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I smell pop culture with Eastern Allen and I heart radio podcast Hey, friends, that's right, is Easton Allen. I am all in podcasts. I smoke pop culture when over them productions. I heart radio. I heard me, I heart podcasts. Yeah, you know it's not Scott Patterson. Let's get that straight here. I know we've been on for a few weeks now, but if you're just joining us, this is not Scott Patterson. This is not his voice. My name is Easton Allen. I'm the sound guy here on the I am all
in podcasts. I do the microphones. I make sure everybody's computers work. So that makes me extremely qualified and appropriate to be hosting this show here. And I also want to confirm. I want to clarify that Scott Patterson and I are friends. Okay, we're not just friends. I would say we're best friends. I have his phone number, I can text him. I text him all the time. We talk on the phone, we talk on the podcast. Scott
and I are very very close. So, just in case you were confused about that, thank you so much for joining us. We are so excited about this week's guest. This is a major fixture. This guy is such a pop culture icon, not just in the world of Gilmore Girls, but entertainment at large. When I told my mother that we were doing this, when I told my mom who we were talking to this week, she lost her mind. She started screaming. She just absolutely lost control. She can't
believe it. I can't believe it either. But you know, I have something to admit to you guys as we get started here. This was kind of a rough morning for me. It was rough when I woke up in the morning. The alarm gave me a warning. I didn't think i'd make it on time. But by the time I grabbed my books and you know, I gave myself a look. I was at the corner just in time to see the bus fly by. But it's all right, and I'll tell you why right after these words.
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All right, everybody, aren't those great commercials? I know? Okay, there's the thing in podcast apps where you can skip ahead. There's a skip button. I'm not going to pretend like it doesn't exist, But with this show, I don't think you need to use it. Your thumbs are not strained. There's no stress on those skipping thumbs because you listen to every single commercial and you patronize every single business
that we advertise. And I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for doing that, for listening to those commercials. My name is Eastin Allen. This is the I Smell pop Culture podcast on I Am all In. Here's what we do here. Gilmore Girls is a treasure trove of popular culture. Every show or every episode, they mention really exciting things from real life, from pop culture, from a current event that is happening in the world of Gilmore Girls. They talk about it, and we dive deeper.
We take those references and we expand upon them. We talk to the people that created them. We talk to the people that are those pop culture references. And this week we are talking to Mario Lopez. That's right, a C. Slater from Saved by the bell one of the most iconic television shows all the time. We're gonna talk to Mario Lopez. Before we bring Mario on, I need to discuss something with you because and I'll tell you why
Mario has a connection to Gilmore Girls. Why say by the Bells connected to Gilmore Girls, but that it kind of made me think of something interesting. Gilmore Girls is such a rich history, rich universe. It's so detailed, and it's so it's so diverse. It feels so real. Star's Hall, it feels like a real place you could walk around. These characters feel like people, you know, And that's why we love the show. That's why we love it so much.
The thing that I think is so interesting is when we when they reference another piece of media in Gilmore Girls, like because they'll reference like current events or like real people, like other like real celebrities, real news people, real you know, public figures. But there's a lot of times at the
reference like other other TV shows, other movies. And I think that is so interesting because if you think about it in the world of a fictional universe, you're kind of setting the stage for what exists and what doesn't exist in the world of Gilmore Girls, in the world of stars Hollow. There's a theory that if you're listening to this podcast, you're a big goil More Girls fan, so I guarantee you know about this, but it comes up on my feed every so often, and I'm just
so fascinated about it. I need to talk to you about it right now. They call it the Sopranos and Gilmore Girls paradox. So if you don't know what the word paradox means, it's it's a seemingly absurd or self contradictory statement when investigator explained, maybe prove to be well founded or true. It's like something that can't exist. It's
kind of something that like disqualifies itself. But in the world of Gilmore Girls, there's this weird clash of realities with the world of The Sopranos, the HBO show The Sopranos. In season six, episode four of The Sopranos, an episode of Gilmore Girls is playing on TV. The characters are watching it. Okay, So with that, we've established that the
characters of The Sopranos watch the show Gilmore Girls. Gilmore Girls exists as a TV show in the world of Sopranos, just like it does for us in the real world. We watch the show Gilmore Girls, as do the characters in The Sopranos. Okay, that's it. That's HBO. That's a different universe. We're going into the world of Gilmore Girls. Gilmore Girls's reality we're going to think about that now.
Stars Hollow is real. In season seven, episode seventeen of Gilmore Girls, Richard is wearing a track suit and Laura La makes a joke about it, asking if he's having lunch with Tony Soprano. So now we can draw a couple conclusions here that Sopranos is also a TV show in Gilmourt Girls, which causes the paradox because that means that the characters of Gilmore Girls can watch the Sopranos and see their lives being watched. Kind So now we don't know, is this like a Truman show thing They're
being filmed and they don't know it. Is there a clash of realities here? What's happening that must be so so jarring, so upsetting, or or I have this other theory I thought about this. Tony Soprano is a real person, And so now we're gonna go back to HBO. Sopranos is real. Tony Soprano is a real person. He's gonna
watch gilmart Girls and see himself being referenced. And to me, that would I would think, oh my god, someone who writes for Gilmore Girls knows about me enough to put me in the show that there's so many ideas here, it's so interesting. I love it. But that leads us to what we're talking about today. We are talking about Saved by the Bell. So in season one, episode four,
The Deer Hunter, they referenced Saved by the Bell. So, if we're gonna go back to this paradox conversation a little bit, that means we have established Save by the Bell is a TV show that is in the world of Gilmore Girls. Gilmore Goes can watch Saved by the Bell. From my research, Save by the Bell never referenced Gilmore Girls. I believe it went off the air before Gilmore Girls started, so that we don't have to worry about this paradox happening.
Save by the Bell as a TV show that the cast of the characters in Gilmore Girls in stars hollow watch. And to explain the reference here, in season one, episode four, Rory gets a d for the first time in her life, and she is like consumed by shame and embarrassment, and she and Laura I are talking about it at Luke Steiner and Rory says, oh my god, it was so humiliating, and Laura Lay says, oh, Honey, you once told me you watched Saved by the Bell. What could be more
humiliating than that? Okay, if you love Saved by the Bell and I love Saved by the Bell, this is not humiliating. Okay. I think they're totally off here, Saved by that. You should be proud of your fandom of Saved by the Bell. It is such an iconic television show. It's one of the biggest TV shows of all time. It still is a major part of pop culture today. And when you think of Saved by the Bell, I know a lot of characters come to mind, a lot of actors, But for me to me, Saved by the
Bell is a c slater. Saved by the Bell is Mario Lopez. We're going to talk to Mario Lopez. I'm so excited Mario. And if you're not familiar with Mario Lopez outside of the world of Save by the Bell, I mean this guy. He has a radio show called On with Mario Lopez. It's syndicated all across the country. He was Sexy Colonel Sanders, and a movie called Recipe for Seduction that's on the Lifetime. That's on Lifetime. Mario
Lopez is such a such an icon. And one of my favorite things about Mario Lopez is that he hosts the in room movie channel in hotel rooms. It's called uh, must See Movies with Mario, and I am just obsessed with it. Every time I go into a hotel, that's the first thing I do is I check to make sure Mario Lopez is on my TV. He is just the absolute best. He's such a cool guy. I'm so excited to talk to him. And oh my god, look at that he is in the waiting room. I am
going to bring him in right now. Let me just uh, Mario Lopez, thanks for doing this, man, I'm so excited.
Well, thanks for having me.
Man.
You have a new movieyet. We're going to get to that in a second, Once upon a Christmas wish. So excited about that too. But so, this is a Gilmore Girls podcast, and pretty early in the run of Gilmore
Girls they reference Saved by the Bell. They mentioned it in the dialog of the show, and I'm curious, like, when Saved by the Bell started becoming popular, like became like a huge hit, do you remember the first time you heard like another show reference it, Like when you first heard someone else talk about it on TV or something like that.
I don't.
I don't remember them referencing the show. I've gotten referenced a lot like personally now like all the time. It's funny because I'm radio show. They my producers collect like this just like a montage of references for me, and like mark references, which is a trip and this and then uh uh a little sometimes some cameos, but I get I just just get randomly referenced on all this stuff, which is I guess kind of cool.
Was there was there one in particular that like really blew your mind that you can think of.
In the movie. It was in the Last American Pie movie.
The girl was trying to get her guide jealous, and she said she slept with me, and I was like, oh, and he was great.
It was very complimentary.
But I was like, oh that was aggressive and uh and I'm cleaning up the language.
But uh yeah, that one time, I was like, oh, okay.
That's awesome. Do you do you remember the first time that like we were walking around in public and someone came up and called you a c slater? Do you remember like that must have happened right well.
When I was a kid, all the time, I mean even now, which is flattering because it's been a long time ago, so they still recognized me.
But yeah, it's been over.
Thirty something years, man, So it's a trip. The fact that it's still on is a trip.
Oh yeah.
I mean it's a huge part of pop culture. In my opinion, every episode of sayd by the Bell belongs in the Smithsonian. It's a piece of TV history. In gomer Girls, when they reference it, they kind of say it like it's a guilty pleasure. It's kind of an embarrassing thing that, like the character watches Saved by the Bell.
Yeah, it supposed to be for little kids.
Yeah, I'm very guilty, should be guilty.
Do you have a guilty pleasure show? Like, what's something that you really love that you're maybe a little ashamed of.
I'm not ashamed of anything that I'll watch. I watch.
My wife, to be honest, got me into a lot of crime documentaries, so there's always someone getting whacked right before we go to bed now on them, there's so many good ones out there, So I've been watching a lot of those.
Interesting. Is there like a particular case that like really captured her attention? Recently?
Well, we just saw one that I thought was just so bizarre. There were no deaths, but it was called Anatomy of Lies about the lady who was the writer.
Did you see it?
Yes, on Gray's Anatomy.
On Gray's Anatomy. She's diabolical, lying about everything, cancer and the brother died. I mean, all these people and it was just craze, just lies, just years of lies, and she was like Forrest Gump. Everywhere something happened she was involved in. It was just that one just kind of tripped me out. That was the latest one we saw that.
It's so crazy and so she was like making stuff up about her life and then working it into Gray's Anatomy.
And there were and they were and like awful stuff. It was just really bad.
And then we just saw the John Benny Ramsey the latest one. I felt sorry for the poor parents and what the media did and all that. So that was a good one.
Oh yeah, that that, I mean, that's crazy. Do you do you have any personal theories about about that one? Like who who did it?
Well?
That guy that from according to the doc, the one that's in Bangkok right now that's sort of admitted to it, and they could I mean he seems pretty he knows a lot of things that a lot of people didn't. He seems like a pretty good uh uh suspect. But I mean, I don't think it's the parents or the little brother.
That was ridiculous that you know, the little brother that's a that's a lot of people think he was.
Nine years old. He was nine like a little kid, like poor kid man. That was awful.
Oh it's crazy. So one of my favorite roles of yours is our musty movies with Mario. I love it. Every time I check into a hotel. I love that Maria Muduos has me in the theater and then when I'm in a hotel, I get you to talk about the movies. Do people recognize you from that? Very often?
It's over a million rooms, so yeah, yeah that trips me out, especially people that that travel a lot or for a living. So like all the baseball players or musicians and stuff are always hitting me up.
It's a trip.
So yeah, that that is it got a lot more awareness than I thought it would.
Do you Like when you check into a hotel, do you you see mus see yourself pretty often? Right?
Yeah, I'm not in New this one right now. But yeah, I got going on this hotel.
They need to say, yeah, yeah, what's going on? Get on the messy movies distribution there. Yeah, And speaking of movies, you have you have a new one that's out now on a Great American Family. It's kind of transition, that's right, man, we're professionals over here. Once upon a Christmas Wish. Your wife Courtney's in it too, Can you tell us about that?
My wife Courtney's in it? And my son Dominic is amazing. It really does a great job. He sort of steals the movie. But I'm excited about this one.
It's our first for working with Great American Family, and I thought, well, what better than to have my own family in it, and really pleased with the way it turned out.
It's a lot of heart and it's a lot.
Of fun, and they're singing and dancing, and it's got that old time sort of feel to it. And I play a mayor of a small town that wrote this Christmas list back when I was in the fourth grade and never mailed it.
But then I discovered as.
An adult and all the wishes sort of start coming true and then wow, yeah, so then all kinds of fun stuff starts to starts to happen. But we had a great time shooting it outside of Chicago, this place called Long Grove. They were very welcoming and I'm excited for people to see it on Great American Family, just like you said, once upon a Christmas Wish, and I think you'll like it.
When when what time of year did you film it? Because sometimes I hear they film in last summer.
Springtime, not too and it was still pretty cold. It was snowing actually still, so it was it was actually really cold, so yeah, we didn't have to fake it, so so that worked out. That worked out when we were dancing.
Outside when it was really cold, and yeah, that was it was a tough shoot.
I was somewhat injured too. I hurt my neck, but you can't tell the movie.
Do you have any Christmas wishes from your childhood that you'd like to see come true?
That's a good question. I don't really. I wasn't like, I didn't really wish for too much.
I wasn't a big I didn't ask for big things when I was a kid. I was pretty I was pretty simple for the most part. I just want everybody to kind of be together. And maybe the latest video game that was out and I was a kid.
That's about it. That's about the extravagant as I.
Got, so so modest my olympus.
Uh.
What what Christmas traditions do you does your family have that you look forward to every year?
Well, we usually host Christmas and so my sister and her four kids come out, and mom and dad and my wife's family, so we're like having everyone over. My wife's Italian, so there's a lot of Mexican and Italian food, so very well fed, and you know, we'll go to Mass and and it's nice to just just kind of be still and not get on a plane and be home with family.
Oh yeah, that's the best. Having to travel is a bummer. So it's great to be home for the holidays. And we're so excited about once upon a Christmas wish and I hope other people make it part of their Christmas tradition too. Again, this is on Great American Family. What are your resolutions for as we head into twenty twenty five? Are you looking forward to in the new year.
I don't really do resolutions all right, being Catholic, I kind of start over every week anyway, But I'm just looking forward to continuing to do what I'm doing and I feel very blessed on radio show and.
My show Access Daily and Access.
Hollywood and and make more great movies.
Yeah, I was proud of my son. I thought he did a great job.
So I think he may want to do some more and right, we'll see what happens with the next generation there.
Did you uh, so this is your son's first movie?
Is that right?
And did you have to kind of get had he He's been watching his growing up, so I'm sure he like came in with a lot of training already. But did you have to give him some coaching when you're on the set there?
Yeah?
I was pretty good about just kind of letting him.
If he had any questions and stuff, or if I thought he was doing something maybe that wasn't working, then I would talk to him about it. But for the most part, he was He was prepared and and he came ready.
Is this something you can see him doing as he gets older getting into the business.
I think so.
Yeah, he likes it, So I didn't maybe think so before, But he's got a lot in his plate and he's he's uh, he wrestles in his jiu jitsu and plays the drums and piano and all that. So there's a lot of activities, but definitely as he gets older, he tells me he likes he likes it a lot, so we'll see.
I'd love it. The next generation of stars Mario Lopez again once upon Christmas, which it's on Great American Family. Thank you so much for doing this. Moriw you're just the best. You're an icon. We're all such big fans and we wish wish all the best. Man. Thank you, you.
Got it, Budd. I appreciate your time, Take care, j
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