Sophia Michaels
“What’s up, jerks?!”
Back in late 2010, Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, and Jason Mantzoukas sat down with Nick Kroll to record the very first episode of their now-iconic podcast How Did This Get Made. The concept was an easy sell. Three insider comedians/actors/writers would invite fellow creatives to deep dive into what exactly was going on in the world’s worst movies while trying to figure out how these historic failures got greenlit. 230 episodes later (not counting mini-episodes), the show has come to define the comedy/ movie podcast intersection while spawning hundreds of imitators.
The 20 episodes of How Did This Get Made listed below offer a taste of the world that the hosts have built. It’s a sprawling ecosystem. Over the show’s decade-long run, they’ve covered a lot of terrible movies while bringing on a long list of great guests. Big disclaimer here though: HDTGM episodes generally stay available on free podcast streaming services for around six months. After that, you’ll need a Stitcher premium subscription to access the full vault. If you want to start your listen with only the more recent/ free episodes, you can find them on Apple Podcasts, Earwolf, Castbox, and Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.
20. Burlesque with Nick Kroll
The Movie:
In the very first episode of HDTGM, our hosts sit down with actor/comedian/writer Nick Kroll to talk about the 2010 film starring Cher and Christina Aguilera, Burlesque. The episode is shorter than later episodes and the format isn’t quite as dialed in yet. Still, the episode provides shows a glimmer of good things to come. While Burlesque is a bad movie, it’s also kind of “fun bad,” and that concept would go on to become the crucial ingredient for the show.
Where to Listen: Stitcher
19. Geostorm with Colton Dunn and Jessica St. Clair
The Movie:
GEOSTORM!!! has become a rallying cry for HDTGM stans. This live episode from April 2018, is a rollicking live show that hits a lot of classic HDTGM moments: Baffled and hilarious guest stars, a delightfully stupid/fun movie, and a great audience to help hype up the whole experience. Plus, this episode birthed the meme, “GEEEEEOOOOOOOSTORM!!!”
Where to Listen: Stitcher
18. Howard The Duck with Kristen Schaal
The Movie:
This movie is batshit crazy. It was also the perfect movie to examine as peak-Marvel was starting to, well, peak. The space-comic-book-fantasy movie was a notorious bomb critically and financially and a straight-up baffling by today’s comic book movie standards. Actress/writer Kristen Schaal’s nonchalant wit and a stoked Largo live audience in L.A. make this a very fun listen in the post-Endgame world of 2020.
Where to Listen: Stitcher
17. Hudson Hawk with Emily V. Gordon
The Movie:
Podcaster and writer Emily V. Gordon dropped by the HDTGM studio to talk about the Bruce Willis notoriously so-bad-it’s-kinda-great classic Hudson Hawk. This episode shines as the hosts and guest parse what exactly is going on in this European-art-heist-action-comedy film that breaks into a full-on musical at one point with Bruce Willis and Danny Aiello trading verses as they heist.
Where to Listen: Stitcher
16. Glitter with Adam Scott, Casey Wilson, and Dan Levy
The Movie:
Mariah Carey’s Glitter is a baffling film. The film’s nonsensical plot aside, the soundtrack album was released on September 11th, 2001, and the film was still released ten days later, which … yeah. The episode is also one of the first “All-Stars” episodes as both Mantzoukas and Raphael are absent and Scheer is joined by an HDTGM all-star crew of Adam Scott, Casey Wilson, and Dan Levy on stage for a free-wheeling and hilarious show.
Where to Listen: Stitcher
15. Hercules In New York with Abbi Jacobson
The Movie:
Okay, we know we’ve said several times that a big part of HDTGM is that the movies are generally “fun bad.” Yeah, this isn’t one of those movies. The first official movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger is hard to watch visually, makes little sense narratively, and has one of the worst dubbings in movie history (thanks to Schwarzenegger’s hefty Austrian accent in the late 1960s). Luckily, the hilarious Abbi Jacobson (Broad City) is on stage with Scheer, Raphael, and Mantzoukas, and they try their damndest to make sense of a movie that just… doesn’t make much sense.
Where to Listen: Stitcher
14. Action Jackson with Seth Rogen
The Movie:
Jumping right back into “fun bad,” Action Jackson is a great palate cleanser that has a non-dubbed and by-that-point superstar Arnold Schwarzenegger. This hilarious episode also has one of the show’s biggest guests in Seth Rogen and a super fun live audience with great questions. This is HDTGM firing on all cylinders and it’s a fun ride.
Where to Listen: Stitcher
13. Face/Off with Randall Park
The Movie:
Face/Off is a wild action/sci-fi where John Travolta and Nicolas Cage switch faces (and bodies?) for crime reasons and chaos ensues. It’s the pinnacle of 1990s action movies that helped birth the wildness of franchises like the Fast and Furious movies of the last decade. Although June Diane Raphael isn’t present for this live outing, Randall Park drops in to break down this crazy fun action movie bringing insight and plenty of laughs.
Where to Listen: Stitcher
12. Maximum Overdrive with Andy Daly
The Movie:
Maximum Overdrive is famed for being the movie where horror author Stephen King was so high on cocaine that he completely blacked out during the making of the whole movie even though, yes, he was the one directing it. This movie is bad but in a stupid/fun way which makes it the perfect fodder for HDTGM. Add in a dose of Review host/ star Andy Daly’s acerbic comedic stylings and you have a great episode that’s a breeze to listen to. Cocaine optional.
Where to Listen: Stitcher
11. Grease 2 with Anna Faris
The Movie:
The HDTGM episode about Grease 2 is a great ripple in the podcast. This is a movie that one of the hosts — June Diane Raphael in this case — loves and refuses to accept as “bad.” It’s always a lot of fun listening to the hosts argue good and bad plot points or baffling costume, directing, or special FX decisions. But, it’s even more fun to listen to impassioned monologs about why the movie isn’t — on the whole — even bad. Add in actress/author/podcaster Anna Faris and you have a classic episode of the show.
Where to Listen: Stitcher
10. Junior
The Movie:
Released around Christmas 2014, the 100th episode of HDTGM finally tackled one of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s most baffling roles (and the former logo for the show), Junior. Yes, the one where a man impregnates himself to prove a scientific point and then goes through pregnancy and birth (in drag no less). Scheer, Raphael, and Mantzoukas sit down in the studio to dissect (sorry) the movie and figure out how this movie could ever be made.
Where to Listen: Stitcher
9. Streets Of Fire with Rachel Bloom and Jessica St. Clair
The Movie:
This is a hard movie to get a handle on. It has Willem Dafoe with a crazy head of hair and a neo-noir, rock-n-roll fable, action movie vibe with Michael Paré rescuing Diane Lane in a post-apocalyptic 1980s. It’s a wild and bewildering ride of a movie that doesn’t make much sense and doesn’t seem to care that it doesn’t. This is the sort of film that theater geeks tend to love and everyone else is baffled by, making it the perfect fit for HDTGM.
Bonus points: You can still listen to this episode for free.
Where to Listen: Stitcher, Apple Podcasts
8. Star Wars Holiday Special with Matt Gourley and Eden Sher
The Movie:
The 1978 spin-off made-for-TV movie Star Wars Holiday Special is hard to endure. It’s bad … really bad. There are musical numbers, nightmare-inducing child Wookies, Bea Arthur, and “Life Day” celebrations. When watching this head-scratching “movie” and listening to this classic episode of HDTGM, you can’t help but wonder if this “holiday special” wasn’t the canary in the coal mine for what was to come from the Star Wars series when the prequels rolled around in the 1990s.
Bonus points: You can still listen to this episode for free.
Where to Listen: Stitcher, Apple Podcasts
7. The Lawnmower Man with Emily Heller and Neil Casey
The Movie:
The Lawnmower Man is another Stephen King “classic” — well, not really. This early-adopter movie about virtual reality in the 1990s teeters between bizarre and dumb with little sense of why anything is happening in between the very outdated scenes of VR, including a ripped-straight-from-Pink-Floyd’s The Wall animation sex scenes that are definitely not sexy. It’s fun as hell listen to a live version of the show and will almost convince you to actually watch the movie for all the sexy Billy Zane and Pierce Brosnan.
Where to Listen: Stitcher
6. Fast Five with Adam Scott
The Movie:
It’s hard to know where to rank all the Adam Scott episodes that cover the Fast and Furious franchise films (including Hobbs & Shaw). So, we’re going with the first “Fast” episode of HDTGM which covers Fast Five. This is a way back throwback to 2011 and marks the beginning of a running theme on the show wherein Adam Scott (Parks and Recreation) drops by to immediately review Fast and Furious films while they’re still in theaters. We’re looking forward to the inevitable HDTGM when Scott rolls into the studio or onto the Largo stage in L.A. to riff on F9 later this year.
Where to Listen: Stitcher
5. Zardoz Part I with Brett Gelman & Part II
The Movie:
Zardoz — short for The WiZARD of OZ (seriously) — is a Sean Connery sci-fi vehicle of madness. We don’t even know where to begin with this movie. The gun spewing floating head? The geriatric sex cult? Connery’s wild red diaper and suspenders costume? This movie is so wild that it’s the only two-parter in HDTGM history. The first episode has Scheer and Mantzoukas sitting down with actor/comedian Brett Gelman to try and get a handle on the film. Then, for part two, Scheer and Raphael go deeper and attempt to make sense of this senseless movie.
Where to Listen: Stitcher
4. Tango And Cash with Nick Kroll
The Movie:
This episode isn’t necessarily a huge departure for an average HDTGM episode. The shining part of this show is Nick Kroll’s continued and amazing Sylvester Stallone impersonations throughout. Look, every time Nick Kroll shows up on the show, it’s great. This episode rises above as the movie is the perfect balance of fun bad and has Kroll operating right in his comedy sweet spot.
Where to Listen: Stitcher
3. Bloodsport with Nicole Byer
The Movie:
Kumite! has become one of the most iconic catchphrases (and t-shirts) for the show. What is “Kumite,” you ask? That’s the battle-to-the-death martial arts arena showdown in the Jean-Claude Van Damme 1980s classic Bloodsport. This movie has spawned a whole culture around HDTGM. The addition of the hilarious and raunchy Nicole Byer only helps to amp up the hilarity of the episode, making it a must-listen.
Where to Listen: Stitcher
2. Drop Dead Fred with Casey Wilson
The Movie:
This episode sort of came out of nowhere and upped the anty on the show’s culture and popularity. It’s also another example of a movie that June Diane Raphael defends to the death as not bad. The episode spawned a meme around the schism between Scheer and special guest Casey Wilson (Happy Endings) and Raphael and Mantzoukas about whether Fred was real or part of Phoebe Cates’ broken mind. “Team Fred” and “Team Sanity” were born and today the two sides have become a rallying cry for fans of the show with almost equal support for each side of the argument.
Though, we all know Team Sanity is right.
Where to Listen: Stitcher
1. The Room with Greg Sestero and Steve Heisler
The Movie:
Critics described watching Tommy Wiseau’s The Room “is like being stabbed in the head.” The film was a joke when it came out in 2003. Then it found a home on the L.A. midnight movie circuit for its absurd badness and picked up a big cult following from the likes of Paul Rudd, Kristen Bell (who owns her own reels of the film), Seth Rogen, and James and Dave Franco. This solidified in 2011 when the HDTGM crew invited The Room actor Greg Sestero to dive into how the movie really got made. It’s a great listen in general about how one man’s (crazy) vision became a Hollywood cult classic.
The popularity of The Room continued to soar after the podcast. Sestero co-wrote a book called The Disaster Artist in 2013 which, in turn, spawned a James Franco directed and starring film of the same name in 2017. The HDTGM hosts all had roles in the film with Sheer as Raphael Smadja (the first DP), Raphael as Robyn Paris (the actress who portrays Michelle), and Mantzoukas as Peter Anway (the camera rental company rep). Their turns in the film closed the ouroboros on one of the first big episodes of How Did This Get Made and solidified the podcast’s place in the pantheon of the greats of the medium.
Where to Listen: Stitcher
Written by: Uproxx
