The Rehearsal’ Season 2, Episode 3: Favorite Episode of TV Ever?

Welcome to the Prestige TV podcast, the only recap show where we promise to bring you back to life.

I'm Charles Holmes of the Midnight Boys.

Pee-bewoo!

She's Jody Walker of We're Obsessed, and we're back to discuss Pilot's Code, the third episode of Rehearsal Season 2.

Jodi, how are you you doing?

How are you feeling this week?

You know, Charles, it really is not about having what you want.

It is about wanting what you've got.

And it was a really hard call for me between Cheryl Crowe and Evanescence just there.

I was so close to screaming.

I am a.

Wait,

wait, stop.

I am an evanescence little boy.

I love that so much.

Amazing.

So.

This episode, do we do it?

Maybe we cut the banter up top and we should get into this this because I will just say it like up top.

Spoiler alert.

This is one of my favorite TV episodes Nathan Fielder has ever been a part of.

This is one of my favorite TV episodes, period.

I'm vibrating.

I just watched it like an hour or two ago.

Jody, how are you feeling?

I think episode three,

we are so back and we were never, it was never over.

It was never over.

We never left, but here we are.

So, so back.

We were just grinning at each other before we started recording about what a

kick we got out of this episode.

I felt like the response that a lot of fans had a slightly stronger response to last week's episode than I did, or perhaps we did.

I definitely thought it was great.

I think clearly people were quite taken away by the Paramount Plus Germany scenes, which were so funny and then came like into strangely into the world that we live in even more through like some news items.

And I, I loved all that stuff.

I really did.

But like, I guess I do think there was something in me that was just waiting for this episode, which was so

funny.

Like I, I love the serious ones that make you think too, or like I really classified last week as like the peak of absurdist comedy.

And to me, this felt like the peak of satire, which a lot of times I think with the Nathan Fielder and especially with the rehearsal, you don't always get to lean as far into the satire because you have to keep that part of your mind alive that's like, this is real, or a lot of it's real, or some, but in this episode, I guess at the point as which Nathan Fielder puts on a bald cap and dresses as a baby Sully Sullenberger, you get to just kind of like throw your hands up in the air and be like, okay,

Nathan Fielder is acting.

We get to know that, enjoy it.

And then of course, halfway through that part of the episode, he reminds you that this is not a performance for the audience.

This is for him to experience the life of Sully Sellenberger as a part of science.

But still, like just getting,

I think I laughed harder at this episode of the rehearsal than maybe any other.

Oh, I totally agree.

I think it was when he puts on the ball cap and I'm just like, please don't say it's a baby.

Please don't say it's a baby.

And then they reveal it all.

I had to, like, I just kept laughing and I couldn't stop.

And I think that is the perfect way to segue.

Let's break down the episode before we get too far because a lot happens.

Pilot's code, directed by Nathan Fielder, written by Fielder, Carrie Kemper, Adam Lock Norton, and Eric Nader Nicola.

Nathan devotes four months to helping a couple named Monique and Bogdan train their clone dog Zeus to act more like their original dog Achilles by building an elaborate rehearsal space that mimics the OG dog's upbringing.

After making a small breakthrough with Zeus, Nathan decides to try the experiment on himself by living as pilot Sully Sullenberg.

Sully was the head pilot of U.S.

Airways Flight 1549, which was successfully landed in the Hudson after the plane was hit by a flock of birds.

Nathan uses Sully's book to recreate his life from birth to late adulthood.

And similar to Zeus, Nathan as Sully has a series of breakthroughs helped along by an iPad and a little band known as Evanescence.

We've already got some of our instant reactions out.

Where I want to start is

Monique Bogdan.

How are you feeling?

Because I think similar to the season, I was like, wait, how does this connect to Pilot?

So, like, when you're introduced to them and the clone dogs, how are you feeling, Jodi?

Okay, first of all, I would like to rewind slightly and say that all of the words that you just said are the most ridiculous words you've ever said in describing that episode.

I mean, the straight face with which you just talked about the cloned dogs, which actually are real.

Like that part's naughty.

I mean, that's just, that's just pure Monique and Bogdan and their, and they're cloned dogs.

When Nathan says, I've never kissed a clone before, I'm just like, you're cheating.

What, what's wrong with you?

How did he do it?

But also, I think I am talking about the clone dog.

Like, it's the most normal part.

That's the normal part of the episode.

Because it is the most normal part of the episode.

and that's what kind of makes this

so brilliant because i was like wait there's a kid because they keep revealing they're like they're all it's what zeus pisces and i forget the third one's name

another greek it was like it is

zeus apollo pisces the

to clone a dog costs fifty thousand dollars and

I just was like, like I am with every single rehearsal guest.

How did you find these people?

what is going on i i am so confused like what like how how did you feel about our new couple oh well see they what they were doing was so wild but they seemed so normal like they were a a sweet couple just working through things

Like she clearly got a lot of joy out of the cloning of dogs and then he got a lot of joy out of her getting joy.

It was just, they seemed so normal.

And I liked the mentions of, you know, they're in a better like place of economic security now.

So it's

those things were mentioned because they create the different home environment for the cloned dogs that could be affecting their behavior.

But it was like, yeah, they've made more money.

They're further along in their lives now.

And what are they going to do?

Spend $150,000 on cloning dogs.

Or I guess they got all three for one.

I actually don't know the economic breakdown of the cloned dogs.

Wait, you, wait, so you think that it was like a three for one deal?

It's like you pay the 50,000.

It's kind of like an IVF situation.

Like, you know, yeah, you're a little more likely maybe to get three dogs.

I don't know.

I don't know.

We didn't get, well, to me, they were all so small.

They all looked the same size, but then they ultimately chose Zeus, who they described as more of a puppy, like a young dog, so that they could affect him.

So I don't know if that meant the other two dogs were older, in which case that is kind of a dark, an even darker take on like they just keep trying to clone this dog.

Also, Zeus was kept kept by Nathan Fielder Corporation for four months, I think.

So were they like picking the dog where they're like, we will miss you the least, even though genetically you are all the same?

Oh, they had very strong, Monique had very strong opinions about the dogs, you could tell.

She was like, none of these dogs are Apollo.

And is Apollo the first one?

No, Achilles is the first one.

Apollo is one of the clones.

Also, what's with the naming convention?

What are we doing?

That's actually my next question for you, Jodi.

If you were to clone a dog,

what naming conventions are you?

Are you going with like Alvin, Simon, Theodore?

Are you naming them after the Scooby Gang?

Like, where are you going?

The Spice Girls?

Your mind went there so fast.

You're ready with so many different ideas.

No, I think I'd name them like creepy human names just to freak everybody out even more.

What's a creepy human name?

Like, when you name a dog Kevin.

Oh, yeah.

Kevin.

Or like Emily.

Like, Kevin and Emily are like fine names, but I'm like, this is more of a like a, like, a human.

Like, give it more of a, like, a puppy sounding name.

I think I do it to throw people off the scent that these dogs are cloned.

But to answer your original question, I mean, my first reaction to the, to the

this episode was perfect.

I did find that there were occasions, and this is great, this makes me feel great, where it was like, I was getting to where we were going just ahead of it, you know, like 10 seconds ahead, maybe occasionally a couple scenes ahead.

And I think that's a perfect thing to do mid-season.

Like, we don't get a lot of that with the rehearsal or Nathan Fielder, like kind of knowing what's coming next.

But with the dog stuff, it was like, oh, of course we're doing clones.

And I, you know, it makes perfect sense.

We're doing the rehearsal.

We've already very much been dabbling in clones.

Now we're dabbling sort of in like the scientific aspect of clones.

Like we might actually start cloning things.

But I did also notice a lot within this episode, you know, Nathan Fielder and his writers have such a mastery over the exact language in the most efficient way possible that will make something the funniest one sentence possible.

And that was certainly on display here, but I kept noticing things sounding stupid.

Like the way, I mean, I think even the opening line of the episode is,

I've been really trying to take the human mind really seriously.

Yes.

He's not using really on accident twice there.

Like, that is very purposeful.

And the very dumb way with which he was talking about science, as we tread further and further out of the depths of kind of

what Nathan should do, but maybe what he could do, where, I mean, he was literally just saying like

science stuff.

He was like, Apparently, this is an actual science thing that can be done, a science thing, I guess, sort of known as an experiment.

I don't know.

So, you know, my first thought was like, oh, of course, we're doing clones.

Nathan's going to try to clone something.

But in fact, that's not what happened.

It just got weirder and weirder and further away from science stuff.

I mean, even the thing that I found both funny and heartwarming is that Nathan has this ability to

basically.

I was, I felt bad laughing at the couple when basically the actors and Monique are having a fake diabetic attack and they're like waiting for Zeus to care.

And the camera zooms in on the dog taking a shit in the recreated house that they used to have.

And I'm like, this is so

mean-spirited.

But then when Monique finally sees the video of Zeus running on the top of the couch like her old dog used to, Achilles, and she's like tearing up and her husband Bogdan is just like rubbing her back and they're both so happy.

And I'm like,

it gives you that weird reality show feeling of like when they reveal the new house.

I was just like, why is this woman getting so emotional?

about this little dog running across the top of the couch.

You know, Charles, I've been really trying to take the human mind really seriously.

And what I'll tell you is, no, I, you know, Charles, you put on a, you put on a good front here on the Ringer Podcast Network as a, it's a real tough, tough guy critic.

Uh,

I can tell, and I know this, of course, in real life, you can tell your sweetheart nature by how dark, dark-sided you think some of this stuff is that absolutely does not affect me.

Like, I didn't think that at all.

I don't know.

I just, I think, you know, it might be a numbing to the human condition from reality TV, or maybe it's an open-mindedness to knowing how things might come around.

Because, like, even the part you're referencing, the fake diabetic attack, and hoping that the dog will help her, and he doesn't.

Ultimately, that comes around by the end of this episode to be Nathan saying that it doesn't mean you're a failure just because you can't get a dog to react to a diabetic attack after four straight months of trying.

It's okay to admit you can't do everything.

Jody, are you saying that you're the real hater?

That I'm a soft.

Honestly, it's probably because I don't watch that much reality TV.

So any single time I do watch reality TV, I'm always like.

Why are everybody so mean?

Why are people like, who's, why are the producers treating them like this?

They're humans and you're just kind of just like, ooh, yeah, give me more.

Yeah, I'm both kind of dead inside and

open to the great hopefulness of human growth and the potential for growth all right nathan fielder that's yeah that's the deal right uh so i really liked monique and and bogden and their complete sincerity for the project.

Like,

they're not embarrassed that they've cloned all these dogs and that and they're further seemingly not embarrassed that

they are disappointed by the cloning of the dogs.

And so they are open to more science stuff, which is hopefully cloning the personality of a dog in the body of a cloned dog.

Like, you know, what is that if not sweet?

The, the, the complete lack of shame with which these participants often approach life, I think is very admirable.

And so there's something about that, I guess, that keeps, but I know that people struggle with this, with the show.

And I think I liked this episode coming when it did, because there's been this kind of, I mean, there always has been with Nathan Fielder stuff, but especially last week with the Wings of Love stuff.

No, Wings of Voice.

Wings of Voice.

Based on the Wings of Love, the Wings of Voice competition show, which, you know, you can go on Reddit and find people talking about going on this weird competition show at the time that it actually happened.

It is real.

And also with like a character like Jeff from last week, who is just so unbelievable, I do feel us slipping into the sort of white lotusification of the rehearsal where it's like, I got to crack it.

I got to know what's real and I got to know what's acting and there's no way Jeff is real or there's no, or, or, you know, these people are coached or whatever.

I find it pretty easy to just lean into

some of it's real.

A lot of it's real.

Of course, it is scripted.

It is structured and ordered to be like this by very smart writers.

And I'm really happy with the final product.

I mean, not only am I happy about the final product, I almost feel like

with each successive thing we get from Fielder, we're almost getting a more mature or more considered piece of art inside of the satire, inside of the absurdity, because there there are moments in this season where Nathan locates something about his subject where he locates that Monique and Bogdan, at the time that they had Achilles, there was this tension about her wanting to have kids and him not being ready to have them.

And then the actors who are playing them are role-playing it and it's like cringe, but they flash back to Monique actually saying all of these things.

And I'm just like, that was,

I'm not as dead inside as you.

So I was a little bit like, oh my God.

You get a little misty?

Did you get a little misty?

I was getting a little bit like, oh my God, this is why she keeps cloning the dog.

That was her first child.

And when it ends in this heartwarming place, I'm like,

there just is this tinge of maybe Nathan being softer, like growing a little bit softer and more.

He, even where he ends this episode, we're going to get into like the big, the bigness of Sully and everything that comes after it.

He keeps ending these episodes in a way where I'm just like, it's not all acid.

And I used to feel like he was a little bit more acidic.

I think there's a lot of room to roll around in the rehearsal, that there was not necessarily that room, you know, in Nathan for you, which is a different construct.

And I think the thing that keeps me from

feeling like, oh, this is, this is like hard to watch or dark with, with, for example, Monique and Bogdan is that in time, and honestly, in a very short, efficient amount of time, I do think you get to see them as real whole people

and not as caricatures of themselves.

Like you said, you know, just getting like that very small moment of her

vulnerably saying, I wanted to have kids.

He wasn't ready.

I knew I needed to wait for him to be ready because I didn't want to do this by myself, but I did want a dog.

Like that I knew that I could, I knew that I could sort of satiate this feeling with a dog.

And it seems like she really did.

And of course, we don't know every single thing about them.

And then there are other characters

like,

say,

Jeff, who from last week and a little bit from this week, who are maybe not portrayed in their entirety.

But the bit that you get is enough to make you say, okay, maybe you don't have to see all sides of all people.

Maybe this is, maybe this can be a character.

Now that you brought up Jeff, Jeff makes

a brief appearance in this episode.

And we finally realize why he was kicked off all the apps, rightfully so.

Did Jeff make Nathan?

I want to be very clear.

That is not the only reason that John was kicked off all the apps.

He thinks the reason is.

I'm sure there was.

The closest he can get to imagining is having something in his bio.

No, this

absolutely, absolutely not.

There is so much more happening.

I just, I want to say that.

No, that is fair.

I'm glad you've reiterated that.

This episode is brought to you by Bleacher Report.

Football is back, and downloading the Bleacher Report app puts you in the middle of the action.

Make Bleacher Report your go-to this season for the fastest-breaking news alerts covering NFL and college football.

And don't miss a moment with highlights, scores, and live reactions in the app.

Get expert analysis on your favorite teams and the news that you want this season.

Download the Bleacher Report app today.

This episode is brought to you by the Home Depot.

Labor Day savings are happening right now at the Home Depot so you can get more out of your outdoor space this fall.

The Home Depot has a wide selection of cordless outdoor power equipment that makes it easy to clear your lawn starting at just $79.

You got to love a power tool.

Then why not make those colors pop with string lights and mums that bloom all season long shop labor day savings now through september 3rd only at the home depot

one of my one of the funniest things nathan has ever done was there was an episode where famously nathan breaks on nathan for you when he's talking to the uh to like the grandpa who's talking about like drinking his grandson drinking his grandson's pea and you can like see like nathan being like wait what

And there's a moment in this where I'm like, I think Jeff made Nathan break because he's like, wait, what?

What did you just say?

And I was just like, oh, Nathan.

Like, it's an amazing thing to just not put in the second episode to just drop very quickly in the third.

I'm like, once again, you brought up a great point last episode where

reality show is heavily, heavily produced.

The producers are the true magicians of it.

And that was a really quick moment where I'm like, this wouldn't have hit hard, as hard in episode two, but in episode three, just revealing a little bit more of who Jeff

is as a person.

And then the end of the episode revealing that

maybe the backbone, and we can maybe transition into Sully, of this season seems to be like

Nathan realizing that

pilots do not have

as many outlets as you might think to be them true, their true selves, to speak honestly about what they're going through,

and almost almost maybe him using Jeff as a stand-in to be like, how does this person

get to be this person?

Well, and that like the extreme of Jeff compared to all those pilots that we see at the end who seem, you know,

in that moment, at least with whoever's interviewing them, vulnerable, forthcoming.

capable of considering what might have gotten them kicked off of five different dating apps.

Like we're seeing a spectrum of different people and at least being told by what Nathan is discovering with science stuff that they're all experiencing the same thing, that there aren't enough outlets for them because of the way that this occupation has been sort of constructed, or at least that's how they feel and that there is some part of this career path and this occupation that encourages compartmentalizing to maybe an unhealthy degree.

And that that encouragement of compartmentalizing, which probably benefits you a lot in certain flight situations, in very specific flight situations, also could cause great harm.

And

that that can happen to Jeff, and that maybe that could even happen to Meredy from last week, like that that is allegedly sort of part of the

makeup of a pilot is, yeah, something that nathan

has come to the conclusion at at some point and has decided to roll out to us in this episode of the rehearsal via dog cloning quick pivot to uncanny valley sully sullenberg or

the because you were talking about kind of being a little bit ahead maybe in this episode of knowing where it was going when you were watching this

when was the moment you realized the like when we see the book of Sully and we realize that Nathan is gonna do something?

When did you realize?

I'm like, oh, he's going full goof mode, he's finally doing the thing.

So, I would say the thing I realized even earlier was that at some point in the dog cloning,

when Nathan says something about this will tie back to pilots, basically, I was like, he's going to clone Sully.

But I, before the book had come, before anything, we all know there's one great pilot.

Like there is a famous pilot who navigated what would have been a mass casualty event.

I didn't know about any of the communication in the cockpit.

I did not know about his connection to the original V1 iPod.

Didn't know any of that, but I know.

Captain Sully.

And so even before it had been mentioned, I was like, we're doing cloning for Sully.

Sully's coming.

coming.

I briefly believed that he was going to get Captain Sully.

I mean, I don't know.

That seemed within the realm of possibility that like, that, that something was going to, I, I don't think that I,

no, I didn't,

I didn't catch on until he put the bald cap on because I have in my notes, why is Nathan shaving his chest?

I was not there yet.

When he started.

When he started shaving himself and putting on the bald cap, I'm like, oh, is he going to be an old man?

And then when he was like, he was a baby, I was like, oh, no.

And then when you see how large the room is and what I would just describe as a huge marionette of a

mother figure that is so creepy and cursed.

I was just like, I am buckled into everything that happens when they basically

lift him up in the air to put him in the crib and then at the changing station.

And then when he takes a shit, and it culminates in what might be the funniest thing I've seen all year and might be the funniest thing I've seen in a lifetime is Nathan Fielder breastfeeding from a fake,

from a fake puppy.

I was like, what the fuck is happening right now?

I found a new way to laugh.

I experienced a laugh I had never heard come out of my body

while watching Nathan Fielder be waterboarded by the breast milk of an, I'm going to say, 18 to 20 foot tall mom puppet.

Because I will say a lot of times when I'm watching a rehearsal, I'm like, I'm doing that thing where I'm like, this is so funny.

Like in my head, I'm thinking, this is so funny.

And I'm not laughing.

It is funny.

I'm not laughing.

I was losing it

at the waterboarding, the breast milkboarding scene because, and I mean, part of it is the physical comedy of him just like spitting out the like choke, absolutely choking

on this milk.

It's a fake breast.

And it's like, you have to think about when they were in the writer's room being like, all right, it's going to be this huge fucking puppet.

It's going to be a fake breast.

We're going to have Nathan as a baby who's incredibly small in this fake, in this fake puppet's hands.

and then we need to make sure that the breast milk is coming out like a hose so we can sell the fact that to your point he's being waterboarded by breast milk i'm like for this to land they had to keep upping the ante to the point where you're just like what am i witnessing right now and like the part that makes me like choke with laughter is in while he is choking is obviously the physical comedy of it is very funny and like i don't know you could see such things happening on Jackass back in the day.

Like maybe they would have found themselves in such an occasion to be doing something like this.

But then it's like you're saying, when you're thinking of, you do, even in that quick moment, find yourself thinking or myself thinking, what was happening in the writer's room to make this happen?

Like, how is this happening?

How did he think about this?

And then, and then the further edge of

in that moment, you're watching Nathan Fielder.

Like you are,

and yet you're watching Nathan Fielder written by Nathan Fielder.

You're watching an actor physically choke on milk, and he's written for himself to do that.

He's chosen to do it.

And even if he wants to stop, he can't stop.

He's like,

there were just so many layers to what was happening there, with the top most obvious layer just being like the most ridiculous thing possible.

I mean, not only that, it's.

In the first season of the rehearsal, I feel like it was more reality-based in terms of like the recreations, the amazing things that he would do is like, okay, I'm going to show you how many child actors I can get.

I'm going to show you that I can completely recreate this bar, this room, this apartment.

And now he's taken it one step further where he's like, I'm recreating what I think this Texas man's

upbringing was life, was like.

And it's not like he's just hiring old people to play the mother and father.

He's making them super huge.

I found it so funny.

It's just a little thing when his mother, his fake mother, somebody's fake mother is closing the door.

She has like these weird appendages

and she's struggling.

And to your point, you're thinking of the writers room.

I was like.

How do you get to the, no, we need to make Nathan look life size accurate.

So we need everybody to be on stilts and have fake hands.

And also his little sister is going to have the creepiest mask possible.

There's just so many layers.

I mean, even this is not even part of this.

When they recreated

what it was like to live in San Francisco in like around like

the San Jose air, pumped the San Jose air

to get 300 miles to LA.

Did you notice the Jared?

I was like, you got like, they put the Jared from Subway

poster.

on the bus as the two fake San Francisco tech pros are just like, oh, damn, Steve Jobs died.

Oh, yeah, too bad about Steve Jobs, huh?

Like, I was like, oh, this is such a written show.

Like, you can tell in its construction, not only from a structural standpoint, but the punchlines.

I don't know if I felt that as much in season one.

And I love it in season two, where I'm just like, oh, this is really tight and well-built.

Well, on a level of science stuff, we are sort of dealing with a different thing.

In season one, Nathan was introducing this idea of of rehearsals.

If you rehearse something enough, then you can get it right.

You can predict every outcome and you can make it go the way that is what you deem the best.

And just through very intense rehearsing, and then obviously the humor comes in with the wild sets and the way you do everything perfectly and the actors and the Nathan Fielder method and everything.

This actually is different.

This is replication.

This is cloning.

It's not rehearsing.

It is attempting to break new ground.

It's not anticipating something

that you can practice enough times to get it right.

It is attempting discovery.

It is trying to see what you can do with a cloned dog.

Can you affect nurture in the same way that you affect nature?

And then can you backtrack it and understand how a pilot was nurtured into the excellent pilot who would listen to their first officer

by replicating their upbringing with giant puppets and actors on stilts and masturbating in cockpits with a robot next to you?

Wait, can we talk about robot Carol?

Because that was the moment where I was just like,

he basically, what does I have it here?

There's something that he says that is so funny.

He's reading the book and he's highlighting, and then he gets to a point where Sully says flying could be a sensual experience.

And he recreates teenage Sully flying with teenage Carol, this woman that he has a crush on.

And at one moment, he's just like, okay, it's time for the thing that we talked about.

And I was like, what the fuck is happening?

Well, this is when he says, well, he says, the problem was I was too uncomfortable to actually get aroused with a professional actress beside me and then he tells her to get out basically and listen in voiceover after all this wasn't a performance for you the viewer it was an experience for me and then dressed up as like a 1950s teen

in a tiny plane he has now been joined by robot carol he pulls out the mac book presumably to watch porn get aroused and have a completely Sully-like experience.

And like, these are the things

that

aren't real that I love.

You know, like, this is where

he lets, you know, he pulls back the curtain on purpose to say, yeah, this isn't a real fucking science experiment.

Nothing's, nothing's happening here.

I am pretending to be the teenage version of a good pilot who has navigated navigated what could have been a mass casualty air crash event by watching porn on a MacBook in a fake plane with a robot Carol whose head is going like this the whole time he's presumably or at least narratively getting hard.

Like, this is

this is satire.

This is not, this is not real.

This is not a rehearsal.

This is not the Fielder method.

This is Nathan Fielder being

like a freak amongst freaks, you know, a freak amongst 18-foot puppets and doing it on purpose.

And it was hilarious.

I mean, speaking of that, do you think that this is kind of a culmination for Nathan Fielder where it's like, we saw him act in the curse.

We've seen Nathan for you.

We've seen the rehearsal.

We've seen so much of him.

And this was the first, this was the episode where I felt it most acutely, where I'm like, this is not only a creator at the peak of his powers.

This is someone who's doing so much where he's like, he's playing fake Sully as a baby teenager all through, like all through this, but he's also playing the Nathan Fielder rehearsal character.

But then he's also like, there's just all of these layers where I'm like, this performance must have been so hard to pull off.

Cause I, I started losing track of, to your point,

wait, what?

Not even what's real and what's not.

What Nathan are we getting right now?

What version of him?

Does that make any sense?

Oh, totally.

I mean, I think like it keeps, I keep going back to sort of the theme of last week's episode of sincerity and

that

since, or as Nathan thinks, that sincerity only benefits the people who are able to perform it better than others.

And

when you see him in this role where he is acting

allegedly in order to experience something, not in order to give a good performance.

But of course, he is also the creator and writer of this show who needs to give a good performance.

And like, we'll never know if Nathan could have acted Sully better, you know, like if he could have given the performance that, you know, Tom Hanks as Sully performance of a lifetime, or if like doing it sort of badly in a, for some reason, receding hairline wig, even when he's 16

is part of it.

And how much has he chosen for that to be part of it?

Like, how much has he calculated how much funnier this will make it?

And that does all really happen right at once in that plane scene that we're talking about, because in that moment, you also, you know, audibly hear him go from teenage Texan Sully Sullenberger to,

okay, now it's time for you to do that thing we talked about, which is like monotone Nathan to real life Carol, who's,

you know, who knows what she thinks she's doing.

Like we can't even get into the Carol actress of it all.

Who knows what's happening?

And then he's just by himself

masturbating in a plane so that he can start to understand what it is like for pilots to compartmentalize while in the cockpit and then how that affects them outside of the cockpit.

I mean,

that part, if we had ended on that part, it still would have been a perfect episode.

But when we're talking about the show being so written and intentional, ending on the punchline of he's recreating moments that are not really in the book, but he's reading in between the lines of there's this reveal as he's highlighting that

Sully keeps referencing having to get through things or his life getting tough, but he never dives deeper into it.

And then there's the reveal of the iPod.

And there's the reveal that in the transcript,

when the plane gets hit by the flock of birds, there's a 23-minute pause.

Second.

23 seconds.

23 seconds, not minutes, 23-second pause.

And the 23-second pause is the exact amount of time that the hook of Evan Nessetz's Bring Me to Life is, which is a band that Sully brings up the most often in his book.

What were your thoughts on that part?

Because I was like, I'm in,

I'm seated.

I knew that the punchline was going to be worth it.

The need, I mean, you don't, this isn't really a show about needle drops.

The needle drop, and that you've already gotten, it's like, it's not just like

in the writer's room, they were like, what's a 23-second chorus that would be funniest?

He actually talks about evanescence in the book.

Like, there are two artists that noted Captain Sully Sullenberger talks about, and maybe others, but talks about in his autobiography memoir.

One is Cheryl Crow, who he for some reason directs relately, he relates directly to his father, who died before Cheryl Crowe ever put out this song.

But the feeling of it,

he associates with his father, and he really likes evanescence.

And I, I mean, I know that like the punchline

and the just like unbelievable 23 second silence is the, is the length of the evanescence chorus reveal is so funny.

I actually...

I feel like embarrassed saying this because it's like, I am aware that this is a scenario that Nathan Fielder, as show Nathan, has completely imagined because he's realized that if pilots are too open about their emotionality, it might get reported back, you know, to their

FAA, and then the FAA might take away like their medical clearance, and then they're grounded for life.

And so within this book, Sully Sullenberger basically keeps saying that, and I know that he has a different first name, but that that is his name is Sully Sullenberger,

that he keeps saying he found ways to cope.

And at this point, Nathan decides he's got to figure out what those ways are.

And he notices that around 2002, Sully starts talking about iPods within his life and that it's very clear that he got an iPod.

I found the recreations, Nathan's imagined recreations of him seeing the commercial for an iPod while he's lonely in his hotel room, stumbling upon the iPod kiosk.

And what is the kid?

The kid tells him, he's like, Sully's like, it fits a thousand songs.

I can't even name five songs.

And the kid selling the iPods is like, well, maybe you should increase your dosage, man.

No medicine more powerful than music.

He buys the iPod.

He goes home.

He gets on his laptop.

He starts downloading music.

Little peek behind the fourth wall for me.

Charles, you know this.

I'm I'm currently doing some reporting on old technology.

I was quite moved by the iPod stuff.

Really?

It was just like, I know it's not real.

I know he made this up, but there's some part of it that's real.

Sully did start talking about music in his book.

I don't know what it really meant to him, but I'll say within my reporting, the iPod has come up a lot as like, I mean, more so for teenagers than 52-year-old pilots, as a real source of freedom to a lot of kids being able to like carry around their music and disassociate and medicate with music in a new way and have access to music they never had access to before.

And there was just like, there was something, and I know Nathan's making it up.

I know that.

I know that.

But is he though?

But is he?

Could he be right?

I did, I can't, I can't remember exactly what point it was, but I was like, oh, Sully Sullenberger is going to sue Nathan Fielder.

Is Sully Sullenberger still alive?

He's alive.

He's alive?

He's alive.

I remember when he endorsed Biden.

So

I knew he was alive then.

I thought this man was dead.

I was just like, well, of course anybody would want to be on the rehearsal.

This is a great, this is like a great send-off to a great.

Of course anyone would want to be on the rehearsal.

Charles, that is like the last thing in the world I would want is to be my real self on the rehearsal or represented on the rehearsal by a clean-shaven Nathan Fielder.

Jody, Jody, Jody.

I think the next career that Nathan Fielder should do is podcasting because everybody knows podcasting is just as important as airlines and pilots

with just as much.

I can't, you know, I can't go to a therapist and tell and tell

her or he or they about my struggles podcasting.

Bill Simmons is going to take away my medical.

I do keep having this thought as Nathan Fielder continues to just sort of like,

you know,

work his way closer and closer to like pilots to just go to therapy is that like

if he zoomed out and wasn't doing this really specific thing, he's maybe just trying to solve toxic masculinity in this like really specific way.

Yes.

I would not be surprised if he just met Jeff and was just like,

I'm solving this for humanity.

I'm just, I'm just going to solve it.

Just give me an HBL level budget and I got it.

I got to crack this.

I did have the thought Sully might sue Nathan Fielder for this representation.

If Sully's listening, which I know he probably is.

I found it lovely.

I found it a lovely representation of

his relationship with his giant mother, of his of his attachment to music.

And

I really,

I, and then, I mean, but of course, like, it's like, yeah, all the music stuff is, I mean, it's not completely made up.

It does, it does come some from the book.

But the final reveal that

the sort of mysterious 23 second silence in the transcript of the flight when they already know that it's going into the Hudson is the exact length of the chorus of Evanescence.

And it's like,

as soon as you hear Nathan say it, you know, it's one of those split second, you know, before it happens, and it makes it even better.

Needle drop.

It's in the pantheon.

Wake me up.

Wake me up.

It is going in the pantheon of needle drops, HBO needle drops, TV show needle drops, because it is a song that if you were alive in the late 2000s you heard so much and it has gone through the cycle of being like amazing and dope to cheesy back to like oh evan i mean if you're in the armed forces i will say this shout out my uh father rest in peace he was very into evanescence at this point and i was just like if you want to email us at prestige tv at spotify.com If you are a person in the armed forces who was really into evanescence when it first dropped, please let me know because I was just like, it's so funny that instead of like going to therapy imagining fake sully being like you know what i need some just depressing rock music but then what does fake sully do at the very end

walks into that therapist office are you saying evanescence is the road to healing to heal to finding a therapist i'm saying that nathan fielder said that what is jodi let's really quick i'm putting you on the spot what is our we we have to save an entire plane and land it in the Hudson safely song?

Charles, you're the music guy.

What's that?

What's I'm trying to, I'm trying to think of other really great key changes.

I will say genuine's differences,

Justin Timberlake's Lovestoned,

pretty much Cisco's Unleashed the Dragon.

Oh,

sorry, I have a lot of just like, if I needed to save a bunch of people, I do have the songs that I'm immediately gumped.

Yeah, I mean, I think

where we ultimately get to with

the evanescence, he says, maybe every captain needs to find their own evanescence, whatever form that takes.

What is your evanescence?

I don't know because it's not just about a song.

It's like about whatever your release is.

And for Sully, whatever ultimately makes you understand

that you don't have to be perfect, which is what he says, the lead singer of Evanescence said that this song was about, is about not having to be perfect.

And that

you not being perfect doesn't mean that you've failed.

And it definitely doesn't mean that you're a failure just because you can't get a dog to react to a diabetic attack after four straight months of trying.

Wait, what is the evanescent song about?

I'm looking this up now.

We're googling this because I always thought it was like a witchcraft, crafty song about like actually bringing somebody back to life after like the darkness overtakes them.

But is that not actually what it's about?

I mean, this is

coming from Nathan.

said that they said the lyrics to their hit song, Bring Me to Life, were described by the songwriter as a cry for help.

It was about no longer hiding your true self, as imperfect as it may be.

Wake me up.

That's not coming through to you.

Here's the thing: I'm on Wikipedia right now.

We all love a Wikipedia domain.

Lee wrote Bring Me to Life at age 19 after a then

acquaintance who later became her husband asked her if she was happy.

Lee was in an abusive relationship and in turmoil and was shocked the person saw through her facade as she felt she was completely outwardly acting normal.

I felt like he could just see straight into my soul.

That inspired the whole song.

So, I mean, Sully

listened to Bring Me to Life and was probably like,

this is the first time I'm seeing an art or like my soul reflected.

And when he has to save the souls on that U.S.

Airways flight,

he goes to the 23 seconds that it's the most important.

That's, that's fucking beautiful.

I didn't realize, I'm a music critic and I didn't realize that shit.

Wow, I'm about to start.

I told you.

I told you that it was meaningful and that you were soft.

Oh, don't.

All right, here's the thing.

I have, I have a whole image.

It's okay.

We're not on Ring Reverse, Charles.

We're over here on Prestige TV.

It's okay.

Is this a safe space are you saying this is a safe space?

This is a safe space.

Fantastic.

This is your evanescence.

This is your road to therapy.

Next stop, therapy.

Are you my little sister that I'm just like here, eat the strock?

Yeah, I would take any pebble that you gave me and our producers would then punish you with a toy plant.

I mean, it's crazy.

It's crazy the things that are happening in this episode.

Out, kind of like final thoughts.

I guess I was, I got to the end of this episode, and to me, for some reason, these like last week, we kind of talked about vignettes.

Like, last week almost felt a little bit like a Nathan for you episode, where there were sort of three distinct vignettes.

This obvious, this, this episode is obviously cleaved in half by dog cloning and then the recreation of Sully Sellenberger's life via a series of puppets.

And yet,

they did feel

quite connected to me.

And

it did all come back around.

And it just made me be like, it reminded me of like when you design a living room, you have to either start with the couch or the rug.

You got to start in one of those big places and move out from there.

And I just would love to know where, because this one is so much more

guided by,

like evidently guided by Nathan's hand than by what the real people are doing and how you construct that into something.

In this episode, I found myself wondering so hard, like, where did they start?

Did they start with knowing they wanted to recreate Sully Sullenberger and then have the clone idea?

Did they start with the dog clones and then think, how do we apply?

Like, did they meet some real people who had cloned their dogs and they were like, we got to get this in there?

And then how many threads were there that they didn't pull?

Because you know there's some wild stuff on the cutting room floor.

I mean, part of me was even thinking in terms of that, when Nathan was figuring out the idea for this, was it not just as simple as like, hey, maybe I read Malcolm Gladwell or I read some articles?

Was it like, maybe he did go down the cloning route?

He did go down a couple of, a couple of different areas because something that was illuminating was when we go through the montage of all of the pilots at the end and Nathan reveals, Nathan's been doing this for

decades at this point, years and years and years.

And him revealing that pilots at, as like just a group, were the most receptive to these questions.

They kept in contact.

They want one, one of them even says, it's like, like, you're my therapist.

Do you think that part that might have been the moment where like a light bulb goes off in Nathan's head, where he's just like, oh, there's something, they're like, there's something about this job and these people in my research of like producers reaching out to them and talking to them that he's like, all right, this is a rich vein.

Cause this was the first episode where I'm like, oh, as a, you know, it, when you're a journalist, where you're like, you just start talking to people and you're just like, oh, no, this is actually the heart of it.

This is what I need to devote weeks or months of my life to.

Yeah, I mean, I think like when I'm writing a big piece, it feels like a puzzle where I have a lot of different pieces that I know are good, that are connected in some way.

And then there's one thing usually that finally locks it all in to be like the full picture.

I, Charles, to be honest, couldn't begin to presume what that is within this puzzle.

Maybe at the end of episode six,

we might sort of know like where this idea truly started.

If it wasn't the Malcolm Gladwell chapter, like if it was something within Nathan Fielder's reporting and interviews.

But I mean, that was pretty cool.

That was cool to see those interviews with the pilots.

And like we saw a few that

we saw in the Wings of Voice episode

actually doing their initial interviews.

And yeah, I mean, it's really,

we'd have to do a bit of

this isn't in Sully Sellenberger's book, but I'm going to go ahead and presume it as reality to know if like that is where Nathan kind of locked in on this idea once he really talked to pilots.

Maybe, maybe that's his iPod.

This episode is brought to you by Pretty Litter.

If you track your steps, your sleep, even your screen time, why wouldn't you track your cat's health too?

Pretty litter is like smart tech for your litter box.

This color-changing litter actually monitors your cat's health by detecting potential issues in their urine, things like pH changes or blood, so you can catch problems early.

Plus, Pretty Litter ships for free right to your door, so no heavy bags to carry and no last-minute pet store runs.

Right now, save 20% on your first order and get a free cat toy at prettylitter.com slash prestige.

That's prettylitter.com slash prestige to save 20% on your first order.

and get a free cat toy.

Pretty litter.com slash prestige.

Pretty litter cannot detect every feline health issue or prevent or diagnose diseases.

A diagnosis can only come from a licensed veterinarian.

Terms and conditions apply.

See site for details.

This episode is brought to you by eBay.

We all have that piece.

The one that sew you, you've basically become known for it.

And if you don't yet, Fashionistas, you'll find it on eBay.

That Mew Mew red leather bomber, the Custo Barcelona cowboy top, or that Patagonia fleece in the 2017 Colorway.

All these finds are all on eBay, along with millions of more main character pieces backed by authenticity guarantees.

eBay is the place for pre-loved and vintage fashion.

eBay, things people love.

This podcast is brought to you by Carvana.

Got a car to sell, but no time to waste?

Hop onto Carvana.com to get a real offer for your car in seconds.

All you have to do is enter your license plate, answer a few quick questions, And if you accept the offer, Carvana will pay you as soon as you hand the keys over.

They even offer same-day pickup in many cities.

Save your time, score some cash, and sell your car the convenient way to Carvana.

Pickup times vary.

Fees may apply.

Jody, we have a new segment because the listeners have been so kind to us and have sent us a lot of great mail.

The podcast code?

Is that our new segment?

Whoa, do you, if you have, if you have better names, you know, that was just off the top of the dome, you know?

I love it.

The podcast code?

The podcast code.

Hell yeah.

For when people

email us at prestige TV at spotify.com to answer our many, many questions and also refute some of our answers.

Yes.

Tim Milan emailed us with the subject subway trash talk.

And he said, the misconception that subways are dangerous are caraganda.

Most subway deaths are suicides.

In 2024, in New York City, there were eight murders on the subway and 237 deaths from traffic violence.

Cars.

Cars kill over a million people per year globally.

Cars kill 500 children per day globally.

Please do not contribute to car a ganda.

To which I say, Tim, I did not realize that I was, and I apologize.

Cheese.

If that's part of the problem.

That is very spicy.

Tim was, he was coming at your neck.

As a subway supporter myself, Tim, I've always been on your side.

I don't know about Jodi, okay?

Now, I believe that this is in response to last week saying that airplanes are the safest form of travel,

which

is

something that I said, which is not part of propaganda.

The whole point of flights are the safest form of travel is that it is technically much safer than cars.

You are much less likely to die in a plane than to die by car.

I didn't see the intense way that subways were going to come into this.

But here you have it.

And maybe here you have season three of the rehearsal.

Pro Pro Subway, like a Subway season.

I would love a Subway season.

And maybe the inclusion of Jared from Subway in this episode was just a little Easter egg, a verbal Easter egg, not the inclusion of Jared, who we are done with.

So, hey, Tim, shout out to you.

Like, no carganda here on Prestige TV.

What's our next email, Joe?

Charles, you mentioned last week that you thought that the laptop sling from, well, both seasons would be a great Halloween costume for you out in LA to impress the ladies.

And Reagan Parks said, I laughed when I heard y'all mention dressing as Nathan Fielder for Halloween because I did that the year of season one and it did not go well.

Maybe in clubs in LA, thank you, Reagan, for knowing where Charles hangs out.

It'll go over better.

But trick-or-treating with my kids in Austin, I was met with many questions, including, why do you have to work while trick-or-treating?

That's such a dark take on the current state of the world.

And then confused looks when I explained why I had the computer desk.

Yes, I ordered the same one Nathan uses.

I was dedicated to a bad idea.

I love that phrasing, dedicated to a bad idea.

Whoa, not a bad idea at all.

I think the costume looked great.

Reagan sent us a photo.

It was a very nice photo.

I think your costume was awesome.

It just seems like you live in a place where they don't actually support prestige TV like you do.

Okay.

And as far as being in the LA clubs,

guys, I'm not a degenerate.

Okay.

Do you have any typing response to that?

I don't.

I'm not a degenerate.

I'm not in these clubs.

I'm being a good boy now.

You're on these streets.

But I will say, I will say, I have a whole theory on Halloween costumes now.

I am.

Back to basics.

After last Halloween and after how great my costume went over last Halloween, I'm, I'm totally bringing it back to be six.

Are you going to tell the people what it was?

Is this Charles Lure that I don't know?

I was, I was a man called,

as my friends called me, Bronco Brown.

I was a classic cowboy.

I had a fake gun.

I had a fake cigar.

Okay.

You know, I had the whole thing, it's Bronco Brown.

I would have come into a party.

Everyone loved it.

And I was just like, oh, I realized sometimes maybe we get a little too conceptual.

The conceptual Halloween costumes are for the real sickos.

Those are for the parties where I'm like, this is for the people with taste.

When I'm just hitting three or four in a day and I don't know all these people,

keep it simple.

Keep it the cowboys, the pirates, maybe a skeleton, you know?

Also, props.

Props are I was just going to say, you did that whole thing for prop comedy.

That's what you were, that's what you were up to.

I had so many props.

And that's the other thing that I realized because there were moments where it would be like, I lost my props.

Men, women were stealing my fucking props, going around with them, shooting the guns, taking the fake cigar.

I'm like, guys, guys, guys, guys, guys.

Props are important to comedy.

As Nathan Fielder has taught us, please return them.

But props are also an opportunity to sort of, you know, reach out to the public a little bit.

And it does feel like, like in middle school, when you're like, oh my God, can I wear your hat?

And you like take, you know, take a guy's hat, maybe get your hat taken.

It's like, yeah, you got a couple props.

Then you have a couple of ways to introduce conversation.

You, you get, wait, what were you for Halloween?

I didn't dress up this year.

How dare you call me out on Maine like that?

Jody.

I don't know what I was doing.

What?

All right.

Well, we'll give the people a sneak peek.

What are you thinking about?

What are you thinking about this?

Maybe

the first chair.

Maybe a pilot.

Ooh.

Maybe

captain.

Captain.

I'm reclaiming Captain.

And that brings us to our next email.

We did get a lot of feedback from pilots, kind of, you know, talking about the way that pilots are represented in this show.

And

there does seem to be some reality to it, to the sort of archetypes that we're getting.

We had a captain who preferred to stay anonymous reach out to say, I've been a captain for thousands of hours before I started my current airline.

And yes, there very much is a code switch from

first

officer to captain, she's saying.

As a captain, you set the tone of the cockpit.

I always try to keep mine open, calm, and friendly.

It's very rare in the normal day-to-day to have to exercise captain authority, but I have had to on occasion, always with regard to my first officer.

Despite the first officer, And she says, though I prefer co-captain, and thank you so much for not using the much-hated term co-pilot.

You learn something every day.

We We also have used that term, so she's being very kind to us.

My bad, my bad to all my pilots.

Well, it's used within the show.

Despite the first officer chameleon traits we have to embody in the right seat, most pilots are what some lovingly call type A.

Command does come naturally, and the chameleon in the right seat is the struggle.

We didn't get to that cockpit without fighting a lot of battles.

For some of us, cough, cough, women, minorities, cough, often a few bonus skirmishes.

Fun story.

When you're at a new airline, the captains fill out a review sheet while you are still on probation.

While I was at my regional job, a captain with whom I had excellent rapport wrote on mine under, how will this pilot perform as a captain?

She thinks she already is one.

I kept that one in my scrapbook.

That is really enlightening.

Very enlightening.

I mean, we shout out to all the pilots who emailed us.

They are very communicative.

They are, you are brave for your service and for being so honest.

And it does.

Well, they're probably trying to avoid having conversations in the pilot room with their, with their first officer, as we say.

I mean, yes, but they're on their laptops.

Through this email, what I'm, I mean, what I'm seeing is, Jodi, I'm not kidding.

I think you might have a future as a pilot.

I think podcasting is, you know, it's

great.

No, you're going to be a pilot podcaster.

You're going to be podcasting from the cockpit.

Well, I have been looking to revolutionize the airline safety industry.

This is my first step.

This is my couch.

I chose the couch or rug.

I chose to start here.

And we're going to see what comes next.

Do you think Nathan Fielder can make it easier for the women pilots out there, the minority pilots out there?

Do you think that this show can raise awareness that, hey, if you are, if you're the captain of this whole thing, watch what you're saying.

Don't be a creep.

Be a great person.

I mean, you know, I think some of that messaging is getting a little hidden behind the prosthetics and the

realistically operating puppet breasts.

Yeah.

But

I believe I said in the last episode, sort of inspired by the Maradi storyline and how her sort of gift as Nathan was observing it, to be able to navigate these challenging situations without kind of like stirring up someone getting mad at you.

That's a very gendered skill.

Like, that is something that girls learn and that they learn more and more as women

about how, I mean, it's basically like how to keep yourself safe by not upsetting anyone.

And it really made me have the thought last week, like, okay, why are we focusing on what we now understand as kind of like the chameleon co-captain?

Why are we not focusing on what this emailer said is the more innateness to the captain to have this sort of authority and how they can navigate authority in a better way?

And this episode,

vis-a-vis cloning, we did start to do that.

We, you know, that's what Nathan's doing.

He's turning his eye to the captain, to the innate captain nature.

And

I literally, I literally could not imagine what he's going to do next.

I mean, I think that's the perfect place to end it.

And just like this episode, Jodi, you have woken me up from the darkness inside, okay?

Wake me up!

Wake me up in, but you know what?

Who else we need to wake up inside?

Everybody behind the scenes who was probably like, damn, y'all went long on that episode shout out to Justin Sales shout out to CT shout out to Donnie without them this podcast would not be possible thank y'all for listening make sure you email us like honestly if I'm a if you guys are pilots out there send us what your evanescence is send us your song if like please if I I guarantee you if you are a pilot just send us what how you cope how you cope it could be a song it could be an album we will read it here live the email is prestige TV at spotify.com.

It's not actually live.

I'm lying.

We're recording this.

We are not recording.

It's the radio.

It's,

but yo, thank you, Jody.

You are, you are the best captain a co-captain could ever have.

We will see y'all next week.

Boom, we are done.

Thank you, Jody.