Transcript of The Shipping Container Is Jacked Up On Cafecito | Hour 2

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So I told you guys that I ran into Rich Paul at the airport, and it wasn't a very long conversation. It was a little bit while ago, but he was again and again hitting the note of content is king, content is king. And now reports are coming out LeBron James and ESPN are closing in on an agreement for a Last Dance type of documentary series that will chronicle, I imagine, what we just saw happen with LeBron James and what's coming up in the next couple of years of what is LeBron controlling his retirement story punctuation. Like, it's not going to be the, the Heat or the Lakers or the Cavs get to decide how he tells his story at the end. He's partnering with ESPN because he's got the media credentials to turn his last part of his career instead of the way Bill Russell had to do it, where he had to be a player-coach. And because he can't do it as a player-owner, they won't allow it, he's gonna do it as a player-media member where he controls his own content company. Because who's not gonna watch a documentary about the last few years of LeBron when it's gonna have this much drama and you're gonna have access to what has rapidly become the most interesting team in the sport just because he joined it?

Interesting to think how far he's come with that relationship, considering it was in 2010 how angry he was with ESPN after the Decision aired and the way he was treated and the way he was portrayed. I mean, if I'm remembering correctly, I feel like the Heat games that were on ABC that year, he didn't do the on-court interviews with ABC, ESPN. He was— and now we're in a spot where he's partnering with them.

I'm sorry. I'm sitting here in this room and I'm, you know, we were talking about how you become your parents as you get older. I saw Chris Cody become his father, like, in the blink of an eye. Because when you mentioned LeBron's going to have this docuseries about his retirement, end of his career, all Chris could say was, oh, what if he sees— we get him seeing my tweet and reacting to it in real time.

He immediately made it about himself.

Absolutely.

What will The Last Dance reveal? Will I have a featured role in ruining everything that happened in Miami?

A friend of mine yesterday told me that Rich Paul referenced my tweet, which I never heard. I need to go back and listen to the podcast now. Look, apparently there was a reference.

You did great damage to our company, boy.

Dan Lebatard's good, by the way. I sent Dan that one. I sent you that clip.

I said, look, they played on the show that clip, uh, and you guys, you guys are interested in the drama and the theatrics of this because to me it's really interesting when Peyton Manning and, and Tom Brady want to get into the competitive game after games. LeBron's going to keep playing as long as he can keep having the power to make the end the way that he wants to end in the story he wants to tell. Like, he, he's not going to let go of the power of being able to make the thing that puts the punctuation on the end of his career. He's going to grab control of the end of his story, and he's going to partner with the greatest media giant in order to make it something that rivals whatever it is that Michael Jordan made.

Hopefully it can repurpose some of the footage that Chris Bosh was recording when they made their collective decision to come to Miami. I remember we asked Chris Bosh one time what happened with that footage, and he kind of was like, oh, it's It's sitting somewhere in storage. He didn't end up doing anything with it. But from an archival standpoint, to have that be an accent on the story that LeBron's trying to tell is a pretty cool one.

Can I make a request? And I know we here also do produce documentary— uh, but what was that word?

What do we produce?

Documentaries.

Ah, documentary, right? Uh, can we not do documentaries about stuff that just happened? Like, I don't want him to retire and the next year we got a documentary on it. Give it— like, what made The Last Dance so great was that there was decades of us, like, just creating mythology about this guy, and then finally, like, let's see what it was really like, and you realize the mythology wasn't even close. Wasn't even close to where the actual kind of mythology actually was. And so I think LeBron has a mythological career. But we're not gonna appreciate that documentary next year if it comes out the year after he, he's done playing, or 2 years. We need time, we need oxygen, we need someone else to rise up and for us to say, I think he might be better than LeBron James, and people lose their mind. Let Wemby become the greatest player. Let Wemby be in that conversation for maybe he's the greatest player of all time, and then you drop it. He's like, oh, y'all must have forgot. Boom. And then you got the whole LeBron story and like, oh my God, how could we have been so foolish?

The idea that Steph Curry and LeBron James over this 20-year run of battling for the top of the league and however it is that the story ends. How about this story from Anthony Slater, ESPN? This was the Warriors' third failed pursuit of LeBron in the past 3 years, the previous 2 attempted via trade, and their decision-making tree left with a similar sentiment from the previous 2. Team sources said they believe part of James's hesitancy to ultimately joined the Warriors is his history battling the franchise during the dynasty years and how the choice would be viewed from a legacy perspective. Quote, I believe there's more appeal to playing with Steph Curry on a different franchise rather than that franchise, one league source said.

LeBron very clearly valued how things would be viewed from a legacy standpoint when making this decision. He invoked it when, giving voice to either him or Rich Paul as to why he didn't want to go back to Miami, because he felt like he had good memories there. And when you return with the expectation of the most recent memory of winning over there, that complicates things.

I really do like viewing some of all of this though through the lens of how LeBron's going to be competitive this last part of his career and going forward when, you know, I Show Speed is building $11 million, uh, warehouse in Hialeah, because the content factory of LeBron James is at the beginning of my career, I'm going to take over all the power and I'm going to give the power of this over to ESPN. We'll do a TV show. I'll take the blame for it. But at the end of my career, no, I'm going to tell my story with ESPN the way I wish to. And I really do believe that at this point in his legacy building, I do believe that what he wants here is the story of I bring the interest and the interesting with me. And I'm going to tell the story from inside. I think this is as much as being able to tell the story as being a part of the story.

I'd like to call timeout right here, Dan. He didn't allow ESPN to do whatever back in the day. That was actually the first time when he controlled the story and ESPN just had to broadcast it. So he's kind of doing the exact same thing, like he is creating the story and all ESPN gets to do is broadcast it. That's no different than what he did in 2010.

The point I guess I'm making over the 16 years of the all of it is this guy has partnered with the worldwide leader in sports to dominate the story in sports. And at the end, when Omaha and Peyton Manning is selling their shit to ESPN, Tom Brady is selling his shit to Fox.

Man, let's not call it shit.

No, I don't mean—

Well, then you're going to be complaining.

No, no, I don't.

Dan Le Batard calls Omaha. Mina Kimes is part of that too.

You speak for yourself.

Precious Mina, you speak for us.

I didn't mean it as slur.

I didn't. I love Kevin Clark's podcast stuff.

I didn't mean— they're things. I didn't mean their stuff. I did not mean that pejoratively. You got me though. Poor word choice. I'm going to get aggregated. I don't believe Omaha is shit. Mina's great.

That could be aggregated too.

The selling— can you look up for me please what that deal was for Omaha and ESPN? Because I find— I don't know whether you guys find the business of this interesting, but I don't know what it costs for a LeBron doc that's in 8 parts on ESPN that everybody's going to watch, however it is that it gets made. Do you find the business of that interesting? Partnering to tell your story with Disney at the end when you're the most famous athlete we've had in America for 20 years?

I don't anymore because everyone's doing it.

Yeah, there have been so many bad ones. I'll see the trailer when it comes out and be like, uh, I'll have interest in this.

If it comes out like right after he's done playing, I'm not gonna watch it. But if it's like years and years and I'm like, ah, I miss LeBron, then I'll absolutely watch it.

Just give creative control to someone else. Do what Jordan did, which was they were recording this stuff and then someone else pieced it together and told the story from there. But LeBron in the editing room and having editorial power, I don't want that.

I'm calling bull— Season's over. You're definitely watching it. No, it's not going to be on and there's no basketball going on and people are watching and talk about it. You're like, nah, I got to wait a few years.

I had this conversation the other day. I'm glad you brought this up where people are like, oh man, don't you miss all sports? There's no sports on. Don't you miss? I'm like, no, I like watching 18 episodes of House of Dragons in a row just to refresh my memory for season 3. It is so refreshing to be in this part of the calendar where I don't have that constant annoying fear of like, wait a second, there's a game on somewhere, I need to be watching this. What if someone asks me about this tomorrow? Oh my gosh, what's happening? Let me check Hoops Hype, the latest news, who signed, who got traded. I hate it, I hate it. It's a prison of my own construction, Zazz, and I can't get out until that beautiful, sweet, sweet late July, August, early September hits, and then I don't have to give a about what's going on in sports. I can just be the me that I want to be, watch movies and go to the pool and swim with my kids and have fun and go out and not have to worry about, wait a second, is someone— what's the score on that game?

I don't have to do none of that. So I'm sorry if LeBron's documentary comes out right after the season, right after Summer League. I'll be like, no, peace out. I'm just— time for me to start boning up on The Agency or whatever other show I'm watching, man.

We gotta isolate that and just tell people that you had a cafecito before the segment because that was crazy.

I did, man. And I told them it's starting to hit. It really is starting.

I didn't get a cafecito.

Howdy, folks, it's Mike Ryan. You know, the Leopard Show and Miller Lite go way back. Pretty much, I want to say like 95% of our existence we've been partnered with Miller Lite and we believe in Miller Lite. They believe in us. It's great to have a partner with a product you truly love. That's me with Miller Lite. I love Miller Lite, always have. In fact, I consider myself a bit of a Miller Time MVP. The friend who says, "They've got it, I'll pick the spot, I'll throw the cooler in the trunk, bring some Miller Lite," and suddenly what was supposed to be a couple of hours turns into a whole afternoon. That's me, the Miller Time MVP. And it's great for summer hangs, cools the body down, that beautiful white can. Not much better than an ice-cold Miller Lite because it's brewed for taste with simple ingredients, clean, refreshing, and easy to drink in the Miami heat. An all-American summer starts with an all-American beer, Miller Lite. Go to millerlite.com/dan to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. It's Miller time. Celebrate responsibly.

Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces. Dan Levitar.

The Packers win or the Bears lose.

Jonathan Sasselow.

Shitty, you want to know how that— what were the kids doing?

This is the Dan Levitar Show.

All right, the entire staff has been afflicted by something that had a lot more strength than whatever Romo was on. And Amin yelling at me, some sort of inspirational shouting at the sky. I can be the me I want to be when basketball sets me free, singing a song to the skies about this, this job I love, this sport I love. It consumes me. I can't be the me I want to be most free when basketball— and I've got to keep up with the young kids on something happened in the Utah game in the third quarter that I need to pay attention to.

But then it really is like, I love the game and I love watching games and all that stuff, but It is so suffocating to feel like I have to know because there's no chance I could walk in a room and say, "Oh my God, isn't that crazy what happened to Brandon Ingram?" And I'm like, "What happened to Brandon Ingram?" And I sound like an idiot, so I have to be all like, I wake up—

To me, all that is is you competing in the modern space where everyone is grabbing at content and Rich Paul, LeBron's agent, is saying content is king. There are all sorts of people consumed at all times at the idea, "What do you mean I can have a microphone and say things and people 'pay attention to my opinion and it matters.' Like, everyone on the internet's doing that. That's what social media is, as far as I can tell. It's just everyone shouting into the microphone saying, 'Hey, listen to my opinion.

I have opinions.' Yes, but I think there's a level beyond opinion that is knowledge and information, right? And I think that's the part that really keeps me up at night, both figuratively and literally, is this idea that I have to be abreast of the situation and I have to have the information, the knowledge. And it's not even particularly because I'm going to tweet about it or because I'm going to speak into a microphone. It's just people I encounter who expect me to know, right?

Okay, but this is the burden of this addiction in general, is it not? That you always feel like you need to keep up. Like, isn't that the whole thing? Isn't that why we're all addicted to it? Like, that you can't fall behind, that if you miss a week, you're, you're, you're months behind.

It's, it's the difference between this job and you know, I guess knowing what happened in House of the Dragon, right? Like, I was behind because I didn't start season 3 with everyone else. I had to go back and watch the first 2 seasons because I can't remember anything. And all the characters have the same damn name— Daenerys, Jaehaerys, Jaehaerys, Rhaenyra, like, they're all the same people. How am I supposed to keep them apart? So I have to go back and rewatch the whole thing over each episode because those recaps don't tell you enough. The recaps are just like, and then this happened. Like, no, there's a whole lot beneath that you didn't figure out. And so By the way, we should open a bar, right? We could open a bar. It'd be the coolest bar ever. It'll be like a House of Dragons sports with a boat. But I got a guy, I got a guy on a boat where we're playing House of Dragons on some screens and sports on the other screens. But here's the thing, we tell everybody who comes in, you're coming into this boat, this boat bar, this bar boat, you don't get to tell people that.

If you get pulled over, you can't say you came here. Or you guys, hold up, you have to, you have to This is what you got to do. And no mention of Charles Barkley. Don't mention Charles Barkley.

A tiki hut boat.

Tiki hut boat.

I've seen those.

A tiki hut boat. We do it better, though.

Yes, because we'll have the screens with House of Dragons on one screen and sports on the other. And we also tell the people, give them a card. We give them a little card. On the card it says, hey, if you get pulled over leaving here, do not mention us. Don't mention us. Don't mention Charles Barkley. Don't mention Greg Cody either. Or his garage.

Or the chalet.

ESPN and Peyton Manning's Omaha Productions share a historic 9-year content agreement running through 2034, valued at $60 million annually, $140 million total.

Let me hold a dollar.

I find it fascinating that these guys are competing for that money. I do think the cafecito should be illegal. I think it's something that—

What do you know?

Well, he's a cop.

I'm just saying that— I'm not saying in all circumstances, okay? I just said illegal. No, no, what? But I'm going to—

Did you not?

I just made a top 5. I did.

I'll get to your top 5 in a second.

That's top 10.

The cafecito that Amin had that has him spiraling out and spinning out right now is the work of an amateur. And Mike was next to Amin and he was grinding his teeth the entire time because I think all of you have had too much cafecito this morning and all of you are— everyone here is high while making fun of Tony Romo. That's what just happened. And everyone here is some form of medicated on cafecito. And so I think it should be governed a little better, Tony, in the morning hours if you work in media.

Yeah, but you need it, right? Like, we all talk about we got sleepy the other day. Yeah, this is when you need it right here so you could be at max propulsion when the show is happening. Imagine being at half propulsion, half mass, then you gotta be a full mass.

I just don't understand why that side of the show got cafecito and we did not.

I talk enough. You don't want to speed me up any more than I've already been sped up.

Top 5 opening credits with the use of music in cinematic history. Oh, number 5. Quentin Tarantino, I think, was a master of this, so I'm going, uh, George Baker, Little Green Bag from Reservoir Dogs. Uh, number 4.

Hold on, what is the inspiration for this?

You'll get it when I get to number 1 because I want to honor, uh, a great French producer. Number 4. Staying Alive by the Bee Gees. Saturday Night Fever opening credits.

Did you just say to me, I will ignore your questions till the end because I want to honor that?

You do that all the time. Number 3.

A French director?

Uh, number 3. Rosie Perez dancing in Do the Right Thing to Public Enemy's Fight the Power.

Fight the Power!

Yeah!

Number 2. I mean, it takes you back to the first time you saw the film after that incredible opening scene. Title card comes out to Dick Dale's Misserlou in Pulp Fiction. Tarantino's the master of it. And number 1, one of the coolest goddamn movies ever, and the soundtrack is a huge reason why. You knew right away that you were watching something different where the music was a character in the film. I'm talking about Drive, not Taxi with Queen Latifah. Drive, Kavinsky, who was found dead in his home yesterday, 50-year-old French dance producer, with an all-time classic song, Night Call. That a lot of people discovered via that film.

Dan had a French producer.

Rest in peace, Kavinsky. That song is an all-time banger. It is a vibe. Right away you realize that Ryan Gosling's about to have his signature performance in the coolest— one of the coolest performances ever in the history of cinema.

I just realized that Mike wished to eulogize Kavinsky with the highest honor he can give, which is one of his top 5 lists falling out of the sky to eulogize a French director while we were busy talking about producer.

Producer. Not— he was the, the producer behind the song. Nikole, do you know about that, Nikole? The coin goes in and you're off.

Uh, the questions as that I wanted to put in front of you based on what it is that Mike was just doing there. Do you very often get moved by music? Uh, do you remember when he offers up movie is starting, music is starting, and this has met me and I am now discovering immediately a song that I will associate with this movie and that makes me happy? I don't do movies very often that way, where I could come up with my own top 5 list.

I can't necessarily do it with movies— uh, songs at the start of the movie. I mean, I certainly remember Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, 'cause those are two of my favorite movies, but normally, I could recognize a movie from the song at some point in the movie, not necessarily the very start.

But Mike's a music lover. I mean, you're a movie lover. Do you associate very many movies with music off the top?

Yeah, Mike mentioned Tarantino movies. I think about the movie Jackie Brown, what an incredible soundtrack. Definitely a very old-school inspired soundtrack. Kill Bill soundtrack produced by the RZA. Uh, there's— I mean, every Tarantino movie is very musically driven. Also the— what's up— the brothers that, that did, uh, Dead Presidents and did, uh, Menace Society, the Hughes Brothers. Theirs also have a lot of musical influences within the movie that kind of transport you there. I think a lot of the great directors find a way to take popular music and kind of weave it into the fabric of your, of your filmmaking, especially if you're doing a period piece, because nothing sends you back in time like that.

It's a cheat code. Contemporary music makes it something that is of a time. You capture zeitgeist. What Quentin Tarantino does is he taps into nostalgia too. But to define an era the way that Do the Right Thing did for many, to tap a contemporary artist for things like that, that, that to me is a lot harder. The way that Staying Alive was used in Saturday Night Fever and the way that Kavinsky's Night Call was used in Drive.

You know, when you said, uh, Staying Alive and Saturday Night Fever opening credits, right? You know what the interesting thing about that is, is that the sequel to Saturday Night Fever was Staying Alive, and they played it On the outro credits.

And he bumps into—

Stallone walking down the street. Who was the director!

And whose brother did the title song, The Frankster!

Far From Over!

You're putting that number 1, Mike, at least in part because you're appreciating the degree of difficulty of movies, car chases. This is the most difficult thing to pull off better than the others, and if it's got the right music behind it, you've now introduced me to a movie.

Drive was going for cool, and you can kind of piece that together from the trailer, and, and you're like, ah, is this going to be a tryhard thing? Is everyone just going to try to do their facsimile of James Dean, who came so effortless to— and the music is such a huge— that's right, sausages ties everything together. But it is— I don't know, Drive is one of my favorite movies ever, and it's in large part due to how effectively the music is used.

Okay. Driving movie with music effectively used. Drive or Baby Driver?

Baby Driver was just— all right. Can I have a conversation with you? Baby Driver was so high on its own supply and I like Edgar Wright, but the thing that made Drive so much better than Baby Driver was like Baby Driver was trying to shoot for how cool Drive was. And the entire thing was just so— where Drive was effortless. There was so much effort put into Baby Driver. I didn't like it because it was trying too hard to be cool.

You didn't like Baby Driver?

I didn't like it because it was trying too hard, whereas Drive was just like, man, everybody in this film is naturally cool and the music is just hitting.

Hey, let's normalize effort. This effortless thing, it's the worst thing to happen in America. Everyone's like, oh, it's supposed to be effortless. No, effort is good. Trying is good. Working hard is good. That's how we built this great country.

No, but All right, so speaking on this show, like, we were built because it felt very fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants. To many, it seemed effortless when a lot of effort— I always told people, how do you prepare for a show that goes anywhere? You got to be prepared for anything.

Chris Cody hasn't talked in about an hour because he ate wet sausages, 3 and a half of them, links, not patties. You got to work hard and be prepared for anything, and he has wet sausages and we've lost it. We took out— we lost a soldier in the middle of these 3 hours, taken out, and you didn't even notice because the other one's got too much cafecito in his bayonet.

My argument when it comes to art is a lot of the best stuff makes you feel like someone didn't pour their heart into the project because it comes off so natural and effortless when there is a very high degree of difficulty for it. I'm just speaking from my own personal art.

You ever watch Inception? There's no way you can watch that and say they didn't put any effort into this. Effortless. It's so— it's so elaborate. It made me think to myself, Holy shit, man. I thought that I could be capable of being a storyteller until I saw Inception. I'm like, there's no chance.

No, but this is a good conversation to have to me. Like this one, if I ask you, go to the top of list on whatever endeavor you choose, person who made it look the easiest. I wonder how many guesses I'd have to get before I find someone who actually would tell you, yeah, it was easy. It was actually easy. Like, I believe that everything that looks easy, everything that's successful that looks easy is because the people cared about it so much that they made it look that way. But the degree of difficulty would be really hard on all this stuff. Like, I don't know what it made— how it is that Caitlin Clark became that good at basketball or Mike Trout or anybody you want to choose who's great. But I don't think any of them would tell you it was easy, even if they make it look easy. Do you— like, who would be at the top of the list if I said, give me someone anywhere in the arts who you're convinced they made a difficult thing look easy because it was just effortless for them?

I feel like you could say that about guys who are great at guitar. I feel like I look at some of those dudes like this, he just— he knows how to play, it's easy for him.

I doubt that.

I doubt that.

I look at Jimmy Page, I'm like, this was easy for him.

So you just gave that off?

Yeah.

Yeah.

You guys think that like there's always some holy person who reaches into a crib and gives someone talent, or they care so much about it that they sculpt it?

There's two different ways to do this. Christopher Nolan, I think, is supremely cool. Sir Christopher Nolan. I think he's supremely cool.

Game of Thrones?

But there's a ton of effort that goes into it, and I think he's cool because the art speaks for himself. You mentioned guitar players. Jack White goes out of his way to prove to you how difficult it is, the things that he does. He even famously puts a piano further away so you have to actually see the effort that goes into him playing. I think that there's two ways to do it.

Both are cool.

It just reminds me of that scene in Good Will Hunting, right? Where Matt Damon is scolding the professor. He's like, "Do you know how easy this shit is for me?

Like, it's embarrassing watching you try to do this." Oh, but I think we do this all the time, specifically in sports, where someone makes it look easy and we think that they're more athletic than everybody else. And it's like, no, you don't have any earthly idea how much time that wide receiver spent running those 7 yards that way so that it can't be covered. Like, the sculpting of that is such an absurdity that it's not just a holy person reaches into your crib and makes you talented. Like, I don't think that's anywhere— I don't think that you'll find that just about anywhere in the arts.

Jon Jones makes things look really, really easy, and I don't know how much he's training— a lot, obviously—

but like, yeah, if you have someone working against you at the same— like, that makes it harder though.

That makes it harder.

I know, right? Right, it's definitely not easy.

Dan Levitar.

Put a finger in there, but if you tell anyone, I'll deny it. Mike Ryan. Don't just stare at it, eat it. This is the Dan Levitar Show.

So the person— I know this is an incorrect answer, but the person I would think of is Magic Johnson. Not because I don't think he worked hard on his game or anything like that, but because when he tries to explain basketball to people, It's always the most straightforward thing. And I, I always, in my mind, the headcanon I created was that if everything was as simple as tying your shoelaces, like, would you be able to ever discern what is the difficult concept from an easy concept for people to understand? So that's why he says everything. So yeah, LeBron James going to the Philadelphia 76ers gives them a great chance at success. Yeah, we all knew that, Magic. But Magic's mind is like, if I broke down every single basketball impact of it, would you guys even get it? You probably wouldn't. So let me, let me dumb it down. Let me talk at your dumbass level. He's so much smarter than us that this is the only way he's trying to communicate with us. It's like, you know, when people talk to kids and they use this voice. Do you want an ice cream?

Uh-huh.

That's what he's doing when he explains basketball to us.

So let me ask you guys, you guys believe that there is anyone in entertainment or otherwise, athletics, anywhere, I put them in this chair And I say, you made it look easy. Was it easy? Do you think anyone is saying all of the hard things and only the hard things? Or you think someone's saying, yeah, yeah, it's totally easy. It's a gift I have. And I don't even have to care about it that much. I'm just better than all the other people in the world who are competing against me for money on this thing. I just do it better because as an embryo, I was struck by God and some light.

Barry Bonds.

I mean, I, I think there are definitely people who sit in that chair and it is easy for them. I'm definitely not one of them. I think there's a lot of— I think there are sports talk show hosts. I, I think there are, uh, even, you know, news talk show hosts that, that they, they sit in that chair and it is—

but I'm not doing news. I'm just saying anyone in arts, anyone sits in this chair and you think they make it look easy, put it— make it anyone. Jack White, do you think that he would say, no, I spent 18 hours a day for 20 years playing the guitar? Like, no, I didn't come out— I don't have an ear for music that's better than everyone else's ear for music. I care deeply, and it was hard work. Or you really just think he picked up a guitar one day and it's like the devil or God gave him a power and he just— and he beat the devil with his fiddlin'?

I think Charlie Daniels—

I mean, I definitely think Jimi Hendrix was like that. Yes, I think there were times where Jimi Hendrix was picking up a guitar, it's like, is easy, watch what I'm about to do.

Top 5 effortlessly cool performances in cinematic history. OLI, Harrison Ford as Han Solo. Number 5, Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones.

Oh yeah, he was great.

So great.

Love Indiana Jones. I'm an Ally, Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley.

Oh yeah, until she played basketball, then she didn't look cool.

Yeah, but you know, they, they beat it into the ground. Well, Harrison Ford didn't look super cool going for the crystal skull.

He was 100 years old when that was old.

I mean, talk about—

talk about braiders.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Number 3, I'm beginning to realize that this is a list of dudes that I kind of wanted to bang. Ryan Gosling, Crazy Stupid Love.

Was that the one with Steve Carell?

Yeah, but Ryan Gosling was so—

that's a great movie.

He was a douche in that.

Yeah, well, it's a great movie.

It's not great.

It's a great movie.

Bridge too far.

Number 2, Ryan Gosling in Drive. I'm pretty sure I just want to bang Ryan Gosling. And number 1, Brad Pitt as Tyler Durden, Fight Club.

No Carl Weathers anywhere on your list, or Billy Dee Williams, huh?

You can make your own list.

Oh, okay.

No Denzel.

You want a Training Day? You want to segregate the list, huh? Whoa, keep separate but equal lists? Is that what you want?

I had a woman.

Jimothy Crow?

I—

you wouldn't have had a woman on your list, I know that.

You wouldn't have thought to put Ripley on your list. Make your own list.

I would put Denzel.

I know that Dan's gonna have like the dude from like, uh, you know, All the President's Men. Robert Redford?

To Zazz's point on Jimi Hendrix, he self-taught by ear. He never took formal lessons and learned— or learned to read music.

That's someone who like, it's just, they know how to play.

Jimothy Crow.

That was his government name.

Jimothy Crowe.

He went by Jim for a reason.

Put it on the poll at Levittard Show.

Did he go by Charles Zink?

Did he go by Jim for a reason? We didn't do enough with Skipper Chuck yesterday. Chuck Zink. You can't make Chuck Zink Charles Zink. And why not, Mike? You missed a good one yesterday. Skipper Chuck, I think, is before even your time in South Florida.

I saw the poll questions and I had a smile on my face. Who's number 1 on your list? Mark Ruffalo in Spotlight.

Effortlessly cool. Ruffalo actually lost me forever when he said of the recent thing he did on TV series where he had like a potbelly, he's like, I went into this, you know, a movie star, and I come out as somebody who's like a bit frumpy. And I'm like, I didn't think of Ruffalo as a big movie star.

I thought—

oh, that hurts, that hurts. Yeah, the task was good.

I like tasks.

Hold on, if we're keeping track at home Tony Romo's been taken out, Howie Mandel, and now Mark Ruffalo. All three by Dan Le Batard.

You're the Philly guy calling Dan Le Batard fat.

You know what, my bad. My total bad on that. It was leading man, what it is that he said, and that's what I was thinking to myself. Oh, I don't think of you as a classical leading man. My bad, I misheard that.

He was cool in Collateral when he had the slicked-back hair.

I liked him in 13 Going on 30.

Was that slicked-back or push-back?

Who's like that?

Shutter Island.

If you're Hulk, I guess you're a movie star, so forgive me. I just— and I guess you're probably a leading man as well. But I really sort of felt like Ruffalo was right on the line on whether he is a leading man or isn't a leading man, and he's not the one who can say he is.

Like, it's like Witty's take with Giannis. He's like the best number 2.

But that's, that's for us to argue about. But when the leading man says he's a leading man, he's got to be Denzel, he's got to be Brad Pitt, he's got to be someone we'd all agree. And I'm not saying Ruffalo's not, actually. I just think he's like right on He's right on the line.

He's the only Avenger who doesn't have a solo movie.

Well, that's, that's not because of him. That's because of some contractual things, because they don't own the rights to the Incredible Hulk as a standalone character. So they got to do all these other spin-offs and things.

Ned, you guys don't think that Ruffalo— like, who else would you put, like, right on that line?

If you gotta ask about the line, you know they're not—

should I put Johnny Depp in Cry-Baby?

Because I'm not saying he's not a good actor. I'm not saying that he can't carry a movie either. And I'm not saying I don't know that he's been in good movies. But when he says of Task, I went in as the leading man, and he's playing a frumpy character, somebody who drinks a lot, and like he's playing somebody who's not a leading man.

Steve Buscemi.

Buscemi or Buscemi?

Oh, but he was the leading man in Boardwalk.

He was great as Nucky Thompson.

Yeah, but that's a TV show. That's like Ruffalo's the leading man in Task, HBO TV show. He's on that line. He's on that line.

Well, if we're being accurate about this, though, leading man has to be movie star handsome, correct?

Ouch. So now hold on. The list now includes Steve Buscemi, Buscemi, along with Tony Romo and Mark Ruffalo.

I'm doing it to Ruffalo too though, and it's not to make fun of Ruffalo's appearance. Is it leading man appearance? Yes or no?

Wesley Snipes in Blade. Oh yeah, he was super cool. And there was that one scene where he just refused to open his eyes, so they had to CGI them in post. That's my favorite piece of trivia. They were filming the scene and they were telling him open his eyes. He's like, no. And so they just had to do it in post.

This is from Blade Trinity, by the way, which we did review on Cinephobe. Juju Ghadi was the guest on that show.

How was that episode? That seems— that would be amazing.

It was an amazing episode.

You know, you mentioned Blade Trinity. A person that is kind of cool, but you can see the effort that goes into it and can't pull it off effortless the way that Ryan Gosling can— Ryan Reynolds. Yeah, that's taking effort. It takes effort.

Interesting.

Yeah, the, the thing that you say though that ties this back to me, to what little I saw of the Romo video, is the reason that you can convict Romo of that is because he wasn't quite as sharply charming as he usually is. He was like a step slow on the televised charm, the Jason Garrett stuff that, uh, that Tony likes. Like, I can, I can— look, I'll just be— give me a second, I'll I'll wind this up and I'll be the Tony Romo you're expecting in a second. I just got to get some of these liquor codwebs out of my drunk hair.

It's hard to pull off drunk and cool, but Ryan Gosling did exactly that in The Nice Guys.

So you're saying him being drunk took away from his cool?

It slowed it down. No, what I'm saying is it slowed down his usual charm. He thought he was being charming and was about to—

Most electric man on TV. He's getting more, he's getting more run, Dan.

The video team does nothing funnier than that, than surprise hit me with the gleaming, uh, twinkle in the teeth of Jason Garrett as he turns to the camera. That's television. And it's just maximum 8-8 at a time when we only played 16 games. Like, I'm just 8-8 and here I am in a suit. Give me all the good jobs.

Oh, Gosling's gonna be Ghost Rider.

Yeah, I saw that, man.

Do you think he can manage making a demon who has a flaming skull who rides a motorbike while wearing a leather jacket cool?

Nick Cage Yeah, I did. Twice. Both of which were reviewed on Cinephobe.

Yeah.

There's a clue.

Whenever I would watch Nucky Thompson in Boardwalk Empire, it made me want to have a decanter with whiskey in it. So anytime I have a decision to make, just pour myself a glass, talk it out, think it over while I sip it.

A clue. Uh, put it on the poll, please. Did Nucky make you want to have a decanter at LeBittard Show?

Nicky—

Nicky— Nucky lived at the Ritz-Carlton, Dan. Can you imagine that? That was during Prohibition.

Yeah, soda quailetta.

Oh, it's a good— it's a good cavernous cage. Like, he's in there, he's in there somewhere.

Pull him out.