Episode Details

Ryan and Simon listen to chapter 8 of Sylvester Stallone’s memoir The Steps.

Simon joins as a longtime listener. They open with the question of how much of the book is embellished (the teenage shooting story, the prison stint). Chapter 8 covers Sly taking an usher job at the Baronet and Coronet Theater for $34 a week so he can watch movies and study them. They note the lone-wolf framing, the detailed memory of a knife-wielding patron, and the claim that every screening was hostile. Ryan and Simon flag the uncredited extra work in MASH and Downhill Racer that Sly never mentions, then reach the Francis Ford Coppola / Rain People / cake-smashing story and the “patience is a virtue” close.

0:00 Simon joins, previous guests
2:04 Chapters 8–9 start
3:52 Usher job at Baronet and Coronet
5:51 Theater as cinema college
8:39 1970 New York, Mean Streets backdrop
9:58 Knife-wielding patron
14:06 Usher treatment, Ryan’s jobs
21:06 MASH and Downhill Racer extras
24:49 Francis Ford Coppola, Rain People
27:44 Apocalypse Now wait, cake smash
33:21 Talia Shire, Oscar through window
34:58 Patience is a virtue

CREDITS
Book: Sylvester Stallone, The Steps
Guest: Simon
Host: Ryan