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The second film in this pairing moves from one kind of theater to another very different kind! In 2000, Christopher Guest moved from small-town community theater to national-level canine showmanship in "Best In Show!" Exploring the world of dog shows, we meet the owners of the dogs who will be competing in the Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show in Philidelphia. Gerry (Eugene Levy) and Cookie (Catherine O'Hara) Fleck, from Florida, bring their Norwich terrier, Winky. Meg (Parker Posey) and Hamilton (Michael Hitchcock) Swan arrive escorting their weimaraner, Beatrice. Arriving with his Bloodhound, Hubert, Harlan Pepper (Christopher Guest) arrives with high hopes. And Sheri Ann Cabot (Jennifer Coolidge), trophy wife and dog-show enthusiast, bring along both dog trainer Christy Cummings (Jane Lynch) and her standard poodle, Rhapsody in White. And Scott Donlan (John Michael Higgins) and Stephen Vandorhoof (Michael McKean) accompany their Shih Tzu, Miss Agnes. Along the way, we see the extremes these dog show parents are willing to go to in order to try and insure a win for their pet. Also starring Bob Balaban, Larry Miller, Ed Begley Jr., Fred Willard, and Jim Piddock! And at the end of the episode, the trio reveals what listener request informed the final pairing of the first batch of 2025!

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For this pairing we return to the genius that is Christopher Guest and two of his films we've yet to do on this podcast... until now! Directed by Guest and written with Eugene Levy, 1996's "Waiting for Guffman" is a somewhat twisted love-letter to the trials and tribulations of participating in community theater. Eccentric writer, director, and actor Corky St. Clair (Christopher Guest) is in charge of the Blaine, Missouri sesquicentennial celebration's closing event - an original stage musical which celebrates the history of the town entitled "Red, White, and Blaine!" The cast is made up of a few of the town's community theater regulars: Ron (Fred Willard) and Sheila (Catherine O'Hara) Albertson, a pair of married travel agents, and Libby Mae Brown (Parker Posey), a young and enthusiastic Dairy Queen employee. Corky also casts newcomers Johnny Savage (Matt Keesler), a mechanic who's never been on the stage, and Dr. Allen Pearl (Eugene Levy), a local dentist who has finally worked up the nerve to audition for a show. He also manages to convince Clifford Wooley (Lewis Arquette), long-time resident and now-retired taxidermist, to serve as the show's narrator. But when the cast hears that Mort Guffman, a legitimate Broadway producer, is coming to see their production, the tension gets turned up from high to extreme! Also starring Larry Miller, David Cross, Bob Balaban, and Brian Doyle-Murray!

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The second film in our pairing pedantically entitled "Uncomfortably Prescient Dystopian Science Fiction" moves ahead 40 years from the first. Directed by Mike Judge and written by Judge and Etan Cohen, 2006's "Idiocracy" looks at an army experiment in suspended animation that, thanks to its director being arrested, goes on much longer than expected! Test subjects Joe Bauers (Luke Wilson) and Rita (Maya Rudolph), two average people who were supposed to awaken a year after going to sleep, end up waking after 500 years into a world gone dumb, due to the fact that the uneducated have been procreating 100 times faster than their intelligent brethren! Joe awakens and meets his future lawyer, Frito (Dax Shepard) and a stoned doctor (Justin Long) before being arrested. In prison, Joe is given an IQ test, and is determined to be the smarted man in the world! Joe is taken to the White House where President Comacho (Terry Crews) makes him the Secretary of the Interior and gives him the job of fixing all of the nation's problems. After reuniting with Rita, Joe and Frito attempt to start repairing the world by figuring out why none of the nation's crops aren't growing! Also starring Patrick Fischler, Darlene Hunt, and Thomas Haden Church, the film from 2006 plays more like a future documentary than a comedy, especially when looked at in 2025! Plus, the trio reveal which Christopher Guest films will populate the next pairing on the podcast!

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One of the things that separates science fiction from any other genre is its ability to gaze into a crystal ball and attempt to predict what the future might be like if humanity continues on a certain path. This pairing is dedicated to science fiction films that looked into a darker future for humankind and, unfortunately, seem to have been uncomfortably prescient with their predictions, as evinced by the direction certain civilizations seem to be headed. First up, from the brilliant mind of author Ray Bradbury and the direction of acclaimed French director Francios Truffaut, is 1966's "Fahrenheit 451!" Set in an undetermined future, humanity has chosen to turn its back on the written word in favor of "equality for all." Newspapers have become pictograms, television is the primary form of learning (although it's completely controlled by the government), and firemen now have a different job: They locate and destroy (by burning) any books or other written materials found and confiscated by the authorities. The film follows Guy Montag (Oskar Werner). A fireman by profession, he is married to a drugged and brainwashed woman, Linda (Julie Christie) who is clearly unintelligent and passive. One day, on the way home from work, Montag meets Clarisse (also played by Julie Christie), who asks him if he has ever been tempted to read one of the books before he burns it, to see what the government is so afraid of. Thus begins Montag's awakening to the reality of his world and its mission. Also starring Cyril Cusack and Bee Duffell!

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