S8E22: Playing With Dolls with Susanna Hoffs
Added 2024-06-18 02:42:08 +0000 UTCSusanna Hoffs and Bret discuss learning the elements of melody from radio, watching the Beatles get weird and bringing the Bangles to see Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Part 1 of 2.
Comments
Susanna was every straight guy's fantasy girl in the 80s, including this one. So talented. 👍
JT
2025-09-22 17:30:09 +0000 UTCI agree, the constant interruptions were infuriating
Gnome
2025-03-21 14:57:53 +0000 UTCGreat episode. Uplifting
Brian Borough
2024-07-06 18:41:49 +0000 UTCSusanna has always been a great interview. So glad Bret did this
MisterBlasty
2024-06-27 17:59:26 +0000 UTCI’m so glad there will be a part 2. What a great conversation.
Kathy Oldenburg
2024-06-26 15:05:31 +0000 UTCJust finished reading Hoffs’ “This Bird Has Flown” in time for Part 2. She’s a great writer - and what’s more - does a phenomenal job describing a musical performer’s perspective while “on stage” (I won’t say more - no spoilers).
Dave
2024-06-25 19:59:10 +0000 UTCI’ve always liked magical mystery tour too. But in truth, it’s hard to choose a best Beatles album. Help is like a small miracle after listening again…
Stephen Curry
2024-06-25 13:53:26 +0000 UTCThat was truly riveting. The idea that Hoffs looks as good as she does and has THAT kind of talent and intellect is proof there is no god! Abilities are too unfairly distributed. Also she sounds cool to hang out with. I started listening to bangles again, and I’ve started to like the less well known bangles songs, like in your room and set you free. Thanks for another great show!
Stephen Curry
2024-06-25 13:51:26 +0000 UTCThis sounded like an uplifting one for Bret. Cannot wait to watch The Shards (on film!)
Alex Bielovich
2024-06-25 05:37:18 +0000 UTCThanks- I couldn't recall. Can't wait for the next conversation
BRC
2024-06-24 18:45:48 +0000 UTCYes, at a party a few years ago through mutual friends that’s how he got her email address
Nikki Ferrari
2024-06-24 16:05:45 +0000 UTC❤️
Luigi Loris
2024-06-24 12:16:58 +0000 UTCMore Susanna Hoffs less Tim Pool’s production guy
Samer Akl
2024-06-24 10:04:00 +0000 UTCBEE creaming his pants for this interview and I'm game...
Alexander Quattlander
2024-06-24 07:59:19 +0000 UTCIs there a list posted anywhere of Brets recommendations? Specifically for old movies…criterion classics.
Austin
2024-06-23 19:35:38 +0000 UTCShe’s showing Bret everything and telling him nothing
Kevan christie
2024-06-23 11:55:41 +0000 UTCThere is a growing movement, which I am part of, that believe The Magical Mystery Tour is the greatest Beatles album. Also Purple Rain and The Velvet Underground were great selections.
Lionel
2024-06-22 17:08:29 +0000 UTCI watched it for the first time recently and thought it was fantastic. Feels like Freidkin tapped into some genuine dark energy. Or maybe it was just that everyone was scared of him on set and he turned the bedroom into a giant freezer.
Lionel
2024-06-22 17:05:12 +0000 UTCA lot didn’t work in that film… it felt like work watching it.
Lionel
2024-06-22 16:58:45 +0000 UTCHas Bret ever talked about Mary Gaitskill on this pod?
J Sopp
2024-06-22 15:57:43 +0000 UTCHappy to have a guest again!
Knokkel knokkel
2024-06-22 13:27:03 +0000 UTCThese are the episodes that make the BEE podcast special. Great ep!
Adriaan
2024-06-22 13:03:16 +0000 UTCManic pixie dream old broad.
John
2024-06-22 05:10:13 +0000 UTCShe is delightful.
John
2024-06-22 05:07:50 +0000 UTCI didn’t hear her interrupting either, if anything Bret seemed to dominate the conversation at times
Ashley
2024-06-22 00:59:15 +0000 UTCwell he often cannot finish a sentence because she started talking.
Oleg
2024-06-21 19:59:50 +0000 UTCI read comments indicating she interrupted, but even on second listening, she seemed reserved and not interrupting... am I missing something?
Sértő-Radics Sarolta
2024-06-21 19:55:44 +0000 UTCGreat part 1, loved this conversation. Susanna is a great guest. It’s cool to hear that they want to shoot the ‘Shards’ TV series on film—that’s awesome! It will look great, especially with HBO backing it!
Darren
2024-06-21 17:33:23 +0000 UTCGreat interview, absolutely loved her. Danced to Walk Like an Egyptian in my second grade talent show lol, they were a big big deal at the time. This interview got me thinking, Bret should interview Gina Gershon. She grew up in LA too. I heard her on Marc Maron years ago and she had a ton of fun LA stories.
Phoenix
2024-06-21 16:26:59 +0000 UTCSaw in the theater 5 years ago and it just wasn’t as scary. Doesn’t have the hold on me like it once did, but still creepy.
Phoenix
2024-06-21 16:21:35 +0000 UTCYou are hard to please 😘
Phoenix
2024-06-21 16:20:10 +0000 UTChaha bret is struggling to finish a thought being constantly interrupted by susanna.
Oleg
2024-06-21 16:08:18 +0000 UTCPerfect example of a period film that does not work because it looks too clean/digital : Mank
Darren Ankenman
2024-06-21 04:52:20 +0000 UTCThe upside down backwards stair crawl in The Exorcist is pretty freaky tbh 🤢
Ashley
2024-06-21 01:59:34 +0000 UTCThis might be one of his best guests ever. Such a fun and pleasant conversation. Susanna really knows her stuff. I couldn't agree more about shooting on film. I know that digital is easier and cheaper, and it allows more people access to make films, so I'm all for that aspect, but film just looks so much better when you have a good director and cinematographer who know how to use it.
N.M. Janice.
2024-06-21 01:50:20 +0000 UTCFYI: 50th Anniv. screening of the PARALAX VIEW is happening this month in the Dallas theater where Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested after the assignation of JFK. LINK: https://x.com/mattzollerseitz/status/1801812954213421434
Edi Panta
2024-06-21 01:47:52 +0000 UTCBret! What an amaze balls guest comeback pod!
Edi Panta
2024-06-21 01:46:09 +0000 UTCHave they met before?
BRC
2024-06-21 00:24:30 +0000 UTCLove Garfield.
Romeo Delta Charlie
2024-06-20 21:05:07 +0000 UTCYeah!
Romeo Delta Charlie
2024-06-20 21:03:18 +0000 UTCDirk Bogarde never gave a bad performance, and totally unpredictable. BEE, do a deep dive on that guy, would love to hear that essay.
T Frick
2024-06-20 19:42:42 +0000 UTCSounds like Susanna really lifted Bret's spirits.
Justin
2024-06-20 17:59:47 +0000 UTCHe’s been on before. I’m sure Bret would have him back.
N.M. Janice.
2024-06-20 16:07:15 +0000 UTCHe's been there
Travis Films
2024-06-20 12:28:59 +0000 UTCThat shit was silly then and it's sillier now it's just silly
Travis Films
2024-06-20 12:24:28 +0000 UTCGriffin Dunne has a new book about his family and himself. He seems like an obvious choice for a great podcast guest with his iconic 80s movies and literary connections. After Hours will always be a favorite.
Harrison Bergeron
2024-06-20 05:50:01 +0000 UTCThat’s a really good point
Nikki Ferrari
2024-06-20 00:29:01 +0000 UTCHearing these two laugh like giddy schoolgirls really lifted my day — such a fun listen
Devon H. Dolan
2024-06-19 23:25:59 +0000 UTCThis one touched BEE’s soul
Tyler Bolinger
2024-06-19 20:02:10 +0000 UTCIn the UK it got banned on video. They released in 1998 on cinema. It did not take much to scare people in the seventies. Many watching were under age. Laughing at scenes which should have been shocking.
Stevan Popovic
2024-06-19 18:52:29 +0000 UTCHoly smokes - like two old friends! Can’t wait for Part 2!
Dave
2024-06-19 18:20:42 +0000 UTCRufus Wainwright did that to Bret also and it was really hard to ignore. The constant disruptions were really distracting.
Nikki Ferrari
2024-06-19 17:25:08 +0000 UTCI have never thought that the exorcist was anything except hysterical
Nikki Ferrari
2024-06-19 17:24:15 +0000 UTCgreat episode!
Collin Myers
2024-06-19 17:22:48 +0000 UTChard disagree especially if you reevaluate through the lens of it being a metaphor for reagen being abused by her father--some essayist/critic wrote an article about this that i stumbled upon some years ago and it kind of blew my mind.
Collin Myers
2024-06-19 17:21:46 +0000 UTCtime to revoke your patreon membership you have been on a run for like 5 years
Collin Myers
2024-06-19 17:20:05 +0000 UTCNo it hasn't! I watched it in the fall at a theatre for the first time and I was so impressed. I think what makes it "dated" is the copy cat follow up movies that diminish the how powerful the first movie was. But I did watch it w a friend who was seeing it for the first time also who couldn't stop laughing at Regan's behaviour while possessed...so it depends on who is seeing it!
Florence
2024-06-19 16:27:58 +0000 UTCBeing one of several million men of a certain age who crushed big time on Susanna in the 80's, this was an awesome episode... can't wait for part 2
David Lowe
2024-06-19 16:16:02 +0000 UTCHo-lee fuck! The one we have ALL been waiting for!!
Shane Collender
2024-06-19 16:10:46 +0000 UTCBelinda next. 🤞
Dan Palmer
2024-06-19 16:07:28 +0000 UTCam going to listen on my run. will say more later, after my run.
richard owain roberts
2024-06-19 16:02:16 +0000 UTCThe Exorcist has dated badly. Great first part.
Stevan Popovic
2024-06-19 15:59:40 +0000 UTCGet in the goddamn (Criterion) closet, Bret!!!
Travis Danner
2024-06-19 15:58:18 +0000 UTCThis is a great episode
Cowboy and his books
2024-06-19 07:10:56 +0000 UTCI think Bret and Adam know the key to a great podcast and interview/edit this episode expertly. I love the pitter-patter chattiness here and think their conversation flows effortlessly like kindred spirits or old friends. Very enjoyable to me and love the break from the nameless dread of the last month or so. 🥂
Patrick
2024-06-18 23:58:18 +0000 UTCI must be hard to please, but she constantly interrupts and cuts off Bret. She says "yeah yeah" over and over again. The key to a good podcast interview is not talking over each other.
Steve
2024-06-18 22:29:06 +0000 UTCDream woman, a pure joy to listen to
Moz
2024-06-18 20:41:33 +0000 UTCIncredible episode 🍻🤘🏻👏🏻💪🏻
PETER GREER
2024-06-18 19:57:13 +0000 UTCNo surprise—Hoffs knows her stuff. It makes for a fun interview. Sorry for my preoccupation with BEE’s mood—but this seemed to pep him up. Also, Manic Monday is the best #2 hit of all time. Also, a little surprised BEE liked VU & Nico. Thought it would be too dissonant for him. Great melodies among the flat singing and avant garde minded arrangements.
M. Nero Nava
2024-06-18 16:50:32 +0000 UTC💝
Jonathan Talit
2024-06-18 12:06:38 +0000 UTCwe need video of this ffs
Poetical Gore
2024-06-18 03:43:32 +0000 UTCOh Susanna!
Constantine
2024-06-18 03:28:49 +0000 UTC😍Very nice!
N.M. Janice.
2024-06-18 03:06:58 +0000 UTC😍
David Noble
2024-06-18 02:58:44 +0000 UTC
