‘Paul T. Goldman’ Creator Jason Woliner Returns!
The Last Laugh
The Daily Beast
4.6 • 661 Ratings
🗓️ 10 January 2023
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Jason Woliner is still trying to figure out why he has spent more than 10 years of his life working on a strange comedic docuseries about a middle-aged Florida man who tweeted at him out of the blue. Earlier this month, the director of ‘Borat Subsequent Moviefilm’ and several ‘Nathan for You’ episodes finally premiered ‘Paul T. Goldman’ on Peacock. And as he explains in his return to the podcast, the impossible-to-describe project has left him with more questions than answers about its mysterious protagonist. In this episode, Woliner talks about how working with Sacha Baron Cohen helped inform his freewheeling approach to ‘Paul T. Goldman’ and addresses the many comparisons that have been made to his friend and collaborator Nathan Fielder’s HBO series ‘The Rehearsal’—including allegations that he’s “exploiting” the man at the center of the show.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | In 2012, a man named Paul T. Goldman tweeted at my guest on this week's episode. |
| 0:05.9 | He said he had an incredible story that just had to be made into a movie. |
| 0:10.7 | How would you feel if you woke up one morning to learn that your wife, the woman you were in love with and had hoped to spend the rest of your life with, had completely duped you |
| 0:21.7 | from the beginning. And not only was in love with another man, but this man was her pimp, and she was |
| 0:27.4 | his madam and prostitute. How would you feel when it became clear that your wife married |
| 0:33.8 | you for the sole purpose of stealing your assets, that to her you were just another |
| 0:38.6 | one of her tricks, one who, instead of paying up front, was expected to pay at the end through |
| 0:44.3 | a divorce settlement. How would you feel when you learn that your beloved wife was running |
| 0:50.3 | her segment of a multi-state, multi-million dollar prostitution ring literally from |
| 0:57.0 | your bedroom on your wedding night after you had drifted off to sleep. |
| 1:03.0 | Hi, I'm Paul T. Goldman, and this exact scenario happened to me. |
| 1:12.9 | This is The last laugh. |
| 1:15.4 | I'm Matt Wilson from The Daily Beast, and that was the real Paul T. Goldman, laying out his |
| 1:20.7 | completely true story in a YouTube video posted more than 10 years ago. |
| 1:25.8 | Or is it? |
| 1:27.3 | These questions about what's real and what's fabrication are at the center of my guest, Jason Walliner's new show, Paul T. Goldman, |
| 1:35.3 | which premiered on Peacock January 1st and has already become what my Daily Beast colleague |
| 1:40.6 | Nick Shager called in his review, The Strangest TV show you might ever watch. |
| 1:46.2 | Jason and I last talked on this podcast back in January of 2021 after he had directed |
| 1:51.9 | Sasha Baron Cohen's Borat subsequent movie film. But as ambitious as that project was, |
| 1:58.3 | Paul T. Goldman is another animal altogether. It's part docu-series, part |
| 2:03.6 | cringe comedy, and definitely brings to mind the work of Nathan Fielder with whom Jason has also collaborated. |
... |
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