hopkins and I thought, well, I was happy to hear someone, in a way daring saying it. You know that. Well, I think it’s the most important step in in working on the role is when you choose it. So in a way, it’s before you choose the character, before you choose to do a film with many, many reasons to do a film, the director, the script, the role, the dialogs. But once you have made a choice, I think part of the work is is done in a way. And and I think it’s all about really trusting cinema, trusting cinema. And by this I say so many things occur when when you do a film, so many. It’s a very collective process. And it includes so many parameters. The weather, the the of course, the staging and the light and the the rhythm of or also and I trust this and it’s really something. That you do when you do it. There is not so much to do before, of course. Yes. For for instance, when I did The Piano Teacher, I learned well. I knew how to play the piano even before, but I had to work on some specific tunes, very difficult to play. And of course that was a kind of preparation, but it’s more a technical preparation, you know. But to prepare how you are going to actually deliver a performance, how to play a role, it’s irrelevant. You not really have to prepare.

 

Louis Virtel: I’ve seen you be so gracious to certain directors who’ve given you wonderful roles in movies over the years. But at the same time, you’ve also talked about how, like Paul Verhoeven, I think Michael Haneke, too. They didn’t really say much to you. They kind of left you to your own devices. And so I just wonder if you could just talk about just what is the director’s role and making sure you are great on screen, since it seems like so much of it is just you being present, as you’ve said.

 

Isabelle Huppert: Well, the director’s role is just to look at you, is to love you, is to. And by loving you, I really mean being interested by what you do. Being surprised by what you do. And I think there was such a connection between delivering a performance and the staging that makes you deliver that performance at its best. And and the actor is very, very intuitive and as a lot of instinct about this, I mean, that just at least I have and I know exactly when staging when a musical scene is going to fit exactly what kind of motions I’m supposed to protect. But can you know whether it’s if it’s a long distance shot or a close up? Of course. The more the camera gets closer to you, that’s the more you express things in a certain way. And sometimes, in fact, it’s very fascinating because sometimes the more the camera gets closer and the more you you find exactly the way you have to express things in certain situations because the camera is like a microscope, you know? I mean, you can get it if it reveals. Things unsaid or unseen and, and it’s it’s so powerful. It’s so helpful in a way. Doesn’t mean that you have to give as a close up for the whole film. But in certain cases, in certain situations, that’s exactly what allows you to express certain things, uh, at the most. So yes, it’s a, I trust the director and, and when you talk about people like you can Michael Haneke or Paul Verhoeven and or includes abroad. Yes. Yeah. Actually that never was never. Told me anything, but I don’t think because cinema is the language. And so it doesn’t necessarily go through explanations and through words. It goes through something else.

 

Ira Madison III: Mm hmm.

 

Isabelle Huppert: And it’s. It’s enough. Or it’s even more in a way.

 

Ira Madison III: You have such a reverence for film. I remember on online a few years ago, everyone was sort of obsessed with you discussing how you’d prefer to see a film, you know, not eating a snack, no drinks, just watching and enjoying the film.

 

Isabelle Huppert: Because when you hear noises, it’s so disturbing of what counts.

 

Ira Madison III: What sparked your love for cinema? And what, and you do. And you and I will also say you’ve done so many films for so many years. What continues to make you excited about even going to see other films besides the ones that you’re working on?

 

Isabelle Huppert: Well, I think it’s what makes all movie buffs in the world so excited about watching the film. Well, not everybody likes to watch films. I know people who don’t like to watch films and they don’t like sitting behind and staring up, you know, I’m not interested in myself in every field or in every. But as far as I am concerned, I guess I like. I love watching films. I love it’s way, something which touches me. You know, the other day I was I was listening to this very interesting program on the on the French radio, and it said that, you know, cinema was the art of of a of ghosts. And I thought it was a really interesting definition for cinema, because it’s when you if you speak about ghosts, you know, you speak about, you know, again, when you watch a film, it’s well, maybe it’s the same when you read a book, but I believe it’s not exactly the same, you know. You, you, you, you see people alive on screen. And it immediately it brings some other people in your back, in your souvenir, or in your memory. And I thought this connection with ghosts was really interesting.

 

Louis Virtel: When you your costar from the movie About Joan, Lars Eidinger presented you the fabulous award at Berlinale. He gave you this awesome speech. He said so many things about you as an actress that I thought rang so true. But one thing he said really shocked me, which was that if you want to get to know Isabelle Huppert, watch her movies. And I was wondering if you agreed with that.

 

Isabelle Huppert: First of all, yes, I was really touched by Lars Eidinger’s, his words and speech, it was really, really, very, very touching and so deep and so such an insight, something that he had really thought of and I was really touched by it. Yes and no, I would say. You know, it’s like if you read a writer’s novel or if you watch a painter’s painting, it’s yes, it’s about his truth, but it’s also about his imagination and imagination. Is that necessarily the truth about yourself? I would say yes and no, because sometimes I tend to say. I have nothing to do with the characters I play. I have nothing to do with obviously with a message. I don’t even know the name of my character in Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris.

 

Louis Virtel: Oh, Claudine. It’s almost Colbert. Yeah. Claudette Colbert.

 

Ira Madison III: That’s.

 

Isabelle Huppert: You know, I’m getting confused with all my characters, too many people in my head. I’m sorry. And. But I have nothing to do with Erica. You know, The Piano Teacher. I had nothing to do with the woman from L the best. In a way, there’s stranger to me. But I managed to get to. We meet at some point. And of course, they are not me, but they are me. Yes.

 

Ira Madison III: Mm hmm.

 

Isabelle Huppert: But in in a in a very on a very intimate and secret level, they are me. But not in the most open definition of the character. No. Because. No, I have nothing to do with this women.

 

Ira Madison III: Mm hmm. What I found fun about this film, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris is that it’s set at, you know, the House of Christian Dior. And I remember seeing you in Ralph Simmons’s on documentary, Dior and I. And I just was wondering if you have, like, a connection to fashion in general. Are you interested in, like, fashion and beauty and dresses as much as you are the cinema? Or is it just particularly Dior because it’s a French house, or what’s your connection to fashion and costumes? I guess throughout your career?

 

Isabelle Huppert: Well, costume is not really a fashion. And costume is is is not really fashion as much as fashion is not necessarily clothes. You know, it’s. But, yeah, fashion is interesting. It says something. But, uh, about peoples it. There’s something about the time also. You don’t necessarily dress the way fashion shows clothes, but it’s like an imaginary projection from the designers. If you look at fashion on a fashion show, for example, you don’t necessarily say, I want to wear all of these clothes, but it’s it’s it’s almost. Yeah. It’s more about their imagination and, you know, the way they say something about, you know, the the world and about the how people imagine they could be dressed, but not necessarily what. Because sometimes it’s a bit too much, but. It’s always very interesting to watch and very beautiful to to watch. And. And. To be a bit more simple about this. Clothes and fashion. And that’s exactly what the film says. So it’s it’s it has something to do with, you know, good feeling how we want to. How you want to appear to people. How you the way you be. You want to be. Look, sometimes you want to be very invisible. Sometimes you want to be very, very visible. And everybody uses fashion in a different way. Some sometimes in a very beautiful, but classic more, more not so much visible. And but for it to go back to the film, the way that Mrs. Harris dreams about this dress, you know, so it says a lot, you know, for for her, it’s, it’s to be part of the world. It’s to be to be, it’s to be to have a self assurance about her beauty, about the way she looks. So it says also something, the way she’s going to connect to people. Finally, she, she’s going to go much more beyond this because she’s going to take them. We understand that. What fashion represents should belong to everybody, not only to a few people. So all of a sudden, she wants to transform a people’s behavior in the House of Dior, not only for some wealthy people, it should go to everybody. And and she’s a she’s a vision there because she she anticipates what’s going to become the stability and the the way that everybody can have access to clothes. So it’s it’s interesting.

 

Louis Virtel: I love looking at interviews of other people, costars of yours, talking about watching you work and just how seemingly easy it comes to you. I was wondering if you had particular moments on set of watching other actors work and seeing how they perform in a scene and either being in awe or just kind of studying them even for a second.

 

Isabelle Huppert: Yes, of course. You are always observing, but without knowing that you observe. Because I think when you perform your you are tech in a in a certain movement in such a rhythm. But what’s what is sure is you never play alone. You always do. For me, to perform is always to perform with someone. And and it’s wonderful when you see that everybody’s in tune and especially about the rhythm. I think the rhythm is the most important when you perform and you feel exactly when you have the good with in front of you, when the somebody in front of you responds with the the good with them, it’s like it’s it’s like you’re in music. It’s for me, it’s more about the the rhythm that than about the image to an acting and performing strengthening of it. Because one would think that it’s more connected with the image or with. But I don’t think that’s the case. I think it’s more about rhythm. So I think. It’s not so much that they observe other people’s performances. It’s more that I enjoy it. Someone who has the good wisdom that respond to my to my personal rhythm as well. So it would be everything is, you know, is working together. It creates a kind of harmony. And it’s very it’s very pleasurable. It’s very nice. Because when it’s new here, it’s like if it’s not a good rhythm, it’s it’s it’s like to it, you know, when you’re moving  the clock. And it’s disturbing.

 

Ira Madison III: We’ve talked a bit about your cinema work, but I want to briefly discuss your work in theater. And I know that you’ve been in, you know, works that are a bit more expressionistic, if I could say sort of like a Sarah KADES for 48 Psychosis or Jean Genet’s The Maids how do you approach works like that where they aren’t necessarily a character and more of an expression?

 

Isabelle Huppert: Mm hmm. Yeah. Well, for for 48 Psychosis to take it as an example, it it’s a good example of what theater can can do maybe versus cinema. I think cinema, even if cinema is not necessarily a reality, it’s it’s more at the end of the day, the actor, even if it’s something, you know, imaginary and it’s a it’s an invention, especially in great films. But at the end of the day, the acting is more or less realistic. On the contrary, in the theater, it allows you to create, yes, something more abstract in a way, because theater is more abstract by definition. It’s abstract to play on the stage and to play, you know, in a certain time. It’s, it’s, it’s a very abstract process. And so it’s possible to, to, to to deliver a certain in in this case in particular, always. But, you know, in in works with Robert Wilson, for example, or with Coda Reggie, you know, like I did in 448, all of a sudden, yes. You you you allow yourself, I mean, or the the staging itself allows you to do something special, special and specific in the acting obviously, it’s not the way I would act in a film, it’s very different, but it’s theater and it’s more like sometimes when a theater makes a abstraction like this. It’s more like almost a performance. Not a performance in the sense that like you’re, you know, you would have a performance in a in a museum, for example. It’s more like this.

 

Louis Virtel: I want to talk about the movie, Elle, for a second, not just because it’s a movie I really can’t compare to any other movie, but also in the run up to the Oscars, the fact that we were discussing that movie, it was such an unusual movie for an Oscars race. It was so way more provocative than that of everything going on that year, let alone most years. And it was such a pleasure seeing you win like the Golden Globe, for example. And you seemed really thrilled to win that, too. And I was just wondering, was there any was it a particular joy to promote that movie for months at a time? And what was it like, you know, making that kind of splash stateside, such a crazy movie?

 

Isabelle Huppert: Yeah, it was it was wonderful because it was a little bit unexpected, let’s say. And I never had doubt about that. The fact that Paul Verhoeven was A) great director, B) was doing a great film, C) that it was a great role and D) that I was good at it. I’m kidding, you know? But of course, that we all knew, especially I knew that we as made aware very often with Paul Verhoeven, we were on the razor’s edge, you know, and it was easy, especially for the, you know, the critics to do to to acknowledge that or not, you know, and I just to acknowledge the film on the good sense of the edge, not the other, not on the other edge. And that was a good surprise, maybe even more from Americans. But. Um, but then it was, it was, you know, it started. Quite early in the process. We saw the critics awards and we very very quickly saw that the film was well understood. Well received. And when understood. And it was well understood. And I think it was because deeply enough people. Well, I’m not saying that there was not some criticism about the film, but I think there was a something in the film that. That was that at the end of the day, that there was no ambiguity. There was a lot of subtlety. There was a lot of ambiguity, but. It’s really it’s a revenge film, you know. And I would say, of course, for a strange process. A bit surprising and a bit. But at the end, I think that the ethic of the film was was saved. That’s how I explained the acceptance of the film.

 

Ira Madison III: I think we have one last question for you. And really, you know, you talked so much about the how the roles, you know, you sort of just step into them and then you step out of them once it’s over. But is there any role within your career where you would love to revisit that character? You’ve thought about that character a lot since then, and I’m not just saying that because I would love to see you play Gretta again. Yeah.

 

Isabelle Huppert: I mean, I love Radar. And recently we exchanged letters with Neil and with we said that Neil Jordan, and we said that we would love to do something again together. Yes. And. No, but I don’t think I would ever like to revisit a role. Maybe because I never. I never really think I played the roles. Mm hmm. If it’s. It seems hard to believe. I always think I play states, I play emotions, I play feelings. But I don’t really play the role. And certainly I never feel trapped in a role to the point that I can get rid of it and all of this kind of little bullshit for me. You know, it’s it’s more an experience that I, I go through doing the film and. And it’s two different process, you know. I mean, it’s a it’s a it’s a it’s something to acting of humor and then it’s something to be a spectator of the film. It’s two different jobs in a way. So once it’s done and I think that when you are an actor, you are really through the process of a, yeah, doing the role. But first of all, when it’s finished, it’s finished. And and the idea that it’s a role is more for the spectator than for myself. Me, I just went through states and moments, but I don’t feel trapped in the idea of a role because I think that’s that would be really. Yeah. Like a burden that it’s a role because especially in roles like this. But it never that’s never the case. So it’s always very, very easy for me to get rid of it and to forget about it.

 

Ira Madison III: Yeah, well.

 

Louis Virtel: Isabelle Huppert, thank you so much for being here. Thank you for all your performances, this one included, but also thank you for scaring the shit out of us. It’s so rare that we have actors who regularly just like can bring it and bring it and bring it again and shock us so many times. So thanks for everything.

 

Isabelle Huppert: Thank you so much. Have a great day.

 

Ira Madison III: Merci. Have a great day.

 

Isabelle Huppert: It was wonderful talking to you.

 

Ira Madison III: [AD]

 

Ira Madison III: And we’re back with our favorite segment of the episode. As usual, it’s Keep It. Louis.

 

Louis Virtel: Mm hmm.

 

Ira Madison III: What are you angry about this week?

 

Louis Virtel: Oh, God. You know me and my wrath. You know, gay pride is over. Gay wrath begins. I’m just going to repeat that joke we’ve seen on Twitter 700,000 times anyway. My Keep It this week is to Mickey Rourke, but maybe not for the reason you’re expecting. First of all, he just made a couple of headlines the other day because he said he thinks Tom Cruise doesn’t challenge himself as an actor and therefore he’s not relevant to him. Here’s my problem with the situation. He said this on fucking Piers Morgan. Turn down invitations, people. lease do not say things that will garner headlines to Piers Morgan. Because then he’s in the news and he pops up like that fucking dog from Duck Hunt, every once in a while, holding the neck of some chicken he, you know, snatched from the sky.

 

Ira Madison III: How unserious are you to be on Piers Morgan in the first place? It’s like I can’t take anything you’re saying seriously. No. You’re critiquing Tom Cruise, but you’re on Piers Morgan. And also, by the way, Piers Morgan is looking at you like you’re crazy when you’re saying this as well.

 

Louis Virtel: No. Right. By the way, it takes 0.5 seconds of homework to realize, oh, don’t talk to Piers Morgan. Sorry. Remember that one time Ariana Grande had to meet him? Like he walked up to her at a restaurant and then she had to be civil about it. Anyway, I’m still sick. Anyway, what I want to say about Mickey Rourke referencing the career of Tom Cruise, it is a little bit true. What is the last time Tom Cruise really did something that wasn’t like a role he could have played in his mid-thirties? You know, I think the last interesting call he made was maybe the movie Rock of Ages, which was set up to give him an interesting role. But other than that, you know, are we talking about Tropic Thunder or are we talking about probably Magnolia is the last time he really gave us something that made you think about Tom Cruise.

 

Ira Madison III: You know what?

 

Louis Virtel: You’re crying.

 

Ira Madison III: Listen Bitch this bait and switch. This bait and switch. I thought I thought that you were going to reveal yourself as a member of the Tom Cruise hive.

 

Louis Virtel: It’s called Scientology. Go ahead.

 

Ira Madison III: I like to I like to refer to us as Tom Clears. Okay. I would.

 

Louis Virtel: Elizabeth Mossys. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III: I would argue that he challenged himself.

 

Louis Virtel: Okay. To a sham marriage to Nazanin Boniadi. Go ahead, no.

 

Ira Madison III: He challenged himself by uttering any of the dialog that was written probably by a computer algorithm from the mummy, for one.

 

Louis Virtel: Oh, true. Right. We put him in the mummy. Remember that.

 

Ira Madison III: Yeah. That Dark Universe thing. I want to say that as big of a Tom Cruise stan as I am, as I’ve said on this show, I have not seen The Mummy all the way through. I did not watch it. The new mummy. I did not watch it when it came out because I was like, I’m not doing this. I and that it was on a recent Delta flight and I tried to sit through it and I fell asleep 20 minutes in. And when I woke up mummy shit was happening and I was like, You know what, I’m going to stick to the Brendan Fraser’s and the Rachel Weisz’s that I’m used to it now

 

Louis Virtel: Rachel Weisz. Rachel Weisz is the English pronunciation. Moving on.

 

Ira Madison III: Yeah, it’s an icon that’s rocked once.

 

Louis Virtel: Ms. Rachel Weisz.

 

Ira Madison III: Don’t let me present at an award show.

 

Louis Virtel: No, I’m worried for you No one day you’re going to be asked to present Emmy nominations and you’re going to be just you’re going to Tiffany Haddish it to death.

 

Ira Madison III: Sydney Sweeney. Sweeney? Listen, I will I will sort of agree. He’s sort of he’s sort of um.

 

Louis Virtel: It’s not really about the.

 

Ira Madison III: Molding himself into action star.

 

Louis Virtel: Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III: And he challenges himself physically you know.

 

Louis Virtel: In the way that the show Fear Factor used to. Correct. Right

 

Ira Madison III: I would say that American Made is a very underrated Tom Cruise film.

 

Louis Virtel: Mm hmm. But it is kind of the role he would play in his thirties. But I will give him points because the role is supposed to be older. I don’t know how old Ethan Hunt is supposed to be in Mission Impossible anymore.

 

Louis Virtel: You’re right. He is sort of just ageless and very windswept, right?

 

Ira Madison III: Yeah. Like it’s just, like, don’t ask his age.

 

Louis Virtel: I remember recently, by the way, I learned how old Daniel Craig was when he started Bond and it was like 35 or something. Woof. The years just fly by. Now he’s one of these, you know, Mount Rushmore looking, you know, people.

 

Ira Madison III: Collateral.

 

Louis Virtel: I mean, that’s now. But 2004.

 

Ira Madison III: Yeah, yeah, it’s 2004. But, you know, I would say he has done it. But I would I would agree, I guess that he more is interested in the sort of physical challenge of movies, maybe because, you know, he tortures himself in films now because he knows where Shelley is.

 

Louis Virtel: Right?

 

Ira Madison III: He can’t reveal it.

 

Louis Virtel: Shelly jokes, unfortunately funny. It’s like a certain brand of I can’t explain why I’m sure what’s happened to her is tragic. I don’t know what happened, but it is pretty grim. Can I say something about the movie Collateral? A friend of mine asked me the other day a question that is built for me, and yet I can’t confirm it one way or the other. Is Jamie Foxx the only Oscar winner who went on to host a game show? I believe. I believe the answer is yes. I can’t. You would think by this, I mean, for instance, no, I can’t think of any Olympia Dukakis game shows right now. But there must be somebody I’m forgetting, and I just can’t think of who it is.

 

Ira Madison III: Oh, that is interesting. I can’t think of one either. I mean.

 

Louis Virtel: There’s just not that many game shows anymore either. I feel like if the answer is true, it’s something that would have existed in the eighties or nineties and maybe somebody who won an a song category or something. But at any rate, I’m throwing it out there for the Internet to deduce.

 

Ira Madison III: You know what? I would watch a Jodie Foster game show. In an instant.

 

Louis Virtel: That would be fun. Or like Tilda Swinton’s Game of Games.

 

Ira Madison III: Yeah, but but Jodie Foster’s game show is that you ask her questions, you try to get her to answer anything.

 

Louis Virtel: She’s like, I’m very proud to have a ski buddy who is maybe a woman sometimes. Ira, what is your Keep It this week?

 

Ira Madison III: My Keep It goes to this weird phenomenon that light skin pop stars have. This affinity for texting the cast of Stranger Things.

 

Louis Virtel: Oh, my God. The warning signs are there. Don’t do it.

 

Ira Madison III: We all remember when Millie Bobby Brown revealed that she texts with Drake sometimes. And I was like, What? And that, of course, set off the Internet. Once they learned the definition of the word grooming.

 

Louis Virtel: Sure. Which is now the only word they know.

 

Ira Madison III: And honestly, I’ll never forgive Millie Bobby Brown for that. She can run over as many fags in a car as she wants. I’ll never forgive her for introducing the Internet to the word grooming. Also, I’m sorry jokes about Millie Bobby Brown being homophobic are funny.

 

Louis Virtel: I can’t. Again, scientifically, I don’t know how this is possible, but every time somebody references, oh, you know, I was at Pride and of course, Millie hit me with the car. It’s so funny. We just made it up randomly about her. We threw this at her. I’m sure it was traumatizing for her. And yet the laughs we have and have.

 

Ira Madison III: And honestly, one day she’ll be like, on SNL or some other show and reference it. And it will be the funniest thing you’ve ever seen.

 

Louis Virtel: Yeah, apparently she’s really good on this season of Stranger Things. I don’t watch that show, but.

 

Ira Madison III: But now we’ve got Doja Cat texting a minor in the cast of Stranger Things. She sent a text to Noah Schnapp. To ask about his costar, Joseph Quinn, who she was into. I have a lot of questions here. One. Doja Cat is one of the biggest fucking pop stars in the world right now.

 

Louis Virtel: True.

 

Ira Madison III: Why would you need to DM a cast member on Instagram of Joseph Quinn’s and ask yo is he single? How about you just dm him yourself.

 

Louis Virtel: It does feel like.

 

Ira Madison III: You’re Doja Cat.

 

Louis Virtel: Yeah, it would be the more obvious move. Yeah. I’m not reaching out to Wenonah to ask these questions.

 

Ira Madison III: Other. More people should reach out to Wenonah.

 

Louis Virtel: Your kids served the share price.

 

Ira Madison III: I feel like it’s just Marc Jacobs. Yeah. You know what? She stole that shit. She stole some Marc Jacobs from Nordstrom years ago. And I feel like now she’s just doomed to be in a Marc Jacobs campaign for the rest of her life.

 

Louis Virtel: Mm hmm. Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III: She wants to be free.

 

Louis Virtel: Okay. Now, the question.

 

Ira Madison III: Is, what is? What is she wants to do Jean Paul Gaultier. Okay. What does she want to do, Maison Valentino? She can’t.

 

Louis Virtel: Also you’ve seen.

 

Ira Madison III: Marc Jacob.

 

Louis Virtel: You’ve seen too much. Mrs. Harris goes to Paris. It needs to be said.

 

Ira Madison III: Let’s see. Winona Ryder Goes to the West Village. That’s what Marc Jacobs has her. But anyway, getting back to Doja Cat. You are an insane star.

 

Louis Virtel: And a known cool person. Like everybody wants to know you.

 

Ira Madison III: And what made matters worse, actually, wasn’t the fact that she even just DM’d him. Because it’s a stupid thing, but, you know, it’s it’s not even extreme. As extreme as, like, Drake and Millie being pen pals, you know, like the weird part was then she went on an Instagram live and started beef with him because Noah Schnapp the, you know, the 17 year old she DM’d about his costar shared the DMS online.

 

Louis Virtel: Now, that was a weird move on his part, I think. But also.

 

Ira Madison III: He’s a teenager.

 

Louis Virtel: Here that she yeah, she reached out to him and I guess he is technically a teenager, so never mind. I don’t know what the correct response to that is.

 

Ira Madison III: I mean, I as a teenager also would share DMS from Doja Cat if she said them to me.

 

Louis Virtel: I think about this all the time, by the way. I can’t believe I don’t have an answer ready. But yeah, you’re right. I guess I would probably share that too.

 

Ira Madison III: I mean, I told everyone when Azealia Banks DM’d me that podcasts were the brokest form of media.

 

Louis Virtel: She’s still working on her sophomore album.

 

Ira Madison III: But anyway, the idea that this all snowballed into her beefing with the 17 year old star of Stranger Things is so surreal to me.

 

Louis Virtel: Yeah, and I have the feeling Joseph Quinn is not super hot for her anymore. If he ever was like, Oh, you messaged him and now you’re started all this, maybe I’ll step away.

 

Ira Madison III: Yeah, that would turn me off.

 

Louis Virtel: If I’m talking about how hot I would be after someone starting some nonsense, it would be at about a one.

 

Ira Madison III: I mean. And listen, usually when someone want to be starting something, I’m all for it.

 

Louis Virtel: Oh, sure. Me and Quincy Jones.

 

Ira Madison III: Yeah. All of this also brings me to a thing I’ve often wondered and I can’t remember what celebrity talked about this once. But like some celebrities do, that thing of like if they’re into another celebrity, do they like go through like an intermediary or like ask someone to like pass something along to them? But I’m just sort of like, if I’m Julia Roberts, you know, and you’re Kris Kristofferson and you want to fuck like.

 

Louis Virtel: And it’s always just.

 

Ira Madison III: So they’re always up to just be like, yo, you want to fuck? Like, I just.

 

Louis Virtel: I think the deal is the rest of their lives are also handled through intermediaries. So they just feel like this is an extension of that, you know, like, I don’t understand my taxes. Let me talk to Chris.

 

Ira Madison III: Yeah, I don’t know. It just feels weird being like one of the biggest celebrities in the world and having to be like, will you ask this person if they’re into me or will you find out of this person the single? I mean, just do it.

 

Louis Virtel: Right. Well, it kind of reminds me of that famous story of Nicole Kidman through a friend of Jimmy Fallon’s tried going over to his place and, like, hanging out because she was interested in him, but then he never even gathered that she was interested in him. And I think that’s the reason because there’s an intermediary. And so these people are like, well, this is obviously a huge star. They can’t possibly be interested. Me, you know.

 

Ira Madison III: Nicole Kidman tried to get piped by Jimmy Fallon.

 

Louis Virtel: Don’t you remember this?

 

Ira Madison III: I do not remember this.

 

Louis Virtel: Yeah, you do. Jimmy Fallon had her on The Tonight Show and they talked about how they had met at his like grungy apartment when he was on SNL. And he and she was like, oh, I was into you. I was trying to flirt with you. And he, like, fell out. And it was a huge viral moment.

 

Ira Madison III: I think I had forgotten about that completely.

 

Louis Virtel: Oh, my God. Your poppers abuse is clearly out of control because.

 

Ira Madison III: It was her. Well, you know what Lena Dunham says happens when you do poppers.

 

Louis Virtel: You get so hungry.

 

Ira Madison III: You lose your mind. And you eat all the cake.

 

Louis Virtel: Good gasolina.

 

Ira Madison III: Oh, wow. Yeah, you look it up. Nicole Kidman, we need to talk.

 

Louis Virtel: It concerned me at the time and still does.

 

Ira Madison III: Was he like super hot then? Were we into Jimmy Fallon?

 

Louis Virtel: Oh sure. The Fever Pitch era, definitely.

 

Ira Madison III: You know what? I’m doing revisionist history.

 

Louis Virtel: Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III: I’m thinking about current Jimmy Fallon and like, the, like post-Trump. Jimmy Fallon tussling his hair like that. Like, I’m forgetting that SNL aired. Jimmy Fallon was sexy.

 

Louis Virtel: Right. Yeah. And he was on Weekend Update and all that. Right.

 

Ira Madison III: Okay. Oh, wow. That still would have been weird. But also, I’m always just fascinated what I find out about random celebrities that have hooked up with each other. Because you have to imagine, like so many of them have. And we just don’t know about it.

 

Louis Virtel: No, exactly. Which it’s every once in awhile you get like a new book about old Hollywood hook ups and it feels like everybody hooked up. But then you realize, Oh, that’s just what I’m sure being a celebrity is. Why wouldn’t you be hooking up with each other? I think you’re probably starved for simpatico people, you know. So in general, you’re probably an end up hooking up with other celebrities.

 

Ira Madison III: I feel like we I feel like we as gays probably just uniquely relate to it, if only because you know how small and interconnected the gay world is, where it’s like you’ll be on Fire Island and you’ll like see one of your friends talking to someone at a bar. You’ll be like, how these two even know each other? And it’s like we were both in like D.C. four years ago and we hooked up.

 

Louis Virtel: Right. It’s hard not to meet each other. I feel like that’s the same way about celebrities. They’re just so grouped together as a species all the time and gays are similar. Wow. I should write this essay.

 

Ira Madison III: How fucking horny must the Oscars be?

 

Louis Virtel: Yeah. You think? Unless, of course, you’re Lesley Manville the year that Gary Oldman was nominated and he won and you didn’t and he left you for Uma Thurman. I’m sorry. I think about that night all the time.

 

Ira Madison III: I forgot about that one. I think we need, like, a whole episode, like a deep dive into this kind of shit.

 

Louis Virtel: Just into the sex life of Gary Oldman, to be honest, which is a strange rabbit hole that somebody who isn’t me has time for.

 

Ira Madison III: All right. Well, that’s our show this week, but thank you to Isabelle Huppert for humoring us.

 

Louis Virtel: Yeah.

 

Ira Madison III: And being fantastic.

 

Louis Virtel: I mean, as I said to her, there are few things you can count on in this life, but her bringing it every movie is one of them. So thank you to her.

 

Ira Madison III: As Mickey Rourke would say, Tom Cruise plays roles and Isabelle Huppert plays stakes.

 

Louis Virtel: There it is. Oh, my God. She killed it with that. I just want to say, by the way, that the only thing I’m guilty of is being Sha-mazing. Isn’t it funny?

 

Ira Madison III: We’ll see you next week. Keep It as a Crooked Media production. Our senior producer is Kendra James. Our producer is Chris Lord. Our executive producer is our Ira Madison III.

 

Louis Virtel: And Louis Virtel.

 

Ira Madison III: Our editor is Charlotte Landes and Kyle Seglin is our sound engineer.

 

Louis Virtel: Thank you to our digital team, Matt DeGroot, Nar Melkonian and Delon Villanueva for our production support every week.