DeepSummary
The podcast begins with Nick Wiger and Mike Mitchell discussing the inspiration behind the pizza chain Sbarro, which started as an authentic Italian-American pizzeria in Brooklyn in 1956 before expanding to malls and shopping centers. They meet their guest, Griffin Newman, at a recently constructed Sbarro location in a Los Angeles food court. As they order and eat various Sbarro items, they engage in irreverent humor and pop culture references, often involving water-themed characters and movies.
Their experience is surreal, with Newman frequently referencing aquatic jokes and the trio imagining bizarre scenarios involving various employees, characters, and objects coming to life in the Sbarro kitchen. They evaluate the food, finding the New York-style slices decent but critiquing the pan pizzas and some of the other items like the overly wet spinach stromboli.
Towards the end, they discuss scoring Sbarro, with Griffin giving it a solid 3 out of 5 forks, viewing it as a quintessential median fast-food chain that's neither great nor terrible. Mitchell rates it 3.5 forks, feeling it exceeded his low expectations, while Wiger settles on 3 forks, seeing it as a fine but forgettable meal.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Sbarro is a quintessential mediocre fast-food chain, neither great nor terrible, epitomizing an average dining experience.
- The New York-style pizza slices were decent, but many other items like the pan pizzas and spinach stromboli were criticized.
- The hosts engaged in absurdist humor and surreal hypothetical scenarios involving various characters and objects coming to life.
- Pop culture references, especially to water-themed movies and characters, permeated the episode.
- Despite criticism, the hosts maintained a humorous yet good-natured dynamic and complimented the Sbarro staff.
- The restaurant represented the genericization of an originally authentic Brooklyn pizzeria into a ubiquitous mall food court chain.
- Eating at Sbarro evoked nostalgia for the hosts, who had different childhood perceptions of the restaurant's reputation.
- The scoring system provided a clear evaluation of Sbarro as a solid but forgettable 3-fork chain restaurant experience.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “I feel like I sometimes do like a. Like one of those guys kind of a hicc laugh.“ by Nick Wiger
- “Are you sure you're not just thinking, no, he wants one quarter portion of a thing. It's got a fucking handle on it stuff.“ by Griffin Newman
- “There was a man standing right outside, like, at top of the escalator, leaving that sort of mall area. Who had a cardboard sign around his neck that explained that he was Doctor Pigtick and he needed to raise money to get a penis shrinking surgery.“ by Griffin Newman
Entities
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Company
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Episode Information
Doughboys
Headgum / Doughboys Media
6/6/24
Griffin Newman (@grifflightning, Blank Check) joins the 'boys to talk Irish movies, Star Wars characters, and Tombstone Garlic Bread Pizza (UPC: 7192114208) before a review of Sbarro. Plus, a new segment, Frank Check.
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Sources for this week's intro:
https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/20707420/the-office-netflix-nbc-workplace-fantasy
https://www.pmq.com/the-building-of-sbarro/
https://www.mashed.com/230979/the-untold-truth-of-sbarro/
https://www.businessinsider.com/the-office-brian-baumgartner-made-over-1-million-on-cameo-2021-11
https://sbarro.com/about/
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