Episode 11

The 11th episode of Lecture Hall, December 11th 2020. Guest Rachel Sennott confidently opts to go last with an unprecedented, true closer of a topic. The riffing is strong throughout, despite all three being in some kind of pain they have reached a comfortable back and forth. Broti is on the floor.

recapped by Hannah starting 11/9/21, finished on 3/20/22.

previously

next

## Episode Summary

### Introduction

* Recording begins mid-conversation, where Rachel is currently explaining her between-UTI situation and related sensations.
* Discussion of the universally applicable phrase "It's kind of like a rebirth."
* Everyone is very excited about the ep
	+ Broti makes Rachel sound like her therapist, she "says all the right things"
* Dylan reveals that she had to postpone due to her neck physical therapy appointment
	+ Broti fixates on Dylan's neck
	+ Everyone is at their mental breaking point (correct)
	+ Dylan and Rachel make plans to run and have Outdoor Wine on christmas
* Broti is on the floor
	+ "Coming to you live from a little lower than I normally do"
	+ Rachel doesn't like her own rug, it doesn't tie the room together
	+ The girls say they like the rug, they're sweet but they're wrong though
	+ Broti starts to drop floor wisdom - a very guru vibe, according to Dylan
	+ Reveal: She is on the floor because she has really bad cramps
	+ Rachel points out that everyone is experiencing some kind of physical discomfort
* When robots eventually take over
	+ They'll all be fine because of their good reaction to a positive tone
	+ Except Dylan, who the robots are jealous of for being on Kimmy Schmidt, a show that actually does have a lot of robots on it.
	+ Cheers does not have robots, it's a non-robot show, Rachel can think of at least 6 others
* Rachel definitely knows the premise of the show
	+ Reestablishing that it cannot be edited
	+ Rachel loves that it's raw and natural, and laments that you can always tell when a show has been edited
	+ Floor wisdom alert: that space between edits, where somebody goes to the bathroom, that's where humanity is, and that's what we try to capture
	+ Dylan recalls the long contentious bathroom break of the previous episode
	+ Reveal: no one here has beef, everybody likes each other
* Our Grade
	+ Never explicitly explained, but must refer to a cohort of comedians/writers/actors of a similar age, at a similar point in their careers moving in the same circles. Explicitly includes Ayo in addition to these three.
	+ They have a really nice grade.
* Rachel proposes going last, everyone agrees it's a great idea, and Dylan asks if Broti wants to go first, further flipping the script

### Broti's topic

* "You know that little feeling you get that you already got that little feeling before?"
	+ It's deja vu
	+ Floor Confidence Alert
* Rachel asks if deja vu can be differentiated from events that you're actually experiencing repeatedly, like when she lived with her parents and had a very similar routine day to day
	+ Broti clarifies with an example that refers to a specific audition experience, where they say "you've never experienced this before"
* It would be a bummer to talk about something medical so Broti has chosen to hew closer to the layman's definition of deja vu, however, throughout this segment Broti gets into a lot of technical language and definitions I'm not going to replicate here, I'll focus on the interruptions/riffs
* Only two thirds of people have experienced deja vu
	+ Widespread confusion ensues, surely everyone has experienced it??
	+ Except guys that don't want to seem gay, who are actually lying to themselves due to toxic masculinity not allowing them to speak french
* Some people experience it more than others
	+ People who travel more or watch more movies, which is the same as when Broti watched a lot of SNL one summer and had a lot of dreams about it
	+ It occurs less frequently as you age
		- More general consternation
		- Dylan is saying goodbye to deja vu every day
		- Broti recommends to the actors to update their IMDB bios to indicate that they continue to experience deja vu, to the point where "it hurts" per Rachel
* Very long description that uses the word "experienced" a lot of times
	+ Rachel describes purposeful, calculated sensory memory creation (via wearing a specific perfume one summer), which Broti agrees is like triggered deja vu.
* The hypnosis experiment
	+ During WWII, the terrifically named Bannister and Zangwell (sp?) tell you to go to sleep
	+ Two groups
	+ Floor Scientist Alert: Broti is no nonsense, she's just genuinely teaching them about deja vu
* Side discussion of hypnosis
	+ Rachel and Broti are both very interested in being hypnotized - no one has been
	+ Rachel proposes a hypnotize party, Dylan does not want to go, hypnosis is (reasonably) terrifying to her
	+ Rachel says too bad, It's going to be the first event after the pandemic, everyone from our grade is going to be there, the hypnotist is booked for two hours and you don't want to waste the budget
	+ Maybe one person could not be hypnotized, and that could be Dylan
	+ Concerns arising: what if they hypnotist sneaks one thing in, like, you'll never be able to cum again, though you have been hypnotized out of having allergies
	+ Broti points out that Rachel famously only cums from sneezing, so it's a catch-22 for the hypnotist
	+ You give a little you take a little
* Back to the experiment
	+ We jump to 2010. Two groups: post hypnotic amnesia condition vs post hypnotic familiarity condition. The second group is intended to be the "creepy" feeling.
* Rachel continues to interrupt to describe situations where she has felt deja vu strongly, perhaps to encourage us to think of her as very young.
	+ Colleges seem to inspire deja vu, per anecdotes from both Rachel and Broti, Dylan speculates that it could be because college campuses feature in many movies.
	+ Broti assures us: listen, we cover it all. We put it all on the table, like the hit show Red Table talk
* Back to the experiment
	+ Both groups are shown a game, many methodological clarifications here from Floor Scientist Broti
	+ Rachel summarizes: the people who actually did [play the game] knew it less
	+ You kind of have to buy into hypnosis first
	+ Rachel thanks scientists for doing these little tests and games
	+ Broti departs from science to assert that "women are typically one of the two, you're either PHA or PHF"
	+ Dylan thinks that PHF stands for Pretty Hot Female, general agreement that PHF then covers all three of them
* More technical information from Broti
	+ Cryptamnesia, a great term that no one digs into
	+ Broti describes several different theories about how memory works, remarking, what is science if not a lot of theories that make me confused?
	+ Broti is skeptical of hypnotism and thus grateful to their class representatives for bringing a hypnotist to the first big party
	+ It'll be a forever bond, so Dylan is going to come to the party, if she starts screaming and crying it's because she's joking
	+ More science, Dylan steps in to guest lecture about short vs long term memory, but it turns out Broti was the one who had explained it to her originally so the guest lecture spot is denied
	+ Probably it's because the same thing is happening in a parallel universe though, to universal agreement
* Dreams be wild
	+ Three aspects of possible dream-deja vu interaction, Broti can't tell the difference between the three of them and neither can I frankly
	+ Broti lies to Rachel about dreaming that Rachel did stand up at Buckingham Palace
	+ Rachel poses the question: How do you feel when someone tells you they had a dream about you, who is not a close friend or lover?
		- Dylan: it's a violation
		- Broti's teacher was terrible, escalating quickly from telling Broti she had a dream about her (strike one), to saying that no one should have an abortion (strike two), to saying that gay people don't exist (strike three)
		- Dylan's brother helped his home ec teacher once and she told him, "you're a jewish boy but you have a christian heart," which Dylan decides she's going to start saying
		- Dylan will send Rachel a picture of her brother, who reportedly looks just like Dylan
		- Does he have someone to go to the hypnotist party with yet?

### Dylan's topic

* She's not as excited about it as she has been in the past (which is strange because this topic is amazing)

* Spring Heeled-Jack (SHJ), a horrible 10 foot tall demon that terrorized London in the 1800s
* As Dylan predicted, both Broti and Rachel think he's hot and immediately start fighting over him
* His main things are his super fucked up appearance and his ability to make extraordinary leaps
	+ He could breathe out blue and white flames
	+ He wore claws on his fingertips like wolverine
	+ Could speak intelligible english - better than most guys!
		- Rachel points out that he's a perfect combination of four guys: Wolverine, tall guy, guy who knows how to read, and there's one more but she's forgetting
	+ Get used to hearing the word leap
* Dylan starts getting into the individual sightings
	+ October 1837 - first sighting
		- Mary Stevens, walking from Lavender Hill from Battercy and on her way through Clapham Common
			* Sounds like Dylan is making is making these names up
		- A strange figure leapt at her (Leap alert) and pinned her arms, started kissing her and ripping her clothes with his cold, clammy claws
			* Watch out, Rachel and Broti are getting more and more turned on by the second
			* No one likes the clammy claws, but there's always one thing, he's a guy after all
		- She screams, people come to look for SHJ, but no one finds him
	+ The Next Day
		- SHJ begins a pattern of leaping (Leap Alert) in front of carriages, causing them to crash, then cackling as he jumped over a 9 foot wall to escape
			* Broti defends him - wouldn't you be so proud of yourself for leaping that high that you'd also laugh?
		- The press gave him his name, Spring-Heeled Jack
	+ Mayor's press conference - describes SHJ as "a ghost, a bear, and a devil" and says "the papers are still silent on the subject"
		- This is just like twitter
			* Broti references [Mayor of Los Angeles Eric] Garcetti's phone announcements, and Rachel picks up the bit: "Wind advisory, also there is a bear \_ghost\_ guy"
			* Another Broti pitch - it would be funny if Garcetti sent out an emergency notification when he had a nightmare
				+ "Crazy night last night - Alert!" "Emergency, I just had a really scary dream, it was a ghost bear"
				+ Then you'd have to tweet back at him, "Hey, don't worry it was imaginary, Eric, it was just a dream"
	+ April 1838
		- A gardener reports seeing a four footed animal which growls, jumps around, chases the gardener, then leaves over the wall
			* That's just an animal - Dylan and Broti agree - like a normal squirrel, forgettable, not impressive or a star
			* Rachel posits that it might be due to mass hysteria, everyone's too excited, so a squirrel comes to your yard and you're like, "that was the guy"
			* Floor Wisdom Alert: What do we all want, just as people? We want to be part of something bigger.
	+ February 1838
		- Jane Alsop answered the door to a man claiming to be a police officer who had caught SHJ in the lane, and asked for a light. When she brought it, he revealed himself to be a hideous monster, vomiting blue and white flame
			* The flame is the thing of him that Rachel forgot
			* He did technically "have" him since he was him
			* Rachel hates the cloak, and all the girls' names, which seem like they're in a play, and she's not saying that in a nice way. Broti agrees, nobody was buying the rights to these names
		- Horny Alert: He was wearing tight clothes, and began tearing at her neck with his claws
			* What guy hasn't done that
			* It's so annoying, especially when they think you're into it
			* And then they're like "I'm Spring-Heeled Jack" and they pull off their cloak and shoot blue flames. But that's what dating in your 20s is like.
	+ Next Day
		- Another girl reported the same thing
			* He's addicted to girls (and love and sex)
	+ All these reports form an image of him that gets accused of all kinds of things, even though they're wildly different incidents
		- In some of them he knocks over a carriage and hurts people
		- But some of them are like, he knocked on her door and really intimidated her
		- Or "a squirrel ran across my yard" - if you're afraid of that, maybe don't be a gardener
	+ The twist: a guy comes forward and claims to be SHJ and is put on trial, but found not guilty because he could not breathe fire
		- Did he do it because he wanted attention?
		- Like an Anastasia situation - bitches keep being like "I'm Anastasia"
			* Anastasia interlude
				+ Rachel loves that movie - "Grandmama!" she's like, "It's not you"
				+ Dylan is enchanted by the idea of Anastasia
				+ Rachel continues to do impressions from the movie
				+ She watched it every time she had pneumonia growing up, which was so many times
				+ Everyone agrees to watch it later that night
				+ Broti had good seats for it once, which everyone is happy to hear
	+ Fast forward to Autumn of 1877
		- SHJ was seen in Lincoln Lincolnshire
			* Shut the fuck up, that's not real
		- Residents cornered him and fired at him, but to no effect, bullets don't touch him
		- Leap Alert: he was able to escape because, honestly, white men can jump, and they're spring heeled jack
			* Listeners, if you see a man jumping in the street, call out "Spring Heeled Jack" in a singsongy voice
	+ The fun theories are that he was an alien from a high gravity world
		- Rachel didn't realize, this whole time she was thinking he was a bear wolf, meanwhile he's literally an alien
	+ Side note, the Czechs later ripped off SHJ with their own tall jumping demon
	+ Last Sighting in 1904
		- In Liverpool, he was seen leaping (Leap Alert) up and down the street then onto the rooftops and bounding away forever
			* Broti - he finally reached enough height to go back to the home planet.
			* Floor Wisdom Alert: He knows what he loves to do and he does it. Love what you do and you'll never work a day in your life.
* A visual element - Dylan shows Rachel and Broti a picture of SHJ
	+ He's hot! Freaky but it's a hot body weird face crazy personality situation
	+ Great butt, quads, thighs
* Interlude as Rachel goes to the bathroom since her UTI makes her have to pee, as discussed earlier Dylan and Broti will now hash some things out
	+ Broti thinks she could change SHJ - he's probably never been around a really funny woman
	+ If you didn't have someone you could laugh with, you'd probably also be vomiting blue flame and ringing girls' doorbells and running across gardens
* Rachel's back, and had gotten excited for a moment that she was going to get to read fanfiction about herself, but turns out she misread the text.
	+ Broti suggests that the listeners should write fanfiction about the three of them, which everyone agrees is a great idea
	+ But it has to include SHJ as the fourth SATC girl
		- Rachel and SHJ will have to figure out between the two of them which is Miranda

### Rachel's topic

* As an actress, Rachel also loves other actresses, and wanted to talk about one of her favorite actresses, Dylan Nicole Gelula.
	+ Rachel proceeds to essentially read Dylan's wikipedia article verbatim. Highlights to follow.

* Rachel wants to talk about the imagery in titles of Dylan's films, reading them all multiple times with a flourish.
* Lots of detail about Dylan's early life, to Dylan's chagrin.
	+ Not only was Dylan lonely (in high school), she liked it that way.
	+ Floor Wisdom Alert: Sometimes in order to realize who you are, you have to close the doors.
	+ Rachel will mention multiple times that she loves Dylan's backstory - lonely in high school, dropped out, moved to LA. Literally can't think of anything hotter.
* Dylan has never seen the first movie she was an extra in - put it on the list, we're watching it at the hypnotist party.
* Broti and Rachel are accused of being in cahoots when Dylan exclaims that her life is getting recapped to her over zoom, and they ask if she's experiencing deja vu.
* Dylan's whole page is like "She was bored and she didn't care but then she said why not, if you keep giving me a job, I'll go ahead," according to Rachel in a fun singsong voice.
* Shush Dylan, this is the truth.
* This page is a Hero's Journey.
* Are We There Yet? sandwiched between murder under the ocean and murder in the pedophile unit.
* Rachel learns about salvia, which was having a moment due to Miley Cyrus when Dylan did a scene pressuring someone to try it in Are We There Yet?
* Casting for Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt was in NYC only, not LA, a reverse of the usual.
	+ Dylan supposedly gave an audition tape to "the crew" - apparently it takes a month for it to get all the way from the gaffer up to Tina Fey. You can't skip levels. And then when she got the part, it had to make it all the way back down to the gaffer who would then jump out of a cake to let her know.
	+ Rachel relates a story where she was cruelly fired from a cell phone company commercial, which is awkward because it means she would have to put the guy back in the cake who had told her that she had booked the role originally.
* We learn in a lecture hall exclusive that Dylan was in a music video.

* Rachel asks if Dylan feels anything is missing, and it is agreed that it's keeping Dylan in the past, what about the now?
	+ Live on air, Rachel figures out how to edit wikipedia, and adds a sentence about creating Lecture Hall. The (edited) sentence is still live on Dylan's page.
	+ A brief hiccup as Broti's name gets autocorrected.
	+ Rachel is overcome with excitement at her newfound power. She feels like she did a drug.

Last bit of floor wisdom: What an episode of growth, of healing, Broti has been on the floor this whole time despite initial doubts. Here's the thing - when you're on the floor, you're **on** the floor. For the rest of the time.